Author: Amber

your life is a record by brandy clark

March 13, 2020

Album: Your Life Is A Record

Artist: Brandy Clark

Record Labels: Warner Records, Warner Bros. and State Creeks Records

Recommended Tracks: 2- “Long Walk”, 9- “Who Broke Whose Heart”

Brandy Lynn Clark is an American country music singer-songwriter. Her songs have been recorded by Sheryl Crow, Miranda Lambert, The Band Perry, Reba McEntire, LeAnn Rimes, Billy Currington, Darius Rucker, and Kacey Musgraves. She was nominated for Best New Artist at the 2015 Grammy Awards. In 2011 Mama’s Broken Heart, written by Clark with Shane McAnally, Kacey Musgraves appeared on Miranda Lambert’s album Four the Record. It was released on January 14, 2013 as the fourth single reaching number two on both the Billboard Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay charts. As a co-writer of Miranda Lambert’s Mama’s Broken Heart, on September 10, 2013 Brandy received a nomination in the Song of the Year category for the 47th Annual CMA Awards broadcast, held in Nashville on November 6, 2013 She is also twice nominated for Song of the Year at the 4th Annual American Country Awards which will be held in Las Vegas on Dec 10, 2013. I am going to give this album a two out of five rating. I will explain why at the bottom.

When first listening to Long Walk, I didn’t realize what it was actually about. I thought that Clark was going to be singing about her love life or life in general. It is the exact opposite of that. She is talking about someone she completely hates. She talks about them talking a long walk off a pier and taking a cinder block them as a souvenir. She hopes they fall completely to the bottom of the ocean. Clark also says that if she was Jesus, or someone calm like him, she would tolerate the person she hates. But she isn’t, she is “her mother’s daughter” so she wants her to take a deep breath and take a long walk off the pier. This song is actually pretty funny. Clark hates someone so much that she wants to see them fall off the face of the earth.

Who Broke Whose Heart is a song about Clark breaking up with someone but not knowing why. Her whole song is full of questions: “Was it something I said? Was it something you did? Was I in a great big hurry to play house And you just wanted to stay a kid? Did you cheat on me? Did I check out on you? Was it really anybody’s fault at all? Or did it fall apart?” Half way through the song, Clark realizes that one didn’t break their heart over the other but that they both equally decided to break apart. This song is actually really sad. But with the up-beat pace of the music, you won’t feel sad when listening to it.

The reason why I gave this album a two out of five rating is because of all the other songs I didn’t review. I do like country a lot but fast country, not slow. This album is filled with very slow country songs. I do really like the two that I reviewed but not any of the other songs. So if you like slow country and are fan of Brandy Clark, then this album is perfect for you.

changes by justin bieber

Album: Changes

Artist: Justin Bieber

Record Labels: Def Jam Records, Island Records, RBMG Records, The Island Def Jam Music Group and School Boy Records

Recommended Tracks: 4- “Intentions ft. Quavo”, 5-“Yummy”

Justin Drew Bieber was born on March 1, 1994. He is a Canadian singer, songwriter and actor. Bieber was discovered at 13 years old by talent manager Scooter Braun after he had watched his YouTube cover song videos. He was signed to RBMG Records in 2008. Bieber’s debut EP My World, released in late 2009. He became the first artist to have seven songs from a debut record chart on the Billboard Hot 100. Many people recognize Bieber by his hit song Baby ft Usher. At a very young age, he drew in large crowds from all around the world. Even today, Bieber’s life is streaming across the internet and all across magazines. I am going to give this album a three out of five rating. I will explain in the last paragh why.

Intentions ft. Quavo is about Beiber talking about his significant other. He says that they are “picture perfect, you don’t need no filter. Gorgeous, make them drop dead, you are a killer. Shower you with all my attention. Yeah these are my only intentions”. This song is actually really cute. The lines above, he says multiple times throughout the song. Beiber shows his love, affection and appreciation to his significant other in this song. He also uses the lines “shout out to your mom and dad for makin’ you. Standin’ ovation, they did a great job raising you”. This song has a really mellow beat that one can vide with. Even when Quavo’s part comes in, he keeps it mellow like Bieber has. This song was executed nicely.

