TheWayWeWere Posted December 18, 2019 Posted December 18, 2019 Katy really revives this year I hope she finds her place in music industry Kesha was a bit mess with her singles, but I hope album going to be good I LOVE Lizzo as a person and I'm very happy about her success, but this album is a bit meh for me, Juice easily the best and others are mostly fillers thank god her previous singles are mostly major jams Great write-up for Lana and I love some praise for Venice Bitch, one of the best songs this decade PS: yeah, I'm praying for La Roux album too
BlackoutZone Posted December 18, 2019 Posted December 18, 2019 Katy Kali - what a great start of an era Lana, Lizzo LEON's album was amazing, revist it or something, cause what she releases now is as good as the stuff from 3 years ago Or even better! SHOCKED to see Lydia I made album thread and it has like 0 replies, but overall it was definitely a step down from her debut. I liked Can You Find Her Place and the album opener the most though.
ATRL Moderator madonnas Posted December 18, 2019 ATRL Moderator Posted December 18, 2019 OK sorry for missing so much. J - I didn't listen to either of your main highlights, Maybe I'll listen to Jade though. I got into Jai Paul's leaked album this year but wasn't super keen on his two new songs, not bad stuff though. High Alice deserved to be in the best category K - I didn't know Kishi Bashi was still around! Paprika Pony is the right pick.... it's faux trap and I luv it. L - I feel like Lizzo is such a controversial artist this year The only song I stuck with is TEMPO though. Guillible fool is amazing ****. IWOL is good too but I felt like that was just a trouble in paradise leftover.
Remmy Posted December 18, 2019 Posted December 18, 2019 K~ King Princess getting runner up, as she should!!! Your Katy singles ranking is perfect. Kween Kesha did what she had to do. ssdfif the Khalid lashings Talk is excellence though, so I can definitely agree with that. Kim Sweet Spot, Do Me & Icy yup yup Clarity (song) is a grower. Did you miss out on her Halloween project??? L~ Oop at Lizzo beating out Lana Relatable, actually. I'm also angry about Juice not being a smash (and Soulmate's single release being shelved.) Bartender is my least favorite from NFR hehe The title track is really a discography highlight, whew... she really didn't need to serve that hard. @OTR: "Had to include it, come on." Did you, did you REALLY?
jose168 Posted December 19, 2019 Posted December 19, 2019 YES KISHI, great album. Lizzo over Lana You are coming for the indie gays tonight.
Lazuli Posted December 19, 2019 Posted December 19, 2019 king princess' album was cute! i hope kali pulls thru cuz solita is just okay kesha better SERVE lizzo ok but juice really deserved lana glad u came around to her why did u ignore iwol for la roux
Sbbmsve Posted December 19, 2019 Posted December 19, 2019 I think Lana deserved the L but Lizzo was fine as well. My problem with CILY was it not being as good as Juice or the title track. Agreed on your track picks tho.
ATRL Moderator Tsareena Posted December 20, 2019 ATRL Moderator Posted December 20, 2019 Jenny lewis talent Jade bird great runner up haven't heard the K artist but liked King Princess' album Lizzo she had a great year I'm shook lana is below Lizzo but still a great top 2
Ewan Chaos Posted December 20, 2019 Author Posted December 20, 2019 MORE UPDATES if I somehow can finish this before the end of the year I will be SHOOK! So hopefully I can squeeze in an additional 2-3 letters today after this one, and this update is a good one. Letter: M Top Artist: Marina I really hate Love + Fear HAHAHAHA. But folks, you have to understand that I’m a Marina stan, so I have to love her music regardless. And with the amount of times I listened to L+F and the amount of time between this album & FROOT, I forced myself to play and play and play this album until I quite liked it. It’s funny to think that if any other artist released this I would definitely not like this at all. Oh well, that’s what being a stan does to you right? Let’s break it down by album. I still don’t know which “side” of the album I prefer, but we’ll go over Love first. Enjoy Your Life is my top pick for this side (and probably the entire record), which is likely because it feels FROOT-y in nature. The production feels pretty fresh and the lyrical content makes me smile quite a bit. The chorus is fantastic. Baby is also still great, but I called that out last year for Clean Bandit. End of the Earth is also a pretty fantastic track. Really spacey production with super cute lyrics. And Orange Trees is underrated, yes I said it! Drag me! It’s a cute song with a cute video (and I of course have to stan Erik Hassle co-writing with Marina). On the negatives of Love, I have to just absolutely trash Superstar. The fact that the first maybe 4 seconds of the song kinda cute and then it just drops into that disgusting trap beat (which does not get any better) HURTS. And this is only the second song! It really encapsulates what I hate about the whole album: she decided to opt for really trashy studio-produced beats and didn’t use like… any live instruments, when clearly she’s at home with that as indicated by FROOT. And also the lyrics. Girl. Love you and some of the song is cute for a moment but… girl. True is trash too - cute as a bop esp in the chorus but WHAT are those lyrics in the verses? To Be Human is okay, but lyrically it’s a worse version of Savages and instrumentally it’s a worse Handmade Heaven, which is just sad given it’s like 7 tracks before… Now moving onto Fear! My top pick from this side would be Emotional Machine, which I find so weird that critics were dragging this one. Yes, Marina has a song about not being a robot, but this is pretty different lyrically. Plus… it’s Marina, her schtick is having weirdly nonsensical lyrics sometimes. Broods really added a lot to this track and you can tell - it’s very well produced and the vocals are ****ing SOARING in the chorus. Too Afraid is another great one - actually underrated and comes closest to feeling like an organic track in the production (just ignore the drum beat in the chorus). The lyrical content on this is probably my favorite on the whole album. No More Suckers is also fantastic; a great bratty song with fun tropical production (I find this better/more relevant than the other trop-bop Karma). I suppose I feel less strongly about how much I dislike the “bad” Fear songs, so maybe it’s the side I prefer. It’s a bummer that Life is Strange sucks because I feel it could have been cute, but it just proves that adding a violin to a track doesn’t hide how bad it is. You is just… when someone said it sounds like those songs that makeup tutorial YouTubers use I haven’t gotten the thought out of my head. With that, I do really like the “I! Know what you’re about!” in the chorus, I think it’s sung nicely. Karma… meh. I like it more as time went on though, probably after seeing her live. Soft to be Strong, another shame that it’s just a mediocre track since the lyrical content is cute. Marina, I still stan, but follow more down the vein of FROOT instead of Electra Heart for this next record please! Top Artist: MUNA WHEEEEWWWWW! QUEENS! So I did listen to their first album when it came out, but I wasn’t really too drawn to it for some reason. I still want to take the time to revisit it and try to get into more songs than just the singles/random songs, but haven’t done that quite yet. My favorite song from Saves the World is Never, and I can see why people don’t like it, but I’m a HUGE sucker for build up songs like this (see Clearest Blue). It starts off being this possible ballad or mid-tempo song to cry along to, paired with a proclamation that she will never love or sing again. Then you get the steady beat that comes in after the minute, some added drums and guitar licks (and “THIS IS IT!”), making you feel the song continuing to build. The song slows down, then gets vacuumed out for a second before going back into the thumping beat before…… “HEEYAAAAAAAAAA!” which keeps going, the digital distortion in her vocals as it slowly starts going down. My spirit leaves my body every time. And then the FOLLOWING track is my second favorite, Pink Light! What a triumphant chorus. Obviously, every single is fantastic - I’d probably rank as Stayaway > Number One Fan > Taken > Who but it kinda changes every day. It’s Gonna Be Okay, Baby is a truly fantastic closer song, and that Ya-Ya Song is really underrated! Additional Musicians Under this Letter: *bolded artists/songs are my recommendations* Artist Loves It She's a Cute Girl It's a No From Me Notes Mac DeMarco Heart To Heart I literally only listened to this & this album once and then never again Maggie Rogers Give A Little Alaska, Light On Kinda overrated in the pop/indie pop realm I feel! Mannequin ***** Patience Drunk II Awesome punk-ish record! Wish I'd listened to it more though Mansionair Astronaut (Something About Your Love) Alibi It was alright! I feel like I expected more. They opened for Carly tho so I have to stan Maren Morris Gold Love Girl, Common, The Bones, The Feels I find her shift into more pop sounds to be actually quite effective... tho The Middle is still her best "pop" track imo Marika Hackman blow all night, the one, i'm not where you are, come undone Underrated album for sure! Mark Ronson Late Night Feelings (feat. Lykke Li) True Blue, Pieces of Us, Knock Knock Knock, Spinning The Camila song, the Miley song LOOOOOL I needed this since everything post-I Never Learn Lykke is trash, until now. Good album! Matt Maeson I Just Don't Care That Much Cringe, Tread on Me, Hallucinogenics, Beggar's Song Decent album! Neon Gold spams the hell out of him. Mayer Hawthorne Over The Great Divide Ready for a new album, but I can wait since he just had an album with Tuxedo Men I Trust Air Slap Pie, Tailwhip, I Hope to be Around, Oncle Jazz, Show Me How A recent listen and a really good one! Metronomy Salted Caramel Ice Cream Insecurity, Sex Emoji, Wedding Bells, Miracle Rooftop Why do these hoes always have random ass song titles like this. Actually a good album though! Miami Horror Restless Luv is Not Enough This song IS AMAZING. WHY didn't they release an album too??? Michael Kiwanuka Hero Solid Ground, Living in Denial Great voice! MIKA Tiny Love Sanremo, Ice Cream, Platform Ballerinas Pretty nice album actually. Mini Mansions Don't Even Know You Forgot Your Name, Bad Things, Works Every Time, I'm In Love Really really love this album. Don't Even Know You is both silly and beautiful at the same time. Such a mood to those people you see and never make a move for... sigh MISSIO Rad Drugz Silly song. Weird album... mostly weird bad tbh MisterWives whywhywhy I actually still really like their sophomore album, but I think this label switch up may produce a Broods-like great album from them! MNDR Save Me Cute! Mono/Poly Easy Living Audio Dope Came for the Kimbra track, stayed for some other great tracks! Mura Masa I Don't Think I Can Do This Again (with Clairo) It's very "Where's Your Head At" which obviously means it's great. New album next year! The Mowgli's Talk About It Norman Rockwell (kii Lana) Saw these peeps open for Jukebox this year. Their EP is actually all amazing.
bestfiction Posted December 20, 2019 Posted December 20, 2019 Not MariN/A as a top arist pick I guess yeah, sometime you have to support your fave no matter what. I absoutely agree on Enjoy Your Life, it definitely has a FROOT vibe to it, the rest of pics are quite alright too. It's just a shame how she wasted her talents on... that I have yet to check out MUNA but I liked some of their earlier songs like I Know A Place
Remmy Posted December 21, 2019 Posted December 21, 2019 Omg Mika I feel like we're the only 2 Best Ofs he will appear on... I wasn't expecting him to release his best album, especially after his weakest from 2015. Love the 4 songs you highlighted Maggie Let me ignore the notes section just this once MUNA snapped once again Got into them this year and both albums are fantastic. We are truly connected on faves once again, we have the same top 4 but in different orders. When Never comes on I always pause when the music stops and go wild during the autotune part
Pink Matter Posted December 21, 2019 Posted December 21, 2019 K: King Princess seemed really gimmicky and Spotify'd to me when they first came out but I might check the good sis out now that she's got an album out. + yass at the Kali and Kaytranada nods L: Lizzo certainly had an interesting year with that whole shift in public opinion. Which sucks because her album had some great bops on it. Justice for Juice!! It deserved to be a smash. Jerome is also another standout from the album. Glad you enjoyed NFR!. Nice to see a nod to Bartender as it really is an underrated song. + wish more people liked the LION BABE album Into Me is cute tho M: MUNA's last album was cute so glad to see their new album is an improvement. + had no idea Mura Masa dropped some new sings gonna go check em out later!
World Eater Posted December 21, 2019 Posted December 21, 2019 Glad you're team Do You Love Her Now He is very Prince-esque, which is always a good thing, but DYLHN is just otherworldly Jamila, Jenny and Jessie all legends, yes I gotta say I ignored this CORRESPONDENCE project from Jens and whoever else worked on it, but then again I did the same with Postcards, actually let me listen to that bop about a 3D model of a tumor from his last album Where do I start with Kishi Bashi? Had an eye out on him for a while We're pretty much on the same page as for Kim Gordon, just revisited this album and I'm pretty sure it would end up being on my list had I gotten into it earlier I actually enjoyed Cuz I Love You quite a bit, but I gotta say at times it feels really lazy lyrics-wise Lana and Lil Nas X deserved Didn't have time or energy to listen to miss talentless hack's whole album, but just checked out The Time and it actually didn't sound as bad as anything from Darling, I'll give her that! Also, idk if you're watching RuPaul's Drag Race, but she looks like Trinity The Tuck on the album cover Not Marina, SIS jdfndfkmdf I'm a former stan and even got to see her live this year, but this album is just horrendous I could go on about how bad it is for hours To Be Human is one of the most shallow faux-woke tracks I have ever heard Quite excited for that Mura Masa album even though none of the singles really stuck with me. Still though, having high hopes for that Tirzah track On 12/14/2019 at 9:43 PM, Ewan Chaos said: Was wondering what you thought of Friendly Fires! If you can catch them live, the new album sounds amazing live, but ah well if you didn't care much for the album. I definitely will if they play here! I've heard that this one festival almost booked them but they backed out right before the announcement
potent Posted December 21, 2019 Posted December 21, 2019 Maggie's music is definitely overrated from what I've heard so far, she has cute little indie pop tracks with a HAIM vibe but nothing more. Salted Caramel Ice Cream is such a bop though, I wish I'd gotten into it sooner, it definitely should have made my list I didn't even know The Mowgli's released this year
TheWayWeWere Posted December 22, 2019 Posted December 22, 2019 finally some sympathy for L+F I feel the same, since I loved her music, I'm a bit forced to love this album too Enjoy Your Life, Baby, Emotional Machine and Orange Trees among the best picks F > L tho Late Night Feelings
Lazuli Posted December 22, 2019 Posted December 22, 2019 poor you having to force yourself to like marina's album muna deserved every other song on his album (except for nobody) should be in the no column for mac tbh mark the ssss shade is not cute tho...
Ewan Chaos Posted December 23, 2019 Author Posted December 23, 2019 Okay I have to keep just posting and I'll try to comment on erryone at least before the end of the day, but also KII at everyone feeling sorry for me having to stan L+F Letter: N Top Artist: The National This section will not be very involved since I didn’t care too much about the N’s - not in a negative way, I liked The National a fair amount, but there wasn’t anyone on this letter that I really LOVED. My favorite pick is You Had Your Soul With You and my other tracks that I enjoyed were Quiet Light, The Pull of You, I Am Easy to Find, Not in Kansas, and Rylan! Runner-Up: Neiked I guess they (or he) released a full album too but it’s meh. However, the song Lifestyle is suuuuuch a good song on its own that I had to give it a special shout-out. I think it’s a fantastic, albeit somewhat basic, topical pop song. The verses are so cute and the chorus is so fun. I really recommend checking this song out if you want a little fun pop track to add to your listing. Sexual is also a bop, though I think that was released years ago. Everything else… meh. Additional Musicians Under this Letter: *bolded artists/songs are my recommendations* Artist Loves It She's a Cute Girl It's a No From Me Notes Natasha Bedingfield Roller Skate Can't Let Go The album kinda came & went. Neon Indian Toyota Man This is fine, but I need another Vega Intl type of slayage, ALAN. Nicolas Godin The Foundation Yas! Nilufer Yanya Paralysed Angels Overrated... maybe I need to give it another chance Normani Motivation This song is still awesome! The New *****graphers The Surprise Knock You'll Need a New Backseat Driver, Opening Ceremony Cute!
ATRL Moderator madonnas Posted December 23, 2019 ATRL Moderator Posted December 23, 2019 WHERE IS MADAME X!!!! MUNA always are a miss with me aside from a song or two, but I get their appeal. I didn't listen to Marina's album because well I knew I wouldn't like it and I generally have gotten over my hate for her and I think I wanted to keep it that way.
TheWayWeWere Posted December 23, 2019 Posted December 23, 2019 Natasha's album was a bit mess, but she served couple cute bops
theblackestday Posted December 23, 2019 Posted December 23, 2019 Not Marina with that shitstain of an album girl I- I just know you have standards and this is not it baby girl. don't listen to the demons inside you Lizzo and Lana for L though, that's a W. and luvs that you stan Bartender.
ATRL Moderator Tsareena Posted December 23, 2019 ATRL Moderator Posted December 23, 2019 Not Marina. I'm a Marina stan as well but Love+Fear is worth unstanning her for. Muna though Great hms men i trust, marika, mura masa The national album was pretty cute but didn't return. Neiked whew. Sexual is THAT bop Nilufer deserves N
Pink Matter Posted December 23, 2019 Posted December 23, 2019 Only familiar with Normani with Motivation, which is
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