Once in our lives we find ourselves asking a very important question while watching our favorite TV series: "Who in the name of everything holy sang this awesome song?!?!"
As I bawled my eyes out at the end of season 3, episode 9 of the sci-fi TV series, "The 100", I found myself knitting my eyebrows together and wondering, "what is the title of this evocatively beautiful song?!" It's "Cloud" by a guy named Elias. This song just hits home: from the haunting and melancholic sound of the piano at the start until the goosebumps-inducing chorus, with the powerful vocals building up towards the end and the heartbreaking sound of the violin. I don't have any words to describe it. It was just beautiful. This song definitely left an indelible impression on me. As if this poignant song was not enough to blow my mind, Elias's ethereal and soulful voice makes me want to curl up in a ball and cry all my "feels" out. It was the kind of voice that would make you feel emotional, for no reason at all.
Rarely does a song move me to tears. "Cloud" did not just move me to tears, though, it made me cry my eyes out to the point of hyperventilation. Well, okay, part of the reason was because it was being played during the execution of a decent and honorable man while the love of his life watched helplessly and desperately from afar. I have to say; whoever is the music supervisor of The 100 needs to get a big, fat raise. That person is a genius. I've been watching this show for almost 3 years now and the soundtrack had always been SPOT ON. I never really thought about how cool a music supervisor's job is until now.
Anyway, going back to Elias. Right after the episode ended, I immediately looked up the song on YouTube. Apparently, I'm not the only one who was impressed with Elias. I apologize to all the Elias fans out there, but I had no idea who this guy was prior to hearing “Cloud”. And I'm sure I'm not the only one. I saw the comments on YouTube and on Facebook and people were ranting on and on and raving about "Cloud" ever since they heard it on The 100. Let's face it, even the know-it-alls out there couldn't possibly have heard of this incredible singer from Sweden. Without the mainstream attention that he got from fans of The 100, like me, most people wouldn't have heard of him or his songs.
Elias is indeed a hard man to find. Even with my incredible, super sleuthing skills, "googling" him was not a walk in the park. I clicked on some other Eliases, one was a Swedish rock band and the other was a French singer-songwriter. I only confirmed that it was THE Elias that I was looking for when I saw a YouTube "fan cam" of him singing the song in some Swedish music festival. Still, I couldn't find anything else about him aside from the fact that he came from Sweden. Although, at the last minute, I did come across this write-up about him from billspr.com:
"Elias grew up in Stockholm, Sweden in a normal working class family. His first musical memory is that of singing along as his mother performed punk-inspired work songs. He too would write, although it took a little time for him to realize that his words could be shaped into songs that would command the attention of an audience."
Not surprisingly, Elias's songs do have a common theme. He said that "his most common lyrical theme is stuff that goes unsaid, or stuff that F-word hurts. He’s motivated by investigating his nation’s social issues which aren’t often addressed in song: racism, the rise of far right politics and growing inequality."
And, the surprises don’t stop there. This remarkably talented guy is only 18 years old, ladies and gentlemen. Yes. You read that right. He's eighteen-insert-swear-word-here-years-old. When I was eighteen, I was writing about my school crush in my diary.
Since it is my goal for this year to "discover" other artists, I gave his other songs a shot. I listened to "Revolution" and was enthralled, to say the least. It had the same feel and vibe as "Cloud". However, I realized that Elias's music is not exactly my "style". It's not my jam. I would listen to his songs maybe once or twice, but they're not the type of songs that I would play on loop. They're not exactly the cheery and encouraging type of songs, in my opinion. I'm not closing my doors, though. I think Elias is oozing with talent and he has a huge potential. I would love to hear more of his songs and see him in the limelight soon. His passionate songs, along with their strong messages, and his otherworldly, soulful voice deserved to be heard all over the world.
Credit: http://www.billspr.com/
