Time is a crazy thing isn’t it? Like I’m thinking about how it was just one year ago that I wrote that long ass playlist about my ex, jetted off to live in London for a month, and then sat down to tell you about how I got into a long distance relationship with the man who very clearly has revealed himself to be the love of my life.

One year later I’m here, just marveling at the invisible string God laid out for me all along and the way Luke and I been walking slowly following it. Admittedly, I haven’t had as much space as I’ve wanted to really reflect on this as it has evolved. Working two jobs in the music industry to save up for London AND manage my debt has had me struggling twice as much to recall what I’ve done in a given season. But that’s where the blessed anniversary celebration comes in I suppose.

When I step back and think about this, I’m absolutely dumbfounded by all of it. But also, my life for the past 3 years has made so much more sense. It’s as if all the pain and heartbreaks and grieving processes and the restlessness I’d been feeling in LA were meant to lead me to this. And what do I mean by this? Sure, the prospect of moving to London for the rest of my life. But more than that, the mission for the next chapters of my life and the only person I could ever fathom doing them with, one Mr. Luke Timothy Griffiths.

I didn’t want to do this without him, so everybody, please welcome the future Mr. SOUNDSLIKEFEELSLIKE, Luke.

Why, hello boys and girls. Time certainly is crazy. Just a year ago I got let go of a job I loved and was trying not to break down about it. But on the bright side, my Hinge match (Kelly) invited me to tag along for a cool conference. And just like that my life was turned upside down as a simple interaction led to a consuming obsession for the love of my life. I find myself marvelling at how so many years of keeping my dating standards high and persevering in faith in not just God but romantic love has finally paid off in ways I could never have dreamt.

One of the many ways me and Kelly connect is our love for music. We come from different music backgrounds with her growing up on rock and me growing up on R&B and hip hop but it has been so fun seeing those differences interact as we trade songs, create playlists and see if we will be checking anything out on New Music Friday. I admire this blog with how it is about one person just venting all her feelings through music. I have a lot of feelings about music but I don’t really discuss it other than doing brief reviews of my favourite albums of the year after every Spotify Wrapped on my Instagram. So now that we have hit that one year mark, it is a good opportunity to retrack our journey together and put songs to each moment. So I hope y’all enjoy this reminiscent journey and find some sick tunes.

God I love this man haha. Well, just to lay it all out, we chose the songs that best tell the story of our first year together each month. Sure to be a playlist that our future children and grandchildren will look upon.

BEFORE WE MET

Kelly – Communicating by Bad Suns

“You’ve got a really funny way of communicating…”

Of course, from my perspective this whole story starts with these motherfuckers lol. Jk I love you guys, you know I do. This all starts with January 2025 when this song came out. Did I know Luke then? No, but LA had caught on fire and Bad Suns released this song as if to tell me that everything was gonna shift in the sneakiest way. I wondered out loud to God if this meant that my ex would come back. But THEN I thought about it and was like “you know who ELSE has a funny way of communicating? A British man!!” I said that out loud and it’s like God must have giggled. Because fuck me, it actually came true lol. I had already been planning my trip to London in June and I was feeling open to going on some dates in London just to see what London guys were like. So around March 2025, I decided to set my location on Hinge to London and eventually in May 2025, we matched. Now, when I did that, I had no clue that I’d end up meeting the love of my life through that. And yes, he happens to have a reallyyy funny way of communicating…just like God does for me. Literally, the way this entire song has been a prophecy has been crazy. Down to the way Luke visited me in April 2026 and saw the “palm trees, ocean breeze, sunset, broken dreams” that is my life in LA now.

Luke – I Just Don’t Know You Yet by Absolutely

“I know you’re a gift from God…”

This song contains so much faith and optimism. There were many times I had doubts that I would ever find love but this song captures the defiant perseverance in believing that you will find your person. And I love the mystery in this song of falling in love with a person you don’t know yet because then I would be seeing Kelly become that mystery person. She really is that gift from God who is teaching me to love again. So I hope y’all can listen to this song and feel encouraged that you will find your person and keep believing because in my experience, believing paid off.

