Ashley’s Blog

If you haven’t heard of the song Old Town Road, I’m convinced you actually live under a rock. Just kidding. But hopefully that gets my point across about how popular this song has become. Old Town Road, by Lil Nas X, went viral after people began dancing to it on the app TikTok. Endless videos of people “woah”-ing to the first verse of the song appeared on every social media platform (according to the internet, it’s called the Yee Haw Challenge, but I didn’t know this). Soon after, it became a huge radio hit and reached No. 1 on the charts. 

I know many people have already heard the song and know a lot about it, but I want to talk about the controversy surrounding it. Old Town Road is a unique mix of hip hop and country, which makes it one of the only songs of its kind. Although this mash up of genres has been very well received, it has also sparked a huge debate. Old Town Road initially debuted on Billboard’s cross genre Hot 100 chart, Hot Country Songs chart, and the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart all at once. However, it was eventually removed from the country chart and Billboard said his inclusion on the ranking was a mistake. Many people began asking if Old Town Road can even be considered a country song. When asking country artists and country songwriters about the song, most of them had the same answer. They agreed it was a good song, but it is not really country. However, many argue that country should not be so confined and they should expand and evolve the genre. Another layer of this debate includes race, and this is where it gets tricky. One of the possible reasons that Lil Nas X got taken off the country charts is because he is black. The country genre is predominantly white, so he automatically does not fit into the image of a country artist. A Nashville music distributor commented that “unanimously, everyone kind of looked at [Old Town Road] as a gimmick. They looked at it the same way they looked at the yodel guy.” Although both were looked down upon as “gimmicks,” Mason Ramsey (the yodel boy), who is white, was allowed to stay on the charts whereas Lil Nas X was kicked off. Some people look at this as racial discrimination, while others say it’s simply because his song is too hip hop. 

So where do you stand on this debate? I’m curious whether the majority agree with the decision to remove it from the country charts, or if people think the country genre should be more inclusive. 

This week I am going to be recommending another artist that I have been listening to a lot lately. Bazzi is mainly known for his most popular songs “Mine” (which initially became famous through the use of a snapchat filter using the song) and “Beautiful” featuring Camilla Cabello. Although he has become quite well known for these songs, I feel like his other music is often overlooked and underrated. Bazzi is fairly new to the music industry. He released “Mine” in 2017 and got signed to a record deal shortly after that. Since then, he has debuted his first album and several new singles. He has also toured with other artists such as Camilla Cabello and Justin Timberlake. 

I really enjoy his style of music and if I had to use a genre to describe it, it’s some type of combination between pop, R&B and hiphop. To me, the best description that I would use is “vibey,” even though I know that’s not a real word and I’m not sure if everyone will even understand what I mean (it’s just the first thing that comes to mind). Based on my other music recommendations you probably have a good idea of the type of music I listen to, and this falls perfectly into that category. He recently released a new single in April called “Paradise” and I have had that song on repeat.  Some other songs I would highly recommend are “Why”, “3:15”, “Sober” and  “Alone.” I hope that he gets more recognition for some of his other music other than “Mine” because he definitely deserves to be known for more than just “meme” music from a snapchat filter. 

One of the biggest names in popular music today is Billie Eilish. You don’t have to be a super fan to recognize one of her songs because her distinctive voice and music style immediately give it away. At only 17 years old, she already has seven gold and two platinum singles. Billie Eilish also became the very first person born in the 2000s to have a number one album. She was originally discovered online when her song, Ocean Eyes, went viral. It was originally written by her brother, Finneas, and was uploaded to Sound Cloud when Billie was only 13 years old (it has over 17 million listens now). Finneas continues to co-produce and co-write with his sister and is credited for the unique and artistic style her songs.

Personally, I really enjoy her songs. I’m not exactly sure how to describe her music style, but I would call it edgy, alternative pop. It’s something that is so different from all other music on the charts and that’s what makes it so refreshing and intriguing. Billie’s soft, yet almost haunting, vocals are so distinct and immediately draw in the listener. Some of my favorite songs include Ocean Eyes, Lovely, and Bury a Friend. Her music videos are also what make her stand out, since all of them have an extremely creepy theme and aesthetic. Bleeding eyes, crawling spiders, and syringes are just a few of the things featured in her music videos. I’m glad that Billie Eilish is not afraid to be herself and show a dark side through her music. 

When most people think of T-Pain they think of catchy 2007 songs with a ridiculous amount of autotune. I’ve always thought of T-Pain and autotune as inseparable. I don’t mean this in a negative way, I love his songs because they always put me in such a good mood and get me immediately singing along. However, I was surprised to learn that T-Pain has been hiding an amazing voice behind all the autotune. 

