#U2 Songs ranked

[alphabravohotel]

They've updated the list. I spent a lot of time saying, "I can't believe that's ranked so low." Anyway, just thought I'd share.

[everything-on-red]

THE BIG SONG RANKING

ladies and gentlemen, to make good on my promise to @daniel-profeta, a list of my 40 favorite songs.

TIER 1 - GOD TIER:

“No Children” - Mountain Goats

Made me cry, made me feel seen, made me feel like a grape in a microwave, cooking from the inside out, dying on the vine, stuck in a box, about to explode, glowing with light. Made me confront my family life, made me ascend to a higher plane of being, made me a sad bastard.

“Staring At the Sun” - U2

I wish I had written these lyrics. I spend 90% of my life in denial so I felt very targeted by this song. I fly up in preparation whenever I hear it starting, and remain floating for the entire song, drifting in the ribbon clouds.

“It’s Alright” - Jack Stauber

This song just grabbed the otherworldly concept of placid hopelessness and frantic optimism and blended it all up in a blender and released a thousand screaming beautiful animals like sun spots on your eyelids in an empty indoor water park where you go skinny dipping with your favorite person and everything feels warm and electric.

“Only Skin” - Joanna Newsom

I have listened to this song probably over 40 times (and it’s 16 minutes long! So that’s 10 hours) and the lyrical tapestry of it is still an explosive mystery to me. It makes me weep and be very happy to be a woman because my body and brain are twisting in a living fairytale fever dream.

“Oh Comely” - Neutral Milk Hotel

How the fuck is this song about so many things and yet one thing. It is some of the most beautiful poetry I have ever had the pleasure of washing over me. Especially the part where it turns into a story about Hansel and Gretel freezing to death after they run away from the circus. See what I mean? It’s about so many things, but it’s about one thing. One solid feeling that you can’t get anywhere else.

“Hey” - Pixies

This song is a screaming roller coaster like an apocalyptic car ride down into the red and blue twilight city, divorce, and the Devil tarot card. Does that not sound like a good time?

“Sweet Thing/Candidate/Sweet Thing Reprise” - David Bowie

This may be cheating, since it’s 3 songs, but the instrumentals in this suite are INSANE, the lyrics are SO FUCKING RESONANT I’M LITERALLY RESONATING, and Bowie is vocal goals here. Wailing makes everything better. “With you by my side it should be fine. / We’ll buy some drugs and watch a band, / then jump in the river holding hands.”

“Never Let Go” - Tom Waits

You know a song is magnificent when it can be both a loud tavern song and a quiet campfire song. This one reminds me of my father, so I can’t say too much else for fear of revealing my bias. But it’s beautiful, and like all Tom Waits, gives weepy 1930s vibes.

“All Eyes On Me” - Bo Burnham

Y'all ready to retreat into the dream and slowly disintegrate as we assimilate into the digital opiate hivemind in death as natural as a river at the end of the world? Because when I listen to this song, I feel fucking HYPED.

“Liquid Smooth” - Mitski

This is a song about Mary and you cannot change my mind. It is achingly powerful and desperate, ringing with the fear of death and ugliness and impotence, the intense and inescapable body horror of our mere existence as bags of throbbing flesh, the bottomless maw of sex.

TIER 2 - FUCK YEAH TIER:

“Rainbow Connection” - Kermie Da Frog :D (Paul Williams and Kenneth Ascher)

This song always makes me smile, and I am proud to be a writer. I feel strong.

“Rock ‘N’ Roll Suicide” - David Bowie

The fumbling and melancholy mundanity that builds into such a beautiful plea for understanding and empathy. I get the sense that everyone who has ever reached out their hands is reaching out for a reason. They hold that reason tight to their chests and ride it into the ethereal plane. “Oh no love, you’re not alone!” The scream is so powerful. We are all David After Dentist. Even David.

“As The World Caves In” - Matt Maltese

Similar thematically to the last entry. Words cannot describe the feelings that the story in this song gives me. “It’s you. / That I lie with.”

“Freedom” - Teddy Hyde

This song is downright picturesque. The sentiment is beautiful, the instrumental is meltingly lovely. And oh my god the horn part. You are not prepared for this, it will pulverize you (tenderly).

“Down By the Side of the Road” - John Prine

This one is definitely about Mary, and it’s one of my favorite stories I’ve ever heard. I highly recommend listening to this, it is the missing link in a long line of ghost stories.

“Toes” - Glass Animals

You ever just wanna feel all the horror of The Island of Dr. Moreau PLUS The Most Dangerous Game in less than 5 minutes? Well with Toes by Glass Animals, now you can!!!

“The Sick Bed of Cuchulainn” - The Pogues

THIS SONG MAKES ME FERAL. GRRRRRRRRR.

“I Bleed” - Pixies

This is my favorite Pixies song, despite the fact that Hey is probably better. I love the desert. I love coterminosity and cyclical time. I love devolving into the fluid consciousness of the past! And I love the weird, dissonant harmony in the final chorus.

“505” - Arctic Monkeys

I’m in love again. The smoky hotel rooms and wet streets. I’m drifting away, catch me. Or don’t.

“Pizza Boy” - Jack Stauber

The perfect song to sing for any empty room, rainy day, life change, mental breakdown, or lovely person. And sway away.

TIER 3 - HELL YEAH TIER:

“Los Ageless” - St. Vincent

This is just a really really really good song about Los Angeles that has some of the sickest guitar I’ve ever heard. It also happens to be one of the horniest songs I’ve ever heard, and I would not trade it for anything.

“Body of Years” - Mother Mother

Every writer should hear this song.

“Rockets fall on Rocket Falls” - Godspeed You! Black Emperor

The first instrumental on this list, because I generally prefer lyrical songs, but this song tells a story in its own right. I feel like I’ve listed a lot of apocalyptic pieces so far, and this is perhaps the apotheosis of apocalyptic vibe.

“How Long” - Anais Mitchell

There is a deep kind of mystery to this song that is not in the other songs on Hadestown. A sense of inscrutability, despair, and wide separation that not even love can fully heal. A sense of bitter and cold resignation. And an amazing chorus, both lyrically and melodically, that builds with vocal layering and lyrical changes in a way that just makes me so fucking happy.

“Life During Wartime” - Talking Heads

The lyrical world of this song is so expansive and immersive and exciting and escapist and terrifying. It’s so fucking fun, it makes me want to jump around and get all sweaty.

“Love Love Love” - Mountain Goats

Raskolnikov reference, automatic W.

“One Summer’s Day” - Joe Hisaishi

I have extremely nostalgic attachments to this beautiful piano piece from my favorite animated movie, which is also the movie I happened to watch before leaving for college, appropriately.

“Atlantic City” - Bruce Springsteen

WOAH BREKAING BAD REFERENCE? This song low key gives me the same narrative and visual vibes as Hey, only with very different lyrical sensibilities. A beautiful, mournful melody and lyrics packed with sharp, astute characterization and wistful, desolate imagery.

“Wriggle” - Cosmo Sheldrake

Gospel song. Baptism song. Edward Lear would be proud. I am screaming and cheering.

“The Mind Electric” - Miracle Musical / ミラクルミュージカル

SEE HOW THE SERFS WORK THE GROUND AND THEY GIVE IT ALL THEY’VE GOT AND THEY GIVE IT ALL THEY’VE GOT AND YOU GIVE IT ALL YOU’VE GOT TIL YOU’RE DOWN SEE HOW THE BRAIN PLAYS AROUND AND YOU FALL INSIDE A HOLE YOU COULDN’T SEE AND YOU FALL INSIDE A HOLE INSIDE A SOMEONE HELP ME UNDERSTAND WHAT’S GOING ON INSIDE MY MIND DOCTOR I CAN’T TELL IF I’M NOT ME

TIER 4 - LET’S GOOOO TIER:

“Pepper” - Butthole Surfers

Something tells me this fountain was not made by the hands of man… idk though… this song makes me want to die in a parking lot on a summer afternoon.

“Dead Flowers” - The Rolling Stones

No explanation needed.

“An Open Letter to a Ruby-Shoed Pixie” - Teddy Hyde

Incredibly well written, the poetic flow is astounding. You can tell it comes from a place of raw and tender unfiltered love and that’s impossible to ignore.

“Hymn 131,513” - Daniel Profeta

The force with which this song is vaulted into the world is unparalleled. You can feel the heart pumping behind it. The lyrics tumble into each other, each truer than the last. Weird tangent--the “look above you, I’m never far” obviously implies some satanic or corrupt element, but I am also kind of obsessed with the idea that this God is simply chthonic. We’ve had too many sky daddies, we need more earthly pantheons. We need to walk on the gods. “Bury me a thousand feet deep in a form-fitting coffin an inch shorter than me.”

“Sunny Afternoon” - The Kinks

I’m partially nostalgic for this song, but also, I think it’s one of the best the Kinks have to offer. It’s just an utter vibe from beginning to end. I feel like I’m sliding down a half-medicated poolside chair into the rotisserie pit of my own mistakes.

“Moonsickness” - Penelope Scott

From the first line this is extremely relatable. Penelope Scott managed to write a song about periods and womanhood that is about so much more than that, that is universally relatable and painful.

“Sundial” - Lemon Demon

There’s just something I can’t describe about this song--the lyrics, the unique rotating melodies, all feel so quirky and fun and engaging.

