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Congrats to Charlie Puth for his 2016 Golden Globe nomination! It is certainly well deserved and I reeeeeeally hope that he wins.

7 is for Paul, but 8 will be from him. 

-V.D.

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I’ve missed my Chance.

I think it’s safe to say that there are few things like a good story. I’ve recently developed an interest in biographies and in fact just started reading Arnold A. Dallimore’s book on the life of one of the greatest English preachers Charles Spurgeon. Indeed, people are unsolvable mysteries that make us curious and teach us a great deal.

I didn’t personally take interest in Greyson Chance as an artist until last year during a time when I was dying for new music and actively exploring other genres, looking for songs that I hadn’t heard before. When I rediscovered Greyson Chance’s old music on Spotify, I realized that he hadn’t released anything new since 2012, and I started wondering what had happened to him...

Greyson Chance originally became famous through a viral YouTube video that his father posted of him performing Lady Gaga’s “Paparazzi” at a school talent show, which helped him land a record deal. After releasing a bunch of hits for a while and doing some collaborations too, he suddenly went silent.

From what I’ve gathered, he temporarily left the music scene to enter a season of self-discovery. He took time off to figure out on his own who he was as an individual and artist, and I believe that he experimented with new sounds and a new image, listening to music that was quite different from the kind of music that he was producing.

Now, he’s finally ready to start releasing new songs again and present who he has become as an adult. Overall, I really like the direction that he is heading artistically and sonically even though he seems slightly darker now. His passion nevertheless remains as bright as ever, and I think he showcases it so naturally through his live performance at Henson Studios. 

If you get the chance, I highly recommend that you check out his new music.

The remix is great too! Listen below:

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A Composer to Remember

The soundtrack from A Walk to Remember will forever be my favorite, though the music from The Theory of Everything comes in as a close second. A Walk to Remember was not only the first soundtrack that I loved as a whole but was also the first movie that my sister ever bought, which was a big deal when we were younger.

I still listen to the soundtrack all the time, especially because it is so comforting, reminding me of all the fun movie nights that I had with my sisters and certain themes that deeply resonated with me from the movie.

A couple of years ago, I discovered that the movie’s score was completely composed by a single man named Mervyn Warren, 5-time Grammy Award winner and 10-time Grammy Award nominee (according to IMDb), who has since become the music producer, director, and arranger for many films.

Who knew, right?

The answer is: probably few of the ordinary people who watched A Walk to Remember, which is sad, in my opinion, considering Mervyn Warren’s genius and worthiness of being recognized.

It is my belief, however, that people such as Mr. Warren are often the music industry’s best kept secrets.

It is people like Aaron Zigman, Keith Kenniff, Patrick Doyle, and Danny Elfman who seem to be in the background, at least in the eyes of consumers when it comes to the music industry. This is likely the case because these musicians do not visibly perform their music and allow their individual audible voices to be heard in the form of lyrics. Don’t get me wrong--it’s not even about the fame or money; it is simply about sharing something with the world that brings value in addition to appreciating the unparalleled artistic contribution from each of these individuals. Thus, I truly encourage everyone to actively seek out new, unexpected, and unfamiliar sources of musical inspiration that deserve increased visibility.

I hope that from doing so, everyone experiences and views the world in a much different way. Like finding a hidden gem, we may realize in the end that we were simply blind, and perhaps what previously remained out of sight wasn’t so invisible after all.

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Music That Makes You Smile :)

Highlights from Jason Derulo @ 1:30 and Luke Bryan @ 2:21

(Although I don’t support the message of this song or its lyrics, I still think highly of Luke Bryan and feel that Jason Derulo is extremely talented.)

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If you’d like an expedited dose of endorphins, feel-good music, inspiration, and nostalgia, then please enjoy this video!

This song, these sisters, and the spirit of the ‘80s all in 4.3 minutes.

