Sayonara Cupcake: A Deep Dive

People sometimes ask what exactly Sayonara Cupcake is, and the truth is I don’t have a short answer. It’s music, memories, stories, rabbit holes, old friends, new friends, curiosity, and a community of people who simply love music and respect each other.

A keyword is community. We love music and we support indie artists . We love posting about lots of well known stuff, but so much of what made us who we are were some of the lesser known, but equally as good and/or important stuff…maybe you’ll find something you like here….

Years ago I lost my extensive music collection. By the time I found out, there was nothing I could do about it. And while I had digital backups, what I really mourned were those physical pieces of evidence of who I was becoming. After having my kid, I realized I was sad that there would be no record collection to dig through someday. But somewhere along the way I realized the inheritance was never really the records. It was the curiosity. The stories. The sense of wonder. The breadcrumbs.

This little deep dive is my attempt to explain what Sayonara Cupcake is and why we do all this. Not as experts. Just as fans. And to everyone who ever handed me a mixtape, burned me a CD, recommended a band, left breadcrumbs, or simply shared music with me… thank you…xLV 💗🖤

ATTENTION INDIE ARTISTS

Anuj (@thelegendsofmusic) and I were talking about how streaming platforms are getting flooded with AI-generated music, making it harder than ever for independent artists to be heard. With nearly 100,000 songs reportedly hitting Spotify every day, discovery can feel impossible.

Between us, our communities reach more than 50 million views a month, so we figured...why not use that reach to help?

We're starting an ongoing community playlist featuring independent artists. If you've got an original, non-AI-generated song on Spotify, DM your link to @sayonaracupcake on Instagram. We'll add every independent artist to the playlist—no strings attached.

The goal isn't to go viral. It's to help people discover their next favorite band.

Let's leave some breadcrumbs together.

10 songs recommended by a gen z kid

I asked my 15-year-old Gen Z kid—who already has a wider knowledge of music than I did at his age—if he could give me a playlist with just 10 songs he’s into right now, what 10 songs would he choose?

This is what he came up with.

Some of these tunes I’m hearing for the first time, which is cool. He recently told me Loro by Pinback is his favorite song ever (and it’s one of mine, which is rad). I knew there was going to be some Drake, but there were also a few choices that surprised me and more than made up for it — because how can you be hard when you’re Canadian?! They’re too nice! But he had The Afghan Whigs and Nada Surf! And Smokey Robinson! And Joe Purdy!

The kid’s alright.

So here you go…