Lana Del Rey

This artist isn't really new but she is new to me.  At first I didn't really like her but after awhile, she really grew on me.  Her voice and music is super unique and that's what makes her stand out from the rest for me.  A song I have been listening to a lot lately is "Young and Beautiful".  It has really well written lyrics! It is also on the soundtrack for The Great Gatsby. Here it is-

Weezer

I am doing my blogs because I was sick Tuesday and Wednesday with a high fever.


This week in class we listened to Weezer and I did not like it. First of all, I thought Weezer was a Black Hip Hop group but then I came to conclusion that I was thinking of Weezy...  I didn't like Weezer because to me, his music didn't flow and the voice wasn't all that great. The beat was too boring and I couldn't get into it at all. Weezer is a no go!

Demi

So in class you asked us if there is an artist that has changed us or has had some effect on us in any way and if so, who.  I said Demi Lovato and I definitely meant it. Sure, all of her songs aren't top hits or talk about sex and drugs but that is was I like about her.  She isn't fake like many artists these days and she writes lyrics that mean something to not only her, but many people can relate to them. She came out with a new album (Demi) a couple days ago and I am in love. All of her songs have meaning and stories behind them and that's what I like about her music. You can hear the emotion in her voice and how much she means what she is saying and that to me, means more than anything in an artist.

Massive Attack

This week we listened to Massive Attack.  Although it is not something I would listen to on my own and discover myself, after listening to it in class I really liked it. My favorite song was probably Teardrop (seemed to be every one's favorite) and no, I have not heard it before.  Even though there wasn't a lot or any lyrics, each song had their own unique sound and twist on it and I really liked that. This definitely is an album I could listen to driving around or just hanging around at home!

Wu Tang Clan

This week we listened to Wu Tang Clan and I did not like it.  I don't like this kind of "rap" music as it is because it, to me, feels very choppy and I like music that flows. Some of the songs had lyrics that didn't really make sense and that threw me off.  I just couldn't really get into the music so Wu Tang Clan is a no for me!

Trojan Live

I actually really enjoyed Trojan Live.  This was my first year going and I was very impressed! Everyone had their own unique style choice of music and sound.  What I really noticed was that with every single person up there, you could tell in each person how much they loved what they were doing! My favorite performance was Daniel's Wanted on the piano.  It had the most emotion and you could really feel what he was trying to get across to the audience. There were a couple performances that I had no idea what was going on but as long as you're having fun (which it definitely looked like) then there was no problem! I am definitely looking forward to next year's Trojan Live!

The Nasty Rumors

Earlier this week I went to your kickstarter website you have and checked out some of your songs. Two songs that stood out to me were 'I Fail Myself' and 'Everyday'.  The lyrics are very well written and even though I can't relate to many of them, I feel it. I feel what you are expressing and trying to have the listener get from the songs.  Once you make your album, buying it will be one of the first things I do! Congrats on reaching your $15,000 goal :)

Nevermind by Nirvana

This week in class we listened to the album Nevermind by Nirvana. I enjoyed listening to some of the songs but others, I just wanted to be over.  I am unsure on if I like Nirvana or not. The music and beat overall is really catchy but I'm not sure if I'm a big fan of Kurt Cobain's voice. To me, it sounds like in some songs he is straining his voice and pushing too hard and I don't like that in artists.  I liked how during this album some songs would be really upbeat and fast then any second it would change and go to something really slow during the same song.  Not many songs can pull that off in my opinion.  I look forward to more of Nirvana later on in class!

8 Tracks

This is an app for the iphone that I've recently discovered and it makes Pandora and Spotify look like crap. The home screen  is just a bunch of options to click on from Spring to Indie Rock and Workout to Acoustic. Once you find what you want, you click on it. The next screen shows "Play me some Party (for example you clicked this) + ______. Then it gives you about 12 options such as Dance, House, Chill, Pop, etc.  Once you click your add in, it gives you a whole bunch of playlist covers and you click the one you want and Bam! I love love love this app because it has about every option of music you could possibly be in the mood for!!

Nirvana

This week in class we listened to Nirvana and I can honestly say I did not like it. The setting was weird and unusual and that kind of threw me off a bit.  I've told a couple people that and they said I was crazy.  I thought it was very boring and I am not a fan of soft rock in the first place. Most songs sounded similar and that is something I get tired of quickly! Nirvana is a no go for me. :(

Avril Lavigne

Avril Lavigne has been an arist I grew up listening to since from I can even remember. I absolutely love her! In one of her music videos, she smashed a guitar on a couch so I did just what she did and I smashed my guitar on our couch as well....big mistake! Avril Lavigne doens't have the best voice out there, obviously, but when it comes to her music, that doesn't really matter to me.  To me, it's more about the beat and how "catchy" it is. I love her songs Sk8ter Boi, Girlfriend, Complicated, and much much more.  She had a new song come out this week called "Here's To Never Growing Up" and I am in love with it. The song is catchy (check) and has a great beat (check). Although there isn't a music video yet, here is the lyric video!

