Music. According to Kim.

Layne with his beatbox and soaring high Earl notes Slick runs by Eli with Geoff's super low tones Counting down music we all like to sing ACA Top 10's are my favorite things Broadway with Tony, Chris Rupp singing country Video games, rapping and summer pop medleys Now Disney with J. None makes me shout yippee ACA Top 10's are my favorite things That's right. The men of VoicePlay are back with a brand new ACA Top 10! It's been over a year since the last one and I'll admit that I was getting a little concerned since it's been so long. I love everything they do, but their ACA Top 10's really are my favorite. I'm going to bet that I'm not alone in feeling that way. But if there's one thing I should have drilled in my head after this year, it's that the men of VoicePlay always come through for their fans. Not only do we get the pleasure of an ACA Top 10, we got what has probably been their most requested kind of ACA Top ...

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. 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 m...

As I write this, Middle Tennessee is expecting what could be a terrible storm in a few hours. I'm not a fan of terrible storms, but that's okay. It'll be okay. I mention this because VoicePlay has just released a brand new video. What can that possibly have to do with storms? Well, if you know your Norse mythology you know that Thor is considered the god of thunder. What does VoicePlay have to do with Norse mythology? Well, their new video is a mashup of Ed Sheeran's "Shape of You" and Blackstreet's "No Diggity". It features our fabulous foursome with special guest Matthew Darren. Otherwise known as Harmony Thor. No, I did not come up with that myself. It won't take too long to figure out how he got that name. Just watch the video. Hopefully he doesn't mind it because I'm pretty sure he's stuck with it now. In any event, I have Thor on the brain. So this impending storm seems rather appropriate.  As for the mashup? Meh, it...

That moment when you were going to finish up a post about someone else, but end up writing about VoicePlay instead. Such is the life of a certified VoicePlayaholic. Of course, if they stopped putting out such great content, I wouldn't want to keep writing about them. But who am I kidding? It's VoicePlay. That's not going to happen. Alas, I have no choice but to keep promoting them to the best of my ability. I'd be a sorry excuse for a VoicePlayaholic if I didn't. That other post I was going to work on will get finished at some point. Today, however, it's all about VoicePlay and their wonderful new video. Truth be told, I was actually pretty anxious about this video. Not this video specifically. We didn't know this was coming until right before it came. So, no, that anxiety had nothing to do with this mashup and everything to do with the fact that it is the first VoicePlay video filmed in 2017. The first one filmed since they announced that Tony had left...

2017 is off to quite a start, I must say. There's good news and not-so-great news. The good news is that if you're a male who sings in the baritone/tenor 2 range and have dreamed about being in VoicePlay, well, you just might be in luck. I imagine that most of the people who come across this have already heard and those of you who haven't can probably guess. The not-so-great news is that that means that someone has left. If you've been paying attention over the last year, it shouldn't be too hard to guess who. Here's their announcement. Yeah. Tony is no longer with VoicePlay. It's funny because this was obviously coming and yet the news still managed to hit like a ton of bricks. I was going to write this a couple of days ago, but decided to wait until I got myself in a better frame of mind. This more or less cause a tidal wave of feels. I've cried. I've been upset. I've cussed. I've prayed. I've said goodbye, shook my fist and a...

Once again I've gone and saved the best, i.e. my absolute favorites, for last. If I were to make a royal court out of my favorite artists, VoicePlay would be King. Given the way that they have catapulted themselves into that position this year, it seemed only right to end 2016 with them. After all, I did write about them 22 times this year - this post included. Granted, some of those weren't exclusively VoicePlay, but still. I think it's safe to say that my love for this group is pretty well documented! One of my favorite parts of 2016, aside from the guys themselves, has been the friendships that I've gotten to make because of them. I'm slowly getting to know more VoicePlayas and I know I've said it before, but this is a wonderful group to be a part of. We might be different in many ways, but we can bond over a love for a group. This love is always supportive and fun and it doesn't just extend to the guys, but also to anyone who considers themselves a fan...

Merry Christmas, everyone! I hope everyone reading this has a wonderful day, whether you celebrate or not.  I am now more convinced than ever that the men of VoicePlay do in fact possess some sort of magical powers. Today's video is their most recent. Part of their Partwork series, this video features everyone but the Tony. One of the best perks of being a VoicePlay patron is that we get to see their videos a day or two sooner than everyone else. On the day that this video was released, I was chatting with a fellow VoicePlaya and friend about how ballads aren't really their thing. Then, later that day, an email arrived from their Patreon. Sidenote: their messages to their patrons are the greatest. They have a way of giving me the feels. Warm and fuzzy feels, to be specific. The one that accompanied this email legitimately made me "aw".  A new video - this video - was posted. I couldn't tell you what song I may have been anticipating, but seeing that it wa...

Guys, I think we need to talk about Patreon. Specifically, VoicePlay's Patreon. Quick explanation for those of you who still aren't familiar with Patreon - it's a crowdfunding website designed to help creators create content over time. Unlike other crowdfunding sites (like, say, KickStarter), Patreon is an ongoing relationship between a creator and their fans (i.e. Patrons). As opposed to only raising money for one big project (like an album) over a specified amount of time. Patreon is one of the best things to happen that's happened to creators in a long time, in my opinion. Being a patron allows you to support your creators in a way that essentially makes you a small part of their creating process. Whether you donate $1 or $100 per creation, you are helping your creator(s) do what they love to do. You are helping them make their content. Every little bit helps.  Here's what's been driving me crazy about VoicePlay's Patreon. The website allows creato...

If you happened to read my album review of ECHO's self-titled album, you know that I declared Geoff to be the Obi-Wan Kenobi of a cappella music. Not even a VoicePlay post and he walks away with a new title. That's because Geoff has played an integral role in this, my aca-addiction. Or, if we're going to go full on ridiculous (and we are), we could also refer to him as Geoffobi-Wan Castenobi. Castellunobi? Or...maybe we'll just stick with Geoff. That might be best.  In any event, that declaration paired with the recent release of new Star Wars  movie, Rogue One ,  made the choice to write about this particular cover next pretty easy. Although VoicePlay, in true VoicePlayish fashion, almost made me change course. Again. How? By releasing a Partwork that I think is the prettiest thing they've ever done. Rest assured, a spotlight on that in more than likely coming. In fact, there's also a chance of a spotlight on their version of "The First Noel", b...

Earlier this year, I wondered if Eli and Geoff were evil geniuses or not. Now, I can't help thinking that the group has some kind of weird magical ability. This year, I've been making an effort to plan things out better in an attempt to avoid having long stretches of time go by without any updates. It's worked out well. Some of the time. The rest of the time? Not so much. See, I'll have my notebook full of ideas and make up a schedule that makes sense to me. Then it happens. Something great gets uploaded, more often than not by these guys, and bam. Schedule? Out the window. See, once again I was going to wait just a bit longer before writing a new VoicePlay related post. Once again, I had decided what the next VoicePlay post would be. And it wasn't this. I'll give the guys extra credit for this one: they also managed to somewhat change  another upcoming post about them. This is, of course, entirely coincidental. It just happens...and keeps happening. Over an...

Man, there's been some great Christmas albums that have come out recently. I've reviewed three of them so far. To recap: we've talked about A Hollens Family Christmas  - and I've just added in Peter's most recent video from it. I gushed over the gorgeousness that is Voctave's The Spirit of Christmas  album and I've raved about Brett Eldredge's Glow . Today's album, however, is from 2012. Sadly, I was living a VoicePlayless existence back then. Now that I've become a full-fledged VoicePlaya, there was no way I could let this holiday season go by without talking about their holiday album, Peppermint Winter . I mean, how could I? It's a great album and one that needs to be heard and purchased.   No, really, you should buy it. This is VoicePlay doing what they do best. Taking songs - several of which have been done countless times - and making them their own. This collection of songs is so distinctively VoicePlay. It's fun and downright ...

Happy Halloween, everybody! We're going to kick this one off with what I'm calling Life Lessons from VoicePlay. Because in the time that I've been a fan of theirs, they have taught me some things. Granted, some of these lessons were taught inadvertently, but still. Here we go. Lesson #1: Eli and Geoff inadvertently taught me that googling things from your childhood is not a good idea (see my  write-up  of their version of "Love Yourself)". Unless you're in the mood to feel as old as dirt. I feel like this one seems less traumatic as you get older, but I've now reached a point where I can remember things from 20 years ago. I'm not okay with that just yet. Lesson #2a: Eating and/or drinking with viewing and/or listening to VoicePlay is dangerous, to yourself and possibly any electronics in range. I've warned about this before, but it's important. Lesson #2b: You are no match for Earl. Because most of my near-choking VoicePlay induced moment...

Let it be known that the men of VoicePlay have a crazy way of making me alter my writing plans. I was going to write a few more country related posts before writing about them again, but then they released this. After watching it for the first time, I knew it had to be my next post. "I Love Me" has already become one of my favorite videos of theirs; in fact, it may actually be my overall favorite. This, my friends, is saying something. Not having ever heard the song before, I had no thoughts about it going in. That said, there were two things that made me really excited to watch it. The first one being that if you've been paying attention, you'll know that Tony has been MIA from the last few videos. Long enough to send a good portion of the VoicePlay fan collective into a serious case of Wakim withdrawals. Well, let us all rejoice because Houston? We have a Tony! To that end, if you haven't already been made aware of it, Tony and Layne have started a video p...

Thinking about what VoicePlay means to me got me thinking that this might be a good time to highlight why I've chosen to support them on Patreon. If you're not familiar with Patreon, check this out because VoicePlay's got you covered. Actually, every creator does an explanation video, but theirs is the most amusing one I've seen. Watch. After all, you wouldn't want to hurt Earl's p-feelings, would you? Always good for a giggle. Anyway, I love Patreon. It's a wonderful way for fans to support their creators, especially when you can see a difference. All of VoicePlay's videos are good, but there's been a marked increase in quality since they launched their Patreon campaign. So what made me decide to become one of their Patrons? There's several reasons, but I've narrowed it down to the top three.  First and foremost, it's because of their content. They won over my ears before anything else. If I hadn't liked what I heard th...

I knew when I decided to dedicate August to all things Disney, that it would involve a write-up of VoicePlay's  Once Upon an Ever After  album. How could it not? It's a wonderful album and one I've been wanting to write about for a while now. Those of you who've read any of my other VoicePlay posts know that they tend to get pretty silly and even downright ridiculous. They just bring that side of my personality out, which is one of the reasons why I love writing about them.  That said, this time is going to be a little different. This was originally just going to be a typical album write-up. The format will be the same as all my other album write-ups, but I decided to make this the fourth installment of my Music Therapy series. If you're unfamiliar with that series, it's one I started to highlight one of the biggest things that helps me deal with having rheumatoid arthritis (RA). This is the first installment that consists of an entire album. The others have ...

Reasons why this video was a given for this week of villains: 1) It's VoicePlay. 2) As said in my ACA-Disney write-up , VoicePlay singing Disney is magical.  3) It's VoicePlay. 4) It's one of the most iconic villain songs. 5) It's VoicePlay . 6) It features their cutest guest star to date. Not knocking any of their other guest stars, but I mean, come on. Just look at that face in the thumbnail. How can you not love that face? 7) Come on, again. It's VoicePlay singing Disney and  there's a dog in the video. It's a trifecta of goodness!  Fun fact: dogs make everything better. The video could've been terrible (it isn't), but throw a dog in there and I'll watch it. And if the video is great (it is), a dog'll still make it better. Guaranteed.  Clearly, I had no choice but to feature this one. It would have been wrong not to. Especially considering that Disney had them do this in honor of the Blu-ray release of 101 Dalmatians...

VoicePlay + Disney? Magical. VoicePlay + Broadway? Equally magical. VoicePlay + Disney on  Broadway? Extra magical! Or, to quote Igor from Young Frankenstein (the musical), it's " Right up there with the world's greatest pairs! Like Laurel and Hardy/Like Coke and Bacardi/ Like Juliet and Romeo/ Ebb and flow/ To and fro...destined to be a great pair!" Sidenote #1: I cut out a good chunk of the lyrics from fro to destined, but you get the idea. Sidenote #2: VoicePlay + Young Frankenstein?  Oh, the hilarity that could bring. But back to the issue at hand. VoicePlay's aca-DISNEY. What, you thought I was going to dedicate a month to Disney and not   feature VoicePlay at some point? Have you met me? Actually, it occurs to me that maybe you haven't. If that's the case, let me introduce myself. My name is Kim and I am a VoicePlayaholic. I've long accepted the fact that there's no help for it. It's no one's fault. Actually, scratch that. It...

Today we're going to kick things off with a stroll down memory lane to help convey just why I've been so ridiculously and overly excited about today's video. It was on March 13th, 2015  that I uploaded my first post about VoicePlay. It was the first time I'd dedicated an entire mini-novel post to a non-country act. But I just had to write about them, so I did. It was called Stepping out of the country with VoicePlay and included a few of their videos. Their ACA Top 10 Broadway countdown being the video I'm referring to in this first excerpt.  ...I'd like to take a second to talk about the very end of the video when Earl is talking about them wanting suggestions for future aca-countdowns. Notice how country was included in his examples...I'm so curious about what songs they'd include if they did one and what they'd do with the songs they chose...I'm going on record as wanting an aca-country countdown. I want it a lot. No, not want. Need. Thi...

We've come to the third and last of the 1 Minute Musicals. Three different subjects. Three different styles. As I said in my "Stuck in Traffic" spotlight, I think these are a great introduction to VoicePlay. They give you a good taste of their versatility and their talents as both a group and as individuals.  M y hope is that at the end of this one that those of you previously unfamiliar to the group are inspired to check out their other videos and albums. These three musicals are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of what they can do. They're all so talented and I believe in them so much and want others to as well. It is in that spirit that I'm going to be serious for a bit before embracing the silliness that's coming. It's VoicePlay singing about Miley Cyrus; of course, there's silliness ahead. It's July 1st which means that today is my birthday. I've spent the past couple of days  thinking a lot about my life. About what these five guys...

I'm starting this one off with a question: are kids of today familiar with Schoolhouse Rock? I bring it up because that's actually one of the first things I thought of when I saw this for the first time. That got me thinking about the use of music in education and how helpful it can be. Especially when it comes to helping to remember things. For example, Animaniacs  is why I know all of the state capitals. Facts are just easier to learn in song form. At least for me and I'm guessing a lot of other people. That and music can also teach you about life in general. For instance, "Stuck in Traffic" taught me that belting out your swears is extremely cathartic. Seriously, I recommend it. Maybe not so much when other people are around.  One of the other things I thought of after watching this for the first time? It got me thinking about what I remembered about learning about electricity and such in school. You know how much I remember? Very little. Maybe if my teach...