I’m a massive fan of RuPaul’s Drag Race and I have been since all the way back in Season 1 with its infamous lens glare. It still amazes and impresses me how a show about drag queens has become such a global phenomenon. Naturally, as the host and star of the show, RuPaul gets to showcase her latest musical offerings. I have to admit that before viewing the show, I was only aware of the one song, ‘Supermodel (You Better Work)’ but it wasn’t long before I was downloading absolutely everything Ru had recorded.

It is almost a year since the last Disney bracket challenge type thing did the rounds and you can view my answers for that one HERE. Anyways, I was minding my own business, procrastinating on twitter when this one popped up. A Disney Song Bracket. Well, if you hadn't guessed it by now, I am a huge Disney fan and so I gave it a go.

I have to point out right now though, the set up of this one actually saw a few of my favourites go out in the first round which I was most aggrieved to do. For instance, 'I-2-I' from A Goofy Movie is an awesome song and takes me back to my teens so for me, it would have also beaten out quite a few of the other sounds that made it through to the next round from other brackets. That said, it was never going to compare to 'Beauty and the Beast'.

Similarly, 'Hellfire', from The Hunchback of Notre Dame is amongst Alan Menkens absolute finest work. It is incredible. That said, it was up against 'When You Wish Upon A Star'. I mean, 'When You Wish Upon A Star' IS Disney. Not only is it the lead song from the stunning Pinocchio, but it is quite literally the companies 'logo song'! I knew almost immediately that this song was probably going to trump absolutely anything that it faced... and there you have it.

My winner is 'When You Wish Upon A Star'!

What are your thoughts? Have I completely triggered you? Would your bracket have shaped up a lot differently? Let me know in the comments below.

At the beginning of the year, I decided to revive this little feature as it had fallen by the wayside in all the craziness that was getting ready for having a baby!

For those that are new and don't already know or don't have the inclination to go all the way back, I am a bit of nerd when it comes to charts and statistics. It actually makes up a bit part of my 'profession', when I am at work that is. I love looking at statistics, performance figures and charts and I watch a lot of 'Countdown' shows for almost anything!

Those of you that use iTunes will know that it has the play count column which is great but it only shows the total number of plays for the lifetime that the song has been in the library. That feature is great, but it didn't show me what I was listening to on a month by month basis so I went all uber-nerdy and devised a spreadsheet where I can import the data each month and have it calculate the number of plays for that time period and rank the best performers - essentially what I was listening to the most. From that, I decided to share it here and talk about the music I've been listening to because, well, because I can! Don't worry, I don't always discuss every single song on the chart, I usually pick a few highlights.

Naturally, the numbers are not quite as high as they used to be as I am no longer spending up to four hours per day on the commute so I am not glued to my headphones as much as I used to be but nonetheless, I still wanted to track it all, so here goes the chart for January 2019.



Usually, I would compare the total statistics to the previous month but since the last chart was almost a year ago, there really isn't anything useful in that. The stats speak for themselves really. The first column is the total number of unique songs played, in this case, I've listened to 158 different songs this month to make up a total play count of 284. 112 of those 'plays' make up the Top 20.

Getting into the songs themselves, there were 3 re-entries, songs which had appeared on a chart previously. 'Papi' by Jennifer Lopez came in at No.6 because my baby daughter seems to particularly like me dancing around the living holding her while it plays.

Everything else was a new entry which makes sense, given that I haven't tracked the music over the last year. That said there are a few older songs on there that simply hadn't charted when I was tracking such as that version of 'Silence' by Delerium or Breakin' Dishes by Rihanna.

One little surprise was that 'Keeping A Secret' by Bleachers charting at No.14. It was a surprise because I could have sworn that the Love, Simon original movie soundtrack had made a big dent in one of the last charts I did but apparently not. Anyways, I have listened to the soundtrack a lot and it has become one of the most listened to albums on my iTunes. The soundtrack really compliments the film and 'Keeping a Secret' is no exception. If you haven't seen the film I highly recommend it and the soundtrack that goes with it. The song doesn't appear to have an official video, but you check it out below:


Years & Years quite often feature in the chart as one of my favourite bands and their latest offering is their collaboration with Jax Jones called 'Play' which charts at No.11. 'Play' has the expected distinct vocals of lead singer Olly Alexander and their brand of electronic dance that for me, has an almost retro feel. I often find myself thinking their songs are like a modern twist on an 80s track.

I will be the first to admit I have never been a huge Rita Ora fan but I have to say that 'Let You Love Me' got me hooked with it's chilled Ibiza electropop vibe. The chorus has a simple yet killer hook and the cool echoing arrangement of the track make this easy to listen to on repeat hitting the chart at No.9.

'Dangerous' by Kid Enigma & Riton was a bit of an accidental discovery as I probably wouldn't have ever heard it if it wasn't featured in a recent Apple Music x Ministry Of Sound ad campaign. If I am brutally honest, it is a pretty standard house track but with a funky tech sound mixed in. What really made the song stick in my mind and become a repeat player is the catchy lyrics; "I'm so free, I'm so fly, I'm so fabulous, so dangerous" repeating like a chant that I can totally get behind. It came in at No.8 but is bound to show up again in future charts.

Coming in at No.5 was 'Breathe' by CamelPhat & Christoph feat. Jem Cooke. I actually stumbled upon this just browsing iTunes looking for new tracks. This track stuck out as its progressive house vibe really took me back to a lot of the house music I was listening to in the 90s and early 00s. That said, it doesn't sound dated at all. This could definitely feature as a 'cooldown' track towards the end of a big night out.

The Top 3 tracks for January are all brilliant in my opinion. So much so that I feel I need to mention all 3 of them. At No.3 is 'Nothing Breaks Like A Heart' by Mark Ronson feat. Miley Cyrus. I am just going to put it out there that I am very late to the party when it comes to Miley Cyrus. I was just never really interested but I recently listened to her album Bangerz and was actually surprised by how much I liked it. Of course, this new track in which she features is a Mark Ronson track and it is brilliant. I never thought I would like hearing Miley sing so much! A fantastic lyrical song which feels timeless. Add in the infusion of the country genre and it just works. I'm all for having country music (after Kylie Minogue did similar with her recent album Golden) in the mainstream if it's going to sound like this!

I love Fleur East. I have done ever since she stepped out on the stage during her time on X-Factor UK. It is very rare that I can watch that show and genuinely feel that someone had superstar potential to rival the biggest artists in the charts but Fleur absolutely did (and still does). Her first album was a fantastic debut and deserved to have way more success with single releases than it had. Nevertheless, after her recent success on I'm A Celebrity, she is back and I. LOVE. THIS. SONG! I am a little surprised by the lack of chart success it had because people should be listening to this and it should be on heavy rotation airplay! It is a slice of some tribal infused pop and it just makes me want to dance! It is no surprise to me that it was the No.2 track of my month.

I have ended up detailing more of this months top plays a little more than I expected but it has been a good month for music. However and somewhat ironically, the No.1 ended up being a slightly older song that has only been released as an album track. Little Mix released their latest album LM5 in November of 2018 and has produced some big hits in terms of singles but ironically, many of the tracks that I particularly enjoy are not, or are yet to be singles. The whole album is brilliant, but the songs 'Motivate' and 'Wasabi' particularly stand out for me with the latter coming in as this months No.1. It is the perfect example of what I love about pop music because of how it evolves and can be absolutely anything it needs to be. Lyrically it screams of female empowerment which I applaud and support 100% but it isn't exclusive to women. With a line like "all the ugly things you say, come and say them to my face", it is pretty hard not to get behind this potential anthem, even if it is just an anthem for me personally.


I have a relatively eclectic music taste and will give anything a go at least once so I am always on the hunt for new music and new styles to explore so if you have any suggestions of songs or even artists for me to check out, feel free to let me know in the comments section below and if it makes it into the chart I'll give you a shout out.

And that is it for My Music Chart for January. The full Top 20 is shown below.



Thank you for stopping by and reading x