Natalia's Top 10 Tracks for CUBA!
As I am writing this blog, I have just ended a pretty awesome week that I haven't had in a very very long time, AND I am getting ready to embark on a pretty awesome trip to CUBA with 3 of my awesome friends. I have compiled a list of the songs that are currently on my playlist that I will be groovin' to on my way to the Caribbean Island, and some of which also influences my own songwriting. In no particular order, here are some of the tunes that my ears are currently blessed with and I also hope that you find one that you can groove to!
#1 Ai Se Eu Te Pego - Michel Telo
This is a 2008 Brazilian song that I heard on my first trip to Mexico back in University with a friend of mine in 2012. It was offered to Michel Telo, a Brazilian singer for release in Brazil and did it ever become a hit in Brazil, Latin America, and Europe. With it's catchy tune, accordion riff, dance and words (even though I do not speak Portuguese) this still tops my list on my playlist even almost 10 years later!
#2 Chillaxin' by the Sea - Gramatik
Gramatik is a Slovenian hip hop, electronic music producer and one night I was on YouTube listening to another song and I stumbled upon this blissful track when YouTube "recommended" this in addition to on the side of the screen and that was how I stumbled upon this blissful track. I could dance all night alone in my room and be every so happy! This track is a definite serious head-nodder even though it features such chill beat, a groovy bass line and muted horns to increase the smexiness of the track.
#3 Ah Yeah - Robert Glasper Experiment ft. Musiq Soulchild and Chrisette Michele
You have one of America's greatest jazz pianist with a knack for mellow harmonic compositions with hip hop influences, then you have Musiq Soulchild who blends R&B, funk, blues, jazz, gospel influences fused with hip hop, then to top it up with Chrisette Michele's voice of an angel. The beat just draws you in, and as a pianist the piano harmonies draws me even further. This collaboration just makes me wanna say ahhhhh yeaaaaaa!!
#4 Pretty Wings - Maxwell
This man is the definition of finesse R&B and Neo Soul. He can make a depressing subject of a song and make it sound so damn beautiful just with his voice alone. This song speaks of a his bittersweet love encounter with a girl who he met at the wrong time. Maxwell also uses a lot of brass instruments that actually inspired me to incorporate trumpets in my first song off my CONNECTIONS EP, "Contenders".
#5 Doo Wop (That Thing) - Lauryn Hill
The debut solo single for Ms. Lauryn Hill in 1998. You may know her as the queen of neo soul and the lead vocalist from the band The Fugees. The song won Best Female R&B Vocal Performance and Best R&B Song at the 1999 Grammy Awards and I am still blasting this in my car! This is definitely a cover that I'm working on to show ya'll.
#6 Unforgettable - French Montana ft. Swae Lee
This song was actually released initially back in November 2016 that featured Swae Lee and Jerimih. It was later remixed and remastered and released as the official single on April 7, 2017 and it became Platinum! I love the dembow beat (a music genre of Caribbean popular music or musical rhythm that originated from Jamaica) that gets me off my bum and start dancin'! Interesting fact: the music video was shot in Kampala, Uganda (hometown of my sponsor child!! WHOOP WHOOP!) where French Montana donated $100,000 to Uganda's Mama Hope organization --> THAT IS COOL!
#7 Happiness - The Foreign Exchange
This is an R&B/electronica/hiphop duo that I discovered about 2 years ago and just fell in love with their 2004 studio album that features this song. With how things are currently going in my life, this song literally helped pick me up, let me know that everything is ok and that I will be ok and that I will find my happiness. Musicality in this song is DOPE and will definitely be another head nodder for everyone!
#8 味道 (TASTE) - Khalil Fong FEAT. ZION.T & CRUSH
Because I'm Asian, I have to have one Asian song on my playlist. But as I mentioned before I don't dig any of their music EXCEPT this artist and I respect Khalil Fong so much as a musician and artist. He is a Hong Kong singer-songwriter and producer, notable for his unconventional and innovative approach in the Chinese music industry. Like me, he aims to introduce soul/neosoul, funk, R&B, hiphop, and blues into mainstream Chinese music industry and he is a legend! This song features a Korean rapper (not into the K-pop scene although I once was...once upon a time) and together this song will get you on your feet, clappin' and dancin'!
#9 Slide - Calvin Harris ft Frank Ocean and Migos
I hadn't heard anything new from Frank Ocean lately and when I heard this on the radio it immediately caught my attention. Could've easily been the song of the summer this year and has all the elements that I love notably the "sultry piano" riff at the beginning. It has a "nu disco groove" sound fused with elements of hip-hop, funk, R&B and pop. Again one to keep me awake for my travel!
#10 Wild Thoughts - DJ Khaled ft Rihanna & Bryson Tiller
I had to throw this one in and I'd be lying if I said that this song didn't make my hips do crazy things. For those of you who noticed immediately, this track samples Carlos Santana's 1999 single Maria Maria! Carlos Santana praised DJ Khaled's Wild Thoughts and says that this song he sees as extending the "timeless summer vibe" of his 1999 original. Shall I say more! Now I'm gettin' ready to do some last minute packing and I'll see ya'll in CUBA!!!
