Trollheart does Pop!
 

No it's not a typo: I have perfectly normal bowel movements thank you. Speaking of bowel movements though (we were?) some pop music does tend to help when I experience the odd bout of constipation. Now before this thread gets any more **** or toilet-related, let me explain.

Watch closely now and pay attention, cos it's complicated.

Rec me pop albums.

That is all.

Well, no of course it isn't.

I have about zero or less (?) experience with let's say modern pop (anything from maybe 2000 on, or even earlier, back to the mid-90s) so send me your Ariana Grandes, your Charlie XCXs, your Rhiannas and your Taylor Swifts yearning to breathe free. Ideally, give me an album you think I might get something out of, besides making it a coaster. What? Sorry: wrong decade. Possibly century.

Anyway, yadda yadda one album per person at a time, and though you can give me stuff I know, like maybe Britney, Madonna, Kylie and so on, I'm kind of more interested in seeing what the current generation considers music, so anything current. Ideally no r&B or rap-style pop, though if you must you must. Must you? If you must. Is it musty in here? No? Must be me.

You know the deal with these threads so I'll just direct you to my standard disclaimer and then await the creak of the floodgates. I SAID ONE PER PERSON DAMMIT!

Disclaimer: Trollheart's views are his own (and possibly those of the three alien rabbits operating his brain) and do not reflect anything as they are not any sort of mirror. Anyone who is offended by Trollheart figuratively - or maybe literally - puking on your choice can suck it. No offence is intended but you'll probably take some so eat me. Trollheart is a fictional creation cobbled together from trade logos and slogans, and as such is not a legally responsible entity. Please address all complaints to the Monsanto Corporation.

Current album:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...Experience.png

The 20/20 Experience - Justin Timberlake

Recs List

1000 Gecs - 100 Gecs (Frownland)*
Midnights - Taylor Swift (Plankton)
Look Sharp! - Roxette (Mindfulness)
The Fame Monster - Lady Gaga (Norg)
What's Your Pleasure? - Jessie Ware (SGR)
No Now - Clarence Clarity (grindy)
Lunatique -Jenifer (Fire)
Otra Era - Javiera Mena (Fire)
Herzfrequenz - Blümchen (Fire)
Seili - Jenni Vartiainen (Fire)
Bis auf den Grund - Dota und die Stadtpiraten (Fire)
Wat Als - Hannelore Beder (Fire)
Une Enfant Du Siècle - Alizé (Fire)

* Note: Subject to this not being a windup, and being a genuine pop album

Okay some updates. First of all, though I’m happy to keep getting recs, you should know I won’t be relying solely on them. What I’m doing is taking the best (according to the charts anyway) or most popular albums from the top 10/20 of each year, going back to 2000 or so. Not all of them - they have to be pop of some description, and I’ll be ignoring any I’ve heard, also any Christmas albums or generally greatest hits or live albums. I also have a permanent embargo on allowing that fucker Sheerhan anywhere near my ears, so none of his: I’ve heard more than enough of his already as it is. Basically though I’ll do what I want. If you rec me an album I’ve heard then I’ll tell you and you can choose another.

Albums won’t be reviewed in my usual style, but on a track-by-track basis and using my new, patent-pending Trollheart’s Pop Ratings System. This will rate the songs - and then the album - on the basis of three criteria: singability (is it an earworm or what I believe they call these days a banger?), danceability and general enjoyment of the song. I’ll also be adding my own personal rating at the end. This will be a measure, obviously, of how much I liked/disliked the album, leaving aside the fact that it’s a pop one. Just in general, did I like it or not? The two ratings will be mutually exclusive, so a really good pop album that I nevertheless would not be interested in listening to again might receive a high Pop rating but a low Personal one. Ah, leave me alone. I’ll do what I like as I said.

