Best Song of the 2010s Bracket

[A Dim-Witted Saboteur]

Robyn - Dancing on My Own vs. Lil Nas X (ft. Billy Ray Cyrus) - Old Town Road - Remix
Oh my god that chorus. Iconic.

Drake - Hotline Bling vs. Angel Olsen - Shut Up Kiss Me
I generally don't much like Drake, but this track is an exception.

Bon Iver - Holocene vs. Perfume Genius - Queen
I didn't like either of these, but I disliked Queen less.

Future Islands - Seasons (Waiting On You) vs. Björk - Stonemilker
I don't think I've really "gotten" Bjork yet. I probably will at some point, but until then,

Beach House - Space Song vs. Rosalía - Malamente (Cap.1: Augurio)
A bop.

LCD Soundsystem - dance yrself clean vs. Vince Staples - Norf Norf
Learning from RULFO that that's a Steve Reich sample made this song *that* much better for me. Dance yrself clean is too long.

Tame Impala - Let It Happen vs. Cardi B - Bodak Yellow
I don't really like Tame Impala.

Grimes - Oblivion vs. Katy Perry - Teenage Dream
Pitchfork was probably a bit too bullish on Oblivion in its end of decade list, but it is genuinely a very good song, probably better than Teenage Dream

[kammajos000]

Robyn - Dancing on My Own vs. Lil Nas X (ft. Billy Ray Cyrus) - Old Town Road - Remix

Drake - Hotline Bling vs. Angel Olsen - Shut Up Kiss Me
A vote against Drake, not for Angel Olsen

Bon Iver - Holocene vs. Perfume Genius - Queen
abstain - both boring

Future Islands - Seasons (Waiting On You) vs. Björk - Stonemilker
abstain - also boring. I just wanted both of these songs to end so I could move onto the next

Beach House - Space Song vs. Rosalía - Malamente (Cap.1: Augurio)
abstain - more boring songs

LCD Soundsystem - dance yrself clean vs. Vince Staples - Norf Norf
Still think it shoulda been Big Fish, if anything at all

Tame Impala - Let It Happen vs. Cardi B - Bodak Yellow

Grimes - Oblivion vs. Katy Perry - Teenage Dream
A #2 seed? Thought it would sound better.

I don''t really understand a lot of these picks. Maybe I'm the only one who thinks so, but a lot of these were just boring slow indie songs I haven't heard of that don't have a wide appeal. No Ed Sheeran, J. Cole, Lady Gaga, XXXTENTACION, Jay Z, or songs like Despacito, Pumped Up Kicks, Chandelier, or Rockstar? I don't enjoy half of those, but I think any would be more deserving and representative of the 2010s than any of the songs in the third, fourth, and fifth matchups of this section of the bracket, among others elsewhere in the bracket. Would've liked to have seen more rap in general too, but I'm definitely biased as an overall rap fan.

[Charm Bison]

Robyn - Dancing on My Own vs. Lil Nas X (ft. Billy Ray Cyrus) - Old Town Road - Remix
Sorry, but...come on

Drake - Hotline Bling vs. Angel Olsen - Shut Up Kiss Me
I love the pure feeling of desire contained in this. Hotline Bling just can't compete.

Bon Iver - Holocene vs. Perfume Genius - Queen
You may ask why I turned down quiet, slow Midwestern folk last round but voted for it here. The answer is...uh...

Future Islands - Seasons (Waiting On You) vs. Björk - Stonemilker
A lot harder than I expected! Björk turns in her usual stunning work, with strings that might otherwise seem over-the-top perfectly complementing the rawness of the lyrics. But there's just something about Seasons that grabs me and doesn't let go for three minutes.

Beach House - Space Song vs. Rosalía - Malamente (Cap.1: Augurio)
Rosalía pulls off the difficult feat of being understatedly catchy.

LCD Soundsystem - dance yrself clean vs. Vince Staples - Norf Norf
Forgive me if I save the longer spiels on this song for later in the bracket.

Tame Impala - Let It Happen vs. Cardi B - Bodak Yellow
Bodak Yellow is a fantastic song to yell out at a party, but I just love the way Let It Happen orbits around a theme for its last half.

Grimes - Oblivion vs. Katy Perry - Teenage Dream
Pop only gets you so far.

[Wartortullian]

I don''t really understand a lot of these picks. Maybe I'm the only one who thinks so, but a lot of these were just boring slow indie songs I haven't heard of that don't have a wide appeal. No Ed Sheeran, J. Cole, Lady Gaga, XXXTENTACION, Jay Z, or songs like Despacito, Pumped Up Kicks, Chandelier, or Rockstar? I don't enjoy half of those, but I think any would be more deserving and representative of the 2010s than any of the songs in the third, fourth, and fifth matchups of this section of the bracket, among others elsewhere in the bracket. Would've liked to have seen more rap in general too, but I'm definitely biased as an overall rap fan.

I had the same response after listening to most of the bracket. To borrow a term form earlier in the thread, it all seems very quizbowl-core: slow, upper-middle-class-white-boy indie stuff, with the occasional rap or pop hit thrown in.

Now, I don't expect a bracket like this to include everything from bro country to metalcore to jazz fusion in the name of genre diversity (though speaking of jazz fusion, I'd be remiss if I didn't point out that Snarky Puppy's "Lingus" is the real best song of the 2010s). However, it would be nice to have a broader cross-section of literally 10 years of human creative output.

[Quinctilius Varus]

I don''t really understand a lot of these picks. Maybe I'm the only one who thinks so, but a lot of these were just boring slow indie songs I haven't heard of that don't have a wide appeal. No Ed Sheeran, J. Cole, Lady Gaga, XXXTENTACION, Jay Z, or songs like Despacito, Pumped Up Kicks, Chandelier, or Rockstar? I don't enjoy half of those, but I think any would be more deserving and representative of the 2010s than any of the songs in the third, fourth, and fifth matchups of this section of the bracket, among others elsewhere in the bracket. Would've liked to have seen more rap in general too, but I'm definitely biased as an overall rap fan.

I had the same response after listening to most of the bracket. To borrow a term form earlier in the thread, it all seems very quizbowl-core: slow, upper-middle-class-white-boy indie stuff, with the occasional rap or pop hit thrown in.

Now, I don't expect a bracket like this to include everything from bro country to metalcore to jazz fusion in the name of genre diversity (though speaking of jazz fusion, I'd be remiss if I didn't point out that Snarky Puppy's "Lingus" is the real best song of the 2010s). However, it would be nice to have a broader cross-section of literally 10 years of human creative output.

It should be mentioned that I didn't conjure this list out of thin air. Almost all of the songs came from a combination of the year-end lists on Acclaimed Music, the user ratings on Rate Your Music, and (primarily) the end-of-decade lists on Pitchfork, Stereogum, and similar publications. The songs were seeded roughly in order of acclaim. I really don't think Ed Sheeran or XXXTENTACION put out anything that would be considered the best of the decade, although we can agree to disagree on that point. While the first two sectionals admittedly have a good helping of indie music, the only "quizbowl-core" band by Matt's definition in the third sectional is Vampire Weekend. And even if they aren't played often on the radio, these songs do appeal to a wide variety of people: for example, "Holocene" has over 246 million plays on Spotify and "Malamente" has more than 123 million. That being said, if I had to redo the bracket, I would probably make it a little more diverse by including music in a wider variety of genres (e.g. more than one jazz and metal song).

[Auks Ran Ova]

Robyn - Dancing on My Own vs. Lil Nas X (ft. Billy Ray Cyrus) - Old Town Road - Remix - not bad!

Drake - Hotline Bling vs. Angel Olsen - Shut Up Kiss Me - not a particular inspiring choice here, but Shut Up Kiss Me is a decent song that I'm, crucially, not already extremely tired of.

Bon Iver - Holocene vs. Perfume Genius - Queen - as others have mentioned, kind of a snooze-off here. I liked the post-chorus whistling melody and some other elements of Queen enough to stick through it reasonably happily, so it gets the vote!

Future Islands - Seasons (Waiting On You) vs. Björk - Stonemilker - despite Stonemilker being irritatingly slow, it felt like it was at least trying to do something interesting; the Future Islands song just seemed incredibly generic. Also the instrumentals, especially the recurring echoing sound, reminded me of "A Fleeting Dream" from the Final Fantasy X soundtrack, so that was nice.

Beach House - Space Song vs. Rosalía - Malamente (Cap.1: Augurio) - another sort of unenthusiastic pick; at least it's more interesting than the Beach House song!

