Monthly Mixtape is the first feature I’ve done in a long time, but I could not be more excited to participate in this one! Monthly Mixtape is hosted by Eve @ Twist in the Taile and Evi @ Adventuring Through Pages. Every month they provide a prompt to make a playlist for. You can find the original prompt here. This month’s prompt is luminescence. Here’s my playlist!
pink matter – frank ocean, andre 3000
monday loop – tomppabeats
next lifetime – erykah badu
white mustang – lana del rey
kiwi – wun two
crush – zhane
please, please, please let me get what i want – the smiths
Hey, everyone! It’s been a while, has it not? How are you all? I know I’ve been really inactive lately, and that’s because of all the homework I’ve been getting, which is making me read a lot less, which means I don’t have any new book reviews. On top of that, I haven’t really been in the blogging mood in general 😦 Hopefully I can change all of that, since I’m currently on winter break 😀
To kick off my return, I decided to do a music post, which I found originally at Books, Tea and a Onesie. The post is basically going through the music on your phone/iPod and choosing one for each letter of the alphabet. Here’s her original post, so be sure to check it out! I’m going to cheat a little and use my Spotify library, as my regular library is kind of, ahem, boring at the moment. *sheepish grin* Let’s get started!
That is my music inventory! I tried not to repeat any artists to accurately represent my taste in music, but it was really hard to find some of these songs, so I did have to turn to artists I’d already named. As you can see, I totally failed at finding songs that started with “Q” and “X”. Those are difficult letters!
So, what have you gathered about my music tastes after reading this? XD If you’re interested in any of the songs, I linked all of them to their music videos or lyric videos. Tell me if you recognize any of your favorite songs or artists!
Once again, I’m so, so sorry for being so absent on my blog (and all of yours!). I really do miss reading your posts, and I miss interacting with you all. Luckily, I’m finally on winter break, so I can relax and hopefully get some posts up, and catch up with all of you. Have a merry Christmas, happy holidays, and a happy New Year! I’ll see you next year!
Hello, everyone! I feel like it’s been a while since I’ve last posted. Today I’m here with a weekly wrap up of what I’ve been doing throughout the week. Sunday Funday was created by Cristina @ Girl In The Pages, so go check her out!
Life In Books:
My life in books hasn’t been all that eventful for a while. The last book I completed was The Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan, and I started The Young Elites by Marie Lu. I’ll have to get back to that book soon. It’s really good, but it’s turned me off quite a bit due to its similarities to a couple other books.
I’m looking forward to two new releases this month, though. They actually both come out on October 28, and they are Waterfall by Lauren Kate and In The Afterlight by Alexandra Bracken.
This is actually the first time I’ve seen the cover for Waterfall, and it’s extremely disappointing. I really hate cover changes, especially when they’re bad cover changes. The cover for the first book was so pretty and this is just… meh. I doubt I would have picked up the first book if it had had a cover like this (well, Teardrop had been a Christmas present, but still). I’m hoping the contents of the book are better than the cover.
I’M SO EXCITED FOR THIS BOOK!
That’s all xD
Life In Music:
I discovered a new band that I’m obsessed with, and they are The Pretty Reckless, with Taylor Momsen as their lead singer. I’m in love with this band. They’re so amazing, and I think that Momsen has an amazing voice, especially when she’s singing something acoustic or live. Here are my favorite songs by them at the moment:
Just Tonight (And don’t miss the acoustic version performed by Taylor and her guitarist Ben Phillips! Her voice is so raw, but so, so good.)
I actually bought one of their CDs today, but it ended up being one of their EPs, which was a little disappointing.
I also found a person on YouTube who does fantastic covers of a lot of music I’m into. 😀
Life:
This week I was invited by a friend to attend her church’s Trunk or Treat, which was really fun! I met a lot of nice people and some even recognized me from the previous times I’d been there.
I also had been bitten by the dye bug and felt that it was time to color my hair again, so I decided to bleach my hair again today (a different section!). I ended up washing out the bleach too soon, but the color was much lighter than I’d anticipated regardless, so for that I was happy. I decided to go red this time, but I’m not sure when I’m actually going to dye my hair. Hopefully soon. The products I used (and will be using) are:
L’Oreal Quick Blue bleach
Salon Care 30 Volume developer
Beyond the Zone Color Jamz in Crimson Storm
I got all my products from Sally’s Beauty Supply, and I’m excited to see how the color comes out!
That’s all that went on during my week, other than a ton of homework. What have you been up to? Any good books you read last week, or are there any books you’re looking forward to? Are you a fan of The Pretty Reckless? Have you ever dyed your hair a fun color? Let me know!
Recently on Spotify, I listened to the commentary for Black Veil Brides’ last album, Wretched and Divine. The commentary is told by Andy Biersack, the lead singer of the band.
In the commentary, Biersack talks about each song on the album, and I found it really interesting. I actually listened to it twice. He spoke of dystopian themes that ran through the tracks not once, but several times during the commentary.
Throughout the album there are these short speech-like things that made it feel like we were hearing what the characters in the story, the music, were hearing from their leaders, if that makes any sense. Here’s a quote from “F.E.A.R. Transmission 1: Stay Close,” one of the tracks on the album:
“We expect a battle for humanity is about to begin. Within each uprising, a vague sense of safety will ignite in you, an unseen shadowy sliver of doubt, towards those who protect and defend you. Let the thoughts slip away, and remain calm. Stay close to fear, only we can protect.”
This reminded me of one of the Mockingjay – Part 1 teaser trailers, the one with President Snow talking.
It made me think of other artists that may have sung potentially dystopic (is that a word?) lyrics. Here are some examples of songs that made me think, “Ooh, this is very dystopian.”
“It’s a beautiful lie / It’s a perfect denial / Such a beautiful lie to believe in…” -30 Seconds To Mars, “A Beautiful Lie“
I’ve found that with the dystopian societies in the books we read, we can categorize them into two categories (maybe even subcategories): There are the dystopian societies that want to make its inhabitants believe that everything is being run smoothly, that everything is perfect the way it is and they have nothing to question, and the main characters in these books don’t question anything and they believe what their rulers are telling them. Books with that kind of society are Matched, Divergent, Delirium, Uglies. In these books, everyone lives a relatively fair lifestyle. Divergent may be somewhere in between this first example and my next example, though, the societies that have a sort of caste system in place, something that determines the rank of each citizen. Books that feature this kind of society include The Hunger Games, Legend, The Selection. The main characters in these stories know that the world they live in is a pretty screwed up place.
The song “A Beautiful Lie” reminded me of my first example, because the main characters are believing in mere lies that their leaders have ingrained in them. Then they might meet someone (probably a guy), who tells them that the world they’re living in isn’t the perfect place they believe it to be. In comes the “denial” part, because the characters want to hold onto everything they’ve known. But, like all dystopian books, the proverbial rug is pulled from beneath our main character’s feet, and their world explodes into chaos.
“Hold on to the world we all remember fighting for / There’s some strength in us yet / Hold on to the world we all remember dying for / There’s some hope left in it yet.” -Flyleaf, “Arise“
In my copy of Divergent, Veronica Roth actually talked about how this song provided some inspiration for the book. And if you think about these lyrics, and then the series as a whole, you’ll realize that it does explain the books a little. I think this applies to pretty much all dystopian books. There’s an overall pattern with the genre. The main character happens to ask a question or does something that leads to the unraveling of his/her perfect image of their society, there’s a war, an uprising, whatever you’d like to call it, and in the end, one side wins, the other loses.
“Oh, I hate your static pace / You ask no questions, let things be.” -Icon For Hire, “Nerves“
There are several lyrics in this song that I could use in place of this particular line. I actually feel like Icon For Hire sings about themes similar to this in quite a few of their songs.
In these futuristic societies, we are shown that what sparks the “uprising” is when someone questions the rules, or when someone does something against the “norm.” Gale from The Hunger Games, for example, is a very, very outspoken character. We see this in the beginning of the book, when he’s ranting about the Capitol. *Spoilers for THG: At the end of THG, to get around the rules set in place for the Hunger Games, Katniss and Peeta decide that they were going to swallow those berries (nightlock, was it?) in order to get a sympathetic reaction from the capital. Their plans work, obviously, because they ended up staying alive by the end of the book. End of Spoilers*
I feel like it’s occurrences like these that spark the rebellion.
