Blogmas 2020 My Most Listened To Songs Of 2020!

Blogmas 2020 – My Most Listened To Songs Of 2020!

So, unlike Spotify, Apple music doesn’t do a breakdown of what you’ve listened to with cool stats and stuff but they do give you a rewind playlist with the songs you’ve listened to most this year. There’s a bit of a mix this year but only a handful surprised me.

There has, of course, been a lot of Taylor Swift because Folklore was the perfect album to listen to when I needed to let my feelings out. There’s also been a lot of Katy Perry’s Smile for when I needed a pick me up to dust myself off. In general there’s a lot of kick ass women on this list with uplifting songs. Here they are (also they’re written how they’ve been promoted because apparently all the Folklore titles were in lower case?)

betty – Taylor Swift

this is me trying – Taylor Swift

I HATE EVERYBODY – Halsey

Good as Hell (ft Ariana Grande) – Lizzo

invisible string – Taylor Swift

the last great american dynasty – Taylor Swift

I Love Me – Demi Lovato

Daisies – Katy Perry

You should be sad – Halsey

7 Rings – Ariana Grande

peace – Taylor Swift

Not the End of the World – Katy Perry

London Boy – Taylor Swift

What makes a woman – Katy Perry

929 – Halsey

If The World Was Ending (ft Julia Michaels) – JP Saxe

epiphany – Taylor Swift

Never Really Over – Katy Perry

Truth Hurts – Lizzo

Paper Rings – Taylor Swift

Glorius (ft Skylar Grey) – Macklemore

the 1 – Taylor Swift

In Paris – Jay-Z & Kanye West

illicit affairs – Taylor Swift

Groove Is In The Heart – Deee-Lite

34 + 35 – Ariana Grande

Teary Eyes – Katy Perry

clementine – Halsey

killing boys – Halsey

Smile – Katy Perry

Strip (ft Sharaya J) – Little Mix

Wasabi – Little Mix

Not a Pop Song – Little Mix

Sweet Melody – Little Mix

Feeling Myself (ft Beyoncé) – Nicki Minaj

You Need To Calm Down – Taylor Swift

WAP (ft Megan Thee Stallion) – Cardi B

mad woman – Taylor Swift

august – Taylor Swift

Cry About It Later – Katy Perry

I Like It – Cardi B, Bad Bunny, J Balvin

just like magic – Ariana Grande

I Don’t care – Ed Sheeran & Justin Bieber

Motivate – Little Mix

Joan of Arc – Little Mix

Take Back The Power – The Interrupters

thank u, next – Ariana Grande

Graveyard – Halsey

Ashley – Halsey

Lover – Taylor Swift

needy – Ariana Grande

Hard Times – Paramore

3am – Halsey

positions – Ariana Grande

Heaven Is Under The Sun – Beta Play

Only The Young – Taylor Swift

Dancing In the Moonlight – Toploader

Finally // beautiful stranger – Halsey

The Man – Taylor Swift

motive – Ariana Grande

shut up – Ariana Grande

Confetti – Little Mix

Rose Colored Boy – Paramore

seven – Taylor Swift

cardigan – Taylor Swift

hoax – Taylor Swift

MONOPOLY – Ariana Grande & Victoria Monét

Only Love – Katy Perry

I Forgot That You Existed – Taylor Swift

Death By A Thousand Cuts – Taylor Swift

Rebel Rebel – David Bowie

Runaway – P!nk

Would You Be So Kind – dodie

Savage – Megan Thee Stallion

Please Me – Cardi B & Bruno Mars

Power (ft Stormzy) – Little Mix

bad guy – Billie Eilish

ME! (ft Brandon Urie) – Taylor Swift

Confident – Demi Lovato

Punks Don’t Dance – Crystalyne

The Boys Are Back In Town – Thin Lizzy

Champagne Problems – Katy Perry

In the Middle – dodie

Still Into You – Paramore

death bed (ft beabadoobe) – Powfu

Salute – Little Mix

Juice – Lizzo

If I’m Honest – dodie

Come and Get Your Love – Redbone

Soon You’ll Get Better (ft The Chicks) -Taylor Swift

Older – Sasha Sloan

Hold My Hand – Jess Glynne

Just a Girl – No Doubt

Hair – Little Mix

Tucked – Katy Perry

Without Me – Halsey

Woman Like Me (ft Nicki Minaj) – Little Mix

Supermarket Flowers – Ed Sheeran

The Wild One – Suzi Quatro

What were some of your top listens this year? Let me know below!

