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Discussion: Pitchfork: 100 Best Tracks of 2014
Member Since: 1/9/2004
Posts: 9,558
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Pitchfork: 100 Best Tracks of 2014
woop
Quote:
Taylor Swift
“Out of the Woods”
94
Though "Shake It Off" had been uncoiled weeks earlier and cemented Taylor Swift’s somewhat vague "'80s-pop" agenda, the release of "Out of the Woods" was the moment where it all snapped into place. Working with Jack Antonoff of Bleachers and Fun., Swift creates a chant-along that’s Taylor-made for a Reagan-era flick, though I can’t imagine Harry Styles standing on any lawns in Nashville anytime soon. (I feel like Harry Styles doesn’t raise his arms for anyone. For more Harry Styles fanfic, please visit my Tumblr.) On "Out of the Woods", Swift and Antonoff build a monster chorus worth the price of admission, but in the glorious last minute, they deploy all their weapons—from the shuttering drums to the cascading perfection that is Swift’s vocal performance—for 2014’s Best Breakdown. —Corban Goble
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Rae Sremmurd
“No Flex Zone”
77
"No Flex Zone" is less of a song and more of a movement, and the din of its mechanism—"THEY KNOOOOWWWW BETTER"—far outweighs its speculative shortcomings. "No Flex Zone", too, serves as an introduction to Swae Lee and Slim Jimmy, two brothers from Tupelo, Miss., who deliver earwormy, Migosian verses as if they were characters on "Squidbillies" and whose hit anti-stunting song contains a prodigious amount of stunting. ("Won a gold medal, and a gold bezel," "Freak hoes, got several," etc.). With the duo’s Mike-WiLL Made-It-exec-produced album out early next year, remembering the absurdly named Rae Sremmurd—"Drummer’s Ear" backwards, idk—is a worthwhile pursuit in 2015. —Corban Goble
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Röyksopp / Robyn
“Do It Again”
76
"Do It Again" is the Robyn track we’ve been waiting for since 2010’s synth-pop sad-girl opus, Body Talk. It’s a pulsating behemoth that finds the artist boasting what she does best: reconstructing heartache into universal refrains, all wrapped around a palpable, otherworldly hook crafted by frequent collaborators, Röyksopp. The marrow of Röyksopp and Robyn’s mini-album of the same name, "Do It Again" is, in itself, a neatly-drawn circle that illustrates its own point: repetition provokes addiction, repetition is addiction. In a succinctly symmetrical five minutes, Robyn parses the nuanced cycle of pain and pleasure in the context of an unhealthy relationship, every time reasoning with herself, pleading, "One more time." Ttransparent phrases express the dizzying nature of being caught in a cycle, but as with Robyn classics like "Call Your Girlfriend" and "Dancing on My Own", it’s just another feeling to move past with panache and lots of fist-pumping dance moves. It’s pop jubilation worthy of repetition that promises no pain at all. —Melody Lau
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Azealia Banks
“Chasing Time”
70
More than anything else, "Chasing Time" feels unencumbered, by your or our or Azealia Banks’ own expectations for what her art should be. Its neon synth chords and stalking, syncopated house beats and half-time chorus are always charming, but remain less remarkable in themselves than for how easily they become swept up in the momentum of Banks' performance. The rapper mostly acquits herself well on Broke With Expensive Taste, but "Chasing Time" is perhaps the only time she sells herself equally as a singer (in truth, perhaps the one time she stumbles upon a melody worth selling): "I’m born to dance in the moonlight," she sighs delightfully in the pre-chorus, her breathy optimism for once as bewitching as her stuttering Lil’ Kim twists on the verses. It could be a startling glimpse of an alternate reality Azealia Banks, one who somehow avoided an endless succession of career-stalling obstacles (many self-imposed) and instead became a pop star bigger than the Igloo Australia she lampoons. Except that, while it plays, that prospect doesn’t seem startling at all. —Tim Finney
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Kendrick Lamar
“i”
55
Kendrick Lamar's mother should be proud. After famously proclaiming himself the King of New York on last year's hotly debated "Control" guest verse, the Compton, California rapper was relatively quiet through the bulk of 2014; leave aside the Drake-shading cypher and the handful of guest verses (let's forget his Imagine Dragons collaboration, firebreathing as it was, too) and "i" was the only proper new Lamar song released as of early December. Like some of the year's other best songs, this deceptively uptempo, familiar-sounding meditation on self-empowerment was undoubtedly timely, but in a way it was all but preordained, and it only continues Lamar's conquest of audiences that aren't as hung up on minute-to-minute trends.
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Taylor Swift
“Style”
50
Dating back to her earliest records, Taylor Swift’s songs have navigated the familiar tropes of Western romance: Romeo and Juliet, cheerleader versus geek, the shy girl who falls for the rebellious boy, Prince Charming and his white horse. On her shapeshifting new album 1989, "Style" is perhaps one last look at the version of Swift who sees herself in broadly drawn characters—in this instance, a "classic" girl wearing red lipstick who has fallen for a slick-haired, white-teed guy with the "James Dean look" in his eye. But where those early songs were often parables, this one is more of an allegory: Swift dredges up iconic imagery of the American '50s as a way of framing an on-again, off-again relationship so intense that its essence feels infinite.
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Member Since: 9/13/2012
Posts: 29,559
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Yes Lord, get those album tracks on P4K's lists 
edit: also Kendrick 
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Member Since: 8/19/2013
Posts: 27,248
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Pitchfork having Taylor Swift on their list wow
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Member Since: 8/19/2013
Posts: 34,855
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ewww at those Taylor and Robyn songs 
Omg at Love Me Harder, Boom Clap and 2 On tho 
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Member Since: 8/17/2013
Posts: 2,465
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Yaaaaaas at OOTW making the list! <3
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Member Since: 8/18/2013
Posts: 378
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Onika at 20 with Boss Ass Bitch 
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Member Since: 8/6/2012
Posts: 16,779
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Member Since: 1/6/2014
Posts: 19,122
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Flawless Remix at 7
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Member Since: 12/13/2011
Posts: 26,638
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Ariana's Problem @ 33
Ariana's LMH @ 43
Bey's Flawless@ 7
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Banned
Member Since: 11/7/2011
Posts: 36,781
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 7,686
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Taylor and Johnny and Mary
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Member Since: 9/1/2013
Posts: 3,537
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Beyonce @ 7
Why is Sam Smith in the pic though 
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Member Since: 1/3/2014
Posts: 6,966
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Quote:
Originally posted by IcarusIsFlying
Flawless Remix at 7 |
It's not the remix, it's the superior original track.
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Member Since: 1/3/2014
Posts: 6,966
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That top 10 is nice minus the Love Never Felt So Good.
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Member Since: 8/27/2011
Posts: 36,557
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Quote:
Originally posted by Sazare
ewwww at Robyn and Taylor being on there so many times
Omg at Love Me Harder tho
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Member Since: 1/9/2004
Posts: 9,558
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wAIT.
They revealed all at once? 
EDIT:
NUMBER
TEN.
WHHAAAAAAAT. 
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Member Since: 4/10/2012
Posts: 14,394
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Boom Clap at #37 
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Member Since: 9/2/2012
Posts: 7,210
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I want to care cuz my favs are on this list but its pitchfork...so I can't. :/
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Member Since: 6/25/2012
Posts: 41,860
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Style
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Member Since: 2/15/2012
Posts: 7,590
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BAB remix 
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