Below is the current list I’ve compiled from the charts going from this year to 2010. More to be added of course as I get time. I honestly have no idea who some of these artists are, so if you know one and think it should not be here, i.e., it’s nowhere near a pop album, please let me know and I’ll remove it. Unlike my other threads of this nature, this will not be a FCFS system but will use my favourite method, random. I’ll assign each album a number and then pick one at random. So it might be the one, or one of the ones, you recced, or it might not. If this doesn’t suit you or you have a problem with this, do please feel free to go fuck yourself.

I’ll as usual link each album as it’s done and comment is invited yadda yadda read the small print, you know how it goes.

Personal list


24K Magic - Bruno Mars
25 - Adele
All I Ever Wanted - Kelly Clarkson
All I Know So Far - Setlist - Pink
Attention Attention - Shinedown
Back to Black - Amy Winehouse
Bad Blood - Bastille
Born to Die - Lana del Rey
Call off the Search - Katie Melua
Caustic Love - Paolo Nutini
Chaos and the Calm - James Bay
Corinne Bailey Rae - Corinne Bailey Rae
Demon Days - Gorillaz
Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent - Lewis Capaldi
Dreaming Out Loud - OneRepublic
Everytime We Touch - Cascada
Faryl - Faryl
Feels Like Home - Norah Jones
Femme Fatale - Britney Spears
Future Nostalgia - Dua Lipa
Glory Days - Little Mix
Gotta Get Through This - Daniel Bedingfield
Harry’s House - Harry Styles
Head First - Goldfrapp
Heaven Before All Hell Breaks Loose - Plan B
Hopes and Fears - Keane
Hozier - Hozier
I Cry When I Laugh - Jess Glynne
I Speak Because I Can - Laura Marling
If You Want - London Grammar
In Between Dreams - Jack Johnson
In the Lonely Hour - Sam Smyth
Lemonade - Beyonce
Life by Misadventure - Rag’n’Bone Man
Life in Cartoon Motion - Mika
Loose - Nelly Furtado
Loud - Rihanna
Lungs - Florence and the Machine
Making Mirrors - Gotye
Marry Me - Olly Murs
MDNA - Madonna
Meet the Vamps - Vamps
Nothing But the Beat - David Guetta
Our Version of Events - Emeli Sande
Paramore - Paramore
Purpose - Justine Bieber
Rockferry - Duffy
Scaled and Icy - Twenty-one Pilots
Seeking New Gods - Gruff Rhys
Simply Deep - Kelly Rowland
Simply Eva - Eva Cassidy
Singularity - Jon Hopkins (I want to check this; I think I may have heard this before)
Some Cities - Doves
Sound and Color - Alabama Shakes
Sour - Olivia Rodrigo
Speak Your Mind - Anne-Marie
Spirit - Leona Lewis
Staying at Tamara’s - George Ezra
Stripped - Christine Aguilera
Thank U Next - Ariana Grande
The 20/20 Experience - Justin Timberlake
The Element of Freedom - Alicia Keys
The Highlights - Weeknd
The Power of Love - Sam Bailey
The Take Off and Landing of Everything - Elbow
This is Acting - Sia
This is the Life - Amy McDonald
Title - Meghan Trainor
Version - Mark Ronson
What a Time to Be Alive - Tom Walker
Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not - Arctic Monkeys
When We All Fall Asleep Where Do We Go? - Billie Eilish

100 Gecs - 1000 Gecs lmao

I thought you were main-lining Dr Pepper. Whew!

T-Swifts new one broke the internet, so maybe you can see what all the hypes about while I watch from a distance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzrPH89rtWY
this has been my jam for about a week now, just listening to it over and over again

I dare you to review Justin Bieber.

Of Roxette I do know; my brother was a big fan. I thought they were all right, though I would prefer "Must Have Been Love" or "Joyride" (is that what it's called? Something like that anyway) but will look into it.
Already have done. Check here
That evil grin has me worried, and I bet I should be.
For a moment I thought "T-Swift must be some rapper", then the coin descended. Yeah. I'll be checking that one out, on the back of my being impressed with her single as per my chart thread.

to manyyy to name i dont whats u peeps think is the fame monster in top 10 of all times pop music ..???