“Paris 1919” - John Cale

We are all ghosts dancing to this song, “down on darkened meetings on the Champs-Elysees.”

“I’m Always In Love” - Wilco

Describes me to a T. I have problems. And you know I had to put Wilco on here.

“You’re Mine” - DAGames

Don’t eat ass in the halls.

Phew. That's it.

I wanted to put a Clipping song on here but I feel like I haven’t explored their catalog sufficiently yet. I also wanted to put an Advance Base song, but that might be one of those situations where none of his songs stand out tremendously, but Nephew in the Wild is still one of my favorite albums.

Thank you to @my-ancient-marss and again to Daniel Profeta for the inspiration for this list. It was a lot of fun to sift through and organize, and I definitely have a new appreciation for some of the songs on this list. Anyway, I hope others will follow suit. See you all on the flipside!

[mogwai-movie-house]

The Best Album Per Year for Sixty Years

No-one asked for it, of course, but I do like making lists, so here's me pondering what have been the best Long Players in the album artform the past 60 years. I originally tried to keep it to just one per year, but many years that proved impossible: when listing multiple albums I have tried ranking them with the one I feel narrowly edges out the others first, and I use lower case to indicate an album that is not at the same level as others on the list but was the best I've heard from that time.

Feel free to have fun with the list and make up your own.

----------------

1962 Bob Dylan - Bob Dylan 1963 The Freewheelin' - Bob Dylan 1964 another side of - bob dylan 1965 Highway 61 Revisited - Bob Dylan 1966 Pet Sounds - The Beach Boys / Blonde On Blonde - Bob Dylan / Revolver - The Beatles 1967 Magical Mystery Tour - The Beatles / The Velvet Underground & Nico / Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme - Simon & Garfunkel / Safe As Milk - Captain Beefheart 1968 Astral Weeks - Van Morrison / The White Album - The Beatles / Bookends - Simon & Garfunkel / We're Only In It For The Money/Lumpy Gravy - Frank Zappa 1969 Let It Bleed - The Rolling Stones / Abbey Road - The Beatles / In A Silent Way - Miles Davis 1970 Bridge Over Troubled Water - Simon & Garfunkel / Plastic Ono Band - John Lennon 1971 Imagine - John Lennon / Blue - Joni Mitchell / What's Goin' On - Marvin Gaye/ 2 - Moondog 1972 Exile On Main Street - The Rolling Stones / Discover America - Van Dyke Parks / Clear Spot - Captain Beefheart / Ege Bam Yasi - Can 1973 Raw Power - Iggy And The Stooges 1974 Blood On The Tracks - Bob Dylan 1975 Horses - Patti Smith / Discreet Music - Brian Eno / Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd / Velvet Donkey - Ivor Cutler 1976 The Ramones - The Ramones 1977 Low - David Bowie / New Boots & Panties - Ian Dury / Marquee Moon - Television / 77 - Talking Heads 1978 Music For Airports - Brian Eno / This Year's Model - Elvis Costello / Third (Sister Lovers) - Big Star / More Songs About Music & Food - Talking Heads 1979 Unknown Pleasures - Joy Division/ Fear of Music - Talking Heads / Into The Music - Van Morrison / Sheik Yerbouti - Frank Zappa / Rust Never Sleeps - Neil Young 1980 Remain In Light - Talking Heads / Closer - Joy Division / One Trick Pony - Paul Simon / Common One - Van Morrison 1981 Faith - The Cure 1982 Thriller - Michael Jackson / 1999 - Prince / 4 - Peter Gabriel / Too Rye Ay - Dexys Midnight Runners / Big Science - Laurie Anderson / Nebraska - Bruce Springsteen 1983 Swordfishtrombones - Tom Waits / Murmur - R.E.M. / Hearts & Bones - Paul Simon / Off The Bone - The Cramps 1984 Purple Rain - Prince & The Revolution / Hatful Of Hollow - The Smiths / Various Positions - Leonard Cohen / Reckoning - R.E.M. / The Unforgettable Fire - U2 1985 Don't Stand Me Down - Dexys Midnight Runners / Rain Dogs - Tom Waits / Around The World In A Day - Prince & The Revolution / Suzanne Vega - Suzanne Vega / Hounds of Love - Kate Bush / Hunting High & Low - A-ha 1986 Parade - Prince & The Revolution / So - Peter Gabriel / The Queen Is Dead - The Smiths / Graceland - Paul Simon / Steve McQueen - Prefab Sprout / Blood & Chocolate/King of America - Elvis Costello 1987 Sign O The Times - Prince / Strangeways Here We Come - The Smiths / The Joshua Tree - U2 / Actually - Pet Shop Boys / Tango In The Night - Fleetwood Mac 1988 Irish Heartbeat - Van Morrison & The Chieftains / Green - R.E.M. / Viva Hate - Morrissey / The Serpent's Egg - Dead Can Dance / Surfer Rosa - Pixies / Naked - Talking Heads / Introspective - Pet Shop Boys / I'm Your Man - Leonard Cohen / Blue Bell Knoll - Cocteau Twins 1989 Disintegration - The Cure / Technique - New Order / Doolittle - The Pixies / Oh Mercy - Bob Dylan / Avalon Sunset - Van Morrison / Rei Momo - David Byrne / Behaviour - Pet Shop Boys / Candleland - Ian McCulloch 1990 Extricate - The Fall / The Good Son - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds / Songs For Drella - Lou Reed & John Cale / Jonathan Goes Country - Jonathan Richman 1991 Screamadelica - Primal Scream / Achtung Baby - U2 / The Bootleg Boxset - Bob Dylan/ Having a Party with - Jonathan Richman 1992 It's A Shame About Ray - The Lemonheads / Henry's Dream - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds / Automatic For The People - R.E.M. / Good As I Been To You - Bob Dylan / The Future - Leonard Cohen 1993 Debut - Bjork / Dubnobasswithmyheadman - Underworld / Neroli - Brian Eno / Exile In Guyville - Liz Phair / Come On Feel - The Lemonheads / Zooropa - U2 / Vena Cava - Diamanda Galas

1994 Selected Ambient Works Vol. II - Aphex Twin / Toward The Within - Dead Can Dance / Let Love In - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds / Dummy - Portishead / Autogeddon - Julian Cope / Vauxhall & I - Morrissey 1995 Anthology - The Beatles / The Ugly One With The Jewels - Laurie Anderson 1996 Boys For Pele - Tori Amos / Gone Again - Patti Smith 1997 Ladies & Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space - Spiritualized / The Boatman's Call - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds / Time Out Of Mind - Bob Dylan / Vanishing Point - Primal Scream 1998 Up - R.E.M. / I'm So Confused - Jonathan Richman 1999 Play - Moby / I See A Darkness - Bonnie Prince Billy 2000 XTRMNTR - Primal Scream / All That You Can't Leave Behind - U2 / The Marshall Mathers LP - Eminem / Kid A - Radiohead / KY - Lemon Jelly 2001 Vespertine - Bjork / Love & Theft - Bob Dylan / No More Shall We Part - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds 2002 The Eminem Show - Eminem 2003 Room On Fire - The Strokes / The Man Comes Around/Unearthed - Johnny Cash / The Wind - Warren Zevon 2004 Has Been - William Shatner / How To Dismantle An Atom Bomb - U2 / You Are The Quarry - Morrissey / The Milk-Eyed Mender - Joanna Newsom / Smile - Brian Wilson 2005 Another Day On Earth - Brian Eno / Le Fil - Camille 2006 Modern Times - Bob Dylan / Surprise - Paul Simon / Love - The Beatles 2007 for emma, forever ago - bon iver 2008 vampire weekend - vampire weekend 2009 No Line On The Horizon - U2 / The XX - The XX 2010 show me the face - michelle gurevich 2011 Angles - The Strokes / So Beautiful or So What - Paul Simon 2012 Life Is People - Bill Fay / Old Ideas - Leonard Cohen 2013 Comedown Machine - The Strokes / Crimson Red - Prefab Sprout 2014 Ghost Stories - Coldplay / 1989 - Taylor Swift 2015 ★ - David Bowie 2016 Lover, Beloved - Suzanne Vega / Stranger To Stranger - Paul Simon 2017 American Dream - LCD Soundsystem / antisocialites - alvvays 2018 music for installations - Brian Eno 2019 weezer (teal album) - weezer 2020 rough & rowdy ways - bob dylan 2021 happier than ever - billie eilish / lindsey buckingham - lindsay buckingham 2022 dragon new warm mountain i believe in you - big thief

[lovesongbracket]

Reminder: Vote based on the song, not the artist or specific recording! The tracks referenced are the original artist, aside from a few rare cases where a cover is the most widely known.

Lyrics, videos, info, and notable covers under the cut. (Spotify playlist available in pinned post)

Can't Help Falling in Love

Written By: George David Weiss, Luigi Creatore & Hugo Peretti

Artist: Elvis Presley

Released: 1961

Covers included: A*Teens, 2002; Ingrid Michaelson, 2008; twenty one pilots, 2012; Kina Grannis, 2017; Ice Nine Kills, 2021

A tender ballad about being unable to resist falling in love, “Can’t Help Falling in Love” is one of Elvis' most famous and romantic songs. Originally recorded to tie along with his movie, Blue Hawaii, the song has since been covered by various other artists, from U2 and Britney Spears to twenty one pilots. Rolling Stone ranked it as the 5th best Elvis song of all time, and it was also ranked as the 50th most popular wedding song by Billboard magazine.

