tournament Golden Hit: Season 2 📀 Congratulations Hug! 🏆

[Galah]

 

Hey, Hitmakers! Round 4's Spoken Word challenge has a little under two full days remaining on the countdown. Make sure your voice is heard!

While you've all been busily monologuing (and pre-ordering Audrey Onyx's debut album Ophelia), I've been working hard on R3's Hit Tokens. 🌳
Remember, if you've only just discovered Golden Hit or didn't wish to participate in prior rounds, fear not: sign-ups are still open—just submit!

 

With that, it's time to present the top three of last round's Deciduous challenge with their bonus prizes: the Hit Tokens!

I've reviewed the requests from our trio of top writers for the week, and done my best to grant them for embossment.

 

 

Celebrating a third place triumph with “Sweet Revival” and its sweet 8.375 score:

@worldwide angel

Here is your Bronze Hit Token embossed with your ATRL username and the tree of life.

Congratulations! As you requested an identical hit token to your last, I've embossed a symbol I felt represented your song well.
I didn't want to recycle your other token, or simply not make one, so please let me know if you would like to request a remake!

 

 

Celebrating a second place success with “Family Tree” and its familiar 8.918 score:

@Remmy

Here is your Silver Hit Token embossed with your ATRL username and Lady Gaga (ARTPOP era).

Congratulations on your second overall Hit Token! This was what you initially requested in R1.

If you would instead prefer another token with Monty Mole, feel free to request a remake!

 

 

Celebrating a first place finish with “Love Under a Blue Tarp” and its lovely 9.313 score:

@hurricane326

Here is your Golden Hit Token embossed with your requested name and photo.

Congratulations on your third consecutive Hit Token, and second overall Golden Hit Token.

From never making the Top 3 to never leaving the Top 2... you came in like a hurricane! 🌀

 

I hope you all enjoy your Hit Tokens as much as I did making them! Feel free to use them as a forum avatar if you wish, or just let them be a reminder of your time in Golden Hit—ultimately the choice is yours, and if for whatever reason you are dissatisfied with your token or simply wish to change the embossed graphic/text please contact me and I can arrange a remake. Remember, the top writers of each round will earn their own Hit Token just like the three above, so make sure to submit each week for the best chance to claim one of these bonus prizes. 

 

[Legend E]

beautiful  

[fountain]

Oh wow some of the best designs so far methinks.

[Remmy]

Oop I forgot I requested Gaga before  Yeah that's totally fine, and it looks great

[Better Mistakes]

Probably submitting late… I’m trying to find a hot photo of Wilfred Owen as the artwork 

[fountain]

32 minutes ago, Better Mistakes said:

Probably submitting late… I’m trying to find a hot photo of Wilfred Owen as the artwork 

Living for this new era x

 

[Hug]

...and people said Checkmate had no impact

 

 

[Hug]

On 9/13/2022 at 9:29 AM, Aurora said:

09. Theodore

I may just have to prepare to see Audrey in court as I also have a song called Theodore I wrote back in PH9!!!

[Hug]

I've submitted my song <3 and...I have a feature? ????

[fountain]

24 hours left to submit for Round 4!! 
 

challenge post:

https://atrl.net/forums/topic/411781-golden-hit-season-2-?-r3-hit-tokens-pg-39-?-r4-spoken-word-pg-32/?do=findComment&comment=22474457

deadline countdown:

https://www.timeanddate.com/countdown/fall?iso=20220915T235959&p0=179&msg=Golden+Hit+S2+Round+4+Deadline&font=cursive

 

submit here:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1mtBnzj-cjWeBfLEJOSOK6PMx-HCagzDJ3D5arbLhRiY/edit

 

@Euterpe @Legend E @Jack! @Remmy @TruGemini @Temporal @Achilles. @Hooker Barbie @Better Mistakes @Augmented @Gavin. @beatinglikeadrum @CountryBritney @FCKNAmbrosia @JonginBey @DatChickDoe @worldwide angel @JoeAg @EpicSongFan @camfuckingrockwell

 

[fountain]

ps. my reviews of round 3 are still coming, I will be posting them tomorrow with some general thoughts on the songs and how they ranked, the scores I personally gave, and any advice I might offer overall at this point x

[Temporal]

Still working on my final coding project but it should be done this weekend! A return in Round 5 perhaps?

