Mandy Jiroux & Chester See

If you've been keeping up with my blog, you already know of my love for all things Kurt Hugo Schneider. The guy knows how to put together a great medley and his production skills are insane!

His "Zedd Medley" video in particular is so simple, yet so powerful. By having Mandy Jiroux and Chester See sit on stools while back-to-back gives you as the listener the opportunity to focus on the lyrics and create your own emotional story rather than following along with one on the screen, which I LOVE.

While the video is important, the sound is the make or break element. I'd say that Mandy and Chester nailed it. They kept true to the original sound of the music, but they still were able to make their medley unique as they sang with great amounts of passion and emotion. Furthermore, their voices work together extremely well. Their harmonies are on point and I really couldn't have asked for more with this Zedd Medley.

Personally, I'm a huge Zedd fan, so I expect a lot out of a cover. Mandy and Chester definitely deliver. Kurt has taken some of Zedd's well-known tracks and created a medley that is beyond fabulous. In fact, I almost forgot it was a medley because the blend of all the different songs is so seamless and the various lyrics make sense with one another. The way he combined all of the tracks is flawless and I am in LOVE with it!

Chester has other covers on his YouTube channel, all of which as amazing and worth a listen.

I'm a huge sucker for any A Great Big World cover, which might be one of the reasons why I think this is his best video. The other reasons include his piano skills, the sheer sexiness of Chester's voice and that stare down as he sings his heart out.

And if slow, heartbreaking covers aren't your thing, check out his version of Muse's "Madness". 

Mandy. This girl can dance AND sing! Watching her videos is like watching an expert Zumba class. Check out some of her cover of "Burn", originally by Ellie Goulding here:

I mean seriously, this girl puts my white girl dance moves to shame!

And just because I'm absolutely in LOVE with Kurt Hugo Schneider, here's one more of his videos before I wrap up this post:

After seeing their "Zedd Medley", I'd love to see another Kurt Schneider video with Mandy and Chester because their voices sound phenomenal together!

P.S. If you haven't already, check out Zedd's album Clarity. It's one of my favorite EDM albums and is perfect for any mood, so give it a listen. 

Sia Furler

My goodness, I LOVE Sia. I don't think I can explain just how much I love this woman. Her music is soulful, her sound is chill-inspiring and her outlook on fame is refreshing.

First of all, she's an amazing writer. "Titanium" by David Guetta feat. Sia, "Let Me Love You (Until You Love Yourself)" by Ne-Yo, "Wild Ones" by Flo Rida, "Diamonds" by Rihanna and the list goes on and on. Like those songs or not, take a moment to read up on the lyrics. They're simply beautiful and they're all written by Sia.

Now on to her sound. If I had to describe it in one word, I'd say powerful. Her vocal belts are power. Her ability to give you chills with one line...power. It all goes back to the power of her voice and ultimately the lyrics.

The song "Chandelier" is fabulous. A few months ago I wrote that this song would be the next big party anthem, and to me, it is. I live for this song. The lyrics are killer and Sia's voice resembles a mix of BC Jean and Rihanna. Simply put, the greatness this song radiates is beyond words.

If that one song didn't make you a Sia fan, I guarantee this next one will.

"Big Girls Cry" is my favorite Sia song for so many reasons, but the main one is the fact that this song has the ability to make me stop what I'm doing and listen. Don't get me wrong, I love songs that make fabulous background noise, but this is not one of them. The lyrical story, the power in her voice, the need for the song to never end all make it impossible to focus on anything but Sia for three and a half minutes.

Her music has been covered by many different artists, but my favorite would have to be Sara Bareilles' rendition of "Chandelier" (Thanks Heidi for passing this video along!). You can skip to 1:38 in the video to get straight to the song, but I left the starting point of the video at 0:00 because Sara's personality is just the greatest. After hearing this, you're going to be dying for a Sara/Sia collaboration!

Sia isn't big into showing her face during performances and that's because she doesn't care too much for the whole fame thing. To quote "My Anti-Fame Manifesto" by Sia, "Me and fame will never be married."

Best. Artist. Quote. Ever.

Sia will always be one of my favorites because of her vocal abilities, flawless music and because of her classiness.

Mika

Mika, Mika, Mika. I love me some Mika. First of all, his vocals are intense. I'm fairly positive there isn't a note outside of his range. Check out "Rain" and you'll see what I'm talking about:

Mika has numerous collaborations including one with Pharrell called "Celebrate":

And another with Ariana Grande called "Popular Song". Maybe it's just me, but I think it resembles "Popular" from Wicked (not sure if that was the intent or if anyone else hears the similarities):

And his fashion sense. It's undeniably some of the best. This man doesn't fear color, but rather embraces it. I envy his wardrobe. The blue pants in "Love Today" need to be mine.

Not gonna lie, Mika's music is the type that I dance to in my bedroom with the door closed so no one can see the ugly, white-girl dance moves. You know, the ones I think I'm oh so good at...

Glad to know I'm not the only one who does that. Check out Mika's "We Are Golden":

His latest, "Boum Boum Boum", is completely in French, so I honestly have no idea what the lyrics mean. I just think it's a fun song.

Mika's music is pure fun. I have to imagine his concerts are a giant dance party with tons of confetti and glitter, which means the second he has a show within a 200 mile radius of my house, I'm going.