MINDFUL MELODY
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • The Magazine
  • The Articles
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • The Magazine
  • The Articles
Search

LATEST POSTS

A selection of articles from all our issues - go to 'The Magazine' to read them all, including exclusive interviews from Aston Barrett Jr., Niko Moon, Serena Ryder, Canaan Smith and many more...

Our Top Ten Songs...about Self-Love

1/10/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture

There's a lot of negativity out there, so use this playlist as a gentle reminder to always be kind to yourself. You deserve it!


Picture

10. This Is Me - Keala Settle & The Greatest Showman Ensemble

The Greatest Showman is one of my favourite films of all time, and this is largely due to the incredible soundtrack. ‘This Is Me’ comes at a pivotal point in the plot, where the circus acts rally and take a stand against all those who have been bullying and outcasting them. The aggressive drums combine with the emphatic cri de coeur - “I’m not scared to be seen, I make no apologies, this is me” - to create an anthem for anyone who has ever felt left out, judged or put down for simply being themselves.

Picture

9. Young, Wild & Free - Snoop Dogg, Wiz Khalifa & Bruno Mars

This song is a self-love anthem. Firstly, it just sounds so cheerful; Bruno Mars’ vocals, the mischievous piano in the background it just all helps to loosen you up. After listening to this song you can’t help but adopt a chilled out, relaxed and positive spirit. 'Young, Wild & Free' is like a musical middle finger to the haters with the upbeat chorus dismissing critics by saying ‘so what?’. If you don’t feel uplifted and warm after this song then I don’t know what will do it. The attitude in this song is something that we’d all do well to carry from time to time, saying ‘who cares’ and enjoying ourselves; being 'Young, Wild & Free'.

Picture

8. Answer: Love Myself - BTS

It’s tricky to tell whether this should be called a ballad or a dance track - the heartfelt vocals are propelled by an effervescent EDM beat, and this proves to be a potent concoction. The message is one of finding a partner who encourages you to be who you want to be, rather than having to put on a facade and cover up your flaws. Most of the lyrics are in Korean, but the emotional power and resonance of the song breaks through the language barrier.

Picture

7. Juice - Lizzo

‘Mirror, mirror on the wall don’t say it ‘cause I know I’m cute’. From the very first line this song drives home self-confidence, self-love and positivity. The song is dotted throughout with sentiments like this; ‘I was born like this, don’t even gotta try’, ‘If I’m shining everybody gonna shine (yeah I’m goals)’. This whole song has a swagger about it and you can’t help but get a spring in your step when you listen to it. This ‘I know I’m great’ attitude is something we could all adopt a bit more often and this song demonstrates to us all how we should love ourselves more and acknowledge that we are all pretty damn awesome.

Picture

6. Love My Life - Robbie Williams

This song takes on a completely different perspective to the other songs in this Top 10. Here, Robbie Williams is singing to his daughter, and he tells her how he wants to raise her to feel empowered and courageous enough to face any obstacles that come her way. The chorus plays like a series of self-love mantras - “I am powerful, I am beautiful, I am free, I love my life, I am wonderful, I am magical, I am me”. It’s so moving how he ends up with ‘I am me’, implying this is the most important thing anyone can be. Taken out of context, hearing someone say things like ‘I am wonderful’ could be labelled as being hugely egotistical. But why shouldn’t we celebrate ourselves? You’re the only person who sees the world exactly as you do, so you really are one of a kind - and that seems pretty magical to me.

Picture

5. Beautiful People - Chris Brown ft. Benny Benassi

So this is self-love in a third person sense. Instead of adopting the perspective of Chris Brown we instead listen to him telling us how great we are. This song is one of my all-time favourites, the combination of Benny Benassi’s masterful EDM production and Chris Brown’s instantly recognisable vocals is perfect for this tune. The message in this song is that everyone is beautiful in their own way, Brown’s vocals tell how everywhere he goes and everywhere he looks he sees beautiful people and that ‘your beauty’s deep inside’, re-assuring us that no matter who we are we all have beauty within us. If you don’t feel a bit of self-love after listening to this song then you need to turn the volume up and repeat!

Picture

4. People Like Us - The Shires

Even though The Shires are from the UK, this song puts a clever spin on the title in a way that is typical of Nashville songwriting. The track pivots around the key lyric - “I don’t care if people like us, because I like us, just the way we are”. Similarly to ‘Answer : Love Myself’, the song tells the story of a couple that draw from each other the confidence to stop caring how other people see them. My dad always tells me, ‘You’d be surprised how little people think of you’, and it’s true, because everyone’s way too concerned with themselves to take much notice of whatever flaw it is you think everyone is judging you about. Equally, you can’t control what other people think about you, and why worry about something that’s out of your hands?

