Music - What I'm Listening To

Friday Jam Session Vol. 19

I love music. My taste is very diverse — continually being shaped by an unique combination of people, places and experiences. I never try to pawn myself off as someone who “knows music,” because I have too much respect for those who do. I did dance and took piano lessons growing up, but trust me, you do NOT want to hear me sing. But music is a topic that I never tire of and I love swapping recommendations. Please join in and share your own picks! View past posts HERE.
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Friday Jam Session

1.Favorite New(ish) Album
1989 (Cover Album) – Ryan Adams


The internet about had a heart attack last week when T-Swift herself started promoting the release of Ryan Adams’ full cover album of 1989. I’ve listened to the guy a few times before and I like his sound, but with the craze this cover album started, I found myself just as anxious to hear it.

It’s weird and wonderful all at once, and I think regardless if you are a Taylor Swift fan or not, I’d say that is a testament to her writing. Most of the upbeat songs were slowed down and the slow ones sound more haunting. I was somewhat surprised that my favorites were the exact opposite from my favorites on the original album. His cover of “Style” above was probably my overall pick followed closely by “This Love.” I also really enjoyed “All You Had to Do Was Stay” “Bad Blood” and “Clean.”

2.Favorite New (new-to-me) Artist/Band
Hideaway – Daya
Listen HERE

If you had told me the first few time I heard this song that this girl is only 16, I wouldn’t have believed. Her voice definitely sounds more mature. This is her first single off of her upcoming debut album. I actually haven’t had a chance to really check out any of her other music, but I fear it might be that I just like this particular song. We’ll have to see.

3.Jam I Have on Repeat
T-Shirt – Thomas Rhett


 I kept telling myself that I was going to wait to feature Thomas Rhett again until his full new album came out today. But I CAN’T stopping putting this song on repeat. It’s becoming unhealthy. That said, don’t be surprised when I feature the album next weekend…

4.Favorite Collaboration, Cover, Remix or Mashup
XO – John Mayer
Listen HERE

I love Queen Bey, but I definitely like John Mayer’s version better.

5.Favorite Spotify List
“All Out 90’s” by Spotify

My early childhood was pretty awesome.

6.#SoulMusic I’m Obsessing Over
Burning House – Cam
Listen HERE

This song has such a sad and haunting, but beautiful sound. It actually reminds me a bit of the Dixie Chicks.

7.”Oldie, But a Goodie” I Heard This Week
Holiday in the Sun – Weezer
Listen HERE

So this is where I admit that the straight-to-video Mary-Kate and Ashley movie “Holiday in the Sun” is one of my most watched movies… EVER. Yepp, I am from the Olsen twins generation and for some reason my friend Kari and I were obsessed with that movie. This song always reminds me of our friendship, and of course, how ridiculous that movie is.

8.Current Beat That Makes Me Want to Dance…in the Car…Jamming With the Windows Down
Tear in My Heart – Twenty One Pilots


I’m warning you, this band is weird, and what’s even stranger is how oddly addictive their music is. When they opened for a Imagine Dragons concert I went to a few years ago, that’s all took for me to become a fan. Sure they’re weird but they’re talented and have an energy that is contagious. I’m loving this song off of their new album, but my favorite will always be “Holding Onto You.”

9.Taking Me Down Memory Lane
Vogue – Madonna
 

This week is another trip down memory lane to my dance days. This was the competition performance song the first year I was a competitive team in 5th grade and after dozens of routines since then, this is the one that I still remember the most of.

10.Work, Work it Out
Move Along – All-American Rejects

Ahh the band of my high school days, I miss you guys. This song still gets played at least once every run I go on.

11.Making Me Want to Fall in Love
Fire and The Flood – Vance Joy
 

You know, if I’m just going to feature Vance Joy every single week anyway, maybe he should just get his own category?

Seriously though, this song… swoon.

12.Guilty Listen of the Week
Same Old Love – Selena Gomez
Listen HERE

Don’t know about the rest of the song, but I’m a sucker for a catchy and quirky chorus.

13.Song That I Originally Loved, But Is Now Overplayed
Jason Derulo

This week I’m talking about an artist, not a song. I really liked Jason Derulo when he first came out when I was in college. The song above was probably one of the most played songs on my iPod for a few months straight. I even saw him in concert when he came to K-State. But lately I just find myself annoyed by his music. Sure a lot of it is catchy, and he’s obviously talented, but it just seems all the same and too much. And don’t get me started on his #bromance with Florida Georgia Line…. Just no. I need a break from his music.

14.Popular Song That Is Making My Ears Bleed
Tulips – Christopher
Listen HERE

I have so many mean comments, but lets just talk about what’s really bothering me…Christopher?? Man, have a single stage name is supposed to be cool like Beyoncé, Lorde, Bono, Madonna or heck even Kanye. But Christopher? I just don’t get it.

15.Country Pick of the Week
Before You Drive Me Crazy – Wes Mack

Really loving this song from another new country kid on the block that look’s like the Weasley’s had yet another son that we didn’t know about. The music video is a bit overdramatic but its a solid debut song.

BONUS: My Voice Picks, Week 1

I missed The Voice last season because of my move to DC. By the time I was settled in I was just too behind to even attempt to catch up. I am glad to see that they have Gwen back instead Christina, she’s by far my favorite female coach they’ve had. I’m currently still trying to decide if I am going to stay committed. Let’s be honest, the main reason I watch is for the banter between Adam and Blake. And why do they show SO MANY of the no-turn performances? I felt like that was most of what Tuesday night’s show featured. With that said these are few that really stood out to me during the first week of blind auditions. Seems like a lot of country right now, which is my favorite genre, but I’m hoping and assuming that will eventually balance out. These were my top 5 favorite performances from Week 1. There were a few others who could see myself potentially liking more later on but this is my picks for this week.

Angel Eyes – Barrett Baber


Chandelier – Jordan Smith


Typical – Evan McKeel


Let Her Cry – James Dupré

We Don’t Have to Take Our Clothes Off – Ellie Lawrence

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So, what have you been listening to this week?

(Linkup images)

Linking up with these blogs today!

Here, Here, Here and HERE.

Cheers!

Music - What I'm Listening To

Friday Jam Session Vol. 18

I love music. My taste is very diverse — continually being shaped by an unique combination of people, places and experiences. I never try to pawn myself off as someone who “knows music,” because I have too much respect for those who do. I did dance and took piano lessons growing up, but trust me, you do NOT want to hear me sing. But music is a topic that I never tire of and I love swapping recommendations. Please join in and share your own picks! View past posts HERE.
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Friday Jam Session

1.Favorite New(ish) Album
JUST KIDS – Mat Kearney

There is a special place in my heart for fellow Oregonian Mat Kearney’s music, and his new album is no except. The song above “Coming Home (Oregon)” is obviously my favorite, after we of course overlook the fact that the music video is a tribute to the Oregon Ducks. I respect his intense passion for a college football team, but does it really have to be THAT team? I feel like am committing a crime for even linking to the video. Also on the album I really like it’s first single “One Black Sheep,” as well as “Air I Breathe” “The Conversation” and “Heartbeat.”

2.Favorite New (new-to-me) Artist/Band
for KING & COUNTRY

This Christian band was a random find on Spotify last week that I instantly fell in love with. They appear to have been around awhile and are the two brothers of contemporary Christian artist Rebecca St. James. Their music isn’t just uplifting, it is dynamic and great to jam to. “Fix My Eyes,” shared above, is probably my favorite so far, but “Busted Heart” is a close second. I also am really liking “Run Wild” “Light It Up” “Crave” “Fine Fine Life” and “Without You.”

3.Jam I Have on Repeat
Live Forever – The Band Perry

I’m always a sucker for a good anthem song and people, I am obsessed with this song. Then again, I’ve felt that way by every single The Band Perry has put out. I saw them few years ago at Country Stampede in Kansas and I was really impressed by their range of influences and covers they chose to feature alongside their own songs.

4.Favorite Collaboration, Cover, Remix or Mashup
Hey Brother – Dierks Bentley (original by Avicii)

Considering Dierks has a great bluegrass album I’m not surprised he flip a song like this and add his own spin.

5.Favorite Spotify List
“Confidence Boost” by Spotify

A solid mix of mostly songs from the past 5 years or so.

6.#SoulMusic I’m Obsessing Over
Thunder Clatter – Wild Club
Listen HERE

7.”Oldie, But a Goodie” I Heard This Week
Kerosene – Miranda Lambert

This song is 11 years old. Just let that sink in for a few moments. I knew from this very first single I was going to be a Miranda fan. At that time I don’t think there were that many new, young strong voices in country music. Don’t get me wrong I LOVED Faith, Martina and Shania, but Miranda had an unique sound and outlaw country attitude. Fast forward to now and I’d say she’s pretty much stayed true to that.

