I recently watched How to Be Single and Phoebe Ryan’s single ‘Mine’ was featured on the soundtrack, which by the way is an incredible track on its own.
From looking up all her music this gorgeous collaboration came up and both lyrically and soundwise its super pleasing. I love its chill vibe and how its describe the mutual decision to see that despite how fun or pleasurable a relationship may be sometimes its just too obvious that its never going to work out. This song is a beautiful exploration of that place.
So I know it’s been a while since I posted one of these but here we go. There are two songs that make me insanely happy, especially when my local quote “alternative” radio station plays them back to back.
The first one of these songs is ‘I Wanna Get Better’ by The Bleachers. You may recognize the lead man from The Bleachers, Jack Antonoff, as he is also a member of Fun.
To me ‘I Wanna Get Better’ is one of those rare songs that admits how messed up and screwed up everyone is but also celebrates the act of admitting a desire to, as the song says, get better. Its in a way a high energy anthem that gives everyone a chance to scream at the top of lungs and hope for better days. Not to mention, the music itself is pretty great too.
The next song ‘Cecilia and The Satellite’ by Andrew in the Wildernessis in a word, lovely. When I first heard this song I thought it was a traditional love song, but when I watched the video I realized it was actually about Andrew’s little girl. This makes it even more beautiful.
I’m not sure why these songs works so well together, but my guess is this. If ‘I Wanna Get Better‘ is an honest look at our flaws and fears with a hint of hope, ‘Cecilia and the Satellite’ is a celebration of love (with its highs and lows) in its purest form. Therefore giving me some kind of weird euphoric climb of emotion.
I honestly believe that ‘Cecilia and the Satellite’ will be a sleeper hit, i.e, like Vance Joy’s Riptide last year it will become popular some time after it’s initial release and eventually it’ll make it big. Once its had a chance to make its rounds through the ‘alternative’ charts before some hipster teenage girls go ‘ooooh I like this’ and start tweeting.
Lyrically the song is frank, poetic and enchanting. Musically it has just enough bite to make it stick in your head. I hope you take the time to listen to both, you won’t regret it.
Next up on the #listentothis series is Worth it by Fifth Harmony. Fifth Harmony is one of those girl bands that were formed during a reality competition and sort of fly under the radar, releasing EPs and nothing special albums, until one song rockets them to super stardom.
Worth It is that song. Its sassy, fun to dance to and damn catchy. It’s already playing on the radio and creeping its way into clubs and I predict within a few weeks it’ll be everywhere.
Will it be a hit?Without a doubt, yes. Fifth Harmony has a solid fanbase from their X Factor days and their first album and this song is catchy enough that it will attract a whole new crowd of fans (at least for this song). Worth It also features that horn Mediterranean style that was made so popular by Jason Derulo’s single Talk Dirty last year so I think that will add to its appeal as well. I don’t know how high it’ll climb on the charts but I am sure it’ll have its moment in the top ten.
At the request of my big sister I’m starting my ‘Music You Should Be Listening To’ posts again, but for the sake of word count (and hashtags) I’m changing the series to #listentothis.
I will be posting songs that are, in my opinion, worthy of four minutes of your life, and also make me happy. I will post a quick overview about the song and whether I think it will be a hit or not, because I have this uncanny ability to name future hits way before they hit the radio. Of course sometimes I’m wrong, but I suppose time will only tell what my percentage is. Either way this series is meant to introduce you to some beautiful music that will hopefully inspire and make you happy.
So, the first song of the new #listentothis series is Yours by Ella Henderson
Ella Henderson is an English singer who competed on British X-Factor back in 2012. At 19 years old she is already massively successful in the U.K and her single ‘Ghost’ is gaining a lot of steam in the U.S. Her new single Yours was recently featured in an episode of The Vampire Diaries (where Caroline and Stefan kiss on a porch) which is how I discovered this song, along with a ton of teenage girls.
But this song is one of the CW songs that is actually extremely good. Musically, it’s a pretty simple song and its quite strong lyrically, but its Ella deep, Amy Winehouse-esque voice that makes it. It’s the kind of song that make you want to curl up on a Sunday morning with your significant other and never leave the bed.
Will it be a hit: Ella has Simon Cowell’s management company behind her so I think with the right promotion and after it’s featured on a couple more shows Yours could very well be a hit. But if it’s not promoted right it will fade away and she’ll be a one hit wonder in the U.S. But overall I think yes, it will be hit.
