It's time!

 

Intro

Wonder

Higher

24 Hours

Teach Me How to Love

Call My Friends

Dream

Song For No One

Monster

305

Always Been You

Piece of You

Look Up at the Stars

Can't Imagine

 

Predictions? What song will win? What will come last? :o

 

First result coming very soon ~

I can imagine Can't Imagine being first out :thinking:

Definitely expecting Can't Imagine out first, and a Teach Me How to Love win? :thinking:

14

Can't Imagine



5.78

Highest score: 07.0 (JosephStyles)
Lowest score: 04.0 (HarryEzra)

Finishing in last place is the album closer, Can't Imagine. One of the weaker songs on the album, it's not surprising to see it amass very little support here, with only one score of 07.0, while the rest were in the 04.0 to 06.5 region. The song itself is nice enough but in the context of the album and compared to a lot of the other songs is pretty forgettable. Probably the ultimate ode to Camila on an album full of songs inspired by loving someone so much, Can't Imagine talks about not being able to live in a world where the person you love isn't there or at least not knowing how to. The song was supposedly recorded in one take too (the video below being the visual of that, also giving us a peek at the creative process for the album; not that we didn't get a major glimpse of all of that in the In Wonder documentary on Netflix).

A fair last place, definitely the least good on the album but nice enough nonetheless.

Yeah. I'd say that's about where I expected for it. It's pretty bland and forgettable.

That's a fair last place, it's pleasant I guess but kind of forgettable. I'm glad Intro didn't end up last!

13

Intro



6.78

Highest score: 09.0 (Jonjo, ...ready for it)
Lowest score: 05.0 (Calum, Haus)

Intro was our first taste of the Wonder era - dropping at the very beginning of October 2020 as a 'trailer' for Wonder, it was the soundtrack to a video that saw us head inside an apartment full of clues and subtle hints about what was to come - song titles, set lists, tapes, contact lists, and so much more. Eventually, the room from the video ended up being the setting for an online game too (that really wasn't much fun after one go, lmao!). As far as intros go, this is pretty great and sets the tone for the album well, with lyrics that Shawn has said are a message to himself, allowing him to get lost in 'wonderland' through the creative process of the album and just letting whatever happens to do so naturally. Obviously it's the introduction to the album and to the era, but it very much feels like a reflection on what Shawn's achieved so far too.

The intro is gorgeous. I don't like rating "Intro" tracks usually just coz it feels odd if I rank them higher than actual tracks or I don't think you can get much from them enough to rate them fairly. My only critique is (and I've said it a couple of times before, sorry! :lol:) that I think they could've have blended it into 'Wonder' a bit smoother and actually made it feel like it was a extended intro of sorts to that track instead.

I agree that the transition into Wonder could've been smoother but otherwise Intro's lovely, it sets the tone well!

12

24 Hours



7.22

Highest score: 09.0 (Jonjo)
Lowest score: 06.0 (Maurice)

Track 4 on the album is 24 Hours, a song that's lyrics speaks about being so in love with somebody that you just want to be with them, come home to them, buy a house with them, and do all of the things that a couple do. Despite being a very cute, innocent and nice enough song, I feel it is definitely down at the bottom end in terms of quality. It could go somewhere and build up to a monumental climax, but sadly it doesn't and just plods along for the full almost-three minutes really. There's no boundaries being pushed with this song and even some of the lyrics do verge on being too cringe (see: "I heard that once a wise man said"), losing some of the authenticity of what the song's about. There are other songs on Wonder that manage to do what 24 Hours does, but a lot better and with better style, lyrics and production.

24 Hours is creeping up on me with each play!

It's definitely a grower!

 

I love it. It's really subtle and simple, but so beautiful. Reminds me of 'When You're Ready' just not as melodic or as in your face. (Also, it's very the beginning of My Chemical Romance - Black Parade with the piano chords aha)

I think its only real issue is getting swallowed up a little between bops Higher and Teach Me How to Love - I think it might work better after the latter and before Call My Friends? :thinking:

The results are going quite well so far! It's hard to justify Intro being any higher than that, but it is a great way to start the album. 24 Hours is really cute! I wanna come home to you, Shawn x

11

Monster



7.28

Highest score: 09.5 (Josh!)
Lowest score: 05.5 (Jonjo, Jay)

The second single from the Wonder era, Monster saw the long-rumoured and long-awaited collaboration from Shawn and Justin Bieber come to fruition. Sadly though, the song was met with mixed reviews and has gone on to get a bit of a hard time. Some of the criticisms for the song are completely valid - do we really want to hear about Justin's well-documented woes on Shawn's song? Is the song suited to the overall vibe of Wonder? It definitely is an outlier on the album; feeling like it should have been released as a one-off collaboration as opposed to being included on a collection of songs that scream from the rooftops Shawn's love for Camila. All in all, to finally have a song by Shawn and Justin is something ticked off the list, but is it everything we hoped it would be? Certainly not. A good song in its own right, but shrouded in some unfortunate negativity and hostility towards it.

Not a surprising position really - I enjoy Monster very much in isolation but it's such a sore thumb on the album!

Bleh. NEXT!

 

Very disappointing considering the names involved, for me. Something like 'Anyone' would've been good! But yeah this just hasn't clicked for me.

'Monster' is definitely the worst on the album which is such a shame as I really like both Shawn and Justin and they are capable of so much more.

10

Song For No One



7.78

Highest score: 10.0 (Maurice)
Lowest score: 06.0 (...ready for it)

Up next, and finishing lower than I personally would have liked, is Song For No One. Wedged between possibly one of the best songs on the album and one of the least good songs on the album, I think Song For No One maybe gets a little lost, but it's a really beautiful song. We start off very down-tempo, almost like an acoustic version of a song, before half-way through the production switches things up, adds in a lot of flavour and we have Shawn really delivering in the vocals. Granted, there isn't much actually there in terms of lyrical content besides maybe just putting pen to paper and saying how you feel at one exact moment in time, but the melody still manages to catch you and it ends up building to a grand climax, even if it's too short-lived to make as bold an impression as other songs on the album. The song was written around about the same time as Monster - Shawn says three years ago (before his third album was even released) - so it seems Wonder really was the time to give some leftovers their moment in the sun.