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...me_Monster.png

Will add. Thanks.

I've got a good one for you

Jessie Ware - What's Your Pleasure?

https://media.pitchfork.com/photos/5...sie%20Ware.jpg

Clarence Clarity - No Now

I was actually gonna suggest this next for the "Trollheart against the world" thread. This will be interesting lol

First out of the hat turns out to be this:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...ylor_Swift.png

Stay tuned.

Okay, just a few more things before we get this underway.

There’ll be little to no discussion of actual songs (he says, knowing he’ll have to as usual run his fool mouth off, but still) as the chances are most of you should be quite familiar with them, and anyway it’s not an actual review I’m doing here, more an appraisal of the album as being worthy, or not, of being called a good pop album. Remember, to me at least, a good pop album does not necessarily equal a good album. Thought it might, who knows? At any rate, expect comments to be few and short. Maybe.

FYI, here’s how the Pop Ratings work.

Each song, as I said, gets its score on three criteria. That has now become five. They’re then added up and a n average Pop Rating obtained. At the end of the album all the Average Pop Ratings are added up and again averaged to give the Total Pop Rating for the album. My own personal rating is just based on my own basic opinion of the album and has nothing at all to do with the Pop Ratings. All ratings are out of 10. Note: Danceability refers to, duh, the song’s capacity to make you dance, ie how boppy and catchy it is. Therefore, though slow songs could be danced to in slow sets, here they get a zero rating, as that’s not what we’re about. Doesn’t mean a slow song/ballad is bad, just that it can’t be danced to. For ease of understanding then, the dance in danceability refers to fast, or at least uptempo style dancing, not slow dancing, what we used to (apparently) call lurching.

Slow songs will be covered under the Smooch Factor. It should also be understood that this is purely a reflection of how much the song is a ballad, not how good it is. So even a shitty, generic ballad would rate 10; this doesn’t mean it’s a great song (though it may be; that can be determined from the other ratings) just that it can be classified as a proper ballad. Note: in my system, a song can only be rated under Danceability OR The Smooch Factor, even if somehow it satisfies both criteria, which is unlikely. So a track with any danceability score will always have a zero score for the Smooch Factor, and vice versa. The other rating then is the Surprise Factor, which is a measure of how, well, surprised I am at how good a song is, given my basic - and in fairness, biased and uninformed - contempt for most pop. Clear? No? Tough: here we go.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...ylor_Swift.png
Album title: Midnights
Artist: Taylor Swift
Nationality: American
Year: 2022
Highest chart position: 1
What do I know about this artist? I’ve heard two songs (one off this album) but my natural bias against artists who top the charts and all the sheep seem to follow (see also Ed Sheeran) leads me to hate her without knowing her music.
What was my opinion on this artist prior to listening? Thought she was probably overrated
What, if any, are my expectations prior to listening? Not sure. On the basis of “Anti-hero” I’m ready to be impressed and proven wrong, though that song could just be the exception to the rule.
Track-by-track:

Lavender Haze
Pop Rating
Singability: 4
Danceability: 4
Enjoyment: 2
The Smooch Factor: 0
The Surprise Factor: 0
Average Pop Rating: 2.5

Maroon
Pop Rating
Singability: 3
Danceability: 0
Enjoyment: 2
The Smooch Factor: 2
The Surprise Factor: 0
Average Pop Rating: 1.75

Anti-hero
Pop Rating
Singability: 10
Danceability: 8
Enjoyment: 10
The Smooch Factor: 0
The Surprise Factor: 10
Average Pop Rating: 9.5

Snow on the Beach
Pop Rating
Singability: 7
Danceability: 0
Enjoyment: 10
The Smooch Factor: 10
The Surprise Factor: 10
Average Pop Rating: 9.25

You’re on Your Own, Kid
Pop Rating
Singability: 4
Danceability: 6
Enjoyment: 4
The Smooch Factor: 0
The Surprise Factor: 4
Average Pop Rating: 3.5

