Before this week I had never heard of Kevin McGuire, so when I listened to his EP, Foreign Country, for the first time, I had no idea what to expect. The first song, titled Alright, Tonight!  is a brilliant song to open the EP with. The upbeat tempo creates a 'feel good' atmosphere that encourages the listener to keep listening, and definitely makes you excited to hear the rest of the EP.
My personal favourite on Foreign Country is definitely 3AM. This song seems quite different to the rest of the songs on this EP, as it seems a bit darker. The chorus is my favourite part, with the catchy lyrics and the faster pace, this song can't help but grab your attention. On my second listen of this song I had already found myself mouthing the lyrics without realising, demonstrating just how good it is! Easy Love is another great song on the EP. The beautiful piano combined with Kevin's voice captivates the listener, and adds even more diversity to the EP.
Overall the Foreign Country EP is brilliant, and I would definitely recommend anyone reading this to download it! I am so pleased that I discovered Kevin McGuire, and I expect him to become incredibly successful!

I love discovering new music and artists, and this week I was fortunate enough to discover Morganway, and today they released their latest EP, The Hurricane.
When I listened to Morganway for the first time, one of the things that really struck me was how their sound is different to the type of music I usually listen to. I find it hard to describe what genre Morganway would fit into, because while country may be their key genre, there is also a mix of alternative and what I believe to be a hint of pop too. While I do find it hard to say what genre they are, I definitely don't find it hard to say how much I like them! 
After listening to the first song on the EP, Devil's Canyon, I knew that I was already a fan. Their unique sound mixed with catchy lyrics and beautiful voices captivates the listener from the very start, and leaves you wanting more.  
My personal favourite on The Hurricane is My Love Ain't Gonna Save You. It's been stuck in my head since the second I listened to it, and it is definitely a song that I would choose to add to my regular playlist.
Morganway show their stunning vocals on every song throughout the EP, and manage to constantly harmonize beautifully together. I am so glad I found them and I would highly recommend anyone reading this to give their new EP a listen!

Growing up I have always listened to Take That because my mum is a big fan, so by default that made me a fan too. However as I've grown up and developed my own music taste, I was able to decide for myself if I actually liked Take That and their music. 

I have previously seen arguments about whether Take That still appeal to the younger generation, or if their fans are now all their age. I decided to look into this myself and run a Twitter poll to see what people thought. When I usually do Twitter polls the results are often very clear, however in this case the results were much closer than I would have thought. Out of 390 votes, 58% of people said that Take That do still appeal to the younger generation, while 42% said that they don't. I found this result incredibly interesting and wanted to know why people voted the way that they did. @JodieOwenTT tweeted, "I'm 16 and I ADORE Take That!! Especially Mark", and @SelinaGiGi tweeted something very similar saying, "Yes! They're epic!" Interestingly all of the replies I got were in favour of Take That, showing that they have a lot of love from people of all ages.
With this result in mind I wanted to try and work out why people voted the way that they did. Arguably Take That may not appeal as much to the younger generation anymore because a lot of young people fancy the members of their favourite band, and because of the age gap with Take That, young people might find it hard to make a connection with them. There is also a weird stigma attached to Take That that they are a band for the 'mums', which I think may put off a lot of young people from liking them because it may not seem 'cool' to like a band that's appealing to your mum. However I personally believe that Take That appeal to everyone no matter how old they are. Not only do they have incredible voices, That That are true performers who always manage to entertain and put on a breathtaking show, which is appealing to people of all ages. The music that they produce can vary greatly, but the standard of their music is always above their rivals even after years of being in the music industry.

Overall there is no denying their immense talent, and I think no matter what age you are, you can be a fan. 

