MAJOR MAESTRO: ABBA

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Best Songs About Dreams

Attention!!!

Dreams are wishes that we hope will come true in our future. Be it an ambition that one has, for which he will work toward in his future, or the hope that all his worries will be over, wherein all the obstacles in his life he managed to overcome. A dream can be for your one true love to be with you at the end, the happily ever after that we all wish would come true. A dream can be your sleepy conscience going wild at night or the nightmares that make your sleep as restless as possible. Yes, dreams at the end of the day keep our imagination alive and breathe life to hope, which kindles the flame of our soul. This list is for all you dreamers out there to keep dreaming.

The compilation consists of a mishmash of genres ranging from Pop, Rock and Rap to Electropop, Eurodance and Opera. There are several soundtracks also featured here. Fleetwood Mac takes the crown with their classic hit Dreams followed by the haunting rendition of Patti LuPone’s I Dreamed a Dream from the Les Misérable Soundtrack and Billy Joel’s hit The River of Dreams. The only person with 3 entries is Roy Orbison, who seemed to have had an obsession with dreams. So here are the top 50 songs about dreams:

Fleetwood Mac – Dreams
Patti LuPone – I dreamed a dream (Les Misérables OST)
Billy Joel – The river of dreams
Crowded House – Don’t dream it’s over
ABBA – I have a dream
Eurythmics – Sweet dreams (are made of this)
Roy Orbison – Dream baby
Nelly – Just a dream
Roy Orbison – In dreams
Stephen Foster – Beautiful dreamer
Green Day – Boulevard of broken dreams
Evanescence – Imaginary
Aerosmith – Dream on
Ozzie Nelson – Dream a little dream of me
Mary Costa & Bill Shirley – Once upon a dream (Sleeping Beauty OST)
The Corrs – Only when I sleep
The Everly Brothers – All I have to do is dream
Roy Orbison – In the real world
Cliff Edwards – When you wish upon a star (Pinocchio OST)
Heart – These dreams
The Cranberries – Dreams
Selena – Dreaming of you
Owl City – Fireflies
Jason Donovan – Any dream will do (Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Coat OST)
Bobby Darin – Dream lover
Ziv Zaifman, Hugh Jackman & Michelle Williams – A million dreams (The Greatest Showman OST)
Gabrielle – Dreams
Keane – A bad dream
Beyonce – Sweet dreams
Cheap Trick – Dream police
Adriana Caselotti – Someday my prince will come (Snow White and the Seven Dwarves OST)
Jackie Evancho – Made to dream
Celine Dion – Dreamin’ of you
Margery McKay – Climb ev’ry mountain (The Sound of Music OST)
Metallica – Enter sandman
Coldplay – A head full of dreams
Dua Lipa – Dreams
Marc Anthony – When I dream at night
Taylor Swift – Wildest dreams
Imagine Dragons – Dream
O-Town – Liquid dreams
Blondie – Dreaming
Celine Dion – The power of the dream
La Bouche – Sweet dreams (ola ola e)
2 Brothers on the 4^th Floor – Dreams (will come alive)
NF – Dreams
Daryl Hall & John Oates - You Make My Dreams
Hilary Duff – What dreams are made of
REO Speedwagon – In my dreams
Aurora – Dreaming

Till the next chord...

At Ease!!!

2016 Recap: A Year in Music

Attention!!!

For the first time in this blog I’m going to do a recap of the past year. Music is a peculiar industry, you have the ups and the downs as well as the breakups and the reunions. Some overdose and some fall off bridges while others are knighted and break chart records. Whatever said and done the industry survives and thrives because musicians commit to produce that we love and some we love to hate. I have recapped the year in seven segments: genres, albums, singles, milestones, shockers, talent and obituaries.

1. Genres

Some of the most evident changes in the mainstream genres were:

Dancehall resurfaced from the late 2000s surging up the charts with significant force and reigniting Reggae which has now become a fusion genre.
Mainstream Pop became heavily tropical with the infusion of Reggae beats.
EDM mellowed down significantly with Synthpop seeping into the genre while Progressive House took a backseat.
Alternative Rock made rapid gains on the charts combined with Rap and Funk.
Rap and R&B also fared very well as the two genres were heavily influenced by the newly emerged Dancehall and Reggae as well as Trap which took the charts by storm back in 2015
Country put on a rather poor performance compared to the awesome hits of 2015.

