Dear Me,

It has been another wonderful year for new music as well as previous albums making a return. For this instalment of 2015 favourites, I will be sharing my favourite albums from throughout the year. Like last year, I found this really difficult but have finally come up with my top six albums from the year. These albums are ones that I have loved throughout the year (or since their release) and therefore albums release in the past few weeks can't fall into this category - I have also decided that the albums chosen do not have to be released this year.

Artist: Sigma   Album Title: Life   Genere: Dance   Release Date: 4 December 2015 Buy It: iTunes Deluxe | iTunes Standard   Listen: YouTube Playlist | Spotify | Deezer

Life is the debut album from electronic duo Sigma and an album that I have been looking forward to for months. Unfortunately for me, the album fell short of my expectations leaving me slightly disappointed - I do like the album but I don't love it. Life shows many different sides to the duo's sound including more melodic tracks such as Life contrasted with more full on drum and bass ones such as Lighters.
I particularly like Life because of its melodic sound, making it the calmest track on the album. Despite being calm, there is still a slight build up to heard despite there never actually being a drop. This left me slightly disappointed because I really liked how the track was being set up and yet there was nothing that followed. Having said that, I really like the vocal (Bartoven) and found that it worked well with the slower pace of Life and therefore meant that the song was often in my head.
A track that I thoroughly like is The Reason, featuring the vocal of Nicole Jackson. The track hits it off straight away and maintains the pace throughout most of the song, slowing briefly in the verses to enable the build up to the chorus to be set up again. The Reason captures the drum and bass element that I originally loved from Sigma as well of reminding me of other drum and bass songs I used to listen to.
Another favourite track off the album is Broken Promises featuring the vocal of Maverick Sabre - an artist I like anyway. Similar to The Reason, Broken Promises embodies the drum and bass sound that I love from the duo. However, there is a brief section of the song I'm not keen on but is outweighed by how much I like the rest of the song.
Overall, I do like Sigma's album but I found it a bit of a let down to what I had been expecting from previous releases and their live shows. Having said that, there are tracks on Life that I do like such as a The Reason and Good Times (featuring Ella Eyre, track I have mentioned before) but many of the tracks lack for me or I eventually find them quite repetitive. As always, this is only my opinion and you may completely disagree so please do listen to the album yourself to make up your own mind!

Artist: Ellie Goulding   Album Title: Delirium   Genre: Pop   Release Date: 6 November 2015   Buy It: iTunes Deluxe | iTunes Standard

Delirium is the eagerly awaited third album from British pop princess Ellie Goulding. The album includes the single On My Mind as well Outside, a collaboration with Calvin Harris on the deluxe version of the album (although also released on Calvin's album, Motion). The album shows Ellie's growth as an artist and therefore is fairly different to her previous album Halcyon Days - often the change in sound works, others not so much. I particularly like the introduction to the album using a sort of operatic tone to set the album, similar to Halcyon Days, before flowing into the first track on Delirium - Aftertaste. Aftertaste kicks up the tempo from the slow introduction into a much more upbeat and ultimately uplifting track - a theme throughout most of the album.
Something In The Way You Move is the first track on the album which falls into my favourite tracks. I think it's really catchy and makes you want to move around - that sums up everything I love about it.
Following on is my next favourite, Keep On Dancin'. It opens with quite a distorted sounding sample as well as quite calm and to a certain extent possibly seen as a bit eerie. The track then begins to build up before the climax and change of pace for the chorus - this momentum is then carried throughout the rest of the song. There is a brief section in the bridge in which the track slows again before returning once again to the faster pace that the listener has become used to.
Codes is possibly my favourite of the tracks on Delirium because it follows the upbeat, catchy and feel good theme throughout. I also particularly love the lyrics which add to the catchiness but also are relatable to lot of people when it comes to relationships and possibly even can be applied to friendships. I think Codes is the most upbeat track off the entire album - even when it slows from its usual speed, it's still quite upbeat.
Other tracks I particularly like on Delirium are; Holding On For Life and The Greatest.
Tracks that I'm not so keen on are; Around U, Don't Panic and I Do What I Love. I find these three tracks quite repetitive and therefore more annoying than any of the tracks. I Do What I Love is a track I definitely do not love, vocally and production wise it sounds so different and therefore doesn't work for me.
Overall, I really like Delirium but some tracks really let it down for me.

