fountain Posted April 30 Posted April 30 22 hours ago, worldwide angel said: i do apologize for going MIA this season, typically i'm much better at working around life for Golden Hit but the past few weeks have been Hope you are well legend 1
Aurora Posted May 1 Author Posted May 1 On 4/30/2024 at 12:22 AM, worldwide angel said: i do apologize for going MIA this season, typically i'm much better at working around life for Golden Hit but the past few weeks have been 19 hours ago, fountain said: Hope you are well legend Hope you are both well! 1
Aurora Posted May 1 Author Posted May 1 @Contestants Apologies for my tardiness this week, I honestly was hoping a few more last minute entries might have slipped through but it looks like we have our final six entries of the round. Going to try to get my reviews out tonight (sometime in the next couple hours). 1
Aurora Posted May 1 Author Posted May 1 @Prisoner It appears you have submitted the instrumental link twice (once in the Instrumental field, one in the Lyric field) and missed the link to your Google Doc! The submission form is still open if you would like to fix it.
Aurora Posted May 1 Author Posted May 1 Hey Hitmakers, I can't believe it's been over a Fortnight.mp3 since my last reviews were posted, wow! This round may have been small in submissions, but certainly not in talent. As the tournament is nearing its end, and this round was quite a big one, I wanted to at least give you some more in-depth reviews to thank you for your efforts this season! Round 6 will be coming some time in the next 12 hours or so, so make sure to check that out and give it your all in the final challenge of the season! You've all done so well. Spoiler 1. hurricane326 - "Fade to Black" Instrumental: Ooh this is lovely, this is a really nice versatile beat. I could see a synthpop artist working with this, or even an artist like The Weeknd taking it in a more R&B direction. My first instinct would definitely be to write something space-themed with lots of pretty astral imagery. Lyrics: Wow, I loved loved loved this. This is easily my favorite offering from you this season thus far. The lyrics referring to fate, destiny, and fading to black definitely felt inspired by or at least complementary to the sonics of the instrumental. The entire bridge section about, "transfus[ing] our worldly senses," and being, "endless dreamers," was sublime. This was quite profound, sophisticated, thought-provoking, and beautifully written. I love songs that provoke the listener to question. You also sought inspiration in two songs with really strong core themes, which undoubtedly aided you here. This was pretty much perfect to me, this is the hurricane we've come to know and love, and I look forward to seeing what you serve in the final round! 2. @Weld_E - "Vows to Veils" Instrumental: Wow, I wasn't expecting a ballad at all this round, let alone two songs in! Definitely not complaining, hopefully that means we're in for some beautiful, emotional lyricism. I'm anticipating a love song or perhaps a song about heartbreak from this instrumental alone. Lyrics: I really like the way you approached this challenge since it was your first time writing with an instrumental. This almost felt like a post-divorce song written for Katy Perry at times, it gave me 'darker sister of "Never Worn White"' teas. The imagery of the titular, "vows to veils," lyric was great, and I think this was a good centerpiece for your hook. I also really liked the, "on the edge of safe and sound," idea in your pre-chorus. A good chunk of this did feel a bit familiar and slightly uninspired, and to circumvent that I would have liked to see some of the more general and nonspecific lyrics changed into really analyzing what went wrong in this relationship, highlighting specific examples, words that may have been said, what was the turning point or the breaking point, etc. These are the things that really let the listener connect with an emotionally-charged ballad such as this. Thank you for giving this challenge a go, looking forward to seeing what you serve in the final round! 3. @helpthomas - "Far Away" Welcome back! I'm so glad you were able to submit something for this round. I will be judging your entry as a complete package as you were unable to supply the instrumental. Wow, I was not expecting this! Let me start off with the obvious: your voice is absolutely incredible! I love when we get recordings submitted, but the quality… this is not something they made, this some professional like, this **** is in different areas wtf? this ain't no homemade ****. Do you have any music officially released? If so, I will be streaming! Back to the song, this reminded me of a song I wrote a while back titled "Set Sail" at first, which was a nice throwback. Lyrically, I do think you have submitted stronger in this tournament, but melodically this was marvelous. However, an aspect of this challenge was to be lyrically inspired by sonic elements in an instrumental, which I don't know if you have necessarily done. This puts me in an interesting position, because while I don't know if you've hit the bullseye in regards to what this challenge was calling for, you've certainly excelled in ways I couldn't have anticipated and created a truly wonderful product inspired by a piano loop of yours. I really appreciate you sharing this with us, and look forward to seeing what you serve in the final round! 4. @Prisoner - "The Final Dance" Instrumental: Oh, I already know Hug is going to love you for this choice of instrumental since he was the main ambassador for the inclusion of video game themes. I don't know anything about this game, but sonically this was a very nice piece of music. I'm not sure what to anticipate lyrically. Lyrics: Wait a minute… hold on… not you serving concept album this whole time and me not even realizing it. Your mind… wow. I really liked how you translated the instrumental having three distinct parts to the lyrics of your song by also giving them three distinct parts, reinforcing their connection to the source instrumental. I love how you play with language, such as pairing "sense" with "sensibility", "immobility" with "inability", or "devotion" with "divinity". The themes you are covering here definitely feel like they could be something derived from a video game's lore, so that's another strong connection to your chosen instrumental. You're certainly a fearless writer when it comes to some of the more descriptive language, such as "rotten corpses" and cracking skulls. The second part took a more raw, conversational turn, which was a nice change of pace in this song. In a way this feels like an answer to the "All" portion of the "All or Nothing" finale challenge we saw in seasons 1 and 3 of Golden Hit, and were this submitted for that challenge I'd consider it a resounding success! The third part certainly had some wonderful references to your previous submissions. This piece certainly felt like a cinematic and theatrical conclusion to the story you've been weaving throughout this season, and I hope you stick around for the finale so we can potentially witness its encore or epilogue! 5. @Legend E - "Portals" Instrumental: This is nice. I wouldn't say it's my favorite instrumental of the round, but it's not bad. I appreciate that you gave one of the AI tools a try and experimented with that until you found something you felt you could work with. I didn't get a strong lyrical picture from it alone, however. Lyrics: I'm just going to rip off the band-aid, I thought this was a bit all over the place and possibly your weakest of the tournament thus far. The timestamps were helpful and I read through the piece while listening to the instrumental and the timing of everything with a natural rhythm felt right, so you did well there. The main focus of this challenge was to take the sonic elements of an instrumental and use them as inspiration for the lyrics, not necessarily to write a song to track (which was an optional extra). I fear you may have prioritized the wrong elements here. Focusing exclusively on the lyrics here, you have the bones of a really good song here I find, but I would have loved to see a bit more structure and cohesion. There's so many different line lengths, sections, and very little rhyming, which make it hard to picture where you are in the song. Honestly, now I'm starting to question if this really is as messy as I first thought, or just an experimental masterpiece. It's a fine line! I do like the titular recurring motif, and understand your approach of matching the core concepts and themes to those typically explored in this genre. I honestly am in two minds about this one. I've been such a fan of your output this season, and I hope you finish off your season with an undeniable masterpiece, just don't overthink it as I fear you may have done this challenge. 6. @OreGuy - "Whispers" Instrumental: Very nice, you made this yourself? We love a talented cast! Sonically, this makes me think we'll be in for a ballad, similar to Weld_E's submission. I'm getting love song or heartbreak vibes, potentially, but will be more than happy if you surprise me! Lyrics: Ooh, I guess I was kinda right about it being a love song, just in the sense that it's really a song about self-love. You have a really strong theme here, and I definitely echo the sentiment that it's a cathartic feeling to just embrace the bad in life and take it with the good and acknowledge and experience it in the moment rather than leaving things bottled up. "There's beauty in silence and today I'll allow it," is such a powerful sentiment that I agree with so much, I don't really experience loneliness and prefer solitude, so that resonated with me a lot. I also really enjoyed the references to your inner child and almost making up for lost time by reconnecting with him and allowing him to come to terms with emotions once concealed in whispers. There was a real sense of self discovery in this song which is honestly quite hard to capture. You had an amazing round last week and I believe you've done very well again, and look forward to seeing what you serve in the final round! 2
ATRL Moderator Legend E Posted May 1 ATRL Moderator Posted May 1 Thanks, Aurora. I tried to both fit the instrumental to the lyrics and kind of combine the dreaminess of the instrumental to the song. It was fun at least to try something new even if the end product did not end up as nice. I kind of wanted to keep the song vague and well the structure was a bit hard to work on, both because of the genre and because of my inexperience with the AI website. But I also kind of liked it that way. Anyway, thanks for the critique and looking forward to the next round 1
Aurora Posted May 1 Author Posted May 1 7 minutes ago, Legend E said: Thanks, Aurora. I tried to both fit the instrumental to the lyrics and kind of combine the dreaminess of the instrumental to the song. It was fun at least to try something new even if the end product did not end up as nice. I kind of wanted to keep the song vague and well the structure was a bit hard to work on, both because of the genre and because of my inexperience with the AI website. But I also kind of liked it that way. Anyway, thanks for the critique and looking forward to the next round I honestly ended up quite liking the finished product, if you couldn't tell from my review I started writing it after my first listen and read, and as I was revisiting it, things were definitely "clicking" with me a lot more. I debated rewriting my review but figured it was more authentic to represent my initial reaction and how it shifted the more I thought about what I actually wanted to critique, because honestly a song doesn't need a tight formulaic structure or rhyming to be a good song. I will wait until Prisoner's submission comes through to finalise my rankings and scores regardless, but everyone did really well this round imo so I think it'll probably be another close race for the top three, which should make the finale quite interesting! 1
ATRL Moderator Legend E Posted May 1 ATRL Moderator Posted May 1 8 minutes ago, Aurora said: I honestly ended up quite liking the finished product, if you couldn't tell from my review I started writing it after my first listen and read, and as I was revisiting it, things were definitely "clicking" with me a lot more. I debated rewriting my review but figured it was more authentic to represent my initial reaction and how it shifted the more I thought about what I actually wanted to critique, because honestly a song doesn't need a tight formulaic structure or rhyming to be a good song. I will wait until Prisoner's submission comes through to finalise my rankings and scores regardless, but everyone did really well this round imo so I think it'll probably be another close race for the top three, which should make the finale quite interesting! I definitely appreciate that (and I mean, it's also fine not liking it as much or just liking a few parts etc.). But I can also understand that a round like this one is sometimes a bit hard to judge. I will take the feedback into account anyways as always 1
Prisoner Posted May 1 Posted May 1 1 hour ago, Aurora said: @Prisoner It appears you have submitted the instrumental link twice (once in the Instrumental field, one in the Lyric field) and missed the link to your Google Doc! The submission form is still open if you would like to fix it. Mess ill submit rn 1
Aurora Posted May 1 Author Posted May 1 1 hour ago, Aurora said: 4. @Prisoner - "The Final Dance" Instrumental: Oh, I already know Hug is going to love you for this choice of instrumental since he was the main ambassador for the inclusion of video game themes. I don't know anything about this game, but sonically this was a very nice piece of music. I'm not sure what to anticipate lyrically. Lyrics: Wait a minute… hold on… not you serving concept album this whole time and me not even realizing it. Your mind… wow. I really liked how you translated the instrumental having three distinct parts to the lyrics of your song by also giving them three distinct parts, reinforcing their connection to the source instrumental. I love how you play with language, such as pairing "sense" with "sensibility", "immobility" with "inability", or "devotion" with "divinity". The themes you are covering here definitely feel like they could be something derived from a video game's lore, so that's another strong connection to your chosen instrumental. You're certainly a fearless writer when it comes to some of the more descriptive language, such as "rotten corpses" and cracking skulls. The second part took a more raw, conversational turn, which was a nice change of pace in this song. In a way this feels like an answer to the "All" portion of the "All or Nothing" finale challenge we saw in seasons 1 and 3 of Golden Hit, and were this submitted for that challenge I'd consider it a resounding success! The third part certainly had some wonderful references to your previous submissions. This piece certainly felt like a cinematic and theatrical conclusion to the story you've been weaving throughout this season, and I hope you stick around for the finale so we can potentially witness its encore or epilogue! @Prisoner I've added your review into my initial post, but here it is in isolation for convenience. Thank you! 1
Hug Posted May 1 Posted May 1 Hello everyone. My Round 5 reviews are HERE. Thank you to everyone who sent, you're instrumental to our success <3 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FdIqx6Pi90Q4h57JVSEuthWkjWXVQNXnQcqLcRCSUJc/edit?usp=sharing hurricane326 @Weld_E @helpthomas @Legend E @OreGuy @Prisoner 3 1
ATRL Moderator Legend E Posted May 1 ATRL Moderator Posted May 1 Thanks, Hug! Nice to get the good feedback! And gosh yes, the credits thing is such a problem Especially if you are a beginner or you don't know what direction you want to go.
