Music Friday: Seth Ennis Shares Story Behind His Proposal in the Newly Released 'Xmas'

Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you awesome new songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the lyrics or title. Today, country music newcomer Seth Ennis shares the story behind his holiday marriage proposal in the newly released "Xmas."

The Georgia-raised 23-year-old turned to Instagram on December 23 to share a snippet of his new song, along with the caption, "She said yes." Then, three days later, he confirmed his engagement with a photo of him and his now-fiancée Janna Nevil celebrating with glasses of champagne.

In the song, Ennis says he can't wait to see his girlfriend's face when she sees the ring that he picked out. We also learn that Ennis' proposal has been a year in the making. It started last Christmas when he revealed his intentions to Nevil's dad.

Ennis sings, "I bet you didn't know at Christmas / I was talkin' to your daddy / I told him me and you were in love / And I just want to make you happy / For ever and ever keep loving you better / And never give up or leave / And baby next Christmas / I'm gonna ask you to marry me."

In a romantic example of life imitating art, Ennis stood by his lyrics and popped the question during the Christmas holiday. In the catchy chorus, he sings "Say yes, say yes, I hope you say yes / Say yes to me" — and she did.

Born in Dothan, Ala., Ennis began playing the piano at the age of 7. By the time he was in middle school, he was also a talented guitarist and drummer. The son of a military colonel, Ennis honed his talents as he spent his formative years on a military base in Japan.

“Country music is not that big in Japan,” he noted in his official bio. “If I were raised in Georgia my whole life, I’d probably sound a lot different than I do. But because of how much I moved around, and all the cultures I experienced, my sound is especially diverse.”

Ennis got his big break by being in the right place at the right time.

“There was a battle of the bands competition here in Nashville and when one of the bands dropped out, I got the call,” Ennis said. “I called my players together and we killed it.”

The victory earned Ennis a coveted spot at CMA Music Festival. That performance caught the eye of Sony, which signed him to a record deal in 2016.

In early 2019, Ennis will be embarking on a 14-city tour with performances in New York, Boston, Silver Spring, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Detroit, Minneapolis, Louisville, Atlanta, Orlando, North Myrtle Beach, Charlotte and Raleigh.

Please check out the audio track of Ennis performing "Xmas." The lyrics are below if you'd like to sing along...

"Xmas"
Written and performed by Seth Ennis.

I bet you didn't know at Christmas
I was talkin' to your daddy
I told him me and you were in love
And I just want to make you happy

For ever and ever keep loving you better
And never give up our leave
And baby next Christmas
I'm gonna ask you to marry me

Say yes, say yes, I hope you say yes
Say yes to me
Say yes, say yes, I hope you say yes
Say yes to me

Keeping it a secret
and trying to keep it that way
Until the holiday season
Gets harder every day

But even more than I do
When I just tell you
I want to see your face alright
When you see the ring I picked out
Old friends in your new home town
In December when you say

I can't believe I didn't know at Christmas
When I was talkin' to your daddy
I told him me and you were in love
And I just want to make you happy

For ever and ever keep loving you better
And never give up or leave
And baby next Christmas
I'm gonna ask you to marry me

Say yes, say yes, I hope you say yes
Say yes to me
Say yes, say yes, I hope you say yes
Say yes to me

I remember back in high school
Dreaming of what you'd be like
Hoping that I'd find the kind of girl who
is from a hometown like mine

Before I met you in that church
Took you out to that concert
Told my momma that I found my wife
When you know you know I knew the whole time

But I bet you didn't know at Christmas
That I was talkin' to your daddy
I told him me and you were in love
And all I want to do is make you happy

If you had me for ever and ever keep loving you better
And never give up or leave
And baby next Christmas
I'm gonna ask you to marry me

Say yes, say yes, I hope you say yes
Say yes to me
Say yes, say yes, I hope you say yes
Say yes to me

Say yes, say yes, I hope you say yes
Say yes to me
Say yes, say yes, I hope you say yes
Say yes to me

Credit: Image via Instagram.com/seth_ennis.

Oops! Famous 'Diamond Planet' Is Actually a 'Sapphire Planet,' New Research Suggests

Super-Earth 55 Cancri e, which made headlines in 2012 as "the diamond planet," needs to be reclassified as a sapphire planet, according to astronomers at the Universities of Zurich and Cambridge.

"We are turning the supposed diamond planet into a sapphire planet," said astrophysicist Caroline Dorn, the lead author of new research published in the British journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MNRAS).

Previously, scientists speculated that one-third of the 55 Cancri e super-Earth, which is 40 light-years away in the constellation of Cancer, might be composed of pure diamond. The presence of carbon, combined with the planet's high density and extreme heat created the perfect conditions for creating diamonds. Taking a stab at the potential value of a diamond planet, a Forbes columnist did the math and came up with a value of $26.9 nonillion. That’s $26.9 followed by 30 zeros.

But, Dorn and her team say that new observations of 55 Cancri e, as well as two other super-Earths, have forced them to discard the theory of a "diamond in the sky." They determined that these new, exotic planets share a number of characteristics. They all formed at high temperatures close to their host star and contain high quantities of aluminum oxide — the compound that makes up sapphire and ruby.

"Perhaps it shimmers red to blue like rubies and sapphires, because these gemstones are aluminium oxides which are common on the exoplanet," said Dorn.

One of the super-Earths studied by Dorn and her colleagues is just 21 light-years away in the constellation Cassiopeia. Super-Earth HD 219134 b orbits its star in just three days and boasts five times the mass of Earth, but has a lower density. Computer models showed that it is likely rich in the chemical building blocks of sapphires and rubies, but — unlike the Earth — contains very little iron.

Credit: Image by NASA/JPL-Caltech.

1,109-Carat Lesedi La Rona Likely Weighed 2,774 Carats Before Fracturing Into 5 Pieces

A senior research scientist at the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) believes the 1,109-carat Lesedi La Rona — the second largest rough diamond ever found — actually weighed at least 2,774 carats before it fractured into five pieces during the sorting process at Lucara's Karowe mine in Botswana in November 2015.

Lucara had previously reported that the 813-carat "Constellation” and a 374-carat unnamed "shard" had broken off Lesedi La Rona. The total weight of the original rough diamond, had it remained intact, would have been 2,296 carats.

But, after getting a chance to study the trio, plus other large diamonds recovered during the same time period at Karowe, Dr. Ulrika D’Haenens-Johansson and her team from the GIA were able to identify two other rough diamonds that likely broke off the original. Those gems weighed 296 carats and 183 carats, respectively.

"Due to the similarity in their external characteristics — which include cleavage faces — as well as their extraction locations and dates, it was suspected that these stones might have originated from a larger rough that had broken," Dr. D’Haenens-Johansson wrote in the Fall 2018 issue of Gems & Gemology.

The five pieces totaled 2,774 carats, which is equivalent to 1.22 pounds (.55 kilograms). Had the original survived the recovery process, it would have still rated second behind the largest gem-quality rough diamond of all time — the 3,106-carat Cullinan, unearthed in South Africa in 1905.

Lucara CEO Eira Thomas told diamonds.net that evidence indicates the larger stone broke up both because of natural effects and being knocked around during the recovery process. The mining company has reportedly installed additional X-ray transmission (XRT) technology to ensure exceptional stones are identified and pulled from the line before they can be fractured.

The Constellation set a world record for a rough gem when Nemesis International and De Grisogono partnered to purchase it for $63 million in 2016. Graff bought the 374-carat "shard" for $17.5 million in May 2017 and subsequently paid $53 million in September 2017 for Lesedi La Rona.

Credits: Images courtesy of Lucara Diamonds.