Book Review: Roomies - Christina Lauren

Book Review: Roomies – Christina Lauren

While Holland has watched her favourite street musician for months with deepening feelings she’s never had the courage to talk to him, until he rescues her from a drunken attack and disappears. She decides to find him again after her Uncle is desperate for an incredible musician and she knows that Calvin could fit the bill. While everyone falls in love with his talent there’s one catch – he’s in the US illegally after overstaying his student visa.

Fed up of being a second character in her own story Holland decides to take a risk and marry him – even though he has no ideas of her feelings. They’re going to have to put on the show of their lives, but at one point does it stop becoming an act?

I’d heard about Christina Lauren a few times and this is the second book of theirs that I’ve picked up and I’m so glad I did. This is a romance that includes music, theatre and a protagonist that isn’t sure what she wants to do with her life. That ticks a lot of boxes for me!

I listened to the audiobook of this on Scribd and it was a really enjoyable experience, particularly as the narrator has a knack for the variety of accents that this story needs. It’s worth nothing as well that the characters lend themselves to the diversity that a city like New York would have.

While you cannot hear the music and performance that is being discussed, it didn’t matter – it was as if I could feel it through the page. The heart and the soul that these characters were connected by felt second nature to me. Now, I don’t know if this is the case because I have a passion and love for music myself but it touched my heart.

I also found myself feeling connected to the characters – I cared deeply about their lives and wanted the very best for them. I felt like I knew them. I was constantly rooting for Holland and Calvin to find love in each other and have a shot at happiness together. It’s safe to say I was wrapped up in this book from the first page.

This was a 5 star read for me. It’s a fantastic romance that I could not put down. I needed to know what was going to happen, was the relationships going to stick? Would Calvin fall in love with Holland? Would the law catch up with them? Of course, I won’t spoil anything for you but I really enjoyed this book. I’d also recommend the audiobook as a fun read.

Livin' The Vida Lockdown: Day Five - Four Things I Want To Do Daily

Livin’ The Vida Lockdown: Day Five – Four Things I Want To Do Daily

Like many freelancers I’ve seen a drop in work because of what’s going on and while that is absolutely terrifying it also means I have more time and not much I can do.

I’ve seen people say that they’re going to learn a new language, decorate their houses or do something really amazing and creative. I’ll be honest, right now, getting up, dressed and showered is a sign of a good day. That said, I wanted to have little, achievable goals for my days in lockdown.

While these might not be amazing and they might not change or accelerate my life it’s something I can do right now to put a smile on my face.

Start The Day Reading

Today and last Saturday I started the day reading and it was really soothing. It’s no secret that I love books, all I do is read BUT being able to escape into another life or another world is a great form of distraction and counts towards my yearly Goodreads goal. So really it’s a win, win situation.

Write for 20 Minutes

A while ago I saw on Victoria Schwab’s Twitter that she said writing for 20 minutes at a time is how a lot of her books were written. Having dedicated time for writing and in short bursts helped her and I thought I should try that.

I might as well start now and who knows my book might actually get written. A first draft is a good start but if I make it into a daily habit then who knows.

Find A Positive Thing/ Silver Lining

It might feel like the world is on fire and everything is awful BUT there are some little things to be grateful for. I want to try and find something every day to bring a little light or a little hope.

Listen To Music

I’ve found that music is really helping me right now. Back when I was really depressed as a teenager music got me through a lot. I would have my iPod playing through classes where I could get away with it (whether the teachers noticed and didn’t care or just forgot I was there who knows) and at night when my anxiety was bad I would just play music until my brain calmed enough.

