I have a birthday coming up & as it's a bit of a milestone I thought I'd make a playlist of the songs I've loved growing up (so far). Please note that some are highly embarrassing (What was I thinking?), many of them are nostalgic & some will perhaps only make sense to the people who know me the best.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy my playlist today. Open up YouTube, iTunes or Spotify & get singing!

'Payphone' was the first single off Maroon 5's latest album, Overexposed. 'Payphone' was written by Benny Blanco, Ammar Malik, Dan Omelio, Shellback and the American rapper Wiz Khalifa. It was produced by Benny Blanco and Shellback.The song is a mid-tempo pop ballad and it features a rap verse from Wiz in the middle of it.  Lyrically it explores the way a relationship used to be and discusses how it's no longer like this.


I love this song because it reminds me of the end of Semester holiday I just had, which seems like ages ago now! It was always playing on the radio at that time & it was on my Spotify playlists for quite a while.

Ray of Light was released in 1998 as the second single from Madonna's album of the same name. The song charted well & was credit for bringing electronic dance music into mainstream pop & radio.

Wonderwall by Oasis was released during 1995. It reached the top ten on 13 charts and topped the charts in New Zealand, Australia & America.

Lead singer Noel Gallagher describes Wonderwall as being "an imaginary friend who's gonna come & save you from yourself." The song's title originated from a 1968 film who's soundtrack was provided by George Harrison, one of the members of The Beatles.

Government Hooker is the third track from Lady Gaga's latest album, Born This Way. Lyrically the song contains themes of feminism and dominance. It also serves as a metaphor for the rumoured relationship between Marilyn Monroe and former president, John F Kennedy.

For those of you who don't know Zowie, she is one of the hottest acts to come out of New Zealand in the last couple of years. She's opened for Katy Perry on her tour of Australia + New Zealand, caught the attention of Perez Hilton and has been signed with Sony Music. Her debut album Love Demolition was released last month and it has already been named one of the albums of the year by Pop Justice.

So if anyone ever finds my iPod, there's a high chance they'd be rather confused by my music selection. After all, there is a rather unusual mix on there. A fair portion of that selection is Broadway Cast recordings given that I love Musical Theatre.

Without further ado, here's four of the musical theatre songs I've been listening to lately. This is only a small selection, there are countless more, but we'd be here all day if I shared everything.

WARNING: Graphic content from about 2:39. Stop watching at this point if you don't like blood & gore. 


This week's song comes from the very lovely, Kate Miller-Heidke. For those of you who aren't familiar with Kate she is an Australian singer & songwriter, hailing from Brisbane. She has released four albums and has won three ARIA awards.

I'll Change My Mind is an upbeat love song with rather sad lyrics. Kate says it is about a woman stalking her ex whom she can't get over. She waits outside his house and hopes that when he sees her that he'll decide he wants her back. "It's just a futile hope. If you listen to the lyrics, she's never going to change his mind; she's deluded."

This week's song remains one of my firm favourites. I know you're supposed to have one favourite of everything, but how unrealistic is that??

A Case of You is one of Joni Mitchell's most popular songs. and was featured on her 1971 album, Blue.  She was accompanied by James Taylor on guitar for the recording and she has re-recorded the track a couple of times.

This song was voted #1 by BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Disc listeners & has been covered by a number of artists.





"I am a lonely painter. I live in a box of paints. I'm frightened by the devil, and I'm drawn to those who ain't afraid."

Is anybody else madly counting down until it's Friday? Maybe this song will take your mind off things...




 Speak Now was originally released by Taylor Swift as a promotional single, following the release of her third album Speak Now.

The song was inspired by one of her friend's and their ex-boyfriend. Aforementioned ex was soon to marry an awful person and Taylor became fascinated with the idea of losing a loved one to somebody else. She had a dream where one of her own exes married another girl, 'the wrong girl', and hence this song was born.

'Out of the Game' is the first single released off Rufus Wainwright's new album. The new album will have quite a different sound to his other records and is perhaps more pop than others.

This track is sure to race up the charts and that in part will be thanks to the video clip above. It features Helena Bonham Carter, starring as a straight laced librarian driven into a lustful frenzy by Wainwright's multiple personalities in the clip. She also lip syncs the lyrics throughout the video.

I only found this song by accident, as it came up in my YouTube sidebar one day. I'm glad it did though!! I look forward to listening to some of Wainwright's older music and eagerly anticipate his new album.

  Oh Auckland and overseas readers, have I got a story for you this week! Take yourself back to 1960. Think of the Fab Four. No not THAT Fab Four, the Four Seasons!