My September Favorites

When I first began thinking of what to include for this post, I only had two things on my list. Then I found one more to include but still felt like it wasn't enough. Two things didn't feel like enough content for a post, and it all related to one person, so it was kind of weird. Plus I didn't want to leave it at that. Eventually I found something else to include to diversify it a bit, which is partially why this post is happening so late into the next month. The first few weeks of October have been pretty busy, so although this installment of my monthly favorites series is still a short one, it's a great one for anyone who likes dance or performing arts or even just art in general.

Michael Dameski's routine to "Madness" by Ruelle on World of Dance

If you've seen any of my monthly favorites post from this past summer, you know I love Michael Dameski and his dancing, so it really should come as no surprise more of his dances are in the latest installment of my monthly favorites.

What I loved about this dance was that it was different and much more theatrical and dramatic than the preceding ones. The ninja concept was awesome and wasn't overplayed or too gimmicky. Dameski literally put on a show with this routine by taking advantage of everything he could, from the costume to the graphics and the video board to the lighting effects. His performance was amazing here, and I don't know what you were watching if you didn't believe he was an actual mad ninja in this dance. 

What I'm Listening to: Summer 2017

For the first month and a half or so of summer, I listened to a lot of the same music I've been listening to for months ― some of it even since December and January. But this month I finally started consistently listening to some new music that it'll probably be playing for the rest of the summer. As usual, you can check out all of the music in the playlist at the very bottom of this post, but since I really like some of these songs' music videos, I decided to include those as well.

Why - Sabrina Carpenter

When Sabrina's sophomore album came out earlier this year, I listened to it on repeat for months. Then she announced she would be releasing a new single ― off the album ― right near the start of her summer tour. I was definitely excited for it as I was really enjoying her new music.

I actually got to listen to it a few hours before it was supposed to be released because the lyric video was released earlier on one site. I don't remember my initial reaction to it, but I liked the message immediately.  It doesn't really matter if you like different things. You can be different and still have a good relationship with someone.

Plus the music video has Casey Cott from Riverdale, which is probably my new favorite show, so that's cool. This is one of the music videos I really like even though I feel like Sabrina looks a little too young to be with Casey in the video. I love the photography aspect of it, though!

My Favorite Dances from SYTYCD Season 13 (The Next Generation)

The 13th season of So You Think You Can Dance just ended earlier this past Monday. It was also the inaugural season of So You Think You Can Dance: The Next Generation, where the contestants are dancers from ages 8-13.

I remember when I first heard about how this past season was going to be for kids. I was very intrigued and pretty excited. I like to watch dance, no matter the age of the dancers, but there are a lot of talented child dancers out there besides the girls on Dance Moms. So I was glad these kids would have a chance to make a name for themselves and dance on TV without being in the negative environment of Dance Moms.

Once the season started in May, I was hooked from the start and thought The Next Generation was the best idea the SYTYCD producers have ever had. The kids are crazy talented and entertaining. They never failed to make me laugh or impress me. They made me fall in love with the show all over again. (I lost interest last year with the stage vs. street format attempt.)

Even though this was the first season of The Next Generation, it's definitely one of my faorite SYTYCD seasons ever, and I have quite a few favorite dances from it.

What I'm Listening to: November 2015

After listening to the same 10 or so songs for about two months, I finally downloaded new music and added it to my iTunes! So here are the songs and artists that have been on repeat this month.

What I'm Listening to: September 2015

I've always loved listening to music, but once I started college, listening to music is something that occurs less often than before. And when I do,it's the same several songs over and over again. Now that September's nearly over, I thought I'd share what I've been listening to this month.

Kolby Koloff

Kolby Koloff is not a popular name in the music industry, but she's one of my favorite musical artists. She's definitely my favorite Christian artist. Christian pop, let alone Christian music is something I don't listen to often or very long even though I've gone to church on a regular basis for my entire life, but I really enjoy her music. 

I first heard of Kolby on the Lifetime TV show Preacher's Daughters. After watching her on that show for a few years, she was someone I could look up to and inspired me to grow in my faith. So when she announced she was making music, I was excited even though I'd never listened to that genre of music before.

