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

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This is an interesting set of finalists.  Pretty sure Ed Sheeran songs are just better when you replace all of Ed Sheeran's lyrics with gibberish, and replace Ed Sheeran with Malinda Kathleen Reese.  Actually, pretty sure this Baby Bash song would be better if it was redone by MKR too; but I'll admit the beat's alright.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3iqb_02xY8
Baby Bash

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sA7Ojgzzus
Louisa Johnson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLO5gdSqY7Y
Mary J Blige

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVUqLBRQom8
Taeyeon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lxfl8LRab_I
Dreamcatcher

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rte07sl3Vf4
Malinda Kathleen Reese

[Ranmilia]

Baby Bash - The beat is all right.  Good summary.  This is not the pick.

Louisa Johnson - Averageish.  Most of it doesn't pull my attention though I did like the staccato part at the end.

Mary J Blige - Pretty all right.  A bit on the "too long for how little it changes up" side for me, but that's a personal peeve.  Kanye's a bit bland, but that's better than ruining a good thing.  Brass is hot.  Decent pick if nothing after it's better.

Taeyeon - Wow, just noticing Taeyeon's making the list very regularly.  Not that there's a problem with that, they're great!  This is, hm, okay but not my favorite from them... a bit below MJB I think, just standard clean kpop.

Dreamcatcher - Ah!  Very nice.  Great song and great video, very entertaining, hits the good points of kpop and krock and a bit of Nightwish-like fantasy narrative.  Good jam.

MKR - Also good, definitely like the steps up in her production from past stuff I've watched.  Not sure about the super glarey white light, but I'm not familiar with the original song so maybe that's just a thing?  Not too many drop down hilarious lines in this one, but she works the delivery very well. 


Nice and easy week to rank for me, clear placements, not much else to say.

Dreamcatcher > MKR > MJB > Taeyeon > Louisa Johnson > Baby Bash

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Taeyeon - Wow, just noticing Taeyeon's making the list very regularly.  Not that there's a problem with that, they're great!  This is, hm, okay but not my favorite from them... a bit below MJB I think, just standard clean kpop.

I mean, Taeyeon is the big star from Girl's Generation/SNSD, and I'm pretty sure this is her solo album, so yeah.  Alex and I had the same #1 so going with that.

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So...the country one is a suggestion by my sister; it's kinda neat conceptually; all country artists coming together and doing sort of a country mashup.  Not sure it's the best song this week, though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2pAslx5az8
Country artists of then now and forever

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8lFeVfYw_s
Amine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfSL-6YExzk
Unleash the Archers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BT05GiMlY4g
Miso

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WXZCh3_2p0&t=0s
Grey

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ITkmWEWjDk
KHS

[Grefter]

Have to keep it short because typing on my phone makes me want to break stuff.

Country stuff not for me but triangle support it if you have stuff to say and it is of interest.

Unleash the Archers is my favourite, but it is Grefter.mp3

Amine is probably the one I like second best.  Good beat, good flow, fun video.

KHS there is a bunch of stuff there I could babble about and ultimately comes down on it is okay.

[Ranmilia]

Country - This is... pretty all right!  Not sure I get the concept of the CG video, but it's entertaining enough.  Definitely sure I don't get the last bit.  Unless I'm missing something, it's not a mashup, it's just Country Roads but in the last minute IIIIIII WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOOOUUUUUU breaks down the door like the Kool-Aid man.  Feels like a meme video, but this is apparently serious?  Country's not really my jam, so a pure celebration of it doesn't hit much, but eh it's fine... depends on what else is around.

Amine - That certainly happened.  Uh.  Well, it's very funny... but a lot of the humor comes from the intro, which is 40% of the total video with no music going on.  That's pushing the limit of non-song content for a song of the week column, to me... well, pushing but not past, I don't think.  So eh.  The song part is okay, would not be nearly as strong without the visuals and intro, though it does get some of its own lyrical licks in.  The starting bathroom gag is sticking with me a bit because of the Survivor controversy last night.  But as a full package, this is a good youtube experience?

Unleash the Archers - Grefter.mp3.  Takes a long time to get where it's going.  Actually a lot of parallels here to country music now that I'm thinking about it, which is funny.  Other than the pacing being a bit slow I have nothing to knock here, good song, well done, evocative.  This is gonna be a battle of the genre bias week huh.

Miso - Suuuuuuuper trashy but fun to listen to.  I think I actually like the musical side of this the most of anything this week - it has a nice soundscape.  Vaguely middle eastern vibe, which I've heard in some western house stuff but not really in kpop fusion before.  The trashyness works against it here, if it had better lyrics/video/atmosphere it'd be my first pick.

Grey - Was okay, pretty stock, not as good as the rest here.

KHS - Neat!  I like this kind of cover, lots of reinterpretation going on with both the lyrical and instrumental sides.  Final product... isn't super awe inspiring though, just "it was okay" as Grefter said.  Even with as much as they did, I still wished they had done more. 


So in the end I'm seconding Grefter's comments, throwing in some appreciation for Miso and definite acknowledgement of genre preferences going on.  If you have stuff to say about the country, go for it!

Unleash the Archers > Miso > Amine > Country > KHS > Grey

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Mmm...got sick, didn't pick a song.

If I'm going to pick against my sister's suggestion, I'd better have something pretty noteworthy to say about it.  And...I kinda don't for Unleash the Archers.  It is metal that is decent quality.  (Also was not as high on my list as Gref/Alex).  Miso is quite good, agreeing with Alex, but it's also something I don't have a whole lot to write about.  It's just solid.  KHS was very high on my list (possibly top) and would probably go over good with my sister (she likes Britney Spears) but at least Alex has it below the country pick.

So like...I feel like this is between Amine and Country.  Amine I have plenty to say about (whiteface race-reversal.  Also gender role reversal in a couple scenes).  Like...there's reason to pick it, cause it does stand out.  And also, I think all three of me, Alex and Grefter liked Amine more.

That said, it's not by a huge margin, and Country isn't getting dumpstered (usually when it gets in the top 6, it's last or close to last from everyone including me).

[Grefter]

Gods, the amount of dumb shit autocorrect does when I phone post that I totally miss is zany.

"Triangle support" = totally support if you have something to say with it.

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This week's finalists.  Nothing stands out to me as across the board fantastic (a lot of "good music not sure about the video" going on this week), although I will note as someone who tinkered with my big sister's harp a lot (knocking on the wood, putting the pedals half-way to get in between notes) I am impressed by the technical aspect of the harp piece.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bfB-yiTxms
Kongos

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yZ8Bs1JM1A
schmoyoho

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTdsfJj4YlA
Berry Good

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UV-2E8kEqg
Camille and Kennerly

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Al-nuR1iAU
Rag 'n Bones Man

[Ranmilia]

Kongos - Hazy, intentionally so.  I like the accordion and percussion a lot.  Video's unexciting but works.  Hm, yeah, I like this quite a bit.  Kind of like country but without the smarmy edges I dislike. 

331Erock - Also very nice.  I wouldn't have known this wasn't the original version of the song without being told, it fits very well.  Video does bother me after a while, though - I want horror movie frozen Sia to pounce on him or something.  Does start to drag a bit by the end.

schmoyoho - Suuuuper cute, and a nice song!  Disappointed by the part where it derails into making the cat a metaphor for a romantic relationship, though.  Just keep the spotlight on the kitty.

Berry Good - Standard Kpop.  Exists.  I felt done with it after only a minute or so.  Doesn't do anything really wrong, but we have more interesting kpop on the list just about every week.

METAL HARP TWINS - Wowww.  My mother has a harp too, used to play it a fair bit though she's mostly stopped due to age and wrist problems.  This is a little dry (I think I've felt that way about all their videos) and a little long, but technically super impressive.  Solid listen.

Rag'n'Bone Man - Very artistic, nice singing, and the best video of the week.  Doesn't grab me quite as much as it seems it should.  Definitely a contender though.


Oof.  Hard calls, very even field.  I can eliminate schomoyoho and Berry Good from contention pretty easily, but the other four... I like them all.  Let's see.  Kongos and 331Erock are kind of similar, Harp Twins and Rag Man are kind of similar.  I think I take Kongos over 331Erock.  Harp Twins have great wow factor but meh presentation, Rag Man has great presentation but meh wow factor.  Their strengths are comparable, their weaknesses... I think Rag Man's wow/music scores higher than Harp Twins' presentation.  So Rag Man vs Kongos... Kongos wins.  But earlier I felt Harp > Kongos eyeballing it.  Hmm.  What if I do them all head to head:
Kongos > 331
Kongos < Harp Twins
Kongos > Rag Man
331 < Harp Twins
331 < Rag Man
Rag Man > Harp Twins
331 0-3 and the others all 2-1.  So 331 out.  Okay, if I close my eyes and do raw "I personally liked it more" I get a list, probably put more weight on Kaitlyn/Grefter opinions for top 3 though.

Kongos > Harp Twins > Rag'n'Bone Man > 331Erock > schmoyoho > Berry Good

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Alex and I are fairly split; waiting for Grefter/or another third opinion.

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Mmm...well, it's Monday and no Grefter reply.

Kind of forget how mine were ranked, except that Berry Good and 331Erock were solidly on top.  Expected 331Erock to take a dive when people actually watched the video from not having much of a video (I listen to the audio).  Berry Good...yeah, I thought this might just be "inexplicable personal obsession" territory, but I can never be sure.

I don't really have particularly strong opinions on Kongos and Rag n Bones man; neither was all that high on my list, like...4th/5th?  I forget.  Now, if Grefter had backed Alex up on one of those, then yeah, that would probably become the pick.

So...that pretty much leaves Harp Twins as the one group that both Alex and I had in our top 3.

[Grefter]

Sorry my week/weekend was mostly final sprint of testing for project and then recovering from said testing.  I have barely had time to do life.

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Strong week this week.  Side note, I never really listened to the lyrics of Chocolate Rain--they're quite a bit smarter than I realized, a bunch of social commentary about racism.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJ_eVIZkjZE
Alestorm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfOU6asTDao
Agolo feat Angelique Kidjo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lr5DWf5L42k
Tay Zonday

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvLjXLjhRkA
Marco & Seba feat. INNA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7it_g_gAY4
DNCE ft Nicki Minaj

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9plTe80SosA
Kraftwerk

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Forum maintenance killed discussion last week; let's try this week.  Finalsits

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtVFTuIZFYU
Fall Out Boy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtM_QZvCvBc
Jasmine Thompson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mx_g8eFQnkA
liltommyj

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a36tGbqMiLQ
Pristine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GsVTsuPyOg
T.I.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLDEHOuodQ0
Zac brown band

[Ranmilia]

Fall Out Boy - I don't remember Undertale going down quite like this.  Not too far off though.  Very neat video, song's... ehhh okay, kinda cool, I would not like it nearly as much without the video giving context and storyline but it does and now they're inseparable in my mind so.  Mixed a bit low, and I felt the conclusion was weak.  But still, a strong contender.

Jasmine Thompson - Not really in love with the singing, and since it's bare piano + voice, that means it's not much in the running.  Lyrics have a resonant message though.

liltommyj - Well... I dig the style and would listen to it.  I can't make out any of the lyrics/lines though, and the blood-spraying impalement scene in the middle of the video might be a bit much for general audiences.  Probably too inaccessible to recommend, and I liked Fall Out Boy better anyway.

Pristine - This was okay.  Nice guitar stuff, average singing.  Goes down easy, doesn't stand out, as you probably know by now I prefer songs that stand out in some way for song of the week column.

T.I - Timely.  Excellent lyrics, when I could make them out!  Unfortunately I couldn't always make them out.  That's really the only negative here though.

Zac Brown Band - Not a good matchup for me.

T.I vs Fall Out Boy for first place.  Think I give it to T.I despite being hard to understand at times. 

T.I > Fall Out Boy > liltommyj > Pristine > Jasmine Thompson > Zac Brown Band

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Huh, given a few weeks ago Alex was saying he preferred his songs happy non-political, I wouldn't have guessed T.I. for his top pick this week.

(I actually ended up going with a song about racism in the united states last week (chocolate rain) so there's that to consider too).

[Ranmilia]

Well, same reasoning as Body Count a few weeks back.  I like "directly, overtly political" much more than "metaphorical lyrics played over a political video telling you how to interpret them."  Some personal idiosyncracy there in how to motivate or appeal to me, I guess?  And quality counts, I want crisp, smart lyrics in a rap, and TI delivers.

Repeating subjects is a concern, yeah, I was almost going to mention that before I noticed how many weeks back Body Count had been.  But Fall Out Boy also plays on the racial angle, so for my top two there was no getting away from it.  As always, though, it is Kaitlyn's song of the week, use editorial discretion as you please!

[Grefter]

Fall Out Boy - I dig this a lot more than Alex.  I like the swerves in and out of styles and the highly produced bits that smash things together. I am also a sucker for bits referencing getting you to rewind just to hear something again.  It is just posturing, but this is easily the strongest and most interesting Fal Out Boy have been to me for years.

Jasmine Thompson - possibly not the target audience?  I don't miss my old friends, I am still in remote touch with most of them and feel I connect just as strongly with new ones as I did with old ones?  Delivery is fine.  It is mostly just fine.

liltommyj - eh it's alright.

Pristine - feels like something I should dig more. Guitar tones and everything is good old classic rock ones. Just kinda text book all over the place?  Doesn't really do anything but be a pile of old school.

T.I.- it keeps happening.  I don't think this is the strongest protest song but I am more than happy it exists because it  needs to
Zac brown band - is this the country version of a hype track?  Lots of reference to I toured and played local bar and drank while I played and the film clip listing off venues.  I also don't like them so meh not a good judge.

Fall out boy > T.I. > some assortment of the rest > ZBB

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Hmm...yep, this is looking like fallout boy.

For what it's worth, my top was Pristine, which I was predicting would probably cruise through as it is funk and funk is grefterbait.  Did not score high with either Grefter or Alex.  Well, this is why I have people listen with fresh ears and try to hide my initial reactions.

T.I. was like 6th for me, and almost didn't make the finalists.  Open to it, though!  But both me and Grefter have Fall Out Boy higher, and Alex has it 2nd.

liltommyj and FoB were the two that had very harsh breakdowns.  I think I had liltommyj mildly higher, but this is with no regard to the music video, which I didn't realize was quite good for FoB.

Jasmine Thompson and Zac Brown Band are...solid (around 3rd/4th for me) but it seems nobody is really going to bat for them, so they are not the pick.

[Grefter]

Pristine needed way more slap bass for a funk track that speaks to my core.

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This week was kinda brutal--songs that failed to make the top 6 include Krewella, Alestorm, one of the new PSY videos...anyway, stuff that did make the finalist cut:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHPVb-qMzsY
Halestorm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fs8RUFS18g0
Unleash the Archers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzcSYoJd1tU
Tinie Tempah

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reEOKm5NSy0
Icon for Hire

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwJPPaEyqhI
Psy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYymmqpLnIY
Malinda Kathleen Reese

[Ranmilia]

Halestorm - Yeah I am not the target audience for this "whoo normal people life!" business in SO many ways.  This one in particular doesn't seem to have a message of its own, just "hey various facets of life exist!" and that's a bit of a writing pet peeve for me.  The musical side doesn't impress me much either. 

Unleash the Archers - I appreciate the imagery here, they focus on a very Georgia O'Keefe mountain face, and then zoom over to a phallic outcropping on the right when the angry male vocals have a line.  Fun metal song, pretty standard stuff musically, slightly above average.

Tinie Tempah - I... have no idea what I just listened to; even focusing on trying to understand the lyrics I can only catch maybe 25% of them.  It is a very nice listen, though.  The sounds are smooth and creamy and mix well to my ears.  I would be disappointed if the lyrics turned out to be all sexual stuff, but I don't thiiiiink they are?  Scores pretty high on overall personal enjoyment.

Icon for Hire - Similar to Tinie Tempah, this also feels like it's punching above the sum of its parts.  I can see why these made it in a hard week.  Difficult for me to pick apart, it just does everything pretty well and packs together nicely into a fun song.  Like... the video is technically just concert and artist shots, and I'm usually unimpressed with those, but then it does some nice things with colors and smoke and edits firmly to the beat and tilts the camera a little and it's SO much better than the average. 

PSY - Hm.  Well.  Obviously this is top notch for production value and composition.  Psy's doing his thing.  Again.  Therein lies the problem - this feels really, really similar to Gangnam Style, and I have to assume everyone reading music columns is intimately familiar with Gangnam Style.  On its own this is a great song, but it follows the same structure as Gangnam Style, talks about the same topics as Gangnam Style, uses several of the same visual gimmicks as Gangnam Style (and fewer gimmicks overall)... It's too much of a rehash for me.  I didn't feel like I heard or saw much of anything new, except the sax.  So it ranks pretty high on enjoyment, but low on originality.

MKR - Is good.  Her usual deal, but spread out over multiple songs (lessening the potential for any of them to overstay their welcome) and more joke's and better production than I recall usually seeing.  Not much else to say about it.  In other weeks, this would be an easy winner, but this is a tough field...


Hooooof.  Very tough field.  MKR might be of particular note here.  She shows up in the finalists a lot, but I don't recall if she's ever actually won, and I think this is her best entry yet.  I'm putting her third, personally, BUT part of that is because I'm already familiar with her and thus her gimmick has lost its novelty appeal to me.  So I think there's definitely an argument for moving her up or going back to this if we have a weak lineup in the near future.

Icon for Hire > Tinie Tempah > MKR > Unleash the Archers > PSY > Halestorm

[Grefter]

Halestorm - Doesn't feel like her usual shtick, I alt tabbed away and kinda even forgot it was Halestorm.  Not much to say?  Its pretty okay.

Unleash the Archers - This is my favourite for all the obvious reasons, but to list them off.  Shreds.  Metal.  Matriarchs.

Tinie Tempah - I am with Alex that this and Icon for Hire and kind of competing.  I think this is a better song (waayyyy better breaks) and better flow.

Icon for Hire - But I think I like this more because it is so much trashier with that beep boopy synth and just putting pretty stock guitar bit over the top of with a hype up song with super sing song chorus?  Yeah this is carefully constructed to be an earworm as you listen to it, enjoy it a bunch in the moment and your brain just discards it immediately.  It is the definition of disposable song.  BUt yeah I like it for that.  Turns out Andy Warhol was right.

Psy - This... is way weaker than I expect from Psy.  Like it is cool enough as a song and all, but it really isn't quite the level of bombastic either as a song or as a video that he has set.

Malinda Kathleen Reese - Yeah I think we are solidly establishing that this just isn't my thing.  Its fine?  I guess.

Unleash the Archers > Icon for Hire > Tinie Tempah > Psy > Halestorm (this is fucking harsh on this song really) > MKR.


Edit - Actually credit where credit is due.  I dig the outfits in Psy's film clip.  Edit 2 - On the other hand, autoplay started up another Psy track right after a relisten and FUCK YES this is gooooooooood shit.

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Edit 2 - On the other hand, autoplay started up another Psy track right after a relisten and FUCK YES this is gooooooooood shit.

Huh, yeah, that was the other new PSY track this week, hovered around 8th for me.  I mean, granted, I was evaluating these just listening to them, without looking at the video at all, which is not really the best way to evaluate PSY tracks hmm....

OK, sure, let's toss in the 7th/8th place options if that changes anyone's top picks:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16aIMatk9E8
Quintino & NERVO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xvjnoagk6GU
PSY