I had no idea I was that high in your "points received" in spin-offs, niiice! Was listening to The xx - Angels today and it just suddenly hit me that it was your near-misses entry! Will try to keep keeping up with much "famous rambling summaries of the final results of each contest" and more, in this new thread
Yeah this was the first time I'd actually worked out my spinoff voting histories! I had kinda guessed beforehand that Dan & Ethan would be my top 2 as they tend to send pretty great songs to the spinoffs though. Could probably have had a decent guess at who'd be #1 on the received list too Thank you for all your support! x
Persephonia not reciprocating the love we've had for you so far here in Brechtoria!
You're definitely going to hate 88 as well, so maybe 89 we can pinch a couple of points from you!
Apols, hopefully I can return some of the love in the near future! (Not really expecting great things from your current entry indeed based on your description but you never know lol). I did at least throw you a few points in Reinvention! x
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 04/09/2016
publication delayed by political instability
BJSC 87 summary
- In the final of BJSC 87 in Lambrini City, Pupok, TWRR's 'Water Frozen' secured Persephonia a third top 20 in a row and a fifth out of seven entries this year so far, coming 20th with a total of 187 points and once again DEFYING the predictions from international pundits *.* It becomes our first song to finish 20th meaning the only remaining top 20 positions we have yet to finish in are 7th-11th and 18th. 24 countries voted for 'Water Frozen' with top support coming from Terra Avium, who gave it its only 18, and Ethanola and Jadakissnia who both gave it 15. Although it was Persephonia's 2nd lowest final position out of our 2016 qualifiers, it was revealed that it matched our highest semi-final position of the year (8th) with our highest semi-final points of the year to date, 85. That meant that unlike most of our previous entries this year 'Water Frozen' actually did a bit worse than expected from the semi-final results (having been projected 15th).
- Their qualification record hasn't been as consistent this year as it was in 2015 but Cor Lupus achieved what they didn't manage in their opening run of 8 qualifiers, getting their first win in this contest with The Naked And Famous' 'Higher' (actually their first top 3, beating their previous #4 peak with Five Knives' Savages') stomping all competition to finish on a total of 432 points, tying Meg Myers' 'Sorry' for the third highest points total ever (after 477 for Sigala's 'Easy Love' last year and 465 for Salt Ashes' 'Save It' earlier this year). The country's first solo hosting job (they previously co-hosted the infamous BJSC 78) is now already underway in New Beacon City. The Naked And Famous are the first act from New Zealand to win BJSC. 'Higher' fell short of the final points record but did beat the record for points in the semi-final, winning semi 2 with a monstrous 186 points, 13 more than the record set by 'Save It' only 3 contests earlier. 'Save It' held that record for a much shorter time than the previous holder, Eva Simons' 'Silly Boy' in BJSC 19. Finally, 'Higher' had 44 voters in the final, enough to tie that record which is also held by 'Save It'.
- Way back in 2nd place with 361 points was the country with the ever changing name, competing in BJSC 87 as FKA FKA FKA π but now already having changed their name again to People's Independent State of Slutland. Mai Lan's 'Technique' gave the five-time winners their first top 10 hit since The Midnight's 'The Years (Prologue)' also came 2nd back in BJSC 69. That song originally seemed to be a bit of a last hurrah for the country as after their following entry DNQed, they announced that they were to quit the contest, and indeed they sat out BJSC 71, the first contest they had missed since their debut in the fourth edition (under the name Elëdan, a name they used continuously up to BJSC 70 apart from competing in BJSC 56 as Slutland). However, despite continuously insisting they are going to quit, they have still entered most of the contests since then under various different names, having served several one-contest bans for not submitting votes but not yet actually missing more than one contest in a row. Persephonian News Bulletin hopes that they do remain a permanent part of the contest now xx They would in fact have broken their top 10 drought 2 contests earlier with their last entry '$ORO' by Lost Under Heaven if that hadn't been given a non-voting deduction. 'Technique' is clearly a FAR better song to break the drought with.
- Just missing out on the silver medal, Hendinia came 3rd with 359 points with That Poppy's 'Money' (the winner of semi-final 1). This gave them a third top 10 hit in a row, and their first top 3 since Sophia Del Carmen's 'Lipstick' back in BJSC 65 (with seven top 10 hits between them), but means Hendinia have to continue the search for a 4th winner having not won since BJSC 39 with Ricki-Lee's 'Raining Diamonds' despite their entries topping odds and predictions many, many times since then, with 'Money' only adding to that list. Poor Hendinia. Completing the top 5 were 2 of the other most successful countries in BJSC history: Aeroche bounced back from their shock DNQ in the previous contest to come 4th with Little Big's 'Hateful Love' on 332 points (receiving 6 18s, the most of any song in this contest) and FSR Rontvia continued a year that has seen them nearly ascend to the levels of dominance they had in the past, getting a second top 10 in a row and their third of the year with a 5th place on 287 points for the absolutely stunning 'Ilumbarada' by Ortiga (bringing their cumulative points received since they debuted in the first ever contest to over 10,000, still well ahead of all other countries). Both nations have thus closed the gap a bit on the YTD top 2 of Yehesi and Pupok who both did significantly less well this month than they did in the previous 5 contests.
- Some fresher names in the lower half of the top 10: Harmonica (returning after forgetting to enter the previous contest) got their first ever top 10 hit on their 23rd attempt, coming 8th with MEG MAC's 'Never Be' after previously peaking at a frustrating #11 with Coasts' 'A Rush Of Blood', while Avalonia achieved their second top 10 hit to date with Symphobia's 'I Do' coming 6th. Between them in 7th place was Cadelicia's entry 'Banana Brain' by Die Antwoord which gave them their third top 10 of the year, meaning they've doubled their total number of top 10 hits to 6 within the last 5 contests. Also earning a sixth top 10 hit was Jadakissnia coming 9th with a surprise (but VERY well-deserved *.*) hit in FM-84's 'Arcade Summer', while an even more recent debutant, Dobago, are also very quickly racking up the top 10 hits as they picked up their second in a row and fourth in total (all this year) after coming 10th with Kida's 'Ja Kem Nis'. That's the second Albanian-language top 10 of the year (after Era Istrefi's 'Bonbon') and neither of them were sent by Bøtanikkä
- No other countries besides Cor Lupus and Harmonica set national bests this month (apart from the one debuting country Bubblelands, although their appearance in the contest was just a little bit pointless as they did not vote in either the semi-final or the final, and came 33rd - second last - in semi-final 2 with Ta-Ra's 'ORION' (feat. ISSUE), its position not being affected by the deduction from 18 points to 12). However, Taahino remained consistent as ever, now racking up a record 7th top 20 without ever making the top 10, with a 16th place finish for Ghost Town's 'Spark' giving them a run this year of 18-15-23-14-14-15-16. Ultraviolenceland's Lauren Aquilina came 21st with 'How Would You Like It?', just barely sparing them also getting a 7th top 20 without a top 10 to their name (you can 'thank' us for that UVland!!)
- Four more returning countries made the final: FARC came back from a one month break with a 22nd place finish with the Monsieur Adi remix of morgxn's 'love you with the lights on'; Jukianië returned after a four-contest absence with GNUČČI's 'Work!' which seemed surely destined to beat their national record of 26th but sadly 'only' came 33rd, still better than their last four entries which all DNQed and their best result since BJSC 72; Desbuanda also came back after Harmonica's forgetfulness resulted in them also forgetting to enter the previous contest, although apparently their forgetfulness wasn't cured as they didn't vote on time in the final and thus came 35th after a 33% deduction with Suns' 'Catalyse' (in fairness there were other factors at play and they may or may not be avoiding the ban in BJSC 88... although the situation is still unclear with the entry deadline less than an hour away at the time of publication :')); and finally Kluminican Republic were back after serving a ban and came 39th with 'Bones' by wens. There was less luck for the other returning nations (of which there were quite a few in this contest): the sporadically competing nations of Ajanaeda, Alteria and Frandoot all fell short of the final on their latest comebacks (Alteria are still yet to get a qualifier after previously attempting and also failing in BJSCs 51 and 67, giving them one of the weirder participation records in the contest), as did Ojnoj on their return after a 7-contest absence and Sandebörg who were right back after missing a contest for the first time. Unfortunately Ajanaeda and Alteria won't have a chance to join us again in the current contest as they didn't vote in the final (as if Alteria were going to enter again so soon anyway) and are thus (definitely) banned from BJSC 88, as are Bubblelands and Oslol. Danaelanda's DNQ in the previous contest led them to civil war and a rebrand to just South Danaelanda for BJSC 87. That rebrand didn't help as they DNQed again.
