NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

  Working with family can be difficult. Starting a band is like starting a business. You need to have the right people to work with to do the best at their jobs. Chemistry, mastery of an instrument, and stage presence is also important for band members. Family members as bandmates makes sense for young bands. Tim and Jonathan Foreman in Switchfoot are an example of a brotherhood creating a lasting band. There are other bands like Kings of Leon and NEEDTOBREATHE in which family is a source of strife. There are many examples of when family members don’t work out in the band, sometimes it’s clear from the early days like when the Hype ’s second guitarist Dik Evans —brother of David “The Edge” Evans —was dropped by the group that became U2 and the bass player of The Fray , Caleb “Cable Car” Slade —brother of former lead singer Isaac Slade —was kicked out of the band. I NEVER KNEW THAT EVERYTHING WAS FALLING THROUGH. The Fray’s debut single, “ Over My Head ” (Cable Car), gained ...

In July, Halsey released the first single from her fifth studio album, The Great Impersonator , “ Lucky .” The album explores the two years after the singer’s fourth album, If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power after Halsey the birth of her son and her diagnosis of lupus and a T-Cell disorder. With the serious health problems facing Halsey, she wanted to record what could be her last album. That album’s concept deals with the disembodiment she felt after the diagnoses and treatments. Pulling from the musical landscapes of the 1970s to the early 2000s, Halsey becomes an “impersonator” of style on her latest album. The first single, an interpolation of Britney Spears ’ 2000 single by the same name , parallels the well-documented struggles of Spears with Halsey’s experience.   EVERYBODY GET IN LINE TO MEET THE GIRL WHO FLEW TOO HIGH. Ashley Frangipane was born in 1994, making her six years old when Brintey Spears released her second album, Oops… I Did It Again . Spears’ career ha...

I’m probably not the only one who thinks of Halsey as a pop singer. It’s forgivable considering the singer’s breakthrough hit was a feature on The Chainsmokers ’ biggest hit “ Closer ,” and her Spotify top songs also sound like late ‘10s electronic songs. Halsey’s pop career was a deliberate effort after she was featured on “Closer.” Her second and third albums, hopeless fountain kingdom and Manic were described as more “radio-friendly” than her debut BADLANDS . But after earning a solo number-one Billboard Hot 100 with the song “ Without Me ,” Halsey’s musical style has shifted from radio pop. Her fourth album explored industrial rock and alternative rock especially with If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power ’s Nine Inch Nails production team of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross . On October 25, Halsey is set to release her fifth album, The Great Impersonator , and the singles from the album take similar influence as the singer’s previous album.   I ALWAYS KNEW I WAS A MARTYR A...

Last year, I listened to a podcast introducing artists who sound similar to another artist to help lesser-known artists expand their fan bases just to hear some takes that the commentators had to say about another artist I was preparing to post about. I didn't actually end up writing about that artist, but I inadvertently discovered a few new artists to add to my AppleMusic library, one of which was Filipina-British singer-songwriter  Beatrice  Kristi Ilejay Laus , better known by her stage name  beabadoobee . BUILDINGS AND RUST.   With over 17 million monthly listeners on Spotify, bedroom pop singer beabadoobee opened for  Taylor Swift  last year on a leg of the Eras Tour. Laus is just one of many artists that Swift was probably introduced to through a rumored ex,  The 1975 ’s Matty Healy .  Born in Iloilo City in 2000 and relocating to London with her family at the age of three, Laus was influenced by indie rock from an early age. At the ag...

  Fireflight became a massive Christian Rock band in 2006 when their video for the single “ You Decide ,” which featured Josh Brown of the band Day of Fire , became the most-requested video on TVU that year. The band debuted on Flicker Records after touring for years after being founded by husband and wife Glenn and Wendy Drennen in 1999. Glenn was the guitarist and Wendy the bassist of the band, and she would become the backing vocalist when the band added Dawn Michele as the group’s lead singer. The band followed up the runaway success of their debut album The Healing of Harms with Unbreakable . While Unbreakable was a success for the band, the members talked about the difficulty of making their follow-up album. Dawn Michele told Stars & Stripes making the record was “one of the most difficult times in our lives.” IT STARTS TONIGHT. Just as ForeFront Records was in search of the “more Christian” alternative to successful Christian-adjacent acts, Flicker Records sign...