"Brand New Day" (acoustic) by Kodaline ft. Nina Nesbitt, Wednesday, January 11, 2023 (updated repost)

I was in a 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 WORLD, 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 form new patterns and figure out who I was. 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 establishing 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. My best years may be behind me. I mourn every day for the experiences I never had as a teenager or young adult. But that's not to say that life has a limit on awesome experiences. Recently, I got on a plane for the first time in three years to go to Jeju, the Korean vacation destination. In ten years it's been on my bucket list, but the barrier of getting on a plane and making a plan inhibited me from actually doing it. And I think about the opportunities I've missed because I was thinking about the logistics of them--an awesome layover in Seattle or San Francisco and most recently Munich or Frankfort. I'm so done with being ruled by the fear of enjoying myself. I'm so done with the guilt that I feel when I start to let myself go. I hope for a future in which I find myself drinking Rioja in Spain, admiring the sartorial aesthetics in Austria, nervously attending a fetish party in Germany if nothing more to engage in some voyeurism. Life is a series of brand-new days. It's time not to waste them. 

Album version Music Video: 

Acoustic version featuring Nina Nesbitt:

Read the lyrics on Genius.