Happy Isolation Everyone! Like most people on social media, I've been doing a 30-day song challenge, specifically Zoella's 30-Day Playlist Collaboration, although I wasn't actually collaborating with anyone. I've really enjoyed the prompts and have been loving finding songs each day, some of which I've not listened to for ages. Since I've just posted my final song today, I thought I'd share my completed playlist here and give a brief explanation as to why I've chosen each song. And let me tell you now, I bloody love this playlist! Day 1: Your go-to karaoke song Day one and I was already struggling! I don’t do karaoke and I sing along to almost every song I listen to, so it’s not like I have a go-to karaoke song. I ended up going with Mr Brightside by The Killers because there’s nothing like belting this out at the top of your lungs and just loving every second of it. It’s an absolute banger and a great way to start this entire 30-day challenge. Day 2: The first song you ever purchased I’m not entirely sure if this was the first song I ever purchased, but it’s at least one of the very first! I remember buying the Lift single by Shannon Noll from my local gift shop for like $5 back in the day – can you even buy physical singles anymore?? Anyway, the CD included ‘Lift’ and my favourite of the two, Shine. The CD also included both music videos if you whacked it in your DVD player, so that’s the kind of era we were living in. And while we’re on the subject of Nollsy, he was 100% robbed during the first season of Australian Idol. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk. Day 3: Song that reminds you of someone special I kind of struggled with this one – it really wasn’t a good start to the month if I was struggling again on day three! I chose Pure Imagination by Gene Wilder from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, you know, the OG one. Several years ago, and I’ve mentioned this in a post before, I created a nostalgia-filled movie using old home videos and photos that centred around my Nan & Pop’s farm, which they had moved off of in 2006. My cousins and I adored spending time there and had made so many fun memories, so we were sad that they were moving into town. After converting their old home movie footage, I edited together a little movie, and in the original edit, I used this song over some footage that my Nan had filmed around the property, documenting what it looked like, predominantly before their pool went in. I say original edit because I ended up redoing the whole thing to include more photos and memories, and so ended up using a different song over the footage. But Pure Imagination now not only reminds me of that footage and the farm, but also my Nan, who now suffers from Alzheimer’s Disease and doesn’t recognise anyone in the family or even really speaks, except stringing a few nonsense words together. I miss having my Nan and getting to share the past like ten years with her. Day 4: Song you can’t help but dance to Okay, let’s move on from the sad turn this post has already taken – I promise everything from here on out is happy and upbeat! There are so many songs that I can’t help but dance to, but I somehow landed on Determinate from the DCOM Lemonade Mouth! I never grew up with the Disney Channel, so missed out on the whole DCOM epicness, however I just happened to be staying with my cousins the weekend this premiered on the Disney Channel, which of course they had. This film is freaking awesome, and Determinate is an amazing and upbeat number that you can’t help but get your butt moving to. Day 5: Song by your favourite female artist Apparently, I don’t have many favourite female artists? Like, I actually struggled here because most of my favourite artists in general are male. And while I do like some of the songs from the likes of Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, Beyonce, Adele, and Katy Perry, who seemed to dominate this prompt, I wouldn’t consider them in my top favourite female artists. I kind of took it back to my childhood for this one, and kept it on home soil with Everything I’m Not by The Veronicas. Their debut album was and still is iconic, and their releases since have, in general, been absolute bangers. While I wouldn’t necessarily say they’re my all-time favourite female artists, they’re certainly up there. Day 6: Favourite song from the 80s Finding my favourite song from the 80s (and 90s later on in the challenge) actually prompted me to created FIVE decade playlists – 80s, 90s, 00s, 10s and 20s – and it was SO much fun adding songs to each of them. And while there are plenty of iconic and amazing hits from the 80s, I couldn’t go past Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go by WHAM! This song has it all – the iconic 80s feel, lyrics you can’t help but sing out loud for the world to hear, and music you can’t help but get up and dance to. It 100% encapsulates everything amazing about the 80s. Day 7: Song from a movie Naturally, I had to go with High School Musical here! Sure, there are lots of great musical movies and even non-musical movies that just have iconic soundtracks, but HSM was my childhood, so I was hardly going to miss out on including it in my playlist! As much as I wanted to include one of the obvious choices of ‘Breaking Free’ or ‘We’re All In This Together’, I went with a song that I think is totally underrated – Scream. The song and the movie sequence are both amazing and I just needed to have some angsty Zefron in my playlist. Day 8: Favourite cover song by another artist There are so many songs out there that we know and love that are actually covers, and I initially felt like this would be a mammoth task trying to remember which songs are actually covers that I could use here. But then I remembered the icon that is Brendon freaking Urie, and how Panic! At The Disco have covered a couple of iconic songs in recent years. Even though I love Brendon’s version of ‘Into The Unknown’, I felt like I had to go with The Greatest Show from the reimagined soundtrack for The Greatest Showman. I actually heard this version of the song before I heard the original (and the same can be said for Into The Unknown too), and even though I love Hugh Jackman’s original, I just love this one that little bit more. Day 9: Song that reminds you of summer I still don’t really know if the song I picked here fits the prompt that well, but I didn’t want to be cliché and use Thirsty Merc’s ‘In The Summertime’, which is iconic and amazing, and does remind me of summer, but I think only because it’s about summer, which is kind of a cheat. After scrolling though my entire Spotify song selection, I ended up picking Classic by MKTO, which I had lowkey forgotten about until making those decade playlists. While I don’t know if it necessarily reminds me of summer, it does have that fun summer party vibe to it. I don’t know, I’m still on the fence, but it’s a great song, so I’m not complaining about it being on my playlist. Day 10: Song you know every word to This prompt was difficult simply because there are, naturally, a LOT of songs that I know every word to! Instead of having it be such a cop out where I choose something from Hamilton, Panic! At The Disco, The Chainsmokers, or any other of my go-to artists (which have already or will end up being on this playlist anyway), I went with a song that I was super pumped for having learnt all the lyrics to back in the day – When I’m Gone by Eminem! I mentioned this back in my first nostalgia playlist post a couple of years ago, saying that it was the first rap song I knew all the words to. Of all of Eminem’s songs, it’s not that difficult to follow along with, but ten/eleven year old me was damn proud to know all the words! Day 11: Song with a colour in the title As soon as I saw this prompt I knew exactly which song to include – Blue (Da Ba Dee) by Eiffel 65! This is another that I’ve talked about in a nostalgia playlist post (along with the next song as well), as it was the song our year group in year 12 performed at a Beyond Blue day at school, which culminated in a bit of a talent quest. We were all dressed in blue and essentially jumped around on stage for the duration of the song. Day 12: Song that reminds you of being a teen This is a prompt that saw most people include songs that came out when they were teenagers. My choice actually came out when I was 11, but was something that came to define my high school experience, and again, if you’ve seen my nostalgia playlist posts, you’ll probably already know what it is. In high school, our music teacher essentially made Dani California by Red Hot Chilli Peppers our school’s unofficial anthem, simply because he got someone to perform it at almost every formal assembly, which took place once a term, for essentially the entire six years I was in high school. It’s like he didn’t know that a thousand other great songs existed... Day 13: Favourite power ballad This one threw me a little, because I’m not necessarily aware that a song is defined as a power ballad when listening to it. I did do a little Google search for iconic power ballads, but wasn’t really vibing with any of the songs that were listed. It was only on the off-chance that I wanted to know when this song came out, that I saw it was also a power ballad, and that’s Incomplete by Backstreet Boys! This one came out in 2005, so I remember it coming out and being obsessed with it. It also took me longer than I’m proud of to realise back in the day that these guys were also the same people behind ‘Everybody’, simply because they’re such different songs. Day 14: Song by your favourite male artist As I mentioned earlier, pretty much all my go-to and favourite artists are male, so this was much easier than the female artist prompt. I knew right away that the song was going to be by Panic! At The Disco, I just had to narrow it down to one, and that was bloody difficult. I ended up zeroing in on the Death Of A Bachelor album, as that was the release that completely pulled me into the Panic rabbit hole, and I landed on Don’t Threaten Me With A Good Time. Day 15: Song by a band you wish were still together Zoe 1000% included this prompt to ensure that most of us included something by One Direction in our playlists! I was lowkey tempted to throw another Panic song in, since the band is now only Brendon Urie, but that would have been a massive cheat! Naturally, I had to pick History as it fit so perfectly with the prompt. While I’m not a hardcore