if you watched the ama's....

...you will get this post. if you didn't, you probably won't.

these are my unfiltered thoughts of the american music awards:

• rhianna's mom- totally adorable. her praise and thanks to God looked like it wasn't well received by her daughter but i thought it was fabulous. 
• christina- stop acting. let the song speak for itself. you sound great, though.
• imagine dragons- such an intense performance, what i was hoping for from them. i also wikipedia'd the lead singer during the performance and learned he was a mormon missionary...so that's something.
• taylor- i am glad you've stopped pretending to be so overly excited when you win an award. i'm also glad that they didn't show you at all during 1D's performance....
• speaking of 1D- painfully repetitive song but holy cow are you all attractive. 
• luke bryan- performed well and got male country artist of the year. and when he thanked God i turned to my roommate and said, "that's why i love country music." true story.
• naya rivera- woah girl, why bother wearing anything? 
• pitbull- i feel like your song with ke$ha is dirty but i don't really know and i am not sure i want to explore it further. 
• miley- you killed it. i thought the cat was dumb but you killed it.
• macklemore & ryan lewis- you look like you are having SO MUCH FUN when you perform. thanks for making it look like you have the best job in the world because we all believe you do. also, nice psa. 
• joan jett and dave grohl- long live rock 'n roll. 
• lady gaga- what? 
• justin timberlake- that's neat that you got all your friends to join you on stage for an old fashioned speakeasy. also, why did you never thank your wife? you got like 12 speeches. you, me, and jimmy fallon should hang out sometime. 
• sarah silverman- rhianna does feel the irony. 

the end.

xo

adam levine, sexiest man.

adam levine was just named people magazine's "sexiest man" of 2013.
i can't lie, i think the man is gorgeous.

photo credit: the internet

the stubble.
the tattoos.
the swagger.
the voice.
he oozes charisma and charm.
and let's be honest, he is the ONLY member of maroon 5 that anyone knows.
so i am not hating on the choice.
many are though with one of my favorite comments of someone calling him "ultra-douche adam levine." i admit that he's made some unsavory life choices but that doesn't change the fact that if he gave me a hug (after picking me to be on his team on the voice, naturally) i would probably go weak in the knees.
the choice just makes sense so there really isn't much to talk about.

what i found way more interesting was that they had considered ed sheeran for the title.
not saying that ed is a bad looking guy, just saying that when it comes to hollywood's standard of beauty, mr. sheeran would not rank high with his pale complexion, unruly ginger hair, and softer frame. the singer himself says, "i don't know who the voting party are for people but thank you. it's very kind. but i'm sure i'm the only one on the list who has a belly." sheeran went on to compare himself to austin powers and talked about how much he really doesn't care about his appearance.

photo credit: the internet

so why is he on the list?
i'm going to venture a guess and say that it's his songs. the boy can write songs like no one's business. his song 'give me love' is regularly sung at top volume in my car. and you know that song 'little things' by one direction that every girl just wants her boyfriend to sing to her (and probably notice those little things about her)? yeah, ed wrote that too. and who did taylor call on for her song, well one of them anyway, about an instant love connection? sheeran.
so even though they went with levine for cover boy it makes my hope in humanity rise that we don't completely base a person's worth off the symmetry of their face or the taught-ness of their abs.

moral of the story: no matter what you look like, you should probably make music...'cause that's what's really sexy.


xo

if you can hear me.

you know how sometimes a song gets lodged in your heart and you aren't really sure why because it doesn't really seem to pertain to your life?

recently i got to spend some time with ben rector's new album, a walking in between. it's a lovely singer-songwriter album (it made my top 10 list for the year) and one song in particular hung like a whisper in my soul. the song, if you can hear me, is a prayer for peace.
my life has been decently peachy as of late. i have fabulous friends, a job that i mostly enjoy that pays my bills, i live in one of the greatest city's in the world (in my opinion), and there is currently no snow on the ground which is a bit of a miracle for mid-november in minnesota. there was no reason this song should have captured my attention the way it did. but it did. i enjoyed it enough to post it on my facebook wall.

then saturday morning i got a call and it felt like my whole world was falling apart.
i cried a lot.
i took a shower.
i went on a walk.
i jumped on facebook for an easy distraction.
i saw my own post.
i listened to the song.
it helped.

my life still feels delicate. my heart still hurts. i will probably still shed tears.
but it's going to be okay.
because of music i am reminded i am not alone.

xo

top 10 for 2013

this is my list of the top 10 albums/EP's for 2013. they are in no particular order except for switchfoot. they are first because i love them. so. much.

