Album Review – All Kings All Poets: “What We’ve Become”

Posted on October 5, 2012 by Btscelebs

It’s Relient K meets Oklahoma City!

On October 5th,2012, the new Christian rock band (hailing from Oklahoma) All Kings All Poets released their debut album “What We’ve Become”. Bassist Corey Keller and drummer Duncan Grantz are the duo behind the name. They have joined forces after years of being apart of popular rock groups A Sequence of Ghosts and Starlit Platoon.

“What We’ve Become” reminds me of Relient K’s hit album “The Anatomy of the Tongue in Cheek”. The project is produced by Cody Nichols (Rapture Ruckus, Sean Lee) and features The Dangerous Summer‘s AJ Perdomo for the single “What I Need”.

The album is 7 tracks of pure rock fun with a good message! Check out my complete review of “What We’ve Become” below:

Under These Lights – This song talks about wanting to change your ways. The singer is willing to give up everything to find the dream. He consistently asks to be taken home (which the listener assumes is heaven or the path to a righteous life on earth). The tune starts out like a screeching sound and continues with a steady upbeat rock sound and pronounced drum beat.

What I Need – Addictions (drinking and smoking) hasn’t satisfied the singer and his empty life meant nothing without God. He gets the chance to start over again. God has given him a new outlook and a new life to live. The 80s pop sound brings the past to the present.

I’ll Be Fine – After being broken by the world (worldly desires, lusts, etc), its time to return to God. An unforgiving spirit or bitterness won’t lead you on the right path to Heaven. You have to let go of everything in order to find the righteous road to Heaven. This single has electric, hectic sound with a powerful message.

Forgiveness – If we can all just find forgiveness everything will be alright. This is a song about crying out to God to change them and help them find a heart of forgiveness. A slower pop rock song accompanies this message.

Separate States – This single talks about their performances glorifying God. They perform in various locations for the One who fills their souls and keeps them alive. Nothing compares to their ultimate home with God, but they aren’t ready yet. The band has a long way to go in life before their do all God wants them to achieve in life.

Privilege – Falling in love may break your heart, but the soloist counts it as a privilege to have his heart broken by the girl he loves. He feels like it was destined for them to be together and he is willing to put his heart on the line. Love is worth it. “Privilege” is a guitar- driven ballad.

I’ll Be Fine (Acoustic Version)

*A Special Thanks to All Kings All Poets and Brian Issac for the photos and digital album to review*

Posted in Music, Reviews | Tagged | 2 Comments

Win an Autographed Copy of Adam Cappa’s “The Rescue”

Posted on October 5, 2012 by Btscelebs

Giveaway number 2  has arrived!

Following the iTunes gift card special, BTSCelebs is now giving away two autographed copies of Adam Cappa‘s debut album “The Rescue”.

You read the album review and even enjoyed his interview and its time to take home the tunes!

The Inspirational rock star debuted in the CCM (Christian rock) scene on March 2012. His first two singles “The Rescue” and “All I Really Need” has resonated with listeners and took over their hearts.

BTSCelebs will be giving away two autographed copies just in time for the holidays!

How can you win?

1. Like BTSCelebs on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/BTSCelebs

2. Share this via any Social Networking site listed at the end of the post (ex: Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, StumbleUpon, etc)

3. Post a comment on this article stating why you want to win “The Rescue”

Winner #1  and Winner #2 will be announced on December 5th, 2012

A Special Thanks to Adam Cappa, Lori at Merge PR and Steve Harpine for the autographed CDs.

Posted in Adam Cappa, BEC Recordings, BTSCELEBS, Celebrities, Contemporary Christian Music, Entertainment, Music, Nashville | Tagged , , , , , , | 32 Comments

Brittany Hargest Releases “Put It All Together” Music Video

Posted on October 3, 2012 by Btscelebs

Following the exclusive release on Tommy2.Net yesterday, former Jump5 member Brittany Hargest finally shares her music video with the public.

Brittany Tweets: “My “Put It All Together” music video is up on youtube, check it out and let me know what you think…”

In my opinion, Brittany had one of the best underrated CCM pop albums of 2011. Her voice is even better than it was back in her J5 days. There isn’t a bad song on the “Put It All Together” album! The stand outs to me are “Miracle” and “Bring The Party”, but “Put It All Together” is right up there in the top three.

BTSCelebs highly recommends “Put It All Together”!

All rights to the photo, quote and video belong to Brittany Hargest and Soul Stride Records

Posted in music video | Tagged , | 2 Comments

The Winner of BTSCelebs iTunes Gift Card Giveaway

Posted on October 1, 2012 by Btscelebs

After two months of waiting, the moment you anticipated has arrived!

