Year 5, Day 82

Hi. Today's song is Ghosts by Charlie.

We've got another hometown feature here, although she's based in Vancouver now. Charlie won a talent competition when she was a kid which kind of got her career started to the point that she released her first music video when she was twelve. She's continued to write and create music, but had been mostly focused on her acting career. I guess now though she's doing some more music hence this song so I'm all for that. Hope you guys like it.

Peace.

Year 5, Day 81

Hey guys. So today's song is Come Back by Danny Fernandes.

Danny is Canadian singer who comes from a pretty musical family. His brother is Shawn Desman (another Canadian singer) and his cousin is also in the industry. He did dancing and music competitions while is school, then after graduation went and did some shows around Europe. Eventually he signed to a label here and released his first album. After that he was part of Akon's National tour (when Akon was still a thing.) His second album was released in 2010, and the third released in 2013. He's still been working on music since then and has released a couple of single, but hasn't been going too crazy. Whatever, anything is better than nothing in my opinion.

Peace.

Year 5, Day 80

Hello. Today I give you Touch You by The Heirlooms.

Yay for hometown bands! Well, at least as close to hometown as we can get. I don't know these guys personally, but they play in a lot of venues that I've been to back when I was still going out to a bunch of local shows. I've gotten more introverted in the past couple years so there you go. There are two albums out by them, and they've been signed, but I haven't heard too much recent news so I don't know if they're still around. The website has expired and any postings stopped in 2016. I don't know, maybe we'll see them again. In the meantime listen to this song and if you like it the album is on iTunes.

Peace.

Year 5, Day 79

Morning. So today's song is Today Is Beautiful by David Dunn.

This is another Christian singer, who was featured on the Voice in their second season.  He originally planned to be an engineer and got himself a degree while performing in bars on the side. He loved music though so he released an album during his last year of schooling before going on his mission. (For anyone who hasn't had religious friends they do missions where they take off for usually a year and do some humanitarian work somewhere in the world). David's mission was in Africa, and he came back with a vengeance. He got a lot of exposure through the Voice, released an independent album, and is now signed to a label and making his dreams a reality. Fun Fact: the inspiration for this song came from his nephews meltdown on a trip to Disney World. This is why creative people are so great because he made something incredible out of an event that most people wouldn't think twice about. Awesome.

Peace.

Year 5, Day 78

Hello. Today I give you Greater by MercyMe.

I know that there was a band previously on here that took offense to being called a Christian band. They didn't fall into that category to me, but this does. MercyMe is from Texas and is made up of Bart Millard, Nathan Cochran, Michael John Scheuchzer, Robin Shaffer, and Barry Graul. Name credit goes to Bart's grandma's catchphrase, which is hilarious and an awesome tribute. They are a Christian band, but they feel less rock and more of an indie and country hybrid. And I know this always comes up somewhere, but you can enjoy spiritual song without being religious. I mention this periodically because we always had those certain people who got offended about doing so many praise god type songs in choir. Like, chill out. I'm not religious, but I appreciate the beauty in these songs and the intent behind it. I hope you guys will to.

Peace.

Year 5, Day 77

Hey. So today's song is Yellow by Coldplay.

I feel like everyone has heard a Coldplay song at some point in their lives. They've been a group since 1996 and this song is the one that made their fame a worldwide thing. I say they formed in 1996, but they didn't officially become Coldplay until 1998. First they were known as Pectoralz, then Starfish before settling on a name. They did three EP's in the 90's, then starting gaining fame in the 2000's. They've released seven albums which are all amazing, have had a ton of hit songs and won lots of awards. If I break it down further this is going to end up being a ridiculously huge post, so that's why I'm being vague. Basically all you need to know is that Guy Berryman, Jonny Buckland, Will Champion, and Chris Martin (and Phil Harvey) have created something beautiful that's lasted decades. And that speaks volumes.

Peace.

Year 5, Day 76

What's Up. Today's song is Don't Wait by Mapei.

So Mapei is the stage name for Jacqueline Mapei Cummings, who is a Swedish/American singer active since 2009. She lived in Brooklyn with Lykke Li before deciding to move back to Sweden. She had started out working on an album with a duo called Justice but didn't like the result so it never came to fruition. After that she decided she wanted to sing (rather than freestyle) and went on a sort of walkabout to find inspiration. This song was the first one released after she had gotten inspired again, and it went viral in 2013. She released her album in 2014. There hasn't been anything going on since then, which makes me think she's probably writing more so we'll just wait and see.

Peace.

Year 5, Day 75

Hiya. So today's song is Stay by Zedd and Alessia Cara.

You should already know Alessia Cara by now so for today we're going to talk about Zedd. It's a stage name for Anton Igorevich Zaslavski who is Russian/German. Born in Russia, but grew up in Germany so shout out to both countries today because I don't know which nationality qualifies the most. Music runs in his family, as both of his parents are music teachers so I can see where he got his love of it from. He actually started his career in a German deathcore band (which is a first for me, that's not really my music style but cool nonetheless) named Dioramic. He left the group in 2010 and started doing solo stuff under this pseudonym. Zedd is one of those DJs who ended up everywhere so suddenly. It was like zero to one hundred here and everyone was working with him. For good reason too, he's clearly crazy talented. He's another one that I refer to when I talk about being glad with the DJ movement where more of them are ending up being chart topping artists in their own right and having the singers featured on their stuff rather then it being marketed as the other way around. It seems like such a small thing now, but a decade ago it was different. This is one of the more recent songs, being released in 2017, and he's currently working on his third album. He would probably have more by now, but he's done lots of collaborations and gotten production credits in between. Regardless of what he's doing it's always rad so keep an eye on him.

Peace.

Year 5, Day 74

Hi everyone. Today I give you Rock Bottom by Hailee Steinfeld featuring DNCE.

I've talked about DNCE before and I've got more of Hailee's songs saved so I'm not going to do a summary of either of them today. I'll save that for a solo track. I was really surprised when I saw this collaboration. It didn't seem like an obvious choice to me at first, but it's grown on me since. I've got to give props to Hailee for suddenly becoming so relevant. She timed the big push in her career perfectly around the release of Pitch Perfect 2 and has been just pushing forward since then with a lot awesome songs. Probably why I have so many saved... it was hard to choose just one. So prepare yourselves for more from her at a later date.

Peace.

Year 5, Day 73

Hey. So today's song is Mama Say by Betty Who.

Betty Who is the stage name for Australian singer Jessica Anne Newham. She's been doing the singing/songwriting thing since she was sixteen, but really started to figure out her sound when she went to school at Berklee in Boston and met up with Peter Thomas. They worked together for two years before releasing her debut single online which exploded thanks to a grammy blogger. She released an album online shortly after that, and because of all the success she got some interest from record labels and got signed. She released a second album in 2014 which saw another one of her songs topping the charts. I've got a few songs by her saved, but we're starting with this one. And I want to point out how awesome the dancing is with the song. I've watched the video and been enthralled by it so many times that now I see the dance moves in my head when I listen to just the audio, which is a strange occurrence.

Peace.

Year 5, Day 72

Hello. So today's song is Bury It by CHVRCHES featuring Hayley Williams.

I'm sure you all know Hayley Williams already, and if not I'm featuring her later on, so I'm only talking about Chvrches for now. They're a Scottish band so props to Scotland! The members include Lauren Mayberry, Iain Cook, and Martin Doherty. All three of them had been in bands of their own before they ended up working together on a few demos and decided to form this group. Their name is stylistically written as a preemptive move to ensure they weren't confused with people looking for legitimate churches. An no they aren't super religious. The name was chosen in the way most bands choose names... basically they thought it was cool. I approve. A cool fact about these guys is that before they started to officially perform under their given name, they did two shows with the pseudonym Shark Week so they could work out the kinks and start strong as Chvrches. They have a lot of material which makes me feel kind of bad that I didn't find them until they teamed up with Hayley on this one, but what matters is I've found them now. And so have you.

Peace.

Year 5, Day 71

Hi. So today's song is Bom Bom by Sam and the Womp.

Can I just start by saying I love the name of this band? This group is actually a hybrid of two bands that merged together, those being Sam Ritchie's band called Qdos and another one called Horn. The main members of this group are Sam Ritchie who is the trumpeter and a Dutch singer known as Bloem de Wilde de Ligny or Bloom for short. They have such a unique sound because of the techno and ska mix so when I heard I knew I had to save it for you guys. They do have other music, but this song is the song they're known for, and man does it represent. Hope you guys like it.

Peace.

