piano_in_fire_by_qarr

For the last few weeks I’ve been building a playlist to go along with my intention of the year for 2018, which is divine passion. For me, that means doing more of the things that excite me, investing time and money into manifesting my dreams, and giving myself permission to go for it.

Most of the songs I chose have a theme of fire and passion, and also reflect some of the feelings I want to invoke this year, including bravery, confidence, strength, enthusiasm, and power. This playlist is cheesy in places, but it’s hard to sing about being confident and powerful without a certain amount of cheese. I’m going with it!

Confident – Demi Lovato

Opening the playlist with a genuinely great pop song that does what it says on the tin.

 

I Love Myself Today – Bif Naked

Another straightforward song to inspire confidence and self-love, which are usually essential to getting shit done.

 

Stop Desire – Tegan and Sara

The song is strictly about sexual desire but I like to interpret the lyrics as being about the pursuit of anything you’re passionate about. Also, the music video is great.

 

The Greatest – Sia

“I see another mountain to climb, but I, I got stamina”

Sia has lots of inspiring songs about resilience and bravery (‘Unstoppable’ is another great one), but I chose this one because I particularly identify with the idea of mental strength requiring stamina. That really speaks to my experiences of being brave – it’s not one-and-done, it’s having the stamina to keep getting up when you’re knocked down, over and over again.

 

Into The Fire – Asking Alexandria

This song to me is about how to keep fighting despite your flaws and weaknesses.

 

Eyes on Fire – Blue Foundation

“I’m taking it slow, feeding my flame, shuffling the cards of your game. And just in time, in the right place, suddenly I will play my ace”

A great moody song about responding to a shitty situation with power, grace, and unshakable self-conviction.

 

Fire Eater’s Wife – Tori Amos

“What would this world be like without nasty girls? Without woman words?”

This is a B-side from Tori Amos’ album ‘Boys For Pele’, and the Tori Amos podcast Drive All Night have a theory that the Fire-Eater’s Wife refers to the goddess Pele (if Pele is a fire goddess, then her husband’s fire-eating refers to … well, you get the idea). The song itself is pretty cryptic as to its actual meaning, but the line above hugely inspires me. The world would be worse off without “nasty girls” (or “nasty women”, if you will) and women’s words – a reminder for me to be brave and share my own woman words.

 

Firewood – Regina Spektor

“Everyone knows it’s going to hurt, but at least we’ll get hurt trying”

When I first listened to this song in the car on the commute to work, I was thinking about how unrealistic a music career was, and was reeling off the usual list of reasons why I’ll never be successful. This song came on, with the opening line “the piano is not firewood yet“, and it hit me deep in my heart. Resisting the longing to give up (“the cold does get cold, so it soon might be that“) and being drawn back to the piano with every new verse mirrored my own feelings on being a musician. There are so many beautiful quotable lines from this song (“love what you have, and you’ll have more love“) so if you haven’t listened to it already I highly recommend it.

 

So-Called Chaos – Alanis Morissette

“I want to be weightless, flying through the air – I want to drop all these limitations…”

This song beautifully sums up why I felt drawn to Pele this year – a desire to disrupt the monotony and routine of “normal” life (“heart-burn and headaches, and soon to be ulcers, compulsive yearnings non-stop to please others”), a desire for wildness and excitement and limitless living.

 

Wonder Woman’s Wrath – Robert Gregson-Williams

Wonder Woman’s iconic theme is so powerful and evocative (here’s a great video that explains why). Who doesn’t feel like a badass listening to this?

 

Legend – The Score

“This fire’s a weapon – won’t stop ’til we’re legend”

A great fight song to inspire resolve and resilience.

 

Invincible – Adelitas Way

 

Fire – Delta Rae

“It won’t be pretty … I’ll bring this whole damn city … I’m calling FIRE”

A great beat and a damn good sound.

 

Do It Anyway – Ben Folds

A reminder that anything worth doing is difficult and risky and sometimes it just sucks – but you have to do it anyway.

 

Great Things – Echobelly

“I want to do great things,
I don’t want to compromise,
I want to know what life is,
I want to know everything”

 

Wild Women Don’t Have The Blues – Saffire The Uppity Blues Women

“Wild women are the only kind that really get by
‘Cause wild women don’t worry, wild women don’t get the blues”

A simple but powerful blues song about female self-reliance. (Also, the band that recorded this version is called ‘Saffire the Uppity Blues Women’, what a great name!)

 

Firewalker – Liz Phair

“I can change, in spite of all they say, become something strange and beautiful like JOY”

Liz Phair is a hugely underrated singer-songwriter, and this is one of her best. That line really speaks to me – the importance of not being bound by our perceived limitations or by what others think of us.

 

Take To The Sky – Tori Amos

“I know I got some magic buried deep in my heart”

One of my top 10 Tori Amos songs (no mean feat!), this song is about finding the strength to fly – and how great it feels to tell the naysayers to “have a seat while I take to the sky”.

 

I Am The Fire – Halestorm

I can’t actually quote any single line to sum up what this song means to me, because every one is perfect – this song is like the thesis statement of this playlist.

 

Live Like A Warrior – Matisyahu

“Let yesterday burn and throw it in a fire – fight like a warrior”

Closing the playlist with a cheesy, uplifting, wonderful song that always reminds me that everything is going to be okay. The lyrics are unsubtle but super relatable, and whenever I’m having a particularly bad brain day, I put this song on, have a cry, and instantly feel a tiny bit better. The bridge, which encourages you to let go of the things that have been weighing your heart down, always gets me right in the feels.

Listen to the playlist on Spotify here:

 

One more thing: if you listen to music on Spotify, there’s a small thing you can do that will be a big help to me: FOLLOW me there! Once I get to 250 followers, Spotify will verify my account, which opens up lots of possibilities for my music. If you have a second, please click “follow” below – it’ll be a huge help 


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