2. Albums

Some of the most anticipated albums were released in 2016:

Gwen Stefani – This is What It Feels Like (first solo album in 10 years)
David Bowie – Black Star (final album released two days before his death)
Rihanna – Anti (8^th studio album released 4 years after Unapologetic)
JoJo – Mad Love (first album in 10 years)
Ariana Grande – Dangerous Woman (3^rd studio album)
Beyonce – Lemonade (6^th studio album)
Kanye West – The Life of Pablo (7^th studio album)
The Weeknd – Starboy (3^rd studio album)
Lady Gaga – Joanne (5^th studio album)
Britney Spears – Glory (9^th studio album)
Blink-182 – California (7^th studio album)
Green Day – Revolution Radio (12^th studio album)
Bruno Mars – 24K Magic (3^rd studio album)
Shawn Mendes – Illuminate (2^nd studio album)
Zayn – Mind of Mine (debut studio album)
All Saints – Red Flag (first album in 10 years)
Alexandra Stan – Alesta (3^rd studio album)
Meghan Trainor – Thank You (2^nd studio album)
Fifth Harmony – 7/27(2^nd studio album)
James Arthur – Back from the Edge (2^nd studio album)
DNCE – DNCE (debut studio album)
Little Mix – Glory Days (4^th studio album)

3. Singles

Here are some interesting facts about the global hits this year:

Rihanna ft. Drake’s Work became the first Dancehall song to top the Billboard Hot 100 since Sean Paul’s Temperature 10 years ago
Sia became the first female artist over 40 years to top the Billboard Hot 100 with Cheap Thrills a feat which was achieved after 16 years since Madonna’s Music in 2000
Justin Bieber’s Love Yourself spent 23 consecutive weeks in the Billboard Hot 100's top 10, breaking the record for the most consecutive weeks logged in the top 10 from a song's debut therein
Drake ft. WizKid & Kyla’s One Dance topped the UK Singles Chart for 15 consecutive weeks making it the second longest reign at the top alongside Wet Wet Wet’s Love is All Around. Additionally it was also crowned the song of the summer worldwide
The Chainsmokers ft. Halsey’s Closer was the longest reigning No.1 in the US with 12 consecutive weeks
Zayn’s Pillowtalk made him the first UK artist to debut at No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with a debut single
With Dangerous Woman debuting at number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100, Ariana Grande became the first artist to debut within the top 10 with every lead single of all of her studio albums
Fifth Harmony ft. Ty Dolla $ign’s Work From Home became the first top 5 single by a girl group in 10 years since Pussycat Doll ft. Snoop Dogg’s Buttons
Clean Bandit ft. Sean Paul & Anne Marie’s Rockabye claimed the coveted UK Christmas No.1 and was the first song in history to do so after already logging 6 weeks at the top
Luke Graham’s 7 Years became the first No.1 single by a Danish act in the UK since Aqua’s Turn Back Time and with 5 weeks at the top it became the longest reigning No.1 by a Danish act
Justin Timberlake’s Can’t Stop The Feeling! from Trolls is the first No.1 song from an animated movie since Pharrell Williams’ Happy from Despicable Me 2
Pikotaro’s Pen Pineapple Apple Song (PPAP Song) became the shortest song to enter the Billboard Hot 100 with a length of only 45 seconds

4. Milestones

Some musicians need to be given due recognition for their achievements during the year.

Taylor Swift wins Album of the Year for the second time for her album 1989 at the 58^th Grammy Awards becoming the first woman to do so
BRITS Icon Award bestowed posthumously on David Bowie at the 36^th Brit Awards
Britney Spears is honoured with the Millennium Award at the 2016 Billboard Music Awards
Rod Stewart is knighted in Queen Elizabeth II’s 2016 Birthday Honours
Rihanna is bestowed with the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards
Madonna is named as the 2016 Billboard Woman of the Year
Dolly Parton received the Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2016 Country Muisc Association Awards
Bob Dylan received the 2016 Nobel Prize for Literature
Victoria Beckham is bestowed with the Office of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in Queen Elizabeth II’s New Year Honour’s List
Marc Anthony is honoured with the Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year at the 17^th Annual Latin Grammy Awards
Fifth Harmony ft. Ty Dolla $ign’s Work From Home became the most watched music video of 2016 with over 1 billion views.
The videos of Wiz Khalifa ft. Charlie Puth’s See You Again, Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars’ Uptown Funk and Justin Bieber’s Sorry all passed 2 billion views

