Just Jaded
Written By: Brooklyn Poutra
New Music Monday: Maren Morris
Welcome back to New Music Monday with Jaded Productions!! This month we are so excited to share our favorite new release “Circles Around This Town” by Maren Morris!! “Circles Around This Town” was released January 7th and is a soulful country song about the heartbreak that can come with trying to make it big in Nashville and in music.
“Circles Around This Town” delves into Maren’s feelings of relentlessly trying to write a hit, and the difficulty that can come with following your dreams. “Circles Around This Town” is Maren Morris’ first release single since the release of her second studio album ‘GIRL’.
‘Circles Around This Town’ describes her struggles as an artist to create meaningful work, and the struggle that comes with the hustle of trying to make it as an artist. Maren sings “ I drove circles around this town trying to write circles around this town, tryna say something with meaning, something worth singing about.”
Maren sneaks in an easter-egg homage to her past hits ‘80s Mercedes’ and ‘My Church’ by singing “A couple hundred songs and the ones that finally worked was the one about a car and the one about a church”
With Maren Morris’ 2016 debut album ‘HERO’, which contains the hit single “My Church”, she helped bring country music back to life in the 21st century, and helped boost country music back into mainstream music. Maren Morris has a distinctive style that draws listeners into her music due to her influences from many genres outside of country.
If you like artists like Cam, Lauren Alaina, or Little Big Town, be sure to check out Maren Morris! We have been listening to Maren Morris’s “Circles Around This Town” non stop since it’s release, and we know that you will love it as much as we have!
Artist Rec Friday: Peter McPoland
This Artist Rec Friday we couldn't be more excited to recommend our favorite up and coming folk pop artist Peter McPoland!
Peter McPoland is a twenty year old Texas native who creates unabashedly original folk pop music with constant single releases since 2018. McPoland has well over 1.4 million monthly listeners on Spotify, with his most popular song being his 2021 release ‘Shit Show’. ‘Shit Show’ has amassed almost ten million streams since its September 2021 release.
With a background in musical theater, Peter McPoland first started playing guitar at the age of fourteen, being self taught, and within a year of picking up a guitar he started writing his own songs. Peter McPoland started gaining mass attention with his 2020 self-released single ‘Romeo & Juliet’ and the song has amassed 20.5 million streams. With almost half a million followers on TikTok, he has gained popularity through his songs becoming trending sounds.
Peter McPoland has a gift for illustrating emotional experiences and writing songs that feel like they were written about the listener's life. Peter McPoland has a way of romanticizing even the most angsty and heartbreaking emotions, and each song of his bursting at the seams with passion.
Being signed to Columbia Records, Peter McPoland will likely have many more milestones and irresistible songs coming our way. In the meantime, check out his previously released discography and his most recent release from this month, ‘String Lights’.
With eleven songs in his released discography, we are so excited for more to come. If you like artists like Gregory Alan Isakov, Charlie Burg, or John Pine, be sure to check out Peter McPoland and stream his latest release ‘String Lights’!
Brooklyn’s Grammy Predictions
Hey Jaded Babes! I hope that your 2022 has been amazing so far, and I am so excited to be back this month for the Just Jaded blog. With the fast approaching Grammy awards, I thought it would be fun to share my predictions and thoughts about this year's awards! If you haven't already, Joanna and Jade did a special episode of the ‘A Little Jaded’ podcast where they shared their own Grammy predictions, delve into the award show as a whole, and discuss the careers of some of the nominees, so check it out!
Now, I will start off by saying that I am no expert in any of these categories, and there are plenty of nominations that I have not had the opportunity to fully experience, but with that being said, I haven't been living under a rock.
Starting off with Record of the Year, I personally think nobody is more deserving of this than Olivia Rodrigo. ‘Drivers License’ was no doubt one of the most record breaking, catchy, heartfelt, wildly popular songs in the last year. I think she will take Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best New Artist, and I think she definitely has a shot at Album of the Year. However I personally think that album of the year should go to Taylor Swift’s ‘Evermore’. I am a huge Taylor Swift fan, and the release of ‘Evermore’ was the release of one of my favorite albums of all time. ‘Evermore’ is full of picturesque stories, unexpressed feelings, and homage to great literature. What else could you ask for in an indie folk album?
Ariana Grande not getting nominations for song of the year, album of the year, or song of the year is absolutely criminal. She however was nominated in the best pop solo performance, and best pop vocal album categories. Now if you ask me, nobody else in those categories can even come close to Ariana Grande when it comes to vocal performances. I mean, lets just all take a moment to appreciate the whistle verse in ‘my hair’. A masterpiece!
I so desperately want best latin pop album to go to Selena Gomez’s ‘Revalación’. I adore Selena Gomez, and I think she is long overdue for some appreciation for her music.
I am a huge film, comedy, and musical theater fan, so I definitely have strong opinions about categories that people who are invested in the Grammys may not care about, but nonetheless I have opinions. The Best Musical Theater Album category is a personal favorite, and I think that it would be an amazing, groundbreaking win if The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical went home with the award. Being a project that started with a TikTok video, all the way to a Grammy nominated album really goes to show that anything is possible. If The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical took home the Grammy, I think that would show how the music industry is working towards being more inclusive and appreciative of unexpected art forms.
The Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media is a category packed with outstanding works that it is hard for me to pick a favorite. Cruella was an unexpected favorite simply because most people didn't watch that movie for the soundtrack, but they delivered. In the Heights is a strong contender because the mind behind the music is the one and only Lin Manuel Miranda, and that man knows how to write a banger. Schmigadoon! holds a nomination, and I thought the music in that series was nothing but fun. I am a big Cecily Strong fan, so of course the series was something I enjoyed.
Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media is another category full of worthy nominees. Bridgerton, Dune, The Mandalorian, The Queen’s Gambit, and Soul are all visual works of art that were drastically enhanced by the work of each respective composer, but Dune was the film that I went home wanting to listen to the score again. It’s no surprise that Hans Zimmer is the composer behind Dune, and that he created action filled songs to go with the enormous production that was Dune.
Best Song Written for Visual Media is yet another category that I have several favorites in. “Agatha All Along” from WandaVision was a tune that I listened to for months after I finished the series, and the songwriters behind the song, Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, are two people who I am huge fans of. “All Eyes on Me” by Bo Burnham was a song that TikTok got a hold of and gave it another life, and I have to admit that it is an incredible song. “Fight For You” sung by H.E.R. from the film Judas and the Black Messiah is an ever important song, especially in the wake of activism and the hope for change. “Speak Now” from One Night in Miami is a soulful song sung by Leslie Odom, Jr., who I am a huge fan of. Leslie Odom, Jr. has a voice like butter and anything he ever could sing would be something I would listen to.
The Grammy’s are scheduled to be aired on April 3rd at 7:00 PM CDT on CBS after being postponed for the second year in a row due to COVID. Be sure to tune in to see who takes home the awards!