Year 5, Day 70

Hi everybody. Today's song is Jackpot by Jocelyn Alice.

Jocelyn is a Canadian singer who got her start when she was runner up on a talent show called Popstars. She wrote this song in 2014, but it didn't chart until 2015. I don't know a lot of her solo stuff, but she's gotten a lot of co-writing credits of music feature in prime time television and advertisements. She also released an EP as one half of the duo Jocelyn and Lisa. Now I hate this and I don't know if I've already mentioned it before, but we do have to talk about it. She's gotten a lot of hate because she got asked to sing the national anthem for an MLB game, and while she was singing it she giggled. I understand being excited because it is a huge honor, but you need to have control over yourself at that level to not do something that's going to cause a negative connotation. I know her thing was a genuine mistake, but that slip up probably cost her a lot of potential opportunities because it came off disrespectful to the masses. Only time will tell I guess. Regardless of the controversy, her song is good and has earned it's spot on this list.

Peace.

Year 5, Day 69

Hey. So today's song is Turn The Music Louder by KDA featuring Tinie Tempah and Katy B.

KDA is a British DJ, whose mostly famous for this song, which was originally called Rumble before he re-released it featuring these guys on the track. It's one of the only song attributed to him though, as it was a stand alone single for him. It was however put on Katy B's album. Katy is a British singer whose been around since 2011 and has released three albums during her career. Fun Fact: her dad was part of a group that represented Germany in Eurovision in1976. Tinie Tempah's real name is Patrick Chukwuemeka Okogwu, and he's a British rapper. He's the only one that I had heard of before finding this song because I'm pretty sure I featured him in one of the previous years. He's had a pretty impressive music career, and has a habit of working with other up and coming artists, so if you want to see what other stuff he's done look him up.

Peace.

Year 5, Day 68

Hiya. Today I give you Sax by Fleur East.

Fleur is another singer who got exposure from The X Factor. She was on the show in 2005 as part of a girl group, but didn't start her own music career until 2012 when she signed with a label. She went back to X Factor again in 2014 solo, and was a runner-up. She was a struggling artist from 2012 to 2014 and was planning to quit, but the X Factor redo was a chance to breathe life back into her career. Which it did. Fun Fact: The success of her cover of Uptown Funk actually led to the original song being released on iTunes five weeks faster than planned. After the show she signed to Simon Cowell's record label and released her debut album in 2015. In 2016 she signed with another record label, this time for her international music career. I love that this song kind of rivals Jason Derulo's Trumpets. Personally I like to listen to the two songs together, but this song is also great on its own.

Peace.

Year 5, Day 67

Hello. So today's song is Oxygen by J. Young.

He goes by J. Young in the music industry, but his name is actually Josh Young. He's a Canadian, as far as I can tell got into music because of his father, who was a producer for Glenn Rickett. (Rickett is a famous singer in Jamaica.) After performing alongside Boys To Men, Young got a record deal in Australia and started up DJCentral. He came back to Canada to make his record with a lot of big names in the production side of the industry, which led to his debut single. Which is this song. This came out in  2015, and although this is considered his debut single, he did have an entire album that was made earlier in 2011. This song is his biggest song, but if you like it you can check out the old album, and some of the newer stuff he's released since. Have fun!

Peace.

Year 5, Day 66

Hey. Today's song is I Want You by Flagship.

So this is a music duo made up of  Drake Margolnick and Michael Finster from North Carolina. They've been active for a few years, and are signed with Bright Antenna Records. They have an LP out now that you guys can check out (and this song obviously) but I can't find too much information about the band for you. They've shared the stage with the band In The Valley who they did a summer tour with. I've either already featured them on here or I have them saved to do so later so keep an eye out for that.

Peace.

Year 5, Day 65

Hi everyone. So today's song is Flesh Without Blood/Life In The Vivid Dream by Grimes.

Grimes is the stage name for Claire Elise Boucher who is a Canadian singer, songwriter, record producer, music engineer, video director and editor, and visual artist. So she's a busy girl. Her name comes from a genre of music (grime music) that started in London in the 2000's. It features fast beats and jagged electronic sounds. It's sound started on pirate radio, but has gotten more mainstream recently. Grimes released her debut in 2010 on cassette. Her second album came out in 2011 and that's when she started to actually promote her musical career. She signed with a label the next year, and won Breakthrough Artist of the Year at the Junos. She wrote her next album in 2014 in about two weeks of no stimulation from the outside world. It sounds like she reached some kind of musical Nirvana but I don't think I'd recommend it to anyone else. She's also been vocal about being a feminist, as a female in a mostly male industry, and has received a lot of criticism for being anti-male. I know lots of people has made the word feminism synonymous with anti-male but true feminism really is not that. Anyway this is more of less two songs in one so I hope you like them.

