BPG 2019 - THE END

Music Is Life & Death

Music Is Life & Death

He/Him
RJF said:
Our last elimination tonight... hurts.

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SCORE: 7.473

11 x 2 (@that boy is a monster @godspeed)

HIGHEST SCORE: 10 x 22 (@Music Is Life @Joe. @DJHazey @sexercise @ohnostalgia @Jwentz @Slice of Life @Petty Mayonnaise @Babyface @djmakemewet @Jonathan27 @Mushroom @pop3blow2 @Ashling92 @Gabeee9292 @aaronhansome @Bangers&Bops @Mr Blonde @Subwaykid @Diet Pop! @PushyBakerFriend)
LOWEST SCORE: 1.5 x 1 (@Guy)
MY SCORE: 10/10

Let's talk about Taylor Swift's best song for a minute, shall we?

There's a lot of power on display in "It's Nice To Have A Friend" and it's actually kind of stunning to think about. If there was a song that actually would have benefited from a video set in a snowglobe, it would be this one; a song where Taylor manages to vividly portray decades and whole lifetimes across single stanzas, and how all that majesty is perfectly contained within the world of this breathtaking, unassuming little song. There's not a trope in sight, and even when one comes close, it's more in aid of the massive amount of world-building that goes into every single word rather than an attempt to engineer a kneejerk emotional reaction. One mention of sidewalk chalk instantly evokes summer days, sun-warmed tarmac, and all the kind of silly dumb shit we had to do back in the 90s to entertain ourselves because the Internet hadn't come along to save us just yet. It doesn't matter if the event being illustrated clearly happens in winter; the intent is in that feeling. Time and place are conjured around us, and it's a master stroke.

The song is full of effective, affecting, economical lyrical work like this. I mean, that second verse alone. I can't. The way it effortlessly manages to move the song onto a time where interactions with other people have become more complicated and difficult to navigate, and the anxiety that comes with it, and the bravery to reach out through it all. The third verse completes things perfectly. In a career defined by songs full of grand gestures and dramatic, turbulent emotions, Taylor finally realises that it's all the boring, non-descript, day-to-day stuff that really renders a relationship in technicolour, because... that's just life.

Yeah, I absolutely adore this and think it's probably her best work ever as a lyricist. The levels to something that is so utterly simple on the surface. The stories told in three or four words. Y'all can keep that scarf from the very first week; I'll have this instead: whole universes and lifetimes cradled in two and a half minutes. Honestly, as a popstar, Taylor is outclassed by others in almost every single way. She doesn't have the imagination for it. But this, this is where her head and her heart really seem to lie. Can she honestly just ditch writing fairly mediocre pop songs while performing them decently in productions that swallow her whole? Because no one else could do a song like this, and do it this well, and it's definitely an avenue she should explore more in the future.

I am not alone in the praise either. @godspeed joins me in loving it, and even gives it his 11/10, "Never would I have thought I'd ever pick a song from a mediocre album by Taylor Swift as my 11 in a BPG rate, especially when a Beyoncé album is included in it. But after wondering for a LONG time which song I was going to pick as my 11 in this rate, I realized that I had to be honest with myself and choose the song that surprised and captivated me the most in 2019 and that has remained on my mind ever since. "It's Nice To Have A Friend" is probably the weirdest song Taylor Swift ever made. It's incredibly subdued, very low-key, it's sweet, it sounds very organic and quite simple in its composition and production, it never tries to be catchy or deliver a (cringey) punchline like so many songs on "Lover" do, yet it's enough to create and convey a dreamy and romantic atmosphere. It's a very captivating song that sounds nothing like what Taylor Swift has been offering us/forcing down our throats these past few years. I don't think she actually released something I have loved that much since... "Begin Again," in 2012? It's beautiful, it's such a unique piece in her discography and especially on that album. It sounds like something Sufjan Stevens could do if he worked with a pop artist. A part of me would like to think that, in the future, Taylor Swift will follow down this path and try experiment more with her music and her songwriting, something that has been lacking ever since 1989. But I know very well that it won't happen and we'll get another "ME!"-sized disaster to add to her collection." Word.

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Every single one of you human beings can fuck right off if you gave this less then...I'll be generous and say an 8. The only Taylor song in consideration for my 11 for this, for all the reasons stated in this write-up.
RJF said:


Oh, and we're leaving Taylor alone for a while.
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THANK GOD. But we should've left her alone before eliminating this.
RMK said:
It isn’t Taylor’s best song.
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Maybe, maybe not but it is her best song in this rate next to Soon You'll Get Better.
 
strangekin

strangekin

RJF said:
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SCORE: 7.459

HIGHEST SCORING CLINGY BOTTOMS: 10 x 10 (@Sanctuary @Vitamin @sexercise @BeingNormal @klow @Slice of Life @aaronhansome @Petit nain des Îles @savilizabeths @askew)
LOWEST SCORE: 3 x 2 (@Phonetics Boy @Lost Boy)
MY SCORE: 5/10

It would appear that my illustrious co-host @Laura Vanderbooben has finally succumbed to the tiny doses of cyanide I've been putting in her morning protein shake every day for the last six years, so the above cover is stolen from Pintrest. Yes, we've truly reached new lows. This would normally be a perfect segue into talking about how "needy" is a new low for Ariana, but let's be honest, it's a fairly familiar low. Who was really needing another pseudo-lullaby where Ariana coos coquettishly approximately 3mm away from the microphone, most likely lying down on the sofa as she spun out a vocal take after a hectic afternoon on Fifth Avenue looking at two blue ticks on WhatsApp and no response. What a nothingy song. How did it last this long?

"needy" was performed on The Sweetener World Tour, and the audio of said performance is on Spotify if anyone wants to hear the audience hysterically croak out the call and response lyrics in the verses before it descends into Ariana giggling into her ponytail at the end as she recreates the My Everything album cover. We're just not that into you, girl.





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I may have cried to Needy in concert, but since I’ve learned to have zero emotional attachments to any men and supplement the void with drugs.


So respect to the clingy bottom community, but it ain’t me!
 
aaronhansome

aaronhansome

ironically, while i love needy and am at heart a clingy bottom, i push away people before i can get hurt usually now! RIP my meandering vocal layers.

RJF said:
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SCORE: 7.468

HIGHEST SCORE: 10 x 14 (@maverick_79 @Sprockrooster @ohnostalgia @BeingNormal @Trouble in Paradise @djmakemewet @aaronhansome @myblood @Lindsay Lohan @Trinu 3.0 @godspeed @Subwaykid @EnsnareTheSenses @Diet Pop!)
LOWEST SCORE: 2 x 1 (@UncleDeSeanAli... you know, the guy who gave "Sweet But Psycho" his 11/10????)
MY SCORE: 9/10

Wooft... this one gives me shivers every single time. It's so, so soft. It feels so fragile and intimate; like you're intruding on a moment just by listening to it. That wonderfully delicate, fluttering piano. Beyoncé's voice sweeping the ocean floor with how low she's able to get with it these days, and... just a really nice ballad about how nice it is to have someone in your life that you love so much you're glad you believe in an afterlife because it means you'll never have to be apart. I like how it can apply to The Lion King as a film in multiple ways too; how it's reflected in parental loss, finding new love, and even just making really good friends along the way too. Y'all did this one way wrong to be honest. It's not much on paper but whew! What a stunner in practice.

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THIS ONE y'all fucked up on.
 
R27

R27

Glad to see Miss Americana out, but I'm actually sad that It's Nice is already gone. That and False God (which I realized I underscored a tad) are easIly amongst her most interesting tracks. I'm not as enamoured with it as some, but even if it doesn't totally click with I can appreciate how lowkey and offbeat it is.

I think my next three ideal eliminations would be Harley's in Hawaii (really don't get the love for this one), Good As Hell, and Fake Smile.
 
Sanctuary

Sanctuary

he/him
Passionate but I don't give no fucks
I admit that I'm a lil messed up
But I can hide it when I'm all dressed up
I'm obsessive and love too hard
Good at overthinking with my heart
How you even think it got this far?
This far?....
I can be needy
Way too damn needy
I can be needy
Tell me how good it feels to be needed
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sexercise

sexercise

he/him
Mr Blonde said:
You Swifties should have been campaigning for It's Nice To Have A Friend rather than trying to convince yourselves Cruel Summer is anything better than a 7/10. Braver than marines my ass.
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There are like 7 of us!! As much as I tried to rig the rate, we only have so much power.

Maybe if y'all would get taste and stop acting like Taylor is the popular girl who stole your lunch money, we wouldn't be in this mess.
 
Gabeee9292

Gabeee9292

For all the Lover lashings I had in this thread...

Only to find myself aggravated, for the first time through the countdown, over a Lover song getting kicked out.

I'm a clown but so are you all.
 
Joe.

Joe.

It's Nice To Have a Friend should NOT be below Soon You'll Get Better. Rooting for False God and Cruel Summer as the Taylor top 2, now that my favourite has gone.
 
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