ILM's Top 77 Tracks of 2020

xp

lmao @ "Supalonely", it's not even interesting enough to hate

oh you want something to hate do you

With two full-length LPs released in 2020, each with a lavish (some might say “inevitable”) Deluxe version and one with an extended live variant, long-term reigning queen of pop Taylor Swift absolutely flooded the zone. In line with much of the critical ink spilled, I’m of the school that found folklore the less contrived and more engaging of the pair. With over 34 new tracks available in the airwaves, did we think this song was the best Swift had to offer… or is there yet more to come? All will be unraveled in time.

https://i.imgur.com/Dspo9dT.png
#71: Taylor Swift - “Cardigan” - 145 points - 5 votes - 1 #1 Track Vote
video

Taylor Swift - Folklore
Taylor Swift - POLLklore
should i put a taylor swift temp tattoo on my BF while he is sleeping y/n

singles jukebox

That Susanne Sundfør song choked me up good and proper on more than once occasion in 2020. I sent in an unweighted ballot but if I'd ranked them it would've been top 3

I didn't vote for 'When the Lord' and also had no idea it existed until it was nominated despite liking Susanne Sundfør a lot but I'm glad it placed, it's a beautiful song.

lol it begins

tie with Don Toliver's song with the same title?

you reap what you sow

lol it begins

― Hello Nice FBI Lady (DJP)

Who's this?

i did not vote for any taylor tracks bc all of my feelings about her work were album-oriented last year

oh no

of what was nominated (everything) i expect... three more to place unfortunately. hopefully i'm wrong

can't even hate nu-Taylor, the actual music is fine, even good, which leaves me powerless. but oh that smug face

this particular song is, on the spectrum of fine-to-good, closer to 'fine' imo. there will be better taytay later i think?

i mean the actual production is pretty cool. why did you call the album 'folklore' for fuck's sake

ILM's Top 77 Taylor Swift Tracks of 2020

VC (or anyone else versed enough to explain): how do you define the difference between UK drill and grime?

― the serious avant-garde universalist right now (forksclovetofu), Monday, January 25, 2021 10:46 AM (five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

uk drill has a pretty distinct production style with staccato, syncopated snares and sliding 808s.

yeah upgrading this one from 'fine' to 'good' ffs taylor WHY

that's kind of how i break it down in the simplest terms, grime filters down more from club/dance music, drill has elements of grime but comes much more from the hip-hop tradition.

xp to me

Lol there’s a couple of images in the poll that were early tests before the results were send to me - like Tayl or swift or weste rman - where the initial idea was to have the artist name really stand out in big, broken down letters. The idea was scrapped when I couldn’t find a way to make it work with artists like say Headie One due to the features making it look weird. There’s some graphic inconsistency there, don’t mind it.

gr8 images moka obv dw

of what was nominated (everything) i expect... three more to place unfortunately. hopefully i'm wrong

I hope everyone who voted against 77 reform enjoys the taylorfest

yeah don't sweat it moka, these are gorgeous

i somehow didn't manage to fit any taylor on my ballot though i'm sure she's going to do very very well without my help. "cardigan" is great, probably the most tori amos she's ever sounded

grime has never been a catchall for uk rap, there's a distinct sound to it. like compare grime tracks like skepta's "shutdown" and dizzee rascal's "i luv u" with "ain't it different" - it's a very different type of beat.

i could see up to 3 more jessie ware tracks placing too lol

Westerman was a top 10 track of the year for me, so happy it got a chance to appear in this poll. If this is you first time hearing about him check out the full album and the EP of his bandmate/producer Bullion which is in a similar vein.

Taylor defined my music listening year more than anyone else, but as others have said, it was all about the album(s), and I kept my votes there

moka, these are gorgeous

My initial tests for this image were for a different TS song.
But that song didn’t make it.

But which song of the nominated 30 TS was it? I can’t tell.

Seven years after they first burst on the scene, not incidentally bringing Sam Smith with them, the Lawrence Brothers have established their Disclosure project as a genre-blind launchpad for A-List guest vocalists. On this track, their second (and I would argue lesser) collaboration with the outrageously talented Malian singer and guitarist Fatoumata Diawara, they’ve gifted Fatou with likely her biggest single yet: a disarmingly upbeat dance track that carries a pointed lament for her homeland.

https://i.imgur.com/brQ9SdH.png
#69 (tie): Disclosure with Fatoumata Diawara - “Douha (Mali Mali)” - 146 points - 4 votes
video

Fatoumata Diawara explains the meaning behind Douha (Mali Mali)

Thread of Disclosure

amazing graphics moka!

They are really good. Is that the New Yorker font?

Surprised Cardigan came this low but ILX dissing the single vmic (I am taking it for granted there's more Swift to come.) I voted one from each album and this wasn't it: "when you are young they assume you know nothing" very on the nose from an artist who's historically pretty on the nose but not so much on these two albums, which is one of the things I really enjoy about them!

Disclosure fell off my ballot at the last minute

“what’s your pleasure” is fabulous, ive had it stuck in my head all weekend

not nuts about the rest of the album but that track is perfect.

Disclosure will place again I imagine

I woulda voted for "Birthday" but I forgot to nominate it

From the Youtube comments re: Sundfør

When I imagine an angel’s voice all I hear is Susanne.

Aw, me too

― flamboyant goon tie included, Monday, January 25, 2021 10:33 AM (forty minutes ago)

I don't like it either, but wishing her dead is a harsh

j/k it's very pretty but I'm too impatient to listen to this during the countdown

i loved that s/t st. vincent album at the time and i could not be less interested in listening to it again

― voodoo chili, Sunday, January 24, 2021 11:41 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Many xps but: This this this... St Vincent definitely an example of my mega-fandom plummeting to complete disinterest in the shortest amount of time

Yay, I'm glad this made it in, although I still prefer their previous collaboration - Ultimatum.

admittedly I don't get out to the opera or anything but susanne is the best live singer I've ever heard

"douha" is cool but i voted for a different disclosure track

results are super ILM-core so far...

The Westerman album was the closest I came last year to a seriously out of character taste expansion, but it was all ultimately a little too placid for me.

"Ain't It Different" best one at this point, though this Disclosure is okay

As part of the core creative team of SAULT, UK singer/songwriter Cleopatra "Cleo Sol" Nikolic had an intimidatingly busy year, releasing two remarkable LPs with SAULT alongside her debut solo album. Nikolic maintains remarkable consistency across her work but the SAULT ethos of shunning both social media and press interviews means it is surprisingly likely fans of one project may be unaware of the other. If you missed Cleo until now, here’s the track her fans on ILM think you should start with.

https://i.imgur.com/JSdFTu8.png
#69 (tie): Cleo Sol - “When I’m in Your Arms” - 146 points - 4 votes
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Sault - What's the story?
thread to dis hyped releases that you don't get/don't like/wanna complain about