The second the Rideau Canal Skateway closes and the sun starts coming out, it can only mean one thing: spring and tulip season is upon us.
To help you romanticize your life and enjoy the lovely spring weather, the Charlatan’s staff and contributors have rounded up their spring favourites.
Natasha Baldin: Editor-in-chief, Volume 54, copy editor, Volume 53, arts editor, Volume 52
Spring pick: CODA
For a quintessential spring feel-good movie, look no further than CODA. This 2021 Oscar best picture winner tugs on all the heartstrings while encouraging viewers to embrace life’s gives and takes from both sides.
Seventeen-year-old Ruby Rossi is the only hearing member of a Deaf family, so it’s ultimately a perplexing choice for them when Ruby develops a passion for singing. While her brother and parents can’t hear her sing to know whether she has what it takes to chase her dreams of pursuing music in college, Ruby is caught between helping her family’s fishing business stay afloat as the vital interpreter, or pursuing her singing aspirations.
Perhaps this movie’s greatest strength is that its Deaf characters are all cast by Deaf actors. The result is an authentic, fluid and raw film that offers a glimpse into the rich culture around American Sign Language and the power of language in forming connections.
Bianca McKeown: Arts editor, Volume 54
Spring pick: A Night At The Symphony by Laufey with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra
For me, spring means long walks along the canal, basking in sunlight and looking at all the pretty tulips and spring flowers. No other album encapsulates the joy and hopefulness of spring better than Laufey’s first live album accompanied by an orchestra.
A classically trained artist at heart, Laufey shines best when she sings live, and the album is full of bouncing jazz tunes and airy vocals. I prefer this live album to the original recorded songs, as the orchestra adds another layer of lightness and whimsicalness to the jazz — the power of live music! The album is both shockingly honest and critical of love while also remaining hopeful and expertly capturing the giddy feeling of a new relationship.
My album favourites include “Fragile” for when you’re hit with the spring scaries, namely panicking about who will hire you for a summer job. My other favourites include “I Wish You Love” and “Falling Behind,” which have the perfect upbeat bossa nova walking rhythm for you to outwalk a grandma along the canal.
If you want to romanticize your life this spring and feel like you’re inside a Studio Ghibli movie, then this is the album for you.
Daniel Fraser: Op-ed editor, Volume 55
Spring pick: Field of Dreams
For me, spring always means the return of baseball — and what better baseball movie is there than Field of Dreams? The Kevin Costner-starring flick centres around an Iowa farmer constructing a baseball diamond in his cornfield after a mysterious voice beckons him to build it.
Bit of an odd start? Sure. But underneath it are themes of love, redemption, fatherhood and grief, all tied together as tightly as the stitches on a baseball.
It’s the perfect way to get back into the sport’s mindset as the 162-game season starts anew.
Alexa MacKie: Arts editor, Volume 55, managing editor, Volume 54
Spring pick: Flow
With every spring that rolls around, I usually experience a mix of sadness and joy. Sadness for the slow goodbye to the school year, and joy for the new adventures that summer promises.
Everything about Flow encapsulates that feeling.
Through inexplicably detailed and beautiful animation, the film follows a black cat forced to survive a post-apocalyptic flood that destroys his home. Along the way, he meets an energetic labradoodle, a chill capybara, a hyper lemur and a majestic bird.
As the group sails through sunlight and storms on a rickety boat, the calming music and scenery paired with devastating circumstances make Flow an emotional and uplifting watch. Not to mention the glistening forests and crystal clear waters that evoke images akin to the blossoming nature we see every spring when the snow melts away.
There’s something very special about the small story with big meaning, which became the Oscar-winning, most-watched Latvian film in history.
The black cat learns that there is beauty in resilience and learning to work alongside others, as unlikely as the team may be. To me, those lessons perfectly emulate the meaning of spring: a time of rebirth, new knowledge and beauty.
