Dani Shay - Girl or Boy?

The day of the Pride parade has arrived, and so: relevant song! This young singer-songwriter rose to public awareness through appearances on the talent search TV shows America’s Got Talent and The Glee Project, but my first exposure to her was through a video of her performing this song. It’s about how pointless gender roles are. Her voice is awesome.
Note: You can watch in HD!

Dani Shay - Girl or Boy?:

Jonte’ - Extinguish

I came across this artist thanks to Tumblr. The first video I saw by this singer/choreographer made me go, “What?” The second made me go, “OK, that’s actually pretty cool.” The third made me go, “This guy’s kinda awesome.” The music video for this song was the 4th I watched, and it just did it for me. I can’t even explain why I like this so much, but I can’t get it out of my head. I find the song irresistibly catchy, and the “face-ography” video strangely mesmerizing, so I’m including both.

Jonte’ - Extinguish:


The music video is here:

Vienna Teng - City Hall

Still not over it. This artist wrote this song about her best friend, from his point of view, going to San Francisco to get married to his partner during the brief period in which it was legal there in 2004. And history repeats itself!

Vienna Teng - City Hall:

Queen - We Are the Champions

In light of recent political and personal events, this is a time for celebrating! I’m feeling pretty victorious right about now, so this classic rock song seems appropriate.
Note: You can listen to this one in HD as well!

Queen - We Are the Champions:

Little Mix - Wings

I heard this song first through a cover of it on the musical show Glee.  It’s a nice “F the haters!” song.  It sounded catchy enough for me to look up the original version, which was by this British artist I’d never heard of. According to my quick research on them, they’re the only group contestant to ever win the British singing competition show The X Factor.
Note: Another video that has HD!

Little Mix - Wings:

Damien Crawford - Love Over Life

I think I heard of this R&B artist through an article or something, but I don’t really remember. I think he’s one of those “up and comers,” as he just released an EP a few months ago. I like his voice and he might actually have a shot at broader success in the future. The song I really wanted to post by him isn’t on YouTube yet, but this one’ll do. Happy Pride Month, ya’ll. ;)
Note: HD!

Damien Crawford - Love Over Life:

Ane Brun - The Puzzle

I… don’t remember how I found this song. But I’ve posted music by this Norwegian artist before. I like her unique way of singing. Prettiness galore!! I think I need to listen to a lot more of her music.

Ane Brun - The Puzzle:

N*E*R*D - Provider

This artist is a side project of the immensely successful and well-respected hip hop production artist The Neptunes, whose most prominent member is Pharrell Williams. The song narrates the sequence of circumstances that can lead young men into getting involved in dealing drugs, especially when they are driven by the idea instilled in men that they must be the providers of the family; it is more shameful, in their minds, to be poor than to be a criminal. The lyrics have some profanity.
Note: Here’s the song itself in HD. I couldn’t find the music video in good quality.

N*E*R*D - Provider:


Here’s the official music video, which features a random-seeming cameo of professional skateboarder Tony Hawk:

Fiona Apple - Never is a Promise

I heard my sister playing this song the other day and it caught my attention with its prettiness. I don’t know why I never really looked into this artist’s music, despite knowing of her existence for a long time.
Note: HD!

Fiona Apple - Never is a Promise:

Matt Doyle - You Made Me Love You

This song, originally by Judy Garland, was used at the end of the film Private Romeo, sung by one of the lead actors. I went into the indie flick not knowing that the actor was also a music artist, so I was surprised when the film reached the ending credits and showed him singing this song perfectly and obviously live. It was only afterward that I learned he stars in award-winning Broadway plays like Spring Awakening, War Horse, and friggin' The Book of Mormon! *brain explodes* I also realized much later that I’d already seen him singing in a Broadway-related YouTube video a while back. And now he has his own EP. So dang, homie's makin' moves. Dreamboat status.

Matt Doyle - You Made Me Love You:


The ending credits from the movie are here:

Như Quỳnh - Đố Ai

I encountered this song some years ago when I was watching the Vietnamese film Three Seasons, and the song was featured repeatedly throughout the film. The song was written decades ago by one of Vietnam’s most famous songwriters, Phạm Duy, who died just a few months ago.  There were numerous covers of the song to choose from, but I picked a relatively recent one.