Yummy is a song that is already well-known throughout the music company. It is one of the most played songs on the radio already. This song is also one of the most used songs on a very known app called Tik Tok. Yummy has a similar beat to Intentions ft. Quavo. It is very calm and mellow. Unlike Intentions ft. Quavo, Yummy is a song that I can see being played in a club. It definitely throws out club vibes. This song is also pretty basic with its use of lyrics. I learned the whole song by only hearing it twice. And I don’t really know the meaning of the song, it may just be me, but I missed it.

The reason I gave this album a three out of five stars is because all of the songs have a similar beat to it. Not one song sounds out from the rest. In some people’s eyes, that might be a good thing because the album follows very well. But, if you are a person who likes a variety of music in one album (like me) then this album isn’t for you. Overall, the songs are good. If you are a Bieber fan or if you like mellow songs, this album is for you.

where the light is by surfaces

Album: Horizons

Artist: Surfaces

Record Labels: Surfaces, LLC/ TenThousand Projects, LLC, Surfaces Music/ TenThousand
Projects, LLC

Recommended Tracks: 1- “Rising”, 11- “Horizon”

Surfaces is a music group based out of Texas. The two members in the band are Forrest Frank and Colin Padalecki. After fully forming in 2017, surfaces released their first full-length album, Surf. The group has been praised for its genre-bending, feel-good music that has been compared to the likes of Sugar Ray and Rex Orange County. Following the major success of surf, surfaces returned in 2019 with their 2nd album, Where the Light Is, a summer soundtrack similar to it’s predecessor, with even more exciting production and refined songwriting. Horizons is the third album done by Surfaces. This band is mostly known as a pop artist genre. I will give this album a two out of five rating. I will explain at the bottom.

Rising is the first song that I have heard by Surfaces. It starts off with waves crashing. You can only hear the ocean. Then, it slowly picks up and adds some electro beats to it. I found this song interesting because it is only a minute and forty-two seconds but it gave me a total beach day picture with friends, chillin’ on the beach. It is a very calm song, one that you can definitely chill out and vibe to. I can definitely see this song in a beach movie with a bunch of friends gathered around the fire, having a great time. This song is my personal favorite out of the album. I do wish it was a little longer.

Just like Rising, Horizons gave me the same beachy, surfer dude vibes. It does make sense though because the song is about swimming in the ocean and enjoying the waters. The singer talks about the ocean spinning him and taking him up high. My interpretation about the song may be different from yours, but I do think he is talking about the ocean and enjoying it. This song is also pretty calm. Unlike Rising, this song did not paint a picture in my head. I just followed the flow of the music but didn’t get a nice picture painted in my head.

The reason why I gave this album a two out of five rating is because I thought that the singers’ voices were not the best. I loved the background music but not their voices. I really did love how each song had a beach vibe to it. So if you like calm, beach vibe songs then this is the perfect album for you. This album is one of the albums that you should add to your playlist when you are going to the beach. It will help add to that environment.

dreamland by coin

March 1, 2020

Album: Dreamland

Artist: COIN

Record Labels: Columbia Records and Startime International

Recommended Tracks: 4- “Crash My Car”, 9- “Nobody’s Baby”

Coin are an American indie pop band formed in 2012 in Nashville, Tennessee. It currently consists of Chase Lawrence (lead vocals, synthesizers), Ryan Winnen (drums), and Joe Memmel (lead guitar, backing vocals). The band originally released two EPs in 2012 and 2013: Saturdays and 1992 respectively. They subsequently gained mainstream attention in 2015 with the lead single Run from their self-titled debut album, which was produced by Jay Joyce and released later the same year by Columbia. The group gained further success in 2016 with the lead single Talk Too Much from the band’s second studio album, How Will You Know If You Never Try, which was released on April 21, 2017. The song was their first to chart on Billboard‘s Alternative Songs chart. I will give this album a three out of five rating.

“Walk in like a wrecking ball. The way she moves make you miserable. All eyes on the golden girl. She’s gonna tell you, gonna tell you, gonna tell you. That you’re too sweet. Swan dive to the concrete floor. The pavement never felt so warm. One look and you already know. She’s gonna cut you, gonna cut you, gonna cut you. Cut you real deep.” This song is actually really really sad and deep. It is about a guy falling for a girl and she totally plays him. She leads him on thinking that she’s into him but then cuts him off at the end of the night. He says “You can crash my car tonight. Go out wasting all my time and money. I love the way you’re breaking my heart. And I can’t stand to see you leaving lonely.” This song is sad but has a nice beat to it. It’ll make you sad by the lyrics but keep you entertained by the beat.

“Wake up, lying face up. I’m feeling like I found myself. I’m feeling like there’s something missing. I wanna shape up. Tryin’ to shake it up, yeah. Maybe I’m just bored to tears. Or maybe it’s in plain sight hidden.” This song is about changing yourself and being Nobody’s Baby. However, the song’s meaning confused me. I couldn’t really tell if the inner feeling they are trying to fight or change is within themselves or with someone else. The song goes on to talk about someone not moving closer to them. Anyways, the song has a very nice beat to it. If you love COIN, you will definitely love this song.

The reason why I gave this album a three out of five stars is because some of the songs bored me. I would listen to them and they weren’t really catching my attention. The two songs that I wrote about and reviewed, were the only two that caught my attention. However, I did like the beat of most other songs. Even though some did bore me, they still had a great rhythm to them and were nice to listen to.

church by galantis

February 14, 2020

Album: Church

Artist: Galantis

Record Labels: Big Beat Records and Atlantic Records

Recommended Tracks: 4- “Never Felt A Love Like This (with Hook N Sling) [ft. Dotan]”, 13- “We Can Get High (With Yellow Claw)”

Galantis is a Swedish electronic dance music production, songwriting and DJ duo consisting of Christian Karlsson and Linus Eklöw. They have been active since 2012. Their type of genre are electro house and big room house. Karlsson is also known as Bloodshy as part of two other musical groups, a duo (Bloodshy & Avant) and a trio (Miike Snow). Eklöw is known as Style of Eye. They have won multiple awards and have been nominated for others. They also have played at other concerts like coachella. Galantis is even on tour now. I am going to give this album a four out of five stars. I will explain at the end why.

Never Felt A Love Like This (with Hook N Sling) [ft. Dotan] is a very cute song. It is about someone not believing in love and not wanting it. They don’t like love until they find the one who is the light, which brings back the love that they have been missing. It is even a different type of love. In this song, they have lyrics and they do sing throughout the song. This song is also one of the very few songs in the Galantis’ s albume where the band sings in it. There is also a touch of EDM and electro music in it. This song is perfect for those who love electro music as well as singing in a song.

We Can Get High (With Yellow Claw) is a song that you would definitely hear at a rave. It has very little singing and mostly EDM music. The song is about you trusting your partner and because you trust your partner, you both get virtually high in the clouds. I think this song is perfect for rave lovers and EDM/electro music lovers. I am not a huge fan of electro music but I do like this song. It is quite catchy.

The reason why I gave this album a four out of five rating is because it is electro music and I am not the biggest fan of it. However, most of the songs on this album were pretty good. Another thing that I thought was pretty unique about the album was that not all of the songs on it were sung by Galantis. They were the DJs but not the key singers. I thought that was pretty unique.

manic by halsey

Album: Manic

Artist: Halsey

Record Labels: Capitol Records

Recommended Tracks: 9- “Without Me”, 15- “Still Learning”

I am going to start off by giving you, as the reader, a disclaimer. Halsey is one of my favorite modern artists of our time. She is really amazing and is extremely talented. My disclaimer is that I am going to be biased towards this album. Because I am a fan of Halsey, I’m going to already give this album a high rating. However, I will try my best to give this album an unbiased rating and opinion. Halsey’s real name is Ashley Nicolette Frangipane. She is an American singer and songwriter. She gained attention from releasing music herself on social media platforms. She was signed by Astralwerks in 2014 and released her debut EP, Room 93, later that year. Manic is a very interesting album. Like every album, it has both fast and slow songs. But, she adds a different touch to each of those songs by having SUGA, BTS, and other artists sing with her. I am going to give this album a five out of five rating. I will explain towards the end why.

Without Me is one of the songs that made me become a fan of Hasley. I’ve always liked her music, but this song spoke to me the most out of all of her songs. This song is about Hasley putting someone above her, above everything in her life. But, then this person takes advantage of her. (This is my personal interpretation of the song). The lyrics are really sad, extremely sad actually. But because of the music Halsye has in the background, you can never get truly sad when singing the song. You could yell the lyrics but not get sad. It reminds me of a lot of 80’s music. This song is also one of Halsey’s most famous songs. I really love it.

