‘I Don’t Tell People I Like the Spice Girls’: Mo Gilligan’s Honest Playlist | Mo Gilligan

First song I bought
Subtraction (practical) by Ludacris from HMV in Lewisham Shopping Centre. I played it over and over again.

The first song I fell in love with
I grew up listening to a lot of reggae music – my dad was Rastafarian – so Get Up, Stand Up by Bob Marley was always playing in the house when my mom was doing the housework. Ironically, it’s a song about redemption when you’re asked to clean house.

The song I play at karaoke
You need to have a song that everyone knows, so they can help you sing along, so I’d choose Angels by Robbie Williams or Wonderwall by Oasis.

A song to which I know all the words
I remember hearing Shaggy’s Boombastic in a Wallace and Gromit-style plasticine ad for Levi’s 501s in the ’90s, in a commercial break during The Big Breakfast, while I was getting ready to go to school. I loved the lyrics, even though I didn’t know what he was talking about because I was only a kid.

The song I can no longer listen to
I haven’t rinsed it out much, but Neil Diamond’s Sweet Caroline feels like it’s been freshened up lately [men’s] euro. Now when I hear that, I think, “Oh no, not that again.”

Best song to play at a party
Talkin da Hardest is always triggered by Giggs. As does freedom from desire through gala.

The song I secretly love, but tell everyone I hate
I don’t tell people that I like Wannabe from the Spice Girls. But this is an underrated banger. “So, this is a story from A to Z / If you want to be with me, you gotta listen carefully.” Many people don’t realize that they are actually spitting bars.

The song that changed my life
I was on a plane, as we were coming down to Earth, listening to Drake Yebba’s song Yebba’s Heartbreak, an interlude on the Certified Lover Boy album, and I remember thinking: “This sounds like I’m jumping on clouds.” Now, I’ll listen to it anytime I feel like I need to calm down.

The song that wakes me up in the morning
I’ll wake up, have a double espresso and an oat bar and say, “Alexa, play Cosmic Girl by Jamiroquai,” and it will make me think like I’m driving through the mountains like in the video, instead of cleaning the kitchen.

The song that makes me cry
Know that you are loved by Cleo Soul.

The song I would want played at my funeral
I’m not quite sure what kind of funeral I want. I either throw a party (top here) with DMX, because I don’t want people to cry. Or I might get sad and spend another day on East 17th with some dry ice coming out of the coffin for more dramatic effect.

Mo Gilligan Tours United Kingdom and United States of From January 28 to May 13.