Year 5, Day 141

Evening. So today's song is I'll Never Fall In Love Again by Dionne Warwick.

The family had their own musical career which I think probably contributed to her going into music. Don't quote me on that I don't know, but it makes sense to me. So a bunch of her family were in a gospel group called the Drinkard Singers, and Dionne's mother was the manager. She herself was part of the group as well as another called The Gospelaires for a time, before she had found her own success. With The Gospelaires (later the Sweet Inspirations) she got to do background vocals for a lot of very well known people. This continued all throughout her studies, until she was noticed during a background session for a song by the Drifters. Burt Bacharach approached her during the session and asked her to sing his songs for a demo. She did and when that demo made it to some record higher ups, those guys made it clear it was the signer that they needed. She signed with Bacharach's production company, who was signed to a label, which helped remove a lot of the studio red tape. Her first single come out in 1962. Fun Fact: when it was released her name was spelled wrong, but she decided to keep the misspelling. Her name is actually Marie Dionne Warrick.She was a chart topper for the rest of the decade. The British Invasion happened (spearheaded thanks to Beatlemania) and didn't rock her career too much, but the flipside pissed her off. While British artists suddenly exploded on the scene in America, the American hits she had written were being released in the UK...but sung by other people. By 1963 she was the top priority of her label, and her success kept growing and growing earning her 35 million singles and albums sold internationally by 1971. However she left the label in 1971, taking the biggest contract that had ever been rewarded to a female vocalist at the time. Her move tanked her old label, and the karma of that kind of followed her with her producer team breaking up a year later. Then she sued them for breach of contract, got 5 million dollars and the rights to basically all of her songs. It seemed like she had come out on top. Without David and Bacharach though, her career plateaued through her five year stay with the new label before leaving. In 1979 she moved to a new label, was produced by Barry Manilow and kick started her career once more. She has done a shitload more stuff, but this is a blog post not a novel so I'm going to end it there. If you want to know more about her there is a pretty good Biography about her from A&E that you can check out. Have fun!

Peace.

Year 5, Day 140

Hello. So today's song is Make You Feel My Love by Adele.

I love Adele not only because she makes incredible music, but because she's also a total loon. Just watch her carpool karaoke and you'll see. She became obsessed with music at a young age, and ended up going to an arts school (BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology) where she was classmates with some other now pretty famous people. The kicker though, is she wanted to be in the industry behind the scenes, not singing herself. She was noticed when a friend put her song project up on MySpace, and she ended up signing with a label. She released her first song in 2007, but became widely noticed in 2008 and was names the breakthrough act of the year according to British polls. Her first album started at number one and won her lots of awards. She did have a slight drinking problem and was a little skewed in what she deemed important around that time, but honestly she was nineteen and most people have a bit of that phase at that age, famous or not. By the time 21 came out, she had given up drinking and was getting into other types of music, a little more contemporary than her previous work. This album also got her a lot of recognition, and she broke a lot of records including one that was previously held by the Beatles. She had to cancel her tour when she got a vocal cord hemorrhage. It was necessary to avoid permanent damage and was definitely the right decision. She came back from the injury in 2012, dominating the Grammy's, and smashing even more records. She held off for a few years on her next album, but did some singles in the interim that top charts as usual. She released her third album in 2015, ending the trilogy of naming her albums by her age and kind of wrapping up that chapter of her life. It of course was well received, became top of the charts, broke records... not new for her career. Success seems synonymous with anything she does. And I'm patiently waiting for her next chapter to start because I'm sure it'll be incredible. In the meantime, enjoy this.

Peace.

Year 5, Day 139

Morning! So today's song is A Natural Woman by Aretha Franklin.

Just like many of the people I've been showing you lately, Aretha got her start in church. Her father was a preacher, and she took to singing solos there. Her father was actually kind of famous in the religious world, and would tour to other churches to give sermons, so he would bring her along. He actually helped her get her first recording contract, and supported her when she wanted to switch from gospel to pop music. Her album came out in 1961, singles becoming so popular that she was named as a new-star female vocalist in Down Beat magazine. I'm not going to break it down because it'll be too huge, but essentially from that moment her career just went on and up as she continued to thrive and become an icon through the next four decades. She's still going strong as far as I can tell, so this woman is a beast. She performed this song in 2015 when the co-writer Carole King was honored, which brought it back into my mind, so this is what you get today.

