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