NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

  In the welter of the ever-changing music industry, Anberlin decided to call it quits in 2013, but not before a final record, Lowborn ,  and a farewell tour. The band started to feel that they were hitting the glass ceiling of what a rock band could achieve in the 2010s. On the Your Favorite Band podcast, lead singer Stephen Christian revealed that after Universal Republic Records failed to promote radio singles from Vital , the band was able to take their record to an indie label, Big3 Records , re-releasing Vital as Devotion , a massive three-disc deluxe edition of Vital . The band formed a radio team to promote the opening track, " Self-Starter ," as a rock radio hit. But the song didn't catch on. SHUT UP AND ACTUALLY TRY. Stephen Christian   often attributes the success that the band had and that he has had in his solo career as a daily "hustle." I've written about band who debut and experience success, but Anberlin worked steadily and experienced g

On Friday, Watashi Wa released their latest record People Like People   on Tooth & Nail Records . Over the past two decades, lead singer Seth Roberts has had three bands: Watashi Wa, Eager Seas , and Lakes , but in a recent episode of As the Story Grows  podcast , he said that he feels that he will only make music with Watashi Wa from now on because all of the other monikers were basically the same band as Watashi Wa. Roberts is a collaborating force, so when the latest Watashi Wa record was announced a list of bands in the milieu of Tooth & Nail pop-punk, nostalgic listeners got even more excited about the resurrection of the sound of 2003's The Love of Life . PISSED OFF AND BLEEDING. While collaboration is one of the strongest selling points of  People Like People , Scott Fryberger from  JesusFreakHideOut.com  in a review of the album called out the band on their overselling the featured artists. Listeners are often hard-pressed to identify the featured artists. The alb

A coffee-shop singer songwriter and early YouTube music creator, Caroline Glaser  (now Caroline Swon)'s breakthrough came when she auditioned and got a place on season 4 of  NBC 's talent show, The Voice . Three performances advanced her to further rounds, but she was cut on the forth round singing Ed Sheeran 's " The A Team ." After The Voice, Glaser recorded an 8-song self-titled record , from which today's song, a cover of The Outfield 's 1985 debut hit single " Your Love ," comes from.  YOU KNOW I LIKE MY GIRLS A LITTLE OLDER. Other than a 2018 single , Glaser hasn't released any recent music under her name, but rather she started releasing music under the moniker Brother Bird  and has released their first LP, gardens , last year. Also in 2018, Glaser married fellow The Voice alumni Colton Swon  of the country duo The Swon Brothers , a group that had placed third on Season 4. Caroline's voice has a soft, singer-songwriter characterist

In 1996 Tonic scored a number 11 hit with their song “ If You Could Only See ” from their debut record Lemon Parade . Three years later, the band releases the first single from their follow up record Sugar . “ You Wanted More ” first appeared on the soundtrack to the 1999 teen sex comedy American Pie . Unlike “If You Could Only See,” “ You Wanted More” failed to crack the Hot 100 but peaked at number 3 on the Modern Rock chart. The band’s sophomore record had several underperforming singles. After their third record, 2002's Head on Straight , the band went on a lengthy hiatus. I DON’T KNOW HOW I GOT BITTER.  While many people have probably forgotten about Tonic’s debut single and their less successful follow ups, 1996 is an interesting time for music. Music YouTuber Rick Beato claims that Rock music died in 1996 mainly because Rock started divorcing itself from the blues. He also claims that the rock music of the late ‘90s and early ‘00s popularized "nameless" bands, m

After a commercially-failed sophomore record,  Folklore ,  which was more personal to the Portuguese-Canadian pop singer than her debut record, Whoa, Nelly! ,  Nelly Furtado worked with producer Timbaland to go big with Loose . Furtado had tried to take her listeners on an artistic journey into her Portuguese heritage on Folklore. Loose, however, brings back the hip-hop beats and sets the formerly ascendent star back into orbit, at least for one more album. This is not to say that Furtado wasn’t artistic on her third record.   YOU DON’T MEAN NOTHING AT ALL TO ME. The artistic concept behind Loose is referred to in its double-entendre of a title. In Rolling Stone Furtado talked about how the production used in making the album was one of the reasons for titling it. The title also has to do with a celebration of female sexuality, Furtado bringing a sex-positive attitude in ‘06 when the noughties were heating up.  Loose  was an international hit, marketing different singles to differen

Formed after British Colombian Nu-metal band  Stutterfly 's lead singer left the band,  Secret & Whisper  incorporated the high-registering vocals of Charles Furney (then Finn) with their speed metal guitar riffs. Furney cites The Smashing Pumpkins as one of his influences, and the band is often compared to  Saosin  or  Circa Survive . In fact, a rumor circulated that Charles had left Secret & Whisper and joined Saosin after their lead singer  Cove Reber  left the group. In 2008, Secret & Whisper released their album  Great White Whale   on  Tooth & Nail Records , touring with  Emery  and Maylene and the Sons of Disaster. The band's follow up album in 2010,  Teenage Fantasy ,  was their final record, with three members starting the post-hardcore band,  Shreddy Krueger .  A SILENT FIGURE, A VAPOR THAT LOOMS BEYOND . The lyrics of  Great White Whale  are inspired by  Moby Dick   combine with Furney's dreams and experiences. While tapping into the motif of lo

In Lana Del Rey 's first interview with Zane Lowe , she talked about her inspiration for the 2012 record, Born to Die . She talks about the collaboration between her, hip-hop producer Emile Haynie , and string arranger Larry Gold to create an album that sounds classic and fresh. Although Del Rey has moved away from the Brooklyn-style hip-hop beats in albums after Born to Die, the album still feels relevant ten years later. In fact, when  Pitchfork re-examined the record last year , the review bumped the score from 5.5 to 7.8. While pop cynics may argue that music has gotten worse rather than being misunderstood at the time, the young adult escapism, the post-modern life she sings about makes more sense among the younger artists Del Rey influenced such as Lorde and Billie Eilish .  I EVEN THINK I FOUND GOD. " Without You " appears as the thirteenth track on the  Target Bonus Tracks edition of Born to Die. The album's standard edition ends with " This Is What