I’m not sure about you, but I find it hard to stay on task when I am in a silent environment. When I study, I like it to be silent, but when I’m doing basic school work, I like to occupy my brain some other way. I like to use this time to listen to new albums or to listen to my go-tos. So without further ado, here are some of my favorite albums to listen to while doing school work (no particular order).
If you really want to focus on what you’re doing while simultaneously having some background music on, one of my favourite albums to listen to is Winelight by Grover Washington Jr.. All of the songs on the album are instrumental except for one (the iconic Bill Withers appears on “Just the Two of Us”). It isn’t very long but it’s definitely worth playing on repeat. It’s categorized as a jazz album and is heavy on saxophone (since Grover Washington Jr. is a saxophone player). I personally love jazz and the saxophone, so the experience all comes down to your personal music preference. Working or not, this is one of my favourite albums — it helps me feel calm and encourages me to be productive.
Jaguar by Victoria Monet is an R&B album with a very mellow and laid back feel. This is another one of my favourite albums in general, but I really enjoy playing it while working because it isn’t too distracting and the mood is consistent. Victoria Monet’s voice is extremely soothing and the production of the music and the instruments that were used on this album are glorious. There are features by Khalid and SG Lewis on the album as well (on the “Experience” track). It’s very easy for me to stay on task while listening to Jaguar.
My next recommendation comes in three parts. The reason being that I think that listening to this artist in general is always a good option when doing work (and of course at any other time). Mac Miller. My absolute favourites are his most recent three — The Divine Feminine, Swimming, and Circles. As he progressed in his career and evolved as an artist, he began to take on a smooth jazz/R&B feel as well as experiment with his singing voice. Consistency is also a factor in this recommendation since the vibe stays the same all throughout the albums (individually). His voice is very comforting and soothing and sometimes it’s about listening to the artists that we miss. The slowest most mellow album out of these three would be Circles in my opinion. However, I do need to emotionally prepare myself before listening. These are some of my go-tos while completing any task at all, but I especially enjoy listening when I am doing school work — Mac Miller also calms me down and keeps me motivated. The Divine Feminine has a lot of featured artists so if you aren’t already clicking the album on a streaming platform in preparation to listen, the features might make you want to do so. Bilal appears on “Congratulations”, Anderson .Paak on “Dang!”, Ty Dolla $ign on “Cinderella”, Njomza on “Planet God Damn”, Cee Lo Green on “We”, Ariana Grande on “My Favourite Part”, and Kendrick Lamar on “God Is Fair, Sexy Nasty”. The other albums have no features, but they’re just as amazing.