• switchfoot- fading west EP. it's only 4 songs but 4 incredibly wonderful songs that make me so excited for the full length release in january. 
• needtobreathe- cercas blancas EP. some album versions, some live versions, a couple old songs and one new song that i'm hoping ends up on their next LP. 
• love out loud- the wildlife. they ventured into some new genres on their debut full length and it paid off. 
• anthem lights- covers part I. i swear these boys could sing the phone book and i would think it should win an award. 
• green river ordinance- chasing down the wind EP. when you open with the violin you instantly have my heart. 
• capital kings- capital kings. you just can't go wrong with good dance music.
• the almost- the fear inside our bones. aaron gillespie and co serve up some gritty southern rock 'n roll. 
• the civil wars- the civil wars. those haunting melodies and tight harmonies are always a yes. 
• parachute- overnight. this album has been on repeat for me for months.
• ben rector- the walking in between. this is my singer-songwriter, guy-with-a-guitar choice album for this year. 
• honorable mention: brandon heath- christmas is here. i think i'm mostly for this album because brandon has a campaign going to not have christmas music played until after thanksgiving (not even his album which released just weeks ago) and i completely support that movement. 

so that's my list...who's on your list???

xo

lost in the city of angels.

"i've disappointed myself the most in my life. to not be like, 'wake the f*** up, look what you have, it's what you wanted'" 
"fame is an illusion"
"...place of dreams and broken dreams"
"music was the only thing that made sense"
"things can be given to you so easily but they can be ripped away so quickly as well"
"dreams, they're what sets us apart from being merely a brain and a body"
"who knows what's going to happen after this. i don't know. so if this is the only life why am i not just doing everything that i want to do?"

thirty seconds to mars just released a completely captivating music video that features a lot of famous faces. the song is about the city of los angeles. i've been there, i wasn't a fan but i can see how olivia wilde saw it as "the promised land." it's a city of dreamers and everyone gunning for celebrity. some make it, some end up in porn.
i tell people i didn't like L.A. because it was really dirty and didn't make sense (as a city) to me and was all smoke shops and strip clubs but this video, without meaning to, further explained why i'm not in love with the city of angels...it is sad. there is glitz and glamour but there is an underlying current of "you are no one if you don't 'make it'."
and as much as i think i would be an awesome famous person (i already own multiple pairs of giant sunglasses) i am a firm believer that everyone matters and everyone has a story to tell.

if you have a spare 11 minutes, take a peek at the video:
thirty seconds to mars: city of angels

xo

what about love?

this is the story of a hip hop dancer....

once upon a time (approximately a week ago) there was a college that hosted a lip-synch contest called mock rock. at mock rock boys and girls come up with dances and pantomimes to songs in hopes to wow the crowd and win prizes.
every year there is a special department on campus that performs, not for the money but for the fame and the love of performance.
two years ago this department covered glee's version of rebecca black's "friday" and last year they covered owl city and carly rae jepsen's "good time."
the team decided to step up their dancing this year and tackled austin mahone's "what about love?" thinking the best idea would be to just do a cover of the video since obviously the choreography was done for them, the group elected an "austin" and the rest decided to be his back up dance crew.
this seemed like a stellar idea until they realized that the lone girl in the group was a TERRIBLE dancer.
all of the boys were in real dance groups. the girl was not. the guys picked up the routine for the entire song in approximately 20 minutes. the girl practiced and practiced and practiced and an hour before the performance she was still getting the counting down. the boys nailed the performance. the girl muddied the waters of the choreography a bit.
regardless of her missed steps the crew still got a standing ovation.

photo credit: SAB

if you haven't figured it out (and i don't know how you couldn't have) the girl was me. with music and dance going hand-in-hand, and my deep love of music, you would think i would be a half-way decent dancer. nope. homegirl has really got to take some lessons. anyone want to join me?

xo