NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

Somewhere between cleaning up at the 2015 Grammy Awards for In the Lonely Hour and 2020's Love Goes , Sam Smith 's music lost momentum with listeners. Of course a lot has happened to the singer since then. In 2015, Smith was an openly gay Grammy- winning artist. In 2019, the singer came out as non-binary, telling the  BBC , "I do think like a woman sometimes, in my head. Sometimes I've questioned, 'Do I want a sex change?'" Since coming out as non-binary, the singer has embraced both the masculine and the feminine in their videos, concerts, and album promotion. But not only did the singer's sexuality evolve, but also their musical versatility, from a gospel-inspired second record ( The Thrill of It All ), a Bond theme (" Writing's on the Wall "), featured in a Calvin Harris track (" Promises "), a dance pop record in 2020--nothing seemed beyond the scope of the singer, though never they quite matching the success of In the Lo

Composed by  Kenzie , the professional name for  SM Entertainment 's songwriter Kim Yeon-jeong, the debut single " Into the New World " by what would become one of the biggest K-pop groups, Girls' Generation , set the tone for a ten-year career of fun, bubble-gummy, uplifting songs. Composed of nine young women all born between 1989 and 1991,  Girls' Generation   has been been called "the Nation's Girl Group," in South Korea due to their popularity between 2007-2017. Beginning with a sample of   Don Henley 's 1984 classic " The Boys of Summer, " (covered last August by   The Ataris ), "Into the New World" builds on the nostalgic piano and synth sample. Rather than calling back with longing for the past, this song propels listeners forward into the future. I LEAVE BEHIND THIS WORLD'S UNENDING SADNESS.  I've been pretty critical of K-pop in the past for being a-political. I used to think that music in America was too pol

This is certainly a gimmick to publish more content, but I was listening to 2022+ on Spotify on Friday and on a lark, I thought that I really wanted the AppleMusic version. Also, it's been half a year since I talked about the playlist directly, and it's undergone quite a bit of alteration since then. I tried to arrange the songs into a cohesive playlist, but when I'm working with different genres, it's a little hard. Also, I made a few deliberate choices to change the songs to offer more variety to the playlist. So instead of " Sine from Above ," I included " Babylon " by Lady Gaga. I hope AppleMusic listeners enjoy this list. Maybe a YouTube list is next instead of a repost from last year. 1. " Bad Love " by Key is today's song. It's an infectious dance song that I wrote about last year. It's worth a repeat.  2. " Shivers " by Ed Sheeran  3. "Babylon" by Lady Gaga 4. "Sometimes" by MUNA 5. "

Released as a single in May of 2020, the second track on Harry Styles ' Fine Line , " Watermelon Sugar " was bound to be a hit. The song was saved as the fourth single from Fine Line after the more wintery singles, " Lights Up ," " Adore You ," and " Falling ." Fine Line was already massive before "Watermelon Sugar." It currently holds the record for the biggest sales week of a solo male British singer. And while Styles'  rock-influenced eponymous first solo record also topped Billboard 's album sales , Fine Line  packs a more memorable punch. And it's that sugary, sweet sound that landed the album in  Rolling Stone' s " 500 Greatest Albums of All Time ." TASTES LIKE STRAWBERRIES. If the world had been normal in 2020, "Watermelon Sugar" would have simply been a tasty treat. The pop charts would still have its TikTokers and Doja Cats . He'd still contend with Olivia Rodrigo , and maybe Sam Smi

Austra-South African YouTuber-turned pop star and actor  Troye Sivan  creates a kind of infectious electro-pop that brilliantly celebrates love, acceptance, and sexuality. From my vantage point in South Korea, I saw the rise of Sivan's career. With his debut album,  Blue Neighbourhoods ,  Sivan could be heard everywhere in 2016 and not only was his music making an impact, him and fellow LGBT+ singer  Sam Smith  were starting conversations around sexual orientation that would have been considered taboo even five years before. My middle school students, in their free time at school, would often play Sivan's music videos. " Wild ," " Fools ," and " Youth " depict a teenage secret relationship between two boys. Being a teacher at a Christian school and working in a conservative country where it  was illegal for teachers to talk about LGBT+ issues at the time,    undoubtedly these middle school students were trying to press some buttons. Still, with som

Following up Blue Neighbourhood ,   Troye Sivan released another collection of songs celebrating queer love in 2018. This time, Bloom was less about love in the abstract and more about sex. Songs like the title track dealing with anal sex, the Apple Music edition of the album's opener " Seventeen " recalling how the singer lost his virginity to an older man on Grindr when he was seventeen, to a song about his boyfriend who "Tastes like Lucky Strikes " may take a few listens to understand the euphemisms. SHINE ON, DIAMOND.  Bloom holds an 85% on Meta-Critic , meaning that most reviews were favorable. In America, though, Sivan's music mostly is confined to the LGBTQ+ community,  and  Bloom  didn't make a splash in the mainstream pop market. But looking at the promotion, Sivan's team clearly had the young star's sights on conquering the charts. A track with Ariana Grande , a performance, albeit a polarizing performance, on Saturday Night Live ,

  Like yesterday's song , today's song also comes from 2007, but that's maybe the only similarity. Composed by Kenzie , the professional name for SM Entertainment 's songwriter Kim Yeon-jeong, the debut single of one of the biggest K-pop groups set the tone for a ten-year career of fun, bubble-gummy, uplifting songs. Composed of nine young women all born between 1989 and 1991, Girls' Generation has been been called "the Nation's Girl Group," in South Korea due to their popularity between 2007-2017. Beginning with a sample of Don Henley 's 1984 classic " The Boys of Summer, " (covered in August by The Ataris ) the song builds on the nostalgic piano and synth sample. Rather than calling back with longing for the past, this song propels listeners forward into the future. I LEAVE BEHIND THIS WORLD'S UNENDING SADNESS. I've been pretty critical of K-pop in the past for being a-political. I used to think that music in America was too p

Musicians sometimes have to change something about their projects in response to world events. Squad 5-0 released an album called Bombs Over Broadway  which showed WWII jets flying over New York City. Bombs unfortunately coincided 9-11, so the record label changed the cover of the album and the band didn't play the song live at first. Jimmy Eat World 's hit album Bleed American was changed to J immy Eat World  also following the 9-11 attacks. CCM singer Plumb changed her 2013 album from Faster Than a Bullet to Need You Now, in response to the Sandy Hook shooting. And in response to the 2020 Pandemic, Sam Smith retitled their upcoming album To Die For  to Love Goes . Not only did Sam Smith retitle the album, but also they restructured it. The pre-released singles, " Dancing with a Stranger ," " How Do You Sleep ," and " To Die For " would all be tacked on at the end of the album.  HOW DO YOU SLEEP WHEN YOU LIE TO ME. Sam Smith's third album

  Sam Smith's music is a musical cry for love. Influenced by Amy Winehouse and Adelle, Smith made a gut-wrenchingly melancholy pop-R&B debut album in 2014's In the Lonely Hour , and followed it up with an even sadder, gospel-inspired sophomore record in 2017's The Thrill of It All . However, in a turn of events, during the album cycle, the British singer began dating 13 Reasons Why actor Brandon Flynn and the two seemed happy in interviews and in social media posts. The two dated for nine months, during which, Smith came out as genderqueer, stating that they identified as equally male and female. In "Too Good At Goodbyes," Smith tackles their psychological and emotional barrier they bring to a relationship. But as Smith points out these barriers, anyone with emotional baggage (or everyone) can probably relate to the song on some level. It's damn hard to know when to open up to someone or when to conceal in fear that that person will use it against you in t

Austra-South African YouTuber-turned pop star and actor Troye Sivan creates a kind of infectious electro-pop that brilliantly celebrates love, acceptance, and sexuality. From my vantage point in South Korea, I saw the rise of Sivan's career. With his debut album, Blue Neighbourhoods , Sivan could be heard everywhere in 2016 and not only was his music making an impact, him and fellow LGBT+ singer Sam Smith were starting conversations around sexual orientation that would have been considered taboo even five years before. My middle school students, in their free time at school, would often play Sivan's music videos. " Wild ," "Fools," and "Youth" depict a teenage secret relationship between two boys. Being a teacher at a Christian school and working in a conservative country where it was illegal for teachers to talk about LGBT+ issues at the time,    undoubtedly these middle school students were trying to press some buttons. Still, with some of Kore