Still Learning is a pretty powerful song. It is about Halsey going through rough times. A man won’t stay, her money isn’t really hers because it is being passed around the family, and she has no self-esteem. But, she admits that she is still trying to learn how to love herself. This is a song that many of us could relate to. I recommend this song to someone who is going through a rough time. You and Halsey could relate to each other through this song. She speaks about learning to love yourself through rough times. The reason why I gave this album a five out of five rating is because it is truly an overall amazing album. The song where Halsey, SUGA, and BTS all sing in it is amazing. She even has songs where she is talking in the beginning, then the music plays and she sings. All of her songs have something to do with her personal life. 929 is about the time and day she was born. I recommend this album for people who love pop music or who love Halsey. It is really good.

Amber Brost

Hi everyone! My name is Amber Brost. I am a second year with a political science major. My taste in music is all over the place. I love all kinds of music, yes even country! A little fun fact about me is that I love Game of Thrones. It literally is my life. I work for KPOET Radio because it is really fun. I get to stay up with the latest music, I never really used to do that before. I overall like review things, so reviewing albums was right up my alley.

Animal by Ke$ha

Album: Animal

Artist: Ke$ha

Genre: Electropop, Dance-pop, and Pop-rap

Record label: RCA and Kemosable

Recommended Tracks: Track 9- Backstabber and Track 11- Dinosaur

Ke$ha’s real name is Kesha Rose Sebert. She is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, and actress. In 2005 Kesha was signed to Kemosabe Records, she was 18 years old. Her first major success came in early 2009 after she was featured on American rapper Flo Rida’s number-one single Right Round. Then, she made a huge hit with her commonly known song Tick Tock, which is still very well known today. Ke$ha is extremely known for her unfiltered songs. She has a very straight up personality when singing. She doesn’t mind talking about sex, dugs, etc. That is the main reason many people fell in love with her music. I give this album a five out of five rating. I will explain towards the end. The two songs I recommend are definitely her less known songs, but they are still amazing.
Backstabber is a song that many girls would sing (or scream to) when their friend(s) would talk about them behind them back. In this song, Ke$ha confronts her friends who has been talking bad about her behind her back. She also brings up about the friend has been spreading lies to other people, even though Ke$ha is the friend who does everything for them. This song has a great, bopping beat. It is perfect for anyone who wants to get out their anger towards their friend who stabbed their back. But because of the beats within the song, it will help you move past the anger towards your friend and onto more important things in your life (especially when you hear the end of the song). I definitely was bopping out to this song while listening to it.
If I could think of the funniest I have ever heard, Dinosaur is the first song that comes to mind for me. The song is about Ke$ha calling out an old man who has been catcalling her and her friends. They definitely do not like how the older man has been hitting on them. She calls him a Dinosaur and tells him to get back the mesum. This song is absolutely hilarious. Every time I hear it, I laugh and it puts me in a good mood. I recommend this song to anyone who likes a good beat that will make them laugh and will help them get into a good mood. It is honestly a bopper.
This album came out in 2010. I literally bought the CD album the day after it came out at ten years old. I loved this album and her album called “Cannibal”. The reason I wrote about this album is because it reminded me of my childhood. “Animal” is not my favorite album of all time but it is still a great album. I like every single song within the album and I know all the lyrics. Most of these songs I haven’t heard since 2010 but they are still a banger. I definitely recommend this album for anyone who wants to revisit their childhood for bit. Ke$ha was definitely a huge part of 1990-2000’s baby’s lives.

Ocean by Lady Antebellum

Album: Ocean

Artist: Lady Antebellum

Genre: Country, country pop, and soft rock.

Record label: Big Machine Records and Capitol Records Nashville

Recommended Tracks: Track 7- Alright and Track 10- Boots

Ocean was released on November 15, 2019. It is Lady Antebellum’s eight studio album. The album is America country pop sung by a trio. The trio members are Hillary Scott, Charles Kelley, and Dave Haywood. Ocean is the first album by Lady Antebellum to be produced by Dann Huff. The album has thirteen songs in it. Lady Antebellum was a group that was formed in Nashville, Tennese. The band has won over fifteen different awards since their start in 2006. Their most well known is country pop song Need You Now released in 2010. I am going to give this album a four out of five rating. I will explain at the bottom.

