Musicians That You NEED in your iTunes library. (Pt 1- The Gals)

As I mentioned in my first, Lionel Richie lyric titled blogpost (already regretting that btw), this blog is going to be filled with a vast array of varying content. Because I refuse to limit myself to a specific genre, this allows me to write about whatever the jeff my little mind can think of!

(By the way I'm sure most of you are wondering why I always say jeff? Who's Jeff? He's my boyfriend. I simply use it as a substitute for the f word;
1. Because I recently realised that I swear way to much to be remotely considered as "ladylike"
2. Because it's just funnier, "what the jeff!?" "Jeffin'ell" (common phrases of mine).

This blogpost, (as you guessed by the title) is gonna involve me imparting my little musical gems that  I feel deserve alot more recognition that what they are getting! (i.e: me listening to them repeatedly on my iTunes) As some of you may or may not know, as part of my Extended Project at sixth form, I created a music based blog (http://ohjustsomemusicalnotes.blogspot.co.uk) and most of these artists have been reviewed or mentioned on there. However, most of the artists have recently come out with a lot of new music which I am yet to have a lil' natter about, so that's what this post is for!

So without further ado, here we go! First up are two ladies which have had me listening to my headphones more than my mum (soz mum ily really xoxo) Tori Kelly and Sinead Harnett.

Where do I even begin??

Well rather than me just regurgitating THIS blogpost, go and give that a lil' read to find out about how Tori rose to fame and some of my favourites from her older music.
But as I said, I'm here to talk about her new material, and let me tell you it is P H E N O M E N A L.

Titled 'Unbreakable Smile', Tori's new album has completely exceeded all expectations. The one thing I love, love, love about Tori, is her unbelievably truthful and relatable lyrics. As a bit of soppy gal, there's nothing better than when you're in whatever mood and then you just put on a song that completely parallels EXACTLY how you feel (just me?!) You're just sat there like YAAAASSS I'm not the only one!
With that in mind, the first two songs that I'm gonna talk about are a bit more #emosh, compared to some of the other songs on the album. First up is First Heartbreak, (pretty self-explanatory title) this is one of my favourites purely because of her effortless vocal range! For example, the first verse we are treated to her lower range and then out of nowhere, she just effortlessly slips into that astounding higher pitch?! (DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME: There will be reminiscent sounds of strangled cats.) When I first listened to it I was like, oh that must be so auto-tuned and edited for the album.. Just take a listen to the live version..  WTF.

I feel like now would be the time to mention that I WANT HER HAIR. SO BADLY. AND HER FACE AND TEETH AND SKIN TONE. SHE'S JUST SO GORGEOUS.

Anyway, next up is gonna be the one that goes straight onto most of your iTunes, because a certain ginger fellow makes an appearance on this one (and no it wasn't me as a baby). Mr Ed Sheeran, collaborates with Tori on the beautiful track, 'I Was Made For Loving You'. Unfortunately this song is yet to be accompanied by a video but I'm gonna start a petition because I'd love to see what the final outcome would be! Maybe another Thinking Out Loud-esque dance routine??? Again the lyrics are so beautiful and truthful, which is not surprising as it was written by the King and Queen of heartfelt lyrics! I wouldn't be surprised if this one made it onto the 'wedding first dance songs list' (is there such a thing?!) Joining 'Thinking Out Loud', All Of Me etc etc.. JUST GO AND YOUTUBE IT NOW!! (actually finish reading this blogpost then you can xoxo).

Next up are 3 more upbeat and kinda sassy and defiant songs! First up is album titled 'Unbreakable Smile' this song features Tori completely changing things up with some rapping! Now I must say I like the lyrics in the rapping parts but the chorus and the "la da da da dee" bits are not my favourite lyrics.. but each to their own! Next up is 'Should've Been Us' and similarly to 'Unbreakable Smile' this track is a lot more hip-hop sounding compared to her solely acoustic based tracks, and I've gotta say, I love it! The video for this one was very impromptu and was made in just half a day!
Lastly with this song, if you read my random facts about me post, then you'll know that Miranda Sings is my spirit animal, and when this video popped up in my subscriptions box, my love for both Miranda and Tori was x1000000. ("But here's a tornado mother trucker!, oh my god I died).

Lastly, my favourite of these 3, 'Nobody Love' THE BEAT THO. My snake hips come out to play when this comes on okay. Also that denim number she is wearing, I NEEEEED IT. This one is a lot more pop based, the lyrics are a bit cliché and a bit cheese on toast, but who doesn't love a few cheesy lyrics every once in a while?? Lastly, can we talk about the "Ohhhhhhh yeeaaahhhhh" note at 2:29 please? H O L Y  G U A C A M O L E.

(R.I.P KEZ).

Next up is someone that I have recently discovered in the past few months thanks to my old dance teacher! She choreographed the sickest and bloody sassiest routine to one of this lady's songs, and I have been hooked ever since.

Let me introduce to you, Sinead Harnett, 

Now lets just get one thing straight, is it only me who sees Ruby Rose when they look at her??
Anyway, this lady was first introduced to me, when my sister showed me her new dance routine to Sinead's track 'She Ain't Me'. This song, to put it bluntly, is about when your ex-boyfriend gets a new girlfriend and basically she ain't you! With a beat and lyrics that leave you feeling like a sassy queen, whack this one on alongside some Queen B, for some total female empowerment! Definitely my favourite of all of her music so far. GET THIS ON ASAP.

Next up is one of her old tracks, a lot more chilled, 'No Other Way (ft Snakehips)' Her voice is just so easy to listen to over and over! And the chorus is so darn catchy, (bloody annoying when you find yourself humming it for 3 days afterwards.. but so worth it). Similarly to Tori Kelly, SO DARN GORGEOUS. I WANNA BE HER.

Onto the last 2 tracks of this post, the first is one that I've literally just come across, as I was listening to her songs on Youtube to help me write this blogpost, she did a cover of one of my absolute favourite old school songs, 'Wish I Didn't Miss You' by the phenomenal voice that is Angie Stone. THIS is the original, and THIS is the cover. Obviously nothing can beat the original, with that powerhouse of a voice, but I love Sinead on the cover! I say Sinead, because although the guy is very talented, Sinead is SLAYING IT. (Also, if you close your eyes and just listen, do you see what I mean with my Jessie J reference?!)

Lastly is Sinead's newest track 'Do It Anyway'.  I know I've said the words 'sassy' and 'defiant' WAYYY too many times than is socially acceptable, but this song truly is the epitome of "I do not give a jeff". The beat in the chorus reminds me of 'M.I.A.- Paper Planes' AHAHHA, (please tell me someone else hears it too?!)

On that crazy note, I'm gonna leave this post here! Now get your lil butts over to Youtube and give Tori and Sinead a listen!
I'll try and get Pt 2- The Lads, up very soon for y'all!

Kez xxxx

I DID IT!!

So as I dust off my keyboard (soz about the lack of posts recently) I am absolutely thrilled to inform you, that I, Kezza M, AM OFF TO UNI!!!!!!!

(Disclaimer: if you're not a fan of people sharing their results then scroll down a paragraph plz)

I literally cannot believe it! So results morning rolls around, at 6:04 the whooshing sound of my email goes off  and the butterflies erupt in my stomach. To get onto my course (Multimedia Journalism) I needed to get 320 UCAS points or ABB in grades. So after about 40 seconds of imminent sickness, I finally mustered up the courage to open the email. I got 3 B's..

Now to those who got lower than that or needed that to get into uni, these grades would've been beyond satisfactory, but I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little bit disappointed in myself. That's just how I am though, I've always been my own worst critic! But aside from that, there was the complete uncertainty as to whether I had got in or not?! Now, at my sixth form we had to undertake an extended project qualification and I did manage to get an A in that which I was over the moon with! So in terms of UCAS points, with that A, I had a total of 360 points which obviously would be enough to get in, but most uni's don't accept EP as a contributor to points and so with 3 B's I only had 300 points..
To make the uncertainty worse, as I said, I had opened my results at 6am, but UCAS Track didn't open until 8am so I had to wait 2 hours to find out whether I'd got in... (the anxiety was HORRIFIC).

After trying to pass the time by watching countless Youtube videos and refreshing Track like every 5 minutes to see if they'd put it live early by accident, I eventually struck gold at 7:40! It was honestly like everything just suddenly went into slow motion (sounds a bit bloody dramatic but it honestly did!). I just saw the word "Congratulations" and I was like OH MY GOD. I got up ran to my Mum's room and was like I DID IT MUM, I GOT IN!! Many celebratory hugs and texts and tweets later and it still hasn't sunk in!

Thursday was such a whirlwind of a day! I obviously experienced an early morning roller coaster of emotions, then I had to gather some form of professionalism for my interview for a full-time job during my gap year. Then finally at 4pm I could finally relax and get ready to celebrate and PARDYYYY (insert, confetti cone emoji, woman in the red dress dancing and cocktail emoji!)

Note to self: Do not go out from 9:30-6:30, you will not be able to function AT ALL the next day. And even more importantly, girls do not kid yourself that wearing 4 inch heels for 9 hours straight will be completely painless, because the shameful stagger/limping round town in broad daylight the next morning is NOT FUN.

Now I'm sat here today and the realisation is finally starting to hit me, seeing my Facebook feed full of people changing their educational information on Facebook, liking all the freshers week events and even posting pictures from their trips to IKEA to get all those uni essentials. (Not gonna lie, I am SO EXCITED to shop for uni), the prospect of buying all the cute little kitchenware stuff, and getting to decorate my cute lil' uni room is beyond exhilarating.

I'm sure most of you will be wondering, why Bournemouth? It's not one of the red brick Uni's and for me it was virtually non-existent. However, when I had decided on my course, there were very few uni's that offered my course so that narrowed down the uni's considerably. When I got to Bournemouth on the open day, I will be completely honest and say that the outside of the uni isn't nearly as picturesque as most other uni's and I was a bit dubious. However as soon as I got inside I knew that this was where I wanted to be. I'd heard people say, you'll just know when you get there and it is so true, just follow your gut! Bournemouth's media department is among the best, if not the best, with a large majority of students securing a job within the industry post-uni. However, although I am easily swayed by statistics, the facilities are outstanding, the staff are extremely friendly and the accommodation is rather fabulous!

Honestly though, the town itself was the clincher. The sea/seafront is less than 5 minutes from my accommodation, the Old Fire Station (One of Bournemouth's most renowned venues for a night out) is literally across the road (short staggering distance home= WIN), the train station is 2 minutes away, meaning my friends/family can come and go as they please! And lastly the huge town centre with all it's shops to waste my student loan in, is about 10 minutes away. YES YES YES.

Furthermore, (I hope she won't mind being mentioned!) my friend Emily is also going to Bournemouth! Emily and I used to dance together years ago and we have remained friends ever since! I'm so so excited as she is one of the kindest, loveliest girls I know! We have both agreed to defer our entries until 2016 to take a gap year and then begin our uni experience together, living in the same accommodation. As a creature of habit, the prospect of having a familiar face at uni with me is making the whole 'awkward meeting new people' prospect a lot less daunting!

Of course I will be sharing everything uni-related with you on here, and if you are a nosey-parker like me and get excited at seeing people's cute new duvet covers and matching cutlery and plates, then keep your eyes peeled in the next year because there will be pictures GALORE.

Kez xxxx

Kez 101 (the most random set of facts you will E V E R read)

1. I HATE EGGS-

The fact that this is my number one fact about myself, just shows how interesting I am.. Strap in guys, you're in for a thrilling ride :)))))
The reason this is one of the first facts I thought of, is because it's the one that shocks people the most! I don't know what it is about eggs?? Probably the smell? But I just absolutely despise them! Obviously I have no problem with things containing egg (e.g. cake) (I LOVE DE CAKE). But even omelettes (eurghh) get a big fat NO from me.


2. I have a rather fab scar on my belly-

Now I realise that uploading a bikini selfie to a blog is a bit strange (some may call it attention seeking, i don't care) but this is the best way to show it clearly rather than trying to badly describe it.
To be honest this should probably have been my number one fact, but hey ho! The egg thing grabbed your attention right?
So this scar, although I like to tell people is from where I leant over a chainsaw, or was attacked by a shark, it is actually from when I was born!

Now I'll have to double check with mum to make sure I haven't told you this wrong, but when I was born I was infact a true believer in 'the early bird catches the worm' as I was born 2 months early! Mum said that she hadn't felt me move in a while, was worried and so dashed to the hospital, there they found that my bowel (small intestine in particular was twisted) and need to be removed in order to keep me alive (don't get emosh, there's a happy ending! Obviously, as I'm still alive..) However, they told my poor ol' parents that little 3lb 5oz Kez only had a 5% chance of living! (cue the violins part 2) However being the little trooper that I am, they cut me open, removed the twisted bit of intestine and stretched the remaining intestine so that everything still functioned okay.) So instead of my intestine going in a zig zag all the way down like the average person, mine zig zags at the start and then stretches in a diagonal straight line towards the end. (As far as I'm aware anyway? Hold on I'll check...) The best part of this story is how they checked to make sure everything had worked and was functioning okay..


They waited for me to do a poo.

I had a crowd of highly qualified doctors and surgeons around me, waiting for baby Kez to do a poo.

To end the story, Kez did a poo and all is fine and dandy now!


3. I do a bloomin' excellent impression of Miranda Sings- 

That's all that needs to be said really.

4. I used to have ginger hair-

My Mum will be reading this and will go "It was strawberry blonde!" but it was ginger okay. I had a little ginger mohawk that was untameable and I was just a real treat as a toddler.

5. And I turned orange from eating too much carrot baby food-

So to add to the delicious ginger mohawk, I used to turn a nice shade of orange. Yes you read that right, and yes your visions of an oompa loompa are spot on. Where I was a bit of a picky eater as a baby, all I would eat was this one brand of carrot baby food. And where they were so concerned with fattening me up, as I was a small bubba, if I wanted carrot baby food, I WAS GONNA GET IT. So orange mohawk and orange face.. (not too dissimilar to some of the girls you see out clubbing nowadays?)

6. I've danced at the Royal Albert Hall-

Probably the only claim to fame that I'm gonna get, so I like to milk it for all it's worth, when I was younger, the dance school that I was with was given an opportunity to dance at the Royal Albert Hall as part of the Mardi Gras 'Stars In The Round' show. We did a street piece to the absolute banger that is Craig David 'Whats Your Flava' and I wore a delightful denim mini skirt, orange headband and orange netted gloves (I was a style icon). Although we were told that we would be dancing in front of the Queen, sadly she was unable to attend, but we did meet one of the boys who played Billy Elliot in the West End at the time!

7. I love football-

I'm sure this fact is going to be greeted by "Oh yeah kez, of course you do love, just like every other girl trying to impress lads." But seriously I really do love football, in my eyes there would be no better first date (hint hint nudge nudge). I know what the offside rule is, without the need for any salt/pepper or various other condiments as visual aids. I love going to watch my brother play (even though he hates it, because my mum, my sister and I are virtually the only females that ever go to watch, so we just look like the Alex Appreciation Society at the side of the pitch, but that's what sisters are there for right? To embarrass!) But the football I love going to watch the most is that of the mighty West Ham United! Controversial I know, but my family roots lie near the Boyeln Ground, so there also lies my allegiance to the club and also my unconditional love for Mark Noble and James Tomkins (insert heart eye emoji x1000). The cockney accent does me in EVERY SINGLE TIME.

8. I cannot handle the heat 

To put it simply, I hate spicy food. How can a meal that involves setting your mouth on fire, getting the sweats and then consequently having to extinguish the fire in your mouth with water/milk be seen as enjoyable???

9. I have Ketchup with virtually EVERY MEAL- 

I know this is a real deal breaker in relationships and dinner etiquette, but as they say, honesty is the best policy! I have ketchup on everything. (Including roast dinners.) (I know I'm a nutter.)

10. I CANNOT EAT sandwiches made by someone i don't know-

Just let me explain myself with this one.
If I'm at a party or a gathering and there's plates of mini sandwiches, I will not eat them. I have no idea where this weird inability to eat perfectly good sandwiches came from, but I just can't. That being said, I can eat sandwiches from shops, even though they would've been made by someone who I don't know?? So if you ever offer me a sandwich and I turn it down, please don't be offended, I'm just a bit odd.

11. I am the most open person you'll probably ever meet-

I'm not afraid to talk about ANYTHING.

12. I've been on the TV once-

It was when I was in primary school, and we were sending off shoeboxes of things to those less fortunate than us in Africa. However in true Kez fashion I forgot to bring mine to school with me, so not wanting to miss out on being on TV, I stole someone else's and claimed it as my own AHAHAA.
I was such a cow.

Brace yourselves, things got a bit deep..

It's been a little while.. *dusts keyboard*

Now I was contemplating the typical posts like 'What's In My Make-Up Bag',  and '25 Facts About Me' as possibilities for today's post, and I'm 99.9% certain those posts will be gracing your screens in the near future. However, I haven't really been in the mood recently to write those sorts of posts, to be completely honest, Kez has been feeling a bit down (cue the violins.)

To those of you who know me and see me on a regular basis, the words 'Kez' and 'down' in the same sentence is a hard concept to grasp! Constantly, I get asked "Kerry how are you always so happy and smiley all the time?!!" (This is most definitely not a question any of my family ask... In their eyes, my alter-ego as the moody middle child makes an appearance on a regular basis.)

Here is where this post gets a bit deep, (sit tight)

Personally I think there's a huge difference between being happy and being positive. I always aim to keep a positive outlook with everything, I remind myself how lucky I am to have the life I have and how I've gone through certain things previously and have come out of them just fine! So there's no reason I can't do it again! My family and friends are HUGE contributors to my optimistic and positive attitude, they keep me grounded and most importantly sane! I am also a huge believer in that ol' quote "Treat others how you would want to be treated" I always aim to be polite and pleasant to everyone and I am currently in contact with the Guinness Book of Records for the most smiles flashed in a day. I LOVE SMILING. Having endured a whole wealth of braces (including a very fetching pink sparkly one..) and 6 teeth removals, I flash my beautiful gnashers as often as possible and with good reason!

Secondly, I LOVE LAUGHING and who doesn't?! Those laughs where no noise comes out, you can't breath, your cheeks hurt, your eyes are streaming and maybe even the occasional snort for good measure?! So basically what I'm trying to say is, (cue cliché) If you surround yourself with fabulous beings who fulfil the laughing checklist above and help keep your ego from inflating and you constantly remind yourself that 'things could be worse!' Then you my friend should see a lil' positivity gracing your day.

However recently, with the ending of sixth form and consequently the long dragging wait (that literally feels like the length of the Great Wall of China), for my A-Level results. I have been left feeling a bit useless and unfulfilled and so consequently, a bit down!

Is it just me?!

This is where positivity and happiness differ for me. I have been feeling very positive lately, but just not as happy as I would like to be.

1. I hate change (initially), I am the biggest creature of habit and routine. So without any sixth form routine and all of this free time, I feel about as useful as a chocolate teapot..

2. In the midst of making the transition from part-time to full-time: I'm currently waiting to find out whether I have secured a full-time job, so that I can regain some structure in my life again, and also to fund my travels/nights out/shopping list!

3. My sister and my best friend have been out of the country so that in itself, is the equivalent of losing an arm. However they are back today so happiness will be restored there I am sure!

4. My lack of self-belief and confidence has been getting in the way recently and there's times when I just wanna RKO them out of the way! Now although I am a very positive person, many people mistake my positivity as a result of confidence, you could not be more wrong! Although I (hope) that I am a friendly, EXCEEDINGLY (verging on annoyingly), chatty and sociable being. I am severely lacking in the self-confidence department. (People will be reading this right now saying, "oh shut the front door kez you liar"), but seriously it's true. Not so much in the body department as most people may automatically assume (even though my body is definitely not where I want it to be), but more in terms of my ability to do things, and my spontaneity. I constantly put myself down, and have the most negative predispositions of myself that it stops me from giving things a go when I would probably really enjoy them and maybe even be quite good at them!

For example, my driving lessons. Now I know my driving instructor reads my blogposts (Hiya Sian!) and she would be one of the first people to completely agree with the above, she tells me regularly that I need to have more self-belief! I have progressed so much in my lessons, and although I was a bit of a 'slow-burner' at the start (her words not mine!), I have definitely made a huge amount of progress and I'm gradually feeling more and more ready for my test! However I used to get THE WORST anxiety before driving lessons, because I was just so certain that the lesson was going to go awfully, that I wouldn't be able to do any of it, I wouldn't have retained any of what I'd learnt last lesson, etc etc. But now that I have persevered with the lessons and my crappy lack of self-confidence, I have realised that it really is all in your mind!

Now let this be a lesson to you all! Even the (seemingly) most happy and positive person may not be as confident as you would think! I am gradually becoming more and more confident in myself, as I try new things out, but unfortunately it really is a slow process! Going travelling in my gap year will also be a big thing for me in terms of spontaneity, because as I said above I am the biggest creature of habit, so jet setting all around the globe with a vague idea of what to expect, will be a real eye-opener for me!

So on that note, I suggest you all go and breathe in some fresh air to remove all of the soppiness and cliché witnessing from your poor eyes and minds.

I shall be back soon with more upbeat posts! Maybe a fashion-related post? (For all my male readers)

Kez xxxx