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The extent to which our senses are interconnected will always fascinate me. Just as eating makes watching a movie seem more fun and interesting, seeing a music video just makes a song sound better.

The cool part about this video in particular is that the footage wasn’t even intended to accompany “Sirens” by Angels & Airwaves. A dedicated fan simply edited the original footage from this link: https://vimeo.com/18300299 in order to present this creative audio-visual that gets you feeling excited and your adrenaline pumping.

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Monday Music

Dave Barnes - Stories to Tell - favorite album he’s released thus far - quite underrated - originally wrote and recorded “God Gave Me You” made famous by country singer Blake Shelton

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Tomorrow is the first day of November, which means the beginning of Christmas music!

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Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

2 Corinthians 5:17

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If you haven’t already, you must meet the best fake band ever!

Williamette Stone, a fictional musical group, is seriously amazing enough to be real. Even though the band existed solely for the movie If I Stay (2014), some of its tracks have received over 1.5 million views on YouTube alone.

I wholeheartedly believe that if Williamette Stone actually released new music, they would be extremely successful, especially considering the fact that the movie has nicely set up a highly publicized platform for the band already.

Give it a listen, and I hope that you too will find all the tracks cohesive musically, consistent qualitatively, and cool vibe-wise.

Isn’t it crazy how one single story produced a variety of exceptional media: a book, a movie, and a soundtrack? 

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I’ve always wondered if one day I’d be an old lady listening to the latest tunes on the radio.

Based on this study, however, I now know the answer, and here is my theoretical explanation regarding the findings that have informed my answer:

Indeed, music elicits feelings of nostalgia. Especially for those of us who lack clear visual memories, oftentimes music is what we remember most. In fact, our memories live in the form of familiar audio and sound. We associate certain songs or artists with specific periods of our past, which helps us think back to earlier stages in our lives when we were a different type of person. Listening to the music that was around while we were growing up can further serve two purposes: (1) to remind us of positive experiences involving or not involving specific relationships (2) and to help us realize how far we have come.

In addition, I think that people intrinsically long for a sense of eternity. Thus, we turn to music because it immortalizes particular memories by allowing us to listen to the same exact song over and over again. Although we change, the music does not. In the same way, we may associate certain songs with particularly painful times, which may prevent us from listening to that song ever again.

Of course, as people grow older and assume more adult-oriented responsibilities, they also become busier and sometimes less interested in staying updated on the latest musical developments and releases. However, listening to the music that they enjoyed growing up helps preserve their youth by referencing a time when they lived a more carefree life.

I think that many times, we not only desire to hold onto good memories but also hope to relive them. We try to live out the best memories from our past in the present by listening to music from a different time, and by doing so, we are ultimately able to physically keep a part of the past with us and what might otherwise be forgotten wherever we go.

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Jon McLaughlin just released his new album Like Us on October 9th, and I feel that this is his best album yet.

My favorite track off the new album is “I Want You Anyway.” When I listen to it, the piano seems to be the star instrument of sound while his voice serves to enhance and complement it. I think that shows just how experienced he is because it takes real finesse and skill to create that sort of effect.

Lately, I’ve also been thinking about the relationship between his album art and musical genre. In the photo above, which serves as the cover of Like Us, he totally looks like a GQ model. However, in “I Want You Anyway,” he sings about a girl being out of his league, which based on his album image, seems kind of unlikely and unbelievable. In addition, his overall sound portrays the image of a laid-back, nature-kind-of-dude with a pretty angelic voice. As a result, I’m really struggling to resolve this disparity in mind, as I feel confused about who he is trying to be.

While I don’t think that we should allow media to box us into certain categories, at the same time, inside of each of us is a human desire for consistency, because it indicates authenticity. The dialectical tension that emerges ultimately makes me wonder if one’s musical identity can remain separate from one’s actual identity. For example, can you imagine Kanye West singing country music based on the way that he dresses? Must one’s physical identity match with one’s musical identity in order to be successful?

What do you think?