 

[Legend E]

oh i barely have any idea on how to tackle this challenge. i have a few random ideas, i might go with one of them but, not feeling *too* confident in it

[fountain]

12 hours!!  
 

 

@Euterpe @Legend E @Jack! @Remmy @TruGemini @Temporal @Achilles. @Hooker Barbie @Augmented @Gavin. @beatinglikeadrum @CountryBritney @FCKNAmbrosia @JonginBey @DatChickDoe @worldwide angel @JoeAg @EpicSongFan @camfuckingrockwell

[Better Mistakes]

Cruel World

 

 

Full lyrics below. Drag me. 

 

 

 

(Verse 1)
Never fought with time 
Only those across borders
Never looked in your eyes 
On fields with others

(Pre Chorus)
All of the weeping crosses in blushing reds won’t retell what we knew
All of the weeping crosses won’t raise me from the ground 

(Chorus)
Goodbye to this cruel world
Goodbye to this cruel world
It’s the end, it’s the end of our world 
Goodbye to this cruel world
Goodbye to this cruel world
‘Til we meet in the light 

(Verse 2)
Never lost the fight 
Only lost the power 
Never gave up on life 
In our secret hours 
 
(Pre Chorus)

(Chorus)

(Bridge: spoken)
I’ve fallen down, Lord help me up
As Death comes in to take my hand 
Your voice still rings and sings 
Like the first time you unlocked what it meant to love
When I complained that life isn’t fair
To love in secret but not out there 
It shouldn’t be a secret 
But Lord, I’ll take them with me 
As the world crumbles around me 
I know you’re fighting for glory, King and country
As I lose you and everything is ripped from me
I pray that some history remembers me
Give me life and live honestly
Just don’t let them alter me 

(Chorus)

(Outro: spoken)
All of the weeping crosses in blushing reds won’t retell what we knew
All of the weeping crosses won’t raise me from the ground 
Goodbye to this world, I’ve fallen forever now
Goodbye to this world, it’s ending now
You have fixed my Life – however short.
You did not light me: I was always a mad comet; but you have fixed me.
I spun round you a satellite for a month,
But I shall swing out soon, a dark star in the orbit where you will blaze.
It is some consolation to know that Jupiter himself sometimes swims out of Ken!

 

 

 

Bonus photo of daddy Wilfred Owen

 

Edited September 15, 2022 by Better Mistakes

[fountain]

Hey queen @WilfredOwen x

[Temporal]

When I rejoin the competition in Round 6, score a 47 on my entry and snatch the golden token... yup!

 

[Julia Fox]

“I will know”

Quote

cause you are the last thing i should have on my mind, right now 

but I want you there sometimes 

there’s a corner well established for you on my brain 

but it’s not like I try, it’s an habit of mine 

 

Edited September 15, 2022 by Julia Fox

[fountain]

59 minutes ago, Temporal said:

When I rejoin the competition in Round 6, score a 47 on my entry and snatch the golden token... yup!

 

Wigged so hard and got a 47, 

Dicked so hard, sent @Jackson to heaven

 

[fountain]

Here’s your last reminder!! 5 hours to go, get those entries submitted

 

@Euterpe @Legend E @Jack! @Remmy @TruGemini @Temporal @Achilles. @Hooker Barbie @Augmented @Gavin. @beatinglikeadrum @CountryBritney @FCKNAmbrosia @JonginBey @DatChickDoe @worldwide angel @JoeAg @EpicSongFan @camfuckingrockwell

[fountain]

Retrospect Round 3: The Deciduous Challenge

 

So here are my long awaited round 3 reviews! Since the round has already passed I tried to use them more as my overall impressions at this half way point, and also took the chance to reveal the scores I gave during this round to make my judging of the round clearer since I hadn’t reviewed yet. It was definitely a very strong round overall and you should all honestly be really proud of yourselves. 
 