[Verse 1] Wise men say "Only fools rush in" But I can't help Falling in love with you [Verse 2] Shall I stay? Would it be a sin If I can't help Falling in love with you? [Chorus] Like a river flows Surely to the sea Darling, so it goes Some things are meant to be [Verse 3] Take my hand Take my whole life, too For I can't help Falling in love with you [Chorus] Like a river flows Surely to the sea Darling, so it goes Some things are meant to be [Outro] Take my hand Take my whole life, too For I can't help Falling in love with you For I can't help Falling in love with you

Work Song

Written By: Hozier

Artist: Hozier

Released: 2014

Alternate version included: Live in America, 2015

This is the only song on Hozier’s self titled album to have a title that is not entirely composed of lyrics from the song. The song is about the love of a worker’s life lending him strength during a hard day’s work. The song encompasses indie with strong influences on folk, blues and negro spirituals.

[Verse 1] Boys, workin' on empty Is that the kinda way to face the burning heat? I just think about my baby I'm so full of love I could barely eat There's nothin' sweeter than my baby I'd never want once from the cherry tree 'Cause my baby's sweet as can be She give me toothaches just from kissin' me [Chorus] When my time comes around Lay me gently in the cold dark earth No grave can hold my body down I'll crawl home to her [Verse 2] Boys, when my baby found me I was three days on a drunken sin I woke with her walls around me Nothin' in her room but an empty crib And I was burning up a fever I didn't care much how long I lived But I swear, I thought I dreamed her She never asked me once about the wrong I did [Chorus] When my time comes around Lay me gently in the cold dark earth No grave can hold my body down I'll crawl home to her When my time comes around Lay me gently in the cold dark earth No grave can hold my body down I'll crawl home to her [Bridge] My babe would never fret none About what my hands and my body done If the Lord don't forgive me I'd still have my baby and my babe would have me When I was kissin' on my baby And she'd put her love down, soft and sweet In the low lamplight, I was free Heaven and hell were words to me [Chorus] When my time comes around Lay me gently in the cold dark earth No grave can hold my body down I'll crawl home to her When my time comes around Lay me gently in the cold dark earth No grave can hold my body down I'll crawl home to her

[depoteka]

my ranking and review of all eurovision 2023 songs

(don't expect any intellectual deep dives, i just tried articulating my feelings the best i could but it was hard bc i'm so lukewarm on so many songs. if the reviews don't make sense it's because i wrote them before i used the esc gerbear to sort the places hhh)

37. iceland: diljá - power

it definitely is a song that is competing in eurovision this year and i've listened to it. it doesn't make me feel anything so i don't know what to say. it's a fast pop song but i'm not even vibing to it :( i just don't like it

36. switzerland: remo forrer - watergun

oh switzerland, just because sad boy gjon worked in 2021 doesn't mean you need to keep sending sad boys now... a really boring attempt at an anti-war song

35. cyprus: andrew lambrou - break a broken heart

i don't think i'm really into men singing some heartbreak songs tbh i don't like those howls in the song and the rest sorta sounds imagine dragons-ish to me, the verses at least

34. greece: victor vernicos - what they say

it's cool that he's playing bass in the music video but the song isn't making me feel much. ain't gonna really talk shit about it bc the dude's just 16, i hope he has fun at eurovision

33. italy: marco mengoni - due vite

i like to think italy is my fave eurovision country and then they send a ballad….. i actually watched sanremo (tho i haven't seen any of the nights till the end bc i'm not that strong Yet) and marco wasn't my favourite at all, i was actually surprised how crazy the audience kept going whenever he was performing. of course i can see it getting some good result because it's a classic italian ballad. just not for me

32. ireland: wild youth - we are one

we've got u2 at home/the u2 at home:…. this song has the most generic love love peace peace lyrics ever and whatever unity they are singing about i don't want to be a part of it

31. poland: jann - gladiator blanka - solo

baybeh….it's kinda crazeh… allegedly it was a big radio hit before "winning" the preselections but imma be real with you, i'd never heard it before. it's a harmless pop song without any substance and if it was selected internally i'd be like meh but all the bullshit that went down at our national final makes me mad. i hope we flop hard

30. portugal: mimicat - ai coração

something about it to me feels like early 00s eurovision and i must admit, i don't really like it. though the performance in liverpool might be quite fun

29. romania: theodor andrei - d.g.t. (off and on)

the national final performance of this song is a state of mind. to be frank i feel like the esc fandom is overhating this song, it's not That bad. am i a fan of this song? no. would i like it to see it in the final with the same staging just for laughs? yes

28. israel: noa kirel - unicorn

israel i'm so sorry 0 points……. this song is a disjointed mess to my ears, i think it would've been better if they stuck to just one of the styles they used in this song. all the mentions of unicorns in this song make me cringe. not to mention the "you wanna see me dance?" bit which um, also makes me cringe. no problem with a dance break but why did she have to announce it like that out of nowhere. my favourite part of the song is probably the "u-ni-corn" chant at the very end but other than that eh. this song was written to make the staging crazy and exciting but as a song it doesn't work for me

27. azerbaijan: turalturanx - tell me more

brave of azerbaijan to send two dudes with their song that sound like it teleported itself from an early 00s shitty british movie. that rap part sounds like it's from a corporate song targeted at a young audience to idk make them stop smoking asdfadsf there's something endearing about this song tho

26. uk: mae muller - i wrote a song

i recognize that it's a step in the right direction for the uk and it's a rather fun song but tbh i just don't connect with it. i really liked sam last year and sadly in comparison mae's song seems quite weak to me. though i hope that the (de facto) host country curse doesn't work on the uk this year tho and they don't end up on the very end of the board

25. the netherlands: mia nicolai & dion cooper - burning daylight

ngl i forgot about this song after the first listen. i don't even know what to say about it really, it's just really underwhelming to me. i think i don't actively hate it but i also don't really like it

24. georgia: iru - echo

english grammar rules have left the chat. i'm baffled by the lyrics. but the song overall (along with the video) feels like something from outer space or the future. not in a crazy way tho. i think it has some potential

23. denmark: reiley - breaking my heart

bts are on hiatus so it's his time to shine. no but seriously, there's something so kpopy about this song? i defo like it more than the other "breaking heart" song this year but still. the dude gives me some uncanny valley feeling, especially considering he allegedly pretends to be 5 years younger than he actually is? i love eurovision drama

22. estonia: alika - bridges

we have very few true ballads this year but i think this one's ok!! not a ballad girl myself but i don't mind this one, i like her voice. gives me adele bond theme vibes. i've seen people say alika isn't really selling this song but i saw her national final performance and it seemed fine to me? not much you can really do when you're singing a ballad tbh

21. armenia: brunette - future lover

imma be real with you, i laughed out loud when i first listened to this song because of the lyrics. but i think the song is kinda nice anyway? not a fave but it's nice enough

20. malta: the busker - dance (our own party)

they got sax and in theory i should like it. but i'm not a fan. the whole "ooh i wanna stay at home in my sweater" shtick doesn't work for me. i can see why some people are vibing to this song but it's not doing it for me

19. sweden: loreen - tattoo

i'm a noted hater of sweden at eurovision so don't expect me to say anything nice hhhh the song is rather fine and loreen is fantastic but at the same time i feel like the entire song is just one idea repeated over and over without any sort of variation. her staging at melfest seems quite interesting but overall i don't think this has a potential to win? especially if the people watching in may remember euphoria. tattoo pales in comparison

18. san marino: piqued jacks - like an animal

hear me out………i don't hate this song. yes maybe it's cringe but somehow it keeps getting stuck in my head because it's catchy asdfasdfadsf i'm waiting for the studio version bc it's hard to properly judge it based on the shit sound mix at san marino nf

17. ukraine: tvorchi - heart of steel

was kinda surprised watching vidbir when this won! but then again ukraine keeps giving us different things constantly. i quite like this song but it's also too lowkey for me, nothing to go crazy about. still, it's a vibe

16. norway: alessandra - queen of the kings

ngl when i first heard the song i couldn't understand why people like it so much. now i enjoy it more but i wouldn't say it's a fave of mine? i can see it getting a good result though, there's something very eurovision about it

15. serbia: luke black - samo mi se spava

i feel like technically i should like this song but i….don't. i think the music itself is quite fun but…..the performance makes it seem like it was written for the netflix eurovision movie. something about this guy's voice bothers me. the nail to the coffin for me is the fact that the title of this song sounds close to "samo mi się spawa" in polish which means "it welds on its own for me" instead of "i just wanna sleep" which is what the title actually means 💀 i can't shake this association off and it doesn't help me like this song more

14. slovenia: joker out - carpe diem

at first i wasn't impressed but overall i think it's quite a fun indie/pop rock song!! and it's always nice to hear a native language instead of english

13. lithuania: monika lynkytė - stay

it's a pleasant song and the lithuanian bit is my fave part of the song. overall i don't mind it, but also i'm not crazy about it. sort of disappointed because i really loved sentimentai last year :(