helpthomas Posted May 1 Posted May 1 (edited) thank you so much @Aurora and @Hug to aurora: the piano chord loop i had made sounded like water to me, it moved in a way that reminded me of rising tides, and sailing with my boyfriend. so it really evoked the songs nautical theme! and i really wanted to keep it simple this time and let the first verse be the main story here, the intense fear of letting someone down even after years together. and yes, i have actually just released a full 8 track mixtape on streaming literally some days ago, and i wanted to wait a bit before i shared it here. it's funny because some of the things i wrote for golden hit were so good that i went back to some songs just 1 week before mastering and recorded elements and passages from some of the songs i submitted here. (WHICH lead to me missing the judges choice challenge bc i was in my studio for 4 days straight panic mode finishing the tracks, and also why i asked if i could submit a pre-written track because one of the songs on the mixtape is so damn nasty and sexy lmao) i never thought this atrl game would inspire me this much. i'll post the link to the mixtape when we're done with golden hit!! i'm shy!!! to hug: i might actually finish this one and release it as i'm working on a summery EP inspired by nature, and this track could fit in pretty well tbh Edited May 1 by helpthomas 3
ATRL Moderator Legend E Posted May 1 ATRL Moderator Posted May 1 Congrats on the mixtape omg @helpthomas
helpthomas Posted May 1 Posted May 1 1 hour ago, Legend E said: Congrats on the mixtape omg @helpthomas thank you
Aurora Posted May 2 Author Posted May 2 15 hours ago, helpthomas said: thank you so much @Aurora and @Hug to aurora: the piano chord loop i had made sounded like water to me, it moved in a way that reminded me of rising tides, and sailing with my boyfriend. so it really evoked the songs nautical theme! and i really wanted to keep it simple this time and let the first verse be the main story here, the intense fear of letting someone down even after years together. and yes, i have actually just released a full 8 track mixtape on streaming literally some days ago, and i wanted to wait a bit before i shared it here. it's funny because some of the things i wrote for golden hit were so good that i went back to some songs just 1 week before mastering and recorded elements and passages from some of the songs i submitted here. (WHICH lead to me missing the judges choice challenge bc i was in my studio for 4 days straight panic mode finishing the tracks, and also why i asked if i could submit a pre-written track because one of the songs on the mixtape is so damn nasty and sexy lmao) i never thought this atrl game would inspire me this much. i'll post the link to the mixtape when we're done with golden hit!! i'm shy!!! to hug: i might actually finish this one and release it as i'm working on a summery EP inspired by nature, and this track could fit in pretty well tbh Ooh I'll definitely be keeping my eye out for this! Would definitely love for you to share it as I enjoy nothing more than supporting ATRLer musicians.
Aurora Posted May 2 Author Posted May 2 Also apologies about the fake news of Round 6 coming earlier, there were some last minute changes to the challenge and since it's the finale I wanted to make sure it was just right and as least confusing as possible. At this stage it looks like tomorrow for me (12-ish hours from this post or so) we will have the Round 5 rankings posted, followed directly by the Round 6 finale challenge. You'll have another full week deadline for this challenge as it's got a bit going on, but hopefully you'll all find it to be an inspiring way to close out the season, and we look forward to seeing some of your best efforts yet! 2
Hug Posted May 2 Posted May 2 Also Legend E or Element if you see me posting multiple times in a row NO YOU DIDN'T
Aurora Posted May 2 Author Posted May 2 Just now, Hug said: Also Legend E or Element if you see me posting multiple times in a row NO YOU DIDN'T that's where I come in handy
Hug Posted May 2 Posted May 2 I have been WP free for YEARS and I will take it to the top if that changes
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