The exact moment I heard Alright, I knew I was going to fall in love with it. The message of the song is so meaningful, that it could turn anyone’s bad day into a good one. The song introduces the lines “I ain’t feelin’ pretty, what I wanna wear don’t fit me. And it’s messin’ with the way I see myself” at the start of the song. At first, I thought that this was going to be another sad, depressing, country song. But then they sing “just when I’m on the edge of cryin’, babe. You’re callin’ to remind me, remind me” with “this life ain’t always perfect. Sometimes it’s dominoes”, and my idea of the song went away. The song is about feeling so down about yourself, that one more thing will push you over the edge. But someone or something (they mention God in the song) will be there to help you get through it. Life has some “dominoes” in it, but you just have to keep pushing. This was my personal favorite song from the album. The song is slow but its overall great. It is perfect for anyone who us having a bad day and needs something to remind you that everything is going to be okay.

Unlike Alright, Boots is a faster paced song. However, like the song Alright, Boots has a wonderful message to it as well. When reading the title of the song, I thought this song was going to be a boring country song about boots. It is, but the boots in this song are used as a metaphor. For example, they sing the lines: “it’s a miracle they found their way to your door. It’s like they forgot all the places they have been before, oh. Took awhile to find their place. Girl, you know they’re here to stay”. The singer is using replacing himself with boots. They admit that the boots (the singers) are never going to walk away. The song shows a unique way of using a metaphor. This song is perfect for anyone who likes fast paced country music with a good message behind it. I really enjoyed the song.

Overall, the songs within the album were pretty good. Some were very upbeat and energetic, while others were slow pacing, like slow dance songs. The reason I gave the album a four out of five rating instead of a five out of five is because of that exact reason. Some of the songs were a little too slow for my liking and they did not keep my attention. However, like the two I wrote about, most of the songs kept my attention and were executed perfectly. I recommend this album to anyone who is a big fan of country. Especially a fan of the band, Lady Antebellum.

Wildcard by Miranda Lambert

Album: Wildcard

Artist: Miranda Lambert

Genre: Country

Record label: RCA Records Nashville

Recommended Tracks: Track 1- White Trash and Track 3- It All Comes Out In the Wash

Wildcard is the seventh album by American country music artist Miranda Lambert. It was released on November 1, 2019. In 2003, Lambert finished in third place of the television program Nashville Star, a singing competition which aired on the USA Network. Lambert released two albums from 2004–2008 called “Kerosene” and “Crazy Ex- Girlfriend”. Her next albums were “Revolution” (2009-2011), “Four the Record” and the “Pistol Annies” (2011-2013), “platinum” (2014-2015), and “The Weight of These Wings” and “Third Pistol Annies” (2016-2018), before her nearest album. She is most known for her song Mama’s Broken Heart in 2011. Lambert has been honored with multiple Grammy Awards, the Academy of Country Music Awards and the Country Music Association Awards. I am going to give her album a two out of five rating. I will explain why in the conclusion.

White Trash is “Wildcard”’s opening song. It is, so far, Lambert’s most performed song from the album. She has sung it at multiple concerts and gatherings. In the beginning of the song, Lambert sings about how she has moved up in the world. How she has “Traded in my[her] trailer park for a neighborhood with a gate”. However, even though she has been living this lavish life she believes that some things don’t change. In the next part of her solo, she talks about how her old life still intrudes her new one; “Cadillac on a cinder block, duct tape on every other thing”. This song reminds me of a song you would hear in a movie. The scene would be a female moving into a fixer-upper house. She would be playing this song in the background while fixing her house. That being said, this is a perfect song to listen to while cleaning. It would motivate you to clean, not distract it.

It All Comes Out In the Wash is a song about letting things go. Whether it be “dipping your fries in your ketchup on a bumpy road” and having it spill all over you or getting “frisky with your boss at the copy machine” it’ll all come out in the wash. She uses the phrase “it’ll all come out in the wash” in a way to tell people to let go. Eventually everything will come down and go away in the way that the ketchup did when you split it on your shirt. This song is very upbeat. If you like upbeat country music, then this song is perfect for you.

I was actually pretty disappointed when listening to this album. I usually love Miranda Lambert and her music, but this album didn’t sit well with me. It actually bored me and gave me a hard time picking songs to do this album review, this is why I am giving the album a two out of five rating. But if you are a hard core Miranda Lambert and country lover, then this album is for you. In my opinion, it is not Lambert’s best album but all of the songs have unique meanings behind it. So who knows? This album may be perfect for you.