✩⡱ music & me!

 Hi!

Welcome to my blog, where I'll try to embody all of my personality and love for different music into words for this blog.

I'm Binh-An Bui (pronounced like Bin An, with the "a" sounding like the "a" in "apple"!)

I'm a double major of biology/biochemistry (still deciding between the two!)  and Hispanic studies, and a freshman. I love fashion, skincare, and beauty, so my goal is to be a cosmetic chemist in the future, where I can proudly represent my Asian-American community in the STEM field.

I'm from the Spartanburg area as well, where I have my parents, two older sisters, and two younger brothers (I'm the middle out of 5!) I also have two dogs: a white German Shepherd named Elsa, and a parti-chocolate poodle named Emi ʕ·ᴥ·ʔ

I think the genres I cycle through the most are pop, indie/alt/punk, hip hop, r&b, and rap. However, that's just the surface of it; I listen to a lot of diverse music genres, as well as music in different languages, and always have, since I've grown up with it my whole life. I truly believe that music is a universal language- you don't have to understand what a song is saying to feel its emotion and enjoy it.

Growing up in a Vietnamese household where music is a prominent part of culture, my father plays guitar, my oldest sister can play the piano and the violin, and my second oldest sister plays the cello. For me, I love singing on my own and listening to music at any time I can. So evidently, music is a huge, daily part of my life. I definitely would not be the same person I am today if I didn't have music. Having a taste of the significance of music in non-Western cultures already, I hope we get to learn more about each other and the world's cultures as times goes on this spring! 

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                  1. current go-to's!

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✩ One artist that I really love is DPR IAN. He's a Korean-Australian artist who makes r&b/hip-hop/indie pop music. One thing I love about him is the passion and raw transparency he puts into his music, as he's often vocal about the emotions and stories he writes behind his music. A favorite of mine is "Ballroom Extravaganza", from his album "Moodswings In To Order". His discography is a no-skip one for me :) 

♡ Another artist I like right now is NewJeans! They're a K-pop (Korean pop) girl group that debuted in July that have a fresh, Y2K pop and r&b sound. They have a no-skip discography for me too, I love their music and hope you do too! One of my favorites from them has to be "Ditto" or "Attention". I'll link "Ditto", but if you like a more Y2K pop sound, listen to "Attention"! It's so good.

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                  2. music that is personally meaningful.

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๑ An artist that's remained really important to me over the years is BTS. They're a K-pop boy group that has gained a huge amount of popularity in the USA from 2018 to now, and now reign as one of the largest, national musical groups today. I started listening to their music during my middle school days, back in 2016. A really special thing about BTS is their passion and emotions that they place into their music, as well as their ability to resonate within many people. A lot of their songs have lyrical meanings where they comfort people who feel alone and/or unseen, as well as going into deeper topics, like mental health and hard situations in life. Their discography is really broad and diverse too. They're definitely an artist that I'll never forget, as I admire them a lot and have gone through different stages of my life with them. They truly use the power of music to communicate and empathize with anyone who looks for comfort in music. One of my favorite songs by them is "Pied Piper" - when this song came out in 2017, it was 4am and I listened to the song on repeat right after it released. I love all the little musical layers it has, with the synthesizer and bass and everything else. This song remains one of my favorites to this day!

☆ミ Another artist that holds significance to me is Far Caspian! They're an indie pop band that makes really dreamy-sounding music. I found their music in 2021, and they helped me through a tough spot I was going through. Their music helped me look to better days and I'm really happy I found them! My favorite song by them is "A Dream of You", a song that I always play to cheer me up when I need it.

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                  3. music that i don't vibe with...

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❀  There's a lot of music genres I like, but a music genre that I've tried liking but can't seem to get with is country. When I was younger, I used to like the old country that would come out (like Kellie Pickler, Lady A, or Taylor Swith), but I don't really like country nowadays. One song I was suggested by a friend was "Oklahoma Smokeshow" by Zach Bryan, and it wasn't bad, however I don't see myself listening to him or it again. There's only a small amount of country that I like now, like some of Kacey Musgraves' songs, but I'm open to any other songs of course. A country song I do like is "Golden Hour" by Kacey Musgraves. It has the country guitar, with calm and dreamy instrumentals and lyrics.

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                  4. more to share?

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୨୧ A rapper I've liked since 2019 is Rich Brian! He's an Indonesian rapper based in California, where he's part of 88rising, an entertainment label of Asian artists. Being Vietnamese, Asian representation is important and something I love to see. Rich Brian, along with other 88rising artists like Warren Hue and NIKI (who I both listen to), were all featured in Marvel's Shang-Chi official soundtrack as well. The very first song I listened to by Rich Brian is "History", which gives off a relaxing and chill vibe.

✵ A genre I love is alt/punk/metal! The loud instrumentals and vocals really hype me up and get me motivated. The louder everything is, the better I feel. A band I like is Bring Me The Horizon, and their song "Kingslayer", featuring "BABYMETAL" (a Japanese girl band) is one of my favs from them. Everything about it gets me up.

☼  The last thing I want to share is Vietnamese music! There is traditional Vietnamese music, with some different instrumentals than in Western culture, but there are many other different genres of course, like pop, hip-hop, r&b, and more, just in Vietnamese. Modern Vietnamese music with current generations is a lot like ours today. The song I'm sharing is a popular song from the pop artist, MIN! "TRÊN TÌNH BẠN DƯỚI TÌNH YÊU" is a song about a story of friends to potential lovers. Feel free to turn on the subtitles to understand the song more! I hope you like it (ꈍᴗꈍ)♡.

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