Party Playlist: The Music Behind My Birthday Celebration

In this episode, you can expect a full-on birthday celebration, all centered around the music that makes my day unforgettable. I’ve put together a playlist that’s packed with songs that make me want to dance, sing, and celebrate like there’s no tomorrow! We’re talking about party anthems that set the perfect mood, dance tracks that get me moving, and my all-time favorite songs that bring back the best memories. Plus, I’ll be sharing a few of my top sing-along tunes—because what’s a birthday without a little karaoke, right? I won’t be diving into the history or breaking down the details behind the songs like I usually do; today, it’s all about celebrating with the music that makes me happiest. So, whether you’re here to party, dance, or just vibe out with me, you’re in for a treat. Let’s get this birthday party started!

Transcript

Speaker A: 0:20

Hi, everybody. Welcome back to the music of me. I'm your host, Harry. And today's episode is extra special because. Drum roll, please. It's my birthday. Yes, you heard that right. Today, I'm not just your host, I'm the birthday girl. If you're tuning in on the day this episode actually drops, we are celebrating together in real time. Isn't that exciting? I'm excited about it. I love my birthday. And if you're catching this later, no worries. You're still in on my musical birthday bash. Now, if you know me, you know that music is in everything I do. It's the heartbeat of my life. It sets the vibe, lifts my spirits, and makes all my favorite memories even better. And it also relieves stress. It also just makes me want to dance. I love music. That's why my podcast is called the music in me. And that's why I focus on music so naturally when it comes to my birthday. I wanted the perfect playlist to make my day unforgettable. So in this episode, I'm going to share with you my special birthday playlist that I put together. Now, these tracks aren't just tunes. They're the ones that get me dancing, bring a smile to my face, make me feel unstoppable, and help me relive some of my fondest memories. So whether you're ready to dance, sing along, or just vibe out, grab your favorite treat, get comfy, and let's dive into my ultimate birthday playlist together. I am so excited about this. I hope you're excited, too. I love my birthday. So in the days leading up to my birthday, I dove deep into a sea of songs, hunting for the perfect mix to make my day truly special. I listen to track after track, searching for those songs that make me feel like I'm in the middle of a celebration. The ones that bring back amazing memories. The ones that make me want to dance. I just wanted all the songs to reflect the happiness that I feel on my birthday and I want to celebrate me. I've also picked songs I love to sing along to because I love to sing songs. I'm not a good singer, but I love to sing. I also found that one very special birthday song that I wanted to play the moment I woke up on my birthday because it just made me feel good. I can't possibly share all the songs I put on my playlist because I've got over 40 on there now and I keep adding every day. So, you know, by the time you listen to this, it could be up to 50 because you know me, I have a lot of favorites and I love all types of music. But I've handpicked a few of my absolute favorites to share with you today. And I'll tell you exactly why they're on my birthday playlist and why I love them so much. All right, this episode is going to be a little different from the rest. I'm not going to be deep diving into any of the songs or their history because today it's all about my birthday celebration, the music that makes it unforgettable. And I just wanted to share that joy with you. I hope you're as excited as I am to hear what songs are on my birthday playlist. Now, of course, I couldn't just throw all my favorite songs together without a little bit of organization to make this episode flow better. So I've broken down my top picks into a few fun categories. First up, I've got celebration party songs, ultimate party anthems that make me feel like confetti is flying and the cake is on its way. Then I'm going to move on to dance songs, those tracks that get me up and moving no matter where I am. After that, I'm going to share some of my all time favorite songs. Songs that have a permanent spot on most every playlist I make. And last but certainly not least, I've got songs I love to sing. You know, those tunes that I just can't resist belting out whether I'm in the car or just listening to music in my bedroom. Just those songs that make me want to sing. As you know, I do have a lot of favorite songs. So as of this moment, the songs I'm talking about are the ones on my list. Next year could be a totally different list. But let's get into my birthday celebration for this year. I am so excited. I bet you are dying to know what's on my playlist. And I'm dying to tell you, I'm very excited. We're going to start with the celebration party songs. The first song I have on my list is, of course, celebration by cool in the gang. How could you not put this one on your birthday playlist? I mean, the lyrics say celebrate good times. Come on. It also says there's a party going on right here. A celebration to last throughout the years. I mean, I don't know. This song is just very upbeat, fun and celebratory, so that's why it's on my list. The second song I discovered in my research, it's called Celebrate by Jordan Sparks and Whitney Houston. And it's from that movie Sparkle, which I don't know if I've actually seen the movie sparkle, but this song is very beautiful and it's all about celebrating us. So I figured I might as well put that on my playlist. I mean, it's a beautiful song. I love it. I don't know it as well as some of these others, but I figure it's called celebrate and it's my birthday, so it fits. Then we've got, of course, never gonna not dance again by pink. I talked about this in a previous episode because it's one of those songs that make me want to dance. But it also kind of describes my story. And it's a celebration about just dancing through all life's moments. That's how I see it and I feel like I'm never going to not dance again. Once I discovered dancing, you know, that was it. That was the exercise that I needed to find because it's exercise, but it's in disguise. So dancing is just fun and it makes me feel good. And I love this song. It's very upbeat, catchy and I love to dance to it. Of course, the next song is called good to be Alive by Andy Grammer. I mean, I figure this one was perfect for my birthday playlist because it's another birthday, I'm getting older and it's good to be alive. Hallelujah. Right? And it's very, very catchy, upbeat as all these songs are on this episode, I find I like a lot of Andy Grammer songs, but good to be alive is so much fun to listen to. It just makes me feel good and that's how I want to feel on my birthday. Then the last song in my celebration category is get the party started by Pink. Yes, there are two pink songs in this celebration category because I don't know, pink is one of my favorite artists, so of course she had to be on my playlist. But get the party started, it's perfect because I want to feel like it's a party all day on my birthday. Like I said, I love to celebrate my birthday. Doesn't matter how old I get. I just feel like, like a kid. Like I'm like a kid and I want to get the party started all day. I want my whole day to be a party. Even if it's just me. I'm going to make it feel like a party. All right, next category we've got dance songs. These are my favorite songs, my favorite type of songs because, you know, I love to dance. So the first one I put on my list is don't stop the music by Rihanna. It's also I love the title because don't stop the music. As you all know, I love music. Music is like everything in my life. It is a part of everything that I do. So don't stop the music by Rihanna. Perfect for my birthday and I do dance to this one in a few of my workouts. It is so much fun. It's very catchy. I love to sing it and I love to dance to it. Then we've got just dance by Lady Gaga. I mean, the title just dance. That's all I need to know. Just dance. I love Lady Gaga and just dance is a great song to dance to. It just makes me happy and that's how I want to feel on my birthday. So that's why it's on my playlist. And the title just dance, it's like when you are down, just dance. That's how I look at it. Next, one of my all time favorite songs, shut up and dance by walk the moon. Why this one's on my playlist is because, partly because it's in the musical Moulin Rouge. Now, you know, I love Moulin Rouge, the musical. I did get to go see it at the Fox in St. Louis, which it's one of my favorite shows I've ever seen live and shut up and dance is one of my favorite songs from the show, so it had to be on my birthday playlist. I love it. I love to dance to it. I love to sing to it. It's just so catchy and upbeat and happy. All right, the next song is TikTok by Kesha. I had to add TikTok because it's very upbeat, dancy, fun. It's not my normal kind of song I listen to, but I love it. It's just very, very, um, bouncy, I guess. Bouncy and dancy and makes me happy and just want to dance. A funny thing about the title, TikTok, is if you know me, I'm a child at heart. I will always be a child at heart. It does not matter how old I get, but at work, people know that toys make me happy. So they bring me like stuffed animals, little figurines and stuff at work to make me happy. And one day, one of my friends brought me to a crocodile. It was after I was putting together my playlist, so I had just listened to TikTok. I decided to name the crocodile TikTok, not because of the song, but maybe partly because of the song the crocodile looked like the crocodile from the Disney movie Peter Pan. So I decided to name the crocodile TikTok, and it could possibly have had an influence from the song TikTok. So that's why I had to talk about it in this episode, because I wanted you to see that, you know, I'm just a big kid. I like to have fun, which is why all these songs are songs that just make me happy, which is what I want on my birthday. I want to feel happy, joyful, celebratory, like it's a party all day. Right. And speaking