It's season 11!!! A couple years go, the last year Simon was a part of American Idol, the show was really going downhill for me. To me, it seemed like they weren't producing any stars and the show itself was just boring. Now, ever since Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler became part of the judges, the show seems so much better to me. I love both J Lo and Steven and to me, they make the show so much more entertaining. Last season, Scotty McCreery won and I was so happy. I loved him and he's has great success since. I think this season is a good one too.
by me
My favorite contestants this season are Heejun Han (by far my favorite), Colton Dixon, and Shannon Magrane. Heejun Han is my favorite because of his personality and he can really sing. His personality is so funny and every time he's on the screen, he's doing something that's making me laugh. His performance of "All in Love is Fair" during the top 13 gave me goosebumps it was so beautiful! You can watch it below.
I love Colton Dixon's look and voice and his the fact that he writes his own songs. I really want him to be able to sing one of his own songs during the show. I think he'll get so far because he already seems to have that star feature in him. Especially when he performed "Decode" when he started out on the piano was amazing and then ended up on top of the piano at the end. He seems like such a natural performer and star. You can watch the performance below.
I also love Shannon Magrane because I think she's so pretty and her voice is too. I don't know why the judges give her such a hard time about "thinking too much". I don't see her thinking too much when she's performing, so I don't know what the judges are talking about. Her performance of "Wonderful World" during Hollywood week was amazing!! I don't expect a voice like that to come out of her but its so good! You can watch her performance of "Wonderful World" below.
I was so sad to see that Jeremy Rosado was eliminated because even the judges would always talk about what a sweet boy he was. He would always be caught saying and doing the kindest things and it was sad to see that he was eliminated. I can't wait to watch more of Idol now that we're down to the bottom 12. I can't wait for later in the season when it gets to the bottom 3, because that's when the show gets really intense and the contestants become mini stars. For me, I'd love to see the bottom 3 be HeeJun Han, Colton Dixon, and Shannon Magrane but I'm not sure that's going to happen. I really do predict Colton being in the bottom 3 but you never know how results will turn out. I wish them all good luck!! (Any information can be backed up here.)
So you can probably tell just by watching this video how cute the movie "The Lorax" is. I saw it twice over the past two days and I wouldn't object to seeing it again if someone asked me too, that's how cute it was. If you aren't aware, "The Lorax" is written by Dr. Seuss and is about environmental issues that are very current today, primarily about the destruction of trees. The movie shows what life would be like without any trees and what our future will be if we don't stop cutting them down just for business purposes. The reason I'm blogging about "The Lorax" is because throughout the movie many songs are sung by the animated characters, giving it a musical kind of feel. My favorite song was the song that played during the credits at the end of the movie, "Let it Grow (Celebrate the World)" which is what I have a video of up above. Growing up with a dad who is an environmental teacher really does make me appreciate the earth more and makes me more aware of environmental problems going on. Part of the reason I love this movie so much is because it makes others aware of environmental problems too. This song "Let is Grow (Celebrate the World)" captures that awareness and puts it into a really good, fun, catchy song. Listening to it makes me want to go plant a tree somewhere and help make a difference. This song isn't the only good song that brings awareness to environmental issues, the entire Lorax soundtrack for this movie is pretty good too. You can listen to a little bit of each song on the soundtrack here. I'll admit if you haven't seen the movie, some of the songs may sound a little strange but if you go out and see the movie, they make a ton of more sense. The songs are just so catchy and while I was watching the movie and one would play, it made me want to get up and dance..and then go plant a tree of course. All in all, it's a very cute and fun soundtrack that is very beneficial to current problems going on today. The soundtrack and the movie especially is great for all ages, young or old. I'm in high school and I was sitting next to a family of little kids, probably ranging from 3-9 years old and they all seemed to enjoy it as much as I did. Both the soundtrack and movie teach people about how bad cutting down trees is in a fun way. I really, really recommend you to buy "Let is Grow (Celebrate the World)" or the entire Lorax soundtrack on iTunes, and of course, I recommend you to go see the movie. It's out in theaters now!! Whether you're seeing the movie or not, if you haven't caught on by now, go plant a tree as well! :)
