With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, I thought I’d select songs for this month’s playlist that are all about love. (Check out my other playlists here!) But not in that completely obnoxious, sappy, cheesily romantic way. That’s not my cup of Jungle Juice, ladies.

I’ve never really understood why Valentine’s Day is always only about people in relationships. This is a day about LOVE, not merely romantic love. It should be spent appreciating wherever you are relationship-wise at the moment, be it happily in love/lust, single and satisfied, or going through a break-up with someone you were way. too. good for.

So yes, you will find some love songs on this playlist, like the awesome throwbacks hits of “Ain’t No Other Man,” by Christina Aguilera and “Lost Without U” by Robin Thicke. But you’ll also find those more “therapeutic” songs about love, like Cee-Lo Green’s ex-bashing hit, “F*** You.” And finally, there are songs about enjoying being single, riding solo, and just wanting to be left alone at the bar to do your own thing.

So whether you’re in a relationship or not, know you are allowed to celebrate this year. And that you absolutely should. Make this Valentine’s Day about love lost, gained and/or waiting to be found, and throw this playlist on to help remind yourself that no matter where you fall along the love spectrum this year, there’s a song out there (and on here) that describes exactly how you feel.

Click here for a pre-party playlist you will loooove.

In honor of our undying love for both music and cocktails, we here at CollegeCandy have decided to create a monthly playlist of pre-party music to help keep you in the know of some of the hottest songs, conveniently, while you get your drink on.

And to kick things off, well, you’ll have to forgive me. I’ve been in a kind of “electric” mood for some reason. And by “electric” I mean “computer generated.” But it’s not my fault; music seems to be moving in that direction. And it’s got me worried. Whenever I’m rocking out I can’t help but think, “It’s like I’m being serenaded by a computer.” Mmm… how seductive. How sensuous! Who needs a hot man on an acoustic when you’ve got this sort of sexy, raw, robotic vocals at your fingertips?

Too bad the music is undeniably catchy and perfect to drizink to.

So thanks Katy Perry, LMFAO, Rihanna, Usher, and nearly every other popular artist on the planet these days! Keep diminishing the legitimacy of any actual, pure vocal and musical talent. We don’t care as long as we can dance to it. So with that, we raise our glasses of Everclear to you and all that goddamn auto-tune!

Click here for the (largely auto-tuned) October pre-party jams.

"12 more hours of this? I can handle it. I'm sotally tober..."

You’ve got a big day planned: early morning breakfast, football pre-party, football game, then out on the town with your homies.  18 hours of boozing? Psssssh. It may sound like a lot, but you’ve been training for a day like this since you stepped foot on campus.

You set your alarm for 7 a.m. then run around the house screaming at your roommates to get out of bed.

“It’s party time! Get up!” You turn on all the lights, bump your iTunes and head down to the kitchen for a power breakfast. You search for the carbiest things you can find, then shove a half frozen bagel into your mouth and wash it down with some OJ, the only non-alcoholic beverage you will have for the day. You don’t have time for chewing; you have an outfit to pick out.

Once your stomach is good and coated you head back to your room to prepare for the day.
Appropriate drinking outfit? Check.
ID? Check.
Camera? Check.
Small flask that fits into your purse but can still get past campus security? Cheeeck.

You head back downstairs and begin mixing cocktails for the roommates. Slowly, they make their way to the kitchen where you are waiting for them, drinks in hand.

After everyone’s buzz has been kick-started (thanks to your force feeding), you take some much-needed selfies then head out to your pre-game of choice. Once there, the drinks come quickly: shots of Captain’s straight from the bottle, cans of Keystone straight from the funnel, and 2 games of flip cup…all before 10 am.

You’re feeling good, like a rock star.

“I LOVE DAY DRINKING!” You scream. “This party’s goin’ all. night. long!”

As you make your way from friend to friend, you do your part to make sure everyone is drinking as much as you. After all, you are a day drinking champion and everyone else should be able to handle it, too.

“DRINK, PUSSY!” You shove your half-empty beer can in some guy’s face. “There is no sobriety on GAME DAY!”

You spend the next hour cycling between games of flip cup, trips to the bathroom (because you broke the seal too early), and hazing your friends into drinking more.  Oh, and who can forget, taking lots and lots of pictures. Mostly of you and one of many alcoholic beverages.

Eventually it’s time to start walking to the game. You throw your last beer can onto the ground, hop on some boy’s back and head towards the stadium. You’re wasted and that’s the point; the day has only just begun.

You stumble to your seat and then those early morning decisions hit you. Like a truck. You make it through the kick-off and then the bench you are standing on starts swaying. You try to remain standing to root on your team, but it’s nearly impossible, what with the rocky boat you seem to be standing on. And the cotton ball that if jammed in your mouth.

You take a seat and then the spins begin. It’s only about another 3 minutes before you are calling a friend and begging her to walk to home. You stuff your face with a Jimmy John’s Turkey Tom (no sprouts) on the stumble trek back to your place, then climb into bed fully clothed and pass out (with a garbage can nearby) all before 1 p.m.

You wake up a few hours later, chug a bottle of water and then get back into bed. Your roommates try to rouse you to join them for the night’s festivities, but the thought of alcohol gives you the chills.

You were too quick out of the gates, my friend.  But it’s ok – we’ve all been there.
Day drinking’s a bitch. There aren’t many people who can keep it goin’ all night long.

Here’s a secret: the editors of CollegeCandy are not in college anymore. And we cry about it every day. Seriously. We thought running a site for college girls would help us stay young, but waking up every day and reading about your college lives makes us want to do a keg stand…and then cry in the corner.

When we were still in school (only a short time ago, thankyouverymuch), we took it for granted. The freedom, the endless flow of money into our bank accounts, the drink specials, the endless flow of men up and down the hallways of our dorm… We never appreciated what we had. And now we are in the real world. And it sucks.

We felt it was our duty to remind you how good you have it. Life will never be as awesome as college – you can’t stay home from work because you feel like it, you can’t trip and fall on a cute and available guy, and Thirsty Thursdays no longer exist. So take a moment and think about your favorite thing about college life. Our writers did and here is what they have to say:

Brithny – Duke: The only thing better than the word “sale” is the word “free.” And in college, it means free shirts, hats, stress balls, bobble-heads, Tylenol, trainers, spotters, tutors, and for my wilder friends, an endless fishbowl of condoms.

Amanda – Wagner: I love being able to manipulate my schedule to have Fridays off and, if I can manage, to have my earliest class at 1pm.

Mazuba – Westchester Community College: The freedom to make your own schedule and not have to get up at 5am to be at school at 7:45 like in high school. We all need our beauty sleep and time to recover from the tequila shots the night before!

Charlsie – Hollins: All the sketchy things I have done out of boredom with my best friends. These moments have shaped who I am and my college experience entirely, and I know I will look back on them forever.

Sarah – East Carolina University: College Football! Nothing better than spending all day tailgating and watching the game!

Sara C- Fordham: Living in such close proximity to my friends. Even though I have an apartment now, being in school means most of my friends live in a 3-block radius. And of course in the dorms all you have to do is walk down the hall to see your best friends. Every night is like a sleepover!

CJ – UConn: Drinking while you work.  I can write a paper with a glass of vino in my hand, but at work-work…. not so much.

Donnette – Manhattanville College: Being on my own and still getting money from my parents

Thu – USC: Independence. Doing what you felt like doing when you feel like doing it.

Alex – Lakehead University: The freedom!

Anna – Northeastern: The convenience of everything – the gym, grocery store, cafeteria, classroom buildings, and my work study job are all a 5 minute walk away!

Sarabeth – University of Texas: The 3am food runs.

Elizabeth – UC Berkeley: Game days.  One of the only times where it is socially acceptable to get trashed during the day and pass out by 6 PM.

Liza M – Minnesota: Being able to do whatever I want whenever I want without having to ask (or tell!) anyone.

