Originally posted by GotSkill

Much like almost everything you’ve submitted this season, this was a very solid entry. It would be hard to find something from you I didn’t absolutely love. You had maybe one or two missteps and that’s highly commendable. This was really good, but it also wasn’t the best of the three. There was nothing here that really made it stand out above the rest. In an earlier round I would’ve easily put this in my top three, but it’s the finale and there’s only three of you left. You kinda took the obvious route with this song title, and while you did it justice when taking the obvious route you need stronger language or something that hooks the reader/listener more.

Originally posted by feelslikeadream

On first readthrough (in which I was just skimming), I felt like this was just a simple, basic love song. But reading it more closely, it’s one of my favorite entries from you this season. The rhythm is so on point, I love how the second verse is half the length of the first (other contestants, take note!), and the sentiment isn’t just “I love you,” it’s more complex in how it incorporates the meaninglessness of life and how one can find some sort of escape from the reality that we’ll all die and be forgotten by finding your true love. Oh, now I’m depressed Anyway, lyrically this relies a little on familiar language/imagery sometimes, but not to the point of cliché. I love the bridge. While it’s not your very best song, I think you’re ending the season on a high note with this lovely final song that could fit easily on Charmbracelet.

Originally posted by Hugamari

Bitch! I love the bridge. I feel like you spent the most time on it, because a lot of thought looks to have been placed into it. The contrast, the metaphors, and the fact that it all feels seamless. The only thing I didn't care for in the whole song was "loud crowd", but that's me being nit-picky.

Originally posted by Scorpio.

WE WERE ROOTING FOR YOU TIFFANY TRUTH TELLER, WE WERE ALL ROOTING FOR YOU. Okay after the commercial break, it's such a shame such beautifully imagined verses were ruined by the uneventful-ness of your pre-chorus'. I was brought sky high to be crashed down like a caged bird freed just to be shot out of the sky. Also, your chorus was fine at first but then it got weak with the last two lines. I really don't like how you concluded the chorus. Also, I think the bridge in whole is incomplete. It's just fine as is, but it's not FINALE type explosive
On the other hand, I really got into this song while I was reading it. It really captured my attention. The first verse was really something special. You've most definitely earned your spot in the finale.

Originally posted by Tymps.

So yeah, see the first part of Sam ‘s judging for how I feel about the fact you had to submit a completely new song. And like I said in the last part of Sam ‘s judging, I want to give you lasting advice as this is the end of road. However, I’m very pleased with this song. I loved the bridge. Maybe it’s because it’s very relatable to me and my depression that I constantly bring up hihihi. I just think you did a really good job constructing some killer lines like “I'd stay alive just to kill all my time”. Obviously you’re not a perfect writer because no one is, especially not GotSkill no matter how much he says so, but I don’t really have any big overarching advice to give you. There’s tiny stuff I can nitpick but that’s not going to help you write songs in the future so I won’t waste your time and I won’t waste mine. Good luck!

Originally posted by GotSkill

I really really like this dark side from you. The combination of your entry this week and last week is a HUGE step up from what you submitted the 3 or 4 rounds before that. I’d have to say my favorite part of this was the bridge. There was a lot of really powerful language here. You had a theme and a metaphor you stuck with that also brought a lot of emotion. The rhythm was good for the most part, except in the “feels like a dream” line in the chorus. Even when you sat on the fence of a cliché like in the prechorus, you stepped it up a bit to make it less familiar sounding. It sucks that it took you this long to find your sound, but I’m glad you seem to have finally found it.

Originally posted by feelslikeadream

Looking over my scores from the season, it’s clear that you’ve been one of my favorites, so I’m happy to see you ending on a strong note: this was an excellent final song. There were a few nitpicky things that bugged me just a bit (por ejemplo: “that you’ll”, not “that you’d”) and I don’t like the dream/scream rhyme in the chorus, which is just a little too easy. But the rhyming in the first verse works so well because you don’t use forced, perfect rhymes, but natural, slant rhymes more of the time. Searching for perfect rhymes is an amateurish move, so I was glad to see you moving beyond it. I think the second verse would be stronger with just one ‘stanza’ – this is a common structural change in songs (where the 2nd verse is half the length of the 1st) and I think it would have benefitted this song; the 2nd verse is a tad blah compared to the 1st, and I don’t think you need the whole thing. But the chorus is mostly strong, the end of it is striking, and maybe I’ve just been listening to “Heartbeat Song” too much lately, but this feels like it could be a hit Kelly Clarkson song.

Originally posted by Hugamari

, Hmm...this didn't feel like a final entry to me. Gives me challenge 6-8 teas. There's nothing particularly wrong with it, but it just seems to draw on and on, and it didn't leave me with any sort of feeling. It kind of feels like reading an essay, more than anything.

Originally posted by Scorpio.

The only thing that saved you was the fact that you're a Kesha stan and your song reminds me of The Heart Wants What It Wants aka the best song of 2014. TBH your chorus is so uneventful and just doesn't strike well with me. The "feels like a dream" scenario feels so uneasy and forced to me. Maybe that would've flown by at the beginning of the competition but it is not something that you bring into the finale to showcase your badass writing. I've really been quite supportive of you this season but this song left me literally like In lighter judgment the bridge is awesome and the best part of your song. I've really enjoyed your songs this season and I wish you goodluck.

