best of FINISHED | vilppu faves of 18

[madonnas]

X giving me BABYMETAL realness saved my life.  Love that she did a more sunshine pop chorus cause I haven't heard that combo before.

Bloom is Troye's best song   

[Vilppu]

reading some of my descriptions and i'm actually kind of impressed with how i'm able to shlt out 150+ words saying exactly nothing

 

On 12/20/2018 at 10:13 PM, Navyofbadgals said:

So anyway, take it back

thank you for participating in my social experiment confirming that the public will indeed take the one vaguely offensive statement out of context completely disregarding everything else the author had to say !

 

On 12/20/2018 at 10:15 PM, Mark Rih said:

Better Now and SM mainstream rap excellence

ready to become the top poster in charts section if those are an indicator of how billboard will look like in 2019

 

On 12/20/2018 at 10:20 PM, maurixrosup said:

I wanna say Rosalía's music would not fully appreciated unless you speak Spanish but I might be wrong

i've seen her get tons of praise from folks who don't speak spanish so idk. she's a nice girl

 

On 12/20/2018 at 10:21 PM, Body Electrician said:

X and Bloom  rare moments of greatness from talentless artists

i'm still completely gagged at the pop metal poppy songs, she needs to explore that more

 

23 hours ago, Eeveelution said:

Sticky was a classic. Points also made with X, Barbie Tingz and Dancing.

 

Rosalia.. wow you went there.

 

i walked so ORH could run

 



 

23 hours ago, Superpower said:

MNEK slays. He deserves more respect.

tbh i haven't liked any of his other singles and still haven't listened to his full album but i'll try to catch up

 

22 hours ago, volition said:

lmao, love the rosalia write-up. god break down the door might be my favourite song here but sicko mode is also great and i like pretty much everything else there 

thank you... to be fair my humour is extremely subtle and will go over typical ATRLer's head... i'm glad people within 5 IQ points of my own, preferably lower, can enjoy it

 

22 hours ago, Tsareena said:

great song batch... I like most of these.. sticky  and pienso en tu mira  

sticky def in top 5 of the HMs she did it

 

19 hours ago, Tom Vercetti said:

yea, ravyn was rarely in sight last year. Poor her.

we love her now! hopefully she serves next year too

 

17 hours ago, Pink Matter said:

Dancing With Character, Sticky, Pienso en tu mira, SICKO MODE whew they didn't have to go that hard 

lies, fallacies, and fairy tales

 

something about the word lies being another contrived social construct that has no meaning when compared to the theorem of infinite universes if that is even a thing that exists something something

 

7 hours ago, theblackestday said:

  those three songs were genuinely a pleasant surprise and quite emotional (especially the closer), the album overall was nice!

 

very interesting hm list? god break down the door is my fave here, excited for the actual top 20

 

the closer is probably my favourite, it... hits. ngl i'm kind of surprised you liked the ballads the most but obvs not mad! and glad you didn't think it was a complete waste of time ^-^

 

i feel like the interesting is shady but i'm gonna naively assume it's not and yes, if i were to rank, GBDTD would most likely be the highest, it's amazing

 

5 hours ago, World Eater said:

Miałem wczoraj skomentować, ale zobaczyłem, ile tutaj tego wszystkiego i poszedłem spać  

ja zawsze

 

summer byłoby ballado-wyjcem w rękach kogokolwiek innego, beyonce stać na producentów, którzy wiedzą, że nie tędy droga

 

5 hours ago, Lazuli said:

Better Now, Sicko Mode, Bloom  

male excellence !

 

4 hours ago, RobDeWittBukater said:

Catching up with your countdown just now (Christmas break is here AT LAST ) and while I'm not familiar with the majority of the albums you've picked as your favorite of 2018, your write-ups for each absolutely made me want to step out of my bubble a bit and give them a listen which I hope to do soon. And as a fellow Jjong fan, your #1 album is also one I am emotionally attached to, I'm so glad you found comfort in his music 

ah i'm glad tbf i don't think any of my descriptions aside from maybe be the cowboy provide any worthwhile insight so hearing this is real nice ❤️ 

 

i'm usually against posthumous releases but i'm sooo grateful this album came out, i think we all needed it

 

4 hours ago, madonnas said:

X giving me BABYMETAL realness saved my life.  Love that she did a more sunshine pop chorus cause I haven't heard that combo before.

Bloom is Troye's best song   

yeah it's usually the verses which are the softer part... the unforgiven tea except this song is ofc much better than that crap

[Vilppu]

 

SONGS 20-16

 

Quote

20. CupcakKe – Quiz // Does this song deserve to be as high as top 20? Probably no but when it comes to CupcakKe, I just kind of can’t completely get rid of my stan bias. This has been said countless times but it really can’t be stressed enough that her growth from merely an internet meme to an artist way stronger and more self-aware than most mainstream names is incredible. 2018 in particular saw her become more serious than ever before and „Quiz” served as a real crown to that – it loses none of CupcakKe’s purely fun and irreplaceable personality, tongue in cheek lyricism and impeccable flow but in terms of production, it’s a lot more polished, clear and high quality than a lot of her earlier material. The result is sharp, killer and absolutely addicting. „Eden” might have been an overall step-down but „Quiz” shows she’s here to stay and I can’t wait to see what else she has in store.

19. King Dude – Time to Go to War // Whether it be because of the gravely sounding piano notes or this guy looking all ready for a Jews extermination, „Time to Go to War” feels like one of the year’s most downright cold compositions. Everything about it really suggest a war is about to start – it’s slow and monumental, creates an unsettling feeling of something to say the least undesirable incoming, it’s sung in a way that’s completely impassionate yet chill inducing. There’s nothing much going on in this song really, there’s no sudden sound, vocal or emotional twist but regardless, it keeps me on edge every time. It’s creepy, thrilling and in its own way stunning. On a lighter note, this video only has 40k views and I’m responsible for like 10 of them which would make up for 0.025% of the total amount so I think I deserve a shoutout in his next album’s booklet.

18. Gang Gang Dance – Lotus // I don’t really get why everyone’s calling it good elevator music – as someone who’s used quite a few lifts, has been stuck in them three times in his life, once for over 3 hours with a crazy religious fossil woman who may or may not be half of the reason for the aversion to any religion he has right now, I have never ever heard any music played in an elevator. However, if I ever were to play any music in an elevator, I suppose I wouldn’t be too opposed to a song like this. It’s obviously soothing and relaxing but at the same time has just enough fun, musically engaged stuff happening in the background to avoid falling into the inoffensive, as in too boring to make either sort of impression, trap. The ambience is quite cool too, I think, and actually completely makes up for the fact that this track would otherwise feel just a tad underwritten.

17. Say Lou Lou – Ana // Trip hop is a genre that I don’t think anyone can truly mess up beyond repair but of course you can do it to varying degrees of success and honestly, I would have never expected the Say Lou Lou girls to do it quite this well. What I was kind of scared of when listening to „Ana” for the first time was that they’d make their vocals the main focus but thankfully, the voices are merely a background element letting the gorgeous, beautifully unravelling, orchestral arrangement a lot of space to breathe. There’s something slightly Bond-ish to it but it’s more *insert whichever Bond theme was actually good* than „Skyfall”, you know? I don’t know, I think I’m just a helpless sucker for this type of music so even if Portishead it certainly isn’t, there’s still plenty to enjoy for me here.

 

16. Iceage – Catch It // While I can’t say I didn’t enjoy Iceage’s latest album offering, it kind of came and went for me. However, I can’t be too mad either, as it did leave us with the work of art lead single. In its first part „Catch It” is already a great song – dark and moody yet still musically engaging and actually pretty catchy – but it’s the completely unexpected instrumental break that really makes it. It’s wild and unhinged, and breaks the song’s pacing in a way that’s unpredictable but completely reasonable as a little heavier, faster push was exactly what it needed not to become monotonous and everything that happens afterwards seems to somewhat get back on track but it’s a little bit more frantic and unsure than before. It takes a decent amount of skill to pull something like this off and make it flow seamlessly but Iceage clearly know what they’re doing.

 

[madonnas]

Wow I didn't know you were a BABYMETAL hater?  ??? ?? tf is wrong with you

 

Quiz deserves to be higher than 20....

Ana and Catch it are good songs.  I didn't even listen to the Iceage album but I'll keep Catch It lol.

[Vilppu]

3 minutes ago, madonnas said:

Wow I didn't know you were a BABYMETAL hater?  ??? ?? tf is wrong with you

how did you get this from my reply

[madonnas]

Just now, Vilppu said:

how did you get this from my reply

Oh you were talking about the rest of popy's album  

[Vilppu]

Just now, madonnas said:

Oh you were talking about the rest of popy's album  

mm the thing i had on my mind was metallica's the unforgiven cause that's kinda like the blueprint for many of metal songs with soft choruses and that song is crap n

 

luv babymetal like any sane person

[Blue Rose]

Haven’t listened to Eden yet. 1 cupcakke album per calendar year is enough for me.

The others, this Midwesterner isn’t that cultured.

[Bxtch]

Haven't heard any of these ones 

[Dom]

Cupcakke is the only one i heard from this set, but she did good, hopefully she becomes a big name one day. she better than nicki.

[Wicked]

On 12/19/2018 at 1:26 PM, Vilppu said:

Kiss” is by quite some distance the weakest single of Prince’s imperial phase

No points.

 

On 12/19/2018 at 1:26 PM, Vilppu said:

Nothing can sum up my thoughts on Claire better than this tweet

[Tsareena]

uhm quiz most definitely deserves a top 20 spot

lotus, ana  
 

[Lazuli]

Catch It is a slay (and so is their album so repent) 

[volition]

catch it is particularly great, but quiz and lotus are real good too and ana was actually surprisingly good, i wasn't expecting it at all

[Eeveelution]

Quiz is a bopT.

 

 

Ana and Catch it are cute but other songs on their albums outsold.

[theblackestday]

Oh bitch this set is a serve

Quiz is so good. I wish cupcakKe made more sonically interesting songs like that and Cartoons, which is why I was underwhelmed with everything she released post-Quiz. A Sophie-produced cupcakKe album kinda has the potential to be the greatest rap album of the millennium

 

Lotus  what Grimes strives to be but fails. I never cared for Say Lou Lou before but Ana highkey left me anticipating the album, only for it to end up being a snoozefest

 

Tea, tea and more tea @ Catch It. A rare case of a lead single being an album highlight (well, rare for my contrarian ass )

[World Eater]

Quiz to zdecydowanie career highlight  Lotus i Catch It poniekąd mnie omamiły, bo mimo, że Kazuashita i Beyondless były dość solidne, to nie w takim stopniu, w jakim bym się spodziewał po tych singlach

[Maddox]

Your write up on Poet | Artist was really good!! Will definitely check it out.

 

Saving some of ur top songs as i haven't heard any of them yet. Never been into cupcakKe's music but i’ll take your word for it.

[Pink Matter]

I've been on this site for two years now and still have yet to listen to a CupcakKe song. Maybe I should change that?

I checked for Say Lou Lou and Iceage's albums and while I liked them I didn't give them a second chance so I can only assume those picks are good  

[Vilppu]

19 hours ago, Superpower said:

Haven’t listened to Eden yet. 1 cupcakke album per calendar year is enough for me.

The others, this Midwesterner isn’t that cultured.

quiz is the only thing it really has over her other albums tbh otherwise it's maybe her weakest release

 

i think you may like catch it

 

18 hours ago, Bxtch said:

Haven't heard any of these ones 

not sure but maybe you could like lotus

 

16 hours ago, Dom said:

Cupcakke is the only one i heard from this set, but she did good, hopefully she becomes a big name one day. she better than nicki.

she absolutely deserves it... anyone over nicki !

 

16 hours ago, Wicked said:

No points.

 

thank you for pointing that out, i was sad my edginess went unnoticed like that. there's nothing wrong with it btw it just doesn't grab in the way many of his other songs do

 

14 hours ago, Tsareena said:

uhm quiz most definitely deserves a top 20 spot

lotus, ana  
 

well glad i'm not the only one who thinks that then

 

13 hours ago, Lazuli said:

Catch It is a slay (and so is their album so repent) 

i think the album was a serve and i also think it didn't need more than the three listens i gave it

 

7 hours ago, volition said:

catch it is particularly great, but quiz and lotus are real good too and ana was actually surprisingly good, i wasn't expecting it at all

yeah say lou lou surprised me, i thought they'd go on making inoffensive but also uninteresting synthpop

 

7 hours ago, Eeveelution said:

Quiz is a bopT.

 



 

Ana and Catch it are cute but other songs on their albums outsold.

what are those other songs

 

4 hours ago, theblackestday said:

Oh bitch this set is a serve


Quiz is so good. I wish cupcakKe made more sonically interesting songs like that and Cartoons, which is why I was underwhelmed with everything she released post-Quiz. A Sophie-produced cupcakKe album kinda has the potential to be the greatest rap album of the millennium

 

Lotus  what Grimes strives to be but fails. I never cared for Say Lou Lou before but Ana highkey left me anticipating the album, only for it to end up being a snoozefest

 

Tea, tea and more tea @ Catch It. A rare case of a lead single being an album highlight (well, rare for my contrarian ass )

yeah, eden just isn't musically interesting. imagine if she had label support + higher budget though, she'd be unstoppable

 

drink once whenever theblackestday likes an album opener, drink twice whenever theblackestday likes a lead single, drink thrice whenever theblackestday likes a song that's both of those at the same time

 

2 hours ago, World Eater said:

Quiz to zdecydowanie career highlight  Lotus i Catch It poniekąd mnie omamiły, bo mimo, że Kazuashita i Beyondless były dość solidne, to nie w takim stopniu, w jakim bym się spodziewał po tych singlach

catch it tak mocno przyćmiło wszystko inne na beyondless... to smutne

 

2 hours ago, Maddox said:

Your write up on Poet | Artist was really good!! Will definitely check it out.

 

Saving some of ur top songs as i haven't heard any of them yet. Never been into cupcakKe's music but i’ll take your word for it.

thank you  

 

i think quiz showcases a lot of her strengths and it's not gimmicky in the way her more sexual stuff is so i hope you like it!

 

31 minutes ago, Pink Matter said:

I've been on this site for two years now and still have yet to listen to a CupcakKe song. Maybe I should change that?

I checked for Say Lou Lou and Iceage's albums and while I liked them I didn't give them a second chance so I can only assume those picks are good  

omg you should... i understand why someone may be put off by her reputation of a joke/meme artist but she's rly proved herself since deepthroat and such i think

 

having an essay to finish is a great creativity fuel for these descriptions hmm

[Vilppu]

 

SONGS 15-11

 

Quote

15. Mariah Carey – The Distance // The sudden „Caution” acclaim this year came as a big shock to me and I’m not sure if it were a positive one because where was all that with „Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel” and „Me. I Am Mariah… The Elusive Chanteuse”, two much better bodies of work. However, even on her most ill-advised records there’s always at least one noteworthy song and 2018 brought us „The Distance”. What Carey does completely differently from other pop hags – and what she does absolutely right – is that she doesn’t try to match her songwriting to the trends, instead, she matches the trends to the songwriting. The result is a song that has the subtlety and emotion of her peak stuff but in terms of production it gets a much needed upgrade, the slight electronic touch makes it stand proudly among other modern R&B tracks. Additionally, Skrillex being behind this (and that) is any artist ever can randomly deliver greatness regardless of how worthless their previous output was, exhibit C.

14. Thom Yorke – Suspirium // Up until earlier this year Thom Yorke was clearly on a downward spiral and really anyone that isn’t a blind Radiohead fan could tell. No matter how acclaimed his subsequent works were, he hasn’t written anything truly worthwhile since, like, „In Rainbows”. Now it seems like all he really needed was a clear task. Songs he created for the „Suspiria” remake’s soundtrack obviously have very distinct characteristics setting them apart from his usual output and those are exactly what makes them good. The one which stands out in particular is „Suspirium”, a haunting yet relatively light piece which makes great use of its spacious production. It’s somewhat airy which contributes to it being considerably less dark and moody than a lot of the instrumental tracks on the album but at the same time helps you focus more on the melody which is just damn pretty. And obviously the flute solo is a real cherry on top, not something I expected but I don’t think this song’s climax could be any better.

13. Charli XCX – No Angel // Charli keeps exploring and pushing the boundaries of PC Music to mixed results – „5 in the Morning” was a fun idea that lacked staying power, „Focus”’s immaculate production was brought down by the even more excessive than per usual broken record effect, „1999” was catchy but fairly rather uninteresting. Sometimes, however, she gets it wholly right. „No Angel” takes the good parts about the only other 3 songs she put out this year, mixes them and adds its own spice. It’s a song that has something for everyone really, it’s addictive, instantly memorable, has a strong hook that doesn’t overpower the rest of the track, it’s accessible enough for pop fans and quirky enough for indieheaux. Just another step in girl’s artistic evolution, and one of the most successful, most captivating ones yet, I must say. Oh, and whatever offensive things I might have (and did) said or thought about „Pop 2” do not represent the woman that I am today.

12. The Weeknd – Call Out My Name // As someone who’s never listened to Abel’s mixtapes, I think throughout his career he’s kept getting things only half right. The darker, sexual songs had the climate just right but lacked good melodies whereas the poppier, more public-friendly stuff had the opposite problem – everything that screamed „The Weeknd” was sacrificed in favour of a catchy hook. On his most recent release, however, he seems to have improved his balance and generally perfected his songwriting, and the lead single „Call Out My Name” serves as a real testament to that. The strings melody is gorgeous enough on its own but feels even better as a complimenting element to the underlying sadness of the track. It’s both melodic and atmospheric which should satisfy all his previous fans, as they seemed to enjoy both his sides a lot, and maybe helped him gain a new one.

11. Ciara – Level Up // Promise this is the last time I’m saying but this is any artist ever can randomly deliver greatness regardless of how worthless their previous output was, exhibit D, and by far the most satisfying glow-up example this list has had. Over the span of her first four albums, Ciara released some of my absolutely least favourite music ever with „Basic Instinct” being the peak of comically terrible music, it may be the worst album I’ve listened to period. However, she’s been steadily improving since and her persistence paid off as from my worst of lists she jumped straight into best. Everything about „Level Up” is mercilessly fun, from the infectious dancehall rhythm, through the quirky production, ending on how relentless the hook is. Ciara absolutely eats this, she’s sexier and more self-assured than ever before here, one of the very few recent pop songs that actually benefit a lot from how they’re performed and while I definitely think more of what is sung over how it is sung, it’s nice to see she has enough charisma to elevate an already fantastic track even higher.

 

[Tom Vercetti]

would love to hear lotus in an elevator. 

No Angel is a classic in the making~

Call Out My Name tbh got old for me and I don't play it as much as the following songs. 

[xrosup]

Mariah

Ciara  

 

[Dom]

LEVEL UP IS A SLAY, SLAY, HUNNY.

[Blue Rose]

Surprised to see Ciara this high. I love her but wasn’t in love with her songs this year. Love the entire set tho especially Suspirium.