Scotland Decides... and MY BIRTHDAY!

LOL, we all know which is more important!

My birthday, obvs.

No, I'm kidding.

The first time I heard about the referendum (feels like years ago!), I was automatically against it. And I don't even know why. I have to say the 'Yes' campaigners and Alex Salmond's SNP have done a fantastic job because after seeing both sides of the argument, I'm on the 'Yes' side! Scotland can handle themselves, they're perfectly comeptent and I love the idea of a 'neutral' Scotland. That country could be so awesome!

And the positivity of the 'Yes' side and the hunger for change is just inspirational. I love that it's so close too... especially since I always suspect the polls to be in favour of Westminster!

So, I hope I'll wake up to a weeping David Cameron tomorrow. :)

Anyway, as for my birthday, my sister is making me a swedish 'Princess cake' (as featured on the amazing Great British Bake Off.) Can't wait to see what it looks like!

Song of the day:

The Script, Twin Atlantic and Exams Are Over!

I’m so sorry that I haven’t been updating my blog. I always intend to write something, even something short but I never quite get round to it. I was thinking I should do another ‘Awesome Collaborations’ but to be honest, 2014 hasn’t been a great year for music. Well, apart from Sam Smith. And THE SCRIPT’S NEW ALBUM! Who knew, huh? ‘No Sound Without Silence’ is the name, and if it’s all as good as the first single ‘Superheroes’, this bad boy’s gonna be flying off the shelves. I love The Script but recently I’ve been thinking ‘Eh, they’re not all that!’ but this new single… my god, it’s fantastic! I keep telling myself not to over listen to it, because I do that with songs and then get sick of them. It happened with ‘Counting Stars’. Anyway. Love it! Everyone buy it! This should be number one! Love that Mark has a solo too! It’s a real feel-good song, inspirational too, like ‘Hall of Fame’ but even better IMHO. Sudden idea – The Script and OneRepublic should do a collaboration! I would dedicate an entire blog post to that! :) Really though – they toured together and I think it would sound pretty good. How could it not sound good? Ryan Tedder’s a damn genius, right?!

So the point of this post was to tell everyone that… I PASSED MY FINAL EXAM! Yes, I am now an ACCA Affiliate and I just have to submit my Practical Experience Records and fill in a form and I will be a Chartered Certified Accountant! WOO HOO! I don’t think I’ve ever felt happier. The last few years have been pretty hard. I guess writing helped me out a lot and I’m so glad I discovered some of the sites I did because I’ve met some lovely people who have inspired me daily. I’m just really, really happy! Literally, I can deal with people being mean, because all the hard work has finally paid off.

Anyway, so I made a cake to celebrate. It was pretty awesome. And if you think it wasn’t, hey, I’m not Buddy Valastro, people! Normal cake mix, (butter, caster sugar, eggs, flour, bit of milk), bake it. Cut it in half. Apricot jam. Flip the top back on. Melt some dark chocolate. Smother it on (literally). Sprinkle with chopped almonds. EAT. Awesomeness. 

So what else has been happening? Well, I fell in love with my second favourite Scottish rockers: Twin Atlantic. (The first being Biffy Clyro). I totally love Twin Atlantic’s ‘Heart and Soul’, and ‘Brothers and Sisters’ is fantastic. They are REALLY good songs. I love it when a band I never really liked releases a new album which is a totally different style to their old stuff. That’s what Twin Atlantic have done. I love Sam McTrusty’s gorgeous accent and their choruses are so catchy now! It happened last year with Fall Out Boy too. I’d never really liked those guys but then they had ‘Alone Together’ and ‘Young Volcanoes’ and ‘My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark’ and ‘The Phoenix’…. All amazing songs and so much better (in my humble opinion) than all their other stuff. I mean, I became a fan for that album alone. 

Until next time!

#prayforgaza

Scotland’s Got Talent

We knew this already, I hear the Andy Murray fans scream as he rallies his way to retaining his title at the US Open (hopefully!)

I hope that Scotland doesn’t become an independent nation when the people vote on 18 September 2014 (which funnily enough is the same date as my birthday!) I don’t know why I think an independent Scotland is necessarily a bad thing but I just feel like they should stay as part of the UK.

This may of course have something to do with the fact that Calvin Harris, Biffy Clyro and Chvrches are from Scotland!