LCD Soundsystem - dance yrself clean vs. Vince Staples - Norf Norf - thought this was going to be an easy choice, but then I was reminded that dance yrself clean is nine minutes long and pretty monotonous! Norf Norf also has some monotonous elements, but I think the drone it's built over works pretty well and I generally enjoyed the song more than I was expecting to.

Tame Impala - Let It Happen vs. Cardi B - Bodak Yellow - not my favorite song or anything, but it's pretty catchy and much more enjoyable than eight minutes of meandering, whispery "pop" music. Blah.

Grimes - Oblivion vs. Katy Perry - Teenage Dream - look, a good pop song!

In the wake of listening to these songs I agree with the sentiment that the bracket might've benefited from some more chart hits, maybe at the expense of some of the critically lauded but sonically dull (to me, anyway) dream/psych/indie pop stuff. Not a huge deal either way, I suppose.

[34 + P.J. Dozier]

Robyn - Dancing on My Own vs. Lil Nas X (ft. Billy Ray Cyrus) - Old Town Road - Remix

Drake - Hotline Bling vs. Angel Olsen - Shut Up Kiss Me

Bon Iver - Holocene vs. Perfume Genius - Queen

Future Islands - Seasons (Waiting On You) vs. Björk - Stonemilker

Beach House - Space Song vs. Rosalía - Malamente (Cap.1: Augurio)

LCD Soundsystem - dance yrself clean vs. Vince Staples - Norf Norf

Tame Impala - Let It Happen vs. Cardi B - Bodak Yellow

Grimes - Oblivion vs. Katy Perry - Teenage Dream

retweet

[Harpie's Feather Duster]

I've decided I'm really bad at doing reviews so I'm going to cut down on them unless I feel like it.

Robyn - Dancing on My Own vs. Lil Nas X (ft. Billy Ray Cyrus) - Old Town Road - Remix

Drake - Hotline Bling vs. Angel Olsen - Shut Up Kiss Me

Bon Iver - Holocene vs. Perfume Genius - Queen

Future Islands - Seasons (Waiting On You) vs. Björk - Stonemilker

Unbelievable to me that people could find "Seasons" boring

Beach House - Space Song vs. Rosalía - Malamente (Cap.1: Augurio)

LCD Soundsystem - dance yrself clean vs. Vince Staples - Norf Norf

Tame Impala - Let It Happen vs. Cardi B - Bodak Yellow

If "Let it Happen" isn't my favorite song of the decade it's up there.

Grimes - Oblivion vs. Katy Perry - Teenage Dream

[mazinomer]

Robyn - Dancing on My Own vs. Lil Nas X (ft. Billy Ray Cyrus) - Old Town Road - Remix
I like both of these songs a lot, but went with my inner Pitchfork on this one

Drake - Hotline Bling vs. Angel Olsen - Shut Up Kiss Me
Sufjan Stevens and Gallant permanently ruined Hotline Bling for me so Shut Up Kiss Me easily takes this one.

Bon Iver - Holocene vs. Perfume Genius - Queen
As much as I love Bone Eyever, Mike came hard on Queen. What a great song

Future Islands - Seasons (Waiting On You) vs. Björk - Stonemilker
I love both of these songs so much, so I decided to pick the song that had my favorite my moment. I decided "show me emotional respect" was better than any moment in Seasons.

Beach House - Space Song vs. Rosalía - Malamente (Cap.1: Augurio)
Rosalia is great but I have a personal connection to Space Song that edges it over Malamente.

LCD Soundsystem - dance yrself clean vs. Vince Staples - Norf Norf
Easiest pick here. Norf Norf is great, unfortunate it had to go up against like a top 20 all time song (@ me please).

Tame Impala - Let It Happen vs. Cardi B - Bodak Yellow
I don't even like Let It Happen that much but I think Bodak Yellow is one of Cardi's weaker songs, and I'm already not the biggest Cardi B fan. Let It Happen takes this one.

Grimes - Oblivion vs. Katy Perry - Teenage Dream
Teenage Dream kinda sucks and Oblivion is awesome. Easy

[Steeve Ho You Fat]

I'll probably be out of town for the voting for the second quarter, so I'll go ahead and pre-vote:

#1 Daft Punk (ft. Pharrell Williams & Nile Rodgers) - Get Lucky vs. #16 Phoebe Bridgers - Motion Sickness. I challenge anyone to find something better in the bracket than that bass line.
#8 Taylor Swift - Blank Space vs. #9 Jamie xx (ft. Young Thug & Popcaan) - I Know There’s Gonna Be (Good Times). Blank Space is a great pop song, but this is the best work of Thug's and Jamie xx's careers and an instant party-starter. Is it even possible to listen to it without smiling?
#5 Joanna Newsom - Good Intentions Paving Company vs. #12 M.I.A. - Bad Girls. Looking forward to the winner here getting wrecked by Solange.
#4 Solange - Cranes in the Sky vs. #13 Deafheaven - Dream House. Surely not even quizbowl can disagree that this is the best song on one of the best albums of the decade?
#3 Mitski - Your Best American Girl vs. #14 Snail Mail - Pristine
#6 Sufjan Stevens - Fourth of July vs. #11 Chief Keef (ft. Lil Reese) - I Don’t Like. It's a reasonable argument that Should Have Known Better would have been the better entry here, but frankly any song from Carrie & Lowell would be a hard out. I Don't Like is a banger (the Kanye and friends remix even more so), but it doesn't have the emotional power of Sufjan's album.
#7 Arcade Fire - Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) vs. #10 Tyler, the Creator - Yonkers. I think Odd Future was my first thing that I just felt too old to get.
#2 Kendrick Lamar - m.A.A.d. City vs. #15 A Tribe Called Quest - We the People…

[ShehryarQazi]

Robyn - Dancing on My Own vs. Lil Nas X (ft. Billy Ray Cyrus) - Old Town Road - Remix

Drake - Hotline Bling vs. Angel Olsen - Shut Up Kiss Me

Bon Iver - Holocene vs. Perfume Genius - Queen

Future Islands - Seasons (Waiting On You) vs. Björk - Stonemilke

Beach House - Space Song vs. Rosalía - Malamente (Cap.1: Augurio)

LCD Soundsystem - dance yrself clean vs. Vince Staples - Norf Norf

Tame Impala - Let It Happen vs. Cardi B - Bodak Yellow pass

Grimes - Oblivion vs. Katy Perry - Teenage Dream

[bolshevik]

Robyn - Dancing on My Own vs. Lil Nas X (ft. Billy Ray Cyrus) - Old Town Road - Remix
Dancing on My Own is a decent track, but it'll take more than that to beat OTR

Drake - Hotline Bling vs. Angel Olsen - Shut Up Kiss Me
While Hotline Bling is a very fun, catchy song, Shut Up Kiss Me is that x1000 and more (plus there's the fact that I absolutely adore Angel Olsen)

Bon Iver - Holocene vs. Perfume Genius - Queen
I don't have a lot to say about Queen -- it's an alright track, but compared to Holocene, which is dripping with a beautifully sad, longing atmosphere (and yes I'll admit I'm a real sucker for music with the themes it presents (growing up, breakups, nostalgia, etc.)), it doesn't stack up

Future Islands - Seasons (Waiting On You) vs. Björk - Stonemilker
Stonemilker is outstandingly gorgeous in every way, and it beats Seasons pretty handily here

Beach House - Space Song vs. Rosalía - Malamente (Cap.1: Augurio)
I do adore the dark, minimal beat of Malamente, but my inner sadboi enjoys Space Song more

LCD Soundsystem - dance yrself clean vs. Vince Staples - Norf Norf
dance yrself clean's nine minutes only felt like four -- it's a snappy, entertaining track that doesn't waste a second. Meanwhile, Norf Norf has Vince using a suuuuuper cool instrumental to deliver some killer bars. Tough choice, but my gut is telling me to go with dance yrself clean

Tame Impala - Let It Happen vs. Cardi B - Bodak Yellow
Let It Happen is one of those songs that makes me go "ooohhh" and "aaahhhh" every time I listen to it. Damn, it's just fantastic. Easily beats Bodak Yellow, no contest here

Grimes - Oblivion vs. St. Vincent - Cruel
Oblivion has some pretty interesting elements but Cruel really blew me out of the water when I listened to it for the first time
William just told me you hooligans got Cruel eliminated so I guess I'm voting for Grimes - Oblivion over Katy Perry - Teenage Dream. Shame!

