Summer isn’t over just yet. Therefore, there’s still room for a poolside playlist to sit at the top of your congested Spotify queue.
But when I say poolside playlist, not just any will do. If you’ve ever stayed at a trendy Palm Springs hotel (and by ever, I mean like in 2021), you know there’s a very distinct, universal vibe to the sounds. There’s really no putting a finger on it, though I guess if we go by what Spotify deemed my Top Genres of 2020, the style would probably resonate with “Vapor Soul,” which I only discovered at the tail end of the year.
That said, I had the pleasure of spending some time at two contemporary Palm Springs-area hotels this year. One was Sands Hotel & Spa and the other was Villa Royale (neither of which sponsored this post, BTW). While both hotels had differing energetic vibes, they did offer similar sound vibes—that have had me associating certain music with them ever since. I, like, can’t un-hear what I now consider the sound of Palm Springs. This definitely isn’t the same sound association I would have had in 2019, and likely not even 2020.
But I love the vibe so much that I made a Palm Springs poolside playlist to transport me back to those tranquil moments—cocktail in hand, cares non-existent. Scroll below for all the tunes I find to be reminiscent of those times.
Need more tunes to take you through the rest of the season? HERE‘s skyelyfe’s ultimate summer 2021 playlist!