I can’t believe I’m confessing to this but I had very limited knowledge about Biffy Clyro up until the last six months and now they’ve kind of shoved The Script and Coldplay aside to become my new favourite man-band! Admittedly, I need to catch up on their old songs which are apparently the best, but in the meantime I’m perfectly content to listen to their latest album and enjoy the lovely sound of Simon Neil’s voice.

Also, sometimes when you hear celebrities being interviewed, you feel that they’re a bit arrogant (to say the least.) But Biffy Clyro did a Live Lounge on Radio 1 and they sounded like SUCH genuine, lovely guys. They were doing the jokes about haggis and IrnBru and they just sounded really easy-going, like you could have a normal chat with them over a drink.

It made a nice change to the usual boring interviews you hear. Since Miley Cyrus put out We Can’t Stop, she was having tonnes of radio and television interviews and while she had a sense of humour, she still didn’t seem all that natural. While on the subject of Miley… I cannot believe she’s only twenty! What must poor Billy Ray be thinking?! I get that she’s reinventing herself and putting the Disney days behind her but I think she achieved that before the MTV awards. She really needs to stop now!

Anyway, back to Scotland and my second new discovery; Chvrches! So, like Biffy Clyro, this is a three person band (although instead of three guys, it’s two guys and a girl) and they too are from Glasgow! They came fifth on the BBC’s sound of 2013 and that was not high enough! They are astoundingly brilliant. The lead singer Lauren Mayberry has such a unique voice and their songs are awesome.  ‘The Mother We Share’… you have to listen to it! It was at #51 on The Huffington Post’s top 52 songs of 2012 and I fell in love with it. Then I found out it was written and recorded in TWO days. Like… what the hell?! They are amazingly talented and my first real venture into electropop. I’m hooked!

The band’s debut studio album, ‘The Bones of What You Believe’ will be released on 23 September 2013 in the UK so… check them out and buy it!

And finally, my favourite dance track of this summer is… *drumroll please*… C O O L by Le Youth! What a tune! :)

Oh, and one last thing; The 1975 are poised to take #1 on the album chart this week – I would be so happy for those guys is they made it to the top – their cover of 1D’s ‘What Makes You Beautiful’ was… well, beautiful! Their singles ‘Chocolate’ and ‘Sex’ have also been really great; they have such a unique style.  Really talented bunch of guys – get the album and see for yoursel

SUMMER!!! Wimbledon & Tunes!

This weekend has been SO good! I don’t think I’ve ever had so much sun! And then Andy Murray won Wimbledon! Now I feel bad for thinking he wasn’t going to do it! Funniest part of the tournament for me though was David Cameron clapping after the match ended, and Alex Salmond standing behind him waving a Scottish flag like HE’S OURS! It’s been seventy seven years since Fred Perry won and now Andy Murray wins on the seventh of the seventh. Also, he’s seven days older than Djokovic. 77 years, 7/7, 7 days older… coincidences? I THINK NOT! Also enjoyed seeing Bradley Cooper in the crowd *sigh* and I loved seeing all the reactions when the game finished – I love how sport brings everyone together.

 

I think that Wimbledon was as great as it always has been. I know there was the thing about slippery grass and all that but it cleared up pretty quickly. The only think that bugged me was that they made an issue about Roger Federer’s trainer colour but then Serena Williams was wearing coloured underwear – I mean, WHUT?! If all clothes should be white, then ALL CLOTHES SHOULD BE WHITE – not purple! Was also slightly disappointed about the Novak Djokovic footwear issue. If he’d been wearing the same trainers all tournament, then surely they shouldn’t have made him adjust them for the final. The whole thing just seemed a little petty. -_- Other than that, I loved the crowds and the atmosphere, and the fact that there were quite a few shock exits – all adds to the fun!

Anyway, the sun hasn’t gone away yet but it sucks because instead of getting brown outside, I’m stuck in a stifling hot office! This is not fair!

This is a list of songs your summer will not be complete without. An eclectic mix, but variety is the spice of life, no?!

Reload - Sebastian Ingrosso & Tommy Trash ft. John Martin

-          I’ve only heard this once but I’m already in love with it.

Feel So Close – Calvin Harris

-          Calvin Harris is basically awesome and so is this song.

