Music Chart RP Style - w/c 1 June 2020

The music chart this week is headed over to Ireland for my top 10 songs featured the BBC 3 series Normal People.

I read the book last year and I'd vaguely seen on the TV that Normal People was being released in April. I saw loads of reviews of people loving it, but there was always something else we wanted to watch. But when we were looking for something that wasn't too long, there it was, sitting there staring at us, waiting. And I absolutely loved it.

It's a pretty good representation of how complex friendships and relationships can be, using the characters of Connell Waldron and Marianne Sheridan to show it. Beginning in their hometown of Carricklea in County Sligo, the two spiral around each other, sometimes together, other times purposefully forcing themselves apart, but it's clear the two of them are and always will be drawn to one another. Taking place across school and university, it starts with Connell being popular at school whilst Marianne is lonely. As it progresses to university their roles are reversed; Marianne blossoms, where Connell struggles to fit in.

The series took me two days to finish, I rewatched it about four times and now I'm trying to resist the urge to watch it again. Doing this blog post won't help...

Now, as expected (because it's me) I paid attention to the soundtrack. It's scored by Irish composer Stephen Rennicks, who scored films like Frank (starring Michael Fassbender), What Richard Did and Room. The score used is beautiful. It's all strings and piano, some soft, some dark, but you can hear the emotion in some of the tracks and the lightness in the others. But it isn't just the score that supports the emotions running through each episode, it's the other tracks too.

Anyway, shall I get on with the songs?

Spotify has got a Normal People playlist, a collection of all the emotive songs included in the series, but you can find my 10 here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5uvGPB5HsOhdICfOxGVqDZ?si=epeZUqqATAeUVsJYhiVgjw

NUMBER 10.

Funeral - Phoebe Bridgers - Episode 10

Although this song isn't in the programme itself, it is in a playlist created by Paul Mescal, the guy who plays Connell, and the BBC 3 team, and the lyrics speak so truly about the funeral that I had to include it. It speaks of a girl singing at a funeral, and how she feels like she's screaming underwater, blacking out at 4am in her car... and I think it could be compared to how you feel when suffering from depression. Connell suffers with depression when one of his friends at school kills himself, and I just think some of the lyrics here connect to the programme so beautifully.

NUMBER 9.

Watching Connell Play - Stephen Rennicks - Episode 1

It's self-explanatory this one. Before this scene, Marianne tells Connell she likes him, and here you can see how Marianne sees Connell. Graceful, athletic and beautiful. The soft strings and the piano build as the boys play Gaelic football, but you can hear the softness in how Marianne is just watching him. And, to be honest, he is kind of beautiful...

NUMBER 8.

First Day at Trinity - Stephen Rennicks - Episode 4

After what happened between them, Connell starts university at Trinity College with very few friends, if any. All his friends are back home in Sligo, so he throws himself into studying hard at college. Here we follow Connell through his first day, in classes, walking around campus, heading to the library, and you can hear the excitement of being at a new college.

NUMBER 7.

Everything I Am Is Yours - Villagers - Episode 10

This song appears after Connell wakes following a consultation with a counsellor, and after talking through his pain with Marianne. He spirals into a severe depressive state following the death of his friend, and Marianne remains a lifeline to him throughout, helping him sleep by staying on Skype. But this song is after he starts to feel a little better.

NUMBER 6.

Hide and Seek - Imogen Heap - Episode 2

This song has been around for ages. And even before this programme, I loved it. I love practically all of Imogen Heap's songs. This one is used for a montage of the small moments of connection between Marianne and Connell. Walking down a hallway towards each other, making out in Connell's car, talking on a beach. It's the small, cute moments you can tell will grow into something more if they let it.

NUMBER 5.

Scene Suspended - Jon Hopkins - Episode 9

How gorgeous is Daisy Edgar-Jones. Just wanted to say that. So here we go, I said Stephen Rennicks' score reminds me of Jon Hopkins and here Hopkins is himself. This song is after Marianne has pursued a very different and unhealthy relationship on her year abroad. She is posing for pictures, and you can see how broken and sad she is, which you can hear in the music and how solemn it is. But its beautiful too. Towards the end of the scene she tells Lukas she wants to stop, both the photoshoot and the relationship, and I think towards the end you can hear the relief Marianne feels when she closes that door to his apartment, finally feeling the freedom of knowing she is exactly that... Free.

NUMBER 4.

Love Will Tear Us Apart - Nerina Pallot - Episode 8

Connell goes to visit Marianne at her summer home in Italy (which I think was also used in Call Me By Your Name by the way) and this song is heard when Marianne, Connell, Niall and Peggy are all on a train to Venice, with Connell watching Marianne after the drama that happened the night before. The episode starts and ends with Connell staring at pieces of art - at the beginning in the Louvre, at the end the Guggenheim - but here, the words are telling of the two of them. Love will tear us apart again...

NUMBER 3.

First Kiss - Stephen Rennicks - Episode 1

It's a cute moment for everybody isn't it? Your first kiss. This one is Marianne's, and when they pull apart she giggles and says 'that was nice', making Connell blush and ask why she's acting like she hadn't been kissed before. She replies that she hasn't and the two share a cute moment. The music tells this so well. The start of the best but most frustrating relationship a television couple has ever endured.

NUMBER 2.

Dandelion - Jealous of the Birds - Episode 8

There isn't a description for this one really. It just fits really well with the scene. It's this scene - Marianne and Connell cycling into town to get supplies for dinner - mucking around, taking hands off handle bars and pedals, and just being content in each other's company. Marianne and Connell can be themselves around each other, and this is just a beautiful soundtrack to that.

NUMBER 1.

Sometimes - Goldmund - Episode 12

The last scene leaves you an emotional wreck, I'll tell you that now. And even though I've always said my top 10s aren't in any kind of order of me liking them, this one is definitely my favourite. It's a sombre scene. Connell has received an offer to study in New York, and after what happened to him with the depression and with him and Marianne finally together, he doesn't want to go. But this is Marianne telling him he should go. And even if the future for them may be uncertain, she knows he needs to do this. So despite how much it hurts, she tells him to go. I love these two so much. They communicate in a different way to those around them, they love each other so much (despite the lack of communication sometimes) and I think, if they do end up making season 2, the two of them will find their way back to each other. They always do. It's a beautiful, emotional song, and I think it was the perfect song to end the series on.

If you watch this series, I can guarantee you're left feeling emotional. I've always said the soundtrack makes a film or a show, and the soundtrack to this show really is one of the best I've come across. The series is on iPlayer for the next 10 months, with 12 episodes, all 30 minutes so it won't take you long. I recommend it, and I recommend the book too. Push past the fact Sally Rooney doesn't use speech marks as most authors do, it's the emotions and the unspoken things you read it for.