Sunday Rundown: Finding locations, shooting videos and finally finishing Alive

This week I have been working on loads of new projects including shooting a video, planning another and finally finishing the mix on my track Alive.  I’ve also been talking to some promoters about booking some gigs very soon, so hopefully I’ll have many announcements coming soon!

Monday: I was travelling back from London so I was just doing admin stuff on the train!  Pretty boring!

Tuesday: Tuesday was a great day as I was shooting a video for one of my upcoming songs, which is called Shackles!  The song is quite dramatic and dark, so we thought a very simple black and white video might work really well.  The track starts with just piano, so it was fun filming that part with me playing what is on the track!

Wednesday:  On Wednesday I was back in the studio for the first time in a while, to put some new vocals on a couple of tracks I recorded back in February.  However, I ended up changing the structure of three of the songs from my Chemistry album… which just goes to show the creative process isn’t always finished even though you thought it was!

My Wednesday Cover this week was a duet with the lovely Sophie Smith and we did cover of Strangers by Halsey and Lauren Jaugerui.  Check it out:

Thursday:  On Thursday I was playing in another golf competition and I played the best I’d ever played, which was a great feeling!  I actually ended up winning the whole competition and having my handicap dropped.

As it was Thursday I curated my Thursday Twenty playlist for the week, with a lot of emphasis being on holiday songs again, particularly Spanish songs!

1. Higher Love by Charming Horses
2. Mind Games by Nicolas Haelg
3. Save Me by LISTENBEE
4. Freak (Sam Feldt Remix Edit) by R3hab – I love this track as it reminds me of the Sugababes version from when I was younger… such a nostalgic track!
5. Low by Matt Kali
6. I Don’t Wanna Live Forever (Taladego Tropical Mix) by Sara Farell – I really like this version of this song as it’s so summery and happy!  I actually prefer it to the original!
7. Take It to the Beat by Sons of Maria
8. No Vacancy (with Sebastian Yatra) by OneRepublic – In summer I always listen to a lot of Spanish music, so I was really happy to see Sebastian Yatra had teamed up with OneRepublic for this track!  It’s the perfect sunny day song and the Spanish parts work really well with the English hook!
9. Mala Mujer by C. Tangana – This track has such a sexy vibe and it really makes me excited to go partying in summer!
10. More by Total Ape
11. Get Low by Zedd & Liam Payne
12. Came Here For Love by Sigala & Ella Eyre
13. Love$ick by Mura Masa & A$AP Rocky – I bought my tickets to go and see Mura Masa at the WHP this week and I’m super excited, so I thought I would include a track on the playlist this week!
14. Fetish by Selena Gomez & Gucci Mane
15. Mi Gente by J Balvin – I loooovvveee J Balvin and this track is no exception!  Such a great beat and definitely my favourite song this week!
16. Loving Life by Rationale
17. Love Me More by Chase & Status & Emeli Sande
18. immortal (Snakehips Remix) by Elley Duhe
19. Sober (Jerome Price Remix) by CVIRO
20. No Love in the Jungle by Harper – Another favourite this week!  I’m new to Harper but I love what she’s doing so far!

 

Friday: I finally fixed the mix for Alive and put a master on and started editing the video for Shackles!  I also had a meeting about potential locations and ideas for a videoshoot for Alive.  Exciting stuff!

Saturday: Rehearsing during the day and then gigging in the evening!  Such a lovely crowd and a great atmosphere, including two encores!

Sunday: Brunch and then the golf presentation evening, when I got my trophy!

Thanks for reading! 🙂

Sunday Rundown: Wimbledon, London and Gigging

This week has definitely been one to remember!  I’ve fulfilled my life-long dream of going to Wimbledon, had my first gig with my new guitarist, George, and redone the mixing on Alive to get back to the point I was at before I lost my pen drive!

Monday:  I started the day off by going to the driving range and then I went into college to find the latest version of the Alive project on the studio computer and see how far behind I had put myself!  It actually wasn’t as bad as I had feared as the project on the computer had all the vocals imported into it and some of the mixing had been started.  I did a little bit of mixing and bounced the track, ready to listen and make notes at home.

Tuesday:  Again, I started the day off at the range and then I had a day of rehearsals with George ready for our gig on Friday.  We were finalising the set list and making sure we had our loop arrangements sorted for each song, especially my original songs (Take It All and Lead Me Down).

