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Posted by: HausofKubrick 3rd September 2014, 06:00 PM

_________________________________________________________________yes i am still bitter.


So discussing with a few others, although the contest seems to eb and flow between different genres and styles there seems to be a heavy weighting AGAINST urban music since at least when i joined but also going much further back too. And are people scared of venturing into the genre and sending material from it as a result?

HUGE examples from the likes of Miguel, Tinashe, BASECAMP, Kingdom/Kelela, Kito & Reija, Lulu James, Oscar & the Wolf, to name but a few, that have failed to impact at all despite mustering huge support on the site more widely. Are the people that vocally support such songs just not involved in the contest or are there just not enough of them? A lot of these artists would probably do very well now, but what was stopping them at the time!? Idgi.

GAH it pains me because it's a whole genre of music that so many of us adore that is ignored here and turns me off from sending such music (as i know it does for others too). So what do we think is the shadeT against the genre or style of music and will we ever get an Urban influx??

Discuss

Posted by: ✖ ketalina ✖ 3rd September 2014, 06:05 PM

Kingdom / Kelela is definitely the worst bjsc dnq ever imo

i don't get the hate for it??? especially when fka twigs can bomb in the bottom 10(?) in the final twice and tinashe can dnq / bomb in the bottom 10 when everyone loves them??? perplexing to me

Posted by: { bré } 3rd September 2014, 06:08 PM

The strangest thing is that hip-hop/rap actually often does quite well (Le1f, Zebra Katz, Danny Brown, Lars Vaular, Charisma.com if they count) despite the fact that seems like it should be more niche / non-BuzzJack than the likes of Miguel/Tinashe/Basecamp etc. Whatever it is, hoes need to get over their R&Bcism especially when it leads to ridiculous results like 'Adorn' and 'Vulnerable' DNQing.

EDIT: And 'Princes' </3

Posted by: Lextina 3rd September 2014, 08:21 PM

How much is 'so many' though? It might be churlish of me to suggest this but it could just be down to urban/r&b music not being as popular a genre as pop, dance and indie.

Although that explanation is probably deceptively simple.

Posted by: GRIFF 3rd September 2014, 08:33 PM

This is incorrect. JME has had two Top 20 hits since I entered Murking. Coincidence? Of course not.

Posted by: Chez Wombat 3rd September 2014, 08:47 PM

I think it's a genre that's never particularly instant and thus will be at a disadvantage in a contest like this unless they have a big fanbase already, where big choruses, massive production and fast paced songs usually reign supreme. Generally only a certain amount of people will 'get' them and the rest probably won't at all or just forget about them in the sea of upbeat dance/pop which isn't always the most promising outlook in a semi.

Posted by: Lextina 3rd September 2014, 08:48 PM

Disclaimer: I meant in the context of the BJSC participants obviously!

Posted by: Silas 3rd September 2014, 08:52 PM

There used to be an R&B bloc in the early days that usually meant a lot of Urban stuff did rather well. The contest does tend to be fairly fluid depending on the make up of the participants so one day R&B may be flavour of the month again.

Posted by: GRIFF 3rd September 2014, 08:56 PM

How is that obvious - anyone could see that your comment could possibly imply that it isn't a genre that many people in general like.

Posted by: ✖ ketalina ✖ 3rd September 2014, 08:57 PM

because it's in a post in the buzzjack song contest forum im guessing

Posted by: Lextina 3rd September 2014, 09:02 PM

I as just correcting myself so that it wouldn't imply that, apols x

EDIT: Also what Leww said

Posted by: gooddelta 3rd September 2014, 09:22 PM

None of the songs Haus mentioned are anything more than an 8/10 for me, apart from Adorn which is a 9/10 and even that took a while to grow. And I rarely point anything that I rate below 8.5/10.

I agree with Chez, it's not the most instant genre, and a lot of R&B entries are probably the sort of thing that no participant will hate but few will absolutely adore. Hence R&B songs tend to filter down into the 'low points/11th placed syndrome' in people's votes and that usually isn't enough to qualify or do well in the final.

There indeed used to be a bigger appetite for it, look at that Brandy winner in X. I get that it had pop influences but it was bascially an R&B track. The bloc was prominent in 2009 iirc and there were lots of hits from the genre.

I think for an R&B song to do well again in BJSC it would probably need a big/instant chorus and a memorable hook. The genre by nature tends to be quite subtle and that rarely works in BJSC.

Posted by: HausofKubrick 3rd September 2014, 09:26 PM

I think 'Bad 4 U' is a good example of how a proper R&B song can do very well so there is hope still.

Yeah there are exceptions to the rule and those mostly do seem to be the big HIP-HOP ones or ones that have something else zany going for them.


But most of the ~mellow/obscure~ dance tracks tend to do very well and they aren't the most instant songs but people just seem to lap them up because they're "dance" (whatever that means). That's probably a gross overstatement but i do get it when i share and people never really seem to get into songs of a certain genre so i never end up sending them. I know people have shared songs with me that i have replied with a response indicating that it probably won't do well because of the genre no matter how much i like them, which is quite upsetting but i am probably guilty of the preconception myself i guess and it doesn't help if people never send said songs because they won't have a chance to impact people and be heard.

Posted by: Cassandra 3rd September 2014, 09:33 PM

Even in the early days (Brandy aside) R&B wasn't that popular. There was a distinct bloc of voters for it but even then most of the entries would be mid-table at best. I think it's just more down to the Buzzjack demographic really.

Posted by: Chez Wombat 4th September 2014, 12:10 AM

Dance is just a more popular and accessible genre in general on here I think, it helps that it has so many sub-categories and can fuse easily with both pop and indie to appeal to fans of both sides. Although I will say, I think even that genre can suffer have something 'oompf' about it to do really well, there are quite a few exceptions ofc., but generally a long subtle dance song (Like the 7+ minute ones that Ethanola sends) with nothing hugely often won't do that well. Subtlety can be a blessing and a damning and it's something urban music seems to have a lot of moreso than other genres. (I may or may not be planning something very subtle for next month so we can test this theory of subtle dance further )

I'm sure it's only a matter of time before it starts to cross over more though if more nations start to send it more and the memberbase grows, I remember K/J-pop was very niche and never did that well, yet it does quite decently in general now.

Posted by: ✖ ketalina ✖ 4th September 2014, 12:51 AM

justice for howling? #longdancesongsneedlovetoo

Posted by: HausofKubrick 4th September 2014, 12:53 AM

Yeah let's hijack this thread with DANCE stuff too.

Posted by: ✖ ketalina ✖ 4th September 2014, 12:55 AM

ur super duper welcome

#danceforumwins

Posted by: ✖ ketalina ✖ 4th September 2014, 12:56 AM

justice for

Posted by: { bré } 4th September 2014, 07:18 AM

It was ur fault that didn't qualify </3 Who gives the 2 AQs one semi to vote in each?

Posted by: •CDC• 4th September 2014, 03:16 PM

Urban music is my genre. I'd love to send so many R&B songs, but they'd all flop.

Posted by: HausofKubrick 4th September 2014, 10:24 PM

All this talk of Brandy and we're forgetting this 11/10 moment from last year completely flopping on its arse:



</3 x 100. Explain THAT

Posted by: ✖ ketalina ✖ 4th September 2014, 10:27 PM

omg yes!

Posted by: HausofKubrick 4th September 2014, 10:28 PM

CASE CLOSED.