So I’ve been alternating between my positivity playlist, Apple Music playlists and albums I like to keep my brain at bay. Seeing as it’s something that is working it makes sense to try and do it every day.

What’s something you want to do every day? I’d love to hear below!

Blogmas 2019: 20 Songs I Could Not Stop Listening To In 2019

Blogmas 2019: 20 Songs I Could Not Stop Listening To In 2019

Music makes the world go around. I really believe that and it’s one of my favourite things in the world, so I decided to scroll through my phone to see what I’ve been listening to a lot this year. Here’s some of my favourites!

Thank U, Next (whole album) – Ariana Grande

Truth Hurts – Lizzo

In The Middle – Dodie

Secret For The Mad – Dodie

Wasabi – Little Mix (actually the whole of the LM5 album has been on repeat)

Good As Hell – Lizzo ft Ariana Grande

Feeling Myself – Nicki Minaj feat. Beyonce

Voldemort – With Confidence

Lover (the whole album) – Taylor Swift

I Like Boys – Todrick Hall

I Don’t Care – Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber

Old Town Road – Lil Nas and Billy Ray Cyrus

Bad Guy – Billie Eilish

You Should See Me In A Crown – Billie Eilish

Nightmare – Halsey

Sorry – Beyoncé

Six Inch Heels – Beyoncé

Monopoly – Ariana Grande and Victoria Monét

Dead Girl Walking – performed by Carrie Hope Fletcher

Catch You – Dashboard Confessional

Please Me – Cardi B and Bruno Mars

A lot of kick ass women, a lot of great songs. Next year I want to get back to some good old pop punk too! Can you recommend me any albums? Let me know below. 👇

Blogmas 2019: My Christmas Playlist

We are SO CLOSE to Christmas now so I’m hoping you’re all ready to get super Christmassy with a playlist! These are some of my favourite tunes to get me in the mood. Here we go! 🎵

Fairytale of New York – The Pogues

I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday – Wizzard

Santa Baby – Kylie Minogue

Last Christmas – Wham!

Merry Christmas Everyone – Slade

Step into Christmas – Elton John

Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow! – Dean Martin

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas – Frank Sinatra

Baby It’s Cold Outside – Tom Jones

Frosty the Snowman – Jackson 5

Happy Xmas (War is Over) – John Lennon & Yoko Ono

Santa Claus Is Coming to Town – Jackson 5

I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus – The Ronettes

The Christmas Song – Nat ‘King’ Cole

Christmas Time (Don’t Let The Bells End) – The Darkness

Christmas Wrapping – The Spice Girls

All I Want for Christmas is You – Mariah Carey

Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree – Brenda Lee

What Christmas Means to Me – Stevie Wonder

Driving Home for Christmas – Chris Rea

Jingle Bell Rock  – Bobby Helms

Underneath the Tree – Kelly Clarkson (new entry to my faves this year!)

Have I missed any off the list? Let me know below!

Concerts I'm looking forward to this year

Concerts I’m Looking Forward To This Year!

I absolutely LOVE live music. When I was at uni I went to so many gigs with Ali, I used to play a lot of live music, it’s something I’m still in love with and whenever I can I’ll go see some of my favourites live. 2019 has ended up being full of concerts that I booked last year…and I haven’t even booked any smaller shows with Ali yet! So let’s take a look at what I’m going to be up to…

George Ezra Tour 2019

George Ezra

Since I the first time I heard George Ezra’s voice I’ve wanted to see him live but have never been able to get tickets. That all stops in March when I take my sister to see him as part of her Christmas present. Buzzing!

The Vamps

A free ticket and the promise of a meal before hand? Of course I was going. I’ve taken my sister to see them a few times and it’s actually been quite a fun show!

The Spice Girls Tour 2019

The Spice Girls

I’ve been a HUGE fan of the Spice Girls since I was 2 years old and they were my first concert in 1999. I wasn’t sure originally but I couldn’t really turn it down. After Ticketmaster crashing a few times I finally got tickets and will be dusting off my Spice gear in June!

