Scarlett Johansson’s five favourite songs: “I became absolutely obsessed”
While hearing what your favourite musicians like listening to when they’re not hard at work is sometimes eye-opening, it’s usually quite predictable when you consider the fact that you can hear their influences in their own work to a degree. When film stars share their favourite music, it offers a peek into who they truly are behind the cloak of a character, something that the biggest names are often reticent to share. In the case of Scarlett Johansson, she’s more than willing to discuss her favourite music in great detail.
Her most celebrated cinematic roles cover a range of genres, with appearances in blockbusters such as The Avengers, romantic dramas such as Lost in Translation and surreal sci-fi films like Under the Skin. Her musical tastes, on the surface of things, seem to follow a similar eclectic nature, with some classic pop acts, cult heroes and indie darlings making their way onto her rotation.
Johansson has also dabbled with making her own music and has performed as a vocalist alongside many varied artists, appearing on stage with acts such as The Jesus and Mary Chain, recording with members of Haim, and contributing to tribute albums to the likes of Tom Waits. It’s a varied platter that shows an incredible depth and appreciation for all kinds of music, and one that seems typical of the actress given her similarly scattergun approach to selecting roles.
In a radio broadcast for KCRW, Johansson picked out five of her favourite songs of all time, which allowed her to select an equally varied playlist and dive into what they meant to her throughout her life. With some incredible stories about how she stumbled upon these artists and grew to adore each song, the selection is an informative and insightful look inside one of Hollywood’s biggest music obsessives.
Scarlett Johansson’s five favourite songs:
Frank Sinatra – ‘Polka Dots and Moonbeams’
Johansson’s first pick is one that has been with her since her early childhood, and is from an artist that needs little introduction. As one of the greatest crooners to have ever walked the earth, Frank Sinatra is a vocal idol for many passionate singers, and the warmth that his voice delivers on ‘Polka Dots and Moonbeams’ is what drew the actress to this song as a youngster.
“When I was a little kid my favorite singer was Frank Sinatra. I thought that maybe when I grew up I could sound like Frank Sinatra,” she explained, adding, “I love the instrumental in the beginning and Frank’s voice is super dreamy in this song.”
At age three, she claims to have got her hands on some of her parents’ collection and entertained herself with her own portable player. “I remember having this Fisher Price little tape player thing. It had a microphone attached to it. You know, I used to pop in the Frank Sinatra cassette and I became absolutely obsessed with the Best of Frank Sinatra, and I would sing into the microphone with it.”
The Beach Boys – ‘In My Room’
For someone who aspired to be a vocalist in her childhood, it’s also understandable that Johansson would have picked up on the sumptuous harmony work of The Beach Boys. An essential listen for anyone who appreciates a masterfully woven pop melody, the songs and arrangements of Brian Wilson are easy for young ears to prick up to, considering how inviting their early material could be, especially her pick, ‘In My Room’.
Speaking about how her mother inspired her love of The Beach Boys, she went on to say how she saw Brian Wilson in concert in London and had a life-changing experience. “I have to say that when he played this song, I cried,” she confessed. “I don’t think that I’ve ever cried that hard at a concert before. I find his whole story very touching and this song, really, the lyrics were very poignant. I think that a lot of people have that when they’re a teenager, where their room is really sort of their safe haven and they can hold all their secrets there.”
New Order – ‘Your Silent Face’
Switching things up a bit, Johansson chose to share her love of electronic music and post-punk through a New Order pick. The song, ‘Your Silent Face’, which features on their 1983 album Power, Corruption and Lies, is perhaps not their most well-known track, but it is one that significantly shaped her teenage years and sent her down a path of discovering similar artists.
“I was in high school and I started listening to a lot of New Order and Depeche Mode and The Cure and also Nine Inch Nails,” she told the presenter. “I think it has the kind of qualities that are sort of cinematic. And I just loved it. I remember sitting on the train in New York with my backpack and my giant headphones and probably doing some serious damage to my eardrums, listening to New Order and certainly to this song.”
TV on the Radio – ‘Staring at the Sun (Alternate Version)’
Arguably the most obscure selection on her list, Johansson claims to be a huge fan of New York art rock group TV on the Radio, and picked out the alternate version of ‘Staring at the Sun’. A highlight from their debut album, Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes, this different version subverts the polished production of the track that appears on the album and strips everything down to the basics.
“This song shows another side to the band,” Johansson said of the group, “That really shows the brilliance of their songwriting. There’s an ambient quality to their sound, I think, and also a sound that’s huge. It’s so multi-layered. They’re sort of orchestral and have this kind of grandness to their sound that’s both big and full and then at other times, kind of hollow and haunting.”
Tom Waits – ‘Burma-Shave’
As we’ve already established that Johansson is a huge fan of Waits, it shouldn’t come as any surprise that her final pick comes courtesy of the gravelly-voiced songwriter. However, the story of how she discovered his music through her friend’s father is an interesting tale, and an unusual artist for a 12-year-old to suddenly fall in love with, given how avant-garde he had the capacity to be.
Selecting his song ‘Burma-Shave’, Johansson recalled that she and her friend used to go on driving trips where they “would only listen to Tom Waits for hours and hours and hours while we were driving.” As for why these two pre-teens fell for his songs, she claimed that “there’s a certain big top quality to some of the songs and then others are just really dark and spooky and some are just beautifully melodic,” and that this song in particular had beauty and heartbreak in equal measure.