Picture

3. Beautiful Me - Dappy

Dappy has always been a fairly controversial figure and to anyone who hasn’t listened to much of his music and is more aware of his media persona would be surprised to hear such a beautiful, mature and powerful ballad coming from the former N-Dubz rapper. Whilst Dappy has always showed off a bit of his singing voice in the past this song does it the best with Dappy giving a gripping vocal performance from start to finish, gently supported by strings and piano. The sentiment in this song really drives home the self-love, the artists acknowledges his mistakes in the verses and discusses some of the perceptions of him in the past talking about everything from his career to his personal life, before suggesting that if people really loved him they’d love him in spite of his errors. This song is a reminder to us all that we all make mistakes and that it’s ok, those in our lives who really love us will support us and that’s all we need, so don’t be too hard on yourself.

Picture

2. i - Kendrick Lamar

Kendrick’s lightning quick rap-flow is enough to get you feeling pumped up by itself. But when it’s coupled with motivational lyrics about being kind and loving to yourself, it’s even more exhilarating. ‘i’ is on Kendrick’s blockbuster To Pimp A Butterfly album, and its positioning on the track-list only adds to its intensity. The joyful, life-affirming message of ‘i’ follows on from the dejection and suicidal thoughts of ‘u’. This juxtaposition creates a beautiful sense of progression, and underlines how even if you’re at rock bottom and everything feels hopeless, like in ‘u’, it’s still possible to emerge from this and find the happier space that Kendrick finds himself in on ‘i’.

Picture

1. Don't Be So Hard On Yourself - Jess Glynne

The title says it all really. Too often in life we push ourselves too hard, demanding far too much from ourselves and punishing ourselves too much when we don’t meet out goals. This song is a beautiful and upbeat reminder that we should cut ourselves some slack. ‘Everyone trips, everyone falls’, ‘we all get there eventually’; these are just a couple of the lines reminding us that actually no one is perfect and that we all make mistakes but we should love ourselves regardless. On top of the lyrical content this song is so upbeat it can’t help but to cheer you up and it serves as a great reminder that we should love ourselves no matter what.

By David & Maxim

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Buy print editions of Mindful Melody Issue 12 below!

    Buy now

      Subscribe below to get each issue straight to your inbox!

