NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

The cover of A Perfect Circle ’s fourth album, Eat the Elephant, is the most macabre of the band’s albums. The supergroup had a career of creepy, conceptual work. The band’s 2018 album came after a lengthy hiatus after recording three albums between 2000 and 2004. The band formed when Billy Howerdel , the guitar tech for Nine Inch Nails , and eventually Tool , showed the lead singer of Tool some demos that Howerdel had been working on. Maynard James Keenan , Tool’s frontman, encouraged Howerdel to pursue the new musical project. Eventually, Keenan became the band’s lead singer after several other singers could not commit to the project. Tool went on hiatus and A Perfect Circle recorded their first album Mer De Noms . Every member of A Perfect Circle was also a member of other rock bands besides Howerdel. This would cause conflict throughout the band’s career, causing many replacements and breaks during Keenan's duties with his main band. DO YOU RECOGNIZE THE SOUND AS THE GRAINS

In 2005, when Kids in the Way released their sophomore album, Apparitions of Melody , the band challenged their listeners to a new sound. The band’s first album Safe from the Losing Fight was full of serious emotional punk rock songs. The first one on the album, “ We Are ,” was a kind of introduction to the band. What was probably meant to be a comment on parenting in America as boomer parents in the 80s and 90s sometimes viewed their children as an obligation to work around busy work schedules and personal lives, ultimately made the band sound immature. If the first album was about childhood, the second album was certainly an angsty teenage one. The album’s first single, the title track, was accompanied by a stormy music video in which they wore all black and performed in a CGI tornado.  THESE DEAD LETTERS WON’T SURVIVE. Kids in the Way’s stylistic change was toward the gothic and emo. Singer Dave Pelsue incorporated more screaming in the verses of the songs on Apparitions of Melod

When Red 's producer Rob Graves posted on Twitter a picture of a note on Red's guitars tuned to "A#, A, and G," some fans thought that the band's third album would be heavy. The band experimented with recording on the road during their whirlwind touring schedule from their second album Innocence & Instinct , arranging hotel mattresses to create a makeshift studio. For their third album, the band brought a portable case that unfolded into a mini recording studio. When waiting for a show to start at the venue, the band could flesh out ideas, many of which came from their former guitarist Jasen Rauch , who had stopped touring with the band to take a job closer to his family. Rauch remained a member of Red until he joined Breaking Benjamin in 2014. Rauch contributed guitar parts which the rest of the band built songs around for their  February 2011 album Until We Have Faces . YOU MUSTN'T DISAPPOINT THEM. Red’s third album takes its name from the 1956 C. S. L

A month before releasing The Thrill of It All   in October 2017, Sam Smith began dating actor Brandon Flynn . Smith’s sophomore album dug into the singer’s misfortune with love and religion in a record full of soulful, almost Gospel-inspired songs. But in June 2018, Smith and Flynn seemed happy as an Instagram-official couple. Smith told V Magazine , “I’m in a relationship for the first time; I think I deserve to be happy.” But by June, the relationship had ended. Following Sam Smith’s break up, the singer began releasing singles, which were intended for a new album. First was a collaboration with Calvin Harris called “ Promises ” and a song, “ Fire on Fire ,” for the Netflix original animated limited series Watership Down based on the novel of the same name. Then Smith changed musical directions leaning into a much more pop-oriented style.  AS I WANDER DOWN THE AVENUE.  Sam Smith began full pre-album promotion in 2019 starting in January. “ Dancing with a Stranger ” was a fresh s

In 2012, Family of the Year released their second album, Loma Vista . This album was noticed by several publications, from Entertainment Weekly to Billboard , and the band performed its second single, “ Hero, ” on several late-night shows. They played many festivals and began building their name among other ‘10s indie and alternative acts like GROUPLOVE and WALK THE MOON . In 2014, the song was featured in a pivotal scene toward the end of Richard Linklate r’s film Boyhood .  In 2015, the band released their self-titled album which was not as commercially successful as their second album Loma Vista. The band released a fourth album, Hello Sunshine, Goodbye Nighttime , in 2018 before going on hiatus “Due to personal circumstances beyond [their] control.” In 2021, the band released a single and have since released several singles both solo and collaboratively since then. Time will tell if we will have more music from Family of the Year.  FEATHERS AND FACEPAINT IS ALL THAT SHE WE

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, boygenius , touring