ILM's Top 77 Tracks of 2019

"Lose You To Love Me" is bleh and I hope it doesn't place, is gonna be my only pre-today's-rollout bit of negativity

― bold caucasian eroticism (Simon H.), Thursday, January 30, 2020 6:32 AM (thirty-four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

this may be an incredibly pointless post if it doesn't place, and also my cry-on-command response to this song is so quasi-pavlovian that idk if i can pretend to be even slightly objective about it, but: the way the general public felt about adele's "someone like you" is how i feel about this song, it delivers a very true sentiment so simply and directly that it just drives straight through all of my defenses. the subtle touches of production, where it sounds like the song is slipping into a vacuum, help elevate it above its one-glacial-piano-chord-at-a-time pop ballad peers, and i also just think it's a really solid piece of writing about a lesson i've had to learn multiple times over the course of my life, "made me think i deserved it / in the thick of healing" is so precise it hurts

^^^

<3

I agree with Brad on "Lose You to Love Me" in all regards. I had it high on my ballot, but there are times I kinda wish I put it at #1.

I'm firmly against evolving or self-betterment so that probably explains why it didn't resonate w me

that and I prefer to think of B**b*r as little as possible

Those Mystery Sonatas of his were pretty sweet tho.

:D

I hadn't realized it literally means 'beaver'.

Man, I love "Don't Start Now."

At the time this felt like a very going-through-the-motions comeback for one of the biggest pop stars in the world and it's never really caught on with me since.

it's been mentioned before but I really recommend checking out one of her live performances of it

i got new songs, i count em

I've never heard the Mystery Sonatas, seems like as good a time as any to check 'em out

it's been mentioned before but I really recommend checking out one of her live performances of it

I don't believe people evolve either, but I believe when other people believe it.

damn these sonatas sound pretty good, I knock the kid but I guess he really was a prodigy after all

It all went wrong when he added the 'e'.

it's been mentioned before but I really recommend checking out one of her live performances of it

― bold caucasian eroticism (Simon H.)

Yeah, the performances made me go from thinking it was a pretty solid comeback to being full on obsessed with it. The Jimmy Fallon one is still my favourite.

I wish I'd had this higher on my list now. I think I might be the only one who thought Future Nostalgia was even better. That was in my top five.

Been hearing this on the office radio about 5 time a day for months so it's really hard to be objective.

i prefered this trashy edm remix that i assume i was introduced to on ilm https://youtu.be/EjB2RWF_jFg

"let's take out the single most distinct element of the song and that will somehow make it better"--yet it does idk don't ask me

I like "New Rules" more, too, but "Don't Start Now" is one hell of a ride and was on my ballot. Love the way her delivery switches from staccato demands in the chorus to feather light on the verse, and that both are complemented by the production. WALK AWAY/ YOU KNOW HOW/ DON'T START CARING ABOUT ME NOW - arrrreen't you the guuuuuyy whoooo.....

Why are we talking about it as a "comeback"? She's had multiple hits within the last three years.

"comeback" just means "new promotional cycle" these days

i was a little disappointed by the turn to pop-disco-revivalism after 'new rules,' of which i have this super fun memory of hearing tzusing play in a shibuya club for whoever was left after a blistering set of tribal industrial techno and it was a great moment

very alone in this opinion but i think "lost in your light" is the best dua lipa song. "don't start now" is less miraculous than "new rules," i agree with that

"comeback" just means "new promotional cycle" these days

Blame K-Pop for this.

I don't really get this one tbh, I don't think it's horrible but I can't find its charm.

Blame K-Pop for this.

i was going to but i was worried the usage was much older than i presumed

I seem to be alone in finding the "New Rules" lyric cringey to the point of not being able to roll w it at all but I don't want to start another pedantic lyric fight

very alone in this opinion but i think "lost in your light" is the best dua lipa song.
― american bradass (BradNelson)

I'm with you on that Brad. I voted for it as my number one on here two years ago and stand by that decision. I'm still disappointed it's basically the only main single of hers to flop. Looking back now, it's actually amazing that was the single used to launch the album (after a year of delays).

ts "Don't Start Now" vs "Don't Let's Start"

I voted for it as my number one on here two years ago and stand by that decision

think it was second on my ballot that year after sotofett's "current 82." song makes me float

i was going to but i was worried the usage was much older than i presumed

I guess it could be, but K stuff is definitely where I heard it first. Language changes etc but I think I'll always find it jarring to hear something released two months after the last single being referred to as a "comeback".

my friend just made a mix where he transitioned haim's "now i'm in it" into nin's "down in it" and now i'm suddenly very excited for the haim track to place

don't call it a new promotional cycle

lol

Very good.

This Dua Lipa song is machine-tooled ilxcore (melancholy disco-inflected pop) but it's at least convincing. You can practically hear the producers checking off each effect they wanted to achieve, mind. Violins, yep, we'll do the siren transition too, and yeah, more cowbell

achieving the effect of violins

what a world

you know what I mean! that very specific dramatic disco violin thing. it's a very comprehensive homage, they really have thought of everything

At least it's melancholy.

glad they remembered to push the Ultra Violins button

If it's a piece of pure pastiche/homage, it's not an especially convincing one. (It clearly isn't a piece of pure pastiche)

No, it's not pure disco, but there are lots of references to it

Anyway I didn't mind it at all, maybe even liked it a bit, let's be chill

Reminded me of the Kylie songs I like, so it must be doing something right.

i hear this song a fair amount now that i have a kid old enough to demand the pop station when we're in the car. i'd rather hear it than like 90% of the other songs the pop station plays but it does feel a bit manufactured, in that the parts of the song don't seem connected, more just smushed up next to each other.

if I ever have to raise kids I'm gonna convince them my mp3 player is "the pop station" tbh

I knew you were going to ruin trap and house for them, but pop as well?