[heterodyne]

Robyn - Dancing on My Own vs. Lil Nas X (ft. Billy Ray Cyrus) - Old Town Road - Remix
I like both of these songs a lot, but went with my inner Pitchfork on this one

Drake - Hotline Bling vs. Angel Olsen - Shut Up Kiss Me
Sufjan Stevens and Gallant permanently ruined Hotline Bling for me so Shut Up Kiss Me easily takes this one.

Bon Iver - Holocene vs. Perfume Genius - Queen
As much as I love Bone Eyever, Mike came hard on Queen. What a great song

Future Islands - Seasons (Waiting On You) vs. Björk - Stonemilker
I love both of these songs so much, so I decided to pick the song that had my favorite my moment. I decided "show me emotional respect" was better than any moment in Seasons.

Beach House - Space Song vs. Rosalía - Malamente (Cap.1: Augurio)
Rosalia is great but I have a personal connection to Space Song that edges it over Malamente.

LCD Soundsystem - dance yrself clean vs. Vince Staples - Norf Norf
Easiest pick here. Norf Norf is great, unfortunate it had to go up against like a top 20 all time song (@ me please).

Tame Impala - Let It Happen vs. Cardi B - Bodak Yellow
I don't even like Let It Happen that much but I think Bodak Yellow is one of Cardi's weaker songs, and I'm already not the biggest Cardi B fan. Let It Happen takes this one.

Grimes - Oblivion vs. Katy Perry - Teenage Dream
Teenage Dream kinda sucks and Oblivion is awesome. Easy

endorsed

[tpmorrison]

Robyn - Dancing on My Own vs. Lil Nas X (ft. Billy Ray Cyrus) - Old Town Road - Remix

Drake - Hotline Bling vs. Angel Olsen - Shut Up Kiss Me

Bon Iver - Holocene vs. Perfume Genius - Queen

Future Islands - Seasons (Waiting On You) vs. Björk - Stonemilker

Beach House - Space Song vs. Rosalía - Malamente (Cap.1: Augurio)

LCD Soundsystem - dance yrself clean vs. Vince Staples - Norf Norf

Tame Impala - Let It Happen vs. Cardi B - Bodak Yellow

Grimes - Oblivion vs. Katy Perry - Teenage Dream

[CPiGuy]

ah what the hell, i haven't listened to like more than three of these songs before but why not

Robyn - Dancing on My Own vs. Lil Nas X (ft. Billy Ray Cyrus) - Old Town Road - Remix
this was somehow the first time i'd listened to old town road and it was... actually alright? wow! it's not my favorite but the robyn song isn't doing anything special for me, so :shrug:

Drake - Hotline Bling vs. Angel Olsen - Shut Up Kiss Me
i actively dislike hotline bling, so this was an easy choice

Bon Iver - Holocene vs. Perfume Genius - Queen
no particular comment

Future Islands - Seasons (Waiting On You) vs. Björk - Stonemilker
huh, i should listen to more bjork, this was pretty good

Beach House - Space Song vs. Rosalía - Malamente (Cap.1: Augurio)
huh, i should listen to more beach house, this was pretty good, and that style is more my thing than Malamente

LCD Soundsystem - dance yrself clean vs. Vince Staples - Norf Norf
"dance yrself clean" was pretty boring, it just wasn't my thing. if a song's gonna be that long it's gotta justify it by either being a) narrative or b) ethereal, and this was neither. rap is also not my thing but i gotta vote for norf norf, even though there's no way i'm voting for it next round

Tame Impala - Let It Happen vs. Cardi B - Bodak Yellow
let it happen, on the other hand, was sufficiently ethereal to be really good

Grimes - Oblivion vs. Katy Perry - Teenage Dream
a bop

[Gemistus Pletho]

Robyn - Dancing on My Own vs. Lil Nas X (ft. Billy Ray Cyrus) - Old Town Road - Remix
Drake - Hotline Bling vs. Angel Olsen - Shut Up Kiss Me
Bon Iver - Holocene vs. Perfume Genius - Queen
Future Islands - Seasons (Waiting On You) vs. Björk - Stonemilker
Beach House - Space Song vs. Rosalía - Malamente (Cap.1: Augurio)
LCD Soundsystem - dance yrself clean vs. Vince Staples - Norf Norf
Tame Impala - Let It Happen vs. Cardi B - Bodak Yellow
Grimes - Oblivion vs. Katy Perry - Teenage Dream

[The Unbearable Lightness of Negging]

Robyn - Dancing on My Own vs. Lil Nas X (ft. Billy Ray Cyrus) - Old Town Road - Remix

Drake - Hotline Bling vs. Angel Olsen - Shut Up Kiss Me

Bon Iver - Holocene vs. Perfume Genius - Queen
Bon iver sucks

Future Islands - Seasons (Waiting On You) vs. Björk - Stonemilker
Every bjork song since 1997 has sounded pretty much the same and they're all better than Seasons

Beach House - Space Song vs. Rosalía - Malamente (Cap.1: Augurio)

LCD Soundsystem - dance yrself clean vs. Vince Staples - Norf Norf
For the record, Summertime '06 is one of my fav albums of the decade... but Norf Norf is not one of the more interesting tracks

Tame Impala - Let It Happen vs. Cardi B - Bodak Yellow

Grimes - Oblivion vs. Katy Perry - Teenage Dream

[mrtyrmystry]

this is great! marking songs that were first listens with an asterisk after them.

Robyn - Dancing on My Own vs. Lil Nas X (ft. Billy Ray Cyrus) - Old Town Road - Remix

Drake - Hotline Bling vs. Angel Olsen - Shut Up Kiss Me*

Bon Iver - Holocene vs. Perfume Genius - Queen*

Future Islands - Seasons (Waiting On You) vs. Björk - Stonemilker*
found out the bjork beat is by arca.

Beach House - Space Song* vs. Rosalía - Malamente (Cap.1: Augurio)*
cant vote, no time.

LCD Soundsystem - dance yrself clean vs. Vince Staples - Norf Norf

Tame Impala - Let It Happen vs. Cardi B - Bodak Yellow

Grimes - Oblivion* vs. Katy Perry - Teenage Dream

[Quinctilius Varus]

Results from the first sectional!

Robyn - Dancing on My Own vs. Lil Nas X (ft. Billy Ray Cyrus) - Old Town Road - Remix (22-7)

Drake - Hotline Bling vs. Angel Olsen - Shut Up Kiss Me (6-23)

Bon Iver - Holocene vs. Perfume Genius - Queen (8-19)

Future Islands - Seasons (Waiting On You) vs. Björk - Stonemilker (13-15)

Beach House - Space Song vs. Rosalía - Malamente (Cap.1: Augurio) (12-15)

LCD Soundsystem - dance yrself clean vs. Vince Staples - Norf Norf (18-11)

Tame Impala - Let It Happen vs. Cardi B - Bodak Yellow (22-7)

Grimes - Oblivion vs. Katy Perry - Teenage Dream (17-12)

The next round will run until Thursday at 11:59 p.m. central. Here's a link to the Spotify playlist: (https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5VvFw ... Q8xVrXb1Xg). The Spotify playlists for all four sectionals are on the first post. "Good Intentions Paving Company" isn't on Spotify, so here's a YouTube link (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCCl3nzL5PI).

#1 Daft Punk (ft. Pharrell Williams & Nile Rodgers) - Get Lucky vs. #16 Phoebe Bridgers - Motion Sickness

#8 Taylor Swift - Blank Space vs. #9 Jamie xx (ft. Young Thug & Popcaan) - I Know There’s Gonna Be (Good Times)

#5 Joanna Newsom - Good Intentions Paving Company vs. #12 M.I.A. - Bad Girls

#4 Solange - Cranes in the Sky vs. #13 Deafheaven - Dream House

#3 Mitski - Your Best American Girl vs. #14 Snail Mail - Pristine

#6 Sufjan Stevens - Fourth of July vs. #11 Chief Keef (ft. Lil Reese) - I Don’t Like

#7 Arcade Fire - Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) vs. #10 Tyler, the Creator - Yonkers

#2 Kendrick Lamar - m.A.A.d. City vs. A Tribe Called Quest - We the People….

[Tippy Martinez]

#1 Daft Punk (ft. Pharrell Williams & Nile Rodgers) - Get Lucky vs. #16 Phoebe Bridgers - Motion Sickness
I like Motion Sickness but then I remembered how absolutely infectious Get Lucky is. Easy choice.