- The wooden spoon went for the second time this year to Bignia-Zaragovina, and they didn't need a deduction to be last this time as they came 42nd out of 42 with 91 points with Greyson Chance's 'Back On The Wall'. They could have avoided last place if The Actual Republic of Bellamia had voted for the song as you'd ASSUME they would do, but alas they protested and gave it no points due to a ~domestic dispute~, much like Highasakite-gate in the previous contest (play nice kids). That thus saved Beaverdonia the ignominy of coming last twice in a row.
Full Persephonian rankings for BJSC 87
Final
Points awarded:
18 FSR Rontvia // Ortiga - Ilumbarada
15 Syndare // Yoko Ono and Penguin Prison - She Gets Down On Her Knees
13 Jadakissnia // FM-84 - Arcade Summer
12 St. Burbia // Zack Knight and Jasmin Walia - Dum Dee Dum
11 FKA FKA FKA π // Mai Lan - Technique
10 Jukianië // GNUČČI - Work!
9 Aeroche // Little Big - Hateful Love
8 Cadelicia // Die Antwoord - Banana Brain
7 N DNTN // Kitty - 285
6 Beaverdonia // Shreya Ghoshal and Osman Mir - Nagada Sang Dhol
5 New Lexico // King Deco - Castaway
4 Medhelnia // FMLYBND - Come Alive
3 Cor Lupus // The Naked And Famous - Higher
2 Unovia // Ali Barter - Far Away
1 Taahino // Ghost Town - Spark
16th-41st:
Avalonia // Symphobia - I Do
Dobago // Kida - Ja Kem Nis
Thelonia // Dub Fx - So Are You
Yehesi // LYRA - Emerald
Desbuanda // Suns - Catalyse
Hendinia // That Poppy - Money
Singerpurear // Fitz And The Tantrums - HandClap
Brechtoria // GLADES - Her (Loving You)
Harmonica // MEG MAC - Never Be
Bignia-Zaragovina // Greyson Chance - Back On The Wall
Bøtanikkä // Vita Chambers - Tell Me
Hushkanukia // Cardiknox - Wild Child
Kylienips // Icon For Hire - Supposed To Be
Espen // CAPPA - Mad About U
Pupok // Sasha Pieterse - R.P.M.
Fljótavík // Kitten - Fall On Me
Kluminican Republic // wens - Bones
Greenfroze // Matilda - Ghost
Ramrynia // NEIKED - Sexual (feat. Dyo)
Land of DW // Ward Thomas - Carry You Home
D'yermak'er // RIVRS - Falling
FARC // morgxn - love you with the lights on (Monsieur Adi Remix)
Usfland // Midnight To Monaco - One In A Million
Altyr Muunilinst // High Contrast and Clare Maguire - Who's Loving You Part One
Ultraviolenceland // Lauren Aquilina - How Would You Like It?
Republic of Adonia // OH MY GIRL - Liar Liar
~
Semi-Final 1
Points awarded:
12 St. Burbia // Zack Knight and Jasmin Walia - Dum Dee Dum
10 Syndare // Yoko Ono and Penguin Prison - She Gets Down On Her Knees
8 Terra Avium // Essaie Pas - Le Port Du Masque Est De Rigueur†
7 FKA FKA FKA π // Mai Lan - Technique
6 Aeroche // Little Big - Hateful Love
5 Jukianië // GNUČČI - Work!
4 N DNTN // Kitty - 285
3 Beaverdonia // Shreya Ghoshal and Osman Mir - Nagada Sang Dhol
2 Ethanola // Green Velvet - Bigger Than Prince (Hot Since 82 Remix)†
1 Taahino // Ghost Town - Spark
11th-33rd:
Yehesi // LYRA - Emerald
Hendinia // That Poppy - Money
South Danaelanda // Tobtok - Aber†
Thelonia // Dub Fx - So Are You
Brechtoria // GLADES - Her (Loving You)
The Actual Republic of Bellamia // Isac Elliot - Worth Something†
Singerpurear // Fitz And The Tantrums - HandClap
Flynnonda // Fickle Friends - Cry Baby†
Federal Republic of Ashton // Walking On Cars - Speeding Cars†
Harmonica // MEG MAC - Never Be
FARC // morgxn - love you with the lights on (Monsieur Adi Remix)
Espen // CAPPA - Mad About U
Ajanaeda // AJÁ ROSE - Paradise Blue†
Ojnoj // Chelsea Lankes - Bullet†
Aelandor // Imperial Leisure - Man On The Street†
Frandoot // Miya Folick - I Got Drunk†
Greenfroze // Matilda - Ghost
Kluminican Republic // wens - Bones
Ultraviolenceland // Lauren Aquilina - How Would You Like It?
Quintessa // Lali - Soy†
Daehun // Namie Amuro - Hero†
Tartford // Dominique - I Think I'm Fallin (Manotett Remix)†
Tinnmark // Katastrofe - Sangen Du Hater†
† DNQed
~
Semi-Final 2 DNQs
3rd Trifoski // Anna Meredith - Nautilus
5th Bubblelands // Ta-Ra - ORION (feat. ISSUE)
9th Suedeonia // The Very Best - Makes A King (feat. Jutty Taylor)
11th Aeyundoré // Keys&Cages - Invisible
12th Cumulonimbia // The Len Goodman Independent Artists For Online Kindness Collective - Theme For BuzzJack (BBC News Remix)
14th Skall // Kollektivet - ÆØÅ (Size Matters)
15th Alteria // Shiggy Jr. - Beautiful Life
16th Séyetana // Beware Of Darkness - Dope
21st Sandebörg // Espen - Werk Like Beyoncé
25th Bhangra // Henri Pfr - Home
29th Oslol // Hey Violet - Brand New Moves
31st Triangledonia // The Aces - Stuck
32nd #00274E // Noréll - Howl
33rd Deandria // NOËP - Move
Congrats on the top 20 placing for 'Water Frozen'! *.* I was a lil worried for it with the subpar predictions (as with my own entry!!) so g'won at outdoing expectations. The most points I have given you this year so far, t'was just such a beautiful song. Yay for swapping medal positions and both doing well, good month for Jadaphonia *.*
Slay me with this thread revamp btw! I'm so here for Lillian T. Chombo (!) as nu president. Plus stats galore *.*
Also, in response to this statement in your latest write-up: "They would in fact have broken their top 10 drought 2 contests earlier with their last entry '$ORO' by LUH if that hadn't been given a non-voting deduction. 'Technique' is clearly a FAR better song to break the drought with." As good as 'Technique' is... nah m8 x
This must have been a pretty weak contest for you if even the likes of Ward Thomas/NEIKED/Sasha Pieterse aren't in your bottom 5
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 06/09/2016
Persephonia's entry to BJSC 88 revealed: could this be the contest øf dreams for us?
Persephonia's representative at BJSC 88 in New Beacon City, Cor Lupus has just been announced in a ~sleek and snazzy~ showcase, so we can now officially confirm our 67th main contest entry is 'Thelema' by French producer Øfdream (who we have heard through the grapevine was recently also in contention for an appearance in the contest under the flag of Aeroche, with his other song 'Ninth Gate'... which would probably have had much greater hit potential but let's not think about that any more!)
'Thelema' is an instrumental track whose genre would be best described with some combination the following words (choose any 2 and put them together): 'chill', 'witch', 'trap', 'wave'. Think a more chilled version of BLVCK CEILING's 'WVFFLIFE' (CHVRN Remix), or a more trap version of Audialist's 'Burning'. Or maybe don't imagine it at all and just have a listen to it below!
'Thelema' is taken from Øfdream's August 2015 four-track EP 'Black Bones', which also features the aforementioned 'Ninth Gate' which samples Cassie's buzz single 'Balcony', as well as another Cassie sampling track 'The Great Beast' using the more recognisable 'Me & U'. We'd nearly have been tempted to send that one if it wasn't such a prominent and veto-tempting sample (not least because that very sample was already featured in a previous BJSC entry, Le Youth's 'C O O L'). 'Thelema' being an instrumental we think clears it of the possibility of also sampling Cassie, and we do think is is the highlight of the EP but as ever we encourage any fans of this song to check out the artist's other work!
Øfdream makes it two French artists on the trot for Persephonia and our third entry with a French lead artist to date, as well as our second instrumental entry of the year (after Digitalism's 'Blitz') and our eighth instrumental main contest entry in total. Clearly drumming up the anticipation for the instrumental spinoff which is apparently on the verge of FINALLY HAPPENING very soon
The song has been drawn into slot 18 (out of 34, as entry numbers have remained at last month's astronomical level) in semi-final 1. Keep an eye out in both semi-finals for a couple of Persephonian alumni getting a second outing in the contest as well - our criminal BJSC 54 DNQs Kadie Elder are opening our semi-final representing Singerpurear with 'First Time He Kissed A Boy', while over in semi-final 2 Cadelicia have returned our BJSC 52 entrant Spor to the contest, this time under his more common pseudonym of Feed Me, performing 12th with 'What It Feels Like' (feat. Nina Nesbitt). Do us proud Singerpurear and Cadelicia!
