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 folklore: first impressions rate: the results, I had a marvellous time revealing the results | the winner.. |
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 9th August 2020, 03:42 PM
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#121
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 It's a cruel summer.
Joined: 26 May 2014
Posts: 35,256 User: 20,947 
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new page for winner announcement coming in next 10 mins *.*
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9th August 2020, 03:50 PM
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#122
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 rip in peace Dickston
Joined: 29 January 2017
Posts: 9,558 User: 25,045 
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Hype *.* Here for a Cardigan win BUT Exile has done nothing but grown on me in the past week so I'm happy either way tbh
Also I missed the rate entirely but here's how it would've gone x 10.0 the 1 11.0 cardigan 09.0 the last great american dynasty 09.5 exile (feat. Bon Iver) 08.5 my tears ricochet 07.5 mirrorball 09.0 seven 07.5 august 08.0 this is me trying 07.0 illicit affairs 07.0 invisible string 08.5 mad woman 09.5 epiphany 09.0 betty 07.0 peace 07.5 hoax |
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9th August 2020, 04:06 PM
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#123
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It's a cruel summer.
Joined: 26 May 2014
Posts: 35,256 User: 20,947
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'and when I felt like I was an old cardigan under someone's bed, you put me on and said I was your favourite' 02. cardigan // 9.54 but I knew you'd linger like a tattoo kiss: Bre, JosephStyles [11], Ansel, Billy, HausOfGhibli, Jay, Josh, Liam, LJ Jord 7, London81, MrAndrewMan, Nina West, ...Ready For It, SKOB, UltraFolklore [10], John-James [9.5] tried to change the ending, Peter losing Wendy: HarryEzra, LmLou, [7.5], only ONE more score below a nine. The song commentary: cardigan is the 2nd track on folklore and is the lead single from the album, meaning that every track 2 on a Taylor album has been a single apart from cruel summer! This has obviously been the biggest hit so far from the project and in most places is still the top song on sales & streaming (however in the UK its 2nd in sales and in the US now its 2nd on streaming & 3rd on sales and I oop). cardigan is ofc another Aaron Dessner produced track and is Taylor's first single to be released that is produced by Dessner. This slayed during the first week and became Taylor's sixth #1 hit, we love to see it  Because of this, Taylor became the first artist to ever debut a song & album at #1 in the same week! This also became another top 10 hit for Taylor in the UK, peaking at #6!cardigan is the lead single and its music video, both written & directed by Taylor, was shot during the pandemic and finds Taylor shifting through different places by the magic of playing the piano and took extra safety precautions on set. cardigan is the first part of folklore's teenage love triangle. Taylor explained the song as 'about a lost romance & why young love is often fixed so permanently within our memories. Why it leaves such an indelible mark' and elaborated that it's 'a song that's about long lost love, & looking back on it & how special it made you feel, all the good things it made you feel, all the pain that it made you feel'. Now let's get into the lyrical analysis *.* the song opens with the juxtaposition of vintage tee & brand new phone, implying the relationships we assume exist between age aren't as clear cut as they seem. Each lyric in the opening verse can be seen in relation to Taylor's recent musical eras too! the first line referencing the Red era, cobblestones = New York = 1989, black lipstick from reputation/2016 met gala & sensual politics from lover! The cobblestones are also mentioned again in Betty and this lyric alludes to the unsteadiness of their relationship. the end of the verse shows Betty is reflecting on this previous love with the implication that she knows plenty and refused to accept James' excuse. there are lots of parallels between cardigan and Betty, with the significance of the streetlight in the chorus of cardigan. the refrain of the song delves into the cardigan metaphor which I adore. and damn I really want to buy that cardigan, it looks so cosy!! verse 2 is also strong lyrically with 'friend to none/lose the one', showing how going for too much can result in losing everything that's precious. the hide & seek lyric refers to the two-timing nature + also the childhood nature and naivety of this game, this lyric is also one of the 8 folklore covers! we have another reference to NYC with 'high line' and 20 lifetimes feels reminiscent of lover'ss 20 seconds or 20 years! 'you drew stars around my scars' is what Tay changed her twitter bio to after folklore dropped! the final chorus sets a parallel to the archer (train lyric) and highlights the hurt Betty feels and we once again on this album have the concept of 'tried to change the ending'! There's also a reference to Peter Pan as Wendy leaves behind the fantasy of Neverland & childhood and this reference illustrates the distance between youthful romance & the kind of love that lasts into old age! the cardigan video also contains gold dust *.* (hi pixie dust x). the final verse sees betty rejecting the idea that young people know nothing, the retrospective nature. of this lyric highlighting Betty is looking back on her relationship. the chasing shadows lyric mirrors the 1's bus stop lyric and once again plays on the Peter Pan reference as Peter & Wendy chase down Peter's shadow in the film. cardigan also references the front porch light from Betty and how Betty was expecting James to comeback like he did at the end of the song Betty. and the song ends with the cardigan refrain <3 ahh I love this track <3 Taylor described epiphany in her note on the album as writing stories from people I've known and 'my grandfather, Dean, landing at Guadalcanal in 1942'. epiphany describes someone hoping to find peace in their dreams and a moment of calmness despite the violence and chaos in the world surrounding them. Taylor explores this through her grandfathers experience in the military during WW2 and the current COVID-19 pandemic. This is the shortest song lyrically despite being one of the longest songs on the album! The first verse is about Swift's grandfather Dean during WW2 and the lyrics explore the brutality & physical effects of war and Taylor placed a picture of her grandfather during his service in the cardigan music video. The verse also alludes to PTSD and the long-lasting effects of these tragedies. The lyrics are rife with imagery of these environments & places you so easily into these settings. The 2nd verse parallels the first verse but changes the narrative from war to the battle of the current coronavirus crisis. Taylor creates imagery such as the plastic barriers, how unprepared we are to face a crisis like this and the effects of losing family to this crisis & not being able to say a proper goodbye due to social distancing. Taylor ends both verses with 'and some things you just can't speak about', which parallels the distressing experiences of soldiers in war to those of healthcare workers during the 2020 pandemic. The chorus is made up of two lyrics and relate both to the soldiers & healthcare workers, with them serving on the frontlines of the crisis & making sacrifices and watching people move from in and out of consciousness and the theme of death and dealing with it in the moment. The chorus also shows how we've all come together to help one another during both crisis. The two lines work perfectly together and shows how the respiratory system is attacked in 2020 as a doctor watches a patient dies, and links it to a soldier watching a fellow soldier die as they 'fall down' in battle. There's also an undertone to PTSD experienced by professionals in these two fields. The bridge and outro are the only other lyrics in this song and the outro is the bridge repeated again. The bridge continues to draw parallels between the soldiers & healthcare workers and is that moment of calmness to reflect on what's happening and hoping for some solution to hold on and stay strong. Both soldiers in war & healthcare workers in 2020 are required to work gruellingly long hours without sleep in order to help keep other people safe & alive. This part of the song is Taylor describing their small moment of rest they can sometimes find as these people in peril dream of a sign that will make sense of the trauma & hardship they're enduring. However with the tone of voice and lyrics, this idea of a sign is presented as little more than a dream & all this horror they're experiencing may always be inexplainable. epiphany highlights the sacrifice of honour of these professionals as well as the great tragedy of their difficult & horrifying experiences & work. I love the way this has the least lyrics and I've still managed to write more about this song than most the others  the lyrics hit so hard  I absolutely adore cardigan and I'd say its my 2nd favourite song on the album!! (so yasss at taste matching another position here *.*). This was an instant favourite and its easy to see why this was pushed as the lead single. The song is incredible from a lyrical perspective and the production is beautiful, I esp love how the final chorus transitions between each parts. The lyrics are amongst the strongest on the album, the Peter & Wendy lyric gets me every single time. cardigan kicks off the teenage love triangle and is my favourite of the 3 songs in it, a perfect choice of lead single and an instant highlight in her discography. Taylor's vocals are beautiful on it too and I also love the cabin in candlelight version, which I've gone back to SO much more than I was expecting! stunning. I'm so glad this was another #1 hit for her <3 I keep listening to this so much and the video is perfection as well esp considering all the circumstances, the bit with the water towards the end is full on breathtaking. And I want the cardigan.The rate commentary: And this means that our runner-up is the lead single from folklore, cardigan!! cardigan was an instant favourite for many people and was obviously help in that regard by being the main song pushed from the album. cardigan was highly praised by critics and well received by the public too! I can reveal for most of this rate, cardigan & exile were NECK AND NECK with each other at the top. if I closed the rate when the original deadline was, exile would've won by 0.01  However with a bunch of incredible late scores for exile (& august) whilst cardigan received solid but not incredible scores, it nearly dropped to 3rd!! This is Taylor's most successful lead single in a first impressions rate for the albums, however they always seem to over perform! LWYMMD did +9 average in both rep rates and even MessT had an average of 7.04 in the lover first impressions rate Anyway cardigan also received two 11's and I wanna say the most 10's in the rate with a fantastic thirteen (hi Taylor) 10's cardigan received unanimously high scores from everyone but scored two 7.5's, making it the only song in the top 3 in this rate to not receive all its scores 8+! We love to see a lead single so loved and I'm glad this managed to receive an average above 9.5 <3 <3and that means the winner of the folklore first impressions rate is... (u got about 20 mins to guess the average x) |
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9th August 2020, 04:20 PM
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#124
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 Mansonette
Joined: 7 March 2006
Posts: 35,308 User: 54
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Fantastic runner up there and I'm soooooooo happy that Exile has won - it's my favourite song at the moment by some distance, it's just stunning
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9th August 2020, 04:37 PM
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#125
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It's a cruel summer.
Joined: 26 May 2014
Posts: 35,256 User: 20,947
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'you never gave a warning sign (I gave so many signs)' 01. exile (ft. Bon Iver) // 9.70 I think I've seen this film before, and I did I think I've seen this film before, and I didn't like the ending: HarryEzra, Jade, LmLou, ...Ready For It [8] The song commentary: exile is the 4th track on folklore and has proven to be immensely popular so far, being in the top 3 tracks since release day and is the highest track on UK iTunes/US iTunes + Spotify and probably everywhere else soon, it's really starting to feel like it's gonna overshadow cardigan soon! exile is the only collaboration on the album and features Bon Iver! I'm expecting them to start pushing this from September! exile is produced by Aaron Dessner, meaning that's he's the producer with the winning song here and I'm not surprised considering he produced most the album xx. This performed terrifically on the charts, peaking so far at #6 in America, becoming her umpteenth top 10 hit and #8 in the UK, the 2nd highest track here which is v. impressive for a song 4th on the album to do on an album drop, highlighting just how popular this song is! <3 exile describes two ex-lovers seeing each other following a break-up. Justin takes on the role of feelings of confusion about how quickly a lover moved on whilst Taylor's perspective shows how the relationship was no longer working. These perspectives contrasts in both lyrics and also through the tone of their voices. exile has received many comparisons to Red's The Last Time, though basically everyone is in agreement that exile is way better. exile is probably the main folklore song to contain a movie motif which ofc I am living for This is Taylor's first collab with Bon Iver and she called them one of her 'musical heroes' when announcing folklore! The song is written by Bon Iver, Taylor and the famous singer-songwriter William Bowery (hi Joe Alwyn x). Dessner described how how the collab came about and that Taylor sent him a voice memo singing both the male & female parts. They talked about who they could imagine joining her and talked about Justin's voice & Taylor wanted him for the track! Dessner sent Justin the track and he was really into it & he tweaked + added some parts and it all came together perfectly. like The Boring Time, exile starts with the male vocalist's perspective (Justin) and the 'laughin, but the joke's not funny at all' lyric can be seen as paralleling to Begin Again. The verse lyrics are beautiful and gets you so into the song and story imminently. Both parties in the relationship liken a toxic pattern to a movie they've already seen at the start of the chorus but they decide to leave, rather than work on their relationship. I love the analogy of being exiled from the town is the imagery for the relationship. Taylor comes into the track on the 2nd verse with more movie related imagery (the understudy lyric *.*) and in this context Taylor's former lover looks at her current lover as being a temporary & subpar replacement for himself. This line deepens the imagery of their love being pre-scriptefd with the film having already played out before. this verse feels a bit wildest derams/the last time like, and the 'second, third & hundredth chances' is reminiscent of TLT & You're Not Sorry. Taylor's chorus is pretty similar to Justin's but some of the lyrics change around and make the change in perspective so much more profound. Taylor chorus goes 'who am I offending' in comparison to Justin's 'what am I demanding' and conveys the difference between the two personas; one feels like they're guarding their past lover whereas the other is portrayed as attacking them. Taylor's chorus also has an extra lyric as she's 'leaving out the side door', enhancing the film analogy & referring to how her past relationships have ended the same way in heartbreak so she does the only thing she's ever known & leaves before it gets worse. This line & concept parrarells to rep standout Getaway Car and fearless standout Breathe. Taylor adding this line indicates she was the one that saw problems in the relationship & took action by leaving. The bridge is one of the highlights of the album with Taylor using imagery reminiscent of previous songs. (thin line = fragile line from Speak Now standout Haunted) and Justin & Taylor's vocals work together PERFECTLY during this moment. the parts like 'you never gave a warning sign (I gave so many signs)' are album highlights and their lyrics go together perfectly. This is used again as the outro and damn it hits so hard and works perfectly. What. a. song. exile is an absolutely terrific song and whilst its not my absolute favourite on the album, I can see why its resonated so much and why lots of us are already seeing this track as a career highlight! I'd say it's probs 7th on the album for me, but not too far off 4th, and who knows with an inevitable single push + hopefully music video, it can easily vault up further in my rankings (a bit like Delicate vaulting up from 7th (with 4th to 8th being neck & neck) to 2nd after it became a single/the music video as it completely hit me). Taylor and Justin's vocals compliment each other perfectly on this song, especially during the bridge with the conversational aspect of the lyrics. This is one of the best Taylor has ever sounded and Bon Iver were such a perfect choice on this collab! hopefully no more ginger weasel from now on xxx The lyrics are terrific and the film lyrics HIT ME SO HARD EVERY SINGLE TIME. the production is beautiful and works amazingly and this song really does feel like it has a timeless quality to it. a masterpiece The rate commentary: and this means the winner of the folklore first impressions rate is exile exile was seen by many instantly as one of Taylor's career best songs and got a unanimously incredible reaction, on this site & elsewhere. Tbh if I had to predict a winner I'd have said cardigan, but exile was definitely the only other song that I thought could pull off the win! And it did, quite comfortably in the end! as I said in the cardigan commentary it was v. close for a while, but in the end exile managed to comfortably triumph with a terrific average of 9.70! exile received a massive five 11's, by far the most in this rate (TLGAD was the only other song to get more than two 11's) and meaning 20% of the raters gave this there 11! exile also received a massive twelve 10's (2nd most in the rate), meaning it only received 8 out of 25 scores below a 10 However four 8's (inc. from some of the biggest stans of the album in this rate!) managed to slightly drag down its final average but not enough to prevent exile from taking the win! exile is the 4th highest average to appear in any of the Taylor rates on this site either (go see the newly recently pinned rates collation thread if you are interested in checking out the results of past rates!), with it being pipped by 3 songs from the discography rate in 2014! a fabulous winner for this rate and what an amazing average <3thank you so much to everyone that has rated, followed along, predicted & commented we did it full rate results coming below this post and I'll look through the predictions later aha cos I'm exhausted from commentary x
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9th August 2020, 04:39 PM
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#126
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It's a cruel summer.
Joined: 26 May 2014
Posts: 35,256 User: 20,947
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Thanks so much for all the participation during this guys, way more than I was expecting!!
Here are the full results: 1. exile (ft. Bon Iver) - 9.70 2. cardigan - 9.54 3. august - 9.46 4. epiphany - 9.02 5. the last great american dynasty - 9.00 6. seven - 8.90 7. the 1 - 8.82 8. this is me trying - 8.72 9. Betty - 8.52 10. my tears ricochet - 8.38 11. invisible string - 8.34 12. mirrorball - 8.30 13. mad woman - 8.14 14. hoax - 7.74 15. illicit affairs - 7.58 16. peace - 7.16 |
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9th August 2020, 05:00 PM
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#127
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IncredibleSquirrel
Joined: 8 March 2006
Posts: 25,840 User: 118
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It's been a hell of a long while since I've been as obsessed with a song as I currently am with Exile, it's absolutely stunning.
My playcounts for a song I love are nowhere near the counts of listens that most people seem to do, however since Folklore came out my most listened to songs are Exile with 17 and Cardigan 10, nothing else above 8. |
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9th August 2020, 06:18 PM
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#128
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 I found the love, I found the love in me
Pronouns: He/Him
Joined: 13 December 2007 Posts: 87,451 User: 5,042
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What a beauty of a winner. exile is stunning. Sam messaged me during her listen saying that I'd love it as it's 'The Last Time', but better. (TLT is one of my favourite T Swift songs) I get the comparison between the two.
cardigan isn't instant, but it's a huge, HUGE grower. It holds one of my favourite lyrics ("tried to change the ending, Peter losing Wendy") which is just so depressing and really thought provoking, to me! Thank you Sam. I'm SO excited for the next one as I can see a fair few changes! I'd probably rank mirrorball higher than I did! |
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9th August 2020, 06:35 PM
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#129
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BuzzJack Gold Member
Pronouns: he/him
Joined: 22 May 2020 Posts: 2,805 User: 106,739
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Such a great winner! to be honest exile might now be my favourite from the album, at the time it was probably like 3rd but it's grown on me so well!
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9th August 2020, 09:02 PM
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#130
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 London Boy
Joined: 6 July 2014
Posts: 3,015 User: 21,053
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Thanks for organising this and for all the commentaries! I really enjoyed this. Exile is a great winner - a fantastic song & depending on the day, my fav from the album.
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9th August 2020, 09:03 PM
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#131
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I found the love, I found the love in me
Pronouns: He/Him
Joined: 13 December 2007 Posts: 87,451 User: 5,042
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Oh yes, Sam. The commentaries were stunning! So, SO good
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9th August 2020, 10:26 PM
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#132
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I'm not asleep, my mind is alive.
Pronouns: she/her
Joined: 25 September 2006 Posts: 45,793 User: 1,454
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cardigan > exile for me. I knew exile was winning, though.
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11th August 2020, 12:48 AM
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#133
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It's a cruel summer.
Joined: 26 May 2014
Posts: 35,256 User: 20,947
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QUOTE(London81 @ Aug 9 2020, 10:02 PM)  Thanks for organising this and for all the commentaries! I really enjoyed this. Exile is a great winner - a fantastic song & depending on the day, my fav from the album. QUOTE(Jonjoliday @ Aug 9 2020, 10:03 PM) Oh yes, Sam. The commentaries were stunning! So, SO good thank you guys I'm glad you've enjoyed!
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11th August 2020, 12:52 AM
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#134
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It's a cruel summer.
Joined: 26 May 2014
Posts: 35,256 User: 20,947
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by the way this is how y'all did with the predictions in the end!
Cremey 7/10 ...Ready For It 4/8 Jonjo 3/5 London81 2/10 Ansel 1/10 Jade 1/10 (screaming at the way you got 1 & 2, 3 & 4 and 5 & 6 all the other way round!!) congrats Cremey and yasss at everyone at least getting one right! 
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11th August 2020, 01:02 AM
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#135
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It's a cruel summer.
Joined: 26 May 2014
Posts: 35,256 User: 20,947
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one last fun thing, here is a combined ranking of all the rate scores from the first impressions rates of reputation, lover & folklore!
01. exile (ft. Bon Iver) - 9.70 02. Cruel Summer - 9.63 03. Lover - 9.57 04. cardigan - 9.54 05. august - 9.46 06. ...Ready For It? - 9.18 07. The Man - 9.17 08. Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince - 9.04 09. epiphany - 9.02 10. the last great american dynasty - 9.00 11. seven - 8.90 12. Delicate - 8.83 13. the 1 - 8.82 14. this is me trying - 8.72 15. Betty - 8.52 16. Call It What You Want - 8.48 17. Look What You Made Me Do - 8.45 18. my tears ricochet - 8.38 19. Gorgeous - 8.35 20. invisible string - 8.34 21. mirrorball - 8.30 22. Getaway Car - 8.28 23. I Did Something Bad - 8.23 24. End Game - 8.18 25. mad woman - 8.14 26. Don't Blame Me - 8.13 27. Cornelia Street - 8.09 28. You Need To Calm Down - 7.93 29. Daylight - 7.91 30. hoax - 7.74 31. Dancing With Our Hands Tied - 7.70 32. illicit affairs - 7.58 33. I Think He Knows - 7.46 34. The Archer - 7.43 35. Afterglow - 7.41 36. Paper Rings - 7.35 37. King Of My Heart - 7.28 38. Dress - 7.28 39. False God - 7.20 40. peace - 7.16 41. Soon You'll Get Better - 7.13 (more 10's) 42. It's Nice To Have A Friend - 7.13 (less 10's) 43. Death By A Thousand Cuts - 7.11 44. Me! (ft. Brendon Urie) - 7.04 45. New Year's Day - 6.73 46. London Boy - 6.69 47. So It Goes... - 6.53 48. I Forgot That You Existed - 6.50 49. This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things - 6.48 poor the lakes missing the deadline so we miss out on a fab 50 haha |
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11th August 2020, 07:13 AM
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#136
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on a bench in coney island
Joined: 9 August 2007
Posts: 17,594 User: 4,089
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Thanks for doing this all, UV (or UF now? 😂), great commentary throughout and so good to see other people’s first impressions. Amazing that the top 5 all had an average of over 9, really shows how strong the album is.
More than happy to see exile coming out on top too, what a gorgeous song Surprised I ended up getting 7 right in my prediction haha, was sure after I got the first couple right they’d all start falling out of place :’) |
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