I Only Want to Hear Love Songs Mix

I meant to release this one for Valentine's Day, but I was a month late and a hundred dollars short.

Since I truly do always want to listen to corny love songs, though, I still released it now. Who doesn't love love?

The more specific idea was to make a mix on songs about desire. The songs where you don't quite know whether the person loves you back. Basically, a mix built around "How Will I Know" by Whitney Houston. And it's a feeling and genre I know well, because I spent 3 years having a crush on my now-husband before I told him anything (we were friends for years and years before).

I want to do a song-by-song walkthrough for this one, because I'm not joking when I say I always want to be listening to these kinds of songs. (Okay. Maybe not always. But usually!)

1. OMG by Gryffin and Carly Rae Jepsen: This is easily my favorite artist collaboration of all time. It perfectly blends the strength of both artists (Gryffin makes some of the most emotionally affecting dance music of today, and CRJ is the epitome of being in love with love). The breathiness of CRJ when she sings "And when you're gone you should know that you're all that I'm wanting / And I'll always be feeling the same" sends goosebumps down my spine every time, no matter how many times I listen. (It's been hundreds of times so far, and many people have invested in me not dying any time soon.)
2. Ignorant Boy, Beautiful Girl [Richard J Aarden Rework] by Loney, Dear x Boom Clap by Charli xcx: This rework of "Ignorant Boy, Beautiful Girl" got me through a rough time in the summer of 2012. The second drop is one of those that's almost too painfully beautiful to bear. I initially had the song in the set, but then took it out because I felt like it didn't fit. I was going to begin the set with the original version of "Boom Clap" instead and fit "OMG" in somewhere else. But this rework of "Ignorant Boy, Beautiful Girl" felt too important to me, and I wanted to reveal a side of me that hasn't come out in any of these DJ mixes yet. I think both "Ignorant Boy, Beautiful Girl" and "Boom Clap" are enhanced by being mashed up together.
3. Boomerang by The Summer Set: The short answer is that I did it for wordplay on "boom," because that's how my brain is wired. The long answer is that my favorite Summer Set songs are just so happy and in love with love and in love with life that it's hard to deny them a place in such a list.
4. Crazy for You by Madonna: The moment I realized that Madonna could perfectly respond to The Summer Set song, I was so excited. I insisted that my husband share in my excitement and listen to me marginally improve the transition for an hour of practice. Is it perfect? No. It's definitely better if you know how the songs naturally play out to start (the two beat pause is in OG "Boomerang"). But hey, I was hella amused by this, and at this stage, that's what matters. Anyway, "Crazy for You" was one of the anchor songs to build the rest of the set around, along with...
5. Happy Not Knowing by Carly Rae Jepsen: When cooking up a love songs mix, you have to include CRJ. She's the queen of this stuff. This whole set was "How Will I Know" and then 10 CRJ songs to start. It could have easily been all CRJ. But I limited myself to two (you're welcome). "Happy Not Knowing" is exactly the premise: Does he love you? Unclear. If it's a no, please don't tell. Let me keep living in this lovely feeling.
6. Now I'm In It by Haim: My husband and I watch "Nobody Wants This," which is where I first heard this song. "Nobody Wants This" is a show about a crass non-Jewish lady who falls in love with a sweet rabbi. In general, a rabbi having a partner who isn't Jewish is frowned upon at best, and explicitly prohibited at worst. So, it's pretty much a show about my own life (I'm the crass non-Jew, my husband is a rabbi). A conversation I had with my now-husband, who at the time was a friend and just starting rabbinical school:
   Me: You're becoming a rabbi?
   ThenFriendNowHusband: Yeah.
   Me: But does that mean, like, you couldn't marry me, because I'm not Jewish?
   ThenFriendNowHusband: No, as of this year, they changed the rules so you're allowed to have a non-Jewish partner!
   Me: Yeah, so the answer is no, you couldn't marry me.
   That's all to say, the Haim song hits hard.
7. Bad Ones by Matthew Dear ft. Tegan and Sara: This one is perhaps a weird choice for this mix, but I love it a lot and think it's extremely underrated. It's also got one of the best opening lines: "I haven't stolen things in years." Alright, I'm listening! Steal my heart, Tegan and Sara. It's yours for the taking.
8. If You're Serious by The Chainsmokers: One of my favorite newer Chainsmokers songs. I think when most people think of The Chainsmokers, they just think of two dudes who are bros and therefore jerks. But this song reveals that Drew, at least, has a softer side, and I always like seeing that side from Drew. You really gonna tell me you don't love this verse?
   "Give it some time
   And I’ll try to remember my lines
   Watch the way your plans turn into mine
   To match the photo that's stuck in my mind"
   No, you're not, I won't hear it.
9. cliche by mgk: I heard this on the radio late last year (2025) and was immediately bopping along. I was surprised to then look at the car's screen and see that it was mgk, aka Machine Gun Kelly. THEN I went home and I watched the video, where mgk does a whole boy band dance routine. That made me fall in deep. My husband, some friends, and I wound up going to an mgk concert purely around the strength of "cliche" and "Vampire Diaries" (an even bigger bop! an even better dance video!)
10. Pieces of You by nothing,nowhere: I was dedicated to including "cliche," so I figured I might as well do a whole pop punk run. Also, I wanted to include more male voices (I told my husband men didn't typically sing these kinds of songs and he said "no, you just don't like the way they wear it as much" and like, FINE! I checked myself). "Pieces of You" has a very cute video, as well. It's just cute, okay?
11. Hands Down by Dashboard Confessional: "Pieces of You" referenced listening to Dashboard, so it is therefore mandated that we listen to Dashboard. I'm here to oblige. I also really wanted to include a Yellowcard song (I love Yellowcard), but I couldn't make the vibes right. I tried! There are so many good Yellowcard options! But Yellowcard is a band unto their own.
12. Eastside by benny blanco, Halsey, and Khalid: I know "Eastside" is a smash hit. One of the biggest songs of the 2010s. Overplayed and all that jazz. And yet I still find it one of the most emotional songs of all time. It is like "Fast Car": Full of realness and melancholy, and yet you cannot give up on this dream or this desire to be together and make it work. Here are all the forces trying to stop you, here's the fantasy that we can just run away from it all, and yet, and yet.
13. With You by Aly & AJ: I don't have a strong relationship with this particular song. I found it when exploring more options to include in this mix, and I liked it. I remembered listening to Aly & AJ way back in the 2000s and was having fun discovering some of their newer music. Also, I rewatched "She-Ra and the Princesses of Power" recently and remembered that AJ is the voice of Catra. That factoid always gets me. Couldn't not include.
14. Closer by Tegan and Sara: I remember all my indiehead friends being so disappointed when Tegan and Sara made this mainstream-sounding song and found mainstream success as a result. Well, forget that! This is an unabashed bop about desire! A bop! I remember hearing Tegan and Sara say it was a relief to write this song and find success with it because they had started to get really up in their own heads about songwriting. Good! Great! Everyone, be happy!
15. "i like u" by Tove Lo: It is maddening to me that this song is not a certified top-charting club banger. Do you all have EARS? Listen to that melody, to that main riff. LISTEN TO IT! YOU WILL NEVER STOP WANTING TO LISTEN TO IT! Hyperpop stardom right here.
16. Maps [Tommie Sunshine, CID, and Modern Machines Remix] by Yeah Yeah Yeahs: "Maps," but make it dancier. What's there to say about "Maps" that hasn't already been said by Pitchfork and the like? Any single part of it is likely to live in your head forever (the "chiming guitars," the croning "maaaaAAAaaaaaAAAppps," the declaration "wait! they don't love you like I love you!"), and all the parts together makes it a masterpiece.
17. Running Up That Hill [Club Mix] by Elastik Band: I know this is blasphemy, but, this is the first version of "Running Up That Hill" I ever heard, and to me, it's my favorite version (I know! I know! I know!!!). It maintains all the pain and the longing, despite its dance beat. Maybe because of it. It made me think so much about gender back in the 2000s. I'm forever grateful to this song.
18. Run by Lane 8 and Kasablanca: I love this song. I love this song so much. It is excessively beautiful. It came out in the COVID-19 pandemic. I spent all of summer 2020 listening to it. I was separated from my then-partner, now-husband for the summer while he lived in Florida with his parents, and I lived in Pennsylvania with my mom. I listened to this song and thought about how I missed him terribly. About how I missed the world terribly.
19. Funky at Heart by Studio Killers: "Funky at Heart" is, in a lot of ways, a clunky song. But its earnestness makes up for any awkward turns of phrase. Some of the lines are gems ("Love, it ain't easy / And lust ain't no Nietzsche"). Perhaps it's so awkward because true love is awkward at the start. It's mirroring real life. And it has a filthy catchy drop. Criminally good drop, for real.
20. Disaster by Conan Gray: Another song that I found while purposefully looking for songs to include in this mix. As soon as I heard this one, I was like "aw hella! that's a bop!" And it is. I sent it to a friend, who immediately added it to his rotation, as well.
21. Your Love is My Drug by Kesha: I can't go anywhere without my party girl Kesha, okay? The one true Tik Tok is a song by Kesha and also Kesha has many other bops, of which this is one.
22. Your Song by Rita Ora: Another of the songs that I found while looking for songs to add to this list. This is my favorite of the three that are relatively new to me and I decided to include (sorry, "Disaster," you're a close second). It's simple. It's needy. It's a jam. It includes the line "I don't wanna hear sad songs anymore / I only wanna hear love songs," which I made the title of this DJ mix.
23. How Will I Know by Whitney Houston: The song that inspired this whole thing! Literally talking to a friend on the phone who was like, it would be a good idea to build a set around the song for Valentine's Day. Correct, but it's a good time to build a set around this song at any time of year.
24. As Long as You Love Me by Backstreet Boys x You Know That You Love Me by PRIZM: It's a good thing it's impossible to get sick of either of these songs, because I practiced this alone for hours (and I still messed it up a bit! d'oh!). I tinkered a lot with different things, but the main one was whether to have both tracks be playing fully at the end, harmonizing. In a different version, I looped a small part of "You Know That You Love Me" that was less lyrically involved ("ohhhhhhhhh, yeahhhh, know that you love me, know that you love me"). I thought maybe letting them both play naturally was too much going on. In the end, I thought it sounded better, though. I liked the call and response feel of it. I hope you do, too!