The music that came out in July was on another level.
I’m not sure if the Olympics in Tokyo were responsible for the increase of bangers but I am living for it anyways!
There were moments where I wanted to listen to every genre I could get my toes on, and then I back track it with just individual artists and I would be listening to their albums in two days, for example, one evening I started craving Linkin Park and I ended up listening to my favorite albums and I didn’t stop until the next afternoon and I was even looking up my favorite YouTube videos of them, and for like four days, I felt like I was in heaven. And then I realized that the date of Chester’s death was coming up and I became very sad quickly… but it was still great to get back into my favorite songs and sing them at the top of my lungs again.
Another band that I think was having a great month is Halocene. They are an unsigned band in Arizona and only have three members: Addie (vocals), Brad (backup vocals and guitar), and Joe (drummer). that love to do covers of songs in various genres. Personally, I tend to fall in love with their covers of rock and heavy metal songs. Addie does a terrific job of handling her voice against some of these darker and low vocals. The band itself released three covers and they were “Zombie” by The Cranberries/Bad Wolves, “Throne” by Bring Me The Horizon (featuring Ai Mori) and “In The End” by Linkin Park (featuring NerdOut). These are the ones on their YouTube channel but they also have another BMTH cover on Ai Mori’s channel and that song is, “Can You Feel My Heart” but I didn’t enjoy it as much and still drives me nuts!
They also released a brand new original song, called “When Demons Come To Life” and it is awesome! It has Lauren Babic and I really enjoyed the fact that she is singing on the majority of this song, because lots of people know she’s a damn good screamer but I think everybody forgets that she has this soft, child like voice too and it really works wonders against Addie’s vocals too. The music video is very creepy as they show like an asylum and it really draws you into the meaning of the lyrics and everything just works so good! They tend to do a lot of videos and they’re all different and exciting in their own ways but this has to be my favorite because it fits so well with the song and there are not many music videos like that.
I think it’s finally time to tell you my Top 25 songs are for July. If you want to check out the entire Spotify playlist, click here.
Writing’s On The Wall by Yale Out Of The Blue Hurt by Christian Reindt featuring Lloren Gravity by Sara Bareilles Realm Of Dreams by J2 Rani Cypher by Raja Kumari featuring Dee MC, SIRI Twisted by Carrie Underwood Remember by Leah Confessional by Janet Devlin Weight Of Everything by Ill Factor featuring Katie Garfield Take You Dancing by Jason Dersulo Infected by Starset Harleys In Hawaii by Katy Perry Fallin’ (Adrenaline) by Why Don’t We If It Makes You Happy by Sheryl Crow Say You Love Me by Jessie Ware The Messenger by Linkin Park Harley by Letters From The Fire All In by 2WEi featuring Marvin Brooks Die With Me by Gemini Syndrome Holy Roller by Spiritbox Galway Girl by MALINDA Hard To Kill by Beth Crowley She’s Fire by Diane Warren featuring G-Eazy & Santana Drinks by Cyn Savage (bitmastr remix) by Bahari
I said this the other day on my Instagram but I love how different my music tastes are on daily basis. They are NEVER the same to the next and honestly, it makes things even more exciting because I absolutely love sharing what I am listening and loving lately with people. I mean, I wouldn’t be doing these posts for my personal enjoyment–although I have in the past!–without influencing somebody else to look outside of their comfort zone. I like a bit of everything and obliviously I’m not afraid to show it!
Now it is your turn, what were you into this month?
When Tommee Profitt comes out with something new, especially an album, you know I have to come out of hiatus for it. Fortunately, this isn’t the only review I am doing this summer. There is a big possibility you will get another when I come back for the end of July.
I didn’t even know it was coming out until about four days before it was released. As of the 20th of June, I still hadn’t listened to it because I kept going back and forth whether I wanted to blog about it, like as a proper album review, but since I hadn’t done one of these in so long that I literally almost vetoed it altogether. Thankfully, I changed my mind because I am in need of a cinematic binge, what about you?
So, let’s recap before we go too far into this post. Tommee started launching these clusters back in 2017. It doesn’t seem that long ago, but it might have something to do with the fact I never talked about volume six–I still don’t understand why I never did anything with it but I will say, it is still an album that isn’t as popular compared to the others for me. After that release, he took a mini break and worked with Fleurie (who frequently lends her voice and lyrics on past works) with their ‘Game of Thrones’ project “Gloria Regali” and then he devoted his time with Christian rapper NF on “The Search” (2019) and “CLOUDS MIXTAPE” (2021), but now he’s back with this bad boy, and I think we’re ready to get into it now.
