5 Covers You Need In Your Life

We all love a good cover. At least I love a good cover. I noticed that lately I've been actually obsessing over five covers in particular. So in no particular order, check out my list of the top 5 covers you absolutely need in your life:

1. Nathan Sykes - "Marvin Gaye"

If you know The Wanted or you read my review of their Word of Mouth Tour way back when, this name will sound familiar to you. Nathan Sykes has since moved on after The Wanted's split and has gone and made himself a nice little solo career. His debut single "Kiss Me Quick" is gaining attention faster than I can type this and he recently announced that his next single will be called "Over And Over Again" and filming for the official music video has already begun. Check out Nathan's mashup of Charlie Puth and Meghan Trainor's "Marvin Gaye" and Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It on":

Twitter

Facebook

Vevo

Purchase Nathan's 2016 calendar here!

2. Demi Lovato - "Take Me To Church"

Can we just talk about Demi Lovato for a second though? This girl has some serious pipes. She ceases to amaze me. Demi covered Hozier's "Take Me To Church" in the BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge earlier this month and it was more than amazing. This powerful and soulful rendition has been replaying in my head for the past week. Recently Demi's been under fire a bit for a Tweet she posted regarding Barbie's newest Zendaya doll. All seems to be blown over for now just in time for Demi's newest album Confident! The album will be released October 16th so grab your copy! Check out Demi's incredible cover: 

Twitter

Facebook

Vevo

3. Conor Maynard - "Only One"

So I've never been a huge Kanye fan (don't hate me) but there's something about a Conor Maynard cover that can change my mind. If you've never heard of Conor please listen carefully because I'm about to give you some life advice: Check.This.Guy.Out. I'm serious. I love Conor and his 2012 Contrast album basically travels everywhere with me. I still don't understand why this guy isn't more popular. He is one of the greatest vocalists (in my non-influential opinion) and his latest single "Royalty" will most likely convince you that this guy is the real deal. This cover is a bit older from the beginning of this year but it's still one of my favorites. That falsetto though? I know. You can check out Conor's most recent Diplo & Sleepy Tom cover here and there are plenty more on his Youtube channel as well. Just take a minute and fall in love...

Twitter

Facebook

4. An Honest Year & The Weekend Riot - "She's Kinda Hot" 

So I'm sure everyone's pretty familiar with this 5 Seconds of Summer track as it's been playing non-stop literally everywhere. But one of my personal favorites, An Honest Year, and one of my newly found favorites, The Weekend Riot, released this cover last month and I can't get enough of it! I've been lucky enough to see An Honest Year live a couple times and they never disappoint. I was super excited for this cover. I had never even heard of The Weekend Riot but they have a TON of other covers on their Youtube channel you should definitely check out. Also, An Honest Year just released the music video for their new single "Chin Up, Kid" so give that a look. But first...

Twitter: An Honest Year, Matt, Stephen, Jon, Jordan, Greg

The Weekend Riot, Johnny, Bruce

Facebook: An Honest Year, The Weekend Riot

Youtube: An Honest Year

5. Sam Smith & Disclosure - "Hotline Bling" 

Now, Sam Smith and Disclosure are known for having some amazing collabs. It's just a proven fact. Sam is pretty much the definition of singing perfection and if you don't have some sort of experience while listening to him I don't even know who you are. If you happened to read my In The Lonely Hour Tour review you'll know that I am crazy about this guy and apparently Sam is crazy about Drake! And of course he does the man justice. Sam Smith and Disclosure have a new single "Omen" which showcases just how great these guys are together. I wouldn't mind an entire Sam Smith/Disclosure album in the future so if anyone can make that happen it would be greatly appreciated. Check out the cover below:

Twitter: Sam Smith, Disclosure

Facebook: Sam Smith, Disclosure

Vevo: Sam Smith, Disclosure

Hopefully I've restored your love for a good cover video and maybe even gave you some new artists to look into. My job is done then. 

5 COVERS YOU NEED IN YOUR LIFE ~ AS TOLD BY MADS

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Spotlight on Ricky Ficarelli - The Drum Cover You Can't Miss

I just wanted to do a quick little feature on someone I think deserves to be seen. Recently Ricky Ficarelli posted a new drum cover of "Beautiful Now" by Zedd. Not only did this song already have people pumped up while the summer days were still around, but now Ricky's put his own spin on it and it's pretty wonderful.

