Media Contact

Janna Farley, jfarley@aclu.org

December 30, 2021

Whether you’re for a specific bill or against it, there’s plenty of work to do, calls to make, letters to write, legislative coffees and cracker barrels to attend. Sometimes, you just need to jam out to some good music.

While scientists are still trying to figure out what exactly is going on in our brains when we listen to music and how it produces such potent effects on the psyche, studies have shown that listening to music has the ability to pump us up, calm us down and, according to Daniel Levitin, a prominent psychologist who studies the neuroscience of music at McGill University in Montreal, reduce anxiety and stress better than prescribed drugs.

That’s why the ACLU of South Dakota has created a legislative session playlist on Spotify. The playlist is a locally curated list of eclectic songs and includes:

  • “Tubthumping" by Chumbawamba
  • “Oh My God" by Adele
  • "Here We Go Again" by Aretha Franklin
  • “Stop" by the Spice Girls
  • “Superpower" by Adam Lambert
  • “If You're Out there" by John Legend
  • "I Need To Wake Up" by Melissa Ethridge

The playlist is available on Spotify.

About the ACLU of South Dakota

The American Civil Liberties of South Dakota is a non-partisan organization dedicated to the preservation and enhancement of civil liberties and civil rights. The ACLU believes freedoms of press, speech, assembly, and religion, as well as the rights to due process, equal protection and privacy, are fundamental to a free people. In addition, the ACLU seeks to advance constitutional protections for groups traditionally denied their rights, including people of color, women, and the LGBT communities. The ACLU of South Dakota carries out its work through selective litigation, lobbying at the state and local level, and through public education and awareness of what the Bill of Rights means for people of South Dakota