Update: it has since come to our attention that another Persephonian alumnus is also (sort of) in this contest - TĀLĀ, who represented us in BJSC 64 and has also since appeared in BJSC 69 for Bøtanikkä and BJFestivalen IV for π (aka People's Independent State of Slutland), is the uncredited vocalist on MssingNo's 'Scope' which is in BJSC 88 representing none other than Jadakissnia! That unintentional recycling *.* 'Scope' is drawn in slot 24 of semi-final 1.
Well 'WVFFLIFE (CHVRN Remix)' is still my second favourite entry of mine, so I am VERY excited at your comparison of 'Thelema' to that!
Witch house + trap is a match made in heaven *.* cannot wait to hear this on description alone.
As you brought up in your response to my last comment in here, yay for Jadaphonia in the same semi again at last! Cannot remember how many times we have been together this year but it's been very little
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 13/09/2016
Øfdream continues our qualification streak
Øfdream's 'Thelema' has seen Persephonia through to another BJSC final, our 49th to date (could we have an anniversary entry to celebrate our impending 50th finalist? no? okay ~) and 38th passing through a semi-final. It makes it 7 out of 8 qualifiers in 2016 and 4 in a row in our current streak. The song has been drawn in the 23rd running order slot of the 42 finalists in New Beacon City, Cor Lupus.
The top 6 of Persephonia's semi-final 1 votes all qualified, but the remaining 4 songs that received semi-final points from the Persephonian televoting fell short. These were Kingdom of Horanius' long-delayed debut entry 'Licht Uit' by The Opposites which got our 4 points, a disappointing and unexpected DNQ from Desbuanda, A R I Z O N A's 'Cross My Mind' which we awarded 3 points, another surprising miss from Ethanola who had been universally predicted to qualify but actually ended up second to last in the semi-final with Attom's 'Afterglow' (feat. Ciele), our 2 pointer, and Quintessa who picked up 1 point from us with Hannah Peel's 'All That Matters'. 3 songs which made the top 1 of the Persephonian rank of semi-final 2 also didn't qualify: Deandria with 'When You Wish Upon The Stars' by Maya's Moving Castle (we ranked it 5th), Cumulonimbia with 'Love No More' by Soulé (7th) and Utopia with 'When Will You Be Mine' by Average White Band (8th), the latter two sadly being the bottom 2 in the semi-final.
A month after #00274E's qualification streak ended, so has Taahino's - they fell just one point short of getting an 11th qualifier in a row. Sadly this news has resulted in Taahino announcing they will likely be taking a break from the contest. Persephonian News Bulletin hopes to see them participating again in the future (that is, if they don't immediately change their mind and continue entering anyway like #00274E did in this contest after also hinting at taking a break after losing their streak, managing to start up a new one ) Taahino's miss has seen FSR Rontvia return to the top of the list of countries with the most consecutive final appearances (at 10 in a row), continuing their successful 2016.
Persephonia does well in the BJSC (country name rate)
Prior to the semi-final results being announced, there were some other results for a rate of the names of countries that have participated in the contest this year. The person who was appointed to be in charge of submitting our rate was *cough* otherwise engaged and ended up forgetting to submit it on time, but nonetheless, 'Persephonia' picked up a top 10 finish as it was rated the 4th best country name of 2016 with an average rate of 7.79. Bow down to us etc.
Well done to your song enema
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 16/09/2016
Kobbar announced as host city for BJSC Instrumentals spinoff
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 21/09/2016
BJSC 88 summary
- The final results of BJSC 88 took place last night in New Beacon City, Cor Lupus and throughout most of the reveal Persephonia were trailing well behind in last place, receiving points from just three of the first 40 voting nations (and two of those only barely). However, we snatched an unremarkable but decent result from the jaws of an embarrassing failure as the higher points rolled in from several of the later voters, ultimately avoiding the bottom 10 entirely with a 31st place finish and 138 points in total with our entry 'Thelema' by Øfdream. It was our least successful entry of the year aside from BJSC 84 DNQ 'Mirror Moon' by Bachar Mar-Khalifé by any sensible measure, although notably it did receive two 18s (from Jadakissnia and Skall), matching our most of the year also achieved by BOOTS' 'C.U.R.E.' and Color Guard's 'In Your Bones'. It also picked up 15 points from both Cumulonimbia and Espen, among its small but solid fanbase which consisted of 14 voters, 8 of which gave it at least 10 points. Thank you to all who did give us some points with what was clearly a bit of a love/hate (or at least love/find boring) entry <3 'Thelema' came 14th in semi-final 1 with 64 points, giving it a projected final position of 24th, meaning we underperformed from the semi-final again, oops ~
- N DNTN picked up their second BJSC win to date, following Hervé and Zebra Katz' 'Tear The House Up' in BJSC 65, topping the list with RAYE's 'Shhh'. 'Tear The House Up' was a historically low-scoring winner that only barely won its month (and arguably wasn't even N DNTN's biggest hit despite being their only winner until now), but that was far from the case with 'Shhh' which scored 394 points to win quite easily. This was a much better showing for RAYE than when she was in the contest last year representing Jukianië, coming only 35th with 'Bet U Wish' - insert cries of Jukianië racism (although in fairness we all know 'Shhh' is way better). N DNTN were one of two clear favourites to win the contest along with Jadakissnia, but in the end the silver medal went to N DNTN's border/allied/rival nation #00274E - we started the month not knowing if they'd even be in this contest after their DNQ in the last contest and ended with them nearly getting a third win, although they were a way behind on 343 points with Yuri and Seohyun's 'Secret', nonetheless still the most successful K-Pop entry in BJSC history (and Daehun weeps). Jadakissnia still managed a strong third place finish with MssingNo's 'Scope' on 323 points, marking their first time in the medal positions and indeed the top 5, having previously come 6th earlier in the year with BLVCK CEILING's 'WVFFLIFE (CHVRN Remix)', and giving them a second top 10 hit in a row and their 5th this year. A main contest win to add to their 3 (yes, 3!!1) spinoff wins can't be far away ;o They did at least earn their first semi-final winner, topping semi-final 1 with a towering 165 points, beating 'Shhh' into 2nd place there. Semi-final 2 was won by #00274E.
- Cadelicia continued to make 2016 by far their most successful year, getting back to back top 10s again and their second top 5 hit with Feed Me's 'What It Feels Like' (feat. Nina Nesbitt), coming 4th with 319 points. Unovia are also having a very successful year, entering the YTD top 10 this month following a 5th place finish on 302 points with 'Are We Awake' by Tal, their sixth consecutive top 20 hit (though only one of the previous ones also went top 10). That was the top ranked of a seemingly higher than usual number of entries (5 of them) by French artists in this final - our own entry at least avoided being the lowest ranked of those, praise Stupeflip. ( )
- It's been a long wait for Syndare to earn another BJSC top 10 hit but they finally cracked the top tier again this time with Firefox AK's 'Heart Of Mine' coming 6th, their first top 10 since Embody came 10th with 'Make A Stand' (feat. Barnaby) in BJSC 67. Proving that recycling old Persephonian artists is very en vogue this month, as well as the top five finishes for Jadakissnia and Cadelicia, even our former second-to-last-in-the-semi flops Kadie Elder have achieved some well earnt justice as 'First Time He Kissed A Boy' came 7th representing Singerpurear, the country's 3rd top 10 hit since they shook off the tag of never even being able to qualify. Pupok slipped up a bit with their auto-qualifier last month but returned to success as usual, getting their 6th top 10 out of their last 7 entries with Claudia Kane's 'Einstein' finishing 8th. Another underperformance by Yehesi has now allowed Pupok to claim the year-to-date #1 spot with two contests to go. Former contest winner Agnes Obel couldn't repeat the success of 'Riverside' but finished a solid 9th place for Fljótavík with 'Familiar', giving them their second top 10 hit of the year. Also getting a second top 10 of the year, both of which came 10th, was Séyet Terra Avium who provided the contest's longest entry with the 8 minute epic 'Travelling Light' by daydreamer.
- As well as Jadakissnia, two other countries set national bests in this final. The country formerly and once again currently known as Summericia - as they have announced their return to this name after competing in the last three contests as Aeyundoré - had qualified for the final 5 times before but never previously made the top 30, peaking on their debut at #32 with Tungevaag & Raaban's 'Parade', but that has now changed as they came 25th with the Dave Audé Club Mix of Billie Ray Martin's 'The Glittering Gutter'. Meanwhile Brechtoria also just about beat what was previously their debut and peak, coming 28th with Kelsea Ballerini's 'XO', one place higher than Tigertown's 'Lonely Cities' which they debuted with three contests ago. There were four countries competing in the main BJSC for the first time in BJSC 88, though out of them only Lomaja qualified for the final. Their debut entry 'Born To Be Wild' by HYOYEON, Min and Jo Kwon featuring JYP finished 29th. Kingdom of Horanius had entered 2 spinoffs already and even confirmed for a main contest before withdrawing during confirmations, but finally made their debut in BJSC 88 with The Opposites' 'Licht Uit' which sadly fell short of the final. Also missing out on debut qualifications were Niceland with MÖWE and Daniel Nitt's 'Lovers Friends' and Buzzjack Mountain whose entry we will NOT SPEAK OF after it came close to derailing the entire concept of the contest. We look forward to another entry from them next month which should be less controversial. x
- Three countries made comebacks in this contest: Florina pulled out at the end of last year but thankfully have graced the contest with at least a temporary return, coming 19th with comeback entry 'Echo' by Foreign Air. Moving on from previous ~scandals~ Mulgracia were also back after their one-contest ban and came 23rd with Monarchy's 'Dance Like Hell'. Finally Utopia made another fleeting return with 70s cut 'When Will You Be Mine' by Average White Band - it was never likely to be a qualifier and this wasn't helped when they failed to submit votes for the semi-final before the deadline, resulting in a 33% deduction leaving them floundering in last place in the semi. They also didn't vote in the final so won't be joining us in BJSC 89 - and neither will FARC, Thelonia or Hendinia after they also didn't submit final votes. (Of these only Hendinia had actually made the final. They finished 40th with Love Thy Brother's 'Love Me Better' (feat. Ariel Beesley) following a 33% deduction in the final). Other results in the final included Ultraviolenceland this time getting a 7th top 20 without a top 10 hit to their name, coming 15th with Liv Dawson's 'Still' (come on guys, this one really did deserve to go top 10! :'(), Tinnmark bouncing back from 5 DNQs in a row to come an impressive 16th with dark folk offering 'Odal' by Wardruna (watch out for Persephonia's EOY where it will be much higher than this xx), South Danaelanda's 50th entry anniversary 'Dear Boy' by Avicii featuring-but-not-really-featuring MØ (this cheapness went down exactly as you'd expect) coming a middling 21st, our instrumental partners in crime for the month Dobago finishing one place above us in 30th with T2Kazuya's 'Youth' (instrumentals stick together! and you can find a lot of them - and even add one of your own - http://www.buzzjack.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=193911 #promo ) and both of the auto-qualifiers undeservedly finishing in the bottom 10, with surprisingly the higher of the two being People's Independent State of Slutland in 34th with Ariel Pink's 'Not Enough Violence', while hosts Cor Lupus fell a bit flat in 38th with Nhato's 'WAY OF LIFE' (feat. Sasi).
- To the surprise of absolutely no one this month's wooden spoon went to Medhelnia who scraped through to the final in 20th place in semi-final 2, causing much confusion, and finished a distant 42nd out of 42 in the final on 86 points with Hey Violet's 'Fuqboi', the only finalist that didn't crack the 100 point mark. If something about this seems very familiar, we remind you of BJSC 79, when Syndare similarly were the only country to not reach 100 points and claimed the wooden spoon with Tanika's 'FUCKBOY'. Whoever keeps voting for these fuccbois in the semi-final PLEASE STOP. Medhelnia can add this wooden spoon to the one they got in the semi-final with their second entry. x
Full Persephonian rankings for BJSC 88
Final
Points awarded:
18 Tinnmark // Wardruna - Odal
15 Skall // Stupeflip - Stupeflip Vite !!!
13 Jadakissnia // MssingNo - Scope
12 Terra Avium // daydreamer - Travelling Light
11 Cor Lupus // Nhato - WAY OF LIFE (feat. Sasi)
10 People's Independent State of Slutland // Ariel Pink - Not Enough Violence
9 Dobago // T2Kazuya - Youth
8 Ultraviolenceland // Liv Dawson - Still
7 N DNTN // RAYE - Shhh
6 Trifoski // La Femme - Sphynx
5 Mulgracia // Monarchy - Dance Like Hell
4 Singerpurear // Kadie Elder - First Time He Kissed A Boy
3 Pupok // Claudia Kane - Einstein
2 Fljótavík // Agnes Obel - Familiar
1 Florina // Foreign Air - Echo
16th-41st:
FSR Rontvia // Theia - Roam
Harmonica // PARRI$ - NASTY
Séyetana // Kalafina - to the beginning
Syndare // Firefox AK - Heart Of Mine
Lomaja // HYOYEON, Min and Jo Kwon - Born To Be Wild (feat. JYP)
The Actual Republic of Bellamia // Ryan Lawrie - If Only
Hushkanukia // Emji - Lost
Aeroche // Project 46 - Stars (feat. Haley)
D'yermak'er // Sada Vidoo - The Actress
Bøtanikkä // ALMA - Karma
Aeyundoré // Billie Ray Martin - The Glittering Gutter (Dave Audé Club Mix)
Cadelicia // Feed Me - What It Feels Like (feat. Nina Nesbitt)
#00274E // Yuri and Seohyun - Secret
Ramrynia // Sabrina Carpenter - On Purpose
New Lexico // BB Diamond - Praying
Altyr Muunilinst // SHAED - Running Through The Fields
Yehesi // Nakita - Where Are You?
St. Burbia // Sarah Mark - Tun Up
Brechtoria // Kelsea Ballerini - XO
Tartford // Sons Of Sonix - Numb (feat. Melanie C)
Medhelnia // Hey Violet - Fuqboi
South Danaelanda // Avicii - Dear Boy
Unovia // Tal - Are We Awake
Hendinia // Love Thy Brother - Love Me Better (feat. Ariel Beesley)
Federal Republic of Ashton // Lisa Ajax - Give Me That
Republic of Adonia // Hayley Kiyoko - Gravel To Tempo
~
Semi-Final 1
Points awarded:
12 Skall // Stupeflip - Stupeflip Vite !!!
10 Jadakissnia // MssingNo - Scope
8 N DNTN // RAYE - Shhh
7 Ultraviolenceland // Liv Dawson - Still
6 Trifoski // La Femme - Sphynx
5 Singerpurear // Kadie Elder - First Time He Kissed A Boy
4 Kingdom of Horanius // The Opposites - Licht Uit†
3 Desbuanda // A R I Z O N A - Cross My Mind†
2 Ethanola // Attom - Afterglow (feat. Ciele)†
1 Quintessa // Hannah Peel - All That Matters†
11th-33rd:
Suedeonia // Brian Eno - Here He Comes†
Espen // Cosima - Had To Feel Something†
Usfland // Andrew Luce and graves - Up To You (feat. Chelsea Cutler)†
The Actual Republic of Bellamia // Ryan Lawrie - If Only
Harmonica // PARRI$ - NASTY
D'yermak'er // Sada Vidoo - The Actress
Hushkanukia // Emji - Lost
Lomaja // HYOYEON, Min and Jo Kwon - Born To Be Wild (feat. JYP)
Séyetana // Kalafina - to the beginning
Aeroche // Project 46 - Stars (feat. Haley)
Thelonia // Jauz and Netsky - Higher†
Sandebörg // Peg Parnevik - We Are (Ziggy & Carola)†
Bøtanikkä // ALMA - Karma
Fljótavík // Agnes Obel - Familiar
Flynnonda // Ruth Koleva - Oceans†
Kylienips // Danrell - White Noise (feat. Ryder)†
Tartford // Sons Of Sonix - Numb (feat. Melanie C)
St. Burbia // Sarah Mark - Tun Up
Daehun // TAEYEON - Why†
Avalonia // Silver Cities - Lights†
Hendinia // Love Thy Brother - Love Me Better (feat. Ariel Beesley)
Unovia // Tal - Are We Awake
Beaverdonia // geO Louis - Him†
† DNQed
~
Semi-Final 2 DNQs
5th Deandria // Maya's Moving Castle - When You Wish Upon The Stars
7th Cumulonimbia // Soulé - Love No More
8th Utopia // Average White Band - When Will You Be Mine
11th Aelandor // Relient K - Cat
12th Land of DW // Indaqo - Boom Boom Boom
13th FARC // Patrick Hagenaar - Turn Back Time (Back To The Time)
14th Kluminican Republic // DENM - Green
15th Taahino // Jeremy Shada, Shauna Case and Annie Sertich - Running Errands With My Mom
22nd Niceland // MÖWE and Daniel Nitt - Lovers Friends
28th Triangledonia // Emma Carn - Bad Boy Genes
29th Jukianië // Teyana Taylor - Undercover
31st Greenfroze // Vicetone - Anywhere I Go
33rd Bignia-Zaragovina // Chord Overstreet - Homeland
34th Buzzjack Mountain // The Snake - Wasting My Life (feat. Doctor Blind)
(soz to Republic of Adonia coming last in our final rank 2 months in a row we did vote for the one before that though!)
+ because the promo was quite hidden in that post... http://www.buzzjack.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=193911 (holding off on a hype post for our own entry partially because we might change it and partially because it would give it away too much lol)
That ridiculous drought for 'Thelema' was painful to witness so I'm glad it clawed its way up the scoreboard nearer the end. Doing a Poland making a not so impressive position seem way more exciting tbh *.* I think the 27th I received for CROSSPARTY in the same kind of way feels like way more than just any bog standard 27th place, 'cause of the circumstances Anyway~ at least you beat 'Fuqboi' right xx That was the true battle here.
Pleased that you managed to attract a lot of big fans out of those who voted for you, as those are the best kind of fans *.* Thanks very much for the discovery as I'm playing it a lot at the moment
SLAY ME at acknowledging that I have actually won 3 spinoffs <3 Ryan TAKE THAT.
I was a little surprised at how much "Thelema" was behind because I thought there would be more people taking a liking to this sort of Future instrumental lol. Then I saw all the high points and I was just like "oh."
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 27/09/2016
Persephonia get another hosting job assisting Jadakissnia for BJSC 89!
As N DNTN were sadly unable to host BJSC 89 after their win in the previous contest, hosting rights fell to the next highest new host which turned out to be 3rd placed Jadakissnia, and now after some more slightly last minute arrangements to make sure they didn't also have to pass on the rights (lol) it's been confirmed that Persephonia shall also be assisting in hosting the contest, lending Carellis as the venue city for the semi-final performances and totalling up the semi-final votes. All international delegations will be given complementary first-class seats on the Bradestar undersea railway line immediately after semi-final voting has closed for the remainder of the contest to take place in Nadallius, the beautiful and scenic capital of Jadakissnia. This will not affect Persephonia's other current hosting venture, the Instrumentals spinoff - more on that in the next headline story - though as the Persephonian BJSC Committee's resources are split between the two, the BJSC 89 semi-finals will be a slightly lower budget affair than previous contests that Persephonia has hosted and co-hosted. x
http://www.buzzjack.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=194197
Confirmations for BJSC 89 have opened tonight (clicky clicky above x) and we hope to see as many countries as possible putting forward their tunes to be performed at Carellis Arena in the semi-finals next week! Per BJSC regulations as usual we cannot reveal our own entry yet but we can confirm that we are adding Slovakia as a new nationality (and Slovak as a new language #waronenglish) that has represented us, with a stringtastic chilled out electronic beauty that the PBJSCC is very much looking forward to being in the contest, although they're not the most confident they've ever been in qualifying. ;o
obligatory teaser image
Jake Chudnow representing Persephonia on home soil for the Instrumentals spinoff
Also kicking off in a very eventful evening for BJSC is the voting stage for the Instrumentals spinoff in our very own city of Kobbar. Turnout has been unexpectedly excellent with 41 countries taking part, the most for an 'official' spinoff since Worldvision I (although the BuzzJack 10th Anniversary contest also had more entries), despite initial expectations/fears that the theme would be considered a little more niche and inaccessible than most spinoffs. Hooray! Now bring on the complaints that it's too long. x
Anyway, this of course means that we can confirm our entry, and it's one that might be familiar to people who paid attention to the dying days of our last national thread (hence the lack of a teaser image, although if we did one it would be the one above because CATS ~). Representing Persephonia shall be London based electronic music producer Jake Chudnow with 'Shona', which was one of the six potentials we put forward for our entry to BJSC 87, ultimately losing out to TWRR's 'Water Frozen'. Have a listen and a watch of the rather trippy official music video below:
Chudnow's music, including this track, is best known for being featured in the background of many (all?) of the videos uploaded by the educational YouTube channel Vsauce. We recommend people check out this channel if they don't know about it already. But that's irrelevant to the song x 'Shona' is an ambient techno track clocking in a little over 5 minutes and mostly based around a simple repeating synth riff but with lots of cool and interesting sonic twists and turns throughout ~ anyone who has been a fan of the output of the likes of Skall and Ethanola in BJSC over the last year we hope may be a fan of this too. And anyone who hated all of those entries will doubtless hate this as well. But we kind of hope there are less of those people inclined to actually enter an instrumentals spinoff. The song dates back to at least November 2013 according to its YouTube upload date but was released to iTunes in March 2015 on the Bloc label, alongside a B-side confusingly named 'Prelude To Shona' which is also a pretty great little piece of music, but it's not quite as good at keeping attention and is 3 minutes longer so we stuck with the original 'Shona' for this contest. x
'Shona' has been drawn in the 14th slot of the running order which you can view http://www.buzzjack.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=194201 - and get cracking with listening to the fine selection of instrumental tunage! ;o
Sorry for making you such a busy bee in the BJSC world this month on top of Instrumentals But I am so excited to be co-hosting BJSC 89 with you! We shall have a lot of fun with it. <3 Excited to hear your Slovak song for the first time, sounds pretty daym interesting on nationality alone ;o
As for Instrumentals, I am so pleased with your choice for it! As I already commented in your thread when you wanted feedback on your potentials, 'Shona' was one of the strongest that you had ~ I am a sucker for synths. *.*
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 07/10/2016
already starting to drift into posting these a few days late again lamfoo
Fallgrapp to compete for Persephonia in Persephonia for BJSC 89!
The semi-finals of BJSC 89 are now underway in Carellis following the last-minute hosting arrangement change that brought the contest here again! So performing to a home crowd shall be our 68th main contest entrant Fallgrapp with 'Vlasy', the second single from their first and to date only album 'Rieka', released back in May 2014. Fallgrapp is a project by Slovak electronic music producer Juraj "Jureš" Líška in collaboration with numerous other artists including Nora Ibsenová, the vocalist on 'Vlasy'.
Continuing our periodic war on the English language, we move from an instrumental in the last contest to another fresh foreign language here, of course Slovak in this case, which joins Icelandic (one-and-a-half times), French, Persian, Arabic (twice), Japanese and Mandarin Chinese in the list of non-English languages that Persephonia have sent to the main contest, while Slovakia also joins our http://www.buzzjack.com/forums/index.php?s=&showtopic=176034&view=findpost&p=5003665. As already teased, the track is a chilled electronic/trip-hop track with a lovely strings section (and some lovely vocals which don't seem to translate into anything meaningful in English something about hair, as that is the translation of the title). It is inspired by and has been compared to the music of Bonobo, who Fallgrapp has also performed live with. Listen to the song and watch the video (important as ever with our entries!!1) below:
'Vlasy' has been drawn as the 20th song out of 33 in semi-final 1, any and all support is appreciated! Would be a tad embarrassing to DNQ in a semi-final we hosted eh.
Continuing our watch for former Persephonian alumni turning up again in recent contests, Terra Avium have selected Kids Of The Apocalypse - of course behind our BJSC 61 silver medal winner 'EMPIRE' - to represent them in this contest, performing in the 18th slot in semi-final 2 with 'Better Life' (feat. Wes Period), their comeback song which surfaced earlier this year after they seemed to drop off the face of the planet following the release of 'EMPIRE'. In fairness, we actually kind of borrowed them from Terra Avium to begin with, as their debut track 'Masters Of The Sun' had previously appeared in Unknown Pleasures sponsored by the Terra Avian government. Ou Est Le Swimming Pool's 'Dance The Way I Feel' has also very belatedly shown up in the contest, representing Medhelnia in semi-final 2 slot 6, after Persephonia had previously come very close to sending it ourselves in BJSC 70 (by which time it was already several years old). The Persephonian BJSC Committee fully endorses this belated appearance as well as KOTA's return.
Also, as we forgot to mention it in our last bulletin, 2 more Persephonian alumni appear in the Instrumentals spinoff: Beat Connection (our BJSC 34 DNQs and Your Best of BJSC - The Rejects moral winner with 'In The Water') are in slot 24 in the spinoff representing Syndare with the not-quite-instrumental-but-close-enough 'Theme From Yours Truly', and just three songs later is another former Persephonian artist, DANCE WITH THE DEAD who of course gave us our most recent medal (3rd place in BJSC 79) with 'Waves', also an instrumental, and now return representing Cor Lupus with 'Poison'.
VLASY :wubwubwub:
This is an utter beaut of an entry Though after you singing it IRL, I'm afraid the actual vocals on this just do not compare
Srsly though this was a definite standout in a semi that felt pretty underwhelming in places. I will be so disappointed if it DNQs but I think it will stand out enough to make it. One at least hopes.