Other lyrics that I’ll mention but not delve into completely are,
“Tell me how has it taken so long for me to open up my eyes? / How has it taken so long for me to finally realize? / And when they all turn against you, you better be prepared to fight…” -Sleeping With Sirens, “Four Corners and Two Sides“
“They’re gonna clean up your looks with all the lies in the books to make a citizen out of you / Because they sleep with a gun, and keep an eye on you, son, so they can watch all the things you do.” -My Chemical Romance, “Teenagers“
I hope this post was somewhat insightful and got you thinking. 😀 What are your thoughts on this? I found it really interesting. Keep in mind that these are just my interpretations, and I could have totally missed the mark.
This post turned out much longer than I’d originally anticipated, and I’m definitely going to have to proofread this a few times, because I’m so sleep-deprived. Hopefully I don’t miss any half-written sentences that make no sense because I was trying to be fancy, haha. But this topic popped into my head, and I suddenly got in a blogging mood.
If you don’t have a Spotify account and don’t have access to Wretched and Divine, but are curious to hear it, you can find it here on YouTube, and in the description bar below the video, you can find a list of all the tracks and their times so you can skip around and listen to the songs however you please.
Also, I’m sorry if you’re sick of the word “society” after this jumble of weird thoughts I’ve just thrown at you. Believe me, I am, too. I really should have pulled out a thesaurus…
Sunday Funday is a weekly meme created by Cristina @ Girl in the Pages as a way to reflect on the bookish and non-bookish happenings that occurred during your week!
Life:
This week I dyed some of my bangs blue, and I really like it! I’ve had experience with hair coloring a few months ago, but the color began to fade, so I decided I wanted to color my hair again.
I also had a really big shopping day yesterday, which was fun! We went to the mall, starting with the bookstore (I’ll get to that in a minute) and worked our way all around. I ended up getting a few books, a pocket watch (I’ve been wanting a pocket watch since I was a kid, haha), and I even got a new piercing, which was an unexpected yet awesome surprise.
(Side note: The pocket watch makes me feel like a fictional character from the past. EVERYTHING I’VE ALWAYS WANTED.)
Life in Books:
Last week on Tuesday, the fifth installment to the Bloodlines series, Silver Shadows, was released. I unfortunately wasn’t able to get the book right away, but I have it now!
I also told you in my last post that I found Opposition by Jennifer L. Armentrout early, which was insane. Just freaking insane. Either I still have the release date wrong (but on Goodreads and the B&N site, it says August 5), or I actually found this book early.
I found it early.
Omg. I am a very happy human.
I’m also participating in the Dusting off the Shelf read-a-thon (these new books are really making my priorities unclear), which is being hosted by the lovely Emily!
Life in Music:
While at Barnes & Noble, I wandered into the music section and got myself a good pair of earphones. I’ve been going off the cheap ones for a while now, and if you don’t know that feeling of using two working earphones, it’s an AWESOME feeling. I’m not even exaggerating (maybe a little :/). But still. New earphones are always a great thing to get. 😀
And that’s everything interesting that went on this week! I hope you guys had an awesome week, and tell me what you did this week. If you do weekly wrap-ups or participate in Sunday Funday, leave me a link to check out your post!
This is my first Sunday Funday, but I’ve been reading a few of them for a couple of weeks now. I first discovered it over at Stefani’s blog, but it was originally created by Cristina 😀 Let’s get started!
Life:
Nothing unusual has been going on in “normal” life, lol. Last Sunday I did make an Instagram account, though, so that was pretty unusual for me. I’ve also been really into the Subway pastrami sandwiches. SO GOOD. And so filling.
I’ve also been really into hair dye! Heheh, yes. A little while ago (maybe a month ago?) I dyed my hair blue, which was the first unnatural color I’d dyed my hair. I used a light blue first, and then I went over it a day after with a darker, more-vibrant blue. Now it’s just green (go figure xD), but I still love the splash of color it brings.