I discovered this through a TV show called The Masked Singer. For those of you who haven’t watched the show, it’s a singing competition where they gather a bunch of celebrities (some are professional singers but some aren’t) and put them in costumes with masks so the judges are unable to see who they are. Throughout the competition, the judges must try to guess who’s behind the mask and as each contestant is eliminated, they are finally revealed. The winner of this past season was “The Monster.” He was definitely my personal favorite because he is such an amazing performer and vocalist. While watching the show, I had absolutely no idea who it was, and the judges had a really hard time guessing as well. In the most anticipated reveal, the entire audience was shocked to see T-Pain behind the mask! He gave an emotional speech about wanting to prove to the world and himself that he was more than just the guy with autotune. 

After watching the show, I found a video of T-Pain singing a mashup of his songs and I have had this on repeat. It showcases all of his most famous hits, but in a slowed down version without the heavy use of autotune. I’ve always loved T-Pain’s throwback songs (I listen to them in the car all the time), but now I respect him as a singer as well. I’m sad that it took so long for the world, myself included, to realize his talent. I look forward to the next season of The Masked Singer and the new surprises in store.

As many of you probably already know, The Jonas Brothers have recently made a huge comeback. In 2008, they gained popularity from being part of the iconic Camp Rock movies and starring on their own Disney Channel show. Every child and teenager, at the time, knew their name. Many people, including myself, assumed that The Jonas Brothers would just remain a distant memory from our childhood. So when they announced that the band was getting back together and releasing new music for the first time since 2013, the entire world went crazy. 

The Jonas Brothers’ new single, “Sucker,” immediately hit the No.1 spot on the charts after being released and became the biggest hit of their career. Following Ariana Grande’s “7 Rings,” the Jonas Brothers are the second artists to debut a song at No.1 on the Hot 100 in 2019. The music video has currently received over 100 million views. The immediate success of “Sucker” proves just how many people love The Jonas Brothers, even after all these years. They have gained such a large following because their music is now being heard by a wide range of people. Back when they were on Disney Channel, they mainly targeted a younger audience. They were able to gain popularity, but mostly among pre-teens. Now, they are able to make music that resonates with all ages and fits perfectly among the radio hits that are popular in today’s music. 

I was one of the people who grew up listening to The Jonas Brothers and watched Camp Rock more times that I can count. I didn’t know what to expect when I heard they were getting back together, but I was so excited. Personally, I really love the song “Sucker” and the music video as well. When I first watched it, I was initially hit with a wave of nostalgia from seeing them together in one video again. But it also made me realize how much older they are now, since the video featured their wives (and Joe’s soon to be wife). This really hit me because it shows they aren’t the dreamy, teenage Jonas Brothers anymore, but now they are actual dads (literally, Kevin has 2 kids). I look forward to more Jonas Brothers music in the future and hopefully we will even get a Camp Rock 3?

This week, I won’t be recommending any music or even writing about any specific song or singer. Instead, I will be talking about a way to elevate your music listening experience! I know I always mention Spotify in every single blog post, but it’s because that’s how I listen to all my music. One feature of Spotify that I love are the collaborative playlists. The name is pretty self explanatory. It works like a normal playlist but the creator of the playlist can choose to add other friends to it which allows them to contribute as well. It is always nice to have your own personal playlists, but it’s also cool to have joint playlists just for you and your friends. 

Three of my friends and I created a collaborative playlist together about a year ago, after realizing that we all listen to the same type of music. We would always find ourselves recommending different songs to each other all the time. However, it was hard to remember all the different songs and we never really had the time to just sit down and listen to music together. The collaborative playlist was the perfect solution to all of our problems. Whenever any of us discovered a song that we absolutely loved, we could just add it to the playlist. It’s a quick and easy way for us to communicate new songs to each other. This is honestly how I find most of my music. Whenever I start to get tired of the current songs I listen to, I check our collaborative playlist and listen to the latest additions. The best part is that I know they will be good songs because I trust my friends’ opinions and I know we have the same taste in music. I don’t have to go through the tedious process of trying to find new songs and sometimes end up being disappointed. Right now, our playlist contains 214 songs and it will probably only continue to grow. 

I’m sure many of you have already created some collaborative playlists with your own friends, but I just wanted to share my own experience with it and how it allowed me to expand my horizons and gain a closer relationship with my friends. 

This week, I’m going to be recommending a specific song. I’ve recently been obsessed with this song, and it always gets stuck in my head. The song is Midsummer Madness by 88 Rising. My main reason for writing about this is because it seems like barely anyone has heard of this song (despite it having 81 million listens on Spotify) or the group 88 Rising, so today I am here to educate you all. 

88 Rising is really cool and unique because they aren’t actually a group or band. They are a bunch of solo artists that come together under the name 88 Rising and create songs/albums. 88 Rising is the name of the record label that manages all of these artists, and it’s a pretty new company founded in 2015 by Sean Miyashiro. It began as a music collective and management company that just contacted a bunch of up and coming artists they discovered through the internet. To me, the most interesting part of 88 Rising is that they are comprised of mostly Asian American artists. It is pretty rare to see an Asian American in today’s music, so it was really nice to see this kind of Asian representation. Sean Miyashiro has said that one of his goals for their music group is to represent Asian immigrants and all immigrants in general. I think this idea of hand picking and finding artists, then putting all of them together is so genius and out of the box. This unique concept is probably my favorite part about 88 Rising as a whole.

