Music & Me - Emma Brooke Alley

Hey there! My name is Emma Brooke Alley and I'm a 19 year old Sophomore student at Converse University. I have been studying classical voice and singing since I was six, and I've been playing piano since I was eight. I’ve done so much music in my life… choir, attending the SC Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities, sang with orchestras and bands, sang at festivals, sports games, pageants, written and performed original music, and most recently on live TV on John Legends team on NBC’s The Voice! Here’s a little bit about the music I like, the music that’s impacted me, and the music I don’t quite love! ;)

 

1. An example (or two) of something that I like right now: Recently I've been trying out different styles of music, and one of my favorite bands right now is an Indie/Alternative band from Florida called "Flipturn". I had heard of their music months ago but they just released their debut album "Shadowglow" and I instantly fell in love. Their bio on their website says it best: "Shadowglow, flipturn's debut album, distills the energy of those live shows into 14 tracks. Stacked high with indie-rock hooks and shimmering soundscapes, it's a snapshot of a band caught halfway between youthful optimism and adult precision, with songs that target the head as well as the heart. This is otherworldly music with a human core, delivered by five fiercely impassioned musicians who've been cutting their teeth since high school." 

I most recently saw Flipturn in concert at the Radio Room in Greenville. I've been to many concerts throughout my life and even more recently at stellar venues...but I have never experienced a concert like Flipturn's before. Even if it was in a small venue like the Radio Room, everything from their sound, their live playing, their crowd interactions, the actual feeling/vibe in the room... I have never felt my soul come alive to music like that before. Nothing else in the room mattered to anyone except for the feeling the music was radiating. Here is one of my favorite songs by them, “Glistening”.

2. An example of music thats deeply important to me: Now this one might seem cliché... but I have reasoning I promise. Coldplay is a band that has such a deep connection to my heart. I have this old home video of my dad playing electric guitar above me as a baby who was laying on the floor, playing along to the song "Sparks" by Coldplay. Literally every time I watch that video I cry. I'll save your ears from listening to it because I never said my dad's playing was good... haha. But seriously, I think that's where my love for the band first began. I grew up listening to Coldplay, and they were my inspiration from switching over from classical music to contemporary music. I also saw them in concert in Philadelphia in 2015...what a show!!! My favorite album is their first album, "Parachutes". I would die to write an album as good as that. Here is my favorite song of theirs, "Sparks".

3. An example of a music I don't really connect with: Alright I know I'm probably going to get judged for this one... a type of music I can appreciate but not want to listen to is Country music. I can hear it now: "Emma you live in the South! How can you not like country?" Trust me, my best friend judges me for it every day. I can appreciate its significance and I definitely can tell how loyal country music listeners are. The winner this year of The Voice was a country artist, Bryce Leatherwood. I don't know, as much as I've listened to it at parties and lakes, I don't think its my favorite. Here's an example of one I hear at work all of the time: