NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

We're a less than a fortnight away from both Taylor Swift 's Midnights and  Carly Rae Jepsen 's upcoming release of her record  The Loneliest Time . Yesterday, Jepsen released the disco-infused ballad title track from the record, a collaboration with LGBTQ+ legendary singer Rufus Wainwright leading up to album's release. I didn't immediately love the song like " Beach House " and " Talking to Yourself ," but it seems that The Loneliest Season is shaping up to be a cohesive record about loneliness; perhaps more cohesive than her previous record,  Dedicated,  which dealt with crushes, being in relationships, breaking up, and sex.   WHERE THIS GOES, HOW THIS GOES.  " Happy Not Knowing " is the sixth track on Carly Rae Jepsen's 2019 record  Dedicated. Listening back to the record puts me back in 2019. Everyone was talking about how great it was before Covid changed everything, but do we really remember? I remember everything feeling u

Taylor Swift went from America's sweetheart to a polarizing figure in her twenties. Feuds with Kanye West and then wife Kim Kardashian, Katie Perry , and others; a dating reputation ; and self-deprecating and aggrandizing songs made Taylor's star not for everyone. But in 2019, Swift was starting to change the narrative, patching up things with Perry in the video for " You Need to Calm Down ," reducing her reliance on hip-hop beats, and reducing lyrical narcissism.  SAID I LOOKED LIKE AN AMERICAN SINGER. Swift didn't gain universal acclaim for Lover , though it did bode better with critics than Reputation .  Swift shows her most mature efforts on 2020's folklore and evermore . I've spoken at length about folklore this year, writing about the tracks " exile ," " august ," and " cardigan ." And my thesis about all of these songs is about how unlike Taylor Swift they are. I've argued that if you have bad blood with the pop

Folklore   is an album without a radio single, according to Taylor Swift . However, the music industry, even with its changes in practices over the last decade and over the course of the pandemic, is still the music industry. And when one of the biggest pop stars releases an album, there better be a single to release. But what song? There was a lot of great music released and produced during lockdown. Charlie XCX , Lady Gaga , and The Weeknd had us dancing in our underwear in the living room with our old cereal bowls stacked up on the arm table (did I just confess something?). Travis Barker produced a shit-ton of music, changing rap into rock. There were a ton of lockdown concerts. For Taylor Swift, lockdown was all about reinventing herself by going back to the basics.  CHASE TWO GIRLS, LOSE THE ONE. Like when Stephen Christian  at a Cornerstone set jokingly called " Like Steps in a Dance " was the "radio hit" from Anchor & Braille 's Felt , an album that

Someone once compared releasing an album on a major label to giving birth. They say it takes about nine months. There’s the actual making of the album, which in most cases, takes longer than the making of a baby, with preproduction, songwriting, and recording. The process before and in the studio is only half to two-thirds of the process. Then there's the mixing, mastering, and promotion. But a lot of the process is waiting; waiting for the record label to pick the right day to release the record--to make sure Adele isn't going to release a record the same day. And the promotion--making sure that the singles are evenly spaced for maximum effect on radio--something that major labels have failed at in the mid-'00s as we've talked about Mae , Acceptance , Copeland , and others. MEET ME B EHIND THE MALL. Taylor Swift certainly had been bullied by the music industry for much of her career. But with a fanbase of avid music buyers--millions of buyers at that--Taylor's pre

One of my forgotten New Year's resolutions was to listen to more Kacey Musgraves this year, and for the most part I've neglected that other than watching her music videos for star-crossed  back in January. But today when I was watching an old Mic the Snare video in which the host named Golden Hour as his top album of 2018 , I couldn't shake " High Horse " out of my head since. Watching that video reminded me that 1) I am a bad music critic and 2) I'm a basic bitch, but 3) there is a lot of music out there and 4) there's a reason why albums win Grammy's and finally 5) just because something is popular doesn't mean it's not worth digging into it. I THINK WE'VE SEEN ENOUGH. Kacey Musgrave's third record  Golden Hour transitions the singer-songwriter from straight-forward Country music to what Nick Canovas (Mic the Snare) calls Carly Rae Jepsen 's " Emotion with banjos." While I don't fail to see the comparison, Golden

Trying to unclutter today as it was Korean presidential elections, which is a holiday, I listened to folklore again as I played with my adult Legos, assembling two wardrobes and a desk. This was sparked by hearing " exile ," when I watched music cynic Todd in the Shadows ' only positive list of the year, his " Top Ten Best Songs of 2020 ." Even the most cynical of critics--Todd in the Shadows being one of the most cynical along with A Dose of Buckley --praised folklore .  YOU NEVER GAVE A WARNING SIGN. Taylor Swift 's 2019 album Lover helped the 29-year-old singer shake off her reputation from both self-indulgent lyrics and overly processed EDM tracks. Lover was the logical follow-up to her critically acclaimed 1989 , but something about the Taylor Swift formula was getting stale. Lover ended the feud between Swift and Katy Perry and Swift began tackling controversial subjects from LGBTQ+ rights to sexism. Lover, however, was in classic Swift fashion song

  I have a few confessions to make before getting into this post. First, I have only listened to folklore once or twice, and I've only listened to a few songs from evermore . As a music blogger, I have to do better. However, I'm waiting for the albums to hit me. I'm sure they will. Most music that sticks with me hits me at just the right minute. And there's a lot of music to be impactful from decades of classic rock to thousands of pop records over the last few decades. Second confession, I've liked Taylor Swift since her Fearless days. I had heard of her from " Tear Drops on My Guitar ," but I got into her when I heard she had covered Luna Halo 's " Untouchable ."  Taylor Swift became Nashville and the music industry's darling and it seemed that everyone had some love for the teenage star. But teenagers grow up.  James Dean in Rebel without a  Cause, 1955   Photo by Laura Loveday, Flicker . YOU COME TO PICK ME UP, NO HEADLIGHTS.  In