Music

She was a country singer, she was a cross-genre singer but now Taylor Swift is an icon and she is going full-throttle pop. We review global sensation Taylor Swift’s new album 1989, a follow up from her last album Red which went quadruple platinum, earned her four Grammy Awards and serious critical acclaim. 1989’s lead single Shake It Off rapidly became Swift’s second Nº 1 single in the US and 22nd track to debut in peak position in Billboard history. She’s on a massive, world dominating roll.

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Taylor Swift – four-time multiplatinum-album-maker, seven-time Grammy winner and billion-time gossip-blog subject – released her fifth studio album only last week (27th October), through her label Big Machine Records. Taylor has ditched her country roots, moved out of Nashville and flown straight into the Big Apple music scene. Her new album has a young-girl-in-the-big-city feel but utilizes the idea of New York (her new home) metaphorically to pass on her messages of growing, making more mistakes but loving your choices and making the most of learning from it all. She seems so happy to be maturing musically she has given her year of birth as the album title. Having only been with us for a mere twenty five years, Miss Swift has not only proven her worth as a country singer/songwriter but has now transcended and conquered a new genre and level to her career. It seems her indie following have never abandoned her since day one giving her an edge over your regular pop princesses, in that she reaches out to more than just your average teeny-bopping audience.

1989 is a very determined album, which fiercely delivers a strong state of mind and sense of empowerment. We hear a lot less lamenting and a great deal more acceptance, appreciation for one’s self and some power-on-through-the-storm type lyrics. Swift took two years out to write this album and is extremely proud of the results. Rolling Stone reviewed the album as “deeply weird, feverishly emotional, wildly enthusiastic, 1989 sounds exactly like Taylor Swift, even when it sounds like nothing she’s ever tried before” and that “when it comes to Taylor Swift and super catchy Eighties pop-gloss, too much is never enough”.

She delivers her songs with a tongue-in-cheek attitude alongside some serious undertones. She wants to be taken seriously but does not take herself too seriously. Her seemingly chit chatty words are actually pinpoint accurate if you get her drift. She metaphorically comments on her transgression into pop, her constant media coverage, not selling out and collaborating with a big named rapper to sell records- to name but a few examples of her discrete ‘disses’ on the madness that is being a global phenomenon in the music industry. Taylor works very, very hard; she has used the decade she has been attacking the business to achieve her goal; to get out there and show us all exactly what she can do, and win. Like her or not, the go-getter in her is admirable; she had it in her like a volcano waiting to erupt from day one.

Taylor has paranoia issues and doesn’t “trust technology” with a constant fear of being exploited or recorded unwittingly, she is wary and always has her guard up. For a long time the only place 1989 existed was on her iPhone. The first person to hear the completed album was one of her best friends Ed Sheeran. She was on tour with him at the time of writing and would knock on his stage room door and discuss lyrics, melodies and beats. She returned the musical ear to his album-in-progress and so it seemed only right that he be the one to give it a final nod.

She also knows that you need to be liked to succeed, and so her fans get a little something in return from time to time…Taylor dreamt up, organized and baked for the secret sessions at her homes in London, Rhode Island, Nashville, New York and LA; a preview of the full album for 89 of her closest fans at each location, about a month prior to the release date. She played the album for these fans, which she had stringently scoured and selected from the internet, in her own living room to show her appreciation for her followers and give a little back.

1989 could be described as a risk, but Taylor Swift is hardly the gambling type. She is, however, calculated and driven and knows what is required to succeed, as she has proven time and time again. Just look at the triumph of her 2010 country-crossover album Speak Now and the 2012 Red album for reference. The opening track on the 1989 album, Welcome to New York could easily be taken for a simple, “I’ve moved to New York, its great”, type message, however it goes way deeper. You can take Taylor however you like but there’s always an ulterior motive to her light-hearted sounding tracks. She’s telling us via the synth-pop, “sick” beats and eighties sounds, that she has moved on. She is no longer a Country singer, she is now exclusively a profound pop star; so there. “Took our broken hearts and put them in a drawer, welcome to New York”, equals- she’s grown out of kissing, telling and bitching about it and moved on. No more boys, no more country songs.

Taylor Swift – Welcome to New York

Her self-aware wit is apparent in Blank Space as she sarcastically studies and uses her reportedly disastrous dating record to make a play at the media; “Saw you there and I thought, Oh my God, look at that face, You look like my next mistake, Love’s a game, want to play?” She’s being cute, she’s being sly. She’s being the jaded Miss Taylor Swift. Her irony is delivered over a hip-hop drum machine beat (courtesy of Max Martin and Shellback) with a strong eighties influence and modern electro pop twist to it. Similar in sound, Style, which initially reflects her love of timeless fashion, develops into a rocky relationship story with a feeling like you might be in an episode of a funked-up Miami Vice.

Taylor Swift – Shake It Off

Taylor has been critically attacked aplenty for her repetitive lyrics and this album proves that she just can’t help but reiterate her lines over and over and over and over again. Breaking out of a downward spiraling relationship in Out of the Woods and Shake it off, as in shaking off the negative media attention she receives, are both heavy on the repetition, but seriously catchy tunes which obviously makes learning the lyrics a piece of cake! After Swift comes Out of the Woods from THAT (?) unhappy relationship she follows up with All You Had to do Was Stay, where that boy comes crawling back but she blows him off with attitude and a bit of “It’s just too late”.

