WHAT 2018 TAUGHT ME

2018 has lasted approximately 5 years. I'm not even exaggerating, we literally had an OLYMPICS that we all just forgot about. So much crap has happened this year that has made me lose a little bit of my faith in humanity, so here's what I feel like I've taken from this year.

Trying to be confident and face your fears is always the best way.
This October I moved to Birmingham, much bigger and much busier than where I'm from. Luckily I got to move up and live with my boyfriend but it was still pretty daunting to start a new chapter as big as this one. The reason we moved up here was to start university and I was terrified to meet new people and make new friends, I didn't see myself as a particularly confident person and I got into my own head a little too much, worrying about what people might think of me. The first day of Uni I decided to pretend I was super chill and confident, I spoke to loads of people and made loads of friends! When I look back on it I realise I wasn't putting on this confidence I just actually decided to suck up my fear and try to face it. If I hadn't channeled confidence at the start of Uni I wouldn't have made such great friends and had such a good time as I have so far, so I'm glad I was able to realise this early on.

Self sufficiency is hard
As I already said I moves out this year which was a big transition for me. Cleaning has particularly gets on my nerves but probably for reasons different to others, I like things to be very tidy and clean, this means vacuuming and getting rid of crumbs is something I like to do quite often. Before I only really had to keep my bedroom clean but now I have a two bedroom flat to keep in tip top shape, beds must be made and clothes must be away everyday otherwise I feel like I can't get on with other things I need to do.

Clothes washing is something I didn't think would be a big deal but I appear to run out of socks quite quickly. Another problem I ran into is trying to do as little washing as possible, this means I mix colours, whites and darks in the same wash, this morning for instance, I put a load of washing in the machine and now all my boyfriends white socks and my white bed sheets are bright pink, whoops.

Food shopping is another thing that doesn't seem hard, it's actually quite fun to be able to buy whatever food you like. This problem is actually walking home with food shopping. We don't have a car and as it's only a 15 minute walk to Morrisons we don't see the point of getting the bus or an Uber, but those 15 minutes walking back from the shop is awful.

Keep things exciting
Moving in with boyfriend has been wonderful, I love him and getting to wake up together everyday makes me super happy. The only thing is trying not falling into habits of just sitting around watching TV and just co-habiting rather than spending time together making memories. Sometimes we don't have too much to share with each other as we literally spend all the time together, especially now the weathers getting colder and going outside sounds horrible.
To combat this we try and plan days out wether it's meeting up with friends or planning a cheap date night. After dressing up a little to even just go to the pub for dinner we always feel closer and it just feels more special than staying at home. Saying that though, some of my favourite date nights have been making an el paso taco kit together and eating it on the sofa while watching a movie.

Friends and family are super important
Moving cities means missing everyone. I have such a tight family and such good friends who I love very much and knowing that I can't just pop in and see them whenever I like is really hard, but when I do get to see them every minute is precious. This year I saw people so close to me go through so much and every bad thing bought everyone so much closer and made me appreciate what I have. Making a conscious effort to just message people to make sure they're ok and just have a catch up lets them know that you're there.

Self love and care is vital
This year I've tried to step up looking after myself, both mentally and physically. Instead of forcing myself to be happy all the time I just started being nicer to myself and showing myself love. Simple things like having pamper days or having days where I know I can just do nothing and know that that's ok. Forcing yourself to feel a certain way isn't healthy, if you're sad letting yourself feel sad is natural and completely normal. Cutting off negative people and thinking about you isn't selfish or mean, it's a progression of self respect, you should be your main priority.


I have become a completely different person throughout this year, there's been so many experiences both good and bad that have shaped me into who I am now. This doesn't mean I am the woman I'm meant to be but what it does mean is that I am shaping into the person I want to be. This time next year I might be a completely new version of myself and I'm excited to know who that'll be.

MY FAVOURITE ALBUMS OF 2018

IDLES
JOY AS AN ACT OF RESISTANCE
PARTISAN RECORDS

IDLES latest album was released in August this year, with the pressure from the massive success of their first album fans were unsure of how the band would top it. Of course they went and created the best album of 2018 and spoke about some pretty hard hitting issues that rocked the world as well. This album is bringing post-punk back into the 'mainstream', debuting at number 12 in the charts and hitting number 8, their message of saving the social values we hold was reaching millions. Saving the NHS and loving one another being shouted at the people over insanely well written instrumental makes the message behind the music as well as the actual music my favourite album of 2018 if not my entire life.