For this edition of themed playlists, I have decided to put one together of artists to watch (formally known as the up and coming artist series). The playlist includes artists that I have previously mentioned since running the series as well as others that I am yet to write about.
Spotify links are below.


If the embedded version of the Spotify is not working, click here.

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Anne-Marie is probably most known at the minute for being on the singers that tour with Rudimental. However now she is on her way to creating her own music career away from Rudimental. She features on many of the tracks on Rudimental's second album We The Generation as well as Wretch 32's latest single Alright With Me.
Anne-Marie released her debut EP Karate in the summer of 2015, including tracks Karate, Gemini and Stole. Since she has released Do It Right and more recently, Boy. Her debut album is in the works through Rudimental's label, Major Toms.



I have be fortunate enough to see Anne-Marie perform live with Rudimental at last years V Festival in which she maintained the high amount of energy that previous Rudimental artists have bought such as Becky Hill, Ella Eyre and Sinead Harnett. I definitely think that Anne-Marie is going to be one to watch in the next few months and years to see how see attacks the music world through her own music.
On a final note, I want to mention All That Love - my favourite track from We The Generation that Anne-Marie featured in. To read more about that, click here.

Artist: Rudimental   Album Title: We The Generation   Genre: Dance    Release Date: 2 October 2015   Buy It: iTunes Deluxe | iTunes Standard | Amazon

We The Generation is the all important second album from Rudimental. For their second album, Rudimental have clearly tried to experiment with different sounds to develop themselves, something that I can say that I think they have done effectively. Despite the experimentation with new sounds, certain tracks still have the presence of the old sound with the beats and all important trumpet. I'd say the new sound is much lighter than the previous and as an album as a whole tries to capture the goodness of life.
The tracks feature the new artists that Rudimental have taken under their wing such as Anne-Marie and Will Heard as well returning artists like Ella Eyre, Sinead Harnett and MNEK. I love many of the tracks on the album with two or three that I'm not so keen on but for an album of 18 tracks, I'd say that is not bad at all!
Excluding the singles as I usually do, my favourite tracks from the deluxe edition of We The Generation as All That Love (ft Anne-Marie), Run (ft Will Heard) and Too Cool (ft Ella Eyre). These are all tracks that are in the later part of the album - only Too Cool being available on the standard edition.
All That Love is, in comparison to other tracks on the album, quite chilled out in that it is much slower with a much deeper sound. The opening section of the track uses a beautiful strings section which I thinks sets up the track so well. This enables Anne-Marie's voice to really shown, especially in the verses, as well as allowing the listener to pay even closer attention to the lyrics of the song.
Run on the other hand, is a lot more upbeat and energetic - clearly noticeable in the chorus. This is an obvious contrast to the verses which are much slower and what I'd call more performance based - hopefully you'll see what I mean when listening to it! The verses provide an anticipated build up to the chorus before once again returning afterwards to its original pace. This track might not be as popular as others, I know it took me a few listens to really pay attention to it before Run got stuck in my head for days on end, but please give it a chance!
Other tracks that I want to mention that are singles from the album are Love Ain't Just A Word, Rumour Mill and I Will For Love.
Overall, I'd say that We The Generation has definitely enabled Rudimental to progress their sound at a great level but still capturing the old sound. Although every track isn't for me, a great majority are loved and therefore the few that I'm not keen on. I'd highly recommend We The Generation as it is such a feel good and dance album!

I've been running this blog for quite some time now and in that time I have picked up a few things that I want share with you up coming bloggers and for those with a curiosity to start. I know there are an awful lot of these posts around so I have tried to accumulate the ones that I think are the most important, especially for me personally.

Do It For Yourself, Not The Audience 
When considering starting a blog, it is important to ensure that you have an interest in blogging and not because of the possible attention or fame that can come from it. Those who have become known for their online work would have started with an interest in the world of blogging because it is likely at the time that becoming famous was unheard of. Your enjoyment of blogging is always a first, not the pressure of trying to please your audience which follows onto my next point...