Midnight Rain
Pop Rating
Singability: 2
Danceability: 0
Enjoyment: 3
The Smooch Factor: 10
The Surprise Factor: 0
Average Pop Rating: 3.75

Question…?
Pop Rating
Singability: 4
Danceability: 0
Enjoyment: 7
The Smooch Factor: 6
The Surprise Factor: 6
Average Pop Rating: 5.75

Vigilante Shit
Pop Rating
Singability: 4
Danceability: 0
Enjoyment: 5
The Smooch Factor: 5
The Surprise Factor: 8
Average Pop Rating: 5.5

Bejeweled
Pop Rating
Singability: 3
Danceability: 0
Enjoyment: 3
The Smooch Factor: 3
The Surprise Factor: 0
Average Pop Rating: 2.25

Labyrinth
Pop Rating
Singability: 5
Danceability: 0
Enjoyment: 10
The Smooch Factor: 8
The Surprise Factor: 10
Average Pop Rating: 8.25

Karma
Pop Rating
Singability: 8
Danceability: 8
Enjoyment: 6
The Smooch Factor: 0
The Surprise Factor: 6
Average Pop Rating: 7

Sweet Nothing
Pop Rating
Singability: 3
Danceability: 0
Enjoyment: 4
The Smooch Factor: 0
The Surprise Factor: 0
Average Pop Rating: 1.75

Mastermind
Pop Rating
Singability: 8
Danceability: 10
Enjoyment: 7
The Smooch Factor: 0
The Surprise Factor: 4
Average Pop Rating: 7.25

Hits Different
Pop Rating
Singability: 9
Danceability: 10
Enjoyment: 7
The Smooch Factor: 0
The Surprise Factor: 5
Average Pop Rating: 7.75


Comments: It’s pretty standard really, something of a disappointment up to “Anti-hero”, which I know, so it’s not the pleasant surprise I had hoped, but still the best of three anyway. Well the next one is pretty great, when Lana del Rey joins her for “Sex on the Beach” sorry “Snow on the Beach” (would have been more interesting had it been the former but oh well), nice breathy vocal and a softer approach, would you call it the first ballad? I would. “Vigilante Shit” isn’t the embarrassment I expected it to be, as Swift tries trap or slow rap or whatever the hell it’s called; actually works quite well as a sort of self-deprecating deal. Not bad at all, the tired sort of frustrated vocal tying the whole thing together well. Could do without the autotune (curse it to hell, though on pop albums I suppose I have to expect it) on “Midnight Rain”, and “Bejeweled” is pretty throwaway but “Labyrinth” is light years better. “Karma is really good too, very catchy and I like the way it’s constructed. I didn’t rate the last two tracks as they’re just remixes of ones I’ve already rated.

What is my opinion now, after listening? It’s decent, sure, but is it a classic, or does it deserve to have got to number one? In the world of pop, maybe, who knows? I think it has too many weak tracks, though the good ones do mostly make up for that. It’s not as dancy as I would have expected a pop album to be. Feel there’s more than a little country in here. A bit of a surprise, though I doubt it would make me a fan right away. Some promise, certainly.
Favourite tracks (if any): Anti-hero, Snow on the Beach, Labyrinth, Karma
Album Pop Rating: 5.41
Personal rating: 6/10

:beer:

Are you going to also listen to non english songs? if yes I would like to recommend some albums.

Absolutely. Lay them on me.

it is a short list for now
i will do another one when i have more time to find something

Lunatique
by Jenifer
I have changed the album because she removed it from everywhere on the internet.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OL...TNLdYXYnNSRUCk

Otra Era
by Javiera Mena
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OL...iuRnzTA-TVs5Is

Herzfrequenz
by Blümchen
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OL...FsOFo54nCpFOrc

Seili
by Jenni Vartiainen
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OL...8c3V9dgXZl0N1o

Bis auf den Grund
by Dota und die Stadtpiraten
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OL...KqA-eDdCpinOJc

Wat Als
by Hannelore Bedert
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OL...Td0rSp0Exag2uk

Une Enfant Du Siècle
by Alizée
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OL...O_jujsyJHZKKls

Ok. Are all these available on YouTube? Cos I won't be buying any albums I don't actually want/like. If you can link me that would be good. Also understand I'm doing this on a random basis, so one of your albums could come out soon, or it could be a while.

