Year 5, Day 270

Morning. Today's song is Once Upon A Dream from Sleeping Beauty.

So this is a Disney movie made before Walt Disney died (and was the last princess movie under his tutelage) and came out in 1959. The song is sung by Mary Costa (an opera singer) and Bill Shirley (an actor who also sings). Jack Lawrence and Sammy Fain composed the score and Ward Kimball was brought on as the film composer. Fun Fact: the score for the movie was recorded in Berlin. Now I said that those guys were responsible for the scores, but truthfully most of it was inspired by or directly pulled from the Sleeping Beauty ballet where music was famously done by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Over the years this song has been redone by people associated with Disney or other Disney projects, but the original is amazing and I miss this Disney. 

Since I brought some in yesterday, I figured we'd do the favorite Disney song category today. My grandma went with M-I-C-K-E-Y-M-O-U-S-E which I've never heard of so hopefully I found the link by the time this goes up. Sammy went with When You Wish Upon A Star from Pinocchio. My mom and Will both went with the same movie. My mom chose A Whole New World from Aladdin, and Will went with One Jump from Aladdin. And with my favorite choice is Anna with Everybody Wants To Be A Cat from the Aristocats.

Peace.

Year 5, Day 269

Hey. So today's song is Let It Go by Idina Menzel.

There will now be multiple generations of people whose first introduction to Idina is this song and this movie, but I first saw her in Rent. It was actually her first professional theatre job in 1995 and first time on Broadway (but definitely not the last). After Rent she released an album, and played roles in a number of other musicals including Hair, The Vagina Monologues, and Aida. Her next big role came in 2003 when she starred in Wicked alongside Kristen Chenoweth, another Broadway legend. She won the tony for her role in that while she was only nominated for Rent. Since then she's done tons of music, lots of musicals, forayed into TV and movies and basically been everywhere. She's also been accidentally memed because of her name, but she rolled with it and played the joke up since she's a good sport. I mean most Broadway people are the just role with it type, so I'm not surprised, but I still love it. Anyway I chose this song because when singing along to Idina, you can't not belt. 

The criteria is a song you belt shamelessly. I went Disney, but my mom went radio with Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepson. My grandma went with Twist and Shout by The Beatles which is a great choice. Anna of course chose Countdown by Beyonce. Sammy went with Low by Flo Rida and Will chose I'm In A Hurry by Alabama.

Peace.

Year 5, Day 268

Hi everyone. Today's song is Single Ladies by Beyonce.

There's been a lot of her stuff on here featured over the years and I honestly can't remember if I've done an overview so I'm do a little short one to cover my bases. So the original members of Destiny's Child actually met when they were eight and put into a six girl ensemble called Girl's Tyme. From that they were put on Star Search but they didn't do well. Her dad started managing the group then, cutting it to four members and got signed, but then cut again quickly. They managed to get signed again in 1995, and started working on their album the next year. That's when the group name changed. There was some member shuffling, and that coupled with personal stuff drove Beyonce to a dark place, but she managed to come back from it. The group went on hiatus in 2001, and Beyonce started into acting and working on solo stuff. The group disbanded in 2005, and she continued to act and make music while building her relationship with Jay Z. As her popularity has grown, she's been nominated for a crazy amount of stuff, but has also shown tact and grace with how she responds to things from others (Kanye you dickhead) and tackles social issues. Her marriage has also been seen as life goals by many, but Lemonade kind of backtracked that one. They're making a comeback though and the beehive is alive and well.

Today is supposed to be a song that is overhyped. Yeah, I said it. Single Ladies is overrated, come at me! (Please don't, I'm fragile). Also Anna will destroy me when she realizes this is my answer so my reckoning will be coming. My grandma went with Rhinestone Cowboy by Glen Campbell. Then my mom chose Bubbly by Colbie Caillat, Sammy went with Havana by Camilla Cabello featuring Young Thug, and Will chose 24K Magic by Bruno Mars. Anna decided on Despacito by Luis Fonsi featuring Daddy Yankee and Justin Bieber.

