Previously on Survivor: ATRL Edition (Season 4), the 6 remaining castaways returned to camp ready for the next round of competition. Round 16 had the castaways representing emojis with songs. Overall, most of everyone got it right. During the special elimination twist,
gotintoririfever1 placed last in the challenge becoming the 19th fallen castaway and the 7th member of the jury. In the end,
Yvess won his first individual immunity of the season after multiple second place finishes leaving everyone else vulnerable at Tribal Council. At the
Bonbondi Tribal Council, it was
Truth Teller who became the 20th fallen castaway of the season as well as the 8th member of the jury. Only 4 castaways remain. Only one round remains. What will happen this round on Survivor: ATRL Edition (Season 4)?
Welcome castaways to Round 17 of Survivor: ATRL Edition (Season 3)! This round is the last step towards our anticipated finale where 3 of you will fight for the crown.
The theme for
Round 17 is...
Music Critiques
This round, the remaining 4 of you will write an album review. This is the most important round of the entire game as it can be the difference between first place and fourth place hence why it is the heaviest task yet. You've all come so far, why stop now? Besides, the only thing that sucks more than placing 13th is placing 4th. It's the "so close, yet so far" placement of the game.
I will be assigning you each a different album released in 2014. Each of them were released in the fourth quarter so they're fairly new. Only the standard edition of each album will be reviewed.
There is always the possibility you may have heard the album I assign but I tried to steer away from major pop albums that every ATRLer has listened to. If you have listened to the album I assign you, take it as an advantage this round. Try not to mention it though because if you're already familiar with the album, the expectations will rise.
Your album review will be graded on the normal scale of 1-10 based off multiple factors. Those factors can include effort, if your review is biased or not, and the detail/manner in which you review. You will all receive a fair amount of points for just following directions and the rest of your score will be determined by your writing.
The whole point of this round is to envision yourself as a critic for some type of magazine such as Billboard. The end result of your entry should look like an actual critic review (or at least a good one). Some critics are biased, but we are trying not to be. The judges need to be able to tell you actually gave the album a shot and didn't just go based off preformed opinions. You will not be judged by your opinions. You will be judged by how you back them up. You can say whatever you want as long as you have something backing it up and aren't just throwing stuff out there. I don't expect you all to become literature majors overnight, but just take your best shot and you'll be surprised by how well your review turns out.
Requirements for Each Entry:
1. Artist Name + Album Title - 1/2 Point
Self-explanatory.
2. Your Name - 1/2 Point
Tough, I know.
3. Album Cover - 1 Point
A little visual is always nice.
4. Mention Every Track - 1 Point
Each track needs to be mentioned, described, and then given a consensus on whether you like it, love it, or hate it.
5. Hits & Misses - 1 Point
Include a section where you recommend a few highlights from the album as well as a few tracks that should remain skipped over.
6. An Overall Rating - 1 Point
At the end of your review, there should be some type of rating whether it's out of 5 stars, a letter grading scale, or just plain numbers.
The other 5 points will come from the review itself for a total out of 10.
Obviously format your reviews in a clean manner as it just makes the whole experience a lot better to look at. Also, feel free to add your own personal touch if you want to do something in your review that is not required.
Below are the albums being reviewed this round.
Albums:
1. prezli
prezli
For
prezli, I chose
Charli XCX's debut
Sucker because of the use of more underground pop music I've seen her use throughout this game such as Natalia Kills. It may be a long shot, but Charli still has that underground vibe to her despite some major success this year.
Tracklist:
1. Sucker
2. Break The Rules
3. London Queen
4. Breaking Up
5. Gold Coins
6. Boom Clap
7. Doing It
8. Body Of My Own
9. Famous
10. Hanging Around
11. Die Tonight
12. Caught In The Middle
13. Need Ur Luv
2. Yvess
Yvess
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For
Yvess, I chose
Sweet Talker by
Jessie J. You have many faves such as one man whose album is also being reviewed so I tried to go neutral here. A nice B-list pop release can work for anybody.
Tracklist:
1. Ain't Been Done
2. Burnin' Up
3. Sweet Talker
4. Bang Bang
5. Fire
6. Personal
7. Masterpiece
8. Seal Me With A Kiss
9. Said Too Much
10. Loud
11. Keep Us Together
12. Get Away
3. Superiore
Superiore
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For
Superiore, I chose
Nick Jonas' self titled album. I have had multiple conversations about nipples with Superiore and as most know, Nick has some very infamous photo shopped nipples.
Tracklist:
1. Chains
2. Jealous
3. Teacher
4. Warning
5. Wilderness
6. Numb
7. Take Over
8. Push
9. I Want You
10. Avalanche
11. Nothing Would Be Better
4. DOMINO
DOMINO
For
DOMINO, I chose
K. Michelle's sophomore effort
Anybody Wanna Buy A Heart? DOMINO likes R&B which is her prime genre and also enjoys Love & Hip-Hop where K. originates from so I thought it was a grand fit.
Tracklist:
1. Judge Me
2. Love 'Em All
3. Going Under
4. Cry
5. How Do You KNow?
6. Hard To Do
7. Maybe I Should Call
8. Something About The Night
9. Miss You, Goodbye
10. Build A Man Intro/Build A Man
11. Drake Would Love Me
12. God I Get It
Example:
-brian
As an example of what to do this round, here is last season's winner
-brian and his review of
Kiss Me Once by
Kylie Minogue.
-brian
Kylie Minogue - Kiss Me Once
Review by -brian
After a four year break, Australian pop starlet Kylie Minogue, who has achieved massive success and fame worldwide since the 80s, has released her twelfth studio album:
Kiss Me Once. This is her first album under a new management label, Roc Nation (owned by Jay-Z). Let's see how the album fares, track by track...
Song Reviews
Into the Blue: A perfect start for this album, 'Into the Blue' is a power pop and electro dance song with uplifting and positive lyrics—
“When I got my back up against the wall/Don’t need no one to rescue me!" Starting with slow piano chords, the song explodes at the catchy chorus with blissful pop and orchestral strings. Minogue’s fresh vocals shine throughout the song; they’re rich, layered, and pleasant on the ears—and you can’t help but dance. 'Into the Blue' resembles a classic Kylie Minogue dance-pop tune, with fresh and exciting beats that scream summer smash. (
10/10)
Million Miles: An uptempo track, produced with Cutfather—who produced single 'Get Outta My Way' from
Aphrodite (Minogue’s previous album). A song about sex without any emotional connection, ‘Miles’ sounds like single material. Gentle guitar riffs echo over the synth-pop, disco-inspired and radio-friendly hook that forces itself to get stuck in your head.
"Cause I feel like I'm a mill-i-on, mill-i-on/I feel like I'm a mill-i-on miles away!" While the chorus excels, the verses fall somewhat short with weak production. But when has that stopped anyone from loving a song before? (
8/10)
I Was Gonna Cancel: Written and produced by ‘Happy’ hit-maker Pharrell Williams, this electro funk and R&B inspired inspired track screams The Neptunes. Combine him with Minogue’s power pop vocal and you have yourself a hit, right? Well… not really. Compared to the first two tracks, ‘Cancel’ is a downer. The song was inspired by... Minogue wanting to cancel the day this was written. And she probably should have. The cute house beat is not enough to save the uninspired hook where Minogue shouts
“Go!” several times. A decent, listenable disco-inspired throwback track nonetheless, with funky electronic keyboards underneath boring lyrics. (
5/10)
Sexy Love: And now we’re back! A fun, wild and upbeat song about sexual desires–
“You look so sexy, so sexy in my head/You look so sexy, so sexy in my bed”—46 year old Minogue has no problem pulling this off. This disco-inspired track, akin to Legend Katy Perry’s ‘Birthday’, explodes with an earworm of a chorus with pristine vocals from Minogue. Paired with funky verses and a strong bass, ‘Love’ is nothing short of another Kylie Minogue synth-pop club banger. (
10/10)
Sexercize: Another sexy song, this time more raunchy and gritty. Written by fellow Australian Sia, responsible for many huge songs, ‘Sexercize’ is a different direction for Minogue. She sings about ‘sexercizing’ over a dubstep/electronic dance beat with R&B elements—which seems to
try to emulate a Legend Lady Gaga track. Though the lyrical content is a bit weak and the auto-tune a bit too much at times, with a strong hook and bass it sounds like potential single material. This is a risk for Minogue, but it was pulled off well and might have been made to attempt a US breakthrough. (
8/10)
Feels So Good: Making a sharp turn away from the loud bangers, Minogue covers Tom Aspaul’s ‘Indiana’ in this airy, carefree mid-tempo pop track. Her delicate and light vocals are soothing over the relaxing whistles and chimes in the chorus—
“And it feels/Yeah it feels so good/When you’re here/We are here to love.” The verses are a little weak, but overall it is a sexy song tinged with class and seduction. (
8/10)
If Only: Ah.. Gotta live filler. Produced by Ariel Rechtshaid and Justin Raisen, the producers behind Sky Ferreira’s debut album
Night Time, My Time. ‘If Only’, a song seemingly about a failed relationship, starts off with electronic synthesizers that reappear throughout the song and repetitive electronic handclaps that help form the beat. Minogue’s vocals seem overly-processed in most of the song, and get lost behind the echoes and drums. The chorus is nice, and is reminiscent of the 70s/80s—but the verses, the bridge, and the lyrics leave more to be desired. (
6/10)
Les Sex: Another sex-themed song, 'Les Sex' succeeds where Sexercize fails. An electro-pop song with dubstep elements and perfectly rough vocals. A great use of auto-tune. The bells and chimes in the verses paired with Minogue’s airy and layered vocals lead to an exciting, electronic breakdown chorus filled with synths—
“Les love, les sex, les drugs, les touch!” Very catchy and would make an amazing hook as a single. A combination of sex and camp that only Minogue can pull off. The bridge is a little anti-climatic, but it works well. (
9/10)
Kiss Me Once: This title song is girly, blissful, and recalls an 80s dance throwback. The second of two tracks written by Sia, ‘Once’ focuses more on romance and infatuation rather than sex like many of the other songs. The song starts off weak, but the bells and ad-libs help the chorus shine. And while the production is decent, the electronic drums are repetitive, lead you nowhere, and drown out Minogue's voice. Nonetheless, ‘Once’ is an semi-enjoyable passerby song while listening to the album. (
7/10)
Beautiful (feat. Enrique Iglesias): The only duet on the album, and the only track Minogue has writing credits on, ‘Beautiful’ is everything but. It has potential to be a good song—the lyrics are cute, but Minogue and Iglesias literally sound like robots. And not in the fun T-Pain way, but in the poor, overly-processed attempt that distracts you from the song way. And their voices clash. The only shimmer of promise in this song lies in the gentle piano chords and the soft drums. The chorus is also nice for a few seconds... Iglesias is lucky this is on Minogue's album. (
3/10)
Fine: Another slightly empowering song. After an awkward intro, the best part of the song emerges—a voice singing syllables (ah-ah-ee) over delicate piano chords that reappears throughout the song. The piano, keyboard riffs, synthesizers and strings all combine to create a 90s-inspired house beat... and 90s-inspired house songs are smashing right now... but unfortunately an unnecessary reoccurring electronic beat and the overly-processed vocals ruin the song.
“Fi-i-ine/You’re gonna be fi-i-ine” Minogue wails in the chorus. It actually makes me angry. Clean Bandit and Jess Glynne could fix this and turn it into to another ‘Rather Be’ hit. (
5/10)
Overview
For a twelfth studio album,
Kiss Me Once is not bad by any means. Kylie Minogue remains Kylie Minogue and delivers many of her signature dance-pop gems. While many artists find themselves having to reinvent their image or sound, Minogue remains in her own lane… and it works. However there are enough dabbles in dubstep, edm, disco, and R&B that make this album fresh (and a little bit American). No matter how old she gets, Minogue has no problem being sexy—the central theme in this album is clearly sex, or romance.. but in the catchy and bubbly way. There aren’t any horrendous songs (sans ‘Beautiful’), but a few filler tracks could have been cut out to make a great EP. There are a few bangers and a few mid-tempo tracks for some diversity. Overall, another solid album in Minogue's catalogue. I'm sure fans will love this.
Hits: Into the Blue, Sexy Love, Les Sex
Misses: I Was Gonna Cancel, Beautiful, Fine
As you can see, -brian did an excellent job with his review. He included each requirement and explained himself very well without being unnecessarily wordy. He received a near perfect score for this entry so this is a go-to entry to take inspiration from.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
You will have an entire week to complete your album review. It is a heavy task and I am aware of that so I will try to accommodate you all as well as I can. I know you all have a life outside of ATRL and so do I so we'll be understanding of that as usual.
Due:
http://www.timeanddate.com/countdown...17+Entries+Due
This is your last task that will be rated by the panel so make the most of it as the prize is more than just immunity.
Good luck.
IV
- Dylan