12. belgium: gustaph - because of you

i haven't watched the belgian nf so i don't know what the other options were (that people are so mad about not winning) but i quite like this one!!! it's a bop, makes me wanna dance. i hope gustaph brings some voguing to liverpool

11. moldova: pasha parfeni - soarele şi luna

the only true folk influenced song we have this year, i like it!! it's a banger, it has some sort of flute going on, from what i've seen the lyrics refer to a folk legend? we love it

10. australia: voyager - promise

banger!! pleasantly surprised because i don't think i've ever really really liked any of australia's entries in the past. thought the random high note in the second verse is quite funny to me tbh asdasdfds

9. croatia: let 3 - mama ŠČ!

i think it's more of a whole package where the song doesn't really make full sense without the performance but in some strange way i enjoy the song anyway. the lyrics also are quite understandable in polish which probably also makes it easier for me (and i imagine other slavic people as well) to understand the message without feeling confused about what's going on

8. albania: albina & familja kelmendi - duje

the drama?? i love it. i saw somebody say it feels like a turkish telenovela and they've got a point. it makes me feel something (unlike some other entries) and i appreciate it. plus the instrumental absolutely fucks

7. spain: blanca paloma - eaea

when i first heard the song i didn't understand it at all. i feel like i still don't fully Get it but there's something so fascinating about it to me that i can't stop thinking about it. i'm so confused? but i think it means i enjoy it. definitely something i like more than slomo last year

6. germany: lord of the lost - blood & glitter

yell heah!! germany finally sending something worthwhile. i keep listening to this song on loop, i wanna twerk to it. love the combo of metal AND glitter <3

5. france: la zarra - évidemment

i already liked it at first listen and it keeps growing on me! not a big fan of chanson type of songs but this one is a banger + her look in the music video is gorgeous, i hope she keeps it for liverpool

4. czechia: vesna - my sister's crown

liked it before it was chosen at czechia's national final and was happy when they won but i kinda got bored of it after a month or so? i still think it's a good song (even tho i know people have some issues with it) and i love the mix of three different slavic languages. i think with the right staging they can win me back

3. latvia: sudden lights - aijā

OK OK… when i first heard it i was like ok. but then one evening i randomly found myself watching the moldovan nf and they were guests there and when they played their song in this shitty studio i was like omg it's actually really good?? obsessed with the lullaby bit at the end. i hope to god they qualify, they need to bring justice to latvia after citi zeni's nq last year

2. austria: teya & salena - who the hell is edgar?

what a surprise?? adored it at first listen. it both manages to be a bop while also trying to say something. i loved in corpore sano last year, i love who the hell is edgar this year

1. finland: käärijä - cha cha cha

what can i say......i usually don't really listen to any of the national final songs and just wait for the winner of each one but the thumbnail for cha cha cha music video on yt intrigued me so i watched it. and immediately i wanted käärijä to win eurovision weeks before he even won the finnish nf. the song is sooo addictive and his entire look/performance is hypnotizing. i know he's a favourite to win rn but if he somehow flops in may i'm gonna be really really sad. come on, it's crazy it's party. i think this finnish win would be a really fitting addition to lordi's win in 2006

[acronymking4tdp]

Closing Gaps, Chapter 44: That’s Our Story (and We’re Sticking to It)

(A modern AU of The Dragon Prince, by acronymKing)

Summary:

In which Callum and Rayla end their first officially rayllum date and answer questions. *** “It’s about time. We were getting ready to call in a Hostage Rescue Unit,” Amaya declared, winking playfully when Callum entered kitchen. “Welcome home, Cal,” greeted Janai from her place across the breakfast bar from her wife. “May we assume that you and Rayla have come to terms with whatever the problem was this past week?” Read the chapter in AO3, Closing Gaps, by acronymKing, Chapter 44: That’s Our Story (and We’re Sticking to It) For those who need it (you know who you are) U2 👀Rolling Stone ranked U2 at number 22 on its list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time".[2] Throughout their career, as a band and as individuals, they have campaigned for human rights and social justice causes, working with organisations and coalitions that include Amnesty International, Jubilee 2000, DATA/the ONE Campaign, Product Red, War Child, and Music Rising.🥰 Kazi's ch 43 line drop is from this song: Atomic City

[borisbubbles]

Eurovision 2023: #31-30

31. SWITZERLAND

Remo Forrer - “Watergun”

20th place

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Decade Ranking: 100/116

[Above Subwoolfer, below Mata Hari]

Bleerrghhhhhh, I don’t wanna talk about Shitzerland, man. Talk about a country whose entries are almost never exciting, that sends too many men, always engages in shameful jury pandering and is constantly overrated by fans. Everything people say about Sweden, Switzerland is.

This year is no different to their usual snoreways since they again provided a very play-by-numbers Voice Winner’s First Release ballad. 🙄 You can imagine how the rest of  “Watergun” will play out after the intro and then it does. It is so uninspired. What’s the USP supposed to be here? That Switz found a bartone twink? What else makes it stand out over every other bland pop ballad the radio people want us to like for commercial reasons?

Also what are these ugly rags, count your lucky stars BDex isn’t a thing anymore. (lol jk Remo is too boring to win any award, and also BDex 100% would have went to Iceland had it still been around.)

Ironically, the unseasoned blandness of “Watergun” makes it come away with a few things. It’s not so much that we are willing to forgive a Watergun, but moreso that songs such as these are prone to getting tuned out. "Watergun” is formulaic een ugh that you’re almost willing to toss it in the borewhore slaughter without further notice.

There is ONE thing that makes it stand out though.

Obviously NOT the basic “artistique” dance that follows the Azerbaijan line of coming across as too rehearsed and inorganic to be deemed compelling. Much like the composition, it was put together on autopilot while SJB was putting in THE WORKS into making the Kelmendi’s Eurovision ready.

A dull essence, feigning truths

What did make “Watergun” stand out, in a negative manner for me, is its subject matter and intent.  Switz weren’t even hiding it, they ACTUALLY INCLUDED A SEGMENT SIMULATING THE FALLING OF BOMBS

Further compounded by lyrics that are painfully on the nose. Like, Remo sings about “not wanting to be a soldier” and longing to the time he played with waterguns and didn’t have to contend with real guns and bodybags.

YOU’RE FROM FUCKING SWITZERLAND!!!

Singing about  the war is already grimy in itself (it’s a wonder both Ukraine AND Czechia pulled it off without being obnoxious!), and there’s zero subtlety in this naff attempt at benefiting from other people’s misery to make yourself appear morally righteous AND rake in jury points. I believe the official intention was to send a message of “look guys, even *we the Swiss* are worried about violence and we are never at war  #DramaInTheEast” but it just comes across as cowering at best, and as rotten opportunism at worst. 

So in a sense, thank FUCK “Watergun” was too insipid to do anything other than lull unsuspecting viewers to sleep, so that we can mostly ignore Remo’s ventriloquist’s dummy-looking ass. Rest assured that if Switz had done well, they would have received a very, VERY low placement on this ranking. 🙂

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

30. IRELAND

Wild Youth - “We are one”

31st place

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Decade ranking: 97/116

[Above Jérémie, below The Rasmus]

This has not been a great year for Ireland, huh? 😬

What is there to say about Wild Youth that hasn’t already been said already? Like Switzerland the composition is of the same mundane, paint-by-numbers bog-standard tripe you might expect from themy, replace insipid Voice Ballad with a lame U2 B-side and you’re set. 

Also like Switzerland, Ireland suffer from some misguided messaging that drag it down for me. This is less about political exploitation but more about the reiteration of every Build Me Up cliché’s in the book. Cool, you’re all about inclusivity, try to be a bit less obvious about it? ,🙄 Nobody likes a soapbox preacher. 

Overall though, Wild Youth don’t really offend me and are only a mild nuissance at best. 

At least so I thought, until the semi performance came in.

Look, I’m not fully heartless and I appreciate that Connor’s ESC journey has been amongst the most miserable ever experienced by any artist. 

 I also understand that Wild Youth had to improvize their staging after RTÉ assigned them a transphobic stage director to visualize, you know, their song’s woke and inclusive message (how on EARTH is Michael Kealy still alive, as both a person AND a HoD?).

“We Are One” looked and sounded  like shit though. 

Connor was at his most crestfallen, actively letting his bandmates sing the brunt of he chorus, barely putting in effort to appear cheerful. For the most part he shuffled around aimlessly like an unexpectedly sentient camel toe. 

The staging, aside from that ONE cool floordrop moment was a wash of aggro camera cuts that sadly FAILED to cut away from the many times Connor wasn’t singing.

It’s deflating when you realize Connor really wanted to do ESC and convinced his bandmates to apply for Eurosong, taking on the position of the frontman for the contest, only for all this messed-up fuckery to go down, reach a breaking point during rehearsals, and give up. It almost tragic enough enough to bump Ireland up to yellow. Isn’t it a pity they were representing a shit country in desperate need for a wake-up call, huh?

