I had a goal for 2019, which was to read 50 books. Looking back, it was pretty ambitious, and I’m nowhere near even 20. What made me think that in my third year of uni, the busiest year of life in terms of work, studies and music, I’d be able to smash out 50 books?
My to-be-read piles continue growing, and I say ‘piles’ as in plural because it’s gotten to the point where I’ve run out of surfaces to put my books and am now stacking new ones on the floor, much to my mother’s dismay.
So with that in mind, this very specific playlist, is a playlist for having in the background, while you’re reading. I’ve done one for studying before, and I will argue that they’re two very different things. The music I listen to when I study and the music I listen to when I read, do not in any way come from the same playlist.
Hopefully you find some tunes to throw on in the background when you pick your next book up – I’d also love to know what you’re reading at the moment! Let me know in the comments!
tick tock – Nohidea slow it down – Guru Griff Journey – Flavors, Two Sleepy coco – Oatmello Hello, Is This Your House? – Explosions In The Sky, David Wingo Flowers – The Deli You – Petit Biscuit Keep On – Alfa Mist Amsterdam in the Spring – Simon Jefferis Man Like You – Tom Misch Affection – Jinsang Intro (Santa Barbara) – Box Dreams tuscano – tides. Recovery – Jon Hopkins Again – Wun Two When Sunny Gets Blue – McCoy Tyner by my side – Flavors, Two Sleepy
Today’s post is an interesting one, pretty fun actually.
Recently I was looking at my stats, and saw that a lot of people were still reading the posts I did about Visualify, a website that gave you visual rundown of the music you listened to on Spotify, within much smaller time frames. It was a great alternative compared to waiting until the end of the year for your Spotify Wrapped. (Btw – you can check out mine HERE).
Unfortunately, the Visualify website has been down for a few months now. Upon seeing that quite a few of you were still clicking my Visualify link and reading the posts, I thought I’d share the alternative I’ve found, for the alternative I had.
Festify basically has the same premise as Visualify, however, they’ve put a fun little twist on it. While it only shows your most listened to artists, rather than most listened to songs as well, they present it as your ultimate festival line-up, tailored to everyone’s listening habits, based on time frames of a month, six months and all time.
I think the best way to explain, is to show you how mine shaped up.
That’s how my festival line-ups look so far!! Wanna check out yours? Head to Festify HERE to check it out! Let me know in the comments how your line-up looks!
At the date of writing this, it’s currently the 26th of January, and in celebration of yet again purchasing some more concert tickets, I thought I’d share with you my gig guide for 2019, so far.
For some reason, I failed to do a Gig Guide for 2018, so I’ll do a really quick dot-point rundown of the gigs, festivals and concerts I attended last year before I move on to this year.
The Kooks – January, 2018
Rudimental/Jakubi, Australia Open Live Stage – January, 2018
Let Go Fest – February, 2018
Billie Eilish – February, 2018
Jet – March, 2018
Bruno Mars – March, 2018
Ed Sheeran – March, 2018
Blues Fest – March/April, 2018
Harry Styles – April, 2018
Niall Horan – June, 2018
Gang Of Youths – November, 2018
RINI – November, 2018
Peninsula Showcase – December, 2018
Falls Festival – December/November, 2018
So 2018 shaped up to be a banging year for music and live gigs, concerts, stadium tours and festivals, and if I continue the way I’m currently going, 2019 looks like it’ll be much the same.
Here’s the Guide so far for 2019:
Laneway Festival – February Besides the disappointing news that my queen Jorja Smith won’t be performing anymore (I mean, a clash with the Grammy’s is reason enough I guess), I’m still super keen for this festival. I’m going with a great group of gal pals who I love, and I mean when I’m seeing Rex Orange County, Masego, Cosmos Midnight, Crooked Colours, G Flip and Middle Kids, I can’t complain too much. I am however missing Gang Of Youths because I have to leave early, but still, stellar line-up for what I’m sure will be a fab day.
