Bad woman - Lykke Li

Countdown to 2019: -2

Bad woman - Lykke Li

In what might well (have) be(en) my favourite album of 2018 (if it weren't for Florence, that is), Lykke Li changed gears again, towards a genre that's not really my cup of tea, but that I ended up greatly enjoying. This end-of-summer I had the "pleasure" of going through a tough breakup at a tough time of year, while busy with an exam I spent the whole summer preparing, getting cut off by the person I needed the most... it hasn't been easy, but surprisingly I breezed through things much more lightly that I throught I would. As I told many people, I was ok in a moment when I should've been running naked and screaming in the streets pulling my hair. I've had my fair share of "bad womanhood", as my special one did, and as we all do at times, I guess. No one's perfect and relationships are hard work, and it takes two to tango. And tango takes a lot of effort, energy and dedication. It happens that the dance stops working, but when the dancers stop respecting each other, things are really not ok, even when they need each other more than they know, as Lykke suggests. And then, to close the year beautifully, she gifted us with this beautiful acoustic version. Sounds like an appropriate end of an intense and heartfelt 2018.

Uptight - Hooverphonic

Countdown to 2019: -3

Uptight - Hooverphonic

Unlike 2017, which has pretty much been a constant flow of awesomeness in terms of music, at least in the first half / three quarters of the year, 2018 has been unfolding more in sparks, something great coming out and then laying low for a while till the next great thing. The last such spark has been the release of Hooverphonic's latest album. They changed singer again, and after not following them closely in the previous era, I immediately found myself immersed in their new music, and I am enjoying their new album quite a lot! It's funny, because the lyrics of most of the songs are describing situations, throughts and characteristics that are pretty much the opposite of mine, but I still found myself entrenched in the listening. 'Uptight' is a perfect example of this: I can't think of any recent situation in which I've been more uptight than I should've (rather, the opposite), but I still can't help loving this song, and I'm quite confident it's gonna stick in my head well into next year!

The end of love - Florence + the Machine

Countdown to 2019: -4

The end of love - Florence + the Machine

When I started these last (and first) five posts of end-of-2018, I already had in mind the five songs I planned to post. And here I am, on the second day, already posting something I hadn't planned to. Well, this seems like a good example of how life seldom goes the way we plan, and how it's important to be able to adapt to the flow sometimes. It's been a few years since Florence released a new album until 'High as hope' came out this summer. It took me a while to appreciate the new music, but I ended up being sold on it. As it often happens with F+tM's music, it ended up growing on me and I listened to some of the songs more and more in the later months of this year. This is one of them, one that I held particularly dear around the end of summer, when I was going through my own end of love, my problematic New York summer (indirectly), my ghosting and my (figurative) jump off the balcony (please don't jump from the balcony for real!). As usual, Florence speaks my life better than I can, even before events unfold. Can't wait to see her again live next March, hoping that after the end of love that came with 2018, new love will sparkle in 2019!

Nobody - Mitski

Countdown to 2019: -5

Nobody - Mitski

2018 is coming to an end, leaving as legacy plenty of great music. Why not share one song per day in these last 5 days of the year? And what better place to do that than A song or two per day? These thoughts were going on in my head and brought me here to resurrect this blog, more than 1 year after the last post. It's been a long time, and I missed it, and I am sure the Facebook friends whose walls I have overloaded with music videos, also miss this blog as an alternative channel of distribution of my music taste! But here I am, back to my longest commitment, at the end of a year that has seen me go through ups and downs, keeping some challenging commitments and letting other go. Life is beautiful has become my mantra, and if you keep repeating something, you will start to believe it. Keep repeating it further and it will become true.
To a 2019 full of beautiful lives! In the meantime, you can just follow MItski's example, open the window to hear sounds of people, even if still nobody wants me, give me one good movie kiss and I'll be alright!