NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

Katie Gavin ’s solo debut album What a Relief is due out next week on October 25th. The MUNA singer showed a change in musical direction from her first single “ Aftertaste ,” which took the electric-pop singer into ‘90s country. The second single, “ Casual Drug Use ,” took a more acoustic folk sound than its predecessor. In August Gavin joined The Japanese House on stage at the Greek Theater to perform their collaboration “ Morning Papers ” from The Japanese House’s 2023 album In the End It Always Does . Then during the encore, Gavin premiered her latest single, “ Inconsolable ,” which The Japanese House’s Amber Bain praised as “the best song ever written” according to Bain and her girlfriend. According to MUNA’s podcast Gayotic, Gavin said that her new album was a collection of songs written since 2020. Most of the songs were produced by Pheobe Bridgers’ producer Tony Berg, but between sessions with Berg, Gavin collaborated with Mitski and Amber Bain. FULL OF BEDS WHERE NOBODY

  In 2001, Mat Kearney and his friend Robert Marvin arrived in Nashville, Tennessee. Since college, Kearney wanted to pursue a musical career as a singer-songwriter. Marvin’s dream was to become a music producer and Nashville was the place to be. Kearney and Marvin had worked on music before they arrived in Nashville. Marvin got right to work in the Christian music industry, producing and working on albums by ZOEgirl , Stacie Orrico , TobyMac , and Newsboys . In 2004, Kearney released his debut album Bullet on the Christian label Inpop Records . Several of the songs on Bullet were reworkings of Kearney’s hip-hop EP West in November , which he had released independently in 2003. The co-writing team of Kearney and Marvin and Marvin’s production introduced Christian music to the genre-bending artistry of Mat Kearney. I CAN STILL SMELL THE POMEGRANATES GROW. Today, Bullet is not available on streaming services. Mat Kearney was a success with Christian Hit Radio and Christian Rock Radio

Opening with a the late '90s pop-rock-sounding " Tides ,"  Ed Sheeran 's fourth record  =   seems to change genres with every track. Back in October of 2021, I asked the question about whether or not Ed Sheeran could successfully integrate all the musical styles he's done in the past and make a cohesive album that would appeal both broadly to all music fans and more specifically to die-hard fans. What I found today was that most of the songs individually are good. But as an album the songs don't play together save for the common themes of falling in love with his wife Cherry, the death of family members, isolation due to the Covid-19 pandemic, recovery from addiction, and the birth of his daughter Lyra.   I WANNA DRINK THAT SMILE.  The eclectic mix of singles Sheeran released before the album dropped--" Bad Habits " and " Shivers " sounding similar to  ÷ 's  singles and " Visiting Hours " recalling the more sentimental moods o

Tropical House is a subgenre of electronic dance music (EDM) that is characterized by its laid-back, feel-good vibes and tropical-inspired melodies. It often incorporates elements of house music, deep house, and chillwave, and is typically characterized by a tempo of around 100-120 beats per minute. Instruments often played or sampled in the genre included steel drums, marimbas, ukuleles, other tropical instruments, synths, and drum machines. The lyrics are often about love, relationships, and the beach. The genre can be traced back to the ‘00s but became extremely popular in the ‘10s. Ed Sheeran ’s “ Shape of You ” has been called the biggest song in the genre.    Avicii and Martin Garrix were early popularizers of the subgenre. SPARKS WILL FLY, THEY WILL IGNITE OUR BONES. Norwegian DJ Kyrre Gørvell-Dahll , or Kygo , was influenced by Avicci’s music and started emulating the late DJ’s sound in his created music. Kygo both wrote new music and remixed existing tracks, many of which we

  Today, we’re going to explore 21st-century singer-songwriters. Beyond the Taylor Swift s, Ed Sheeran s, and Phoebe Bridgers and my favorites like Tyson Motsenbocker and Sasha Alex Sloan , I also include some up-incomers I’ve found more recently but haven’t delved into their music as much. For example, LA-based artist Rosie Darling released her debut full-length album, Lanterns , last year. Her debut EP, 2021’s Coping , and its follow-up 2022’s Golden Age were more indie pop than Lanterns uses more acoustic guitars. I’m not considering either style for my playlist as more worthy of the title of singer-songwriter , though the acoustic guitar does seem to satisfy the stereotype better. I hope you enjoy the playlist and discover some new music.

Berlin 's 1986 light-rock hit " Take My Breath Away " in its somewhat cheesy ascending scaled-note chorus speaks to the common human experience of falling in love with someone. The old aphorism, "Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away," speaks to the times when life surprises us so much that if the shock of the good surprise were to kill us, we would have died happy. In other words, I may feel "so happy that I could die." These moments are breathtaking, like seeing a Van Gogh in person, seeing  a beautiful woman, or experiencing a new life.   Perhaps this is what  The Weeknd  intended for his lead single from  Dawn FM ,  " Take My Breath ," but in typical  Weeknd  fashion, the video and the lyrics hint at a darker side of those breathtaking moments. YOU'RE OFFERING YOURSELF TO ME LIKE SACRIFICE.  Since   Beauty Behind the Madness   brought The Weeknd to the forefront of popular

Formed in 1994 first as Shrug and then as Polarbear but finally changing their name to  Snow Patrol  due to other bands by their former names, the Northern Irish band became very popular in the early '00s. Their first single " Run " was a hit in the UK. But in America, the band would become famous because of their song " Chasing Cars " when it was included in the  season 2 finale of  Grey's Anatomy .  " Chasing Cars" is the song most people know by Snow Patrol, and most wouldn't be able to associate the name with their hit song. The band continues to produce music, most recently releasing 2018's  Wildness .    TRAIN THIS CHAOS, TURN IT INTO LIGHT . If you've had time to get into Taylor's Version of  Red ,  you may have noticed a feature by Snow Patrol's  Gary Lightbody . Once the Indie Rock band became recognized, the band members started working on pop music, and Lightbody writing for  Taylor Swift  and  Ed Sheeran . The Snow P

Like Rick Beato explains in his provocatively titled video "What's Wrong with Charlie Puth 's Single" (see below), I was shocked that such an earworm didn't chart very well. Beato's commentary in the video is a dig at other musical trends--trap beats, explicit lyrics, and multiple songwriters--which contribute to a pop song's success. I don't completely agree with Beato's assessment of " Light Switch " and pop music in general, but the question remains why such an instant sing-along melody didn't chart higher than number 27 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart. Of course, there's just so much music out there vying for our attention. ALL THE SUDDEN I'M HYPNOTIZED. Beato's liking for Charlie Puth is even puzzling for some of the YouTuber's viewers. There are many other music YouTubers and Podcasters who call out Beato's biased views. Maybe it's pop music filtered through his kids' tastes that he got turned on t