Write Content You Would Read
As well as having an interest in blogging, it is important to write content that you would enjoy reading yourself or that you have a particular interest in - there are many other types of blogs instead of the well known fashion and beauty ones. Saying that, you don't have to only write posts around a certain topics - if you normally write fashion posts but want to write about music, just do it! Also, if you are half-heartedly writing posts that may show through to your audience and therefore result in them also not enjoying the post.

Never Put Up A Post You're Not 100% Happy With
Never EVER put up a post you are not 100% happy with especially for the sake of maintaining a schedule - quality over quantity. You have to like the post before anyone else because you are your harshest critic and in the future and may look back at that particular post and think what was I doing? This links with my previous point of you have to put up content you would enjoy reading and sloppy writing will show through.

If You're Serious, Do The Work
If you decide that you want to become a blogger full time you have to be prepared to put the work in and to have patience when trying to build your audience. Coming up with content ideas can often be difficult when your creativity is running low and it is important to be aware of these situations what you can do when times  like these arise. The design of your blog is also something that you have to think of, it has to be easy for your audience to use and navigate as well as being easy to read. When moving away from the default blogger templates, you can code your own (if you know how) or get someone else to design one for you. Saying that, blogging doesn't have to be a career path but also as something fun, maybe a little documentation series for yourself to look back on in the future.

Stats Aren't Everything
It might seem like it sometimes but stats aren't everything! Seeing a high number of views is great I know but interacting is so much better - every time I have received a comment I have been so happy afterwards to see the response that I left. Saying this, stats can help you understand your blogs growth so don't rule them out completely!

I hope this was helpful to those of you who are new bloggers or considering starting a blog. The ultimate end goal is for you to enjoy what you are doing and if you get a great audience from that, it's even better!

Artist: Bring Me The Horizon   Album Title: That's The Spirit   Genre: Rock    Release Date: 11 September 2015   Buy It: iTunes | Amazon

There has been an awful lot of hype surrounding the eagerly awaited new album from Bring Me The Horizon. Ever since I first heard the new sound they were trying to capture I have been on board, making this album even more anticipated for me. It's fair to say that it didn't disappoint, resulting in That's The Spirit becoming the first album I have ever given a ten out of ten to!
Doomed kicks off the album giving the listener a slight taste of what it to follow in the next ten tracks before kicking the album off in full swing with Happy Song. This is followed by the tracks that we have already heard including Throne and True Friends.
In my eyes, the album is split into three different sections depending on the different tracks and what style they are in. Doomed to True Friends provide the first section before a calmer Follow You provides a brief respite for the listener. This is then followed with What You Need, Avalanche and Run which provide the next three tracks in this section. The second section is my favourite on the album because it has my two favourite tracks on the album - What You Need and Avalanche.
What You Need begins much calmer and softer in comparison to the chorus which is much more hard hitting to carry on the momentum of the opening tracks. The chorus consists of the raw sound with layers of guitars and drums to give it the full desired impact. This then carries on into the next track which is Avalanche.
Avalanche gets into full swing straight away, hooking the listener in straight away before slowing down slightly to allow Oli's vocal to be heard much better. However, the choruses are the only sections in which the track slows. Avalanche is also the track which has my favourite line of the album in; I need a cure for me 'cause the square doesn't fit the circle.
Another track I haven't mentioned that I particularly like is Blasphemy. Likewise to Avalanche, Blasphemy kicks in straight away, slows at the chorus and has lyrics that I particularly like.
To finalise, I think that That's The Spirit is a great step up from Sempiternal and will go down in Bring Me The Horizon history as one of their best albums.

To My Best Friend,
I am worried. Worried that in the next two years of college that I will be replaced. I worry that your obsessions and terrible jokes will be directed towards someone else and that I will gradually be shut out of your life. I worry that someone else will come along and be a better friend than I have, leaving you to move on.
I am terrified. I am terrified to face college life without you, terrified that I won't be able to run to you during the day and pour my heart out with my concerns. I just want you there with me, guiding me and helping me through each day as I know I will struggle.
I am unsettled. Unsettled that in your time of need, I won't be there to attempt to cheer to you up and take your mind off your troubles. Likewise, that you will not be there to do the exact same thing for me - this brings me a great amount of discomfort. I am largely unsettled by not knowing who to turn to in my hour of need. Before it was so simple, I'd know where you would be but now you are at a distance that I can not travel in my lunch break.
I am sad. I am saddened by the fact that I can't tell you things as soon as they happen, to tell you the funny stories that happen and to share my success with you instantly. But mostly, I am saddened by the fact that I won't be able to walk into form everyday and see you, spend my breaks and free time with you.
I am hopeful. Hopeful that whilst you are reading this that you are aware of how much I love you and want you in my life for many years to come. I don't want you to become 'that person I was best friends with in secondary school', I want you to be my life long best friend! I want our friendship to survive and to become one that other people are envious of. But most importantly, as long as I have you around I will be much happier then if you were not.

