WARMER MIXTAPES #1492 | by Milly T. [GIRLI]

1. Robyn | Dancing On My Own
I fucking adore Robyn. The way she’s such a don’t mess with me girl and writes songs called Jack U Off and Don't Fucking Tell Me What To Do, but then she can also write a song like this which shows her being vulnerable and heartbroken is so clever. I remember a great producer Ian Watt, who I’ve written a lot with, played this to me and then when I said I didn't know who it was, he looked at me in horror and played me basically her whole discography! That writing session turned into a playback of Robyn’s greatest hits, and it was the start of my real love affair with good Pop Music. Going to School and hanging out with very Anti-Pop people made me hate anything Mainstream until I went to Music College and started going out to clubs and noticing that the songs that usually get everyone super turned-up and excited are those that everyone knows and connects with - yes, there are a million songs about wanting to touch someone else, but isn't that because we all know that feeling so well?

2. Jme | Don’t @ Me (feat. Skepta, Shorty & Frisco)
Jme makes the perfectly relatable song for the Twitter gen and makes it funny while still furious and angsty. My friend John & I are massive JME fans and we always bang out his album Integrity whenever and wherever - it hypes the mood if you’re already excited, and makes you feel a big fuck you if you feel down or useless. Grime is my favourite genre because it gives you a licence to lose your shit completely, and going to see live Grime sets is insane.

3. The Streets | Same Old Thing
+ The Irony Of It All... I still live with my parents in the same house I have since I was 0 and I found this song when I was at the peak of going crazy for living in the same boring neighbourhood my whole life. Sort of before I started going out and really seeing London when I was about 15, and so the repetitiveness he talks about was pretty relatable. Mike Skinner’s life he describes here is obviously pretty opposite to that of 15 year old me, but, when I found this album, it just had an immediate emotional effect on me - I think he's a genius and I will always bring his songs up in playlists and as what influences every song I write. When I hear this tune, it reminds me of London and how grimy it is in places and how proud I am to call it home. The Irony Of It All is just a perfect example of using a song to say something political while still be funny as fuck.

4. Estelle | American Boy (feat. Kanye West)
When I was 16 I went to LA to visit my mum’s family over there and this was the soundtrack to that whole trip. My cousin who grew up over there took me round and showed me every side of the city and wherever we went I loved the attention I got as the British girl with the accent, but also how proud I felt to be from London. Whenever one of my American family come to London I feel like Estelle when she says I’ll show you to my bredrin - it’s that pride of having this city be my home and having different slang and different customs that I get reminded of whenever I hear this song.

5. Nitty Scott, MC | FeminiNITTY
I discovered this song randomly and this chick is wicked. She spits like fire and she's so aggressively sure of herself. When she says you thought this was a pretty girl rap? and yes MC, not femmeC, I can’t help squealing yaas, bitch!. She shouts out the male dominated industry and it’s a proper hard feminist anthem. The beat is amazing too, I love the samples from 90s Hip Hop, it’s really NYC.



6. Carly Rae Jepsen | I Really Like You
This is the perfect Pop song - it's shallow, simple but everyone knows what it’s about because everyone really likes someone. The chorus explodes and somehow manages to be either really emotional or really dumb depending on the mood you're in. I go in with a Grime producer and play this song as inspo and they’re just like what the fuck? It’s always my aim to write big choruses.

7. Keith Ape | It G Ma (feat. JayAllDay, Loota, Okasian & Kohh)
This track reminds me of a couple good friends of mine who are both brilliant rappers and super into Trap and Hip Hop like this. The first few chords of this song will always give me nostalgic memories of dancing on rooftops and night buses while they play this through a shitty little speaker while the drunk people on the bus are like what the hell are they doing. It’s such a bate tune and that’s why I love it.

8. Tegan And Sara | Closer
Tegan And Sara was the first gig I ever went to when I was about 14 and it was going to their gig that made me want to write songs. In Closer they encapsulate the most simple and candid of feelings, being a teenager, so desperate to touch someone else, which is surprising for two twins in long term relationships who haven't been teenagers since 1999. It also gives you this perfect rush for a chanty Pop song - here come the dreams of you and me always get me.

9. Justin Bieber | We Are (feat. Nas)
So JB’s new album Purpose bangs and although it pains me to say I am a total Belieber... This song is actually really tender and cute, but with JB’s player history it has this cheeky charm to it, and his voice is like that really expensive Manuka honey you only find in Holland and Barrett. I just listen to this on bus journeys and look out the window at people on the street and imagine all their secret relationships and Love affairs and it’s like I’m in a movie and this is the soundtrack.

10. Shampoo | Trouble
The ultimate brat anthem.