NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

Last month, I wrote about " Getaway ," a song located in the center of Turn Off the Stars' only LP . I keep coming back to this obscure album, despite its simple, sometimes generic songs. "Brightside" is the last track on the 2006 eponymous release. The album takes listeners on a range of emotions from desperation to wonder to love to loss to dealing with the monotony of life, and finally to looking on the bright side. The optimism of the ending track perfectly embodies the Christian cliche of writing in a minor key but ending in on a major chord. However, I always wish listeners had an opportunity to hear what kind of music the band would have developed into. So, as we end another month's playlist, let's go out on a high note. Next month will certainly bring a range of emotions as the summer ends and school starts again in the endless cycle of children growing up and teachers aging toward retirement. Take a moment on Saturday, July 31st to enjoy some su...

We've talked Taeyeon before, whether it was her melancholy ballad, " Blue " or with her group Girls' Generation singing " Mr. Mr. "  Unlike solo male singers, like D.O. , female solo singers often do better than their girl groups. With the exception of Girls' Generation, Twice , and BlackPink , Korean girl groups often lose steam before the boy groups. Why? Generally speaking these days Korean teenage girls are buying most of the music, whereas teenage boys are spending most of their money on phone game credits. Girl groups serve as a kind of aspiration for teenage girls and some boys buy girl group merchandise, but for all the girl group merchandise sold, multiply it by at least ten for the cute and cuddly image of boy groups. Solo female singers are often taken more seriously in acting roles apart from their groups, and without the branding of the bubble gum image, take a mature approach to the music they perform.    SUDDENLY I LOOK AT THE CLOCK. IT...

D.O. is a member of one of the biggest acts in K-Pop, EXO, a group that debuted in 2012. The Korean pop group has members from China and South Korea, and from the start of their career, recorded in their hits both in Mandarin and Korean. The group originally consisted of eleven members, but several of three members have left the group. In the span of their nine-year career, members have gone on hiatus to perform compulsory military service for South Korea, while some of the Chinese members have had legal disputes with the group's record label. In South Korean pop music, male groups often are more successful than solo male singers. Still, male artists often diversify their careers with acting in dramas or films and solo careers. This can be essential for artists who are waiting for group members to finish military service. In these solo careers, the pop start is often able to create music much different from their main gig. I MIGHT NOT HAVE A FANCY CAR, BUT I FANCY YOU. Doh Kyeong-s...

Composed of former child actors Jenny Lewis and Blake Sennett , Rilo Kiley was an indie rock band from Los Angelos but signed to Warner Brothers   for their final album, Under the Blacklight .  The band's song " Pictures of Success " was featured on the mixtape I wrote about last year.  Jenny Lewis often serves as the band's lead singer; however, on this track, Blake Sennett takes the lead vocals.  Under the Blacklight  is the band's final album with the exception of a rarities compilation . After the release of Under the Blacklight and their subsequent tour to support the album, the band went on hiatus, which later turned into a break-up.  YOU'RE THE GIRL WHO WANTED MORE. One of singer Jenny Lewis's most remembered roles on TV as a child actress was an episode from a season 3 episode of The Golden Girls , in which she plays the role of a Sunshine Cadet, a kind of Girl Scout, who volunteers to help the women with some house work. Blanche accidentally giv...

East West was a Christian hard rock band that released two albums in the early 2000s. The most successful single from their debut album The Light in Guinevere's Garden was the guitar ballad " She Cries ," in which the band didn't scream the lyrics. East West's two releases are between two very important releases in Hard Christian Rock: P.O.D. 's Satellite  and Underoath 's They're Only Chasing Safety . The band's follow up,  Hope in Anguish  was produced much better than TLiGG. The grungy sounds of slow songs and the gut-punching screams of the heavy songs met the drums, effects petals, and truly depressing lyrics--dealing with addiction, child abuse, and the music business. Four of the songs--three of the non-screaming tracks--made there way to Christian Rock radio. East West was a band that showed that they could write a hit and have a heavy album.  I COULD NEVER REALLY FIND THE ANSWERS. Three years after the release of Hope in Anguish , East ...

