Self-love playlist

So, it’s Valentine’s Day. Or to those of us not lucky enough to have a boyfriend or girlfriend to share
it with, Tuesday. With all the sickly lovey-dovey-ness around us, photos of couples plastered all over every form of social media, it can be a hard day to be single. It can make you feel quite sad and alone pondering whether anyone will ever love you. Well, for me it tends to anyway.

But there are other ways to spread the love than just being in a relationship with someone, and who better to love if you don’t have that special someone than yourself! Self-love is so important and we often forget that. It’s not easy to love yourself, for years I was down on myself and worried what people thought of me but over time I’ve become much more confident. Loving yourself doesn’t mean being vain and thinking you’re better than everyone else. It simply means that you are happy with who you are, flaws and all, and you accept that maybe you’re not as smart as one of your friends or you’re not as outgoing as someone else, but you have your own strengths and talents which make you awesome. It’s about accepting that you’re not perfect, but nobody is, and you’re the best you can be and you have to appreciate who you are. There’s nobody in the world like you, and you are special even when you feel like you’re not.

I’ve put together a playlist celebrating self-love, so that this Valentine’s Day you can feel happy in yourself and remember that there’s nobody more important for you to love than yourself. Hope you enjoy it!

• Born This Way – Lady Gaga

This song doesn’t really need any explanation; it’s literally the definition of self-love in musical form! No matter who you are, embrace it and never be ashamed of where you come from or what you love.

• F**kin’ Perfect – P!nk 

I always listen to the clean version because I’m a good girl. Just kidding, I just prefer it without the swearing because I don’t think it needs it. This song has such a strong message and the video for it always sticks in my head because it’s so powerful. We have so many standards set for us in the media of what we ‘should’ look like, but this song is all about saying you know what I’m perfect the way I am.

• Firework – Katy Perry

I’m sure I’ve included this on a previous playlist but this is just one of those songs that will always make me happy and feel good about myself!

• I Don’t Care – Ariana Grande

This song is all about not caring about what other people think of you. I’m sure we can all relate to the feeling of being scared that people will judge us based on either our looks or what we like, but the less you care the less it matters. It can be hard to stop worrying about what others think, but this song definitely gets the message across perfectly.

• Flaws – Bastille 

This song is all about recognising that you have flaws, but that as the lyrics say ‘we need them to be who we are, without them we’d be doomed’. As I said before, nobody’s perfect and if you can acknowledge the fact that you do have flaws but that so does everyone else and you wouldn’t be you without them, it doesn’t matter.

• Hall of Fame – The Script

I’ve also included this in a previous positivity playlist, but I had to use it in this one as well because it’s just so inspiring and makes me feel like I can do anything whenever I listen to it! You can be whoever or whatever you want to be as long as you believe in yourself.

• Loser Like Me – Glee Cast

I was scrolling through the songs on my ipod and I found this absolute gem! I used to belt this song out in my bedroom like there was no tomorrow, haha! It’s honestly got such an amazing message though if you can excuse the fact that it’s quite cringeworthy. It’s all about shaking off what people say about you, because one day you’re going to be better than all those people who made fun of you.

• Mean – Taylor Swift

This song has got a similar message to the previous one, and it’s one of my favourite songs ever. People are mean, but one day you’re going to be bigger and more successful than anyone who put you down in the past.

• Nobody’s Fool – Avril Lavigne

I think I’ve also mentioned this song in one of my playlist posts before as it’s one of my favourite songs in the world and has been since I worshipped Avril Lavigne when I was about 7 years old! I always used to feel so sassy singing/rapping along to this song, and the line ‘if you wanna bring me down, go ahead and try’ has kinda been my motto for most of my life.

• One Step at a Time – Jordin Sparks

Ah, I rediscovered this amazing tune when I was scrolling through my ipod as well. I used to love this song so much and listening to it reminded me how awesome it is. It’s all about taking your time and not rushing into things, and believing that even though things might not be going your way right now, things will get better and work out if you take your time and learn along the way.

• We R Who We R – Kesha

This song was my jam when it first came out! It’s pretty self-explanatory, you are who you are and you should never be ashamed of that.

• You Are Young – Keane

Keane have always been one of my favourite bands but they are so underrated! This song always makes me so happy, its message is so positive. It’s all about being young and having the whole world ahead of you, having hope for the future and believing that everything is going to be okay.

• Who You Are – Jessie J

Not going to lie, I actually find this song quite depressing, but the message is just so relevant to the theme of self-love that I had to include it. Life isn’t all rainbows and butterflies, but you are strong and you can get through it.

• Alive – Sia 

This song makes me want to sing at the top of my lungs to be honest, which isn’t ideal when they play it every time at work and I’m stood there mouthing the words while I’m folding towels. It literally makes me feel like I can do anything! Another song that conveys the important message that no matter what you’ve been through, you can come out of it stronger.

• Scars to Your Beautiful – Alessia Cara

I keep hearing this song on the radio and I love it so much. It’s just so cute and makes me feel happy, reiterating the amazing message that ‘you’re beautiful just the way you are’.

• The Voice Within – Christina Aguilera

Oh my god, major flashbacks with this song. Honestly this song was my life when I was little. I used to feel like she was talking to me when I heard it, because I’m not going to go into a full-blown sob story but people did used to make fun of me and because I’m so quiet I didn’t know how to stand up for myself. But this song showed me that I should trust the voice within myself and believe that I’m amazing no matter what.

• Weird People – Little Mix

This song really makes you feel okay about being weird, haha. It’s about being unique, and really not caring about what others think of you.

• On My Way – Charlie Brown

To be honest I would’ve completely forgotten this song existed if they didn’t play it at work all the time! I love it so much, it’s so upbeat and always makes me smile even when I’m at work! ‘might not be on top of the world but hey, I’m on my way’ – I’m working on myself, I’m not exactly where I want to be yet but I will get there.

You can listen to the playlist here: https://open.spotify.com/user/clarelxuise/playlist/2OOd6AaTO7tNmT59wPPrjA 

I hope you enjoyed this playlist and are feeling the love whether you have a boyfriend/girlfriend or not! These songs definitely never fail to make me feel confident in myself, so I hope they have the same effect for you.

Did you enjoy this playlist? What songs do you listen to when you need a bit of self-love? I’d love to hear from you in the comments!

Once again thank you so much for reading, x