and this is the,

the playlist of my life.

[pop ballad plays]

I have to make sure I'm spelling this right.

Uh huh.

So the first song I wanted to talk about is this song

called "Falling Slowly" by Glen Hansard.

Glen Hansard is an Irish singer-songwriter,

who is also the star of this amazing independent movie

called "Once", which I watched

when I was like eight or nine.

And "Falling Slowly" is this super beautiful duet he wrote

that he sings with the other lead in the movie,

and you've probably heard it,

even if you don't recognize the name or the title right now.

♪ Falling slowly ♪

And it's got like, an incredible harmony part

through the whole chorus of the song.

It's a great duet song.

It was the first song I ever performed, ever for anyone.

I did it in a talent show when I was 11.

I feel like it was on like, American Idol.

I think the dude that beat Adam Lambert

sang it on American Idol.

Whatever his name is.

Adam Lambert's the winner in my opinion.

Every year.

Next, let's go.

[pop ballad plays]

Okay, "21 Guns" by Green Day.

I was really late to the party on Green Day.

I was like, 10 I think, when "21 Guns" came out.

Maybe I was 11.

It was still in the era of iTunes,

where there was like,

this was way pre-Spotify, pre-Apple Music.

And I would listen to the 30 second preview

of "21 Guns" on repeat most days,

until I saved up 99 cents to download "21 Guns".

I just think it's a really beautiful song,

and the chorus melody has this like,

♪ One, 21 guns ♪

and he like, goes into falsetto

like right on the "guns" line,

I always thought that was cool.

♪ One, 21 guns ♪

And live, Billy's voice is like all -

Billy Joe, not my sister Billie.

Billy Joe's voice is all ragged when he sings it,

and he goes,

♪ One, 21 guns ♪

He just like screams it,

'cause his voice is all worn out after

like a three and a half hour concert.

But on the recording, it's this beautiful, pure falsetto.

And I would bet that was, I bet that was Butch Vig's idea

because he produced that record.

He's the kinda guy that would be like,

"No, sing it really softly, it's more emotional."

That's kinda the way Butch talks.

Next.

[pop ballad plays]

This is supposed to say "Welcome to the Black Parade",

and then this is, it's a long ass title.

So this is just the, the initialism of My Chemical Romance.

It's one of those bands that I think,

I think a lot of music does this, it's funny.

Like sometimes your favorite music ultimately,

the first time you hear it, you're like,

"Not for me, man.

"I don't like this at all."

And My Chemical Romance was definitely like

one of those artists that like ultimately,

I rank in my like top five favorite bands ever, ever, ever.

The first time I heard it, I was like,

"I don't get it."

And then it washes over you, and you realize that

it's like a Biblical text.

But that's a song that's gonna endure.

I think "When I was a young boy,

"my father took me into the city to see a marching band."

♪ When I was a young boy ♪

♪ My father took me into the city ♪

And that little piano, like,

[imitates piano notes]

like that's just gonna last a long time.

One of the reasons I love that song,

and it's the reason I love the whole album,

is it's a concept album,

and the song is kind of the centerpiece of the record.

Concept albums growing up were incredibly inspiring to me.

Albums like "Jesus Christ Superstar"

and "The Wall", Pink Floyd

and "American Idiot" by Green Day.

I think like, when an album has like a real narrative,

as a kid, I was just like fascinated by that.

And it was, it's always been my dream

to make a concept album.

And I don't feel like,

ready to make a great concept record yet,

but that's definitely on my bucket list,

is to make a concept album.

And I think you can't get more high concept

than "Black Parade" by My Chemical Romance.

[pop ballad plays]

Yes!

Boom!

This is "Cardiac Arrest" by the band Bad Suns.

I was really trying to get my high school band

to open for The 1975 when they toured in 2014,

and I emailed the promoter at a club

that I knew The 1975 was playing at.

And I said, "My band would be the perfect opener

"for The 1975."

And in a more polite way, the promoter said piss off,

we already have an opener.

And the opener was this band Bad Suns.

And I was immediately filled with jealousy

and envy of Bad Suns, with no right to have that envy

because I never heard of them.

And I listened to their song "Cardiac Arrest",

and I was like,

"This song is incredible."

♪ I'll try my best ♪

♪ How much do I invest ♪

I just listened to that song for like, five months straight.

And it's still, it's still an unskippable song to me.

I think the drums and the bass are just like,

unbeatable in that song.

It's just such a good groove.

And the structure of it is that the guitars come in

in like the intro,

and then for the verses, the guitars basically drop out

and it's just like a drum kit and a bass.

And the drummer Miles, he plays like riffs on the drums,

which is kinda rare.

Like signature moments.

Which I've been trying to do

since I started writing drum parts.

There's a song of Billie's called "Xanny"

with these like drum fills that go like,

[imitates drum sounds]

And like, I wanted to just make like Phil Collins-like

drum fills that you'd air drum to in your room.

And that to me, "Cardiac Arrest" does a great job of that.

[pop ballad pays]

This is a song called "Jesus, Jesus"

by an artist named Noah Gundersen.

I think a lot of these songs are like,

my introduction song to an artist,

and this was the first song of Noah's I ever heard.

And I think I heard it because I've known an artist

named Phoebe Bridgers since we were both teenagers,

and she posted a photo with him on her Facebook page,

and I was like, who is this?

And I went to his iTunes,

I think I went to his Bandcamp at the time.

And I found this song, "Jesus, Jesus".

And it's just a really incredibly well written song.

And I think he was brought up in the church,

and I think he was also brought up home schooled.

I wasn't brought up in the church,

but I was brought up home schooled.

And he made a lot of his music with his sister,

I thought that was pretty interesting.

The whole song is talking to Jesus,

as if it's like mid prayer.

And the verse is, one of the lines is,

"Jesus, Jesus, there are those that say they love You,

"but they've treated me so mean.

"And I know You say forgive them

"for they know not what they do.

"But I'm pretty sure they do."

♪ But sometimes I think they do ♪

♪ And I think about You ♪

This song does a really great job of expressing

like, his sort of reservations about the church

and about the world.

Really good song.

[pop ballad plays]

My mom watches a lot of Shark Tank.

This is a song that, as far as I'm concerned,

should be on everybody's list ever.

This is "Mr. Brightside" by The Killers.

I can't really think of like songs

that are more well written or played or recorded.

There's a production technique in like

panning the instruments in this song,

that I think even if you have like,

no knowledge of music production,

is really enjoyable.

And that's kind of the goal of music production,

is to be like really broad and be really direct,

and still make it interesting and compelling.

And so the way this song starts,

is the guitar's hard panned to your left ear,

so you only hear the guitar to your left ear.

And the drums are hard panned to your right ear.

And the vocal's super compressed and it's down the middle.

And then, once the first verse is over,

it all just like slams out,

and then it's like super hi-def.

It's such a great way to introduce elements of the song,

and it's so creative.

["Mr. Brightside" intro plays]

♪ Coming out of my cage and I've been doing just fine ♪

I was like obsessed with the production of that song.

[pop ballad plays]

This is a song called "The Luckiest" by Ben Folds.

I think it's the most romantic song ever.

There, that's what I think it is.

He's like somebody that I've looked up to

basically since like way before I ever thought

I would be making music.

I just was like, I love Ben Folds' music.

The melody is beautiful, the hook of the song is just

"I know that I am, I am, I am the luckiest."

That's the whole hook, which is like,

just so incredibly, like broadly,

like beautiful and relatable.

♪ I am the luckiest ♪

Ben Folds had a daughter named Gracie Folds,

and at one point in high school, when I was very young,

my band played a show at Gracie's school.

Ben watched my band.

I would recommend you not have a hero of yours

watch your high school band bomb a show when you're like 16.

That would be my recommendation to you.

Don't do that.

[pop ballad plays]

I felt like I had to put that one on,

because if this is the playlist of my life,

very few songs have changed my life more than

being involved in the creation of the song

"Ocean eyes", which my sister put out when she was 13.

And I wrote and produced for her.

And I wrote it in like, a couple hours.

I had a piano in the room that I grew up in that I love,

and I sat down and I played the chords,

and I sang the melody,

and I sang the lyrics of the first verse,

all as like an improv, which was,

♪ I've been watching you for some time ♪

♪ Can't stop staring at those ocean eyes ♪

I just made it all up at once.

And I thought, oh!

That's cool.

And then I had this idea for the hook being,

♪ No fair ♪

I couldn't really sing it, as you just heard.

As soon as I gave it to Billie, it took on this

complete life of its own with her.