Feel Good LSS Reggae Friday! :)

Ok, so I started my Friday a bit groggy because of lack of sleep but when I heard this song (for the first time today as I’ve not been listening to the radio for a while), me and my son automatically danced to the rhythm and I’m an instant fan! I got all pumped and had to search for it…

Played it over and over and over and over again (ok talk about obsessive… haha), shared it on my social media accounts, shared it to my co-workers and friends and am blogging about it! Sorry but it was too good of a song to pass up FOR A FRIDAY!

So, maybe it’s just the crazy me but this song is seriously my ANYDAY FRIDAY ANTHEM!

So here it is and dance with me this Friday!!! 🙂

 

Fight, rule the World and be heroes!

Do you ever have those days when you feel like you’re stuck in a rut and you know deep in your heart and soul that you’re destined for something greater?

Well… I get those a lot and I should really stand up and sing/dance to the music of that calling but not just yet, although, I am taking simple steps but just not yet.

Anyway, here are some songs that will make you feel like you can do anything…

I think I’ll listen to these songs on a daily basis so I can work up that much courage that I’d just stand up one day, leave all mundane things behind and just do that “something great!”

In the meantime though, am sharing these songs here in case others out there need a little push as well.

Here are the three best songs for these times – Fight Song, Rule the World and We could he heroes! These are just the titles but it might as well be a sentence because it sure forms a really good message, don’t you think so?

If you’re psyched! Then let’s do this and let’s all do something greater! 😉

Newfound gold: Ellie Goulding

For a music junkie like me who has to have the right kind of music otherwise my day would be dull, discovering Spotify and reaping the benefits of even their free version; I would have to say that it is by far the greatest invention after music itself! Ok, we’ll have to include cameras, computers, the internet, mobile phones, vaccines, flying and all other great inventions but other than those Spotify does indeed deserve a spot in that list!

Anyway, it has actually leveled up my initial quest to break out of the mainstream music presented to me and have made me discover more types of music and more artists I never would’ve discovered if I merely listened to the radio or watched television.

For a few days now, I’ve been really caught by one the songs of this artist that I yearned to hear more from her and thanks to Spotify for that because I realized that her music and her voice is just so great to listen to.

So sharing her songs here too.. If you don’t know her yet, here is a little info.

    Elena Jane “Ellie” Goulding (/ˈɡoʊldɪŋ/; born 30 December 1986)^[4] is an English singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Her career began when she met record producer Starsmithand Frankmusik, and she was later spotted by Jamie Lillywhite, who later became her manager and A&R. After signing to Polydor Records in July 2009, Goulding released her debut extended play, An Introduction to Ellie Goulding, later that year.^[5]

In 2010, she became the second artist to both top the BBC‘s annual Sound of… poll and win the Critics’ Choice Award at the Brit Awards in the same year. Goulding released her debut studio album, Lights, in 2010. The album debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart and has sold over 850,000 copies in the UK. Her cover of Elton John’s “Your Song” reached number two in the UK in December 2010 and on 29 April 2011 she performed the song at the wedding reception ofPrince William and Catherine Middleton at Buckingham Palace. The album’s title track, “Lights“, was released in the US in March 2011, and peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and was certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).^[6][7]

Goulding’s second studio album, Halcyon, was released in October 2012, “Anything Could Happen” preceded the album as the lead single. Halcyon debuted at number two on the UK Albums Chart, and, after 65 weeks, reached number one. Halcyon debuted at number nine on theBillboard 200 Chart, her first top ten debut in the United States. Halcyon Days, a repackaged edition of Halcyon, was released on 23 August 2013, it included new singles including “Burn“, which became her first UK number-one single in the same month. At the 2014 Brit Awards she received the award for British Female Solo Artist.^[8] By the end of 2013, she had sold an estimated four million albums and fifteen million singles worldwide.^[9]

Now, without further ado, let’s get to her music, shall we? We’ll start off with the song Love me like you do, which was featured in the movie Fifty Shade of Grey. (On a personal side note though, I think the song goes very well with the book but not so with the movie. I had another actor and actress in mind for the roles so the movie didn’t really sit well with me as did the book. That’s just me, ofcourse!)

That’s all for now folks but if you want more of her, do get your own Spotify account – I guarantee you won’t regret it! 😉

Flashback Friday

Ok, pop quiz! 

What is the one common thing in the following group of words? 

[ All that she wants, The Sign, It’s a Beautiful life, Cruel Summer, Happy Nation, Don’t turn around ] 

Well, aside from possibly interesting movie titles, these are actually songs of the 1990’s music group Ace of Base and were in fact great dance hits during their time.

And as proof of how timeless music is; it has not lost its touch because even if you listen to these tunes in this “Gangnam Style” music era, they still make you want to dish out those groovy dance moves!

Go and have a listen! If you were born during the 80’s and 90’s, then have fun reminiscing the good old days but if you’re from a younger generation, then enjoy the time travel! 🙂

Ace of Base is a Swedish pop group, originally consisting of Ulf “Buddha” Ekberg and three siblings, Jonas “Joker” Berggren, Malin “Linn” Berggren and Jenny Berggren. They released four studio albums between 1992 and 2002, which sold over 30 million copies worldwide, making them the third-most successful band from Sweden of all time, after ABBA and Roxette.

Happy Nation / The Sign is one of the best-selling debut albums of all time, and was certified nine times platinum in the United States.^[1] It was the first debut album to produce three number 1 singles on the Billboard Mainstream Top 40 chart: “All That She Wants“, “The Sign” and “Don’t Turn Around“.^[2]

Following the formal departure of singer Linn in 2007, the band performed a series of concerts as a trio in Europe and Asia from 2007 through 2009. Jenny revealed in November 2009 that she would be taking indefinite leave from the band to focus on a solo career.^[3] In 2009, Jonas and Ulf recruited two new female vocalists, Clara Hagman and Julia Williamson, and released The Golden Ratio in September 2010.

Formation

Ace of Base formed in Gothenburg,Sweden.

In 1987, following a number of years as part of a new romantic and punk covers band called G Konrad, Jonas Berggren formed a band with two friends, Johnny Lindén and Niklas Tränk for a school project; his sisters Linn and Jenny joined as singers. The new band went through several names: Kalinin Prospect (after an avenue in Moscow); CAD (Computer-Aided Disco); and Tech-Noir (French for black technology, after a nightclub in the film The Terminator).^[4] They toured the clubs of Sweden with self-written material, techno inspired by the likes of The KLF and Snap!. Johnny left the group in 1989, and Niklas made his departure known by failing to appear at a performance, instead attending a Rolling Stones concert on the other side of town.^[5] Jonas asked his friend Ulf Ekberg to stand in for Niklas. The new quartet sought a new name to make a fresh start. Linn was reported saying: “No one could pronounce the name of the group and nobody could remember it”. They settled on Ace of Base, because they were the “masters of their studio”, the basement of a car-repair shop.^[6]

However, the band continued to struggle to gain any recognition, partly due to the preference of heavy metal over techno in their home town, according to singer Jenny.^[7] In 1991 they responded to a newspaper ad by producer John Ballard who was looking for new talent. He was somewhat unsure about their potential, but did pass them on to Klas Lunding at Telegram Records who helped them record an early demo for the song “Wheel of Fortune” in their newly renovated studio. Despite this, it did not convince Telegram to sign the band, and other labels in Sweden still showed no sign of interest. The demo was eventually sold for a small price to the independent Danish label Mega Records in March 1992.^[8] “Wheel of Fortune” was re-recorded and released as a single in Denmark in May but failed to hit the charts. A small-budget music video was shot and directed in a small studio by Viking Nielsson^[9] and in September, after two failures, the single finally reached the charts.

~ ~ ~

Now that our history trip is done, let’s get on with our music trip for today! 🙂

Hope you enjoyed that music trip down the 1990’s music lane.

Don’t Turn Around to the Cruel Summer and instead look forward to a Happy Nation because All That She Wants is The Sign that It’s A Beautiful Life! 😉

Don’t mind John..he’s just chilling with us for a bit! hehe..

Is there an explanation?

I call it the John Lennon Syndrome! 

I could actually win The Singing Bee but will definitely fail the “Name your Colleagues” quiz!

Anybody out there who shares the same symptoms? 😉 Maybe there are others out there too??

Music to give your boombox the BOOM! (Videos/Audios contain some scenes and language not suitable for children. Viewer discretion is advised!)

I am not really the “disco and party” person but I do love some great dance music! (Most of which make me dance crazily within the comfort of my own room or in the toilet because I unfortunately had not been gifted with the gift of dance..too bad to me but good for others as they won’t have to suffer watching me! hahaha)

But I’ve recently discovered some great remix tunes from DJ Elon Matana that are too good not to dance around to..(I’m dancing around in my seat as I listen to them…ok just swaying my head because am still in the office after all! hehe)

Don’t blame me if you erupt from your seat while listening to these tunes or walk to the restroom with that “spunk” in your walk and that “smug” look on your face …because that’s not hard to do if you have these tunes roaring in your headsets!

Since we’re in the topic of dance songs, I have to include an artist that I think definitely nailed it as well. All his songs really make me want to dance, for some reason!

Pitbull

I know you want me

Give me everything (Tonight)

Hotel room service

Don’t stop the party

Fireball

Now, that we got that out of the way…let’s get some serious work done, shall we? 😉

Mood Music for ~ A Night of Passion, Intoxication & Bliss ~

Ok, so I’ve been a little busy lately..trying to realize one of my lifelong dreams to be a best-selling author even if that’s really a long-shot but who knows, right?

Anyway, I’ve been writing stories over at Widbook.com, an online platform for people to write stories and share them! Definitely great for amateur writers (like moi) and even for those already with traction and a great venue to meet like-minded people as well.

So far I’m loving it! (Actually, I am getting just a wee bit addicted! hehe)

I have been writing a few stories and the last one I wrote was an experimental one on the genre of romance and sensual writing. (Yep, sensual, not the one with the “x” on it!) 

Since it was a whole different ballgame for me, I needed some mood music to help me weave the story from my head into words and these were the songs that helped me achieve it.

As always, with everything I do, I definitely need some good music to accompany me and inspire me!

Just sharing in case, they too, inspire you to write “sensually”! 😉

[You may read the story here: A Night of Passion, Intoxication & Bliss]

Let’s start if off with Marvin Gaye’s Let’s Get It On.. 😉

My girl by The Temptations

You are the sunshine of my life by Stevie Wonder

You’ll never find another love by Lou Rawls

Yet again another example of how powerful music is and how it can move and inspire people to do things ~

Another reason to thank the Music Gods for the gift of music in our lives!

Don’t you just love music!!!

Welcome the Summer Vibe!!

You know it’s officially summer when:

1. Your Facebook/Twitter/Instagram/etc page is flooded with people on beaches and in swimsuits but you’re in the office slaving over work wishing you were at the beach too! (ouch) 

2. You just can’t get away with only showering once for an entire day!

3. Clothing preference becomes shorter, skimpier and thinner but with more colors!

4. Your electricity bill skyrockets so high that your head is on fire because you have to pay it! 😉

Not all of us can enjoy summer as carefree as students can because we either have work or don’t earn enough to actually splurge on these summer escapades so in lieu of such, here are great songs to give you the summer vibe!

So lounge back on your chair, put up our feet (well, maybe except if you’re in the office) and help yourself to a tall glass of pina colada (or good old cold H2O if you’re in the office) because we’re going beaching right now!! 😉

Stay hot my hotties but don’t burn! 😉 (My summer version of “stay cool but don’t freeze!” hehe) 

Thank God for Music! (my very own quote) ;-)

So, what’s your choice of drug for today?

Mine was Lady Antebellum, Lenka and Evanescence this morning.

And now, I think I am off to some Eagles this afternoon. 🙂

Cheers to the natural high!!!

