Vilppu Posted December 13, 2017 Author Posted December 13, 2017 #36 Laura Marling - Wild Fire I had something written here but after reviewing it was complete bs and I'm not re-doing it but ye, I really liked this sing! I also liked: Soothing, Wild Once #35 Paloma Faith - The Architect In all fairness, I was quite disappointed with Paloma's output this year, from Crybaby which was okay but didn't excite me in the way her previous leads did to the full album which would need a serious trimming in order to become something I'd like to come back to. There was this one title track, however, which pulled me in from the very first listen and still manages to wow me just as much. What I've always loved the most about her discography were the big, one could perhaps say overblown orchestrations and the theatrical vocal performances, and this song provides a lot of that: a fantastic build-up, a stunning chorus with Faith making great use of her unique voice and, most of all, the strings' work here is just phenomenal. The last one is just such an easy way to win over me but they need to be properly used, not like in all those popgirls' ballads where they just end up feeling tacky. Luckily, Paloma knows exactly how to make the most out of them. I also liked: Guilty #34 Calvin Harris, other men, the Bon Appetit songstress - Feels Honestly, one of the biggest music shockers of 2017 was how after the Tay/Calvin break-up, it was Harris who came out with the jams whereas the other embarrassed herself with quite possibly the worst songs of the year. What's even funnier is how the best song to come out from either of these two was one to feature another of Taylor's current enemies. Feels just came exactly at the right time for me. The ska'd rhythm, its easy-goingness, the slight 70s feeling to it, Pharrell's warm voice, Big Sean's rap not serving rent-a-rapper but actually having its purpose, Katy's contributions... existing - it all came together to create such a perfect chill, summery bop which gets additional points for being even somewhat nostalgic. Definitely should have been a bigger hit over Calvin's earlier generic, pointless singles. I also liked: Holiday #33 Eluveitie - Rebirth Even though I haven't cared for metal for good 4 years now, there is always at least one track a year which wins my heart and Eluveitie seemed to do the trick now. It honestly surprised me that I've picked this one though. Earlier this year they released a more acoustic, softer than per usual album which focused on their superior folk side rather than the metal one. It was exactly what I wanted from them at this point and yet still the best to come from them this year was Rebirth, by far their heaviest, perhaps most moody and dark compositon in 2017. It found just the right balance between the slower parts with folk instrumentation and Nicole's wonderful tone and the frantic percussion (the quality which to this day impresses me the most about metal, their drummers are technical perfection), hard-hitting but not overbearing guitar riffs and Chrigel's growling. This way of, erm, emitting sounds is insanely grating most of the time; thankfully, Eluveitie are among the few who learned to take advantage of it. I also liked: Artio, Esvs #36 S.E.S. - Paradise Groups coming back after over 10 years of absence is always concerning, even moreso when it's kpop where we get new faces pretty much on a daily basis and even the seemingly big, popular bands might barely make it to a couple of years. Therefore, it's even more shocking that S.E.S., which never really made a lasting impression on me, turned out to be winners in this scenario. Being considerably older than most other idols, the three women know exactly their strengths and were able to adjust them to the current market. It resulted in Paradise, a song that's somewhat of an uptempo ballad. Just like most of S.E.S.'s older material it heavily relies on their subtle voices but at its core, it sounds relatively modern. The producer, SM's frequent collaborator Yoo Young-jin, did a great job here combining the girls' spirit with fairly fresh sounds, making it stand out much more than a lot of SM's other relatively faceless output. I also liked: Candy Lane #35 Wonder Girls - Draw Me End of 2016: "oh wow, Wonder Girls are such an amazing group, the first kpop act I'll truly stan". Four weeks later: thank you for being so wonderful, we're disbanding. OK so this is really bittersweet for me, while it's wonderful, I'd much rather not have this, you know? Of course the girls all shine here, among the other ****ty snoozefest farewells such as 2NE1's Goodbye or Sistar's Lonely, it stood out as refined sonically and unlike those, it's anything but empty, the emotion here is clearly genuine. It's a respectable end to an amazing discography, I wish all four ladies nothing but happiness and success as solo artists. #34 Seohyun - Magic Tiffany and Yuri failed to deliver follow-ups to the last year's amazing I Just Wanna Dance and Secret, respectively, Taeyeon released boring **** as always, Hyoyeon