NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

It’s time to check in with NewJeans . On August 27th, Min Hee-Jin was dismissed as the CEO of NewJeans’ label ADOR , a sub-label of Hybe Corporation . The corporate intrigue has left one of Hybe’s most internationally and financially successful acts in limbo. NewJeans is like the victim of a divorce in which the custody lies legally with their father label. NewJeans, however, expressed their loyalty to Min Hee-Jin, who formed the group and managed every step in their process toward global ubiquity. But NewJeans aren’t completely helpless. As one of the biggest K-pop acts, the group has an active fanbase. On September 11, NewJeans hosted a livestream on YouTube and demanded that Min be reinstated as CEO of ADOR by September 25th. This statement by the group was believed to be responsible for Hybe’s 3% dip in value of the company’s shares .  WE ARE BOUND TO EACH OTHER. With the turmoil at ADOR, NewJeans’ releases this year have lagged compared to the last two years. The group has re...

  MUNA  is an alternative pop group composed of three friends who studied together at the  University of Southern California . The trio self-produced their debut EP and uploaded it to  Bandcamp  and  SoundCloud . The band's success with their debut EP led to the group signing with  RCA  records and releasing their 2017 debut record,  About U.   In May 2021, the band announced that they had signed to  Phoebe Bridgers '  Saddest Factory  record label. The group recently released the single " Silk Chiffon " which features Bridgers singing a verse. The song is one of the group's few singles to chart on  Billboard , peaking at #35 on the US Alternative chart.  KEEPIN' IT LIGHT LIKE SILK CHIFFON.  I think I first heard MUNA in the awkward teen comedy  Alex Strangelove ,  a story about a high school senior who is struggling to understand his sexuality. All the members of MUNA identify as queer, though, as...

  In 2013, the Jonas Brothers decided to stop making music together. The eldest brother, Kevin Jonas appeared in a reality TV series about his married life with his wife Danielle Jonas . The middle brother of the trio Joe Jonas formed a band called DNCE . Nick Jonas , the youngest member of the family trio, got involved in several ventures. He guest-starred in a few television episodes and was hired as the musical creative director on his friend Demi Lovato ’s Neon Lights Tour. After the tour, he was cast in the boxing drama Kingdom . In 2014, he released his second album, X2 , which completely rebranded the singer from a squeaky-clean teen heartthrob to a sexy twenty-something. YOU’RE TOO SEXY, BEAUTIFUL. In 2005, a year before The Jonas Brothers released their debut album It’s About Time , Nick Jonas released a Christian self-titled album as Nicholas Jonas on Columbia Records ’ Christian division INO . The album is now out of print and unavailable on streaming services. Nick ...

  SHINee ’s Kim Ki Bum , or simply Key , released his second full album, Gasoline , in 2022. Like “ Helium ” on his EP Bad Love from 2021, Key features an English song: “ Another Life .” Key is not the only Korean idol artist who sings in English. Today, I thought I would start a collection of K-pop songs that are entirely in English. Key’s English tracks are album tracks, not promoted as main singles in Korea or abroad. Other artists on the list released these English tracks as singles in Korea and abroad. Still, others recorded an English version of a Korean single to promote the single to international audiences. Whatever the reason, we’re glad to hear more from our favorite K-pop stars. Enjoy the list. Read the lyrics on Genius.

I arrived in South Korea at the end of August 2012, about a month after Korea’s biggest viral hit had been released. I taught elementary school, and I was aghast to hear a chorus of  7-year-olds dancing the horse dance and singing in English, “Hey, sexy lady!” I was teaching at a Christian school among other young conservative missionaries. I thought about how sheltered the Christian schools were that I grew up in. I had arrived in South Korea, the land of electronic boy and girl Idol groups--boys and girls who had dieted, trained for years under questionable conditions, and undergone plastic surgeries and treatments to look magazine-worthy, yet it wasn’t BIGBANG , SHINee , Girls’ Generation or  2NE1 who popularized K-pop for the world. It was Park Jae-sang .  LONG TIME, NO SEE, HUH? Psy ’s “ Gangnam Style ” was simultaneously the quintessential K-pop song and the most anti-K-pop song ever recorded. Psy was a Korean rapper and only achieved modest airplay in South Kore...

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 , 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. She is often called the “Princess of Pop” in Europe because of her sense of style and hit-making. In America, mainstream pop audiences probably know Minogue for her 2001 hit “ Can’t Get You Out of My Head ,” 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 Gerry Goffin and Carole K...

  In 2022, Julian Lennon returned to music after an eleven-year hiatus with the album Jude . The album’s title references the nickname Paul McCarthy gave him after his father John Lennon and mother Cynthia divorced in 1968. Originally, McCarthy wrote the song “Hey Jules” to use the boy’s actual nickname, but McCarthy said that “ Hey Jude ” sounded better in the song. Julian began his musical career playing drums on his father’s album, Walls and Bridges on the song “ Ya-Ya .” Following his father’s murder in 1980, Julian released his first album in 1984, titled Valotte , to critical acclaim and commercial success. Subsequent releases were not as well received, but Julian has been an active artist in music, photography, writing, and filmmaking. He has also done a lot of philanthropic work in Australia, Africa, and America for Indigenous groups and humanitarian aid. WHAT IS IT LIKE TO FEEL ALONE? Julian Lennon , the first-born son of John Lennon didn’t have an easy life. John had...