Jamie's Music Blog

K-Pop fever has swept the nation as 'IDOL' by k-pop boy band BTS breaks the Youtube record for most viewed video within the first 24-hours of its release. After winning the Billboard 'top social artist of the year' award three times in a row and selling out their U.S tour in less than five minutes, BTS are the biggest boy band since the Beatles. Originally only successful with Asian countries and westerners with Asian backgrounds, over the last five years many K-Pop stars have found a new platform of listeners all over the world. The international success of BTS has paved the way for a K-Pop revolution, ushering in a new ear of pop music. Contrary to popular belief, K-Pop music is not the stereotypical bubblegum pop that first comes to mind when someone mentions K-Pop, nor is it the same or similar to western pop. K-Pop has its own style which is badass and the future of pop music. Many western artists have also jumped on the K-Pop bandwagon, though some of the legi...

Ariana Grande's latest masterpiece - God is a Woman - has the critics and fans raving. The accompanying music video sent shockwaves through the industry with its powerful imagery. On the surface, the song is about a woman owning her sexuality, but it goes deeper than that. We live in a world where women are discriminated against because some people misinterpret the bible as saying that women brought sin into the world. God is a Woman is not blasphemy, but a reclaiming; an attempt at raising the status of women and shutting down those who claim that being a woman is a sin. It's a rallying cry to women that they can be empowered and strong, regardless of what the haters say. This is shown even more so in the music video, which contains powerful images of the art of men reimagined as women, including the painting of the "Creation of Adam" by Michelangelo (see below). There are also images of Grande literally smashing through a glass ceiling with a sledgehammer and qu...

Hello everyone and welcome back! Today, I'm going to be writing about some of my favourite covers of songs that are absolutely jaw-dropping. But because there are so many amazing covers that I wanted to include, I've decided to split this topic into three parts, this being Part 3. I hope you like these covers as much as I do! Please Note:  I have decided not to include songs that sample other songs (such as Wild Thoughts by DJ Khaled) because they only use a very small fraction of the other song, not enough to be considered a cover. Also note:  I have also decided not to include covers from talent shows (such as The Voice or X-Factor) or TV shows (such as Glee) because they deserve their own, separate lists. I'm also excluding Post Modern Jukebox from this list. Stand By Me by Florence Welch (originally by Ben E. King) This beautiful love ballad has been covered many times before, even by John Lennon, but none have brought the level of emotion to the song that Fl...

Hello everyone and welcome back! Today, I'm going to be writing about some of my favourite covers of songs that are absolutely jaw-dropping. But because there are so many amazing covers that I wanted to include, I've decided to split this topic into three parts, this being Part 2. I hope you like these covers as much as I do! Please Note:  I have decided not to include songs that sample other songs (such as Wild Thoughts by DJ Khaled) because they only use a very small fraction of the other song, not enough to be considered a cover. Also note:  I have also decided not to include covers from talent shows (such as The Voice or X-Factor) or TV shows (such as Glee) because they deserve their own, separate lists. I'm also excluding Post Modern Jukebox from this list. Seven Nation Army by Zella Day (originally by The White Stripes) In 2012, upcoming artist Zella Day debuted with her folk cover of Seven Nation Army, originally by The White Stripes. Whilst a folk take o...

Hello everyone and welcome back! Today, I'm going to be writing about some of my favourite covers of songs that are absolutely jaw-dropping. But because there are so many amazing covers that I wanted to include, I've decided to split this topic into three parts, this being Part 1. I hope you like these covers as much as I do! Please Note: I have decided not to include songs that sample other songs (such as Wild Thoughts by DJ Khaled) because they only use a very small fraction of the other song, not enough to be considered a cover. Also note: I have also decided not to include covers from talent shows (such as The Voice or X-Factor) or TV shows (such as Glee) because they deserve their own, separate lists. I'm also excluding Post Modern Jukebox from this list. Stayin' Alive by Say Lou Lou (originally by The Bee Gees)  Australian sisters, Miranda and Elektra Kilbey (aka Say Lou Lou, pictured left) released their cover of the Bee Gees classic disco hit in 2016. ...

Seafret is a British duo made up of singer Jack Sedman and guitarist Harry Draper. Since their debut album Tell Me It's Real was released in January of 2016, they've garnered a lot of mainstream attention and popularity for their beautiful music. So beautiful, in fact, that their song Wildfire was used in the romantic drama film 'The Longest Ride' and their popularity grew from there. However, the duo started from very humble beginnings. In an interview with HuffPost, they admitted that they met at a small open mic night in their hometown of Bridlington, where they were performing as soloists. The two soon began writing music together and officially became known as Seafret. They came up with the name 'Seafret' by drawing inspiration from their hometown by the sea and a fret on a guitar. As mentioned earlier, Seafret and their debut album were an instant hit and I think this comes down to two main reasons. The first being the motivation behind the songs, and...

Hello everyone! As we come into the busiest time of year and 2017 draws to a close, there are a couple of songs that totally deserve some recognition before the year is up.  So without further ado, lets jump right into it! The first song on my list is the Homemade Dynamite remix by Lorde featuring Khalid, Post Malone and SZA. Originally released as a part of the Melodrama album with no features, it was this remix of the song however that gained mainstream attention. The song of the Alternative/Indie-pop persuasion only reached No.92 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, which is surprising considering that three of the four artists on the track have at least one Grammy nomination. It is a shame that this quality song has gone largely unappreciated as it is packed full of young, up-and-coming talent, intriguing lyrics and a uniqueness that is rare in mainstream music. It is definitely worth a listen before the year is out. British group Clean Bandit never fails...

Welcome back everyone! Today I'm going to go through three artists that you most likely know from featuring on popular tracks, but totally deserve their recognition for their music.   Skylar Grey You'll know her from Macklemore's 2017 hit 'Glorious'   however she has done songs for multiple movie soundtracks, including 'Fifty Shades of Grey ', 'Fast and Furious 7' and 'Step Up Revolution'. Grey has released three albums and two EP's over her career, each with an abundance of stunning music that deserves more recognition on the mainstream music scene.  My personal favourite song of Grey's is 'Dance Without You'.  The track is enticing, as it starts with an interesting rhythm instrumental, but then Grey's  vocals are added and the balance between basic and too busy are perfect. The chorus reaches a new level of intensity in the track which was slowly but surely built up to create a spectacular atmosphere within the...

Hello everyone! Just to try something different and mix things up a bit, I thought I'd share with you some of my favourite songs of the week. Enjoy! This first song is a real toe-tapper. "Feel it Still" by Portugal The Man recently hit Australian airwaves and is one of those songs that you can love almost immediately. With it's upbeat tempo, chilled vibes and an alternative/indie sound that isn't in your face, it's the perfect song for anytime of day, including first thing in the morning and last thing at night. It's great song to workout to or just chill out to on weekends. Jaira Burns debut single "Ugly" is the new-pop sound you're sure to love. Uploaded to YouTube in June of this year, the song now has over 1.5 million views and it's really no wonder why it was such an instant success. Jaira's unique and intriguing vocals really sell the lyrics and overall vibe of the song. Jaira describes her sound as dark-pop, gypsy and u...