Conversation With Fellow Music Lover: Kelsie Herzog

If you have been following along for a while or have taken a moment to skim over previous articles I have posted, you may have noticed that I love interviewing people. Having the opportunity to chat music with artists, music critics, and even just fellow music lovers is one of the most exciting things for me as a music enthusiast.

Recently, I came across a fellow music lover and playlist guru, Kelsie Herzog, and immediately wanted to pick her brain about all things music related. As I started looking further into her social media and Spotify playlists, I was delighted to find that her music taste was similar enough to mine to where I trusted her opinions, but different enough to open up a whole realm of new music to discover. While checking out her TikToks about different playlists she had put together, I noticed that she also offered up her playlist creation skills as a service people could purchase. The thought of having someone put together a playlists specifically for you is already pretty cool, but having someone with such an extensive music taste and ear for music to make one was even more intriguing. I decided to just DM Kelsie to see if she would be interested in talking music with me, as well as sharing more about her gig making personalized playlists, and to my delight, she said yes!

Keep reading for my conversation with Kelsie:

Me: As a fellow music lover, let’s first get a little background on your music taste. How would you describe your taste in music?

Kelsie: “I’m honestly all over the board! I used to be strictly into pop punk, then I slowly grew into loving slowcore. Then once my TikTok page started growing, I kind of developed a love for almost every genre! I’d definitely say some of my favorites are slowcore and some grungy shoegaze.”

Me: Top 5 all time favorite songs?

Kelsie: “This is genuinely one of the hardest questions people ask me, as silly as it sounds! It’s tough to narrow down my all time faves, but right now I’m loving Crab by Alex G, Good Will Hunting by Black Country, New Road, Already Dead by Parquet Courts, Sore by Emily Yacina, and Glue by Crisman.”

Me: Who you you consider to be some of the most influential artists of all time?

Kelsie: “This is another tricky question! The biggest one I can think of within the music scene I listen to is Elliott Smith; I think so many artists nowadays pick up a lot of inspiration from his simple, yet moving melodies + his melancholy lyricism. Another one that’s extremely similar that I feel a lot of newer, niche bands pick up inspiration from is Alex G! I know I talk about him a lot, but there are so many artists/groups that pick up inspiration from his style of writing & instrumentals. Even then, I feel like there was some inspiration from Elliott Smith within Alex G’s music as well.”

Me: Favorite discoveries of 2021? Any new discoveries you’re already excited about for 2022?

Kelsie: “A few of my favorite discoveries from 2021 were Ravyn Lenae, Freak Slug, or Sierra Ferrell! All on totally different ends of the genre spectrum, but still fantastic. I’m not really sure what to expect for 2022, but I’m hoping for new Horse Jumper of Love, Spencer Radcliffe, or Alex G albums.”

Me: Are you more of a lyrics person or melody person?

Kelsie: “I’d definitely say I’m more of a melody/instrumental person — for me, the main thing I always pay attention to is how a song makes me feel instrumental wise. Different highs and lows of a song can make you feel so many different ways and is definitely the first thing I find myself paying more attention to.”

Me: What are your listening habits like? For example, are you always looking for new stuff, mainly listening to classic favorites, listen based off of mood, all over the place, or based on new releases?

Kelsie: “It’s kind of all over the board! If I’m making dinner or driving, I’ll throw on tunes I usually listen to. However, a huge chunk of my time listening to music within the past year has been dedicated to finding new music/artists — I think it’s so important to branch out of what you usually listen to; you’d be surprised of what you can find & enjoy!”

Me: So tell me more about your gig as a personalized playlist creator? How did you get into having that as a side hustle or discover that option?

Kelsie: “I always get imposter syndrome when it comes to this question; I’m not really *employed* by anyone, I just make custom playlists through Patreon! Long story short, when my TikTok account started gaining a lot of traction, I would go on TikTok live often & talk to my followers. So many people requested that I make them a playlist and I mentioned trying it out on Patreon. Ever since March of 2021, I’ve been able to make custom playlists for my followers on Patreon and it’s been one of the most rewarding things I do!”

Me: Can you describe your process on how you start to put together a playlist for a person based on a few pieces of information about them?

Kelsie: “Sure! I first figure out what type of playlist they’d like; it can range from their favorite artists/bands to a specific feeling/vibe or even something completely new. Once I get all their information, I’ll usually start by adding a few songs in their rotation that they already know & love. Then from there, I’ll do tons of research on Reddit or last.fm to find some artists that fit the playlist OR I’ll go through artists I already know and add them to the playlist!”

Me: What are some qualities that make you consider a playlist to be “perfect”?

Kelsie: “A big one for me is if the playlist is cohesive or not; for me, I feel like there has to be a feeling being achieved through a playlist. Whether it’s something sad, something to get you in the mood for rainy weather, or even a genre specific playlist. In short, I love when playlists fit the overall mood it’s trying to go for & each song flows together perfectly to give off that exciting, musical imagery!”

Me: What playlist is your favorite of the ones you’ve made and why?

Kelsie: “So many hard questions! Haha. I think one of my favorites is a secret playlist I made for my subscribers on Patreon. It’s a playlist that encompasses the feeling of the show “Scrubs”, so think lots of late 90s/early 2000s dad rock, alt rock, + some quirky acoustic songs. Every time I listen to it, I feel like I’m the main character in the show & it’s such a warm and nostalgic feeling.”

Me: Do you plan to move towards a career relating to music? Or any future goals related to music?

Kelsie: “I’m not 100% sure! Mainly because I’m not sure where to go next from here; I mainly do TikTok for fun, but am not sure how to take it further as a career, you know? I love being able to share so much music with everyone + making playlists and somehow hope it all comes together soon! I also do photography + take press photos for bands, so maybe that could also take me somewhere in the music industry.”

Me: If people are interested in requesting a custom playlist, how could they go about doing that?

Kelsie: “You can either head directly to my Patreon (www.patreon.com/ kelsieherzog) or you can head to the link in my bio on any of my social medias! It’s a super easy & simple process to sign up; you don’t have to do much on your end besides letting me know the details with your relationship with music & I’ll take it from there.”

Me: Anything else, music or not music related, you want to share that I didn’t ask about?

Kelsie: “Support music curators that you know and love! A majority of us do this for fun & would love to make all of this a career someday — we could use any and all support we could get :’)”

It was seriously so refreshing to simply have a conversation with another music lover and learn about how they view, listen, and understand music. As someone who is also navigating the social media side of being a music enthusiast, it is nice to take a moment to talk to others and learn about how they are applying their love of music to their life and work. Like Kelsie mentioned in her last answer, give support to those music curators! Putting together a well crafted and balanced collection of songs to support whatever type of mood or vibe you are after truly is a skill that requires extensive research and knowledge of music.

Go ahead and follow Kelsie on social media by tapping the buttons down below and be sure to head to her Patreon account to look at the custom playlist options. In the meantime, you can find me digging into her public playlist collection on Spotify!