NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

Eric Nam released his first English mini album, Before We Begin on January 18, 2019. The Atlanta-born, Seoul-based singer-songwriter was beginning a new phase in his career. Prior to Before We Begin, Nam had been busy as an entertainer in South Korea, starting with finishing in the top 5 of a Korean singing competition show and debuted his first single “ Ooh, Ooh ” in 2014. Nam has talked extensively about his experience as a first-generation Korean American who was not fluent in his parents’ language, yet became a pop star singing in Korean. Learning Korean on the fly, he was featured frequently on Korean television both promoting his music and later interviewing celebrities who came to Korea for press tours.   THE GRASS IS GREEN, BUT I WISH IT WAS GREENER. Eric Nam’s dream was to be a pop star in America, yet with almost no Asians on the pop charts from his youth in the ‘90s and the ‘00s to his young adulthood in the ‘10s, he felt he couldn’t achieve his dream so he went to school

Nineteen years ago, Hoobastank killed rock music when they released their only ballad, " The Reason ." The song rose to number 2 on Billboard's Hot 100 and is the only song remembered by the band, despite the group having several Alternative radio hits. The band formed in 1994 and played local gigs with Incubus and Linkin Park before those bands were popular. Like Incubus and Linkin Park, Hoobastank were known for an eclectic hard rock sound--something listeners of their 2004 hit probably wouldn't get if all they knew was their biggest song. And no, it wasn't the band that ruined rock music, but it was certainly an indicator of the changing of times when music A&R pressured rock bands to follow the Hoobastank model. IT'S SOMETHING I MUST LIVE WITH EVERY DAY. Howard Benson produced Hoobastank's sophomore record, The Reason . We've talked about Benson as a rock producer of bands like P.O.D. , Mae , and The Starting Line . While Hoobastank's

Anberlin's second single from  New Surrender,  originally titled "Bitter Sweet Memory" treads familiar territory for the band: the emo break-up song. Their major label debut refined, perhaps over-produced, the sound that they had been curating since their sophomore record  Never Take Friendship Personal. " Breaking" was overshadowed by the sleeper success of "Feel Good Drag," which at the time, was the longest a single had ever taken to top the Alternative Radio charts. Aside from hearing it on Christian radio and a McDonald's, I never heard "Breaking" on Alternative radio. The music video for the song was also canceled, and the label went on to promote the non-album track, a cover of New Order's "True Faith" as the band's follow up. "True Faith," also didn't do well on the radio, but the band would score another top 5 hit with "Impossible." YOU MAKE BREAKING HEARTS LOOK SO EASY. In 2010 I decide

Netflix's  Song Exploder   tells the story of the first single from The Killers ' second album,  Sam's Town .  Toward the end of touring for their debut record,  Hot Fuss ,  The Killers started work on their second record .  The band changed their musical direction slightly for  Sam's Town , incorporating influences of Americana into their New Wave sound. Taking musical and lyrical influence from the Asbury Park superstar,  Bruce Springsteen , The Killers set out to tell the stories about the West and Las Vegas, a town they call home. From the opening guitar riff, inspired by the feeling of driving in the desert, to the spiritual conations in the lyrics, " When You Were Young " is an early track that shows the themes of the band in more recent years. WAITING ON SOME BEAUTIFUL BOY TO SAVE YOU FROM YOUR OLD WAYS.  I mostly skipped over The Killers' sophomore release,  Sam's Town . Critics and fans, too, were mixed on the album. The band who had named the

As the music industry changes, many vestiges from when pop music was based on radio mono-culture don’t make sense anymore. Still, every pop critic feels the need to discuss “The Song of the Summer,” a made-up title given to often a high-energy pop song that usually peaks in popularity during the summer months. Billboard started tracking the song of the summer from 2010, naming Katy Perry and Snoop Dogg ’s “ California Gurls ” for that year and retroactively dubbing a hit from each proceeding year until 1985. Later, they went back to 1975 and even listed the top tens from every summer since the chart's inception in 1958 . YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW MY NAME. “California Gurls” made sense as a song of summer. It was about sex on the beach, girls in bikinis, and all things summer. “ Call Me Maybe ,” “ Despecito ,” and “ Old Town Road ” were all listed as songs of the summer for the year they peaked in popularity. Psy ’s “ Gangnam Style ” wasn’t a contender because it didn’t chart because B

After pursuing a music career together as founding members of NEEDTOBREATHE beginning in 2001, guitarist Nathaniel Bryant "Bo" Rinehart departed from his band. The band's biggest hit, " Brother ," dealt with the tension of being family members in a band and their follow record, H A R D L O V E   furthered that theme. In 2020, the band released Out of Body , their first record without Bo. Replacing Bo on the record was future band member Tyler Burkum , a working Nashville musician who first cut his teeth in the '90s Christian Rock band Audio Adrenaline and had been a part of bands such as Leagues and a touring musician for Mat Kearney .  I WANNA HEAR YOUR VOICE IN THE WIND AND RAIN.  Today, we're loading up our iPods and heading back to school. The tracks included are some new and old tracks that deal with elementary, middle, high school, or college. These songs are for study and play. Enjoy!   Read “Child Again” by NEEDTOBREATHE on Genius.

Fall makes me revisit songs from my childhood. There's something about hearing the electronic drums and the acoustic guitar of a '90s pop rock song that put me in Pumpkin Spice mood. Maybe that's just me. But today, I started to collect all of the gutter flowers from the '90s, '00s, and beyond to make a Autumn mix. Of course, we're playing by the rules of one song per artist. Sometimes lyrics count toward the Autumn mood, but it's mostly vibes here. Enjoy!