Leah Williamson on how music orchestrates her life

Arsenal's Leah Williamson on her eclectic music taste, Glastonbury and the songs that take her straight back to the Euros and the Champions League.

Leah Williamson has captained England to European glory and lifted the Champions League with Arsenal, and music has been the soundtrack to all of it. Ahead of Sunday’s London derby against London City Lionesses at the Emirates, the Arsenal skipper talks vinyl, Glastonbury and the songs she can’t hear without going straight back.

My music taste is eclectic. I have quite a diverse range, starting with 50s and 60s stuff because that was what I was brought up on as a kid, and then all the way up to the modern stuff that I like. A lot of my influences came from my family and listening to music while in my dad’s car. My grandma loves northern soul, which I like, but I also find that some of the modern stuff I like is rooted in the early stuff I listened to.

I had cassette tapes when I was younger, then a little personal CD player. I never had a minidisc player or walkman, I went straight from CDs to the iPod. I like listening to vinyl. I had people around for dinner last night and put my vinyl on. It's nice. I wouldn't say I collect records, it’s an expensive habit, but I’ve picked some up along the way and it’s always a nice Christmas or birthday gift. Listening to vinyl is good for the vibe and ambience when you have friends over.

I never stray too far from my old school stuff, like Erasure and Whitney Houston. My favourite Whitney song is Run to You, which is a bit niche! But one thing I've always liked is finding new music. I used to do it on YouTube when I was a kid. I’d just play one song, and it would just give you the next, and you just keep listening. Now you have Spotify, Apple Music, where you might listen to a playlist or new music suggestion, and you just see what comes up. I do have playlists, but even if I have a playlist on, I'll have it on smart shuffle, so it might throw in some new tracks for me in there. My favourite musical discoveries this year have been Tems, and Elmiene, who has a lovely voice, and Jalen Ngonda. Jalen’s stuff sounds old school, kind of like, salty.

The first music I ever bought was Enrique Iglesias’s Hero, the single, and then The Best of Leann Rimes. They were my two CDs that I used to listen to on my CD player. But I think the first album I was really properly obsessed with was Plan B’s Defamation of Strickland Banks. I was absolutely obsessed with it. I put it on in the gym the other day for the energy. That’s the first album I remember playing over and over. I can still listen to Leann Rimes, I could listen to it a thousand times. I think listening to albums, rather than playlists, is a new thing for me. Maybe we're going back to that. I mean, somebody's created that album to be listened to in that order. I think about how many hours that artist has spent thinking about what the order of the set list is and what the track list is going to be, so you have to respect that.

My best live music experience was Glastonbury. It was everything that everybody told me it was going to be, and I felt ashamed that I hadn't made it my goal to go earlier. I went for the first time two years ago. Obviously, with playing football, it doesn't really align, but when there is a summer without football, then it works. The beauty of Glastonbury is just getting lost in it. Stick on a bucket hat, glasses, you're in a crowd… no-one knows or cares who you are. No one knows what's going on, which is cool. I like that, everyone's just there for the music and there to have a good time, and I think it really does sort of re-centre you. I know it can be quite a spiritual experience going to Glastonbury, but I really did feel like everybody was just very wholesome and, you know, doing things for the right reasons.

I remember seeing Avril Lavigne at Glasto and it literally just put me straight back at school with my mates. I just thought, ‘that's so lovely that music can do that’. I could see all my mates back in those school moments, I could see what they were wearing, you know, it's that core of a memory. I also love that you can go to a festival and you might have artists that you want to see, but there might be another one that completely transforms your experience, or really surprises you.

I imagine when it comes to dressing room music, it’s probably pretty samey whatever club you're at. You get a lot of house music or up-tempo stuff and I’m not a huge fan of that. Well, not in that moment. I'm not calm before a game, and I want to be, so I'm trying to make myself more connected to the room. I need a good mix of everything. If I’m on a running machine, I'd probably put on something like Adele just to be chill. At Arsenal, the Spanish girls liked listening to a Spanish artist called Rosalia. I don't understand the lyrics or language but I can listen to her album now because I’ve seen what it does for the Spanish girls, so I'm like, ‘yeah, I get it’.

There are a lot of songs that remind me of specific moments, like winning the EUROs for example. Does Your Mother Know by ABBA… Tooney loved it. When I think of that tournament, and I hear that song, it takes me straight back. Then there was Rachel Daly singing River Deep Mountain High by Tina Turner or Celine Dion. There are other moments, from winning the Champions League, for example, when Steena [Blackstenius[ scored the winning goal: her fan song is to the tune of Karma Chameleon by Culture Club. That will always take me back.

Music can be so powerful. I've lost a fair few people in my family over the years. The Style Council’s You’re the best thing takes me back to being a kid, and a time when everybody was still around, you know? That’s really nice, but it depends on the day it comes on, as it can upset me too. I have other songs where I will literally be blubbing straight away. I'll be driving to training and I'm like, ‘I didn't need that today’, but at other times it can be nice to hear a song like that.

That’s the power of music.