I was first tempted to make a "Best of" post about this year 2021, which was one of the most prolific for me, but then I thought that I might go even further back in time as I celebrated my 4 years Anniversary 3 days ago, and check my favorite musical moments on the blockchain; and in particular the covers I did.

Of course, I'll also explain why I think Hive is going in the right direction for 2022!

As there were too many videos posted, I will try to select just a few per year.

Alright - Jamiroquai

Technically, this one was recorded in 2017 earlier in the year, and only got posted later on, but it was one of the first video I uploaded here, and I remember that it got ignored haha.

At the time, I was experiencing with the loop station in South Africa, not doing many gigs, but playing around with beatbox a lot!
Alright is one of my favorite Jamiroquai's song, I was very much into their acid jazz period.

Let's move on to the next one:

No Diggity - BlackStreets

Aaah! Look how pixelated the video is! 480p this is a serious throwback! Again, with the loop station, I think this performance still holds, this was recorded in our small house in Johannebsurg, we moved in after our first son was born, and stayed there for many years.
The sample of the song "mmhh" is from Bill Withers Grandma's Hand, a song that I also covered not too long ago.

Spirit in The Sky - Norman Greenbaum

It was one of the first song request I fulfilled at the time, at the beginning of 2018.
At the time, I enjoyed changing the production a lot, experimenting with different styles, sometimes it was a hit and miss haha.
All the musicians on this blockchain were using a platform called dsound, who supported audio using IPFS.

For Your Love - Stevie Wonder

I've always been a big Stevie Wonder fan, learning this song was a big step up for me, interesting chords, modulation (meaning the key changes), and just a difficult song to sing.
Once more with the loop station, that was a good reward posting on dlive, a video platform that has moved to its own blockchain a few years back.
I used to always post what I posted here, on Youtube, just in case the supported video platform disappeared, like it did haha.

Let's move on, a lot more covers to cover!

I Just Called To Say I Love You - Stevie Wonder

That was the first time, and the last I attempted a multiscreen, it was a really interesting experience, to record all the separate audio at first, then lipsyncing the different parts, pretty much playing the entire song 9 times hahaha.
The result is just ok, so much effort put into it, It was really an experiment.

Sinnerman - Nina Simone

I've always wanted to remix the song, a real challenge to do the production, rearranging it, without changing the spirit of the song.
Up to that day, it's a song that is being played a lot on Youtube.

Summertime - Lana Del Rey

It was another song request, around the end of 2018. After having the house kind of empty for a few months, we finally invested in office equipment, and build a small home studio in one of the room.
Before that, everything was produced on a shitty laptop, who crashed on export if I stacked too many tracks, limiting what I could do.

Makeda - Les Nubians

It was produced by heaterville, a hiphop producer that was busy here around 2018.
I really love what he did with it, and I also enjoy that it's a song in French for once.

What Goes Around Comes Around - Justin Timberlake

I wanted to redo exactly the song as the original, I skipped the last part, as the song is super long! That was so interesting to try to recreate the beat, the sitar sample, etc...
Also, started working with the idea of having different cameras angle, but nothing fancy yet.

Like A Bird Set Free - Sia

My last song with the loop station, before giving it back, to the person I borrowed it for many years haha. Thanks Lionel!
I remember being so sick on that day, it was right in the middle of the bear run of 2018, and was wondering if I should carry on posting so often on the platform. It was a hard time, and this is when we decided to move to France.

Bobby Hebb - Sunny

For the first time, I managed to set up different camera angles, it's of course the same phone set up at different angles, I do the take 3 or 4 times, then edited out to create dynamism.

That's a really good song, and I really enjoy the result, up to that day.

Booed Up - Ella Mai

I don't like what I did at all, I only put it here, because it was the time when we moved in to the country side in France.
Between early 2019 and 2020, not many posts, as I went back to work full time as a customer support for video games, and it was so shit.
So happy to have a house, but spending my time working a job, for a salary that I can now match by blogging. We had no choice, so no regret, but I am happier now, that's for sure haha.

Such A Shame - Talk Talk

My first 4k video!! Working on this one, was a eye opener, I understood the beauty of cinematography, shooting early in March 2020.
It was cold outside, I convinced my wife to wake up super early and do a music video.
I didn't even realize that the rushes weren't shot in the same aspect ratio, one camera phone being in 16:9 and the other one in 4:3.

Lesson learnt!

Kingston Town - UB40

Lot's of fun working on a funk soul version of a reggae song. The videos are getting a little better each and every time!

Skinny Love - Bon Iver

Requested by a hiver, I loved working on this one! The first idea was to make a fire, and play next to it. Unfortunately, just rain everyday changed my plan.
I also realized that didn't want to make complicated music videos anymore and wanted something simpler.

Killing Me Softly - Roberta Flack or Lauryn Hill

When I shot this one, I was so thankful that it turned out the way it did!
It was a challenge to travel on the shore with all the equipment, but I truly think that the result is sweet!

Jealous - Labrinth

That was supposed to be the set up for the Bon Iver song, instead I decided to use it for this one. Another song request I had to work on for a while.
I love the fire sound, it's everything! It was also, up to that day, one of my most beloved video.

Focus - H.E.R

Also this one, I had to work on it for a very long time. I was never happy with the way I sung it, I use to sing it up there, with a falsetto.
For once I wanted to do the opposite, and took it low. A clean studio sound, this kitchen was a photography studio before we moved in, I like the light in there.

This Woman's Work - Kate Bush or Maxwell

I just like the thumbnail very much. It's been such a challenge, just to be able to reach the high notes. I had to work on it for many many years, I am still not fully happy with it, but we're getting somewhere.
I finally understand, that I need to take advantage of the amazing landscapes this world has to offer, when it's possible.

Conclusion

I hope that you enjoyed this post about my journey on HIVE, we all grew a lot since we joined, 2021 was a year where a lot of bloggers here revealed themselves, their styles, and when the curation teams also stepped up, I already talked about it in the past, but it created a healthy balance, we need to continue supporting and encouraging great content here.
It's also the year where for the first time, the price of HIVE wasn't too much correlated with the rest of the market, it could mean that we finally will be able to build upon it, and why not having a new support level around $2.

I've always promised myself, that if I reach 5k HP, I would start slowing down making videos twice a week, to once a week, and I think I am soon ready to do so.

Thanks to all the friends that I've met along the way here, cheers to the next year, which will be epic!

Love y'all!