I can say that I managed to create a playlist that consisted of all songs that I had never heard before (or had heard once or twice) and ended up loving. It’s always so refreshing to the ears to listen to new music. And it’s an especially great way to start the new year! The playlist is a mixture of a whole bunch of different genres, so hopefully you’ll find at least one song you like. Maybe you’ve heard a few of them–or all of them–before, but either way, enjoy! (P.S. I dare you not to swoon when you hear Nat King Cole singing)
Angels // The xx
Shiver Shiver // Walk the Moon
Sometimes I’m Happy// Peggy Lee, June Christy
Fuck You Tonight feat. R. Kelly // The Notorious B.I.G.
L-O-V-E – Multilingual Version // Nat King Cole
White Walls – feat. ScHoolboy Q, Hollis // Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
Thin Line – feat. Buffalo Madonna// Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
Poetic Justice // Kendrick Lamar, Drake
The Last Hope feat. Kardinal Offish // Drake
Runaround Sue // Dion
Soulman // Ben L’Oncle Soul
The Sign // Ace of Base
Hope your spring semester has started off well!
Emily
I’m not sure about all y’all, but the world of music was very kind to me over the weekend. THREE of my most anticipated albums of the year leaked, giving me a ton of new tracks to keep me patient for at least another week or so.
It’s been over a year since Drake released his last offering, Thank Me Later, and his follow-up album is certainly something to get excited about. I’ve only listened through it a couple times so far, and the major standout for me is the sexy title track with Rihanna, “Take Care.”
Childish Gambino is Community star Donald Glover‘s rap project and he’s finally releasing his debut album after a string of mixtapes and EPs. Camp has Glover constantly testing out new genres to accomodate his hilarious and poignant raps. “Heartbeat” goes hard with a legit electronic beat and is definitely worth a listen.
Birdy is a 15-year old British phenom that y’all clearly need to know about. She grabbed major attention last year with her cover of Bon Iver‘s “Skinny Love” and she continues that trend of fascinating covers on her debut album (all tracks except for one are covers). My favorite, a beautiful version of The National‘s “Terrible Love,” was nowhere on YouTube, but I was able to find her equally beautiful rendition of The xx‘s “Shelter.”
That’s it for this week, hope y’all enjoyed the tracks!
This time of year is always exciting for music. The 53rd Annual Grammy Awards air tonight on CBS at 8pm, and while I could always write a post about who deserves to win in each of the major categories, I feel like no one actually watches the show to see who wins. Music is more subjective than any other form of the arts, in my opinion, so I find the nominations kind of pointless. However, artists typically go all out for Grammy performances, and THAT sure is something to get excited about.
In recent years, Lady Gaga made a huge impact with her 2009 spectacle that featured a collaboration with Elton John. Playing a medley of “Poker Face,” “Speechless,” and Elton John classic “Your Song,” Gaga crafted a performance to remember. Will tonight’s debut performance of “Born This Way” live up to ridiculous hype? Only time will tell.
The award show has been in rehearsals for several days now, and rumors surrounding tonight’s performances are spreading like crazy.
As far as performers go, Lady Gaga will be joined by Eminem, Dr. Dre, Bob Dylan, Rihanna, Drake, Muse, Katy Perry, Bruno Mars, Cee Lo Green, Justin Bieber, Usher, Barbara Streisand, Mumford and Sons, Arcade Fire, Lady Antebellum, and several other massively successful recording artists on tonight’s telecast. Plus, who knows if the Grammys have any surprise performers up their sleeves. If all those artists performing doesn’t get you hype about the Grammys, I don’t know what will.
MUMFORD AND SONS HAS BEEN NOMINATED FOR TWO GRAMMYS. TWO OF THEM. Our (my, at least) favorite boys from across the pond are going up against Drake, the Bieber, and Florence + The Machine for Best New Artist; “Little Lion Man” (which I posted the other week) is up for Best Rock Song. Okay, back to what I had originally written as the start of this blog post:
It’s been a while, loyal readers! I hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving/week-off-of-school festivities and ate plenty of delicious food. I definitely ate at least 2 pounds of sweet potatoes. Now that the pleasantries are out of the way, let’s get down to business*:
What is more culturally relevant this week than Chanukkah? Nothing. So, for this week’s Official Tidbit of Cultural Relevance, it’s a new Chanukkah/Channukah/Chanuka/Hanuka/Hannukah/Hanukkah song! Also, this video of the Yeshiva University Maccabeats (I love a cappella names) has been all over everywhere the past few days. If you haven’t seen it yet, well, here you go. You’re welcome. And happy (C)han(n)uk(k)a(h) to all my fellow revelers!
Since I have a midterm on Friday (Yeah. Midterm. It’s not the middle of the term anymore.) I’m going to give you two things:
The first is a suggestion. Go to Pandora and make a Mumford and Sons station. Their eponymous EP has some stuff that isn’t on “Sigh No More”, which will come up on the Pandora station eventually. However, it seems to be in hiding everywhere else. I’m working on getting some tracks, and as soon as I do I’ll post them.
The second thing is actually more than one thing, it’s . Some goodies for you to rock out to (on your headphones) whilst you while away the hours in the library pretending to study. Or in your room while you have a dance party with your roommate (that’s what I’ll be doing).
Of Montreal, “For Our Elegant Caste”:
Kate Nash, “Foundations”:
And not to be all “mainstream” or whatever, but I’m not gonna lie, nothing does it quite like this–”Viva la Vida”, from Coldplay:
