Catching up on my girls' music

When I was growing up, my music permeated my parents' lives (whether they liked it or not) because the main source of the latest hits was the radio. Then came the SONY walkman and numerous other personal devices that meant kids could listen to tunes without driving their parents around the bend. Not that I ever had one -- my parents never complained, either. At least, not that I can remember.

These days, thanks to the advent of the iPod, it's harder for me to keep up with our girls' musical tastes. When they do play their music so that I can actually hear it, I'm always having to ask, "Which artist is this? What is this song?" because I'm so far behind the times due to the fact that their earphones keep their music out of earshot most of the time.

But every so often, a song creeps out because someone is humming it, or they play a song for each other while doing the dishes... and I get a taste of something new. The song Royals isn't new anymore (it's been out for over a year) -- but it won 17-year-old New Zealander, Lorde, her first Grammy on Sunday. It only came to my attention in the last couple of weeks. I had to go online yesterday to hear it again... and learned that Lorde is a lovely girl with a smoky voice and some great melodies.

This morning, I stumbled across another version of Royals that really knocked my slippers off! Walk off the Earth (from Burlington, Ontario) has done their own extremely complex version of the song, in which group members sing and play ukuleles while going through a very complex sequence of movements to provide percussion at the same time. As one member explains, "There's not a free beat in the tune." In the background, you'll see "Beard Guy" playing the didgeridoo -- I couldn't figure out what he was doing the first time through, but if you watch "Royals -- BEHIND THE SCENES" you'll get a better sense of the effort (and flying ukes) required to make a really amazing video. Definitely a talented bunch! Enjoy!