Tag Archives: Charli XCX

Biking/Work Out Playlist

I may have mentioned a couple times this past summer, like every summer, that I’ve been biking a lot.  There’s a great bike path right down the street from me, so it’s great to blare the music and peddle my problems away.  Usually I create a playlist each year, and then add or remove songs throughout the year.

I created a Spotify Playlist of some of the music I listen to while biking/working out in case you’re looking for some new beats or a song to change up your playlist.

NOTE: There’s no particular order because I just hit “shuffle” before I start biking.

 

Here’s other songs that I usually listen to, but couldn’t find on Spotify:

Boom Clap’s New Beat

I just got Charli XCX’s album Sucker, and the first thing I noticed was that the album version of the hit single “Boom Clap” is not the same as the version that was featured in The Fault in Our Stars and which burned up radio this past summer.

I’m 90% sure that they used the same vocal track and Charli didn’t re-sing it, but the arrangement of the music is different.  There’s a different drum beat or a different type of drum playing the beat, which is a shame because I thought the original drum kit was rich and filled out the song perfectly.  They also changed the piano/synth in the beginning and throughout the song (it’s most noticeable in the beginning after she shout/sings “BOOM BOOM BOOM CLAP”).

The Sucker remake is the first track on this playlist, the second is the original:

There really isn’t anything wrong with the remake, in fact I like the fact that Charli XCX and her team decided not to just plop her hit on the album without tweaking it.  When artists have hit songs, that song seems to appear on every single album they put out.  It makes sense from a business sense: “Boom Clap” was Charli XCX’s first hit song as a solo artist, so it would entice people to buy her album.   But it’s also rather annoying.

For example, I bought Meghan Trainor’s Title EP because I thoroughly enjoyed “All About That Bass” and I didn’t think she’d have a full-length album come out (see, even I am wrong).  Now her debut studio album Title was released today and now I have to buy an album with four songs I already have on the EP (I only buy physical CDs, I’m aware I could’ve purchased the EP on iTunes and then “completed my album” and not had to purchase the album again, but I prefer the physical CDs).  It’s annoying because I bought “All About That Bass” as a single, then as an EP, and now as an album.  Kind of waste to spend so much money on the same thing.  And it’s not just Meghan Trainor who does this, by the way, I’m only using her as an example because Title was released today and I was listening to it…a ton other artists have done this same exact thing.

At least Charli XCX tried to make “Boom Clap” fit more cohesively on Sucker and give her fans a new taste of the song so they weren’t buying the same thing twice.

2015 Grammy Predictions

It’s that time of year again.  In one month, the Grammys will announce the nominees for the 57th Grammys.  I really get into watching the Grammys and predicting who will get nominated and who will win (and I am actually pretty good at it).  While sometimes it feels like the Grammys are rigged and sometimes I wonder how some songs even get nominated, I think they occasionally do a good job at honoring great music .  For me, the Grammys are a great way to be introduced to new music and/or different genres.  I’m in the process of creating my list of potential nominees, so I will update/edit this as I think of nominees, but look out for the real list December 5th!

I base my nomination predications on looking at past actions of the Academy and looking at past nominees; I’m not predicting nominations because I personally think they’re awesome (some of them I actually don’t), but because they’re just likely to get chosen.

Below are some categories with potential nominees as I think of them (there is no order, and I’m not capping the nominees at 5 like the Grammys will…I’m good, but not that good).  Again, it’s not who I think will or should be nominated, it’s more a list of who could be and has a good shot at being nominated, and it’s not a complete list because I haven’t finished thinking about it, so it will grow/be edited until the actual nominations are released .

Continue reading