Martina McBride Singles Rankdown 2.0 (Finished!!!)

[tim]

Dec 21, 2020 1:13:46 GMT -5 bboat11 said:

And also, what could be our final song to miss the top 10?!

Things don’t always turn out like one might think after all! At this point I don’t know what to expect.

[bboat11]

11. "When God-Fearin' Women Get The Blues"

Album: Greatest Hits (2 of 4)

Year: 2001

Vocal Range: D3 - C5

Billboard Chart Peak: #8

Placement in the previous rankdown: 10 of 70

Placement in the album rankdown: 2 of 40




I love how she literally starts this performance planted in the audience. People were probably looking around like "wtf!" 😂


Total: 332
Average: 15.81
Std Dev: 13.70 (2nd largest!!)


Ginger Spice - 1
kansasmeetsmo - 1
George Strait Junkie - 2
Kanenrá:ke - 4
austin - 5
bboat11 - 5
Cody Wants Out... - 6
tim - 6
fearlessarrow - 8
taylor - 9
schnetzka - 11
ClevelandRox - 17
castleoblivion26 - 18
fireflies - 18
codyj100 - 19
.indulgecountry - 20
someguy - 29
Troublemaker - 31
Juanca - 32
CoJoFan - 42
toomuchboy - 48

SPOILER: Click to show

{Songs Remaining}
A Broken Wing
Anyway
Concrete Angel
Independence Day
Love’s The Only House
Safe In The Arms Of Love
Whatever You Say
Where Would You Be
Wild Angels
Wrong Again

[tim]

I’ve been on pins and needles since the top 20 and this is how we find ourselves entering the top 10?!

[tim]

I’m getting the sense that overplay was a big factor in what might describe the shakeup for some of these results leading up to the top 10.

[bboat11]

"When God-Fearin' Women Get The Blues" was a nail biter to watch for much of its run here! It started out as a top 5 contender for about the first 1/3 of the rankdown, which was an unexpected twist that I was not at all disappointed about. It gradually trickled down further and further from there, but still managed to be a very strong top 10 contender. Unfortunately, at the very end it started to lose its grip on the top 10. Things were so competitive in this region of the rankdown that even top 20 ranks like those of codyj100 were enough to cause it to move backwards


This song has such a great energy to it! Headbanging Hillbilly is such a great style for Martina. I wish she would revisit this style of country music more often! It seems to be one of her more forgotten top 10 hits from the early '00s, but it has continued to be a live staple all these years later. When I saw her last summer this was one of the highlights of the night. It was an absolutely flawless performance that still worked perfectly despite her changing vocals.


I'm sad to see this miss the top 10, but I am also alright with it because this song has gotten a fair amount of love on Pulse in recent months. It finished at #2 in her Extras rankdown, relegating fan-favorite "Where Would You Be" to 3rd place at the last moment (thanks Kanenrá:ke.... ), and then also finished at #2 in tim's '00s Women of Country rankdown, and then got its revenge when it WON Revenge of the Best last fall


It's a little weird to see a song go from being a RotB winner to not even making the top 10 in that artist's rankdown, but I guess that's a testament to just how strong and competitive the upper regions of Martina's hits catalog are

[bboat11]

Ladies and Gentlemen, at long last!!! The top 10!!!!

A Broken Wing
Anyway
Concrete Angel
Independence Day
Love’s The Only House
Safe In The Arms Of Love
Whatever You Say
Where Would You Be
Wild Angels
Wrong Again


Anyone feeling bold enough to make some predictions?

[tim]

You just love to see it

[tim]

Dec 21, 2020 1:41:50 GMT -5 bboat11 said:

Anyone feeling bold enough to make some predictions?

Tomorrow, yes. For now, I’m just going to enjoy the moment!

[austin]

A few of these in the Top 10 have overstayed. Sad to see the last few reveals - I always loved “When God Fearing Women Get The Blues!”

[castleoblivion26]

This Top 10 is so strong. I LOVE all 10 songs and am beyond happy with them all being Top 10. Sad to see "Wrong Baby Wrong", "My Baby Loves Me", "This Ones For The Girls", and "When God-Fearin' Women Get The Blues" but can't be too upset because of the strength of her catalog.

