The Incredible Machine

It's arrived! 

The new Sugarland CD came out last week and I had some mixed feelings about it. After listening to it for a week, however, I've come to love it. Let me explain a little more...

I got the CD in the mail and immediately listened to it. Maybe it was the radio I was using, but it didn't sound too great. The speakers were so off and Jennifer Nettles' voice was a whisper compared to the band and the background singers. This was disappointing, especially because I thought I had to have gotten a messed up CD or something. Let's just say, I wasn't happy. I decided to try it again in my laptop and the difference was incredible. It definitely was the radio I was using before, because this time her voice was completely normal and I could actually understand the lyrics. However, I still wasn't all that impressed with their new album, which was extremely disappointing for me. After all,  I had been looking forward to this for months! I chalked it up to the fact that I was listening to it late at night when all I really wanted to do was go to bed. I'd try again the next day.

Listening to it in my car on the way to school the next day made the difference. Now, this was the third time listening to the album, but it was the first time I really got to pay attention to what I was listening to. The thing with Sugarland is this... They are one of my favorite artists -- probably number 2 on my list. Actually, maybe they're tied with Rascal Flatts if you'd believe that. However, most of their songs have never really jumped out at me from the moment I heard them. You know how some songs just catch your attention and become your favorites? Well, Sugarland is the opposite for me. I didn't really start out loving their songs as much as I do now. I learned to love them and appreciate them more with each time I listened. Every time I listen to a Sugarland song I get more out of it than the last time. It's kind of like dating someone you've been friends with for years, ya know? You don't immediately realize the potential of the relationship until it grows into something more after time. Maybe this is an odd way at looking at music, but it's true nonetheless. Don't get me wrong, I've always liked Sugarland's music, I just never really knew how much until I started listening more. The same went for this CD.

The first thing I noticed was that the style of the songs didn't really sound like the Sugarland I know and love. They weren't bad...just different. I must say, it took some getting used to. The usual funny, upbeat songs I'd expect to hear from a Sugarland CD were not what I was listening to. I didn't give up hope though, because the songs were still good, just different. Once I got past the differences it was easier to enjoy the CD and I've probably listened to it over twenty times since last week. It has yet to get old for me.

After all of this, I'd confidently say that the CD is worth buying. My initial disappointment quickly faded and I now love the CD just as much as the others. Some of my top favorite songs on the CD (without saying ALL of them) are:

Every Girl Like Me -- This is by far my favorite song on the album. This is the Sugarland I know and love, with the funny and unique lyrics and catchy beat. I find this song stuck in my head all the time until I get the chance to listen to it again.
Stuck Like Glue -- Of course I have to mention this song. If you've read my blog then you know why and if not, I have a post dedicated to this song and its music video. Check it out if you'd like.
Incredible Machine -- The title of the album and an awesome song. I had heard this song before the album came out so I've loved it for a while.
Wide Open -- Another song I knew beforehand and definitely worth checking out.
Find the Beat Again -- I love that it's so upbeat and it just makes me smile.

These five songs are my favorite, but not necessarily the best. So check out the CD for yourself and find some favorites of your own :)

P.S. It's Keith Urban's 43rd Birthday!!

Love Like Crazy

I know the song isn't even close to being a new release but I feel like I have to talk about it anyway. Love Like Crazy is a song by Lee Brice and was pretty much my favorite song this summer. It played every single day whenever I was in the car and I fell in love with it. My friends and I decided that it was our summer song due to the fact that it played every time we were on the way to the beach, and on the way back.

The song starts with talking about a man who fell in love at seventeen despite what people said about it not working out. He made it fifty-eight years with the same woman and when he gives advice about how it happened, the chorus of the song, he says, "Be a best friend, tell the truth, and overuse 'I love you'. Go to work, do your best, don't outsmart your common sense. Never let your prayin' knees get lazy... and love like crazy." The song goes on to speak about a man who created computers despite what people said about them never taking off. He goes on to sell his "one man shop to Microsoft, and they paid like crazy." Asking how he did it, he breaks into the chorus of the song again.

The point of the song is doing what you're passionate about and not listening when people tell you that you can't do it. It's about the little things such as praying, being a good friend, telling the truth, and loving like crazy that can get you so far in life. With these things, you can't go wrong.

The music video for the song is great in its simplicity. Lee Brice singing, with clips of a couple throughout the years shown every so often. It isn't overdone and yet it's not boring either. It's a good video and I enjoy watching it.

This is really the only song I know by Lee Brice at the moment but for others who enjoy it as much as I do, he has a CD out since June 8th that you can check out titled "Love Like Crazy" after this single. Check it out if you haven't already,  and if you have, let me know how it is cause I'm probably gonna check it out soon too :)

Are You Gonna Kiss Me Or Not?

