As the leaves change color and cold days send you digging through the closet for your favorite sweater, WSUM's Music Journalism Club is ready to help you romanticize autumn. Check out this playlist of songs to help you fall in love – with both the season and the people around you!

Cat Power, Sea Of Love

Gentle guitar chords backing a beautiful voice will always feel like autumn to me, and the voice of Cat Power fits perfectly into a background of falling leaves alongside a cold breeze in the air. The lyrics are simple, but they don't need to be complicated to get the point across. This song is maybe less about falling in love, but the simple, instinctual feeling of just being in love, and the desire to express it. The quiet yearning in her voice sounds like it just has to be taking place in autumn, calling out “Come with me, my love / To the sea, the sea of love”. It all makes me want to follow someone, and fall in love alongside Cat Power.

• Kian Murphey

Jelani Aryeh, Stella Brown 

This song is homegrown and simple, yet still resonates with a level of authenticity that allows the listener to relate to Jelani's experience with love. Listening to this gentle song encourages me to reflect on the honest, emotional, intimate, and messy aspects of love – meaning it is not always easy. I can imagine myself listening to this song kicking and crunching leaves under my boots with a sweater on (and maybe holding a pumpkin spice latte?) – my personal epitome of fall. I've had this song serenading in my headphones, walking to the soft beat of the drum. My favorite line, and the main driving point of the song, is “Stella Brown, I don't know what to talk about” because it highlights love's complexities, touching on this artist's altruistic struggles with talking to the person he loves. 

• Abbey Handel

Earth, Wind & Fire, In The Stone

As the days get shorter, I often feel the need to pay a little more attention to every moment, making the most of each bit of sunlight before 5 p.m. hits. This is never easy; the cold encourages slowing down, and it can feel like an uphill battle to keep my energy levels where I want them. It's times like these where I turn to music with a more focused ear than the woozy summer months, where Bluetooth speakers abound and songs blend into the background. The tracks I listen to in these moments disrupt the silence of cold sidewalks and bare trees, and this disruption lends a unique sentimental power to music; now, more than ever, the mood of what I listen to matters. Given that I'm not exactly trying to feel bad, I opt for more energetic stuff, and the expansive discography of Earth, Wind & Fire is the perfect fit. While Raise! is easily my favorite album of theirs, “In The Stone” is right up there with their best work, and it really smacks you in the head with the whole “love” messaging: “I found that love provides the key / Unlocks the souls of you and me / Love will learn to sing your song, yeah / Love is written in the stone”. I can't help but agree; falling in love with someone, romantically or otherwise, unlocks a level of depth in a relationship that can't be found anywhere else. And what better a time to do just that then, as the air cools down and the sun gets a little more shy, we are driven back into our homes, only to see each other when we explicitly plan for it? 

•  Will Mandel

Sixpence None The Richer, Kiss Me

“Kiss Me”is the iconic romcom ballad to transport you back to a simpler 90's kind of love. It's the perfect amount of sweet and nostalgic to romanticize your fall relationship, or that certain someone you have your eye on. Easily recognizable and cheesy in all the best ways, Sixpence None The Richer delivers with this lovely pop song. Instrumentally, it's catchy and has the notable use of a concertina, an instrument that adds an interestings layer to the classic use of guitar and drums. “Kiss Me” was first released at the beginning of fall as a single for the album Sixpence None the Richer. The whole album screams fall to me, but especially this feel good tune.

• Julia Donaldson

The Cars, Since You're Gone

I always pictured the events that happen in the lyrics of this song to happen in the fall. It makes sense to me–if somebody feels like they're missing another person, it's likely to happen in the fall after they met over the summer. The lyric “the nights are getting strange” also reminds me of how the sun sets earlier in the fall, which would accentuate a feeling of missing someone. From my own experience, this is a very “fall-ish” song as well. The chord progression of this song also just sounds very “fall” to me. It's one of those slow, major chord progressions, and it gives the song a “happy but sad” feeling. The first time I heard this song was in the fall, and I continued to listen to it more and more after that, tying it to memories of falling leaves and chilly breezes.

• Mark Henke

Tracy Chapman, Fast Car

This legendary song by Tracy Chapman always has me reminiscing. It is all about escaping a troubled past and planning to move towards something better. That is what I feel like fall is about too, since it's usually a transitionary period filled with lots of growth, from starting a new school year or starting any new chapter in life. The lyrics in this song paints a beautiful picture of driving fast with your special someone, and really captures the true bliss of experiences like these. I picture a road trip in cool fall weather for the setting of this song, where a lover's arm around your shoulder would be nice and warm. The song seems very genuine, and illustrates feeling nostalgia for a simpler time, before the superficial dating app age. Listening to this song also reveals themes of devotion, joy, and the lyrics “I had a feeling that I belonged” and “I had a feeling I could be someone” show what love is all about. 

• Sylvia Reinebach

Pink Floyd, Comfortably Numb

About a month ago, after finishing my first Latin midterm, I sat outside on the terrace with a bag of peanut butter m&ms blasting Comfortably Numb. Nothing could have been more therapeutic – the air was cold and sharp, the lake was subtly whooshing in the background, and the leaves were finally starting to fall off of the trees. Comfortably Numb perfectly encapsulated the chilly, comforting fall vibes. I remember sitting there and not being able to stop smiling. I paused there, absorbing the breeze, sunlight, and music…I think that's the moment I started to feel “in place” here. I really started to fall in love with Madison, the university, and how my life has progressed since getting to college. Whether you're falling in love with someone, your surroundings, your situation, yourself, or the song itself, Comfortably Numb is a perfect fit.

• Triona Lawrence

Starry Cat, Thanks 

Starry Cat always manages to strike a perfect balance. Just as autumn days fluctuate between warmth and winter's chills, this song describes earnest romance shadowed by anxiety and uncertainty. It's something entirely new, perfect for crisp walks outside and watching the leaves change. 

• Claire Borgelt