Year 8, Day 215

Hey guys. Today's song is What I Like by Dan Olsen.

Dan Olsen is a Danish musician, although now he is based in England. He is actually from the Faroe Islands, which while technically is a part of Denmark, is a self-governing body within the kingdom and operates mostly independently from the rest of Denmark. He started off playing classical guitar, but was mostly focused on football rather than music. It was when he moved to Australia to finish his degree when he started to pick up on his music, writing and performing in his off time. After graduating he decided to focus on music full-time, and that's when he moved to England. I don't have an official bio on him beyond what's listed on his website, but his social media presence was all started in 2014 and he's been releasing songs pretty consistently since then. So if you like what you hear, go check him out.

Peace.

Year 8, Day 214

Hey guys. Today's song is Starting Line by Luke Hemmings.

Luke Hemmings is an Australian musician active since 2011. He started out busking, after learning guitar from his brothers, YouTube tutorials, and from some professional lessons. He started posting covers on YouTube, which got popular. Then he invited his two friends Calum Hood and Michael Clifford to join him. Eventually they were also joined by their other friend Ashton Irwin. These four would go on to be 5 Seconds of Summer. They had spent months posting covers, and got a gig in their hometown bar before earning the interest of the labels, getting a record deal and releasing five albums as a band with the first in 2014 and the most recent from 2022. On top of music, Hemmings also is a model, and is signed with a modeling company and was featured in a lot in 2019, along with walking the Runway at New York Fashion Week that year. Obviously Hemmings also has a solo career, as evidenced by the song for today. He released his debut solo album in 2021, which is where this song is from, and I'm betting there will be more in the future, so keep an eye out.

Year 8, Day 213

Hey guys. Today's song is All Eyes On Me by Bo Burnham.

Yes it's more from Bo Burnham. His stuff is an instant yes always, ever since I found him when I was in high school. I know Bo is considered a musical comic, but there is really no specific box to put him in. He is an artist. Producing, editing, writing, and performing something with this much depth as what we see throughout Inside is beyond most people's capabilities and I will never stop admiring him for creating something that I think we all relate to. Especially right now. Let's be honest, the world sucks right now. It is a huge dumpster fire and we're all just trying to get through it, and expression like this I think helps us release some of that built up stress and anxiety without completely sticking our heads in the sand to what's happening. I'll say it again: If you haven't seen Inside yet (make sure you are in the right head space for it) and go watch it. You wont regret it.

Peace.

Year 8, Day 212

Hey guys. Today's song is It's Alright by Mother Mother.

Mother Mother is a Canadian band active since 2005 and currently made up of Ryan Guldemond, Molly Guldemond, Ali Siadat, Jasmin Parkin, and Mike Young with past members being Kenton Lowin, Debra-Jean Creelman, and Jeremy Page. Originally started by Ryan, the beginning group was the Guldemond sibling along with Creelman, playing acoustically before being joined by Loewen and Page and performing as Mother. They independently released their first album in 2005, and after receiving a nod form a Vancouver newspaper their popularity began to skyrocket. They got a couple concert spots with some other big names and played some festivals before earning a record deal in 2006. This is also when they changed the name to Mother Mother to avoid any legal issues. They re-released their album in 2007 with the label, followed by another album in 2008. Lowin left the group around this time (I don't know if it was before or after the album) and was replaced with Siadat. Shortly after this Creelman left the group, replaced with Parkin. They released another album in 2011, followed by another in 2012, then signed a new record deal prior to releasing their next album in 2014. They did some touring in between albums, before Page left the group in 2016, being replaced by Young. The group released an album in 2017, followed quickly by another album in 2018 and a North American tour through 2019. Through 2020 the band's popularity spiked again, thanks to a TikTok trend and became a sort of anthem for the non-binary community, which Ryan Guldemond describes as a huge honour. The group had actually planned on not making anymore music after that, they did a pandemic album which was released in 2021. Since then they have gone back on tour through 2022 and released a Christmas song. While this song is not from their pandemic album, I do find it as a comfort and sometimes find myself just singing it to myself if I'm having a day. So hopefully it'll resonate with you as well.

Peace.

Year 8, Day 211

Hey guys. Today's song is If He Wanted To He Would by Johnny Olrando.

Photo from: Laucole

This song is already at the top of the list for my most favourite finds this year; it's truly incredible how many times I've listened to it since YouTube suggested it. So Johnny Orlando is a Canadian musician, active since 2011 when he started his own YouTube channel (which seems to be a trend with his siblings). His first song cover went viral, so he continued to post covers with the help of his sister and brother for filming and editing. He released his first EP in 2015 before getting signed in 2018 and releasing another EP in 2019. He did a North American tour for that EP, also in 2019, then released a third in 2020. As of now he has a debut album that was released in 2022, and I see big things in his future because he's clearly very talented. So if this is your first time being introduced to him, I hope you enjoy it and share it with your friends.

Peace.

Year 8, Day 210

Hey guys. Today's song is Ghosted by Jeremy Shada.

Alright I have featured Jeremy enough times by now that you should know his backstory without me repeating it over again. This is one of his newer songs and even though it sounds like a relationship song, the picture for it gives me Julie and the Phantoms vibes (and yes I'm still upset that they cancelled that show.) So once again I'll say watch it if you haven't yet. On another note, I haven't been watching much of anything lately because I've been trying to do lots of reading for the book journal I'm testing out doing this year. As of right now, which is a few days behind when this post will actually come out, I'm on my 14th book of the year so far. I've got some different goals I'm trying to hit, but I'm loosely aiming for about 16 books a month? It's pretty doable for me depending on the type of book I'm reading so we'll have to see when I'm done. Wish me luck and good luck to you on anything you're trying to tackle this year.

Peace.

Year 8, Day 209

Hey guys. Today's song is Someone Else by ClockClock.

ClockClock is a German group active since 2017 and made up of Fabian Fieser, Mark Vonsin, and Bojan Kalajdzic. They released a couple singles in 2017 before entering a talent competition in 2018 offered by the Popakademie Baden-Württemberg which gives acts coaching and training in Mannheim, offered to help steer their careers. I assume that they were awarded one of the spots, since the group did end up moving to Mannheim in 2018, further releasing singles continuing up until now. This is one of their most recent songs, being released in 2022, so give it a listen and if you like what you hear go check out their other stuff.

Peace.