True Love – Pink ft. Lily Allen

-          Love the video for this single and love that Lily Allen’s on the track –makes it sound even better. It’s also nice to know that they wrote the song together. I hate it when people do collaborations and they just sort of jump in on the track with a few ‘yeah’s’ and ‘yo’s’. A collaboration should really have proper input from both artists and this song is a prime example of that. It’s also really catchy!

Summer of ’69 – Bryan Adams

-          Old, I know but how can anyone go through summer without hearing this?! I love Bryan Adams! He may even be a distant relative of my alter ego! But seriously, this is a song that should never fade away - It’s too damn good!

My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark – Fall Out Boy

-          This is the first song by the band that I really like.

Love Me Again – John Newman

-          Such a soulful anthem! I thought he was good when he hooked up with Rudimental on Feel The Love but this song is outstanding! I adore his voice and he seems like a really nice guy. I love it when you look at someone and they have such a different voice than you’d expect.

Millionaires – The Script

-          I feel like I’m just including this one to promote the single because I’ve been listening to it from the #3 album for ages and to my ears it’s not particularly fresh. But it still is a sweet song and nice for when the party’s over and the barbecue’s been put away.

Another Love – Tom Odell

-          So glad he got to #1 on the album chart last week because he’s got an awesome voice and this song is brilliantly done. It’s not a hot summer tune but, like Millionaires, it’s good for when you have a moment to spare.

Gentleman – The Saturdays

-          Don’t usually like songs by these girls but I liked the American feel of this track and it’s very summery and bubbly so… a thumbs-up from me! I can’t believe that What About Us charted higher than this one!

Opposites – Biffy Clyro

-          The only other song I’ve heard from these guys is When We Collide and that’s only because X Factor winner Matt Cardle did a cover of it a couple of years ago. What happened to him anyway? Last I heard was Gary Barlow saying he was a nice guy! Anyway, love this song by Biffy Clyro. It’s just really nice to listen to!

Gives You Hell – The All American Rejects

-          I never used to listen to this band AT ALL. But a few days ago I heard Jameela Jamil on BBC Radio One say that this was a good song so I decided to humor myself by listening to it. And now I love it. It’s so funny and it fits perfectly. I just love the bit where they’re like “Truth be told, I miss you; Truth be told, I’m lying!” In an odd sort of way, it just makes my day.

Awesome Collaborations (4)

Everything Has Changed – Taylor Swift ft. Ed Sheeran

 

I remember a couple of months ago when Ed Sheeran said he thought Taylor Swift was like the best female artist her age because she wrote her own songs and all that and now I’m thinking… TACTICAL MOVE, Ed. But hey, maybe it’s an honour for him to be collaborating with her and to be touring with her but it should be an honour for her too, right? I mean Ed Sheeran is pretty damn awesome in his own right – no-one can match his style and his songs are steeped in crazy metaphors, all of which he writes himself. So he’s talented… and he’s from Yorkshire which counts as like extra talent (although now he’s moved to Nashville which is just plain disloyalty. Ahem.)

Anyway, I love this song, though I would have liked Ed to have sung a bit more of it. It’s sweet and quiet and much better than Taylor Swift’s recent singles. 22 was like… WTF until you heard it over and over again at which point it kinda grew on you (the video was arguably the best part), and I Knew You Were Trouble was a bit crap too. Who sings about Harry Styles anyway? Who dates him anyway? Xtra Factor hosts maybe, but Taylor Swift?! She could do so much better. Jake Gyllenhael! Jeez! Like she let him go!

Okay, rant over. Everything Has Changed – love the song, love the music, love how great their voices are together. NEXT!

Waiting All Night – Rudimental ft. Ella Eyre

This song is like awesomeness personified. Or persong-ified. And the video… too brilliant for words. I like Rudimental, they seem like a cool bunch of guys and I thought Feel The Love was also really brilliant. The lyrics in this song may be repetitive but what more do you want when you’ve got such great music backing them? I think it’s a great track but to appreciate its raw brilliance you need to watch the video at the same time. I’m not saying it’s bad on its own, but if you want the best experience, you need the video on. Otherwise, as a dance track or zooming-down-the-road-with-the radio-up-and-the-windows-down-track, it’s still above averagely awesome.

I Need Your Love – Calvin Harris ft. Ellie Goulding

The first time I saw this I got really excited because I thought these two were together but no, they have to ruin everything with a giant claim that they are JUST FRIENDS. But hey, who knows what may happen in the future? (I await plans of British wedding.)

