Okay, this is flames. I already love Tiller and Abel, so the fact they’re on a track together, especially ‘Rambo,’ which is one of my favorite songs from Young Tiller’s TRAPSOUL album. Epic.
Really hoping these two create a completely new track together.
Listen below!
Having just premiered on MTV, watch the sultry visuals for the highly anticipated video of Future’s ‘Low Life’ featuring The Weeknd.
Really really dig this song, so I’m glad the video is already here. Happy Friday, yinz!
Oh, and happy birthday to one of my favorite artists Big Sean! The G.O.O.D. Music singer turns 28 today.
To sum up the 58th Annual Grammy Awards in one word…. #boring. Seriously. I know this is supposed to be a family show and they need to cover all genres, but can the performances please be more upbeat? I don’t know who decides what is performed, but we know you artists can all sing (hence why you’re at the GRAMMYs), so I think you should all pick a dope, upbeat song and get that party started as opposed to serenading us and putting us to sleep. And no I didn’t attend this year. We were told they weren’t going to have a mosh pit, which they didn’t. Maybe next year!
Parts of the show also felt rushed, especially during the acceptance speeches. Prime example was when Bruno Mars won for ‘Uptown Funk.’ Mark Ronson began speaking, honestly not for long, gave the mic to Bruno and the dang ‘cue to hurry up’ music came on. Let the man speak – he just won record of the year! Even the in memorium section seemed to be super fast, which for that I’d prefer it to move a little faster but not like that fast.
Most memorable moments for me:
Kendrick’s performance. The heart, soul, passion, and most importantly the message behind his performance was explosive. Literally. The stage was on fire. He revived the GRAMMYs – brought them back to life. It was so powerful. Mad props to King Kendrick. Also, congrats to him on winning five awards, one being Best Rap Album. Very well-deserved.
Lady Gaga-David Bowie tribute. While I do know who David Bowie is and how influential his music was, I obviously don’t know that much about him. That being said, I thought Gaga did a wonderful job. You can really throw her into any scenario, and I feel like she’ll execute it just right. For those of you who watched this last season of American Horror Story… she did SO good and played her role as the Countess perfectly.
Meh moments:
While I did enjoy the Lionel Richie tribute, I’m still scratching my head as to why Meghan Trainor was part of that. She can sing, but to me I think they could have replaced her with someone more aligned with Richie’s voice and genre. I feel like she didn’t even sing that long any ways.
The Weeknd’s performance. Do not get me wrong, I repeat, do not get me wrong, I absolutely love The Weeknd, but that was not my favorite performance of his. Honest even. Yinz need to watch videos of him performing before he turned into this superstar. THOSE were performances, and I’ve been fortunate enough to have seen him at least five times. So so good.
The finale. Pitbull, Robin Thicke, and Sofia Vergara, really? That was way too random for me. While they are each talented, yes even Pitbull, I wouldn’t say those three are the most relevant right now.
And Taylor Swift. I don’t even feel like wasting energy to type about her. But two things: 1) She was way too dramatic when Ed Sheeran won. 2) Her acceptance speech should not have focused primarily on Kanye West. Tay Tay, you just won ALBUM OF THE YEAR – TALK ABOUT THAT. You know I love me some Kanye, but most people don’t so by bringing his name into the conversation creates more haters and fuels his fire. If Kendrick would have won, I can guarantee his speech would have been strictly about his album, TDE team, and the fans. Alright, I’m done.
So yes, overall I thought the show was pretty boring, but congrats to all of the winners, which you can find here. To make up for the boredom, I hope to attend the BET Awards again, assuming they’ll be in LA this summer. I’ll keep yinz posted!
While this playlist only has 10 songs (it will grow), they are 100% the tracks I’ve been listening to on repeat, and I suggest you do the same. From new Kanye to DJ Mustard and The Weeknd and more, I guarantee you’ll be vibing out to these songs just like me.
Yesterday, I also attended a networking event for millennial women and the lovely Karen Civil was the keynote speaker. Can’t wait to share info about that with you and why you should definitely be following KC on all social media, as well as why you need to buy her book!
Happy Monday, yinz!
In today’s favorites, you can simply listen to the playlist below! While I probably didn’t capture all of my favorite songs, these are the majority of them. You’ll see lots of Drake (obviously), Future, Chris Brown, Ty Dolla $ign, and The Weeknd to name a few.
Happy listening – especially if you’re at work and need something to get lit to while mentally preparing yourself for your New Year’s celebrations. And while I normally give yinz a playlist curated on Soundcloud, that streaming service doesn’t always have the originals of songs. So this time, you’ll have to listen via my YouTube channel. 🙂 Perk: Some tracks include the music video. I’ll be adding throughout the day should I think of any other bangers that dropped this year. Enjoy!
Got the blog going up… on the (last) Tuesday (of 2015).
Happy Monday, yinz! With it being the last full week of 2015, I’m going to do something a little different. Obviously this blog focuses on music, my life, celebrities, and all things digital so I’ll be compiling my top lists of all those topics. I look forward to sharing my favorites with yinz and welcome your faves, as well!
Today’s Serge’s Selections: 2015 Edition are my favorite albums that dropped this year. These are in no specific order because that would take me until December 2016 to do that. Check out my list below, and let me know what you think. Am I missing any of your favorites? Did I include an album you don’t like?
If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late – Drake
I remember exactly where I was when this surprise project dropped. It’s actually the same place I am right now – Agatay’s couch. It was right around Valentine’s Day, and I promise you I stopped what I was doing and just listened to the songs on repeat. Typical. As mentioned before, this was a complete surprise. After Beyonce dropped her surprise self-titled album, Beyonce last year, more and more artists have begun to take that approach. While I do like a good surprise, I do sort of like having a release date as that is something to look forward to. Anywho. IYRTITL put out some bangers and crowd pleasers for sure. Drake nailed it per usual.
What A Time To Be Alive – Drake & Future
Again, I remember where I was when this premiered, as well – in Agatay’s kitchen. The squad, Nick and Parker were over, and we sat around listening to the premiere on OVO Sound Radio and casually sipped some Coors Light. It was lit in the most chill way. Want to talk about bangers though? Listen to WATTBA. ‘Jumpman,’ ‘Big Rings,’ ‘The Plug’… are you kidding me? ‘Big Rings’ is my alarm in the morning because my team needs some really nice things. This project also made me like Future a lot more. Solid.
T R A P S O U L – Bryson Tiller
If you don’t know, now you know. Born in Kentucky and at the young age of only 22, Bryson Tiller is extremely talented, and T R A P S O U L is definitely one of my absolute favorite albums that came out this year. From the intro to the last song, the whole album flows perfectly. It truly lives up to its name – trap beats with a soul sound and flow. I highly suggest you get on the Tiller train.
Dark Sky Paradise – Big Sean
What can I say about this one? While I don’t post often about Big Sean, he is one of my favorite artists. He is a hardworker, gives a lot back to his hometown of Detroit, and can spit some legit rhymes and verses. Not to mention, he’s easy on the eye and has a beautiful smile – see below.
Dark Sky Paradise is another one that has so many hits. From ‘Blessings’ featuring Drake and Kanye to ‘I Don’t F*ck With You’, this is an album I have listened to on repeat multiple times. And we can’t forget about ‘One Man Can Change The World’ featuring John Legend and Kanye West. So so good and motivational – a very special song to Big Sean – it was written in memory of his late grandmother who he was quite close with.
Beauty Behind the Madness – The Weeknd
Cheers to the freaking Weeknd. He has grown so much as an artist and from the numerous articles I’ve read as a person, as well. I mean he used to never even do interviews, and now he’s selling out arenas and going on major city tours. It’s epic. I was lucky enough to see his BBTM tour this month actually with Parker. It was so incredible. Truly a show. This album has given us the very popular hits ‘The Hills’ and ‘Can’t Feel My Face,’ as well as the Fifty Shades of Grey theme song, ‘Earned It,’ which I actually can’t listen to anymore becuase every radio station overplayed it. Like most project of Abel’s, they are dark and filled with lyrics about drugs and sex. The songs on BBTM have more radio hits than his previous work. I love that this album has given him the recognition he deserves.
