Pentatonix (ft. Lindsey Stirling) – Papatouai

I tend to love everything PTX releases and this is amazing! It is a cover of Belgian performer Stromae’s song and the song itself has some very deep-rooted emotional themes. Papaoutai comes from Papa où t’es – French for “Dad, Where are you?” After doing some research I discovered Stromae’s father was killed in the 1994 Rwandan Genocide, and this is clearly depicted in the video with the father represented as physically present but not emotionally.
In terms of this PTX video, I love that they did soften the theme a little bit, the emotionally unavailable father is still there, but the group members are the child’s dolls and performing for him, singing to him, and representing the themes of the song. It’s heartbreaking. Musically however this is phenomenal! I actually like PTX’s version more than Stromae’s, perhaps it is the depth of the multiple voices and I love when they work Lindsey Stirling…everything that girl does just gets a giant WOW!
I don’t know what else I can say about this without repeating myself too much…when it comes to Pentatonix I tend to just sit here and say “THAT WAS AMAZING!” So I’m just going to say … Go watch it~!

Hozier – Take Me To Church

…perhaps I should have called this the “Have a Box of Tissues Handy Edition” of Sound Up Sunday…

So I first heard this song on Cities97 as I was driving home from work last night and within the first verse I had to turn the volume up. The sound caught my ear in a way a song hasn’t done in a long time. I rushed home to watch the video and just sat there with my mouth wide open in shock and sadness. The lyricism is amazing and the video itself is poignant. I have nothing else to say…just watch this. I think I everyone needs to!