best of ikiru's Best of 2020! | FINISHED

[TheWayWeWere]

After Hours  Grammys snub is a bit too much tho  

[madonnas]

7 hours ago, ikiru said:

listened to the first two songs on the album and I am already in love lol, thanks for the great recommendation!

he reminds me a bit of omega sapien (the korean hyperpop artist)

ok lemme check out omega  and omg, you just missed track 3 which was my favorite!

 

 

will jay seems interesting, lemme make a note of him.

yukika is def the queen of city pop revival.  im REALLY sad that the yubin city pop projects never panned out because lady goat material to me.

 

[potent]

After Hours

Niall is definitely the cutest from 1D but his music doesn't interest me

[Ewan Chaos]

idk who even got me to check out Yukika but I'm so glad I did and I'm glad to see her album on your top list too.

 

After Hours is an amazing album too yeah. Great critical response, great sells, smash single. I get why After Hours was snubbed but it's 10000% bull****. Ah well, manifesting Ms. Lipa to win.

[Sunderland 4ever]

Apart from the obvious, I know Yukika. I stumbled upon one of her songs a long time ago but I didn't actually check if she had released a record. City pop, hmmm, maybe you will like Shook if you are into a more instrumental kind of city pop. They're from the Netherlands.

Edited December 16, 2020 by Sunderland 4ever

[ikiru]

 Thanks for the comments! Next album update coming soon (top 10 songs tomorrow)

 

Spoiler

21 hours ago, ARTPØP said:

XS 

 

20 hours ago, BlackoutZone said:

Oh bitch Soul Lady, it's the SERVE!!!

 

it really is

 

19 hours ago, Valtersen said:

yes yes yes  truly an experience 

yes!!

 

18 hours ago, Post Malone said:

After Hours missing the top 20 and we love to see it

 

oop

 

18 hours ago, Remmy said:

We love some Niall appreciation I enjoyed Flicker more but Heartbreak Weather is a solid follow up. The title track starts things off nicely for sure After Hours "I will never understand how this got snubbed at the grammys lol." Right... he obviously pissed somebody off behind the scenes because there's truly no other realistic reason. Not ONE nomination???

Flicker and Heartbreak Weather are both really good! Flicker def has it's moments

The After Hours snub will go down in music history tbh!

 

17 hours ago, TheWayWeWere said:

After Hours  Grammys snub is a bit too much tho  

It really is it's okay if they would've just snubbed the album but snubbing Blinding Lights is a joke!

 

14 hours ago, Madame X said:

ok lemme check out omega  and omg, you just missed track 3 which was my favorite!

 

 

will jay seems interesting, lemme make a note of him.

yukika is def the queen of city pop revival.  im REALLY sad that the yubin city pop projects never panned out because lady goat material to me.

 

omega is really good, I'm sure you'd enjoy his music

i eventually listened to the full album and I love it, track 3 is my favorite song as well

yukika really did that! glad everybody seems to love her here!

 

14 hours ago, potent said:

After Hours

Niall is definitely the cutest from 1D but his music doesn't interest me

I can accept that

 

13 hours ago, Ewan Chaos said:

idk who even got me to check out Yukika but I'm so glad I did and I'm glad to see her album on your top list too.

 

After Hours is an amazing album too yeah. Great critical response, great sells, smash single. I get why After Hours was snubbed but it's 10000% bull****. Ah well, manifesting Ms. Lipa to win.

yes I've read a bit about the whole grammy situation and it's such a joke!

 

11 minutes ago, Sunderland 4ever said:

Apart from the obvious, I know Yukika. I stumbled upon one of her songs a long time ago but I didn't actually check if she had released a record. City pop, hmmm, maybe you will like Shook if you are into a more instrumental kind of city pop. They're from the Netherlands.

I listened to the first track from Shook's latest album. I ADORE the instrumentation! The song sounds so fun and playful. But I think the song would be a bit better with vocals. Still a great recommendation, thank you!

 

 

[ikiru]

#20 - #11 Albums of 2020

 

 

20. stray kids - in生 (in life)

(spotify)

for fans of: k-pop noise

I've been a fan of stray kids for a while now and they still haven't managed to disappoint me. I chose to add the repackage version to the list because I prefer the track list on this one, and it features the huge bops "back door" and "any". the original album features way more filler songs. this reissue is full of fire productions, great lyrics and incredible vocal and rap performances from all the members.

 

19. the boyz - reveal

(spotify)

for fans of: k-pop

I've already talked a bit about the boyz during the song update. this album could've been higher on the list but I refused to listen to it for a long time (because I didn't like the boyz lol). nowI wish I would've listened to it sooner. the title track is def the highlight for me, but I also highly recommend "salty". overall it's a really good k-pop album (which is rare lol).

 

18. 100 gecs - 1000 gecs and the tree of clues

(spotify)

for fans of: bleeding ears and hearing loss

this is the wildest remix album of 2020, unpopular opinion but I think I might prefer this one over the original album. I know the album and 100 gecs in general are really hated on the internet but I think people just don't get their artistry lol. I really can't choose a stand out track, I love the hannah diamond/tommy cash remix of xXXi_wud_nvrstøp_ÜXXx a lot (that's one of the calmer songs on the album). if you want your ears to bleed I suggest the danny l harle remix of "gec 2 ü" and the 99jakes remix of "xXXi_wud_nvrstøp_ÜXXx".

 

17. jjangyou - wave 파도

(spotify)

for fans of: mostly hip-hop (with electropop, jazz and r&b)

I don't even know how I discovered jjangyou this year but I'm so glad I did. already talked a bit about the album during a song update. for it's 30 minute runtime the album is more diverse than probably any other release this year. jjangyou manages to fit as many genres in one album without making it sound too messy. can't wait for more releases and I really hope he gets more successful with future releases.

 

16. rina sawayama - sawayama

(spotify)

for fans of: pop

I started listening to rina a while ago so it makes me incredibly happy to see that this was a great year for her. and I really do love this album a lot BUT it sadly has aged a bit for me, this is the reason why it's not higher on my list. and I do think that her 2017 ep was way better than this album. my favorite songs on this album are "xs" (no surprise) and "who's gonna save u now?". I am not going to talk about the deluxe version

 

part 1 of 2

[ikiru]

 

15. yelle - l'ère du verseau

(spotify)

for fans of: french electropop

already said everything I wanted to say during the "j'veux un chien" section in the latest song update. this album is phenomenal and probably my favorite yelle album so far. I really wish more people would check it out. so far everyone I showed some of the songs from this album loved it.

 

14. charli xcx - how i'm feeling now

(spotify)

for fans of: electropop

this album will always have a special place in my heart! it might not be as good as charli's previous records but "how i'm feeling now" got released during the first lock down in my country, so it will forever be remembered. also charli being my last concert before covid-19 makes this even more emotional for me. obvious highlights are: "claws", "anthems" and "visions".

 

13. grimes - miss anthropocene

(spotify)

so heavy i fell through the earth. that's everything I have to say. the album could just have this song on it and it would still be in my top 20 albums. the song takes me on a weird journey through time and space and I will never get bored of it. (not featured in my top 100 songs because it got released last year but I still feel like I have to say something about it lol). most of the other songs are stunning as well. miss grimes truly did that.

 

12. various artists - h1ghr: red tape

(spotify)

for fans of: k-hip hop

during my write up about sik-k's album I already said that I've been obsessed with k-hip hop this year and it's mainly thanks to this album and the h1ghr music crew in general. jay park and his amazing team of producers (groovyroom are probably the best known) single-handedly turned k-hip hop into a mainstream success in 2020. highlights are "how we rock" (this song showcases most of the artists on this label so it's probably the perfect one to start with) and the "telefono" remix. if you prefer a more pop influenced version of their music, they released "h1ghr: blue tape" as well and it's also really good.

 

11. taylor swift - folklore

(spotify)

for fans of: folk pop

for people who know me (jk no one knows me here) know that I am not a taylor fan, I do enjoy some of her songs but I dislike most of them lol. I listened to folklore after reading the acclaim she got on the internet and I fell in love after two seconds. a beautiful record from start to finish. I still haven't listened to evermore because I'm scared it will disappoint me.

 

 

 

part 2 of 2

[BlackoutZone]

Miss Anthropocene OPRAH, so underrated and YES So Heavy is also my favorite song  We need more ambient grimes

[nasa]

Sawayama YES 

[KasioKas]

2 hours ago, ikiru said:

16. rina sawayama - sawayama

(spotify)

for fans of: pop

I started listening to rina a while ago so it makes me incredibly happy to see that this was a great year for her. and I really do love this album a lot BUT it sadly has aged a bit for me, this is the reason why it's not higher on my list. and I do think that her 2017 ep was way better than this album. my favorite songs on this album are "xs" (no surprise) and "who's gonna save u now?". I am not going to talk about the deluxe version

 

part 1 of 2

YESSSS WGSYN is phenom, you should see where it ranks on my list 

& yeah the deluxe is.. well.. we only use the standard let's just say that.

[Remmy]

how i'm feeling now is (mostly) good, I'd say it's better than self-titled for sure. Your highlights are on point  folklore  Oh wow at you ignoring evermore, I think they're lowkey on similar levels of quality. SAWAYAMA  Yeah the deluxe edition flopped!

[madonnas]

you definitely are not the only person ive seen prefer the remix 100 gecs album to the original.  i dont know if i would choose that but its honestly a pretty close call for me.  

 

omg the 15-11 section is def for the ****.  miss aotdpocene, yelle, charli   so heavy is def top 3 for me, along with 4aem and idoru.   and i guess inm in theminority who thinks that HIFN is among her best.  its better than s/t and n1a for sure for me.  not pop 2, but not much else is.  

 

i do also agree RINA is better than SAWAYAMA but i like that she carved out a new sound with this album, so im mostly fine with it even if there are a couple duds.

 

i listened to this:

 

its kind of a bop, sounds like one of those noisy kpop boy band yelling rap songs meets hyperpop.  im happy with it. 

[ARTPØP]

sawayama, how i'm feeling now, folklore 

[Post Malone]

Folklore a masterpiece

 

[dreamofyou]

sawayama, HIFN and folklore, all great albums

[potent]

I only know Folklore and I kinda like it, but I don't usually listen to Taylor so that's pretty good tbh

Never listened to the Rina album  I might try to hear a few tracks from it though

[Ewan Chaos]

That 100 gecs remix album was pretty good! I'm not really a remix album kinda guy though, and funny enough this was the year I actually first listened to their album so I'd have put it somewhere on my list this year if it made sense.

 

Rina, Yelle, Charli, and Grimes back to back

 

Seems like most people who LOVED Folklore didn't care for Evermore and vice versa (the latter is me), so maybe yeah wait until next year to listen nnn

[TheWayWeWere]

I'm not so familiar with 100 gecs, but Ringtone was a bop and a half  

Rina making it  I'll pretend deluxe is not exist tbh  

HIFN is low-key iconic for capturing quarantine lockdown  

Folklore  

[Sunderland 4ever]

On 12/16/2020 at 11:38 AM, ikiru said:

yelle - l'ère du verseau

This one was a good discovery this year. I think I'll give it more plays to practice my French. The fact that lyrics can be seen as you listen to a song on Spotify helps a lot.

[ikiru]

Thanks everybody! Next update soon!

 

Spoiler

On 12/16/2020 at 5:48 PM, BlackoutZone said:

Miss Anthropocene OPRAH, so underrated and YES So Heavy is also my favorite song  We need more ambient grimes

We really do! So Heavy creates such a wonderfully dark atmosphere, I love it

On 12/16/2020 at 7:20 PM, Valtersen said:

Sawayama YES 

 

On 12/16/2020 at 8:06 PM, KasioKas said:

YESSSS WGSYN is phenom, you should see where it ranks on my list 

& yeah the deluxe is.. well.. we only use the standard let's just say that.

okay shameless promo

true, the deluxe edition was not needed at all!

 

On 12/16/2020 at 8:42 PM, Remmy said:

how i'm feeling now is (mostly) good, I'd say it's better than self-titled for sure. Your highlights are on point  folklore  Oh wow at you ignoring evermore, I think they're lowkey on similar levels of quality. SAWAYAMA  Yeah the deluxe edition flopped!

hmm I really couldn't choose between how i'm feeling now and self-titled, both of them are just so good   I will def check out evermore one day but right now is not the time

 

On 12/16/2020 at 8:56 PM, Madame X said:

you definitely are not the only person ive seen prefer the remix 100 gecs album to the original.  i dont know if i would choose that but its honestly a pretty close call for me.  

 

omg the 15-11 section is def for the ****.  miss aotdpocene, yelle, charli   so heavy is def top 3 for me, along with 4aem and idoru.   and i guess inm in theminority who thinks that HIFN is among her best.  its better than s/t and n1a for sure for me.  not pop 2, but not much else is.  

 

i do also agree RINA is better than SAWAYAMA but i like that she carved out a new sound with this album, so im mostly fine with it even if there are a couple duds.

 

i listened to this:

 

its kind of a bop, sounds like one of those noisy kpop boy band yelling rap songs meets hyperpop.  im happy with it. 

the remix album is just so wild and crazy and that's what i love about it lol!

i think self-titled and hifm are on the same level, they def better than n1a now that i think about it, pop2 is a masterpiece!

i do appreciate rina trying out a new sound as well and it mostly works but something is missing for me to ultimately love it. it def has it's great moments!

happycore is a bop! glad you like it! def my favorite song from his latest ep!

 

On 12/16/2020 at 10:17 PM, ARTPØP said:

sawayama, how i'm feeling now, folklore 

 

On 12/16/2020 at 10:45 PM, Post Malone said:

Folklore a masterpiece

 

it really is

 

On 12/16/2020 at 11:06 PM, dreamofyou said:

sawayama, HIFN and folklore, all great albums

taste

 

On 12/17/2020 at 2:57 AM, potent said:

I only know Folklore and I kinda like it, but I don't usually listen to Taylor so that's pretty good tbh

Never listened to the Rina album  I might try to hear a few tracks from it though

same, I used to listen to taylor a lot back in the days but nowadays I just don't get her music lol, so folklore was a huge surprise to me!

the rina album is good so you should check it out, but her 2017 ep is the better release

 

On 12/17/2020 at 6:30 AM, Ewan Chaos said:

That 100 gecs remix album was pretty good! I'm not really a remix album kinda guy though, and funny enough this was the year I actually first listened to their album so I'd have put it somewhere on my list this year if it made sense.

 

Rina, Yelle, Charli, and Grimes back to back

 

Seems like most people who LOVED Folklore didn't care for Evermore and vice versa (the latter is me), so maybe yeah wait until next year to listen nnn

same, I usually don't care about remix albums but I had to check it out because of all the great features!

 

I really do wanna listen to evermore but if it's just folklore 2.0 what's the point? lol, I only listened to that willow remix which is a bop lol.

 

On 12/17/2020 at 5:15 PM, TheWayWeWere said:

I'm not so familiar with 100 gecs, but Ringtone was a bop and a half  

Rina making it  I'll pretend deluxe is not exist tbh  

HIFN is low-key iconic for capturing quarantine lockdown  

Folklore  

ringtone def a cute bop! not as crazy as the rest of the album but I still love it!

love how we can all agree that the deluxe version was not good

yes! absolutely agree! that's what makes HIFN so special to me!

 

21 hours ago, Sunderland 4ever said:

This one was a good discovery this year. I think I'll give it more plays to practice my French. The fact that lyrics can be seen as you listen to a song on Spotify helps a lot.

I'm actually planning on doing the same, I do speak a bit french but I want to practice it more and yelle is perfect for that!

wait do you actually have lyrics on spotify? I know some countries have it, my flop country doesn't lol.

 

 

[ikiru]

We're getting close to the finale omg!

 

Top 100 Songs (#10 - #06)

 

 

10. everglow - la di da

(youtube | spotify)

for fans of: blinding lights

thank you everglow for saving k-pop girl groups this year, when I started listening to k-pop like hundred years ago I was obsessed with girl groups and their releases, nowadays all of them release basic and uninspired music and I actually started to ignore all of them, a friend recommended me la di da and I really didn't like it at first for obviously trying to sound like blinding lights but after a few listens I fell in love. Everglow showing them other girlies how it's done, we love to see it.

 

9. kim jae hwan - nuna

(youtube | spotify)

for fans of: cute k-pop

okay I know this probably isn't for everyone because it's just ridiculously cheesy but I can't help it, I am obsessed with this song. (third most played song this year) king jae hwan delivers one of the catchiest songs of the year, the beat is absolutely infectious and you will def sing along with the chorus after a few times even if you don't speak korean.

 

8. nct dream - quiet down

(youtube | spotify)

for fans of: k-pop noise excellence

well, this is (spoiler) my highest nct entry on this list, the dream team absolutely nailed it this year! they have always been my favorite NCT unit and proved themselves once again. the production of the song is incredible and the vocals are out of this world. king renjun did THAT!

 

7. oklou - god's chariots

(youtube | spotify)

for fans of: dream pop, synthpop

I am SO SO happy that I discovered oklou this year, she really doesn't have a single bad song, but god's chariots is her magnum opus. her soft voice and the beautiful synth pop production are everything. I am in love with songs that create an atmosphere and god's chariots and def one of them, whenever I listen to this song I am transcending somewhere else. can't wait for more oklou music in 2021.

 

6. golden child - one (lucid dream)

(youtube | spotify)

for fans of: k-pop noise, synthpop

this is what I call growth! golden child have evolved from a cute concept boy group to releasing this not-so-cute masterpiece! amazing synth pop/noise production (the outro is outstanding). thanks to road to kingdom I've became a fan of them and they have quickly managed to get into my most favorite k-pop boy groups this year. the video is also stunning to look at!

 

part 1 of 2

[ikiru]

Top 25 Albums (#10 - #06)

 

 

10. nct - resonance, pt. 1

(spotify)

for fans of: nct lol

this shouldn't come as a surprise and I don't have anything left to say. nct world domination! taeyong king! lucas king!

 

9. declan mckenna - zeros

(spotify)

for fans of: indie rock, art rock

after delaying his album for decades it finally got released this year and I couldn't be happier! I was already a huge fan of the singles he released before the album so I was really excited for this release. his songs are energetic, charming and full of personality. besides the singles my favorite songs are probably "rapture" and "eventually, darling".

 

8. kali uchis - (del amor y otros demonios) ∞

(spotify)

for fans of: r&b

this is art. I love kali uchis to death and "isolation" is one of the best albums released of all time. so my expectations were insanely high for this one and she absolutely delivered! sin miedo is a beautiful r&b record! Currently my favorite song is "//aguardiente y limón %ᵕ‿‿ᵕ% " but that could change any second because all of the songs are so good!

 

7. eartheater - phoenix: flames are dew upon my skin

(spotify)

for fans of: chamber folk, ethereal wave, art pop, ambient pop, noise pop

first of all this is the best album cover this year and I said what I said. the album seems to be controversial online, either you love it or you hate it. and I def chose to love it. eartheater's artistry is out of this world and on every song she creates pure magic. "below the clavicle" remains my favorite song because it's the song that introduced me to her music. that high note ugh.

 

6. raye - euphoric sad songs

(spotify)

for fans of: euphoric sad songs

I was so happy to see this album on quite a few other best of lists here, me and a friend are obsessed with this album and we were highly disappointed to see that it flopped that hard. checked out this album because I was bored and immediately fell in love with it. If you've followed my top 100 songs this year you know that "change your mind" and "natalie don't" are my favorites.

 

top 5 on sunday (hopefully)

 

part 2 of 2

[madonnas]

n, i have a harder time keeping up with boy groups and boy solos for kpop.  its cuz the aggressive noisy stuff i have to be in the mood for, though i usually DO enjoy nct's stuff when i bother to listen.

 

kali's is my fave in your albums set.  i honestly had no expetations for it, i enjoyed isolation but didn't stan.  imo, this is a better release because its more concise and consistent.

 

 

[BlackoutZone]

Quiet Down really good, but yes La Di Da groundbreaking  

RAYE definitely appears on surprisingly many lists and I'm also glad however the material on this record is so good I'm mad it isn't her proper full length debut, it just needed a few more songs...