Last year my goal was to post a playlist every other week. Clearly, that didn't happen. 

Here's why: 

1. I am terrible at posting anything on here regularly. (Sorry.  Will this year be different? Hopefully?!)

2. I get stuck listening to the same things over and over again. 

3. I ended the year listening to a ton of Ben Howard and Bon Iver. (It was December, and cold, and perfect for sad guys with guitars. 

SO...

This year, I've decided to post a new playlist on a monthly basis. That way you get a longer playlist, that's more reflective of the things I've been obsessed with that month. 

January was a giant mess of overworking myself, getting my creative side up and running again, and a car accident (oops!). I spent most of the month updating this here website -- DO YOU LIKE IT? I do! As well as, taking all of the photos with some of my favorite people. There's plenty of new pictures scattered around here to see, and I'll also be posting more of them here. But these last two weeks I've had to slow myself down. I had the unfortunate pleasure of rear-ending someone on the highway one Saturday morning, and as a result, I've been massively sore and without a car for two weeks now. Luckily it wasn't much worse, but my bank account and my back are definitely not pleased with the current situation. 

I've been doing my best to look at the silver lining of all this though. Because I'm sans-wheels this week, I've been working from home. I kid you not, this week has been the most productive week I've had in MONTHS. Seriously, I've worked into the night almost every night this week. It's great. I love it. I'm not being facetious here. I feel like I've crossed off so many things on my to-do list. How is that possible? (Probably because I don't have to waste time getting ready in the morning, or commuting 30 minutes (an hour really) each way.  

Anyway... 

January's playlist has some notable moments. Eliza (Doolittle -- remember the 2010 hit Skinny Jeans? Well, she's back) dropped Wasn't Looking and it's groovy. That's the only descriptor I'm going to give it. Sorry! I also fell in love with this band out of Alabama called The Brook and the Bluff. They haven't put a lot out yet, but what's available is so worth tuning into. I threw in a little bit of SZA and a touch of Billie Eilish, both are badass babes making real names for themselves lately. SZA was nominated for 5 Grammy's (and subsequently robbed of Best New Artist) and Billie is only 16! But I ended the playlist with Give Hope, a spoken word piece by Anthony Anaxagorou accompanied by Karim Kamar. It's magical and important. Please listen to it. 

August flew by -- a blur of suitcases, cityscapes, and new faces. I spent one a weekend in San Francisco dancing around at Outside Lands, and then popped down to LA a few weeks later to attend Yellow Conference. (Which, by the way, was absolutely incredible and empowering. I'm so inspired to make some changes around here soon.) Somehow we're nearly through September, and it's finally starting to cool down out there. I'm talking one layer of sleeves if we're lucky. But I'll take what I can get. Just waiting for fall to really set in so I can break out my boots! I'm sure we'll be in scarves soon enough though! 

That being said this playlist has been a long time coming. It's been just sitting in my Spotify account since the end of July. It's been in my commute cycle constantly and I thought it was finally time I released it into the wild. 

This is probably the longest playlist I've shared with you all. It's nearly 2.5 hours long, and while it starts out slow and mellow about halfway through it picks up the pace. I opened it with some really beautiful covers from Years & Years (Joni Mitchell's 'Both Sides Now'), Ady Suleiman (Bill Withers' 'Lean on Me'), and the Staves (Bruce Springsteen's 'I'm on Fire'). While listening, please take the time to cry a little bit over Amber Run's 'Haze' and Ben Howard's 'Old Pine'. I'd like to think that Jacob Banks' 'Sink or Swim' is the turning point where things start to pick up. Some of my other favorites are Alice Gray's 'Pink Cadillac', Billie Eilish's 'Bellyache' (Marian Hill Remix), and Ryn Weaver's 'Pierre'. Also, I put a few tracks from Dua Lipa in here. Her debut album was the perfect background for summer. She just did a cover of Amy Winehouse's 'Tears Dry on Their Own' with Gallant for Amy's 34th birthday (Can we just take a second to recognize how immensely talented Amy was?). Lastly, I closed the playlist out with Sevdaliza's 'Human'. It's equal parts dope and weird as hell. 

It's March! Well, it's been March for a while, but we're only going to acknowledge it here and now. The sun has finally emerged and I can start putting all my winter clothes away. Thank goodness. I've been ready for spring dresses and sandals for ages (socks are the worst). 

It's been a super exciting week over here. I may have a lot more projects in the pipeline, and I can't tell you how excited I am about them. Stay tuned friends. 

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This playlist has a lot of killer ladies on it, including Gabrielle Aplin, AURORA, Sabrina Claudio, and my girl Eryn Allen Kane (Secretly she's on here twice). AURORA's whole album is worth checking out. She has this etherial vibe going on. I threw in Sylvan Esso's new track "Die Young", because they're always killing it. If you're planning on listening to their old album, may I suggest "Coffee" or "H.S.K.T.". We also need to talk about Stormzy's new album Gang Signs & Prayer. It's so good. He's really picking up steam in the UK, so I would bet real money on him breaking America soon. Then there's "Sunday Candy" from Donnie Trumpet & the Social Experiment, a group led by former Kids These Days members. It's a bit of an older track, but how can you not love a song with Chance the Rapper singing about his grandma. It also features the unreal talent of Eryn Allen Kane, who continues to amaze me and is featured yet again on one of these playlists. 

I hope you have a great rest of your week. Cheers to any upcoming St. Patrick's Day festivities this weekend. I'm off to Oakland on Saturday to see Lake Street Dive. 

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1. Let's just acknowledge it now -- I am the actual worst and should probably never classify myself as a blogger since I'm so terrible at consistently posting. Like, I should probably make a New Year's resolution to put more effort into posting, but I'm just not going to. Soz, babes. I will make more of an effort for you though.  

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2. We also need to acknowledge that it's pretty dope that this is Weekender | V.13 and I'm posting it on Friday the 13th. (Also, considering getting another piercing, because it's cheap and why not?)

3. Today, I went to my local Creative Mornings meet up where I drank all the coffee, and am now very caffeinated. If there's a group in your city, I highly recommend attending their next event. It's a great way to meet other local creatives, hear an interesting lecture, and find some inspiration for your Friday. Today's take away from writer Melody Stone (@Melody_Stone) is "Don't discount that 'What the Fuck' moment." 

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4. This playlist is just a collection of artists I've been obsessed with for the last few weeks. Sinead Harnett's whole EP has been on repeat constantly. Her track "No Other Way" was on my very first Weekender. Basically, I just think the sun shines out of her face, and that there's a strong likelihood we're going to be seeing a lot from her this summer.  Bibi Bourelly's track "Perfect (ft. Earl St. Clair)", is bluesy, and wonderful. Fun fact: she wrote Rihanna's "Bitch Better Have My Money". I'm also obsessing over NAO again. Her song "Bad Blood" was my go to last spring (Weekender | V.5), but her whole album has been on repeat this past week. I'm still really digging Klangstof, Allan Rayman, and JONES, who all have plenty of excellent tracks to check out.  

5. Have an excellent weekend friends! I'll be in search of eggs florentine and bottomless mimosas. Cheers! 

Happy Friday friends! I've been curled up in my bed for most of this last week. I've been trying to fight off all the gnarly germs floating around, but they finally caught up to me. I was out most of the day Wednesday and Thursday. I'm starting to feel more human, but definitely not fully there yet. 

But I couldn't let another week go by without posting a new playlist. Especially since the last few weeks have been inundated with new albums. I tried to grab a few tracks from some of my new favorite albums. It's seriously been a month or so of fantastic album releases. Important new albums to note are: Bon Iver, Banks, The Head and the Heart, Kings of Leon, and Solange. I've been non-stop listening to the Banks and The Head and the Heart albums. Definitely take the time to listen to them all the way through. You'll find your gems. 

Have a great weekend. Hopefully this rain isn't going to get the best of you. 

It's finally Friday!! Let's celebrate!

