Neil Patrick Harris & Matthew Morrison - Dream On

I just have this to say: NPH, why are you so great? What did we mere mortals do to deserve you? This duet cover of Aerosmith’s classic by the same name is from an episode of the TV show Glee alllll the way back in season one in which NPH guest starred… so he could sing this song and hit that crazy high note. *_* No wonder he just won a Tony Award.
Note: HD, woooooooo!

Neil Patrick Harris & Matthew Morrison - Dream On:


Here’s the scene from the show:

Mary Lambert - She Keeps Me Warm

Even if you haven’t heard this song before, it probably sounds familiar if you’ve turned on your radio sometime within the past year. That’s because this artist is the singer of the memorable chorus of Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’s marriage equality anthem “Same Love,” which played on the radio over and over. She ended up building an entire song of her own off her oft-heard chorus, and thus this song came to be. Of course, it was playing on one of the contingents in the parade today. Happy Pride!
Note: This official music video has HD, and is SHO CUTE.

Mary Lambert - She Keeps Me Warm:

Sodagreen - 我好想你

I got this artist’s second album back around the time it came out and really liked it. Then, somehow when I wasn’t looking, the Taiwanese band went and released 7 more albums and seems to have graduated out of “indie” status and into full-blown mainstream exposure levels. Yeesh. So now I’m way behind because I have only listened to 3 of their albums. The album this song is from is their 9th and most recent. The end of this song gets a good deal more dramatic than I’m used to hearing from them, as I think of their music as generally light and acoustic. It was also the theme song of a movie I’ve never seen, Tiny Times 1.0, which stars a KOREAN singer, Jaejoong, whose music I’ve posted under the names Dong Bang Shin Ki and JYJ.
Note: Praise be to the HD uploader!

Sodagreen A.K.A. 蘇打綠 - 我好想你 [Wo Hao Xiang Ni - I Miss You So]:

Dresden Dolls - Good Day

I probably should have delved more into this artist years ago when I first came across their music and liked it. But I didn’t! Oh well; better late than never. Their music relies on a piano and Amanda Palmer’s voice, and it works. A lot of it also has a dark tone to it, and could even be characterized as off-kilter and unnerving. But that makes it interesting! Their lyrics tend to be interesting, but there is some profanity.
Note: You can listen in HD!

Dresden Dolls - Good Day:

The Cliks - 1000 Violins

I saw this Canadian artist perform live almost exactly 5 years ago. Up until today, all their music I’d heard was from up until that time, so when I listened to this song, released only last year, I was taken aback by how much the lead singer’s voice has changed. I dig the production on this track, and judging from the few tracks I’ve heard from the band’s most recent album I think their newer music is more to my liking than previous releases.

The Cliks - 1000 Violins:

Baby Dee - The Only Bones That Show

I heard of this artist very recently through an artist recommendation thread on a music website. From what I read about her, she seems multi-talented as she acts as vocalist, composer, lyricist, and musician for her own music. In short, she does everything herself. Props! I’ve now listened to a handful of her songs, and while many of them are of the soothing, melancholy style I tend to like, this more uptempo song stood out to me. It’s kinda odd, but I like that. The unusual lyrics are compelling, and the instrumental is appealing, especially that bass near the beginning!

 Baby Dee - The Only Bones That Show:

Pentatonix - Evolution of Music

I recently decided I wanna see these guys live, if I get the chance. They’re all SO talented individually, and sound magical as a group. I think this video is the first I ever saw of this popular a cappella group. It’s kinda funny that in this day & age there exists a popular a cappella group, but there you have it. This track isn’t so much a song as a medley (like the previous posts I’ve made of this artist), only this time it’s not a medley dedicated to one particular artist but a variety of music spanning across centuries (with an obvious concentration on the past few decades) meant to showcase different styles.
Note: HD listening is recommended so you can hear each of their voices better!

