NEW Royal Tailor merch!!

Go deck yourselves out and support Royal Tailor! They just came out with some new merchandise this morning!!! :) #readysetgo

http://royaltailor.spinshop.com/   Have a good one! ;) ~KJ

God's NOT Dead!!!

Well, I FINALLY did it! I went in to see God's Not Dead yesterday! I spent two some odd months listening to how good it was. As you'd expect, I watched it with high expectations.
Well, I'm going to tell you what I thought of it (SPOILER ALERT: IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT YET, YOU MIGHT NOT WANT TO READ THIS REVIEW YET). 
First of all, Shane Harper did a WONDERFUL job acting. The movie was a great quality and the outcome was exceptional. But, the critical side of me did kick in at one point. It honestly was really hard to find anything wrong about it. But the conclusion was lacking something. Granted, they got the main points down. but what about Shane's ex-girlfriend?? What ever happened to her? Well, that wasn't too big of a deal. But what about Ayisha? What ever happened to her? Did she get along well? And what was the purpose of her talking to Josh at the concert if they were never going to get into a romantic relationship? Just a thought there. I mean, the movie seemed unfinished. What about Pastor Dave (David  A.R. White)? He added just the right amount of mild humor to the movie but, I honestly want to know if they ever got to Disneyland. Frankly, those little things put together made it seem incomplete. Yes, they made up for it with the amazing surprise salvation of Professor Radisson, the influence the Newsboys made on Radisson's girlfriend and the challenge Willie Robinson gave in the end.  Personally I think there should be a part two. But, I suppose it's really not my choice. ;) ~KJ

When modern worship meets Christian Rap

Lecrae

Modern worship and rap don't usually mix together...do they? Well, Lecrae is an exception. I'm sure you already know that he's the number one guy in Christian rap. But in case you don't, let's talk about him real quick (yeah, right. When do I EVER talk about someone 'Real quick?'). Mr. Lecrae. Let's see. Oh yeah! He won a Grammy Award. Not sure if you saw that last year. But, even if you didn't, there wasn't much to watch. He had somebody else get it on his behalf because he got stuck on the Red carpet, you know, mobbed by fans and whatever. Well, at least he won it! But he didn't stop there. He's still going hard. Now, he's branched out to do more than just colab with those who do rap. He's now doing collaborations with people like David Crowder and Chris Tomlin. Amazing people but, you probably wonder how that would sound and how they were able to pair the two genres. Well, it actually worked out quite nicely.  Here's the Crowder one:

 Amazing accomplishments Lecrae has done. But, what about he people who don't have that much publicity? Those artists that hardly ANYONE knows about? Well, I think they deserve some publicity too. There's some serious talent out there that goes unnoticed, which is messed up. So, let's talk about my favorite underground artist, V. Rose. Amazing singer but, sadly, not many people know about her. She was discovered by rapper, Flame, formerly from Cross Movement Records.  When I first heard of her, shes was featured in his song, Surrender. I'd already been a fan of Flame for awhile. and it was a REALLY good song. At first, I wondered, "Who IS this amazing singer??" I son found out once the official video came out. V. Rose only has two albums out. The second one having come out about a month ago. She's definitely stepped up her game and I'm a total fan. I mean, how much Christian electro pop exists out there?? Frankly, not much. So, V. Rose really has accomplished more than a lot of better-known female artists have. And, that being said, I'll go ahead and leave you with a song from her new album, "Forever After." ~KJ

New music, new covers and new colabs!!!

Guess what?? Kevin Max just put this picture on Facebook ta few days ago!! The rumors are true. He, Anthem Lights and Rachel Lampa ARE doing a collaboration!! This is what we've all (indirectly) been waiting for! Let's talk about the three for a moment. We'll start with my boy, Kevin Max. I'm sure you know he's from Audio Adrenaline. And I"m sure you also know, he USED to be from Dc Talk. But I bet you have NO idea that after he took over as the lead singer in Audio A, they released a debut album THEN he took a break for a while to write a book. Apparently, when he was in Dc Talk, he wrote a poem about angels...and so begins his epic novel about spiritual battles!! He found it a few years later and started writing! "Fiefdom of Angels" is what it's called.  Check the website out! it's really good! :) I was actually beginning to wonder if the 'new Audio A was going to be producing anything else for us, with Kevin so caught up in his book, the way he was. And I proved correct...in a sense. Kevin Max recently announced that he was moving on from the lead singer position in Audio A to go into his own solo career(this is the second time this has happened). The new Audio A singer is Josh Engler, former  Abandon singer. It's really crushing news but, like I said, I wasn't too surprised. Okay, moving on! Let's talk about Rachel Lampa. She's not a really famous person but, definitely has an amazing, angelic voice. I found out about her when I was watching a video with Jonathan Thulin (from the band Press Play). Then this woman with an amazing voice came in. It actually took me two listens to actually figure out her name. She's definitely an amazing singer. Now last but DEFINITELY not least, my favorite band in the industry. Anthem Lights. Now, I heard an Anthem Lights song before and didn't care too much. I was like, "It's a really good song. They have talent. Now, let's move on with life." Well, I really never took the time to look them up. You probably wonder, "What did make you finally Google them?" Well, it was actually through another of my favorite bands, Royal Tailor. They were actually in a Ryan Seacrest cover contest. This time, it was for Katy Perry's song, "Roar".                                      

Anthem Lights and Royal Tailor were in the running. At the time, I was a huge RT fan, so I didn't even watch the Anthem Lights one. But over time, as they narrowed it down and Anthem were still in the running, I just had to check it out. I was BLOWN away. AMAZING harmonizing. This band is Made up of Chad Graham, Caleb Grimm, Alan Powell and Joseph (Joey) Stamper. This band didn't stop at "Roar."  They continued doing covers (and actually were already doing some before the contest even started). They  have three cover albums, and the newest one includes the cover "Let it Go" from the movie, "Frozen.           Of course, they used to have a different band member that took Joey's place. His name was Kyle Kupecky. Great singer, as he showed in the song, "Can't shut up."

But once Joey took his place, he definitely proved that he could do just as good or better....This one is my personal favorite from them. ;)

 

The band, however, doesn't compromise in their beliefs and faith statements and still do their own unique originals, combined with their increasingly popular covers. "We're made to be strangers of the world." Alan says, discussing the quote from 1 Peter. "Strangers in a good way."  They even did a song addressing the problem with Hollywood's bad influence on this generation.

I don't know about you but, they have definitely made the "Favorite Artist" title for me. So, now that we discussed this, you realize how amazing this colab probably is. Well, personally, I was unimpressed when it finally released...and a little disappointed. But, here it is. What you've been waiting for. Kevin's new single:

Yup. Pretty interesting stuff. But, speaking of new music, let's talk about Lecrae for a minute. He's got a new single coming out. Unfortunately, he's making everyone wait...unless you're in Atlanta. Yeah, that's right. He's allowing people in Atlanta to listen to the singe tonight...at the mall. There's this little white box and plug in you have to look for. Well, that'll be interesting to hear. I'm on pins and needles waiting for it! Okay, last thing I want to cover(excuse the pun). If you haven't seen the new Royal Tailor video, go check it out. It's for their song, "Ready Set Go." If you think you already saw it, think again. They did an Official Music Video once, with Capital Kings, who they featured in the song. But, the video was frankly, quite bland. All black and white and no real captivating elements. Well, they decided to re-do it...and it got featured on Ryan Seacrest.com! That's some amazing publicity, right there. And the video was waaaay better than the first one. Full color and it matched the song better. Aaand, here it is!  

If that wasn't enough excitement for one day, they are also doing some sort of cover. They announced it on Facebook. They even added a picture. Quite intriguing but, they won't let on what the cover is. They've done covers in the past including TobyMac and Micheal Jackson. They also participated in the Katy Perry "Roar cover. But this cover looks like it's going to be different from the norm.  If they hadn't said 'cover,' I would instantly think it was "Walls Down," but it apparently is not. And they apparently have no intention of letting on yet what it is. Unfortunate for those who have to wait, but in the end, it should be rewarding. ;) -KJ.

Royal Tailor on set of their 'Mysterious' cover song

The K-Love Fan Awards RECAP!

Matthew West making fun of Toby with Candice

So, the K-Love Fan Awards just ended. They were FANTASTIC!!! If you don't know what K-Love is, I better get that out of the way. K-Love is a Christian radio station. Last year was their first annual K-Love Fan awards. Well, they decided to do it again this year. The awards are in Nashville but, for three days, they broadcast it live on the radio for the convenience of those who couldn't make it to the event. And you know what's even cooler? The winners of the awards are chosen by the fans!!! Yup! Over two million people voted for the results we got last night! And...for every five hundred thousand votes, they built a house for a homeless family in Detroit. They were willing to built up to four houses so, we unlocked all the houses! The awards themselves were hosted by Matthew West and Candice Cameron Bure (both nominees in the awards). They both brought a pretty entertaining show( mainly Matthew West). Matthew West even took the time to make fun of TobyMac during the show. I think he should be a comedian. But, now, let's skip over to the results. The winners - Best live show - TobyMac. Song of the year -.Mandisa with Overcomer. Artist of the year - Casting Crowns. Worship song of the year - Oceans by Hillsong United . Book Impact-You'll get through this by Max Lucado. Group/Duo of the year - Newsboys (I saw them in concert,by the way. AMAZING!!!). Film/Telivisoin Impact - God's not dead (Still haven't seen that one but, I've heard great things about it and...the Newsboys are in it. I'll try and swing by the theater next week and post my review). First Christian artist to appear on a 7UP can( A lot of people didn't get that award title. Basically, whoever got the most votes got to be on a 7UP can) - Jamie Grace. Sports Impact - Thomas Davis. Male Artist of the year - Chris Tomlin. It was a great award show and all of the artists were honored just to be nominated.  The band Anthem Lights even wrote a Mash-Up of all the Song of the year nominees. I"m going to be honest, I LOVE Anthem Lights so, when I heard that they were doing something for K-Love I inwardly squealed with delight. In fact, I didn't want to ruin the surprise but, my next blog post is going to have a siable portion dedicated to them and their works. #getexcited

Anthem Lights behind Max Lucado as he receives his Book impact award

Now, I'm sure you all want to hear the K-Love Mash up so, here it is!
Awesome stuff, if I do say so myself. But enough about them. You'll hear plenty more in due time. If you were like me, you probably didn't sit for three days straight and sacrifice eating and probably sleeping, to hear the ENTIRE awards all weekend. So, I was just praying that they would post the actual award ceremony but, I doubted it. Well, I was delightfully surprised! They didn't post the entire thing but, they DID post the first hour...which was , ironically, the very part I missed. And, I'm going to let you all watch it too, if you'd like. They had some great performances. I was actually a little disappointed that they didn't have my boy, TobyMac come out and give us one of the award winning performances he does. But, I WAS excited when he didn't take any of the credit. "I'd like to thank my band, Diverse City. If it wasn't for them, I wouldn't be here. I'm just so honored. And thank you to the fans for choosing to listen to my music. Bumpin' it up in your minivan. Thank y'all so much." I just loved that part. Anyway, here's the awards video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlHLPjeeHWA. Hope you enjoyed it as much as me and I can't WAIT until next year. -KJ