tournament Choose The Album, Then a Song 10 | Winner: Auburn

[Sanguine]

Kk

[Sanguine]

Choose The Album, Then a Song

Round 9

Semi-Final

 

Top 5: Welcome to the semi-final of the game!! For this round, you'll send a song you have never sent before, and tell us how that track uniquely contributes to the album (so, in a way that hasn't been addressed by our themes) in 175 words or less. This is very open-ended, so try to find a strong approach and stay focused!

 

NO RE-USING THIS ROUND

 

SUBMIT YOUR ENTRY HERE

^ link

You may only submit once, but edits of the submission are allowed.

 

The bottom player cumulatively will be eliminated.

 

~36 hour deadline

DUE: Tues, Nov 28th @ 11 pm EST

 

@Auburn @ultraviolence.xx @ATRL Username @EriKills @wehavetostan

Edited November 27, 2023 by Sanguine

[Auburn]

ou

[Sanguine]

Choose The Album, Then a Song

Round 9: Semi-Final

 

ENTRIES AND EXPLANATIONS HERE
CONTESTANT VOTING LINK HERE

 

This time, you are just selecting your TOP ONE!! And bottom one

 

If you do not complete this by the deadline, 30% of your score will be deducted.

 

The last place contestant CUMULATIVELY will be eliminated.

 

~48 hour deadline!

DUE: Sat, Dec 2 @ 6 pm EST

 

@ATRL Username @Auburn @EriKills @ultraviolence.xx @wehavetostan

Edited November 30, 2023 by Sanguine

[Kelp]

Sent

[shelven]

SHELVEN'S CRITIQUES

 

ATRL Username – Beatopia – Tinkerbell Is Overrated

 

I like how clear and direct you are in establishing what the main themes of the album are (from both a lyrical and sonic perspective) and how this particular track clearly differentiates itself from those themes. That said, I wish you had gone a bit deeper into exploring why the unique elements of this track contribute to the album and elevate it. You begin to do that in your concluding sentence, but overall, I think there was some extra opportunity to explain why the differences you’ve identified matter instead of just acknowledging they exist.

__________________________________________________________

 

Auburn – The Velvet Rope – Tonight’s The Night

 

I have a similar critique with this as I just had with ATRL Username’s entry: it meets the theme, but I think it plays things a bit safe in the penultimate round of the game. The way this track is unique compared to the rest of the album is clear from your explanation, and I do think you drop hints of some interesting points about the larger album throughout your explanation, such as the counterintuitive nature of including a cover on such an introspective album. But to elevate this further, I would have liked to see a bit more direct discussion about the contributions this song makes to the album – for example, instead of just stating that this song is another example of Janet bringing the listener behind the metaphorical rope, how does this song do that in a unique way that other songs on the album don’t?

__________________________________________________________

 

EriKills – Trouble – Saturday Night

 

I was very happy to see the “so why is Saturday Night so important to the album” line, since I think the previous two entries were missing that direct tie-in of why the track actively contributes to the album instead of just exists as a unique song. I think your reasoning for why this song provides that unique contribution is solid, although admittedly it does veer a little bit into Round 3’s theme of picking the most lighthearted song on the album. I also think you could have gone beyond “this is a hopeful song on an otherwise troubling album” and delved a bit more into why having that hopeful song is so important for the album. Overall though, I appreciate the attempt to go beyond “why is this song different” and into “why does it provide a unique contribution”, even if the execution wasn’t perfect.

__________________________________________________________

 

ultraviolence.xx – RAVEN – Sorbet

 

And the pendulum has once again swung back to me thinking that your writing style works excellently for the round theme. The reason I think the imagery of your language works so well here is because it’s tied directly to your thesis for why this song is unique to your album – your description evokes such a strong and visceral representation of the physical sensations that you’re arguing this song uniquely provides. I also think you wrap up your explanation very well, with a simple but clear reason for why this song actively contributes to your album in its uniqueness. I don’t think you’re at any risk of not making the finale after this entry, and this is a really strong note to leave us with before we head there!

__________________________________________________________

 

wehavetostan – The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess – Naked In Manhattan

 

There’s a nuance and depth to your explanation that feels well-placed in the penultimate round of the season – this is an entry that feels like it knows it’s coming up right before the finale and uses the open-ended nature of this round theme to paint a holistic picture of this song and its place within the overall album, instead of following a colour-by-numbers approach like some earlier themes allowed for. I really like how you weave in comparisons to your album and thoughts about this song’s unique contribution to it naturally throughout the explanation, although admittedly by the end of the explanation, I’m left slightly unclear on what your key argument is about why this song is unique (is it because it adds an element of queerness? Discusses a new relationship instead of an existing one? A combination of both?) I think a more fleshed out concluding sentence would have tied this all together perfectly, but overall I think you did a good job here.

 

 @ATRL Username @EriKills @ultraviolence.xx @Auburn @wehavetostan

[Staryu]

ATRL Username – Beatopia – Tinkerbell Is Overrated

 

I like how clear and direct you are in establishing what the main themes of the album are (from both a lyrical and sonic perspective) and how this particular track clearly differentiates itself from those themes. That said, I wish you had gone a bit deeper into exploring why the unique elements of this track contribute to the album and elevate it. You begin to do that in your concluding sentence, but overall, I think there was some extra opportunity to explain why the differences you’ve identified matter instead of just acknowledging they exist.

__________________________________________________________

 

Auburn – The Velvet Rope – Tonight’s The Night

 

I have a similar critique with this as I just had with ATRL Username’s entry: it meets the theme, but I think it plays things a bit safe in the penultimate round of the game. The way this track is unique compared to the rest of the album is clear from your explanation, and I do think you drop hints of some interesting points about the larger album throughout your explanation, such as the counterintuitive nature of including a cover on such an introspective album. But to elevate this further, I would have liked to see a bit more direct discussion about the contributions this song makes to the album – for example, instead of just stating that this song is another example of Janet bringing the listener behind the metaphorical rope, how does this song do that in a unique way that other songs on the album don’t?

__________________________________________________________

 

EriKills – Trouble – Saturday Night

 

I was very happy to see the “so why is Saturday Night so important to the album” line, since I think the previous two entries were missing that direct tie-in of why the track actively contributes to the album instead of just exists as a unique song. I think your reasoning for why this song provides that unique contribution is solid, although admittedly it does veer a little bit into Round 3’s theme of picking the most lighthearted song on the album. I also think you could have gone beyond “this is a hopeful song on an otherwise troubling album” and delved a bit more into why having that hopeful song is so important for the album. Overall though, I appreciate the attempt to go beyond “why is this song different” and into “why does it provide a unique contribution”, even if the execution wasn’t perfect.

__________________________________________________________

 

ultraviolence.xx – RAVEN – Sorbet

 

And the pendulum has once again swung back to me thinking that your writing style works excellently for the round theme. The reason I think the imagery of your language works so well here is because it’s tied directly to your thesis for why this song is unique to your album – your description evokes such a strong and visceral representation of the physical sensations that you’re arguing this song uniquely provides. I also think you wrap up your explanation very well, with a simple but clear reason for why this song actively contributes to your album in its uniqueness. I don’t think you’re at any risk of not making the finale after this entry, and this is a really strong note to leave us with before we head there!

__________________________________________________________

 

wehavetostan – The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess – Naked In Manhattan

 

There’s a nuance and depth to your explanation that feels well-placed in the penultimate round of the season – this is an entry that feels like it knows it’s coming up right before the finale and uses the open-ended nature of this round theme to paint a holistic picture of this song and its place within the overall album, instead of following a colour-by-numbers approach like some earlier themes allowed for. I really like how you weave in comparisons to your album and thoughts about this song’s unique contribution to it naturally throughout the explanation, although admittedly by the end of the explanation, I’m left slightly unclear on what your key argument is about why this song is unique (is it because it adds an element of queerness? Discusses a new relationship instead of an existing one? A combination of both?) I think a more fleshed out concluding sentence would have tied this all together perfectly, but overall I think you did a good job here.

[Kelp]

5 hours ago, shelven said:

I like how clear and direct you are in establishing what the main themes of the album are (from both a lyrical and sonic perspective) and how this particular track clearly differentiates itself from those themes. That said, I wish you had gone a bit deeper into exploring why the unique elements of this track contribute to the album and elevate it. You begin to do that in your concluding sentence, but overall, I think there was some extra opportunity to explain why the differences you’ve identified matter instead of just acknowledging they exist.

 

This is a ridiculously unfair critique. You said I didn't discuss how the track elevated the album but that wasn't in the prompt. I clearly stated the role that the song plays in the album and how it is unique.

 

1 hour ago, Staryu said:

I like how clear and direct you are in establishing what the main themes of the album are (from both a lyrical and sonic perspective) and how this particular track clearly differentiates itself from those themes. That said, I wish you had gone a bit deeper into exploring why the unique elements of this track contribute to the album and elevate it. You begin to do that in your concluding sentence, but overall, I think there was some extra opportunity to explain why the differences you’ve identified matter instead of just acknowledging they exist.

 

Understood! Thank you for the clear feedback, at least there is ONE judge who gets it and is constructive...

[shelven]

Staryu best judge it's true

[Element]

ELEMENT'S CRITIQUES

 

@ATRL Username - Beatopia - Tinkerbell is Overrated

I thought this had some really solid reasoning that walked us through why this song was unique in the context of the album. What was missing for me -- which other entries touched on -- was how it contributed to the overall album. It's great as a palette cleanser, but what else?

 

@Auburn - The Velvet Rope - Tonight's the Night

Selecting a cover song as your choice here was a BIT of the easy way out, especially because it sonically and lyrically blends with the rest of the album for me. Your essay does benefit from relating the song's message back to the overall theme of the album. It's not necessarily a unique topic, but it is a slightly different take.

 

@EriKills - Trouble - Saturday Night

This is a good argument. I think it was smart to remind us of other specific songs on the album and provide contrast - especially the other "fun" songs. We have seen a lot of crime and debauchery from Natalia throughout the season, so I do like hearing this message of hope amidst darkness. I think you could have touched upon the production a little more to really knock it all the way out.

 

@ultraviolence.xx - Raven – Sorbet

From a pure poetic and linguistic perspective, this might be your best work of the season. It was really stunning to read. Did I buy the argument? I did tbh. My only suggestion would have been to maybe provide the specific song examples that had the "other pleasures" outside of physical touch. But I do love the idea of this album needing a bit of sensuality and lust.... a caress of the shoulders, forearms... etc. It's a human truth.

 

@wehavetostan - The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess - Naked In Manhattan

The song itself didn't convince me, because I feel like we've heard this witty and upbeat approach before this season. However, your essay did a really good job of laying out the unique theme here. I liked how you directly contrasted it to another of the "fun" songs - Hot To Go! I would have loved maybe one other sentence showing how it contributes to the album and the overall growth journey that Chappell experienced here.

[Sanguine]

@ATRL Username @Auburn @EriKills @ultraviolence.xx @wehavetostan results!

[Sanguine]

3rd (round)

@wehavetostan with Naked in Manhattan

Judges: 27

Contestants: +0

Points: 20.25

 

3rd cumulatively with 184.5 points - our FIRST FINALIST!

[Kelp]

And I'm at peace with that

[Kelp]

 

[wehavetostan]

Thank y'all 

[Sanguine]

5th (round)

@Auburn with Tonight's The Night

Judges: 25.5

Contestants: -8 (all of them )

Points: 17.125

 

1st cumulatively with 187.5 points - our SECOND FINALIST!

[Kelp]

Congrats you two

[Sanguine]

1st (round)

@ultraviolence.xx with Sorbet

Judges: 29.5

Contestants: +4

Points: 23.125

 

2nd cumulatively with 185.875 points - our THIRD FINALIST!

 

Congrats on another win!

[Kelp]

Yas congrats uvie

[Sanguine]

2nd (round)

@EriKills with Saturday Night

Judges: 28

Contestants: -2

Points: 20.5

 

4th cumulatively with 180.125 points - our FOURTH FINALIST!

 

Meaning...

 

4th (round)

@ATRL Username with Tinkerbell is Overrated

Judges: 23.5 

Contestants: +6

Points: 19.625

 

5th cumulatively with 176.125 points - ELIMINATED

 

Thanks for playing!! You did super well and had arguably *the* most consistent run? Bea's power

Edited December 4, 2023 by Sanguine

[Kelp]

Plssss the strategic ranking for me aslkdfjklas y'all ain't ****

[Sanguine]

RESULTS

[Kelp]

Thanks for hosting @Sanguine and judging @Staryu @shelven @Element

[Auburn]

they tried to kill me 

[shelven]

38 minutes ago, ATRL Username said:

Thanks for hosting @Sanguine and judging @Staryu @shelven @Element

You had a great run!! Honestly this Top 5 was really strong, it was easy to imagine all 5 of you in the finals

 

Congrats to the four finalists! Well deserved for all of you, looking forward to reading your finale entries