best of KasioKas' BEST of 2020 COMPLETE - SOTY!! | AOTY!! | FINAL TV

[KasioKas]

25. KIKI - Kiana Ledé

I was introduced to this artist this year and the album was a slight disappointment from what I was expecting. I really fell in love with Kiana after hearing 'Mad At Me' which became an obsession earlier in the year, but the album itself left much to be desired. There are a number of highlights but after playing the album for a while everything began to sound the same, there's no interesting switch up or wow moment that keeps you interested, the lyrics aren't enough because everyone's singing about love/heartbreak, and her voice isn't a major standout although I have no complaints either in that department. It's a very pleasant listen and she's definitely one I'll keep an ear out for, what Kiana does well is use old RNB beats and production and samples, they're sometimes subtle but they're there, and the way she sings is a vibe, it's mellow,  there's very rarely a high note or nary a run, it's just head voice and sass. It's not an album I would put on repeat but definitely one i'd recommend for RnB fans to listen to at least once, i'm sure you'll find at least 2 songs you'll like, trust me.

Recommend: Mad At Me.  //  Chocolate. (feat. Ari Lennox)  //  Plenty More.

 

24. TREAT MYSELF - Meghan Trainor

I am not a Trainor fan, I consider her music mostly generic and often boring, so colour me surprised when I gave this album a chance and actually liked some of the tracks on it; it felt carefree, devoid of any need to find a chart topping hit, just easygoing pop music to bop too. Although 'Workin On It' suffers from repitition syndrome, the other collabs with Nicki ( bars) & The Pussycat Dolls are both highlights, in addition to the bizzare lyrics on 'Evil Twin' that sort of became a brief meme online. The highlight for me was 'Funk', an uptempo disco track whose energy is unmatched on the album, going solo with that one was a good idea. The pre-chorus switch up is extremely delightful, the chorus lyric almost sounding like "I miss the way we use to f*ck" is cheeky, but the bridge could be re-written. I think for me, Meghan faulters sometimes in her writing but her voice is pretty enough to hold me over. No risks are taken here but I don't expect that from her, she's found a lane she's comfortable in.

Recommend: Funk  //  Wave (feat. Mike Sabath)  //  Nice to Meet Ya (feat. Nicki Minaj)

 

23. Colour Vision - MAX

First time listening to this artist I think, and I really enjoyed how he used his vocal range on some of these songs. Half the album is good,

and the other half subpar, but I don't think there are any bad songs on this album. 'Colour Vision' the song is a brilliant opener and tracks like 'Checklist' and 'Love Me Less' (prefer the version with Kim Petras) are bops, and the emotion he tried to bring to 'Where Am I At' paid off, although I'm not sure why they kept the final belts in the background and not the forefront of the track. Overall decent pop album.

Recommend: Where Am I At  //  Checklist (feat. Chromeo)  //  Colour Vision

 

22. CALM - 5 Seconds of Summer

Never gave these guys a shot until last year when I heard 'Teeth' and was blown away. The rock elements of that song and demanding production was so intoxicating and it was one of my favourites of the year! Giving the album a shot, some songs come close but none really match that energy, still, I came to enjoy them as a group - they walk the thin line many groups do of maintaing some form of decency/filtering to cater to parents of young kids, i.e. lyrics like "You're the only one who makes me (PAUSE) Every time we (PAUSE)" on 'Wildflower', it's a trope I hate, these are grown men say the word and just cut it for the clean version of the album. But whatever, it's a solid pop effort, I definitely enjoyed the upbeat more than the slower ballads, as they came across as boring, but lyrically they aren't bad at all. I don't know their history so I guess some of it is lost on me. Nevertheless, what I dislike about boy bands is the cringey songs they make for their teenage fans but there wwas little to none of that here, it felt adult and I appreciate that as a newcomer. Tracks like 'Old Me', 'No Shame' and 'Wildflower' were on repeat alot this year and the album as a whole works really well.

Recommend: Teeth  //  Wildflower  //  No Shame

 

21. Three. Two. One. - Lennon Stella

Yet another artist I discovered this year and was really pleasantly surprised by; what an enticing voice!. She sings like she's puttting you in a trance, it's really lovely. 'Kissing Other People' is so well written, and the way she sings the chorus, playing with melody and background vocals in the latter half.. YES this is good pop music! 'Fear of Being Alone' is another really well written song that's honest but also a bop. The whole album benefits from stellar lyrics truly! She's definitely an artist that doesn't benefit from theatrics vocally or in production, but the subtlety she protrude sis lovely and makes for a really cohesive body of work. I'm such a fan now and can't wait to hear more. 

Recommend: Fear of Being Alone  //  Kissing Other People  //  Bend Over Backwards

 

20. the better half of me - Isabela Merced

Not one for foreign songs, personally speaking, but I can't help but bop to this amazing pop music from Isabela, who often mixes english & spanish with great production. This is a short 5 track EP but there are NO SKIPS. They're all amazing and some were on repeat all year long and ranked very highly on my songs list. This artist portrays sexy and sultry very well, and 4/5 songs are upbeat, fun and complete and utter ear worms. Definitely check this out if you're looking for a pick-me-up. 'Chocolate' is one of the best bops of the YEAR deada** 

Recommend: chocolate  //  the chase  //  lovin kind

 

 

19. Petals For Armor - Hayley Williams

Was anyone else hoping for pop-rock when the solo announcement came out? I sure was, I remember listening to the first single and thinking "oh... okay?", but the album as a whole made me feel differently. First of all, love the name. Secondly, it's very cohesive, very alternative and artsy but not in a pretentious way. You never know what a new song is going to sound like because they all work on their own and as an album. It's clear that this is the type of project she's been trying to make for a while and i'm greatful for it. Tracks like 'Creepin' and 'Sugar on The Rim' are weird but cool lyrically and sonically and I can't imagine the album without them. 'Dead Horse' and 'Sudden Desire' are fun pop songs with memerable choruses, 'Over Yet', 'Taken' & 'Simmer' are more lowkey but fitting for moments when the album needs to slow down. It isn't one I revisited many times this year, but when I did I didn't regret it.

Recommend: Dead Horse  //  Sudden Desire  //  Sugar on the Rim

 

18. ETA - KAYWHT

Another new discovery this year, what amazing vocal control  This is another 5 track EP but her vocals shine on EVERY song, she really put it at the forefront with super interesting runs, like incredibly intricate ones too, while also rap-singing. I think Spotify recommended one of her tracks and now i'm kind of a fan! 'C'est La Vie' has some of the most beautiful run i've heard ALL YEAR AND '11:30 Interlude' WAS LITERALLY ON REPEAT ALL YEAR LONG I really hops she blows up because damn she's got the talent to go far and not afraid to show it off!!

Recommend: 11:30 Interlude  //  C'est Lavie  //  MYB

 

17. BARE WITH ME (The Album) - Justine Skye

This is a really great 10 track album with no duds, featuring some of the best music of her career. Some of my favourite RnB this year came from Justine, who delivered a fun and relatable project - short and sweet. The first 5 tracks are literally the best songs and very replayable, it's a shame none were hits because she really deserved it, especially with 'Bulletproof' with the Caribbean beats and is that steelpan I hear?  Great production and delivery, one of the chill bops OF. THE. YEAR. that would go off in a club.. if we could go out this year. I think Justine is really underrated and deserves more recognition, but alas dark skinned rnb girls don't really gain mass success unless there's controversy most of the time.  Highly recommend if you're into RnB! Give this sistren your streams and check out my recommendations below! You may not have heard of her but give her a shot now.

Recommend: Bulletproof  //  Fav  //  Too Much

 

 

16. Stages - Jade Novah

Jade, Jade, Jade.. The last album was great but some of the songs were lowkey skips for me, whereas this one was a small step in the right direction, I've liked & replayed a much greater percentage of this album. I feel like she's content just doing rnb on trap beats when her voice is soooo much more than that, and that's why collabs 'Newness' and 'Lost & Found', while they're good songs don't get me wrong!, could've been left off or been bonus tracks. I guess they fit in with 'Comeback' but again it seems like Jade hasn't found a distinct sound that she can stick too. I had hoped we'd get more like 'Cosmic Love' or 'Try' but maybe she's more interested in the former. Also 'Somebody Son' was a pretty bad lead single, lyrically it's the weakest on the album. That said, once again the highs absolutely outweigh the lows; 'In Your Head', 'Lay It Down', and 'I wish' again do not showcase her talents to its full potential but certainly have interesting melodies or lyrics or delivery that make them the best on the album. It's a pleasure to listen to from start to finish but I definitely have favourites.

Recommend: In Your Head  //  Lay It Down  //  I wish

[KasioKas]

 

Feud

(2017)

Meh

This seems to be acclaimed but i'm not quite sure why. I think the idea that it's mostly based on real events, by women considers icons today in a feud that I guess is a legendary tale come to life on tv made people feel differently, but for someone who didn't know much of the original rumours, this just seemed like yet another story of two women catfighting for seemingly meaningless reasons instead of being adults and being professional, all for the sake of jealousy/fame and fortune and maintaining a positive public image. I don't mean to diminish their lives like that, but while interesting, it wasn't a mind blowing storyline by any means. I will say that both actresses did do a great job for sure, particularly the Oscar scene which I watched a side by side on youtube of the real event. Yes, I was sucked into the drama at that point and living for the absolute pettiness.  It was a cute show, I didn't feel like my time was wasted watching it, and now I know these women better and actually spent a little time after watching the final episode to see what their lives went on to be, in that sense I guess the show runners did their job.

 

The Good Place

Final Season 4 (2019 - 2020)

Meh

I've been a casual watcher of this show for a while, don't love or hate it, just put it on occasionally to see how they progress the storyline. I commend the writers for seeing the finish line and not ignoring it and giving us more needless seasons, because this show should have ended a little earlier tbh, but I paid more attention to this season as I wanted to see how they might tie it up. Answer: not bad. They drug their feet a bit with the whole "everyone's going to hell how can we stop this!" plot, but they found the heartwarming storyline they needed in the final episodes. The final scenes of how they had every character depart was actually kind of cute - doesn't make much sense but whatever. This isn't a show i'd recommend to anyone because they really never played up the 'Heaven'/'Hell' aspect like they could have, instead opting for cheap parties, limiting the show to 2/3 sets and the few perks of Heaven being "wow my favourite foods are here! Wow my favourite people are here!". I mean, maybe that's a product of a poor budget but again, I digress. Cute show, won't miss it. 

 

Here's a kicker, I sure wish they could do a take on 2020, the show literally ended a year too soon how sad is that? A good writing team could have made a masterpiece of a season with free material.

 

Darwin's Game

Season 1 (2020)

LIKE 

This was a really odd take on an isekai where characters battle for their lives in their real world. Think The Hunger Games but with far better fight scenes and  a more weird storyline and characters better fleshed out. It's a whirlwind from beginning, when the main character gets invited to a death match he was unaware existed, against his will, to end where he now runs a clan of very powerful allies while trying to survive and figure out how to get out of it and who's running this game. The fight scenes are extremely well animated, and characters have mystery to them that make them interesting, as well as any assortment of power attributed to better fight for their lives. It's a very fun and engaging watch, especially for people who enjoy action.

 

Hollywood

(2020)

DISLIKE 

Okay so the pitch was a fictional story where a black person leads a major motion picture in the 1940's (?) that becomes highly successful. Decent idea for a low budget tv show. Even the plot wasn't too bad, I mean it's a murphy show so no offence but don't expect too much. What really kills me though, is for a show about acting/making it big in film, why was the acting on this show so bad!? The lead black actress Laura Harrier who plays Camille, no offence but what was that? The scene where she does the winning monologue, was anyone really that moved? There's so many useless characters, so many unnecessary dialogues put in for dramatic effect. I forced myself to finish this show just to see how it would end and it absolutely wasn't worth it. In the end they win a bunch of awards, the end. Really? The only redeeming things was, ironically, the one time the show leaned on non-finction with the story of Rock Hudson, they did a decent job, the actor who played him wasn't very good either.. but Jim Parsons and especially Jeremy Pope did a really good job, at times it felt like they were holding the show on their backs. Jeremy's monologue about being a black, gay writer trying to make it was a better acting scene than all of the main actress', should've made him the star of the bloody movie. Other decent performances were Holland Taylor, Joe Mantello and Dylan McDermott (poor guy stole every scene he was in); the one scene that stood out was the final one because of the huge suspense surrounding the award show, it was easily the best episode but overall I could have been fine having never seen this show.

