they are just husbands. i am evelyn hugo- A Spotify Playlist

Posted On January 23, 2023

Samantha Colleran, January 2023

With a bit more free time post college graduation, I’m making it a goal of mine to get back into reading. This is perfect for me, since one of my best friends Hannah loves reading and is always willing to give recommendations. I love making playlists and talking about music, Hannah loves reading and reviewing the books she reads, so we took this opportunity to put our interests together! I’d like to introduce you to “they are just husbands. i am evelyn hugo.”- a Spotify playlist inspired by The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, which Hannah reviewed on her bookstagram. I won’t be talking about all of my choices for this playlist (even after posting this my head has been swirling with more songs to pair with this story), but a few are explained below so those who have read it will understand what I’m discussing, and I’m hoping Hannah’s review and my playlist will inspire those who have never read Evelyn Hugo to grab their own copy and start reading!

To make a playlist for a book as exciting and jaw dropping as The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, you need a wide variety of songs; some that people will understand, others that people may not expect on an Evelyn Hugo inspired playlist. When I began reading, the first artist that came to mind immediately was Lana Del Rey; a lot of her music and style is inspired by the 50s and 60s. To me, Lana was the artist to feature. Many people associate ‘Fucked My Way Up To The Top’ with Evelyn as she openly discusses using her body to rise the ranks in Hollywood, but there were so many other Lana songs I felt truly encapsulated Evelyn’s overall persona, which I’ve included in this playlist. Tracks such as ‘Young And Beautiful’, ‘Money Power Glory’, ‘National Anthem’, and others from Lana’s discography make perfect sense for Evelyn and her rise to fame, as well as her relationship with the seven husbands of her lifetime and the only love that mattered, Celia St. James. 

Evelyn is a no nonsense woman who will go to extreme lengths to get the things she desires in life, which made me think of a number of girl power anthems and led me down a Little Mix rabbit hole, as I feel they are the epitome of creating female empowerment songs. Tracks like ‘Power’ and ‘Joan of Arc’ were blatant choices as they talk about being in control. ‘Secret Love Song, Pt. II’ also made the cut for obvious reasons; Evelyn’s love for Celia flows through every decision she makes in her life following her casting in Little Women, and this song perfectly describes what it’s like to want to hold your one true love and not being able to. 

Continuing on female empowerment, I included ‘King’ by Florence + The Machine, “I am no mother, I am no bride, I am king”. Although Evelyn’s one true desire in life is to love Celia St. James and be loved by her, she is ultimately a woman who doesn’t let the pressures of society get in the way of what she wants; she does whatever she can to achieve success and doesn’t allow those around her to get in the way of that. Another song that immediately jumped out at me was ‘Starring Role’ by MARINA. It relates to Evelyn’s marriage to Max specifically, but it can apply to her life in general; as Evelyn says when leaving Max, “You loved having a movie star on your arm. You loved getting to be the one who slept in my bed. That’s not love. That’s possession.” 

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As I was taken through the course of Evelyn’s story, I thought of ‘To Be Loved’ by Adele as an overarching anthem for Evelyn’s desire to get the truth out about her life and what she hoped to leave behind. From Chapter 63, “Say that Evelyn Hugo doesn’t care if everyone forgets her name. Evelyn Hugo doesn’t care if everyone forgets she was ever alive… Say to them ‘Evelyn Hugo just wants to go home. It’s time for her to go to her daughter, and her lover, and her best friend, and her mother.’” On ‘To Be Loved’, Adele sings about taking sacrifices for the things in life that are most important to her, at the top of the list is love. 

I wouldn’t consider myself a Taylor Swift fan, but there is absolutely no denying that a number of her lyrical moments work incredibly well for an Evelyn playlist. That, and the fact Hannah is one of the biggest Swifties I know, it made sense to add her to the playlist. ‘The Lucky One’ talks about a young person going to Hollywood to chase a dream of making it big; while people fawn over the luck it took to get to such high levels of fame, no one acknowledges the sacrifices and struggles it takes, a character like Evelyn fits this song perfectly. ‘ivy’ talks about our narrator falling in love with someone who is not the man she is married to and what would happen if he found out about the affair. The metaphorical lyrics of this person “putting roots” in Swift’s dreamland fit incredibly well when applied to Evelyn and Celia’s love. 

Since this is a VIBING ON VINYL playlist, I threw a few guilty pleasure songs in there for my own sake! ‘Cherry’ by Harry Styles relates to the times Evelyn and Celia spent not speaking and being jealous of the other person being with someone else, while ‘Sweet Creature’ was an easy choice to include after reading the quote “This was my home. We’d never lived here together before. But she knew what I meant.” ‘Everything’ by MUNA, where lead singer Katie Gavin belts about everything in life she’s experiencing reminding her of that one person, and wanting to reach out but never making the move to do so. I added the recently released boygenius track ‘True Blue’ in honor of Harry Cameron and Evelyn’s relationship, “But it feels good to be known so well/ I can’t hide from you like I hide from myself/ I remember who I am when I’m with you/ Your love is tough, your love is tried and true-blue”. 

I could go on forever explaining all of my song choices, but I’ll leave it up to you now to explore the playlist on your own! Feel free to share songs that make you think of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo in the comments, and follow Hannah so you’re caught up on some pretty great reads (especially for my romance lovers, you’ll never complain about not having anything to read ever again)! I had so much fun creating this playlist, and I’m so thankful Hannah suggested Evelyn Hugo to me!