Keifer and Shawna Thompson -- Thompson Square

I know I haven't written in a while. I've been caught up with school, work, and internet problems but I'm back. I'm going to focus today on Thompson Square's new song titled, "Are You Gonna Kiss Me Or Not?"  It's a fairly new song considering I only heard it for the first time maybe a month ago, which is surprising for someone who listens to the radio as much as I do. At first I didn't really think much of the song. Not that I didn't like it, but I didn't really give it a shot. I barely listened to the lyrics before changing to a song I actually knew...Yes, sometimes I do this when I just feel like singing lyrics I know. But see, I gave it a shot and now it's one of my favorite new songs on the radio.

Are You Gonna Kiss Me Or Not? Music video

The song starts out talking about a girl and guy's first kiss, how nervous the guy is and the girl asking him, "Are you gonna kiss me or not?" quite unexpectedly. As the song progresses, so does their relationship. He asks her to marry him and she replies with...you guessed it, "Are you gonna kiss me or not?" Then at the wedding, their first kiss as husband and wife it was the guy's turn to say, "Are you gonna kiss me or not?" Not gonna lie, I think I'm just a sucker for songs like this.

Thompson Square is a fairly new duo to the country music scene made up of Keifer and Shawna Thompson, husband and wife. They both moved to Nashville at around the same time and met at a singing competition a few days later. They immediately hit it off and are now currently happily married and creating songs that we can all enjoy. They both arrived in Nashville looking to pursue their own solo careers and for a few years they did just that, establishing their own styles, never once thinking that they should get together and form a duet. However, they realized their mistake and soon rectified the situation by forming Thompson Square. When asked about the near-constant togetherness that they would have to experience, Keifer pointed out, "A lot of couples can't be together 24 hours a day -- but for us it doesn't work unless it's like that. So it's perfect. Singing together just completed the puzzle. To be able to share this with the person you'll spend the rest of your life with is a great thing." 


Reading their biography on their website was actually really interesting to me. It's where I got the information for this blog post to be honest. I like reading the background stories of new artists, getting a feel for who they are. So far with everything I've read about Keifer and Shawna Thompson and hearing the songs they sing, I think it will be easy to get into their music.

Another good song by them is, "Let's Fight". I was surprised to find that I know this song. I'm not sure if it is on the radio, though it probably is, but I definitely know it from somewhere. It's pretty good, all about not fighting in a relationship but actually wanting to so that they can make up after.

So check out their biography, check out their songs...who knows, maybe you'll end up liking them if you don't already. I'm definitely looking forward to hearing more from them soon.

Hip to My Heart

The Band Perry - Neil, Kimberly, and Reid

So thinking about a new post for my blog I thought, why not inform others of a new up-and-coming band? A band whose music I'm personally starting to really enjoy. The band is called The Band Perry I'm not joking when I say that their music is quite enjoyable. Right now they have two songs out on the radio that aren't too shabby: "Hip To My Heart" and "If I Die Young" . 

What originally brought my attention to them was the uniqueness of their lyrics. In "Hip To My Heart" the lyrics are upbeat and fun, speaking about the way someone makes you feel when you're falling for them, or already have fallen. Just the overall attitude of the song is lighthearted and enjoyable to listen to, and who really says "brother man" when speaking to someone who is "hip" to their heart? If you don't know what I mean, click on the link and listen to it for yourself.

Their other song "If I Die Young" is on the complete opposite side of the spectrum. Not so fun to listen to, but a beautiful song nonetheless. The first time I heard this song on the radio my friend exclaimed, "It's my song!" Now, if you listen to the lyrics you can imagine that I was more than a little disturbed to hear one of my best friends stating that a song about dying at an early age is "her song." Yet, the song isn't depressing. Maybe it's a morbid fascination but I love it. Kimberly Perry's voice in the song is beautiful and although the song is morbid to the extreme, you can't really help but like it. Or at least, I can't. Not to mention the video is beautifully shot. 

With these two songs on the radio right now, I'm pretty positive that I'm going to be ordering their Debut CD when it comes out on October 12th.

Now for some background information... 

The Band Perry is made up of three siblings: Kimberly, Neil, and Reid. They were born and raised in a small town in Alabama, involved in music from a very early age. During the summer of 2008 after a few years of spending time on the road, working on their sound, The Band Perry met the longtime manager of Garth Brooks, Bob Doyle. After meeting him and partnering up with him and Josh Pegram, The Band Perry spent most of the fall and winter during 2008 writing in Nashville and coming up with songs for their first country recording session. 

"The three of us bring different strengths into the writing room," Neil points out. "Kimberly carries in a bag of melodies and lyrics, Reid always has some really great musical ideas in his back pocket, and I bring in a sense of humor and some thread that ties it all together."

The songs they recorded during their first session caught the ears of Scott Borchetta and Jimmy Harnen, the CEO and President of Republic Nashville. Shortly after they decided to sign The Band Perry to a new label in the summer of 2009. (Information found on The Band Perry website) 

As you can see, The Band Perry seems  to be on the right track for success. I hope this post might get some others to be interested in them like I am cause I'm sure they're going to be great once they're more widely known. 

Well, that's it for tonight. Until next time!