Artist: Don Broco   Album Title: Automatic   Genre: Rock   Release Date: 7 August 2015 Buy It: iTunes Deluxe | Amazon

Automatic is the eagerly awaited second album from Don Broco and one that I have been very excited to listen to after hearing the band's first album, Priorities. The album shows a large development in Don Broco's sound in comparison to their debut - Automatic displays a much larger range of styles throughout the entire album. Because of this, I can say that I much prefer Automatic to Priorities as there is always something different in every track whilst still capturing the rock essence.
My favourite tracks on the album are Tough On You and Fire.
One of the main things I love about Tough On You is the contrast between the verses and the chorus. The verses of the track are much calmer whereas the chorus captures the raw and layered sound that I talk about so often and that I love an awful lot. I also love the lyrics, once again especially in the chorus. I do like the verses as they add more to the story in terms of lyrics but overall I much prefer the chorus.
Fire on the other hand has the raw sound from the very moment that the track begins. Likewise to Tough On You, I prefer the chorus to the verse simply because I find it so easy to sing along as well as it putting me in a good mood afterwards. I can also see this track being incredible live with the crowd shouting the lyrics back at the band.
I also found that all of the tracks on the album flow really well together making Automatic a thoroughly enjoyable listen. I would highly recommend Automatic as I love it ever since its release!

As someone who is about to move on to college (or Year 12) one of my main concerns is not how I'll find my way around; how hard the subjects will be but actually, how do I make friends?
It may seem like such a stupid concept to be preoccupied about but I've spent the last five years of my life with the same group of people. To be suddenly thrown into a mix of thousands more students, where I am not guaranteed to know anyone reminds me completely and utterly of my first day at secondary school - I moved from a different country and was, seemingly, the only girl with a friend. Of course, it did not take me long to make friends but that doesn't seem to reassure me, five years later. What I am concerned about, stupidly, is that I have lost the ability to make friends. How do I just go up and talk to someone? How can I make them like me? What is it that attracted my old friends to me? How will I know they are the right friends for me?
With all these, among hundreds of other questions swirling around my head, it is no wonder people dread leaving school and moving onto higher education.
However, despite all the worries that niggle at the back of my brain about my future I am also incredibly excited to leave my secondary school, not because I didn't enjoy i - I loved school and will always have fond memories of it - but because it is all part of my 'growing up' and despite the fact that I do not want to be burdened with the responsibilities of being an adult, the anticipations of the worlds that open up to you as you grown up is thrilling! I just recently received a booklet about my course (International Baccalaureate) and was able to learn more about what I will be studying; the possible trips I will take, the induction days...All that have contributed to a feeling of excitement, even if I can't decide what outfit I should wear on the first day...first impressions, right?!
I suppose what I am trying to say is that although you may, like me, not want to leave the security and routine of school and old friendships behinds, the future is exciting! You will be meeting new people, admiring new faces, experiencing new things and that should be a good thing! I hope anyone moving on in one way or another in their lives, enjoys the change!

Written by Billie Powell

Over the past four weeks I have been taking part in a programme called NCS or National Citizen Service. The programme is aimed at 16-17 year olds to challenge themselves as well as helping the local community. I've had an amazing time completing the programme and I wanted to share it with you all as well as providing me with something to look back on in the future - if you ever have the chance to take part, please do it!

