
I don't wanna shatter any illusions here, but if you're looking to a professional blogger for advice on anything romantic, you have some serious thinking to do. That's why I'm handing this Valentine's Day post off to a pro. John Vesely, aka Secondhand Serenade has more magnetism in one frosted tip than the whole rest of the Internet combined. Can the Internet play piano and sing with its eyes closed? No. It doesn't even have feelings (or eyes). All it can do is make a heart out of a bracket and a three. Weak. John Vesely was born to tell you he loves you. Stick with him. Here's a special Valentine's Day message and a crazy romantic love-playlist from the man himself:
I've always been a lover, not a fighter which is why I love this time of year. And one of my true loves is obviously music. So to come up with a list of long songs/videos is no problem for a guy like me. It's the time of year where you hear songs you may have heard 100 times before, but you suddenly realize they have a special meaning or remind you of someone close to your heart. So hopefully you can take a look at the videos I decided to go with, and let it remind you of whoever may be that certain someone for you.
+ Jason Mraz, "I'm Yours" - A simple song and a simple video. Both are undeniable.
+ The Fray, "You Found Me" - The video showcases both a great band and a beautiful city.
+ Thriving Ivory, "Angels on the Moon" - These guys are good friends of mine. They went all out on this video.
+ Plain White T’s, "Hey There Deliah" - One of the biggest songs and best videos of a few years back.
+ Katy Perry, "Thinking of You" - I love her retro style, which is overly evident in this video.
+ Kanye West, "Love Lockdown" - Kanye is always evolving and this is a colorful, left-of-center display of his art.
+ Justin Nozuka, "After Tonight" - He's a great new young talent, which is clear as day in this, his first video.
+ R. Kelly, "Real Talk" - Because the video is just as real as the song.
+ We The Kings, "Secret Valentine" - Travis's hair turns me on.
+ Augustana, "Sweet and Low" - I love how the song was written it was written very personally.
Wow ... Thanks, John!!
Want more Valentine's Day playlists? OK. I got those, too. Do you love me yet? Please...?
+ V-Day Playlist: Let Me Count The Ways (Dashboard, Bright Eyes, Beyonce, etc)
+ V-Day Playlist: Love SUCKS (Alanis, Ashanti, Incubus, etc)
+ V-Day Playlist: Celebrity Wedding Songs (Lonestar, Marvin Gaye, Edwin McCain, etc)
<3<3<3
Read more...
Tags Alanis Morissette, Ashanti, Augustana, Beyonce, Bright Eyes, Dashboard Confessional, Edwin McCain, Incubus, Jason Mraz, Justin Nozuka, Katy Perry, Lonestar, Marvin Gaye, Plain White T's, R.-Kelly, Secondhand Serenade, The Fray, Thriving Ivory, We the Kings

Our good buddy John Vesely, aka Secondhand Serenade, doesn't quite strike us as the high school theater type. Don't you get more of a "used-Jetta, Salinger-reading, earnest boyfriend" vibe? Well, regardless, his new video, "Your Call," is beyond theatrical. It starts off with a velvet curtain opening on an empty, spotlit stage. From there, Vesely's mini-melodrama just builds and builds and builds -- a set materializes, angelic women sway -- until it explodes into an eyes-closed chorus of "I WAS BORRRN! TO TELL YOU I LOVE YOUUU!" Beats the heck out of any boring play we ever saw.
"Your Call," the second single off Secondhand Serenade's February release, A Twist In My Story, had a deservedly epic debut on the FNMTV holiday special this past Friday. Needless to say, girls cried. Speaking of which, since you're here and teary-eyed already, you may as well also check out the video for Twist's first single, "Fall For You." Sorry in advance about your sore heartstrings.

Let's get right down to it: The FNMTV holiday extravaganza is the music world equivalent of a two-hour special where the cast of Gossip Girl flies to Australia with the cast of Twilight only to crash halfway on Lost. It's like if George Clooney came back to ER and he was engaged to Brad Pitt AND Angelina. And they adopted more kids. Last but not least, it's like Michael Jackson's Off The Wall, in the sense that it's off the wall.
Host/ new dad Pete Wentz does double-duty tonight, introducing blockbuster video premieres AND performing with Fall Out Boy. THAT FALL OUT BOY. And when he's not talking, Travis McCoy will be filling the gaps with a little ee-err ee-err as the house DJ!
Finally, if you don't mind having your head explode, try thinking about the fact that we also have brand-new videos from Britney Spears and Miley Cyrus. AND even her brother Trace AND Metro Station! Pop.
Tonight's FNMTV Video Premieres:
Britney (kind of a big deal) Spears - "Circus"
Miley (maybe you've heard of her?) Cyrus - "Fly On The Wall"
The Game featuring Ne-Yo - "Camera Phone"
Metro Station - "Seventeen Forever"
Secondhand Serenade - "Your Call"
DO NOT NOT WATCH FNMTV. THIS IS THE EPISODE OF THE CENTURY (until the next one...).
Tonight. 8pm ET. MTV. Go.

