Music Monday - What I've Been Listening to This Week

Hello there, 

So I guess it's been a frightfully long time since we've seen each other, and I take full responsibility for that. How are you? I've been having a mental few weeks trying to organise where I'm going with life, and as standard, I've let my writing slip. I regularly have this great thing called 'writer's block' and rather than just type something horrific and meaningless, I just stop writing, so sorry about that. It's difficult because sometimes I do have things I want to say, but often don't have the confidence to write them... So sorry about that!

Something I don't worry about writing about, though, is music. And I know a lot of people do this, but I thought I'd give you a little insight into what I've been listening to this week. I guess if people like this, I'll keep doing it, but in some ways it'll also be a nice little diary for me so I can look back and see what I was listening to a particular time.

First off, if you know anything about me at all, you'll know that I adore One Direction. I can't help it, it's happened, it's a thing and it's not going away. And I'm happy about that. This week I have been listening to an awful lot of One Direction, in particular their most recent album, Midnight Memories. I have the deluxe edition, and I just find it a really feel-good CD. You have a couple of classic ballads, but I've really been enjoying the upbeat numbers because they sound like summer. 

Don't Forget Where You Belong is a favourite of mine because lyrically it's so beautiful. It was written by another group of my favourites, McFly, and you can tell. It sounds a lot like something they'd perform, and I think 1D do it justice very nicely. I've been loving Happily, Does He Know?, Little White Lies and Half a Heart this week.

Now it's been a while since we last saw anything from this guy, but Conor Maynard crept back into my life this week. Occasionally I will leave my iPhone on shuffle while I'm getting ready, and one morning four Conor Maynard tracks played in a row, which was unsuspected and actually quite odd. Apparently my iTunes wants new music from Conor as much as I do. I really loved his first album so I'm super excited to see what's next for him.

There have been a few tracks I've had on repeat this week. Sometimes a song will come on shuffle or I'll hear it on TV and I'll realise I've missed listening to it, or it's new and I become obsessed with it. Here are some I've been loving...

John Legend - All of Me

I heard it again on Dancing on Ice this weekend and fell back in love with it. It's such a beautiful song and I love the depth of John Legend's voice. I don't think there's a track of his that I dislike, purely just because I love his vocal on anything.

Karl X Johan - Never Leave Me

Occasionally I find myself going through my Shazam tags looking for music that I want to rediscover and I came across this. I can't remember how or when I originally found this song, but this week I've been loving it. It's chilled and I just fell in love with the beat.

Jonah Green - Cocoa Butter Kisses (Chance the Rapper cover)

I really like the original of this track, but I just adore what Jonah has done with it. I've been watching his videos for a long time, and I particularly like his covers, even though there aren't that many. It's a tough song to cover, but I think he's done it justice.

Bruno Mars - It Will Rain

Following his win at The BRIT awards last week, I've been listening to an awful lot Bruno. I was lucky enough to see him last year on his Moonshine Jungle tour at the o2 arena and he is honestly one of the best performers I've ever seen. He is a true showman with such passion for the industry, and his vocal performance is always right on point. His lyrics have the power to move me to tears, and often do, and that is a quality that not a lot of artists these days have. His music has the potential to lift a bad mood, send me to sleep or hype me up when I'm having an already brilliant day.

Thanks so much for sticking around for this one. I've really enjoyed writing about music this week, so I'd like this to be a thing. Maybe I'll do this every now again. I'm looking for new music to listen to at the moment, so help me out. I like most types of music, and I'm open to new things so give me a shout if you know of something I might be interested in.

Hope you're all well.
Take care, stay beautiful and dream big.
Thanks for stopping by,
@amyjcollins
xox