Peace.

Year 5, Day 138

Hey everyone. So today's song is At Last by Etta James.

She started her singing lessons at a young age through the church while she was in foster care. At the time she was physically abused by her foster dad and her music teacher, both of whom used her like a performing monkey. I've mentioned before that my teacher had pushed on my stomach once to get me to use the right muscles for singing? That's normal, but Etta's teacher was trying to achieve the same goal by punching her stomach. All the abuse gave her PTSD and she had trouble performing on command her whole life because of it. By 14, she was part of a girl group and met Johnny Otis who became their mentor. He named the group the Peaches, and he's the one that flipped her name changing Jamesetta Hawkins to Etta James. She left the group after a pop singer had redone one of her songs, topping the charts with it. She signed with a new label and kept making R&B songs until this song came out in 1961. The 60's was the peak of her career, then it declined as she started experimenting with other types of music. She actually ended up taking a 10 year hiatus, struggling with addiction before coming back to perform for the 1984 Summer Olympics. The 90's saw her releasing some more music, being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and the win of her first Grammy. She kept up with all that, seeing more albums and awards through the last leg of her career, as well as releasing her autobiography. She had Alzheimer's, but ultimately it was leukemia that took her. I know it sounds horrible to say, but anything is better than Alzheimer's. It's hell to watch someone go through that and it's hell on the people taking care of someone they love who has no idea who they are. Anyway, she lived an amazing life, and if you're curious you should look into her more.

Peace.

Year 5, Day 137

Hello, today I give you I Will Always Love You by Whitney Houston.

Whitney Houston started out in a gospel choir, and got a really good music education from her mom who was a gospel singer. She would hang out at some of the clubs when he mom performed, and would even join her on stage for a song or two. A talent scout saw them sing together one night, and recruited her into modeling, which she made quite the career at. She did some vocals on the side while modeling. In 1983, once again someone saw her performing with her mom, a record guy this time, and she was offered a worldwide recording contract. Fun Fact: she is actually the cousin of Dionne Warwick, and her "aunt" (like how your parents best friends were your aunts and uncles) is Aretha Franklin, both of whom I have slated to show you in a couple days. Her debut album was released in 1985, earning her immediate success, and winning her seven awards in the next two years. Her second album had lots of success too, but critics wanted to see more growth from her. Her third album gave that growth in the sound, but didn't please everyone. In 1991, Whitney performed the national anthem at the Superbowl and despite controversy of lip syncing, her performance is considered the standard that others singers should aspire to. I'll admit that I, as a young-ish child, saw her in The Bodyguard and so thought she had died then. Her character was basically her just with a different name so my dumb brain was all "oh she was shot, how sad" and moved on. I didn't quite grasp the concept of acting yet I guess. I could go on and on about her long career until she really did die in 2012, but then this post will be mega huge. So let's just leave off on a few other key things from her life. She was a big advocate for charities throughout her career which is very inspiring, and even led to her meeting with the president about an action plan for one of her causes. And she married Bobby Brown who was a talented musician in his own right. So there you have it!

Peace.

Year 5, Day 136

Hey guys. So today's song is Proud Mary by Ike and Tina Turner.

