I got a new ukulele for Christmas, so I obviously had to record a cover! Jake Bugg’s song Broken has been a favorite of mine for years. The melody and the lyrics are peaceful, and allow me to reflect on different areas of my life. This beautiful song was at the top of my list of songs to cover, so I hope you enjoy!
-Swaggie Maggie
Happy birthday to the legendary Amy Winehouse. Amy was born on this day in 1983. She passed away at the age of 27 in 2011, and while nobody will ever compare to the English songwriter’s talent, her songs will live on for eternity, and will always be some of my favorites to play on the ukulele. #amywinehouse #blues #musicblogger #musician #cover #valerie #swaggiemaggiesviewfromthepit
Last Friday I finished my freshman year at college and it left me with millions of emotions coursing through my body. This past year has had the highest of highs and the lowest of lows, and I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. It was the first time I lived away from my family, it was the first time I had a job other than babysitting, it was the first time I’d gotten really heartbroken, and it was the first time I realized that the rest of my life was right in front of me. As cliche as that sounds, I can’t help thinking that this year was the beginning of everything.
On my last night sleeping in my tiny dorm room I decided to do a cover of Dr. Dog’s ( @drdogmusic ) song Shadow People. This song has been one of my favorite things to listen to lately. I think it really sums up the way I was feeling that night, and I’d love to share this beautiful song with all of you!
I’ve got a fun summer in store, so stay connected!
-Swaggie Maggie
To finish the year strong I decided to create a hype video for the one and only Michigan State University. I started thinking about this back in October when MSU beat the University of Michigan on an incredible final play.
I decided that I would re-write the lyrics of Fetty Wap’s “Trap Queen” so that they fit the context of the MSUvsUofM rivalry game. But then our team just kept reaching higher and before I knew it we were facing the University of Iowa for the Big Ten Championship. If we won that game, we would move on to play at the Cotton Bowl.
So here we are, the Cotton Bowl is quickly approaching and Spartan fans are giddy! Our team is spectacular and I am filled with so much pride for my school. I decided to switch some of the lyrics in my re-write to encompass the spirit of the Cotton Bowl and the excitement of a possible National Championship game.
Hope you all like it! Please share and get the hype out there!
-Swaggie Maggie
Last night I performed at my first open mic night! With my friend Victoria on guitar and my other friend Sierra singing with me I feel like this performance was great! I’m very happy with the way my first open mic turned out and I am extremely excited to find more opportunities for it in the future.
The first song we sang was “I Wanna Be Yours” by Arctic Monkeys. I missed the opening chord and delayed the opening lyrics about a second, which is very Typical-Maggie. I don’t think it was that big of a deal though so I’m not worrying about it. Over all I thought we performed this song really well, but if I could do it over again I might take out the few “I wanna be yours”s’ at the end seeing as I think it just dragged the song on for a tiny bit too long. Other than that I’m truly happy with the way the song sounds.
The second song we sang was Lana Del Rey (@lanadelrey) and it was newest single: “High By The Beach” and while there were a few minor lyric flubs throughout the song I didn’t feel like they ruined our performance at all! When preparing for an open mic performance it is very important to find out what is allowed and what is not during a set. At this particular tea bar the rule was that the songs (or poems) had to be family friendly. It is good to know this ahead of time so you can edit your songs accordingly. We changed the potentially offensive lyrics from”bullshit” to “bs” and “motherfucker” to “bad guy” so we wouldn’t be pulled off stage mid performance. I also think it’s just a courteous thing to do so there is no chance of offending anyone in the audience.
I definitely will be participating in more open mic nights in the future and I encourage anyone else who has a love for music to do so as well! You don’t have to be the best singer, or guitarist or pianist or ukulele player. You just have to be yourself and be confident. I hope you all like the songs; I can’t wait to post more!!!
-Swaggie Maggie
I last updated my blog on July 12 and to me that is truly unacceptable. I can make an excuse and say that I was busy and while that is completely true I feel the need to make it up to anyone who reads my blog. I know I’m still just starting out and that there aren’t many of you who read these posts, but I am so grateful to those that do take the time out of their days to read my content and support me.
I have a lot of interesting ideas for blogposts in the next few weeks including covers of songs, a mini series, and even a guest blogger! I’m really excited to continue doing what I love with this blog. I have fun and I express my opinions and share my likes and dislikes.
As a sort of apology I have filmed a cover of Vance Joy’s hit “Riptide”! I’m still trying to figure out how to make my ukulele sound better in movies, but I’m pretty pleased with the cover! If you haven’t heard of Vance Joy he is an Australian singer named James Keogh. His debut album “Dream Your Life Away” was released in September, 2014 and since then his success has sky rocketed. Not only is “Riptide” on everyone’s lips, he is touring with Taylor Swift and opening for her! He sings like an angel, plays the ukulele and guitar, and has a beautiful mess of curly hair.
I hope you enjoy my cover of his song and I look forward to everything that I’ve got planned for this blog in the future!
