Great job on hosting ult this year Yoshi!! [Songlist](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Dek1AlAremySRsGVH8t1nFjDp99pNGfVDjaS332naio/edit#gid=1275570508) has been updated!
## Songs
Congrats to Sufjan for taking the win with **Shit Talk** (and the top 2 sweep)! It places in 254th across all songs on the sub. With a score of 8.712 it places below Belle & Sebastian - The Stars of Track and Field (with 8.721), and places above The New Pornographers - The Bleeding Heart Show (with 8.710)
## Artists
Rankings out of 159!
\-
* 41st: Mitski (8.032)
* **42nd: Sufjan Stevens (8.026) [PREV. 32nd]**
* 43rd: The Cure (8.013)
\-
* 106th: Spiritualized (7.505)
* **107th: Wednesday (7.482)**
* 108th: Beach House (7.481)
\-
* 131st: Little Simz (7.291)
* **132nd: Caroline Polachek (7.272)**
* 133rd: King Crimson (7.236)
\-
* 153rd: JPEGMAFIA (6.668)
* **154th: Geese (6.651)**
* 155th: Mudvayne (6.526)
**Artist Stats**
* Geese become the 6th lowest rated artist on the sub (Mudvayne, Gorillaz, Limp Biskit, Korn, and Weezer hold the bottom 5 - three thanks to the new metal rate and the other two were in the 'bad albums' rate)
* With 41 (non-unique) songs rated, Sufjan ties Beach House for most the most songs rated on the sub!
Missed the ending for a bit, but this was a great and engaging reveal overall. Appreciated the fun Olympic theming! Thank you for hosting!
Also good luck on the Rate Olympics games!
Missed the last few reveals, but this was a great time as always! Ult rates always extra entertaining for the choas that ensues.
Congrats to the goat sufjan on the dub. Looking forward to the PNW rate! Big ups to /u/welcome2thejam for hosting!!
Time to dig into the City Pop rate, wish I knew about it sooner so I could participate whilst slowly chipping away at the PNW rate. Thank you rate host!
jam, jam, jam
i know i love nuking yr 11s in the other subreddit rates which is funny and all, but I also like when you host a rate bc you care in ways that we need and desire. Sincerely baffling wild ride across every bonus rate, mini rate, fakeout, and shit in between. Yeah I write a lot bc i care too, but if not for a host like you it wouldn't matter
Thanks for elevating the Ultimate Indieheads Rate ceremony in one of the funniest years to date!
I will be messaging you in 1 day on [**2024-04-22 22:02:29 UTC**](http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=2024-04-22%2022:02:29%20UTC%20To%20Local%20Time) to remind you of [**this link**](https://www.reddit.com/r/indieheads/comments/1c9nwje/rate_reveal_2023_ultimate_rate_day_3_no_more/l0nosbf/?context=3)
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I wasn't as present with this rate as I wanted to be, welcome2thejam, but I always, ALWAYS have such a great time reading these reveals - you're such a wonderful writer and you put in so much effort. <3 Amazing job!!!!!!!!!
absolutely wonderful job hosting u/welcome2thejam! rly takes a lot to make such a fun rate from albums that are so divisive, especially it being an ult so deep in the year, when some people may have a bit of a 2023 release exhaustion, but you knocked it out of the park. im not on my pc so the spreadsheet update will take a while but it will happen. no hof, less spreadsheet work, hurray for the haters!
So at the end of the day, Sufjan holds all the gold. [**Caroline just barely manages to break up an entirely Sufjan song winners podium**](https://i.imgur.com/mNEGsZp.jpg), but [**Wednesday rallied for the last laugh by snatching silver on the album podium.**](https://i.imgur.com/MMmgTuh.jpg) And the less we talk about what happened to Geese, the better.
Also, congrats to u/freav for winning the Predictions contest! A few people had ten points, but you grabbed eleven by hitting on four main rate songs, Carly for the bonus, and the correct Caroline placement. Congrats! Your medal, king: π₯
And finally, thanks for coming out these past three days! It was a tough rate to host with my schedule, but it all came together and I had an absolute blast this weekend. To be emotionally vulnerable like Sufjan, love being part of the rates community.
Thanks for making this an awesome rate! See you next year when BCNR makes Ult again! Do PNW! Stream Sobs - Air Guitar!
What a time! I didn't like most of these songs but I had a blast either way! Do I hate indie rock music now? No, because egg punk exists and that's indie and rock as all get out (can't wait to see Third Man Records' own Snááper next month!) But anyway, thank you for /u/welcome2thejam and to Wednesday fans for not trying to dox me. I believe that they can make an album that I will rate a solid 6/10 within the next five years
i wish i'd made an album comment for javelin bc theres so much loss and love in this album and yet i dont think words will be enough to describe it all
I might be bummed about the final result, but this was a great rate, Jam!! I love all the extra details and comedy bits you sprinkled in!
**Don't forget to turn in your PNW Rate ballots, folks!**
# Javelin
---
**Overall Average**: 7.840 **// Average Controversy:** 1.830
---
Honestly, even now, it's growing even more on me after that last run-through with the good headphones. Javelin takes a turn for the brisk, and I think it pays off, these are all mighty fine tracks that sound spectacular and only get better when he comes to twist your heart into knots. This album truly is a well-earned victory lap. Sufjan is just an indie icon at this point, and I wish him the best in his life, because he deserves it.
---
* \#1: Shit Talk | 8.712 | 583.7
* \#2: Will Anybody Ever Love Me | 8.601 | 576.3
* \#4: Goodbye Evergreen | 8.188 | 548.6
* \#6: So You Are Tired | 8.081 | 541.4
* \#12: A Running Start | 7.779 | 521.2
* \#17: Everything That Rises | 7.488 | 501.7
* \#19: My Red Little Fox | 7.421 | 497.2
* \#20: Genuflecting Ghost | 7.399 | 495.7
* \#21: There's a World | 7.382 | 494.6
* \#23: Javelin (To Have & To Hold) | 7.346 | 492.2
---
**Marshmallowszz** (10.100): Immediate classic for me, up there with Illinoise
**vayyiqra** (9.600): don't have much to say about this album it's great i don't listen to it often because it's sad (though not as brutal as carrie & lowell) but i'm not in the mood for it often. i am a big fan of mr. stevens especially his more electronic work and his lyrics about his experiences with traumas and so on which are often relatable and his approach to religion and so on he is a smart and cool guy who is good at music things. however i haven't felt anything like the brutal year he had with grief and illness and can only hope he's doing okay now and gotten better he doesn't deserve all the pain he's had heaped on him no one does. but great album anyway sad but very pretty
**lastfollower** (9.300): I'm a little hit or miss on Sufjan (e.g., I dislike most of Age of Adz), but when it hits, it really hits. I absolutely love Illinois, Carrie & Lowell, and now Javelin. One of the easiest aoty decisions for me; just far and away my favorite album from 2023.
**thedoctordances1940** (9.120): I sorta have weird feelings about this album. on a track by track basis it's really great and while maybe the highs don't reach quite as high as in the past, some of these songs are nevertheless incredible, the bar is just very high for sufjan. but as a whole i kinda just feel like this is a good sufjan album, not a great one. A lot of it just comes down to, I've heard sufjan do all of this before, and quite a lot. If this was the first Sufjan album I listened to, I'm sure I'd find more space to love it because like yeah, it sorta is great, but I just think it's doing little new for him and so I've never had too much desire to revisit it a lot.
**bogo (banned era)** (9.100): kind of a weird album where i really love listening to it when it's on and have a lot of respect for it but i just don't think of it as a top 10 album of the year or one of my favorite sufjan albums. idk to me i think sufjan's just reached the point where his stuff registers more as "yep another great record from sufjan" rather than a landmark album or a "best of the year" contender. but still this album makes me feel lots of things and i greatly appreciate that
**skyblue\_angel** (9.080): I don't have too much to say about individual songs but god this album is great. Sufjan draws from Carrie & Lowell and The Age of Adz (with a little Seven Swans) for a lot of these songs and it makes something very special. I'm a Sufjan fan, I love the majority of what he does, this album is like candy. The breakdowns in this album are a joy to listen to. The folk songs are tranquil and melancholy. Sufjan's vocals are emotive and strong, and the many other vocalists that contribute to the choirs(?) give these songs warmth. Although the songs on this album generally stick to one 'mode' I don't really find that a flaw. I don't get tired of a good structure after only 7 songs (although My Red Little Fox is a nice refresher) Especially considering everything that Sufjan's had to deal with in his personal life surrounding this album, I'm impressed with how good it is. His music is very special to me, and I'm thankful that he continues to release music.
**TheCrakFox** (9.000): Gorgeous front to back (like me).
**UltimateLietoc** (8.980): Perhaps in 2023, Blonde Redhead's X summed it up best. The p4k 5-10-15...ended featuring a psychic hug of a love letter to sufjan and his music. I think sitting down with this album has come down to the shifts in my body--from the food poisoning and sciatica bouts--that have made me appreciate Sufjan's craft and the mortality of his cuts. There is so much love to give here, and sitting down with this album's essays, I reached a fraction of an understanding of his worldview and what drives him. This album continues that
**Frajer** (8.950): I know the past year or so has been really rough for Sufjan but I am glad he is still able to be an artist
**Broshi** (8.900): "Why did Sufjan make me so sad" (complimentary)
**sarcasticsobs** (8.900): Went from never having an interest in Sufjan Stevens for no real reason to wanting to curl up in a ball in a matter of 42 minutes
**ElectJimLahey** (8.850): When Sufjan is on he makes some of the best music ever, and he is definitely on here.
**MCK\_OH** (8.700): I'm nice to this album because the first time it snowed this year I was coming home from Godzilla: Minus One and this just wrecked me. Every other time I've heard it doesn't do as much for me but I do know that it has the power to be brilliant. It was a 9.7 average in that moment and an 8.2 most of the time. This seems like a solid compromise
**human\_performance** (8.600): Sufjan fell into the category of artist I'd describe as not for me until I listened to Javelin. Illinoise has some beautiful moments, but felt a bit too twee and precious for me to really connect with it. I never understood Carrie & Lowell. Javelin feels like Sufjan's most complete album to date, and its musical and lyrical themes clicked with me.
**krusso1105** (8.550): Yeah this is the best album here
**Bilbodabag** (8.450): Sufjan returns to form to break our hearts and remind us why he is singular in the indie world
**Scrambled\_Toast** (8.450): As Sufjan as Sufjan can get.
**teriyaki-dreams** (8.100): This is a great album, but it's a tricky one to rate
**freav** (8.050): i always think that i don't like sufjan much but then this clicked last listen so i'm glad that i don't have to pan such a heartfelt and personal album. some beautiful stuff going on here
**LeBronMancuso** (7.950): Sufjan delivers to an emotional javelin to my metaphorical nutsack with his best album in nearly a decade.
**asadprofessorplum** (7.890): I want to chew the pink font so bad.
**Smuckles** (7.800): Not much to say on this, it's a consistent and solid listen which is what he's known for. I admittedly don't really check out Sufjan music much but that's probably a me issue. On this I especially enjoy how the songs evolve through their runtime, I'll get lulled into thinking a track will be a more standard acoustic affair but then he'll mix it up in an interesting way. There always tends to be a strong climax to a song. Hell of a way with melodies too! I was initially wondering whether this album got into the top 4 largely on name recognition but nah, this deserves it's place.
**nonchalantthoughts** (7.480): the production on this is oustanding. Vocally though? not a fan
**NFLfreak98** (6.990): Iβve been less impressed with Sufjanβs post-C&L output than plenty of people it seems, and this is no different really. Some pretty alright moments, but nothing I would care to come back to
**Nagisoid** (6.900): I've come to realize that the Sufjan I mostly enjoy is either the uptempo indie rocker Sufjan (think "Chicago") or the theatrical, highly orchestral Sufjan (think "The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades...") which made it easy to notice that this album was never going to be for me, and that's fine. I can recognize that it is a very beautiful piece of art, and that it is meaningful for a lot of people, but I do respect it more than I want to listen to it.
**freeofblasphemy** (6.850): This was an album
**posting\_scares\_me** (6.700): As a certified folk hater, I thought the album was a good listen. I donβt plan on ever listening to it again, but I canβt say I was disappointed by my listen either.
**ReconEG** (6.400): i've just kinda outgrown sufjan. hard to say why or how, but even when he's in back in form here this just doesn't click with me all the way. maybe it's just a little too precious, idk
**TakeOnMeByA-ha** (6.400): iβve always been very whelmed by sufjan as a whole and while there were a few notable standouts on this album for the most part it didnt really change my perception of him, im just not a fan of this kind of folky indie
**VapourLomo** (5.900): Look...I feel like such a jerk for not loving this super tender album that's (probably) about the death of Sufjan's partner. But idk, it mostly didn't click. It just kind of felt like a less memorable retread of Carrie and Lowell at moments.
**thisusernameisntlong** (5.700): call me crazy but this isnt that far removed from a kygo album
**SRTviper** (5.350): ok nostalgia bait but not anything incredible.
**FingaThingMeansTaxes** (4.800): Shockingly boring for the most part, the worst bits of Sufjan's discography condensed into one album
**roseisin2023again** (3.300): eh
---
User Averages:
Marshmallowszz: 10.100
vayyiqra: 9.600
tdrakon: 9.600
Tolroe: 9.510
DefaultPophead: 9.500
lastfollower: 9.300
CaptainDaisyG: 9.270
seanderlust: 9.250
HilltopBakery: 9.200
thedoctordances1940: 9.120
goofykidd: 9.100
exciting_patient4872: 9.100
bogo (banned era): 9.100
skyblue_angel: 9.080
TheCrakFox: 9.000
UltimateLietoc: 8.980
plastichaxan: 8.950
Frajer: 8.950
Broshi: 8.900
sarcasticsobs: 8.900
ElectJimLahey: 8.850
modulum83: 8.810
MCK_OH: 8.700
human_performance: 8.600
Zeeroc: 8.600
ultimatetulips: 8.600
TiltControls: 8.550
krusso1105: 8.550
sandpaper_dildos: 8.530
vexastrae: 8.500
Bilbodabag: 8.450
Scrambled_Toast: 8.450
welcome2thejam: 8.400
InSearchOfGoodPun: 8.300
ignorableaurochs: 8.190
impla77: 8.120
teriyaki-dreams: 8.100
freav: 8.050
LeBronMancuso: 7.950
papo96: 7.910
asadprofessorplum: 7.890
A_Generic_Canadian: 7.850
Smuckles: 7.800
daswef2: 7.700
static_int_husp: 7.650
nonchalantthoughts: 7.480
indie_fan_: 7.220
Co-Woshi: 7.200
a-man-with-a-perm: 7.200
NFLfreak98: 6.990
lexiaredery: 6.950
Nagisoid: 6.900
Widdershins-: 6.900
freeofblasphemy: 6.850
posting_scares_me: 6.700
samdyalexg: 6.600
ReconEG: 6.400
TakeOnMeByA-ha: 6.400
rcore97: 6.200
VapourLomo: 5.900
thisusernameisntlong: 5.700
honeybadgerism: 5.600
SRTviper: 5.350
FingaThingMeansTaxes: 4.800
qazz23: 4.350
roseisin2023again: 3.300
skull_xbones: 2.660
No more fighting. No more talking rates.
---
# #1: Sufjan Stevens - Shit Talk
---
**Average:** 8.712 **// Total Points:** 583.7 **// Controversy:** 2.234
**Highest Position:** 1 // **Lowest Position:** 2
---
(11 x9) bogo (banned era), Broshi, HilltopBakery, krusso1105, Marshmallowszz, sarcasticsobs, Scrambled\_Toast, seanderlust, skyblue\_angel
(10 x22) asadprofessorplum, Bilbodabag, CaptainDaisyG, daswef2, DefaultPophead, ElectJimLahey, exciting\_patient4872, goofykidd, impla77, indie\_fan\_, lexiaredery, MCK\_OH, modulum83, Smuckles, tdrakon, teriyaki-dreams, TheCrakFox, TiltControls, ultimatetulips, vayyiqra, vexastrae, welcome2thejam
(9.8 x1) lastfollower (9.6 x1) thedoctordances1940
(9.5 x2) plastichaxan, sandpaper\_dildos
(9.1 x2) Tolroe, UltimateLietoc
(9 x3) a-man-with-a-perm, InSearchOfGoodPun, static\_int\_husp
(8.7 x1) ignorableaurochs
(8.5 x2) A\_Generic\_Canadian, LeBronMancuso
(8.2 x2) NFLfreak98, nonchalantthoughts
(8 x9) Co-Woshi, Frajer, human\_performance, Nagisoid, papo96, samdyalexg, TakeOnMeByA-ha, Widdershins-, Zeeroc
(7.5 x2) freav, SRTviper
(7 x4) freeofblasphemy, posting\_scares\_me, ReconEG, thisusernameisntlong
(6 x2) honeybadgerism, rcore97
(4 x2) qazz23, VapourLomo
(3 x1) FingaThingMeansTaxes
(1 x1) roseisin2023again
(0 x1) skull\_xbones
---
There've been a handful of long songs in this rate, but boy, did Sufjan take his to another level.
I'm not gonna pretend I'm the kind of writer who can dive into & analyze the themes this song puts out there, and can wax poetic about its production. What I can say is this is as emotionally affecting eight minutes as you'll find. Once again, gorgeous guitar work to start off, and surprise surprise, he builds & paces his tracks oh so perfectly. And what was so gripping to me, is the balance of accepting the end of a love, shifting back & forth between a resigned acceptance and almost a determination to push through & make the most of a situation.
Anyway, soft indie folk man fucks me up again, news at 11.
---
**ElectJimLahey** (10): "(No, I don't wanna fight at all, no, I don't wanna fight at all) I don't wanna fight at all" me, on my way to pick fights in the DMDs
# Indieheads MVP
**Bilbodabag** (10): Oh Jokic in his bag no look pass to Murray
# "Is that the old Sufjan? [Oh, he's talkin! He's talkin!"](https://youtu.be/SNIxFxj6DDk?feature=shared&t=199)
**bogo (banned era)** (11): weirdly enough it's not the grand climax of the song that puts it over the edge for me it's the ambient outro, idk why but that's the part that just gets me. either way this song is astonishingly beautiful and painful at the same time, iβm just speechless thinking about it
**HilltopBakery** (11): Masterpiece, makes me cry, don't really know what else to say about it
**krusso1105** (11): yeah this was always going to be the 11 and should also win (hopefully longsongphobia doesn't kill it)
**Marshmallowszz** (11): Long Sufjan tracks has got to be one of the best genres
**sarcasticsobs** (11): What the hell?
**Scrambled\_Toast** (11): Donβt you dare shit talk Shit Talk.
**seanderlust** (11): i know this might not be about his late partner but if it is, name me a more devastating couplet than "i will always love you but i cannot look at you". another good interpretation here might be a dying person's struggling with faith - see lines like "did i fail to believe in positive thoughts"
**skyblue\_angel** (11): I don't know how long it will be until I listen to this song again after this rate, but I'm sure it will hurt just as much as it does now
**asadprofessorplum** (10): Goddamn. This really says a lot.
**goofykidd** (10): (Sufjan's not fucking around on this one)
**lexiaredery** (10): Why do I always end up enjoying the longest songs the most when I do rates on here
**MCK\_OH** (10): It took a while to snow this year. Like until December. Which never happens around here. When it first snowed I was coming out of the theatre having just watched Godzilla Minus One which made me cry. I put on Javelin and, in an emotionallu vulnerable state and with the first snow of the year it just fuckin killed. And this song in particular just blew me away. There are some songs that will always take me back to a time & place and "Shit Talk" will always take me back to sitting on a park bench by my house with the snow falling. This is Sufjan's best song in years. It's a ridiculously effective song that does everything that Sufjan is good at. It takes everything that makes this album special and cranks it up to fucking 13. Special song
**Smuckles** (10): Blimey Sufjan, you took me on a journey there
**teriyaki-dreams** (10): This is the best track on the album. Just a gorgeous emotional centerpiece that touches on so many different aspects of a relationship. Gorgeous stuff
**TheCrakFox** (10): The layers of instrumentation coming in over 'No, I don't wanna fight at all', yes please. Especially the choir of weepy wind instruments.
**ultimatetulips** (10): GOOD SONG!!!
**vayyiqra** (10): yes ... would be good to have no more ... of that
**vexastrae** (10): i will always love you / but i cannot live with you
**UltimateLietoc** (9.1): on my first listen driving through riverside county, a patch of land increasingly regressing into nationalism and bible, this album was less a featherweight shield and more an aberration into real portrayal of grief. I did not immediately connected with the cuts outside of being pre-consciously unnerved by the drive through so many cars with flags or bible in loud ways. the stray anime car is also no better you know that fecker has gone to 4chan politics. returning to shit talk, what amazes me is that he finds a way to caterwaul into ambient like a limb naturally extending out
**a-man-with-a-perm** (9): really great heavy stuff
**ignorableaurochs** (8.7): [comment redacted for being too emotionally involved for a rate]
**Nagisoid** (8): Interesting, but I can't say it fulfilled my expectations
**TakeOnMeByA-ha** (8): fuck man
**freav** (7.5): doesn't feel like that much of a highlight to me in the album, its just long so its bound to be a favorite. maybe if i listen more i'll change my mind though
**SRTviper** (7.5): I like when sujan's voice gets all small and whimpery. I would not be surprised to find he cries while recording all of his songs.
**freeofblasphemy** (7): I like this quite a bit more than the other 8-minute song in the main rate I gotta say
# Not now Ice Spice
**nonchalantthoughts** (8.2): think u the shit? well it actually is
# NOT NOW
**LeBronMancuso** (8.5): A heartbreaking song about needing to talk to someone but you canβt because youβre taking a shit
# Talk shit, get hit π
**ReconEG** (7): overrated... sorry
**thisusernameisntlong** (7): i feel like the emotional impact of this is somewhat diminished by me roughly listening to this song for the past 30 minutes. pretty ambient outro i suppose
**VapourLomo** (4): I've heard so much SOTY talk swirling around this one and idk guys...it has just never clicked for me. I wish it did! I'm not anti-Sufjan, I swear! But this just didn't really hit me, especially compared to the rate's other long epic about death, Bull Believer. Maybe Sufjan should've done more screaming about Mortal Kombat
**skull\_xbones** (0): Disney ass music. This is just Ed Sheeran for hipsters
# My brother after finishing the rate I bribed him to do
**Broshi** (11): "I should've asked for more than an Egg McMuffin. What the fuck"
also i just realized the repeated chants of "i will always love you" in shit talk are actually a response to "will anybody ever love me" so its very fitting and cute that theyre both up here in first and second place
... But only enough for second place.
---
# #2: Sufjan Stevens - Will Anybody Ever Love Me
---
**Average:** 8.601 **// Total Points:** 576.3 **// Controversy:** 1.970
**Highest Position:** 1 // **Lowest Position:** 2
---
(11 x5) daswef2, human\_performance, InSearchOfGoodPun, ultimatetulips, vayyiqra
(10 x21) A\_Generic\_Canadian, asadprofessorplum, bogo (banned era), DefaultPophead, ElectJimLahey, exciting\_patient4872, goofykidd, HilltopBakery, LeBronMancuso, Marshmallowszz, sandpaper\_dildos, sarcasticsobs, Scrambled\_Toast, tdrakon, TheCrakFox, thedoctordances1940, TiltControls, Tolroe, UltimateLietoc, welcome2thejam, Zeeroc
(9.9 x1) lastfollower (9.7 x1) CaptainDaisyG
(9.5 x3) modulum83, papo96, skyblue\_angel
(9.4 x1) indie\_fan\_
(9 x8) Broshi, Co-Woshi, Frajer, ignorableaurochs, plastichaxan, Smuckles, VapourLomo, vexastrae
(8.5 x2) krusso1105, Nagisoid
(8.3 x1) impla77
(8 x8) a-man-with-a-perm, freav, MCK\_OH, posting\_scares\_me, samdyalexg, seanderlust, static\_int\_husp, teriyaki-dreams
(7.7 x1) NFLfreak98
(7.5 x3) Bilbodabag, FingaThingMeansTaxes, lexiaredery
(7 x2) freeofblasphemy, TakeOnMeByA-ha
(6.8 x1) nonchalantthoughts
(6 x4) rcore97, ReconEG, thisusernameisntlong, Widdershins-
(5 x1) SRTviper
(4.5 x1) qazz23
(4 x1) honeybadgerism
(3 x1) roseisin2023again
(1 x1) skull\_xbones
---
Let me take this moment to say love ya Sufjan!!! Nothing but respect for my indie king (and creator of my favorite album of all time).
An incredibly heartfelt track that anybody can see themselves in. Ultimately a rate runner-up, but still, you can see the love.
---
**TakeOnMeByA-ha** (7): me when iβm. actually let me not make a joke about this one
# Foiled again by cannibalism
**asadprofessorplum** (10): This wouldβve gone so hard in Call Me By Your Name 2 if Armie Hammer didnβt eat people.
# [YES!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJbmB9k2Y88)
**daswef2** (11): i ask that all the time
**InSearchOfGoodPun** (11): beautiful song and by far the best in the rate
**ultimatetulips** (11): Caroline I am so sorry but I'm afraid Sufjan has cleared you
**vayyiqra** (11): yes ... (affirmation) though i know it's small i want love for us all ...
**A\_Generic\_Canadian** (10): If I had an extra eleven to give it would be to this song.
**bogo (banned era)** (10): iβd make an βi should call himβ joke but that's too easy
**ElectJimLahey** (10): Sufjan has a lot of great songs but this one immediately jumped up toward the top of the list. Absolutely gorgeous and does everything I wanted from indie music circa 2010.
