Friday Mixtape: Caitlin McCarthy's mix of female fronted bangers

Animators always tend to have a love/hate relationship with music. Working in one of the most painstakingly time-consuming areas of the creative industry, they are often stuck listening to the same track repeatedly, getting that movement or introduction of a new character just right. Thankfully for Caitlin McCarthy, she still loves it and is taking over our stereo as this week’s Friday Mixtape.

With a vast music taste which saw Caitlin go from listening to My Chemical Romance as a teen through to K-Pop, below she shares her listening tips for whilst working and a mix to get you fully in the swing of working or heading out to the pub tonight!

It’s Nice That: Why have you picked these songs?

Caitlin McCarthy: When I need to go into maximum overdrive, near a deadline or whatever, I like to listen to super fun, upbeat stuff that I can sing along to really loudly and seat dance to. I am very bad at focusing on one thing at a time, so doing home karaoke while working gives me the right balance of energy and distraction to get stuff done. This mix is basically a condensed list of the songs I listen to in that situation. Genre-wise it’s pretty erratic, but they all fall under the big banner of female-fronted pop and they will all put you in a good mood!

INT: When or where should this mixtape be listened to?

CM: When you need an energy boost to get you through an all-nighter, or when you’re walking down the street feeling especially satisfied.

INT: Are there certain albums you listen to during the different parts of your creative process?

CM: Most of the time, I like conspiracy theory vids and true crime documentaries etc as background noise rather than music while working, but when the mood takes me, I will often listen to the same song over and over and over until it makes me sick, so I end up associating certain songs with certain projects. I also have a very trusty playlist of 60s girl group songs that has been a fixture for years and years.

What records did you listen to when you were a teenager?

CM: I am a girl of many phases! I was a hardcore My Chemical Romance fan in the early stages of puberty (fanfics and all), then in my mid-teens, I listened to sad, guitar boy music — Bright Eyes, Elliott Smith, The Smiths, any whining white man. In my late teens I somehow made the massive jump from sad boy music to Japanese and Korean pop. That for sure was my most intense phase to date. I have to say, I am glad, however embarrassing and ethically questionable my extreme Korea/Japan phase was, that it flipped my music taste in general from melancholic angst to energetic, poppy fun.

INT: If a feature film about your life was to be made, what song would be on the trailer?

CM: I think if they were to make anything about my life, it would be a low-rent sitcom. I think the theme song would be Marching March by Halcali because it sounds a bit like the goofy music they play on reality shows when they want you to know the person entering is an idiot.