Joss Stone: “I Have Horrible Taste in Music”

British singer and songwriter Joss Stone (Joscelyn Eve Stoker (born 1987) created a playlist for the newspaper The Guardian (later made available on Spotify) with the songs that, in various ways, are, or have been, important to her.

The artist who moves in the field of black music and who made his debut very young with The Soul Sessions in 2003, she shows that she has very heterogeneous tastes, ranging from Aretha Franklin to Aqua from Barbie Girl, passing through the Spice Girls and rap. “I have horrible musical tastes” she confesses

Here are the choices and the reasons

The first song I remember hearing
My father took me to pick up my mother from karate. In the car he made me listen to “Tears in Heaven” Of Eric Clapton and he said, “This is a song about a man who lost his baby. The chorus goes, ‘Would you know my name if you saw me in heaven?'” I remember thinking, “I don’t think she would know because she was so young when he died, how would she know?” I couldn’t stop crying for days. My mother was so angry with my father, “Why did you make her listen to this song? You know how emotional she is.” He was like, “That’s what music is for.”

The first single I bought
My sister and I saved our pocket money and went to the disco together. She was older and decided what to buy. We bought “Now That’s What I Call Music!” (A compilation of 80’s songs) and the album of Spice Girls. Then my Uncle Porridge – it was just a nickname – asked me, “What do you want for Christmas?” I said I wanted an album of TOretha Franklin that I had seen on TV.

The song I sing at karaoke
I try to avoid karaoke because it’s too embarrassing. If I had to do it, I’d do something that would make people get up and dance, like “I Will Survive” Of Gloria Gaynor.

The song I inexplicably know every word of the lyrics to
“No Diggity” Of Blackstreet And Dr. Dre.

The best song to play at a party
“Rapper’s Delight” of the Sugarhill Gang.

The song I secretly like, but tell everyone to hate
I would never tell anyone that I hate “Barbie Girl” of the Water. I am shamelessly clumsy and have terrible taste in music. My daughter Violet (she has a boy and a girl) is obsessed with Aqua. Every day she says, “Alexa, play Barbie Girl.” She is very cute.

The song I can’t listen to anymore
There is an album of Jack Johnson which I really liked, but I listened to it a lot with one of my exes, so I don’t listen to it anymore.

The best song to have sex
“Sexual Healing” Of Marvin Gaye. But not if you burst out laughing halfway through the song. There’s a part that I find really funny, when he says, “Come on, come on, come on.” I imagine a husband trying to wake up his wife, “Come on. Come on.” And she’s like, “Oh my God, I’m sleeping.” I always have that image in my head and it makes me laugh.

The song that changed my life
My very first TV appearance was on the 2000 BBC talent show “Star For a Night”, when I was 13. I sang “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” Of Aretha Franklin. After that, all the record companies were interested in meeting me, so I went around the world to sing a cappella for the record company executives. I never thought I could sing it because it was sung by a woman and I was a girl. But eventually I got signed and the rest is history.

The song that gets me up in the morning
My daughter and I like to dance “Higher Love” Of Kygo and Whitney Houston (1986 song written by ex-Traffic Steve Winwood). It’s been our morning song for a while now.

The song I wish was played at my funeral
“Wannabe” from the “Spice Girls”.