Just because a song is old doesn’t mean it will trigger nostalgia. If you keep Beyoncé in regular rotation, listening to “Crazy in Love” probably won’t take you back to 2003 every time. But I’ve found a kind of music that’s way more likely to trigger nostalgia: The one hit wonder.

Some parents, I'm realising, are good at mornings. I'm not one of them, but I'd like to be, and I sort of have to be, especially as my kid heads off to kindergarten where there are school bells and real tardy slips.

“Sea chanteys are work songs, so they’re designed to coordinate effort between a group of people doing physical labour,” says video producer Jamison Hermann, who sang them while working on ships at the Mystic Seaport maritime museum. “The saying in maritime historical circles is that a good chanteyman is worth ten sailors on a line” — because he helps everyone pull the rope at once.

Certain moods need soundtracks. When you’re sad, or excited, or making out, a certain kind of music can elevate the experience and lend a grandiose, cinematic quality to your life.

If you have particular music tastes, playing one of Spotify’s prefab playlists doesn’t scratch that itch. You want a custom playlist, first crafted in a few minutes, then honed over years. Here are the five playlists you should prepare for yourself.

Usually when I load up a “biggest hits” playlist, I end up skipping half the tracks. I’m barely skipping anything on NPR’s new playlist, “The 200 Greatest Songs By 21st Century Women+”. Every song is good! Even the country songs! And the lead performers are all women or non-binary.

Highlights include “F**k the Pain Away” by Peaches, “Two Weeks” by FKA Twigs, “Drone Bomb Me” by Anohni, “Soy Yo” by Bomba Estéreo, “Help I’m Alive” by Metric, and “Good as Hell” by Lizzo. There are also megahits such as “Run Away With Me” and “Single Ladies”. This is real singalong stuff.

I used to hate kids. Now that I have two of them, I'm OK admitting that. In my 20s, I went around swearing I would never spawn -- instead, I'd travel the world wild and free without ever having to change a nappy, listen to Barney songs, or pick up half-chewed Oreos from the floor.

If you're trying to remember how to do CPR, but the guideline song Stayin' Alive just doesn't stick in your head, New York Presbyterian Hospital has a 40-song playlist you can browse instead. All of the songs are a CPR-friendly 100+ beats per minute.

Summer is slowly approaching, and as the weather warms up it will soon be time to head down to the pool. This playlist will set the mood for that first party of the season.