NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

Before " Shape of You ," Jason Mraz 's " I'm Yours " was an inescapable song that I couldn't stand. "I'm Yours" reached its peak popularity in 2008 and early 2009 in terms of radio play. But I was still listening to Tooth & Nail CDs at that time. But I certainly didn't miss out on the song. Because the song was relatively clean it was played in college and in middle and high school when I was student teaching. It was one of those annoying songs along with " Hey, Soul Sister " that the ukulele cover squads would play along with Mumford & Sons covers on the promenade walking to class.  EVEN IF IT'S RAINING, I'M NOT COMPLAINING.  In Korea, "I'm Yours" fever carried on into the mid-'10s. Not a day at the beach could end without passing by five buskers performing the pseudo-reggae tune. Again, I hated that annoying song with its ridiculous made-up words, but thanks to friends in college, I had th

  In college I loved watching Adam Buckley lambaste the worst pop songs of the year on his channel A Dose of Buckley. Then a few years ago Todd in the Shadows appeared in my YouTube feed, and I got to listen to his somewhat whinier snide takedowns of the years’ hits. In one video , Buckley gives his insights as to how he gets views. He says that he makes controversial statement about popular songs, and then allows the algorithm to feed it to pop stan s who then share the video online, making the video go viral, ultimately boosting the popularity and notoriety of the host who, because of his statements, must remain in the shadows. I’m not really sure if there are any Jason Derulo “Stans” out there, but let’s all admit: “ When Love Sucks ” is a perfect recipe for a flop. MY TEA’S GONE COLD. Those who have nothing original to say, really shouldn’t be making a pop song. Not in 2023. Then again, we are in the midst of a 90s early aughts nostalgia that really doesn’t know what to do with i

It wasn't until last Fall that I listened to Tom Petty 's second solo record, Wildflowers . To be fair, I actually hadn't listened to his first solo record Full Moon Fever or any of his albums with The Heartbreakers . But in high school, I'm pretty sure that my sister and I wore the band's Greatest Hits  record out in my car CD player. Songs like " Refugee ," " Mary Jane's Last Dance ," and "You Got Lucky" eventually skipped from all the bumps we must have hit in my '91 Toyota Corolla and its awful suspension.I think that's the way that most of us experience a classic rock band, not through their definitive albums but on a compilation.  RUN AWAY; GO FIND A LOVER. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers released their Greatest Hits record in 1993. The Greatest Hits record included two new tracks, a cover of Thunderclap Newman 's " Something in the Air " and "Mary Jane's Last Dance," the former becoming a

If you can stomach Tom Hanks ' fake Dutch accent for 159 minutes, I'd recommend watching Baz Luhrmann 's latest film,  Elvis . I watched the 2022 musical biopic on a sixteen-hour flight this winter, so I was kind of a captive audience even though I've never been into Elvis Presley lore. Of course except Australia , viewers probably don't come to expect historical accuracy from a Baz Luhrmann film, which mashes the contemporary and the period in a kind of Bollywood-inspired steampunk. Elvis is no exception as the soundtrack for the film juxtaposes the classic with the anachronistic.  LIKE A RIVER FLOWS SURELY TO THE SEA. Like many of Elvis Presley's songs, the king of Rock 'n Roll didn't write " Can't Help Falling In Love with You ." However, being one of the singer's later hits, the song was not a popularized classic like many of Elvis' early big hits. Instead, the song was written for one of Elvis' films, Blue Hawaii . The 196

Solána Imani Rowe took the stage name SZA when beginning her career. Since the artist's full-length debut Ctrl in 2017, the singer/rapper has been an industry darling appearing in many collaborations from Maroon 5 to Doja Cat . The artist takes her stage name from the rapper RZA and her deep Muslim faith, which she was raised in from childhood. SZA stands for savior, zig-zag, and Allah. Today, SZA talks about her Muslim faith, for which she sometimes has an individualistic interpretation.  I DID IT ALL ON NO DRUGS. SZA's latest album, SOS , was released in December of last year. However, the first single from the record, "Good Days," was released on Christmas Day, 2022, and the second single, "I Hate U," was released a year later in December of 2021. In January of this year, SZA released " Kill Bill " as the fifth single from the record. The song topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart for two weeks, becoming SZA's biggest hit to date. The son

Melissa Viviane Jefferson , better known by her stage name,   Lizzo , released her disco-infused fourth LP this year titled   Special .  The album was a smash hit, debuting at number two on   Billboard 's top 200, and the album's lead single, " About Damn Time ," topping the single's charts for two weeks. Lizzo began her career performing and recording Hip-Hop independently in the Minneapolis scene. In 2016, she released a major-label debut EP, titled   Coconut Oil   and a 2019 LP   Cuz I Love You .  But it was her 2016 hit, " Truth Hurts " that took the singer to the top of the charts for the first time.  I BEEN SO DOWN AND UNDER PRESSURE.  With the Apple Music version of  Special,  Lizzo recorded a message for her fans, a voice track titled " A Very Special Message from Lizzo ." In this 99-second track, Lizzo explains why she hasn't released an album since 2019. The singer certainly wasn't  cutting corners, as she wrote hundreds of so