THE RANKING

[flowerboycaleb]

wanted to post more over here and had the idea to do lil reviews for albums from years past. i'm gonna try to post a review for this series, as the name suggests, every thursday!! this week we're looking at a long overdue return to form for one of the greatest songwriters of all time: Oh Mercy by Bob Dylan!!! also feel free to follow me on rate your music and twitter <3

Oh Mercy - Bob Dylan

◇ release year: 1989 ◇ genres: singer-songwriter, pop rock, folk rock

The 80s were not kind to Bob Dylan at all, neither were the late 70s for that matter. There was a massive dip in quality after the relative comeback albums that were 1975’s Blood on the Tracks and 1976’s Desire. Following divorce proceedings with his wife in 1977, Dylan shifted his sound away from folk and into a more pop-rock direction for Street-Legal, one of his most uneventful records. Leading into the 80s, he had a born-again Christian phase and released a trilogy of terrible faith-based albums. His 1983 album Infidels was his return back to secular music, but it’s also not very great in the grand scheme of his catalog besides the opener “Jokerman.” Empire Burlesque, Knocked Out Loaded, and Down in the Groove were also some of his worst records and borderline embarrassing for an artist of his caliber. There are very few bright spots in that run aside from “Brownsville Girl” off of Knocked Out Loaded, but to get to that you gotta sit through his version of Kris Kristofferson’s “They Killed Him” which is one of the worst songs I’ve ever heard. Things were looking pretty bad for the once-iconic artist. His music was either terrible, boring, a parody of his best work, or all three in one. The deck was stacked against him, but in 1988 something special would happen. Bono would introduce Dylan to producer Daniel Lanois known for his work with Brian Eno, U2, and longtime Dylan collaborator Robbie Robertson. Dylan seemed determined to finally make a good album again and Lanois’ production work was exactly what he needed to refresh his sound.

Bob Dylan, 1989

You can hear that right away in the opener “Political World.” Despite it being one of Dylan’s clunkier songs from a lyrical perspective, that instrumentation is just perfect for him. That warm, jaunty sound provided by Dylan and a backing band consisting of various musicians from New Orleans. Many of which Lanois was working with at the time. These musicians match the anxious and chaotic themes of the song perfectly. Dylan sings about it being a hostile, political world and even touches on themes of spirituality in two lines towards the end. In those two lines alone, he provides a more interesting perspective on religion than he ever did on his spiritual albums. In the grand scheme of things, “Political World” doesn’t rank among the best Dylan songs, but it’s such a massive breath of fresh air from what he had been doing at the time. The next track cools things down with the waltzy, schmaltzy cut “Where Teardrops Fall.” Again, this isn’t a classic Dylan masterpiece, but it just sounds so good. Massive shoutout to John Hart’s saxophone on the outro. “Everything is Broken” kind of harkens back lyrically and musically to something Dylan might’ve written in decades past, but it’s given this fresh new coat of paint thanks to Lanois’ production. I love Brian Stoltz’s guitar work here. It’s never in your face, but it’s always present underneath everything. It creates this really cool dynamic with the rhythm section. The next track “Ring Them Bells” is one of the many times here where Dylan slows things down. This is where the album is at its best. The warm production not only brings out the best in the instrumentation but also in Dylan’s voice. This is the first album where he sounds like the weathered, legendary songwriter he was. The arrangement is sparse, with only guitar and keyboards accompanying Dylan’s voice and piano. It’s one of my favorite-sounding Dylan songs. As is the next track, “Man In the Long Black Coat.” What a triumph this song is. It’s simultaneously amazing and infuriating. He still had it in him to write an incredible, compelling song. Like the last track, the sound here is pretty sparse besides some ambiance setting keyboards from Malcolm Burn and Dylan’s guitar. His voice is in a lower register and it makes you just hang on to his every word. It helps that the melody is so memorable also. The song ends on such a mysterious note and it’s the most engaging he had sounded since Desire. 

“Most of the Time” builds upon that more weathered sound except this time with more layers to it instrumentally. This is another one of my favorite Dylan songs. It’s a heartbreak ballad that has such a simple structure and premise, but it’s so impactful. I love the way the electric guitar washes over the track. Every time it enters, it lingers for the perfect amount of time. It’s mixed so perfectly. “What Good Am I?” and “Disease of Conceit” are lulls in the tracklist, but they’re not bad. They just lack that energy of the three tracks prior. The latter is another clunky writing moment from Dylan on the record. His best moments on here lyrically are the songs about love, heartbreak, and other more personal topics. He’s made some iconic songs built around his ruminations on the world, but none of them are found here. Fortunately, the last two tracks are a step up. “What Was It You Wanted” might have the most tasteful implementation of a harmonica on any Bob Dylan record. I love Dylan’s usually harsh harmonica, but it’s hard to deny it can get a bit much. The music here is very subtle and it accompanies what seems to be Dylan’s meditations on his art up to that point. Perhaps the years of critical failures catching up to him as he asks the public “what was it you wanted?” If I was a fan of his during this time, the answer would be songs like this! “Shooting Star” is another ballad and another favorite of mine. Some have interpreted this song as being about Dylan’s disillusionment with spirituality and I think that’s an interesting read, but it could also just be a simple bittersweet ballad about love. Either way, this is a strong closer to the album.

Bob Dylan, 1988

Oh Mercy was an incredible return to form for Dylan and Lanois’ production brought out the best in these songs. It sounded like Dylan was writing with a purpose again, he was inspired. While overall this isn’t his strongest crop of songs from a lyrical standpoint, the execution here takes these songs to the next level. Ideally, this would be the start of a career renaissance for the legendary singer-songwriter, but seeing as how his next album would be the dreadful Under the Red Sky that wasn’t the case. Thankfully, Lanois would collaborate with Dylan again 8 years later for Time Out of Mind, yet another one of his comeback albums.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ thanks for reading <3

[fabien22]

"SUNDAY BLOODY SUNDAY" BY U2

In today's post, I am going to talk about a song by U2 entitled "Sunday bloody Sunday". It talks about the tragic event that occurred in Derry, England in 1972, after that 14 people were killed after protesting peacefully. It is related to the History chapter in Negus, as it talks about an event that took place in the past.

This song takes us back to 1972 when the event took place, and makes us see what happened there. This song, that can be seen as a hate song against the Irish army, is in fact a song that calls for peace and for human rights. The lyrics used by the singer Bono ask for peace, and ask for this hate to stop: "how long must we sing this song ?".

The original song comes from David Howell Evans, also known as The Edge, who was apart of the band U2. While writing this song, U2 changed the lyrics written by David Howell a bit in order to make it more peaceful. This was seen by some people as a way of being close to the Irish army, but it was just a way to protect the band from any debates. The band has played this song more than 600 times live, always waving a white flag for peace. But it also relates to other events for the band, such as the Israeli-Palestinian conflicts and the attack in Paris on the 13 of novembre 2015.

This song is a way to not forget what happened in the past, as it is part of today's history. This is needed in the popular music industry, as bands like U2 have the power to say out loud what many wouldn't want to say. The rolling stone magazine has ranked this song at the 248th place of the "500 greatest song of all time."

[theredtours]

Jingle Belle

With her hit album Red making her holidays bright, superstar Taylor Swift is looking at love--and fame--from both sides now By Shawna Malcom | Parade Magazine | November 25, 2012

"Need a shirt with my face on it? Taylor Swift is doing some Saturday afternoon shopping when she spots the tee, a cherry-red number that immediately takes her back to a much simpler time. "That's from, like, my 2006 tour," she says, running her fingers over its gently worn cotton. "That's... awesome."

The 22-year-old superstar loves pretty much everything about this particular Nashville shop, which sells vintage clothing, musical instruments, and a quirky curated selection of knickknacks out of a house with a wraparound porch where customers can take a break from browsing to sit for a spell. And with Christmas approaching, it seems like a promising place to start looking for presents. "I like to give gifts that remind people I know them," she says. "[Things] that I have a specific reason for giving them. I start thinking about it really far in advance."

In the back room, two men's sweaters catch her eye. "This would be baggy," Swift says, holding up a cream, cable-knit V-neck--but she doesn't seem to be shopping for a guy. "I'd wear it kind of off the shoulder."

Who says a girl can't holiday-gift herself? She certainly deserves it. Swift's fourth album, Red, is a blockbuster that moved more than 1 million copies in its first week, just as her 2010 album, Speak Now, did, making her the first female artist in Nielsen SoundScan history to hit that staggering mark more than once. Released last month, the boldly personal Red earned the six-time Grammy winner some of her best reviews yet, thanks to its lyrical maturity and ambitious forays into everything from earworm pop ("We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together") to U2-esque arena rock ("State of Grace"). Swift is no longer the wide-eyed country cutie pictured on that 2006 tour T-shirt; she's a savvy young woman who sees no reason to be boxed into any genre. "You have to force yourself," she says, "to evolve."

And how. The onetime outsider--a songwriting savant bullied by mean girls in junior high and overlooked by the guys she crushed on--has evolved into the ultimate insider, an entertainer Forbes ranks as the highest-paid celeb under 30 this year, with earnings of $57 million. She has more than 20 million Twitter followers, CoverGirl endorsed beauty, A-list BFFs (Emma Stone and Selena Gomez), and a couple hit movies (Valentine's Day and Dr. Seuss' The Lorax), and a growing list of high-profile ex boyfriends (including actors Taylor Lautner and Jake Gyllenhaal, musicians Joe Jonas and John Mayer, and, as breathlessly documented in the tabloids earlier this year, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s 18-year-old son, Conor). A performer who takes pride in being a role model, she will be honored next month by the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice & Human Rights for her commitment to social change, including advocacy against bullying and support for arts education and disaster relief.

So why can't Swift shake the fear that she'll somehow mess it all up? "I'm scared of this whole thing backfiring," she says. "Or chewing me up and spitting me out, and all of a sudden, I don't love it anymore."

She worries so much that, naturally, she wrote a song about it. "The Lucky One," a track from Red, tells the story of a performer that decides to walk away from stardom ("Chose the Rose Garden over Madison Square"). If someday it all gets to be too much, could Swift do the same? She doesn't have an answer for that, but she does know she puts "a crazy amount of pressure" on herself to keep topping her achievements. "My head's never really quiet," she says. "The only time I can get it to turn off is if I watch CSI or Law & Order, where I have to follow the crime. If I can't turn my head off during that, I know I've really got a problem."

"Nobody puts more pressure on Taylor than Taylor herself--in a good way," says Liz Rose, who has cowritten a number of songs with Swift, including the Grammy-winning "White Horse" and "All Too Well" from Red. "As amazing as she is now, she was that amazing at 14," Rose adds. "She's just a force. There are emotions you don't feel at 14 that you feel at 22, and her lyrics have grown with her."

Despite writing about it so prolifically, Swift claims not to know much about love. "I tend to think things are love and then look back and reevaluate," she says. How many times has she been in love? "I know how many people I've said 'I love you' to," she says. "I could probably count it up, but I don't feel like it.

"Part of me feels you can't say you were truly in love if it didn't last," she adds. "If I end up getting married and having kids, that's when I'll know it's real--because it lasted."

Trying to figure out which of Swift's songs are about which of her relationships has become a pop culture pastime. "When the guessing game starts, it's really funny," says the star, who always declines to name names (although Gyllenhaal is widely believed to be Red's central, fiery inspiration). "It's like, off to the races! I sit back and laugh and think, 'They'll never know.'"

Speculation aside, Swift's songs confirm that she has repeatedly felt burned. Blame it on the bad boys she often seems drawn to. "There's a really interesting charisma involved," she says of the allure. "They usually have a lot to say, and even if they don't, they know how to look at you and say it all. I think every girl's dream is to find a bad boy at the right time, when he wants to not be bad anymore."

She's the first to admit that her romances tend to develop--and end--rather swiftly. "I don't think there's an option for me to fall in love slowly, or at a medium speed. I either do or I don't," says the chart topper, who calculates that her longest relationship to date lasted six months. "I don't think it through, really, which is a good thing and a bad thing. You don't look before you leap, which is like, 'Yay, this is awesome! Let's not think twice!' And then you're like, 'We used to be flying. Now we're falling. What's happening?'" It comes with the territory when life moves as fast as it does for her, she adds. "I'm never in the same place for more than, like, three days at a time. Things can change from one minute to the next."

Not everything happens at warp speed though: "I don't get over people fast," she says. Nor does she expect to settle down anytime soon. "People think I want to get married really young--I don't know why. I'm a romantic person, but that doesn't mean I want to miss out on being in my 20s."

That includes making time for fun and snacks while writing songs. According to British musician Ed Sheeran, who cowrote Red's "Everything Has Changed" with Swift, a trampoline was central to the creative process. "We would take breaks in between lines of the song to bounce around and think of more ideas," he recalls. "Afterward she baked an apple pie. It was wicked."

For the most part, Swift has handled her first six years in the spotlight with a preternatural grace. In August, though, she hit a rare public relations speed bump--that Kennedy wedding incident, which she won't discuss ("It's been talked about enough")--and while she claims she doesn't read gossip about herself, she's now all too aware that everyone else does. "I don't know necessarily how much privacy I'm entitled to," she says when asked about the difficulty of living in the public eye, "but I know I don't get much of it. At the same time, I asked for this. I could be playing in a coffeehouse--I'd be happy doing that, [but] not as happy, probably. Knowing that people are going to hear the music I make is the most amazing feeling. Knowing that there are dudes waiting outside my house with cameras, hiding in bushes, is a less awesome feeling."

No one would accuse Swift, whose parents moved the family from Wyomissing, Pa., to Nashville when she was 14 so she could pursue a music career, of being ungrateful for her success. The loss of privacy, she notes, is "a small price to pay for getting to play stadiums." Still, there are days when she'd rather not deal with all that being Taylor Swift now entails. She travels with one or two security guards at all times because, as she puts it, "I have some crazies that are after me." As a result, she can't remember the last time she went anywhere by herself.

"I have some days where I get frustrated," she admits. "I kind of give myself this pep talk, like, 'Are you in the mood for lots of social situations and pictures? If the answer's no, stay inside.'"

Sometimes, just hanging at home with a little Chinese food and some crime-solving TV is exactly what she needs. "It's just like this sense of"--she exhales deeply--"no one is watching me, no one is asking me anything. It's calming."

Maybe one of these days Swift will get around to taking an extended break--although the mere thought turns the volume in her head up to 11. "If I took a break, would I stop writing songs so much?" she wonders.

Or maybe she'd wind up having even more to write about. Who knows? She doesn't--not yet. "I have so much to learn about life," she says. "I know nothing compared to what I'm going to know someday."

[90363462]

Kanye West's Net Worth In 2022: Ye Is No Longer A Billionaire

April 3, 2022

Until recently, almost everything Kanye West touched turned to gold. Ye hit the top of the charts like clockwork, sold out arenas in minutes, and made shoes like nothing anyone has seen before with huge price tags. All of his accomplishments once made him not only a pioneer in several industries but along with a very wealthy entertainer.

But all that came crashing down when West began making controversial public statements, many of which were filled with hate speech towards Black and Jewish communities. He was dropped by the talent agency CAA and lost lucrative partnerships with fashion houses like Balenciaga. On Oct. 25, after many weeks of public outcry, German sportswear company Adidas officially terminated their contract with his Yeezy brand, putting a large dent in his previous ten-figure net worth. Later the same day, Gap announced that they are taking “immediate steps” to remove Yeezy products from their stores. 

Let’s take a look at how the artist amassed a net worth into the billions before losing a significant portion of it.

5 Ways Kanye West Makes His Money

1. Music

West’s forays into the apparel industry were the primary reason for his previous multi-billion dollar net worth, but it all started with the music. The rapper and designer rank among the bestselling and most successful artists ever when looking at critical acclaim and sales.

When his oft-delayed full-length Donda arrived, West scored his milestone tenth No. 1 album on the Billboard 200, becoming just the seventh musician in U.S. history to reach that mark. In doing so, he joined a club that includes Eminem, The Beatles, Barbra Streisand, and frequent collaborator Jay-Z, with whom he shares one of his chart-toppers. On the Hot 100 in America, West has landed four No. 1s, 20 top 10s, and 135 appearances on the list, the fifth-most of all time.

Throughout his career, West has shifted certified 25.5 millionalbums in the U.S. and 124 million singles, the fifth-most among all artists in history. That figure expands to an estimated 140 million songs moved throughout the world. A 22-time Grammy winner (out of 75 nominations), West is tied for the tenth-most trophies among all artists, as well as the second-most among rappers, coming in behind only Jay-Z by one award.

In 2020, the Valentiam Group valued West’s music catalog at $110.5 million.

2. Music Businesses

West launched his record label GOOD Music, which stands for Getting Out Our Dreams, in 2005. In the nearly 20 years the company has been in business, albums from label signees John Legend, Common, Kid Cudi, Pusha T, and Big Sean have all performed well sales-wise.

In March 2015, West was one of 16 famous figures who appeared during a press conference for the launch of the new streaming service Tidal. He stood alongside Nicki Minaj, Daft Punk, Calvin Harris, Jason Aldean, Madonna, Beyoncé, Rihanna, and Jay-Z, who was the business mastermind behind the event. West was named as a co-owner, and despite the inclusion of many of the most popular musicians in the business, Tidal never became as popular as competitors like Apple Music or Spotify. In 2017, West left the firm, claiming he was owed at least $3 million.

3. Touring

West has headlined half a dozen tours throughout his career, racking up combined grosses of more than $190 million. He has also opened for Usher, U2, and The Rolling Stones, with the last two treks wrapping as some of the highest-earning of all time. The rapper warmed up the crowd for U2, whose Vertigo Tour brought in $389 million. After he finished that run of shows, he joined The Rolling Stones, whose A Bigger Bang venture earned $558 million at the box office.

The “Hurricane” rapper has also played the occasional private concert, earning millions for doing so. It was reported that in 2011 West and Jay-Z flew to Dubai to perform for a sheikh’s family, for which they were reportedly paid $6 million. On his own, the hip-hop musician also took home $3 million for signing on to be the entertainment at the 2013 wedding of the grandson of then-Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev.

While he hasn’t embarked on a proper tour of his own since 2016’s The Saint Pablo Tour, West has still managed to sell tens of thousands of tickets to a handful of live events. Throughout the summer of 2021, West played his new album Donda for crowds in Atlanta and Chicago, with fans paying to listen to something that wasn’t even done yet. In past years, he’s also brought his religious group Sunday Service to a handful of shows, which fans could buy tickets for.

