10 Years, 10 Songs: A Great Playlist

A Great Idea is turning ten! Over the past decade, we’ve been lucky to partner with communities and organizations working every day to make this world a better place. Now, we’re taking a moment to celebrate the way we know best: with some certified bangers.

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Music has fueled our late-night brainstorms, powered our sleepiest Monday mornings, and set the stage for Shane’s beloved Zoom dance breaks—especially now that we have an official new anthem, We Are A Great Idea by William Nesmith. 

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So for our tenth anniversary, every member of the team picked ten tracks for the lessons, creativity, and personal growth (not to mention the good taste) that got us here. Scroll to meet the songs and people behind A Great Idea’s first decade. We hope you enjoy this mixtape from our crew to you!

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Playlists: The Soundtrack of A Great Idea

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Daniel: 

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“The Greatest Love of All” - Whitney Houston

The first song I remember having any kind of recall of a song. I would have been around 8 or 9 years old when I heard it, and I think it shaped my love of ballads.

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“Make It Real” - The Jets

The first song I was ever obsessed with. I clamored to hear this ballad on the radio and would sing the song with my sisters.

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“Possession” - Sarah McLachlan

I’m not sure any other song is more tied to my self-conception as a young and politically aware homo trying to own his queer desires than this song. The perspective and voice of this song was probably the first influence of me as a baby poet.

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“Special Moments” - Lords of Acid

The words “possess” or “possession” are already a recurring theme here as the opening lyrics are “Possess me!” Heavy guitar-hitting Belgian techno that was sexual, transgressive with a lot of S&M energy, this track was my best friend Manoella and my anthem in the summer of our lives.

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“I Can’t Make You Love Me” - Bonnie Raitt

In my day, quite possibly *the* song for a sad little gay boy working through unrequited desire.

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“Glory Box” - Portishead

While most kids were listening to alternative rock in the mid-90s, I was somewhat late to that party because I was listening to the electronic music of Portishead. I know what “vibes” and mood are in music because of this song. And the Roseland NYC Live rendition has an aural richness that will make you lose your mind!

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“Protection” - Massive Attack ft. Tracey Thorn

My deep love for my favorite group musical act, Massive Attack, started with this song. I first heard it my freshman year at NYU. With the beautiful, plaintive vocals by Tracey Thorn from Everything But the Girl, it’s a perfect song.

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“Dissolved Girl” - Massive Attack

I once dated a bi-curious man, which totally ruined me. He had made a mix tape for me and this song was on it. It’s a pulsating, dark, atmospheric, layered, almost menacing, sonic masterpiece. That led me to the Mezzanine album (my favorite album of all-time), which became the soundtrack for what was my most depressed time of my life. I couldn’t listen to this album for a decade or so until after I got out of the depression, but it still gives me goosebumps and chills.

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“Everything (Big Room Mix)” - Kaskade

AGI founder Shane Lukas is to blame for introducing me to Kaskade about 20 years ago. I was with him at a small club in Greenwich Village, Manhattan hearing Kaskade spin live when I first heard this mix. The confluence of the lyrics, the sound, literally everything, made me want to cry as I danced. It’s this combination of wanting to dance and weep that I find wildly compelling and rare. So far, I’ve only identified maybe 4 songs that give me that provoke those simultaneous feelings, and this was the first.

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“To Be Loved” - Adele

For me, this is the song equivalent to Brokeback Mountain. Utterly devastating, you are not the same person after hearing it for the first time. I know I am not.

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Yara-Nee:

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2015: "Redemption Song" - Bob Marley & The Wailers

This was the year I was thinking about becoming location independent and going fully remote.

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2016: "The Nights" - Avicii 

During this period, I was contemplating doing freelancing full-time. My father also encouraged me to do it. I kept hearing this song everywhere after our conversation until I convinced myself this was a sign to do so.

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2017: "I Can" - Chronixx

When I finally leaped to do freelancing.

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2018: "Lovely" - Billie Eilish and Khalid

I discovered Billie and fell in love with her voice and this song. The blend of violin, piano, and voices is impeccable.

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2019: "Toast" - Koffee

I heard this song for the first time and really liked it. It reminds me to be grateful for the things you have and the people in your life who show up for you when things get hectic.

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2020: "Put A Spell On You" - Nina Simone

I discovered that two of my favorite songs were originally sung by Nina Simone, whom I didn’t know.

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2021: "Crush" - Yuna ft. USHER

I found out about this Malaysian singer years ago, but this song became one of my Sunday cleaning songs. It really gets me in the mood. I also had a little crush on a boy. My neighbors probably got tired of hearing it.

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2022: "Snowflow" - Adele 

I originally sang this song at a Lion King Broadway audition. Since then, it has been my “go-to”  Karaoke song.

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2023: "This Year" - Victor Thompson

This was my manifesting era of all good things.

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2024: "Nina Simone" - Feeling Good

I played this song every time I felt good or when I was feeling down.

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J: 

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2015: “The Ballad of a Ladyman” - Sleater-Kinney

Sleater-Kinney was one of the first bands I got really into—reading zines, old newspaper clippings, obsessively learning about each member—and the first and only “big” concert I’ve ever attended. This song specifically really resonated with my own grief-filled experience of gender. On a night in 2016, I went with bandmates to see them play a show in Indianapolis, a night that was personally epic and devastating and now forever locked in my mind.

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2016: “Slutmouth” - Girlpool

Girlpool is still one of my favorite bands. Their songs—at least the ones made between 2014-2015—are bare, raw, and discordant, sometimes fast and punchy, sometimes so delicate I have to strain to hear. One of my core memories is playing a show with them in 2016 at Al’s Bar in Lexington, KY with my high school band, hoe garden! I have deeply fond memories listening to this album on repeat in a sweet friend’s basement.

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2017: “No Below” - Speedy Ortiz

I listen to Speedy Ortiz’s 2013 album, Arcana, pretty regularly; I really enjoy the sonic layering and that each song sounds distinct. “No Below” really resonated with my sad little high school self, who was navigating a bunch of medical stuff and facing a lot of rejection at home.  They pilot some cool initiatives like a “Help Hotline” for anyone who feels unsafe at their shows. 

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2018: “Pilentze Pee” - Bulgarian State Television Female Choir

I was a little unsure about including this song from the 1975 album, Le Mystère Des Voix Bulgares Vol.3, but it’s a must for me. This song is a little bit of a deeper cut, but the 2nd Volume contains ‘Kaval Sviri,’ the source material for the theme song of Xena: Warrior Princess, my all-time-favorite show. Anyway, in 2018, I listened to this record obsessively.

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2019: “Visit Croatia” - Alabaster DePlume

At this point, I have listened to this song so much I am taking a break from it. The tone of Alabaster Deplume’s saxophone is so warm and golden, but shy and warbling at the same time. One of a few instrumentalists who I actively follow, I especially appreciate that DePlume uses his platform to advocate for Palestinian liberation.

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2020: “Famine” - Sinéad O’Connor

This song about the Great Hunger stands out to me as one of the first Sinéad O’Connor songs I really enjoyed. When I came across this song, it was 2020, and like many young white people I was and still am learning a lot of history about the land I live on, the land I grew up on, the people indigenous to those lands, and the history of my people. She carried silenced history and resistance forward as a torch on the path to a better world. Anyway, RIP Sinéad.

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2021: “Under the Sun” - SPELLLING

Well, first, I love a song that opens up with interesting sounds, and this one starts out with deeper, crunchy, electronic sounds before broadening into a lighter, atmospheric jangly tune. It feels very bedroom-space-goth-opera to me, which maybe means nothing at all. Anyway, I spent many nights in 2021 rollerskating around the French Quarter to SPELLLING’s 2019 ‘Mazy Fly’ album.

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2022: “Cruel Mother - Drokk Remix“ - ØXN

This song, part droning doom metal, part 18th-century Irish murder ballad is the first song of ØXN’s album, CYRM, that marked the revival of Irish traditional label Claddagh Records. This remix, done by Geoff Borrow of Portishead and Ben Salisbury (together, Drokk), is a really attuned and atmospheric collaboration that brought in something totally new to a song I already love.

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2023: “Donkey Show” - Model/Actriz

This song—and a lot of Model/Actriz’s music—is deep emotive, adequately self-deprecating, and perfect for a little wiggle. The lead singer, Cole Haden—major cutie!—exclaims “Yes! Yes! Yes!” over thrashing drums and microphone feedback sounds, and it’s just such a dark, and sexy song! This band is super creative, very chaotic, and is increasingly fun to sing along to as my range deepens.

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2024: “In the Light of the Burning World” - Ragana

Ragana’s music is atmospheric and heavy while striking a careful balance of hope, grief, and refusal. For the sake of playlist decency, I tried to pick a less scream-heavy song. This year in particular was deeply shaped by natural disaster (Helene), deep grief, a lot of life (& gender) transitioning, and a whole lot of disorientation. While living in a time of constant upheaval, genocide, and persecution, I feel like the songs on ‘Desolation’s Flower’ have helped jar me back into a processing state and move forward in a feeling, empathetic, and tuned-in way that makes solidarity and action possible.

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Shane:

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2015: “Spark” - Until the Ribbon Breaks

In a year that was of incredible turbulence taking on the extremes of joy and challenge (that would be the genesis of A Great Idea), this song was my rabbelrousing replenisher when I was taking the subway around New York City.

