Is this trip your bucket list fantasy or will it be the week from hell? Are you looking forward to the silence or are you hoping a witch’s curse will bring all the furniture to life so you have someone to talk to?

Was that a Disney reference? I like it! 

It will definitely give me a lot of time to reflect and possibly send myself mad, but I guess you’ve gotta try everything once!

The only truth is music (thanks Jack Kerouac). Music is about to become your only companion aboard this journey. How much of a role does it play in your day-to-day life?

I listen to music every day, whether it be something motivational and happy to get me out of bed in the morning, or something to amp me up for the gym. 

I also used to sing and play guitar a lot when I was a teenager, probably inspired most by my brother who played bass in a band called “That’s What She Said”; So I would tend to play with him sometimes. 

In the submarine, no one can hear you sing. Talk us through your playlist – are you a fan of one genre or era, or do you like to mix things up?

Definitely mix things up. One second I could be singing along to The Wombats and the next it could be Tom Walker, followed swiftly by Post Malone. I have to give an honourable mention to the many Michael Bublé songs in my playlist choices. When you’re brought up with a dad who loves Michael Bublé it’s one of the only CD’s he will play in the car.

You might be the only crew member, but space is at a premium aboard the Squideo Submarine! You’ve been given strict orders to bring only one bag of personal effects. What are you taking?

I’m a very sentimental person, so photographs would top my list. I would have to bring my iPad. Food wise I’d have to bring some tiger bread, butter and crisps. If it wasn’t for those three things, I would be half the size I am now (laughs) I’m obsessed! 

A week is a long time, just long enough to decorate your quarters for the trip and make it homey. What band posters are going on the wall? 

My signed Lewis Capaldi CD’s would be first up, then it would have to be a poster from The Greatest Showman - the soundtrack for that blows me away every time. I would probably have some of The 1975’s artwork up there too, they are so good live it would be rude for me to not include them!

Do your musical tastes align with your family and friends or is it wildly different?

My music taste is a mix of both my parents and my brother. I grew up listening to different things with each of them. With my mum There Are Worse Things I Could Do from Grease was played on repeat until we got bored – then it would change to Abba. With my brother and my dad, it was The Script and Backstreet Boys. But me and my dad always listened to Boyce Avenue and Michael Bublé too. 

Like smell, music can have strong associations with certain memories. We don’t want to consider how the Squideo Submarine will smell after a week; instead, choose a song you associate with your childhood.

See, I could say it is Backstreet Boys’ I Want It That Way as we used to always listen to it on car rides and take it in turn singing the verses like the actual members of the band. But, thinking about it, it would have to be Things by Robbie Williams featuring Jane Horrocks. 

Our family has a New Year’s Eve party every year, and from a young age me and my dad would always sing this song on the karaoke. He’d do Robbie’s part and I’d do Jane’s. It stopped when I became a moody teenager (you know how it is) and I haven’t seen the karaoke machine out to sing it with him for the past few years… who knows, 2023 could be the year the Sarah and Steve duo make a return!? 

Songs from our childhood are always so happy. Let’s choose a memory more potent to help you ignore the smell. What music do you associate with being a teen?

Kasabian, without a doubt. Specifically, Treat or Clouds. My best friend as a teen was given tickets to see them in Leeds for her birthday, so we went and managed to be at the very front, which was an amazing experience for my first gig. My friend managed to catch Sergio’s maraca and when he came off the stage, their band photographer managed to catch one of me clearly losing my mind (laughs).

Opening the window isn’t an option when you’re aboard the Squideo Submarine, but there is a decompression room with a dive suit should you want a walk on the ocean floor? Would you go? What would you hope to see?

I think I would, I’d be curious to see what lies out there. If I stayed on the submarine, I think I would only wonder “what if?” and regret it. 

Living on a submarine is a quiet existence. So calm and peaceful… except… oh no… you have an earworm. What was the last song stuck in your head?

Daydream by Lily Meola is my favourite song at the minute and I have been playing it at least twice a day for around two weeks now. It’s such a nice song and it’s somewhat motivating.

Squideo videos look inkredible, but there’s also a soundtrack! Which piece of Squideo-approved background music always gets stuck in your head?

This one is one of my favourites, and I have seen the other producers use it occasionally. It is a song called Happy Upbeat Corporate Pop and we have used it in a video for 10Duke and Ardenia. It is just the perfect music to have in the background, it’s subtle. 

It’s almost time to return home! The journey went a lot quicker with music, didn’t it? What song are you playing in celebration of your return?

Definitely a song called Just by Startisan. It is a song that’s featured in a film called Never Back Down 2, one of my favourites. It’s one of those songs that motivates me, hence why it is my most played song in both my morning playlist and my gym playlist. 

We returned to the surface where the H.M.S Fifty Squid was waiting to welcome the Squideo Submarine and its crew of one back onboard. Sadly, Aquaman wasn’t discovered on this expedition but the excursion gave us a great opportunity to explore the depths and breadths of the ocean with the one and only Sarah Irwin.

Join us next time, when we’ll take a trip beneath the waves with our Video Producer: Adam Leveson.