Luke's Music Reviews #6: Beautiful Lies by Birdy

Have you ever thought something was effortless? Maybe it was a piece of art somebody drew or painted, maybe it was someone singing a solo at a choir concert, or maybe it was a video someone edited that looks amazing. You know that it took them ages to master what they do, but you still can't quite fathom how easy it looks. It may elicit jealousy, but, really, you're more amazed than envious because OMG THEY'RE SO AMAZING!

That was my reaction when I first caught wind of Birdy at 14. A girl who went to my junior high (and who also goes to my high school) sang her rendition of Bon Iver's "Skinny Love" at the talent show my 8th grade year while two dancers accompanied it, and I was blown away by it all. I had to find the original source, and when I did, I couldn't believe it. Birdy had first recorded that cover when she was only 14? She played piano on most of her material? She wrote her own songs, one that was even featured on The Hunger Games soundtrack? I had found my dream artist right here!

Later that spring I got the treat to listening to her second release and debut album of all original songs (aside from "Skinny Love" and another cover, "People Help the People", because if you didn't buy the first album, look, bonus goodies!), Fire Within, on iTunes Radio's First Play (back when that still existed), a week before it was supposed to be released in the US. I was blown away by the way she wrote love songs and by her absolutely beautiful voice that was delicate and strong. There were sad pieces, there were happy ones, and some not even focused on couples but rather on family and friends, and it pretty much made me happy for a while and inspired my songwriting. Of course, revisiting it later raised my appreciation for it, but I kept Birdy in the back of my mind to turn to whenever I needed to play Pandora. Her appearances in The Fault in Our Stars movie were met with praise by me in the meantime.

However, that all changed when, just as 2015 ended, a new single announcement came that I wasn't expecting. "Keeping Your Head Up" was officially released on the first day of the new year, and I was completely floored. Sure, the production was more pop-flavored and packed to the brim with explosive percussion, but it was still Birdy. Her voice had matured and was more powerful than ever, the piano came back with a vengeance, and there was something more distinctly uplifting with the lyrics that I had never heard before. It was a taste of what was to come, and I couldn't wait to see what would happen.

Fast forward a couple weeks later and we had an album announcement, two months later there was a sampler on Apple Music at the end of spring break (which I still think was the work of God itself), and a week later, the album was here and I listened to it all gleefully. Now that it's been out for half a year already, articulating my thoughts instead of earlier (whoops), what did I think of Beautiful Lies? Was it the worst of a deceitful lie, or was it straightforward and actually beautiful?

Luke's Music Reviews #5: Dangerous Woman by Ariana Grande

Artists tend to evolve over the course of their careers. Whether it's just a natural development like growing up or a switching of record labels to state more of an independence, music styles could swiftly change and the singer, if they haven't had the chance before, could take a shot at writing some of their material.

One example of a person that shifted their career trajectory is Miley Cyrus, former Disney Channel darling who broke out of that mold (and out of the associated record company), chopped off all her hair and bleached it, and became associated with twerking and 'dancing with Molly' in the summer of 2013. It was an abrupt but not exactly unexpected swing, what with the more sexual imagery involved with her 2010 album Can't Be Tamed (which was pretty much just a typical Miley Cyrus album at the time, TBH) and the fact that Hannah Montana was ending, and with no hope of appearing on a future Disney show, it shouldn't be a surprise that something did happen. However, I was still shocked by these changes. I grew up watching and adoring Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus, and I guess I was still stuck in time or expecting that she would be the down to earth girl like Hilary Duff on Lizzie McGuire all those years ago. Besides, my 13 year old brain was baffled and confused by the idea of Miley Cyrus still being a role model for young girls when she was talking about doing drugs in the bathroom in "We Can't Stop" (which was fine until it was played to death at a camp I went to that summer; after that I wanted to scream every time I heard it).

Fast forward another two years, and Miley had established the non-profit organization The Happy Hippie Foundation (which sounds pretty cool, actually, although I'm not exactly sure what they do) and released a new album you could stream for free: Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz (yes, that is 'pets' with a 'z'). It was an experimental record that was panned by YouTube critics and baffled me from the little that I listened to on Soundcloud (although I have listened to almost all of "Dooo It!" and the entire "BB Talk", which will be eight minutes of my life that I unfortunately won't get back). While I understand the idea of Cyrus wanting to exert more creative control, that didn't help the album from being very uncomfortable to the bits I listened to and for me to cringe at the lyrics I read. It's a complete jump into the pool of debauchery, and while that might be fun for some people, I prefer my cereal without milk, thanks.

Let's step off the Miley train and start talking about the evolution of Ariana Grande instead. She first became popular on the Nickelodeon show Victorius as Cat (the redhead who progressively got dumber as the show went on) before skyrocketing onto Top 40 radio with her debut single "The Way" with Mac Miller (she had released her first debut single called "Put Your Hearts Up" in 2011, which she later scrapped because she felt it didn't represent the style she was going for and felt inauthentic). Her debut album Yours Truly was a pop-R&B crossover that was cutesy and fun but didn't really deviate much from its main template, even though her voice was easily one of the strongest points on the album (it was also a really consistent and strong record overall). Her next record that was released a year later, My Everything, showcased Grande hopping from genre to genre with the help of several different producers, including Zedd, Tommy Brown (who had produced some of the tracks on Grande's first album), and some of Sweden's hottest that have produced countless pop tracks: Max Martin and Ali Payami. Although that album wasn't nearly as cohesive in the production, Grande grew as a performer vocally and thematically, opting for more sensual material that really elevated her to the next level (plus, she had a couple more songs she co-wrote). Both records have their own strengths, and it's been really fun to re-listen to them in preparation for Dangerous Woman.

Originally titled Moonlight coupled with the lead-off single "Focus", the idea was scrapped ("Focus" wasn't included on any of the album editions except on Japan's deluxe) and Dangerous Woman came to life with the title song being the new first single. It was definitely an edgier style from Grande that I wasn't expecting, and it definitely made me more excited for the album to come, especially since it seemed she was taking one more step into making her material as mature as possible.

So how was Dangerous Woman? Was it the treat that I was expecting it to be? Or did it disappoint and made me view it as more of a trick?

Luke's Book Reviews #8: This Is Where the World Ends by Amy Zhang

Do you ever have those authors who wrote a first book that you absolutely loved, and because of that, you wait for their next title with bated breath? That happened to me with Amy Zhang's debut Falling into Place, a skillfully written novel about the most popular girl in school attempting to commit suicide following Newton's Three Laws of Motion. Not only was the novel published when Zhang was only 18 (*applause*), but I remember sitting on the couch back in December 2014 and reading the last 100 or so pages while holding back tears/squealing because I loved it so much. The book was written in an interesting fashion, utilizing the nonlinear style and an interesting narrator to tell the story from multiple points of view. Although the subject matter itself had been seen before, it was done in such a unique way that I couldn't help but find it a gem.

Due to my love for her debut, Zhang's second release was eagerly awaited by me, and although all it had was a title for nine months, I was excited nevertheless. When the cover came out, I was more excited than ever because a) LOOK AT THE PRETTY! and b) the synopsis sounded amazing. However, reviews for the ARCs started rolling in a couple months later, and a lot of people had mixed feelings about it. For one thing, they said that the synopsis actually had a huge spoiler in it (you might be able to guess it from the cover), and that although the writing was good, they didn't seem to like our characters and found them really unlikable. I was surprised by these reviews, most notably because I wasn't getting any particular predictable vibes from the novel, and the fact that Zhang had made Liz sympathetic in Falling into Place even though she could be incredibly cruel to her fellow classmates and even her friends. I had some mild hesitation going into this, but I still had high hopes, and once this came into the library on hold for me, I swooped it up and immediately dug in.

