LIVE PERFORMANCES: taylor swift - bbc radio 1 live lounge

taylor swift - lover


taylor swift - london boy


taylor swift - can't stop loving you (phil collins cover)


taylor swift - archer


taylor swift - holy ground


taylor swift - you need to calm down

AUDIO PREMIERE!: ed sheeran - shape of you / castle on the hill

ed sheeran - shape of you / castle on the hill
after a 2 year wait, our fave ginger singer/songwriter superstar returns with not 1 but 2 new songs that gives us a look into the different sounds of the album 'divide'. i'm leaning more towards 'castle on the hill' on first listen... what do you think?

check out ed giving his 1st interview in 2 years on bbc radio 1

ed sheeran talks to scott mills


ed sheeran - castle on the hill (live @ bbc radio 1)

WONGIE COVER OF THE WEEK: disclosure & sam smith - hotline bling (drake cover - live @ bbc radio 1 live lounge) / jaded / hour glass feat lion babe

disclosure & sam smith - hotline bling (drake cover - live @ bbc radio 1 live lounge)
holy shizz is this cover of the current drake single good! disclosure and sam smith ventured into the live lounge studios and surprised everyone with this excellent reggae soul rendition of an already buzzy single. can someone release this please!

want more? check out more tracks from their upcoming album caracal:

disclosure - jaded


disclosure feat lion babe - hourglass

NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL LIVE: rhodes - blank space (taylor swift cover) (live @ bbc radio 1 piano sessions)

rhodes - blank space (taylor swift cover) (live @ bbc radio 1 piano sessions)
uk singer/songwriter david rhodes (aka rhodes) goes on bbc radio 1 and gives a seriously yearning cover of taylor swifts hit smash and turns the whole spirit of the song into something quite lonely and desperate. we are definite fans and will post more of him in the coming days, but for now, enjoy this beautiful gem.

NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL LIVE: ed sheeran - dirrty (christina aguilera cover) (live @ bbc radio 1 live lounge)

ed sheeran - dirrty (christina aguilera cover) (live @ bbc radio 1 live lounge)
showing up to the live lounge yesterday with a 6 song set, ed surprised everyone by kicking it all off with this cover version of the classic Xtina hit (with the redman rap thrown in too!) press play and you might actually discover that you liked this song after all!


christina aguilera feat redman - dirty
ok... maybe not the original...

NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL LIVE!: jessie ware - jealous (labrinth cover) (live @ bbc live lounge)

jessie ware - jealous (labrinth cover) (live @ bbc live lounge)
hot damn! the ever brilliant jessie ware does an excellent cover of labrinth's current ballad (which truth be told, has never left much of an impression... until now!) and even mashes it up with a verse from chaka khan's "through the fire". not much more to say than just press play and enjoy this wonderful wonderful cover.

HOT SOUNDTRACK: chvrches - get away (radio 1 rescores: drive project)

chvrches - get away
as part of bbc 3's broadcast of the now classic film 'drive' on oct 30th, the filmmakers and bbc have asked radio 1 dj zane lowe to curate a whole new set of performances to be replaced as the new score for this showing. featuring bastille, banks, the 1975, laura mvula, plus loads more, this chvrches track gives you a preview of whats in store! totally curious how this will affect the film as the original score was SO integral to the film. oct 30th if you're in the UK people!

WONGIE COVER OF THE WEEK: hozier - do i wanna know (arctic monkeys cover) (live @ bbc radio 1 live lounge)

hozier - do i wanna know (arctic monkeys cover) (live @ bbc radio 1 live lounge)
the amazing hozier covers one of the best songs of 2013 and strips away the soul grit of the original and gives it a more gentle interpretation. gosh i love this man!

WEEKEND MIX: half moon run - the mother we share (chvrches cover) (live @ bbc radio 1 live lounge)

half moon run - the mother we share (chvrches cover) (live @ bbc radio 1 live lounge)
yeah this cover is really darn good! one of my fave songs of last year gets a folkie turn by the wonderful canadian indie band!