Ariana Grande Tour 2019

Ariana Grande

Sweetener was probably my favourite album of 2018, I played it constantly from when it was released and then Thank U Next dropped. I tried 3 times to get Ariana tickets and ended up paying a bit more than I originally planned but I am so excited.

Little Mix Tour 2019

Little Mix

LM5 was another amazing album last year and the last time I saw Little Mix they were really good. I love the positive self-love vibes from the album, so this is going to be a good one!

Aaaaaand that’s all of them for now. I don’t doubt there will be more gigs, although a lot of my favourite Rock and Pop Punk bands have recently toured or are heading back into the studio next year so we’ll have to see!

Are you booked to see any gigs next year? Let me know in the comments below!

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August Favourites

It’s time for my August favourites… I am very aware that it’s the middle of September. I might have *slightly* forgotten to post it, oops. BUT there we go it’s here now and it’s a pretty good one! Let’s jump in.

Books

This was a month for YALC books (full haul here). My three favourites were all purchased at the convention and I LOVED them. Orbiting Jupiter absolutely broke my heart, This Is Where It Ends made me think and Vox is going to be a huge success. I wrote more about them in my reading wrap up. I read so much in August…let’s see how September goes!

Music

Has anyone else been listening to Sweetener on repeat? Ariana Grande’s latest album has been on constantly – I love it. I can’t wait to go and see her on tour when she next comes to the UK. Next up is an album that *just* got released in August – Emma Blackery’s Villains which has some damn catchy lyrics and is her best album to date. Also, I love Kacey Musgraves at the moment for her cool country vibes.

Musical!

Heathers The Musical

I saw my first Musical in FOREVER! I loved Heathers so much that not only did I write a blog about it, I also booked to see it again in October. If you’re unsure what it’s about, think Mean Girls but a lot darker and set in the 1980s. Could you think of anything better? Nope, neither can I.

Anniversary!

I’ve spent 10 years with this lovely man. It’s hard to put into words the feelings I have for him. We had a small garden party, I went with him to work for the day and we went to the Zoo. All in all a pretty perfect anniversary.

Lego

This is a very odd one. I really like Lego, but in August I LOVED Lego. The new Harry Potter figures were just the start, followed by a bigger Lego set (with spiders), a Star Wars set that I picked up for half price at a car boot sale and a trip to the Lego store in London.

Finally a phone update!

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After two years I finally got a new phone, look at the beautiful red colour though!

Ladybird Social

LB563 Ladybird social logo final

I’m proud that my freelance business is now official! Ladybird Social is now up and running and I couldn’t be happier!

Top Posts 

I’m A Freelancer 

Why I Will NEVER Use An App For Birth Control

Spending A Day With Sound Engineers 

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March Favourites!

So a third of the year is done. No biggie, it’s cool, I’m not terrified. That said it’s been a pretty quiet month so I wondered if I should do a monthly favourites post but my lovely Twitter followers said they wanted to see it, so why not. Here are my slightly short monthly favourites.

Books

I read a total of 12 books last month which I was super proud of any. It’s definitely a result of some amazing books I got through. There was a good mix of Fiction, Non-Fiction and Poetry so I’m keeping my fingers crossed I find some good ones this month too! You can read about them all in my wrap up here.

Music 

It’s been a while since I’ve had a music favourite, simply because I’ve been listening to the same few playlists in the car with one exception. My boyfriend introduced me to the amazing band Against the Current. I’ve had them on repeat, especially the above song which is a great driving tune!

 

Snowmageddon 2018

Snow! 

I don’t know if the snow itself is a favourite but the walk I got to take with Ali was and when I didn’t have to go outside it looked very pretty. That said I’m fine with us not having loads of snow next year, my car was not happy. Either way, I wrote a post all about Snowmageddon in the South!

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Food 

Can we all take a little time to appreciate how tasty Creame Eggs are? I only had 2 McFlurries and an undisclosed amount of actual eggs. I know some people might not count them as food but, c’mon it’s chocolate…and I’ve been running on sugar this month.