5. Shockers

There were many jaw dropping moments in 2016 and here are some of them:

ABBA reunites and reveals an upcoming digital entertainment experience
Camila Cabello leaves Fifth Harmony to pursue her solo career
Avicii retires from music citing health reasons
Geri Halliwell, Emma Bunton and Melanie Brown reunite as Spice Girls – GEM
One Direction announces indefinite hiatus
Bill Medley reforms The Righteous Brothers with singer Bucky Heard
The Eagles dissolves following the death of Glenn Frey, their founding member
All four members of Viola Beach die in a tragic car crash
Kesha denied an injunction by Supreme Court of New York to allow her to record outside Dr.Luke’s label
Neil Amin Smith leaves Clean Bandit and the band continues as a trio
Minzy leaves 2NE1 and the group disbands
Founding member Pete Burns of Dead or Alive died effectively ending the band
Christina Grimmie, former contestant on The Voice shot dead by a fan
G.R.L. reformed as a trio with new member Jazzy Mejia
4Minute disbands over different opinions of members

6. Talent

Here are the winners of those talent/reality contests which produce some of the best artists:

61^st Eurovision Song Contest – Ukraine wins with Jamala’s 1944
The X Factor (13^th Season) – Matt Terry wins mentored by Nicole Scherzinger
The Voice (10^th Season) – Alison Porter wins coached by Christina Aguilera
The Voice (11^th Season) – Sundance Head wins coached by Blake Shelton
The Voice UK (05^th Season) – Former Liberty X member Kevin Simm wins coached by Ricky Wilson
America’s Got Talent – Singer/Songwriter Grace VanderWaal wins
American Idol ends after 15 seasons crowing Trent Harmon as the final idol

7. Obituaries

Last but not least let us remember those legends to whom we bade farewell in 2016.

David Bowie (08 January 1947 – 10 January 2016)
René Angélil (16 January 1942 – 14 January 2016)
Glenn Frey (06 November 1948 – 18 January 2016)
Signe Toly Anderson (15 September 1941 – 28 January 2016)
Maurice White (19 December 1941 – 04 February 2016)
George Martin (03 January 1926 – 08 March 2016)
Prince (07 June 1958 – 21 April 2016)
Pete Burns (05 August 1959 – 23 October 2016)
W.D. Amaradeva (05 December 1927 – 03 November 2016)
Leonard Cohen (21 September 1934 – 07 November 2016)
George Michael (25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016)

Till next year...

At Ease!!!

Xposition - July, 2016

Attention!!!

The summer is in full swing and the awards dry spell continues with only the 2016 Teen Choice Awards being held in July hosted by Victoria Justice and John Cena. While the awards focus on all aspects of entertainment such as music, television, film and sports, we'll stick to the music side of things and also some interesting accolades which artists received at the show. Flo Rida opened the show with a medley of My House, Good Feeling and Wild Ones (with Bebe Rexha) and then went on to perform his newest single Zillionaire. Charlie Puth performed his newest hit We Don't Talk Anymore as a solo version. Justin Bieber received the most nominations with 11 while Justin Timberlake received the inaugural Decade Award. So the major wins of the night included:

Male Artist - Justin Bieber
Female Artist - Selena Gomez
Group - One Direction
Female Single: Ariana Grande - Dangerous woman
Male Single: Justin Bieber - Sorry
International Artist - Little Mix
Summer Song: Fifth Harmony ft. Ty Dolla $ign - Work from home
Party Song: DNCE - Cake by the ocean
Breakout Artist - Zayn Malik

Meanwhile, Christina Grimmie who was tragically shot dead by a fan recently was posthumously bestowed with the Choice Music Web Star but family and fans were in uproar as they expressed their disappointment as Grimmie was not mentioned by Jessica Alba and Ne-Yo during the #StoptheViolence tribute for family members of teens who had died due to violence.