Johnie – PSU: Knowing I’m in this safe place between high school and the real world…no worries!

Cristina – Michigan State University: Coming back from parties at 4:30am and not getting bitched at.

S.E. Fordham: Being able to go to bars a couple times a week and no one thinks anything of it. After college this is called being an alcoholic.

Carly – Grinnell: The chance to be with friends whenever and wherever. It’s easy to take that for granted until you graduate and suddenly everyone you know is scattered all over the globe.

Liza – Grove City College: Living with all of your best friends!  You never really get to have everyone you like living in the same building after college…

What’s your fave?

So hook up your laptop speakers, bust out your 40’s & get ready to pre-game harder than those other kids party.]

I thought this week I’d create the most obvious pre-game playlist: songs about drinking. Alcohol is obviously a staple in our society, so what better way to celebrate it than by throwing back a couple cocktails while dancing around to alcohol-themed jams? That’s what I thought.

Get your drink on here.

[If you have suggestions for future playlist themes or have a track you really think should be included in a future installment, let us know in the comments!]

So hook up your laptop speakers, bust out your 40’s & get ready to pre-game harder than those other kids party.]

My friends have this joke that I have ADD – but only when it comes to music. I can’t stand to listen to one song for more than a minute. I’m constantly changing stations, pressing fast forward on my CD player, and I absolutely adore GirlTalk. And because I insert and eject CDs at a rapid pace, most of them are scratched. This, of course, causes my friends to yell “RE-MIX!” from the back seat at least once a car ride. So this week I’m bringing you some of my favorite re-mixes, because as much as I know we all have a soft spot for Soulja Boy and Katy Perry and all the other crap they play on the radio, sometimes it’s nice to change it up a bit.

Satisfy your inner ADD child here.

[If you have suggestions for future playlist themes or have a track you really think should be included in a future installment, let us know in the comments!]

So, let’s bring it all out in the open. Right here. Because you are not alone - we’ve all been there before.]

Hugging the Bowl:

You started the evening out with the girls and a few shots of vodka to the tune of Bon Jovi blaring from the stereo. Then you moved onto the party, where you couldn’t not play 10 rounds of flip cup, followed by a game of beer pong. You were feeling good – really good – so you decided to give into the boys and do a keg stand.

After all, you had to show them what you’re made of.

When your feet are firmly back on the ground it hits you: you are totally f**ked up. The room is spinning, the floor is rocking and all you can think about is getting home and dying.

But you don’t want anyone to think you are a wimp (because you’re not!), so you pull one of the girls aside and whisper, “I’m tired. I think I’m gonna go,” which comes out more like, “I’m <hiccup> tiiiired. I <hiccup> mthink I’mgomna <vurp> go.” Your friend offers to go with you.

You stumble home, run straight to the bathroom and strip down to your bra and underwear. Your friend brings you water in the bathroom as you crouch over the toilet and start spitting into the bowl. Your knees hurt already, but you are not leaving the bathroom until you puke, dammit.

Your head hurts. You feel like hell. You are never EVER drinking again. Please God, you pray, if you let me make it through tonight I will never drink this much again. Please god. PLEASE. I swear. No more alcohol. Ever.

And at that moment, you mean it.

You keep spitting into the toilet, opening your mouth and willing something other than saliva to come out. You try pulling the trigger (hey, it works for bulimics!), chugging water, or anything else that just might bring up all that beer.

You give up hope, grab the garbage can and begin to head back to your room when – YES! – it comes. Lots and lots of it. Beer, vodka, and the Jimmy Johns #6 you scarfed down for dinner. Vomiting has never felt so good. You welcome the heaves, celebrate the bile, and as quickly as it started you are done.

You are sweating. There are tears in your eyes, but sweet Jesus you feel great.

You pour yourself a glass of water, brush your teeth, grab the garbage can and head to your room where you quickly pass out.

When you wake up in the morning you feel great, and after some scrambled eggs and toast you are ready to hit the bottle again.

Come back next week for more moments of misery that we can all share. Like all those damn drunk texts.