NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

Ah! The weekend: a time when many of us can breathe that collective sigh of relief, leaving our forty hours at the office, forgetting about the boss, and maybe making some time for Number 1. Before I read into  The Weeknd ’s 2015 hit, the upbeat track reminded me of catching a fresh cup of Guatemalan iced coffee before catching a bus to meet friends for a weekend in another city. One weekend, I was in a cafe in Hongdae that was playing covers of hit songs and I heard a female version of " Can't Feel My Face " playing. I can't be sure if it was  Andie Case 's  version . However, after adding Case's version of The Weeknd's #1 hit, I think it gives an interesting, mellow take on the normally, upbeat song. It's the alternate perspectives that makes YouTube cover artists and interesting addition to your music library. SHE TOLD ME 'DON'T WORRY.  ' The Weeknd is known for his melancholy, self-destructive tunes. However, Andie Case's vibey cove

  Today I'm going to update my Under the Covers playlist on Apple Music. Every now and then I like to update my playlists with some of my new discoveries. Some of the covers on this playlist may make us long for the original, but ultimately, I think that the song I'm basing the playlist on, today's song, " Circles " covered by Boyce Avenue , actually sounds better than the genre-bending artist  Post Malone 's original , though I still like it.  Read  “Circles” by Post Malone  on Genius Post Malone version:

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

A few Saturday afternoons circa 2015-17, I went  down a rabbit-hole, looking for the best   Paper Route ,   Anberlin , and   Copeland   covers on YouTube. This was long after finding artists like   Tyler Ward   who covered pop music. I wondered if anyone had recorded high quality covers of my favorite bands. It turns out that there were   a few . These artists weren't on the level of popularity of   Kurt Hugo Schneider   or   Boyce Avenue . I had hoped to created a cover playlist of a Copeland album, but there weren't enough high-quality covers on YouTube at the time. Charles Angell's   YouTube account   has 7 videos, 77 subscribers, and the singer hasn't posted anything in 3 years. From a quick Facebook search, it turns out that Angell is still active as a musician, with a new haircut and some designer rims, now under the moniker of   Snarly  (link to his social media presence).  YOU'RE STILL A BREEZE UPON MY SKIN.   Of the Copeland covers, Charles Angell's ver

  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 any

For today's song, I've decided to make my Under the Covers: Volume 1  available on Apple Music with a substitution of Boyce Avenue 's " The One That Got Away " with a cover of Post Malone 's " Circles ." I realize that my blog is turning desultory, like the later seasons of Glee , but not to worry, I'll be back soon with fresh content when I learn to balance life and blogging. Until then, enjoy the Apple Music Edition of Under the Covers ! Be sure to check out the original version of this post by clicking on the link for "The One that Got Away" and check back for more covers!   Read “Circles” by Post Malone on Genius Post Malone version:

Fuel 's 1998 hit " Shimmer " propelled the band onto the rock charts. This was the post-grunge, Modern Rock era when rock's sound was cleaner, less gravelly, but still hard. At this time, rock still had crossover pop-chart/ Hot 100 hit-making skills. While Fuel's follow-up record, Something Like Human  would sport two hits that charted higher than "Shimmer," the band's first song is still one of their best-known songs.  ALL THAT SHIMMERS IN THIS WORLD IS SURE TO FADE. I've included a video below about the career of Fuel. When I think of late '90s/early '00s Modern Rock, Fuel is certainly on my shortlist, but I'm not sure that they would make everyone's. I'd list Third Eye Blind , Semisonic , Tonic , Vertical Horizon , and The Goo Goo Dolls along with Fuel, though Fuel aimed to be a harder rock act than these groups. That may be one reason Fuel may be forgotten. Another reason may be that after Something Like Human,  they were

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 1988, Tracy Chapman 's first single " Fast Car " rose to Number 5 on Billboard's Hot 100. Her performance at Wembley Stadium in Nelson Mandela's 7oth birthday tribute helped to kick-start the singer's career. At the time Mandela was still serving time in prison, and the tribute concert gave a strong message to world against South African apartheid. Chapman produced a string of hits in the late '80s and early '90s, but she is best known for today's song, "Fast Car." SPEED SO FAST, IT FELT LIKE I WAS DRUNK.   I'm kicking myself because this song is incredible, and it's kind of like I'm just now understanding its beauty. Last week, listened to a cover by Boyce Avenue and Kina Grannis , and that was my first exposure to the song as a whole, but today I listened to the original, which is better than the Boyce Avenue version. For the life of me, I can't remember where I've read about Chapman, whether it was Malcom Gladwel

When I made my Under the Covers, Vol. 1 playlist last week, I knew that I would be making Volume 2 soon after. However, I didn't think it would be exactly one week later. Because of my rule of one song per artist, I couldn't simply add today's cover of The Weeknd 's " Blinding Lights " to Volume 1. However, if I followed the same rules for last week's playlist, covers only featured on my blog, I'd only have two songs in the playlist. So, I opened it up to covers of songs featured in the playlist. I made this playlist with YouTube because some of the songs aren't available on streaming services. I'm sure that I missed some. I had to add a few to last week's playlist I had overlooked. Here's volume 2: 1. " Blinding Lights " (The Weeknd cover) by Kurt Hugo Schneider & Sam Tsui 2. " True Faith " ( New Order cover ) by Anberlin 3. "Love Me Like You Do" (Ellie Goulding cover) by Boyce Avenue 4. "Eas

On a cold winter's day, in the middle of the stress of house-hunting, I thought I'd make a playlist for those bad days that aren't quite depressing and not quite angry. Today's featured song is " Beth/Rest " by Bon Iver. I resisted putting this song on my Pseudo '80s Playlist  because, despite the soft-rock keys and saxophone, the vocal distortion sounds more of a product of its time than a retro track. Some of the songs on today's list will be a little sad, but something about them gives me strength rather than pushes me further into a despair. As always, I'll put the links for each song. I'm going to stick to tracks I've written about and add to this list as I feel the song is appropriate. First, I'll share my Spotify playlist: 1. "Beth/Rest" by Bon Iver is the representative song of the day.  2. "Tell Me How" by Paramore is a sad song, but the resolve at the end leaves the power in Haley Williams' hands. 3.