I'm out of the musical week, but the last song was a pretty soulful, powerful number, so I thought I'd continue that trend with some impressive vocals. I've always wondered why only one of them had a last name is the duo title, but I was mistaken, they both have the last name Turner because they were married. Who knew? (Probably everyone, I just suck.) So Ike was originally in a group called the Kings of Rhythm and met Tina (named Anna Mae Bullock) when she came to one of the shows. Fun Fact: she didn't start with Ike. She actually dated and had a kid with the saxophone player in the band. Her music career came around by him putting her on a track of his after the artist he wrote it for never showed up. He knew she could sing because he'd brought her on stage before then. The studio loved it and convinced him to keep her voice, so Ike dubbed her Tina Turner and the background singers The Ikettes, then trademarked it so she couldn't run off with the name. They became a duo, they started sleeping together (even though Ike said it felt like sleeping with his sister), and they got married (although Ike basically said it didn't count). So far in the story, Ike sounds like a douche. As they got more famous, things got harder for them. Ike started doing cocaine and Tina attempted suicide at least once. Tina won a solo Grammy, then was nominated for a second when both of them were doing solo projects. By 1976, Tina had managed to get herself in a better place mentally by discovering religion, while Ike was so far into his cocaine abuse that he burned a hole through his septum. They were looking into a new record deal that Ike planned to sign, which would tie her to him for another five years, but they got in a huge brawl (best term I can use) which led to her escaping in the night and divorcing him. Ike apparently believes she egged that fight into existence so she could leave him. Honestly though, the more I read about him, the more I think he's full of shit. They fought in the divorce settlement (of course) but in exchange for the stage name, Tina gave up all financial earnings of which there was a shit ton. Both their careers took a hit, and while Ike struggled to make it work around his drug problem, Tina (obviously) made such a comeback that she became a legitimate record breaker. He signed the rights to portray him over to have their life story made into a biopic (he says against his will) and after that his musical contributions were ignored because he was only ever known for the domestic violence he put her through over their whole career.Ike died in 2007.At that point the two hadn't talked in decades and honestly? Fuck him. Manipulative, controlling bastard. I've never really known anything about Tina Turner until I looked up her life story for this and I find I have so much respect for her. I, myself, have never been in an abusive relationship (never been in any relationships, but whatever) but I have lived in a house where domestic violence was an issue when I was in high school. It's a shitty situation and all you can really do is wait for the abused to decided enough is enough, and I'm glad she had the strength to get the fuck out of there eventually. Man, this is a long one... okay well I'll shut up now so you can enjoy the song.

Peace.

Year 5, Day 135

Hi. Today's song is And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going from Dreamgirls.

I haven't seen Dreamgirls, but it's on my list. It's actually kind of crazy that I haven't seen it yet considering it's based on the music industry following the career of a singing trio. The book was written Tom Eyen and music by Henry Krieger.  They first started working together in 1975 when converting a play called The Dirtiest Show in Town written by Eyen into a musical. A singer's performance in that inspired them to work on what would become Dreamgirls. This show is pretty notable for being a mostly African American cast. Broadway has the problem that most other entertainment products do in that its very white-centric. This show (along with In the Heights, and famously Hamilton) creates a place for people typically cast in minority roles. The show premiered on Broadway in 1981 and has had tour runs pretty consistently since then. Most people are more familiar with the movie adaption starring Jennifer Hudson. That's where the clip is from too. She impressed a lot of people with her role in this and its easy to see why. Hope you enjoy the song!

Peace.

Year 5, Day 134

Hello everybody. So today's song is Maybe This Time from Cabaret.

Okay I will admit this is the one musical on this list currently that I have not seen. I have every intention of watching it, but you need to be in the right mood to watch musicals or else you'll hate them. It's also why I try to refrain myself from forcing people to watch musicals with me if they don't want to. Anyway, let's get into the history. Cabaret is based off of a play called I Am A Camera written by John Van Druten in 1951. His play was based on a book called Goodbye To Berlin written by Christopher Isherwood in 1939. Now Cabaret came about in 1966 with music & lyrics done by John Kander and Fred Ebb respectively, and the book was written by Joe Masteroff. It started out on Broadway and after a successful run went on a National Tour across the States. Not long after that tour the show came to London on the West End. That was in 1968. After that we didn't see any live shows for a little over a decade, but they did make it into a movie which is what most people think of when they think Cabaret. They started doing revivals of the play in the 80's and have been doing that back and forth between Broadway and the West End since. Now like I said I haven't seen it, but the concept of cabaret (not the musical, but the style of performance) has always intrigued me so this one is going to say on my 'to watch' list. Hopefully soon.

Peace.

Year 5, Day 133

Hi. Today's song is Take Me Or Leave Me from Rent.

Rent started out from the dream of Billy Aronson to make a musical out of La Bohème, an opera, and have it based in New York. A year into working on the concept, Jonathon Larson started to collaborate on the project, and they wrote some of the music together. It was Larson's idea to call the show Rent, and it was his idea to set it up around poverty, homelessness, and the LGBT community. In 1991, Larson asked Aronson for permission to take the concept of Rent and make it his own. He worked on it for years while working at a diner, writing hundreds of songs but eventually settling on 42. He did a stage reading for the show in 1993 with the New York Theatre Workshop and he realized he's have to rework it so it wasn't as long and complicated. By 1996 the musical had gotten to the stage of final rehearsals before debuting off-Broadway. Before previews could start Larson died, and the very first preview of the show ended up being a sing through in his honor. The show became so popular it moved to Broadway the very same year and the rest is history really. I will never get over the fact that Larson never got the chance to see his masterpiece become a reality. It's too horrible for words, and every time I sing one of the songs, or cry watching it I send a little thank you up to him for the amazing gift this show it.

Peace.

Year 5, Day 132

What's Up. Today's song is All That Jazz from Chicago.

Chicago didn't start as a musical, originally it was a play written by Maurine Dallas Watkins, who was a reporter during the era when the world became obsessed with female killers. In the 20's women were starting to use their sexuality as a tool, and many women were acquitted by all male juries for their crimes. Watkins was assigned to two of these cases specifically, from which the characters were based. Those were the trials of Beulah Annan (Roxie Hart) and Belva Gaertner (Velma Kelly). Her columns on the trial became so popular that she chose to write the play. The play ended up on Broadway in 1926 and had 172 performances. It then sparked two movies Chicago (1927) and Roxie Hart (1942) before Bob Fosse's wife suggested it would be a good musical. Watkins repeated declined his offer to buy it, but he obtained the rights with some others when she died. Josh Kander and Fred Ebb wrote the music, while Fosse and Ebb did the book. The musical was originally on Broadway in 1975 but had been done over, over, and over again. I would list every instance, but there is just so many. The musical was made into a movie in 2002 where this song comes from. I love the movie, but I have also seen a production of Chicago when it toured in my city. You guys know I love musicals, but if I've actually seen it live that means I really love it. I hope you will too.

Peace.

Year 5, Day 131

Hey everyone. So today's song is Big Fun from Heathers: The Musical.

The Heathers is not as big as the other musicals, but it is one of my new all time favorites. It's based off of the 1988 film Heathers, with Laurence O'Keefe and Kevin Murphy developing both the book and the music. They started with a table reading and performing it as a concert in 2010, but it wasn't until 2013 when the show gained success with it's first true shows for a two month run in LA. They moved to off-Broadway in the same year with some of the same cast including Barrett Wilbert Weed reprising her role as Veronica. They did a cast album in 2014, and their off-Broadway run ended not long after. Since then the show has been done in San Francisco, St. Louis, Sydney, and off the West End. I have more songs from the musical saved to put up, but I figured I'd start with a group number. Hope you enjoy it.

Peace.

Year 5, Day 130

Hey. Today I give you Sweet Transvestite from The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Yes, more Rocky Horror Picture Show. What do you want from me, it's weird and I like it. The musical was created by Richard O'Brien who wrote it to keep himself busy while trying to get acting gigs. It basically came around because he wanted to find a way to roll all of his favorite things up into one great mashup. He didn't actually intend for it to be as centered around transvestitism as it ended up, but sometimes that's just how writing goes. O'Brien ended up bringing the unfinished work to Jim Sharman (who he's worked with on Jesus Christ Superstar). The show officially began in 1973 and kept moving on and up to bigger and better theatres with it's increased popularity. The movie adaption was made in 1975 and had both Richard O'Brien and Tim Curry in it (who were also playing roles in the live shows). It became known as a midnight movie, being played late at the Waverly Theatre allowing fans to come dressed as the characters and the trend quickly spread throughout the States. The midnight movie tradition has kept up, since the first time I saw it was in the middle of the night close to Halloween. Now it's become something of a cult classic. I may be most geared towards the movie version of this one, but I should mention that it has one of the longest lists of productions of any of the musicals I'm showcasing this week. So both versions are pretty damn popular. Hope you check it out.

Peace.

Year 5, Day 129

Hello, so today's song is Greased Lightning from Grease.

This begins our musical week! I have so many songs from musical saved to showcase on here, which for anyone who knows me knows that's not surprising, but I'm going to try and split them up over the next couple years. I am grouping them together here though so that if you are an individual who hates musicals with a passion you can just take the week off. So Grease the musical was written by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey, and if any of you know The Outsiders, you know why it's called Grease. It was written to subvert 50's tropes and it actually does a pretty good job while also dealing with some serious issues. It was first performed in 1971 in a nightclub and eventually moved on to theatres and then to Broadway, having the longest Broadway run by 1980. The movie saw some changes to plot and adding songs written by John Farrer, changes that have in some cases been added to revivals of the musical. We don't talk about Grease 2 because like Jim Jacobs, I do not approve of it, so let's all pretend it doesn't exist. I've actually seen a production of Grease when I went to California in school and it was awesome. I highly recommend it to anyone whose interested.

Peace.

Year 5, Day 128

Hey guys. Today's song is Footloose by Kenny Loggins.

Sorry I was going to do a whole blurb on Kenny Loggins today but there was some family drama going on to distract me. Not my family for once which is strange but it still messed up my timeline. My sleep schedule is completely messed up so I'm just getting ready for bed now (it's actually better today that it has been but whatever) so I wanted to quickly get at least something posted so I didn't end up missing a day. Most of you should know this song already considering it's become its own pop culture reference. I would say it's on the same level as Simple Minds with Don't You. I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but it seems wrong not to point out on the day I'm showcasing this song that Kevin Bacon now hides from it at weddings. I find that hilarious... but I'd do the same thing honestly. And also guys, I just checked and Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon is still running! Amazing. Hope that keeps you entertained for awhile.

Peace.

Year 5, Day 127

Morning. Today's song is I'm So Excited by The Pointer Sisters.

I wanted this song for today because I find the juxtaposition of it's general mood versus mine to be hilarious. What can I say, I get my kicks where I can. It's a combination of the move, the snow that is falling yet again (we should have had our last snowfall a month ago) and the fact that I've been getting little to no sleep that's harshing my mood. I at least have something to focus on that isn't about me and that's helping my sister with her new training. She's started a new job, moving on and up from the airport and the study material she has to go over in a two week period is crazy! She'll still have months of training after it, but they are shoving as much knowledge down their throats as they can. It's overwhelming even for someone who loves learning as much as she does so I'm trying to help at least break it up into memorable chunks. So much to do. Wish me luck!

Peace.

Year 5, Day 126

Hi. So today's song is Valerie by Mark Ronson featuring Amy Winehouse.

The sweet order of my belongings is ruined and I've descended into chaos. Nothing has a home anymore and my anxiety and OCD do not like it! I at least have the furniture feng shui'd into the best set up it can be for the room, but I have so much stuff! I even purged about half of what I own before moving and still there is so much. Granted a large chunk is family photo albums that I deemed neither of my parents worthy of keeping so they're just mine now, but that adds up to like 20 photo albums currently sitting haphazardly on my shelves... and there is still two boxes of more of them in my car. Ugh I hate moving. I'm trying to stay positive about it so we've got this awesome song because everyone needs a little more Amy Winehouse in their lives. And Mark Ronson is a genius so it's all around perfect.

Peace.

Year 5, Day 125

Hello. Today's song is Girl On Fire by Alicia Keys.

So this is my last night in my home. I'm moving. This really should be a good thing, but I don't actually want to move. Long story short some shit went down in my family and it seemed like the smartest decision for me to fly the nest so to speak, so I will no longer live with my grandparents. It'll be weird. There house has always been my safe space that I ended up running to any time the shitstorm that is my parents turned my life upside down (which happened way more than it should have) but I wont be able to do that anymore. Instead I'm moving in with my sister and her fiance. She of course is absolutely ecstatic about this considering she's been trying to convince me to move in with her since high school. And her fiance is cool with it too, he's basically family already, although it's going to be hella weird either way. This shouldn't be a surprise but I'm the kind of person who doesn't like change. So wish me luck!

Peace.

Year 5, Day 124

Hey guys. So today's song is If I Were A Boy by Beyonce.

Yes, more Beyonce. If Anna was still reading this blog she'd probably be screaming ALL THE BEYONCE at this point. (We'll see if she ever catches back up because this will goad her into commenting lol) Unlike her I am not part of the group who thinks Queen B is the end all be all of music, but she has way too many amazing songs not to give credit where credit is due. Credit today though goes to the writers of this song: BC Jean and Toby Gad. BC is also a singer, and she had originally recorded it but it got rejected by the studio, then Beyonce picked it up and wanted it as a single. There was some tension around that, but obviously it all worked out. The way Beyonce sings it is awesome, but I find myself a little curious about how it would sound with BC instead.