Pentatonix - Evolution of Music:

Jessie J - I Miss Her

Aghhhh, her voice is so amazing!!! The song’s melody isn’t that captivating to me, but her voice is lovely and powerful. As for the lyrics, they are pretty depressing but honest. They’re clearly describing a loved one who’s physically alive but mentally gone, as with dementia or a coma. I heard there is an interview that reveals that this song is, indeed, about her grandmother with Alzheimer’s.

 Jessie J - I Miss Her:

Fischerspooner - Cloud

I’m no expert on music genres. They’re practically meaningless to me and have always seemed nebulous, especially when getting into the nitty gritty subgenres that people get offended about others mistaking. Electro is a genre I know even less about than some others, but I keep seeing this artist characterized as that so I’m going to go ahead and say that’s what they are and further assert that they are probably one of very few electro artists I’ve posted.
Note: HD listening is here!

Fischerspooner - Cloud:

Emilie Autumn - Take the Pill

From the very beginning of this song it sounded promising. My friend who was listening to it with me, also for the first time, immediately had her ears perk up when the song started. Then the lyrics kicked in and it got even more interesting because of its unusual subject matter. It’s clearly narrating the events of a mental hospital through the commands of the staff there. Insanity seems to be a recurring subject for this American artist, so it’s not very surprising coming from her. There’s some profanity, and it’s kinda disturbing (especially if you’ve been institutionalized, I imagine). Also, it yet ANOTHER weird coincidence in artist I’ve been posting lately, when I looked up this songwriter’s music it post tonight, I saw that she is performing in my area tonight.
Note: TAKE YOUR PILL in HD!

Emilie Autumn - Take the Pill:

Eli Lieb - Safe in My Hands

I’ve seen this artist’s name floating around before, probably on the Internet, but never looked into his music. Evidently he’s one of those newfangled YouTube celebrities who does covers as well as writes and performs his own original songs. This is one of those original songs, and he might be about to blow up bigtime because it was used in a commercial, which I just saw today. (That’s how I came across this song.)
Note: HD listening is available!

Eli Lieb - Safe in My Hands:

Vanessa Carlton - Carousel

Time for some piano-based pop! I heard about this artist the way virtually everyone else on earth did: through her hit “A Thousand Miles.” I still like that song, but in the interest of diversity I’m posting a different song by her, and from a different album. I didn’t even hear that many songs by her on the radio so I didn’t realize this was a single when I picked it.

 Vanessa Carlton - Carousel:

We Are Smug - Hot Tub Blues

Can’t believe I never posted this song before… Introducing this song to people without context is fun, because the way it goes is this: I play the song for someone, and she goes, “This is a weird song, but I like it!” I go, “Wanna know who the singer is?” She goes, “Sure, who is she?” I say, “Remember Savage Garden, from the 90s?” She goes, “Yeah, I remember them!” I go, “This is the lead singer of Savage Garden.” She goes, “Wait… The lead singer was a guy…” I say, “Yes. This is him.” She goes, “NO!” in disbelief. Once I did this to a classmate, and that same night she downloaded the artist’s album, later taking it to class to play for other students and do the same thing to them that I’d done to her. Yes, this vocalist is Darren Hayes, in his experimental side project with songwriter Robert Conley. He has publicly stated that this track doesn’t use any digital tricks to distort his voice into sounding womanly; he really can sound like that on his own. There’s a little profanity and implied violence, I guess?
Note: You can listen to the old-timey lady vocals in HD!

We Are Smug - Hot Tub Blues:

Kal Lavelle - Shivers

I came across this Irish artist through the previous song I posted that she was featured in. That was a low-key dancey electronica track, but all the solo music I’ve heard from her so far has been acoustic folk music. I’m not wowed by her voice, but the instrumental and melody of most of the songs I've heard by her seem like they would grow on me the more I listen to them.

