The 11/10: How Personal Resonance Intertwines With Our Musical Opinions

 

The 11/10: How Personal Resonance Intertwines With Our Musical Opinions

Hi everyone!! I truly can’t believe it’s been 4 years since I started Fire’s Flaming Hot Takes. It’s been such a wild ride, I was only a rising junior in high school when I first started and now I’m a...rising junior in college...Full circle moment or something. But anyways, what this article essentially is is me trying to explain and dissect my weird thoughts on a rating I have awarded some songs. Without wasting any more time, let’s get this started!!

I: Objective 10s vs Subjective 10s

Okay, this first section will be brief and might seem unrelated to the concept of an 11/10, but it’s important for me to define and distinguish an objective 10 and a subjective 10 because I will reference these later in this article. On the surface, an “objective 10” doesn’t really make sense; there’s no such thing as objectivity in music so this feels like a bit of a nonsense term. However, to me, I define an “objective 10” as a song where nothing about it can be changed to make it better, where even its flaws only make it more perfect. Every song I would deem an “objective 10” should have some “it” factor that makes it truly special, not just a song with no flaws; being too perfect is a flaw. “Rather Be” by Clean Bandit might be a great song because it’s so impeccably produced but I would not put it at an objective 10 because it lacks that big “it” factor, it’s too boringly perfect. Now, the “it” factor can vary a lot from song to song. For example “Meet The Grahams” by Kendrick Lamar is an objective 10 to me for very different reasons “Good Days” by SZA also is; the former has unmatched intensity and venom for a diss track and the latter is just the most lush anxiety-melting song I’ve heard in R&B. Two very different songs, both objective 10s. 

Now, a subjective 10 might still be perfect in your eyes but it’s more in a way that you just really adore the song. It may not have that “it” factor that defines the objective 10s but your emotional reaction just overrides any critical sense you may have. Of course, even among my objective 10s, there’s probably some overlap there, like “Cruel Summer” by Taylor Swift, which might be a tad too girlish on the bridge but my mind just ignores it because it’s what helps make that bridge so exhilarating (and, well, the song is fucking kickass live) so on one hand, you could argue it's a subjective 10. On the other hand, I think that girlishness on the bridge is that "it" factor that makes "Cruel Summer" an objective 10 in my eyes. A subjective 10 would also be a song that resonates with you emotionally without changing your life. For me, an example of that would be “What Was I Made For?” by Billie Eilish. The lyrics hit me hard during a point where I was questioning my own path, but my life wouldn’t be much different if that song didn’t exist. But what makes an 11/10 so special?

II: What Even Is An 11/10?

When you hear the term 11/10, even separated from music, what do you think of? You might think of that time in school when on a test you got a bonus point on your 10-question quiz for doing the extra credit problem your teacher provided. So maybe if you were looking at 11/10s in the context of music, to you it’d slot more closely to an objective 10, where the “extra credit” in this case would be that “it” factor. But no, that’s not what I mean when I rate a song 11/10. It signifies what we’ll call a “personal cornerstone song”. Like a song in which your life would actually look a lot different had it not existed. I’ll be referencing a lot of my 11/10s throughout this essay and touching on how they are cornerstone songs for me as I examine all the different facets of what makes a song an 11/10.

III: Is An 11/10 Rating Even Fair?

I can see how an 11/10, how I define it, might be seen as unfair. An 11/10 implies that the individual did extra work than what was required. Can you really say that an artist did extra work by making a song that becomes one of your cornerstone songs when they literally have no control over how the song might resonate with you? While no, they didn’t quite do extra work by making a song that happens to be one of your cornerstone songs, I still think that rating a song an 11/10 to signify a cornerstone song in your life is fair. The purpose of pop music is to appeal to our emotions, if we didn’t want music that made us feel things, we could just as well listen to any royalty free instrumental track on Incompetech or just literally listen to White Noise Therapy. Plus, how much we might like a song is also out of the artists’ control, so if a subjective 10 is fair, why shouldn’t an 11/10 be?

IV: 11/10s Are (Almost) Never Instant

Time plays a big role in a song being an 11/10. Music will take time to resonate with you. Think of your favorite song of all time. Maybe you loved it on first listen, maybe you just liked it but steadily grew to being your all-time favorite song as you gained new experiences with that song, or maybe you even hated it the first time you heard it. Maybe it was something different entirely. But regardless of where you fall, these all have one thing in common: it was not your favorite song of all time the first time you heard it. Maybe you could’ve had one of those “first listen” favorite songs of all time when you first started paying attention to music because that’s your first taste of the art form. But that kind of favorite song is one you don’t really have much of a deeper connection to, you just adore it on its surface level aesthetics. By nature, unless the song immediately changes your world for the better, like it were to actually save your life or something similar, you can never give a song 11/10 on your first listen. It is for this reason I’ve retroactively removed Nightbirde’s “It’s OK” (both studio and live versions) from my 11/10s list. The song resonated with me in my situation and inspired me, but it didn’t really change my life in a significant way. 

V: 11/10s Go Beyond Just Emotionally Resonating For You

Cornerstone songs aren’t just any old song that hits you emotionally. No, it’s gotta be something that’s core to your personality. It could probably start as something that just resonates with you emotionally but it has to grow to be a part of who you are. That’s what makes “Unstoppable” by Sia (a song that’s become my personal anthem) an 11/10 but not, say, “Fight Song” by Rachel Platten. What makes “Rainbow” by Kacey Musgraves and even “Fix You” by Coldplay 11/10s but not “What Was I Made For?” by Billie Eilish”. Remember what I said about “It’s OK” by Nightbirde in the previous section. It’s the same reason I’ve also removed “‘Til You Can’t” by Cody Johnson from my 11/10s. If over time, the song doesn’t become a core part of who you are, it merely lands into “subjective 10” territory at best. Time will play a huge role in songs becoming cornerstone songs for you. Which leads me to my next point...

VI: 11/10s Can Be Built On Memories

Pop music has a knack of getting deeply intertwined with our memories. A song that simply transports you back to one of the happiest moments of your life is absolutely a strong reason to rate a song 11/10. I’ve mentioned before on this blog that “It Ain’t Me” by Kygo and Selena Gomez is a personal time machine for me that transports me back to one of the happiest years of my life in 2017. Having a song that functions as a time machine like that can turn the song into a photo reel where you can see your memories so vividly, almost reliving them. “It Ain’t Me” was probably the first song where I fully understood the cliche “Music Is the closest we will get to a time machine”. Even a song like “You” by Regard, Troye Sivan, and Tate McRae is one of those time machines for me, where I can vividly remember driving on the rainy Big Island in Hawaii on my dream vacation in 2021. Notice that I didn’t mention the lyrical content of either song here. “It Ain’t Me” is a song about Selena cutting ties with her boyfriend, not about happiness. And “You” is a song where the two narrators are struggling to move on from a breakup with each other. The memories that I built from these two songs are entirely from the surface-level aesthetic. That’s not to say Lyrics never have a role in which you give a song an 11/10 - we’ll get to that later - but in terms of creating happy and innocent memories it’s usually the actual sound of the music that transports you back.

Even something like “Blinding Lights” by The Weeknd, which I associate with the most exhilarating moment of my life, I consider that an 11/10 because that exhilarating thrill is strong enough to still get pumped to this day whenever I accelerate on a highway in hopes I can experience that sensation again.

That said, sometimes 11/10s can come from the silliest or most random songs that ignite the silliest memories for you. An example of that for me is “Tonight Tonight” by Hot Chelle Rae, where in 2021 I introduced the song to one of my best friends and we both became obsessed with it and would blast it everywhere we went, to the point where “there’s a party on the rooftop of the world tonight” became an inside joke for us. Even though she doesn’t really care that much for the song anymore, the memories we made with that song remind me of our friendship when I listen to that song. Which takes us to...

VII: 11/10s Can Be Tied To Your Relationships

As I expressed in the last section, “Tonight Tonight” reminds me of my friendship with my best friend even if she doesn’t really care for the song all that much anymore. Your 11/10s are YOUR cornerstone songs. Not your friend’s, not the mailman’s, not your dog’s, just yours. It doesn’t matter whether the other person still feels the same way about the song. All that matters is that you are reminded of that relationship. Even though my best friend doesn’t care much for “Tonight Tonight” anymore, it still reminds me of our friendship whenever I hear it. Think of how when you go through a breakup, your ex’s favorite songs suddenly get harder to listen to because you’re reminded of them. It doesn’t matter if your ex considers that particular song their favorite of all time, they just liked it to the point where you grew to associate that song with them and now it hurts to listen to. Another example of this kind of 11/10 for me is “Stereo Hearts” by Gym Class Heroes and Adam Levine, which always reminds me of my dad because it was one of the first songs he showed to me as a kid. But it wasn’t the only song that my dad showed to me as a kid, so why is “Stereo Hearts” so special?

VIII: 11/10s Are Irrational

What song you choose to reward an 11/10 is often irrational. It’s just the nature of the human mind, we sometimes associate the most random things with significant events, regardless of how relevant they are to that event. It’s like you get your driver’s license and drive through some random suburban neighborhood and start crying because you remember that you and your ex had promised to drive through the suburbs when you got your license. Even if the suburban area you were driving in was completely different than the one you and your ex promised to drive through, you irrationally associate driving through the suburbs with your ex. Similarly, I irrationally associate “Stereo Hearts” with my dad even though it wasn't even the first song he showed me as a kid. My brain just randomly developed a connection to my dad with that song.

IX: 11/10s Reflect A Point In Time

Cornerstone songs can hold deep meaning that’s tied to a specific period - a year, a stretch of a few years, or even longer. But outside of that point in time, it doesn’t really make sense to label it as an 11/10. Something I’ve really struggled with is whether I can consider Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” and Luke Combs’s cover of it 11/10s or not because if I hadn't resonated with them when I did in 2023, my life would absolutely look vastly different now, as they both helped me rediscover my passion for singing, which is still my favorite part of myself. But outside of the context of 2023, it doesn’t make any sense to me to consider them cornerstone songs. Indeed when I was preparing to write my 2024 best list I was terrified of the possibility of Luke Combs’s “Fast Car” being eligible and thus by default topping my best list again because it’s a cornerstone song for me even though it wasn’t relevant to my 2024 at all. I think from now on, I’ll only award a song an 11/10 in the context of a certain year, meaning “Fast Car” would not have topped my 2024 best list (or even have come all that close) if it was eligible. Instead, I’ll rate the song on purely its own merits. Same case with “Blinding Lights” by The Weeknd, I mentioned earlier how I may associate that song with the most exhilarating moment of my life but an 11/10 for that song only makes sense to me in the context of 2020 since that was when that exhilarating moment happened.

Of course, I should probably acknowledge that some 11/10s are powerful enough to transcend that time factor, where you rate them 11/10 regardless of if it’s tied to a specific year. For me, “Ghost” by Justin Bieber just evolves in meaning with every passing year (it’s a strong contender for my all-time favorite song, period). As another example, “In The Stars” by Benson Boone is a song I’ve previously said on this blog was the final song I sang to my grandma before she passed away in 2023 and that ever since then I felt a connection to her every time I heard that song. But for various complicated reasons tied to my faith I honestly don’t really feel that much of a connection when I hear the song anymore. That said, what I did feel in 2023 when I listened to the song was so undeniably real that I still consider “In The Stars” an 11/10. Similar case with “The Architect” and “Oh, What A World” by Kacey Musgraves; the former song practically saved my life in 2024 and the latter song singlehandedly put me in a good headspace that year. Even though in 2025 I don’t revisit those songs as much and it feels less relevant to me now, the effects they had on me were so powerful that they’ll forever be 11/10s to me.