Peace.

Year 5, Day 123

Hey. Today I give you The Only Exception by Paramore.

This is old Paramore so this was before the line up change happened. It was actually after the album this song is from that Josh Farro ended up leaving stating that Hayley was using the group as her solo project and the rest of them were riding on the coattails of her dream. Which honestly fuck him. Yeah Paramore has always been synonymous with Hayley Williams because she was what made the group different from every other group. At the time it was kind of unheard of to be fronted by a female. So yes without her you probably never would have gotten into the business on the level that you did, but you don't need to be so openly butthurt about it. Clearly she wasn't all bad if you spent six years playing with her, and your brother rejoined the band even after you both quit. I don't get band drama, I really don't. Unless someone is a total monster you really don't need to air your dirty laundry and criticisms to the public. It just seems childish to be so unprofessional. But that's my opinion, what do you think?

Peace.

Year 5, Day 122

Morning. So today's song is Clouds by Before You Exit.

These guys are a band from Florida, and have been around since 2007. It's a family band made up of three brothers: Connor McDonough, Riley McDonough, and Toby McDonough. Originally it was Connor and Riley with two other guys named Braiden Wood and Thomas Silvers. They had been called soulbinder39 until Wood's mom gave them their current name. It's meant to be a short version of the band's motto which is "make a difference before you exit." Their first EP was released in 2009, then they toured with All Time Low in 2010 and 2011 before releasing their second EP. After that they tried X Factor, but decided it wasn't their kind of thing, toured with Allstar Weekend, and then in 2012 the younger brother joined the band. They released another EP in 2013 and did a bunch more touring. Wood left the band in 2014 to go solo, and then the band started doing their own tours including some with Christina Grimmie. And yeah, it was these shows that they were doing when she was killed. This song that I'm showcasing is dedicated to her. Which makes me want to cry because I'm still not over that asshole and the fact that so many artists have been taken out before their time by "crazed fans." This is why I give no sympathy to fans complaining that their favorite stars wont do meetups or pictures or autographs anymore. They deserve their safety too and in this social media society we have, their privacy is destroyed even if someone's intentions are pure. Damn I shouldn't have gone on a tangent, but it's frustrating. Anyway! They've done more touring since and released some more songs, as well as collaborated on writing with some influential people, and that brings us up to now in their careers. You may have noticed I didn't explicitly mention when their other friend left the band, and it's because he hasn't. Not really. He was absent for one of the tours but I think is still technically around? I don't know though, it's complicated. Well that's enough for today, I hope you like the song and I will see you tomorrow.

Peace.

Year 5, Day 121

Hi everyone. Today's song is Saturn by Sleeping At Last.

So Sleeping At Last is a little bit like Panic! At The Disco in terms of how their members have evolved. They started out as a band in 1999 and were made up of Ryan O'Neal, Chad O'Neal, and Dan Perdue. They released their debut album in 2000, then got signed with Interscope and released a second album through them in 2003. After that the band went independent again to releasing more albums, one in 2006 and one in 2009. Now I think of Panic! because after those four albums were out, everyone but Ryan left the band. When they left rather than going solo under his own name, Ryan retained the band name and has been releasing EP's and singles since. I really appreciate it because it sucks when a band you like suddenly disappears off the face of the earth. At least with keeping the name casual fans know how to find you. That's my thought anyway, what do you guys think?

Peace.

Year 5, Day 120

Hello. Today's song is You Don't Know by Katelyn Tarver.

I apparently knew Katelyn before I knew her music, because when I was younger and less inclined to care about what I watched on TV I watched Big Time Rush. It was about music, that was basically the only standard I had. Anyone who'd been following this blog will remember that time in my life because I'm 87% sure I blogged a song from it at some point. It was a pleasant surprise to connect her with her music because she's incredible. She's an American singer and got her start on American Juniors, although she didn't make it all the way to the end. She's released an album and two EP's as of now, and has also toured with Honor Society, who I've shown to you guys a few years ago. It seems that she's been doing more for her music career than her acting career the last few years so expect to hear more from her.