​
See below the tweets in response to the Twitter poll:

This weekend Gaga performed at one of music's biggest festivals, Coachella. Taking place in California, Coachella attracts some of the biggest names in music, and while I wasn't fortunate enough to attend, I did watch Gaga's headline set live on YouTube. 
​
There is a lot of pressure for an artist to create the perfect setlist for 100,000 people in the crowd. yet Gaga managed it perfectly, as she merged all of her album eras into one mega performance. I love the fact that every album was acknowledged, and it was lovely to see some songs being performed that hadn't been performed since previous tours. For example Teeth hadn't been performed since The Monster Ball Tour in 2011! There was also a surprise performance halfway through her set of her brand new single The Cure. Usually Gaga waits a few years before releasing a new song from her new project, however the fact that Joanne was only released in October has left some fans quite confused as to whether we are still in the 'Joanne era' or not? Putting the confusion to one side though, I can honestly say The Cure is easily one of my favourite Gaga singles. With a mixture of her old sound mixed with very new production, The Cure shows the listener that despite what critics have claimed, Gaga has never really left. 
I was curious to know what other people thought, so I decided to run a Twitter poll asking if The Cure would be a hit, and out of 631 votes, 87% voted yes, while only 13% said no. People then began tweeting their reasons for voting, and the replies were all very similar. @_DanGaga_ tweeted "Best song she's released this era, radio friendly as well", while @PrincessMoses1 said, "Yes, it's such a great song!" There is clearly a lot of love for Gaga's new single, as well as he exceptional Coachella performance, and I am so excited to see what she does for Coachella's second weekend!
I have been thinking about how Gaga could top weekend one, and I am convinced that she will release something else next week, whether it's an EP, music video or a release date for new music, I think there is plenty more coming!

Overall, Gaga's legendary stage presence mixed with flawless talent made her first weekend performance at Coachella unforgettable! 
​

After a number of release date push backs, Tinie has finally released his latest album Youth. There had been a lot of hype leading up the album's release, including aYouth pop-up shop and even a Youth house party (and I was lucky enough to attend both of these events!), but was the hype really worth it?
The title track Youth opens the album with a really strong beat and captivating lyrics that appear to tell the listener a story. As soon as I heard this song I knew that this album would be his best work to date, and I definitely wasn't wrong. 
The next track on the album, Not For the Radio (feat. MNEK), is one of my personal favourites on the album. The soft start with MNEK's beautiful voice leading into Tinie's fast and catchy verse, really makes this song memorable, and I think that this pair work brilliantly together. 
The rest of the album continues to be just as excellent, with not a single song being forgettable. With so many albums there always tends to be a song that you aways skip, however on Youth I am yet to find the 'bad' song. You can tell that every track has had a lot of work and thought put into it, and it's really paid off.
Excluding the singles on Youth, to me the top five songs have to be Lightwork, Not For the Radio (feat. MNEK), Holy Moly, They Don't Know (feat. Kid Ink, Stefflon Don and AoD) and Rehab (feat. Tiggs Da Author). These songs really stand out to me for a number of reasons. If you have read any of my previous posts you would remember that I love a catchy song, which all of these are. Not only are these songs catchy, but they are all quite different from Tinie's usual work, but are still just as incredible. I believe that an artist is very talented if they are able to make a range of different songs, while still maintaining the quality of music that the fans love, and Tinie has successfully done this.
Overall the long wait for Youth has definitely been worth it! 10/10!

After taking months away from social media, Elyar is finally back with his new EP Svfari. When Elyar began his break I was quite apprehensive as to whether he would actually return, and if he did, would the wait be worth it? However, when he did finally return with the release of the song Beautiful Human, I knew that his new music would be worth the wait. Beautiful Human is completely different to anything Elyar has previously released, and you can tell how much he has grown and developed as an artist. This unique and mature sound that Elyar has embraced has a lot of potential, as I believe there is no one currently in the charts that is like him at the moment.
Yesterday when the EP was released I was both excited and curious to know what Elyar had been working so hard on, and after just one listen, I was already incredibly impressed. While the whole EP has a certain 'sound' to it, Elyar manages to make each song unique and individual, which is incredibly impressive. Judging from other EPs that I've listened to, I think it's quite hard to make all the songs stand out individually in their own right, but somehow Elyar manages to successfully do this. 
The song that  stands out to me though is Switch Your Love. This song really highlights not only his maturity, but how much he has developed as an artist to find a sound that really suits him. I also love both the lyrics and the fantastic beat in this song, which I imagine will sound incredible when performed live.
For Something You Love... is another interesting song on Svfari. Although it's a slower song, Elyar's unique sound has still managed to be embedded within it, and I find that quite an impressive thing to do. Elyar has clearly found the type of music that he wants to create, while also keeping each song fresh and interesting, and to me that is something that only very talented artists are capable of. Overall I love this EP, and I think that it is such a brilliant comeback, but what do the fans think? I decided to run a Twitter poll (@Pop_Affairs) to engage with Elyar's fans to see what they thought about the EP, by asking them if they thought Svfari was worth the wait. Over 80 people voted on this poll, and even Elyar himself tweeted that he was curious about the  result. Overall the result was very positive for the EP, with 88% of people saying that it was worth the wait. @perfectlyelyar commented "100%!! It shows how much he's matured as an artist, and the lyrics and production  are so amazing, you can tell he spent so much time on it", while @pepperoninose said "When I saw he was coming back I thought it was going to be trash, I was very wrong". 
Overall there has been so much love for the new music from the fans, which is definitely deserved. 
Welcome back, Elyar!

Listen to Svfari here:
​

Nathan Sykes is best known for being a member of the hugely successful boyband, The Wanted. However when the band decided to take a break in 2014, Nathan decided to embark on his own solo career. Now in 2017 he has released his debut solo album and shown the world what solo Nathan sounds like. While Nathan is very successful on his own, I believe that he deserves much more recognition and credit than he is getting now.

I have always been a massive fan of The Wanted, however when Nathan went solo I wanted to listen to his new music with an open mind and not be too biased. The first thing that I noticed when listening was the fact that Nathan has almost created his own genre of music. While it appears to be pop and is brilliant for pop radio, there are so many elements of other genres of music subtly thrown in. When on stage Nathan doesn't need any gimmicks to stand out and make people take notice of him, his voice can captivate anyone, whether they are a fan or not, which makes him a really unique artist. So surely he would be getting a lot of recognition for that right? Well, arguably no. For some reason Nathan always seems to be missed out in important events within the music industry, for example the BRIT Awards. I genuinely believe that Nathan is one of the strongest vocalists of this generation, with his voice appearing to be so effortless, yet still holding such power and stability. Yet for some reason award shows like the BRITS don't seem to notice. Fair enough artists aren't always in this industry for the awards and the fame, but what annoys me is the fact that Nathan is so ridiculously talented, but hardly gets any credit for it. 

I wanted to know if anyone else thought the same as me, so I ran a Twitter poll (@Pop_Affairs) asking if Nathan deserves more credit in the music industry, and the results were very interesting. The poll was live for 24 hours and it got 436 votes, and out of those 436 votes 91% of people voted 'Yes' to Nathan deserving more credit, while a mere 9% voted 'No'. Just by this poll you can already see that this is something that people are in agreement about. I was also interested in the reasons why people voted the way they did, and unsurprisingly the answers were all very similar. @NJSykesMusic stated "YES HE DOES! Singer, songwriter, and an amazing performer. He is talented beyond measure! #VocalsForDAYS", they then continued on by saying, "He's truly the whole package. His music is relatable and appeals to many audiences. First time listeners are wowed by his vocal ability. He's got a voice that is rare and unbelievable, on top of a stage presence that leaves you wanting more. A well rounded and incredible talent." While @francesbeacom94 tweeted "Nathan Sykes' vocal/songwriting talent is raw, honest and underrated. He believes in the lyrics and you can hear it in his songs"., and @sophjan3 tweeted something very similar saying "that man deserves all the recognition possible, his vocal range and style of music is like no other". There were over 40 tweets sent, and all of them said very similar things (all tweets are shown below), which demonstrates that there are many people out there who agree with me. 

What I gathered overall from this was that although Nathan may not get the credit that many people thinks he deserves within the music industry, he has extremely loving and dedicated fans, and that's arguably the best credit an artist can have.

See below all the tweets in response to the Twitter poll: