On Friday I went to see Rihanna at Wembley for her ANTI World Tour, and it's safe to say I wasn't disappointed. At first I didn't know if I would enjoy the show that much just because I prefer her old music to her new music, but seeing her perform the songs from ANTI live made me look at the album in an entirely different way. Rihanna's stage presence kept you focused and I couldn't take my eyes off her! Her entrance was unlike anything else, as she walked in through the crowd and made her way to a smaller stage in the middle of the stadium. She opened with her hit Stay, getting everyone's attention from the second she opened her mouth.
It was quite weird to see that the stadium wasn't full as it had been advertised as a sold out show. Many newspapers and other media outlets have taken this as an opportunity to manipulate this to show that Rihanna might not be as successful as she was years ago, and I personally think that's not true. With the rise of re-selling sites selling tickets at extortionate prices, fans aren't able to get the tickets that they so desperately want at an affordable price, hence the empty seats. However, the people that did attend clearly enjoyed themselves as the cheers for Rihanna were incredible, and the stadium was full of people loudly singling along.
What I really liked about the show was that she did both old and new songs. There was a good mixture of songs from ANTI, mixed with her old hits, such as Umbrella.
The fact that this show made me go from not really liking ANTI that much compared to her old sound, to listening to it non-stop, shows how much of a good performer she is and how she will never lose her touch - a true performer.
If the ANTI World Tour comes to your city, I would highly suggest getting tickets!

SONG: Kiss it Better - Rihanna
When Rihanna's latest album, ANTI, first came out the only song that I really liked was Kiss it Better. However after going to the ANTI World Tour, seeing the songs performed live made me listen to the album again and I'm glad I did! While I like all the songs on the album, Kiss it Better has been on repeat non-stop. The live version is incredible, making me love the studio version even more. It doesn't really sound like Rihanna's typical sound, as it is much slower and darker, and not something that you can dance to like her other songs. However, this song highlights her beautiful vocals, so I would suggest anyone reading this to give it a listen. 

ALBUM: Lukas Graham - Lukas Graham
This self-titled album is one of my favourite albums at the minute. After seeing Lukas Graham performing at Capital FM's Summertime Ball, ​I developed a whole new love for them. Not only did they perform their much loved song 7 Years, they also performed their new single Mama Said and I fell in love with it straight away, making me go home and download their album, and it didn't disappoint. Filled with harmless feel-good songs showing off his incredible vocals, I would highly recommend listening to this album! 

Over the past few years concerts and tickets have changed dramatically. Originally a fan would purchase a standard ticket to the show, and that would be it. If the fan wanted to be at the front then they would queue for hours to guarantee it, however a lot of this has changed now. The majority of concerts today, although not all of them, have different levels of tickets. These may range from a standard seated/standing tickets, all the way up to VIP - which may include a 'meet and greet' with the artist. While people may argue that the increased opportunities for fans to get closer to their favourite artist is a good thing, those who may not be able to afford it might disagree. 

Having purchased a small number of VIP tickets over the years, I can see why people want them, for example my VIP package for The Wanted. This  included going to their soundcheck, meet and greet, a special VIP merchandise set and seats at the front, This is one of my favourite concert experiences because of how special it felt to be treated a bit differently to everyone. However, because this was one of my only VIP experiences it makes the memory of it more special, whereas if I had VIP tickets to every concert I went to  the excitement wouldn't be there anymore, instead it would be an expectation, which I don't agree with. I see many people of Twitter panicking when tickets come out to make sure that they get VIP, and I personally believe that this is taking away the whole experience of seeing your favourite artist live, and also creates a pressure for other people trying to get tickets, as they are made to feel like 'bad fans' for not getting VIP. People should be excited to get tickets at all, not moaning about what types of tickets they are. There are many people out there who would give anything to go to their favourite singer's concert, but with the increased price of concert tickets not many people can actually afford to go. Therefore it makes me quite angry when I see people saying, 'if the tickets aren't VIP it's not worth it', when there's people out there who would love the chance to even go to the show. I think that VIP packages have not only ruined concerts, but also fanbases, because a hierarchy is created within it. People that have the money to meet their favourite artist constantly end up having more followers on Twitter, and seem to deem themselves as more important than those who haven't been fortunate enough. 
Therefore, although I do think that when you have VIP tickets the experience is absolutely incredible, once people start to get complacent and expect to have VIP tickets, thats when the fun of it is taken away, 

I was curious to know what other people felt about this topic, so I ran a Twitter poll and also asked some people what they thought. 57% of the people who voted on the poll said that VIP concert packages are a good thing, while 43% said they're not.  The results were a lot closer than I thought they would be, showing how split people are on this subject, I also got a mixed response when I asked people their opinions too. One person said, "If its reasonable then its fine, for example The Vamps cost £150, but if its unreasonable like £1500 for a selfie, then it's not worth it". This shows how price can really influence the opinions of people who might be interested in buying a VIP package, as even though someone may be able to afford it, it depends what the VIP package is offering. Something similar was also said by someone saying, "They should be a reasonable price and not a ridiculous price that makes the celebrity practically untouchable, aka Justin Bieber with his £1300 meet and greets." Again showing how if the package is somewhat affordable then its worth it. Someone else had a similar idea to me when they said, "VIP packages are good and if fans can afford them that's fine, but I hate it when some rich people who aren't really fans just want to meet someone famous get the tickets." I personally believe that to remove this problem, maybe VIP packages shouldn't be on offer? This eliminates the chance of people feeling inadequate for not being able to meet their favourite celebrity.

Of course there is no right or wrong answer to this question, but it is interesting to see the varying views that people have in regard to this debate! 

Exams are now over, which means I can get back to posting again! Apologies for how long this has taken, but posts will be uploaded a lot more regularly now.

SONG: Lush Life - Zara Larsson
All through my exams I couldn't get enough of this song. It has such a big summer vibe and something about it just makes me feel happy. It's nice to find a song that can make you feel relaxed and put a smile on your face when you're facing stress in your life, and I definitely found it with this song. What makes it even better is that Zara released a remix of the song on iTunes featuring Tinie Tempah! Usually when an artist re-releases a song with a new feature it takes me a while to adapt to it, but Zara and Tinie work so well together (as shown through their other collab on Tinie's song, Girls Like), so both the original and the remix were amazing! I would definitely recommend putting this song on your holiday playlist!

ALBUM: Dangerous Woman - Ariana Grande
As you may be able to tell from my previous posts, I was counting down the days until this album came out! With the release of the songs Dangerous Woman, Be Alright, Let Me Love You and Into You prior to the album's release date, I was buzzing to hear the whole album! A week before the album was released, Ariana was releasing a song a day on Apple Music, however I decided not to listen, and wait until the 20th when I could listen to the album all at once - and I certainly wasn't disappointed. This album is quite different to Ariana's usual sound, as both her voice and lyrics have really matured. The album isn't just full of songs from one genre though, with more RnB songs, such as Let Me Love You, to pop songs, like Bad Decisions. The album also has a number of different features, all bringing their own talents to the album. I really love the soulful Leave Me Lonely featuring Macy Gray (a childhood hero of mine), because Ariana and Macy's voices complement each other so well with such powerful lyrics. This slower song is contrasted with Side to Side featuring Nicki Minaj and Everyday featuring Future. Both of these songs are so full of energy and are bound to get people singing along loudly! Overall I would highly advise people to listen to this album. Whether you're a fan or not, you're bound to be impressed by Ariana's vocal abilities on this album.