Here is a guy whose music I’ve come across about a year ago.

Sure, he has been in the music business much longer but I didn’t actually started following him until his single, The Hills hit number One on the Billboard and Earned It was featured in the ‘Fifty shades of Grey’ Soundtrack.

When I first heard about the weekend, I was expecting somewhat a kind of boastful poetry, house party beats, and uptown throw down vibe from his style of music but surprisingly he brings across a more mainstream, funky, soulful and high-flying vocal style borrowing from R.Kelly, Michael Jackson and Prince.

Coming from a successful tour in 2015, “The Madness Fall Tour”, I am looking forward to seeing him dominate at the Grammy this year, having earned 7 nominations.

Recently I was reading his cover story in the Rolling Stone and I find it a bit intriguing to see how he embraces the different personalities, which are behind his more popular yet mysterious persona.

The Weekend was everything that an R&B singer wasn’t

…This is in his words. He explained that he wasn’t a pretty boy and he was really awkward. This is a guy who is coming from a place where he didn’t like seeing himself in pictures where now he has to deal with seeing himself daily on TV.

Pretty much he struggled with self-esteem and in his story he expressed that he wasn’t well spoken, having dropped out of high school and turned to crossword puzzles to improve his vocabulary.

Considering himself a weirdo, he lived with much insecurity, wishing he was more articulate and not having to hide from interviews during his early career.

It was Michael Jackson’s music that made him want to be a singer

Besides Michael’s stage moves and lyrics, The Weekend also sees a link between Michael philanthropy and his (the Weekend) cultural background.
He confirmed that We Are the World was originally intended for Ethiopia, which is the birth country of his mother and where Michael is a popular icon.

‘I guessed maybe that’s where he also got the dread.’

His first language was Amharic, not English – taking from his Ethiopian background. Having grown up in the Ethiopian Orthodox church and practicing Ethiopian customs his perspective is shaped beyond the typical Canadian-American culture.

He had his own share of struggles

He didn’t really know his father. He said, “He wasn’t abusive, he wasn’t an alcoholic, he wasn’t an asshole. He just wasn’t there.” His father disappeared when he was around 2 years old.
And then he was kicked out of high school at 17 and didn’t talk to his mother for a year. He also struggled with drugs, explaining that he couldn’t get through a day without getting high.

Nonetheless, it is without doubt that The Weekend, having beaten his deepest fears and struggles is a true inspiration and one of the biggest superstars today and in his words, “I’m not really scared of failing, because I already know what it means to be on the ground.”

‘Music helps me to escape from the reality I live in. Music is life.’
Going a day without listening to my favorite tracks is almost impossible.
Whatever emotions I am feeling, music has a remedy or a way of making me feel even better. To put it this way:
‘Music puts me to sleep and brings we awake.’
Besides our favorite music picks, there are of course some genres of music that can be more therapeutic than others, especially when dealing with anxiety and depression.
Many will agree that music with an element of relaxation and a melodic progression (low notes to high notes) usually top the list, which may include Classical Music or Soul. But quite frankly, taste in music is subjective and so others may entirely disagree, choosing to think that it is not the genre but specific songs that actually do the work.
Still others believe that the high tempo, more upbeat songs are the best songs to ‘pull you up when you are down’.
But what do you think?
For me, both work, from the soft, passionate beats of James Blunt to the cheerful, racy tracks of Maroon Five, it gets me going.
Nonetheless, I do not necessarily have a favorite genre of music and I’m sure there are many people who are like me.
I listen to everything or just any kind of music that has an inspirational undertone. But should I be found listening to music, most of the time it would either be R&B/Soul, Soft Rock, Conscious Rap or Reggae.
At the same time, every week billboard stimulates our taste and opens up our imagination to new artist, new albums and new songs.
As we know it, making and producing music is big business and song writers and producers work really hard to get there product to the top of the lists.
It’s a very competitive industry but the ‘cream will always rise to the top.’
We get to listen to the best songs, to criticize the final work and to create our own playlist. As the week goes by we’ll be looking at some of the best music on the market today, exploring great musical moments in our past and honoring those we have today.
Also, if you have any musical ideas or suggestions you can share, feel free to do so…

But should you be feeling an urge for inspiration, take some time this week to listen to this new and upcoming artist, who is only 19 years old, Alessia Clara.
Alessia has recently produced some awe-inspiring work and continues to raise eyebrows.
She describes herself as being the ‘antisocial type’ who would rather hug a wall than follow typical teenage rules. This is pretty much evident in her recent hit, Here.
I find her to be amazing and talented, not only due to her age but also for the thoughtful lyrics in her songs.