2015... Oh, what a year!

It's nearly the end of the year and I'm feeling very nostalgic! It has probably been the most monumental year of my life so far! So much has happened!

I've travelled so much this year to some amazing places. I've been to Amsterdam twice, interrailed around Europe and also visited Washington D.C.! I partied my socks off, passed my summer exams with flying colours, went to Wireless Festival, attended one of the infamous summer Piers Gaveston parties (wow is all I can say) and I made friends that I hope will stay in my life for a lifetime!

The year ahead is one that I feel will be monumental for different reasons. I'm beginning a year in industry and I'm working on applying to companies that I wouldn't have dreamed I'd ever get the chance to enter, let alone work with! I pray my dreams come true and that the foundations of this year are steady enough to carry me throughout 2016.

2015, you have been good to me. May 2016 be even better!

We Are One

I open the free newspaper stuffed onto my hand as I enter the Tube and see a picture of a dead young boy. It grapples me. In our society today, it’s sad to admit that I have become desensitized due to the countless violent and distressing images I see on a daily basis. But this one. This one sticks. It makes me ashamedly finally understand the humanity and reality of the situation going on at the edge and across the Channel. 

People my age, in my generation, have had their lives torn apart and thrown into chaos by war. Do they not deserve to try and rebuild and try and continue with their childhoods, teen years or even young adult lives? I somehow try to parallel my daily goings on with the life of another 19 going on 20 year Syrian female. She must enjoy music, I think. Daydream and gossip incessantly about boys, have arguments with her parents and stress about handing an assignment in on time. I then think, would I be brave enough to risk my life to cross unknown shores? I dismiss the thought; I’m scared to admit I’m completely dismayed by the actuality of it all. But the girl I’ve created in my head cannot dismiss. She cannot escape and she cannot trivialize. 

Refugees should not be seen as problems and burdens. We should open our arms and put ourselves within their shoes. Understand their humanity. And realize we are one and the same.

End of the summer...

It's almost the end of the summer! This summer as been one of the best ones of my life. A holiday after ending an academic year of sheer madness was truly needed but along the way has been a couple cheeky drinks enjoyed in the sun, seeing my future husband Drake at Wireless, a surreal 24 hours down in Oxford, embarking on a exciting new chapter in my life with someone new and catching up with old friends.

My plans for next Summer are not solid. I've done the ultimate thing I've been planning for years finally this summer: interail! So... I'll see how the financial situation is and I'll go from there next year. Bring on Summer 2016!

Too soon?

Tracks on repeat right now

Drake - Hotline Bling

Drake is on fire at the moment. He won a rap battle, shutdown Finsbury Park at Wireless twice in one week and released 5 tracks within the past couple months. Will he ever not impress?! Probably not and this track is definitely impressing me. With a catchy hook, remixed from the chirpsy 'Cha Cha', Drake swoons and seems to complain about a booty call that just won't let up.

fka twigs - in time

I just wrote a review about the EP which holds this track but it's been on repeat for the past week respectively. The hook is great, 'You got a god damn nerve!' and the beat is amazing. Love love love love love.

Major Lazer - Lean On

A summer anthem and a song which captures the essence of having to leave the festival at an ungodly hour whilst still having the memories of such a great weekend. Constantly on repeat at the moment for me as the summers coming to an end.

Tink - Millon

Ok, so you might not of heard of her but things are soon to change. This girl has spunk, attitude, is super cute and has Timbaland on her side. Things are looking good for her. Not necessarly a new track, but was ultimate train ride/getting ready for pub crawl/flight listening material on my trip a few weeks back (it's been almost a month?!). Keep the name Tink in your mind, you're going to hear it a lot more.

FKA twigs - 'M3LL155X'

FKA twigs reaffirms her position as an 'artist' in her own name in a gusty, confident new 5 track record. 

As of recent, Barnett also known as fka twigs has been under extreme scrutiny following her blossoming relationship with the heartrob of pre-teens, Robert Pattinson. Consequently, she is being regarded in the tabloids and gossip mags as 'the girlfriend' or 'fiancee-to-be'. Barnett deserves much more than this and continues to prove this with the release of grade A artistic music videos to accompany tracks from her earlier LP, LP1. M3LL155X is a confirmation that Barnett is not one to be brushed under the carpet.