So, how was This Is Where the World Ends? Was it on the level of Amy Zhang's debut novel, or were there some pieces missing to make everything complete?

Luke's Music Reviews #4: All I Need by Foxes

Foxes has easily become one of my favorite artists of all time. I can't keep track of how many times I've listened to Glorious ever since I came back to it last summer, and I've been waiting for this album with bated breath ever since Foxes unveiled the tracklist in July. I couldn't believe that just when I became attached to an artist, they had new music coming that I could be excited about.

When Foxes said that All I Need would be more personal, I was intrigued. Most of Foxes' songs come across as mystical and otherworldly while still having that raw edge, so having her stripping back the cover even more was definitely an experiment worth waiting for, Three singles and four pre-order instant grants were released before February 5th, so much of the album's sound had already been established beforehand. I was in love with pretty much everything, the only worry I had being that the toxic relationship material would become way too repetitive, especially since most of the songs were shaping up to be in that vein.

However, the instrumental choices were still wonderful, and Foxes' writing and vocals were amazing, so I had incredibly high hopes going into this record. Were those met?

Luke's Anime Reviews #1: Soul Eater NOT!

Prequels are an interesting case in any medium. Usually, they're released after an original series has had success. Sometimes they're focused on the same characters before the events of the main story, or the leads are completely different characters. Things like The Kill Order by James Dashner, The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, or The Infernal Devices series by Cassandra Clare (with more stuff from her on the way, much to everyone's joy and anger) are examples in the book world, and Fate/Zero sticks out as a primary example in anime. They seem to only attract people who have read the stuff that came before it, which seems strange to me. Wouldn't some people prefer to go into the work that takes place before the main book or series starts?

Soul Eater NOT! is another one of those special cases. First published as a spin-off to Soul Eater in January 2011, the series took place prior to the events in the first series and with different characters as the leads. The minute I saw the manga at Barnes & Noble, I knew it would eventually be adapted into an anime series, and when the announcement arrived, I wasn't surprised in the slightest. I managed to watch a couple of episodes as it was airing in the spring of 2014, but I wasn't able to finish the series until as of recently, when I got the chipboard box set for my birthday.

For some reason, people love to hate on this series, mostly because of its animation and because it's the complete opposite of Soul Eater in pretty much every aspect. I've only been able to watch 25 episodes of the original series in the past 3 years, which is really unfortunate (I mean, I got the series for Christmas 2 years ago, you would think that I would be caught up now). Alas, I still wanted to experience Soul Eater NOT!, and I knew I would be in for a fun ride.

So what happened? Did Soul Eater NOT! turn out to be fun? Or was it disappointing?

Luke's Music Reviews #3: Delirium by Ellie Goulding

Sometimes, people stumble upon a new artist that they immediately like randomly. It could be through a song that plays on the radio, a scroll through iTunes to look at the New Artists section (or Single of the Week, back in the day), or an ad that pops up on YouTube or on TV. No matter the case, anything can happen, and it allows people to acquire a new favorite singer or group.

My brother first stumbled upon Ellie Goulding on a random trip through the UK Amazon to see new Rainbow Magic books (we were very weird children). I immediately found her pretty (I had a blonde obsession as a child; again, I was weird) and I was interested in listening to her. I took the first step in searching up her music, found "Lights" in April 2011, and was immediately hooked. That song stuck in my memory for a while, and when it began to grace mainstream radio airwaves in early 2012, I was surprised. At the time, Goulding gaining success here in the US boggled my mind, but now, three years later, we have her third album, Delirium, and the successes of "Lights", "Anything Could Happen", "Burn", and the surprise hit in "Love Me Like You Do."

When this new album was announced, I became really excited, and the first single "On My Mind" was great. However, I felt it lacked some of Goulding's identity on the first couple of listens. Since those first listens, the song has grown on me massively, and with every pre-order single that came out, my hopes grew and grew.

