Ranking “Terrible Thrills, Vol. 2” Was an Absolute Thrill

My journey of listening to Bleachers’ entire discography is far from over, but my experience listening to their second studio album, “Terrible Thrills, Vol. 2,” sends me on my penultimate quest before the final boss, “MTV Unplugged.” This album is a compilation of reprised songs from “Strange Desire” featuring the contributions of exclusively female artists that are so generous as to lend their voices to their reprisals. However, I could not find a singular tier list template for this album, so I will be leading with my least favorite song down to my favorite in numerical order. Let’s get into it!

11. Shadow (with Carly Rae Jepsen)

I am such a big fan of Carly Rae Jepsen, and I feel like she’s going to have the massive commercial comeback that she deserves within the next couple of years. She is an endless well of talent that deserves more recognition, and I stand by that. I actually like this song, I just wouldn’t remember to listen to it.

With the altered production of “Shadow” and her sugary vocal tone, the song has such an 80’s girl pop vibe. The song is super cheeky and always coaxes a smile out of the listener.

The song has a fried dough taste, with her voice looking like crystalized sugar granules on a red powdered donut. Very unique!

10. Take Me Away (with Brooke Candy and Rachel Antonoff)

This song is as low as it is for the same reason as “Shadow,” where I just wouldn’t really listen to it regularly but I still like it amiably. The verses behind the beat are complex and work to invoke a really specific emotion that you can never quite put your finger on. Brooke’s delivery is well-suited to the production and fun, whereas Rachel’s vocals are an asset to the track and are haunting.

This song is a mix of lighter fuchsias and lulling blues, and it blots along like paint drops squished between two panes of glass.

9. Reckless Love (with Elle King)

Elle’s soft intonations suit the further reclusive production, and conversations with dynamics make the song more interesting. I don’t have too much to say about the song: I didn’t love it, but I didn’t hate it.

Warm browns and cool blues and purples are layered like Dreyer’s ice cream layered parfait in a plastic cup where the sides smudge together.

8. Wild Heart (with Sara Bareilles)

Sara has such a gentle voice, and her tone makes the song sound more like a sweet promise between lovers than a proclamation of love. The kiddy production matches and suits the lilt of her voice, and it takes that shared promise to a visible scene, where I imagine a shared smile between two people in love with each other on a summer day in New York on a curb across a crosswalk.

The song looks like pink and purple plastic happy meal toys in abstract shapes, where it’s shiny and youthful.

7. I’m Ready to Move On / Wild Heart Reprise (with Susana Hoffs)

Susana’s vocals sound like a sixties folk song, giving me a lot of Stevie Nicks energy. It feels like a mother playing her song to a child to try to get them to calm down after the child had scraped their knee. (I also feel like it would be in “Brave,” but we won’t talk about that.) It’s such a gentle song, and I really love the contrast between her voice and Antonoff’s.

This song looks like yellow, brown, and tan hairs strewn about in the sunlight on an unpolished wooden porch.

6. Like A River Runs (with Sia)

Sia has an extremely emotive voice and switching to a more piano-centered track showcases her talents as well as the original lyrics. This change in production allows for the sadness of the song to be bolstered rather than contrasted, and I find it to be a wise choice for Sia’s particular vocals. The planted belts are eerie and voice a hidden story, and mixed with the strings swelling, it’s a very emotional song.

Sia has a deep maroon voice, with the twinkling browns, pinks, and baby blues of the piano accompaniment.

5. You’re Still A Mystery (with MØ)

MØ’s voice is very sour, as it’s rooted in the upper part of the back of her throat, leaving her vocals raspy and girlish. I love the way they suit this song, as it paints the daydream of a teenage girl going through a montage of leaving clues for her crush in an indie coming-of-age movie. It’s a super fun song, and I feel like it could replace “Hey Mickey” in “Bring It On.”

“You’re Still Mystery” is a sour candy song with fruity undertones, like lemon and strawberry Sour Patch Kids.

4. Who I Want You To Love (with Natalie Maines)

Natalie’s voice is perfect for an indie-sounding ballad with reverb on the backing vocals, and she feels like a vocal counterpart to Antonoff. Her tone is sincere and natural, while simultaneously sounding experienced and earnest. The swelling drums add an urgency to an otherwise sweet and chill song, with biting closure. I imagined a break-up between college students after several years, but they want the best for each other and are smiling across the room at each other right after they’ve just graduated; content and a little sad.

Natalie has a tangy red voice with a deep, brownish mustard guitar backing, and it twinkles like dull brass.

3. I Wanna Get Better (with Tinashe)

Tinashe’s vocals feel smoky and subdued, like a woman scorned. The production and the effects surrounding the vocals being toned back made such a difference in the potential quality of the tone of the song in regards to what Tinashe has to offer, and I am a big fan of the alteration in production to enhance her vocals. Her own contributions make it feel more like a song about coming out of your shell, like she was shy until she had the mission of changing herself.

She has a grayish violet voice, with reddish pink pennies jangling in a pocket; however, they’re very thin pennies, and are more jingling than clashing.

2. Rollercoaster (with CharlieXCX)

Charlie has such a sultry voice that makes the song more of a hot-girl-summer vibe than a “this chick is hard to follow” vibe, like the song was about a one-night-stand that never left her mind. It’s just a super fun song that keeps the summery aura of the original but allows for the dancy pop vibe of the 2010’s. With her voice and the original production, it turns summer days into a song about summer nights doing drunk karaoke with your friends.

It’s a silvery song, like a wine-stained white dress with gold glitter from your makeup dusting the fabric. Purple, gold, white, and silver: a song to remember!

1. Wake Me (with Lucius)

My notes during this immediately start with; “OMG I LOVE THIS.” I would’ve never thought of the transition from gentle disco pop and a roaring bridge into  a mirrorball-sixties-ballad-romance-excellence masterpiece, and it’s truly a testament to Antonoff’s mind. I am in shambles in the wake of this song. It has such a “Grease” vibe, and it’s somehow more romantic than the original.

The accidentals and the whole bridge in general are delectable and sour, and its excellent awareness on the band’s part to reprise their own song like this. I am still in shock that the bridge somehow got better. 

Faded blues, greens, and deep purples reflect around the bedroom of a teenage girl after her first date like her love being projected onto a mirrorball spinning from her ceiling.

I loved this album, and it was my favorite listening experience so far (other than TTSOOSN). Antonoff’s ability to enhance, include, and uplift women in the music industry is exceedingly rare, and speaks volumes on the professionalism of Bleachers. All of the women involved on this project are talented and were assets to the original songs, only making a different perspective more interesting. I wish more male artists would utilize a woman’s vocal perspective on their original tracks: there’s always a chance to make your previous work better. I believe that Jack Antonoff and Taylor Swift are spearheading the idea of reprising previous works for individually valid reasons, and I hope it inspires other artists to realize that their art doesn’t stay in the past, and that their control over their work means that it can all be a work in progress.

The only album left that stands in my way of being a true Bleachers listener is “MTV Unplugged,” so keep an eye out. In the meantime, check out my listening experiences of “Strange Desire,” “Gone Now,” and “Take the Sadness Out of Saturday Night.”