I found this British radio show that posts videos on YouTube of different musicians performing cover songs. Generally all the performances are incredible, but sometimes the cover songs some artists choose are rather unexpected,. I mean, Ed Sheeran singing Christina Aguilera’s song “Dirrty” and Hozier singing “Problem” by Ariana Grande is so unpredictable but awesome. I embedded some of the better/interesting performances I found. I do have to say that I think Hozier and Bastille’s performances are perhaps the best ones because they really make them their own.
Tag Archives: Bastille
#PhillipRadio: Single Edition
So, if you’re like me, you’re single while everyone you know is in a loving relationship. Which is absolutely lovely (#sarcasm). I decided to play off this awkward situation and create a new playlist where we would celebrate our independence (we can do whatever we want!), we can reminisce with songs of why being in a relationship isn’t all bliss like my friends would like to make me believe, and listen to songs that would just take us away from feeling so lonely (which we aren’t feeling…ahem). Happy listening!
P.S. I don’t know if you noticed this, but I chose only songs that were released as singles…get it?
Road Trip Music
Here’s the playlist to the road trip from my last post:
To Be Heard
I found this widget builder through Apple that let’s you make iTunes playlists.
How I Spent My Morning
I woke up this morning two hours earlier than planned. So as I was laying in bed, I was thinking about the song “Pompeii” by Bastille (featured as a #PhillipsSongOfTheDay, read here) and how that’s a totally epic song. Then I thought, “how would I perform that acoustic?”
I’m performing in my first showcase at my school tomorrow; I’ll be playing three original songs (guitar and vocals), but I did have a moment when I thought I’d start off my set playing a cover song. It was hard to choose which song to cover, but it was between “Let it Go” from Frozen, “Cooler Than Me” by Mike Posner, and “Team” by Lorde. I wasn’t even considering “Pompeii” because I had no idea how an acoustic version would go. Then I found this video:
Watch Bastille perform their hit “Pompeii”
From this video, I found these clips of Bastille covering “We Can’t Stop” by Miley Cyrus and “No Scrubs” by TLC. I was stunned how they changed up these songs; they totally owned the songs and I think did a great job:
Watch Bastille cover “We Can’t Stop”
Watch Bastille cover “No Scrubs”
How Am I Gonna Be an Optimist About This?
It was absolutely gorgeous outside today. On the way home from Cape Cod, “Pompeii” by Bastille came on the radio and it just fit with the sunshine, the windows down, and the air rushing through my hair. For that three hour car ride (we hit massive traffic in Boston…that story may appear in a future post), my cares and frustrations about finals that were starting to come back to me that morning, flew away. For that reason and more, “Pompeii” by Bastille is #PhillipsSongOfTheDay
When “Pompeii” first came out on radio, I originally did not like it. Whenever it came onto the radio, I would immediately switch the station. That’s right, I wrote the song off before I gave it a chance, and I’m still not entirely sure why. But I couldn’t control the radio this afternoon, so I had to put up with listening to the song, and my family got the pleasure of me being stunned into silence; that’s how good this song is and how wrong I was to write it off so quickly.
From the first second, I was taken with the male choir/vocals of “eh-eh-o-eh-o;” it was…majestic and rather wholesome sounding. And let’s not forgot those incredible drum beats, particularly the drum solo before the second chorus (1:54 in the video below).
Watch the music video to “Pompeii;” listen out for those drum beats
So, musically, “Pompeii” is just incredible and it has a great beat for this summer. It makes me want to get up, go outside, and…mow the lawn (I weirdly like mowing the lawn…again, another long story for another time). Any music that will get me into the spirit of summer is a song that deserves to be on repeat!
However, this song also intrigues me because I’m almost sure that the song is actually a lot more depressing and a lot darker than I’m taking it to be. I’ve written before how I associate music with the weather, and while I’m taking “Pompeii” as a bright summer song, it could actually be a darker, cold winter song. With lyrics like “I was left to my own devices/ Many days fell away with nothing to show” and “And the walls kept tumbling down….Bringing darkness from above,” “Pompeii” doesn’t really bode happy times for our protagonist. And exactly how I think this is a positive, happy song is just…intriguing.
I also really enjoy the chorus, lyrically speaking. Especially the lines:
“But if you close your eyes,
Does it almost feel like
Nothing changed at all?
And if you close your eyes,
Does it almost feel like
You’ve been here before?
How am I gonna be an optimist about this?
How am I gonna be an optimist about this?”
I guess to me, this song is about a guy who is down on his luck, but he is still going to try to break through and find happiness. While he questions his judgement and wonders how he’ll be optimistic in a place where it seems all hope is gone, he is still going to fight. And that is the energy I admire in stories. Especially during a time like today, the Boston Marathon. #BostonStrong.