A Legendary First Time Kelsea Ballerini Rankdown (Due 3/17)

[chicken077]

"There's a first time for everything..."

AN UNAPOLOGETICALLY LEGENDARY FIRST TIME RANKDOWN - featuring an actual human angel - Kelsea Ballerini!



Greetings Pulse, and welcome to our first ever rankdown of my favorite artist and my angel and queen and idol - Kelsea Ballerini! I'm your host, chicken077, and over the rest of 2017, I will take you on a journey through the songs of this amazing girl! Most of you know me on Pulse as the Kelsea superstan and might be quite annoyed at it, especially if you don't like her songs/aren't a huge fan of country. But I hope that doesn't stain your perception of Kelsea herself and whether or not you are a country listener or not, you'll give this girl a chance! It seriously means everything to me and Kelsea herself!

This rankdown thread has been created today, 8/10/2017, for a particular reason! Not sure if any of you know, but over this past week, Kelsea has been slowly teasing 30 second snippets of all her 12 tracks on her upcoming album Unapologetically, coming November 3, and today, I have gotten a chance to have a listen of all 12 snippets and the official track list has been released! I've been planning to do a double album rankdown for Kelsea with her debut The First Time along with her sophomore album Unapologetically, and now that I know the tracklist for both albums, I can announce the tracklist for this rankdown! However, Unapologetically itself will not come out until November 3, so y'all won't get to hear the full songs of half of this rankdown until that day. To fill in these few months, I will slowly be introducing Kelsea's songs one at a time from both albums, and y'all can start listening to her songs from The First Time while waiting for Unapologetically. And trust me, I recommend that you listen to songs multiple times before going through preference revealer/making your list, because one of the beautiful things about Kelsea songs (at least in my opinion) is instead of burning with every listen, you somehow get a deeper understanding every song/a better perception of the subtle emotions Kelsea is trying to convey, and that's one reason why her songs are so amazing for me! So I HIGHLY RECOMMEND that you start listening to The First Time NOW and Unapologetically ONCE IT COMES OUT in order for y'all to have time to process these songs and make a fair ranking of all the songs! And because of this, I will not be accepting any lists until Friday, November 3, 2017, and I have not thought of a due date yet, but it will likely be in mid-December so I can use Christmas/New Years season revealing results!

I will also be including some of Kelsea's unreleased songs on here! I have picked some unreleased fan favorites that are available on YouTube for y'all to hear! So here is the preliminary tracklist. Note that the list is not final and I could still add/remove songs from here based on if I can find YouTube versions of the bonus tracks:

The First Time		"XO" "Peter Pan" "Love Me Like You Mean It" "Square Pegs" "First Time" "Looking At Stars" "Sirens" "Secondhand Smoke" "Dibs" "Stilettos" "Yeah Boy" "Underage"
Unapologetically		"Graveyard" "Miss Me More" "Get Over Yourself" "Roses" "Machine Heart" "In Between" "High School" "End Of The World" "I Hate Love Songs" "Unapologetically" "Music" "Legends"

For those that are new to rankdowns, here is what you have to do!
1) Follow this thread for updates as I introduce each one of these songs! I recommend you start listening!
2) When Unapologetically comes out in November (it's out now!), be sure to listen to all 24 songs. I will update this post with a Spotify playlist and YouTube playlist when the time comes!
3) Rank the songs from #1 to #24, with #1 being your most favorite and #24 being your least favorite.
4) PM me (@ chicken077) your list by New Years Day 2018 (1/1/2018) by 11:59pm Pacific Standard Time
5) Follow along the results!

PLAYLISTS:
All tracks from The First Time can be accessed with the following Spotify playlist:








All tracks from Unapologetically can be accessed with the following Spotify playlist:






I recommend that everyone, no matter if you're a fan of country or not, give this girl a chance! She will not disappoint you and you will not regret it!

HAPPY LISTENING AND RANKING!

[chicken077]

Tag List:

