NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

Sometimes when I write about music I like, I hear the whiny voice of a younger millennial or Gen Z-er saying the band's name and, "Are they even relevant anymore?" That's what I thought about when I wrote about The Fray and other pop rock bands from when I was in high school. When I wrote about OneRepublic in early 2021, the band hadn't released an album since 2016, and momentum for the band seemed to be waning. But then in August, they released their record Human .   THEY GOT SUN IN L.A. AND SOME STARS SHININ'.  In 2017, OneRepublic's lead singer Ryan Tedder decided to forego the typical album cycle the band had followed. The band started releasing singles that year. Two years later, the band started releasing singles for the album they would release in 2021.  But shortly after  Human came out, OneRepublic seemed to be almost over the album cycle. The band had released five singles from the record before its arrival starting in 2019, which is a much lo

  Today we have another offering from Falling Up ’s Captiva , the transitional record between their mainstream Christian Rock career and their dive into pure lyrical experimentation. I believe that “ Maps ” was one of the last Christian Hit Radio (CHR) singles for the band. Christian Hit Radio was perhaps the least successful Christian music genre. The genre tried to parallel Top 40 pop stations, offering a mix of Christian hip hop, pop, adult contemporary, and rock. One of the best examples of the Christian Hit Radio stations was Air1 .   While Air1 still around, it now claims to be a “Worship Radio station.” ONE LAST HOUR BEFORE THIS PLACE IS ON FIRE.  In the early ‘00s, Christian Hit Radio stations, such as Air1, served as a place where listeners could hear the heavier Michael W. Smith and Rebecca St. James songs and the calmer P.O.D. and Anberlin songs. Air1 also played pop stars like early Jonas Brothers and Jordin Sparks as well as publicly Christian general market artists

We’re at the end of another month, now solidly into fall in the northern hemisphere. This month’s playlist has been the most repeats of any other month with 17 reposts and 13 new songs. And yet I don’t regret the choices because almost every song fits a certain autumny nostalgia. So today, despite the weather being a record high, I chose one of my favorite fall songs from an album I’ve talked about to death. But repeated listening is not the same as repeated reading. So, if you've read enough about Acceptance, skip today's post and just go listen to  Phantoms   or " In the Cold ." THE WORDS, THEY TAKE THEIR MEANING.  While " In the Cold " is a mid-album track that had very little potential to become a single, I feel that this song best encapsulates the "cooling" of interest Columbia Records had with Acceptance . I've talked about the  anti-piracy CD recall  that took the band's record from the shelves. But there were more problems. Columbi

  The Fray ’s eponymous second record was propelled by the success of their first record How to Save a Life . While it’s true that television dramas can still make the careers of bands, in some ways it seems like the storytelling lyrics of bands like The Fray were going out of fashion with each subsequent release from the Boulder, Colorado-based band. But with still eight million monthly listeners on Spotify despite not releasing anything new since 2014, and even lead singer Isaac Slade leaving the band last year, there still is a market for coffee-shop lyricism, even if you don’t hear it on Top 40 stations anymore. HE’S NO LONGER WITH US, BUT HE LEFT THIS DUSTY ROOM. Like many of the songs on The Fray’s second LP, “ Enough for Now ” deals with an emotional subject related to family.  The seventh track on the record deals with the death of lead singer Isaac Slade ’s maternal grandfather. The lyrics of the song paint a bleak picture about a bitter man who longed to pass on his name wi

A band that started their career by being billed as the featured artist to Timbaland , their producer, who merely added a few grunts to a remix of their song " Apologize ,"  OneRepublic quickly gained popularity on their own terms. Their debut album spawned several other hits including " Stop and Stare ." On top of OneRepublic's success, lead singer Ryan Tedder quietly became one of the go-to songwriters for pop musicians. In the late '00s, Tedder began writing songs for Beyoncé and Kelly Clarkson , and began producing tracks for other artists. Then in November 2009, the band released their sophomore album Waking Up . BETWEEN THE NOISE YOU HEAR AND THE SOUND YOU LIKE. OneRepublic's debut record, Dreaming Out Loud , wasn't particularly innovative. A band coming out of Focus on the Family 's hometown of Colorado Springs, Colorado, and composed of (mostly) good Christian boys who, much like The Fray , were raised up on '90s CCM sounds of Stev

  Before The Fray and OneRepublic , Lifehouse was the pop-rock band that appeared with their song " Hanging by a Moment " and then crossed over to the Christian market. Their debut album, No Name Face  garnered a lot of love both in the Christian and pop markets. Songs like "Hanging By a Moment" and " Breathing " were huge Top 40 hits, while the song "Sick Cycle Carousel" was a hit on the Christian radio stations. The band signed a deal with Sparrow Records for their second album, Stanley Climbfall, and solidified their hold in the Christian market and lessened their hold on mainstream radio. However, their third and self-titled album produced their biggest pop hit "You and Me" and their fourth album Who We Are, lessened their grip on the Christian market. And by their fifth through seventh albums the band's pop appeal had diminished as their post-grunge sound fell out of favor with pop radio.  HOW COULD ANYTHING BE BETTER THAN T

Ryan Tedder might be the most successful pop musician to have graduated from Oral Roberts University , an Evangelical college founded by the evangelist of the same name and which spawned preachers such as Kenneth Copeland , Joel Osteen , and Ted Haggard . I remember when OneRepublic debuted in 2007 with their song " Apologize ." Tedder talked about his religious background in interviews and how he was influenced by CCM music when he was growing up. Another group, The Fray , had debuted two years before OneRepublic with a similar story and hometown in Colorado. Christian radio fell hard for The Fray, playing songs like " How to Save a Life " and " You Found Me " on Christian radio stations. They didn't fall in love with OneRepublic quite as much. Both bands were multi-platinum bands, but OneRepublic stuck around longer than The Fray whose third and fourth albums failed to achieve the greatness of their first two albums.  YESTERDAY'S GONE. I disco