Music. Playlists. Reviews. Forever Living Louder.: Autumn 2012 Playlist

Summer Is Over - Jon Mclaughlin featuring Sarah Bareilles http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=By7YgbX3GuA

This ludicrously appropriate song seemed like the perfect way to start an autumn playlist. Although, it may make you extremely nostalgic for your summer memories especially if a holiday romance was a part of your August. For many, autumn is the time when you have to get back to the reality of school, work and normal routine which can be very hard to do after such an amazing summer break. Jon and Sarah's voices harmonise beautifully and I like when male and female voices represent two sides of the song's story of a relationship. Jon is well known for his piano playing talent and the verses of Summer Is Over are a great example of this for first time Mclaughlin listeners.

I am not a huge fan of autumn and so this playlist may consist of quite of few songs longing for the summer to return. However, you simply cannot spend a whole month in a state of negativity so I thought I would add a motivational, jolly song to cheer everybody up a bit. Lenka is an Australian singer with a really sweet, feminine voice. The message of this song is that when things do not go your way in life, or bad things happen, you just have to get on with it and try and get through it. Roll With The Punches is very catchy and can instantly put you in a good mood.

Honor Society has been a favourite band of mine for many years now and their new EP incorporates stories with great melodies. This song especially tells a movie-like story that you can imagine in your head whilst listening. The song tells of a sixteen year old girl who finds out she is pregnant and runs away from home, the father of the baby has enlisted in the army and wrote her a note but sent it to her old address. The girl never gets to see the note and her boyfriend gets killed whilst fighting abroad. The story may be tragic but the song is quite up-beat and is trying to send a message rather than depressing everyone with the heart breaking tale. Impactful, cleverly written and very well sang, well done Honor Society!

Loves Me Not - Kris Allen featuring Meiko http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ob1e2D9FfCA

Coincidentally, I have featured another song featuring a male and a female voice singing the two sides of a love story. I have included this song as the introduction personally reminds me of a crisp, sepia, autumn morning. The cute lyrics of 'he loves me, he loves me not' may be quite familiar from picking petals of flowers in your childhood but on a more mature level it is simply about needing to know if somebody you like feels the same way. Kris Allen came second in American Idol and I have been following his brilliant music ever since, however I am not familiar with Meiko. Both of their voices are very natural and I love the xylophone audible in the chorus.

Blame It On September - Allstar Weekend http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPLvX9N6igw

The perfect song to finish the summer, Blame It On September is another tune about having to end a summer romance because you have to return to work or school. This song reminisces about the summer and Zach Porter sings about the struggle of leaving the memories behind. Throughout the month of September, you can blame almost anything on 'september' such as the new heavy workload or the chilly weather. This is a ballad different from Allstar Weekend's usually upbeat songs but is extremely emotional and uses metaphors such as 'waves erased our plans' which I love.

Christopher is a young singer from Denmark with a refreshing voice and a very cute blonde quiff. 'Nothing In Common' has an incredibly catchy chorus and a child-like feel at the start with the soft playing of the acoustic guitar. You would never be able to tell that Christopher is Danish however I do think he needs more of a stage name as you get an extortionate number of results when you google simply 'Christopher'.

This minimalistic song is only 2 minutes long and consists of only one line; 'its the ghosts we cannot see that scares us'. Although I am usually a fan of lots of lyrics with deep meaning and interesting points of view, I think the simplicity of this line works really well and gives the song a unique edge. I interpret the line to mean that we are all afraid of the unknown, not a physical being such as ghosts, but a hidden evil or an uncertain safety. The song is great to dance to and, obviously, very easy to sing along to.

I am obsessed with the girl's voice in this, oh and look another female/male duet! This seems to be a theme of this playlist, but maybe these duets just remind me, in a strange way, of autumn. This song, however, is mainly female vocals with the man coming in to harmonise and sing backing. The chorus is quite mystical and soothing.

I am not usually a huge fan of rap, but I am certainly willing to make an exception for this cheeky duo from Brighton. Their lyrics are spot on and their melodies are easy to dance to and have a good time to. Although they are just a couple of hipster teens, they use awesome literary devices in their lyrics and are very talented musicians, especially having being educated at the famous Brit School. I chose 'Dreamers' because it is about ambition and motivation which you need to have a lot of in this season in order to get back into hard work mode after summer.

Snakes and Ladders was a very popular game in my childhood, probably because video games and computers were not as popular in those days and so this song has a nostalgic element for me. After their break, Scouting For Girls came back with another world class album with every song having the potential to be a huge hit. The repetition in this song makes it catchy and the beginning immeditately grabs you instead of having a long, boring introduction which is unnecessary.

Music. Playlists. Reviews. Forever Living Louder.