Voice of the Week: Sara Bareilles

How I found out

I was familiar with Love Song but didn't know until quite recently who the original artist was. Then I came across the music video for Brave and both the song and the singer's presence immediately caught to me.

Commentary

You know how in most albums there are usually just two or three tracks that really stick to your mind? Not so with Sara Bareilles. Each of her songs is memorable in some way, thanks to incredibly creative lyrics and genius use of the piano. Right from her very first album, Careful Confessions, it's very clear that Bareilles knows what sort of music she wants to make (but without getting stuck to repetition) and has a great understanding of how music works as well as a very enjoyable voice. There hasn't been a drop in quality with her next three albums either, rather the opposite. I'm always a little skeptical about artists who describe themselves as "self-taught" because they often end up being more like artists in heavy quotation marks, but you would never guess that Bareilles has no formal training in vocals or piano.

Favourite songs

Brave

Winter Song

Uncharted

Brave is one of my anthems of inspiration right now. The message is very simple, but it's put in an incredibly uplifting form. And I'm going to go on again about the piano backgrounds, but they are simply wonderful in Winter Song and Uncharted. By the way, this is the first time in Voice of the Week that I had difficulties narrowing down my favourites to just three!

I would listen to this music when...

I simply want some really good, original, high-quality music. With some wicked piano on the background.

Random lyric sample

Snow White is doin' dishes again
'Cause what else could you do with seven itty-bitty men?
Sends them to bed and she calls up a friend
Says, will you meet me at midnight?
The tall blonde lets out a cry of despair
Says, would have cut it myself if I knew men could climb hair
I'll have to find another tower somewhere 
And keep away from the windows
(Fairytale, album Careful Confessions)

Stars ★★★★★

Miss Saigon cast update – Thuy has been found!

As you know, I was super excited when the main cast for the Miss Saigon London revival was announced, but there was still one important part missing: Thuy! Not only does he make pivotal (and scary as heck) appearances in the show, but I'm a huge admirer of original cast member Keith Burns' portrayal of him, and was eager to see what kind of a man they were going to find to do his job. Just listen to some of the material Thuy has to sing! Doesn't Keith Burns' raspy, menacing voice of power just send chills down your spine? (Thuy starts to sing around 0:40)

So yes, seeing the right man play the part of Thuy is very important to me, and now I'm extremely pleased to find that another fantastic casting choice has been made. Kwang-Ho Hong is his name, he's a Korean musical actor, and he gets his own little introduction video from Cameron Mackintosh. And, holy sweet goodness, his CV includes the title role in The Phantom of the Opera!

Kwang-Ho Hong as Thuy

I highly advise you to see the introduction video through the link, if you haven't already. Just the few notes that he sings there make it quite clear that he has a voice that I can only describe as insanely well-trained. However, just to see and hear more of him, I dug out a couple of videos from his other performances. It appears he has played Raoul and the Phantom in the Korean production, and there's a video of him singing All I Ask Of You. He sings quite softly here, but very handsomely.

Here's another performance from Jekyll & Hyde. The sound quality is even worse than the previous video, but you get a glimpse of his more powerful style of singing.

I'm so delighted to be introduced to all these wonderful talents from around the world by stalking Miss Saigon, and Kwang-Ho Hong gets a definite thumbs-up from me. The part of Thuy will be in expert hands!

Voice of the Week: The Script

How I found out

I stumbled across the Hall of Fame music video on one of my Youtube expeditions (it had just been released and made quite a hit) and something about the song and its style just really caught my interest. It was something I hadn't tried before, so I decided to find out what the band's other songs were like.

Commentary

The first thing you are bound to notice when you start listening to The Script is lead vocalist Danny O'Donoghue's voice, which is is along the softer lines but incredibly expressive. He can do amazing things with that instrument, but doesn't overuse the "special effects" like so many singers do. Many of The Script's lyrics go into social issues, and in a very convincing manner I might add. It's like there are actual characters in these songs, around whom the lyrics are made. This is most evident in songs like We Cry, If You See Kay and For The First Time. Even the "I loved her but then it ended" themed lyrics manage to be creative! In addition to all those brilliant, thought-provoking lyrics, these guys clearly put a lot of thought into their instrumentals. Nothing sticks out of place, every instrument just moves the songs along smoothly, but by no means dully.

Favourite songs

We Cry

Breakeven

I don't know what it is about the first bars of We Cry that makes me just feel amazing in a second. And Breakeven just... soars up in the air somewhere.

I would listen to this music when...

I'm in the car, in the train or in the airplane.

Random lyric sample

And there are days when I'm losing my faith
Because the man wasn't good, he was great
He'd say, music was the home for your pain
And explain, I was young, he would say
"Take that rage, put it on a page,
Take the page to the stage
Blow the roof off the place."
(If You Could See Me Now, album #3)

Stars ★★★★★

My pick for the 2014 Original Song Oscar winner

I have to say I know very little about the films competing for the Academy Awards this year. Last year was very exciting because Les Misérables was nominated in so many categories, and I even watched the whole awards show for the first time in my life. I haven't seen any of the mega-awards-nominated movies from this year (such as 12 Years A Slave and American Hustle), but I decided to do my research  in at least one category: the Best Original Song nominees.

So now I'm going to list all the five Original Song nominees from my least favourite choice to the one I would want to win the award – with comments that justify their placement in that order, of course. I haven't seen any of the films where these songs appear so I will judge their qualities as individual songs only, not taking into account how they function in their respective films. If you've already done your research and made your pick, see if your opinion agrees with mine! And if you haven't I'll embed videos of all the songs so you can choose your favourite now.

#5 The Moon Song from Her

The Moon Song gets the last place in my ranking because that kind of guitar-plucking, wheezy-voiced style of music never resonates with me. I'm surely not the only one who can't make anything out of half of the lyrics because they just get blurred into oblivion? And because of that, I have completely no idea what this song is even supposed to be about!

#4 Alone Yet Not Alone from Alone Yet Not Alone

Every time this song begins, I think "It's actually quite a beautiful melody." But by the time the tune rolls halfway through, I'm bored. I don't know if it's because of the lullaby-esque rendition or the fact that I can't relate to the lyrics at all, but I. Get. Bored. It's by no means a bad song, just not at all Oscar material. (and even though it has nothing to do with the song itself, I just have to wonder who on Earth, in the 21st century, makes a film that has Native American characters without hiring actual Native Americans... Seriously, the black wigs and the feathers don't trick anyone anymore)
EDIT// As of January 29th, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has disqualified "Alone Yet Not Alone" as a nominee. Composer Bruce Broughton personally contacted some members of the Academy music branch (of which he used to be the governor) during the voting period in order to get more attention for his song, which the Academy considered unethical. A replacing nominee has not been chosen.

#3 Ordinary Love from Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom

This song, by the U2, doesn't awaken any thoughts in me, either positive or negative, so the middle is a good place for it. Because of this lack of feeling, I find it hard to say anything about it. I just don't quite grasp what the lyrics are trying to say. What is the definition of "ordinary love" and why is it better than "extraordinary love"?

#2 Happy from Despicable Me 2

Finally this list gets to the songs that make me say "Yeah, this is awesome!" I dare you not to tap your foot to this one. There's never too many happy songs on this planet, and Pharrell Williams has something really cool going on here. The song might be a bit too long and the lyrics get somewhat repetitive, but that instrumental background is just too infectious to resist!

And the winner should be... Let It Go from Frozen 

Alright, before I say anything else I have to admit that I might have been a little biased in this song's favour from the start. I heard and fell in love with Let It Go weeks before I knew anything about the other ones. Besides, I just happen to be in a situation in my life right now where inspirational songs like this are like chocolate. Oh, and I've been a huge fan of Idina Menzel for years. But well, no matter how many times I listen to all the Oscar nominees in different order, this one always wins. None of the others have those amazing piano runs in the gaps between the verses, and as a Finn who knows everything about the combination of cold and dark I wholeheartedly congratulate Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez (the husband-and-wife team behind this song) on managing to create the winter night atmosphere right in the first few bars of the song. A great song, there's no getting over it, and it should definitely win the award. And they should definitely get Idina Menzel to sing it at the gala, that would be one bullet-proof way to bring some quality into that show. If she doesn't, I'll be sad. If they get Demi Lovato to sing her version of it, I'll roll my eyes.

What's your pick for the award winner? Are you going to watch the gala, and if so what are you most expecting to see? I'm really excited to see Ellen DeGeneres hosting the show! I know she's done it once before, but I didn't watch that year. However, I've come to realize that the clips from her show are one of the best and funniest things on Youtube, which is why I think she'll make a very entertaining hostess.

Voice of the Week: Queen Ifrica

How I found out

It's actually quite funny how this happened: I picked up my dad's iPad and opened his Spotify account. The last thing he had done on his Spotify was do a search on Queen, and while the search obviously brought up the Queen, it also revealed various artists called Queen Something – including Queen Ifrica, whom I then checked up purely out of impulse. She turned out to be a reggae and dancehall artist, which was very interesting because Bob Marley is pretty much the only reggae singer I've been familiar with, and I really enjoy listening to him.

