Starting off strong, my favourite artist of all time is no other than Taylor Swift. I first discovered Taylor when I was just a kid scrolling through YouTube. I stumbled upon the music video of what I believe was ‘You Belong With Me’. It had not been out for a very long time at that point, meaning I was just 8 years old when I fell in love with her songs. I have been here for every single album release post-Fearless, and while I have not had the chance to see her live so far, I will go to six shows of The Eras Tour next year. 

It is simple to explain why I love Taylor so much: I am first and foremost a writer, a lover of words, and she has a way with words like no other. In my opinion, she is the best songwriter out there, both because of how she manages to incorporate beautiful storytelling into every single track she writes, and because of how relatable so many of these tracks are. Growing up, especially her album Red has managed to get me through hard times. When life gets me down, I know that her songs are always here for me – whether to make me smile or to make me cry. 

Please do not ask me what my favourite album is, because it is frankly impossible to pick just one. I adore Red, as already mentioned; folklore; Speak Now; and even the less popular debut album. I cannot wait to get the final two re-recordings hopefully next year and scream along to even more Taylor Swift songs.  

A few years after I got into Taylor, I fell into, let’s say, my emo phase. I was about 12 years old when I first discovered heavier music and metal bands. The main one to still stick with me up till this day is British band Bring Me The Horizon, led by vocalist Oli Sykes. I have been struggling with my mental health pretty much since I can remember, and the fact that the band discusses topics within this area so openly has really helped me over the years. 

My favourite track from Bring Me The Horizon will probably always remain ‘Hospital for Souls’ from the album Sempiternal, but I’m also a huge fan of heavier tracks like ‘Chelsea Smile’ and the slightly more pop-influenced ones such as ‘Follow You’. I have been lucky to get to see this band live three times so far; twice at their own headline shows in Amsterdam (in 2016 and 2023), and once at Belgian festival Pukkelpop (in 2022). I’m really looking forward to the band’s upcoming project Post Human: NeX GEn and to hopefully get to see them again on the EU tour for that EP. 

Another favourite band to come out this era of my life is Australian metalcore band The Amity Affliction. In a way, they are quite similar instrumentally and thematically to Bring Me The Horizon, as they too have released many tracks dealing with mental health and other heavy topics. The first album I heard from The Amity Affliction was their third, Chasing Ghosts, which was released in 2012 – the title track is to this day still one of my favourite songs to have ever been created.

What sets The Amity Affliction apart from others for me is the fact that their two vocalists’ different sounds compliment one another perfectly. Whereas Joel Birch does the so-called unclean or ‘screamo’ vocals, it is Ahren Stringer that adds the clean ones. While I absolutely adore both, I must say that one of my other favourites of theirs is ‘All Fucked Up’ from the 2016 album This Could Be Heartbreak – a song for which only Stringer has provided vocals. 

While I have not yet seen The Amity Affliction live, this is finally going to happen this December. Here’s to hoping my favourite tracks will make it onto the setlist!

While I discovered Twenty One Pilots approximately at the same time as, or slightly later than, the previous two bands, they musically are of course quite different. Still very fitting for the emo phase I have had, however. 

The world knows this duo best for their 2015 hit ‘Stressed Out’, but the first song I ever heard of them was probably something from the 2013 album Vessel. Unfortunately, I do not remember which song exactly it was, but to this day the album’s fifth track ‘Car Radio’ is my absolute favourite and I have had the privilege to hear this live four times so far. One of my first concerts ever – my second, to be specific – was Twenty One Pilots in Utrecht, The Netherlands, back in 2015. I went to see them with my dad, who was not necessarily a fan but was happy to accompany me as I was still too young to go on my own at the time. The other three times I saw them were all in 2019, when I went to see them in Amsterdam, at Sziget festival all the way in Budapest, and at Pukkelpop in Belgium. I got great spots at both of the festivals and Josh Dun even liked my tweet asking him for a drumstick (I did not get one, but it was still cool). 

While Scaled & Icy was unfortunately not one of my favourite releases ever and therefore I do not really mind that this tour only took place in America, I do hope to see them again sooner rather than later. 

Before we head onto the fifth and final artist I will talk about in this article, I want to give a shout out to some of my other favourites that just barely didn’t make this list. On top of these five listed, I’m a huge fan of Waterparks, Billie Eilish, Glass Animals, Lana del Rey, Halsey, Fall Out Boy, Alexander 23, and many, many more. Discovering new music never stops!

Finally, my fifth favourite artist – although these are not in order – is American singer-songwriter Alec Benjamin. I only discovered him at the start of 2019, a few months after his debut album Narrated for You was released. I unfortunately missed out on his concert in Amsterdam at the beginning of 2019, as I first listened to his music literally right after that had taken place. However, he quickly grew to mean a lot to me. Especially his songs ‘Boy in the Bubble’ and ‘If I Killed Someone for You’ really resonated with me. While he does not make music in anyway similar nor as heavy as some of the previously mentioned artists on this list, I still am someone who really appreciates artists tackling dark subjects in their music – which Benjamin does really well. One moment I will never forget is crying together with one of my friends during the release of ‘My Mind Is a Prison’ at the end of 2019, because it hit so close to home.

I have been lucky to see Alec Benjamin live thrice so far and meet him twice. Back in November 2019, I went to his show in Amsterdam, and upon meeting him asked him to write out the lyric “I saw through all the magic” from ‘Death of a Hero’. I got this tattooed some time after, and showed it to him when I met him again in Amsterdam in 2022 – approximately 2,5 years later. He took a picture of it, so I can flex and say that my arm is on his phone somewhere. As the Amsterdam show unfortunately got cut short, I was desperate to get tickets to see him again a few weeks later in Utrecht. 

It is because of Alec that I met my best friend, and we have been to all three of these shows together. So you see: music not only managed to help me by making me feel seen and heard, but also connected me to some of my favourite people in this world.