4. Shoes

The vast majority of West’s net worth comes from his success as a shoe designer. He got his start creating footwear for Nike, and with the sportswear brand, he crafted three bestselling products before their partnership ended. West saw how well his creations were selling and he wanted to earn royalties, but the clothing giant wasn’t willing to relent, and thus he broke off the deal. West has also designed shoes for companies like Louis Vuitton, Giuseppe Zanotti, and Bape.

West continued making money when he jumped ship from Nike and went over to Adidas, where he remained until Oct. 25 when the company officially cut ties after his anti-Jewish remarks. His Yeezy brand was a financial success for the two with Forbesreporting that Adidas attributed 4-8% of their overall sales to the partnership. Every time the company announced a new item, it was known to sell out instantly. In fact, the first pair to be released by West and Adidas, known as the Yeezy Boost 750, was limited to just 9,000 pairs, and they sold out in 10 minutes.

The rapper has released at least a dozen different shoe designs with Adidas, which offered him royalties, unlike Nike. In 2019, the Yeezy line reportedly raked in $1.3 billion in revenue for Adidas, with West personally pocketing about $147 million of that. In 2020, that number jumped to $1.7 billion for the brand, while he earned another $191 million in royalties. 

When Adidas walked away in 2022, it was estimated that this partnership made up $1.5 billionof West’s net worth.

5. Clothing

Around the time he jumped into designing shoes, West also created a clothing line he called DW Kanye West. His debut line was criticized by journalists in the space, though he pushed forward to create more. While reviews did get better, the project didn’t last very long.

In 2020, West signed a decade-long deal with Gap to bring his unique style and the Yeezy name(which he still owns despite his working with Adidas for so many years) to the American chain of stores in association with Spanish luxury fashion brand Balenciaga. The first item to emerge from the partnership was a puffy jacket that sold for $200 in pre-orders, while later merchandising drops appeared in large trash bags in stores to much controversy. 

An early estimate stated that West’s line with Gap brought in as much as $1 billion in incremental sales in its first year, but Gap and Balenciaga both also terminated their partnerships with West in September and October, respectively. It is believed that $970 million of West’s fortune could be attributed to the Gap deal.

What Is Kanye West’s Net Worth?

$400 MILLION

Forbes previously estimated West’s net worth at $1.8 billion as of April 3, 2022, while West claimed during a 2022 interview with Hollywood Unlocked that he was worth $10 billion. In 2021, Billboard pegged his net worth at $6.6 billion, so the range of what experts believed the hip-hop staple was worth previously varied widely. But with his recent controversies, West’s net worth has plummeted to $400 million.

This article was originally published on 

Sent from my iPhone

[diamantefangs]

I saw @vimbry do it and I am pretending he tagged me b/c I'm in an overshare mood and I love sharing music I enjoy. I'll add as many links to the list as I can, some shit might be harder to find depending on the outcome.

Rules: you can usually tell a lot about a person by the type of music they listen to. Put your playlist on shuffle and list the first 10 songs, and then tag 10 people. No skipping!

S3RL - It Went [ft. JessKah]

Porter Robinson - LOOK AT THE SKY [R O C K Y'S ANY% HARDCORE REMIX]

Krewella - Come and Get It [Razihel Remix]

Molly - Beneath The Lights [Darren Styles Remix]

R O C K Y - MONOPHOBIA

Sharkey & CLSM - Wikkid M.C [2009 Exclusive]

Discotronic - Tricky Disco [Squad-E Remix] Fun Fact: I'm ranked No.1 on Audiosurf for this track!

LMC & U2 - Take Me To The Clouds Above [LMC Vs. U2 / Sy & Unknown Remix]

Apollo - Dance [Re-Con Remix]

nora2r - ULTRA B+K [WARNING: FLASHING LIGHTS]

If you wanna share your tunes pretend I tagged you

[mogwai-movie-house]

The Best of U2

Every album, ranked and rated high-to-low:

Achtung Baby (1991) ★★★★★★★★★½

The Joshua Tree (1987) ★★★★★★★★★½

No Line On The Horizon (2009) ★★★★★★★★★½

All That You Can't Leave Behind (2000) ★★★★★★★★★☆

The Unforgettable Fire (1984) ★★★★★★★★½☆

Zooropa (1993) ★★★★★★★★☆☆

How To Dismantle An Atom Bomb (2004) ★★★★★★★★☆☆

Rattle & Hum (1988) ★★★★★★★½☆☆

War (1983) ★★★★★★★☆☆☆

Songs of Innocence/Experience (2014-17) ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆

Pop (1997) ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆

Boy (1980) ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆

October (1981) ★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆

Songs of Surrender (2023) ★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆

[lovesongbracket]

Reminder: Vote based on the song, not the artist or specific recording! The tracks referenced are the original artist, aside from a few rare cases where a cover is the most widely known.

Lyrics, videos, info, and notable covers under the cut. (Spotify playlist available in pinned post)

Can't Help Falling in Love

Written By: George David Weiss, Luigi Creatore & Hugo Peretti

Artist: Elvis Presley

Released: 1961

Covers included: A*Teens, 2002; Ingrid Michaelson, 2008; twenty one pilots, 2012; Kina Grannis, 2017; Ice Nine Kills, 2021

A tender ballad about being unable to resist falling in love, “Can’t Help Falling in Love” is one of Elvis' most famous and romantic songs. Originally recorded to tie along with his movie, Blue Hawaii, the song has since been covered by various other artists, from U2 and Britney Spears to twenty one pilots. Rolling Stone ranked it as the 5th best Elvis song of all time, and it was also ranked as the 50th most popular wedding song by Billboard magazine.

[Verse 1] Wise men say "Only fools rush in" But I can't help Falling in love with you [Verse 2] Shall I stay? Would it be a sin If I can't help Falling in love with you? [Chorus] Like a river flows Surely to the sea Darling, so it goes Some things are meant to be [Verse 3] Take my hand Take my whole life, too For I can't help Falling in love with you [Chorus] Like a river flows Surely to the sea Darling, so it goes Some things are meant to be [Outro] Take my hand Take my whole life, too For I can't help Falling in love with you For I can't help Falling in love with you

Pink in the Night

Written By: Mitski

Artist: Mitski

Released: 2018

“Pink in the Night”, the tenth track off Be the Cowboy, is an atmospheric love ballad centered around: “…this visual of someone glowing pink because they’re so infatuated.”

[Verse 1] I glow pink in the night in my room I've been blossoming alone over you And I hear my heart breaking tonight I hear my heart breaking tonight [Pre-Chorus 1] Ooh, do you hear it too? It's like a summer shower [Chorus 1] With every drop of rain singing "I love you, I love you, I love you I love you, I love you, I love you I love you, I love you, I love you" [Verse 2] I could stare at your back all day I could stare at your back all day [Pre-Chorus 2] And I know I've kissed you before, but [Chorus 2] I didn't do it right Can I try again, try again, try again Try again, and again, and again And again, and again, and again?

[rabbitcruiser]

National Sweetest Day 

Indulge your sweet tooth with a box of heart-shaped chocolates. Feel free to share with a loved one, but this isn’t Valentine’s Day—it’s all about your love of sweets.

Sometimes you just need a sweet, and Valentine ’s Day only comes once a year. What’s a body to do? Well, you celebrate the National Sweetest Day of course! Like Valentine’s day, this day is known for its distribution of sweets in heart-shaped boxes, and a recognition of the love of candy.

History of National Sweetest Day

On October 8, 1921, Cleveland Confectioners came together to create a new day to celebrate the people’s love of candy and each other. On the first celebration of this day 20,000 boxes of candy were distributed throughout the city, everyone from newsboys, old folks, the poor, and orphans were gifted with delicious treats to help make it the “National Sweetest Day” of the year for them.

From there, the idea spread through big cities like New York and Detroit, expanding in popularity and importance as the years went on. In the early years, National Sweetest Day was fundamentally a commercial operation. The idea was to try to get as many people to enjoy sweets and associate them with specific times of the year geared towards celebrations. In 1922, for instance, candy manufacturers took the idea of Sweetness Day forward in New York City, hoping to drum up interest in their confectionery products.

Just a few years later, in 1927, the New York Times decreed that there would be a Sweetest Week. A decade later, the same newspaper announced that representatives from the industry were trying to get National Sweetest Day to rank alongside other significant events in the calendar, such as Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day.

Through various promotions, National Sweetest Day has gone on to become a popular choice for charity drives, including by organizations like the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children, starting as early as October 17, 1940.

For some, the original intention of the manufacturers paid off significantly. National Sweetest Day didn’t replace some of the big events in the calendar, but it did become associated with them. Now the vast majority of people think of confectionery alongside popular dates, such as Valentine’s Day. Many cities host their own National Sweetest Day, especially if they play host to a candy manufacturer.

At root, though, National Sweetest Day isn’t just about consuming as many chocolates as you can. Instead, it is about love. The original developers of the concept took it upon themselves to distribute candy to the neediest in society. And this spirit of giving remains. People traditionally celebrate the day by eating confectionery and sharing it with the people they love to show that they care. Romantic couples often use the event as an excuse to indulge in a little gift-giving.

You should note, however, that National Sweetest Day and Valentine’s Day are not the same things. The former is about sharing love with everyone in your life, while the latter is solely about focusing on your romantic partner.