 

Westworld

Season 3 (2020)

Meh

I'm often the biggest defender of this show, the puzzled, confusing layout of episodes and superb acting are all great assets and necessary to deliver the high level of quality you get season after season. It requires patience and a keen idea, the ability to theorise even though youknow you're way off. However, the writers took a huge risk this season that I believe did not pay off. In the beginning, I watched and immediately noticed the lack of confusion in the storyline, it was mostly linear which for this show is bizarre. I wondered if they gave in to the public's lazy complaints or it was a trick, alas it was the former. In the real world, it would appear that cool technology and fancy buildings are the only things worth highlighting? I mean sure, Westworld has never been good at explaining the world the characters live in or how it came to be, instead focusing on character building (which they do extremely well) and advancing their plots, but moreso on this season they seemed to do neither? The real world had no explanation as to how tech advanced to that degree or why certain new characters had their own motives. The whole 'questioning one's reality' that the show leaned on was completely absent, instead leaning on disrupting the world because humans are bad!! They brought back old characters but only to have them in utterly meaningless positions before promptly disposing of them? Lee & Hector were mere barbie dolls to fool\threaten Maeve, Musashi was a skin for Dolores and never seen again. I like that Delores was able to be bada** all season but the writing for Maeve was atrocious, constantly belittled, losing battles, spoken down too, an absolute 180 from the confident and daring, outspoken woman we grew to love for 2 seasons. This piece does an EXCELLENT job at explaining how the show has ONCE AGAIN failed this character. It's infuriating.  It's like the show can't handle more than one female main at once, although Dolores and Charlotee was a fierce duo this season. I love Aaron Paul but his character was confused for 98% of the season's run, maybe to mirror the audience watching, but they failed to use him to his full acting potential. 

Here's what I liked about this season, the acting remains top notch for the most part, the story arc for William this season was SUPERB, Ed Harris was excellent as a character convinced he's sane but held in a mental institution, forced to face his past. The fight choreo was mostly top notch as well, the battle between Maeve & Delores was long awaited and although it could have been better, it was still satisfying. Tessa Thompson as Charlotte/Delores REALLY rose to the occasion and honestly was one of the best characters of the season amidst the series pros . Her character had so much depth! Seeing her control her own reality, seeing the death of her family, seeing her reject commands, all really well written and acted. The visuals and the scene sets were very beautifully shot, as was some of the tech/cars shown.

It hurts me to say this as a fan but overall I just think the show could have done a better job of what the robots would do in a real world setting, it felt like a less cohesive story and the writing fell flat. I have no idea where they're going next.

 

[Wicked]

The Good Place can def be summed up as "meh" and interesting concept went to waste after S2. Agree with your thoughts on it, it's kind of forgettable. Thankfully I didn't even check out the other shows.

 

I'm not an anime watcher but I have liked a few I've seen, Darwin's Game sounds interesting.

 

Listening to that JoJo album now. Your sig reminds me Travis hasn't put anything out in a while either.

[TheWayWeWere]

Petals for Armor had some... highlights  Sugar praise  

[KasioKas]

4 minutes ago, Wicked said:

Listening to that JoJo album now. Your sig reminds me Travis hasn't put anything out in a while either.

If you hate it don't blame me though haha

 

Trav dropped all his covers on spotify officially this yr and then said peace out. 

[KasioKas]

3 minutes ago, TheWayWeWere said:

Petals for Armor had some... highlights  Sugar praise  

Would you have prefered pop-rock or more in line with Paramore style music?

[TheWayWeWere]

4 minutes ago, KasioKas said:

8 minutes ago, TheWayWeWere said:

 

Would you have prefered pop-rock or more in line with Paramore style music?

my favorite Paramore album is After Laughter, so more poppish   

[KasioKas]

15 minutes ago, TheWayWeWere said:

my favorite Paramore album is After Laughter, so more poppish   

TASTE

[Remmy]

TREAT MYSELF yeah it's okay, a few good tracks here and there. Funk & Nice to Meet Ya are nice  Three. Two. One. is mostly cute. Petals for Armor  Sooo underappreciated and really great, ATRL has plenty of complaints about the album while I have little to none. Your highlights for both of these  Your CALM trinity though, ahhh hey twin! The album is good, I prefer their debut + Youngblood. It seems like their discography is in a pattern: 1st & 3rd releases slay, 2nd & 4th could've been a bit stronger.

[Blue Rose]

CALM and Petals for Armor  

i agree with the shows descriptions. Wasnt a big fan of any of them. Just cute. 

[Kevin2803]

Albums 21 - 25 are perfect 

 

The Good Place had such a perfect series finale  

[Legend E]

I loved The Good Place, sad you didn't like it more  

 

Love Petals for Armor, 5SOS and Meghan were quite okay tbh, expected worse from both

[Ewan Chaos]

Heard that Chromeo track with that MAX person. It was okay.

 

Yeah Petals for Armor lowkey one of the best album titles of the year. I'll talk about this on my Best Of nnn, but I was one of the few people not wanting her to go the stereotypical pop rock route (just stay with Paramore if you're gonna do that?) and didn't want like 14 Stay the Nights cuz that song sucks. So was really surprised to see her create an album that's more funky and in the vein of someone like Solange and Mr. Twin Sister.

[Mtjjproducer]

5 hours ago, Wicked said:

 

 

Listening to that JoJo album now. Your sig reminds me Travis hasn't put anything out in a while either.

 

5 hours ago, KasioKas said:

If you hate it don't blame me though haha

 

Trav dropped all his covers on spotify officially this yr and then said peace out. 

 

Glad to see some other Travis Garland fans on this site. I can't believe 7 years since his album, 5 years since his last mixtape, and a year since his last single wtf is taking so damn long

[K$Ellie]

Feud was indeed meh, kind of a chore to get thru

Hayley and Kiana were quite bad I think  Treat Myself had a few bops

[Lazuli]

treat myself hmm  

petals for armor  love your top 3 tho i would swap sudden desire for something else maybe 

i love the good place

[Mark Rih]

Lennon making the list she's indeed underrated. I'm not that into her music but I really love her voice, as you said it's very enticing

[KasioKas]

9 hours ago, Mtjjproducer said:

15 hours ago, Wicked said:

Your sig reminds me Travis hasn't put anything out in a while either.

Glad to see some other Travis Garland fans on this site. I can't believe 7 years since his album, 5 years since his last mixtape, and a year since his last single wtf is taking so damn long

He has a gig on dancing with the stars doesn't he? He sings the songs they dance to or whatever? I think he's content doing that and not really chasing success anymore, which is sad because there's so much untapped potential.

 

Literally every single living person in my sig released new music this year but him 

[Mr. Loco]

Westworld has always felt really confussing and difficult to watch, but this season was easier to follow... I agree it didn't go through it's full potential, but it was okay

[ikiru]

The Good Place was alright, I enjoyed most of the episodes a lot and it had a solid finale. The concept was incredibly interesting.

Still haven't checked out the latest Westworld season, I loved the first two seasons but the third season received so much criticism so I was scared to watch it.

[madonnas]

lmao, i remember the evil twin meme.  kinda was a fun moment. 

 

omg i can't imagine a pop rock hayley album at this point, unless it was like in the vein of hard times.  either way, im really happy with what we got.  its cohesive but honestly pretty diverse and theres a lto of different faves from everyone.  

[Alex]

The Good Place, love that show!

 

[BlackoutZone]

I have to say I sadly hated Meghan's album, it's perhaps the bitterness I had, cause she scrapped all the great singles from original album and the new ones didn't click with me as much.

321 and Petals are cute albums

[Mtjjproducer]

4 hours ago, KasioKas said:

He has a gig on dancing with the stars doesn't he? He sings the songs they dance to or whatever? I think he's content doing that and not really chasing success anymore, which is sad because there's so much untapped potential.

 

Literally every single living person in my sig released new music this year but him 

Yeah I think he’s happy just doing that. He hates the industry because of something that happened to him during his NLT days. His manager was Chris stokes (the guy who molested b2k) he went into detail about his situation where he was mistreated and left broke by Chris during marriage bootcamp. That’s why he always stayed independent. Also he split from the producers the stereotypes who did his first album. Likely because Aubrey my was acting inappropriate with his producers in studio session with him. 
 

hopefully he continues to release music. He was finishing up his album last year and was almost done but we haven’t heard anything since

[KasioKas]

45 minutes ago, Mtjjproducer said:

Yeah I think he’s happy just doing that. He hates the industry because of something that happened to him during his NLT days. His manager was Chris stokes (the guy who molested b2k) he went into detail about his situation where he was mistreated and left broke by Chris during marriage bootcamp. That’s why he always stayed independent. Also he split from the producers the stereotypes who did his first album. Likely because Aubrey my was acting inappropriate with his producers in studio session with him. 
 

hopefully he continues to release music. He was finishing up his album last year and was almost done but we haven’t heard anything since

Oh wow didn't know all that? I hope he releases soon too but I didn't like 'Put Down Your Phone'  It was kinda meh. I want better lyrics