Commentary

Reggae is a very male-dominant genre of music, but Queen Ifrica has managed to cut out a territory for herself. While many of her songs, true to the traditions of reggae, express social criticism (such as Streets Are Bloody and To Serve And Protect, with themes of street violence and police brutality respectively), she doesn't hesitate to go for some lighter themes either. Though some pieces are, for the lack of a better description, a bit too reggae/dancehall-ish for my taste, others stray a bit further out of that style. So all in all, there's some nice variety within Queen Ifrica's catalogue, and her voice is very mellow and nice to listen to. Unfortunately, she is also anti-gay and expresses this view in a very uncomfortable manner in her song Keep It To Yourself.

Favourite songs

Lioness On The Rise

Calling Africa

I would listen to this music when...

I want to remember what summer feels like

Random lyric sample

I see you pass my way
Each and every day
Could you stop just once is all I'm asking
'Cause I can't seem to help myself
There's something about the way you walk
Oh I wish that we could talk
(Far Away, album Montego Bay)

Stars ★★★

Tag: 11 things about me

Frankie Savage shared this tag on her blog and said it was free-for-all, so I'll pass it on. How this goes is: I'll tell 11 random things about myself, then answer the 11 questions that Frankie displayed on her tag, then I'll make up 11 new questions which you will answer, if you decide to pass this tag on to your blog!

11 things about me

1. While I wash dishes I sing and do balance exercises on an air cushion. I guess you could say I believe in multi-tasking.
2. I find it easier to write in English than in my first language.
3. I would like to learn a new language, some language I know absolutely nothing about.
4. I loathe shopping for shoes, because my feet are so tiny that even if I actually find a nice-looking shoe, they usually don't have my size.
5. I have never been drunk.
6. My current apartment is the 10th home I've lived in.
7. I want to learn to do a headstand.
8. When I wake up in the morning it takes me at least an hour to be able to walk and think at the same time.
9. My head is a non-stop juke-box. There is not a waking moment in my life that I don't have some song playing in my head. I actually think it's rather fun – it only gets annoying if the same song replays for three consecutive days, which does happen quite often.
10. I don't like to wear white clothes, that's just not at all my colour.
11. I've only been to London twice but it feels like home.

Answers to Frankie's questions

1. Where have you travelled?
Sweden, Åland (which is technically a part of Finland but counts anyway because it's a remote group of islands where everyone speaks Swedish), Tallinn, England, Scotland, France, Spain, the Canary Islands, Italy, Cyprus and Egypt. There's also some places I've been to when I was a baby and therefore don't remember. And of course I've made some travels in Finland, mostly to Lapland and to Imatra, which is near the Russian border.

2. Where would you like to go if you'd like to go somewhere?
To London, always.

3. Do you like cats or dogs or both?
I'm a dog person all the way. I don't have any particular dislike for cats either, I just think they're a bit creepy, the way they move around without making a sound. And the way they never let on what they're going to do next.

4. Coffee or tea?
Definitely tea.

5. What do you think about contraceptive pills?
It should be every woman's right to use them if they feel like they're in a situation in life where they couldn't commit themselves 100% to raising a child. Seeing as the world is already hugely overpopulated, I don't see preventing an unwanted pregnancy as contradicting the will of any higher authority.

6. Rain or snow?
Snow! There's been a beautiful snowfall here all day and it finally looks like winter! So lovely.

7. Do you ever ice skate?
Never never never. I never learned to do it and skating lessons at school PhysEd were torture.

8. Have you ever seen a bird of paradise?
I don't have any specific memory of seeing one, but I did visit a park of exotic birds once when I was really small, so I might have.

9. Have you ever gone to the opera?
No.

10. Would you like going to the opera?
I don't have any special interest for opera, I somehow get the image that it's too... what's the word... static for my taste. But then again as a musical enthusiast I think I should get at least a little familiar with that art form. I could go and see La Bohème or Madame Butterfly someday, to see the original sources for RENT and Miss Saigon.

11. What's the one thing you couldn't live without?
This is going to sound incredibly sappy and cliché, but the first thing that comes to my mind is freedom of expression. It would be dreadful to live in an atmosphere where you'd constantly have to watch what you say or write. What's even more dreadful, many people actually have to live like that.

Questions for you to answer when you do this tag on your blog

1. What's the most terrible book you've ever read?
2. If you can remember any dreams you've had, what's your best one?
3. What do you want to be doing 15 years from now?
4. Do you have paintings or posters on your walls?
5. What is your favourite love song?
6. Are you going to watch this year's Academy Awards, or otherwise follow any news related to them?
7. Would you ever sing/have you ever sung in a karaoke bar?
8. Can you touch type? (=type without looking at the keyboard)
9. What colours do you mostly have in your wardrobe?
10. Do you vote? (if you're old enough to vote)
11. What do you do if you find it hard to fall asleep?