National Sweetest Day Timeline

1922 Sweetest Day is invented

Herbert Birch Kingston, employee of a candy company in Cleveland, Ohio, wants to bring happiness to the lives of those who are often forgotten, so he creates this day.

1930s Film stars get involved with Sweetest Day

Movie stars, such as Ann Pennington and Theda Bara, celebrate the day by giving out sweets and boxes of candy to hospital patients, newspaper boys, theater goers and more.

Mid-1960s Hallmark first makes cards for Sweetest Day

Before this, the celebration was a grassroots movement in the Midwestern United States, but as Hallmark begins making cards, the day expands.

1987 U2’s song “Sweetest Thing” is distributed

Originally released on the B side of “Where the Streets Have No Name”, the song “Sweetest Thing” is a number one hit in Ireland and Canada.

2002 The Sweetest Thing film is released

Starring Cameron Diaz, Christina Applegate and Thomas Jane, this rom-com ranks highly Ebert & Roper’s Big Stars in Big Bombs, but Cameron Diaz’s career doesn’t seem to suffer for it.

How to celebrate National Sweetest Day

The simplest way to celebrate National Sweetest Day is to indulge your sweet-tooth and buy your favorite treat. An even better idea is to share it with someone who loves it as much as you do! Bring in a box of treats for your co-workers, or surprise your sweetie with their favorite sugary indulgence.

If you’re feeling truly ambitious, you can coordinate with a local charity to help do a sweets drive to generate money for them. Candy is always a popular item for charity drives, and if you contact the creator of these confectionary delights, you can probably get them at a heavily discounted price for use in charity drives.

Another idea is to send out National Sweetest Day cards. Currently, several popular card sellers offer themed cards for the day, allowing you to write messages to people you care about and remind them of the event. You might even want to design and create your own chocolates at home with a unique theme. Making unique and interesting flavors is a lot of fun.

Remember, you don’t have to limit yourself to sending candy on National Sweetest Day. Other sweet treats are allowed too. Yes, confectioners originally invented the day to promote their commercial chocolates and sweets. But it has since become a different animal, with regular people sharing anything that might be considered sweet. Cupcakes, cookies, and even pastries are all permitted under the rules. Celebrating National Sweetest Day can be a creative experience.

Because the original purpose of National Sweetest Day was charitable, you might think about using the day to give something back. In the past, philanthropists wanted to ensure that vulnerable individuals in the local community had enjoyment in their lives. Candy was an expression of that impulse, but it is by no means the only way to do so. For you, National Sweetest Day could involve providing food to the needy and vulnerable, or offering money to charities who take care of them in your city.

Finally, you can just buy candy and distribute it like a reverse Halloween, handing out candy to friends, co-workers, and random people on the street to remind them to have the National Sweetest Day of the year.

Now, doesn’t that sound like fun?

National Sweetest Day FAQs

Is Sweetest Day celebrated everywhere?

While it is certainly growing from its midwestern roots, Sweetest Day still seems to be mostly celebrated in the United States.

What is the sweetest thing in the world?

The sweetest compound in the world is a protein known as Thaumatin, which was first found in the katemfe fruits in West Africa and can be 2000 times sweeter than sucrose.

Is Sweetest Day for guys?

Of course, anyone is allowed to celebrate! But traditionally Sweetest Day is for women to show the men in their lives how much they appreciate them.

Where did Sweetest Day originate?

Sweetest Day started in Cleveland, Ohio when a candy company employee wanted to share sweets with those who don’t normally receive them.

Source

[dan6085]

Ranking the top 20 music albums of all time is subjective and varies by criteria such as influence, sales, critical acclaim, and cultural impact. Here’s a comprehensive list incorporating various sources and considering these factors:

1. **"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" – The Beatles (1967)**

- **Why**: Revolutionized recording techniques and album structure; regarded as a cultural milestone.

- **Top Songs**: "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," "With a Little Help from My Friends," "A Day in the Life."

- **Awards**: Grammy Award for Album of the Year, included in the Grammy Hall of Fame.

2. **"Thriller" – Michael Jackson (1982)**

- **Why**: Best-selling album of all time, groundbreaking music videos, and a blend of pop, rock, and R&B.

- **Top Songs**: "Billie Jean," "Thriller," "Beat It."

- **Awards**: Grammy Award for Album of the Year, multiple American Music Awards.

3. **"The Dark Side of the Moon" – Pink Floyd (1973)**

- **Why**: Known for its innovative use of studio effects and cohesive album structure.

- **Top Songs**: "Money," "Time," "Us and Them."

- **Awards**: Grammy Hall of Fame.

4. **"Led Zeppelin IV" – Led Zeppelin (1971)**

- **Why**: Features a blend of heavy rock and acoustic folk, and includes some of the band’s most famous tracks.

- **Top Songs**: "Stairway to Heaven," "Black Dog," "Rock and Roll."

- **Awards**: Grammy Hall of Fame.

5. **"Rumours" – Fleetwood Mac (1977)**

- **Why**: Known for its emotionally charged songs and commercial success.

- **Top Songs**: "Go Your Own Way," "Dreams," "The Chain."

- **Awards**: Grammy Award for Album of the Year.

6. **"The Beatles" (The White Album) – The Beatles (1968)**

- **Why**: Showcased the band's range and individual talents, with a variety of musical styles.

- **Top Songs**: "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," "Blackbird," "Helter Skelter."

- **Awards**: Grammy Hall of Fame.

7. **"Abbey Road" – The Beatles (1969)**

- **Why**: Famous for its production quality and the iconic medley on side two.

- **Top Songs**: "Come Together," "Something," "Here Comes the Sun."

- **Awards**: Grammy Hall of Fame.

8. **"What's Going On" – Marvin Gaye (1971)**

- **Why**: Addressed social issues and is considered one of the greatest soul albums ever.

- **Top Songs**: "What's Going On," "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)," "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)."

- **Awards**: Grammy Hall of Fame.

9. **"Nevermind" – Nirvana (1991)**

- **Why**: Brought grunge and alternative rock into the mainstream.

- **Top Songs**: "Smells Like Teen Spirit," "Come as You Are," "Lithium."

- **Awards**: Grammy nominations, multiple MTV Video Music Awards.

10. **"Hotel California" – Eagles (1976)**

- **Why**: Known for its musicianship and the title track, which has become an enduring classic.

- **Top Songs**: "Hotel California," "New Kid in Town," "Life in the Fast Lane."

- **Awards**: Grammy Award for Record of the Year.

11. **"Back in Black" – AC/DC (1980)**

- **Why**: One of the best-selling albums ever, it marked a triumphant comeback.

- **Top Songs**: "Back in Black," "You Shook Me All Night Long," "Hells Bells."

- **Awards**: Grammy nominations.

12. **"Born to Run" – Bruce Springsteen (1975)**

- **Why**: Defined the sound of rock in the 1970s and catapulted Springsteen to fame.

- **Top Songs**: "Born to Run," "Thunder Road," "Jungleland."

- **Awards**: Grammy Hall of Fame.

13. **"The Joshua Tree" – U2 (1987)**

- **Why**: Blended rock with social and political themes, achieving massive commercial success.

- **Top Songs**: "With or Without You," "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For," "Where the Streets Have No Name."

- **Awards**: Grammy Award for Album of the Year.

14. **"The Wall" – Pink Floyd (1979)**

- **Why**: A rock opera that explores themes of isolation and personal struggle.

- **Top Songs**: "Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2," "Comfortably Numb," "Hey You."

- **Awards**: Grammy nominations, Grammy Hall of Fame.

15. **"A Night at the Opera" – Queen (1975)**

- **Why**: Known for its eclectic mix of genres and the iconic "Bohemian Rhapsody."

- **Top Songs**: "Bohemian Rhapsody," "You're My Best Friend," "Love of My Life."

- **Awards**: Grammy Hall of Fame.

16. **"Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" – Elton John (1973)**

- **Why**: Showcased John’s versatility and includes some of his most enduring hits.

- **Top Songs**: "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road," "Candle in the Wind," "Bennie and the Jets."

- **Awards**: Grammy nominations, Grammy Hall of Fame.

17. **"Graceland" – Paul Simon (1986)**

- **Why**: Integrated world music with Western pop, and addressed significant social issues.

- **Top Songs**: "You Can Call Me Al," "Graceland," "Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes."

- **Awards**: Grammy Award for Album of the Year.

18. **"London Calling" – The Clash (1979)**

- **Why**: Blended punk rock with reggae, ska, and rockabilly, capturing the social upheavals of the time.

- **Top Songs**: "London Calling," "Train in Vain," "Clampdown."

- **Awards**: Grammy Hall of Fame.

19. **"Appetite for Destruction" – Guns N' Roses (1987)**

- **Why**: One of the best-selling debut albums, featuring a raw, hard-hitting sound.

- **Top Songs**: "Sweet Child o' Mine," "Welcome to the Jungle," "Paradise City."

- **Awards**: Grammy nominations, multiple MTV Video Music Awards.

20. **"Off the Wall" – Michael Jackson (1979)**

- **Why**: Marked Jackson's transition from child star to adult artist, blending funk, pop, and disco.

- **Top Songs**: "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough," "Rock with You," "Off the Wall."

- **Awards**: Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance.

These albums are celebrated for their innovation, impact, and timeless music that continues to resonate with audiences worldwide.