SHOOTER
Diamond Member
3x Poster Of The Year!!!
Typical of those in power to stay worried about the *wrong* shit.
Joined: April 2006
Posts: 75,230
|
Post by SHOOTER on Dec 23, 2022 13:44:31 GMT -5
Eww. I'll be back for December.
|
|
🌺CountryLineDancer
3x Platinum Member
Biggest Canadian Country Music Fan on Pulse
Joined: May 2020
Posts: 3,798
Pronouns: he/him
|
Post by 🌺CountryLineDancer on Dec 23, 2022 20:59:35 GMT -5
Let’s just say Holly Jolly Christmas is the best thing Blake Shelton did in 2022.
|
|
bboat11
Moderator
Pulse's Resident Martina McBride Expert
Joined: February 2013
Posts: 27,299
Pronouns: He/Him/His
Staff
|
Post by bboat11 on Dec 26, 2022 2:51:19 GMT -5
Merry Christmas, everyone!!!! So far we are off to a solid start, with four lists for the Christmas rankdown. We have just five more days if anybody else wants to join :) I imagine we can get at least a couple more! (The shortened list should hopefully provide some enticement ;) )
Participants:
November 2022:
The Playlist: (Runtime 47 min.) 1. Almost Too Early For Christmas - Jimmy Fallon & Dolly Parton 2. Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) - Caylee Hammack 3. Christmas In Dixie - Jason Aldean 4. Christmas To Me - Jamie O'Neal 5. Cowboy For Christmas - Runaway June 6. Holly Jolly Christmas - Blake Shelton 7. I'll Be Home For Christmas - Tiera Kennedy 8. It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas - Thomas Rhett 9. Miss You At Christmas - Avery Anna 10. New Baby For Christmas - Hailey Whitters 11. O Holy Night - Erin Kinsey 12. Please Come Home For Christmas - Callista Clark 13. Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town - O.N.E. The Duo 14. Santa Claus Was My Uber Driver - Lee Brice 15. There's A New Kid In Town - Rachel Wammack ft. Blessing Offor
|
|
bboat11
Moderator
Pulse's Resident Martina McBride Expert
Joined: February 2013
Posts: 27,299
Pronouns: He/Him/His
Staff
|
Post by bboat11 on Dec 29, 2022 23:13:20 GMT -5
It's time for a one day reminder!! The Christmas iteration of this series is supposed to close tomorrow night! I'm going to get my own list done, which will get us to at least 7, but it would be great if we could get to double digits somehow! That being said, the Christmas month is never all that high-interest in this series, so I do not plan to drag the closing out just to hope that someone else will submit, like I have done with the Jamie O'Neal rankdown I'm also about to close. If you want to join, please try to do it tonight/tomorrow!
Participants:
|
|
LBTrocks
Diamond Member
Joined: September 2012
Posts: 17,179
|
Post by LBTrocks on Dec 31, 2022 15:02:46 GMT -5
I actually am gonna sit this out. Celebrating with friends all weekend so scheduling this in just isn’t happening lol.
|
|
bboat11
Moderator
Pulse's Resident Martina McBride Expert
Joined: February 2013
Posts: 27,299
Pronouns: He/Him/His
Staff
|
Post by bboat11 on Jan 3, 2023 20:33:17 GMT -5
Alright, if you missed it you missed it! We're starting right now, and I plan to knock the whole thing out in one sitting!
|
|
bboat11
Moderator
Pulse's Resident Martina McBride Expert
Joined: February 2013
Posts: 27,299
Pronouns: He/Him/His
Staff
|
Post by bboat11 on Jan 3, 2023 20:46:56 GMT -5
15. "Santa Claus Was My Uber Driver" - Lee Brice
Total: 78 Average: 9.75 Std Dev: 4.62.indulgecountry - 3 superdave3556 - 4 🌺CountryLineDancer - 8 tim - 9 bboat11 - 11 castleoblivion26 - 13 recordyear - 15 Kris Kringle - 15{Songs Remaining} Almost Too Early For Christmas Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) Christmas In Dixie Christmas To Me Cowboy For Christmas Holly Jolly Christmas I’ll Be Home For Christmas It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas Miss You At Christmas New Baby For Christmas O Holy Night Please Come Home For Christmas Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town There’s A New Kid In Town
|
|
bboat11
Moderator
Pulse's Resident Martina McBride Expert
Joined: February 2013
Posts: 27,299
Pronouns: He/Him/His
Staff
|
Post by bboat11 on Jan 3, 2023 20:50:24 GMT -5
Coming in last place, we have our whimsical entry from Lee Brice about Santa's side job during the off-season! This song was far from a consistent last place contender, making it as high as #10 twice in the middle of submissions. Ultimately this group didn't see an obvious loser in this bunch, as Lee only finished two points behind the next lowest song, which was only three points from the next two lowest songs... So this bottom 5 was much closer in grouping than it normally is! The two top 5 rankers for Lee Brice can take solace in that fact at least.