Taylor Swift – Out of the Woods

There are many other relationship references within the album, most pertaining to her synth-pop backdrop. I Wish You Would finds Swift wishing a lover would come back to her amidst a sampling from the Fine Young Cannibals (courtesy of Jack Antonoff) and a focus on guitar. There’s yet another doomed affair in the sultry Wildest Dreams and How You Get the Girl is an upbeat, acoustic guitar backed shout out to the guys on matters of the heart. This Love is a grab-a-girl-at-the-disco-for-a-slow-dance tune with synthesized waves in motion providing a metaphor, sort of, for the idea that love will come back, as does the tide. With I Know Places Miss Swift combines both her central topics in one as she carried on a love affair while attempting to avoid any media attention. The lovers are being hunted down but Swift claims to “know places we won’t be found” in this almost eerie sounding track. Clean, which was written and recorded alongside Imogen Heap, delivers another water-based metaphor and of course another break up after which she shakes herself off, again, and discovers she is clean and ready to move on, also a metaphor for her new found music genre perhaps. Then there is the seriously angry tirade that is Bad Blood in which she seemingly attacks another artist who tried to sabotage her tour, which may or may not be about Katy Perry; however the hard-hitting lyrics comply with the beat which hits all the right places.

Swift cleverly added a few bonus tracks in order to separately release the DLX (deluxe) edition of the album. So make sure your copy has the DLX stamp on it so you’re not duped into missing out or having to buy both versions! The album and progression of Swift’s work on 1989 has already been reviewed and highly acclaimed. The New York Times printed that “by making pop with almost no contemporary references, Ms. Swift is aiming somewhere even higher, a mode of timelessness that few true pop stars — aside from, say, Adele, who has a vocal gift that demands such an approach — even bother aspiring to”. It is a statement which outlines how she has set herself apart and above her peers in many ways. That she isn’t asking for this; she is making and taking it to another level. Any other stars trying to reach her would have to go above and beyond to somewhere totally new, just as she has.

Ultimately the album is a success story in that she has delivered exactly what she intended; a punchy, alternative, extreme, eighties inspired, powerful, and game changing pop album. Check.

1989 – Tracklist
1. Welcome to New York
2. Blank Space
3. Style
4. Out of the Woods
5. All You Had to Do Was Stay
6. Shake It Off
7. I Wish You Would
8. Bad Blood
9. Wildest Dreams
10. How You Get the Girl
11. This Love
12. I Know Places
13. Clean

Deluxe Edition – bonus tracks
14. Wonderland
15. You Are in Love
16. New Romantics
17. I Know Places (Voice memo)
18. I Wish You Would (Voice memo)
19. Blank Space (Voice Memo)

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This group needs little introduction because the music really speaks for itself. A beautiful 5-piece indie/pop band made in Norway and wowing audiences across the globe. You won’t want to overlook this Gem.

Norway’s Highasakite make an adventurous brand of indie pop that is full of contrasts. Their melodies and instrumentation are bold yet sometimes understated, the ebbing of one allowing the other to flourish; whether it’s otherworldly vocals or the dynamic combination of synthesizers, brass and percussion. Following on from numerous international festival appearances, a tour with London Grammar and the EP ‘In And Out Of Weeks’, the quintet released their US debut album, ‘Silent Treatment’ in February this year (Nº1 on the Norweigan charts).

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NPR music writes: “The song titles on their 2014 album Silent Treatment seem more like chapter headings in a crime novel.” This sounds pretty cool to us, but what’s your take on this review? Was this the type of impression intended?
I don’t think we intended it to be like that, but it is kind of cool. The music is written as music and the titles referring to the music, but I like the fact that people interpret the music and lyrics their own way!

Speaking of names, you chose an intriguing one for your debut album. How exactly did you come to calling it Silent Treatment?
It was the subject of a longer discussion and we had many thoughts about titles. But Silent Treatment refers a lot to the lyrics and mood of the album.

Highasakite – My Soldier

Exciting stuff happening at the minute, you are going to be officially performing back in the US as of November 4th, starting with New York. What’s the atmosphere like at the moment within the band? Also, have you developed any quirky must-dos before heading out on stage? (Be it a handshake, prayer, group hug or is it just prep, prep, prep and GO?)
We’re a bit tired right now, it’s been a busy year for us touring since January, but we’re so excited about going back to the US. It’s one of our absolute favourite spots to tour and New York is always amazing!
We have a small hand shakey thing we do just before we go on stage. Trond and I also have to brush our teeth before each show, it’s been a thing for 9 years now!

Have you noticed any differences in the audiences you perform to in your homeland of Norway versus audiences overseas?
Well, of course the Norwegian audience know us and our songs a lot better, but we’ve been really lucky with the audiences overseas. Especially in Australia and Asia. Japanese audiences are a lot more quiet and the American audiences are more direct with their response.

Can you tell us a bit about the creating process when composing an original track… Is there a main influence? Who does what?
Ingrid (vocals) writes the main parts of the songs and brings it to the band. Then we work together, bringing all of our influences into each song. It’s a lot of hard work being five individual people with a lot of ideas and opinions, but it’s also a really good period in which the band strengthens.

What was it like touring alongside London Grammar earlier this year?
Touring with LG was amazing. Great people, great crew and great venues. It really opened a lot of doors for us and was great seeing LG every night for two weeks!

Do you have a particular show or performance so far that really stands out? If so, what was particularly memorable about this one?
There has been so many this year, but maybe our release show at Rockefeller in Oslo, the first show in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan, and a couple of the shows at the LG. All of them stand out because of the audience, the venue and the vibe in the band.


Highasakite – Leaving No Traces (Live from Rockefeller, Oslo)

Okay, spill the beans, who’s the cheekiest in the group?
We’re not spilling beans 🙂

A lot of people can be found raving about Kristoffe’s amazing horn-playing. They want to know if it’s going to be used more in your future songs and performances. After watching a clip of your Tiny Desk Concert we can see what they’re referring to. So, more horn playing to come?
First off, thank you for the kind words. Second off, of course there will be more horn playing!

Highasakite – Tiny Desk Concert

The more we learn about your band, the more impressed we become. So tell us, collectively, how many instruments can you guys play?
Haha, well we all play a bit since we’re all jazz educated musicians. But let’s not count, let’s rather surprise people when more instruments appear on stage.

What’s the hardest part about all this traveling that you do? As well as the greatest part.
Hardest part is being a way from loved ones. That’s difficult, but a part of the job. The fun part is of course seeing new places, playing for new people, meeting new people and eating good food!

If you could pick one word to describe your sound, what would it be?
Rich.

Highasakite – Since Last Wednesday

Finally, we have found, the profound yet tingling sensation of music emitted by Highasakite, has in fact left us, the listener, feeling high as a kite. In the best way. What does it mean to you when you discover people are experiencing your sound in this way?
It means a lot to us. We’re just so happy that people experience things with our music and that they come to us and say it!

Highasakite chose our Sunday Sessions this week. Click here for the playlist!

Purchase Highasakite’s Silent Treatment on:
Amazon
iTunes
Wimp

Follow Highasakite on:
Official Website
Twitter
Soundcloud
Facebook
Instagram
Google+
YouTube

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Many musicians get their big breaks in the music industry by writing hit songs for superstars. Here’s a list of celebrities with hit-making genes – a list of recent chart topping songs that were actually, and in some cases surprisingly, written by other famous artists. Some intentionally, some chose to pass on the opportunity seeing it as unfit for themselves, others were inspired collaborations between the artists.

One Direction – Little Things

This song was penned by Ed Sheeran when he was only 17. He had forgotten about the song but when Sheeran started working with One Direction on their second album, a friend (Fiona Bevan) had got in touch and reminded him about a tune they had come up with. Sheeran played it to the young English-Irish boy band and they loved it. Many thought it wouldn’t be the right sound for the lads but they were proved wrong when they released it on their second studio album Take Me Home and it became their fifth top ten hit in Ireland, second Nº1 in the UK (as did the album on which it appeared), fourth top ten hit in Australia, Nº2 in New Zealand, 41 in the Billboard Hot 100, their fourth top 40 hit on the Canada Hot 100 AND went platinum and gold in six countries. Not a bad feat for a song that had been criticized for being “lumpy” and “jarring”. It’s a very sweet acoustic song, and if you listen carefully you can detect Ed Sheeran’s influence all over it.

Miley Cyrus – Party In The USA

This was written by Jessie J and Claude Kelly with the intention of it being released by Jessie herself. However, once the song was written her team felt that it wasn’t quite the right style for her and so it was offered to Miley Cyrus for the album The Time of our Lives. Miley’s style at the time was clearly not as twerky or shocking as she was still trying to ditch the Disney-girl-next-door persona for her more recent wild child character. Jessie J’s reasoning behind rejecting her own song was that it wasn’t edgy enough, it definitely wouldn’t pass for Cyrus now but back in 2009 it was exactly what Miley needed to bulk up her album. Party in the USA became an international success topping the charts in eight countries and continues to be Hollywood Record’s biggest selling single which went seven times platinum in the US and four times in Canada.

Ceelo Green – Forget You

Bruno Mars is a huge star in his own right but his talents do not stop at himself. He has written, co-written and collaborated on countless hit songs. One which has raised some debate as to the named credits is CeeLo Green’s F#@k You (more politely named Forget You). Bruno credited himself as the writer but CeeLo has since argued that Mars’ efforts were creditable but only as far as the producer not the writer of the smash hit song. Eventually the agreement resulted in the song having been co-written by Green and Mars. Some of Bruno’s other big hits for which there are no arguments that he deserves the credit for are; Flo Rida’s Right Round, Adam Lambert’s Never Close your Eyes, Justin Bieber and Love Me, Travie McCoy and Billionaire, The Vamps’ Can We Dance, B.O.B.’s Nothing on You (in which Mars actually features) are some of his big behind the scenes accomplishments.

Madonna – Justify My Love

Justify My Love released in 1990 as the first single from the Immaculate Collection album and later in 2009 was added to the Greatest Hits album. The single went worldwide and topped the charts in seven countries. It is by far her most controversial and overtly sexual song, as promoted by the video which went on to become the highest selling video single of all time. Madonna did write a few words of the song but the majority of the lyrics were written by another famous singer songwriter; the one and only Lenny Kravitz.

Beyonce – Irreplacable

Originally written with a male vocal in mind by Ne-Yo amongst other songwriters. After some deliberation Ne-Yo felt that the song required a female vocal and so co-wrote a new version alongside Beyoncé. Beyoncé had a few changes to make to it but whatever the two finally recorded seemed to work as it hit the charts in twenty countries. Ne-Yo has penned many songs working with and for the likes of Jay Z, Jennifer Hudson, New Kids on the Block, Rihanna, Jessica Sanchez, Lyndsey Lohan, Kelly Rowland and more.

Alicia Keys – You Don’t Know My Name

Written and produced by Keys, Kanye West and Harold Lilly this became Keys’ third top ten hit in the States in 2003. Released as the lead single on her second studio album The Diary Of Alicia Keys, You Don’t Know My Name won her a Grammy Award and a Soul Train Music Award. A soulful ballad like this is not Kanye’s typical style of music and so this one came as quite a surprise, but as it turns out West does have a softer side and can turn his pen to many a talent.

Rihanna – We Found Love

We Found Love was written, produced (and featured) by Scottish DJ Calvin Harris in 2011. The video is yet another controversial hard-hitting portrayal about love, drugs, sex, destructive relationships, partying and hopelessness. This is one of Rihanna’s biggest dance hits; some go as far as claiming it to be a “club anthem”. Collaborating with DJ Calvin Harris on this proved a huge success topping the charts in no less than 25 countries and her longest running number one single. And one of the best selling singles of all time.

Rihanna – Diamonds

Sia has written songs for many famous artists as well as herself, including the most recent world cup song We are One (Ole, Ola) featuring Pitbull and JLo. Sia wrote Diamonds for Rihanna which became her (Rihanna’s) 12th Nº1 single coming top of the charts in twenty countries. As well as being a very successful musician, singer-songwriter in her own right, Sia has also been the brains behind many other artists’ chart topping hits such as; Cannonball by Lea Michelle, Ne-Yo’s Let Me Love You Until You Learn to Love Yourself, Perfume by Britney Spears, Radioactive by Rita Ora and Beyoncé’s Pretty Hurts to name but a few!

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BBC 1 is undoubtedly one of the world’s best radio stations – their constant supply of fresh new music, big name stars and zany humour keeps millions tuned in every day. The Live Lounge is one of our favourite BBC institutions, established since 2006 it was originally hosted by Jo Whiley on her mid morning radio show and is now hosted by Fearne Cotton. Invited artists usually perform one of their own songs and a cover of someone else’s, always in an acoustic format. The Live Lounge is also a physical studio within Radio 1 studios from where the performances are broadcast. Some shows though, are broadcast from the BBC Maida Vale Studios as the Live Lounge is fairly small.

We love the shows for many reasons, but mainly because the cover versions are often a totally different genre than the artists normally perform. Jamie Callum performed a cover of Pharrell Williams’s ‘Frontin’ which eventually led to him being signed by Pharrell’s label. The performances are intimate, alive and buzzing with energy.

We have compiled our Top 10 performances – very difficult to do, because all are amazing – and put them into a playlist for your listening pleasure.

Our two favourite performances – Taylor Swift and Ella Eyre – we present below with the original versions of the songs they covered.

Note: The videos are high-quality and may take longer than usual to load (it’s worth the wait!).

Taylor Swift covers Vance Joy’s Riptide

Vance Joy – ‘Riptide’ Official Video

Ella Eyre – Funk My Life Up (Paolo Nutini cover)

Paolo Nutini – Scream (Funk My Life Up) Official Video

1 – Taylor Swift covers Vance Joy’s Riptide
2 – Clean Bandit & The BBC Philharmonic – Rather Be
3 – Ed Sheeran – Stay With Me (Sam Smith cover)
4 – Ella Eyre – Funk My Life Up (Paolo Nutini cover)
5 – Lily Allen – URL Badman
6 – Coldplay – Magic
7 – Bastille – Earth Song / Common People
8 – George Eza – Barcelona
9 – Paolo Nutini – Someone Like You
10 – Kiesza – So Deep
11 – Justin Timberlake covers the Jackson’s Shake your Body (Down to the Ground)

Well, the last track from Justin Timberlake was not from this year’s series, but it’s too good not to include! Enjoy The Music!

Creation 5’s BBC Live Lounge Playlist

Each year a compilation album is released with some of the best performances. Just recently the BBC announced the track listing for their Live Lounge 2014 album – the 9th volume in the series. The collection includes artists such as Sam Smith, Ed Sheeran, Ellie Goulding, The Script, Coldplay and 5 Seconds of Summer covering and performing the biggest hits of the past year.

This year’s collection will be released on October 27 and includes two discs with a total of 40 tracks.

Full tracklisting for BBC Radio 1’s Live Lounge 2014:

Disc 1:
Ed Sheeran – ‘Stay With Me’ (Originally By Sam Smith)
Ben Howard – ‘Hideaway’ (Originally By Kiesza)
Ella Henderson – ‘Say Something’ (Originally By A Great Big World & Christina Aguilera)
Sam Smith – ‘Berlin’ (Originally By RY X)
George Ezra – ‘Budapest’
Foxes – ‘Happy’ / ‘Teardrop’ (Medley) (Originally By Pharrell Williams / Massive Attack)
Ellie Goulding – ‘How Long Will I Love You’
Little Mix – ‘Holy Grail’ / ‘Counting Stars’ / ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ (Medley) (Originally By Jay Z Ft. Justin Timberlake / OneRepublic / Nirvana)
The Script – ‘Superheroes’
Maroon 5 – ‘Maps’
Aloe Blacc – ‘The Man’
Kasabian – ‘Fancy’ (Originally By Iggy Azazlea Ft. Charli XCX)
Paolo Nutini – ‘Scream (Funk My Life Up)’
Bastille – ‘We Can’t Stop’ (Originally By Miley Cyrus)
Labrinth – ‘Shake It Off’ (Originally By Taylor Swift)
Tom Odell – ‘Roar’ (Originally By Katy Perry)
Kiesza – ‘Nobody To Love’ / ‘Doo Wop (That Thing)’ (Medley) (Originally By Sigma / Lauryn Hill)
Katy B – Crying For No Reason’
Duke Dumont Feat. Jax Jones – ‘I Got U’
Clean Bandit Feat. Jess Glynne – ‘Rather Be’

Disc 2:
Coldplay – ‘Oceans’
London Grammar – ‘Wrecking Ball’ (Originally By Miley Cyrus)
5 Seconds Of Summer – ‘Amnesia’
The 1975 – ‘Sex’
Indiana Feat. RHODES – ‘Waves’ (Originally By Mr. Probz)
Haim – ‘XO’ (Originally By Beyoncé)
Jacob Banks – ‘Magic’ (Originally By Coldplay)
Hozier – ‘Do I Wanna Know?’ (Originally By Arctic Monkeys)
Nick Mulvey – ‘Hold On, We’re Going Home’ (Originally By Drake Ft. Majid Jordan)
Bombay Bicycle Club – ‘F For You’ (Originally By Disclosure Ft. Mary J. Blige)
Mallory Knox – ‘Lovers On The Sun’ (Originally By David Guetta Ft. Sam Martin)
Lower Than Atlantis – ‘Am I Wrong’ (Originally By Nico & Vinz)
James Bay – ‘Forever'(Originally By Haim)
Example – ‘Dark Horse’ (Originally By Katy Perry Ft. Juicy J)
Ella Eyre – ‘Comeback’
Angel Haze – ‘Drunk In Love’ (Originally By Beyoncé Ft. Jay Z)
Wilkinson Feat. Becky Hill – ‘Counting Stars’ (Originally By OneRepublic)
Chase & Status – ‘Strong’ (Originally By London Grammar)
Rudimental – ‘The Monster’ / Story Of My Life (Medley) (Originally By Eminem Ft. Rihanna / One Direction)
Gorgon City Feat. MNEK – ‘Ready For Your Love’

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Cover songs are mainly about one artist paying homage to another and showing admiration for their work. Now and again however the revamp turns out to be an even bigger hit. Here are our top ten cover songs that either became more successful or are, in our opinion, a better, shinier version of the original.

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Sinead O’Connor – Nothing Compares 2 U

You’d never have guessed that this huge 90’s hit was not an original. The song was originally written by Prince for his side/project band The Family. He only released one album under this name, Nothing Compares 2 U was on it but never released as a single. Sinead’s close-up and personal, multi-award winning video is as powerful as the ballad she so emotionally delivers. There are even pretty convincing tears. Sinead’s version reached international fame in 1990 topping charts all over the world, going platinum and gold in four countries. Even the US was cracked by the haunting song of a lost love, and stayed at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks.

Johnny Cash – Hurt

As far as power-ballads go Johnny Cash absolutely nails this one, appropriately released first by Nine Inch Nails in 1994 on the album A Downward Spiral. The original version was a hit rock song but reached critical acclaim and worldwide recognition when released in 2003 by Cash. The song was written by Trent Reznor who had reservations about Johnny Cash covering his song but later summed up Cash’s version with this quote…

“I pop the video in, and wow… Tears welling, silence, goose-bumps… Wow. [I felt like] I just lost my girlfriend, because that song isn’t mine anymore… It really made me think about how powerful music is as a medium and art form. I wrote some words and music in my bedroom as a way of staying sane, about a bleak and desperate place I was in, totally isolated and alone. [Somehow] that winds up reinterpreted by a music legend from a radically different era/genre and still retains sincerity and meaning — different, but every bit as pure.”

This was one of the last singles released by Johnny Cash before he died in 2003; quite a sign off.

Lenny Kravitz – American Woman

First released way back in 1970 by The Guess Who, this rock tune reached number 1 on the Billboard Top 100. Lenny’s slower and far sexier version released in 1999 won him a Grammy for Best Male Rock Performance in 2000 and featured in the smash hit movies; American Beauty (Kevin Spacey does a great sing-a-long in the car to this), The Muppets, Austin Powers, Game Change and The Cable Guy. The video features actress Heather Graham raunchily writhing around on top of a bus, a lot of Americana, a shed load of leather outfits and even more sexy bikini clad girls either rocking out to Lenny or bouncing along on big motorcycles. Not a wonder this became so popular!

Mark Ronson Feat. Amy Winehouse – Valerie

The English Indie band The Zutons released this song in 2006 on their album Tired of Hanging Around and reached number 9 in the UK charts. However when Amy Winehouse came along and decided to pluck this song out of semi-obscurity and perform it in the BBC Radio One’s Live Lounge, the days of this being The Zutons’ song were blown out the water. When Winehouse collaborated with Mark Ronson, as well as him pumping his expertise into her Back to Black album, they recorded Valerie together and…BOOM; Valerie was born again as Mark and Amy’s adopted, and internationally famous, love child! Their version spent 39 weeks in the UK charts in 2007-8.

Whitney Houston – I Will Always Love You

This classic warbler from Whitney featured in The Bodyguard, which she stars in alongside Kevin Costner, was first released by Dolly Parton in 1974. It featured on Dolly’s thirteenth solo studio album Jolene and twice reached number one on the Billboard Top 100 Country Songs. Whitney Houston released the song in 1992 and since then it has become one of the biggest selling singles of all time. Whitney’s R&B Soul and Smooth Jazz style rendition, a far cry from the original Parton Country & Western version, is number nine on NME’s Greatest Number One Singles in History List.

Jeff Buckley – Hallelujah

The original recording of Hallelujah was by Leonard Cohen who wrote and released the song in 1984, this version received little attention. In 2004, Buckley’s version (inspired by a previous cover by John Cale) was ranked number 259 on Rolling Stone’s The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and became so popular there was even a book written about it. It did not, however, hit the charts immediately. The album on which his version of Hallelujah appeared was released in 1993 but the single first charted in 2006 and from here it hit the top of the polls in many countries. Buckley unfortunately didn’t live to witness the ultimate success of his cover due to his untimely death in 1997. This posthumous release sparked far more interest and resulted in worldwide recognition. Rolling Stone Magazine described the rendition – “Buckley treated the song like a tiny capsule of humanity, using his voice to careen between glory and sadness, beauty and pain. It’s one of the greatest songs ever”. The Buckley version of the song was used in many TV shows such as The O.C., Ugly Betty, ER, Scrubs and The West Wing to name but a few.

Roberta Flack/The Fugees – Killing Me Softly With This Song

This was first recorded and released by Lori Lieberman and written by Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel in 1972. Roberta Flack heard the song on a plane journey and wanted to put her own spin on it, she did so and made the song a huge hit. Whether her version or the Fugees’ is better is debatable and despite the addition of a sample from Bonita Applebum by A Tribe Called Quest that was added by the Fugees, Flack and Lauren Hill have a very similar delivery of the haunting melody. Simplicity and originality may be your preference but both tunes were super success stories as cover songs. Props should go to Roberta for picking out the tune and making it her own to provide Lauren Hill and The Fugees with the version they eventually developed, which, apparently, became so popular they had to remove it from the shelves in order to give room to release their next track from the album; Ready or Not.

Roberta Flack:

The Fugees:

One Direction – One Way or Another (Teenage Kicks); tracks by Blondie & The Undertones Respectively

It is very difficult to say whether this is a better version of Blondie’s song One Way Or Another as it mixes in with another very big hit of the 70’s Teenage Kicks, both of which were huge successes in their own right. One Direction recorded the track for Comic Relief / Red Nose Day 2013, a yearly charity event which raises millions for the underprivileged via comedy events and a huge TV show in the UK. The band has gone from strength to strength since the X Factor and has become a huge worldwide success story. Mashing together two seventies hits and releasing it as their own single could have been catastrophic but as it was for such a good cause the single hit the big time resulting in being nominated for British Single of the Year at the BRIT awards, reached the top ten in the charts of 17 countries, it went gold and platinum in 8 countries……Blondie’s version was also a huge hit for her but in comparison she didn’t stand a chance competing against the teenage fan following of 1D.

