Last year for World Music Day on the 21st June, I shared a selection of songs I was currently loving at the time, and it seemed to go down pretty well. While my music-heart will pretty much always belong to Taylor Swift, believe it or not, there’s still plenty of songs by other artists that make up my Spotify library. To be fair, most of 2020’s World Music Day playlist are still some of my most played songs, so it was a bit more difficult to come up with a complete list of different songs this time around! I’ll be honest, I’ve mainly been listening to podcasts and Taylor Swift lately, but on the occasion when I put music on for cleaning, these are the songs that I generally queue up.
Now Playing
Good 4 U – Olivia Rodrigo
Mr Perfectly Fine – Taylor Swift
Deal With It – Ashnikko feat. Kelis
Woman – Diana Gordon
So Olivia Rodrigo is probably one of those artists that everyone has heard of by now, and whether or not you’re sick of it by now, you have to admit that Drivers Licence was some proper belt-out-cry-in-your-car shit. I’ve yet to listen to her whole album, but I’ve gradually been discovering some of her other tracks, including Good 4 U, which is one of my favourites. It’s just packed with attitude and it gives off similar vibes to Taylor Swift’s We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together and Alanis Morrissette’s You Oughta Know – both of which are absolute bloody bangers. Speaking of Taylor Swift (of course she was still going to appear in this post), I’ve been loving her re-record of Fearless, in particular Mr Perfectly Fine, which is just songwriting gold and I genuinely cannot wait to belt it out at the next Swiftogeddon event. Deal With It by Ashnikko is another song I’ve taken a liking to – it’s not exactly the usual genre that I listen to, but I just instantly took a liking to the lyrics and the attitude of the song. The line “I don’t need a man, I need a rabbit, I need a new toy just to cleanse my palette” is just genius especially. Then there’s Woman by Diana Gordon – a full on feminist bop. The song has actually been around since 2016, but I only discovered it last year as it featured in the opening credits to Katherine Ryan’s sitcom, The Duchess. It’s such a good song for getting you feeling psyched up and it always puts me in a good mood.
Waiting For My Real Life to Begin – Colin Hay
Drifting Further Away – Powderfinger
Birthday – Maisie Peters
There’s often a batch of songs in among my favourites that aren’t quite that happy and fluffy, but I like to have a mixed bag. There’s no denying that this is one hell of a random selection, but what can I say? My music tastes are eclectic AF. I’ve been listening to a lot of Fake Doctors, Real Friends, the Scrubs rewatch podcast lately, and they talked about an episode where Colin Hay’s Waiting For My Real Life to Begin was covered, and they concluded the show with the actual song itself, which was the first time I’d heard it in full. It’s such a moving song and I’m quite a fan of listening to sad music when I feel down and this one is particularly cathartic. Similarly, the same could be said with Drifting Further Away by Powderfinger, which was a song I discovered in an episode of Grey’s Anatomy and it instantly had me bawling – but that may also be the power of Shonda Rimes. Either way, it’s an incredibly powerful and emotional song. I discovered Birthday by Maisie Peters back in May, and it really hit me hard. Overall the song is about disappointment and being let down, and following an incident on my actual birthday which I won’t go into, it really hit me and resulted in me tearing up while changing my duvet.
It’s Time to Go – Taylor Swift
Change – Pale Waves
Starstruck – Years & Years
I mentioned in one of my Tay-Tay Top Five posts that It’s Time to Go was a song that I immediately found a personal connection with, and in recent weeks, it’s certainly been one that I’ve listened to a lot more. The song is about the moment you realise your need to leave a relationship – be it a romantic one, a friendship, or even a working relationship – and while I don’t want to go into huge detail just yet, I have a pretty big change coming up over the next couple of weeks, and this particular song is one that’s keeping me focused on why I’m doing it. You’ve then got Change by Pale Waves, a song I first heard on Radio 1 earlier this year. What I instantly loved about the track was how it gives off vibes that remind me a lot of those teen movies from the early 2000s – you know the ones, the sort of scenes where something towards the end of the film goes wrong and then everything’s a bit shit for a bit before it all gets resolved at the end. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing either, I’m totally here for it. Over recent months I’ve discovered more tracks by Pale Waves including Easy and Fall to Pieces, and they’re definitely becoming one of my favourite bands. Finally, we’ve got a slightly different flavour in the form of Starstruck by Years & Years which is an absolute bop. I already had a fair bit of music by Years & Years in my library (If You’re Over Me being a personal favourite), but it was only after watching It’s a Sin that I truly realised the incredible talent of Olly Alexander, and it really made me appreciate his music even more. The first time I heard Starstruck it went straight onto my playlist – it’s bright, it’s cheery and it’s another song that just puts me in a good mood.
So, that’s my 2021 World Music Day playlist – what songs are you loving right now? Let me know in the comments what you’re currently listening to!
Photo by Daniel Romero on Unsplash.
Sassy Cat Lady 