This week has been full of music but also full of decisions! I’m not the best with change or endings of any type and I’m absolutely awful at making big decisions! I tend to get really stressed and anxious and put off making them until it’s almost too late! This week marked my final ‘official’ week at college, so one of my main decisions was how I am going to spend my Tuesdays and Fridays from now on and whether I want to study any further in music! So this week has been full of mind maps and soul searching…
Monday: Monday was such a beautiful day so I tried to make the most of the sun by playing tennis in the morning and then sunbathing a bit in the afternoon! I was working on my release plan for the Experiments EP videos whilst I was tanning and have decided that the video for Deja Vu should be premiering towards the end of July, which is very exciting! In the evening I went to HOME in Manchester to watch the new Whitney Houston documentary ‘Whitney: Can I Be Me?’. Whitney is obviously a massive idol of mine as a singer and I really enjoyed learning more about her personal life, her struggles and her start in music. What I found interesting was hearing how even she struggled with her voice on tour!
Tuesday: I went into college to submit all my work and record some vocals for Alive. I started from scratch again and got the whole of the lead vocal done in about an hour and a half which was great! I then got a bounce of the track, so I could listen to them overnight to see whether I was happy with the vocals and what harmonies I fancied putting on. I also got scouted for the X-Factor from my Facebook page however, as I see myself as more of a songwriter than anything, I didn’t think it was the right fit for me.
Wednesday: After deciding I was happy with the vocals, I put the harmony and ad lib parts down for Alive, which wasn’t quite as easy as it should have been as my voice was playing havoc! Luckily it finally cooperated enough to get a take I was happy with!
I then recorded my Wednesday Cover, which this week was Somebody Else by 1975. I absolutely love this song and had a lot of fun working out how to translate it to a loop version! Such a catchy track with a great 80s throwback feel, which is something I’m really into myself at the moment as Alive has that vibe. Check out the full version below:
Thursday: On Thursday I had my roots done, which always makes me feel better but is very boring when I’m in the salon! I used this time to research promoters in Manchester and make notes on them. After that I played golf and went out for tea, which was lovely. As always, I updated my Thursday Twenty playlist, but I did it when I was slightly tipsy so got a very interesting mix of songs!
- Higher Ground by Aron – Love this! I found it when searching for Stevie Wonder’s Higher Ground, but it was a very happy accident! Great track!
- Oliver Twist by D’banj – Bit of a throwback but a true summer favourite of mine!
- Wild Thoughts by DJ Khaled, Rihanna and Bryson Tiller – Not usually a DJ Khaled fan, but this track is great! I’ve recently been experimenting with putting electric guitar in tracks and in Wild Thoughts it works perfectly.
- Feels So Good by Mase – Another biggg throwback!
- Down by Fifth Harmony
- Juicy by The Notorious B.I.G
- Proud Mary by Tina Turner – I adore this song and constantly watch videos of her or Beyoncé performing it live!
- My Love Is Your Love by Whitney Houston
- Somebody by Natalie La Rose
- Human (Rudimental Remix) by Rag ‘n’ Bone Man
- Hook, Line & Sinker by Royal Blood – I love Royal Blood and from what I’ve seen they totally smashed it at Glasto!
- Life’s About To Get Good by Shania Twain – Another idol and I’m super excited she’s brought out a new track!
- The Line (Offiah Remix) by Raye
- Sweatpants by Terror Jr
- Look At Us Now by Lost Kings
- I’m A Fan by Pia Mia feat. Jeremih
- Buh Bye by LIZ LOKRE – LOVE this! The middle 8/breakdown is especially great!
- Naked by Gil Glaze
- Rock It by Rave Radio
- Just For One Night by Blonde feat. Astrid S – I think Astrid S is such a fab player in the new pop scene and this collab with Blonde has a great vibe and a killer chorus.
Friday: The main aim on Friday was to get a first mix done of Alive. We spent a couple of hours looking at compression, reverb and levels. We’d already done a mix without the vocals, so the focus was getting the vocals and harmonies sitting right with the track and tweaking the other levels. Since then I’ve had a listen to the mix on six different speakers and written notes, ready to tweak next week.
I also had my final day at college and found out I was shortlisted for Student Of The Year and Song of the Year, which was great after all my hard work! The track I entered in the competition is called Shackles and it is one of my favourites from my upcoming album… have a listen to a clip me performing it below!
Saturday: I did some more research on promoters and did some writing for a collaboration I have coming up. I’m dueting with a great singer from Mansfield called Sophie Smith, which will be fun as I haven’t done much collaborating yet!
Sunday: I played tennis, worked out and then started contacting some of the promoters I have been researching… fingers crossed it leads to some great gigs!
Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed the insight into my life at the moment! 🙂
sally caitlin 