La Música de mi Vida

"Music touches us emotionally, where words alone can't."

– Johnny Depp.

I feel the greatest music is in nature. The swish in the swaying of leaves, the tweeting of birds early in the morning, the chirping of crickets at dusk, the soothing sound of rain as it falls accompanied by loud thunder when it strikes, the echoes you hear when you place a seashell in your ear, a child's laughter… The sound of a beating heart. 

That's the music all of us will react to regardless of our individual tastes and socialisation. 

We humans only try to recreate rhythms and beats that already exist in one form or another in nature. 

Music is vital to my existence. To human existence. It has been an inherent part of our cultures since time immemorial. Even animals can feel the groove of music. We have seen those videos on YouTube where dogs bless our hearts with their moving to a beat. Farmers have attested that playing certain kinds of music to their cows while milking them increases their milk output. They say plants do respond to music too and that cells under a microscope have been observed to respond to playing music. 

New styles and genres of music may come up every now and then, but a good sound, a good song never dies. It is immortal; touching the souls of its listeners through generations, taking their spirits to distant and blissful places.

"To live is to be musical, starting with the blood dancing in your veins. Everything living has a rhythm. Do you feel your music?"

– Michael Jackson

I also feel that the perfect song is like a key to a lock. Only the one meant for it can unlock it. 

What really makes a good song is debatable. And you can love a song then grow to hate it. And the opposite too. I have loved songs I now can't stand. One local song, in particular, talked about how bad money was and how it was going to leave you someday. I realize how badly that song shaped my perspectives about money early in my life. Maybe a song about planning, investing, saving, etc would have helped. 

The best songs for me are the ones that make me feel. Whether it's anger, love, pain, confusion, healing, intrigue, regret, hope, faith, surrender... Even numbness. 

Here are the songs that truly move me. A soundtrack of my life thus far.

Complicated - Avril Lavigne 

This song was one of my first loves and introduction to rock music. Avril Lavigne was rocking. When every other girl in the early 2000s wanted to look pretty, cute, neat, and girly, Avril Lavigne was out there skateboarding, being fierce, jumping, and doing the most.

I loved her! Loved her for it. And I loved this song!

It didn't matter to me that most girls I knew loved pretty dresses and neat hair. I loved the Tomboy look and Avril Lavigne was my teenage idol. I remember learning to skate because of this song. And my lifelong love for cargo pants was birthed by watching the music video to the song.

Complicated is an easy sing-along and its message about authenticity gave me direction in my confusing early teenage years. It helped me deal with my teenage angst. 

True To Your Heart - Stevie Wonder and 98°

A soundtrack on Disney's 1998 movie Mulan, this song provided me with a core life mantra that I live by.

I remember back then, as the internet was not what it is today, me armed with a pen and paper replaying the end credits of the movie over and over again trying to get the words to this great song. I recently saw the lyrics I wrote back then and I chuckled at how wrong I had gotten several lines. Thank goodness for the internet where the correct lyrics are only one search away!

Always be true to your heart. You can lie to everyone else, but you can never lie to yourself is the message I got from this song from the very first time I heard it.

And I have embraced it in the three decades since.

Beautiful - Christina Aguilera

The song was released when I was a teenager and was going through physical and emotional changes that didn't make me feel so beautiful. The message was God sent.

For every moment that I might feel less than or rejected in any aspect of my life, I usually listen to this song just like I did when I was a teenager.

You are beautiful. Always remember that and never let anybody tell you otherwise is its message to me.

Spectre - Allan Walker 

Hello, hello

Can you hear me

As I scream your name?

Hello, hello

Do you need me

Before I fade away?

Is this a place that I call home?

To find what I've become

Walk along the path unknown

We live, we love, we lie

These were the words that came from the radio in the car that had just stopped to offer me a lift during the pandemic a few years ago. 

I was hooked right there and then. From the first line!

I was traveling in a rural area where transport is not as efficiently distributed and this salon car was the angel that came from almost nowhere. Without it, I would have stood there waiting in the scorching sun for at least another hour. 

It seems the lift was not the only thing this car was blessing me with. It ended up introducing me to one of the most moving songs I have ever heard. 

After the song ended, I asked the kind driver to please replay it. Turns out, he didn't know its name or the singer and was playing it on a burnt CD. Did people still play music on burnt CDs in 2021? I wondered. 

I listened keenly to the first words again and typed them on my phone. A quick Google search and I had it! 

I played it all the way home that day, completely forgetting that we were still on a curfew. I also had it on repeat for the next six months, boring my friends sick by keeping on telling them about it. Turns out it was usually played in the Techno playlist in clubs around my city. I was the one who was behind on this almost five-year-old song. 