8.Current Beat That Makes Me Want to Dance…in the Car…Jamming With the Windows Down
Love Myself – Hailee Steinfeld
 
Listen HERE

I really didn’t like this song at first. Which was a bit disappointing because I hear she was good in Pitch Perfect 2 (which I haven’t gotten around to watching yet) and I still am bitter about her not getting the Oscar at 13 for her role in the remake of the movie True Grit alongside Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon. ANYWAY. I still wouldn’t say that I particularly like it that much, but dang it, it is really catchy and at some point I found myself not skipping it anymore.

9.Taking Me Down Memory Lane
“Clubbed to Death” – Matrix Theme
Listen HERE

Last Sunday night I watched the 2016 Miss America pageant where Miss Alabama danced for her talent to this song and I freaked out a little. During my freshman year of high school on the dance team, we did a Matrix theme for our state competition performance and this was our opening song. I loved that routine, but our makeup and costumes were pretty intense and any picture proof I have is conveniently not on Facebook or my computer.

10.Work, Work it Out
Uma Thurman – Fall Out Boy
 

Umm, let’s be honest. Anything by Fall Out Boy is great to work out to.

11.Making Me Want to Fall in Love
My Heart is Open- Maroon 5 ft. Gwen Stefani
Listen HERE

This song is over a year old now, but it came back up on my playlists today, and is probably one of my FAVORITE collaborations!

12.Guilty Listen of the Week
 
Dirty Work – Austin Mahone

Oh don’t, worry I’m judging myself enough for everyone. #shame

13.Song That I Originally Loved, But Is Now Overplayed
Bang Bang – Jessie J, Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj
Listen HERE

I was totally on the bandwagon for this song for much longer than I would like to admit, but a few weeks ago I made an effort to go back through and take it off of all of my playlists.

14.Popular Song That Is Making My Ears Bleed
Downtown – Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
Listen HERE

Nope. I gave it try, and once was enough.

15.Country Pick of the Week
80’s Mercedes – Maren Morris
 
Listen HERE

I’ve been wanting to feature this song for the last two weeks but this girl is so new that hardly any of her music is on YouTube. Except, she’s not new. Apparently she’s been doing the red dirt scene for a few years now and was first noticed for her songwriting (Piece by Piece – Kelly Clarkson and Last Turn Home – Tim McGraw). But I really like this song so the link above takes you to Spotify. The song has a really “cool” vibe and I’d venture to say that this girl’s sound is similar to Kasey Musgraves, so I’m hoping that we start to hear more from her soon.

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So, what have you been listening to this week?

Linking up with these blogs today!

Here, Here, Here and HERE.

Cheers!

Music - What I'm Listening To

Friday Jam Session: The Voice S7: Part 1

I’m a tad bit late to The Voice craze. I’ve always known what it was, mostly because my sister is an avid fan, but I didn’t have TV (or even Netflix for that matter) in college so my screen time was extremely limited. But I knew I could be a fan because I usually found myself binge watching YouTube video of highlights and performances. So this season I have joined the club. Up until the “Live Playoffs” I’ve been recording it on my DVR and watching it throughout the rest of the week. Two hours is a little too much time to dedicate to sitting and watching one show.

 A few of my early favorites have been cut, but for the most part I can follow the coaches’ train of thought. Lots of great voices come through this show, but there seems to be a specific formula and checklist to be a good fit for this particular environment. Speaking of the coaches, Blake and Adam are both artists that I have been a longtime fan of, and their bromance is just plain hysterical. As for the other two, from what little I’ve seen of past coaches and now of Pharrell and Gwen, I think they’ve got a really strong group. Gwen is the pennant bearer for girl power for all who grew up in the time of No Doubt’s reign. And while Pharrell is an artist that I’ve only become familiar with in the last couple of years, this guy is a master at giving pep talks. Seriously, I kind of wish he could be my life coach.

This week was #TheVoiceTop12 Playoffs where all twelve artists performed live and America chose the Top 10 to move on to next week.
For this post I split the Top 10 down to my Top 5 artists, which was really difficult because I could see myself being a fan of quite a few of them. Now if I was just doing the Top 5 performances, my list might look a little different because that would be heavily influenced by what were already some of my favorite songs. But I chose my Top 5 artists based on their overall appeal, including voice, style and personality, and whether or not I think I would go out and buy their music. This list is not in any particular order.

