Love and Flight
Hermia's playlist
Love is Flight
Brave by Sara Bareilles
"Or be the backlash of somebody's lack of love..."
"Say what you wanna say, and let the words fall out; honestly, I wanna see you be brave, with what you wanna say..."
"Fallen for the fear and done some disappearing, bow down to the mighty..."
"Maybe there's a way out of the cage where you live, maybe one of these days you can let the light in..."
"Innocence, your history of silence, won't do you any good; did you think it would?"
(here would mark Hermia arguing for her right to fly)
Sad Song by We the Kings
"With you I'm alive, like all the missing pieces of my heart, they finally collide..."
"So stop time right here in the moonlight..."
"Without you, I feel broke, like a half of a whole; without you, I've got no hand to hold. Without you, I feel torn, like a sail in a storm; without you, I'm just a sad song..."
"You're the perfect melody, the only harmony, that I wanna hear; you're my favorite part of me, with you standing next ot me I've got nothing to fear..."
(here would mark Hermia's need for flight)
Young Blood by Beatrice Miller
"Breaking rules and breaking free, we were questioning the writing on the walls..."
"We've got young blood, can't destroy us, we make our own luck in this world; we've got young blood, no one chose us, we make our own love in this world..."
"someday we could run away..."
(here would mark Hermia's fondness for flying)
Waiting Outside the Lines by Greyson Chance
"Rules and regulations force you to play it safe..."
"Instead of just sitting around and looking down on tomorrow, you gotta let your feet off the ground; the time is now..."
"I'm waiting, waiting, I'm waiting, just waiting, waiting outside the lines..."
I think in this song, if you consider the "lines" to be the laws of Athens of Athens itself, this is really very fitting to Hermia's situation. Rules are preventing her to be with her love, so she has to go outside the "box" or the "lines." And the person waiting for her is Lysander, who's escaping with her. Finally, "looking down on tomorrow" is coincidently when Hermia is supposed to make her choice--of betraying true love or death--which is indeed something to dread.
(here would mark Hermia preparing to fly higher)
To the Sky by Owl City
"Chase your dreams, and remember me... 'cause, after all those wings will take you up so high, so bid the forest floor goodbye as you race the wind and take to the sky..."
"But you can fly anywhere...so take a breath of myth and mystery; and don't look back!"
"There's a realm above the trees... so touch your feathers to the breeze, and leave the ground..."
I chose this song mainly for its concept of freedom and flight, although it also hints at magic hidden in the adventure. And, while in reality they were fleeing to a forest instead of from a forest, in this song you have to imagine the forest (or forest floor) as the city of Athens, and the sky as the woods (or, rather, where they were trying to go, which was the Widow's house).
(as the song would imply, here would mark Hermia soaring higher and higher)
C'mon by Panic! At the Disco and F.U.N.
"It's getting late and I cannot seem to find my way home tonight..."
"What would my head be like if not for my shoulders or without your smile, may it follow you forever, may it never leave you to sleep in the stone; may we stay lost on our way home..."
"C'mon, c'mon, with everything falling down around me I'd liketo believe in all the possibilities..."
"So don't leave me to sleep all alone, may we stay lost on our way home..."
"It could leave, it could leave, come the morning..."
"And if the sun should lift me up, would you come back?"
(the former would mark Hermia taking flight, while the latter would have her "wings" faultering and needing the support of the wind)
Stay Close, Don't Go by Secondhand Serenade
For this song, the context might be a little different from A Midsummer Night's Dream, so I only have one quote. However, this one quote fits into Hermia's story pretty well; it's more of a foreshadowing, but it describes how Hermia wouldn't have wanted for Lysander to leave her, and that she doesn't want to be alone.
(here would mark her "wings" faltering, needing support from the wind)
Nothing Left to Say by Imagine Dragons
"Who knows what's right, the lines keep getting thinner..."
"There's nothing left to say now, there's nothing left to say now; I'm giving up, giving up, hey hey, giving up now, giving up, giving up, hey hey, giving up now..."
"Below my soul I feel an engine; collapsing as it sees the pain, if I could only shut it out..."
This song has a more depressing mood, as it relates to when Hermia realized that Lysander was serious when he said that he hated her now. And, perhaps inside, Hermia was very hurt and might have given up inside... especially when she was lulled to sleep by Puck and acknowledged how bad of a day she had. Also, for the first two quotes, it talks about how long since she's woken up to Lysander's absence, and what morals she can trust now that all that she's known was destroyed.
(here would mark a "crash" in Hermia's flight)
Impossible by Shontelle
"Tell them I was happy and my heart is broken, all my scars are open, tell them what I hoped would be impossible..."
"Falling out of love is hard, falling for betrayal is worse; broken trust and broken hearts..."
"Thinking all you need is there, building trust on love and words; empty promises will wear..."
This song elaborates on how Hermia must've felt when Lysander had betrayed her. She had thought it impossible, but now that she knows it's real it's all she really knows as true, and even worse, she's would be in a state similar to how Helena was: untrusting, wary of promises, and, basically, "broken."
(here would mark a "crash" in Hermia's flight)
Up by Olly Murs ft. Demi Lovato
This song sort of signifies the play's end, and how it might've been for Hermia to suddenly have Lysander back to loving her. Really, the quote about would be from Lysander's point of view, not Hermia's, but I still think that Hermia would listen to this song because it would be directed towards her. The lyrics above, "I never meant to break your heart..." would correspond to Lysander not knowing what he was doing when he was affected by the love juice, and at this time he would be trying to fix his mistake.
(here would be Hermia trying to regain her composure after "crashing")