Rico B & Lotus - Neat song. The first minute zoned me out and I almost gave up on it, but then the main line kicked in at the minute mark. It's a very good main line, polished to a throb that doesn't wear out its welcome. Then on top of that they had the idea to add variation by switching between different vocalists, which works pretty well despite the vocals themselves never doing much for me. Final result is a well tuned engine that could go on indefinitely. I didn't previously realize that MC looped and listened to the finalists so many times, but knowing that now, it's easy to see why this is here - it's engineered to go on and on, loop well, and be continuously satisfying. Even the first minute is a nice break after the initial loop.
Jan Blomqvist - Another easy looper, this is a fairly Alexbait song. Chill, atmospheric, polish on every sound, good pacing and progression that makes it feel longer than it actually is, all that. It is not an AMAZING song to me though. Lacks the oomph that makes a track really stand out, this is like the 90% paper that gets an A- but isn't in contention for being read to the class. Still very good though, and definitely some personal genre bias going in there, it is probably better than I am giving it credit for to people who don't listen to this style of music as much.
Julia Westlin - See comments for Rico B, except replace "main electronic line" with "main guitar/piano riff" and have one good vocalist with tempo and dynamic variation instead of multiple different vocals. It takes 1:30 to get going instead of 1:00, but the payoff is better imo. They are very similar songs in composition, to me. At the halfway mark I was going to say "like Rico B but worse" but by the end I lean towards "Rico B but better!" Just an overall good song with excellent fundamentals.
Sabaton - Song speaks for itself. Unusually restrained for metal, especially live, but this is neither a song nor a group that needs to go wild and have people throw themselves around. Still some flame jets and spins, but the focus is clearly on the music, and in turn the music puts emphasis on the vocals, and in turn the singer totally nails it. Much like Rammstein, the loud booming parts are memorable and the singing is guttural, yet the vocals form the core of the song. Overall conveys a feeling that these guys know exactly what they are doing. Which they should since they're super famous and stuff. At this point I'm just writing more things to have an excuse to listen to it again.
Beyonce - So I've never sat down and listened to any Beyonce before. (At least not willingly, I'm sure I heard some of her stuff in passing but not recognizably.) Wrote her off as too popular and mainstream to possibly be interesting. I seem to have been in the wrong. Whatever I expected from her, it certainly wasn't this. I'm not sure how to elaborate upon what "this" is, exactly. It's barely a song, more of a rap... no, not even a rap, more of a spoken word poem, set to haunting accompaniment. Closer to TS Eliot than radio. There're definitely nods to Toni Morrison in both lyrics and visuals. Tons to unpack here and I am not sure I understand it at all.
I think the video made me uncomfortable; I'm not sure if that was intentional but leaning towards yes, since I couldn't even hear any explicit lyrics but apparently they are worthy of a warning. I wasn't even sure it was going all in on its message until the end, where the circle traced by the whole song collapses to attack the listener. But I love a good twist ending! Is it good, obviously yes. Is it good as a song, I don't even know. It's operating on a completely different axis to all these others. There isn't actually a lot of "song" here, and the video is 100% essential, just hearing this on the radio would not have even a fraction of the impact of pairing it with the visuals.
ok go - Awwwwww I was hoping for a week where I loved every song, but alas, the gatekeeper appears. The idea is very cool and that they got to shoot it is very, very cool! The song itself is kind of annoying though, and sounds overly harsh and grating to me. Also a little crass, both metaphorically and not; I'm not sure what the "it" I am supposed to feel is, if not the female flight attendant's crotch, so gracefully presented to us just before the pinatas and balloons of fluid start to pop. Just not the sort of thing I'm inclined to vote up.
But hey! Other than ok go, everything else here is great, this is one of the best weeks since I started listening to these for sure. I was going to say it was a hard call, and I wouldn't be sad about any of them winning, but... honestly? Beyonce steals the show more than Carmen Sandiego, 11/10, pick this, not close to being close. Not that I'd be sad about the others, exactly, but like, Beyonce's right there.
Beyonce >>> Sabaton >= Julia Westlin > Jan Blomqvist > Rico B & friends >>> ok go