JUNE 2025

Kelly – More Time by Alfie Jukes

“Whole world in a suitcase, things are falling to the right place…”

Let the record show that I felt INSANE having this song 1) be so stuck in my head during June 2025 and 2) define how quickly things had changed that month. Something so deep in my spirit had me just thinking about this song the whole time. I had just met Luke and spent pretty much all my time in June with him but I didn’t feel comfortable throwing out the brazen reference in this song (“the love of my life”) to a man I’d just met. Somehow though, the more I spent time with him, the more he seemed to reveal himself to be the love of my life. This realization snuck up on me in the most beautiful way because I realized how simple love can be. We really just liked spending time with and around each other. Like, it had never been this simple getting to know and actually falling for someone.

Luke – Tiltawhirl by Boys Go To Jupiter

“Suzy’s right I like this girl…”

This song is so chaotic and fun just like the first month of us dating. With the packed schedule of SXSW London and cramming as many dates as we could during that summer month, feelings were forming quickly just like the story and feelings in this song develop quickly. I love the lyrics “same old shit but your hair is new” because it reminds me of how Kelly had a hair appointment after our first date and she looked incredible the next time I saw her. This song also has a certain silliness and in June, I was quickly realising how Kelly was never afraid of silliness which made me feel really safe to fall deeper.

JULY 2025

Kelly – Love Of My Life by Harry Styles

“It’s unfortunate, just coordinates…”

The sadness of this song really got me in July. I remember getting back to LA in July feeling like I had found a new home except it was 5,440 miles away. Like, I can’t emphasize the immediate regret landing at LAX on the 4th of July lol. But boy was I ready to yearn. I had no idea what would happen because all I had learned from the month of dating Luke was that there was something really special here but I had no confirmation if it could/would last. Sure, I had the thoughts of “omg I think I just met my future husband” to unpack but I was almost a little skeptical of those feelings. The thing that began putting the skeptic in me to rest was the way we kept showing up for each other through a new routine we started building. We instituted a weekly post-church call, hopped on this app called Candle (highly recommend!) to check in with a random set of questions everyday, and then sent each other daily voice notes. Pretty quickly I had a feeling that Luke wasn’t gonna give up on this so easily.

Luke – Are You Even Real? by James Blake

“All I can do is trust in her…”

So obviously this was the month we had to get used to being long distance and I was questioning if June even really happened because it felt like such a dream. Like I was telling people I had a girlfriend with no proof of her existence but what I was feeling was real and the emotion in this song is also real. The strings in this songs captures the affection I had and the sadness of being thousands of miles away. I constantly dreamed of her running her hands through my hair.

AUGUST 2025

Kelly – Close To You by Gracie Abrams

“If you ask me to, I’d give up everything to be close to you…”

As August rolled on and I couldn’t hide how happy I was from this relationship, I needed to tell my parents. Which was something I’d NEVER done before. No guy had proven worthy really. But first, I needed to know if Luke and I really were on the same page about what we wanted our futures to look like. I remember showing him my dream home Pinterest board and him saying “this looks very English…” lol. After saying “wait same!” basically that entire discussion, I not only walked away from it feeling peace about continuing to invest in this relationship but I felt ready to tell my parents about this wonderful man. And of course, it started to make sense to them why I was SO DISTRAUGHT about coming back to LA.

Luke – Infatuation by SOPHIE

“Infatuation, Who are you out there? I wanna know…”

This was a time in my life I was feeling very optimistic since I landed a new job (that I was only at for a brief amount of time) as well as making it to the third month of knowing the love of my life. Something about this song feels so optimistic and like good things were going to happen could happen. It also sounds like she is communication to a lover far away as I was.

SEPTEMBER 2025

Kelly – Pretty Sure I’m In Love With You by Olen

“I’m pretty sure that I’m in love with you, well actually I know I am…”

September was a shitty month. I mean it’s always a shitty month for me. But the one thing that got me through it was knowing that Luke was still loving me with consistency and curiosity. As I settled more into the feeling of “oh my parents know about him”, my feelings for him transitioned into a more stable place…or so I thought. It felt weird not perceiving a “well the other shoe is gonna drop” moment in September (that’s why it’s been a shitty month for me because my exes seemed to always shift their feelings for me in September). I remember as soon as October hit I thought I was in the clear.

