John Legend - If You’re Out There

I’ve always appreciated this artist’s distinctive voice and piano-based music, even when I hadn’t heard many songs by him. I’m not sure how I found out about him, but I’ve known who he is for years. This song is a call to action, not for a specific cause, but for whatever cause you happen to believe in—the point is you should do something about it if you feel strongly about the betterment of the world.

John Legend - If You’re Out There:

Melanie Martinez - Soap

I guess I’m liking this artist’s newer music. This is the second song in a row I’ve heard from her new album, and I’ve liked both. I can’t say the songs on her previous album had the same effect. Wow, she really carries the song’s central metaphor through to the end. Her singing style is so understated and unassuming I find it hard to believe she got her start in fame through a singing competition show, The Voice.
Note: ‘Tis an upload in HD!

Melanie Martinez - Soap:

Maverick Sabre - Let Me Go

Oh, heyyyyyy, it’s another artist who deserves more recognition (and maybe in the near future will get it??). You should be bumpin’ thisssssssssss! His music is catchy and classy and has heart. This song samples a song by Portishead, whom I’ve posted before and probably should post again…
Note: This lyrics video has HD!

Maverick Sabre - Let Me Go:

Troi - Sacrifice

Sometimes when I listen to this artist I almost think I’m listening to Imogen Heap. This song seems to have a sort of hippyish, new agey meaning, but I’m down with that. I like the line, “We belong to the night, not the lights we give ourselves.” I’m eagerly awaiting hearing more music by her, but it looks like she’s still working on building up her repertoire. She has it all: the voice, the production, the lyrics—all of her own doing. This makes her possibly my favorite “undiscovered” new artist. Get in on this, people!

Troi - Sacrifice:

Blue Scholars - Yuri Kochiyama

This is the track that led me (and many others, I’m sure) to look up the song’s namesake, and subsequently feel disappointed in myself for not knowing her before. There’s some profanity and politics, as the person this is about is an activist.

Blue Scholars - Yuri Kochiyama:

Ayo - Wouldn’t It Be Better

This is probably the most lushly produced song I’ve heard by this artist. It still has an overall acoustic feel, though. She has a lot of social consciousness-themed tracks, but this one seems to simply be about a breakup. Purdy!

Ayo - Wouldn’t It Be Better:

Greg Holden - Hold On Tight

Ah, the ol’ pay it forward concept! Not terribly deep lyrics, but that’s okay because the easily-reached message is a nice one. That’s interesting that the video is the standout feature to me, too, because at the beginning of it I recognized the director’s name from the excellent Macklemore & Ryan Lewis MVs. In an odd coincidence, he also directed a music video for an underground hip hop artist I almost posted music by today instead. I found this artist through YouTube surfing.
Note: This official music video has HD!

Greg Holden - Hold On Tight:

Michelle Chamuel - Golden

This is a nice little ditty, and is aligned with her stated goal to perform electronica-type music. Good for her!! I, like many others, developed a fondness for this artist when she competed on The Voice as a somewhat unconventional pop star. Root for the underdog!

 Michelle Chamuel - Golden:

Hyde - Oasis

This groovy song is one of my favorites from this artist’s first solo album, Roentgen. Like a lot of Japanese music, the lyrics are a mixture of Japanese and English, but this has a higher ratio of English than is usual. His English pronunciation is pretty bad, but for some reason a lot of his songs are in English. I’ll allow it!

Hyde - Oasis:

Sick of Sarah - Bittersweet

When I was looking into music by this artist a few months ago, I came across this song, and although it wasn’t the most dynamic the melody stood out to me. I dunno, mayne, but it sounds nice!
Note: I could only find this song in decent quality in the official music video, but it fortunately has HD!

Sick of Sarah - Bittersweet:

*NSYNC - Pop

I give, I give! The past couple weeks, my friend and I have noticed we’re being bombarded by stuff related to the popular music of our childhoods, especially boy bands. This triggered discussions about those boy bands, and although I was never a big fan of any of them I named this song as one that I liked from that era of boy band music, and probably the one I liked most, in fact.

