George Strait - "Baby Blue"

This song from my youth was just floating through my mind this morning like a gentle breeze. I can’t say that he’s my favorite any longer, but he still made some excellent music.

George Harvey Strait Sr. (born May 18, 1952) is an American country music singer, songwriter, actor, and music producer. George Strait is known as the "King of Country" and is considered one of the most influential and popular recording artists of all time. He is known for his neotraditionalist country style, cowboy look, and being one of the first and most prominent country artists to bring country music back to its roots and away from the pop country era in the 1980s.

Strait's success began when his first single "Unwound" was a hit in 1980. During the 1980s, seven of his albums reached number one on the country charts. In the 2000s, Strait was named Artist of the Decade by the Academy of Country Music, was elected into the Country Music Hall of Fame, and won his first Grammy award for the album Troubadour. Strait was named CMA Entertainer of the Year in 1989, 1990 and 2013, and ACM Entertainer of the Year in 1990 and 2014. He has been nominated for more CMA and ACM awards and has more wins in both categories than any other artist.

By 2009, he broke Conway Twitty's previous record for the most number-one hits on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart when his 44 number one singles surpassed Twitty's 40. Counting all music charts, Strait has amassed a total of 60 number-one hits, breaking a record also previously set by Twitty, giving him more number one songs than any other artist in any genre of music.

Strait is also known for his touring career when he designed a 360-degree configuration and introduced festival style tours. For example, the Strait Tours earned $99 million in three years. His concert at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, in June 2014 drew 104,793 people, marking a new record for largest indoor concert in North America.

Strait has sold more than 100 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time. His certifications from the RIAA include 13 multi-platinum, 33 platinum, and 38 gold albums. His best-selling album is Pure Country (1992), which sold 6 million (6× platinum). His highest certified album is Strait Out of the Box (1995), which sold 2 million copies (8× Platinum due to being a box set with four CDs). According to the RIAA, Strait is the 12th best-selling album recording artist in the United States overall.

So today, with little memories held like gems, I choose George Strait’s "Baby Blue" as my, remember, smile, hold on, song for a, one more color, tapestry of life, your roots remind you, Tuesday.

Ryn Weaver - "Pierre"

I posting about this song one year and 11 days ago, and it’s still such an earworm that I can’t get it out of my head.

She’s had a bit of an up and down career, that just goes to show you an artist is not defined by their commercial success. She’s had big breaks and had hits and yet still seems to be on the fringes of success. Her music, however, stands the test of time and is consistently fresh and entrancing.

Weaver met producer Benny Blanco briefly in New York. A few years later they reconnected at Blanco's birthday party through a mutual friend in Los Angeles. Blanco signed Weaver to his imprint under Interscope Records, Friends Keep Secrets.

On June 21, 2014, Weaver posted her single "OctaHate" on her SoundCloud account and within hours it received attention from many artists including Charli XCX, Charlie Puth, Harry Styles, Jessie Ware and Hayley Williams of Paramore. The song also reached number one on Billboard Emerging Artists Chart on June 25, 2014.

On August 12, 2014 Weaver's debut EP, Promises was released as a digital download. Weaver's debut studio album, entitled The Fool, was released on June 16, 2015, through Mad Love and Interscope Records. It sold 13,800 units in its first week. Weaver performed at Lollapalooza on August 1, 2015. She performed at Billboard's first ever Hot 100 Festival on August 23, 2015. She revealed she has recently left her label at Interscope and is currently unsigned.[citation needed]

On September 14, 2018, Neon Gold released Weaver's demo single titled "Reasons Not to Die".  This is her first song in three years since The Fool, which is where today’s song comes from.

The song sings of all the wrong roads you can take that will lead you to the right one. It’s upbeat and yet still understanding of the rough moments we go though post pulling our hearts apart from someone we’ve loved. It’s a delicate dance we play with ourselves full of small goals and little smiles that slowly heal the heart we’ve wounded.

So today, with a jaunty tilt to my hat and a twinkle in my eye, I choose Ryn Weaver’s “Pierre” as my, fall in love as often as you can, you get to keep the love you make, yours are jewels to be mined and polished, song for a, break open the vault, laugh at the mishaps, keep moving forward with that rakish smile, Monday.

Céline Dion - "Ashes"

For some reason this song has been floating around in my head. It just goes to show you that no matter how cheeseball the video, how frothy the lyrics, or how silly the intent, an incredible vocal performance will always shine through.

Céline Marie Claudette Dion is a Quebecois Canadian singer. She is renowned for her powerful, technically skilled vocals, and remains the best-selling Canadian recording artist and one of the best-selling artists of all time with record sales of over 200 million worldwide. Born into a large family from Charlemagne, Quebec, she emerged as a teen star in her home country with a series of French-language albums during the 1980s. She first gained international recognition by winning both the 1982 Yamaha World Popular Song Festival and the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest, where she represented Switzerland. After learning to speak English, she signed on to Epic Records in the United States. In 1990, Dion released her debut English-language album, Unison, establishing herself as a viable pop artist in North America and other English-speaking areas of the world.