You probably know Blake Lewis as the spiky-haired blond guy who might've won American Idol -- you know, if it hadn't been for a little lady by the name of Jordin Sparks. But you might also (wrongly!) remember him as the man behind Secondhand Serenade: John Vesely. And if you do, we completely get where you're coming from.
Okay, granted the guys aren't exactly musical twinsies -- Vesely is all about soft, tender emo love while Lewis is all flashy, loud and "Look Ma, I can beatbox!" -- but we're willing to bet you'd have trouble differentiating between the two singer-songwriters if, say, it was kinda dark outside and you were squinting 'cause you forgot your glasses.
So marvel at the similarities between the two (The baleful stares! The side dimples! The matching "Dennis the Menace" 'dos with the asymmetrical frosted-tips!) and then prove to yourself that they are, in fact, different people, by checking out samples of each fellow's work.
Oh, and when you're watching Blake's video, you may want to keep those glasses off. Like the controversial 2012 Olympic mascot, the video is so fast and crazy and full of flashing colors it just might trigger a seizure. And no one needs that.
Plus: more Wonder Twins:
+ Christina Aguilera and Anna Faris
+ Katy Perry and Zooey Deschanel
+ Pete Wentz and Dean Cain

Saying goodbye is never easy. Just last night we had to do it twice: once to Idol contestant Ramiele Malubay, and then again as we bid adieu to the general concept of youth in the collective form of 19 years of Real World casts who attended the Real World Awards Bash. And today, we're saying farewell to Secondhand Serenade, who's guest blogged for Buzzworthy for the past three weeks.
Fittingly, John Vesely's last Buzzworthy post is about "Goodbye," the final song off his latest album, A Twist In My Story.
Read about "Goodbye," catch up on John's other Secondhand Serenade Buzzworthy posts, and then go work on your separation issues.
"Goodbye" is the last song on the album. It had to end with a bang. I originally wrote this song for the acoustic guitar but never had an ending for it. When I started recording this album, I started working on it again. I'm a sucker for builds, so I wanted to incorporate something leading up to an explosion. I decided to use a full band for the ending because it was so powerful and it really summed up the album well.
Read more...

We, like John Vesely (AKA Secondhand Serenade), are drawn to anything classically epic: OneRepublic's latest single, "Stop and Stare," Jane Child's "Don't Wanna Fall In Love," the 2008 presidential election.
And epic is exactly how he wanted his track, "Like a Knife," off his new album, A Twist In My Story, to sound.
See what inspired "Like a Knife," and check out his previous Buzzworthy posts about writing and recording "A Twist In My Story" and "Fall For You."
I love "Like a Knife" because it's really big. I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted this song to sound like, but the trick was actually having it end up sounding like it did in my head. It was the first song that me and Danny Lohner -- my producer -- worked on when we started the album. Brandon, the former drummer of the Used, came in and laid down an AMAZING foundation for us to work with. From there I just started adding the layers. I wanted to give it a really epic feel. All the parts came really naturally, and it turned out sounding better than I imagined. Needless to say, it was a pretty good start for the album.
Read more...

Last week, Secondhand Serenade's John Vesely wrote his first Buzzworthy blog post, about writing "Fall For You," off his new album, A Twist In My Story.
This week, in his second Buzzworthy post, John talks about the orchestration of the album's title track and its extra-special relevance to his personal life.
"A Twist In My Story" is one of my favorite songs on the album. First off, the production is great. I always wanted to have an orchestral-based song, and I think it came together really well. I didn't really know what to do with it when we started recording. There were ideas of throwing in a full band, but I really had my heart set on keeping it simple and intimate. It needed to be acoustic-based, so I recorded the acoustic guitar track, and we sat down to start throwing ideas out. We ended up giving stings a try, and instead of keeping them in the background, we put them right up front.
Read more...