4 the Love of Music #4: The Summer Edition!

Happy Summer!
I hope you are enjoying the sun and sand with music in the back. This edtion - the 4th edition - of '4 the Love of Music' is themed 'summer music'. So every year I have a summer theme song and it's most of the time a song I can't stop listening to. Summer hits aren't really about good heartfelt lyrics but more about eccentric beats that make you feel relaxed and ready to have fun!
My summer theme songs of the previous years include:
- Ni**as in Paris by Jay-z & Kanye
- My Love by Justin Timberlake & T.I. 

- Wanna Love You by Robin Thicke & Pharrell

- Whine Up by Kat Deluna & Elephant Man

'You & I can Find what the World's been Looking for Forever...Friendship & Love Together'

One thing that makes Summer even better...L.O.V.E. One of sweetest and most romantic songs I can actually remember from when I was really young is a song by India.Arie. At that age it was something new for me and I was totally blown away by her soulful voice and new point of view of love. When I heard the song Bubly by Colbie Caillat I immediately thought of India.Arie's song. That's why I connect both songs to summer romance whenever I hear them. India.Arie makes love seem so easy and fun in 'Can I Walk with You':

India.Arie -
Can I Walk With You
Album: Voyage to India

'Nobody Knows What the Future Holds and It's Bad Enough Just Getting Old'

 Everyone knows Summer is also Festival Season! And in my opinion Festival music is the best kind of music. Sometimes they don't make sense, but that doesn't matter because everyone is just there to sing along  and have fun. Indie bands don't normally have the tendency to bring out 'crappy songs' with 'crappy lyrics' so that's what makes festivals so amazing. Coachella ended earlier this year, but festivals like Glastonbury and Lollapalooza are summer festivals. They had amazing line ups and one of them is Vampire Weekend. I've been a longtime V.W. fan and their latest album Modern Vampires of the City came out earlier this year. It has a couple of great songs, two of them being 'Diane Young' and 'Ya Hey'. They performed 'Diane Young' at this year's Glastonbury and here it is:

Vampire Weekend -
Diane Young
Album: Modern Vampires of the City

'You & I - bloodlines, We Come Together Every time'

I first discovered Jessie Ware when I was watching this years Coachella. She was on Solange Knowles' 'people to look forward to on Coachella' list so I had to check her out. By the time her album Devotion came out, the track 'Wildest Moments' was on iTunes' 'songs we really enjoy' list - also known as the free track of the week. The lyrics are pretty good but I didn't really get the video...until now. I quickly fell in love with Wildest Moments as Jessie describes a relationship involving two people who aren't meant to be together - singing 'two wrongs, no rights'. There's a certain irony in it as she continues 'we walk the line'. In the last verse she describes how she misses their 'wildest moments' and she's also wondering 'what if''. That explains her turning circles in the video, their relationship is back and forth. In this case, simplicity is key!

Jessie Ware -
Wildest Moments

Album: Devotion

'I Feel So Lucky, You Wanna Hug Me. What Rhymes with Hug Me?'

If two people on this planet should be working more together their names are: Robin Thicke and Pharrell. I mean whenever their forces unite, magic comes out. Their last hit 'Wanna Love You' was also one of my 'summer songs' a couple of years ago. They did it again - this time with T.I. - and I love it in an 'on repeat' way. It's really more of a either-really-love-it or really hate it kind of a song, which sounds like every summer hit. This is my 2013 summer theme song:

Robin Thicke ft Pharrell ft T.I. -

Blurred Lines

Album: Blurred Lines

It's always summer in my country, so it's sun everyday, but music is the only thing that really changes around this time because she weather is most certainly not. If it's even possible it can get hotter in august. It's great to spend these days surrounded by water!

Much Love,

The previous editions of '4 the Love of Music':
4 the Love of Music #1
4 the Love of Music #2
4 the Love of Music #3

The next edition of "4 the Love of Music" will be released on: Sunday August 4th 2013.

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(2)4 the Love of Music #3

When a new month starts, it's certainly time to get ready for another edition of '4 the Love of Music'. This time I failed to release it on time due to my busy school schedule. Sorry!. Like every edition, this one also has a theme and it's: 'a celebration of life'. I had another theme in mind for this edition but I came across a very inspiring person that made me change the theme. His name is Zach Sobiech and this edition is dedicated to him.

'Life Is A Short Trip, the Music's for The Sad Man'

I feel it's very appropriate to include Beyonce in this edition since she headlined Gucci's 'Chime for Change: Sound of Change' concert. This song is one of my favorite covers, the refrain is originally by Alphaville but Jay-z put his own spin on it for his album 'The Blueprint 3' and Mr. Hudson sang the refrain in that one. This is the part where Beyonce comes in... As Jay-z headlined Coachella in 2010, Beyonce also put her own spin on it and slowed down the intro of the beat and sang the refrain. It's really amazing to hear 3 artists sing one song totally different. What's even more amazing is the live effect. Everything sounds better when it's live and raw. No one better than two amazing performers to sing/rap this amazing song.
P.s. I loved Jay-z and Beyonce's chemistry on stage

Jay-z featuring Beyonce - 

Young Forever (Live)

Coachella 2010

'Changes Come & We All Know That We Can't Stop Them,
But I Hold The Memories & I Will Never Drop Them'

Brett Dennen is one of my favorite artists and musicians of all time. He's remarkably talented with honest writing and a beautiful voice. He mostly sings about 21st century problems, but this song is about life after death. The lyrics are amazing and he's singing about watching over someone who's still on this planet. California born folk musician and songwriter Brett Dennen knows a thing or two about bringing out a meaningful song that will make you melt if you listen to the lyrics. He's also one for the music not the money. Two of his songs were on the Grey's Anatomy soundtrack and much more series. His most famous songs are 'Ain't No Reason', 'Make You Crazy' and my personal favorite 'Heaven'. From his self-titled album, I bring you:

Brett Dennen -

When I Go

Album: Brett Dennen

'The Heart's I Have Touched, Will Be the Proof that I Leave'

Last year's World Humanitarian Day Beyonce started a campaign 'I Was Here' which was about doing something good, somewhere for someone else. A lot of singers, designers and actors including President and First Lady Barack and Michelle Obama, Lady Gaga, Ben Affleck, Gucci and Stella McCartney have helped Beyonce reach 1 billion supporters on August 19th. It truly was a moment of history I was glad I witnessed. For this campaign she released a video where she performs 'I Was Here' live at the UN's headquarters. If the song and the lyrics aren't amazing enough wait till you see the amazing visuals and her long sleeved glittered white dress. What truly adds a bit more heart and the message Beyonce was trying to sent out was the video of people helping other people. Here is a moment captured forever in my mind:

Beyonce -
I Was Here
Album: 4

Who is Zach Sobiech?

Zach is a teen who was diagnosed with bone cancer at the age of 14. He wrote and sang a song 'Clouds' which was a Youtube hit. The song can be seen as his goodbye letter, since writing letters weren't his style. The video has more than 7 million views and a couple of covers. Sadly Zach passed away on May 20th 2013 at the age of 18. Weeks before his death celebs such as Rainn Wilson, Rachel Bilson, Wes from The Lumineers, Phillip Phillips, Jason Mraz, Ashley Tisdale, Sara Bareilles, Bryan Cranson, Sarah Silverman and Jason Derulo lip sang a tribute video. This video has almost 3 million views. Zach set up a fund called 'The Zach Sobiech Osteosarcoma Fund' and all proceeds benefit the fund. They've made over $350,000 already and you can purchase the iTunes #1 hit here. Zach is a true inspirations and I hope he has inspire many more make a step in the right direction!