This week has been busy in the best way.  I'm super excited to be working on a social media project for the office (hence the above gif of my lovely coworker tossing crumpled post-its). Basically, I get to turn my creative on. And as of tomorrow I will be fully moved into my new apartment. 

I was hoping this week's Frank Ocean rumors were true, and this whole playlist could have been his new album. But despite the mysterious video uploaded to his website, the wait continues. 

This Weekender playlist has some jams. I tossed in the new Ansel Elgort (from The Fault in Our Stars) track.  He's been DJing under the name "Ansolo" for a few years, but he actually sings on this new song 'Home Alone'. His voice reminds me a tiny bit of Sam Smith. I'm definitely looking forward to hearing more. The sounds of Eryn Allen Kane are the third track in. For such a tiny person, her voice is massive. The song 'Sunday' comes from her second EP "Aviary: Act II". She collaborated with ThirdStory (from Weekender | V.6) and the harmonies are insane. Another favorite from this week's playlist is 'Closer' by JMR. I've had it stuck in my head for a few days now.  

In case you missed it, Instagram just launched a stories feature. It's basically Snapchat stories. But I've been posting a 'Song of the Day' since Wednesday. So if you need something to hold you over in between playlists, find me @chaosofkyra. 

Next weekend, I head to LA to see the ultimate sob queen, Adele. Please anticipate bawling snapchats, and cheesy friendship photos. 

I kid you not when I say that the last two weeks have been a whirlwind. But what it breaks down to is the fact that I am moving! I'm packing my records, wardrobe, and giant comfy chair and moving to Midtown. My dearest friend Teresa and I have found the cutest apartment in the perfect location. You guys, IT HAS A BALCONY. Picture me drinking all the coffee (and mimosas) on it. We move in at the end of the month... which means, I'm stressing about money, but looking forward to the DIY projects, cooking all the vegetarian meals my heart desires, and many Midtown photoshoots. (Seriously, let me know if you want to go exploring!) 

This weeks playlist is a bit of a mix. There's some bouncy tracks, mixed with a few softer sounds. I'm really excited about James Vincent McMorrow's new album. The first single 'Rising Water' is quite different from the ethereal landscapes he painted in his second album. But incredibly enjoyable. His vocals never cease to amaze me. (P.S. He's equally if not more stunning live. Go see him if you can.) I've also included some songs from a few of my favorite UK ladies: Lauren Aquilina, Gabrielle Aplin, and Nina Nesbitt. Nina's 'Live Take' EP used to be on constant rotation. I had a chance run in with her at a City and Colour concert in London a few years back. She was so lovely to speak with and I'm pleased she's started to release new songs. It's rad that her latest releases have been named after cities, like 'Ontario'. I've also thrown in some artists that were on V.7's playlist. Zak Abel did a collab with Tom Misch and Grace's full album 'FMA' was recently released. Her song 'Boys Boys Boys' is a jam. Lastly, I rounded up the playlist with Ryan Gosling (because swoon), his track from the upcoming movie LA LA Land is so good. I love the whistling throughout it.

Have a wonderful weekend friends. All my love. 

It's been a while since I've sat down to write here. Work has been crazy as per usual. But it's been a really good crazy. I had a chance to offer my knowledge of Instagram to a growing skincare company. It was such a strange thing to be pulled into a meeting just to spend an hour talking about tactics to improve engagement on Instagram. It got real nerdy, real quick. 

This past weekend I spent trying to catch up on things that I've been putting off for the last month or so. I really needed to sit down and work on posts for this blog, as well as fall down the research rabbit hole for grad school. It's only cursory research, I haven't made any real steps or progress towards applying. But it's nice to start considering the future. 

Which leads me to this playlist. It's has tracks from artists I think will really turn heads in the next few months or year. Daniel Caesar comes from the Toronto music scene, and vocally he makes me want to melt. I also really love Zak Abel's song 'Running from Myself'. Australian singer Grace (Sewell) reminds me a bit of Amy Winehouse. Her song 'Hope You Understand' has been on repeat for the last week or so.  Also, did you know Gossip Girl's Penn Badgley has a band? They're called MOTHXR. Check out my favorite track, 'Easy', from their album Centerfold.

