The Songs Pumping-Up Team USA at the Olympics and Paralympics

SELF Magazine

For many athletes, the right song can help them get in the zone before a competition. SELF talks to Team USA about the music they'll be getting hyped up to at the Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympics.

Transcript

00:00Typically, I'll listen to like sad songs before games though.

00:03And also the songs that me and Maggie send back and forth like Bad Bunny,

00:07J Balvin, like anything like that gets you dancing, but also crying.

00:16I like to listen to very loose songs.

00:19I treat competition day as basically any other day.

00:22So that includes some Taylor Swift, some Selena Gomez.

00:26Maybe there's a little bit of rap in there, but I like songs that keep me loose,

00:29get me bouncy, have me dancing.

00:31That's how I like to listen to music before I compete.

00:34My pump up playlist is actually just an album.

00:37And I listen to the Meek Mill Championships album.

00:41And like when I'm driving to the arena,

00:43I just play it from start until whenever I get there, which I'm in New York.

00:47So it can be quick or it can be very long.

00:50My pump up playlist is called LFG 24.

00:55It's a mixture of a lot of music in there.

00:58There's some rap.

00:59There's some country.

01:00There's some slow music.

01:02It's kind of all over the place.

01:04But usually songs that I can get pretty hyped up to.

01:07I definitely get pumped up to early 2000s.

01:10When somebody plays a banger that you forgot about, you're like,

01:14okay, that's great.

01:14Like old J-Lo or whatnot.

01:16I also just love everybody else listening to.

01:18Okay, so I'm a Gemini.

01:20So I am all over my music playlist and pump up songs.

01:24And it can go from anything and everything,

01:26especially because I'm a very lyrical person.

01:28So I love lyrics and connect to that.

01:30So sometimes my pump up songs are more slower too,

01:34because it's more about the words.

01:35And I don't know about Sia, but she just knows how to hit those words

01:39and speak and empower women.

01:41And from a female voice or a powerful voice, but just empowers me.

01:44And there's so many songs.

01:46I'm obsessed with Halsey and Ava Max.

01:49And I love Alternative.

01:50And I love Red Hat Chili Peppers, Willie Nelson.

01:54Like, I mean, I'm all over the place.

01:55There's one that's like Holy Walking.

01:57I believe it's by Miles Minick.

01:59Bless Me by Maverick City and Kirk Franklin.

02:02And Glory to Glory by KB.

02:04Definitely a lot of just rap music,

02:07but I'll have like some funny ones thrown in there.

02:09Like I love listening to Black and Yellow is a fun one for me

02:12before I get ready to race.

02:13But just like rap music,

02:14I like things that are going to make me feel aggressive.

02:17A lot of Coldplay, a lot of Kygo.

02:1980s, 90s, The Beatles, Ellen John, Billy Joel.

02:22Yeah, U2, all that sorts of stuff.

02:24I actually don't have a pump-up playlist.

02:27One of the things that I've learned about me

02:29is that if my arousal level gets way too high before the game,

02:32that does not bode well for performance.

02:34So for me, I actually try to get away from the music

02:38in the locker room before the game

02:39and just kind of be present,

02:41go through like my visualization exercises

02:43and just stay as calm as humanly possible.

02:46I do not have a pump-up playlist, actually.

02:48I like to just hear the sound of the meat.

02:50Love music, but I'm the friend that love music

02:53and actually never knows the names of any songs.

02:56I only know a few words of the chorus.

02:58Therefore, my playlist skills, very, very weak.

03:00So I just like surrender to the environment.

03:02I listen to the pool, I listen to the chlorine,

03:04I listen to the cheers

03:06and just like really, really be present.

03:08I've been listening to a lot of Disney lately.

03:10I've been in a big Disney phase.

03:12Sometimes like 80s classic rock,

03:14whatever my dad listens to,

03:15and then like Random Country.

03:17Yeah, I'm really basic.

03:18I like Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift, you know, classic.

03:21No big surprises there.

03:23So I feel like all my playlists are pump-up playlists.

03:25The artists that consist on the pump-up playlist

03:28are like Playboi Carti and Yeet and Metallica,

03:31and it's all the way into like classical jazz music.

03:33Sometimes it is like some hard like 90s rap or new rap,

03:36something like that, whatever's trending.

03:38But sometimes it'll be like some smooth stuff,

03:41some SZA, some Drake, some Phoebe Bridges.

03:44Phoebe Bridges was actually my number one artist

03:47in my Spotify rap last year.

03:48So apparently I was really in my feels a lot.

03:52Various songs, I don't know the artist.

03:54There is some Billie Eilish in there that I remember that.

03:57But it's just music that's kind of like girl power vibes.

04:00It kind of just pumps me up for a competition.

04:02I don't necessarily get super pumped up for a match.

04:05If I do listen to music before I go fight,

04:07it's just like either bachata music

04:08or Brazilian funk music,

04:10anything that is specifically four by four beats.

04:13It's because it's the way I fight.

04:15When I'm fighting, I'm literally just dancing around.

04:17I have a playlist I called Good Vibes,

04:19which I share with Ashley.

04:20And we even on bus rides sometimes to games,

04:24we'll airdrop songs to each other

04:26like while we're going to a game,

04:28we'll be like, yeah.

04:29Cause we like a similar kind of rhythmic type song.

04:33Yeah, my playlist pregame is my like songs playlist,

04:37which has everything I've ever liked in there.

04:39Typically I'll listen to like sad songs before games though.

04:42And also the songs that me and Maggie send back and forth,

04:45like Bad Bunny, J Balvin,

04:48anything like that gets you dancing,

04:50but also crying.

04:53Pink and Macklemore are on my pump up playlist.

04:55I love the both of them very much.

04:57Chant from Macklemore is one of my favorite songs.

05:00And so as I am here from Pink,

05:02Kelly Clarkson, a lot of old school rock music,

05:07couple bands that are a little more dear to my heart,

05:10like Bayside.

05:12There's usually like a hip hop

05:13or like a high on tempo type of music.

05:16And I think Drake and I think J. Cole, Kid Lamar.

05:20Pump up music is going to be like animations music,

05:24sometimes randomly.

05:25So I'm just turn on my Spotify and then like do that.

05:30My pump up playlist is the most random playlist,

05:34but it's a variety of like reggae.

05:37And I always say it wrong,

05:38but like Hozier and Sabrina Carpenter and Taylor Swift.

05:42Like those are, it's a very long variety.

05:45My pump up playlist is super different for weights,

05:48morning practice, afternoon practice and competition.

05:50I have like different ones for all of them,

05:52but for competitions,

05:53my go-to songs are Never Be Like You by Flume

05:55and Beautiful Pain by Eminem.

05:57ACDC, Five Finger Death Punch mixed with country.

06:02I know that sounds weird.

06:04It's a complete mix,

06:05but honestly one of my all time favorites is Queen.

06:08I don't know.

06:08Like we are the champion,

06:10things that get you in the mindset of,

06:12you know, winning and being the best really.

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