Life in Books:
I had a pretty darn good week in books if I do say so myself! I was aware of BookTubeathon, which ended on Sunday, but I was kind of being lazy and thought of joining in at the last minute, but ended up not. For one thing, I literally just got out of the worst reading slump ever, and I didn’t want to do anything that might make that happen again. Forcing myself to read as much as possible isn’t exactly going to make books land on my good side. It would have ended up a big, stressful mess. But—congrats to all of those who did participate! Tell me what you read!
As for what I read this week, let me tell you:
I finished Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder, which is a huge weight off my shoulders. If you didn’t know, I’ve been reading this book since last October (read from: 10/7/13 – 7/18/14), which is shameful, but hey, I was being forced to read a book I didn’t like. What can you expect? XD
I then read Demonglass by Rachel Hawkins (read from: 7/17 – 7/19), which was freaking AMAZING. Like, go read this book if you haven’t. It was great. I already ordered the next book from my library, but sadly, I have to wait for someone else to read it before me D:
I also just finished Inexcusable by Chris Lynch (read from: 7/19 – 7/21), which I, unfortunately did not enjoy. People agree that it would be a good companion to Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak, which I really liked (Kristen Stewart was great in that movie :O).
I’m not going to put up a full review of this book, mainly because I didn’t really take enough notes to put together a substantial review. I will tell you literally the only thing I liked about Inexcusable: the thought style highly impersonated that of Holden Caulfield, my favorite sulker and main character of The Catcher in the Rye. That was literally the first thing I thought of when I started reading this book.
Inexcusable offered me the very first chance to use my TBR wineglass! I’m really trying to get through those books that I keep buying. The next book I chose was Frostbite by Richelle Mead, and I’m quite eager to start this book because I’m loving Richelle Mead right now 😀
So that’ll be my next read.
Aside from that, I started rereading Twilight… I was very bored. And that book can be somewhat addictive. I don’t know what it is. Maybe it’s because it’s so easy to read. Simple plot, simple writing style, and it’s (for me) calming. I DON’T KNOW.
Now… I’m going to reveal a secret… you may laugh. I recently picked up this book at the library. I was curious, okay?! *shies away as I reveal the book*
The title of this book is so freaking long. Rebels: City of Indra, The Story of Lex and Livia.
But, yes, I’m attempting to read this. And I’ve already found several Legend comparisons (yes, Marie Lu’s Legend), and I’m not really enjoying it. I wish I hadn’t heard who the “authors” were, then maybe I could go into this with a clear mind. Gahh.
I also am participating in my library’s Summer Reading Program, which started in early June, but unfortunately, I was going through slumpiness. But I’ve read and reviewed five books already, so I get a prize! Last year I got free books, so my fingers are crossed, though that’s not exactly helping Project Finish the Books You Hoard.
(My life in books last week was really long!)
And last but not least, I went to Barnes & Noble and picked up a bunch of, uh… chapter samplers and sneak peaks… *covers face with hands* I’m not even a sampler person. So why did I pick up these free samplers? Well, there were a few authors I recognized. I got a Young Elites sneak peak, which is the first book in Marie Lu’s new series that I’m super excited about 😀 Also, Ally Condie has a new book coming out!!! As in Matched Ally Condie! Look:
I also managed to snag an “If I Stay” poster and a poster for “The Infinite Sea”, which is the second book in the 5th Wave series (which I still have to read… I still have to read “If I Stay”, too… *facepalm*The chapter samplers/sneak peaks are pretty darn generous! They’re pretty thick for samplers.
Life in Music:
I had a pretty awesome music week! I got the chance to go to Hot Topic, one of the awesomest (I just made that a word) stores on the planet 😀 I got some band merch, and shirts were buy one, get one half-off, so I was a happy camper! Here are the shirts I got:
I got a Sleeping With Sirens shirt and a Panic! At The Disco shirt, which I LOVE. I can’t wait to wear them 😀
I also discovered a song with lyrics that I think are just amazing. Just so beautiful and it’s a really touching song, I think. It’s called Free Now by Sleeping With Sirens. Here’s a lyric from the song:
“I wrote this song for my mother
I wrote this song for our father
So hopefully we can come together
And hopefully make things a little better.”
The message in this song is amazing, and I love it.