Luke – Abandon Me By Kevin Abstract and Quadeca

“Gold in my hands, gold in my heart, Gold in your hair, it brings us apart, oh my God…”

Blush by Kevin Abstract was my album of the year and this was an undeniable highlight as the penultimate song (probably should’ve been the final song). After 2 months away from each other I’m starting to wonder why this woman is still committed to me as this relationship is unlike any other I have had before. However strange I may find Kelly’s affection it is a welcome surprise in my life and this production in this song really sounds like my confused infatuation for her. This is also tipped over the edge as the is the month she told me she purchased her plane tickets to return and I am overjoyed that she is making such a comittment to me and London.

OCTOBER 2025

Kelly – Whim by Hayley Williams

“And I know you took a beating, I know it’s all there is. But listen how the heart beats lying next to him…”

Four months apart was hard. Especially with being apart for that long so early in our relationship, I had no choice but to oscillate between the skeptical/guarded heart-because-I’ve-been-hurt version of me and the lovesick teenager version of me. I found the voice of reason in this Hayley Williams song: aching to love Luke freely without self-sabotaging. I wanted to feel stability in our connection and validation that this was going where I thought it was going. Somehow it felt like I’d only get my answers when I’d see him next in November.

Luke – My Love Is Mine All Mine by Mitski

“My baby here on earth showed me what my heart was worth…”

The communication with an object thousands of miles away was so relatable in this season. There is something so beautiful in contemplating the worth of your love and finding someone who values it greatly. And this song sounds like a beautiful little secret which is what it’s like doing life with Kelly.

NOVEMBER 2025

Kelly – Favorite Fear by Goldie Boutillier

“Of course you’re going under, I’m your favorite fear…”

November was a very interesting month because it was when I flew back to London after being apart from Luke for 4 months. I was so desperate to see him again and actually go on dates IRL but there was some hurdles we faced this month. And it started when we hit a point of misunderstanding literally the first night of the trip. Without getting too into it, I learned that I was simultaneously in a place of power and great vulnerability in this relationship. All month I felt incredibly sensitive as I unpacked that, like a crab molting from its shell. I ended up having a panic attack about it even. The best way to phrase it was me realizing that I was Luke’s favorite fear and he was mine. And there would be times that playing with that tension was really fun. But others we would have to navigate with care. That trip ended with me feeling 100000% sure that I didn’t want to face the hard things in life without him. And in fact, I wanted to trust him with the most sensitive side of me, my inner child.

Luke – Bright Take 22 by Stereophonic

“The nighttime loves you but it is not your friend, the lights will flicker and we’re lost again…”

Probably my favourite date we’ve been on was seeing the play Stereophonic in November. I’m not a big theatre person but this play absolutely blew me away. The play is about a band (similar to Fleetwood Mac) recording their album and in this scene they originally record this song fast. Right after they get a perfect take, it’s getting really late and everyone is ready to go home, the guitarist wants to do one more take where they slow it down and it forms into this epic ballad where the emotion of the song is so much more dramatic. The yearning is so powerful as the writer is trying to sort out her feelings about this toxic relationship she finds herself in.

DECEMBER 2025

Kelly – I’m Scared I’ll Never Sleep Again by 5 Seconds of Summer

“Every bed is cold without your body in it…”

The way I crashed out to this song in December 2025. I was going through a rough time as soon as I got back home. My dad had gotten hospitalized the night before I flew back, my brother in law’s dad passed away, work was really, really busy for me, and the state of the world seemed to just get worse by the second. Even though I would only be away from Luke for like a month, I needed him with me desperately. Everything felt so intense and the fact that I didn’t have a place or time to just let myself fall apart to someone felt really hard. I felt sequestered to my car where I at least could sit in traffic and sob to this song. At least it got me to pick up my guitar again and learn to play this song. Thankfully we never stopped talking through it.

