If you’re reading this, you hopefully have something nice planned for someone special on Valentine’s Day, though maybe you’re single — a hopeless romantic, or a curmudgeonly loner — or maybe you clicked onto this page by accident. (Great job, if that’s the case! That almost never happens on the Internet of 2024.)

Whatever your reason for being here, congratulations! You’re getting a mini-Valentine’s Day gift in the form of a playlist. Actually, two gifts, because instead of the usual romantic standards, we’ve programmed some surprise finds from soundtracks, those wonderful havens of obscurities and gems. Instead of asking Stevie Wonder calling to say I love you for the millionth time, try the below ballad from his 1979 soundtrack to a documentary about plant life. Queue up these songs and your date will praise your exquisite taste. The rest is up to you.

Stevie Wonder, “Send One Your Love”

Taylor Swift may have just won one more Album of the Year Grammy than Stevie Wonder, but that’s only because after picking up his third Album of the Year trophy, Stevie got strange. His follow-up to for Songs in the Key of Life was Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants, a head-turning soundtrack to a little-seen stop-motion documentary that mixes instrumentals with tough-to-penetrate soundscapes that lack the punch of classics like “Superstition” or “I Wish.” Nestled in the middle of the double album, however, is “Send One Your Love,” a delicate romantic ballad more in line with what fans were expecting. It splits the difference between deep funk and old-world romantic serenade, with Stevie urging the delivery of “a flower from your heart” in place of a dozen roses.

Teddy Pendergrass, “Dream Girl”

If the hateful disco backlash didn’t damage Chic’s reputation, Soup for One certainly ran that risk. Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards curated the soundtrack to this forgotten sex comedy, offering previously released cuts by Sister Sledge and Debbie Harry alongside a few new songs that range from decent (“Rebels Are We”) to quite good (“Why,” a funky number sung by Carly Simon). The real winner, though, is the gorgeous “Dream Girl,” which pairs a lush, string-laden Chic groove with the R&B rasp of Teddy Pendergrass, who recorded the song (and appeared in the film) shortly before the car crash that left him paralyzed for the rest of his career. It’s an underrated highlight for both Pendergrass........

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