COURTNEY BARNETT
TELL ME HOW YOU REALLY FEEL
MILK!, MOM+POP RECORDS, MARATHON ARTISTS

Courtney Barnett released her fourth album in May of this year, 'tell me how you feel' is comprised of beautifully human lyrics and painfully relatable quotes. The album oozes personality and feels more exciting than her previous albums. With stand out songs such as 'Nameless, Faceless' and 'I'm  not your mother, I'm not your bitch' talking about gender inequality and the changes she's faced as she's grown as an artist. Barnett also manages to talk about common, small struggles that have been written about before in a way that sounds fresh and new, it's impossible to not relate to her lyrics.

ARIANA GRANDE
SWEETNER
REPUBLIC RECORDS

'Sweetner' projects the perfect mix of R&B and pop for Ariana Grande's voice. Throughout the album Grande takes a stand against the mainstream and sends an empowering and important message to her young and predominantly female audience. The album features collaborations from A-list celebs Pharrell Williams, Nicki Minaj and Missy Elliot, all of whom fit into the album perfectly. My favourite track from the album has to be 'the light is coming'. This track was the first single released in anticipation of the 'sweetener' album and showed instantly the differences that would define Grande's evolved sound.

BAKAR
BADKID
BASH*

'BAKAR' is the best sound coming out of the DIY scene right now. His debut album comes after a year of multiple successful single releases and sticks to his unique sound while still throwing in a wonderful mix of genres. Bakar set himself the challenge of breaking the stereotype thrown onto him and aims to shatter the preconceptions people may have about his music. If anything shows his confidence, the first track on the album finishes with the repeating line 'if the government calls put my dick in their mouth', absolutely love it.

LYKKE LI
SO SAD SO SEXY

RCA RECORDS

When I went through by brief obsession with Sweedish pop earlier this year I ran into Lykke Li. The album travels through bittersweet happiness and raw sadness, the emotions you're left with emulate those of the album title, so sad but so sexy. The guardian summed up the vibe by saying that her latest album 'so sad so sexy', "has the power to trigger both shape-cutting and existential crises", I have done both while listening to it.  My favourite track on the album is , 'hard rain' starts with simple harmonies and a lone violin which develops gently into a chilled R&B influenced synthy verse which compliments her voice perfectly.

REVOLTION 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS BOX SET

As I was browsing round Superdrug the other week I walked past the christmas gift set aisle and noticed everything was HALF PRICE so naturally I saw this as an opportunity to buy myself some new make up. This is the Revolution 12 Days of Christmas boxset which contains over £80 worth of make up for just £60. As I said, I got this at half price so only spent £30 and it is currently still on sale on the revolution website for £40. This set is completely worth the money and contains some amazing goodies for a christmas present for a friend or for yourself. In my opinion this would be the perfect gift for someone who's just started getting into make up as it has pretty much everything you could ever need and it looks super professional.

Inside you get 12 different products, hence the name, to create a near full face of make up. The packaging is high quality and feels very luxe. The box is the same size as a standard shoe box and is made if high quality board with a lovely rose gold and nude finish. The inside is just as pleasing with each individual item being placed in black, nude or rose gold packaging.

The first item in the box is a set of three travel brushes and holy shit they are SO SOFT! I didn't know that revolution did brushes at all but I am so impressed. They're absolutely adorable and super easy to just throw in your bag to touch up through out the night. The little eyebrow brush makes it so easy to create more natural brow hairs as the tip is so fine, I'm not sure what I'll use the eye shadow brush for as it is so small? If people do those fancy cut crease things maybe that'd be good for fine lines?? The foundation and powder brushes are just super cute and useful for powder and cream countering as the size is just perfect for getting right under the cheekbone.

Next you get a set of three lip glosses. I'm not really a lip gloss kinda gal but the colours are pretty standard, nice and neutral. The gold shiny gloss gives a super pretty sheen over neutral lipsticks or just by itself to give a pretty glossy look. I was thinking I could use this one on my eyes to do that cool wet eyeshadow look but the formula of all of them is super thick and sticky so I probably won't even try.

