Sam Smith - I'm Not the Only One

The talented crooner is here to stay

"I'm Not the Only One" is the fourth single taken off from the #1 platinum selling debut album 'In the Lonely Hour' by Sam Smith. The song was written by Sam Smith and Jimmy Napes, produced by the latter and Steve Fitzmaurice, it is a pop track influenced by R&B and Soul. It is my personal favorite track  from Sam, a song I can relate to and this blog post is going to be the most personal blog I have written yet.
To be honest, I didn't give much attention to Sam Smith until one of my best friends Caleb from Delhi forced me to listen to the #1 smash 'Stay with Me'. I did know he was dubbed as the biggest thing in 2014 by BBC Sound of 2014 poll and he already had a string of hits under his belt including the collaboration with Naughty Boy and Disclosure with the songs 'La La' and 'Latch' respectively. Then I started listening to his songs and I fell in love with the smooth vocals, the way he emotionally connects with the songs he sings and how he gets you into his songs which can only be done by a few artists.

"I'm Not the Only One" is very close to my heart, a very personal song because it is a song which my mom would have written while she was married to my dad who is up in heaven now, every lines connects the emotions that my mom went through in this phase of her life. My dad was a wonderful husband and a great father but he just cannot be faithful to my mom which eventually lead to their divorce leaving us kids in jeopardy. My mom is a supermom who stood firm and she raised four boys by herself, I love her more than my life. When I first heard this song, it was so real that it was unreal, I was on the verge of breaking down and it made me love my mom more imagining what she had gone through.
Sam Smith's vocals is as smooth as it can be, we can feel every word he sings, the emotions and the pain and I am sure that he wrote "I'm Not the Only One" when he was in a very dark place. It tells a story of a person who loves him so much, called him baby  but still went out with someone else. He knew what is going on which was hidden by his partner, he knew he wasn't the only one but he just can't stop loving the person. The end of the song is heartfelt because it shows that the relationship they had was torn up and the person he loved the most had broken down everything he had and went away with Sam's heart leaving him alone.

The music video of the song featured Dianna Agron from Glee and Chris Messina from the Mindy Project, it featured Dianna Agron as the faithful wife in their home who took care of everything while her husband was out with another woman. It showed her drinking away the pain she suffered, burning down her husband's clothes and belongings but in the end welcomed her husband with an open arms smiling at the door. The video brought out the emotions of the song, the pain, the torture and sufferings, the feeling you have when you have an unrequited love, a great video to watch and it suited the song perfectly.
I am in love with this beautiful song, I know "I'm Not the Only One" will not be as big as 'Stay with Me' but it will be in my heart for a long long time to come.

Hilary Duff - Chasing the sun

Lizzie McGuire is back and we are smiling!!

Hilary Duff is back with a new single after five long years, she sounds sweet as sin and the song is surprisingly addictive. Hilary is the pioneer for the Disney kids, she is the one who started it all, from being a child star on the telly to becoming a bonafide superstar. She is the one who started from being a star in a Disney show and went on to star in big budget movies, selling out arenas and selling tons of records, we can say that she paved the way for the upcoming superstars like Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato, Ariana Grande, even the Jonas Brothers and a whole lot more.

Anyone who knows me or read my blog will know that I love Ed Sheeran, when I saw the picture of him and Hilary inside a studio, I know something good is in store and shortly after that Hilary stated that she signed a new record deal with RCA records and will be releasing a new single shortly and an album after. I was curious about the music she will release because I know she has mixed up a lot in the noughties, her debut 'Metamorphosis' sounds very different comparing to her last album 'Dignity'. I bought it straightaway on Itunes as soon as the song got released earlier this week, let me tell you, I wasn't disapppointed at all, I was enjoying the song right from the first line to the very end and the video is equally amazing, funny, humorous and something I do all the time at work myself (daydreaming).

The song 'Chasing the sun' was written by Colbie Caillat, Jason Reeves and Toby Gad, it was produced by the latter whose work I adore including 'Who you are' by Jessie J and recently 'All of me' by John Legend. Hilary sounds breezy, easy to the ears and this song shows the mature side of her without abandoning her roots as a peppy pop singer she was at the early 2000's. There is not much of a vocal on the song but then she was never known for her vocals, it is easy to listen to and the more you listen to it, you will love, it is a song that you would love to hear in a car singing along with your best friends. As much as I love the song, I honestly don't think it is an ideal comeback song but its Hilary and she knows how to make it work all the time. I do hope it makes a much needed impact on the charts for her and looking forward to the second single before the album gets release this fall especially the song she wrote with Ed.

