The concert.

The dude seriously records the sound of his Rice Krispies in the morning and then freestyles to it.

At the beginning of his tour for "+" he did a concert in Birmingham and at the beginning asked the crowd to part and then set up a table in the middle of the floor and just stood on it with his guitar and performed the whole thing acoustically without a microphone. in the middle of the crowd. would that not be the coolest thing of your whole life???

Some videos. If you watch one of them, please let it be the second one. Or the third.

A great interview:



A great studio session:


And another great studio session:


I watched these sorts of things. live.

It was the best concert I've ever been to. Let's recap the other concerts I have seen: NSYNC, BSB, One Direction, Neil Diamond, Beach Boys, Goo Goo Dolls....and I don't remember what else. I loved the Backstreet Boys concert. It rocked. It was a dream come true.

But Ed was just a different story. He wrote these amazing songs and then he performed them, on his own, with no band, and I was just standing there, smashed in the crowd, with my fists clenched and my mouth open. The whole time.

Lauren and I got there a little over an hour early and found my friend Candace in line. We were so lucky to have her. She was towards the beginning of the massive line and we got excellent placement in the crowd once they opened the doors.

We did not stay in that excellent place. I have never experienced such pushing. People started pushing towards the front the moment the place started to fill up. It was a little insane. And I started to lose it a little bit. I don't think I've ever been so mean in my life. But when you are in this sort of situation, you have to hold your ground, dang it! If you let everyone in front you that tries to push forward, you will end up at the very back of the crowd, which would be no bueno!! One girl was like, "can I get between you guys?" Because she and her girls were trying to find their friends up at the front. I said no. She was like, "but I need to find our friends." And I flat out said, "they have literally saved a bubble of space up their for you? Because there is no room." She was like, "WHAAA?" And I said, "you can go up there if you want, but you'll have to find a different way."

I took a picture to commemorate the small air bubble in front of me for a couple minutes. And that girl's hair, btw, was OUT OF CONTROL and in my face LOTS.

After a while Lauren and I started to feel like we are getting too old for this.

Lauren, Candace, me.

But we had our matching shirts on and we were just SO EXCITED to see Ed.


There were two opening acts. The first one was boring-ish and the only thing I could think was that opening acts are the worst idea in the history of mankind. But then the second one was good. Both openers were British, which was cool, but then they spoke so fast that we couldn't understand them when they said their names. It was difficult. But we figured out that the second was called Rizzle Kicks. They were UK rapper dudes. Zac Taylor would have loved them. And they grooved. I was excited.

And then Ed appeared. He opened with "Give Me Love" and I about died.

Ed in blue.

And then the set list included "Drunk," "U.N.I.," "Grade 8," "Small Bump," "Kiss Me" (again, I die.), "Lego House," "Wayfaring Stranger" (not an Ed original, btw), "Gold Rush," "You Need Me, I Don't Need You" (which went on for like 10 minutes), a traditional Irish piece (I wish he would have closed with this), and finally, "The a Team."

oh hello there Ed.

He kept telling everyone to sing instead of scream and he would give us harmonies. And then for the slower, sweeter songs, he just told everyone to be silent--almost like it was reverent. It was really cool. And he would sing and play and loop his stuff like in those videos.

They should pay me for taking a picture this good.

Ed waving good bye

When it ended Lauren and I were speechless. We wandered back to the car, and while we were waiting in the parking lot for literally 1 hour before we could pull out, we listened to the whole album again. And it was like magic.

Oh, and Saltair was pretty cool. I'll have to go out there again because it was SO FOGGY that I swear I couldn't even see the whole building, nor the surrounding areas (namely, the lake).

So if you ever get the chance. Buy tickets to see Ed.

at the end... :(

the shiny gold thing??? That's about the only part of the building we could see.

waiting in the car, very sleepy.

And also. "The a Team" is nominated for Song of the Year at this year's Grammys. And Ed's performing. So watch it.

And a last note: Someone asked in an interview what he has spent his money on since becoming rich and famous. He was like, "well, someone gave me a Ralph Lauren sweat shirt that I really liked... so I bought 7 more in different colors." Who does that???

Edward Sheeran where have you been all my life?

I have been contemplating being a fan of this man ever since 1D's Harry Styles commented at an iTunes musical festival about the genius singer-songwriter with "ginger hair" who wrote a couple of their songs.

And then "The a Team" got stuck in my head and wouldn't leave.

And then I listened to the rest of the album, and I swear I got weak in the knees just listening to this man's voice.

And he's like this nerdy ginger kid with crazy hair and a pointy chin like Elise had when she was little.

But he's only 21 and I think he might be a genius.

Sample below:
(hint: this song is best heard without any distractions)

Rock Your Body

I watched this music video with Stephanie last night. It is the greatest JT video and it SCREAMS 2003.
Sweet Stephanie's only words were:

"They should play this video on MTV all day, every day, and none of those stupid shows."

I have a very wise sister.

Do you know how long we've waited for this?

http://countdown.justintimberlake.com/


like 7 years. That's how long.

And there have been so many false alarms.

And I feel like this first single is only a warm up. I think I'm going to like the other stuff a lot more. But it's fresh and still very JT at the same time.

So. Cool.

Finally.

Oh, Rob.

One of my all-time faves.

Black Balloon

This song is hope.

Don't know why.

But so today, when I drove home from the happy land of Provo, I listened to the Goo Goo Dolls. I listen to them when I am feeling more reflective. Don't know why that was tonight. Probably because it is so cold and snowy and icy outside. Probably because I miss Provo and all my friends and sometimes I wish I could have just frozen time to keep everyone around me. To keep everyone from graduating and going different places. To keep the warm Provo summer sun shining on all the happy kids who are there to learn and grow and have too much fun with all the other happy kids.

