Music has always been a priority in my life. I can distinctly remember listening to INXS in the car with my Mom, talking concerts with my aunt (who saw Hendrix), and spending summers watching the MTV Beach house, when they actually PLAYED music videos.

I consider a few songs in my world to be absolutely integral to who I am, or that helped me evolve as a person. Maybe they simply steered me in a genre of music that I hadn’t explored before, or perhaps they moved me to a new realm of understanding the universe, or guided me through a transition in my life. Whatever the case, they are songs that speak to me. I wonder sometimes if everyone has these. I certainly hope they do, because I can’t imagine how isolated the world would feel without them.

Over the past 18 months, I’ve expanded my collection of tunes to include some things I hadn’t explored before.  This was in part due to my behind-the-times discovery of Spotify. [Insert shameless plug for New Music Friday here]. It was also related to some transitions in my life. I discovered new artists who spoke to me – Sia, Adele, Damien Rice, Oh Wonder, Quadron, On and On, John Mayer, Jason Mraz, Howard, Blake Shelton, Causes, Noah Gunderson, Brett Eldredge, Kita Klane, Meg Myers, and surprisingly, even Justin Bieber.

This is just a smattering of who I discovered in late 2014 and 2015, the ones who made the biggest impression. Some songs helped me to survive 2015. Others simply allowed me to experience a new moment in time, forming a new memory. Those moments have passed, but the memories will never leave me because the song is always out there, somewhere.

Recently, I heard one of my “old” songs…one that spoke to me in my youth and spurred my love of all things 90s alternative. And I thought, for one dreadful moment, “What if I had never heard this song?” Which led me to think that about dozens of the songs that have defined a moment in my life. What if I had never heard Closer, Touched, Stupid Girl, or any of “my” other songs? Which made my next thought…did I hear them because I needed them? Because the universe had a bigger plan for them to play a role in my life? 

There isn’t a way for me to know whether I sought them out, or whether some force brought them to me. Regardless, I am grateful.

Here are some of the songs that spoke to my soul over the last 18 months:
Causes – Teach Me How to Dance With You
Mine Would Be You – Blake Shelton
Technicolor Beat – Oh Wonder
Death Cab for Cutie – Transatlanticism
Noah Gunderson – Blossom
Justin Bieber - Feeling

I hope you enjoy them. And I hope you’ll suggest yours for me. Perhaps we’ll share a life-changing song that we might have missed otherwise.

You can also find them on something called Spotify, in case you haven’t heard of it.

That’s Your Piece of Me,

Jessic