Of Course, Britney Spears’ Toxic is on the list. It’s on everyone’s list. As the world settles down for a period of social distancing and perhaps the largest work-from-home undertaking ever attempted, how about some tunes to blow away those Covid-19 blues?
That at least is the reasoning of Rita Wilson, actress and wife of the world’s favourite man, Tom Hanks.
And she’s not alone. Last week, even as Wilson mused on social media about the songs she would add to a Coronavirus patient’s playlist, given that both she and her husband have been diagnosed with the disease and so been quarantined in Australia (where they happened to be visiting, not everyone will be forced to go to Australia, relax), others chimed in, literally, with their preferred soundtracks. Spears’ Toxic went viral all over again, while rock and metal lovers stuck to Down with the Sickness by Disturbed.
These two were obviously the most common songs in people’s playlists on Spotify and other music sharing platforms. But there are plenty of others in the mix, with plenty of people using the terrible events unfolding around the world with bad jokes and puns with Travis Scott’s Sicko Mode and Mask Off by Future as well as REM’s It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine) featuring on Spotify’s official Coronavirus playlist.
Wilson’s own playlist features 32 songs with a run-time of little over two hours, with old classics like Eric Carmen’s All By Myself and The Beatles’ I’m So Tired, as well as both retro and modern ditties like Miley Cyrus’ The Climb, Destiny Child’s Survivor and MC Hammer’s U Can’t Touch This. Given that the playlist has more than 5,000 followers on Spotify, more than any other playlist by Wilson, one could say it struck a chord with the people.