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MOMENTOUS MONDAYS: ICONIC & IDENTITY-BUILDING ARTISTS OF ALL TIME – WEEK 1: CELINE DION

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Sometimes I lay awake at night and wonder to myself, how did I get myself into this predicament. Embarking on a 3+ year project (or shall I more accurately say ‘musical social experiment’) at the time of its inception felt like something so lofty and unattainable, meant that me starting such a feat at the time, seemed a little too ‘expected’ of me to do, because, ‘sure you can start it, but you’re never going to actually finish this blog series, so it’s never really going to be material, or even matter, whether or not you become heavily invested into listening to different types of music or not’. I started off this blog series (which has since turned into 3 blog series, but I digress) with a simple task in mind- for 1 whole year (see where it has taken me now!), I were to discuss impactful and influential artists that have contributed to music, society, culture, and to me personally, and discuss what I think makes them great. I hesitantly started off with the post about Michael W. Smith, then Switchfoot and Avril Lavigne, and then the rest was history, and now in 2022, what I initially thought the blog was going to be, actually turned out to be so much more- what I thought was just a mere 55 posts, has turned into a blog series that has forever changed my outlook to music, and reminded me that God Himself can use whatever and whomever (in terms of music) to bring people closer to Himself (myself included), even if it means through the way of pop, country, rock or even rap music.

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Momentous Mondays: Most Influential Artists Of All Time – Honourable Mentions Pt. 2

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Last week, I made the plunge and started writing about the artists who didn’t make the cut in our list of 100 names or artists who both Jon and I deem to be influential across all time. Sure, I could’ve not written about any honourable mentions, and kept it at ‘this is my 100, deal with it’. But with more than 100 other names missing out, I felt as if I would be doing a disservice to talented singers and performers and entertainers by not talking about them at all. I spoke about Kanye West and how he was a rapper that I could have talked about but didn’t because of personal convictions. I wrote about how Jesus Is King, Donda and Donda 2 took the world by storm, and I also briefly discussed how Kendrick Lamar has followed in Kanye’s footsteps. I wrote about Kirk Franklin- the ‘father’ of gospel music, as well as AC/DC: the Aussie rock band who really probably should have been included here (I mean- “Highway To Hell”, “Back In Black”, “You Shook Me All Night Long”… need I say more?) I lamented the fact that Larry Norman and Petra weren’t included, and I also spoke about their impact on Christian rock. And I glossed over a few artists that just didn’t fit for one reason or another- Huey Lewis & The News, Jeff Buckley, INXS, Duran Duran, Journey, Green Day and Panic! At The Disco. There were tons and tons of artists I wrote about last week, trying to make sense of why they are influential but why I didn’t write about them (or why Jon didn’t write about them); and I managed to do that, although to a lesser degree than probably was needed or required, for the genres of rap, rock, gospel, and R&B. As well as Steps- who are pop but are a disco/dance kind of pop like ABBA or Kylie Minogue. And so, this week… we’re not done. Not by a long shot. The pop artists, the boybands, the country artists and so much more; are all waiting for us in the next paragraph and beyond. So, as we now take the next part of the journey and discover which bands could have been present on this list on another day and in another time; let’s remember that music is subjective, and that if you disagree with my somewhat arbitrary and otherwise subjective choices- then that’s more than fine!

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Momentous Mondays: Influential artists of the next 5-10 years – Honourable Mentions

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Every once and again, you make a list, for something, anything. You’re so proud of this list. You take one look at it from a glance and say, ‘I did a good job’. But then upon reflection, you realise something. That your list isn’t as ‘perfect’ as you think it is. There’s this thing that was missing. Then there’s the other thing that you overlooked, and before long, the ‘definitive’ list of whatever you have, doesn’t seem as definitive as you even claimed to begin with. And it is herein that I understood and understand, that in any list ever made, there’s always going to be what made the list, and what didn’t. Simple. There’s never a perfect list of anything, and while from an objective standpoint, the 100 artists from the original Influential Artists list, and the 50 artists from the Influential Up-and-Coming Artists list, seemed to be, on the surface, well-rounded and ‘perfect’ in every sense of the word; the reality of the fact of the matter is this- that behind every list of 100 (and 50), there’s another _____ artists that weren’t picked, for whatever reason. This is why this blog post is for all the honourable mentions, that in any other multiverse or universe, could’ve easily made the actual blog post series, but here on this earth, it didn’t. While over the years, we did delve into the impact and influence of artists like Maddie & Tae, Thomas Rhett, Jess Glynne, Lauren Daigle, NF, Mandy Harvey, Lindsay Ell and Lucy Thomas (to name a few), it just meant that as some artists were discussed, others unfortunately weren’t. Olivia Rodrigo, Ben Platt, Billie Eilish, Carly Pearce, Runaway June, Chance the Rapper, Gabby Barrett and Camila Cabello (to name a few) have all been impactful over the years (and hopefully into the future as well); and have all landed here on this honourable mentions list…which isn’t a bad thing, but nevertheless, a thing that has reminded me, that honourable mentions to any list, are just as impactful, influential, important, and interesting, as the names on the actual list to begin with.