Another lyric-y thing that I discovered this week, though I think this also should be in my Life in Books section, is that I found these interesting lyrics:
“They’re gonna clean up your looks
With all the lies in the books
To make a citizen out of you
Because they sleep with a gun
And keep an eye on you, son
So they can watch all the things you do.” -My Chemical Romance, “Teenagers”
This song really reminds me of that Twilight Zone episode (one of the newish ones that aired years ago), where that family moved to the gated community because their teenage daughter was getting out of control, and they pretty much stripped her of her tattoos and her CDs and her hair dye and everything and I LOVED THAT EPISODE. I also loved the episode with Jessica Simpson and the creepy Barbie dolls
But more importantly, these lyrics reminded me of… dystopian worlds. Think about it… Now let it sink in…
Are you mind blown? XD
And that was my week in review! It came out to be much longer than I’d anticipated, so if you made it this far, you get a cookie! If you skimmed, you still get a cookie 😀 Withholding cookies is a horrible thing to do >.<
What was your week like? Let me know in the comments, or link me to your Sunday Fundays, if you participated. I’d love to know!
So I saw this really cool thing going around the internet (kind of…) called the iPod Shuffle Game: A Lyrical Poem. It seems really cool, and I love these types of games, so I’m going to do it!
The Rules:
I’m going to modify this slightly by using Spotify, because all of the music from my iPod is years old, and I haven’t actually listened to those songs in a really long time. So, Spotify! Let’s go!
I wrote this song for my father
Oh no, I just keep on falling
Smiles and her laughter
I breathe you in with smoke in the backyard lights
Your magic, white rabbit
I know I’ve been mistaken
If I was Jay-Z, you’d be my Beyoncé
Screaming on the inside, I am frail and withered
We could just go home right now
It’s taken a lifetime to lose my way
Well… that came out interestingly. Here are the songs I used:
Free Now by Sleeping With Sirens — “I wrote this song for my father”
Born For This by Paramore — “Oh no, I just keep on falling”
Emily by From First To Last — “Smiles and her laughter”
Bulletproof Love by Pierce The Veil — “I breathe you in with smoke in the backyard lights”
White Rabbit by Egypt Central — “Your magic, white rabbit”
Right Here by Staind — “I know I’ve been mistaken”
Boomerang by The Summer Set — “If I was Jay-Z, you’d be my Beyoncé”
Into The Nothing by Breaking Benjamin — “Screaming on the inside, I am frail and withered”
Here’s To Us by Halestorm — “We could just go home right now”
Fix Me by 10 Years — “It’s taken a lifetime to lose my way”
That was pretty fun, though! I love doing music games like this. Have you ever done this? If not, you should! Also, do you recognize any of these artists/songs? Let me know in the comments!
-littleonion
Oh, and good luck to anyone who’s participating in BookTubeathon!!!
Hey, everyone! So, summer approaches—the school year is coming to an end (or some of you may already be done with school), the temperature is rising, and we are freeeeee!… for unlimited time on the Internet and reading and stuff… Just kidding!
Anyway, the idea struck me the other day to create a summer playlist, as I was listening to some summer-esque songs, and couldn’t help myself! So I created a playlist on Spotify called Summer 2014 Playlist, so check that out if you want! I’ll definitely be adding to it, so it’s going to blossom 😀 (Note that not all of these songs were released in 2014. I just thought they had that summery vibe :D)
The only thing is, you’ve got to have a Spotify account to listen DX I wish that weren’t the case, but oh, well. If you do have a Spotify account and you want to listen to my playlist, tell me what you think!
For those of you who don’t have a Spotify account but would like to know some songs on the playlist, I’ll tell you a few of them!
EDIT: I remembered I have an 8tracks account and was able to put most of the songs from my original Summer 2014 Playlist onto another playlist over on 8tracks. I wasn’t able to get all of the songs, but most of them are there! You can listen to it here, and it isn’t required to have an account to listen to it 😀 I hope you enjoy!
Before making this playlist, I made a list of songs, which I found by listening to my local alternative station (which I haven’t listened to in forever—I don’t really listen to the radio much), Pandora, Songza, and iHeartRadio. Then, I made the playlist. I discovered quite a few artists that I’d never heard of, or that I had heard of, but had never checked out.
For my playlist, I have them mentally divided into daytime/afternoon songs and evening/nighttime songs. Lol, I don’t know why, but that’s just how I roll XD
1. “Terrible Love” by Birdy — I had heard of Birdy before, but I’d never checked out her music. IT’S WONDERFUL, OMG. I have a few Birdy songs on this playlist. I love her sound, it’s very mellow. I’d probably consider this an afternoon song… but maybe like a gray summer afternoon…
2. “That’s Not My Name” by The Ting Tings — I remember this song from YEARS ago! It totally brings back memories. I remember my friends and I were into this song when it came out. And we could barely understand the lyrics. In fact, I only just looked up the lyrics for the first time yesterday, lol. Good times 😀 Anyway, I find this song more of a daytime song.
3. “Sail” by AWOLNATION — A night song, definitely! I remember when this came out, I was SO SICK of it because the radio stations would not stop playing it! That’s part of the reason I’m not that into Lorde, though I do have one of her songs on my playlist.
4. “Bangarang” by Skrillex — I’ve heard of Skrillex, but I’ve never really been into his music. This is the only song I really like by him. I can’t decide if this is a daytime song or a nighttime song… I think it’s got both a night and day feel. What do you think? (Or am I weird for categorizing music by times of the day? XD)
5. “My Sweet Summer” by The Dirty Heads — I only know one other Dirty Heads songs, “Lay Me Down,” which I think is another summery song. I only just heard “My Sweet Summer” and I think it’s fitting for this playlist, haha. I think this is more of a night song.
6. “Goddess” by Banks — I discovered Banks from her song, “Waiting Game.” I really love that song, and I think this song is just as awesome. It’s got a slower beat, which I like. In my opinion, it’s another night song XD
7. “Heads Will Roll” by Yeah Yeah Yeahs — I love this song. Abfab, mah friends. It’s great! It’s got more of an electric feel. Kinda dance-y. Though the lyrics are a bit odd… This is a night song.
8. “Big Jet Plane” by Angus & Julia Stone — I was first introduced to this song on my favorite radio station months ago, and it’s just so peaceful and mellow. I feel like I’m slowly getting more and more into peaceful songs, though I still enjoy my Three Days Grace and Halestorm 😀 “Big Jet Plane” has an afternoon feel, I think. It’s really pretty ^.^
9. “Do You Love Me Like You Used To” by Best Coast — I discovered Best Coast back in March when I heard their song “When I’m With You.” They have a beachy sound, which I’m really enjoying. It kind of reminds me of Gidget (if y’all have ever watched that show). Daytime song!
10. “Back to the River” by Lily & Madeleine — Okay, this song—IT’S SO PRETTY. I love the sound. It’s, once again, very mellow and relaxing. I could listen to this song over and over… well, maybe not, because then I wouldn’t like it, but you get my point, lol. I think this is an evening song.
I think I have a thing for “night” songs! Or that may just be because I prefer night to day for some reason.
Another song I’d add to this playlist is “In The Dark” by JoJo (I’ve been a fan of hers for years), but I, unfortunately, can’t add this to the playlist because it’s not available on Spotify. I haven’t heard this song since it came out a few years ago, but I reeeeeallllly like it 😀
Well, that’s all for now! What do you think of my choices? Do you recognize any of these songs or artists? What songs would be on your summer playlist? Let me know!
Lately I’ve been listening to a lot of older music, and I’ve been recognizing a lot of these older songs. Why? Because their remakes are some of my favorites. I think it’s crazy the amount of songs I know that have borrowed from older songs.
I’ve put together a small list of some songs that have been remade or sampled. Let’s see what I’ve got! I’ll put in some links with the songs that’ll take you to its YouTube video if you’re interested in listening to any of these.
1. “Video Killed The Radio Star” (1979) by The Buggles was the first music video that aired on MTV on August 1, 1981. I don’t watch MTV (do they even air music videos on that channel anymore?), but that’s really cool that this is the music video that got the ball rolling! The song kind of describes how music formats have changed. The lyrics in the chorus go, “Video killed the radio star.”