Wednesday:  On Wednesday I played tennis and then went back into college to do a second mix on Alive, using the notes I had written at home.  I think this mix is now pretty much right, with just a few minor alterations needed… finally!  I’m hoping next week I’ll be mastering the track and sorting out my backing tracks for when I want to perform the track.

For my Wednesday Cover, I teamed up with the lovely Sophie Smith to cover Drake’s ‘Passionfruit’.  I had a lot of fun doing this track with her and it was great to be able to harmonise together!  Check it out:

Thursday:  This week’s Thursday Twenty is summer themed as I’m getting super excited for my holidays coming up!

1. We Start Fires by Little Giants 
2. Cold Ain’t For Me by Oceans – This song perfectly sums up how I feel every time I come home to rainy Manchester after being somewhere amazing and sunny.  Perfect pick me up song!
3. New Rules by Dua Lipa
4. The Heat (I Wanna Dance With Somebody) by Ralph Felix – Great summer revamp of Whitney’s Classic!  Makes me feel like going and dancing on a beach somewhere.
5. P.Y.T (Pretty Young Thing) by John Gibbons
6. Wicked by mansionz – I love this track!  It’s so funky and infectious!
7. Pretty Girl (Cheat Codes X CADE Remix) by Maggie Lindemann
8. There For You by Martin Garrix feat. TROYE SIVAN
9. Fall At Your Feet by Lucy Neville
10. The Nights by Avicii
11. Heaven Is A Halfpipe (If I Die) by OPM – This is one of my guilty pleasures!  I used to be obsessed with this song when I was younger and it always puts me in such an amazing mood.
12. Steal My Sunshine by Len – I think this is my ultimate summer sing-a-long song!  Another guilty pleasure… but such a great one!
13. Giving It All (Joe Goddard Remix) by Bondax – For me this is an example of when the remix actually surpasses the original.  I’ve always loved this track and in summer it just gets me in the mood to escape and party for a few days!
14. My Head Is A Jungle (Extended Vocal Mix) by Wanklemut – This is just the best summer nights song and reminds me of so many amazing times in clubs with my best friend… this mix is my favourite as the guitar is just so nice to listen to and it builds so well.
15. I Like Me Better by Lauv
16. 2AM (Matoma Remix) by Astrid S – This is one of my favourite summery songs because it has such an island feel to it.. such an amazing remix!
17. Deja Vu by Sally Caitlin – I thought I would throw Deja Vu on this playlist as it’s the most summery song on my EP and the video is going to premiere soon!
18. Call Me (White Gold Caviar Remix) by NEIKED
19. 212 by Azealia Banks
20. West Coast (ZHU Remix) by Lana Del Rey – There are sooo many great remixes of this song and this is one of my favourites as it’s just so bassy and has such an edgy vibe.

On Thursday I also played in a golf competition.  Looks like my visits to the driving range paid off because I actually won my division and got myself a little trophy!

 

Friday:  On Friday I had a gig at Platform One in Romiley with my guitarist.  We spent the day rehearsing and that was definitely worth it as we didn’t make any mistakes and the gig went super smoothly!  It was definitely a good start to our partnership and I’m very excited to gig again together next week!

Saturday: I went down to London to visit my brother and do a little sightseeing!  We went to the Darwin Brasserie in the Sky Garden for their brunch buffet and some cocktails.  The view from the 35th floor was amazing and we could see the Shard, London Bridge and loads of other sights!  After that we did some intense window shopping in Harrods and Knightsbridge!

Sunday:  I am a huge tennis fan and on Sunday I got to finally go to Wimbledon after years of being desperate to get there!  We started the day with an amazing brunch in Chelsea and then jumped on the tube to head to the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club.  It was a really great experience and the place was even more magical than I imagined it would be!  My brother’s friend works at Wimbledon so gave us a tour of the broadcast centre, which was awesome as we saw the press conference room.  It was a pity that Marin Cilic was injured for the final, meaning the match wasn’t as competitive as it could have been, but it was great to be on Henman Hill/Murray Mound when Federer won his 8th Wimbledon title!  I was a massive keeno and bought myself a Wimbledon sweatshirt and tennis skirt along with a huge strawberries and cream sundae and lots of Pimms! For the doubles final we got resale tickets for Centre Court, so got to see Jamie Murray and Martina Hingis win the mixed doubles final!  All in all it was a great day, and the only thing that could have improved it would have been Rafa being there!