I have always been a Gleek since the day Glee first started airing. Although I do have to admit, in my opinion, i think the show has been slowly going down hill the last couple of seasons. I always watch and keep up with every episode because I still love it. It's based off a music club at a high school, so it goes along with my "Music" blog. The season 3 winter finale aired last week February 21, 2012 and although this season wasn't the best, they defiantly ended on a great episode that pulled on the heart strings the entire time. Glee covers various topics kids go through when in high school ranging from what prom dress to wear to peer pressure to do drugs and alcohol. Glee frequently covers the topic of bullying that goes on in high school particularly bullying that happens to kids who are gay. This season finale, "On my Way", dealt a lot to do with bullying that gay teens deal with in high school. I hate to spoil what happens, but it happens in the first couple minutes of the show. The show opens up with Blaine on the stage singing "Cough Syrup" and flipping between camera shots of Blaine singing and video shots of David Karofsky being bullied about being gay at his new school. As the song is ending you watch David Karofsky crying, dressing up in a suit and making his belt into a loop. At this point, it was clear what his intentions were. I was yelling at the TV trying to stop him as I watch him look upward at the ceiling, and you then see his feet step onto a chair and the scene ends. Here's the link to the video of "Cough Syrup" from the episode. I and probably many others were holding back tears at having just watched Karofsky commit suicide, or at least attempt. Luckily, his dad caught him in time and saved him. Regardless, I thought it was the saddest episode ever covered by glee. I wanted to believe that this was an exaggeration of an outcome of bullying but I very well know this happens in real life, which is so unbelievably sad. The ruthless bullying that goes on in the world and at schools is just awful. Even though this episode was extremely sad and heartbreaking to watch, I applaud Glee for opening up some peoples' eyes to some of the outcomes of bullying. The littlest actions can hopefully make someone feel slightly better and worth it. Just caring about other people in any way possible can hopefully brighten someones' day. The episode continues going on and you see Glee compete against their rivals, the Warblers, at Regional's. For once, both teams are on the same page during the competition, that it's not about winning, it's about helping each other and realizing bad actions have bad consequences. Like I said before, not only has Glee's episode topics been going down hill for me, their song choices have too. There wasn't a song choice problem for me this episode though. I loved the songs both teams sang at regional's and they related so well to the topic, like usual. My favorite performances in this episode were the Warbler's Regional's performance of "Stand" and "Glad you Came" and than also the performance of "Stronger" sung by the Glee club.
The 54th annual Grammy Awards happened on February 12, 2012. I as well as probably the rest of the Grammy watching population knew off the bat that Adele would take it all home and she did! Adele won all 6 categories she was nominated for including both Record of the Year and Album of the Year. I think she deserves all 6 awards she got because I think she's such an amazing artist, writer, and singer. She performed at the Grammys and her live performance sounded just like a recording, that's how pure and true her voice is. Her performance was also a huge deal not only because she's Adele and many people think she's amazing but also because it was her first time performing since she had her vocal cord surgery. This night was huge for her because not only did she win 6 Grammys, but she also topped or equaled so many achievements like equaling Beyonce with earning the most Grammys for a female artist in one night. You can read about more of her achievements from that night here.
Adele's performance wasn't the only special performance of the night, Whitney Houston's tribute was highly waited for. Sadly, Whitney Houston died at 48 on February 11, 2012 the day before the Grammys. Although the news of her death was unexpected and everyone had been preparing for the Grammys for months and especially that week, they knew they had to honor Whitney for her great success. Jennifer Hudson had the honor of singing the tribute to Whitney Houston and say Whitney's song "I Will Always Love You". It was so beautiful and a picture of Whitney was shown in the background.
As always, I was excited for Taylor Swift's performance of Mean, which she also won two Grammys for that night too. She won Best Country Solo Performance and Best Country Song. Click here to see a video of her performance of Mean at the Grammys. My favorite part of her performance was when she changed a line in the original song to "Someday I'll be singing this at the Grammys" which was such a cute addition for the night. There were so many great moments and performances at the Grammys but I do have to mention the one downfall of the night, I thought, was Nicki Minaj's performance of her song "Roman Holiday". I had no idea what was going on and it honestly scared me. As much as I love Nicki Minaj, I just didn't understand her performance and I have no idea what she was thinking. As for the rest of the night, I thought it was great! The Grammys is one of my favorite nights for the music industry and I thought it past all my expectations. To all the winners and nominees, congrats on your acomplishments! Here's a full list of the catagories, their nominees, and their winners.
Finally after many rumors about Beyonce and Jay-z's child, what has to be one of the most famous babies, has finally been born. Many, many rumors have been made about Beyonce and Jay-Z's newborn child, starting out with a rumor that the child was born around New Years. More rumors came when the child was born, saying that the couple rented out an entire floor for around $1 million in the NYC Lenox Hill Hospital to keep their privacy. Those were both just rumors, especially the first one because Beyonce gave birth to their first child/daughter Blue Ivy Carter on Saturday, January 7, 2012 at the NYC Lenox Hill Hospital. This baby was more famous then I'll ever be before she was even born! The anticipation for this child has been huge! I and I think many others, have been wondering what they would name her. After speculation on whether it was Ivy Blue Carter or Blue Ivy Carter, it was finally confirmed to be Blue Ivy. I think it's a beautiful name and defiantly unique which is perfect for the child of two of the most major hiphop artist of this century, known to be music's most powerful couple (click here for more info). Although the reason for their daughter's name has never been confirmed officially by Beyonce or Jay-z, people think they have thought of a reasonable explanation. Blue is supposedly Jay-z's favorite color and has defiantly been brought up by him before. Three of his albums have blue within the title, Blueprint, Blueprint 2: the Gift and the Curse, and Blueprint 3. The explanation for Ivy has been thought to be that it represents the Roman numeral IV which is an important number to the couple. Their birthdays both involve the 4th, (Beyonce's being September 4th and Jay-z's being December 4th). They got married on April 4, 2008 and supposedly they have the same "IV" tattoo on their wedding fingers. Beyonce's most recent album, her 4th album, is named 4. So there's obviously big significance in both Blue and Ivy. Beyonce and Jay-z both stayed pretty private about their daughter at first. The news of Blue's birth started by many close friends of the couple tweeting them congratulations. The couple announced their daughter's birth on Monday, January 9, 2012 and cleared up some rumors of Beyonce having a c section by saying that Blue was born naturally at 7 lbs. I'm so happy to hear about their daughter and I'm so happy for the couple. I think they deserve health and happiness for all three of them and I wish them all the best in the future. I can't wait to see and hear about Blue growing up having music's most powerful couple as her parents. She defiantly has amazing influences in her life because Oprah, who I think is the most powerful women in the world, is Blue's godmother. I'm excited to see if she grows up loving the spot light or being hidden from it, or if she grows up a singer like her parents. I get so caught up in this kind of news and I can't wait to see a picture of her. No pictures have been released yet, so fingers crossed they come out soon!!
More information about Blue's twitter welcome can be found here, information about Blue's name can be confirmed here, and information about Beyonce and Jay-z's announcement of their daughter's birth can be confirmed here.
December 22 started out as a typical day during break for me and thousands of other Taylor Swift and Hunger Game fans, but once Taylor Swift started tweeting about an upcoming surprise she had for her fans, I knew it wasn't going to be another normal day. She then tweeted "And this is it, the big surprise... Go get it! #The HungerGames" With a link to a picture of the "Safe and Sound" cover. Here's Taylor's tweets hinting to her fans about the surprise.
Safe and Sound is a song on the Hunger Games, a upcoming movie, soundtrack sung by Taylor and featuring the Civil Wars. This news from Taylor on twitter started spreading and soon "Safe and Sound" was trending and became the top trending topic on twitter in the U.S. and the second most trending topic on twitter in the world. Soon enough, later that day, "Safe and Sound" became the number one song on iTunes, which Taylor later tweeted thanking her fans for doing. I was at a friend's house when i checked twitter and heard the news that Taylor had a new song out. The first thing I did when I got home was I went on iTunes and bought the song. I then listened to the song and was so shocked by what I heard. "Safe and Sound" is a completely new sound from anything I've heard Taylor do before. The song is an acoustic ballad and it is so beautiful to hear. The blend of her voice and the Civil Wars is just breathtaking. I then listened to it on repeat in my room from then on. I think the lyrics are amazing like every other song Taylor has written. The composers of the song are Taylor Swift, Joy Williams, John Paul White, and T Bone Burnett. The chorus is, "Just close your eyes, the sun is going down. You'll be all right, no one can hurt you now. Come morning light, you and I'll be safe and sound." My favorite song lyric though is, "Don't you dare look out your window darling everything's on fire. The war outside our door keeps raging on. Hold on to this lullaby, even when the music's gone." The full lyrics to the song can be found here. The music just moves me, you can listen to it by playing the video below. I really recommend you go and buy it on iTunes.
