Mmmbop!

So, everyone remembers the quirky and adorable song from the 90s called "Mmmbop", right?
If not...watch the video and you'll have that lightbulb moment within seconds.  I remember loving this song for its happy beat and because I used to think the lead singer was the cutest thing since penguins...

So here is a bit of awesome history regarding the band that created this song in 1996, called Hanson.  The band is from Oklahoma and consists of three band members, all being brothers.  At the time when "Mmmbop" came out, the lead singer, Taylor Hanson was 13, guitarist Isaac Hanson was 16, and drummer, Zac Hanson was 11. The boys are all multi-talented when it comes to music, since all three can play many instruments and sing.

Today, Hanson is still going strong with their 2013 album (they have nine albums in total) called "Anthem". The boys (men now I suppose) are still fairly popular, reaching billboard charts.  Their first single "Get the girl back" on "Anthem" was charted as number 39 in the Billboard Adult Pop Songs category.  This is Hanson's first single to chart in the US Billboard Chart in nine years.

Their new music is obviously very different to what they played when they first started out. In fact, I really like their sound, and it is pretty cute how they have not shaken off that 90s look...But I do kind of miss their adorable bubblegum tunes that they had when they were just a few wee ones :)

                                                                 2013 - "Get the girl back"

                                                                2009 - "This time around"

Hmmm Taylor sure did age well though...

Post-Camp blues :(

This weekend I attended my annual church youth camp.  I was despondent towards it at first, with the worry that I would not have many friends, but I suck it up.  As expected from the title of this post, this camp was truly amazing! Sixty-two people attended it, majority being high school scholars, and the weekend was filled with life, joy and excitement.  It brought back such beautiful memories of the many leadership and confirmation camps that I went to during high school, but many, or probably most of those camps that I went to, were in the hope that my crush was going too. Having grown up since then, and learning that no love received from any man is greater than the love received from God, I truly enjoyed this experience.  We grew closer more than ever, as a youth camp, regardless of age.
I have been experiencing many struggles with sin and hurt lately, and the title of this camp was Grace.  A lot of the messages had to do with facing the giants in our life and handing them over to God to take hold of them.  God shows me His grace daily, not by "letting me off" for my sin, but also for His dedication to me, even when He is far from my thoughts.
One of my favourite moments was letting go of lanterns like they do at the Thailand lantern festival.  Just letting go of those four lanterns, instead of the thousands let off at this festival, filled me with such a delight. This festival is something that I would absolutely love to see! I can't imagine anything being more beautiful...and it is such a pure and perfect image of what can happen in our lives if we hand our worries and giants over to our God.  It's like placing your problem in the lantern, filling it with hot air and letting it float up to the heavens where it will be taken care of :)

I am also truly amazed at how God can work in young lives.  I wish that I could have been the kind of believer that some of the older scholars are...some of them have just accepted that having God is the only way to live and their faith is unmovable.  I yearn for the kind of trust that some of them have...

1 Timothy 4:12
Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity

God is simply great and I want nothing more than to make Him proud. I can only hope that others can see the kind of life that He has to offer when we accept Him into our hearts.

 

Aaaand I'm back

It has been more than long enough since I have posted...the holiday clearly got to me, but this post is most definitely an appropriate one for a comeback :D

Desmond and the Tutus!!!!

Yes, this amazing South African band graced us with their presence in Grahamstown this past Friday when they performed in the union.  I have always been a fan of their music, but this was honestly one of the greatest nights that I have experienced in a tragically long time.  The lead singer, Shane, is just too odd to describe, yet I'll give it a go: he shakes his long, lush, brown hair as he sings, but not in that annoying heavy metal sort-of-way.  And calling him "alternative" is just too cliche' and he would probably be extremely insulted.  His voice is probably what makes him, it's thrilling and bouncy (the first word that came to my head).  One may think he actually cannot sing because of his odd vocal techniques, but do not be fooled, when he gets down to a good old "normal" song, his voice is melodious.

The entire night was just filled with fun! The mosh pit got a bit out of hand, but I was bruise-less when I arrived and departed from Union, so I don't really see the problem.  The crowd was crazy, but not in that I'm-so-drunk-I-don't-know-where-I-am-nor-even-care-who-this-band-is-but-I'll-dance-anyway vibe. EVERYONE knew the songs and were genuinely excited to see the actual musicians!  I bought myself their band t-shirt to add to my collection.  R180 is pretty steep, but I was convinced in buying one when the band members did a role-play in the middle of their set to advertise their merchandise.  It was just too sweet to resist.

If you do not know this magical band, start knowing them because they are just too awesomely different to not give a hoot.

Ellie Goulding must just come to South Africa already!!!

So I haven't posted in quite a long time, but while I was "studying" for english tonight I was listening to the new Ellie Goulding album on YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAg6tA4y-uA.  First off this album is awesome - give it a listen!! Secondly, I came across some acoustic versions of Ellie and my girl crush for this artist just increased dramatically.  I've always been quite a major fan, but when I watched these acoustic versions, primarily the ryan seacrest ones, that all changed.  The way that she sings and controls her voice is the perfect representation of why I have such a passion for singing and playing guitar.  I can just see it in her eyes that she is feeling what I feel when I sing one of my favourite songs.  More than that, she's just such an inspiration.  Her voice is so unique and her training is insane! So give them a listen and add Ellie to your top 5 at the very least :)

Some things about Ellie: She loves cheese, she's ambidextrous, she loves to run, she taught herself guitar at 14, she sang at the recent royal wedding, she loves to buy people books and alcohol for their birthdays and her favourite Christmas movie is The Snowman.  

Calling All Fleetwood Mac Fans :D

Fleetwood Mac is one of my favouriteeeeest bands!! So much so that I cannot wait to name my daughter Stevie...much to everyone's dismay...perhaps I'll name my son Nick too :P

My friend, Gaby, introduced this song to me today and I'm in love...I've been playing it on repeat.  It is a cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams".
I'm sure most people know the band Bastille, but the female vocalist I do not recognise.  Her name is Gabrielle Aplin and her vocal range in this song is stunning oh my word!!!

This prompted me to research Gabrielle Aplin on Youtube and I came across her original song "Home". It is simply beautiful. Aaah I love her voice!! And she is our age, pretty cool :D

Take a look at Dreams and Home :)

Tuesday's Happy Song

ZEBRA AND GIRAFFE :D

One of my favourite South African bands of all time! I have been a devout fan since mid high school and their song "Fixation Girl" was what my iPod chose to play to me this morning to wake me up. I am very proud of my collection of fan photos with the band :)

Click to play "Fixation Girl" - Zebra and Giraffe

Pappa Samuel's second session of treatment

Tomorrow, my dad will be going for his second session of chemotherapy.  In all honesty it has been anything, but easy.  He is experiencing plenty of the side effects including depression, weight loss, extreme nausea and stomach pain.  I do believe that the only thing keeping him going is his faith, positivism and family/friend support, but there's not many things more horrible than seeing your dad in that kind of state.  My dad is an extreme optimist and he has made use of this trait to bring us up.  One of his favourite things to say to us when we are down or stressed is "take on day at a time and one step at a time". So besides its terrible cheesiness, I am dedicating "One step at a time" by Jordin Sparks to my dad's journey. I remember it being on the radio as we drove out of Grahamstown after dropping my older sister off for her first year of varsity.  My dad phoned her and placed the phone microphone next to the car radio speaker.  That's something I've always remembered, so perhaps that means it may have been good advice.

So, this is a dedication to my Pappa Samuel. Hopefully we can invest in a beanie...I'm not sure the turban-look works so well for him...

That's not Christian...

When I was in Grade 9, I decided to get confirmed at my local church, Nahoon Methodist Church. I'm one of those that was brought up in a Christian home and sort of wandered around aimlessly in this kind of lifestyle.  I decided to be confirmed, because  my sister had been, two years earlier and it simply seemed like the right thing to do.  I cannot say that confirmation was the sole breaking point for me when I realised that I was looking at Christianity as a religion and not as a relationship with God.  Because I have had many situations concerning suffering and pain that has showed me God's love.  However, confirmation was definitely a part of that and one of the greatest influences that guided me in my confirmation journey, was my youth leader.  He was such a typical teenager, even though he was ten years older than me.  He was the last of everyone that I expected to be a leader in the church, but it was because of his unconventionality that showed me how cool of a guy, God is.   Darrel, my youth leader, showed me that Christianity is not full of rules and demands and that expressing one's love for God through the act of worship can be done in any way that you like.  He showed my fellow confirmees and me that God likes it when we put ourselves into our worship and so, if you fall asleep while singing hymns where every secondeth wordeth endseth with the letters "eth" then God is all for you spicing it up a bit :)  I've continued to see God in a new light throughout my life.  Some odd things can happen when it comes to God: He can manifest gems or gold dust can start falling from the ceiling or appear on people as they are praying/worshiping.  A friend of mine asked the His People pastor why God causes these things to happen and the short answer is, cause He can.  My dad always tells me that God has a sense of humour and He likes to have fun with us too.  The pastor picked up a coin, pressed it against the wall and then prayed.  The coin stuck to the wall. When I saw this for myself, I was like "WHY?"  Sticking coins on to walls is not going to help anything...but the reality is you can never put God in a box and He doesn't want to box us either.  So, if we want to tell God that He is awesome by sticking a coin on to a wall or screaming out his name in our heavy metal band, then He thinks that is just awesome!

