LogFAQs > #971611714

And... let's go with these two next:

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#16: Phoebe Bridgers - Scott Street (5:06):
https://youtu.be/W-Khe7DInxo

Nominator: Dragon66116 [0/12 Remaining]

Initial Score: 93.26
Revised Score: 87.95
Final Score: 93.26 [Upgraded to 95.66] [Upgraded to 99.05] [Upgraded to 100]

(First Reaction: "This song lasts 5 minutes But hurts forever". Thank you, YouTube commenter "Montse Go", that sums it up enough for a first reaction.)

!i should probably listen to this whole album someday. I really like her voice and general vibe, at least judging by this song and "Killer" (the song immediately after this on the album).

[Final Thoughts: I'm moving this song back up where it started. This is a very specific type of pain, of trying to talk with someone after the relationship is already dead. Awkward, & painful. I love this song and I'm not sure why this song dropped down in the first place.]

[Later: Take a couple extra points for this pain.]

[Later: "Do you feel ashamed when you hear my name?" is particularly hard-hitting. This is a brutal song, But I'm not a fan of the bridge due to its lack of lyrics. I understand it and it's perfect thematically. It represents that moment where you reconnect with someone you were once close to, but after the initial attempt at pleasentries (that inevitably go wrong & hurt terribly), you're just left with this uncomfortable silence. I hate that silence. I know it all too well...

And of course, it ends the only way it can: Pretending you'll keep in touch, when you both know you won't & that it'd be too painful to even try. But you still say it because you're supposed to say it. ...I know *that* part all too well as well. And it does hurt, but it's... I don't know, it's a less interesting pain than the earlier part of the song with verses. Also, I have enough uncomfortable silences in my life as it is, I don't really need.... musical silence, as painful and relatable as it is.]

[Later: I feel like the emotions tied to the song are strong enough that it should be further up the list, but that whole stretch after the second verse doesn't quite work for me. Like I said, I do get it and it's thematically appropriate, but it's... not quite something I enjoy enough that I want to move it any further up the list. Rough call though.[

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Elimination #19: Dragon66116

Lowest Scoring Song

J-Live - Braggin Writes [58.935]

Highest Scoring Song

Phoebe Bridgers - Scott Street [100]

Average Score: 71.57

And another participant joins the 70+ point average gang! While you didn't have time to nominate a complete set of songs and used less than half the time available, you had a rather carefully curated list. If I'm remembering correctly, you were the participant who went the longest without losing a single song and this consistency paid off with a fantastic average score. Besides your two highest scoring songs, I'm also thankful you nominated some more Lupe Fiasco & Lana Del Rey. Those two are always a treat to hear. I know I asked for a ludicrous amount of songs, so it really means a lot that you managed to nominate as much as you did & that the quality was so high. Thank you!

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#15: The Dear Hunter - The March (4:12):
https://open.spotify.com/track/5N7BPMQelk4faFRworPQzo?si=8b4b7f3de55c4a91

Nominator: NBIceman [0/22 Remaining]

Initial Score: 79.14
Revised Score: 80.96
Final Score: 74.804 [Upgraded to 79.14] [Upgraded to 81.13] [Upgraded to 92.96] [Upgraded to 95.162] [Upgraded to 98.95] [Upgraded to 100]

(First Reaction: ...Really, The Boy kinda had this coming. If someone's blackmailing you & they're incredibly powerful and influential, you should probably have a better plan for dealing with them than "set stuff on fire". Like at least make sure the blackmailer is caught in said fire or things are going to go very badly for you. Stupid.)

!Pimpin' Priest always has great songs, yes.

[Final Thoughts: Theatrical villain song from a master manipulator, though it might be more enjoyable if Hunter weren't so incredibly terrible at everything this chapter. I feel like the Priest doesn't even have to try this chapter as Hunter is so busy self-destructing in the most public & absurd way possible. ...Which is probably the point, but at the rate Hunter is ruining everything, he'd have probably eliminated himself if you left him alone for another ten minutes or so.]

[Later: Apparently this song features a lot of reprisals of past songs from the Acts (9, I think?) though I'm not observant enough to catch most of them. Funny enough, I think the only one that I really got was The Old Haunt section and that track wasn't even part of my abridged Act IV that I was listening to on an endless loop. Perhaps I should have listened to that track more often?

I do love that portion of this song:

You tried to take control but you couldn't with a stolen soul
So we're coming after you tonight, coming after you tonight
No word he could uphold 'cause the only truth he ever told
Was that there's far too many ways to die
Far too many ways to die

If a song is divided into nine sections and you only really love one of them, how many points is that worth? ...Well, I think I'll move this back up to its Initial Score. I might go all way up to the next tier or I might leave it just before the 80 point mark, but I think there's enough here that I love that I want this to be quite a ways up the list.]

[Later: Moving this back up to ia tier. I think I might take it further up the list, but I want to at least listen to some of the songs that started in the low 80s before I make too large a jump with this one.]

[Later: Moving this one up a tier, largely because of that one section of the song--I really, really love it. The other 8 sections of the song are good enough, but not nearly on the level of that specific verse.]

[Later: A few more points, once again purely for that one section.]

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Elimination #20: NBIceman

Lowest Scoring Song

Haken - Falling Back to Earth [53.772]

Highest Scoring Song

The Dear Hunter - The March [100]

Average Score: 71.29

Another member of the 70+ point average club! Act V definitely took a while to grow on me. I definitely spent basically the entire first two times I listened to the album laughing at Hunter's actions... the moment I pictured him as Skinner, all the dramatic tension the band was trying to build was completely drained. This is largely a personal failure of mine, but some of Hunter's actions are so ludicrous that I'd say it's like... 23% on the band as well. Perhaps thankfully, enjoyment for the wrong reasons is still enjoyment, and some of the tracks won me over in the end: I don't think I had any jokes about The March or Cascade, while Blood featured enough pain & resignation to death (along with slight dissociation) to be something that I could paradoxically love for the right & wrong reasons simultaneously.

Your wildcard non-album picks were also pretty good. I loved Shovel & kinda loved Pink Lemonade. Thank you.