Wednesday, 9 April 2014

FAVOURITE FEMALE ARTISTS (PART 2)

This is part two of my 'Favourite Female Artists', enjoy! (part 1 is here)


Lorde

Lorde is very new to the music scene, and although she is criticized by many, I personally love her. I love her dark style and how she isn't conventionally pretty, but her image - the wild hair, dark lips, and all black attire- is stunning. Her music is very new, fresh and catchy, and I have been listening to her debut album, 'Pure Heroine' a lot recently.



Birdy

Birdy has been a favourite of mine for a while now. I have her first album, 'Birdy', which is a cover album, but she puts her own sound and style into all of her covers. Her voice is sweet and pure, but also raw. Her music is extremely pretty and refreshing, and I've heard her most recent album is brilliant, and I'm yet to listen to it.



Bjork 

Bjork is one of the most strange but wonderful female artists of the past 30 years. Starting from her band the Sugarcubes and up until her solo career she has a very particular style of singing. She sings as though she is speaking, as though she is biting every word, with a very 'gaspy' like sound, giving a very interesting effect. Not only is her music obscure, so is her style. In the late 80s-90s, she had a very childlike messy look, with a very colourful and sometimes space like-metallic look. She is one of the most talented and definitely one of the most interesting female artists around, and I admire her a lot. My favourite album of hers is 'Debut', which is an absolutely beautiful and timeless album.



Amy Winehouse

Amy Winehouse was an extremely talented woman. Although she was very troubled, and died young, she put all of her emotions into her music, making it very raw and real, but still very easy to listen to and enjoyable. Her rich voice is comforting and easy to listen to, and I adore her album 'Back to Black', which is definitely an all time favourite of mine.



Francoise hardy 

I discovered Francoise hardy late last year, and fell in love with her and her music instantly. Her voice is sweet and effortless, and I love how tasteful and sweet her music is. At the age of 70 she is still making music, and I believe she is one of the most wonderful artists of the 20th century. My favourite album of hers is the 1968 'Comment te dire adieu?'. Her music is in French which is sometimes refreshing because instead of analyzing the lyrics and exact meaning of the songs, it's nice to just sit back and listen. Besides, everything sounds prettier in French. 



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
More female artists I adore are:

Florence Welch (Florence and The Machine)
Gwen Stefani 
Paloma Faith

Thank you very much for reading!

-Rhianwen 

Wednesday, 2 April 2014

FAVOURITE FEMALE ARTISTS (PART 1)

Today's post is Part 1 of my top [10] favourite female singers/artists. They are in no particular order, and I hope you enjoy reading!

Lana Del Rey 

Lana Del Rey became known in late 2011/early 2012. Some people dislike her, some love her, I personally am a very big fan of hers and I find her music very entertaining and soothing. Although some may see her voice as dull, the low tone of her voice contrasts beautifully with some of the more upbeat backing tracks, such as 'Diet Mountain Dew' which also includes an interesting mixture of higher pitched backing vocals. She extremely versatile in this sense, as she can also pull off a higher pitched voice which flows beautifully, sometimes hauntingly, in songs such as 'Yayo'. In my opinion, she is one of the best female solo artists around at the moment. Her album 'Born To Die' is one of my favourite albums, and in my opinion, is definitely worth the hype. I am still yet to buy her most recent version of 'Born to Die' (Paradise Edition) or listen to any new releases, but her song 'Young and Beautiful' for the wonderful Great Gatsby soundtrack mid last year is stunning.



Regina Spektor

Regina Spektor is one of this generation's best talents, in my opinion. Her voice is strong and pure, and is accurate for both happy and sad songs. She is not so popular that everyone is obsessed with her, but her songs are loved by many. There're  songs such as 'Eet' and 'Hero' which are incredibly moving, to songs such as 'Us' (featured on 500 Days of Summer) and 'The Calculation' which are bubbly and uplifting, showing her versatility. I admire how her songs tell stories, and are not the typical love ballads. She is not afraid to try something new, and her most recent album 'What We Saw From the  Cheap Seats' is, in my opinion, a masterpiece.




Ellie Goulding

After being a fan for years and seeing her live last Autumn, I adore Ellie Goulding. She has influences such as Bjork, and I have noticed very early on that her singing style is similar to Bjork's, as it is more like speaking than singing. Her first album 'Lights' is my favourite, as it was the first album I ever bought independently, and is definitely a fresh and original sound to the music scene. Her music and voice is not to everyone's taste, but I'd give her a chance if I were you, as she shouldn't be judged because of her music being in the charts. It seems that many of the more alternative music fans dismiss her because she is in the charts, not thinking about her actual talent, and the fact she may have better songs than 'Burn'. Her cover of 'Your Song' by Elton John is one of the songs that shows her pure talent, her sweet and high voice gave the song its own twist, without ruining it. She is a true talent, on the records and on stage. 



Grimes

Grimes (or, Claire Boucher) is a Canadian solo artist who works a lot with synth and has a very techno sound. I adore how fresh and unique her sound is and how she uses modern technology in her music, bringing a very new sound to the music scene. Her extremely high pitched voice contrasts very interestingly with the bass in her music. Although I love songs such as 'Genesis' and 'Oblivion' I admit it took me a while to get into her music properly, but as the album 'Visions' became more familiar to me, I enjoyed it more and I now listen to it a lot. It's definitely one of my favourite albums, I'm still yet to discover her earlier work, but I am a huge admirer of hers and I suggest you give her a listen!



Sky Ferreira 

Sky Ferreira is one of my favourite singers, and people in general. Although she is young and quite petite, her voice is incredibly rich and strong, and I love how she can literally go from one genre to a completely different one, (such as 'Sad Dream' and '108') and her voice still has the rich, soothing tone. Her songs stay with you and are definitely catchy, but rarely annoying, and I would recommend her music to anyone looking for something new. Her music is very refreshing and comforting, and I listen to her very often. Her debut album 'Night Time, My Time' has recently been released in the UK and includes the hits 'I Blame Myself' and 'You're Not the One'.



Thank you so much for reading, and I hope you enjoyed. I will be doing a part 2 for next week's post, so stay tuned for that!

- Rhianwen