According to Alyssa: music

Fall Out Boy and Fourth of July | My Week in Review

10:21 AM

1989 tour pittsburgh

Taylor Swift 1989 World Tour | What I Wore

7:15 PM

I cry when I'm surprised. It's my natural reaction and I can't control it...but this week, I may have shed a few more tears than usual. This past Monday, I had a particularly horrible night at work. My anxiety was acting up and I just truly wasn't feeling comfortable being away from my bed. So, when I finally arrived back at my apartment and sat down in front of the TV with Eric, it was a relief. But I had NO IDEA, how much better my night was about to get.

"What do you want to do this weekend?" Eric asked me, during a commercial of some sporting event or another. And since I was feeling sad and dramatic, I responded with: "Probably just listen to a lot of Taylor Swift and pretend I'm at the concert." (T.S. was scheduled to perform here in Pittsburgh on Saturday [yesterday] and I was pretty upset about not being able to afford tickets this year.) But then he looked at me funny and asked why we would have to pretend to be at the show. I was pretty confused UNTIL HE PULLED TICKETS OUT OF HIS POCKET. And that's when I cried. A lot. I called my mom sobbing and she screamed at me because she thought that something was wrong.

(Note: Eric listens to pretty much only metal and gangsta rap, so the fact that he bought tickets for us to go to see Taylor Swift together kind of made my heart swell.)

So, after having an excitement bomb dropped in my lap, I was pretty excited this past week leading up to it. I spent the whole week planning out what to wear and listening to 1989 on repeat. I went shopping on Friday to pick out the perfect outfit and after struggling for over an hour at Forever 21, I found everything I wanted down the street at H&M. I combined a pair of slim-fit, black, high-waisted trousers with a white, sporty, crop-top and a pair of cute and cozy slip on sneakers! (I threw on my old, black leather jacket later when it got dark and chilly!)

We started out the night at the casino and had a few pre-concert drinks and then made our way down to Heinz Field! The show was AMAZING. (Mama Swift walked by me!) After beautiful performances from Shawn Mendes and Vance Joy (who kind of looks like Kit Harrington/Jon Snow if you squint), Taylor Swift finally came on! She kicked her setlist off with "Welcome to New York" and played through most of the album, hitting some of my personal favorites ("Clean", "Wonderland" and "New Romantics"), tossed in some oldies ("Love Story", "I Knew You Were Trouble", "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together", and even a bit of "Enchanted"), and brought out Little Big Town as her special guest! Their collab on "Pontoon" was insane and just so, so fun!

While her stage show was as incredible as ever (the costumes literally made my jaw drop), what brought it all together for me was the integration of light-up bracelets. Even though Eric's didn't work (super sad face), the effect they had on the rest of the crowd was breathtaking! Each person in attendance was given one of the clear bands upon entry. They lit up and even changed colors and speeds with the songs! I've never seen anything like it!

With loads of confetti and fireworks, Taylor closed out the show dancing and singing to "Shake It Off" which of course caused all of us in the crowd to go wild! (I may have gone a little overboard with the dancing...) After the show, exhausted and happy, E and I swooped into the grocery store for some late night snacks and headed home.

As cliched as this may sound, it was the absolute perfect night.

Let me know if you've been or are going to any of Taylor Swift's shows!

books

Lorde of Music

7:29 AM

Everyone knows that New Zealand girl with the wildly curly hair and the purple lipstick, but did you know that she’s only 17? Or that she is curating an entire motion picture soundtrack?!

In September of 2013, Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O’Connor, better known as Lorde, released her first studio album, Pure Heroine, which quickly rose on the Billboard 200 and ultimately peaked at number three. The album produced five singles, four of which landed on the Billboard Hot 100, with “Royals” easily securing the number one spot and becoming instantly recognizable to anyone with a radio.

Now, just over a year later, Lorde is preparing to make another huge release, this time in the form of a soundtrack. After her incredibly successful album and a track on The Hunger Games: Catching Fire soundtrack, (she covered Tears For Fears’ classic song, “Everybody Wants to Rule the World”), the young singer/songwriter was chosen to display her talents in a new way, as curator of the soundtrack for the upcoming blockbuster, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1. This position has allowed her the opportunity to choose artists’ talents to showcase on the album, as well as to write her own, film specific pieces.

Being a strong female figure that spends a lot of time in the public eye, Lorde can be made comparable to the series’ main character, Katniss Everdeen, and that (combined with her incredible talent) makes her an obvious choice for this role. Although, I’m sure it doesn’t hurt that she is also a huge fan of the books!

The first of the original tracks was released on September 29th and is titled “Yellow Flicker Beat”. Lorde took to her Tumblr around the same time of the release to thank her fans for the past year of her life and introduced the track by stating, “It’s my first offering from what I hope will be a soundtrack you love. It’s my attempt at getting inside her head, Katniss’. I hope you like it.” And with lyrics such as “People talk to me, and all their faces blur, but I got my fingers laced together and I made a little prison. And I’m locking up everyone that ever laid a finger on me. I’m going in”, it is easy for fans of the series to see that her “attempt” was successful.

While the soundtrack doesn’t release until November, just a few weeks after her 18th birthday, Lorde is suspected to announce which artists will be featured on the album very soon. Check out the track for yourself and be sure to let me know your thoughts!