#Booyahhayoob: Celine Dion - My Heart Will Go On
I am not a movie person and have not seen Titanic so that has no impact on me whatsoever. I’m just looking at this as a song, and as a song yeah it’s pretty easy to see how this got so popular. Celine Dion has one of the most powerful voices in music and uses it to full effect here. It starts off so sweet and gradually builds into something truly special. That last verse/chorus especially is just a bulldozing powerhouse of raw emotion and raw talent. This song is the best possible showcase of her natural talents and I respect the hell out of it.
#Txashaun: Sum 41 - Fatlip
Surprisingly, I’ve only recently started getting into Sum 41, this isn’t a band I paid much attention to growing up but lately I’ve been checking out their back catalogue and they’re pretty fantastic. And honestly, it kinda makes me sad that it took me this long to get into them because this type of stuff is absolutely something high school Julian would’ve had on CONSTANT repeat. A decade removed from that environment and the person I was a decade ago, though, this still slaps. I’d be lying to myself, and to you, if I said there wasn’t room for this in my playlists even now.
#NewNightmare7: Avril Lavigne - Take Me Away
This hurts me to say, but I think this is the most “meh” I’ve ever felt on an Avril song. I love her to death and most of her stuff from this era slaps like nothing else but this song in particular didn’t invoke any sort of reaction in me one way or another. Avril Lavigne is an amazing artist who I have a ton of respect for, but this song just did not hit the spot like so many of her others do. Sorry!
#Weetmaster: Carly Rae Jepsen - Run Away With Me
What is there to say about Run Away With Me that hasn’t already been said a million times by a million people far more qualified to talk about music than I am? This is the most beloved song by Carly Rae Jepsen, who I would have never expected to become the absolute critical darling that she is, for damn good reason. There are very few songs I would genuinely refer to as “perfect” but this is one of them.
#Ilovetosing: Alanis Morisette - You Oughta Know
FUUUUUUUCK YES. THIS IS IT. I fucking LOVE Alanis, and this song in particular really gets me going! There’s just something about the way she sells the righteous fury in every word makes me feel like she’s ready to scorch the earth if that’s what it takes to get back at the total piece of shit that wronged her, and I’m totally on board with every second of it! I have always loved this song from the very first time I heard it. Alanis Morisette does Canada proud with her long catalogue of amazing songs, with this as the crown jewel!
#Yswimmer96: Avril Lavigne - Sk8er Boi
You told me you were sending something totally different, but no this is definitely a MUCH more interesting submission. As I said above, I love most of what I’ve heard from Avril, both old and new, and this is absolutely part of that! I have always loved this song, Avril did rock so much better than she ever did pop. It's pretty funny that she was super mature when she was younger but her music kinda regressed for a hot minute as she got older (Hello Kitty? What the fuck.) This song is pretty simple in concept but she just sells it so well that I find myself able to really get behind this girl’s struggles and desire to get with this skater boy. Hell yeah.
#Booyahhayoob: Nelly - Just A Dream
It was only just a dream, adidos~
Ok, but for real. This song has become so much harder to look at with any sense of objectivity, or even subjectivity, because of what certain people on this site did with it back in the day and kinda turned it into sort of a homegrown TG based meme. How do I feel about it as a song though? It’s fine. Nelly is clearly trying to have sort of an emotional moment here but those constipated grunts that pop in sporadically seem to be the most he can manage to really emote. It loses a few points for that but this isn’t really that bad as a whole.
#Txashaun: Crazy Town - Butterfly
I admire the levels of creativity in some of these submissions! I did say rap, and this is rap, just mixed with rock elements. And this song in and of itself is a very bold submission because this song is polarizing as hell. I know a lot of people who say it’s a classic and a lot of people who think it’s the absolute fucking worst. Where do I stand? Well, I like it but I wouldn’t want to be caught dead listening to it tbh. Some of these lyrics are so cringe it physically hurts, and the fact that the entire melody is just straight up lifted from an RHCP song is insulting, but yeah this is a pretty fun listen even if I’m extremely embarrassed to admit to that.
#NewNightmare7: Outkast - Ms. Jackson
Now THIS is more like it! I love Outkast, Andre 3000 in particular is just so amazing. I’m not sure I could honestly say which of their hits is the best, but there is absolutely a case to be made for Ms. Jackson, the more serious tones match the lyrical content well and it leads to the song having a bit more weight to than some of their other songs. I can get behind this!
#Weetmaster: Towkio ft Teddy Jackson - Symphony
Ok! So these are 2 artists I know absolutely nothing about, I went into this very intrigued to see how you followed up your god tier Canada submission and… I don’t really know how to feel about this. I think it leans more on the positive side than negative? My reaction to most of it was just awkward laughter because some of these lyrics are just so cheesy. I think under the right circumstances I could really turn up to this song but just on a random listen this didn’t get much besides mild appreciation and, again, the awkward laughter.
#Ilovetosing: Gym Class Heroes ft Ryan Tedder - The Fighter
OH MY GOD WHAT? I have not thought about this song in almost a decade but I loved the fuck out of this when it was big!! I forgot this existed, but this submission sent me straight back to my late high school days when I was just trying to make it out ok. I went through some SHIT my last couple years and this song, along with a few others, got me through a lot of it. What can I say about the song itself? Ryan Tedder has one of my favorite voices in the industry, and this song is uplifting as hell, I just love it so much. I forgot about it once years ago when my tastes changed but you bet I won’t be forgetting about this song a second time. Straight into my playlists it’s going!
#Yswimmer96: NF - STORY
NO NO NO NO NO NO NO. I WORK NIGHTS AT A TRUCK STOP COMPLETELY BY MYSELF, I DID NOT NEED TO WATCH ONE OF MY WORST NIGHTMARES PLAYED OUT IN A SONG AND MUSIC VIDEO. EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS IS HORRIFYING TO ME. IT’S A WELL WRITTEN SONG AND A WELL CRAFTED NARRATIVE SURE BUT I CAN’T OVERLOOK THE FACT THAT THIS IS A VERY REALISTIC SCENARIO THAT I SPEND ~40 HOURS A WEEK PRAYING DOESN’T HAPPEN TO ME AND THIS SENT ME INTO A HORRID PANIC ATTACK WOOO SORRY NOAH THIS WAS NOT A GOOD PICK
So, who's taking the top spots? This was a pretty easy one tbh, normally I'd do separate reveals since there's multiple categories but the same person came out on top in both so, the person coming in 1st in BOTH CATEGORIES is...
For the face-offs where there are multiple categories, we're only going to go with the first category for that round. That said, both of you send, IN MAILS, one song from the first category, being Blame Canada. You have until 9pm EST but if they're both in early I'll do results early.
All 3 in the tie have the same overall average for the episode. I went to break the tie by using your overall season average but THOSE are tied too so fuck me I guess.