Peace.

Year 5, Day 64

What's Up. Today's song is Light Up by Mutemath.

This band was one of my junior high go-tos. They were originally a long distance collab project in 2002 between Paul Meany and Darren King. They met through working together in Meany's previous band called Earthsuit. They started by passing demos back and forth with each adding to it and eventually that transitioned into Math. When Meany's band broke up, the two moved in together in Louisiana. In 2003 they recruited Darren's friend Greg Hill. They changed the name to Mutemath, started an independent record label and partnered with Warner music to release their debut. Thanks to the success of Earthsuit, Mutemath had pretty good success from the start. Their first music video came out on YouTube once that became a thing, and it was a the band playing the song in reverse. It obviously exploded and was featured everywhere. The song it was from was also my first introduction to this band. There was a bit of beef going on with Warner Music over the band being classified as a Christian rock group considering the members didn't think it was such. Regardless of what genre they fall into, I love them and hope you do to.

Peace.

Year 5, Day 63

Hi. Today I give you You're An Ocean by Fastball.

So these guys are a Texas band active since 1995, and made up of Miles Zuniga, Joey Shuffield, and Tony Scalzo. Miles and Joey used to play together in a band, and then after that broke up, and the next band he was in broke up, Joey introduced Miles to Tony, who had been in a band in his own right. The three decided to play together and went through a bunch of names before finally landing on this one. The gained a following locally, and a reporter got a label interested in them, and they got signed. Their first album came out in 1996 but didn't do too well and the band thought they wouldn't make it. By 1998 they were still only doing music part time while keeping their day jobs. The second album saw an end to that, as it blew up. Since then they've released three more albums, done lots of touring, and are still going strong. So there's lots of material for you to check out if you like them.

Peace.

Year 5, Day 62

Hello guys. Today's song is Eyes Wide Open by Sabrina Carpenter.

So Sabrina is only 18, and is actually more known for being an actress than a singer as her singing career is still relatively new. She's been acting since 2010 including doing some stuff for Disney Channel. As far as singing goes, her first song was released for a Disney album and charted on Radio Disney. In 2013 she got cast in Girl Meets World, and while working on that show she released her debut album which is titled the same as this song is. She released it first on Radio Disney because she's still sticking to her roots and is very much a Disney star right now. Hopefully she turns out better than some of the Disney stars around when I was a kid. A year after her debut album, she released her second on and sold out her tour. In 2017 she did some touring in Europe, talk show performances, and collaborated on a sing from Lindsey Stirling's holiday album. She's balancing the two aspects of her careers really well so after checking out her music if you're still curious bout her you should look into her acting.

Peace.

Year 5, Day 61

Hey. Today's song is Back Around by Olly Murs.

Olly is yet another artist who got his start on X Factor. I will say one thing for the show, they find good musicians. He had actually auditioned twice before and failed to get through the pre-show competition, but third time is the charm. He missed his twin brother's wedding to keep going on the show, but in the end he didn't win. He did get enough exposure though that he was able to build up a career. He signed to a label in 2010 and has been consistently releasing music ever since. His stuff has always been on my playlist for when I was in school because it improved my mood and chilled out my nerves. So I hope it does that for you too.

Peace.

Year 5, Day 60

Hiya. So today's song is I Know What You Did Last Summer by Shawn Mendes and Camilla Cabello.

I have another song from Camilla saved (gee I wonder which one) for later so I'm only going to talk about Shawn Mendes today. So he's another Canadian star an actually got his start on Vine. Rest in piece you crazy six second monstrosity. After a year of earning a following as a Vine star some music managers caught wind of him and he got signed. Fun Fact: He was the youngest person to debut in the top 25 of the Billboard Top 100. Since then he's released two albums and been associated with a lot of other artists. He's also done a lot of charity work, including Notes from Shawn inspired by the lyrics of his first single. He's had a steady career build over the last couple of years and I'm excited to see what else is to come.

