Platform Playlist

Music has always played a huge role in my life – at one point, I wanted to be an opera singer and studied voice lessons at the Royal Conservatory of Music; my dad took me to see the opera Carmen when I was eight! And now, I love sneaking in a free concert at Walter Hall at U of T to see what the music students are up to there (the composer recitals are my favourite – you hear new songs being performed in public for the first time, and I find that thrilling).

Throughout the course of my forty-four years, there have also been many musicians and songs that have struck a chord, no pun intended, in terms of activating certain personal beliefs. Bands like Talking Heads and Eurythmics were played constantly when I was young, and I had posters of The Clash and Joy Divison’s Ian Curtis on my walls in high school. It’s bleak that one of my favourite singers of all time wasn’t able to get the mental health support he needed, and I think about Ian Curtis a lot when I think about Toronto’s own issues in this regard.

In an effort to give folks a deeper glimpse into who I am in terms of my values and what helped cultivate them, I’ve put together a playlist featuring a powerful list of songs by acts from Stevie Wonder and The Style Council to Pearl Jam to Temple of the Dog (being taught to have a moral compass by the world’s most beautiful men is definitely a badge of honour for xennials like me). I’ve finessed the tracks to be played in order but you can always mix them up – just be prepared for a vibe check from song to song.

I will likely add more songs to this compilation over the summer because that’s how I roll; and I would love to hear about songs that have inspired your own commitment to societal betterment. Get in touch here, and enjoy the tunes!