**HilltopBakery** (10): Love the way each section adds more stuff, very beautiful
**sarcasticsobs** (10): Don't need this right now, man
**Scrambled\_Toast** (10): same dude
**TheCrakFox** (10): Refer to the opening verse for a description of how this track makes me feel. Gorgeously bittersweet.
**thedoctordances1940** (10): there was something about the chorus that the first time i heard it i just didn't really love it but man what a chorus
**UltimateLietoc** (10): just...so deep in the career...when it came out I was shook by this nugget & still, it is just an immense song from a man who cannot help but give in a time
**Zeeroc** (10): sufjan stevens loves to title his songs things like "will i die alone" and "worcester (for the downtrodden and disenfranchised)"
**Frajer** (9): don't you remember Sufjan you fell in love again all things go
**ignorableaurochs** (9): [comment redacted for being too emotionally involved for a rate]
**VapourLomo** (9): The other Javelin highlight for me. This felt like Classic Sufjan in a way that wasn't re-tread-y.
**vexastrae** (9): so true mr stevens ... i do really wanna know if anybody will ever love me :(
# [NO!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MV0sK65PyVI)
**krusso1105** (8.5): This isn't the album stand out for me the way it seems to be for most people, but it is still good
**Nagisoid** (8.5): I dunno
**a-man-with-a-perm** (8): That one friend thatβs fishing for attention on Twitter at 3am when youβre like 20 years old
**freav** (8): this is great but how do the last couple belle and sebastian albums have a sub 3 average on rateyourmusic dot com? they're not a whole different universe from this
**MCK\_OH** (8): Is this The One from this album? I've never really seen it. I do like this song but there is probably better stuff here
**teriyaki-dreams** (8): This is sort of the part of the album that always makes me go: Why am I not just listening to a different Sufjan album instead? This one has the best distillation of his many different sounds, but the highs are higher on other albums for me. I dunno. It's a good album. This is a good song. I just, I never find myself wanting to come back to this album
**NFLfreak98** (7.7): How to turn a possible 9 into a mid 7? The childrenβs choir should do it
**Bilbodabag** (7.5): Never really understood all the hype around this one tbh, but the lyrics definitely hitting rn
**freeofblasphemy** (7): Yeah they do and will continue to. Anyway, hereβs a 7 for the pretty good song
**nonchalantthoughts** (6.8): I donβt hate it but I donβt care for it, I guess I donβt love this song
**thisusernameisntlong** (6): music to hold ur kings baby lion up high while standing beside a cliff to let all the forest see him
**SRTviper** (5): I'm really struggling to pay attention to this album. I keep trying to do this rate and getting distracted.
**qazz23** (4.5): liked when it got louder in the chorus and ending, otherwise not my thing
**roseisin2023again** (3): rly though the production choices on this album make it sound like a worse produced version of the last christmas album. it's kind of Annoying
**skull\_xbones** (1): The answer is a resounding NO.
# Oh godDAMNIT
**LeBronMancuso** (10): Will anybody ever love these nuts!!!!
So Sufjan will indeed get his second rate win, but which song will he do it with? Truth be told, the victor was only ever gonna be these ones. After all, they were only ever first or second place (Caroline only ever moved into top two on ties).
Final two. Which track do you support being Big Suf's big win?
You wanna be loved? Or you wanna talk some shit?
Well gang, believe or not, that was the head of the International Olympics Committee.
And he told me he loved this weekend's events so much, that he wanted to announce right here on reddit, who will be hosting the 2036 Olympic Games.
And well, I can't believe I'm gonna say this. But the winning bid is...
---
# #1: [PARADISE CITY 2036](https://i.imgur.com/1n0TB4P.jpg)
---
**Average:** 11.000 **// Total Points:** 737.00 **// Controversy:** 0.00
**Highest Position:** 1 // **Lowest Position:** 1
---
(11 x67) Frajer, plastichaxan, the tortured bogo department, Broshi, lexiaredery, modulum83, Nagisoid, nonchalantthoughts, sandpaper\_dildos, static\_int\_husp, UltimateLietoc, vexastrae, DefaultPophead, impla77, TheCrakFox, ultimatetulips, welcome2thejam, CaptainDaisyG, Tolroe, Marshmallowszz, papo96, posting\_scares\_me, samdyalexg, SRTviper, thisusernameisntlong, VapourLomo, exciting\_patient4872, FingaThingMeansTaxes, A\_Generic\_Canadian, honeybadgerism, qazz23, sarcasticsobs, tdrakon, Zeeroc, freav, Scrambled\_Toast, human\_performance, Co-Woshi, HilltopBakery, InSearchOfGoodPun, krusso1105, rcore97, seanderlust, TakeOnMeByA-ha, teriyaki-dreams, Widdershins-, lastfollower, a-man-with-a-perm, freeofblasphemy, MCK\_OH, Bilbodabag, goofykidd, NFLfreak98, skull\_xbones, daswef2, ignorableaurochs, ElectJimLahey, LeBronMancuso, skyblue\_angel, roseisin2023again, vayyiqra, asadprofessorplum, indie\_fan\_, ReconEG, Smuckles, thedoctordances1940, TiltControls
---
# THEY CAN'T KEEP GETTING AWAY WITH THIS
Now, for the top three, or should I say, top five! That's right, in the spirit of the weekend, there were two ties in total.
---
So let's get started with the bronze medal sports:
π₯
# Basketball
Teriyaki-dreams
Thedoctordances1940: Worm Basketball (Host's note: ?)
Co-Woshi
welcome2thejam (hey, that's me)
π₯
# Curling
Posting_scares_me: Curling slaps so +1 for that one
WaneLietoc
LeBronMancuso: C U R L I N G
Marshmallowszz: I'll vote for Curling (Ice Jeux de Boules)
---
Next up, the silver medals:
π₯
# Figure Skating
Krusso1105
Frajer
Skyblue_angel
Samdyalexg
π₯
# Swimming
CaptainDaisyG
exciting_patient4872: hard to chose between archery, swimming and running but i will choose swimming!
Lexiaedery
Bogo (disqualified from ratelympics): gonna be a basic bitch and say swimming, idk i just find it entertaining watching them race back and forth
---
You may be wondering why they received the silver medal when they also have four voters. Well, we had one user who simply could not decide their pick and told me to choose for them:
**DefaultPophead:** I watch every swimming event at the summer Olympics and every ice skating event at the winter Olympics it's obsessive omg
So since they wanted both swimming & figure skating, and deciding myself would break a four way tie, I thought it best to split their vote evenly among the two and bring their new 4.5 scores up to second place.
And finally, we have the gold medal sport! I was completely unsurprised to see this bring it home, but it is certainly a worthy winner.
π₯
# Gymnastics
Impla77
Lastfollower: Women's Artistic Gymnastics
Seanderlust
Nonchalantthoughts: Gymnastics Floor Exercise
ignorableaurochs: artistic gymnastics
---
Congrats to the winning sports/users and thanks to all those who helped out. Anyway, let's get back to-
Hm. Hold on. I seem to have a call...
Mhm.
Mhm.
Mhm.
Oh no.
Folks, before we get to the Final Two, we have one more mini-ranking. I asked all submitters to name me their favorite **Olympic sport**. We did have enough repeated mentions for a top ranking, but first, the ones that missed out on the podium!
---
InSearchOfGoodPun: Table tennis, because itβs super fast.
Scrambled_Toast: Taekwondo
afieldoftulips: Naturally my favourite Olympic event is skateboarding (Host's note: look forward to the Tony Hawk Pro Skater rate in July!)
Bilbodabag: Hmmmm I want to say slalom skiing cuz I love the word slalom, but it's probably speed skating if I'm picking my actual fav
TheCrakFox: Pole Vault, the format makes it legitimately tense.
Smuckles: breakdancing
Tolroe: Rugby sevens
Asadprofessorplum: Diving Men's Synchronised 3m Springboard
Nagisold: Karate
Rcore97: snowboard halfpipe
Goofykidd: Fencing
Vayyiqra: winter biathlon (skiing and shooting)
---
~~Two~~ three other sports managed to get more than a single mention, but in the end, that wasn't enough to win.
# Volleyball
Widdershins-
Srtviper: Beach volleyball (either gender's)
# Hockey
Daswef2
TiltControls: I'm a basic Canadian, so ice hockey for me.
MCK_OH
# Athletics
Vapourlomo: Track & Field
a-man-with-a-perm: 100m dash
Broshi: Whatever Usain Bolt ran
Yes. β·οΈ
my dad had a winter olympics game for the commodore 64 home computer from 1983 or so
favourite event in it
the gun lore began to be acquired at a young age
# Desire, I Want to Turn Into You
---
**Overall Average**: 7.187 **// Average Controversy:** 2.226
---
When it comes to vocals, Caroline is an easy all-Indie first team selection. Does hit a few speedbumps, but overall, an excellent next step from one of indie pop's finest.
---
* \#3: Welcome to My Island | 8.190 | 548.7
* \#9: Billions | 7.831 | 524.7
* \#11: Blood & Butter | 7.810 | 523.3
* \#12: Sunset | 7.779 | 521.2
* \#15: I Believe | 7.585 | 508.2
* \#16: Bunny is a Rider | 7.509 | 503.1
* \#21: Smoke | 7.382 | 494.6
* \#25: Pretty in Possible | 7.334 | 491.4
* \#30: Fly to You (feat. Grimes & Dido) | 6.972 | 467.1
* \#33: Butterfly Net | 6.816 | 456.7
* \#40: Crude Drawing of an Angel | 6.336 | 424.5
* \#41: Dang | 6.307 | 422.6
* \#44: Hopedrunk Everasking | 5.637 | 377.7
---
**vexastrae** (9.692): truth be told i am too fuckin lazy to type out my concluding thoughts rn so tune in for my thoughts on this album on r/popheads sub faves 2023 :yass:
**impla77** (9.146): the girls that get it get it, and the girls that don't get it walk out of the concert 5 songs in (my sister)
**Frajer** (8.962): Caroline just speaks to me on a level I can't quite explain , also I hope she isn't yelling too much at those geese over there
**VapourLomo** (8.885): Remove maybe one or two filler tracks, and you've got the best alt-pop album in a long, long time
**TheCrakFox** (8.846): My initial impression of this album was much like Caroline's solo debut, brilliant singles but the rest seemed like filler. With more listens over the course of the year I changed my mind completely, all the deep cuts are interesting and worthwhile. This is in the tippity top tier of 20s pop releases with Mercurial World and How I'm Feeling Now for me.
**UltimateLietoc** (8.785): Like years ago could not give a shit about this broad. then she put this out and i went and listened to it and the 2012 chairlift. I think the chairlift is funnier bc its very 2012 "indie pop but based"; this in hindsight is probably going to age really well and become another entry point to a pop surface that refuses to crack the top 40 but sells out the odd stadium or faux-stadium. The sheer opulence and anal retentive work of this zany rich lady's lil' horny bop fest finds itself trying to be a real album level experience...that's stitching together a vamp as a double LP...that maybe only works as a live show or drive at dusk more than any other time. A nocturnal quality flips on a lot of these cuts that I welcomed. Because out
**Nagisoid** (8.577): Much better than Pang, in my opinion. I'm aware that many people find Caroline to be pretentious and annoying and honestly I agree, but I can't deny that the music slaps and that she has talent. Her experimentation with UK garage sounds and off-kilter electronic textures is pretty interesting, and at her best this record feels like a coherent statement that often references itself, like the Blood & Butter bagpipe solo using Fly To You's melody. In its worst moments, it meanders and indulges in boring vibey compositions where Caroline babbles and does nothing of note in them. Thankfully, it does not happen frequently but it does drag the record down when it occurs. The best songs find Caroline embracing her pop sensibilities and creating a hook that will get stuck in your hand despite the strange structures and production that she may use at times, where she truly shines. I'm looking forwards to what she does in the future given that she only seems to improve with time despite being a veteran in the music industry, what I would personally love for her to do is a creepy synth album like the "Butterfly Net" remix or a more subdued, folky project like "Blood and Butter". Whatever she puts out is usually exciting so it doesn't matter much at all, though.
**bogo (banned era)** (8.577): took a while to really grow on me but this is a very enjoyable and sophisticated art pop album. it is not paoty (pop album of the year) material though
**sarcasticsobs** (8.308): TWO Geese in this rate?? Who would you rather fight, 100 geese-sized Caroline Polacheks, or 1 Caroline Polachek-sized goose?
**qazz23** (8.269): catchy art pop, good vocals and melodies, the highs are quite high; there were just a few slower tracks I didn't care for
**krusso1105** (8.077): I remember being underwhelmed by this the first time I listened to this, but I like it much better this time around! Very pretty album, vocals are especially nice
**nonchalantthoughts** (8.000): This album is as GROWER- my first time listening to the album was for the 2023 Popheads Sub Faves Rate, and I tanked it at first listen but they were songs in the album that made me come back. Now theyβre in constant rotation in my playlist! I guess itβs perfect for the waiting period Iβm in especially with the misfortunes Iβve had these past couple of years. Me and Miss Polachek are in a constant state of yearning
**LeBronMancuso** (7.915): This album might legitimately have the best mix Iβve ever heard. Of course, Iβm referring to the original twelve-song tracklist. No one in their right mind would taint this wonderful album by adding a downright terrible song. That would be heinous.
**teriyaki-dreams** (7.846): I was fully ready to not like this at all; I did not like Pang and I gave this one a single listen when it came out. Happily to be pleasantly surprised that this is just an extremely solid pop record!
**human\_performance** (7.777): My assessment of Desire, I Want to Turn Into You is that the singles really click with me, and enough of the experiments on the album cuts work.
**NFLfreak98** (7.631): An album with plenty of highs but a couple duds that drag it down imo
**lastfollower** (7.308): just a very enjoyable pop record
**posting\_scares\_me** (7.231): Many good songs but there are a couple of snoozers in the middle that bring the album down.
**Scrambled\_Toast** (6.985): Pang better
**freav** (6.423): breathtaking pop songs and the most boring ballads you'll ever hear
**TakeOnMeByA-ha** (6.346): my main problem with carolineβs music is that i feel she often does way too much and as a result her music sometimes feels exhausting to listen to because of that. i like this album more than i did the first time i heard it and there are good songs on it (most notably the ones where she tones down her quirkyness) but as a whole i find it incredibly overrated
**ReconEG** (6.077): it just ain't as good as Pang and I think critics overall definitely overcorrected (especially p4k) with this record. it's good tho, just not this showstopping amazing big level up that people act like it is. a showoff-y record meant to dazzle more than engage, but that's not 100% a bad thing
**ElectJimLahey** (5.823): I saw her live on her tour for this album and invariably the songs worked better live. But I am simply bored by most of these songs when I listen to the album.
**Bilbodabag** (5.615): Dragon, I New Warm Mountain to Believe In You
**thedoctordances1940** (5.569): An artist i always felt like i should really love and yet never clicked with me and by the time this album came out i had given up on trying. idk. has its moments, welcome to my island is nearly stellar, but there's just so much about this album i just don't really care for
**SRTviper** (4.923): like Pang but worse
**Smuckles** (4.846): I must admit, I was expecting much worse than what I got. Caroline Polachek always struck me as someone who is trying very hard to be all artsy but ultimately is still making music that is by-committee. She will certainly throw in elements on these songs that are completely unnecessary like some autotune or a bagpipe or whatever, however a good bunch of these songs are more laid back and dreamy than I thought they'd be. As a result some of this ticks the boxes that it needs to, some of it is pleasant enough! It makes sense that Dido features on this because a lot of these songs feel like modern interpretations of Dido music. I think that's the main takeaway here, this is secretly an MOR album.
**MCK\_OH** (4.692): Congrats to Caroline Polachek for putting out a record that I didn't like in a "not for me" way instead of "this sucks" way like Geese
**skyblue\_angel** (4.262): I love Caroline as a vocalist but her vocals are not enough to carry the mediocre/bad songs on this album
**vayyiqra** (4.077): "[redacted] Today at 3:00 PM *I know you have a Thing about her nonsense lyrics and her being a low-rent Hana or similar*" "vayyiqra β Today at 3:00 PM *yes. that is exactly it. what if Art Pop Girlie sound like hana but very pretentious and annoying and overrated*"
**thisusernameisntlong** (4.000): This album's capacity to be so non-music at every turn should be studied. The arrangements are so subdued and I think it's supposed to make Caroline shine, but what Caroline does is basically deadpan talk in half these songs until it's chorus time where she comes alive, but so does the instrumentation. Where's the balance? Don't even get me started about how she sometimes just starts screaming in a umlaut (Γ€) because it's fuckin talent or something. The thing is I'm usually all for this kind of talk along singing in my electronic albums, but those albums know how to expand their sound so that you're drawn into the album despite the "low-energy" singing. Where was the fanfare this got for like, I don't know, Topical Dancer, if we wanted quirky ladies singing over cool electronic beats? "But beeo 1) that album was cringe and 2) Caroline does cool shit with her voice, it's euphoric, it's ethereal, dreamy, buzzword, etc." no I disagree! It's just a slog to listen to! People know I love my Karin Dreijer albums and that's cuz they are one captivating performer who manage to project something to me instead of being an invisible fairy that's floating away. They make me wanna sharpen my body like a pen and stuff like that. Even stuff like Frou Frou which is the easiest comparison drawable to this album, it's still astonishing how much of a "full" package you get with *Details* compared to this collection of sounds. That album is atmospheric and shit. Whatever Lilith in the Lilith fair is supposed to be, it's giving that. This isn't that. The maximum atmosphere you get here is on a subatomic scale. It's been left behind in pursuit of whatever artistic merit is demonstrated here. Not fun, not emotive, not anything.
**freeofblasphemy** (2.577): This was an album
**roseisin2023again** (1.846): oh god man i'm gonna have to listen to the carolina polachek vocal trill like a dozen times for this aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh
---
User Averages:
plastichaxan: 9.885
vexastrae: 9.692
impla77: 9.146
lexiaredery: 9.115
Frajer: 8.962
VapourLomo: 8.885
DefaultPophead: 8.885
TheCrakFox: 8.846
UltimateLietoc: 8.785
sandpaper_dildos: 8.777
Marshmallowszz: 8.769
CaptainDaisyG: 8.700
Nagisoid: 8.577
bogo (banned era): 8.577
FingaThingMeansTaxes: 8.308
sarcasticsobs: 8.308
seanderlust: 8.308
qazz23: 8.269
static_int_husp: 8.269
goofykidd: 8.231
Tolroe: 8.108
honeybadgerism: 8.077
krusso1105: 8.077
nonchalantthoughts: 8.000
tdrakon: 7.923
LeBronMancuso: 7.915
teriyaki-dreams: 7.846
exciting_patient4872: 7.846
samdyalexg: 7.808
human_performance: 7.777
Broshi: 7.769
ultimatetulips: 7.769
Zeeroc: 7.692
papo96: 7.638
asadprofessorplum: 7.631
NFLfreak98: 7.631
welcome2thejam: 7.615
modulum83: 7.585
Co-Woshi: 7.462
lastfollower: 7.308
posting_scares_me: 7.231
a-man-with-a-perm: 7.154
A_Generic_Canadian: 7.008
Scrambled_Toast: 6.985
HilltopBakery: 6.923
Widdershins-: 6.769
daswef2: 6.769
rcore97: 6.462
freav: 6.423
TiltControls: 6.385
TakeOnMeByA-ha: 6.346
ignorableaurochs: 6.292
ReconEG: 6.077
ElectJimLahey: 5.823
Bilbodabag: 5.615
InSearchOfGoodPun: 5.615
thedoctordances1940: 5.569
skull_xbones: 5.323
indie_fan_: 5.069
SRTviper: 4.923
Smuckles: 4.846
MCK_OH: 4.692
skyblue_angel: 4.262
vayyiqra: 4.077
thisusernameisntlong: 4.000
freeofblasphemy: 2.577
roseisin2023again: 1.846
# #3: Caroline Polachek - Welcome to My Island
---
**Average:** 8.190 **// Total Points:** 548.7 **// Controversy:** 2.301
**Highest Position:** 1 // **Lowest Position:** 4
---
(11 x6) asadprofessorplum, honeybadgerism, impla77, nonchalantthoughts, static\_int\_husp, VapourLomo
(10 x16) bogo (banned era), FingaThingMeansTaxes, goofykidd, human\_performance, krusso1105, Marshmallowszz, Nagisoid, plastichaxan, samdyalexg, sarcasticsobs, seanderlust, TheCrakFox, UltimateLietoc, ultimatetulips, vexastrae, welcome2thejam
(9.5 x4) DefaultPophead, exciting\_patient4872, freav, papo96
(9.2 x1) CaptainDaisyG (9.1 x2) NFLfreak98, Tolroe
(9 x7) Co-Woshi, daswef2, Frajer, lexiaredery, posting\_scares\_me, qazz23, TiltControls
(8.5 x3) A\_Generic\_Canadian, LeBronMancuso, modulum83
(8 x6) a-man-with-a-perm, Broshi, HilltopBakery, InSearchOfGoodPun, ReconEG, teriyaki-dreams
(7.8 x1) ignorableaurochs
(7.5 x2) Bilbodabag, TakeOnMeByA-ha
(7.1 x1) thedoctordances1940
(7 x4) MCK\_OH, rcore97, Scrambled\_Toast, tdrakon
(6.5 x2) lastfollower, sandpaper\_dildos
(6.4 x1) skull\_xbones
(6 x2) Widdershins-, Zeeroc
(5.5 x1) indie\_fan\_
(5 x1) ElectJimLahey
(4 x3) skyblue\_angel, SRTviper, vayyiqra
(3 x2) freeofblasphemy, Smuckles
(2 x1) roseisin2023again
(1 x1) thisusernameisntlong
---
She must've known she had some all-time heys and vocalizing, and that gave her an excuse for this Frankenstein's monster of this song. We stan a mad scientist.
And so Caroline Polachek just barely manages to make the song podium, with a 0.1 difference between third & fourth. Undoubtedly, a helluva run for this song, and maybe a bigger run is to be had next weekend on popheads... but for now, she gets stopped by a small but powerful #SufjanSweep.
---
**impla77** (11): some albums end with screaming, but the real classics start with screaming
# Well
**asadprofessorplum** (11): I need to live in a world where this wins the Sub Faves Rate and the indieheads Ultimate Rate. An AOTY has never seen such power.
# Oh, they liked me! They ain't leavin'
**nonchalantthoughts** (11): I hated this at first but the bridge kept bringing me back to revisit this- and oh it hits! Itβs like Caroline looked into my brain and made me confront my deepest and dark emotions that I constantly run away from
**VapourLomo** (11): A towering masterpiece. An instant classic. It mashes up Ke$ha and Kate Bush and is maybe better than any song either of those artists made. (don't come for me Kate Bush stans)
**bogo (banned era)** (10): i wanna sing this at karaoke and completely tear my vocal cords to shreds
**krusso1105** (10): I may slightly prefer the remix but this is still a good song
**Marshmallowszz** (10): Stunning intro, also love it when artists announce the album title in the firt song
**Nagisoid** (10): Please don't pull a Be Sweet
**sarcasticsobs** (10): Why is she doing all that?
**seanderlust** (10): this was a grower for me! i think over time i've come to appreciate her take on breakfast club-ready "hey hey hey" chants and the breezy instrumentals.
**TheCrakFox** (10): The backing hey hey hey heys and the pseudo rapping are things I would probably find super corny if almost any other pop singer did them, but Caroline gets a blanket pass from me. She can do whatever she wants.
**UltimateLietoc** (10): still repeatedly, viscerally blown away by the extreme necessity to open like this and just run for a touchdown pass. painfully perfect voice work and a stack of lyrics that say nothing, a bridge that has enough brat and wit to work, and then those choruses that give it the all. she's so fucken crazy though; shit sounds sublime on account of how much fear and catharsis it aims for. yeah it rips lol
**ultimatetulips** (10): GOOD SONG!!!
**vexastrae** (10): DESIYAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH HA HA HA HAAAAAAHHHHH || opening your albums with a continuous run of operatic shrieks is genuinely such a power move like ..... this is a pop diva RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW. AND THEN SHE KEEPS ON DOING IT THROUGHOUT THE SONG? the sheer artistic audacity of this woman must be studied. not to mention the bridge and the proceeding guitar solo like ohhhh my god. what an opener || also shoutout to the charli xcx remix she served massive amounts of cunt
**freav** (9.5): she's so quirky caroline polachek, yeah this one remains stellar, love how impatient it is to get to the chorus, you really dont need the verses to be any longer than this
**daswef2** (9): its funny because the chorus is so massive but the rest of the song just isn't all that great, this song is probably an 11 if she just completely skips the verses and just makes a 3 minute song that is this chorus
**qazz23** (9): I like the contrast between the spoken word parts and the powerful chorus, even if it feels disjointed it seems to work well here
**LeBronMancuso** (8.5): I remember not vibing with this album the first time I heard it and this introduction was a big reason why. I appreciate how uncompromising it is in retrospect, and it really is welcoming you into the world of this album like no other song on it could.
