Halflives’ Linda Battilani: The 10 songs that changed my life

As Halflives unleash their new EP Inferno, mastermind Linda Battilani looks back at some of her biggest musical inspirations in life – from hours spent watching Paramore videos on YouTube, to belting out Evanescence classics at karaoke…

“I surely heard tons of other songs before, but I particularly remember this one as I was always thrilled to hear it playing at the radio when I was a kid. I most likely was singing on top of it with invented words!”

“You’re surely gonna see the Paramore name more than once here! Once I unveiled my true rock soul I used to play Paramore’s music out loud at home as soon as my mom would leave so that I could scream to it, jump and headbang all over the place and pretend I was rocking the stage – everything that a teenager who likes to dream big would do!”

“It was 2011 and All Time Low were playing not too far from my hometown. It was the first show where I was standing right at the front. ATL always have been great performers and I loved screaming my heart out that night. There was this thing, though: each time I was going to a show, a part of me was looking at the stage and thinking, ‘One day I’m gonna be up there, too.’ I thought about it that night, and every other night I went to a gig. I’m glad I could make that become true.”

“I found out about Paramore with their iconic record Riot!, and the first song I heard was crushcrushcrush. And that changed everything in my life. Hayley Williams has been such an icon for many teen girls – and she was mine, too, a teacher of some sort. She pushed me to become who I always dreamed to be. I spent hours in my bedroom watching live performances on YouTube, feeling that energy growing in me. I felt deep in my bones that that was what I really wanted to do in life.”

“There is no such thing as the greatest song of all time – it’s kinda impossible to name just one. But surely Queen deserve that title as I find them one of the best bands of all time, and Don’t Stop Me Now is my favourite song of theirs.”

“I would say that it’s not necessarily the song that has always made me cry, but these days it definitely does!”

“Since my teenage years this has been my go-to song for karaoke! It has been a while now since I last did this… I should definitely go to a karaoke night and give it a spin (laughs).”

“I am actually very, very proud of all the work I’ve done from the V era onwards, since I started taking production and songwriting almost entirely on my shoulders. It’s hard to pick just one baby – you should know that! Never ask a mother to choose a favourite child…”

“(Laughs) Well, right now I would tell you it’s the one I’m writing at the moment, as I’ve been stuck for weeks and it’s driving me crazy! But from my previous records I definitely remembering struggling with the lyrics and topline of Time Bomb.”

“Oh my god, I honestly never thought of this before! But The Black Parade is what naturally came to my mind. It just looks like the perfect soundtrack. Dramatic much?!”

Halflives’ new EP Inferno is out now via Still Standing. Watch the video for Oblivion below.

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