Madrigal

What a terrible question to ask...the reason Charli is my favourite is because so many of her songs appeal to me, on so many different levels.  
 
I have to break it up into different subsections, because her career encapsulates so many different movements. 
 
PART ONE - "14" 
My favourite would probably have to be "Yet Again"...though I love "Supermodels and Holiday Stunners", "Watch the Rain", and "Alcoholic" a whole bunch too, "Yet Again" gets stuck in my head the most and I love its concise-ness. I really do like the whole album, to be absolutely honest - choosing just one is really hard.   But a least favourite? Either "I'll Teach You a Lesson" (because the opening sounds so promising, but the rest of the song is so shockingly mediocre) or "Live Life", probably...along with "Chas's Song". They're just not really strong tracks, but I still enjoy them from time to time. 
 
PART TWO - MYSPACE DEMOS
This is 100%, hands-down my favourite collection of Charli's work. That's why I'd rather hear songs like "Pop Princess" and "Falling in Love" from here more than anything since...there was something about her creativity and exploration as a budding artist that really flourished in these years, no matter what she says about it. "Princess Song" is my favourite lyrically, although some of the production elements on the version we have agitate me...I never get tired of her saying Box up the truth, push it to the side.  "Do It Well" and "Valentine" tie for overall faves from this time, but it's really hard to single out even two from the few we have...so much brilliance, so precious little left. Least favourites, of course, would simply have to be the Save the Rhino tracks, just because Miss Twiggi's presence adds an aura of immaturity that even young Charli tended to vie away from...since everyone else seems to ignore those two, however, I'd have to say "Too Cool" is less beautiful a track than most from this time, though I wouldn't discredit is as listenable. 
 
PART THREE - MIXTAPES 
(Ideally, there would be a separate subsection for all the songs she did with various producers between 2010 and 2012 that were overlooked for the album, but seeing as none of these have leaked, we don't really have that luxury.   )
I love both mixtapes dearly. I remember looping them CONSTANTLY after I started listening to her, and her material was so uncommon that we were obliged to over-listen to every song we had. My favourite from the first one would just have to be her adaption of "Dreams Money Can Buy". Most of you probably haven't heard of Jai Paul as an artist in his own right (not meant as a disparagement, simply as a truth...he is very eccentric/reclusive/niche ), but the primary sample comes from his awesome track "BTSTU", which was further sampled by Drake to become "Dreams Money Can Buy". The chorus of Charli's version just gets me every time. So much energy, so much forcefulness, so much pure vocal power! As far as least favourite from the first one, I'd have to go with "Champagne Coast". I like it, but the mumbling just gets annoying after the first few listens. :/ 
 
Now, on to the far more coherent, fairly longer second mix. Choosing is, as always hard...this was the first true release she had after I became a fan, so I had the will to listen through every song on here until I liked them all. However, the song that sticks with least is "Velvet Dreaming (LUV)". I've grown fonder of it over time, but I just think it's kind lackluster lyrically. The high-pitched whispering in it, though...so gorgeous. Naturally, I don't love "Cloud Aura" as much as I might, but this seems to be a fairly common tendency. My favourites here are hard, because every song has at least moment that's just phenomenal!   But "Dance 4 U" and "Moments in Love" are top of the list. Mention goes out to "Heatwave" for aging super quickly...not a bad track, but the sample and lyrics struck me as massively shallow after 20 or so listens.
 
PART FOUR - 'TRUE ROMANCE' 
Favourite? Without a doubt, "Take My Hand". Sure, "Stay Away" is an all-time shocker. Sure, the gliding vocals on "Nuclear Seasons"  and "You're the One" are wonderful. Yes, the lyrics on "What I Like" are so undeniably Tumblr-esque that all comparisons are futile. Of course the spoken bridge on "Feel My Pain" is the most wonderfully melodramatic thing I've ever heard, and "You (HA HA HA)" epitomizes the catchy vengeance tune! Yes, "How Can I" is a dirge, and the soft-spoken freestyle raps on "So Far Away" are contemptuous in a truly splendid way. Of course (and how did I not mention this earlier?) "Lock You Up" represents one of the best Pop melodies I've ever heard, and uses cliches in a truly admirable patchwork. But "Take My Hand", as I once said long ago, is freakin' euphoria in a song. So bubbly, a meteoric opal in an already sparkling crystal realm. Least? I knew it had to come to this. However, simply because I forgive "Black Roses" its repetitive nature for its melodic brilliance, "Grins" ends up at the bottom of my hierarchy. I think it's still one of my most played Charli songs, but I felt like it never deserved to be promoted from mixtape status when such songs like "Midnight" exist that we might never hear.   
 
PART FOUR - COLLABORATIONS
Charli does something that she seems prone to forget - she works with a lot of other vocalists, especially in songs which she has a hand in writing. She rarely mentions the majority of these collaborations, especially with the advent of her new career, but they present some of her best moments. My personal favourites are "Smile" (though I don't think it is beyond fault, especially structurally speaking, the spelling just gets me) and "Like a G6", partly because the latter is essentially the only thing left from the grand ole days when she worked with Uzo Emenike, and partly because her flow in the opening verse is just  ! Imagine if she still did stuff like that. Least favourite would probably be "Just Desserts"...I enjoy Charli's lyrics, but I find Marina's lyrics and general aesthetic do not work when applied to Charli's wild energy. "Heartbreak's hard, when you got a plastic heart..." and it goes downhill from there.   Honourable mention goes out to "Train In Vain", which for some reason I was obsessed with for about three months and then got so bored of I virtually forgot about it. 

"Gods and Monsters." Oh, and whatever song RICK RUBIN did!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Raise Me Up
Afraid
Lucky Ones
Match Made in Heaven

I adore Fiona as much for her eccentricities as for her music, though I have only thoroughly adored 'The Idler Wheel'. It's one of the few albums that I care enough about to have spent money on a deluxe edition. Her voice is so unique, so spindly, often sounding like it's barely teetering on the edge of sanity as she ploughs her way through song after song. I wish she was a little less reclusive, a little more prolific, but in changing either aspect of her artistry, I feel like there would be something lost in the actual intricacies of what makes her Fiona. I was laughing out loud when I first read about her bell-ringing antics from a couple nights ago, and really hope some footage surfaces...that woman doing a backbend on a piano bench is at once both utterly unconceivable and thoroughly to be expected.
 
Her 'Hot Knife' and Beatles cover of 'Across the Universe' both have extraordinary videos, and both are directed by her now ex-boyfriend, Paul Thomas Anderson. I earnestly entreat everyone, even if you don't consider yourself a fan, to watch them...they both are perfectly executed, and I can honestly say that they number in a handful of videos I've actually had the patience to watch a full time through.  TPD, of course, already posted the latter, but here's the former:


 
In closing, I leave my readers' with two thoughts. 
From Pitchfork, in their recent article concerning her Louis Vuitton performance:
 
 
Finally, 

 
Oh, and I just wanted to ask if anyone else is incredibly reminded of Sky by her actions and mannerisms...of course, Sky is influenced by Fiona and not the other way around, but it's still surprising to me sometimes after watching Fiona speak, as per the infamous 1997 VMAs speech. 

"Gods and Monsters." Oh, and whatever song RICK RUBIN did!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You flirt.

"American Dream" is a fabulous Pop song, and makes me like Frankmusic.
 
I actually want to see IRL, even though a big part of me thinks it will be retarded.
 
"Everything Is Embarrassing" is one of her best songs ever....but it pales in comparison to "Sad Dream."
 
"Ghost" is my least favourite song on the EP by far. I just don't like it.
 
I think her use of SoundCloud is abusive + mean. She can't even do it right...she uploaded the entire EP days before its release date, and then pretended it didn't leak.
 
If SkyLeaks came back, I could probably stop listening to Lana forever. Okay maybe not.
Sky, who has made more mistakes in her career than I would think possible for one so young, decided to give some of her best songs to a friend named CoCo Morier, who helped cowrite these + '99 Tears.' Here are links to some of the ones she has recorded which were originally meant for Sky:

It was an excercise in sublimination.

LVU

Do people think Angry All the Time is an album outtake? I thought a long time ago, we established that that song (like many of the others registered around that time) was one of the many she did with all those random producers, when her label was having her write with people from all over the place just to find something that clicked. That's where the song(s) with Kool Kojack, MachoPsycho, and Matt Squire (along with many others) came from. That must've been a weird time for her, writing dozens and dozens of songs she didn't actually like that much. 
 
Pssh, those Rick Nowels songs might've even been done around this time. does anyone still have a screen cap of the tweets where she went off about them leaking? She said quite clearly that they were written solely for the purpose of being sold, i.i.r.c. 
 
Any way, Supernova was registered with Matt Squire as well, so it is most likely recorded in that weird limbo period between her MySpace days and all those crazy punk performances and her meeting Ariel Rechtshaid. Does anyone else remember that interview wherein she said that when they met, she basically wrote Stay Away in one take, and from that moment just knew they clicked? And that that was the first song (i guess excepting Feel My Pain) she wrote for the album? 

You might want to add in the "live demo"'s extra lyrics here and there with a different color.

That's a shame.

That makes so much more sense. :3

Aw, bless yours for asking! :3 So happy I could oblige.

I also love her feature on The Virgins' "Teen Lovers...." something about it just really 'gets' me.
The demo version of "Whatcha Gonna Do" is another of my favorites, simply because it's just so airy + free.
"One" always makes me happy now, even though I honestly used to hate it. >_<

 
I do not like "Ghost." Only song on the entire EP I don't love. "Obsession" is a great song, but Ryan Tedder + his writing can only get an artist so far. Oh wait, look at Adele.

"American Dream" is a fabulous Pop song, and makes me like Frankmusic.
 
I actually want to see IRL, even though a big part of me thinks it will be retarded.
 
"Everything Is Embarrassing" is one of her best songs ever....but it pales in comparison to "Sad Dream."
 
"Ghost" is my least favourite song on the EP by far. I just don't like it.
 
I think her use of SoundCloud is abusive + mean. She can't even do it right...she uploaded the entire EP days before its release date, and then pretended it didn't leak.
 
If SkyLeaks came back, I could probably stop listening to Lana forever. Okay maybe not.
Sky, who has made more mistakes in her career than I would think possible for one so young, decided to give some of her best songs to a friend named CoCo Morier, who helped cowrite these + '99 Tears.' Here are links to some of the ones she has recorded which were originally meant for Sky:

I definitely agree. At the same time, Lana's music is often so...fake that I usually have a hard time relating to it. Yes, I love her, but I have heard many songs that by themselves are superior to at least half, if not all, of her entire discography.
 
Take "Braille" by Regina Spektor, "Fineshrine" by Purity Ring, or "Stay Away" by Charli. Incredible songs Lana will never be able to outdo.

Bebo? I never even knew it existed until I started to look for some old music on it...it stopped being used before Myspace did, right?

Screw everyone for letting "Without You" die!!!!!


 

I'm gonna make my own version of this idiot "Survivor" game, but this time, I'll be playing by myself.

We defy classification.
 
 

I prefer the final version of "Diet MTN Dew."

"Damn You" is awful. It's overproduced, but at the same time under-orchestrated.
It's not even well written.
 
Also, "Delicious" is morbidly repulsive. "Big Bad Wolf" isn't much better.
 
Finally, "Smarty" is over-rated.

It's 2009, and registered--I just forget the authors. Probably a "Lizzy" era song, even though the song obviously mentions LANA DEL REY.

Omigosh guys..."Take My Hand" is pure euphoria.

Almost crying at how beautiful the studio version of 'Lock You Up' is, and it's not even as good as I hoped.