The first track, “Who Will Save Us” actually features Fleurie, which honestly doesn’t surprise me. Tommee is known to work with both veterans in the cinematic world and some newbies too! I really liked the mild sounding of the introduction, it collides into Fleurie’s voice really well and even when the song explodes with this fierce power, neither one of these aspects are lost in the chaos. My only bad thing about is, it’s pretty short and I think I would have liked it more if it was a little longer and surprised me a little more too. Next we move on to, “Sinners & Saints” and this was the song that made me think we could be getting some new music by Tommee but I did not think an album would follow suit! I adore Beacon Light and I always feel happy and sort of lighter while listening to his songs and this one wasn’t any different. The one thing I wasn’t expecting was Moilba Mustapha and that country vibe coming through in the choruses. It is really good and definitely hits differently!
The artist Stanaj has a gorgeous voice! Personally, I am still obsessed with their track “Love Me” so I was thoroughly ecstatic to see them on here working with Tommee. “I Will Be Your Hero” really cuts you deeply with that slow beginning with just Stanaj’s soft vocals and piano in the background. You always know the song is going to be good if the piano is the main instrument–at least for me it always is! This song is so full of emotions and raw; it’s almost sexy in a way. Our fourth song is “Be Careful” with Laney Jones. I’m pretty sure Laney has been on the other albums but don’t hold me against that because I could be wrong. Anyways, I am in love with the music box lullaby start because it gives it a sweetly dark vibe and thankfully we glide into that feeling for the entire track. I need more of these type of songs honestly. I am surprised it was playing during the promos for the new Conjuring film that came out earlier last month.
As much as I didn’t want it the previous to end, we move to “Reign” with Anna Graceman. Now I will say, I don’t recognize Anna’s name nor her voice, but I like it. She has a soulful element that I didn’t think I needed until I heard it for this song. The track is very pop oriented but with her type of voice, it kind of gives off this bluesy vibe that isn’t overbearing by any means, but it is there as she hits those high notes towards the end. One thing I definitely approve of these albums–well, technically, I approve of a lot of things, but this is a favorite of mine!–s that he will include one or two instrumentals and with this installment, we get two of them. We begin with “Nocturnal Opus” and it definitely gives off that feeling it was created either late at night or after you’ve been up wayy over your limit. However, I really enjoy the eerie sound of the choir in the background. The entire track is spooky and wonderful. It ties in beautiful with “Be Careful” although they are two songs apart from each other.
“Powerful” is the one that I’ve been looking forward to the most as it has two of my favorites: Sam Tinnesz and Ruelle. These artists are very well-known in the cinematic pop world, as Ruelle has worked with the TV series Shadowhunters and Sam Tinnesz is basically everywhere now! I hear them all the time and it always makes so happy to see them getting all of this attention. The song itself is pretty mild but I honestly enjoy this seductive balance between Sam and Ruelle’s voices. They are both quite soft and it was nice to hear a beat match their octaves in this way. I had to listen to this one about three times to actually relish in it for a while. However, I had to go on and “Frontlines” was a nice sequel. It has another guest artist that has worked with Tommee before, Jessie Early. She reminds me of Ruelle but with an extra punch, I think Ruelle is very airy, dreamy sound whereas Jessie has a darker edge and is perfect fit on these fast paced tracks. I think my overall favorite element of this one are the string section near the end. They really make the song better!
The eighth record is called “Wake Up” and we have Xeah and this is so beautiful! I really adored the simple introduction, where its just their voice in that low, almost monotone sound and nothing else. We get a few lines like that but then it explodes and it is really strong and suspenseful in every way. The most interesting thing is, Xeah doesn’t have a lot of lyrics so the rest is instrumental, and it is super hypnotic. I thought this was the coolest one on the album, until I heard the next one. “Lament From The Grave” features Stanaj again, and I don’t want language Stanaj is singing but I love it! It kind of gave me like Hans Zimmer vibes because I’ve heard several tracks that are similar, so it was an interesting and new thing for not only me, but Tommee too, because we haven’t heard anything like this before. It sounds exotic and heartwarming at the same time though.
We are nearing the end of our time together; I hope you’re still with me.