Tonight I had dinner with Mike and Drake and I asked them how the ward is. They are still in the best ward of all time. Mike---and Drake--- confirmed to me that the ward was the best in summer of 2011--when my little crew ruled the world. 2011 could have been a frozen moment. Or better yet, epic summer 2010, as it is known to be called.

And then after dinner I went to a BYU men's volleyball game, and I remembered all the other volleyball games. The first was just after I broke up with a boy. It was a cleansing game-- the kind that reminded me of how much fun it is to just hang out with your friends with no pressure. And my friends were so happy I was with them that night. Amy kept telling me that.

Why do I have to meet new people and make new friends when I love the ones of have so much already? I have so many amazing friends and it is already so hard to keep up with them all thoroughly. Why do I need more? Why do things always need to change? And why am I already stressing out about what is going to happen in the fall when the lease on my house is up and I have to decide if I'm going to stay in here or move somewhere else? Why do these decisions have to only be up to me?

Because what is happening now? What is the plan, Audrey? What do you even want in your life that you can go and get for yourself?

All of these thoughts were swirling. And then somehow, despite any of the lyrics, Black Balloon reminded me to hope. It's like, the tune, the sound, the instruments. They just have this quality that says anything is possible.

the dear ones

I just discovered this family photo.

I'm in love with it.

Also. I just had a small panic attack of joy because a new One Republic song was released...tomorrow (but since it's after midnight in EST it's already on iTunes!!!)!!!!! Can this day get better?

"If I Lose Myself." Look it up.

Kiss You

Harry Styles. In the snow pants. Kills me every time.

This just came out a couple hours ago, ps.

J Jonas

think about it. Who does it sound like this song was written by?

Chris Brown.

All the way.

Anyway. I love me some Jonas.

You guys.

New favorite thing of my life.

Kathy Beth Terry.

Quoted: "Sascha Fierce is to Beyonce as Kathy Beth Terry is to me." -Katy Perry.

Katy Perry has created a 1990s 13-year-old alter ego to promote her new single, "Last Friday Night." And it is HILARIOUS. She even used whatsherface Rebecca Black in the promo.

Kathy Beth Terry's favorite things include beanie babies, Anne Frank stickers, JTT, Jared Leto, Will Smith, Devon Sawa, and Leo.

I remember those days.

Check out her twitter and facebook page. hilar.

That's all.

My Current Playlist

So, for the past two years, my music listening has been devoted almost entirely to Michael Jackson. There have been some obsessive peaks and some lulls, but most of the time, the song I want to listen to when I get on the computer or need to pick some laundry-folding music was written and/or recorded by the one and only. I had a Beat It phase, a phase of the whole Bad album, a Dangerous phase, Man in the Mirror, Dirty Diana, Earth Song, Jackson 5 phase, The Jacksons phase, a phase of collaborations with people like Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney-- I even had phases for similar types of music that didn't feature Michael- like Prince, Janet Jackson and other Motown artists like Marvin Gaye, the Supremes, the Temptations, Smokey, and Stevie. It has just been never ending.

BUT, I am currently in a lull. Michael has been gone for six months now, and I am slowly moving on. Don't think I'm forgetting about him, though. I'm still the number one fan in Provo. And I'm still going to buy the DVD of "This Is It" at midnight when it comes out on January 26.

But there is proof of this movement in my current playlist of "have to listen to all the time" songs. I mean, check out the variety!!! This is totally a new thing for me.

They are as follows (keep in mind, I would definitely recommend any of these. But you may have to find the clean version)
1. Bigger, The Backstreet Boys
2. Shattered, The Backstreet Boys
3. Cold Case Love, Rihanna
4. Firebomb, Rihanna
5. Crawl, Chris Brown
6. So Cold, Chris Brown
7. Time for Miracles, Adam Lambert
8. Empire State of Mind, Jay-Z featuring Alicia Keys (look for the clean one)
9. Call the Man, Celine Dion (an old classic!)
10. He Could Be The One, Hannah Montana
11. Party in the USA, Miley Cyrus (It's taken a long time for this one to get old!)
12. Wait For You, Elliot Yamin
13. Fifteen, Taylor Swift (yeah, I NEVER thought she would be on my playlist, but I kind of think this girl is AWESOME.)
14. Unbelievable, Craig David
15. Touch My Hand, David Archuleta
16. Down, Jay Sean
17. Whatcha Say, Jason DeRulo
18. Knocks You Down, Keri Hilson feat. Ne-Yo and Kanye (get the clean one!)
19. Run This Town, Jay-Z feat. Kanye and Rihanna (it's this one, specifically, that requires a clean version. Be careful.)

Below is a phase of songs I JUST RECENTLY got over. This marks the end of all the phases I'm talking about above.

1. Purple Rain, Prince
2. When Doves Cry, Prince
3. Escapade, Janet Jackson (LOVED THIS SONG.)
4. Miss You Much, Janet Jackson
5. Blame it on the Boogie, The Jacksons
6. Cheater, Michael Jackson
7. This Place Hotel, The Jacksons
8. The entirety of the "Off the Wall" album, Michael Jackson- particularly the song, "Girlfriend" (written by Paul McCartney for Michael) This album literally got me through finals. We made it through some tough times together...
9. This Is It, Michael Jackson. (So emotional!!)

You can all now clap your hands for me. I'm expanding my music-listening. It's great news, really. Just don't think that I like Michael any less, because that kind of betrayal is NOT going to happen. But seriously, good good songs on this list. Look them up. I'm particularly into the new Rihanna ones at the top. And the new Backstreet Boys CD. I love those guys.

By the way, Happy Christmas, Happy New Year, Happy back to school, and everything like that. I've been MIA for a while, but I'm back on the blog. YAY.