Year 8, Day 7

Hey guys. Today's song is If You Know That I'm Lonely by Fur.

So I don't really know much about these guys. All I know is they are a UK band made up of four people and that they seems to have at least two albums, one of them released recently which is probably where this song is from. It's easy to see a mellow British four piece and say they remind you of the Beatles, but it's true. At the same time they make me think of the Paper Lions stylistically a bit as well. So check them out and see if this is your kind of thing.

Peace.

Year 8, Day 6

Hey guys. Today's song is The Adults Are Talking by The Strokes.

Photo from: Raph_PH

The Strokes are a rock band active since 1998 and made up of Julian Casablancas, Nikolai Fraiture, Albert Hammond Jr, Fabrizio Moretti, and Nick Valensi. It started with Casablancas, Valensi, and Moretti playing together, then they brought in the other two. They started in clubs before making a demo that started a label bidding war for them, before releasing their debut album in 2001. Since then they've released five more albums, with the most recent out in 2020 after not doing on since 2013. They spent most of the time between 2013 and 2017 on various tours, before taking a two year break and coming back in 2019. Since their album release in 2020, they've mostly been doing performances in support of various American political candidates, which is kind of an interesting segway for a band. I can't say I'm surprised given the insanity that has been American politics as of that, but it's interesting to see non-political people getting more politically active publicly. Anyways, hope you enjoy today's song! 

Peace.

Year 8, Day 5

Hey guys. Today's song is Help! by The Beatles.

Photo by: Eric Koch

 So The Beatles was a British band made up of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. The group only lasted ten years, from 1960 until 1970, but they all did solo stuff as well. In the early formation of the band there were other members that didn't last, and those people are Pete Best, Stuart Sutcliffe, Chas Newby, Norman Chapman, and Tommy Moore; plus one touring drummer named Jimmie Nicol. The Beatles led the British Invasion (of music). The British invasion basically means that in America suddenly British culture was becoming popular. The same thing happened a few years ago when suddenly the American music market was flooded with Raggaeton music from artists popular in Latin America. The British Invasion though was huge and unheard of at the time. Over the decade, the Beatles released 13 albums and one compilation album, and most of those songs are still popular today. They are the best-selling band in history and basically set every possible record there is, which have only in recent years started to get surpassed by others. You probably already know this song, but let's enjoy it today anyway.

Peace.

Year 8, Day 4

Hey guys. Today's song is Cringe by Matt Maeson.

So the version I'm showing of this song is the stripped down one, but there is an official one here if you want it. Matt Maeson is a singer active since 2016 when his debut single, this song, came out. He's a bit of a legacy performer, as his parents were in Christian metal bands. After his single, he released an EP in 2017, followed by another in 2018, before his debut album came out in 2019. That year was also when this song started to hit the top of the charts, going gold in 2020. He got featured on Illenium's album in 2021, but other than that there hasn't been anything too recent so we'll see what happens. 

Peace.

Year 8, Day 3

Hey guys. Today's song is Fools by Lauren Aquilina.

Photo from: POPDUST

Lauren Aquilina is an English singer, active since 2011. She started with some recording of her performing at an open mic night, which earned her a manager, then a cover song done for charity, followed by her first EP released in 2012, of which this is the title song. She first did a little tour in Norway before touring in the UK in 2013. She released three EP's total before being signed in 2014, working on and releasing her debut album in 2016. That same year the album was followed by an announcement that she was done writing and performing, and that it would be her last album. She took a two year mental health break before getting inspired to rejoin the music industry in 2018, releasing a song from her upcoming EP, which was released in full in 2020 along with many other singles and another EP. She's released at least one more single so far this year, so she's still going, and I hope you give her stuff a shot. 

 Peace.

Year 8, Day 2

Hey guys. Today's song is My Heart Will Go On by Celine Dion.

Photo from: Yoyo76300

The song yesterday mentioned it, so I though why not put up some Celine Dion today since I somehow haven't featured this song yet. Now basically everyone should already know this one, since it was so famously used in the Titanic movie from James Cameron (which was made so well that I still am kinda terrified to be on a boat in the ocean), but for those not familiar with the singer (beyond name only) we'll do a little recap of her career so far. She's from Quebec and started her career as a french singer, releasing her first album in 1981, which her manager funded by mortgaging his house. It was a big success, and the next year she got started internationally by winning awards at the Yamaha World Popular Song Festival in Tokyo. She won several other awards before then being chosen to represent Switzerland in Eurovision in 1988, which she also won. And if you're sitting there wondering why a Canadian was singing for Switzerland, there is actually no rule saying a representative needs to be from that given country. Unfortunately the next year she injured her vocal chords and had to take some time to recuperate her voice. She released eight albums in french before making her english debut in 1990 with her ninth album. She has always claimed though to be a french artist, and actually turned down an english artist of the year award in 1991. This song came out in 1997 and won her two more Grammy awards, as well as an Academy Award and Golden Globe for the songwriters James Horner and Will Jennings. She released 13 albums throughout the 90's before taking a hiatus when her husband/manager received a cancer diagnosis, but she returned after the 9/11 attacks, ending a three year break. For most of the 2000's she was doing shows in Vegas which was considered risky for her career but ultimately earned her millions. She returned to the usual (album and touring) for awhile in 2007 before returning to the Vegas show scene in 2011 until 2014 when she indefinitely postponed the shows due to her husband's condition worsening, and cancelled outright after he passed away in 2016. She has been back since then with more albums, more tours, and more shows, though the fate of the latter is in flux currently because of her own health concerns. I left a lot out so this didn't go on forever, but her career as a whole is huge so if you're curious go check her out.

Peace.

Year 8, Day 1

Hey everybody. Today's song is Canadian, Please by Julia Bentley & Andrew Gunadie.

I know it's been awhile, probably one of the longest breaks that I've taken, but if you had been keeping up with me last year you'll know that it was very much needed. I can't say that things have gotten much better since then, more deaths in the family, more drama that I've been dragged into, but I'm trying to push forward and better myself with a daily routine, and I figured now is as good a time as any to comeback and throw a song up everyday as part of that. So here we go: Since today is Canada Day, I decided to go with an oldie but a goodie that I've had saved for literal years to put up. As with most things, some of the lines used are accurate and some are based off a Canadian stereotype, but as the 2010 Vancouver Olympics closing ceremony shows, Canadians lean in to the stereotypes so it works out. And considering that the entire world is going absolutely batshit right now (I'm looking at you Putin and US Congress) I'm feeling mighty proud to live where I do right now despite some of our own issues. I can at least take heart that efforts are being made by a lot of different people to try and rectify the past, which can't be said for a lot of other situations right now. Anyway, this video is up of Andrew's YouTube channel gunnarolla, and Julia has her own channel as well called honeychip if you want to check out more of their stuff.

Peace.