Song selection topic for "Kaitlyn's Song of the Week"

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So...every week I listen to lots and lots of music at work (forcing myself to listen to only music that has a music video or lyric video that came out this week).  I pick out the six best, or six that stand out the most to me, and then run it past anyone who wants to comment in the DL (usually Alex and Grefter, sometimes Gate--anyone who wants to comment on music is welcome).  These comments are an important filter step, since at work I don't watch the videos, and only half listen to the words, so sometimes I've been listening to a hilariously inappropriate video >_>.  Collectively we pick out one song/video, which gets emailed to my family, and posted on the DL with a brief writeup:

http://www.rpgdl.com/KSotW/index.php

(People have been saying for ages that I should make a new topic for this, rather than using the 2.5-year-old planning topic so here it is).



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Anyway, this week's finalists--anyone who wants to: listen to all six, and comment on which ones you feel I should pick/not pick:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiUibQxWgik
Jidenna

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y95B-dZ32uQ
Pentatonix

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giKRecwNJxM
Johnathan Young ft Malinda Kathleen Reese

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJ_GIRTTRaA
Bambino

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ud6p20uxmOk
Santigold

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zzx0d3pZbdA
Sammus

[Laggy]

This is Alex on Laggy's account (can't remember my password, and the email reminder feature seems to be broken..?)  These threads are cool and people should hop in and do them, music is fun!


Jidenna - High quality rap at a deliberate pacing, together with a very nice video.  Topical and thoughtful in a way I like.  It's not too complex musically, but the lyrics have a lot to dig in to - overall I quite like it.  I especially admire that the video, while amazing, is not at all necessary, you can get the context from the lyrics and the overall style of the song itself expressing a duality/clash with white and black american culture.


Pentatonix - Sweet but short cheerpop.  This appears to be a tribute to another artist I'm unfamiliar with... not really sure what's going on.  It feels like it's over before it begins though, barely 2:15 of music much of which is repeated bars.  I don't dislike it, but there's not enough substance for me to recommend it.


Johnathan Young ft Malinda Kathleen Reese - By the numbers cover of a song I imagine most people are familiar with - not that this is necessarily a bad thing, the song's very popular and penetrative for good reason.  The original was already fairly heavy and close to metal though, so not a lot sounds different here, mostly just a guitar doing some stutter step micro now and then.  So the focal point of this version is the vocals, and they're pretty good!  JY delivers a strong performance (and a bit of humor in the video), MKR sounds a little more stock metal vocalist and sometimes gets overpowered by the music but delivers what the song needs.  I am listening to this week on Laggy's media PC setup rather than headphones though so I'm not even sure on the overpowering.  Anyway this is good and if it was original it would be song of the week and possibly year in a heartbeat... but it isn't original.  So how much credit do I really give for a cover that is strong, but mostly via sticking to the strength of the original and just putting in some nice vocals?  Tune in to the end of the review to find out, although right away I will say I wouldn't put it over Jidenna.


Bambino - Average Kpop, cleanly produced, but nothing special and the video is fairly sexualized fluff so I'm not going to devote too much more thought to it on the "would you link this to MC's parents" clause.


Santigold - Ear wormy and a bit trippy, I wound up enjoying this quite a bit.  Most of my perception of depth to it comes from the video though; without that it's not as amazing and more just plainly enjoyable.


Sammus - Gwwaaaaahhhh that backing and composition, I cannot get enough of it.  Really, really strong rap, well produced, well conceptualized, well delivered.  Sammus's rhymes and delivery are super on point in a way that is impossible not to directly appreciate.  Her voice and tone are much harsher than Jidenna's, but listening side by side it's hard to argue against her skill.  The appreciation for the messaging is here as well.  BUT SERIOUSLY THOUGH CHECK OUT THESE MINOR KEYS WHAT


Strong week for rap/hop stuff, Jidenna, Santigold and Sammus are all very good and similar to each other in some ways but all going in totally different directions.  I enjoyed Sammus the least in the moment yet think it is the best song to have heard overall... really could not argue against any of those three winning though, they are very close, and then there is also the Phantom of the Opera cover, which is on par with them as a blast to listen to even if I am not going to give it full song of the week rating points.  And the other two songs exist or whatever, Pent would be good with more length/development/substance and Bambino would be good if its progression wasn't booty to wet t-shirt to bikini.

Sammus > Jidenna > Santigold > JY and MKR > Pentatonix > Bambino

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The song I liked the most just passively listening to it was Bambino (and not by a small margin, actually).  The video does border on the skeevy side, though.

And I'll take an excuse to link Sammus.  Never linked her before, even though I've been a fan for quite a while (she got her start rapping over mixes of metroid music.  Seems she's branching out to non-metroid rap now, but she's doing that really well too; never picked her, so yeah).

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Ha oops, forgot to post these when I got home.  Well...four hours late posting these; oh well, Grefter's probably just getting home from work anyway.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3_DQgYSS2E
박진영X효연X민X조권 ft JYP

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLxmoaewFVs
Twilight Force

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WryJZHAQku8
H.Y.U.K.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X03fLkFHzVM
Teegan and Sara

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aICdfAWVXI4
Kygo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXiSVQZLje8
Ariana Grande ft Nikki Minaj

[Ranmilia]

JYP - S'aight.  A bit too minimal and repetitive for me to get heavily into without a translation of the lyrics.  Not bad but not really exciting, such are the perils of rap.

Twilight Force - Extremely bright metal, to the point where it feels like Christmas music in some parts.  The sound quality is not great on my headphones; some people are arguing about it in the comments saying things like "if you play it on the sound setup it deserves..."  but I can't give much sympathy to that.  Good crowd shots in the last minute, they really need to sell that final climax and do... an adequate job at it.  I'd have liked still more blast there but it's fine.

HYUK - Funny, and a nice jam.  Stays pretty much the same all the way through, with a radio vibe.  There's only so far a song about drinking can take me though.

Tegan and Sara - Couldn't get into this one emotionally.  I know that's downright heretical, but so it goes. 

Kygo - Pretty much the same as the T&S but with a bit of a party beat thrown in.  To me, right now, that's a negative. 

Ariana Grande - Has "wrist icicle, ride dick bicycle" as lyrics.  If that's not an obstacle then... pretty good song?  The production and composition are good and... yeah.  Not a lot else to say.


Nothing here really gives me the groove this week.  Could be because my emotions are currently way out of whack due to trip and return and then binging on my own music for a while.  Dunno.  They're all about the same on big points.  Genre bias says Twilight Force but... they're just so low on the little points...

HYUK > Ariana Grande > Twilight Force > JYP > Tegan and Sara > Kygo   
but this whole batch is apathy for me so don't take that too seriously if other people have actual preferences among them

[Grefter]

I missed this yesterday in a WoW haze, so you got me early in the morning between moments when I am going to go back to bed so take mood with a grain of salt.

JYP - Does not much for me.  Feels like a version of DJ Snake - Turn Down for What with none of the class or fun.

Twilight Force - is a song called Powerwind by Twilight Force who appear to be a bunch of LotR cis players.  I thought this would easily be it.

HYUK - but his happened and is miles ahead as my pick.  It is a cool throw back 70s guitar rock track with a cool video to match.  It is Zenny as fuck.  The video has a sequence of the singer's head screaming and the only thing coming out of his mouth is his own screaming head.  The Zenniest.

Tegan and Sara -  I love this album, but yeah White Knuckles isn't the strongest track.  There is a reason it is always when BWU comes on that I post about it.

Kygo -  different instrumentation and delivery for a song that still uses standard party delivery.  Breaks into the Piano chorus 50 seconds in (after 9 second branding intro).

Ariana Grande - Rhymed Body with Body and said "you are giving me Temptation" then I turned it off.  That is some garbage writing right there.

HYUK is my pick but I could totally see Twilight Force because holy shit if that isn't the Metroidest metal it can get it sure is the most Elboy.

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For what its worth I seem to be largely in-step with Gref/Alex this week.  Hyuk spent most of the week in the top couple spots.  The Tegan and Sara song barely limped in at 6th (edging out an amateur cover of the Chainsmokers).  Biggest disagreement I guess would be Kygo, which spent a bunch of time at 1st/2nd range for me, and got trashed by everyone else.

EDIT: oh, no fucking wonder this random group I hadn't heard of (HYUK) was both really great music and a surprisingly humorous video.  It's NORAZO (or I think maybe just one of the members from NORAZO).

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This weeks finalists include songs about gay people, pokemon, and sia.  (And yet more covers of Rise--but apparently the previous one I linked was not viewable in certain parts of Canada, so it's probably fine to include another one).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjfjxTxQ02w
Kurt Hugo Schneider & Kina Grannis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKzQYQ5ddno
Johnathan Young

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5tZrNKICmw
Monarchy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxfpCEImUOI
Zap Me Strobe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKSRyLdjsPA
Sia

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U85U3dPuiR4
Superfruit, Mary Lambert, Brian Justin Crum, Mario Jose

[Ranmilia]

KHS & KG - Gimmick song but a very enjoyable one, the creative stuff using the bike works really well, and the vocals are very clean and satisfying.  Concept fitting the lyrics is nice too.  It brings a smile to my face, and there isn't much anything bad I could point out about it.

Jonathan Young - Another superfun cover with great production!  One knock on this one is Jonathan's voice gets muddy on some sounds, making it hard to make out what the lyrics are supposed to be.  Like in the first verse it comes out "We oooah the roooad getting oooaaa..."  Also I have some qualms about whether this cover will resonate with people who haven't heard/have no attachment to the original... eh, it probably will though, it's a very straightforward and upbeat song.  Actually a lot like Rise now that I'm thinking about it.  Strong stuff, combined with the Phantom of the Opera cover has now put this guy on my radar.

Monarchy - At first I was just going to say I liked the song but it was okay.  Then 1:55 starts up the distortions and the like turns into love.  It's still a fairly simple song but this is exactly how to appeal to me by playing with sound and beats.  Super super fun and engaging to listen to.

Zap Me Strobe - Break at 1:12.  Grefterisms aside though, this is another great track up my alley, except it's too short.  It's using the progressive form but only really kicks into gear around 2:10 and then ends 30 seconds later.  This could easily be a full 7+ minute piece with another couple of variations, or at least 4 minutes if it went back to some falling action for an ending.  The current stopping point is really arbitrary and doesn't sit well on the ears.  But, aside from that and wanting more, the sound they have is nice.

Sia - Well.  That certainly happened.  Uh.  Yeah, really great project, excellent production, fantastic video and aesthetics.  Video is required on this one, it's 110% compelling, especially the start and end drones.  The actual song in the middle... not so much.  I found the song confusing, the lyrics fell back on repetition a little too much for me and I just didn't get a message out of it that matched what the video was doing.  Or what it was supposed to be doing. 

According to the comments, this is supposed to be a tribute to "the Orlando Offers" which... that means the Pulse shootings, right?  (Not sure what that has to do with "offers" but two people are saying it...) Yeah, that didn't come through at all without being told about it.  The video's only hints in that direction are the rainbow face paint at the start and end, and the one nightclub shot near the end (which definitely does evoke Pulse, but could be taken as a single reference rather than the whole song).  And the musical/lyrical side addresses it... not at all, there is a 0% chance I'd guess this was about gay people or shootings if I was randomly hearing it on the radio.  It is possible, nay likely, that there are codes going on here that I am not aware of.  But, well, I'm not aware of them so I can't judge them... 

ANYWAY, the video is spectacular, the song is great but seems to be a completely different message than the video, and the intended message is apparently different from both.  So it's very weird, and I think the "song" part is the weakest of the package.  But the whole package remains compelling.  I'd love to hear Kaitlyn's take on this song, I feel like there's a ton I'm not getting!

Superfruit - Yep it sure is a Rise cover.  The best one, though.  Personal preference perhaps, but this is 100% my favorite version of the song to date.  Clean piano + clean passionate voices that come together very well.  Not 100% on board with the ending, but even with that this is now my preferred version of the song, great stuff.


Overall - wowwwww.  Last week I struggled to like anything more than "ok I guess" but this week's batch I cannot stop gushing about.  6/6 fantastic hits for me, I'd be happy with any of these winning any week POSSIBLY excepting Zap Me Strobe on length issues (but not quality!).  Sia is by far the deepest and probably the "objectively correct" pick, a slam dunk, yet actually the weakest in raw personal enjoyment?  Weird.  Y'know, I'm actually going to try two scales this time and see how it comes out.

Artistic Merit:
Sia >>> KHS & KG > Jonathan Young > Monarchy > Zap Me Strobe > Superfruit

Personal Enjoyment:
Monarchy > Jonathan Young > Superfruit > Zap Me Strobe > KHS & KG > Sia

Final: Monarchy (5) >= Jonathan Young (5) > Sia (7) >= KHS & KG (7) > Superfruit (9) >= Zap me Strobe (9)

Yeah I guess that seems about right.  Great week.

[Grefter]

Quick and dirty from me.  I don't necessarilly agree with Alex on much this week in terms of what I enjoyed and I think of my bottom few tracks as much weaker than he does, but so it goes!

Sia I think is an easy win for me.  Its a good solid track to me, it does stuff I like.
Zap Me Strobe is my number two.  I don't mind a party track being short if it isn't doing much new with it.  You would just loop it for length in that case.  I think this works really well.
Monarchy is a solid third for me.  I was expecting to like it more, but it is no where close to Living Without You and I preferred the stuff of their first album I grabbed.  Its pretty good though!

Kurt Hugo Schneider & Kina Grannis is gimmicky and put together okay.  The kick drum being the wheel being dropped and looped kind of shatters the illusion the video is going for.  You literally can't do the recording as shown without the use of an effects pedal because of it so it kinda kills the charm of the video as a video.  So how is it without the gimmick?  Eh, its an okay song with makeshift instruments made to mimic conventional studio sounds in a studio environment.  Einsturzende Neubauten live this is not.

Jonathon Young spoke nothing to me.  I like Pokemon.  I know the song.  I also didn't care much for it.

Superfruit.  Its a good Rise cover, but yeah okay, it took until the Olympics was over but I am okay with not hearing this so much any more.

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Hmmm...ok

Zap Me Strobe is a track that...I wasn't initially going to take into round 2 (but I was actually low on round 2 songs).  Wasn't initially going to make it into my top 6...until at some point I felt like looping it for a while and ignoring the other songs (automatic temporary jump to 1st).  Ended probably 3rd or 2nd or so after the dust settled.  It's catchy, but there's not a whole lot I can write about.  2nd from Grefter, 5th/6th from Alex.  10 ish overall.

Sia...was usually middle of the pack, but slipped a bit at the end, did dip as low as...6th or 7th for me.  Pretty sure it finished above Monarchy though, probably ended up 4th or 5th.  So like...3rd from Alex, 1st from Grefter, 5th from me.  9 ish overall.

........The video is about the Pulse Night Club shootings, complete with a shooter (they're a little bit subtle about it though).  Aaaaaas for Alex wanting to hear my take on the song and whether it has a secret coded gay language...um...I haven't noticed any in particular.  I actually think the song was already written when they made the video.  Kinda like Superfruit took Rise and made it about gay people.  Speaking of which.......

Superfruit was all over the place, but did end up arbitrarily at the top for me (my top spot was pretty flexible and regularly changing, but it happened to be there when I left for the night).  1st from me, 5th/6th from Alex, unenthusiastic response from Grefter.  Probably about 11 ish

Jonathan Young was decently high for me, think it ended 2nd or 3rd.  1st or 2nd for Alex.  Didn't do much for Grefter (5th-6th).  9.5 ish overall.

KHS was 3rd/4th for Alex, similar for me, looks like about 4th for Grefter.  11 ish overall

Monarchy pretty sure was 6th for me, and the big decision was whether it was 6th or 7th (with another song making top 6).  Looks like 1st/2nd for Alex, 2nd for Grefter.  Overall 9.5 ish.



Um, well we don't have much consensus here.  I think it's fair to rule out the 11s (KHS, Superfruit).  I think it's fine to eliminate songs that didn't get a strong response from anyone (Zap Me Strobe...solid reviews from everyone, no 1st place).  That still leaves us with Sia, Johnathan Young, or Monarchy.

Welllll....I know what my ordering for those would be.  Johnathan Young > Sia > Monarchy.  I know what Grefter's ordering of these would be.  Sia > Monarchy > Jonathan Young.  Alex's ordering looks like probably... Monarchy >= Jonathan Young > Sia.  Uhh...well that's pretty much a tie.

Yeah, I dunno, I'm going to go play some videogames and make this decision later.

[Ranmilia]

Kinda like Superfruit took Rise and made it about gay people.

Yeah see, I completely missed that.  Thanks! 

Top 3 looks good, yeah.  Maybe just go with whatever is best writeup fodder?

[metroid composite]

I think I go Sia just because it's more mainstream, actually.

We pick a good amount of indie/foreign stuff, which is cool.  But there's psychological advantages to picking artists people know, with songs they'll be hearing on the radio a few weeks from now and can go "oh yeah, I know that song.  That song had the video about the Pulse shootings."  (The psychology is basically that people are egocentric in terms of their own knowledge, and tend to get more excited when it's bands they've heard of--like, I guarantee I'd get a positive response from a few family members if I picked Britney Spears).

For all that, if the indie group has a better song, of course we pick it.  Tiebreaking towards mainstream is fine, though.

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Pretty strong week overall I think. Pretty standout songs from several bands that haven't been picked yet (Duran Duran, Ninja Sex Party, Dua Lipa etc)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAJTe-6fVaY
Trace Adkins

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_QLQHkj1XU
Epica

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvLz5kCVIss
ninja sex party

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_2alcE_1XY
duran duran

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nydxbGhgv8
dua lipa

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbvGvTvn4ww
sandra N

[Grefter]

Disclaimer - I have had a shit week and am just generally pretty down on life.

Trace Adkins - pass.

Epica - This could be the intro to Sonic and the Black Knight 2.

ninja sex party - it is NSP.  My biggest problem with this is that it is 9 minutes long.  At 30 minutes I could watch Kubg Fury which is similar but with more jokes and just more space to work with because it isn't a musical.

duran duran - I think this is my pick.  It isn't doing heaps but it knows what it is doing and does it well.

dua lipa -  I like this a bit.  It's okay but needs to repeat less or longer verses.  Her neck is intense.  She is beautiful but it is impressive she can accessorize like that.  Enjoyable.

sandra N - I didn't place Romanian.  I started off thinking this might be my pick but started dropping off at the end.  It is pretty but doesn't do much with it.  Could be language gap, not sure.

[Ranmilia]

Trace Adkins - Appears well made.  However, genre and subject matter bias prevent me from enjoying this much.  It would take a herculean effort and a very weak pack to make me endorse a song celebrating televangelism and lipstick inflaming male desire and etc.  Fortunately this is not a weak pack, so I don't need to concentrate on this further.

Epica - Hm.  Metal is traditionally a genre dominated by male vocals and male narrative voices.  Even though female metal vocalists are not that uncommon, and acts like Babymetal exist, most of them still tend to fall into a Nightwishy sort of Female Metal Vocal vibe, where the overall structure is still norse-male-fantasy dominated.  This doesn't do that, it genuinely feels different in tone, and that's pretty cool!  Aside from that, though, it's a fairly standard metal track, if you put the Sabaton vocalists (or whoever) in here and darkened the tone a little I'd say it was competent but nothing to write home about.  But "aside from the noteworthy thing it's not noteworthy" is not much of a criticism, is it, huh.

Ninja Sex Party - By 1:30 I was already feeling done with this, and it didn't get better.  All for sex positivity, but none of the jokes or entertainment factor lands with me.

Duran Duran - Exists.  What Grefter said.  This aesthetic doesn't speak to me as much, but clearly DD has mastered it. 

Dua Lipa - Also demonstrates impressive mastery of what the song is doing!  Great framing and camera work in the video, great timing, great micro-tones along with the macro tone, I feel inept to describe it but this clicks really well.  Probably my pick.

Sandra N - Beautiful sound, and really nice drums, bass and bass drums.  But as Grefter said, doesn't really build or go places with it beyond what it has in the opening. 

Yeah pretty strong week, albeit with some things that fail on my specific ears.

Dua Lipa > Duran Duran > Sandra N > Epica > Trace Adkins > NSP

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Not surprised to see the country song getting trashed (it was towards the bottom for me too).

Pretty surprised that NSP got trashed as it was towards the top for me.  (Admittedly, I thought it was eyeroll worthy the first few listens, but the music is surprisingly catchy and technical, the lines are corny but memorable "let's tear all of our clothes off like two pants-hating wolverines" and it didn't cross the line for me into creepy/offensive like NSP sometimes does).

Not surprised to see Dua Lipa towards the top--I initially really liked it, but just found that it didn't hold up as well on repeat listens (started out 2nd or 3rd, drifted down towards 6th as I repeated the tracks).

Duran Duran and Kiesza are two artists I've wanted to link for a long time, and all three of us had them 1st or 2nd so....

[metroid composite]

This was one of those weeks where I wanted to have 12 finalists, but had to narrow it down to 6.  I never really know if weeks like these are really strong or just a lot of pretty good songs with no standouts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKcw35_saLY
T.I.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6GX5U42-mI
Myrath

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cmhca-ROWwQ
Infinite

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sY3rIlrTTh8
Fifth Harmony

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pBjopDymts
The Piano Guys

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xn599R0ZBwg
Lady Gaga

[Ranmilia]

T.I. - Continually relevant messaging.  The chorus is the highlight, very catchy and somewhat redeems the whole song, but... outside of it the rap is slurred and not particularly inspiring.  The speech at the end is cool, if there was more of that sort of thing throughout the song I'd be more on board.  But as is, my dominant thought is "This has been done better, it wouldn't be hard to just look at past weeks and find a much better quality BLM song."

Myrath - Metal with a more pop bent, reminds me a lot of the Muse songs I listened to in super emo college days.  That's not a terrible thing, it's effective, if a bit overdramatic.  Feels more like a production piece to showcase "the Myrath style" rather than an individual song with messaging or special touches... that's not bad either, I just struggle to find things to say about it.

Infinite - Ooh, good contrast to what I was just talking about with Myrath, this has a *lot* of special touches, samples and bits cut in and edges tweaked just so on the production.  I like it a lot.  Just the right amount of melodrama to get emotional involvement, then goes full on songland.  Really satisfying to me on all levels.  The ending could be a bit stronger but ehn.

Fifth Harmony - So the interesting thing here is that this isn't Kpop, and yet it totally is Kpop.  It's all right, just clearly losing the head to head with Infinite here.  More slick and mass markety, good beat, not much of particular interest to me beyond the nice beat.

The Piano Guys - Cheerstuff, fairly generic, good music, meh lyrics.  My parents would love it, but this kind of direct and simple approach is not my bag emotionally, so I didn't get much out of it. 

Lady Gaga - Gaga is a name where I have really high expectations, and this song is more on the "just okay" side to me.  It's okay.  I can't say anything bad about it specifically.  Youtube autoplay queued up Sia - The Greatest after it though, and that made me click it and realize I'd so much rather be listening to that or one of Gaga's older famous tunes.


Everything here is okay and has some good parts, mostly my personal taste making any of them stand out from each other.  That said, the rank for my taste is clear, Infinite blows out the rest.

Infinite > Myrath > T.I. > Fifth Harmony > Lady Gaga > Piano Guys

[Grefter]

T.I. - I kinda want to knee jerk to picking this because "Hands up, can't breath" manages to be such a strong chorus because everything is fucked.  I dug this a chunk regardless of that, but it was also because of the subject matter and how much more and more important I think this message needs to be smashed home.  Running into people running their mouths about Charlotte has been infuriating.  As if this shit was happening in a vacuum in North Carolina of all fucking places.

Myrath - I think that is the second worst idea for how to get a Tattoo I have ever seen.  Easilly the worst outside of a Jackass bit.  It is like a weird mix of Infamous, Nightwatch, Nightwish and sex tattoos.

Infinite - Is this that sexy K-Pop vampire band?  The film clip is fun but makes literally 0 sense with the tone of the music.

Fifth Harmony - I love the saxaphone so much.  I am equally disappointed by the chorus.

The Piano Guys - Open with drums and a cello again.  Once again let down by not leaning into the concept.  The song is an okay do of Train/Maroon 5/Bruno Mars up beat song.  It is very much a song by middle age people writing a family friendly song for middle age people.  The audience at 2:30 is literally the audience.  I ain't saying it is Bourgie as fuck, but it sure is middle class as fuck.

Like literally no one cheating on their long time partners or talking about how feelings hurt to feel.  0/10 needs more melodrama and angst.

Lady Gaga - Like this!  This is more like it.  Those pants don't look comfortable.  Like every single pair of pants in this.  I really dig the too close to the mic so it distorts at 1:45.  I don't like all the camera flashes.  Sadly I kind of have to hold Gaga up to the same standards I do all the other pop song lyrics.  This really goes nowhere.  The verse around the first 50 seconds to 1:05 is pretty good and then it is just... chorus and bridge?  Mixing in "Somewhere in all the confusion" I like probably unreasonably for how small it is, but.... I need another strong verse in here, preferably another one as well.  She is perfectly capable of it.

Would I prefer to hear the piano solo for this one compared to the actual track?  I dunno!  This one is no completely over produced like normal.  It is also still pretty well produced and is just kind of a dance track so....



So yeah I will go with T.I.  I would honestly have trouble picking with of Myrath, Infinite or Fifth Harmony I would put second though.

It might jsut be that its late, but I don't feel much this week.  I am really into some other stuff at the moment.  Like a bunch of rap has been on play (from Danny Brown to Public Enemy and KRS One to nerdy things like Adam Warrock)  Sia - The Greatest came on autoplay after the Gaga track and it just felt so much better.  Bertie Blackman and Florence have been on heavy rotation.  It has been a broad music week for me so some of my taste might be poisoned.

[metroid composite]

Hmm...ok, let's see.

I had T.I. as "the message is good, don't know how to rank this musically (mostly just locked it in around the middle of the pack).  3.5 from me, 1 from Grefter, 3 from Alex, 7.5?

Fifth Harmony and Piano Guys were my 1/2.  Alex/Grefter are critical of the piano guys, but Fifth Harmony does reasonably with both of them.  4th, tied for second with two others (3rd).  8 total.

Alex has Infinite on top...actually that was pretty consistently high for me too.  Probably around 3.5 from me, 1 from Alex, 3 from Grefter.  Another 7.5.

Myrath does better than I anticipated; I think it was around 5th or 6th for me, 2nd from Alex, 3rd from Grefter.   (11ish).

Lady Gaga...yeah, that was around 5th/6th for me, 5th for Alex, 5th or 6th from Grefter.  Yeah ok no (16ish)

So...it's between T.I., Fifth Harmony, and Infinite.  Going to re-listen to them.  It's entirely possible I like Fifth Harmony partially because it's a girl power anthem (which might mean I pick it anyway).

EDIT: well, Infinite didn't hold up well for me in the 3-way head to head rewatch.  I've narrowed it down to Fifth Harmony and T.I.  And...there's a few things that make me think T.I. might be the more logical choice.  Last Week's Duran Duran is much closer in style to Fifth Harmony than T.I., so it's the variety pick.  Apparently I've picked Fifth Harmony before (at the suggestion of my nephew) whereas I like T.I. and have never picked him, and often stylistically he's gangster rap or rapping about getting women which...I'll appreciate him musically in those songs, but wouldn't pick him.  T.I.'s piece is super memorable.  I'm hesitating though as I do enjoy Fifth Harmony more....

[metroid composite]

This weeks finalists are brought to you by the letter M for METALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzoGtRxo_JE
Sonata Arctica

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqYzI8vMG_0
Hammerfall

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tdKl-gTpZg
Metallica

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9xSfuA8DWk
331Erock

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfEACp-ShlM
MOTi & Maurice West

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgR0r94J8EM
The Agonist

[Ranmilia]

Sonata Arctica - Cheesy positive-metal.  I am down with that, but found the song a bit boring on the musical side.  Lots of chords that feel like they're held too long and sections where not much is happening.  It is probably because they want more focus on the lyrics, but this ends up somewhat countermessage, because it makes the song feel like it drags and is the opposite of lively.

Hammerfall - Plus points for the minor/major key transitions.  Minus points for the 300 ripoffs in the video (seriously you couldn't be any more creative with your costuming?)  Overall pretty average "sure is metal in here!" kinda dealio.

Metallica - Wow, putting these guys head to head with other metal brings their strengths into sharp relief.  I can see the reasons they're so famous and successful much clearer than I did before.  Despite having "less" of everything at first glance, less volume, less distortion, less singing, fewer instruments, everything they do is so spot on and fantastically placed and produced to draw the listener's attention.  It's like reading a professional author vs a college essay, there's so much more skill and evocation in their performance.  THAT ALL SAID... I didn't get much out of this song on a personal level.  It is much more of a technical song than an emotive song to me, yet metal is a genre where the emotive component could be called king.  So... good but not necessarily a slam dunk.

331Erock - Good mashup.  Well done on a technical side, and I did get a lot of new meaning out of the lyrics in the metal context.  Fits them better than the original backing, I think.  It's a bit cheesy and a simple concept, but so very listenable.  This is what metal can do to a song, I want to grab Eminem and tell him to listen to this and think about it for his next production.

MOTi & Maurice West - Bass status: dropped.  I liked it but am not sure anyone else would.  The harder/better/faster/stronger part did not really need to be there, I would've liked something more original or at least less recognizable to avoid the "oh hey it's THAT song" mental interruption. 

The Agonist - Very interesting attempt to jam a few subgenres together.  I was very on board until 2:25, when the screaming stopped sounding good and went to uglyville. 0:40 screaming is great, if she'd kept it like that it'd be a fantastic song.  But as is, the later portions are a dealbreaker for me - and I feel like my tastes are much friendlier to death/scream metal than most people's, so.


Four straight metal, one metal/rap mashup and one deep bass housestep, my oh my what a week.  Hm, so for me... I liked parts of Agonist so it won't be last, but clearly not in the running for a win.  Sonata Arctica, Hammerfall and MOTi all fall in the valley of averageness.  So the top two are Metallica's technical chops vs 331Erock's "take an already good rap and infuse emotive metal style" deal.  Yeah, the more I think about it, the solider I get on just enjoying 331Erock more.  It could be knocked for being a cover, but the way he took it I think works with the original more than relies on it.

331Erock > Metallica > MOTi > The Agonist > Hammerfall > Sonata Arctica

[Grefter]

It is Metallica for me.   If their last album was a throwback to ... And Justice For All (but way more mechanical and not as interesting because 50-60'year olds mimicking their 20 year old selves isn't super great) then this one is them closer to Black album.   Black Album is a much better place for Metallica to be going back to.

For me then I guess it is Sonata Arctica, Hammerfall, 1336rocks (it is good but I think the production shows as a fan thing and carries more on the strength of the original song structure).  The Agonist and Moti were okay but didn't scratch the itch.

[metroid composite]

Hmm...for me (purely audio for the most part).  331Erock was the clear and obvious winner.  After that the ordering was really murky...I think it was Sonata Arctica/The Agonist/Hammerfall as the next three?  Metallica was...pretty consistently 6th for me I think?

Pretty sure this leaves us with 331Erock.  Like...1st from me, 1st from Alex, 3-4th from Grefter.  (5 total)

Metallica is like...1, 2, 6 (9 total)

I'd be pretty ok with The Agonist, but it's like 4th, 5th-6th, and whatever I gave it so like maybe 3rd (12 total)

MOTi was a bit weird to place (as the only non metal song in the group) but didn't finish super high for me; 3rd from alex, like 5th-6th from grefter.  (so like...13 total)

Sonata Arctica was like 2nd from me, 2nd-3rd from Grefter, 6th from Alex.  (so like...11 total)

Hammerfall is going to be like...11 total or something.


Well...but there's reasonable arguments that 1sts should be weighted higher than 6ths.  But that still points me at 331Erock with two 1sts (and Metallica is still the runner up).