the one where andrew says 'you can has music' (part iv)
It's that time again folks,
I'm posting the 10 songs that meant the most to me this year and why,
with links for you to hear them for yourself.
I even made a pretty album cover for your iTunes :)
And for your reference, here are the previous years: 2009 ● 2008 ● 2007
Sweet Serendipity - Lee DeWyze
I could list a million reasons why Lee himself means a lot to me after this year. He became one of my favourite Idol contestants of all time pretty fast and gave my boyfriend and I plenty to bond over. We shared his music, he played in over at songchoice and I came down so we could see him during the Idol tour. We even got to meet him and gave him a pair of black and blue converse shoes that he's wearing in this picture. Anyway, the reason I chose this particular song, out of all of his, is that it's my go-to song when I'm feeling nervous about my future. It talks about how things just tend to turn out okay if you just try and that's the scenario that I've been fortunate to have so far, and hopefully will continue to have going into law school.
Lions - Lights
I discovered that this song was written with copious amounts of World of Warcraft references as I was putting it on the CD. I'm not a WoW fan, but that's a fun little tidbit. The references are actually also super appropriate to Harry Potter, which fits my life more. But I also love this song because it's about standing up to adversity. It also stood out on Lights' CD the first time I listened to it and convinced me that she wasn't just another syrupy-sweet pop artist. It definitely got the most plays on her album so I figured I'd share.
Holy Toledo - Crystal Bowersox
Like Lee, Crystal's presence on Idol kept me intrigued. Her and Lee, in my opinion, made an amazing Top 2 and I'm so glad for them, regardless of what other people say. This song, in my opinion, is gorgeous. It was featured as the background to Crystal's hometown visit video during the show and she redid it for her album with drums and everything. The version without the drums definitely has a different vibe to it, but I think this one is more rejoicing, which is appropriate for the end of the year. No?
Teenage Dream - The Dalton Warblers
Last season I couldn't bare watching Glee for very long. The hyper-stereotyping, the cheesy storylines, the poor writing - everything had me turned off by it by the middle of the season. This season, it regained it's momentum in my eyes. Some people complain about it become too Kurt-centric, but I think Kurt's story is an important one and Blaine is one of, if not the, best new character. This song, the best of the season and thus an appropriate intro to Blaine, won me over. It's smooth, it's cool and frankly, it's better than Katy Perry's version. When I heard Katy's version, I loved it. It reminded me of Elliott, obviously, and this version - with what it meant on Glee - only heightened that association, plus it has more plays. So it's the version you're getting from me.
Empire State of Mind, Part II - Alicia Keys
The first time I heard this song, we were driving home from the city - stuck in traffic in the middle of summer. Fortunately, it was in my dad's black Jaguar, top down, breeze flowing. And everything about this song made me go silent and just listen. It is what Alicia Keys should be, I think. It also embodies Toronto for me and, given that Noelle and I went to New York a week after I first heard it - it was quite good timing. It even made my mom cry when she heard it while I was in New York because she missed me, so, it means something to me.
How It Ends - DeVotchKa
This is a very weird song, I'll admit that before I hand it over to you. But it's also very profound. The primary associations for it come from this dance on SYTYCD. Travis Wall choregraphed a heartbreaking gay love story between two male dancers, one of the first of it's kind on the TV show and definitely a revolutionary piece. I got to see it up close and personal from the front row of the tour with Elliott and it was just as amazing in person. It's just so heartbreaking, but the song is about transition - about how hard it is to let one thing end and accept that another will come.
No One Else - Allison Iraheta
I will admit, much to Elliott's dismay, that it took me a while to even really listen to Allison's CD. I bought it to support her, took a few listens through and then got distracted by other music. But then, one day, Janna told me that this song reminded her of me. I didn't know it really well, so I listened to it on the bus on the way home. And then listened to it again. And again. And again. And then the whole cd. So for that, the song and Janna get points. It made me feel pretty good to know that a song this positive reminded her of me and I've kind of let it become a bit of a peppy anthem for me so, I thought I'd share. After all, I think all these songs have something that makes me say "that's my song!" whenever I hear it.
You Are - Michael Sarver
Michael Sarver is one of my favourite people in the world. I've heard plenty to the contrary from all sides of the AI8 fandom, but to me it's all rumours. He was extremely nice to my boyfriend and I the three times we've met him and is our best friend on twitter. We're almost positive he knows we're a gay couple and, coming from a conservative Texan background, I expected him to feel negatively towards us for it. Not even close. Plus, he's a Saints fan (he tweeted that picture at/for me :D). Anyway, enough about him. This song is really moving and makes me sing along and rock out every time, and it's a slow love song. It's actually something I'd consider for my wedding song...
Send Me The Moon - Sara Bareilles
First of all, as Noelle and I now know. Sara Bareilles is a goddess. She's adorable and funny as hell and makes amazing music. This song is just a bonus track on her newest album (which is glorious from start to finish, btw) - but when Noelle sent me it and told me she only had a few plays on it, I had to investigate myself. I instantly fell in love. It's a song that is very open to interpretation, but for me it is very true to long distance relationships, which I know plenty about. And for that, it breaks my heart a little and definitely holds strong meaning.
Impossible - Anberlin
I put this song last because, after two slow songs, I figured you'd need something catchy here. Anberlin puts on an amazing show live. I've seen them five times, most recently a few months ago with Noelle, and never been disappointed. I had this song, their first single from the new album, forever and barely listened to it. Then one day I saw the music video and suddenly realized how catchy it is. It has extra special meaning because it kind of speaks to my experiences in the Survivor game I played & won over at games_lj, so for that, it makes the list.
That's it for now,
because I'm pretty tired.