Như Quỳnh - Đố Ai [Riddles]:


If you want to see one instance of the song in the film, you can watch here with English subtitles:


And here it is again, at the end of the movie:

Biting Elbows - Bad Motherf*cker

I’m not so much into the song as the music video. What a cool, creative video! It’s like a first-person, live action video game. I saw this when they showed it at the anime convention I attended last month.
Note: This video has HD! Be warned, though, there is violence, right from the outset of the MV (and obviously profanity as well).

Biting Elbows - Bad Motherf*cker:

Kacey Musgraves - Merry-Go-Round

My friend posted this song’s MV on her blog and I gave it a listen. The song’s overall sound doesn’t do much for me, but it does a good job of capturing the message of the song, which is about the low-bar expectations that predestine small town folks for a mundane and settled-for existence. It could be aptly renamed “Country People Problems.” Rather than being about the pleasures of a simple, small-town life, it laments the problems of small town culture. I like the lyrics and especially the repeated but creative use of the Mary/marry/merry motif.
Note: HD again!

Kacey Musgraves - Merry-Go-Round:

Pentatonix - N*SYNC Medley

Yes, son! YouTube kept recommending videos of this artist to me, so I finally watched them. And of course they were awesome. Evidently, this a cappella group won the 3rd season of the American a cappella competition TV show The Sing-Off. I didn’t watch the show, though, so I didn’t really know about them until now. This is their mashup of songs by the popular 90s boyband N*SYNC. I wasn’t as into them as other people were, but I recognize these songs at least!
Note: HD listening recommended!

Pentatonix - N*SYNC Medley:

Naya Rivera - Mine

In a previous post of a song covered on the musical show Glee by this artist, I said, “Naya, the things you do to me!” Evidently, one of those things is to make me like a Taylor Swift song.  Curses!!  The scene in which this singer/actress's character sings this song holds the sole honor of making me tear up EVERY SINGLE TIME I watch it.  It's crazy.  Aside from the famous finale of the series Six Feet Under, nothing else in a TV series has had made me tear up like that even once, so that is not something that happens to me lightly. At least I didn't bawl over it like a lot of other viewers did.
Note: It’s in HD!

Naya Rivera - Mine:


Here’s the scene in which an abridged version appeared.  For some reason this is like the only performance the official channel hasn’t uploaded, maybe because they’re trying to spare me of my misery. T_T  So all I could find now were lower quality videos like this one, which crops the top and bottom of the video, but you get the idea:

Tim Minchin - Not Perfect

This artist is actually a standup comedian/pianist/songwriter, and like the last time I posted his work most of his songs are comedy with introspection mixed in, but this is one of his songs that is more introspection with humor mixed in. For some reason it’s been stuck in my head the past few days.
Note: The video is in HD, and taken from a live performance!

Tim Minchin - Not Perfect:

F.I.R. - 應許之地

Considering how much of this Taiwanese artist’s music I like, I should have posted more songs by them by now. I think I commented on this trend in a previous posting of this band’s music, but this song again showcases their tendency to incorporate elements of Celtic music into some of their more epic-sounding songs. (Note the inclusion of bagpipes in this one, for example.) As if that weren’t indicative enough of globalization, the song title refers to Jerusalem, and I can’t be certain, but the lyrics could be interpreted as being about desire for love to overcome conflict in that region.

F.I.R. - 應許之地 [Ying Xu Zhi Di - The Promised Land]:

30 Seconds to Mars - The Race

I’ve been listening to this artist’s newest album and liked this song in particular.
Note: This is official lyrics video for this song, and it’s in HD. It has some pretty cool animal footage, too.

30 Seconds to Mars - The Race:

Conquering Animal Sound - Bear

I heard this song in the ending credits of an episode of the Scottish TV series Lip Service. The artist, too, is Scottish. The song's kinda weird, especially since the lyrics seem to literally be talking to a bear.  It's all good, though.
Note: You can listen to the song in HD!

Conquering Animal Sound - Bear:

Shinhwa - Brand New

This is the first song I heard by this popular Korean boy band. I saw the MV on a TV show for Korean MVs and when I saw the intro and Hyesung appeared I thought, "Ah, he must be the token pretty boy who is there because of his looks rather than talent." I was skeptical of the group as a whole at first, but as the song went on I observed, “Someone in this group has a GREAT voice. But which one is it?!” Then the solo part came up with the voice I was impressed by and when it showed Hyesung as the vocalist I was surprised. I don’t mind including the official music video this time because it’s how I first experienced the song as well as the artist, and I really like the weird twisting effect the camera does in this video.

