I am a Singer

As I promised, here it is! A special post about my favourite singing competition : Singer (formerly known as I Am a Singer)!

It’s a Chinese show broadcasted by HunanTV and it is based on the Korean version, called I Am a Singer (that’s why they had to change the name). Unlike any other talent show with singers like The Voice or The X Factor, The Singer is exclusively created for professional singers and artists from all over the world. Typically, the foreign singers are being invited to take part in the show, which is a huge thing, because not only is it a number one show in China, but the average ratings for each episode reach about 200 mln viewers, and who wouldn’t like to have such a platform to gain more recognition and popularity?

I watched Singer 2017 and Singer 2018 and I absolutely loved them. The producers really know how to entertain people, because this show provides : the high quality of sound, the intimate setting (only 500 people in the audience + contestants and musical partners who introduce the artists), the freedom to artists in terms of music (as long as it works on stage, they do different types of covers) and the participation of the audience as the ultimate judges – now that’s really interesting. After all the performances of the night, each person in the audience votes for 3 (out of 7-8) which he finds the best and after counting them all, the host announces the results. The artist whose performance was judged as the worst is being eliminated from the show (though they can come on the show either for a Return Performance or in the next season) and another singer enters the competition on their place. It goes on and on for about 10 episodes and the last stage of the competition takes place : The Finals. That’s the basic rules, there’s of course more twists to it, but depending on the currently aired season there are introduced some small or bigger changes so I don’t see a point in describing them.

Last but not least, you can watch this show for free (after it’s been uploaded) on the official youtube channel, last season had english subtitles, so there’s no problem with understanding anything. What’s more, The Singer 2019 just had its premiere on 11 January, so if you like you may start watching it from there.

I chose some of my favourite performances so that you can have a taste of how it looks/sounds like, here you go :

Dimash : Adagio

He doesn’t need an introduction, does he? All I want to say is that sometimes I forget to breathe when he performs Adagio.

Jessie J – Purple Rain

My favourite cover of Purple Rain. Jessie J is a Queen! She also won Singer 2018.

Tengger – Heaven

A soulful performance deeply inspired by his Mongolian roots. In the beginning you can hear the throat (overtone) singing.

Tan Jing – Desirous Water

She’s a folk singer, but her range lets her do anything with her voice.

Hua Chenyu – Nunchucks

He’s very popular in China and I’m not surprised, he’s a very sensible artist. Him and Dimash are very much alike in the musical aspect, they both like to experiment and showcase different type of singing.

Sandy Lam – Persimmon

She left everyone breathless with this performance, me included.  She’s the winner of Singer 2017.

Kz Tandingan – Royals 

Such charisma! She totally killed this song, too bad she got eliminated.

Lion – I Can’t Hear

I love how attuned they are to the audience, the last part is especially touching.

I’m really glad I discovered this show, otherwise I wouldn’t get to know such gifted and passionate artists, each one of them was made to be on stage.

It was fun writing for you guys, see you soon in February, there’s still a lot to come!

Rurouni Kenshin Tsuioku-hen

If you like listening to soundtracks, I have a good one in store for you.

I’ve been interested in Japan and Japanese culture since primary school, but what got me interested in the first place was anime. Rurouni Kenshin Tsuioku-hen is one of my favourite anime of all time not only because of technical aspects like animation, but also the plot, the characters and their development and of course music – which one can really enjoy listening to off-screen.

Let me shortly describe you the gist of it so that you can fully immerse yourself in the music (although it can be skipped, I think it’s better to plunge deeper to have the wholesome experience).

As most anime, Rurouni Kenshin Tsuioku-hen is based on manga series Rurōni Kenshin : Meiji Kenkaku Romantan (also known as Samurai X in the western countries) written and illustrated by Nobuhiro Watsuki. It tells a story of a vagabond, swordsman and a former assassin, Himura Kenshin, during the Meiji period (a crucial period in the history when Japan, no longer isolated, began to adopt Western culture and the whole country underwent some drastic changes in its structure, politics, military etc). He wanders to different places, as he swore to himself to protect people from harm (as a sort of atonement), he once afflicted.

There have been many anime adaptations of it, and Rurouni Kenshin Tsuioku-hen is one of them, though it rather serves as an origin story. Situated in the Bakumatsu era (the final years of Edo period, when Japan was divided between pro-imperial nationalists (anti-shogunate activists and assassins such as Kenshin) and the shogunate forces (shinsengumi swordsmen included, which was sort of a police who protected the  military government at the time) it unveils Kenshin’s past as a boy who got involved into the war with peace in mind but became a legendary assassin instead.

The soundtrack of Rurouni Kenshin Tsuioku-hen not only perfectly embodies the inner conflict of Kenshin and unobtrusively complements the visuals we see on the screen (the historical canvas) but it has the Japanese spirit, accentuated by traditional instruments, such as the taiko or the shakuhachi.

Here you have a short documentary about traditional Japanese instruments, if you’re interested in expanding your knowledge. It’s interesting to see the musical heritage of Japan and how much effort and soul they put into music itself to convey a story, but that’s a totally different topic and as tempting as it sounds I’m not going to develop it in this post because it’d take too long.

Interesting fact : Rurouni Kenshin was also adapted into live action trilogy, so if you like watching movies, here you go. They’re quite entertaining and I really like the soundtrack. Here’s the trailer : 

As usual, feel free to comment!

Elena Tonra

You already know Elena as a vocalist and one third of Daughter from one of my previous posts about this band, this time I’d like to center all the attention on her only, since she released a full solo album in November 2018, and it’s damn good.

As you may know, Elena writes most (if not all) lyrics for Daughter. She has impeccable songwriting skills, she basically tells stories through them, but in such a way that it leaves you emotional. Not only because she writes them from experience but she truly has a knack for putting words together. You know this feeling when you want to say something, but the words won’t come out? Because I do and well, some of the lyrics she wrote, their force, their message and the overall execution hit me right on the spot, like she has seen through me. Moreover, she is true to herself and to her music. When asked about her writing, she always tells that it’s her brain, and heart speaking. She wouldn’t release something that she doesn’t feel.

Since she began to write her own stuff, she didn’t change much in the musical aspect – most of her solo songs have a pretty basic, low-ley sound, just a couple of chords on the guitar as a melody and main theme. She puts the lyrics first, she highlights them. They do the whole job basically, so if you’re also such a lyric nerd as me, there’s a high probability that you’ll like Elena. Although prepare yourself, because these are not easy lyrics to swallow.

As it was stated on her spotify, her first solo album Ex :Re, means regarding ex, and also X-Ray, as a way to look inside. I assure you it’s not a generic, unoriginal and boring break up album, but rather a sort of diary or a collection of letters to herself, her ex, reflecting on the past. It’s a cathartic, introspective and intimate album, listening to it almost feels like intruding and I think it’s difficult to objectively judge its content, since it’s practically brimming with different feelings, like sadness, loneliness, anger etc. By releasing this album, Elena truly exposes herself to us, it takes a lot of courage and trust in the listeners and I really appreciate it. I hope she continues to write meaningful music in the future.

Interesting fact : After the breakup, Elena needed to cope somehow with her feelings and what other way than going to the studio, write and sing? She didn’t want other memebers of Daughter to get involved in the writing process thus she decided to release a solo album. Besides, on of the members, Igor Haefeli, is her ex so I imagine it’d be too awkward to work with him on such intimate material. It took her about a year to put everything together, here below Romance and an official music video :

Lykke Li

I think a lot of you might have already heard one of her songs called I Follow Rivers. It was once a summer banger in multiple countries and it’s still frequently played on the radio. But what you actually hear there is a remix made by The Magician, so I thought I could share with you the original version of this song, which comes from Lykke Li’s second album Wounded Rhymes (2011). If you have heard them both, which one do you like better? Because I like the original one more, the melody is more mellow, gentle and most of all – melancolic, which is a distinctive trait of her songs in general. Not to mention the fact that the lyrics are actually pretty deep, of course they can be interpreted in different ways (and Lykke likes to write such ambiguous, semi-poetic lyrics), but to me it says about the death, or even a fatal destiny that follows you no matter where you are. I don’t know, it just gives off  memento mori vibes, especially if you link it to the music video. And if you think about it, the remix version, made in retro house style, which naturally incites you to dance, may be generally interpreted as danse macabre song. But that’s just one way to look at it.

Lykke Li is one of my favourite solo artists and songwriters. She tends to blend different styles of music, like dream pop (which I recently made a blog entry about), electronic and indie music. Most of her songs have a very specific ambiance, the way she records them make us listeners think, that she’s singing underwater. What’s more, her way of singing is very often lazy, or slurred. These little mannerisms create very melancholic, sad, introspective and emotional recordings.

That’s why most of her fans (including me) were (more or less pleasantly) surprised by the new album released this year after four years of hiatus.

So Sad, So Sexy, a fourth album in her musical career, is a huge leap forward from the previous album, which undeniably displays her growth as an artist and as a person. For the first time, she decided to incorporate some trap/rap elements and blend it with pop sound, which is pretty daring in itself, but it sounds quite  interesting, and personally I really enjoy her new material. Most importantly, she didn’t lost her touch in songwriting, the lyrics are still emotional, maybe a little more fierce, crude, less poetic, but they resonate with me nonetheless. And you can feel that she bares her soul with us.

Interesting fact : Lykke Li became a mother in 2016. Two years later, with her comeback, on Mother’s Day she had uploaded a song, Utopia, which she dedicated to her mother who passed away a year prior. The music video was made of old recordings from her childhood and new footage filmed with her own son.

Christmas songs

Christmas is just around the corner, if you’re not feeling it yet I hope this post will get you in a more festive mood.

If there is a thing I cannot imagine Christmas without (besides family gathering), that would be Christmas carols. Ever since I remember, we always were singing at my household around this period of time. While cleaning our house, baking and preparing various dishes or putting in and decorating our Christmas tree.

As I grew up I learned to play some songs on my guitar, so that we can all sing after  Christmas Eve dinner (before opening our presents!).

Of course you can say that these songs get monotonous, boring or even irritating after some time (especially if they are played on a never ending loop on the radio or in a shopping centre), but what’s amazing is that you have many songs you can choose from, with different genres, styles, arrangements, various instruments etc.

That’s what I want to share with you today – some of my favourite festive songs, I’ve discovered and enjoy listening to in December.

I’ve already talked about Sleeping at last and how amazed I am of Ryan’s songwriting skills, here’s the proof, an amazing, intimate Christmas song. I absolutely adore his Christmas carol covers too.

This song was used in the third season of a Norwegian show, called SKAM. I fell in love with this arrangement and Nils voice, stunning!

My favourite Christmas song by Super Junior. It’s very cheerful so it always puts me in a good mood.

Sainte Nuit, or Silent Night, a very classical cover, but I love it. Bruno’s voice works magic in Christmas songs.

I only tolerate this song in this particular version, I like Pellek’s energy, he’s genuinely enjoying this song, nice guitar riffs too.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Beach house

Have you ever heard about dream pop? Although it has pop in its name, it’s not a mainstream music, but rather indie or alternative – it always bothered me why the genre goes by dream pop and not dream indie... maybe that’s the matter of how it sounds, dream indie sounds a bit awkward, I admit, but nevermind!

Dream pop is a very specific type of music and I always find it difficult to describe it as accurately as possible, but the main idea is to create a music which kind of puts you into this mood of slow-motion almost. I know it sounds bizarre, but I assure you it’s awesome. Dreamy, ethereal, hypnotic, mesmerizing, calm, soothing... that’s how I feel it. Also, it’s very inspiring, because it allows you to fully immerse yourself in the music and the lyrics (which happen to have an important role in the immersion itself), and as a result it opens your mind in such a way that no other genre of music (none that I know of) can. It’s an ideal music while you travel, read, paint or even just lie down. It’s a bit similar to ambient music (which in turn I would describe as the core of the sound that accompanies you everywhere as a sort of background – very interesting btw!), but dream pop more often than not has lyrics. As I said before its introspective role is significant, the breathy vocals accompagnied by minimalistic sound and melody (mainly produced by guitar or synthesizer) make the whole package. Alright, now that I’ve cleared it up, let me introduce you to my favourite dream pop band : Beach House. (Though they hate it when people label them!)

Beach House is an American duo created in Baltimore in 2004 by a vocalist, Victoria Legrand and multiinstrumentalist, Alex Scally. Their meeting must have been written in the stars, because they claim to be musical soulmates, their bond growing stronger with time taught them patience and cemented their friendship. That must be why they are going as strong as ever even today (which not many bands and duos can brag about). As of 2018, they have released seven full studio albums, the last of which, called 7 , was released on May this year and has been critically acclaimed, some even call it their best album yet, and I must highly agree with that. It takes you on a fantastic journey.

 Interesting fact : It took them about 11 months to create 7. Normally they would make it in half this time, but they decided to polish it and not limit themselves in the writing process and in the musical aspect. They like to experiment with the sound in general but not to this extent – 7 has many songs that can’t be recreated live, bold decision, may I add. As for the lyrics their main source of inspiration and questioning was the place of women in the world and the different roles that society imposes on them.

The Baltimore duo is one of a kind. They are bold, creative, strong-willed, down to earth, very sensible and attuned to interpreting and analysing the human psyche. Although they don’t really like to talk with the press, when they do, their interviews are extraordinarily profound, philosophical even. Here is one of them, if you’re interested.

Is dream pop your cup of tea? Write in the comments!

Good old stuff

Up until now I’ve been mostly writing about bands and artists from the 20th century, although I absolutely love listening to old stuff, especially when I’m travelling or skating. Therefore I’ve decided to fix that and make a post about some epic (in my opinion) tunes that don’t get old with passing time.

Some people say that old music (old enough to be remembered by them I guess) is the best music of all times and it has something that modern music is lacking profoundly – a soul. Well, as you may already assume, I don’t really share that opinion. I don’t really care when a certain song was written, as long as it moves me in some way, be it an old song or a recently released one. But on the other hand I kinda understand this point of view, because it’s based on people’s experiences, memories and most of all nostalgia, which is a very powerful emotion, as everyone knows. Who doesn’t reminiscence the old good times with a whistful smile on their face? Who doesn’t want to bring back those good times and memories that are ingraved preciously in our minds? Who doesn’t  have some space carved out in their heart for a certain song because it reminds them of someone from the past? Music is also that : a priceless memory lane.

So yeah. I do understand where someone may come from when they say that today’s music is not the best kind. (Though I’d also tell that said person to try and look deeper because it’s obviously not true and I hope that in some way I proved that through my previous posts). But today, as I said, we’ll look through some old music that I learned to love (with some additional commentary on my part), so here and now, I invite you to drive through my memory lane (aka chosen songs from my spotify playlist), maybe we’ll meet at some point? J

This song is a TOTAL JAM. It really puts me in a good mood and make me wanna dance (which I am not really good at unfortunately...) and goof around. It’s been constantly on the radio since I was little and I never get tired of it.

I’ve been growing up with rock and metal music in the background since my dad was a huge fan of old bands, like this one, Black Sabbath or Depeche Mode. This music makes me think of him and my childhood.

A beautiful song from the Dirty Dancing movie, one of my favourite movies in the romance genre.

It’s one of those songs I’ve been surrounded by for as long as I remember, the falsetto is incredibly impressive to me. My brother likes them too!

This song was covered by Fugees and it surpassed in popularity the original version, that’s really a shame. I like Lori’s soulful singing and the story behind this song – apparently she wrote some of the lyrics after she had seen Don McLean perform Empty Chairs.

 I’ve travelled a lot with my family in the past and this song was often played in the radio. The Police was also one of my dad’s favourite. Whenever I hear it I have a desert road behind my eyes.

I couldn't NOT put this song in here, it wouldn’t feel right. Very few people can cover Queen’s songs. Anyone watched the movie that came out in the theater’s some time ago?

 A pop icon and inspiration to many. Billie Jean reminds me of GTA, a game I played with my brothers in primary school.

I love the chorus and the general cheerfulness of this song!

Perversely written song about love. Totally magical! It reminds me of my teenage love. :)

If you want to hear some more of my old favourites, here’s my playlist.

Comment below your favourite old songs, I’d love that!