Modern Qualifier 6 – HIGH SKY BOOM LOVER

The Hippie Sabotage remix of “Habits (Stay High)”, which charted in 2014, a year after the original. This is a Bracket Balancer.
Chart hit from 2020’s Plastic Hearts. This is also a Bracket Balancer!
Charli’s biggest solo hit (I believe!) from The Fault In Our Stars soundtrack in 2014. Nominated by The Arn.
Title track of the superstar’s 7th album, from 2019. Nominated by Natalie G.

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Qualifier M6: HIGH/SKY/BOOM/LOVER

TOVE LO – “Stay High – Habits (Hippie Sabotage Remix)” (YouTube)

MILEY CYRUS – “Midnight Sky” (YouTube)

CHARLI XCX – “Boom Clap” (YouTube)

TAYLOR SWIFT – “Lover” (YouTube)

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Modern Qualifier 7 – CURATED by Mitchell S

Modern Poll Day 3 Playlists

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Tom

11 May 2023 12:48

Voted for “Lover”, probably the last time I really liked a Taylor Swift song, it bumbles along in a lovely haze and then the breakdown/middle 8/whatever it is is just really good.

(It’s always vexed me a bit that “Boom Clap” is Charli XCX’s signature hit cos I just don’t like it that much, I reckon she’s done that stomp-stomp-chant thing better and it’s not my favourite thing she does anyway.)

Last edited 1 year ago by Tom

Arron Wright

11 May 2023 13:05

Reply to Tom

I decided early on to pick something from 2014, 2016 and 2019. Had I not already nommed her for Closers, ‘Vroom Vroom’ would have been a very strong shout for 2016.

(I went “second favourite Max Martin song of the last 20 years” instead though)

j_e_l

11 May 2023 13:03

I enjoyed this group, and not really sure who to vote for. I like the sadness of Charli’s song, sounds a bit like someone lost in a post-human computer world.

katiebeluga

11 May 2023 15:27

“Midnight Sky” slaps and I desperately hope that this wave of Miley popularity via ‘Endless Summer Vacation’ means that people poke back into her discography and give ‘Plastic Hearts’ the love it deserves.

Ed Still

11 May 2023 17:08

It’s Boom Clap over Stay High only on the barest of margins (those being that someone actually nominated it)

wmterhaar

11 May 2023 18:43

Checked whether my house would be visible in the Charli XCX video, but she stayed on the canal. Good song too, but as a flashdance the genre aficionado I of course voted for Miley Cyrus genre reviving album.

j_e_l

11 May 2023 19:25

Reply to wmterhaar

Pete Townshend shot a video for his song about Acton, they showed the end of my road – this must have been the early 80’s. Charli XCX would have been cooler

Mark EC Morris

11 May 2023 20:23

Lover is very much my favourite Taylor Swift song (and I like a reasonable number of TS tunes). Starts off like Mazzy Star, but then goes rather Phil Spector laced with baroque pop, which is not a path Hope S and David R ever tried.

Jeff Worrell

11 May 2023 22:43

What do “Boom Clap”, “Guilt” by Nero, “Good Girl” by Alexis Jordan, “Caravan (single version)” by Rush, “Empire” by Shakira and, er, “Where Do I Begin? (Love Story)” by Andy Williams have in common?
They are the 6 songs I bought from the 3MusicStore for my first mobile phone (age 40!), a then fancy pants Nokia 3G phone. I still have it. In fact it’s still the only personal mobile I’ve ever owned (I’m typing this on a work smartphone). Because the file extensions are weird I can’t listen to these 6 songs on any other device in any case. I think Charli was the first 3Music purchase, so for sentimental reasons if nothing else it gets my vote. I do still like the song though.

rabbitfun

13 May 2023 17:17

Reply to Jeff Worrell

Would have voted for “Good Girl” if you had curated these as a group. One part of that perfect Alexis Jordan triptych, together with “Hush Hush” and of-fucking-course “Happiness”.

SmoothBrain

11 May 2023 23:42

‘Stay High’ is the only one of these in my wheelhouse, and I remember finding it instantly striking the first time I heard it, so I’m sad to see it getting hammered here.

Dan Bright-Amaya

12 May 2023 11:45

The production on Boom Clap screaming that yes this is indeed a big hit pop song is really off putting, and totally at odds with the Charli stuff I like. Shame to see Tove Lo coming last when it was the obvious pick for me.

Tom

13 May 2023 17:22

Reply to Dan Bright-Amaya

I thought Tove Lo was such an obvious challenger I almost left it out as unfair. There were a lot of songs I love around this time which seemed to be trying for a similar queasy out-too-late-everything’s-gone-wrong vibe, probably the influence of EDM percolating through pop. This is the best though. There’s a less hedonistic, more caustic messiness surfacing in the charts at the moment – maybe the mid-10s stuff just sounds too glamorous now…

Edward Still

13 May 2023 19:40

Reply to Tom

In my headcanon Stay High remix a sequel to Just Dance, and by sequel I mean it’s happening about 2 hours later as the club is kicking out.

koganbot

12 May 2023 13:54

Voted “Midnight Sky” but the big happy surprise is “Habits,” a sweet pang drifting off-focus through the morning sky. (In fact is a terrific segue to the similarly skied “Midnight Sky.”) Think it counts as a GB, as we’re doing the remix. Went to the Jukebox to see if they had any insights into how Tove Lo pulled this off, and instead it became obvious that I hadn’t noticed the words – which are apparently very noticeable, if you notice them. Listened again and I still didn’t notice them, as they remain indistinct amidst the high pulse and the pang.

The Arn

12 May 2023 21:55

Even including one of my noms, it’s very much a ‘current inside of my head’ group. Had all of these on heavy rotation this year.

Agree that it’s nowhere near the most interesting Charli song (but it’s brutally effective in a, let’s put it diplomatically, Mike Leander way). But… I nominated it was to see how her biggest hit fared – artists active over the last decade seem to be undernominated or underperform in these polls so I was interested in how a big, relatively familiar track does.

Last edited 1 year ago by The Arn

rabbitfun

13 May 2023 17:30

Oh dear. Voted for “Stay High/Habits” because I love it and I read here that it was underperforming, instead of “Midnight Sky”, a song I have in constant rotation this year, because I thought it would be safe being the obvious banger that it is – and now I find they both are in danger of being eliminated!
I do love “Lover” btw, I don’t have a deep Taylor knowledge/interest, but that’s one of my favourites of hers that I do know. Hate that “Boom Clap” of all songs is obliterating the other three here.

jonathanb

14 May 2023 09:00

I’m aware that Charli fans don’t think highly of “Boom Clap”; perhaps it’s fitting that as someone who is only occasionally interested in her work (and is often actively irritated by her apparent conviction it’s more important for a song to have meme potential than a hook) I think it’s easily her best song: such an incredible burst of joy.

SmoothBrain

14 May 2023 14:36

Boom Clap is just a bit bland to be honest – I don’t understand the appeal

Cuntballs McFuckface

20 May 2023 16:53

The results of this are so dumb, “Boom Clap” is so bad

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Modern Qualifier 6 – HIGH SKY BOOM LOVER

Qualifier M6: HIGH/SKY/BOOM/LOVER

Modern Qualifier 7 – CURATED by Mitchell S

Modern Poll Day 3 Playlists

The Discourse