NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

  Before she was a singer, Paula Abdul was a dancer and choreographer, working on Hollywood movies and with some of the biggest names in '80s music in the golden age of the music video. But when her debut album dropped in 1988 her third single, " Straight Up " took her to the top of the charts. "Straight Up" started a streak of six number-one hits. However,  Abdul released her latest studio album in 1995, occasionally touring with the old songs since, but mostly working on other endeavors, like judging American Idol , The X Factor ,   Masked Singer , and other reality TV appearances.  HOW ABOUT SOME INFORMATION, PLEASE? "Straight Up" is straight up  a guilty pleasure song these days. The song has appeared in movies, but it's not to the cliché level of some classic rock songs, like " Walking on Sunshine " or " One Way or Another ." Coming across the song today at work while grading papers on a gloomy, now third day of no sunshin

  It's been 20 years since the post-grunge " Hanging By a Moment " was the number 1 song of the year. Although the Christian Rock band Lifehouse never actually topped the weekly charts, the song had so much statistical force via radio play and record sales that the song became one of rare cases when a single that peaked at number 2 could actually claim the number 1 position for the year. No Name Face featured three singles, but none were as big as "Hanging By a Moment." For the band's follow up, Lifehouse signed a Christian music marketing deal with Sparrow Records. Stanley Climbfall was no where near as successful as the No Name Face, but a sophomore slump didn't plunge the band into obscurity. In 2005, the band released their self-titled album which boasted their number one hit which was appearing in every TV show that year, the prom/wedding favorite, " You and Me ."  I WAS YOUNG BUT I WASN'T NAIVE.  " Blind ," the band's

Number One Gun was a band that was always around in the Christian Rock scene, but never seemed to be anyone's favorite band. From 2007-2014, the band became a solo project for Jeff Schneeweis. Former band members went on to form the band Surrogate, but also contributed to the NOG's last album This Is All We Know , which is still shrouded in controversy. The episode of the podcast Don't Feed the Trolls called "Band Brotherhood," features a fun conversation with Number One Gun's former guitarist, Chris Keene, where he dishes on the lead singer Jeff Schneeweis and his failure to deliver on Kickstarter pledges. Several other members from other bands have talked about Number One Gun as the example of what not to do in a Kickstarter campaign. All in all, it's a pretty sad way to end a career in Christian Rock. I GIVE IT UP TO YOU, I NEED A NEW LIFE. When I'm feeling nostalgic, I can sit in bed and try to remember every band that had a hit on RadioU. Number

Dabin is a melodic EDM music producer from Toronto, and Conor Bryne is known for his YouTube covers. I first heard this song last week when Apple Music played it as a "music you may like based on the artists you just played." It's probably the most surefire way for me to discover music these days. Neither artist has a Wikipedia page as of yet, so I feel like I can be a tastemaker when I recommend this song. Based on the nursery rhyme, "Ring Around the Rosie," "Rings & Roses" explores the career path of someone, a friend or a lover, who is pursuing fame. That person has become too popular for the singer, who warns that in the end "they all fall down." Simple enough. WAITIN' ON THE DREAM YOU BEEN SOLD. Part of the American Dream is indoctrinating elementary-school-aged children that they can be anything they want to be when they grow up. Of course, as the children get older, teachers start to point them in a different direction. They

  Every band has tackled the Covid-19 pandemic in different ways. Many bands are selling live-stream tickets. Some have decided to give free concerts on social networking. Cleared from the time-consuming task of driving across the country, setting up equipment, and tearing down only to drive to the next city, musicians have been able to produce music in new ways. It doesn't hurt that all of their equipment and professional microphones are in their basements. Last year, Emery produced a show on their Twitch channel , in which they played their songs. They often had guest vocalists from other bands, such as Hawthorne Heights , Silverstein , and Dave Elkins  of Mae . Emery reimagined some of their songs and the guest vocalist's band's songs too. The collaboration of " Embers and Envelopes " was a beautiful updated take on Mae's first single.  I KNOW YOU HAVE SACRIFICED TIME, LIFE, LOVE.  I've been having a bad few weeks. It seems that no matter what I do, I

In every small town to major city in South Korea there are private karaoke rooms called noraebang  (노래방). These are used by everyone from middle school students escaping the stress of studying for exams to middle-aged office workers, pressured into going out and drinking with the boss. Since I've been in Korea, I've heard them mentioned in American TV shows or movies in major cities; however, noraebang culture is much more permeated in Korean culture than karaoke is in America. So what is sung in these karaoke rooms? You can spend hours browsing the song selection from old Korean throat music (트롯), a kind of old-timey, often disco sounding music that Korean ajoshis or ajumas (아주씨, 아줌마), or middle aged people, love. There are K-pop songs through out the ages and international songs like Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Spanish, and of course English pop, rock, and traditional songs. When you go to a noraebang, you select the song you want to sing and the lyrics appear on the scree

  In March of 2015, Sufjan Stevens  released Carrie & Lowell ,  and the album was praised by indie music journals and NPR. In May of that year, a study concluded that most of the number one hits from 2005-2014 were written on the reading level of a fifth grader.   Maybe that's the reason I don't spend too much time wrestling with finding the meaning of the text in most song lyrics. However, whenever I choose a Sufjan Stevens song, I spend quite a bit of time reading the Genius annotations, discovering hidden metaphors and symbolism that don't appear until quite a few listens. " Should Have Known Better " is the second track on the album, following his invocation of the muse in " Death with Dignity. " Stevens recalls more specific, particularly the jarring details about whe n his mother "left [him and his brother] at that video store" when he was three or four.  THE PAST IS STILL THE PAST, THE BRIDGE TO NOWHERE. As Stevens gets more speci