“In that moment, it was exactly what I needed to hear.”
Thinkstock
1. "This Year" by The Mountain Goats
"At age 23 I abandoned the East Coast for San Francisco, a city I had never lived in nor visited before my plane touched down. Within six months the relationship I had moved west for had fallen apart and the job I had managed to get hired at had politely shown me the door. I spent the next year juggling three jobs: one at a bar, one as a 5 a.m. sushi chef, and one at a pirate store. I listened to 'This Year' by The Mountain Goats every morning and made it to 24."
—Isaac Fitzgerald
2. "Cold War" by Janelle Monáe
"Janelle Monáe's 'Cold War' changed my entire trajectory. I had just gotten out of an intensely unhealthy relationship with a month's lease left, and I picked up everything and moved to New York. The stanza that starts with 'I'm trying to find my peace' carried me for a while, and the video has an incredible depiction of how thin the line is between laughing and crying (at one point she mouths 'I'm going to cry!' and then does). It'll always be a super-special song to me."
—Kasia Galazka
