Heyyy everyone and welcome to a very special post about one of my new music obsessions, Recipe of Life. ROL is made up of two darling girls, Shelby and Ariel, who are both full of sunny personalities and sweet voices to match. I have been hunting these girls down for months trying to feature their ukulele duo on http://www.lifewithlilred.com and it’s finally happening!
I seriously couldn’t be more excited to shed some light on such a talented group, especially considering they just wrapped up their Lake Erie Shore Tour on top of releasing a new single “Are You Ready?” which is now available on their iTunes, Spotify, Rhapsody, and bandcamp page. “Are You Ready?” is such an addictive song it should be illegal, so check it out and get hooked! (I, for one, am ready! And all of the links to the mentioned sites can be found at the end of the post!)
Recipe of Life debuted their first full length album The Secret Ingredient in 2014 and now I would love to take some time to discuss my personal favorites off of it with you! The Secret Ingredient can be found on all of ROL’s music pages and can be purchased for ten dollars. So click the link and listen along as I offer my humble Lil Red opinion on the album! And make sure you stay tuned after for an exclusive interview with the ROL duo, Shelby and Ariel! Let’s get to it:
Love You Today: This is the first song off of The Secret Ingredient and I absolutely love it. I was listening to this while laying in bed and I kid you not, my notes on the song were “this reminds me of how I feel when I have a crush on someone”. So many of Recipe of Life’s tracks have this ability to bring on the butterflies of being googly eyed over that special someone and “Love You Today” sums that up perfectly. Such a sweet and strong opener!
If the Shoe Fits: Obviously this song is one of my go to’s considering the title is the same as one of my segments on lifewithlilred. 😉 I really like the harmonies that the ROL gals have going on in this track and the lyrics are cute as can be. When I first heard Recipe of Life’s music, I was honestly shocked that I liked it so much. I’m such an alternative and indie girl at heart but it’s impossible to not appreciate this band. All of the emotions in their songs are so honest and relateable. I can’t think of one person who hasn’t wished for a romance that Shelby and Ariel are swooning about in “If the Shoe Fits”.
Spot On: If you guys have read my music reviews before, then you’ll know that this song had me at the opening “doo doo doo’s”. I LOVE THEM! What I think is so memorable about this song is how much fun the girls are having with it. Their little laughs throughout “Spot On” made me smile each time and this is the type of tune that should be played with all of the windows down on a bright day. At the beginning of this post I described Shelby and Ariel’s personalities as “sunny” and you can definitely see why after listening to this little ditty.
Unlovable: This is my favorite song off of The Secret Ingredient, hands down. Honestly, “Unlovable” describes some very real feelings for me, especially with their lyric “Why do you thank me? When there’s nothing to thank me for”. Ugh, I love that. “Unlovable” is the second track off of The Secret Ingredient and I think that it’s such a solid follow up to the opener “Love You Today”. “Unlovable” is the longest song on the album at 4:39 but I wish it could have gone on forever.
The End: Appropriately titled, “The End” is the closing song on The Secret Ingredient and I will seriously be a monkey’s uncle if it isn’t a song in a Disney movie. Literally all I could think about while I listened to this song was a Disney prince and princess serenading each other…Judge me for it. “The End” is a beautiful song to wrap up a beautiful album, so bravo!
I had the opportunity to sit down with the lovely Shelby to chat about the band, boys, and everything in between. Unfortunately, the other half of the Recipe of Life duo, Ariel, is away at college and was unable to attend the interview – but fear not! I was lucky enough to “speak” with her via email to get her input. Thanks to the ROL girls, I have the answers to the questions that I’m sure you’re all dying to know, so take a look:
- Lil Red: So how did your duo come into being?
- Shelby: Ariel and I became friends our sophomore year of high school. We became Facebook friends because she was friends with my boyfriend, Jimmy, throughout freshman year, so we both figured we should be friends!
- Ariel: Shortly after our friendship started we made a cover video of YouTube musician, Orla Gartland’s, song “All The Little Details.” The video got one thousand plus views and we were shocked! That’s when we thought “Hmm. Maybe this music-y thing could go somewhere”. After that pleasant surprise we decided to perform as a duet for the Battle Of The Bands at our high school.
- LR: I’m positive that my readers will be curious about where the name Recipe of Life came from, because I definitely am. Is there a story behind the band name?
- S: When we were preparing to compete for BOTB, we realized we needed a name! We turned to the internet for inspiration and found a quote that said “Friendship is the most important ingredient in the recipe of life” and it stuck. We thought that it might be too cheesy, but we never changed it!
- LR: Would you agree that friendship is the most important ingredient?
- S&A: Yes!!
- LR: So how did Recipe of Life do in the Battle Of The Bands competition?
- S: We won! It was so exciting. We performed two cover songs and the first song that I ever wrote “Forever Yours”, which can be heard on our album.
- LR: I noticed that a common theme in your songs is the “perfect” guy, where does the inspiration for this stem from?
- S: Definitely my boyfriend, Jimmy. We’ve been dating for six years and I feel like literally all of my songs are about him. Ariel and her mom always were pushing me to write outside of my comfort zone, so the first song I wrote that wasn’t about love was a huge deal!
- A: Sometimes my songs are inspired by a relationship – but not as often as Shelby’s! Although, the first song that I wrote about a significant other, “Spot On”, is about the same guy that I’ve been with to this day, three years later! I’m still trying to figure myself and life out, so this gives me a lot of situations to draw from when I write a song. A general curiosity for life helps when I’m trying to put pen to paper.
- LR: Six and three years is a long time! My longest relationship was two weeks…ANYWAYS, sometimes I’m shocked by the people who I find out read my blog. Have you ladies ever been surprised by anyone who you found out was a Recipe of Life fan?
- S: Our usual demographic is sixteen to twenty-five year old girls, so we were both definitely shocked by our following of middle aged men who were musicians in college!
- A: Middle aged adults was definitely unexpected! We also get quite a bit of attention from Christian audiences as well, which I think is interesting. Someone that we were both taken aback by was when Orla Gartland commented on our video for “All The Little Details” saying that she loved it. Like, what?!
- LR: Middle aged people is not what I was expecting to hear! But hey, a fans a fan! And now for the interview cliche question, where do you girls see Recipe of Life in two years?
- S: Hopefully on tour with a new album out. We would really like to branch out our audience and perform in a bunch of new locations.
- A: I would love to hear us on the radio someday so maybe two years is enough time to get that ball rolling! But our next goal as of now is making another full length album.
You heard it first on lifewithlilred! It was so fun having a chit chat with Shelby and Ariel! If you would like to read more of our interview, let me know in the comment section so I can make it happen!
Like it? Love it? Want more of it? You can show love to Recipe of Life by:
- Liking them on Facebook
- Purchasing The Secret Ingredient off of their music pages like bandcamp and iTunes
- Snagging their new single “Are You Ready?”
- Checking out their website
- Shooting them an email
- Commenting on this post so I can relay the message
Here are all of the links to the websites mentioned above:
It has been a complete blast getting to know the Recipe of Life girls, Shelby and Ariel. They are certainly a ukulele strumming duo to watch out for, so be on the look out! How do you feel about Recipe of Life’s music? Do you have any constructive criticism or advice for Shelby and Ariel? We wanna hear from all of you, so leave us a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah
