Most Inspirational Songs of 2014

Attention!!!

When I compiled the list for inspirational songs for 2013, I believed that it was just a coincidence that there were so many inspirational songs during that year. However, now I believe that it is a trend for artists to come up with at least one motivational song in their albums. Although there were not so many inspirational songs during 2014 there were enough to compile a list. I think the reason for artists to come up with so many inspirational songs is due to the fact that there is a popular demand for such songs. During this hectic era, the younger generation can be heavily burdened with work, life and love and so to cater to the market wants and needs, artists come up with these songs. The songs are sometimes purely inspirational while others deal with motivation to handle breakups. The genres vary from Rap, Hip-Hop and Pop to Rock, EDM and Country. Eminem ft. Sia's Guts Over Fear featured in the film The Equalizer takes the crown with Taylor Swift's global smash hit Shake It Off at second followed by the X-Factor winner Ben Haenow's winning single Something I Need at third. Sia and Fall Out Boy are the only artists with two entries with the latter having both entries within the top 10. So here are the 25 most inspirational songs of 2014:

1. Eminem ft. Sia – Guts over fear
2. Taylor Swift – Shake it off
3. Ben Haenow – Something I need (Original by OneRepublic)
4. Idina Menzel – Let it go
5. Fall Out Boy – Immortals
6. The Script – Superheroes
7. Ella Henderson – Glow
8. Imagine Dragons – Warriors
9. OneRepublic – I lived
10. Fall Out Boy – Centuries
11. Sia – Chandelier
12. Colbie Caillat – Try
13. Nico & Vinz – Am I wrong
14. Avicii – The days
15. Foxes – Let go for tonight
16. Clean Bandit ft. Jess Glynne – Rather be
17. Carrie Underwood – Something in the water
18. Aloe Blacc – The man
19. Paramore – Ain’t it fun
20. Tinie Tempah ft. Ella Eyre – Someday (A place in the sun)
21. American Authors – Best day of my life
22. Lily Allen – Air balloon
23. Cheryl Cole – I don’t care
24. Union J – Tonight (We live forever)
25. Ariana Grande ft. Zedd – Break free

Till the next chord…

At Ease!!!

Best Disney Songs of All Time

Attention!!!

Almost everyone in the world grew up to the tunes of the memorable Walt Disney Classics. From the Grimm and Hans Christian Anderson fairytale adaptations to their own originals Walt Disney has been able to captivate our hearts with those beloved characters. The soundtracks of all these classics have been composed by geniuses who know how to keep the audience engaged with awesome scores. Most of these songs have gone onto win the Academy Award for Best Original Song as well as other accolades such as Golden Globes and Grammy Awards. Some of them have been commercially successful charting and peaking within the top ten worldwide. Alan Menken and Howard Ashman have collaborated on more than one occasion to produce these hits and for The Lion King it was Sir Elton John who teamed up with Sir Tim Rice. One thing to note is that the sequels to most of these classics have not produced good soundtracks with the exception of may be The Lion King II: Simba's Pride and Pocahontas: A Journey to a New World. So here are the Best Disney Songs of All Time:

1. The Lion King – Circle of life (Elton John)
2. Pocahontas – Colours of the wind (Vanessa Williams)
3. The Little Mermaid – Under the sea (Samuel E. Wright)
4. Aladdin – A whole new world (Peabo Bryson & Regina Belle)
5. Hercules – Go the distance (Michael Bolton)
6. Beauty and the Beast – Beauty and the beast (Celine Dion & Peabo Bryson)
7. Frozen – Let it go (Idina Menzel)
8. Tarzan – You’ll be in my heart (Phil Collins)
9. The Sleeping Beauty – Once upon a dream (Mary Costa & Bill Shirley)
10. Mary Poppins – Chim chim cher-ee (Julie Andrews, Dick van Dyke, Karen Dotrice & Matthew Garber)
11. Mulan – Reflection (Christina Aguilera)
12. Toy Story – You’ve got a friend in me (Randy Newman & Lyle Lovett)
13. Pinocchio – When you wish upon a star (Cliff Edwards)
14. Enchanted – That’s how you know (Amy Adams)
15. The Little Mermaid– Kiss the girl (Samuel E. Wright)
16. The Jungle Book– The bare necessities (Phil Harris & Bruce Reitherman)
17. The Lion King – Can you feel the love tonight (Elton John)
18. Tangled – I see the light (Mandy Moore & Zachary Levi)
19. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs – Someday my prince will come (Adriana Caselotti)
20. The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride – He lives in you (Lebo M)
21. Aladdin – Friend like me (Robin Williams)
22. The Lion King – Hakuna Matata (Nathan Lane & Ernie Sabella)
23. Mulan – I’ll make a man out of you (Donny Osmond)
24. Song of the South – Zip-a-dee-doo-dah (John Baskett)
25. Enchanted – So close (Jon Mclaughlin)
26. Mary Poppins – Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (Julie Andrews & Dick van Dyke)
27. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs – Heigh Ho (Roy Atwell, Pinto Colvig, Billy Gilbert, Otis Harlan & Scotty Mattraw)
28. Dumbo – When I see an elephant fly (Cliff Edwards & the Hall Johnson Choir)
29. Lady and the Tramp – He’s a tramp (Peggy Lee)
30. The Aristocats – Ev’rybody wants to be a cat (Phil Harris, Scatman Crothers, Thurl Ravenscroft, Vito Scotti & Paul Winchell)
31. Beauty and the Beast – Be our guest (Jerry Orbach & Angela Lansbury)
32. The Little Mermaid – Part of your world (Jodi Bensen)
33. Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World – Where do I go from here (Judy Kuhn)
34. The Lion King – I just can’t wait to be king (Jason Weaver, Laura Williams & Rowan Atkinson)
35. Hercules – I won’t say (I’m in love) (Susan Egan)
36. Bolt – I thought I lost you (Miley Cyrus & John Travolta)
37. 101 Dalmations – Cruella De Vil (Bill Lee)
38. Lady and the Tramp – The Siamese cat song (Peggy Lee)
39. Aladdin – Prince Ali (Robin Williams)
40. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs – Whistle while you work (Adriana Caselotti)
41. Wynnona – Burning love (Lilo & Stitch)
42. Cars – Life is a highway (Rascal Flatts)
43. The Jungle Book – I wan’na be like you (Louis Prima)
44. Mary Poppins – A spoonful of sugar (Julie Andrews)
45. Pocahontas – Savages (Judy Kuhn, David Odgen Stiers & Jim Cummings)
46. Toy Story 2– When she loved me (Sarah Mclachlan)
47. The Hunchback of Notre Dame – Someday (All-4-One)
48. Cinderella – Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo (Verna Felton)
49. Dumbo – Baby mine (Betty Noyes)
50. The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride – Upendi (Robert Guilliaume, Liz Callaway, Gene Miller & Ladysmith Black Mambazo)
51. The Little Mermaid – Poor unfortunate souls (Pat Carroll)
52. Mulan – True to your heart (98 Degrees & Stevie Wonder)
53. Robin Hood – Oo de lally (Roger Miller)
54. The Lion King – Be prepared (Jeremy Irons)
55. Oliver & Company– Why should I worry? (Billy Joel)
56. Pocahontas – Just around the river bend (Judy Kuhn)
57. Hercules – Zero to hero (Tawatha Agee, Lillias White, LaChanze, Roz Ryan, Cheryl Freeman & Vaneese Thomas)
58. Lilo & Stitch – Can’t help falling in love (A*Teens)
59. Frozen – Love is an open door (Kristen Bell & Santino Fontana)
60. 101 Dalmations II: Patch’s London Adventure – You’re the one (LMNT)

Til the next chord…

At Ease!!!

Xposition - March 2014

Attention!!!

The much anticipated 86th Academy Awards was held on 2nd March at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. The Best Original Score went to Steven Price for Gravity. The Best Original Song went to Let It Go from the Disney animated feature film Frozen, which also won the coveted Best Animated Feature Film. The song was written by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez. The song has gained much recognition for its sharp undertone of female empowerment. The song beat Happy from Despicable Me 2, The Moon Song from Her and Ordinary Love from Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom. The song is performed by Idina Menzel who performed the song at the ceremony which ended with a standing ovation. The song's critical acclaim earned it commercial success which brought it to the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100 peaking at No.5. A mainstream cover of the song was released by Demi Lovato and also a popular Japanese version by Hyolyn.

The Ultra Music Festival kicked off on the last weekend with headline appearances by Afrojack, David Guetta, Armin van Buuren, Zedd, Hardwell, Tiesto and Krewella. A notable performance was by Deadmau5's remix of Martin Garrix's Animals with the old children's song Old McDonald Had a Farm.  There was major controversy with security arrangements as a security guard was diagnosed with a brain hemorrhage after being trampled by a crowd of people attempting to gate crash. The Mayor of Miami vehemently condemned the injury and the festival may move to a different location in 2015.

In the US Katy Perry's Dark Horse ran its final run at the top in the first week of March and the rest of the month was dominated by Pharrell Williams' Happy. In the UK too Happy returned to the No.1 spot for a week and was replaced by My Love by Route 94 ft. Jess Glynne. This is Jess Glynne's second number one as she also peaked in the UK for Rather Be with Clean Bandit. Tsunami (Jump) by DVBBS & Borgeous ft. Tinie Tempah claimed the top spot in the third week followed by I Got U by Duke Dumont ft. Jax Jones and She Looks So Perfect by 5 Seconds of Summer in the fourth and fifth weeks respectively. 

Some other good songs released in the UK and US were:

1. Aloe Blacc - The man
2. Tiesto - Red lights
3. Enrique Iglesias ft. Pitbull - I'm a freak
4. Coldplay - Magic
5. Flo Rida - How I feel
6. Foxes - Let go for tonight
7. Lily Allen - Air Balloon 
8. DJ Snake & Lil Jon - Turn down for what
9. Martin Garrix & Jay Hardway - Wizard
10. Little Mix - Word up!
11. Pixie Lott - Nasty 
12. Paloma Faith - Can't rely on you

Til the next beat…

At Ease!!!