tournament Golden Hit: Season 6 🪷 Congrats to Legend E! 🏆

[AccioMiley]

Just sent mine in! Hope its not too late. Its only 10pm here 

[Aurora]

You're both good.  The deadline is up and we have 9 submissions, I'll make a "Songs of Round 2" post later. I'll begin my reviews tomorrow so if anyone is still planning to submit an entry for this round, please do!

[Prisoner]

So im drunk and decided to write something  and submitted it was a cute concept in my head but maybe i ruined it.

[Prisoner]

I'm such a risk taker

[Aurora]

7 hours ago, Prisoner said:

So im drunk and decided to write something  and submitted it was a cute concept in my head but maybe i ruined it.

7 hours ago, Prisoner said:

I'm such a risk taker

We love a risk taker tbh!

[Aurora]

 

 

Rank	Writer	Song Title	Score
1	@Jackson	Paper Wings	9.167
2	@Rotunda	Twentysomething	9.017
3	@Legend E	Butterfly, You Give Me Butterflies	8.51
4	@helpthomas	Try	8.333
5	hurricane326	The Edge	7.683
6	@Weld_E	The Dragon and the Butterfly	7.677
7	@AccioMiley	Philly	7.583
8	@Invisibility	Glass Pain	7.573
9	@Prisoner	He'll be dancing on his roof, all alone	7.567
10	@OreGuy	A Butterfly's Thorax	7.267
11	@stupidjock	Digital Butterfly	7.05
12	@worldwide angel	i miss you	6.99
13	@blastoisebaby	Cocoon	6.977
14	@Armani?	Butterflies	6.89
15	@djcalpal	A Little Butterfly	6.807
16	@beatinglikeadrum	Psyche	6.767
17	@Julia Fox	wedding gowns made of clouds	6.277

 

[Aurora]

 

At long last, it's time to present the top three of last round's Butterfly 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 "Butterfly, You Give Me Butterflies" and its 8.51 score:

@Legend E

Here is your Bronze Hit Token embossed with your ATRL username and Kelly Clarkson.

Congratulations! This is your first Hit Token of S6, and ninth Hit Token of Golden Hit overall!

 

 

Celebrating a second place success with "Twentysomething" and its 9.017 score:

@Rotunda

Here is your Silver Hit Token embossed with your requested text and a cocoon.

Congratulations! This is your first Hit Token of S6, and first Hit Token of Golden Hit overall!

 

 

Celebrating a first place finish with "Paper Wings" and its 9.167 score:

@Jackson

Here is your Golden Hit Token embossed with your ATRL username and an origami butterfly.

Congratulations! This is your first Hit Token of S6, and seventh Hit Token of Golden Hit overall!

 

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 three 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. 

 

[Aurora]

🍃 The Songs of Round 2 🍃

 

hurricane326 - "Twenty-three"

Armani - "Mother Earth"

Kylie Jenner - "I Went To A Party"

helpthomas - "Hey Mom"
OreGuy - "A Regretful Son"

Weld_E - "April's Fool"

Legend E - "Baby Cherry"
Rotunda - "Heavenly Father"

AccioMiley - "Best friends"
Prisoner - "Mount of Calvary"

Invisibility - "Flavors of Life"

 

Thank you to the eleven wonderful writers above—including one new addition to this season's roster of Hitmakers—for celebrating the season with us! 

The judges now have your entries and reviews will be posted over the next few days. If you still wish to submit a last minute entry, please try to do so ASAP.

 

[Legend E]

tysm, Aurora stunning as always

[Prisoner]

Me writing a song and thinking im serving joni mitchell or lana but im serving this:

 

[Prisoner]

Give us the next round!! 

[Jackson]

Thank you! The coin is gorgeous

[AccioMiley]

24 minutes ago, Prisoner said:

Me writing a song and thinking im serving joni mitchell or lana but im serving this:

 

Lmaoo sameee

[Aurora]

 

Hey, hitmakers! The judges have your entries, and reviews are likely to be posted soon. Let's celebrate that!
While we await this event's conclusion, it's time to go back to our roots, and share some stories with one another.

 

Without further ado, let me introduce you all to the third round of Season 6...

 

In honor of Beyoncé's highly anticipated and acclaimed new album 'COWBOY CARTER', Golden Hit is having its very first dedicated country music inspired round! Outside of Beyoncé's surprising and successful decision to delve into the genre, country music on the whole has had somewhat of a renaissance in recent years. While this season's first two challenges focused on taking inspiration from a particular source, this challenge focuses more on writing technique and storytelling ability. You may take inspiration from any source of your choosing, so long as your song has a set of lyrics we'd be likely to hear on a country music playlist.

 

Not sure where to start? Taylor Swift (pre-'1989'), Carrie Underwood, Kacey Musgraves, and Maren Morris have plenty of great modern country records that are suited to listeners of pop music, but feel free to do your own research. If you want to incorporate some country music stereotypes to reinforce the theme, try not to be too cliché. There's also this handy article that might explain more or less what we will be looking for in your country creations: https://bettersongs.com/how-to-write-country-music/. Bring us a great story, lots of emotion, and a unique theme that will set you apart from the rest of the submissions. Now get your yeehaw on!

 

Songs due via Google Form submission by Fri. Apr 5, 11:59PM EST

 

This challenge will hopefully help everyone think outside of the box and challenge themselves, just like Beyoncé did! The top three submissions will earn their writers a Hit Token, so make sure to submit for your chance at one of those. If you have not yet signed up for Golden Hit: Season 6, that's fine! Just submit an entry and we'll add you to the sign-ups list.

 

Spoiler

@Legend E@Jack!@beatinglikeadrum@punisher@Jackson@AccioMiley@Rotunda@worldwide angel@helpthomas@stupidjock@Nashe@Julia Fox@blastoisebaby@Armani?@fountain@Lana Banana@Lorenzo22@JonginBey@Invisibility@Weld_E@Forestboy@OreGuy@Prisoner@djcalpal@Kylie Jenner

[Kylie Jenner]

Omfg a country music round  I love this. Let me procrastinate more

[Legend E]

Love this so much but I am afraid I will flop

[Aurora]

14 minutes ago, Kylie Jenner said:

Omfg a country music round  I love this. Let me procrastinate more

This is lowkey the round I am most excited about this season, I might have to make my own three act project and write songs for each of the first three challenges this week.

 

9 minutes ago, Legend E said:

Love this so much but I am afraid I will flop

You never know until you try!

[Invisibility]

Nnnn wonder if I could still submit for R2

[Aurora]

7 minutes ago, Invisibility said:

Nnnn wonder if I could still submit for R2

We haven't closed the form off as no reviews have been posted, but if you would like to I would recommend doing so ASAP... like an hour ago soon. Alternatively, you can just consider that your dropped week (we are taking the average score of your best 5 submissions to determine this season's winner) and focus on the new challenge.

[OreGuy]

a country round? omg this is gonna be exciting to write

 

giddy up, cowboys 

[Legend E]

Let me write my Vice by Miranda Lambert 

[Hiatus]

- A common trope in country music is inclusion of alcohol (specifically whiskey) so feel free to take inspiration from that 

- Themes of vows is also very popular! Think of Shania Twain. 

- You can be fun and cheerful, or moody and slow, Sheryl Crow has made country music to fit both styles. 

- Hardships in life is also a very popular topic. 

- Cars. Motorcycles. 

 

If you have the time, maybe watch Pixar's 2006 movie Cars to get some extra inspiration. 

 

I can post some musical examples soon if anyone finds it helpful 

[Invisibility]

Submitted extra-oh-so-not-fashionably late but I am thankful to be considered!

 

Country sounds interesting, let me get to cooking up a cowboys in love tale with 20 words per line ASAP 

[Aurora]

 

Hi all, here are my reviews for your entries for the "Reason for the Season" round. Apologies they're a little on the later side, I've had a lot going on personally since Thursday.

Another very strong batch of entries, and I loved how many different seasonal events you explored, with very little overlap. Eight unique events were explored! 

 

Spoiler

1. hurricane326 - "Twenty-three" (Birthday)
Firstly, happy birthday for the other day! I actually did wonder if someone may opt for a more personal event that's not specifically tied to the March-May timeframe, but rather just happens to fall into that range. I think it's okay, albeit a little risky. When taking a risk with the interpretation of the theme such as this, it helps to do all you can to reinforce the theme's connection to the challenge prompt, whereas here I feel you've opted for a rather subjective theme tangential to the prompt, and a rather subjective narrative tangential to your chosen theme. You're a fantastic writer, as evidenced by your nine Hit Tokens and top five final placement in four out of five Golden Hit seasons to date, but showcasing the challenge prompts is a big part of this tournament. It's sometimes difficult, but my suggestion for the remaining rounds in this season would be to ask yourself if somebody could read your work and guess the challenge prompt without knowing it prior. If not, you always have time to revise. If you can strike that balance of your unconventional themes and brilliant lyricism, while still retaining the core essence of what these challenges are asking for… you'll be consistently delivering in the 9-10 territory. I did appreciate the message you wanted to convey with this piece however, and found many parts relatable due to recent events in my own life. There were a few phrases that stuck out, such as "hot mess" and "horniness" that didn't match the tone of the rest of the piece for me. The closing verse definitely felt the most on-theme, and I actually wish this part of the song had an equal (or greater) representation in the song than the first section. As a standalone body of work this is another stellar offering from you, perhaps just more suited to a Self Portrait challenge than a challenge embracing seasonal events.

 

2. @Armani? - "Mother Earth" (Earth Day)
Your "Earth Song" era. I was hoping somebody would go down this path as I feel it had the opportunity to create a real statement piece, and that's exactly what you've delivered here. You captured my attention from the first verse with the lyric, "Ducats and graft for Exonn,” which I presume is calling out the oil industry? Similarly, the lyric, "Two hands of life strike zero hours,” was a powerful way to end the bridge section and lead into the final chorus. Regarding the chorus, it was solid, but I felt it could be a little stronger. It was repetitive (in a catchy/good way) the first time, however in subsequent repetitions I feel you missed an opportunity to highlight other examples of what is being ignored. That said, I'd still consider this a step up from your submission last round, and I look forward to seeing your country side!

 

3. @Kylie Jenner - "I Went To A Party" (St. Patrick's Day)
It's so good to see you back! We love a winner's return… Jackson in R1, you in R2… I wonder if R3 has any more surprises in store? As always with your entries I read the lyrics in full first before listening to the demo, but honestly it only strengthened my opinions of the different sections in this song. Firstly, but wow, what a chorus! There was something so satisfying about the rhyming here, as well as the mundane nature of being bored at a house party and how you described the observations that may otherwise be missed by the other partygoers. Although I loved this chorus, I find the bridge to be the highlight of your song here. "I've got a point to prove, my heart's tapping like a riverdance,” was such a brilliant lyric central to your concept that also superbly connected to the St. Patrick's Day theme. Once again, brilliant rhyme placement and storytelling. I will say, I found the verses to be a little slapdash while reading them, and that came through in the demo—the meter was loose and the rhyming was oddly inconsistent at times. The pre-chorus quickly snapped back to excellence though, and calling back to the bus stop lyric was a cute moment. Safe to say I'll be bopping to this for the rest of the week, hopefully you're able to submit for a few more rounds yet!

 

4. @helpthomas - "Hey Mom" (Mother's Day)
This was a very beautiful ode from a unique perspective. I can't imagine you intended it as such, and it doesn't apply in its current form, but I couldn't help but get Eminem vibes at times due to him addressing similar themes in many of his songs. I could see him sampling this with rapped verses for example. That is to say this is very lyrical and I can see it translating to song very easily. The, "i am not angry anymore,” refrain was a nice addition, and the internal rhyming in the bridge-like couplet, "got my two left feet for life but i still want to dance / as much you felt the need to fix me with your own hands,” was the highlight of this song for me. There's a real sense of delicateness that is consistent throughout, which makes every section flow into the next seamlessly. I loved your first entry, and I believe this is on par with that in terms of quality. I would have liked this even more if there were a few more specific details (references to specific comments that were made during an argument, or objects that were thrown, specific dates or times etc.) as this is what really draws you in and builds that immersion and makes you feel like you are there and can really envision the characters in these scenarios. That'd be my recommendation to get you right at the top of the pack. Otherwise, amazing work, you're two for two for me, and I can't wait to see what you do next.

 

5. @OreGuy - "A Regretful Son" (Eastertide)
I love that you're giving concept queen this season, you're two for two in terms of unique themes and I'm living. A song written from the perspective of Jesus himself was not on my bingo card for this round, but I'm here for it! Right off the bat you started this song strongly with the double entendres, and the "red coming / red herring" slant rhyme was cute and effective. I think you tackled the themes of second guessing one's own sacrifices tastefully and artistically in the chorus. Your second verse doesn't feel as strong as your first, namely because it doesn't have the wordplay that started off the other verse so strongly, and I struggle to envision God telling Jesus to, "trust the process,” in a serious manner. The bridge was fantastic, and really summarized the events of Holy Week in a concise yet catchy manner. I think all this song is missing is perhaps a few specific examples of why Jesus is having these second thoughts. You had an opportunity in the second verse to almost take a sociopolitical protest anthem approach and really call some problematic behaviors out. That's just what I would have loved to see. Even still, this is another abstract offering from you and I am loving your unique stamp on this tournament thus far!

