NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

When Stevie Nicks named Harry Styles Fine Line his version of Fleetwood Mac's Rumors , look no further than the influence and writers of Styles ' first act: One Direction . The writers and the members of One Direction have been accused by music listeners of plagiarizing hit after hit from the 60s to the 2000s ; however, Pete Townshend, guitarist of The Who was flattered by how the pop act reinterpreted the opening of "Baba O'riley."  In One Direction, Styles learned about what makes up a hit. He internalized the formula and took it to his solo career. His 2019 release, Fine Line , spawn six singles, including a number one for "Watermelon Sugar," which was a summer hit last year. But buried beneath the hit singles, Fine Line 's vibey '60s and '70s psychedelic prog pop tracks about "having sex and feeling sad"  are some truly remarkable middle tracks. The George Harrison / Beatles sounding " Sunflower, Vol. 6 " is one of s...

" Harbinger " was supposed to be the last song we ever heard from Anberlin . In 2013, the band agreed that they would release one last album and tour the world one last time. Stephen Christian  talked openly about that dark hour in the band and the recording industry at the time, and because he was the only one speaking, many fans wondered if there was bad blood. However, in 2017, which was certainly not "forever" after their "final show" in December of 2014, the band announced a reunion supporting their good friends Underoath , who had also gotten back together. Since that reunion show, the band has toured off-and-on again, and most recently, performed all seven of their studio albums on livestreams. Yesterday, the band performed the album they never intended to play live, Lowborn . But right after the band's final movement in their requiem, they premiered a new song called " Two Graves, " along with the announcement that a new record is in ...

Ben Platt is a musician-actor who has played roles in Pitch Perfect , Ricki and the Flash , and stars in the Netflix original series The Politician . He stars in the upcoming film Dear Evan Hansen directed by Stephen Chbosky ( The Perks of Being a Wallflower , Wonder, Jericho ). The film is an adaptation of the broadway play in which Platt also starred and won a Tony Award for best leading role actor. At 23, Platt was the youngest actor have won this award. On Friday, Platt released his second solo pop record, Reverie . " Childhood bedroom " is the second track on Reverie , and deals with a similar theme to Dear Evan Hanson-- anxiety. In "childhood bedroom," Platt escapes his worries by mentally transporting himself to his past, a time when he feels secure.  BAREFOOT ON MY DARK BLUE CARPET, TEMPORARY FREEDOM WITHIN THESE WALLS. He had had a happy childhood, a room full of hand-me-down stuffed animals, a few Hess Trucks, Matchbox cars, and Legos, which he shared w...

In March, I talked about Kye Kye's 2014 single, "I Already See It"   and gave a brief history of the band and their connection to the Christian music scene. Since their 2014 release, the 4-piece band, originally composed of siblings Olga, Timothy, and Alex Yagolnikov along with Olga's husband, Thomas Phelan, now is a duo of Olga and Timothy. They broke their six-year hiatus last year, releasing an eerie single titled "A Forest," an electronic rhapsody incorporating singing and spoken word and scary sounding electronic tones. Then, in June of this year, the duo started releasing a series of two-track singles that would be part of their July 30 release of the 16-track Arya. But with Kye Kye's hiatus and without a record label, the album is quite under the radar. One listener on Twitter called the album, " an ode to Bowie and Brian Eno ," and that sounds appropriate. Much of the tracks are not catchy--they don't often follow a pop-song formula...

Adoy is a Korean Indie group that formed in 2017 with members from other indie groups. The band contains the keyboardist/vocalist Zee from the indie band From the Airport, who I talked about in January. Zee has also been involved with writing on George 's "Summer in Love," covered last month.  Adoy was founded as musical project to produce " commercial indie,"  an oxymoron that reminds me of the early 2000s when bands like Modest Mouse and The Strokes went mainstream. In Korea, too, the growing indie sound is flooding cafes, television, and movies. The Korean indie wave is much smaller than K-pop and K-dramas, but within Korea and in some underground scenes, Korean indie music is a cooler alternative to the bubblegum pop, the cute boys and and girls stickers slapped onto a binder.  WE RAN AWAY FROM THE TOWN. In Korea, though, a K-pop act's visibility helps to contribute to their sales. Much like seeing the image of a giant McDonald's M or a Nike che...

  Australian singer-songwriter Jessica Anne Newham , better known by her stage name, Betty Who , released her debut album Take Me When You Go in 2014. In her three albums, Who has yet to have a mainstream pop hit, though she has three #1 singles on the US dance chart. She has toured with Katy Perry, Kylie Minogue, Kiesza, Panic at the Disco, and Kesha w ho graduated from Berklee College of Music and was a classmate of Charlie Puth. In 2014, she was featured on Troye Sivan's debut album Blue Neighborhoods on the track "Heaven." Who is a staple in the LGBTQ+ music scene; she herself came out as "queer and bisexual." Her song "Glory Days" talks about young adulthood, mentioning names of people she knows, and remembering fondly a boyfriend who has a bit of a bad reputation. From the big '80s synth intro to the provocative lyrics, "Glory Days" is a nostalgic summer night jam. BREAKING BACK INTO THE HIGH SCHOOL HALLWAYS. "It's really ...

In May of 2015, Shinee released their fourth Korean album, Odd , with its lead--and only single, other than the repackaged album--" View ." The song was extremely popular, winning eight year-end awards on Korean award shows and heard in commercials and in every Korean radio station. It seems that the classic, early- '90s vibes of the song made the song palatable to all generations and inescapable bop to all who were out and about in summer of 2015 in South Korea. The music video, filmed in Thailand, tells the story of teenage rebellion, set in a retro style. The sticky hot atmosphere, member Key 's (키) Guns N' Roses muscle tee, stealing beer, riding vespas, dancing in a dusty garage, and diving into a neighborhood pool and rushing off, stealing the clothes from the line--creates a vibe of a carefree summer. Though the boys of Shinee and the their female fans might be a little bad, nothing shocking happens. It's just like a story parents sometimes tell their ...