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Video Spotlight: Almost There by Evynne Hollens

As I said at the beginning of Disney month, I feel like I could have done a month of the Disney videos by Evynne Hollens and her husband Peter Hollens alone. So it was really only a matter of time before featuring one of them again. I kicked off the month with Evynne's fabulous "Evolution of the Disney Princess" and have been in a quandary about which of her other terrific Disney covers should be highlighted next. I love that it was hard to choose - I know that no matter which one I went with, there was no way I could possibly go wrong.

Ultimately, as you can see, I decided to go with her version of "Almost There" from The Princess and The Frog. While Evynne is the special kind of singer than can pull off any song she wanted, I really feel like her voice was made for this song. She gives such a wonderful performance in this. A performance that was made so much better by the backup band and all the extras. It's so well done.

Watch.




Told ya. "Almost There" suits her voice so perfectly. I love that she decided to do it because not only does she sound fantastic, I feel like the music of The Princess and The Frog is underrated for some reason. It does have a different feel to it, but I think that's why it works. Honestly, I think that movie as a whole is underrated. "Almost There" is a great song and I can't understand why there aren't more covers out there. Unless there's a lot that I haven't come across. That said, I know I'd be hesitant to cover this after hearing Evynne knock it out of the park the way she did. Not that I'm actively posting any kind of cover, mind, but you know what I'm saying. That belt at the end. Yes m'am. So good! I've been saying it a lot lately, but she's truly become one of my absolute favorite female vocalists. I just love listening to her sing.

On another note, I love the whole aesthetic of the video. I don't think they could have captured the feel of the movie any better. Evynne looks beautiful - which she always does, but this is a great look for her. But let's be honest. Everyone looks great in this. I like the lighting. It really does make it feel like a smokey jazz club in the 20s.

And can we talk about the arrangement because I think it's fabulous. Pianist Nathan Alef has done it again. His arrangements are always so interesting and so very good. He's a wonderful piano player as well, as you can hear. Wonderful job by Tony Glausi on trumpet. Though the band as a whole just cooks in this. Not to take anything away from her vocal, but this could have easily worked as an instrumental. Evynne's voice sends it over the top; it's great what happens when a bunch of talented people work together. Nice touch to include the names of everyone in the video in the description. Speaking of which, I don't believe I've ever mentioned it, but just a heads up for anyone who might be unaware - if you want to see the description, just click the word YouTube at the bottom of the video and it'll take you to the video on YouTube. I know that may be obvious to some, but honestly, I never think of doing that myself. So I thought it was worth mentioning if anyone didn't realize that that was clickable.

I think that'll about do it for this one! Want to stay up to date with what Evynne is doing? You can find her below:
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