All about Wendy Williams!!

Why do I love Wendy??

I have heard about Wendy Williams for a long time, I have never really paid attention to her as much even though I love watching talk shows and reality TV. I got to know her late last year watching the previous episodes of the Wendy Williams Show and when season 5 kicked in, I was in full swing, I can honestly say that I watched each and every single episode through her Youtube channel as her show is yet to be broadcasted in India. Wendy turned 50 last friday and Season 5 wrapped up yesterday so here I am paying tribute to my favorite female talk show host and at the same time waiting for September when season 6 will return.

My blog is not a hate blog but I might have to strike a few shades in today's update which is not surprising because we are going to talk about Wendy, why I love her and what make her stand out? If I have to describe Wendy in one word, I would definitely say 'Unfiltered', this is one of the reason why I watch the show everyday. When I compare her with her peers on daytime TV, I love Ellen but she is so nice to everyone and their mother, I know for a fact that a normal person cannot be in love with everyone. I find the Queen Latifah's show super boring and I can barely watch it for 10 minutes, Bethenney Frankel is equally unfiltered but she is unfiltered sexually and in a very nasty way which can come across as completely gross. Watching a grown woman holding a sex toy or talking about sexual positions on daytime TV is not really entertaining and her show did get cancelled. I can go from Dr.Phil to Dr. Drew, the View to the Talk but when it comes to Wendy, none of them come close to her, she is beautiful, talented and she knows how to work a crowd.

Wendy is a true example of rags to riches story, she never hides the fact that she had a substance abuse issue growing up, she started from the bottom and she made herself where she is right now. The Wendy Williams shows has celebrity guest, chefs coming to her show, designers talking about fashion, she giveaway holidays and she does makeover for her Wendy watchers. There are three popular segments, first is 'Ask Wendy' where the studio audience randomly asks her questions which she answers them at the spot, then 'Hot Talk' where she and her panel discuss about celebrities, current events, politics, all the what nots and then come the most popular part of the show 'Hot Topics'. In 'Hot Topics', Wendy dishes about celebrities and their lives, she voices her opinion like no other and give her audience an unfiltered view on what she thinks, and this segment takes normally 20 minutes of her show. For a show that runs normally between 40-45 minutes without advertisements, its clear that "Hot Topics' is the heart of the show.

I love Wendy for all she is, unfiltered, she shows her emotions and she cries when she has her period, she shares her life and what show she watches,she calls her audience her co-host, she loves us for watching her show and thank us everyday. I am looking forward to season 6 when it arrives in September and here is the last #hottopics from season 5 and thank you all for reading.

A Homeboy's Life!!

Where have I been??

I haven't updated my blog for a long time, am asking myself why am I not updating my blog which is very close to my heart, for a long time? I have been all over the place really, I was going through a rough patch in my life which I am still facing but now I am picking up the pieces for a new beginning. Everything in life is not perfect and at some point, we have to face it whether we like it or not, the promotion I got from my workplace got cancelled abruptly, I need to switch jobs (pic. courtesy of my farewell) and have to start all over again, I had a fallout with one of my best friends, I didn't get a pay and I was actually in a dark place with sleepless nights. But now it's time to talk about the good stuff and life is not always bad and sometimes we need to go through pain to experience joy.

During my absence, I watched a few movies and the movie that I really loved was The Fault in our Stars, I cried a river the day I watched it, in fact, the whole audience was in tears, I remember staring at the girl who was crying so hard even after the movie ended and she was consoled by her friends. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes took me by surprise and it was surprisingly a wonderful movie not because of the actions and the cinematography which was expected but the story, the story of the movie was incredible and it touched me with the love based on family and friends. And also referring to the picture above which I took with my best friend Jane on the day we watched Transformers 4: Age of Extinction. That was really entertaining and Jane enjoyed it more than everyone else in the theater.

I can't forget the music part, most importantly because my blog is a music blog and I know there are lots of new singles and albums that I love but I am going to talk only about my hero Ed Sheeran. Ed Sheeran's X is the best album that have come out this year and I am sure there will be no better album this year, at least, according to me. All the songs are great starting from 'One' till the end of the bonus track 'I See Fire', my personal favorite has to be 'Thinking Out Loud' which is the most touching song on the album. All in all, Ed Sheeran is more aggressive on this album than he was in his debut album and he sounds amazing as ever, no songs to skip and am glad and thankful for Itunes , I got the album ten minutes after it got released three and half weeks ago. It is still #1 in the UK and this album is his first #1 in the US Billboard 200 Albums Chart. It is a must have for everyone and I just love Ed Sheeran for his artistry and his musical talent and I wish him well on his upcoming singles and  his upcoming tour.