Nirvana – The Man Who Sold the World

This track, originally by David Bowie, has inspired many cover versions but the one that out shined and out sold the original was Nirvana’s. Featuring on their MTV in Unplugged in New York album in 1994, it is quite a simple and honest version of the cover but Cobain’s vocals and the band’s unmistakable sound made this a truly unique version of the song. Bowie was said to be impressed that his music had reached the depths of the US in order for Nirvana front-man to consider remaking a song of his. He also was said to have liked the Nirvana version but did not like it when kids would approach him and say it was great he was covering Nirvana songs after performing the song again on tours!

Justin Bieber Feat. Nikki Minaj – Beauty and a Beat

This is not exactly a cover song being better than the original as much as the original recording never being released at all! Consequently it was rewritten to suit its new owners. It seems that Anton Zaslavski (Zedd) had it right when he realized the track he had written for his album Believe did not quite fit and so passed it on to Bieber’s team who adapted it for the young star and his choice of rapper, Nikki Minaj. The song went global and topped the charts all over the world just adding to the crazy success the young Canadian has achieved.

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The widely considered global god of rap, Eminem, turns 42 today. To celebrate we have a playlist of his top 10 latest hits straight from his official YouTube Vevo channel.

Along with his extensive career in rapping, record producing, songwriting and acting, he’s also a dedicated father to now 18 year old Hailie and adopted daughters Whitney, 11 and Alaine, 20. (How time flies!) We all recall his poignant song Mockingbird which told the story of their struggle as a family, released in 2004 featuring his girls when they were just tots. Now, 10 years later and Eminem is going stronger than ever. As of June 2014, he has been deemed the best-selling hip-hop artist of all time, having sold 45,160,000 albums and 31,000,000 digital singles. He is the second best-selling male artist of the Nielsen Soundscan era, and the sixth best overall selling artist in the United States.

A very happy birthday indeed to Marshall Bruce Mathers III, Eminem, and The Real Slim Shady!

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1.) Guts Over Fear – Eminem ft. Sia

This conquering collaboration with Australian singer Sia is from his upcoming compilation album Shady XV. The track was officially released to iTunes late August of 2014 after premiering in trailers for the film The Equalizer starring Denzel Washington. The album now has an official release date of November 28, 2014. What’s so inspiring about this track is the clear message in his lyrics that we can all take with us through any obstacle we face in life.

2.) Headlights – Eminem ft. Nate Ruess

Released February 5, 2014 as the fifth single on his eighth studio album The Marshall Mathers LP 2. Eminem collaborates with band member from Fun, Nate Ruess in this touching song. Through the lyrics and music video we see a rekindling of love between Eminem and his mother. Over the years we’ve experienced through his confessionary songs and true-to-life movies that their relationship was at best dysfunctional. This one could be classified as a tear-jerker if you’re not careful.

3.) The Monster – Eminem ft. Rihanna

This is the fourth time rap sensation Eminem and pop sensation Rihanna, come together to make music history. Released back in 2013 on October 29, the song relates to the singers coming to grips with their inner demons.

4.) Rap God – Eminem

Premiering on YouTube back in early October of 2013, it was released as the third single from his eighth studio album, The Marshall Mathers LP 2.
Unbelievably, or believably, Eminem managed to spit a total of 1,560 words on this track, earning him a place in the Guinness Book of World Records for ”Most Words in a Hit Single.” The video also won the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards for Best Editing.

5.) Survival – Eminem

First released as a pre-order bonus for the Call of Duty: Ghosts video game. The song is the second single from Eminem’s album The Marshall Mathers LP2 and debuted at N°17 on the US Billboard Hot 100 before swiftly moving up to N°16.
The chorus features vocals performed by Liz Rodrigues of the music group ”The New Royales”

6.) Berzerk – Eminem

This was the first single off the album The Marshall Mathers LP2. The video won the Outstanding Video Award at the Detroit Music Awards ceremony, 2014. Debuting at N°1 on the UK R&B charts and obtaining a whopping 362,000 downloads in just the first week after it’s release in the US.

7.) Space Bound – Eminem

Shooting back to 2010 when Space Bound was released as the 10th track on his album Recovery. The song has an atmosphere of sadness and loss of hope reflecting Eminem’s love life. The music video features Sasha Grey, a former pornographic actress who plays the part of his hypothetical girlfriend. His girlfriend betrays him, and this sparks the two sides of Eminem to unfold, one loving and sensitive, and the other violent and crazy.

8.) No Love – Eminem ft Lil Wayne

Sampling the song What Is Love by Haddaway and featuring gangster rapper Lil Wayne, it was an interesting combination of sounds by two of the hottest MCs in the game. Foreseeably well received by fans worldwide, the music video follows the theme of bullying, and how retaliation against hateful people comes about.

9.) Love The Way You Lie – Eminem ft. Rihanna

The original demo to this song was written and sung by singer-songwriter Skylar Grey. Eminem took it a step up when introducing his intense versus and then had Rihanna’s powerful voice on the chorus. With five grammy nominations and multiple awards in pretty much every major ceremony in the industry, it is no surprise that the video clip broke a YouTube record when released for Most Hits in One Day, being 6.6 million.

10.) Not Afraid – Eminem

Released as the lead single on his 2010 album Recovery, it won:
Best Rap Solo Performance at the 53rd Grammy Awards,
Best Male Video and Best Hip-Hop Video at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards.
Best Hip-Hop Video at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards and
Outstanding National Single and Outstanding Video at the Detroit Music Awards.
If that’s not enough to prove what a great song this is, then I don’t know what to tell ya!

