Hozier: UnReal Unearth

     Hozier is a musician from Ireland. His unique music style and voice have gained him much traction worldwide. His first break-out song was Take Me to Church in 2014. His most recent album has gained him much popularity, love for its lyrics, and focus on reflecting on great work like Dante's Inferno. Hozier's work is often profoundly reflective and sounds like poetry. His work is much loved by people who love looking into the deeper meanings of songs. Much of this work reflects current problems and often works as an activism source. 

    This can be tied into my focus book on Faith Ringgold because she uses her work to raise awareness and speak about her community. She uses outside resources to reflect and talk about different issues and create great art. Both show how art can be used in many ways to reflect human experience and work as activism. 

    Hozier is a great artist and an intellectual; he has found much love for his outstanding production and storytelling. He is genuinely a fantastic artist for this generation. 

Ruel- Creating Experience through Music

    Ruel, a young artist from Australia, weaves his personal experiences with music into a tapestry that resonates with universal themes of love, friendship, and growth. His music serves as a mirror, reflecting on the pivotal moments, such as the first of life's journey to love and the bittersweet parting from friends. While his lyrics are deeply personal, they evoke emotions many can identify with, fostering a collective reflection on shared experiences.

 

    This connects to my focus book as Faith Ringgold talks about how being surrounded by art and great artists at a young age has helped her create great art. Ruel started his career very young and could learn from great artists through touring with them and collaborations. Both his experience and Faith Ringgold's can be compared as they both demonstrate how much their experience with art when they were younger had a significant experience on their art.

 

    Overall, I think Ruel does a great job of creating an experience of growing up and falling in love that many people can relate to, reflect on, and connect to. His music is fantastic in creating a moment in time and having all aspects of the music reflect it. It has been really cool seeing his music change as he has grown up and experienced new things. 

She is just like us- Sort of

    Olivia Rodrigo: we all know her name, I am sure we have all heard our songs. At points, it felt as if we had grown up with her. She was a disney star when we were kids, writing break up songs as we all experienced our first heartbreaks, and went on her first tour as we all began college. Every major part of our lives felt as if in coincided with hers. For that reason, Olivia Rodrigo is almost just like us, but not quite. 

    Olivia grew up in Temecula, California, with a mother as a teacher and a father as a therapist. At age 5, Olivia began singing lessons, inspired from the love of music she had developed from her parents. She started playing piano at 9, and song writing at 10. Olivia didn't come from a family of child actors, just your typical family, and yet her parents had encouraged her, as it had been her dream. At 10 and 12, Rodrigo made her first two big bookings in a movie and TV show. At this point, Rodrigo had to leave her previous "typical life" to grow a bit into the star she would become. 

    Rodrigo since her first gig at age 10 has blown up into being an international star known across continents. However, she simply highlights her creative process to that of a brain dump. She says that once a day, in the morning, dumping every though in her brain into her journal has helped her creativity and word usage in her songs. Rodrigo also highlights "Big Magic" and "The Artist's Way" as developing herself as a creative. She says that they helped her to think without punishment, without fear of judgment, rather than overthinking and failing to make progress every time she attempts to write.

    Similar to Ringgold's book. Rodrigo highlights her culture as much of her initial motivation for getting her voice and art out there. 

    Olivia has put out two major albums thus far, Sour and Guts. The albums, coming about about 2 and a half years apart, show two different perspectives on love and romantic relationships. Her realness and genuinity in her art makes it so relatable to those of us who choose to listen. As she was experiencing different things when she wrote these albums, many of her fans were. She remains on the same page as many of her fans, and for that so many appreciate her creativity. 

https://www.marieclaire.com/celebrity/olivia-rodrigo-artists-way-big-magic/ 

https://www.biography.com/musician/olivia-rodrigo