Today we welcome Mia Siegert to the blog to share their playlist for their new YA novel Somebody Told Me. We also have a podcast featuring Mia and a book trailer!
From the title alone, probably most people might guess that music is really important to me and my writing process. That’d definitely be correct.
In the middle of my first draft for Somebody Told Me, I was trying to think of a title that’d have a lot of hard consonants. (When I was in grad school, one thing we really learned was how to use sound to convey emotions and a mood.) My writing style is very raw and gritty, sort of “hard” so I wanted those sorts of sounds portrayed in the title.
One day, I was listening to some music that was popular when I was in college or high school, and The Killers’ “Somebody Told Me” came up. Given the story revolves around a bigender protagonist (Alexis/Aleks) who overhears confessions where “somebody told them” things, it works on two levels—it’s about gossip and rumors, and it also speaks to how the trans and nonbinary community adopted “Somebody Told Me” as their anthem thanks to the super catchy chorus.
It’s challenging to talk about this because I get really excited about music and I’m trying to avoid spoilers as there are a BUNCH of plot twists.
The other tracks stood out to me for a variety of reasons, such as Sister Bernadette (also known as Bernie and… whoops, can’t say more or spoilers!) with Enigma’s “Return to Innocence,” or Transitional Deacon Jameson (a priest-in-training at seminary) having a passion for Gregorian chant covers, and even Dima (a delightfully charming fellow who befriends Alexis/Aleks) with Imogen Heap’s “2-1.” Also the novel revolves around themes of trauma, assault, and survival, and the tracks reflect that.
I suspect a bunch of you might not be as familiar with some of these musicians, so I’m delighted to share them with you! I’d love to hear what tracks you like, and after you read the book, which ones you think I should add.
- Those Who Left – Murder By Death
- Crucify – Tori Amos
- Born Slippy (Nuxx Radio Edit) – Underworld
- Gotta Get Thru This (D’N’D Radio Edit) – Daniel Bedingfield
- Instant Crush – Daft Punk ft. Julian Casablanca
- Play Dead – Björk
- Losing My Religion – Gregorian Chant Cover
- Somebody Told Me – The Killers
- Precious Things – Tori Amos
- 2-1 – Imogen Heap
- The Unforgiven – Gregorian Chant Cover
- Quiet – This Will Destroy You
- Join Me – Gregorian Chant Cover
- Teardrop – Massive Attack
- Return to Innocence – Enigma
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Thank you, Mia! As I mentioned above, we have a new podcast episode featuring them.
Listen on Buzzsprout.
Listen on Apple Podcasts.
Listen on Google Play.
Listen on Stitcher.
Listen on Spotify.
Check out more episodes of The Lerner Podcast.
Last but not least, we have a book trailer! The voice actors are Katelyn Clarke (Twitter @katelynclarkevo) and Zeno Robinson (Twitter @childishgamzeno).
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See more book trailers here!