Are you listening to anything interesting right now? Let me know below. 

Well, well, well, I've utterly failed to keep up on this. Sorry! I swear I have content floating around in my head. It's just the getting it to the internet thing that I'm having a hard time with. But I do have a Tiny Travels recap coming up. 

In the meantime, here's my most recent playlist. I tried to keep the songs relatively mellow. The new James Blake album is phenomenal.  Both 'I Need a Forest Fire' (with Bon Iver) and 'Points' really stood out to me. So soothing. Last week, Thirdstory released their first EP. They're known for incredible covers of pop songs. Like this Drake one: 

But their new EP is all original. I really love the song included in this playlist, 'Grows Old'. But their song 'G-Train' almost reminds me of the strange theme song from the movie "Holes". I don't really know why, but it does! Another highlight from here is Seafret. Their whole album has been pretty perfect for spring. I tweeted out a live version of their song 'Wildfire' a few days ago. Peep it below. 

I hope you're all having a lovely week (and hopefully an even better weekend). 

honestly @SeafretOfficial https://t.co/4mTsP83eVF pic.twitter.com/MA2R07zmv1

— Kyra K (@chaosofKyra) May 19, 2016

Okay, listen. I've been indulging in some serious guilty pleasures this week. I just found out about this show called Outlander and I've been binge watching the first season (hellooooo Scottish accent swooning). I splurged on a glass of 'fancy' wine at dinner the other night. And I cannot stop listening Ariana Grande's "Dangerous Woman". I don't know why, but I have no shame on the amount of times I've hit replay. 

So naturally this playlist had to start with Ariana belting it. Despite my typical aversion to anything slightly country, I added in Chris Stapleton's "Tennessee Whiskey" because it's been stuck in my head repeatedly for a few weeks now. The rest of the tracks are a pretty mellow collection -- lots of piano action going on here this week.

I tried to post this on Friday, but things got a bit hectic. So here's a Monday Weekender (or Week-Beginner.)

I've been pretty sick the last week or so. It started out as a sore throat and decided to stick around as a full-blown cold. I've spent the majority of last weekend reading and watching the new season of Daredevil (Side note: Can I be Elektra? k. Thanks.)  In the spirit of willing myself to be healthy, I tried to fill this playlist with upbeat jams. 

I like to bump this whole playlist as I drive around running errands for work and I'm not 100% embarrassed to have people hear me sing along when my windows are down. Tame Impala's 'The Less I Know the Better' has been in constant rotation for a few months. The music video is definitely worth watching if you're a fan of strange things and monkey costumes. I really dig the song 'Bad Blood' by NAO (Sorry, it's not a T-Swift cover, but it's worth listening to). 

Hopefully the springtime weather continues to move in this weekend. I have some big brunch plans! Have a great weekend pals. 

Alas, I still haven’t been able to get a serious post up in weeks. I’ve got half a post about a recent San Francisco trip written, and another on deck about at photoshoot with an inspiring local. But I am failing at getting things done. It could be the weather, or lack of sleep, but I need to stop making excuses and start making things happen. Can I hire someone to motivate me? Just a constant friend to text me and be like did you do the thing? No? Fine. I’ll make a better to-do list. 

Meanwhile, I’ve been on a serious Etta James kick. Her song “A Sunday Kind of Love” has been stuck in my head since last Sunday. It’s been a few weeks of jamming Etta James and Sam Cooke on repeat. I’m unashamed of my love for artists of that era. But I’ve also really been digging artists that sounds like they’ve been influenced by Etta and Sam. 

With this playlist, I’ve thrown in some Leon Bridges and Son Little who sound like they’ve taking a turn in Sam’s shoes. There’s also a track from GoldFord who’s album has been playing in the background of my workday for weeks. And of course, Lake Street Dive. Their albums are constantly in rotation. You can probably catch me Car-eoking to them at least twice a week. 

What are some good motivation tricks you have? Share!