The correct answer to the question:

What date did Occupy Chicago start?

September 23rd 2011

The winner of BTSCelebs first giveaway is …….

Rzibecchi from Argentina

Congratulations to Rzibecchi!

Coming Soon: BTSCelebs announces an all new autographed album giveaway just in time for the holidays!

Posted in BTSCELEBS, Entertainment, Movies, Music | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Did You See Jordin Sparks in Chicago?

Posted on September 28, 2012 by Btscelebs

The newest American Idol judges rolled into the Midwest to survey the talent and former winner Jordin Sparks had her own agenda.

Watch the AI talent, work with Velvet Teddy Bear and perform at the Cup were just a few of the things on the singer/actress agenda in the Chicagoland area this week.

There was Sparkle all over the Windy City and beyond when Sparks shared the following messages and images via her Facebook and Twitter:

“ALERT: was just backstage at some of the auditions. Pleeeeease watch @AmericanIdol this year. The panel is insane!!! Omg.”

Got to hang with my American Idol Alum, Ruben Studdard, yesterday! Velvet Teddy Bear!! We shot a viral video for Reebok so look out for it! 🙂

So excited to perform at the Ryder Cup for the opening ceremonies tonight! I brought my Grandpa…he LOVES golf! Look who we ran into! Justin Timberlake! Who knew that golf would be the reason I finally got to meet him!! So happy I finally got to! 😀

I hope you enjoyed Sparks account of her adventures in Chicagoland.

All rights to the images and quotes belong to Jordin Sparks.

Posted in Music | Tagged , | 7 Comments

Hilary Duff: “Staying Healthy for My Luca!”

Posted on September 26, 2012 by Btscelebs

Tweet for a cause!

On September 25th, the singer and actress tweeted in support of  the national awareness campaign for women about heart disease. The Heart Truth celebrated its 10 anniversary!

Check out her tweet and image below:

“Happy 10th birthday @TheHeartTruth! Thinking of my 2009 @dkny red dress & staying healthy for my Luca! #HeartStory”

Bravo, Hilary!  One of my favorite actresses growing up was Hilary Duff. In my opinion, the BEST movie of all time was 2004 A Cinderella Story co- starring Chad Michael Murray. It’s good to see celebs standing up for good health…. now if only she and Chad could reprise their roles for “A Cinderella Story” follow-up 

All rights to the images and quote belong to Hilary Duff.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Future Presidents: “This Was Our First Shot at Making Something for K-Pop”

Posted on September 23, 2012 by Btscelebs
BTSCelebs: How did you get your start in the music industry?
Future Presidents: The Three of us were making music for many years and had some small releases here and there until we all ended up getting signed to a publishing for young talent owned by one of the top producers in The Netherlands. We met each other while working on several projects and decided to do a project together called DJ Porny. What started as a gimmick, became a top 5 hit in The Netherlands and charted in Germany and Belgium as well, it was released in over 14 countries in total. Immediately record labels were interested in working with the three of us so we came up with the name Future Presidents and ran with it. We have been working together non stop since 2006 and we’re still growing every year.
What made you choose the K-pop industry to work in?
About two years ago, our current publisher Universal Music sent us a couple of youtube videos and introduced us to K-Pop. We immediately loved the energy, the catchy melodies, the edginess of the productions and the amazing music videos and the great response it was getting. So, we locked ourselves up for about two weeks and started working on our own version of a K-Pop track, that song was “Electric Shock”.
How did you get the opportunity to work with SM Entertainment on f(x)’s album?
Our publisher already had several successes with SM placing songs and he sent Electric Shock there about two years ago after we had just written it. We didn’t hear anything regarding the song until a couple of months back when SM let us know they wanted F(x) to record it.

Walk us thru the recording and production process of the single “Electric Shock”:
This was our first shot at making something for the K-Pop scene, so we had to think outside the box for this one. We started with the drums on the verses and added synths, we wanted something aggressive with alot of drive right away.. And started building from there.. It needed a breakdown from the heavy verse and than we changed up the beat to give it a more dance vibe in the chorus, which seemed to work. Than we started writing the melodies and lyrics in English, cause we can’t speak Korean, but made sure everything would sound good in Korean as well.. So in our heads it sounded Korean already haha. We hired a great vocalist to come in and record it after listening to K-pop records by f(x) and others to make sure we got the sound and the vibe just right. When everything is recorded we usually start adding breakdowns and effects etc. until we feel we did everything to keep it interesting throughout the whole song.