My Predictions for the Top 10 are:
10 ~ "Wrong Again"
9 ~ "Safe In The Arms of Love"
8 ~ "Love's The Only House"
7 ~ "Where Would You Be"
6 ~ "Whatever You Say"
5 ~ "Anyway"
4 ~ "A Broken Wing"
3 ~ "Concrete Angels"
2 ~ "Wild Angels"
1 ~ "Indpendence Day"

I'm probably mostly off but I do feel strongly about my Top 2. Those 2 tend to perform very well in each of her rankdowns. I think "Anyway" should be her #2 but it seems to get enough dislike to keep it from there, same with "A Broken Wing" and "Whatever You Say". I could see "Safe In The Arms of Love" and "Love's The Only House" making a run to the Top 5 as well.

[tim]

I’m not feeling confident at all about my predictions, but alas I’ll give it a go!

10. Safe in the Arms of Love
9. Love’s the Only House
8. Wrong Again
7. Anyway
6. Whatever You Say
5. Where Would You Be
4. Wild Angels
3. A Broken Wing
2. Concrete Angel
1. Independence Day

[bboat11]

Is anyone around for a painful foray into this scintillating top 10??!

SPOILER: Click to show

{Tractors Like Me}
Ginger Spice -
kansasmeetsmo -
George Strait Junkie -
Kanenrá:ke -
austin -
bboat11 -
Cody Wants Out... -
tim -
fearlessarrow -
taylor -
schnetzka -
ClevelandRox -
castleoblivion26 -
fireflies -
codyj100 -
.indulgecountry -
someguy -
Troublemaker -
Juanca -
CoJoFan -
toomuchboy -

[austin]

1 Independence Day
2 Broken Wing
3 Where Would You Be
4 Wild Angels
5 Wrong Again
6 Whatever You Say
7 Concrete Angels
8 Loves The Only House
9 Anyway
10 Safe In The Arms of Love

[bboat11]

10. "Wrong Again"

Album: Evolution (4 of 6)

Year: 1998

Vocal Range: F3 - B4

Billboard Chart Peak: #1

Placement in the previous rankdown: 8 of 70

Placement in the album rankdown: 3 of 14




Lmao look at her performing at the CMAs on a couch. Taking a page out of Queen Reba's playbook!


Total: 317
Average: 15.10
Std Dev: 10.92


someguy - 1
austin - 3
Ginger Spice - 4
kansasmeetsmo - 4
castleoblivion26 - 4
toomuchboy - 4
fearlessarrow - 5
bboat11 - 7
Cody Wants Out... - 11
tim - 12
CoJoFan - 14
George Strait Junkie - 17
codyj100 - 17
Troublemaker - 18
Kanenrá:ke - 21
fireflies - 23
taylor - 26
Juanca - 27
.indulgecountry - 30
ClevelandRox - 33
schnetzka - 36

SPOILER: Click to show

{Songs Remaining}
A Broken Wing
Anyway
Concrete Angel
Independence Day
Love’s The Only House
Safe In The Arms Of Love
Whatever You Say
Where Would You Be
Wild Angels

[schnetzka]

Wrong Again is one of my least favorite Martina singles. There's just something about it that never grabbed me. Glad to see so many other people like it though.

[bboat11]

In her long career filled with smash hits that everybody knows that tragically missed #1 ("My Baby Loves Me", "Independence Day", "Concrete Angel", "Happy Girl", "Where Would You Be", "Whatever You Say", "This One's For The Girls", "I'm Gonna Love You Through It", "Anyway", etc.), "Wrong Again" is the one that actually DID go #1.....and everybody immediately seemed to forget about. I have no idea why this song has been so eclipsed by the rest of her career. It was even my favorite Martina song for a couple years when I first discovered it!

"Wrong Again" is such a breathtaking vocal. It doesn't have a challenging range (only up to B4, and that's after the key change!), but the breath support and control needed to make it sound good is absolutely insane. This is a song that is unlike any other, but Martina manages to make the uniqueness play into all the strengths that make her unique as a vocalist.

This started out on an upward trajectory into the top 5, then seemed to settle in as our #7 contender...until several of its lower ranks caught up with it in the last handful of lists. Nobody outright tanked it, as there is only one rank that's barely in the bottom 15. But in the end, the top 10 was so competitive and tight that even a #11 from Cody Wants Out... was enough to push it back by a position!

