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Recently I discovered White Moth Black Butterfly and at first I was a bit confused about the project. After finding out that they are a team of songwriters and producers who are based worldwide I was automatically excited to give their new album Atone a listen, as I didn't know what to expect.
The first thing that I noticed when listening to this album was the production. Throughout the entire the album the production never fails to disappoint, showing the listener how talented they all are. Rising Sun is definitely one of my favourites on Atone. The vocals are captivating (along with the production of course), and there is something about this track that makes it stand out from other songs. This may be because I can't quite pinpoint what genre this album belongs to, overall making it extremely intriguing. What I also find quite cool about this album is that it can cater to whatever mood you're in. The songs can come across as very calming (as demonstrated in the song The Tempest), however you can also interpret it as quite an uplifting listen if you're in a good mood. Atone therefore manages to appeal to a range of different audiences as it is able to cater to pretty much anyone! I would definitely recommend giving this album a listen, and expect the unexpected throughout!
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Shakira has already been featured on Throwback Thursday once before, but she is so amazing that I thought she needed to be added again! Just like most of Shakira's hits, Whenever, Wherever is a song that once you listen to it, will be stuck in your head for days. Even though this song was released in 2001, to this day it will still randomly get stuck in my head. All of Shakira's old songs are brilliant, but for me Hips Don't Lie and Whenever, Wherever are the ones that truly stand out.
I was really excited when I found out Ella Eyre was releasing her new single Ego, as her last album was brilliant. There was a lot of build up on social media around Ego, which meant I had really high expectations for the song (as I always do whenever there has been a lot of hype online). But once again Ella didn't disappoint and has managed to produce yet another brilliant song! Ego's whole vibe is very uplifting, making it the perfect song for the summer. The soft start leading into the first verse works really well, and foreshadows how mesmerising Ella's voice will be throughout the song. Currently in the charts there are no songs that sound anything like Ego, and I believe it deserves to be up there at the top. From the second I listened to Ego I've had it stuck in my head, but rather than it annoying me, it's made me want to have it on repeat. Ty Dolla $ign works really well on this record as the two contrasting voices come together to produce an excellent song.
What I find annoying though is the fact that Ella is ridiculously underrated. Her voice is both beautiful and unique, meaning you're able to easily identify her voice within a few seconds of listening to her songs. Having such a distinct voice is a great thing to have because it makes you much more memorable as an artist, and that's something that makes Ella an incredible artist. There is no denying Ella's talent, and I hope that this song gets the recognition it deserves! Last week P!nk released the lead single to her new album Beautiful Trauma. I've always really liked P!nk as she is a truly excellent performer and unlike any other artist. The fact she does her own creative thing without the influence of any other artists shows just how talented she is, and What About Us is a clear demonstration of that. From the very start of the song P!nk displays her stunning vocals, with the build up from a slower start into a powerful chorus being very 'classic P!nk'. One of the amazing things about P!nk is that she almost has her own genre, with none of her songs sounding similar or getting repetitive in any way. It felt like forever since P!nk released a new song, but I think what What About Us has proven is that P!nk just gets better and better (if that's even possible for her at this stage!) The strong beat, powerful lyrics and tone to her voice makes for a very memorable comeback, and I am so excited for the album to be released in October. I also saw a lot of love for P!nk's comeback on Twitter and decided to run a Twitter poll. When asked "Do you think What About Us was worth the wait?" 74% voted yes, while only 26% voted no. @joannakaarina replied "Oh yes definitely! I've been a fan of hers since the very beginning, and I don't think there was ever a time since that she disappointed me" while @RealGeorgeReed had a slight criticism by saying "It was! Any new Pink is good Pink...not the banger I had hoped for though. Back to Mr President phase". However the general consensus was that What About Us was a great comeback for P!nk! Read the replies to the poll here: Listen to 'What About Us' on YouTube here: This week's throwback is more of a fun song. While Dancing In The Moonlight may not have much 'meaning' to it, it's a song that literally anyone will get up and sing to! Dancing In The Moonlight never fails to make me smile, and I really love any song that is capable of doing that. For that reason I thought Toploader earned their place on the playlist!
When I came up with the idea for this post I didn't realise just how hard it would be. I've listened to so many amazing albums, which makes it incredibly hard to narrow them down to just five! Obviously there are legendary albums out there by music royalty, for example Michael Jackson, Prince, etc, but this list is made up of my own personal favourites.
My first brainstorm list had 13 albums on it, making it almost impossible to get rid of eight. So I decided rather than only writing about my top five, I'll do a top 10, followed by a top five, and give a brief mention to the albums that just missed out! Favourite albums that didn't make the list:
Top 10: 10) Ed Sheeran - +: This album has great songs with beautiful lyrics. Small Bump never fails to make me cry, in contrast with the faster You Need Me, I Don't Need You, which always makes me want to sing along! 9) Iggy Azalea - The New Classic: Iggy is extremely underrated. The New Classic is a brilliant album, with Iggy's impressive lyrics often overlooked. Walk The Line and Impossible Is Nothing have incredibly serious lyrics and the fact that Iggy was a writer on these songs shows how talented she is, My favourite song on this album has always been the empowering Goddess. Overall a brilliant album. 8) Tinie Tempah - Disc-Overy: I am a massive fan of Tinie and really love all of his albums, but Disc-Overy has a special place in my heart because it's the album that made me become a fan, as well as having the massively successful hits, such as Pass Out and Frisky. 7) Ariana Grande - My Everything: I am also a big fan of Ariana, and I really love all of her albums. The reason why I chose My Everything over Yours Truly and Dangerous Woman is because I feel like My Everything is what made me become a fan. The mixture of pop with ballads makes a brilliant listen, and the songs never get old or tiring. 6) The Wanted - The Wanted: The Wanted's self-titled debut album is definitely my favourite. I really love The Wanted and desperately want them to come back, and I often find myself listening to all three albums while I wait for their return. However, their debut album will always be my favourite because it reminds me of seeing them live for the first time and becoming a fan. Heading into the top five now where it starts getting difficult. Not only was it hard enough deciding what my top five were, but ranking them was almost worse! 5) Marron 5 - Overexposed: I've grown up listening to Maroon 5, and Overexposed stands out to me as their best album. No matter how many times you listen to it, it doesn't get boring. Not only does this album contain a variety of brilliant songs, it contains the hits Payphone (feat Whiz Khalifa) and One More Night, with Payphone getting the band's first ever UK Number One! 4) Years & Years - Communion: Even though this is Years & Years' only album, it's still incredible. The mixture of songs on this album constantly keeps it fresh and exciting two years later. Frontman Olly Alexander has one of the most unique voices in pop, something that makes this album so beautifully spectacular. 3) Bastille - Bad Blood: One of the main reasons why I love Bastille so much is because (similarly to Olly in Years & Years) frontman Dan's stunning voice is instantly recognisable. Bad Blood not only showcases these vocals, but the wonderfully distinctive alternative style of the songs makes for a very interesting listen. Even though this album was released in 2013, it's still just as fantastic to this day. 2) Girls Aloud - Out of Control: Girls Aloud were the first artists I ever became a fan of. I remember getting Out of Control for Christmas and desperately wanting to become the sixth member. What I love about this album is the huge variety of songs that it consists of. The lead single, The Promise, I believe is one of the best songs that has ever been released by a girl group. Nothing has ever compared to the style of this song, with the rest of the album also containing hit after hit. Although Girls Aloud are no longer together, I strongly believe that they deserve more recognition. 1) Lady Gaga - The Fame Monster: Of course the top spot had to be taken by my all time favourite artist, Lady Gaga. Even though I think every single Gaga album is a masterpiece, I decided to only include one so that the list doesn't just consist of Gaga albums! The Fame Monster is my favourite album of all time because of how daring and revolutionary it is. Gaga's debut album, The Fame, I believe is the best debut of all time, so the fact that The Fame Monster contains The Fame and then new songs makes it phenomenal. To this day there has never been an album so artistically daring, with songs on it that were so ahead of their time. The lead single, Bad Romance, is one of the most iconic songs, with no song released since even comparing to it. Listening to The Fame Monster is like listening to a work of art. Every song is fantastically written, with production that is yet to be matched by any other artist. I really love every single album mentioned here, and I would encourage anyone reading this to go and give some of them a listen if you haven't already! This week Camila Cabello treated her fans to not one, but two new songs; OMG and Havana. Taking to Twitter to tweet about the songs, Camila said; "I wanted to put 2 summer songs out off my album in honour of me going on the #24kMagicWorldTour this summer...hope u love them". Judging by the fact that these new songs have come from the new album, the whole record should be brilliant. Out of the two songs, my favourite is definitely OMG. I love the fact that