I am such a sucker for anything with a little bit of moxie in it. “Welcome to my world” is definitely one of those types of songs. The artist included in this one is :LYRA, and I don’t quite know if they have been on previous numbers or not, but I like their voice. I feel like this could be great playing on the first episode of “Riverdale” new season this fall or perhaps the reboot of “Gossip Girl” It has a gripping but flirty sound and it is so good! Next is our final instrumental, “The Day Before” and I don’t know about you, but anything with these three words will have a sad element to it. You may not hear it at first but it’s there. I think it was really good, not at all crazy but perfectly balanced to showcase both a lighter and sort of panic atmosphere and it really works well with the final track, which is “Tragic” with Fleurie. It is a beautiful broken type of song and I really like these different sounds of bells going on in the background. It was the perfect ending.
I was honestly a little worried after I started this post, because I wasn’t sure I could do it anymore. I feel like I’m not the best person to review albums because I’m not great at describing things–I feel like I’m worse at discussing music. So, I took a big risk at jumping in with a Tommee Profitt produced album but I did it. I may never understand why I didn’t talk about volume seven but this one was really impressive! It was definitely needed after we went through in 2020, so I would rate it as six out of ten stars altogether.
Have you listened to “Cinematic Songs (Vol 7)” by Tommee Profitt yet? If you have, what song(s) was your favorite? What about the guest singers too?
I was really wondering whether or not I would have this post ready for you. Despite knowing how easy it is getting these monthly playlists together, I still didn’t want to half-ass it. For most of the month, I’ve felt foggy about life and the only thing I’ve really enjoyed lately is music.
Now that we’re heading into the summer months and all of these different festivals and tours are setting out dates throughout the country, everything feels different. It is strange how quiet it was at this time in 2020. I am surrounded by happiness on the radio. Our favorite artists and bands didn’t just hang around in quarantine, they worked their asses off making new music for us to enjoy in this moment of freedom. I am very excited to see what goes on this summer!
I hope we start to see even more things as we go into June and eventually July. I know I’m not alone in hoping to see these changes become part of our “normal” again. However, there was a tweet I saw earlier this week, someone had mentioned that since everybody were announcing these concerts again, the measures to make sure they are accessible to everyone–meaning to people who have disabilities like me!–will be far and in between and honestly, that really sucks! I think that’ll definitely be something we will miss the most because these live-streams were our lives during the many lockdowns/quarantines. I do want to say, I only watched one free live-stream show and that was G-Eazy back in late August I think, and I really didn’t care for it. I like the audience just as much as the musicians. I feed off of their enjoyment and expressions too! So, I am hoping that maybe these festivals will live-stream different sets for people who could not go to it because of their disability!
Anyways, let’s get into the actual playlist; here were my Top 20 songs for May! If you want to check out the full list, click here to be transported to the whole Spotify playlist.
Arcade by Duncan Laurence You and I by Leon Lonely No More by Rob Thomas Never Leave This Bed by Maroon 5 The Reason by Zayde Wolf Blooming by Violet Orlandi If I Should Die by Niia featuring Girl Ultra Big Bad Wolf by In This Moment Hex Girl by Dreadlight featuring Maiah Wynne BOMBSHELLEXE by YukoEXE Gravedigger by MXMS Let Me Go by 3 Doors Down I’m Not Sorry by Celeste Buckingham Warrior by League of Legends x 2WEi featuring Edda Hayes Wild Blood by Sam Tinnesz featuring Pep Squard If You Love Her by Forest Blakk Drunk (And I Don’t Wanna Go Home) by Elle King featuring Miranda Lambert Everything I Wanted by First To Eleven Rise Up by J2 featuring Keeley Bumford Anarchy by Lillith Czar
I don’t know how you listen to music on a daily basis, but I’ve noticed lately that I will start with Spotify and after two or three songs in, I will go on YouTube and found a video on The Dodo channel and all of a sudden find ‘my mix’ and start playing whatever I’ve been watching on there nonstop and completely forget about what I was listening on Spotify! For the past week and a half, I’ve had to done it seven times! It doesn’t matter the time of day (or night for that matter!( but it will slip my mind and then of course, I wonder why in my Discover Weekly isn’t fitting right with the aesthetic I’ve listened to that coming Monday.
I hope you were able to enjoy the month of April, and you might be a little confused as to why I didn’t blog last week. I am hoping to explain more on Friday but I honestly needed an extra week to not only come up with content but take one heck of a break as well. At the beginning of this month, I got really sick with the stomach flu; unfortunately it is making its rounds in my home town so we have been dealing with the lingering side effects for at least a week after I got better and since I always take a nice break for a number of weeks, I thought you wouldn’t mind if I didn’t publish anything last week. If you or someone you know has been going through the cycle, I am so sorry and hope you start to feel better soon!
As far as talking about music for this month, it was a bit slow obviously, but it wasn’t until the 18th that I actually started to listen to a bunch of music again. It was very odd when I went to make my list to post on here, I literally had less than 15 songs on the Spotify playlist! Honestly I wanted food more than music in the first three weeks than anything else. Once I was able to get over the hurdle, I was really looking for my Discover Weekly playlist that Spotify creates for me every Monday. If the list is really good and practically spot on to the aesthetic I am vibing at the moment, I will listen to the whole thing multiple times a week and of course include any great tunes to the monthly playlist.
Here are the Top 20 songs for April 2021! If you would like to check out the rest of the playlist on Spotify, click here to be transported back there.
Animals by Architects (Orchestra Version) Numb by Carlie Hanson Strong by Amaranthe featuring Noora Louhimo Think Of Me by Verite Save You by Manafest featuring Redlight King Heavy Is The Crown by Daughtry Forget Me Too by Machine Gun Kelly featuring Halsey Goddess by Xana Idol by Lauren Babic Better Without You by Evanscence Shameless by Biometrix featuring Bolshiee Like You Love Me by Luna Vexa Wildflowers by Ava The Skeleton Key by Epica Song Of War by KSHMR Dancing With The Devil by Kitty Antix Underneath by Zahna Lay Low by Amy Guess Genie In A Bottle by Oshri Better Than You by Caroline Kay
I didn’t mention this last month, but we went up north earlier this month and surprisingly, I don’t remember the music we had playing in the car. However, in my defense, we had the volume low for Nolan but nobody really wanted to listen to anything special–I figured we’d be listening to Demi Lovato’s new album as we drove up there and going back home, which was the reason why I was going to wait to hear it because my sister wanted to hear it too, but now it’s been a while and I’ve only heard one song. I am hoping that I will be checking it out soon though because I am almost done watching the new documentary on YouTube and I will probably be gravitating towards it afterwards!
I made a tiny error when I was coming up with material for Blogmas 2020. I totally forgot about making room for the monthly playlist. I wrote about the “Ultimate Christmas” playlist but just left it as the only one for December. So, I thought before continuing on with the 2021 content, I should probably share what I was listening to in December, because it wasn’t all Christmas music. Don’t get me wrong, there is quite of bit of various holiday songs included, but my heart wanted a lot of hard rock too.
Although the playlist on Spotify looks small, that’s only because since I had created a Christmas playlist, I didn’t feel the need to repeat the process of adding every single song onto this list. These are the Top 20 songs I enjoyed the most in December.
May It Be by Anuna featuring Sara They Don’t Want What We Want by Asking Alexandria Bruises by Train featuring Ashley Monroe Take It All Back 2.0 by Judah & The Lion Brick Wall by A Day To Remember Blessed Be by Spiritbox Blame It On The Mistletoe by Ella Henderson Chemicals (Acoustic) by Conquer Divide B.I.G. by Caitlyn Scarlett Weight Of Everything by Ill Factor featuring Katie Garfield Long Suffering by Eliza Grace Come Little Children by The Hound + The Fox Pity Party by Vigils Head Above Water by Roll With It All The Things She Said by Lena Scissorhands featuring Chase The Comet Love Song by Sara Bareilles Make It Work by Forest Whitaker & Anika Noni Rose Breathe Again by Pop Evil
I like how I mentioned at the beginning of this post that I listened to a bunch of rock music but it seems pop music ruled the entire playlist. I was really in the mood to search for all sorts of music and it’s become a bit of a ritual to be excited about the new music coming out on Friday and then jump back to Monday with my Discover Weekly playlist. So, whatever style of music I had listened to the week prior, it’ll collect music that matches that vibe and it is definitely one of my favorite ways to find new tunes during the week.
Speaking of Monday, the January playlist should be out next week. I know for a fact that it’ll be a jumble of heavy metal in the entire post, so if that is your kind of music you should make a note of it, and come back here to check out a whole new list of music!
