bboat11
Moderator
Pulse's Resident Martina McBride Expert
Joined: February 2013
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Post by bboat11 on Nov 3, 2021 19:42:50 GMT -5
I do really like "Crash And Burn", but I have to agree with the overall sentiment that it was unfortunately the odd one out in this list. There is like zero room for debate on the fact that country was overall trending downhill during the bro-country era, and the collective greats of the last 10 years are nowhere near the level of the collective greats from the 10-20 years that came before... Hence a song like "Crash And Burn" might fare well on a 2010s playlist, but faces a serious uphill battle if asked to face off against the greats of the '90s and '00s. Love it all you want, but them's the facts, lol. I definitely jam to it when it comes on though! I'm a little shocked that "If I Didn't Love You" is THIS low, but everything I just said previously still holds true here. In some cases recency bias is a real thing, but in other cases nostalgia bias is even more severe, and that is this song's fatal flaw in a rankdown like this! I still think it'll be a solid top 5 contender in the 2021 year-end rd at least! "We Danced" is such an amazing song, and the sort of song that is always going to get lost in the shuffle in an artist or year-end rd because it is amazing but not as flashy as songs like "Whiskey Lullaby" or "I'm Gonna Miss Her", so I was SO excited to see it become a winner thanks to this series! Easily one of my favorite country love ballads of all time. I really want this to be on my wedding playlist someday "Let It Go" is better than #8 on this list, but it's still pretty damn impressive that it managed to win in this series at all considering it is just an album track that had to win against a wide variety of amazing songs to squeak out its first win! That "just an album track" status undoubtedly weighed against it heavily here, because I really don't see a path for it to do much better than it did when everything that's left was pretty much a huge hit and/or fan favorite! Funny how Jo Dee would have been the only artist thus far to win this series twice had we initiated our "no repeat winners" rule before doing this Christmas rankdown... I'm still peeved that "Noel" has come up in 3rd place in like every rankdown it has ever been in!! That being said, "Hard Candy Christmas" is a great song. I'm glad it's leaving now, because this list is too strong to have Christmas songs in the top 5, but how impressive that it was able to do as well as it did!! Rascal Flatts did a bit better than I expected here, but "These Days" is definitely one of their best songs so I'm not disappointed. I always love listening to this song more than I think I will!
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Post by castleoblivion26 on Nov 3, 2021 20:27:41 GMT -5
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bboat11
Moderator
Pulse's Resident Martina McBride Expert
Joined: February 2013
Posts: 27,298
Pronouns: He/Him/His
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Post by bboat11 on Nov 3, 2021 20:32:26 GMT -5
Oh wow, I'm a little surprised to see Vince beat Miranda! Not that his song doesn't deserve to be this high, I'm just trying to consider the demographics of Pulse's taste, lmao. I'm going to guess he'll be next!
"Dead Flowers" is still such a fave of mine from Miranda, and similar to what I said about "We Danced", I am thrilled that this finally got to become a winner thanks to this series! It's the sort of song that will typically be overshadowed in just about every other context, because it's not as big or flashy as something like "The House That Built Me". That's the sort of thing that makes this series so awesome to me :)
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Post by castleoblivion26 on Nov 3, 2021 20:37:19 GMT -5
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bboat11
Moderator
Pulse's Resident Martina McBride Expert
Joined: February 2013
Posts: 27,298
Pronouns: He/Him/His
Staff
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Post by bboat11 on Nov 3, 2021 20:43:10 GMT -5
Oh, yay!!! I know I predicted The Chicks could be a contender to win this, but as you can see from my rank I'm pretty happy that they are leaving now 😂 "The Long Way Around" is a great song, but that doesn't mean I would list it in the Greatest Of All Time category alongside the remaining three. It's more like a standout from an individual album era rather than a standout from an entire career.
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Post by castleoblivion26 on Nov 3, 2021 21:03:18 GMT -5
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Post by castleoblivion26 on Nov 3, 2021 21:19:01 GMT -5
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Post by castleoblivion26 on Nov 3, 2021 21:21:22 GMT -5
and the correct song wins! Should be no surprise to anyone that Martina was my #1 and to see her stay #1 for almost the entire submission period was amazing!
Thank you everyone for participating and don't forget to get your list in for the next Shuffle rankdown, which is due NEXT WEEK!
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bboat11
Moderator
Pulse's Resident Martina McBride Expert
Joined: February 2013
Posts: 27,298
Pronouns: He/Him/His
Staff
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Post by bboat11 on Nov 4, 2021 18:16:03 GMT -5
Yay!!!!!! I'm so happy with this finish!!!! I wanted to predict that Martina would be the winner, but I've been burned a few too many times rooting for "Where Would You Be"... I mean, I sound a little dramatic because this song has always done very well. It did finish at #6 in Martina's first singles rankdown, just barely missed the top 10 in the 2002 year-end rd, finished at #3 in Martina's Extras rd, and then finished at #5 in Martinas' singles redo rankdown, lol. But after all that, it seemed destined to settle for always being a strong contender that was never quite strong enough to win. So I was so thankful when this series allowed it a platform to FINALLY become a winner! And now yet again, it has been afforded the opportunity to join the illustrious ranks of the MULTI-rankdown winners, which is an even loftier accomplishment!!!!
