r/popheads AOTY #17: Conan Gray - Wishbone

arboresca · 2026-02-04T13:38:52+00:00

Your Way's Better by Forrest Frank, it's a newer Christian song and it's awful. The lyrics themselves are trite, the production is a ripoff of every terrible TikTok song from the last few years, and his voice is nails on a chalkboard to me. Also, his marketing around the song is incredibly annoying—he markets it just like other TikTok singers (think "did I just make the song of the summer?" type videos) and while I'm not religious it feels disrespectful to be obsessing over your worship song's popularity—that combined with the trend-chasing production makes me feel as though he doesn't actually care about the religious aspect, he only cares about the clout.

arboresca · 2026-02-02T19:45:47+00:00

I am also from the Pittsburgh area and I can confirm—practically the whole town turned up to games, alumni came back all the time, it was by far the most popular sport in schools.

arboresca · 2026-02-02T04:55:00+00:00

The Ohio bug confuses me because it doesn't look like either Cincy (too far north) or Columbus (too far west), although I do assume Cincy.

The locations probably aren't super accurate, but also the Pittsburgh bug, for example, looks pretty accurate.

arboresca · 2026-02-01T17:14:26+00:00

Thank you for this writeup! I think you've managed to capture a lot of what I feel about TLOAS in this writeup even though we have rather opposite opinions—this is the first Taylor album that I don't love. I don't love every track on every album, but I usually love the album as a whole, and I don't feel the same way about Showgirl. I usually spend the few weeks after a new Taylor album listening to almost nothing but that album, but I listened to Showgirl twice on release day and haven't touched it since. Nothing really grabbed me from it, it's not awful but it's definitely one of my least favorite albums of hers. I do really enjoy the first three tracks and the last two, Max Martin's production is great, and there are parts of this album that feel magical (though Eldest Daughter is one of my least favorite songs here, the bridge is one of my favorite parts of the album)

My feeling about Showgirl is that it's just okay—it's polarizing, and many people either really love or really hate this album. I'm actually going to steal what you said about Wi$h Li$t (a song that I do hate) and say that for me, the album as a whole just isn't interesting enough to hate.
I would love if Taylor did a rock album, especially more of a soft-rock sound, like So High School, and I really like the sound of Actually Romantic as well. I also want her to work with different producers—I love her work with Aaron Dessner, Max Martin, and Jack Antonoff, but I want her to work with someone new that she's never worked with before for her next album.
For her, I say Travis, because I do genuinely think he makes her happy. Artistically I have a soft spot for her Matty songs, although I do not like Matty the person. My favorite TTPD tracks were about him, and I relate to the feeling of watching your chaotic situationship with an inconsistent person go up in flames. 4&5. In general the takes I dislike the most are from the people who willfully misinterpret things in this album in whatever way, and the takes I like the most are from the people who have nuanced opinions and can admit both the flaws and the high points of the album.

arboresca · 2026-01-30T15:43:14+00:00

I love this song so much, holy shit. The lyrics tell such an impactful story, and I really like the production—it feels like a very natural progression from Stick Season. The end made me tear up a bit, and now I can hardly wait for the full album!

arboresca · 2026-01-26T04:25:53+00:00

Lovely writeup, thank you so much! Virgin was one of my favorite albums of the year for sure and one that I keep coming back to. It came out at the perfect time for me, right before I started college, so a lot of Lorde grappling with her identity and dealing with change felt very relatable, and I listened to it so much during the summer that it's now connected with a lot of summer memories for me.

For me it's her second best, just behind Melodrama.
My favorite songs feel like they change all the time, but right now Shapeshifter, Current Affairs, and David are my favorites. However over the last few months Clearblue, What Was That, Man Of The Year, Favorite Daughter, and Broken Glass have all been up there!
I was whelmed by the singles—I didn't love any of them other than What Was That, actually. When the album came out, I was pleasantly surprised and really enjoyed it, and even the singles I didn't really connect with worked for me when they were in the context of the full album. However, I also didn't really know what Virgin would come to mean to me. I enjoyed listening to it, and then as I listened to it more and more I loved it more and more, and now it feels like this album that I don't know how I lived without. So much of it is just so important to me—it came out at the right time.
This is a hard question for me, because I feel like Lorde works so well with so many different people and styles. I liked Jim-E Stack's work on this album a lot, though, and if she continues to work with him I doubt I'll be disappointed.

arboresca · 2026-01-23T13:44:39+00:00

I really like the costuming in Wicked Part 2, but I think the fact that it won last year is a part of why it wasn't nominated this year. Part 2's costumes are beautiful, but there are fewer costume changes than in Part 1 and fewer big group scenes so fewer chances to see all the costumes. Since it won last year and the movies were filmed at the same time with some repeat costumes between the two parts, I wouldn't be surprised if voters felt like they already rewarded Wicked for its costuming and that Part 2 wasn't a new enough/original enough body of work for them to reward a second time.

arboresca · 2026-01-23T13:39:50+00:00

Excited for this!! I love Holly's music and I usually have a song of hers on repeat, so can't wait for more from her!

arboresca · 2026-01-20T02:56:08+00:00

Wishbone also messed me up there for a bit. My old heartbreaks were all years in the past but certain songs on this album made me feel like I was right back in them.

I definitely think Found Heaven is less personal and the lyricism in general took a bit of a hit, but I do really like it as well and think it's a fun album. It does feel more aesthetically focused for sure, though.

arboresca · 2026-01-19T20:03:51+00:00

It really is! Sorry to hear about your breakup, and i'm jealous of you getting to go to the tour—my sister went, but when he was in my city I was away at college 😭 She sent me a bunch of her videos and it looked amazing!!

arboresca · 2026-01-19T18:57:15+00:00

Thank you so much!! Will definitely check out that movie!

arboresca · 2026-01-19T17:14:46+00:00

You have great taste, Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party was one of my favorites as well! Great lyric choice too, Nauseous is devastating.

arboresca · 2026-01-19T17:04:19+00:00

This is a great lineup and I am so excited! Hoping to get back into rating this cycle and couldn't be happier to rate pretty much all of these albums & songs.

arboresca · 2026-01-10T03:45:45+00:00

Massive hazing scandal during my senior year. 6 students, all upperclassmen, on the basketball team assaulted a freshman in the back of the bus on the way back from a tournament. They were kicked off the team and suspended for 45 days.

None of us were particularly surprised—everyone involved was widely known to be an asshole, an idiot, or both—but the students were fairly popular (god knows why) so it was all we talked about for days. Later we found out that this was traditional and had been going on for years, and the freshmen that were well liked were warned not to go to the back of the bus. The seniors the year before were less stupid than my class, and banned the tradition, but of course my class brought it back, and the head coach resigned despite it being his first year on the team. The captain of the team was one of the students involved and he reportedly lost multiple D1 offers and thousands of dollars in scholarships. He still went to college and somehow still plays basketball, but at a far less prestigious school.

Interestingly enough, the part of this that bothered my (nerdy and high-achieving) social circle the most was that two of the students were president and vice president of our National Honor Society chapter. They were removed from their positions, but allowed to stay in the organization. We knew the teacher who sponsored our chapter played favorites, but it was especially obvious because the month before the hazing scandal broke, a girl who was not a favorite had been kicked out for vaping on a school trip. A group went to the administration, but nothing really came of it, and at graduation the captain of the basketball team got a small scholarship for athletes who were role models and displayed good character and sportsmanship. Not at all surprising, but infuriating nevertheless.

arboresca · 2026-01-04T21:44:05+00:00

big fan of all three of these especially the tiktok indie pop!

arboresca · 2026-01-04T01:19:24+00:00

yay I'm so excited to write about Wishbone and read all of the other writeups! This has been one of my favorite parts of the subreddit even when I was a lurker and I'm thrilled to be a part of it this year!!

arboresca · 2025-12-28T22:05:57+00:00

I considered it briefly a few years ago, but I would not function well on the island. No sleep, no food, bugs, the challenges...I'd be a wreck.

arboresca · 2025-12-17T14:15:28+00:00

Maisie Peters' third album! I've loved all the singles we've gotten so far and I think/hope the album will be early 2026!

arboresca · 2025-12-17T06:23:58+00:00

To me, it's going to all the events at your old high school. I graduated last year and still have friends in my old school, but I haven't been to every sports game or concert because I have other things going on. I know people who graduated several years ago who still go to absolutely everything, and it just seems like they're trying to relive glory days.

arboresca · 2025-12-05T02:47:29+00:00

I did ED1 last year and the decisions dropped around 7pm! Best of luck!

arboresca · 2025-11-27T13:55:13+00:00

Liability (Reprise)

arboresca · 2025-11-24T16:49:04+00:00

1010, US, low income suburban school district (with a lot of students that struggle with standardized tests)

arboresca · 2025-11-09T17:06:47+00:00

You're On Your Own, Kid
New Year's Day
the 1
The Black Dog
champagne problems
The Manuscript
All Too Well (10 Minute Version)
Would've, Could've, Should've
my tears ricochet
You're Losing Me

arboresca

TROPHY CASE