bluth Posted December 17, 2017 Author Posted December 17, 2017 Spoiler 4 hours ago, Eeveelution said: I liked a couple of Nite Jewel songs last year but she completely slipped by me this year, is the album worth listening to? if u kinda want those blissful bops then def! it's not anything special but it's cute 19 hours ago, SupremeGoddess said: Will Lust for Life be your rightfully #1 album? you'll have to wait and see 19 hours ago, AlexisNeiers said: One of these songs is at the exact same place on my list Everything Now's campaign was a total mess I get what they were going for but it was annoying as hell. The album's title track still bangs tho fsdfdsf they gave the kii's so i can't be too mad about it 19 hours ago, cdschart said: nnn one of these songs is in the same spot on my year end. although it'll probably jump up two with the final week of the year telepathy! 19 hours ago, minho said: Kelela had an incredible album filled with great picks but honestly? I agree with you in picking LMK. There's something about that that just felt like the perfect way to represent the album. It's honestly an incredible song all around (and my #2 of the year!) where's the list tho??? and def @ red velvet. they have that blend of bubblegum/dark sense of humour that gays would stan if not for the language barrier. 5 hours ago, Pedro said: WAIT. Goldfrapp are still making music? I HONESTLY didn't know! yes sis get into it! their album had some cute moments! top ten sings coming up!!!!!!!!
ATRL Moderator madonnas Posted December 17, 2017 ATRL Moderator Posted December 17, 2017 Ok hurry! I need to see bad liar take the crown.
bluth Posted December 17, 2017 Author Posted December 17, 2017 10 - 1 10 LABYRINTH MONDO GROSSO the best music can truly transport us to a place, but mondo grosso takes this one step further here with labyrinth. it's a sprawling, meandering track of dizzying synths and soaring vocals which capture such a pure feeling of wanderlust. it doesn't so much take us to a place than it excavates a wondrous, urban maze wherein, we may be lost, but that might be because we want to be. 9 BAD LIAR SELENA GOMEZ you know those moments where you're lured into an odd sense of security that you end up revealing too much? selena captures this exactly on the bad liar, where - hold it - selena gomez samples the talking heads and it works SO well. sampling aside, selena displays a really great - and previously unseen - depth of character, her playful word choices in "serpentine" feeling so refreshingly deliberate in a world where lyrics can often be so cliched. there's something incomprehensibly good about this. perhaps it's the way its hypnotic, conversational tone lures us into wanting to confess our own secrets. for me it was saying that, actually, i'm something of a fan, and i say this as someone who never cared for selena previously. either that, or i was always just a bad liar. 8 XO TOUR LLIF3 LIL UZI VERT we turn to music as emotional **** when we feel sad or detached from our friends, but, ultimately, there's a safety net in knowing that the pain travelling through our headphones is merely musical. xo tour llif3 feels like an exception - a gut wrenching portrayal of loss, underlined by the lo-fi, sparse production which feels like a lonely car ride at night, the loss of a relationship being so much more than a loss because of its finality. we exist in a social media world where friends can be unfollowed and jettisoned at the click of a mouse, but a deeper, cavernous sense of loneliness lurks at the heart of xo tour llif3; your friends aren't gone - they're dead. 7 JJ PRIESTS in a year which was destined to be filled with political reflections on 2016, i think none felt more organic than jj. the song sounds so characteristically americana – those wild west guitars and the consumerist lyrics “i thought i was a cowboy because i smoked reds.” it’s an arresting portrayal of consumerism in our modern world – and the way that corporate branding infects our self-image. jj doesn’t necessarily mired by the sinking realisation that nothing feels natural, that our whole sense of self-image is a lie, but rather, it cowboy square dances with nihilism in a way which feels liberating. there’s a dual meaning to the title of this album: everything is unnatural, but, oddly, nothing feels natural. 6 STAR ROVING SLOWDIVE slowdive’s first album in almost two decades felt like something more than a return to music, rather, it sounded like a grand, cosmic exploration of a voice returning home. star roving is one of the most beautiful moments on the album - a song which occupies a space far more vast and incomprehensible than a pair of headphones, capturing the immense beauty of a clear night sky. star roving is more than just an immersive and arresting piece of shoegaze, it's the sound of a voice returning from a place which feels hauntingly familiar, filling us with a sense of warmth that, after having been lost for so long, we are finally returning home. 5 GREEN LIGHT LORDE melodrama didn’t begin with lorde in a new place. rather, green light captures lorde, like so many young people, floating between two places – between a breakup and a new relationship, between youthful innocence and ageing wisdom, between the club and home. it resonates with this idea structurally by the way it begins sparse and confessional, until a dancing piano riffs begins to flicker like the lights of a city turning on as the sun sets, culminating a glorious, dopamine rush of a finale. lorde didn’t make a song about the place we find beyond the green light because, usually, no one knows what or where that place is. rather, she made something which enshrines that feeling of being young and uncertain, of constantly stepping into unknown territory, and of wanting to let go, climb through the roof of our taxi to feel the wind on our face and the butterflies in our stomach as we fall further towards that glorious, green light. 4 YEAH RIGHT VINCE STAPLES while vince staples exhibited his technical capabilities on summertime 06, it was really on big fish theory where he allowed his creativity to reign free. in amongst the angular and metallic beats on big fish theory, yeah right stands out as bold statement in which vince challenges the rap industry in two ways: the first, by calling out the truth in materialist brags, and second, by hosting a call to arms for everyone to step their **** the **** up. the song's real apex comes in the final moments where, like the night king riding a dead viserion, vince unleashes kendrick to spit over a glassy, sophie breakdown. i'm not entirely sure how someone conceived that kendrick and sophie could work so well, but i'm so ****ing glad someone did, and even if someone pretends they could have thought of the same thing, this song says it best: boy yeah right, year right, yeah right. 3 SUPERMODEL SZA we live in a world where it seems like words are becoming increasingly meaningless. our corporate offices use the same, inspirational bull****; our promises to others never held; the lyrics we listen to are disingenuous. to truly make an engaging statement in 2017 seems like an impossible task. however, one of 2017's biggest statements didn't achieve this through grandiose presentation, but rather, it drifted in to the sounds of a guitar lazily strumming one day in june. supermodel begins the great dialogue that is ctrl; sza is confessional, honest, and endearing in a way which is so refreshing in a world where people are increasingly banal. this is a part of what makes ctrl such an engaging piece of work: sza's candidness as she talks about her imperfect relationships almost feels alien after being fed so much self-victimising bull**** in the industry from the likes of drake and taylor over the past few years. experiencing social media can often be a very detached experience, but, as sza sits among a pile of broken computers and technology, we feel like we're finally in the presence of someone human. 2 LOS AGELESS ST. VINCENT one of the darkest ironies of the universe is that we become sentient, only to learn that our sentience is temporary. at least, this is what st. vincent considers on los ageless - an examination of an unnatural, plastic culture where age and time are cosmetically altered due to a fear of decay; mothers milk their young and the winter never comes. perhaps it's an examination of how absurd the world can feel once we snap out of the rose-tinted wonder of being in love, but los ageless raises something which feels more profound. st. vincent has always been an astute observer of her surroundings, but los ageless feels like less of a derisive criticism and more of a sympathetic cry of losing one's youth - something we all have to come to terms with. los ageless' stuttering beats evoke panic, it ascends to a glorious climax and deflates into existential dread, seconds passing by and death inching closer as annie asks to an indifferent, godless universe: "how could anybody have you and lose you and not lose their mind, too?" i got i got i got i got Spoiler 1 DNA KENDRICK LAMAR DNA is one of those special songs where we remember the feeling of hearing it for the first time. Kendrick has always been a master of capturing the zeitgeist, but DNA demonstrates his ability to reconcile his social commentaries into something that feels more tangible and pertinent to our hour of need. Lyrics are fired off like shrapnel from a grenade, Kendrick’s voice punctuating every moment in a way which begs to joined in from an electric crowd. There’s something deeply primal by the way which we feel programmed along to joining in with this song; it’s in our DNA. The last few years have been politically calamitous, and it’s in those moments wherein we turn to our most didactic and trusted voices to alleviate the pain and worry. Kendrick didn’t give us the polemic NATION. we expecting, but DAMN., he gave us something which was equally cathartic. Sometimes, when the world feels as though it’s accelerating at a worrying pace, it takes something truly seismic to halt the world in its tracks. Our ever-changing world came to a halt for a small moment in 2017 when Kendrick Lamar released DNA. The world listened and stood still for a moment, until we were suddenly blindsided: the beat switched, and we kept going. linkz Spoiler
bluth Posted December 17, 2017 Author Posted December 17, 2017 and that is our songs completed, bon appetit baybay! will probs spend less time on albums bc cba, but will probs do the worst tomorrow. hihi. muchas gracias for the comments <33 full list Spoiler 1 Kendrick Lamar DNA 2 St. Vincent Los Ageless 3 SZA Supermodel 4 Vince Staples Yeah Right 5 Lorde Green Light 6 Slowdive Star Roving 7 Priests Jj 8 Lil Uzi Vert XO Tour Llif3 9 Selena Gomez Bad Liar 10 Mondo Grosso Labyrinth 11 Blanck Mass Rhesus Negative 12 Red Velvet Rookie 13 Susanne Sundfor The Sound of War 14 Charly Bliss Black Hole 15 Kero Kero Bonito Rock n Roll Star 16 Nite Jewel 2 Good 2 Be True 17 Kelela LMK 18 Arcade Fire Everything Now 19 Goldfrapp Anymore 20 Japanese Breakfast Diving Woman 21 Run The Jewels Call Ticketron 22 Big Thief Shark Smile 23 Charli XCX Drugs 24 Fever Ray Wanna Sip 25 Grizzly Bear Mourning Sound 26 Bjork Losss 27 Tyler the Creator Where This Flower Blooms 28 Charlotte Gainsburg Deadly Valentine 29 Denzel Curry Equalizer 30 Tennis Modern Woman 31 Thundercat Friend Zone 32 S.E.S. Paradise 33 SOPHIE Ponyboy 34 The War on Drugs Pain 35 Angel Olsen Special 36 Rina Samawaya 102040 37 The Horrors Weighed Down 38 Kesha Woman 39 Austra I Love You More Than… 40 Paul White Accelerator 41 QUIN STICKY SITUATION 42 Cherry Glazerr Trash People 43 Pond Colder Than Ice 44 Yaeji raingurl 45 Paramore Rose-Colored Boy 46 Perfume Genius Die 4 You 47 Mac Demarco On The Level 48 Frank Ocean Chanel 49 K.I.D. Boy 50 Rose Ellinor Dougal Colour of Water 51 Wednesday Campanella Onyankopon 52 MAI LAN Nail Polish 53 Maggie Rogers Better 54 Camila Cabello Havana 55 SEOHYUN Don't Say No 56 Lil Yachty It Takes Two 57 Tame Impala List Of People 58 Alvvays Plimsoll Punks 59 Kelly Lee Owens S.O. 60 Confidence Man Better Sit Down Boy 61 Calvin Harris Slide 62 LCD Soundsystem Call The Police 63 Real Estate Stained Glass 64 Yaeji Guap 65 Ibeyi I Wanna Be Like You 66 Aly & Aj Take Me 67 Miguel Caramelo Duro 68 Cupcakke CPR 69 Princess Nokia Kitana 70 Little Dragon Push 71 Syd Dollar Bills 72 Spoon Hot Thoughts 73 Carly Rae Jepsen Cut to the Feeling 74 Ionnalee NOT HUMAN 75 Taylor Swift Look What You Made Me Do 76 Sampha Plastic 100C 77 TWICE Likey 78 Ralph Tease 79 ABRA BOUNTY 80 Ronika All Comes Back 2 U 81 Lizzo Water Me 82 Cardi B Bodak Yellow 83 Poppy Interweb 84 Fischerspooner Have Fun Tonight 85 Feist Wish I Didn't Miss You 86 Lana Del Rey Summer Bummer 87 Pixx Romance 88 Blue Hawaii Belong To Myself 89 Cut Copy Black Rainbows 90 Tove Styrke Mistakes 91 Ariel Pink Acting 92 Jacques Greene Real Time 93 Danny L Harle Me4U 94 Shea Coulee Cocky 95 Goldlink Crew 96 NAO Nostalgia 97 Phoenix Tuttifrutti 98 Turnover Sunshine Type 99 Gorillaz Strobelite 100 Remy Ma Shether 101 Katy Perry Bon Appetit
Vilppu Posted December 17, 2017 Posted December 17, 2017 Green Light is actually my least favourite on Melodrama but listening to it after reading the beautiful description... and I'm enjoying it a lot?? Also puts me back to her concert when it was an absolute moment. The other 9 songs are all perfect, it's the only already revealed top 10 I've seen but I genuinely don't think there'll a better one and those write-ups UGH I'm mad because they kind of capture everything I usually try to write down and fail miserably.
ATRL Moderator madonnas Posted December 17, 2017 ATRL Moderator Posted December 17, 2017 Wow what an amazing top 5!!! Questionable Annie choice tho. Still respect you
World Eater Posted December 17, 2017 Posted December 17, 2017 Whew It feels so right to see DNA. top the list Kinda surprised with Los Ageless being so high but it's a great song nonetheless. Love your write up for Star Roving
jose168 Posted December 17, 2017 Posted December 17, 2017 I see some matches Supermodel, DNA, Bad Liar and XO tour life are phenom Yes at the SZA markup, she effortlessly speaks for a majority that has not been represented in the mainstream and it makes her success satisfying
smholiv Posted December 17, 2017 Posted December 17, 2017 This is such an amazing top 10 oh wow oh wow Labyrinth, XO Tour Llife (also on my imaginary list), Green Light, Yeah Right, Supermodel.... in hindsight 2017 had some pretty great tracks and you summed them up perfectly!
TheWayWeWere Posted December 17, 2017 Posted December 17, 2017 I hated BL at first, but it growns on me so much in time + incredible MV helps XO Tour was a nice suprise for me, since I didn't really expect something from it and it ends up being very good Green Light is just fantastic Supermodel such a nice addition to that list, one of my favorites from CTRL, message is amazing and slayed in MV Los Ageless
ATRL Moderator Unoriginal Posted December 17, 2017 ATRL Moderator Posted December 17, 2017 Bad Liar, Green Light, Supermodel and Los Ageless an update
ARTPØP Posted December 17, 2017 Posted December 17, 2017 Green Light, Bad Liar, Rose-Colored Boy, Woman Check out my chart <3<3
Tom Vercetti Posted December 17, 2017 Posted December 17, 2017 Loving those detailed write ups. Solid top 10 overall. There's some amazing songs here and that #1 is really deserved. One of Kenny's best songs. Can't wait for the albums~
Playa Playa Posted December 17, 2017 Posted December 17, 2017 What a Top 10!!! XO TOUR LLIF3 is my favourite here. I wasn't expecting to love the song as much as I did. (Hint...hint) But the rest are pretty much great too. Yeah Right is what you get when two greats like that work together!
Little Dark Age Posted December 17, 2017 Posted December 17, 2017 whew taste (+ bad liar ) won this year XO Tour is amazing GL and DNA still pissed Vince wasted the potential for Yeah Right. with a kickass video it could've been a viral hit imo Supermodel is my fave from CTRL glad to see the recognition Los Ageless also made my list but not nearly as high Star Roving has grown on me too
potent Posted December 17, 2017 Posted December 17, 2017 I use DNA and Green Light (although I still think it's one of Lorde's weakest songs) XO Tour Life is okay lol.
Lazuli Posted December 18, 2017 Posted December 18, 2017 Another day another slay in a best of list for Bad Liar The non-stop acclaiM! Star Roving is a song that I don't see enough here, it's wayyyyyyyyyy better than Sugar For the Pill Ugh the writeup you did for Green Light hit me too damn hard Your writing is impeccable Supermodel and Los Ageless The latter is my least favourite song released by Annie this era tho DNA. Can't fault this pick! Such an amazing top 10 and they're all so beautifully expressed in your own fashion
moonlight. Posted December 18, 2017 Posted December 18, 2017 rookie snatched me on the first listen, there's a reason why RV is one of the best girl groups we've ever had bad liar is so amazing, seeing all of it's acclaim is just , Selena WON. Green Light is so nostalgic & fun, Lorde Bjork did that
SLIME Posted December 18, 2017 Posted December 18, 2017 On 12/15/2017 at 6:43 PM, madonnas said: EWWWWW A UTOPIA SONG.
SLIME Posted December 18, 2017 Posted December 18, 2017 idk why i saw the i got i got i got and still thought humble was #1 i would have killed myself. but of course you pulled through. i remember something you said about "but the beat switch !!!1!!" earlier in the year so i'm glad to see you like it for all the other right reasons too bc there are so many all my favorite songs of the year just splattered around your whole list it would be faster to point out the ones i don't like but since negavity < my top 10 favs are XO yeah right JJ (think you were the one who pushed me to revisit this album too) it's funny i barely knew of slowdive prior to this year but their comeback still felt like such an event just off the weight of the music. loved the whole list and what you had to say about everything, can't wait for the albums
Penk Posted December 18, 2017 Posted December 18, 2017 "honda-advert-meets-popjustice-forum sound" this is the most perfectly succinct description of Goldfrapp I've ever heard Great top 20, esp that top 2 >> Some unexpected song choices, but I can't really argue with any after reading your descriptions. Which of course has the best writing I've read on atrl (kind of a low bar I know). You keep topping yourself every year I s2g
Eeveelution Posted December 18, 2017 Posted December 18, 2017 A top 10! Not necessarily the picks I'd choose for some artists but I can't argue with your choices after those writeups! Excited for albums.
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