NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

The "Final Girl" trope in horror movies, coined by film theorist Carol J. Clover in her 1992 book Men, Women, and Chain Saws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film , refers to the last female character left alive at the end of the film, who confronts and often defeats the killer or monster. This character has become a significant archetype in slasher and horror films. The trope originated in the 1970s and became especially popular in the 1980s with movies like Halloween (1978), Friday the 13th (1980), and A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984). When crafting their concept album Screen Violence , inspired by horror films, CHVRCHES ’ songwriter and frontwoman Lauren Mayberry explores the trope, setting it in real life rather than a work of fiction in the song “ Final Girl .” The song is a pivotal track on Screen Violence with the band selling Final Girl shirts and Mayberry wearing the t-shirt in concerts as pictured in the lyric photo. DOES SHE LOOK LIKE ME ? There are several key f

  Every year, people get more connected as more and more of the world joins the Internet. Now we have the world in a box in our pockets, and we can’t get enough screen time. Our parents and grandparents may have been scolded for watching too much broadcast TV after school, but now we can constantly look at a screen curating whatever content we want to watch at school if we’re careful not to get caught. Whereas many parents guarded their dial-up Internet passwords to protect young eyes from violence and pornography on the Internet, now lightning-fast data allows anyone to see some of the most shocking things online. The pervasive use of screen addiction, particularly to violence and pornography, inspired the Scottish band Chvrches to write their 2021 concept album, Screen Violence .  I FILLED MY BED WITH REGRETS. Each track on Chvrches’ Screen Violence deals with aspects of a seemingly dystopian technologically-driven world. The opening track “ Asking for a Friend ” deals with the iron

Rather than reposting U2 ’s “ New Year’s Day ” for the fourth year, I started the year with my Top 23 Songs 2023. I stuck to one song per artist, and the order is in flux. I’ve blogged about some of these songs, and some of them not yet. I’ll briefly describe the song and link to the original post if I wrote about it before. This isn't a list like Paste or Billboard; it's purely subjective. These songs I found myself listening to a lot this year. 23. “ DJ Play a Christmas Song ”  by Cher . I'm not sure if this is going to be a novelty song or a perennial classic, but one thing is sure--it's going to sound dated. Maybe it was the anthem we needed after several socially-distanced holidays. 22. “ Over ”  by Chvrches . Last year, I started listening to the Scottish synth-pop band. Their 2021 album Screen Violence was an excellent concept album. "Over" feels like an extension to the already extended album . 21. “ Take Me Home, Country Roads ” by Lana Del Rey . In r