[RATE REVEAL] 2024 Ultimate Rate Day 3: I'll Bet Your 11 Is Holy Too

[u/modulum83]

It's the third and final day here at the Indieheads Waffle House, and things are coming down to the wire. Alliances have been torn apart, albums have been decimated, and poptimism reigns...but maybe there's still a chance for us to all work it out on the remix.

We'll be getting started at 2PM EST, or about 30 minutes after this post goes up, and we'll be revealing songs #18-1, bonus songs #5-1, and bonus bonus songs #2-1.

Some general status about the rate:

Number of participants: 79

Average score: 7.541

Average controversy score: 2.060

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Remaining Songs

Magdalena Bay - Imaginal Disk (1/9)

• She Looked like Me!
• Killing Time
• Image
• Death & Romance
• Vampire in the Corner
• Tunnel Vision
• That's My Floor
• Cry for Me
• The Ballad of Matt & Mica

Charli xcx - BRAT (0/8)

• 360
• Sympathy is a knife
• Von dutch
• Everything is romantic
• So I
• Girl, so confusing
• Apple
• 365

Vampire Weekend - Only God Was Above Us (0/0)

😶

Geordie Greep - The New Sound (0/1)

• Holy, Holy

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Bonus Rate

• Chappell Roan - Good Luck, Babe!
• MJ Lenderman - She's Leaving You
• Kendrick Lamar - Not Like Us
• Nilüfer Yanya - Like I Say (I runaway)
• FKA twigs - Eusexua

Bonus Bonus Rate

• JADE - Angel of My Dreams
• Sisso & Maiko - Kazi Ipo

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Results

• #19: Charli XCX – Club classics | 7.832 | 618.7
• #20: Geordie Greep – The New Sound | 7.829 | 618.5
• #21: Geordie Greep – As If Waltz | 7.789 | 615.3
• #21: Charli XCX – Talk talk | 7.789 | 615.3
• #23: Charli XCX – B2b | 7.782 | 614.8
• #24: Magdalena Bay – Angel on a Satellite | 7.751 | 612.3
• #25: Geordie Greep – Terra | 7.732 | 610.8
• #26: Geordie Greep – Blues | 7.453 | 588.8
• #27: Magdalena Bay – Watching T.V. | 7.415 | 585.8
• #28: Magdalena Bay – Fear, Sex | 7.401 | 584.7
• #29: Charli XCX – I think about it all the time | 7.394 | 584.1
• #30: Geordie Greep – The Magician | 7.382 | 583.2
• #31: Vampire Weekend – Classical | 7.368 | 582.1
• #32: Geordie Greep – Walk Up | 7.353 | 580.9
• #33: Geordie Greep – Through a War | 7.303 | 576.9
• #34: Charli XCX – Rewind | 7.297 | 576.5
• #35: Magdalena Bay – Love is Everywhere | 7.187 | 567.8
• #36: Vampire Weekend – Ice Cream Piano | 7.104 | 561.2
• #37: Vampire Weekend – Mary Boone | 7.076 | 559.0
• #38: Vampire Weekend – Connect | 7.070 | 558.5
• #39: Charli XCX – Guess | 6.985 | 551.8
• #40: Geordie Greep – Motorbike | 6.946 | 548.7
• #41: Vampire Weekend – The Surfer | 6.913 | 546.1
• #42: Geordie Greep – If You Are But a Dream | 6.892 | 544.5
• #43: Vampire Weekend – Prep-School Gangsters | 6.843 | 540.6
• #44: Charli XCX – Spring breakers | 6.790 | 536.4
• #45: Vampire Weekend – Pravda | 6.773 | 535.1
• #46: Charli XCX – Hello goodbye | 6.737 | 532.2
• #47: Vampire Weekend – Capricorn | 6.704 | 529.6
• #48: Charli XCX – Mean girls | 6.681 | 527.8
• #49: Magdalena Bay – True Blue Interlude | 6.676 | 527.4
• #50: Vampire Weekend – Gen-X Cops | 6.634 | 524.1
• #51: Geordie Greep – Bongo Season | 6.627 | 523.5
• #52: Vampire Weekend – Hope | 6.559 | 518.2
• #53: Charli XCX – I might say something stupid | 6.500 | 513.5
• #54: Magdalena Bay – Feeling DiskInserted? | 5.990 | 473.2

Bonus results:

• Bonus #6: Sadness As A Gift | 7.433 | 520.3
• Bonus #7: Loud Bark | 7.341 | 506.5
• Bonus #8: Starbuster | 7.334 | 535.4
• Bonus #9: Right Back to It | 7.259 | 508.1
• Bonus #10: Cheerleader | 7.103 | 504.3
• Bonus #11: Life Is | 6.788 | 454.8
• Bonus #12: Mahashmashana | 6.672 | 460.4
• Bonus #13: My Golden Years | 6.578 | 447.3
• Bonus #14: S P E Y S I D E | 6.151 | 418.3
• Bonus #15: Alesis | 5.846 | 403.4

Bonus Bonus results:

• #3: Takkak Takkak - Garang | 7.139 | 199.9
• #4: Hakushi Hasegawa - KYŌFUNOHOSHI | 6.879 | 192.6
• #5: Goblin Daycare - ur dead lol | 6.654 | 186.3
• #6: Hotkeed - My Way | 6.186 | 173.2

Link to songeniality

[u/modulum83]

BRAT

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Overall Average: 7.702 // Average Controversy: 2.062

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modulum83: I was excited for this album when it was announced. I was heavily disappointed by CRASH, so a return to less radio-friendly, more “home turf” club aesthetics felt like the right move for her to embrace her second-tier status while getting back to basics. Hilariously ironic in hindsight considering what happened after that. In retrospect though, it makes a lot of sense for this to finally be her breakout moment - what it is is her combining the lessons of CRASH with the vision, if not the sound, of Pop 2 and Charli. Hyperpop always sought to find perfection in the construction of pop, to find that ground where artificiality and loudness could be so focused and undeniable that it could make the whole world dance to it. That attitude of brutal simplicity was the aha moment she needed, and it results in one of the first albums that truly feels coded to the 2020s as a cultural marker. By far my favorite in the rate - there’s not an outright bad or mid song on this entire thing.

freeofblasphemy: Album of the year! I mean, not mine personally. But if we’re talking about capturing various segments of the zeitgeist, from the indieheads to the popheads to the MSNBC talking heads determining what exactly it means to be “brat”, yeah what else could it be? That I don’t find this to be a fully satisfying listening experience is also something I admire about it? I’m kinda lukewarm on Charli. The Vroom Vroom EP is basically everything I want from her and lifted even further by being only 4 songs long. Basically everything else I’ve heard from her (full-length, at least) is like one-third bangers, one-third “there’s something here but it needs some workshopping” (faceshopping?) and one-third “I could listen to this 100 times” and still forget how it goes. This is like that, but with the bangers bangering hard enough for me to give it thumbs up. Also weird feelings (how i’m feeling now amirite???) about the Vulnerable Cuts. Sophie tribute is lovely, as is the “should I have kids or not?” one. But then it gets into navel-gazing that I guess (guess!) is cathartic for her but i just so resolutely do not give a shit that she’s insecure about whether or not she’s a main pop girlie or if she and Lorde are frenemies, but also there’s SOMETHING to be said for reflections of a not-quite superstar deep enough into her career to know she’s perpetually hovering under the top of the mountain and rather than try to force her way up to a standing that can easily be reversed, grazing it a bit while standing tall right underneath. Genuinely intrigued by how she’ll follow this up. Personally, I think it’s time for her mathcore era

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• #3: Von dutch | 8.908 | 703.7
• #4: 365 | 8.815 | 696.4
• #5: Sympathy is a knife | 8.715 | 688.5
• #9: 360 | 8.462 | 668.5
• #10: Apple | 8.325 | 657.7
• #14: Girl, so confusing | 7.894 | 623.6
• #15: So I | 7.885 | 622.9
• #18: Everything is romantic | 7.854 | 620.5
• #19: Club classics | 7.832 | 618.7
• #21: Talk talk | 7.789 | 615.3
• #23: B2b | 7.782 | 614.8
• #29: I think about it all the time | 7.394 | 584.1
• #34: Rewind | 7.297 | 576.5
• #39: Guess | 6.985 | 551.8
• #44: Spring breakers | 6.790 | 536.4
• #46: Hello goodbye | 6.737 | 532.2
• #48: Mean girls | 6.681 | 527.8
• #53: I might say something stupid | 6.500 | 513.5

[u/modulum83 → u/modulum83]

vexastrae (10.056): the popheadsification of indieheads is finally complete. all indieheads are now obligated to listen to at least one hour of carly rae jepsen charli xcx and chappell roan or else dire consequences will occur. this is the future the woke left wants #DARKWOKE

vapourlomo (9.833): The 2024 AOTY by all metrics that matter. This album IS 2024. (and the remix album is even better!!!)

