MAJOR MAESTRO: April 2016

Funniest Parodies of All Time

Attention!!!

With the advent of the YouTube there have been many trends associated with this social media platform. One such trend are parodies, where YouTubers and vloggers (video bloggers) produce a humorously exaggerated imitation of the real video with humorous references to the video itself as well as the artists' personal lives and any scandal associated with them. So to actually enjoy such parodies one has to be abreast of the latest news in relation to the artist. The veterans of parodies on YouTube are the team of Barely Productions who has come up with a series called The Key of Awesome. Others have also ventured into the business and some of the more successful ones are Bart Baker, Phillip Green, Shane Dawson, Lisa Shwartz, College Humour and Weird Al Yankovic. The targets are of course the mainstream artists with a fan following such as Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, Adele and One Direction and their smash hits. This list is full of Key of Awesome parodies with a few entries by Bart Baker. So here are the 40 funniest parodies of all time:

Taylor Swift – Shake it off (Key of Awesome)
Ariana Grande ft. Iggy Azalea – Problem (Key of Awesome)
Kesha – Tik tok (Key of Awesome)
One Direction – What makes you beautiful (Key of Awesome)
Katy Perry – Firework (Key of Awesome)
Meghan Trainor – All about that bass (Bart Baker)
Lady Gaga ft. Beyonce – Telephone (Key of Awesome)
Eminem ft. Rihanna – Love the way you lie (Key of Awesome)
Ariana Grande – Focus (Bart Baker)
Pitbull ft. Ne-Yo & Nayer – Give me everything (Key of Awesome)
Adele – Rolling in the deep (Key of Awesome)
Jennifer Lopez ft. Pitbull – On the floor (Key of Awesome)
Adele – Hello (Key of Awesome)
Robin Thicke ft. Pharrell Williams & T.I. – Blurred lines (Bart Baker)
Owl City – Fireflies (Key of Awesome)
Shakira ft. Rihanna – Can’t remember to forget you (Key of Awesome)
Lady Gaga – Born this way (Key of Awesome)
Pentatonix – Somebody I used to know (Key of Awesome)
Kanye West ft. Jay-Z, Nicki Minaj, Bon Iver & Rick Ross – Monster (Key of Awesome)
Nicki Minaj – Anaconda (Key of Awesome)
Bruno Mars – Grenade (Key of Awesome)
Justin Bieber – Baby (Key of Awesome)
Taylor Swift – We are never ever getting back together (Key of Awesome)
Pitbull ft. Kesha – Timber (Key of Awesome)
Lady Gaga – Applause (Key of Awesome)
Katy Perry ft. Juicy J – Dark horse (Key of Awesome)
Adam Lambert – Whataya want from me (Key of Awesome)
Will.I.Am ft. Britney Spears – Scream & shout (Bart Baker)
Lorde – Royals (Key of Awesome)
Carly Rae Jepsen – Call me maybe (Key of Awesome)
One Direction – Best song ever (Key of Awesome)
Justin Bieber – Sorry (Key of Awesome)
Katy Perry ft. Juicy J – Dark horse (Bart Baker)
Eminem – Not afraid (Key of Awesome)
Taylor Swift ft. Kendrick Lamar – Bad blood (Key of Awesome)
Pitbull ft. Mark Anthony – Rain over me (Key of Awesome)
Eminem ft. Rihanna – The monster (Bart Baker)
Taylor Swift – I knew you were trouble (Bart Baker)
Nicki Minaj – Anaconda (College Humour)
Ariana Grande ft. The Weeknd – Love me harder (Bart Baker)

Till the next beat...

At Ease!!!

Best Songs About Being There For Someone

Attention!!!

One type of feel good music consists of those songs which are about being there for someone. If one quotes Carole King directly from her song You've Got A Friend, it shows that these songs are typically useful when a person is down or in trouble to indicate that a friend will always be there. Therefore, these songs can also be dedicated via radio stations as well as television channels and also when a friend is down in the dumps these songs can be played.

The Pretenders' I'll Stand By You takes the top spot in this compilation as it is clearly the most played song in these occasions as well as covered by several artists throughout the years with most of the versions (Rod Stewart, Girls Aloud) topping the charts. At second place is Ben E. King's Stand By Me which is everyone's go-to feel good song about friends. At No.3 we have the cliched Jackson 5's I'll Be There which all significant others resort to when their respective boyfriends or girlfriends are depressed. We have four entries with the title I'll Be There For You and three entries with Stand By You. While it is a mishmash of artists and eras in terms of genre it is only Pop with just one Rock and one R&B entry. So here are the top 30 songs about being there for someone:

The Pretenders – I’ll stand by you
Ben E.King – Stand by me
Jackson 5 – I’ll be there
Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell – Ain’t no mountain high enough
The Rembrandts – I’ll be there for you
Rachel Platten – Stand by you
Bill Withers – Lean on me
Celine Dion – Because you loved me
Carole King – You’ve got a friend
S Club 7 – Reach
Rihanna ft. Jay-Z – Umbrella
Michael Jackson – You are not alone
Jess Glynne – Hold my hand
Hanson – I will come to you
Avril Lavigne – I’m with you
Phil Collins – You’ll be in my heart
Bruno Mars – Count on me
Bon Jovi – I’ll be there for you
Charlie Puth – One call away
Sade – By your side
The Corrs – At your side
Olive – You’re not alone
Whitney Houston & CeCe Winans – Count on me
The Moffats – I’ll be there for you
Kat Deluna – Be there
MLTR – I’m gonna be around
Marlisa – Stand by you
S Club 7 – Stand by you
Tinchy Stryder – You’re not alone
Solid HarmoniE – I’ll be there for you

Till the next beat...

At Ease!!!

Most Successful Swedish Artists of All Time

Uppmärksamhet!!!

With the new European wave that has been taking over the contemporary charts, I have decided to venture into the continent to find out who else have been successful throughout the years. This will be the first part of a series of lists which will see who has been contributing to the industry from these countries. The initial European wave came back in the 1970s when certain artists from Germany, Sweden and Denmark contributed to the development of Disco. Then there was a tsunami during the early 1990s when Eurodance took over the mainstream by storm. This died down and in the late 2000s Europop resurfaced aligning with the mainstream genres of Pop, Techno, Dancepop and Reggae. And now once again Europe has risen and this time they move in directly through mainstream Pop.

With the advent of Zara Larsson, Sweden has been clearly marked on the mainstream music map and her path was marked by the successes of Swedish House Mafia, Avicii and Tove Lo who in turn have been extremely successful in the 2010s. However, while this wave is quite significant you cannot discount the success of those who achieved their success when there was no such wave in the industry, for instance, the Ace of Base, the Cardigans, Eagle Eye Cherry and A*Teens were stand alone successes during their respective eras.

The music of Sweden shares the tradition of Nordic folk dance music with its neighboring countries in northern Europe, including polka, schottische, waltz, polska and mazurka. Swedish music has also included more modern and pop influences. On a per capita basis, Sweden is one of the world's most successful exporters of popular music. Sweden's success in music began with ABBA, the winners of the Eurovision Song Contest of 1974. They were the first group to come from a non-English speaking country to experience such a magnitude of success in English speaking countries, and is all the most successful group to ever take part in Eurovision and they went on to become one of the best selling groups in the world. With its 6 wins Sweden is the second most successful country in the Eurovision Contest after Ireland who has 7 wins. So without further ado here are the 40 most successful Swedish artists of all time.