Zach Sobiech -

Clouds

I am dedicating the 3rd edition of '4 the Love of Music' to Zach, who simply wanted the world to know that you don't have to find out you're dying to start living. I want to help him spread this message since he is no longer with us. He is a reminder that we should all live out our dreams.

Much Love,

The previous editions of '4 the Love of Music': 
4 the Love of Music #1
4 the Love of Music #2

The next edition of "4 the Love of Music" will be released on: Thursday July 4th 2013.

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Resort 2014: Black and White Sachin + Babi

This Resort 2014 is really more about looking out for designers that I'm not familiar with. Starting with last week's Clover Canon's Resort 2014 Collection, I'm now heading in a direction that's slightly the opposite. 

India-born couple and designers Sachin and Babi Ahluwalia from Sachin + Babi's womenswear label made a collection that will certainly set a trend very soon. They combined two trends that I predicted in '2013, the Year of...?'. Those are the classic black and white effect and floral prints. Their collection is simply relaxed enough for a Resort collection with a modern twist.

Sachin + Babi's customer is a woman with the spirit of a world traveler, who is a downtown girl at heart and embodies the artistry of design with effortless confidence - said the designers. Totally recognizable in this collection is the world traveler and downtown girl at heart part that probably is the most wanted request from customers yet often not well executed.

Babi and Sachin Ahluwalia

My Favorite Look:

MY FAVORITE LOOK

My favorite look contains the trends that I was talking about earlier. Floral prints with black and white combined is certainly the best of both worlds. Considering that one world is the modern floral and one is the everlastingly classic black and white trend. Not only do I see myself wearing this - I love shorts - but this entire look is perfect for summer. The long-sleeve shirt with striped black and white and a huge spot of yellow and purple floral print make this look a bit more serious but the black alligator shoes and the floral short give it a summer feel. 

Here are my favorite looks:

Black and white clearly set the mood this season for Sachin + Babi's collection. The combination of these 2 contrasts is my favorite because you can do a lot with them even though they're so plain. They go great together but you can really make a statement when you use black and white in different fabrics. Sachin and Babi didn't add a lot of volume but you can add a lot of volume to both black and white because they are so plain.
The collection has dresses, maxi skirts, full skirts, knee-length shorts, crop tops, leather jackets and shorts. My favorite looks were the looks that had some kind of twist. Like the look with the white shorts with black stripes and the orange long-sleeve. It goes really well together and I love the vertical black stripe that both of the pieces have. The other look that is also one of my favorites, is the short-front-long-back black dress with a laced V-neck. The dress is perfectly fine by its self but the twist with the glitter metallic sequin skirt under it is truly clever. It's a great way to make an LBD more energetic.

Looks I didn't like:

I simply didn't like these looks because they don't fit in this collection and the separate pieces also don't go together.

I really felt like Sachin and Babi made each piece work within the collection, that makes it really difficult to pair it with another piece from another collection or designer. With that said who needs another designer when this collection holds a couple of soon-to-be-trends.

Much Love,

Resort 2014: Flower Power in 'Moschino Cheap And Chic'

All Flower-Power-ed up are 'Moschino Cheap And Chic' in their Resort 2014 collection. This being one of my favorite seasons I am always looking for collections that show a new and/or improved version of vacation state-of-mind clothing. The perfect Resort collection is in fact the collection that you want to wear to Coachella, but there are two kinds of Resort collections: the obvious beach vibe collection and the not so obvious relaxed but creative collection.
With Moschino's Cheap And Chic Resort 2014 collection we're talking about the second kind. As you might have guessed from the cover photo, they took every hippie's motto: 'Flower Power Is The Way'. Then again a collection can have different angles keeping in mind that it still needs to be cohesive.

My Favorite Look

This is simply my favorite look because they updated the A-line dress. Resort is not really a season to play with volume so they toned it down without sacrificing too much of the basic structure. My favorite thing about this dress is however the hippie effect that this entire collection strongly has: the tie-dye effect. The A-line dress has a certain asymmetric structure but they really didn't pay attention to that when they picked the fabric. I am indeed glad because it totally eliminates the stiff structure that the asymmetric A-line dress has.


