INSTEP Magzine

'Saving'
Thirteen Senses
Like Coldplay and Keane, Thirteen Senses too hail from Great Britain and are amongst the bands famous for creating 'piano rock' genre – piano is used as a dominant instrument with bass, drums, and sometimes without electric guitars – but unlike Keane and Coldplay, Thirteen Senses have still not made their mark beyond UK.

That said, their music is simply phenomenal. The band came in the spotlight with their single 'Into the Fire' that was used as the background score for American comedy-drama Rescue Me, medical shows Grey's Anatomy and ER and surreal life versus death drama, Tru Calling and Without a Trace, giving them some form of popularity outside the UK.

'Saving' off the band's debut album, The Invitation is one of their slowest songs in terms of musical arrangement.
True to the sound and theme of the album, 'Saving' is melancholic to its core, highly pessimistic and ultimately an incredible song.

"I see so little time/My eyes are crossed, my hands are tied/All I wanna do is that great thing/I never see a passer-by/My skin is cold, it's turned to ice/And everything I do, I want leaving me/And I guess it's a might/With a light that you fight/You turn a blind eye/To the world in the sky" – and with these simple words is a simplistic yet super powerful melody with recurring notes from a weeping piano.

This is not a song to put on if you're in the mood to dance but for some retrospective mood, this is the tune.

'100 Years'
Five for Fighting
Speaking of piano rock, one can never forget the underrated but lovable act that is Five for Fighting. But it isn't band. Five for Fighting is actually the stage name for American singer-songwriter John Ondrasik. John has been around for years but his claim to fame came in 2004 when '100 Years' released and made it to the soundtrack of graphic novel-turned-film The Punisher.

Like Keane and Thirteen Senses, Five for Fighting is another act that raked in success as '100 Years' got picked up to be included in the background score of shows like One Tree Hill, Scrubs, Smallville and JAG.

'100 Years' is beautiful, with piano playing a massive role throughout the tune. It's not a ballad but neither is it too rock 'n' roll even though the energy and even vocals remind one of rock music but on the softer side.

John Ondrasik has a striking resemblance to Alex Band (vocalist, The Calling) and (vocalist, Lifehouse) and that is certainly not a bad feat considering how good The Calling and Lifehouse were, once upon a time.
Lyrically the song is about a 99-year-old man, on the verge of 100 and his look back at his life. It is a song that is about living as opposed to simply existing.

"I'm 15 for a moment/Caught in between 10 and 20/And I'm just dreaming/Counting the ways to where you are/I'm 22 for a moment/She feels better than ever/And we're on fire/Making our way back from Mars/15 there's still time for you/Time to buy and time to lose/15, there's never a wish better than this/When you only got 100 years to live" – it is beautiful. Off Five for Fighting's 2004 album, The Battle For Everything, the song is fabulous so do check it out.

'No Air' Jordin Sparks and Chris Brown This song is the second single by American Idol Jordin Sparks and with this song Jordin finally hit the level of success that she deserved. From her debut album, 'No Air' is a duet with R&B singer Chris Brown. The song, which was produced by The Underdogs duo was officially released in February but both its video and the song had been leaked on You Tube way before that and the song has since then received a lot of airplay both locally and internationally. Besides topping charts all over the world 'No Air' hit the US charts good two months before its official release. Not just the song but also its video has also got the number one position on I-Tunes. One notable motif throughout the video is the wind that often blows against Brown and Sparks when they are shown outside or in the silhouetted scenes, driving home the message of the chorus to indicate that despite the presence of "air" all around, neither finds it possible to "breathe" without the other.

'Low' Flo Rida featuring T – Pain Another song that is getting immense airplay both locally and internationally is Flo Rida's 'Low'. The track is from his recent album Mail on Sunday and became huge after being part of the movie Step Up to the Streets. Featuring T – Pain the song is also produced by him. It also is a remix that has the hook sung by Flo Rida rather than T-Pain. This is also one of the few songs where T-Pain does not use his signature auto-tuning voice. For a song that debuted at number 91 on the Billboard charts it did not take long to hit nimber one. As the first number one on the Hot 100 of 2008, 'Low' held the position longer than any song did in 2007, and is the longest running Hot 100 number one since Beyoncé's 'Irreplaceable.' The song is also the longest running number one in the history of the Billboard Hot Digital Songs chart, topping that chart for 13. 'Low' has gone onto become the best selling digital download of all time.

'Shadow' Ashlee Simpson 'Shadow' is Ashlee Simpson's second single from her debut album Autobiography. Released in 2004, the single peaked at number 57 in the USA, becoming Simpson's second Billboard Hot 100 entry. Co written by Ashlee Simpson Kara DioGuardi and producer John Shanks the song is about the singer's feelings as a teenager of living under her older and famous sister Jessica Simpson's shadow and searching for her own identity. The song does have some dark lyrics but concludes on a positive note as Simpson sings that "everything's cool now" and "the past is in the past. There has, however, also been criticism of the song's lyrics for seeming excessively dramatic in light of Simpson's apparently loving family and fortunate circumstances.

'Yeah' Usher 'Yeah' is a combination of crunk and R&B genres. From his fourth studio album the song features Lil Jon and rapper Ludacris. The song was released as the lead single from the album in early 2004, which reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for twelve weeks becoming the fourth single by Usher to be number one. According to Usher, the song addresses a situation. He explained: "The song is about when I realize, 'You and my girl used to be the best of homies and I'm about to go home with you?'". According to Lil Jon, the song 'Red Light', which he produced and was not included in the final tracks listing of the first release, is a continuation of 'Yeah!' The song got critics' appreciation and was nominated at the 2005 Grammy Awards for Record of the Year, and won the Best Rap/Sung Collaboration award. At the 2005 Soul Train Music Awards, "Yeah!" was nominated for best R&B/Soul or Rap Dance Cut.