The first song I fell in love with
I remember listening to\u00a0Sweet Dreams (Are\u00a0Made of This) by Eurythmics when I was really young. There was something about the line at the beginning that I was completely intoxicated by.<\/p>\n
The first download I\u00a0bought
When I was about 10 or\u00a011, I would put my headphones on and wander through the park all angsty listening to Fake Tales of San Francisco by Arctic Monkeys, my first download on my iPod Nano. I loved the storytelling, the characters and the gritty tableaux they described: it felt so real, even though it was far away from where I grew up.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The song I do at karaoke The song I inexplicably know every lyric to The best song to play at\u00a0a party The song I can no longer\u00a0listen to The song that changed my life The song I secretly like, but tell everybody I hate The song that gets me up in the morning The song that makes me\u00a0cry The song I want played at my funeral
I inherited a lot of records from my uncle when I was 12 or 13; he let me choose as many as I could fit in my parents\u2019 car. I chose randomly: Sade, LL Cool J, Grandmaster Flash, D\u2019Angelo and Prince<\/a>. Although I don\u2019t do karaoke, hypothetically I would choose When Doves Cry by Prince. There\u2019s something almost unattainable about the way he sings. I would throw myself at it with passion, but not be able to pull it off!<\/p>\n
There are so many, but Superstar by Jamelia makes me happy \u2013 it\u2019s a\u00a0kind of a bubblegum pop\u00a0song.<\/p>\n
My parents had a lot of CDs. My dad was into jazz \u2013 Miles Davis, Charles Mingus, Duke Ellington \u2013 and my mum loved French music and Whitney, Diana Ross, Tina Turner, Janet Jackson<\/a>. I was playing Janet Jackson\u2019s All for You in my dressing room for my crew and everyone was bopping. I feel like you can never go wrong with her. I love her voice \u2013 it softens people.<\/p>\n
Even songs tied to painful experiences, I\u00a0don\u2019t avoid. Fourth of\u00a0July by Sufjan Stevens is heartbreaking. I have to be careful when I\u00a0listen to it, because it brings out so much melancholy about grief\u00a0and loss \u2013 it plunges you into certain spaces.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
There\u2019s so much space in\u00a0House of Cards by Radiohead; Thom Yorke\u2019s voice is ethereal. I discovered it a few years before I wrote Collapsed in Sunbeams, it has the same minimalism to it.<\/p>\n
I embrace the music that a lot of people like, because there must be something that brings us towards it collectively. Like Starstruck by Lady Gaga \u2013 I blast that shamelessly in the car.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve been listening to I Care by Turnstile: it\u2019s happy, heart open. It makes me feel like I\u2019m 16, but the drums are, like: OK, time to get the coffee going and start the day.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Glory Box by Portishead. It\u2019s so piercing, specifically the live version from Roseland theatre. Hearing the little cracks in Beth Gibbons\u2018s voice, she\u2019s baring herself to the audience, it brings tears\u00a0to my eyes.<\/p>\n
Sunday Morning by the Velvet Underground: there\u2019s something so warm about it, it feels soothing, like a new beginning. It\u2019s melancholy but with a\u00a0glimmer of hope.<\/p>\n