Carly Raete Jepsen: 15 Years Of Pop Perfection - #118 Do You Want Me Or Do You Need Me?

LoveMachine

LoveMachine

I gave the whole Tug of War album really low scores (like 2-4 or something), it's just not my cup of tea.
Reading your averages, I think I gave relatively brutal scores in general. Because I was rating Carly against herself and if for example Love Me Like That is a 10, Fever hast to be a bit lower, even though I love both songs.
If I was rating Carly against all other music, both those songs would be 12/10.
So which is the correct way?
 
cdd216

cdd216

He/Him
LoveMachine said:
I gave the whole Tug of War album really low scores (like 2-4 or something), it's just not my cup of tea.
Reading your averages, I think I gave relatively brutal scores in general. Because I was rating Carly against herself and if for example Love Me Like That is a 10, Fever hast to be a bit lower, even though I love both songs.
If I was rating Carly against all other music, both those songs would be 12/10.
So which is the correct way?
Click to expand...
There are definitely differing opinions on this question, but this is how I score things too.

My usual rant when I get called out for low scores in rates:

In my opinion, the point of a rate is to measure an artist against their own body of work, rather than to score songs in a totally objective vacuum. As such, I personally find it useful to use the full 10 point scale we are given, rather than trying to cram 80% of an artist's discography into a 2.5 point range. I rank out all the songs in order of my personal preference before I even start assigning scores.

To your other point, I agree that the exercise becomes sorta pointless if you're going to throw 10s at 10+ songs. Do I think Carly has over 10 songs that are basically perfect? Of course, she undeniably does. But if I am able to identify/rank favorites from within that "basically perfect" group of songs, then it no longer behoves me to give them all 10s, since I would like my absolute favorites to ultimately rank higher. The whole point of a rate is to make choices, which you fundamentally aren't doing if you give a large number of songs the same score... I generally try to limit myself to five 10s.

Rant over.

I think we're in the minority though.
 
lilylu

lilylu

he/him
cdd216 said:
In my opinion, the point of a rate is to measure an artist against their own body of work, rather than to score songs in a totally objective vacuum. As such, I personally find it useful to use the full 10 point scale we are given, rather than trying to cram 80% of an artist's discography into a 2.5 point range. I rank out all the songs in order of my personal preference before I even start assigning scores.

To your other point, I agree that the exercise becomes sorta pointless if you're going to throw 10s at 10+ songs. Do I think Carly has over 10 songs that are basically perfect? Of course, she undeniably does. But if I am able to identify/rank favorites from within that "basically perfect" group of songs, then it no longer behoves me to give them all 10s, since I would like my absolute favorites to ultimately rank higher. The whole point of a rate is to make choices, which you fundamentally aren't doing if you give a large number of songs the same score... I generally try to limit myself to five 10s.

Rant over.
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It's funny because I went back and tried to score on a harsher scale for these reasons but I still ended up with so many 9s and 10s because I couldn't help it. Oop.
 
DJHazey

DJHazey

he/him
Re: Scoring I usually look at things like this: I imagine we've reached the Top 10 and ask myself if I'd be happy with the song being in that imaginary Top 10 (even if it's an underrated gem that would never objectively make a real Top 10, I still imagine it being there). If so, then it's a 10. Obviously, there can and usually is more than ten songs I'd feel that way about. Then I started thinking about Top 20~ and 9's. Then I start thinking about Top 30/Top Half and 8's, then after that the scores start having more impact if you give a 7 or lower (I know this as someone who has entered a-many ballots over the years, so handing those out accordingly. I've become much harsher about songs I find just boring or dull, when I used to give 5s and 6s for those and called them average, I now punish them with 3s and 4s or sometimes lower. It is good to have a nice spread of different scores. There's no way 80% of a songlist is 80-90% as good as your 10s. It's just not possible. Alot of what I sometimes view as 'inflated scores' in a rate, is a subconscious fear of presenting what is deemed as low averages for albums etc. and being viewed as 'not really a fan' or getting 'how could you?' backlash. At some point, you have to find a way to get past that and own your opinions.
 
soratami

soratami

Maki said:
So I decided to check out what are Carly's "worst" songs and... I'm really liking "To Be Without You" and actually consider it better than most of her poppy hits/fan faves. Yes, it's nothing spectacular by any means, but her vocals never sounded so clear (the 'screechy' comment, are we even listening to the same song?), there's a melancholy feel present and the melodies are very pretty. Channeling her own Stefani Germanotta era.

... yeah, I don't belong here.
I won't be checking the Justin collab because I'm scared I might enjoy that one too.
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Even the song going at #124 out of 125 being decent is what happens when an artist is just physically incapable of releasing bad music!

I do agree To Be Without You is very cute though, I gave it a 7 myself. I guess it suffered from being part of an EP I imagine most people had never heard before, being quite different from the type of music Carly would go on to release, and also not on Spotify.
 
Maki

Maki

soratami said:
To Be Without You ... being quite different from the type of music Carly would go on to release
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emily-thornberry-well-there-we-are.gif
 
Music Is Life & Death

Music Is Life & Death

He/Him
#122 - I Still Wonder: 5.2949
I Still Wonder.jpg
(found on Google)
Highest: 1x9 (@pop3blow2) 1x8.25 (@Music Is Life & Death) 2x8s (@unnameable @eddy2375)
Lowest: 1x1 (@slaybellz) 2x2s (@Ana Raquel @LoveMachine) 1x2.5 (@muddleddreams)
My Score: 8.25
Favorite Lyric: I am the shyest or the boldest whenever I let you in (This is such a wonderful way to sum up how it feels to meet someone new.)
Trajectory
5 Voters: #123 (5.1)
10 Voters: #124 (4.1)
15 Voters: #124 (4.267)
20 Voters: #123 (4.925)
25 Voters: #122 (5.12)
30 Voters: #122 (5.25)
35 Voters: #122 (5.25)
39 Voters: #122 (5.2949)
Total Points: 189.25
​
I Still Wonder was included as a bonus on the Japansese deluxe edition of Tug Of War as track 11. Like most songs on the album, it was written by Carly and Ryan Stewart and produced by the latter.

This is such a cute little song! I love the plucking melodies of the guitar and the entire vibe is just very sweet and cute. Which is perfect for the song' subject matter. There's a really sweet spot of time where you meet someone new and it's unexpected and you keep wondering what part they'll play in your life and this song captures that wonder perfectly. Since it's marked as "acoustic" in the tracklist I wonder what the non-acoustic version sounds like. But as is this is a perfect little coda/outro for the album.

@daninternational (7) agrees with me: Cute little tiny track. Exactly. And @unnameable (8) makes an apt comparison: like Carly, this is short and sweet. Facts. @pop3blow2 (9) also makes a comparison: Carly Rae Lightfoot. Melody in the blood of those musicians up there! I don't know who you mean dddd feel free to post below! And lastly, poor @fatyoshi (7) is losing a fave: it's over quickly but this is my favorite of her early folky material. such a sweet song. Honestly! It's so cute.

The song. Just the song.
​
 
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