A How-To Guide to Turn Winter into a Cinematic Bliss
Embrace Life as a Rom-Com: How to Turn Winter into Your Personal Movie Set, Using Romanticized Living as Your Weapon Against Seasonal Blues.
It is almost winter. Or maybe it already is. Although it is sunny outside and looks like a pleasant day, I can feel the cold through my window. Summer days smell different than winter ones, and I love sensing the difference every day when I wake up. It sets the mood.
There’s something about autumn and winter that feels like a rom-com to me. Maybe it’s the abundance of Christmas-themed movies or the fact that I’ve mostly seen Keira Knightley in winter-set films. Whenever I put my coat on, I adjust it at the waist to snug myself, and as I walk, closely following my steps with my gaze, I feel like I’m in a movie. You know that strut, right? It's my way of romanticizing the dark times winter might bring.
Even though moving to the Southern Hemisphere has freed me from seasonal depression, I still keep the habits that helped me cope with it when I lived in England. You know during the mid-plot of a movie? Maybe around the 60 to 70-minute mark where everything seems a bit doomed, it’s dark, it’s cold, the gorgeous main girl is wearing a chic beret and walking in the cold as if wearing that thin coat she isn’t freezing? I believe the only way that is doable is by embodying the rom-com way of life. There may be no real way to prevent hibernation, but perhaps there is a way to turn those deep feelings into the mid-plot of a 2010s movie with Hugh Grant. It’s something essential to the story, something you might dislike but need to go through to reach the happy ending.
I could tell you how I romanticize every little aspect of my life from April to September, but those are things that only fit what is happening at the moment—my moment. Feeling like you’re in a rom-com isn’t just about being delusional; it’s about the vibe. The perfect mood setter: a good soundtrack. Whether it’s what wakes me up when it’s still dark or what I listen to while driving at night when everything feels too cold to touch, this playlist, which transports you to November in New York, makes winter much more bearable. So here it is, the soundtrack to make your life feel like a movie:
LDN by Lily Allen: Anything by Lily Allen can fit in the soundtrack of a good rom-com. Her famous hit “FUCK YOU” was featured in one of my favorites, Love Rosie, and it could be included in this list, but I wanted to show you a new side of her. Have you heard of “LDN”? It has the perfect beat for a stroll. Cheerful, perfect to sing along to.
Way Back Into Love by Hugh Grant and Haley Bennett: Yes, this is the song Drew Barrymore and Hugh Grant write in Music and Lyrics, and lately I’ve been obsessed with it. The beginning piano, the two voices in duet, when she sings “I’ve been searching but I just don’t see the signs”—poetry.
You’re So Vain by Carly Simon: The perfect karaoke song. When feeling resentful toward that guy who ghosted you for no reason? Thinking about that egomaniac ex during mercury retrograde? This song works like therapy
Chau by No Te Va Gustar and Julieta Venegas
Freedom! ‘90 by George Michael: This song feels like that one Nicole Kidman paparazzi shot after divorcing Tom Cruise. No explanation needed.
Stay by Jackson Browne (Live version)
Stronger Than Me by Amy Winehouse: I could have chosen any other Amy song. Like Lily Allen, her songs feel tailor-made to fit into one’s routine. Her voice, a bridge to other dimensions. Soulful like no other, she will always give me goosebumps.
Girls & Boys by Blur: Having an agitated week? When work is piling up, you are running around carrying a million things, and the streets feel like a jungle. This is the song.
Thank You by Alanis Morissette: A rolling credit song for me. Morissette is also another classic choice for a good movie soundtrack. Something in her voice makes everything feel so relatable. It clicks
Algo Conmigo by Andres Calamaro
I Want You to Love Me by Fiona Apple: Maybe I chose this one because it is a personal favorite, or maybe I chose it because truly, how many times have we begged someone to love us during winter?
Non Voglio Mica La Luna by Fiordaliso