Some Nights, it just draws you in with its amazing lyrics and driving structure. you have to sing along to the woah-ohs, so addictive.
Figure 8 gives me so much life. in the chorus, when the bass drops, it's almost too much to take. this song shows how well she can use electronic/dance sounds, and I'm really glad she want into that direction with the album.
I haven't listened to Aaliyah as I'm only just getting into Katy B. it's become the priority on my list now that I know it's a collab with Jessie Ware though. that sounds highly intriguing
Numb is okay, I thought Eminem's part was very underwhelming and the song kinda just floats along for me, it bores me sometimes. I still listen to it though.
I think the remix of ''King Of Hearts'' that Pitchfork praised was the one by one of the UK's best producers and DJ's, Richard X. Definitely check that one out, it's amazing.
I think the remix of ''King Of Hearts'' that Pitchfork praised was the one by one of the UK's best producers and DJ's, Richard X. Definitely check that one out, it's amazing.
Woah, I do like this!!! It's got a dirty feel to it. And it doesn't feel like a remix; it sounds totally natural.
Delilah was the greatest discovery in a music rate I hosted back in the summer called The New Sound of the UK: Part 2, which featured up-and-coming female pop singers from the UK. Delilah had several great singles in that rate and finished with the highest average score from all the participants. "Inside My Love" had not yet been released as a single at the time of the rate, but I'm sure it would have done well. This song is a cover of the legendary Minnie Riperton's song. Dare I say that Delilah did it better? While Minnie's version is all sorts of camp, this version is dark, mysterious, and oozes SEX. Yes, SEX. This song is sex in music form. Don't you just feel dirty when she sings "Will you come inside me? Inside my looooooove." Delilah shows off her amazing range towards the end with her beautiful high notes. I have a feeling Drake would really like this track for some reason; I always think of him when I hear this song. I just love this track so much, and I love Delilah as an artist.
I hate Nicki Minaj. Let's be clear 'bout that. I HATE NICKI MINAJ. But I won't let it blind me from a good bop. This is one of the only songs I use from Roman Reloaded; the other one is Beez in the Trap. "Whip It" is just full of hooks. My favorite is the little whipping noise in the chorus after she says, "I'm really liking that way you whip it, whip it." I like to make the whipping action with my arm. This song gets me active! What follows is a crazy dance breakdown that gets me pumped! This may be the best non-Gaga RedOne production. Nicki sounds like she's on helium for most of the track, but that's part of the appeal. Her rapping is, as usual, pretty bad and nonsensical, but that's not the point of this song. If Nicki wanted to be a "pop star" for this album, we need to analyze the pop elements, and this is by far the best pop song on the album. If she made more stuff like this, maybe I wouldn't despise her so much.
Charli is another discovery from the rate I mentioned earlier with Delilah. I believe "Nuclear Seasons" finished #4 and had the most 10s of any song in the entire rate. This song is from 2011, and I could have used "You're the One" by Charli since it was released in 2012, but "Nuclear Seasons" had way more of an impact on me. You wanna talk about hooks, listen to this song!! I guess this song is supposed to be "goth-pop", a genre I've never explored, but it's just plain ole pop for me. She opens with, "When you go please don't leave your love in the sun / My heart will melt away / In the night, with your twisted tongue / When you drop the bomb, I'm blown away." Very dark, very Fame Monster, which I love! In the second chorus, she chimes in with, "We survived nuuuu-cleeee-ar seeeeeasons." So good. The bridge is also TERRIFIC: "I can feeeel it, I can feel the fear / I can feeeel it inside of her sooooul." Although the song is very dark, the background hooks & vocals are high-pitched and so poppy, offering a nice contrast. Charli's Super Ultra mixtape is a biT of a mess, but this song will probably always be up there as one of my favorites.
Once upon a time, a few mistakes ago, John Mayer dated Taylor Swift and broke her heart, so she's gonna write a ton of songs about him for the rest of her life. The follow-up to the amazing "Dear John" on Speak Now is "I Knew You Were Trouble", from Red. This is the infamous "dubstep" song that everyone was hyping before the album release, and it was worth the hype! Swift-Martin is such a good team, and they make the popstep work on this track. The first time the beat kicks in after "Now I'm lying on the cold, hard ground" will go down as iconic in the world of pop music. Believe that! On the second chorus, she incorporates the dubstep with her vocals, and it sounds just as good. When the song first came out, I thought it sounded a little disjointed/fragmented, but the more I listened to it, the more it started to come together. In the bridge, Taylor reveals that John "never loved [Taylor] or [Jennifer] or anyone" and the final chorus finally kicks in; Taylor flies into a fit of rage because of the fact that she let JOHN MAYER break her heart. I would be mad, too, Tay-Tay!