The Official Albums Chart of the UK celebrated its 60th anniversary in July with the first ever chart published on 22nd July 1956 which saw Frank Sinatra's Songs for Swingin' Lovers grab the coveted crown. To mark the historic milestone of the chart the Official Charts Company has released the UK's 60 Biggest Selling Albums of All Time. Queen's Greatest Hits is at No.1 followed by ABBA's Gold Greatest Hits at No.2 The top 10 are:

Queen - Greatest Hits (1981)
ABBA - Gold - Greatest Hits
The Beatles - Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)
Adele - 21 (2011)
Oasis - What's the Story Morning Glory (1995)
Michael Jackson - Thriller (1982)
Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the Moon (1973)
Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms (1985)
Michael Jackson - Bad (1987)
Queen - Greatest Hits II (1991)

The month witnessed the launch of the Global Goal's Campaign's #WhatIReallyReallyWant movement which used the Spice Girl's global smash hit Wannabe in its campaign. The girl-power wielding hit was used in the video which stars an array of international artists including Sri Lankan Bollywood actress Jacqueline Fernandez, Nigeria's Seyi Shay, South Africa's Gigi Lamayne and Monoea, the United States' Larsen Thompson, the U.K.'s M.O. and Canada's Taylor Hatala. The song is used to shed light on issues affecting young women around the globe such as violence against girls, lack of quality education and child marriage.

More news on the Spice Girls as they celebrate their 20th anniversary of Wannabe. Geri Horner (Halliwell), Emma Bunton and Melanie Brown are to reunite as GEM as Victoria Beckam and Melanie Chrishom have backed out of the reunion. Scary, Baby and Ginger have got together to celebrate this hallmark occasion by staging a show in London's Hyde Park next summer, which insiders now claim the singing trio will pocket $14 million each from the gig - that's over $100,000 (£74,000)-a-minute per person.

We're still not done with 90s news as MTV plans to rebrand VH1 Classic as MTV Classic with a special focus on fan-favorite programmes and series drawn from the 1990s and early 2000s. The switch coming into effect on August 1 commemorates MTV's launch 35 years ago on August 1, 1981.

Katy Perry released a surprise single titled Rise which serves as the official English anthem of the Rio Olympics 2016. This is her first single since 2014's This Is How You Do and she performed it for the first time as a part of a medley with her hit single Roar at the 2016 Democratic National Convention, where she endorsed Hilary Clinton for US President.

The Dutchess is back but this time with a dairy flavour as Fergie released her newest single M.I.L.F. $ with a star studded cast in the sultry music video which includes Ciara, Kim Kardashian, Chrissy Teigen, Gemma Ward and Amber Valletta. The song serves as the lead single to her second studio album Double Dutchess.

Moving on to chart news, Drake ft. Wizkid and Kyla's titanic hit One Dance reigned throughout the month in the US accumulating a whopping ten non-consecutive week rule. Meanwhile Sia ft. Sean Paul's Cheap Thrills, Kent Jones' Don't Mind, Twenty One Pilots' Ride and Adele's Send My Love (To Your New Lover) all enter the top ten while The Chainsmoker's ft. Daya's Don't Let Me Down reaches a new peak at No.3 and Calvin Harris ft. Rihanna's This Is What You Came For reaches a new peak at No.4 with the rumours that Harris' ex-girlfriend Taylor Swift had a hand at penning the song.

In the UK too Drake reigned supreme with One Dance as he logged his fifteenth week atop the charts during the fourth week of July. This feat places him on level with Wet Wet Wet's Love Is All Around which spent 15 weeks at the top in 1994. The record holder is Bryan Adam's (Everything I Do) I Do It For You which ruled for 16 weeks at the top in 1991. Other songs which entered the top 10 include Calum Scott's Dancing On My Own, Jonas Blue ft. JB Cooper's Perfect Strangers and Shawn Mendes' Treat You Better.

Other songs which became popular during the month are:

Twenty One Pilots - Heathens
Bastille - Good grief
MØ - Final song
Selena Gomez - Kill 'em with kindness
Kiiara - Gold
Lukas Graham - Mama said

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.