I was lucky enough to see Ricky when he played drums for Hollywood Ending during their Never  Ending Summer Tour. You can check out Ricky's new drum cover below! He has plenty more on his Youtube channel which you can check out here. See for yourself what this guy is all about. You definitely won't be disappointed.

Be the bomb and join Ricky's squad! He's got an official "Squad" bracelet up for purchase as well as a Skype session, and house party appearance. You can purchase those things here.



Ricky's links:
Twitter




RICKY FICARELLI ZEDD DRUM COVER ~ AS TOLD BY MADS
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Tom and Giovanna Fletcher Announce Baby Number 2!

Can this family get any cuter? Apparently yes. Earlier today McFly and McBusted band member Tom Fletcher posted a video titled "Player Two." I had just woken up and so naturally I was scrolling mindlessly through social media trying to ignore the fact I actually had classes to get to. Now, I've been a pretty big fan of McFly for some time. And by pretty big I mean huge. And by some time I mean roughly nine years. I know, long time. If that isn't the definition of favorite band I don't know what is.

McFly (circa 2004) from left:
Dougie Poynter, Tom Fletcher, Harry
Judd, Danny Jones

Anyway, I love keeping up with the guys of McFly who back in 2013 teamed up with two of the three former members of Busted (another great band dating back to the oh so attractive pop punk/rock early 2000's era). Since then, the newly formed "McBusted" has released a self-titled album and gone on a couple great tours. Not that I would know because the hope of McFly properly coming to the US has long since been lost in the Supercity subscription days. I'm not bitter though....anyway. McFly seems to be "growing up" in a way. If you can call it that. I mean, they're already all hovering around the big 3-0 but I'm talking about growing up in a different way. McFly haven't made an album as McFly since Above The Noise in 2010, however, McBusted seems to be as successful as anyone could possibly imagine they'd be. The guys seem comfortable doing what they're doing and don't seem to be in any sort of rush to change direction.

McBusted (from left): Danny Jones,
Dougie Poynter, Matt Willis, James
Bourne, Tom Fletcher, Harry Judd

But that's enough of that. Let's talk babies. Tom and Giovanna are what you may call "relationship goals." They've been dating for what seems like a thousand years. That's an exaggeration, more like 12 or so but that's a fair chunk of my lifetime so it might as well be that long. They got married back in 2012 which spawned a viral video of Tom singing his wedding speech to the tune of McFly songs. So yeah, it was pretty cute. You can check that out here.

Tom and Giovanna Fletcher
with son Buzz

A couple years ago they uploaded a video announcing they were expecting their first child. This actually drove fans of the band mad with excitement. For obvious reasons. On March 13th of last year, Buzz Michelangelo was born and has since become quite the popular baby. The couple frequently posts pictures and videos making themselves the poster child for the perfect little family. In the video uploaded today, Tom and Giovanna announced they were expecting baby number two and the video is as cute as you would expect it to be coming from them. You can check it out below.

This news comes in the wake of Tom's fellow band member, Harry Judd, and his wife Izzy's pregnancy announcement after struggling with IVF. You can read about Harry and Izzy's story here. It is baby fever in the world of McFly and we can only hope Danny Jones and wife Georgia are up next. Congrats Tom and Gi!

Check out the adorable announcement!

In honor of the 10th anniversary of 

McFly's album Wonderland, 

check out their video for "Love Is Easy" for a 

trip down memory lane:

A couple of side notes: Giovanna happens to be an amazing writer and has a few books you can check out and purchase here. Also, the Eyes Alight Appeal was set up by Izzy and inspired by her brother Rupert. The money raised goes to help those in brain injury rehabilitation. Click here if you would like to get involved or donate!

Any links you could possibly want:

McFly: Twitter, Facebook, Vevo, Website
McBusted: Twitter, Facebook, Vevo, Website

Twitter: Tom, Harry, Danny, Dougie, Matt, James, Giovanna, Izzy, Georgia
Youtube: Tom, Giovanna



TOM FLETCHER BABY ANNOUNCEMENT ~ AS TOLD BY MADS
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