Directioner, I do wish they were still producing music as a group, even though their solo work has been pretty great. Day 16: Song that makes you feel motivated I was trying to aim for not including an artist a tonne, because I knew I’d fill all the prompts with like the same three artists, but I couldn’t not use High Hopes by Panic! At The Disco for this one! If you don’t feel at least a little bit motivated and ready to take on the world after listening to this song, listen to is again until you do! Day 17: Favourite song from a musical You say musical and I say HAMILTON! Does that really surprise anyone at this point? I was tempted to use the opening number for this one, but ended up going with Non-Stop, which rounds out Act One. It’s such a powerful number that incorporates a nod to all our favourite songs from the first act, and I just love belting this one out at the top of my lungs Day 18: Your newest favourite I’m so surprised that I managed to go eighteen days with not cheating and including more than one song for each prompt (although I nearly did on Day 10!). But I felt it was okay to include two new favourites. A couple of days into the challenge I sat down and figured out nearly all the songs I’d use over the course of the month, but by the time this prompt came up, I had a new instant favourite, hence why I’ve got two! First is Relationship by Anthony Ramos, which I have been loving for a few months now, and the second is Yours by Jesse McCartney, which came out like a week before I got to this prompt. Both are awesome songs which I fell in love with instantly, so they both deserved to be included on the playlist. Day 19: Song that makes you feel all the feels This was another prompt where I knew instantly which song to pick. Hell, just thinking about the song makes me feel all the feels, and that’s End Of An Era by Oliver Boyd & The Remembralls. Don’t worry if you’ve never heard of this song or artist, because it’s kind of niche – it’s Wrock aka Wizard Rock aka Harry Potter fan music. Yep, I’m that cool! This is one of two songs that farewell that Harry Potter series with the release of the final book, and it just gives me all the Potter feels. Day 20: The ultimate road trip song Roadtripping usually just includes a mix of all my favourite songs from all my favourite artists, which aren’t necessarily the ultimate road trip songs. So back to my Spotify music selection I went, and when I finally scrolled past this one, I knew that it was the pick here, and that’s Southern Sky by Shannon Noll. This is an amazing Australian song and I feel like it’s the perfect Aussie roadtrip song. Day 21: Song that reminds you of a school disco If you’re Australian like me, chances are you spent a good few weeks back in primary school learning how to dance the Nutbush, and I 100% know I’ve just confused all those overseas. While Nutbush (City Limits) by Ike & Tina Turner came out in the 70s, it was the song we all learnt a dance routine to in the 90s and early 00s (is it still taught today??). And even if it’s been years since you’ve done the dance or heard this song, the moment it comes on, you just get in the zone. When this came on at the primary school disco, everyone was on the dance floor absolutely going for it. There’s literally a whole generation of kids who would 100% bust out this dance if it ever randomly came on in the club, let’s be real. Day 22: Song that instantly makes you happy Honestly, I could have included this song for feeling all the feels, because that’s what this one does, but it also makes me instantly happy. Plus, I just had to include this artist somewhere. You might know Darren Criss from Hollywood or The Assassination of Giovanni Versace or Glee, but I know Darren from before all of that, way back when he was just Harry Potter in Team StarKid’s A Very Potter Musical in 2009. Honestly, I could have included a few StarKid songs here, but I had to go with the OG Goin’ Back To Hogwarts, which gives me all the happy tears. The version included in my playlist on Spotify is actually from the SPACE Tour, so doesn't actually feature Darren, but it does include ALL my other fave StarKids. Day 23: Favourite song with a name in the title I couldn’t pick between the two I had shortlisted for this prompt – one by my favourite artist and the other an absolutely iconic 2000s song that so many people used for this prompt. The first is, naturally, Sarah Smiles by Panic! At The Disco, because I couldn’t not include something Panic related, even though I said I didn’t want to keep coming back to the same few artists. And the second is the icon that is Stacy’s Mom by Fountains of Wayne. I still feel so sorry for everyone named Stacy in the early to mid 2000s who had to suffer through this era. Day 24: Favourite from the 90s There are SO many iconic 90s songs, and even though I’ve ended up with a pretty amazing 90s playlist, I really couldn’t go past the first proper 90s song that I remember loving. I’m a 90s baby, but being born in 1995 means I kind of missed out on the 90s, let’s be real. So for me, Everybody (Backstreet’s Back) by Backstreet Boys, is one of the first 90s songs that really stuck with me. And really, looking back, it’s not got the greatest lyrics for a child to