Lauryn Hill – February
If you know me, you know this is a huge one. Heck, you know she’s one of my top favourite artists of all time, she featured in a squad of five artists I drew and framed for my room, and I’ve been singing Killing Me Softly since I exited the womb. My cousin, who I basically grew up with and have been best friends with since birth and I are going as a kind of celebration for her 21st birthday, and I cannot wait. If you read my write-up for Blues Fest which I attended with my family last year, you’d know I’ve already seen Ms. Hill, but a whole concert dedicated to her? A whole few hours of just Lauryn? Yes please.
Bene – February Again. If you’ve been around the blog for a little while, you’ll know how keen I am for this concert. Hopefully you’ve read my write-up all about Bene and what a cool chick she is. Heck, I was 100% prepared to go to the concert on my own, luckily my best friend Jess jumped at the chance to come with me when I asked her if she was down. Currently Bene only has two singles out, so I’m keen to see what else she performs at the show!
Kodaline – March This was a moment for 14-year old Priya. There are so many songs by this band that I listened to throughout high-school, so when I saw they were coming to Melbourne, I quickly messaged Jess who is 90% of the time always down for a cheeky concert, and booked our tickets straight away.
John Mayer – March I’M SO KEEN. As soon as even the whisper of a concert was mentioned, I was on it. My mate and I waited for tickets and I spent the most stressful twenty minutes of my life trying to secure some decent tickets. Getting the confirmation email that we had our seats was such a relief and I’ve been counting down since that moment. John Mayer live, what more could you ask for? Nothing. The answer is nothing.
Matt Corby – April Another magical man I get to see and hear live this year, and again, I’m counting down. I’m going with two friends who I’ve never been to a concert with before so I’m excited to experience it with them. Again, if you’ve been around for a little while, you’ll understand my obsession with Matt Corby and his incredible voice. Stay posted for the blog post all about seeing this man in the flesh.
RINI – April Literally the day after Matt Corby, one of my close friends and I are going and seeing RINI, a homegrown, Melbourne RnB artist who we saw only in November! I can’t wait to see him again, he’s released a few new songs, and I’m sure there’ll be some stuff coming out before this concert as well.
Blues Fest – April
I’m super duper keen for Blues Fest. Like more so than I was than last year. ALSO! I’d like to make a small announcement. A few months back, I wrote an short article about a band called Ocean Alley, and said this:
Low and behold, guess who was added to the Blues Fest line-up earlier this month? Ocean Alley. But anyway. Besides Ocean Alley, they’re are a heap of artists who I love coming to the festival, like Norah flipping Jones, Tash Sultana, Six60, one of the first bands I ever wrote about here, Allen Stone, Jack Johnson, Snarky Puppy and heaps more. Plus, this time my family and I decided to book an apartment in Byron Bay rather than camp at the festival, so I’m keen to enjoy some beach time and wandering around Byron before heading into the festival for the day.
Shawn Mendes – April
Possibly the cutest concert I have booked this year. I’m going with my best friend Kate, my little sister, and my little sister’s best friend. I genuinely can’t wait to see Shawn live, his vocals and his lyrics are amazing, and there are so many songs off his latest album that are sure to be hits in an arena setting.
Yeah. I know I’m late. But. Um holy moly. December Tunes means this is the last of my monthly wrap up’s for 2018, meaning at the end of this month I’ll be providing you with my first monthly music wrap up for 2019.
Last year literally sped past, I have huge issues with accepting the year is already over, but here we are, and here’s what I was listening to in December.
Disclaimer I apologise HUGELY to anyone expecting Christmas music. I’m sorry. I’m not entirely sure what happened, I don’t know if it was the lack of Michael Buble Christmas special on TV or what, but Christmas music just didn’t really happen for me this year. If you’re in desperate need of some Christmas tunes though, make sure you read the post I made all about my favourite Christmas songs, from last year.
Just Friends – Hayden James: This song has been on repeat for me. I don’t know what it is about the song, but it’s been on my playlist for ages, and I’m only now becoming obsessed with it. I listened to it way too much in December, and it’s yet to get old.