Spring pick: Subject to Change by Kelsea Ballerini
If spring is one thing, it’s unpredictable.
Kelsea Ballerini’s Subject to Change perfectly encapsulates that ever-changing, but quietly hopeful nature. On the album, Ballerini switches like the spring weather: warm and happy on one track, then heart-wrenchingly honest with stormy lyrics on the next.
To me, the album’s bouncy country twang evokes spring by reminding me of home, the excitement of the end of semester and the coming summer. But those who don’t get more country as the weather warms can shake off winter with the album’s pop influence and upbeat tone that’s perfect for dancing, whether it be in the spring rain or sunshine.
For the most spring-like songs, listen to “Weather,” “Walk in the Park” and the titular track “Subject to Change.”
Marissa Meilleur: Culture & community editor, Volume 55
Spring pick: Spring EP by Wallows
As the winter’s chill fades into a welcome spring breeze, my music taste shifts from cozy and calm to cheery and tentatively energetic — which is exactly how I’d describe Spring EP by Wallows (and not just because it’s named after the season).
While the band’s 2018 EP projects a relaxed tone, the perpetual electric guitar melodies convey an optimistic, uplifting feel. The fun, light listening of songs like “Let the Sun In” is perfect for spring, whether you’re looking for stress relief during exam season or for a kickstart to the break.
Vivid storytelling in songs like “1980s Horror Film” and clever symbolism in songs like “Ground” are also very fitting for the inevitable nostalgia of spring.
Georgia Looman: Arts contributor, Volume 54
Spring pick: “Strawberry Swing” by Coldplay
Spring, much like this song, feels like a breath of fresh air. The world is defrosting and returning to the glory and sunshine of summer, and “Strawberry Swing” personifies this awakening. As part of Coldplay’s Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends album, this song was released in 2008 but retains a timeless sound that resonates with me every year during the springtime.
Coldplay does an excellent job of perfectly mixing vocals seamlessly within their music, so that both are showcased in the song. It reminds me of the familiar feeling of watching a sunset or having a picnic while enjoying the company of my friends and family. It’s a hopeful song of reckoning and nostalgia, perfect to listen to while welcoming warmer days.
Sadeen Mohsen: Culture & community editor, Volume 54
Spring pick: Immunity by Clairo
Spring, to me and many others, represents renewal, rebirth and reflection. Every year when the snow melts and it begins to get warmer, it feels like another chance to grow as an individual. While realistically, you can do that at any moment during the year, there’s something about watching everything come back to life that makes you want to embody that.
And what better album to represent spring than Immunity by Clairo? The 2019 album is meant to show that she will always be transparent about who she is, the relationships she’s had and the struggles she’s faced. It is an inherently emotional and existential album that urges listeners to keep looking forward beyond who they are now to better days.
“But, I know, know that it’s right to listen to my breathing and start believing myself.”
Janson Duench: Copy editor, Volume 54, sports editor, Volume 53
Spring pick: Send Me On My Way by Rusted Root
With graduation looming, this spring hits a little differently. But with a backing track by Rusted Root, how could one not feel hopeful as they venture into the abyss of unemployment?
In the timeless words of their 1994 hit, send me on my way, Carleton!
David Cummings: Sports editor, Volume 54
Spring pick: Kong: Skull Island
This is the only movie I’ve watched in the past few months. Needless to say, it’s an awful movie, but I have nothing else to work with so this is what you’re getting.
This film is an abomination of tropes, cookie-cutter characters and an insultingly colonial idea of the “other.” One can only imagine that the writers of Kong: Skull Island hate moviegoers. I feel like I’ve seen every part of this movie before as each beat was entirely predictable. I actually watched it in about seven different sittings because I kept falling asleep, and I still haven’t actually finished it.
The only saving grace was how big the monkey was — that was undeniably cool and the only draw of this movie, if we’re being real.
Featured graphic by Alisha Velji/The Charlatan.
