What's it gonna be? - Shura

What's it gonna be? - Shura

A bell just rang in my head to remind me of this album and I threw myself into it immediately. Of course, I got immediately transported back to late 2016. Now pondering about how my life is in an opposite stage as it was back then, but at the same time it's the same. Back then I was starting my path in Hong Kong, and now (goodness willing) I am entering the final stage of it, ready to step into something new soon (the first step into vs the last step before getting out of). I was (not that) innocent back then, I already felt like an adult but I the experiences I've gone through in the past 4 years make me look back to that older me as "still a kid" (I am still innocent, as much as Britney). I was at the "beginning" of something then as I am now, with similar dreams and plans, but there is a world of difference in me and in the situations (young adult vs hair-losing adult). I wanted to find something stable back then as I do now, but I knew well that the stability I'd find back then would be temporary, while the one I look for now could be "forever" (unstable stability vs stable stability). The people I had in my life back then are still here as before, even if dynamics change; many others have come in the life rollercoaster, even if dynamics are often similar (same difference vs different sameness). Life happenings are similar now and then, but I feel like I was doing everything with much more passion back then, stronger feelings, more excitement, whereas now I appreciate routine more than ever (not that I didn't before) and I sometimes wonder where did most of the passion go. Maybe this stay-at-home 2020 has taken more life out of life than I realised. Hopefully it will teach me/us to appreciate the little things more, to get excited about nothing, to find passion in the routine (routine passion vs passionate routine). It feels like I was becoming an adult back then, and now I am in the process of becoming an adult again, just a next stage adult (again, young vs hair-losing). Weird feelings. Weird thoughts. Maturity is such a relative concept, when looking at the present vs the past. But songs that make me feel nostalgic always send me back to younger days. And I realise that in the end, even if everything is different, some things haven't changed much: I was not 2 shy to say it back then, I guess I am not now either.

#yearinmusic A song or two per day - Best song and album of 2016

2016 has been a pretty good year for me under many points of view, but A song or two per day has not been one of them, and the two things are probably related: I have been having such a good time that I found it hard to find the time and (mental) energies to sit down and write blog entries constantly, which ended up in me posting very rarely. The music point of view is another one in which 2016 lacked with respect to its predecessors, which is maybe another reason why I didn't post as much. These two reasons are also the ones why I procrastinated the posting of my 2016 music summary, as I am pretty much at a loss in finding a best song and best album released this year...

Best song 2016: Line of fire - Junip

Best song: Line of fire - Junip

Given that 2016 has mostly been the outcome of life decisions made in the past years, with a lot of change that took place thanks to triggering moments that had happened in the years before, I am actually quite ok with choosing a song that was actually released 3 years before as my 2016 Best song pick. Junip and José Gonzalez have been hugely meaningful for me in the last couple of years, probably the most influential new music discovery I made lately and 'Line of fire' in particular has been a soundtrack of many big moments of 2016, mostly the ones related to me moving to Hong Kong. "What would you say if you had to leave today? Leave everything behind even though for once, you're shining."

Best album 2016: Shura - Nothing's real

Best album: Shura - Nothing's real

2016 has been quite a disappointment for me mostly because some of my favourite artists released albums that were not nearly up to my expectations or to the level of what they have been releasing before. The biggest one of these disappointments has been PJ Harvey's 'The hope six demolition project': PJ made us wait 5 years for new music, and all the expectations built in this time crushed against an album I personally find weak and pretty much pointless, the only low of her career together with 'White chalk'. On a similar note I can place the new releases by OneRepublic, KT Tunstall and, to a lesser extent, Sia. Their albums have not been all bad and feature some quite awesome songs, but overall lack a consistency that would allow me to classify them as great albums. I have been tempted to pick Sia's 'This is acting' as my favourite album released in 2016, as notwithstanding its not being nearly as good as '1000 forms of fear', it's a quite good album, but in the end I decided to go for something that I discovered towards the end of the year, here in Hong Kong: I found out about Shura thanks to Clockenflap, the music festival I attended in Hong Kong this past November, and I fell in love with her debut album quite quickly. It will not go on to enter my music olympus, but it's a good representation of my life in this past year: new, enjoyable and linked to Hong Kong!

After a hectic, full and great 2016, which has been mostly about consolidation under the music point of view, I hope 2017 will take me back to previously unseen heights with some new, great music! And I also hope I'll be able to post a bit more consistently on the blog (even if I have a hard time believing myself)...!

Happy 2017!

Indecision - Shura

Indecision - Shura

Here I am, back to my beloved blog after one week of absence! Well, half of this absence has been justified by the breaking down of the modem at home, which left me with no comfortable Wi-Fi access, but I have also been relatively busy, partly planning for this weekend's getaway! I am finally taking my ass out of Hong Kong for the first time since I came here, and it was about time, right before going back home for xmas! My life is of course still relatively messy (and interesting), but filled with indecision, as usual. I hope I'll figure out things over the change of year, as if that could bring fresh air into one person's life...!

What happened to us? - Shura

What happened to us? - Shura

I'm already happy about buying my ticket for Clockeflap even if the festival hasn't started yet, as I have already got to know new, awesome music thanks to it! Shura is of course a big part of this and I really love this song, especially how it fits perfectly my life in this moment!!

You were somebody to me once

But now you're a fiction

Someone that I made up

Turns out it was too much for us

And if we met in five years, would we notice?

Funny how we remember things

How we hold on to the good

But throw out the bad stuff

What happened to us?

I was never ready for your love

No, I'm no child but I don't feel grown up

I was never ready, it was never meant to be

So tell me how come I still feel so messed up

2shy - Shura

2shy - Shura

Clockenflap is approaching and in order to best enjoy my first ever music festival experience, I started listening to some of the artists that will perform besides the ones that I know and that drove me to buy the ticket. One of the new discoveries I made in this way is Shura, a UK-based new artist whose music didn't take long to enter my inner music soul. More people I can't wait to listen to and just 10 more days to wait!! So excited and not shy about it at all!