NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

Born in 1964 to African American actress Roxie Roker and to Jewish-Ukrainian NBC executive Sly Kravitz, Lenny Kravitz built a musical career in the '90s based on Rock 'n' roll nostalgia. As a biracial rocker, Kravitz had a hard time securing a record contract with the labels telling him that he wasn't "black enough" or "white enough" for a specific genre. However, when Kravitz did become a rockstar, he was often criticized for his regressive, old-time rock sound.  I WANT TO GET AWAY. " Fly Away " comes from Kravitz's fifth album 5 . It peaked at #12 on Billboard's Hot 100 singles, and it topped the charts in several countries. The song was used in a commercial for the French-made automobile, the Peugeot 206 supermini car , making the song popular wherever the car was sold. Years later, the song would appear in the American commercial for Nissan's Xterra . And while "Fly Away" hit the airwaves in 1998, about a year be

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

Labeled fans are still waiting for the Jonezetta story. Several parts have been teased in previous episodes, about how they were one of two general-market bands signed to Tooth & Nail (The Classic Crime being the other). The band's sound drastically changed between their first and second record, Cruel to Be Young . But today rather than digging into Jonezetta's story, we're going to explore the career of Cruel 's producer, Aaron Sprinkle , as Cruel to Be Young has become a cult classic and an essential piece in the legendary producer's catalogue. Using just tracks that I've written about over the year+ I've been blogging, I made a playlist celebrating Aaron Sprinkle's career. IT'S NOTHING PERSONAL . I'm going to post the Spotify playlist here and talk briefly about each track and why it is quintessential Sprinkle. This is an unofficial list. I may be missing some from my blog, and there are certainly other artists such as MxPx , Poor Old

Twelve years ago, Katy Perry tied with Michael Jackson for the most #1 Hot 100 songs from a single album, 5 in total. The album's sixth single, " The One That Got Away ," peaked at #3 on the Hot 100, but topped other Billboard charts, including the Top 40 pop radio-play chart.  Today, we're hearing from another perspective, a cover by Boyce Avenue . Katy Perry's music video depicts an unrequited teenage romance that ends in a fiery car crash to the tune of Johnny Cash singing " You Are My Sunshine ," Perry as an old woman visiting the spot where it happened. But the true story of this song probably didn't end so dramatically. IN ANOTHER LIFE, YOU WOULD BE MY GIRL.  Wikipedia   doesn't have a "personal life" section of Katy Perry  chronicling her dating life. At the time of this single, the singer's marriage with polarizing actor Russell Brand was about to end. Currently, Perry is engaged to actor Orlando Bloom . But sometime bac

In December of 2017, Lovedrug released their seventh album Relive . At this point in the band's career, they maintained some loyal fans, but it seemed that their chances at success were behind them. The next year, lead singer Michael Shepard announced that the band would be ending after releasing their final project, a reworking of their first three albums. The band, however, did release another album in 2020 of original songs,  Turning into Something You Were Never Meant to Be , so die-hard fans may have even more music to look forward to in the future if the band continues to break their promise to be broken up. MY HAUNTED WATERS ARE HARDLY CALM.   While   Lovedrug may or may not be broken up, the second track on Relive is an interesting love song. The narrative is ominous, starting with talking about how the future is open full of possibilities, but "her waves are cold [and] our chances thin." The speaker respects the force of the ocean, realizing "a generation

When your first American hit is the second biggest song of the year, how do you follow that up? When your signature song has been called bubblegum and immature, how do you change your image to show that you're an adult with adult relationships, without getting X-rated? These were two questions Carly Rae Jepsen answered in her follow up to Kiss in E-MO-TION . If those two questions were on the interview, Jespsen would have the job on the merits of her 2015 effort.  YOU’RE STUCK IN MY HEAD, STUCK IN MY HEART, STUCK IN MY BODY.  Sure, if your introduction to E-MO-TION was the first single " I Really Like You " turned you off as another " Call Me Maybe " so you never clicked "Add to Library" on the rest of the album, that's an understandable mistake. The meme-able first single arguably is less dynamic in the wake of its massive hit predecessor "Call Me Maybe." But while critics were divided on "I Really Like You,"  E-MO-TION  as a

Formed at the Saint Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Hippo Campus consists of bandmates who studied Jazz, while lead vocalist Jake Luppen studied opera. Guitarist Nathan Stocker  suggested the name Hippo Campus, after taking a psychology class, but separating the word hippocampus into two words because it sounded sexual. After working as an independent band and touring with acts like Modest Mouse and appearing at Lollapalooza and Bonnaroo , the band recorded their first album landmark with BJ Burton who has worked with Bon Iver . GRAB A GUITAR AND JUST MOAN AND SHIT.     The second single from landmark,  “ way it goes ,” is a self-aware hipster anthem about “kids these days.” The setting of the song is Cumberland, Wisconsin in the early spring. The music video visualizes the setting—a party in a cabin of twenty-somethings hanging out, drinking beer, and playing music. There's also some suspicious Fruit-Loop looking cereal passed around and so

My musical history started with hymns and classical music playing in the house, and sometimes classic and alternative rock in the garage. After going back to church, my mom stopped listening to secular music, well contemporary secular music,  and tried to convince me that rock music was evil when I started liking the sound of it. Little by little, she started listening to modern music--first CCM, especially Michael W. Smith 's This Is Your Time album because of the bagpipes. Then she started listening to music she grew up with, the soundtrack to her teenage rebellion. This was the smooth pop songs of Hall & Oats and Elton John and some rock bands like Boston and Journey . MY MISSIONARIES IN A FOREIGN FIELD. All of these song’s artists could be heard on local light rock radio stations along with contemporary hits by Kelly Clarkson , Train , and of course Coldplay . When my mom heard " Viva la Vida ," she loved it and bought the album. Soon, on long trips, the CD ro

Fifteen years ago today on a two-hour break between classes in community college, I went to Walmart on the rare chance that a Tooth & Nail CD would be in stock. Not only was it in stock, but both the standard and deluxe edition of Cities were placed in the main aisle of CDs: the  a section of the Pop/Rock/R&B aisle. I eagerly shelled out the $15.99 for the deluxe edition, which had a darker cover, three bonus tracks, and a 30-minute making of the album DVD . I popped in the CD into my 1991 Toyota Corolla to hear "( Debut )" and by the time I made it out of the parking lot, the album's second track " Godspeed " had me speeding back to school. DIDN'T WANT ANY PROMISES. The truth was, though, that I had already listened to the album, except for the final track, " (*Fin) ," on MySpace a week before the album hit stores. The band had released singles before the album preview. " A Whisper & a Clamor " was played on Christian Roc

Best known for their hit, " Boston ," Augustana is a band whose members met at Greenville University in Illinois, where bands Jars of Clay and Paper Route also formed. Following up their debut album, All the Stars and Boulevards , the band released Can't Love, Can't Hurt  in April of 2008. The lead single, " Sweet and Low " didn't chart as high as "Boston," and the band started fading into obscurity. The band's next album, their self-titled , was praised by American Songwriter ,  but by their fourth record, Life Imitating Life , only lead singer Dan Layus remained in the band.  I'LL DRIVE ALL NIGHT. There's an energy to " Meet You There with Me " that made me think for years that it's all sunshine and roadtrips with the one you love. But the Americana pop-rock song talks more about the ups and downs of a relationship between people who love each other, but ultimately can't understand each other. The hope is that

Before they recorded their breakthrough EP, Sun Giant or their self-titled album that was so loved by Rolling Stone that it was included in their book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, the folk-rock band Fleet Foxes released their debut eponymous EP in 2006. The Seattle-based band appeared on the music scene around the time when mellow music started flooding Alternative music, which had been dominated by hard rock-leaning acts since Nirvana crashed onto the scene. But along with British folk-rockers Mumford & Sons changing the focus from power chords on electric guitars to acoustic guitars and folk instruments, the template was set for a very different, post-rock scene. Fleet Foxes used Flemish painter Pieter  Bruegel the Elder’s  Netherlandish Proverbs for their self-titled album cover. I’M JUST A LITTLE MIRAGE. The YouTube channel Polyphonic  released a video in September 2021 called " A Love Letter to Pop Punk ." The video reminded me of all of the colliding

Two years before her debut album was released, Shura 's debut single, " Touch ," began generating acclaim across the Internet. Working with guitarist and vocalist of the indie rock band Athlete , Joel Pott , Shura began co-producing her album, Nothing's Real . Shura played the keyboards and synthesizers on the record and co-directed the music video for "Touch," which features her twin brother, Nicholas. The single was re-released along with a remix of the track in 2016 before the release of Nothing's Real. Today, "Touch" is Shura's most streamed song on Spotify. I ONLY NEED YOU TO BE FRENCH WITH ME. Born to an English father and a Russian mother Aleksandra Lilah Yakunina-Denton and her brother Nicholas were raised in Manchester, UK. Aleksandra, better known by her stage name, Shura, started playing guitar at the age of 13. By 26, she was gaining popularity in the UK. The video for "Touch," which features lots of kissing between pe

In 2015 when marriage equality was signed into law across the nation, Americans reacted in several ways. There was overt homophobia and blatant hatred often disguised as religion.  One of the last Adventist sermons I listened to was Dwight Nelson arguing that just because a nation can say something is legal doesn't make it moral.  There were   examples of civil disobedience in the courtrooms by the likes of Kim Davis refusing to perform same-sex weddings. There were businesses that refused service to same-sex couples getting married. Many took the law as a win for human rights. Statistics showed in 2015 that support for marriage equality was largely bi-partisan, meaning that people of all backgrounds, liberal or conservative, supported the right to marry. support for the victims following the  Pulse shooting in Orlando YOU TRIED TO SHRUG IT OFF WHEN I ASKED WHY SOMEBODY HURT YOU. Then came June 12, 2016. When I heard the news, it was my 29th birthday-Korean Standard Time June 13th.