#8 Taylor Swift - Blank Space vs. #9 Jamie xx (ft. Young Thug & Popcaan) - I Know There’s Gonna Be (Good Times)
A pretty boring Young Thug performance and otherwise uninteresting vibe put me off of I Know. Blank Space is possibly the only true great Taylor Swift song so I have no qualms voting for it.

#5 Joanna Newsom - Good Intentions Paving Company vs. #12 M.I.A. - Bad Girls
BANGER ALERT. Bad Girls is so so good. Plus, I'm really not a huge fan of Joanna or this song. Sorry Willy G.

#4 Solange - Cranes in the Sky vs. #13 Deafheaven - Dream House
Man this matchup was so hard. I had never heard Dream House before but absolutely loved it upon first listen. A Seat at the Table is fantastic and Solange delivers one of the best vocal performances I’ve ever heard on this song, but the boring production on this track kind of ruins it a tiny bit in my mind. I wanted to vote the other way but going to go with the more overall consistent track here.

#3 Mitski - Your Best American Girl vs. #14 Snail Mail - Pristine
Never would have envisioned myself voting this way but here I am. Super close contest between these tracks: I love the ethereal and quintessential indie vibe of Pristine and I love the dissonance and distortion in YBAG. Went with my gut in the end which led to Mitski getting the vote.

#6 Sufjan Stevens - Fourth of July vs. #11 Chief Keef (ft. Lil Reese) - I Don’t Like
For all my indie hating I’ll admit that I actually do enjoy C&L as well as this song a good bit. Sad to see it have to face one of the best hip hop songs of this decade. Seriously guys, I Don’t Like is the essence of abrasive and confident rap in 2010s and if you don’t like that style, then I don’t like you. I Don’t Like is the first song so far in this bracket that is one I would like to see win.

#7 Arcade Fire - Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) vs. #10 Tyler, the Creator - Yonkers
Not a huge fan of Sprawl II but not a fan of Yonkers either. If only this were something off Flower Boy or IGOR.

#2 Kendrick Lamar - m.A.A.d. City vs. A Tribe Called Quest - We the People….
Shame such a good song as We the People is going out this early but m.A.A.d city is just so fantastic. It's the second song so far in this bracket that I would like to see win, and this one more so than I Don't Like.

[Auroni]

#1 Daft Punk (ft. Pharrell Williams & Nile Rodgers) - Get Lucky vs. #16 Phoebe Bridgers - Motion Sickness - a matchup featuring the far better collaboration between Daft Punk and Pharrell, “Lose Yourself to Dance,” would have been more interesting. As it stands though, “Get Lucky” is mediocre/forgettable while “Motion Sickness” continues to be lovely.

#8 Taylor Swift - Blank Space vs. #9 Jamie xx (ft. Young Thug & Popcaan) - I Know There’s Gonna Be (Good Times) - have to go for the lonely Starbucks lovers here

#5 Joanna Newsom - Good Intentions Paving Company vs. #12 M.I.A. - Bad Girls - I realize that this vote is probably a worldview-shattering event for those who have developed certain expectations from my posting. But “Good Intentions Paving Company” has a really attractive main melody and some really interesting lyricism/rhythms, I find while “Bad Girls” to be merely decent apart from the chorus.

#4 Solange - Cranes in the Sky vs. #13 Deafheaven - Dream House - The first time I heard “Cranes in the Sky,” I had to immediately play it another 3-4 times because I was struck by how incredible every aspect of it is. “Dream House” has several breathtaking moments, but I’m not really trained to enjoy ten minutes of screaming.

#3 Mitski - Your Best American Girl vs. #14 Snail Mail - Pristine - unfortunate that The Publications have latched onto “Your Best American Girl” as the best Mitski song, when it’s the worst of her best known songs, with the really noisy guitars completely overpowering her excellent lyrics at points. “Pristine” is the powerful opening salvo in one of the best song cycles about a breakup and moving on ever made.

#6 Sufjan Stevens - Fourth of July vs. #11 Chief Keef (ft. Lil Reese) - I Don’t Like - a heartbreaking song about loss which always makes me tear up versus a fairly static, generic rap song... hmm

#7 Arcade Fire - Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) vs. #10 Tyler, the Creator - Yonkers - sort of a less extreme, emotionally fraught version of the above contest; The Suburbs (the album, NOT the place) is just so good

#2 Kendrick Lamar - m.A.A.d. City vs. A Tribe Called Quest - We the People…. - the production/instrumentals on “We the People....” is much more my thing despite the mild “we live in a society” thing the song has going on

[The Unbearable Lightness of Negging]

#1 Daft Punk (ft. Pharrell Williams & Nile Rodgers) - Get Lucky vs. #16 Phoebe Bridgers - Motion Sickness
Phoebe Bridgers is rather boring, but I hate Daft Punk, and I also hate Ryan Adams, so she has a lot going for her here

#8 Taylor Swift - Blank Space vs. #9 Jamie xx (ft. Young Thug & Popcaan) - I Know There’s Gonna Be (Good Times)
The worst song on In Colour handily defeats the best song by Taylor Swift

#5 Joanna Newsom - Good Intentions Paving Company vs. #12 M.I.A. - Bad Girls

#4 Solange - Cranes in the Sky vs. #13 Deafheaven - Dream House

#3 Mitski - Your Best American Girl vs. #14 Snail Mail - Pristine
I've never listened to Mitski's debut album, but it's probably safe to say it's the best indie debut named Lush ever

#6 Sufjan Stevens - Fourth of July vs. #11 Chief Keef (ft. Lil Reese) - I Don’t Like

#7 Arcade Fire - Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) vs. #10 Tyler, the Creator - Yonkers

#2 Kendrick Lamar - m.A.A.d. City vs. A Tribe Called Quest - We the People…
Toughest matchup yet, love both these songs

[CPiGuy]

#1 Daft Punk (ft. Pharrell Williams & Nile Rodgers) - Get Lucky vs. #16 Phoebe Bridgers - Motion Sickness
a bop

#8 Taylor Swift - Blank Space vs. #9 Jamie xx (ft. Young Thug & Popcaan) - I Know There’s Gonna Be (Good Times)
blank space is crappy generic pop, whereas good times is a pretty good song

#5 Joanna Newsom - Good Intentions Paving Company vs. #12 M.I.A. - Bad Girls
bad girls is a bad song, it was, like, actively unpleasant to listen to acoustically speaking

#4 Solange - Cranes in the Sky vs. #13 Deafheaven - Dream House
metal sucks

#3 Mitski - Your Best American Girl vs. #14 Snail Mail - Pristine
this song was really good

#6 Sufjan Stevens - Fourth of July vs. #11 Chief Keef (ft. Lil Reese) - I Don’t Like
fourth of july is in serious competition for my favorite song of all time, this isn't even close

#7 Arcade Fire - Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) vs. #10 Tyler, the Creator - Yonkers
heavy-handed anti-urbanism tirade aside, it's a decent song

#2 Kendrick Lamar - m.A.A.d. City vs. A Tribe Called Quest - We the People….
this song's a wild ride, i'm a fan

[Auks Ran Ova]

#1 Daft Punk (ft. Pharrell Williams & Nile Rodgers) - Get Lucky vs. #16 Phoebe Bridgers - Motion Sickness - Get Lucky is perfectly fine, but I'm really enjoying Motion Sickness.

#8 Taylor Swift - Blank Space vs. #9 Jamie xx (ft. Young Thug & Popcaan) - I Know There’s Gonna Be (Good Times) - a tougher choice than I expected here! There's plenty of dull (or perhaps "ethereal") songs in this bracket over which I'd easily pick I Know There’s Gonna Be (Good Times); unfortunately, Blank Space isn't one of them.

#5 Joanna Newsom - Good Intentions Paving Company vs. #12 M.I.A. - Bad Girls - GIPC suffers from the entirely expected, but tragically fatal, flaw of "having Joanna Newsom vocals". I enjoyed the closing instrumental section with the muted horns, but hoo boy that was a lot. As you can imagine, it would take pretty dire competition to lose my vote here, but luckily it didn't come to that, since Bad Girls is pretty great.

#4 Solange - Cranes in the Sky vs. #13 Deafheaven - Dream House - real tough one here! I liked the low-key instrumentals on the Solange song but was just kind of nonplussed by the song as a whole--like, I thought it was good, but not enthusiastically so, and can't quite figure out how this could be "the best song on the one of the best albums of the decade", as my colleague Joey Nuts has suggested. Meanwhile, I quite liked the instrumental parts of the Deafheaven song, but was actively put off by the screamy vocals. Given my own listening history, I can handle some of that in small doses, but when that's all there is in a song it loses appeal. Eventually decided to vote for Deafheaven since it's closer to the type of music I'd pick in a vacuum? (also it'll probably just lose!)

#3 Mitski - Your Best American Girl vs. #14 Snail Mail - Pristine - man, this is an unfair matchup--both of these songs are great! I think the rawness of YBAG puts it over the top for me, but I'm interested enough to check out more Snail Mail too.

#6 Sufjan Stevens - Fourth of July vs. #11 Chief Keef (ft. Lil Reese) - I Don’t Like - we're well into the second decade of me not particularly getting the Sufjan hype. I can appreciate the emotionality of this song even if much of it feels like it's building to something but then just repeats itself...I guess it's not really what I'm generally looking for in a song, even a sad one, but I can at least respect its quality. The Chief Keef song is just boring (sorry, Connor, apparently!).

#7 Arcade Fire - Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) vs. #10 Tyler, the Creator - Yonkers - both pretty good but I think the Arcade Fire is more my thing.

#2 Kendrick Lamar - m.A.A.d. City vs. A Tribe Called Quest - We the People…. - jeah

Also, I looked at the full bracket again and was surprised and dismayed to find that there were no Sleigh Bells songs! Time to remedy that.

[TaylorH]

#1 Daft Punk (ft. Pharrell Williams & Nile Rodgers) - Get Lucky vs. #16 Phoebe Bridgers - Motion Sickness
#8 Taylor Swift - Blank Space vs. #9 Jamie xx (ft. Young Thug & Popcaan) - I Know There’s Gonna Be (Good Times)
#5 Joanna Newsom - Good Intentions Paving Company vs. #12 M.I.A. - Bad Girls
#4 Solange - Cranes in the Sky vs. #13 Deafheaven - Dream House
#3 Mitski - Your Best American Girl vs. #14 Snail Mail - Pristine
#6 Sufjan Stevens - Fourth of July vs. #11 Chief Keef (ft. Lil Reese) - I Don’t Like
#7 Arcade Fire - Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) vs. #10 Tyler, the Creator - Yonkers
#2 Kendrick Lamar - m.A.A.d. City vs. A Tribe Called Quest - We the People….

[34 + P.J. Dozier]

#1 Daft Punk (ft. Pharrell Williams & Nile Rodgers) - Get Lucky vs. #16 Phoebe Bridgers - Motion Sickness

#8 Taylor Swift - Blank Space vs. #9 Jamie xx (ft. Young Thug & Popcaan) - I Know There’s Gonna Be (Good Times)

#5 Joanna Newsom - Good Intentions Paving Company vs. #12 M.I.A. - Bad Girls

#4 Solange - Cranes in the Sky vs. #13 Deafheaven - Dream House

#3 Mitski - Your Best American Girl vs. #14 Snail Mail - Pristine

#6 Sufjan Stevens - Fourth of July vs. #11 Chief Keef (ft. Lil Reese) - I Don’t Like

#7 Arcade Fire - Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) vs. #10 Tyler, the Creator - Yonkers

#2 Kendrick Lamar - m.A.A.d. City vs. A Tribe Called Quest - We the People….

[gyre and gimble]

#1 Daft Punk (ft. Pharrell Williams & Nile Rodgers) - Get Lucky vs. #16 Phoebe Bridgers - Motion Sickness
#8 Taylor Swift - Blank Space vs. #9 Jamie xx (ft. Young Thug & Popcaan) - I Know There’s Gonna Be (Good Times)
#5 Joanna Newsom - Good Intentions Paving Company vs. #12 M.I.A. - Bad Girls
#4 Solange - Cranes in the Sky vs. #13 Deafheaven - Dream House
#3 Mitski - Your Best American Girl vs. #14 Snail Mail - Pristine
#6 Sufjan Stevens - Fourth of July vs. #11 Chief Keef (ft. Lil Reese) - I Don’t Like
#7 Arcade Fire - Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) vs. #10 Tyler, the Creator - Yonkers
#2 Kendrick Lamar - m.A.A.d. City vs. A Tribe Called Quest - We the People….

[Wynaut]

#1 Daft Punk (ft. Pharrell Williams & Nile Rodgers) - Get Lucky vs. #16 Phoebe Bridgers - Motion Sickness
Check out Daft Punk's new single "Get Lucky" if you get the chance. Sound of the summer. Also the best party song of the decade. Eat your heart out, "Uptown Funk."

#8 Taylor Swift - Blank Space vs. #9 Jamie xx (ft. Young Thug & Popcaan) - I Know There’s Gonna Be (Good Times)
I would've definitely voted in favor of anything else on 1989, except for "Bad Blood." I don't really have anything else special to say here; it's just that "Blank Space" eventually grew old to me.

#5 Joanna Newsom - Good Intentions Paving Company vs. #12 M.I.A. - Bad Girls
An unfortunate matchup, as I enjoy both of these songs. But I'll give the edge to Newsom here -- if you told me this was a lost track from a classic 1970s artist, I'd believe it.

#4 Solange - Cranes in the Sky vs. #13 Deafheaven - Dream House
Definitely going for the underdog pick here, since it's pretty nice to have some metal representation in this bracket. It perfectly hits the "noise" niche in my music taste with how layered the production is.

#3 Mitski - Your Best American Girl vs. #14 Snail Mail - Pristine
I think I've already confessed that I'm not as enthusiastic about Mitski as most quizbowlers are, but this song definitely won me over. That's not to discount "Pristine" though, which definitely could've been higher than a #14.

#6 Sufjan Stevens - Fourth of July vs. #11 Chief Keef (ft. Lil Reese) - I Don’t Like
Hauntingly beautiful. Definitely seconding Connor's endorsement of "I Don't Like," though.

#7 Arcade Fire - Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) vs. #10 Tyler, the Creator - Yonkers
Yonkers is decent, but Arcade Fire appeals more to my tastes.

#2 Kendrick Lamar - m.A.A.d. City vs. A Tribe Called Quest - We the People….
yawk yawk yawk yawk

[women, fire and dangerous things]

#1 Daft Punk (ft. Pharrell Williams & Nile Rodgers) - Get Lucky vs. #16 Phoebe Bridgers - Motion Sickness

#8 Taylor Swift - Blank Space vs. #9 Jamie xx (ft. Young Thug & Popcaan) - I Know There’s Gonna Be (Good Times)

#5 Joanna Newsom - Good Intentions Paving Company vs. #12 M.I.A. - Bad Girls

#4 Solange - Cranes in the Sky vs. #13 Deafheaven - Dream House

#3 Mitski - Your Best American Girl vs. #14 Snail Mail - Pristine

#6 Sufjan Stevens - Fourth of July vs. #11 Chief Keef (ft. Lil Reese) - I Don’t Like

#7 Arcade Fire - Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) vs. #10 Tyler, the Creator - Yonkers

#2 Kendrick Lamar - m.A.A.d. City vs. A Tribe Called Quest - We the People….

[1.82]

#1 Daft Punk (ft. Pharrell Williams & Nile Rodgers) - Get Lucky vs. #16 Phoebe Bridgers - Motion Sickness

Daft Punk is generally not really my thing, but out of the three Pharrell songs that were inescapable in 2013, this was the one that was actually good. Lucy Dacus is the best member of boygenius.

#8 Taylor Swift - Blank Space vs. #9 Jamie xx (ft. Young Thug & Popcaan) - I Know There’s Gonna Be (Good Times)

On the night of October 30, 2014, the day after the Giants won the World Series for the third time since I turned 16, my roommates had left College Park for the weekend, I think to Philadelphia. I was sitting alone in my living room, probably watching an episode of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia for the tenth time (I spent most of my last two years of college doing this), when one of the guys who lived down the hall popped his head through the open front door (we always kept the front door of the apartment open so that the warm air or cold air would come in from the hallway and we wouldn't have to pay for heating or air conditioning) and asked if I wanted to come to the party that was being thrown in his apartment that night. That was around the time in my life that I had resolved to say yes to every social engagement, so I did.

I barely knew the hosts of this party and I certainly didn't know anyone else, but some time after midnight they noticed that it was October 31, meaning that it was my 20th birthday, and so they poured shots of apple juice for me to take. At a different point Blank Space came on; this was three days after the album had been released, and I had never heard this song before, but everyone else seemed to know the song so well that they all shouted out the chorus. Hearing it now takes me back to 2014, a time before I had ever played a quizbowl tournament and a time when I lived in the livable community and a time when Taylor Swift was bigger than any other performer has been in the last fifteen years at least. In a lot of ways that was a good time.