.indulgecountry , aerodynamite , Leo ✔ , Sambalada , zaclord 🌈 , jtd Thee Stallion , YotamTS , @walker9 , Kanenrá:ke , rgreen0625 , 🅳🅸🆂🅲🅾 , castleoblivion26 , Daryl the Beryl , Az Paynter , Choco , @jamesflame , matteeeb , born , fearlessarrow , maine , Leaf , Au$tin , Beno , CF15 , Red , willapted33 , austin , crazyb , Juanca , Normi , @mirza , Mr. Thonk Eyes , awesomecharts , someguy , †ealsünset , bboat11 , Ky , bat1990 , dm2081 , frenchfry , Raccoon , @antigonerising , Doc Indie Party Rock , LBTrocks , alexcuse , @crapkuki23 , janinho , Walking Contradiction , Juan Carlos , nick64 , Rose "Payola" Nylund , toomuchboy , Albie , #LisaRinna , sabre14 , Web , wheatsquares33 , @pjscott11 , trustypepper , beyoncelover , Ice Cream 15 (Broccoli 2018) , d3vin44 , kmbgs , lyhom , woods , countrymusicjunkie , craziaskowboi , Troublemaker , musicfan134 , ry4n , @adam1995 , boysilver400 , DistrictTwelve , greentoo , Golden Bluebird , MTSChart21 , peacebone , when the pawn... , CoJoFan , codyj100 , Daniel Collins , edph1 , Kentucky25 , BackwoodsBarbie , wavey. , The Brazilian Guy 🇧🇷 , Zach , bigfan101 , cerulean , Cody Wants Out... , dub , Glove Slap , MilesW1998 , Harx , raylatch98 , Darkest Hour , @anythingbutmine , zjames , carriefan15 , graham , vann , kansasmeetsmo , mamasaid , sbme , stonemc06 , tim , @xfer , tryexp , @annasilva

I tried to include active participants of other rankdowns as well as posters who have been posting on Kelsea threads recently. Note that inclusion in the tag list is not a requirement to join! Feel free to join even if you're not tagged!! And if you want to be tagged as I introduce every song, feel free to tell me and I'll tag you! :)

[chicken077]

Participants:
1. kf1992
2. soulfulwings


Final Results:

[MilesW1998]

Yeah, no I don't wanna do a Kelsea rankdown. Sorry, but I've got too much on my plate already.

[peacebone]

Not interested, but thanks for the tag.

[graham]

Sorry, don't know most of these so I'll pass.

[Deleted]

Aug 10, 2017 15:13:20 GMT -5 graham said:

Sorry, don't know most of these so I'll pass.

You have like 3 months it says. I believe he said that he will post videos until November so you can listen to the songs and get to know her. Thats enough time to know most of these, right?

Anyways since theres plenty of time, I could fit this in and do it. I like most of her songs so far.

[#LisaRinna]

[CF15]

I will definitely try to fit this in! I will do it after Unapologetically comes out in full. :)

[Mr. Thonk Eyes]

I like Kelsea, doing this for sure.

[austin]

I'm in

[Deleted]

The only thing I know about Kelsea is that you love her. Pass.

[bigfan101]

There is so much pink in this thread.

[YotamTS]

I really liked most of what I've heard from her so I'll probably participate.

[zaclord 🌈]

I'm busy from now until November 3rd, so I don't think I'm gonna have time to do this. Sorry.

[zaclord 🌈]

JK so in for this even though Peter Pan is obviously gonna win.

[Deleted]

Thanks for the tag! I will try to participate when the time comes :)

[chicken077]

So as I've said on the op, I will start introducing all the songs for this Rankdown as time passes to get y'all familiar with Kelsea's music before accepting lists! Note that I will just give a brief overview of each song without giving too much away about it.

SONG #1: Track 1 from The First Time: XO



Length: 2:54
Songwriting Credits: Kelsea Ballerini, Catt Gravitt, Gerald O'Brien

"XO" is the first track off Kelsea's debut album The First Time, and from the start it is an epic show of Kelsea's amazing vocals, her ability to handle a fast tempo and melodically sophisticated song, and her sassy perky personality. Lyrically, "XO" is about being in a relationship with someone who can't get over his or her previous love, hence the main lyric "still in love with your ex". The upbeat rhythm and catchy melodic structure and her "rap" verses at the end of the chorus are just so fun and empowering and is an amazing confidence/mood booster when you feel sad. It serves as a fun little introduction to The First Time and sets the tone for the rest of the album - that it will contain some really perky and sassy and fun songs but will also touch into some pretty deep subjects.

Feel free to tell me if you want to be tagged in future introductions! :)

[sergejdordij]

Kelsea Ballerini is such a good artist, from the songs I listened too.
Can you please tag me in, it would be fun doing this!

[chicken077]

With the album release date for Unapologetically quickly approaching and me being more or less done with the colleges I'm applying early to (still very busy with life in general though haha), it's time to introduce the second song! 

