NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

We’re reliving pop-era Taylor Swift in the middle of the Midnights album cycle and on the cusp of Swift rereleasing her game-changing record 1989 . Even the re-record of Speak Now seemed to bypass its original country twang and highlight a pop-rock Taylor. But before we’re welcomed back to New York, especially as the summer is winding down, I’m drawn to the Taylor Swift that’s not quite Nashville, not quite L.A. but somewhere in Appalachian folklore perhaps lost for evermore . I’ve written a lot about folklore , but that release eclipsed the equally surprising release of evermore. While folklore was a more cohesive record, evermore was the album on which Taylor Swift gives herself permission to experiment in what could have been her new sound for the ‘20s. WRECK MY PLANS; THAT’S MY MAN. Taylor Swift begins her experimental album evermore with a song that could have easily been released on folklore, “ willow .” Similar to “ the 1 ” and “ cardigan ,” “Willow” didn’t immediately draw m

  Taylor Swift is in the gossip columns again, but this time it feels less invasive. On April 8th, the story broke that Swift and six-year partner, English actor Joe Alwyn split. The once media-deemed serial dater held her longest relationship with Alwyn, and there had been rumors that the two had held a private wedding. Swift and Alwyn began dating around the time when the singer went into semi-seclusion following the critical backlash from her 2017 record, reputation .   I'VE BEEN HAVING A HARD TIME ADJUSTING. Unlike previous relationships, Taylor Swift worked especially hard to keep the details of her romance with Joe Alwyn out the public. Two years after reputation, Swift released Lover , a mature record that dealt with the joys of being in a relationship on many of the tracks. Love empowered Swift to return to her fans with a stadium tour, but the pandemic canceled those plans. And Swifties and general music fans have the pandemic to thank for the songwriting and production

While I think of Taylor Swift ’s first lockdown album folklore as an autumn album, I heard an awful cover of “ cardigan ” yesterday, which made me crave the original. Perhaps “cardigan” could be a spring song, as the video does have springtime vibes. I decided rather than reposting to do a folklore track by track post. As I’m figuring out what this blog means for me in the post-pandemic, I’m realizing that it’s a personal project rather than a hope for mainstream readership. Rather the blog is me fleshing out my thoughts on my favorite topic: music. When I write a track-by-track review, it’s about giving multiple posts a home, in hopes of expanding later. For folklore, my top album of 2020 , I will give links to the posts I’ve written before. Enjoy! 1. “ The 1 ” opens the record, in which Swift announces that she’s “on some new shit”—though the song is probably written from another perspective, describing unrequited love. It’s a soft album opener, which is probably why I didn’t immedi

Coming to the end of the year, it's time to remember some of the musical highlights of 2022. I listened to a lot of music this year and maybe more new music than last year. But there certainly were albums that slipped under the radar. I had every intention of digging into  The Weeknd 's  Dawn FM   ,  but somehow I was never in that dark of a mood to resonate with the characteristics of that record. Today, I'm going to reveal my controversial list. Enjoy! #10 .  The Loneliest Time  by  Carly Rae Jepsen . The latest from the " Call Me Maybe " singer is a record that isn't immediately catchy and could easily fall between the cracks because of all the big releases of this year. The diverse singles showed different camera angles of a maturing pop singer who has solidified her status in music nerd-dom and gay music listeners alike. And with her first explicit labeled song, Jepsen is distancing herself from former tween-friendly aesthetic. I'm sure next year I

  Coming to the end of the year, it's time to remember some of the musical highlights of 2022. I listened to a lot of music this year and maybe more new music than last year. But there certainly were albums that slipped under the radar. I had every intention of digging into  The Weeknd 's  Dawn FM   , but somehow I was never in that dark of a mood to resonate with the characteristics of that record. Today, I'm going to reveal my controversial list. Enjoy! #10 . The Loneliest Time  by Carly Rae Jepsen . The latest from the " Call Me Maybe " singer is a record that isn't immediately catchy and could easily fall between the cracks of all the big releases of this year. The diverse singles showed different camera angles of a maturing pop singer who has solidified her status in music nerd-dom and gay music listeners alike. And with her first explicit labeled song, Jepsen is distancing herself from former tween-friendly aesthetic. I'm sure next year I'll be d

  This fall was when I got into folklore . Is this winter the one that I get into evermore ? Today, I made the jump into the record again after more cursory listens in 2020. I have a few thoughts from this afternoon's listen, but remember that I am by no means a Taylor Swift export the president of a local chapter of her fan club. I am merely offering my opinions on some damn good music. I'm hoping to have some deeper insights next year when I will probably dig deeper into this record.  THE WARMEST BED I'VE EVER KNOWN. A initial thought from when I listened to evermore,   I found that the record was even less cohesive than folklore. In my time with folklore, I began to realize that there was a cohesion to it, and I think the same is true with evermore. The next thing I noticed is that many of the tracks felt like b-sides to folklore, although the record was written and produced quickly after releasing folklore.   I first listened to evermore with my AirPods Pro when they w

  I was wrong about twenty one pilots , and the reason I'm willing to admit that is after I spent time with their album released last year, Scaled and Icy , I realized that this duo was much more than who I thought they were.   Mostly gone--but not entirely--are the emo rapping and trap beats that turned me off of the group when they debuted. The lyrics on Scaled and Icy, though, are emotional, and singer Tyler Joseph masterfully weaves clichés, esoteric messages for fans, current lingo, and new turns of phrase all to a funky piano/guitar groove. Scaled and Icy is in the vein of Paramore 's After Laughter , on the surface it's fun and light-hearted, but when you spend a little time with the lyrics, you're bound to discover a surprising depth. THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH THIS. I was thinking about albums of the year and how last year I didn't seem to have one. In 2019 I was obsessed with Mike Mains & the Branches ' When We Were in Love . And although I di

Remember what I said about Taylor Swift steering away from narcissism in folklore and evermore ? Well that version of Taylor can’t come to the phone right now, at least not at Midnights , particularly the album’s lead single “ Anti-Hero .” Two weeks ago Taylor Swift released her tenth studio album, Midnights  to unprecedented chart and sales success. And this week, tracks from Midnights populate every spot on Billboard’s Top 10 of the Hot 100 .   I’M THE PROBLEM, IT’S ME.  I still have yet to spend a meaningful amount of time with Midnights . The little time I have spent with it made me feel a little underwhelmed after spending so much time with the lush instrumentation and lyrics on folklore . Midnights is a return to form for Taylor Swift the pop star, but as I read more about the record and spend a little more time with it, it seems to be a return to form with a new richness absent of pre- folklore   Swift. I think my initial impression is wrong, but I haven’t been listening to m