Yasss with the foreign language diversity *.*
(Also as I privately discussed with Mattias already it may have been a bit of unintentional stealing from his Unknown Pleasures potentials oops. Well at least I know I have one fan in my semi! x)
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 16/10/2016
Fallgrapp puts us in our 50th BJSC final
As announced on Tuesday, Fallgrapp's 'Vlasy' has made it through to the final of BJSC 89, now being held in Nadallius, Jadakissnia, increasing our current qualification streak to 5 (and our 2016 total to 8 out of 9 qualifiers) and notably becoming our 50th BJSC finalist! This total includes the seven contests of the One Big Final era, three further contests where we auto-qualified and BJSC 64 where all songs qualified after the semi-finals were cancelled (though our entry then would have qualified anyway). FSR Rontvia continue to be the country with the longest qualification streak, making it to an 11th final in a row. 'Vlasy' has been drawn in slot 37 of the 42 songs in the final.
There were some very harsh losses in semi-final 1 with 2 of the top 3 from our votes not qualifying - our 12 did make it, but we awarded 10 points to Clément Bazin's 'With You' representing Deandria which somehow finished second last, and 8 points to Beaverskankdonia's The Eden Project with 'Chasing Ghosts' which also fell short. Of the rest of our votes, our 4 pointer (Espen with Mashrou' Leila's 'Kalam' (H4Z3 Private Mix)) was the only other to not progress, while from the Persephonian public's semi-final 2 rankings the top 7 all qualified but 8th-10th (FKA FKA FKA π with Francis And The Lights' 'I Want You To Shake', Ethanola with Noir and Olivier Giacomotto's 'Reste' (Raxon Remix) and Kluminican Republic with ODESZA's 'It's Only' (feat. Zyra) respectively) did not.
BJSC Instrumentals summary
In news that is also several days out of date (slacking), the Instrumentals spinoff in our very own nation concluded on Wednesday with a very welcome result for the host entry. The Persephonian BJSC Committee had hoped that Jake Chudnow's 'Shona' would be better suited to this spinoff than a main contest and while we'll never know that for sure, it looks like that may well have been the case as it finished a very strong 5th place out of 41 with 199 points. That's the most points we have ever received in a spinoff, beating the 178 scored by SEXWITCH's 'Kassidat El Hakka' in last year's Halloween I spinoff. It's also our fourth top 5 success in a spinoff, though we are still yet to finish in the medal positions in any of them (unless you count BJFestivalen IV as a spinoff), having two fourth places and two fifth places as well as two other top 10s. Thanks to all of the 23 countries who voted for 'Shona' (also a record for us in a spinoff), especially Syndare who were our biggest supporters providing us a 15, and Aeroche, Deandria, Flynnonda and Skall who each gave it 13 points.
The race for the win was very close throughout, with the main contenders initially looking to be Terra Avium and Avalonia, but ultimately after a burst of very high scores (including four 18s in the space of five votes), Fljótavík came from behind to take the lead in the last few votes and ended up winning the whole thing with Underworld's 'And I Will Kiss' (feat. Evelyn Glennie and The Pandemonium Drummers). The song, famous for its excellent use in the 2012 London Olympics opening ceremony, clearly didn't put off too many people despite being more than twice as long as any other song in the contest (at a total length of 17 minutes and 15 seconds), still being among the songs with the most votes and also having the most 18s with six in total. This was Fljótavík's first top 10, let alone winner, in the spinoffs. Its score of 250 points was just 5 more than second place which went to Terra Avium with Lights & Motion's 'The Spectacular Quiet', thus meaning their search for a contest winner continues as it is their second (and far, far, far superior) spinoff silver medallist (after 'Nightcall' by Kavinsky feat. Lovefoxxx in BJSC Movies) while their main contest peak is 3rd. Narrowly behind them in 3rd with 238 points was Avalonia with Thomas Bergersen's 'Empire Of Angels', Avalonia's first medal position in either a spinoff or a main contest. The fourth and final song to pass 200 points - as we fell frustratingly short ~ - was Taahino with a Nightcore version of BanYa's 'Beethoven Virus', with 226 points, also marking a new peak for them.
The rest of the top 10 was completed by Federal Republic of Ashton in 6th place with Ludovico Einaudi's 'Le Onde', Deandria continuing to have much more success in the spinoffs than the main contest, 7th place with Vessels' '4AM', St. Burbia 8th with 'Hearing' by Sleeping At Last, Medhelnia 9th with 'Yebisah' by Mark Knight and Aelandor at last getting a good BJSC result coming 10th with Gramatik's 'Illusion Of Choice'. Dobago would have likely come around 7th with Eric Johnson's 'Cliffs Of Dover' had they submitted votes but a 33% deduction kicked them down to 19th. Notably for a contest some expected to be dominated by dance songs, only our own song could really be called dance out of the top 8 (another moral victory??), with the contest as a whole turning out to be pleasingly varied in genres. We had a lot of fun hosting this spinoff, thanks to all who participated, and the campaign starts now for the sequel we now move swiftly onto the Country spinoff in Unocastellia, Unovia.
Full Persephonian rankings for BJSC Instrumentals
Points awarded:
18 Republic of Adonia // Lone - Backtail Was Heavy
15 Fljótavík // Underworld - And I Will Kiss (feat. Evelyn Glennie and The Pandemonium Drummers)
13 St. Burbia // Sleeping At Last - Hearing
12 Terra Avium // Lights & Motion - The Spectacular Quiet
11 FKA FKA FKA π // Arca - Vanity
10 Jadakissnia // Op:l Bastards - Scorpius
9 South Danaelanda // Steve Hill and Technikal - Technique
8 Taahino // BanYa - Beethoven Virus (Nightcore)
7 Ethanola // Frank T.R.A.X. - Nebuchan (O.R.G.A.N. Mix)
6 Bøtanikkä // Mellow Trax - Phuture Vibes
5 Avalonia // Thomas Bergersen - Empire Of Angels
4 Syndare // Beat Connection - Theme From Yours Truly
3 Aeroche // AFX - PWSteal.Ldpinch.D
2 Deandria // Vessels - 4AM
1 Federal Republic of Ashton // Ludovico Einaudi - Le Onde
16th-40th:
Trifoski // Eats Everything - Big Discs
Skall // Fatima Yamaha - What's A Girl To Do
Cadelicia // ZUN - U.N. Owen Was Her?
Niceland // Arpadys - Monkey Star
Aelandor // Gramatik - Illusion Of Choice
Séyetana // Ken Arai - Next To You
Alteria // Teenage Fanclub - Is This Music?
Cor Lupus // DANCE WITH THE DEAD - Poison
Land of DW // Sunbeam - Outside World
Quintessa // Yoko Shimomura - Hikari (Kingdom Orchestra Instrumental Version)
Medhelnia // Mark Knight - Yebisah
Thelonia // Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs - American Dream Part II
Dobago // Eric Johnson - Cliffs Of Dover
Ramrynia // Johan Liljedahl and Calle Rasmusson - The Grey People
FSR Rontvia // Sonority - Chase The Sun
Triangledonia // Moonbootica - June (Robby East Remix)
Flynnonda // Melvv - Reflection
Suedeonia // Blancmange - Sad Day
Mulgracia // Glude - Breathe
Hushkanukia // David Brockett - The Last Stand
Pupok // César Dávila-Irizarry and Charlie Clouser - American Horror Story Theme
Altyr Muunilinst // David Buckley - Hitting The Fan
Ultraviolenceland // Ennio Morricone - The Good, The Bad And The Ugly
Kluminican Republic // Hans Zimmer and John Powell - Oogway Ascends
Lomaja // Lets Be Friends - Allow It
And a teaser for our upcoming Country entry (likely the only time we'll ever be sending something that can be decribed as country but we look forward to a very different spinoff ;o)...
Ooh what an honour it is for your 50th qualifier to happen in the Jadaphonia contest *.* Slay me, this was way too good of an entry to miss out so yas BJSC voters for letting both of us qualify.
Very smooth and all-round excellent Instrumentals hosting (not that I would have expected any less of course!) *.* and getting a top 5 out of it is an amazing result. Well done *high five* for the exact point swap also :cheeseblock:
Looking forward to hearing your country entry ;o I hope you may enjoy mine but we shall see.
I should just quit spin-offs and just focus on the regular contest
slay me this month tbh
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 22/10/2016
Persephonia go country for the new spinoff with Jason Isbell
Rapidly following up our Instrumentals spinoff, the follow-up started on Thursday night with two-time spinoff winners Unovia hosting (in the city of Unocastellia). The theme for this one is Country and Persephonia have put forward American (duh) singer-songwriter Jason Isbell with 'Elephant', perhaps a bit closer to folk/Americana than country music but we have seen it described as 'alternative country' so that'll do. x
Isbell is a former member of the band Drive-By Truckers who have had a couple of UK top 40 albums since his departure, while he himself had a #17 album last year with 'Something More Than Free'. 'Elephant' however is from his non-charting fourth solo album 'Southeastern' (released in 2013). Be warned, this is a real tear-jerker of a track, telling the heartbreaking tale of a significant other suffering from cancer (the disease being the titular 'elephant' in the room that Jason and his woman want to avoid talking about). We hope that a few other countries in the spinoff appreciate the ~emotion~ though we certainly have pretty low expectations with such a gloomy and depressing entry amongst what we assume will probably be mostly upbeat country-pop songs. x The song has been drawn 3rd in the running order out of 27 entries in total.
