BANKS, a singer-songwriter with the birth name of Jillian Banks, first entered the alt-pop world and captivated the hearts of many in late 2014 with the release of her debut album Goddess. Known for her dark, enticing vocals and strong R&B influences, she discovered her strength, and at the same time her vulnerability, in her most recent album The Altar. Self-affirmation, femininity, and self-empowerment were the main themes featured in this album.Here are some of my favorite songs from The Altar.
“Weaker Girl”
In a TIME interview, BANKS mentioned “wounded healers.” She describes them in her own words as people who have “been through something where they felt hurt or traumatized. Real pain...[so that] when you've gone through something, and you've overcome it, you're able to heal other people.” In that song, she was channeling her emotions and feelings through a wounded healer's perspective.

When I first heard this song, it hit me pretty hard. The first few lines are as follows: “Tell me what you want from me / I think you need a weaker girl / Kind of like the girl I used to be.” To me, I think she's trying to say how even though the man she was with wanted her, she knows that she is much stronger than who she was in the past. That sort of self-confidence gave me hope that I would someday feel that way as well.

“Mother Earth”
This song was written about BANKS' experience with depression and how that has changed here. The chorus includes “Follow me to my bed / 'Cause every time you fall, I'll be holdin' your head up / And when will you get tired of feeling bad? / And every time you fall, follow me.” In the same TIME interview, she heartfeltly says that “‘Mother Earth' came from feeling sickened by the way society, the world, and this business makes women feel...Just powerless...It's a song of healing and wanting...Me being the healer, almost. I wanted to give my energy and hold the hand of another woman who has felt how I feel.”

As someone who feels the same way, I really connected with BANKS and understood what she was going through. Later in the interview, when she says that “I felt disrespected when I was trying to say what I wanted,” I totally got that. So many times, I have felt smaller than I should've felt because of a male presence, but BANKS was the one who saved me. This song reminded me of warm, sturdy hands who enclosed around my entire being—hands that supported me when I couldn't support myself. It brought tears to my eyes the first time I heard it, and to be honest, it still does.All of BANKS' songs are so raw yet so perfect. It tugs at your heart and makes you feel a whirlwind of emotions. From being angry at the way women are treated in society (“Weaker Girl”), to being comfortable knowing that someone is out there to take care of you (“Mother Earth”), her songs are the true epitome of a brilliant work of art.

The first time I heard an Ed Sheeran song, I didn't know about him. My friend talked about him briefly, showed the song and I moved on with my life. It wasn't until a few weeks later he consumed my life. I went lengths to find his older music, looking through Tumblr, Youtube and anywhere since his older music was not on Spotify. I was consumed by him and felt so inspired. He is not the conventional artist. He wears glasses, something that many artists doesn't do a lot. He looks a bit unkept, not as stylish as any other artist. And it feels real. For me, someone who has been insecure most or her life, it is refreshing to see someone not looking super attractive (though that is subjective), isn't slim, doesn't really give a shit and still makes wonderful music. Some of his song lyrics are things I still think about now, six years later, and feel just as happy and giddy as I did the first time I listened to them. Ed has meant a lot to me, making me feel better in my skin and is the reason I joined my school's music group. I had the one condition to sing Ed Sheeran, and we did and now I have sung in front of my whole school – something I would've never done before. Seeing him live a few years back was the thing that completed my bucket-list of people I want to see perform live. It wasn't the best experience, I fainted and he didn't sing my favourite songs but still – thinking back to that day brings me joy. I saw my idol live, I sang with thousands of other people and it was Ed. I think that a certain line has brought me very far in life, making me push harder to achieve my goals. “Be a true heart, not a follower.” I think that describes me down to the core and just adds one more relatable thing about Ed and makes me love him just a bit more.

I'm going to talk about my favorite celebrity and why I like him. I'm going to talk about my life because that is a big part of why I like him. My Favorite Celebrity is Eminem.

Eminem is a famous rapper, and some of his songs are “Love the way you lie” and “Not afraid.” (My favorite songs.)
He inspires me a lot because the type of music he doing is the music that the area where I live is listening to. Where I live, everyone is “The cool guys.” We are like a big family and everyone knows each other. ”The cool guys” will always have rap as the type of music and when we're going around in the area we always have music on and what you will hear is Eminem.

For me is Eminem the rap God. When I'm listening to his songs when I'm sad or angry, it makes me feel better direct, and I can understand him in his songs, I can see me in that kind of situations. My life is not easy and I have bad days in my life, I can fight, cry, scream and lose people in my life, but I will always love them. That's the biggest thing I have to remember or I will lose the people I love.

When I was a little girl I remember that we had a lesson in school and we had computers. I was like seven years old. We were in groups, and me and my group were in another room so what I did was that I actually was closing the work we had and I opened Youtube with the highest music. I was putting on Eminem's songs! My teacher got really mad and I got a call home for putting on music. xD

It's so hard to say how much I love him but just so you know I love him so much and I love his looks and styles and everything about him, another dream is to meet him.