Kal Lavelle - Shivers:

Le1f - Wut

I’d normally give my typical “parental advisory” for this hip hop song, but the lyrics are so difficult to understand I might not even need to bother. There’s something about the sound mixing and the artist’s voice that make the lyrics hard to hear, which is a shame because they’re pretty darn good from a technical standpoint. This song deals quite a bit with the emcece’s identity as a black gay man in New York, how he’s subject to fetishization and stereotyping. It’s too bad he got embarrassingly bitter over the success of Macklemore & Ryan Lewis and started publicly accusing them of plagiarizing this song to make their hit “Thrift Shop,” even though the only things the two songs have in common are the presence of rapping and the presence of saxophone.
Note: Fortunately, there’s this helpful typography video in HD to make the lyrics easier to identify!

Le1f - Wut:



Given the lyrical subject matter, the song reached surprising levels of mainstream exposure. You can check out how this song was used in a cool advertisement people were circulating not long ago:

Madonna - Nothing Really Matters

At the time I listened to the album this song is from, Ray of Light, I enjoyed it (more than I anticipated, as it wasn’t what I expected from this iconic pop artist) but I didn’t realize it was well-received by critics. I also read that this album helped bring electronic music into mainstream American popularity, but by the time I came across this album (well after it was released) I had already fallen in love with a few electronic music albums.
Note: Unsurprisingly, this song is here in HD.

Madonna - Nothing Really Matters:

MayDay - 2012

Another weird coincidence! I was listening to music by this Taiwanese artist today to try to pick a song from their extensive discography, and discovered they’re playing in my area this very night. I already attended a concert of theirs on New Year’s, and the stadium very much resembled that of the concert they show in the music video. The song's lyrics paint a not-so-optimistic picture of the future, alluding to humanity's insistence on marching toward their own destruction--a sentiment I've found to be resonating with me more and more lately.
Note: This official music video not only has HD quality available, but you can also turn on the English subtitles!

MayDay A.K.A. 五月天 - 2012:

Tracy Chapman - Say Hallelujah

This is a rather chipper-sounding song for such typically somber subject matter. The artist is essentially celebrating death, treating it like it’s not such a big deal, and it’s a chance for those who passed on to be relieved of their pain and for those they left behind to be reminded to be grateful for life.

Tracy Chapman - Say Hallelujah:

Sigur Rós - Flugufrelsarinn

Today is the 15th anniversary of the release of this Icelandic artist’s album Ágaetis Byrjun. I didn’t even know that until just now when I, by coincidence, saw an announcement about it on my FB Newsfeed, and IMMEDIATELY before that I was listening to that album for the first time in years because I was planning to post a song from it today. Freaky! Anyway, I used to listen to this song when I was trying to drown out background noise long enough for me to fall asleep. I don’t think it ever worked, but at least I was listening to nice, relaxing music while I was awake.
Note: You can let the song lull you in HD.

Sigur Rós - Flugufrelsarinn [The Fly’s Savior]:

Charice - Titanium

You may already be familiar with this hit song as performed by its original artist and recently posted singer, Sia. Despite liking much of Sia’s music, I actually didn’t care for that version. When I decided to give this Filipina artist’s new album a listen, I didn’t realize it was a cover album, but I quickly realized it once I saw this hit on the track listing. This version is more ballad than club hit, which is probably why I prefer it to the original. I’m used to hearing this artist belting out power notes, which are awesome, but it’s nice to hear a softer tone from her as in this song.
Note: Available in HD!

Charice - Titanium:

Patrick Wolf - Hard Times

I’m not an expert on song lyrics analysis. A lot of the time I have to look up the meanings or consult the suggestions of others, but THIS time, for this song, I felt I understood it on my own. It’s about various conflicts going on at international levels, calling for drastic societal change in response to all the things wrong with the world. It could even be suggesting we are kept fixated on working harder to distract us from the real problems and to stave off revolution by instilling the false hope that our efforts to improve the situation aren’t in vain.

Patrick Wolf - Hard Times:


For a revised version and an eloquent explanation as to the reasoning behind the revision, see this live performance in Russia:

Ana Carolina - Leveza de Valsa

This song REALLY sounds like it’s from the soundtrack of some movie. The cinematic strings are what do it, I guess. Then when the piano really kicks in it feels like I’m watching the ending credits of some intense thriller movie or something. Anyway, it’s beautiful.
Note: Woo, found it in HD!