Lee's vocals here are about as rough as they have ever been, but overall I think this is pretty fun! I wouldn't turn it off!
|
|
recordyear
Diamond Member
album listener
Joined: January 2017
Posts: 14,832
|
Post by recordyear on Jan 3, 2023 20:50:39 GMT -5
Indulge ranked this atrocious song by Lee Brice at #3???
|
|
bboat11
Moderator
Pulse's Resident Martina McBride Expert
Joined: February 2013
Posts: 27,299
Pronouns: He/Him/His
Staff
|
Post by bboat11 on Jan 3, 2023 21:02:27 GMT -5
14. "Almost Too Early For Christmas" - Jimmy Fallon & Dolly Parton
Total: 76 Average: 9.5 Std Dev: 4.28tim - 3 castleoblivion26 - 6 Kris Kringle - 6 bboat11 - 8 🌺CountryLineDancer - 12 .indulgecountry - 13 superdave3556 - 14 recordyear - 14{Songs Remaining} Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) Christmas In Dixie Christmas To Me Cowboy For Christmas Holly Jolly Christmas I’ll Be Home For Christmas It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas Miss You At Christmas New Baby For Christmas O Holy Night Please Come Home For Christmas Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town There’s A New Kid In Town
|
|
bboat11
Moderator
Pulse's Resident Martina McBride Expert
Joined: February 2013
Posts: 27,299
Pronouns: He/Him/His
Staff
|
Post by bboat11 on Jan 3, 2023 21:05:49 GMT -5
Jimmy Fallon and Dolly Parton are next....shockingly for her, but probably unshockingly for him, lol. You may hate his super-obviously-autotuned vocals, or the super generic canned pop drumbeat, or the SNL-worthy references to "haters" and getting the season ready for Mariah. But damn if this isn't super catchy, and Dolly is as engaging as ever!! This is just the right amount of cheese to go with Christmas in MY opinion. But at the same time I was only able to put it as high as #8 because there were better songs here.
|
|
bboat11
Moderator
Pulse's Resident Martina McBride Expert
Joined: February 2013
Posts: 27,299
Pronouns: He/Him/His
Staff
|
Post by bboat11 on Jan 3, 2023 21:09:10 GMT -5
13. "Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town" - O.N.E. The Duo
Total: 73 Average: 9.13 Std Dev: 3.60bboat11 - 4 recordyear - 5 castleoblivion26 - 7 .indulgecountry - 8 🌺CountryLineDancer - 11 Kris Kringle - 12 tim - 13 superdave3556 - 13{Songs Remaining}Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) Christmas In Dixie Christmas To Me Cowboy For Christmas Holly Jolly Christmas I’ll Be Home For Christmas It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas Miss You At Christmas New Baby For Christmas O Holy Night Please Come Home For Christmas There’s A New Kid In Town
|
|
bboat11
Moderator
Pulse's Resident Martina McBride Expert
Joined: February 2013
Posts: 27,299
Pronouns: He/Him/His
Staff
|
Post by bboat11 on Jan 3, 2023 21:12:18 GMT -5
This song has a lot of really neat country instrumentation, an innovative beat for this song, great harmonies... Honestly, I can't think of a single reason why it is ending up so low! Maybe the beat makes it come across as campy to some?
|
|
bboat11
Moderator
Pulse's Resident Martina McBride Expert
Joined: February 2013
Posts: 27,299
Pronouns: He/Him/His
Staff
|
Post by bboat11 on Jan 3, 2023 21:17:05 GMT -5
12. "There's A New Kid In Town" - Rachel Wammack ft. Blessing Offor
Total: 73 Average: 9.13 Std Dev: 4.85Kris Kringle - 2 .indulgecountry - 4 superdave3556 - 5 recordyear - 10 tim - 11 bboat11 - 12 castleoblivion26 - 14 🌺CountryLineDancer - 15 {Songs Remaining}Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) Christmas In Dixie Christmas To Me Cowboy For Christmas Holly Jolly Christmas I’ll Be Home For Christmas It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas Miss You At Christmas New Baby For Christmas O Holy Night Please Come Home For Christmas
|
|
bboat11
Moderator
Pulse's Resident Martina McBride Expert
Joined: February 2013
Posts: 27,299
Pronouns: He/Him/His
Staff
|
Post by bboat11 on Jan 3, 2023 21:21:28 GMT -5
Rachel Wammack sounds really great in the first part of this song! This has potential to be one of my favorite versions of this song if she keeps it up! But unfortunately, the unnecessary feature significantly diminishes the song imo. Not that the entire feature was a bad concept; I think that Blessing Offor (whoever that is) provides some really great background vocals when Rachel is signing! But giving him his own verse was too jarring, and ruined the mood of the song imo.
And then there's the last minute, when they both completely ruin it with that American Idol-style showing off, completely messing up the melody, doing jarring call-and response vocals, etc... This escaped my last place for how great the first verse and chorus were, but absolutely sealed a spot in my bottom 5 in the last 60 seconds of the song...
|
|
bboat11
Moderator
Pulse's Resident Martina McBride Expert
Joined: February 2013
Posts: 27,299
Pronouns: He/Him/His
Staff
|
Post by bboat11 on Jan 3, 2023 21:25:48 GMT -5
11. "O Holy Night" - Erin Kinsey
Total: 71 Average: 8.88 Std Dev: 3.83🌺CountryLineDancer - 1 (RIP :'( ) tim - 8 Kris Kringle - 9 superdave3556 - 9 recordyear - 9 bboat11 - 10 castleoblivion26 - 10 .indulgecountry - 15 {Songs Remaining}Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) Christmas In Dixie Christmas To Me Cowboy For Christmas Holly Jolly Christmas I’ll Be Home For Christmas It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas Miss You At Christmas New Baby For Christmas Please Come Home For Christmas
|
|
bboat11
Moderator
Pulse's Resident Martina McBride Expert
Joined: February 2013
Posts: 27,299
Pronouns: He/Him/His
Staff
|
Post by bboat11 on Jan 3, 2023 21:30:58 GMT -5
Unfortunately for Erin Kinsey, I have to say that it sends a pretty STRONG message when a rendition of "O Holy Night" (one of the most beautiful and almost-guaranteed-to-do-well-on-Pulse Christmas songs) can't even reach the top 10 in a 15-song rankdown... I didn't think it was BAD, but definitely no reason to ever revisit it when you could listen to Martina's, or Faith's, or Sara's, or Carrie's, or Lauren's, or Chris Young's, or Jamie O'Neal's, or or or or or.... Like, if you're not even going to attempt the fun note at the end, there's no reason to sing this song at all. (The exception of course being Sara Evans, who makes the song epic in other ways that I have never heard anyone else do, redeeming the lack of the glory note). Sorry to 🌺CountryLineDancer though for the loss of #1!!
|
|
bboat11
Moderator
Pulse's Resident Martina McBride Expert
Joined: February 2013
Posts: 27,299
Pronouns: He/Him/His
Staff
|
Post by bboat11 on Jan 3, 2023 21:34:05 GMT -5
The Top 10!
Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) - Caylee Hammack Christmas In Dixie - Jason Aldean Christmas To Me - Jamie O'Neal Cowboy For Christmas - Runaway June Holly Jolly Christmas - Blake Shelton I’ll Be Home For Christmas - Tiera Kennedy It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas - Thomas Rhett Miss You At Christmas - Avery Anna New Baby For Christmas - Hailey Whitters Please Come Home For Christmas - Callista Clark
|
|
bboat11
Moderator
Pulse's Resident Martina McBride Expert
Joined: February 2013
Posts: 27,299
Pronouns: He/Him/His
Staff
|
Post by bboat11 on Jan 3, 2023 21:43:04 GMT -5
|
|
bboat11
Moderator
Pulse's Resident Martina McBride Expert
Joined: February 2013
Posts: 27,299
Pronouns: He/Him/His
Staff
|
Post by bboat11 on Jan 3, 2023 21:48:16 GMT -5
Callista Clark kicks off our top 10 with the least polarizing song of the rankdown. In fact, everyone rated this between #7 and #10 except for a random bottom 5 from recordyear. So while this didn't have the low ranks to warrant a low placement, it also didn't have the high ranks that would have taken it any higher than this. I find myself enjoying "Please Come Home For Christmas" more often than not, but I especially love when someone leans into the rock/blues elements simultaneously. I think that is why Martina's version is so incredible. Callista's version is plenty bluesy too, but also feels a bit closer to pop than rock, so not quite as successful as Martina's for me. Still love it, but this placement feels about right!
|
|
bboat11
Moderator
Pulse's Resident Martina McBride Expert
Joined: February 2013
Posts: 27,299
Pronouns: He/Him/His
Staff
|
Post by bboat11 on Jan 3, 2023 21:52:04 GMT -5
|
|
bboat11
Moderator
Pulse's Resident Martina McBride Expert
Joined: February 2013
Posts: 27,299
Pronouns: He/Him/His
Staff
|
Post by bboat11 on Jan 3, 2023 21:57:14 GMT -5
And we go immediately from our least polarizing song to our most! And some of y'all are going to have to forgive me I guess, but Jason Aldean's version of this was the BEST rendition of "Christmas In Dixie" I have ever heard!!!!! Say what you will about "Dixie" being a frowned-upon term now, or Alabama's version being the gold standard classic... I love theirs too, for sure. But somehow Jason put a fresh spin on this song that I was NOT expecting, and it absolutely worked for me! His voice is better than ever here, and I love the overall arrangement. Particularly the instrumental after the first chorus, when it gets briefly quiet with all those pizzicato strings, but then suddenly gets loud halfway through a measure. Also, the way that the steel guitar is blended so heavily alongside the electric guitars is the way that all modern country should be.
I don't ever WANT to put Jason Aldean at #2, but the man earned it this month...
|
|
🌺CountryLineDancer
3x Platinum Member
Biggest Canadian Country Music Fan on Pulse
Joined: May 2020
Posts: 3,798
Pronouns: he/him
|
Post by 🌺CountryLineDancer on Jan 3, 2023 21:59:37 GMT -5
Not that I loved Erin’s version in particular, but O Holy Night is almost like an automatic #1 for me, it is such a beautiful song. Still bitter about her single Just Drive flopped on the radio.
Christmas in Dixie is definitely better that most of Jason’s recent singles.
|
|
bboat11
Moderator
Pulse's Resident Martina McBride Expert
Joined: February 2013
Posts: 27,299
Pronouns: He/Him/His
Staff
|
Post by bboat11 on Jan 3, 2023 22:03:32 GMT -5
|
|
bboat11
Moderator
Pulse's Resident Martina McBride Expert
Joined: February 2013
Posts: 27,299
Pronouns: He/Him/His
Staff
|
Post by bboat11 on Jan 3, 2023 22:06:52 GMT -5
I might have underranked this one now that I'm listening to it again, but not by much. This just has a very generic sound to it. It doesn't come across as anything special, and in fact seemed rather repetitive in a boring way. Unknown artists could always earn brownie points with me by leaning into their country roots, but there is nothing about this that tells me who Avery Anna is as an artist.
|
|
bboat11
Moderator
Pulse's Resident Martina McBride Expert
Joined: February 2013
Posts: 27,299
Pronouns: He/Him/His
Staff
|
Post by bboat11 on Jan 3, 2023 22:09:33 GMT -5
|
|
bboat11
Moderator
Pulse's Resident Martina McBride Expert
Joined: February 2013
Posts: 27,299
Pronouns: He/Him/His
Staff
|
Post by bboat11 on Jan 3, 2023 22:12:01 GMT -5
It's been easy to forget what a polarizing vocalist Hailey Whitters can be with how strong some of her material in this series has been. But "New Baby For Christmas" was easily the most grating she has ever sounded to me! Listening to it again there is actually a really cute song here, that could be a lot of fun in the right hands. But her hands are not the right ones, lol.
|
|
🌺CountryLineDancer
3x Platinum Member
Biggest Canadian Country Music Fan on Pulse
Joined: May 2020
Posts: 3,798
Pronouns: he/him
|
Post by 🌺CountryLineDancer on Jan 3, 2023 22:14:39 GMT -5
This was cute song, and I think Hailey’s vocal was pleasant.
|
|
bboat11
Moderator
Pulse's Resident Martina McBride Expert
Joined: February 2013
Posts: 27,299
Pronouns: He/Him/His
Staff
|
Post by bboat11 on Jan 3, 2023 22:19:13 GMT -5
|
|
bboat11
Moderator
Pulse's Resident Martina McBride Expert
Joined: February 2013
Posts: 27,299
Pronouns: He/Him/His
Staff
|
Post by bboat11 on Jan 3, 2023 22:23:08 GMT -5
"Cowboy For Christmas" sounded a lot more like classic Runaway June to me than "Broken Hearts (Do Broken Things)" did last month! But I only put it at #13 because no matter how many times I have listened to it, I can't quite seem to remember it between listens. I don't remember any specific dislike. I guess I just liked 12 others better.
This song was NOT on pace to do well, however, as it was a very consistent bottom 5 contender until all of a sudden it's two top two ranks came in and nearly put it in the top 5 at the last minute!
|
|