SONG #2: Track 2 from The First Time: "Peter Pan"



Length: 3:20
Songwriting Credits: Kelsea Ballerini, Forest Glen Whitehead, Jesse Lee

"Peter Pan" could be considered Kelsea's "trademark" hit, and is her biggest hit to date, peaking at #35 on the Billboard Hot 100 and reaching #1 on both the Billboard Country Songs chart and Country Airplay chart. With this, Kelsea makes history on the charts to become the first female to top both charts simultaneously, and also the first female since 1992 (Wynonna Judd) to score three consecutive #1 hits on the Country Airplay chart with their first three singles. "Peter Pan" is also Kelsea's personal favorite of her four released singles from The First Time, and is featured on many of Kelsea's promotional products/interactions with fans. Most notably, Kelsea's VIP package is dubbed the "Neverland VIP Experience" for three tours from 2016-2017, when she was touring with Rascal Flatts on the Rhythm & Roots Tour in Summer 2016, on her first headlining The First Time Tour in Winter 2016, and the multi artist Home Team Tour in Spring 2017 (before her VIP became changed to "Legendary VIP Experience" in Summer 2017 when touring with Lady Antebellum and Brett Young in You Look Good Tour).
Lyrically, "Peter Pan" is a metaphor that describes when one person in a relationship is psychologically on another level as the other person, and this mental gap would cause some issues within the relationship. Kelsea compares this to the famous children's story Peter Pan, in which the famous character Peter Pan would never grow up and remain a child mentally. Though in a children's story this can be cute, Kelsea explains the consequences of this as it occurs in real life, and how this emotional gap in age cannot provide a stable relationship. The person that will "never grow up" will always do certain things "just because you know you can", yet he/she just "doesn't understand" the reality. With this metaphoric song, Kelsea shows off her more mature side after her playful and cute songs "Love Me Like You Mean It" and "Dibs", and is hence critically acclaimed for Kelsea's ability to handle depth and complexity. Musically, "Peter Pan" is written in the key of Db Major and is a midtempo ballad, consisting of a relatively complex bass line against a melody that beautifully shows off Kelsea's ability to handle both lower notes and high notes perfectly. Many of the components of the melodic structure are unique and rarely seen in other songs and stand out as blissful and almost nostalgic and reflective. With such a well handling of a complex song both lyrically and musically, it is no wonder why "Peter Pan" can be so critically acclaimed and considered by many to be one of the best country songs, or even songs in general, of 2016.

Fun Fact: The Peter Pan in this song is Kelsea's college boyfriend

Will "Peter Pan" also be critically appraised by Pulse? We will see!

Tags: sergejdordij  DistrictTwelve
Feel free to tell me if you want to be tagged in future introductions!

[chicken077]

SONG #3: Track 3 from The First Time: "Love Me Like You Mean It"



Length: 3:20
Songwriting Credits: Kelsea Ballerini, Forest Glen Whitehead, Josh Kerr, Lance Carpenter

"Love Me Like You Mean It" is Kelsea's first released single, and is what most Kelsea fans/country music fans perceive as the "beginning of Kelsea". It was released on July 8, 2014, and was on Kelsea's debut EP Kelsea Ballerini EP as well as her debut album The First Time. The song became a critical success for Kelsea, hitting #1 on the Billboard Country Airplay chart, becoming the first solo female artist to top the Country Airplay chart with a debut single since Carrie Underwood in 2006 with "Jesus, Take The Wheel". It also managed to hit the top 5 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart and #45 on the all genre Billboard Hot 100. "Love Me Like You Mean It" is what brought Kelsea out on the country music scene, and is somewhat known among non-country people too, as Kelsea performed this song with Taylor Swift on Taylor's 1989 World Tour at Nashville. It can also be considered Kelsea's "trademark hit" before "Peter Pan". It is still performed as one of her main songs during her shows, being her opening song on the most recent Kelsea show I've been to during the You Look Good Tour.
Musically, "Love Me Like You Mean It" is a quirky, sassy, and somewhat cute and flirtatious mid tempo expression-of-love song. It is written in the key of E Major and contains a relatively intricate and deviant primary chord structure especially for a youthful song. This gives the song almost an ironic feel, as one can both hear youthful/playful elements to the song as well as such a well developed bass line and melody that makes this not really seem like an artist's debut. This irony was part of what appealed to me when I first heard this song in March 2015, as many modern pop songs lack the well developed songwriting "Love Me Like You Mean It" has, and many of the so called "underrated" songs lack the playfulness this song does so well. Kelsea's vocals and performance add on to the playful and sassy feel to the song and along with "Stilettos" and "XO", shows off that Kelsea's performance also has a "stronger" side, with her emphasis of "If you gonna" at the very beginning of the chorus. Lyrically, "Love Me Like You Mean It" is about a female expressing love to a male and telling the male that the love better be genuine, cause she doesn't "have time to waste on the boys that are playing the game of leaving the girls crying out in the rain". It is a cute little satire on how surface level and short lasted love in the modern days may be, and that so many boys (and girls) "fall in love" with others "just because [they] know [they] can" (from Kelsea's "Peter Pan"). Kelsea starts off her musical career by putting it out there with this song that this surface level/disloyal love is not what she is looking for and isn't what she stands for and that she would prefer a male that truly and genuinely could give anything for the love and would be long lasting. This is a belief I also share, as I do not wish to have any one night stands/surface level relationships and I personally think that society these days has evolved in which just too many people prefer this short lasting, ungenuine relationships, so I connect a lot with the message of the song, another reason (along with Kelsea's amazing songwriting and performance) that this song stuck with me and began my love for Kelsea as a musician and person after I first heard it in March 2015.

Fun Fact 1: This song is known as its shortened name, "Love Me", on all of Kelsea's setlists for shows
Fun Fact 2: Though "Love Me" is one of Kelsea's most "girl anthem" themed songs, it was actually written when Kelsea was hanging out with a few guys
Fun Fact 3: Kelsea forgot her iTunes password momentarily when she was purchasing "Love Me" when it became available
Fun Fact 4: Many Kelsea fans (including myself) use the phrase "love you, mean it!", which is a play off of the song title of "Love Me".

Will "Love Me Like You Mean It" be critically appraised by Pulse? We will see!

Tags: sergejdordij  DistrictTwelve
Feel free to tell me if you want to be tagged in future introductions!

[zaclord 🌈]

Yo so is this open or what

[bboat11]

Nov 5, 2017 1:00:04 GMT -5 zaclord 🌈 said:

Yo so is this open or what

Chicken just posted in Discord saying to tell you that he needs a little time right now, and is not ready to start this yet. He'll open it soon though!

[chicken077]

So between the time I started introducing the tracks and now, so much things have been going on in life I really wasn't able to keep up with this thread and Pulse in general. Though things are still happening in life, with Unapologetically out, I believe the time has come for me to open up submissions for this rankdown! I posted on the OP the Spotify/YouTube/Soundcloud links to all 33 songs, and y'all could start ranking and sending me lists! I will make the due date Christmas Day 12/25/2017 at 11:59pm Pacific Standard Time, exactly a year after my Taylor Swift rankdown was due last year haha. So y'all have almost two months to digest all 33 songs and get your lists in to @ chicken077 ! Have fun listening and ranking!

Also, since I obviously did not have time to introduce all 33 songs, I will talk about each of the songs while revealing them

.indulgecountry , aerodynamite , Sambalada , Leo ✔ , zaclord 🌈 , jtd Thee Stallion , YotamTS , @walker9 , Kanenrá:ke , rgreen0625 , 🅳🅸🆂🅲🅾 , castleoblivion26 , Daryl the Beryl , Az Paynter , Choco , @jamesflame , matteeeb , born , fearlessarrow , maine , Leaf , Au$tin , CF15 , Red , willapted33 , austin , crazyb , Juanca , Normi , @mirza , Mr. Thonk Eyes , awesomecharts , someguy , †ealsünset , bboat11 , Ky , dm2081 , frenchfry , Raccoon , LBTrocks , @crapkuki23 , d3vin44 , woods , countrymusicjunkie , Troublemaker , @adam1995 , DistrictTwelve , greentoo , CoJoFan , codyj100 , edph1 , Kentucky25 , BackwoodsBarbie , wavey. , The Brazilian Guy 🇧🇷 , bigfan101 , cerulean , Cody Wants Out... , dub , raylatch98 , Darkest Hour , zjames , carriefan15 , vann , kansasmeetsmo , sbme , tim , tryexp , BlueShades874 , @xfer , sergejdordij , kf1992 , @steveic

Being tagged is NOT a requirement to participate! Feel free to participate whether or not you are tagged or not! And feel free to tag others on this thread that may be interested! :)

[CF15]

Finally! XD I can't wait!

[Raccoon]

Pass! Thanks

[Troublemaker]

Pass, thanks though

[Darkest Hour]

Pass, thanks.

[austin]

I am 100% in for this but should we just do the 24 released songs are you for sure wanting to do the unreleased? Some are only live versions so they are at a disadvantage IMO.

Or maybe 24 + the Christmas song and the Soundtrack song? Studio version songs?

[.indulgecountry]

Looking forward to doing this, but I really wish it was just the 24 songs from her two albums. Putting all these random unreleased and Xmas songs in there feels like unnecessary clutter to me.