CarlieScion (8): A solid closer

CarlyRaeJepsensBitch (8): A great album closer, but the one song on the album where Kesha's voice is a bit grating

DoctorWhoWhenHowWhy (8): This song is longer than it needed to be but this is an excellent song to close the album. It's so heartfelt and you can tell her passion of aliens in this song.

ignitethephoenix (8): Love the country vibe this has mixed in. Also love the random spaceship noises at the end!

ImADudeDuh (8): A fine enough closer, but still a weaker track on the album.

MashLuke (8): nothing to say, just a cute song

melodyllic_ (8): the spoken word section is amazing and makes this a great closer to the album. queen of dematerialising into nothing

Nerdy_boy_chris (8): I would've given this a higher score, but the outdo runs a bit longer

VeganSquash (8): great spoken outro

crowlily (7.8): I like this! I'm not saying much rip but this is great! The guitar sounds great! The spoken bridge! I love the whole mood! I'm nothing more than recycled stardust!!!

deadspiderwall (7.8): Kesha is more country than Taylor Swift ever was, holy shit

robbiec_ (7.5): CANNOT put my finger on what old song this reminds me of. Also love when she says "and I know nothing" and the ship takes off among the perfectly subtle choir

stardustanddinos (7.5): It stretches a little longer than it should, but is a perfect closer. Sometimes you just want to not live on this planet anymore, and yeah, she bottles that into a song too. Wonder how she does it so well, this is really impressive. The ending is just unsettling and haunting. Well fucking done.

ClocktowerMaria (7): Pretty good too

patronsaintofaspies (7): Yeah, sorry, this is sad, but Kanye did this better. Kesha's statement at the end is actually kind of depressing, though, and I'm certainly not complaining about this being the closer.

SkyBlade79 (7): not bad, a bit long but doesn't feel like it drags

thetimidmartian (7): kesha closes on an appropriate note that supports her tenets of hope and defiance.

vayyiqra (7): good but enough country

wanderingimpromptu3 (7): "Don't lay me down with the dirt on my head" is such a beautiful line. I really love the message of the song & identify with it. I do think it goes too long though and the outro is cheesy

Alien Haters

twat_brained (6.2): This one is quite long and it feels long too. Also I understand the song's outro but it still doesn't feel necessary.

izeasklapaucius (6): The concept is interesting but the execution kinda falls flat for closing track.

ThatParanoidPenguin (6): https://www.amazon.com/ZzzQuil-Nighttime-Sleep-LiquiCaps-Package/dp/B007MB60CC/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?s=hpc&ie=UTF8&qid=1518379133&sr=1-1-spons&keywords=sleeping+pills&psc=1

topesmachine (6): this song is really weird and it kinda works, kinda doesn't

dirdbub (5.5): cute enough

acedino (5): Usually end up skipping this song after the first chorus

hikkaru (5): gotta blast

Glennishill (4): I hate the instrumentation but I like the lyrics. Not a fan of the knock-off Bowie ending.

kappyko (4): Haha Kesha what

Elitefourbrad (3): I don't really understand how this album relates to Spaceships but okay.

itsboogiepanda (3): Latter half of Rainbow really hasn't impressed me

letsallpoo (3): i wanna go hoooOOOOoooOOOOOooome

MrSwearword (1): do UFOs run on ethanol? this spaceship is cornfed as fuck

Piccprincess (1): when i heard the ending of this song a UFO flew over my house and abducted my family

SendMeYourSATScores (1): i just remembered why i didnt like this album

#57: Sofia Carson - Love Is the Name

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Average: 6.779 // Total Points: 542.3 // Controversy: 2.024// Listen here

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Highest scores: (10 x6) definiteangel, THE_PC_DEMANDS_BLOOD, PuggleMaster, Nerdy_boy_chris, Kaphox, skiddos (9.5 x2) jamesfog, FishM8 (9 x5) mgglite, calltehshots, PM_ME_UR_FAVE_MOVIES, candyninja32, SpanKKy1 (8.5 x3) lady_sable, Joebiekong, berober04 (8.4 x1) twat_brained (8.3 x1) bwc222 (8.2 x1) eklxtreme

Lowest Scores: (1 x3) awryj, Lexarqade, fifthchevron

All scores

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Charts: [POL: 22] // Release Date: April 8, 2016

Written by Steve Mac, Ina Wroldsen, Ewald Pfleger, Kurt Plisnier, Gunter Grasmuck, Niki Gruber, Herwig Tremschnig

Produced by Steve Mac

Video directed by Hannah Lux Davis

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The song is an interpolation of 1984 song "Live is Life" by Opus (written by Ewald Pfleger, Kurt Plisnier, Gunter Grasmuck, Niki Gruber, and Herwig Tremschnig). It was allegedly meant for Demi Lovato but instead was given to the Hollywood/Republic Records newbie Sofia Carson. It's a definite bop, and I wish it got more attention from the general public. The song was also remixed to feature Colombian pop star J Balvin.

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NA NA NA NA NA

Ghost-Quartet: "I think I’m starting to get burned out on trop pop, but this came out in 2016 and it’s honestly a pretty nice song so I’ll give it a pass. It’s actually quite a fun song, if one that’s not too distinct. That intro had a lot of energy and really hooked me into the song, then the horns that come in during the bridge are a good touch."

lady_sable: "A bop"

Nerdy_boy_chris: "This song>Love Game"

jamesfog: "wow unexpected bop!"

patronsaintofaspies: "This is a great interpolation what a bop"

twat_brained: "Pretty good tune! I can see some replay value in here. I expect this to go top 30, hopefully top 25." (😢)

eklxtreme: "fun, triumphant, and anthemic"

NO THANKS

TragicKingdom1: "Sounds cluttered and unpolished, plus I don't think it's catchy at all."

chili_jones: "sounds like it would come on in justice"

rickikardashian: "She wears boot heels in the video and it doesn’t match her outfit at all and honestly because of that I should give her a 0"

SkyBlade79: "Rather average lyrics."

SimplyHaunted: "I didn't mind it until the chorus. Ouch."

ImADudeDuh: "this feels like weird bulgarian folk music + some electronic music”

kappyko: "i forgot i was listening to this."

awryj: "shameless sample theft, no originality left in this world, elongated sigh the kids nowadays"

i should get to listening to this

THE_PC_DEMANDS_BLOOD: "Love Is The Name of the best song of Lust for Life, that's correct, Sofia!"

TWINS

gannade: "Why was this no name trash included in the rate but not The Cheetah Girls or KeKe Palmer??"

NapsAndNetflix: "who is this flop this isn't the cheetah girls"

literally who?

tevinterimperium: "She sounds like Selena Gomez"

AbnormalPopPunk: "idk who this girl is but this is kind of a bop"

ThatParanoidPenguin: "Literally who is this I don't know who this is."

calltehshots: "No clue who this is but this is mega bop I'm shook."

therokinrolla: "http://media.vanityfair.com/photos/57d1f0f8a9f841aa372f54f0/master/w_690,c_limit/mariah-carey-i-dont-know-her-02.gif"

JMez2612: "Who is this?"

Lexarqade: "No idea who this girl is and I don't really care to find out after this song."

huntyphobic: "cute song, but Sofia Carson? https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/826031688098537472/T7aGwmoi.jpg"

superr_rad: "i think this was played at my work, its insanely familiar. ive never heard of her before tho"

musicotic: "I don't know how I feel about this?"

(Sofia has a US top 40 hit, a #1 soundtrack album, and her own Funko Pop figure, not everyone has those!)

[Joshua Minsoo Kim] It depends on how we're defining obscure. I'll break it down based on genre/country and time period for what I specifically do for myself. Some of these are more elaborate than others and that's just a result of how much time I'm willing to invest based off my taste/interests.

For contemporary Japanese music I often go on OTOTOY, Mora, RecoChoku, or HMV Japan if I want to just browse for stuff. Otherwise it's mostly through YouTube subscriptions. Patrick St. Michel (former frequent contributor to TSJ) has a great blog that's relatively comprehensive for an English-language blog. I also look to TSJ writer Ryo Miyauchi for idol pop recommendations too. He has written stuff on his Medium page on the topic.

For contemporary Korean music I primarily use Melon (basically Korea's Spotify and Hot 100 all in one) and r/kpop. On Melon they allow you to look at recent singles that were released in a respective genre (updated way more frequently than Spotify) and I devour the rap charts daily just to keep up with that. Otherwise, a bunch of YouTube subscriptions (too many labels to name), Soundcloud subscriptions (mostly rap, r&b, and remixes), Bandcamp pages (dance music, indie), and adding musicians/producers/industry people on Facebook (yes, I know, lol).

For contemporary Southeast Asian pop I visit Music Weekly and look through the charts there every week. That usually then leads to me subscribing to YouTube channels and going off YouTube recommendations there. Some countries have different charts too that are helpful.

For contemporary African music I mostly just use various playlists on Spotify or YouTube and visit OkayAfrica from time to time.

For contemporary dance music (not dance pop) it's really just a matter of keeping up with retailers (e.g. Juno, Bleep, Clone, Deejay) and record labels you're interested in. Obviously mixes on Soundcloud and MixCloud are crucial to the scene and there are way too many to name. Resident Advisor is always handy too, of course. I think it's sometimes helpful to see who's DJing at various clubs, be it big name ones like Berghain or local ones near you, and help that guide your discovery.