This mattifying primer really fixed up my oilier areas and kept my make up looking fresh all night, it does have that silicone feel to it but most mattifying primers do which I don't really mind as I don't ever wear make up for long periods of time. It filled in all the pores on and around my nose nicely and after applying foundation I didn't feel the need to pack my powder on as usual.

The illuminating spray gave a really nice, as natural as you can get with a shit tonne of foundation on, look. I also apply it before my foundation and it almost looks like there are tiny specks of glitter mixed with the spray, I love this but others may not. It gave a lovely glow and stopped my face looking powdery which was wonderful. The cooling fixing spray is pretty much the same as the illuminating spray without the sparkles. It does feel really nice and refreshing on the skin, it's just like a normal setting spray that wakes you up a bit more.

I've never used eye primer before as I always assumed it was just a useless product but this one really brightens and intensifies the colour of the shadows. I applied a shimmer shade onto my lid without it and it just didn't pop as much as when I used the primer. Even without a shadow over it, it's super sparkly and glowy and actually looks quite nice on its own.

I wasn't sure if I wanted to buy this box set mostly because I don't wear eyeshadow on the regular but I'm so glad I did because these palettes are beautiful! They're SO pigmented which surprised me because I wasn't expecting so much due to the little price. The velvet mattes palette holds a great variety of transition shades that all work really well with the metallic crush palette. Putting these three together in the box set was a good move as all the shadows across the three palettes compliment each other so well. The formula is so buttery and easy to blend even I could do it and it actually looked good! The metallic and shimmery shadows are so pretty and you get such a good choice of colours to experiment with from neutrals to bright purple.

I was shocked that there was a full contour palette in this box set, and on top of that theres four blushes and four highlighters? The range of shades is great in the blush and highlight palette but if you do have a darker skin tone you may struggle with the bronzer shades as they're still quite light.  The pigment in both palettes is the perfect formula to build up the intensity of the colour to your desired look.
The eyebrow palette has a mixture of waxy pomades and powders which work really well for me as I am literally missing half of each eyebrow. I use the wax to draw on pretend hairs where I'm lacking and then fill in my actual brow with the powder. You also get a subtle but pretty brow bone highlight, and a clear wax which I have't yet figured out how to use.

Overall this box set is an amazing collection. I've heard that some of the products you get in this boxset are exclusive and can't be bought separately so that just adds to the amazing value you receive.    Considering this is still on sale so you only have to spend £40 to get all of this make up when one palette from urban decay is pretty much the same price, I'm voting revolution all the way!

SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL MUSIC SCENE

I come from a smallish town called Northampton which is situated in the middle of England where people assume not much happens, but whilst I was living there I was out pretty much every weekend seeing one band or another. Most of the time I was off supporting the bands my friends had created and through this I met loads of other musicians and music fans just like me. It sounds cheesy but I wouldn't know half the people I do today if I hadn't gone and seen local bands in local venues.

(Demidow Photography aka the coolest lady ever, 'Grynn' based in Northampton)

Northampton had a pretty tight music scene, it was impossible to go to a gig and meet someone you hadn't already bumped into at a different show. Maybe this was because there was roughly 3 different tiny little venues where these events would be held, but it created a community of people who had a mutual respect for each other. Yeah, maybe we didn't all see each other outside of shows but I knew if I wanted to turn up to a gig by myself I would always find someone there that would talk to me. A couple years after I joined the music scene I noticed some changes, people started to care less and less about the shows and less people started turning up to gigs. A lot of the time people would turn up to watch their friends band and then leave after they've played, for me this is the shittiest thing you could do. I can't count the amount of times the venue's half empty after the support, it's plain rude.

Going to local gigs is one of the cheapest ways of having a night out, you get to listen to music and have a dance and most of the time the tickets aren't more than a fiver. Most of the time bands aren't looking to make a load of money, they just want people to hear their music, so they keep entry fees low and chose venues they know are easy to get to and where the drinks aren't too expensive. Even if you don't know what the band sounds like or who they are, finding new music is never a bad thing, even if you don't like it, you know that now at least.

The main reason supporting your scene is so important is for the artist. Local artists need these local shows to give them the support and momentum to get bigger shows in bigger cities. No artist gets songs together and goes straight on a world tour, even Ed Sheeran played in his hometown pubs before getting recognised. If you need more of a reason to see these shows, people love to gain bragging rights by seeing an artist before they got big. It's also just nice to see people you know doing something they love. Some of my favourite bands are bands I know from my hometown, and they're also some of my best friends which is the best thing ever.

