15 Playlists That Will Power You Through Your Day Better Than Coffee

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Music powers my day these days, not coffee, and I'm better for it. For the longest time,  freelance writers have been chugging coffee and energy drinks as they chase deadlines and try to summon their muses at short notice.

But it could be music that keeps you creative and charged throughout the day. If you’re in the mood for new music, check out Spotify playlists that some genius over at the company has pulled together to create a certain atmosphere.

Here are some Spotify playlists that can help you zoom through the day, armed with the stuff that softens rocks, soothes savage beasts and bends a knotted oak (that's what English poet William Congreve says about music.)

How to Find Playlists on Spotify

Before we begin, here's some advice on how to find a fantastic playlist on Spotify. If you don't like any of these lists, you could always seek out your own. Maybe Witch House or Death Metal is more up your alley...

  • Follow your Discover Weekly playlist. It refreshes each Monday, so be sure to save it each week.

  • Build a playlist based on a single song you like. Use MagicPlaylist to help you.

  • Use the Playlist Manager to sort your tracks and create themed lists for different times and moods of the day.

1. A playlist to fill your commute with inspiration.

Your morning commute is probably not the time or place for Amanda Palmer's haunting vocals or Tom Waits' heartbreaking piano ballads. A.M. Commute is a great playlist to start your day instead. You kick off your day with songs that decrease cortisol and get you in the state of mind to dominate the rest of the day. Songs on the list are as varied as alternative Coldplay to hip-hop and R&B from Rihanna and Kanye West.

2. A comforting playlist for Mondays

Some days, especially on Mondays that some people dread, you want a dose of comforting songs from the past. Have a Great Day! Is the perfect list of tracks to tune into on such days, with numbers from Marvin GayeStevie Wonder, and others you'll find comfortingly familiar.

3. A playlist to buffer the initial human interactions at your desk.

There are those moments after you've reached your table but haven't got your first cuppa, when you need music to stop people starting conversations with you. This is the perfect time for the Morning Coffee playlist by a Spotify user. The music skews towards ambient and contains a smattering of melodic, lyrical numbers.

4. A playlist to help focus

Brain Food is the playlist for when you need to block out every buzz and murmur around you and tap into your flow. Tracks are mostly electronic, ambient and bordering on EDM without getting too hot and heavy. I've noticed that repetitive melodic patterns in EDM are very good for keeping you focused on the task at hand without distraction.

5. A playlist to charge you up for a big meeting

Build up your confidence for a big meeting with some hip hop swag from singers like Drake, Kanye West, Nas, and Iggy Azalea.

6. Another power playlist for your workflow

There is nothing like hip-hop to get you feeling like you own the world and for tapping into your confidence. So the Powerblonde workflow is my next recommendation. You don't have to be blonde to tune in. The pop mixed in with R&B and hip-hop will charge you up before a meeting, or even help you crush those tedious Excel sheets, baby.

7. A post-lunch pick-me-up

The Afternoon Energy Boost that we all need comes in a great playlist featuring melodic R&B with some beats to motivate you without shaking the ground too much. Try listening to the mellow tracks on this list whenever you’re out of energy, but can’t bear motivational 'you got it under control' messages.

8. When you need some nostalgia

We all need a good dose of nostalgia when we're tired of being adults, and just wish we were back in the good old days of the nineties. This playlist is for those times. You'll find yourself singing along to the Goo Goo Dolls, Oasis, Smash Mouth, Coolio and Backstreet Boys.

9. When you're lovesick for your office crush

On slow days, when your mind wanders to your office crush and how gorgeous and inaccessible they are, nurse your pleasurable melancholy with this playlist.

10. When you want to celebrate a job well done

This one, aptly called Warm Hearts Feel Good, is for the times when you're thrilled with work that went well. You'd like to do a little dance or open up the champagne. Neither being possible, you can hook up to this playlist and let the EDM masters take you away on a wave of good feelings.

11. When you need motivating

Hate My Job is great when you’re stuck with tedious work and want to vent without bothering anyone else. Beck crooning Soul Suckin' Jerk (Reject) and The Smiths taking the words out of your mouth with "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable" always manage to calm the misery. If you need catharsis on a bad day, this is the playlist for you.

12. For the commute back home

When you're on your way back home and want to forget about work for the day, End of Day Uplift is the right playlist to pull out. It features songs like Heading Home, Into the Sunset, Hold on We're Going Home, etc. You get the picture.

If you’re a freelancer, you get to enjoy not having to commute to and from work everyday! In that case, you could check out this playlist after a particularly rough day with difficult clients.

13. Throwback Thursday

If you want some surprises in the middle of the week, check out Throwback Thursday. You might like what you find. The premise of this playlist is pretty cool. Every Thursday someone picks a theme and builds a playlist around you. You may stumble across songs that you've never heard before, but should have. It can sometimes be hit or miss when the songs don't match your mood. But on the whole, you can look forward to a new bag of surprises every week.

14. Beast Mode Workout

Of course, you can’t forget the mid-morning gym or the run you go for after work. Your preferred music for workouts might be different from the average person’s. Some enjoy working out to soundtracks from their favorite action movies, for example - including Rocky Balboa and DMX. If you’re doing yoga, you’ll want something else. Beast Mode Workout is for those who want to tap into raw energy. These are power songs, and there are more than twenty hours of it. So you can just hit shuffle and let Method Man, Kanye West, DMX, B.O.B., and others pump empowering music into your earphones while you hit the gym.

15. Ultimate Indie Playlist

Indie playlists are great to have saved for when you want inspiration, or to be wowed by great song writing. There are some fantastic new talents in indie music out there, and Guardian Music curates the best of these into this little Spotify playlist. It’s a great rainy day playlist, and can be pulled out on weekends,to discover new music, and bands to follow. It’s also a playlist that often gets creative juices flowing!

Do you have a favorite Spotify playlist to power through the day? Share with us in the comments below!

Posted 9 August, 2017

AliceDBianchi

Freelance Journalist & Reporter

Alice is a Community Correspondent at Freelancer.com. She drifts between London & Sydney.

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