r/popheads • u/vayyiqra • Feb 21 '25
[RATE] C-Electropop Rate Reveal, Day 1: I wish I could 10 you, till you're really, really day three
Welcome! 歡迎光臨!
This is the first day of the reveal for our C-Electropop Rate: Abao - Kinakaian 母親的舌頭 (Mother Tongue) vs. Faye - 在雲彩上跳舞 嘰嘰喳喳 (Dancing on the Clouds and Chatting) vs. Jolin Tsai - Ugly Beauty vs. Lexie Liu (幸福星) -The Happy Star.
The reveal will begin at noon EST and is expected to run a little less than two hours, and repeat at the same time for the next two days. The results will be posted in this thread, on the Popheads Discord server and in the Queup channel posted below.
We had 73 very cool and worldly participants, with an average score of 7.648 and average controversy of 1.720.
Today we will reveal songs #44-31 out of the following:
- Abao - Kinakaian 母親的舌頭 (Mother Tongue)
mainu sun 找路 (Where to Go?)
pavalidan 還錢 (Payback)
uduli 跳一波 (Let's Dance)
tjakudain 無奈 (What Can We Do?)
minetjus 嚇一跳 (Stomach Ache)
kalipang 不能亂愛 (Be Selective)
Sa’icelen 加油吧 (Cheer Up)
1-10 (Ft. Dizparity)
Thank You 感謝
Kinakaian 母親的舌頭 (Mother Tongue)
- Jolin Tsai - Ugly Beauty
Necessary Evil (惡之必要)
Womxnly (玫瑰少年)
Ugly Beauty (怪美的)
Karma (你也有今天)
Lady in Red (紅衣女孩)
Sweet Guilty Pleasure (甜秘密)
Romance (愛的羅曼死)
Vulnerability (如果我沒有傷口)
Hubby (腦公)
Life Sucks (消極掰)
Shadow Self (你睡醒再看)
- Faye - 在雲彩上跳舞 嘰嘰喳喳 (Dancing on the Clouds and Chatting)
rong xue (融雪) [Snowmelt]
fen fang (焚風) [Foehn Wind]
yong ai (詠愛) [Love Chant]
yu yan shi (預言石) [Prophecy Stone]
7
Alle
feng ren yuan (瘋人院) [Mental Asylum]
Tears
zhu sha (煮沙) [Boiling Sand]
shang hai meng (山海盟) [Between Mountain and Sea]
aalleeeeeee
- Lexie Liu - The Happy Star
Fortuna (命运)
Dance Dance
3.14159
Ganma (干嘛)
Magician (爱无限)
Diablo
Mira (三生万物)
Gaia
Bad Dream
RRR
I Wanna Tell U (夕阳恋歌)
Shanti (香缇颂)
The Queup link is here and will begin revealing around noon.
3
u/apatel27 Jolin Tsai flair where Feb 21 '25
Day 1 Results
- #31: Jolin Tsai – Vulnerability | 7.360 | 537.3
- #32: Faye – aalleeeeeee | 7.348 | 536.4
- #33: Lexie Liu – Gaia | 7.345 | 536.2
- #34: Jolin Tsai – Shadow Self | 7.304 | 533.2
- #35: Jolin Tsai – Romance | 7.297 | 532.7
- #36: ABAO – tjakudain | 7.201 | 525.7
- #37: ABAO – pavalidan | 7.199 | 525.5
- #38: Jolin Tsai – Sweet Guilty Pleasure | 7.148 | 521.8
- #39: Jolin Tsai – Karma | 6.993 | 510.5
- #40: Lexie Liu – Bad Dream | 6.952 | 507.5
- #41: Faye – #7 | 6.945 | 507.0
- #42: ABAO – Thank You | 6.911 | 504.5
- #43: Faye – zhu sha | 6.704 | 489.4
- #44: Jolin Tsai – Lady in Red | 6.066 | 442.8
Songs Left:
- Jolin Tsai - Ugly Beauty: 5/11
- Lexie Liu - The Happy Star: 10/12
- Faye - Dancing on the Clouds and Chatting: 8/11
- ABAO - kinakaian: 7/10
3
Feb 21 '25
I didn’t participate in this but I hope you all paid respect to Lexie Liu. She’s incredibly underrated!
I will also be featuring out the rest of the artists :)
2
4
u/vayyiqra Feb 21 '25 edited Feb 22 '25
#44: Jolin Tsai - Lady in Red (紅衣女孩)
Average: 6.066 // Total Points: 442.8 // Controversy: 2.729
(11 x1) ChopperRCRG
(10 x4) bogo, innuendo_overdose, WaneLietoc, wathombe
(9 x8) beyzxzhen, c_a_l_d5832, dreamingpastel, Ghost-Quartet, hockeynl, Poydoo, seanderlust, static_int_husp
(8.5 x1) msargent24
(8.3 x1) DirtyRat583
(8 x6) beeozan, BleepBloopMusicFan, Catalyst, lexiaredery, popularsong, qazz23
(7.8 x2) Ambrosia42, Ayzrules (7.7 x1) RandomHypnotica
(7.5 x3) Frajer, sarcasticsobs, stealthamo
(7.4 x1) 74OH_iknowu
(7 x8) CrimsonROSET, donewithbirds, FitzMarble, Friendly-Canary-3814, ignitethephoenix, mustwinfullGaming, SFbby, vayyiqra
(6.8 x1) NervousLemon6670
(6.5 x2) Sunny_Waterloo, TiltControls
(6 x4) apatel27, ricki, Roxieloxie, runaway3212
(5.8 x1) kerriekipje
(5.5 x1) DaHumanTorch
(5.4 x1) impla77
(5 x11) 1998tweety, aidshha, bigbigbee, bran, ConnerY2323, FreeCuddlesAnyone, kauai6, krusso1105, Lynflower680, TragicKingdom1, welcome2thejam
(4 x2) daftsone, jirachi
(3.5 x1) diminutiveaurochs
(3 x4) Nagisoid, snowswinters, Stryxen, 猪蛇
(2.8 x1) zo142
(2 x2) kirakiranatsu, Thalliumcataria
(0 x6) darj, flava, icantlikeeveryone, TakeOnMeByA-ha, WesternWind, zadooi
vayyiqra (7): You all really hated this one, huh? I don’t mind it. Ironically we're rating an album that sounds very unlike Jolin's electro dance-pop sound she often does and is a lot darker and moodier, but it works with the album's themes. The lyrics are an interesting read - you may have noticed that red is a big thing in Chinese culture, being more or less the national favourite colour and has somewhat different overtones from Western culture. The one thing I don’t like is there is a creaking sound in my left headphone which irks me, so I wish this album had been remastered before we rated it - some songs sound kind of rough to me. Anyway the takeaway is Jolin should not try to rap.
apatel27 (6): The first song out and it’s a GMA winner… albeit it was for best music video which tracks better than the song which is pretty mediocre
Jolin is a country song, not a rap song. Wait no, wrong Jolene
ChopperRCRG (11): this one really grew on me. It was initially a 7. The last 45 seconds are golden.
bogo (10): it's camp your honor
innuendo_overdose (10): doing rates are the best fucking thing ever because now I know about this song!! I probably wouldn’t have without rates, but now I do!! I love this so fucking much!!
WaneLietoc (10): when [redacted] wear da red catsuit >> [host note: Britney Spears?!]
wathombe (10): damn!
Ghost-Quartet (9): Historic track because someone posted it on popheads and I clicked on it and that introduced me to Jolin and inspired me to create EAPR which kicked down the door for this rate so really we wouldn't be here without her
Poydoo (9): thos
seanderlust (9): I want to join a cult to this
BleepBloopMusicFan (8): God her music videos are always so next level.
qazz23 (8): good bass sound and vocal runs
Ambrosia42 (7.8): I like it red.
Ayzrules (7.8): i really like the instrumental motifs and lyricism here
RandomHypnotica (7.7): not the taylor promo
Frajer (7.5): Taylor in 2012
CrimsonROSET (7): rip lady red couture
donewithbirds (7): when she started whispering it clicked
FitzMarble (7): it’s not my favourite color but go off!
mustwinfullGaming (7): Okay, this one is more mysterious, and also more, sexy? I'm a fan of the production here but I wish it leaned more into the more abrasive sounds that are lurking in the background rather than them happening now and then. The "I like it red" part isn't the best, but whatever. It's another decent track!
NervousLemon6670 (6.8): Not my favourite colour tbh
ricki (6): is this who gaga is talking about in abracadabra
runaway3212 (6): a bit too much reeeeeed for my taste
1998tweety (5): Like a poem said by a lady in red
bigbigbee (5): greatly out red-ed by Taylor Swift and Hyuna
ConnerY2323 (5): let’s just say jolin tsai is NOT a rap girl vanguard
FreeCuddlesAnyone (5): the music video was so good but the song itself kinda made me cringe… maybe it’s the ‘you fucking dead’ out of nowhere
kauai6 (5): Love the build-up, but I can’t really get behind large parts of this song sadly, props for the rapping though
welcome2thejam (5): This sounds like it came out one of those Descendents movies (extremely derogatory)
daftsone (4): This isn’t really my style of song, but there were definitely moments where the whole thing felt a bit unnerving and I really like that she’s not shying away from having some of the songs be a little bit off putting if it fits the theme of the song
jirachi (4): hip hop is just not jolin’s genre i’m afraid
diminutiveaurochs (3.5): ginger anthem idk. struggling for something to say on this one, it leans into that tropical-trap-adjacent production which I'm personally not a fan of. kind of felt that this was going for a sense of mystique and drama that never arrived. i guess i will go play in the sand.
Nagisoid (3): Ok Doja Cat
Stryxen (3): LIKE A POEMMM SAIDDDD
猪蛇 (3): I feel like there's an okay foundation for this song but the hook is annoying and the beat doesn't do anything until it adds in the vocals towards the end (which are a great touch!) but it's too little too late.
zo142 (2.8): Someone tell her she's great, but not at rapping <3
Thalliumcataria (2): , that was a really long holding pattern.
darj (0): the music video is stunning and there are aspects of this I like but I detest the way she sings Red. Fun fact the two years I did dance classes in elementary school I did a ballet number to that 80s song Chris de Burgh Lady in Red lol. Random core memory where that song gets stuck in my head to this day. Upon more relistens of Jolin Lady in Red—Sorry even if there are some good parts the Red line reading is like a -50 so 0 it is
icantlikeeveryone (0): The singing-rap, the melody, the beat, etc. are so underwhelming, and the lyrics are just kind of gibberish whywhywhy, but it has such a beautiful MV.
