NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

Many credit the formation of Seo Taiji and the Boys in 1992 as the birth of K-pop. Singer Seo Taiji had been a member of the heavy metal group, Sinawe in '80s but decided to experiment with electronic music and choreography. Seo, in essence, started the ripple, whereas, today's boy band was part part of a forming Korean wave, or Hallyu (한류) that seems turning into more and more of a tsunami every year. The boy bands and girl groups of early '00s were known by Korean enthusiasts. Korean cinema was known by film buffs. But in 2012 when Psy's " Gangnam Style " hit the Internet, the wave officially hit everywhere. In the late '10s, BTS and other K-pop groups started placing well on Billboard's Hot 100, performing on American television shows, and featuring on American pop albums. Then in 2020, Korean director Bong Joon-ho cleaned up the Oscars with his film  Parasite  (기생충). Korean dramas, too, are part of the wave. While they haven't broken through

It's only a month until Valentine's Day, which was the most miserable holiday for a teenager trapped in the closet in a Christian school. I was quite bitter towards a day that couples showed off their affection. I grew more and more cynical towards the day with every passing year. Fourteen-year-old me would be surprised that in 20 years, I would be thinking about the holiday a month before. But somewhere on the way from teenage-angsty emo music to a Christian pre-ordained incel-hood, like the blinding light to Paul on the road to Damascus, NoiseTrade 's 25 Love Songs rescued me from cynicism towards candy hearts. This album certainly wasn't the entirety of my love salvation, but it did start me on the path to thinking that love is possible and not total bullshit. I'LL ALWAYS PROTECT YOU. Ahead of their delayed The Peace of Wild Things , Paper Route released a second track from the album. " Better Life " had helped me through a very dark time in my life, s

Today I'm going to recommend an album rather than just one song. This is the fourth song I've featured by Canadian Christian Rock band Turn Off the Stars, and as they were together for only a short time and didn't document everything on social media, I've run out of fun facts about the band. Sometimes I like riffing on the theme of one song, but it's a cold day in January, so I think that a deep dive in this particularly cold, moody record is perfect for early January. I'll also post links to the three other tracks I've talked about this album, so you can read up about other interesting details about the band and their record label, along with some of my cringy fiction. First, I'll post the album. I'm sharing in Apple Music today, because the interface is cleaner for this particular album. If you would prefer to listen in Spotify, I'll post it here . 1. "I Wasn't Ready" The album opens with instrumentation that sounds like nature

Formed in 1994 first as Shrug and then as Polarbear but finally changing their name to Snow Patrol  due to other bands by their former names, the Northern Irish band became very popular in the early '00s. Their first single " Run " was a hit in the UK. But in America, the band would become famous because of their song " Chasing Cars " when it was included in the season 2 finale of Grey's Anatomy . "Chasing Cars" is the song most people know by Snow Patrol, and most wouldn't be able to associate the name with their hit song. The band continues to produce music, most recently releasing 2018's Wildness .    TRAIN THIS CHAOS, TURN IT INTO LIGHT . If you've had time to get into Taylor's Version of Red , you may have noticed a feature by Snow Patrol's Gary Lightbody . Once the Indie Rock band became recognized, the band members started working on pop music, and Lightbody writing for Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran . The Snow Patrol singe

Many credit the formation of Seo Taiji and the Boys in 1992 as the birth of K-pop. Singer Seo Taiji had been a member of a heavy metal group in '80s but decided to experiment with electronic music and choreography. Seo, in essence, started the ripple, whereas, today's boy band was part part of a forming Korean wave, or Hallyu (한류) that seems turning into more and more of a tsunami every year. The boy bands and girl groups of early '00s were known by Korean enthusiasts. Korean cinema was known by film buffs. But in 2012 when Psy's " Gangnam Style " hit the Internet, the wave officially hit everywhere. In the late '10s, BTS and other K-pop groups started placing well on Billboard's Hot 100, performing on American television shows, and featuring on American pop albums. Then in 2020, Korean director Bong Joon-ho cleaned up the Oscars with his film Parasite  (기생충). Korean dramas, too, are part of the wave. While they haven't broken through in their orig