She released an EP prior to this one, entitled Be Free, but it was originally just released on her family's website and wasn't promoted and released at the same scale. I instantly loved all of the songs on Be Free, so I've been looking forward to her upcoming EP and pre-ordered it so I could hear all the songs ASAP on October 2. Two of the songs, Grow and Enough, have already been released, and they've been on repeat for weeks. I appreciate all of the messages in Kolby's songs, and of course, her voice is so pleasing to listen to. To preview all of the songs on Grow, visit iTunes.

Favorite Glee Songs: Seasons Four, Five, and Six

Season Four

Season four is when I started to not like Glee that much, but I watched it anyway. There weren't very many songs that stuck out to me, but there were a few.

Chasing Pavements

Supergirl is a great singer too! (Does anyone get that reference besides me?) Anyway, I've already said that covering an Adele song is no easy task, but the Rumour Has It/Someone Like You crushed it. I don't think this cover was spectacular, so I don't think the producers nailed it here, but there was something about it that made it memorable for me. I'm just not sure what that was.

The Scientist

I actually don't really remember this song being on Glee -- which isn't too surprising since I don't remember 80% of the songs from season four -- but when I was looking at the entire list of songs, I saw it, listened to it, and liked it.

Footloose

Unlike majority of the musicals they sing songs from in Glee, I actually have seen Footloose (the original and the remake) before watching this episode in which they sing Footloose. I just thought this was a really fun number and just generally enjoyed it.

Favorite Glee Songs: Season Three

Although season three's not my favorite since the show didn't seem the same anymore, I do still like a lot of the songs from this season, even more than the first season.

Cool

Because who doesn't want to hear Mike Chang be awesome while he's singing? We all know he's great at dancing, so this was definitely a highlight.

Fix You

Uptown Girl

Favorite Glee Songs: Season Two

If you read the season one post, then you already know this is probably my favorite season, musically and just in general in terms of what happened. This will be the longest one yet!

Billionaire 

I don't green eggs and ham either, Sam.

River Deep Mountain High

I love how Santana and Mercedes' voices pair together, and this was just an excellent song for them to do a duet. I think it definitely showcases their strengths.

Lucky

I don't know how many people feel this way, but I like this version better than the original.

Favorite Glee Songs: Season One

Since Glee's ending for good this Friday, I decided to do a series of blog posts on my favorite performances/covers/songs from the entire series. I like a lot of the mash-ups they've done on the show, and Glee was the first time I heard a lot of these songs, especially the older ones and show tunes.

 I've been watching Glee since the first season, and I was pretty into it at first and considered myself a pretty big Gleek, especially around season two, but like many other fans, it wasn't the same or as good as it was before once the original Glee club members graduated. But I still continued to watch, and we're almost at the end!

If Glee was ending the way Ryan Murphy intended (RIP Cory Monteith), and if I didn't lose my interest in the show as the season went by, then I'd probably be sad that the show is ending. I'm actually content with it ending. I know everything must come to an end, and Glee has reached its time.

So here's the first installment of my favorite songs from Glee!

Can't Fight This Feeling 

Don't Stop Believin'

So, I know this song has been on the show like 10 times -- half of them were in the first season alone -- but it's definitely the first song that comes to mind when I think of Glee. It's the first Glee song I remember hearing, which is probably true for a lot of other fans and viewers. So even though this song has been in multiple episodes and seasons, I think the first time was the best.

It's My Life/Confessions Pt. II

Vitamin D. That's all I have to say.



Actually, I have one more thing to say. I just remembered that Matt Rutherford existed, and now I feel bad.

11 Favorite Dances from SYTYCD Season 11

The season finale of the eleventh season of So You Think You Can Dance was on Wednesday, which marked the end of my second favorite season of the show so far. This is also the first season where my favorite actually won the competition, so I'm super excited about that. Congrats, Ricky!

Anyway, I have never been more excited for a season of SYTYCD or liked a season more since season four, which was six years ago. So it's been a while. During every season I watch, (I've been consistently watching since season four) I have a few favorite dances from the respective season.

But since I was very excited for this season and was a fan of almost half of the top 20, I ended up favoring a lot of dances. Since this was season 11, below are my 11 favorite dances from this past season in chronological order. (It was rather difficult to pick only 11.)

I am by no means a dancer or a judge, so I may not have much insight. I just happen to like these dances for their choreography, the performance and the music. Majority of them included my favorite dancers from this season, which does make me like the dances more, but some of them are the dances that made me fans of them in the first place and really grabbed my attention.