NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

While the rock music was falling out of favor in the 2010s, All Time Low 's career continued to gain momentum. Formed in 2003 and heavily influenced by NoFx and Blink -182 the band became a force in the emo phase of the Warped Tour scene. The band became famous for their jocular onstage banter and their mock-turned serious feud with Metro Station . And in that jocular nature, the skinny, nerdy bandmates clad in only their tighty-whities appeared on MySpace's home page the week before their sophomore album So Wrong, It's Right  dropped in 2007. I DON'T MIND IF YOU FUCK UP (RUIN) MY LIFE. Fast forward thirteen years. I deleted a lot of music I acquired in college if I didn't like the songs. I enjoyed laughing at Blink- 182 videos in middle and high school just as much as any lower-middle class American white boy, but joke pop-punk got old when emo bands dug into deeper subjects. It turns out that All Time Low was digging a bit deeper in the 2010s, flying under my

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

Today we revisit Jimmy Eat World 's 2007 album, Chase This Light . Over the span of four records, from Clarity to Chase This Light, Jimmy Eat World showed what a band with a driving punk-rock rhythm can do with modern production. Clarity is a cult-favorite record. It shows the early days of Power Pop and Emo. Bleed American shows what happens if you get the energy of MxPx , an articulate voice, and  throw in a few sound effects, you get a few pop hits and and some Alt-rock bangers. GOTTA LOVE HOW IT’S SOMEHOW ALL ON ME. The band's follow up to Bleed American, 2004's darker  Futures  was somewhat of a departure from the punk rock origins of the band. The titular opening track had a different driving energy than a punk-rock beat. In fact, the songs that follow on Futures don't return to punk until track 6, the first single from the album " Pain ." The band's 2001 Bleed American had paved the way for other punk-rockers to enter the spotlight, whether it we

A few years ago, YouTuber Nick Canovas, or Mic the Snare , made a video about the characteristics of meme songs and why some songs go viral. Not all meme songs are created equal. Some annoyingly catchy songs get stuck in enough heads to become a hit. These are so bad that they’re almost good. Then there are old songs that become renewed for the TikTok generation. These songs had a solid presence before taking off on social media. Some of these songs are laughable in a modern context—the swanky sax solo from “ Careless Whisper ,” Rick Astley ’s shoulder dance when he sings “ Never Gonna Give You Up .” But some meme songs are what music critics still call legitimately good. A-ha ’s “ Take On Me ,” Simon & Garfunkel ’s “ The Sound of Silence ,” and today’s song can be legitimately enjoyed with an extra dose of irony once it has soundtracked a meme. YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO CUT ME OFF . In the spring and summer of 2012, I did a lot of driving. I had to get my paperwork together to go t

Eleven   years ago,  Deas Vail  released their  self-titled album , and with the exception of a Christmas EP,  For Shepherds & Kings ,  and a B-sides album, this has been their last full-length project. Composed of husband and wife  Wesley  and  Laura Blaylock  and three other musicians, Deas Vail is Latin and Old French, meaning "humble servant of God." As a lighter indie rock band they gained momentum in the Christian Rock and  Warped Tour  scenes before stopping touring and ultimately disappearing from the scene. Their final, self-titled album is a beautiful collection of songs, produced by  Relient K  guitarist and self-proclaimed minimalist,  Matt Hoopes . Minimalism seems to be a consideration as there is nothing particularly florid in the album or packaging, from the lyrics that don't stick out at first, to the cover art, to the subdued tones throughout the album. Listening to  Deas Vail  reminds me that it's not the grand days that make a lifetime great, b

  As a singer-songwriter and YouTube cover artist, Tiffany Alvord has collaborated with other YouTube musicians such as Alex G , Tyler Ward , Megan Nichole , and  Boyce Avenue . She released a number of pop covers albums until 2016 and then began releasing singles. She released a cover of Taylor Swift ’s “ Bad Blood ” on her 2016 I’ve Got It Covered, Vol. 6 , which includes three other 1989 Swift covers, “ Blank Space ,” “ Wildest Dreams ,” and “ Out of the Woods .”  The album’s opener, “Blank Space,” falls flat, as Alvord doesn’t add anything to the Swift masterpiece. Tyler Ward adds a masculine perspective to “Wildest Dreams.” But where Alvord shines is on the blander Taylor Swift tracks, “Out of the Woods” and today’s song, “Bad Blood.” While Swift is a good singer, Alvord’s vocal color brings the two seemingly monotonous versions alive. TAKE A LOOK AT WHAT YOU’VE DONE.  Celebrity feuds aren’t particularly interesting. But when we talk about Taylor Swift, we have to talk about the

We've been through several emanations of Lady Gaga . Her debut album, The Fame , was both a satire and a full embrace of the decadence of pop music. Critics were quick to draw comparisons to Madonna : both singers celebrate female sexuality and both artists are of Catholic Italian-American families which cause several similarities in themes throughout their discographies, and hence, both singers faced a hell of a lot of controversy. But just when critics said "enough" to Gaga's avant-garde Artpop , the singer switched things up. She recorded a Country-inspired album Joanne . She recorded with musical legend Tony Bennett , singing mid-twentieth century standards. She won an Oscar for the song " Shallow " from the movie she also received a nomination for her acting, A Star Is Born . I LOST MY LOVE AND NO ONE CARED. Lady Gaga's 2020 record, Chromatica , was originally planned for April, but delayed due to the pandemic. It is the return to Lady Gaga house mu