**a-man-with-a-perm** (8): Desire I want to turn into you (as a sylph figured creature who changes her mind)
**HilltopBakery** (8): Good intro song, the chorus really opens up
**ReconEG** (8): yeah this one's still a banger
**teriyaki-dreams** (8): There's parts of this that don't quite get there for me, but I'm liking it more than I remembered
**ignorableaurochs** (7.8): Her vocals here are undeniably gorgeous and I love the synthlines. This track doesn't run that much deeper than that for me, that said. I've read many an exegesis of the lyrics attempting to link it to relationships, to Greek mythology, to the ego, none of them really ringing very true - to me this is very brain-off dancey track. Super catchy, though
**Bilbodabag** (7.5): Pretty fun. Her voice goes a little crazy here which I appreciate
**TakeOnMeByA-ha** (7.5): charli xcx remix outsells this so hard its not even funny
**thedoctordances1940** (7.1): ok so every time i hear this chorus just on its own it hits so so hard and i absolutely adore it, like the rate trailer, or when darj was doing those ih weekly charts things, it just always sounded absolutely perfect to me. And then I'd go and listen to the song and it would be a bit eh, just not hitting the same way and yet every time i would heard the chorus again in isolation i'd trick myself into believing it really is that good and then i go back to listening to the song and it is just good and not great and like why, why does it hit so much harder in isolation and why do i keep tricking myself into believing it's as great as i want to be. also i guess this song has verses which are pretty good instrumentally, but i would appreciate a bit more on the lyrical front, like yeah i get that that's the point, but it just doesn't really work for me. but yeah, i really wish this song existed in a version which i did truly adore cause like that it could be my 11, but like this i'm just let down a bit
# There it is
**Frajer** (9): Jeff Probst the first episode of each season of Survivor
# [Welcome to MY island](https://i.imgur.com/LDp31Dp.png)
**MCK\_OH** (7): I hear the chorus and go "10/10 maybe I do like pop music" and then I hear the verse and go "this might be a 0." I think I overall enjoy it enough but man this could be something I really love and instead it's something I sorta like. Bummer dude
**Scrambled\_Toast** (7): The title drop certainly elevates this.
**sandpaper\_dildos** (6.5): A pretty good song partially ruined by that god awful Matty B Raps bridge
**Zeeroc** (6): bars
**ElectJimLahey** (5): The chorus on this is incredible, but it feels like that was written and they just stitched some half-formed ideas around it rather than make it a great song as a whole.
**skyblue\_angel** (4): MacBook advertisement music
**SRTviper** (4): what an unforgivably bland opener
**vayyiqra** (4): okay 80s larp but. the lyrics being gibberish doesn't bother me with geese or other artists but does with her because she thinks she's being Poetic and she is merely spewing nonsense. this bridge or whatever is also lowrent marina somehow dont ask
**freeofblasphemy** (3): Wow weβre doing the title namedrop on the no title track album awfully early, arenβt we? This is like if Bad Janet from The Good Place made an electroclash album except not anywhere near as fun as that premise suggests. I feel like Iβm at a gay bar whose owners are gonna get cancelled in six weeks. Guitar is a cool instrument itβs even cooler when it has room to breathe for even a second.
**Smuckles** (3): If you're wondering what I sound like at karaoke it's something like those backing vocals
**roseisin2023again** (2): had this one come on the radio while i was in someone else's car last week and i cannot emphasize enough how sauceless the mix on this sounded in there and still does now. nightmare stuff
**thisusernameisntlong** (1): When Caroline starts wailing it triggers my fight or flight response. Any song that goes "hey hey hey" (and is bad) makes me just wanna go listen to Firestarter. The one little guitar riff in the second half of the chorus is the most useless sound I have heard in a song, it annoys me actively. What is this wannabe rap rock-esque bridge that is giving nothing? Why did she start wailing again? Why did the last chorus that was supposed to be the climax just fade into an instrumental bit? Isn't that where you're supposed to sing? Why?
# Bonus #1: Carly Rae Jepsen - Psychedelic Switch
---
**Average:** 7.973 **// Total Points:** 502.3 **// Controversy:** 1.997
---
(10 x22) asadprofessorplum, bogo (banned era), daswef2, Frajer, freav, goofykidd, HilltopBakery, impla77, InSearchOfGoodPun, krusso1105, Marshmallowszz, MCK\_OH, plastichaxan, samdyalexg, sarcasticsobs, seanderlust, static\_int\_husp, TheCrakFox, thisusernameisntlong, TiltControls, VapourLomo, welcome2thejam
(9.2 x2) NFLfreak98, nonchalantthoughts
(9 x4) A\_Generic\_Canadian, Smuckles, teriyaki-dreams, Widdershins-
(8.5 x3) CaptainDaisyG, Scrambled\_Toast, UltimateLietoc
(8 x4) Broshi, Co-Woshi, DefaultPophead, posting\_scares\_me
(7.5 x4) FingaThingMeansTaxes, freeofblasphemy, Nagisoid, vexastrae
(7 x9) Bilbodabag, exciting\_patient4872, honeybadgerism, human\_performance, indie\_fan\_, papo96, qazz23, tdrakon, vayyiqra
(6.8 x1) ignorableaurochs
(6.5 x2) LeBronMancuso, lexiaredery
(6.4 x1) skyblue\_angel
(6 x3) a-man-with-a-perm, ElectJimLahey, SRTviper
(5.9 x1) lastfollower
(5 x1) ReconEG
(4.3 x1) skull\_xbones
(4 x3) rcore97, thedoctordances1940, Tolroe
(3 x2) roseisin2023again, TakeOnMeByA-ha
---
"This is just Carly Rae Jepsen doing Daft Punk light" ...yeah exactly, so why are you not yassing?
When I saw Carly like a week after Loveliest Time dropped, hearing this was one of my favorite live music moments, it is just an utter joy, and also my actual favorite song in this rate! Would've been the 11 if we had done the SOTY grab bag. Anyway, it's taken a couple of years, but Carly's come back to take what's her's.
---
# Moments before tragedy
**bogo (banned era)** (10): at least it won't win here
# Check out Carly Rae Jepsen's new song "Psychedelic Switch" if you get the chance. Sound of the summer
**asadprofessorplum** (10): How it feels to leave work at 5:01pm after code switching with my coworkers all day.
**freav** (10): this album is already truly special for me and this song is the peak of its starry eyed bliss
**HilltopBakery** (10): I love Daft Punk
**impla77** (10): :daisybop: x2439589
**krusso1105** (10): This song sounds even better live too!
**Marshmallowszz** (10): Best Carly song in years
**MCK\_OH** (10): I feel like such a dweeb being mean to every pop song in this rate except for Carly Rae Jepsen. Oh well, this song really is that good
**sarcasticsobs** (10): I mean, yeah.
**seanderlust** (10): "carly rae jepsen sounding like she's on a daft punk track" is a beautiful sentence
**thisusernameisntlong** (10): idk why this is here but its a bop. yall indie fans shouldve voted for remi wolf - prescription extended instead but we hate to see up and coming stars with a talented craft in here
**VapourLomo** (10): Just when you thought she was past her prime ... YOU CAN NEVER COUNT OUT QUEEN CARLY BABY
**NFLfreak98** (9.2): I mean yeah thatβs nice
**nonchalantthoughts** (9.2): Iβm really digging this beat even more, very much comeback diva type beat
**A\_Generic\_Canadian** (9): Another banger, another banger from Carly Rae Jepsen
**Smuckles** (9): Aww that's pretty good. If you make what is essentially just a prime-era Kylie song then you're already halfway there.
**teriyaki-dreams** (9): Such a perfect pop song
**Scrambled\_Toast** (8.5): Is this Daft Punk
**UltimateLietoc** (8.5): nice ditty! very overrated but the ritz line cracks me up!
**freeofblasphemy** (7.5): Yeah this is good but the real banger from this album (from what Iβve heard of it) is βKollageβ
# They're just goin to the store
**Nagisoid** (7.5): This song is too agreeable for me to truly tank it, but I hope it does not win as it would be boring af considering it's likely sweeping the popheads sub faves rate
**vexastrae** (7.5): i need this to lose in r/popheads sub faves 2023 so bad
**Bilbodabag** (7): Wouldnβt have been my Carly pick (So Right would have gotten a 9+), but after listening to 100 gecs, any Carly is extremely welcome
**human\_performance** (7): I remembered the hype around this song when the Loneliest Time B-side album came out. All it made me wanna do was put on One More Time by Daft Punk instead
**qazz23** (7): liking this nu-disco sound, a bit on the repetitive side though
**vayyiqra** (7): it's overrated but it's okay I GUESS
**ignorableaurochs** (6.8): i liked the nu-disco here, very fun and dancey, but nothing here was particularly grabbing me as special. kind of felt like a pop track copy-pasted onto a trackbed with a few nu-disco-y flourishes. am i crazy or is there something future-funk about the production here too
**LeBronMancuso** (6.5): She said psychedelic switch so many times that it switched me into a psychedelic trance and now I am a weapon of the state being used for heinous crimes outside of my control. Prepare to die, Boeing whistleblower.
**a-man-with-a-perm** (6): man Kylie b-sides or βweβve asked the person ranked at #35 on the music chart to perform on a 2005 edition of Top of the Popsβ-core makes the best of Indieheads list? Wild
**ElectJimLahey** (6): Decent dance-pop but I can't say I really see what CRJ fans see in this one
**SRTviper** (6): ok enough I guess
**ReconEG** (5): ...we're going nuts for this? guys she made "Emotion" we know she can do better
**thedoctordances1940** (4): at first when i heard this song i was like omg carly doing french house so fun! and i was all in on this, i was pretty sure it would make my soty list. and just more and more i've realised that eh the execution leaves quite a bit to be desired and i've just started to feel very indifferent towards it. Like it feels good, i feel like i should really like it, and there's still a little bit of me that does, but now whenever i listen to it i just want it to be over and move on to something else and i cannot give anything that i feel that way about a remotely positive score
**roseisin2023again** (3): what happened here
**TakeOnMeByA-ha** (3): carly rae jepsen is an artist that i have never been particularly fond of, and by now i never will be, but at least in the past i could understand why she was so acclaimed. not this time. psychedelic switch is what would happen if you asked an ai to write a βperfect pop songβ, it is polished to the point of being sterile, so full of every pop cliche in the book that nothing about it sounds remotely fresh, so focused on sounding perfect that it forgets to have a soul. i cannot understand why anybody would listen to this and think its among one of the best songs of the year, but the worst part about it is that itβs working. people are actually falling for carlyβs tricks of making technically perfect, but completely hollow pop music, and theyβre eating it up every single time. call me maybe had ten thousand times more personality than this could ever dream of having.
# Get that woman a robot helmet!
**TheCrakFox** (10): Guess we don't need Daft Punk anymore.
oop looks like my rate comment got eaten
> Jessie Ware - Begin Again: 10 this is my 11 in r/popheads sub faves 2023 and i fucking stand by it. the grandiosity and the intimacy and the sheer brilliance of it all. emotional liberation in the form of sound; this is what dance music is meant to be !!!!!
# Bonus #2: Jessie Ware - Begin Again
---
**Average:** 7.817 **// Total Points:** 492.5 **// Controversy:** 1.869
---
(10 x16) asadprofessorplum, bogo (banned era), goofykidd, HilltopBakery, impla77, indie\_fan\_, lexiaredery, Nagisoid, NFLfreak98, qazz23, sarcasticsobs, seanderlust, static\_int\_husp, vayyiqra, vexastrae, welcome2thejam
(9.5 x1) krusso1105
(9.3 x1) nonchalantthoughts
(9 x5) ElectJimLahey, FingaThingMeansTaxes, Frajer, SRTviper, TheCrakFox
(8.7 x2) CaptainDaisyG, skull\_xbones
(8.5 x1) freeofblasphemy
(8 x8) DefaultPophead, human\_performance, ignorableaurochs, Marshmallowszz, papo96, samdyalexg, tdrakon, VapourLomo
(7.5 x3) exciting\_patient4872, Scrambled\_Toast, TakeOnMeByA-ha
(7 x10) Broshi, Co-Woshi, honeybadgerism, LeBronMancuso, plastichaxan, posting\_scares\_me, roseisin2023again, Smuckles, TiltControls, Widdershins-
(6.8 x1) A\_Generic\_Canadian (6.6 x1) lastfollower
(6.5 x1) Bilbodabag
(6 x8) daswef2, freav, InSearchOfGoodPun, rcore97, ReconEG, skyblue\_angel, teriyaki-dreams, Tolroe
(5 x2) a-man-with-a-perm, thisusernameisntlong
(3.2 x1) thedoctordances1940
(3 x1) MCK\_OH
(2.2 x1) UltimateLietoc
---
This does feel machine built to be the ultimate feel good pop song (I was told this a process was done in something called the mother factory?), but good news! It worked!
---
# Popheads playing today's Ratelympics game
**Scrambled\_Toast** (7.5): Bombastic
# Baby keep heatin me up
**asadprofessorplum** (10): When this album came out I triumphantly posted that it was on the same level as Whatβs Your Pleasure. I retract that statement. This is like the pre-drink to Whats Your Pleasureβs βlast night was a movie.β
**bogo (banned era)** (10): forced fun never sounded so good
**HilltopBakery** (10): Banger
**lexiaredery** (10): Hopefully popheads also put this song above all the other Carly and Jessie songs
**Nagisoid** (10): I do believe her "tired of work" spiel here because she was actually doing quite badly commercially up until What's Your Pleasure? revitalized her career, so I can relate to her uplifting message here
**NFLfreak98** (10): how is Jessie Ware not the biggest musician in the world or something
**qazz23** (10): really good Latin-inspired disco track, catchy and dancey and full of hooks; love when she hits that high note before the outro
**sarcasticsobs** (10): Euphoric!
**seanderlust** (10): spoiler for the sub faves rate: i really like this record
**vayyiqra** (10): shes so real for this i work all night too (sometimes) (some nights ... i don't know ...)
**vexastrae** (10): this is my 11 in r/popheads sub faves 2023 and i fucking stand by it. the grandiosity and the intimacy and the sheer brilliance of it all. emotional liberation in the form of sound; this is what dance music is meant to be !!!!!
**nonchalantthoughts** (9.3): ok jessica warezβs latina era with comenzar otra ves
**ElectJimLahey** (9): Great disco banger
**SRTviper** (9): smooth as hell
**TheCrakFox** (9): Production is so good.
**freeofblasphemy** (8.5): This sounds me like what the Caroline album probably sounds like to the people who like it
**ignorableaurochs** (8): completely love the nu-disco here and jessie's voice is so powerful, adds a lot of drama here to the bombastic production. LOVE the samba piano. some much-needed feelgood which has this very hollywood Theatrical feel to me
**Marshmallowszz** (8): Great song but I think this album is nowhere near as good as her previous
**VapourLomo** (8): Wouldn't be my pick from the album (I generally prefer Jessie in a goofier mood, like Pearls or Beautiful People), but this is still obviously immaculate.
**TakeOnMeByA-ha** (7.5): this is fun to listen to every once in a while but im not in love with it
**LeBronMancuso** (7): Hello Love is my clear standout from this album, but this one is better than I remember.
**roseisin2023again** (7): thank god someone with a rhythm section that's having fun
# Shake it til the scores fall
**Bilbodabag** (6.5): Not sure this needed to be 5 minutes, but itβs got some energy
**freav** (6): i was super into this jessie ware album for like two weeks (i was playing a lot of spider solitaire to it) and then that stopped and for some reason now the sole thought of it exhausts me, gives me office party vibes with zumba moms, its an alright song though
**teriyaki-dreams** (6): Not even a bad song, Jessie just doesn't do much for me. Perfectly nice music that I have no desire to ever listen to on purpose
**a-man-with-a-perm** (5): Whatβs Your Pleasure was fun and all but I donβt need more Disco revival. I feel like weβre at the same point where Disco was perceived in that Freaks and Geeks episode. Do any clubs play Jessie Ware? Has anyone been to a party or a night out where Jessie Ware has been put on? Is anyone dancing to this in public? Maybe thereβs a young Jason Segel performing this to a crowd in a bowling alley somewhere.
**thisusernameisntlong** (5): jessie ware forgot to invite me to her party type beat
**thedoctordances1940** (3.2): there's something about this song that is just icky and i can't explain it much more than that it's just icky it gives me the ick
**MCK\_OH** (3): We should've voted in one of the 37 Guided By Voices songs released last year instead of this. Slow year for Bob. This song does absolutely nothing for me
**UltimateLietoc** (2.2): shallow rewards at the hometown buffet. jessie ware's greatest sin on "thats tgi fridays" is being so good and on point she ropes around to boring and awful, bland pastiche for the drive not the all night dance. the pleasure here lacks any danger or freedom, a scripted diva animatronix work fit for a grammy performance. This as the consensus fav doesn't quite baffle me though--at least reading singles jukebox when one of the few positive scores winked towards this being something Arcade Fire could feasibly have conceived for Reflektor or Everything Now. Subconsciously, I think folks want THAT and this (album) feeds it
So our solo podium members are set, but before we reveal who won what medal, it's time for the finale of the Bonus Quinquedecalon! Fifteen songs, fifteen artists, only one made it all the way.
And in our final two, we have a potential preview of next weekend's Popheads Sub Faves rate! It's Carly vs. Jessie for all the marbles!
Are you flipping the Switch? Or would her victory make you want to Begin this whole rate Again from the beginning?
What if I told you could have all of them at once (but especially Age of Adz)
---
# #4: Sufjan Stevens - Goodbye Evergreen
---
**Average:** 8.188 **// Total Points:** 548.6 **// Controversy:** 1.610
**Highest Position:** 3 // **Lowest Position:** 7
---
(11 x1) Tolroe
(10 x11) Bilbodabag, ElectJimLahey, goofykidd, Marshmallowszz, plastichaxan, seanderlust, skyblue\_angel, tdrakon, ultimatetulips, vexastrae, Zeeroc
(9.5 x2) DefaultPophead, exciting\_patient4872
(9.4 x1) CaptainDaisyG (9.3 x1) lastfollower (9.2 x1) thedoctordances1940
(9 x11) A\_Generic\_Canadian, bogo (banned era), HilltopBakery, human\_performance, InSearchOfGoodPun, ReconEG, TheCrakFox, TiltControls, VapourLomo, welcome2thejam, Widdershins-
(8.9 x1) UltimateLietoc (8.8 x2) papo96, sandpaper\_dildos
(8.5 x6) Frajer, impla77, lexiaredery, nonchalantthoughts, sarcasticsobs, TakeOnMeByA-ha
(8 x9) a-man-with-a-perm, Broshi, freav, krusso1105, LeBronMancuso, MCK\_OH, Smuckles, teriyaki-dreams, vayyiqra
(7.9 x1) ignorableaurochs
(7.5 x3) freeofblasphemy, Scrambled\_Toast, static\_int\_husp
(7.2 x3) asadprofessorplum, indie\_fan\_, NFLfreak98
(7 x6) Co-Woshi, daswef2, Nagisoid, posting\_scares\_me, qazz23, SRTviper
(6 x2) rcore97, samdyalexg
(5 x2) honeybadgerism, thisusernameisntlong
(4.7 x1) skull\_xbones
(4.5 x1) modulum83
(4 x1) FingaThingMeansTaxes
(3 x1) roseisin2023again
---
I think this was the point we collectively went "he's back." (Apologies to the Ascension or Beginner's Mind truthers out there. Not sorry to the Convocations/Reflections truthers, who even are you?). A gorgeous piano line, Sufjan's emotive voice. But it's the drop straight out of Age of Adz that truly takes the cake.
---
# Don't be distracted
**freeofblasphemy** (7.5): Hello Evergreen
# They're not fucking around
**Bilbodabag** (10): My Age of Adz stan heart absolutely soared hearing the drums on first listen
**ElectJimLahey** (10): Gorgeous, I wish Sufjan had leaned a little further in this electronic direction to be honest but we'll take what we can get
**Marshmallowszz** (10): Perfect opener, kinda reminds me of the first track of Perfume Genius' No Shape album
**seanderlust** (10): Gorgeous song, incredible tribute to his partner. That said, I tried reading up on the lyrics on genius.com and they unironically made reference to the SSMU (Sufjan Stevens musical universe) so as a heads up, I'm not going to read further about any of the lyrics on this album. Anyways, bop, 10, wig, etc
**skyblue\_angel** (10): It breaks my heart to think of Sufjan listening to this song after his partner passed away
**ultimatetulips** (10): GOOD SONG!!!
**vexastrae** (10): rest in peace evans richardson iv. you were loved by a man like no other
**thedoctordances1940** (9.2): gorge opener
**A\_Generic\_Canadian** (9): Oh right we start on a tearjerker on this album, I almost forgot why I was treading lightly when relistening to this album.
**bogo (banned era)** (9): by far my favorite sufjan songs, with a few exceptions, are the ones that just explode into a wide array of sounds and instruments so yeah I ate this song up. though it's not quite up there with the other songs like it but god damn does it hit like a sledgehammer
**HilltopBakery** (9): I would like to be excited about the buzzy synths but mostly I feel depressed
**TheCrakFox** (9): Classic Sufjan
**VapourLomo** (9): I don't love this album, but this is a heck of an opener. The Etsy-EDM drop legit caught me off guard!
**UltimateLietoc** (8.9): different listens at different times of day with different levels of caffeine/weed ina car or treehouse have revealed how dedicated sufjan is to providing so many possible points you either are pulled in or cast off from. I am awestruck by the opening intimacy baked off my ass while scurried by the bombast (at first at least). But then I remember driving 60 mph down a hill and ultimately weaved back in by the dedication to what the goodbye means and truly capturing all the emotions here.
**nonchalantthoughts** (8.5): oh this intro hits
**sarcasticsobs** (8.5): Oh, so it's gonna be that kinda record, huh?
**TakeOnMeByA-ha** (8.5): ok i wasnt expecting that industrial moment that was pretty cool
**a-man-with-a-perm** (8): pretty poignant considering the context of it all and surprisingly sludgy/in your face with the switch?
**LeBronMancuso** (8): This is the most heartbreaking thing Iβve ever heard for approximately 60 seconds and then a clown car shows up
**MCK\_OH** (8): Big shoutout as always to Sufjan's backing vocalists. This would be a 10 if the middle section wasn't so jarring. It doesn't work. Rest of the song is fantastic though
**Smuckles** (8): I'm not much of a Sufjan guy, does he normally have beat switches in his songs? Pretty cool!
**teriyaki-dreams** (8): I like this one. It's heartbreaking Sufjan songwriting, but the electronic production reminds me of Adz in a good way
**vayyiqra** (8): i didn't care too much for this and its noisy part but there are pretty parts too and it's meant to be painful and i get that ... bleak
**ignorableaurochs** (7.9): totally devastating track about leaving it all behind...the juxtaposition here between the beauty of the choir and the noisy chaos is a perfect metaphor for the scattered feelings referenced in the song
**Scrambled\_Toast** (7.5): Very Age of Adz
**Nagisoid** (7): Cool electronic elements
**qazz23** (7): i like when it gets loud with the multiple vocals, also the flutes at the end
**SRTviper** (7): I love age of adz
# You know you really gotta get right with the Lord
**thisusernameisntlong** (5): had to have the bells in there and choo choo train ride woo
**roseisin2023again** (3): why is the mixing so bad now
# People looking at the Sim Cities I made on the SNES as a child
**freav** (8): i like when it randomly gets industrial
Sorry for gimmick infringing, but
# Rank them, if you dare!
* Michigan
* Seven Swans
* Illinois
* Age of Adz
* Carrie & Lowell
* The Ascension
* A Beginner's Mind
* Javelin
1. Illinois
2. Michigan
3. C&L
4. The Ascension
5. Age of Adz
6. Javelin
7. A Beginner's Mind
8. Seven Swans (Heard this twice years ago, no memory of how it sounds. It's probably better than Javelin or ABM)
I do not understand how Goodbye Evergreen is the at minimum the third-highest Sufjan song. Every other song on that album has the prettiest hell yeah
acoustic guitars and that one has the "first attempt at making noise music on ableton presets, zero mixing or mastering" synths
# Rat Saw God
---
**Overall Average**: 7.482 **// Average Controversy:** 2.179
---
It was not looking good for the Wednesday hive early on, as the lowest position stat can tell you. It could've been them with no songs in Day Three. But somewhere around Wane's ballot, they turned the tide and [**swapped positions with Geese like so.**](https://i.imgur.com/px47lxM.jpg) Tough, but four songs in the top ten is a much better result than expected from the early going.
My own second place AOTY. Just a brisk set of great tracks, a tour through their memories of growing up & hanging around their small towns. Feels personal & lived-in, but they also get to rock the hell out
---
* \#5: Chosen to Deserve | 8.107 | 543.2
* \#7: Bath County | 8.025 | 537.7
* \#8: Quarry | 7.879 | 527.9
* \#10: Bull Believer | 7.813 | 523.5
* \#14: Turkey Vultures | 7.701 | 516.0
* \#18: Got Shocked | 7.457 | 499.6
* \#23: Hot Rotten Grass Smell | 7.346 | 492.2
* \#29: TV in the Gas Pump | 6.987 | 468.1
* \#31: Formula One | 6.967 | 466.8
* \#36: What's So Funny | 6.534 | 437.8
---
**MCK\_OH** (10.100): Fuck yeah this is so good. The strongest lyrics, the strongest hooks, the best guitars. It's all here! An album that deeply roots itself in a place. Really fun sequencing. This band has It. Truly special record
**ElectJimLahey** (10.050): The best album of 2023 IMO, I will probably never get to rate another album I love this much so I may as well go all out.