Honorable Mention: The Real Slim Shady – Eminem

This isn’t a recent hit, but we couldn’t resist!

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Apple has done it again! Just when you thought the hype was slowing down they have again stepped into the spotlight and revealed the world’s thinnest tablet. They also released an iPad Mini 3, a 5K resolution iMac, a souped up Mac Mini and the new operating system OS X Yosemite. But it was the iPad Air 2 that stole the limelight in last nights keynote presentation.

The iPad Air 2 might be thinner than a pencil – its only 6.1 mm thick – but with its 64-bit A8X processor its a powerhouse as well. It’s the same size – 9.7-inch, 1536 x 2048 264ppi display – as its predecessor, but there is zero gap between its screen layers allowing Apple’s design team to shave off an incredible 1.4 mm. This video explains it graphically:

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iPad Air 2 – Reveal

Other new features for the iPad Air 2:

– The much talked about anti-reflective coating which reduces glare by 56%. Not bad!
– Apple’s new A8X processor, delivering a 40% faster CPU performance and more than double the graphical capability of the original iPad Air.
– Rear camera upgrade to an 8-megapixel iSight with a f/2.4 aperture and auto HDR. Can shoot video in 1080p and slow mo footage in 720p. Lots of new shooting modes are available including Panorama, macro and burst.
– Front-facing FaceTime HD camera with a a f/2.2 aperture on the front for selfies and video calling.
– The M8 motion co-processor (found in iPhone 6)
– Faster WIFI
– Touch ID fingerprint scanner
– Supports 20 different LTE bands (wireless internet) which is more than any other tablet on the market
– Battery life is approx. 10 hours for general usage
– A barometer for atmospheric-pressure monitoring
– Available in Space Grey, Silver and Gold options

Both tablets are available for pre order today (Friday October 17) with a release date slated for the end of next week.

How much does it all cost?

To find out more about these tablets and the other products Apple launched last night in California visit www.apple.com

Watch the entire October 2014 Keynote here

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SHOWTIME! We continue our series of ‘In Performance at the White House’ – a series of concerts created to showcase the rich fabric of American culture in the exclusive setting of the nation’s most famous home. To see last weeks post, ‘Burt Bacharah & Hal David’, click here.

Carole King
“Carole King: The Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song” is a concert hosted by the President and Mrs. Obama East Room of the White House. The concert includes performances from Gloria Estefan, Billy Joel, Jesse McCartney, Emeli Sandé, James Taylor and Trisha Yearwood. President Obama presents the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song to Carole King during the event.

Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Carole King began her career in the 1960’s, when along with her then husband Gerry Goffin, wrote more than 25 charts hits, many of which have become standards. King found success as a performer with the album Tapestry which topped the US album charts for 15 weeks in 1971 and remained on the charts for more than 6 years! Between 1955 and 1999 she wrote 118 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 and 61 hots on the UK charts. In 2005 music historian Stuart Devoy found her the most successful female songwriter on the UK singles charts 1952–2005.

King has made 25 solo albums during her career, her most recent non-compilation album was Live at the Troubadour (2010) – a collaboration with James Taylor that reached Nº 4 on the charts in its first week and has sold over 600,000 copies. She has 4 Grammy Awards to her name and was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for her songwriting. She received the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song in 2013 – the first woman to be so honoured.

“Carole King’s body of work reflects the spirit of the Gershwin Prize with its originality, longevity and diversity of appeal,” commented Dr. James H. Billington, the Librarian of Congress.

Download these shows and add them to your music library
This is part of a 10-week series that we will be running on our blog, with the music videos conveniently separated into individual performances so that you can save and download your favourite artists, or the whole show if you prefer. Creation 5’s YouTube feature lets you download videos so you can watch offline when you’re travelling and enjoy great music on-the-go. Don’t forget that you can download Creation 5’s YouTube In-app purchase absolutely FREE, which normally costs €4.49 ($4.99), as we currently have a promotion running in celebration of hitting 450,000 downloads on the App Store!

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In Performance at the White House: Carole King: The Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song (May 2013)

01. Carole King – Beautiful
02. Trisha Yearwood, Gloria Estefan & Emeli Sandé – Will You Love Me Tomorrow
03. James taylor – Up On The Roof
04. Gloria Estefan – It’s Too late
05. Trisha Yearwood – So Far Away
06. Billy Joel – The Loco-Motion
07. James Taylor & Billy Joel – Cryin’ in the Rain
08. Jesse McCartney – Home Again
09. Emeli Sandé – (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman
10. Carole King – Jazzman
11. Carole King – I Believe in Loving You
12. Carole King – I Feel the Earth Move
13. Carole King, James Taylor & Full Cast – You’ve Got a Friend

Full Concert (55 mins)

President Obama honours Carole King

Not all performances are available on YouTube as separate videos, just these five.

Trisha Yearwood, Gloria Estefan & Emeli Sandé – Will You Love Me Tomorrow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RxiD5RJRIg

Gloria Estefan – It’s Too late

Billy Joel – The Loco-Motion

Emeli Sandé – (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman

Carole King – I Believe in Loving You

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Here we present our collection of recent weird, wonderful and on occasion completely off-the-wall music videos featuring some of the biggest names in the movie business…

Famous actors have been appearing in music videos for many years. A trend kicked off in the nineties with many huge bands featuring young actors in their videos such as Aerosmith’s Crazy, starring Alicia Silverstone and Liv Tyler, Bruce Springsteen’s Dancing in The Dark featuring a young Courtney Cox, Tom Petty’s portrayal of a young rock star’s rise and demise played by Johnny Depp in Into the Great Wide Open to name but a few. 

