Hi everyone! Welcome back! Sadly, I was too late to link my Week Four Challenge to the SBC Google Form (time differences smh) but I won’t be late this week! I decided to write about my top 10 songs. Music is my life, and I try to incorporate it into different parts of my life. When I get ready for school, I listen to music. When I travel, I listen to music. Whenever I’m feeling down, music helps me move on. It makes me embrace so many different emotions, and it’s a huge part of my life.
Today, I’m going to share my top 10 songs. Disclaimer: some may have cuss words included in them, but they’re really good songs! I try to focus more on the beat instead of the lyrics. It was difficult to choose ONLY 10 songs but I figured more than 10 would be too much.
#1.) I Wanna Dance with Somebody by Whitney Houston
I first became “obsessed” with Whitney Houston after my mom started blasting it around the house. Growing up in Germany, my mom listened to a lot of American artists, but Whitney Houston was one she couldn’t stop listening to. My grandma, being herself, had no clue who Whitney Houston was, nor was she interested. That love for Whitney Houston passed down to me, and whenever a Whitney Houston song plays, I start screaming out the lyrics. True story, my friends are embarrassed by me.
#2.) Latch by Disclosure and Sam Smith
This song is well, interesting. An iconic 2010’s love song, Latch is an incredible song with amazing lyrics and a soothing rhythm. I know a lot of people that aren’t really into EDM, but I don’t mind listening to it. At least not to this song. The lyrics, “You, you enchant me, even when you’re not around. If there are boundaries, I will try to knock them down,” remind me of myself when I’m craving something sweet, but I have no money. Haha, all jokes aside, this song is my favorite romance song (which is a surprise since I don’t really lean towards romance songs in general). Definitely a must-hear.
#3.) No Scrubs by TLC
This was the song that got me into R&B. After sixth grade, (which was not a superb year for me), I was struggling over the summer. But after listening to this song, it gave me the hope and the self-assurance to bounce back, and become an even better person than before. Listening to Left-Eye, Chilli, and T-Boz’s voices always puts me in a better mood. Because of stumbling upon this song, I started to venture into the genre of R&B, and I have not regret it since. I proudly am able to say that R&B is one of my favorite genres to listen to.
#4.) Dreaming Of You by Selena
This song gets me in my feelings! Every time this song comes on, I start crying. No joke. Tears are rising to my eyes as I’m writing this right now. I feel so sorrowful whenever listening to Selena’s vocals because she was such a tremendous singer, and her vocals are the type of vocals that I aspire to have, but I know I’ll never achieve that goal. My ASMR video with Mariam can’t compare to her voice. I think watching the biographical movie of her life really changed my perspective about listening to her songs. “Late at night when all the world is sleeping, I stay up and think of you, And I wish on a star, That somewhere you are thinking of me too.” Ahh, I better stop typing before I actually cry.
#5.) Truth Hurts by Lizzo
Okay, you may have heard this thousands of times on the radio. Yes, it is overplayed AND overrated, but it deserves to be overrated. This confidence-raising, girl power anthem has inspired many people (including me) to be the best person I can be. Her lyrics (e.g. “Yeah, I got boy problems, that’s the human in me. Bling bling, then I solve ’em, that’s the goddess in me” “You tried to break my heart? Oh, that breaks my heart.
That you thought you ever had it. No, you ain’t from the start”) make me want to stop what I’m doing and start singing all of a sudden. The singer, Lizzo, is a perfect example of never to give up. She’s thirty-one and has been doing music for a long time. “Truth Hurts” was her first song to top the Billboard charts. All that blood, sweat, and tears, and it was all worth it.
#6.) Don’t you (forget about me) by the Simple Minds
Coming back to my 80’s obsession, this song is simply a song I can’t get out of my mind (because it’s that good). I’ve listened to a lot of 80’s songs in my “lifetime”, but this song hits me like the others don’t. Maybe it’s because it’s in The Breakfast Club or because it has a good beat, but I remember listening to this song 100 times in the car as a seven years old. A lot of people think I like this song because I want to be trendy, but I honestly really enjoy listening to this song. It is one of my top karaoke picks.
#7.) What makes you beautiful by One Direction
An iconic and extremely nostalgic song. When One Direction first became popular, I was obsessed. I mean like stalker obsessed. It was kind of terrifying, if I had to be honest. I made my mom download all of the songs on her phone, and I would obsessively listen to them every day. Whenever someone would insult One Direction, I would quickly clapback. It was that bad. What makes you beautiful is one of my favorite songs from them because I like to look back and laugh about how crazy I was about them.
#8.) Chamber of Reflection by Mac DeMarco
This song is somewhat different to all the songs I wrote about on here. Yes, it’s a different genre, and the lyrics are very short, but the rhythm is relaxing in a way. I chose to put this song on here because I don’t have a memory connected to it, but it makes me feel like I do. Mac Demarco’s song style is also thought-provoking. His songs typically are under some sort of rock or a genre called “low-fi music” (never even heard of it until I googled it!) Basically, his songs give you emotions of sitting back and unwinding, maybe even after a long day. “Spend some time away. Getting ready for the day you’re born again”
#9.) If you leave by OMD
I remember finding this song after watching the movie Pretty In Pink (one of my favorite movies!). I was maybe around eight at the time, and obviously was not an expert about love (even though I thought I was). At the end, when Blane and Andie kissed, and this song played, my heart went BOOM! When listening to that song, it brings me back a memory of seven year old me thinking that I knew everything about the world. As I rewatch the movie a bajillion times, that song always comes to mind. It’s also one of my favorite love songs! I still don’t understand to this day why as an eight year old I was able to watch that movie.
#10.) Flou by Angele
Going back to my bilingual roots, I listen to a lot of non-English songs. German, French, Italian, Spanish, you name it! I think listening to songs in different languages helps me comprehend the language more, if that makes sense? I’m taking German as an elective right now in school because I want to understand the language more before I dive deeper into my third language. Trying to find French songs, (since I have family friends that live in France), I found the singer Angele, and her songs are UNBELIEVABLE. My favorite song is Flou, only because the way she sings about her struggles of being well-known. I find it always empowering how some singers are open about their conflicts with trying to have a good reputation & to stay “perfect”.
Make sure to leave a comment! It made me feel a bit nostalgic reviewing these songs, since most of them come from when I was a little kid! I would love to hear about your favorite songs, and why you like them. Music is such an immense part of my life and I always want to share what songs I’m listening to.