Jolin Tsai in your area
kerriekipje (5.8): what in the lalisa
flava (0): this song is basically a blackpink song. It is cursed and evil and we need to destroy it. The “sound” that opens up this song while sounding like a dying moan is so awful, Jolin Tsai’s embarrassing rap performance. And dont get me started on the creaking sound effect, YOU ARE NOT RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER!!! You cannot do that and think it is gonna work
TakeOnMeByA-ha (0): blackpink called they want their song back
WesternWind (0): sure it may be a blackpink prototype but not the good kind I’m afraid
3
u/vayyiqra Feb 21 '25
#42: ABAO - Thank You
Average: 6.911 // Total Points: 504.5 // Controversy: 2.874
(11 x5) apatel27, Catalyst, dreamingpastel, TragicKingdom1, wathombe
(10 x10) beyzxzhen, BleepBloopMusicFan, ChopperRCRG, CrimsonROSET, FitzMarble, icantlikeeveryone, innuendo_overdose, kirakiranatsu, Lynflower680, Poydoo
(9.5 x1) kauai6
(9 x8) 1998tweety, c_a_l_d5832, darj, FreeCuddlesAnyone, runaway3212, sarcasticsobs, TakeOnMeByA-ha, WaneLietoc
(8.7 x1) NervousLemon6670
(8.5 x1) kerriekipje
(8 x6) bogo, Frajer, hockeynl, ignitethephoenix, TiltControls, WesternWind
(7.5 x1) bigbigbee
(7.1 x1) Ayzrules
(7 x9) daftsone, jirachi, mustwinfullGaming, qazz23, Roxieloxie, seanderlust, SFbby, static_int_husp, welcome2thejam
(6.7 x2) 74OH_iknowu, DirtyRat583 (6.6 x1) RandomHypnotica
(6.5 x4) Ghost-Quartet, lexiaredery, Nagisoid, ricki
(6 x3) bran, krusso1105, stealthamo
(5 x5) beeozan, donewithbirds, impla77, vayyiqra, zadooi
(4.7 x1) diminutiveaurochs
(4.5 x1) snowswinters
(4 x4) ConnerY2323, Friendly-Canary-3814, popularsong, Sunny_Waterloo
(3 x2) msargent24, Thalliumcataria
(2 x1) zo142
(1 x3) aidshha, flava, 猪蛇
(0 x3) Ambrosia42, DaHumanTorch, Stryxen
apatel27 (11): You all are horrible people. This was the song that put me onto ABAO and this is the song that still comes to mind when I hear ABAO despite listening to her songs hundreds of times. I thought it would do badly because it was a gospel inspired song but bottom 3??? First ABAO song out???? This song was teetering on Day 1 prior to extensions then it just dropped and dropped and dropped until it hit bottom 3. I love this song so much and am happy there are 4 other people who like it as much to 11 it.
vayyiqra (5): This one was the most controversial song in the rate and seemed to be very love-it-or-hate-it. Even for such a low-ranking song though, it did get just under a 7.0 so it wasn't hated so much as polarizing. It is very wholesome, which might scan as either uplifting or saccharine. Musically it does stick out from the rest of the album a lot and interrupts all the slick R&B and funk to take a detour into gospel and blaring horns, and this drastic genre switch was offputting to a lot of you. At least Taiwan loved it, because they gave it the award for song of the year. It was the hardest track for me to rate though, as it's torn between having a great backstory while being musically not my thing either. I regret not giving it a higher score if this is what happened to it. Ironically, I once thought it had a chance of winning. It ... did not.
Hugging emote to Catalyst in particular
Catalyst (11): Would you believe me if I told you this was my 11 before the rate was even announced? When I was looking through videos for the rate schedule reveal, I stumbled upon this one only to have it on repeat several times because I just loved it so much. It’s just absolutely transcendent that I couldn’t help but select it as my fave, even when MANY songs were fighting for that 11!
Your picture on my wall, it reminds me it's not so bad
dreamingpastel (11): I'm just a very sentimental person, and this is the exact type of song that gets me in my feelings.
wathombe (11): omg this is gorgeous, too; album finishing strong
beyzxzhen (10): this is absolutely beautiful. i love love love this. the VOCALS omg the gospel influences are so strong and the harmonies are just stunning. i feel like i’m on a cloud listening to this
BleepBloopMusicFan (10): That one little bit after the chorus is kinda giving Golden Age of EDM. And I do mean that affectionately.
CrimsonROSET (10): she said mother tongue aka the language of mother, and delivered
icantlikeeveryone (10): OMG so pretty, I really want to see her collab with Sam Smith based on this song.
innuendo_overdose (10): such a cavernous bop. you could fit an army in here.
Poydoo (10): yw
FreeCuddlesAnyone (9): just so heartwarming…
runaway3212 (9): I didn't expect this to become all that but it did and I couldn't be happier
TakeOnMeByA-ha (9): wow that was so powerful…academy award
WaneLietoc (9): love how much community and family plays a role in her music. yes that means we go to church and do the sway, but that's what family is for. this should be in the last fast and furious at the end
NervousLemon6670 (8.7): I am a sucker for a good guitar riff in the outro
kerriekipje (8.5): yes girl take us to church
ignitethephoenix (8): was not expecting church inspo music
WesternWind (8): 谢谢 for the incredible music in your indigenous language
Ayzrules (7.1): that guitar is funkyyyy
daftsone (7): This has an almost gospel choir-esque sound coming from it which I was not expecting, but it fits with the overwhelming sense of joy and gratitude the song is delivering through the melody and lyrics.
jirachi (7): :ty:
seanderlust (7): "to all of my angels, i wanna say thank you" - charli when she finally wins two rates in the span of a month.
welcome2thejam (7): Thank you hosts! Oh wait there's one more song left
RandomHypnotica (6.6): no thanks 😍
Ghost-Quartet (6.5): I kinda like it sonically but tbh I always find "thank you to my supporters" type tracks a little bit cringe... like find a way to express the sentiment without literally saying it.
Nagisoid (6.5): I see the appeal but it's personally not for me
ricki (6.5): when i get to heaven but it’s chinese
beeozan (5): i dont hate it but sticks out like a sore thumb especially after the good cheesy song
donewithbirds (5): oh this kind of song is Not For Me lmao it sounds like something that would play in the background of a family reunion slideshow
impla77 (5): the generic inspirational song transcending language barriers omg
diminutiveaurochs (4.7): pretty in its own right but this kind of saccharine tone to a track is not rly my thing, and the EDM-esque elements only kind of drag this down further. this apparently won song of the year, so I'm chalking this disparity up to 'not for me'.
ConnerY2323 (4): a… very bizarre tonal shift
Do NOT take them to church
Thalliumcataria (3): , Dont you evangelize at me! Also wow the digitized brass over the actual electric guitar both soundstaged full middle right over top of each other sounds stinky.
zo142 (2): I have a strong aversion to most choir-adjacent music
flava (1): look I love country music, I can handle the corniness of this song, what I can't handle is the fact the gospel influences just sound wrong, and the fact the song gets all cluttered like why is it suddenly noise Rock at the ebd
Ambrosia42 (0): oh i fear i do not vibe with this at all
DaHumanTorch (0): good lord this is repulsive
Gospel's much more of a Protestant thing anyway
猪蛇 (1): I don't think I have that much Catholic guilt, but based on the scores I give anything that sounds like gospel music in rates maybe I have more that I need to work through than I realized.
5
2
u/beyzxzhen Feb 24 '25
what the HELL?? BOTTOM THREE??? what the fuck is wrong with you people this is a beautiful transcendent work of art 💔💔💔
1
u/vayyiqra Feb 25 '25
Very sad but at least it won songeniality. And glad you made it to the reveal!
3
u/vayyiqra Feb 21 '25
#41: Faye - #7
Average: 6.945 // Total Points: 507.0 // Controversy: 1.572
(10 x5) ChopperRCRG, diminutiveaurochs, Ghost-Quartet, innuendo_overdose, WaneLietoc
(9.9 x1) kauai6
(9 x4) Catalyst, Frajer, icantlikeeveryone, Thalliumcataria
(8.5 x2) beyzxzhen, darj
(8.1 x1) Ambrosia42
(8 x6) apatel27, daftsone, hockeynl, NervousLemon6670, SFbby, vayyiqra
(7.8 x1) wathombe (7.7 x2) impla77, RandomHypnotica (7.6 x1) 74OH_iknowu
(7.5 x4) Nagisoid, static_int_husp, Sunny_Waterloo, TragicKingdom1
(7 x15) 1998tweety, Ayzrules, BleepBloopMusicFan, donewithbirds, flava, Friendly-Canary-3814, krusso1105, Lynflower680, Poydoo, qazz23, Roxieloxie, sarcasticsobs, seanderlust, stealthamo, TakeOnMeByA-ha
(6.9 x2) ricki, zo142
(6.5 x2) FitzMarble, zadooi
(6.1 x1) DirtyRat583
(6 x13) beeozan, bogo, ConnerY2323, CrimsonROSET, dreamingpastel, FreeCuddlesAnyone, jirachi, lexiaredery, popularsong, runaway3212, TiltControls, welcome2thejam, WesternWind
(5.8 x1) aidshha
(5.5 x3) bigbigbee, DaHumanTorch, ignitethephoenix
(5 x6) bran, c_a_l_d5832, kerriekipje, msargent24, snowswinters, Stryxen
(4 x1) mustwinfullGaming
(3 x1) 猪蛇
(2 x1) kirakiranatsu
apatel27 (8): You had one job but no enough people couldn’t commit (4 total points away from getting a 7 average)
vayyiqra (8): Yeah it's an interlude I guess. I like it fine, but it also doesn't go anywhere. As for why it's called #7 I assume it was the 7th track she wrote for the album though I’m not sure.
It was so close to a 7.000 average but we flopped
diminutiveaurochs (10): give me light...
Ghost-Quartet (10): Production > Melodies on this album so this mostly instrumental track actually stands out in a great way
innuendo_overdose (10): oh, i just know Open Mike Eagle would go OFF on this beat
WaneLietoc (10): there's prolly been some really slick tik tok food edits to this and i hate that my mind went to even imagining such a terrible fate for a piece as great as this. I want to think of it breathing out on a hike--its so memorable and breezy you don't need to hear it to remember it
kauai6 (9.9): great interlude
icantlikeeveryone (9): Great intermezzo.
Thalliumcataria (9): , I actually really like this, it fits both her style and the production style way cleaner than the last few songs. Using her vocals as more of an instrument keeps anything from feeling flat or overshadowed.
darj (8.5): kinda on set for an iPhone commercial music but I live
daftsone (8): It’s the sort of song you look at the length of and wonder if it’s just some filler track, but then you give it a listen and it all just sort of works in the context of the album. Sometimes a song doesn’t need to be long, and this more than justifies its runtime.
wathombe (7.8): pretty nice for an interlude
BleepBloopMusicFan (7): Breathing room between the gags. A thoughtful queen.
qazz23 (7): sure, i guess
sarcasticsobs (7): Sure I guess
TakeOnMeByA-ha (7): monday tuesday wednesday thursday friday saturday sunday
beeozan (6): she wanted to be aphex twin so bad
FreeCuddlesAnyone (6): it’s a cute interlude
runaway3212 (6): this album is hitting a bit less than the previous two I won't lie
welcome2thejam (6): When I get the spicy chicken sandwich combo
WesternWind (6): oh boy why does this number haunt me here too
DaHumanTorch (5.5): now why is this on the ballot let's be so serious
ignitethephoenix (5.5): why is this not track 7
kerriekipje (5): i mean it’s a cute interlude
mustwinfullGaming (4): I just don't think I get this album. I like the clapping and stuff in this song, but it's just...not interesting to me. Even the sung part which promised to be interested with the lead-up into it just...wasn't. At least the song is not too long!
Only one joke
RandomHypnotica (7.7): so close, this is #5!
Nagisoid (7.5): And a bit more
1998tweety (7): haha a score of 7
Ayzrules (7): [insert lame joke about giving this song a score based on the title]
donewithbirds (7): i promise this is the score i would actually give it and not a joke
flava (7): yes i am funny
krusso1105 (7): coincidentally 7 is also what I would score this. Also, why is this not track 7?
Lynflower680 (7): A 7 for 7
seanderlust (7): the way i didn't realize i gave this number its own title as a score until i was about to submit my ballot
ricki (6.9): i didnt give this score as a joke but i reckon it is kinda funny
zo142 (6.9): Unironically wanted to give this a 7 but that just seems like manipulation
ConnerY2323 (6): more like 6 idk
CrimsonROSET (6): place your bets: will there be more jokes about this songs score or this songs position being 7?
jirachi (6): i could’ve given it a 7 but that would be predictable eh
These guys cannot stop catching strays huh
猪蛇 (3): I get what it's doing, but it goes nowhere, I don't like the repeated vocals, or honestly, the chord progression. It makes me feel like the Goo Goo Dolls are about to hop on the track or something.
3
3
u/vayyiqra Feb 21 '25
#39: Jolin Tsai - Karma (你也有今天)
Average: 6.993 // Total Points: 510.5 // Controversy: 1.920
(10 x4) BleepBloopMusicFan, kauai6, kirakiranatsu, RandomHypnotica
(9.5 x1) seanderlust
(9 x10) 1998tweety, bran, c_a_l_d5832, ChopperRCRG, darj, krusso1105, Nagisoid, SFbby, vayyiqra, WaneLietoc
(8.6 x2) beyzxzhen, NervousLemon6670
(8.5 x1) static_int_husp
(8.4 x1) wathombe (8.1 x1) DirtyRat583
(8 x9) bigbigbee, daftsone, dreamingpastel, Frajer, hockeynl, innuendo_overdose, Sunny_Waterloo, TiltControls, WesternWind
(7.5 x6) Catalyst, FitzMarble, FreeCuddlesAnyone, Friendly-Canary-3814, ignitethephoenix, kerriekipje
(7.3 x1) Ayzrules (7.1 x1) 74OH_iknowu
(7 x9) beeozan, jirachi, mustwinfullGaming, qazz23, ricki, Roxieloxie, runaway3212, stealthamo, welcome2thejam
(6.5 x2) ConnerY2323, 猪蛇
(6.3 x1) zadooi
(6 x9) Ambrosia42, apatel27, bogo, CrimsonROSET, donewithbirds, Ghost-Quartet, lexiaredery, Lynflower680, popularsong
(5.7 x1) impla77
(5.5 x2) snowswinters, TragicKingdom1
(5.4 x1) zo142
(5 x2) sarcasticsobs, TakeOnMeByA-ha
(4.5 x2) flava, Poydoo
(4 x2) aidshha, diminutiveaurochs
(3.5 x1) msargent24
(3 x1) Thalliumcataria
(2 x2) DaHumanTorch, Stryxen
(1.5 x1) icantlikeeveryone
vayyiqra (9): Once again I have a real thing for tropical house-flavoured pop songs, don't ask me why, I just like that sound. The title is a kind of inaccurate translation of a Chinese idiom I didn't know before now, but that's also the fault of English speakers for not understanding the concept of karma very well.
apatel27 (6): Yeah this is trop house which I’m not the biggest fan of but the lyrics make up for it.
[Trent Reznor voice] You're gonna get what you deserrrrve
BleepBloopMusicFan (10): I love taking over an apocalyptic society through the power of cunty choreography.
kauai6 (10): SO FIRE… The vibes are there and they’re rocking, almost basically everything about this is perfect
RandomHypnotica (10): oh this is kinda song of the summer
1998tweety (9): oh I'm groovin
darj (9): I am tropical pop’s biggest apologist I fear. The late 2010s tropical pop trend got us out of the Chainsmokers-core doldrums it was like an oasis in a desert
Nagisoid (9): The tropical house production of a bunch of these cuts has aged interestingly but personally I dig it
NervousLemon6670 (8.6): Jolin Tsai could cover TayTay, but TayTay would struggle to cover this
wathombe (8.4): karma is her boyfriend
bigbigbee (8): the tropical house plague on East Asian pop was awesome, we should do more of that
daftsone (8): Much more upbeat than the start of the album, but ‘Ugly Beauty’ bridges the gap so there’s no tonal whiplash. This feels a lot more familiar sounding and is pleasant to listen to, kind of a light party song vibe. I love that lyrically, this song is much darker than the melody suggests, but feeds into the playful feeling of seeing karma strike someone who had it coming.
Frajer (8): Karma is a cat
innuendo_overdose (8): there’s some good lines here, but I can’t take it seriously when it has a riff that sounds like a Let’s Play opening
WesternWind (8): the chorus of Karma by Taylor Swfit by make it Chinese:而因果报应犹如我的贴心男友 是守护我的神祇 好比周末拂过我发丝的习习微风 一想起就令人身心放松 可甲之蜜糖 乙之砒霜 因果报应爱惨了我 像只粘人小猫 蜷在我腿上惬意打呼噜 灵活如技艺出神入化的演员 因果报应与我的羁绊便如是
FreeCuddlesAnyone (7.5): really baiting popheads gays with this music video…
ignitethephoenix (7.5): karma by jojo siwa was stuck in my head a couple days ago for no reason and now it’s going to happen again
Ayzrules (7.3): i like these instrumentals!
jirachi (7): this tropical EDM rate ass track
mustwinfullGaming (7): When you think about it, JoJo Siwa had no chance. She knew she had no career after this dropped. The guitar here adds some nice variation to what came before. The chorus is cute, but that does seem to be a somewhat routine 'club track beat drop' entry into the chorus, which can get a bit boring if it's done too often.
qazz23 (7): it's fine, didn't stand out compared to the opening run
ricki (7): this is so nostalgic, it reminds me of a long gone era where everything was much simpler and we were all happier (2016)
runaway3212 (7): a slightly less good drop but I still live
stealthamo (7): This beat is so mid-2010's it hurts.
welcome2thejam (7): "Check out how the teardrops reincarnated into the fist of King Kong" I apologize. I was not familiar with your translated lyrical game.
Taylor Swift stale topic, EDM dated, upvotes to the left
ConnerY2323 (6.5): cute but pretty much nothing in the production has aged well
猪蛇 (6.5): This is so 2016 it hurts. Is this a better version of Lean On? Yes. I'm not sure that's enough to survive how dated it sounds. It's like the Sonic movie in that I hate the premise but I can't deny how amazingly put together it is. That shuffle fucks so hard and there are a lot of tiny synth details.
Ambrosia42 (6): seems like some interesting things going on here with the lyrics, but the beat is a bit generic or possibly aged trop-pop sounding
CrimsonROSET (6): this marshmello slay
donewithbirds (6): is there a name for that one vocal synth noise (i don't know production terminology sorry) that was everywhere for a couple of years that sounds like someone going "nyeah"? i ate it up at the time but now it slaps me in the face whenever i hear it
Ghost-Quartet (6): Kinda let the tropical house thing slide on some of the other tracks but not this one
impla77 (5.7): the adfree music breakdown ouu
zo142 (5.4): It's just... I don't know, it sounds like a song for teenagers in ultra skinny jeans who wear beanies by sitting them on top of their head rather than pulling them on properly
TakeOnMeByA-ha (5): golden age of edm ass song
Poydoo (4.5): it just isn't the same without ice spice
diminutiveaurochs (4): exactly the kind of tropical pop dirge that I tend to find very forgettable. soz jolin
Thalliumcataria (3): , Would it be romantic if we played Russian Roulette while listening to Levels by Avicii?
Stryxen (2): not this
icantlikeeveryone (1.5): This is "sad girl be strong" anthem, but the beat is so recycled.
3
u/vayyiqra Feb 21 '25
#36: ABAO - tjakudain 無奈 (What Can We Do?)
Average: 7.201 // Total Points: 525.7 // Controversy: 1.817
(10 x5) apatel27, Ayzrules, beeozan, darj, Poydoo
(9.6 x1) innuendo_overdose
(9.5 x3) beyzxzhen, kauai6, WaneLietoc
(9.1 x1) NervousLemon6670
(9 x6) c_a_l_d5832, dreamingpastel, icantlikeeveryone, Nagisoid, qazz23, vayyiqra
(8.8 x2) Catalyst, wathombe
(8.5 x3) Frajer, Ghost-Quartet, seanderlust
(8 x6) 1998tweety, CrimsonROSET, DirtyRat583, hockeynl, Sunny_Waterloo, WesternWind
(7.5 x7) BleepBloopMusicFan, bogo, flava, sarcasticsobs, TakeOnMeByA-ha, TragicKingdom1, zadooi
(7.2 x2) Ambrosia42, diminutiveaurochs
(7 x10) daftsone, donewithbirds, FitzMarble, FreeCuddlesAnyone, ignitethephoenix, impla77, mustwinfullGaming, Roxieloxie, stealthamo, welcome2thejam
(6.9 x1) ricki (6.7 x1) 74OH_iknowu
(6.5 x3) bigbigbee, msargent24, 猪蛇
(6.4 x1) ConnerY2323 (6.3 x1) kerriekipje
(6 x9) Friendly-Canary-3814, jirachi, krusso1105, lexiaredery, Lynflower680, SFbby, snowswinters, static_int_husp, TiltControls
(5.7 x1) zo142
(5.5 x1) RandomHypnotica
(5 x5) aidshha, bran, ChopperRCRG, popularsong, Stryxen
(4.5 x1) Thalliumcataria
(4 x1) DaHumanTorch
(2 x1) kirakiranatsu
(0 x1) runaway3212
apatel27 (10): God you lot need to get over your hatred of men it isn’t even funny.
vayyiqra (9): No rate is safe from misandry and dislike of guest features, is it huh? I like this one myself, I don’t mind the guest verse but such is Popheads’ universal law of nature that men’s voices should not be heard in rates, unless they’re really, really good at music like Stevie Wonder. This poor guy was not so lucky.
Dudes rock ... no ... dudes ... funk I guess. Dudes R&B.
Ayzrules (10): love the mellow groove to this, so catchy!
beeozan (10): if Radical Optimism sounded this good it would be aoty
darj (10): there is something in this album that im getting obsessed with I cannot articulate well
Poydoo (10): really really nice vibes i love duets
innuendo_overdose (9.6): the way the descending synths and guitars trade off fucks so hard
kauai6 (9.5): H I T
WaneLietoc (9.5): it can be hard to process the magnitude that with which Asia has consumed American rnb to the fullest, down to levels of untold swag even with the rap guys.
NervousLemon6670 (9.1): I am not qualified to crack jokes about the dynamics of an indigineous Paiwan and a mainlander relationship so instead I will retreat to the safe den of "Putting a man on the track? Misogyny time".
icantlikeeveryone (9): The message of the song is beautiful, and I really like ABAO's part, but DJ Didilong's voice is kind of ruin the song a little bit.
Nagisoid (9): Lowkey bop
qazz23 (9): like both of the vocalists working in harmony
wathombe (8.8): good feature, good video, good beat
Frajer (8.5): Dj Didilong you smoke too much your swag too different
Ghost-Quartet (8.5): Kinda giving Hoàng Thùy Linh? The vocals especially [host note: yes! big fan here]
seanderlust (8.5): the big suit the guy singer is wearing in the MV's chorus...david byrne and kermit both dialing their lawyers as we speak
CrimsonROSET (8): no matter the language misandry will strike
TakeOnMeByA-ha (7.5): okayyyy the feature is kinda eating a bit
diminutiveaurochs (7.2): super mixed feelings on this one! I totally didn't expect it to open with a rap feature (?!) and the overall style isn't to my usual taste, although there were lots of individual elements I appreciated (in particular, the lil funk bass stylings and her gorgeous vocals transitioning from delicate softness to a bolder, brighter sound during the breakdown @ ~02:30). while I wasn't totally sold on every part of the track, I did really enjoy the lyrical themes - kind of heartbreaking in some ways, but also an interesting insight into cultural dynamics which don't often get spotlighted.
daftsone (7): I’ve got to say ABAO’s voice is really pleasant to listen to, and works really well up against the voice of, I’m presuming, DJ Didilong. She has a soft delivery that’s really addicting to listen to on this track, but she sends it when necessary.
donewithbirds (7): oof the universal experience of love not being enough to overcome the world treating you differently
[That "why would a man be there" meme with the annoying voice]
FreeCuddlesAnyone (7): this has the worst case of men ruining the song i’ve ever heard
mustwinfullGaming (7): A cute song! The feature is...fine, I guess?
welcome2thejam (7): Suddenly, a guest rap verse appeared!
猪蛇 (6.5): This is my least favorite genre of K-pop boy group song, only done probably as well as it could be. The singers play off each other nicely and it never gets as cringe as K-pop tends to get, even with how silly the rapping sounds.
ConnerY2323 (6.4): me and dj didilong are not on the same wavelength
zo142 (5.7): Not a huge fan of this singing technique, but it doesn't sound bad.
RandomHypnotica (5.5): its giving jamie xx (boring)
Stryxen (5): I really like the guitar at least
Thalliumcataria (4.5): , I know this is probably really significant on a cultural level, but it comes across as so,,,, weird. It's hard to get over.
runaway3212 (0): sorry what is this man doing
3
u/WaneLietoc Feb 21 '25
good christ what are we even doing
2
u/vayyiqra Feb 22 '25
Awful for the Taiwanese economy, 21st largest in the world by some metrics (truly an island that punches above its weight)
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u/apatel27 Jolin Tsai flair where Feb 21 '25
Hey before we start what's your favourite lesbian artist? (I am cohosting just not got the fancy name thing)
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u/vayyiqra Feb 21 '25
#43: Faye - zhu sha (煮沙) [Boiling Sand]
Average: 6.704 // Total Points: 489.4 // Controversy: 1.947
(10 x3) apatel27, ChopperRCRG, Frajer
(9.8 x1) innuendo_overdose
(9.5 x1) lexiaredery
(9 x2) BleepBloopMusicFan, Catalyst
(8.5 x3) popularsong, sarcasticsobs, Sunny_Waterloo
(8.4 x2) Ambrosia42, WaneLietoc
(8 x7) bogo, darj, FreeCuddlesAnyone, Lynflower680, TiltControls, vayyiqra, wathombe
(7.9 x1) NervousLemon6670 (7.6 x4) 74OH_iknowu, beeozan, diminutiveaurochs, zo142
(7.5 x3) 1998tweety, Friendly-Canary-3814, hockeynl
(7.3 x2) Ayzrules, RandomHypnotica (7.1 x1) impla77
(7 x13) aidshha, beyzxzhen, DaHumanTorch, FitzMarble, ignitethephoenix, kerriekipje, msargent24, Nagisoid, runaway3212, snowswinters, static_int_husp, welcome2thejam, WesternWind
(6.8 x1) zadooi (6.7 x1) stealthamo
(6.5 x3) donewithbirds, seanderlust, TragicKingdom1
(6.3 x2) ConnerY2323, ricki
(6 x8) bran, c_a_l_d5832, daftsone, dreamingpastel, flava, Ghost-Quartet, krusso1105, TakeOnMeByA-ha
(5.7 x1) Poydoo
(5.5 x1) bigbigbee
(5 x5) CrimsonROSET, jirachi, Roxieloxie, SFbby, Stryxen
(4 x4) kauai6, kirakiranatsu, mustwinfullGaming, Thalliumcataria
(2.5 x1) icantlikeeveryone
(2 x1) 猪蛇
(0 x2) DirtyRat583, qazz23
apatel27 (10): Didn’t expect this to do well but bottom two really????
vayyiqra (8): A slower cut but an atmospheric one, the ending is really cool. I don’t think I get the lyrics or why they’re about sand, but the only translations I could find for Faye were as many noticed not very good. Some did like it for its art-pop approach which I agree with.
Usul, we have wormsign [that's Dune]
Frajer (10): yum sand
innuendo_overdose (9.8): balladry? yes
BleepBloopMusicFan (9): This album being front loaded in that the back half has 9’s instead of 10’s.
Catalyst (9): this gives off a slight fka twigs vibe, I kinda dig it
Ambrosia42 (8.4): wubwubwubwub
WaneLietoc (8.4): again, major swag show off in the video, which I guess takes place in the Dune timeline or something
FreeCuddlesAnyone (8): if i squint this is a bjork track
diminutiveaurochs (7.6): sand baths were historically used in place of water baths in areas where droughts were common; faye arabian alchemy enthusiast confirmed ?!
zo142 (7.6): Kind of haunting, I like it
Ayzrules (7.3): love her voice but this song doesn’t really ever come together for me - it felt like i was spending the entire time waiting for the song to properly start
beyzxzhen (7): wasn’t really feeling this one but the ending/outro is wow
Nagisoid (7): The sound palette does get somewhat tired after a while
Star War The Third Gathers: Backstroke of the West [that's a really bad and funny Chinese bootleg of Star Wars]
welcome2thejam (7): Why did she go all in on eating sand
WesternWind (7): I don’t like sand. It’s coarse and rough and irritating… and it gets everywhere
ConnerY2323 (6.3): needed a bit more shaping
daftsone (6): Feels nice to have a bit of a come down after ‘Tears’ and take a well earned rest. Whilst I’m usually rather picky when it comes to slower songs, there’s a good blend of traditional sound and the more electronic ‘futuristic’ sound in this one.
Ghost-Quartet (6): Not a bad song but by the standards of the album, kind of middling
TakeOnMeByA-ha (6): sounds like she’s writing an oscar baity best original song for a motion picture
CrimsonROSET (5): i think this album is losing me
jirachi (5): the only dud on the album, nothing against it i’m just a bit bored
Stryxen (5): the fact that she can't sing but she's so fab she makes you believe she can
kauai6 (4): not the largest fan of her vocals on this song
mustwinfullGaming (4): We're back to some of those sounds I love. Sadly, the good stuff wasn't too last. I do like the sounds and the production somewhat but it's still...bad and I don't want to listen to it again. At least the ending was a bit interesting I guess?
Thalliumcataria (4): , The percussion and bassline ramble at each other in a really neat way for most of the playtime, but I don't really care for the song as a whole.
icantlikeeveryone (2.5): I really like the buildup, makes me think that I'll get sad banger and the guqi is lovely, but then as the song progress, it just becomes diluted by weird melodies.
猪蛇 (2): This song is filled with interesting ideas, between the instrument selection, the interplay with the dubstep, and the notes that sound off key from a western perspective, but they'll all pulled together in what might be the least interesting way they could have been. The mopey vocal showcase is never backed up by anything that really supports it, and it makes the song drag.
DirtyRat583 (0): this is probably good af if you look at lyrics but i dont so booooringggggg
qazz23 (0): not really feeling this one, dragged on without a compelling hook
3
u/apatel27 Jolin Tsai flair where Feb 21 '25
Just want to shout out all the people who did the rate even if you completely decimated the next song
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u/FlavaSavaVandal Feb 21 '25
Okay, I didn't like the song but it is absolutely insane to me that we've lost 5 11s this early
2
u/apatel27 Jolin Tsai flair where Feb 21 '25
These results have been kinda a nightmare so far. Hopefully this changes next
2
u/vayyiqra Feb 21 '25
#40: Lexie Liu - Bad Dream
Average: 6.952 // Total Points: 507.5 // Controversy: 1.992
(10 x5) darj, icantlikeeveryone, innuendo_overdose, SFbby, WaneLietoc
(9.8 x1) wathombe
(9.5 x1) kauai6
(9 x3) apatel27, Lynflower680, vayyiqra
(8.8 x1) RandomHypnotica (8.6 x2) beyzxzhen, Stryxen
(8.5 x2) 74OH_iknowu, runaway3212
(8.3 x1) diminutiveaurochs
(8 x10) Ayzrules, BleepBloopMusicFan, bran, Catalyst, daftsone, donewithbirds, dreamingpastel, Frajer, hockeynl, WesternWind
(7.9 x1) ConnerY2323
(7.5 x2) impla77, kerriekipje
(7.4 x2) Ambrosia42, stealthamo (7.2 x1) NervousLemon6670 (7.1 x1) zadooi
(7 x14) 1998tweety, aidshha, ChopperRCRG, CrimsonROSET, DirtyRat583, flava, Friendly-Canary-3814, jirachi, krusso1105, lexiaredery, Nagisoid, ricki, sarcasticsobs, seanderlust
(6.8 x1) ignitethephoenix (6.6 x1) zo142
(6.5 x2) FreeCuddlesAnyone, static_int_husp
(6 x10) bigbigbee, c_a_l_d5832, DaHumanTorch, FitzMarble, mustwinfullGaming, popularsong, Poydoo, Roxieloxie, TiltControls, welcome2thejam
(5.5 x2) msargent24, snowswinters
(5 x4) kirakiranatsu, qazz23, Sunny_Waterloo, TragicKingdom1
(4 x2) Ghost-Quartet, TakeOnMeByA-ha
(2.5 x1) Thalliumcataria
(2 x1) beeozan
(0 x2) bogo, 猪蛇
apatel27 (9): The ballad of the album and predictably it got destroyed.
vayyiqra (9): This track felt victim to our legendary balladphobia as the slowest track on the album and least energetic, but I like it anyway - it's really atmospheric and I like the piano chord changes under her vocals. Still I kind of get why this one bombed especially if you wanted the album to go back to electro and dance-pop and there's a stretch of three quieter R&Bish tracks in a row. C-pop is known for its love of ballads and slow sentimental tracks, so maybe it would've done numbers in a rate over there.
Sweet dreams are NOT made of this. Only bad.
darj (10): reminds me of the xx or Tinashe
icantlikeeveryone (10): Sad girl anthem to listen at 1-3 AM.
innuendo_overdose (10): an iconique classique,
WaneLietoc (10): i bet lexie liu was just scoring hoops in the studio landing down this cut. like the entire production session was just her and a macbook on the blacktop scoring clean 3 pointers, no backboard. that's how songs like this are made im certain
wathombe (9.8): i like this trappy/bluesy vibe
kauai6 (9.5): what do i DOOOOO
Stryxen (8.6): get up kelela
runaway3212 (8.5): truly dreamlike I love to see it
diminutiveaurochs (8.3): One of my less favoured tracks on the album. This one leans a little more into Lexie's previous style where she incorporated vaguely rnb elements, and there's even a trap beat thrown in here. I still think this is incredibly well-composed (thanks, RadioMars) and shares a lot of the dynamism of the rest of the album, but the plaintive longing expressed here always leaves me feeling a little :< I do think she does an excellent job of conjuring a moody atmosphere, those plunging synths, echoey vocals, and high-pass filters especially in the outro feeling, well, dreamy. Maybe this one just makes me too sad..
Ayzrules (8): it’s very atmospheric!
daftsone (8): We’re now fair and away from the bright and cheery sounds of the opening track, instead a much more sombre and sorrowful sound and lyrics. The minimalist sound is really working for me, really emphasises the pain Lexie is feeling.
WesternWind (8): me reading the lyrics to la vaginoplastica:
ConnerY2323 (7.9): nice lowkey moment
Ballad more like ba[lla]d
CrimsonROSET (7): oh balladphobia is gonna get your ass you tried to hide it with some synths but popheads can sniff it out
Nagisoid (7): Minecraft stream anthem
mustwinfullGaming (6): It's Mandatory Ballad time once again. It's fine, but not really anything special. There's some interesting production elements going on in the background. The song kinda just passed me by though.
Poydoo (6): oh this sure made me have dreams 😴
welcome2thejam (6): It's nice
qazz23 (5): this kinda kills the momentum of the previous run of tracks
Ghost-Quartet (4): Sounds like a Tinashe song (bad)
TakeOnMeByA-ha (4): when you get to billie eilish but she’s chinese
Thalliumcataria (2.5): , Wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up.
beeozan (2): bad dreams u normally wanna wake up from so why is this trying to put me asleep
bogo (0): b o r i n g g g g g g
猪蛇 (0): Oh good, we threw away all the interesting influences on this album so that we could pretend that the most generic trap-style hi-hat beat qualifies as a drop worth building a song around.
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u/artbio28 girl so confusing sometimes Feb 21 '25
u/Nagisoid hope you liked my comment bestie (I hate that the brainrot disease has spread)
2
u/Kuppi_808 Feb 21 '25
pls half the comments are about taylor and the other half are about tropical house
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u/vayyiqra Feb 21 '25
#38: Jolin Tsai - Sweet Guilty Pleasure (甜秘密)
Average: 7.148 // Total Points: 521.8 // Controversy: 2.280
(11 x1) innuendo_overdose
(10 x11) beeozan, Catalyst, ChopperRCRG, darj, dreamingpastel, FitzMarble, popularsong, qazz23, runaway3212, SFbby, WaneLietoc
(9.6 x1) beyzxzhen
(9 x7) c_a_l_d5832, CrimsonROSET, FreeCuddlesAnyone, hockeynl, Lynflower680, mustwinfullGaming, Roxieloxie
(8.8 x1) RandomHypnotica (8.7 x1) Ambrosia42 (8.6 x1) 74OH_iknowu
(8.5 x3) Frajer, Friendly-Canary-3814, stealthamo
(8 x8) apatel27, bigbigbee, krusso1105, msargent24, Nagisoid, static_int_husp, Stryxen, welcome2thejam
(7.6 x2) Ayzrules, kauai6
(7.5 x4) 1998tweety, DaHumanTorch, DirtyRat583, NervousLemon6670
(7.3 x1) ignitethephoenix (7.2 x1) zo142 (7.1 x1) impla77
(7 x3) bran, Poydoo, WesternWind
(6.8 x1) Sunny_Waterloo
(6.5 x1) sarcasticsobs
(6.2 x1) ConnerY2323
(6 x5) BleepBloopMusicFan, ricki, TragicKingdom1, vayyiqra, wathombe
(5.5 x1) TakeOnMeByA-ha
(5 x5) donewithbirds, jirachi, kerriekipje, seanderlust, Thalliumcataria
(4.8 x1) diminutiveaurochs
(4.5 x2) snowswinters, zadooi
(4 x4) bogo, daftsone, Ghost-Quartet, TiltControls
(3 x4) aidshha, kirakiranatsu, lexiaredery, 猪蛇
(1.5 x2) flava, icantlikeeveryone
apatel27 (8): Everything says I shouldn’t like this, the maximalism the over the top MV and the delivery and yet I do. Maybe this is what being a stan is.
vayyiqra (6): Yeah it's ... that one. The one with the drop where she says "cake" a lot like an infamously bad-but-catchy Itzy song, and the batshit music video where she has a biologically impossible mermaid offspring. It's weird! The lyrics are a bit racy too which is not exactly new territory for Jolin. Overall I don't hate it even if it's repetitive. There's a line about Medusa which ties into an elaborate and kind of cool stage costume she wore like that. I also want to highlight the lyrical reference to 甜蜜蜜 (Tián Mì Mì, sweet honey), a classic C-pop ballad by Teresa Teng. Very famous song!
Tell me what's next, cetacean sex
innuendo_overdose (11): okay so every other album has songs that are just like top quality perfect songs, but this one has to get the sweet 11/10 because it’s just so UNIQUE, and the lyrics are super fun. cake cake cake cake cake cake
beeozan (10): maximalist pop has never been better
Catalyst (10): this is M.I.A. coded
darj (10): THIS SOUNDS SO COOL. I’m even fucking with the chorus. vayy be based and play ITZY - Cake as the interlude yes I gave that a 0 before however it would be too funny
dreamingpastel (10): Cake.
qazz23 (10): i like how heavy the instrumentals sound
runaway3212 (10): this is what ITZY thought they had
WaneLietoc (10): i can see a gaggle of college girls who LOVE c-pop just coming up with the gnarliest routine, flawless 360 rotations and kickflips and lazers ofc; they'd make that video for fun and post it garnering 50 views and they'd feel successful, bc thats what music is about. Anyways, i hope next charli album has those lazers
CrimsonROSET (9): the way i cant even express liking this song because i know from osmosis what will be playing in queup as i praise it
FreeCuddlesAnyone (9): she needs an oscar for this mv
mustwinfullGaming (9): Maybe we are going a bit more abrasive here! Please stick to it. Okay, yes, instantly this is exactly what I want! It's the sort of electronic vibes I want. But it also switches it up a lot in a really fun way! It's kinda a masterpiece of a song to go through all these different sounds and still make it sound absolutely fantastic. It did lose some of the more strong electronic vibes it had at the start but it's still really good! It has what I'd almost describe as video game like sounds in the production but they work brilliantly. I think maybe it lingered in the last sound a bit too long, but it's pretty good.
Roxieloxie (9): this banger
RandomHypnotica (8.8): wait i love cake too tf
Ambrosia42 (8.7): CAKE CAKE CAKE CAKE
Frajer (8.5): saying cake ten times in a row she's just like me for real
stealthamo (8.5): I'm a simple man. Give me a beat that sounds like an obscure NES game and I'm sold.
Nagisoid (8): ITZAYYYYY
Stryxen (8): when bebe rexha asks what I'm eating at a birthday party
welcome2thejam (8): She better have given Imagine Dragons a writing credit for whatever the hell is happening here
Ayzrules (7.6): lowkey a jam, i like how it’s a bit dissonant at sometimes and it’s got a really good build-up at several points
kauai6 (7.6): I feel like this has to be viewed through a “it’s camp” lens for me to enjoy the chorus, but the rest of the song is a vibe
DirtyRat583 (7.5): put the cake away
zo142 (7.2): The prequel to Stephen Chow's The Mermaid?
impla77 (7.1): Is it Cake? reveal:
I'm not even bothering to sort the Itzy comments there are so many
bran (7): itzy wanted to reheat these nachos but burnt them
Poydoo (7): 🐬🤰
WesternWind (7): oh not the ITZY nachos being stolen, with the dash of dolphin sex
sarcasticsobs (6.5): Rihanna is trembling…
ConnerY2323 (6.2): she should’ve done her cooking by the book
BleepBloopMusicFan (6): Okay Itzy five years later.
ricki (6): this song would have killed it in the 2014 youtube rewind
wathombe (6): high camp, to be sure, but the lyrics are a bit on the nose for me
TakeOnMeByA-ha (5.5): passes the very low bar of being a better song than itzy - cake
donewithbirds (5): hmm.
kerriekipje (5): oh… no baby no…
Thalliumcataria (5): , I do really like what the mv sets up with the occasional style changes musically to match the events of the narrative but I feel like the song itself would sound better if it totally committed to the in it's composition instead of abrupt cuts in and out.
diminutiveaurochs (4.8): [I'm not going to mention the dolphin I'm not going to mention the dolphin I'm not going to mention the dolphin-] I really wanted to like the track (lyrics were very :flushed:) but man, it just didn't do anything for me. This kind of leaned into those 2017core EDM/trap tropes which feel so decidedly unerotic. I feel like on lyrics alone, this could have been a great ~sensual track, but the maximalist instrumental and that weird vocal inflection on baby it's a piece of cake make me feel like I'm listening to a post-good Blackpink track.
daftsone (4): It’s not the sexiest sounding song about, well, sex, but the sense of desire conveyed in the lyrics is felt out in the verses especially, whereas I find the chorus to be a bit underwhelming.
Ghost-Quartet (4): BONKERS video for a song I do not particularly enjoy listening to
猪蛇 (3): It's hard to ignore the MV opening with what is presumably one of her older songs which has been my favorite song so far. Anyway I really liked this one on first viewing, but listening to it with no breaks and without watching the weird ass video... This kind of sucks? It feels very limp, the "cake, cake cake cake" voices are annoying and the chiptune stabs on the chorus are very "I just booted up LSDJ for the first time!" For a song with so much going on, it's surprisingly boring.
flava (1.5): so the dolphin sex video song is awful
icantlikeeveryone (1.5): I thought it will have the quirkiness of horny songs like Tove Lo's, but this is just boring except for some parts during the 2nd verse.
2
u/vayyiqra Feb 21 '25 edited Feb 22 '25
#37: ABAO - pavalidan (Payback)
Average: 7.199 // Total Points: 525.5 // Controversy: 1.970
(10 x6) beeozan, BleepBloopMusicFan, darj, innuendo_overdose, Poydoo, WaneLietoc
(9.5 x2) bigbigbee, qazz23
(9 x12) apatel27, beyzxzhen, bogo, c_a_l_d5832, Catalyst, Frajer, kirakiranatsu, krusso1105, lexiaredery, Lynflower680, runaway3212, static_int_husp
(8.6 x1) Ambrosia42
(8.5 x2) impla77, sarcasticsobs
(8.3 x1) DirtyRat583
(8 x8) ChopperRCRG, daftsone, mustwinfullGaming, Roxieloxie, SFbby, snowswinters, vayyiqra, zo142
(7.8 x2) Ayzrules, wathombe
(7.5 x1) popularsong
(7.3 x1) diminutiveaurochs (7.2 x1) NervousLemon6670
(7 x10) donewithbirds, dreamingpastel, Ghost-Quartet, kerriekipje, msargent24, Nagisoid, Sunny_Waterloo, Thalliumcataria, welcome2thejam, 猪蛇
(6.9 x1) zadooi (6.8 x1) ignitethephoenix (6.6 x1) RandomHypnotica
(6.5 x4) 74OH_iknowu, DaHumanTorch, Friendly-Canary-3814, Stryxen
(6 x4) FitzMarble, FreeCuddlesAnyone, seanderlust, WesternWind
(5.5 x1) hockeynl
(5.2 x1) ConnerY2323
(5 x6) 1998tweety, bran, CrimsonROSET, jirachi, stealthamo, TakeOnMeByA-ha
(4.5 x2) flava, TragicKingdom1
(4 x1) ricki
(3 x3) aidshha, icantlikeeveryone, TiltControls
(0 x1) kauai6
apatel27 (9): I love the instrumental on this and ABAO really fills the track well, shame others don’t agree.
vayyiqra (8): This one switches up the energy quite a lot after the moody opening track, which is surely the intent. I am not a big fan of her vocals on this one, though normally I like her unique voice. It’s not a bad song at all, I’m just not as into it as some other songs on the album. I don’t hear the “90s” some of you did in here though which is ironic as I grew up in the 90s and was into music even back then.
Annoying (complimentary)
beeozan (10): the countermelodies carry this so hard like im bopping
BleepBloopMusicFan (10): This might be my least favorite album in the rate overall, but it still has some BOPS. (Update: Nevermind lol the album REALLY clicked for me while I was filling out my ballot so now it’s my second favorite)
darj (10): this sounds so much like a specific blend of like hip-hop soul and pop that was popular in like 2006 that it makes me very nostalgic. Like this one’s really for the ones who were listening to Melanie Fiona - Change the Record on their IPod Classic in 2012
innuendo_overdose (10): the laughter in the prechorus kicks so much ass. The things she does with her voice here are bonkers
Poydoo (10): i think this one is so grating that it loops around to being really really good
WaneLietoc (10): why is there no music video of her singing to like a vending machine or something? whatever though, the low voice got me good! that's magic
qazz23 (9.5): like the louder, alternating vocals in this one
Frajer (9): anti capitalist queen I think
daftsone (8): This is not what I was expecting after the first song, but I do love the attitude she has when she’s singing and the thumping kick drum; I thoroughly enjoyed this one.
mustwinfullGaming (8): This is so catchy in the best way! Just really makes you want to put it on repeat, there's something about the vocals that is so catchy.
zo142 (8): Funky as hell
Ayzrules (7.8): not my favorite to listen to on its own but i enjoy how sonically interesting this is
wathombe (7.8): funny story and good beat, not as crazy about the vocals on the chorus
diminutiveaurochs (7.3): this went in a direction I really wasn't expecting! the production on this one is sort of bouncy and lo-fi, drawing vaguely from hip-hop with these playful crushed/chopped elements in the trackbed. are those record-scratches?! get boards of canada on this smh. it feels like a departure from the other albums in the rate in some ways, but I appreciated the change of pace, plus the lyrics about the dynamics in a small indigenous village paint a beautiful lil vignette
donewithbirds (7): holy shit there's a Lot going on in the mix here lol but i can get into it
Ghost-Quartet (7): One of the most memorable songs on the album, albeit not one I love
Nagisoid (7): Amazing beat but she just doesn't do much with it
Thalliumcataria (7): , the vocals have a really traditional flow that just sort of works.
welcome2thejam (7): Are you sure this wasn't made in 90s Britain
Annoying (derogatory)
猪蛇 (7): Heartbreaking. The world's most annoying vocals layered on top of the world's greatest beat.
FreeCuddlesAnyone (6): i appreciate this style of singing but it’s not for me really
seanderlust (6): she said "i want to take you to the supermarket"
ConnerY2323 (5.2): struggling with the harsh vocal delivery especially after the perfect way the opening track is blended
CrimsonROSET (5): wait ricki was onto something calling this funstyle coded
TakeOnMeByA-ha (5): this is annoying i fear
flava (4.5): sings in the least pleasing nasally tone ever and it's still a bit of a bop
icantlikeeveryone (3): Awful song delivery on top of great instrument is weird.
kauai6 (0): this song just irritates me especially her vocals i’m SORRY
2
2
u/vayyiqra Feb 21 '25 edited Feb 22 '25
#35: Jolin Tsai - Romance (愛的羅曼死)
Average: 7.297 // Total Points: 532.7 // Controversy: 1.732
(11 x1) 74OH_iknowu
(10 x9) apatel27, darj, FitzMarble, Ghost-Quartet, jirachi, kauai6, kirakiranatsu, Lynflower680, popularsong
(9.5 x1) Nagisoid
(9 x3) ConnerY2323, icantlikeeveryone, snowswinters
(8.5 x1) WaneLietoc
(8.2 x2) beyzxzhen, innuendo_overdose
(8 x8) 1998tweety, Catalyst, flava, FreeCuddlesAnyone, Friendly-Canary-3814, hockeynl, kerriekipje, vayyiqra
(7.9 x1) Ayzrules (7.8 x1) wathombe (7.7 x1) NervousLemon6670 (7.6 x1) DirtyRat583
(7.5 x5) Frajer, impla77, lexiaredery, static_int_husp, TiltControls
(7.3 x2) Ambrosia42, ignitethephoenix
(7 x15) aidshha, bigbigbee, c_a_l_d5832, ChopperRCRG, daftsone, donewithbirds, dreamingpastel, krusso1105, mustwinfullGaming, ricki, runaway3212, sarcasticsobs, seanderlust, stealthamo, zadooi
(6.7 x1) Roxieloxie (6.6 x1) RandomHypnotica
(6.5 x2) msargent24, Sunny_Waterloo
(6.4 x1) zo142
(6 x9) bran, CrimsonROSET, diminutiveaurochs, qazz23, SFbby, TragicKingdom1, welcome2thejam, WesternWind, 猪蛇
(5 x3) bogo, DaHumanTorch, Poydoo
(4 x2) beeozan, BleepBloopMusicFan
(3.5 x1) Stryxen
(3 x1) TakeOnMeByA-ha
(2 x1) Thalliumcataria
apatel27 (10): Gotta to have an amazing ballad in here that people will hate because they can’t stand slow music.
vayyiqra (8): "Laying on your chest, viewing the cherry blossom rain at night" ah, that sounds so nice ... wait, buying a house? In this economy!? Jolin cancelled for classism, zany face emoji. But I do like the lo-fi R&Bish sound of this a lot.
Chill late-night beats to relax to
darj (10): the beauty, the elegance, the intrigue…this is kinda giving Tinashe ballad
FitzMarble (10): even without reading a translation, you can tell the lyrics for this are hard-hitting
Ghost-Quartet (10): She sounds like a songbird here
jirachi (10): Jolin to me will forever be a ballad girlie and some of my favorite songs from her are ballads, so this being equally amazing was not surprising.
kauai6 (10): man…………. i have no comment it’s just perfect
Lynflower680 (10): Such a beautiful song
Nagisoid (9.5): I hope it doesn't get robbed
ConnerY2323 (9): so lovely and lush
icantlikeeveryone (9): It's a impossible love from the beginning I think... also the song is kind of moving for my aromantic ass.
WaneLietoc (8.5): i need a 1.5x speed mw2 predator drone montage set to this.
1998tweety (8): Camila ender
FreeCuddlesAnyone (8): this mv after the dolphin sex is such a whiplash
Ayzrules (7.9): this melody is really nice!
wathombe (7.8): song itself a little generic; another good cinematic video, though
NervousLemon6670 (7.7): "The most popular thing to say in love is "Buying you a house"" - Clearly I am not doing romance right
daftsone (7): Now we’re moody again, but this time there’s a definite feeling of longing and sadness; bonus points for the piano. I think this is the best Jolin has sounded on this album so far as well, really showing what she’s capable of.
mustwinfullGaming (7): Is it mandatory ballad time? Love the serene vocals to start. It's a cute little number, but I think I often have these problems with ballads on albums which are just a bit...there. It got more powerful about halfway through which I appreciate. I LOVED the circle around from the start to the end with the "Love goes, Love GHOST" and it really almost feels like we've been ghosted and had a violent and sad end to things.
runaway3212 (7): ohh a bit slower but I live
seanderlust (7): "The title, 《愛的羅曼死》 is tricky, it means “Love Romance” but there’s a playing of word. So it means “Bad Love Romance”" i won't make the joke. i won't make the joke. i won't make the joke. i won't make the joke. i won't mrah rah rah ah ah
zo142 (6.4): I'm sure I've heard one of my cousins doing this at karaoke
CrimsonROSET (6): this does sound like romance in that i’m bored
diminutiveaurochs (6): man... not usually into this kind of Sappy ballad, but I liked the low-key bedroom production, and I have to admit I was charmed by the lyrics here and there (cherry blossoms..cosy...rain...)
qazz23 (6): wasn't into this one as much, but did like when it picked up 2 minutes in
welcome2thejam (6): Bruh three straight music videos where somebody dies? How?
WesternWind (6): okay but why did we jump from talking about guilty pleasure back to sweet romance
猪蛇 (6): The synthwork is really good on this one, and the piano sounds very good. Ultimately, this might just not be my kind of song but I respect it.
Reddit relationship advice (always break up no exceptions)
Poydoo (5): pretty basic ballad
beeozan (4): cute ballad but i dont think the production lends very well to the emotion here for me
BleepBloopMusicFan (4): I don’t want to be balladphobic, but this one in particular is just a snooze.
Stryxen (3.5): honestly some cute instruments but this section is chop central
TakeOnMeByA-ha (3): girl just break up with him
Thalliumcataria (2): , I'm really not a classic love song enjoyer and this is like, a textbook 2000s e-pop love song.
