Chronicle 17-18 Issue 06

Entertainment chronicle.durhamcollege.ca February 13 - 19, 2018 The Chronicle 17
DC students motivate with music
An album of
brotherhood,
growing up,
love and loss
William McGinn
The Chronicle
DC students Jaylan Hayles and
Geoffrey Olara met in 2010 at
Maxwell Heights High School in
Oshawa, and have been best friends
ever since.
They not only have similar goals
in life, but they are the creators of
GiGLife, an online community that
specializes in motivation for youth.
The duo, both 23, started 2018
releasing an independently-crafted
motivational album Jan. 1 called
Where To Now? made up of 13
conversation tunes they hope will
enrich everyone who listens to it.
The pair spent three months
writing scripts and two months recording
and editing, the five-week
long Ontario college faculty strike
allowing them extra time to produce
the album.
It has been released to the public
via Spotify, iTunes, YouTube and
Instagram at the start of this year.
Their Facebook page has more
than 20,000 likes and the announcement
of their album release
drew more than 16,000 likes in just
a few days.
This album includes the stories of
their troubled times, aimed toward
people struggling against similar
setbacks; uncertainty and fear of
life, the feeling that your dreams
will never be met, and how loving
your friends, loving yourself and
loving the world is a real irreplaceable
gift.
Their inspiration to release an
album comes from a time of confusion
in Hayles’ life.
“I decided to really dissect myself
and write about things I’ve faced
in my life and things I’m going
through, so it was like, I was writing
myself to understand, but also
through a sad time of confusion. I
wasn’t sad or depressed as a person,
but confusion, writing myself
into a good mindset. So for this
album, my mind, my soul’s on it,”
said Hayles.
In the album, Hayles tells the
stories of setbacks he had as a
youth.
Reading was very difficult for
him. In public and high school, his
report cards didn’t show anything
higher than a 60.
His father said his report card
reminded him of the ‘C’ section of
the dictionary, and Hayles said he
believed most of the other students
were ahead of him.
Then one day he made a pledge
to read 50 pages a day - and stuck
by it.
He chose The Bible, as a challenge
to read better. It worked.
He got a GPA of 4.0 and was getting
perfect scores on a majority of
his tests.
Photograph by William McGinn
DC students Jaylan Hayles and Geoffrey Olara, creators of the motivational album Where to
Now?
The album also explores two
of Hayles’ worst memories, which
deal with death and near-death experiences,
one with a stranger and
the other with a friend.
One of the album’s pieces recounts
the story of
Hayles while on a walk in British
Columbia. On July 18, 2017, he
came across a stranger, a teenaged
boy, crying by himself in the park.
Hayles walked up and asked what
was wrong. The boy yelled at him
in tears to go away and Hayles refused.
It turns out, according to Hayles,
the boy was going to commit suicide
by hanging himself because he
felt no one cared about him. Hayles
said he walked up, sat down with
him and said he cared about him
despite just meeting him.
Hayles said he convinced the
teen to put away the rope and
he walked the youth home. Another
piece tells the story of one of
Hayles’ best friends, Andre Hamilton,
25, who died on Jan. 7, 2016,
after being hit by a VIA rail train.
That day, Hayles was on a flight
to Alberta and learned through a
media report about a man being
killed by a train in Toronto. The
pair had spent time together four
days earlier, Hayles said.
“Andre was a pure person who
really just wanted to help a lot of
people. Andre was the type of guy
where he loved making jokes, and I
started to grow closer to him I realized
that he helped me get toughskinned,”
said Hayles.
“It was about, ‘We’re a team,
we make jokes, we laugh, we fight,
we come back together’, and it was
always about this love. Andre was
love.”
Hayles said he cried for months
after his death, heartbroken and
unable to figure out how to cope
with the loss.
Shortly after the album was released,
the pair decided they are
going to release three more albums
in the future.
Where To Now? has Hayles narrating
most of the album, where
Olara’s main job was editing and
making sure ideas stayed concise
and proper.
The next album is going to have
Olara as the narrator, the duo said.
The third one is planned to
include Hayles breaking down
stereotypes while discussing race,
homosexuality, religion, segregation
and other topics. They also
plan to make a hip-hop album.
Kesha: The Grammys got it wrong
Aly
Beach
The following piece is the opinion of the
Durham College journalism students
whose names and pictures accompnay
this column.
Kesha should have won best pop
solo performance at the 2018
Grammy Awards for her song
“Praying.” She earned it.
“Praying” is a testament to what
she’s dealt with and has become an
anthem for others who have suffered
through abuse and sexual
violence.
In 2014, Kesha filed a lawsuit
against her producer Dr. Luke
(Lukasz Gottwald) accusing him of
“mental manipulation, emotional
abuse and sexual assault” as well
as rape.
In 2016, Sony denied Kesha’s
request to leave her recording
contract, which stipulated she had
Michael
Bromby
to work with Dr. Luke as her producer.
In August 2016, Kesha dropped
the case against Luke, citing all she
wanted to do was make music. She
didn’t want to fight anymore.
She is currently working with
Kemosabe records and RCA. Both
are connected to Sony and Dr.
Luke, who will gain from this deal
but she does not have to work with
him personally. Luke allegedly
threatened the artist’s career would
be over if she ever spoke about the
abuse.
Kesha wrote “Praying” as way to
cope. In the song, she alludes to the
abuse when she sings, “‘Cause you
brought the flames and you put me
through hell / I had to learn how
to fight for myself / And we both
know all the truth I could tell.”
“Praying” has become an anthem
to abuse and sexual violence
survivors. Her song allows people
to come to terms with what happened
to them while still allowing
them to still be hurt and angry.
“And I don’t need you, I found
a strength I’ve never known / I’ll
bring thunder, I’ll bring rain, oh /
When I’m finished, they won’t even
know your name”
The raw emotion and vocal
prowess Kesha portrays should
have been enough to win best pop
solo performance at the Grammys.
But it was not. “Praying” lost to Ed
Sheeran’s “Shape of You”.
Elton John was supposed to be
honoured with a life time achievement
award but refused to perform
unless Sheeran was nominated.
Kesha lost both best pop solo performance
and best pop vocal album
against Sheeran. Despite Elton
John’s idle threat, he performed
with Miley Cyrus.
If you compare the lyrics and
meaning of Sheeran’s “Shape of
You” and Kesha’s “Praying,” it
is clear the Recording Academy
chose to award a song about sexualizing
women over a song which
empowers women who have experienced
abuse or sexual violence.
The Grammy Awards chose the
wrong winner.
Kesha winning best pop solo
performance would have shown
that the Grammys support the
#MeToo movement.
This would have sent a message
that sexual harassment, abuse and
sexual violence of any kind is not
Photograph courtesy of Olivia Bee
Kesha was nominated for two awards at the 2018 Grammys.
tolerated within the music industry.
Simply having her perform, no
matter how powerful the performance,
did not send this message.
Kesha performed with pop singers
Cyndi Lauper, Camilla Cabello,
Andra Day, Julia Michaels, and
Bebe Rexha.
The prestigious Grammy awards
should have taken a stand against
abuse and sexual violence. Let’s
pray they do someday.