-Swaggie Maggie
Yesterday my best friend, Sierra, and I performed in our school’s variety show and I have quite a lot to say about it. The first thing that I should say is that we sang an original mashup of Robbers by The 1975, Kids by MGMT, Yayo and Queen of the Gas Station by Lana Del Rey. The songs were mashed by my friend and we both played our instruments while singing. I played my uke and she played her guitar.
The second thing I should mention is that I auditioned every year for the variety show since I was a freshman and didn’t get in until my senior year, so I was beyond excited to be onstage performing, and showing the kids at my school that I have talent. Sierra and I practiced and put so much hard work into our performance and we could not have been more excited to get on that stage. Now I think you should watch the video before you read the next part because something happens that I must explain.
During the very last chorus someone pressed a button on an app that made a noise loud enough for the whole audience to hear. It was so loud that Sierra and I could even hear it on the stage. We had 2 lines left in our song and everyone started laughing. In the video you can’t see it, but I made a face when it happened. When I walked off the stage I was pissed. Someone had disrespected me during my performance and to be completely honest with you my school has a record for those sort of things. Those sort of things being pretentious, jackass kids who think that the world revolves around them and that their actions have no consequences. Anyone could understand how angry I would be. I had waited 4 years so get up on that stage only to have someone disrespect me like that.
After the whole show was over everyone who came up to me to congratulate me on my performance also said something along the lines of “I am so sorry for whoever pressed the buzzer during your performance.” or “Nobody was laughing at you-they were laughing at the stupid buzzer.” So Sierra and I took matters into our own hands. We asked around and found the kid who did it and confronted him. I’m not going to say his name, but he didn’t even say he was sorry. The two words “I’m sorry” never came out of his mouth and I think that is just ridiculous. He only made excuses for why it happened, and hardly even looked up from his computer screen to speak to us. I hope he was embarrassed that he “accidentally pressed it” and I hope that he learns a lesson.
So here are a few things that I learned through all of that.
1) Never give up: If I hadn’t kept trying out for the variety show I never would have gotten in. If I had given up after my freshman year that would have been the end of it.
2) Roll with the punches: If you are doing something that takes a lot of courage like sitting on stage and singing you need to be able to handle whatever comes your way.
3) Don’t be afraid to confront someone: It may be scary going up to someone and telling them that what they did to you was wrong, but in the end you will feel better about it and hopefully they will have learned a lesson.
I hope you all enjoyed my performance and that you’ll all like the video and share it 🙂 Sierra and I worked really hard and I think the hard work definitely paid off. Until next week!
-Swaggie Maggie
This update is coming a bit later than usual, but I’m very excited to be posting my cover of Pierce The Veil’s song “I’m Low on Gas and You Need a Jacket”. I fell in love with this song when I heard it on The World Tour and it hasn’t left my head since then. The song is incredibly beautiful with lyrics like “Cold, empty mattresses and falling stars my, how they start to look the same. It is also heart-breakingly sad with the lyrics “And I will soon forget the color of your eyes and you’ll forget mine”.
This cover is something I have been wanting to record for quite some time. I dream of singing to an audience every night, and inspiring people with my melodies and my words. I am so passionate about singing and everything to do with music. I understand that I am just beginning and I have so much time to work on perfecting my craft and find my way into the music industry.
I urge all of you to find something that you are insanely passionate about and throw yourself into it wholeheartedly. Spend your life doing what you love. You don’t have to try and impress other people and you don’t have to live your life based on anyone else’s. If you have something you are passionate about, keep striving for excellence in every aspect of that particular activity and work towards doing it on behalf of your own hopes and your own dreams.
If you don’t know what you want to do or who you want to be just go out and experience everything until you have found the thing that gives you butterflies in your stomach and makes you see stars in the best ways possible.
I really enjoyed writing this blogpost and recording this cover. I’m excited to see what the future has in store for me, and to find out where my love for music will take me in the years to come. Don’t forget to reblog, share, tweet, and do everything else to get this video out there…I really would love if Pierce The Veil saw this. Until next week!
-Swaggie Maggie
Hi guys! Sorry I didn’t update last weekend, this past week was the craziest week in the entire history of crazy weeks. Last Friday I performed at my school’s Coffee House Fundraiser. It was my first time performing live in about 3 years and I fell in love with it all over again.
I sang Ed Sheeran’s “Photograph” off of his latest album, Multiply. I heard the song back in Summer and instantly thought “Yes. This is the song I will sing at Coffee House.” I got two of my friends from cheerleading, Rory and Victoria, to play the piano and the guitar while I sang. I was a little nervous considering I hadn’t sang in front of a live audience in years, but I ended up having nothing to worry about.
As and aspiring singer I am excited to continue performing and singing. I know that this performance is not perfect, but I am still very proud of myself. I challenged myself and I couldn’t be happier. I hope you enjoy the video and this blogpost, and will continue, like me, to challenge yourself and follow your dreams.
-Swaggie Maggie