be singing along to, but you can bet I did and loved every minute of it. Day 25: Song your parents always played My dad is a massive country music fan, so the genre was drummed into me early on. Of all the artists that he listens to, Slim Dusty is one of his favourite, and actually an artist that I do love. While I could have gone with any of Slim’s songs, I ended up choosing Duncan, mainly because it was the first song on the CD we had in the car, so whenever dad was driving, he’d pick that CD, and probably restart it on the way home from anywhere too. Day 26: Song that makes you feel relaxed This was a hard one, just because I never really think about songs that make me feel relaxed. I do have a ‘chill’ playlist, which is predominantly made up of instrumental songs that I actually use in the background of my videos, but I didn’t really feel like using one of them here. I recently added a few Scottish/Celtic/Folksy songs to the playlist, and was at first tempted to use the theme to ‘Monarch of the Glen’, but sidestepped to Teir Abhaile Riu by Celtic Women. If you’re big into TikTok, you’ve probably seen this used by a lot of cosplayers, which is actually where I discovered it. I adored the music and the lyrics are so good, and while it’s probably not a totally relaxing song as it does make me want to get up and dance around a little, it does just bring me to a happy place, which is relaxing enough. Day 27: Favourite duet/remix When I sat down earlier in the month to plot out all the songs I wanted to use, I knew I had to include The Chainsmokers somewhere, and thankfully, Closer hits the duet prompt with Drew teaming up with Halsey. Plus, I just loved that of all of The Chainsmoker’s songs, I was able to include my OG fave, rather than trying to narrow down which song I wanted to use elsewhere. Day 28: Your most-played song so far this year I literally have no idea what my most-played song so far this year is. Between having a new playlist every season and hitting repeat on my musicals and artist playlists, I don’t think there’s a single song that stands out as my most-played. So taking out the artists I’ve already included on my list, I landed on 5 Seconds of Summer and Teeth, which is definitely up there for most-played! Plus, I couldn’t not have 5SOS somewhere on this playlist! Day 29: Song you never get bored of These last two prompts were difficult because they’re so open-ended! Again, as much as I wanted to include the likes of Hamilton (which I had originally pencilled in here), PATD, and The Chainsmokers, I wanted to make sure I actually had some variety. So I returned to my musicals playlist, and then had the dilemma of not only choosing a musical, but then choosing just one song from said musical. In the end, I had to go with Waving Through A Window from Dear Evan Hansen. No matter how many times I listen to this song (and indeed this musical), I never get tired of it. Besides, we all need a little Ben Platt in our lives! Day 30: Your guilty pleasure And finally we reach today! I feel like most people used this prompt to include another one of their favourites, even if they don’t really consider it a guilty pleasure. The song I’ve chosen actually very nearly ended up being yesterday’s song, but I knew it would be better off here and a great way to end the month. In creating my decades playlist, I rediscovered so many boyband songs that I hadn’t heard in years, one being It’s Gonna Be Me by *NSYNC! I’ve been loving it so much recently that it also made it onto my autumn playlist because I just couldn’t get it out of my head. It’s certainly fitting that it’s included in this playlist under guilty pleasure, because boyband obsessions are certainly a guilty pleasure for everyone. I can’t believe how quickly these past 30 days have flown by. When I started this challenge it felt like it would be forever before I finished it, but now here I am with a completed playlist blaring in the background as I write this post. The prompts have been so fun and I’ve come out of it was a playlist that is very much me with a nice mix of new and old, and genres that are all over the place. I kind of wish I had done the collaboration side of things with my friends and family (doing this with my cousins would have been super interesting since we all have such different music tastes!), but I’m happy with the playlist I’ve created. It definitely feels like a gateway playlist that will lead me into all the other playlists I rotate between.
If you’ve done the Zoella collaboration playlist challenge, I’d love to know what songs you put on it! And if you collaborated with other people, how did the end result turn out? I’ve loved doing this 30-day challenge and have already dived into the new Zoella ‘Come What May’ challenge, which has been super fun. I forgot how great 30-day challenges can be in getting you to think outside the box a little and be a bit more creative with the content you share, as well as just helping you post regularly. I’ve also been doing one over on my bookstagram, which has been so much fun as well. I definitely want to keep this up and do a challenge every month, or at least until I get sick of it. See You Soon! Victoria :) |
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