Regular visitors of my blog might have noticed that it has been rather quiet here recently. I am here to tell you that I definitely did not forget about this site. Actually I am planning on updating with a lot of new reviews as there are bucket loads new music coming in the always interesting Q4, but first of all I want to tell you what I have been up to recently.
In september, I started a new job as a translator and editor at Microsoft for the Dutch MSN website. In the first few weeks I wanted to focus all my attention on this and I even had a double job for a few weeks, which left me no time to update A Bit of Pop Music. I have to say I really like working for Microsoft. The job is great and I get the opportunity to work with a great team. In the meantime I visited Lady Gaga’s artRAVE in the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam. Gaga showed she’s still up there with the big pop girls. The show is fast and fun, Gaga sounded and looked great most of the time, and although ARTPOP is not her best work to date, it was still a nice experience to hear her sing the tracks in a live setting.
I would have loved to write a full review about the show, but only a few hours after Gaga belted the last notes of Gypsy, my plane to China left. I spent only a day there, as it was a stopover on my way to Bali, Indonesia where I spent two weeks for a holiday with my boyfriend. It was an amazing time which I will definitely never forget. We traveled around the whole island, mostly by motor bike. We saw dolphins, hugged some elephants, snorkled with sea turtles, saw traditional Balinese dances, visited beautiful temples, enjoyed fabulous drag queen performances in Bali Joe and even spent an afternoon on a private beach where nobody bothered us. What can I say, I fell in love with the island, the culture and the lovely people that live there. It was an amazing experience.
But for now it’s back to the real life. I left my laptop at home so when I came back I found out there was a lot of new music released while I was gone. I will try to write about as many of these new tracks and albums as possible. I can already reveal that I am completely in love with new tracks by Marina & The Diamonds, Taylor Swift and Sumera and I can’t wait to listen to the new albums by Jessie Ware, Ella Henderson and Tove Lo. There are quite a few concerts coming up that I will visit, by Kyla La Grange, Kiesza, Banks, Paloma Faith, Selah Sue and hopefully Jessie Ware. Enough to look forward to and of course blog about so watch this space!
Michiel