Peace.

Year 5, Day 119

Hey guys, so today's song is Rain by The Script.

I've shown them to you before, but I don't think I did my spiel so just in case: these guys are an Irish rock band made up of  Danny O'Donoghue, Mark Sheehan, and Glen Power. Danny and Mark had been friends since they were kids, and ended up the boy band MyTown before they moved back to Dublin an formed The Script. You can imagine my mortification right now about legitimately being able to sing MyTown and The Script songs and yet not ever connecting them. I will now though, geez. The three of them have been together since 2001, but were signed in 2005, releasing their first EP that year. Their debut album came out in 2008 and went straight to number one in the UK. Their top charting songs also came with a shit ton of awards, and they have been writing, collaborating, and releasing incredible albums since, with the last one being released last year. They're currently touring for that latest album around the world right now. Anyway hope you guys like the song, and if you do check out their other stuff.

Peace.

Year 5 Day 118

Morning. Today I give you Teen Idol by Marina and the Diamonds.

This is another one that I've been waiting on for awhile because it's almost too good to use. If that makes sense? Probably not. Anyway, Marina and the Diamonds is the stage name for Marina Lambrini Diamandis and is and artist from England. She found her love of music while in school thanks to a very inspiring music teacher. After that the idea of becoming a singer was all she wanted so she did what was needed to earn money for a move to London. Marina did move to London at tried a bunch of different avenues to get into the music business from going to school for it, to auditioning for musical and PR Reps. It never really worked out, so instead she switched to focusing on writing her own music. She was always good with lyrics, but she also taught herself piano, and proceeded to record some demos with a keyboard and GarageBand. Those were released on MySpace and garnered the attention of 14 different labels. She's done incredibly well for herself despite self-identifying as "uncommercial". While she's currently on a break to get some distance from her persona for Electra Heart (her last album where this song is from) I'm looking forward to anything she chooses to make in the future. I hope you guys check her out.

Peace.

Year 5, Day 117

Hi. Today's song is At War by Letters From The Fire.

This one actually found me thanks to Facebook. I've been trying to find a good place to put this one because of the new music I've found, new artists I didn't know before these guys are in the top ten. I honestly played this song on a loop for three hours when I first heard it. They formed in 2012 officially, although an earlier iteration named Park Lane was around since 2007. They released an EP in 2014, and an album in 2016 followed pretty quickly by a tour with another artist I've featured named Lacey Sturm. This song is from their first album; and they are currently working on a second one, but they have a different singer now. I know the band is the culmination of the guitarists and bassist's vision more than anyone else because their the only originals left, but it is notoriously hard to switch out singers and still be considered the same group. It has a lot to do with the fact that that voice is what everyone associates the music with (example being that I can't think Linkin Park without thinking of Chester) so I'm very curious to see what will happen with their new singer. Regardless this song saves a little moment in time where perfection happened and I hope it effects you as much as it did me.

Peace.

Year 5, Day 116

Afternoon. Today's song is Forgotten City by Lindsey Stirling.

You guys had to be expecting this after showing off violinists yesterday. You can't talk about violin anymore without it becoming synonymous of Lindsey Stirling, and if that isn't a symbol of how well her career has been going, I don't know what is. I know I've talked about her career before so I'm just going to give my opinion on a bunch of useless information this time because... well why not. This song was made for a video game which honestly is a great move as far as her career goes because she's been doing covers of video game music for years and killing it, so her making her own tracks and then essentially selling them to game companies is genius. I'm surprised it took this long actually. Since we're talking about Lindsey I have to mention her Dancing With The Stars stuff. I can't remember if I talked about it before (and I'm way too lazy to go back and read through 1500 posts) so I wanted to mention her insanely awesome performance with her violin, and how her dancing has improved by a huge margin from when she was part of Dance On through YouTube. You can see what I mean if you look at this versus this. Obviously it's different types of dancing and I am in love with both her partners, but you can tell she feels more comfortable. Anyway I love her and I'll never get tired of her so expect more eventually.

Peace.

Year 5, Day 115

Hi guys. Today's song is A Flat by Black Violin.

