iTunes Single of the Week had been running since 2004 when it quietly finished at the end of last year. To be honest, I really don’t know why they did it, considering it provided both exposure to artists and free music to listeners, but hey. To celebrate/mourn its passing, here’s a list of my favourites from the ones I’ve downloaded. (Unfortunately, my toddler self was not up to checking iTunes every week. Sorry! 😛 ) 
Sinners Lauren Aquilina
I’d admittedly already bought the Sinners EP by the time this was made free, but whatever. The awesomeness of Lauren Aquilina transcends all boundaries. Plus, in a shameless advertisement for my ship, this is totally the Chaolena theme from early Crown of Midnight. 
Roots Orla Gartland
Orla Gartland is a sort of more pop-y, guitar-tinged Lauren Aquilina. (Here! Let me take this opportunity to direct you to their wonderful collab cover of The Chain along with Dodie Smith.) Roots is a catchy song, and if you enjoy it then I recommend checking out her new Lonely People EP, which opens with the wonderful lyrics ‘We’re too young to know what love is/Our loss’. Orla also has the best music videos. 
Fake You Out twenty one pilots
I didn’t really like this to begin with, but after some more listening it’s grown on me a lot. 
Like the Morning Dew Laura Mvula
Laura Mvula’s voice is simply beautiful. Every time I listen to this song, it just reminds me of sunshine and summer and honey and everything warm. 
Skinny Love Bon Iver
I cheated a little here, since I didn’t actually get the free version at the time, but I figured it would be stupid to leave it out because of that. THE LYRICS AND EVERYTHING just ugh 
Buzzcut Season Lorde
The instrumental line feels a little wrong to me, but if I move past that I really like this song. I mean, I know Lorde doesn’t really need the exposure now, but that doesn’t change it. It feels like a song that would play whilst everything else is muted in a movie, you know? One of them. Another is Lauren Aquilina’s Forest Fires, by the way. 
Bath is Black Marika Hackman
The catchy harp arpeggio thing combined with clever lyrics make for great listening. (I mean, LOOK AT THOSE GENIUS RHYMES.) Now, because it’s really hard to pick just seven, have a couple more. 
Lauren Aqulina’s Sinners is one of my favourite songs and one of the best iTunes ‘buys’ I ever got- another of my favourites was Too Close by Alex Clare as well as helping me discover Nina Nesbitt when they released Only Love.
Yes, Sinners is just lovely. 🙂 I’ll be sure to check out those two as well!
Ah, I was so annoyed when it stopped! Amazon seem to have stopped their free music too 😦 this was actually how I discovered Lauren Aquilina (so glad I did!), and Rockstar by A Great Big World, which me and a friend love, but I’m gutted I missed out on so many others!
I know! Looking back at the list of all the iTunes singles, I feel a little upset that I’ve missed so many great songs – and that there won’t be the chance to get some anymore. 😦
Google Play does something similar (specifically for up-and-coming artists) which I think is a great way to discover new music from new artists. I already know Lorde, so I’ll have to check out these other artists!
Ooh, I’ll have to go and check that out! (I’ll admit, I don’t really use Google Play that much? But I am determined to move past my technological failures. 😉 )
I have challenged you to do the “Love in ten Sentences” challenge! Good luck 😀
https://janetisawesomerthanyou.wordpress.com/2015/03/26/love-in-10-sentences/
Thank youu! I’ll check it out now. 🙂
I love Skinny Love – it’s one of my favourite songs ❤
Yes, it’s a lovely song 🙂