Shinhwa  A.K.A. 신화 - Brand New:

M.I.A. - XXXO

As I’ve said before, I’ve never been impressed with this artist’s lyricism. However, this song has a message I can get behind (she refuses to let the music industry force her to objectify and change herself), and I like how the MV parodies the Internet culture of certain countries. This is the first music video of this artist's that I watched.
Note: I’m including the official music video, which has HD, because it helps convey the point of the song.

M.I.A. - XXXO:

Darren Hayes - Creepin' Up on You

Why are songs about stalking so funny? It’s not funny in real life, but that’s probably why it’s funny to make an intentionally creepy song about it, and because it’s kinda mocking conventions of typical infatuation-themed pop songs. Anyway, I thought it was about time I post a song from this artist's first solo album, Spin.

Darren Hayes - Creepin' Up on You:

The Pretty Reckless - My Medicine

I heard my sister playing this song in her room the other day and instantly liked it. The vocals reminded me of P!NK, which is a good thing because she’s one of my favorite artists. When I looked up the band, the name of the lead singer sounded familiar but I didn’t know why. Then I looked her, Taylor Momsen, up, and learned that she’s an actress as well, which might explain the name familiarity.
Note: HD video!

The Pretty Reckless - My Medicine:

Rufus Wainwright - Waiting for a Dream

It’s another song by this widely-praised artist. This is probably the prettiest song by him I’ve heard. The lyrics are pretty odd, but that’s not unusual coming from this singer/pianist/composer/lyricist.

Rufus Wainwright - Waiting for a Dream:

Lana Del Rey - Young and Beautiful (The Great Gatsby version)

For some reason, I’ve been trying to avoid this artist for as long as I could, but I heard this song recently (I can’t remember where) and I thought it was nice. I heard it again a few days ago when I watched The Great Gatsby movie that just came out—it played in various renditions for a good portion of the movie and was at last convinced I should post it here.
Note: Another one to listen to in HD!

Lana Del Rey - Young and Beautiful (The Great Gatsby version):

Will Smith - Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It

Yes, the famous actor started out as a cheesy rap sensation. The album this song is from, Big Willie Style, was my first hip hop album—I was allowed to own it because Will Smith was marketed as the rare rapper who could sustain a career in hip hop without using profanity. The notion of good, clean fun is perhaps even cheesier by today’s standards than it was back then, but this song is still darn catchy.
Note: Old, but in HD!

Will Smith - Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It:

Ella Riot - White Lies

I suppose it was only a matter of time before I posted music by a contestant on the American singing competition TV show The Voice. The vocalist of this artist, Michelle Chamuel, is a fan favorite on the show currently. This band was her project from before she entered the high-profile competition, and it was formerly named My Dear Disco.

Ella Riot - White Lies:

Ed Sheeran - The A Team

Cliché choice, I know, but it’s still a good song. There’s a reason why it’s popular! It’s depressing, ‘cause it’s about a poor, drug-addicted prostitute’s weary existence. I like it because of the unusual subject matter (especially for mainstream radio, where it’s been playing) and the poetic lyrics use literary techniques I’m mostly accustomed to hearing in hip hop songs. I listened to this artist’s whole album, but I need to review it before I post a different song from it.
Note: Another HD video!

Ed Sheeran - The A Team:

Hannah Schneider - For the Trees

I may just have a new favorite artist in this Danish singer-songwriter. I don’t remember clearly how I came across this artist’s solo work, but it was probably through YouTube surfing. I merely took note of her name, but now that I’m following up on that note by looking up her music, I think I should have been more enthusiastic in pursuing it. I like practically every song I’ve heard by her. I also just found out she’s the lead singer of a band I’ve already posted music by, Sinusstøv.
Note: I can only find the song uploaded in the official music video, but it’s in HD. So be it.

Hannah Schneider - For the Trees:

Fall Out Boy - My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark (Light Em Up)

I think I heard this song on a TV show (possibly Hollyoaks again, but I’m not sure). This American artist has been around since I was a kid, and I’m a bit surprised to see they’re still at it. I never followed their music, but once in a while I would hear a song of theirs and like it. That applies to this as well.
Note: ‘Tis another HD listening opportunity!

Fall Out Boy - My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark (Light Em Up):