Author: ButalaAshley

This one’s short.

On Friday, December 8th, 2017, Luke Bryan came out with his latest full length album titled “What Makes You Country.” This fifteen track album dropped on all media platforms with hits like “Light It Up”, “Most People Are Good”, and “Drinking Again.” Those are the first three singles off of this album that have been released so far. I’ve listened to this whole album in its entirety once all the way through and I have to say it’s pretty good. I actually like the majority of the album except 4 or 5 songs. My favorite track off this album is “Land Of A Million Songs” My least favorite are the singles I’ve mentioned. I’m sock of hearing the songs being over played. I give this an 8.5/10. For those who don’t know I’ve had the pleasure of seeing Luke perform at CMA fest (Country Music Festival) in Nashville for the past 4 years now and last year if my memory serves me correctly he was the last to close out the festival on Sunday night and absolutely killed it! He can perform and bring down the house with a bang. For all my country fans if you want a new album to check out then go give “What Makes You Country” a listen.

Local Gladwin Michigander, Nathan John Feuerstein aka NF. was born on March, 30th, 1991. If you’ve ever listened to any of NF’s music then you know all of his lyrics and songs are based on his life and past. Each album brings something different, but it’s in order.  For his back story, his mom overdosed and died and his father raised him. In 2010 NF started his music career releasing his debut album “Moments Under Nathan Feuerstein. During this time, he also started working on his first EP titled “NF” It wasn’t released until 2014. In 2014, he signed with Capitol CMG. The first time I heard NF was featured on Flame’s song “Start Over.” which after I listened to it, it totally struck me because I could really resonate with the lyrics, and I was expecting something different then Christian Rap, but it honestly is really empowering and the messages in all of NF’s song has a different meaning to it, and in someways I think each song can hit any one of us at any point in our life. On April, 22, 2016 “Therapy Sessions” was released. Lets jump to one week ago on October, 6, 2017 his third studio album “Perceptions” was released.

Now lets actually break the album down somewhat. The first single I heard from his recent album was “Let You Down” The beginning of the song starts out with what sounds like a kid, then goes into NF. Actually some other songs feature what sound like kids, but aren’t. I sat down and listened to this whole entire album multiple times, The second song I listened to was “10 Feet Down” feat. Ruelle. This song starts out with Ruelle, but it sounds backwards until NF comes in and throughout the song “10 feet down” is is weirdly auto tuned, but that makes his music more interesting and engaging. The beat is really catchy. The third track I listened to was “Dreams” This is more on the soft side of instrumentals which for anyone that knows me you know i gravitate towards that. What really resonated with me throughout this song was the lyrics” “I’ve been doin me, following my dreams.” The line about Michigan and reminiscing does remind me a lot about my friends and family, because that’s kind of how it’s gone for me since I moved. It’s not a bad thing because we all have lives and grow apart, sometimes I guess I just look back and wish I kept in contact with the people who I once was super close to but like with anything in my life I know I’m much better off where I am and am a lot happier. As for the rest of the album the whole album is great and worth checking out, but those three tracks really drew me in. Since I started listening to his music, it’s made me have an even more positive perspective on life, and I’m already a pretty positive person already, but when an artist can take song lyrics and really pull listeners in that’s music that’s worth continuing making.  Artists like NF are true, real, and everyone has a story to tell so if you can tell it through words then that’s something that I wish I could do, but I’m not a lyricist. NF tells it like it is through all of his songs and that’s what I love most about his music so if you haven’t heard any of stuff then go check it out! Over all this album is 8/10!

Spotify link: spotify:album:1KOmHyNLuOe5YrPhD3Juuf

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/NFVEVO

You might recognize Matty Mullins as the front man of “Memphis May Fire” Well he recently released “Unstoppable” earlier in 2017. This album is more Christian based that I’ve heard yet. If you’re a fan of Mullins then you know he’s rock, and there’s some of that in this album which is one of the reason it’s catchy to me. Throughout all of his solo albums and Memphis May Fire days the sound is similar, it just gets even deeper in his faith with each album progression.

Let’s dive into the album a bit. The hit single “Unstoppable” features Jordan Feliz who’s also a Christian artist, and I’ve heard some of his stuff as well and I like it. This 10 track solo album is very uplifting and inspirational. If you have a bad day you can just crank this up and instantly feel like you can conquer anything life has to throw at you. I tend to be attracted to more powerful music with deeper lyrics and meanings behind them. Another one of my favorite songs is “I Choose You” I’d say if I had to order them listen to this song either first or second depending on if you just feel like nothing is going right and you just need something to get you through. “You Can” is the first song I heard from this album just a few nights ago and I found myself really listening to the lyrics and finding the message reading between the lines and knew I just have to listen to the rest, so I did tonight.  My favorite album that’s come out so far this year which I can’t say many have yet. If you haven’t go listen to this album. I usually don’t disappoint people with my music suggestions and have good taste so if you ever need new music then come to me. 🙂 Over all 10/10!

You might recognize Matty Mullins as the front man of “Memphis May Fire” Well he recently released “Unstoppable” earlier in 2017. This album is more Christian based that I’ve heard yet. If you’re a fan of Mullins then you know he’s rock, and there’s some of that in this album which is one of the reason it’s catchy to me. Throughout all of his solo albums and Memphis May Fire days the sound is similar, it just gets even deeper in his faith with each album progression.

Let’s dive into the album a bit. The hit single “Unstoppable” features Jordan Feliz who’s also a Christian artist, and I’ve heard some of his stuff as well and I like it. This 10 track solo album is very uplifting and inspirational. If you have a bad day you can just crank this up and instantly feel like you can conquer anything life has to throw at you. I tend to be attracted to more powerful music with deeper lyrics and meanings behind them. Another one of my favorite songs is “I Choose You” I’d say if I had to order them listen to this song either first or second depending on if you just feel like nothing is going right and you just need something to get you through. “You Can” is the first song I heard from this album just a few nights ago and I found myself really listening to the lyrics and finding the message reading between the lines and knew I just have to listen to the rest, so I did tonight.  My favorite album that’s come out so far this year which I can’t say many have yet. If you haven’t go listen to this album. I usually don’t disappoint people with my music suggestions and have good taste so if you ever need new music then come to me. 🙂 Over all 10/10!

Before I start, I want to apologize for the extreme lateness. This album came out last year and I promised myself I’d get around to writing it, but it never happened, and with all of the craziness last year, I just wasn’t feeling it much, but here it is.

American Rock trio Boyce Avenue  from Sarasota, Florida is comprised of three brothers Alejandro Luis Manzano, Fabian Rafael Manzano, and Daniel Enrique Manzano. The band got their name after growing up on two streets that they lived on as children. Boyce Avenue was formed in 2004. Lead vocals is Alejandro, guitar Fabian, and bass, percussion Daniel. In 2007, the band decided to start posting youtube videos of their own original songs and covers. 2009, “All You’re Meant To Be” was released. in 2010, their full length debut album “All We Have Left” was released. Some featured songs include “Every Breath”, ” Broken Angel”, and “On My Way.” January 23, 2010, the boys signed with Universal Records. “Road Less Traveled” was released April, 2016. Several covers have been done, and are still currently being done as we speak. Now lets dive into the actual album shall we?

:Road Less Traveled” was released April, 15, 2016. I know I was highly anticipating this album for awhile because from the first full length album they did many years before I was hooked. One of my friends introduced me to these amazingly talented men and all this time I thought it was mainly one guy, but nope it’s three. Some of the songs that are my favorite are “Family”, “Cinderella”, “Your Biggest Fan”,”Imperfect Me”, and last but not least “Be Somebody.” Now just like everything else I can relate to lyrics better than anyone cause I feel like every song describes me in one way or another. “Be Somebody” stands out the most especially now because I know who I am and the person that I want to be. The second song is “Imperfect Me” because I have my imperfections, and I’m happy with the person I am. I’ve been through a lot in my life, and defied the odds every single time. I’m extremely lucky. “Cinderella” resonates with me because I’m myself and okay with the person I’ve become. 🙂 I feel like her a lot of the time lol. This album was better than the others. I love their covers they do because some artists can’t do them justice, but Boyce Avenue sure can. I’m not entirely satisfied with this, but give me your opinions and thoughts and tell me where I can improve. It’s been awhile since I’ve done one of these. So I could use suggestions! 🙂

You all know the deal. Not going to bore you with all the background because I’ve done that in my first album review I did, and then the concert review I did from Chill On The Hill in 14. Let’s jump straight into the good stuff. As the world witnessed on Friday, August, 2, 2016 A Day To Remember released their album “Bad Vibrations.” I’m not saying that this is their best album, but it’s also not their worst. I love some songs such as “We Got This”, “In Florida”, “Turn Off The Radio”, and a few others. Lyrically, I love this album, but I just feel like they lost their touch this time around as far as instruments are concerned. I feel like they went a lot softer compared to previous albums, and the screaming is still on point, but it’s like there’s a lot less of that too. You can agree with me or disagree since we all have our opinions, and no matter what this band will be my favorite band until the day I die no matter how I feel about the quality of the album. I was just expecting something more hard sounding considering that ‘Paranoia” was the first video to be released earlier this year. I still am 50/50 on this one. I’d still say that “Common Courtesy” is still my favorite album. Give me your thoughts. I want to know what you guys all thought. Let me know! 🙂

Warner Bro’s Nashville recording duo Dan Smyers, and Shay Mooney have released two albums “Where It All Began”, and “obsessed.” Instead of doing the whole kit and caboodle of the intro since I dd that in a previous review I did of their first album, I’m just going to skip right down to the album.

