Mollie's Feel-Good Feed: Why it’s never too late to learn something new

Welcome to Mollie’s Feel-Good Feed, a place where each week Mollie King shares her round-up of the things bringing her joy in these strange and uncertain times. Check back each week for uplifting music, self care tips and, hopefully, a smile being put on your face.

Happy Friday! How’s your week been? Have you been bingeing through boxsets, gearing up for December, considering if it's too soon to put up your Christmas tree? Asking around, I think the whole country is going early this year! Anyway, apart from making a start on the Christmas shopping, and never forgetting my daily gratitude list, I've discovered something else that makes me feel upbeat...

There’s something so satisfying in learning about a whole new topic independently, maybe long after you’ve left school or university, and that lovely feeling of knowing you’ve added to your knowledge from where it was yesterday never gets old. I’ll be going into more detail on that but first, let’s talk about some songs to add to your playlist this week!

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Singles

With two of the most popular voices in music coming together, it’s no surprise these two artists have delivered something special. Both Canadian born, Justin Bieber and Shawn Mendes have created the perfect blend of both their sounds with Monster. Having been rumoured since Bieber’s manager Scooter Braun posted a video of the two of them singing around a piano in July, this was certainly worth the wait. Very much in keeping with both artists favouring a more personal and emotional style lyrically in recent times, this is the perfect winter warmer.

Bringing comedy to pop music can sometimes be difficult but with the help of Joe Lycett and Katherine Ryan it’s no wonder Litany is ticking all the boxes with her most recent single Uh-Huh. With Lycett discovering over lockdown that Litany was a fan of his, he got in touch with her and has now directed and starred in her music video. If you’re a fan of Christine and the Queens, I think Uh-Huh could be just the single for you. Although instantly catchy, the song has a laid-back effortless feel to it but still brings the feel-good factor!

TV

The show on everyone’s lips right now has to be The Undoing. Releasing one episode per week seems somewhat dated right now, when you can often binge a whole serious in a matter of hours, but this has certainly kept everyone gripped. Perhaps it’s the wait every week that's got everyone talking about it for such a prolonged period of time, but this series will certainly have you pondering it the morning after. I actually woke up the other day trying to figure out the plot twists from the episode the night before.

With Hugh Grant and Nicole Kidman at the helm of this series, it’s no surprise this is a huge hit already. The minute I heard it had been written and produced by David E Kelley, the mastermind behind Big Little Lies and Ally McBeal, I knew this was a must watch!

Self Care

Two words - TED Talks. Now, I won’t be the first person telling you about these but if you’re like me, maybe you haven’t quite got round to checking them out. For a couple of years now I’ve been recommended TED talks as I love audiobooks, but more than that, I love to learn. I spend a lot of time travelling and my favourite thing to do is listen to something that totally engages my mind and that’s exactly what these do. If you’re more into watching video, you can watch conferences but if you're in your car or in bed at night, there are endless audio options with both an app and daily podcasts. With some of the world's most creative minds talking you through their topic of expertise I have become hooked, with some of my favourite talks being on personal growth, goal-setting and happiness. Give it a go, it’s never too late to learn something new!

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Thanks so much for reading Mollie’s Feel-Good Feed – check back on Marie Claire every Friday for more of my feel-good recommendations.

Mollie King rose to fame as one-fifth of the multi-platinum selling girl band, The Saturdays. The last few years have seen her become a Radio 1 DJ, present across flagship TV shows and a campaign in Parliament.

During her time in The Saturdays, the group sold over five million records worldwide, achieving 13 Top 10 singles and five Top 10 albums. The band also embarked on four nationwide tours and had three primetime TV series, including Chasing the Saturdays for E! which aired in over 40 countries.

In 2018, Mollie turned her hand to presenting and after guest presenting for several weeks on Matt Edmondson’s Radio 1 show, she was offered a permanent role at the station. The duo began hosting the Matt & Mollie Weekend Breakfast show and 2021 moved their new afternoon slot. Mollie also presents her own Friday morning show Best New Pop, sharing music from her most loved genre. After only six months into her role at Radio 1, Mollie won the silver award for ‘Best New Presenter’ at the 2018 ARIA Radio Academy Awards.

In addition to Radio, Mollie has also guest presented This Morning several times, including a month-long stint in the summer of 2018. She’s covered the entertainment slot on Lorraine, and guest presented on Blue Peter. In 2019, Mollie hosted The Greatest Dancer podcast for the BBC. She also presented the BBC Radio 1 Teen Awards, alongside Greg James and Maya Jama, which aired on BBC2. Mollie also took part in the 15th series of Strictly Come Dancing in 2017, making it all the way to the semi-finals.

Away from her TV and Radio work Mollie writes a weekly column for Marie Claire magazine, ‘Mollie’s Feel Good Feed’ and has worked with numerous brands including Estée Lauder, L’Oreal, Amazon, GHD and Aspinal of London.

Mollie is a proud ambassador for the Dyslexia Association, a learning disorder she was diagnosed with as a child. Mollie is very passionate about campaigning for early diagnostic tests in schools, as well as funding to support children through education with Dyslexia and spoke about this in Parliament in 2019.

Mollie is also a Born Free anti-captivity ambassador, has worked closely with the charity Mothers2Mothers and traveled to Ghana in 2014 with REDD charity to help raise awareness and funds for HIV.