NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

I’m in no rush to finish my post of my top 23 songs of last year. I’m taking my sweet time. But it’s Friday night, and I’m in Soho so I thought I’d post a little bit more, most notably some of the more dance-oriented tracks of the year. The three I posted on New Year’s Day were closer to honorable mentions, but the songs I picked in 20-15 are great but lacking something from pushing them up a little higher--and that something in many cases is the lyrical depth found on songs a little higher on the list. But feeling the rush of a song is certainly a big part of why we like music. Let’s enjoy the weekend! 20. “ Padam, Padam ” by Kylie Minogue kicks off the top 20. I was a little late to the new club classic last year. Listening to a breakdown of the song on Switched On Pop made the very simple song gave me a huge appreciation for not only it, but then I had to listen to Tension , the album Minogue released, and I started revisiting her back catalog. A worthy challenger to "Padam,

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 P

In December, I was among millions to receive a kiss from Taylor Swift as she thanked her Spotify listeners for being their top artist for 2023. “Doesn’t matter which era you were listening to, I’m just very grateful to be on your Spotify Wrapped,” Taylor says and then kisses the camera. I’ve talked about Swift a lot in the four years of my blog, but my appreciation for her catalog isn’t equal in the amount of love I give to every era. In fact, it was the beginning of her prolific period starting with 2008’s Fearless that the fandom wasn’t for me, yet there was something indescribably resonant with her childish songwriting. I was in college and music was readily available. Yet, somehow, even though Swift became more of a celebrity with the follow up, 2010’s Speak Now , I had little memory of the album in real time. And by 2012’s Red , I just remember hearing the hits. During this album cycle, I moved to Korea and really stopped paying attention to pop music. THIS NIGHT IS SPARKLIN’;

  On the  first season of the  Labeled Podcast ,  Aaron Marsh  talked about his writing process for  Copeland 's debut album,  Beneath Medicine Tree . In early 2019, he  returned to the podcast  to talk about the band’s latest album,  Blushing . If most listeners casually picked up the two records, forgivably, they'd assume they were listening to different bands.  Beneath  is a guitar-driven product of late '90s/early '00s emo rock. The album has mostly an optimistic tone.  Blushing  is a dark electronic-influenced album with darker lyrics. Marsh told  Labeled  host  Matt Carter  that rather than writing lyrics that are easily pinned to real people, like his ex-girlfriend Paula (in the song " When Paula Sparks ") he doesn't "want to write songs about [his] private life." He says, instead, "I want to write poetic songs about my private life." The band's fourth album,  You Are My Sunshine ,  does just that. Listeners don't know th

  Thomas Wolfe  is most famous for his novel  You Can't Go Home Again   which is a tome that I haven't read. However, I did read his first novel,  Look Homeward, Angel ,  which deals with similar themes. I picked up the book in the middle of a semester from hell and an existential crisis. I found Wolfe's descriptions of Southern life--the people in town and family members, the scenery, and the food--so comforting. The mostly autobiographical novel is nostalgic, but the protagonist, Eugene's academic pursuits push him to see the world outside of the isolated mountain town of Altamont (Asheville). DEFER TOMORROW.  The Juliana Theory  is a band whose influence far exceeds its success. Formed as the side project of  Brett Detar , the guitarist of the Christian metal band  Zao , when he wanted to incorporate the catchiness of radio rock bands like  Third Eye Blind  that the metal band listened to in van on tour, The Juliana Theory became a legendary band in the pop-punk scen

This Is All I Know is the final album by Number One Gun . The band from Chico, California, became one member-- Jeff Schneeweis —in 2007 on the band’s The North Pole Project . The other members went on to form the band Surrogate and work with other bands such as Emery .  There was a lot of controversy surrounding Number One Gun's last album, related to the late fulfillment of crowd-funding. Some backers for the 2014 album claimed as of 2021 they hadn’t received what they had been promised. After releasing This Is All I Know, Schneeweis declared that Number One Gun finished and started releasing music under the moniker Lael . This Is All I Know is the end of the Christian Rock era. HEAVY IS UPON US. Just as Anberlin had announced their farewell in 2014, several other bands called it quits. In 2017 the band Yellowcard , along with Anberlin drummer Nathan Young, recorded their final album and gave their farewell tour. After Anberlin ended, Stephen Christian was busy first in Nash