base talk Is poptimism starting to die?

[Julia Fox]

I remember that poptimism made its thing on like 2017 or something were critics were less harsh with pop female singers records, making that almost every pop girl album had a +75 average critic score. But this year it seems like the scores are starting to get lowered down. So: it’s poptimism dying? Or the girls are not doing their best music lately? Or their last projects are too ahead of her time for the critics?

[Bamboo]

I felt like most major releases this year were pretty lackluster, so it’s hard to tell.
 

Also poptimism for a while I believe was over correcting for the harsher scores of the past and will eventually find a happy medium between the two.

[Space Cowboy]

Didn’t the last Olivia album get like a +90?

The fact that some basic pop album like that is way more acclaimed than albums like Vespertine or Back to Black is embarrassing tbh.

[ugo]

don't most pop albums get over 70 now 

 

remember when pop albums never crossed 70…...

Edited December 11, 2023 by ugo

[Digitalism]

6 minutes ago, Space Cowboy said:

Didn’t the last Olivia album get like a +90?

The fact that some basic pop album like that is way more acclaimed than albums like Vespertine or Back to Black is embarrassing tbh.

Bands like wednesday and wet leg with similar sound have been acclaimed in the last years. So that one is expected tbh

[St. Charles]

What I think it is, is that people are now better at getting rated compared to their contemporaries and others in their genre. A Björk 90 metacritic is being compared to Radiohead, pj Harvey, Fiona Apple even. An Olivia rodrigo album is being compared to Miley Cyrus, Taylor swift, Billie eilish, Tate McRae. Because of this, I think we shouldn’t take the scores so literally when comparing them between genres and artists from different generations releasing now.

[vale9001]

No. I mean no hate to her but tate album 15 year ago would have been like a 45 MC panned album 

Edited December 11, 2023 by vale9001

[Klein]

Absolutely not but we cheer nonetheless. 

[ontherocks]

I think the new Olivia album is a good example that it is not over yet.

 

I can already picture how she wanted to make something like Hole or Liz Phair, but it's Olivia, so it sounds more like Avril Lavigne and has no business in being rated the way it was. 

[sunbathinganimal]

given that an album as mediocre as Midnights has an 85 on Metacritic I'm inclined to say no

[Gladiator]

We could only be so lucky.

[Bosque]

Critics will never give low scores again. They just aren't relevant enough to survive while actually being critical. Only the year and decade-end lists have mattered for many years now, since they actually put things into perspective

[Bloo]

GUTS' score suggests it's still alive and well.

[xluvxduffxmusicx]

Tate McRae’s new album is currently at a 67 so maybe…

[CatchIt]

18 minutes ago, sunbathinganimal said:

given that an album as mediocre as Midnights has an 85 on Metacritic I'm inclined to say no

Midnights is not a mediocre album, you’re tripping. 

[kellebrity98]

24 minutes ago, vale9001 said:

No. I mean no hate to her but tate album 15 year ago would have been like a 45 MC panned album 

love how you bring her up under every post, most be boring that your avi can only bring out posthumous records with old reremixed ****

[Julia Fox]

4 minutes ago, xluvxduffxmusicx said:

Tate McRae’s new album is currently at a 67 so maybe…

Is really that bad? I haven’t clicked with Greedy and exes was underwhelming but I thought the album would had hidden gems on it 

Edited December 11, 2023 by Julia Fox

[Big Bad Wolf]

Hopefully. All that should be taken into account is the quality of the album. 

[Gelato]

I hope so. The amount of garbage that has received 90+ on Metacritic recently is disheartening.

[Julia Fox]

19 minutes ago, Gelato said:

I hope so. The amount of garbage that has received 90+ on Metacritic recently is disheartening.

[Gelato]

5 minutes ago, Julia Fox said:

I'd quote your avi but no one knows who that is 

[Julia Fox]

1 minute ago, Gelato said:

I'd quote your avi but no one knows who that is 

yeah sure 

[loveisdead9582]

Not entirely. They’re still grading it higher than before but I feel like people have started to call out low energy bs. Some albums have slipped through on occasion but it seems to be leveling out now. 

[Vermillion]

1 hour ago, Space Cowboy said:

Didn’t the last Olivia album get like a +90?

The fact that some basic pop album like that is way more acclaimed than albums like Vespertine or Back to Black is embarrassing tbh.

This argument is literally why poptimism came about and survived. 

 

Why do good (subjective) pop hooks and melodies about a teenage crush matter less than Bjork with atypical chord progressions, melodic lines and instrumentation on an album (Vespertine) she herself has said is almost entirely inspired by sex?

 

Prince wrote Manic Monday which is a cheesy but great pop song. 

 

95% of Back to Black’s melodies are direct rips from the Motown era pieced together, and Mark Ronson’s admitted it.

 

All these pedestals people keep putting these albums on are a waste of energy and ink.

 

1 hour ago, Dephira said:

Only the year and decade-end lists have mattered for many years now, since they actually put things into perspective

I’ve been saying this for years. Except the decade-end lists have started to diverge drastically from the year-ends.

[SecretSecret]

14 minutes ago, Gelato said:

I'd quote your avi but no one knows who that is 

You could have done it anyway and it would've applied