January 2016: Monthly Music Picks

I *am* planning on doing a January wrap up, but there’s been so much good music I love this month that I had to do a separate post for it all. #sorrynotsorry. Anyway. Here goes.

Alessia Cara

I’ve loved Here for a while now (and successfully recommended it to at least one other friend, yay), but now I’ve discovered part of her Know-It-All album on Spotify and it’s all so good. I like I think pretty much everything I’ve heard, so go listen to Wild Things, Outlaws, Seventeen, Four Pink Walls and I’m Yours. Thank me later.

SomeKindaWonderful

Mega creds to the friend who told me about SKW, they’re awesome. I’m getting a semi-Halseyish vibe, and I especially like Reverse {explicit}, the Penthox remix of it, and California Love. (note: little bit explicit)

Justin Bieber

I’m not sure I ever expected to be writing this but there you go, Justin Bieber’s made one helluva comeback recently. I especially like Sorry, What Do You Mean? and (this is a bit controversial amongst my friends) Love Yourself (that bit about 2:17 though. HEART EYES).Side note: the Love Yourself video is awesome. 

Better Together – Jack Johnson

A friend told me about Jack Johnson aaages ago (like, maybe year 7 or 8) and he’s kinda been on my radar for a while, but lately I’ve reall got into his song Better Together. If you like that, I also recommend Banana Pancakes, Situations and Sitting, Waiting, Wishing. 

Worry – Jack Garratt

This is the kinda song that after my friend shoved it in my face, I wanted to shove it in everyone else’s faces. Unfortunately, the main friend that would like it was the one to show it to me in the first place.

Bloodsport – Raleigh Ritchie

This has a vaguely similar vibe to Jack Garratt, and I just really like it. Idk, I’ve been really getting into dark, vaguely depressing, vaguely electronic stuff lately.

Zara Larsson

So the one thing I was originally going to put on here for Zara was her song Lush Life which is just kinda summery and poppy but not predictable, if that makes sense? And then I realised that another song I’m liking at the moment is Never Forget You by MNEK and, guess what, she features on that too. I feel like I should keep an eye out for her…

Try Me – Jason Derulo (ft. Jennifer Lopez & Matoma)

For me, Jason Derulo normally walks the line between OK and annoying and overplayed. I found this song on one of Spotify’s premade playlists, though, (it may have been their Happy Hits one) and I liked it. There ya go.

Sugar – Robin Schulz (ft. Francesco Yates)

My friend claims she showed this to me ages ago and I didn’t like it, but that’s definitely not the case now. It’s summery and cheerful and kinda the musical opposite to January but YAY HAPPY SONGS ME LIKEY.

Respect – Aretha Franklin/Superstition – Stevie Wonder

I have absolutely no clue why, but I’m absolutely loving this kinda music at the moment. Mainly these two songs. They normally prompt a one-person dance party, bonus points if I’m the only person at home. Also, Ella Fitzgerald YES (Begin The Beguine/Dream A Little Dream Of Me/I’m Beginning To See The Light etc.)

Lost Frequencies

This guy is incredible. I especially love Reality (as in, I’m kinda addicted to it).

Sun Shy – Dresses

I LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS. Especially the acoustic version. Another perfect Spotify playlist find.

Kygo

I’ve mentioned this briefly on here before but ASDFGHJKL I’M GOING TO SEE HIM LIVE WITH MY FRIEND IN APRIL OMG. We’re missing the afternoon off school, driving up to London and staying overnight afterwards and I’M SO EXCITED.

Us when Kygo comes on {source}

It’s going to be a really nice pre-GCSE treat and at the moment if either of us is in charge of Spotify you can guarantee that a LOT of Kygo will be on the playlist. I especially recommend his remix of A-Ha’s Take On Me – even if the original song irritates you beyond words. And if you’re a fan of music videos, go look at his Stole The Show video – it’s possibly one of my favourite music videos ever.

Coming Over – Dillon Francis (ft. James Hersey)

I think I discovered this because he’s a vocalist on one of Kygo’s songs…maybe. Something like that. Point is, I flippin’ love it.

Renegades – X Ambassadors

❤ ❤ ❤ this song.

Lauren Aquilina

One of my long-term favourite artists, Lauren Aquilina, is *close* to releasing her debut album and so far I’ve loved everything from it – Low, Ocean, Echoes and Out Of Our Depth. I especially like the line in Low, “Too deep to see the waterline/too young to know that I’ll be fine”. I also recommend the Edeema remix of Echoes. 

Beggin For Thread – BANKS (Gryffin & Hotel Garuda)

I’ve expressed my love for Banks here before, but I recently discovered this remix which just took a song I love to a whole new level. IT IS INCREDIBLE AND YOU SHOULD LISTEN TO IT IMMEDIATELY.

Halo – Ane Brun

This is so beautiful and relaxing and yes to Beyonce covers forever.

The Great Gatsby soundtrack

Again, I was introduced to this by a friend/two and I really like it, especially Emeli Sandé’s version of Crazy In Love and Fergie’s A Little Party Never Killed Nobody (All We Got) (ft. Q-Tip and GoonRock).

Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing – Set It Off {explicit}

Told about this by the same friend as told me about SomeKindaWonderful and just the brass bit around 0:36 yes. It’s such an earworm too, I had it stuck in my head for ages at one point. I especially recommend it if you like Fall Out Boy, it’s got that kinda feel to it.

Drive – Oh Wonder

I didn’t really like this at first, but it’s really grown on me and now me gusta mucho. I like the minimalist album artwork too.

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That, amazingly, is just a small sample of what I’ve been listening to this month – I had a very good month musically, especially with Spotify Premium! You can find all these songs (+ the rest of my January favourites) in a Spotify playlist here – don’t be confused that it’s titled Best of 2015, I’ve been adding to it all month!

Which of these songs are your favourite, and what have you been listening to this month?