Am back in my blog, cheers to life and I love each one of you who reads my blog with all its perfect imperfections, it means a lot to me everytime.

Paloma Faith - Only Love Can Hurt Like This

The second single from ' A Perfect Contradiction'

Only Love Can Hurt Like This is the second single taken off from the third album of Paloma Faith's A Perfect Contradiction and it is a song of the moment for me. I have always been a fan of Paloma ever since I got to know her, her voice captivates me and her music is rare yet mainstream which appeal to a wider audience. Only love can hurt like this has become her highest charting single ever in UK (her home country) peaking at #6 surpassing the amazing song Picking up the pieces which peaked at #7 and I am glad that she finally has a breakthrough because this song hasn't left the top for 3 weeks now.

Only love can hurt like this first premiered on the Blackberry Fashion Show back in February 2014 before it was released as a single and it makes waves all over the place. The song is written by Diane Warren who has written songs for the likes of Cher, Celine Dion, Britney Spears and many other prominent artists that we know, this is the first time in Paloma's career that she has sung a song written by other songwriters because she writes all her songs herself.

The song is a depressing song which normally works almost all the time, she sings about wanting a lover so much but the feelings are not mutual and she always ends up getting tortured feeling the pain which love can only give. Paloma sounded like she meant every word she sang, she put you in the song and you can actually feel the pain and the agony she has in her soul, this is a rare feat that can be done only by singers like her. When she hits the high note, all you wanted to do is take a tissue and think about unrequited love that you had but you never wanted her to stop singing. This song is a masterpiece and am already thinking Song of the Year come Brit awards 2015. 

Anastacia - Stupid Little Things

Hot New Song - Anastacia is Back

Anastacia is a survivor, she has survived a lot of hardships which includes being diagnosed with breast cancer twice. The last time when this happened she came up with this wonderful song Left Outside Alone which is my personal favorite song of hers and this proved to be a big hit topping the Billboard Hot 100 European charts for 15 weeks. Now she is back the second time around after overcoming breast cancer again, and she sounds as fresh as ever and her second innings this time around will be better than ever.

Stupid little things is the lead single for Anastacia's upcoming album Resurrection which is due to be released on the 5th of May, 2014 and this single will get released on April 4, 2014. The song starts with an amazing beats, very Kanye West kind of song and her vocals soared from the first line of the song, her distinct voice which actually got her into trouble before she got her recording contract sounds better than ever. This song is very addictive and by the time she sings the bridge on the song and get back to the chorus, you can't help but sing along, and you just can't get it out of your head.
The song did sound quite similar with her previous work starting from I'm Outta Love and the bridge is very similar to the bridge of the song I mentioned above Left Outside Alone. So, if you're looking for a fresh new sound of Anastacia, you might be a little bit disappointed but those of you who love her from day one, the authentic and distinct music of hers, you will love it and yes I love this song. Here is the link for the song , please check out and yes, Anastacia is back in the game for your pleasure

Throwback Thursday - Pop Gem

Boyzone - No Matter What

The other day, my colleague and i were singing this song in the office, then it has been stucked in my mind ever since. I know this song is not as it sounds like, all sweet and sugary with Stephen's vocals but when you listen to it very closely to the lyrics, it is a very angry song and not at all how it sounds like.

This song No Matter What is the biggest selling single and the only hit of Boyzone to be popular in the United States, it peaked at #1 in the UK Singles chart selling 1.13 million and another 3 million copies worldwide. It is written by Andrew Llyod Webber and Jim Steinman for the 1996 musical play Whistle Down the Wind, and covered and popularized by Boyzone. It is the fourth single from Boyzone's album Where We Belong, the success of this song brought the parent album back to #1 after hiatus of 4 months since debuting at #1 on the UK Albums Chart.

No Matter What  has never been my favorite song of Boyzone but over the time, i find out that it actually doesn't sound bad at all. Being a fan of Ronan Keating  ever since Love Me for a Reason, i love the smoothy vocals of him harmonizing  with the late Stephen Gately's  breezy vocals, when i watch them performing this song without him, it makes me emotional many times.This song is an evergreen song will go down in history as one of the biggest hit by a boyband and please check the link below to know why :