music – Page 2 – Mimi's Thoughts

When I say Chris Brown

I’ve had a number of people literally drop a jaw or ask me “really?” whenever they hear me say a song was sung by Elevation worship and Chris Brown

Yeah, Chris Brown…but not the one you imagine.

Let me introduce you to the Chris Brown I speak of.

He is 41 years old, born on the 22nd day of December, 1981. He is married to Beth (college sweetheart) and they have two children (Joah and Adelaide).

He grew up under a pastor dad and a singer/musician mom… So you figure. He has a degree in Vocal Performance which he got from Anderson University.

Chris has been singing since he was a teen. He has been leading Elevation Worship since 2007 and has been friends with the Pastor for many years.

Although Chris isn’t my favourite worship leader, this guy really knows how to stir a heart to worship and to praise. Pastor Steven Furtick has actually admitted that he is his favourite.

He can be calm and soothing when he sings songs like Trust in God, Same God or Talking to Jesus and then he can be wild and crazy when he sings LION and Water is Wild (With Brandon Lake) or Rattle (especially with Steven Furtick).

When I say Chris Brown, this is who I speak of

Joseph Lewis Thomas

Now, Joe was a beast.

“Mummy why are you pissed?” I heard my son ask.

“I’m not pissed sweetie” I said

“But I thought I heard you say you were pissed.”

That was when I realised that I had spoken my thoughts out loud.

I thought I had kept it in my mind.

“No, I actually said ‘Joe was a beast'” … And then more questions came like a flood.

But really, Joe was a beast. The good kind. The amazing kind. The one that sends chills all over you when you hear him sing.

Joe was proud and gutsy. He was bold, confident and certain.

For confident and certain… 😂… Yeah, I laugh. It’s what I do whenever I listen to All the things (your man won’t do).

Bold with his lyrics in What If A Woman… How many people would sing that?

Proud in Love Is a Game and Somebody’s Gotta Be On Top

Gutsy in Make You My Baby

Compassionate in I Wanna Know

I’ve been listening to his last album… It’s growing on me

I loved Joe then, I still love him now.

Mystery man

First things first, if you listen to my liked songs on Spotify, you’d give me the side eye… It’s filled with wierd music from amazing singer/songwriters. It turns out the amazing ones sing the wierd stuff.

That’s what has me writing today, amazing singer/song writer… JP Saxe.

The melancholy in all of his songs make you wonder if he has been through all the emotions and stories that falling/being in love and also falling out of love bring.

Sometimes I wonder if these songs come from his own experiences or a mix of the experiences of people around him. They feel too real.

His latest song “I don’t miss you” got me wondering… What the hell goes on in that Saxy head of yours JP? Who writes things like that?

No matter how messed up and crazy these songs are, they still got me hooked. On my best days they keep me company and heck, even on the worst days.

Beautiful Covers

Jessica is my 18 year old neighbour and we are friendly because we have a few things in common. One of which is playing loud music on our music box when we are doing household stuff.

One Saturday morning in January we were at the backyard at the same time doing a few chores so I decided to put my music off so that we could listen to hers.

I think I felt my heart leap when one particular song came on. I got a feeling of nostalgia so strong, I paused for a bit and then I spoke to Jessica;

Me: Wow, Jessica who did this cover?
Jessica: Noooooo. Not a cover, this is an original.
Me: No Jess, I know this song from over 20 years ago
Jessica : Maybe you are confusing it with another song.
Me: Give me a minute.

In just a few seconds I had searched and found George Michael ‘s One More Try for Jessica. I totally see why she may have assumed it was an original… Calum Scott really did it justice. I risk to say, maybe better than Michael.

I shared this with my niece and she said Scott was actually amazing with covers… I plan to explore this.

A few other covers have actually caught me breathless lately.

Hearing John Legend sing Sade’s By your side was really heart warming. I love to play them together – one after the other. I find myself trying to pick my favourite, but I can’t.

The latest discovery is Luke Comb’s go at Tracy Chapman’s Fast Car. It’s such a beautiful cover.

I’m going on a cover hunt… Any suggestions on something I might like?

LEGEND

My knowledge of John Legend and his songs used to be quite limited and then when lots of people wore out the song ‘all of me’, I didn’t even bother giving him a chance.

It wasn’t until a little over a year ago when I saw someone name him as one of the most under rated artists; immediately, the music part of my brain became curious. That was the beginning of my “affair” with Legend.

I feel as though his last album was a gift from him to me. As if he knew how his music had affected me and decided to make more for me.

The album has Twenty-Four songs, Twenty-Four…and every song is amazing.

Home is one song that really did me in. I don’t know why he wrote it or who he wrote it for, but whenever I listen to it, it warms my heart as I sing it to my son. It is the best song for a parent to a child. It is a beautiful song.

My next favourite is Wonder Woman, I had a thing or two to say about it in my post Wonder woman.

Nervous makes me nervous. It makes me feel. It gives me the same goose bumps I get when I hit the make up scene in a romcom.

Rounds, the very first song in the album. I laugh every time I listen. Naughty.

One Last Dance is so beautiful. I think it is possible to write a beautiful book from that one song.

Dope is so upbeat, whenever I want to dance a bit while I work, Dope is the choice I make from this album. Some other upbeat songs in the album are Waterslide, Guy Like Me and All She Wanna Do.

Now, Love is so mixed up for me, the toxic relationship that is sung about unsettles me, yet, the combination of voices between Legend and Jazmine Sullivan gets me playing it over and over again. He gives me the same feeling with Amber Mark in Fate; I am really curious about the song and the idea behind it.

Good makes me feel good.

Pieces gives me a feeling of melancholy.

A few others I enjoy are; Strawberry Blush, Honey, I Want You To Know, Speak In Tongues (with John Keith) and I Don’t Love You Like I Used To.

A few songs that are still growing on me are: Splash (feat. Jhnene Aiko & Ty Dolla $ign), You, Memories, The Other Ones (feat. Rapsody), Stardust.

I think John Legend is a legend.

…I forgot to mention…the album title is Legend

Wonder woman

When I listened to John Legend’s wonder woman for the first time, I thought of myself without any sense of modesty. I thought of my sisters and then my mom. By the 4th listen, I decided every man needed to dedicate the song to their good wives, significant others or moms.

My friend Helen is one of the women i think about whenever I listen to the song. She’s an amazing human. I’m very certain she has got some super power that I am not aware of. In the midst of all that she strives and reaches, she always takes the time to check up on me.

Why, Helen, why? She tells me I’m an amazing sister and she appreciates me. I am both thankful and flattered whenever she says this. On one of her lovely check ups, she shows up with a huge mug with the inscription “blessed” and hands it to me. We share a very long, warm hug and of course, we cry a bit.

Helen, you make me wonder, woman, how do you do it? You are super human.

My Favourite Music Genre

Music is such a beautiful thing. I don’t know what I would do if there was no music. I probably wouldn’t do anything because I definitely wouldn’t know what music was if there was no music.

Music is so beautiful; it connects people, no matter their tribe and tongue. It is felt and understood very easily.

I enjoy every genre of music but my favourite genre is country. Some times when I listen to people like John Legend, Meghan Trainor, Bruce Springsteen, Avril Lavigne and a few others, I get uncertain about my choice for a favourite. But I stand firm with my choice. Pop, R & B, Soul and Rock are lovely but country music makes my heart sing.
Chris Stapleton gets me so confused about picking my favourite song of his. I am constantly stuck in between ‘what are you listening to’ and ‘fire away’. This doesn’t erase the fact that the others are absolutely amazing. I often wonder if he is my favorite male country musician or if it’s George Strait.

Oh, George Strait, his performance with Stapleton in ‘when did you stop loving me’ drives me crazy. My favourite song by him is ‘Give it all we got’. It gets me every time.

Tim McGraw is good for me especially when he sings with his wife Faith Hill. My favourite song from the duo is ‘It’s your love’.

If you are not a country music lover, I want to suggest a few good artists and my favourite songs by each of them; I am hoping you will give them a try and eventually love them too.

Jordan Davis – Buy dirt
Luke Bryan – Play it again
Blake Shelton – Home
Reba McEntire – Does he love you
Faith Hill – It matters to me
Miranda lambert – The house that built me
Luke combs – Must’ve never met you
Keith Urban – Tonight I wanna cry
Brad Paisley – Whiskey lullaby
Jason Aldean – Tonight looks good on you
Rascal Flatts – I melt
Dierks Bentley – Black
Chris Young – Drowning
Brett Young – Like I loved you

What do you think about country music?

I would love to get a feedback.

LION

I would be a liar to say no music album has ever engrossed me as much as the new Elevation Worship album ‘LION’ has. If I may be totally honest, I would say that the previous album, ‘Old Church Basement’ totally rocked and it redefined my personal relationship with Jesus… That’s a tale for another day…but I’ve just got to say, I’m totally hooked on this LION album.

LION is a message, it’s like a series of sermons, each one with its own different tune. Every song finds a way to minister to a specific situation. Genre wise, LION has a song for everyone…if you ask me, that’s what makes it amazing. You would think a particular genre doesn’t appeal to you, yet every song in LION appeals to almost everyone. It’s like putting one song or more from John Legend, Daughtry, Hugh Masekela and Guns N Roses in one album.

‘Bye Bye Babylon’ reminds and consoles me that it won’t be too long anymore, the pain and suffering of this world will come to an end and we will be home with our father.

‘What I see’ is such a bubbly Easter song.

‘Same God’ is so beautiful, it carries so much submission and vulnerability in it and ‘The One You Love’ is such a beautiful love song…although, ‘Dancing’ is also a beautiful love song. I might say ‘Why’ also sits among the love songs.

For those of us who don’t mind a little wild and unconventional, there is something for us. There’s: ‘Water is wild’, ‘LION’ and ‘Might get loud’.

Water is Wild – Chris Brown and Brandon Lake

‘This is the Kingdom’ is another beautiful one. The entire song lists the beatitudes just as they appear in Matthew 5:1-12.

As an African, I loved and wore out ‘No one’. It’s african and upbeat style is so beautiful and it sure does keep me moving during workouts.

Other beautiful songs in this album include ‘Welcome Resurrection’, ‘Forever YHWH’ and ‘You Really Are’. I would recommend this album any and everyday.

Artists on this album include

Valley Boys
Chris Brown (of Elevation)
Jonsal Berrientes
Brandon Lake
Pat Barrett
Joe L Barnes
Tiffany Hudson
Chandler Moore

Come back and leave a comment when you listen. I would like to hear your comments.

Enjoy.