Welcome to the newest installment of my Music Therapy series. Arthritis Awareness Month is coming to a close and I couldn't let it end without doing another one of these. This one is going to be a bit different from the others. See, sometimes you need to listen to encouraging songs and other times you need to cry it out for the more emotional songs. But you know what? Sometimes what you really need is to listen to something that makes you want to move. This month has been a tough one, but I've noticed that I've been gravitating more towards those kinds of songs. The ones that make me want to dance. The songs that are just plain fun. Sometimes that's enough to pull you out of a funk or at the very least lift your spirits for a bit.
Let's get to it.
1. "Shake It Off" by Alex Boyé. This was the first video I thought to include and I think it'll be pretty easy to see why. This is an Africanized version of Taylor Swift's "Shake It Off" and it always puts a smile on my face. The energy that this group puts out is so wonderful and so infectious. I love their twist on the song and hope you will too. You'll find the link to Alex's YouTube channel below the video and if you enjoy this, I urge you to go check it out. There's all kinds of gems on there.
2. "Dynamite" by Nick Pitera. I don't know what it is about this song, but I really like it. At least, I like Nick's version of it. In writing this, I'm not sure if I've ever heard the original but that's no matter. It seems like I listen to this the most out of all of Nick's music and he has a lot of good music for sale and on his YouTube channel. The beat definitely makes you want to move which is why it had to make the list.
4. "Can't Stop the Feeling" by Peter Hollens featuring Mario Jose. I mean, can you really do a list of songs that make you want to dance and leave this song out? Talk about infectious. There's so many versions of this out there, but I knew I had to go with a man who has joined the ranks of my favorite male singers. That would of course be Mr. Peter Hollens. This features the talented Mario Jose and a crew of dancers. It doesn't matter how much I might be hurting when I watch this, I am just not capable of staying completely still. Plus I like the way Peter and Mario sound together and that always helps. I have both of their YouTube channels are linked below the video.
5. "Want to Want Me (Jason Derulo) / Sugar (Maroon 5)" by Matthew Darren. As it happens, Matthew also has a great version of "Can't Stop the Feeling" on his YouTube channel. This is not that video. But I think you'll like this one. I gotta say that at this point, Matthew is one of my favorite musical discoveries of 2017. I'd never heard of him until his terrific collaboration with the men of VoicePlay. I did a video spotlight on that earlier this year and you can find that here if you want to check it out. As for this video, I really like the way these two songs fit together. It's a good one. See for yourself.
There are so many songs I could have picked and it's safe to say they'll be other installments of this series that include more of them. This time I decided to narrow it down to YouTube artists. The next time I'll be focusing more on mainstream acts. But I wanted to give these acts some love. Hopefully with videos that'll make you want to dance along. As an added bonus, movement has been proven to be good for arthritis. Obviously, if you're having a bad flare up and can barely get out of bed you might not be able to move much. If that's you, I first want to say that I hope it passes soon. The next thing I want to say is that I hope these can make you smile, if nothing else. And if you are able to move and the music speaks to you, I say dance along and have fun with it.
Let's get to it.
1. "Shake It Off" by Alex Boyé. This was the first video I thought to include and I think it'll be pretty easy to see why. This is an Africanized version of Taylor Swift's "Shake It Off" and it always puts a smile on my face. The energy that this group puts out is so wonderful and so infectious. I love their twist on the song and hope you will too. You'll find the link to Alex's YouTube channel below the video and if you enjoy this, I urge you to go check it out. There's all kinds of gems on there.
2. "Dynamite" by Nick Pitera. I don't know what it is about this song, but I really like it. At least, I like Nick's version of it. In writing this, I'm not sure if I've ever heard the original but that's no matter. It seems like I listen to this the most out of all of Nick's music and he has a lot of good music for sale and on his YouTube channel. The beat definitely makes you want to move which is why it had to make the list.
3. "Heck No" by Evynne Hollens. Time for something a little different. Evynne took Ingrid Michaelson's song "Hell No" and gave it the Disney treatment. It involves Evynne as Anna and Nick Pitera as Hans from Disney's Frozen on lead with a cast of a few other beloved Disney characters as backup. Just wait until you see Snow White. Throw in some Snapchat filters and you get something that's fun and a little silly. But if you know me, you know that I tend to like silly things. This is pretty entertaining.
4. "Can't Stop the Feeling" by Peter Hollens featuring Mario Jose. I mean, can you really do a list of songs that make you want to dance and leave this song out? Talk about infectious. There's so many versions of this out there, but I knew I had to go with a man who has joined the ranks of my favorite male singers. That would of course be Mr. Peter Hollens. This features the talented Mario Jose and a crew of dancers. It doesn't matter how much I might be hurting when I watch this, I am just not capable of staying completely still. Plus I like the way Peter and Mario sound together and that always helps. I have both of their YouTube channels are linked below the video.
5. "Want to Want Me (Jason Derulo) / Sugar (Maroon 5)" by Matthew Darren. As it happens, Matthew also has a great version of "Can't Stop the Feeling" on his YouTube channel. This is not that video. But I think you'll like this one. I gotta say that at this point, Matthew is one of my favorite musical discoveries of 2017. I'd never heard of him until his terrific collaboration with the men of VoicePlay. I did a video spotlight on that earlier this year and you can find that here if you want to check it out. As for this video, I really like the way these two songs fit together. It's a good one. See for yourself.
6. "I Knew You Were Trouble / As Long As You Love Me" by VoicePlay featuring Rachel Potter. Come now, you didn't really think that I was going to do a list like this and leave my favorites out now did you? VoicePlay has a bunch of songs I could have included, but this one quickly became the frontrunner. I mean, it features Rachel Potter for starters and all of their collaborations with her are great. It's also a mashup and you can't go wrong with a VoicePlay mashup. Plus I get a kick out of her using the megaphone, so there you have it.
7. "Honey, I'm Good" by Home Free. Truth be told, they have a lot of songs that would've worked. Ultimately Rob Lundquist's acting in this is what put it over the top. That'd be the bearded bespectacled gentleman starring as our lead. He has some of the best expressions, I swear. Add in the infecticious rhythm provided by Adam and Tim and you get another cover where it's impossible for me to keep still. It's a fun video and one that I think closes this out nicely. Watch.
That'll do it for this one. There's a bunch of things in the works including more installments of this series, video spotlights, reviews, etc. So be on the lookout for those. And as always, thanks for reading!
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