But enjoy! :)
Let me know if you take anything!
I'm posting the 10 songs that meant the most to me this year and why,
with links for you to hear them for yourself.
I even made a pretty album cover for your iTunes :)
And for your reference, here are the previous years: 2009 ● 2008 ● 2007
Sweet Serendipity - Lee DeWyze
I could list a million reasons why Lee himself means a lot to me after this year. He became one of my favourite Idol contestants of all time pretty fast and gave my boyfriend and I plenty to bond over. We shared his music, he played in over at songchoice and I came down so we could see him during the Idol tour. We even got to meet him and gave him a pair of black and blue converse shoes that he's wearing in this picture. Anyway, the reason I chose this particular song, out of all of his, is that it's my go-to song when I'm feeling nervous about my future. It talks about how things just tend to turn out okay if you just try and that's the scenario that I've been fortunate to have so far, and hopefully will continue to have going into law school.
Lions - Lights
I discovered that this song was written with copious amounts of World of Warcraft references as I was putting it on the CD. I'm not a WoW fan, but that's a fun little tidbit. The references are actually also super appropriate to Harry Potter, which fits my life more. But I also love this song because it's about standing up to adversity. It also stood out on Lights' CD the first time I listened to it and convinced me that she wasn't just another syrupy-sweet pop artist. It definitely got the most plays on her album so I figured I'd share.
Holy Toledo - Crystal Bowersox
Like Lee, Crystal's presence on Idol kept me intrigued. Her and Lee, in my opinion, made an amazing Top 2 and I'm so glad for them, regardless of what other people say. This song, in my opinion, is gorgeous. It was featured as the background to Crystal's hometown visit video during the show and she redid it for her album with drums and everything. The version without the drums definitely has a different vibe to it, but I think this one is more rejoicing, which is appropriate for the end of the year. No?
Teenage Dream - The Dalton Warblers
Last season I couldn't bare watching Glee for very long. The hyper-stereotyping, the cheesy storylines, the poor writing - everything had me turned off by it by the middle of the season. This season, it regained it's momentum in my eyes. Some people complain about it become too Kurt-centric, but I think Kurt's story is an important one and Blaine is one of, if not the, best new character. This song, the best of the season and thus an appropriate intro to Blaine, won me over. It's smooth, it's cool and frankly, it's better than Katy Perry's version. When I heard Katy's version, I loved it. It reminded me of Elliott, obviously, and this version - with what it meant on Glee - only heightened that association, plus it has more plays. So it's the version you're getting from me.
Empire State of Mind, Part II - Alicia Keys
The first time I heard this song, we were driving home from the city - stuck in traffic in the middle of summer. Fortunately, it was in my dad's black Jaguar, top down, breeze flowing. And everything about this song made me go silent and just listen. It is what Alicia Keys should be, I think. It also embodies Toronto for me and, given that Noelle and I went to New York a week after I first heard it - it was quite good timing. It even made my mom cry when she heard it while I was in New York because she missed me, so, it means something to me.
How It Ends - DeVotchKa
This is a very weird song, I'll admit that before I hand it over to you. But it's also very profound. The primary associations for it come from this dance on SYTYCD. Travis Wall choregraphed a heartbreaking gay love story between two male dancers, one of the first of it's kind on the TV show and definitely a revolutionary piece. I got to see it up close and personal from the front row of the tour with Elliott and it was just as amazing in person. It's just so heartbreaking, but the song is about transition - about how hard it is to let one thing end and accept that another will come.
No One Else - Allison Iraheta
I will admit, much to Elliott's dismay, that it took me a while to even really listen to Allison's CD. I bought it to support her, took a few listens through and then got distracted by other music. But then, one day, Janna told me that this song reminded her of me. I didn't know it really well, so I listened to it on the bus on the way home. And then listened to it again. And again. And again. And then the whole cd. So for that, the song and Janna get points. It made me feel pretty good to know that a song this positive reminded her of me and I've kind of let it become a bit of a peppy anthem for me so, I thought I'd share. After all, I think all these songs have something that makes me say "that's my song!" whenever I hear it.
You Are - Michael Sarver
Michael Sarver is one of my favourite people in the world. I've heard plenty to the contrary from all sides of the AI8 fandom, but to me it's all rumours. He was extremely nice to my boyfriend and I the three times we've met him and is our best friend on twitter. We're almost positive he knows we're a gay couple and, coming from a conservative Texan background, I expected him to feel negatively towards us for it. Not even close. Plus, he's a Saints fan (he tweeted that picture at/for me :D). Anyway, enough about him. This song is really moving and makes me sing along and rock out every time, and it's a slow love song. It's actually something I'd consider for my wedding song...
Send Me The Moon - Sara Bareilles
First of all, as Noelle and I now know. Sara Bareilles is a goddess. She's adorable and funny as hell and makes amazing music. This song is just a bonus track on her newest album (which is glorious from start to finish, btw) - but when Noelle sent me it and told me she only had a few plays on it, I had to investigate myself. I instantly fell in love. It's a song that is very open to interpretation, but for me it is very true to long distance relationships, which I know plenty about. And for that, it breaks my heart a little and definitely holds strong meaning.
Impossible - Anberlin
I put this song last because, after two slow songs, I figured you'd need something catchy here. Anberlin puts on an amazing show live. I've seen them five times, most recently a few months ago with Noelle, and never been disappointed. I had this song, their first single from the new album, forever and barely listened to it. Then one day I saw the music video and suddenly realized how catchy it is. It has extra special meaning because it kind of speaks to my experiences in the Survivor game I played & won over at games_lj, so for that, it makes the list.
That's it for now,
because I'm pretty tired.
But enjoy! :)
Let me know if you take anything!