#5 Joanna Newsom - Good Intentions Paving Company vs. #12 M.I.A. - Bad Girls

My dad and his brother-in-law, my uncle, once had a conversation where they were naming Indian rappers and they got M.I.A. and Nicki Minaj. Later, when my dad drove across the country to move back to California, his brother-in-law joined him. I wonder what they talked about on that trip. I think M.I.A. is great, and Bad Girls soundtracks one of the best scenes in the best movie of the decade, Spring Breakers.

#4 Solange - Cranes in the Sky vs. #13 Deafheaven - Dream House

#3 Mitski - Your Best American Girl vs. #14 Snail Mail - Pristine

#6 Sufjan Stevens - Fourth of July vs. #11 Chief Keef (ft. Lil Reese) - I Don’t Like

Sufjan Stevens is fine, but you can't possibly blast Sufjan Stevens out of someone else's Toyota Previa as you inch down Baltimore Avenue in College Park. The Young Chop sound felt like a hammer smashing glass when we first heard it in 2012. Who wanted to listen to anything else? I really wonder what the other voters on this thread were doing in 2012 such that Young Chop didn't penetrate deeply into their soul. I guess some of them were ten years old.

#7 Arcade Fire - Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) vs. #10 Tyler, the Creator - Yonkers

Sprawl II is the best song by maybe my favorite band. It sounds exactly like Heart of Glass, which is to say that maybe more bands could stand to rip off Blondie. I like to crank down the windows of my Nissan when I'm sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic on Piedmont Avenue and play this song real loud.

#2 Kendrick Lamar - m.A.A.d. City vs. #15 A Tribe Called Quest - We the People….

[tpmorrison]

#1 Daft Punk (ft. Pharrell Williams & Nile Rodgers) - Get Lucky vs. #16 Phoebe Bridgers - Motion Sickness
#8 Taylor Swift - Blank Space vs. #9 Jamie xx (ft. Young Thug & Popcaan) - I Know There’s Gonna Be (Good Times)
#5 Joanna Newsom - Good Intentions Paving Company vs. #12 M.I.A. - Bad Girls
#4 Solange - Cranes in the Sky vs. #13 Deafheaven - Dream House
#3 Mitski - Your Best American Girl vs. #14 Snail Mail - Pristine
#6 Sufjan Stevens - Fourth of July vs. #11 Chief Keef (ft. Lil Reese) - I Don’t Like
#7 Arcade Fire - Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) vs. #10 Tyler, the Creator - Yonkers
#2 Kendrick Lamar - m.A.A.d. City vs. A Tribe Called Quest - We the People….

[$5 Bits of Broken Chair Trophy]

#1 Daft Punk (ft. Pharrell Williams & Nile Rodgers) - Get Lucky vs. #16 Phoebe Bridgers - Motion Sickness

#8 Taylor Swift - Blank Space vs. #9 Jamie xx (ft. Young Thug & Popcaan) - I Know There’s Gonna Be (Good Times)

#5 Joanna Newsom - Good Intentions Paving Company vs. #12 M.I.A. - Bad Girls

#4 Solange - Cranes in the Sky vs. #13 Deafheaven - Dream House

#3 Mitski - Your Best American Girl vs. #14 Snail Mail - Pristine

#6 Sufjan Stevens - Fourth of July vs. #11 Chief Keef (ft. Lil Reese) - I Don’t Like

#7 Arcade Fire - Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) vs. #10 Tyler, the Creator - Yonkers

#2 Kendrick Lamar - m.A.A.d. City vs. A Tribe Called Quest - We the People….

[mazinomer]

#1 Daft Punk (ft. Pharrell Williams & Nile Rodgers) - Get Lucky vs. #16 Phoebe Bridgers - Motion Sickness
Get Lucky doesn't have "Why do you sing with an English accent? / I guess it's too late to change it now"

#8 Taylor Swift - Blank Space vs. #9 Jamie xx (ft. Young Thug & Popcaan) - I Know There’s Gonna Be (Good Times)
Both songs are great but Blank Space doesn't have Thugger on it

#5 Joanna Newsom - Good Intentions Paving Company vs. #12 M.I.A. - Bad Girls
It's Joanna Newsom ergo it slaps

#4 Solange - Cranes in the Sky vs. #13 Deafheaven - Dream House
Deafheaven's unlikely to win, which is sad bc they're one of the best metal acts of the 2010s :(

#3 Mitski - Your Best American Girl vs. #14 Snail Mail - Pristine
This was a rough pick but Pristine gets the call up because the lyrics hit me in my angsty teen core and i don't have to think too hard about metaphors

#6 Sufjan Stevens - Fourth of July vs. #11 Chief Keef (ft. Lil Reese) - I Don’t Like
Fourth of July is like the second worst track on Carrie and Lowell, I never got the hype. I Don't Like slaps wins by virtue of being a >6/10 song

#7 Arcade Fire - Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) vs. #10 Tyler, the Creator - Yonkers
old tyler hasn't aged all that well imo, sprawl II is timeless

#2 Kendrick Lamar - m.A.A.d. City vs. A Tribe Called Quest - We the People….
i hate this bracket for putting these two songs up against each other this early. went with my gut and picked kendrick

[kammajos000]

#1 Daft Punk (ft. Pharrell Williams & Nile Rodgers) - Get Lucky vs. #16 Phoebe Bridgers - Motion Sickness
#8 Taylor Swift - Blank Space vs. #9Jamie xx (ft. Young Thug & Popcaan) - I Know There’s Gonna Be (Good Times)
#5 Joanna Newsom - Good Intentions Paving Company vs. #12 M.I.A. - Bad Girls
#4 Solange - Cranes in the Sky vs. #13 Deafheaven - Dream House
#3 Mitski - Your Best American Girl vs. #14 Snail Mail - Pristine
#6 Sufjan Stevens - Fourth of July vs. #11 Chief Keef (ft. Lil Reese) - I Don’t Like
#7 Arcade Fire - Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) vs. #10 Tyler, the Creator - Yonkers
#2 Kendrick Lamar - m.A.A.d. City vs. A Tribe Called Quest - We the People….

[MiltonPlayer47]

#1 Daft Punk (ft. Pharrell Williams & Nile Rodgers) - Get Lucky vs. #16 Phoebe Bridgers - Motion Sickness
I had never heard "Motion Sickness" before but I really like it.

#8 Taylor Swift - Blank Space vs. #9 Jamie xx (ft. Young Thug & Popcaan) - I Know There’s Gonna Be (Good Times)

#5 Joanna Newsom - Good Intentions Paving Company vs. #12 M.I.A. - Bad Girls
I've never been able to get into Joanna Newsom's music, and "Bad Girls" is great.

#4 Solange - Cranes in the Sky vs. #13 Deafheaven - Dream House

#3 Mitski - Your Best American Girl vs. #14 Snail Mail - Pristine
This is the hardest choice of the entire first round for me. I have gone back and forth on this, but at the end of the day I think that "Pristine" resonates with me just a little bit more.

#6 Sufjan Stevens - Fourth of July vs. #11 Chief Keef (ft. Lil Reese) - I Don’t Like

#7 Arcade Fire - Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) vs. #10 Tyler, the Creator - Yonkers

#2 Kendrick Lamar - m.A.A.d. City vs. A Tribe Called Quest - We the People….

[BenWeiner27]

#1 Daft Punk (ft. Pharrell Williams & Nile Rodgers) - Get Lucky vs. #16 Phoebe Bridgers - Motion Sickness

#8 Taylor Swift - Blank Space vs. #9 Jamie xx (ft. Young Thug & Popcaan) - I Know There’s Gonna Be (Good Times)

#5 Joanna Newsom - Good Intentions Paving Company vs. #12 M.I.A. - Bad Girls

#4 Solange - Cranes in the Sky vs. #13 Deafheaven - Dream House

#3 Mitski - Your Best American Girl vs. #14 Snail Mail - Pristine

#6 Sufjan Stevens - Fourth of July vs. #11 Chief Keef (ft. Lil Reese) - I Don’t Like

#7 Arcade Fire - Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) vs. #10 Tyler, the Creator - Yonkers

#2 Kendrick Lamar - m.A.A.d. City vs. A Tribe Called Quest - We the People….

[Monstruos de Bolsillo]

#6 Sufjan Stevens - Fourth of July vs. #11 Chief Keef (ft. Lil Reese) - I Don’t Like
I don't really feel like/have the time to sift thru the rest of these, but I gotta do this for my boy Chief Keef.

[A Dim-Witted Saboteur]

#1 Daft Punk (ft. Pharrell Williams & Nile Rodgers) - Get Lucky vs. #16 Phoebe Bridgers - Motion Sickness
I dislike Get Lucky.

#8 Taylor Swift - Blank Space vs. #9 Jamie xx (ft. Young Thug & Popcaan) - I Know There’s Gonna Be (Good Times)
I don't know how I'd never listened to this before, but it was incredible. Definitely better than generic Taylor.

#5 Joanna Newsom - Good Intentions Paving Company vs. #12 M.I.A. - Bad Girls

#4 Solange - Cranes in the Sky vs. #13 Deafheaven - Dream House
Sorry, Harris. Metal bad.

#3 Mitski - Your Best American Girl vs. #14 Snail Mail - Pristine
Why did this matchup have to happen

#6 Sufjan Stevens - Fourth of July vs. #11 Chief Keef (ft. Lil Reese) - I Don’t Like
Between my Sufjan loyalty and my Chicago loyalty, Chicago narrowly wins.

#7 Arcade Fire - Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) vs. #10 Tyler, the Creator - Yonkers
Naperville vibe.

#2 Kendrick Lamar - m.A.A.d. City vs. A Tribe Called Quest - We the People….

[Harpie's Feather Duster]

#1 Daft Punk (ft. Pharrell Williams & Nile Rodgers) - Get Lucky vs. #16 Phoebe Bridgers - Motion Sickness

I do think "Get Lucky" is a little overseeded

#8 Taylor Swift - Blank Space vs. #9 Jamie xx (ft. Young Thug & Popcaan) - I Know There’s Gonna Be (Good Times)

#5 Joanna Newsom - Good Intentions Paving Company vs. #12 M.I.A. - Bad Girls

I'm probably the only person in the world who thinks "Bad Girls" is better than "Paper Planes."

#4 Solange - Cranes in the Sky vs. #13 Deafheaven - Dream House

Closer than expected! Metal is Good Actually

#3 Mitski - Your Best American Girl vs. #14 Snail Mail - Pristine

Tough pick. Surprised Mitski is getting killed this badly.

#6 Sufjan Stevens - Fourth of July vs. #11 Chief Keef (ft. Lil Reese) - I Don’t Like

#7 Arcade Fire - Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) vs. #10 Tyler, the Creator - Yonkers

Another "Favorite Song of the Decade" contender here for me

#2 Kendrick Lamar - m.A.A.d. City vs. A Tribe Called Quest - We the People….

Count me in among the folks surprised this was the Kendrick pick.

[Apocolocyntora]

#1 Daft Punk (ft. Pharrell Williams & Nile Rodgers) - Get Lucky vs. #16 Phoebe Bridgers - Motion Sickness

#8 Taylor Swift - Blank Space vs. #9Jamie xx (ft. Young Thug & Popcaan) - I Know There’s Gonna Be (Good Times)
I think it's unfair to bash Taylor Swift songs just for being Taylor Swift. She is undoubtedly a talented lyricist and Blank Space is clever.

#5 Joanna Newsom - Good Intentions Paving Company vs. #12 M.I.A. - Bad Girls

#4 Solange - Cranes in the Sky vs. #13 Deafheaven - Dream House

#3 Mitski - Your Best American Girl vs. #14 Snail Mail - Pristine

#6 Sufjan Stevens - Fourth of July vs. #11 Chief Keef (ft. Lil Reese) - I Don’t Like

#7 Arcade Fire - Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) vs. #10 Tyler, the Creator - Yonkers

#2 Kendrick Lamar - m.A.A.d. City vs. A Tribe Called Quest - We the People….

[Charm Bison]

#1 Daft Punk (ft. Pharrell Williams & Nile Rodgers) - Get Lucky vs. #16 Phoebe Bridgers - Motion Sickness
Motion Sickness is fine, I guess, but I wasn't particularly thrilled to vote for it last time. Get Lucky, on the other hand, is Get Lucky. I've been tapping my toe to it since that first SNL ad.

#8 Taylor Swift - Blank Space vs. #9 Jamie xx (ft. Young Thug & Popcaan) - I Know There’s Gonna Be (Good Times)
Jamie xx is probably gonna get knocked out in the first round of this bracket and that is a damn shame. Go listen to Gosh right now. Seriously. Go listen to it. What are you still doing reading this blurb?
Blank Space is pretty good too I guess but

#5 Joanna Newsom - Good Intentions Paving Company vs. #12 M.I.A. - Bad Girls
Good Intentions Paving Company has a lot of great parts, but I don't feel like it ever all comes together to deliver one of those magic moments you can get when listening to a song with a lot of moving parts like this. Bad Girls is on point from the first note.

#4 Solange - Cranes in the Sky vs. #13 Deafheaven - Dream House
I'll be the first to admit that I don't always focus on the lyrics when judging a song, but I do usually enjoy some attempt at them. The production is really great, but it's not enough to beat Cranes in the Sky.

#3 Mitski - Your Best American Girl vs. #14 Snail Mail - Pristine
Sorry Olivia

#6 Sufjan Stevens - Fourth of July vs. #11 Chief Keef (ft. Lil Reese) - I Don’t Like
I hadn't actually listened to Fourth of July before this, and holy [crap] does that hit you like a ton of bricks. It's not even sad in the same way that Casimir Pulaski Day was sad, because even then half the song is about God and happy memories with an upbeat melody. This is just depressing. And beautiful, in its own way.

#7 Arcade Fire - Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) vs. #10 Tyler, the Creator - Yonkers
Sprawl II is gonna win this, and it probably should, because it's an objectively better song, but I'm throwing Yonkers a vote because I have a soft spot for this song with its janky-ass beat put together in ten minutes that sounds like a broken ceiling fan and a chorus that isn't much more than a dude saying things that sound like "Aw/Oof/Hey" (yes, I know the actual lyrics, I like mine better).

#2 Kendrick Lamar - m.A.A.d. City vs. #15 A Tribe Called Quest - We the People….
We the People is one great song. m.A.A.d. city is three or four great songs.

Reminder: no swearing in the high school section. -mgmt

[VSCOelasticity]

#1 Daft Punk (ft. Pharrell Williams & Nile Rodgers) - Get Lucky vs. #16 Phoebe Bridgers - Motion Sickness

#8 Taylor Swift - Blank Space vs. #9 Jamie xx (ft. Young Thug & Popcaan) - I Know There’s Gonna Be (Good Times)

#5 Joanna Newsom - Good Intentions Paving Company vs. #12 M.I.A. - Bad Girls

#4 Solange - Cranes in the Sky vs. #13 Deafheaven - Dream House

#3 Mitski - Your Best American Girl vs. #14 Snail Mail - Pristine

#6 Sufjan Stevens - Fourth of July vs. #11 Chief Keef (ft. Lil Reese) - I Don’t Like

#7 Arcade Fire - Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) vs. #10 Tyler, the Creator - Yonkers

#2 Kendrick Lamar - m.A.A.d. City vs. A Tribe Called Quest - We the People….

[atooloftheboss]

tfw me, a quizbowler, epically explains my choices for no reason beside some level of self-satisfaction and conflict-desire

Get Lucky vs. #16 Phoebe Bridgers - Motion Sickness
yeah lol it's get lucky versus a low-tier boygenius member song

#8 Taylor Swift - Blank Space vs. I Know There’s Gonna Be (Good Times)
popcaan is epic, this is one of the best jamie xx songs, taylor swift isn't that good

#5 Joanna Newsom - Good Intentions Paving Company vs. Bad Girls
not really my favorite jnew song, odd matchup, bad girls is more fun

#4 Solange - Cranes in the Sky vs. Dream House
don't really like metal but Dream House is still a good song

Your Best American Girl vs. #14 Snail Mail - Pristine
mitski better than snail mail here

#6 Sufjan Stevens - Fourth of July vs. I Don’t Like
I love Chief Keef so much.

