God save the Queen

I don't have a lot of favorite singers from MY generation. My favorites are usually from my father's time or his father's. Until, of course, I found Adele--who turns 23 today (but who are we kidding, she has the depth of a 40 year old). I'm sure you know her by now as she is taking the mainstream entire music industry by storm, getting rave reviews from the kids of Glee to the snobbiest indie listeners. My eight year old sister, for one, just loves Adele's Rolling in the Deep. I know that at 8, she's not cognizant enough to recognize the hurt, despair and misery in the song but I just know she knows Adele has incredible talent. I love that song myself. I'm glad Adele's talent resonates to all.

The magic of Adele's music proves that talent knows no genre. She is truly a spectacular performer and I just love how she banks on talent alone. No eccentricities. No elaborate dance moves (well, her music is not really danceable). No frills. And definitely no gimmicks (I do love me some Lady Godga but Adele is just on a highly different class of her own). I especially love her honesty, both in her music and in her interviews. She's just so transparent but classy. My friends and I closely follow Adele and judging from stories of her admitting that she "smokes and drinks more than a lot" and that she's "scared of moving to bigger venues because she wants to keep her performance as intimate as possible", one knows that she really IS Queen. All cool, calm, and collected. Of course, another reason why I look up to her so much (aside from her ability to beautifully put into words all the emotions in her heart of hearts) is the fact that she never really cared about society--with all that unsolicited (and sometimes, very demeaning comments) advice about her weight, her vices, her craft. I hope she stays the same for a long, long time.

Happy birthday to the Queen!

PS: Here's another performance of Adele that I just love--a special performance of an Etta James original, I Just Want to Make Love to You. Such a sexy song, such an exceptional cover!

Preach, sister, preach!

Control yourself, take only what you need

These PS22 Chorus of 2011 kids are amazing. I love their cover of Kids by MGMT (which is a permanent fixture in all of my iPods' Top 25 Most Played). They also did a cover of Phoenix' Lisztomania and Viva La Vida by Coldplay. God, they're so talented. They all look so vibrant, youthful and happy. If you love them as much as I do, please vote for them at MTV's O Music Awards (Favorite fan cover!) by clicking here. :)

[edit] Keishia tweeted that they also covered our Queen, Adele. How could I have missed it? Two beautiful things in this cover: 1. Rolling in the Deep is such a powerful song that even if it's a kid who's singing, it still cuts right through the soul 2. The babies covered Adele. These beautiful, beautiful, beautiful girls and boys. <3 [/edit]

Nevermind, I'll find someone like you

"I can imagine being about 40 and looking for him and turning up and he's settled, and he's got a beautiful wife and some beautiful kids and he's completely happy and I'm still on my own. It's kind of about that, I'm quite scared at the thought of that."

Adele talking about her song, 'Someone Like You'

Hello. Here's something from Adele. I got hold of her album, 21, earlier this week. It was fantastic and as always, she is amazing. I can't help but feel a little small whenever I hear her and think about everything she's done at 21--her depth as a writer and an artist blows me away. My favorite tracks from her album are Rumour Has It, Rolling in the Deep and of course, Someone Like You. I just love her way with words. She is a wonderful companion on Saturday nights alone. :) *"What's that smell?" "Bitterness."*

In other news, my life is in shambles. I am unhappy most of the time and that's because I bite off more than I can chew--literally and figuratively speaking. No, not really. I'm not that unhappy. It's just that it's taking quite some time for me to start things I'm supposed to be doing this year. I just want to focus more on school, have more time for it and start doing what I do well, in a place I've always wanted to find myself in. It's going to come, eventually, but you know, it's the wait that's killing me.

I just really need a win right now. Anyway enough of me, just listen to Adele. She's amazing. I hope everybody's having a great month. So far, 2011 hasn't been that fun for me. Oh.

You'd know how the time flies.
Only yesterday was the time of our lives.
We were born and raised in a summery haze.
Bound by the surprise of our glory days.

I hate to turn up out of the blue uninvited,
But I couldn't stay away, I couldn't fight it.
I hoped you'd see my face & that you'd be reminded,
That for me, it isn't over yet.

Nevermind, I'll find someone like you.
I wish nothing but the best for you too.
Don't forget me, I beg, I remember you said,
"Sometimes it lasts in love but sometimes it hurts instead".

♥