Fashion

A few fashion favourites are my new Stitch t-shirt from Primark which is SO adorable and cost about £6 I think? I also picked up some new Vans in their outlet store in Portsmouth for £33 and they are the comfiest shoes I own.

Blog Posts

5 Things You Should Know About Living With Chronic Pain 

Fantastic Feminist Authors

Why Do You Blog?

Top 10 Books I Read in Winter

Did my GCSE Choices Matter? 

 

 

 

 

Growing Up With Girl Power – The Spice Girls & Me

 

spice girls return

I might have squealed when I saw this on Instagram…

 

I love music and have done for just about as long as I can remember and everyone has to start somewhere, right? Unless you’ve been completely removed from the internet in the last 48 hours you will have seen this picture. Be still my child heart because all five Spice Girls were in a room together with their previous manager and now there’s actually talk about new Spice plans.

The Spice Girls were something else for me and millions of other little girls. ‘Wannabe’ came out when I was two, I wanted to listen to these ladies all the time, I had no idea what they were singing about but I loved them. The older I got the more I wanted to be like them.

I remember around the age of four sitting and watching the new videos that came out on the TV or just waiting to see old ones. I remember watching Viva Forever’s video for the first time. Spice World was the first film I ever saw and then in 1999 my incredible Mum took a five-year-old me to see them at Earls Court, Victoria waved at me and it was the best day of my little life.

There’s something else that stands out to me as an adult though, the Spice Girls were a marketing machine. They absolutely nailed it. In the 90s you couldn’t go anywhere without seeing some reference to them, they took over the world – and with a good message. These were women who did what they liked. They were funny and loud and everywhere.

The message of Girl Power is one I held with me long after the girls parted ways. Although I know, Geri Halliwell claims she’s not a Feminist for a lot of young women, myself included, chants of Girl Power were the start of their own belief in women and Feminism. I truly believe that the message of the Spice Girls was part of me never feeling like I couldn’t do something just because I was a girl. I had, and still have, Girl Power!

Whatever these ladies choose to do as a five-piece I’ll be so excited. Really because they were a big part of my life growing up and who I am today.

What are your Spice memories? Are you excited to see them back?! Let me know in the comments below and as ever, Spice up your life.

monthly favourites lifestyle blogger

January Favourites!

Well, we’ve finally got to the end of January! A long and pretty gloomy month as far as the outside goes! For the majority of us, it’s also meant that there hasn’t been a lot of spare cash, so it’s been a pretty tight month too, with little to spend so this is definitely going to be a shorter favourites post than usual.

 

Books

It’s been an amazing month for books, so much so I wrote a roundup for the month, but there are three that I have to mention. The first hasn’t been released yet, but you’re going to want to add it to your TBR. Only Child by Rhiannon Navin is a tough read that focuses on the aftermath of a school shooting from a child’s perspective. Next up is A Court of Thorns and Roses, something that I have finally given into and fallen in love with, I can’t wait to keep reading the series, I can’t recommend it highly enough. Finally, Love, Hate & Other Filters is a stunning debut and will be on top 10 lists this year, I have no doubt, read my review here.

 

Couple Paramore 2010, 2013, 2014, 2018

Music

My biggest music highlight was going to see Paramore for the 4th time! Every time I see them I feel like I reach another big point in my life. The best part was seeing it with Ali. I wrote about it here.

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Watching 

I started watching back in November I think? I am definitely hooked though. I’m not a hardcore Trekky but the series is absolutely incredible and I’m really excited to see where it goes next.

 

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Fashion

With money being tight this month there wasn’t much to go on fashion or beauty BUT there was one. I picked this up in New Look for under £5! I absolutely love the fact it compliments my figure after a bit of weight loss too!

Top 5 Blogs 

Life Update: I’m Being Published! 

I’ve Been Hiding My Face! 

How’s 2018 Going So Far

Harry Potter Haul: Updated

My Goals For 2018

 

What were some of your favourites, anything I should check out in February? Or maybe one of mine has inspired you! Let me know in the comments below!