Blue Monday (date) press releases, with 2014 seeing Blue Monday invoked by legal firms and retailers of bottled water and alcoholic drinks. Some versions of the story purport to analyse trends in social media posts to calculate the date. In 2018, Arnall told "The Independent" newspaper that it was "never his intention to make the day sound negative", but rather "to inspire people to take action and make bold life decisions". It was also reported that he was working with Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Holidays, having "made it his mission to challenge some of the negative news associated with January and to debunk
Blue Monday (opera) and Bess". "Blue Monday" was one of Gershwin's premature works and lacks the musical and dramatic sophistication of his later musicals and "Porgy and Bess", but jazz conductor Paul Whiteman, who conducted the original performance of the piece in 1922, was so impressed by it that he asked Gershwin to compose a symphonic jazz piece for Whiteman to conduct at a concert Whiteman was planning. The resulting piece, "Rhapsody in Blue," became Gershwin's most famous composition. Arts consultant Jeffrey James claims that "Blue Monday" is the "genesis of the Rhapsody", and "the missing link in Gershwin's evolution into the Rhapsody