Welcome to this year’s Christmas Special for Music Obsessions! We will be getting right down to business as we take a look at some Christmas song covers that I’ve found were pretty decent over the past month or so.
I’m going to not go and talk too much about any of these choices and just let you all listen to it and enjoy! Today’s a day to celebrate and probably not a lot of you are sitting by the computer or looking at the phone anyways. I just wanted to share some Christmas music and take it easy!
Silent Night – Boyce Avenue
Dueling Pianos Jingle Bells – Jon McLaughlin
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas – Voiceplay
Oh Holy Night – Claire & Dave Crosby
You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch – Pentatonix
That’s it for this Music Obsession Christmas Special! Merry Christmas everyone!!
Well…we’re about a week late. Something was nagging me all week that I had forgotten something and then I realized that it was this Music Obsessions segment. So here we are! Better late than never!
River South – JJ Lin
Its not surprise that this one made it here. JJ Lin became a hit with this song back when I was in cegep. Rightfully so, its a special one with some unique qualities to the tune and the style. I like it for all those elements. I still like to listen to JJ Lin every once in a while. He was on the show Come Sing With Us this season and it had some great moments.
DAOKO – “Fireworks” OST
I saw Fireworks at Fantasia Festival. You can find the review HERE. I was definitely the minority in the reviews who are more positive. One of the things that I liked about Fireworks is the soundtrack. Here’s one of the songs that I was able to find and liked quite a bit.
Jon McLaughlin ft. Will Anderson – Dueling Piano (Kiss Me Slowly/I’ll Follow You)
I’m a big fan of the Dueling Piano series on Jon McLaughlin’s Youtube channel. While I have my varying degrees of preference, I remembered listening to Kiss Me Slowly when it first came out and just loving it so much. To see that song played here in this mash-up was really great. It worked so well together.
The Beat – Mike Williams
What’s a Music Obsessions without some EDM, right? Anyways, I love electronic music and Mike Williams has delivered some good stuff lately. This one is pretty great.
Nobody But Us – Noah Mac
Noah Mac was one of my faves the season that he was The Voice. I mean, I thought he should have won. He has such a vision for making music so I’m happy to see that he’s gotten even better with the music he makes. This one is pretty good.
That’s it for this Music Obsessions! A bit of a crazy random last minute selections. What have you been listening to?
I can’t believe that the weekend is about to end. And then it hit me that I actually never posted up this post…well..actually it was never finished. So, that’s a problem..haha! Either way, here we go! Better late than never, right? I have been still going through somewhat of a nostalgic phase but I have also found some cool new music particularly from TV show soundtrack and movie. I’ll talk more about it in the descriptions below the songs.
Hope you enjoy!
Duelling Pianos: Why I’m Talking to You/Till You’re Gone – Jon McLaughlin feat Gabe Dixon
I love Jon McLaughlin ever since I heard ‘So Close’ from Enchanted and he’s always been on my radar. This popped up on my feed the other day from his Duelling Pianos series and I love this mash-up so much with Gabe Dixon as they sing each other’s song, ‘Till You’re Gone’ and ‘Why I’m Talking To You’. Its a ton of fun. Plus, I do play the piano and since I played mostly classical stuff, I’m less fluent in these groovy bluesy style of free-style piano. Habits are quite hard to break but these songs always give me something to motivate me to spend more time trying to get to a place where I’m comfortable with playing songs like this.
Killing Strangers – Marilyn Manson feat Tyler Bates (John Wick Soundtrack)
My husband was making lots of comments about how many times I played this song after I saw John Wick. Either way, its a fantastic song. It has a ton of mood and matches the movie so well. The song is great but its also nice to remind me of how great John Wick is.
Sweetest Life – KWAYE
So..if you didn’t know, I binge-watched the Netflix Original series On My Block about 3 times and one of the opening of the episodes was with this song by KWAYE called Sweetest Life. There is so much I love about that series and I’m so happy that they got green-lit for a second season. Can’t wait! In the mean time, I’ll probably binge-watch it again sometime in the next few months and listen to this really fun song. Actually, the soundtrack for the entire season is great so check it out if you have time!
You Are The Reason – Calum Scott
A very slow song compared to the other choices but I love the lyrics of it and Calum Scott has a beautiful voice. I actually hadn’t listened to the radio for months and then turned it on right when they switched to this song. Its quite full of emotion, which is a good thing.