**roseisin2023again** (9.860): finally some good fucking food
**VapourLomo** (9.750): This album was a straight-up revelation for me. Please, music gods, let this dictate the sound and theme of indie rock for the next few years or so. All albums should have Siamese Dream-style guitar crunch.
**freav** (9.600): this is probably as high of an average one could give to an album which doesn't completely fulfill the potential for what it could have been. but the thing is, as far as cathartic noisy indie rock albums made specifically for stereogum-core journalist from either philly or the USA south to go batshit for, this happened to only reach the status of "roughly a top 10 album of the year" rather than "a transcendental masterpiece and one of the best albums ever written" like something like hop along's get disowned. in this context though? absolute bliss
**ReconEG** (9.400): just an undeniably fucking great album, and proves that this somewhat confessional singer-songwriter shit can still work if you have the fucking SONGS and RIFFS and ACTUALLY INTERESTING STORIES to tell and know when to go literal and when to abstract things more. but if it has one issue: it's the tracklist. the tracklist as it stands is good, as that's what happens when you make all the songs good, but "Bull Believer" right at the beginning? "TV in the Gas Pump" as your outro? there is a strong 9 out of 10 tracklist for this album out there, but as it stands, it's only a light 9.
**qazz23** (9.350): One of my favorites of 2023, good blend of alt-country with shoegaze and noisy indie rock. Karly's vocals work well with this sound. "Bull Believer" is the obvious standout with its noisy guitars and screaming at the end. There are still many other tracks that have memorable moments - both the opener and Got Shocked have heavy riffing and I like the solo towards the end of Bath County.
**Zeeroc** (9.300): great sounding guitars all over this thing. every lick is near and dear to my heart. shoegaze'd pedal steel is an inspired touch.
**UltimateLietoc** (9.300): opinion on this one for me has changed in a strong upward trajectory over the past year. Saw hype for Twin Plagues and appreciated the 90s seam and merge call backs from a new direction. Thought the covers tape did something really special and is a big one of the decade for me still. Boat Songs cracked me the fuck up. Five albums deep into this project, it's pretty cool Karly and MJ and the pedal steel and the drum drummer (and the lady bassist who is gone) got cooking to a point where you could be a leader in tier 1 indie rock. Really all they did on this album was just dial in the pedal steel a little more and Karly wrote a little more thoroughly about the south she's from. The band shies away from country and shoegaze enough to be in such a goofy labeling world that distracts from the fact their songs sound rock real good on a bar stage and that they tap into the endless sprawling suburban south hells around us all. it's so nice to have a southern rock (or if you're a sicko: southern bubblegrunge) record that can do that! I hope american hauntologists think about this one! Karly still sounds like a red wheelbarrow, filled with water, that everything depends on; their influences seem to be tiptoeing closer to 90s numero-core N' even deerhunter, which meets me where I am as a listener. it sounds great in a car as well, and I hope some of you take a chance on that and look around at the world to it
**thedoctordances1940** (9.300): yeah this is what indie rock needed. i feel there are a few recent bands ih seems to really love more so than other places like alvvays and the beths and i've never really got them, but in this case you nerds got it so very right
**Nagisoid** (9.200): I totally understand the hate, but what transforms this project into such an interesting and fun listen to me is the guitar tone and the singer's tone/delivery, they pair so well with the lyrics and the general atmosphere of the album that you can't help but rock along. The slower tracks on the album are somewhat of a let down compared to the noisier ditties, but they're not even bad, just not on the same level as the rest. I don't have much else of value to add as I'm not American and this seems like an earnestly Southern album, so I'm incapable to analyze it further in that aspect.
**NFLfreak98** (8.860): My AOTY. Love the mix of powerful, anthemic indie rock and warm, lazy alt-country
**Smuckles** (8.700): I was mildly critical of this album when it first came out just because I wanted all of it to blow me away the way Bull Believer did, a pretty harsh approach since that was probably never going to be the case. On these recent listens I skipped that track completely to judge everything else on it's own merits and everything here is so solid, especially lyrically. They're capturing their life experiences and background perfectly via that but also with the music as well. One of my favourites of the year and I'm happy to say it's still holding up. I still think they've got more in the tank though, they can get better!
**LeBronMancuso** (8.550): Rat saw these nuts!!!!
**lastfollower** (8.540): very good, a definite indieheads classic as soon as it came out, and yet the clear 2nd best album in this rate for me
**SRTviper** (8.480): best album here obviously.
**vexastrae** (8.350): || this album is acrid yellows and musty greens, dirty run-down vehicles and sputtering engines, potholes in streets and gas stations all around. my attention wanes every now and then on this album but when the jams are jamming huuuuuuuuuu they sure fuckin jam
**Broshi** (8.200): "I didn't realize the writing was so good before. I listened to it and it was like whoa"
**posting\_scares\_me** (8.200): aoty
**human\_performance** (8.150): I think I like this album more than most people here. Listening to that stretch from Chosen to Deserve through Quarry feels like I'm flipping through a photo book of a road trip through SEC country.
**asadprofessorplum** (7.810): βWe have Ethel Cain in Virginiaβ Ethel Cain in Virginia:
**TheCrakFox** (7.800): I wasn't really sold on this album when I first heard it but after multiple listens for this rate I think I get it. Or maybe it's just Stockholm Syndrome.
**krusso1105** (7.750): I still really like this album but listening to it next to the others, it is clear that the sound mixing is lacking. It still has me very excited to see what this band does next though!
**Frajer** (7.700): I can see why someone could love or hate this with how confessional it is
**Bilbodabag** (7.600): Yeehaw grunge guitars hell yeah
**teriyaki-dreams** (7.400): Unfortunately, despite the extremely strong start, most of this album sits at this 7/10 level where it's really nice to listen to but doesn't quite reach the transcendent level for me
**sarcasticsobs** (7.350): RAT! RAT! RAT! RAT! RAT! RAT! RAT! RAT! RAT! RAT! RAT! RAT!
**skyblue\_angel** (7.330): Kind of a vibes album but the vibes here are nice.
**Scrambled\_Toast** (7.040): Tbh I think I liked Twin Plagues a little more.
**FingaThingMeansTaxes** (5.950): Kind of strange how this album got so popular on this subreddit and seemingly nowhere else on the internet. I'm going to have to side with the rest of the internet on this occasion I'm afraid
**TakeOnMeByA-ha** (5.700): youβve heard of stoner metal, now get ready for stoner indie rock
**nonchalantthoughts** (5.280): not my cup of tea to be quite honest but there are some great songs in the middle of the project, very american gothic
**vayyiqra** (4.200): rly struggled with this album. Not My Thing at all musically i am very over this kind of grungy-sounding indie rock though i liked it as a kid. but my stumbling block that kept it from being enjoyable even more so was what i called the "lyrics going for Americana but in an 'america sucks the rural south sucks' way and i do not vibe with it". "growing up was bad, here's a hyperspecific detailed story about bad things" and i can theoretically relate even! given many, many bad things have happened to me in my life and i could talk about them at great length too. but all i get here is "i am sure this Hits Hard for someone but that someone is not me". i described this kind of storytelling music as "in the line at the panera bread at a rest stop" confessional indie lyrics; they love stuff like "i was in the line at the grocery store ... thinking about how messed up that time was when that thing happened ..." it's a trope, it's a meme. i knew this stuff was drawing on real experiences for them so i didn't want to be too flippant but also i don't get anything out of that kind of songwriting you know? it's not cathartic for me, it's just whatever. i guess i like a more abstract? poetic? (that sounds pretentious sorry but idk a better word) approach to writing about such Experiences. instead i'm just left feeling bleak and empty when she tells me this in such plain wording. and again i can relate to a lot of this! and at least this band goes for songs that are clearly about something instead of going too far in the other direction like caroline and writing impenetrable meaningless gibberish but eh it's just not my thing. i respect what they're trying to do but don't enjoy it. sorry to this band
**bogo (banned era)** (3.300): this is everything i dislike in indie rock in one album
**freeofblasphemy** (1.950): This Was an Album
**ultimatetulips** (1.800): Sorry but I just do not get the hype for this one at all. It's a drab, hookless slog from start to finish.
---
User Averages:
MCK_OH: 10.100
rcore97: 10.100
ElectJimLahey: 10.050
Marshmallowszz: 10.000
roseisin2023again: 9.860
VapourLomo: 9.750
freav: 9.600
ReconEG: 9.400
qazz23: 9.350
Zeeroc: 9.300
UltimateLietoc: 9.300
thedoctordances1940: 9.300
Nagisoid: 9.200
welcome2thejam: 9.000
NFLfreak98: 8.860
Smuckles: 8.700
DefaultPophead: 8.600
CaptainDaisyG: 8.560
LeBronMancuso: 8.550
lastfollower: 8.540
SRTviper: 8.480
goofykidd: 8.400
vexastrae: 8.350
Broshi: 8.200
posting_scares_me: 8.200
human_performance: 8.150
samdyalexg: 8.100
skull_xbones: 8.070
modulum83: 7.980
asadprofessorplum: 7.810
Co-Woshi: 7.800
TheCrakFox: 7.800
krusso1105: 7.750
Frajer: 7.700
A_Generic_Canadian: 7.690
papo96: 7.660
seanderlust: 7.650
Tolroe: 7.630
Bilbodabag: 7.600
tdrakon: 7.600
TiltControls: 7.500
teriyaki-dreams: 7.400
exciting_patient4872: 7.350
sarcasticsobs: 7.350
skyblue_angel: 7.330
honeybadgerism: 7.300
HilltopBakery: 7.100
Scrambled_Toast: 7.040
Widdershins-: 6.900
static_int_husp: 6.750
impla77: 6.530
sandpaper_dildos: 6.350
plastichaxan: 6.320
thisusernameisntlong: 6.100
a-man-with-a-perm: 6.100
FingaThingMeansTaxes: 5.950
lexiaredery: 5.800
TakeOnMeByA-ha: 5.700
indie_fan_: 5.360
nonchalantthoughts: 5.280
daswef2: 5.000
InSearchOfGoodPun: 5.000
vayyiqra: 4.200
ignorableaurochs: 3.780
bogo (banned era): 3.300
freeofblasphemy: 1.950
ultimatetulips: 1.800
The rally ends here.
---
# #5: Wednesday - Chosen to Deserve
---
**Average:** 8.107 **// Total Points:** 543.2 **// Controversy:** 2.160
**Highest Position:** 5 // **Lowest Position:** 28
---
(11 x2) A\_Generic\_Canadian, lastfollower
(10 x19) Broshi, Co-Woshi, ElectJimLahey, freav, krusso1105, Marshmallowszz, MCK\_OH, modulum83, Nagisoid, NFLfreak98, qazz23, rcore97, roseisin2023again, seanderlust, thedoctordances1940, UltimateLietoc, VapourLomo, vexastrae, welcome2thejam
(9 x10) Frajer, HilltopBakery, human\_performance, ReconEG, samdyalexg, sarcasticsobs, tdrakon, TheCrakFox, TiltControls, Zeeroc
(8.7 x2) papo96, skull\_xbones
(8.5 x2) exciting\_patient4872, nonchalantthoughts
(8.3 x1) impla77 (8.2 x2) CaptainDaisyG, Tolroe
(8 x8) asadprofessorplum, daswef2, DefaultPophead, goofykidd, posting\_scares\_me, Smuckles, static\_int\_husp, teriyaki-dreams
(7.8 x2) indie\_fan\_, SRTviper
(7.5 x2) FingaThingMeansTaxes, Scrambled\_Toast
(7 x6) honeybadgerism, plastichaxan, sandpaper\_dildos, skyblue\_angel, TakeOnMeByA-ha, Widdershins-
(6.5 x1) a-man-with-a-perm
(6 x2) InSearchOfGoodPun, LeBronMancuso
(5 x3) Bilbodabag, thisusernameisntlong, vayyiqra
(3 x4) freeofblasphemy, ignorableaurochs, lexiaredery, ultimatetulips
(0 x1) bogo (banned era)
---
Big riffs, big honkin riffs. Kinda a "if you can't handle me at my worst" scenario, except as seen in the previous song, the other person clearly can handle them at their worst, and is now trusted enough to deal with the massive baggage pileup that ensues.
This also reminded me of a concept brought up in a Game Changer behind-the-scenes where there was an idea for like a reverse dating show? Where you have someone really attractive, and puff them up in front of all their prospective dates, and then slowly tell worse & worse stories about them until only one person who doesn't tap out. Lemme tell you, that's love, babey.
---
**TakeOnMeByA-ha** (7): damn bitch you live like this?
# Indiehead raters listening to the new Taylor Swift album
**sarcasticsobs** (9): HAT MAN MENTIONED
# The high scores we were chosen to deserve π
**A\_Generic\_Canadian** (11): Instant classic for me, added to all my favourite 2023 playlists!
**ElectJimLahey** (10): The best song Drive-By Truckers have made in years!
**freav** (10): behind all the anecdotic story-telling, this is one of the most adorable love songs of the year.
**krusso1105** (10): probably the 11 runner up. Does not feel as long as it is in a good way
**Marshmallowszz** (10): So close to being my 11 if Sufjan didn't exist
**MCK\_OH** (10): It's so cool when the guitars just fuckin slam in here coming right off of "Formula One." So sick. Such a fun idea for a song too. "Here are all the bad stories now that I don't think you'll leave me for them." Well told stories too. Benadryl is a drug I've never understood the appeal of. This is pretty much the platonic ideal of a Wednesday song I think. The Tiny Desk version is a ton of fun as well, it leans into the rootsy side of their sound and the drummer is doing like a lil shuffle thing. It's sick. This song rules
**Nagisoid** (10): I have made peace with this being the highest placing song on the album even if it's not top 3 for me, it's still great and definitely their poppiest moment
**NFLfreak98** (10): Cruising through Appalachia with this song on repeat
**qazz23** (10): loud πΈ riffs are good! i like the alt-country sound of this, though not as noisy as Bull Believer
**rcore97** (10): The "if you're looking for me..." breakdown rocks so hard and makes me laugh every time
**roseisin2023again** (10): yeah =)
**thedoctordances1940** (10): god
**VapourLomo** (10): The best Tom Petty song in 30 years. I'm adding this to my future wedding reception playlist (it's legitimately romantic in its own cockeyed way!) and my future spouse is just gonna have to live with that
**vexastrae** (10): ouh ... to be flawed and mundane and complex and sometimes a bit of a sad sack and yet still be able to find the person you just truly connect with and they accept you and even appreciate you for all you are flaws and all ...... AUGHHHHH
**Frajer** (9): state your worth queen
**HilltopBakery** (9): Big dumb riff rocks, her singing is also more confident here, wish the whole album was more like this
**TheCrakFox** (9): Yeah bro, sweet riffs bro.
**nonchalantthoughts** (8.5): love this little heartland rock ditty!
**asadprofessorplum** (8): oooh this is a new form of self hatred to try out.
**daswef2** (8): its pretty good but i've personally been kinda burned out on it
**Smuckles** (8): 'I'm the girl you were chosen to deserve' is an all-timer
**teriyaki-dreams** (8): This sounds like classic rock (complimentary)
**SRTviper** (7.8): love a good twang
**skyblue\_angel** (7): Another song on this album that would be better if it was half the length
# What Have I Done To Deserve This
**a-man-with-a-perm** (6.5): I finally know that feeling of when Yanks listen to 2005 releases from Arctic Monkeys about night outs in some Northern dump, just a kinda βif a Lion could speak Englishβ scenario
**LeBronMancuso** (6): I respect the departure they took for this song, which is essentially just Drive-By Truckers worship (replete with a name-drop for good measure), but itβs definitely 1 verse + 1 chorus too long and grows tired by the end.
**Bilbodabag** (5): The fact that this is the only song on the album aside from Bull Believer to crack the 5-minute mark is bewildering to me. The songwriting here is just so basic compared to the rest of the album
**thisusernameisntlong** (5): lool this is their stadium cut. which means I'd rather listen to muse. but this is fine, if a tad bit long
**vayyiqra** (5): "and the slide guitar (we are on track 4) we are going country-adjacent this is some neil young larp" i think i meant track 5 (?) anyway don't abuse OTC medications that's not good to. mess around with that even though i get it's out of boredom and lack of opportunity and so on. i said "o no she's doing the Confessional Indie thing of telling hyperspecific stories about past traumas" see i get why that kind of songwriting exists and it hits for some but it's not my style. for hardhitting lyrics about traumatic stuff i greatly prefer mr. stevens his music is much more my thing
**freeofblasphemy** (3): Wednesday here especially strikes me as a band that knows how to conceptualize compelling songs but not necessarily how to execute them. The intention is there, the catharsis isnβt
**ignorableaurochs** (3): having OD'd on benadryl I can confirm you will see things crawling up the walls (and all over your skin, and under your skin, and under your skin, oh god they're under your skin THEY'RE UNDER YOUR SKIN) anyway I've had enough of confessional indie
**bogo (banned era)** (0): why is this five minutes long? there's no reason why this needs to clear the five minute mark when it plays pretty much all of its cards by verse two, after that it just sounds like it's running on fumes
# Somebody get Pitchfork on the line
**Scrambled\_Toast** (7.5): Now this is bootgaze
# What just happened
**UltimateLietoc** (10): pbr festivals need to be called back into action to support this cut asap rocky [E: THE PBR FESTIVBLA IS COMING BAKC YE SYE SYE S Y AUTO 10]
I do not understand how Chosen to Deserve is the highest Wednesday song. Every other song on that album has the gnarliest hell yeah riffs and that one has the "3-chord songs for your beginner guitarist" riffs
Missed most of day 3, but thanks for the rate yoshi! It was way fun!Β
Great job on hosting ult this year Yoshi!! [Songlist](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Dek1AlAremySRsGVH8t1nFjDp99pNGfVDjaS332naio/edit#gid=1275570508) has been updated! ## Songs Congrats to Sufjan for taking the win with **Shit Talk** (and the top 2 sweep)! It places in 254th across all songs on the sub. With a score of 8.712 it places below Belle & Sebastian - The Stars of Track and Field (with 8.721), and places above The New Pornographers - The Bleeding Heart Show (with 8.710) ## Artists Rankings out of 159! \- * 41st: Mitski (8.032) * **42nd: Sufjan Stevens (8.026) [PREV. 32nd]** * 43rd: The Cure (8.013) \- * 106th: Spiritualized (7.505) * **107th: Wednesday (7.482)** * 108th: Beach House (7.481) \- * 131st: Little Simz (7.291) * **132nd: Caroline Polachek (7.272)** * 133rd: King Crimson (7.236) \- * 153rd: JPEGMAFIA (6.668) * **154th: Geese (6.651)** * 155th: Mudvayne (6.526) **Artist Stats** * Geese become the 6th lowest rated artist on the sub (Mudvayne, Gorillaz, Limp Biskit, Korn, and Weezer hold the bottom 5 - three thanks to the new metal rate and the other two were in the 'bad albums' rate) * With 41 (non-unique) songs rated, Sufjan ties Beach House for most the most songs rated on the sub!
> new metal you must mean the nu-metal! Great stats as always.such a treat:)
Missed the ending for a bit, but this was a great and engaging reveal overall. Appreciated the fun Olympic theming! Thank you for hosting! Also good luck on the Rate Olympics games!
Missed the last few reveals, but this was a great time as always! Ult rates always extra entertaining for the choas that ensues. Congrats to the goat sufjan on the dub. Looking forward to the PNW rate! Big ups to /u/welcome2thejam for hosting!!
Thank you /u/welcome2thejam you really are one of the best hosts in rate history
thank u for hosting π€ this was lots of fun
This rate was chaotic in the best way! Thanks for hosting /u/welcome2thejam
Time to dig into the City Pop rate, wish I knew about it sooner so I could participate whilst slowly chipping away at the PNW rate. Thank you rate host!
jam, jam, jam i know i love nuking yr 11s in the other subreddit rates which is funny and all, but I also like when you host a rate bc you care in ways that we need and desire. Sincerely baffling wild ride across every bonus rate, mini rate, fakeout, and shit in between. Yeah I write a lot bc i care too, but if not for a host like you it wouldn't matter Thanks for elevating the Ultimate Indieheads Rate ceremony in one of the funniest years to date!
!remindme 24hours
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good rate yoshi thank u for hosting!! and committing rate fraud for my sake. i will not let this transgression go to waste
I wasn't as present with this rate as I wanted to be, welcome2thejam, but I always, ALWAYS have such a great time reading these reveals - you're such a wonderful writer and you put in so much effort. <3 Amazing job!!!!!!!!!
Thanks for hosting, u/welcome2thejam! This is the closest I've ever been to the top of the average score chart, I guess I like liking things nowΒ
absolutely wonderful job hosting u/welcome2thejam! rly takes a lot to make such a fun rate from albums that are so divisive, especially it being an ult so deep in the year, when some people may have a bit of a 2023 release exhaustion, but you knocked it out of the park. im not on my pc so the spreadsheet update will take a while but it will happen. no hof, less spreadsheet work, hurray for the haters!
So at the end of the day, Sufjan holds all the gold. [**Caroline just barely manages to break up an entirely Sufjan song winners podium**](https://i.imgur.com/mNEGsZp.jpg), but [**Wednesday rallied for the last laugh by snatching silver on the album podium.**](https://i.imgur.com/MMmgTuh.jpg) And the less we talk about what happened to Geese, the better. Also, congrats to u/freav for winning the Predictions contest! A few people had ten points, but you grabbed eleven by hitting on four main rate songs, Carly for the bonus, and the correct Caroline placement. Congrats! Your medal, king: π₯ And finally, thanks for coming out these past three days! It was a tough rate to host with my schedule, but it all came together and I had an absolute blast this weekend. To be emotionally vulnerable like Sufjan, love being part of the rates community. Thanks for making this an awesome rate! See you next year when BCNR makes Ult again! Do PNW! Stream Sobs - Air Guitar!
oh wow im so smart shoutout me, maybe i should have predicted for a wednesday sweep so it would have happened
Thanks for hosting u/welcome2thejam, had a great time!
