Music

Maddi Etxebeste

Staff Writer

What is the “Eurovision Song Contest”?

Yearly, a big international music contest is held in Europe, called the Eurovision Song Contest. It is the longest-running annual international TV song competition, held since 1956. It is also one of the most watched non-sporting events in the world. Each participating country has to submit an original song to be performed on live television and then each country votes giving a certain amount of points to decide who is the winner. Since 1981, the winner country hosts the next year’s contest. This year it is hosted in Kiev, Ukraine, after Jamala’s victory with her emotional song “1994”, which caused controversy in Europe due to its political content.

Almost no Americans watch this contest, although hundreds of millions of people around the globe live for it (including me!)

This year, there is one song that is standing out and impressing Europe:  “Origo”, sung by Joci Pápai. This will be the song representing Hungary. Joci Pápai is a Romani-Hungarian singer, rapper, songwriter and guitarist. A popular English term for Romani people is “gipsy”.

This song stands out by having ethnic sounds and dances, and its peculiar chorus. He tackles some tough topics as ethnic discrimination and prejudices. Pápai sings it in Hungarian and he describes his song as a “message of hope and strength” to all the Romani minorities in the world, who, in some countries, may feel mistreated. He also explains how he found his strength in God and he describes himself as a “believer, dreamer, father, fighter, singer, and Samurai”.

The song also tells the story of a Romani man, him, falling in love with a White European woman, and how belonging to the ethnicity he belongs to was a problem that kept them apart from each other, as he says in the song: “Hogy meghódítsd a szívem ismerned kell lelkemet” which means something like “To conquer my heart you must know my soul.”

I wanted to do a review about this song because ethnic minorities in many countries suffer from not being treated the same way as natives, and because SLA has people from different cultures within the community, and if they never feel bad because of their origins this song shows how a man is having the same troubles. Maybe you can get to feel, or at least see how he suffered with the tone of his voice.  

The first time I heard this song, along with the others presented this year, I was really surprised and I didn’t really know what I just heard. First of all, I don’t understand Hungarian, but I’m pleased that he decided to sing in his national language because most of the other songs are nowadays sung in English to “make it more international”. The song could be described by people as “weird”, because it is obvious that it is not a song that is going to be played in the radio stations worldwide and that it will not please most of the people if they listen to it for the first or second time.

The live performance add a lot to the song.  Pápai appears with a woman who dances with a Romani style and with movements similar to “flamenco” dances in Spain. In the official video this woman also appears dancing and there are also shots of someone’s hand touching his heart. Even if the staging is not extraordinary it complements the song, the singer, and the dancer.

Something that can also surprise the audience is how “ethnic” the song sounds and suddenly hearing how Pápai starts to rap, and is combining two styles that are completely different.

“this song is a blend of styles: electronic beats, Hungarian popular music and gipsy style.” Once, in an interview, he was asked why did he add the part of the rap in the song, and he answered “In the Eurovision Song Contest songs can only last three minutes as a maximum, and rap is the best way I can say all the things I want to say and fast enough to tell you all of them”.

Even if this song has a meaning that has to do politics, being politics a topic that the contest wants to keep apart from the festival and focus on the music, the song is receiving a good acceptance within the “Eurofan” (Eurovision Song Contest fan) community. In the betting odds provided by www.eurovisionworld.com, one of the most known Eurovision websites, he is placed 14th out of 42 countries, which is a very good placement and means that he is seen as an absolute qualifier for the finals.

I wish him and his team the best, because Hungary is not a country that has always sent good songs, but this one is making the difference and may have a good result. Though, in the semifinals of this year most of the songs are balanced and some good entries will fail to qualify just for a few points, so no one knows what could happen. In any case, he deserves qualifying to the finals and finishing in the top 15.

He will compete in the second semifinal which will take place on Thursday, May 11th. The grand final is on Saturday, May 13th.

Official Video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LflrKXL022U

National Final Performance:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2stjsoO0NfM

Meymey Seng

Staff Writer

Seven days ago, the song “I’m the One” was released by DJ Khaled. Some people referred to this video as DJ Khaled assembling the team of avengers, since he brought together a notable group of singers and rappers. He was the one who created the song itself and had different visions of which voice would match a certain part best.

When I first heard this song, I only heard a solid ten seconds and was not sure whether or not I liked it. It just reminded me of other songs that I have heard before, nothing unique or special. Later, I searched it up to give the whole song and video a chance.

The video opens with  DJ Khaled calling Chance the Rapper, telling him to bring some friends who were Justin Bieber, Quavo, and Lil Wayne to have a house party where they would celebrate the good things in life. The rest of the video was okay to me, I didn’t really care for it. It was simply them singing in a party environment surrounded by women.

Starting the video was a hook sung by Justin Bieber and I thought the beat was good, although the hook itself was kind of repetitive in a tiring sense. Quavo’s performance clearly relied on autotune, which kind of turned me off from the song. Even if it was meant to sound like that, I feel like it was not executed nicely. The next rapper after that was Chance and I liked that part more, even though it was very short. Lastly, it was Lil Wayne’s part and I enjoyed his lines but there was a very strong autotune sound. Seconds after the start of his part, it starts to sound better.

So overall, I would give this song a rating of five out of ten. A majority of this could be because I was expecting a lot because of the talk that has been built around this song. With this said, I have to admit, it is a actually catchy song and I’ve already heard it on the radio and played on loudspeakers. Occasionally I might be in the mood to hear it and have actually played it myself.

 

Mekhi Granby

Staff Writer

Dieuson Octave better known by his stage name Kodak Black is an American hip hop/rap recording artist. Born on June 11, 1997 in Pompano Beach Florida, also where he was raised. Since early childhood Kodak Black has been in and out of conflict with law authorities, being sent back and forth to prison.

After releasing multiple mixtapes and singles, Kodak Black delivers his 18-track debut album “Painting Pictures” on March 31, 2017 along with a documentary titled “Project Baby.”

As an official debut album this project is a huge representation of Kodak Black as an artist. Does it live up to the hype? I will be giving an in-depth review of Painting Pictures, track by track.

1. Day For Day

As an intro this song is purposefully placed as it sets up the mood for the album. It’s a very mellow song with a monotoned Kodak Black as he talks about incarceration and why he continues to pursue music. I like this message of this song and the instrumental is relaxing.

2. Coolin and Booted

Track 2, another mellow song featuring a calm/smooth instrumental with melodic vibes from Kodak Black. This isn’t one of my favorite tracks because the chorus isn’t that great and I think it could’ve contained more substance.

3. Candy Paint (feat. Bun B)

Track 3, I have no choice but to skip this song everytime it comes on, this is by far the worst song on this project. The instrumental is alright but the lyrics are complete garbage, I’ve never heard of Bun B and after listening to this song I realize why. Not a good song to put on the album aka a throwaway track.

4. Up In Here

Track 4, sadly another throwaway track. I cannot listen this song, a very bad performance by Kodak Black on this song. The lyrics are irrelevant and the instrumental is better than the artist rapping on it.

5. U Aint Never

Track 5, Kodak redeems himself from the previous two tracks. The vibe, chorus and instrumental is what attracts me to this song. Kodak talks about the some of the crimes and activities he did/does in his life and calls out everyone who hasn’t done these things claiming that they did.

6. Twenty 8

Track 6, the most annoying song on the album in my opinion. I assume the number 28 has a lot of significance to Kodak Black for him to make a song about it but I really do not like this song at all. It’s very repetitive and pointless in terms of contributing to the rest of the album. I would recommend skipping this song to those who listen to Painting Pictures.

7. Patty Cake

Track 7, kind of an ironic song but also one of my favorite songs from the album. I say it’s an ironic song because the instrumental and vibe of the song is uptempo and happy, (the use of the piano definitely contributes to this) but the lyrics aren’t. While bragging about his wealth Kodak Black says “I clap a nigga like patty cake.” Patty cake is a popular children’s hand game which includes a lot of clapping. Kodak uses “clap” meaning shoot.

8. Save You

Track 8, one of the better tracks but I always skip it, on this song Kodak talks about his love for women and how he can use his wealth to support his significant other. He expresses how much of a great partner he’d be in a relationship. The chorus is catchy and the instrumental fits the song perfectly.

9. Conscience (feat. Future)

Track 9, out of the five songs with features I find that this one is the best executed. This song has a high replay value in my opinion, I like the collaborative effort from both Kodak Black and Future on this song. Definitely a song to check out from the project.

10. Tunnel Vision

Track 10, the first single to appear on Painting Pictures, Kodak utilises his melodies and creates a catchy song along with a music video containing an insightful message about the current state of the United States concerning racism.

11.  Corrlinks and JPay

Track 11, going back to the original theme of the intro Kodak raps about receiving money while being incarcerated. He connects with inmates while reminiscing on the days he was locked up.