Well to the end, I know I don't gonna win but at least I have1% chance. Otherwise, English is not my language, it's Swedish so this is kind of hard for me. But well hope u liked this and sorry if I'm so bad a writing! <33

I wanna tell you about my favourite group, GOT7!

GOT7 is a Korean boy group, so they make Korean music, (K-pop lol) and I always have people asking me why I like them if I can't even understand what they are singing or talking about. But I don't have a reason, I just like their personalities. I've seen them on variety shows (with English subtitles) and they are really funny!

There are 7 members (who would have guessed?) and they are, from oldest to youngest; Mark, JB, Jackson, Jinyoung, Youngjae, BamBam and Yugyeom. My favourite member is Youngjae, because he is such a sunshine, his laugh is crazy (like mine) and he always smiles and looks happy. He makes me happy even though I'm only watching him on a screen. He has this habit of always clapping his hands while laughing and hitting Jackson all the time.

After Youngjae I like Jackson, he is really funny and so extra, it's hard to explain but he is just overdramatic and everyone loves him. Recently he became sick though, and it made me feel bad because he always tells GOT7 fans to stay healthy, and then he doesn't even take care of his own health. ;-;

Of course I love all the members and everyone has their own charms, but Youngjae and Jackson are just special to me. ♥

GOT7 recently released part 3 of an album trilogy and it was awesome! Although I liked part 2 more this album was just amazing, I love all of GOT7's songs!

Honestly I don't know where I would be today if I didn't get into GOT7, they made me change, in a good way, and I owe them my life, even though they live on the other side of the planet.

It is difficult for me to a choose my favourite celebrity. After thinking a little bit, my favourite celebrity is almost only popular in Germany, since he is a German YouTube. He is one of the most famous YouTubers in Germany, making a lot of Let's Play videos. Although I don't play so many games, I love it to listen to him. He usually plays "Life in the woods" (Minecraft) and he talks there a lot about different topics: politics, what is the meaning of life and a lot of other interesting things. I admire him a lot because he pretty much motivates me and the story of his life is really encouraging. He had a difficult childhood, and there was a time where he almost became homeless, he even told that he had 0 money so he had to eat an onion. A raw onion! He said he realized that every person has his own lives in their hand so he started to do something. He looked for a job, a job where he can put his passion into it. The first job was a huge fail because instead of helping to develop games, his employer only ordered him to buy coffee. He changed his job because he knew he can do. After a while he started recording himself, talking about some games he likes and making reviews, he never thought he would become popular so fast. His whole community became a family. I love it. We all call him "Papa Gronkh" = "Daddy Gronkh"

#LaFamilia

I love Gronkh, he is the best! ♥

My favourite celebrity, since I was 13, is Hayley Williams from Paramore.

First and foremost, I really admire how much space she takes up in such a male-dominated scene – mostly white guys in bands that all sound the same are ruling the genre, and while Hayley isn't the first to break that through the years I would definitely like to say that she is one of the most important women in 2000's pop punk. She has also inspired other girls in music, for example, Lynn Gunn of PVRIS and Emma Blackery (and some of us who just like to sing awfully in the shower or break out a few moves to Riot! in our bedrooms). The fact that she has also recently started her own hair dye company, Good Dye Young, that seems to be doing really well is also very inspiring.

You have also got to adore her amazing voice and her presence on stage. Watch any live video of Paramore (or better yet, actually see them live for real, but I haven't had that privilege yet) and you'll wonder just how she has so much energy to run around the way she does, while simultaneously hitting some incredible notes. (Previously mentioned bedroom-dancing is definitely inspired by Hayley's high kicks and headbanging, by the way.)

Her songwriting deserves a mention too, as it has resonated with me since I was an angsty just-became-a-teenager, until now when I'm... an angsty almost-no-longer-a-teenager. Early Paramore is more emo, for lack of a better word, while newer Paramore is hopeful and happier – illustrated nicely in the song Tell Me It's Okay with lines such as "I wasted all my teenage years being a misery factory" and the chorus, "tell me it's okay to be happy now, because I'm happy now". There are also other lyrics, like "it's just a spark but it's enough to keep me going" from Last Hope, which a lot of people have gotten tattooed on themselves (so many, in fact, that I can't count them on one hand, if you get the reference).

To quickly summarise – I think Hayley Williams is a great inspiration and a role model, and I'm proud to say that I really look up to her.

This is kind of embarrassing to admit, because this artist is related to young screaming crazy fangirls, but.. my favorite celeb is and has been for the past 5-6 years Louis Tomlinson.

Why? because he is honestly the most adorable and sweetest person I've ever "come across." Really, I can't describe how much that man means to me! (still embarrassing) I "fell" for that boy from the very first moment I saw a video of the band together, and been obsessed ever since. He's incredibly funny (x-factor video diaries), extremely cute and handsome (he's like a baby cupcake), and so kind and caring! Also, his voice is the most beautiful thing! Here's a fun fact, back in the days when I listened to one direction a lot, I would make sure EVERYONE was quiet when Louis' solo came. hahahah, it was so precious. I still do that if I hear one of their songs to be honest.

