(via Shutterstock)
Gotta be honest – I’m a Christmas guy and once that day is done and dusted, I tend to lose interest in gthe other big event on the calendar, New Year’s Eve.
I used to be more excited by it but as the years have gone by, I’ve lost interest in being sandwiched into huge crowds and finding to get onto crowded trains at 2 a.m., drunk and tired and just wanting to be in bed, and prefer to keep it low key and below the radar.
I still stay up until midnight and I’ve tried to be creative like going to see a preview of a yet-to-be-released film at the cinemas followed by drinks as a friend’s place or staying overnight like we’re teenagers again and it’s a sleepover, but by and large, NYE has fallen off the excitement scale when it comes to my calendar of celebratory moments.
But these songs, so full of expectation and hope are a lovely and potent reminder, filled with so much emotion and beautiful music, that maybe there’s something good about being so expectant, and while it might be just a page flip on a calendar, and not even that in this digital age much of the time, it’s nice to focus on the idea that good things are coming our way in the new year and staying up to mark the moment is a lovely ritual that gives you a nice little kick to what might lie ahead …
“All I Want For Christmas is New Year’s Day” by Hurts
(courtesy official Hurts website)
Formed in Manchester in 2009, Hurts is made up of singer Theo Hutchcraft and multi-instrumentalist Adam Anderson who, so Wikipedia says, blend “1980s-inspired synth-pop with orchestral arrangements and introspective lyricism”. It’s the sort of sound that would lend itself quite nicely to festive music and so it does on “All I Want For Christmas is New Year’s Day”. The 2010 release feels like the sort of track you’d expect to be released for Christmas itself but lyrically, the song makes it clear that the duo aren’t looking forward the big day itself but the start of the new year itself. As a BBC review by Fraser McAlpine sagely notes “there is no better time to put out a mournful, dignified song about feeling slightly left out of a party, than right now” (meaning Christmas which is a festival that devours everything either side of it; this reviewer loves that but not everyone shares that sentiment including, winningly in this song, Hurts who released a song that sounds, says the BBC, “both magical and deep”, and yes, hopeful.
“Wrap it Up on New Year’s Eve” by Aubrey Logan & David Ricard
(courtesy YouTube)
Released in 2014, and featured on The David Ricard Big Band’s album, Holidays With a Bang, “Wrap it Up on New Year’s Eve” which features American Idol Aubrey Logan who brings some delicious retro stylings to this jazzy, fun track. Having playfully and happily reflected on the fun of Christmas, Logan sings about finishing things off right by celebrating New Year’s Eve properly and “having fun”. As Allison Lips observes on The Pop Break, the song, along with its album mate, “Jingle Jangle Jungle”, has “original lyrics that Logan’s personality brings to life.” It’s vivacious, a little resigned “let’s wipe the slate” and hopeful of what awaits just after 11;59pm and it fits the mood of the night perfectly.
“Happy New Year” by Blair Davie
(courtesy official Blair Davie website)
There’s a quiet, beautiful melancholy to this track from “a rising Scottish singer-songwriter known for their emotive lyrics, rich vocals, and deeply personal storytelling, with a growing reputation for blending indie-pop melodies with heartfelt authenticity. ” (REVAMP MAGAZINE) “Happy New Year” is full of breathlessly hopeful romantic longing and a nuanced optimism that says “it’s another year to try and get it right” when you come to New Year’s Eve. Rather winningly Davie released the track on 3rd December, right in the thick of the last-minute Christmas song releases, of which there were many this year. It seizes that idea that Hurts also articulates that while Christmas has glitz and fun and yes, some serious thoughts about redemption and healing, it’s New Year’s that really captures that hopeful sense of things getting better as the calendar flips over to the next batch of untouched days where, this time maybe, things will be better.
“The Best is Yet to Come” by Ben Rector
(courtesy YouTube)
Based in Nashville, Ben Rector is an independent an American singer, songwriter, active since 2006. Channelling some more of the hopefulness inherent to the New Year’s tracks already featured, and it makes sense since who isn’t a little bit optimistic no matter how arbitrary turning over a date on the calendar may be, Rector’s 2021 track “The Best is Yet to Come” perfectly encapsulates over a rising upbeat piano and drum-driven beat, with the artist saying in an article in American Songwriter that he wanted to “tap into some sort of nostalgia” with the song, going on to say that “Christmas songs all have such a similar palette, but they’re drawing from a specific well of images and feelings and chords or musical feelings. It’s a very specific bucket of those things, so writing a New Year’s song is interesting because you don’t really have as much of that to tap into.” It’s a joy to listen to and doesn’t make to feel like the new year could be very bit as good as advertised.
“3 Minutes ‘Til New Year’s” by Sia
(courtesy YouTube)
Released on the Australian artist’s 2017 Christmas album, Everyday is Christmas, which remains, for this reviewer and Christmas tragic at least, one of the best album of wholly original festive tracks ever released, “3 Minutes ‘Til New Year’s” is jazzy fun full of evocatively visual lyrics like “balloons to burst, December 31st”. It makes it clear “there’s nothing to fear, it’s a new year” over a vibrantly crowd-happy beat that surges and claps and joyfully backs the excitable hopefulness of the lyrics to the hilt. It’s a song you’ll want to sing in the lead up the big night because it feels so optimistically expectant and happily alive.