We are living through some unprecedented times, and a lot of you may be feeling trapped and alone. Because of that, I’d like to take this week to cover BANNERS, an uplifting artist that never seems to fail to make me smile.

BANNERS started producing music in early 2015 with his song “Ghosts” (which also happens to be the first song I heard by him). His next single, “Shine A Light,” is arguably his most popular. It was featured in “FIFA 16”, “The Good Doctor,” “The Space Between Us” and “Love, Simon.” Near the end of 2015, he released “Start A Riot,” which culminated in the release of his first EP in early 2016: “BANNERS.”

He continued in 2016 with the release of “Half Light.” He then began releasing singles for his second EP, with “Into the Storm” and “Holy Ground.” He released the final single from the EP, “Someone To You,” in early 2017, before releasing the EP itself “Empires On Fire.” He also released acoustic covers of some of the songs from “Empires On Fire,” those being “Someone To You,” “Firefly” and “Empires On Fire.”

In 2018 he only produced one song, “Let Go.”

Last year saw two new singles, “Got It In You” and “Where The Shadow Ends.” These both wound up on his most recent release, his first full album titled “Where The Shadow Ends.”

What are my go-to top-five BANNER songs?

Number five is “Start A Riot.” Listening to this song makes me feel like there’s someone out there that loves me (and not in the “no one loves me sense,” more like the “there’s someone out there” sense). Even if it’s just BANNERS singing to some unknown listener, there’s someone out there that will take on the world for you!

Number four is “Ghosts.” Okay, yeah, I know I said uplifting songs, but I really like “Ghosts.” I first heard it while watching “Teen Wolf” with my sister. I think the combination of the complete whim it was found upon and the hauntingly beautiful nature of the song just made it stick. It’s on a solid 50% of my playlists with good reason.

Number three is “Holy Ground.” It’s a softer song, really somber. It has a similar feeling to “Ghosts,” but the words have a nature more like “Shine A Light” and “Start A Riot.” The background music gets more intense, in a sort of mellow way, throughout the song, until it culminates in a powerful swell for the final chorus.

Number two is “Supercollide.” I just recently started listening to this song, and I already love it. Whenever the chorus starts the song becomes super confident-sounding. It’s sort of like BANNERS is confessing his love, but in a way that’s like “Hey, when we get together it’s like a whole universe starting,” and honestly I think everyone should hear that.

And finally “Shine A Light.” This one could be seen coming from a mile away. I absolutely adore this song. BANNERS once again with the powerful choruses and making feel like there will always be someone there for you, even when it seems like everyone’s gone away. You’ll always have that ray of sunshine, even if it feels like the waves are dragging you down.

Bonus round! Here are some other good songs I’d suggest from BANNERS. “Gold Dust,” “Where the Shadow Ends,” “Empires On Fire,” “Back When We Had Nothing,” and “Rule the World.” All of these are really good, but just couldn’t eek it into my top five. Give them a listen, you won’t regret it.

Oh yeah, and grandson released another song! “Whole Lotta (text voter xx to 40649)”is similar to “Peaches.” It’s more acoustic in feel, compared to most of grandson’s other music, making it a lighter song. It seems like it’s about a breakup or growing apart from your friends. It features DREAMERS, and they add perfectly to the background vocals.

That’s all for this week folks. As always, send criticism and feedback to [email protected]. I’ll see you all next time.