Sunday Rundown: Shooting for Alive, Live Acoustic Sessions and Florida

Photo: Geena Sharma Singh Photography

This week has been half hard work and half holiday, but with many exciting developments!  Both at home and in America I had some amazing weather and took some beautiful photos, which I have included in the blog, along with details on what I’ve been up to!

Monday:  On Monday, me and my awesome videographer (and friend), Geena headed to Flamborough in the East Riding of Yorkshire for our first day of filming the video for my song ‘Alive’.  We got some beautiful shots of the amazing scenery around there and some performance shots.  We got lucky with the weather as it was 26 degrees Celsius and wall to wall sunshine!  So excited to finish filming and share this video!

 

Tuesday:  Tuesday was spent practising piano, packing and generally getting ready to go away!

Wednesday:  On Wednesday I flew to Florida for the start of my two week holiday in America and the Caribbean.  The best part of long haul travel for me is that I have so many uninterrupted hours at my disposal, which I can use to catch up on work!  I managed to respond to three sets of interview questions, write all my notes on the mixes for my upcoming album and read and write notes on my book on music marketing.  Very productive and relaxing times for me!

Thursday:  I had a lovely morning walk to start off the day and then I went to the mall.  I’m ashamed to say that a big shopping spree always makes me feel good, and this was definitely one of best shopping trips I’ve ever had!  So I left feeling very happy, especially after a great Chinese meal!

I also made my Thursday Twenty playlist and it’s even more varied than usual!

1. Boots by Kesha – Definitely my favourite track on Kesha’s new album.. really fun and catchy!
2. Painkiller by Liv Dawson – I really wanted to include this in the playlist last week but I didn’t have room.  It’s such an touching pop song with great sweeping production and really relatable lyrics.
3. Make It Up To You by Julia Michaels – I’m fast becoming a Julia Michaels fan as I think her brand of cool, edgy pop is the future of the genre.  I also really admire her roots as a songwriter.
4. Safe Place by Jazz Morley
5. Borrowed Time by Falcon Punch & Alexanderson
6. Give It Up (feat. Salt Ashes) by Cruels
7. Tennis Shoes by Lennon & Maisy – I always love the soundtrack to Nashville and this my favourite song from the current season!
8. Take Shelter by Years & Years
9. Dead End Love by XYLO
10. Alexis Texas by Cruel Youth
11. You’re Mine by Phantogram – Phantogram have only been on my radar for a few months due to hearing them on a TV show, but I really love their dark vibe and edgy production!
12. Think Before I Talk – Astrid S
13. Madness by Ruelle – I came across Ruelle as one of her songs was used as a reference file for a sync placement I applied for and I really like her music!  It has a slight vibe of Banks, which is something I always enjoy!
14. C O O L (Radio Edit) by Le Youth – The ultimate holiday party song; just so so catchy and happy!
15. What Lovers Do (feat. SZA) by Maroon 5
16. If I’m Lucky by Jason Derulo – Jason Derulo is one of my guilty pleasures and I’ve just bought tickets to see him perform in May so I’m super excited!  This new track is very different but I actually really like it!
17. Girls On Boys by Galantis & ROZES
18. Bad At Love by Halsey
19. Cross My Mind Pt. 2 (feat. Kiiara) by A R I Z O N A 
20. Know U Anymore (feat Sarah Hyland) by Bo Talks – Another that almost made it on last week… great track, super catchy and loving Sarah Hyland’s voice… I usually just know her as Haley from Modern Family.

 

Also, ‘Music, Musings and Such’ did an interview feature on me, which was awesome, so have a read if you are interested in my inspirations, my ambitions and my favourite musicians!

Friday:  On Friday I went for another amazing walk, this time along the boardwalks to the lake, which was so relaxing and pretty!  I took some gorgeous pictures 🙂 After that I spent the day by the pool reading and catching up on emails, as well as submitting songs for sync placement consideration.

Saturday:  After a four hour drive first thing, we made it to Miami around midday to board a cruise bound for the Caribbean!  I didn’t get much work done this day as I was too busy drinking cocktails and dancing at the sail away party!

I did upload a teaser video for the live acoustic session of ‘Lead Me Down’ to my YouTube channel though, which I’m really excited about!  Check it out below!

I was also featured on the ‘Readers Recommend’s ‘Sounds on Sunday’, playlist, which was lovely!

Sunday: The first day at sea on the cruise so I spent the day exploring the ship, drinking more cocktails and having a lovely massage!  Very relaxing times… managed to get some work done too which was nice!

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading and enjoyed seeing some holiday pictures!  I will no doubt have many more next week!

Sunday Rundown: New Video, Portugal and Ingrosso.

I’ve been a bit quiet for the last couple of weeks due to being on holiday in Portugal!  It was great to get away for a while and let off some steam, especially as I saw some great DJs whilst I was there!  Although I spent the week not really working, my new video to Deja Vu did premiere this week, which was awesome!  Instead of my day by day Rundown I’m just going to go over my highlights of the last two weeks!

Filming Live Lounge videos:  Just before I went to Portugal I filmed some live lounge style videos of four of my original songs.  We did the loop pedal versions of my songs, which only people who have seen me perform live will have seen before, so I’m very excited to share those soon!

Brunch at Purobeach:  One of my favourite days of the holiday… chilled deep house vibes with a daytime pool party!  Such a beautiful pool with an amazing DJ and food and drinks!  Most of this week’s Thursday Twenty tracks were taken from what I heard at this party!

Seville: I took my best friend to Seville for her (belated) birthday present and it was such a beautiful city!  We went to see the Alcazar Palace as it has featured in Game of Thrones and we had such a great tapas lunch in a local restaurant.  We spent the rest of the day wandering around the city which was lovely but slightly too hot at 45 degrees Celsius!

Ingrosso at Bliss:  Whilst we were in Portugal we went out everyday but this had to be one of the best nights we had.  Ingrosso was so good but his support, Salvatore Ganacci, was even better as he was a real character and really entertaining to watch!

Deja Vu Premiere:  The video for my third song off the Experiments EP dropped on Wednesday on the blog, ‘Musicandotherstories’ and on YouTube… I’m really happy to be able to share it!  This is the most dancey and summery song from the EP so it seemed like the perfect time to share the video, when I was on holiday myself!  Check it out!

Boat trip to the islands:  The second part of my friend’s birthday present was a trip to four of the islands in the Algarve, including Deserta Island.  I loved seeing the different islands and doing something I hadn’t done before in Portugal.  My favourite island was Farol as we found an amazing beach bar with a party atmosphere and awesome sangria!

Claptone at Lick:  Lick is the newest club in Vilamoura and it’s absolutely amazing!  It really reminded me of the clubs in Miami but I actually preferred it!  The first night we went, we were there to see Claptone, who I have seen before at the Warehouse Project.  I knew he was good, but in that unbelievable venue he was even better!  Such a fab night!

Dinner at my favourite restaurant and then Black Coffee at Lick:  My favourite restaurant in Portugal is called Pequeno Mundo and I have been going since I was a child, so it was so nice to finish the holiday with great food there!  Then we headed to Lick for our last night to see Black Coffee, who was awesome too!  Made some German friends and spent our final holiday day in great company, which was thr perfect end to a great trip1  Regretted not going to bed slightly the next morning in the aiport though, when I felt like I was from the walking dead!

First match of the season at Old Trafford:  A trip to Old Trafford for Manchester United’s first game of the season numbed the holiday blues a little bit, especially with a 4-0 win!