There was a time when I loved Ellie Goulding. Her cover of Elton John’s Your Song was brilliant and Starry Eyed was a great song too. Then she had to go and ruin it all with Anything Can Happen which was just plain annoying and boring and to full of eee-ing. However, I’m pleased to say she has redeemed herself (in my books) with this collaboration.

Now, I do love the chorus, but the rest of the lyrics don’t seem to quite match the tone. I mean the chorus is excellent but then when she says like ‘Will I ever find you now?’ she seems wa-ay too excited for such a line. Still, the overall beat and feel of the track is great and it’s a brilliant dance tune. I also love Calvin Harris! He seems so cute in this video which is weird because he’s apparently a Scottish giant. Didn’t he set some record for the most top ten singles from one album? I swear there was a question about it on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire! LOL!

La La La – Naughty Boy ft. Sam Smith

I think it’s Sam Smith… isn’t it? Anyway, I love the lyrics of this one, especially ‘If my heart can’t stop it; I’ll find a way to block it…’ Isn’t that so awesome?! I don’t understand the video though. Like at all. Firstly, why doesn’t anyone have teeth? And secondly why do they leave the boy behind at the end? It makes no sense to me! They could have made it a bit more obvious as to what they were trying to say! But the song is still brilliant and very catchy. I never really liked Naughty Boy, mainly because of that song he did with Emeli Sande, but now… I may have converted. He needs a better name though. Naughty Boy? Seriously?!

Brokenhearted – Lawson ft. B.o.B

It seems to me like every person who hooks up on a song with B.o.B is just amazing. And B.o.B is amazing too, though I don’t know how to write his name. Am I meant to put all the dots in, or is it just Bob? Is it in capitals?

Anyway, quite a few of the greats have collaborated with him; Jessie J, Bruno Mars, THE SCRIPT (although I don’t think Walk Away was ever released as a single.) And now Lawson! I love Lawson; they reject the term ‘boyband’ and they seem like such lovely guys whose songs actually mean something! I loved Taking Over Me and Standing In The Dark and I adore this new single too. They remind me of Train but much younger. And with more band members. And fewer ukuleles. Great guys, great video, great song. What more do we need?!

I Love It – Icona Pop ft. Charli XCX

Oh my god; what a tune! If only the weather was as hot and summery as this song! It’s so catchy and so full of that feel good factor! I can’t write much about it because I’ve never heard of these girls before but: I don’t care… I love it! It’s just a brilliant song and the video’s awesome too… it’s so bright and fun and full of colour. It just radiates positivity and gets you in an upbeat mood. Wow!

And my favourite track of the last month:

Let Her Go – Passenger

I know it’s not a collaboration but this is one of the most beautiful songs ever! I’ve been flicking past it for ages thinking ‘Lumineers copycat’ but then Team Danny did a cover of it on The Voice and I fell in love! Usually when Danny sings live on The Voice, he’s all flat and basically crap but he actually did better than his team on this one! It was so lovely and sweet and then I heard it again on the radio yesterday, and I was blown away by the original. I love Passenger’s voice… what accent is that?! It sounds so Irish but I can’t put my finger on it, and what’s his real name?! I really need to go and do some research on this guy. I just love the tune of this song and the music and how much sense it makes. It’s so simple and so, so beautiful.

Quick Update!

Well, it’s been a while since I updated this old thing!

My dad has this habit, I’m not going to say it’s bad (but it’s on the border!), of printing out tonnes of health articles and stuff like “Top 10 Brain Foods” from random bloggers around the net. Half of these articles say the same thing as the next one but then some say totally different things so in his quest to find the Top 10 Brain Foods, he’s actually found like thirty.

Anyway, the point is, I’ve been thinking that my blog is rubbish in comparison to these well-worded, informative health ones. In fact, I had half a mind to delete it. What do I even talk about? The Script!? Does that even qualify as a good enough subject matter? COURSE IT DOES, I hear myself cry. But let’s be serious. Of the people who view my posts, I bet half of them stumble upon them by accident, a couple find them from my profiles on various sites, and then some of my Twitter followers click on the automated link that gets sent out whenever I publish a new post. Nobody actually Googles ‘Why I Love The Script’, now do they?!

When I started this blog, I thought it’d be like a diary, and for a while it was. I posted about a whole load of personal stuff (omitting specific names of course) but then I thought I was giving away too much so I ended up giving the whole thing a revamp and now I seem to find myself talking about music and books most of the time.

I’ve been reading a lot of factual books recently. I find myself going to the local library at lunch and borrowing books about allotments, entrepreneurs, stress management and all that sort of mid-life crisis stuff. It’s interesting!

I shouldn’t be doing it though. My exams are coming up in the second week of June (Monday 10^th, Tuesday 11^th and Wednesday 12^th) and I really need to get to grips with the syllabus. There’s so much I don’t know! Foreign subsidiaries, consolidated cash flows, and that’s only one part of one paper! When I think about it, I get a bad feeling. I’ve never failed anything in my life and I don’t want to start now. If I did though (which I hope I don’t!), I’m more concerned about other peoples’ reactions. Will everyone think I’m an idiot? I wish I didn’t care but I can’t help it!

Did this post even have a point?! Argh, I need a cuppa tea!

Awesome Collaborations (3)

I COULD BE THE ONE – Avicii ft. Nicky Romero

I saw the video for this before anything else and all I could think was ‘Why would she knock over a sandcastle AND swear at a little girl?!’ I just can’t understand how anyone would find that fun (especially the swearing part.) The song is brilliant though; I love the vocals and the music; they fit together perfectly. The lyrics are great too and I like the way the tune starts. I think this was number one last week (in the official charts) but in the Vodafone Big Top 40, One Direction and their Comic Relief single (One Way Or Another) took the top spot. Still, it’s the official chart which counts, right?!

JUST GIVE ME A REASON - Pink ft. Nate Ruess  (from Fun)

I have to confess that I didn’t really like this song when I first heard it. Shocking, I know! The thing was, it just reminded me of Lawson’s Learn to Love Again (because that’s what Pink says half the time!) But once I got over that minor issue, the song really grew on me. It’s kind of simple and that’s what makes it so good. I love the sort of ‘raw’ way in which Pink sings and Nate’s voice just clicks, almost like he was meant to be there all along. It’s basically fantastic.

THRIFT SHOP – Macklemore ft. Ryan Lewis

OK, so slightly behind with this one! It is brilliant though isn’t it? I love that the rap part is something that the average person can understand and relate to (and laugh about.) Usually with raps (even with Eminem) I get lost somewhere along the way but Thrift Shop was excellent in the sense that I could actually figure out what he was talking about and could understand what he meant. I love Ryan Lewis’ part too and the little girl’s voice halfway through… I literally cannot stop myself from smiling whenever I hear her! Oh, and the video is AWESOME too!

EMPIRE STATE OF MIND - Jay Z ft. Alicia Keys

I know this one is REALLY old (compared to the others) but it’s one of those songs that you never get tired of listening to. I love the video and I just love the song. At first I only really liked the chorus, but then Jay Z’s parts grew on me and I just think it’s a brilliant song. Funnily enough, I really like the spoof version too (the Newport one)… it’s hilarious and really quite impressive. Empire State of Mind II was surprisingly good too – kind of like Rihanna’s Love The Way You Lie II. Anyway, this song is definitely one of my all time favourite collaborations.

FADE – Jakwob ft. Maiday

I’ve actually only heard this once on BBC Radio One but I immediately liked it. Radio One is always doing new music and artists no-one’s ever heard of and most of it is pretty crap but I really enjoyed this song. Maybe it was because I expected to be disappointed but I couldn’t help being surprised that this was actually really good! They were interviewing the Jaykwob guy beforehand (I think it was on Valentine’s Day actually!) and he sounded SO boring and I was going to turn it off but the song was unexpectedly good so that was a nice surprise! LOL. It’s worth a listen at any rate!

I know these posts are meant to be about collaborations but I can’t resist including the odd solo single too, so, here is my new favourite!

READY OR NOT - Bridgit Mendler

I don’t usually like these sort of pointless pop songs but this one just has that feel-good factor. For some reason it just takes me right into summer, and it’s so catchy it makes me want to dance every time I hear it. It’s a simple song with that girly attitude that usually annoys the hell out of me, but with this one I can make an exception. As soon as it plays, all I can think of is blue skies, beaches, barbecues and freshly mown lawn.