7 January 2025 - The (Dixie) Chicks - Wide Open Spaces

I decided this year to go through all my drafts on this blog.  I have, not a joke, almost 500 of them, a large percentage intended for future March posts.  

Yes, my musical tastes skew a little Canadian. Sue me. 

This song was my oldest draft, and it'll surprise some of you that I actually enjoy the song, unironically.   A song about a young woman leaving home to live her life on her own.... it was written by award-winning songwriter Susan Gibson, from the alt-country group The Groobies - who would go on to RELEASE the song themselves in 1999.... after recording it a few years prior.

So how did the song get to the Chicks?

That album the Groobies was recording was produced by famed country producer Lloyd Maines, who happens to have a daughter named Natalie..... and he thought the song was a good fit for his daughter's new group's first album (which would also be named Wide Open Spaces).   (Also, anyone who thinks it's talent and not who you know that makes a hit - well, this is evidence to the contrary). 

Remember earlier when I mentioned Susan Gibson was an award-winning songwriter?  This song, which she loved and, by most accounts I found, still does, is a large reason for that.  Sure, it was deeply personal for her - but the fact that it resonated with another artist was something she not only understood, she appreciated. 

Anyway, this song, which ended up being the Chicks' third single, was a HUGE hit - and their performance was a big reason for that. 

OF COURSE they perform it live, and of course it is brilliant.

Now go to Totally Covered, because we have a more recent cover of this song there.  

3 January 2025 - Lights - Damage

"Hey, remember when you used to use that quote style in your blog posts?"  

"Yeah, that was kind of lazy.  It was usually a sign I was out of ideas."

"Kind of like when you try to sneak in a Lights post?"  

"Are you implying something?"

"Yeah, I'm implying that there is literally a relatively new Lights song you haven't posted featuring a video of her giving herself a haircut."

"I just assumed her hair would fit behind that LŪN mask easier if she cut it?"

"I mean, I guess that's true.  Want to actually say something of substance about this song?"

"It's kind of a throwback to older Lights, I guess, and even she's said it's Little Machines coded. "

"Seems like you're making an excuse to add another link here."  

"Just listen to the music."

"I mean, also, that's not her hair colour.  She probably was wearing a wig."

"This live video implies otherwise, buddy."

"OK, we stand corrected.  Sorry."

"Her tears at the end of that video were also real, buddy.  Wanna doubt that?!"

2 January 2025 - Taylor Swift - You Need To Calm Down

I think I've mentioned here that I thought Lover was a high water mark for Taylor Swift.  This song is yet another reason why.  Written and produced by Swift and Joel Little, this LGBTQ+ anthem is fun, funky and smart.  The song peaked at #2 on the pop charts in the US, blocked from #1 by the juggernaut that was "Old Town Road".   

But can we talk about this video?  So many cameos - and a lot of them are members of the LGBTQ+ community, which is wonderful.... but also, for all those people who thought "Bad Blood" was about Katy Perry must have been satified to see Ms. Hudson show up in this video wearing a hamburger and sharing a sweet moment with a fries-wearing Swift.  

The video is fun and completely unhinged.   

What would we be if we didn't include an Eras Tour version of this song?

1 January 2025 - Tommy Richman - Million Dollar Baby

What a weird song to start 2025 with?

Yeah.  It is.   

But also, it's unlike any other song released in 2024, and it was a HUGE hit.... Richman's first as a vocalist.  Strangely, it's a non-album single that does not appear on his later-in-2024 album Coyote, itself a decent piece of work.

Anyway, I don't post a lot of trap music, so when I hear something interesting and different, I am going to post it.  

This is going to be our biggest year yet, so stay tuned. 

31 December 2024 - Chappell Roan - Pink Pony Club

I have to admit, it has taken me a while to get into Chappell Roan.  

Yes, this is my 2nd post of one of her songs, the first in April of this year.  When I posted that, I really wanted to like her.  I posted that song, which was pretty good, because I really wanted to like her music. 

But then I got bombarded by her music - a lot of which, I didn't really intially like (I've come around on some of it since then).  So, I slept on her.   

So what made me come around?  First of all, her public persona is brash and charming, and that got me to give her a second chance. Second, as I did some research, I discovered this song - which was one that faded into the background for me as just noise.  

"Pink Pony Club", co-written by Chappell Roan and Daniel Nigro, was inspired by The Abbey, a real gay bar in West Hollywood, CA.  When she came from the Midwest, she considered The Abbey to be the first place to be herself.  The song is semiautobiographical - and I find that vulnerability to be absolutely riveting. (No, Chappell Roan wasn't a stripper).  

The song and video were recorded in 2020.  This was one of the first times she had been recorded performing - and you can see the nerves in her face.    

And, although the song and video were recorded in 2020, it did not enter the charts until 2024, peaked at #26 in the United States and higher elsewhere. 

When she performed the song on Saturday Night Live last month, the nerves were gone.  Hell, it gave me CHILLS when she got the SNL crowd to sing it!  This is absolutely something she does at every show - and this is usually the closing song - but this hit different.

So yeah.  I took an artist I struggled to get into, and made her my last post of 2024.  

And I want you to remember that this is generally her last song at a concert - and it in itself is an emotional rollercoaster - with a piano section, strings, and some pretty heavy rocking parts. And she brings THIS MUCH ENERGY.  

There are very few songs that get me actually choked up - and when she throws it to the crowd, this is one of them. 

This is the energy we're bringing into 2025.

30 December 2025 - Once A Tree - Whatever You Do Kid?

I have to be honest - I get so jazzed for Maple Leaf March that I write some of these posts six months in advance.  I wrote this in August - and will likely rewrite some of it.

And then release it three months early.   Because, well, this was my 8th most listened to song of 2024, and the highest ranked song for which no post previously existed.  

However, I wanted to share that I am a Spotify user, and this song - well, it's my most listened to for the last four weeks - and Once A Tree is my 5th most listened to artist all year.  

I'm now revisting this as the year-end list from Spotify comes out.   You see - Once A Tree was my 5th most listened to artist all year - which, completely believable.   I really dove right in on them.  They had a new EP come out this year that was incredible.  I'd argue that combining my Once A Tree listening with my Jayli Wolf (#2) listening - and they should ABSOLUTELY be tied together because, c'mon, don't make me say it - would make my most listened to artist by a mile. 

No disrespect to my Spotify-annointed #1, Charlotte Cardin, who I ALSO listened to a ton. 

Also, no disrespect to Hayden Wolf, who is absolutely the producer for both. 

I have been very curious about this, and not specifically about Once A Tree - but about the algorithm in general. I have requested my Spotify data, and will let you know what I learn - probably in March.  Short answer: I ran the numbers and I was right, but not by much. 

Back to this song.  From their 2020 EP Fool's Paradise, this song is one of my favorites of theirs (probably why it was my 8th most listened to song of 2024). But it was more than that for me.  You see, I spent a lot of 2024 out of work.  I was starting to get a little down on myself, and then I started getting in-person interviews.  I played this song in the car on the way to a few of them.  I was offered every job that followed this song's playing.  Coincidence? Probably - I was qualified for the jobs - but I choose to think not.  

Supposedly, this was a "stripped down" version of the same song.   Maybe Jayli didn't wear socks for this version?   

I couldn't resist that joke.  

27 December 2024 - Phantogram - Attaway

Did you know Phantogram had a new album out? 

I knew there was one coming, but I didn't know it was out.  

Well, yes. Memory of a Day was released in October, and I didn't even notice. 

Here's a song from that album.  

It, like everything else they release, is a banger.