 *NSYNC - Pop:

Yuna - Fading Flower

BURN. This song calls out that type of person who gets by on her looks but needs serious improvement in personality. It points out that physical beauty is temporary so if that’s all you have going for you you don’t intimidate this artist. The melody even has a mocking tone to it, like a comeback to a “mean girls”-esque bully.
Note: Eyyy, some HD here!

Yuna - Fading Flower:

CunninLynguists - Time (What Is It?)

This song sometimes starts playing in my head, and I’m not complaining. It’s a great example of this artist’s tendency to create hip hop music that’s strong on all fronts: original concept, catchy production, and impressive lyrical technique. Not long ago, I saw an infographic constructed to illustrate the results of a study on how many unique words different hip hop artists use, sorted by region of origin. Guess who was far and away the wordiest of southern hip hop artists, and one of the wordiest overall. These guys!

 CunninLynguists - Time (What Is It?):

Annie Lennox - Walking on Broken Glass

This song is a classic! I probably heard it when I was a kid, but I don’t have a particular memory tied to it. I didn’t realize until it was played on an episode of the podcast The Todd Glass Show that it’s by this famous artist, whose name I’ve heard many a time. I’ve always liked this song (although admittedly I didn’t pay that much attention to it before), which is notable because it’s not often I dig a song recorded in the early 90s. Such a bouncy sound for a song about heartbreak!
Note: It’s from 1992, but it has HD!

Annie Lennox - Walking on Broken Glass:

IAMX - I Come with Knives

I think this is my favorite song off the album The Unified Field. I listened to it a number of times, and then was excited to hear it (among a lot of other songs by the same artist) used prominently on a show I really like, How to Get Away with Murder. I showed my friend the TV series, and he fell in love with both the series and the song. Upon discovering that I had the song in my mp3 player, he made me play it on repeat in his car during our road trip so now I’m more familiar with the song than I ever wanted to be. Still like it, though!
Note: HD recommended, of course!

IAMX - I Come with Knives:

Elif - Du Kannst Mir Nichts

I found this German artist by YouTube surfing not long ago. It kinda sounds like she gets tired while singing, but overall her stuff is still pleasant enough. She has nice, soft, pretty songs, but this one has a tiny bit of grit infused into it. This is probably the coolest-sounding song I’ve heard by her.
Note: Even though it was hard for me to find most of her songs in good quality, this one had HD!

Elif - Du Kannst Mir Nichts [You Can Do Nothing for Me]:

Tim Minchin - Pope Song

Probably the most profane song I’ve ever posted or ever will post… But right within the lyrics of this song the artist/comedian makes a compelling point about being offended at the profanity. I don’t want to give too much away, as part of the song’s impact comes from not knowing ahead of time what he's going to say, but it in a nutshell calls out the Pope for his role in some of the Catholic Church’s most publicized scandals, and is therefore probably offensive to you if you don't want to hear about those scandals or are a fan of the Pope he's referring to. This song was written during the reign of the previous Pope, BTW, not the current, popular one.

 Tim Minchin - Pope Song:


Here’s a live performance, my first introduction to the song:

Jess Glynne - Don’t Be So Hard on Yourself

The melody of this song is nothing special and the genre’s not my favorite, but the lyrics have a message that a lot of people could afford to hear once in a while. It helps that the artist’s voice is delicious, too. I got to know her through her work as a featured vocalist of songs for Clean Bandit.

Jess Glynne - Don’t Be So Hard on Yourself:

Gackt - Freesia ~Op. 2~

Welcome to almost 2 minutes of musical intensity, brought to you by uber-famous Japanese pop/rock act, Gackt. The dude is a pretty eccentric character, but as a multi-instrumentalist and composer he has the talent to back it up. I think it’s pretty cool that he excels in a variety of genres, as evident in this song.

 Gackt - Freesia ~Op. 2~:

Chlöe Howl - Rumour

I found this artist through YouTube surfing a little bit after this song came out. I’m still waiting for a song whose catchiness is worthy of her stellar voice, but until then songs like this, which are pleasant enough but not amazing, will do.
Note: This is the official MV, with HD!

Chlöe Howl - Rumour: