Just me in one of my favorite dresses along with my favorite necklace, accompanied by a new nose ring gifted to me on Mother’s Day from my bestie 🥰💗😘✨ as always, sending lots of love & light to any that need it 🩵
not to be so explicit but i think one of iwaizumi's fave positions is with one of your legs up, ankle right on his shoulder by his ear as he keeps one arm wrapped around your calf and his other hand splayed on your stomach 🙂
Been tinkering at this playlist that is less, music-to-play-game-to and more, music-to-think-about-game (though I've done both and I liked it but... well.) I'm feeling a little shy about it and also, yolo i guess! I had a lot of fun making and curating this, I hope it's enjoyable on someone's journey!
Tracklist, playlist, and explanations under the cut.
It’s Only a Paper Moon – Nat King Cole
“It is only a paper moon sailing over a cardboard sea. But it wouldn’t be make-believe if you believe in me.”
A nice little bootup into the simulation. Does it matter if it’s real or not?
Dream Sweet in Sea Major – Miracle Musical
“It feels like flying, but maybe we’re dying.”
A big fan of this album, but this song feeling the most NMS. I also get distinct @localsloth vibes here (space whales!!) so I think of this as your theme song, apologies for projecting.
The Stars – Jukebox the Ghost
“The ghost of someone else’s dream, a forgotten god stopping by to survey the scene”
“What if we were created to gaze at the stars up above?”
I imagine this as a sort of tongue in cheek Traveler folk song, with a little dash of Hope. The whole thing just feels very Atlas Path.
Also just one of my favorite songs of all time so I’m glad it could fit on here.
Pájaros – Café Tacvba
“Un pájaro en el cielo atravesó. Estaba yo dormido, ya mi cuerpo despertó. Como una luz fugaz se deslizó. Alcanzo las estrellas y entre ellas se perdió.”
“[A bird flew in the sky. I was asleep, now my body has awakened. Like a fleeting light it glided by. It reached the stars and was lost among them.]”
Birds! It me! Also loneliness and hope, and an uplifting feeling in these notes.
Monday Girl from a Sunday Planet – Nunco Band
“오늘밤에는 난 어디로든지 가요. 아침에 나가서 돌아오지 않는 곳으로. 오늘밤에는 난.
어디로든 어디든 가요. 월요일로 가는 길을 벗어나서 어딘가로. 출근해야 해. 다시 태어나. 어떻게든 일어나야 해. 선데이 행성에서 온 먼데이걸 예.”
“[Tonight I'm going somewhere. Leaving in the morning. To a place of no return. Tonight I'm going anywhere, anywhere. Getting off the road to Monday and going somewhere.
I have to go to work. I'm reborn. I have to get up somehow. Monday Girl from Planet Sunday.]”
TBH this is just me playing late when I’m frustrated with what I have to work on the next day lol.
The Trouble with Flying – Orba Squara
“That’s the trouble of flying up, is you’re riskin’ a fall back down. But if you don’t even try your wings, do you really have anything?”
A song about exploring, doing your best, and helping others. Also, starship vibes. ALSO, Apollo vibes in the Artemis Path. (Oof!)
16 CARRIAGES – Beyonce
“16 carriages driving away while I watch them ride with my fears away, to the summer sunset, on a holy night. On a long back road, all the tears I fight.”
Country just really giving Traveler vibes. Starting the game without any guide feels like a strain and a hustle. Not beyond the imagination to picture a Traveler busking this on a space station for fuel some time. (It could be Bayonce. You don’t know what she does in her free time. Get off my back.)
Also obligatory 16 // 16 // 16
Cowboy Take Me Away – The Chicks
"I wanna touch the earth, I wanna break it in my hands. I wanna grow something wild and unruly. I wanna sleep on the hard ground in the comfort of your arms, on a pillow of bluebonnets, in a blanket made of stars.”
Straighten Up and Fly Right – Nat King Cole, Natalie Cole
“What’s the use of divin? What’s the use of jivin? Straighten up and fly right- cool down papa don’t you blow your top!”
Just more Apollo vibes- the term meaning “Do the right thing.” Just KISS it (Keep It Simple Stupid!). I also just imagine pirate dogfights during this song lol
Also how lovely a remix to have father and daughter singing together on a classic. Just so charming.
Stranded – Flight Facilities
“Everything seems to be calling apart, in some technicolor. And oh, I saw you put your soul in the cast, of what used to be our love.”
“When I woke up, nothing was the way it seemed. A body needs torn between the force inside.”
“’Cause I’ve been branded, stranded, holding up these walls. And when she sees, and I know, someone’s got the best of my soul.”
An ode to (by? from?) the Atlas.
Something For Nothing – Rush
“Waiting for someone to come, and turn your world around. Looking for an answer to the questions you have found. Waiting for an open door.”
Another Traveler folk song, specifically about the Atlas Path. I like that it can mean someone who accepts the Atlas – “You can’t get something for nothing,” being the Atlas speaking to the Traveler. Or refusing Atlas, the Traveler speaking to the Atlas.
KID AGAIN – Jon Bellion
“Sun creepin’ up on the window. I left it open, let the wind blow(on me). God, go before me like a pistol. Shoot me to the stars away we go. I am a kid again, I could do anything.”
Imagine waking up on a strange planet with only the purpose of exploring?
Window – PVT
“You’re. My. Win. Dow. You’re. My. I- I- I-“
glassGLASSglassglassGlassGLASS
zeitgeist – THE KOXX
“See that broken throne of a ruined world come on. People carry on everyone’s waiting for something now.”
“Blind king without a crown, grand march without a drum.”
First Spawn vibes. The resurgence after the long wait of the Aeron war. A grand march without a drum.
Wear and Tear – Everything is Recorded
“All the wear and the time and the tears and the fears. Over years, over years, over years, over years. Heavy loaded with dreams.”
“You build your own world, (I’ve been living alone, been here for a while.) You let it all go (being a child, living so wild, so wild, so wild.)”
Another hymn from the perspective of Atlas.
Wandering – First Aid, KIRARA
Just a lovely meandering song, and an excuse to rep KIRARA because, hell yeah.
Eurasian Wigeon – Bird Boy, DJ Cutman
A lot of my NMS playtime since getting settled is wildlife photography. I’ve always been all about birds, and I love the “alien” feel of the bird samples here. Just very paradise planet, camera mode, chillin on a weird world vibe.
Landslide – Gus Dapperton
“I climbed a mountain and then I turned around. And I saw my reflection in the snow covered hills. Well, the landslide brought me down. Oh, mirror in the sky, what is love?”
A song about landscapes, love, and being afraid of death.
((Honestly had the Fleetwood one on here first, but decided to see if there were any covers I liked. This one matched the vibe and point in the playlist so well. I also have another version of this playlist with a cover by Baby Rose as well-Don’t know anything about this artist but I’m definitely blown away. Go listen to her amazing voice.))
Take it from Day to Day - Stan Rogers
“No stranger I to the touch of steel, or the honest fear any man can feel. But I long for dust under my heels and a pocket full of pay. So I’ll take it from day to day.”
I just want to hear a shanty from freighter life okay.
Human – Tank and the Bangas
“Believe in your brilliant body. Believe in faith. Believe in luck.”
“You piece of the creator, you human you. And if you never knew that that was enough to just be. Then you obviously don’t know a thing.”
While we don’t talk about Travelers as human specifically (Except maybe Remembrance?) there’s something so human about survival, about capital, about gathering, about living. Also the bits about the elements just feeling very survival/NMS branded. The Spoken Word feels like a nice segue here.
I Am Water – Choi Gonne
“I am water. I will slowly cover the whole sky you can see. The black clouds bubble up in the moment. Seeking the deep dry ground. (Freedom.)”
They drank the water. glass.
Human Leather Shoes for Crocodiles – Caravan Palace
I hesitated to put a 2nd version of “Straighten Up” on here, and a 3rd Nat King Cole, but I figured it was different enough and felt like a nice loop to the beginning of the playlist. If you made it this far, thank you 😊 Safe goings, Traveler.
You’re sitting on the couch watching TV. You see the door open as Ivy walks in. You say “hey baby!” He says nothing, just sliding off his shoes before walking over to the couch and flopping fully on top of you.
You laugh and card his hair softly. “Rough day?” “The roughest,” he mumbles into your chest.
“And motorboating me is gonna help?” “Can’t hurt. You’re very motorboatable.” He snuggles his face into your chest more, trying to bury himself under your sternum.
“You’re gonna suffocate if you keep doing that, my love.”
He shakes his head, jostling you. “Nuh uh, only suffocate when I’m going down on you.” His head shot up, blue eyes wide. “Can I go down on you. Please please please please let me go down on you and drown there.”
You blink at him. “…are you alright?”
“Need to get outta my head. Please? I’ll take such good care of you. Please.”
And who were you to say no to such a cute face asking so politely?