Metric certainly isn't a household name when it comes to alternative rock music, even though they have been around forever. Had some success with their fourth album, Fantasies, seeing Top 20 singles in the U.S. Alternative Rock charts, but mostly the band has been confined to the Canadian charts. Lead singer Emily Haines, though, is a duel American-Canadian citizen, born to American parents in New Delhi, where her mother started a school. Haines collaborated with fellow indie rock band Broken Social Scene, singing on several albums, though Metric was her main gig. Metric's music varies album to album both thematically and musically. Haines often writes about feminism, war, and dreams. On their sixth album Pagans in Vegas, the music is synth-heavy, taking influence on British New Wavers.  I'M FOLLOWING THE SUN THAT'S SETTING IN THE WEST. Speaking about first single, "The Shade," Haines wrote : "When you feel yourself becoming a coward, the best thing to do...

Hitting #1 on the Alternative Rock charts this week in 1997, and peaking at #4 on the pop charts in August 1997, " Semi-Charmed Life " was Third Eye Blind 's first single, but singer Stephan Jenkins was worried that the explicit lyrics of the track would cause radio stations not play the song. Third Eye Blind's eponymous debut LP spun three top 10 Hot 100 hits and five top 20 hits, but "Semi-Charmed Life" is the band's most memorable and highest-charting song. Third Eye Blind is an example of a band that peaked early in their career and then faded into obscurity. The band churned out hits from their second and third records, but their fourth album only had one hit. Gaps between albums, line-up changes, and failure to evolve to the changing music scene made Third Eye Blind at best a relic of '90s rock nostalgia. But to truly appreciate this band, think of the days before pop radio talked explicitly about sex and drugs. Back when the word ass was ble...

In March Netflix released A Week Away , a Christian camp musical incorporating originals and the songs of Michael W. Smith , Steven Curtis Chapman, Rich Mullins , Audio Adrenaline , For King and Country, and Amy Grant into Disney Channel quality musical numbers. Shortly after, the podcast Good Christian Fun reviewed the movie, which is how I heard about it. However, it wasn't until today when I was listening to a conversation with Faith Based  film maker Luke Barnett on You Have Permission that I remembered that I HAD to watch A Week Away. I had so many thoughts upon watching the movie that I think that my blog format is too restrictive. I would love to explore my own awkward summer camp experiences or tell the truth "slant" in fiction with one of my characters. However, I think that just talking about the film itself will be sufficient in terms of word count. So, on the very unlikely chance that one of these songs makes my "Song a Day" list again in a followi...

  In January, I talked about Leauges's song " Lost It All," from their debut album You Belong Here. The deluxe edition of the album contains today's song, which, like many "Part of It" and "Sky May Fall" are also not on Apple Music. It is, however, on Spotify. The band's live performance for Paste (in YouTube playlist) features the band as a four-piece, former Audio Adrenaline backup singer and guitarist, Tyler Burkum , playing minimally at the beginning but building into a wall of sound by the end of the track. This song feels at home on  You Belong Here and is one of the band's best tracks. "She Kissed Me" sounds like an old-timey rock 'n' roll or R&B song. Built around the drums and bass and adding guitar feedback and sparse chords, for this song Thad Cockrall sings in a lower register and backup singer Tyler Burkum adds the falsetto. And while the melody is completely original to Leagues, the song is a well-disgui...

Starting as back-up dancers, GRITS released their debut Jazz-Hip Hop album in 1995. Their fourth album, The Art of Translation  (2002) was their breakthrough album, establishing the group beyond the limited listenership of Christian Hip Hop and earning the band slots on MTV and movie and television soundtracks. GRITS is fun to listen to for how they incorporate their featured artists. The group has collaborated in the world of Christian Hip Hop and Christian Rock, featuring Toby Mac, Knowdaverbs, Out of Eden, Jennifer Knapp, Third Day's Mac Powell. Today's song features Jars of Clay frontman, Dan Haseltine. Unfortunately, though, this song (Like "Part of It" and several other tracks this year) won't make it the Apple Music playlist, as GRITS 2008 album, Reiterate  isn't on AppleMusic or Spotify. So, I'll substitute with their   2002 Jennifer Knapp collaboration, which is also an interesting collaboration. "Sky May Fall" came out around the time o...