Week 1: 29 June - 3 July
Arriving on the very first day was admittedly terrifying despite knowing quite a few people that were taking part, I had no idea who of those people would be actually be in my group. When I was directed to my team I slipped into the first chair I could locate to avoid being the awkward person seeking out people I knew. After a bit of bonding and comfort from those I knew already, the team began to slowly bond together.
Throughout the first week the team completed a range of activities to bond and, for some, push ourselves into the 'challenge zone'. For me, my biggest challenge was having to be in open water and having to swim with not much around me for support as I found out I am not as strong a swimmer as I used to be resulting in me not getting very far and getting tired very quickly. However, with the help of my team I managed to get back to shore even if it did mean them dragging me out of the water! One day we were due to be doing wake boarding, which of course was open water - by this point I was also beginning to miss home quite a bit. Everything seemed to get on top of me and it resulted in me finding getting onto the wake board and challenging myself even more difficult. I did eventually bite the bullet, get on the wakeboard and begin my attempt at going around the course. I managed to get half the way around and felt so incredibly proud of myself, especially with my team cheering behind me as I was pulled off the starting point. This lead me to give it another go another two times However, the lap in which I managed to get the furthest, I fell off the board and the wake board hit me in the head leaving a nice lump and bruise - it was so worth it though!
Other activities from the week included canoeing, stand up paddle boarding and high ropes - more I found more challenging than others.
In the evenings our team often stuck together and played other games such as catch competing in the rounders tournament - we came second due to two point goal difference! This meant that our team was very tight and everyone seemed to be getting on relatively well and enjoyed being in each others company.

Team 5 Wake Boarding Day!

Week 2: 6 July - 10 July
For week two we were staying in a university campus and had to cook our own meals and wash our dishes to give us an insight into university life and being independent. I didn't find this part of the week too difficult as I cook my own food at home anyway. However the most difficult part for me was trying to stay calm with my other team members who weren't necessarily helping as much as others were. It frustrated me that it was always the same people doing the dishes or cooking when everyone was meant to have a go instead of letting other people do it for them.
As for activities we helped with a community project in which our group was cleaning a pathway and cutting down bushes to improve accessibility on the course. I found this to be a lot more fun than I though it would be! I found that the feeling of proudness you get after helping someone outweighs the negativity you might have to a project - I don't like gardening but seeing the work afterwards made me very proud of myself and gave me a sense of accomplishment. Having the team around me also meant that we were always laughing and joking about something which also made the time go faster.
A challenging moment for me was coasteering because of the open water and growing anxiety about my swimming ability. I have never felt the desire to run and jump off things which made the idea of coasteering very strange to me. However, once again after gathering myself and with some well needed encouragement from my team and leaders I took the plunge - quite literally. Admittedly I didn't enjoy it as much as wake boarding and every time I jumped in the water the first thing I wanted to do was get out again. I feel like I could have pushed myself a bit more to jump off on my own accord instead of having to but I am still proud of myself for what I did manage to do.
Towards the end of the week we also had an oscars night in which we recapped the past two weeks and the challenges we had faced. There were also awards given out during the evening in various categories. I was nominated by my team leaders for the award of 'most glamorous' which despite not winning, I felt incredibly flattered by!

Team 5 - Oscars Night

Week 3: 13 July - 17 July
For this week we were based within the community and had to plan what social action projects we wanted to do to help the surrounding area. This week was definitely the slowest to begin with as not many decisions were made and many of the team, including myself, were indecisive on what we could do and what charity to help in the process. Once we had chosen our charity (STAK) we then had to figure out what we would be doing throughout the fourth week to help the charity and what other work we would be doing - it couldn't all be fundraising. As the week progressed we were getting rejected from a lot of places and I began to wonder if we would ever have enough social action projects to carry through the week. However, by the end of Thursday we had a full outlook of the projects we would be working on over the next week. This included helping out in a local primary school with gardening as well as a local care home with their painting. Within this week, we also proposed to do a rough sleep to try and simulate the conditions that a homeless person would sleep in - we also had only £3 to spend on three meals.
I was put in charge of all of the online media and raising awareness for what we were doing on the Facebook page in which we had set up. This included design work of the logo and header and well as sharing the information the team were giving me about the work we would be doing in the following week. It was important for us to do this especially for events in which we were doing fundraising to try and get more people down to the site and to help STAK. Doing this, I felt very much in my element and took it on as if I were doing promotions for this blog.
On the Friday, we teamed up with another team that were based in the same area as us and did a bake sale. My our team it was about raising money for STAK as well as more awareness for the charity - I had only heard about it at the beginning of the week but I already felt a need to try and help them with the work that they do. In total, we raised £263.61 from the bake sale, raffle, selling of chocolate and seeds which is more than I ever thought we would manage.
We definitely had a lot of issues during this week but we managed to push through them to finally get a fully planned out week. Because of this week, I know that if I continue to focus on the end goal and keep pushing through it is very likely that I will get there eventually.

Team 5 Not Really Planning Much...

Week 4: 20 July - 24 July
Week four meant carrying out the projects we had planned in the previous week. The week began helping at a local school with their overgrown gardens by cutting back bushes and tidying the garden beds. As I mentioned earlier, gardening is hardly one of my favourite things to be doing but seeing the transformation from a none recognisable flower bed to a recognisable one felt very rewarding and kept me going throughout the day. Other activities throughout the week included a bag pack at the local Tesco in which we also managed to raise quite a bit of money from as well as increasing awareness for STAK.
After this, we travelled down to BF Adventure to take part in our sponsored overnight rough sleep. Admittedly I didn't find it too difficult but I know if I had done several more nights I would have hated it - it's not a lifestyle I wish I have to live by. However, in this time myself and a few other team members stayed up sharing stories and just generally having a lovely and hilarious conversation. In this time, I had conversations with various team members about how much we were going to miss NCS once it was over and being around the team everyday.
The days afterwards included helping dig a drainage system on the archery course to reduce flooding on the field as well as painting sections of the local care home with a lot of colour to brighten it up.
Although some of the activities may not have been the most thrilling, the team were always around to provide something hilarious to say and to keep everyones morale high!
Throughout this week I found that it was important to keep going otherwise I would get out of the swing of the work I was doing and end up in a slump of 'ugh I don't want to be doing this'. However, I never got to that point because I found it rewarding and I knew it was what I had signed up to do.

Meeting the local MP

Things I Took Away From NCS:
When I began NCS I wanted to grow in confidence as it had taken a big hit over the past few years and was now beginning to affect me a lot more than I wanted it to. However, completing the programme has resulted in me restoring a lot of faith in myself and reassurance in the fact that I can do things if I really want to. Because of my growth in confidence, I feel more comfortable leading than I did before but is something that I know I still need to work on and am determined to do over time.
I have also met some amazing people and I hope that I stay in contact with them because without the teams continued support I know I would have struggled a lot more throughout the weeks and activities. They have also managed to quite often make me cry with laughter or laugh so much that my stomach physically hurts - I now can never look at an apple, orange or banana in the same way again. It also reminded me that making friends really isn't that difficult and therefore puts me in a much more comfortable position for when I start college and therefore meeting new people.
I also managed to push through the barriers that we were having, especially in week three - it has shown me that with determination and perseverance you can achieve what you intend to if you stick at it.
On a final note, I really loved the programme and being a part of it has been an amazing experience as well as being incredibly rewarding. I have decided that I would like to try and stay with the programme and become a leader as I feel that it will continue to push me as well as being rewarded for helping others face their fears and to try and be a comfort to them - we'll see how that goes in the time that follows!

Team Hug!

My whole year group has now finished secondary school, our GCSE exams are all over, and we have a ten week summer holiday that is now in full swing! This, of course, is extremely exciting however I always feel as though I have wasted my summer when we go back to school in September. Therefore, I have devised a list of 'goals' or things I want to do this summer before I start college:

See my friends - I know this seems like quite a mundane thing, but I feel like now more than ever it is really important that I keep in contact with those friends who I value greatly and may not see as much at college, or even those who I will see! This summer is the perfect opportunity to spend every spare moment with people who mean a lot to me - with a couple of my best friends we have agreed to do something at least once a week.

Take lots of photos and videos - Something that our generation does a lot is photograph everything. Sunsets, meals, parties, every detail is captured. However, an aspect of photography that I feel is not covered enough is video. My mum has so many home videos of me from when I was little, which are so cute to look back on, but I hardly have any videos of me and my friends, so that is something I aim to do more!

Read lots - I've always been someone who does a lot of reading and I really enjoy doing so! But, since revision took over my life, this has been shoved to the bottom of my priority list. However, since being on holiday so far I have read all of the Maze Runner series - I am just finishing the prequel - and I loved it!

