2015 Grammy's: Part 1!

As has become usual with award shows, the Grammy's left more to talk about than just music and who won.

There was lots of controversy and lots of politics. But I don't wanna talk about that. I'm all about the music.

First up was ACDC. I'm not a big fan of them, but they rocked the house and kicked it off to a great start. I can think of no better rock ban to open a music awards show. And better yet, they did it with a little class, a lot of flair and "Highway to Hell."

Host LL Cool J had two good quips about ACDC.

"That was devilishly good," and "Our evening has just begun and we've already taken a little trip on the 'Highway to Hell,' and, trust me, we're only going up from there."

TSwift gave the first award and did a great job - at making the losers feel better about it.

"As a former loser of 'Best New Artist' in 2008, if you do not win this award, it's gonna be fine, just, like, Shake It Off."

My pick was Sam Smith. And surprise: HE WON!

While I love Bastille and HAIM, Sam was the obvious choice. "In the Lonely Hour" is just that good.

The next performance was Ariana Grande's "Just a Little Bit of Your Heart."

I'd never heard the song before. It was just a little bit anticlimactic and a little bit long.

Her annunciation made it hard to understand the lyrics, but it was still a classy live performance by a decent singer.

Following Grande, Jessie J teamed up with Tom Jones to sing "That Loving Feeling."

J and Jones made for a great vocal pairing. I'm not familiar with either artist before this, but their voices worked well together.

I was familiar with the song before and I thought their rendition, while different, was great.

The Best Pop Solo Performance was up next. I love every nominee, so it was hard to choose.

Sam Smith was my pick, but Pharrell won with "Happy."

It wasn't my first choice (or my second), but I'm still "happy" with it. His speech was so humble, specifically toward the other nominations. And even though he said he'd moonwalk off the stage, he didn't.

Miranda Lambert sang about her "Little Red Wagon."

It's definitely not my favorite song on her Platinum album. Still, it was an exciting performance an Blake Shelton was right there cheering her on.

After Miranda, the Best Pop Vocal Album award was up. I LOVE every nomination except Ariana.

That's Miley, ColdPlay, Katy, Ed and Sam. And I loved all those albums.

If it were up to me, Ed Sheeran's X would've won. (It's my current love, playing on repeat in my car and at the office.)

Alas, I do not make the choice and Sam Smith won, which was well-deserved.

I still hurt for Ed, though.

LL then went on to introduce the next artist with the words, "Dreams don't have deadlines. Believe in yourself."

And then there was Kanye.

As a TSwizzle fan, all my readers should probably guess that I don't. Like. Him. (Understatement of the year.)

Nonetheless, he sang "Only One," written in collaboration with Paul McCartney.

The performance had way too much auto time for the style and tempo of the song. Paul McCartney's influence is obvious by the "melody" and lyrics (that didn't include profanity).

Overall, I thought the song was extremely repetitive, which is expected of a Kanye song, but surprising from McCartney.

I was also not a huge fan of Madonna's performance of "Living for Love," though to be fair, I wasn't a big fan of hers before then.

The intro used way too much talking. There wasn't much going on melodically. It was also repetitive.

She put on a show, but left me wanting more musically.

(Then Josh Duhamel tripped.)

Best Rock album went to Beck, and while I have no real love for any if the nominees, I probably would've chosen Ryan Adams or The Black Keys.

Best R&B Performance is also not an area of my expertise. My choice was Beyoncé an "Drunk In Love," and he did win, but I also like Usher and Jennifer Hudson.

Beyoncé thanked the important people: her family and her fans.

The came my favorite part of the first half.

ED SHEERAN, JOHN MAYER, and ELO team up for the BEST PERFORMANCE OF THE NIGHT!

And yes, I'm totally serious.

Ed and John with Herbie Hancock sang Sheeran's song, "Thinking Out Loud." And it was phenomenal. It's my favorite song of the moment and they did an incredible job.

It was very mellow with Mayer's harmony. And his guitar solo wasn't too over the top for the style of the song.

Jeff Lynn of ELO sang "Evil Woman," which was a personal favorite by the group before.

Paul McCartney was getting into it, so there's that.

ELO then had Ed come out and play "Mr. Blue Sky."

Ed's got the falsetto parts down, too.

Lynn and Sheeran's vocal pairing works well harmonically.

I'd totally go see that pair on tour.

I love that song and they did it really well. Taylor Swift and Keith Urban were appreciating it, too. I think they're good judges of great musicians.

While it was a hard performance to follow up, Gwen and Adam did and it was alright. "My Heart Is Open" is a Maroon 5 song, so Adam did a great job, of course.

I love them both individually, and their voices meshed surprisingly well. But their was some rockiness with Gwen on the first verse, but it was better as she went along.

I just love Adam's range. He owns his falsetto, but he takes full advantage of his comfort zone.

The orchestra accompaniment was great and added depth.

Hozier's "Take Me to Church,"  was great. I loved the song before and live, it was different, but not in a bad way. It was more raw.

Overall, it was a solid rock'n'roll performance, perfect for an awards show.

Annie Lennox "helped out" on the last chorus of "Church." Then, together, they sang "I Put a Spell On You."

She definitely enjoyed herself.

It wasn't as solid as I hoped, since I love the song. Hozier's guitar solo was sweet relief.

Question: WHAT WAS SHE DOING WITH HER HANDS?

Answer: INTERRUPTING A PERFECTLY GOOD GUITAR SOLO.

Hozier should've sung a bit more of the song with her. But ended on a good note, so there's that. And TSwift was all about it.

The biggest award of the night for me, was the Best Country album.

And the winner was MIRANDA LAMBERT.

YASSSSS!!!

I do like Dierks, Eric and Leann, but I LOVE PLATINUM, especially "Automatic." (And I love Blake, so there's that!) her speech was short and wonderfully sweet.

END OF PART 1!

Kate Voegele is a Wild Card

 

I’ve been a fan of Kate Voegele since her appearance in One Tree Hill years ago.

 

So when I got the chance to see her live, I couldn’t pass it up.

 

As Mia Catalano on One Tree Hill, Voegele played a struggling singer songwriter whose light was not as bright as the lead rocker in the band she was in. Once she signed with Red Bedroom Records as its first artist, she became a confident rockstar.

 

All the while, Voegele was performing her own music on the show. That mixed with her musical talents shot her to actual rockstardom.

 

Her first album, Don’t Look Away, had a handful of songs featured on One Tree Hill including “Kindly Unspoken,” “No Good,” “I Won’t Disagree,” “It’s Only Life,” “Wish You Were,” “Only Fooling Myself,” “Devil in Me,” “Hallelujah,” and “You Can’t Break a Broken Heart.” That’s nine of the 15 of the songs from her debut album from MySpace/Interscope.

 

Her second album, A Fine Mess, had “Manhattan From the Sky,” “Angel,” “99 Times,” “Lift Me Up,” “Sweet Silver Lining,” and “Inside Out” were featured on the show. That’s six of the nine tracks from the album.

 

Now, skipping a few albums and years, Kate released her most recent EP Wild Card, in November 2014.

 

That was the tour she was on when I saw her.

 

Everything I ever thought a Kate Voegele concert would be, it was.

 

All but one or two of my favorite songs were on the set list.

 

I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Most of it was her performance, but the venue, Natasha’s Bistro, had great ambience (and the waiter was pretty cute, too).

 

My cousin, who is also a diehard One Tree Hill fan, enjoyed it almost as much as I did.

 

The only disappointment of the night was not getting to meet her.

 

As most of you probably know by now, I really love singer songwriters. And Kate Voegele is the embodiment of that genre.

 

Delving onto some of my favorite Kate Voegele lyrics, I would have to say that lyrically, my favorite songs are “It’s Only Life” and “Kindly Unspoken” from Don’t Look Away.

 

“It’s Only Life” is about being confident and keeping your head up.

 

“Kindly Unspoken,” on the other hand, is about reading people by their actions as opposed to their words. And here are a few of my favorite lines from it:

 

“…even the sturdiest ground, can shift and can tremble and let us fall down…”

 

“In the days of my folly I follow your lead, I do what Simon says to do, But I won’t let melancholy play me for a fool, Oh no, I’m on my way somewhere new…”

 

And then the chorus, which really says it all:

 

“Kindly unspoken, you showed your emotion, And silence speaks louder than words, It’s lucky I’m clever, if I didn’t know better, I’d believe only that which I’d heard.”

 

I think the things I love most about Voegele’s lyrics are not only the honesty in them, but how conversational they are, like she’s sitting at your kitchen table telling a story through her words.

 

From A Fine Mess, my favorite songs based on the lyrics are “Manhattan From the Sky,” “Sweet Silver Lining” and “Lift Me Up.”

“Manhattan From the Sky” is one of those easy, breezy, almost-beachy songs that you wanna hear with a Manhattan in your hand.

