Mollie's Feel-Good Feed: Halloween fever and some must-listen tracks

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published 30 October 2020

Halloween celebrations have well and truly hit for Mollie King in this week's column

Welcome to Mollie’s Feel-Good Feed, a place where each week Mollie King shares her round-up of the things bringing her joy in these strange and uncertain times. Check back each week for uplifting music, self care tips and, hopefully, a smile being put on your face.

As Halloween approaches, I can promise you I have all treats and no tricks to make you smile as you make your way into November!

I’ve really thrown myself into the spooky festivities this year, even heading to a pumpkin patch to choose my very own pumpkin! It was such a fun afternoon and I definitely picked a good one, although I can’t say I had quite the same success carving it – who knew it required such skill?

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All that said, this is coming from someone who currently has their finger wrapped in a plaster, having sliced it while cutting an onion. I’m better off out of the kitchen I think. Let’s get back to the things I know more about…

Singles

If you’re an Ariana Grande fan, you’re in luck, as not only is her latest album Positions out today, but she’s celebrated it by releasing her new single of the same name. In typical Grande fashion, it’s all about the soft vocals and subtitles, reminiscent of Thank You, Next and God Is a Woman, and you’ll have it going round and round in your head for days.

The video has also got everyone talking as she plays the part of the President of the United States (what timing!). Directed by super-director Dave Meyers, this one shows us why Ariana really is the queen of pop!

Shawn Mendes’ recent release, Wonder, is another one of my favourites from the past few weeks. This refreshingly open song, which he himself says ‘feels like a piece of him has been written down on paper and recorded into song’, gives us an insight into his innermost thoughts. It’s the perfect lead-up to his fourth album, to be released in December – I for one cannot wait!

Albums

Sam Smith is back with their third album, Love Goes, and I can tell you it was 100% worth the wait. After pushing the release date back and rejigging the title, this album gives us everything we love about Sam. Big vocals? Yes! Emotional ballads? Absolutely! Empowering pop lyrics? You already know the answer to this… of course!

With songs so big you could predict the incredible choruses just from the titles, this album is full of treats as well as some surprises. When you hear the collaborations you just know they were queuing up to be a part of this album! Remember Dancing with A Stranger with Normani, Promises with Calvin Harris and I’m Ready with Demi Lovato? I know you’re thinking this too: that’s a lot of pop power all on one album. Thank you, Sam, for this musical delight and pop triumph!

TV shows

Like me, you might have seen this show advertised a few times on the old iPlayer but not quite been sure what it’s about. Love Life is the latest BBC comedy-drama starring Anna Kendrick. It takes us through one girl’s love life, mostly throughout her twenties, seeing her go through heartbreak and love at its peak, with each episode named after the next relationship she’s found herself in. With short, snappy episodes and lovable characters, you’ll fly through this series within a few days – that’s guaranteed!

Self care

If you hadn’t already worked it out, I’ve really got into Halloween this year, so for my self-care recommendation I’ve gone for one of my favourite treats – a candle! But, this is not just any candle... (you see where this is going, don’t you!) yes, this is an M&S candle.

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I am absolutely loving their Spiced Pumpkin Scented Light Up Candle. Not only does it make me smile because of the extra gel layer filled with mini pumpkins and starry sequins, it really does smell good and puts you in the mood for snuggling up and watching a few scary movies. You can’t go wrong with that, can you?

Read more Mollie’s Feel-Good Feed:

Thanks so much for reading Mollie’s Feel-Good Feed – check back on Marie Claire every Friday for more of my feel-good recommendations.

Take care and stay safe!

Mollie King rose to fame as one-fifth of the multi-platinum selling girl band, The Saturdays. The last few years have seen her become a Radio 1 DJ, present across flagship TV shows and a campaign in Parliament.

During her time in The Saturdays, the group sold over five million records worldwide, achieving 13 Top 10 singles and five Top 10 albums. The band also embarked on four nationwide tours and had three primetime TV series, including Chasing the Saturdays for E! which aired in over 40 countries.

In 2018, Mollie turned her hand to presenting and after guest presenting for several weeks on Matt Edmondson’s Radio 1 show, she was offered a permanent role at the station. The duo began hosting the Matt & Mollie Weekend Breakfast show and 2021 moved their new afternoon slot. Mollie also presents her own Friday morning show Best New Pop, sharing music from her most loved genre. After only six months into her role at Radio 1, Mollie won the silver award for ‘Best New Presenter’ at the 2018 ARIA Radio Academy Awards.

In addition to Radio, Mollie has also guest presented This Morning several times, including a month-long stint in the summer of 2018. She’s covered the entertainment slot on Lorraine, and guest presented on Blue Peter. In 2019, Mollie hosted The Greatest Dancer podcast for the BBC. She also presented the BBC Radio 1 Teen Awards, alongside Greg James and Maya Jama, which aired on BBC2. Mollie also took part in the 15th series of Strictly Come Dancing in 2017, making it all the way to the semi-finals.

Away from her TV and Radio work Mollie writes a weekly column for Marie Claire magazine, ‘Mollie’s Feel Good Feed’ and has worked with numerous brands including Estée Lauder, L’Oreal, Amazon, GHD and Aspinal of London.

Mollie is a proud ambassador for the Dyslexia Association, a learning disorder she was diagnosed with as a child. Mollie is very passionate about campaigning for early diagnostic tests in schools, as well as funding to support children through education with Dyslexia and spoke about this in Parliament in 2019.

Mollie is also a Born Free anti-captivity ambassador, has worked closely with the charity Mothers2Mothers and traveled to Ghana in 2014 with REDD charity to help raise awareness and funds for HIV.