Category Archives: song of the day

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Song of the Day #3,429: ‘Dear Life’ – Beck

It’s crazy how artists quietly put together careers that start to feel like legacies. Take Beck, who still has the impish charm of the nerd-punk who crashed MTV with “I’m a Loser,” yet somehow is entering his 25th year as a recording artist.

This year’s Colors is Beck’s 13th studio album, released three years after the unlikely Album of the Year Grammy winner Morning Phase. Somehow, this is the first traditional pop album he’s recorded. Or at least as traditional as an oddball like Beck can get.

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Song of the Day #3,428: ‘Praying’ – Kesha

If you had told me in 2010, after the release of ‘Tik Tok,’ that I would one day not only own a Kesha album but really enjoy it, I’d have thought you mad.

That song was like an R-rated version of Rebecca Black’s ‘Friday,’ and Kesha (then Ke$ha) seemed just as packaged and talentless.

What a difference seven years, an eating disorder and alleged sexual harassment and rape by producer Dr. Luke makes.

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Song of the Day #3,427: ‘In the Blood’ – John Mayer

John Mayer released his seventh album, The Search For Everything, over the course of several months, putting out two 4-song EPs before dropping the full 12-song set. To me, that’s a little like watching 2/3 of a movie before it finally gets a theatrical release. But I’m old-fashioned.

Rollout strategy aside, The Search For Everything is a strong return to the soulful pop of 2006’s Continuum, probably still his best album though he hasn’t released a bad one since.

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Song of the Day #3,426: ‘In My Feelings’ – Lana Del Rey

Back in March, when Lana Del Rey released the first single from her new album Lust For Life, I made this statement: “One thing I love about Del Rey is how little she seems to care about bending her sound toward the fads of the day. You won’t find a rap break in any of her songs.”

Six songs into Lust For Life, she made me eat those words, as rapper A$AP Rocky shows up to deliver a verse on the track ‘Summer Bummer.’ He sticks around for the next song, ‘Groupie Love,’ as well.

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Song of the Day #3,425: ‘Something/Blue Jay Way [Transition]’ – The Beatles

When George Martin and his son Giles were tasked with crafting the soundtrack to The Beatles’ Cirque Du Soleil show, LOVE, they must have lit up like kids in a candy shop.

The producers had free rein to cull recordings from the entire Beatles catalog, both released and unreleased, and twist it all together into something new. The result is a brilliant mash-up of familiar songs made fresh, and an eye-popping performance I was luck enough to see performed in Las Vegas this past summer.

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