Next to my favorite look there are a couple of other looks that caught my eye for many reasons. First of all I have to compliment them on their use of color, the obvious route for a Resort collection would've been bright colors but they concentrated more on pastel colors and colors between pastel and bright shades. The most memorable dress certainly is the one with a sky background with PEACE on it. I'd like to see any of my hippie rolemodels in it any day of the week - floral crown included. The next thing that also caught my eye is a pastel colored green bag in the form of a cast. It's a fun and whimsical way to bring out the goof in everyone. It reminded me a lot of Alice + Olivia's winked eye cardigan.

The rest of the collection is filled with colorful combinations of high waisted skirts, shorts and long sleeved shirts.  

Here are a couple of my favorite looks:

Here is the rest of the collection:

Moschino Cheap And Chic didn't need to apologize for accessorizing, I give them mad props for their bags, glasses, worn out boots and of course floral crowns (it's the hippie thing to do!). I first saw the floral crown on Leighton Meester when she was performing with Check in the Dark. The cherry on top however is the fact that they ended the shoot with floral on floral without it looking like your moms garden.

Much Love,

4 the Love of Music! #2

For the second edition of DiFashionista's '4 the Love of Music' I am going to show you the awesomeness that is my 'new' favorite band. They are....The Lumineers.
From being able to perform at the Grammy's and at Coachella 2013 - and let's not forget selling over 1 million albums - The Lumineers have come a long way. A friend recommended their self-titled album and since then I can't seem to picture a moment of my life that they haven't been playing in my ear - or  in my head. Repeat is a place they have come to earn and should make peace with!

Everyone has that band that you want to listen to all the time but when you search their track list you don't know which song to listen to first, well The Lumineers are like that for me. I'm not saying I can't pick my favorite song from them, I'm just saying it doesn't happen a lot that a band/artists has an album filled with amazing songs. It is literally the only album where I haven't come across a song I dislike. I can listen to the album without skipping anything - that's a work of art, if you ask me.

The thing that really makes The Lumineers stand out, is the same rule as in Fashion: Be cohesive yet versatile AT ALL TIMES! Listening to their album will show you their sound as a band, but it will surely won't make you say 'ow I heard this song already'.

Introduction:

The band members from left to right: Stelth, Neyla, Wesley, Jeremiah and Ben.

"And Love, We Need It Now. Let's Hope For Some 'Cause We're Bleeding Out"

The Lumineers first released 'Ho Hey' off their debut album and the video quickly came after that. Ho Hey is a very good introduction to the band's new sound - it's both mainstream and also underground. There are circling a lot of 'meanings' behind the song, some claim it's about the love of his life, others say it's about his move from NY to Denver and another claims that it's about drugs (I highly doubt that). It's not important, we all find our own meaning behind our favorite songs. When I first heard it I thought 'this must me excellent live' and the band said it's a definite crowd-pleaser. It was received pretty good because they ended up performing it at the Grammy's and it has over 63 million views on YouTube. I fell in love with this song and decided to check out the album:

Song: Ho Hey

"In the End it All Comes Down to Credibility. I had None, So I Will Die With the Secrets of the Sea"

Wesley (the lead singer) wrote most of the songs and this next song is an example of how important the relationship between lyrics and music is. The lyrics are amazing and comedic but what really sets this song apart is the music behind it. It's catchy and eccentric because they didn't over-do the music instruments. It's the right amount of keeping it mainstream and  honest at the same time. Now it's yours to listen to:

Song: Submarines

"Suits Were Made For Men Not Boys"

The second song that I fell in love with is not on the album, but it is my favorite song from them. Like the rest of the album, this song strongly shows their talent of telling a story through music, which is really the kind of music I like and miss from the modern music industry. Some songs don't need a lot of explanation - this is one of them:

Song: Don't Wanna Go

"Some Love Was Made For The Lights. Some Kiss Your Cheeks And Goodnight"

The next song is not the kind that will be released anytime soon - it's not very mainstream. It's one for the true fans and every album has 1 - 3 songs that are for the acoustic/slow-it-down and sing-beautiful-words fans, like me. This song (almost) didn't make the album but the Denver-Colorado trio fought hard to get it on the album. As you will hear - it wasn't recorded in a real studio and that's one of the reasons why it almost didn't make the final album. I'm glad it did because it's one of my favorites - it has a very raw and live feel to it and it makes the album more soulful than it already is:

Song: Slow It Down

Here are 4 + 1 bonus songs worth listening to:

Song: Classy Girls

Song: Dead Sea

Song: Big Parade

Song: Charlie Boy

Song: Flapper Girl


As much as I can encourage you to check out The Lumineers, they are simply a band that you'll either really dislike or really like. Their sound is not that mainstream but eccentric plus the lead singer is the total package eye candy. What you see and hear is what you'll get...they're as good on the album as they are live: eccentric, raw and honest!
Much Love & Music,

The previous edition of '4 the Love of Music':
4 the Love of Music #1

The next edition of "4 the Love of Music" will be released on: Tuesday June 4th 2013.

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4 the Love of Music! #1

My love for music can’t ever be held back neither can my curiosity for finding new sounds and artists. I'm always looking for something new - even if it's old.

'4 the Love of Music' is simply my way of sharing more than just inspirational pictures on Tumblr and Instagram. Music is a big part of my life and a huge source of inspiration, not just for me but also for a lot of people. That's why I've decided to release 4 of my favorite songs on the 4th of every month!

Not always does the “mi casa es su casa” phrase work, but it does in this case! Here's a piece of my 18-year-young head & heart:

"I Play Tough As Nails With My Heart On My Sleeve"

I am going to start with one of my all time favorite songs because I feel like it was written for me. The young lady who sings it, is not a stranger in the Fashion World. She was my "Style Ruler" prediction for 2013 in '2013, the Year of...?' on DiFashionista. What makes this song even better is the fact that I also associate it with the DiFashionista Blog motto: "Style is Personality". Let this fun - fierce - fabulous masterpiece take you over:

Solange Knowles -

Sandcastle Disco

Album: Sol-Angel & The Hadley St. Dreams

"You Fill Your Pockets, Yet You Empty Out My Soul"

One of the things I can really appreciate in music, is: the truth. Pop  music is made for radio stations, but a lot of musicians - mostly Indie bands - have a habit of telling the truth no matter what. I have not heard from the band what this song is about, but this song describes the modern music industry that I get bored and/or annoyed with. It's not just the song that made an impact on me, but the video is also really really good:

Churchill -

Change

Album: Change EP

"Red Cars Are Quite Rare I've Realized, Then I Wondered Which Color You'd Like"

BOY consists of two girls with fresh faces that will light up your headphones with their eccentric and easy going music. The video is just as relax and free as their music. I just heard their album Mutual Friends and fell in love with this track:

BOY -

Little Numbers

Album: Mutual Friends

"Without Her I'm Lost, but My Love Don't Fade Away"

The British band Mumford and Sons have had a great 2013 start with an "Album of the Year" Grammy in their pocket for the album 'Babel'. Well deserved and well written, I must put them on the list. Their raw, eccentric and free-spirited music gets me through gloomy days. No it's not (only) the beards, but the combination of their acoustic- genre and the soul they put in it.

Mumford and Sons -

Reminder

Album: Babel

This is the first edition of “4 the Love of Music”. This new edition of DiFashionista is a monthly edition, that includes 4 songs that will be released on the 4th of every month. It’s basically me sharing my everyday inspiration. Let me know which ones u liked!

Much Love & Music, 

The next edition "4 the Love of Music! #2" will be released on: Saturday May 4th 2013.

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