During the 1990s, she achieved worldwide fame after releasing several best-selling English-language albums, such as Falling into You (1996) and Let's Talk About Love (1997), which were both certified diamond in the US. She also scored a series of international number-one hits, including "The Power of Love", "Think Twice", "Because You Loved Me", "It's All Coming Back to Me Now", "My Heart Will Go On", and "I'm Your Angel". Dion continued releasing French albums between each English record; D'eux (1995) became the best-selling French-language album of all time, while S'il suffisait d'aimer (1998), Sans attendre (2012), and Encore un soir (2016), were all certified diamond in France. During the 2000s, she built her reputation as a highly successful live performer with A New Day... on the Las Vegas Strip (2003–07), which remains the highest-grossing concert residency of all time, as well as the Taking Chances World Tour (2008–09), one of the highest-grossing concert tours of all time.

Dion's music has been influenced by genres ranging from rock and R&B to gospel and classical. Her recordings are mainly in French and English, although she also sings in Spanish, Italian, German, Latin, Japanese, and Mandarin Chinese. While her releases have often received mixed critical reception, she is regarded as one of pop music's most influential vocalists. She has won five Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year and Record of the Year. Billboard named her the "Queen of Adult Contemporary" for having the most number-one songs on the radio format for a female artist. She is the second best-selling female artist in the US during the Nielsen SoundScan era. In 2003, she was honoured by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) for selling over 50 million albums in Europe.

So today, letting beauty float up, I choose Céline Dion’s "Ashes" as my, laugh a little, don’t take yourself too seriously, it’s just life, song for an, and then what, well here goes, heaven I pray, Wednesday of St. Patrick’s Day.

Kesha - "Raising Hell (feat. Big Freedia)"

Two powerhouse vocalists living their best lives. I am so happy about their ongoing collaborations. It just goes to show you, that you can’t keep a good woman down! Truly, these are luminous humans and I am so glad that they are both finally getting the chance to shine at their brightest.

Somedays we all need to remember how to shine, and that sometimes we have to raise a little hell, and buck the status quo.

So today, with eyes ablaze, I choose Kesha’s “Raising Hell (feat. Big Freedia")” as my, to the sky, over the rainbow, with stars in our wake, song for a, break the ceiling, shatter the windows, grow beyond the space you’ve been confined to, Tuesday.

Yuna - "Creep"

Yunalis binti Mat Zara'ai (Jawi: يوناليس بنت مد ظراعي; born 14 November 1986), known professionally as Yuna, is a Malaysian singer-songwriter. Yuna's initial exposure came through the viral success of her music uploaded to Myspace, which received over one million plays. This online success alerted an indie-pop label/management company to her music, and in early 2011 she signed with the Fader Label. She is best known for her collaboration with Usher on her breakout single "Crush" which peaked at number 3 on the US Billboard Adult R&B chart.

Born and raised in Kedah and Selangor, she began writing songs at age 14. She soon taught herself to play guitar, and by 2006, in need of a creative outlet while attending law school, performed for an audience for the first time. Joined by guitarist Pa'an, bassist Efry Arwis, and drummer Adib Azfar (and later, Adil Ali), Yuna made her recorded debut album in Malaysia in 2008 with a self-titled EP, earned five Malaysian Music Awards nominations (the Malaysian equivalent of the Grammy). She took home four trophies, including Best New Artist and Best Song for her breakthrough hit "Dan Sebenarnya".

The Decorate (EP) followed two years later. Decorate included the viral hit "Rocket," which won raves from Billboard magazine, indie rock radio station KEXP, and hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons, as well as a feature in Spin's "Eight Bands You Need to Hear Now". For her performances, Yuna was nominated as one of MTV's Iggy's Best New Bands in the World in 2011, and she marked the occasion by playing at the historic MTV Studios.

The 2012 single "Live Your Life", produced by Pharrell Williams, was a preamble to her self-titled full-length debut, which arrived that April. That summer, Yuna appeared at Lollapalooza. In 2013, Yuna returned with the album Nocturnal, featuring the single "Falling". In February 2016, Yuna previewed her third album with the release of "Places to Go", a single produced by hip-hop artist DJ Premier. The full album, Chapters, was released three months later.

In December 2016, Chapters broke into the Top 10 of the Billboard Best R&B Albums of 2016: Critic's Pick; Chapters ranked at number 7. Yuna received an award for the Most Successful Malaysian Singer from the Malaysian Book Of Records. Chapters was also nominated in the Top 20 Best R&B Albums of 2016 by Rolling Stone magazine. Yuna performed as a special guest at the 2016 Soul Train Music Awards.

In May 2017, Yuna became the first Malaysian singer to be nominated for a BET Award; Yuna received a nomination for the BET Centric Award for "Crush", her duet single with Usher.

Her voice is soft yet commanding and will beckon you to dreamscapes unknown.

So today, with a little imposter syndrome kicking in, I choose Yuna’s cover of “Creep” as my, sneak through, lift off, through the loophole, song for a, ain’t nobody gonna catch me, create your own rules, because the ones you learned growing up suck, Monday.