#7 Arcade Fire - Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) vs. Yonkers
Yonkers is a more interesting song, can still recall seeing it for the first time. good stuff

m.A.A.d. City vs. A Tribe Called Quest - We the People….
probably the hardest matchup to decide but maad City is more powerful. also connor would flay me if I didn't <3

[ShehryarQazi]

#1 Daft Punk (ft. Pharrell Williams & Nile Rodgers) - Get Lucky vs. #16 Phoebe Bridgers - Motion Sickness
motion sickness more like boring and im sick of it

#8 Taylor Swift - Blank Space vs. #9 Jamie xx (ft. Young Thug & Popcaan) - I Know There’s Gonna Be (Good Times)
Pass

#5 Joanna Newsom - Good Intentions Paving Company vs. #12 M.I.A. - Bad Girls
only know joanna from the muppets theme song, im afraid

#4 Solange - Cranes in the Sky vs. #13 Deafheaven - Dream House
Great songs and are very diff but cranes is the slightly better song imo

#3 Mitski - Your Best American Girl vs. #14 Snail Mail - Pristine
snail mail is lil nas x but worse

#6 Sufjan Stevens - Fourth of July vs. #11 Chief Keef (ft. Lil Reese) - I Don’t Like
Sufjan doesnt have young chop on the beat

#7 Arcade Fire - Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) vs.#10 Tyler, the Creator - Yonkers
Honestly hated arcade fire at first but they’ve grown on me a lot

#2 Kendrick Lamar - m.A.A.d. City vs. A Tribe Called Quest - We the People….
automatically better for Pakistan reference

[warum]

#1 Daft Punk (ft. Pharrell Williams & Nile Rodgers) - Get Lucky vs. #16 Phoebe Bridgers – Motion Sickness

#8 Taylor Swift - Blank Space vs. #9 Jamie xx (ft. Young Thug & Popcaan) - I Know There’s Gonna Be (Good Times)

#5 Joanna Newsom - Good Intentions Paving Company vs. #12 M.I.A. - Bad Girls
There are so many Joanna Newsom songs I’d pick over M.I.A., but this is not one of them. Just on the same album, I’d easily have picked “Kingfisher” or “Autumn” instead.

#4 Solange - Cranes in the Sky vs. #13 Deafheaven - Dream House
I should listen to more Solange.

#3 Mitski - Your Best American Girl vs. #14 Snail Mail - Pristine
Good choice of Mitski song.

#6 Sufjan Stevens - Fourth of July vs. #11 Chief Keef (ft. Lil Reese) - I Don’t Like

#7 Arcade Fire - Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) vs.#10 Tyler, the Creator - Yonkers

#2 Kendrick Lamar - m.A.A.d. City vs. A Tribe Called Quest - We the People….

[rylltraka]

#1 Daft Punk (ft. Pharrell Williams & Nile Rodgers) - Get Lucky vs. #16 Phoebe Bridgers – Motion Sickness
"Motion Sickness" all right, but "Get Lucky" is so catchy and groovy that it had me dancing at my desk during the incredibly hip act of playing chess online, so it's clearly in charge this round.

#8 Taylor Swift - Blank Space vs. #9 Jamie xx (ft. Young Thug & Popcaan) - I Know There’s Gonna Be (Good Times)
This Taylor Swift song is well-written from a lyrical standpoint, but the production and the structure are so slick and over-produced that it basically sounds factory-made - the chords, the melody, the break, you've heard them all a million times with a different skin. I do appreciate what the second song is doing, but the vocal performance doesn't do that much for me. Was a tough call here.

#5 Joanna Newsom - Good Intentions Paving Company vs. #12 M.I.A. - Bad Girls
The vocals on this first one are so oddly affected that they're distracting from anything else on offer. The second one, while not bad, wins mostly by default.

#4 Solange - Cranes in the Sky vs. #13 Deafheaven - Dream House
The first one's all right, sort of retro, although generally not my thing. For the second one, I'm generally not a fan of indiscriminate screaming in the place of vocals. Not unlistenable, but monotonous. It's nine minutes long! For the first time, I had to skip - not because it was unlistenable, but I don't have nothing but time.

#3 Mitski - Your Best American Girl vs. #14 Snail Mail - Pristine
These songs seem very familiar, but I'm moderately more inclined towards the former - it comes from an emotional place which I'm more empathetic towards.

#6 Sufjan Stevens - Fourth of July vs. #11 Chief Keef (ft. Lil Reese) - I Don’t Like
So this is what Sufjan Stevens sounds like. Okay. Gentile, fragile, a little boring. The second song is all right from a production standpoint, but it's way too unnecessarily vulgar for my taste.

#7 Arcade Fire - Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) vs.#10 Tyler, the Creator - Yonkers
I like most of the things about the first - the lines of the second are pretty good, but why, oh why, are there such annoying noises in the backbeat? And really, the tone's too harsh.

#2 Kendrick Lamar - m.A.A.d. City vs. A Tribe Called Quest - We the People….
This first one is more euphonious, although it all runs together because the delivery isn't too varied for the first half. Then it picks up. However, I really, really like vocal landscape of "We the People", and would happily listen again.

[Tippy Martinez]

#6 Sufjan Stevens - Fourth of July vs. #11 Chief Keef (ft. Lil Reese) - I Don’t Like
So this is what Sufjan Stevens sounds like. Okay. Gentile, fragile, a little boring. The second song is all right from a production standpoint, but it's way too unnecessarily vulgar for my taste.

yeah this one is gonna require an "ok boomer"

[$5 Bits of Broken Chair Trophy]

#6 Sufjan Stevens - Fourth of July vs. #11 Chief Keef (ft. Lil Reese) - I Don’t Like
So this is what Sufjan Stevens sounds like. Okay. Gentile, fragile, a little boring. The second song is all right from a production standpoint, but it's way too unnecessarily vulgar for my taste.

yeah this one is gonna require an "ok boomer"

[weebyjeebys]

#1 Daft Punk (ft. Pharrell Williams & Nile Rodgers) - Get Lucky vs. #16 Phoebe Bridgers - Motion Sickness
I had never heard the second track until this point, it being in this bracket at all is wild to me. Get Lucky will be remembered for decades to come.

#8 Taylor Swift - Blank Space vs. #9 Jamie xx (ft. Young Thug & Popcaan) - I Know There’s Gonna Be (Good Times)
Needed to relisten to Good Times before voting, waaaaaay better than I remember. Jamie XX once again proves himself to be the best producer in the "I want to end up on the Urban Outfitters store playlist" pile, elevating what could have been the most boring synth sample pack imaginable with a triumphant vocal sample and a standout performance from Thugger.

#5 Joanna Newsom - Good Intentions Paving Company vs. #12 M.I.A. - Bad Girls
Joanna Newsom is one of the greatest songwriters of the 21st century. No contest.

#4 Solange - Cranes in the Sky vs. #13 Deafheaven - Dream House
Deafheaven managed to catapult their own genre into prominence with this one song. Not that I know much about it, but that seems like a pretty big feat.

#3 Mitski - Your Best American Girl vs. #14 Snail Mail - Pristine
Both of these artists are boring, but I remember Your Best American Girl over two listens.

#6 Sufjan Stevens - Fourth of July vs. #11 Chief Keef (ft. Lil Reese) - I Don’t Like
I'm usually a big Sufjan fan, but I just can't get over the line "It was all a disguise, like junior high." Always rubbed me the wrong way. I Don't Like is also a great early example of how well hip hop could translate into meme culture in the 2010s.

#7 Arcade Fire - Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) vs. #10 Tyler, the Creator - Yonkers
Admittedly tough, but Yonkers is that kind of enigma where even after one listen, you could quote half of the entire song. Makes sense how it was able to launch one of the 2010s' most controversial and turbulent careers.

#2 Kendrick Lamar - m.A.A.d. City vs. #15 A Tribe Called Quest - We the People….
I've never liked the string samples or Kendrick's flow on m.A.A.d city.

Looking forward to how everything shakes up. Have fun everyone!

[CadenPetrosian]

#1 Daft Punk (ft. Pharrell Williams & Nile Rodgers) - Get Lucky vs. #16 Phoebe Bridgers - Motion Sickness

#8 Taylor Swift - Blank Space vs. #9 Jamie xx (ft. Young Thug & Popcaan) - I Know There’s Gonna Be (Good Times)

#5 Joanna Newsom - Good Intentions Paving Company vs. #12 M.I.A. - Bad Girls

This is such a middle of the road Jonna Newsom song that I'm kind of dissappointed it's the only one on here. It's still good but it can't compete with Bad Girls.
#4 Solange - Cranes in the Sky vs. #13 Deafheaven - Dream House

#3 Mitski - Your Best American Girl vs. #14 Snail Mail - Pristine

#6 Sufjan Stevens - Fourth of July vs. #11 Chief Keef (ft. Lil Reese) - I Don’t Like

#7 Arcade Fire - Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) vs. #10 Tyler, the Creator - Yonkers

#2 Kendrick Lamar - m.A.A.d. City vs. A Tribe Called Quest - We the People….