BJSC 89 summary
- Following our hosting of the semi-finals the final of BJSC 89 was expertly hosted by Nadallius, Jadakissnia with the results on Tuesday evening. Fallgrapp's 'Vlasy' was another successful entry for Persephonia, finishing 20th out of 42 songs in the final to deliver our 6th top 20 hit of the year, matching the national record we set last year! (It's also the second time in three contests we've come 20th after never doing so previously). Its points total of 195 was our third highest of the year, and included points from 26 different countries - tying our year to date best - with the full 18 points awarded to us by Deandria and Terra Avium, and 15 points coming from Aelandor. The former two both awarded Persephonia their top marks for the second time this year. As we already knew but could not previously report 'Vlasy' came 11th in semi-final 1 of the contest with 73 points, putting it on course for a 19th place finish in the final, more or less in line with what actually happened (which seems surprisingly rare recently). Much appreciation as ever to all who voted for us! x
- The winner of BJSC 89 was, for once, one that wasn't even picked out as a contender by bookmakers across the BJSC world. After their DNQ two contests back #00274E seem to be stronger than ever: they came second in the last contest and followed it up this time with a very unexpected win with their auto-qualifying entry, 'Relax' by Crystal Waters, a song which predates the existence of BuzzJack (and this editor being born x) as it was a UK #37 hit back in 1995, though is not near as well-known as her classic 'Gypsy Woman (She's Homeless)' (which was incidentally also in BJSC already in the Dance Anthems 90s spinoff representing B.a.N.G, and actually did nowhere near this well, finishing just 15th). 'Relax' breezed past all of the favourites while seemingly completely lacking any visible hype to narrowly finish on top with a total of 317 points. #00274E did well to wait until this month to finally send it (they had apparently kept it up their sleeve ever since they joined the contest) as it is the lowest score for a winner this year, but still the highest score in this contest which is of course all that matters ;o The song gives them their third contest winner after Carli's 'Look Up' in BJSC 53 and Delta Heavy's 'Ghost' in BJSC 80, putting them one gold medal ahead of N DNTN once again. x
- Second place went to another song not picked up as a major winner contender (though it did get better odds than 'Relax') - and also another song that wasn't released in the current decade, dating back to 2009. It was Ou Est Le Swimming Pool's 'Dance The Way I Feel', the once Persephonian potential entry that the Persephonian BJSC Committee is definitely not at all bitter about not sending now, representing Medhelnia. 'Dance The Way I Feel' picked up 306 points, only 11 away from giving Medhelnia their first win, but as it is it gave them a second silver medallist just 4 contests after their first, and a third top 5 hit overall out of 7 main contest entries, making them by far 2016's most successful new country (despite having a couple of fairly dramatic flops under their belt as well, of course including last month's disastrous 'Fuqboi' thing). It did manage to win semi-final 2 however, their second semi-final win, which also made them the projected winners (and they would have done it if it weren't for that auto-qualifier!!) The highest ranked song in the final that did get predictions to be a winner contender was the entry from Aeroche who continue to casually slay the contest nearly every month and got another bronze medal with Sophie Beem's 'Skyline' coming 3rd with 302 points. It might take a minor miracle now (i.e. Yehesi and N DNTN both DNQing) for Aeroche to snatch the year-end #1 for a fourth year running in the year's final contest but they aren't giving up without a fight ;o
- The winner of semi-final 1 was the newly stylised Bøtanikkä with Sagi Abitbul and Guy Haliva's 'Stanga', also heavily tipped as a winner contender as it bears a resemblance to other 2016 winners like 'Free Tibet' and 'Aide', but ultimately coming 4th in the final with 285 points. It did win the battle of the Bulgarian language entries though, which would normally be a bit of a hollow victory but by some inexplicable alignment of the planets there were actually three different songs sung entirely in Bulgarian in this contest's top 15 - Dobago came 8th with DARA's 'K'vo Ne Chu' to claim their fifth top 10 hit of the year, while Séyetana actually underperformed expectations a bit to 'only' come 11th with Christopher Tin's 'Temen Oblak' (feat. Le Mystère Des Voix Bulgares), still a very strong showing for a 7 minute Bulgarian language classical-flavoured track (albeit by an artist who had previously finished in the top 2). 5th place with 278 points were Yehesi with Maan's 'Give You All I Got', their fifth top 5 hit of the year after a couple of slightly less successful entries in the last two contests, which has put them back on top of the YTD rankings.
- An auto-qualifier was heavily tipped as a possible winner this contest but it wasn't #00274E's, rather it was the other one, from last month's winners N DNTN. They didn't quite pull through with the double win but did have another successful performance with Nadia Tehran's M.I.A.-esque 'Cash Flow' finishing 6th (the same artist, then called Nadya, also gave N DNTN a top 3 hit in the first edition of the Worldvision spinoff last year with 'Refugee'). N DNTN of course weren't able to host BJSC 89 but it has been revealed that they will be co-hosting BJSC 90 with #00274E, and really that's only right to immediately follow up a Jadakissnia/Persephonia contest #squadgoals *.* Filling out the rest of the top 10: Mulgracia got their 5th top 10 hit with Cobi's 'Don't You Cry For Me' coming 7th; FSR Rontvia's bumper 2016 continued with their fourth top ten in the last six contests, coming 9th with Alyss' 'T S I E R'; Hushkanukia also got their 5th top 10 hit with FRANKIE's 'Gold' coming 10th, though they've still only come higher than 9th with their winner 'St. Patrick' by PVRIS. 'Gold' held Séyetana out of the top 10 by only one point, slightly switching it up for the country that usually finds itself on the other side of very borderline top 10 battles.
- Three countries set new national bests in this final, with two of those being countries making the final for the first time: Aelandor suffered through five consecutive DNQs since their debut but finally broke through this time with Sœur's 'Pass Out', though they still struggled a bit in the final and finished 37th. That was still a better performance than that of Buzzjack Mountain. Their 'controversial' debut in the previous contest unsurprisingly came nowhere near the final but they qualified on their second attempt with Water Juice's 'In Love' (feat. Audrey Graham), only to end up walking away with the wooden spoon as it finished in 42nd place out of 42 points, narrowly being the only song to not pass 100 points (it finished on 98). After also debuting last month and actually qualifying, Lomaja made it to the final again this time and finished 6 places higher, coming 23rd with Kero Kero Bonito's 'Trampoline'. Niceland's second entry on the other hand did much less well then their debut (neither of their entries qualified, but their BJSC 89 offering 'I Wanna Love You' by Royce Lovett was dead last in semi-final 1 with just 4 points, oops). Kingdom of Horanius pulled out of the contest after only one entry for now. BJSC 89 did have one debuting country of its own: Zanmatony, who also offered a 90s dance track that charted in the low top 40 in the UK but didn't do anywhere near as well as 'Relax'. Their debut, Amber's 'Sexual (Li Da Di)', did not make the final.
- 3 more countries made returns in this contest, with two of them making the final. Oslol were banned from the last contest but came back with a #15 hit with Hayley Orrantia's 'Strong, Sweet & Southern', a pretty good performance for what was a last-minute replacement for a vetoed entry, and also a high finish for a country song. N-Lazone mysteriously vanished for 5 contests after getting one of their biggest hits ever in BJSC 83. They were back this time with ILOVEMAKONNEN cover 'Tuesday' by Burak Yeter featuring Danelle Sandoval which also did pretty well by their standards to come 21st, though still didn't become the song to end their quest for a top 10 hit (they hold the record for most entries without a top 10, this being their 40th - someone just give them one already! though pretty glad it wasn't this song). Bhangra also sat out the last contest but returned again to continue their 2016 revival with an old Moldovan Eurovision reject, 'When Life Is Grey' by Karizma ONE, which is now also a BJSC reject as it didn't qualify.
