Soundtrack Of My Life: Nick Grimshaw

The first song I remember hearing

Simon & Garfunkel – ‘America’

“I remember my dad used to like to go for a drive. He and my mum would be in the front seat and I’d be in the back. It would be a pointless drive – from Manchester to Yorkshire and then back – but we’d listen to songs. This was one and it reminds me of being very, very little.”

The first album I owned

Oasis – ‘Definitely Maybe’

“It was a gift from my brother who’s 13 years older than me. He actually lived in a flat nextdoor to Noel Gallagher, India House on Whitworth Street [in Manchester]. He used to know Inspiral Carpets, who Noel was a roadie for… When I first started on BBC Radio 1, Noel rang up my brother and said, ”Ere y’are, there’s some prick on Radio 1 calling himself Grimmy.’ And my brother went, ‘Yeah, that’s our Nick’. ‘Our Nick’s 12!’ So yeah, they’re still friends. I think their relationship is just berating each other about United and City.”

The first gig I went to

The Prodigy at the G-MEX Centre in Manchester

“I was young and I remember loving it. The Prodigy to a very excitable, hyperactive kid was perfect. It was just a racket… I remember [frontman] Keith Flint being a nutter and being half-scared of him but half excited. I remember thinking the crowd all looked like Keith as well.”

The song that reminds me of home

The Communards – ‘Don’t Leave Me This Way’

“This came on the radio the other day and it took me back to doing workouts with my mum in the sitting room, getting carpet burns. She had a Rosemary Conley exercise video, who was the OG fitness influencer – one of the main influences for Eric Prydz’ seminal ‘Call On Me’ music video. She’d wear a leotard and every mum on your street would have the VHS.”

The song I wish I’d written

Lauryn Hill – ‘Tell Him’

“I always really loved her lyrics when I was a teenager and still do.”

The song I can’t get out of my head right now

Cardi B – ‘Like What’

“Me and my boyfriend have been repeating it to each other all day. It also samples my favourite Missy Elliott song [1999 single ‘She’s A Bitch’], so it’s immediately catchy.”

The song I can no longer listen to

Mariah Carey – ‘Dreamlover’ (Def Club Mix)

“On New Year’s Day, I decided to do a 10km run. I’d planned it. I wanted to start the year doing something good. And for the 55 minutes or whatever that I was running, I listened to this song on repeat. I don’t know if it was runner endorphins or whatever, but I was near tripping on this Mariah Carey mix. However, because I’d done no prep for the run, I was really fucked for, like, the first four days of 2024. So now I can’t listen to that song because it’s immediately triggering… I don’t think I’m a runner.”

The song that makes me want to dance

Donna Summer – ‘I Feel Love’

“I think it’s a perfect song. I love that it’s, like, about four hours long as well.”

The song that makes me cry

Sinéad O’Connor – ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’

“I can’t get through it. I was just away last week in Mexico and my friend was reading her book. She was reading out all the really funny bits and then all the really sad and intense bits. We start listening to all the songs by her that we love. Her voice is so delicate and so strong in the same breath.”

The song I do at karaoke

Whitney Houston – ‘I Have Nothing’

“I love karaoke, but my [singing] voice is awful. It’s worse than my speaking voice unfortunately. I can’t find anything that makes me sound good. But I think if you’re going to do karaoke, like, you should belt it. I don’t think you should try and be cool or nonchalant… My friend had a birthday party in New York once and I did this song. And the barman who worked there, running the karaoke bit, was like, ‘Please don’t sing again.’ He was being serious. It was so awful.”

The song I want played at my funeral

Simon & Garfunkel – ‘America’

“I want the first song I heard… and go full circle. I don’t want to say a song I really enjoy this week – like Cardi B – and then when I die my kids google this and think, ‘Oh, he really loved Cardi B.’ I also don’t really like funerals where people are like, ‘Oh, we want you to be happy and wear bright colours.’ It feels almost a bit disingenuous. I want everyone in black veils, like an Italian funeral. I want a scene from The Godfather with Simon & Garfunkel playing ‘America’.”

Nick Grimshaw hosts new reality show ‘Josh Must Win’, which starts on E4 at 9pm on March 25. You can stream it on Channel 4

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