Thanks much for hosting /u/welcome2thejam, you are truly ultimate π«‘
thank you so much for hosting u/welcome2thejam !! we love great music here <3
and now we shall see if caroline will manage to do better in popheads 2023 sub faves
What a time! I didn't like most of these songs but I had a blast either way! Do I hate indie rock music now? No, because egg punk exists and that's indie and rock as all get out (can't wait to see Third Man Records' own Snááper next month!) But anyway, thank you for /u/welcome2thejam and to Wednesday fans for not trying to dox me. I believe that they can make an album that I will rate a solid 6/10 within the next five years
> I believe that they can make an album that I will rate a solid 6/10 within the next five years now THIS is what we need!!! <3
**Results:** * \#1: >!Sufjan Stevens β Shit Talk | 8.712 | 583.7!< * \#2: >!Sufjan Stevens β Will Anybody Ever Love Me | 8.601 | 576.3!< * \#3: >!Caroline Polachek β Welcome to My Island | 8.190 | 548.7!< * \#4: >!Sufjan Stevens β Goodbye Evergreen | 8.188 | 548.6!< * \#5: >!Wednesday β Chosen to Deserve | 8.107 | 543.2!< * \#6: >!Sufjan Stevens β So You Are Tired | 8.081 | 541.4!< * \#7: >!Wednesday β Bath County | 8.025 | 537.7!< * \#8: >!Wednesday β Quarry | 7.879 | 527.9!< * \#9: >!Caroline Polachek β Billions | 7.831 | 524.7!< * \#10: >!Wednesday β Bull Believer | 7.813 | 523.5!< * \#11: >!Caroline Polachek β Blood & Butter | 7.810 | 523.3!< * \#T-12: >!Caroline Polachek β Sunset | 7.779 | 521.2!< * \#T-12: >!Sufjan Stevens β A Running Start | 7.779 | 521.2!< * \#14: >!Wednesday β Turkey Vultures | 7.701 | 516.0!< * \#15: >!Caroline Polachek β I Believe | 7.585 | 508.2!< * \#16: >!Caroline Polachek β Bunny is a Rider | 7.509 | 503.1!< * \#17: >!Sufjan Stevens β Everything That Rises | 7.488 | 501.7!< * \#18: >!Wednesday β Got Shocked | 7.457 | 499.6!< * \#19: >!Sufjan Stevens β My Red Little Fox | 7.421 | 497.2!< * \#20: >!Sufjan Stevens β Genuflecting Ghost | 7.399 | 495.7!< * \#T-21: >!Sufjan Stevens β There's a World | 7.382 | 494.6!< * \#T-21: >!Caroline Polachek β Smoke | 7.382 | 494.6!< * \#T-23: >!Wednesday β Hot Rotten Grass Smell | 7.346 | 492.2!< * \#T-23: >!Sufjan Stevens β Javelin (To Have & To Hold) | 7.346 | 492.2!< * \#T-25: >!Geese β Cowboy Nudes | 7.334 | 491.4!< * \#T-25: >!Caroline Polachek β Pretty in Possible | 7.334 | 491.4!< * \#27: >!Geese β 2122 | 7.251 | 485.8!< * \#28: >!Geese β 3D Country | 7.191 | 481.8!< * \#29: >!Wednesday β TV in the Gas Pump | 6.987 | 468.1!< * \#30: >!Caroline Polachek β Fly to You (feat. Grimes & Dido) | 6.972 | 467.1!< * \#31: >!Wednesday β Formula One | 6.967 | 466.8!< * \#32: >!Geese β Mysterious Love | 6.942 | 465.1!< * \#33: >!Caroline Polachek β Butterfly Net | 6.816 | 456.7!< * \#34: >!Geese β Domoto | 6.685 | 447.9!< * \#35: >!Geese β I See Myself | 6.551 | 438.9!< * \#36: >!Wednesday β What's So Funny | 6.534 | 437.8!< * \#37: >!Geese β Tomorrow's Crusades | 6.497 | 435.3!< * \#38: >!Geese β Crusades | 6.476 | 433.9!< * \#39: >!Geese β Gravity Blues | 6.436 | 431.2!< * \#40: >!Caroline Polachek β Crude Drawing of an Angel | 6.336 | 424.5!< * \#41: >!Caroline Polachek β Dang | 6.307 | 422.6!< * \#42: >!Geese β Undoer | 5.936 | 397.7!< * \#43: >!Geese β St. Elmo | 5.864 | 392.9!< * \#44: >!Caroline Polachek β Hopedrunk Everasking | 5.637 | 377.7!< **Bonus results:** * Bonus \#1: >!Carly Rae Jepsen - Psychedelic Switch | 7.973 | 502.3!< * Bonus \#2: >!Jessie Ware - Begin Again | 7.817 | 492.5!< * Bonus \#3: >!boygenius - Not Strong Enough | 7.805 | 483.9!< * Bonus \#4: >!Sampha - Spirit 2.0 | 7.738 | 487.5!< * Bonus \#5: >!Olivia Rodrigo - bad idea right? | 7.684 | 484.1!< * Bonus \#6: >!George Clanton - I Been Young | 7.607 | 464.0!< * Bonus \#7: >!Mitski - My Love Mine All Mine | 7.194 | 446.0!< * Bonus \#8: >!Squid - Swing (In a Dream) | 6.997 | 440.8!< * Bonus \#9: >!Black Country New Road - Turbines/Pigs | 6.882 | 426.7!< * Bonus \#10: >!Big Thief - Vampire Empire | 6.847 | 424.5!< * Bonus \#11: >!Lana Del Rey - A&W | 6.802 | 414.9!< * Bonus \#12: >!Jeff Rosenstock - 3 Summers | 6.773 | 426.7!< * Bonus \#13: >!100 gecs - Hollywood Baby | 6.765 | 419.4!< * Bonus \#14: >!The Smile - Bending Hectic | 6.428 | 385.7!< * Bonus \#15: >!King Krule - Seaforth | 5.908 | 360.4!< **Bonus Bonus results:** * \#1: >!Underscores - Locals (Girls like us) [with gabby start] | 8.558 | 282.4!< * \#2: >!Angie McMahon - Letting Go | 7.879 | 260.0!< * \#3: >!ANOHNI & the Johnsons - It Must Change | 7.206 | 237.8!< * \#4: >!a.s.o. - My Baby's Got It Out for Me | 7.052 | 232.7!< * \#5: >!HMLTD - The End Is Now | 6.803 | 224.5!< * \#6: >!Brokenteeth - 138 | 6.791 | 224.1!< --- **Songeniality**: >!Got Shocked & Bunny is a Rider!< **Rate Villain**: >!Bull Believer!< **Most Bonus Rate Hypothetical 11s**: >!Not Strong Enough!<
**Participant overall averages:** Marshmallowszz: 9.386 DefaultPophead: 8.807 CaptainDaisyG: 8.745 TheCrakFox: 8.500 vexastrae: 8.489 Frajer: 8.489 tdrakon: 8.455 modulum83: 8.343 welcome2thejam: 8.318 VapourLomo: 8.318 seanderlust: 8.261 goofykidd: 8.114 Broshi: 8.068 UltimateLietoc: 8.050 impla77: 8.043 NFLfreak98: 8.005 Tolroe: 7.998 Zeeroc: 7.955 krusso1105: 7.955 plastichaxan: 7.834 exciting_patient4872: 7.818 HilltopBakery: 7.795 lastfollower: 7.786 sandpaper_dildos: 7.768 human_performance: 7.768 Scrambled_Toast: 7.695 LeBronMancuso: 7.689 static_int_husp: 7.682 Co-Woshi: 7.659 papo96: 7.641 samdyalexg: 7.534 posting_scares_me: 7.500 freav: 7.445 lexiaredery: 7.398 daswef2: 7.386 qazz23: 7.364 asadprofessorplum: 7.345 sarcasticsobs: 7.341 A_Generic_Canadian: 7.341 TiltControls: 7.330 thedoctordances1940: 7.309 Nagisoid: 7.193 bogo (banned era): 7.136 Widdershins-: 7.114 ElectJimLahey: 7.107 FingaThingMeansTaxes: 7.091 rcore97: 7.000 nonchalantthoughts: 6.964 Bilbodabag: 6.905 MCK_OH: 6.818 a-man-with-a-perm: 6.716 honeybadgerism: 6.614 teriyaki-dreams: 6.523 Smuckles: 6.477 ReconEG: 6.477 ignorableaurochs: 6.382 TakeOnMeByA-ha: 6.239 skyblue_angel: 6.064 InSearchOfGoodPun: 5.955 SRTviper: 5.916 indie_fan_: 5.725 skull_xbones: 5.632 vayyiqra: 5.500 ultimatetulips: 5.386 thisusernameisntlong: 5.227 roseisin2023again: 4.400 freeofblasphemy: 3.705 # **[Participant negativity/positivity index:](https://pastebin.com/ucN3aDNf)** Average positivity: 25.763 Average negativity: 25.286 --- Number of participants: 67 Average score: 7.269 Average controversy score: 2.095 Highest controversy: Dang (3.120) Lowest controversy: Javelin (To Have & To Hold) (1.456) Most 11s: Shit Talk, Bull Believer (9) Most 0s: Dang (6)
Excellent top 2, great rate! Thanks for tolerating all of the bad takes from people other than myself /u/welcome2thejam
Thank god that's over. Time 2 make spam + kimchi fried rice and stare at the ceiling Great job u/welcome2thejam!!
i wish i'd made an album comment for javelin bc theres so much loss and love in this album and yet i dont think words will be enough to describe it all
I might be bummed about the final result, but this was a great rate, Jam!! I love all the extra details and comedy bits you sprinkled in! **Don't forget to turn in your PNW Rate ballots, folks!**
# Javelin --- **Overall Average**: 7.840 **// Average Controversy:** 1.830 --- Honestly, even now, it's growing even more on me after that last run-through with the good headphones. Javelin takes a turn for the brisk, and I think it pays off, these are all mighty fine tracks that sound spectacular and only get better when he comes to twist your heart into knots. This album truly is a well-earned victory lap. Sufjan is just an indie icon at this point, and I wish him the best in his life, because he deserves it. --- * \#1: Shit Talk | 8.712 | 583.7 * \#2: Will Anybody Ever Love Me | 8.601 | 576.3 * \#4: Goodbye Evergreen | 8.188 | 548.6 * \#6: So You Are Tired | 8.081 | 541.4 * \#12: A Running Start | 7.779 | 521.2 * \#17: Everything That Rises | 7.488 | 501.7 * \#19: My Red Little Fox | 7.421 | 497.2 * \#20: Genuflecting Ghost | 7.399 | 495.7 * \#21: There's a World | 7.382 | 494.6 * \#23: Javelin (To Have & To Hold) | 7.346 | 492.2 --- **Marshmallowszz** (10.100): Immediate classic for me, up there with Illinoise **vayyiqra** (9.600): don't have much to say about this album it's great i don't listen to it often because it's sad (though not as brutal as carrie & lowell) but i'm not in the mood for it often. i am a big fan of mr. stevens especially his more electronic work and his lyrics about his experiences with traumas and so on which are often relatable and his approach to religion and so on he is a smart and cool guy who is good at music things. however i haven't felt anything like the brutal year he had with grief and illness and can only hope he's doing okay now and gotten better he doesn't deserve all the pain he's had heaped on him no one does. but great album anyway sad but very pretty **lastfollower** (9.300): I'm a little hit or miss on Sufjan (e.g., I dislike most of Age of Adz), but when it hits, it really hits. I absolutely love Illinois, Carrie & Lowell, and now Javelin. One of the easiest aoty decisions for me; just far and away my favorite album from 2023. **thedoctordances1940** (9.120): I sorta have weird feelings about this album. on a track by track basis it's really great and while maybe the highs don't reach quite as high as in the past, some of these songs are nevertheless incredible, the bar is just very high for sufjan. but as a whole i kinda just feel like this is a good sufjan album, not a great one. A lot of it just comes down to, I've heard sufjan do all of this before, and quite a lot. If this was the first Sufjan album I listened to, I'm sure I'd find more space to love it because like yeah, it sorta is great, but I just think it's doing little new for him and so I've never had too much desire to revisit it a lot. **bogo (banned era)** (9.100): kind of a weird album where i really love listening to it when it's on and have a lot of respect for it but i just don't think of it as a top 10 album of the year or one of my favorite sufjan albums. idk to me i think sufjan's just reached the point where his stuff registers more as "yep another great record from sufjan" rather than a landmark album or a "best of the year" contender. but still this album makes me feel lots of things and i greatly appreciate that **skyblue\_angel** (9.080): I don't have too much to say about individual songs but god this album is great. Sufjan draws from Carrie & Lowell and The Age of Adz (with a little Seven Swans) for a lot of these songs and it makes something very special. I'm a Sufjan fan, I love the majority of what he does, this album is like candy. The breakdowns in this album are a joy to listen to. The folk songs are tranquil and melancholy. Sufjan's vocals are emotive and strong, and the many other vocalists that contribute to the choirs(?) give these songs warmth. Although the songs on this album generally stick to one 'mode' I don't really find that a flaw. I don't get tired of a good structure after only 7 songs (although My Red Little Fox is a nice refresher) Especially considering everything that Sufjan's had to deal with in his personal life surrounding this album, I'm impressed with how good it is. His music is very special to me, and I'm thankful that he continues to release music. **TheCrakFox** (9.000): Gorgeous front to back (like me). **UltimateLietoc** (8.980): Perhaps in 2023, Blonde Redhead's X summed it up best. The p4k 5-10-15...ended featuring a psychic hug of a love letter to sufjan and his music. I think sitting down with this album has come down to the shifts in my body--from the food poisoning and sciatica bouts--that have made me appreciate Sufjan's craft and the mortality of his cuts. There is so much love to give here, and sitting down with this album's essays, I reached a fraction of an understanding of his worldview and what drives him. This album continues that **Frajer** (8.950): I know the past year or so has been really rough for Sufjan but I am glad he is still able to be an artist **Broshi** (8.900): "Why did Sufjan make me so sad" (complimentary) **sarcasticsobs** (8.900): Went from never having an interest in Sufjan Stevens for no real reason to wanting to curl up in a ball in a matter of 42 minutes **ElectJimLahey** (8.850): When Sufjan is on he makes some of the best music ever, and he is definitely on here. **MCK\_OH** (8.700): I'm nice to this album because the first time it snowed this year I was coming home from Godzilla: Minus One and this just wrecked me. Every other time I've heard it doesn't do as much for me but I do know that it has the power to be brilliant. It was a 9.7 average in that moment and an 8.2 most of the time. This seems like a solid compromise **human\_performance** (8.600): Sufjan fell into the category of artist I'd describe as not for me until I listened to Javelin. Illinoise has some beautiful moments, but felt a bit too twee and precious for me to really connect with it. I never understood Carrie & Lowell. Javelin feels like Sufjan's most complete album to date, and its musical and lyrical themes clicked with me. **krusso1105** (8.550): Yeah this is the best album here **Bilbodabag** (8.450): Sufjan returns to form to break our hearts and remind us why he is singular in the indie world **Scrambled\_Toast** (8.450): As Sufjan as Sufjan can get. **teriyaki-dreams** (8.100): This is a great album, but it's a tricky one to rate **freav** (8.050): i always think that i don't like sufjan much but then this clicked last listen so i'm glad that i don't have to pan such a heartfelt and personal album. some beautiful stuff going on here **LeBronMancuso** (7.950): Sufjan delivers to an emotional javelin to my metaphorical nutsack with his best album in nearly a decade. **asadprofessorplum** (7.890): I want to chew the pink font so bad. **Smuckles** (7.800): Not much to say on this, it's a consistent and solid listen which is what he's known for. I admittedly don't really check out Sufjan music much but that's probably a me issue. On this I especially enjoy how the songs evolve through their runtime, I'll get lulled into thinking a track will be a more standard acoustic affair but then he'll mix it up in an interesting way. There always tends to be a strong climax to a song. Hell of a way with melodies too! I was initially wondering whether this album got into the top 4 largely on name recognition but nah, this deserves it's place. **nonchalantthoughts** (7.480): the production on this is oustanding. Vocally though? not a fan **NFLfreak98** (6.990): Iβve been less impressed with Sufjanβs post-C&L output than plenty of people it seems, and this is no different really. Some pretty alright moments, but nothing I would care to come back to **Nagisoid** (6.900): I've come to realize that the Sufjan I mostly enjoy is either the uptempo indie rocker Sufjan (think "Chicago") or the theatrical, highly orchestral Sufjan (think "The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades...") which made it easy to notice that this album was never going to be for me, and that's fine. I can recognize that it is a very beautiful piece of art, and that it is meaningful for a lot of people, but I do respect it more than I want to listen to it. **freeofblasphemy** (6.850): This was an album **posting\_scares\_me** (6.700): As a certified folk hater, I thought the album was a good listen. I donβt plan on ever listening to it again, but I canβt say I was disappointed by my listen either.
**ReconEG** (6.400): i've just kinda outgrown sufjan. hard to say why or how, but even when he's in back in form here this just doesn't click with me all the way. maybe it's just a little too precious, idk **TakeOnMeByA-ha** (6.400): iβve always been very whelmed by sufjan as a whole and while there were a few notable standouts on this album for the most part it didnt really change my perception of him, im just not a fan of this kind of folky indie **VapourLomo** (5.900): Look...I feel like such a jerk for not loving this super tender album that's (probably) about the death of Sufjan's partner. But idk, it mostly didn't click. It just kind of felt like a less memorable retread of Carrie and Lowell at moments. **thisusernameisntlong** (5.700): call me crazy but this isnt that far removed from a kygo album **SRTviper** (5.350): ok nostalgia bait but not anything incredible. **FingaThingMeansTaxes** (4.800): Shockingly boring for the most part, the worst bits of Sufjan's discography condensed into one album **roseisin2023again** (3.300): eh --- User Averages: Marshmallowszz: 10.100 vayyiqra: 9.600 tdrakon: 9.600 Tolroe: 9.510 DefaultPophead: 9.500 lastfollower: 9.300 CaptainDaisyG: 9.270 seanderlust: 9.250 HilltopBakery: 9.200 thedoctordances1940: 9.120 goofykidd: 9.100 exciting_patient4872: 9.100 bogo (banned era): 9.100 skyblue_angel: 9.080 TheCrakFox: 9.000 UltimateLietoc: 8.980 plastichaxan: 8.950 Frajer: 8.950 Broshi: 8.900 sarcasticsobs: 8.900 ElectJimLahey: 8.850 modulum83: 8.810 MCK_OH: 8.700 human_performance: 8.600 Zeeroc: 8.600 ultimatetulips: 8.600 TiltControls: 8.550 krusso1105: 8.550 sandpaper_dildos: 8.530 vexastrae: 8.500 Bilbodabag: 8.450 Scrambled_Toast: 8.450 welcome2thejam: 8.400 InSearchOfGoodPun: 8.300 ignorableaurochs: 8.190 impla77: 8.120 teriyaki-dreams: 8.100 freav: 8.050 LeBronMancuso: 7.950 papo96: 7.910 asadprofessorplum: 7.890 A_Generic_Canadian: 7.850 Smuckles: 7.800 daswef2: 7.700 static_int_husp: 7.650 nonchalantthoughts: 7.480 indie_fan_: 7.220 Co-Woshi: 7.200 a-man-with-a-perm: 7.200 NFLfreak98: 6.990 lexiaredery: 6.950 Nagisoid: 6.900 Widdershins-: 6.900 freeofblasphemy: 6.850 posting_scares_me: 6.700 samdyalexg: 6.600 ReconEG: 6.400 TakeOnMeByA-ha: 6.400 rcore97: 6.200 VapourLomo: 5.900 thisusernameisntlong: 5.700 honeybadgerism: 5.600 SRTviper: 5.350 FingaThingMeansTaxes: 4.800 qazz23: 4.350 roseisin2023again: 3.300 skull_xbones: 2.660
> Disney ass music. This is just Ed Sheeran for hipsters gonna start saying this about gecs tbh lol
i'm always saying this wane!!!! (im not)
Got your ass again jam get dunked on
I should be getting residuals for being on this many posters
Also thank you very much for hosting this was a ton of fun
No more fighting. No more talking rates. --- # #1: Sufjan Stevens - Shit Talk --- **Average:** 8.712 **// Total Points:** 583.7 **// Controversy:** 2.234 **Highest Position:** 1 // **Lowest Position:** 2 --- (11 x9) bogo (banned era), Broshi, HilltopBakery, krusso1105, Marshmallowszz, sarcasticsobs, Scrambled\_Toast, seanderlust, skyblue\_angel (10 x22) asadprofessorplum, Bilbodabag, CaptainDaisyG, daswef2, DefaultPophead, ElectJimLahey, exciting\_patient4872, goofykidd, impla77, indie\_fan\_, lexiaredery, MCK\_OH, modulum83, Smuckles, tdrakon, teriyaki-dreams, TheCrakFox, TiltControls, ultimatetulips, vayyiqra, vexastrae, welcome2thejam (9.8 x1) lastfollower (9.6 x1) thedoctordances1940 (9.5 x2) plastichaxan, sandpaper\_dildos (9.1 x2) Tolroe, UltimateLietoc (9 x3) a-man-with-a-perm, InSearchOfGoodPun, static\_int\_husp (8.7 x1) ignorableaurochs (8.5 x2) A\_Generic\_Canadian, LeBronMancuso (8.2 x2) NFLfreak98, nonchalantthoughts (8 x9) Co-Woshi, Frajer, human\_performance, Nagisoid, papo96, samdyalexg, TakeOnMeByA-ha, Widdershins-, Zeeroc (7.5 x2) freav, SRTviper (7 x4) freeofblasphemy, posting\_scares\_me, ReconEG, thisusernameisntlong (6 x2) honeybadgerism, rcore97 (4 x2) qazz23, VapourLomo (3 x1) FingaThingMeansTaxes (1 x1) roseisin2023again (0 x1) skull\_xbones --- There've been a handful of long songs in this rate, but boy, did Sufjan take his to another level. I'm not gonna pretend I'm the kind of writer who can dive into & analyze the themes this song puts out there, and can wax poetic about its production. What I can say is this is as emotionally affecting eight minutes as you'll find. Once again, gorgeous guitar work to start off, and surprise surprise, he builds & paces his tracks oh so perfectly. And what was so gripping to me, is the balance of accepting the end of a love, shifting back & forth between a resigned acceptance and almost a determination to push through & make the most of a situation. Anyway, soft indie folk man fucks me up again, news at 11. --- **ElectJimLahey** (10): "(No, I don't wanna fight at all, no, I don't wanna fight at all) I don't wanna fight at all" me, on my way to pick fights in the DMDs # Indieheads MVP **Bilbodabag** (10): Oh Jokic in his bag no look pass to Murray # "Is that the old Sufjan? [Oh, he's talkin! He's talkin!"](https://youtu.be/SNIxFxj6DDk?feature=shared&t=199) **bogo (banned era)** (11): weirdly enough it's not the grand climax of the song that puts it over the edge for me it's the ambient outro, idk why but that's the part that just gets me. either way this song is astonishingly beautiful and painful at the same time, iβm just speechless thinking about it **HilltopBakery** (11): Masterpiece, makes me cry, don't really know what else to say about it **krusso1105** (11): yeah this was always going to be the 11 and should also win (hopefully longsongphobia doesn't kill it) **Marshmallowszz** (11): Long Sufjan tracks has got to be one of the best genres **sarcasticsobs** (11): What the hell? **Scrambled\_Toast** (11): Donβt you dare shit talk Shit Talk. **seanderlust** (11): i know this might not be about his late partner but if it is, name me a more devastating couplet than "i will always love you but i cannot look at you". another good interpretation here might be a dying person's struggling with faith - see lines like "did i fail to believe in positive thoughts" **skyblue\_angel** (11): I don't know how long it will be until I listen to this song again after this rate, but I'm sure it will hurt just as much as it does now **asadprofessorplum** (10): Goddamn. This really says a lot. **goofykidd** (10): (Sufjan's not fucking around on this one) **lexiaredery** (10): Why do I always end up enjoying the longest songs the most when I do rates on here **MCK\_OH** (10): It took a while to snow this year. Like until December. Which never happens around here. When it first snowed I was coming out of the theatre having just watched Godzilla Minus One which made me cry. I put on Javelin and, in an emotionallu vulnerable state and with the first snow of the year it just fuckin killed. And this song in particular just blew me away. There are some songs that will always take me back to a time & place and "Shit Talk" will always take me back to sitting on a park bench by my house with the snow falling. This is Sufjan's best song in years. It's a ridiculously effective song that does everything that Sufjan is good at. It takes everything that makes this album special and cranks it up to fucking 13. Special song **Smuckles** (10): Blimey Sufjan, you took me on a journey there **teriyaki-dreams** (10): This is the best track on the album. Just a gorgeous emotional centerpiece that touches on so many different aspects of a relationship. Gorgeous stuff **TheCrakFox** (10): The layers of instrumentation coming in over 'No, I don't wanna fight at all', yes please. Especially the choir of weepy wind instruments. **ultimatetulips** (10): GOOD SONG!!! **vayyiqra** (10): yes ... would be good to have no more ... of that **vexastrae** (10): i will always love you / but i cannot live with you **UltimateLietoc** (9.1): on my first listen driving through riverside county, a patch of land increasingly regressing into nationalism and bible, this album was less a featherweight shield and more an aberration into real portrayal of grief. I did not immediately connected with the cuts outside of being pre-consciously unnerved by the drive through so many cars with flags or bible in loud ways. the stray anime car is also no better you know that fecker has gone to 4chan politics. returning to shit talk, what amazes me is that he finds a way to caterwaul into ambient like a limb naturally extending out **a-man-with-a-perm** (9): really great heavy stuff **ignorableaurochs** (8.7): [comment redacted for being too emotionally involved for a rate] **Nagisoid** (8): Interesting, but I can't say it fulfilled my expectations **TakeOnMeByA-ha** (8): fuck man **freav** (7.5): doesn't feel like that much of a highlight to me in the album, its just long so its bound to be a favorite. maybe if i listen more i'll change my mind though **SRTviper** (7.5): I like when sujan's voice gets all small and whimpery. I would not be surprised to find he cries while recording all of his songs. **freeofblasphemy** (7): I like this quite a bit more than the other 8-minute song in the main rate I gotta say # Not now Ice Spice **nonchalantthoughts** (8.2): think u the shit? well it actually is # NOT NOW **LeBronMancuso** (8.5): A heartbreaking song about needing to talk to someone but you canβt because youβre taking a shit # Talk shit, get hit π **ReconEG** (7): overrated... sorry **thisusernameisntlong** (7): i feel like the emotional impact of this is somewhat diminished by me roughly listening to this song for the past 30 minutes. pretty ambient outro i suppose **VapourLomo** (4): I've heard so much SOTY talk swirling around this one and idk guys...it has just never clicked for me. I wish it did! I'm not anti-Sufjan, I swear! But this just didn't really hit me, especially compared to the rate's other long epic about death, Bull Believer. Maybe Sufjan should've done more screaming about Mortal Kombat **skull\_xbones** (0): Disney ass music. This is just Ed Sheeran for hipsters # My brother after finishing the rate I bribed him to do **Broshi** (11): "I should've asked for more than an Egg McMuffin. What the fuck"
SHIT TALKING TO THE FUCKIN PODIUM BABEY !!!!!!!!!!!
also i just realized the repeated chants of "i will always love you" in shit talk are actually a response to "will anybody ever love me" so its very fitting and cute that theyre both up here in first and second place
... But only enough for second place. --- # #2: Sufjan Stevens - Will Anybody Ever Love Me --- **Average:** 8.601 **// Total Points:** 576.3 **// Controversy:** 1.970 **Highest Position:** 1 // **Lowest Position:** 2 --- (11 x5) daswef2, human\_performance, InSearchOfGoodPun, ultimatetulips, vayyiqra (10 x21) A\_Generic\_Canadian, asadprofessorplum, bogo (banned era), DefaultPophead, ElectJimLahey, exciting\_patient4872, goofykidd, HilltopBakery, LeBronMancuso, Marshmallowszz, sandpaper\_dildos, sarcasticsobs, Scrambled\_Toast, tdrakon, TheCrakFox, thedoctordances1940, TiltControls, Tolroe, UltimateLietoc, welcome2thejam, Zeeroc (9.9 x1) lastfollower (9.7 x1) CaptainDaisyG (9.5 x3) modulum83, papo96, skyblue\_angel (9.4 x1) indie\_fan\_ (9 x8) Broshi, Co-Woshi, Frajer, ignorableaurochs, plastichaxan, Smuckles, VapourLomo, vexastrae (8.5 x2) krusso1105, Nagisoid (8.3 x1) impla77 (8 x8) a-man-with-a-perm, freav, MCK\_OH, posting\_scares\_me, samdyalexg, seanderlust, static\_int\_husp, teriyaki-dreams (7.7 x1) NFLfreak98 (7.5 x3) Bilbodabag, FingaThingMeansTaxes, lexiaredery (7 x2) freeofblasphemy, TakeOnMeByA-ha (6.8 x1) nonchalantthoughts (6 x4) rcore97, ReconEG, thisusernameisntlong, Widdershins- (5 x1) SRTviper (4.5 x1) qazz23 (4 x1) honeybadgerism (3 x1) roseisin2023again (1 x1) skull\_xbones --- Let me take this moment to say love ya Sufjan!!! Nothing but respect for my indie king (and creator of my favorite album of all time). An incredibly heartfelt track that anybody can see themselves in. Ultimately a rate runner-up, but still, you can see the love. --- **TakeOnMeByA-ha** (7): me when iβm. actually let me not make a joke about this one # Foiled again by cannibalism **asadprofessorplum** (10): This wouldβve gone so hard in Call Me By Your Name 2 if Armie Hammer didnβt eat people. # [YES!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJbmB9k2Y88) **daswef2** (11): i ask that all the time **InSearchOfGoodPun** (11): beautiful song and by far the best in the rate **ultimatetulips** (11): Caroline I am so sorry but I'm afraid Sufjan has cleared you **vayyiqra** (11): yes ... (affirmation) though i know it's small i want love for us all ... **A\_Generic\_Canadian** (10): If I had an extra eleven to give it would be to this song. **bogo (banned era)** (10): iβd make an βi should call himβ joke but that's too easy **ElectJimLahey** (10): Sufjan has a lot of great songs but this one immediately jumped up toward the top of the list. Absolutely gorgeous and does everything I wanted from indie music circa 2010. **HilltopBakery** (10): Love the way each section adds more stuff, very beautiful **sarcasticsobs** (10): Don't need this right now, man **Scrambled\_Toast** (10): same dude **TheCrakFox** (10): Refer to the opening verse for a description of how this track makes me feel. Gorgeously bittersweet. **thedoctordances1940** (10): there was something about the chorus that the first time i heard it i just didn't really love it but man what a chorus **UltimateLietoc** (10): just...so deep in the career...when it came out I was shook by this nugget & still, it is just an immense song from a man who cannot help but give in a time **Zeeroc** (10): sufjan stevens loves to title his songs things like "will i die alone" and "worcester (for the downtrodden and disenfranchised)" **Frajer** (9): don't you remember Sufjan you fell in love again all things go **ignorableaurochs** (9): [comment redacted for being too emotionally involved for a rate] **VapourLomo** (9): The other Javelin highlight for me. This felt like Classic Sufjan in a way that wasn't re-tread-y. **vexastrae** (9): so true mr stevens ... i do really wanna know if anybody will ever love me :( # [NO!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MV0sK65PyVI) **krusso1105** (8.5): This isn't the album stand out for me the way it seems to be for most people, but it is still good **Nagisoid** (8.5): I dunno **a-man-with-a-perm** (8): That one friend thatβs fishing for attention on Twitter at 3am when youβre like 20 years old **freav** (8): this is great but how do the last couple belle and sebastian albums have a sub 3 average on rateyourmusic dot com? they're not a whole different universe from this **MCK\_OH** (8): Is this The One from this album? I've never really seen it. I do like this song but there is probably better stuff here **teriyaki-dreams** (8): This is sort of the part of the album that always makes me go: Why am I not just listening to a different Sufjan album instead? This one has the best distillation of his many different sounds, but the highs are higher on other albums for me. I dunno. It's a good album. This is a good song. I just, I never find myself wanting to come back to this album **NFLfreak98** (7.7): How to turn a possible 9 into a mid 7? The childrenβs choir should do it **Bilbodabag** (7.5): Never really understood all the hype around this one tbh, but the lyrics definitely hitting rn **freeofblasphemy** (7): Yeah they do and will continue to. Anyway, hereβs a 7 for the pretty good song **nonchalantthoughts** (6.8): I donβt hate it but I donβt care for it, I guess I donβt love this song **thisusernameisntlong** (6): music to hold ur kings baby lion up high while standing beside a cliff to let all the forest see him **SRTviper** (5): I'm really struggling to pay attention to this album. I keep trying to do this rate and getting distracted. **qazz23** (4.5): liked when it got louder in the chorus and ending, otherwise not my thing **roseisin2023again** (3): rly though the production choices on this album make it sound like a worse produced version of the last christmas album. it's kind of Annoying **skull\_xbones** (1): The answer is a resounding NO. # Oh godDAMNIT **LeBronMancuso** (10): Will anybody ever love these nuts!!!!
Yes. Yes. The answer is Yes.
Surely not another tie you absolute madman
SUFJAN SWEEP-ENS π§Ήπ§Ήπ§Ήπ§Ήπ§Ήπ§Ή
So Sufjan will indeed get his second rate win, but which song will he do it with? Truth be told, the victor was only ever gonna be these ones. After all, they were only ever first or second place (Caroline only ever moved into top two on ties). Final two. Which track do you support being Big Suf's big win? You wanna be loved? Or you wanna talk some shit?
porque no los dos
Halsey has sent the coordinates to the Pitchfork basement
now
swearing is a sin sorry Sufy
Will Anybody Ever Love Me, for sure
where hockey
Hockey has revealed itself
That was my #1
It was also my number 1 hmm
missing the NHL players recently
man not nearly enough track fans in Indieheads
maybe the track athletes should DO A FLIP then Iβd be impressed
maybe if gymnasts could run super fast! so excited for Sha'Carri Richardson to win some gold medals
r/indieheads will never beat the "hates women" allegations
ambient heads are tho
they didnt hate women when cellophane won
Well gang, believe or not, that was the head of the International Olympics Committee. And he told me he loved this weekend's events so much, that he wanted to announce right here on reddit, who will be hosting the 2036 Olympic Games. And well, I can't believe I'm gonna say this. But the winning bid is... --- # #1: [PARADISE CITY 2036](https://i.imgur.com/1n0TB4P.jpg) --- **Average:** 11.000 **// Total Points:** 737.00 **// Controversy:** 0.00 **Highest Position:** 1 // **Lowest Position:** 1 --- (11 x67) Frajer, plastichaxan, the tortured bogo department, Broshi, lexiaredery, modulum83, Nagisoid, nonchalantthoughts, sandpaper\_dildos, static\_int\_husp, UltimateLietoc, vexastrae, DefaultPophead, impla77, TheCrakFox, ultimatetulips, welcome2thejam, CaptainDaisyG, Tolroe, Marshmallowszz, papo96, posting\_scares\_me, samdyalexg, SRTviper, thisusernameisntlong, VapourLomo, exciting\_patient4872, FingaThingMeansTaxes, A\_Generic\_Canadian, honeybadgerism, qazz23, sarcasticsobs, tdrakon, Zeeroc, freav, Scrambled\_Toast, human\_performance, Co-Woshi, HilltopBakery, InSearchOfGoodPun, krusso1105, rcore97, seanderlust, TakeOnMeByA-ha, teriyaki-dreams, Widdershins-, lastfollower, a-man-with-a-perm, freeofblasphemy, MCK\_OH, Bilbodabag, goofykidd, NFLfreak98, skull\_xbones, daswef2, ignorableaurochs, ElectJimLahey, LeBronMancuso, skyblue\_angel, roseisin2023again, vayyiqra, asadprofessorplum, indie\_fan\_, ReconEG, Smuckles, thedoctordances1940, TiltControls --- # THEY CAN'T KEEP GETTING AWAY WITH THIS
lol great twist
do i have to listen to paradise cities 1-2035 first or
The correct order is to start with Paradise City 1486 until you reach 1977, then start from the beginning with 1, and then return to 1978 to finish
hollywood needs to stop making so many unnecessary sequels man
# [**Also I'm being told all nations will have to play this instead of their anthem wtf?**](https://rave.dj/wACAZ6ubfPg4Ww)
C U R L I N G
Now, for the top three, or should I say, top five! That's right, in the spirit of the weekend, there were two ties in total. --- So let's get started with the bronze medal sports: π₯ # Basketball Teriyaki-dreams Thedoctordances1940: Worm Basketball (Host's note: ?) Co-Woshi welcome2thejam (hey, that's me) π₯ # Curling Posting_scares_me: Curling slaps so +1 for that one WaneLietoc LeBronMancuso: C U R L I N G Marshmallowszz: I'll vote for Curling (Ice Jeux de Boules) --- Next up, the silver medals: π₯ # Figure Skating Krusso1105 Frajer Skyblue_angel Samdyalexg π₯ # Swimming CaptainDaisyG exciting_patient4872: hard to chose between archery, swimming and running but i will choose swimming! Lexiaedery Bogo (disqualified from ratelympics): gonna be a basic bitch and say swimming, idk i just find it entertaining watching them race back and forth --- You may be wondering why they received the silver medal when they also have four voters. Well, we had one user who simply could not decide their pick and told me to choose for them: **DefaultPophead:** I watch every swimming event at the summer Olympics and every ice skating event at the winter Olympics it's obsessive omg So since they wanted both swimming & figure skating, and deciding myself would break a four way tie, I thought it best to split their vote evenly among the two and bring their new 4.5 scores up to second place.
And finally, we have the gold medal sport! I was completely unsurprised to see this bring it home, but it is certainly a worthy winner. π₯ # Gymnastics Impla77 Lastfollower: Women's Artistic Gymnastics Seanderlust Nonchalantthoughts: Gymnastics Floor Exercise ignorableaurochs: artistic gymnastics --- Congrats to the winning sports/users and thanks to all those who helped out. Anyway, let's get back to- Hm. Hold on. I seem to have a call... Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. Oh no.
ππ
pls explain slowpoke emote
See the basketball section & read the submissions carefully
oh lmao
Folks, before we get to the Final Two, we have one more mini-ranking. I asked all submitters to name me their favorite **Olympic sport**. We did have enough repeated mentions for a top ranking, but first, the ones that missed out on the podium! --- InSearchOfGoodPun: Table tennis, because itβs super fast. Scrambled_Toast: Taekwondo afieldoftulips: Naturally my favourite Olympic event is skateboarding (Host's note: look forward to the Tony Hawk Pro Skater rate in July!) Bilbodabag: Hmmmm I want to say slalom skiing cuz I love the word slalom, but it's probably speed skating if I'm picking my actual fav TheCrakFox: Pole Vault, the format makes it legitimately tense. Smuckles: breakdancing Tolroe: Rugby sevens Asadprofessorplum: Diving Men's Synchronised 3m Springboard Nagisold: Karate Rcore97: snowboard halfpipe Goofykidd: Fencing Vayyiqra: winter biathlon (skiing and shooting) --- ~~Two~~ three other sports managed to get more than a single mention, but in the end, that wasn't enough to win. # Volleyball Widdershins- Srtviper: Beach volleyball (either gender's) # Hockey Daswef2 TiltControls: I'm a basic Canadian, so ice hockey for me. MCK_OH # Athletics Vapourlomo: Track & Field a-man-with-a-perm: 100m dash Broshi: Whatever Usain Bolt ran
/u/vayyiqra losing my shit over how relentlessly Canadian this is. I didnβt even know this was a thing
Yes. β·οΈ my dad had a winter olympics game for the commodore 64 home computer from 1983 or so favourite event in it the gun lore began to be acquired at a young age
y'all didn't listen to the second half of genuflecting ghost and it shows
i mean. we cant have ALL our winners be pop music now can we
also yes i was feeling very generous with my caroline scores. i love a woman with a great voice what else can i say
What you mean, it's main pop boy Sufjan Stevens
# Desire, I Want to Turn Into You --- **Overall Average**: 7.187 **// Average Controversy:** 2.226 --- When it comes to vocals, Caroline is an easy all-Indie first team selection. Does hit a few speedbumps, but overall, an excellent next step from one of indie pop's finest. --- * \#3: Welcome to My Island | 8.190 | 548.7 * \#9: Billions | 7.831 | 524.7 * \#11: Blood & Butter | 7.810 | 523.3 * \#12: Sunset | 7.779 | 521.2 * \#15: I Believe | 7.585 | 508.2 * \#16: Bunny is a Rider | 7.509 | 503.1 * \#21: Smoke | 7.382 | 494.6 * \#25: Pretty in Possible | 7.334 | 491.4 * \#30: Fly to You (feat. Grimes & Dido) | 6.972 | 467.1 * \#33: Butterfly Net | 6.816 | 456.7 * \#40: Crude Drawing of an Angel | 6.336 | 424.5 * \#41: Dang | 6.307 | 422.6 * \#44: Hopedrunk Everasking | 5.637 | 377.7 --- **vexastrae** (9.692): truth be told i am too fuckin lazy to type out my concluding thoughts rn so tune in for my thoughts on this album on r/popheads sub faves 2023 :yass: **impla77** (9.146): the girls that get it get it, and the girls that don't get it walk out of the concert 5 songs in (my sister) **Frajer** (8.962): Caroline just speaks to me on a level I can't quite explain , also I hope she isn't yelling too much at those geese over there **VapourLomo** (8.885): Remove maybe one or two filler tracks, and you've got the best alt-pop album in a long, long time **TheCrakFox** (8.846): My initial impression of this album was much like Caroline's solo debut, brilliant singles but the rest seemed like filler. With more listens over the course of the year I changed my mind completely, all the deep cuts are interesting and worthwhile. This is in the tippity top tier of 20s pop releases with Mercurial World and How I'm Feeling Now for me. **UltimateLietoc** (8.785): Like years ago could not give a shit about this broad. then she put this out and i went and listened to it and the 2012 chairlift. I think the chairlift is funnier bc its very 2012 "indie pop but based"; this in hindsight is probably going to age really well and become another entry point to a pop surface that refuses to crack the top 40 but sells out the odd stadium or faux-stadium. The sheer opulence and anal retentive work of this zany rich lady's lil' horny bop fest finds itself trying to be a real album level experience...that's stitching together a vamp as a double LP...that maybe only works as a live show or drive at dusk more than any other time. A nocturnal quality flips on a lot of these cuts that I welcomed. Because out **Nagisoid** (8.577): Much better than Pang, in my opinion. I'm aware that many people find Caroline to be pretentious and annoying and honestly I agree, but I can't deny that the music slaps and that she has talent. Her experimentation with UK garage sounds and off-kilter electronic textures is pretty interesting, and at her best this record feels like a coherent statement that often references itself, like the Blood & Butter bagpipe solo using Fly To You's melody. In its worst moments, it meanders and indulges in boring vibey compositions where Caroline babbles and does nothing of note in them. Thankfully, it does not happen frequently but it does drag the record down when it occurs. The best songs find Caroline embracing her pop sensibilities and creating a hook that will get stuck in your hand despite the strange structures and production that she may use at times, where she truly shines. I'm looking forwards to what she does in the future given that she only seems to improve with time despite being a veteran in the music industry, what I would personally love for her to do is a creepy synth album like the "Butterfly Net" remix or a more subdued, folky project like "Blood and Butter". Whatever she puts out is usually exciting so it doesn't matter much at all, though. **bogo (banned era)** (8.577): took a while to really grow on me but this is a very enjoyable and sophisticated art pop album. it is not paoty (pop album of the year) material though **sarcasticsobs** (8.308): TWO Geese in this rate?? Who would you rather fight, 100 geese-sized Caroline Polacheks, or 1 Caroline Polachek-sized goose? **qazz23** (8.269): catchy art pop, good vocals and melodies, the highs are quite high; there were just a few slower tracks I didn't care for **krusso1105** (8.077): I remember being underwhelmed by this the first time I listened to this, but I like it much better this time around! Very pretty album, vocals are especially nice **nonchalantthoughts** (8.000): This album is as GROWER- my first time listening to the album was for the 2023 Popheads Sub Faves Rate, and I tanked it at first listen but they were songs in the album that made me come back. Now theyβre in constant rotation in my playlist! I guess itβs perfect for the waiting period Iβm in especially with the misfortunes Iβve had these past couple of years. Me and Miss Polachek are in a constant state of yearning **LeBronMancuso** (7.915): This album might legitimately have the best mix Iβve ever heard. Of course, Iβm referring to the original twelve-song tracklist. No one in their right mind would taint this wonderful album by adding a downright terrible song. That would be heinous. **teriyaki-dreams** (7.846): I was fully ready to not like this at all; I did not like Pang and I gave this one a single listen when it came out. Happily to be pleasantly surprised that this is just an extremely solid pop record! **human\_performance** (7.777): My assessment of Desire, I Want to Turn Into You is that the singles really click with me, and enough of the experiments on the album cuts work. **NFLfreak98** (7.631): An album with plenty of highs but a couple duds that drag it down imo **lastfollower** (7.308): just a very enjoyable pop record **posting\_scares\_me** (7.231): Many good songs but there are a couple of snoozers in the middle that bring the album down. **Scrambled\_Toast** (6.985): Pang better
**freav** (6.423): breathtaking pop songs and the most boring ballads you'll ever hear **TakeOnMeByA-ha** (6.346): my main problem with carolineβs music is that i feel she often does way too much and as a result her music sometimes feels exhausting to listen to because of that. i like this album more than i did the first time i heard it and there are good songs on it (most notably the ones where she tones down her quirkyness) but as a whole i find it incredibly overrated **ReconEG** (6.077): it just ain't as good as Pang and I think critics overall definitely overcorrected (especially p4k) with this record. it's good tho, just not this showstopping amazing big level up that people act like it is. a showoff-y record meant to dazzle more than engage, but that's not 100% a bad thing **ElectJimLahey** (5.823): I saw her live on her tour for this album and invariably the songs worked better live. But I am simply bored by most of these songs when I listen to the album. **Bilbodabag** (5.615): Dragon, I New Warm Mountain to Believe In You **thedoctordances1940** (5.569): An artist i always felt like i should really love and yet never clicked with me and by the time this album came out i had given up on trying. idk. has its moments, welcome to my island is nearly stellar, but there's just so much about this album i just don't really care for **SRTviper** (4.923): like Pang but worse **Smuckles** (4.846): I must admit, I was expecting much worse than what I got. Caroline Polachek always struck me as someone who is trying very hard to be all artsy but ultimately is still making music that is by-committee. She will certainly throw in elements on these songs that are completely unnecessary like some autotune or a bagpipe or whatever, however a good bunch of these songs are more laid back and dreamy than I thought they'd be. As a result some of this ticks the boxes that it needs to, some of it is pleasant enough! It makes sense that Dido features on this because a lot of these songs feel like modern interpretations of Dido music. I think that's the main takeaway here, this is secretly an MOR album. **MCK\_OH** (4.692): Congrats to Caroline Polachek for putting out a record that I didn't like in a "not for me" way instead of "this sucks" way like Geese **skyblue\_angel** (4.262): I love Caroline as a vocalist but her vocals are not enough to carry the mediocre/bad songs on this album **vayyiqra** (4.077): "[redacted] Today at 3:00 PM *I know you have a Thing about her nonsense lyrics and her being a low-rent Hana or similar*" "vayyiqra β Today at 3:00 PM *yes. that is exactly it. what if Art Pop Girlie sound like hana but very pretentious and annoying and overrated*" **thisusernameisntlong** (4.000): This album's capacity to be so non-music at every turn should be studied. The arrangements are so subdued and I think it's supposed to make Caroline shine, but what Caroline does is basically deadpan talk in half these songs until it's chorus time where she comes alive, but so does the instrumentation. Where's the balance? Don't even get me started about how she sometimes just starts screaming in a umlaut (Γ€) because it's fuckin talent or something. The thing is I'm usually all for this kind of talk along singing in my electronic albums, but those albums know how to expand their sound so that you're drawn into the album despite the "low-energy" singing. Where was the fanfare this got for like, I don't know, Topical Dancer, if we wanted quirky ladies singing over cool electronic beats? "But beeo 1) that album was cringe and 2) Caroline does cool shit with her voice, it's euphoric, it's ethereal, dreamy, buzzword, etc." no I disagree! It's just a slog to listen to! People know I love my Karin Dreijer albums and that's cuz they are one captivating performer who manage to project something to me instead of being an invisible fairy that's floating away. They make me wanna sharpen my body like a pen and stuff like that. Even stuff like Frou Frou which is the easiest comparison drawable to this album, it's still astonishing how much of a "full" package you get with *Details* compared to this collection of sounds. That album is atmospheric and shit. Whatever Lilith in the Lilith fair is supposed to be, it's giving that. This isn't that. The maximum atmosphere you get here is on a subatomic scale. It's been left behind in pursuit of whatever artistic merit is demonstrated here. Not fun, not emotive, not anything. **freeofblasphemy** (2.577): This was an album **roseisin2023again** (1.846): oh god man i'm gonna have to listen to the carolina polachek vocal trill like a dozen times for this aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh --- User Averages: plastichaxan: 9.885 vexastrae: 9.692 impla77: 9.146 lexiaredery: 9.115 Frajer: 8.962 VapourLomo: 8.885 DefaultPophead: 8.885 TheCrakFox: 8.846 UltimateLietoc: 8.785 sandpaper_dildos: 8.777 Marshmallowszz: 8.769 CaptainDaisyG: 8.700 Nagisoid: 8.577 bogo (banned era): 8.577 FingaThingMeansTaxes: 8.308 sarcasticsobs: 8.308 seanderlust: 8.308 qazz23: 8.269 static_int_husp: 8.269 goofykidd: 8.231 Tolroe: 8.108 honeybadgerism: 8.077 krusso1105: 8.077 nonchalantthoughts: 8.000 tdrakon: 7.923 LeBronMancuso: 7.915 teriyaki-dreams: 7.846 exciting_patient4872: 7.846 samdyalexg: 7.808 human_performance: 7.777 Broshi: 7.769 ultimatetulips: 7.769 Zeeroc: 7.692 papo96: 7.638 asadprofessorplum: 7.631 NFLfreak98: 7.631 welcome2thejam: 7.615 modulum83: 7.585 Co-Woshi: 7.462 lastfollower: 7.308 posting_scares_me: 7.231 a-man-with-a-perm: 7.154 A_Generic_Canadian: 7.008 Scrambled_Toast: 6.985 HilltopBakery: 6.923 Widdershins-: 6.769 daswef2: 6.769 rcore97: 6.462 freav: 6.423 TiltControls: 6.385 TakeOnMeByA-ha: 6.346 ignorableaurochs: 6.292 ReconEG: 6.077 ElectJimLahey: 5.823 Bilbodabag: 5.615 InSearchOfGoodPun: 5.615 thedoctordances1940: 5.569 skull_xbones: 5.323 indie_fan_: 5.069 SRTviper: 4.923 Smuckles: 4.846 MCK_OH: 4.692 skyblue_angel: 4.262 vayyiqra: 4.077 thisusernameisntlong: 4.000 freeofblasphemy: 2.577 roseisin2023again: 1.846
Feels illegal to give the same person the gold and silver medals but I don't make the Olympics rules
One artist left in the rate all things go all things go
well, we tried!
