Tag: music | Amy C. Shaw

Fave Five: Summer Songs

August 6, 2018 • 0 Comments

Once upon a time, I decided I wanted to start a feature called Fave 5, and then proceeded to only do the feature twice, both times involving trips I took. But I wanted to revive it again to talk about the music I have been enjoying this year, particularly this summer.

My relationship with music is when I love it I LOOOOOVE it, but I listen to a very limited group of artists and have a particular taste that I don’t even know how to quantify. To make this list more diverse, I decided to limit my list to to songs that have been officially released as singles (not necessarily radio singles, just released singles) so they wouldn’t all just be from the forthcoming The Gray Havens album I’ve had the pleasure of obtaining early as a Kickstarter backer. Also, to keep it in the summer theme, I limited myself to music released this year, so I couldn’t put any of Echosmith’s music from their EP released last fall even though I’ve listened to it a good bit this summer. On to my choices, in no particular order.

1. Magnetic by Phillip Phillips

Hello, saxophone. Seriously, I’ve seen Phillip Phillips in concert twice now and his band is incredible, and they’re on full display in this song.

2. Over My Head by Echosmith

I really enjoy Echosmith and this is such a fun song. I’m looking forward to their new project whenever it releases.

3. Better Than I Used to Be by Mat Kearney featuring Afsheen

While he’s not what I consider one of my favorite artists, I do enjoy a lot of Mat Kearney’s songs and I just love the vibe of this particular song. I practically had it on repeat during my vacation in Destin in May.

4. Forever On Your Side by Needtobreathe featuring JohnnySwim

This is the title track of Needtobreathe’s new EP and it definitely has a fun vibe to it. I also enjoy the accompaniment on it from Johnnyswim, and look forward to seeing them perform this song live together later this month when I see them in concert!

5. Storehouse by The Gray Havens

I am 110% obsessed with this song. It’s definitely a Christian song with the theme of repentance and redemption, but even if you’re not a Christian you might still enjoy listening to it once for its cool vibe. This is exactly why I love The Gray Havens, because they write very spiritually mature lyrics and pair them with very masterful, artful music, unlike many other Christian artists I won’t name who are fond of the copy & paste functions and chord charts (which I’m not completely hating on but it does get a little old). Their new album with this song comes out in October, and if you like this song you should pre-order the album because the whole thing is AMAZING.

What have you been listening to this summer? (Chances are I haven’t heard of it because I’m oblivious to popular music but share anyway!)

Monthly Recap: October

November 15, 2017 • 0 Comments

I’m embarrassed that I waited even longer on this recap than I did last month. In fairness, I am pretty busy with NaNoWriMo this month, and have been about 65% successful in not letting the Internet distract me too much, which is quite an accomplishment! But enough about today, let’s look back at October…

Books I Read

The Distance Between Lost and Found by Kathryn Holmes

Finish: Give Yourself the Gift of Done by Jon Acuff

The Knowing by Sharon Cameron

Turtles All the Way Down by John Green

#bookstagram Images of the Month

Watched

The Orville, some Discovery but we gave up when our free trial ended, and Designated Survivor. And The World Series because my Astros were in it! OK, I haven’t really followed them much since I moved to TN, but I was a big fan when I lived in Houston and was so excited for them!

October Happenings

I saw Needtobreathe at the Ryman in Nashville! It was great as usual! They’re coming back in December but the show sold out so fast I couldn’t get tickets. *tears* I’m really glad I was able to make it to this show though!

The Friday before Halloween we were allowed to dress up at work, so I kept my costume simple but appropriate by going as Hermione.

Music

Listened a good bit to Echosmith’s new EP Inside A Dream (well, it doesn’t seem new now that they just released a Christmas EP I’m gonna have to check out) and Needtobreathe’s EP Hard Cuts: Songs from the Hard Love Sessions.

I won’t pretend I’m going to post again this month, because one again, I’m trying to get a first draft written. But I’ll leave you with a visual image of my WIP and say that I fully intend to post more than once next month, especially as it will be time to reflect on the best books I read this year!

How was your October? Did you do anything fun for Halloween?

The Top 10 (Or 11) Songs I Wish Were Books

February 16, 2016 • 12 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week’s topic is books we’d give theme songs to or 10 songs I wish that were books. I decided to make book covers based off of ~~ten~~ eleven songs (I was going to do 10 but had one more I really wanted to add and didn’t want to cut anything…) that I thought would be interesting YA books. I will warn you that my taste in music is pretty limited and not very hip, though I tried to list a couple artists outside my usual go-to. I also initially didn’t want to repeat artists but ended up repeating a few anyway. I created a playlist on Spotify with these 11 songs if you want to listen through them; hope you enjoy!

Also, with the exception of the image for the Renegades cover, which comes from Unsplash, all photos are from the super talented Wyn Wiley Photography.

1. Silhouettes by Of Monsters and Men

It’s so hard letting go/I’m finally at peace, but it feels wrong

2. Tell Her You Love Her by Echosmith

When she says she needs you/Tell her you need her, too/You tell her clearly/Speak what your heart wants you to/Tell her she’s lovely/Always tell her the truth/When she says she loves you/Tell her you love her, too

3. A Sky Full of Stars by Coldplay

‘Cause you’re a sky, cause you’re a sky full of stars/I’m gonna give you my heart/’Cause you’re a sky, cause you’re a sky full of stars/’Cause you light up the path/I don’t care, go on and tear me apart/I don’t care if you do/’Cause in a sky, cause in a sky full of stars/I think I saw you

4. Closer to Me by The Fray

Have you ever done something so wrong?/Won’t you come a little bit closer to me?/Come a little bit closer

5. Washed by the Water by Needtobreathe

Daddy was a preacher/She was his wife/Just trying to make the world a little better/You know, shine a light/People started talking/Just to hear their own voice/Those people tried to accuse my father/Said he made the wrong choice/Though it might be painful/You know that time will always tell/Those people have long since gone/My father never failed

6. Hazel by Phillip Phillips

But I know that they sun will shine for me/Even when the skies are gray/But I feel like I’m missing something/But the bridges built narrow ways

7. Souvenirs by Switchfoot

I close my eyes and go back in time/I can see you smiling, you’re so alive/We were so young, we had no fear/We were so young, we had no idea/That life was just happening

8. Renegades by X Ambassadors

Run away with me/Lost souls and reverie/Running wild and running free/Two kids, you and me/And I say/Hey, hey hey hey/Living like we’re renegades

9. Paradise by Coldplay

When she was just a girl she expected the world/But it flew away from her reach/So she ran away in her sleep and dreamed of/Para-para-paradise, para-para-paradise, para-para-paradise/Every time she closed her eyes

10. Haley by Needtobreathe

If you don’t know just how you feel/Don’t say those sweet things/That you know I’d wanna hear/If you don’t know just what to think/Then put your thoughts away/And keep them out of reach/Haley don’t hurt me, if you don’t know/I could of moved on a long time ago/You’re undecided, your eyes still show/Haley don’t hurt me if you don’t know

11. Up To You by Echosmith

Want you to come back to me/Oh ’cause you wanted to, not ’cause you needed to/You’re all that I need/Oh and I love you/Yes I love you/I wear my heart on my sleeve/It’s just what I do/But if there’s too much to leave/Won’t hold it against you/It’s all up to you

Which is your favorite song on this list? Which is your favorite cover?

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