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed all the pictures!

Sunday Rundown: Collaborations, Imperial War Museum and Interview Features

This week has been full of ups and downs!  I had a great gig, a really lovely interview feature and met the lovely Sophie Smith for some YouTube collaborations….. but I lost my USB stick with the project files for my track Alive on it!  That was a massive disappointment and has put me many steps back in finishing the track!

Monday:  Most of my day was taken up with rehearsals, both with my guitarist, George, and the band I play with, Inhale!  Whilst I really enjoyed the rehearsals, I was very glad to stop singing after 8 hours!

Tuesday: I wasn’t actually feeling well at all on Tuesday and was worried I was losing my voice, so I took it very easy!  I did a bit of writing for the next track I’m hopefully going to produce myself and just generally tried to relax!

Wednesday: Due to being worried about my voice I didn’t want to record a Wednesday Cover this week, but don’t worry as I’ve already recorded next week’s and it is a great one!  I was actually playing in a team golf competition on Wednesday, which was really fun and topped off by the fact we won the prize for ‘Best Ladies Team’!  I also won two of the raffle prizes, which was very exciting for me as I usually have terrible luck!

Thursday:  No Thursday Twenty playlist this week as I was too busy with sound check and gigs!  Next week it will be back though, I promise!

My gig was at the Imperial War Museum in Manchester, which was such a unique and cool place to perform.  It was with Inhale at the MPAN Ball, which was Alice and Wonderland themed, so the venue looked amazing!  It was good to be back onstage after a few quiet weeks!

 

Friday: On Friday I went back into college to work on the final master for Alive, only to find that I had lost my USB stick with all the files on and that we didn’t have recent backups on the studio computer!  It was a little bit heart-breaking actually!  Now I’m going to have to re-import the vocals into the Logic file and do the mix all over again and then re-master the track when it’s done!  So much extra effort unfortunately, when I was so close to being finished!

However, I was interviewed by the lovely She Makes Music blog so that was a silver lining!  Check it out!

Saturday:  Collaboration time!  I recorded two covers with the lovely Sophie Smith for our YouTube channels 🙂 It was the first time we’d met and we worked really well together!  We did Passionfruit by Drake and Strangers by Halsey and Lauren Jauregui.  The Passionfruit cover is already up on Sophie’s channel and I’ll be posting a snippet to it for the coming week’s Wednesday Cover on my channel.  Keep your eyes peeled for that and the Halsey cover too!

Sunday: The perfect day for getting outside and going for a hike with one of my best friends, Sophie (different one).  Really great to get some fresh air and have a girly catch up!

I know it was a shorter post this week (probably a welcome change) but thank you for reading all the same! 🙂

Sunday Rundown: Watching Whitney, Recording for Alive and Finishing College!

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!

1. 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!
2. Oliver Twist by D’banj – Bit of a throwback but a true summer favourite of mine!
3. 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.
4. Feels So Good by Mase – Another biggg throwback!
5. Down by Fifth Harmony
6. Juicy by The Notorious B.I.G
7. Proud Mary by Tina Turner – I adore this song and constantly watch videos of her or Beyoncé performing it live!
8. My Love Is Your Love by Whitney Houston
9. Somebody by Natalie La Rose
10. Human (Rudimental Remix) by Rag ‘n’ Bone Man
11. Hook, Line & Sinker by Royal Blood – I love Royal Blood and from what I’ve seen they totally smashed it at Glasto!
12. Life’s About To Get Good by Shania Twain – Another idol and I’m super excited she’s brought out a new track!
13. The Line (Offiah Remix) by Raye
14. Sweatpants by Terror Jr
15. Look At Us Now by Lost Kings
16. I’m A Fan by Pia Mia feat. Jeremih
17. Buh Bye by LIZ LOKRE – LOVE this!  The middle 8/breakdown is especially great!
18. Naked by Gil Glaze
19. Rock It by Rave Radio
20. 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! 🙂

Sunday Rundown: BBC Radio Manchester, Recording Vocals and Christies Summer Ball Charity Gig

This week has been mainly focused on finishing my academic year at college and making plans for the future!  It’s actually been quite a memorable and enjoyable week though on the whole, with lots of progress made in various areas!  Now I’m just not looking forward to having to make bigger life decisions next week!

Monday:  This was mainly just a day for recovery after having too much fun and not enough sleep at Parklife!  However, I did finish my final piece of academic work for college, I practised looping with my keyboard and I wrote the lyrics and melody for the first song I’m writing in a harmonic minor key… so all in all, not bad for a hangover day!

Tuesday:  Tuesdays are my full day in college and this was the day I presented my final presentation about how I have grown as an artist and developed my brand in the past year.  It was actually really interesting to do the presentation as it made me quite proud of the amount of work I have put in and how much progress I have made!  Although, I did start to panic almost immediately after I had done it, as I realised that I had to work out what plan is for after I finish college!

Wednesday:  On Wednesday I recorded my cover for my Wednesday Cover on YouTube.  I chose to do Beyoncé’s ‘1+1’ as I love the song and had been reminded of that when playing it on piano on Monday.  The loops I built were pretty long, which meant the vocals don’t come in until about 3 mins in, but after that I think it works pretty nicely!  I’m still learning with the loop pedal and I’m really enjoying playing with it and putting whatever I come up with on YouTube, Instagram and Facebook.  Check it out below:

Thursday:  Thursday was a great day!  I played golf in the sun in the morning and then in the afternoon I went to Media City in Salford to the BBC Studios.  I was one of three students from college asked to go on the radio to talk about our experience at Access To Music and what we were aiming to do in our careers.  It was a great experience and really cool to see the inside of the BBC building!  I’ve put a Facebook Live video of the experience on my Facebook page so check it out!

 

I also updated my Thursday Twenty Playlist as I always do on Thursdays… here are this week’s selections:

1. Know No Better by Major Lazer (feat. Quavo, Camilla Cabello and Travis Scott)
2. No Diggity by Campsite Dream – Great remix of an absolute classic!
3. Show You Love by Kato and Sigala (feat. Hailee Steinfeld)
4. In The Arms Of A Stranger by Mike Posner (Grey Remix) –  I really love this as I think the story in the lyrics is something that a lot of people will have experienced at some point.
5. My Favourite Faded Fantasy by Damien Rice – Recommended to me by my guitarist and it is beautiful and tragic.
6. Somebody Else by The 1975 – Literally obsessed and I didn’t even think I liked the band before I heard this!
7. Nothing To Say by Tara Mobee
8. Can’t Feel My Face by Ember Island (Joe Mason Remix)
9. I Have Questions by Camilla Cabello
10. Strangers by Halsey (feat. Lauren Jauregui)
11. Blinded by Emmit Fenn – Such an unbelievably gorgeous and moving song… the way it builds is just effortless.
12. Survivors by Selena Gomez – Little throwback from one of my favourite pop princesses.
13. Old Thing Back by Matoma & The Notorious B.I.G (feat. Ja Rule & Ralph Tresvant) – This is one of my ultimate happy songs… perfect for summer and that sax is just to die for!
14. Sexual Healing by Marvin Gaye (Kygo Remix)
15. Nasty Gal by Betty Davis
16. Higher Ground by TNGHT (feat. Hudson Mohawke x Lunice) – I never get bored of this song… so fun to turn it up loud when you are driving and wait for the drop!
17. Master Blaster (Jammin’) by Stevie Wonder – Currently learning this for my cover set and am just loving it… so excited to perform it!
18. Come First by Terror Jr – So much sass in this song that it actually inspired me to write my own sassy bitch song (Solo)!
19. Places by Martin Solveig
20. Run Me Dry by Bryson Tiller

Friday:  Friday was spent at college and I had a really productive studio session!  I got all the lead vocals down for my track ‘Alive’ and a few harmony parts.  The plan is to finish the rest of the vocals on Tuesday and then have a mixing day on Wednesday!  I’m hoping to have a clip to share really soon!

Saturday:  I was playing with the cover band I play with, Inhale, at the Christie’s Hospital Staff Summer Ball at the Midland Hotel in Manchester.  It was for a great cause and the crowd was great as they were definitely there to celebrate and let off some steam!

Sunday:  I have been napping in the sun today after a really late night last night after the gig!  Going to be doing some planning for my career in general, especially to do with my new videos… so stay tuned for that!

Thank you for reading!