(cover art credit)
The two tracks from Safe Travels as an opener are, for me, songs associated with his position as Heart of Zodiark, his sacrifice and return. Many of the songs on here are a little tongue-in-cheek! This guy's got whimsy, when he's capable of it! He is incredibly, devotionally service oriented, which we see in Maker and Theater. The lyrical content here is concilatory, and a little two-faced, and sad: Mithraic's Elidibus knows what's coming, and revels in the duty. "We'll never have to fear getting old," "Come let me adore you, and all your imperfections," "You get used to her bad news." Pulaski is a favorite: "Half empty, half full," my boy is full of dualistic relativism. Also: "Damn, this shit looks like downtown Chicago."

(cover art credit)
No One Dies From Love is the crown jewel:
No one dies from love, guess I'll be the first, will you remember us?" How kind of Tove Lo to just write this song from the POV of Emet "Shadowbringers" Selch, Sorceror of Eld! This playlist started as an unrequited EmetWol deal, hence the fanart chosen for the cover here. Which I love dearly, and I think really represents that fantasy for Hades as he exists in-game! Over time this playlist got a little moodier & gothier as I considered Mithraic's Emet-Selch, and his mishaps with Yisu. Edge of Glory is the kicker. Have you looked at the cover art for Born This Way in the last 5 years? If not, please do.

(cover art credit)
This one wrecked my algorithm for like, nine months. This was my baby. I assembled most of it as I wrote the fic of the same name. It really encapsulates the whole arc of their relationship - taking care of one another in school, settling into a near-decade of mutual pining in a FWB situation, their appointment & marriage, and the tragic end. Favorite tracks on this one: 1950 ("tell me why my god looks like you"), Not Strong Enough ("always an angel, never a god," "I don't know why I am the way I am"), and God Only Knows. This song really became a touchpoint for Hyth, and this cover gets me every time. Apocalypse and My love Mine are goodbye songs, About You is a future echo of his grief, Afterlife and Cosmos are his joy in the sacrifice, and Wasteland, Baby! is their reunion in that cosmos. I love how playful the lyrics are in this context, the gender ambiguity & the confusion between the star and Hades as titular wasteland.

(cover art credit)
If the last one wrecked my algorithm, this one wrecked my brain. The vibes are creepy. The bond is unbreakable. Somehow, they still get along. They're just settled in as a found family of two for the longhaul. I picked songs I thought were tender, and a little sad, and lovely. Ups and downs of the friendship that birthed a new universe. Our little wasp gall. Yay. ^^
Favorite tracks are Basil Noodles ("in small segments, I will fumble and dissipate," "practiced and convoluted"), How I Get Myself Killed ("Oh come when you're called, if this is all we've got to work with, than it's all we've got to blame") and The Kill ("being the reason you were so difficult, but so invincable"). Lover Boy feels like a punchline, but these two had nothing if not humor about it, right up til the end.

This playlist is perpetually under construction, and it bounces around a lot chronologically, but there are some common themes: his adherence to Hydaelyn, his obligations, his role as a combatant, the disconnect he feels between his status as Warrior of Light and his past. He's also a bit of a cocky bastard! We have some ecstatic beats, Do you want my number?, Bad Man, Messages and Wants Needs are all "guess we're doing this now" type songs. I could go on and on about lyrics I love in this one, I have strong feelings about why each of these fit. I'll specifically shout out Ego Death, Debra-Jean Creelman is a longtime favorite musician, if you've listened to the first two Mother Mother albums you're familiar with her work! There's something in this song about boundaries and care that resonates with me, unsuprisingly.

"Now let's take a silly one." Hey, this silly one's still sad! What gives! One day I was out driving and Taylor Swift came on the radio. And I thought, god Anti-Hero would be a funny Yisu song. Let's make an entire second playlist to hold it. Thus the Yisu dancepop playlist sprung into being. I have been utterly unable to fit Hold The Girl into Yisu's main playlist as a song about Iolanthe (and, by extention, Hades), so I'm thrilled it works here. We get a lot more of the same beats from his main playlist, a little more haters-want-to-see-me-fail vibe, and this absolutely frantic gotta-keep-going attitude. We get a creepy interlude with Pjluk which does not have anything to do with a specific jam, into Better in My Memory & Replay wherein he's in full breakdown. Then we throw in a little Kylie Minogue and things take a more uplifing turn through the end of the mix. Hotter Now is directed in Urianger's direction, and Let Go is as much about Venat as it is about Hades.

(cover art credit)
The last two men (?) on earth, or, a girl and the eldritch husk of her dead world. The First's Amaurot not just as an indulgence, but a tool - demonstration, memory home. Twelve-thousand years of resentment and reliance. Coming back wrong. The desperate belief that once we finish, we can stop. "We were tempered." Et cetera. Tracks on here are big & dramatic. Deliverance feels apt for the both of them, "hold on to what you love, give up on giving up, it's a deliverance if you can never change." Meanwhile Survivor's Guilt has bounced around from playlist to playlist for a while. I think there's some mirroring between Elidibus/Emet-Selch and Venat/Iolanthe that the lyrics highlight. Also, I want to give a shout-out re: the art I'm borrowing. Cass knocks it out of the park every time, there is always so much weight & emotion in her work and her expressions drive me crazy. While we're talking fanart, this piece by Mads is also one of my favorite pics of these two. (there's blood!)