Expanding on making friends in the music scene, simply bands support bands. If you, like me, are in the music industry in any way, having friends who are already in the industry will want to support you if you've supported them. Getting a job through contacts you've found or contacts people you know have made is way easier than just throwing yourself at people who have never heard from you. If you want to start a band and you already know a tonne of musicians from local gigs you've been to is going to be more simple than trying to find stranger online to play music with. If you need someone to open a show for you, already knowing bands in the local area makes the job a whole lot easier.

Another absolutely VITAL part of the local music scene is the local venues. Without these venues there won't be any music scene at all, no one comes to the shows, no business for the venues, venues shut, no shows at all. Local music venues are already under attack from local councils and 35% of independent music venues in the UK have been shut down in the past decade for various reasons, so the ones that are still open need supporting. With big chain pubs and bars taking over from independent venues and pubs they're already struggling but the musicians and music fans need these safe spaces to perform their art to the people who want to watch.

Basically don't be a dick, support your friends.

my top songs of 2018

This year saw a massive change in my music taste, joining a music journalism course showed me I needed to listen to and be more open about all types of music. I've always been someone who struggles to listen to a full album and much prefer just making a playlist of my favourite singular tracks but I'm working on it! Hopefully I can pull together my favourite albums of this year to share with everyone before the end of December.

'Grim Reaper' by Suzi Wu has been a song I've listened to on repeat since its release in October. I loved her Teenage witch e.p last year and she's bought the same perfect mix of punk and pop alongside real and hard hitting lyrics. The 20 year old is releasing her second e.p 'the sound of pop turned inside out' in January next year which, if this single is a representation of her new tracks, will be a 2019 staple for me.

Daniel Caesar and Free Nationals teamed up to release a mellow R&B single 'Beauty & Essex' which is the lead single for the new Free Nationals album. This song is possibly one of the most slinky and sexy songs released this year, it's got an incomparably smooth bass line and Caesar's voice is beautifully soulful, singing lyrics themed around loneliness and longing.

'Sway' is a song I only recently found, Swedish pop star Tove Styrke made her comeback this year releasing her new album. 'Sway' is the first song on the album and explores romantic vulnerability and her anxiety around romance, much like the rest of the album. The lyrics show emotions that relate to experiences many people encounter. Under the lyrics, a strong rhythm defined by hand claps and electronic drum samples gives the track a beat to dance to whilst also giving off a chill and relaxed vibe.

Billie Ellish released an abundance of music this year. 'When the party's over' was my favourite of the five releases this year. The piano mixed with her breathy vocals and harmonies meant that the simplicity of the song hit with so much raw emotion, which left her stand out voice to tell the story perfectly. Her voice is outstanding and doesn't remind me of anyone else is the music industry today, giving her a raw edge at such a young age. 'When the party's over' is a single that is so incredibly well written both lyrically and instrumentally, the song doesn't sound empty or acoustic even though there is just the piano, vocal and the harmonies. Whenever I hear it I'm in complete awe of her, the range of her voice is insane and her lyrics are gorgeous and sang so seamlessly, she makes me incredibly jealous.

Poppy confused many people when she released her new album, 'Am I A Girl?' on halloween last month. An album infused with a mix of metal and her usual alternative pop vibe. My personal favourite song on this album is 'Play Destroy' which she wrote with Grimes, the song constantly switches between intense metal drums and guitar into girly pop which to me shows how the glossy pop star image often covers up something much darker, Poppy says her collaboration with Grimes is about wanting to take down large corporations and how they both find it exhilarating.

'Let me down' by Jorja Smith and Stormzy is a song that hit me like a tonne of bricks. When I first heard this song her silky vocals had me melting and when I read further into the lyrics I wanted to cry, they're so meaningful and honest, you can hear her emotions while she sings these words, especially towards the end of the song where she sings, 'I tried but I just can't give you up'. Stormzy fits perfectly into the track, you know when someone just throws a rapper into their song to get more recognition (*cough* Girls like you - Maroon 5 *cough*), but he adds to much emotion and context to the track. This is a song that will always make me emotional, the video is also beautifully shot and directed.

Slowthai is the newest grime artist on the scene right now, he seems to have blown up overnight. Us both being from the same area of Northampton I was surprised I'd never heard of him as his music is fucking sick, specifically the single 'Ladies'. This is the song that led me to discover him, he featured of The Colours Show on Youtube singing this song against a beige background. I love the lyrics over the low-fi melody and buzzy bass line.


IDLES are my favourite band. Their latest album blew me away, I fucking love it. 'Great' is my (and my mums) favourite song off the album, they bring an amazing punk essence to talk about the UK's problems, the music video for 'Great' talks about Brexit and shares the belief of just under half of the UK, that Brexit is bullshit. The song comes at a time when many young people are confused about what their future holds and this song beings a little bit of hope to me, showing that people want things to change.

I didn't like any of Courtney Barnett's previous albums, but her 2018 release 'Tell me how you really feel' is one of my favourites this year. 'Nameless, Faceless' is a realistic feminist song that shows no mercy for her haters. With lyrics like 'I wanna walk through the park in the dark', 'woman are scared of man who kill them' and I hold my keys between my fingers' are frighteningly real words for many woman, putting them all into one song over pretty, harmonious chords and contrasting distorted guitars has paid off for Barnett, creating a catchy and iconic song to bring taboo'd subjects to light.

Lucy Dacus is a new artist for me, I had never heard of her until one of her music videos was recommended to me on Youtube. Her song 'Night shift' is complied of relaxing guitar tones and vocal smoothness whilst she sings dark lyrics contemplating her feelings towards her breakup. Her voice is so soft and under appreciated, I love her range and the words she writes are so beautiful it's impossible to find a flaw. Towards the end of the track the acoustic vibe of the track belts into a rocky guitar with powerful vocal ad-libs, when I hear it I just want to jump around and fuck things up.

‘Forever always’ is a collaborative masterpiece by Peter CottonTale, featuring up and coming young artists and songwriters Chance the Rapper, Daniel Ceaser, Rex Orange County, Madison Ryan Ward and Yebba. Seeing all these artists together on one track you may not know what to expect, personally I thought it would sound too mashed together to include these popular names, but their different voices blend perfectly over the dreamy keyboard, jazzy guitar and church like choir.

I've added a link to my spotify playlist where you can find these singles if anyone likes any of them and wants to have a listen! There's also a couple more songs on there that I loved this year. They're in no particular order, I love them all equally.

((https://open.spotify.com/user/charlieelizabeth123/playlist/7hi27NbDnVYS8Qy3qKu3Jb?si=pOPZ8mvWToibo_y1wbPbGQ ))

Echo Beach! headline show

Echo Beach! are an up and coming indie rock band making their way to being one of the most predominant bands in the Birmingham music scene. Their biggest headline show took place last weekend, 9th of November, at Birminghams O2 institute. The show also featured 4 bands similar to their headliners promising a great evening of music. After queuing for half an hour in the pouring rain we collected our tickets and continued to the third floor. They had a pretty good turn out, most of the room was full of people who like me and my friends didn't buy any drinks, we weren't spending £7 for a beer. 



 Due to the queuing for tickets I missed most of the first band. From what I did hear, The needless were alright. The threesome were wearing suits, but the outfits didn’t match their sound. They were clearly trying to look like a cohesive band but it just wasn't working. The original songs they played were pretty standard indie rock songs and they performed a  good Arctic Monkeys cover but there wasn't anything that particularly defined them, no stand out features of their music or aesthetic. 




The second band on stage were called The Space. To me everything they played sounded the same, there wasn't enough variation between their songs as the drummer played the same rhythm through nearly every single song they played bar one or two. The most interesting and stand out part of their music was the lead guitarists solos, he easily played smooth and well written guitar riffs through every song which gave them some of the variation they so desperately craved. The last song The Space performed was their best by far, I would name song name but to be honest I had absolutely no idea what the vocalist was saying both during and in between songs, the drummer played a heavier drum rhythm which actually changed up between the verse and chorus. The band looked more comfortable performing this track and I seemed stronger than the rest of their set, the song had more rhythm and gave a stronger sense of the bands sound. Overall the group needed to be a bit tighter and confidant in themselves individually, being able to connect and vibe with each other on stage to bring the audience more into the performance is something that would've improved their set. 


'The Pines' were the third act of the evenings line up, the band bought a strong energy from the get go coming on stage and immediately talking to the audience with confidence asking everyone how they are, bringing the audience into their set before we had even heard them play. Their genre is best described as brit rock/british invasion with heavier guitar solos and heavy drums. They all looked comfortable and confident and it was obvious they were enjoying themselves. 'The Pines' had amazing stage presence and there was a strong focus on the instrumental as well as lyric. The passion was oozing from the front man as he jumped to and from the mic while slamming his guitar and dancing along to his music. The second song finished on a lovely instrumental guitar as the band announced ‘to be honest this is the biggest crowd we’ve ever played’, I was surprised as I couldn’t tell with how well they held the stage. They are all clearly talented musicians individually and once put together their talent is pushed into well written songs and energised live performances. In between songs they held good conversation with the audience, after each song saying thank you and checking everyone’s ok. The fourth song sounded straight out of the sixties and even after only a couple of chords I was excited to hear how the song would delvelop. The strong 60’s bass rhythm was impossible not to bop to and fiercely reminded me of The Beatles sound, very upbeat and happy which continued throughout the song, The fifth song included nice scratchy vocals which showed a really nice variation in their music,. I got a strong throwback to the old Arctic Monkeys album from the sixth song which was added to by the strong british vocal and higher pitched guitar with fast pace drum fills. My boyfriend said he got more of a kasabian vibe, early 2000’s indie vibe from the entire band which I could vouch for, but I think these guys are better than Kasiabian.The only thought I had was to maybe throw one or two slower acoustic songs in there to add contrast within their set even though a couple of their songs did have slower parts, they always built back up pretty quickly. The entire set included very catchy up beat songs that were easy to dance to. They were a very strong, clean and tight band over all with well written music and some interesting guitar solos and instrumental parts under well written and sing a long lyrics. 


'Window Weather' looked very professional, their set up included two laptops, two sample pads, two keyboards,  one drum pad plus two cymbals. Between the three of them they created a synth pop set made up of ambient vocal harmonies. The cymbals sound super pretty mixed with the drum pad and the synth combination created a chill atmosphere which contrasted well with the rest of the acts from the night. The audience moved right forward to listen to them once they started and swayed along whilst they played. The first and second song contained beautiful harmonies which were made possible by using a harmoniser keyboard on the background vocals which added heaps ambience to the song. I describe these songs together as they sounded the same and I did originally think they were one song with just a small break in the middle. The set was very passionate vocally but I couldn't help but feel like it needed a full drum kit on top of the electric samples, the songs sounded good and clean but there was something missing. The samples would sound lovely and relaxing on a recording but for a live performance the music needs to be adapted to sound good in the new environment. The third song featured a cool shaker over strong, deep electric keyboard tone giving a darker vibe to the track but got repetitive as the song went on. I was distracted from the main vocal as he was off to the side of the stage, the guy triggering the samples standing in the middle, I wasn't sure why he wasn't the main focus as I would've said he needs to be in the middle. Maybe this was because of technical set up and I'm just being easily distracted. Throughout the performance. found myself wondering why there was so much to their set up, from the amount of tech on stage it didn't seem like there was that much in their music, the band didn't seem to get too into the music as they were focusing so hard on the technology, they created a barrier of expensive music gear between them and the audience. The drum pad gives endless possibilities, especially when plugged into a laptop yet this guy is using seemingly the same 3 samples in every song. To encapsulate the performance it sounded nice but after a couple songs it just got repetitive and felt like it needed a change. The music was pretty, but to me there needs to be more to music then it sounding 'nice'. 


'Echo beach!' The headliners came on to a massive cheer from the audience. They started playing a walk on track for their lead singer and bassist who entered and faced the drummer whilst she started to play. I'm not sure if this was for dramatic effect or what but for me it closed her off from the audience, almost projecting a sense of her importance. The first song showed off the musical talents in the band, strong vocals, confident well written guitar solos and immense amounts of stage presence. Halfway through the song there was a contrasting dropout of instruments before going back into the chorus where the vocalist impresses with some super cool riot girl inspired shouty vocals. The third song, 'this is breaking my heart' was funkier and featured a strong rhythm guitar with the classic 'indie' chorus effect. The vocalist again brought her strong attitude, almost acting out her lyrics with her facial expressions which added so much character to the song, grooving along to the dance solos encouraging the audience members to do the same. Obviously with band being made up of three lads and one girl there is going to be references made to Wolf Alice but here I reference the sound, influences such as Wolf Alice and Black Honey are unmistakable within their tracks solidifying the indie rock genre of their music. Halfway through their set, Echo Beach! play a cover of Avril Lavigne's Girlfriend, the best part of this cover was how much fun the band was having whilst playing it, the vocalist was having a blast dancing round the stage shouting into the microphone as the crown shouted along, at the end of the song there was a drum solo that seamlessly transitioned the song into another cover, this time they played Amsterdam by Nothing But Thieves. Both covers were well rehearsed and well chosen songs to get the audience up and dancing. Then they played 'Juggernaut' which didn't do too much for me, it felt as if it was missing something that I can't quite lay my finger on, as soon as it started building up it finished. It was no where near bad, it just didn't seem as polished or passionate as the rest of their set. Their final song 'she' started with a lovely smooth chord progression then adds a super funky bass and lead guitar. I recognised this song instantly from their Spotify, the audience did too and were singing at the top of their voice. This is the song where the band looks the most comfortable and at home on the stage, it has an infectiously catchy rhythm and fun character to it which just makes you want to dance. The set was impressive and strong on everyones part, there wasn't anything to complain about which is different for me. I really enjoyed watching their set and it was definitely worth waiting in the rain for and I will for sure be going to see them again soon.

My Journey With My Skin

I didn't know wether to write anything about this but I remember when I was struggling I needed something like this to read. Have this extremely low quality photo of me.

Acne is something I have struggled with for 8 years, does't sound like too much of a problem to some, but living everyday with painful spots for so long at an age where appearance starts to become your life really does take a toll of your mental state. The past 10 years has seen drastic developments in acne treatments, many of which I had the fun time of trying out. If you couldn't sense it, that was sarcasm.

When my skin first decided to ruin my life, I thought nothing of it, probably hormones right? Everyone is bound to get spots at some point in their life, no need to fuss. Many people go years feeling just fine about having acne and I salute you! There is nothing wrong with having acne and theres no reason to be ashamed or feel bad but I was surrounded by young girls who had perfect skin, I'd never been taught about skin care and such. I started using make up to cover up my skin, I can't say if this made my skin any worse but I thought it'd make me feel a bit better about myself. This applying of make up became a large part of my daily routine for the next half a decade. I would wake up hours before school started to scrub my face with whatever medicated face wash I had brought that time, desperate for just one of these miracle spot products to work. Then I would start my self taught make up routine, no moisturiser as that contained oils and I had been told oil caused acne. Bright orange foundation, dream matte moose of course, and mascara, the only make up I knew existed.  I would repeat this when I returned home from school incase anyone would come round and possibly see my bare face.

very soon my acne got worse and worse, and yet more painful. I must have been 13 when I first visited the doctor about my skin, I was told to stop worrying about my appearance and that soon enough they'd go away. The words of doctors from countless appointments have stuck with me for years and continue to make me feel embarrassed whenever I look back on them. Many months of appointments with different doctors with all of them implying I was vain and dismissed me when I asked about different treatments I could try. Finally after years I was prescribed a peroxide cream, at the time this was the best spot treatment available for prescription, there wasn't much research about causes of acne but at this point I was in so much pain, the doctors were obliged to help me. This cream seemed to work until the day I woke up to find it had burned my skin and large chunks of my face peeled off with ease. More appointments, more creams, no success.

Now acne research is swaying towards bacteria causing acne, so I'm prescribed a low dose of antibiotic, one every day to two years. Two years later I'm back with another appointment, not only have the antibiotics not worked but my skin is worse, new research shows that acne isn't caused by bacteria so that was a waste of time and now the doctor doesn't know what to do. I'm told to 'try and stop eating dairy' which may or may not cause acne, she doesn't really know. Surprisingly this does't work and my self esteem is at its lowest. I won't leave the house, I cover my mirror with posters and I sit in the dark incase of any reflective surface allowing me to see my skin. The doctors tell me to stop making a fuss and i'm effectively left to my own misery.

My poor mum does't know what to do. She can't stand seeing me misserable so searches the internet for any sign of hope. Through this period of time I try Chinese herbal treatments and therapy that blames phycological problems for acne, clear mind clear skin I am reminded. This is my life for a while. I lost all hopes of having clear skin or any shred of self confidence, and again I am told my appearance isn't everything and that I'm still beautiful but how is a young teenage girl supposed to believe that when she's surrounded by so many 'perfect' women, girls who have a couple spots on their period and shout about how ugly they look for a couple days and advertising for spot treatments telling me i need to find a quick solution to be beautiful?

Yet more money spent on every new spot product I walk past, still ridden with acne getting worse and worse. I'm put on the birth control pill, hormones are being researched into by skin care specialists so maybe this could work? Nope, my skin reacts awfully to the new medication in my system but I stick with it, and stick with it, and stick with it.

(Sorry to be repetitive)I'm back at the doctors. I'm sitting by myself, I've been crying all morning. I don't want to be here to be told again that I'm wasting their time, but this will be the last time I'm there, I decided with myself that this will just be what I look like forever, dramatic I know but its been 6 years and nothings happened. Here's where something good actually happened. I'm referred to the dermatology ward of the general hospital where they've started prescribing a new treatment, Isotretinoin. Lucky me is a perfect candidate for the treatment, and get prescribed it straight away. Every four weeks I go get my tablets and checked over by the nurse, I do this for 18 months. I've been off the medication for 8 months now and my skin is absolutely spot free. I don't want to go to much into Isotretinoin as I am not an expert in it at all, I'm merely saying it's what worked for me so if you feel you'd want to try it then talk to a professional.

I wanted to get this out there was for people who have felt discouraged by doctors talking about their skin, I know first hand how much of a phycological affect acne can have on you, its something someone who does't have acne won't understand. I felt so stupid for so long due to doctors comments and I don't want other people to think theres no options. The biggest thing I took from this whole ordeal was that no one else was bothered by my skin. People I know say they never took much notice and they certainly didn't think anything of my acne if they even noticed it. Now I have beautiful skin in my opinion, I'm allowed to be vain about it I have definitely earned it, but when I get compliments on my skin I tend to go into the whole Isotretinoin spiel then realise I can just say thank you.

Basically, acne isn't a big deal to most people, but it's allowed to be a big deal to you if you suffer from it. There is no taboo in talking about how you feel about it and there is always something that can help you get clear skin if you want clear skin! Also don't spend loads of money on medicated skin care products, they pretty much never work.

why i have an issue with soundcloud rappers

When I say I have a problem with Soundcloud rappers I use this as an umbrella term. To me (at least) a Soundcloud rapper is a young male, usually in late teens, early twenties, covered in irrelevant and meaningless face tattoos that have been used to 'harden' their appearance.

For me, Soundcloud rap artists are not my personal taste but many people enjoy their tracks which is fair enough. For me, my problem with these Soundcloud rappers lies within their values, or the values they project. When someone mentions 'famous' Soundcloud rappers the names that come to my mind are, lil Xan, lil Pump, XXXtentacion, tekashi69. You'll notice, these names are ridiculous. Listen to any single track and you'll notice within the first verse that the morals of these people lie in the wrong place. They speak about 'getting fat stacks', brag about shagging underage girls and casually advertise hard drugs and violence to anyone who will listen (which really isn't that many people). I'm not here to bash people struggling with addiction or people who like drugs in general, I'm merely confused by the massive influence these Soundcloud rappers have had on popular culture.

Generally speaking, artists who have done wrong lose fans, as they should. But soundcloud rappers seem to be defended when they do something awful. A good example of this is XXXtentacion, I know he died in awful circumstances and I have no intention of bashing a dead guy but he was an awful person, yet he had so many fans despite them knowing what he did. How can anyone support a guy who beat his cell mate simply for being gay? The same kind of idiots who supported him after he stabbed a pregnant woman I guess.


Lil'Xan as his name suggests, is a guy who like Xanax. This drug has been a leading course of drug related accidents and deaths, how does someone feel its morally right to cash in on popularity caused by addiction? Maybe it's just me who is affected by my conscience, but I don't feel a need to support anyone who doesn't care or realise what their influence could do.

Maybe these young wannabe artists are trying to make it big by creating an image no one can ignore, and in a sense it has worked - they've gained millions of followers online by unapologetically being themselves, selling this idea of their lives filled with what many young people crave. When you think about any artist, they aren't just selling an album or a single, they're selling themselves and need an image that will help sell them to the audience.
Maybe as well as judging these soundcloud rappers I should also be judging the world they live in. A world which has created a need of rebellion, maybe this is their unique way of fighting the power. It doesn't mean its right. It also doesn't mean I have to like any of them. I still don't.