Originally posted by Tymps.

See, this is why I never wanted people to submit songs in the final in the past, not that you even did badly. It’s nice in theory but if they submit anything less than absolutely spectacular it changes your view on them and how they did in the game right at the final magic hour. If this was a year ago I would’ve broken this down technically but I feel like that’s not actually helpful. I feel like I don't have any good advice for you. However, I’m supposed to judge this round so I’ll just tell you I didn’t think this was out of this world. I can tell you put a lot of effort into it but I think you should’ve put less in. The whole thing feels a bit removed and formulaic. On the positive side I like what you did with the title and the “dreams can be nightmares too” concept. It’s just that reading this, I feel like it’s a song for Platinum Hit. I feel like it’s carefully calculated at every point. Songs can definitely be carefully calculated, and often are, but a great song has this illusion that it occurred easily. I don’t want to say you did horribly, but I want to give you advice that will last longer than this one song. Good luck!

Originally posted by GotSkill

Wow, this was fantastic! This reminds me a lot of your “peak” entries in the 3rd quarter of the competition. In comparison to Sam’s, your entry had a lot more vivid and creative imagery which I loved. Still, it was a bit less emotionally weighted. You definitely have the talent of someone much older than you, and you keep continually surprising me with what you’re able to accomplish in this competition. You’ve been the dark horse all along, so thank you for continually surprising me. I do have 2 small criticisms, however. You misused the world “linger” as it means to stay, not to fade. And later in the third verse the quality dips a bit as you repeat the word “heart” and I’m not a big fan of the fist metaphor.

Originally posted by feelslikeadream

This clearly rips off Wildest Dreams Just kidding. This song was very successful in creating a mood and sustaining it with lyrics that (for the most part) were original and interesting. I love the simplicity of the post-chorus and one of the lines in the first verse is one of my favorites from you all season (You’re different, something blessed). This again felt a little Lana lite (that’s not a drag) and I think you built up the conflicting emotions nicely through the song. Some of the imagery didn’t quite work for me—“dried lips” isn’t a very pleasant image (and why not ‘dry lips’?), “ever-blinking” eyes is weird (imagine someone just blinking constantly), and I don’t know what “drenched cold blood” is—how can blood, which is a liquid, be drenched? And some of it was a tad repetitive—you use “cold” three times before the chorus. But that didn’t bother me TOO much compared to the rhythm: the second verse is all over the place in terms of structure, which is jarring considering the uniformity of the first verse. Then the third verse is uniform to itself, but not the other verses. Maybe you have the rhythm worked out in your head, but you should know by now that the judges can’t hear what you hear and that you need to represent the flow on the page/screen. And if you’ve been reading my critiques to other contestants, you’d know that I am always for editing and cutting a song’s length—this song is SO long and doesn’t need to be. These issues are a little frustrating to see so late in the game, but the song is still successful overall and is one of your stronger entries.

Originally posted by Hugamari

Is this song about alcohol dependence? If so, I'm going to give you extra points for that. Well, I'm giving you points just because that's what I think it's about, anyway. The song had a nice flow and the rhythm made it nice to read, and I even liked the language in it. It has everything I would ask for to be a 10, but idk something is like "Nah, this isn't a 10.", and I think it's the chorus. "It's too soon to go quick" sounds like it's arbitrary, and you used creature both in the verse and the chorus, and while that's not a bad thing in and of itself, it just didn't feel like it belonged. This is still a great song, though!

Originally posted by Scorpio.

Okay Mr. Tacos what is even going on here? First things first I'm da realest I don't know if I'm not properly reading this song but IMO there is a consistent and ever-present lack of flow in this song. The syllable coordination is non-existent. Using "heart" as a rhyme twice in one verse made me cringe a bit. I got a kii from the "Come to your queen" part. I was a bit confused on how you jumped from you being the dominant factor in the song to the love interest being the dominant factor. Which one is it? You can't both bow down at the same time, you'll probably bump heads . Also, you can't linger and fade fast at the same time . You chorus doesn't really have a good flow to it. I found the second verse a bit lackluster. What even at the "Give your fist a rest" part . Also, I was a bit confused as far as the genders in the song.
On the other hand, I see why you've been quite the underdog of this competition. I see real promise in your songwriting, with just a few flaws. I really enjoyed the imagery you displayed. It was like I was watching a music video while reading your lyrics. Overall a solid entry and good luck to you.

Originally posted by Tymps.

[Read the first part of Sam ‘s judging because it applies to everyone, and also I’m just trying to give more general advice that can be applied forever to any song~] So I’m kinda shocked to see your final song have different numbers of lines per stanza in each verse. If you just think about it, verses sound the same as each other so the number of lines should be the same, and the number of syllables per line should be in the same range. That’s my main issue with this song. While we’re talking about structure, I would make sure to use the title of the song a lot so that people remember it unless the title’s not in the song or just in a verse. So, in this case it would’ve been wisest to end the song with it. Content I think was very good, you’ve always been very creative and hopefully you know by now I love creativity. I love lines like “The Devil should beware” and all the stuff about being a “creature” because it really paints the picture. Unfortunately I did have to take off a good chunk just because the structure stuff in the verses is a really simple concept that everyone in the finale should understand by now. Good luck!