So after a 3 year wait, Birdy has released her 3rd album! I must say, since a friend showed me her cover of Bon Iver's Skinny Love, I have been a massive fan. Her first album consisted of almost all covers, however the song that stood out for me was Without A Word, which Birdy wrote herself. I was excited to hear more of her own songs in her second album Fire Within. She did not disappoint! I found Fire Within was quite an emotional album, which Birdy herself carries off so well.
Now when the single was released from Birdy's 3rd album, Beautiful Lies, I was hooked. The first single was Keeping Your Head Up, which was a lot more upbeat than her usual music. I loved it! It was a great track that had so much potential, it also makes an incredible remix. Much like Wild Horses, one of my favourites on the album and the second single, which has already been turned into a remix, you can listen to both in the playlist at the bottom.
The album opens with Growing Pains which channels a mixture of Kate Bush and Bjork. It has an element of typical Chinese rhythms and melodies, which create a great hook. Birdy has an incredible range and has lots of angelic harmonies in many of her songs, Shadow and Save Yourself are where you can find the good examples of this.
Birdy plays the piano, so many of her tracks focus on just her and the piano. These are usually the more emotional numbers like Unbroken, Deep End, Silhouette, and Lost it All, which made me cry the first time I heard it. I also think Lost it All sounds similar to Without a Word and I can relate to it a lot, which is maybe why it's another one of my favourites on the album.
Beautiful Lies is unlike her previous albums, this time Birdy seems to have focused more on the beat and sound that she wants to create. This has created some really some great tracks on the album, like Lifted, Take My Heart and Hear You Calling. In Hear You Calling again we can hear features of chinese melodies.
The last track on the album is the album title track Beautiful Lies, again Birdy uses piano and simple harmonies to create a soft track to finish the album on, bringing the sound back to where she started almost.
Release almost a month ago now, Beautiful Lies has been added to my own personal playlist of my favourite albums and been given lots of positive praise which it certainly deserves. Now go have a listen!
The
1975 have entered into the 2016 charts with the longest album name to go number
one…probably. The UK’s funk-pop-rockers have also asserted dominance in
the charts over in the US debuting at number one as well. I read an article the
other day and found out they are only the 16th UK
artists to simultaneously hold number one positions in the UK and US; joining
artists like The Beatles, Rod Stewart and The Rolling Stones.
You
start the album off by listening to ‘the 1975’ by the 1975, which I
guess is what it feels like to spend 1 minute and 20 seconds in Matt
Healy’s mind – a synth-pop dreamland of, well, confusion.
Then,
suddenly, things kick up a gear as the band launches into funk-guitar driven
‘Love Me’. This is the first single to be released from the new 1975 record and
it’s a quirky, pisstake on selfie culture. The fabulous video depicts
a topless Healy stumbling between life-size cardboard cutouts of commercial
superstars like Taylor Swift and Rita Ora. In the song Healy admits he
isn’t afraid to see what people write about him on social media, which I think
is admirable because I couldn’t do it.
The
1975 maintain the pace into the next song ‘UGH!’ which, quite simply, is about
cocaine. More specifically, Matt Healy’s past dabbling with it. "This
conversation's not about reciprocation no more/But I'm gonna wait
until you've finished so I can talk some more/About me and my things, my car,
my living/And how I'm giving it up, giving it up again". It’s a
genius piece of writing and so accurately illustrated, probably my favourite from
the album so give it a listen.
Another great
song from this record is ‘The Sound” which is like going round on a
carousel – the most joyous, uplifting carousel ever. The song is an
anthemic chorus line of bouncing synth filled in with curious, questioning shade and
jibes. The song is also home to a great guitar solo, the best on the album.
The
album is brutally honest, fun and expressive. Admittedly some songs are a bit
wishy-washy and daydreamy but truthfully I think the album needs those kind
of ballad driven tunes because they shine a light on important cultural
messages for young people. But the songs I talked about like ‘UGH!’, ‘Love
Me’ and ‘The Sound’ are at least worth a listen.
