base talk Why aren't critics and publications putting Gag Order on Best of 2023 YE lists?

[Bloodflowers.]

Kesha released her most dark, personal, emotional and heartwrecking album to date. Gag Order has reached the deepest and darkest deepts of human mental and emotional tortue. So many powerful tracks on life, suicide, love, fame, happiness, reputation, legacy, sadness, anxiety, clinical depression. 

 

Kesha should receive so much acclaim and awards for such powerful body of work, instead the album just came and went without any marketing, discussions or mentions. It's infuriating.

 

[allforyou]

Because… it's not that good  Yes the lyrics are great but there's no memorable moments regarding the production and the melodies don't stuck with you either. The album just comes and goes and doesn't leave that much of an impression.

Even High Road was better and it's a shame how her quality has gone down since Rainbow was such a fantastic record.

[wehan6]

i think it did make a few YE lists though?

 

also grammy's tend to go with more commercially successful albums in the pop categories although i'm not sure if it was submitted to pop

 

i hope her next album is full of electropop bops though. i miss the old kesha but of course i understand why she ditched that sound and decided to release more personal records

Edited December 31, 2023 by wehan6

[fa77ot]

it's her worst so

[original_lifeline]

because the album is trash

[Talento]

Most of these year end lists are just trying to get clicks from Twitter stans and Kesha doesn't have many of them

[ThinkLater]

no one had heard that lets be honest

[SylMacPer]

cause it's a bad album

[Raspy]

do they even know the album?

[Aslan]

They weren’t gagged, I fear. 

[TomTom]

@Bloodflowers.

 

Accolades[edit]

Select rankings for Gag Order on year-end lists

Publication	Accolade	Rank	Ref.
The Arts Desk	Album of the Year 2023	—	[31]
PopMatters	The 20 Best Pop Albums of 2023	13	[33]
Slant Magazine	The 50 Best Albums of 2023	16	[35]
The Sunday Times	The 20 Best Albums of 2023	16	[36]
Rolling Stone	The 100 Best Albums of 2023	24	[34]
The Independent	The 30 Best Albums of 2023	30	[32]

 

 

[OnlyYou]

Most of these critic lists just put the same few albums, very boring and predictable.

[queenoftheclouds]

https://www.instagram.com/p/C1f5c4TutUV/?igsh=MTFiYXRneDVrM2gyNQ==

 

[loveisdead9582]

I love Kesha but gag order is her weakest release to date. Even High Road had some memorable songs on it. 

[liquiddiamonds]

At the end of the day you also need to promote your album for journalists and this album came and went with no push from none of the parties involved.

 

on the other hand, as fearless as it is for kesha the pop star, the album doesn’t actually bring any new inventive ideas, but also don’t bring the right amount of nostalgia yet because the sounds it incorporates are fairly recent in other acclaimed albums (circa 2014-2018). I think in due time it will be a cult classic for kesha fans and a curio for most pop fans. Animal on the other hand, for better or for worse because of the Luke association, is slowly becoming an acclaimed 2010s classic

[Illuminati]

Ummm what's not clicking, they aren't talking about it because of the gag order

[bearman]

Considering the album tanked and there was no promo/buzz it’s kinda smashing on the YE lists. 

[halcyonday]

it's a tragic album

[Raptus]

[keshasfillers]

36 minutes ago, bearman said:

Considering the album tanked and there was no promo/buzz it’s kinda smashing on the YE lists. 

This. I expected less

[unino]

overall it's not good but some songs really did THAT.

[TomTom]

4 hours ago, allforyou said:

Because… it's not that good  Yes the lyrics are great but there's no memorable moments regarding the production and the melodies don't stuck with you either. The album just comes and goes and doesn't leave that much of an impression.

Even High Road was better and it's a shame how her quality has gone down since Rainbow was such a fantastic record.

 

4 hours ago, fa77ot said:

it's her worst so

 

4 hours ago, original_lifeline said:

because the album is trash

 

4 hours ago, SylMacPer said:

cause it's a bad album

 

1 hour ago, loveisdead9582 said:

I love Kesha but gag order is her weakest release to date. Even High Road had some memorable songs on it. 

 

1 hour ago, liquiddiamonds said:

on the other hand, as fearless as it is for kesha the pop star, the album doesn’t actually bring any new inventive ideas,

What kind of massive lies are being shared in this thread?

 

Gag Order is at least as or sometimes more well-received than Rainbow on user-based rating sites. Rainbow did slightly better with professional critics because it received more professional reviews since it was a successful era and Gag Order sadly wasn't. Likewise, it received more/higher placements on year-end lists because the album simply made more of an impact in pop culture than Gag Order thanks to the aforementioned success. Nevertheless, like @bearman said and as shown above, Gag Order received decent recognition on year-end lists for a pop album with no commercial success whatsoever. Not just the album, but also individual songs like "Eat The Acid" or even "Hate Me Harder". You don't have to like the album, but the general consensus objectively disagrees with that sentiment. Calling it worse than High Road - even if that is your personal opinion - is completely removed from the actual reception of this album at large. High Road didn't land on a single list by any outlet anywhere and I'm not even talking about the controversial reception among even hardcore fans, both of which could not be any more different from Gag Order.

 

Furthermore, it's crazy to claim that Gag Order "doesn't actually bring any new inventive ideas" or "comes and goes and doesn't leave that much of an impression". Thematically and lyrically, it is a very heavy and dark album that deals with subjects that rarely play a role in pop culture at all. Musically, it is an album that is unlike anything Kesha ever released - exploring genres she never touched before and that most people would never have associated with Kesha. Rick Rubin also never produced a whole album for a female pop star before despite his large discography. No matter how you look at it, Gag Order is quite an unusual album for a pop star like Kesha. Again, you don't have to like it if it doesn't fit your personal taste, but calling Gag Order a bad and boring album is objectively wrong when you look at the facts.

 

1 hour ago, halcyonday said:

it's a tragic album

Katy stan 

[halcyonday]

13 minutes ago, TomTom said:

 

 

 

 

 

What kind of massive lies are being shared in this thread?

 

Gag Order is at least as or sometimes more well-received than Rainbow on user-based rating sites. Rainbow did slightly better with professional critics because it received more professional reviews since it was a successful era and Gag Order sadly wasn't. Likewise, it received more/higher placements on year-end lists because the album simply made more of an impact in pop culture than Gag Order thanks to the aforementioned success. Nevertheless, like @bearman said and as shown above, Gag Order received decent recognition on year-end lists for a pop album with no commercial success whatsoever. Not just the album, but also individual songs like "Eat The Acid" or even "Hate Me Harder". You don't have to like the album, but the general consensus objectively disagrees with that sentiment. Calling it worse than High Road - even if that is your personal opinion - is completely removed from the actual reception of this album at large. High Road didn't land on a single list by any outlet anywhere and I'm not even talking about the controversial reception among even hardcore fans, both of which could not be any more different from Gag Order.

 

Furthermore, it's crazy to claim that Gag Order "doesn't actually bring any new inventive ideas" or "comes and goes and doesn't leave that much of an impression". Thematically and lyrically, it is a very heavy and dark album that deals with subjects that rarely play a role in pop culture at all. Musically, it is an album that is unlike anything Kesha ever released - exploring genres she never touched before and that most people would never have associated with Kesha. Rick Rubin also never produced a whole album for a female pop star before despite his large discography. No matter how you look at it, Gag Order is quite an unusual album for a pop star like Kesha. Again, you don't have to like it if it doesn't fit your personal taste, but calling Gag Order a bad and boring album is objectively wrong when you look at the facts.

 

Katy stan 

one word:

 

FUME!!!!!!!!   

[allforyou]

8 minutes ago, TomTom said:

 

 

 

 

 

What kind of massive lies are being shared in this thread?

 

Gag Order is at least as or sometimes more well-received than Rainbow on user-based rating sites. Rainbow did slightly better with professional critics because it received more professional reviews since it was a successful era and Gag Order sadly wasn't. Likewise, it received more/higher placements on year-end lists because the album simply made more of an impact in pop culture than Gag Order thanks to the aforementioned success. Nevertheless, like @bearman said and as shown above, Gag Order received decent recognition on year-end lists for a pop album with no commercial success whatsoever. Not just the album, but also individual songs like "Eat The Acid" or even "Hate Me Harder". You don't have to like the album, but the general consensus objectively disagrees with that sentiment. Calling it worse than High Road - even if that is your personal opinion - is completely removed from the actual reception of this album at large. High Road didn't land on a single list by any outlet anywhere and I'm not even talking about the controversial reception among even hardcore fans, both of which could not be any more different from Gag Order.

 

Furthermore, it's crazy to claim that Gag Order "doesn't actually bring any new inventive ideas" or "comes and goes and doesn't leave that much of an impression". Thematically and lyrically, it is a very heavy and dark album that deals with subjects that rarely play a role in pop culture at all. Musically, it is an album that is unlike anything Kesha ever released - exploring genres she never touched before and that most people would never have associated with Kesha. Rick Rubin also never produced a whole album for a female pop star before despite his large discography. No matter how you look at it, Gag Order is quite an unusual album for a pop star like Kesha. Again, you don't have to like it if it doesn't fit your personal taste, but calling Gag Order a bad and boring album is objectively wrong when you look at the facts.

If you read my reply I didn't say the album was bad, it's just not one of the best albums of the year. Objectively speaking it is not a bad record but it's not great either, it's somewhere in the middle. I never said that the public consensus was that this album wasn’t good, I simply stated my personal opinion. People are allowed to have their own preferences and opinions regarding music. I've seen a lot of people not like something I enjoy very much but I still don't go out of my way to call out people for not liking the same things I do. 
It's quite odd to me that you're saying someone is wrong for simply not liking something  An opinion cannot be wrong or right.

You have the right to love the album just as other people have the right to not like it.

Anyway I like Kesha and now that she's finally free I hope she gets all the success she deserves.

[liquiddiamonds]

32 minutes ago, TomTom said:

to claim that Gag Order "doesn't actually bring any new inventive ideas" or "comes and goes and doesn't leave that much of an impression". Thematically and lyrically, it is a very heavy and dark album that deals with subjects that rarely play a role in pop culture at all. Musically, it is an album that is unlike anything Kesha ever released - exploring genres she never touched before and that most people would never have associated with Kesha. Rick Rubin also never produced a whole album for a female pop star before despite his large discography. No matter how you look at it, Gag Order is quite an unusual album for a pop star like Kesha. Again, you don't have to like it if it doesn't fit your personal taste, but calling Gag Order a bad and boring album is objectively wrong when you look at the facts.

Girl, there’s absolutely nothing in Gag Order that critics haven’t seen in other albums from the last decade. It takes chances for a Kesha album, but not in comparison to indie and alternative albums. Critics don’t listen to only pop girls. From the top of my head Gag Order shares sounds with Anohni’s debut solo album, Yeezus, Majical Cloudz, The Age of Adz. I could go on if I went to my Apple library. Nobody is going to acclaim something just in comparison to Kesha’s own albums…

 

also the minimalist synth sounds are a whole ass genre that exists since the 80. It’s pretty much polished Minimal Wave from Post-Industrial music. You wanna judge people as only pop girls listeners when you might be exactly that…

Edited December 31, 2023 by liquiddiamonds