To talk about the song itself, there is just something about Martina's vocal here that connects to me on like a spiritual level, lmao. I know that epic power-belting is not everybody's cup of tea, so it makes sense that this has proven to be rather polarizing in most contexts, but this vocal performance is truly revolutionary in the world of female country vocalists. Literally nobody could carry this tune the way that she does! This highlights all of Martina's most unique strengths as a vocalist, most notably her ability to settle into the top of her range in a way that nobody else is comfortable with. The fact that she is able to belt repeatedly at the very top of her range without losing any of her usual smooth tone and developing a nasally, brassy edge just makes this vocal all the more remarkable.
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Post by castleoblivion26 on Nov 4, 2021 21:14:35 GMT -5
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taylor
Diamond Member
Pulse’s #1 Conan Stan
Best Country Poster 2023 and 2x Woman of the Year!!!
Joined: October 2019
Posts: 16,183
Pronouns: she/her
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Post by taylor on Nov 4, 2021 21:30:50 GMT -5
Shocked to see IIDLY so low, recency and nostalgia be damned! That’s such a great song with great vocals from CU and surprisingly Jason as well. I still have it in power rotation.
WTF @ “Dead Flowers” being stuck at #5?!?! I’ll never get over this song, everything about it is beautiful. Wouldn’t have been upset to see it win.
That said, I’ll take my victory with Martina winning! “Where Would You Be” is absolutely phenomenal and one of my favorites from her.
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Post by castleoblivion26 on Nov 10, 2021 22:11:39 GMT -5
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Post by castleoblivion26 on Nov 12, 2021 20:02:38 GMT -5
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Post by castleoblivion26 on Nov 17, 2021 23:27:36 GMT -5
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ClevelandRox
Diamond Member
Joined: January 2007
Posts: 13,539
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Post by ClevelandRox on Nov 18, 2021 7:37:26 GMT -5
Oops I blinked and didn't even realize a new shuffle was due. 😂 Thread title changed would've definitely helped castle <3
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Post by castleoblivion26 on Nov 18, 2021 9:42:57 GMT -5
Oops I blinked and didn't even realize a new shuffle was due. 😂 Thread title changed would've definitely helped castle <3 would you like me to tag you in the results?
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ClevelandRox
Diamond Member
Joined: January 2007
Posts: 13,539
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Post by ClevelandRox on Nov 18, 2021 11:12:16 GMT -5
Yessir!
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Post by castleoblivion26 on Nov 18, 2021 20:13:28 GMT -5
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Post by castleoblivion26 on Nov 18, 2021 20:55:47 GMT -5
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.indulgecountry
Diamond Member
Best Country Poster 2011, 2017, & 2018
"You left a mark on my face // And brought a dozen red flags in a vase"
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Post by .indulgecountry on Nov 18, 2021 22:54:34 GMT -5
I'm not a Crappleton fan already, but my... this was bad. I couldn't make it through the whole song.
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Post by tim on Nov 19, 2021 11:22:22 GMT -5
I meant to post my predictions yesterday before this got started but just never got around to finishing them. I had actually pegged both "Sometimes I Cry" and "The Bottle and Me" as the first two songs out, so there's not much surprise there. What is surprising is that Chris still somehow managed to escape last place even though four of y'all put him there. He's rather loathed amongst the majority of the Tractors here on Pulse, so he never really stood a chance anyways. Not too confident on what might leave next, but I suspect both "Forever Everyday" and "The Reason Why" will likley bow out before the top 5. Aside from .indulgecountry possibly tanking it, I just hope that "Love, Me" makes the top 5 at a minimum.
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Post by castleoblivion26 on Nov 19, 2021 21:46:23 GMT -5
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Post by castleoblivion26 on Nov 19, 2021 22:03:39 GMT -5
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.indulgecountry
Diamond Member
Best Country Poster 2011, 2017, & 2018
"You left a mark on my face // And brought a dozen red flags in a vase"
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Post by .indulgecountry on Nov 19, 2021 22:13:21 GMT -5
Lol how is Collin Raye the last male remaining? 🤢
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Post by castleoblivion26 on Nov 19, 2021 22:15:00 GMT -5
Lol how is Collin Raye the last male remaining? 🤢 because "Love, Me" is an incredible song...and "You Don't Seem To Miss Me" is an average cover of a great song
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.indulgecountry
Diamond Member
Best Country Poster 2011, 2017, & 2018
"You left a mark on my face // And brought a dozen red flags in a vase"
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Post by .indulgecountry on Nov 19, 2021 22:16:26 GMT -5
Lol how is Collin Raye the last male remaining? 🤢 because "Love, Me" is an incredible song...and "You Don't Seem To Miss Me" is an average cover of a great song
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Post by castleoblivion26 on Nov 19, 2021 22:16:52 GMT -5
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Post by castleoblivion26 on Nov 19, 2021 22:17:55 GMT -5
I'll be back to reveal the final 5! How do you think this will end?
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Post by tim on Nov 20, 2021 0:12:49 GMT -5
Very happy to see "Love, Me" make the top 5 and just as it rightfully should. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed he can make the top 3, but alas that's probably unlikely as I know that .indulgecountry tanked it for sure. I really am not sure how this is going to end, but I'd have to guess that both Reba and Carrie stand the best chance of making the top two.
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bboat11
Moderator
Pulse's Resident Martina McBride Expert
Joined: February 2013
Posts: 27,298
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Post by bboat11 on Nov 20, 2021 0:19:30 GMT -5
Yassss, look at my top 5 being the top 5 I'm most surprised by Lee Ann making it, as "Forever Everyday" is definitely a product of her "weird" phase, and I know it will be more polarizing as a result. Definitely happy though! "Love, Me" is incredible. But I'll also hope for a Carrie/Reba top 2! Lol
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