November 2025's Desert Island Discs

If I had to pick a total of 8 songs that I'd want to listen to, for the rest of my life, here are my picks as of November 2025.

I've compiled these songs into a Spotify playlist and a YouTube playlist.

Interestingly, I've got a good mix of chill songs and high-energy songs, which is funny because I often really need the high-energy songs to "get my brain moving" (darn ADHD!).

But I guess if I'm on a desert island, it's unlikely I'm going to be enjoying life too much 😅

How popular are these songs?

I thought it would be interesting to see how popular these songs are in my listen history, over the lifetime of data I have access to in Spotify.

(Note that this data will update as the years go by, which may be interesting, or may skew it awkwardly!)

The below graph shows the number of hours I've listened to each song in a given year.

The Songs

I'd recommend having a listen of these songs as you read my thoughts about them.

Phaeleh - Red Light Green Light

Just the opening few bars of this makes such a difference to my headspace - and immediately helps my mind and heart slow and help me chill.

It's really quite incredible the impact it has on me, and is understandably part of my anti-meltdown playlist ("I'm melting").

It's also just a really great chill piece, and one of my all time favourites.

Yoe Mase - Getaway Car

I think it was last year I discovered Yoe Mase, and there are a number of Yoe's songs that I have found that are really great - but Getaway Car is the one I've really vibed with, and have as an upbeat-but-has-a-point song.

We're way too young to have this much damn anxiety

Looking back at my history, I've listened to some of Yoe's songs before, but it was last year that Yoe really popped up as a regular artist.

Although there are a few of Yoe's I had trouble picking from, this is upbeat and ??

Cyantific - Falling

This almost didn't make it on, but thankfully did as its a "get pumped" song that hits the right spot in my brain to itch it real good.

As noted below, I had quite a few in my "pumped" playlist that could've taken this spot, but this is a really great one.

It's also a little bit of a "chill" song, and one I could use to unwind to, surprisingly 😅

Tycho - Epoch

I struggled to find only one song from Tycho that I'd love to have forever, and Epoch nudged the others off the list.

I love the rise in it, from a somewhat chill start, to a bit more of a big ending.

(My listening history for Tycho is often on our shared account for use with i.e. Amazon Alexas around the house, as I'll play it while cooking, or as good background music, which means I do listen to them more than my stats show!)

Fox Stevenson - Enemy Brain

Although it's more written with anxiety in mind, I heavily relate to the lyrics because of my ADHD:

It's my enemy brain, ain't cooperating

It's beating me down

It's in the top few Fox Stevenson songs I love, but given the way he "sees" similar things to me in it, it's gotta go on the list.

And it's a bop 💃🏼

Kaj. - Human

This unfortunately isn't on Spotify, so technically I listen to it very infrequently. But as I mention in my post about music and associations, it's a song that is always something I can conjure up in my mind and listen to, so I feel that counts!

Ed Sheeran - Shape of You

It's nice to have a love song on the list, and this one has a special place in my heart.

I used to listen to Ed Sheeran a lot more (~70 lifetime hours, at time of writing), but went off him for a while due to associations with a friend's ex.

Phaeleh - Moving On

Moving On is really one of those songs I don't know how I'd live without it - similar to Red Light Green Light, it has an incredible effect on my mood, helping me stabilise a bit more, and is understandably part of my "I'm melting" playlist.

As I've written before about music and associations, this will always be mentally paired with me leaving Capital One, where the song landed as I was getting ready to "move on", and also followed me to Deliveroo as I was looking to leave.

And it's a good one to end the playlist with.

Honourable mentions

"Pumped" playlist

My whole "Pumped" playlist is a shortlist in of itself, given it gives me a lot of energy - ADHD sometimes making me "need" the energy injection from high energy music to do a task I've been putting off.

Listening through it, there are tonnes of songs on there that I'd love to have on the list, but with only 8 to choose from, it was pretty tough!

Droideka - Get Hyper

This is one of those songs I can also listen to in my head whenever I want, so I feel it's a cheeky "free" addition to the list.

Pendulum - Hold Your Colour / Pendulum - The Tempest / Pendulum - Witchcraft

My top 3 songs from Pendulum, and even after all the years - still hit the spot!

Yellowcard - Way Away

I had a great Yellowcard phase back in the day, but Way Away came to me - as many maybe did - while playing SSX3 on the PS2, and got me into Yellowcard.

Chase & Status, Plan B - End Credits

Another song with a special place in my mind - I remember the time in my life where this was popular, and I've always heard the lyrics as:

I feel [so unhappy]
[like] I've never felt before

This aren't the true lyrics, but I feel they work even better.

Uppermost - Flashback

Memories of finding Flashback on MrSuicideSheep's YouTube channel, years of discovering great music there, and it's a great mood lifter, and is a great bop, too.

This would also be a really positive one to end on.

Rob Dougan - Clubbed to Death (Kurayamino Mix)

With The Matrix being my all time favourite film, Clubbed to Death would keep me connected if I could never watch it again.