“Lift Me Up” is one of my favorite songs by Voegele. She manages to make seamless transitions between verses, choruses and bridges and still use intriguing language. Here are a few examples:

“This road is anything but simple, Twisted like a riddle, I’ve seen high and I’ve seen low. So loud, the voices of all my doubts, Telling me to give up, To pack up and leave town.”

“Somewhere, everybody starts there, I’m counting on a small prayer, Lost in a nightmare.”

And of course the chorus:

“So can you lift me up? And turn the ashes into flames, ‘Cause I have overcome, More than words will ever say, And I’ve been given hope, That there’s a light on up the hall, And that a day will come when the fight is won, And I think that day has just begun.”

Voegele’s lyrical vocabulary is just beyond me, it’s that good. She can paint a picture, make me feel empathy and tug at my heartstrings with the melodies that go so well with her words.

Again, I cannot express how impressed I was with Voegele’s live performance. I would recommend it to anyone with ears.

Below, I’ll leave the full lyrics to the other of my favorite Kate Voegele songs, “Sweet Silver Lining.” I hope you enjoy it as much as I do

____

“I’m going home downhearted and hoping,

I’m close to some new beginning,

I know there’s a reason for everything that comes and goes.

But so many people are looking to me,

To be strong and to fight but I’m just surviving,

I may be weak but I’m never defeated,

And I’ll keep believing in clouds with that sweet silver lining.

Most days I try my best to put on a brave face,

But inside my bones are cold and my heart breaks,

But all the while something’s keeping me safe and alive.

But so many people are looking to me,

To be strong and to fight but I’m just surviving,

I may be weak but I’m never defeated,

And I’ll keep believing in clouds with that sweet silver lining.

And I won’t give up like this, I will be given strength,

Now that I’ve found it nothing can take that away.

But so many people are looking to me

To be strong and to fight but I’m just surviving,

I may be weak but I’m never defeated,

And I’ll keep believing in clouds with that sweet silver lining.

But so many people are looking to me,

To be strong and to fight but I’m just surviving,

I may be weak but I’m never defeated,

And I’ll keep believing in clouds with that sweet silver lining,

Sweet silver lining.”

Katy Perry Roared her way to the best halftime show in a long time...

 

Who knew that Katy Perry would come out roaring?

Okay so some of us may have guessed that she would open with “Roar,” but I certainly didn’t expect her to be riding atop a giant lion.

I was not always a fan of Katy Perry. “I Kissed a Girl” is most definitely not my favorite Perry song.

Still, there are many songs of hers that I love. And “Roar” is right at the top of that list.

I applaud her for the theatrics, but her ability to stay in it musically was most impressive.

Perry is a rockstar if there ever was one and she made that quite clear during her halftime performance at Super Bowl XLIX.

Outside of her songs from the performance that I love, which included “Teenage Dream” and “California Gurls” (only made better by the dancing trees, sharks, waves, surfboards and beachballs), “Roar” (while riding the lion), and “Firework” (while flying around the stadium on a firework), I also love “Last Friday Night,” “The One That Got Away,” “Hot ‘n Cold,” “Part of Me,” “Waking Up in Vegas,” and “Wide Awake.”

And while some may say that Perry’s lyrics are chock full of clichés, I say they are catchy. And catchy trumps cliché, especially when she’s making bank.

Yet another thing I love about Perry is how she doesn’t try to be anyone but herself. Whether she’s wearing a fire dress designed by Lenny Kravitz (…just kidding about that last part) or a beautiful sparkling gown she wore during “Firework,” she’s not trying to be Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga or even Nicki Minaj. She is completely comfortable in her own skin.

Take, for example, her song, “I Kissed a Girl”: I may not like the song, but she made waves with the lyrics:

“I kissed a girl and I liked it… I kissed a girl just to try it… It felt so wrong, it felt so right, Don’t mean I’m in love tonight.”

The idea that she’s “experimenting” is so real, that you have to respect her honesty in songwriting. The words from the chorus of one of my favorite Perry songs are among my favorite lyrics of all time:

“In another life, I would be your girl, We keep all our promises, be us against the world, And in another life, I would make you stay, So I don’t have to say you were the one that got away.”

Yes, Perry’s “The One That Got Away” pairs truthfully sappy lyrics about best friends and a comparison to Johnny and June with a splash of regret. The final product is a sad but beautiful song that speaks volumes about Perry.

Her popularity has never waned despite never being in the spotlight as long as some of her other pop counterparts, but she will always be remembered for her cherry chapstick and stellar halftime show.