Overall,
I think the album is sound. The follow up to the first hit, self-titled record
is actually better but I think the 1975 are capable of something special
here…so it’s okay to be demanding! I like the way the 1975 carry
themselves in the media and their music speaks for themselves, which is all
written and produced by Healy and Daniels. I also love the pop sound with a
rock voice.
The Grammy Awards were a week ago so
here are a few of the key winners and a little overview of the night.
Album of the Year
Winner: 1989 - Taylor Swift
Sound & Color - Alabama
Shakes
To Pimp A Butterfly - Kendrick
Lamar
Traveller - Chris Stapleton
Beauty Behind The Madness - The
Weeknd
Best New Artist
Winner: Meghan Trainor
Courtney Barnett
James Bay
Sam Hunt
Tori Kelly
Best Rock Album
Winner: Drones - Muse
Chaos And The Calm - James Bay
Kintsugi - Death Cab For Cutie
Mister Asylum - Highly Suspect
.5: The Gray Chapter - Slipknot
Best Rock Performance
Winner: Don't Wanna Fight - Alabama Shakes
What Kind Of Man - Florence
& The Machine
Something From Nothing - Foo
Fighters
Ex's & Oh's - Elle King
Moaning Lisa Smile - Wolf Alice
Record of the Year
Winner: Uptown Funk - Mark Ronson Featuring Bruno
Mars
Really Love - D'Angelo and the
Vanguard
Thinking Out Loud - Ed Sheeran
Blank Space - Taylor Swift
Can't Feel My Face - The Weeknd
Song of the Year
Winner: Thinking Out Loud - Ed Sheeran & Amy
Wadge
Alright - Kendrick Duckworth,
Kawan Prather, Mark Anthony Spears & Pharrell Williams (Kendrick Lamar)
Blank Space - Max Martin,
Shellback & Taylor Swift
Girl Crush - Hillary Lindsey,
Lori McKenna & Liz Rose (Little Big Town)
See You Again - Andrew Cedar,
Justin Franks, Charles Puth & Cameron Thomaz (Wiz Khalifa)
Best Pop Vocal Album
Winner: 1989 - Taylor Swift
Piece By Piece - Kelly Clarkson
How Big, How Blue, How
Beautiful - Florence & The Machine
Uptown Special - Mark Ronson
Before This World - James
Taylor
Best Pop Solo Performance
Winner: Thinking Out Loud - Ed Sheeran
Heartbeat Song - Kelly Clarkson
Love Me Like You Do - Ellie
Goulding
Blank Space - Taylor Swift
Can't Feel My Face - The Weeknd
Best Traditional Pop Vocal
Album
Winner: The Silver Lining: The Songs Of Jerome
Kern - Tony Bennett & Bill Charlap
Shadows In The Night - Bob
Dylan
Stages - Josh Groban
No One Ever Tells You - Seth
MacFarlane
My Dream Duets - Barry Manilow
Best Music Video
Winner: Bad Blood - Taylor Swift Featuring
Kendrick Lamar
LSD - ASAP Rocky
I Feel Love (Every Million
Miles) - The Dead Weather
Alright - Kendrick Lamar
Freedom - Pharrell Williams
Best Dance Recording
Winner: Where Are U Now - Skrillex and Diplo with
Justin Bieber
We're All We Need - Above &
Beyond Featuring Zoe Johnston
Go - The Chemical Brothers
Featuring Q-Tip
Never Catch Me - Flying Lotus
featuring Kendrick Lamar
Runaway (U & I) - Galantis
Best R&B Performance
Winner: Earned It (Fifty Shades Of Grey) - The
Weeknd
If I Don't Have You - Tamar
Braxton
Rise Up - Andra Day
Breathing Underwater - Hiatus
Kaiyote
Planes - Jeremih Featuring J.
