Tag Archives: lauren daigle

Momentous Mondays: Influential artists of the next 5-10 years – Where Are They Now: Week 1-10

So it’s been around 3 and a bit years since I started a blog series that would, for lack of a better term, revolutionise my life in terms of the music I would listen to, as I understood over the last few years, the vastness of music out there for one, but also, the notion and understanding as I grew up as a Christian in the 1990s, that mainstream music was downright ‘evil’, was totally false. Throughout my teen years, that notion of mainstream music =  bad started to become undone, and it was this blog series that really stretched me in terms of what was deemed to be ‘mainstream’ and ‘Christian’, especially when over the last few years, there had been many collaborations in music between Christians and…well, everyone else. for KING & COUNTRY’s ‘Together’ was collaborated with Kirk Franklin & Tori Kelly, Tori herself also lent vocals to the smash-hit Cory Asbury penned ‘Reckless Love’, country singer-songwriter JoDee Messina also recorded her own version of the powerful (yet controversial) worship hit ‘Reckless Love’; while Lecrae collaborated with artists like John Legend (Drown) and Ty Dolla $ign (Blessings), whilst his song ‘Comin’ in Hot’, a collaboration between himself and fellow CHH artist Andy Mineo, has gained the most traction and popularity (out of all of Lecrae’s songs) amongst the mainstream music media space…ever.

In 2020, Chris Tomlin collaborated with a whole bunch of country artists (Lady A, Brett Young, Cassadee Pope, Thomas Rhett, Florida Georgia Line) for the country/CCM crossover album Chris Tomlin & Friends, while not too long ago, Tauren Wells and H.E.R. unveiled one of the unlikeliest of collaborations…ever. ‘Hold Us Together’ has been a powerful song since it’s unveiling as just a H.E.R. song as the end credits to the Disney + movie Safety, but the song took on new life when it was re-released around six months later with the injection of Tauren’s vocals, making the song, that already had a gospel feeling, become more worshipful…who am I kidding. The song was already worshipful. TobyMac and Sheryl Crow came together just this year to re-record Toby’s most recent single hit, ‘Promised Land’, and who knows, that could release on country/folk/Americana radio in the future…maybe. Christian and mainstream continued to collide over the years, with for KING AND COUNTRY & Echosmith collaborating on the duo’s chart-topping radio hit ‘God Only Knows’, while Joel & Luke also collaborated with one of Country music’s OG artists, Dolly Parton, for said same song. Dolly also lent her vocals to another CCM artist’s track, Zach Williams’s ‘There Was Jesus’, to much critical and commercial acclaim, while country music’s representation within CCM didn’t end there, with up and coming country artist Carly Pearce delivered a duet with Matthew West on the track ‘Truth Be Told’, a song that I reckon, sounds better as a duet. Up and coming country artist Lauren Alaina and up and coming CCM/pop artist Riley Clemmons created what I reckon is one of my favourite duets in recent memory, ‘Over and Over’, around a couple of years ago (a song that could’ve succeeded in country radio, but was never given a chance), and let’s all not forget that all those years ago, needtobreathe collaborated with pop icon (at the time) Gavin DeGraw (who’s still making music now, but not as popular as before) on the 2014 CCM-pop crossover hit, ‘Brother’? I say all this to say, that over the years, the lines between Christian and gospel music, and everything else, seems to be blurring together. And that is ok.

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BEST OF 2021- PART 1: TOP 50 SONGS OF 2021

Hey everyone… guess what! It’s the beginning of 2022… already! The past year of 2021 has been such an eventful and crazy year in and of itself! The Squid Game, Ted Lasso, Mare Of Easttown, Dopesick, Only Murders In The Building, Loki and Wandavision are the shows that have won all of the awards and critical acclaim; while Spiderman: No Way Home, King Richard, Don’t Look Up, Encanto, CODA, Power Of The Dog, James Bond: No Time To Die and Dune (amongst others) are the films that have wowed us all in any and every way possible. The world is still reeling becomes of the Omicron variant of Covid-19; and through all that, we’ve realised that it’s time for another Best of post. Over the year of 2021, there have been many songs that have touched our soul and have brought us healing and comfort. So let us dive back in through the past year- as we now let you all know our favourite songs of 2021. All 50 of them! So sit back, be inspired, and let these songs minister to you during this time of uncertainty! Let us remember that even though this upcoming year is uncertain, that music is constant, and that these songs can comfort, inspire and encourage as we navigate through life.

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BEST OF 2019- PART 10: TOP 20 MUSIC VIDEOS OF 2019 (JULY – DECEMBER)

Hi everyone, first of all, how has your 2020 been so far? We’re about 3 months into the year… and I have a confession. We’ve been slack in finishing up our posts for ‘best of 2019’. We’re 3 months late, and there are a few more posts to get through. So… I guess there’s no time like the present! So yes, we are not posting a review, nor a Momentous Mondays post nor a Fantabulous Fridays post. Instead it’s time for us to unveil 20 music videos from July til December 2019, which have resonated with us as a site and inspired us on this crazy road called life. So without further ado, here they are. What are yours? Let us know in the comments. Til next time!

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MOMENTOUS MONDAYS: INFLUENTIAL ARTISTS OF THE NEXT 5-10 YEARS – WEEK 2: LAUREN DAIGLE

Recently, I have started to become a bit more reflective and introspective- and more specially, the more and more I think about life in general, and the way it has gone for myself and maybe for others I have come in contact with; the more grateful I am to be living in Australia. And I’m sure the same goes for anyone living in the U.S, England, New Zealand, and other English-speaking countries I reckon. Not that other developing countries are ‘bad’ or anything like that, but I’ve recently noticed something. For all of the faults of Trump, for all of the issues to do with Brexit and for all of the turmoil and fallout with the Israel Falou saga; one thing remains constant. And it’s the wide range of music available to us via Spotify, iTunes, Youtube, Google Play, Amazon and other streaming services. In stores where we can buy physical CD’s (yep, they still exist!), the range for albums of different genres is quite varied, and it is in my own opinion that if you were to search for an album to listen to, you’d probably find at least one, but maybe two or three, that you could like straight away. Are there luxuries of music and the wide variety of artists available in countries like China, India and other countries in Africa?

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BEST OF 2018- PART 13: TOP 30 ALBUMS OF THE ENTIRE YEAR

It’s been a while since I posted a best-of albums/EPs list here on the site. I’ve recently unveiled my favourite 30 songs for the entire year, along with 10 more for good measure (honourable mentions) and thereby, I also figured it was time to impart 30 albums that stood out over the entire year (the site has already uploaded 25 favourite EPs here in this link). And while I myself still haven’t reviewed everything that I’ve wanted to in the year of 2018, I have since come to the conclusion, that 2018 was and is one of my favourite years in terms of music (though I think I’ve said that about the year of 2017 in music, as well!). And thus here we are in January 2019, as I am unveiling my favourite 30 albums of the entire year, and ten more that would’ve fit in if I had listened to songs and albums in a different order than what I actually did. Nevertheless, what I will say is this- 2018 for was was the year of the worship artist; alongside folk artists [Andrew Peterson], alternative artists [The New Respects] and just plain pop artists [Riley Clemmons, for KING AND COUNTRY]. Without further ado, here below are 30 albums that have influenced us as a site for the entire duration of 2018 and then beyond. Which albums have impacted you? Let us know in the comments. Til next time!

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