resorted to snatching cheap demos from CList rappers wastebins, as much as it pains me to admit, Sunny's Station song was awful and YoonA isn't worth bringing up at any point ever. That left us with Seohyun to be the one Girls' Generation member with good solo output and, not exactly to my surprise, she did deliver. Despite the trend of vocally talented Korean girls recording cheesy ballads showing off their "talent", she thankfully had the right mind to restrain and come up with material whose strength is its subtlety. Magic is easily the best example, a slow R&B jam floating somewhere between sweet and sensual where Seohyun really shines through. She's serving a bit of peak era Ariana (Yours Truly and I'll always defend that) except even better, more mature and refined here. I also liked: Bad Love #33 Momoland - Freeze Circus meets EDM? Maybe my memory just sucks but it's a concept I can't recall anyone try to execute and more importantly, why can't I recall anyone try to execute it? If a completely irrelevant group with limited talents like Momoland can take it and come up with a song this amazing, why isn't anyone else snatching it and making their own versions? Before this song these lovely girls were a mediocre "cute" girlgroup, not bad but not standing out by any means. This, however, made them rise up to a completely different level. The post-chorus here is really just such a treasure, the mash-up of sounds taken straight out of a circus - which depending on the circustances can be viewed as either something euphoric and colorful or just downright terrifying - and the heavy electronic beat is, like, the most pleasing moment of music in all of 2017. It doesn't matter that the verses or pre-chorus are a tad lackluster, this little part makes up for everything and ties this track together like nothing else could. I also liked: Wonderful Love (EDM ver.)
theblackestday Posted December 13, 2017 Posted December 13, 2017 Quote Quote #34 Calvin Harris, other men, the Bon Appetit songstress - Feels Talent won btw.
bluth Posted December 13, 2017 Posted December 13, 2017 stan the bon appetit songstress. paradise is such a bop. it reminds me of a song they'd play in the credits of a mario game. those retro synths
Tom Vercetti Posted December 13, 2017 Posted December 13, 2017 Laura <3 Her album should've gotten more attention. Feels is a legitimate good track.
ATRL Moderator Unoriginal Posted December 13, 2017 ATRL Moderator Posted December 13, 2017 Wild Fire and The Architect TA really is that song
World Eater Posted December 13, 2017 Posted December 13, 2017 Album Calvina był dla mnie taki 50/50, ale Feels to zdecydowanie jeden z highlightów. Radiowa payola chyba zadziałała, bo dopiero po jakimś czasie to polubiłem. Muszę w końcu ponownie sprawdzić coś od Laury. Któregoś razu się zabrałem za Once I Was an Eagle, ale wyłączyłem po piątej piosence, bo myślałem, że usnę
Eeveelution Posted December 13, 2017 Posted December 13, 2017 So nice to see some love for Laura! Not my fave from Semper GODina, but it grew on me lately and I love it still. I been stanning for Magic since you recommended it. I agree on Paloma, I never went back for that second listen The title track got a few extra spins from me and could have made my list if it hadn't been mastered in a cave.
Hug Posted December 13, 2017 Posted December 13, 2017 I just wanted to say that even though I'm not familiar with most of the K-Pop tracks, I am here to support because we need more K-Pop lists!
SLIME Posted December 13, 2017 Posted December 13, 2017 Calvin's album surprised me too but Feels was one of its worst IMO. but happy for Katy getting a hit this year? Laura is always great the Wonder Girls EP last year was one of my fav k-pop releases but I never got around to the goodbye trax
That Bad Eartha Posted December 13, 2017 Posted December 13, 2017 Ugh I loved Cry Baby. One of my most played songs of the year tbh. The album was a tad underwhelming though.
Vxspertine Posted December 14, 2017 Posted December 14, 2017 Wild Fire Soothing is probably my favorite on that album
smholiv Posted December 14, 2017 Posted December 14, 2017 SM Station died the second they gave Shindong not one but three chances to be involved I love Paradise but always want to listen to 1 of 1 right after
Lazuli Posted December 14, 2017 Posted December 14, 2017 Quote #34 Calvin Harris, other men, the Bon Appetit songstress Wild Fire and The Architect are cute tho!
Ewan Chaos Posted December 14, 2017 Posted December 14, 2017 Kinda agree abt Paloma :/ I like Crybaby though! It doesn't punch as much as say... PITP tho that's for sure. I do enjoy the title track tho as well, and Guilty!
Glassmouth Posted December 14, 2017 Posted December 14, 2017 wait @ V being in your top 5 albums, we LOVE THAT
ATRL Moderator madonnas Posted December 14, 2017 ATRL Moderator Posted December 14, 2017 Magic is a CORRECT CHOICE!!!!! Paradise is so good, it feels so natural and authentic and whatever. OK I'm not the biggest big sean fan but he's definitely not a rent a rapper...
Pedro Posted December 14, 2017 Posted December 14, 2017 How is "Look What You Made Me Do" one of the worst songs of the yeaaaar? Anyway, I love "Feels" as well!
Vilppu Posted December 14, 2017 Author Posted December 14, 2017 On 13.12.2017 at 9:11 PM, theblackestday said: Talent won btw. 19 hours ago, Temporal said: The LASHINGS in the Feels writeup 18 hours ago, Lazuli said: Wild Fire and The Architect are cute tho! Wow, glad some people actually acknowledged/enjoyed my try-hard attempts at "humour". On 13.12.2017 at 10:14 PM, Tom Vercetti said: Laura <3 Her album should've gotten more attention. Feels is a legitimate good track. 21 hours ago, Vxspertine said: Wild Fire Soothing is probably my favorite on that album Loving the Laura acclaim ahh I actually went back and fourth with Wild Fire and Soothing but the former one just had the slight advantage. 23 hours ago, AlexisNeiers said: Album Calvina był dla mnie taki 50/50, ale Feels to zdecydowanie jeden z highlightów. Radiowa payola chyba zadziałała, bo dopiero po jakimś czasie to polubiłem. Muszę w końcu ponownie sprawdzić coś od Laury. Któregoś razu się zabrałem za Once I Was an Eagle, ale wyłączyłem po piątej piosence, bo myślałem, że usnę Ye, album Calvina nie był zły, ale zdecydowanie spodziewałem się czegoś lepszego po singlach. Miałem też tak z którymś wcześniejszym, ale ten mi się spodobał? Nie jest jakiś szczególnie ekscytujący, ale ładny. 23 hours ago, Eeveelution said: So nice to see some love for Laura! Not my fave from Semper GODina, but it grew on me lately and I love it still. I been stanning for Magic since you recommended it. I agree on Paloma, I never went back for that second listen The title track got a few extra spins from me and could have made my list if it hadn't been mastered in a cave. Seohyun ending xenophobia like this, knew she was my third-favourite SNSD member for a reason. 22 hours ago, That Bad Eartha said: Ugh I loved Cry Baby. One of my most played songs of the year tbh. The album was a tad underwhelming though. I saw Cry Baby get a lot of praise but I personally couldn't get into it that much. 17 hours ago, Ewan Chaos said: Kinda agree abt Paloma :/ I like Crybaby though! It doesn't punch as much as say... PITP tho that's for sure. I do enjoy the title track tho as well, and Guilty! I feel like all her past leads were moments and this one... was just there? 15 hours ago, madonnas said: Magic is a CORRECT CHOICE!!!!! Paradise is so good, it feels so natural and authentic and whatever. OK I'm not the biggest big sean fan but he's definitely not a rent a rapper... omg I really should stop writing these descriptions when I'm barely alive... 6 hours ago, Pedro said: How is "Look What You Made Me Do" one of the worst songs of the yeaaaar? Anyway, I love "Feels" as well! Everything about it drives me insane, truly. But it's better than End Game, Gorgeous and Dress at least!
Vilppu Posted December 14, 2017 Author Posted December 14, 2017 (edited) Splitting the answers into two posts because I'm desperate for next page. 23 hours ago, Hug said: I just wanted to say that even though I'm not familiar with most of the K-Pop tracks, I am here to support because we need more K-Pop lists! I think you'd like What's My Name and Babyface from the previous set if you haven't heard them yet 22 hours ago, Kang. said: Calvin's album surprised me too but Feels was one of its worst IMO. but happy for Katy getting a hit this year? Laura is always great the Wonder Girls EP last year was one of my fav k-pop releases but I never got around to the goodbye trax This was their only goodbye track Two of them had solo songs afterwards, Ha:tfelt's I Wander was okay and Sunmi's Gashina was like... the worst Wonder Girls-related song ever, I was v disappointed. 19 hours ago, minho said: SM Station died the second they gave Shindong not one but three chances to be involved I love Paradise but always want to listen to 1 of 1 right after I wanted to blame him for ruining icon Sunny's sing, then I realised it was another Suju member oops. And hey, inspiring you to listen to the greatest album of all time is another advantage I'd say. 17 hours ago, Glassmouth said: wait @ V being in your top 5 albums, we LOVE THAT Can't wait to see where it places in yours! Edited December 14, 2017 by Vilppu
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