best of Poki's Best of 2024 | Done!

[poki]

Hey, will share some stuff soon. Didn't get to finish what I had last year so I intend to do more with this one!

[khalyan]

hi

[Alldeezy]

keen for yours poki 

[Album Leak]

Oooh poki let's see if your taste in Pokemon matches your taste in music! 

[Curaga]

nnn you and I tend to have opposite taste in discog rates, but I'm perched nonetheless 

[Ewan Chaos]

Just realized idk your music taste very well outside of the Madge/Kylie/Janet/Whitney rates we do... perched!

[poki]

Will be able to start tomorrow 

Think I will also start a weekly YTT in 2025. It will mostly be stuff from early 2000s and every week everyone will serve #OUT with random rebounds every few months because I switch tastes all the time haha

[JGibson]

Cannot wait to see what is coming up. 

[poki]

Hey everyone 

Today will do 10 of my top 20 tracks this year. Don't have fancy visuals but got some commentary. About half of my tracks are from 2024 so I'd say this was a pretty good year by my standard haha. Will catch up on other Best Ofs too!

 

#20 - Hikaru Utada - I Love You

 

The discography rate we had a few months ago reminded me of this 

There's no official upload of this on youtube so enjoy the random KH footage recorded on someone's TV. But hey, there's lyrics on screen!

 

#19 - Beyonce - Bodyguard

 

This is the track that comes to mind first for me from the album nowadays. I still like it but the way it got abandoned the very next day is unfortunate. Also, where did ATRL get the claim that the music dropped on Super Bowl day? It didn't. I know because I actually went "No way. No way Beyonce actually dropped a whole album while this ad was on TV. This is the coolest move ever if she really did" and indeed, she didn't. So whoever spread that lie, I see through you! Also, I had no idea there's a lyrics video for this.

 

#18 - Wicked OST - Dancing Through Life

 

This is my favorite track from the two acts. Not entirely happy with the actor's outfit in the movie (the modern day boots took me out of the experience. I could get a pair just like that today but I can't easily find a pair of the more Disney-fantasy style boots the Broadway actor wears) but overall this track turned out good in the movie  Since I'm already on the topic of the costumes in the movie, the spiral glasses look so cool, never seen a design like that before. This is an example of why the boots ruined the atmosphere for me. Get creative, it's a fantasy world!

 

#17 - Eminem - Houdini

 

I was surprised by how much attention Eminem got with his album this year. He's basically boatmates with P!nk nowadays but this album's buzz elevated him to a VIP suite. I like the throwbacks and the sample on this track. 

 

#16 - *NSYNC - Bye Bye Bye

 

I really like this track and it's already low key meme'd so not to mad about it's usage in Fergie's Deadpool 3. Iris however...0/10 will never listen to that track EVER because of how it was used. Anyways, this track is fun. A lot of their album tracks slap really hard. Pop, Bringin' Da Noise, The Game Is Over for example. 

 

#15 - Sophie-Ellis Bextor - Nowhere Without You

 

This track is extremely atmospheric to me. Reminds me of Grand Theft Auto 3. Very serious but not dark or sad (to me at least). Oh and if you ever see this album CD with blue text instead of white like what I put up on here, RUN FOR YOUR LIFE. The Blue text version has only 10 tracks while the white text version has 13 tracks. 

 

#14 - WHAM! - Last Christmas

 

This year marks the 40th anniversary of one of my favorite Christmas tracks 

 

#13 - Cascada - Call Me

 

Was super happy that Natalie announced a new album. She doesn't talk about it, but I can tell Eurovision 2013 made a dent on her confidence. So Cascada is a trio, but you only ever see or hear Natalie, and this album is a solo Natalie album but still uses the Cascada brand name. Blondie's version sometimes sounds a bit too noisy for me, was surprised how clean this version sounds. Now I know them's fighting words but I just feel like Debbie strains her voice too much and the instrumental is played too loudly. Cascada's is more balanced to me.

 

#12 - Bruno Mars & Lady Gaga - Die With A Smile

 

Fun collab, glad this will be on the album.

 

#11 - Gwen Stefani – Bouquet

I know Gwen turned away a lot of fans with this album but I like it. First few seconds of this track gave Shania a run for her money. I am over the honeymoon with this album so do see its flaws now. Also can I just say I'm so proud of myself for knowing the difference between it's and its. I really like this version of the album cover, feels very classic Gwen to me. Do you remember the "Gewn Stefano in panic mode over Vegas Residency" thread from like, 2019? And how every track title was altered so it was stuff like Rich Woman, Made Me Love You, Used to Like You? Lives rent free in my head to this very day.
 

-- 

OK this is what I have for today for music 

Want to also do my top 5 movies and top 5 League of Legends champions, maybe will do one of those in a few hours today. 

 

Music links for the tracks:

Spoiler

 

 

[Album Leak]

First DWAS entry I've seen on a Best Of, tragically.  It still sounds so good though... timeless classic YUP.

 

Cascada's album was cute but like I've seen people say, maybe a few years too late to the whole disco trend. I really enjoyed the rendition of Ain't No Mountain High Enough! I'd give it an honorable mention if I had such a list.  

 

 

[Suilen]

I Love You is a bop DWAS isn't that bad for a song featuring a man I guess.

[JGibson]

Bye Bye Bye + Houdini + Last Christmas + Die With A Smile

[Mr. Blue_Shirt]

Bodyguard and Bye Bye Bye are bops

 

Dancing Through Life is low-key the best song on the soundtrack after Defying Gravity imo. The musical sequence is truly the highlight of the film. It's giving something from Kenny Ortega has done on High School Musical films nn

[Curaga]

You know, I had written off I Love You as the worst song on Deep River and always skipped it, but you stanning it in the rate got me to listen to it again + appreciate it better and now I never skip it anymore 

 

Love Bodyguard, Dancing Through Life, and DWAS too!

[poki]

11 hours ago, Album Leak said:

First DWAS entry I've seen on a Best Of, tragically.  It still sounds so good though... timeless classic YUP.

 

Cascada's album was cute but like I've seen people say, maybe a few years too late to the whole disco trend. I really enjoyed the rendition of Ain't No Mountain High Enough! I'd give it an honorable mention if I had such a list.  

 

 

Yeah Studio 24 definitely came too late but to me it's easily a top 3 Cascada album  Some of these tracks would slide so good in Evacuate the Dancefloor's tracklist. 

 

10 hours ago, Suilen said:

I Love You is a bop DWAS isn't that bad for a song featuring a man I guess.

I have to admit I only checked it out because of Lady Gaga. Very different than what I've heard of Bruno on the radio so I wonder if this will inspire him to go in this direction more often 

 

7 hours ago, JGibson said:

Bye Bye Bye + Houdini + Last Christmas + Die With A Smile

The Deadpool 3 intro with the track is so memorable 

 

3 hours ago, Mr. Blue_Shirt said:

Bodyguard and Bye Bye Bye are bops

 

Dancing Through Life is low-key the best song on the soundtrack after Defying Gravity imo. The musical sequence is truly the highlight of the film. It's giving something from Kenny Ortega has done on High School Musical films nn

The Broadway version is incredible because you always see Prince Fiyero and his dance moves are crazy. I do wonder why

Spoiler

In the Broadway show he doesn't know of the club and asks "what's the most swanky spot in town?" while in the movie he did know of the club. Seems like a really random aspect to rewrite. 

 

1 hour ago, Curaga said:

You know, I had written off I Love You as the worst song on Deep River and always skipped it, but you stanning it in the rate got me to listen to it again + appreciate it better and now I never skip it anymore 

 

Love Bodyguard, Dancing Through Life, and DWAS too!

That rate was really fun because I had zero clue of what the stans like so I had no outside influence on me 

 

Thank you everyone for the replies! 

[Renzo_]

I've been really into Wicked since I attended the show on Broadway some months ago. 

[poki]

Hey, today will do 5 tracks and some bonus stuff 

Today's tracks are older stuff that stood out for me this year.

 

Music

 

#10 - Madonna Ritchie - Don't Tell Me

 

I still think about how hard the audience roared when this track came up on Celebration Tour. 

 

#9 - Lisa Loeb - I Do

 

I like Lisa and this track is definitely a highlight to me. This year I got a copy of the album from one of my all-time favorite youtubers 

 

#8 - Savage Garden - Crash and Burn

 

One of my favorite Savage Garden tracks. I sent this in for an ATRL game this year and the reactions weren't what I expected, got eliminated. I remember when I did one update in Best Of 2023 I had this included (it was meant to be a 1-to-1 of my Spotify Wrapped) so this track stayed relevant to me for a whole year.

 

#7 - Sarah McLachlan - Good Enough

 

This track's vibe helped me a lot in the bad times of this year. Missed a chance to see Sarah on tour this year and then she had to cancel half of it due to her vocal problem. I hope Sarah feels better soon. 

 

#6 - Natalie Imbruglia - Wrong Impression

 

I discovered this track in 2020 and it has made it far in my Spotify Wrapped ever since. The radio version is shorter and got added in 2022. I like to flip between the two.

The chart run in my Spotify Wrapped is:

Album version (2020-2024): 30 - 3 - 11 - 48 - OUT

Radio version (2022-2024): 1 - 34 - 10

So yeah this track has really stuck with me this decade 

I heard this track in my local supermarket and in Cheescake Factory this year. Absolutely incredible since this spent only like, what, 2 weeks on the charts? Reached #64 in 2002. 

I feel like I'm probably the top streamer of this track in the 2020s.

Also, the guy in the music video was also in Michelle Branch's All You Wanted music video!

 

Music links:

Spoiler

 

 

--

League of Legends Champions

 

#1 - Jayce

 

* I DID NOT WATCH ARCANE NOR DO I INTEND TO WATCH IT. NO EZREAL NO VIEWS *

Don't dare to pick him in normals but if he's up in ARAM I always contest to get him. Sick skins too. Debonair, Superhero, Battle Academy, Zenith Games, T1, Prestige all slap. Always wanted a superhero skin for Jayce and it finally happened but sadly it's only for the mobile version of the game. Maybe one day we'll get it in the main game.
 

#2 - Ezreal

 

 

Ezzyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

He's basically Sonic and Ratchet (Ratchet & Clank) mixed together. His 2018 rework is THE best they've ever made. Zero complaints from me.

The quote I've had in my signature is by him 

 

#3 - Rumble

 

 

Also a champion directly inspired by Ratchet! Takes 3 seconds instead of 2 seconds to delete the enemy team with his R in ARAM nowadays but hey he got buffs recently. He gets a new skin once every 50 years but his skins are objectively the best in the game. Yes, objectively the best. I see his designer busk for coins on the daily to fund some visual upgrades for his base appearance. I'm sure we'll get there in a few decades.

 

 

--

Movies

 

#1 - Sonic 3

 

I saw this today. Knew damn well I'd have it as #1 but now that I've watched it, it really does deserve #1 on my list. 

Spoiler

"A light still shines even though the star is gone"

That's a quote I will keep with me forever.

#2 - Twisters

 

Went to see this on a whim. Turns out it has the same message as Inside Out 2 but delivers it in a much more subtle way that only hit me in the last moments of the movie. I really needed this movie as a boost, glad I went to see it. Glen Powell was 10/10 in this movie my favorite role he's ever played.

 

That's what I have for today 

[poki]

I just remembered Lisa Loeb's track How from that same album was featured in the prequel to Twisters, Twister '96.

Blew my mind when I discovered that, it was after I watched the movie / got the album CD. Small world.

[Into The Void]

Bodyguard 

[Suilen]

I like Madonna's and Natalie's songs 

[poki]

I think it was good I cut down my list from 40 tracks to 20. I don't really explore new music so I'm like woah when I see how much 2024 music everyone else listens to. 

I'm always up to date on new video games and movies but somehow not with music. 

[Alldeezy]

Don't Tell Me

[JGibson]

Don't Tell Me 

[prézli]

Bye x3, Don't Tell Me

[Saddy]

Yay Last Christmas