1) “Fallin’” – Lea Salonga.

“This song just reminds me how being Filipino gives me the right to indulge in shamelessly cheesy Asian pop songs, and how there’s some video of me singing this when I was five or six – that was effectively the end of my solo pop career.”

2) “Today Was A Good Day” – Ice Cube.

“This song has a part about AK47s, and yet it’s an amazingly happy song. I think it’s good that gangstas have good days once in a while; it’s too bad I can’t really relate to it much coming from suburban Connecticut.”

3) “String Quartet Opus 130, 4th Movement” – Beethoven.

“Awesome piece…but it reminds me of how little I practiced over spring break!”

4) “Bamboo (Interlude)” – Outkast.

“This is where Big Boi brings his son into the recording booth to record something. Ridiculously cute. And it’s comforting to know that there’s a three-year old out there who has a more developed curse-word vocabulary than I do.”

5) “How High the Moon” – Ella Fitzgerald. “This song is one of the reasons I want to name my first daughter ‘Ella.’ I remember watching one of Ella Fitzgerald’s last concerts ever, but unfortunately I didn’t have the attention span back then to appreciate her ridiculously long and virtuosic scat solos.”