Happy Friday, it’s time for another Friday Favourites.

This week I’ve been moved by the weather. Walking in the rain has led me to many places mentally and physically, and I found that these tracks covered the scope of how I was feeling and therefore became my favourites this week.

California Rain by James Marriott

This song has been on my radar for a few months through TikTok clips from James Marriott’s tour, where singing California Rain became an after-show tradition, stripped back with nothing but his guitar and voice. I had the privilege of watching James sing this live and share the release date at his final London show. But this week it felt poignant to my life, as each day rolls by, I do feel like I’m not the same as yesterday, yesterday, yesterday.

Raindance by Tems & Dave

I have been a fan of many Dave songs, but something about Raindance just hits different. The feel of the song is incredibly hopeful and carefree, a vibe that I want to tap into for the rest of the year. Whilst it’s winter now, I can see this song having a second wind when the summer sun hits. Raindance, best enjoyed in 25-degree heat with an ice-cold drink in your hand, outdoors with friends. It’s a bucket list experience for me, but for now, I’ll listen to the song and hope for the sun.

Water The Flowers, Pray For a Garden by Valley

The title track of Valley’s 2024 Album resonated hard with me as this year started off rocky, but I’ve been doing what I can to keep a smile. The chorus, “I guess that I’d rather laugh than cry ’bout my problems. When, honestly, I don’t know how to solve ’em”. Same. It’s a song that I’ve had on repeat to remind me that the human condition means you’re never quite alone in how you feel, and it’s best to water the flowers and pray for a garden, in the metaphorical sense that you keep up healthy habits and thoughts and hope you reap the rewards.

Wet by Dazey and The Scouts

I won’t lie, I only recently found out about Dazey and The Scouts through a trending audio on TikTok, and I was obsessed with Wet. I guess it’s lucky it fits the theme for this week. The instrumental is such a vib,e and the song has this punky angst that reminds me of how I thought life would be when I was a teenager, this song soundtracking all my rebellious outbursts (in reality, there were none, and I sat at home listening to the Top 40’s, so this magazine is me rectifying). I feel a sense of FOMO from not having found out about the group sooner, but so does everyone else who discovered them late, as this microtonal jazz quartet is long since inactive, having briefly reunited for one show in 2022. But they’re definitely ones to keep listening to. Whilst they no longer make music, they’re using their second wave of fame to put back into their communities, in Feb 2025 they rereleased their album Maggot and some new merch, in which proceeds went towards life-saving resources for Trans youth and funding for the Queer community in the Southern states.

Underwater by Red Velvet

You may have heard that 2026 is the new 2016, and with that, I was tapping back into some artists I loved back then. One of those being Red Velvet. Listening to their newer music, I found I really love the B-side, Underwater. This sultry track from their album has strong RnB vibes, which we need more of in the music space, in my opinion.