NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

  Check out the Apple Music edition of this month's playlist. You can read the original post about this song from last year. I might have been a bit off with the interpretation as I've learned more about Conan Gray . Listen to the playlist on Apple Music.

Conan Gray ’s Found Heaven is possibly one of the most under-rated albums of the year. The pop world of 2024 is dominated by powerful women and so is rock and alternative. Looking at the list of albums this year, there is one big one that seems overrated— Taylor Swift ’s The Tortured Poets’ Department — but every single artist with a big year, Swift included, has earned it. But with all of the big pop artists this year, Conan Gray hasn’t yet had a breakthrough moment. Found Heaven is far from a perfect album but its post-punk style and Gray’s conviction in songwriting make this one of the albums I keep coming back to all year.  DON’T MEAN THAT YOU’RE MARRYING ME TONIGHT. Part of Conan Gray’s conviction to his sound, I feel, is a reason why Found Heaven isn’t a bigger pop album, and maybe why it isn’t as good as it could be. Gray doesn’t do many collaborations and he explained that he felt that his latest album is complete. I feel that a well-chosen collaboration could have broug...

With the release of Found Heaven , Conan Gray has been embracing a glam rock era. Listening to his two previous studio albums, there are hints at the future Max Martin -produced third album, but the singer seems to be more comfortable with the slower lyric-driven real instrument songs. But much like the other Dan Nigro -produced artists, such as Olivia Rodrigo and Chappell Roan , the genre only appears to be a tool to help artists present themselves in their most authentic ways. It’s not a new concept in pop music and it’s becoming more and more common. Some call it the death of genre. For Conan Gray, one of those moments is on his first album Kid Krow , on the song that has been called a “bedroom pop banger,” “ Maniac .” TELL THEM YOU HATE ME AND DATED ME JUST FOR LAUGHS. “Maniac” was Conan Gray’s third single from Kid Krow. The genre seems to follow the subject matter of the song. The lyrics of the songs suggest that the speaker’s ex has been partying all night, so underneath the p...

Last Halloween, Conan Gray released the third single, “ Killing Me ” from his 2024 album Found Heaven . The single followed “ Never Ending Song ,” which was a stylistic shift to ‘80s-styled production-based maximalist pop. The second single from the then-upcoming album was the personal ballad “ Winner ,” which was much more in the style of Gray’s typical confessional singer-songwriter mode. “Winner” would be the final track on Found Heaven . The third single, today’s song, returned Gray to the ‘80s pop sound that molded the album. Found Heaven is an album of glam rock experimentation, ballads, and new wave pop songs; sometimes these elements mix. The best example is when “Killing Me,” the album's penultimate song transforms from a piano ballad to a synth rocker at the first chorus. TOO BUSY DECEIVIN’ AND CHEATIN’ AND LYIN’ AND COMPETIN’. The stories that Conan Gray tells in the album’s lyrics and promotional interviews he has given to Billboard , Zach Sang, and others are simultan...

Singles and EPs are nothing new to the music industry, though, in the ‘90s and ‘00s before iTunes, the long-play album became the preferred medium for selling music. You could buy each song from an album and some of the songs were released before the album’s release, but most singles found a home on an album. As for EPs, many of them were limited promotional releases that superfans of a band or artist could collect, often offering limited edition tracks or alternate versions of songs on an album. Sometimes EPs were only available to purchase at the artist’s show. Unlike the American pop and rock music business, Korean pop is meticulously strategic with releases in terms of regulating how much media fans can get from their idols. Singles to “Mini Albums” to full-length albums seems to be the winning formula for K-pop today. I’MMA BITE BACK. On May 27, aespa released their debut studio album, Armageddon . The SM Entertainment band is one of the leading active 4th-generation K-pop girl ...