MY MUSIC TASTE

Whilst watching the Graham Norton Show a few weeks ago, I heard Neil Diamond’s new song ‘Something Blue’. The song is catchy, has a good beat and is uplifting. Neil’s music has never really interested me, but this particular track makes me feel good and I have to admit I have to sway whilst listening to it. Usually I like all types of music, but I just didn’t think that Neil Diamond’s genre was my thing, but perhaps I was shown wrong. To me, the appeal is that the lyrics fit together and it’s easy to sing along to. During my car journeys I do put on my iPod and sing to a lot of songs as I go down the road and this is definitely something that wouldn’t be skipped.


Another singer that I’ve recently really gotten into is a guy called Sam Smith. He has a soulful voice and his songs are often to do with heartbreak but they’re really lovely to listen to nonetheless. The song that I personally love the most is one called ‘Stay with Me’; the situation he describes is a one night stand leaving him. The music is just beautiful, with just the right amount of instruments and a lovely piano playing throughout. Personally, choirs in songs really work for me – they make the song a lot more personal and the extra definition that some songs don’t have is definitely there in this song. His whole album is a bit like this song, but for me, it took several listens for me to really get into it.


 If you’ve read the blog, it’s probably quite obvious to you that I’m a classical music geek, but I actually really like house music. The beat is constant and you can really get into a mix that goes on for about 2 hours. I have to admit that the music genre isn’t for everyone, but I’m quite an open person to music and I really enjoy it. Recently I met a lot of new people, and whilst I was away staying in a hotel we went clubbing one night – I went with about 20 people and the music we had on before we went out was house music, and it was really good.


 From one extreme to another (I suppose), there is a guy called Lewis Watson; whom I’m not really sure whether I’ve mentioned before. Lewis is a singer-songwriter from Oxford and he does very acoustic and a bit indie music. I love his music and I have been following his music releases for years – I’ve seen him at least 3 times live and am going again in December. Back in May I went to a gig where he played through his entire new album which wasn’t for release yet. It was a really great evening and I met him for the first time because my friend was really keen. What I like about him, is that he’s original and he’s coming up from the bottom. The problem I have with programs like X Factor is that the guys that go on it didn’t build up from the bottom, it was almost instant fame and it’s only a small proportion that go onto get a proper lasting career in the public eye. Take Shayne Ward for example, I remember him because I am a bit of a geek with that sort of thing, but you probably don’t remember him.

One of my favourite bands is one called Out of the Blue. They are an acapella group from Oxford and Oxford Brookes universities, and they are amazing. Recently, they did a charity single for Helen and Douglas Hospice and it has got around 4 million views of YouTube. That is partly because Shakira saw it and then tweeted it as it has a medley of her songs. But it is an amazing arrangement and I really like their music. I saw them live in the New Theatre in Oxford, and the group changes every year, it was really good but I haven’t been since unfortunately. They’re really good and they release an album every year which is really lovely and fresh.


Whilst I’m thinking about it, there is another amazing acapella group called Pentatonix. They have done really well and went on a talent competition in America where they won; the group gained a lot of recognition from that. Personally, I think partly the reason is that they’re all amazing. Plus, they did a video called ‘The Evolution of Music’ which was amazing and has 50 million hits.


This blog post idea began as a review of some albums that I’ve heard recently, but actually it ended up as just a mash-up of loads of interesting people and groups that you might not have heard about if you didn’t read this. Enjoy listening to the links!

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