Song of the Year

 

And now, the award for the greatest single piece of music made this year. Competition for this is always intense, and I don’t think one could easily call a winner here. The nominees are:

 

Charli XCX – You’re The One

Ellie Goulding – Anything Could Happen

Lana Del Rey – Ride

Owl City & Carly Rae Jepsen – Good Time

Shy’m – Et alors !

 

Five #1s make up this list, but only one can win. Will it be the year’s best selling song? The winner is...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://katyc1990.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/lana-del-rey-chuck-grant-ride.jpg

 

‘Ride’ by Lana Del Rey! The lead single from Lana’s ‘Paradise’ EP, ‘Ride’ was an instant classic. Feeling very much like Lana perfecting her sound, it was the perfect way to launch her EP and album re-release. The video was also, unsurprisingly, incredible, and could have walked home with VotY had ‘National Anthem’ not been made.

 

Yes, Lana is slaying everything. Deal with it.

Album of the Year

 

And now to our penultimate award, the coronation of the country’s favourite album in 2012. Again, this was hotly contested, and right until the end the decision kept changing. But the nominees are:

 

Cheryl Cole – A Million Lights

Ellie Goulding – Halcyon

Lana Del Rey – Born To Die

Marina & The Diamonds – Electra Heart

Shy’m – Caméléon

 

I realise Cheryl isn’t the most CREDIBLE choice, but the album is immensely enjoyable. So f*** off, haters. Anyway, our winner IS:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.justmusic.fr/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/SHYM-visuel-album-CAMELEON-768x768.jpg

(isn’t that cover just amazing)

 

...Caméléon, by Shy’m! In reality, there were only three contenders for this award. And I probably shouldn’t say who they are. Because you know, I have an album countdown to do. Caméléon is GREAT, though. You should all listen to it. Especially JohnKM.

Boo. :( Halcyon should have won. :kink:

Artist of the Year

 

And now THE BIG ONE. I’m sure you all realise this is a two way fight between Shy’m and Lana, but let’s pretend the others have a chance. Your nominees are:

 

Ellie Goulding

Lana Del Rey

Little Boots

Marina & The Diamonds

Shy’m

 

Little Boots is here due to the committee feeling sorry for her and she DID release two amazing songs this year. But our winner is...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Tvm9wKaLffY/UJ12kFE7FHI/AAAAAAAAAWk/wHZvMx1ThY0/s1600/LanaDelRey_%C3%82%C2%A9NicoleNodland_01255elr.jpg

 

Who else but Lana! The Queen of Tumblr and the queen of Umiirukan hearts, Lana defined 2012 for me. Most years deliver me at least one new artist I can go insane for and while 2011 sadly lacked that, 2012 most certainly did not (OK technically Lana was 2011 but the album was 2012 so shut up). I’m not really one for gushing, so I’m not sure where to go from here. But in the words of Oricon, “Lana Del Rey is an 11/10 artist”.

 

And that concludes our amazing award show. Albums countdown tomorrow and songs... sometime after that!

So dull. Lanka this, Lanka that, Lanka all the time!

So dull. Lanka this, Lanka that, Lanka all the time!

I suppose winning 40% of the available awards is a TAD excessive but what can I say, she is amazing.

Yay at the Lana slaying :cheer: Gutted i missed following this awards ceremony live :(

LANA IS SLAYING!

Lana winning everything is TOO OBVIOUS. I look forward to more diversity in your LISTS. And hopefully not too much K/J-pop cause I just can't get into it :(

Lana winning everything is TOO OBVIOUS. I look forward to more diversity in your LISTS. And hopefully not too much K/J-pop cause I just can't get into it :(

It admittedly is, I kind of felt a bit bad at saying no to M.I.A in best video, Kyary in new artist etc. But Lana just deserves the awards more! I fear my albums list will be thoroughly predictable but then it's only a top 10 so it'll be over in a flash. Hopefully my songs list gives the diversity you desire!

Edited December 27, 201212 yr by Umi

You're definitely gushing over Lana right now. And so am I.

Oh but I get into a lot of K/J-Pop so it's alright here. Just ignore David Umi for this once. :D

ALBUMS COUNTDOWN NOW.

 

http://www.fredhystere.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Paloma-Faith.jpg

#10: Paloma Faith – Fall To Grace

 

Coming somewhat out of nowhere for me, Paloma Faith’s second album surprised me in being my second favourite adult contemporary album of the year (beating off stiff competition from err... Emeli Sandé). I’d never been a big fan of Paloma before, but the combination of the wonderful ‘Picking Up The Pieces’ (not to mention the stunning video) and artwork that continues to rank amongst my very favourites of 2012 led me to anticipate this album quite a lot. And I can’t say it disappointed me. Fall To Grace is one of the most consistent albums of the year, never dipping below good and for the most part hitting much higher. ‘Picking Up The Pieces’ is, as I said, wonderful, but the real highlight here is ‘Blood Sweat & Tears’, which is actually probably the least AC thing about the album. The production is stunning though, and hints at a direction that Paloma could be very good with indeed.

 

Listening to her début after this, I still think that the loss of the quirks that were once such a large part of Paloma’s persona is a bit sad, but considering Fall To Grace could be considered something of a sell-out album, things could have turned out much, much worse.

 

#9: Lena – Stardust

 

On the other hand, I’d been anticipating this one for a long time. Lena’s third album had a lot to prove – her first two were both ‘will this do’ efforts rushed out for Eurovision, sustained almost entirely by their leading singles. Luckily for her, those two singles were incredible, and ‘Taken By A Stranger’ was so good that even if 90% of her music is shit, I couldn’t not stan for her. However, a poor third album without an amazing Eurovision entry/performance to support it could have been the end for me and Lena. Luckily, the poor third album didn’t materialise! Stardust is quite an accomplished record – it’s no major leap forward for her, but rather a huge improvement on the sound she’d been doing with varying success for the first two albums. Lead single ‘Stardust’, while not as impactful as either of her former lead singles, is excellent and one of her most emotional songs and the rest of the album is remarkably solid too. ‘To The Moon’, ‘Bliss Bliss’ and ‘I’m Black’ all rival the title track as the album’s best, with ‘Bliss Bliss’ being “fun” Lena at her best (not to mention preying on my random love for repetition in titles) while ‘To The Moon’ possibly outdoes ‘Stardust’ in the emotional stakes.

 

I’m still waiting on Lena deciding to base an album off ‘Taken By A Stranger’ and create the best album to have ever existed, but for now, Stardust will certainly do!

 

I'm Black :wub: The single best song title of 2012.

I'm Black :wub: The single best song title of 2012.

 

Not as good as I'm Gay! :kink: (I think that was the title?)

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PKnmaPBrk48/UMUSnlUUdmI/AAAAAAAADtg/mLJbZOOMTD0/s1600/iamamiwhoami.jpeg

#8: iamamiwhoami – kin

 

This was another surprise, and I’m still not sure what even made me listen to it. iamamiwhoami circa BOUNTY (+ those random other songs like ‘clump ~’ and ‘#getmoney’ or whatever) held very little interest for me – I just couldn’t get into it. However, in my first BJSC contest, Pavlov decided to go cheap and send ‘play’. The song was QUITE THE JAM to say the least, but for some reason I didn’t think much more of it. Flash forward a few months and the thought randomly came to me to download kin (I think it might have something to do with Iz??) and well it turned out to be very good indeed. ‘rascal’ (which is a bit shit) aside, it’s a flawless album. And while ‘play’ is far and away the best thing here, songs like ‘goods’ and ‘drops’ don’t let the side down. I’ve yet to re-listen to the BOUNTY stuff, but with news that it’s going to be released on CD, I might just try it out.

 

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mcg4eqOfKb1rv4tnto1_500.jpg

#7: Loreen – Heal

 

Heal has the odd distinction of being one of the best albums of the year, but also one of the most overrated. Literally the only artist I can think of who is as overhyped as Loreen is Grimes, who I will not get into right now. In any case, the Loreen story started back with Melodifestivalen 2011. But no1curr about that, the Loreen story REALLY kicked into full gear this year, with ‘Euphoria’. This song (obviously) was massive for her, both in the real world and the internet. Many members of BuzzJack were completely taken over by the song – Jonjo and Liam must now wonder what they did with their lives before Loreen gave them a song to relentlessly spam. In any case, the spamming annoyed quite a few members, including me.

 

But fortunately, I managed to look past all that, to see a cracking album. Heal is a collection of songs so much more interesting than you’d expect, with ‘Euphoria’ acting as something of a bait and switch to what is a rather more downtempo album than one would expect. ‘Everytime’, ‘In My Head’, ‘If She’s The One’ and ‘See You Again’ are the highlights here (all comfortably outstripping ‘Euphoria’). All bar ‘See You Again’ are downtempo, with that track providing a nice spark of.... euphoria towards the end of a somewhat emotionally exhausting listen. But still, ‘If She’s The One’ stands head and shoulders above everything else here. I am a sucker for strings and it employs them perfectly. Essentially, your Loreen faves could never (unless your Loreen fave is ‘If She’s The One’, in which case – kudos).

 

So yeah, to WRAP UP: Very good album, very good lead single, lead single not as good as crazed stans would have you believe, but don’t be put off by that.

Edited December 28, 201212 yr by Umi

http://www.theprophetblog.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Lana-Del-Rey-Paradise-EP.png

#6: Lana Del Rey – Paradise

 

YES SHE’S HERE TWICE GET OVER IT.

 

Paradise is Lana’s second EP, released a couple of months ago and bundled with the Born To Die album to form the fabulously titled ‘Born To Die: The Paradise Edition’. Which you know, you lot already know.

In any case, Paradise was no let down. Had I not felt a bit AWK about having two albums by the same artist so high, it could have been in my top 5 albums for the year. Paradise isn’t as instant as Born To Die, and is straight up not as good, but it’s still immense and even an evolution to the sound explored on her début. While lead single ‘Ride’ is as typical Lana as it gets, the rest takes a decidedly different tack. Lyrically, it’s much the same – she’s as big a fan of taking her body downtown and dancing in pale moonlight as she’s ever been, but sonically things are much different. The hip hop influences on Born To Die are absent here and while I miss the hip hop, I’m pleased Lana did not simply deliver Born To Die 2.0 too.

 

http://cdn.thatgrapejuice.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/A-Million-Lights-e1337856418988.jpg

#5: Cheryl Cole – A Million Lights

 

As controversial a choice as any album on this list, Cheryl Cole’s A Million Lights was never destined to be a forum favourite. Cheryl’s first two albums were both universally panned – even many of her biggest supporters found them poor. I on the other hand enjoyed both to at least some extent, with 3 Words being perfectly serviceable RnB and Messy Little Raindrops being worth it solely for the lead single and ‘Yeah Yeah’.

 

However, A Million Lights is a genuinely really good album. Sure, it’s pure commercial pop and Cheryl’s interviews revealed she had about as much artistic input with this album as a Korean girlband has on their own music, but it’s one of the best major pop releases this year, easily outstripping Cheryl’s "commercial British female" contemporaries. Admittedly, this album doesn’t keep me coming back now, but I was obsessed upon release. ‘Call My Name’, ‘Ghetto Baby’ and ‘Mechanics of the Heart’ are career highlights.