Doctor’s Prescription (Rx): a dose of music for a healthier life

I have a daily newsletter subscription from Web MD and when I opened my mail today, interestingly I found this really cool quiz about the health benefits of music. So of course I took it and got all answers correctly except for one (which I would’ve gotten if I hadn’t changed my mind on the answer). Yey!!! Just proves I am a music genius! Hahaha…. (I can dream, can’t I?)

The link to the quiz is below but I am sharing the quiz answers (because I can and I am a party pooper, hehe) so it is easier to digest rather than actually taking the quiz.

http://www.webmd.com/balance/rm-quiz-health-benefits-music?ecd=wnl_wmh_061814&ctr=wnl-wmh-061814_ld-stry&mb=sdHQHpUH%2fVrtPvPA%40lLjdmdEpmNqbUHLU5zKFPAEEtI%3d

So what are the health benefits of music?

Here are Web MDs answers:

Music Trivia # 1: Do you know what an earworm is?

No, not the literal one, thank goodness!

An earworm is a song that lodges itself in your brain. People who say music is important to them have a harder time getting rid of earworms. Next time you can’t get a song off your mind, just know that it will go away. That works better than trying to trying to block it out.

This made me realize, my ear is full of earworms… yikes.. if this were to be literal, I’d die!!

Music Trivia # 2: Do you think those piano lessons you took when you were a kid are helping you now?

Apparently, it does!

Playing a musical instrument trains the brain. The effects can last long after you quit. College students who had music lessons as children were better able to pick out pitch and other key elements of sound than those who hadn’t.  That was the case even if the music lessons had ended years earlier.

Music Trivia # 3: Do people who are “tone deaf” or are unable to carry a tune, usually have hearing problems?

Not all.

About 1 in 50 people are “tone deaf.” Their hearing is fine, but they don’t notice when someone hits the wrong musical note. It may be inherited.

I am so thankful I am one of the 49 who aren’t – otherwise, that would be a total bummer.

Music Trivia #4: Do faster –paced music make you work out harder?

If you guessed yes, then you are right!

There’s a good reason for choosing an upbeat song over a moody ballad when you exercise. In one study, men cycled harder and quicker, and enjoyed it more, when listening to faster music.

Music Trivia #5: Do you think feel good music is good for your heart?

And the answer is a hearty YES! (Ofcourse I had to use the word hearty, duh!!)

Your favorite songs don’t just make you tap your feet or boost your mood; they might also be good for your heart. Researchers at the University of Maryland found that when people listened to music that made them feel good, they had better blood flow, which is good for your heart and blood vessels.

Music Trivia #6: Music can help during stroke recovery?

Aha!  And you thought I was just imagining all this music therapy thing, right? (I guess I should start adding PhD in Music after my last name on every paper I write my name on, ey?)

After a stroke, people who listened daily to their favorite music remembered more, could focus better, and were less depressed and confused than those who hadn’t, one study shows.The reason  isn’t clear, but one possibility is that listening to music involves several parts of the brain.

Music Trivia #7: If you have speech problems from Parkinson’s disease, music therapy may help with?

(I swear, the article really did say “music therapy”) And apparently, it even helps with Parkinson’s disease too!

If you have Parkinson’s disease, you may have slurred or unclear speech because of breathing problems or trouble moving your mouth or tongue. Through music therapy, you can learn how to “sing” words and hold single syllables to get better breath support. If you focus on the rhythm of a piece of music, it might help you walk or move better. Music can also slow down your body when it’s overactive.

Music Trivia #8: Kids who play an instrument or sing often are more likely to?

This is the part I got incorrectly as I was assuming the answer would be very health-related but hey, I like the correct answer better too especially because I have a little musiCOOLogist at home! 😉 You may refer to my previous post.

You may tire of hearing your child sing the Sesame Street song or play drums, but it may be worth it in the long run. Music builds reasoning skills and helps children learn and remember. Children who regularly play an instrument or sing are more likely to go to college, and to do well in math, science, and reading.   

Now that you know there are multiple health benefits from listening to music, why not join in me in musiCOOLogy 101 classes and be happier and healthier!!! Just as the doctor prescribed… 😉

 

nmed @ 10:18am 06/19/14

(thanks to google search for pictures above)