NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

  Shura 's 2016 debut,  Nothing's Real   made a splash in the U.K. and Europe, but the electro-pop singer-songwriter didn't make a huge impact on the American charts, which is a shame. Hits like " What's It Gonna Be? " and " What Happened to Us? " were perfect hits for the mid-summer of the album's release, and I find that I come back to it every spring to early fall. But while her contemporaries like  Ellie Goulding  and  Carly Rae Jepsen  keep songs pretty light and upbeat, there's a sadness and introversion that hides the lyrics beneath even the most dance-floor-worthy tracks. SMALL CHANGE IN THE UNIVERSE . The daughter of a British documentary filmmaker, Shura uses a documentary-style motif throughout  Nothing's Real,  featuring audio of Shura as a child speaking and singing. Also in the vein of a documentary, Shura sings about her breakup in the third person " Make It Up ." Other songs, like " Indecision " and &qu

  First appearing in 2001,   Lovedrug   released their   eponymous EP   in 2002 and their    Rocknroll   EP in 2004 before releasing their debut record,   Pretend You're Alive ,  in June 2004. Selling over 20,000 records soon after the record was released, the band was signed to   Columbia Records ,   and their song " Spiders " was intended to be marketed as a radio hit. But rock star grandeur was never really in Lovedrug's reach, as the label dropped the band in the middle of restructuring. Lovedrug was a hard-working band, touring with acts such as   The Killers ,   Robert Plant ,   Sam Phillips ,   Switchfoot , and   Copeland . They would enjoy some success with their follow-up record,   Everything Starts Where It Ends ,  but would continue making music until 2020, although they are probably best remembered for their first two records.   SEARCHING ON A WIRE FOR A WIRE .  The Militia Group  was a record label founded by former  Tooth & Nail Records  employee  Ch

  In September last year, Paramore released Re: This Is Why , a remix album of the original featuring big-name collaborations like Julien Baker , Wet Leg , The Linda Lindas , and others. Paramore tweeted about the album: “ Re: This Is Why is almost a remix album. Some of the songs have been remixed sort of classically, while others were reworked or rewritten. It’s incredible to hear all our worlds colliding.” The album is mostly for fans of the band’s sixth studio album, This Is Why . Some of the reworked songs are more interesting than the originals, but the original versions of the songs on This Is Why make a consistent record and one of Paramore’s best efforts.  All the songs from the original album are represented on the remix album with “ Running Out of Time ” receiving two remixes. The remix album also included an extra song, “ Sanity ,” a demo of a song the band had written during sessions for After Laughter .   EVERYONE IS BAD, SO WHY ARE YOU A PACIFIST? Some songs on Re: Thi

  I would argue that since   reputation ,  Taylor Swift   has made a career based on revenge. The singer-songwriter is extremely intentional and calculated when releasing new singles and albums. Last year, Swift released yet another deluxe edition of   Midnights ,  this time calling it   The Til Dawn Edition ,  featuring a new song and two remixes. When she first released   Midnights    in October of 2022, many listeners were wondering what was different about the album. It felt like   reputation  but the singer was in a steady relationship with English actor   Joe Alwyn , and everything was going great, right?   right? KARMA IS A CAT PURRING ON MY LAP.  When tabloids started reporting that Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn had split in early April this year, the pointed lyrics of  Midnights  started to make a little more sense. Was Swift reacting to the expectations--from others or even Alwyn-- that their relationship should end in marriage? Could the singer stay in a "1950s shit"

Last year, when promoting Re: This Is Why , the remix album of Paramore ’s sixth studio album This Is Why , lead singer Hayley Williams talked to Jimmy Fallon about her teenage friendship with Taylor Swift . Williams describes the friendship as coming from a time when Swift and she were pursuing music while growing up in Nashville. According to Williams, Taylor Swift’s mother was looking for a friend for Taylor, particularly someone else in music. At this point, neither Taylor nor Paramore were household names, but even as teenagers both Williams and Swift were focused on their goals, which allowed for little time for normal teenage things, especially socializing. The singers’ friendships and careers have intersected several times before Paramore’s opening slot on the Eras Tour. On their latest album, Swift inspired a lyric from an impression she left on Williams. THERE WAS A FIRE (METAPHORICALLY). After releasing three pre-release singles for This Is Why, Paramore released the album

In 2018,  Taylor Swift  did the unthinkable. Country music stars had been expected to be either right-leaning or a-political. Although Swift wasn't a country music star in 2018, she was still associated with the genre. But as a resident of Tennessee, Swift came out publicly in support of two Democratic candidates in a midterm race. While Swift hasn't been active with political endorsements for the upcoming November election as of today-- only A.I. generated images from the Trump camp --, i t took a Trump presidency and the callousness towards women's and minority issues to make   Miss Americana  speak up.  SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST.  On the opening night of Taylor Swift's Era's tour in Scottsdale, Arizona, another band of somewhat reluctant activists opened the show,  Paramore . Most of the opening acts on the Eras tour include indie rockers or singer-songwriters, mostly female, feminist, and LGBTQ+ or allies. As my readers already know, Paramore is a band fronted by 

  Sebastián Yatra was born in Columbia and raised in Miami, Florida, before returning to Columbia to begin his musical career. From an early age, Sebastián took an interest in music, learning piano, guitar, and voice. At the age of 12, he saw fellow Colombian singer Juanes in concert. That year, Yatra also starred in the lead role of Troy Bolton in his school’s production of High School Musical. At the age of 20, Yatra dropped out of college and returned to Columbia to pursue music. Today, Yatra is a very popular singer worldwide. All of his solo work is in Spanish. He is a voracious collaborator, teaming up with other musicians in the Latin pop world, singing a Spanish verse with an English—or in the case of Monsta X , in Korean—, or occasionally, an English verse. His d iscography varies from reggaeton to rock and many other genre experimentations. IT SEEMS THAT YOU STILL LOVE ME. Many of Sebastián Yatra’s songs are ballads, a tradition in Latin music that has fallen out of favor w