"Brand New Day" by Kodaline, Thursday, January 6, 2021

I was in coffee shop in Sinsa, a neighborhood near Gangnam in Seoul, when I first heard Kodaline. The Irish band's debut album, In a Perfect World and the EPs containing different versions of songs from around that time were perfect for a cup of coffee. Subsequent albums have made the band sound like they were striving to be another Coldplay, but they got it right the first time on their debut. I'm recommending the acoustic version of "Brand New Day," featuring Nina Nesbitt.

I WANNA TRAVEL THE WOLD, BUT I JUST CAN'T DO IT ALONE. The lyrics of "Brand New Day" talk about "outgrowing your hometown" and wanting to "travel the world" with someone. As someone who could be said to be (still) on that journey, I remember the feelings of travel thirst. I got to the end of my bachelor's degree and thought about the constraints of going back home to North Carolina. I thought about how it would be a few years of struggle in a career before buying a house. I thought about my very few trips overseas and how I wanted to get out of America and experience other cultures. I wanted to get away from the people I knew and form new patterns and figure out who I am. So many friends who were older than me told me to do it. "When you settle you get roots, and it's much harder to leave when you have the responsibilities of a mortgage and kids." So I went to South Korea. And I started building roots here. It's not exactly what I had in mind, but I'm enjoying life and learning something new every day that my younger self would never foresee myself doing.

WE COULD BE BIG IN JAPAN. While it's nice to be nostalgic, this song also pushes me forward, but not in a way that makes me question my life decisions (have you really quenched your travel thirst?). It's a brand new year full of possibilities. I felt that way last year and was off to a good start around this time. What's different? I know how crappy things can get. We're still in the middle of a pandemic. There's hope of a vaccine, but anything else could go wrong. But I start to think about the things that I have control over. I may not be able to go home to America for a while or travel to other countries, but I have my teaching skills. I can work on my goals. I can truly embrace my introverted nature and be creative (at home!). I'm waiting on a brand new day, but I've got a plan b until it stops raining.

Album version Music Video/ Acoustic version featuring Nina Nesbitt:




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"Photograph" Ed Sheeran, Saturday, February 3, 2024 (updated repost)

Image
  Before " Shape of You ," Ed Sheeran was known primarily as a singer-songwriter. His albums + and X took clear influence from The Beatles , Carole King , Elton John , James Taylor , and the ballad writers of yesteryear. But he had a knack for throwing in a few rap bars along the way. With every record, Sheeran gained more acclaim. His sophomore record produced the mega Billboard #2 hit , " Thinking Out Loud ," which won two Grammys including Song of the Year. The final single from the album, " Photograph " was written in collaboration with Snow Patrol 's Johnny McDaid . Sheeran drew inspiration from his long distance relationship with singer/songwriter Nina Nesbitt (the featured musician on Kodaline ’s acoustic version of “Brand New Day” ). The two spent five months apart. They would eventually break up, but the song remains a gem on Sheeran's second best-selling record.  LOVING CAN HURT . "Photograph" was the song that introduced m
Read more

“Teenage Dream” by Katy Perry (reworked post), Tuesday, February 27, 2024

Image
When I was a Christian teenager, a book started circulating in my church youth group. Joshua Harris wrote about youth with wisdom and authority that seemed logical and categorical for every situation to the young women who read I Kissed Dating Goodbye . The book’s thesis argued that dating was a worldly alternative to the more purposeful Christian concept of courtship. Dating fueled erotic passions, which must be saved for a heterosexual marriage. Dating is casual, even preteens dates. Courtship was about vetting a marriage partner and would happen in the late teen years or early adulthood.  YOU THINK I'M PRETTY WITHOUT ANY MAKEUP ON .  Josh Harris’s I Kissed Dating Goodbye was part of a movement I’ve written about a lot: purity culture. How much this movement influenced young Katy Hudson, a pastor’s daughter in Southern California, touring with a slew of Christian rockers on the heels of her debut, self-titled album , I can only speculate what went through the 17-year-old star’s
Read more

"All of Me Wants All of You" (Helado Negro Remix) by Sufjan Stevens, Sunday, February 27, 2022

Image
I've talked about how Carrie & Lowell , Sufjan Steven 's 2015 masterpiece, is a quintessential portrait of dealing with grief and forgiveness when I wrote about the first two tracks, " Death with Dignity ," and " Should Have Known Better ." By the third track on the record, " All of Me Wants All of You ," explores grief in a different way from the previous two tracks. As with most songs on the album, "All of Me" appears to be deeply personal to the artist. But being personal doesn't stop this track's language from being the most obscured with allusions to geography and possibly an allegory from a little-known Spanish play. ALL OF ME THINKS LESS OF YOU.  There's a debate   on Lyrics Genius about the meaning of this song, especially surrounding the identity of the only other character mentioned by name in this song, Manelich. Is he the one the song is about? Stevens has written vaguely about homosexual attraction throughout
Read more