Singer Song-writer Kina Grannis describes how her dream of being signed to a major record label became a reality and turned her perspective upside down.

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)

Heartfelt Cardiac Projects

wants to remind you that

early detection saves lives

from Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA)

Take care of your heart ~

Get checked!

Heartfelt Cardiac Projects helps save lives from Sudden Cardiac Death (SCA)

by striving to raise public awareness

and through early detection

by offering affordable heart screenings to the public.

“Dear self
The room in your heart may get cluttered. The bookshelf will surely get full. Some boxes will move to make memories room and some junk will get stuck on the edges. Sure wishes will flutter like moths on the wall, and dust will cover some dreams with the ages of fall. BUT this chair remains, free of all mess, place for you to come ponder and rest. May it ease your mind, with all the treasures you find, and remind you to forget all the rest. – love your heart”

If you are like me and miss the creative side of music videos, do not fear just yet, Kina Grannis (and her behind the scenes crew, producer, director, camera, etc.) could be our hope to inspire other musicians and producers/directors to create a music videos that has a meaning to it and tells a story.

If you’re not familiar with Kina Grannis, I highly suggest you check her out on iTunes, YouTube and Facebook. She’s an indie artist with quite a resume. She went to USC, graduating summa cum laude in social science. During, her second year of college staff members of the Thornton School of Music asked her to produce an album through their music and music industry departments. The album, “Sincerely, Me EP” has 6 songs and was released in 2006, during her sophomore year. After graduating she recorded a song that was featured on General Hospital in early 2007. She then went on to create a YouTube channel where she posted videos of her songs. Her first video “Message From Your Heart” was entered into Doritos Crash the Super Bowl contest, which she won and landed a record deal with Interscope Records. She opted out of the deal and decided to be an independent artist. She went on and released her first full-length album “Stairwells” on February 23rd, 2010, which cracked the Billboard 200 at number 139 and number 18 on the Billboard Independent Albums chart, are among a few Billboard charts “Stairwells” has appeared on. She has been busy with a few tours in North America, Europe and Asia. But during her busy schedule she has made a few music videos. First one being “Valentine”, which has well over 13 million views and then another music video, but with a twist; a stop-motion animation music video which featured about 200,000 Jelly Belly jelly beans and took about 2 years to complete. But was worth all the hard work because within 3 days the video accumulated over 1 million views. If you haven’t seen the video, you need to, you will be sitting, standing or laying in amazement. Now, I know she didn’t do all of this herself, but being an artist and dedicating all that time to a single music video, shows how much she enjoys being creative and how open she to tell a story with a video.

Which now comes to why I’m talking about this today. Kina has released a new music video, “Without Me”. The concept to this video is so simple, yet amazing. The use of newspaper headlines to emphasize lyrics, is pure brilliance. Now maybe some headlines have been made up, but the idea is all that matters. The video is so simplistic, but I can’t help, but jump around at how cool the video is. How it’s done and presented is just wonderful. If you don’t believe me, take a look for yourself. And if you think there are more creative videos out there, prove it. Other than that, check out her covers and other songs!

Just for the record: I am not claiming that any of these videos are my own. All rights are reserved to their rightful owners.

Message From Your Heart by Kina Grannis

Don’t break me, I bruise easily
The source of both your love and misery

I am steady, beating endlessly
While you are dozing, dreaming pretty things
Lovely things

I don’t work for free
Please take care of me

This is a message from your heart
Your most devoted body part
Taking blood and making art
This is a message from your heart
Pounding away into the dark
You could thank me for a start
This is a message from your heart

Don’t hurt me, I bleed constantly
My efforts leave me but flow back swiftly
My rhythm, soothing, like raindrops steady
On foggy windows when you gaze outwardly
Peacefully

I don’t work for free
Please take care of me
Please take care of me

This is a message from your heart
Your most devoted body part
Taking blood and making art
This is a message from your heart
Pounding away into the dark
You could thank me for a start
This is a message from your heart

Everytime you sleep
Everytime you eat
Everytime you laugh
Everytime you cry
Every time you love

This is a message from your heart
Your most devoted body part
Taking blood and making art
This is a message from your heart
Pounding away into the dark
You could thank me for a start
This is a message from your heart

Yes, Kina was in Manila last March 15th!

Check out the three-part video, which includes 4 performances: The One You Say Goodnight To, Valentine, In Your Arms, Message From Your Heart

To continue watching:
Part 2/3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7j0JblmF-NM
Part 3/3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctczfzG_SE4

Message from Your Heart, 2012
Digitally illustrated type design

Based on lyrics from “Message from Your Heart” by Kina Grannis

Click here to see more lyric type designs.

Her songwriting has always walked hand in hand with her beautiful singing voice, and although some may not like this song because it’s ‘just the same old guitar strumming and girl whining,’ there sometimes is something that stands out to me in these songs. Taylor Swift might wail about past crushes when she was fifteen (Taylor, get over it) but in Grannis’ music, the pleas and recounts of past events all feel genuine and meaningful. It’s worth a shot in my opinion. Also check out the video, where Grannis seems to feel that the most appropriate place to express herself musically is in a greenhouse that inexplicably contains a large amount of lamps:

Last month Kina Grannis visited my neck of the woods and had a show at Jammin Java in Vienna, VA – just outside of Washington, DC. If the venue sounds familiar it’s because it’s the same place that hosted David Choi back in February. I always wondered if Kina’s well known charm from her Youtube videos and album could make the transfer to the live stage and was lucky enough to find out at this June 15th show.

Things got started just a little past the 8PM start time, and the opening act was a musician by the name of Adam Swink. Without going too much into it, the guy has a radio friendly voice but very little stage presence and was a bit dull to watch live. He wasn’t terrible, just unmemorable and I’ll leave it at that.

Around 9PM, Kina came on stage to enthusiastic fan fare (though not of the same magnitude of the fan-girl driven response David Choi evoked months earlier). It was a warm reception by the crowd and after setting up her mic and guitar, she jumped into the first song of her set, “Strong Enough”. I wondered how Ms Grannis would do without the aid of the percussion found in the studio version, but she pulled it off fine and with good energy. It was a great way to start things off. Later on in her set while performing “Stars Falling Down”, she accidentally sang the wrong verse and humbly admitted her gaffe, evoking a shared laughter with the audience before restarting and finishing it off beautifully.

The vast majority of the songs performed can be found on her album Stairwells, that was released earlier this year. One of the most notable and highly enjoyable exceptions was her unexpected cover of Coolio’s 90′s hit “Gangsta’s Paradise”. It started off quite tongue in cheek and a bit awkward with the rap but once she started strumming, things were completely switched up and Kina surprisingly nailed it with a Jason Mraz-esque twist. It was a pleasant surprise for sure. Here is a video I found on Youtube that someone captured of the song:

From there the show progressed with Kina singing some of her catchier tunes including “In Your Arms” and my personal favorite “Valentine”. You can tell the crowd appreciated it too. Unfortunately the energy stagnated a bit as the latter half of her set was filled with slower ballads that didn’t have the benefit of the additional instrumentation of the studio versions. The glowing exception was when she sang “Stay Just a Little”, complete with the tenderness found in the original recording. It was melancholic but beautiful.

One area that Kina excels at is continually interacting with the crowd, taking the opportunity to breathe between each song, sharing the often charming background stories behind her music and always showing love to her fans (Kinnerds) that have helped her get where she is today. For instance, at one point she got the venue to shine the house lights unto the crowd so she could video record us as part of her own sentimental keepsake. At another point she gave away key chains to people who were celebrating their birthdays. And for her closing number she ended with the fan favorite “Message From Your Heart”. By having the audience join in on the chorus of MFYH Kina exemplified perfectly the unique synergy between her fans and herself that enabled a girl with talent, charm and a webcam to independently release an album, go on a national tour and continue living her dream.

All in all, it was a very enjoyable concert. Things got a little sleepy in the second half but Kina closed the event on a high note. There were times where she could have benefited from having a supporting band but for the most part she carried the show well with just herself, her guitar, and her fans. If she ever plays near you I highly recommend you check it out!

The album includes the song ‘Valentine‘ along with her hit ‘Message From Your Heart’ and 12 other tracks. In case you need more convincing check out the following 10 reasons you should pick it up.

If you’re interested she’s made it available for streaming for a week which you can check out in full after the break!

Denne er så vakker at hjertet slår litt fortere.