It's December 13 and guess what that means?!?! It's Taylor Swift's birthday!! She's turning 22 today and in honor of her and her many, many achievements, I'm dedicating this post to her. It's no wonder her lucky number is 13 considering her birthday is on the 13th. Most people would take that as a bad luck sign, but not her, she seems to be getting all the luck these days with her amazing album, Speak Now, which has been out for over a year now, her unbelievable Speak Now World Tour, becoming a CoverGirl, and her amazing achievements and awards she's received recently.
Taylor Swift's amazing career all started when she was just 16 and released her first album Taylor Swift which is over 5 times platinum in the U.S.. Her career than really started going strong when she released her second album Fearless which is over 6 times platinum in the U.S. She than won four Grammys in 2009 including the biggest Grammy of then night, Album of the Year. By the time she was getting ready to release her third album, Speak Now, I had a countdown until October 25, 2010 when it was being released. I actually stayed up until midnight waiting to download it on iTunes. Speak Now sold over 1 million albums in the first week which is more than any other album has sold during it's first week since 2005 and is now listed in the 2012 Guinness Book of World Records for Speak Now being the fastest selling digital album by a female artist! She is named "Entertainer of the Year" by Entertainment Weekly, "Women of the Year" by Billboard magazine, Academy of Country Music award's Entertainer of the Year, American Music Award's Artist of the Year, Country Music Association award's Entertainer of the Year, Teen Choice Award's Ultimate Choice. That's just a few of the top honors Taylor has gotten or won in 2011, not including any achievements or awards from previous years for Fearless,Taylor Swift, or herself in general. Click here for a full list of achievements and awards Taylor has been nominated for or won throughout her career.
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So as you can see, Taylor has accomplished so much in her lifetime already and all before the age of 22. I think that's amazing! She's such a role model for me and she truly is my idol. She makes it so easy to relate to her through not only her songs, but her personality. I think she's such a sweet, funny person who truly loves her family, friends, and fans. She makes such a point to pay attention and thank her fans whenever she can. While some other artist might get annoyed with obsessive fans and try to disguise themselves when they go out somewhere, Taylor makes a point to walk up to those fans and give them a hug. Taylor makes video blogs for her fans to watch. Here's one of the many video blogs she's made.
You can find more of her video blogs here, on her official website. In both the Fearless and Speak Now World Tours, Taylor made sure she got to thanks fans for coming and supporting her by going out into the audiences and walk through the aisle hugging people, kissing them on the check, and saying "Hey! Thanks so much for coming!". I know she genuinely is thankful and appreciative of her fan's dedication to her. She even started a challenge between two adoring fans, Micheal Wekall and Ryan Leander, who started a website called "A Hug From Taylor Swift" with the goal of getting a hug from Taylor. Taylor saw their videos and responded to it with a video of her own, giving the guys a challenge to complete, walk an old lady across the street (find it here). Micheal and Ryan responded to the challenge, completing it (find it here), and then was given a second challenge (find it here), find the most create ways to use the number 13. They completed this challenge (find it here) and then Taylor finally gave them their third, and final challenge (find it here), get a group of people together to have the biggest karaoke of the song "You Belong with Me". Taylor then showed up there, at Micheal and Ryan's college, Auburn University, to give Micheal and Ryan a hug and give a little performance to the people who showed up for karaoke (find it here). This is just one example of Taylor's thoughtfulness to her fans.
So to wrap this post up, I'd like to say Happy Birthday Taylor! Congratulations on all your success so far and I hope/know there will be so much more success to come.