Smart – Tension
Its been kind of weird because I’ve been seeing ‘NSync pop up on Ellen lately after a few weeks of listening to a few of their music and then some Backstreet Boys medley and other 90s music stuff. It kind of lead me to thinking about some Taiwanese boy bands and then landed on Tension, which was like the 2000s version of Backstreet Boys/’NSync. The similarities of their music videos at least in the vibe of it all kind of gave them an edge. Plus Taiwan went through a phase of having these kinds of boy bands with Energy, 5566, F4 and eventually, Fahrenheit (which are ones I liked). Unfortunately, Tension disbanded when their contract ended due to not agreeing to what they were outlined for the future of their group and limited them creatively (according to some research). Actually, the fun fact here is that the group member, Jimmy Hung is actually one of the sons of Sammo Hung.
Coffee Please – Jay Hardway
What kind of music obsessions would it be without some electronic music, right? Jay Hardway honestly has never disappointed me with any of this music. I discovered him through Electric Elephants which I think is still my favorite of his but this one is pretty good as well. Great beats in general and gets me into a great mood and energy!
That’s it for this month’s Music Obsessions! What have you been listening to lately?
We’re almost in the full swing of Valentine’s Day over here! I know its hard to accept it since tonight is all about Superbowl (if that’s your thing). Well, we will be doing that while celebrating Chinese New Year’s Eve! Regardless, its pretty much in full swing this week. I always try to keep it a little not all about romance, hence the beer chicken on Friday and some Oscar Best Picture reviews (if I manage to get it all watched).
However, romance is a big part in songs nowadays so let’s take a look at few.
Don’t Mess With My Girl – Jon McLaughlin
Stand By You/Stand By Me (Mashup) – Sam Tsui & Casey Breves
Save My Soul – Corey Gray
One Call Away – Charlie Puth (Cover by Mitchell Rose & Kurt Hugo Schneider)
Every Breath You Take (Deep Chills Remix) – The Police
Mashups, covers, remixes and originals: I think I got it all covered this time around! We’re back to regular Music Obsessions next month with some songs I’ve been obsessing over right now! I don’t see them leaving my mind or my playlist any time soon!
Oh goodness! How did I let this happen? Somehow over the course of almost a month, I piled up 3 awards and haven’t answered them.
I’m sorry to the 3 bloggers who nominated me. Its been a bit hectic over here and I wouldn’t want you to think that I’m slacking off or whatnot. I’ve just been tired and trying to catch up and just getting back in my groove. Thinking about these awards made me quite happy actually. I have a lot of stuff planned for the blog and as much as its slowed down this week, my mind never stops for what comes up soon.
Lets start with the longest unanswered award from Mike@ Mikes Film Talk who awarded me with the Versatile Blogger Award! I love getting this award (fourth time now) and accepting it (even though its really late) because I admit that my blog is versatile and covers so many different subjects. Thanks so so so (times a million) much for this award. I know I’m really late (like 3 weeks or something). I really appreciate it! Its means so much to me!
This award comes with rules like all of them:
1. Thank the person who gave you the award.
2. Include a link to their blog.
3. Name the bloggers to whom you would like to pass the award and send them a link to tell them you’ve selected them.
4. Finally, tell the person who nominated you seven things about yourself.
I’ll get to the nominees and sharing my facts later…I want to thank everyone first 🙂
Second award I received about 10 days or so ago was from Joe @ Joe’s Musings for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award! Now talk about being speechless with this. Needing a few weeks to just digest it. Moi? Inspiring? VERY inspiring? I don’t even think thats possible but at least Joe thinks so enough to pass this on to me. 🙂 Thanks to Joe so extremely much and I ask him to excuse my tardiness with accepting this. He is the extremely inspiring one here. Always writing the best pieces and sharing his fiction and creativity. You have to check his blog out if you haven’t already.
The rules for this one is as follows:
1. Display the award logo on your blog.
2. Link back to the person who nominated you.
3. State 7 things about yourself.
4. Nominate 15 other bloggers for this award and link to them.
5. Notify those bloggers of the nomination and the award’s requirements.
Nominations and facts coming up in the end and now for the 3rd award, which I received earlier this week!
This most recent one is from Natasha @ Film and Things for Liebster Award. She is totally awesome and I thank her a whole bunch for this awesome award. Also, you might want to know that she’s going to start filming her own short movie soon called Once Bitten, Twice Shy. Just to mention that Mike@ Mike’s Film Talk will be part of the cast in that 🙂 Exciting stuff, right? Plus, she also just started a 30 day challenge where she’ll answer 30 questions each day regarding movies. You know what’s even cooler than that? She covered the Udine Far East Film Festival with other members (I think that were part of her university) and had the chance to interview some awesome directors!
The rules are to give 11 facts about you, answer 11 questions then nominate 11 people! Simple enough, right?
Lets answer these questions first!