Let Me Down Slowly – Alec Benjamin: This song made waves this month. I saw it everywhere, and so many people got to listen to it. I’ve listened to Alec Benjamin a bit before, some of the songs he wrote when he was much younger have been on my phone from high school, but I only just got reconnected to him through these new songs from his album, Narrated For You, which I highly recommend you have a listen to if you haven’t already.
Carried Away – H.E.R: I first saw this song when H.E.R did a video of it for the COLORS YouTube channel, which you know I’m a fan of, so instead of me talking about it, have a listen yourself.
Fairplay – Kiana Lede: Kiana Lede has been sharing her cover videos on YouTube for years, and every now and then I’d watch a few of them when they popped up on my page, though I’ve taken a huge interest in her own original songs that she’s been releasing. This one is definitely my favourite at the moment.
Couples Retreat – Jon Bellion: Of course there was gonna be a song from Jon’s album that he released last month, and at the moment this one is one of my favourites. It’s just so upbeat and has this great bounce to it. It’s been blasted quite a bit in the car.
Nothing Breaks Like A Heart – Mark Ronson, Miley Cyrus: I’m sure everyone saw or heard this song somewhere. It seems like such a perfect pairing that took way too long to happen, but I’m glad it did. Mark’s production and song writing style suit Miley’s singing so well and I’ve been loving the product.
Positivo – J Balvin, Michael Brun: Another older song that’s been in many of playlists of mine for a little while, but I was particularly loving it this month. It’s such a hard hitting song, and since I’m finally starting to get over songs like Mi Gente and Swalla, only a bit, I’ve been in need to find a new song to replace them.
Sincerity Is Scary – The 1975: December was definitely a month filled with The 1975 for me, and this song has by far been my favourite ever since I watched the music video for it.
Killer Queen – Queen: Another post-Bohemian Rhapsody song that I listened to a whole lot more than watching the movie. I also am quite the fan of 5 Seconds of Summer’s cover version of it, though the original will always be iconic.
Invincible – Amine: It wouldn’t be a monthly wrap up without some Amine, and this month’s feature comes in the form of a song from the recent Spiderman animated film. I’ve yet to see the film myself, but the soundtrack is definitely one worth listening to, if not for Post Malone and Swae Lee’s song Sunflower, then for Amine.
Leftovers – Denis Lloyd: This song was another one I stumbled across because of a COLORS video on YouTube. Which you can also enjoy below.
There’s No Way – Lauv, Julia Michaels: This was a song I found myself listening to or humming or singing a ton in December. There’s something about the chorus, Julia’s voice, the lyrics that keep this song stuck in my head. I even had a moment when I thought I’d written a really good chorus, only to realise I’d just re-written the chorus from this song but with different lyrics, that’s how much this song was stuck in my head this month.
Let It Happen – Tame Impala, Soulwax Remix: I listened to this song a lot before going away for Falls Festival in Lorne, which is a whole other post coming soon hopefully. Not because Tame Impala were playing or anything, but more so because I feel like it’s a huge festival vibe, it captures the essence of a festival so perfectly.
Breakaway – Lennon Stella: Lennon Stella’s album is incredible. If you haven’t listened to it, I highly recommend you do, however if you only have time for one song, make sure it’s this one. I had this song on repeat. Like physically pressed the ‘repeat’ button on Spotify for close to an entire day because of how much I love it. It’s so unexpected and different from what I feel people are used to hearing from the Stella sisters as a duo, and I love it so much.
Rhymes Like Dimes – MF DOOM, DJ Cucumber Slice: This is a huge classic for me. MF DOOM is a hero, and this song never fails to pipe me up and put me in a good mood.
Bad Feeling – Joy Crookes: If you didn’t read my post all about Joy Crookes, now is the perfect time to check it out. This song is one of my favourites.
So that’s what I was listening to in December. I hope you all had a fantastic holiday season and a great New Year’s. Here’s to more tunes in 2019.
YOU SHOULD HEAR 