NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

In 2020, amid America’s racial reckoning following the brutal murder of George Floyd, many artists of color came to prominence. Jon Batiste had been playing drums and percussion from the age of 8 and classical piano from the age of 11. Influenced by classical, jazz, R&B, and pop, Batiste released his first album, Times in New Orleans , at 17 and was accepted to study music at Juilliard. After earning his bachelor’s degree, Baptiste went on to earn a master’s degree also from Julliard. In 2004, while studying at Julliard, Batiste formed the jazz band Stay Human . In 2015, Steven Colbert hired Batiste and Stay Human as his house band for The Late Show with Colbert . Batiste’s career has been characterized with prestige, collaboration, activism, and gradual name recognition. THAT’S JUST WHO I AM, THAT’S JUST MY RADIO. I first heard of Jon Batiste from his contribution to the Soul original soundtrack. Batiste composed original jazz pieces for the 2020 Pixar film . Along with co-comp

  Last year, the charts were filled with mostly the same multi-platinum stars, making it a rather boring year in pop music. There were a few break-out hit songs. One of the most interesting breakthroughs was Mitski ’s “ My Love Mine All Mine ,” a slow, moody track that sounded almost like it was transported from the ‘50s. The song didn’t make my top 23, but I think it deserves an honorable mention. That’s what I’m posting today, my honorable mentions and a reason why they didn’t make the list. Then I'm going to post my #2 song of the year. I'm always discovering songs from years past, so always take this list with a grain of salt. “ Speed Drive ” by Charli XCX , “ Choose Your Fighter ” by Ava Max , “ I’m Just Ken ” by Ryan Gosling , or maybe “ What Was I Made For? ” by Billie Eilish . I didn’t blog about any of these songs. I prioritized songs I blogged about, but the Barbie soundtrack was excellent. “ ceilings ” by Lizzy McAlpine . This song would be in my Top 5, but I disqua

  Back to our somewhat weekly countdown of the top songs of last year ranked completely unscientifically by me. Now that we’re in the top ten, these songs either have some critical acclaim or I think that they are critically underrated. These are songs that resonated with me at a time when I wasn’t particularly in the mood to digest a boygenius record--no shade to the extremely talented musicians. So sorry Phoebe Bridgers , Julien Baker , and Lucy Dacus --I hope to get into the record soon. Also, sorry for the exclusion of Sufjan Stevens and Taylor Swift . I was too sad to listen to Javelin and I just dropped Taylor’s “ I Can See Yo u” in favor of a song that was actually new in 2023. 10. “ Chasing That Feeling ” by Tomorrow X Together . I just added this song because it’s been one of my recent favorites. While K-pop girl groups FIFTY FIFTY and NewJeans and BTS soloist Jung Kook had a big year in international acclaim, I feel like TxT was a little lower-key than a few years ago