@hurricane326 - Love Under a Blue Tarp

Right off the bat congrats on another #1!! I have to say I was in complete agreement with this because I scored this song… 10! I thought it was honestly just so touching, vivid and beautiful, and such a specific and poignant way of interpreting the challenge. The image of a child’s toys being scattered in a tree after a hurricane is just so emotional and your song overall was incredibly emotionally poignant in a way that was simply stellar. There is really no doubt in my mind how much of a fantastic writer you are, you seem to know exactly what your unique writing perspective is and are also very confident in your writing, often submitting mere hours after the challenge is posted. It’s hard to offer specific advice because of this, so what I will say instead is keep up this amazing work. And once again, congrats!

 

@Hug - Welcome to the Club

I really hope this “novel idea” thing doesn’t become your recurring thing over the season. A song can be fantastic and not have the most unique themes in the world, I don’t think a concept is really the thing that makes a song good but rather it’s execution and the writing itself; and really, in 2022, what even is a truly novel idea when everything has been done to death? Personally I’m happy to read something that is poignant and purposeful despite perhaps not being “novel”. And I think that’s exactly what this entry was; I gave your song a 9.5. I’m happy to see it score so well overall (and for you to seemingly be over the novel thing, hopefully?) because I truly thought it was a beautiful song. I actually think you have a knack for these nostalgic kind of songs, because they always seem to hit for me when you go for them. If I am to offer any advice for the future I would say to have more trust in yourself as a creative; and as I said early, I’d focus less on worrying whether your idea is unique or not and instead just ensure that it is well written because ultimately I think that is what matters most and was proven in the case of this song. 

 

@XO_Life - Old Oak Tree

I felt this song showed some massive growth from you and in particular was a huge improvement over your last entry. I scored this song an 8.5 and was happy to see it being your highest scored song so far (and so close to the top 10)! For me I feel and hope this growth shown is only going to continue and go up. What I loved about this song in particular compared to your other two entries is that it is by far your most well written, and has definitely shown off your writing the most out of your submissions. You had some really lovely lyricism and imagery here which really strengthened the song, and I think focusing on this in the future would help continue this upward trajectory, so my advice would be to try and keep this going in your writing for your future submissions because you definitely stepped it up this round!

 

@Julia Fox - Coconut Tree

Unfortunately I did have to agree that this wasn’t your strongest entry so far (I scored it a 6.5), but you know that and I don’t doubt that you will bounce back! There’s kinda not that much to say really because the song is what it is, the challenge didn’t really inspire you this time so it’s a shame but it doesn’t reflect anything on you or your writing skills. What I will say though is that even though this wasn’t your best or most inspired round, the strength of your writing itself still gave the song some interesting and unique moments which I think is a testament to your creativity. Overall I’d say your biggest strengths are probably your thoughtful and thought provoking lyrics, so my advice to you as a writer would be to try and refine and hone in on that in your songs as they always give each of your entries an edge and individuality that always feels specific to you, which is fantastic. 

 

@Euterpe - God-given

Personally I would’ve been happy to see your song rank higher, but looking at the scores from the judges it was split which is a shame. For me, I gave you a 9.5 (and funnily enough this is the “lowest” score I have given you so far, if that puts across properly how impressed I’ve been by you!). I thought this song was another fantastic example of your writing skills; thought provoking, really vivid and just overall very nicely written. In my opinion you’re a wonderful, consistent writer and I always look forward to your entries because I know I’m going to end up enjoying them, no doubt! While I don’t have any specific advice because I think you’re doing a great job already, I would say subjectively that I kind of pine for another whimsical anthem from you, though I have also really appreciated your focus on emotion in your recent songs this season which has been very welcome! Overall I just think you’re great, you’re doing great, and I’ll bet that you continue to be great, cause you’re a talent. 

 

@Allday - Red

Though this song ended up having a lower score than your first entry, I actually disagreed with this and think that this song was a big improvement over your first entry. I’ve tried looking back at the song but I see that it’s been replaced with your new entry, so it’s hard to point out the exact things again because I’m having to recall it from memory, but I definitely thought that this song showed a more unique writing style than your first entry, and I’d love to see you continue to grow your own personal writing style in the future and see your creativity shine in your submissions. One thing that I specifically enjoyed about this song in particular was that even though it was taking the inspiration of trees, you used the colour red which kind of subverted what would typically be expected or what would come to mind with the image of a tree being green; I thought this was smart and I’d love to see you try and continue to make creative choices like this. Overall I found this to be a step up, and although that wasn’t reflected in the final score averaged from all of the judges, I’m glad the song at least has a higher rank. Personally I scored you a 7.5, a nice improvement but I think there’s still room to go and hopefully when the right challenge and inspiration strikes we could see that! 

 

@worldwide angel - Sweet Revival

I was so happy to see you place in the top 3 again this round! Your songs have really been resonating with me from the very first round, and it was not different with this submission either. Personally I scored this song a 9, and if I’m totally honest even though this is a fantastic score it’s actually the lowest I’ve given you so far (I scored Eternal and clarity control both 10) so hopefully this shows how impressed I’ve been by you! There honestly is just something about your writing that really enthralls me and pulls me in, you have such fantastic vivid lyricism that feels both poignant and subtle, and I find it such a lovely and alluring mix that fits perfectly with the concepts and themes that you have written about. Really, I’ve been totally loving what you’ve done so far so it’s hard to know what advice to offer. If there’s anything to point out, what I would say is the reason you didn’t end up getting a 10 from me again this round is that I thought some parts of this song were a little unclear (specifically, in the first verse when you refer to “his shivering limbs” I am not totally sure what that is supposed to represent; perhaps just a tree, but I found that line a little confusing particular because “he” is never referred to again throughout the song), and I wouldn’t have minded if there was a bridge too. The balance between leaving things open to interpretation and having a clear succinct message behind the song can sometimes be hard to balance - and honestly there’s no perfect way to know where the line is; for each individual it will be subjective - so you just have to try and be conscious of this and bare it in mind as much as you can without negatively impacting your writing. But really, I’m absolutely loving what you are creating, keep it up!

 

@beatinglikeadrum - The King

Honestly I was absolutely blown away by your entry. Last round in my review I commented that it would be interesting to see you really bring out your poetic side, and that was absolutely what you did this round; I was incredibly impressed at you taking on this advice and submitting such a well written fantastic song, so I had no choice but to score you a 10. I would’ve absolutely loved to see you in the top 3 this round, but nevertheless you should be so proud of this song; also of the immense growth that you’ve shown in only three rounds, it truly feels that each round we’ve seen a massive leap in the quality of your entries and it’s very exciting to see and hopefully very rewarding for you! Since I loved this song so much it’s difficult to offer any constructive feedback, so my advice in general would personally be to keep whatever you did this round going; I truly think the way you took on this song was perfect so keep approaching the challenges this way and hopefully we will see you crack into that top 3 next! 

 

@Legend E - Sycamore

To me this was another strong, well written song from you and honestly I am kind of shocked that it didn’t place higher in the top ten. Personally I scored it a 9, which was a bit of an outlier as the others each scored in a similar range, so I don’t particularly have much constructive criticism to offer, that would more so have to come from them as I was very impressed by you again. What I will say is that in my opinion you’ve shown definite growth as a writer looking at this season vs the first season, while it isn’t over yet of course I feel that your entries overall have been much more consistent and at a high quality, whereas during the first season although you still wrote some fantastic songs they weren’t always the most consistent. In that way, it could be more of an experience based thing, or it could just be that the challenges are clicking better with you this season; either way I believe you’ve shown yourself to be a really strong writer, not that we didn’t know it already! If I had any pointers, it would be to try and make sure that the challenge doesn’t cloud your lyrics too much; while I obviously really enjoyed this entry as I gave it a great score, I did think that the narrative could have been slightly more clear, and it’s obvious from your description of the song that it was highly inspired and thought out, but when putting that much inspiration into the song I would just try and be sure that along the way you check that the narrative is still coming across clearly and that the inspiration isn’t going too far (throwback to Talk of the Town). As a whole though I think you’re doing a wonderful job this season, and you should definitely be proud!

 

@Gavin. - Roots Keep Me Here

I quite enjoyed this song and ended up scoring it an 8. For me the strongest part was the writing itself, I think you have some strong lyricism and perspective (particularly with your first song Stung) but in the case of this song what I think let it down as the concept more so; while I thought the song was well written, the actual story behind it didn’t feel developed and instead was very general, this isn’t always a bad thing as sometimes songs can be left open to interpretation and be very intriguing, but in the case of this song it felt that the story presented just didn’t go very deep. My advice then would be to try and make sure that your entries in the future are backed by a clear, developed narrative, your first song Stung certainly was and I was actually blown away by how personal and deep that story was, whereas this song in comparison felt that it didn’t stand out as much. I definitely think you have the writing ability and that it’s your concepts that could use more work on developing - and you’re definitely capable of giving a great concept too as shown by Stung - but I would just ensure that you can consistently deliver in this way. You commented that if it isn’t about sex or drama then you aren’t good at writing and I definitely don’t agree with this, you’re a good writer and your lyrics are definitely promising, but I would focus on expanding your horizon in terms of the themes that you are comfortable writing about and then your growth will be fantastic. Ultimately as a pointer I would say try not to overthink when trying to come up with an idea behind your song; in the end most writing is emotion based, and whether it’s a song about sex or drama like you mentioned, or something more conceptual, there is still emotion as a the key drive behind whatever the song is about, and if you focus in on channeling that emotion as opposed to worrying about trying to write a song about a certain theme, then hopefully you may find it easier. 

 

@Augmented - Nature’s Law

This was definitely a return to form after your last entry. Personally I could’ve seen it scoring higher, as I gave it a 9.5 myself, but it still ranked fairly well and was a great improvement over Rule the Game. I think to me it is clear that you are a great writer, but perhaps consistency is where you struggle a little. You’ve delivered some absolutely fantastic, unforgettable songs, and then some which unfortunately don’t connect as much. Your writing skill is clear throughout so perhaps it is more of an issue with inspiration and the specific challenges not resonating with you as much, but I would also say I feel like you should have some more confidence in your writing! Usually your entry comes with a description about how you are uncertain about it which is a shame because you’ve written such beautiful songs that have emotionally wrecked us and you seem to not even realise it! You’re a fantastic writer and I’m not sure how to get that confidence level up, maybe it is just a matter of experience, but I will continue to tell you that you are a talented writer for as long as I have to until it sinks in! My advice would be not to overthink this, ultimately I say write what you want, write what makes you feel good, write what gives you confidence when you read it back and think “yeah, I did that!”; don’t worry about trying to impress and thinking that your song might not be appreciated and instead I hope you can appreciate them yourself first and foremost. 

Ps. Once again you are a very talented writer. Looking forward to saying this again in the future. 

 

@JoeAg - Conifers Smile On

Another song from you that I thoroughly enjoyed! Personally I gave this a 9.5 and I’m a little shocked to see the average score and rank that it got because I definitely envisioned this higher. For me this was another strong, very well written song from you, something that I feel you very consistently deliver. I felt the song had a very alluring vibe to it, from the themes and setting (the nighttime & wilderness) to the actual lyricism themselves, I was definitely pulled in while reading and intrigued. What I thought was pretty clever about the song was that even though the subject matter was something such as hooking up outside, the song itself and the lyricism was still kept to a very high standard; when you write about something like this it’s easy to go down the vulgar/shock route since that’s an easy way to get a response about people, but I loved that you took the theme yet still executed it in an artistic and creative way. This is one of my favourite things about your writing in particular, it always feels meaningful, artistic and unique. If I have any advice it would be to try and make sure that while going down the artistic route, your songs still have the ability to continue to the common reader. While this isn’t an issue for me personally as I’ve really enjoyed your entries, not everybody might be as appreciative if the ideas don’t resonate with them as easily; I don’t think you should do it to the extent that it has a significant impact on your writing or how you take on your songs because as I hope I have made clear I really love you songs, but rather simply to maybe bare in mind how universal it might be (that is, if you even want to try and have a universal appeal; I don’t think it’s necessary or something to particularly strive for).

 

@Achilles. - All Around the Christmas Tree

I felt this was another nice entry from you. Personally I scored it an 8.5, which is about in line with the average that it ended up receiving. As usual I thought your writing was strong and the song was well written, in my opinion you rarely falter on this front. Where I think the song could’ve been improved is it’s execution, and I believe some of the other judges pointed this out from the little bit I saw of their reviews. Specifically, I agree that there should’ve been some connection or indication between each progressive verse which made it clearer that significant time jumps were supposed to be taking place, and I felt that was a little vague and could’ve been a bit further developed and explained. The song probably could’ve used a bridge too, and I think with the right kind of bridge this criticism could probably have been avoided. But, as opposed to focusing on what the song didn’t have as opposed to what it did have, I would definitely praise the overall idea which I thought was very clever and a great interpretation of the tree challenge. If I have any overall advice for you it would be on the conceptual front more than the actual writing itself; as I said I think you are a great writer but the places where you sometimes seem to stumble are in your concepts or execution of the challenges, for example I think in this song you may have been so focused on the idea of the emotion behind the time jumps that you may have overlooked the need for more context throughout the song (also, throwback to the cultural challenge last season). If we iron out moments like that, then you are soaring. 

 

@Remmy - Family Tree

Well well well, what have we here? The NSFW chanteuse excelling with another personal piece? We love to see it!

I scored your song a 9, so this was in line with the final average you ended up with. I really loved it, I thought it was up there with Paper Airplane Crashes from last season, as a really moving, personal and emotive song. A great demonstration of your versatility as a writer again. Was very much happy to see you take that #2 spot, very much deserved and your highest rank so far! You should definitely be proud of it. It’s hard to know what advice to offer you because your writing can jump from one end of the spectrum to the exact opposite, and it’s really a marvel to see and I wouldn’t want to push you too far in either direction when this ability to write in both ways is so special! Luckily, I think you seem to know quite well when to go for either style, and when the challenge is fitting for either side of your spectrum as opposed to the other, or at least getting better at than in season 1! Anyway, another great job from you and a very deserved top 2 slay; keep up the good work (by hopefully not skipping a round again! **** moving writing is better!).

[fountain]

Also, if anyone wants me to continue to mention my individual score for you in my reviews, feel free to let me know! I’m open to sharing them. 

[Legend E]

Quote

What I will say is that in my opinion you’ve shown definite growth as a writer looking at this season vs the first season, while it isn’t over yet of course I feel that your entries overall have been much more consistent and at a high quality

Yet I think you're about to receive one of my worst entries in a bit (which I have not yet written)  

 

But this was sweet tho, thank you  

[Euterpe]

@fountain That's such a nice review! Thank you! And I'm very sorry about my entry this round, literally the opposite of whimsical.

[beatinglikeadrum]

Sent. Literally my worst song ever.