Despite only having three things on my list that I can think of, there are probably way more that I could add and probably will do.

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Written by Ellie Taylor

Time is kind of the scariest concept of them all. Forget monsters under the bed or thunder storms or anything else that could be deemed as scary. Because fears change throughout life, but time is a constant, always there and always evident. For example, I have just finished school, which is crazy because it feels like yesterday that I was walking through the doors on my first day with fellow teeny eleven year olds anxious to be assigned a big kid to show them to their class. But it was five years ago.  Five entire years. And that concept is so very bizarre because five years ago that was happening, however five years into the future I will nearly be twenty two which seems so much further away than the comforting and familiar age of eleven. But whilst time is a very relevant fear of mine right now, it is also extremely comforting to know that certain aspects or times in my life are over or will be over soon, or at least will be over one day.
I had awful anxiety about going in to school five years ago, whereas now, five years ahead, I have embraced every day of school with a smile (if a slightly reluctant smile some days) because of its familiarity and safety, and I know that despite being sad about the end of such a long five years, this sadness won't last forever and very soon there will new things to consume the excitement/happiness cortex of my brain.
The passing of time is scary and is sometime the worst thing imaginable. But it is mainly exciting and unknown, often unknown in the best of ways.

Written by Georgina Dent.

Artist: Jamie xx
Album Title: In Colour
Release Date: 29 May 2015
Genre: Electronic
Tracks Standard: 11
Tracks Deluxe: -
Buy It:
Amazon
iTunes

Jamie xx and The xx are musicians that I would never imagine myself listening to but I find them strangely captivating because they are like nothing else I have ever listened to or come across. Their music is often quite chilled out but has very prominent beats throughout the songs giving it a lot of punch and therefore manages to keep me interested. Normally with chilled out music I can get bored easily because there isn't much going on for me to listen to.
I first came across Jamie xx on Radio 1 simply because I couldn't decide what I wanted to listen to and was being lazy about it. Loud Places ft Romy was then played on the radio and I loved it immediately - I featured it in my May 2015 Music Favourites. The album itself starts with the chilled out tracks you would expect from Jamie xx. This provides such an easy listen and be used at any time whether that be revision, trying to sleep or just trying to relax.
I would say my favourite tracks on the album are the ones that feature the vocal of Romy - there is something about her voice that adds so much to the track and really gives out a chilled feeling. These tracks are Loud Places and SeeSaw.
Loud Places I have mentioned before and despite being a single I love it still! (I like to pick songs that aren't released as singles to get a better idea of the album.) I really like that the tracks features everyday sounding samples and in a way makes the track seem more casual like you could hear it while you were walking about with traffic going by - that is what I can imagine from it. As I have mentioned earlier, the tracks have strong beats throughout which add a lot of depth to the sound and therefore keeps me captivated.
On the other hand, the vocal in SeeSaw isn't as prominent as it is in Loud Places. This is because the beats in this track are much louder and therefore take the forefront of it. Obviously the vocal can be heard throughout but it isn't used as much as in Loud Places. For this reason, I also think that SeeSaw is more chilled out then Loud Places because there isn't as much to focus on and the listener isn't distracted by the vocal as much meaning that they won't be singing along.
Something I didn't like about the album is the track I Know There's Gonna Be (Good Times). This is the only track on the album that swears and the only one that is completely different to the others. Under normal circumstances I think I would have liked a shake up but I got so used to the tone of the album that when I heard this track it completely shook me up.
A final thing I want to mention is that although 90% of the tracks are chilled out, they sound nothing like each other - they may have similar tones and layout but sound so different and that is what keeps it interesting.

Artist: Alesso
Album Title: Forever
Release Date: 25 May 2015
Genre: Electronic
Tracks Standard: 14
Tracks Deluxe: 17
Buy It: 
iTunes Standard
iTunes Deluxe