From the time you recorded the demo to the finished product, how long did it take to complete “Electric Shock”?
It’s been about two years since we worked on the demo so I’m not sure.. It took us a while to find the right style, but I think it was probably about two weeks in total for the demo.The recording with F(x) and the final mixing was done in Korea, which took a couple of days I think in total.

Is there a tour planned? Any places f(x) plans to stop?
We just write and produce the songs, we don’t plan the tours, but I believe they are focusing on Japan with a tour there soon.

Does this have any relation to “Electric Lights”?

EleKtriK LightZ was the original title of the track when we wrote it in English. 

Is it a revamped or remixed version of “Electric Lights? Do they have any plans for a full album, if any? **
The Korean translater changed it into Electric Lights. I believe the plan is to release an album in Japan first and than work on a new Korean album.

A Special Thanks to Future Presidents for the interview and photo

**A BTS Thanks to BTSCelebs Team Member Kevin for his interview questions**

All rights to the video belong to SM Entertainment, Future Presidents and f(x)
Posted in Interviews, Music | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Artist Minjae Lee Releases New Masterpieces

Posted on September 21, 2012 by Btscelebs

Our Spring 2012 interview guest Minjae Lee (aka Greno) recently released his new “works” to the public.

The female-inspired abstract portraits boggle the mind yet inspire so many.

Check out all of his latest masterpieces and Click Here to relive BTSCelebs interview with Minjae

A Special Thanks to Ryan at Roth Management and Minjae Lee for the images.

Posted in Art | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Make Your Bollywood Debut in “Dhoom 3: Back In Action”

Posted on September 19, 2012 by Btscelebs

Photo from Dhoom 2

Bollywood returns to BTSCelebs!

It’s been awhile since I had the opportunity to share news about the Bollywood industry. Earlier this month, Dhoom 3 became the second film I acted in.

Dhoom 3: Back In Action, starring Aamir Khan and Katrina Kaif, is an action thiller film. The Hindi language movie is the 3rd installment in the box office hit series. They started filming in Chicago in early August and they are scheduled to continue filming here thru late October – early November 2012.

Since the movie hasn’t been released in theaters, I’m not at liberty to tell you what happened. However, here on BTSCelebs I give everyone the opportunity to have their own Bollywood experience!

The extras casting call may be over, but extras casting for the series is not!

Click Here to find out who is casting extras for this movie and learn how you can be apart of this hot international film.

BTSCelebs Insight: The day I worked, the crew and casting company reps were very business-oriented and informative. I recommend working on this production to anyone who is an experienced actor or who is truly passionate about acting.

When you sign up, tell them BTSCelebs sent you!

All rights to the image belong to Yash Raj Films.
Posted in Bollywood, Movies | Tagged , | 1 Comment

F(x)’s Production Team “Future Presidents” Electric Shocks BTSCelebs

Posted on September 15, 2012 by Btscelebs

Psy‘s “Gangnam Style” may be all the rave right now, but “Electric Shock” took Asia by storm this summer!

SM Entertainment‘s resident five member girl group f(x) returned to the K-Pop music scene this summer with their Asian hit “Electric Shock”.

The production team (from The Netherlands) behind the catchy tune recently spoke with BTSCelebs about their work on the girls’ album. Next week, you can read their responses to the following questions:

How did you get your start in the music industry?
What made you choose the K-pop industry to work in?
How did you get the opportunity to work with SM Entertainment on f(x)’s album?
Walk us thru the recording and production process of the single “Electric Shock”:
From the time you recorded the demo to the finished product, how long did it take to complete “Electric Shock”?
Is there a tour planned? Any places f(x) plans to stop?
Does this have any relation to “Electric Lights”?  **
Is it a revamped or remixed version of “Electric Lights?”Do they have any plans for a full album, if any? **

You can’t wait that long?

Ok, here is one question and response to get you thru the week:

BTSCelebs: How did you get the opportunity to work with SM Entertainment on f(x)’s album?

Future Presidents: Our publisher already had several successes with SM placing songs and he sent Electric Shock there about two years ago after we had just written it. We didn’t hear anything regarding the song until a couple of months back when SM let us know they wanted F(x) to record it.

A Special Thanks to Future Presidents for the quote and photo

**A BTS Thanks to BTSCelebs Team Member Kevin for his interview questions**

All rights to the video belong to SM Entertainment, Future Presidents and f(x)
Posted in Interviews, Music | Tagged , , | 2 Comments