NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

I took a week off from my countdown. I’ve been spending the week planning the direction of my blog for this year, and it always seems like a miracle when I get a chance to write! Today, I’m counting down songs 14 to 11 that were recorded and released in 2023. Not many of these songs were actual hits on the Billboard Hot 100, and all of them were released in 2023. For songs that just missed the top ten, I think that these songs have better lyrics than the top 20, but there is something dynamic missing from making the song a more impactful song on me. Of course, this is completely subjective, and time may prove differently. Still, as of writing this post, I’m going to say that these songs are in the right order.  14. “ Exist ” by Eric Nam . In 2019, Eric Nam began primarily writing songs in English after half a decade in K-pop. But it wasn’t until last year’s House on a Hill that the lyrics and music seemed to sync up. “Exist” is my favorite track from the album. It’s simple but beautif

Earlier this month I updated my 추천한 K-pop Starter Playlist  for Spotify. Today, I’m going to update my Apple Music K-pop list. Of course, the term K-pop is broad, and today’s song “Exist” by Eric Nam is a pop song in English, I decided to include it because of the singer’s history with the genre. Earlier this year, music YouTuber Nick Canovas , or  Mic the Snare, created a video about how he came to appreciate the genre. The video is a good primer for music lovers who are new to the genre. One of the things that Canovas pointed out, though, is that K-pop usually refers to “Idol music”— like American Idol or teen idols from—well that’s a story for another day. For my playlist, I decided that an inclusive approach was more fun than an exclusionary one. Therefore, the “Korean teen idol” playlist may be fun to make, but I decided to include some outliers. Enjoy. Check out the playlist on Apple Music.  

Eric Nam released his first English mini album, Before We Begin on January 18, 2019. The Atlanta-born, Seoul-based singer-songwriter was beginning a new phase in his career. Prior to Before We Begin, Nam had been busy as an entertainer in South Korea, starting with finishing in the top 5 of a Korean singing competition show and debuted his first single “ Ooh, Ooh ” in 2014. Nam has talked extensively about his experience as a first-generation Korean American who was not fluent in his parents’ language, yet became a pop star singing in Korean. Learning Korean on the fly, he was featured frequently on Korean television both promoting his music and later interviewing celebrities who came to Korea for press tours.   THE GRASS IS GREEN, BUT I WISH IT WAS GREENER. Eric Nam’s dream was to be a pop star in America, yet with almost no Asians on the pop charts from his youth in the ‘90s and the ‘00s to his young adulthood in the ‘10s, he felt he couldn’t achieve his dream so he went to school

Linkin Park 's fourth studio album, A Thousand Suns underperformed compared to the band's massive first three albums. The album produced two singles, " The Catalyst " and today's song, " Waiting for the End ," but ultimately listeners didn't like the album as most of the songs were not catchy. I always want to dig deeper into this album and its themes, but today, I wanted to introduce my AAPI Heritage Playlist, so I chose the most pop-oriented song on A Thousand Suns. If you want more information on the music theory behind this album, I'll link to The Discographers ,  an excellent podcast that explores the discography of Linkin Park in one of their seasons.  MY MOUTH KEPT MOVING AND MY MIND WENT DEAD.   May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in the United States, and I wanted to make a playlist that recognized some of the amazing talent by AAPI musicians. As with my other lists, I realize that making lists like this can be pr

Artists often show off their influences when they play a cover. In 2004, Copeland released an EP of covers of songs by singer-songwriters from the '70s and '80s. While the band has moved into more experimental territory in recent years, know nothing stays the same shows the musical education, the melodies, the song structure from which Copeland came. Today's song was written by Billy Joel and released in 1977, and Billy Joel's version appears on the Spotify and AppleMusic version of the April 2022 Mixtape  because know nothing stays the same is a rare Copeland release. Copeland's covers EP is worth checking out, though. Hearing the band's unique take on the soft rock classics gave me a new appreciation for the band when I heard this EP, and I only wish it was more widely available. THE WORST SHE CAN DO IS THROW SHADOWS AT YOU. Now we come to Under the Covers,   Volume 3 (see below), naturally another YouTube Edition to the playlist because the main song on wh

Boyce Avenue formed in 2004 after brothers Fabian and Alejandro Manzano were rejoined with their eldest brother Daniel, who had just graduated from Harvard Law School, when Daniel moved back to Sarasota, Florida. In 2007, the band decided to start a YouTube channel , posting original music and covers of well-known songs. Soon the band's popularity grew and they signed to Universal Records and embarked on U.S. and world tours. The cover-band sold out their first show in New York City in 2009, and accumulated fans overseas as well. The band currently has 15.5 million subscribers on their YouTube channel.  LIGHTS WILL GUIDE YOU HOME. Boyce Avenue often joins forces with fellow YouTubers, and today, the boys join another artist who was in the YouTube cover game early as well, Tyler Ward . The band collaborated with Ward in the same session for his channel, covering Fuel 's " Shimmer ." But today's song is Coldplay's song "Fix You." Written on a synthesiz