1. What musical artist are you listening to these days?
Sara Bareilles, Jon McLaughlin, Boyce Avenue, Green River Ordinance, Taylor Swift, Straight No Chaser
2. If you could be any animal, what would you be? Why?
Tiger! Its my calling 🙂
3. What do you say when your (or someone else’s) kid asks you why the sky is blue?
I don’t communicate with children very well…so I’d probably nudge my boyfriend and ask him the same question for him to answer…
4. Favorite Food?
Gingerbread cookies
5. If $$ were no object, where would you travel on your next vacation?
Santorini/Bora Bora/Maldives
6. How do you like your eggs?
Steamed!
7. Favorite Reality TV Show?
Property Brothers/Chopped/Kitchen Nightmares
8. What was your very first job?
Packaging clothes
9. What book is on your nightstand right now?
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass…although the book I’m reading is in my bag instead
10. What’s your guilty pleasure?
Gossip Girl, 90210, OC…teenage drama so that I can be happy that I’m not rich and not create my own drama 😉
OH and Magic Mike/True Blood..for shirtless hot men
11. At what age is your earliest memory?
Probably age 4 at Japan Disney on the Snow White ride because it freaked me out!!!
So, did you learn a bit more about me? Or was it just all expected? There’s more though, with all the facts added up for the 3 awards, I’m due to give you 25 facts (which I have no idea what to write)…so here it goes!
1) I’m putting together my friend’s wedding video and I have no idea what music to use…decisions decisions (Any ideas?)
2) I’m excited to go tomorrow to my first ever bachelorette party in honor of my friend’s wedding on Sunday
3) I’m really happy that the weather is getting warm again
4) I can’t believe its also season finales for shows…I still have so much to catch up with.
5) Many people say that I look mixed. I think it was more when I was a baby.
Baby Kim…ignore the timestamp..
6) I need my brain to become more efficient so that I can memorize all my pieces for my piano exam which I want to take this coming winter.
7) I am on a constant search for nice flowy dresses for whatever season!
8) Once the weather gets hot, I always want to go to the beach..even if I never really go that often.
9) I love listening to Chinese music from the 1970s up to 90s (maybe even before that). After that, it kind of goes down the drain. Two different eras with different style of music showed below 🙂
And I have to insert one with my favorite band Beyond, who disbanded a good while ago..but they are total awesomeness!
10) Yesterday I started watching this ridiculous movie called Killer Klowns from Outer Space
11) I still owe everyone the review of the 4th Die Hard and I feel bad about not having done it but the boyfriend hasn’t been in the mood to finish it…so I’ll probably watch it soon by myself to write it up this week.
12) I don’t really like planning out my days because when I do, something else always happens to get in the way
13) I’m trying to do another piano cover but I haven’t quite decided what song.
14) I can’t constantly write movie reviews. Its really hard to do it every day sometimes. I praise those who own pure movie blogs because you are all amazingly awesome
15) I’m learning about the power of being an introvert right now.
16) I love hiking, walking, biking and working out. Pretty much anything active, especially tree adventures 🙂
17) My first console is the Nintendo DS Lite and it makes it so much better because I earned my own money to get it.
18) I have an addiction to Tetris and Bejeweled. Don`t let them near me because I won’t/can’t stop
19) On PS3, I can only play Move games or Little Big Planet. Anything else gets too complex. Or maybe racing games as well 🙂
20) If you haven’t followed me for very long, I LOVE Dr. Seuss. I can read the stories all the time out loud to myself and it’ll make me feel super happy!
21) I collect Disney plushes. I buy one or two to every new Disney store that I visit.
23) My goal this summer is to revamp my backyard and learn how to garden so that it’ll look like before my dad passed away.
24) I’m taking a break from dragonboat this year and dropped to part-time so that I can finish up all the exams that I’ve dragged out for too long
25) I’m thinking right now that I’ve bored you all with too much information about me and I’m happy this is the last point 🙂 I’m not one to talk too much about myself
Now we’re at one of the most important part of this post: THE NOMINATIONS! I really don’t want to choose so you know what, you choose which one you want! I choose YOU! Yes, YOU!
If you home several different subjects on your blog, then you get the versatile blogger award. If you write inspiring quotes and aim to be positive and inspire others in any way, then Very Inspiring you are! If you are a young blog with not too many followers or just recently started up for a few months or a year or what not, feel free to take the Liebster award! I’m giving it to anyone of you who drops by this blog, has liked or commented or follows my blog. If you just happen to drop by, then its fate or destiny or whatever you call it that has lead you here! So feel free to take it 🙂 Just remember to link back and follow the rules! You know you all deserve it!!!
A GIGANTIC THANKS TO MIKE, JOE AND NATASHA! Remember to check out their blogs because they are super awesome!!
Thank you to all of you for sticking around till now! I tried to make it as entertaining as possible 🙂
Tranquil Dreams 