Rüfüs Du Sol - "Treat You Better (Cassian Remix)"

Ethereal, haunting, passionate, powerful, entrancing, and motivating. This group finds a way to show off every one of these facets in their music while still feeling fresh and edgy.

Rüfüs Du Sol, stylised as RÜFÜS DU SOL and formerly known as simply Rüfüs (stylized RÜFÜS) from 2010 to 2018, is an Australian group from Sydney, that consists of Tyrone Lindqvist, Jon George and James Hunt. Their debut album Atlas peaked at number one in Australia, while their second album Bloom debuted atop the Australian albums chart in early 2016. Their single "You Were Right" won the ARIA Award for Best Dance Release in 2015. While still known as Rüfüs elsewhere, they performed as Rüfüs Du Sol in the United States because Rufus was already taken. In 2018 they changed their name to Rüfüs Du Sol internationally.

They have performed at the Byron Bay Bluesfest in NSW in 2013, Byron Bay's Splendour in the Grass in 2014, Electric Forest Festival at Double JJ Resort in 2016 and 2018, Mountain Sounds in 2017 in NSW, Coachella in 2016, 2017, and 2019, as well as Field Day on New Years Day in Sydney in 2019.

So today, horizons clear, I choose Rüfüs Du Sol’s "Treat You Better (Cassian Remix)" as my, bounce house, wild ride, laugh track, song for an, here we go again, one more again, starting to get real swirly, Friday.

Hozier - "Movement (Maya Jane Coles Remix)"

He has a plaintive, calling voice that immediately begs the audience to hear the passion behind the words. This gives him a way to connect to audiences that is often out of reach to other artists.

Andrew John Hozier-Byrne (born 17 March 1990), known professionally as Hozier is an Irish singer-songwriter and musician. Hozier's music primarily draws from folk, soul and blues genres, often using religious and literary themes in his work. He had his international breakthrough after releasing his debut single "Take Me to Church", which has been certified multi-platinum in several countries, including the US, the UK, and Canada.

Raised in County Wicklow, Hozier released his debut EP in 2013, featuring the single "Take Me to Church", which became a rock radio hit in the United States and peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100. His debut studio album was released in March 2014 to critical acclaim. It has been certified 6× platinum in Ireland and multi-platinum in several countries.

In September 2018, Hozier released an EP, titled Nina Cried Power, and featured the title track as a single, reaching number one on the Billboard Adult Alternative Songs chart. He released his chart-topping second album, Wasteland, Baby!, in March 2019, which debuted atop the Irish Albums Chart and the Billboard 200, and has since been certified gold in the US.

So today, bumping right along, I choose Hozier’s "Movement (Maya Jane Coles Remix)" as my, whistle while you work, get to it, one foot in front of the other, song for a, bounce bounce bounce, dance it out, hold on to me and I’ll move for both of us, Thursday.

Sam Smith - "I Feel Love"

We love Sam Smith! A non-binary rule breaker, they’ve been killing us softly with their iconic sound for years now, and the more authentic to themselves they become, the more we love their music!

Samuel Frederick Smith (born 19 May 1992) is an English singer and songwriter. They rose to prominence in October 2012 after being featured on Disclosure's breakthrough single "Latch", which peaked at number eleven on the UK Singles Chart. Smith was subsequently featured on Naughty Boy's "La La La", which became a number one single in May 2013. In December 2013, they were nominated for the 2014 Brit Critics' Choice Award and the BBC's Sound of 2014 poll, winning both.

Smith's debut studio album, In the Lonely Hour, was released in May 2014 on Capitol Records UK. The album's lead single, "Lay Me Down", was released prior to "La La La". The album's second single, "Money on My Mind", became Smith's second number one single in the UK. The third single, "Stay with Me", was an international success, reaching number one in the UK and number two on the US Billboard Hot 100, while their singles "I'm Not the Only One" and "Like I Can" reached the top ten in the UK. The album won four awards, at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards, including Best Pop Vocal Album, Best New Artist, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and nominations for Album of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance.

For Smith's and Jimmy Napes's song "Writing's on the Wall", the theme for the James Bond film Spectre (2015), Smith won the Golden Globe Award and the Academy Award for Best Original Song. Smith's second studio album, The Thrill of It All, was released in November 2017 and debuted atop the UK and US album charts. The lead single, "Too Good at Goodbyes", reached number one in the UK and Australia and number four in the US. They released the single "Promises" with Calvin Harris, which peaked at number one in the UK. Smith released "Dancing with a Stranger" with Normani in 2019, which reached the top ten in the UK and the US and was nominated for Song of the Year at the 2020 Brit Awards, and followed it by releasing a string of commercially successful singles "How Do You Sleep?", "To Die For", and "I'm Ready" with Demi Lovato; all of which feature on Smith's third album, Love Goes.

Smith has won four Grammy Awards, three Brit Awards, three Billboard Music Awards, and an American Music Award, as well as a Golden Globe and an Academy Award through their career. They are non-binary and use they/them pronouns.

So today, feeling some type of way, I choose Sam Smith’s gorgeous cover of Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love” as my, dance it out, sweat together, hands on my skin, song for an, here we go, remember the magic, create the vessel again, Wednesday.