NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

I arrived in South Korea at the end of August 2012, about a month after Korea’s biggest viral hit had been released. I taught elementary school, and I was aghast to hear a chorus of  7-year-olds dancing the horse dance and singing in English, “Hey, sexy lady!” I was teaching at a Christian school among other young conservative missionaries. I thought about how sheltered the Christian schools were that I grew up in. I had arrived in South Korea, the land of electronic boy and girl Idol groups--boys and girls who had dieted, trained for years under questionable conditions, and undergone plastic surgeries and treatments to look magazine-worthy, yet it wasn’t BIGBANG , SHINee , Girls’ Generation or  2NE1 who popularized K-pop for the world. It was Park Jae-sang .  LONG TIME, NO SEE, HUH? Psy ’s “ Gangnam Style ” was simultaneously the quintessential K-pop song and the most anti-K-pop song ever recorded. Psy was a Korean rapper and only achieved modest airplay in South Korea before his v

While Troye Sivan was clubbing in his home of Perth, Australia, between COVID lockdowns, the soundtrack may have included songs by fellow Aussie Kylie Minogue , an iconic pop star for a certain demographic for decades. But it’s not just the gay clubs where Kylie is famous. In fact, she is the highest-selling Australian female artist of all time. She is often called the “Princess of Pop” in Europe because of her sense of style and hit-making. In America, mainstream pop audiences probably know Minogue for her 2001 hit “ Can’t Get You Out of My Head ,” the singer’s most streamed song.  SOME MOMENTS ARE MAGIC. But pop music is much more than the Weekly Top 40, and the songs popular in Australia and Europe don’t always catch on in America. Kylie Minogue made several hits and even reached her Hot 100 peak before 2002 in the ‘80s with the number 3 hit “ The Loco-Motion ” in 1988 from her eponymous debut album. The song was a cover of a 1962 pop song written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King

  In 2022, Julian Lennon returned to music after an eleven-year hiatus with the album Jude . The album’s title references the nickname Paul McCarthy gave him after his father John Lennon and mother Cynthia divorced in 1968. Originally, McCarthy wrote the song “Hey Jules” to use the boy’s actual nickname, but McCarthy said that “ Hey Jude ” sounded better in the song. Julian began his musical career playing drums on his father’s album, Walls and Bridges on the song “ Ya-Ya .” Following his father’s murder in 1980, Julian released his first album in 1984, titled Valotte , to critical acclaim and commercial success. Subsequent releases were not as well received, but Julian has been an active artist in music, photography, writing, and filmmaking. He has also done a lot of philanthropic work in Australia, Africa, and America for Indigenous groups and humanitarian aid. WHAT IS IT LIKE TO FEEL ALONE? Julian Lennon , the first-born son of John Lennon didn’t have an easy life. John had an

Alex Warren was nine years old when his father died of terminal kidney cancer. Before his passing, Warren’s dad left Alex with a love for music. Alex’s father bought his son a Fender guitar and introduced him to the music ‘90s and ‘00s groups such as Coldplay , Train , and Linkin Park . His mother’s alcoholism after his father’s death caused Alex to leave home as a teenager, even sleeping in a friend’s car for a time. Alex pursued music in the age of YouTube , Instagram , and TikTok . In 2019, he was a founding member of a teen TikTok collective called The Hype House . In 2021, he began releasing music. His first single, “ One More I Love You ” dealt with his father’s death. Warren signed to Atlantic Records in 2022 and has released music steadily while creating other content on YouTube and TikTok. THEN YOUR SHADOW GROWS LONGER ON THE GROUND. Yesterday, Alex Warren announced his debut album will be released on September 27th. You’ll Be Alright Kid (Chapter 1) will feature ten tracks

  In 1999, Delirious? released their sophomore album Mezzamorphosis . The album was a sharp departure from their 1997 debut album King of Fools and the band’s previous work, formerly under the moniker Cutting Edge , a worship band formed in 1992 as part of a youth ministry in Littlehampton, England. The band changed their name to Delirious? when they decided to tour and market their music internationally. The band’s first big Christian Rock single internationally, “ Deeper ” raised interest in the band’s worship music. Songs such as “ I Could of Your Love Forever ,” “ Shout to the North ,” and “ Did You Feel the Mountains Tremble? ” became standards sung in youth groups and in the contemporary church services that had become popular around the world in the ‘90s. Mezzamorphosis was an album that had worshipful moments, but it was mostly a rock album with subtle worshipful moments. MY TEFLON COAT IS WEARING THIN. Christian Rock’s British Invasion happened around Oasis and Blur was ma

  Hollywood entered a golden age starting in the 1930s. The silent film era was coming to a close and films like The Wizard of Oz were including technicolor. As part of the multi-sensory experience of going to the theater, filmmakers, harkening to film’s cousin, the live theater, opted not for realism but for artistic takes on the material adapted for the screen. One popular storytelling motif was the inclusion of original songs, often sung by the stars portraying the main characters on the screen. Because songs often didn’t push the film’s plot forward, their inclusion made short films the classic 80-minute (or longer) movie length to excruciatingly long. I’VE GOT A KNACK FOR HIDING IN THE BACK. After the 1950s, musical films began to decline. Directors opted for realism rather than characters bursting into song. Although on the decline, musical films still left impressions on viewers from these times. Viewers may ask if Mrs. Bucket’s “ Cheer Up, Charlie ” is necessary for the plot o