15 February 2024 - Lady A - My Name Is All I Got

This is not the artist we posted on Monday, nor are we linking to it.  You can look later, though.

This is Anita White, a blues singer who goes by Lady A and has since at least the late 90's. So, when Lady Antebellum changed their name in the wake of the George Floyd death - to get rid of a Civil War reference - it was a serious issue.

Luckily, this little confusion didn't stop Anita White, who still goes by Lady A - and can, legally, thanks to a settlement in 2022.  She's still releasing music, too.  We applaud her for standing up to a huge name and winning.  

This song was clearly written as a response to the band formerly know as Lady Antebellum.  It's also a really strong and empowering song that is full of soul.

15 February 2024 - Metric - Help I'm Alive

We have featured Metric on this blog before - including last year, when they were nominated for a Juno Award.  They're nominated again this year - and we think they might actually win.  

This is a 2008 song of theirs, and not what they are nominated for this year.  Although not their best known song today - now that the truth is just a rule that you can bend - it is their biggest hit, reaching #21 on the Canadian charts and even higher elsewhere.  It was also their first time gaining any traction on the US charts -   

Written by vocalist Emily Haines - and sung by her and not Brie Larson - it's an emotional powerhouse.

Does this song sound just as emotional and strong stripped down to an acoustic version?

Yes.  Yes it does.   

14 Feburary 2024 - Amanda Seyfried - Amanda's Love Song

This strange little song was released in 2010.  Written by Seyfried, it doesn't REALLY have a title. It just kind of adopted this one.  The video, made for postthelove, is just her, singing and playing the guitar.  

The song itself is absolutely beautiful and you have got to hear it, so I figured today, Valentine's Day, would be a great day to release it.  Enjoy.

13 February 2024 - H.E.R. - Hard Place

I have to admit, when I was watching the Super Bowl halftime show, featuring Usher, it took me a minute to identify the female guitarist who was clearly a featured guest - as did a lot of people, I am sure.  When I figured it out, which I did pretty quickly, I was ashamed of myself.

You see, Gabriella Wilson, still early in H.E.R. career, is already an accomplished and well-respected artist.  A prolific songwriter and multiinstrumentally talented, she has already accomplish a lot - and won a few Grammys for her efforts.  She's been redefining R&B, infusing country and rock into her sound as well. 

So yeah.  I should have known right away.  To be fair, it took me a second on Ludacris, too.  

This song was Grammy nominated for Song of the Year, and was co-written by H.E.R.  It was an R&B and a minor pop hit in the US.  

H.E.R.'s guitar skills are on full display in this live version of the song, from Austin City Limits.  It is, in my opinion, the best version of the song that exists. 

12 February 2024 - Lady A(ntebellum) - Need You Now

This was sitting in drafts for a VERY long time, and I am so glad to finally uncork it.

The band is Lady A, but they were Lady Antebellum.  

This song was written by the band and Josh Kear - and it is the biggest thing they have ever done.  Not only was it a huge country hit, it reached #2 on the Billboard POP charts and was the 2nd biggest hit of 2010 ("Tik Tok", by the way).  The song won four Grammys, including Song of the Year and Record of the Year (with the album of the same name winning a 5th that evening).  

The song is about someone making a late night drunk dial that they are going to likely regret in the morning.  A lot of us have been there.  I've been there.  

Anyway, the song was and still is a force of nature, and now here it is.  

9 February 2024 - The Dead Milkmen - Punk Rock Girl

I used to love The Dead Milkmen.  I was introduced to them when a kid I met at summer camp wore his Big Lizard In My Backyard shirt.  I was intrigued. So I checked them out.  The jokey pop/punk fusion was fun and different and kept me interested.

Fast forward a couple of years, and they release this as the lead single from their 4th album, Beelzebubba. MTV starts playing the song in heavy rotation during the day, and people love it.  Turns out, it was a song the band had written many years earlier and were heasitant to record as The Dead Milkmen (they had a side project called Ornamental Wigwam that they used for it).  

 

By far, this song was their biggest hit - their only song to hit any Billboard chart (#11 on the Modern Rock chart) - and remained a staple of their live sets, especially after they reunited (they broke up for ten years and reunited soon after the tragic death of bassist Dave Blood).

Listen closely to the song, and you will hear references to Philadelphia locations, like the iconic punk rock store Zipperhead.  

Famously, the song mentions Mojo Nixon, who was their Enigma Records labelmate and fellow jokester.  In 2015, he made a suprise appearance on stage during this song right after them mention him.  

8 Febraury 2024 - Lisa - LALISA

The debut solo single by your favorite member of BLACKPINK was released in 2021.

Don't deny it.  Everyone loves Lisa.  One of two members of the group who spoke fluent English from the beginning (Australian citizen Rosé being the other), she became something of a spokesperson for the band and for non-Korean brands.  She was the first non-Korean (she's Thai) to be taken on by famed label YG Entertainment. 

Born Pranpriya Manobal, she did legally change her name to Lalisa Manobal on the advice of a fortune teller. So, in this, her debut single - a worldwide hit - she's literally singing her own name over and over.  

A K-Pop live performance is about the performance, and not the singing.  That's not a criticism.  It's a fact and an entertaining one at that. I literally picked one of those at random, because Lisa's performance and dancing are absolutely flawless every single time.