"He Said" Song

I just heard the song "He Said" by Group 1 Crew on 95.1 Shine FM the other day. Below are the lyrics, and click here for the music video.

So your life feels like it don't make sense
And you think to yourself:
I'm a good person.
So why do these things keep happening?
Why you gotta deal with them
You may be knocked down now, but don't fold yet
What He said, He said

Chorus
I won't give you more
More than you can take
And I might let you bend
But I won't let you break
And know I won't ever let you go
Don't you forget what He said

Who you are, and what you're going through
So don't let it get the best of you
'Cause God knows everything you need
So you ain't gotta worry
You may be knocked down now, but just believe what He said

Chorus

Don't fear when you go through the fire
Hang on when it's down to the wire
Stand tall and remember what He said

Chorus x2 

I find many Christan rock songs inspiring. When I was looking for a job after college, living with my parents and heartbroken, I prayed a lot. It was definitely a time of struggle for me, and the chorus of this song really speaks to me (and would have even more back then). Although you may face hard times, God won't put you in any situation that you can't handle. It may seem difficult at the time, but then looking back, you'll realize that you were able to make it through that tough time, both because God knew you would, and because He helped you through it.

Concert: Jason Aldean and Florida Georgia Line

The other night I went to Nationals Ballpark for a country music concert starring Tyler Farr, Florida Georgia Line, and Jason Aldean. I will admit that I arrived a little late (but only maybe 20 minutes), and I didn't see Tyler Farr at all; Florida Georgia Line had already started, which makes me think Tyler only got to play a song or two. 

Florida Georgia Line has some of the hottest recent country songs, and I love them! Here are a few of my favorites that they performed:

Cruise

This is How We Roll (sans Luke Bryan)

Round Here

Get Your Shine On

They were very fun to watch. Tyler Hubbard took his shirt off and the girls went wild! And they wore Nats jerseys for part of the time, which was a nice nod to DC and the local baseball team.

They also sang some Top 40 songs like Bruno Mars' Grenade (which I didn't love, simply because I was there to listen to country music), along with some good oldies, like Alabama's I'm in a Hurry.

Then there was a short intermission, and once the lights were on, you could really see how many people were there! Then it was time for Jason Aldean, who made quite an entrance with lots of pyrotechnics and fire works.

I like a lot of Jason Aldean's music. Here were some of the ones he performed:

The Truth
Night Train
When She Says Baby
Amarillo Sky
The Only Way I Know 
Hicktown
1994

He also sang Don't You Want to Stay, which features Kelly Clarkson. I figured he would just sing her parts, but they actually had a film of her singing the song, as if she were right there! So that was really cool!

The one thing I didn't really care for during the show was the videos played during the concert that objectified women. Rap videos usually get a lot of comments about that, but it looks like country music has taken a similar path. Here are some screen shots from their music videos. Notice how some of the shots don't even include a woman's head; her body is the important part, right? Ugh.

Yeah, because all women like to stand sexily in front of big trucks...

And the videos shown at the concert were even worse. They reminded me of Kanye West's Gold Digger or Ludacris' Money Maker with how provocative they were. If country music keeps its lyrics clean, it should have clean videos, too.

"The Lion King" performance at the Kennedy Center

I never got to see The Lion King when it was on Broadway in New York City. So when I heard that it was coming to DC, I immediately bought tickets. I've always heard good things about the show, and I wanted to experience it for myself.

The show was AWESOME! I think everyone can agree that the best part of The Lion King is the costumes. They are so creative and beautiful, from the lions to zebras and even a termite hill! The actors also would come into the aisles of seats; you'd turn around and see an elephant walking past you! That was really neat to immerse the audience into the show like that.

Each person playing the antelopes actually has three antelopes: one on the head, and one on each arm! The giraffes are each one person with stilts on both hands and feet, and the cheetah was the most complicated of all, with strings attaching from the human head to the cheetah head to mimic movements. Incredible!

Look at the face paint! So intricate! And the masks of Mufasa and Scar would move; if they crouched down, the masks would come over their heads and cover their faces, and then they looked like real lions fighting!

This is Simba. Looking pretty good, right?

I didn't love the costumes for Timon and Pumbaa, mainly because they looked more like the cartoon characters rather than the real animals. And the costumes for the smaller animals, like Timon or Zazu, were tricky, because the human playing them had to be camouflaged (hence the green guy behind Timon).

The play's script went almost exactly like the cartoon movie, and most of the songs were the same (there were a few new ones added in there). A lot of the actors even sounded like the characters from the cartoon (Timon sounded just like Nathan Lane). And I was especially impressed by the child actors who played baby Simba and Nala; those kids were brave to be on stage in front of all those people! Good for them!

I will say, I was surprised that the Kennedy Center decided to have the play in the opera house rather than the concert hall. It's a smaller venue, and for such a larger than life production, I would think they'd want a bigger space (both for the performance itself and to pack more people into the show and sell more tickets). Don't get me wrong: I like that the opera house in more intimate and there really isn't a bad seat in there. I just thought they'd put a big, popular show like that in the biggest venue!

LOVE this show! I would definitely recommend that everyone see it at least once!