Project: Anything Other Than Hamilton V.

25 - Adele

I (along with everyone else in the world) think Adele is absolutely amazing. She has the most beautiful voice, her songs are fantastic, and she is so funny. Despite that, she's not an artist I listen to a lot, purely because I tend to prefer something a little more upbeat most of the time. I do really enjoy all her albums though and I think 25 is probably my favourite so far. Choosing just three favourite songs was not easy but these are the three that have been stuck in my head since I first listened to the album.

Favourite songs: Send My Love (To Your New Lover), Water Under the Bridge, River Lea

Last Year Was Complicated - Nick Jonas

I was a huge fan of the Jonas Brothers as a teenager. Huge. And maybe that's part of the problem or maybe Nick's new style of music just isn't for me, but I just thought this album was so boring. I have picked three favourite songs but it was a struggle because I really don't think I'll ever listen to any of the songs on this album again. I'll just stick with the old JoBros albums.

Favourite songs: Chainsaw, Touch, That's What They All Say

Pure & Simple - Dolly Parton

It is well documented that I love Dolly Parton so, of course, I had to listen to Pure & Simple as soon as it was released. It's beautiful, full of gorgeous, emotional love songs, not only about her husband but also from stories from friends and one particularly emotional song about her 'Mama'. A lot of the songs are slow and sweet but there are a few more upbeat, really fun songs too. It's just classic Dolly.

Favourite songs: Never Not Love You, I'm Sixteen, Head Over High Heels

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Project: Anything Other Than Hamilton IV: Musicals Edition.

Sometimes, when you're trying to stop yourself from listening to one musical cast recording over and over again, the only thing to do is to listen to other musical cast recordings instead.

Bend it Like Beckham

Bend it Like Beckham is one of my all time favourite films and honestly I feel a little bit like the fact that this musical existed and I never saw it means my life will never be totally complete. I don't know what I was thinking not going to see it but whatever, that's just a bad choice I'll have to live with for the rest of my life. No big deal. I'll just have to listen to the cast recording on repeat forever and try not to cry about the fact that it's exactly how I would want a musical of this story to sound and I will probably never get to see the actual show. Like I said, I'm fine with it.

Favourite songs: Glorious, More Fool Me, Bend It

Kinky Boots

Kinky Boots is another of my favourite films and with Cyndi Lauper writing all the songs for the musical, it was pretty much a given that I would love it. There is only one song on the album that I don't love and that is 100% because there is one particular actor in this recording whose attempt at a Northampton accent makes me want to rip my own ears off. Other than that though, the whole album is amazing and so much fun and I love how they've focused on Charlie and Lola's relationships to their fathers. If Kinky Boots ever comes to my local theatre I will be first in line at the box office!

Favourite songs: Step One, Soul of a Man, Hold Me in Your Heart

Waitress

I know Waitress is also based on a film but I haven't actually seen this one yet. I've heard great things about Sara Bareilles's songs for the show though so I read the plot line on Wikipedia and let the songs tell me the rest of the story, which they did fantastically. I can only imagine how moving the show must be when you're actually watching it live because even just listening to them at home, I was definitely moved. Also, does anyone know when I will stop having a constant stream of 'sugar, butter, flour' running through my head?

Favourite songs: Opening Up, What Baking Can Do, Bad Idea

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Project: Anything Other Than Hamilton III: Country Music Edition.

A little recap seems in order, since it has been so long since my last one of these. Project: Anything Other Than Hamilton is a project I started earlier this year to try and force myself to listen to things that aren't just the Hamilton cast recording over and over again. I am having varying degrees of success.

I don't expect anyone to remember but in the last Anything Other Than Hamilton I mentioned that I love country music but I don't think I listen to enough country artists. That's something I am definitely trying to fix, so yes, I'm afraid today's albums are all country. And, spoiler alert: I love every one of them.

Road Between - Lucy Hale

Lucy Hale is probably best known for her role as Aria in Pretty Little Liars but, much as I love that show, now that it's coming to an end I'm very much hoping that a second album might be on the cards soon. Of the three albums in this post I think this one is my favourite, which is saying something, because these are three really good albums. Although it's definitely country, there is something of a pop leaning to Road Between and I think fans of Taylor Swift's earlier albums would definitely like this one.

Favourite songs: From the Backseat, Lie a Little Better, Love Tonight

Same Trailer Different Park - Kacey Musgraves

Same Trailer Different Park is a little more chilled out than the other two albums here but that doesn't mean I love it any less. In fact, these are actually the only three albums on my iPhone currently. I still keep all my music on an old iPod Classic but I've had these three on my phone so I can listen to them whenever I want and Same Trailer Different Park is probably the one I've listened to the most. It has really quickly become one of those albums that I put on whenever I'm not sure what exactly I want to listen to and I'm always happy with it.

