I don’t remember when I discovered this track but I remembered it instantly became my favourite song as I listened to Joni’s album Blue on repeat for about a month. I never tire of this song, I think it’s so perfectly composed and the high notes oh man. Also the lyric “I’m frightened by the devil,/ and I’m drawn to those ones that ain’t afraid” is probably my favourite lyric of all time. Falling in love with Joni Mitchell massively changed my music taste as it led me to liking more folk artists like Dylan, but also rekindled my love of acoustic/singer-songwriter type music as ‘Blue’ is like the epitome of a lyrically-perfect album so I think Joni brought me back to my love of really raw, simple music.

I remember the exact moment I first heard this song and I remember it blowing my mind. It’s probably one of the catchiest songs ever, like the perfect indie-pop song. But Bombay Bicycle Club as a band are one of the only ‘indie’ bands that I haven’t tired of because every album they bring something new to the table, constantly reinventing their sound which I love. Also, seeing Bombay live really changed my relationship with gigs are up until that point most of the concerts I’d been to had been more acoustic based with crowds of girls holding i-phones and screaming, so going to a gig where literally everyone is engaged with the music and going mental really opened my eyes to what a gig should be and the reaction live music should provoke.
This was the first song that has ever made me full on cry. Keaton Henson is such a rarity of an artist that I honestly think it was fate that I accidentally clicked on the wrong link on you-tube which led me to this song, best mistake I’ve ever made. Everything Keaton makes is so simple and so raw that its simultaneously heartbreakingly painful and heartbreakingly beautiful to listen to, he has a way of forcing you to feel something. Keaton Henson serves as a reminder that simple, honest art is often the most effective and, like Joni, kind of brought my music taste back to the essence.


Patti Smith is a woman that changed me, firstly through her book Just Kids and then through her music. She so ridiculously powerful but also so wise and honest. I think she’s magical and she’s definitely a woman that I see as one of my main inspirations. Gloria is the first song I ever heard of hers when a friend bought me her album Horses, and I remember thinking it started pretty slow but then it builds and builds to this massive climax where Patti is screaming the lyrics and the band is so loud and everything is so manic, I love it. It’s an album that’s so beautiful and so bold and so empowering; Patti seems to have something so unique that it’s impossible to not get hooked.


Cohen is another artist that I found through his book first, but this song is probably my favourite song and I don’t even know what it is about it. It’s so short and so simple but tells a story. This song, along with Patti Smith’s book, introduced me to the Chelsea Hotel and all the history surrounding that one place that it’s become a total obsession reading about all the people that stayed there. And I think that’s why I love Cohen’s song so much as its so peaceful and tells one of the billions of stories of the hotel in such an eloquent way.


Holocene is one of those songs that I always forget about, but then the second I hear the intro I fall back in love. It was the first song I ever heard of Bon Iver’s and it really changed the way I view music. I think after Bon Iver I became more aware of like the cinematics of a song, you know how when you listen to a song and it makes you feel like you’re in a music video or a film or something. That’s now a quality that’s really important to my music taste as one day I plan to write a film and it’s going to have the most perfect soundtrack ever that will 100% feature this song.
This song is the perfect song to listen to after someone has broken your heart (or just really annoyed you) I love songs that take a situation like breaking up and totally go against what would be expected, like rather than writing a sad ballad, Lindsey Buckingham wrote Go Your Own Way which is the perfect middle-finger-I-don’t-need-you song. Fleetwood Mac, on a whole, are probably my favourite band, I think I could happily listen to them forever. And obviously, Stevie Nicks is an incredible woman; Stevie Nicks and Patti Smith are like my Holy Grail inspirations.

Bruce Springsteen is like my not even guilty pleasure, he’s great. This song changed me as it was like a revelation that when you’re sad you can just listen to some up-tempo classic 80s hits and everything will be A-okay. And this life lesson has seen me through a tough year, so thanks Bruce.

When I heard Jeff Buckley for the first time, I realised I’d never heard anything like Jeff Buckley before. He’s so different from your normal male singer/songwriter but its so hard to define why. Buckley’s work is so soulful and his album Grace is so varied but each song punches you in the face either through some lyric that hits you in the heart, or by the instrumental. Jeff Buckley contained the amount talent of at least 5 people, each of his songs creates such a moment that its hard to not feel the emotions within the track. My love for him grows daily and so many of my favourite songs are by him- Morning Theft, Lover You Should've Come Over, Calling you etc. (He also did so so so so many incredible covers of songs by artists like Bob Bylan and Nina Simone) Buckley's music is both vulnerable and powerful, and I think that's what I love about it.