Blue Sky – Various Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian

Wishing a very happy 43rd birthday to a talented artist who hails from Waterloo, Iowa – Emily West. When I worked in radio, we got to meet a lot of new artists when they did radio tours across the country. I had the pleasure of meeting Emily back in 2008 when she was signed to Capitol Records. I remember her really being something special.

We had her come in and play for our staff in the conference room at the radio station. She was very personable and had a contagious laugh. It was a joy to get to know her before she began to sing for us. I remember her doing 4 or 5 songs for us and two of them really struck a chord with me.

The first was her debut single “Rocks in Your Shoes.” It was a song that I could totally relate to. Life can be very difficult, and sometimes you gotta walk through life with the rocks in your shoes. It was just her and a guitar player in the conference room. When she began to sing, I fell in love with her voice. It was powerful and pure. The song was uptempo and I thought it should have been a hit (it reached number 39 on the charts).

The second song was called Blue Sky. It was a gut wrenching song of heartache that she sang with such emotion that it nearly brought me to tears. And that was just with her and her guitar player! The fully produced version was hauntingly beautiful. It was remixed as a duet with her labelmate, Keith Urban and released in 2010. Roughstock gave the song 4½ stars out of 5, stating that “‘Blue Sky’ is already a contender for one of 2010’s best singles.” Sadly (and to me, unbelievably), it only reached number 38 on the charts.

When we had to pick a new act to perform at a local women’s expo, we all unanimously picked Emily as our top pick. She made that big of an impact on us and we all loved her! When we found out she was available, it made us even more excited. Naturally, she was just wonderful and many listeners told us how much they enjoyed her.

Perhaps you have seen her on television? She also won $25,000 on Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader in 2009. Emily appeared in a 2010, episode of Celebrity Apprentice as the “music make-over” target for the women’s team led by Cyndi Lauper. Lauper won the challenge and as a result West donated 100% of the first month of iTunes sales of her song “Blue Sky” to the Stonewall Community Foundation, Lauper’s charity. Then, in 2012, she did a guest appearance on the crime drama Body of Proof. But it was in 2014 that TV viewers came to know her and love her when competed on America’s Got Talent during their 9th season.

I cannot begin to tell you how disappointed I was that she was only the runner up that year. She was amazing in every performance she did. Her talent was on display for all of America to see and she knocked it out of the park every time! Her version of Sia’s Chandelier was talked about for weeks after it aired. It was stellar. I am sure that I wasn’t the only one who thought that there was no way that she should have lost to a magician!

Here is Emily West with Keith Urban singing harmonies on Blue Sky.