WEEKEND COVERS: ella eyre - black and gold (sam sparro cover) (live @ bbc live lounge)

ella eyre - black and gold (sam sparro cover) (live @ bbc live lounge)
gosh i haven't heard this song in ages! nice that the amazing ella eyre decided to cover it as her contribution to the live lounge archives!

WONGIE SONG(s) OF THE WEEK: sam smith - money on my mind / berlin (ry x cover) (live @ bbc radio 1 live lounge)

sam smith - money on my mind
fresh off the announcement of being bbc's sound of 2014, our boy sam releases his first official video shot (with little subtlety) in las vegas. it's going to be a HUGE year so keep watching this space for constant updates!

besides the bbc, sam was also named critics choice for the 2014 brit awards last week. here he is performing "money on my mind" acoustically for their nominations special:

sam smith - money on my mind (live @ BRITs nominations special)

want even more? check out his rendition of the amazing ry x's "berlin" on bbc's live lounge below:

sam smith - berlin (ry x cover)(live @ bbc radio 1 live lounge)
um... AMAZING!!!

GAL MIX: chvrches - it's not right but it's ok (whitney houston cover) (radio rip)

chvrches - it's not right but it's ok (whitney houston cover) (radio rip)
sorry for zane lowe's voice popping up at the end, but this cool cover was ripped off of bbc radio 1 recently. you get the idea of it's awesomeness!

THE KANYE WEST/ZANE LOWE BBC RADIO 1 INTERVIEW

whatever you think of kanye the rapper/artist, there are some very interesting insights on how even an artist like him experiences levels of modern racism/classism and pigeon holing that obviously was the inspiration behind his very underplayed recent album 'yeezus'. things get soapboxed at the end of part 1 and continues immediately into part 2 (parts 3/4 are coming). it's a definitely interesting rant mixed with alot of frustration and major ego, but it's starting an interesting conversation. watch this.




bbc are putting this out one section at a time, so here is the full audio interview below:

SUNDAY COVER: jessie j - i knew you were trouble (taylor swift cover) (live @ bbc radio 1 live lounge)

jessie j - i knew you were trouble (taylor swift cover) (live @ bbc radio 1 live lounge)
yeah...sometimes it takes a singer like jessie j to show what a taylor swift song should really sound like. pretty amazing.

WONGIE COVER OF THE WEEK: sam smith - when i was your man (bruno mars cover) (live @ bbc radio 1 live lounge)

sam smith - when i was your man (bruno mars cover) (live @ bbc radio 1 live lounge)
the sweetest male voice in the UK covers the most popular ballad of the year. hearts melt. a lone tear. sighs all around. happy sunday all!

SUNDAY CATCH UP MIX: london grammar - in for the kill (la roux cover) (live @ radio 1 bbc live lounge)

london grammar - in for the kill (la roux cover) (live @ radio 1 bbc live lounge)
are you kidding me? this cover is just sublime! my fave chill out band of 2013 just kills this classic indie pop number. make this a b-side will you?

SATURDAY COVERS: arctic monkeys - hold on we're going home (drake & majid jordan cover) (live @ bbc radio 1 live lounge)

arctic monkeys - hold on we're going home (drake & majid jordan cover) (live @ bbc radio 1 live lounge)
who knew these rockers have the grand dad disco thing in them? just wonderful!

SATURDAY COVERS: kings of leon - dancing on my own (robyn cover) (live @ bbc radio 1 live lounge)

kings of leon - dancing on my own (robyn cover) (live @ bbc radio 1 live lounge)
oh my gosh caleb's voice is just incredible. what a wonderful heartbreaking cover!

SATURDAY COVERS: bastille - we can't stop (miley cyrus cover) (live @ bbc radio 1 live lounge)

bastille - we can't stop (miley cyrus cover) (live @ bbc radio 1 live lounge)
so bastille gave a brilliant interpretation of the miley smash and kind of made it amazing (even throwing a nod to her dad billy ray). can we get bastille to cover ALL her songs from now on?

LIVE PERFORMANCE: robin thicke - i love it (icona pop cover) (live @ bbc live lounge)

robin thicke - i love it (icona pop cover) (live @ bbc live lounge)
turning the lyrics around, it's now a sexy r&b middle age crisis theme song! who knew?