MY TEN FAVORITE FOREIGN SONGS OF 2014 #7 Showtek and the Noisecontrollers - Get Loose (Tiesto Remix)

It's not uncommon for a Body Jam song to make it to my year-end list.  There have been many good selections this year, which I would have missed if not for the meticulous curating the people behind this Les Mills program does for the songs they use in this dancexercise.

This year, I was introduced to the pulsating music of Showtek and the Noisecontrollers. Definitely my favorite dance rave track for the year!

MY TEN FAVORITE FOREIGN SONGS OF 2014 #8 Beyonce and Jay-z - Drunk in Love

I admit I wasn't immediately bowled over with Beyonce's last self-titled album.  It took months and a lot of hip hop classes with the G-Force for me to appreciate the fantastic work she did with that album.  Not surprising that she got a Grammy Album of the Year nod for it and I think she has enough fans in the Academy to snag her first Grammy for that prestigious category!

Funny thing is I also didn't immediately like this song when I heard it the first time at last year's Grammy awards.  Eventually, it became my most favorite song from that album of hers for obvious reasons, it's also the most raunchy!

MY TEN FAVORITE FOREIGN SONGS OF 2014 #9 Hillsong United - Oceans

I've been a fan of contemporary Christian music for decades now, and although I'm Roman Catholic, it hasn't stopped me from buying the CDs and watching the concerts of top Christian acts like Amy Grant, Jars of Clay, Kathy Troccoli, Switchfoot and this year, Hillsong United.

The Born Again community, as we call them here, usually comes in full force and I don't really mind. There is not much difference between theirs and our expression of faith.

The band came to Manila middle of this year and performed before a jampacked Araneta Coliseum. This song was also lording it over the Billboard Contemporary Christian charts for weeks already. It is a stunningly beautiful song and I would often sing to it when I feel weak and sad, just to reaffirm my faith.

MY TEN FAVORITE FOREIGN SONGS OF 2014 #10 Shaan and Shantanu Moitra - Behti Hawa Sa Tha Woh

The DVD to the Indian movie Three Idiots has been sitting on my desk for months and it was only Holy Week this year that I decided to watch the movie - and like many of the young people who watched it before - and know already what a good movie it was, I was really touched and blown away by what I saw.

It is a very long movie with all the Bollywood singing and dancing but it was a movie that spoke to me - more than two decades after graduating from college!

As the movie opens, this song is going to be sung and I think it's the most beautiful of all the songs they sang in this wonderful movie. If you haven't seen the movie, you have to watch it! It's funny, it's so full of joy and twists and unexpected happenings!

Grab something to bite - it's a long movie but really worth your time.

Bastille's Concert Setlist for Manila Show

It would only be the first week of 2015 yet there's already a concert that I would like to watch.  It's the band Bastille and this is their most likely setlist for their show here in Manila -

1. Bad Blood 
2. Weight of Living, Pt. II 
3. Laura Palmer 
4. Laughter Lines 
5. Things We Lost in the Fire 
6. Blame 
7. Overjoyed 
8. Poet 
9. These Streets 
10. The Driver 
11. The Silence 
12. Oblivion 
13. No Angels 
14. Icarus 
15. The Draw 
16. Flaws 
17. Encore:
17. Get Home 
18. Of the Night 
19. Pompeii 

Gary Barlow Tops My Personal Countdown for the Fifth Time

In a career spanning three decades, Gary Barlow's tenth top 10 solo hit in my personal countdown becomes his fifth #1 song as well.  This week, 6th Avenue moves up to the top spot of my personal countdown.  It's the second top 10 hit from his latest album, Since I Saw You Last.  Gary's span of solo chart hits extends to 17 years this week.

Here are my ten favorite songs for the week ending December 12, 2014.

1. Gary Barlow - 6th Avenue (#3)

2. Kendrick Lamar - Backstreet Freestyle (#2)

3. Brett Eldredge - Beat of the Music (#4)

4. Imagine Dragons  - Cha-Ching  (#10)

5. John Legend - The Beginning (#6)

6. Jamie Cullum - Save Your Soul (#7)

7. G.R.L. - Ugly Heart (#8)

8. Maroon 5 - It Was Always You (#9)

9. Walk the Moon - Shut Up and Dance (NEW)

10. Take That - These Days (NEW)