Quarantunes: Dancing the Pain Away with Dua Lipa and The Weeknd

During this pandemic, I’ve found my time alone to particularly unstable. I often turn to podcasts to take me out of my day-to-day anxieties, but many of many favorite shows are focusing on the effects of a crisis that is currently affecting us all. Music has provided a much-needed escape from anxiety in a time of overwhelming trauma.

There are a few different types of music that I’ve found helpful, comforting or cathartic. Like any time of anxiety, the emotions we’re feeling are all over the place. In an hour, you can shift from crippling boredom to crippling hip pops. Let’s start with joy.

Almost a month after their release and subsequent chart success, After Hours and Future Nostalgia are no longer sleeper recommendations. The Weeknd and Dua Lipa have released the two most popular albums since we have sheltered-in-place. Each has spawned a TikTok dance craze, a renewed interest in disco/new wave, and broken sales records for each respective artist. It would feel wrong to do a series about quarantine music and not include these two releases.

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