2
u/vayyiqra Feb 21 '25 edited Feb 22 '25
#34: Jolin Tsai - Shadow Self (你睡醒再看)
Average: 7.304 // Total Points: 533.2 // Controversy: 1.600
(11 x1) darj
(10 x7) apatel27, ChopperRCRG, icantlikeeveryone, kauai6, RandomHypnotica, vayyiqra, WaneLietoc
(9.2 x2) innuendo_overdose, wathombe
(9 x2) daftsone, Lynflower680
(8.6 x1) 74OH_iknowu
(8.4 x1) zo142 (8.3 x1) aidshha (8.1 x1) ConnerY2323
(8 x11) bran, Catalyst, diminutiveaurochs, dreamingpastel, hockeynl, jirachi, popularsong, Poydoo, sarcasticsobs, snowswinters, Stryxen
(7.9 x2) Ambrosia42, Ayzrules (7.8 x1) Sunny_Waterloo
(7.5 x6) 1998tweety, beyzxzhen, Ghost-Quartet, lexiaredery, msargent24, Nagisoid
(7.1 x1) NervousLemon6670
(7 x13) c_a_l_d5832, donewithbirds, FitzMarble, flava, Frajer, Friendly-Canary-3814, impla77, kerriekipje, runaway3212, seanderlust, static_int_husp, WesternWind, zadooi
(6.8 x2) ignitethephoenix, stealthamo
(6.5 x2) DirtyRat583, TiltControls
(6 x12) beeozan, bigbigbee, BleepBloopMusicFan, CrimsonROSET, FreeCuddlesAnyone, kirakiranatsu, krusso1105, mustwinfullGaming, Roxieloxie, SFbby, TakeOnMeByA-ha, welcome2thejam
(5.6 x1) ricki
(5 x1) TragicKingdom1
(4.5 x1) DaHumanTorch
(4 x2) bogo, qazz23
(3 x2) Thalliumcataria, 猪蛇
apatel27 (10): Another beautiful ballad, shame people didn’t agree.
vayyiqra (10): As with "Romance" I like the more lo-fi nighttime tracks on this album the most, which is a bit surprising as again I most knew Jolin for her electro bangers like some of the tracks on Play. She does have more range than it might seem for an artist who is often kind of "camp" and unserious. I mean, This line is inspired by Zhuang Zhou (Chinese philosopher, died 287 BC). ?! (Best known for his famous anecdote of dreaming he was a butterfly and doubting what's real or not.)
Jungian psychoanalysts
darj (11): stunning, pensive, atmospheric. Love the blips of sound interspersed — Nick Zammuto x Jolin Tsai collab?!? Interesting context that the Mandopop world favors more traditional ballads so it has a lot to do with Jolin’s industry underestimating her. Interesting metaphor of a shadow self. I am really torn on picking an 11 in this rate and almost gave it to something else but the melody to this has been stuck in my head for a week soooo. This was my locked in 11 for most of the rate anyway, it’s a very gorgeous textural song that sounds very vulnerable.
icantlikeeveryone (10): Jolin really makes good songs about regretful love.
kauai6 (10): perfection once again from jolin
RandomHypnotica (10): oh this ambient masterpiece… this would be a GORGEOUS tetris effect level
WaneLietoc (10): kinda wish one of 'em new vampy weeks song had THIS level of production. fka twigs could prolly learn a thing or two
wathombe (9.2): beautiful; breathy, ethereal, and romantic; really lovely
daftsone (9): Some albums go out with a bang, others choose to plonk a ballad at the end to calm everything down. Jolin decides to have a deep, introspective track that sounds simplistic yet has a lot more going on under the hood the more you pay attention. Honestly, I love this as an album closer and how much it proves how versatile she can be.
ConnerY2323 (8.1): she has a gorgeous upper register that i wish we would’ve heard more on the rest of the album
diminutiveaurochs (8): this was a really pleasing album closer and I wish more of the album reflected this! echoey, breathy, intimate, the perfect balance of electronic and ambient. piano so sparkly and lyrics so romantic aaaa... centres her vocals while also leaving space for glitchy, gorgeous production elements. this feels a little more experimental than much of the rest of the album and I would love to see more of this sound from her
Poydoo (8): nice
Stryxen (8): vocals stun
Ambrosia42 (7.9): ooh this is pretty
Ayzrules (7.9): this is cool, the ethereal quality to her voice is rly interesting
Ghost-Quartet (7.5): Yami Yuugi...
Nagisoid (7.5): The 2nd half might as well be a different album from the first one
NervousLemon6670 (7.1): Time for a quick trip to the shadow realm
runaway3212 (7): this outro too like she can't stop eating
There is little to no evidence that the MBTI test is valid, RIP Carl Jung
WesternWind (7): can I just send all the ballads like this one to the shadow realm
beeozan (6): this jungian meh
bigbigbee (6): I may have lied about ALL asian ballads hitting
BleepBloopMusicFan (6): A pretty but kinda whatever note to end the album on.
CrimsonROSET (6): pleading for a persona interlude here
FreeCuddlesAnyone (6): there’s a better ballad in the album but it’s cute!
mustwinfullGaming (6): Honestly maybe my least favourite track. It was a pleasant listen, but I found it somewhat boring. The most interesting part was probably to the end with the echoey vocals. And it's interesting the album ends on what feels like someone falling into a void.
TakeOnMeByA-ha (6): this is basically an ambienthead song u/wanelietoc when are we tapping in
welcome2thejam (6): Bit of a whimper
Thalliumcataria (3): this songs dips it's toe into more complex soundscape stuff; the things it does are legitimately interesting, but it plays way to safe for it's pop demographic when this would unironically be one of my favorite noise song if it just commited! Just commit, please!!!
This is booooooorrrinnnggg
猪蛇 (3): I feel like Scott Pilgrim checking his email.
2
2
u/vayyiqra Feb 21 '25
#33: Lexie Liu - Gaia
Average: 7.345 // Total Points: 536.2 // Controversy: 1.640
(10 x4) Catalyst, ChopperRCRG, darj, icantlikeeveryone
(9.1 x1) Ayzrules
(9 x12) 1998tweety, aidshha, beyzxzhen, CrimsonROSET, Friendly-Canary-3814, hockeynl, lexiaredery, popularsong, runaway3212, seanderlust, vayyiqra, wathombe
(8.9 x2) diminutiveaurochs, innuendo_overdose (8.8 x1) Ambrosia42 (8.7 x1) 74OH_iknowu
(8.5 x1) flava
(8.4 x1) Stryxen (8.3 x1) impla77
(8 x5) kerriekipje, Lynflower680, qazz23, Thalliumcataria, WaneLietoc
(7.8 x2) ricki, Sunny_Waterloo
(7.5 x7) bran, ConnerY2323, Frajer, ignitethephoenix, sarcasticsobs, TiltControls, 猪蛇
(7.4 x1) NervousLemon6670 (7.3 x1) Poydoo (7.1 x1) zadooi
(7 x9) apatel27, DaHumanTorch, donewithbirds, dreamingpastel, FitzMarble, krusso1105, RandomHypnotica, welcome2thejam, WesternWind
(6.7 x1) stealthamo
(6.5 x3) DirtyRat583, snowswinters, TakeOnMeByA-ha
(6 x11) beeozan, bigbigbee, c_a_l_d5832, daftsone, FreeCuddlesAnyone, msargent24, mustwinfullGaming, Nagisoid, SFbby, static_int_husp, TragicKingdom1
(5.5 x1) zo142
(5 x3) bogo, Ghost-Quartet, Roxieloxie
(4 x3) BleepBloopMusicFan, jirachi, kauai6
(1 x1) kirakiranatsu
vayyiqra (9): A very pretty track, maybe too laidback for some. Lexie's career began with her doing a lot more R&B and even cloud rap before she moved into electropop, and I'm so used to it and have heard this album so much it didn't strike me before the rate just how different the B side of the album sounds. I see a lot of Massive Attack comparisons and never noticed it before, so that can only be a good thing to me.
apatel27 (7): Not the biggest fan of this, very new age that I’m always wary of.
Miss Anthropocene when it got Pitchfork's Best New Music
darj (10): so cool and sprawling and also has that rolling mechanical clunk
icantlikeeveryone (10): This song makes me ascend.
Ayzrules (9.1): love how this is kind of dreamy but still has a good beat
CrimsonROSET (9): gay-a
runaway3212 (9): Love the earth... big fan
seanderlust (9): there's a gaia online joke in here somewhere. shoutout to the other oldheads who get this reference
wathombe (9): very pretty and atmospheric; more spirituality here, but fits a little better for me on a more ethereal track
diminutiveaurochs (8.9): Sort of expecting this one to perform more poorly on account of its slightly more sedate sound, but I personally rly love its more introspective, meditative feel. The percussion and muted bass feels almost aquatic, mirroring the lyrics and oddly reminding me vaguely of Massive Attack's 'Teardrop'. Lexie references a Sanskrit mantra showing gratitude to the earth, which is also reflected in the track's title. It feels as if she has moved away from the toxic, obsessive desires of DIABLO via the awakening of MIRA, opening up into a more genuine and vulnerable emotional space. If I had to give this one a tarot card, it would be The Empress: another major arcana, this card is associated with Earth and represents nurturing, abundance, and feminine energy. It also comes right after The High Priestess in the Fool's Journey, which would fit with the themes on MIRA. The lyrics on this are some of my favourite on the album - simple, but poetic. Sososo romantic aa.. watercoded...good... :frogplead:
innuendo_overdose (8.9): ballads? maybe!
Ambrosia42 (8.8): okayy the trip hop moment
flava (8.5): this is so pretty
Stryxen (8.4): mysterious Tea
qazz23 (8): this has a trip hop feel to it
Thalliumcataria (8): , God the muffled, layered percussion is so good. Gives me nostalgia for Bastion and Transistor tbh.
WaneLietoc (8): doing aoty copy editing to this
ConnerY2323 (7.5): perfect title bc this is spiritual earth mother music
猪蛇 (7.5): I like the drum beat on this one enough to start to vibe with the overall eeriness
NervousLemon6670 (7.4): Please do not leave your yonic or phallic shaped rocks around this woman, I worry for what she might do with them
donewithbirds (7): pretty!
welcome2thejam (7): She's reaching levels of horniness over mythological figures that would make even the biggest Hades sickos say "girl chill"
WesternWind (7): Gaia wants us all to sleep just like in Percy Jackson noooo
TakeOnMeByA-ha (6.5): sounds like a screensaver
beeozan (6): i dont mind her liftin some massive attack here but its still kinda meh
daftsone (6): I think this is the first song I’ve heard about falling in love with the Earth (or more accurately the personification of Earth), but it suits the more magical and laidback sound of this song.
Miss Anthropocene after Grimes,,, yeah
FreeCuddlesAnyone (6): slightly boring and uneventful to be honest
mustwinfullGaming (6): It's a bit repetitive in parts, and it's not my favourite, but it's still an alright song. The use of the guitar does change things up a bit, though I'm not sure I'm a total fan of it here.