of, the next song is can't stop the feeling by Justin Timberlake. I've talked about this song before. I think it was in my episode about happy songs. So, you know, this song just makes me happy, but it's also one of my favorite songs to dance to. It's just very bouncy, upbeat, fun. You know, I love this song. I can listen to this song, like, over and over again, and I would not get tired of it. Okay, next. As you know, I did an episode about Dua Lipa, right? And then after I did the episode, I became even more obsessed with her. So she's one of my all time favorite artists at the moment. Now, I do change depending on the mood I'm in, but right now, dua Lipa is one of my favorite artists. Speaking of, I am wearing my dua Lipa shirt, because after I did my episode, I got so obsessed with Dua Lipa. So, of course, some of her songs would have to be on my birthday playlist, because, as you know, I do love to dance to a lot of her songs. Now, truth is, I'll probably listen to a couple of her albums on my birthday, but on my birthday playlist, I added a few of my favorites. One of my favorite songs that I like to dance to is don't start now. It just makes me want to dance. That's, like, the number one song that makes me want to dance. Besides the one from the Barbie movie. You know, the one from the Barbie movie dance the night, which was my very first favorite dua Lipa song to dance to. I also have levitating physical training season and Houdini all on my playlist. So that's four dua Lipa songs on my birthday playlist. So four out of 45 dua Lipa songs. I mean, how could I not put dua Lipa on my birthday playlist when her songs just make me happy and want to dance? And I love them, and I'm a huge fan, as I said. All right, now let's get to some of my favorite songs. Now, some of these songs are because on this list, because they make me feel like a kid. I used to listen to them when I was growing up. Some of them are just recent favorite songs. You know, it's a mix. As you know, I have a lot of favorites, so this was very hard to pick just a few. My number one song on my favorites list is dancing Queen by ABBA. This song came out the year I was born. As I talked about in a previous episode last year, I think it was about the songs from 1976. Yes. That's the year I was born. I am old, so I am turning 48 today. But I don't feel 48. You're only as old as you feel. And as, as I said, I'm a child at heart. But anyway, dancing queen, perfect song for my playlist. And I can't believe it came out the year I was born because it seems like the perfect song now because I am a dancer. As you know, I love to dance and I love ABBA, especially the movies, mamma mia, that include ABBA songs. I heard there's going to be a third mamma mia. I don't know if that's a rumor or it's true, but if there is a third mamma mia. I'm excited because I love that musical. Next, I have a couple songs by Queen. Because queen, my all time favorite rock bandaid. I've already talked about Bohemian Rhapsody in its own special episode, which is one of my all time favorite songs. As you know, I did a deep dive on that one. So I love that song. I could not keep that off my birthday playlist. Then another one, don't stop me now because that one just makes me happy. And it's like, it feels like it's a birthday party song. I don't know. It's just very happy, catchy. I love it. All right. Also, as you know, I love the Spice Girls. So I had to include a song by the Spice Girls and I included one of my all time favorites, wannabe. I had to have it on my playlist. I love the Spice Girls. Huge, huge fan. I did an entire episode on them. You can go back and listen to all these episodes I'm talking about. But that is why I had to have it on my playlist, because I love wannabe. I love the Spice Girls. So of course I had to include them. Okay. Another thing you don't know about me, I don't think I've mentioned this yet, but I love boy bands. I remember the new kids on the block being big when I was growing up. But I also love the backstreet boys and Nsync. So on my playlist, I added one of my favorite backstreet Boys songs. I want it that way. I just like to sing along to it. And I just love this song. It's very. It's beautiful, I guess. And I want it that way. Just sounds like something you would say on your birthday. You want everything to go your way, right? Another song by the Backstreet Boys is larger than life. I love this song. Also, I do a dance workout, which includes larger than life. And I feel like this is a birthday song because that's how I want to feel on my birthday. I want to feel larger than life. That's how I feel when I'm celebrating my own self, which took a while to get to. You know, I was always insecure and shy. So larger than life. I just, right now, I love me so larger than life. Had to be on my playlist and see these boy bands and, like, the Spice Girls bring back my childhood memories, so they make me feel like I'm young. Another boy band song I have is bye bye, bye bye, nsync. I love this song so much. Yes, I do love the video. I wish I could dance like all of these boy bands, but I mean, I love them. Next up, we have a song by