NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

My mom didn't let me play video games unless they were educational. So I didn't grow up on  Mario  or  Donkey Kong  at home. Instead, I got to play educational games like  The Oregon Trail   or  Math Blaster .  My favorite game, though, was  Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego ? Despite the implausible premise of being a detective, tracking down a criminal who stole intangible cultural heritage, I loved flying around the world to fifty countries--some of which no longer exist--listening to strange music, and discovering the cultures that made the world so interesting.  IT'S GONNA TAKE A LOT TO DRAG ME AWAY FROM YOU.  TOTO  is often classified as a Yacht Rock band today, a somewhat pejorative term for the smooth-sounding light rock of the late '70s and early '80s. The term "Yacht Rock" actually comes from a YouTube mockumentary from the early age of YouTube. Music critic  Chris Molanphey  goes to great pains to define the imaginary genre in his episode of

As promised, here is my Top 10 list for albums of the year. It’s a bit late and I’m sure that in time, the importance of this list will change and that albums I hadn’t listened to would chart. I decided to give preference to the albums I blogged about most but I also slipped in a few that I thought would be culturally significant. There were a few cuts that I thought hurt a little, Olivia Rodrigo ’s GUTS , the Barbie: The Album soundtrack, and boygenius ’s The Record .   I wanted to include some albums that didn’t make the critics’ picks lists to give light to some underrated artists. I hope you enjoy these albums as much as I did—and am doing now. 10. The Show by Niall Horan . It’s funny how the other One Direction members have been totally eclipsed by Harry Styles . While Styles is certainly talented, and his production team has incorporated some of the most interesting elements into mainstream pop, former bandmate Niall Horan has been sadly overlooked. The Show is an album by an

My mom didn't let me play video games unless they were educational. So I didn't grow up on Mario or Donkey Kong at home. Instead, I got to play educational games like The Oregon Trail or Math Blaster . My favorite game, though, was Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego ? Despite the implausible premise of being a detective, tracking down a criminal who stole intangible cultural heritage, I loved flying around the world to fifty countries--some of which no longer exist--listening to strange music, and discovering the cultures that made the world so interesting.  IT'S GONNA TAKE A LOT TO DRAG ME AWAY FROM YOU. TOTO  is often classified as a Yacht Rock band today, a somewhat pejorative term for the smooth-sounding light rock of the late '70s and early '80s. The term "Yacht Rock" actually comes from a YouTube mockumentary from the early age of YouTube. Music critic Chris Molanphey goes to great pains to define the imaginary genre in his episode of The Brid

  Let’s revisit last month’s discussion about The Album , the latest record from Jonas Brothers.  Referring back to the interview with Charlie Harding on the podcast Switched on Pop , Nick Jonas explained that the brothers wanted to put “something together that sounded like what coming to one of our shows is like.” Achieving this sound has the band leaning into the past rather than electronic elements or studio sound effects.  IT’S GON’ GET FIGURED OUT. Charlie Harding referred to the Jonas Brothers’ The Album ’s sound as “album-oriented, band-driven music,” which refers to the music of the ‘60s- ‘80s when many listeners preferred listening to albums over singles. My guess is that the experience of a Jonas Brothers show in the late ‘00s probably wouldn’t be focused on the musicality of the band, but rather the euphoric dopamine rush (for a certain demographic) of seeing the brothers performing. But with only Kevin strumming a guitar in the band’s recent videos, the “band sound” of

Pop is having an incredible year. Starting out with Sam Smith 's genre- (and gender) blending Gloria to this month's yacht-rock inspired The Album by Jonas Brothers , what I once would consider guilty pleasures I would argue now rival the musical staples of my hipster past. The year isn't even half over, and I still haven't digested many of the albums that have come out. But if the two singles, " Heaven " and " Meltdown ," Niall Horan  released before his rumored June release of The Show  have any bearing on the upcoming album, I'll be adding this to my list of albums that completely blindsided me with awesomeness.  WHEN IT ALL MELTS DOWN, I'LL BE THERE. These days, I've been listening to Spotify's curated playlists at work. "Meltdown" is a song that has been added to several of the new hits playlists, so I started hearing it quite often. I thought the song was catchy, but it initially got lost with the other tons of songs

I was talking with my Gen X coworker earlier this year about music, and somehow Jonas Brothers came up. He asked me, as a defender of pop, if the band of brothers had ever made a good album. I thought about the question. Of course, I can’t consider the teeny-bopper music from the band’s early days. But I  could say that Nick Jonas ’ latest record Spaceman was a masterfully produced album by Greg Kurstin blending ‘80s and ‘90s R&B with contemporary electronic pop. I thought that the DNCE record was fun. I thought that “ Sucker ” was a great Ryan Tedder production and showed potential for where the Jonas Brothers could go, although Happiness Begins was a bit of a disappointment. But no, I couldn’t say that I liked any Jonas Brothers album. ROCK FOR ME TO STAND ON. But that all changed when Jonas Brothers released The Album last Friday. But being able to call this album great comes with years of breaking down some of my musical biases and hang-ups. The first is a discussion abo