I am trying now to find playlist for them. Sorry I didn't think to do that it was very late and I couldn't think.

Well I guess I gotta be like Ke$ha - Warrior

It's OK if you don't do everything.

Pretty sure you guilted me into doing this some time ago. I'll check back and see but I definitely remember deliberately not putting the dollar sign in to annoy you. Don't think it worked.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...Loud_cover.png
Album title: Dreaming Out Loud
Artist: OneRepublic
Nationality: American
Year: 2007
Highest chart position: 2 (UK) 14 (US)
What do I know about this artist? Nada; heard of them, that’s it
What was my opinion on this artist prior to listening? I had none
What, if any, are my expectations prior to listening? None
Track-by-track:

Stay (All I Need)
Pop Rating
Singability: 8
Danceability: 8
Enjoyment: 8
The Smooch Factor: 0
The Surprise Factor: 7
Average Pop Rating: 6.2

Mercy
Pop Rating
Singability: 8
Danceability: 8
Enjoyment: 7
The Smooch Factor: 0
The Surprise Factor: 5
Average Pop Rating: 5.6

Stop and Stare
Pop Rating
Singability: 7
Danceability: 0
Enjoyment: 7
The Smooch Factor: 7
The Surprise Factor: 3
Average Pop Rating: 4.8

Apologize
Pop Rating
Singability: 6
Danceability: 0
Enjoyment: 6
The Smooch Factor: 8
The Surprise Factor: 3
Average Pop Rating: 4.6

Goodbye Apathy
Pop Rating
Singability: 6
Danceability: 7
Enjoyment: 5
The Smooch Factor: 0
The Surprise Factor: 5
Average Pop Rating: 4.6

All Fall Down
Pop Rating
Singability: 9
Danceability: 5
Enjoyment: 10
The Smooch Factor: 0
The Surprise Factor: 9
Average Pop Rating: 6.6

Tyrant
Pop Rating
Singability: 8
Danceability: 9
Enjoyment: 8
The Smooch Factor: 0
The Surprise Factor: 9
Average Pop Rating: 6.8

Prodigal
Pop Rating
Singability: 9
Danceability: 0
Enjoyment: 8
The Smooch Factor: 8
The Surprise Factor: 3
Average Pop Rating: 5.6

Won’t Stop
Pop Rating
Singability: 8
Danceability: 6
Enjoyment: 5
The Smooch Factor: 0
The Surprise Factor: 3
Average Pop Rating: 4.4

All We Are
Pop Rating
Singability: 8
Danceability: 5
Enjoyment: 5
The Smooch Factor: 0
The Surprise Factor: 3
Average Pop Rating: 4.4

Someone to Save You
Pop Rating
Singability: 7
Danceability: 8
Enjoyment: 8
The Smooch Factor: 0
The Surprise Factor: 5
Average Pop Rating: 5.6

Come Home
Pop Rating
Singability: 6
Danceability: 0
Enjoyment: 8
The Smooch Factor: 10
The Surprise Factor: 5
Average Pop Rating: 5.8



Comments: Before I even listen to a note, I will give this band some props, as I see the person who appears to be the driving force of the band, Ryan Tedder, not only sings but plays piano, guitar, keyboards, drums - just about everything - also engineers and produces the album and writes or has a hand in writing every single song. The fact that this is debut and OneRepublic have not gone down the mostly favoured route of a) getting a bunch of songwriters in, b) throwing a lot of covers on their album or c) involving a ton of producers, earns them points in my book. Whether this will translate into a liking for their music or not I can’t say till I hear it, but I’m already better disposed towards them, as it’s clear they have not taken the easy way out. I should also mention that on this, and all subsequent albums, I won’t be doing bonus tracks, remixes, special mixes or anything of that nature, as I know what pop is like, and I ain’t getting dragged down that particular rabbithole!