Forever is an album that I am struggling to review honestly as I have quite a lot of conflicting feelings towards it. For me, the album starts off slowly with the only new material the audience hearing being two introduction tracks which admittedly didn't get me hooked straight away. The album then follow with Heroes, Tear The Roof Up and Cool - all songs that the audience has already heard before and unless the listener particularly loves those songs, can loose interest in the album quite quickly. Saying all that, Forever does redeem itself when the new music is played - from Cool onwards. The tracks that I hadn't heard before impressed me more and enabled me to continue listening to the album with some interest.
A particular favourite of mine on the album was Sweet Escape which I mentioned in my May 2015 Music Favourites: Part Two. As I said in that review, I love the combination of instruments used to create a different sound to something I would expect from Alesso or to what I usually listen to. The meaning behind the song I also find beautiful! It about being free to do what you want with nothing to get in the way; Nothing can stop us now. I really like songs that have the concept as I find them really empowering and give me the motivation I can quite often need to just do what I want and not worry about other people.
Another track I like on the album is In My Blood*. This track always makes me want to dance and just have a good time as I feel like it would be such a good song in aa DJ set. In My Blood features many different layers of sounds which I have always said ends up being the tracks I love the most simply because it has so much variation. The track stands out even more because it is much more upbeat than  the track previous and following - it also has the ability to get stuck in your head. One thing I would say about In My Blood is that I feel like the drop could have been done a bit better - the sound of it becomes very distorted to the rest of the track and I'm not sure if I like that. Saying that, it does make that particular section of the song stand out even more.
Overall, I think that the album takes a while to get going but once is does it sounds great!

*At the time of writing this there were no uploads of the track that were suitable to link.

Artist: Madeon
Album Title: Adventure
Release Date: 30 March 2015
Genre: Electronic
Tracks Standard: 12
Track Deluxe: 18
Buy It: 
Amazon - Standard
Amazon - Deluxe
iTunes - Standard
iTunes - Deluxe

Madeon is an artist that I remember listening to when I was younger and was one the first dance artists that I particularly liked. His debut album Adventure captures everything I love about his music providing, for me, such a happy sounding album that never fails to put me in a good mood and make me want to dance along with it. The album is very different to anything I usually listen to providing me with a well needed change.
My current favourite tracks on the album are Pay No Mind and Finale - however it is constantly changing.
Pay No Mind features The Passion Pit who are a band that I found myself listening to and enjoying more recently. The track follows on with the idea of a happy album as this track just makes me want to dance even if I'm sitting down. If you're not one to dance then the vocal is also incredible to sing along to - particularly the chorus. Pay No Mind is very upbeat which may sound obvious but is nothing like I have heard before making it stand out even more. The beat is also very prominent throughout the entire track which I think adds to it even more.
Finale features the vocals of Nicholas Petricca who I have not heard of before but who I feel did a very good job on the track. I also really like the vocals in this track and how they fit with each point in the music - you will understand what I mean if you listen to the track. Finale also features many different sections. By this I mean it starts very upbeat with lots of kicks from the drums before slowing down to enable the vocal section to take place. This is repeated twice in the track to provide variation throughout and to provide a sufficient ending to a very upbeat song.
As a whole I really like this album however there are a few songs that I'm not so keen on. For example, OK and La Lune. I don't think Madeon did anything wrong with these songs, there are just songs that I prefer so much more.

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For this instalment of Up and Coming Artists I am going to be talking to you about Tori Kelly, and American singer songwriter. She may be most well known in the UK for her collaboration with Professor Green on a track called Lullaby. She has also toured with Sam Smith and Ed Sheeran. Tori is an artist that I have been following for nearly a year now and is someone I have found to be very genuine with her music. On her track Nobody Love, her vocal sounds as good during an acoustic session as it does on the record. I particularly like artists that I are very honest when recording and therefore sound similar live.
The video below is a performance of Nobody Love for Vevo Dscvr.


I'll admit that I was surprised to like her music because her voice is very good in that, I think, it sounds so good that it's not individual. Now to you that might not make a lot of sense but generally I like artists that have a kink in their voice may that makes them stand out even more to me - that's why I really love Ella Eyre's voice and are not so keen on Ariana Grande's.
However, there was something about Tori Kelly that made me abandon that tradition that I stand by and invest my time looking into her music and I highly recommend that you do the same!

Tori's album is currently up for pre-order in the US and Australia.

Artist: James Bay
Album Title: Chaos And The Calm
Release Date: 23 March 2015
Genre: Alternative
Tracks Standard: 11
Tracks Deluxe: 15
Buy It: 
Amazon (Standard)
iTunes (Standard)
iTunes Deluxe