    Subscribe to Mindful Melody

    Articles List

    All
    3 Key Lifestyle Habits That Can Improve Your Mental Health
    Absence-makes-the-heart-grow-fonder-live-music
    Adam-douglas-on-his-middleaged-mental-health-awakening
    Adele-andy-find-perfect-harmony-on-where-i-belong-ep
    Ajeet-review-and-interview
    Album-review-mac-mcanallyrsquos-lsquoonce-in-a-lifetimersquo-is-both-a-soundtrack-and-an-antidote-for-our-times
    Am-i-right-to-be-optimistic-about-2021
    Amy-speace-interview
    And-a-little-help-from-the-forest
    And-being-born-for-the-stage
    And-do-we-need-to
    And-no-shoes-nation-how-fan-clubs-are-easing-lockdown-loneliness
    Andy Franks Interview - Music Support: Meet The Music Industry Veteran Working For Change
    A-new-way-forward-for-musical-theatre
    An-interview-with-mesita
    An-interview-with-thomas-corneill-from-young-martyrs-navigating-life-as-a-fulltime-musician
    An-interview-with-ziggy-alberts-bringing-unity-through-music
    Are Biopics Good For Fans?
    A-review-of-petrichor-ndash-jon-reynolds-the-aches-something-for-everyone
    A-talk-with-the-lead-wailer-aston-barrett-jr
    Bo Burnham's 'INSIDE' - Dark Comedy And Music Combine
    Bootleggers
    Breaking The Boundaries Of Genre And Mood An Interview With Jon Reynolds
    Breland Interview
    But I Think We Will Find A Common Ground": Finn Matthews Interview
    Can Music Be Your Coping Mechanism?
    Can We Seperate Artists From Their Music
    Carl Falk Interview: The Avicii Hitmaker On Friendship
    Channel Your Negativity Into Creativity
    Charlotte Young: Tackling Positivity And Negativity (Sometimes Simultaneously!)
    Christmas Music: The Marmite Of The Charts
    'Chris Tomlin & Friends': Joy That Transcends Religion
    Clipping. – Visions Of Bodies Being Burned Review
    'Come Home The Kids Miss You' - Did Expectations Ruin Harlow's Big Release?
    Denis Coleman - Pop Prodigy And Mental Health Ambassador
    Directioners
    Does Listening To Music Help Us Study?
    Don't Have Time To Create A Vision-board? Try This 'audio-board' Alternative
    “Don’t You Know That You’re Toxic?”: Why The Music Industry Really Is A 'poisoned Paradise' (Yingmin Khoo Guest Post)
    Drake White Interview
    Emma Moore Interview Finding Self-Love In Music And Society - Interview
    Escaping The Shuffle Society - How To Improve Mindfulness Through Music
    Everybody Dies Young
    Faith
    Faith Over Fear: Southern Gospel Artist Brent Cobb Talks To Maxim
    Fatherhood And Genre-fluidity
    Find Your Own Therapy
    From Bullied Teen To Chart-topper: Kelsey Bovey
    George Strait
    Gloria Anderson Interview: Cars
    Greetings From...The Marfa Tapes: Let Miranda Lambert
    Grief And The Songwriting Process
    Hardy On His Hopes For Hixtape Vol 2 And Being Country As Hell!
    "Hate Has Become The Default
    Headphone Holiday: Kenny Chesney
    How Can Music Affect Our Emotions
    How The Eagles Turned Back The Clock And Lit Up British Summer Time Festival 2022
    How Tik Tok Has Become The Industry's Hottest New Critic
    Humility And Heart
    Interview: Andreas Moe
    Interview: CalledOut Music
    Interview: Canaan Smith - How He Found Himself Through Fatherhood
    Interview: Essie Jain - Creating Healing Music For All Ages
    Interview: Haley & Michaels
    Interview: Kieran Lancini
    Interview: Kylie Morgan
    Interview: Morgan Wade
    Interview: Music Therapy With Tiziana Pozzo
    Interview: Tyler Braden On Small Towns
    Is The Music Industry Turning A New Leaf With Its Support Of Mental Health?
    "It's Time To Stop Living In My Head": Interview With Nashville's Olivia Lane
    Jack Ingram And Jon Randall Be Your Tour Guides On This Sonic Retreat
    JEEN-YUHS - WHY KANYE WOULD BE A BETTER LIFE COACH THAN YOU THINK
    Jhené Aiko's Chilombo: A Perfect Blend Of Peace And Passion
    Jhené Aiko's Chilombo: A Perfect Blend Of Peace And Passion
    Kenny Chesney
    Kezia Gill Interview
    Kristi Hoopes - Engagement
    Lathan Warlick Interview: How A Brush With Death Inspired His Music's Message Of 'God
    Live Music Is Changing
    Love And Unity'
    Low-Strung And Amped-Down: Unplug Your Mind By Going Acoustic
    Lyrical Life Lessons #2: 'Don't Blink'
    Lyrical Life Lessons #3 - 'Give Me More Time'
    Lyrical Life Lessons #5 Jake Owen
    Machine Gun Kelly Has Gifted Us The Realest Album Of 2020
    Mainstream Sellout - Did MGK Ignore The Critics?
    MAJE On Motivation
    Make Yourself A Musical Photo Album
    Man On The Moon III: Kid Cudi Finds Dawn After Years Of Darkness In This Modern Epic
    Maxim Speaks To Elliah Heifetz About Anxiety
    Meet The Man Determined To Bring More Positivity Into Country Music - An Interview With: Kyle Elliott