A blog post later, the song and how it made me feel had fully marinated. Are we even writers if we don't tell people about the music we are listening to? 

This song helped me deal with the confusion of the last phase of the pandemic. The loss all around helped me ponder on my goals and intentions for my life and those in it. 

I am also completely unbothered by how late I discovered it. What it makes me feel now is where the feeling is at. 

Another Part of Me - Michael Jackson

When a love interest suddenly rejected me out of nowhere about a year ago, even when I felt everything had been going on well, this is the song that soothed me in my anguish. 

Even though he didn't feel for me what I felt for him, I figured the part of him that had liked me initially and the part of me that found solace in getting to know him were just different parts of the same thing. 

If I may quote this song, he was just another part of me.

And this song is the core of who Michael Jackson was in my estimation.

Before he started singing about healing the world and the crying and suffering of the earth, before he started writing about creating history, keeping the faith, and being strong, he wrote about all of us being one.

"This is our planet. You are one of us."

"You are just another part of me."

Are my two go-to lines in the song.

As a man globally recognised, loved, and accepted everywhere he went, a man that had travelled the world eight times over and from a very young age meeting people from diverse ethnic, social, and economic backgrounds, he believed that all humans beings even in all our differences are one.

That we should come together, love one another, and find cohesion in our similarities rather than divisions in our differences.

And he immortalised this message in his music.

Another Part of Me is my favourite song of all time.

It is also super danceable and Jackson's performance of it during his Bad World Tour is footage everyone should watch at least once in their lifetime.

It is also a soundtrack for Disney's 3D film Captain EO a film Jackson starred in that centers around his character bringing peace to a chaotic world ruled by an evil Queen through the power of music and dance.

All Night - Beyoncé

"True love never has to hide."

" I've seen your scars and kissed your crime."

"Our love was stronger than your pride."

" Beyond the darkness, I am your light."

Are my favorite lines from this song.

The song is about love. Love in all its shapes, sizes and colours. It's about forgiveness and loving others even in their imperfections.

The song is also about the healing power of forgiveness and finding redemption from forgiveness.

I love the Caribbean feel in the song. The music video features lovers from different sexual orientations, ethnicities, and ages. It shows love in all its forms.

Beyoncé looks amazingly beautiful in it wearing a beautiful African print gown that makes you want to own one. And she sings the words that are so true, bringing them out with such feeling that it makes you fall in love with life and with loving.

This song blesses my soul and even though it emphasizes the love that two people share, its feel leaves me with self-love, which is the truest love of them all. 

I do not think that this song will be limited to a specific era of my life. A decade from now it will still resonate with my soul. 

My Immortal - Evanescence

This song is such a beautiful piece of timeless music.

"When you cry I wipe away all of your tears

When you scream I fight away all of your fears 

I held your hand through all these years and you still have all of me."

The song is about loving someone unconditionally to me. And about the pain and tears that come along with it.

It reminds me of loss and grief. Whether mourning a romantic love lost or an important figure in your life. And finding yourself and the reasons why through it all.

Amy Lee sings it beautifully. Pouring her heart out into it. You can feel her love and her tears when she sings about them. It's as though she left little fragments of them there embedded into the music.

I sang this song almost daily in my early twenties in my room at university. I even introduced it to my roommate who was totally sucked in. 

And I choose it as the song to be played during my cremation ceremony after my death.

Mother Mary -  Rihanna

This is one of the most beautiful songs Rihanna has ever sung. It might not have achieved as much commercial success as many of her hits, but it is so blissful. It's as though she is saying a prayer.

"Mother Mary, I swear I wanna change. Mister Jesus I'd love to be a queen

But I am from the left side of an Island. Never thought so many people would even know my name.

I am prepared to live in the moment."

Are my favourite lines from the song. To me, the song tackles embracing humility even when one is shining in success. It's about being grateful and humble even when you are at the top.

It's also about dreaming big and believing in the impossible. No matter where you are from, you can have an impact on the world.

When my life seemed to have lost direction in my mid-twenties, when I made a few wrong decisions that dragged me behind, listening to this song helped soothe me. Its authenticity provided me with solace. 

HIStory - Michael Jackson

This song is a masterpiece. It is a song that I listen to often to gain motivation when I feel down or discouraged. "Every day create your history." Michael Jackson sings encouraging us and cautioning us against settling for a mediocre life.

He mentions legendary moments in the history of mankind encouraging us and himself to strive to be great every single day.

He wants us to leave a mark on this world.

Ever since I started writing a few years ago, and as I strive to continue on my journey as a writer, this song is always at the back of my mind encouraging me.

It reminds me that it's not about that one big story I'll write, but about the little steps I make every day. Every single story I write helps contribute to the big picture. 

The song also reminds me to keep trying even when I fail. When you fall down, you rise back up. 

Feels Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana

For many years, I did not know the lyrics to this song yet I always sang my heart out to it. I am sure I was not the only one who mumbled through it making words up as it played. I felt and still feel this song to my core.

This song is a testament to the fact that a great song is about feeling. Not the words in it. A great melody too helps drive the feeling of the song.

Nirvana sang about mosquitoes and a bunch of ' yeahs' but still created a timeless tune.

I discovered this song in my teenage years but it still brings the same fresh feelings each time I listen to it. The song makes me feel young, hopeful, and energetic. 

 It doesn't bring nostalgia to me. I guess this is my Peter Pan song. 

XO - Beyoncé

I remember coming home every day to watch and listen to this song. This is after I had gotten my first job and managed to save enough to buy my first TV and DVD player. 

I remember it was burnt on a CD that I might still have stored somewhere. 

When I listen to the song today, it reminds me of all the hope and enthusiasm about life that I had about a decade ago. It also reminds me of how far I have come, and the wins and losses in my adulting journey so far. 

The Queen B in a theme park having crazy carefree fun is amazing to see in the music video of the song. The neon lights are captivating too and when everyday people are featured in the song dancing and freestyling, it's super refreshing. The choreography of the song is also easy and fun.

I love the subtle soft rock music vibes in the song. It is a song you can rock to, make love to, or dedicate to a loved one. This is the song that made me love Beyoncé. 

I get lost in this song. Its message is simple. I love you.

Paper Loving - Christopher Martin

I was introduced to this song when I first started dating. Watching myself and others navigate the complicated world of dating led me to introspect on what others were looking for in me and me in them. 

I wondered if they loved me for me then or for how they could benefit from me then or in the future. And I wondered about what my interests were with them. I hope they were authentic and real. It's very easy to get attracted to a person that is shining. This song reminds me to strip them of everything and ask myself if I still like them. This has been very helpful in my dating journey. It has helped me be real in my intentions with others. 

The message of the song is clear. "If you can't love me now don't love me later. When my later is much greater."

This song is about self-worth and self-love to me. Love yourself well enough to know who deserves you, and be wary of those who show you love because it is beneficial to them.

Let us learn to love people even when they don't shine. Love should be given unconditionally is my take home from it.

This is one of the few reggae songs that I listen to. Its beat also makes the song danceable which is something I love to do.

Made for Now - Janet Jackson

The Afro Beats in this song just make me want to dance every time I hear it, but the message in it is a reminder to do it now. To do life now because tomorrow is not guaranteed. 

Many times when I'm feeling low, and demotivated, I listen to this song to gain motivation. 

Zangalewa - Makossa 

Two songs defined growing up in Africa in the 90s. 

This song was one of them. I remember dancing to it over and over again rinsing it dry. Not just me but all kids my age. I can move my bones today really well because of all the practice this song gave me. 

When Shakira borrowed it called it Waka Waka (This Time for Africa), and made it into a global anthem for the 2010 world cup, I remember feeling all these childhood memories rushing back to me. 

Laat Me (Vivre) - Ramses Shaffy Duet Leisbeth 

I was introduced to this song at 22, right after college when I was about to enter the workforce. 

To me, it was the song that let me mourn young adulthood and let me shake off the shackles of dependence. I was scared of what was to come, but I gained the courage to keep going. Only speaking beginners French and Dutch, I had googled the lyrics to fully understand this deeply touching song. 

I remember I used to play it almost every day in the small apartment I rented with my mattress on the floor. 

"Let go of it all and open yourself to what's coming…" was the message it gave me. 

Powerpuff Girls' Theme Song 

I do remember singing along to this song every evening as a child as I watched the cartoon. 

Three powerful little girls made of sugar, spice, and everything nice fighting crime and saving the world exited the little girl in me so much. 

I would credit this song and those three girls for making me the fighter that I am. And years later when I started really feeling rock songs, my mind would go back to the drums in this cartoon song. 

I'd call it my first rock song. Way before I discovered Nirvana, Queen, Avril Lavigne, Evanescence…

Share the moments with me by watching them.

Now…

All this time, I didn't realise why I was drawn to these songs, but after pouring my heart out to how and why they touch my soul so deeply, it has been revealed to me that my soul craves; Unconditional love, true love, diversity, dancing, leaving a mark, authenticity, and redemption.

And the music and messages in these songs help me in feeling and believing in them whenever I listen to them.