Turns out assembling what's supposed to be a universal list of love songs is such an arbitrary task it's essentially impossible. There are so many songs to choose from. And yet, it's relative. Love songs are so easily ruined. Some songs are written to be love songs but don't feel like love at all. Others remind you of the wrong people. Others remind you of the right people at the wrong times. Some songs remind you of love, but were not written to be love songs in any respect. Therefore in committing myself to creating such a list, I compromised a bit.

I don't expect you to love every song on this playlist. But somewhere in these three hours, there are probably a handful you'll like as much as I do. Anyway, the whole thing wound up as sort of a genre salad, because I think romance transcends genre. The reason for this is that romance transcends—hear me out—love. You don’t have to be in love with another person to want to listen to something romantic. Even if monogamy or polyamory or platonic love all ceased to exist, we’d continue by surviving on the love we feel for other things. Like the way New York City looks from the Q train as it crosses the Manhattan bridge on a Friday. Like the way driving with the windows down feels. Romance speaks for itself. And since I know I’m not the only hopeless romantic in this city I put together a list of songs about love. Because I love them. And I love you, too. Happy Valentine’s Day. xoxo.

—Anna Jube

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