Loved this! Was not expecting it at all, since when did Post Malone do country music?? I remember having mixed feelings over his previous work and changing my mind across the years, but I would never have predicted this album and certainly not that it would be so brilliant. Great tunes, incredible guest stars all the way through, and just a joy to listen to. Put it on again!

So after watching Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet that left me feeling pretty blue, I figured this might be a good way to cheer back up again - the same story but based on garden furniture. If we’re being honest, it’s mostly the pun in the name that attracted me to this, but as I started watching, I was staggered by the calibre of the voice cast. It’s not a great film, really, but the cast do the best they can with what they’re given, and it’s always nice to hear Elton John songs.

Really love this post from earlier in the month that celebrates the fifty year anniversary of Dolly Parton’s I Will Always Love You. It’s an incredible song and means different things depending on the version you listen to - Dolly’s soft-spoken heart-felt love song is the original and best, but Whitney’s passionate belting out of the track is absolutely iconic.

In my recent round up of movies to look forward to, I didn’t notice or consider 80 for Brady, which is a film about a group of older friends travelling together to see their idol Tom Brady do what he does best on the football field. It’s got a great cast and is bound to be one of those charming movies where a handful of brilliant female actresses gel together and have a bit of a riot.

I was so busy watching Sam Ryder do his thing on New Year’s Eve for the BBC that I totally missed what was happening in other corners of the world - in particular Miley Cyrus pulling out all the stops and performing with a variety of guests for NBC. Dolly Parton was one of the featured friends, and the pair cruised through Wrecking Ball and Jolene and a few other hits. But it was I Will Always Love You that really made me sit up and take notice.

Obviously, I was going to read a book by the legendary Dolly Parton - and then when I saw that the audiobook featured both Dolly and Kelsea Ballerini, that was my chosen format. It took a while to get into it, because they had a narrator who I didn’t really gel with and then various voices dipping in and out for the characters - but gradually I got into the story and was really hooked by the end. I listened whilst being outside in the sunshine and that just made it all the more glorious.

Yay for Dolly! What a genuine legend she continues to be. This album is full of general Dolly goodness but with a few added extras in there. I love the fire of Woman Up, obviously, but particularly as it follows the soft whisperings of a tragic story like Blue Bonnet Breeze. When Dolly’s whispering in your ear, you’re absolutely listening. I wasn’t so bothered about the guest stars, all men, but overall a good album.

This is a work of art - a brand new Christmas musical has just popped up out of nowhere! It’s not perfect, the town is ridiculous, Dolly is as camp as ever, and I have a few questions about the story but if you put all that aside, it’s lovely.

This movie was not what I’d expected it to be at all! The start and the end kinda were - women sticking it to the man and getting one over on their misogynistic boss - but the middle, oh boy that goes places I certainly didn’t expect. Stealing bodies from hospitals, tying up people for weeks, WEEKS, in their own homes, the dream sequences with cartoon bunnies and stuff… I couldn’t quite believe what I was seeing.

This is Dolly’s first album, a collection of hard-core country songs in the old school style: short, snappy, thirty minute album but already showing Dolly’s take-no-nonsense rule-the-world attitude. I liked it, maybe not as much as some of Dolly’s later stuff but it’s a good start to the journey.

Wasn’t expecting too much from this – I’m totally on board with Miley reinventing herself whenever she has a mind too, but it was sold as an updated take on fifties beats. Odd. But actually it really works for me. I like almost all the songs, and they have a good, chilled out, mostly positive vibe.

You have to love Dolly Parton, she has a voice that is both powerful but also stacked with emotion and oftentimes seeming quite vulnerable. There’s just something about her voice and her songs that draws you in. The album also features her full set from Glastonbury, as sort of a second half, so that’s an absolute bonus!