 

6. @Weld_E - "April's Fool" (April Fool's Day)
This was such a slay to me. I was instantly gagged by your opening lyric of, "I first met April at the end of March,” because it established that April was in fact a person, but also referenced the month of April coming after the end of March… genius. I was so entertained by this narrative, and the rhyme scheme you selected definitely kept a good sense of movement and tied everything up in a neat little bow. Then we get to the bridge… the plot twist, and a change in rhyme scheme to boot? I love when lyrical and rhythmic changes are synchronized like that. This song almost felt like a response to "Dark Horse" by Katy Perry, it was very fun and poppy. The hero here is absolutely your narrative and commitment to the story, and how you set up for the plot twist revelation in the bridge. It would be remiss of me not to admit that some of the rhymes throughout do feel a little clumsy, as if the lyrics were contorted just to end on a rhyme. For example, using, "out of this life,” instead of, "out of this world,” to force a rhyme with "wife.” Similarly in the next line your word choice of "affinity" would make much more sense as "affection,” however that obviously doesn't rhyme with "vicinity". Poetic license is definitely a thing, but within reason. That aside, I loved this! It made me smile and eliciting a genuine emotional response from just lyrics is not an easy thing to do. Excited for your next offering!

 

7. @Legend E - "Baby Cherry" (Hanami)
This was beautiful. Such a sweet song with a sweet message. When we were conceptualizing this challenge, Hug suggested Hanami and I was so excited at the prospect of someone writing a song inspired by this because seeing Japan during Hanami is probably at the top of my bucket list. While you listed only Hanami as your seasonal event, there is definitely an overlap with Mother's Day and even Earth Day which I don't know if you intended and just forgot to mention specifically, but I found that really brilliant. While your first round offering still earned you a Hit Token, I was actually your lowest scorer that round—but I'm pleased to say I enjoyed this song so much more than your last, and can't really think of much (if anything) I would change. I could suggest a refrain, but the, "Baby Cherry,” beginning every other section kind of already accomplishes this. Stunning submission, one of my all-time favorites of yours!

 

8. @Rotunda - "Heavenly Father" (Eastertide)
I'll refrain from referring to specifics as per request, but damn this was good. Why have you been hiding from this tournament all of this time? There's such an honesty and depth to even the simplest of lines in your lyrics. There are a couple of instances where the bluntness is perhaps a shade too much, such as in the second line of the second verse, but those times are few and far between. Similarly, I understand the significance of the word choice in the final line of the bridge is to emphasize a strained paternal bond as opposed to a sign of respect for a spiritual leader, but that particular synonym has other connotations that may warrant a better way to achieve this. Nitpicking aside, this is another thought-provoking piece that addresses some difficult themes well. You're certainly one to watch, and I will be watching!

 

9. @AccioMiley - "Best friends" (Spring Break)
This was very cute and fun! It's nice to have a light-hearted entry every now and then, and a spring season-themed challenge is definitely a fitting time for something like this. It honestly kind of gave me "Malibu" by Miley vibes and I could picture this being a really chill vibe. There's a few familiar tropes here, like "Bonnie to my Clyde,”—I preferred the more comparatively unique, "gin to my tonic,” and the adjacent rhyming, "You're Tails and I'll be Sonic.” I feel there's sort of a ceiling with how far you can take a song as simple in concept and pure in intention as this, and you're just about there. It doesn't necessarily push the envelope, but it doesn't have to. Thanks for submitting, and I look forward to your next offering.

 

10. @Prisoner - "Mount of Calvary" (Eastertide)
Thank you for submitting, despite being inebriated! This was definitely more evidently on theme than your previous offering, so that's already good to see in my opinion. As a nonreligious person it's hard for me to truly appreciate and understand what it might feel like to be able to call on a God in one's darkest moments, so it's nice to have you represent that viewpoint, even if it is difficult to relate to personally at times. The inclusion of water imagery in the bridge (“And when the world goes wrong like a faulty compass / Lost in the sea with no one to rely on,”) felt a little out of place, but since I'm partial to water imagery and this was actually my favorite couplet in the song, I'll let it slide. I'm unsure if this song is purely fictional or inspired by personal events, and if it's the latter I hope you're doing okay!

 

11. @Invisibility - "Flavors of Life" (Mother's Day)
…aaand you just made it! I'm glad you were able to scrape together something for this challenge as although it's handy to have a free week, you never know what challenges may be around the corner. I think this was a really interesting concept, I liked that it doubled as both a literal reference to your mother's recipes and also an allegory for her rearing, and how you occasionally ventured from the "recipe" in either case. At times it did almost give witch-brewing-a-potion-in-a-Disney-movie vibes, which provided an interesting dynamic, and the, "If you do the cooking by the book,” lyric made me think of that one Lazy Town song which was a bit of a scream, but ultimately this was a submission full of heart and soul, and I really liked it and hope to see more from you in this tournament still.

[Kern]

Hi! I'm currently in the process of moving out to a new place and it's Easter so it's a whole mess over here. Had no time to write sadly 

Edited April 1 by stupidjock