Ana Carolina - Leveza de Valsa [Levity of Waltz]:

R. Kelly - Sign of a Victory

I had no idea this artist did the song used in the FIFA World Cup 2010. It’s weird how this artist’s work oscillates between dirty party songs and inspirational beautiful songs.
Note: Listen to the sound of victory in HD!

R. Kelly - Sign of a Victory:

Sia - Chandelier

This artist’s music videos have a knack for making me feel both weirded out and impressed at the same time. I think everyone recognizes that Sia sounds remarkably like Rihanna at the beginning of this song, which is also interesting because Sia writes songs for Rihanna all the time. Supposedly this song/video are about how the artist felt when she was a child, often left home alone. Also, I wouldn't have known this were it not for YouTube comments, but evidently the dancer featured in the video is on the reality TV show Dance Moms. Girl can dance!
Note: This is the official music video, with HD! Hope it doesn’t creep you out too much.

Sia - Chandelier:

Wang Lee Hom feat. Jin the Emcee - 盖世英雄

In an interesting combination, this song involves two Chinese-American artists, one who went into Taiwanese music to make his fame and became a huge sensation, the other who stuck it out in the U.S. and carved a name for himself in the American underground hip hop scene. One raps primarily in Mandarin, with some English thrown in; the other raps primarily in English with some Cantonese thrown in. On top of that, the song mixes the modern styles of R&B, Taiwanese hip hop, American hip hop, and traditional Chinese opera.

Wang Lee Hom A.K.A. 王力宏 feat. Jin the Emcee - 盖世英雄 [Gai Shi Ying Xiong - Heroes of the Earth]:

La Roux - Let Me Down Gently

I haven’t listened to a ton of songs by this artist. The majority of what I did hear I wasn’t crazy about. I didn’t hate them, but they just weren’t my style. I decided to look into some of the music that’s just been released and found this first. I immediately could tell this moody track was more to my liking than previous music, despite the retro sound (which I normally don’t care for).
Note: HD!

La Roux - Let Me Down Gently:

Tanner Cohen & Wendy Robie - Audition

Here’s a second song I liked from the indie musical movie Were the World Mine. The lyrics (like with the other songs in the movie) take lines and inspiration from Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer Night’s Dream, hence the old-fashioned English and magical imagery. The movie’s characters perform the play, and this song is the main character’s audition for a role in it.

Tanner Cohen & Wendy Robie - Audition:

Goldfrapp - Pilots

This hyper-mellow song is a bit unnerving in sound, but I believe that’s the intention. I listened to the whole album this song is from, Felt Mountain, today, and the whole thing is pretty much like this. It’s also highly ranked in some lists of top albums for the time period. If the songs are so similar, why did I pick this one, then? Those especially high notes near the end caught my attention.
Note: You can listen in HD!

Goldfrapp - Pilots:

Sam Smith - Make It to Me

Through YouTube surfing, I came upon and made a note of this artist’s music about 9 months before his debut album came out, which happened only a little over a week ago. I also had heard a song that featured him on vocals when a friend posted the music video a little while ago, but since the production was so heavy it was hard to hear his voice and I didn’t care for it (and didn’t realize it was the same singer I’d found on YouTube on my own). Shortly after the release of his album, a friend of mine invited me to the singer-songwriter’s upcoming concert so I looked further into his music to see if he had more songs I liked. Not only did I confirm that he’s excellent live, I’ve become addicted to his album.
Note: HD listening available!

Sam Smith - Make It to Me:


If you want evidence of his live abilities, check out this performance:

Temper - Success

Not even gonna front like there’s no shallow component to me liking this hip hop artist… She looks and sounds and like if Eve were a stud. I came across her music videos on YouTube. This was the first one I came across. This has the typical things people are offended by in rap (profanity, drug references, etc.).

Temper - Success:


If you are shallow like me or wanna check out the Eve resemblance, you can enjoy the official music video: