Friday, 28 June 2013

Alice in Wonderland Photography Project

For my GCSE photography I had to base a project around Alice in Wonderland so…here is my final presentation video I created.

Enjoy!

Friday, 7 June 2013

Sia- Kill and Run

Review #5


I touched upon the soundtrack in my YouTube artist review but here I take a slightly more in-depth look at my favourite track on this soundtrack. Sia, a dark horse of the music industry. Not many people will know who she is straight off but her track record is very good. The first song that really put her on the map was her feature in David Guetta's 'Titanium' in 2011. That one with the chorus everyone tries to sing but really can't…yeah. Then she is also the singer on Flo Rida's 'Wild ones' from the same year. Even more recently she recorded with Guetta again as the featuring artist on 'She Wolf (Falling to pieces). Finally some other stuff notable about her: She wrote Rihanna's 'Diamonds', she co-wrote Ne-Yo's 'Let me love you (Until you learn to love yourself) and finally she co-wrote Rita Ora's 'Radioactive' which I've reviewed before. A very strong vocalist and writer. So her song for Great Gatsby had a lot to live up to!
Kill and Run is one of the final tracks on the soundtrack and a standalone spectacle. While it doesn't seem like much from the first verse and chorus- you just wait. The lyrics are almost haunting "Kill and run, I'm one of the dirty guns" "Kill and Run, A bullet through your heart". Her dark tone really makes it feel like an 'epic movie' track. The final minute is where it really builds. She goes above the chorus with spectacles of vocal acrobatics. You think it's high then she goes even higher and higher! Her rich tone is still slathered over the notes. She wiped the floor with the song to put it simply. It progresses and takes a journey, something a lot of songs lack. The music builds along with her.
Definitely give this a listen as it really is top notch.


Thursday, 6 June 2013

YouTube artist- Edwin Homar

After hearing the Soundtrack to Baz Luhrman's 'The Great Gatsby' I was keen to look for covers of the songs. I love hearing new artists on the rise.
One I found was Edwin Homar who covered 'Over the Love' by Florence and the Machine.

It's a female song, a pretty high female song at that too. I was surprised by how well he hit everything. While there is still some pitch problems in his cover, the tone of his voice is very delicate yet powerful. I can't wait to hear more from him as he looks to be very promising!

Click here to hear his cover of 'Over the Love'

Tuesday, 4 June 2013

I'm Back!

After a very long hiatus I return to the world of Blogging!
I've been away with exams, productions and being a general teenager but now I plan on getting back to writing reviews for music and giving my general advice on being a teenager!

Friday, 21 December 2012

Life For Teenagers- Euphoria

Diary #2

Feeling Good

I thought today I'd talk about something positive! Feeling euphoric, elated, happy, excited and joyful is a great thing, but how do you get to feeling like this?

1. Find something you enjoy doing.
I do singing and acting and feel great when Im up on stage and enjoying myself. Others may find doing a certain sport will help them achieve a positive state of mind.

2. Never get pressured.
Try and stay out of pressure as much as you can, it will only stress you out. If you're going to offer to do something, make sure you can before you say you will, if you're running behind you will only get stressed. Never put too much strain on yourself either.

3. Only do things you want to do.
I know there are things you don't get choice in (like compulsory subjects at school) but where possible do things how you want to do them. Make things fit around you if you can. In my case, I'd refuse to do a song if I didn't enjoy it as it will only stress me out and make me miserable

4. Be adventurous.
Take a risk every now and again. Obviously without contradicting the first 3 points, you need to take a leap into the unknown every now and again. If you don't like it then stop, if you do then great, continue and you can do the first 3 points!

5. Be helpful.
There is no greater feeling than helping someone else. This doesn't always mean charity work, it can be being polite or having basic manners. Simple things go a long way.

I hope if you try this then you will feel better yourself! When you're happy it will also help to make others happy!

Thursday, 20 December 2012

Charlotte Church- Glitterbombed

Review #4



Charlotte Church is known for originally being a choir girl but soon became a 'Crazy chick' and did a Pop album. Now she's gone down the alternative route with her new track Glitterbombed. It is heavily reliant on the music but her vocals really shine in the chorus with a belter of a hight note- which is enforced from years of her classical music training.
The song takes deep drumming, synthesisers and an overdrive guitar and puts them all together to create what can only be described as an epic-movie-style-soundtrack sound. It has that full feel that is needed to fill out a film. But it also is marketable as an indie or alt piece of music as it takes on a style that hasn't been seen since the 80's. It takes a slow break in the middle accompanied by 'pick guitar' and some sic-fi sounds which then drops back into the chorus full throttle.
It was released today (December 20th) and is definitely a track to grab!

Tuesday, 18 December 2012

Life for Teenagers - Exams

Diary #1


EXAMS!!




The end of term is nearing and the Christmas holidays are fast approaching but for Year 11's across the UK, its not such a happy holidays this year. With exams in January it can only mean one thing. Revision. Where do you start? I mean I've got an external (So not in school) singing exam tomorrow so have been practicing for that first. I want to spend time with my family though and exams don't matter as much to me. That will differ from person to person. I'm more of a homely type of guy whereas others are more literate and will revise like mad.
I'm also very lucky and have at least 5 days between every exam so have lots of time to spend on one particular subject.
My main thing with exams is to not stress. I'd rather have a cool head than cram information in and panic. I find it works for me and when I get stressed I get annoyed really easily and let it out on others. I mean what good is panicking? Where is it going to get you other than no-where?
For those that do have exams good luck though! Just remember to keep calm and carry on!