NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

  The moment the talent scout comes to see your _____ and says, "You could be a star" is the moment many of us dreamed of when we were kids. If you believe everyone gets their 15 minutes, you also should realize that there are degrees of fame. The recognizability of a household name like Tom Cruise or Barak Obama compared to an indie rocker demonstrates this. But now, with adult eyes, look at that talent scout. Whether he's a football coach or Simon Cowell, he's certainly not got the best of intentions for your teenage self. And depending on what you're signing up for, there's something that the scout won't tell you. If you put in the work, you may change the world. But it comes at a cost. Your personal life is no longer yours. Your personality, image, and relationships will be a commodity that the press will fight and even pay people for. If you're successful enough, you'll be swimming in non-disclosure agreements, hiding you and your loved ones

There was a sandwich shop across the eight-way intersection in Chuncheon where I would often take lunch break. After class, I'd get a Chicken Carbonara or a Soy-sauce chicken sandwich and a cup of coffee. I might spend a little extra time there reading or looking over lesson plans before going back in to work. The cafe was run by a man around my age and his mother, and it was a nice place to eat something familiar and spend some time. The musical choice was quite eclectic: '90s pop-rock and current K-pop/Hip-Hop. It was in that cafe that I grew an affection for K-pop. I started to understand what the hype was all about. SO YOU HAVE A DREAM THAT IS BIGGER THAN A LITTLE BOY'S . In February of 2014, Girls' Generation released their electro-pop album and titular hit " Mr. Mr ." The girls had been famous for a conservative, bubble gum pop, but "Mr. Mr." takes the singers in another direction. The ear worm begins with a dirty bass synth. The music video d

  I first encountered White Lies in 2009 on an iTunes sampler. The song was " Farewell to the Fairground ," a song from their freshman album To Lose My Life...  Their follow up album,  Ritual ,  was unimpressive, and I kind of forgot about this band until I heard their single " There Goes Our Love Again, " from their 2013 album Big TV . The album is certainly their strongest to date and plays like a New Wave album, taking influence from the most venerated post-punk acts of the ‘80s but released thirty years late. The song " Big TV " deals with themes of modern city life in regards to alienation, capitalism, and fleeting trends. Its electronic feel sounds like it's the kind of music that would be playing late at night, coming from the blue light of a big TV in a studio apartment downtown. AND YOU CAN GET ME WORK, BUT I CAN'T WORK FOR FREE.  A few years ago, CollegeHumor released a video about Zen Buddhist riddles for millennials . The line that I c

  I have a few confessions to make before getting into this post. First, I have only listened to folklore once or twice, and I've only listened to a few songs from evermore . As a music blogger, I have to do better. However, I'm waiting for the albums to hit me. I'm sure they will. Most music that sticks with me hits me at just the right minute. And there's a lot of music to be impactful from decades of classic rock to thousands of pop records over the last few decades. Second confession, I've liked Taylor Swift since her Fearless days. I had heard of her from " Tear Drops on My Guitar ," but I got into her when I heard she had covered Luna Halo 's " Untouchable ."  Taylor Swift became Nashville and the music industry's darling and it seemed that everyone had some love for the teenage star. But teenagers grow up.  James Dean in Rebel without a  Cause, 1955   Photo by Laura Loveday, Flicker . YOU COME TO PICK ME UP, NO HEADLIGHTS.  In