‘The best song to play at a party is the one that gets people to leave’: Sananda Maitreya’s honest playlist

<p>Stevie Wonder rocked the singer’s 10-year-old world and he’s secretly a huge fan of the Carpenters. But what novelty song did he drunkenly sing in karaoke in Japan?</p><p><strong>The first song I fell in love with<br></strong>I Want to Hold Your Hand and She Loves You by the Beatles are like my villain origin story. I was two years old and have no conscious memory of life before that. I can remember walking around our little apartment in East Orange, New Jersey, singing those songs.</p><p><strong>The first album I bought</strong> <br>
I grew up in a fundamentalist Christian conservative family. Remember Footloose? It was exactly like that. No dancing, no movies, no records. My aunt bought me Stevie Wonder’s Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants and I fell in love with Send One Your Love.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/oct/26/sananda-maitreya-honest-playlist-beatles-stevie-wonder-bob-dylan">Continue reading...</a>