The Beastie Boys

In class this week we listened to The Beastie Boys.  At first I didn't really like it but after listening to a couple of their songs, I ended up really enjoying their music.  All of the songs were upbeat and it was hard not to stand up and start dancing along with the music!  None of the songs sounded the same to me...they all had their different twist on it. I definitely look forward to more music from The Beastie Boys!

Shakira

I have loved shakira since I was a little girl. I remember dancing around the house to "Hips Don't Lie" thinking I could belly dance just like her. Now that she is a new judge on the TV show, The Voice, she has become more popular. She has a lot of songs that aren't really famous and a lot of people don't know about. Her most popular one is "Hips Don't Lie". She also has "Gypsy" which is very very good (I'll post the video under). Another one is "Whenever Wherever" that got popular but not as popular as Hips Don't Lie. My family and I always say that she sounds like a goat which may be hard to think of right now, but when you hear her, you can understand what we mean!
Here is Gypsy!

U2

Personally, I didn't really enjoy watching the video of U2 in class. First off, I couldn't understand any of their lyrics. That to me, is an automatic dislike. I also thought they weren't anything "new". I didnt have the "wow, let me pull out my phone and shaman this song. It's soo good!" feeling during the video like I did with Joni Mitchell or Paul Simon. I only know a couple of their songs, such as, "With or Without You" and "Beautiful Day".  Those are the only two songs I've really gotten into. I'm not going to give up on U2 completely yet. I'll give them a second chance.

80's Hip Hop

In class we talked about if we liked watching videos on YouTube versus listening to a whole album.  I would have to go with watching the videos for the visual reasoning and I find it more entertaining. I like to see how they dressed in the 80's and see the way their fans acted towards their music. I knew some of the songs we listened to such as Rappers Delight and Apache (Jump On It) by the Sugar Hill Gang. (Who I have seen in concert). Although I liked some of the music, I don't think I would have enjoyed music in the 80's as a whole!

Paul Simon

I really enjoyed Paul Simon's Graceland album! I didn't think any of the songs sounded the same and I thought the lyrics were well written. One of my favorite songs on it was "You Can Call Me Al". The chorus was catchy as well as the beat and it stood out for me from the rest! I also really enjoyed the song Homeless. Adding Ladysmith Black Mambazo, I feel, made the songs 100x better. I look forward to hearing more of Paul Simon!!

Birdy

This artist is from the UK and has become one of my favorites really fast.  She is 16 but you would never guess that if you just heard her voice. It is absolutely amazing. She did a cover of Bon Iver's "Skinny Love" that I've known for awhile and I fall in love with it more and more every time I listen to it. Her voice is so soothing and peaceful that it's hard not to like it.  I came across another song of hers a couple days ago called "People Help The People". I really like the chorus-

People help the people
And if you're homesick, give me your hand and I'll hold it
People help the people
And nothing will drag you down
Oh and if I had a brain, Oh and if I had a brain
I'd be cold as a stone and rich as the fool
That turned all those good hearts away

Here is Skinny Love--

And People Help The People--

Thriller

I really really enjoyed listening to this album in class this week.  I have never been a huge fan of Michael Jackson but I think it's because I never really gave him a shot.  Listening to the album in class, changed my mind.  I think the first song "Wanna Be Startin Something" was a really good song to start off the album. It was upbeat and catchy (like most of his songs are).  The next two songs "Baby Be Mine" and "The Girl Is Mine" were definitely not my favorite.  The next three songs were, I feel, the best three songs to be put next to each other in an album.  Starting with "Thriller", "Beat It", then "Billie Jean", you couldn't get better than that!

P!NK

I have never been a huge fan of P!nk but her new song she released with Nate Ruess called "Just Give Me A Reason" is really really good. It's a new style for P!nk and I think their voices go together perfectly. She has a really good voice and I think this song really allows her voice to do what it can- be perfect.  The lyrics are absolutely amazing and the chorus is very catchy.  The chorus is:

Just give me a reason
Just a little bit's enough
Just a second we're not broken just bent
And we can learn to love again
It's in the stars
It's been written in the scars on our hearts
We're not broken just bent
And we can learn to love again

I don't the chorus could have been written any better.