Ah-ahhhhhhhh. Yeah, go ahead and laugh at me. I love "Your Body." So what? I'm not ashamed. Back in Septemer, three pop gals released their lead single around the same time. I bought "Diamonds", "Die Young", and "Your Body" all within a day of each other. "Your Body" is the only one that stayed with me. It's such a good song! "ALL. I. WANNA. DO. Is love your bo-day." One critic dared to call this Max Martin's D-list material - WTF?!? This is one of Martin's best productions this year! He does a good job of making Christina sound not-irritating. Her yells, which usually come off as painful, sound strong and forceful here. The little hook that comes in during the bridge does its job perfectly as Christina remarks, "I think you already know my name SAY!" Then in the final chorus, THE LEGEND X ERUPTS IN PURE GLEE. Y'all heard that high note, right?!?! The beat in this song is so heavy; Martin doesn't bring out beats this big very often! It's a shame this song flopped; the general public just isn't here for Sextina, no matter how good this song is.
Calvin Harris. Florence Welch. Together. Life complete! Florence's voice works so well on dance bops. When this song first debuted, I became so impatient because I knew it would be six weeks until I would be able to buy it on iTunes because that's how the Brits do things; the longest six weeks of this year for me occurred during that wait! I just wanted to buy this song so bad. You better believe I RUSHED to the iTunes store on the Sunday it came out in the US. As for the song, it's the standard Calvin Harris BOP, but with Florence's interesting, dark lyrics. "You took my heart and you held it in your mouth / And with a word, all my love came rushing out." Before the chorus, she screams, "So I put my faith in something unknown (I'm living on such Sweet Nothing)". The desperation of unrequited love can be heard in Florence her vocal. "It isn't easy for me to let it go / 'Cause I've swallowed every single word." And of course, the bridge is amazing: "And it's not enough to tell me that you care/ When we both know that words are empty air." My favorite subtle detail of this song comes towards the end, when a high-pitched background vocal comes in during the final chorus. You can barely hear it if you're not paying attention, but I make sure to listen for it every time. Heavenly.
The final battle round is upon us! And no better way to end it than to continue the Gaga/Kesha "rivalry" here on ATRL. In 2012, both Kesha and Gaga were part of bad songs that should not have seen the light of mp3 websites. Kesha collaborated with the Flaming Lips for "2012 (You Must Be Upgraded)" and Gaga released her "ratchet" rap song "Cake Like Lady Gaga" as a "gift" to her fans. Both these songs are trash, but we'll be voting on which song is better. Here are my thoughts on each song below:
"2012 (You Must Be Upgraded)" - Kesha is so hard to listen to when she's not autotuned. Did Kesha have any creative input on this track, or did she simply put down a vocal? I dislike the lo-fi frequencies and everything, but the track is actually sort of catchy once you ignore all the junk up front? The "bridge" or whatever on this track is interesting. Nice change of pace from the mess that began the song. It sort of sounds like two songs meshed together. Of course to finish it off, they have to go all loud rock and annoy me. Now it's time for the next song...
"Cake Like Lady Gaga" - Oh my. Gaga, don't bring this **** to ARTPOP. I don't use. In this track, Gaga raps about how awesome she is, about a "trick bitch", about Cathy Horyn's style (which "ain't dick", by the way), and about her sold-out world tour. I understand bravado goes a long way in rap music, but Gaga comes off sort of ignorant if this is what she thinks rap music is all about. Maybe I'm over-analyzing and it's just a silly track; it just comes off sorta badly for Gaga. Leave this "ratchet" stuff behind in 2013, because it doesn't seem very genuine. Am I actually going to pick a Kesha song over a Gaga song...
My Vote: "2012 (You Must Be Upgraded)"; Gaga, I LOVE YOU, but I ain't here for that ****.
Tell me your thoughts & be sure to vote! It's the final round so make your vote count!
I am gladly laughing at your placement of "Your Body" in the top five. That critic may have been a tad harsh, but it's no better than Max Martin's C-list.
I really can't be bothered to listen to Nicki Minaj's latest album, but the singles have been such a mixed bag. "Beez in the Trap" and "I Am Your Leader" are great, "Va Va Voom" is cute, the rest are trash.
Snaps for "Sweet Nothing"! "I Knew You Were Trouble" is growing on me.
I haven't heard either of those fan "gifts" and plan to keep it that way, but I'll vote for Ke$ha simply because the 15 seconds of that Lady Gaga video I've seen are an embarrassment.
Time to catch up 