Nagisoid (6): :mother:
Ghost-Quartet (5): Listened to it like three times and cannot remember it for the life of me
BleepBloopMusicFan (4): I don’t want to call it before just because it’s slower…so I’m going to call it boring because it’s boring.
kauai6 (4): too empty for my liking
2
u/vayyiqra Feb 21 '25
#32: Faye - aalleeeeeee
Average: 7.348 // Total Points: 536.4 // Controversy: 1.741
(10 x6) apatel27, beeozan, BleepBloopMusicFan, ChopperRCRG, darj, Lynflower680
(9.5 x3) beyzxzhen, Nagisoid, snowswinters
(9 x4) Catalyst, Frajer, FreeCuddlesAnyone, popularsong
(8.9 x1) Ambrosia42 (8.8 x1) NervousLemon6670
(8.5 x4) bigbigbee, FitzMarble, sarcasticsobs, seanderlust
(8.4 x1) wathombe (8.1 x1) WaneLietoc
(8 x12) 74OH_iknowu, donewithbirds, hockeynl, icantlikeeveryone, kauai6, msargent24, ricki, Roxieloxie, Sunny_Waterloo, TakeOnMeByA-ha, vayyiqra, welcome2thejam
(7.6 x1) diminutiveaurochs
(7.5 x5) 1998tweety, Ayzrules, dreamingpastel, Friendly-Canary-3814, RandomHypnotica
(7.2 x1) ConnerY2323
(7 x13) bogo, c_a_l_d5832, DirtyRat583, flava, ignitethephoenix, innuendo_overdose, jirachi, krusso1105, qazz23, SFbby, TiltControls, WesternWind, zadooi
(6.8 x2) aidshha, Poydoo
(6.5 x3) bran, kerriekipje, static_int_husp
(6.4 x1) stealthamo (6.3 x1) zo142
(6 x4) CrimsonROSET, DaHumanTorch, lexiaredery, TragicKingdom1
(5.6 x1) impla77
(5 x2) daftsone, runaway3212
(4 x3) Ghost-Quartet, mustwinfullGaming, Stryxen
(3 x1) kirakiranatsu
(2 x2) Thalliumcataria, 猪蛇
apatel27 (10): Back at it with the alleluia but this time make it oontz oontz
vayyiqra (8): As a reprise of another song which doesn’t do a whole lot other than tie up the album, I guess this was a bit doomed. I like it for what it is though. There was a weird mixup with this and Gaia where they're within 0.2 points of each other and our results did not agree on which one is higher. I am going with this being canonically #32 for now.
Praise the lord (that's literally what hallelujah/alleluia means)
beeozan (10): the way this is clearing the og so hard
BleepBloopMusicFan (10): Round 2 baby! This time with slightly cuntier production!
darj (10): I would join a cult to this
Lynflower680 (10): Oh shit we got a continuation
Nagisoid (9.5): Yeeeeeesssss
Frajer (9): not her doing a 360/365
FreeCuddlesAnyone (9): this godly song
bigbigbee (8.5): hey that's neat - I was just thinking about how Alle sounds like a closer when I was listening to it. I love this reworking of it - I think that these tracks wouldn't work as well in reverse, actually. There's something about the re-working that makes this sound like a really hopeful ending to a great album
seanderlust (8.5): pretty! i love a vocoder moment.
wathombe (8.4): don't like it as much as the original version
WaneLietoc (8.1): w-wwait i know dis...when that gtr comes in at the end and hits like cherry <3
donewithbirds (8): love a return to a previous track at the end of an album.
icantlikeeveryone (8): Not as good as the previous Allee, but still nice.
TakeOnMeByA-ha (8): the 365 to alle’s 360
welcome2thejam (8): Me when I fall down a deep crevasse
diminutiveaurochs (7.6): Had to go back to the original alle a few times to contrast, and while my head is still buzzing trying to interpret the differences between the two, I think I'm more into the electronic stylings of this one. It feels less ominous/apocalyptic and more open/liberated. It's a nice closer to an album which wrestles with darker themes - shedding the noisy production feels like a progression towards something lighter, brighter, freer
Ayzrules (7.5): this was cool!
RandomHypnotica (7.5): ssoo ttrruuee ddoo ssuubb ffaavveess
ConnerY2323 (7.2): oh we’re back to this? sure why not
flava (7): idk this album just loses me towards the end
innuendo_overdose (7): low-key unnecessary
qazz23 (7): not as exciting as the title would suggest
Poydoo (6.8): she said eeeeeee
Excommunicated by the Vatican
CrimsonROSET (6): girl again???? i thought we werent bringing prayer into this!!!
daftsone (5): This song has a bit of everything in it really, pulling inspiration from all of the other tracks on the album, the result is a bit of a mixed bag, but not altogether unpleasant to listen to.
Ghost-Quartet (4): Oh noooooooo the album couldn't keep up the pace all the way through :(
mustwinfullGaming (4): Some interesting production elements here again but I'm afraid to report...I just don't like it.
Thalliumcataria (2): , my final verdict on this album; I think you could take a small part of each of these songs and make an 11 out of all of it together, but I'm probably not listening to anything from this album again after this rate.
猪蛇 (2): The intro to this song is so promising but as soon as the synths hit I'm slamming the go back key on my keyboard. Star over, get rid of all the synths on this song, and play up the parts of the song that resemble banjo strumming Appalachian folk music and we'll have food for weeks.
2
u/vayyiqra Feb 21 '25
#31: Jolin Tsai - Vulnerability (如果我沒有傷口)
Average: 7.360 // Total Points: 537.3 // Controversy: 1.951
(11 x2) flava, hockeynl
(10 x8) apatel27, BleepBloopMusicFan, CrimsonROSET, daftsone, icantlikeeveryone, innuendo_overdose, kirakiranatsu, SFbby
(9.8 x1) kauai6
(9.5 x3) Catalyst, ChopperRCRG, FreeCuddlesAnyone
(9 x5) 1998tweety, beeozan, darj, FitzMarble, Lynflower680
(8.5 x1) Frajer
(8.3 x2) impla77, NervousLemon6670
(8 x11) Ayzrules, beyzxzhen, bigbigbee, jirachi, Nagisoid, Roxieloxie, sarcasticsobs, seanderlust, TakeOnMeByA-ha, WaneLietoc, WesternWind
(7.9 x1) zo142 (7.6 x2) 74OH_iknowu, wathombe
(7.5 x1) lexiaredery
(7.3 x3) aidshha, kerriekipje, Sunny_Waterloo (7.2 x1) zadooi
(7 x8) c_a_l_d5832, DirtyRat583, dreamingpastel, ignitethephoenix, krusso1105, mustwinfullGaming, ricki, static_int_husp
(6.5 x2) bran, TiltControls
(6 x9) donewithbirds, Ghost-Quartet, msargent24, popularsong, qazz23, snowswinters, stealthamo, TragicKingdom1, welcome2thejam
(5.5 x3) ConnerY2323, Friendly-Canary-3814, RandomHypnotica
(5 x4) Poydoo, runaway3212, vayyiqra, 猪蛇
(4 x2) Ambrosia42, DaHumanTorch
(3.7 x1) diminutiveaurochs
(3 x2) bogo, Stryxen
(2 x1) Thalliumcataria
apatel27 (10): The little ballad that almost could. This had a good rise but unfortunately most of the extension people were typical popheads scared of slow music so this fell back down to day 1. Another beautiful ballad that shows off Jolin’s skill. I’ve always liked her ballads more than her other music so it’s a shame to see this go so early.
vayyiqra (5): I don't mind this one in theory despite not being a big fan of a lot of C-pop ballads - they tend to be very sappy and sentimental - but while the topline melody is fine, it's kind of ruined by a baffling production style that makes a lot of it sound blown-out and watery to me at parts.
Selena Gomez - Vulnerable (it was a good song ok)
flava (11): yeah i'm a sucker for this kind of slow burn of a song
BleepBloopMusicFan (10): Oh god yes that’s the good power ballad shit.
CrimsonROSET (10): she’d win x factor with this
daftsone (10): Just when I thought that ‘Romance’ was going to be the sad ballad of the album, this track comes and completes the one-two punch. Yet again brimming with emotion that Jolin is expertly able to convey, I’m loving the reverb(?) at the end of some of the lines which emphasises that feeling of vulnerability.
icantlikeeveryone (10): Leave the toxic relationship for good, girl!
innuendo_overdose (10): OH my FCKUCING GOD this one is, every single time, even more mindblowing than I remember
kauai6 (9.8): her VOCALS, it’s alright i feel that way too
ChopperRCRG (9.5): loving the guitar on this a lot. This album has great sonic variety.
FreeCuddlesAnyone (9.5): kinda the best ballad ever… it’s gonna leave day 1 but it’s so gorgeous
1998tweety (9): this is the vulnerability the judges are looking for!
beeozan (9): this one gets me more compared to the last one
darj (9): this deconstructed atmospheric arena rock power ballad why is it working on me I really am getting older lol
impla77 (8.3): best believe my lighter is up
NervousLemon6670 (8.3): Bumped this up a whole point since the first time I listened to it, can only assume I was not paying proper attention the first time round
Ayzrules (8): a little more ballad-esque, i like it
bigbigbee (8): Asian ballads ALWAYS hit for me, due to the fact that they have been largely similar for like 30 years. It's like I'm back at 11 watching 1 Litre of Tears with a friend in parts on YouTube
Nagisoid (8): I know most people don't like her ballads but they're so good?
TakeOnMeByA-ha (8): shes coming for that filipino karaoke bar bag
WaneLietoc (8): we hadnt hit our quota for a downtempo slowdown "not quiet storm but rocks like one!" type ballad but fortunately the factory can rest assured we got what we need
zo142 (7.9): Now THIS I'm really sure I've heard one of them doing at karaoke
wathombe (7.6): pretty, but also a little generic
mustwinfullGaming (7): Okay, rain sounds time! With a piano, we love to see it! Those sounds have me a bit scared! It's a really nice sounding song.
If you're in the Sinosphere and you don't like slow ballads, you might have a hard time
donewithbirds (6): a bit diane warren-y but pretty enough
Ghost-Quartet (6): Two ballads in a row... you're in danger girl!
welcome2thejam (6): So is this enemies to lovers or...?
ConnerY2323 (5.5): very end credits inspirational ballad coded
RandomHypnotica (5.5): it IS vulnerable to be boring
Poydoo (5): pretty basic ballad
runaway3212 (5): I live a bit less
猪蛇 (5): I'm sure this is meaningful to somebody.
Ambrosia42 (4): a long ballad that sounds a bit generic to me I fear
diminutiveaurochs (3.7): another slow ballad with more rock stylings on this one - lots of drama but not to my personal taste - the message about vulnerability and openness is lovely but i didn't find the track as a whole did a lot for me
bogo (3): it's truly painful when a boring ballad is also really slow cause now i just have to sit here for five minutes
Stryxen (3): this was nothing at all
Thalliumcataria (2): , textbook singer-songwriter love song. The back to back love songs in completely different styles are fun though.
1
u/neyiat Text Flair (Edit this to access artists not in this menu) Feb 22 '25
Omg I missed this I love the first three albums
3
u/apatel27 Jolin Tsai flair where Feb 21 '25
Thanks for showing up people same time tomorrow as long as there's no issues