Michael Jackson. I had to include beat it from Michael Jackson on my playlist because he was big. When I was growing up, I remember staying at the babysitter's house and we used to play Michael Jackson. So we'd be out on the patio, porche, garage, whatever it was. We would listen to beat it and try to moonwalk and stuff. So that's why this is on my playlist, because it brings back my childhood memories and it makes me happy. It's one of my favorite Michael Jackson songs. Next on my playlist, I have a couple songs by my favorite christian artist, Lauren Daigle. I just love these songs. And the reason they got added to my playlist is because I was watching America's Got Talent and Lauren Daigle sang on there. So I was like, oh, I have to add these to my playlist. But my two favorite songs by Lauren Daigle are you say and thank God I do. And they're just beautiful. I mean, they make me feel like, you know, God is with me all the time and I can do anything and that's how I want to feel on my birthday. I want to feel comforted and happy? Okay, next up, we have a few songs from Beyonce. Why is Beyonce on my playlist, you might ask? Well, for one, I love Beyonce. But here is a fascinating, fun fact that I was so excited about when I heard me and Beyonce share a birthday. So today is also her birthday. Me and Beyonce were both born on September 4. Not the same year, of course, because she's younger than me. But hey, I have a birthday twin, and her name is Beyonce. That is the coolest person to share a birthday with, in my opinion. I love this. Okay, so I had to include Beyonce songs because for one, I love Beyonce. My favorite songs from Beyonce that are on my list are Halo, which I just find beautiful. I love Halo. It's. Yeah, it's just beautiful. And then I've got single ladies because I'm a single lady. And I love this song. It's very catchy and dancy. My favorite type of songs, we're going to go into songs I like to sing now, which includes another Beyonce song. It's called listen from the movie dream girls. I love, love, love to sing the song. I love to listen to Beyonce sing the song. She is just so powerful in it. And when I sing along to it, I feel like I'm Beyonce. I'm not because I suck, but, you know, I love to sing all these powerful type songs because when I'm singing, I feel like I'm singing like the person. So when I sing, listen, I am Beyonce. Of course, I had to have a few Broadway songs on my list because, you know, I love Broadway. I love to sing Broadway songs, like, all of them. As I told you in my wicked episode last year, I once did the entire script of Wicked in my living room. So I sang all the songs of Wicked. No, there's no wicked songs on my playlist. I don't know why they just didn't get added this time. But I have a few other songs from musicals. Remember the episode when I talked about Broadway flops and I talked about my favorite Broadway flop that hurt my heart when it closed down? Bad Cinderella. I have to sing a couple of those songs on my birthday. My two favorite songs are the title song, bad cinderella because I love it. It's just like, not your traditional Cinderella, but she's bad Cinderella. And sometimes I just want to feel like I'm not the goody goody all the time, you know? The second song is, I know I have a heart. This song I just connected with. But I love to sing it because it's very emotional. It's called I know I have a heart because she's singing about a guy she liked, and then he apparently just wanted to be friends. So she's singing I know I have a heart because you broke it. I have felt that maybe not in, like, boyfriend girlfriend type things, but friendships. Sometimes I. Well, you know, I'm a little bit insecure, so I always think people don't like me. And if I'm in that kind of mood, I sing the song and I cry. But anyway, this is just a beautiful song and I love to sing it. And since I talked about Bad Cinderella a couple weeks ago, I really wanted to sing songs from Bad Cinderella. Hey, it's my birthday. I can sing whatever I want. Want. Next, I have another song from one of my other favorite musicals, frozen, which I have not done an episode about yet, which I will. And sadly, I heard the north american tour of Frozen is ending, so now I will not get to see it. But good news is it's been filmed and it will be available on Disneyland next year. So I'm so excited. So I get to see it even if it's on Disney. My favorite song from Frozen, the musical is Monster, which is sung by Elsa. I love this song. This song has gotten me through some very tough days at work. As I mentioned before, in one of my previous episodes, I used to listen to this song on repeat when I was having a bad day at work. But I love to sing this song. I have totally memorized it. Some other songs. I like to sing any song from the greatest Showman, but my favorite is never enough. But I like Lauren Allred's version, which she actually did it from the movie, but I like her new version that she did on America's Got Talent. Like her version, not the movie version. I like all the songs from the greatest Showman. So of course I will be singing a lot of songs from the greatest Showman. Other