A Special Guest Post by Belle: The Music I Love

She’s back, folks!

Not only do I figure she’s ticking the box for ELA assignments, this has to score points for Music Appreciation class, too.

Belle loves music. It’s in her bones (just like it’s in mine). If she’s not listening to music, she’s singing or humming.

We have a Spotify Premium account and, for our family, it’s worth every penny. As a parent I really appreciate that we can set it so no explicit content comes through; it’s also easy to search for clean versions of just about any song/album.

That’s enough from me. Enjoy Belle’s take on music!

If you’re trying to get a good idea on what most teens like to listen to, then you’re at the wrong place. My music taste is generally very old (my Spotify Wrapped listing age was something like 61), but I also enjoy newer music.

I have some current favourites and some all-time favourites that no matter how many times I listen to them I never get tired of.

So without further ado, here are some my lists of favourite songs!

Some of my current favourites:

1. Sultans of Swing (by: Dire Straits)
2. Those Eyes (by: New West)
3. Larger Than Life (by: The Backstreet Boys)
4. Halo (by: Beyonce)
5. Perfect Illusion (by: Lady Gaga)
6. California Dreamin’ (by The Mamas & The Papas)
7. the last great american dynasty (by: Taylor Swift)
8. Toxic (by: Britney Spears)
9. Die With A Smile (by: Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars)
10. Where Did Everybody Go? (by: Vistavision)

Some of my all-time favourites:

1. Don’t Blame Me (by: Taylor Swift)
2. Applause (by: Lady Gaga)
3. House of the Rising Sun (by: The Animals) [I have heard this song a truly insane number of times. Thank goodness it’s good.]
4. Hey Ya! (by: OutKast)
5. Livin’ On A Prayer (by: Bon Jovi)
6. Always Remember Us This Way (by: Lady Gaga)
7. Ain’t No Mountain High Enough (by: Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell) [So good.]
8. exile (by: Taylor Swift)
9. willow (by: Taylor Swift)
10. You Give Love A Bad Name (by: Bon Jovi)

Some of my favourite artists/bands:

1. Lady Gaga
2. Adele
3. Taylor Swift
4. Bon Jovi
5. ABBA [I’ve heard Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!… a lot of times.]
6. Josiah Queen
7. Billy Joel [I have also heard Vienna and Piano Man dozens and dozens of times.]
8. Rihanna
9. Beyonce
10. The Backstreet Boys

I also love Disney soundtracks. (This is more of a list-style post I’m realizing!)

Here are my favourite Disney songs:

1. When Will My Life Begin? (from: Tangled)
2. Love Is an Open Door (from: Frozen)
3. You’re Welcome (from: Moana)
4. Beauty and the Beast (from: Beauty and the Beast)

(FUN FACT: This is the song I want my first dance to be to in my wedding)

5. Part of Your World (from: The Little Mermaid)
6. Belle (from: Beauty and the Beast)
7. What Else Can I Do? (from: Encanto)
8. Evermore (from: Beauty and the Beast [Live Action])
9. Get’cha Head in the Game (from: High School Musical)
10. Some Things Never Change (from: Frozen 2)

I love so many more songs from Disney, but I could only pick a few for this list!

Here are my top favourite Christian worship songs:

(Note that a lot of these songs have many different versions and the artist I listed might not be the composer or original singer.)

1. Run to the Father (Matt Maher)
2. Goodness of God (Rhett Walker and Essential Worship) [LOVE!]
3. Holy Forever (Chris Tomlin)
4. All Sufficient Merit (Shayne & Shayne)
5. Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)(Hillsong UNITED)
6. Garden in Manhattan (Josiah Queen) [LOVE! I catch myself singing this all the time.]
7. Growing Up and Growing Old (Matthew West)
8. Fishes and Loaves (Josiah Queen)
9. Build Your Kingdom Here (Rend Collective) [Love!]
10.  Rest On Us (Maverick City Music, UPPERROOM, and Brandon Lake) [Do I know this one??]

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE music. It’s one of my favourite ways to pass time. I really like talking about it and so I’m going to go through every album of the following artist (one of my favourites of all time) and rank my favourite 3 songs from each album.

Drumroll! It’s..

TAYLOR SWIFT.

A LOT of people really like Taylor Swift, myself included.

The first thing I am going to say is I especially like her folklore album. It’s my favourite.

My other opinion is about her newest album: The Life of a Showgirl. I don’t think it should be getting as much hate as I’ve heard about. I think that there are quite a few good songs from that album, especially CANCELLED! and Elizabeth Taylor and The Fate of Ophelia. [I think it’s my favourite album! As Travis Kelce would say, it’s full of bangers!]

Now I’m going to pick my top 3 favourite songs from each album so let’s get started! [Noting, once again, through Spotify it’s easy to access clean versions of all the albums/songs, because Taytay does throw in some occasional unsavoury language!]

Taylor Swift (Debut)

To be totally honest I have not listened to every one of her songs from this album and don’t know many of them well…

1. Our Song [Well, she sure knows this one. I’ve heard it… a lot.]
2. Picture To Burn
3. Tim McGraw

Fearless (Taylor’s Version)

1. Love Story
2. You Belong With Me
3. Fifteen

Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)

1. Mine
2. Speak Now
3. I Can See You

Red (Taylor’s Version)

1. I Knew You Were Trouble
2. Red
3. 22

1989 (Taylor’s Version)

1. Wonderland
2. Wildest Dreams
3. All You Had To Do Was Stay

Runners up: Welcome To New York, I Know Places, and Style

Reputation 

1. Don’t Blame Me (This is maybe my all time favourite song)
2. …Ready For It?
3. I Did Something Bad

Runners up: End Game, Look What You Made Me Do, and Dancing With Our Hands Tied

Lover

(Sorry, I’ve heard Cruel Summer wayyy to much)

1. The Man
2. Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince
3. It’s Nice To Have A Friend

Runners up: You Need To Calm Down, The Archer

folklore (deluxe version)

(I love almost every song in this album)

1. exile (feat. Bon Iver)
2. the last great american dynasty
3. cardigan

I wish I could put all of them but I can’t.

Runners up: the 1, the lakes – bonus track, betty

evermore (deluxe version)

1. willow
2. no body, no crime (feat. HAIM)
3. ivy

Midnights (3am Edition)

1. Lavender Haze
2. Bigger Than the Whole Sky
3. Snow on the Beach

THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT: ANTHOLOGY

1. Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?
2. The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived
3. Clara Bow

To be honest, I don’t LOVE a lot of the songs from this album but I do LIKE quite a few.

Runners up: I Look in People’s Windows, The Manuscript, Cassandra, The Albatross, So Long, London, Florida!!!

The Life of a Showgirl

1. CANCELLED!
2. Elizabeth Taylor
3. The Life of a Showgirl (feat. Sabrina Carpenter)

Runners up: Opalite, The Fate of Ophelia, Actually Romantic, Wood, Wi$h Li$t.

This post has gotten to be quite long, but it was super fun to be able to talk about the music I like!

Thanks, Belle!

Your turn:

• If you have Spotify, what’s your “listening age”?
• Favourite current artist/album/song?
• If you happen to like Taylor Swift, let Belle know your thoughts on best songs/albums!