NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

Last year, it seemed that Billboard’s Hot 100 was gridlocked by legacy acts. Besides K-pop groups, two artists were able to break through last year: David Kushner and Noah Kahan , folksy singer-songwriters known for their hits “ Stick Season ” and “ Daylight .” Pop critics were divided on the singer-songwriter trends. The New York Times Popcast critics complained about the monotony of “Daylight,” especially considering the Indie Pop and Alternative acts on the fringes of the Hot 100. YouTuber Rick Beato , however, praised the “Stick Season,” saying something to the effect that these songs were making music “sound like music again” when he counted them down on one of his countdowns of the most popular song countdowns. A few months later, rock guitars seem to be making a comeback on the pop charts.  BUT I THANK GOD EVERY DAY FOR THE GIRL HE SENT MY WAY. Noah Kahan’s music out-charted David Kushner’s on the Hot 100. Their breakthrough success certainly wasn’t out of nowhere with the ma

While the rock music was falling out of favor in the 2010s,   All Time Low 's career continued to gain momentum. Formed in 2003 and heavily influenced by   NoFx   and   Blink -182   the band became a force in the emo phase of the   Warped Tour   scene. The band became famous for their jocular onstage banter and their mock-turned serious feud with   Metro Station . And in that jocular nature, the skinny, nerdy bandmates clad in only their   tighty-whities   appeared on MySpace's home page the week before their sophomore album   So Wrong, It's Right  dropped in 2007. I DON'T MIND IF YOU FUCK UP (RUIN) MY LIFE.  Fast forward thirteen years. I have deleted a lot of music I acquired in college if I didn't like the songs. I enjoyed laughing at  Blink- 182 videos  in middle and high school just as much as any white boy, but joke pop-punk got old when emo bands dug into deeper subjects. It turns out that All Time Low was digging a bit deeper in the 2010s, flying under my ra

Sometime after 21, birthdays start to feel anticlimactic. The vestiges of childhood have disappeared now that you can drink, smoke, watch any movie, and drive. Besides renting a car and a senior citizen’s discount, whatever you look forward to as an adult isn’t tied to your birthday. And while laws vary state to state, sixteen is the symbolic age when teenagers gain their greatest independence: their driver’s licenses. The anticipation for this rite of passage plays out to the point of being cliché in teen movies, but remembering the day one received that laminated card connects every generation of Americans. Perhaps that’s why Olivia Rodrigo ’s breakthrough single was such a massive hit last year. The first single from her debut record SOUR , starts the Disney Channel actress’s in slow, sad-girl territory, similar to the slower tunes of Lorde and Billie Eilish . But even on a slow track like today’s song, we still get a driving rock beat. And while releasing one of the slowest songs