NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

Ten years ago, Lady Gaga released her most avant-garde record, Artpop , an album that polarized both fans and critics alike. To be fair, the album was a statement of a pop star’s artistic vision. To illustrate that vision, Lady Gaga channels ‘60s pastiche in the way that Andy Warhol blended the popular and the artistic. But with the critical pushback of Artpop, Lady Gaga took note and didn’t make another dance-pop record until Chromatica in 2020, instead venturing into acting, singing standards with Tony Bennett , a folk-rock album Joanne , and the Oscar-winning soundtrack to the film she starred in A Star Is Born . In 2020, the Lady Gaga persona could have done anything, and yet she graced fans with a return trip to the dance floor.  LIFT ME UP, GIVE ME A START. I’ve been thinking a lot about pop music lately. When I was a  hipster high school and college student, I thought of pop music as a kind of opioid. It puts you into a trance, makes you dance, and makes you not think about t

Van She (pronounced Van Ski ) is an electronic pop band from Sydney, Australia. After forming in 2002, they released several EPs and two studio albums in 2008 and 2012. According to the band’s Facebook page, they posted a new track in 2019, but there have been no updates since then. I heard Van She’s “ Strangers ” when iTunes gave away a sampler of artists to check out. The song made me think about the band’s post-punk influences, such as Echo & the Bunnymen and possibly Tears for Fears , giving me modern-day Donnie Darko vibes. While the lyrics of “Strangers” feel more sexual, I think that there is something creepy about the song. That’s why I’m choosing today’s song to kick off Spooky Season and it will be the basis for the 2023 version of the Spooky Season playlist. Stay tuned for updates!  

  While Troye Sivan was clubbing in his home of Perth, Australia, between COVID lockdowns, the soundtrack may have included songs by fellow Aussie Kylie Minogue , who has been an iconic pop star for a certain demographic for decades. But it’s not just the gay clubs where Kylie is famous. In fact, she is the highest-selling Australian female artist of all time. In Europe, she is often called the “Princess of Pop” because of her sense of style and her hit-making. In America, mainstream pop audiences probably know Minogue for her 2001 hit “ Can’t Get You Out of My Head ,” which is the singer’s most streamed song.  SOME MOMENTS ARE MAGIC. But pop music is much more than the Weekly Top 40, and the songs popular in Australia and Europe don’t always catch on in America. Kylie Minogue made several hits and even reached her Hot 100 peak before 2002 in the ‘80s with the number 3 hit “ The Loco-Motion ” in 1988 from her eponymous debut album. The song was a cover of a 1962 pop song written by G

  It’s been five years since Troye Sivan released his sophomore record, Bloom . Next month, the singer will release his long-anticipated third full-length studio album, Something to Give Each Other . In the heat of northern hemisphere summer, on July 13, the lead single, “ Rush ,” was released with a racy accompanying music video. Along with “Rush” and the album announcement on July 13, Sivan also released the artwork for the upcoming album.  Between the video for “Rush” and the cover art which features Troye Sivan’s head between the thighs of an apparently nude muscular man, it seems that the singer is continuing his horny era which began with his sophomore album.  TRUST THE SIMULATION. The time between Bloom and Something to Give Each Other was unintentional. In 2020, Sivan broke up with his long-term boyfriend, model Jacob Bixenman, which influenced several of the songs on the singer’s late-summer 2020 EP release, In a Dream . But Sivan doesn’t spend the whole EP pining about hi

Road trips are an opportunity to listen to music you don't usually listen to. The hours in the car and the new scenery take us out of our daily lives and let us experiment with something new. Sometimes we even bring part of that vacation home with us. Today's song is a vehicle to bring my Apple Music edition of Along for the Ride, a playlist I made for road trips. Today is unofficially known as the travel day for Korea's version of Thanksgiving, 추석, held on the harvest full moon which is tomorrow. Along for the Ride may have a lot of skippable tracks, but maybe you'll find something you like for driving.

Charlie Puth ’s third record, self-titled Charlie contains perhaps a higher percentage of mopey songs about being a “ Loser ” in love.  From “ That’s Hilarious ” in which the speaker laments losing a year of his life to a relationship that ended in heartbreak to the fast-paced “ Light Switch ” about a 11:30 booty call. Today’s song, “ Tears on My Piano ” takes direct inspiration from one of Taylor Swift ’s breakthrough hits, “ Teardrops on My Guitar .” The weepy song born out of heartbreak and mellow drama. Rather than analyzing this song, I thought it would be a good point to invoke the pathetic fallacy for this rainy weather and make my Apple Music edition of Rain. Enjoy it with a nice hearty soup!  

Last year, George Ezra returned with his third album, Gold Rush Kid . Like Ezra's previous two records, Gold Rush Kid topped the U.K. album charts . The singer-songwriter had interesting stories behind the recording of his previous records from a trip across Europe for his debut Wanted on Voyage and staying with a complete stranger in Barcelona in Staying at Tamara's. Returning to work with long-term collaborator Joel Pott , his long-term collaborator, Gold Rush Kid doesn’t have quite the backstory as the previous two records. But the otherwise sunny third installment from Ezra was born out of the singer’s struggles with OCD and nihilism. THERE’S NO ONE IN HERE LIVIN’ GONNA MAKE IT OUT ALIVE. For the second single from Gold Rush Kid, “ Green Green Grass ,” George Ezra was inspired by something he witnessed on a Christmas holiday in 2018 to the Caribbean island of St. Lucia. Ezra explained on Instagram that he and friends were sitting on the beach when loud music started pl