Until about three weeks ago, I refused to give in to the Spotify craze. While all my friends were raving about how amazing Spotify was, my stubborn self kept responding by saying how good ol’ iTunes was just fine for me. One day, I was browsing through my computer and stumbled upon the Spotify app that I had downloaded months back and decided to open it. After an hour of scrolling through different artists and playlists, I realized it was time to make the switch. I purchased Spotify premium and haven’t looked back since.
One of my favorite things about Spotify is its “Discover Weekly” playlist, a playlist that changes weekly and reflects songs that Spotify thinks you will like based on similar ones in your library. While looking through this playlist, I discovered the song “101” by WALLA. Upon clicking play, my attention was immediately grabbed by the catchy intro of the song, a mixture of drums, bass, and synths. The rest of the song didn’t disappoint, either. Normally, it takes me a while to get really into new music that I discover, but I ended up listening to the song on repeat four times. That’s how much I liked this song.
After listening to the song, I decided to do my research on the band to learn more about them, one of my favorite pastimes. I was intrigued to discover that the members of the band all come from incredibly different backgrounds. Between the four members, they have roots in Italy, Indonesia, Trinidad and Tobago, Mexico/El Salvador, and the United States. By having completely different backgrounds, the members are able to fuse together sounds from their various cultures into their music, giving them a great sound.
Along with “101” I really like the song “Nature”. While “Nature” reflects a similar upbeat vibe as “101”, overall, all of WALLA’s music has different sounds from one another, which I really enjoy about the band. While “101” sounds indie-pop with its use of synths throughout the track, “Nature” is more like a rock song, with a strong guitar and drums section. A third song that is really great is their new single, “Talking Dirty”. While the melody of the song is incredibly catchy, the vocals really caught my attention on this track.
Overall, I am really glad that Spotify helped me to discover WALLA. I am interested to see where they go with their music from here and hope to hear more new songs from then soon! If you’re curious about WALLA, give them a listen.