Have fun with the tag, I thought it was a really good one!

Voice of the Week: Ellie Goulding

How I found out

Her song Anything Could Happen was performed on the tv show Glee. I instantly thought it was a great song and wanted to find out more about her. Then I heard what her voice sounds like, and I was hooked past the point of no return.

Commentary

Some singers have a very unique kind of voice that just pops out, that you can't possibly mix up with someone else's – Ellie Goulding has that. She's not the first singer to go with the husky type of voice, but she's one of the very few who manage to do it without sounding like they're slowly destroying their vocal chords. She's also got a beautiful high register that sounds like crystal. I think the backgrounds of most of her songs are very intriguing. I like the way how she handles the themes she sings about; I've had to run through most songs more than twice to really grasp the meaning of the lyrics, even though they tend to be "typical" relationship-themed songs. I like it when artists aren't too obvious and predictable! Interestingly, I can listen to Goulding's music to both a relaxing and an energizing effect, depending on which one I need.

Favourite songs

Anything Could Happen

JOY

Only You

My first Ellie Goulding discovery – Anything Could Happen – is still my number one favourite from her, hands down. It's on my playlist of inspirational songs.


I would listen to this music when...

I need some positive energy.

Random lyric sample

I need a mission
A dream to stop me talking to myself
And now the silence is broken
And my soul is to sell
I need to pick up the pieces
To scatter to the wind
(Believe Me, album Bright Lights)

Stars ★★★★

Starting up Voice of the Week: Demi Lovato

New Year means new ideas for the blog! For one thing, there's an all-new Who Am I? page, because I was never quite happy with the old one. Now I hope it's more interesting and informative – but not too informative, this is the Internet after all. In addition to that, I made a New Year's resolution to explore and find more new singers/bands to listen to, and I'm going to use my blog to help it happen. Every week, I'm going to make a post about an artist, saying what I think of them and sharing a couple of songs by them. I'll be concentrating on recent discoveries (starting off with a couple of singers that I "found" late last year), but if it happens that some weeks I don't have time to properly research a new singer, I'll feature one of my "old" favourites. I'll try to do "Voice of the Week" every Wednesday, but if some Wednesdays turn out to be inconvenient for blogging, I'll make the posts happen some other day of the week.

Please note that I'm just expressing my own, subjective opinions here, and not all of the singers I'm featuring will be my absolute favourites. So I might feel completely indifferent about an artist that you are an enthusiastic fan of. This doesn't mean I disrespect your taste in music or think everyone should hate this artist. I'm not going to use any hate language in these commentaries and offending anyone's taste is the last thing I want to do!

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This week's voice: Demi Lovato


How I found out

Of course I knew she existed ever since Camp Rock trailers went all over the place, but the first time I actually checked up any of Lovato's songs was after I heard Warrior at a family friend's confirmation party.

Commentary

I was very positively surprised that Lovato actually has a really strong, "belty" voice. She's definitely improved since Camp Rock times. However, the songs themselves are hardly memorable in my opinion, with a few exceptions. The faster songs are mainly lots of beat with melodies that I can't remember five seconds afterwards, and the ballads are mainly lots of emotional belting with cliché lyrics. Lovato's songs tend to stick to the themes We broke up and now you've ruined me or We broke up, but I'm so much better off without you and I'm a super strong person now. I admit though that there are a couple of refreshing exceptions to this, but even then... the way the themes are expressed in the lyrics is extremely predictable and, like I said already, cliché. I guess I'm just a little too old for this kind of music.

Favourite song(s) 

Nightingale

Something That We're Not

Both of these songs are from Lovato's newest album, Demi. Nightingale is her best ballad in my opinion, I like the melody and even the lyrics too, mostly. Something That We're Not is a sort of song that makes you move, and I actually added it to my Spotify playlist of "running songs" – I'm really trying to make running a regular habit and it's so much easier when you take up-tempo music with you!

I would listen to this music when...

I'm running or cleaning my apartment.

Random lyric sample

I took that dirty jacket 
From the trash right where you left it 
'Cos I couldn't stand to see it go to waste
I know one day eventually 
Yeah I know one day I'll have to let it all go
But I keep it just in case
Yeah I keep it just in case
(In Case, album Demi)

Stars ★★

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What do you think about my "Voice of the Week" idea? Any suggestions of singers that I should check out? Ideas are welcome at any time!