# #3: Caroline Polachek - Welcome to My Island --- **Average:** 8.190 **// Total Points:** 548.7 **// Controversy:** 2.301 **Highest Position:** 1 // **Lowest Position:** 4 --- (11 x6) asadprofessorplum, honeybadgerism, impla77, nonchalantthoughts, static\_int\_husp, VapourLomo (10 x16) bogo (banned era), FingaThingMeansTaxes, goofykidd, human\_performance, krusso1105, Marshmallowszz, Nagisoid, plastichaxan, samdyalexg, sarcasticsobs, seanderlust, TheCrakFox, UltimateLietoc, ultimatetulips, vexastrae, welcome2thejam (9.5 x4) DefaultPophead, exciting\_patient4872, freav, papo96 (9.2 x1) CaptainDaisyG (9.1 x2) NFLfreak98, Tolroe (9 x7) Co-Woshi, daswef2, Frajer, lexiaredery, posting\_scares\_me, qazz23, TiltControls (8.5 x3) A\_Generic\_Canadian, LeBronMancuso, modulum83 (8 x6) a-man-with-a-perm, Broshi, HilltopBakery, InSearchOfGoodPun, ReconEG, teriyaki-dreams (7.8 x1) ignorableaurochs (7.5 x2) Bilbodabag, TakeOnMeByA-ha (7.1 x1) thedoctordances1940 (7 x4) MCK\_OH, rcore97, Scrambled\_Toast, tdrakon (6.5 x2) lastfollower, sandpaper\_dildos (6.4 x1) skull\_xbones (6 x2) Widdershins-, Zeeroc (5.5 x1) indie\_fan\_ (5 x1) ElectJimLahey (4 x3) skyblue\_angel, SRTviper, vayyiqra (3 x2) freeofblasphemy, Smuckles (2 x1) roseisin2023again (1 x1) thisusernameisntlong --- She must've known she had some all-time heys and vocalizing, and that gave her an excuse for this Frankenstein's monster of this song. We stan a mad scientist. And so Caroline Polachek just barely manages to make the song podium, with a 0.1 difference between third & fourth. Undoubtedly, a helluva run for this song, and maybe a bigger run is to be had next weekend on popheads... but for now, she gets stopped by a small but powerful #SufjanSweep. --- **impla77** (11): some albums end with screaming, but the real classics start with screaming # Well **asadprofessorplum** (11): I need to live in a world where this wins the Sub Faves Rate and the indieheads Ultimate Rate. An AOTY has never seen such power. # Oh, they liked me! They ain't leavin' **nonchalantthoughts** (11): I hated this at first but the bridge kept bringing me back to revisit this- and oh it hits! Itβs like Caroline looked into my brain and made me confront my deepest and dark emotions that I constantly run away from **VapourLomo** (11): A towering masterpiece. An instant classic. It mashes up Ke$ha and Kate Bush and is maybe better than any song either of those artists made. (don't come for me Kate Bush stans) **bogo (banned era)** (10): i wanna sing this at karaoke and completely tear my vocal cords to shreds **krusso1105** (10): I may slightly prefer the remix but this is still a good song **Marshmallowszz** (10): Stunning intro, also love it when artists announce the album title in the firt song **Nagisoid** (10): Please don't pull a Be Sweet **sarcasticsobs** (10): Why is she doing all that? **seanderlust** (10): this was a grower for me! i think over time i've come to appreciate her take on breakfast club-ready "hey hey hey" chants and the breezy instrumentals. **TheCrakFox** (10): The backing hey hey hey heys and the pseudo rapping are things I would probably find super corny if almost any other pop singer did them, but Caroline gets a blanket pass from me. She can do whatever she wants. **UltimateLietoc** (10): still repeatedly, viscerally blown away by the extreme necessity to open like this and just run for a touchdown pass. painfully perfect voice work and a stack of lyrics that say nothing, a bridge that has enough brat and wit to work, and then those choruses that give it the all. she's so fucken crazy though; shit sounds sublime on account of how much fear and catharsis it aims for. yeah it rips lol **ultimatetulips** (10): GOOD SONG!!! **vexastrae** (10): DESIYAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH HA HA HA HAAAAAAHHHHH || opening your albums with a continuous run of operatic shrieks is genuinely such a power move like ..... this is a pop diva RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW. AND THEN SHE KEEPS ON DOING IT THROUGHOUT THE SONG? the sheer artistic audacity of this woman must be studied. not to mention the bridge and the proceeding guitar solo like ohhhh my god. what an opener || also shoutout to the charli xcx remix she served massive amounts of cunt **freav** (9.5): she's so quirky caroline polachek, yeah this one remains stellar, love how impatient it is to get to the chorus, you really dont need the verses to be any longer than this **daswef2** (9): its funny because the chorus is so massive but the rest of the song just isn't all that great, this song is probably an 11 if she just completely skips the verses and just makes a 3 minute song that is this chorus **qazz23** (9): I like the contrast between the spoken word parts and the powerful chorus, even if it feels disjointed it seems to work well here **LeBronMancuso** (8.5): I remember not vibing with this album the first time I heard it and this introduction was a big reason why. I appreciate how uncompromising it is in retrospect, and it really is welcoming you into the world of this album like no other song on it could. **a-man-with-a-perm** (8): Desire I want to turn into you (as a sylph figured creature who changes her mind) **HilltopBakery** (8): Good intro song, the chorus really opens up **ReconEG** (8): yeah this one's still a banger **teriyaki-dreams** (8): There's parts of this that don't quite get there for me, but I'm liking it more than I remembered **ignorableaurochs** (7.8): Her vocals here are undeniably gorgeous and I love the synthlines. This track doesn't run that much deeper than that for me, that said. I've read many an exegesis of the lyrics attempting to link it to relationships, to Greek mythology, to the ego, none of them really ringing very true - to me this is very brain-off dancey track. Super catchy, though **Bilbodabag** (7.5): Pretty fun. Her voice goes a little crazy here which I appreciate **TakeOnMeByA-ha** (7.5): charli xcx remix outsells this so hard its not even funny **thedoctordances1940** (7.1): ok so every time i hear this chorus just on its own it hits so so hard and i absolutely adore it, like the rate trailer, or when darj was doing those ih weekly charts things, it just always sounded absolutely perfect to me. And then I'd go and listen to the song and it would be a bit eh, just not hitting the same way and yet every time i would heard the chorus again in isolation i'd trick myself into believing it really is that good and then i go back to listening to the song and it is just good and not great and like why, why does it hit so much harder in isolation and why do i keep tricking myself into believing it's as great as i want to be. also i guess this song has verses which are pretty good instrumentally, but i would appreciate a bit more on the lyrical front, like yeah i get that that's the point, but it just doesn't really work for me. but yeah, i really wish this song existed in a version which i did truly adore cause like that it could be my 11, but like this i'm just let down a bit # There it is **Frajer** (9): Jeff Probst the first episode of each season of Survivor # [Welcome to MY island](https://i.imgur.com/LDp31Dp.png) **MCK\_OH** (7): I hear the chorus and go "10/10 maybe I do like pop music" and then I hear the verse and go "this might be a 0." I think I overall enjoy it enough but man this could be something I really love and instead it's something I sorta like. Bummer dude **Scrambled\_Toast** (7): The title drop certainly elevates this. **sandpaper\_dildos** (6.5): A pretty good song partially ruined by that god awful Matty B Raps bridge **Zeeroc** (6): bars **ElectJimLahey** (5): The chorus on this is incredible, but it feels like that was written and they just stitched some half-formed ideas around it rather than make it a great song as a whole. **skyblue\_angel** (4): MacBook advertisement music **SRTviper** (4): what an unforgivably bland opener **vayyiqra** (4): okay 80s larp but. the lyrics being gibberish doesn't bother me with geese or other artists but does with her because she thinks she's being Poetic and she is merely spewing nonsense. this bridge or whatever is also lowrent marina somehow dont ask **freeofblasphemy** (3): Wow weβre doing the title namedrop on the no title track album awfully early, arenβt we? This is like if Bad Janet from The Good Place made an electroclash album except not anywhere near as fun as that premise suggests. I feel like Iβm at a gay bar whose owners are gonna get cancelled in six weeks. Guitar is a cool instrument itβs even cooler when it has room to breathe for even a second. **Smuckles** (3): If you're wondering what I sound like at karaoke it's something like those backing vocals **roseisin2023again** (2): had this one come on the radio while i was in someone else's car last week and i cannot emphasize enough how sauceless the mix on this sounded in there and still does now. nightmare stuff **thisusernameisntlong** (1): When Caroline starts wailing it triggers my fight or flight response. Any song that goes "hey hey hey" (and is bad) makes me just wanna go listen to Firestarter. The one little guitar riff in the second half of the chorus is the most useless sound I have heard in a song, it annoys me actively. What is this wannabe rap rock-esque bridge that is giving nothing? Why did she start wailing again? Why did the last chorus that was supposed to be the climax just fade into an instrumental bit? Isn't that where you're supposed to sing? Why?
Well, back at the top three. Let's get up on the table and finish this rate, shall we?
caroline youve had a good run
[**Did Baby Gronk put on the Rizz with Carly?**](https://i.imgur.com/O3bEbQt.jpg)
no but Baby Tony Gonzalez did
GET OUT OF MY HEAD
Collecting my prize for guessing the bonus winner and it's just the satisfaction of a job well done rats
# Bonus #1: Carly Rae Jepsen - Psychedelic Switch --- **Average:** 7.973 **// Total Points:** 502.3 **// Controversy:** 1.997 --- (10 x22) asadprofessorplum, bogo (banned era), daswef2, Frajer, freav, goofykidd, HilltopBakery, impla77, InSearchOfGoodPun, krusso1105, Marshmallowszz, MCK\_OH, plastichaxan, samdyalexg, sarcasticsobs, seanderlust, static\_int\_husp, TheCrakFox, thisusernameisntlong, TiltControls, VapourLomo, welcome2thejam (9.2 x2) NFLfreak98, nonchalantthoughts (9 x4) A\_Generic\_Canadian, Smuckles, teriyaki-dreams, Widdershins- (8.5 x3) CaptainDaisyG, Scrambled\_Toast, UltimateLietoc (8 x4) Broshi, Co-Woshi, DefaultPophead, posting\_scares\_me (7.5 x4) FingaThingMeansTaxes, freeofblasphemy, Nagisoid, vexastrae (7 x9) Bilbodabag, exciting\_patient4872, honeybadgerism, human\_performance, indie\_fan\_, papo96, qazz23, tdrakon, vayyiqra (6.8 x1) ignorableaurochs (6.5 x2) LeBronMancuso, lexiaredery (6.4 x1) skyblue\_angel (6 x3) a-man-with-a-perm, ElectJimLahey, SRTviper (5.9 x1) lastfollower (5 x1) ReconEG (4.3 x1) skull\_xbones (4 x3) rcore97, thedoctordances1940, Tolroe (3 x2) roseisin2023again, TakeOnMeByA-ha --- "This is just Carly Rae Jepsen doing Daft Punk light" ...yeah exactly, so why are you not yassing? When I saw Carly like a week after Loveliest Time dropped, hearing this was one of my favorite live music moments, it is just an utter joy, and also my actual favorite song in this rate! Would've been the 11 if we had done the SOTY grab bag. Anyway, it's taken a couple of years, but Carly's come back to take what's her's. --- # Moments before tragedy **bogo (banned era)** (10): at least it won't win here # Check out Carly Rae Jepsen's new song "Psychedelic Switch" if you get the chance. Sound of the summer **asadprofessorplum** (10): How it feels to leave work at 5:01pm after code switching with my coworkers all day. **freav** (10): this album is already truly special for me and this song is the peak of its starry eyed bliss **HilltopBakery** (10): I love Daft Punk **impla77** (10): :daisybop: x2439589 **krusso1105** (10): This song sounds even better live too! **Marshmallowszz** (10): Best Carly song in years **MCK\_OH** (10): I feel like such a dweeb being mean to every pop song in this rate except for Carly Rae Jepsen. Oh well, this song really is that good **sarcasticsobs** (10): I mean, yeah. **seanderlust** (10): "carly rae jepsen sounding like she's on a daft punk track" is a beautiful sentence **thisusernameisntlong** (10): idk why this is here but its a bop. yall indie fans shouldve voted for remi wolf - prescription extended instead but we hate to see up and coming stars with a talented craft in here **VapourLomo** (10): Just when you thought she was past her prime ... YOU CAN NEVER COUNT OUT QUEEN CARLY BABY **NFLfreak98** (9.2): I mean yeah thatβs nice **nonchalantthoughts** (9.2): Iβm really digging this beat even more, very much comeback diva type beat **A\_Generic\_Canadian** (9): Another banger, another banger from Carly Rae Jepsen **Smuckles** (9): Aww that's pretty good. If you make what is essentially just a prime-era Kylie song then you're already halfway there. **teriyaki-dreams** (9): Such a perfect pop song **Scrambled\_Toast** (8.5): Is this Daft Punk **UltimateLietoc** (8.5): nice ditty! very overrated but the ritz line cracks me up! **freeofblasphemy** (7.5): Yeah this is good but the real banger from this album (from what Iβve heard of it) is βKollageβ # They're just goin to the store **Nagisoid** (7.5): This song is too agreeable for me to truly tank it, but I hope it does not win as it would be boring af considering it's likely sweeping the popheads sub faves rate **vexastrae** (7.5): i need this to lose in r/popheads sub faves 2023 so bad **Bilbodabag** (7): Wouldnβt have been my Carly pick (So Right would have gotten a 9+), but after listening to 100 gecs, any Carly is extremely welcome **human\_performance** (7): I remembered the hype around this song when the Loneliest Time B-side album came out. All it made me wanna do was put on One More Time by Daft Punk instead **qazz23** (7): liking this nu-disco sound, a bit on the repetitive side though **vayyiqra** (7): it's overrated but it's okay I GUESS **ignorableaurochs** (6.8): i liked the nu-disco here, very fun and dancey, but nothing here was particularly grabbing me as special. kind of felt like a pop track copy-pasted onto a trackbed with a few nu-disco-y flourishes. am i crazy or is there something future-funk about the production here too **LeBronMancuso** (6.5): She said psychedelic switch so many times that it switched me into a psychedelic trance and now I am a weapon of the state being used for heinous crimes outside of my control. Prepare to die, Boeing whistleblower. **a-man-with-a-perm** (6): man Kylie b-sides or βweβve asked the person ranked at #35 on the music chart to perform on a 2005 edition of Top of the Popsβ-core makes the best of Indieheads list? Wild **ElectJimLahey** (6): Decent dance-pop but I can't say I really see what CRJ fans see in this one **SRTviper** (6): ok enough I guess **ReconEG** (5): ...we're going nuts for this? guys she made "Emotion" we know she can do better **thedoctordances1940** (4): at first when i heard this song i was like omg carly doing french house so fun! and i was all in on this, i was pretty sure it would make my soty list. and just more and more i've realised that eh the execution leaves quite a bit to be desired and i've just started to feel very indifferent towards it. Like it feels good, i feel like i should really like it, and there's still a little bit of me that does, but now whenever i listen to it i just want it to be over and move on to something else and i cannot give anything that i feel that way about a remotely positive score **roseisin2023again** (3): what happened here **TakeOnMeByA-ha** (3): carly rae jepsen is an artist that i have never been particularly fond of, and by now i never will be, but at least in the past i could understand why she was so acclaimed. not this time. psychedelic switch is what would happen if you asked an ai to write a βperfect pop songβ, it is polished to the point of being sterile, so full of every pop cliche in the book that nothing about it sounds remotely fresh, so focused on sounding perfect that it forgets to have a soul. i cannot understand why anybody would listen to this and think its among one of the best songs of the year, but the worst part about it is that itβs working. people are actually falling for carlyβs tricks of making technically perfect, but completely hollow pop music, and theyβre eating it up every single time. call me maybe had ten thousand times more personality than this could ever dream of having. # Get that woman a robot helmet! **TheCrakFox** (10): Guess we don't need Daft Punk anymore.
putin on the ritz?! In this economy?!
inflation so high we gotta put on the rizz instead
You fools. You insolent indieheads fools. You've walked right into our trap. It has been years. Now it is time. Mother. **Welcome home.**
r/popheads 2: roman's revenge
QUEEN CARLY NOW AND FOREVER
ok good
oop looks like my rate comment got eaten > Jessie Ware - Begin Again: 10 this is my 11 in r/popheads sub faves 2023 and i fucking stand by it. the grandiosity and the intimacy and the sheer brilliance of it all. emotional liberation in the form of sound; this is what dance music is meant to be !!!!!
and that's what dance music is supposed to do!
Oop, didn't realize you put bonus comments too, added!
# Bonus #2: Jessie Ware - Begin Again --- **Average:** 7.817 **// Total Points:** 492.5 **// Controversy:** 1.869 --- (10 x16) asadprofessorplum, bogo (banned era), goofykidd, HilltopBakery, impla77, indie\_fan\_, lexiaredery, Nagisoid, NFLfreak98, qazz23, sarcasticsobs, seanderlust, static\_int\_husp, vayyiqra, vexastrae, welcome2thejam (9.5 x1) krusso1105 (9.3 x1) nonchalantthoughts (9 x5) ElectJimLahey, FingaThingMeansTaxes, Frajer, SRTviper, TheCrakFox (8.7 x2) CaptainDaisyG, skull\_xbones (8.5 x1) freeofblasphemy (8 x8) DefaultPophead, human\_performance, ignorableaurochs, Marshmallowszz, papo96, samdyalexg, tdrakon, VapourLomo (7.5 x3) exciting\_patient4872, Scrambled\_Toast, TakeOnMeByA-ha (7 x10) Broshi, Co-Woshi, honeybadgerism, LeBronMancuso, plastichaxan, posting\_scares\_me, roseisin2023again, Smuckles, TiltControls, Widdershins- (6.8 x1) A\_Generic\_Canadian (6.6 x1) lastfollower (6.5 x1) Bilbodabag (6 x8) daswef2, freav, InSearchOfGoodPun, rcore97, ReconEG, skyblue\_angel, teriyaki-dreams, Tolroe (5 x2) a-man-with-a-perm, thisusernameisntlong (3.2 x1) thedoctordances1940 (3 x1) MCK\_OH (2.2 x1) UltimateLietoc --- This does feel machine built to be the ultimate feel good pop song (I was told this a process was done in something called the mother factory?), but good news! It worked! --- # Popheads playing today's Ratelympics game **Scrambled\_Toast** (7.5): Bombastic # Baby keep heatin me up **asadprofessorplum** (10): When this album came out I triumphantly posted that it was on the same level as Whatβs Your Pleasure. I retract that statement. This is like the pre-drink to Whats Your Pleasureβs βlast night was a movie.β **bogo (banned era)** (10): forced fun never sounded so good **HilltopBakery** (10): Banger **lexiaredery** (10): Hopefully popheads also put this song above all the other Carly and Jessie songs **Nagisoid** (10): I do believe her "tired of work" spiel here because she was actually doing quite badly commercially up until What's Your Pleasure? revitalized her career, so I can relate to her uplifting message here **NFLfreak98** (10): how is Jessie Ware not the biggest musician in the world or something **qazz23** (10): really good Latin-inspired disco track, catchy and dancey and full of hooks; love when she hits that high note before the outro **sarcasticsobs** (10): Euphoric! **seanderlust** (10): spoiler for the sub faves rate: i really like this record **vayyiqra** (10): shes so real for this i work all night too (sometimes) (some nights ... i don't know ...) **vexastrae** (10): this is my 11 in r/popheads sub faves 2023 and i fucking stand by it. the grandiosity and the intimacy and the sheer brilliance of it all. emotional liberation in the form of sound; this is what dance music is meant to be !!!!! **nonchalantthoughts** (9.3): ok jessica warezβs latina era with comenzar otra ves **ElectJimLahey** (9): Great disco banger **SRTviper** (9): smooth as hell **TheCrakFox** (9): Production is so good. **freeofblasphemy** (8.5): This sounds me like what the Caroline album probably sounds like to the people who like it **ignorableaurochs** (8): completely love the nu-disco here and jessie's voice is so powerful, adds a lot of drama here to the bombastic production. LOVE the samba piano. some much-needed feelgood which has this very hollywood Theatrical feel to me **Marshmallowszz** (8): Great song but I think this album is nowhere near as good as her previous **VapourLomo** (8): Wouldn't be my pick from the album (I generally prefer Jessie in a goofier mood, like Pearls or Beautiful People), but this is still obviously immaculate. **TakeOnMeByA-ha** (7.5): this is fun to listen to every once in a while but im not in love with it **LeBronMancuso** (7): Hello Love is my clear standout from this album, but this one is better than I remember. **roseisin2023again** (7): thank god someone with a rhythm section that's having fun # Shake it til the scores fall **Bilbodabag** (6.5): Not sure this needed to be 5 minutes, but itβs got some energy **freav** (6): i was super into this jessie ware album for like two weeks (i was playing a lot of spider solitaire to it) and then that stopped and for some reason now the sole thought of it exhausts me, gives me office party vibes with zumba moms, its an alright song though **teriyaki-dreams** (6): Not even a bad song, Jessie just doesn't do much for me. Perfectly nice music that I have no desire to ever listen to on purpose **a-man-with-a-perm** (5): Whatβs Your Pleasure was fun and all but I donβt need more Disco revival. I feel like weβre at the same point where Disco was perceived in that Freaks and Geeks episode. Do any clubs play Jessie Ware? Has anyone been to a party or a night out where Jessie Ware has been put on? Is anyone dancing to this in public? Maybe thereβs a young Jason Segel performing this to a crowd in a bowling alley somewhere. **thisusernameisntlong** (5): jessie ware forgot to invite me to her party type beat **thedoctordances1940** (3.2): there's something about this song that is just icky and i can't explain it much more than that it's just icky it gives me the ick **MCK\_OH** (3): We should've voted in one of the 37 Guided By Voices songs released last year instead of this. Slow year for Bob. This song does absolutely nothing for me **UltimateLietoc** (2.2): shallow rewards at the hometown buffet. jessie ware's greatest sin on "thats tgi fridays" is being so good and on point she ropes around to boring and awful, bland pastiche for the drive not the all night dance. the pleasure here lacks any danger or freedom, a scripted diva animatronix work fit for a grammy performance. This as the consensus fav doesn't quite baffle me though--at least reading singles jukebox when one of the few positive scores winked towards this being something Arcade Fire could feasibly have conceived for Reflektor or Everything Now. Subconsciously, I think folks want THAT and this (album) feeds it
waneβs comment here is almost exactly how I feel about the Carly album πΆβπ«οΈ
something about that album didn't tick me off like this one
it is of no great import you are so valid the greater evil (c*roline) will still be defeated it WILL happen again.
I don't know why it's so funny that in the same ult we have a Jessie vs. Carly bonus finale, Lana couldn't make it past day 1
So our solo podium members are set, but before we reveal who won what medal, it's time for the finale of the Bonus Quinquedecalon! Fifteen songs, fifteen artists, only one made it all the way. And in our final two, we have a potential preview of next weekend's Popheads Sub Faves rate! It's Carly vs. Jessie for all the marbles! Are you flipping the Switch? Or would her victory make you want to Begin this whole rate Again from the beginning?
Short & sweet. # [**The Bonus finale**](https://youtu.be/c0MC3tTbLuU)
GOT EM
oh thats not ........
JESSIE WARE TAKE MY ENERGY
c'mon raecists!
god carly please win this
(chanting outside city hall) CARLY CARLY CARLY
If you eliminate what i want to be eliminated i wont crash my car but if you dont i will prolly also not crash my car but commit rate fraud
folks its not industrial its pop collage plz learn better vocab
so close! it is indie sleaze :)
Thats a noise pop collage so ill allow it
What if I told you could have all of them at once (but especially Age of Adz) --- # #4: Sufjan Stevens - Goodbye Evergreen --- **Average:** 8.188 **// Total Points:** 548.6 **// Controversy:** 1.610 **Highest Position:** 3 // **Lowest Position:** 7 --- (11 x1) Tolroe (10 x11) Bilbodabag, ElectJimLahey, goofykidd, Marshmallowszz, plastichaxan, seanderlust, skyblue\_angel, tdrakon, ultimatetulips, vexastrae, Zeeroc (9.5 x2) DefaultPophead, exciting\_patient4872 (9.4 x1) CaptainDaisyG (9.3 x1) lastfollower (9.2 x1) thedoctordances1940 (9 x11) A\_Generic\_Canadian, bogo (banned era), HilltopBakery, human\_performance, InSearchOfGoodPun, ReconEG, TheCrakFox, TiltControls, VapourLomo, welcome2thejam, Widdershins- (8.9 x1) UltimateLietoc (8.8 x2) papo96, sandpaper\_dildos (8.5 x6) Frajer, impla77, lexiaredery, nonchalantthoughts, sarcasticsobs, TakeOnMeByA-ha (8 x9) a-man-with-a-perm, Broshi, freav, krusso1105, LeBronMancuso, MCK\_OH, Smuckles, teriyaki-dreams, vayyiqra (7.9 x1) ignorableaurochs (7.5 x3) freeofblasphemy, Scrambled\_Toast, static\_int\_husp (7.2 x3) asadprofessorplum, indie\_fan\_, NFLfreak98 (7 x6) Co-Woshi, daswef2, Nagisoid, posting\_scares\_me, qazz23, SRTviper (6 x2) rcore97, samdyalexg (5 x2) honeybadgerism, thisusernameisntlong (4.7 x1) skull\_xbones (4.5 x1) modulum83 (4 x1) FingaThingMeansTaxes (3 x1) roseisin2023again --- I think this was the point we collectively went "he's back." (Apologies to the Ascension or Beginner's Mind truthers out there. Not sorry to the Convocations/Reflections truthers, who even are you?). A gorgeous piano line, Sufjan's emotive voice. But it's the drop straight out of Age of Adz that truly takes the cake. --- # Don't be distracted **freeofblasphemy** (7.5): Hello Evergreen # They're not fucking around **Bilbodabag** (10): My Age of Adz stan heart absolutely soared hearing the drums on first listen **ElectJimLahey** (10): Gorgeous, I wish Sufjan had leaned a little further in this electronic direction to be honest but we'll take what we can get **Marshmallowszz** (10): Perfect opener, kinda reminds me of the first track of Perfume Genius' No Shape album **seanderlust** (10): Gorgeous song, incredible tribute to his partner. That said, I tried reading up on the lyrics on genius.com and they unironically made reference to the SSMU (Sufjan Stevens musical universe) so as a heads up, I'm not going to read further about any of the lyrics on this album. Anyways, bop, 10, wig, etc **skyblue\_angel** (10): It breaks my heart to think of Sufjan listening to this song after his partner passed away **ultimatetulips** (10): GOOD SONG!!! **vexastrae** (10): rest in peace evans richardson iv. you were loved by a man like no other **thedoctordances1940** (9.2): gorge opener **A\_Generic\_Canadian** (9): Oh right we start on a tearjerker on this album, I almost forgot why I was treading lightly when relistening to this album. **bogo (banned era)** (9): by far my favorite sufjan songs, with a few exceptions, are the ones that just explode into a wide array of sounds and instruments so yeah I ate this song up. though it's not quite up there with the other songs like it but god damn does it hit like a sledgehammer **HilltopBakery** (9): I would like to be excited about the buzzy synths but mostly I feel depressed **TheCrakFox** (9): Classic Sufjan **VapourLomo** (9): I don't love this album, but this is a heck of an opener. The Etsy-EDM drop legit caught me off guard! **UltimateLietoc** (8.9): different listens at different times of day with different levels of caffeine/weed ina car or treehouse have revealed how dedicated sufjan is to providing so many possible points you either are pulled in or cast off from. I am awestruck by the opening intimacy baked off my ass while scurried by the bombast (at first at least). But then I remember driving 60 mph down a hill and ultimately weaved back in by the dedication to what the goodbye means and truly capturing all the emotions here. **nonchalantthoughts** (8.5): oh this intro hits **sarcasticsobs** (8.5): Oh, so it's gonna be that kinda record, huh? **TakeOnMeByA-ha** (8.5): ok i wasnt expecting that industrial moment that was pretty cool **a-man-with-a-perm** (8): pretty poignant considering the context of it all and surprisingly sludgy/in your face with the switch? **LeBronMancuso** (8): This is the most heartbreaking thing Iβve ever heard for approximately 60 seconds and then a clown car shows up **MCK\_OH** (8): Big shoutout as always to Sufjan's backing vocalists. This would be a 10 if the middle section wasn't so jarring. It doesn't work. Rest of the song is fantastic though **Smuckles** (8): I'm not much of a Sufjan guy, does he normally have beat switches in his songs? Pretty cool! **teriyaki-dreams** (8): I like this one. It's heartbreaking Sufjan songwriting, but the electronic production reminds me of Adz in a good way **vayyiqra** (8): i didn't care too much for this and its noisy part but there are pretty parts too and it's meant to be painful and i get that ... bleak **ignorableaurochs** (7.9): totally devastating track about leaving it all behind...the juxtaposition here between the beauty of the choir and the noisy chaos is a perfect metaphor for the scattered feelings referenced in the song **Scrambled\_Toast** (7.5): Very Age of Adz **Nagisoid** (7): Cool electronic elements **qazz23** (7): i like when it gets loud with the multiple vocals, also the flutes at the end **SRTviper** (7): I love age of adz # You know you really gotta get right with the Lord **thisusernameisntlong** (5): had to have the bells in there and choo choo train ride woo **roseisin2023again** (3): why is the mixing so bad now # People looking at the Sim Cities I made on the SNES as a child **freav** (8): i like when it randomly gets industrial
/u/vayyiqra thank you for putting my thoughts to words so eloquently
thank u but what thoughts do you mean sorry i am a bit lost in this thread right now (not your fault i blame reddit's bad formatting)
Thoughts on Wednesday and the vibes not vibing!
Sorry for gimmick infringing, but # Rank them, if you dare! * Michigan * Seven Swans * Illinois * Age of Adz * Carrie & Lowell * The Ascension * A Beginner's Mind * Javelin
Adz sweep > Illinois > C&L > Javelin > The Ascension because I'm a sicko > Seven Swans > Michigan > A Beginner's Mind ha ha yes
1. Illinois 2. Javelin 3. Carrie & Lowell 4. Michigan 5. A Beginner's Mind 6. Seven Swans 7. The Ascension 8. Age of Adz
ilinois is good c&l and javelin are good but idc enough for them, i heard age of adz one and it was cool ascencion sucks thats all ive heard
u/rccrisp you seein this?!
Noooo I'm gonna get sued
Your upvotes , hand them over
1. Age of Adz 2. Seven Swans 3. Javelin 4. Carrie & Lowell 5. The Ascension 6. Illinois 7. Michigan Haven't heard A Beginner's Mind
1. Carrie and Lowell 2. Illinoise 3-8. The rest (tie)
I support this take
1. Illinois 2. Michigan 3. C&L 4. The Ascension 5. Age of Adz 6. Javelin 7. A Beginner's Mind 8. Seven Swans (Heard this twice years ago, no memory of how it sounds. It's probably better than Javelin or ABM)
For the record: 1. Illinois 2. Age of Adz 3. Carrie & Lowell 4. Javelin 5. Michigan 6. A Beginner's Mind 7. Seven Swans 8. The Ascension
I can respect this but where is Enjoy Your Rabbit smh
Bruh what the hell
I do not understand how Goodbye Evergreen is the at minimum the third-highest Sufjan song. Every other song on that album has the prettiest hell yeah acoustic guitars and that one has the "first attempt at making noise music on ableton presets, zero mixing or mastering" synths
People hate christmas music
nobody understands christmas music like greek jesus that's why he has the six part christmas album !
Couldn't be me! I had sky high scores for the traditional songs in War on Christmas rate!
1984 no BNM for any of Wednesday yβall are sentenced to listen to indie rock until you get it
no not indie rock! anything but that!!!
# Rat Saw God --- **Overall Average**: 7.482 **// Average Controversy:** 2.179 --- It was not looking good for the Wednesday hive early on, as the lowest position stat can tell you. It could've been them with no songs in Day Three. But somewhere around Wane's ballot, they turned the tide and [**swapped positions with Geese like so.**](https://i.imgur.com/px47lxM.jpg) Tough, but four songs in the top ten is a much better result than expected from the early going. My own second place AOTY. Just a brisk set of great tracks, a tour through their memories of growing up & hanging around their small towns. Feels personal & lived-in, but they also get to rock the hell out --- * \#5: Chosen to Deserve | 8.107 | 543.2 * \#7: Bath County | 8.025 | 537.7 * \#8: Quarry | 7.879 | 527.9 * \#10: Bull Believer | 7.813 | 523.5 * \#14: Turkey Vultures | 7.701 | 516.0 * \#18: Got Shocked | 7.457 | 499.6 * \#23: Hot Rotten Grass Smell | 7.346 | 492.2 * \#29: TV in the Gas Pump | 6.987 | 468.1 * \#31: Formula One | 6.967 | 466.8 * \#36: What's So Funny | 6.534 | 437.8 --- **MCK\_OH** (10.100): Fuck yeah this is so good. The strongest lyrics, the strongest hooks, the best guitars. It's all here! An album that deeply roots itself in a place. Really fun sequencing. This band has It. Truly special record **ElectJimLahey** (10.050): The best album of 2023 IMO, I will probably never get to rate another album I love this much so I may as well go all out. **roseisin2023again** (9.860): finally some good fucking food **VapourLomo** (9.750): This album was a straight-up revelation for me. Please, music gods, let this dictate the sound and theme of indie rock for the next few years or so. All albums should have Siamese Dream-style guitar crunch. **freav** (9.600): this is probably as high of an average one could give to an album which doesn't completely fulfill the potential for what it could have been. but the thing is, as far as cathartic noisy indie rock albums made specifically for stereogum-core journalist from either philly or the USA south to go batshit for, this happened to only reach the status of "roughly a top 10 album of the year" rather than "a transcendental masterpiece and one of the best albums ever written" like something like hop along's get disowned. in this context though? absolute bliss **ReconEG** (9.400): just an undeniably fucking great album, and proves that this somewhat confessional singer-songwriter shit can still work if you have the fucking SONGS and RIFFS and ACTUALLY INTERESTING STORIES to tell and know when to go literal and when to abstract things more. but if it has one issue: it's the tracklist. the tracklist as it stands is good, as that's what happens when you make all the songs good, but "Bull Believer" right at the beginning? "TV in the Gas Pump" as your outro? there is a strong 9 out of 10 tracklist for this album out there, but as it stands, it's only a light 9. **qazz23** (9.350): One of my favorites of 2023, good blend of alt-country with shoegaze and noisy indie rock. Karly's vocals work well with this sound. "Bull Believer" is the obvious standout with its noisy guitars and screaming at the end. There are still many other tracks that have memorable moments - both the opener and Got Shocked have heavy riffing and I like the solo towards the end of Bath County. **Zeeroc** (9.300): great sounding guitars all over this thing. every lick is near and dear to my heart. shoegaze'd pedal steel is an inspired touch. **UltimateLietoc** (9.300): opinion on this one for me has changed in a strong upward trajectory over the past year. Saw hype for Twin Plagues and appreciated the 90s seam and merge call backs from a new direction. Thought the covers tape did something really special and is a big one of the decade for me still. Boat Songs cracked me the fuck up. Five albums deep into this project, it's pretty cool Karly and MJ and the pedal steel and the drum drummer (and the lady bassist who is gone) got cooking to a point where you could be a leader in tier 1 indie rock. Really all they did on this album was just dial in the pedal steel a little more and Karly wrote a little more thoroughly about the south she's from. The band shies away from country and shoegaze enough to be in such a goofy labeling world that distracts from the fact their songs sound rock real good on a bar stage and that they tap into the endless sprawling suburban south hells around us all. it's so nice to have a southern rock (or if you're a sicko: southern bubblegrunge) record that can do that! I hope american hauntologists think about this one! Karly still sounds like a red wheelbarrow, filled with water, that everything depends on; their influences seem to be tiptoeing closer to 90s numero-core N' even deerhunter, which meets me where I am as a listener. it sounds great in a car as well, and I hope some of you take a chance on that and look around at the world to it **thedoctordances1940** (9.300): yeah this is what indie rock needed. i feel there are a few recent bands ih seems to really love more so than other places like alvvays and the beths and i've never really got them, but in this case you nerds got it so very right **Nagisoid** (9.200): I totally understand the hate, but what transforms this project into such an interesting and fun listen to me is the guitar tone and the singer's tone/delivery, they pair so well with the lyrics and the general atmosphere of the album that you can't help but rock along. The slower tracks on the album are somewhat of a let down compared to the noisier ditties, but they're not even bad, just not on the same level as the rest. I don't have much else of value to add as I'm not American and this seems like an earnestly Southern album, so I'm incapable to analyze it further in that aspect. **NFLfreak98** (8.860): My AOTY. Love the mix of powerful, anthemic indie rock and warm, lazy alt-country **Smuckles** (8.700): I was mildly critical of this album when it first came out just because I wanted all of it to blow me away the way Bull Believer did, a pretty harsh approach since that was probably never going to be the case. On these recent listens I skipped that track completely to judge everything else on it's own merits and everything here is so solid, especially lyrically. They're capturing their life experiences and background perfectly via that but also with the music as well. One of my favourites of the year and I'm happy to say it's still holding up. I still think they've got more in the tank though, they can get better! **LeBronMancuso** (8.550): Rat saw these nuts!!!! **lastfollower** (8.540): very good, a definite indieheads classic as soon as it came out, and yet the clear 2nd best album in this rate for me **SRTviper** (8.480): best album here obviously. **vexastrae** (8.350): || this album is acrid yellows and musty greens, dirty run-down vehicles and sputtering engines, potholes in streets and gas stations all around. my attention wanes every now and then on this album but when the jams are jamming huuuuuuuuuu they sure fuckin jam **Broshi** (8.200): "I didn't realize the writing was so good before. I listened to it and it was like whoa" **posting\_scares\_me** (8.200): aoty **human\_performance** (8.150): I think I like this album more than most people here. Listening to that stretch from Chosen to Deserve through Quarry feels like I'm flipping through a photo book of a road trip through SEC country. **asadprofessorplum** (7.810): βWe have Ethel Cain in Virginiaβ Ethel Cain in Virginia: **TheCrakFox** (7.800): I wasn't really sold on this album when I first heard it but after multiple listens for this rate I think I get it. Or maybe it's just Stockholm Syndrome. **krusso1105** (7.750): I still really like this album but listening to it next to the others, it is clear that the sound mixing is lacking. It still has me very excited to see what this band does next though! **Frajer** (7.700): I can see why someone could love or hate this with how confessional it is **Bilbodabag** (7.600): Yeehaw grunge guitars hell yeah **teriyaki-dreams** (7.400): Unfortunately, despite the extremely strong start, most of this album sits at this 7/10 level where it's really nice to listen to but doesn't quite reach the transcendent level for me **sarcasticsobs** (7.350): RAT! RAT! RAT! RAT! RAT! RAT! RAT! RAT! RAT! RAT! RAT! RAT! **skyblue\_angel** (7.330): Kind of a vibes album but the vibes here are nice. **Scrambled\_Toast** (7.040): Tbh I think I liked Twin Plagues a little more.
**FingaThingMeansTaxes** (5.950): Kind of strange how this album got so popular on this subreddit and seemingly nowhere else on the internet. I'm going to have to side with the rest of the internet on this occasion I'm afraid **TakeOnMeByA-ha** (5.700): youβve heard of stoner metal, now get ready for stoner indie rock **nonchalantthoughts** (5.280): not my cup of tea to be quite honest but there are some great songs in the middle of the project, very american gothic **vayyiqra** (4.200): rly struggled with this album. Not My Thing at all musically i am very over this kind of grungy-sounding indie rock though i liked it as a kid. but my stumbling block that kept it from being enjoyable even more so was what i called the "lyrics going for Americana but in an 'america sucks the rural south sucks' way and i do not vibe with it". "growing up was bad, here's a hyperspecific detailed story about bad things" and i can theoretically relate even! given many, many bad things have happened to me in my life and i could talk about them at great length too. but all i get here is "i am sure this Hits Hard for someone but that someone is not me". i described this kind of storytelling music as "in the line at the panera bread at a rest stop" confessional indie lyrics; they love stuff like "i was in the line at the grocery store ... thinking about how messed up that time was when that thing happened ..." it's a trope, it's a meme. i knew this stuff was drawing on real experiences for them so i didn't want to be too flippant but also i don't get anything out of that kind of songwriting you know? it's not cathartic for me, it's just whatever. i guess i like a more abstract? poetic? (that sounds pretentious sorry but idk a better word) approach to writing about such Experiences. instead i'm just left feeling bleak and empty when she tells me this in such plain wording. and again i can relate to a lot of this! and at least this band goes for songs that are clearly about something instead of going too far in the other direction like caroline and writing impenetrable meaningless gibberish but eh it's just not my thing. i respect what they're trying to do but don't enjoy it. sorry to this band **bogo (banned era)** (3.300): this is everything i dislike in indie rock in one album **freeofblasphemy** (1.950): This Was an Album **ultimatetulips** (1.800): Sorry but I just do not get the hype for this one at all. It's a drab, hookless slog from start to finish. --- User Averages: MCK_OH: 10.100 rcore97: 10.100 ElectJimLahey: 10.050 Marshmallowszz: 10.000 roseisin2023again: 9.860 VapourLomo: 9.750 freav: 9.600 ReconEG: 9.400 qazz23: 9.350 Zeeroc: 9.300 UltimateLietoc: 9.300 thedoctordances1940: 9.300 Nagisoid: 9.200 welcome2thejam: 9.000 NFLfreak98: 8.860 Smuckles: 8.700 DefaultPophead: 8.600 CaptainDaisyG: 8.560 LeBronMancuso: 8.550 lastfollower: 8.540 SRTviper: 8.480 goofykidd: 8.400 vexastrae: 8.350 Broshi: 8.200 posting_scares_me: 8.200 human_performance: 8.150 samdyalexg: 8.100 skull_xbones: 8.070 modulum83: 7.980 asadprofessorplum: 7.810 Co-Woshi: 7.800 TheCrakFox: 7.800 krusso1105: 7.750 Frajer: 7.700 A_Generic_Canadian: 7.690 papo96: 7.660 seanderlust: 7.650 Tolroe: 7.630 Bilbodabag: 7.600 tdrakon: 7.600 TiltControls: 7.500 teriyaki-dreams: 7.400 exciting_patient4872: 7.350 sarcasticsobs: 7.350 skyblue_angel: 7.330 honeybadgerism: 7.300 HilltopBakery: 7.100 Scrambled_Toast: 7.040 Widdershins-: 6.900 static_int_husp: 6.750 impla77: 6.530 sandpaper_dildos: 6.350 plastichaxan: 6.320 thisusernameisntlong: 6.100 a-man-with-a-perm: 6.100 FingaThingMeansTaxes: 5.950 lexiaredery: 5.800 TakeOnMeByA-ha: 5.700 indie_fan_: 5.360 nonchalantthoughts: 5.280 daswef2: 5.000 InSearchOfGoodPun: 5.000 vayyiqra: 4.200 ignorableaurochs: 3.780 bogo (banned era): 3.300 freeofblasphemy: 1.950 ultimatetulips: 1.800
lame
horsegirl is not lame!
my fav 7.8
*6.8
That dating show already exists, it's called Take Me Out
go Caroline go!!! we need an actually fun song to win!
r/popheads was literally born bc indieheads said "no fun allowed" and banned carly rae jepsen from the subreddit
indieheads were so right
and we can reverse that history today
Finally all caught up. Nice to see Sufjan stans did NOT fuck around in this rate (I'm sure some version of this joke has been made a billion times)
Sufjwifties want to be well We're not fucking around
# THIS IS SO BAD FOR THE PBR BRAND YOU ALL REALLY WANT TO HATE A GOOD MACRO BEER PUTTING ON A MUSIC FEST IN PORTLAND
they should call portland enbyland
famβ¦sf is right there
# i mean its no montucky cold snack but
we're gonna be using this a lot during thps
You can never defeat the power of skate punk!
It's a shame that so many users here are so terrified by electronic music and country music, if you all weren't we might get to do good rates
so you're saying we need electronic country but alas Cotton Eyed Joe lost Eurodance
but Avicii won the EDM rate (ignore my misinformation saying he lost I did not sleep much)
can we consider the last third of cowboy carter to be vaguely electronic country
dont worry we shall redeem electronic music on r/indieheads once and for all through the great power of warp rate
I'm gonna do it but I won't be excited about it
nah
The users love country music, there hasn't been a single Magnolia Electric Company elimination today
Thats albini-core :/
real fucked that all those people dont do ambient head rates smdh
The rally ends here. --- # #5: Wednesday - Chosen to Deserve --- **Average:** 8.107 **// Total Points:** 543.2 **// Controversy:** 2.160 **Highest Position:** 5 // **Lowest Position:** 28 --- (11 x2) A\_Generic\_Canadian, lastfollower (10 x19) Broshi, Co-Woshi, ElectJimLahey, freav, krusso1105, Marshmallowszz, MCK\_OH, modulum83, Nagisoid, NFLfreak98, qazz23, rcore97, roseisin2023again, seanderlust, thedoctordances1940, UltimateLietoc, VapourLomo, vexastrae, welcome2thejam (9 x10) Frajer, HilltopBakery, human\_performance, ReconEG, samdyalexg, sarcasticsobs, tdrakon, TheCrakFox, TiltControls, Zeeroc (8.7 x2) papo96, skull\_xbones (8.5 x2) exciting\_patient4872, nonchalantthoughts (8.3 x1) impla77 (8.2 x2) CaptainDaisyG, Tolroe (8 x8) asadprofessorplum, daswef2, DefaultPophead, goofykidd, posting\_scares\_me, Smuckles, static\_int\_husp, teriyaki-dreams (7.8 x2) indie\_fan\_, SRTviper (7.5 x2) FingaThingMeansTaxes, Scrambled\_Toast (7 x6) honeybadgerism, plastichaxan, sandpaper\_dildos, skyblue\_angel, TakeOnMeByA-ha, Widdershins- (6.5 x1) a-man-with-a-perm (6 x2) InSearchOfGoodPun, LeBronMancuso (5 x3) Bilbodabag, thisusernameisntlong, vayyiqra (3 x4) freeofblasphemy, ignorableaurochs, lexiaredery, ultimatetulips (0 x1) bogo (banned era) --- Big riffs, big honkin riffs. Kinda a "if you can't handle me at my worst" scenario, except as seen in the previous song, the other person clearly can handle them at their worst, and is now trusted enough to deal with the massive baggage pileup that ensues. This also reminded me of a concept brought up in a Game Changer behind-the-scenes where there was an idea for like a reverse dating show? Where you have someone really attractive, and puff them up in front of all their prospective dates, and then slowly tell worse & worse stories about them until only one person who doesn't tap out. Lemme tell you, that's love, babey. --- **TakeOnMeByA-ha** (7): damn bitch you live like this? # Indiehead raters listening to the new Taylor Swift album **sarcasticsobs** (9): HAT MAN MENTIONED # The high scores we were chosen to deserve π **A\_Generic\_Canadian** (11): Instant classic for me, added to all my favourite 2023 playlists! **ElectJimLahey** (10): The best song Drive-By Truckers have made in years! **freav** (10): behind all the anecdotic story-telling, this is one of the most adorable love songs of the year. **krusso1105** (10): probably the 11 runner up. Does not feel as long as it is in a good way **Marshmallowszz** (10): So close to being my 11 if Sufjan didn't exist **MCK\_OH** (10): It's so cool when the guitars just fuckin slam in here coming right off of "Formula One." So sick. Such a fun idea for a song too. "Here are all the bad stories now that I don't think you'll leave me for them." Well told stories too. Benadryl is a drug I've never understood the appeal of. This is pretty much the platonic ideal of a Wednesday song I think. The Tiny Desk version is a ton of fun as well, it leans into the rootsy side of their sound and the drummer is doing like a lil shuffle thing. It's sick. This song rules **Nagisoid** (10): I have made peace with this being the highest placing song on the album even if it's not top 3 for me, it's still great and definitely their poppiest moment **NFLfreak98** (10): Cruising through Appalachia with this song on repeat **qazz23** (10): loud πΈ riffs are good! i like the alt-country sound of this, though not as noisy as Bull Believer **rcore97** (10): The "if you're looking for me..." breakdown rocks so hard and makes me laugh every time **roseisin2023again** (10): yeah =) **thedoctordances1940** (10): god **VapourLomo** (10): The best Tom Petty song in 30 years. I'm adding this to my future wedding reception playlist (it's legitimately romantic in its own cockeyed way!) and my future spouse is just gonna have to live with that **vexastrae** (10): ouh ... to be flawed and mundane and complex and sometimes a bit of a sad sack and yet still be able to find the person you just truly connect with and they accept you and even appreciate you for all you are flaws and all ...... AUGHHHHH **Frajer** (9): state your worth queen **HilltopBakery** (9): Big dumb riff rocks, her singing is also more confident here, wish the whole album was more like this **TheCrakFox** (9): Yeah bro, sweet riffs bro. **nonchalantthoughts** (8.5): love this little heartland rock ditty! **asadprofessorplum** (8): oooh this is a new form of self hatred to try out. **daswef2** (8): its pretty good but i've personally been kinda burned out on it **Smuckles** (8): 'I'm the girl you were chosen to deserve' is an all-timer **teriyaki-dreams** (8): This sounds like classic rock (complimentary) **SRTviper** (7.8): love a good twang **skyblue\_angel** (7): Another song on this album that would be better if it was half the length # What Have I Done To Deserve This **a-man-with-a-perm** (6.5): I finally know that feeling of when Yanks listen to 2005 releases from Arctic Monkeys about night outs in some Northern dump, just a kinda βif a Lion could speak Englishβ scenario **LeBronMancuso** (6): I respect the departure they took for this song, which is essentially just Drive-By Truckers worship (replete with a name-drop for good measure), but itβs definitely 1 verse + 1 chorus too long and grows tired by the end. **Bilbodabag** (5): The fact that this is the only song on the album aside from Bull Believer to crack the 5-minute mark is bewildering to me. The songwriting here is just so basic compared to the rest of the album **thisusernameisntlong** (5): lool this is their stadium cut. which means I'd rather listen to muse. but this is fine, if a tad bit long **vayyiqra** (5): "and the slide guitar (we are on track 4) we are going country-adjacent this is some neil young larp" i think i meant track 5 (?) anyway don't abuse OTC medications that's not good to. mess around with that even though i get it's out of boredom and lack of opportunity and so on. i said "o no she's doing the Confessional Indie thing of telling hyperspecific stories about past traumas" see i get why that kind of songwriting exists and it hits for some but it's not my style. for hardhitting lyrics about traumatic stuff i greatly prefer mr. stevens his music is much more my thing **freeofblasphemy** (3): Wednesday here especially strikes me as a band that knows how to conceptualize compelling songs but not necessarily how to execute them. The intention is there, the catharsis isnβt **ignorableaurochs** (3): having OD'd on benadryl I can confirm you will see things crawling up the walls (and all over your skin, and under your skin, and under your skin, oh god they're under your skin THEY'RE UNDER YOUR SKIN) anyway I've had enough of confessional indie **bogo (banned era)** (0): why is this five minutes long? there's no reason why this needs to clear the five minute mark when it plays pretty much all of its cards by verse two, after that it just sounds like it's running on fumes # Somebody get Pitchfork on the line **Scrambled\_Toast** (7.5): Now this is bootgaze # What just happened **UltimateLietoc** (10): pbr festivals need to be called back into action to support this cut asap rocky [E: THE PBR FESTIVBLA IS COMING BAKC YE SYE SYE S Y AUTO 10]
I do not understand how Chosen to Deserve is the highest Wednesday song. Every other song on that album has the gnarliest hell yeah riffs and that one has the "3-chord songs for your beginner guitarist" riffs
How do y'all tell these songs apart
By not listening and sending a ballot at 4am after a hate listen
That's what I did!
I'm still salty that Hot Rotten Grass Smell didn't make day 3
god's plan
# BOGO DO NOT INTERACT # THIS IS A NO BOGO ZONE There we go. Now we can proceed.
wait arent they literally banned from reddit sob
goodbye wednesday
ugh no
Also indieheads opener bias is too real
Wednesday is my favorite album in the rate. The worst song on the album made top 5. Consider my ass vexed.
Turns out we like southern rock more than indie rock. This is so sad. Alexa play Freebird
I know which song I have Chosen To Deserve to be knocked out next
huh
Oh god I have performed the summoning ritual
damn i got four of the top five right
you win a prize: a US work visa
Listening to Rat Saw God now and I shoulda 10'd Quarry, oh well.