31st December 2019 //
Hey everyone!
Vanessa here.
It's a little tradition for me to sit down on December 31st of every year and just reflect on the year.
And because OCD is running this ship, I'm here to review 2019.
I'll start with the obvious - house in the sand is still here.
It might've gotten quiet a lot around here this year, but we're still very much an active part of the mess that is the music industry. Technically we had 365 opportunities to quit this year, but we didn't.
And I'll be honest, sometimes it would've been easier to quit and just to let the waves take it, but we've built this up too much to let new algorithms and horrible blogging trends take it away from us.
We did a bunch of cool things in 2019.
We celebrated seven years of HITS and released our first official merchandise - and you guys actually went to buy and wear it. Mind = blown!
We made and released our first ever print issue - what what what!
HITS magazine #1 features 26 artists, some of which have been a part of HITS for years.
The magazine allowed us to have in-depth chats with acts such as Kodaline, Alice Merton, Lissie, Martin and James and so many more. We shot the cover at Wembley Arena in London and were over the moon to have the brilliant ROE be our first cover artist.
We saw the artists we featured reading the magazine and celebrating with us.
This year we heard amazing new music from Rhys Lewis, Hozier, Maggie Rogers, dodie, Kat Frankie, Jim Kroft and so many more.
The Jonas Brothers reunited and we cried when we received the press release.
We had super fun chats with Dean Lewis, Alex Francis and so many more.
We photographed Lewis Capaldi, Dermot Kennedy, Blossoms, Catfish and the Bottlemen, Hozier and more. Artists we truly admire have been in front of our lenses.
We hosted living room shows, we hung out with music folks we care about, we laughed because of music, we cried because of music.
We found lifelong friends in bloggers, photographers and managers.
And what we're most proud of is that we didn't bow down to the pressures of getting the most views and compromising our standards for it.
We know that a lot of you reading this have been with us for a long time and we know that some of you just found us in 2019.
No matter how much time you have spent on HITS, please know that we are so thankful to have you around. If it wasn't for you, this place wouldn't be the lively platform that it is. You make sharing music fun because you are there to receive it. Because you are there to tell us what you think.
So, thank you for your visit - today and always.
Much love,
Credits // Words & Image: Vanessa Jetwash | Embedded images belong to their linked creators.
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