The 20/20 Experience

Last night I had the absolute honor of being in Justin Timberlake's presence when I saw him in Boston (or Bean town as he called it). Not only is he an amazing singer, but he's also incredible with a guitar, piano, keyboard and of course,  jokes. He managed to keep the energy in the place up for the entire 2 and a half hours and even though I wasn't running on a lot of sleep,  I never wanted it to end. Justin didn't have an opening act but he really didn't need one,  obviously. He performed songs from both 20/20 Experience albums plus songs from his earlier albums and covers such as his flawless rendition of Elvis Presley's Heartbreak Hotel. It's so hard to choose a favorite song of the night,  but I think TKO, Señorita, & My Love stand in a 3-way tie. All in all it was in incredible night that I'm so glad I got to spend with my amazing girlfriend Kristen (she also has a blog called fromgrungetogatsby.blogspot.com). If you were also at the concert or have gone to any of his shows in the past, feel free to let me know your thoughts & opinions. Until next time, hope you're having a great day & I'll write again soon!

Mid-month Music Favorites

It's 2:00am on July 15th as I write this, which is pretty much halfway through the month. So, I figured I might as well write about my current music obsessions since so far I've been spending my summer finding & listening to music for hours. (I wouldn't call this a total waste of time though, I love listening to a newfound song a million times repeated until I get sick of it just as much as I love taking the train into the city & exploring). Anyways, this is only my second blogpost so I apologize if I'm still a little rusty. Hopefully I'll get the hang of things as I continue to post. And hopefully my music taste is at least somewhat appealing/interesting. Maybe it isn't, but without further a due, here is my current summer playlist.

• Nirvana - Sam Smith: Both this song in particular & the entire ep with the same name are absolutely perfect. I know I'm super late to the whole Sam Smith party, but I fell in love with him a while ago on Disclosure's track Latch which by the way, is impossible to get sick of, & I fell just as much in love when I heard Stay With Me. I've gone searching for every drop of his talent I could possibly find, & seriously, not one song of his has disappointed me. The song Nirvana just has such a cool, sexy, yet sassy vibe and all the while is such a chilled out song. I think I could ramble on about this song forever & probably the ep too, but yeah. Basically Sam Smith is a god & this song very much proves it. 

• Home By Now - Bombay Bicycle Club: If you haven't already, please do yourself a favor and go listen to this band. I'm sure there's a good chance that whoever may be reading this (if anyone is) has heard them before & knows how incredible they are, but let me just say it anyways. Holy shit they are incredible. The combination of vocals & instruments on this song is absolutely perfect & the beat is impossible to stay still to. A lot of their stuff is more chill & slow & relaxing, but this song just makes me want to get up & dance around my bedroom like an idiot. I mean, the beat & the piano are just such genius elements. I remember the first time I heard this song I closed my eyes & literally fell in love.  Can I marry a song?

• Uncertainty - Jagwar Ma: This is such a fun & "summery" song. I can just imagine driving with my friends blasting this little number & singing along. It's so sassy too. This song honestly just makes me want to put on a leather jacket & a little dress & walk into a club & dance to it while screaming at the top of my lungs. I'm not sure why, but then again why not? I would highly recommend it if you're ever in a bad mood & want to cheer yourself up/find a cool new tune to listen to. And if you love both electronic & indie music like me, i'd highly suggest this song because it combines both genres perfectly. It's an electronic song but still has indie-sounding vocals on top of it. (if that makes sense). 

• Runaway - Ed Sheeran: Let's just start this off by saying Ed Sheeran is my absolute king. I saw him twice, once in September of 2012 & then again in December of the same year & I'm seeing him again this October, so basically I'm very obsessed & very lucky. When Ed announced he was releasing another album after + I nearly shit myself, honestly. And of course, X is everything I ever dreamed it could be & more. It's so hard to pick a favorite song off any of his albums, but Runaway is my current favorite off of this one. I love how it sounds like his older music, but more r&b at the same time. His voice & the lyrics are so cool & just wow. You can bet your ass I spend more time than I should badly singing along to this & praying he'll play it on tour. 

• Good Kisser - Usher (Disclosure Remix): So, I actually heard the Disclosure remix of Good Kisser before I listened to the actual original version. I did eventually go & listen to the original, but I'm honestly not sure if I like it as much as Disclosure's take on it. Usher's version is much slower & more jazzy whereas Disclosure added a fun, more dance-worthy beat which I like. I think the lyrics go better with this kind of beat & the remix makes it more of a club song which I think it definitely should be & had the potential to be before. The slower, unmixed version is nice too, don't get me wrong, but it's almost like a different song for a different purpose. The Disclosure version is more my taste especially for the summer because it's more upbeat & makes me want to have a mini dance party in my room since I have nothing better to do. (I must admit, I've done just that several times). Basically I feel that the remix of this song is very summer worthy, & of course Disclosure can do no wrong in my book. Every song of theirs honestly makes me lose myself for a few moments. 

Since I've rambled on so much, I think I'll end this post at the five song mark. I have so many other songs on my summer playlist & I'm constantly adding to it as I find more jam-worthy music, so if you're interested in seeing what else I like to listen to, feel free to follow me on Spotify (j3ssicamary) or Soundcloud (jlyonsxo). I also use 8tracks (j3ssicamary) although I'm starting to like & use Spotify a lot more. I know this turned from a mid-month favorites into a playlist post, but ya know. Same thing, right? Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this post, hopefully I don't sound completely idiotic. I know I don't exactly know professional music terms but I tried my best. I'll be back soon with more posts, & if you have any suggestions please feel free to leave comments. Until then, see ya! :)

An Introduction

I should start this off by saying I've never had a blog before. So this might turn out horrible. However i'm always up for pushing myself out of my comfort zone and trying new things, therefore this will be one of those things.

I should also mention my name is Jessica. I'm 17 years old & I live near Boston, hopefully in it soon. As I'm writing this it is currently summer and I will be going into my senior year of highschool, which I am both excited and terrified for. The future has always scared me to be fair.

As you can probably tell, my head isn't just an oval shaped case of clouds and serenity. Is oval even the right word? Anyways, I worry about things quite often, and generally question why things are the way they are in this world so who knows, this blog could turn into a forum for my deepest fears and crises flying out of my mind. However I have more lighthearted thoughts and interests that I hope to share.

I love fashion, films, music, celebrity gossip, etc. I must admit I'm no beauty guru, but a large part of me would love to be one. I love seeing the latest fashions from runway shows and seeing all the ways makeup can transform people, even if I'm not one of those people yet. I'd love to go to film school as well, or write about music in the Rolling Stone. I honestly could waste days upon days listening to music and watching films without the blink of an eye, so this blog will probably be heavily populated with posts about said topics, as well as one of my guilty pleasures: celebrity gossip. I like watching entertainment news shows and reading tabloid magazines although I disagree with a lot of what they say and I'd love to get my opinions out.

Hopefully there will be many posts to come whether they be about films I've recently seen or my favorite songs of the month/week/day?(it's completely possible). I'd also love to post about places I go and things I see although the amount of traveling I want to do in the next five years is a massive pipe dream within itself. Nevertheless, thank you if you've read through this entire introduction post which was mostly rambling; I appreciate it. I'll be back with reviews and favorites and more rambles/rants soon!