Plus, Goulding herself stated that she wanted to take this record in a grandiose pop direction, and judging from all of the songs that came out before hand, she had succeeded that goal. But would a full length album deliver? And would I enjoy it as much as I had enjoyed Lights, Halcyon, and Halcyon Days?

Luke's Book Reviews #7: Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Complex or high fantasies are always polarizing for readers like me. On the one hand, they could have great characters and an interesting world with hidden cracks for people to discover. On the other hand, they can be incredibly slow in terms of their pacing and not have the right elements in order to really make them pop. Series like Throne of Glass or A Song of Ice and Fire are great examples of this kind of genre, and while they can draw readers in, they can also turn them away due to their lengths.

Leigh Bardugo's debut novel, Shadow and Bone, was a shorter high fantasy novel that proved to be a disappointment. While the Grisha and the setting provided some interesting imagery and characters, most of the book felt cliche and incredibly underwhelming. The writing was all right but average, the main character was annoying, and the romance/love triangle was even more frustrating (don't get me started on AlinaxMal). For me, it felt like a stereotypical YA fantasy that was perfect for a crowd who wanted the same old tropes but repackaged.

Meanwhile, Bardugo's newest book did not seem to have the same problems. Six of Crows looked exciting and thrilling based on its synopsis, but it also looked much more complex, and based on the incredibly positive reviews coming in, people were enjoying it. I had my doubts, but mostly I was excited to see if Leigh Bardugo had improved from her first work.

So, was Six of Crows a disappointment? Or was it everything I was hoping for, and maybe even a little bit more than that?

Luke's Book Reviews #6: This One Summer by Jillian and Mariko Tamaki

When I was growing up, I stumbled upon a graphic novel series called Babymouse in Barnes & Noble. This sparked a genuine interest in picking up the third book called Beach Babe, and I immediately became hooked. To this day, some of my funniest memories come from reading that pink, black, and white series, and because of Babymouse, I've picked up graphic novels by Raina Telgemeier and read manga ranging in genres from shonen to shojo.

My occasional thirst for graphic novels and manga still remains today, and sometimes I need a break from the occasional YA fantasy or realistic fiction book. That's why I decided to pick up This One Summer. I hadn't heard much about it going in, but I did see the Printz Honor and Caldecott Honor stamps, which meant that this book had been met with critical acclaim. Would that mean that I would like it? I decided to read and find out.;

So how was This One Summer? Was it a nice break from all of those novels? Or was it an ultimately forgettable experience?

Luke's Book Reviews #5: Fans of the Impossible Life by Kate Scelsa

Realistic fiction has always been one of my biggest staples when it comes to reading. Sure, I like fantasy worlds and futuristic societies, but books about real life experiences set in the modern day will always stay close to my heart, especially now that I'm growing up. That's why most of the books I read are in this genre, this book included.

I was immediately sucked into reading this book via the tagline: "This is a story of a girl, her gay best friend, and the boy in love with both of them." The possibility of a bisexual love triangle was calling out to me, and the actual plot itself sounded interesting. Books about characters breaking out of their shells are always fun to read, and when I got this book from the library, I was ready to become a fan of Fans of the Impossible Life.

What exactly happened in Fans of the Impossible Life? Was it a rewarding, satisfying read that followed interesting characters and a heartfelt character arc? Or was it an average, run-of-the-mill realistic fiction novel that did nothing to stand out?

Luke's Book Reviews #4: Cut Both Ways by Carrie Mesrobian

Out of all the LGBT fiction books out there, bisexuality really hasn't made much of an appearance. From my perspective, half of the LGBT books have been focused on gay couples, 1/4 on lesbians, and 1/4 on the others, bisexual and transgender characters included. Don't get me right, I will be all over gay romance YA books in a heartbeat (and yes, I'm not ashamed to admit that), but there's always more room for diversity, you know?