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Beastie Boys – Make Some Noise

The Beastie Boys’ Make Some Noise is a must-see featuring Elijah Wood, Seth Rogan and Danny McBride as the Beastie Boys (mouthing along quite impressively to the words) while they carry on their party throughout town. During the video there is literally a famous actor on every street corner (and a few in a limo) with Rashida Jones, Will Arnett, Rainn Wilson, Jason Schwartzman, Mary Steenburgen, Ted Danson, Amy Poehler, Steve Buscemi, Chlöe Sevigny, Maya Rudolph, Kirsten Dunst, David Cross, Orlando Bloom, Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly and Jack Black in cameo roles.

Ke$ha – Blow

Ke$ha’s Blow featuring James Van Der Beek of Dawson’s Creek and more recently Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23 fame, is a comical portrayal of the two stars at a party. Here, James displays some pelvic thrusting (also known as dancing) and Ke$ha makes out with a unicorn in a suit on their path to a confrontation of amusing insults –  resulting in a bizarre rainbow effect laser gun shoot down (!). None of the unicorns were injured in the filming of this video.

Sigur Rós – Fjögur píanó

Sigur Ros’ Fjögur Píanó has Shia LaBeouf showing off his ballet moves in this eerie portrayal of a couples’ post-coital depiction of how they got their cuts and bruises. The journey continues as they go on a magical mystery tour with lollipops! A haunting transformation from the young star’s performance in… Transformers! Lots of butterflies, tears and nudity; be warned.

Eminem – Love The Way You Lie ft. Rihanna

Eminem teams up with Rihanna to give Shia’s Transformers co-star Meghan Fox a run for her acting money in Love the Way You Lie as she portrays a girl in a serious, tumultuous relationship with Lord of the Rings star Dominic Monaghan. Meanwhile, lots of things set on fire and Rihanna is über-cool as ever…very Eminem.

Aerosmith – Jaded

Aerosmith’s Jaded stars a beautiful young Mila Kunis in an ‘Alice in Wonderland meets Eyes Wide Shut’ portrayal of a young girl who appears to have everything but is incapable of feeling. Her inability to experience emotion is the basis of the video until her lost, lonely and jaded self finally ‘finds the forest’ A.K.A her inner self and for the first time she sheds a tear…Hurrah! There are, of course, some classic Steve Tyler leg kicks and microphone hugging to boot.

Justin Timberlake – What Goes Around…Comes Around

Justin Timberlake’s What Goes Around Comes Around stars the stunning Scarlett Johansson in this short film-style music video. The two meet for the first time, the sultry Johansson plays hard to get (for about 5 seconds) but leaves the party with Timberlake after a little persuasion. They subsequently flick from making out clips, her faking a drowning, then make out some more with a few fire jugglers in between and some singing, he then claims she’s ‘the one’ to her and his best friend, does a bit more singing – cue fire jugglers – a lot more making out and then hey presto she cheats on him with said best friend. The result is a nasty confrontation, followed by a car chase between Johansson and Timberlake with a crash and burn ending. Justin proves his karma-based song title choice right as Scarlett gets what she deserves (according to him anyway), and all in just over nine minutes!

Cobra Starship: Good Girls Go Bad ft. Leighton Meester

Cobra Starship’s Good Girls go Bad is a collaboration as well as an acting role for Gossip Girl star Leighton Meester looking stunning and a long way from her prissy role as Blake. The guys from Cobra Starship open an underground club below their convenience store, the entrance being a walk in fridge, where the good girls get the opportunity to go bad. Leighton joins in the fun and throws in shades of her Gossip Girl role spending a lot of time on her phone as “Good Girl”, only to turn out to be an undercover cop who busts the bad boys for their illegal subterranean dance venue.

The Rolling Stones – Anybody Seen My Baby

The Rolling Stones’ Anybody Seen My Baby stars the beautiful Angelina Jolie sporting a shaved head and a Gaultier-esque corset strutting stormily through the streets of New York to evade Mick Jagger’s attempts at finding her.

Jenny Lewis – Just One Of The Guys

Jenny Lewis’ Just One of the Guys stars Kristen Stewart, Anne Hathaway and Brie Larson in a very amusing depiction of them looking rather more like Beastie Boys than beautiful actresses! Anne Hathaway even sports a rats tail (apparently her own styling touch) while Jenny and the girls manage to make tracksuits and moustaches look somehow appealing. Kristen Stewart is spookily good at being a lad…or just one of the guys.

Vampire Weekend – Giving Up The Gun

Jake Gyllenhaal surprisingly stars in a fair few music videos, unsurprisingly they are very diverse; one being Jamie Foxx’s Blame It, featuring TPain and starring the big names of Forrest Whittaker, Ron Howard and Samuel L. Jackson. This is a pretty typical “in da club” type video but worth a look to see all of the above. Another Jake appearance is in The Shoes’ Time to Dance where he turns American Psycho and slaughters lots of people in this seriously grim and gruesome video which doesn’t have much to do with the song! Warning; very gory and disturbing. So we went with a third Jake find where he appears briefly (literally) in some tiny sport shorts playing a monochrome game of indoor tennis against a girl in Vampire Weekend’s Giving up the Gun!

Gorillaz – Stylo

Gorillaz’ Stylo video is basically a car chase involving the cartoon characters and a very Die Hard-esque Bruce Willis. Say no more.

Flying Lotus – Tiny Tortures

Flying Lotus and their Tiny Tortures video features our favourite hobbit Elijah Wood on a spiritual, dreamy journey after magically gaining a robotic arm having apparently lost his own. Interesting!

Lady Gaga – Paparazzi

If you are inspired to watch Lady Gaga being thrown off a balcony by the gorgeous True Blood actor Alexander Skarsgard, then tune in to Paparazzi and get a glimpse of the Swede’s reaction to his on-screen lover as the pair struggle when in the limelight. She, of course, does not die but her stardom is in serious jeopardy, and so after some typical Gaga style costume changes and choreography she eventually gets her own back and poisons Skarsgard, which for some reason regains her stardom status (odd!)…the best part is probably LG’s mug shots at the end.

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