Disclaimer: I am well aware that 3 out of the 5 are guys with long hair. Despite to my extreme dislike for guys with long hair, they all still made the cut. They should feel honored…

1. Matt McAndrew

So I kind of lied, because I know that Matt’s song choices have definitely influenced his spot on this list. “Yellow” and “Drops of Jupiter” are two of my all-time favorite songs, and I think he did them justice. With that said, I’m oddly fascinated by this guy. I like him now, and I think I could like him in 40 years – even with that ridiculous hair. Then the morning of the playoffs this week I was listening to Hozier’s “Take Me to Church,” (one of my favorite songs of 2014) and thought it would be a great fit for this guy…and what happened? BOOM. I’m a psychic. And while it probably wouldn’t have as much star power with America, I’m dying for him to sing some Mat Kearney…

2. Taylor John Williams

This guy was my early favorites, and no, not just because he’s a fellow Oregonian. Like Matt McAndrew, I’m oddly fascinated by Taylor and his voice. He might not be singing all my favorite songs like Matt is, but each time his performance end, I want to hear more. His blind audition of “Heartless” could have been his own song, “Stuck in the Middle With You” took me back in time and I thought his battle round duet of “Jolene” was endearing. And while I think that he has improved with each week (as they should) my favorite performance of his so far was in the Knockouts with “Mad World.” Guys, the 1:45 mark says it all. Give me this on repeat.

3. Danica Shirey

This girl has some soul pipes. I’d definitely say that this season is male dominated, but homegirl is holding her own. It seems like those who are successful on The Voice are the ones who are really able to sell the big note moments. Danica does that in every performance. Plus it helps that she comes across as extremely down to earth, and even a little shy from too much attention. She makes you want to know what her story is. I’d buy her music AND feel like I could grab a cup of coffee with her. “Creep” and “Help Me” were great performances, but “Saving All My Love for You” was my favorite.

4. Chris Jamison

I like Chris because at first glance he doesn’t seem as unique as Matt and Taylor do, but he quickly makes you forget the pretty boy stereotype you were putting him in and instead creates his own niche. When it comes to his voice think Adam Levine’s sexy falsetto meets Michael Buble’s warm and smooth croons. Just watch Pharrell’s face at 00:45 of his blind audition of “Gravity.” And there’s versatility. He nailed Nick Jonas’ new beat above and threw it back with Otis Redding’s “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay.” I wasn’t a big of fan of “Don’t”, but I definitely want to hear more from this kid.

5. Craig Wayne Boyd

I’ll admit I was weary of Craig at first. My taste in music ranges far and wide, but at the core is country music. And well, the definition of “country” has been thrown around like a rag doll lately. Bro country, nashville, outlaw, red dirt…it all has a place, but it is all making my head hurt. But kind of like his journey on the show, where Craig keeps fighting his way through, he won me over. His voice is most comparable to Travis Tritt’s and he’s got the southern vibe like Confederate Railroad, Shenandoah and maybe even Sawyer Brown that sometimes walks the line between country and rock. To me his turning point “statement moment” was his performance of Marshall Tucker Band’s cover above. He also took on “Some Kind of Wonderful” and the King’s “You Look So Good in Love”.

Favorite Team Performance So Far…

I haven’t really enjoyed that many of the team performances, but I did really like Team Gwen’s performance of “Riptide.”

The Artists I’d Like To Bring Back…

Despite my comments about country music above, I really do wish that James David Carter was still on the show. He had my overall favorite blind audition with “Nobody Knows”, I enjoyed his very laid back persona and his voice was just about as pure, stripped down country as they come. His performances of “Two of a Kind Workin’ on a Full House”  and “You’ve Got a Friend” were good too.

I was really disappointed that Pharrell didn’t save Taylor Phelan when he had the chance. His blind audition of “Sweater Weather” was my next favorite, and considering I really don’t like that song originally, thats impressive. One of the coaches made the comment during his audition that he reminded them of Ryan Tedder (of OneRepublic) by the way he became apart of the music. I agree. He was someone who I wanted to hear more from. He also performed “Rather Be”  and “Cool Kids.”

Other favorite performances

Ryan Sill – “Ordinary World
Luke Wade – “Rich Girl”

Reagan James – “Try”
Taylor Breshears – “Landslide”
Damien – “How Do I Live”
Ricky Manning – “Lay Me Down”
Troy Ritchie – “Hey Ya!”
Jessie Pitts vs. Ryan Sill – “I Need Your Love”
Troy Ritchie vs. Menlik Zergabachew – “Maneater”
Elyjuh Rene vs. Maiya Sykes – “If I Ain’t Got You”
Griffin vs. Luke Wade – “Maybe I’m Amazed”
Jonathan Wyndham – “Say Something”
Anita Antoinette – “Turn Your Lights Down Low”
Menlik Zergabachew – “Santeria”