tournament Choose The Album, Then a Song 9: And the winner is...

[Queen Conchita]

7 minutes ago, Fa1x intelectual said:

I think Conchita wanna see mah roasting. Can we get to the ceremony  sooner so the contestants can awe at my utter demolishing of their egos? 

I did that

You're going to drag me to the ****ing core 

[Fa1x intelectual]

Just now, Queen Conchita said:

You're going to drag me to the ****ing core 

Wait n see

[lhdang2000]

8 minutes ago, Fa1x intelectual said:

WHAT DID i DO WRONG?

I just had fun being my own Simon Cowell

I was fair, though

You did nothing wrong babe. 

I just had fun being my Demi Lovato and shading Simon a bit.

[Fa1x intelectual]

Now, some music to distract yall

 

 

 

[Pedro]

The update is about to start. I am now counting the votes and creating the graphics.

[Fa1x intelectual]

[Pedro]

 

ATRL's original game "Choose The Album, Then a Song" is back for its anticipated ninth season on its original concept.

 

We are one day behind but nothing to worry about. After all, there was so many people that quit that if they didn't maybe we would still have around two more players... So making the maths, we are not running behind at all. Well! This was the round you all get to play with different albums. This round is crucial for the game because you get to listen to a new album and explore more music so I truly hope you enjoyed it. We are about to know the results but...

 

Before we get into that, let's welcome our judging panel!

 

 

 

          Pedro                    Lazuli                   Kavish           Fa1x intelectual

 

Looking good, girls! Now that you've taken your position, let's review the voting rules along with the respective updates, shall we?

 

 

1. The voting process is dived into two parts: the public vote and the judges votes;

Each of these parts account for 50% of the results.

2. Each contestant that didn't cast a vote will be deducted 30% of his/her final result;

The 30% discount can be translated into less 5 points.

3. The judges have rated each entry from 1 to 10;

All of the judges votes are then summed and we get to an average.

4. Your results are cumulative from the points you receive eachround;

5. During the voting process there may be ties. Find below the rules to break them:

5.1. If there is a tie wiithin the public vote, the entry with the best result within the judges votes gets ahead;

5.2. If there is a tie within the judges votes, the entry with the best result within the public vote gets ahead;

5.3. If there is a tie within the final results, the entry with the best result within the judges vote gets ahead.

6. The points distribution have changed in order to decrease expected events.

1st Place: 17 Points | 2nd Place: 15 Points | 3rd Place: 13 Points | 4th Place: 12 Points | 5th Place: 11 Points | 6th Place: 10 Points.

 

 

Spoiler

For those of you who don't understand spanish, "chantaje" (the name of the duet between Shakira and Maluma) means blackmail which is more than appropriate for this round as it is what it's about. For the only time during the season you will be playing with a different album and basically try to make it look bad... Worse! You will also try to make the contestant who plays with it be eliminated. It's time to be a bad bxtch!

 

You will have to submit a bad song from the album you will be playing with and justify your choice on why the song is bad and why the album is not worthy the victory of this game. On top of that, you will have to find flaws in the way the contestant has been playing with his/her album.

 

All this in no more than 300 words. Keep in mind that during this round there isn't any banned songs. You can re-use any song.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And this is where we will stop for tonight. You know how many points each contestant got. Now it's time to make the final decisions.

 

Each of the six contestants will PM me what they want to do with the points they collected. They have three options:

 

a) Add the total amount to your album;

b) Add half of the amount to you and take half of the amount from your enemy's album;

c) Take the entire amount from your enemy's album.

 

PM me with the decision as soon as possible: @shelven, @MusicLoverDude, @Rihlana, @sumthintoxic82, @Queen Conchita and @lhdang2000. REMEMBER: The bonus round results will only be revealed tomorrow. ANYTHING can happen.

 

[Pedro]

 

Find below the judges' comments to each entry.

 

Spoiler

PEDRO

 

1. shelven: Kelly Clarkson - "Piece By Piece": 'Good Goes The Bye'

 

9,55

 

Well, Hello! You went IN. Don’t tell me you’re the “bad b*tch” Britney Spears was talking about in “Work Work”! I am quite speechless because I am a true Kelly Clarkson fan but you captured the essence (or the lack of it) in “Piece By Piece”. I have nothing to critique you on that department but I believe we disagree a little on how sumthintoxic82 hasn’t delivered depth in his entries ‘cause I believe he has. Good job, nonetheless. “End ha!”

 

2. MusicLoverDude: Adele - "25": 'Send My Love (To Your New Lover)'

 

5,82

 

Alright! While I did give a couple of laughs during your essay, I don’t think you delivered. The essay was well structured and all that but it didn’t make sense overall. Not only this song’s type of irony kind of proves Adele is more than a “ballad” singer and can do more than serious songs but the all “immaturity” type of critique didn’t really make a click here. She is obviously unbothered during this song and that shows maturity of letting go of her past persona. With this being said, I did appreciate your essay overall but there was no real valid criticism. On top of that, you lhdang2000 criticism was lacking.

 

3. Rihlana: Conchita Wurst - "Conchita": 'Where Have All The Good Men Gone'

 

7,14

 

While I always love reading what you wrote and while you made great points, I happen to know “Conchita” - the album quite well and while I am leaving that behind, I also had to disagree with a few things you mentioned. During your essay and let me add that you nailed the album critiques - it was indeed an album prepared for the winner of Eurovision and not for Conchita Wurst, the artist - I have to say that I am afraid you chose the wrong song. Why? It may be the most out-of-the-box song on the album, able to represent its diversity and that ended up not failing to make a connection with me. Also, I appreciated how you mentioned Queen Conchita’s flaws even though in a very shallow way.

 

4. sumthintoxic82: Sia - "This Is Acting": 'Alive'

 

3,18

 

What happened here? Your essay started in a very bad way as you started praising the song you were going to critique. Then you say “Alive” sounds nothing like Sia when it actually sounds more like Sia than the big majority of what’s on “This Is Acting” and you made yourself look like you didn’t understand the concept of the album. Overall, you failed this round sumthintoxic. I am so sorry to rate you so low.

 

5. Queen Conchita: Halsey - "Badlands": 'Young God'

 

6,42

 

The way you all went in on each other had me dying. Overall, you had a good entry but with some flaws. Comparing Halsey with Lana Del Rey or Lorde is valid from my perspective too and the tweet you mentioned shows immaturity from her. Nonetheless, through your essay I noted some immaturity as well. Yet your main failure was on how you basically forgot about all the rest and reserve a single paragraph to the album and Rihlana’s performance as the first paragraph was very general.

 

6. lhdang2000: Samantha Jade - "Nine": 'Shake That'

 

7,74

 

The Pitbull drag was the best of all the drags this round. You won me over! I am so supporting you on that one. If I am to be honest, “Nine” didn’t sound so similar as you made it look based on what MusicLoverDude has been sending. Even with that, you clearly made good points on how this song is a bit generic and again the Pibtull part… YAAAAAS “drag ha”! I believe you ended up not putting up any flaw against MusicLoverDude’s entries, you blamed it all on the record.

 

Spoiler

LAZULI

 

1. shelven: Kelly Clarkson – “Flop By Flop”: ‘Bye Goes My Career’ – 9/10

First of all, I actually LOVE this song. It sort of feels like you’re throwing out any criticism you can think of and trying to squeeze the song to fit those. Or maybe my bias makes me unable to comprehend your criticism. Thankfully your second paragraph makes up for it. I LOVE Piece By Piece, but I can understand the critiques you have here. You brought in your bullets at sumthintoxic nicely too. Once again, everything was really well written so it was still a really good entry but I would love to DRAG you for dissing such a holy song!!!

 

 

2. MusicLoverDude: Adele – “The Hive Hates Me”: ‘Send Max Martin (To My Recording Studio)’ – 6/10

Your critiques towards the song are rather messy. The sex addict bit is And I have no clue how “we ain’t kids no more” means childish. You could have went in on lhdang more too by criticising his writing style/etc more specifically.

 

 

3. Rihlana: Conchita Wurst – “Conchita Worst”: ‘Where Have All My Good Songs Gone’ – 9/10

You have many valid critiques towards the song but you should substantiate them more because it feels like you’re throwing drags out and hoping that they stick. Anyways, your criticism towards the album is perhaps the most well thought out one here, though I feel that going into specific songs is unnecessary. You could’ve dragged QC a bit more but I like that you substantiated your claims here.

 

 

4. sumthintoxic82: Sia – “These Are Rejects”: ‘Dying’ – 5/10

Honestly I have no idea how Adele could sing Alive and it never felt like it was very different from Sia’s past 2 albums. Your criticism of the album is kind of the whole point of the album, isn’t it? If you wanted to criticise the album based on its “acting” theme, it’s gotta go deeper and talk about how it reduces Sia’s artistry or something like that. And sis you did NOT just praise shelven to finish things off.

 

 

5. Queen Conchita: Halsey – “Bad Album”: ‘Old Dog’ – 7/10

You went in on the song a bit, though it can be better written. However, you didn’t go in on the album/Halsey and Rihlana enough, if at all.

 

 

6. lhdang2000: Samantha Jade – “None”: ‘Shake That’ – 8/10

You better DRAG Pitbull. Your criticisms were kinda valid. You could’ve dragged MLD more though, your critique towards him was based on how the album sucked according to you, so that was rather insufficient.

 

 

Spoiler

KAVISH

 

9.0 |  shelven: Kelly Clarkson - "Piece By Piece": 'Good Goes The Bye'

 

In depth, you attacked the song, the album, and sumthintoxic82's gameplay all while keeping your usual composure. The points you made were strong and convincing, and you there is a sense of respect and understanding with your blows as opposed to lashing out wildly on your opponent.

 

 

8.0 |  Rihlana: Conchita Wurst - "Conchita": 'Where Have All The Good Men Gone'

 

The tainting throughout was nicely done, but you lingered a bit too much on a repetitive idea when you started writing about the album and consequently about Queen Conchita's gameplay with the notion that there is no real depth or insight on the artist. Still, you maintained your style of writing and was convincing.

 

 

7.0 |  MusicLoverDude: Adele - "25": 'Send My Love (To Your New Lover)'

 

I agree with your argument that the song seems immature in a record where she was supposed to be mature, and how she pretends that she did not enjoy their intimate moments, but I don't see how the 'ghost' / 'kids no more' lyrics are confusing or negative. I think that those are one of the lines that sum up the growing up theme that runs through the album and contrast her immaturity in the verses. Still, I think that you did a nice job and made some solid points.

 

 

5.5 |  Queen Conchita: Halsey - "Badlands": 'Young God'

 

You wrote about all aspects of the song and made solid statements as to why it is bad, but the essay was too focused on the song. You did touch the album in a negative way but it was more done subtly and not enough in depth as you did with the song. A balance would have been nice, and I also don't agree with the slandering of Rihlana's gameplay. Contrary to what you said, I think that he has a 'personal flare' to his entries and his style of writing is recognizable at this point.

 

 

4.5 |  lhdang2000: Samantha Jade - "Nine": 'Shake That'

 

You made some decent points that shoot down the song, but you barely talked about the album with the only mention that it sounds the same. I also don't agree with the slandering of MusicLoverDude's gameplay because all his entries have been different so far. Maybe if you gave some examples I could have given you the benefit of the doubt, but right now I can only rely on my judgement. Also, by writing that 'it was not because of him', we give him a pass for the thing you attacked him prior. Finally, all statements in your final paragraph are jammed with the notion that 'everything is similar', thus ironically making your own attacks lacking in the diversity department.

 

 

4.0 |   sumthintoxic82: Sia - "This Is Acting": 'Alive'

 

You shed some negative light here and there, but it was eclipsed by your lack of mean spirit. Despite stating some points that could bring the song and the album down, you either backed them up with a positive point or stating the obvious, and you actually complimented shelven's gameplay and convinced us why he deserves to win.

 

Spoiler

Fa1x intelectual

 

9.0  Rihlana I Where Have All The Good Men Gone I Entry by Queen Conchita

A STRONG entry with the right balance between drag and analysis that WOULD have received a perfect score if not by one tiny detail that just HAD to be one of my pet peeves. 

_________________________

Rihlana did practically everything right. Sometimes, I would be amazed by how the drags were savages to a T. The contestant was on his way to a flawless victory WHEN The judge, Fa1x Intelectual, noticed one mistake. Said mistake was unforgiving due the round's main purpose, so a point had to be taken away.

Here's why:

One of my convictions was: since this is a "roast ha" round, NO POSITIVES COMMENTS OF ANY SORT SHALL GET A PASS. Rihlana fell victim to this with this part of the essay I now quote:

"(...) The themes and lyrics of these tracks could be utilised by anybody. There is not much that is uniquely CW. One exception is “Pure” which is a splendidly insightful album cut."

The part highlighted above is the reason of your downfall, RihLana: no positive insight allowed!

Case and point, your essay was great and deserving of going to the F5  

8.0 ihdang2000 I Shake That I From Music Lover Dude

A good entry overall with some good pieces of flawless dragging making up for a tiny bit of lackluster execution and the pet peeve.

__________________

In some aspects, dang's essay was better than Rihlana's ("Then, despite being released in 2015, the group still believed trumpet was a thing. Well, it ended around two years ago, and we are not in Jason Derulo era anymore.". A whole two sentences of the best dragging), but he ended up suffering with something my 1st did not: The entry I gave the crown to explored all of the things that were exposed on his thesis, providing the judging panel with reasoning for every scalping argument made I missed this with ihdang; in this part in particular:

"And we can clearly see this affects MLD. No matter how hard he tries, it is getting clearer his essays is the same by day"

I would like to know, as a guest judge that did not followed the game closely until I was offered a featuring. What validates your claim ("it is getting clearer his essays is the same by day")? One tiny example would have been enough.

The main goal of the round is seeing who has the best, let us say, ability of highlighting the flaws and blowing them out of proportions, BUT one cannot forget about the secondary things that help you. In your case, ih, I missed the justiication for your argument. This may be just a petty excuse from a guest judge, but it counts. 

For instance, I now will reveal why another point was taken from you. On your last paragraph you SUBTLY praised the album you were supposed to be roasting ("The song was a disappointment. However, at least it was somewhat memorable. The whole album was entirely the same except this song."), thus leaving you with a 8.

7,58 shelven I Good Goes The Bye I From sumthintoxic82

The safest entry deserves the safest score. Shelven could've went deeper in her dragging, but instead chose to give a polite, way too soft review that did not go along with the round at all.

_________________

If shelven's entry was a student, it would have be given a C. It means she would have enough in order to pass the test and be pleased with herself, but still be left with a underlying voice in her head saying: "maybe a B+ would have been better". Her essay was the most middle-of-the-road, average and generic out of all the others. I did not get the feeling I was reading a "Roast Queen" essay, and more like a ACTUAL, professional song review by one of the more edgy newspapers. There are roasts there sure, but it is conceived in the most PG way. 

With all that said, I did not disagree with any of the points made and shelven's writing style was pitch perfect, so thank that as the reason you are not on my bottom 3, miss. You would have received a beautiful 8 if you dared to really go all out with the critique, but because you did not, here is your fitting score.

 

7,55 Music Lover Dude I Send My Love (To Your New Lover) I From ihdang2000

Another safe entry that may do well at dragging, but lacks in layout and wrriting style, thus earning its way into the bottom 3.

_____________

Not much to be said about this entry. It manages to be just as harmless as the entry above it, BUT with way better dragging. I am actually grasping at straws in order to ecide which was better, as both of them get the job done and not much else. In the end, the layout/design of Mr. MLD pales in comparison to shelven's so I think that should be enough.

 

7,0 Queen Conchita I Young God I From Rihlana

Could have been a slightly above average entry, but something was missing...

_____________

My first instinct was to give you a top 3 ranking. However, as I took the time to read the entries with attention, I began noticing your entry wasn't fitting for that placement. It seemed to me as you were TRYING to act like a bad bitch and (not completely, I'll give you that) failing. The two contestants in my bottom 2 seem to be really nice fellas that just cannot bring themselves to "being mean for the sake of it". Wihile in a reality pespective, this is a really neat quality, it just bites you in the ass in a challenge like this. All the previous participants dragged their fellow men nicely, mastefully and, this is the important part, seemed to have no problems doing it. They were all having a blast! The two of you, bottom 5ers, seemed to be yelling "I DID NOT MEAN IT! FORGIVE ME, PLS!" during the whole way. 

Conchita gets to not be the last simply because, as much as she hated doing it, she tried to hide it. Something our last-placer DID NOT....

 

2,3 sumthintoxic82 I Alive I From shelven

sumthintoxic82: Because a pure, innocent person is sometimes the WORST you could ever be.

____________

Ever since I took my first glance on the entries, there was one I hated. One I could not like in any measure. I gave a read through and, to my surprise, the drags were almos non-existent in that particular essay. There was no real moment in which I got myself thinking: "That was a good one" or "Damn, that guy is enjoying himself". What I got was just the feeling  was so nice, so ingenue that the best insult he could come up with was: "If I was to say anything negative about how player is playing the game, it's that he's playing TOO good." C'mon! That's not even a backhanded compliment! You know why Conchita is ahead of you? Because she was a try-hard. At least she was trying to look nasty. Sumthin just completely gave in to the "nice people say no mean things!" persona. He did not tried in the slightest to craft a good punchline for his "drags" and while being a try-hard is generally worse than not trying at all, this one of the exceptions.

Part of me wishes you went to the final 5 with this lesson in the back of your head. The other, however, wants the opposite because it will give you more time to rethink your lifestyle, making you more prepared for when situations like this one show up again.

Well, I think is rather poetic to say that, if you go past this round or not, either outcome would be "only fair".

PS: The entire last paragraph of the essay was just sumthin praising shelven, so I found it fair to just ignore it completely, hence why the " no positive comments" policy took away more points than usual (plus the "not trying" aspect of it all)

 

Edited April 25, 2017 by Pedro

[Pedro]

at @Lazuli song titles! And at @Fa1x intelectual critiques... Coming for @Kavish wig

[Queen Conchita]

SCREAMING AT LAZULI'S SONG TITLES

 

The twist is unexpected too ... 

[lhdang2000]

Except for Kavish, I didn't do too bad at all.

 

The reason why I don't want to drag MLD and Samantha is that I do support them in real life, so I won't try and devaluate their piece of work. Even in the song I ain't even try with Samantha but blame it on Pitbull and her team most of all.

[shelven]

@Lazuli's titles  

 

I had a feeling that by not going into ruthless drag mode with my entry, some of the judges would like it for being rational, whereas others would dislike it for not being "mean" enough, and I guess that's exactly what happened  Also sorry @Lazuli, but I listened to the entire album before choosing my song for this round, and I could barely get through GGTB - I usually really like Kelly, but that song was so boring  

Edited April 25, 2017 by shelven

[Lazuli]

Glad y'all like my titles  

 

@shelven There are worse choices on PBP  Nostalgia is an overrated mess, Tightrope and War Paint are borefests, and Heartbeat Song is an overwhelmingly underwhelming lead single. I implore you to listen to GGTB twenty more times till you love it! 

[sumthintoxic82]

2 hours ago, Lazuli said:

Glad y'all like my titles  

 

@shelven There are worse choices on PBP  Nostalgia is an overrated mess, Tightrope and War Paint are borefests, and Heartbeat Song is an overwhelmingly underwhelming lead single. I implore you to listen to GGTB twenty more times till you love it! 

 

Heartbeta Song is not for everyone i GUESS i can sorta agree (even though I adore it)

 

War Paint was right though...although GGTB is for sure in the bottom half as well

[Lazuli]

4 hours ago, sumthintoxic82 said:

 

Heartbeta Song is not for everyone i GUESS i can sorta agree (even though I adore it)

 

War Paint was right though...although GGTB is for sure in the bottom half as well

Maybe I was a tad too harsh of Tightrope

But Nostalgia is the most overrated song on the album, it does not sound nostalgic AT ALL. However, Good Goes The Bye epitomises that feeling (and the whole album) perfectly.  

[Pedro]

Not you two dragging the best and only AMAZING track of Piece By Piece, WAR PAINT   @sumthintoxic82 and @Lazuli

 

Only missing @sumthintoxic82 decision!

[shelven]

I liked War Paint when I listened to it  

[lhdang2000]

So is the update coming today or we're waiting for @sumthintoxic82?

[sumthintoxic82]

Sorry guys I'm at work I'll send now 

[MusicLoverDude]

Hello?

[Pedro]

I finally have the results. This is so exciting because the bonus round makes the unexpected happen. Let's go!

[MusicLoverDude]

Omg...

[Pedro]

 

It's finally time to know the contestants decisions and the bonus round results. When it comes to the bonus round, everyone but shelven had an extra challenge... Convincing us that shelven did deliver a few bad entries and therefore should've been eliminated. Shelven along with the main three judges rated their entries and helped to determine the points distribution.

 

How did it work? Well, let's get into simple maths. This bonus round was made for the remaining five to catch up with the shelven so I would never allow anyone to go over the shelven's points which will be revealed in a bit. With this being said, each contestant had a maximum of points he could achieve. I will reveal that in a moment. First, let's find out what our contestants decided to do with their points...

 

Well, everyone decided to add the total amount received in this seventh round to their final score. With this being said, let's see the final chart without the bonus round:

 

Spoiler

1. shelven: Sia - "This Is Acting": 243 Points. (=)

2. Rihlana: Halsey - "Badlands": 198 Points. (=)

3. MusicLoverDude: Samantha Jade - "Nine": 182 Points. (=)

4. Queen Conchita: Conchita Wurst - "Conchita": 148 Points. (=)

5. lhdang2000: Adele - "25": 168 Points. (+1)

6. sumthintoxic82: Kelly Clarkson - "Piece By Piece": 167 Points. (-1)

 

Up to this moment sumthintoxic82 would've been eliminated but we still have to find out the bonus results.

 

No one could go over the 233 points. I used shelven's score (243) and to give him a margin and be fair to his dedication, I decided that the maximum of points each contestant could get would never go across that... So, how does this translate?

 

Rihlana could get a maximum of points of 35, MusicLoverDude 51, Queen Conchita 65, sumthintoxic82 66 and lhdang2000 a total amount of 54.

 

Let's find out the results.

 

The contestant that received the best score during this bonus round and is now safe is...

 

Spoiler

RIHLANA: Halsey - "Badlands"

 

Out of 35 points, you received a total amount of 29 extra. You have now 227 points - You are SAFE.

 

In a random order, another of you who is safe is...

 

Spoiler

LHDANG2000: Adele - "25"

 

Out of 65 points, you received a total amount of 54 extra. You have now 222 points - You are SAFE.

 

Also in random order...

 

Spoiler

SUMTHINTOXIC82: Kelly Clarkson - "Piece By Piece"

Out of 66 points, you received a total amount of 48 extra. You have now 215 points - You are SAFE.

 

We are down to TWO contestants... Queen Conchita and MusicLover Dude. One of you will not make it. The eliminated contestant is...

 

Spoiler

QUEEN CONCHITA: Conchita Wurst - "Conchita"

Out of 65 points, you received a total amount of 40 extra. You leave us with 208 points - You are ELIMINATED.

 

On the other hand...

MUSICLOVERDUDE: Samantha Jade - "Nine"

 

Out of 51 points, you received a total amount of 37 extra. You are now holding 219 points and you're SAFE.

 

Find below the final chart:

 

1. shelven: Sia - "This Is Acting": 243 Points. (=)

2. Rihlana: Halsey - "Badlands": 224 Points. (=)

3. lhdang2000: Adele - "25": 222 Points. (+3)

4. MusicLoverDude: Samantha Jade - "Nine": 219 Points. (-1)

5. sumthintoxic82: Kelly Clarkson - "Piece By Piece": 215 Points. (=)

6. Queen Conchita: Conchita Wurst - "Conchita": 208 Points. [Eliminated - R7]

 

Oh wow! Queen Conchita THANK YOU so much for joining the show. It was an absolute pleasure. Not only because you brought an album I truly love but you were so nice to work with. Please make sure you don't abandon us. All the best and hopefully we will see more of you soon!

 

 

 

 

Edited April 26, 2017 by Pedro

[Pedro]

BONUS ROUND - THE RATES AND COMMENTS

 

Spoiler

PEDRO

 

1. MusicLoverDude: 'MYB'/'MD'

 

5,5

 

Even though I lived for your drag, you didn't even made any refference to Shelven's essay.

 

2. Rihlana: 'Bird Set Free'

 

6,9

 

I know it’s not easy to drag a Shelven’s entry. Nonetheless, I am afraid you didn’t say enough to “eliminate” this entry which was also the purpose of the round. I know the word limit was short but I also needed to see better arguments to fight Shelven’s words and to be honest there’s a few general approaches throughout “This Is Acting”, I’d say.

 

3. sumthintoxic82: 'Bird Set Free'

 

7,25

 

Your entry was a bit short and you completely failed on fighting Shelven’s words… Yet you completely nailed it. “Bird Set Free” does sound like a Sia song and if I remember properly that was my critique to Shelven.

 

4. Queen Conchita: 'Cheap Thrills'

 

4,65

 

I don’t think you delivered here, sweetheart. I know it’s complicated to tear down an entry by Shelven but the points you mentioned weren’t strong enough for me. I believe this was more of a personal opinion that trying to grab facts and show them.

 

5. lhdang2000: 'Bird Set Free'

 

7,35

You took a very similar approach to sumthintoxic82 which I loved as I share the same opinion. I disliked your second paragraph but your third paragraph sold it to me.

 

Spoiler

LAZULI

 

1.      MusicLoverDude – 7/10

I like that you went for Sia too I’m relatively unconvinced by your critiques especially for MYB.

 

2.      Rihlana – 10/10

You attacked the song well.

 

3.      Sumthintoxic82 – 8/10

The round was about the song that represents the album, and you mention the album is not like a Sia album, and then BSF is very Sia-like. I guess I sort of understand what you’re trying to do, but it’s a very iffy point.

 

4.      Queen Conchita – 10/10

You went in on the song and shelven. And you used the round which I thought was shelven’s worst.

 

5.      lhdang2000 – 9/10

You pointed the irony that I had problems with for this entry.

 

Spoiler

KAVISH

 

9.0 |  Rihlana: 'Bird Set Free'

 

A very compact essay and you built a solid case that counters the statements that shelven put forward. While he made strong points, yours are as strong and you both make an interesting match. However, this is not about whether you are right or wrong – but instead this essay shows your ability to dissect and write a convincing essay that speaks to your readers, and this is the trait to have in this game.

 

 

7.9 |  MusicLoverDude: General approach

 

I like the way that you show personality through your writing, and this is another essay that showcases that. You have the ability to make us understand your points through your funny comparisons and we get the picture in the end, and once more you came across as convincing in this essay.

 

 

6.7 |  lhdang2000: 'Bird Set Free'

 

You did better here than in your main entry. It really seems like you focused on the essay and made some arguments against shelven's choice of song and some of his points. I think that it's a harsh thing to say that he should have been eliminated with it when it was in the top tier, but you managed to get your points across.

 

 

4.9 | sumthintoxic82: 'Bird Set Free'

 

You raised some of the same points that you made in your main entry and I think that there is a bit of a misunderstanding when it comes to Sia's motif on the album. Also, shelven clarified some of the things you wrote in his essay, so your disagreement seems to be because you had another approach as opposed to disagreeing with what he wrote because you did not really counter argue his statements. Still, you did attempt harder to shed a negative light on his essay and did way better than your main entry.

 

 

3.0 | Queen Conchita: 'Cheap Thrills'

 

My problem with this essay is that it reads too much like a typical ATRL drag and not enough like a professional drag in the way that you did in your main entry. You did make it apparent that you disagree with his choice or some of his statements, but you did not really argue against the points he made and it just seems like a slander rather than a negative criticism.

 

Spoiler

SHELVEN

 

MLD: I thought you took an interesting approach here by talking about how the album isn't strong enough to be redeemed by good essays instead of picking at the essay/song choice itself. Similar to your main entry this round, I thought that certain points felt slightly nitpicky and subjective, but overall, I think the approach you took was effective and paid off. Rate: 8.5/10

 

Rihlana: At first I wasn't really convinced by the "she's writing for a large audience so therefore it can't strengthen her identity" argument you focused on, but I thought you somewhat redeemed it with that strong concluding sentence. I wish you had further explored the point about BSF not contributing to the acting theme because I definitely think that was the weakest part of my entry, and while you normally shine in this game by approaching things from multiple different angles, I think here you suffered from a bit of a lack of focus. Rate: 7.5/10

 

sumthintoxic82: This is EXACTLY the point I was hoping someone would make with this round! While your essay was pretty short and simple, I think that actually worked in your favour, since it allowed you to get straight to the point and really focus in on what I personally think was the biggest issue with my entry. The reason I'm not giving you a perfect score is that I think the first point you made detracted from the rest of the essay - you might be correct that the album doesn't feel like a Sia album, but you didn't explain why that's actually a problem. Rate: 9/10

 

Queen Conchita: Oh wow, drag me  Like I said about your main entry, your entry here was extremely entertaining and I like how you went all-in with the "bitch" attitude that this round gave everyone the opportunity to explore. That being said, I'm a bit conflicted here because while you did make valid points about the song, you chose the most subjective round of the game to use (Round 2), which makes it hard to criticize my entry from an objective standpoint. Even if you think a song is terrible, convincing someone that they're wrong for personally liking it is a very tough sell. Like I said, I do think the points themselves were strong (and the line about me not being 100% confident was probably the strongest part of your entry because it's where you were most effective at trying to objectively tear down the entry), but I think you chose the wrong round to use for this. Rate: 7/10

 

lhdang2000: Ouch at that last line  (Just kidding, like I said with Queen Conchita, I appreciate the ruthlessness ) Anyways, I think you did a great job here. You focused on two strong and clear points, both of them felt objective and logical, and I liked how you criticized both the song choice itself AND how I approached the song in my essay. I really have nothing to criticize. Rate: 10/10

 

 

 

Edited April 26, 2017 by Pedro

[MusicLoverDude]

Yep, I knew I was gonna fall out of the Top 3. Thank god @Pedrolet me submit or I would have been out.