Music Monday – Volume Fifty

1) Kodaline – The One

Beautiful ballad. Simple but effective!

2) Jessie J – I need this

Powerful emotive song from Jessie’s debut album ‘Who You Are’. Originally written for Chris Brown and featured as a bonus track on his Graffiti album, Jessie sticks to his formula despite the key change and some extra nice little ad libs at the end. The piano arpeggios are pretty, the explosive guitar heavy chorus adds sheer power and the lyrics are fantastic. Awesome song.

3) Chris Brown – Don’t Judge Me

I prefer the David Aude remix of this, funnily enough, despite not usually being a fan of remixes. This past week, I have fallen in love with the original version however. Smooth, emotive and a great, great song. Very chilled. Haven’t been able to get enough of this over the past week.

4) Chris Brown – I Love U

There’s something impossibly endearing about this album track from Chris’ ‘Graffiti’ album. Whether it’s the use of an accordion, the incredibly catchy chorus or the sing-song melody, it’s just a great, great track.

5) London Grammar – If You Wait

Haunting, stunning, emotional; three things every London Grammar song tends to be. This is no exception. Absolutely gorgeous.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyVuiZmxm18

6) Fleetwood Mac – Sara

It’s Fleetwood Mac, what’s not to love? Soft, rather haunting with catchy piano instrumentation. Stevie Nicks’ voice is one of the greatest in history.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzKh9q7vvHY

7) John Mayer – Gravity

Perhaps his signature song and rightly so. Blues-y, chilled out and so simple but so damn good. I’ve been able to completely relate to these lyrics this past week. Very cleverly written. The man’s a musical genius. “Gravity is working against me, gravity wants to bring me down.”

8) Ryan O’Shaughnessy – Hold Me Now

Absolutely stunning song by 2012’s Britain’s Got Talent Finalist, Ryan O’Shaughnessy. Big fan of his work and songwriting.

9) Charles Hamilton & Rita Ora – New York Raining

Really liking this right now! Very catchy.

10) Disclosure & Eliza Dolittle – You & Me

LOVE Disclosure. Still an absolute tune. Catchy and house-infused but rather haunting and beautiful at the same time.

Music Monday – Volume Thirty Seven

1) John Mayer – Dreaming with a broken heart

Beautiful ballad from John’s 2005 ‘Continuum’ album. Great lyrics and I love the fact it’s piano based which makes it stand out from John’s usual guitar sound.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1dOE-oeLG0

2) Cage The Elephant – Lotus

Heard this when out the other day and really enjoyed it! Reminds me a bit of the Red Hot Chillipeppers.

3) London Grammar – Metal & Dust

I love London Grammar but only got round to checking out their album in its entirety this week. This is one of the stand-outs for me. Love that drum rhythm.

4) London Grammar – Interlude (Live)

Another beautiful song from London Grammar’s début album.

5) One Direction – Stockholm Syndrome

Yes, I know this was in one of the playlists a couple of weeks back and I tend to avoid including songs more than once but I had to include it again. I cannot get enough of this intense, incredibly catchy song. The lyrics are well-written, the drum rhythm is catchy as hell and I love that melody. One of the stand-outs from ‘Four’.

6) Robbie Williams – Deceptacon

A stunning song from ‘Reality Killed The Video Star’. Soft, dreamy and pretty spaced out, I just love the feel of this song. One of Robbie’s most underrated songs.

7) Taylor Swift- Blank Space

Taylor Swift is dominating the charts at the moment and rightly so. She’s delivered an incredible album full of killer songs. Great song.

8) Labrinth – Jealous

Dismissed by many as ‘boring’, I just think this is really quite beautiful. It may not  be the best song I’ve heard but credit where it’s due. There’s some gorgeous chords in this, the lyrics are beautiful and Labrinth’s voice is fantastic.

9) Bing Crosby & David Bowie – Little Drummer Boy

When considering my favourite Christmas songs, I always manage to forget about this classic. Their voices just melt together and it’s a beautiful version of a gorgeous song. Perhaps one of the greatest duets in history.

10) Lawson – Driving Home For Christmas

‘Driving Home For Christmas’ is one of my top 3 favourite Christmas songs of all time. Lawson are one of my favourite bands. Put them both together and you get this level of perfection! Such an awesome version.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kB-TmtAHVTA

Music Monday – Volume Four

Bit of a strange combination of tracks this week, admittedly! There’s always a fair amount of diversity in my music taste but I think this week’s is the one to fully highlight that. Anyway, here’s the 10 songs I have been loving/listening to this past week.

1)      The 1975 – AntiChrist

I knew this song existed of course but for some unknown reason, I just never listened to it. I think I dismissed it as an instrumental off one of their E.Ps. How wrong I was though. Some fantastic, inquisitive lyrics and it’s an incredibly powerful song. The last minute really reminds me of something Coldplay might do. Awesome track.

2)      London Grammar – Hey Now

Similarly to the above, this is pretty haunting but very beautiful. Love this band.

3)      Chris Malinchak – So Good To Me

Heard this on Radio 1 again the other day and was reminded of what a great song it is. So chilled out despite it being a club track.

4)      George Michael – It doesn’t really matter

I’ve loved this ever since I stumbled across the ‘Older’ album last Summer. It’s so chilled-out and so perfect. It’s one of those songs where I can’t necessarily relate to what it was written about but it’s so personal that it still manages to come to mean something to you. The lyrics are perfect too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13GWxB9ZVpM

5)      Melanie C & Lisa ‘Left eye’ Lopes – Never be the same again

I’m a massive Melanie C fan as many of you know. As well as loving The Spice Girls, Sporty Spice has always been my favourite and had the best voice. Her solo career is massively underrated and I own a great deal of her solo material which I love listening to. This song is just awesome and thankfully was a big hit over here. It’s just well written, a perfect pop track and I love the randomness of having Lisa Lopes rap on a Spice Girl solo track!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klCXBkn0VGs

6)      Drake – Find your love

Heard this on the Nixtape on Radio 1 last week and was reminded of what an awesome song it is. Not a fan of Drake at all but this is the only song he’s ever done that I’ve thought anything of. Love the production, the beats, the chords and it’s just a great tune.

7)      George Michael – Though

Beautiful penultimate track off George’s ‘Patience’ album. Very personal and very underrated.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxAmtQBpoSE

8)      Jennifer Lopez – Baby I Love U!

Perfect pop cheese. My favourite track in this week’s playlist! This happens to be my favourite J-Lo song ever. SO good.

9)      Wayne Wonder – No letting go

A classic that I’d forgotten about! Again, heard this on The Nixtape and was reminded of this awesome song. Gives me some beautiful fond memories of Summer 2003 listening to this really loud 🙂

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFnwBtLrIYI

10)   Shola Ama – You Might Need Somebody

Not the original of course but a bloody good version. Really fantastic version of a great song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlZnmEYYXu4