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Posted by: Joe. Aug 17 2015, 10:32 AM

We got a fantastic 33 rates for this, and I'm currently working out the scores and starting some commentaries. The results will be coming over the course of this week.

While you wait for the first batch of results. Predictions? Which songs will be out first? Which album track will be highest? Which song will actually win? The only spoiler I'll give is that the top 5 drastically changed over the course of the rate.

Posted by: 🌚🌚🌚 Aug 17 2015, 04:10 PM

Didn't vote but I'm rooting for Foundation. What an anthem.

Posted by: Joe. Aug 17 2015, 09:45 PM

Commentaries and presentation will be better as we go on but let's get rid of the first three and I'll continue tomorrow!

In last place is '1977' which I gave a pretty mediocre score to, myself, but upon hearing it now, it's not too bad at all. Either way, it isn't a huge loss, despite being a very listenable, moody pop song with some of signature production.

Posted by: JosephStyles Aug 17 2015, 09:47 PM

Perfect last placer there, a pretty average track!

Posted by: Joe. Aug 17 2015, 09:57 PM

Next is out is the song that I enjoy the least on Communion. 'Ready For You', clearly charms some members here, but acoustic really isn't what I see as Years & Years' strong point, even their 'King' acoustic felt flat to me. I get that it's good to show variation on an album, but even their ballads such as 'Without' and 'Eyes Shut' for example, boast some subtle electro touches that make Years & Years, Years & Years.

Posted by: Joe. Aug 17 2015, 10:16 PM

Quite the shocker here, 'Without' is the first song from the standard edition to fall. 'Without' is quite a lovely song, though it pales in comparison to 'Eyes Shut'. There were a good handful of very decent scores for 'Without', even a 10 from Heezus, making it the first song to hit an average over 7. They'd be crazy to ever try this as a single, but it makes for a very listenable album filler, and I'd have placed it at least 2 or 3 places higher on this rate.

Posted by: JosephStyles Aug 17 2015, 10:17 PM

Didn't expect Without so low! Not complaining again though, it's nice but that's it really.

Posted by: KWEEN_DEE Aug 17 2015, 11:00 PM

Without is great!

Posted by: Joe. Aug 18 2015, 08:56 AM

‘Memo’ is a song we’ve had a lot of time with, since it was released as a B-side to ‘Desire’ back in 2014. It’s another ballad, and clearly not one people have taken to a huge amount, as can be seen by how low down it is here. Despite only being 14th, Memo’s average is almost up to 7.5, which is pretty decent, but in general the scores were particularly high on this rate.

Posted by: Joe. Aug 18 2015, 09:57 AM

‘Foundation’ is a haunting, mesmerising and powerful track where Olly’s vocals build and build until they finally explode before leading into ‘Real’. I’ve discussed this song with people many times and it’s an odd one. People seem to agree that it works fantastically as an album opener, as it’s captivating and tells a story. However, outside of giving the album a full listen, ‘Foundation’ doesn’t seem to be one people go back to much on its own. Discuss?

Posted by: 🌚🌚🌚 Aug 18 2015, 01:11 PM

wow people are loving this album look at these averagess

memo is brill, shame if was just a b side originally

Posted by: JosephStyles Aug 18 2015, 01:25 PM

Memo is lovely, it's been growing on me recently, had to up its score Shame it's finished so low but that just goes to prove how strong the album is.

Posted by: Joe. Aug 18 2015, 05:07 PM

With an average of 7.67 and at #12 is the highest placing regular deluxe track, which has even beaten out a couple of the standard tracks. I’m listening to ‘I Want To Love’ as I type this, and it’s not difficult to see why this has done well here. It’s very catchy, solid pop – if a little short. I find the deluxe to be a bit of a waste of time generally, but this is its saving grace.

Posted by: J▲hq Aug 18 2015, 07:13 PM

Would've liked to see 'Memo' higher, one of the album highlights for me.

Posted by: randomfurlong Aug 18 2015, 07:15 PM

I Want To Love has really caught me since I rated, would definitely be a 10 now. Such good production.

Posted by: Jonjo Aug 18 2015, 07:58 PM

Erm, 'Foundation' is ridiculously low. Omg.

I was contemplating on giving it my 11! I'm really saddened by the fact it isn't even top 10!

Posted by: ✨ ~Nelly. S~ ✨ Aug 18 2015, 08:29 PM

I Want to Love is really catchy, it stood out for me when I went through the album for the first time. Totally makes buying the deluxe version worth it!

Foundation. Eh. It's decent but I never particularly warmed to it.

Posted by: Joe. Aug 18 2015, 09:15 PM

I'm quite disappointed that 'Border' fell just short of the top ten, despite in my opinion being quite a lot better than 50% of what actually made it. 'Border' is another song where Olly's vocals bring incredible amounts of emotion to the song, making it more than just a run of the mill indie-electro track, and instead something that can make you feel something. It was admittedly one of the last tracks to properly hit me, but I gave this one of my few 10s in the end. And sadly while this didn't get too many low scores, only a small handful of you shared my enthusiasm for 'Border', one of these people being Taylor Jago who handed out eight 10s and scored every single track apart from '1977' (which was given an 8) 9 or above.

Posted by: Joe. Aug 18 2015, 09:17 PM

I'll begin the top ten countdown tomorrow which consists of (in track by track order):

Real
Shine
Take Shelter
Worship
Eyes Shut
Ties
King
Desire
Gold
Breathe

Posted by: Taylor Jago Aug 18 2015, 10:01 PM

I'm gutted Memo didn't do better (although this was to be expected) it's one of my favourites. It just ends too early.

Posted by: Noahspike Aug 18 2015, 10:17 PM

Gahhhhh 'Border' is so gorgeous (and also got a 9.5 from me by the way ). 'I'm going to the border/my body will be stronger' is easily one of the most compelling moments of the whole record . The song's not mentioned much as future single material but I think it'd work very well.

Aside from that, I'm quite fond of 'Memo', 'Foundation' and 'Without' but no big losses given the quality of the album.

Posted by: JosephStyles Aug 18 2015, 10:26 PM

I'd swap Memo and Worship with that top 10 I think and then I'm content! Border is good but it feels like it goes on too long for me, despite not being a particularly long track, if that make sense. The part mentioned by Noah just above is fabulous though!

Posted by: ✨ ~Nelly. S~ ✨ Aug 18 2015, 11:07 PM

Border is lyrically gorgeous! It's hook isn't that strong however which prevented me from giving it any higher.

Posted by: Joe. Aug 19 2015, 08:14 AM

I have similar feelings, I gave it a 7 (still the highest I gave to a bonus)! It would easily be a 9, now.



Sorry, I wrote that commentary on my phone last night, I've added it in now.

Posted by: Joe. Aug 19 2015, 09:11 AM

Kicking off the top 10, is ‘Breathe’, a Blu Cantrell/Sean Paul cover which was originally included as part of the ‘Take Shelter’ EP as a B side, but also made it onto the super-deluxe version of the album, which most of us didn’t know about due to the fact it costs £30+. ‘Breathe’ is the first song to achieve the 8+ average score, meaning every song in the top 10 has achieved the same. It’s always been difficult to pin down Years & Years’ exact genre, as they’re part-dance, part-pop with indie feels and also notes of R&B. The R&B sound is something that’s obviously in the forefront here, given the source material (though in general, Olly’s vocal tone do bring R&B hints in quite a lot of Y&Y's overall sound). A lot of you really enjoy ‘Breathe’, with Randomfurlong, harryflynn and Vulker all scoring this as a 10. It’’s not a song I’d usually choose to listen to of theirs because I never really liked the original, but it’s a decent cover and is always good when they perform it live.

Posted by: Joe. Aug 19 2015, 11:39 AM

‘Worship’, is another song we’d known for a while before the album release, due to being released as a promo track and instant grat. Personally, I don’t see the fuss and think 'Want To Love' and 'Border' are easily better songs. When I first heard this, I lost a bit of excitement for the album, which was, of course, soon restored when ‘Shine’ was premiered a month or so later. That being said, the production is undeniably flawless, as you’d expect with an uptempo number from them, and it scores three 10s - One from Randomfurlong, another from Totto and a third from, you guessed, Taylor Jago.

Posted by: Krusty111 Aug 19 2015, 01:49 PM

Breathe and Worship <3 both should have been a bit higher though.

Posted by: Totto Aug 19 2015, 02:34 PM

I'm sure I gave Worship a ten !

This song was top 5 worthy.

Posted by: Joe. Aug 19 2015, 02:36 PM

Sorry, you did indeed. Added you in.

Posted by: J▲hq Aug 19 2015, 02:42 PM

I think Breathe improves on the original.

Posted by: Joe. Aug 19 2015, 07:09 PM

‘Gold’ was much hyped by Peter ‘Popjustice’ Robinson, as the best thing Years & Years have recorded, in the lead up to the album release. Whilst it’s a hell of a song with a great hook, I’d still say that was far from the truth, as represented here ‘Gold’ finishes half way through the rate. This was rumoured to be their next single at one point, but now rumours of ‘Eyes Shut’ have begun to bubble, so who knows? I do think ‘Gold’ would make a decent single, but I’d have it on the back end of the campaign, after 2 or 3 other releases including ‘Eyes Shut’ and hopefully a ‘Take Shelter’ re-release. ‘Gold’ scored 8 9s, including one from myself, as as you can see from the above, 4 scores even higher than that.

The gap between the averages of 10 - 8 has been small. There’s a bigger jump in averages for the next song. What could it be?

Posted by: Joe. Aug 20 2015, 09:34 AM

CHART RUN: 22-36-64-90….x….99-58-46-51-69-76-88-89-77-63-70-64-78-94-x-99-x-67-82-98
PEAK POSITION: 22
SALES: 193k
Years & Years’ 3rd biggest hit is the next to fall. Which is somewhat surprising, as I thought it’d be a sure-fire top 5. It’d probably have done a little better had Heezus Froot not dished out the only -1 of the entire rate here. But I have to say, while a bop, some will agree that of their singles from this era (‘Real’, ‘Take Shelter’, ‘Desire’, ‘King’, ‘Shine’), this is arguably their weakest effort, which is why it hasn’t done quite as well, despite getting love from a good handful of posters. When I last saw them live, it was their only hit other than ‘King’ and ‘Shine’ was only just being released, so it was quite a moment when ‘Desire’ was played, and I expect it to continue to be, given it’s one of their most upbeat and danceable tracks.

Posted by: Krusty111 Aug 20 2015, 04:45 PM

I absolutely loved Gold when I first heard it performed, however the studio version really didn't impress me much :/

I agree that Desire is probably their weakest single so far although it is still a bop.

Posted by: mr_pmt Aug 20 2015, 04:48 PM

'Desire' would be a lot better if it had a decent chorus, the lyrics are awful.

Posted by: AdamAloud Aug 20 2015, 06:45 PM

Would like to have seen 'Worship' a bit higher but good results so far!

Posted by: JosephStyles Aug 20 2015, 06:46 PM

Gold is good but I really hope it doesn't get picked for the next single when they have Eyes Shut still Desire is pretty good, was the first thing I heard of theirs (other than Sunlight) so it did the trick I guess

I'd like Real to be 6th so that there's a perfect top 5 but I can't really call it!

Posted by: Joe. Aug 20 2015, 07:14 PM

It was so very close but 'Ties' just misses out on the top 5. It's not difficult to see how this is the second highest album track here. It's a swirling, electro banger and epitomises everything great about Years & Years: Interesting, uplifting production and a killer hook.


Top 5? Real, Shine, Take Shelter, Eyes Shut, King.

Posted by: Jonjo Aug 20 2015, 08:14 PM

Thank God the overrated 'Desire' didn't go top 5!

I'm going to predict the top 5 as:

01. 'Shine'
02. 'King'
03. 'Eyes Shut'
04. 'Take Shelter'
05. 'Real'

Although any of the top 3 could (and would deserve to do so) win! I'm thinking we might actually see an album track WIN for once, though!

Posted by: Joe. Aug 21 2015, 08:03 AM

And kicking off the top 5....

PEAK POSITION: 158
SALES: 15k
‘Real’, for many was a the first song they heard from Years & Years before they sold out. It was a very under the radar release given they were still largely unknown to the masses. Despite not having the more recent trend of their music by having big choruses, ‘Real’ is an understated song, but clearly still stands out among their best. Though it was a wonderful introduction to them, singles wise - I don’t think it’d work as a single if they were to release it next, for example. However, I’m very glad it eventually made it onto the album.

Posted by: Joe. Aug 21 2015, 08:23 PM

CHART RUN: 60-45-75-94
PEAK POSITION: 45
SALES: 40k
Just short of a 9 average is the highest album track to appear here. And deservedly so. If you know me at all you’ll know that ballads very rarely manage to strike a chord with me. However, upon hearing ‘Eyes Shut’ something immediately connected, either the lyrics of the vulnerability in Olly’s vocals, there is something special here and I know a lot of you agree with me. Not only would they be crazy not to release this, but they’d be crazy not to release it next. An autumn release with a possible X Factor performance, I’m confident could get this to number 1, or at least make it a long running top 5 hit - these are big words for a post-album track, but I feel confidence with this. In fact, as strong as I think this album is, this is the only remaining song I can imagine would even go top 10.

Posted by: Jonjo Aug 22 2015, 01:47 AM

Ohhhh Was hoping it'd be able to beat out 'Take Shelter' at least. Such a beautiful song and should have finished in 2nd place behind 'Shine' tbh.

Posted by: Joe. Aug 22 2015, 09:48 AM

PEAK POSITION: 113
SALES: 82k
I wasn’t cool enough to know about Years & Years when ‘Real’ was about, it was instead ‘Take Shelter’ that I first heard. And what an introduction that was. I still see this as Years & Years at their very best, and by the fact it’s managed a 9+ average, it seems to be universally adored here on Buzzjack. This song gives me fond memories of the past summer - I specifically remember listening to it on one rainy day. ‘Take Shelter’ was looking like a possible winner at one point (scoring the second most amount of 11s in the rare), but in the end it was not without it’s mediocre scores from the likes of Heezus Froot, J▲hq, Jonjo as well as its lowest score, a 5 from Umi.

It’s very close between the top 2. Shine and King. Which song came out on top?

Posted by: Krusty111 Aug 22 2015, 09:51 AM

YOU SHOULD ALL BE ASHAMED. EYES SHUT AT #4?!?! It should be top!

Posted by: mr_pmt Aug 22 2015, 11:32 AM

'Take Shelter' is truly incredible.

'King' should win this.

Posted by: Joe. Aug 22 2015, 05:23 PM

The Runner up and winner...

Posted by: Joe. Aug 22 2015, 05:27 PM

CHART RUN:1-2-2-3-4-3-5-7-11-14-16-20-21-24-23-24-28-28-32-26-29-33-37-40
PEAK POSITION: 1
SALES: 781k
The universally adored, and UK smash #1 megahit ‘King’ comes in at #2 here. It was very close, but the winner pipped it due to having more than double the amount of 11s given to it. ‘King’s one lowest score came from Nelly.S, which was a 7.5, so I don’t think there is anybody who doesn’t enjoy this absolute banger, which I’d say was still, easily the best and most fresh #1 of the year so far, and is one of the few songs that hasn’t gotten old due to being overplayed. It was a great shame that the “comic” relief single by chart jackers Sam Smith and John Legend prevented ‘King’ from enjoying 2 or 3 more weeks at #1, but at an astounding sales tally of almost 800k so far, it’ll be difficult for Years & Years to top this in terms of commercial success.

Which means the winner is…..






….












…

1: Shine
Average: 9.86

CHART RUN:2-2-3-2-5-7-9
PEAK POSITION: 2
SALES: 339k
So to the shock to myself, and maybe others here, ‘Shine’ manages to finally chart a #1 somewhere. It was actually as low as #4 at one point when counting up the scores, but the scores kept increasing as the weeks went on, with it receiving six consecutive 11s at the end of the rate, which eventually sealed the deal. ‘Shine’ was never as instant as ‘King’ for many (though not including myself), it was largely seen as a grower, for it is a far more subtle track. Whilst being a slower tempo than ‘Desire’ and ‘King’, I really like ‘Shine’ for the emotion is portrays; it has a strangely happy, yet simultaneously poignant feel to it that I’ve never been able to properly pin down but thoroughly enjoy at the same time. But it is also just about a song you can still dance to, with the very brief instrumental at 2:48 (which is annoyingly left out on the Now 91 version and sometimes on the radio) being a joyously euphoric moment. ‘Shine’, disappointingly missed its deserved place as UK #1 to ‘Ouse Every Weekend’, but it has, in the long run, proved to be a bigger hit overall, whilst selling the album like hot cakes at the same time. ‘Shine’ remains strong in the top 10 at this point in time, while OUSE has already left the top 20. Well Done ‘Shine’! Do you all agree with the winner here?

Posted by: Jonjo Aug 22 2015, 08:13 PM

Yes. Such a brilliant, beautifully crafted track. The lyrics are stunning. Happy with the top 2 overall although it'd have been nice to see 'Eyes Shut' higher and 'Foundation' comfortably inside the top 10, but eh.

Great rate and beautiful hosting Joe <3

Posted by: JosephStyles Aug 22 2015, 10:26 PM

What a top 2 Shine is a worthy winner for sure though. Thanks Joe for a fantastic rate!!

Posted by: Hurricane Aug 23 2015, 12:38 AM

This is so wrong (or like Rochelle from The Saturdays would say, "so woooong").

I just can't.

I DENY.

Posted by: Jaÿ Aug 23 2015, 12:58 PM

Thanks for doing this Joe! The best song won. :wub;

Posted by: HausEveryWeekend Aug 23 2015, 01:08 PM

Missed all of this

The correct top 4 for me, although i'd have put 'Eyes Shut' above 'Take Shelter' and 'King'. 'Shine' winning !? did not see it overtaking 'King' but i am very glad it did. Both are utterly fabulous but the former has had a much bigger impact on me.

Thank you for hosting this Joe and apologies i didn't keep up with it as it went on live

Posted by: Joe. Aug 23 2015, 02:24 PM

Thanks all for rating & commenting.

I'm pleased with the results, but I'd swap 'Worship's place at #9 for 'Want To Love''s place at #12.

Posted by: Noahspike Aug 24 2015, 12:38 AM

That's the ideal top four for me <3 - they're almost inseparable in my book. I would say 'Eyes Shut' is the most beautiful and emotive song on the album, 'Take Shelter' the most fascinating and atmospheric (and all-round impressive/my favourite track), 'King' the catchiest and 'biggest' sounding, and 'Shine' is one of the most perfectly crafted pop songs I've heard in ages (let alone the best on the album in that regard) and thus an entirely worthy winner. I really haven't stopped playing that song over the last few months.

It's crazy how unanimous the love for the band's two biggest hits seems to be on Buzzjack, both based on those averages and having read comments elsewhere on the forum, especially when factoring in overplay/fatigue. The one-two punch of 'King' and 'Shine' was pretty effective here to say the least.

Cheers Joe for the work that went into hosting this! Not too many surprises overall but I really enjoyed following the results and reading your commentaries all the same.

Posted by: popchartfreak Aug 24 2015, 08:37 PM

Thanks for the work Joe, just got round to reading it, and yes the right song won

Probably song of the year for me...or Brandon Flowers I Can Change, one or t'other

Posted by: Henderella Aug 25 2015, 08:13 AM

Border is WAY too low for the best song on the album.

Posted by: KWEEN_DEE Aug 25 2015, 11:54 AM

King is better than Shine.

Ties is their best though. As is Real.

Posted by: Dorothy Sep 3 2015, 09:07 AM

I'm just so addicted to Olly's voice
Totally love this album, hope they will win a Brit Award.
And I think Desire should be in TOP3