When I first read the synopsis for Cut Both Ways, I immediately hit the TBR button on Goodreads. I mean, I rarely see bisexuality in any of the books I read, and from the way the synopsis sounded, this sounded like a perfect self-discovery book for someone my age to read.

I've had my own confusions about my sexuality, and sometimes I turn to books to see how authors write their own characters in situations like my imagination. So, without much further thought, I put Cut Both Ways on hold at my library and waited patiently for it to come in. Once I got it, I was already flipping through the pages.

Now comes the difficult part. How was Cut Both Ways? Was it a moving book that was written well and had a character that I could like? Or was it the exact opposite of what I wanted?

Luke's Music Reviews #1: E•MO•TION by Carly Rae Jepsen

Who has heard of "Call Me Maybe"? Pretty much everybody? Alright, I was predicting that outcome.

The song that I just mentioned threw Carly Rae Jepsen into the spotlight in 2012 after her debut off Canadian Idol and a debut album, giving the Canadian singer-songwriter a 9x platinum designation here in the US (which is crazy). The album that the single appeared on, Kiss, was nice, but I never really found it to be remarkable. The songs are cute and sweet (not to mention most are undeniably catchy), but I found it kind of odd for a woman in her late 20's to sing about love like she was still a teenager. Some of the instrumentals were also very sugary, and none of the songs really clicked together to make a strong album statement,

Sadly (and unfortunately), the only really successful single off Kiss was "Call Me Maybe", and although more singles were released (including the sneaking-behind-the-lovers'-backs song "This Kiss" or the accurately named "Tonight I'm Getting Over You", not to mention the collaboration with Owl City on "Good Time"), none of them made the splash that "Call Me Maybe" ever did. As a result, Carly Rae Jepsen mostly faded out of the spotlight, and most of the American public was left to assume she'd be left as a one hit wonder.

And then along came March 2015, when "I Really Like You" first dropped, the lead single to a new album from Jepsen. I was surprised when I found it on Spotify the first Tuesday of March, and I immediately attached onto it. Sure, the naivete of "Call Me Maybe" was still present, but the beat was much more lush and extravagant, perfectly fitting that person teetering on the precipice of falling in love but not being quite there yet.

After listening to "I Really Like You" several times, I knew that Carly deserved another chance. Maybe I needed some more of that cuteness that had felt at times lackluster during Kiss; maybe I would find some of that simpler Carly that had been on songs from her debut album, Tug of War (which I haven't listened to all of yet, but all of the tracks I've heard have been great). At the same time, I was thinking that it would be similar to Kiss in that it would be juvenile in some aspects, so I went in with mixed expectations.

So how was E•MO•TION? Was it as I expected? Or did it succeed my expectations and turn out to be a surprisingly great album?

Luke's Book Reviews #3: Burying Water by K.A. Tucker

New Adult is one of those genres that has popped up a lot in the past couple of years. The term was coined to signify novels in the age group of about 18 to 22 year olds (and a little above that) to provide a middle ground between young adult and adult fiction. The genre includes mostly college aged people finding love, and romantic scenes are a lot more explicit than in YA (they're probably close to the level of some erotic adult romances).

Although there are some that are light and fluffy, others have a bit of an edge to them. Examples that immediately pop into my head are After by Anna Todd (which I gave up on around the halfway point because the book wasn't that great) and Confess by Colleen Hoover (which I read and thoroughly enjoyed). The former focused on an on-and-off relationship that was abusive at some parts, while the latter was more attentive to a budding relationship with an artist and hairdresser (both with their own secrets). But there are definitely other ones than the two I mentioned, and I definitely believe this would fall onto that list.

I first found Burying Water at Barnes & Noble on a Realistic Romance endcap. Reading the synopsis made me very intrigued, as I realized that it was more of a romantic suspense novel than just a plain romance. I later discovered that this book is actually the first in a (so far) four book series (the books are unrelated and could be read out of order or randomly, but are read best in order because characters from previous books are mentioned, show up, or are explained) which has different forms of water in the titles (hence why I will name this series the Water series). Knowing that, I was further convinced that I would start here in the lines of books in K.A. Tucker's collection, instead of beginning with Ten Tiny Breaths (an originally self-published book that managed to be picked up by a major publishing company and made her a household name).

So, how was Burying Water? Did it keep me on the edge of my toes, but did it also have me swooning? Or was most of it boring and dull, with the romance having no real drive to make it interesting?

Luke's Book Reviews #2: Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan

I really like gay romance in fiction. I just find a relationship between two people of the same gender (mostly two boys) absolutely fascinating, and I really love that some people in real life have chosen to stay true to who they are and not live up to the straight status quo and pretend to be someone they're not. However, I don't feel as if these kinds of books have ever really been part of the mainstream reading world outside of young adult. Sure, you have titles like Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, More Happy Than Not, Lies My Girlfriend Told Me, and others from the past five years or so in young adult, but I almost never really see it in the adult romance or fiction sections at the bookstore (maybe that's because I mainly focus on young adult and hardly spend my time elsewhere, but no matter how many times I've looked, I've never found a new adult or adult gay romance published from major companies (they're published a lot more independently)).

I don't know if this is because gay romance is a harder thing to sell in a different market (like adult or children's), or if publishers think teenagers relate to sexuality the most and don't think other people experience it too. I think that's not true, because I'm pretty sure there are kindergartners right now who may have different kinds of feelings (feelings for same sex, want to be different gender), but don't feel as if they can read anything that supports that.

Young adult fiction had that phase too, and this was one of the books that changed it. Boy Meets Boy was first published in 2003 (another well-known YA book with LGBT characters, Geography Club, was also released in that year) and was very blunt about what it was. When you see the title of the book and relate that to the candy hearts, you immediately know "This is a gay romance". Some people would turn away at this point, but I was very much intrigued. Like I said before, I love reading about guys kissing (the fanfictions have affected my brain), but I also knew that this book was going to be a light and fluffy read filled with fun times (my brother also absolutely adored it).

So how was this book? Were the 185 pages (yes, that's how long it is) cute and fun, filled with a cute romance, real teen issues, and things I could relate to? Or was it a disappointment?

Luke's Book Reviews #1: The Revenge Playbook by Rachael Allen

I'm going to admit something that will make football players want to aim their throws directly at me. I'm not a big fan of football.

It might have something to do with the actual game (I do not want a concussion to be the highlight of my high school career), the players (some of the people who play the sport at my school are a bunch of jerks I'd rather not associate with), or a combination of other factors (picking up the morning after a college football game is a little disgusting, to be honest). To sum up my feelings, I find it boring, irritating, and it's just not in my field of interests.

Let me wait a second until all the pitchforks are gone. Are we good? Great. Let's continue.

When I saw that this book was about a group of girls getting revenge on their high school football team, I was immediately excited. I occasionally see a book every now and then about revenge, but against the football team? That's a whole new level of awesome. 

But I was still a little nervous about starting this story. Rachael Allen's first novel, 17 First Kisses, had received polarizing reviews from Goodreads reviewers, and some had deemed the book the kind that put a romance with the "OMG HE'S SO CUTE" new guy over a previously established friendship (to be honest, that sounds like a bunch of other love triangle romance ridden contemporary novels). When the positive ratings came in for this book (most notably from a famous Goodreads reviewer by the name of Khanh, who has written some of the harshest reviews I've ever seen), I let out a sigh of relief. Because of those, I went into this book ready to like it.

How did The Revenge Playbook play out (no pun intended)? Was it shallow and focused more on romance or criticizing other girls' choices (this is also known as *gulp* slut-shaming)? Or was it an empowering novel that focused on a group of positive girls that wanted a difference to be made and their points about females proven?