Peace.

Year 5, Day 267

Hey. So today I give you Friends by Anne-Marie and Marshmello.

Anne-Marie Rose Nicholson is a British singer whose been active since 2013. She cut a demo that year, but I guess decided to mature as an artist before releasing her own stuff, so she spent some time doing guest tracks. The band Rudimental heard some of this and when one of their singers left, asked her to do some songs for them. She ended up spending the next two years touring with them. She released her debut EP in 2015 and did a couple live performances of that while working on her album. While the debut album wasn't out until this year, she's been releasing songs from it since 2016 as singles to hype it up. And it's worked. Her own stuff along with her featured vocals on Rockabye by Clean Bandit have put her career at a solid spot for her beginning. Marshmello is an American DJ. His name is Christopher Comstock, but I've literally never seen his face so we're sticking with his persona. (He also is known by Dotcom, and everyone pegged him as Marshmello before it was officially released). He actually started out on SoundCloud, posting original stuff in 2015 which got the attention of other well known performers who shared it. He released his debut album in 2016 and has since worked with a ton of people and made a huge name for himself. He released a second album last month, and while I know who he is now, I'm good with DJ's doing personas. It's kind of fun. All that matters is he makes great music and I'm eager for more.Now I've attached the official music video, but personally I like the lyric video more because the drawings of them are adorable. Check it out.

Same kind of line as yesterday, this song needs to be one with counting. We've got a variety. Going festive, my grandma chose the Twelve Days of Christmas. My mom went predictable for her with 321 by Hedley, Anna did 1234 by Feist, and Will went predictable for him with The Heretic Anthem by Slipknot. Sammy went with Seasons of Love from Rent.

Peace.

Year 5, Day 266

What's Up. Today's song is L-O-V-E by Nat King Cole.

Nathaniel Adams Coles started in music the same way a lot did at that time: in church because his family was involved. He learned to play the organ really young, but started formal lessons later at age 12. By 15 he left school to pursue music, forming a trip that recorded music for a label including stuff for a musical revival. He ended up touring with them and marrying a member of the cast. He did a lot to further things for his race with is amazing, the King Cole trio sponsored their radio show becoming the first program on air sponsored by a black musician, and a decade later he hosted the Nat King Cole Show on NBC becoming the first African American host on television. He was the one to pull the plug on the show in 1957, but the show had been failing for awhile because no one would sponsor it. He continued to thrive in the music industry singing in English and doing Spanish songs. He experimented with other genres over the years, but is mostly a jazz guy. He was married twice, the second one just six days after the divorce went through, and his second wife was actually contemplating divorce because he was having an affair when they found out he had lung cancer. He was a heavy smoker (as most people were then) and only had months to live. He continued making music, the album of the same name as this song being his last and died in 1965 (on my birthday which freaks me out). Throughout his life he had to deal with a lot of racism. Basically anything you've seen depicted as happening happened to him, but he was a strong guy and made it through. So I hope you appreciate him and the song.

Going back to simple parameters this song needed to be one with spelling in it. My grandma's response was immediate with D-I-V-O-R-C-E by Loretta Lynn, and Anna picked W-O-M-A-N by Etta James. Sammy went with the Alphabet Aerobics by Blackalicious, but I fully thought she just meant the A, B, C's so my bad Sammy. My mom went with Hollaback Girl by Gwen Stefani. Will was last and chose Simple by Florida Georgia Line.

Peace.

Year 5, Day 265

Hey everybody. Today's song is Come Fly With Me by Frank Sinatra.