Peace.

Year 5, Day 59

Hi everybody. Today I give you Penny by Misun.

So this band is from Washington DC and has been around since the release of their debut EP in 2012. As far as I understand it they're unsigned, and have been doing it all on their own. They've gotten fan through releases of singles throughout 2013, until they released their debut album in 2014. They released another EP in 2015 and have been doing shows since. Because they are independent, their isn't much information about them, but that doesn't matter in the long run. All that matters is that the music is good. Hope you agree.

Peace.

Year 5, Day 58

Hey. So today's song is Seventeen by Alessia Cara.

I've talked about Alessia enough that a backstory isn't needed. For now I want to showcase how the difference between artists as a brand and artists as a person. I can do that with the fact that there are two videos for this song. The one above is a video Alessia made when she was bored and goofy around in her hotel room. The other video which I've attached here is the official video made by a collection of people and with a budget. Now I like both videos, they're great in their own ways. I just find the difference in each one to be fascinating. Maybe you guys will too.

Peace.

Year 5, Day 57

What's Up? Today's song is Life's What You Make It by The New Electric.

So I kept this song saved to show you guys for awhile now, thinking it was just the same as any other. Imagine my surprise to find out this band is from my hometown. These guys formed and started making music in 2014 and worked with the same producer that worked with Hedley and Mother Mother. The released their debut EP in 2016 an were named Calgary's Group of the Year. They've been touring across Canada and I'm sure will be onward and upward from there so here's wishing good vibes to them.

Peace.

Year 5, Day 56

Hi. So today's song is Wicked by Tyler Shaw.

I've already done a whole backstory on Tyler in one of the previous years, but there isn't much to tell so we'll go fast one more time. He's a Canadian singer whose been active since 2012 when he won a cover song competition. Since then he has released an album and toured with some big name former Disney channel stars. There hasn't been much in the last few years for news, but he's still active so I can only assume there will be more to come. For now enjoy this.

Peace.

Year 5, Day 55

Hello everybody. Today I give you Sister Of Pearl by Baio.

Baio is a stage name for Christopher Baio. While attending Columbia University, he was the bassist in a band called Midnight Hours. After that band broke up he worked as a DJ and joined a different band. You guys will have heard of this one: Vampire Weekend. I've shown songs from them before so it's pretty obvious I'm a fan. They released two debut albums before he started releasing his own material. He released his debut EP in 2012. The band had a pretty light touring schedule which meant he had time to work on his solo stuff and his first album came out in 2015. His second album came out in 2017, all while continuing his career with Vampire Weekend. I think it's pretty cool that he's kept up doing both, so if you agree check out more of his stuff.

Peace.

Year 5, Day 54

Hey. So today's song is Top by Hoonch.

This is an indie-electronic duo based in LA. It's made up of Jonathan Hoonch Kim and Gabriel Nava Rodrigues. They met when they were both working on other music projects and they clicked enough that they decided to form Hoonch. There isn't a lot of information on these guys because they're relatively unknown, but they're a very good group so enjoy their stuff.

Peace.

Year 5, Day 53

Hi. Today's song is Sedona by Houndmouth.

This is a band that formed in 2011 and made up of  Matt Myers, Zak Appleby, Katie Toupin and Shane Cody. They started out playing locally in Indiana where they're from. In 2012 they entered a music festival as a way of promoting their homemade EP. It just so happened that a record company guy was in the audience and it led to a contract soon after. In 2013 they released their debut album, and that led to a lot of TV performances and festival spots. This song is from their second album that came out in 2015. Katie left the band in 2016 to go solo so we'll have to keep an eye out for her. Since her departure, her part has been taken over by Caleb Hickman. They've also added two saxophone players named Graeme Gardiner and Drew Miller. I'm excited to see what they've got coming up next.

Peace.

Year 5, Day 52

Hello. So today's song is I Feel It by Avid Dancer.

Avid Dancer is actually Jacob Dillian Summers and has been active in the music business since 2013. I know that he used to be a marine before he went into music, which is a noble profession and I commend him for doing something amazing. I would never have the stamina or discipline for such a job so I always applaud people who choose to. There really isn't too much other information about him unfortunately. His website isn't working at the time I'm writing this so I wont put the link up, but if you're curious I would suggest looking it up on your own to see if it's fixed by the time this posts.

Peace.