Keane was hugely inspirational for me in a time when I was learning to sing and write songs. Their first album, Hopes and Fears, is one of the strongest pop rock statements of the early 2000s. It might have been how I understood love at the time, but We Might As Well Be Strangers, in particular, is still a stunning piece of writing and performance. I remember watching a Keane tour documentary that came out a few years after this record and was struck by how success seemed to be affecting them in real time. It was beautiful, but it felt sad. Keane are certainly not the first band to have a complex relationship with success, but I found them during a formative time and their voice is undoubtedly part of mine.

Listen to the fifty-two 52 playlist.