The tracks are standard fka twigs style, with the classic soaring vocals and broken beat production. 'In Time' is a delicious cocktail of grit and attitude, 'You got a god damn nerve', with a hint of vulnerability 'The way you dismiss me/Will turn into missing me' 'Im Your Doll' supports this recurring theme of dollish vulnerability fitting seamlessly in the record. It is an early recorded track of Barnett's which proves she is a consistent yet ever growing artist. 

Glass and Patron is a synth-heavy track yet with bell tongs and swift sharp cuts to beat, it packs a punch with Barnett cheekily asking 'Am I dancing sexy yet?' The penultimate track carries us to the final track of the record, 'Mothercreep' which leaves us breathless after being thrown around the wacky and complex mind of Barnett. 

The EP as a whole is a sensual mix of feminism and expression. As fka twigs continues to rise through the ranks and set herself up as one of the more revolutionary British female artists of the decade, it shows us that the connection between music and art is not dead yet. It is simply blossoming.

How lucky we are. 

Also, here's the brilliant accompanying video for this EP. 

Standout tracks: 'In Time' 'Glass and Patron' 

Rating: 8.9/10

Interrailing Europe!

It's been a while.. but since my last post I've completed first year (yay!) and I did just in time for my interrail trip to Europe. I've been an avid traveller since the age of 6 with my mother but I've always had the desire to travel independently, hold the responsibility of carrying my passport across various countries and live it up in hostels instead of all inclusive hotels. So... I did!

Ellie and I decided to book the trip back in May and planned a 15 day trip to 5 countries: Barcelona, Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin and Prague. This was a scary feat. Fitting 5 countries within such a concentrated amount of time? Could we achieve it? Would we make it back to London? Yes, yes and yes. We made it and we saw amazing things and met amazing people.

Rather tired at the top of the Eiffel Tower!

Jumping from train to train gave a sense of freedom, albeit a reservation had to made beforehand for some. But one memory that holds the deepest in my memory is being on a stifling train from Amsterdam to Berlin and managing to find the only open window in the whole train. In a disabled toilet. Yes, it sounds disgusting but the smell of stale wee was overpowered by the fresh German air. It was one of the most liberating experiences of the trip! 

Being able to walk on the streets where momentous history took place was an amazing privilege. Especially in Berlin, who has suffered extremities in their history such as facshism, communism and the Berlin Wall which was liberated in 1990. To see the Berlin Wall, touch it.. it was amazing.

Taken shortly after our flasher!

We decided on the trip to take a break from nightlife as we've had a quite heavy year in Freshers. But that didn't last for long until we reached Berlin and Prague. Berlin and Prague were some of the most interesting nights out I've had in my life. Meeting other travellers like us was great and some we had met during day walking tours so to then party with them was really fun. Another thing I've realised is that this world is really, really small and I met a lot of friends in common out there in the hostel bars and pub crawls. It really has made me want to venture deeper into the world to meet even more people!

Not drunk at all here...

Interrailing has taught me to be resourceful and plan ahead, something that university installed in me but travelling made me utilize in the 'real' world. It taught me to persevere and not to hold back because holding back and staying in bed makes you miss important things and moments. So many times we were too tired or hungover to function, a couple cups of coffee and baguettes nipped from the breakfast bar for later gave us fuel to explore the various cities further.

Being on the beach in Stiges, Barcelona soaking up the sun rays, climbing up Eiffel Tower cursing Ellie for not letting us get the lift in 30 degree heat, making fantastic memes from Greek statues in the Louvre, seeing the best art museums Europe has to offer, being flashed in a park walking down to Brandenburg Gate, sharing stories and laughing at French TV in our hotel room in Paris, taking a walk down the lake by our hostel in Amsterdam in the pouring rain, seeing a concentration camp and town in Prague, jumping one step from what was East Berlin to West Germany and walking down Charles Bridge at 5 am rather drunk with only photographers and early risers to pass us.

These are only a handful of memories I gained travelling.

If you're thinking of travelling, don't hestitate. See the world and explore!

Kendrick Lamar - 'To Pimp A Butterfly'

Kendrick has returned with a vengeance - and a message - in his new album, To Pimp A Butterfly.