[ClevelandRox]

Safe in the arms of Love is the new If I Died Today

[bboat11]

9. "Love's The Only House"

Album: Emotion (5 of 5)

Year: 1999

Vocal Range: E3 - E5

Billboard Chart Peak: #3

Placement in the previous rankdown: 11 of 70

Placement in the album rankdown: 1 of 13

Total: 316
Average: 15.05
Std Dev: 10.56


Kanenrá:ke - 3
codyj100 - 4
kansasmeetsmo - 5
Cody Wants Out... - 5
George Strait Junkie - 6
castleoblivion26 - 8
austin - 9
Ginger Spice - 9
tim - 10
ClevelandRox - 10
CoJoFan - 11
fearlessarrow - 12
Juanca - 12
bboat11 - 13
schnetzka - 20
toomuchboy - 21
someguy - 28
.indulgecountry - 29
taylor - 32
Troublemaker - 34
fireflies - 35

SPOILER: Click to show

{Songs Remaining}
A Broken Wing
Anyway
Concrete Angel
Independence Day
Safe In The Arms Of Love
Whatever You Say
Where Would You Be
Wild Angels

[bboat11]

Dec 21, 2020 19:23:50 GMT -5 ClevelandRox said:

Safe in the arms of Love is the new If I Died Today

Of course aside from the fact that it's actually really good ;)

[bboat11]

"Love's The Only House" is one of the three songs that was not in the top 10 last time that managed to creep in this time. This song got shut out at #11 last time, but this time managed to sneak up to #9. It was never really on pace to do any better than the bottom of the top 10, but it was never really at risk of falling out either.

It really struck me a couple weeks ago what a BOLD artistic choice this song is! Between the controversial depictions of inner city life and the largely talk-sung vocal delivery, this song was basically a huge risk for Martina to not only put on her album, but also release to radio. I have never really considered it to be anything but a success, since I have always known it to be a hit, but it really struck me a couple weeks ago that this must have been a major head-turner for people when it first came out.

And of course this is one that Martina had to fight for. When she first heard it, she told the songwriter she wanted it, and was basically told it was meant to be sung from a male perspective. She fought for the song despite the sexism, tweaked a few lines to make it work better from her perspective, and the rest is history!

[bboat11]

Album: Emotion (1999)

Tracklist:

1. Do What You Do
2. Anything's Better Than Feelin' The Blues
3. I Love You
4. Make Me Believe
5. Love's The Only House
6. There You Are
7. It's My Time
8. I Ain't Goin' Nowhere
9. Anything And Everything
10. From The Ashes
11. Good Bye
12. This Uncivil War
13. For The Love Of A Woman*


* = Bonus Track



Performance in this rankdown:
45. It's My Time
35. There You Are
28. Make Me Believe
18. I Love You
9. Love's The Only House

SPOILER: Click to show

{Tags}Juanca -
fearlessarrow -
ClevelandRox -
codyj100 -
tim -
.indulgecountry -
fireflies -
CoJoFan -
someguy -
taylor -
toomuchboy -
kansasmeetsmo -
George Strait Junkie -
bboat11 -
castleoblivion26 -
schnetzka -
Cody Wants Out... -
austin -
Troublemaker -
Kanenrá:ke -
Ginger Spice -

[bboat11]

8. "Safe In The Arms Of Love"

Album: Wild Angels (4 of 5)

Year: 1995

Vocal Range: A3 - D5

Billboard Chart Peak: #4

Placement in the previous rankdown: 20 of 70

Placement in the album rankdown: 2 of 11

Total: 307
Average: 14.62
Std Dev: 9.71


tim - 1
kansasmeetsmo - 2
Ginger Spice - 3
CoJoFan - 3
Troublemaker - 4
fireflies - 5
bboat11 - 9
Cody Wants Out... - 10
Juanca - 11
George Strait Junkie - 15
toomuchboy - 16
castleoblivion26 - 17
taylor - 17
austin - 18
Kanenrá:ke - 20
fearlessarrow - 20
codyj100 - 22
schnetzka - 22
.indulgecountry - 26
someguy - 32
ClevelandRox - 34

SPOILER: Click to show

{Songs Remaining}
A Broken Wing
Anyway
Concrete Angel
Independence Day
Whatever You Say
Where Would You Be
Wild Angels

[bboat11]

It's finally the end of the road for tim 's #1, after weeks of stress and anxiety since pretty much about the time we got to the top 30, lol.

"Safe In The Arms Of Love" was one of her early huge hits. It was only her second top 5 after "My Baby Loves Me". However, despite the fact that it was such a huge hit, it seems to have since been kinda overshadowed by the likes of "Wild Angels" (which was her first #1 hit right after this!) and then the huge wall of success that would come afterwards with the Evolution and Emotion eras.