Rodeo – Travi$ Scott
Holy smokes. I’m listening to this album now actually! Current track: ‘90210.’ I was late to start listening to Travi$, but I am pretty freaking glad I do now. He has such a unique sound but also one that reminds me of Kanye. That could be because Kanye was one of the producers of Rodeo. I was looking forward to seeing Travi$ open for The Weeknd at the Madness Tour but unfortunately missed his performance – he was the opening act and only performed for about 20 minutes. #lame Oh well, I’m sure I’ll be attending another function where he’ll be performing! But yes, you should 100% listen to La Flame ( a nickname of his). It’s lit!
Royalty – Chris Brown
Yes, yes, and yes. Only released a couple weeks ago, I’ve been listening to Chris Brown’s seventh studio album on repeat. ‘Make Love,’ ‘Back to Sleep,’ and ‘Liquor’ are probably my top tracks. Yet again, C. Breezy puts out another legit project. The album is named after his daughter and even has a song dedicated to her. The music video for that is here. She is so cute and seeing them together in this music video is even cuter! I suggest you watch it and listen to the album. 🙂
For those Kendrick fans, yes I realize I didn’t include To Pimp a Butterfly. I just wasn’t able to get into that one. There are songs I love from that project, but not the album from beginning to end. And there are a few more days left in 2015, so if Drake happens to drop Views From the 6, you already know that would be added to this list.
That’s all for today’s Serge’s Selections: 2015 Edition. New list, new topics tomorrow!
Woah! I was not expecting this. Both Eminem and Nicki Minaj have put out remixes to The Weeknd’s ‘The Hills.’
For now, you can only listen to them through Apple Music. I’m not at home right now, but I just purchased the tracks on iTunes, and I really like what I’m hearing so far.
‘The Hills’ Remixes here!
Major congratulations to The Weeknd (@theweeknd)! He is the first solo male artist to top the Artist 100, Hot 100, and Billboard 200 in the same week.
Artist 100 | The Weeknd
Billboard Hot 100 | ‘Can’t Feel My Face’
Billboard 200 | Beauty Behind the Madness
I mean. I’m not lying when I tell you guys he’s talented, and I cannot wait to see him live in December at The Forum! It’s just so wonderful to me that this artist who never liked being in the spotlight, played his deep and dark music, is now holding records with artists like Taylor Swift (she’s the only other act with this same hat trick accomplishment) and who loves being in the public eye.
From billboard.com, here is a breakdown of what each accomplishment means:
“The Artist 100 measures artist activity across Billboard‘s most influential charts, including the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart, Top Album Sales and the Social 50. The Artist 100 blends data measuring album and track sales, radio airplay, streaming and social media fan interaction to provide a weekly multi-dimensional ranking of artist popularity.”
And the ‘Hat Trick’ title of this post is quite fitting since he’s from Canada, the birthplace of hockey. 🙂 Speaking of, I cannot wait for hockey season!
Friday, August 28 is finally here – The Weeknd’s release date for Beauty Behind The Madness (BBTM). You can purchase it (I will be to support) or listen to it on Spotify! Seriously, thank God for that app. It’s the best $9.99 I spend each month.
Beauty Behind The Madness here!
And I also just found a Weeknd Essentials playlist. Holy smokes. If you are a fan of Abel Tesfaye, you should ‘follow’ this playlist. It’s a compilation of his old and newer songs, including tracks from BBTM.
Happy Friday, yinz!
Like I’ve said before, I normally don’t like listening to new albums until the release date, but this one I just can’t wait until Friday for. Thanks to my roommate Kylie and RapFav.com, here is a link where you can stream The Weeknd’s Beauty Behind the Madness album. Listen while you can! You never know – these things tend to get taken down. What tracks are your favorite? Would love to know.
Enjoy, yinz!
Californyinz 