Kendrick has always been an artist who has gone against the norm and tried not to be a 'typical' rapper singing about 'hoes', money and weed. In this album, he reinstates this with his message about race relations in America today. This album has come at an exceptional time in American history. With tensions running high between the black community and the Police, the world is asking for change. Reminding the world that #BlackLivesMatter. Asking when injustice will stop.

Lamar ressaures blaring 'we gon' be alright' in the aptly named track, Alright to then remind us society is an institution as bad as a police cell in Institutionalised. Lamar reminds us it is up to us to break free of the cocoon society attempts to put onto us from birth due to our gender and colour.  In Complexion (A Zulu Love), the hook reverbs 'complexion don't mean a thing'. Yet in the black community, it is something which seems to divide. With 'lightskins' and 'darkskins' being viewed differently, it is a song which asks us to love ourselves before we expect love from the rest of the world. In King Kunta and Blacker The Berry, Lamar plays with stereotypes. He refers to black stereotypes such as ‘monkey mouth’, ‘nappy hair’ and ‘round and wide noses’. Lamar turns these stereotypes around and claims pride as a ‘proud monkey’. Stereotypes are a dogma faced by black people within today's society which connects with unjust racial profiling and immediate presumptions. By Lamar's flippantly addressing these stereotypes, it shows acceptance of genetic difference, not shame. 

Lamar addresses the actions society perceive black people to act out, ‘eat watermelon and chicken on weekdays’ and ‘celebrate February like its my b’day’. The succeeding track, The Blacker The Berry which derives from the well known phrase, “The blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice”. We all recognise this phrase as something positive: empowerment of blackness. Lamar turns this positive affirmation of blackness and uses it as another look into the mentality of black on black crime. It also ties into deeper issues that black men face within their communities such as profiling based on race by police and their presumptions of racist police, ‘You hate me don’t you?’ Songs such as These Walls, Momma and You Ain't Gotta Lie (Momma Said) were tracks that made me more able to dance and tap my foot but they still seemed to relay a message to me. Lemar flawlessly looks into sexual liberation, family ties and remembering where you're from whilst maintaining sustainable flow.

This entire album engaged me so much so that I wrote an academic essay on it that I submitted as part of a unit in my first year of university. It received positive feedback and engaged further conversation with my lecturer and I upon race relations not only in the US, but the UK. This truly proves Lamar differs from the other rappers. He is a forward thinker, not only of the rap game, but our world.

Rating:  10/10


Standout tracks: 'These Walls' 'Mortal Man' 'King Kunta'

Amsterdam!

I'm back and with travelling stories! As you can imagine, it's been an even more stressful time with exams and also tons of coursework hence my lack of posting and also personal dimming of spirit, so to remedy this, me and my friends decided a trip to the beautiful city of Amsterdam was due!

Amsterdam is known for its coffee shops and liberal attitudes but it is recommended to also seek to appreciate the culture within this beautiful city. There's something so picturesque and photogenic about the place, you sometimes just have to stand and appreciate the beauty. However, you do stand a high risk of being hit by a bike or a tram in the process.

We were lucky to stay in a decent hostel and be able to commute into the city easily via Sloterdjik, showing us even more of the city. Amsterdam is so easy to walk through and thus you can find yourself in places you never planned to see. In this, we saw and also stumbled upon many attractions such as the Sex Museum, The Zoo, Rembrandt Square, Van Gogh Museum and the famous iamsterdam sign. Sadly, the queue for Anne Frank House was spectacularly long but we were able to at least see it from the outside which was a humbling experience.

The highlight of the trip was Vondelpark, a vast park at the edge of the city which hosts many trees and lakes and we ended up spending a whole day just sitting on the grass and soaking in the atmosphere and feel of the area.  It was a day I definitely will never forget.

If you're thinking of visiting Holland, I would 100% recommend! It's a city whose atmosphere and spirit is contagious and stays with you long after you arrive home.

Happy 2015!

Sorry for the hiatus in posting! It's been a busy couple months due to university and getting on with the new challenges it brings - living away from home, waking up for lectures and making sure I'm still feeding and watering myself...

I seem to be doing alright.. for now!

Either way, the welcome to 2015 was great spent with good people and was a great way to bring in the year. A big shoutout to Shorebitch for hosting a great NYE at The Brewery, Camden! Anyway, I hope you saw in the year in as well as I did and here's to a great rest of the year.