    Memories And Music
    Mental Health And Me #10-David: My Dream Band Line-Up
    Mental Health And Me #11-David: 'Sun Is Shining
    Mental Health And Me #12-David: 'The Drugs Don't Work'
    Mental Health And Me #2: Maxim
    Mental Health And Me #3: David Why 'How Are You?' Is My 2020 Kryptonite
    Mental Health And Me #3: Maxim - How Sad Songs Showed Me The Value Of Wholeness Over Happiness
    Mental Health And Me #4: Maxim - 'Pitch Perfectionism'
    Mental Health And Me #5: David
    Mental Health And Me #5: Maxim - Can You Dance Away The Lockdown Blues?
    Mental Health And Me #6: David - Meditation Memoirs
    Mental Health And Me #6: Maxim - How Country Music Showed Me The Power Of Gratitude
    Mental Health And Me #7: David - Was I Right To Be Optimistic About 2021? The Follow Up
    Mental Health And Me #7: Maxim - Can ‘mindful Listening' Help Ease Productivity-guilt?
    Mental Health And Me #8: David - Enjoying The Ride
    Mental Health And Me #9: David Was I Right To Be Optimistic About 2021 - The Trilogy
    Mental Health And Me: David
    Mental Health And Me; David #14: God's Plan - Why I'm Jealous Of Believers
    Mental Health And Me: David - How Running Made Me A Better Person
    Mental Health And Me: Maxim
    Mind Over Matter - Why Everything's Going To Be Alright (Even If It Isn't)
    Mitchell Kersley Challenges Toxic Masculinity On New Single
    Mod Sun's 'Internet Killed The Rockstar' - A Familiar Story
    More Than A Musician: Meet The Artist Making A Real Difference In The World Of Mental Health - An Interview With Serena Ryder
    Music
    Music And Grief By Ashley Broadhurst
    Music And Memory: The Healing Power Of Music (Yingmin Khoo Guest Post)
    My All-American Kenny Chesney Adventure
    My New 'Malibu Theory'
    National Identity - And Dad Jokes
    Nihilism In Rap Music: Misunderstood
    'Oh Man
    Our Top 10 Songs For...Peaceful Melancholy
    Our Top 10 Songs To Make You Laugh
    Our Top 10 Songs...to Relax To
    Our Top Ten...Slow Down And Simplify Songs
    Our Top Ten Songs...about Self-Love
    Our Top Ten Songs For...Peaceful Melancholy
    Our Top Ten Songs Of... Film/TV
    Our Top Ten Songs Of Nature
    Our Top Ten Songs Of... Summer Sun!
    Our Top Ten Songs To Hear Live
    Performance Anxiety: Friend Or Foe?
    Quadeca - I Don't Care Review
    Ray Fulcher Interview - "I Want People To Think
    Sampling - Creative Genius Or Cutting Corners?
    Sarah Louise: The UK Country Singer-songwriter That Just Wants You To Believe In Yourself
    Seafret Slow Down And Simplify With New Piano Sessions EP - Interview
    Self-Improvement And New 'Fly On The Wall' Project
    Should Your New Self-love Mantra Be A Rap Lyric?
    Songs That Get Me Through Lockdown - David
    Songs That Get Me Through Lockdown - Maxim
    Sounds That Heal And Relax: The Music Of Mindfulness
    Sound Therapy: A Vibe-check
    Spotify Recommended: Help Or Hindrance?
    Starz In Their Eyes – The Music Industry According To Just Jack
    Starz In Their Eyes – The Music Industry According To Just Jack
    Stereotypes And Saving Lives
    Sublime Simplicity - Quadeca's Atmospheric 'From Me To You' Album Reviewed
    Tamar Haviv: The Singer-songwriter Who's Making The World A Better Place
    Tebey Interview
    The 90% Gratitude Rule
    The 90’s Country Comeback: Why Cowboy Hats And Honky-tonks Are Striking A Chord With Gen-Z
    The 90’s Country Comeback: Why Cowboy Hats And Honky-tonks Are Striking A Chord With Gen-Z
    The Artist Making Iconic Songs Her Own - An Interview With: Lissie
    The Hot Girl Walk: Just Another Tik-Tok Fad - Or A Great Way To Boost Our Wellbeing?
    The Importance Of Being ERNEST - Flower Shops
    Then It's Okay If I Do Too.'"
    The Safety Of Familiarity
    The Sonic Ranch: Midland's Origin-story Digs Up Their Roots And Strikes Gold
    The Voice
    The Weather Is Sweet'
    Thomas Rhett Finds Happiness At Home On Country Again (Side A)
    Tick
    Tick… Boom! The Musical Of Honesty
    Tiera Kennedy Interview
    Tim Prottey-Jones - From Western To West End - And Back!
    Tom Cary - New Single 'Something In The Whiskey' Breaks Country Music's Heartbreak Streak
    Top 10 Motivational Masterpieces
    Top 10 Songs For Concentration
    Top 10 Songs For...Overcoming Heartbreak
    Toxic Or Positive?
    Vinyl Therapy
    Well If Ray's Got His Own Struggles
    Why 'Lonely' Confirms Justin Bieber's Move From Guilty Pleasure To Admirable Star
    Wren Kelly Tackling Society And Mental Health In New Single 'Game Over'
    Zac Brown Band - 'The Comeback' In Name And Nature
    Zane Williams Interview

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • The Magazine
  • The Articles