X: Songs That Were Gateways to Pivotal Eras of Your Life Can Be 11/10s

Songs that have served as gateway songs that lead you to important eras of your life are absolutely personal cornerstone songs. Especially if the era is a core part of your personality, if the song that got you into that era in the first place didn’t exist, it’s safe to assume that you’d be a different person now. Eras of your life can have multiple gateway songs, as is the case with me and my love of music. “Dynamite” by Taio Cruz is the earliest song I remember hearing, turning what was once just light background noise into background noise I could occasionally enjoy. “Shut Up And Dance” by WALK THE MOON was my all-time favorite song in 5th grade and was what turned music from just background noise to my actual obsession and was what got me to actually start listening to the pop songs that came on the radio. Then when my obsession with that song started dying off, “Stressed Out” by Twenty One Pilots was what continued my quest to get exposed to different songs on the radio. All three of these songs are 11/10 songs for me. They all accomplished a similar thing in my life and they all still mean so much to me since they are integral for me being who I am today.

Hell, even songs that help you transition into a new era that isn’t necessarily core to your identity could be 11/10s. “I Lived” by OneRepublic was my elementary school graduation song so in a sense it was the closing of one chapter in my life and the opening of a new one. I’d consider it valid grounds for an 11/10 (albeit in the lower tier of that category). But then there’s my big question...

XI: What Happens When You Like Songs That Don’t Hold Personal Significance For You More Than Some Of Your Actual 11/10s?

Granted, the idea of an 11/10, at least under my logic, really would only work for you if you deeply intertwine music with your emotions like I do. Something I’ve learned is that not everyone does that with music (in fact, I might be the only one who does that, at least that I know of). But okay, there’s the big elephant in the room. There’ll inevitably be songs that you love more than some of your 11/10s even though you can’t really pinpoint any reason they hold significance for you. It happens to me, of course it’ll happen to anyone. The biggest examples of that for me are “Burn” by Ellie Goulding and “Fireflies” by Owl City. I adore both of these songs so much, more than some of my actual cornerstone songs, but if you asked me what significance they hold for me, I don’t think I could tell you if I tried (believe it or not my screen name isn’t “Fire” because of either of those songs lol). Can I really even call them cornerstone songs in that case? Well, sometimes there’ll be a song where my adoration for it is so strong that it does eclipse some songs that might have more meaning for me. And there’s a reason I’ve referred to 11/10s as cornerstone songs and not “personal significance songs” throughout this essay. So if you ask me why I consider “Burn” and “Fireflies” cornerstone songs, I’d probably say that they represent my pure love of pop music, not more, not less. They aren’t gateway songs, they’re just pop songs I adore heavily based on my love for how pop music in general sounds. So yes, they are cornerstone songs because they represent the musical part of my identity. And before I finally end this essay, I have one final point to make...

XII: Conclusion: 11/10s and Time

Remember what I said earlier in this essay: Time will play a huge role in songs becoming cornerstone songs for you. As time goes on, what you might consider an 11/10 will evolve and shift over time. Maybe that one song you considered an 11/10 in high school you can’t stand as an adult. Taste is never static and as your ideas evolve and you get more life experiences you might look back on a song and think “Yeah, this didn’t hold as much significance for me as I thought it did”. It happened multiple times while I was writing this essay and even before then, a song like “1-800-273-8255” by Logic used to be an 11/10 for me for a while because I thought it helped me out tremendously in a low point. But last year I came to the realization that “Yeah, this never really helped me that much” and it went from an 11/10 all the way down to a 4/10 for me haha.

But that’s it, if you managed to read the whole essay, thank you so much!! It’s been a very wild 4 years of blogging and I really can’t wait to see what comes in year 5! But until my next article, if you guys want to think of what songs you might consider 11/10s, feel free to comment them down below! I’m eager to read your picks!! But until the next article, remember to keep it Fire!!