it sounds different from what you may expect from Camila based on her Fifth Harmony days. While the song is still pop, the R&B undertones make Camila sound like a maturer artist who has been able to musically develop. I was never a fan of Fifth Harmony, and when Camila went solo I was afraid she would produce music a lot like that of Fifth Harmony. But so far her solo songs have exceeded my expectations, and if her album is full of songs with a maturer sound like OMG, it should be really good. The only 'issue' I have with this song is Quavo. Quavo seems to be featured on nearly every song lately, so it would have been nice to actually see him not feature on a song for once. That being said, he does fit in the song well, it's just annoying seeing Quavo being featured on yet another song! Even though I prefer OMG to Havana, I still think that Havana is a good song. I don't think that Young Thug added much to the song, and it arguably would have been a lot better without him in it. Although I do find Havana quite repetitive, it is a really good summer song. I asked people on Twitter what song they prefer and 68% said they actually prefer Havana, and only 32% prefer OMG. I always find it interesting what fans prefer, and this time I prefer the least favourite! Overall, I think Camila has done really well with the new songs, and I can't wait to listen to the album when it comes out! Listen to 'OMG' on YouTube here: Listen to 'Havana' on YouTube here: This week's throwback is a bit different to the previous throwbacks because I don't really have much of a connection with the song. With many of the other throwbacks I link them to childhood memories, whereas Waterfalls by TLC doesn't have that connection. However, I wanted to feature this song on Throwback Thursday because I feel like this is a song that everyone knows, even if you can't remember the first time you heard it. The fact that this song is probably one of the most popular and well known throwbacks means that it is definitely worthy of being featured on the Throwback Thursday playlist!
Last night Lady Gaga kicked off her Joanne World Tour in Vancouver, Canada. Gaga's last tour, ArtRave: The Artpop Ball, ended in 2014, meaning that fans have been desperate to see Gaga on the road again. There was a lot of speculation around what the stage would be like, what songs she would sing and what outfits she would wear, because with Gaga you can never predict what she will do. With her previous tours Gaga has always tweeted a stage design so fans will know what to expect from the tour, however this time fans were left in the dark and had to wait until they got into the arena to see what the stage would be like. I honestly didn't know what to expect from the stage design because Gaga's creativity is so unique and unpredictable, but seeing the stage pictures for the first time, I knew this tour was going to be brilliant. There is the normal main stage that actually has parts that can move up and down, two small round stages in the middle of the standing/general admission area, and another stage at the back. I love this design because you're able to feel close to Gaga no matter what you're standing/sat. The fact that the stage moves and the runways come down from the ceiling to connect the main stage to the smaller stages, shows that Gaga is just as much of a creative genius as ever before, and one would argue that her creations are continually improving. You might think that after 10 years there would be nothing left for Gaga to do that is so spectacular and shocking, yet she is always one step ahead and ready to show something new, highlighting how much of a musical legend she is.
Annoyingly I have to wait until October to see Gaga, so all of the information I have been getting has been from the Twitter hashtag #JoanneWorldTour. Judging by what I have read on Twitter, I think this tour could be the best one to date. While Gaga's outfits mainly stick to the Joanne theme, I think many fans were surprised at the darker element to the show. The merchandise had black and white pictures of Gaga with rhino horns, and well as some more Gothic looking images. As I stated above, you can never predict what Gaga might do next, so having this imagery on t-shirts and jumpers isn't that surprising. So far I haven't read a single negative comment about the show, and I am so so so excited to watch it for myself in October! As I've mentioned before on previous posts, I love discovering new music and this week I discovered the new UK band, Everywhere. Their latest single Man Up featuring Swedish singer/songwriter Rebecca Nohr was released back in June, and I really love it. After the first couple of times listening, I ended up with the song stuck in my head for the rest of the day! The song is definitely radio friendly, not just because it's catchy, but because the alternative rock/pop style of the song is appealing to a range of different audiences, overall making the band positively stand out from other acts! I see a lot of potential in Everywhere, and I can't wait to see what success awaits them in the future.
I am really pleased that I discovered Everywhere, and I urge anyone reading this to stream Man Up! |
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