I also bought a lifesize cutout figure of Louis when I was on holiday in London for the first time. and what's funny is that, I bought it on our "shopping day" and it was the first thing I bought so I had to carry it around all over the city! hahah, even on a sightseeing bus, and almost London eye. The reason it was "almost" is bc I wasn't allowed to bring it with me, and I started crying so hard cause I was afraid that if I let it stay with the guards while I was up, that someone would take it so I cried and cried and nearly just walked away instead of taking the ride ahhaha. I was little, okay?

But yeah, I know too much about that dude and I don't regret at all spending so much time watching Youtube videos, edits, movies, reading all those fanfics, articles, books... oh dear god hahah.

So yea that's my (embarrassingly) fav celeb!

I first "discovered" actress Pamela Rabe when I started watching the Australian series Wentworth, about a women's prison, just over two months ago. Her character, Joan Ferguson, captivated me instantly. She is introduced as the Governor in season 2, and becomes notorious for her harsh way of handling the prison. Through seasons 2 and 3, viewers experienced the rise and fall of the Governor. During her time in charge, she murdered an inmate, tortured another, killed a second inmate, and finally set fire to the prison. In season 4, Joan became an inmate in her own prison, but that didn't stop her from continuing her evil deeds. Many have labelled her as a psychopath, but I think that's wrong, because she does have feelings, she just chooses to repress them. "Emotion makes you weak," is something of a motto for her.

Many people hate her character because of all the shit she has done, and wrongly direct their hate towards Pamela. Although I wished that she used social media, I'm glad she doesn't, because I don't want her to see people's hateful comments. As a person, Pamela is nothing like the evil and complex character she plays. From the interviews I've seen and read, she seems to be an incredibly sweet and kind person. She looks out for the other cast members on set, and is really nice when meeting her fans. She has also described herself as shy, which doesn't seem like the case at all when she's confidently walking the corridors of Wentworth as Joan Ferguson. She is an amazing actress, and people's opinions on Joan Ferguson is a proof of that.

Although she has starred in a number of movies and tv shows, Pamela is mainly a stage actress, having starred in many plays, and even directing some, in theatres all over Australia. She is a highly popular actress, and she has won several awards for performances both on stage and on screen. I've never been to Australia, and I've barely ever seen any theatre in my life, but I'd gladly make the 24-hour trip there if it meant I got the chance to see her on stage. Unfortunately I don't think it will ever happen, but I'm still hoping that I'll be able to mmet her one day.

I'm not a person that gets attached to people easily, especially not to people I can only see through the screen. But he — Louis Tomlinson — is an exception. I'm not so sure where everything went wrong, when did I start obsessing over this boy? But that doesn't matter now really, because I love him very freaking much and I'll love him forever and always. He's a perfect human being, in every single way possible. But it hurts me so much to see that he's getting so much hate, I just hate it when people say how he can't sing or that he's the ugliest in One Direction. No. Just stop. His voice is one of the most unique ones I've heard in my life. He's so goddamn underrated, but he deserves the world.I like to think that he's strong, and he is really, or at least I hope so. But enough with the depression, I'll just write down a few reasons why I love Louis Tomlinson so much. First of all, he's so generous. He's done so much work for charities — from hosting charity games to earn money, to visiting sick kids and donating more than 2 million dollars at the Cinderella Ball for „Believe in magic“ charity. I love how good of a friend he is to the other boys from the band. He's been a leader since the first day, the oldest one, responsible for all of them. They all get along so well, I just wish I could have a friend like Louis in my life. And his style is just goals. He can slay any look — from red chinos and a striped top, to band tees, denim jacket, and suits. I love his tattoos, they're all small, but have such great meanings behind them — tho we don't know much about it (and it sucks, really, but I guess we should respect him and his privacy). I love his humor, he always makes the people around him laugh. He can look so serious at times, but is also a most immature person ever; his laugh is the most beautiful thing I've ever heard. There are so many things I adore about him, but I'm scared I might get into a fangirl mode, so I guess I'll just end it here. I just can't really believe that this boy is real, that he exist and god, he's so perfect and I just wish I could tell him that every day and see him smile. I just want him to be happy, more than anything.

I was thinking of talking about the singer Shakira, since I love her song 'Whenever, Wherever", or Britney Spears with her "Womanizer," but I decided to go with a celebrity I loved for years and years -- Lady Gaga. This singer has inspired me so much in my life. I listened to her music since I was just a young, young child, probably even when I was a toddler or even an infant! The first songs I ever learned in my life, in all the music I'd ever listened to, was one of Lady Gaga's songs. I believe it was Bad Romance.

I always admired Stefani Germanotta's strange ways, and the way she always seemed so confident when dancing and singing on stage. I always looked up to her, and aspired to be like her when I got older. I now see that as a goal way too far away from my reach, but I still listen to her songs and I still admire her. I currently have a lot of her songs downloaded onto my Kindle Fire, but my absolute favorites of her songs would have to be Born This Way, Judas, and Paparazzi. I really enjoy listening to those three songs while drawing. It gives me so much nostalgia, as well as gives me creativity and a sense of calmness