La Roux needs to disappear Haus. FAST.

TROUBLE IN PARADISE !

 

Such an album. Short, but sweet. I absolutely LOVE 'Sexoteque'

2 On is the ultimate party jam, shame none of my friends are really into urban jams but I always try to sneak it on. So frustrating to see it flop twice.

 

Stellar start to the top 5, 2 On is such a jam :wub:

We be all night

 

 

04. Beyoncé ft. Jay Z – Drunk In Love

 

Another hot urban banger all about getting drunk n crunk, anyone would think i'm a FAN of the topic & style. V urban B-)

 

'Drunk in Love' much like '2 On' provided many moments for me throughout the year. It is pretty much the staple song when i am out, i hear it all the time and every single time i just go absolutely bonkers for it. It has gone on to become my favourite song from Beyoncé based mainly on these crazy memories but also because it's a bold, dangerous, glorious number. From the squeaky groans that start the song, her breathless vocals, playful giggles and explosive chorus, i can't quite remember a song that became SUCH an anthem for me (i'd probably be thinking as far back as 'Bad Romance' for a song which similarly followed me around). It also comes as one of the most quotable songs of the past year and one of the most giffable videos; it's just the whole package.

You're not my life but I want you in it

 

 

03. La Roux - Let Me Down Gently

 

At the start of 2014 i briefly considered that *perhaps* La Roux would return out of the water and explode into my ears again but i never really believed it. So when they DID announce a comeback i hotly anticipated the direction they would take. When 'Let Me Down Gently' premiered i was stunned. Doubting whether it would be a commercial hit or not was of no importance and that continued throughout the era because i realised that this was something special regardless. I am usually good with researching what these songs mean for the artists that create them or trying to piece together exactly what they could be alluding to through the lyrics, but for this song i didn't need to. It is such a raw, open, naked song that no matter what Elly is singing about (a lost love? Ben? her record company?) it once again doesn't matter because the lyrics are universal.

 

The song is an electro-power-ballad of epic proportions. It begins stunningly and continues to build at a snail's pace never once letting you lose grip of the hold that she has on you. As it descends into silence half way through for those 2 seconds you can breathe and take in the majesty of the previous minute before it crescendoes and kicks off all over again. It's a brutal technique that has crushed me at times, but it's a wonderful type of overwhelming emotion. A stunning piece of music, so perfectly conceptualised, visualised and vocalised. Her pleas for acceptance and forgiveness are painfully brought about and so truthfully executed. An incredibly bold statement with lyrics that will stay with me for a lifetime. Tell me that i'm someone good. Gah.

Not getting the La Roux love, sry :(

 

Bey on the other hand :wub: 'Drunk in Love' is good only when the solo version is gracing one's ears x

 

fab countdown ^_^ x

I'm gonna live like tomorrow doesn't exist

 

 

02. Sia - Chandelier

 

Perhaps a shock #2 placing, but there was always one special song that was going to take the #1 spot, the surprising part is how much of a fight Sia put up here.

 

'Chandelier' is a rare moment. A pop song that is SO big, SO grand and SO over-the-top and yet at the same time it is so delicate, so vulnerable and so touching. It is a magical song with a number of moments throughout that i will attempt to pick apart~ The initial statement that party girls can't get hurt is so fitting to what the song has gone on to mean; it's a false statement shrouded in disbelief and denial but it perfectly opens the song, where for the next 3 precious minutes you won't be hurt. The repeated urge to push it all down throughout the song represents her bottling away these pains, these signs of depression, sadness and guilt. From out of this comes the love that the listener feels when knocking back the drinks, or the substances or the good times with others and it's a truly breathtaking chorus as she sends you higher than the ceiling with every aching note. Living for the moment has never been made easier than it is in the chorus here but still it lacks the truthfulness of pure ecstasy: when she sings that she is a bird through the night, watching her tears dry, there is an ever-present ghost of sadness that continues to shine through. The night ends and the new day begins as the sun comes up, but it lasts for all of 3, momentary lines before the drinks are knocked back again and night returns. In the final merging of verse and chorus, she repeatedly states that she will continually return to the "night" (whatever that darkness represents for her/the listener) and it is a beautifully deep moment when you realise that the song is coming to an end and all the pain and fears you had before listening, which somehow evaporated for 3 glorious minutes, will be returning.

 

I have followed the song throughout this past year. Having previously disregarded Sia as an artist and a person, and never really entering her psyche, but here she proved that all it takes is one song to make disbelievers believe. I could go on picking apart every moment of the song or dissecting the tremendous video but i'm sure the song speaks for everyone in different ways. For myself, in a year that was mostly positive and uplifting, it allowed that to continue for me and made me realise that there are always others in a worse position. A selfish notion yes, but when a song overwhelms you as much as 'Chandelier' does here, nothing or no one else really matters. It is a song about the self, for the self, and a superb way of valuing that self against all the ills and woes that life presents. When the "self" of the artist behind the song is denied for us (in Sia's eclectic live performances of the song, or her omission from the music video), you begin to realise that the song is universal, removed from the artist, and is all about the listener and the experiences that he or she feels when partying, crying, flying, living through the song. I have said far too much and still have so much more to say but i'll shut up now. I feel the love~

A shock #2 indeed :o (although I feel I'm forgetting a glaringly obvious fave of yours) :thinking:

 

Predictably excellent commentary - it's always really interesting to hear different interpretations of songs and 'Chandelier' of any track last year seems to have made a deep personal connection with a lot of people. I'm sure it'll be remembered as a very important record in years to come. I particularly love what you said about it being so over-the-top yet so delicate at the same time. Sums it up perfectly for me.

I knew your commentary would be perfect! :wub:

 

Indeed I am shocked but I've now stalked your personal chart archive to find an answer as to what has beaten it :kink:

Yay at "Drunk In Love" and "Chandelier" being so high! :cheer:

Dear God make me a bird, so I can fly far, far far away

 

 

01. SZA ft. Isaiah Rashad - Warm Winds

 

I knew this was going to be my #1 song pretty much from the 2nd or 3rd play. No song in the previous 12 months touched me quite like this. I know many won't have heard it or even care to, but if you take one thing from this overdrawn, dragged out thread, please listen to it ~

 

Hey glory child, don't you worry

'Warm Winds' comes from a delicate artist, one who i still don't think has found herself through the varying cultures she has lived in. Those are just my presumptions based on the wavy lyrics she presents. The glory child she opens the song with is the listener but it also screams of what was perhaps said to her as a youngster. Shaking off her fear is the first priority. As she sings these delicate lines, i feel her singing directly to me - no artist has ever really spoken this directly to me i don't think and as creepy as it sounds, she enters my immediate surroundings from the very moment she whispers these lines. Every listener becomes worthy and glorious and appreciated and it's a wonderful way to enter the warped journey of love, death, beauty, nature and music.

 

I'll keep track of every moment wasted

The track like many others in my top 10 defined certain moments of the year for me. It defined my trip to Glasgow initially, but it then went on to mean a lot to me in various other places. When i was walking to school as a volunteer, hoping to eventually make it as a professional, the song offered comfort there and hope for the future. When i traveled to Canada to spend time with my dearest loved ones, the warmness they presented was reignited when i listened to the song around them. When i spent lonely nights either drunk, or upset, or elated at life, the song was a crushing reminder of pain that had gone before or feelings of indescribable optimism. The soundtrack to my (lonely) thoughts.

 

Sometimes, I crack my veins so bad, just to see if it's blue

I just had to pause at these lyrics, because i have never heard more painful ones. A song very much about self-harm as well as self-worth. It is a cutting line that on many occasions caused me to shiver and take a step back from what i was listening to. The body is broken, shattered, and cut open in the song. It is never sewn up, and is instead appreciated and commemorated for being broken - it becomes a song for people that have felt at loss with themselves or the world around them, basically everyone.

 

Sometimes I bite my lips and close my eyes, just to pretend it's you

The song explores lost love, a desire that is unreachable for her. For me the lyric meant a lot as i had many moments where people that were miles away from me, were always in my thoughts and be it friendship or family, it was always love that i felt and this lyric perfectly depicts that longing. The song is the most honest i have heard in the past 12 months. It opens up not only the artist, but the listener because it is fundamentally about what makes us human, what makes us tick, what makes us love, what makes us live.

 

Long live, lonely thoughts

My favourite lyric of the year and one that i think sums me up perfectly. I am forever wistfully daydreaming, or walking alone with thoughts dashing through my mind and i like to think SZA had people like me in her mind when she created this beautiful message.

 

We were all thirteen once

A song about innocence, youth and forgiveness. A look to the past, the pain of it, but somehow struggling through this and creating a beauty out of the madness and trials that we have faced. SZA still seems like a 13 year old girl, lost in the big world she finds herself in. She holds onto and gracefully OWNS her freckles, her marks of youth and innocence and repeatedly shares these with her followers as a mark of her pure soul. The song allows you to similarly hold onto the past, not as a means of yearning or wanting, but as a means of coping.

 

I recall your soul and it taste like... gardens, flowers, Warm Winds

She is an incredible artist. So poetic, imaginative and creative with her lyrics. The song is perfect, it sounds, smells, looks, tastes and feels like gardens, flowers but most of all warm winds - those passing moments of beauty that we take for granted or ignore. It makes you stop in your tracks and appreciate everything you can for the wonderful 5 minutes it grabs hold of you. Thankfully, such is the way with music, that these warm winds will never cool.

 

I never thought a song so beautiful could be created so magically and passionately, but for SZA it seems so natural. It takes you on a journey, starting in one way, shifting half way through, and ending in another. So many emotions, images, thoughts, ideas shoved into 5 minutes. Overwhelming, but always satisfying. Moving, but always rewarding. A triumphant song that even if you don't enjoy listening to, i hope you can find at least an iota of the beauty and majesty that i find in it. My favourite song of the year for so many reasons, but primarily because it represents me and my love for music more than any other and it does so in a beautiful, tragic way.

 

 

:cry: I know no one will read all of that but i hope at the very least, that the song can be some sort of discovery or experience for you, should you choose to listen to it~

Long live lonely thoughts



1. SZA ft. Isaiah Rashad - Warm Winds
2. Sia – Chandelier
3. La Roux - Let Me Down Gently
4. Beyoncé – Drunk In Love
5. Tinashe ft. SchoolBoy Q – 2 On
6. Kitty Pryde – •.¸.•SECOND♥LIFE•.¸.•
7. La Roux - Kiss and Not Tell
8. Tinashe - Feels Like Vegas
9. Beyoncé – XO
10. Kanika Kapoor ft. Sunny Leone - Baby Doll
11. Ben Khan – Youth
12. SchoolBoy Q – Hell of a Night
13. La Roux – Sexoteque
14. Tove Lo – Not On Drugs
15. Anna Lunoe - Breathe
16. Ain't No Love - Love Me Lots (Bridge & Law Remix)
17. iamamiwhoami - vista
18. Jessie Ware -Tough Love
19. Neon Jungle – Braveheart
20. TĀLĀ - Alchemy
21. Banks – Brain
22. Trevor Something – All Night
23. Marina & the Diamonds - Froot
24. Sia - Big Girls Cry
25. Taylor Swift – Wildest Dreams
26. La Roux - Uptight Downtown
27. Peking Duk ft. Nicole Millar – High
28. iamamiwhoami – fountain
29. Nicki Minaj - Pills N Potions
30. VÉRITÉ – Weekend
31. LOLO ft. Giggs - Gangsters (XY Constant Remix)
32. Beyoncé ft. Drake – Mine
33. Banks - Begging For Thread
34. Sam Smith - Leave Your Lover
35. Oscar and the Wolf – Princes
36. Ariana Grande ft. The Weeknd - Love Me Harder
37. Elliphant ft. MØ - One More
38. Neon Jungle – Welcome to the Jungle
39. One Direction - Night Changes
40. Iggy Azalea ft. Charli XCX – Fancy
41. Elliphant - Never Been In Love
42. Sigma – Nobody To Love
43. LIZ - XTC
44. Charli XCX - Boom Clap
45. Josef Salvat - Open Season
46. Sam Smith - Stay With Me
47. Tinashe ft. A$AP Rocky – Pretend
48. One Direction - Steal My Girl
49. Josef Salvat - Diamonds
50. Tulisa - Living Without You
51. La Roux - Tropical Chancer
52. The Vamps ft. Demi Lovato - Somebody To You
53. Michael Jackson & Justin Timberlake - Love Never Felt So Good
54. FKA twigs - Two Weeks
55. Raleigh Ritchie – Stronger Than Ever
56. Cher Lloyd - Sirens
57. Azealia Banks - Chasing Time
58. Nicki Minaj – Anaconda
59. Luke James - Dancing in the Dark
60. Tinashe - Wildfire
61. Kylie Minogue – Into The Blue
62. Oh, Be Clever - Next 2 U
63. Kelela – The High
64. G.R.L. – Ugly Heart
65. SZA - Shattered Ring
66. Ariana Grande - One Last Time
67. Lucas Nord ft. Tove Lo - Run On Love [QOTC Edit]
68. Katy B – Wicked Love
69. Banks - Goddess
70. Fatima Al Qadiri - Dragon Tattoo
71. Angel Haze – Sing About Me
72. Ariana Grande ft. Zedd - Break Free
73. AYER – Young
74. Shura - Touch
75. Austin Mahone ft. Pitbull – MMM Yeah
76. Kid Cudi ft. Raphael Saadiq - Balmain Jeans
77. Katy B – Still
78. SZA ft. Chance the Rapper - Child's Play
79. Tinashe - All Hands on Deck
80. Trust - Icabod
81. Madonna - Rebel Heart
82. Taylor Swift - Blank Space
83. Raleigh Ritchie – Bloodsport
84. The Vamps - Last Night
85. Austin Mahone - Secret
86. Indiana – Solo Dancing
87. Tove Lo - Timebomb
88. Shift K3Y – Touch
89. Mausi - My Friend Has A Swimming Pool
90. Halsey - NEW AMERICANA
91. Jason Derulo ft. Snoop Dogg - Wiggle
92. Lily Allen – Air Balloon
93. Tove Lo - Talking Body
94. Rochelle Jordan ft Timbaland + Microsoft + Lenovo - So Good
95. Wretch 32 - 6 Words
96. Kiesza – Hideaway
97. 2NE1 - 멘붕 (CL Solo)
98. Neon Jungle - Bad Man
99. Angel Haze – Dirty Gold
100. Katy Perry - This Is How We Do // This is How We Do (Grandtheft Remix)





01. La Roux - Trouble in Paradise
02. SZA - Z
03. Beyoncé - Beyoncé
04. Tinashe – Aquarius
05. Taylor Swift – 1989
06. Banks - Goddess
07. Tove Lo - Truth Serum
08. Sia - 1000 Forms of Fear
09. Katy B – Little Red
10. iamamiwhoami - blue
11. Kid Cudi - SATELLITE FLIGHT: The journey to Mother Moon
12. One Direction - FOUR
13. Sam Smith - In The Lonely Hour
14. Schoolboy Q – Oxymoron
15. FKA twigs - LP1
16. Iggy Azalea - The New Classic
17. Michael Jackson - Xscape
18. Neon Jungle - Welcome To The Jungle
19. Tove Lo - Queen of the Clouds
20. The Vamps - Meet The Vamps
21. Elliphant - One More
22. Angel Haze - Dirty Gold
23. Josef Salvat - In Your Prime
24. Ben Howard - I Forgot Where We Were
25. Fatima Al Qadiri – Asiatisch
26. Austin Mahone - The Secret
27. Lily Allen – Sheezus
28. Azealia Banks - Broke With Expensive Taste
29. Jhené Aiko - Souled Out
30. Ariana Grande - My Everything

--xxx--

Thank you to anyone that has commented or even read anything in this thread :wub: It's been very fun writing all of these up and trying to get all that mush & love for the music in my brain down into logical sentences but i hope you have enjoyed bits of it or made discoveries along the way! Would have been v lonely on my own, so yes, thank you again and i'll see you same time at the end of this year :cheer:

Wow awesome countdown Bal ^_^ Seeing Baby Doll at #10 made my day!

Now that really IS a shock result :o I guess SZA should have been a clear contender but I couldn't see anything but Chandelier taking it! Blaming Andrea for tainting it a bit :( :heehee:

 

I've just listened to a few minutes of Warm Winds, I'm not sure it's entirely my thing but I get why you like it so much, it's a really intriguing track :o

 

FABULOUS countdown btw :D

Hello Bap!

 

I've never heard your #1! Perhaps I should! See if you're being a HUGE silly bean or not. http://www.skype-emoticons.com/images/emoticon-00117-talking.gif

 

I certainly improve of Bey's Crunk Drunk In Love being so high in this swaggy~ countdown. http://www.skype-emoticons.com/images/emoticon-00117-talking.gif

 

If you're really lucky I'll reply again soon, with a list of the songs I like from your EOY. Watch this space. http://www.skype-emoticons.com/images/emoticon-00117-talking.gif

P.S. http://www.boardaloud.co.uk/images/smilies/happy3001.gif

YES @ 'Warm Winds' :wub: (glad it beat Chandelier which I don't love tbh) Still to come in my own chart and on a par with 'Julia' for me now. So special, poignant, and mysterious in its construction - reading how much it means to you is a real treat and makes me miss your face. :heart:

Wow awesome countdown Bal ^_^ Seeing Baby Doll at #10 made my day!

Haha, knew that would make you smile! v iconic song <3

 

Now that really IS a shock result :o I guess SZA should have been a clear contender but I couldn't see anything but Chandelier taking it! Blaming Andrea for tainting it a bit :( :heehee:

 

I've just listened to a few minutes of Warm Winds, I'm not sure it's entirely my thing but I get why you like it so much, it's a really intriguing track :o

 

FABULOUS countdown btw :D

Thank you for listening! It probably wouldn't be your thing i don't think :P And yes Andrea ruined the song for me :'(

 

Hello Bap!

 

I've never heard your #1! Perhaps I should! See if you're being a HUGE silly bean or not. http://www.skype-emoticons.com/images/emoticon-00117-talking.gif

 

I certainly improve of Bey's Crunk Drunk In Love being so high in this swaggy~ countdown. http://www.skype-emoticons.com/images/emoticon-00117-talking.gif

 

If you're really lucky I'll reply again soon, with a list of the songs I like from your EOY. Watch this space. http://www.skype-emoticons.com/images/emoticon-00117-talking.gif

You improve of it :0 well prove it in your own countdown then ~ http://www.skype-emoticons.com/images/emoticon-00117-talking.gif

 

I anticipate that x

 

YES @ 'Warm Winds' :wub: (glad it beat Chandelier which I don't love tbh) Still to come in my own chart and on a par with 'Julia' for me now. So special, poignant, and mysterious in its construction - reading how much it means to you is a real treat and makes me miss your face. :heart:

Aww thank you <3 i am missing you too! Big SZA session when we next see each other please. And oooh - i will be keeping an eye out for it then. As high as possible please !!