NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

  If you make a list of the most iconic singer-songwriters, the list would include all of Ed Sheeran 's influences. In fact, many would have had no problem putting Ed Sheeran on that list, if it weren't for his huge mainstream pop hit " Shape of You ." If it weren't for the 2017 song, Ed Sheeran would still have been a driving force in the music industry, penning verses for pop artists and singing semi-acoustic ballads and rapping a few bars here and there. Some listeners are still scarred from the repetitive chorus with its contrived masculine rhyme, so much so that they would prefer not to hear the song's follow up. It's unfortunate enough that I couldn't take songs like " Perfect " or " Castle on the Hill " seriously. And when Ed Sheeran announced that he was back on June 25th, I was less than thrilled. But last week thanks to musical algorithms, AppleMusic played " Shivers " when playing similar songs to Jax Jones ft.

As a promotion for the first Star Wars film in ten years, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens ,  Disney collaborated with South Korean boy band EXO to record a track called " Lightsaber " in three languages, Korean, Chinese , and Japanese . The multi-national boy band, signed to South Korea's biggest record label, had become a worldwide phenomenon in the 2010s, thanks to strategic marketing in South Korea and China. In 2015 at the time of the song’s release, EXO was the biggest K-pop group. “Lightsaber” was released as a bonus track on the group’s fourth EP, Sing for Me , recorded in both Korean and Mandarin. The EP was their fastest selling record at the time. I WANDERED HERE TO YOUR OUTREACHED HAND. I have an unpopular opinion. I don’t care for Star Wars . Perhaps it’s due to my religious upbringing. There was a book in my house when I was growing up about all the ways that the New Age and occult were imposing their way into the American family. Some examples wer

In 2019 Kacey Musgraves won four Grammys, including Album of the Year for her Country/Pop crossover Golden Hour .   But from her major-label debut, Same Trailer, Different Park in 2013, the Golden, Texas native singer-songwriter began racking up accolades both in and out of the Country music genre. American Songwriter , NPR , Rolling Stone , Paste , and Spin all had positive reviews of the folksy album, particularly noting Musgraves' songwriting. Her ability to turn a cliche on its head and subtly subvert the casual stereotypes in Country music, such as sexism, religious sentimentalism, and homophobia, set her apart from the typical Nashville star. Not only was she critically acclaimed, winning the Grammy for best Country Song in 2014 for today's song, but she turned out to be commercially viable, drawing both Country fans and non-Country fans alike. SAY WE WON'T END UP LIKE OUR PARENTS. Kacey Musgraves isn't the first country crossover. Slate Magazine' s Hit Para

Coming off of the success of the band's breakthrough single, "Misery Business," "crushcrushcrush" takes the band through the familiar territory of Riot 's teenage problems. The peaked at Number 2 on the Alternative Radio Play chart. The stadium rock produced rock-pop song is clearly in the style of 2007 rock, when emo was everything. The video depicts the band playing in the desert, the band with their jet black-dyed hair, Haley with her over-the-top stage makeup. This was a time when young bands on Warped Tour could end up on the Top 40. The band would surprisingly outdo their sophomore success, not on their follow-up, though Brand New Eyes  wasn't a total disappointment, but on their 2013 self-titled record, which would produce the Grammy Winning Rock Song of the Year for "Ain't It Fun." "Crushcrushcrush" shows who the band is on a fundamental level--a female-fronted emo rock band, a band for late millennials burgeoning just as

Coming off the heels of Years & Years ' second album, Palo Santo , the group collaborated with British House DJ and producer Jax Jones for his debut album Snacks . The song " Play " was released as a single in November of 2018 and would find a place on deluxe editions of Palo Santo  like " Up in Flames ." The two songs don't fit into the story of the futuristic queer/ religious concept album. Instead, "Play" follows Jones's concept. A colorful music video with  nostalgic goodies, the sweets and toys of a millennial's childhood, along with the single's artwork, clearly inspired by Play-Doh, remind listeners of playtime and all of the goodness of a childhood full of sugary cereal, matchbox cars, and action figures. The disco beat and Olly Alexander 's vocals take that childhood playtime nostalgia to a late-night dance hall. MY PHILOSOPHY DON'T LET NOBODY COME TOO CLOSE . The status quo of the song is defensiveness. The singer

If you picked up Out of the Badlands , you may have been expecting Aaron Gillespie's third album to be in the vein of his prior solo releases. In 2016, Gillespie had long since left his drumming/singing duties in Underoath and had put his own Southern-influenced pop-punk band, The Almost, on hiatus. His next venture was signing to BEC, the Christian imprint of Tooth & Nail Records, and releasing an original Praise & Worship record followed by another one. But as much as he tried, the rough-n-tumble persona that Gillespie is--with his heavily tattooed body and penchant for an unguarded sailor-mouth--Praise & Worship music didn't pay the bills. What did pay the bills, Gillespie found, was drumming for 4 years of stadium tours with the band Paramore. On the podcast, Where Are All My Friends , Gillespie talks about this period with Paramore as an opportunity to lay his artistic endeavors aside, which ultimately inspired his next projects. These included a reunion with U

Some music critics have called this the song of the 21st century. If you're sick of this song, I don't blame you. If you're from Canada, you got an extra dose of Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe," when it charted in October of 2011 and hit number 1 in February, several weeks before it charted in America. It was the song of the summer of 2012, spending 9 weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100, and it was rated as the second most popular song of the year, behind Gotye and Kimbra's "Somebody That I Used to Know." We have to thank Justin Bieber for tweeting about this song when he heard it while touring in Canada. Personally, I do get sick of songs, but I have never gotten sick of this catchy disco-infused track. It's  maybe my guiltiest of pleasures. Whenever I hear it, it makes my day, and it would have been my song of the day when I heard my students singing the song in class, but another ear-worm, " Careless Whisper " beat it out. The mo