Category: 📁 Music Plays

I found it very revealing and enjoyable when Alicia Keys finally came on American Idol to sing her masterpiece Fallin', *25 years* after it was released and it was covered incessantly by contestants running more than a marathoner, she mostly sang the original melody of a song.

Madison Moon, Philmon Lee, Abayomi, Makiyah, Jake Thistle, Julian Kalel, Mor Ilderton, Khloe Grace, Genevieve Heyward, Ruby Rae, Trew The Star, and Julianne Post leaving as early as they did prove humans keep making great music, as they were all incredibly enjoyable to listen to.

Who are a few of your favorite lesser known music artists and bands from any genre in the 2020s who make great music with great lyrics? Allen Stone, Wet Leg, King Princess, Big Thief, Youth Lagoon, and Julia Jacklin are a few I like and have albums from.

It was really hard choosing Power Out as the song I might share from Arcade Fire's first two albums, and admitting Funeral might be more popular for a reason, even though Neon Bible and Antichrist Television Blues were my firsts and favorites for years.

Antichrist Television Blues - Arcade Fire - YouTube

My award for best iTunes Festival concert that I watched goes to Mumford & Sons. I have watched them 3 times so far. Sorry Jack White, you were brilliantly awesome and I especially liked the all female band but you have to settle for runner up. P!nk gets 3rd for her honest performance where she talked after every song and didn’t care if she messed up lyrics. Loved how she acknowledges everyone in her band and all of her fans. And I wouldn’t be surprised if some women would buy an Apple TV just to watch the Usher concert.

North - Matchbox Twenty - 6/10

1. 8/10 - Parade

Great start. Feels a bit like old Matchbox Twenty songs that really make you think about something in your life even if the lyrics are slightly different. And it hits you hard emotionally like those old songs. Good to hear something more like the old Matchbox Twenty than the more pop songs on their Exile on Mainstream "short" album.

2. 3/10 - She's So Mean

Too much pop for me. Not my favorite song. Good lyrics though if it was sang with more alternative music. Even more pop than Exile on Mainstream. Actually made me laugh and reminded me of boy bands from 90s. Honestly they never would have gotten as popular if they started playing songs like this in the late 90s. But the chorus and the last part of the song does get a bit better with at least a little oomph. It could grow on me even if it's overproduced pop, but initial impression is it's too much pop and I don't really like it. And I still have to laugh a little that this is Matchbox Twenty after songs like on their first album.

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Listening to the new Metric album this weekend I started thinking about some of my favorite female singers of the last twenty years. The women who’s voices are so original and unmistakeable and that I liked immediately the first time I heard them in one of their great songs. Here are ten of my favorites. For rock singers and women that are mostly in bands, five of my favorites would be Emily Haines (Metric), Florence Welch (Florence and the Machine), Tegan and Sara, Doloris O’Riordan (The Cranberries), and Left Eye Lopes (TLC). And for singer songwriter and vocalist types, five of my favorites are Joss Stone, Frazey Ford, Norah Jones, Jewel, and Natalie Merchant. Those ten cover quite a few different genres and styles of music too. Any time I hear one of these voices it generally puts me in a pretty good mood.

Little Black Submarines - The Black Keys - 9/10

Little Black Submarines by The Black Keys really deserves to be an epic song of about nine minutes long. That’s why they aren’t Guns n' Roses or Queen. It’s typical Black Keys. At just over four minutes it’s long for a Black Keys song and hits hard and fast once it gets going. By the end of it you think you’ve heard about four different songs and all the guitar riffs leave your head spinning with more pleasure than a kid playing with a toy top.