Cole
Best R&B Album
Winner: Black Messiah - D'Angelo And The Vanguard
Coming Home - Leon Bridges
Cheers To The Fall - Andra Day
Reality Show - Jazmine Sullivan
Forever Charlie - Charlie
Wilson
Best Urban Contemporary Album
Winner: Beauty Behind The Madness - The Weeknd
Ego Death - The Internet
You Should Be Here - Kehlani
Blood - Lianne La Havas
Wildheart - Miguel
Best Country Album
Winner: Traveller - Chris Stapleton
Montevallo - Sam Hunt
Pain Killer - Little Big Town
The Blade - Ashley Monroe
Pageant Material - Kacey
Musgraves
Best Country Song
Winner: Girl Crush - Hillary Lindsey, Lori
McKenna & Liz Rose (Little Big Town)
Chances Are - Hayes Carll (Lee
Ann Womack)
Diamond Rings And Old Barstools
- Barry Dean, Luke Laird & Jonathan Singleton (Tim McGraw)
Hold My Hand - Brandy Clark
& Mark Stephen Jones
Traveller - Chris Stapleton
Best Metal Performance
Winner: Cirice - Ghost
Identity - August Burns Red
512 - Lamb Of God
Thank You - Sevendust
Custer - Slipknot
Best Rap Album
Winner: To Pimp A Butterfly - Kendrick Lamar
2014 Forest Hills Drive - J.
Cole
Compton - Dr. Dre
If You're Reading This Its Too
Late - Drake
The Pinkprint - Nicki Minaj
Best Music Film
Winner: Amy - Amy Winehouse
Mr. Dynamite: The Rise Of James
Brown - James Brown
Sonic Highways - Foo Fighters
What Happened, Miss Simone? -
Nina Simone
The Wall - Roger Waters
Best Song written for Visual
Media
Winner: Glory - Lonnie Lynn, Che Smith & John
Stephens (Common and John Legend)
Earned It (Fifty Shades Of
Grey) - Ahmad Balshe, Stephan Moccio, Jason Quenneville & Abel Tesfaye (The
Weeknd)
Love Me Like You Do - Savan
Kotecha, Max Martin, Tove Nilsson, Ali Payami & Ilya Salmanzadeh (Ellie
Goulding)
See You Again - Andrew Cedar,
Justin Franks, Charles Puth & Cameron Thomaz (Wiz Khalifa Featuring Charlie
Puth)
Til It Happens To You - Lady Gaga & Diane
Warren
Ed
Sheeran won his first ever Grammys at the ceremony - song of the year and
best pop solo performance for his hit, Thinking Out Loud.
Lady Gaga performed a tribute
to David Bowie, singing a medley of his songs.
Adele performed the track All I Ask, co-written with Bruno Mars, although she had some audio problems after a microphone fell on the piano accompanying her.
John
Legend, Demi Lovato, Meghan Trainor and Tyrese Gibson performed with Lionel
Richie to honour the former Commodores singer.
Twelve-year-old
Joey Alexander, a jazz pianist was this year's youngest Grammy nominee
and received a standing ovation from the crowd.
The
Weeknd collected two prizes - best urban contemporary album and best R&B performance.
Hollywood Vampires - a supergroup made up of members including Johnny Depp, Alice Cooper and Joe Perry - performed on TV for the first time and sang Ace of Spades in tribute to Motorhead's Lemmy.
Happy Valentine's Day! I hope everyone has woken up to snuggles and roses or (in my case) cuddling a pizza box and looking forward to spending the day with you single friends eating ice cream. However you are spending your day and whoever you are spending your day with, I'm sure one of our playlists can make you feel the love... or not.
As it's christmas and being the wonderful person that I am, I have not supplied you with just one generic Christmas playlist but 3, amazing playlists that are perfect for different occasions.
The first is the obvious, generic one, it has a bit of everything, and I mean EVERYTHING!
The second is for those who want a more classy Christmas, or for when the family is round and Grandma wants to listen to Bing Crosby.
The third and final playlist is the X-mas party playlist. Perfect for having a boogie on Christmas Eve and after Christmas dinner to start working off that food baby.
I said I would post this yesterday, actually on my birthday, however I ran out of time in the end. I was having to much fun. I had a great day and celebrated it with some awesome people. I also got lots of lovely cards and gifts which I'm very grateful for.
Now on to the tunes! Here are 21 songs that have to be played whenever I have a party!
I started university about a month ago now and I thought I would share with you what I have been listening to since I have got here. There is quite a range, lots of songs I hear when I'm on a night out, other songs are some of my flatmates favourites, so I find myself listening to them a lot. So without further ado, here's my Uni playlist!
