McHuge and Stellar: the Playlist

Sad, hopeful, horny songs for our times

Friends, I’m way out on a limb here. I’ve never shared a playlist for a book before, and the experience of curating this list was sort of terrifying? I mean, I read a lot of great newsletters, and when it comes to musical ones, Alicia Thompson’s comes to mind right away. She has a knack for describing music in a way that’s both technical and emotional, and I’m not sure I can live up to that.

Also, over the year of writing THE RIPPLE EFFECT, I made three different playlists with over six hours of music. When I went to pull the best songs, I discovered . . .

Well, have you ever driven a road that you’ve driven a hundred times before, and all of a sudden you see a house you’ve never seen? And you realize that you’ve been looking left and right at predictable times on the drive, always seeing the same things, and always missing the same things?

Music is like that for me. I love songs that evoke particular emotions (usually sad ones, lol, who are we kidding). I get a certain vibe from the voices and layering. I catch certain lyrics and reliably miss others. Some of these songs on my playlists . . . they are not love songs at all! One in particular seemed to be about church in a way that seemed particularly antithetical to a couple of sad people banging it out in the wilderness?? I played this song over 40 times in 2024! What am I even doing?

It is with this spirit of uncertainty that I present McHuge & Stellar: The Playlist. I have a few words to say about every song, but since it’s an hour of music, this overwriter is going to try to keep it short and sweet. Spotify link at the end! And while you’re here, why not preorder?

MCHUGE & STELLAR

marjorie (Taylor Swift)

It’s so important to establish the vibe of a playlist right from the first song. THE RIPPLE EFFECT feels like a soft, sweet, sad indie-folk playlist, so we simply must kick off with evermore. Granted, this song is about a much-missed family member, but I couldn’t pass it up because Taylor nails the themes of THE RIPPLE EFFECT almost too perfectly. Being kind versus being right, a love that died but didn’t stay dead, coming alive again.

Sunrise (Darren Kiely)

In my head canon, this is the opening emotional image for McHuge. He had Stellar, he lost her, he misses her more than he can say. She’s his sunrise — in a world of people who are only too happy to take what he’s offering for free, she’s the only one who insists on giving him something back.

Orpheus (Vincent Lima)

Don’t worry about the lyrics except the part where he sings It feels real to me now/it felt real to me then. This song feels like it’s all about Stellar and McHuge’s one-night stand (is that a spoiler? It’s on the back cover copy, so I feel like it’s fair game). It wasn’t supposed to mean anything, but it did. It still does. If you’re Stellar, commence panicking like a MFer.

us. (Gracie Abrams featuring Taylor Swift)

This is my index song for THE RIPPLE EFFECT, the one I reach for when I want to find the feeling of this book, and especially the feeling of Stellar when she thinks about McHuge and becomes her prickliest, most defensive and desperate self. Gracie’s voice is so light and silvery, and her songs are so beautifully sad. The lyric I keep rewinding is The pain of, the rain of, the flame of us. It’s a fire that didn’t go out even when it should have.

Vertigo (Griff)

So I tried to make the songs line up with the romance arc, and we’ve reached the point where McHuge and Stellar start having to confront their feelings—and their fears. You’re scared of love/well aren’t we all? The music is so dreamlike and swimmy, exactly like the feeling of falling for someone. Griff makes the most of the sound effects, like the little gasp. Is it pain? Pleasure? Shock? All of the above, I think.

Flight Risk (Tommy Lefroy)

How could I do this right/If I’m such a flight risk? This sonic amuse-bouche is a cut-off scream of What if I’m not enough? Which leads us into . . .

Dive (Holly Humberstone)

Here’s the moment where Stellar tips over the edge. She knows she’s damaged, but not so damaged that she wouldn’t give fair warning. She thought she could resist McHuge, but this is romance, so nope! So I’m told I kill the mood, I only darken every room I’m in/if you can face the facts, go ahead/and, baby, dive in.

Hey Girl (Stephen Sanchez)

For his part, McHuge would totally play the guitar at the campfire and sing this song while studiously not looking in Stellar’s direction. Oh good God, I’m tongue-tied/I’m a landslide when you move. He really is. He really is.

Call It Love (Picture This)

Something is happening, but what do we call it? Do we even know it’s real? In a fake-dating romance, the characters are caught in a mess of their own making. The surer they are of their own feelings, the less sure they feel about the other person’s. Put it in my veins, ahahahaha.

Now I’m In It (Haim)

There is both a euphoria and a panic that come with realizing you’re in love. Haim makes the instruments work hard, especially the eighties-style downsliding synth tones that suggest falling. I stole this song from the soundtrack of Nobody Wants This. I regret nothing.

Ruin My Life (Zara Larsson)

There are some songs that are just so perfectly paced (classic example: Sweater Weather) that you could make an entire shagging tape of just that one track. This song is one such banger (see what I did there lol). God, there are so many reasons they shouldn’t fall into each other’s arms. But you know what? FUCK IT.

Want Me (Stephen Dawes)

YES I put a second track on for when they bang. And what of it? I am very mad at Stephen Dawes for writing such a perfect mix of sharp actions, the feeling of gasping with your heart beating out of your chest, and the one stray thought in a boy’s brain, which is Think I’m falling in love/if you’re asking. Damn you, Stephen Dawes.

May I Have This Dance (Francis and the Lights)

I’m a sucker for a dance. It’s a thing of such promise, don’t you think? It gives, it holds back, and we love it for both. And Francis and the Lights is such a fearlessly weird band. This song is like if Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins had a love child and dressed it in a shredded percussion section, yet it’s somehow . . . perfect?

Long Shot – Mount Pleasant Remix (Transviolet, Mount Pleasant)

Right around now, we’re looking for a sliver of doubt creeping into the picture, a drop of pain in the pleasure. This song is floaty, like a warm wind, but there’s a choice buried in it: Are you awake/Is it too late to be callin’ you up?/Cause I’m afraid/What I gained/Don’t outweigh the love we lost . . . I gotta choose between you or a long shot.

Save My Soul (Jonah Kagan)

Save me, save my soul/Take me, take my bones/Darling, please don’t go/Don’t leave, I can’t be alone. OH NO IS IT THE THIRD ACT?? Yes it IS my lovelies and the worst has come for us. Everything, everything is in the wind.

Save Us (Lennon Stella)

Okay, everyone take a minute, ONE MINUTE, to think. Yes, it’s all fucked up, but that’s at least partly on you, isn’t it? There’s a whole lotta things that we said/Would never get in the way of us . . . but they did, because we let them. And now we have to fix it. (Note: I almost put I Love You Always Forever on this playlist, but this song covered it with a perfect little sample!)

I Would Die 4 U (Holly Humberstone)

I mean . . . doesn’t love feel otherworldly sometimes? Like you’re both immortal and ready to lay down your life? Prince was a genius, and Holly Humberstone’s version is a heartstopping mix of trembling vocals and creaking bedsprings in the intro.

Highs & Lows (Chance Peña)

This is McHuge’s final word. Deep, steady, simple, with a big mellow sound.

XO (Beyonce)

You need a bop to go out on. Something that makes you feel like you just read the best damn romance in a long time. This is so dreamy. Beyonce’s voice is raw like she blew it out screaming someone’s name over the deep humming bass. Perfection.

Have a listen, my loves. My advice: don’t worry about the words. The feelings will get you there.

Wishing you every good thing,

Maggie