I don’t listen to the radio at all, if I can help it. However, I learn about music via church, TV shows (such as “So You Think You Can Dance”) or movie soundtracks. Then I hop onto Amazon and either purchase the song or add the free Prime version onto my playlists. And then I become obsessed with certain songs and play them ALL THE TIME. I thought I’d share some of my current musical obsessions. First up: Maddie Poppe.
Maddie Poppe won this year’s American Idol competition and she was hands down my favorite contestant the entire season. But I did NOT think she had a chance to win because she was not nearly as commercial as other contestant Gabby (a country singer). Maddie’s song choices were unique and put her at risk for going home almost every week because a young teen audience wouldn’t necessarily know what song she was singing (I’m talking about you “Brand New Key” by Melanie) or appreciate her folk music stylings. But I loved her. Her AI anthem, “Going Going Gone” is a great, catchy song that I have on heavy rotation even now, despite the song being out for months now.
For a wonderful 20 minutes of music, I encourage you to watch this YouTube clip of all her songs on American Idol. Particular standouts are “Homeward Bound,” “Brand New Key,” “Landslide,” and “God Only Knows” (my #1 favorite of hers that starts at 15:35 in the clip below). But really, they are all so, so good:
At church a couple months ago we had a guest singer that sang “Hills and Valleys” by Tauren Wells. What a wonderful song about how God is with us during the highs and lows. The woman that sang it at church did a wonderful job – to the point where when I heard this original version I didn’t like it nearly as much. But my how I have overcome that initial hesitation! I’ve been known to play this 2-3 times in a row in the car while commuting since my church introduced me to this song:
Next up (and I can’t believe I’m saying this): Pitbull’s “Bad Man.” Ugh. Pitbull. Not a fan. But there is something about the rhythm of this song (which is very old but I only just heard it recently because of the aforementioned “I never listen to the radio” thing) that I can’t help but groove to. Maybe it’s because Travis Barker (of Blink 182) is on drums. Joe Perry (of Aerosmith) is on guitar. Robin Thicke is lending some vocals. And it’s really only the rhythm of the chorus that I like. I actually hate the lyrics and the video is hideous. But that rhythm on the chorus is great.
The opposite of Pitbull is Andy Grammer. I love Andy Grammer. His concert episode of Audience Music on the Audience Channel was delightful and showed just how talented he is and how hard he has worked to earn the success he has enjoyed over the past few years. On that episode, I was introduced to his song “Fresh Eyes” which is a great, simple song. But the video is the antithesis of Pitbull’s because his video is about helping others in simple but powerful ways, and being KIND. Love it.
I have no idea how I was introduced to this next song, but I feel like it was likely a guest performance on The Graham Norton Show, my favorite weekly talk show out of the UK (I watch it faithfully every week). What I love about this song is the chorus. Specifically, the harmonies that kick in during the second half of the second chorus (in the video below the second chorus starts at about 1:36 with the second half of the chorus starting around 1:47). There’s a harmony that works it’s way down the scale as she sings the chorus and I LOVE IT. CAN’T GET ENOUGH OF IT. This is a great summer song and I can’t help but sing that harmony bit.
Another older song that’s been out for a while is Meghan Trainor’s “Me Too.” Now this one I have heard on the radio. And to be honest, I had no idea it was Meghan Trainor singing it. Does she even have a musical style? All her songs sound different. But I like this catchy song that as clearly meant to be sung by someone else, and especially like the recent police lip sync version done by the Flower Mound (TX) Police Department:
As for dance music, I do still listen to that genre occasionally. This song by Galantis was recently featured in the HORRIBLY BAD movie “Ibiza” that is currently available on Netflix Streaming. Don’t watch the movie. If you do, you were warned. Having said that, this old song (from 2015?) was featured in one club scene and I loved the bass drops. It’s a funky, fun, dancey song. This has now become a favorite jam.
Okay, time for another song from church, except I don’t think I heard this one at church. This song is over a year old, too (see how out of touch I am when it comes to music?) but I Shazamed it at some point recently and WOW is it a powerful song. Similar to Tauren Wells’ song, MercyMe’s “Even If” is a raw, painful song about struggling through the valleys when faith is hard. He sings of knowing God could remove the pain he’s feeling, but has chosen not to. And the singer has to trust that even though God has chosen not to remove it, his hope is in God alone. The first time I really paid attention to the lyrics and heard “Give me the strength to say ‘It Is Well With Me Soul’,” I cried. A beautiful song.
And there you have it. Just some of the music I have on heavy rotation right now.