Every once in a while I happen to stumble upon a song, usually via pandora, 8tracks or YouTube recommendations, that perfectly sums up how I feel at that moment. This song, Dear No One by Tori Kelly, is one of those.
I’m 22 and I’ve had one semi serious relationship and a slew of fun, but overall insignificant flings. I’m not ashamed of that history because every romantic entanglement has taught me something, made me grow as a person. The reasons behind my romantic history include me having high standards for who I chose to be in a relationship with and another part of it is honestly that I enjoy Independence. I’ve always been proud of that fact that I’m strong, that I’m the type of girl that is pining for a new boyfriend as soon as she breaks up with the old boyfriend. I’m know what I want. I’m direct and I push. I get things done, and often when I see my friends with boyfriends that keep them so consumed I’m happy I don’t have one.
Yet I also believe that at some point I’m gonna meet someone who I’ll fall in love with and that will be it. In one fell swoop I won’t be able to be alone anymore. And for the longest time I searched for this person, trying to see him in every smile and flirty encounter with the men around me. But recently, as I come to the end of my college, career and I become a woman versus a girl or a young woman I’ve figured out that I can’t keep building up this perfect man in my head. Because no one is perfect and timing is never perfect. But timing can be right and when the timing is right, when all the pieces of my life are in the right position I know God will bring that ‘someone’ to me. But for now I’m happy being me. I’m happy loving my family and my friends.
I’m happy working to improve and push myself. And while yes, like the song says, sometimes I want somebody to hold me, I’m not going to let that search define me. I’m gonna be me. I’m going to fight for my dreams, for my future, for the people I love and as I strive towards the purpose I believe God has given my life I’ll meet him along the way. But for now, its about me, not him and this song perfectly sums up my relationship to romance right now and besides that its a beautiful song sung by a gorgeous girl.
In short this song is beautiful. But more than that its aspiring and motivates me to actually live. From what I can tell Roo Panes is a relatively unknown British artist, but trust me once you’ve heard this song you won’t be able to stop listening to him. I dare say he might be the next Ed Sheeran.
Beyoncé surprised the world on my birthday, December 13th, when she dropped an entire album out of the blue and in short it was a marketing stroke of genius but more than that the album is damn good.
One of the first videos to be released is for XO and again its damn good. Not only does Beyoncé look and sound fantastic the video is a lovely little slice of those late nights at carnivals we dream about.
She is seen with her entourage and fans as well as various couples locking lips. There’s no way to watch this video without feeling good and trust me once you’ve heard it once you’ll be playing it on repeat. So take a look at the next #musicyoushouldbelisteningto
The Hobbit is one of my favourite books from childhood and I’m so happy they’ve been making the movies that bring the book to life. With the upcoming release of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (which comes out on my birthday!) the studio has released this song from the soundtrack. I See Fire by Ed Sheeran, is beyond beautiful and is my latest recommendation for #musicyoushouldbelisteningto
There are times in life when everything is overwhelming and when life, well it can get you down, it feels as though every fiber of your being is bland. As though all the life, love and energy has been somehow magically drained for your essence and seeped into the dirt of the earth.
I have to admit that’s how I felt the last couple of days but its at times like this when we have a choice, recoil into that darkness or shake off the dust and make a choice to surge forward. Make a choice to say I’m better than my surroundings and I’m better than my emotions. To say I chose to be worthy of the calling upon my life. To say I will get up and go. No excuses, no feeling sorry for myself, just raw passion and motivation to get that thing, whatever it may be for you, done.
I’ve gotten to that point now but one song that I listened to only a little while ago helped jerk that reaction in me so I thought I would share it with you. Its ‘Feel Again’ by One Republic who are an amazing band and the video is below. I hope you enjoy it
So I hope that song has either given you a boost or just reminded you how awesome life can be if you make the choice to see the beauty and the potential in it. Additionally I wanted to share with you lovely readers that within the next week I will be posting a video asking for your help in deciding what book I’m going to pitch to agents/publishers over the next few weeks. So watch out for that video and for a snazzy poll, oh yes, a snazzy poll.
Until next time be blessed, stay strong and never give up,
God Bless,
Grace Hatton the Author's Blog 