NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

Each generation has an “Are you a friend of Dorothy?” question. Throughout the 20th century, queer people, particularly gay men, asked the question to discretely inquire if another person was also queer. The Dorothy in question was the character Dorothy in L. Frank Baum ’s Wizard of Oz series , particularly because of the star of the first book’s film adaptation , Judy Garlin . The actress and singer was well-known for her LGBTQ+ advocacy at a time when speaking about same-sex relationships was considered taboo and homosexual practices were illegal in many parts of the world. Garlin played Dorothy Gale in The Wizzard of Oz and then became a beloved icon in the gay community for her vulnerability, resilience, and status as a misunderstood, tragic figure. Garland’s personal struggles, combined with her connection to Dorothy’s character, cemented her as a gay icon. SMOKING CIGARETTES ON THE ROOF. Today, gay men don’t commonly ask each other “Are you a friend of Dorothy” because of great...

  In 2020, MUNA was dropped by their label RCA for “ not making enough money .” The queer-identifying trio had modest success with their first two records,   About U and Saves the World , but they would actually achieve a higher level of success on an indie label. The key to this renewed success was partnering with an indie rock darling who had come to be known as a “serial collaborator” due to appearing on a range of projects from Paul McCartney to Taylor Swift . Phoebe Bridgers signed MUNA to her label Saddest Factory and functioned as the trio’s A&R person. MUNA quickly expanded their listener base with the hit featuring Bridgers, “ Silk Chiffon .” The song preceded  MUNA’s eponymous album by more than nine months and became the band’s most-streamed song. In March of 2022, MUNA released the second single from the album, “ Anything But Me .” YOU’RE GONNA SAY I ASKED FOR THE MOON. While MUNA is certainly overshadowed by Phoebe Bridgers and her own trio, boygen...

  Since I wrote about Waking Ashland last January, lead singer Johnathan Jones has given an interview with HM Magazine ’s Black Sheep Podcast .  It’s worth a listen to get a little more insight into this somewhat obscure Tooth & Nail band. One of the most beloved tracks in the band’s discography, “ October Skies ,” is a sentimental track on Waking Ashland ’s debut album Composure. The song evokes the colors and crisp feeling of Autumn as well as the symbolism of death and eventual rebirth that the season means to the cycle of the seasons. The beautiful guitar and piano-driven song isn’t very deep. The lyrics have Christian undertones with the speaker “surrendering” to an unnamed “you” as well as mention of church bells evoking an idyllic New England or Appalachian fall.  Read the lyrics on Genius.

Last year Both Good Christian Fun and Church Jams Now celebrated the twentieth anniversary of FM Static ’s 2003 debut album, What Are You Waiting For ? The album produced several Christian Rock hits including “ Something to Believe In ” and “ Crazy Mary ” and the band shot a video for the song “ Definitely Maybe .” The song “Something to Believe In” was the lone song formulated on the album in which the band cynically rejects religion in search of “a new focus, a new destination.” “Definitely Maybe” sounds like an ‘03 update of a John Hughes movie’s plot, and with its controversial name-drop of being “At the movie theater watching Harry Potter ” feels like a tonal departure from the album’s “spiritual highlight.”   POINTING AS THEY LAUGH AND STARE AT HER. FM Static’s debut single was “Crazy Mary.” Good Christian Fun and Church Jams Now made a similar point about the song. The lyrics aim to be compassionate toward a homeless woman but when other people “laugh and call her names...

In season three of the South Korean hip-hop reality program Show Me the Money , winner BOBBY showed that K-pop idols can be taken seriously as rappers. Previous seasons had eliminated rappers from idol groups quite early in the competition, but iKON ’s Bobby won the season. This victory by a rapper of a boy band set up season four, in which Song Min-ho , known professionally as Mino was a fan favorite. The singer, rapper, and songwriter Mino began his career in a ballad group called BoM before joining YG Entertainment and debuting with the group WINNER in 2014 after he won a spot in the group on the show WIN: Who Is Next . The next year, Mino was on the fourth season of Show Me the Money, on which he was the show’s runner-up.  WHEN I TURNED AROUND, I SAW THAT I CAME FARTHER THAN I THOUGHT. Each season of Show Me the Money contestants compete through various rap battles, performances, and challenges, with the ultimate goal of becoming the season’s champion. The format typically...

Since Key ’s 2021 EP Bad Love , The SHINee singer has been creating dark pop with nostalgic ‘80s and ‘90s sci-fi motifs. The singer’s latest installment came last month with his third mini album Pleasure Shop . In the EP’s eponymous lead single , Key takes on the form of a cyborg, inviting futuristic humans to come “deeper into” a store filled with unique things to give a person pleasure. The cyborg invites the humans “pleasure juice,” which gives them a kind of euphoria. Kim Ki-bum conceptualized the mini album when thinking about a dystopian future. He asked the question giving a press statement just before the EP’s release: “ What if I uploaded myself, turned it into an AI program and had an argument with my AI version? How scary would it be if that AI version of me was better than the real me?” YOU’RE WELCOME. Entering the eerie “Pleasure Shop” Key has opened for listeners draws an uncanny similarity to a line from the 1973 spooky musical classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show ...

Conan Gray ’s Found Heaven is possibly one of the most under-rated albums of the year. The pop world of 2024 is dominated by powerful women and so is rock and alternative. Looking at the list of albums this year, there is one big one that seems overrated— Taylor Swift ’s The Tortured Poets’ Department — but every single artist with a big year, Swift included, has earned it. But with all of the big pop artists this year, Conan Gray hasn’t yet had a breakthrough moment. Found Heaven is far from a perfect album but its post-punk style and Gray’s conviction in songwriting make this one of the albums I keep coming back to all year.  DON’T MEAN THAT YOU’RE MARRYING ME TONIGHT. Part of Conan Gray’s conviction to his sound, I feel, is a reason why Found Heaven isn’t a bigger pop album, and maybe why it isn’t as good as it could be. Gray doesn’t do many collaborations and he explained that he felt that his latest album is complete. I feel that a well-chosen collaboration could have broug...