On June, 3, 2016, (today) “Obsessed” was released. Their first single from the 10 track compilation “From the Ground Up” was released back in February of this year.  That song and video were wrote about  the two’s grandparents which is more meaningful. The video was shot really well as well. I think we can all say we want a lasting relationship like all of our grandparents. When this song hit the charts I listened to it and immediately thought of my life long best friend who got married almost two years ago which is crazy to think about, but this song will forever be dedicated to Miranda and Brett. ❤ Love you guys! I also want that played at my wedding. 🙂 This album overall has a really upbeat makes you want to dance feel to it. Like almost every song which coming from a country duo doesn’t happen very often. Some other songs I really like are “Road Trippin”, “All Nighter”, “Lipstick”and as mentioned above “From the Ground Up.: I liked “Where It All Began” as well, but ever since I heard the first single I’ve been extremely excited for this album, and it’s finally here. 🙂 I dedicate “Road Trippin” to some of the best friends a girl could have. ❤

Last year, I was fortunate enough to be here in Nashville just like I am now as I’m writing this to see these guys live perform on The Riverfront Stage during CMA Fest and OMG I almost died lol. I have to give a huge shout out to Miranda again because she introduced me to this band and ever since I heard “19, You +Me” I was instantly hooked. 🙂 If you’re a Country music fan then I’d suggest checking out this album. I typically steer people in good music directions so I promise you won’t be disappointed. I feel like this album is more personal to the band and as I’ve said before that’s what makes music worth it are the stories and attachments to lyrics and such.

Straight out of Detroit, MI, is pop duo Rival Summers. Since 2008, the band has released two full length albums, and two EP’s. In 2009, “Ready When You Are” was released. 2010 “Days Like This” EP was released. In 2012, “Learning To Live” was the second full length album was released. 2014, “Where I Want To Be” their second EP was released. Finally, this year (a few weeks ago) “Undeniable” dropped.

Lets break down this album shall we? I listened to “Undeniable” the day it came out and I have to say this is his best work yet. This 10 track compilation consists of “Stay” which is the debut single. The Homeboy Show on 89x plays it and I think we all still love this song every time we hear it played on the radio. Some other songs that are my favorite are “All About It”, self titled track “Undeniable”, “Stay” just to name a few. This album was done really well in all aspects from writing to production. Always have to show love for the local music scene and anyone who knows me knows I do just that because not only does Detroit have so many talented musicians, but every state does so make sure to show support for your local artists guys. 🙂 ❤

Leo Bautista always writes music that’s near and dear to his heart and pertains to his personal life which is something that really attracted me to his music in the first place because I have a lot of respect for artists who stay true to who they are, and who make music that’s real and meaningful, and not a lot of this crap we hear on the radio today. Music has gone down the tubes today, and the artists who keep it real and who talk about meaningful things are where I have way more respect and you want to make music that has an impact on people’s lives which is exactly what RS strives for. In 2012, I got to see Leo perform at WXOU’s annual Birthday Bash and from then on he knows no matter what I’ll always do anything I can to support him. He’s a really great musician with so much talent and I’m glad to say that I went to school with him, and have got to see him perform and take his career this far. I’m so proud of all the accomplishments you’ve made and can’t wait to see what comes next. 🙂 You guys have been and will continue to be a huge inspiration to me.

I told Leo I’d do this one justice so I hope YOU ALL LIKE THIS!! Much love everyone! ❤

If you haven’t then go listen to Rival Summers:

Facebbok: https://www.facebook.com/rivalsummers

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7Ie0aeKnpTysvGKGv85LCg

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/rivalsummers

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/rivalsummers

Twitter: https://twitter.com/RivalSummers

Wilmslow, Cheshire,  alternative rock band the 1975 formed in 2002. The group consists of four members: Matthew Healy (lead vocals), Adam Hann (lead guitar), Ross Macdonald (bass), and George Daniel (drums). They released two studio albums. On September, 2, 2013, their self titled album “The 1975″ was released. On February, 26, 2016 the bands second album ” I Like It When You Sleep, For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware of It” was released.

THE MOMENT WE’VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR…..THE LONG AWAITED ALBUM IS FINALLY HERE FROM THESE GUYS! ❤ Lets get into the actual album. This 17 track album is different from their previous album which their last album was more upbeat and this has something different with each song so you don’t know what to expect. With this album you have a mix of everything from instrumental to soft sounding stuff to upbeat. Honestly I prefer this album is way better and my favorite. I love it! Some hit singles include “UGH”, “Love Me”, “The Sound” just to name a few. If you haven’t heard this band then I suggest you do because I was introduced to the 1975 by one of my friends and I was feeling them from the start. 🙂 The first song I heard by them was “Chocolate” and I was like this song is dope from then on I was hooked.