BADLANDS - Halsey

Halsey might be the newcomer of 2015. I downloaded her album a few weeks ago and I'm in love.

Halsey is a 20-year-old, American singer songwriter and BADLANDS is her brilliant debut album, that came out this August. She made her way into the music business by uploading covers on YouTube, which were that good that they got signed to a record label.

After touring the US  in 2014/2015 with lots of different artists, including The Kooks and Imagine Dragons, it was about time for her record to hit the stores and streaming services.

The first song of BADLANDS - Castle - could as well be a Lorde song soundwise, and I think that's one of the reason I instantly adored Halsey's sound. It gets different throughout the record, more individual, simple but effective. I love that. Roman Holiday sounds a little like it could be one of the newest Taylor Swift songs, which isn't a bad thing either. There could be a lot of hits beneath the songs of this album, nearly every one of them has got something special.

Kaleidoscope // Summer Song - Brass Phantoms

Last week I got my first ever artist request for a review of their music. I was so excited when I read Ryan's email. Fun fact: I nearly deleted it before reading though, because I thought it was Spam, but then I realised it was actually written to me.

Ryan from Brass Phantoms asked me to listen to their new single and give them an opinion of what I think about it. So here's a little something about them and their new songs.

Brass Phantoms (Facebook // Twitter // Bandcamp) are an Irish indie rock band consisting of Ryan, James, Adam and Greg. They released they debut EP in 2014 and on 20th September this year they've now released their new double sided single with the songs Kaleidoscope and Summer Song and this is what they're like:

Therapy by Sebastian Fitzek

This is the first time I'm reviewing book by a German author for you. But don't be afraid it's available in English as well!

No witnesses.
Twelve-year-old Josy has an inexplicable illness. She vanishes without a trace from her doctor's office during treatment. Four years later, Josy's father, psychiatrist Viktor Larenz, has withdrawn himself to an isolated North Sea island in order to deal with the tragedy.
No body.
Then he's paid a surprise visit by a beautiful stranger. Anna Glass is a novelist who suffers from an unusual form of schizophrenia: all the characters she creates for her books become real to her. In her last novel she has written about a young girl with an unknown illness who has disappeared without a trace.
Where is his daughter?
Can Anna's delusions describe Josy's last days? Reluctantly, Viktor agrees to take on her therapy in a final attempt to uncover the truth behind his daughter's disappearance. But very soon these sessions take a dramatic turn as the past is dragged back into the light - with terrifying consequences.

Kodaline - SWR3 New Pop Festival 2015

On Monday I already told you about the SWR3 New Pop Festival this year and the show of Ella Henderson. Today it's time for Kodaline, my - sorry guys - second favourite band.

For the discovery of this band I've got to thank Grey's Anatomy, Shazam and Google. Seriously. In 2012 All I Want by Kodaline featured in an episode of Grey's Anatomy (one after that horrible plane crash - spoiler alert, hehe). I loved that song instantly and thanks to Shazam I found out which one it is. And apparently I wasn't the only one who loved it: Google used the song in their Zeitgeist 2012: Year In Review video and I reckon that was a huge boost for the guys' career.

Ella Henderson - SWR3 New Pop Festival 2015

It's been a weekend full of music and therefore this week will be a concert posts week special kind of thing.

I've been to the SWR3 New Pop Festival in Baden-Baden, which was brilliant this year. When I found out about who would be there this year, I knew I had to go.

Ella Henderson and Kodaline were some of the first artists to be announced and they're both (well all five as Kodaline is a band) artists I've admired for years now, thinking about it both since 2012. So having both of them in one place would have been enough. And when the line up was completed it sounded even more brilliant with James Bay and Years&Years being added to the list.

I didn't get tickets to all the shows, but have seen a lot of artists play on the free open air stage and I've also been to two of the "real" concerts: Kodaline and Ella Henderson, who would have guessed? And today I want to tell you about Ella's.

Letters to Juliet

I'm going to Italy in a few weeks and what's a better way to get into the mood for it than watching a film set there? Right. Nothing.

That and because a friend and I were searching for a cute film to watch is why I've been watching it again recently. I've seen it before and apparently I remembered it as cute and Italian...

But first , here's what it's all about: letters to Juliet tells a story about finding love and that it's never too late. It was inspired by the non-fiction book Letters to Juliet by Lise and Ceil Friedman, which is about people writing to Shakespeare's Juliet.

When the New Yorker journalist Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) visits Verona she discovers this place where lots of women put their letters to Juliet. When she finds an old letter which has been hidden for quite a while and answers to it, she meets Claire who decides to go on a journey to find Lorenzo, the man she was writing about in her letter all these years ago. Sophie accompanies her on the trip and the outcome is a beautiful story taking the viewer to all these stunning places around Tuskany, Italy.

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

"Rachel catches the same commuter train every morning. She knows it will wait at the same signal each time, overlooking a row of back gardens. She’s even started to feel like she knows the people who live in one of the houses. ‘Jess and Jason’, she calls them. Their life – as she sees it – is perfect. If only Rachel could be that happy.
And then she sees something shocking. It’s only a minute until the train moves on, but it’s enough.
Now everything’s changed. Now Rachel has a chance to become a part of the lives she’s only watched from afar.
Now they’ll see; she’s much more than just the girl on the train…"

This book was recommended to me a lot. Friends, all kinds of people on Twitter, Amazon, Audible, Facebook adverts and then Goodreads. I had to get the book and read it, hadn't I? And it's pretty obvious why it's been recommended everywhere.

Feline - Ella Eyre

Nearly a week ago this beauty of an album called Feline came out. I anticipated this day for a long time - I actually preordered my physical copy in November last year, when there wasn't even a name for the record.

You might have heard of a track called Waiting All Night by Rudimental. When I heard that I fell in love with her voice. And when I downloaded her debut EP Deeper in 2013 I was even more stunned. And then I forgot a bit about her.

Until that utterly brilliant performance with Rudimental and my favourite band Bastille at the BRIT Awards 2014. I remember that this was the point where I realised that she's the Ella on a song named No Angels on Bastille's second mixtape Other People's Heartache, Pt. 2 which I apparently listened to a lot (as I said: huuuuge Bastille fan...).