12. Reminiscing (feat. A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie)

Track 12, a laid back instrumental with calm lyrics and a melodic chorus from A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie. Kodak reflects on the days when he didn’t have much and the days he was stuck in jail. He appreciates everything he has now and says that he doesn’t want to go back to living those ways.

13. Side Nigga

Track 13, I dislike this song. It contains a bad message to the youth and impressionable minds about disrespecting relationships and chasing females in a committed relationship and harming their significant other. Don’t get me wrong, there are many worst songs out there about much worse topics which contain even worse messages but I’m only stating why I dislike the song.

14. Off The Land

Track 14, my absolute favorite song from Painting Pictures. This song is extremely catchy with smooth lyrics from Kodak Black over a relaxing instrumental. This track talks about Kodak working hard to earn all the luxuries he has. Definitely one of my top recommendations.

15. Top Off Benz (feat. Young Thug)

Track 15, this song features a lot of vocals from Young Thug with the first and third verse going to him along with the chorus. This was a good collaboration but it sounds more like Young Thug’s song rather than Kodak’s. The song talks about luxury cars and women.

16.  Feeling Like (feat. Jeezy)

Not one of my favorites, nevertheless track 16 is an alright song. I never liked Jeezy so this collaboration isn’t appealing. Definitely wouldn’t recommend this to any new listeners.

17. Why They Call You Kodak

Track 17, as the album comes to an end, Kodak expresses his final thoughts and emotions. On this song he decides to explain the significance of his stage name. This song features a more uptempo beat with a slightly aggressive Kodak. Leading into the outro I feel like this track could’ve been a lot better or replaced with a different track.

18. There He Go

Track 18, the second single to appear on the album. Definitely a smart decision to add this song on the project as it’s a fan favorite along with Tunnel Vision. This songs currently sits at 87 million views on youtube. I like this song, simple lyrics over a relaxing beat; Kodak’s signature style. Good choice of an outro as most fans already know and like this song.
Readers should give this album a listen because it’s a debut album! The most important project for a new artist is their first one, it introduces them to a bunch of new people as hype and anticipation collide from fans, artists receive more attention. It properly represents who Kodak Black is as an artist and will be a memorable piece of his career as he propels and continues to create music. I would recommend tracks 1, 2, 5, 7, 9, 10, and 14 to any new listeners as these are the best executed in my opinion. If you have the time to listen to the whole album, you should. Although I don’t like every song as much as I like others, you might.

Lauren Nicolella

Staff Writer

Harry Styles released his first solo song on April 7th titled Sign of the Times. It was played for the first time on BBC Radio 1, with the host Nick Grimshaw. There was a lot secrecy surrounding the song, because of the fear that it would have been leaked before the initial release date. A lot of excitement was building up for the day to finally come, because the fans weren’t exactly sure of what he would be dropping.

In case you have been living under a rock, know that Styles is a part of the famous boyband One Direction. Like the other membe rs, he decided to release a song during their hiatus. But don’t worry, fans. Just because they chose to release their own music doesn’t mean that they are broken up. It is a part of them having their granted break from touring and producing music as a whole, nonstop, for multiple years. This is allowing all of the members to go into their own personal tastes of music instead of the genre pop that One Direction is focused on, and have more control of what they want to do as well.

Now is the part of the review where I have to identify myself as a One Direction fan, and let you readers know that there has been a very high bar of expectation set in my mind for this song. I’m happy to report that Harry definitely cleared that bar. I have had the song on repeat ever since the first time I listened to it. I couldn’t stop talking about it to others.. It even affected my routine of walking home after getting off of the bus, taking my slowest stride to make the song last until I finally reached my house.

The song is almost six minutes long (which is great, more to listen to!), having an older British-rock sound.  It kind of reminds me of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody”, only because of the way that it   starts out: slow with a piano and ending with an intense and colorful chorus. You can hear the obvious influences and direction he was trying to take.

Harry’s voice has matured a lot over the years, and you can hear it through every One Direction album. In his earlier recordings, he sounds like he is very young. Now that he has grown more as a singer, he showcases falsetto and a very strong voice, giving everyone a taste of what he’s really capable of.

I’ll be the first to admit that it is weird to hear him singing alone in a song, but this felt perfect. I do not think that there are fans who are upset, since that mainly happened when Zayn officially left the band. There has been lots of support, even though there are requests for the boys to come back. I’m glad that they all are exploring different genres and are allowing the fans to hear different a larger variety. His is more of the type of music that I listen to, so it was awesome to hear this. I needed some new music.

From what I’m seeing on social media, a music video for this song is coming out towards the end of the month, which is another thing to look forward to from Harry Styles.