I have been waiting so long to find the right place to put this song up, so the placement does it justice, and when I was getting the post for Kevin ready yesterday, it hit me like a brick. Perfect segue into these guys considering both the songs are based around string instruments. So this is a duo from Florida, made up of Kevin Sylvester and Wilner Baptiste, although they go by Kev Marcus and Wil B. They were high school friends who reconnected after college and formed this group. Kev plays the violin, getting into it when his mom enrolled him after he got into some trouble. Wil plays the viola, which was actually an accident. He wanted to play sax but got put into the wrong classes. Their name is inspired by the last work of jazz violinist Hezekiah Leroy Gordon Smith, otherwise known as Stuff Smith. They originally wanted to function in the same way as Timbaland, but after doing some shows realized that they enraptured the audience on their own and didn't need to collaborate with singers. I found them thanks to Pitch and I'm so glad for that because every song I've heard by them is epic. I hope you think so too.

Peace.

Year 5, Day 114

Hiya. So today's song is Renegade by Kevin Olusola.

Last day for Pentatonix stuff! I left Kevin until the last day because I anticipated it being the longest one of them all. Mostly because it's so surprising to me, and he's such an underappreciated part of the group. You know, on the group videos I always see people talking about Kirstin, Mitch, Scott and Avi (I'm guilty of that last one) but Kevin doesn't get as much love as he deserves. Not only is he an incredible master of sound with the beatboxing he's known for, but he's a fantastic musician all around. His singing voice is beautiful, with a huge range that I'm jealous of, and he's amazing when he plays the cello (plus he also plays the piano, and the alto saxophone). He probably could have had a career as a classical musician if he wanted it. He was actually going to Yale to be a doctor when he decided to focus on music instead. He did a year abroad in China, and when he came back enrolled at Berklee School of Music. He filmed his Julie-O cover during his senior year there, and it quickly went viral online. The rest is history. And I know I already gave one song above, but I also want to show you another one where you can see the breakdown. He truly is an incredible musician and I hope you guys all go subscribe to him.

Peace.

Year 5, Day 113

Hi. Today's song is the Disney Love Medley by Voctave featuring Kirstin and Jeremy Michael Lewis.

Again, this is another technically not Pentatonix song because of the main artist, but it is something I love and features Kirstin so it's going here. Voctave is an a capella group that is the brainchild of a man named James Ray. It formed from singers in the Voices of Liberty who frequently sing at Epcot. James creates the arrangements, and Voctave is formed with the singers that work best for the sound the music needs. It's not a career for them, but more a hobby that they love. They formed by accident, and it's important to them that it remain something free and fun rather than becoming a strategic career move. This video features Kirstin and Jeremy, who is her fiance. Which is absolutely adorable, and they look madly in love in the video so there you go. I know everyone listens to this and is always about the high note, but as an alto I must say that alto harmony is fantastic. It's an amazing arrangement that I know you guys will love as much as I do.

Peace.

Year 5, Day 112

Morning. Today's song is Break A Little by Kirstin.

I'm not putting her last name because it seems like she's branding to be a one name artist, so we're going to follow her lead on that. She's originally a musical theatre kid, which I'm really not surprised by. And that will serve her well since she's joining the cast of Kinky Boots for a bit this year. Once again this is a different vibe from Pentatonix and the other solo stuff the guys are doing. With everyone doing their own stuff you can see how their musical influences change. The same thing happened with One Direction and it always fascinates me. We get so used to referring to groups as one entity, but they do all have different tastes. It's cool to see it. I hope you think so too.

Peace.

Year 5, Day 111

Hey guys. Today I give you Fields and Pier by Avriel and The Sequoias.

So this is Avi's stuff that is the main thing he's doing now. Not going to lie, Avi was always my favorite in the group. I'm a sucker for basses and with the throat singing? Ugh. Especially because I have tried to learn how to throat sing, it is fucking hard! Like yesterday's song, I can say this music has a different feel to the Pentatonix songs. While those ones are pretty mainstream pop, this is folk music. So it's a little more chill, the kind of thing you relax to. And it allows Avi to showcase his awesome vocal range, proving he's more than just the base for someone else. I always felt kind of bad for bases in choir because they would have maybe three notes in any given song, and this to me feels like a triumph for anyone who sings the low part. I can't wait to hear more.

Peace.