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2016: “Strange” - LP

I don’t think many singers are able to capture the punch and power of the courage it takes to show up as your full self every day (even the hard ones), and LP’s embrace of the fact that “we are all strange” is then elevated with that “we ain’t ever gonna change”. Exactly. 

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2017: “(No One Knows Me) Like the Piano” - Sampha

A few years ago, I got to see Sampha do a small show in an art gallery where he was exploring new sounds, a landscape so rich in all his work, but this song’s simplicity and honesty just speaks to this relationship we build with our innermost selves and passions. 

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2018: “Malamente” - Rosalia

The song snuck up on me, bringing things I discovered years earlier with Flamenco in the south of Spain to the sultry beats and confident wordplay, yielding an invitation to the dancefloor I can’t refuse.

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2019: “White Noise, White Heat” - elbow

It helps that Guy Garvey is my age, and that each album from elbow is a reflection of an evolving masculinity and so when this gritty, sludgy bass kicks in, I just feel it embodied my own desire to respond to being “born with a trust that didn’t survive the white noise and the lies.”

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2020: “And It’s Still Alright” - Nathaniel Rateliff

The pandemic. A lot of time in the woods with this album. A lot of time telling myself it will be all right even if I wasn’t sure.

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2021: “Stay Alive” - Mustafa

A perfect cut from a perfect album that was an homage to grief, to loss all with an eye towards reminding us that a future is out there for each of us.

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2022: “Bring Back the Time” - NKOTB with Envogue with Salt-n-Pepa with Rick Astley

New life was looking to voices of the past, echoing a nostalgic boom even in my own head as this troupe of talents all gathered together on a bop that shouldn’t be as good as it is.

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2023: “While You Were Sleeping” - Annahstasia

Ethereal delight seemed to be the right space for me to grab more time in the woods alongside the puppies, reconnect with my imagination, and fall back in love with the world.

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2024: “God Gave Me Feet for Dancing” - Ezra Collective tied with “Love” - MeShell Ndegeocello

I couldn’t select one because these two were in constant rotation: Ezra Collective capturing my feet with the latest of their British global jazz sound while MeShell Ndegeocello—of whom I am a lifelong fan and saw twice this year in concert bringing my lifetime total to 7 times—shared an album that profoundly explores the magic of James Baldwin through her musical lens.

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Jade:

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“Don’t Take the Money” – Bleachers

I literally have this lyric tattooed on me because it reminds me to bet on myself, choose passion over the safe option, and take the harder but truer path instead of what's expected.

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"About You” – The 1975

This song feels like falling in love with someone over and over again in every lifetime, and its cinematic quality makes it both timeless and haunting.

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“Birds of a Feather” – Billie Eilish

I love this song because it feels romantic and cavernous, while giving the sense of déjà vu that only comes from feeling like you've known someone your entire life.

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"Good Luck, Babe!” – Chappell Roan

This track resonates with me because of its sharp, jaded energy, along with the constant need to be right while still haunting the narrative, which speaks perfectly to my Scorpio Mars placement.

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"Margaret” – Lana Del Rey ft. Bleachers

I want this song played at my wedding someday, and I often listen to it when I need to make a big decision because the lyric, “when you know, you know”, always helps me trust my gut.

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"Supercut” – Lorde

This song framed a large chunk of my teenage years and still reminds me of a time when I felt reckless, electric, and alive in the most colorful ways.

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"Ballad of a Homeschooled Girl” – Olivia Rodrigo

As someone who was homeschooled and is neurodivergent, I connect deeply with this song because it captures the awkwardness of trying to find your place in the world while stumbling through it all with humor and honesty.

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“My World” – Conan Gray

I lowkey consider this a bi anthem, and I love the playful, defiant tone that makes it the perfect song to scream at the top of my lungs while driving with the sunroof down.

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"Waiting Room” – Phoebe Bridgers

I quote this song’s refrain, “know it’s for the better,” to myself whenever I need comfort, even if I am only half-convincing myself that things will eventually be okay.

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"Clean” (Taylor’s Version) – Taylor Swift

This song always brings me back to myself because it feels hopeful, healing, and like a reminder that it is never too late to start again.

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Celebrating a big anniversary can feel a little surreal and difficult in such a complicated and tumultuous moment. But if the last ten years has taught us anything, it’s that community creativity and a little bit of humor can bring some much-needed levity and hope to help us endure tough times. 

We’re endlessly grateful to our partners, collaborators, and friends who’ve come along for this ride and made this ten years possible. Together, we’ve built something great—and we’re just getting started.

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So, for now, press play and dance with us! Here’s to A Great next ten years.