Hits and Misses on the Radio - July 2014

For today's post, we're gonna talk about some of our favorite songs currently on the radio and a few tunes that in our opinion miss the mark. First up on the recommended is list is "Am I Wrong" by the Norwegian duo Nico & Vinz - great melody with an intriguing underbeat that keeps pulling you in. It also has one of my favorite new lyric lines

"I ain't tryna do what everybody else doing
Just cause everybody doing what they all doing"

Making your own path and not apologizing for it - that's something we all should a little more of in our lives. Nico & Vinz took this cool song with an original feel all the way to #4 on the Billboard charts.

Next up is "Me and My Broken Heart" by the 4 piece band from the UK known as Rixton . This song has a monster hook

"All I need's a little love in my life
All I need's a little love in the dark
A little but I'm hoping it might kick start
Me and my broken heart"

"Broken Heart" starts off with this crazy catchy hook and never lets go after that. You will be singing along after just hearing this one time I promise. Rixton made it all the way to #6 on the Billboard 100 chart with this hook-laden gem, yet another great tune by a another new act imported from across the pond.

Last up in our trilogy of featured radio hits is another seemingly new artist at least when talking about this level of chart success. Ingrid Michaelson has been releasing singles to radio for several years, but her last big radio hit was with her debut CD and the song "The Way I Am". Fast forward 7 years and when I first heard "Girls Chase Boys" by Ingrid I thought it was kind of a silly song. The video homage to Robert Palmers "Simply Irresistible" was absolutely cut and fun to watch but I'm a song guy. However, after hearing "Girls Chase Boys" several times I began to hear it in a new light - the beautiful pop melodies and whimsical feel of the music really began to draw me in and I've been hooked ever since. Give it just a couple listens and I think you'll see what I mean if you don't already.

In addition to the three songs above there are some other holdouts still on the chart after weeks because well they are just great great songs. These include "All of Me" by John Legend, "Dark Horse" by Katy Perry and "Rude" by newcomer MAGIC!. We've talked about all three of these great tunes in earlier posts over the last month.

Misses on the radio today

This next group of tunes were recently released by established artists and unlike many of their earlier hits, they don't quite catch our attention. Songs like these usually make it on the chart because of the artists popularity and some good will from their earlier hits. In the artists defense, its quite possible they never intended for these songs to be released as a single. However they lose that control to record companies who will often try to put out as many "singles" as possible over the life of a full CD in order to keep the attention on their artist. Personally I think the labels do the artist a dis-service by doing that. If its not a song with hit potential - don't push it down radios throat and then make us listen to it and wonder if the artist's creativity has dried up.

Current examples of this are "Love Runs Out" by One Republic, "Birthday" by Katy Perry, "Map" by Maroon 5 and "Angel in Blue Jeans" by Train. All great song titles but the greatness stops there and we'd all be better off if radio was instead playing a much better song by a completely unknown artist. Once again my apologies to the artist as these decisions are usually completely out of their control.

That's all for this weekend - we'll be back tomorrow with some more good news about music changing someone's life. Until then please have a great nite!

Music, Love & Laughter,

Vincent James @ LoveSongs.com

p.s. KEEP MUSIC ALIVE Day #13 - Please visit our first post from Tuesday July 1st for more information about our mission

Musical Therapy is One of the Worlds Oldest Professions

While many of us think of musical therapy as a recent development, the truth is that society has been music to help heal others for thousands of years. It is reported that as early as 400 B.C., Hippocrates played music for mental patients. In the thirteenth century, Arab hospitals contained music rooms for the benefit of the patients. In the United States, Native American medicine men often employed chants and dances as a method of healing patients. Musical therapy as we know it in the modern world began when musicians began to visit injured soldiers in hospitals to help them in the healing process both physically and emotionally.

Music therapy today is an established health care profession and the practitioners (ie. musicians) must be certified in order to best serve their patients. This article from Vanderbilt Children's Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee provides some insight into the profession and the different types of musical therapy that are utilized.

I also came across a very interesting piece about a 67 year old Ormond Beach, Florida man who walked away from music for 40 years then came back to it in his sixties and became a certified Music Therapist. After seeing how his Dad responded to music being played for him while I hospice, he felt drawn back to the piano and now helps patients of all ages in various stages of their recovery. For more on this please read: Hospital Music Man Back on the Piano after 40 years

Right now we're only scratching the surface on what music therapy is all about. As we at LoveSongs.com dive deeper into our mission we'll be bringing more news about how musical therapy is changing people's lives, both the patients and the musicians, one story at a time. Look for us to devote at least one post per week to this important topic and for us to be sharing new research and experiences from all over the world.

Nico & Vinz - "Am I Wrong" proves it ain't wrong to go your own way

Once or twice a week we like to feature a new song that really gets our attention. Nico & Vinz is a Norwegian musical duo out of Oslo and have taken American pop radio by storm with their song "Am I Wrong". After having some success in Norway, Sweden and Denmark they signed with Warner Brothers music and crossed over the Atlantic. The duo originally went by the name Envy, however this was changed over to "Nico & Vinz" when being launched in America due to trademark concerns (apparently there are some musical Envy's stateside :). "Am I Wrong" first hit US radio in April 2014 and quickly rocketed up to #4 on the Billboard chart and cracked the ITunes Top 10 as well. This uptempo pop gem with some very creative melodies is matched by equally refreshing lyrics:

I ain't trying to do what everybody else doing, just cause every doing what they all doin' ..

Basically says what we all should be doing - don't follow the crowd instead make your own way - then they hit you with this chorus to drive home their message:

"So am I wrong?
For thinking that we could be something for real?
Now am I wrong?
For trying to reach the things that I can't see?
But that's just how I feel,
That's just how I feel
That's just how I feel
Trying to reach the things that I can't see"

That's all for today, the end of our July 4th holiday weekend. We'll be back tomorrow with another post about how music is changing our world.

Music, Love & Laughter

~Vincent James @ LoveSongs.com

p.s. KEEP MUSIC ALIVE Day #6 – Visit our first post from Tuesday July 1st for more information about our mission