For contemporary rap music it's a mix of the bigger name sites (Complex, HNHH, Fader) and the lesser-known ones (Passion of the Weiss, Warm & Easy for UK stuff) but honestly, Pitchfork's The Ones has proven to have such a larger scope than I ever expected (mainly because it's by Alphonse Pierre, one of the very best rap writers right now) that it's surely one of the best resources right now. Otherwise, YouTube and Twitter (much to my chagrin).

For any contemporary indie, experimental, non-pop stuff the easiest way is to just subscribe to record label and artist newsletters and Facebook pages. And obviously there's Pitchfork and Quietus and Tiny Mix Tapes and The Wire etc to help you navigate that more easily.

For any old music that isn't canonical, it's tough. Every canon list that's out on the internet right now by a major publication is filled with obvious (and Western) music. The easiest way to find stuff is to look through RYM (sort by year/decade and genre), discogs (see what releases that producers/engineers/artists have worked on besides stuff you know, sort by country or genre, etc), and download blogs that feature stuff you're interested in. Books on various topics are sometimes astronomically insightful and seem underutilized as a tool for music discovery by younger music fans (currently going through Rumba on the River right now and the amount of information it has that I wouldn't be able to readily find on the internet is large). I also think it's good to look at various record stores around the world given that have their stuff is online. Otherwise, I sometimes browse Mercado Livre for Brazilian music and Yahoo Auctions for Japanese music. Before private music torrent tracker what.cd was shut down, it had so much music to look through that proved irrefutably useful. Easily the best resource along with Soulseek (though since what shut down, I've noticed more users "locking" their files). The sites that have replaced what are in no way comparable in terms of having a comprehensive database (granted, they're still relatively new but it's still a huge bummer).

That covers most of it. Though I should mention that I also use TSJ a lot to keep up with pop music. I had followed the site for years before joining and it is definitely covering music that most sites aren't.

If anything was unclear or you want specific examples of certain things I mention, feel free to ask questions.

TIE #12: Kacey Musgraves - Stupid

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Average: 7.972 // Total Points: 430.5 // Controversy: 1.543

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Highest scores: (10 x8) extrasmallbillie, gowestyoungkanye, ImADudeDuh, InfernalSolstice, MirandaCrocsgrove, NapsAndNetflix, piccprincess, therandomsinger13 (9.5 x3) agentofscranton, JunkyGS, MissyBee37 (9 x7) christopher_aia, perfumevee, skargardin, static_int_husp, strawberryswing1, tapdancingpig, zekkyzach (8.8 x1) rotating3Dtext (8.7 x1) 1998tweety (8.5 x2) flickeredinmymind, Ghost-Quartet

Lowest Scores: (2.5 x1) gannade

All Scores

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me_irl

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gowestyoungkanye (10): my favourite song on the album, i think. i just love the woahs and the line preceding them, ‘don’t know your heart from a hole in the ground’. and i LOVE her for flipping the narrative and just fucking going for it. ‘love is stupid’. yeah, bitch, it is!

MirandaCrocsgrove (10): @me Miss Kacey

piccprincess (10): YEE STUPID EE BITCH EE ENERGY HAW

therandomsinger13 (10): Ooh yes that beat. This is solid.

MissyBee37 (9.5): Great energy. I love the music, the melody, her vocal and the whoa's. The lyrics are a little more straight-forward than some of Kacey's more clever songs but still fun & full of attitude.

christopher_aia (9): damn I never liked this song when this album came out but this SLAPS

tapdancingpig (9): Probably the most overtly fun song on the record as of now, with the most obvious hook. The four note melody sticks itself in your head.

rotating3Dtext (8.8): a shot of energy

1998tweety (8.7): This sounds like the type of song that would benefit from a rock remix.

Ghost-Quartet (8.5): facts are facts, 90% of my stress comes from me randomly remembering things I did back when I was in love that I cringe about now and the other 10% is me stressing out about dying alone

jamesfog (8): A cute short bop

qetaz (8): This bops. Another great country/rock fusion, and while I think that Blowin’ Smoke is stronger lyrically, I prefer the melody and production here.

Shippy29 (8): omg kacey go off on this bitch?? fuck this stupid hoe yeah u go glen coco

ThatParanoidPenguin (8): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uh2HGMMrnuc

therokinrolla (8): I relate

shineflyer (7.5): "girl meets boy, and boy he's a looker" is a great line. yelling "stupid" is less good.

ManofOranges (7): I like this song but it's honestly so forgettable.

twat_brained (7): https://www.amazon.com/Im-Stupid-Funny-T-Shirt/dp/B01C1QU28U

vayyiqra (6): I couldn't help but think "this song is a little stupid". :/

ExtraEater (5): good title

lalodragon (5): this is maybe my least favorite Kacey song because it gets loud and repetitive, in an obnoxious way. The songwriting is still great, though.

Leixander (5): kinda bopping but her vocals are kinda off oop, also a huge outlier in the album

gannade (2.5): This song gets annoying really quickly

The following is a list of good reference books that all feature a compilation of some of the most important albums, songs, artists and album art in the history of popular music. All of the books offer biographical information, discographies, critical analysis, historical context and trivia on the albums, songs and artists that they cover. As no single tome can be truly comprehensive, it's a good idea to invest in at least a couple of these books so that you'll be able to get a better picture of the most influential music of the past. Thankfully, most of the books can be found very cheaply, usually for under ten bucks for a used copy - and they're fun for any Pophead to browse to learn more about pop music.

All Music Guide: The Definitive Guide To Popular Music, 4th Edition

The Mojo Collection: The Greatest Albums of All Time... and How They Happened - Irvin/McLear
Mojo Collection (newer edition) - Irvin/McLear

101 Albums that Changed Popular Music - Chris Smith

1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die - Robert Dimery

1001 Songs You Must Hear Before You Die: And 10,001 You Must Download - Robert Dimery

The New Rolling Stone Album Guide - Brackett/Hoard

The Rough Guide Book of Playlists, 2nd edition (Rough Guide Reference)

The Trouser Press Record Guide

1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time and the Artists, Stories and Secrets Behind Them - Toby Creswell

Time Out 1000 Songs to Change Your Life

The Art of the LP: Classic Album Covers 1955–-1995 - Morgan/Wardle

I double majored in Physics and Music simply because those were my interests, they didn't really directly apply to my job pursuit. I think as far as getting a foot in the door internships are paramount. Look up some artists you like and see who manages them or who their record label is. If they have an internship application great: apply. If they don't, send an email to whoever you can get a hold of there asking about internships.

Your marketing degree definitely makes you more qualified! I'd advise doing some research on the fields that specifically interest you. For example, if you're looking to get into music, read Donald Passman's All You Need To Know About The Music Business.

Going to sound harsh, but its because I respect your friend (and you) to tell him what he needs to do if he is serious about music. His vocals are the worst part of most of the songs I would strongly consider taking voice lessons, mixing is off on most of the songs, he over relies on samples to carry some of the songs, his flow is incredibly weak and needs a lot more practice performing. If he is serious he should be practice rapping for at least an hour a day to develop a distinct flow and study the greats. Thats the minimum for what it takes to get somebody to listen to you, let alone for him to make it.

I looked at your post history and saw you are Miles the producer. I think you have a lot more talent then your friend imo. Go try to get into a college for music production, grind at least 1-2 beats a day and use all your free time to study music production. I highly suggest interviews / walk throughs or online classes by experienced producers. Also educate yourself on the business side of music if you are serious, I recommend This Book as a starting point since it will be your bible for the music industry. Keep working hard and look forward to see you grow if you continue to pursue music production seriously.

Final tracklist from Amazon:

1. In My Blood
   
2. Nervous
   
3. Lost In Japan
   
4. Where Were You In The Morning
   
5. Like To Be You (feat. Julia Michaels)
   
6. Fallin’ All In You
   
7. Particular Taste
   
8. Why
   
9. Because I Had You
   
10. Queen
    
11. Youth (feat. Industry Plant)
    
12. Mutual
    
13. Perfectly Wrong
    
14. When You’re Ready
    
    Taking a page off Taylor & Camila’s books and not making a deluxe version ugh we love a generous mans🙏

you all would greatly benefit from:

1. oil pulling (cures gum disease and whitens teeth within a month)
   
2. purchasing a calcium, zinc, magnisium, vitamin k2 and vitamin d supplements (remineralizes teeth)
   
3. cutting down on the sugar, brush down on every meal (removing the bacteria)
   
4. read a book called "how to heal tooth decay" (google it).
   
5. Purchasing this and this
   
   essentially what is happening is your teeth are deficient of the nutrients to rebuild the enamel of the cavity and or your mouth is highly acidic (due to sugary foods [with over 15,000 chemicals that are not listed on the packaging of most products] that you are eating) leading to tooth decay. you can correct it by doing what is listed above.!
   
   this stuff works and will heal/correct the cavities! hope this helps!

I highly recommend reading The Song Machine by John Seabrook. I started reading it around 11:30 last night (23:30 for you normal people non-Americans) and finished it at 3 in the morning.