“Track by Track” is a series where students share their daily musical diets in a Spotify playlist.

Katelyn Worsham has broad tastes in music. The sophomore majoring in theatre and English with a Russian minor is serving as the stage manager for UA Theatre & Dance’s production of “I Gelosi,” which runs next week from Monday, April 9 through Sunday, April 15 in the Allen Bales Theatre. She likes everything from St. Vincent to Leon Bridges to The Moldy Peaches, and during this, a hectic tech week, she’s still finding time to jam. Whether it’s shouting Lake Street Dive (Worsham’s favorite band) songs from her car window on the way to rehearsal or listening to The Walters while walking to class, she’s stepping to her own beat. She curated a playlist of her favorite jams, and she shared below why each one is important to her. 

Another “I Gelosi” player with a knack for playlist-curation is the show’s director, Elizabeth Kirkland, a second-year graduate student in directing. She created a special kind of playlist aimed at getting the cast (and herself) into the zone of the show.

“I share my list with the cast – this is something I do with every show –, and ask them to come back with their answers as to which character belongs to which song,” Kirkland said. “If the play I’m working on at the time isn’t character driven, I choose songs that have little Easter eggs from lines in the show. Oftentimes, this helps me dive deeper into the characters, or the story of the play. It’s also part of my process in finding the unity of the piece I’m directing.”

For pre-show music, Kirkland chose songs from the 1960s, whose aesthetics she related to the play’s setting: 16th-century Italy.

“This preshow music is mostly from the 1960s and although the play is set in 16th century Italy, I found this era to be particularly helpful in what I wanted the audience to feel before the show begins,” Kirkland said. “During this time period, there’s also a lot of English covers of Italian songs and vice versa.”

You can click here to listen to Kirkland’s playlist, and you can listen to Worsham’s at the embedded window below. For more information and tickets to “I Gelosi,” you can visit www.theatre.ua.edu.

“Everybody Wants to Rule the World” – Tears for Fears

This is my all-time favorite song – probably to an unhealthy extent. I think part of why I like it is that it’s not necessarily the most upbeat and loud song, but it’s definitely not a slower acoustic song. It’s a great song for literally any occasion. I play it at every opportunity I’m given. I go for drives at night to clear my head pretty often, and this song is my go-to. 

“The Chain” – Fleetwood Mac

I’ve been on a really big Fleetwood Mac kick for the past couple months. I think I heard this song for the first time in a while while I was watching “I, Tonya” and immediately went home and listened to it. One of my friends told me about the backstory with this song – Fleetwood Mac was having some incredibly dramatic relationship turmoil within the band. Without fail, I think about that story every time I listen to that song. It’s such a good song to get pumped-up to and sing incredulously loud while driving.

“Seventeen” – Lake Street Dive

I honestly would not be surprised if this was my most listened to song since 2014. It’s my go-to jam for most things. This is also the song I use to introduce people to Lake Street Dive, which is my favorite band. Some of my favorite memories in college are driving around with the windows down with this song playing as loud as it can. It’s such a fun song to get hyped up to. They play it every time they come to Birmingham and I think I’ve cried every time I’ve seen it played live. 

“Cruel” – St. Vincent

So, I saw St. Vincent back in November with one of my friends. She had just released a new album and I was beyond excited. She put on such a phenomenal show, and I was absolutely crushed when it was over. I don’t think I listened to another artist for the next month. So, every time I listen to this song, I think back to the super fun concert. She’s such an amazing guitarist/songwriter and this song is such a good showcase of that. St. Vincent has like five albums out, and this song is definitely in the top three of any her songs. It’s a good bop.

“What’s Left” – The Walters

This has been my go-to song on the way home and to rehearsals lately. I found The Walters a couple weeks ago and have been infatuated with them. I was devastated when I found out they broke up back in September. This is my favorite song of theirs. It’s just a fun song to listen to when you’re driving around town or walking around campus. It feels very summer-esque.