Sky Ferreira - One

~Pop Song of the Day #67~

Meet Sky Ferreira, an 18 year-old up-and-coming Portuguese-American singer–songwriter and actress from Los Angeles. She was discovered on Myspace and recently released a few singles in the UK. I first heard Sky's songs through a pop blog that I frequently read, and I love all the ones that I've heard so far. I would say that her songs are electro-pop, but her voice is much more apparent than the sound effects. I can't wait till her debut album comes out. She reminds me of Lights a little. Unfortunately, Youtube won't let me embed the official videos for her songs. But whatever... definitely listen if you're tired of the "pop music" on the radio. Sky's songs are fresh, original, and current.

2NE1 - Clap Your Hands

~Pop Song of the Day #66~

Meet 2NE1, a four-member Korean girl group that has achieved fame in their home country and beyond. I don't know much about K-POP, but this group is definitely very popular right now. For some reason, the clothes in their recent videos remind me of Lady Gaga in the way that their style of fashion is so different. They use auto-tune a lot, but the beats in their songs are very catchy. My favorite K-POP song, I Don't Care, is by them, too. Clap Your Hands is their highly-anticipated brand new single- video released yesterday! It took me 2 listens before I started loving it.

Why I Love #10: Back to School Week

So you might be wondering why I love going back to school. Let's face it: everyone loves summer. Summer is that faraway dream-land away from SAT's, final exams, homework, and everything tedious about high school. It's that place where you can just relax and do absolutely nothing. So why would I want to go back to school?

After a while, summer gets boring. I mean, I'm the type of person who begins to miss studying if I don't do it for a while. There's only so much useless TV that you watch... (by the way, Pretty Little Liars is officially the best show ever. It's a new show that I discovered this summer & I really can't wait till the next season starts.) And there's only so much stuff you can do on the internet before you get bored of refreshing your email / Facebook page- checking for updates.

Over the summer, I kept listening to new pop music & reading new teen fantasy books. Some random ones I liked: Bleeding Violet, City of Bones (sort of), Nightschool, Cactus's Secret (the last two are manga). I really should start writing book reviews soon... maybe once the school year settles into a groove or something. There's no need for me to tell you what new music I like because I'm posting them now at Pop Songs of the Day. But I will start posting book reviews soon.

Anyway, yeah. During the summer, I did tons of stuff. Too much, in fact, because I ended up procrastinating summer reading until the last minute (as usual). I took math classes at a local college, got a part-time job, took driving lessons, started a science experiment, went away to camp twice, visited colleges, etc. It was hectic, and I literally would not have survived if I didn't have a handy-dandy organizing calendar to keep track of it all. Overall though, it got really crazy for a while & I ended up longing for the nice, scheduled days of high school.

So basically, I love going back to school because it gives me some structure in my life. I have to wake up at a certain time, go to scheduled classes, get homework every day. I sort of like having a routine. Of course, with my course-load this year, I will be spending a lot of my time studying. On the plus side, I get see my friends again after two months, talk about stuff, and everything that's nice about high school. I really enjoyed my first day of high school, and I hope every other day this year will be just as great!

Photo credit: The Paly Voice (Palo Alto High School online journalism)
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Nicki Minaj - Your Love

~Pop Song of the Day #65~

Meet Nicki Minaj, a 25 year-old Trinidadian American rapper and singer who has recently become popular in the US. She has featured in MANY songs by different artist. I don't usually listen to the rap genre (unless it's mixed with pop or something); but I really like this song. Your Love is Nicki's official first single from her debut album, which will be released in November! If the other songs are like this one, then I will definitely buy the album. The video is very original and cute also- it's gotten a lot of criticism on Youtube though.

Brown Eyed Girls - How Come

~Pop Song of the Day #64~

Meet Brown Eyed Girls, another Korean girl group. Since I don't keep up with K-POP for the most part, I have no idea how popular they are in their home country. However, this song is super-catchy, and I've posted a version with English sub-titles. The best part is the rap near the end, which is honestly so hilarious that it's actually good. Although this song is not new (I think their current single is Abracadabra), I still love listening to it. I wish someone would do an English cover of this song...

Lolene - Rich (Fake It Til You Make It)

~Pop Song of the Day #63~

Meet Lolene, an 25 year-old up-and-coming British recording artist, songwriter, record producer and performer from Bristol, England. She released one promo single in the US, Sexy People, which I actually like better than the song I posted. However, Rich (Fake It Til You Make It) is her current debut single, and it really has not set the charts on fire yet- considering the video's been out for 2 months. I've listened to a lot of Lolene demos that probably won't be on her album, and her songs are of the amazing electro-pop variety. If you like Ke$ha, then you'll like Lolene. In my opinion, this one's not as catchy as Sexy People, which is why it hasn't been on the radio a lot. Regardless, I hope her debut album will come out soon!