December Favourites

 It's been a weird old year 2020. There have been many negatives to the year but equally as many upsides too. I've made some amazing memories this year despite spending half of the year in some sort of lockdown or tier restriction. But now a new year is afoot I thought I'd reflect on my end of year favourites...

Artist: Taylor Swift
Now lockdown is a time that can either go one of two ways for people. Taylor Swift is a woman who saw a chance to make something of her time and that was making not one but two albums this year. Folklore was a new creation and slightly different musical genre for her, focusing on a mixture of country, pop and folk music, nevertheless this album was an overnight success. Announcing the release of the album the day before its launch could have been a risky move but not for Swift. Folklore is hands down one of my favourite albums of hers now. Following the success of the album she partnered with Disney+ making a documentary where she was joined with co-creators of the album and discussed what it was like making this album not in your typical recording studio; she made her own home-studio and produced it over Zoom and FaceTime with her collaborative producers. 

To top off her successful year, she followed Folklore up with a sister album, Evermore. Following in the character driven song styles Evermore was a continuation of a new passion for Taylor Swift and something that came out perfectly at the end of the year. 

Album: Folklore

Wow. This album has me feeling all kinds of ways. From hearing the opening song 'the 1' I knew this album was gonna be something new and different from her. It has been my most listened to album this year and I play it whatever mood I'm in, when I want to listen to music or when I want background noise, it fits any situation. I love how cryptic Taylor is as a song writer and how she creates songs that link with each other, 'betty' and 'august', and also writing character stories like 'the last great american dynasty' which talks about the previous owners of one of her homes, and is personally my favourite song on the album. She also released a song called 'the lakes' which came exclusively with her deluxe version of the album; in her Disney+ documentary Folklore: the Long Pond Studio Session she performed the song and spoke about her inspiration for the song came from a visit to the Lake District in the UK and how great writers flocked there as a getaway. 

Film: Miracle on 34th Street (1947)

Now it wouldn't have been Christmas without watching some classic festive films. Now this could be a bit controversial but I prefer the original Miracle on 34th Street (1947) compared to the 90's version that most people favour. I love that the 1940's version features a very young Natalie Wood (most famous for Rebel Without A Cause and West Side Story) and feels a lot more homely, family orientated and also very funny. It is not a film that feels outdated in the slightest either. I love watching this every year and also puts a smile on my face. For anyone who hasn't seen it please give it a watch. 

TV: New Girl

In the last couple of months of 2020 I have binge watched New Girl from season one through to its final season which I finished two days before the new year. I love this show. It is hilarious and I love the characters, Nick and Jess are my favourite but all the characters have their quirks which make them really stand out in their own ways. I was so sad when it came to watching the final season and wondered how they were going to end it and honestly I felt they did it justice. In my opinion it wasn't the best ending to the show but it was bittersweet and it really showed the journey these bunch of characters had been on together. I now have another void to fill in my TV watching life. A great show that I will revisit over and over again. 

Playlist: 
1. The Last Great American Dynasty - Taylor Swift
2. Potential Breakup Song - Aly & AJ (thank you TikTok)
3. No Body, No Crime - Taylor Swift ft. Haim
4. Sweet Melody - Little Mix
5. RITMO - Black Eyed Peas & J Balvin
6. Love You For A Long Time - Maggie Rogers
7. Midnight Sky - Miley Cyrus
8. Giants - Dermot Kennedy
9. Hallucinate - Dua Lipa
10. No Time For Tears - Nathan Dawe ft. Little Mix

Gaming: Man of Medan (Dark Pictures Anthology) 

Earlier this year my boyfriend and I began playing Until Dawn on the PS4. I thought this was such a cool concept for a game, an interactive cinema-esque narrative where you control the lives of eight characters over the course of the story. The story is multi-linear in that you control the destiny of the characters and what action you chose to make could have an equal or opposite reaction to their survival. We loved it so much and once we searched up similar games like it we came across Man of Medan. With a similar game style play of multi-linear cinema-style narrative, and although we haven't finished it yet, we are loving this just as much as Until Dawn. These games fall into the supernatural horror genre so do expect jump scares, which is always a laugh after in my opinion. Man of Medan is currently the first in an anthology of follow up games being released one year at a time, it's next story Little Hope was released this year and House of Ashes is expected for release in 2021. 

I wish everyone a wonderful new year, here's to 2021. I don't usually make any resolutions but this year I want to continue to watch new films that I've never seen before and hope to adventure more of this world when lockdown permits us. 

Stay safe x