Your story was my favorite! I guess I didn't communicate myself the way I meant to as only you & jay wrote up little fictional stories, and that was moreso the goal for the round, but idek if Blu knew that's what I meant even though I told him I've done this round for a previous season LOL. But anyways, yes, yours was good. King of the Clouds was also a super interesting submission and ended up being my favorite tonight. I loved the sound & the delivery. River was a solid song. Odetta I liked less but sounded nice.
King of the Clouds (9.5)
River (8)
Odetta (6.5)
Blu's Feedback:
King of the Clouds - So firstly, I thought it was cool that you chose to create a fictional story which wasn’t off limits as we didn’t specify that it has to be a personal one so this was a nice spin to a theme that I think you executed perfectly in terms of flow & description. Now for the songs, this one was cool, I love panic but some parts were scary(jumping out at you) and excessive to me throughout but I guess that’s to be expected from him. I was able to grasp the dark aspect and depression through the lyrics so that was spot on. (6.5/10)
River - Great, Eminem has a way of always delivering show stopping lyrics. There’s always a story in his verses and his passion just amplifies it. To me the lyrics seem more about a couple cheating on each other so adding a twist to it by the woman becoming pregnant after so much time spent away from each other, and him wanting to fight his addiction first, was cool. I think it made the song more interesting. I thought that the collab with Sheeran was a good take to it . The Hook/beat was so catchy and just made me continuously bob my head. (9/10)
Odetta - This guy is very talented and I love how the song tells how his like is transformed when he finally becomes a father. I think you ended the story like a great writer would, with an interesting plot twist and ending with maturation and taking on responsibility. It really helped him to overcome his addiction knowing that he had to be there for his child & make the best impact on them as a father, while being present in their lives. Lyrically great, vocally, nice, but the message was the best thing. (8/10)
I took a pill in Ibiza - This was a such a cool out of the box song, and fit your story perfectly. I liked the self-reflection aspect of the song. I also like that on surface this song will seem like a party song but it actually speaks of a depressing way to be accepted in others eyes, by harming the body, so this song was very powerful in that sense, and it had a nice hook to it. (8/10)
Permission to dance - I was grooving to this song the whole time, it was catchy, and had an awesome party vibe. I like where your story is going with this, because it does help when others are there to uplift you & help to take your mind off of negativity/discouragement in reality. It’s a positive song and such optimism and hopefulness throughout. A nice pop vibe and little pick me up lines to find some joy together. (9/10)
The Nights - I like both perspectives you gave in your previous songs and ended with this up/down summary, well done. I like the sort of dance pop mixed with country in the song. For the message, I saw it more than a good song. For the video, I see it as precise and a clear testimony and definition of youth. I’m glad you related it to your personal youthfulness joys/struggles. It is a beautiful song because it reminds the precious advises and the joy in pure forms. (7.5/10)
Noelle's Feeback:
I liked your story & that you chose songs you felt you could relate to as well. I think I was a little more iffy going into listening to your songs because they have all been popular. They were pretty solid choices though! I did like the beats you chose. The Nights was definitely your better submission, as I think the vocals in the other two songs are not as great.
I Took a Pill in Ibiza (8)
Permission to Dance (7.5)
The Nights (8.5)
Judah & The Lion- I get the feeling lost and trying to find yourself position that you’re in, it was reminiscent of myself at that age and trying to figure out what I wanted to do career wise. Im glad you mentioned that and started your story out with the struggles, this song justified that however, it wasn’t as captivating as some of your other submissions, and quickly lost my attention. (6/10)
Confetti- Very cool song, love the beat, hook, chorus & production. It was a great way to celebrate or recognized your accomplishments at 25 years old. (8.5/10)
My wife and 2 dogs- Smiiiiiiiii not the Cats ugh, we were almost a match lol. However, I did enjoy the song. I thought it was a cute optimistic song with a great message of looking on the bright side of things. I had me swaying and tapping my feet to the beat. (8/10)
Noelle's Feedback:
I thought that Quarter Life Crisis & Confetti were both above average songs, and My Wife & 2 Dogs was a good song! Quinn XCII is an artist I think I need to hear more from. Thank you for sharing your story :)
Quarter Life Crisis (7.5)
Confetti (7.5)
My Wife & 2 Dogs (9)
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Unfortunately, this means that my predicted winner/early frontrunner boysofsummer2005 and our most openly expressive contestant CarolinaSteele will not be making it to the final 3. This was a tough decision and was explained in previous blog of no sudden death. Thank you both for your time, patience, and commitment to this competition. You were both dynamic players and all-stars IMO.
Drown- This is a really powerful song by two dynamic artist that I listen to quite frequently. The collaboration on this was insanely good. I think it went perfectly with the circumstances you’ve been faced with recently that surrounds you. It’s like how can you keep your head above water with so much tragedy close to home? I thought the lyrics were great & vulnerable, john’s voice was powerful. The instrumental was intoxicating. And you can really feel the heartburn and appreciate Christ all in one song. (9.5/10)
Soul’s Anthem- Tori never fails to amaze me, there is literally nothing that she can’t sing and put her own twist too, while pouring out her heart and soul. The backstory of this was very interesting, thanks for sharing. I think she nailed it on the head. I appreciated your perspective of this song and it’s important to not lean to one’s own understanding of things, but trust in the Lord’s interpretation for every situation. Beautiful song, angelic vocal performance per usual by Tori. (8.5/10)
Life aint always beautiful - Here’s where things start to go south for me, although I did like his tone and vocals here which reminded me even production wise, of you got a friend in me, I think you may have gotten lost by the story aspect it. I appreciate the backstory and how becomes appreciative of the beauty of life that is still granted to him, I felt that this song was not much different than the second song as terms of outlook on life, so for me the flow was lost and there was no real conclusion to the story. Beautiful song though, and meaningful lyrics, I was just missing the end of the story. (6/10)
Noelle's Feedback:
I am very sorry to hear about all the loss surrounding you. I wasn't sure what we'd be seeing from everyone and I was a little surprised, but I did think you had switched up your submissions a little bit more too. Drown was a good submission, but the other two were more so average to me.
Drown (8)
Soul’s Anthem (6.5)
Life Ain’t Always Beautiful (7)
Night Crawling - Im so happy you are still around to have done this round because as I always tell you, you’re such a mystery and people need to hear your story because it’s a powerful one. With that being said, I was shocked by the Miley choice, I’ve never imagined her in this sort of naughty vixen role so it was a step up from her performances during her younger years. You are so heavily involved in the church, so this was cool to see this side of you of wanting to take those risk but recognizing the toxicity that can come along with breaking “your rules”, the song was just okay for me though, I think production overpowered her. (6/10)
Whispers - Halsey NEVER fails to disappoint me, this summed up the core of your story perfectly as the daddy issues and mental illnesses were hugely portrayed in this song, also love the steady piano and the hushed beginning tones and then ends strong. Great submission. (9/10)
Broken Pieces Shine - This was a dark song, that really hit home for me. Oftentimes, we feel that in order to feel light and positive emotions, we need to vanquish the dark, negative ones. This speaks to how painful it is as you mentioned following the right path can be. I liked that this song reflected the darkness and lightness in the artist life and she poured her heart/soul into this song and it was evident. His song was very expressive and really makes you ponder on those epiphany’s in life. Loved her voice in this and the background instruments. (8.5/10)
Noelle's Feedback:
Whispers was my second favorite song of the round, definitely one of Halsey's best newer songs! I actually think I might've missed it when I tried listening to the album before (on YouTube so I didn't have the tracklist in front of me lol). I'm sorry to say I didn't care for the other songs though, although a couple moments in Night Crawling were attention grabbing.
Night Crawling (6.5)
Whispers (9)
Broken Pieces Shine (6)
