NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

 

 

Read the lyrics on Genius.  

  I discovered “ Lazy Snow ” last month when researching the duo Down Like Silver . While it’s not actually snowing now where I am, I’m feeling like enjoying a snow day. As the year winds down, I hope that everyone is enjoying some rest from the weary year. Read the lyrics on Genius.

  Happy Winterbreak ! School finished until February and it’s time to prepare for what’s next!  Read the lyrics on Genius.

  Box it all up, The NewYearsDayProject is... evolving. More to come in the New Year.

Here's the 2024 Christmas soundtrack. These 25 songs are a little overdue, but I hope they get you in the Christmas mood.  Check out the playlist on YouTube.  

  Here's the 2024 Christmas soundtrack. These 25 songs are a little overdue, but I hope they get you in the Christmas mood.  Listen to the playlist on Apple Music

Here's the 2024 Christmas soundtrack. These 25 songs are a little overdue, but I hope they get you in the Christmas mood.    Read the lyrics on Genius.

  " Wonderful Christmastime " was rated as the worst Christmas song by   Ultimate Classic Rock . Recorded when 37-year-old rock legend   Paul McCartney   was recording his polarizing second solo record, just before the disbanding of his second band,   Wings ,   McCartney II  was a synth-pop, new wave record in a time when former   Beatles   fans were yelling, "Stick to the classics." Recently, critics have come to understand and even praise   McCartney II  for its pioneering in electronic music. The intentionally simple lyrics help to draw attention to the synths and the overall Christmasy atmosphere of the song. THE CHILDREN'S CHOIR SINGS A SONG.  "Wonderful Christmastime" has been covered by many artists, including  Diana Ross ,  Demi Lovato ,  Hillary Duff ,  Jump5 ,  Chicago and Dolly Parton ,  Pentatonix ,  Family Force 5 ,  Jars of Clay ,  Eleventyseven , and so many other arti...

BTS  went on hiatus in 2022 in order for its seven members to complete their military service as required by South Korean law. The boy band has been the most successful K-pop act to date, conquering not only Korean charts but also  Billboard’ s Hot 100 . However, the height of their success coincided with the members approaching their late 20s. Normally, South Korean males are conscripted before the age of 30. BTS’s success prompted lawmakers to question whether or not pop stars could join the list of those exempted from serving their country in the military because they served the country culturally. Olympic gold medal winners, for example, are exempted from military service.  WE’VE NEVER MET, BUT SHE’S ALL I SEE AT NIGHT . In 2022,  Jin  was the first BTS member to join the military.  J-Hope  was next in April, and then  SUGA  in September. In December,  Jung Kook ,  V,   Jimin , and  RM  enlisted. This June, J...

  Road trips are an opportunity to listen to music you don't usually listen to. The hours in the car and the new scenery take us out of our daily lives and let us experiment with something new. Sometimes we even bring part of that vacation home with us. Today's song is a vehicle to bring my Apple Music edition of  Along for the Ride,  a playlist I made for road trips. Maybe you have a lot of travel for the holidays and want a break from Christmas music? Hope you have a great trip! Listen to Along for the Ride on AppleMusic.

I've been ruminating on the Barbie movie for a year and a half now. I didn’t write about it after I watched it last August, though several of the film’s themes have sat with me, and I think it’s time to look back at this film as a deciding moment in America’s culture war that has culminated in the re-election of Donald Trump in November. Greta Gerwig ’s allegory, Barbie, is the antithesis of the America in the Republican future just a little over a month away. To be clear, neither Barbieland nor the real-world Venice Beach is utopian. Barbieland is matriarchal until Ken ( Ryan Gosling ) teaches the other Kens about patriarchy. The film shows a world of smart Barbies, doctors, lawyers, judges, astronauts, scientists —and Ken dolls who “beach” as a profession, waiting for a Barbie to give them attention. Margot Robbie as the archetypal blonde Barbie feels dissatisfied with living in a place where “Every day is the best day ever, and every night is girls' night, from now until f...

Continuum was  John Mayer's third critically and commercially successful album. It  combined soft rock, blues, and folk rock.   After a series of tours and the live album Try! with Pino Palladino and Steve Jordan billed as the John Mayer Trio, Mayer had become a renowned musician’s musician. Drawing comparisons to and striking alliances with classic rock artists such as Tom Petty and Eric Clapton , Mayer was a presence on pop charts and adult contemporary radio. Continuum contained one of Mayer’s biggest pop hits, “ Waiting for the World to Change . ” Still, Mayer’s  reputation as a pop star in the public eye would suffer from a series of cringy statements and not-so-age-appropriate associations following his 2006 album.   STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM ME. In 2005, John Mayer teamed up with Pino Palladino and Steve Jordan to cover classic blues songs on the album Try! Mayer also included two songs from his album Heavier Things and two songs from the upcoming albu...

  Paramore 's second album  Riot!   made the pop-punk emo band of late millennials famous with the summer Alternative Rock and pop radio hit " Misery Business ," which is still arguably the band's signature hit. Usually, though, a band's signature hit is either their highest charting song or they’re located within the era of the band's commercial peak. However, seven years after the summer of "Misery Business," Paramore charted the highest with their 2014 final single from their eponymous record, " Ain't It Fun ." This shift from emo to more conventional pop was in line with fellow bands  Fall Out Boy  and  Panic! at the Disco , which also did. Just as the scene kids were growing up as every generation of rebellious rock 'n' roll had, "Ain't It Fun" is a song about growing up and realizing that the world isn't as easy as you once thought it was. It may not be punk-rock, but it certainly still has some emo senti...

  Paper Route signed to Universal Motown before releasing their debut LP,  Absence ,  following their  Are We All Forgotten   EP. Only the title track of the EP appeared on  Absence,  as the band stepped further away from their Americana roots and more into the realm of retro-synth pop. Bassist/keyboardist  Chad Howat  recorded the album. The band played multiple instruments and recorded in an old mansion near Nashville. I remember reading something about how the album was intended to be rerecorded but the band and the label preferred the originals, but I can't find an article about that.  Absence  was the debut of Paper Route as a band, complete with a guitarist, bassist, drummer, and a ton of synthesizers. However, Paper Route would become a revolving door for drummers and guitarists. Only singer and multi-instrumentalist  JT Daly  and bassist/keyboardist Chad Howat would stay for the entire duration of the band's career...

“ Jingle Bells ” is perhaps one of the most quintessential Christmas carols. Penned in 1850 by James Lord Pierpont , the song was written in 1850 and published as “One Horse Open Sleigh” in 1857. There is nothing specific in the lyrics that makes it a Christmas song, but it has been included as a Christmas standard due to its snowy images. It’s one of the most performed, recorded, and recognized secular Christmas songs since its first 1889 recording, now lost. The song was first recorded by banjoist Will Lyle and became a Christmas favorite after the Hayden Quartet recorded it in 1902. Other notable versions of the song are the 1935 Benny Goodman version , the 1943 Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters version , and the 1951 Les Paul version, which became a radio hit for the guitarist’s use of multi-tracking. Today’s version comes from contemporary Christmas crooner Michael Bublé, whose classic 2011 album Christmas featured covers of holiday tunes reminiscent of the Sinatra era....

  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 previous album,  Music of the Spheres ,  doesn't hold to a set genre. Lead singer  Chris Martin  has called the ...

  e had more insomnia at the beginning of the week than at the end of the week. I hope that tonight's not one of those nights. Insomnia at the beginning of the week sets me up for a hard week and a short temper with my students. With today's song,  Sam Smith , " How Do You Sleep? " I wanted to bring my songs of insomnia to my Apple Music playlist--the playlist I'm actually more likely to load while I'm lying in bed. Hopefully these songs will cradle you back to sleep.

Composed by  Kenzie , the professional name for  SM Entertainment 's songwriter Kim Yeon-jeong, the debut single " Into the New World " by what would become one of the biggest K-pop groups,  Girls' Generation , set the tone for a ten-year career of fun, bubble-gummy, uplifting songs. Composed of nine young women all born between 1989 and 1991,   Girls' Generation   has been called "the Nation's Girl Group," in South Korea due to their popularity between 2007-2017. Beginning with a sample of   Don Henley 's 1984 classic " The Boys of Summer, " (covered last August by   The Ataris ), "Into the New World" builds on the nostalgic piano and synth sample. Rather than calling back with longing for the past, this song propels listeners forward into the future. I LEAVE BEHIND THIS WORLD'S UNENDING SADNESS.  I've been pretty critical of K-pop in the past for being political. I used to think that music in America was too politica...