This song has such a perfect melody. I cannot get enough of the way her ascending vocal heading into the chorus really increases the energy level of the song. This song also has a lot of really cool and innovative production work for its time period that people don't give it enough credit for. For example, the background vocals shifting from speaker to speaker after the first chorus is wicked cool. As is the mandolin mixed with fiddle in the instrumental solo. Martina seems to be the queen of mixing instruments to create new sounds, between this and "Happy Girl", lol. Throw the album track "So Magical" into the mix as well!

[bboat11]

7. "Anyway"

Album: Waking Up Laughing (3 of 3)

Year: 2006

Vocal Range: F3 - D5

Billboard Chart Peak: #5

Placement in the previous rankdown: 17 of 70

Placement in the album rankdown: 1 of 12






Total: 301
Average: 14.33
Std Dev: 12.23


codyj100 - 1
schnetzka - 1
.indulgecountry - 1
Cody Wants Out... - 3
fireflies - 4
castleoblivion26 - 5
taylor - 5
bboat11 - 6
CoJoFan - 7
Juanca - 7
fearlessarrow - 9
ClevelandRox - 15
kansasmeetsmo - 16
someguy - 16
George Strait Junkie - 21
tim - 24
Troublemaker - 27
Kanenrá:ke - 29
toomuchboy - 30
Ginger Spice - 32
austin - 42

SPOILER: Click to show

{Songs Remaining}
A Broken Wing
Concrete Angel
Independence Day
Whatever You Say
Where Would You Be
Wild Angels

[austin]

Good! Now the rest are basically flawless! "Anyway" is a bore and I hate how loud the chorus is. Major pass.

[bboat11]

#7 might seem a bit too low to the three people who put this song at #1, but I am personally SO happy with how "Anyway" did here! I was extremely disappointed when it completely missed the top 15 the first time around. This is so much more fitting!

Honestly, if you look at the trajectory graph, this one wasn't on pace to do much better than top 15 this time around either, but it got a burst of life at the very end!!!

This has one of my favorite arrangements of Martina's career. The sweeping cellos that dominate several sections of the instrumental bore directly into my soul, tbh. The lyrics may be a little trite and basic for some people's taste, but the way Martina delivers them still makes them hella impactful. Like, how could you not stan for the moment that the entire song scales back to just Martina and a piano and she delivers that gut-punch verse "You can pour your soul out singing a song you believe in that tomorrow they'll forget you ever sang. Sing it anyway."?! I get chills now just thinking about it. Easily one of the hardest-hitting moments of her catalog, and she has a lot of them...

Also, NOBODY can hold notes the way she can. I have literally never once heard somebody cover this song and actually hold the note at the end of the song. Even professional vocalists like Lauren Alaina always take a breath right in the middle of "Loooooooooooooove" or right after it. Martina is the only person who holds it through the entire "Loooooooooove anywaaaaaaaaaaaaay.", and she does it live every.single.time. Even today with her vocal problems. This woman has lungs of steel.

[bboat11]

Album: Waking Up Laughing (2007)

Tracklist:

1. If I Had Your Name
2. Cry Cry ('Til The Sun Shines)
3. Tryin' To Find A Reason
4. For These Times
5. Anyway
6. How I Feel
7. I'll Still Be Me
8. Beautiful Again
9. Everybody Does
10. House Of A Thousand Dreams
11. Love Land
12. Blue Bayou*


* = Bonus Track



Performance in this rankdown:
47. For These Times
39. How I Feel
7. Anyway

SPOILER: Click to show

{Tags}Juanca -
fearlessarrow -
ClevelandRox -
codyj100 -
tim -
.indulgecountry -
fireflies -
CoJoFan -
someguy -
taylor -
toomuchboy -
kansasmeetsmo -
George Strait Junkie -
bboat11 -
castleoblivion26 -
schnetzka -
Cody Wants Out... -
austin -
Troublemaker -
Kanenrá:ke -
Ginger Spice -

[taylor]

That passionate vocal towards the end is what kicks "Anyway" into overdrive for me. It's a great inspiring song and that music video is beautiful imo. Sad it just barely missed out on Top 5 but can't be upset at its performance!

[bboat11]

We're down to six perfect songs, and one of them has to miss the top 5... Which one is it going to be??!?!

The top 6:
A Broken Wing
Concrete Angel
Independence Day
Whatever You Say
Where Would You Be
Wild Angels



(Somebody better make a prediction, 'cause I am not putting another reveal on this overloaded page...)

[taylor]

If I had to guess at any of them to miss it would be either "Where Would You Be" or "Concrete Angel." I hope it's the former tho, because I might as well reveal that the latter is my #1 and I want it to at least hit #5.

You can start revealing again now bboat11  ;)