Luke – He Shows His Love For Me By Molly Skaggs

“And He shows His love to me…”

This song reminds me of our call on Christmas. After everyone had eaten, drank their fill and gone to bed, it was time for me to wish my lover a Merry Christmas as she is getting ready for her dinner in a different timezone. This song is so warm and enchanting just like Christmas and it is like a lullaby as a dream of finally reuniting with my lover.

JANUARY 2026

Kelly – (I Can See) The Future by Leith Ross

“I can see the future…I can…”

When I heard this song in late 2025, something about it described what was blossoming with Luke. I remember listening to Leith Ross’s album on January 1st and trying to find a shred of hope in what 2026 would be for Luke and I. When I returned to London in mid January, it became the soundtrack of what I was experiencing. Everyday felt like a glimpse of our future together: going on dates, going to the grocery store and cooking together, showing each other new music, going to church together, and even adventuring around London with my friends visiting us. I felt like I was living the dream and figuring out the version of me that I’d be growing into.

Luke – Talk Down by Dijon

“And when you speak I might bend to listen to you Hallelujah, my God. Fast asleep in the back of my car…”

January is when we went to see Dijon live in Brixton and this is my favourite song by him. There are a lot of romantic songs Dijon has done which I could have chosen but this one is so beautifully mysterious. He is describing how the music they play in the car is the backdrop to this relationship and there is a motif of how is car is a sort of safe place. My relationship with Kelly is like my safe place.

FEBRUARY 2026

Kelly – Madeline by Bad Suns

“Be mine ’til the end of time…”

February 2026 was defined by this song. First of all, February 1st was our 8 month anniversary and I was in London for it. Second of all, my 30th birthday. Third of all, our first Valentine’s Day together. Fourth of all, his birthday. And to cap off the month, we went to see Bad Suns play in Glasgow and then celebrated our 9 month anniversary the next day. Yes let’s just pause and understand the GRAVITY OF THIS. WE SAW BAD SUNS TOGETHER IN THE UK. It was a packed schedule of celebrations to say the least. But this month really cemented our love for each other because the beautiful mundane stuff also continued this month. I still remember how Luke was like “so I guess this will really just be the rest of our lives: birthday, Valentine’s Day, birthday? This is gonna be fun…” He had some more color in how he said it but let’s just say I responded with “man, our future kids and neighbors are gonna HATE us” lol. The amount of joy I had throughout everything we went through together in February made the busyness really worth it. P.S. Bad Suns had the gall to release a collection of merch called “Bad Suns is for lovers” near Valentine’s Day. And you know I had to spend my birthday money on it for some stuff for Luke and I. P.S.S. Our firstborn daughter WILL have Madeline somewhere in her name just like our future son’s middle name WILL be Christopher. Unfortunately those are my rules and Luke knows them.

Luke – Betray My Heart by D’Angelo

“You don’t ever have to fear that my love is not sincere, I will never betray my heart…”

Oooooh boy, was February a romantic month for us. So many highlights, but the main one is us cooking risotto at my house on Valentine’s Day. This song is both on my cooking playlist and our shared love song playlist and it is the perfect vibe for whipping up something delicious in the kitchen and romancing on your woman. It is such a joyful promise that D’Angelo would never betray his woman because it is betraying his own heart.

MARCH 2026

Kelly – American Girls by Harry Styles

“Those American girls you spend your life with…”

I remember listening to this song on repeat as I jetted back to LA in March. The first two months of the year (especially February) were nothing short of magical. It felt like the ultimate validation that I was supposed to build the next chapters of my life in London with Luke. Going back to LA still felt sad, but 1) I had so much to process from this packed 2 month trip and 2) he was coming to visit me in LA in April so it would be very soon that we’d have more adventures together. It felt so right to have Harry Styles’s album release day single really drive the joy of our American/British relationship.

Luke – Anything by Adrienne Lenker

“I just wanna be a part of your family…”

A highlight of this month is when we went to Camberley Concerts, an event a mutual friend of ours runs (shout out to Hannah) where small artists perform. I performed a few poems, one of which was a romantic poem I wrote for our 6 month anniversary and everyone loved it. This song just reminds me of that event, just how homely and intimate just like the event.

APRIL 2026

Kelly – ME AGAIN! by Never Ending Fall

“I don’t know what, I don’t know what you think you’re doing, but you’re doing it to me again…”

When this song came out in January 2026, it felt like this parallel feeling as “Communicating” the year before. It has been giving me a song of my year vibe in the sense that it has felt important. It was pouring rain in London and I was walking around by myself listening to this song for the first time. Of course I immediately thought about Luke and the depths of our love for each other. This song would become a crucial soundtrack to our story when Luke came to visit me in LA and we went to see NEF in April. During this song, NEF photographer Kylen took the most beautifully cinematic pictures of us having a moment to this song. One of which is the main picture for this blog post. We will need this picture framed for our home one day.

Luke – Post Sex Clarity by Lola Young

“When I finish, it’s not the end of you and I…”

April was a life changing month because it was my first time in America. It was my first time experiencing Kelly’s driving and the music she puts on. We did a lot of driving and this was my favourite song she would play in the car. It is so addictive with how she layers the harmonies in the. Lola is such pro when it comes to yearning.

MAY 2026

Kelly – SPIDERS by Lola Young

“Make me feel like I’m not incomplete for once, ’cause I’m not a woman if I don’t have you, I’m not a woman if I don’t have you and you’re not a man if you don’t have me…”

The longer we spend apart, the more painful this all is honestly. I’m kind of relegated to this perpetual teenagehood in LA at my parents’ house. But when I’m in London with Luke, I feel like a proper woman, wife (in training), and future mother. I struggle to explain it even. The crashout I dealt with in May was a lot. I thought I would be fine pushing through and recovering from having spent just about every month of 2026 together up to this point but the heartbreak of not being able to be together on our anniversary in June really hit me hard.

Luke – Sunshine (never trust anyone named jeanette) by Boys Go To Jupiter

“Oh but the birds keep chirping, and the leaves keep shaking, and the dawn each morning, like your heart keeps breaking…”

I landed back in the UK on May 1st and as I was taking the train home I was crying to this song. The verses describe a series of unfortunate events but the chorus is reaffirming the listener that whatever happens, at least the sunshine is there turning time. It was such a beautiful sunny day, I was sad, I was tired and I was looking at my life and felt satisfaction as I still didn’t have a new job and I had to be away from my love again. But the sunshine was there reminding me that however bad life gets, it is good to be thankful for being alive and the memories me and Kelly had created on our adventures. The song also gives me hope that as time moves on, my luck will eventually turn around.

JUNE 2026

Kelly – The Garden by Young the Giant

“Now and forever love, we’ll live and die together, I’m not afraid…”

It genuinely feels so disorienting feeling so much hope and excitement for the future when the world feels like it’s falling apart. But I do. And I’m realizing that sharing about our relationship really does give people hope. Now, I know as of now distance has been the biggest hurdle we’ve faced. But everything else feels less scary by the second. Back in the first few weeks/months of dating, we were always giving each other the disclaimer of “I’m about to say something spooky”. Nothing really spooks us anymore and I really do credit that to this whole relationship being a God thing. I have so many stories of synchronicities from this first year together that I have no choice to believe that the person I need to build the garden of my life with is this man. After all, he IS the gardener. Also, this song sounds like a wedding processional…I may have to save the “I’ll meet you in the garden where it began” lyric for something.

Luke – Wave by Remi Wolf

“Don’t know how to behave when my little love ain’t at my door…”

Oh we’re doing June too? Well I can’t believe we’ve made it this far without mentioning the QUEEN! This song describes a long distance relationship and how we just need to ride the wave of separation until we find our way back to each other. This is also the song we both agreed was our favourite song on the album last year (Big Ideas is currently my favourite album of the decade). I think it is fitting I put this song here because I can’t contain it to a single month, this is the soundtrack to our entire relationship and I am so excited to spend another year the my lover. Yikes, this last part sounds a little too much like a wedding speech…

And you know what Luke, I told you to keep that in the post anyway because same haha. Well, I hope you all enjoyed listening to these songs and reading our reflections on the past year. I really can’t begin to express how much Luke is my favorite person ever because I knew he’d be down for such a collab. To many more songs soundtracking our life together.