NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

Following up P.O.D. ’s 2003 self-titled album , Testify brings the band both back to their hard rock and reggae, while going deeper into rap rock. The video for the album’s lead single, “ Goodbye for Now ” topped MTV ’s Total Request Live . It was the band’s fourth video to top the countdown, the most by a single artist until that point. Rather than a hard rock single as all P.O.D. albums had been led with until that point, “Goodbye for Now” was a down-tempo, moody Hip-Hop track featuring an act that co-producer Glen Ballard had signed to his soon-to-be-defunct record label, Java Records . B allard suggested that Katy Perry at the end of the P.O.D. track. “Goodbye for Now” was slightly more successful than the singles from Payable on Death, but the band failed to follow up their lead single. It was also the band's last charting hit on non-Christian charts. WE TORE THIS ROOF OFF THIS MOTHER; NOW IT’S TIME TO BLOW. P.O.D. departs from Howard Benson and instead works with Glen B...

The Vanguard Room is a recording studio in Lakeland, Florida, run by Aaron Marsh , best known for his work with Copeland . Besides recording Copeland, Marsh has recorded and produced artists such as Anberlin , This Wild Life , Anchor & Braille , The Myriad , and many others. In 2019, The Vanguard Room released the album, A Lakeland Christmas, Vol. 1 , a project funded by Kickstarter . The ten-track record features local artists from Lakeland covering Christmas tunes. None of the artists featured have a large streaming following, but the Aaron-Marsh-produced record is beautiful nonetheless. Today, we'll look at the John Denver song " Christmas for Cowboys " performed by Dan Sharrett of nora's breakfast club , originally from Denver's Rocky Mountain Christmas album. BACK IN THE CITY, THEY’VE GOT DIFFERENT WAYS--FOOTBALL, EGGNOG, AND CHRISTMAS PARADES. Starting in about October, I started listening to Spotify’s country playlists. It’s a genre that I have to b...

  "I~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~I. Don't want a lot for Christmas." *struggles to change the radio dial amid gridlocked holiday traffic* "There's just one thing I need" *hurry up with my damn latte! I think I'm going to die. Why the hell is  Starbucks   playing Christmas music in mid-October?* "I don't care about the presents" *internal Elaine monologue 'I think I'm going to die in this department store. Ma'am, why must you spray the perfume so close to my face. I can't breathe! What if the earth begins to shake and we're stuck in here forever underneath mannequins and holiday shoppers and that damn  Mariah Carey     song  stuck on repeat?'* "Underneath the Christmas tree" "No" *raising a strict finger to students who should be studying in the back* "Not before Thanksgiving." "I just want you for my own/ More than you could ever know." Every year, Christmas music gets earlier and earli...

  Hark! An unexpected gift has appeared under the tree this season, and it’s a gift for us all to Cher . That’s right, this year Cher has released Christmas , a combination of jukebox Christmas favorites (and non-Christmas songs made festive) and new jingly jams. Unless you’re a Jack McFarland-level fan of the corset-wearing pop star, you probably haven’t thought about the 77-year-old star since, well, 1998 when the contralto brought autotuning to the mainstream with her mega comeback hit “ Believe .” For millennials like me, it was my first introduction to the singer. It was also a rarity for a singer popular during my parents’ generation to score a number-one hit on pop radio. And while Cher's latest Christmas single, " DJ Play a Christmas Song ," has not yet hit Billboard' s Hot 100 --it's peaked at 115 so far--the song has topped Billboard 's Adult Contemporary chart. THAT’S THE ONLY THING I WANT THIS YEAR. Cher’s Christmas is a little anti-climactic afte...

  In 1944 or 1945, Mel Tormé   and Robert Wells wrote the song “ Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire .” Tormé talks about writing the song on a hot summer’s day as a list of cold weather fantasies he and Wells, his songwriting partner, brainstormed to think cool thoughts. The Nat King Cole Trio first recorded the song in June 1946, under “ The Christmas Song ” (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire). The group re-recorded the song in August, which became a hit on pop and R&B radio. Nat “King” Cole , as a solo artist, would record the song two more times throughout his career. Cole’s 1961 version, his fourth and final, is the version most played on radio and streamed today. That version is also in the Library of Congress to be preserved by the United States National Recording Registry . SO, I’M OFFERING THIS SIMPLE PHRASE. On a 2021 holiday episode of Hit Parade , host Chris Molaphany talks about the phenomenon of classic hit-makers becoming reduced to their holiday legacie...