Bryce Dallas Howard’s 10 favourite songs: “It always brings up fond memories”
While her father, Ron Howard, might have set a high bar for success, Bryce Dallas Howard has exceeded all expectations for her acting career. Following her early associations with M Night Shyamalan in The Village and Lady in the Water, she branched out into more high-profile films, such as Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 3 and the ‘Jurassic World’ franchise. She’s even had a go at directing, making a movie about her father called Dads in 2020.
As well as working on both sides of the camera, Howard also clearly has a passion for music. She appeared in the 2019 film Rocketman, a biopic about pop giant Elton John, as Sheila Eileen, John’s unsupportive and combative mother. This landed her a spot on the movie’s soundtrack, providing vocals to a version of the song ‘I Want Love’. Alongside this, French band M83 enlisted her services in directing a video for their song ‘Claudia Lewis’, so yeah, you could say she knows her way around a tune.
During an interview with Two Paddocks, Howard was asked to name her ten favourite songs. This proved to be a more painful task than she had expected. “Narrowing down to a list of ten sent me onto an existential spiral,” she revealed. “My remedy (other than avoid the assignment) was to pick favourite songs from different times in my life. Whenever one of these songs plays on the radio, it always brings up fond memories.”
In the end, Howard forced herself to make some choices, leaning heavily on film music for inspiration. She chose Louis Armstrong’s version of the iconic ballad ‘Moon River’ from Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Gary Jules and Michael Andrews’ ultra-depressing take on Tears for Fears’ ‘Mad World’, which can be found on the Donnie Darko soundtrack. She also chose ‘Comptine d’un autre été: L’Après-midi’ from Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s quirky classic Amélie, which also turned out to be her wedding song.
While producing the 2011 film Restless, Howard got to work with singer-songwriter supreme Sufjan Stevens. Possibly as a nod to this, she included his song ‘Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois’ from his much-heralded Illinoise album. Various pop tracks are also on the list, such as Bryan Ferry’s ‘As Time Goes By’ and German group Alphaville’s megahit ‘Forever Young’. Indie fans will be pleased to see the inclusion of both Bon Iver (‘Skinny Love’) and Regina Spektor (‘Us’).
Her final selections display a deep knowledge of international music. The first one is ‘Twice’ by the Swedish electronic group Little Dragon. The band have appeared on tracks by Gorillaz, Mac Miller, and Brittany Howard (no relation), alongside seven albums of their own work. In honour of Malian duo Amadou & Mariam, she chose their song ‘Sabali’, a heavily autotuned track that also shares a Gorillaz link, as Damon Albarn produced it. Amadou Bagayoko, one-half of the band and an African blues legend, sadly passed away in April 2025.
An eclectic and varied range to say the least, Howard’s playlist is an insight into how her brain works, not only as a human being, but as an admirer of the creative arts.
Bryce Dallas Howard’s 10 favourite songs
- ‘Concerning the UFO sighting near Highland, Illinois’ – Sufjan Stevens
- ‘As Time Goes By’ – Bryan Ferry
- ‘Moon River’ – Louis Armstrong
- ‘Us’ – Regina Spektor
- ‘Twice’ – Little Dragon
- ‘Skinny Love’ – Bon Iver
- ‘Forever Young’ – Alphaville
- ‘Mad World’ – Gary Jules, Michael Andrews
- ‘Comptine d’un autre ete, I’apres-midi’ – Yann Tiersen
- ‘Sabali’ – Amadou & Mariam