In April, I introduced Lana Del Rey to my playlists and talked about my experience with her debut album, Born to Die.   My first introduction to Del Rey was The Great Gatsby soundtrack original song " Young and Beautiful " which was the planned single to bring Del Rey to Top 40 radio. Earlier singles like " Video Games " and " Born to Die " were successful in the indie world and overseas, but Del Rey was still relatively unknown in the States. However, when a remix of "Summertime Sadness" by Cedric Gervais appeared and started taking the charts by storm, Del Rey's record label pulled support from "Young and Beautiful." "Summertime Sadness" would become Lan Del Rey's first number one hit, and the remix would earn Gervais a grammy for Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical.  OH, MY GOD, I FEEL IT IN THE AIR. When school let out for the summer, church was held in the smaller chapel, giving a more intimate feeling compar...

  I talked about The Fold in March , the band that went from a mid-tier Tooth & Nail band to a working band that makes music for Lego: Ninjago. Today's song comes from their last Tooth & Nail release, Secrets Keep You Sick. This album was released in 2007, and despite a Dove and Grammy and Dove nomination for the album packaging, The Fold didn't become a big name in Christian Rock. One or two singles were minor hits on Christian rock radio, but after this album, the band went independent. They were one of the hundreds of band in Tooth & Nail's revolving door of forgotten bands. "Younger Than Our Years" is the second track on Secrets . It's got a nice melody, but it's lyrically problematic and confusing. What's this song about? Who's the good guy? Who's the bad guy? Who's right? Who's wrong? While the song may not withstand criticism, there is a youthful arrogance that I want to push back against. It's the sound of a kid...

There were a number of Christian extreme sports shows that featured harder Christian Rock. These shows might be featured late nights on cable tv or on Christian channels. In 2003, Anberlin released their first radio hit to Christian Rock radio, " Change the World (Lost Ones) ." However, around that time "Readyfuels" was included in one of those sports shows. The sport: luge racing. "Readyfuels" was the band's first promoted single by the record label. "Change the World" was sent to Christian radio. But "Readyfuels" wasn't a Christian Rock song, in the traditional sense. It's a song that mostly  glorifies the carnal nights of youth--a prelude to an out-of-wedlock pregnancy. "Readyfuels" would go on to chart on even Air1, a Contemporary Christian pop radio station. Anberlin's intention was never to be a Christian band, but unlike other Tooth & Nail staples that moved away from the Christian market, Anberlin ...

Forget and Not Slow Down is Relient K 's sixth album. The band had shifted away from " tongue-in-cheek " lyrics in previous albums and had enjoyed mainstream pop radio success as well as topping the Christian charts. Forget and Not Slow Down , however, starts to see a shift away from the safety of the youth group, as vocalist and songwriter Matt Thiessen 's writes about the dissolving of his relationship with radio DJ Shannon Murphy, the details of which were mostly covered up by the purity culture police, but are shocking nonetheless. Forget and Not Slow Down is a breakup masterpiece, and one of the most cohesive and listenable Relient K records, particularly if you don't like Relient K. Lyrically, Thiessen is often in denial about his infidelity, yet comes close to admitting it several times throughout the tracks. He moves from being repentant to accusatory, from self-righteous to self-deprecating. Musically, the band is joined by O.C. Supertones and Project 8...

Dave Barnes is a Contemporary Christian singer-songwriter, but he isn't completely bound by the genre. Barnes is a Nashville songwriter whose songs have been recorded by country, pop, and CCM singers. In fact, his 2010 hit, " God Gave Me You ," became a number one hit for country singer and future The Voice judge, Blake Shelton . Barnes's version has a lot less twang but all the production quality of a pop-country hit. Barnes wrote the song for his wife who had been through the "ups and downs" of his musical career. Shelton heard the song on a CCM radio station and decided to propose to his then girlfriend, fellow country star, Miranda Lambert . Barnes remains happily married with three kids. Like Shelton, listeners can be enchanted by the handsome dirty blond Barnes holding his guitar, singing about "an angel lovely" being tricked into falling for someone who is out of his league. If only you let God work his matchmaking magic, this fairytale c...