January Favourites

First of the year, let's begin...


Artist: Halsey
Halsey is an incredible artist making varying different styles of music that always have a narrative behind them. Her first album Badlands was new and rebellious, her follow-up Hopeless Fountain Kingdom was innovative, playing on the themes and story of Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet; now comes her latest album Manic, a depiction and semi-autobiographical inside to her mind and who she truly is. It is very raw and deals with human problems and is equally beautiful and haunting. I'm loving the songs 'You Should Be Sad', 'I Hate Everybody' and '3am'. I really loved her song 'Nightmare' which I'm a little gutted didn't make the album, but she still released it nonetheless.

Album: Rare - Selena Gomez
This month was a big one for pop album releases. Selena Gomez released Rare, her long awaited album after four years since Revival. I have been loving this album all month! What I love most is that all the songs are very different, she goes from a slow ballad, 'Lose You To Love Me', to some upbeat pop dance songs, 'Look At Her Now' and 'Dance Again' to somewhere between with the chill vibes in 'A Sweeter Place' and 'Vulnerable'. I love a lot of these songs and find myself picking certain songs to listen to when I'm in different moods. I'm glad she has made a comeback and I'm looking forward to more songs from the singer.

Book: Paper Girls Vol. 6 - Brian K. Vaughan
After completing my GoodReads Challenge in 2019, this year I challenged myself to read 30 books. Throughout this month I have been reading a lot of graphic novels including Paper Girls Vol. 6. I love this series, the colour palette is beautiful and the artwork is equally mesmerising. The narrative watches four girls, who are doing their paper round, unravel secrets that are out of this world as they are transported to the past, future, and alternative presents. This is a quick read that really hooks you in wanting to know what happens to these Paper Girls. I'd recommend it to older teens and young adults but I know I'll find myself reading this series over and over again.

Film: Miss Americana
A bit of a late one to my January Favourites. Miss Americana premiered world-wide on the 31st January on Netflix and at Sundance festival on the 23rd January. The documentary stars Taylor Swift and tells the story of her rise to fame and the journey of her music career from then to now. She tells the viewers that she was made to believe she had to be a "good girl" to get people to like her and boost her career. The documentary heavily features the downfall of the "good girl" innocence with the 2009 VMA's where Kanye West interrupts her award speech and she was made to feel that the crowd were booing at her. It was that moment in her life when she realised she needed to step up for herself and thus a reinvention of herself was born. Taylor since then has come in leaps and bounds learning that only she can tell the story, how she has had to deal with the media portraying her in different lights, a sexual assault court-case, and the rise of the Reputation era blooming into her latest album Lover. She also really shows her passion for human rights with footage of her fighting for her political views throughout the last presidential election. This documentary is a must for any Swifty fans but more importantly I believe it'll make people see Taylor Swift in a different light and respect her more.

Game: Cluedo
Bit of a different subject to mention in the monthly favourites for me, however over Christmas I have played a lot of board games and my absolute favourite is Cluedo (or Clue for any US viewers). I love this quick game of who-done-it. The traditional game is fun to play with friends and family and to see who is bluffing and who has made the correct accusation.
I also was given the Game of Thrones version of Cluedo which comes with two different story lines: The Red Keep and Mereen. This was a much more complicated version of Cluedo but also fun for any Game of Thrones fan as it stars twelve of their favourite characters, weapons and rooms from the show that'll have you talking about the show whilst you play.

Playlist:
1. Blinding Lights - The Weekend
2. What A Man Gotta Do - Jonas Brothers
3. Walk Me Home - P!NK
4. Boys - Lizzo
5. You Should Be Sad - Halsey
6.  26 - Caamp
7. A Sweeter Place - Selena Gomez feat. Kid Cudi
8. Mean It - Lauv & LANY
9. Don't Start Now - Dua Lipa
10. Before You Go - Lewis Capaldi


Enjoy x