20GAYTeen the Rate: WINNER!!

[Reboot]

SOPHIE's music still confuses the hell out of me, but I feel myself quietly wanting to root for her now.

I think with this rate more than any other, I wish I'd spent a bit more time with the artists that made me go, "This is not for me."

 

[slaybellz]

"Infatuation" was actually one of my higher SOPHIE scores. It definitely grew on me with multiple listens.

 

[yuuurei]

Yuuurei has accepted that she's unfortunately too normal

It's my greatest shame.

I'm not that sad about this particular SOPHIE song leaving but I hope we can leave her alone for bit now, although she does still have one only average score from me. There is a lot worse that could leave first.

 

[londonrain]

I totally forgot this was in the rate dddd. It’s the third-highest Sophie score on my ballot, so I’m a bit surprised to see it gone already.

 

[Phonetics Girl]

Now I'm sorry for calling one song a bottom orgy soundtrack. That association was redundant and shouldn't have popped up in my head. I must do better.

Untitled's therapist would like her to unpack this a bit

Kii. She actually told me to find the little scared girl part of myself and take care of her. In my mind I was like "nah, not my children-hating ass." There is a lot to unpack.

 

[Remyky22]

If this is what the rate is going to be like, I’m out. I’m not here for grading each participants “level of queerness.” Sorry @Trouble in Paradise, you know I loved your idea. But this atmosphere... is not the tea.

If I say that this was one of the greatest tracks in the rate, will my comment be misinterpreted again as evaluating the songs on the basis of the artist's queerness?

Because the vocal layering, the lush production, the slow burn (!) of the way Infatuation builds up and grows until it drowns you in the waves of its crazy world has NOTHING to do with Sophie being trans, and everything to do with the way she creates her songs. It is precisely because we rate music here that I expected her to have better scores and higher ranks than some artists who offer a regular mix of pop/R&B similar to everything we hear outside of the community, hence the "change of pronouns" part of my comment - if some of the songs in this rate changed their pronouns to reflect regular heterosexual cisgender system (with the music remaining the same), they wouldn't exactly stick out, would they? I thought the point of the rate is showing and celebrating queer experience through music. And yes, lyrics are the most convenient way of achieving this, but what I adore about Sophie is that every song on her album documents the stages of her transition even sonically - every element of the song is utilized to serve as a representation of this experience. And I get it, some people may not find it compelling, they may find it noisy, tastes differ etc, but if there is any place where I expected #justice for Sophie, it was this forum. And we can disagree on Sophie or music taste, but please don't try to make my comment sound like something it is not.

 

[londonrain]

I expected her to have better scores and higher ranks than some artists who offer a regular mix of pop/R&B similar to everything we hear outside of the community

But isn't this literally the whole point of the main Popjustice site - to celebrate pop? I mean, this is a site founded off the back of people who stan Girls Aloud, the Sugababes and Sophie Ellis-Bextor and in 2019 the forum's biggest faves are the likes of Rita Ora, Britney Spears, Ariana Grande, Lorde and the other Big Pop Girls.

Popjustice users in "liking pop music" shocker.

 

[swim]

Did anyone try the ‘Faceshopping’? I thought the ‘Faceshopping’ was lovely.

 

[Remyky22]

But isn't this literally the whole point of the main Popjustice site - to celebrate pop? I mean, this is a site founded off the back of people who stan Girls Aloud, the Sugababes and Sophie Ellis-Bextor and in 2019 the forum's biggest faves are the likes of Rita Ora, Britney Spears, Ariana Grande, Lorde and the other Big Pop Girls.

Popjustice users in "liking pop music" shocker.

I think almost all of the artists in this rate fall into the category of pop music. The fact that Sophie has experimental tendencies does not make her music less pop, and it's not like the genre itself could be reduced solely to the artists you mentioned.

 

[evilsin]

And all I thought we were just going to have a kiki...

 

[inevitable]

This Sophie cull already...

 

[Deleted member 29256]

I never thought I would see a term like bottom-shaming on popjustice dot com aka the forum where all but 6 gays are bottoms.

Untouchable Ace is apologetic that he's not weird like Kalonite I'm especially sorry to @Riiiiiiiii , I just don't get it.

Good news is: from all the Sophie songs I scored Infatuation the lowest.

A FRIKKIN 9 THAT IS

 

[soratami]

I think almost all of the artists in this rate fall into the category of pop music. The fact that Sophie has experimental tendencies does not make her music less pop, and it's not like the genre itself could be reduced solely to the artists you mentioned.

You can say it's "pop", but there's no denying SOPHIE makes the most experimental/least accessible music out of all the artists in the rate, so it's not exactly surprising she wouldn't do too great. I'm pretty sure most of us didn't rate songs based on how unique they are, but rather simply based on how much we enjoy them.

 

[Deleted member 29256]

It's like @Posh Spears said:

Our girl Sophie is the Björk of this generation.

 

[ohnostalgia]

I expected her to have better scores and higher ranks than some artists who offer a regular mix of pop/R&B similar to everything we hear outside of the community, hence the "change of pronouns" part of my comment - if some of the songs in this rate changed their pronouns to reflect regular heterosexual cisgender system (with the music remaining the same), they wouldn't exactly stick out, would they?

I didn’t realize popular genres of music were “not queer enough.” Having out there music does not equal queer- that’s my entire point. I don’t even like Troye Sivan and I gave the first song out a 10 (which is just as weird as anything SOPHIE did but somehow that wasn’t a point of contention when it left, probably because Vivek doesn’t have stans reaching to the high heavens on her behalf)- but if a queer artist wants to make mainstream music, what’s the problem?

Seems to me like you’re equating musical experimentation with queerness, when that’s just not true.

 

[londonrain]

I gave the first song out a 10 (which is just as weird as anything SOPHIE did but somehow that wasn’t a point of contention when it left, probably because Vivek doesn’t have stans reaching to the high heavens on her behalf)

On this point: thank you for pointing me towards the original version of the song, which doesn't feature Peaches and sounds very different:



This really brings out the lyrics, which are kind of heartbreaking.

In my room​

In my room
Don't even have my clothes on
'Cause my body's free

But when I leave my space
Layers to dissuade
'Cause I'm afraid

My chest hurts from folding over
My back hurts from shrinking smaller
Are you hitting on me?
Are you hitting on me?
Or are you going to hit me?​

 

[Remyky22]

I didn’t realize popular genres of music were “not queer enough.” Having out there music does not equal queer- that’s my entire point. I don’t even like Troye Sivan and I gave the first song out a 10 (which is just as weird as anything SOPHIE did but somehow that wasn’t a point of contention when it left, probably because Vivek doesn’t have stans reaching to the high heavens on her behalf)- but if a queer artist wants to make mainstream music, what’s the problem?

Seems to me like you’re equating musical experimentation with queerness, when that’s just not true.

I'm not, and neither did I claim that popular genres of music were "not queer enough." And Sophie is hardly the most experimental one here when we have the likes of serpentwithfeet or Planningtorock in the rate. My comment was merely a surprised reaction at the feedback that she has got here, because, yes, we rate songs on the basis on how much we enjoy them, and I simply expected more people on here to enjoy it. I find my expectations completely logical on a forum that supports so many queer artists, regardless of which category one may place their music in, and where Sophie's thread has 70+ pages (and where her debut made its way to quite a few best-of-2018 lists), and that's where my surprise came from. I have no idea why my comment was taken as anything more than that, and especially why you see it as something problematic.

 

[ohnostalgia]

I have no idea why my comment was taken as anything more than that, and especially why you see it as something problematic.

Because you basically said that we could change the pronouns on half the songs here and they wouldn't really be queer (sorry, faceless). Whatever, I'm dropping it for the good sis @Trouble in Paradise.

 

[Music Is Life & Death]

So I listened to Dirty Computer and I loved it, and am consequently chaning my vote for favorite album. I also loved the film, it was a great story.

 

[londonrain]

So I listened to Dirty Computer and I loved it, and am consequently chaning my vote for favorite album. I also loved the film, it was a great story.

What was your favourite album before?