‘Stevie Wonder really stirred something in me’: Melanie Blatt’s honest playlist
The All Saints singer can do all the rap bits in Neneh Cherry’s Buffalo Stance but which Prince tearjerker does she want for her funeral?
The first song I fell in love with
I remember listening to Songs in the Key of Life by Stevie Wonder from my dad’s record collection. Have a Talk With God really stirred something in me.
The first single I bought
At Our Price on Finchley Road in north London, I discovered that instead of buying the seven-inch single of Janet Jackson’s What Have You Done for Me Lately, you could buy the 12-inch for £1 more and you’d get more songs. But when I got home, I was disappointed to find that they were all remixes of the same song.
The song I do at karaoke
Buffalo Stance by Neneh Cherry. I can do the rap bits, the singing bits and all the little bits in between.
The song I inexplicably know every lyric to
Certainly not my own! There something in my brain that doesn’t work when it comes to remembering lyrics. It’s not just now I’m 50 – it’s been going on for years. One of my fans comes to gigs with little pieces of cardboard with the lyrics on them, just to help me.
The best song to play at a party
The best songs are not necessarily what everybody else thinks. I’d always go for a big classic hip-hop tune, like Nothin’ by NORE.
The best song to have sex to
Nothing. I need to concentrate!
The song I secretly like, but tell everyone I hate
My sister and I used to listen to E for Electro by Hi_Tack and Johnny Crockett on repeat. We hadn’t listened to it for 10 years and listened to it the other day in the car and still loved it. So it’s back on the playlist.
The song that gets me up in the morning
Worries by LZee, Toddla T and Naomi Cohen always gets me going.
The song that changed my life
Never Ever [by All Saints] was our first No 1. From there, we travelled the world and bought houses. So that song. Plus, the All Saints baggy trousers look is back in fashion.
The song I want played at my funeral
I remember when I first watched Under the Cherry Moon, Prince’s follow-up movie to Purple Rain, and hearing Sometimes It Snows in April and finding it so heartbreaking. I want people to cry at my funeral. So chuck that on.
Melanie Blatt has partnered with National Rail to create a series of audio guides to 200 locations.