On January 28th 1995 a boy called Kieran White was born [Moi] and from my birth to 2008 I could never relate to music and due to parents wondering why I was so odd as to not like music I tried to dilute their worries by asking for my first CD for Christmas 2007.

 

Now at that stage I didn’t like music so I wondered what was ‘normal’ for me to listen to at my age and remembered that all my school friends were heavily into 50 Cent and thus that’s what I got. If memory severs me right it only got 3 plays.

 

In 2008 I acquired my own decent sized radio for my room and found the station that my Grandparents listened to and blow me down this electronic phenomenon filed my small room and going on one line  that I remembered I searched it on YouTube, I found out the song was called Sweet Dreams [Are Made Of This].

 

Being the traditionalist as I am I had lots of blank tape cassettes so whenever there was a song that either gave me goose bumps or hit me on a soul level I recorded it straight from my radio for listening later. This also prevented me from the perceived embarrassment of asking for one of these artists albums.

 

Then in 2009 as I was watching the TV I saw an advert for an artist that was so visually striking she in within a 40 second advert put my life in perspective and moved me and gave me the confidence to stand up for my interests and to hell with those who mock. Her name you ask? – Annie Lennox.  I decided to go out and buy this album and researched heavily and immersed myself with her work and discovered trough the tracks on her ‘Annie Lennox Collection’ her first album Diva.

 

To me Diva is a personal consciousness to the world that only we inhabit and as Annie has said ‘it is hard to describe sound as it exists on its own’ however the songs epitomised what I was feeling at the time, I was going through bullying at school not to mention medical issues. Until now only my family know what was and still is medically wrong with me, as I was diagnosed with mild epilepsy but then cleared 5 years later and then a few months after buying Diva was confirmed that I had Aspergers.

 

Luckily I didn’t have all the symptoms that are usually considered to go with this and visually I looked no different to you but internally it made me more stubborn in my visions and more creative.

 

This album was essentially a therapy and as clichéd as it sounds DIVA is an amazing album that will have a personal place in my heart and formed the strong foundations for my artistic and musical tastes to flourish.

 

https://youtu.be/OaSH-0Q4nys