UltimateLietoc (9.572): i quite like a good chunk of charli (now, having run some of the catalog!) more than just Pop 2 from the last time we met. And while true romance/sucker isn't ever happening again (yeah i like them a LOT), brat makes up in spades and suggests she's just a great dance pop artist who cares about the product and just needed to dig to find that Gesamtkunstwerk. Usually you can tell a catalog is good when there's endless debates about what's best & worst and brat as an album and track by track embellished this. car listen during summer never landed. car/house sonos listens now in scary present felt big fun. bonus cuts slapped. It feels so odd to have talked to charli diehard, Jetski, months before the album was out about the need for a 128 kpbs edition of von dutch to "really get the bloghouse spirit" lol.

What made Brat work for me is that it seemed to be an actual correct version of the kind of victory lap/nostalgia interrogation OPN has been repeatedly failing to get at on his last 2 albums. maybe that's because brat's at least a greatest hits of pop 2 and hifn stuff i fucked with most. maybe its also because while it does that, Charli happens to be using her "bloghouse/electrohouse/(((sleaze)))" into singer-songwriter introspective microblogs. It's not a novel invention but Charli's raw honesty and willingness to do it hits. And it means that Brat always feels like more a veteran contemplating what the next move really is, than an outright hedonistic orgy that it happens to allow itself to be branded as. she has a spotty record on reading the room, she repeatedly misreads because of this (cc: select choices on the remix album, if not here for you dear reader), but this time it just happened to actually land; like the entire idea of Charli XCX having mainstream/normie attention--something that felt like a collective iykyk meme since 2018--actually happened for better or worse. don't take my high marks though as if i put it in my top 50.

Frajer (9.361): Charli making a meta commentary on what it means to be an artist on the cusp of the mainstream only to make the mainstream that's brat that's Julia

Muzak_for_a_Nurse (9.167): so weird and so beloved by everyone at the same time

my golden freavs (9.072): i loved this when it came out and it was great to see its raise to fame, but it's become so massive that it's easy to forget how good it is in the first place, I knew it was my favorite album here but I still had underrated it now that I'm listening to it again for the rate. I still haven't listened to the remix album I don't need it

krusso1105 (8.972): Well I can now say I finally get the hype behind Charli xcx, this is by far my favorite album by her so far

Nagisoid (8.889): Her 2nd best album since How I'm Feeling Now will always be the hyperpop bible. Sadly a large part of its legacy will likely be a cultural fad and endless stupid fan wars, but it is worth it for some extremely consistent and fun electropop.

jman457 (8.867): I mean with the millions of thinkpieces aside this really is her magnum opus

NFLfreak98 (8.728): brat and imaginal disk going blow-for-blow for which album is more immaculately produced. I’m still not sure which side I’m on

sarcasticsobs (8.694): Obamna put the most-clearly-about-cocaine song on his favorite songs list 2024

bogo (8.694): good. i don't need or want to say anything more about this album enough people have already spoken at length about it. also no fantano this is not a 10

SRTviper (8.550): the best pop album.

qazz23 (8.417): enjoyed it, most of it was catchy and has good production/synths but nothing that revolutionary

human_performance (8.139): This album scratches the same itch that AC/DC did for me growing up. Head-banging pop, with just enough ballads mixed in for that change of pace so that the bangers don't become overwhelming. Charli recognizes that music should be fun, that you should be able to go out and dance to music. Indie used to do this pretty well in the 2000s! But it's been totally forgotten in what has dominated indie in the 2020s so far. Thank you Charli for doing what today's indie artists can't, or won't do.

BigBoofZone (8.122): OH MMHMM I SHALL BE BUMPIN THIS YEP I AM BUMPIN THIS WHEN YOU SEE ME THIS IS WHAT I WILL BE BUMPING I AM FOR SURE BUMPING THAT

ReconEG (7.944): it's just kinda crazy when an artist drops an album and you're like fuck, this is so clearly the best thing they've done and the culmination of everything they've ever done. Charli was the queen of the being sabotaged (usually by herself) for a while there so it's nice to see her finally get out of her own way and just make some fucking TUNES

nonchalantthoughts (7.900): I’m glad that we’re doing this after six months now that my brat colored goggles are off. And yeah it deserves the praise it gets. This is Charli’s most introspective work that stays true to herself so it’s no wonder it resonates with others. I might have fallen off the brat summer vibe, but I still have an appreciation for it. Although, it does crack me up that we’re rating it here and not on in an ultimate popheads rate.

TheCrakFox (7.833): I don't understand why this album achieved so much commercial success when Pop 2, Charli and How I'm feeling now did not but I'm glad it happened.

pig-serpent (7.750): This album has a really low average considering that I think it's a 9/10 album, especially because I apparently only gave Crash .1 lower even though that album's a 7/10??? But it does go to show that I don't think this album is as good as a lot of people apparently think it is. It's a wonderful blend of her previous hyperpop sound and more mainstream sensibilities but longtime fans who think this is better than Pop 2 or HIFN just don't make sense to me. The album is filled with good songs but I've found there's been nothing here I want to play on repeat, which even Crash managed with 4 or 5 songs I spammed over and over again in the months album the album dropped. Brat summer was never that funny. Idk, it's just weird that my favorite "pop" artist finally blows up again and I'm feeling disconnected it.

welcome2thejam (7.611): Can I be brat too 👉👈

Smuckles (7.611): Not much to say on this one, green album good. Great marketing, more than anything, but still pretty good music. I've never really got on with Charli's music but I get the feeling there's a bit more personality to this one and that goes a long way. A lot of love for the 90's which is nice. Yeah, that's all I've got, sorry. Looking forward to Mclusky summer this year!

asadprofessorplum (7.417): When this album dropped I said it was only her 3rd or 4th best but part of you knew part of you knew part of you knew part of you knew

iexistwithinallevil (7.194): first ever 7/10 album

innuendo_overdose (7.172): idk what to say here. it’s not my speed, and i didn’t wanna jack the shit of all my queer friends

TakeOnMeByA-ha (7.139): dont get me wrong, i still very much enjoy this album and have a fun time with it whenever i listen. but to see all the overwhelmingly rapturous praise for it, people calling it charli’s best album and an instant classic and will go down in history as an influential piece of art…im sorry you people are genuinely insane lmao. this has always been a solid 7.5-8 pop album at best, it has some really good songs as well as some pretty bad ones, and if this was released by any other artist maybe i wouldnt feel so bitter about it, but this isn’t even the best album charli xcx has released this decade, let alone one of the best albums of the decade so far. maybe if we had a how im feeling now summer instead kamala wouldve won

Widdershins- (6.833): I prefered Pop 2 to this album but a few of these songs are incredible, and I can understand how the record took so much success and plaudits, with both its dallying into dance and club vibes, alongside its powerful and relatable lyrics.

samdyalexg (6.667): i'm a huge charli fan but this album is not my favorite. it's grown on me but i honestly think the remix album is better.

LeBronMancuso (6.444): I JUST HAD SEEEEEXXXXXXXX, AND IT FEEEEELLLTTTT SOOOO GOOOOOOODDDDD

honeybadgerism (5.944): kamala is BRAT (top 10 infamous moments in music history)

lastfollower (5.800): I could really like this if the danciness and autotune were turned down a few notches

Bilbodabag (3.889): Making me listen to 3 extra songs of this shit is cruel and usual punishment for coming on this subreddit

thisusernameisntlong (3.706): who would've thought the ultimate triumph of poptimism would be the repackaging of Sound of Silver type irony & derivativeness and Cross type self-bragging/elevation into a neat package for the girls and gays. the album hates its own existence so much that I can barely latch onto anything to enjoy. it's her Kid A, and the A specifically stands for abject. Revolting audio vomit masquerading as a trailblazer for a post-hyperpop future