Below are some awesome songs that many would expect to be anything, but Christian.
If none are of your interest, at least listen to the Underoath one the whole way through :)

God manifests gold dust during worship.

My Guilty Pleasures...regarding music, that is.

Before you read on...don't even think about denying the fact that you have at least one guilty pleasure song!  No music-lover is thaaat perfect!
One of my helpful friends, Wikipedia, defines a guilty pleasure as "something one enjoys and considers pleasurable despite feeling guilt for enjoying it. The guilt involved is sometimes simply fear of others discovering one's lowbrow or otherwise embarrassing tastes".

Some examples of guilty pleasures that I found are:
- Re-gifting: Giving away an odd or unwanted gift that someone gave to you, as a new gift.
- Reading OK or Heat magazine.
- Stealing blankets off of the airplane or from hotels.
- Watching Pokemon and dragon ball when you're over the age of 18.

But back to the music side of things.  I think that any 1990s baby will admit that any time that a Spice Girl song comes on, they cannot help, but sing the lyrics.  Whether this is screeching them out loud or whispering them in their head, because their own conscience is plaguing them.

Other common guilty pleasure songs are:
- Anything to do with metro-sexual boys with tenor voice-types, singing songs about love...Westlife, Backstreet Boys, Nsync, Blue etc...
- Journey - Don't stop believin'
- Vanessa Carlton - A Thousand Miles
- Belinda Carlisle - Heaven is a place on earth
- Britney Spears
- Boston - More than a feeling
- The Ketchup Song
- Smash Mouth - All Star
- Simply Red - Something got me started

Noooow for the horrifically embarrassing part:
My guilty pleasure songs are.....................both Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber's new albums :( :( :(
Believe me, I keep asking myself why too.  But playing them just generally puts me in a good mood.  And I just may have all of the Jonas Brothers albums...hey, I have a younger sister - it's a legitimate excuse!  Good thing, this isn't too public..it's just the internet...

Dedication to my Pappa Samuel

Last week Thursday, my dad was diagnosed with lymphoma; blood marrow cancer.  He has been going for various tests since the beginning of the Easter holidays, but was told in December 2012, that he merely has tennis elbow.  Therefore, bringing the word "cancer" into the equation, has been a shock for everyone.  My Pappa Samuel is honestly the most generous, caring and wise person that I know.  It seems typical for me to say this as his daughter, but plenty of strangers, friends and family have been stunned at the amount of altruism he withholds. He will be going on chemotherapy next week and although he is nervous about the intensity of this kind of treatment on his body; I believe that his strength and optimism will pull him through.

These lyrics from Mumford and Son's single "Hold on to what you believe", I think are helpful in this situation.  God is my refuge in every situation and  these lyrics encourage me to continue to strive through, even in the toughest of times.  These lyrics echo a particular verse from the bible, encouraging us, as human beings to not try to understand every situation, but rather trust that God has His reasons :)

"But hold on to what you believe in the light. When the darkness has robbed you of all your sight. So hold on to what you believed in the light"

                                         

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding"     - Proverbs 3:5

My Dad's favourite band is U2.  I've chosen to dedicate one of his favourite songs of theirs to him: "With or Without You".  This song's lyrics do not exactly describe how I feel about the situation, I most certainly cannot live without my Pappa Samuel, but it is a lovely song to cover.  

Mumford and Sons - Hold on to what you believe

Alternative Trip

I was introduced to this genre of music on the weekend.  It is called "alternative trip" and the percussion is amazing! It's really melodious and just lovely to listen to.  Here it is on SoundCloud - https://soundcloud.com/alternativetrip/misanthrop-aqua-luminus-iii-2

The life of an amateur musician...