  Years & Years may not be much in America, but the once Olly Alexander -fronted electronic pop band charted very well in their homeland of the UK. The singles from the band's first album, Communion , built up the band's momentum. The band's fourth single, " King ," reached number 1 on the U.K.'s singles chart , and their fifth, today's song, " Shine ," reached number 2. And while the band, now just Alexander's solo act, may not be matching their debut record's success, Years & Years seems to tell something about the difference in The U.K. and U.S. music markets, particularly regarding openly queer artists. I'M FOLLOWING LIGHTNING.   I'm not going to accuse U.S. pop charts of being Puritanical when it comes to queer artists, far from it.  But in 2015 when Years & Years debuted, U.S. charts were still very much in a “don’t say gay” era, in which openly queer artists faced a disadvantage in sales and radio play. It wasn

The model for  Boyce Avenue 's success was simple: choose a current top 40 track and release a cover in their own style. YouTube would list their videos below the original song and suggest more of their songs on the side banner. Starting  their YouTube channel  in 2007, they were on the ground floor of the viral marketing. And with international tours and constantly releasing content, the band continues to have a large following on streaming services. The band hasn't released a full-length project since 2020's  Cover Sessions, Vol. 6 ,   but have been releasing singles in 2021 and 2022, including today's song, a  cover  of  Rihanna 's 2012 hit, " Diamonds ."  Image captured from the James Webb Space  Telescope from NASA's Flickr account.  Source . PALMS RISE TO THE UNIVERSE.  It's difficult not to think about the children's song " Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star ," particularly the line: "like a diamond in the sky," when I hear

  Maybe you started bobbing your head thirty years ago when Trinidadian-German singer Haddaway released " What Is Love ." The 1993 infectious hit escaped the discotheque and reached number 1 in 13 countries-- though peaking at number 11 in America--and spawned cultural memes before there were memes were on dial-up Internet, most notably appearing in a recurring Saturday Night Live sketch-turned feature film as Will Ferrell , Chris Kattan , and the guest of the week danced at The Roxbury.  WHAT WE DO BEHIND DOORS IS OUR BUSINESS. Fast forward to 2023 and we're in the middle of a '90s revival. Maybe Lady Gaga started the early '90s revival in 2020 with tracks like " Babylon " on Chromatica , but we could hear it also on Tove Lo 's " Grapefruit " last year. Last August  French DJ   David Guetta   released the on-the-nose club hit " I'm Good " (Blue) featuring vocals by Bebe Rexha . The song interpolated what I thought was an

Following  Blue Neighbourhood ,   Troye Sivan released another collection of songs celebrating queer love in 2018. This time,  Bloom   was less about love in the abstract and more about sex. Songs like the  title track  dealing with anal sex, the Apple Music edition of the album's opener " Seventeen " recalling how the singer lost his virginity to an older man on Grindr when he was seventeen, to a song about his boyfriend who "Tastes like  Lucky Strikes " may take a few listens to understand the euphemisms. SHINE ON, DIAMOND.   Bloom  holds an 85% on  Meta-Critic , meaning that most reviews were favorable. In America, though, Sivan's music mostly is confined to the LGBTQ+ community,  and  Bloom  didn't make a splash in the mainstream pop market. But looking at the promotion, Sivan's team clearly had the young star's sights on conquering the charts.  A track with Ariana Grande , a performance, albeit a polarizing performance, on  Saturday Night

  On October 1, 2021, signs and wonders and rumors of a fourth album by international superstar  Adele  appeared around the globe. The singer has been dropping hints of a new record since 2019; however, the recording process was delayed in 2020 due to the pandemic. Adele is a relatively reclusive pop star, taking long breaks between albums and rarely offering fans singles in between. In 2020, she emerged 100 lbs lighter, flexing her acting and comedy muscles hosting  Saturday Night Live . Fans were shocked at her acting range as she wasn’t even the featured musical guest. But in true Adele fashion, the British singer kept a low profile after the comedy performance until Fall 2021. Billboards and holographic writing appeared on the Empire State Building, at the Louvre, and the side of the Colosseum among other landmarks with the number  30 .  Adele fans around the world began to speculate about the singer’s follow up to her Diamond-certified 2015 masterpiece,  25 . I KNOW THERE’S HOPE

People that complain that there is no talent in music today are overlooking quite a few artists. My blog is full of talent young musicians from Betty Who to Charlie Puth who may not be the most popular musicians, but they have used classical and technical training to write and produce their own songs. Of course there are tons of other examples, but I mention both Who and Puth because, like  Laufey Lín Jónsdóttir, Icelandic singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, these artists are all alumnus of Berklee College of Music , a prestigious school that has just as many famous graduates as famous dropouts. ME AND YOU AND AWKWARD SILENCE.  Laufey Lín Jónsdóttir, better know by her first name Laufey, was born to a Chinese mother and an Icelandic father. Laufey was raised on classical and jazz music. Her mother is a classical violinist, and her grandfather, Lin Yaoji was famous a violin instructor at the Central Conservatory of Music in China from which he graduated and also studied at

We haven't heard a rock song from English Alternative-turned-pop act Coldplay since...ever, come to think of it. Even when the band was considered cool in the early '00s, they weren't exactly known for distorted guitars or thundering bass. And years of refining their sound in a time when rock music's cultural impact retracted into the underground solidified Coldplay as the 21st century's definition of pop-rock. But in 2019, the band decided to break with their established sound and put out something a little more experimental, a two-disc record titled Everyday Life .  The album was released with only three sparsely promoted singles and no planned tour to support the record, which didn't really matter since all tour plans would be canceled early the next year, anyway. THERE'S A MAN WHO SWEARS HE'S GOD.  Coldplay's most recent album, Music of the Spheres , doesn't hold to a set genre. Lead singer Chris Martin has called the invention of genre as