Favourite songs: Silver Lining, Blowin' Smoke, Follow Your Arrow

Start Here - Maddie & Tae

You might have seen the music video for Maddie & Tae's song Girl in a Country Song, which made the rounds on the Internet when it came out a couple of years ago for the hilarious way that it sends up the role of women in a lot of country music videos. Honestly, even if you hate country the video is totally worth a watch, I promise. And if you like that then I also recommend Shut Up and Fish, which has a similar fun sort of message. Start Here mixes these fun, jokey songs with the more traditional, emotional country songs in a way that never feels odd and I'll definitely be looking forward to any of their future albums too!

Favourite songs: Girl in a Country Song, Shut Up and Fish, No Place Like You

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Project: Anything Other Than Hamilton II.

Project: Anything Other Than Hamilton is a series I started a few weeks ago as a way of forcing myself to listen to some new music instead of simply listening to the Hamilton OCR over and over and over again. It's kind of working. I have lapsed and listened to Hamilton maybe once or twice since my first post but hey, a habit is a hard thing to break.

I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it - The 1975

Let's just begin by addressing the fact that this is the stupidest album title I have ever heard, okay? Anyway, I actually really like The 1975's first album, The 1975, and I've been looking forward to this one for a while. I like it when you sleep... has more of a chilled out vibe than the first album and a few tracks actually reminded me of Freelance Whales, which is definitely not a bad thing. Predictably, my favourite tracks on this one are the ones that sound most like the first album, but I really enjoyed the whole thing... even if it does have the stupidest title in the history of music.

Favourite songs: Love Me, UGH!, The Sound

Pain Killer - Little Big Town

I know I'm definitely not the first person to say it, but boy do Little Big Town not know what 'girl crush' means. Aside from the fact that I can't take that one song seriously though, I really, really enjoyed this album. I actually kind of love country music (that pinned tweet on my twitter profile? Not a joke.) but I am not familiar with nearly enough country bands and Little Big Town were a totally new one to me but like I said, I loved this album and I actually found it really difficult to only choose three favourite songs! I'll definitely be listening to more of their albums very soon.

Favourite songs: Day Drinking, Tumble & Fall, Faster Gun

Swooner - The Zolas

I actually only heard about The Zolas a few weeks ago when I was watching a vinyl record collection video on youtube (because I'm that person right now) and I chose to listen to this album first because the cover looked the most interesting of all their albums. So there's that. Luckily I really loved this album too! It sounds like the kind of thing that Seth Cohen would love, which is nothing but a positive.

Favourite songs: Swooner, Get Dark, Fell in Love with New York

What have you been listening to recently? If you have any recommendations for me I'd love to hear them!

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Project: Anything Other Than Hamilton I.

I have a problem and that problem is the Hamilton OCR. I mean, it's not really a problem because it is actually amazing, but it is basically all I've listened to for the past three months, and that might be a problem. Anyway it's something I've decided to fix!

A few weeks ago Jennie announced that she has started listening to a new album every day and as soon as I read about it I thought it might be just the thing to get me out of my Hamilton haze!

I won't be listening to a new album every single day because I like to listen to an album a few times to really decide how I feel about it (unless I immediately realise it's not my thing obvs) but I'm going to try to listen to one or two each week until I either a) get bored of this project b) am capable of listening to the Hamilton OCR in moderation or c) run out of new albums I'm interested in, whichever happens first. (I wouldn't put my money on b tbh.)

Blue Neighbourhood - Troye Sivan

I've been meaning to listen to Troye's album since it came out but, as you know, I've been distracted. I  already knew that I liked his music (I listened to Happy Little Pill on repeat for about a month when it came out) so it was pretty much a given that I would love this album, and I do! Definitely one I'm going to keep listening to.

Favourite songs: WILD, YOUTH, for him.

Badlands - Halsey

I've been putting off listening to Badlands for ages without really knowing why and it did take me two or three listens to really get into it but now I am definitely on board. There's a bit of a similarity to Lorde, which at first made me think that I would rather just listen to Lorde, but once I got past that I really enjoyed it. All in all I'm really pleasantly surprised by how much I like it!

Favourite songs: Hold Me Down, Roman Holiday, Gasoline

Purpose - Justin Bieber

I'm going to level with you, I have enjoyed some of Bieber's songs in the past, but this new album is something completely different. It's a lot more mature than his past stuff and I've been having a great time listening to it. In fact I've listened to it a lot, particularly my three favourite songs, which I would absolutely recommend to anyone who enjoys pop music. (Even my dad likes Love Yourself. In his own words: 'I'm annoyed by how much I like this song'.)

Favourite songs: What Do You Mean?, Sorry, Love Yourself

I'll be keeping a Spotify playlist of all of the albums that I listen to as part of this little project too (which you can check out below!) in case any of you want to check any of them out yourselves!

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