Frank Sinatra was one of the most influential artists of the 20th century. He started out after getting kicked out of school and used to find odd jobs singing to pay for things. At the time he also decided to take elocution classes and his speech teacher was the first to notice his talent. He got his start in 1935 when the group the 3 Flashes let him hang around (which they only did because he had a car). He begged them to let him join for an audition they were having, and after that they became known as the Hoboken Four. They won and got a lot of attention, and eventually Sinatra became the lead singer and the one everyone noticed. In 1938 he was working as a singing waiter next to a radio station, and started performing on one of the shows. By the next year he got the opportunity to record a single and once that was heard he got signed. He was put in with the Harry James band and released songs with dismal ratings, which made him frustrated and he left to join the Tommy Dorsey band. He debuted there in 1940 and it marked a change in him and his career Dorsey took him under his wing as a father figure, and really helped Sinatra develop his craft. After a couple successful years, Sinatra convinced Dorsey to let him do solo songs which started in 1942. When Sinatra went solo for real, his relationship with Dorsey crumbled and never got fixed. He became known as Swoonatra, wooing the hearts of all the girls in a phenomenon that was unheard of at the time, even causing the Columbus Day riot. When the war came around, it was a big deal that Sinatra didn't go. Officially people were told he was unfit because of a perforated eardrum, but the truth is that he was deemed unfit after a psychiatric evaluation. He did spend a lot of time in those years performing for the troops alongside the Andrew Sisters. He spent a couple years at the height f his career releasing tons of music and playing a lot of shows before his career declined in 1950. The death of a friend, an injury, and the publicized release of his affair brought his career down. His divorce put him in debt, and caused him to go to LA to perform at a hotel. This is pretty much how Vegas shows came about. In 1953 he threw himself back into his work, both music and film, focusing on nothing else. His career made a comeback in the next couple years, and eventually he started his own music label which became highly successful and sold for millions. He continued to thrive, becoming infamous somewhere along the way before retiring in 1970, being bored of singing his old tunes. His retirement was short lived, coming back after a couple years and continuing on until his death in 1998.

This is a little different, it's a song by an artist that someone else chose for you. So Anna chose mine after I explained it to her. Sammy did Bully by Shinedown, and Will picked Radioactive by Imagine Dragons. The my grandma said North To Alaska by Johnny Horton, and my mom chose Fishin' In The Dark by Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.

Peace.

Year 5, Day 264

Hi guys. Today's song is Uptown Girl by Billy Joel.

I'm sure most people know the name, but maybe not the career. He was born to Jewish parents, and his family has a lot of music in their blood. His parents ended up splitting up, and he would take jobs playing piano at bars while going to school to help his mom make ends meet. When he failed to graduate (because of the playing) he decided to just skip it and foray into his music career. He started with a band called the Echoes, but changed the name to the Emeralds, then to the Lost Souls. He left after two years and joined a band called the Hassles who ultimately failed and then split from there to form a duo with the drummer. That group also failed when he had an affair with the drummer's wife (soon to become his first wife). He signed as a solo artist in 1970, but because of a studio fuck up his music didn't do well at first. It wasn't until people heard live versions that he started to get noticed. By 1973, he signed with (and could actually make music on) a new label, and Piano Man was born. For the next decade he popped out hits left and right, songs that are still classics today. At that point he was starting to get branded as a soft rocker which he took offense to, so he spent a couple years playing with his sound and being more adventurous in his topics. In 1983 he went back to lighter music with a tribute to the doo wop era, which is where this song comes from. The 90's saw an upheaval of the people he kept around him with most being pushed out of the picture and a couple different lawsuits for fraud being filed. By this time he was on to wife number two. By 1994 he was divorced again, and playing concerts with Elton John. Which is perfect because my brain always pairs them up. He continued touring in the 2000's and by 2007 was recording music again (which he hadn't done for 14 years at that point). He's continued on this way and still does today, so I don't know if retirement will ever be a thing for him, but he sure has had a lasting career and has shattered records. It's kind of amazing.

This one the criteria was a song that makes you happy. Mine I put a song that I know is a mood changer for me, it makes me feel instantly happy when I hear it so it was perfect for the category. My grandma went with Happy Heart by Andy Williams, and my mom chose Who Do You Love by Marianas Trench. Anna said any song by this guy, but picked All We Got by Chance The Rapper featuring Kanye West. Sammy went predictable with Shake It Off by Taylor Swift, and Will chose Feel Good Inc by Gorillaz.

Peace.