NGADM Review time!

Composition 4.5/5
Ridiculous. How dare you make something so charming and adorable? I've never sought out music like this so I've never heard anything like it before. Thanks for the new experience. In the history of NGADM I think it's quite unique too. My only gripe is that you could have taken it one step further with appropirate percussion. A heart beat during the biggest section or some like chimes, cymbals... I don't know. I wanted a touch more!

Production 5/5
Very minimalist tracks aren't hard to mix so I haven't got much to say on this matter. What is here is well done. The voice sits very snuggly into the mix and didn't sound out of place at all. Great work.

Sound Design and/or Instrumentation 5/5
Yes. The choice of instruments spoke to me as much as the poem. The gentle tones from the voice and instruments fit so perfectly.

Performance or Programming 5/5
Kudos for the poem reading. It's delightful; the performance was perfect. I could only give 5/5 here.

"Je Ne Sais Quoi" (Genre/case specific extras) 5/5
You took me on a journey and from the first seconds to the last I was fully taken in. You brought up old feelings and gave me new ones. Made me relive sad memories but realise I am happy now I, too, have someone special in my life. We've almost all experienced that "crazy, irrational" love.

My highest rated song of the competition so far... Wooo!

This is an official NGADM '19 Review

Composition:
Lol, it sounds like at 0:11 I'm booting up with an HMD Odyssey. The intro is very floaty and light in a welcoming fashion. I really like the different route you took. More of a narrative in the first half which is pretty unique for this contest. You've put a lot of thoughts into the words, and they feel completely naturally and nothing is forced. Hey cool, I just noticed that the pencil is actually erasing at 1:07, nice details. 1:40 also has a very unique rhythm (although I probably wouldn't have noticed it too much if LunacyEcho didn't point it out lol). I don't know if I quite agree with the last section being so chord based, but it still worked with the feel of the rest of the song.

Production and Sound Design:
Really great stuff. Your voice is really well produced, but it also fits the feel very well. Honestly, really good vocal work. You picked just the right instruments and percussion for the middle section. So well thought out. However, the third section I think is the weakest in the song. I get what you're doing, but I think it needs to be a little bigger and louder. Mostly the louder part. It feels like it's supposed to be really climatic, but the volume dynamics being quieter than the section just before makes the listener feel conflicted if this is actually supposed to feel climactic or a hushed and building ending. If it's meant to feel confusing, it's a neat idea, but maybe could have been more defined. I also feel like it's a bit too dry. I like the cutoffs that drop to nothing, but it just seems a little too awkward I think. The last section probably took up the most, but only because compared to how close to perfect the other sections were I was a little dissapointed. It did not ruin the song at all though.

Structure:
It almost feels too short with the second and third sections, and not to slam the third section too much, but the ending feels disjointed a little from the rest of the song. However! I really enjoyed how this flowed together. I just noticed the reversing notes in the 1:13 section (nice touch) and for the most part everything feels like it's the same theme even though the first two sections have a really large contrast. The second section though was really greatly put together since it clearly references to the chaotic rhythm mentioned in the narrative. It's also why I can understand what you're doing with the third section. While it feels a little alien, it heavily articulates the narrative and conveys the right emotions that you were making in this piece. Like I can feel what you were trying to write.

Emotion / Conclusion:
This is definitely one of my favorites for this round. Really creative for a contest setting, and does a really good idea with the theme of the whole song. Everything from the title, to the narrative, the instruments selected, and how the structure is organized. Everything is really well thought out and works (for the most part) cohesively to the main idea, even to the point that I could just about feel the emotions driving the theme forward (why I rated emotion pretty high on this). Again, I don't exactly agree with how you did the third section, but I enjoyed every second of it.

Composition: 9

Production: 9

Sound Design: 9.5

Structure: 9

Emotion: 9.5

Very creative premise for a piece. I like the pensive mood and rich atmosphere at the beginning. The voice acting here is rather good, as are the lyrics themselves. The transition at 1:13 is a little sudden, but I’m enjoying the sense of build towards the end of the vocal phrase. The percussion might’ve been a little loud at 1:39, but I like the sound design and overall cutesy instruments. The string plucks and soulful piano blend really well together. The quirky pads at 2:07 are nice too, and I definitely hear hints of the grand moment of catharsis I expected given the thematic content. That said, the last part of the piece has a lot of disjointed ideas for harmonic progression that don’t quite land in a meaningful way for me. The emotional appeal of the piano solo at the end helps tie the piece together, but I still wanted to hear a bigger moment of arrival that cemented the motif of freedom that the protagonist is clearly feeling. Maybe that’s a bit picky, though. Full credit for originality, atmosphere, and sound design. I still have my reservations about some of the arrangement details, but overall you executed a rather gutsy compositional approach extremely well here. Keep it up, Vocaloutburst! ^^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.75/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.75/2
Instrumentation and sound design
1/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.5/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
1/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
1/1
Composite score
9/10

this is so cool!!! both the poem itself and the way you read it was lovely, and i think you did a great job matching the music with the story being told. there were a lot of cool sounds too :O

whoaaa that groove at 1:40 is really cool! is that... 4/4 but subdivided into 9 and 7? wild, and great vibe too!

love how interesting the sounds and structure of the post-drums are, and love the mood of the pre-drums! i'd totally listen to an audiobook narrated by you