Welcome to the Finale of Patrick's Song Contest! It's been a long trek, but we've finally arrived.
For the final round, you were each asked to submit 3 songs - one that you have sentimental attachment to, one that you believe is underrated, and one that, based on this competition, you think I would enjoy. For this finale, for each song, you'll receive a score out of 10, and the person with the highest total after all three categories will be the winner.
I loved hearing the story about your dad, and have never heard this song, so I was excited to see what I was about to be treated to. The opening instrumental radiates with turn of the century R&B-pop vibes, and I was hooked. Her voice came in and was really solid. I mean, seriously. Her voice is really strong and it had me excited to feel the escalation that kind of happens throughout the song. The ending vocal section of this really solidified this as a song that I not only enjoy, but gets me excited to check out her discography and see what else she has to offer.
My only other experience with BANKS was in the songs submitted for this competition, so I was ready to see if there would be more to be seen here, and I think you really delivered here. The production on her voice ties in very nicely with her raw delivery, and the track underneath her accompanies that really well. I really enjoyed the lyrics and the harmonies were so nice. I'm shocked to see that this is 3 and a half minutes long, because to me, it felt incredibly short and I didn't want it to end. I really understood where you were coming from as your sentimental choice, and I thought it was done very well.
I have not heard anything by Kate Bush before, so I was intruiged to see what was being offered as she's definitely an artist I've heard of. I was surprised when the song started because I was under the impression Kate Bush was more of a contemporary artist, but I recognized the 80's vibes and googled to be sure. So I really think her voice is interesting and the track underneath is solid. Her delivery is good and feels emotional, but my biggest problem here is the overall production just feels underdone for the first three minutes. After this it picks up and gets a little more interesting, but it just took awhile to get there. I still really enjoyed this song, but it just was slightly underwhelming for where it ended up going.
So like you, I thoroughly love "O Holy Night" as a Christmas song - but, and here's what I love about this category - I don't think I've ever heard Mariah Carey's version. Openly, I'm not a huge fan of Mariah Carey just because of her tendency to oversing and the way some people froth at the mouth over it, but I'd be lying if I said I hated all of her music. Vocally, as expected, this is very strong, and the inclusion of the choir backing only selective moments really is top notch. The little keyboard instrumental was also a really nice touch, especially with the choir vamping a little bit, then backing off again. The arrangement is really solid, and her vocals are good, even if a touch of the ornamented notes were unnecessary given the excellent production of everything going on around her. However, the whistle tones at the peak were spot-on. This arrangement was really nice, and I'll definitely agree that this is underrated after hearing it.
I have never heard of CXLOE, so this was new to me. I appreciated the tie-in to the Tove Lo song, and see why you chose this. This very much does have a boppy sound with a darker lyric content, and this almost reminds me of the very first Dua Lipa song you submitted with a "dark pop" sound that I really just vibe with. The references to the 12 step program made sense and really fit with the song. Great choice for this round.
As I believe I shared last time you submitted Kylie, I'm really not familiar with her music. But hearing this opening instrumental was enough to reel me in. The opening orchestral line was good, but so was the other instrumentation when it came in. This track actually gives me vibes of a solid James Bond song throughout. Her vocals are really solid throughout and some of the best I've heard (admittedly, haven't heard too much). I really enjoyed this slow-jam and would love to hear more of her music like this.
Thank you for this submission! As I specified in the last time you submitted "Go Your Own Way", Rumors is easily my favorite album from the 70's, and this song is great example of that. While the vocals on this song don't really do much on this for me, the instrumental throughout is easily one of my favorites ever. This was an amazing submission, thank you for this.
So, first and foremost, I really appreciated that you opted to go with an artist that you haven't already submitted as a way to show what you've learned so far. You explanation really shows that you've learned to cater to my music taste without having to go with something that I already told you I enjoyed. This song really started out differently than where it went and really had that build-up that you discussed. Her vocals along with the little guitar solo were outstanding, like, I was not prepared for this. This was a fantastic selection that literally left me with chills. VERY well done.
I do love Björk, that's true. And this song is no exception! The instrumental here is top-tier for Björk, and the vocal layering and lyrics are just outstanding. This song just exudes such grace and beauty that is mesmerizing. I really loved this song and thought it was something different than many of your submissions up to this point. Well done.
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Finally, before we reveal the results, I just wanna say how much of a pleasure it was for me to get to host all of you throughout. I've been shown a lot of music I otherwise would not have heard and it was fun to get to take an in-depth look at some of these songs that really mean so much to people. With that said, it's time to reveal the winner.
The winner of Patrick's Song Contest... after scoring a 10/10 on the final category is...
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#Insanity! While both of your other submissions fell in the middle, "Dynasty" was such a hit that it scored enough points to win this for you. Throughout this competition, you've consistently shown to have some really great songs and placed in the top several times, but here, it was more than enough to win!
#tbrown_47 and #purplebb4, after scoring an 8/10 and a 9/10 respectively, you actually both tied for 2nd/3rd place. Both of you have consisently also had solid songs most of the time with solid run-ups until the finale that I had no idea what was going to happen but thank you both for the abundance of wonderful music you shared with me.
Thank you all so much once again for the wonderful music you've shown me, I hope you all enjoyed being a part of this half as much as I've enjoyed hosting all of you.
but running up that hill getting a 6/10 when it's clearly a 10/10...