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Momentous Mondays: Most Influential Artists Of All Time – Honourable Mentions Pt. 1

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A couple of months ago, I wrote my last blog of our series Most Influential Artists Of All Time. Writing about Robbie Williams was a challenge and a joy, as I was reminded by this legendary and inspiring artist, that music has the power to inspire us, to challenge us, to bring us comfort, healing, perspective and sometimes joy and peace. Robbie, like many of the artists I’ve been writing about such as Rihanna, Kylie Minogue, Jennifer Lopez, Gwen Stefani, Justin Timberlake, Taylor Swift and more, as well as many of the artists Jon has been writing about like Keith Urban, Josh Groban, Ed Sheeran, Carrie Underwood, John Legend, Jackie Evancho, Coldplay, Alicia Keys and Sheryl Crow to name a few; is an artist who has been a powerhouse in his craft for a long time now- a step back and a glance at our list of 100 artists- and you could probably say that it is a pretty complete list. Mind you, that’s not mentioning iconic and legendary artists like Queen, The Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, Elton John, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, Andrea Bocelli, Bon Jovi, The Rolling Stones, and others. We will be writing about these 50 artists in a little bit- these are timeless artists who are in another category all together. So for the purposes of disregarding these 50 artists whom you can read the list about here; you’d say that the list of 100 artists is very complete and comprehensive. Yet… is it really? In any list there are honourable mentions; and as I finished off one blog series and prepared for another, I thought to myself- what are the honourable mentions in this list? I started to write, and I came up with more than 100 ‘big names’ that were missing from this list- either by choice or just because we couldn’t fit them in.

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Momentous Mondays: Influential artists of the next 5-10 years – Where Are They Now: Week 41-50

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It’s been a week since we delved into artists #31 – #40 from the blog series of artists who are impactful and influential in this current generation now, and into the future, taking a glimpse at where artists like Sabrina Carpenter, Dua Lipa, NF, Chris Stapleton, Maddie & Tae and Shawn Mendes are, right now currently in their personal and professional life in 2022. Now, it’s time to delve into and explore the life of the final 10 artists who are influential this current generation. As we take a brief look at artists like Lucy Thomas, Riley Clemmons, Sofia Carson, Ava Max, The Shires and Mickey Guyton to name a few; I realise that since these are the last artists we posted about, there may not be much of an update on some of the artists. Nonetheless, there might be a song or two or some little titbit of news… and therefore, let’s check out these artists below, and be sure to check out the links of the original blog posts as well.

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Momentous Mondays: Influential artists of the next 5-10 years – Where Are They Now: Week 31-40

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It’s been about a week since we delved into artists #21 – #30 from the blog series of artists who are impactful and influential in this current generation now, and into the future, taking a glimpse at where artists like Jana Kramer, Lindsay Ell, Thomas Rhett, Peter Hollens, The New Respects, Mandy Harvey, and Kelsea Ballerini are, right now currently in their life in 2022. Now, we tackle artists #31 – #40, as we take a brief look at artists like NF, Maddie & Tae, Chris Stapleton, Marie Miller, Julia Michaels, Dua Lipa, and Lewis Capaldi, and where they are currently in this moment in terms of music. So, check out these artists below, and be sure to check out the links below, to the original blog posts about these artists, as well.

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Momentous Mondays: Most Influential Artists Of All Time – Where Are They Now: Week 81-100

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Last week, we delved into the fourth group of 20 artists that we posted about in our blog series, discussing artists like Jackie Evancho, Cimorelli, Creed, Missy Higgins, John Legend and Little Big Town; just to see what they’re up to. Now… it’s time to see the next group of 20 artists- artists for our blogs 81-100. Do you want to know what’s happening in the lives of Justin Timberlake, Justin Bieber, Rihanna, Gwen Stefani, Taylor Swift, Spice Girls or Robbie Williams? Read on to find out more!

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Momentous Mondays: Influential artists of the next 5-10 years – Where Are They Now: Week 21-30

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It’s been about a couple of weeks since we delved into artists #11 – #20 from the blog series of artists who are impactful and influential in this current generation now, and into the future, taking a glimpse at where artists like Echosmith, Little Mix, Jordan Smith, Marc Martel, Philippa Hanna and Dami Im are, right now currently in their life in 2022. Now, we tackle artists #21 – #30, and take a brief look at artists like Thomas Rhett, Lindsay Ell, The New Respects, Jana Kramer, Peter Hollens, Hunter Hayes & Colony House, and where they are currently in this moment in terms of music. So, check out these artists below, and be sure to check out the links below, to the original blog posts about these artists, as well.

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Momentous Mondays: Most Influential Artists Of All Time – Where Are They Now: Week 61-80

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Last week, we delved into the third group of 20 artists that we posted about in our blog series; and we also briefly touched upon these artists, just to see what they’re up to. Now… it’s time to see the next group of 20 artists- artists for our blogs 61-80. Do you want to know what’s happening in the lives of Jackie Evancho, Missy Higgins, Carly Rae Jepsen or Little Big Town? Read on to find out more!

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Momentous Mondays: Most Influential Artists Of All Time – Where Are They Now: Week 41-60

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Last week, we delved into the second group of 20 artists that we posted about in our blog series; and we also briefly touched upon these artists, just to see what they’re up to. Now… it’s time to see the next 20 artists. Do you want to know what’s happening in the lives of Lecrae, Pentatonix, Natalie Imbruglia, or Hanson? Read on to find out more!

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