In Yelawolf’s song “Radio,” some lyrics in the chorus go, “Internet killed the radio star/And YouTube killed the video star.” I don’t know if this counts as sampling (or as a remake), but it kind of follow’s the pattern of “Video Killed The Radio Star.” And, it’s kind of interesting to see how technology has progressed.
Nicki Minaj’s song “Check It Out” uses the “oh, oh” part from The Buggles’ song. I had no idea! Back when I was a big Nicki Minaj fan, this was one of my favorite songs. I still play it sometimes, just for the fun of it 😀
2. “Straight up” (1988) by Paula Abdul is a song I actually recognized—but not because of the phrases that were borrowed in a more recent rap song. I have this Paula Abdul cassette, and I have listened to it back when I had a radio that could play CDs and cassettes, so this song might have been on there.
Anyway, J. Cole sang the “straight up, now tell me, do you really wanna love me forever” part in his song, “Work Out.” I’ve never been a fan of this song, but it was popular on the radio a couple of years ago.
3. “Ring of Fire” (1963) by Johnny Cash is the original, though there have been other remakes, such as Social Distortion’s remake. I actually really like both versions. Johnny Cash’s version is really starting to grow on me.
4. “Careless Whisper” (1984) by George Michael is a song that’s been covered by many other artists. The version I believed to be the original, though, was Seether’s remake. Again, I really like both versions, though the older version is really growing on me 😀 Really diggin’ George Michael’s ‘do and earrings in the original video.
5. “Smooth Criminal” (1987) by Michael Jackson is an awesome song! When I first heard it after being so used to the Alien Ant Farm remake, I didn’t like it, but as I listen to it more and more, yep, you got it, it’s growing on me. LOL. When I first heard “Smooth Criminal,” I heard the Alien Ant Farm version, and I now find it weird that I didn’t hear Michael Jackson’s version on the station because this is the station that introduced me to Pat Benatar.
6. “The Boys of Summer” (1984) by Don Henley is a song I was recently introduced to through Spotify. I recognized it, though, because I’m very obsessed with the remake The Ataris made. I don’t think I have to tell you that I like both versions very much 😀
7. “Our Lips Are Sealed” (1981) by The Go-Go’s was a song I was very excited to recognize. Why? Because as a kid, I was OBSESSED with the Hilary and Haylie Duff version. In fact, even the music videos are similar. This is such a fun song, though, you can’t help but love it (well, I can’t help but love it, lol). And I was a big Hilary Duff fan. I remember when I was younger, my mom recorded Hilary Duff’s sweet sixteen TV show thing on a video tape(!!!). Unfortunately, I think it was recorded over I also still have her Metamorphosis CD, which is awesome. Plus, I was a Lizzie McGuire fan… yeah…
9. “Dream On” (1973) by Aerosmith is a song I was introduced to through Eminem’s song “Sing For The Moment” (one of his best songs, in my opinion). I actually hadn’t known it was sampled until I heard it on the radio at a friend’s house. And that’s when I fell in love with the original 😀
10. “Your Love” (1985) by The Outfield is another original I recently discovered and recognized. I was listening to the Punk Goes Classic Rock album when I heard the I See Stars remake of this song, which I enjoyed immensely.
11. “Take On Me” (1985) by a-ha is not a song I recognized. I did, however, recognize the beginning of it, which Pitbull Christina Aguilera used in their song “Feel This Moment.” I really like Christina Aguilera’s parts in this song.
12. “Walking On Sunshine” (1985) by Katrina & The Waves is a song I’ve been familiar with for a while, because it was used in the beginning of Eddie Murphy’s movie Daddy Day Care, one that I saw in the theaters a looooong time ago. But I was more familiar with the Aly & AJ cover. Good times 😀
And that’s my list! I hope you enjoyed reading. One of the things I love about older music is how the recordings aren’t as clear as they are now, if you know what I mean. But all of these songs that borrowed from other songs put their own little twist, especially the covers! Have I stirred any memories with the old music? How about the more modern music? Do you know any remakes or songs with snippets of other songs in them? I know this is pretty common in the rap genre. Let me know your thoughts!
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I also still have her Metamorphosis CD, which is awesome. Plus, I was a Lizzie McGuire fan… yeah…
littleonionwrites 
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