musicals I'll probably just put on a Broadway playlist on top of my other playlist because Broadway is one of my favorite things ever and I just want to sing. I love to sing. I also like to sing songs from female powerhouse artists like Mariah Carey, Adele, Whitney Houston. Speaking of Whitney Houston, I do have her on my playlist for my favorite songs to sing, which is the greatest love of all. I did mention that in another episode. So a lot of these songs I've already mentioned. I also love to sing Disney songs. And I'll probably be singing some songs on my birthday because I love to sing and actually one of my favorite birthdays ever was one year we did karaoke for my birthday in our living room because I had a karaoke machine and everybody participated. And it was one of my favorite birthdays ever. Another favorite birthday was last year when my niece wrote me a special song and she wrote me a letter also. And dang, it made me cry because she said I was the one that inspired her to love music, which still makes me emotional. I am glad we have that connection, me and my niece, which is why she is the one that sings the opening and closing of my podcast. Okay, now that I've shared some of the songs on my playlist in those different categories, let's get on to my special birthday song that I've picked out for my special day. It is happy birthday by new kids on the block. Now, my plan is to wake up, play this song first thing, and pretend that all the new kids on the block are standing there singing me happy birthday. Because that would be the greatest thing in the world. Because, you know, as I said, new kids on the block was big. When I was growing up. They were one of the first boy bands I ever heard. And this song is just so beautiful. And I like to pretend that they're actually there singing to me. So that's what I'll be doing. All right, so that's my birthday playlist. Now, of course, I have a whole bunch of other songs on my playlist, and I'll probably listen to other songs on my birthday. But, you know, hey, I just wanted to share my special playlist for my special day with you all. And I hope it, hope you enjoyed learning what I wanted on my birthday playlist. So we've talked about my birthday playlist, but let me tell you how it's going to fit into my special day and what I plan to do on my special day. First of all, I'm going to wake up, listen to my birthday song as I told you, and then I'm going to do my dance workouts. Of course, I can't skip my steps even on my birthday. I plan on doing all the dua Lipa workouts I can find because, I mean, I love her. I'm wearing her shirt right now. I plan on wearing my shirt all day on my birthday. Maybe not. When I work out, I don't want it to get all sweaty, you know, in case I go out partying later. You never know. I plan on taking a little walk outside while listening to my birthday playlist. I'll probably take time to do a little karaoke and sing the songs I talked about, probably a few extra. And then later that evening, my family is taking me out to my favorite restaurant, Chili's. And I get a free birthday dessert there. It's my favorite dessert of any restaurant. It's this little chocolate chip cookie with ice cream on top. I love that so much. And I get a free one since it's my birthday. So that'll be fun because what better way to spend my birthday than with the people that I love? My family. When we get home, I plan on watching Hamilton on Disney. Now. I really wanted to go to the fox because it's at the Fox right now during my birthday week, but I wasn't able to go see it live. But thank goodness for Disney. So I plan on watching Hamilton and I'm going to pretend I'm at the fox watching it. And then I will be exhausted for my celebration and I will go to bed and I will continue to celebrate the rest of the week because I'm off for four days this week. So I'll probably listen to my birthday playlist a little more. I plan on watching the greatest showman one of these days off because it's one of my favorite movies of all time and that's probably it. So that's how I'm going to spend my day and how the playlist fits into all that. And there you have it, my ultimate birthday playlist filled with the songs that make me dance, sing, and feel like every day is a celebration. I really hope you enjoyed this little peek into my birthday bash and that maybe you found a few new tunes to add to your own playlist for your birthday. Whether you're celebrating alongside me today or catching this episode later, I want to thank you for being part of my special day. Music has this incredible power to bring us together, lift our spirits, and make moments unforgettable. And I am so glad that I could share that joy with you. So until next time, keep the music playing, keep the celebrations going. And remember, every day is worth a little dance party. Thank you all for tuning in to the music in me. And I'm sorry if this episode was a little all over the place, but I will see you in the next episode. Same time, same place, and hopefully with just as much fun. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a birthday to keep celebrating. Peace out, everybody.