Got a somehow African-like start to the opener, doesn’t grate on me so that’s good. It’s not quite a ballad, but I wouldn’t see people necessarily dancing to it, so I’d put it on more the side of being a ballad than not being one, and in starting their first album off with that I believe they’re being quite courageous. I see comparisons have been noted with Coldplay and Snow Patrol, and sure, I can see that. Not a copy though, not yet anyhow. Nice acoustic guitar and piano opening the second track, on which, admittedly, those comparisons begin to look stronger. A lot of heart in these two songs, but it would be nice to see OR stamp their own identity on one of their songs. But no, “Stop and Stare” has Snow Patrol written all over it, quite a lot like “Chasing Cars” really. Good song, but quite derivative. Hmm. I would say also so far it’s been a pretty low-key affair. I’m not one for boppy dance numbers, but there really hasn’t been anything uptempo here yet.

“Apologize” is another mid-to-slow-paced song, with handclap drums and a yearning vocal, while “Goodbye Apathy” (is there a message in the title?) sounds like it might be waking things up a little maybe. Good vocal harmonies, though it’s hardly kicking down walls now is it? There's a decent hook in the song, but it’s kind of hard to care too much. Another acoustic guitar opening to “All Fall Down”, with what sounds like violin or cello (probably the former) and okay, this is the first track that has interested me with more than a passing shrug. Yeah this one is good, probably the best so far, though I guess that’s not saying a lot. Fast-paced piano line leading in “Tyrant” accompanied by a rapid vocal delivery and it does move at last and kick things up but unfortunately I don’t like it too much. Chorus is good but I don’t like the verses though hold on: slowing almost to a halt and now taking on a sort of bluesy semi-prog feel; maybe there’s hope yet. Yeah, Enjoyment Factor and Surprise Factor just went up a couple of notches. This is very good.

Ambient opening to “Prodigal”, nice piano and keyboard line and the vocal is very emotional and soulful, closest to an actual ballad there has been on the album (oddly, despite the slow nature of many of the tracks, there hasn’t been one I would class as a love song or ballad) and bouncy acoustic guitar leads us into “Won’t Stop”, a breezy little tune with some nice cello but really nothing to write home about, almost an updated Paul Simon idea I feel. It’s followed by “All We Are”, which is a Beatles-style piano ballad that’s not quite sure what it wants to be. Picks up in the chorus and is a little mystifying in that way, hard to know which way to take it. That leaves us with two tracks, as the closer is just a remix of “Apologize”, which as I said I’m not taking into consideration.

Good strong opening with powerful percussion and a sense maybe of ELO, just touches, to “Someone to Save You”, reminds me of certain Robbie Williams songs too, good hook in the song, powerful ending and then the album closes on “Come Home”, a piano ballad that is finally the love song I’ve been expecting all through the album.


What is my opinion now, after listening? I’d say the comparisons with Coldplay and Snow Patrol are deserved, but there are signs of OneRepublic trying to break out of that mould and forge their own path, something they may have achieved on later albums. Right now this shows promise, but it’s hard to see it as anything that original. Pleasant and nice to listen to, but it wouldn’t induce me to go out and buy the rest of their material, not on the basis of this album.
Favourite tracks (if any): All Fall Down, Tyrant, Someone to Save You
Album Pop Rating: 5.42
Personal rating: 7/10


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ODo...q2sp37sB3YmQkg

Then make it MIA - Kala.

That was the first album i listened to by OneRepublic and although I dont listen to them much these days, still a solid album. The song Apologize plays everywhere that I tend to skip that one now but everything else is good. Like you said, nothing original or new but still a good listen.