20GAYTeen the Rate: WINNER!!

What's your favorite album from the main artists of the rate?

  • Expectations by Hayley Kiyoko

    Votes: 15 10.1%

  • Bloom by Troye Sivan

    Votes: 13 8.7%

  • Palo Santo by Years & Years

    Votes: 16 10.7%

  • Language by MNEK

    Votes: 10 6.7%

  • O by Ssion

    Votes: 5 3.4%

  • Dirty Computer by Janelle Monae

    Votes: 60 40.3%

  • Chris by Christine & the Queens

    Votes: 15 10.1%

  • Oil of Every Pearl's Un-Insides

    Votes: 15 10.1%
  • Total voters
    149
Trouble in Paradise

Trouble in Paradise

He/Him
The time has sadly come to officially say goodbye to our beloved "Molecules," feel free to revisit my post-therapy ramblings below along with some beautiful commentary from you all!

Trouble in Paradise said:
Our next cut is introduced by the fabulous Australian drag queen Doris Fish best known for writing and starring in Vegas in Space, a certified cult classic!













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48. "Molecules"
By Hayley Kiyoko
7.442
7.700

Highest Scores: 10 x 5 6 (@GimmeWork @soratami @pop3blow2 @ohnostalgia @Music Is Life @Untouchable Ace) 9 x 5 (@yuuurei @Reboot @Blob @Cutlery @Verandi)
Lowest Scores: 1 x 1 (@GimmeWork) 5 x 4 (@The Hot Rock @dylanaber @Untitled @LE0Night)
My Score: 9.5

So what should I do?
All that's left are molecules of you
Try to rearrange
Did you feel that everything was strange?
​
Once again, please don't shoot the messenger, shoot the @GimmeWork! Honestly learning more about this song's genesis has just made me love it even more and I already loved it so much! Let's start with Hayley's beautiful description of the inspiration behind this SHOULD HAVE BEEN TOP 10 CONTENDER before I get in my feelings post-therapy:

“It's actually a really dark song. One of my friends was murdered and I could not understand the concept of losing him. And my friend, she read this poem about when people pass on, that they don't leave, but their molecules rearrange and they just change form.

“I was really inspired by that line, that I wanted to write a whole song about that concept of trying to understand loss, being upset about losing someone, and not understanding why. There’s that lyric, ‘So what should I do? All that's left is molecules of you.’ I feel like everyone's lost someone in their lives, whether it was expected or unexpected. Even someone you don't even know.

“You sit there and you're just like, ‘I just don't get it.’ And you go through this cycle of asking yourself, ‘How does this work?’ And you start to question yourself, just trying to cope with loss. I thought it was really important to include that track on the album, because I feel like that's something we all share. It doesn't matter who you are, what you look like, what you like. We've all lost someone and we've all been upset and are trying to process. So I tried to write that song and really create comfort over that loss, and create that feeling of not feeling alone. It’s definitely a very meaningful song to me.”
​
Oh god, I'm already getting choked up....okay so I'm gonna put all my feelings under neath this neat spoiler thingy that @Untouchable Ace taught me how to use way back during the genesis of the rate but lemme just give y'all a quick trigger warning for suicide cause I care about each and every one of you, no matter how foolish your usernames and/or taste may be.

So those of you familiar with my posting history will know that I lost one of my best friends to suicide when I was a junior in college. It's an earth shattering experience that still informs who I am as a person and who I will continue to be for the rest of my life. One of the hardest lessons such a shocking loss teaches is how quickly someone can be physically gone from your life. One day, your best friend is just a phone call or quick car ride away. The next there is absolutely nothing you can do to have them back. "Molecules" is such an impacting song for me because the lyrics speak to the completely destabilizing experience of losing someone close to you. The imagery of the lyrics with the pulse of the song recreates the sensation of running through all your memories with the person you lost. They glide through my mind and I can just barely place my fingertip on them before a new one comes as the grief builds and builds until finally the explosion of realizing the loss crashes in. Sonically the song captures it all so well. I rarely listen to the song all the way through as the first run is such an exquisitely captured sensation of loss. The only reason I didn't give the song a full 10 was that I miss the complete build up in the second verse, especially the titular stanza. Lyrically I don't have a single complaint as she hits me right in the heart with lines like "data in my head gets caught up in the drugstores/make me feel again."

Lastly, one of the things I love most is that way back in 2011, one of the songs that spoke most to me in the crash of my grief was "November" by Azure Ray. Sonically, it's far removed from "Molecules" with the lilting voices of Maria Taylor and Orenda Fink and their strummed guitars and waning cellos. However, the lyrics- while touching on both heartbreak and loss- connect with Kiyoko's. In particular, Taylor sings "So we're speeding towards that time of year/to the day that marks that you're not here/I think I'll want to be alone/so please understand if I don't answer the phone/I'll just sit and stare at my deep blue walls/till I can see nothing at all/only particulars some fast, some slow." Where "Molecules" is all pulsing, crashing red, "November" is blue particular spinning fast and slow. Both songs hold stories of loss. "Molecules" to me represents the immediate aftermath. That red rush and sense that the person is still in the air around you. "November" is years later, the grief burns blue and it's not till we sit, stop, and remove ourselves from the buzz of the everyday due we notice the particulars that still remain.

Phew, she just came back from therapy and just finished reading Bluets. Thanks for reading this all, the four of you that will

Okay, this injustice must come to an end, so let's close out with some swan song commentary:
Yuuurei Pretty and sad. I really like the way Hayley sings on this one. Some quirky and interesting production here as well. This isn't a track I think about much when I'm not listening to it, but I like it quite a bit when I do hear it.
Untitled everything i hate about the production of this album in one song
Kalonite I'd completely forgotten about this one, but listening to it again now, I've come to really enjoy it. The last minute of instrumental is great.
The Hot Rock Wish this one was a bit shorter. Could see this maybe being a 6 in that case.
Untouchable Ace You can feel the momentum. She's on an adventure of discovery.
Constantino NOT MIss Kiyoko giving us an epic, brooding slow-build. Way to surpass my expectations of her artistic capabilities, huehuehuehue.
Music is Life This is an amazing mid-tempo. I absolutely love the production, and how it builds into a more up-beat song. Her vocals are great as well.
Pop3blow2 This is my favorite of the Hayely songs here. It has its own vibe to it. While some of her other songs remind me a little of other people (not a bad thing, just an observation) this one seems very singular. I like that. I love the fade out here. My goodness, this song. If I had discovered this a bit earlier, this might've been an 11 contender.



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londonrain

londonrain

Staff member
soratami said:
Ddd I can't at you tanking songs because of the vocals in various rates and then giving this a 9.5 in the PJSC rate

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Average vocals can be redeemed by boppability.

(See: Jennifer Lopez’s entire career.)

But yes, the vocals on that one annoy me, and I said as much in my commentary. It’s why I couldn’t give her a 10. Then again, that rate isn’t exactly awash with impressive vocalists, so...
 
londonrain

londonrain

Staff member
Riiiiiiiii said:
It's Okay To Lie @londonrain. You are obviously not there jet when it comes to the force of nature, ahead of her time, groundbreaking, aesthetic superhuman and basically THE supreme producer that is Sophie.

x
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Maybe she should have just left the vocals to someone else, then, and stuck to production xxx

(In all seriousness, I can see It’s Okay to Cry being a great song if it had been sung by someone else.)
 
Trouble in Paradise

Trouble in Paradise

He/Him
Here to introduce the next hastily put together write up is Mabel Hampton who was a pioneering black lesbian activist who was a dancer in the Harlem Renaissance, a constant supporter of both Black and LGBT rights and organizations and a major resource for capturing and preserving the history of black LGBT people.
























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37. "Karma"
By Years & Years
7.720

Highest Scores: 10 x 3 (@Sanctuary @GimmeWork @KingBruno) 9.5 x 1 (@Blob)
Lowest Scores: 4.5 x 1 (@LE0Night) 5 x 3 (@Empty Shoebox @Cutlery @The Hot Rock)
My Score: 8.5

So many questions in my life
Is every truth just an illusion?
Tell me I'm broken by design
So I can see the beauty in my flaws
And find some peace of mind
​
I hope that the lack of information and research present in this write up will be balanced by that absolute PHOTOGRAPH! I'll be real with y'all, I have a deep thirst for Olly and when that pic first popped up on my instagram it did things to me. ANYWAYS...

"Karma" is actually one of my favorite tracks from the standard edition of Palo Santo since it represents actual strong musical growth for the group. As I'm sure we'll read about in the commentary, it's got some serious 90's vibes that fit Olly's vocals really well (if you like Olly's vocals to begin with) The replay value is super high which I found to be an issue with some of the other Palo Santo bops (side eying "Hallelujah").

Now much has been made about the lack of Emre and Mikey's involvement in the genesis of Palo Santo since the songs were more or less written by Olly and a diverse array of songwriters and produced by outside industry producers instead of just the boys. I think "Karma" is one of the places in the album where this works really well. GRADES produced (and co-wrote) "Karma" and I think most of us can agree it's a bop! I originally heard of GRADES from their work on the Other People's Heartbreak mixtape from Bastille. Interestingly, in their album breakdown Emre really spoke the most about it:

Emre: "90's old school jam kind of thing. I would say if Montell Jordan married some of TLC"
Olly: "That is a beautiful relationship"
Emre: "had a babay, had a babay"
​
And that's about all I got about the song from the boys so let's hear from you all!
Posh Spears The opening reminds me of a video game soundtrack so I kinda have to stan huh?
Slaybellz Sounds like they ripped off Lauryn Hill’s “Everything Is Everything”. (ed. note: she gave this a 5.5 so it is not a compliment!)
untitled this is giving me 2003 dodgily produced top 10 hit. that's a compliment from me
Pop3blow2 I like this the best of the songs I’ve heard by them. Great groove. I like the lyrics & bridge a lot.
The Hot Rock I think Y&Y might just not be for me.
ufint Why did they have to go and steal poor Mis-Teeq’s ‘Scandalous’ sound and soften it? Unoriginal, but I bop.
CorgiCorgiCorgi this is what Justin Timberlake’s new album should’ve sounded like (ed. note: I have reported CorgiCorgiCorgi for a hate crime for uttering J*st*n T*mb*rl*k*'s name in a queer music rate)
Gimmework So under-rated. Should have been a single.
KingBruno Elaborate and effervescent, with a great lyrical matter to top it off.



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