To celebrate the release of his sixth album, Joey Beerman shares a playlist for finding creativity in comfort

“Adam D, you’re my everything / Throw those arms on me / Take your time, please,” New York musician Joey Beerman sings in his ode to zillennials’ collective Daddy, Adam Driver. Released under the recording project Sipper, the song describes phoneless days, weekends spent upstate, and whispered sweet nothings by the famously big-handed movie star. It’s a domestic bliss our recession-destined, Tinder-swiping generation can only fantasize about. Yes, it’s a meme-song, as Beerman describes it, but beyond the wink of the Adam Driver reference, it’s quite a soothing listen.

“I was always scared to sing and show people my music but I thought the song was worth sharing,” Beerman says. “I used that release as an excuse to start Sipper.” Since releasing “Adam Driver” in 2019, he has dropped six albums, with the latest, Pink Songs 2, coming out Friday, July 8th. The album is the product of a year spent away from New York City—and away from social media—with his grandma upstate. “I had the simplest life in the world. I would walk the dog, talk shit with my grandma on the porch, and make Sipper songs,” he says.

Much is made of pushing yourself beyond your comfort zone, but sometimes the best creation is done while fully in it, perhaps in your grandma’s living room. Beerman, a Taurus, loved this lifestyle, but he has recently made his prodigal return to Bushwick. “The last couple of songs [on Pink Songs 2] were recorded in my new NYC apartment where I immediately became obsessed with Instagram again and forgot every lesson I learned from my time outside of the city,” he says. Here, Beerman shares a playlist of songs that restore that sense of safety for him—from Natasha Bedingfield’s “These Words” to Chet Baker’s “But Not For Me.” So the next time you are overwhelmed by social anxiety, the laundry you have yet to do, or generalized dread from any of the myriad reasons we have to be upset, throw in some headphones and imagine the engulfing, tender embrace of Sipper’s first muse.

“These Words” by Natasha Bedingfield
“Natasha Bedingfield singing ‘nothing I write is ever good enough’ is pretty wild but I guess even the G.O.A.T.s get writer’s block. Love to listen to this when I feel like a chump and can’t remember how to write songs. Has perfect early aughts big-pop production. Makes me want to buy a CD player.”

“Blank Space” by Taylor Swift
“Not the deepest Tay-Tay cut but ‘Blank Space’ is my all-time fave. This song is honestly on some very adult shit. For me, it’s about knowing you have just been roasted and will continue to get roasted for the rest of your life and you’re not cool for being emo about it so you might as well let yourself get excited when you can.

“Age of Consent” by New Order
“Total synthspo. Still no idea what this one is about, but couldn’t have more love for a song. Sometimes the song starts, and I say ‘this is cheesy I’m too cool for this’ and by the end, I’m playing air-synth pretending I have an English accent.”

“Trees and Flowers” by Strawberry Switchblade
“My fave happy music/sad lyrics song ever. Delicate-ass guitars and perfectly out-of-tune singing. Didn’t realize for like one year that the lyrics are about being scared by everything and then it became my song.”

“Just Like Heaven” by The Cure
“Not sure if it’s true, but apparently Robert Smith said this is the best song he ever wrote. Really toes the cheesy line and maybe even has one foot in the soft stuff but if you give yourself over to this one you can really live in heaven for like four minutes.”

“Let’s Go Surfing” by The Drums
“Embarrassing to include this one because every Sipper guitar part is just me ripping off the lick here, but it would be wrong to leave it out. This is a perfectly made lil pop song. The lyrics are such a good mix of sarcastic and earnest. Love to listen to this song in the winter and try to remember how it feels to be warm.”

“But Not For Me” by Chet Baker
“An emo-ass song from the 1930s, sung by Chet Baker in his prime. There’s a sick Youtube video of him playing trumpet in his bed in Paris that I love. Cool reminder that people have been feeling like nothing good happens to them for hundreds of years.”

“Transfiguration #1” by M. Ward
“During the early covid days I would sit on the roof and listen to this every morning. Something very sweet and slightly goofy about this one. It was a perfect contrast to the chaos and the nothingness that was going on.”

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