Here is the music video for Just Give Me A Reason!! Enjoy!

 

Elvis Costello

I actually really enjoyed Elvis Costello's album My Aim Is True.  I thought all of the songs were really catchy and had pretty good lyrics.  He is very smooth with his lyrics.  If you were to listen to the song without looking at lyrics you wouldn't pick up the same meaning as if you were listening to the song with lyrics.  I felt that none of the songs sounded the same and right when I got home, I listened to some of them again.  One of my favorites was the first song on the album- Welcome To the Working Week.  I thought it was a great way to start off the album.  It was upbeat and definitely made me want to listen to more... I look forward to listening to more of Elvis Costello.

Heart Attack

I am in love with Demi Lovato and today (Monday February 25) she released a single called Heart Attack.  I instantly became attached to it. Some people don't think so, but I think she has a really good voice and it definitely stands out in this song.  The lyrics are really well written and already today I've listened to it more than 10 times.  I really hope she will be releasing an album soon but I think this single will keep me distracted for a long time until she puts an album out. Here is the song! Enjoy!

Patti Smith

Patti Smith is a big N-O. I couldn't stop myself from wishing her album would end.  Her voice was very annoying to me whenever she would "run off" with her voice.  Also, it sounded to me that she was drunk and just making up lyrics as she went along and I didn't like that. I was searching around on YouTube to find any more songs from hers I liked and I came across this one.  It's "Because the Night", the song Bruce Springsteen wrote for her, and it sounded really familiar so I checked it out. I didn't hate it as much as I hated her album Horses.  Here it is!

Stay

I heard this song in the Grammys for the first time a couple weeks ago and I fell in love with it. The song is Stay by Rihanna and its a completely new song for Rihanna. I used to love Rihanna when the songs SOS or Umbrella were out but ever since she released songs like S&M and What's My Name, I haven't really liked her as much. I love this song Stay so much because it reminds me of the old Rihanna! The lyrics are what really stood out to me the most when I first heard it. Here's the video from the Grammys!!

Ramones

This week we listened to the Ramones and I can't say that I liked them. I have never been a fan of this genre of music for one, and I felt like their music was way to repetitive to like. Another thing I didn't like was their voices. It sounded like they were just screaming into a microphone.   Most of their songs like Blitzreig Bop sounded like they were a garge band just wasn't feeling at all.  Although some of their songs were pretty catchy, I don't think it's a band I would enjoy listening to again.

Carrie Underwood

I have been a huge fan of her since the day she tried out for American Idol.  She is pure perfection! I went to her concert a couple years ago here and it made me like her even more! I know all of her songs, seen all the videos, you name it. She has grown so much as a singer/artist. The lyrics of her songs never fail to impress me and her voice is out of this world.  Here is her try-out video for American Idol and a recently uploaded video so you can see how much she has grown! Enjoy!

Bobby Womack

This week in class we listened to Bobby Womack.  After listening to him, I have mixed emotions on whether I like him or not. I really enjoy listening to his soulful voice he has! It's very soothing and it makes me really like listening to him.  What I didn't enjoy was the bluesy feel his music portrays. A song I really enjoyed was "Woman's Gotta Have It". His voice stood out to me in this song the most and this is the song that made me really like him. I hope to listen to more of Bobby Womack in class soon!!

Jason Mraz

So I saw Jason Mraz in concert a couple years ago and instantly fell in love with him.  His single "I'm Yours" was a big hit for a long time.  Then he had the single "I Won't Give Up" which became pretty popular. This new song I really like isn't very big....yet. It comes up all the time on my Pandora and its become one of my favorite songs.  It's "The Woman I Love".  The lyrics are really really good and the chorus and the beat is very catchy!  I really hope this song becomes popular but not too popular where it's annoying in about a week. Here it is!

Imagine

Today in class we listened to John Lennon's solo album Imagine. I didn't really like it compared to the Beatles as a whole. But, I didn't hate it completely.  John Lennon can write and that point is proven by the song Imagine.  I love love love this song! The lyrics are amazing and this is one of my favorite songs. Something that threw me off of liking John Lennon was his voice in some of the songs.  It just wasn't quite there for me.  Some of the songs were really good and some were bad, as in I had no interest listening to the whole thing. I wish The Beatles would have done the song "Imagine" together and stayed together.  I look forward to more of The Beatles!

Mackelmore- Same Love

This is a song I've gotten to really like over the past couple of weeks. I'm sure you've heard the song Thrift Shop.  This song "Same Love" is from the same artist Mackelmore.  I've listened to a couple of his songs and I didn't really like any of them besides this song. The lyrics are incredibly good and have such good meaning.  The song is about same sex marriage, which I support 100%.  Here are a couple of the lyrics in the song and the video posted below!
These lyrics are so honest. I get chills every time I hear this song!
America the brave still fears what we don’t know
And god loves all his children, is somehow forgotten
But we paraphrase a book written thirty-five-hundred years ago

It’s human rights for everybody, there is no difference!
Live on and be yourself

When everyone else is more comfortable remaining voiceless
Rather than fighting for humans that have had their rights stolen
I might not be the same, but that’s not important
No freedom till we’re equal, damn right I support it

Joni Mitchell

I absolutely loved this album and it is probably the only album we have listened to that I've kept 100% attention too.  Although a couple of the songs weren't as good as the others, such as, My Old Man and This Flight Tonight, there was never I time I didn't fully dislike it.  Opening the album with "All I Want" was a good choice in my opinion because it didn't give out her full potential of what she could do with her voice and that's what made me want more. Her voice is so different and unique from what we have been listening to and I think that's what made me like it even more. Her songs tell stories throughout the whole song and every single line sounds different then the one before.  My favorite songs on the album were Little Green, Blue, and River.  Those songs stood out to me the most.  I loved Joni Mitchell!

Justin Nozuka

Justin Nozuka isn't a very well known artist but he is someone I have recently started listening to a lot.  He always comes up on my Ed Sheeran Radio station on Pandora. One of his most popular songs is "After Tonight".  I really like the chorus and the guitar in the song. The song is about a girl and a guy and the girl doesn't feel like she is good enough for him.  This song has really good lyrics.  Here it is:

Another song I really like by him is "We Were Supposed To Grow Old". The lyrics are also very good in this song!

Let It Be

Let It Be is probably my favorite song by the Beatles hands down. The chorus is catchy, the beat is addicting, and the lyrics are great. The first line when I first heard it instantly grabbed my attention and the lines followed, were even better. I have no idea why I love this song so much but I do. In fact, for awhile now, I have wanted to get "let it be" tattooed somewhere either on my foot or wrist! The song is really inspirational and in my option, none of the other Beatle songs have compared to this one.

Ed Sheeran

I know I have already written about Ed Sheeran in the first semester but I don't think one blog is enough.  My obsession with Ed Sheeran is still continued to this day.  He has an amazing voice and is so unique from everyone out in the music world today!  He looks nothing like he sounds and every single one of his songs sounds different. He is actually coming to Austin this weekend and I'm still so disappointed that I am not going because I have heard he is extremely good live.

Here is a video of one of his songs I have recently become attached too.  This song actually turns into a medley with a 50 cent song but I would have never realized it if I never read the comments- I love how he makes it his own. It's 11 minutes long but I would just skip around and listen to it!!  Enjoy!

RIP: A Remix Manifesto

This movie we watched in class was really cool and super interesting. I found it online and I plan to watch it again sometime soon. I believe that if you have the talent and equipment to remix a song the way Girl Talk does, that shouldn't be copyrighting. Yes, you are using a song sung by someone else but you are completely remixing it and making it your own and I don't think people should be fined for something like that. If someone were to copy my music and leave it the way it is, then I would consider that copyrighting.  But, if someone remixed it, I would feel good about it because I not only have a huge fan but there is new music that would introduce my music to a crowd who wouldn't necessarily listen to the original just to listen to it.

Pandora

Over Christmas Break I really became addicted to Pandora for many reasons. One being free music! Two, you not only have to listen to just the artist that you picked, but you get to listen to other artists that have the same style, which I think is really cool. This way, I can learn about artists I have never heard of before and I can either like it and Pandora will play it again in the future, or I can dislike it and it won't ever be played again. I think that option is really smart! My channels as of now are Adele, Beatles, Ed Sheeran, Kelly Clarkson, and Luke Bryan.  It's a wide variety but that way there are many options to fit whatever mood I'm in!

Black Sabbath & Led Zeppelin

I didn't like Black Sabbath at all.  I thought the singer wasn't as much singing as they were talking and that's a huge pet peeve of mine. The lyrics I thought were pretty bad and didn't seem like they put in much time into the lyrics. Unfortunately, I don't see myself liking them any more than I do now.
I did enjoy Led Zeppelin though. His music is upbeat and he has a very unique voice which is what keeps me interested throughout his music. I look forward to more of Led Zeppelin in the future!
Another band we listened to in class for like 20 minutes was Sly & The Family Stone and I really liked the song Stand! I liked how the "Stand" would get higher and stronger during the chorus to build it up! I also look forward to more of this band!