My best friend, Gaby, has her 21st coming up in May and since this is a birthday that is celebrated to a certain higher degree, compared to other birthdays, she has requested that I make her a CD of recordings (very bad ones) of me singing covers and I have consequently been working on it since the December holidays, 2012.  The recordings are completed using my crappy laptop microphone and the very basic computer program, Audacity.  In other words, most of them are muffled, the plectrum is hitting against my guitar and it sounds as if I'm singing into a cloud.  BUT, I am trying my best to give her at least one good song that she won't mind listening to :)

My latest recording is a cover of Rihanna's Stay.  I love this song, and I am usually one to complain about the sound of Rihanna's voice.  So, I'm not the biggest fan, but this song is one of those that you inhale as soon as it starts playing, a response to music that I have spoken about in my previous post.  I played this one on piano, instead of guitar, as it is in the song.  I used chords from ultimate guitar - http://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/r/rihanna/stay_crd.htm, but I prefer to transpose it down once, as it is better suited to my voice :)  It's such a great feeling playing this song on piano and singing it...I had just been recovering from tonsillitis, so it's not perfect, but I'm too lazy to re-record :P

So, here it is - If you're wondering, I have no idea how to attach a sound clip, only a video clip, so I have to create a video in windows movie maker with some random picture and have the song playing in the background...

Five songs that have crept into my life

Below are five songs that have crept into my life over the years.  I've tried to choose five that are of fairly different genres so that it doesn't get too boring ¯

Most of these are ones that I've never managed to get sick of.  They consist of those kind of songs that as soon as it starts playing, you literally inhale it and taste it on your tongue.  Sounds cheesy, but that's the only way that I know how to describe it because that is what I physically do as soon as one of them begin to play. 

² Song Number One: 'Dancing Shoes' - Arctic Monkeys

I absolutely love this band.  I was introduced to them in grade 10 by a friend, who was the drummer of our youth band.  He had brilliant taste in music and put this song on one of the CDs that he made for me. I have a major thing for anything British so even listening to the main singer talk is good enough for me.  The way that this man sings, in his accent, brings such happiness to my life. The lyrics of their songs are a whole different story ("Get on your dancing shoes, you sexy little swine" - haha brilliant), but all-in-all a band that I would kill to see live.

² Song Number Two: 'SUGAAAR' - System of a Down

I listen to this band for the obvious reason;  it really helps me to calm down when I'm in a super angry mood.  I cannot say that I enjoy songs that are just pure screaming, but System is really not like that. You just want to laugh out loud when listening to it, because it's just all over the place.  Tolerate the screaming for 20 seconds in, it's at this part of the song that just makes me want to pull my arms and legs in and jump around like a Pogo stick...it's a cool music video too, little Lego men :D

² Song Number Three: 'Goin in' - Birdy nam nam (Skrillex remix)

I've never been a fan of the kind of music that doesn't make use of real instruments, but this one has to be an exception.  It just makes you feel good. 

² Song Number Four: 'Secret Crowds' - Angels and Airwaves

When I was young, I had probably at least fifty pictures of Blink 182 in my room.  I was obsessed with them and it broke my little heart when they broke up.  "Feeling this" has been my ringtone for the past five years or so and it has not changed once.  I never used to like Angels & Airwaves since they were a result of my favourite band breaking up, but I actually prefer them to Blink, today.  Secret Crowds has suuuch an amazing beginning and it's just a beautiful song! You have to listen to it super loud!

² Song Number Five: 'Feels like the first time' - Foreigner

Name one person who does not like this song! Just one. If you manage to find someone, that person is just silly and you should chuck them.  Simply, a great song. 

Final Music Video Disappointment

I posted an earlier blog post entitled "My first music video" where I discussed how a journalism 4th year had asked me to participate in a music video for her television portfolio.  The music video is finally done, but only after a few large changes.  The song was created by Lu "vondirty" , a really cool DJ in Grahamstown.  The vocals were done by me and Sne, an old drama student from Rhodes. Due to way too many complications, the music video could not be made for the song.  This was really disappointing for all three of us.  So, in the end they went back to using my original song "Coming Back".  The music video is below....it is really not as great as I expected it to be and I have arrived at the conclusion that I am terrible actress; something that shocked me since I took drama at school, ha... Anywaaay it was a cool experience I guess and the actual filming is pretty cool :) And I guess it's cool that my own song was made into a music video, even if they had to cut it a bit.

The video won't fit here so it will be on my YouTube channel for a while - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SL5BoB3sx04&feature=youtu.be

Here is the song created by Lu with five pics of me in studio :)

Hobson Hall Welcome Dinner

We recently had our Welcome Dinner for Hobson Hall.  I performed Paperweight by Joshua Radin and Schuyler Fisk. I was a tad nervous as usual, but this time they placed me on the agenda to perform before any of the meals, which is great because I'm usually so nervous that I cannot eat anything.  It went well though :)

This is one of my favourite songs to perform

Why I Write.

“If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nothing at all,” the wise words of Thumper’s father, from the movie Bambi.  These are words that I have been taught to live by, but this guidance has often resulted in my own exploitation.  When your conscience denies you the opportunity of “sticking it” to someone, it is highly likely that without an alternative form of relief, the malice will explode and splatter all over some innocent soul. Writing is my personal form of liberation.

My greatest ambition is to remain optimistic in every situation.  An unconscious habit of mine is to draw imaginary smiley-faces with my index finger on every surface.  It is something that personally drives me crazy when I become aware that I am doing it, but it has turned into an addiction that began all too long ago.  I practise the art of writing not merely to scribble down nasty insults that I should have uttered in a moment of conflict, but rather to contemplate on my feelings.  It is through this act that I am able to assure myself that it is not worthwhile to allow another to take up my time, feeling that way. 

Releasing the little demon in me is not the only reason for why I write.  Writing has the ability to listen to you in a way that a human being cannot or it may be you listening to yourself reflecting.  It is a way of checking up on yourself and receiving a dosage of strength to persevere. The pen the syringe, the ink the liquid drug and the page my veins.    It is a technique that is inexplicably able to mend numerous lesions. I write to deal with death, I write to engage with God, I write to etch images into my memory. 

I always answered “be an author” when elders asked what I wanted to make of my life.  Or in earlier years, the answer was “be an ‘authress’”.  A while back, my younger sister, Julianne, and I christened each other with the nicknames of “rat” and “slug” respectively.  Julianne has always been the artist and I, the writer, and so, it has always been a life goal of ours to create a series of novels entitled The Adventures of Rat and Slug.  Julianne, being the illustrator and I, the author, we would pair our personal passions together and create a story. 

 Julianne draws for the same reasons that I write; the primary motive being that it is ultimately her greatest form of release.  Whether it be to continue my life’s ambition to always see the brighter side of life or deal with bereavement; writing has never ceased in giving me that sense of elevation that I am searching for.   

My first music video :D

A few weeks ago a fellow Rhodes student, Kirst Allnutt, also a Journalism Fourth year asked me to be a part of her semester assignment.  A music video :D She remembered me from first year when I performed with a friend at one of the hall balls. She asked me to write a song and record it on my computer to send to her.  She liked the song, but then decided that she was going to ask her friend, Lu (a super cool DJ) to also be a part of the project.  My depressing song and his heavy drops did not collaborate all too nicely so we sadly had to chuck my song completely.  A third friend, Sne, came on board who is the male vocalist.  So far, we have all put together a pretty cool song and spent this entire weekend at Grey dam (I think it's called that) recording my parts of the music video. I had to get my feet quite dirty walking through streams and sloshy mud.  It was pretty cool, but extremely exhausting; I don't know how stars do it.  Also lip-synching can be an awkward experience. I am really excited for the final product! It's been a real experience.

Here is my original song - It's the first song that I have ever written that doesn't sound like Taylor Swift wrote it...so that's a bonus :)

I will post our collaboration at a later stage :)

My first posting :)

I should probably just jump right in, this week I have learned a new song on guitar. Majority of the world should be familiar with it if they listen to the radio or watch music channels - Neyo "Let me love you"

This song is definitely a part of a genre that I am not used to learning or singing. I just really love the acoustic version of it, so I gave it an attempt and failed quite dismally...the chord change is so odd in this song. I can easily play the guitar and sing the song, I just can't put these two together just yet...but I've only had one try so we'll see how it goes! I also have no idea how to play the bridge...but I'm pretty sure the entire song is F;Am;G to F;Em;G throughout, on capo 5. I'm not a musical genius so I'm not sure how to explain the quick chord change, but I got the chords off of Ultimate guitar if you want to check them out, I think I transposed them on the website.  I find it way easier to play the song on keyboard, transposing it 5 up :)

At the moment I am listening to a mix of Paramore :)

In high school, my best friend, Chantelle Kean, and I were in a duet band thing and we used to perform at tiny gigs probably just for our families, but it was a lot of fun :) We called ourselves Kristell Blue because the first word is a mix of our first names and the word "blue" was in the lyrics of every song in our set for our first performance.

Anyway, my point, is that we did a cover of 'The only exception' by Paramore in one of our gigs :)

This a picture from 2009 - Introducing Kristell Blue :P