I recommend you give their album a listen, especially Midsummer Madness because that’s my personal favorite. Other songs that I like from that album include, I Want In, Head in the Clouds, and History. Their songs fit into the mainstream music that is playing on the radio today. So if you aren’t into the popular rap type of music, it might not be your cup of tea. However, because there are so many different artists on one album, there are so many different kinds of songs as well. That is what sets 88 Rising apart from others. 

My friend recently introduced me to a new song called “Younger” by Ruel and I absolutely loved it. I then fell into a rabbit hole on Spotify by listening to one song after the other by that same artist. Overall, I really liked his voice and the type of music he sang. He sang about some pretty emotional topics and that is something that drew me in as well. I was surprised I had not heard of him before because he seemed to be pretty popular. “Younger” had over 44 million listens on Spotify and a lot of his other songs had millions of streams as well.

At this point, I was curious about who this guy was, so I looked him up on google to find out more about him. Turns out Ruel is from Australia and just recently came into the music industry in 2018. But the reason I decided to write a whole blog post about this guy is because one thing especially stood out to me. His birthday is on October 29… 2002. That makes him younger than me. Here I was thinking that this was a GROWN man but nope, he is just around our age. I didn’t really look at the album cover so I had no idea what he looked like and if you were to just listen without knowing his age, you would not immediately assume he is that young. It’s crazy to think that someone who is the same age as us or even younger, is already a successful music artist. I mean there are other teenage boys like Jacob Sartorius and MattBRaps who are probably more famous and about the same age, but the difference is that you can tell they are just kids and their audience is for little kids as well. I personally prefer Ruel’s music over those guys because he sounds a lot more mature and it’s music I could actually imagine on today’s radio. I hope he gains more popularity because I think he deserves it. 

“Baby shark, doo doo doo doo doo doo, baby shark, doo doo doo doo doo doo, baby shark.” I’m willing to bet you just sang that line in your head. Pretty much everyone knows this song due to it’s catchy lyrics and melody. However, I didn’t realize how popular it actually was until recently. 

As I was scrolling through the Billboard Top 100 chart, I saw one song in particular that caught my eye. Baby Shark. At first, I thought I had misread it or maybe it just a typo, but I soon discovered that it was no mistake. “Baby Shark” is currently at No. 38 on the Billboard charts, but debuted at No. 32 on the list in January. It was streamed 20.8 million times in one week and the music video has attracted more than 2.1 billion views. This song earned its place among the most viewed music videos for songs in the Billboard top 40 and also ranks among the 30 most viewed videos in YouTube’s history. 

So the question I asked myself was “how did a children’s song/nursery rhyme become so popular?” It initially went viral overseas before becoming a dance challenge in the US, which then catapulted it into popularity. With many people, including celebrities, joining in on the challenge, the song became more than just for kids. The simple tune and words have the ability to stay stuck in your head forever, no matter what age you are. Honestly the song has gotten old for me, and I get a little irritated whenever I hear it so I’m still in shock that this song has gained such a high spot on the charts. But I’m pretty amazed as well. Whether you love it or hate it, “Baby Shark” will go down as one of the most surprising, yet memorable, songs to hit the Billboard charts. 

When most people think of Hannah Montana, they think of Miley Cyrus in a wig, singing pop songs for pre-teens. However, I like to think of her as more than that. Although it’s true that Hannah Montana is a Disney Show for kids, I realized that her songs are more than just catchy and childish. 

When I was younger, I watched every season and almost all the episode of Hannah Montana. It was such a huge part of my childhood. Recently, I listened to a playlist on Spotify that contained the song “Butterfly Fly Away.” When I heard the song, I initially hit with a wave of nostalgia. I remembered the countless times I watched the movie and sang along to every song. As I kept listening, I realized that my 8 year old self had never actually understood the meaning of the lyrics I was singing. I got emotional as I listened to Miley sing to her father as a thanks for all the struggles he went through to raise their family as a single parent. It was so touching and the emotions felt so real. This catapulted me into a marathon of Hannah Montana songs. One after the other, I grew more and more impressed as I listened intently to the lyrics and messages she was trying to portray. I had stored these songs in the back corner of my brain because I assumed that I would no longer relate to them. However, the opposite was true. She sings about topics such as leaving for college, letting go of loved ones and struggling to figure out who she is. Since I’m older now, I can comprehend the lyrics and understand her feelings.

Of course, she still has her classic songs like “Hoedown Throwdown” and “Nobody’s Perfect” that are just catchy songs to dance along to. However, she also sang about some pretty real topics that can relate to people of all ages. I know some people may not take this blog seriously, or not want to give it a chance, but I encourage everyone to listen to some songs and you may be surprised.