There’s an awful lot of peer pressure to go out and get shit faced on NYE. But maybe you’re not a fan of crowds or already feel too tender after the Christmas break. Perhaps you just love early mornings or would prefer to stay in and be creative.
Whatever it is, we hear you and have put together the ultimate anti-party party playlist. At this time of year, the disinclination to socialise and get plastered can make you feel like a cantankerous party pooper. Let the songs on this list reassure you that it’s perfectly acceptable to stay in.
‘Pressure to Party’ by Julia Jacklin
Not many positives can come from being forced somewhere against your will, in a sullen state of mind. ‘Pressure to Party’, from Julia Jacklin’s excellent 2019 release Crushing, perfectly communicates this feeling.
“Pressure to party, gonna stay in/Nothing good can come from me drinking.”
‘! (The Song Formerly Known As)’ by Regurgitator
This song absolutely pops at a party. Taken from the ‘Gurge’s 1997 LP Unit, it’s a blatant homage to Prince’s sleazier side. However, aesthetics can be deceiving, and singer Quan Yeomans spends the song detailing his disinterest in partying.
“I don’t go to parties baby, because people tend to freak me out,” the song begins. Yeomans’ preference? To dance in “ugly pants in the comfort of a lounge room in suburbia” with his lover.
‘Nobody Really Cares If You Don’t Go To The Party’ by Courtney Barnett
Courtney Barnett’s chorus lyrics echo a feeling I’m sure we’ve all experienced on the cusp of a long-planned night out. “I wanna go out, but I wanna stay home.”
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You know you should be social, but jeez you’d love to sit this one out. As Barnett puts it, “I’d rather stay in bed with the rain over my head/Than have to pick my brain up off of the floor.”
‘Dance To This’ by Troye Sivan ft. Ariana Grande
‘Dance to This’ is an understated gem from Troye Sivan’s debut record Bloom. It’s a lusty paean to young love that suggests you and your dearest will have way more fun by skipping the noise of the outside world.
“You know we’ve already seen all of the parties.”
‘Downward Spiral’ by Danny Brown
As its title suggests, Danny Brown’s ‘Downward Spiral’ doesn’t paint a pretty picture. It’s a missive from someone who’s been partying too hard, for too long and has lost track of what makes getting fucked up so desirable.
“Smoking blunt after blunt, ’til my eyes burning/Hennessy straight got my chest like a furnace/Drowning frustrations in a ocean of sin.”
Over a woozy, jazzy instrumental, Brown is at his best, cautioning anyone on a Christmas-NYE bender to take care.
‘Here’ by Alessia Cara
If you’re looking for something in particular – to make new friends and possibly a new lover; to get tipsy and dance your butt off – parties can obviously be a gas. But parties can often be overwhelming, too.
The scene Alessia Cara describes in ‘Here’ is uncomfortably familiar. The party is loud, the music sucks, everyone’s fucked up and boring and she just doesn’t want to be there.
“Since my friends are here I just came to kick it but really/I would rather be at home all by myself not in this room/With people who don’t even care about my well being.”
‘I Like to Stay Home’ by R. Stevie Moore
Lo-fi pioneer R. Stevie Moore has released somewhere in the realm of 400 albums since the late 1960s. How on earth does one achieve such prolificacy? Well, not going out and partying has definitely helps.
In ‘I Like to Stay Home’ Moore expresses his reservations about doing much at all besides staying home and fiddling with his guitar and tape recorder.
“I think I’ll stay home/I don’t care about making any plans/I don’t think about showing up at the dance/Go without me, got enough to do right here.”