- Other noteworthy results this month: host nation Jadakissnia didn't get an auto-qualifier but still made it to their own final easily and came 14th with FEYNMAN's '1-800MYLOVE'; Terra Avium came just ahead of Persephonia with our former artists Kids Of The Apocalypse, coming 19th with their 'Better Life' (feat. Wes Period); Suedeonia and Triangledonia both got only their second qualifiers of the year, the former coming 29th with Superwalker's 'Lost (As I Am)' (two places lower than their only previous qualifier) and the latter 34th with The Him's 'Don't Leave Without Me' (feat. Gia Koka); Summericia celebrated the return to their original country name with a classic Summericia result, that is making it to the final but then finishing near the bottom of the scoreboard, coming 40th with Genevieve's 'Colors' (PLS&TY Remix). A few other countries also competed under new (or old) names in BJSC 89: Ashton dropped the 'Federal Republic of', and are now apparently going to be competing under their old stylisation République d'Ashton again from BJSC 90, while there was apparently another coup in the country once called Elëdan as they reverted from People's Independent State of Slutland to FKA FKA FKA π, and Beaverdonia rebranded as Beaverskankdonia. Only Ashton out of those three made the final (they came 39th with Coco Morier's 'Dreamer'), and they'll also be the only one of the 3 with any chance to make the next final, as Beaverskankdonia and FKA FKA FKA π both did not submit votes for BJSC 89 and will have to sit out the next one (as will Brechtoria). We hope to see them all return in BJSC 91 under whatever name they choose to go with this time. x
Full Persephonian rankings for BJSC 89
Final
Points awarded:
18 Medhelnia // Ou Est Le Swimming Pool - Dance The Way I Feel
15 Land of DW // Marusha - Deep
13 Bøtanikkä // Sagi Abitbul and Guy Haliva - Stanga
12 Séyetana // Christopher Tin - Temen Oblak (feat. Le Mystère Des Voix Bulgares)
11 Singerpurear // Princess Chelsea - The Cigarette Duet
10 Suedeonia // Superwalkers - Lost (As I Am)
9 N DNTN // Nadia Tehran - Cash Flow
8 Cumulonimbia // Dan Deacon - Change Your Life (You Can Do It)
7 Republic of Adonia // Lorn - Acid Rain
6 Yehesi // Maan - Give You All I Got
5 Jadakissnia // FEYNMAN - 1-800MYLOVE
4 Desbuanda // Lilyer - I Was On Your Side
3 Terra Avium // Kids Of The Apocalypse - Better Life (feat. Wes Period)
2 Aelandor // Sœur - Pass Out
1 Unovia // Atiye - Abrakadabra
16th-41st:
Cor Lupus // The Birthday Massacre - In The Dark
FSR Rontvia // Alyss - T S I E R
Syndare // Chiara Hunter - Hammer
Aeroche // Sophie Beem - Skyline
Avalonia // of Verona - Better With You
Mulgracia // Cobi - Don't You Cry For Me
Trifoski // The Go! Team - Buy Nothing Day
Ashton // Coco Morier - Dreamer
Hushkanukia // FRANKIE - Gold
Buzzjack Mountain // Water Juice - In Love (feat. Audrey Graham)
Taahino // Fingertips - Kiss Me
Ramrynia // MY - White Water
Lomaja // Kero Kero Bonito - Trampoline
Daehun // Red Velvet - Russian Roulette
Summericia // Genevieve - Colors (PLS&TY Remix)
Greenfroze // Perttu - Waves (feat. Alexandra)
South Danaelanda // Steve James - In My Head (feat. RKCB)
Triangledonia // The Him - Don't Leave Without Me (feat. Gia Koka)
Harmonica // Joseph - White Flag
Oslol // Hayley Orrantia - Strong, Sweet & Southern
The Actual Republic of Bellamia // Catey Shaw - The Ransom (Tommy Walker Remix)
Dobago // DARA - K'vo Ne Chu
#00274E // Crystal Waters - Relax
Sandebörg // SMILO - Young Again
Cadelicia // Jane XØ and Dannic - Undone
N-Lazone // Burak Yeter - Tuesday (feat. Danelle Sandoval)
~
Semi-Final 1
Points awarded:
12 Bøtanikkä // Sagi Abitbul and Guy Haliva - Stanga
10 Deandria // Clément Bazin - With You†
8 Beaverskankdonia // The Eden Project - Chasing Ghosts†
7 Republic of Adonia // Lorn - Acid Rain
6 Suedeonia // Superwalkers - Lost (As I Am)
5 Yehesi // Maan - Give You All I Got
4 Espen // Mashrou' Leila - Kalam (H4Z3 Private Mix)†
3 Aelandor // Sœur - Pass Out
2 Cor Lupus // The Birthday Massacre - In The Dark
1 FSR Rontvia // Alyss - T S I E R
11th-32nd:
Pupok // GIRLI - Girl I Met On The Internet†
Desbuanda // Lilyer - I Was On Your Side
Avalonia // of Verona - Better With You
Usfland // AUTOBAHN - Society†
Aeroche // Sophie Beem - Skyline
New Lexico // Tatianna - The Same Parts†
Hushkanukia // FRANKIE - Gold
Syndare // Chiara Hunter - Hammer
Flynnonda // Mount Tyrant - One Night†
Trifoski // The Go! Team - Buy Nothing Day
Altyr Muunilinst // Nick Talos - Crush On You†
Ramrynia // MY - White Water
Ashton // Coco Morier - Dreamer
Niceland // Royce Lovett - I Wanna Love You†
Taahino // Fingertips - Kiss Me
Quintessa // Satchmode - Further Away†
D'yermak'er // Scavenger Hunt - River Runs Dry†
Oslol // Hayley Orrantia - Strong, Sweet & Southern
Greenfroze // Perttu - Waves (feat. Alexandra)
Tinnmark // kid joki and CLMD - Wait For Love†
Bhangra // Karizma ONE - When Life Is Grey†
N-Lazone // Burak Yeter - Tuesday (feat. Danelle Sandoval)
† DNQed
~
Semi-Final 2 DNQs
8th FKA FKA FKA π // Francis And The Lights - I Want You To Shake
9th Ethanola // Noir and Olivier Giacomotto - Reste (Raxon Remix)
10th Kluminican Republic // ODESZA - It's Only (feat. Zyra)
14th Brechtoria // The Boxer Rebellion - Big Ideas
15th Skall // Deerhunter - Nothing Ever Happened
16th Ultraviolenceland // FLETCHER - Over My Head
17th Bignia-Zaragovina // StrangeFaces - Swimming
18th St. Burbia // iSHi - There For Me (feat. Shenie Fogo)
20th Zanmatony // Amber - Sexual (Li Da Di)
21st Tartford // BLKMGK - You Don't Deserve Me (feat. Amina Mine and Jayy Starr)
26th Florina // Echos - Gold
27th Fljótavík // Sir The Baptist - Raise Hell (feat. ChuchPeople)
33rd Kylienips // Adam Jensen - Drugs
Fabuloso write-up as ever I feel like I probably say that every month () but the sheer effort is always wonderful to observe. Anyway~ congrats on the top 20 for 'Vlasy'! I was pleased to see it hold on at the end with all the points being so close. Thought you may be satisfied that you narrowly beat your least fave of the final to a top 20 placing Overall a lot of faves doing well and I loved being a part of the co-hosting w/ you. Thank you for the 'expertedly hosted' comment btw, that was a lovely thing to read. <3
Oh my goodness, that description of your country entry sounds incredibly moving. I am looking forward to hearing what this song will sound like. Tissues at the ready in case necessary. I hope you may enjoy my entry also but I'm not sure what you will think of it, so we shall see. #TeamIceland anyway *.*
ia your write ups are always so good <3
I can sense that this will be good. I'm already getting Sevdaliza vibes from the description and the picture
Fallen a bit behind updating this thread ;o shall do a big post to catch up with all of BJSC 90 and the results of the Country spinoff in the near future ~ but in the mean time lemme just hop on the bandwagon with this lovely and slick video recap of all of Persephonia's main contest and spinoff entries of 2016 which Jade has kindly put in the effort to make for us.
(will also try to do some sort of EOY in here soon, but probably not gonna be *quite* as ambitious as last year's since I never got round to properly finishing that lol ~)
Persephonia 2016 was pretty great, I watched that video in full and I gave points to a fairly high number of the entries, including two 18s obviously, and in general whenever I pointed you it always happened to be a high score. Always was a nation this year where I looked forward to hearing what they came up with *.*
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 25/11/2016
big catchup edition ~ [1/2]
BJSC Country summary
The latest and final (?) spinoff of the year was another fairly successful one for us as Jason Isbell's 'Elephant' finished 11th in the Country spinoff in Unovia with 61* points coming from 9 countries, including 4 who ranked it in their top 3 of the contest: Aelandor, Aeroche and Suedeonia were our joint biggest supporters giving us 10 points each (the 2nd place points as the slightly lower entry turnout necessitated a switch back to the 12 point system) and Quintessa also gave us 8 points. Thanks to those who gave us their points to give us another top half finish! x
The hosts Unovia completed a hat trick of spinoff wins in the last three that they've entered, following up their Worldvision II and Reinvention I wins with a third gold medal courtesy of Miranda Lambert's 'Oklahoma Sky' which topped a close top 3 with 120 points. That makes them the first country to get three 'official' BJSC spinoff wins, matching Jadakissnia's 2 canonical wins plus the BuzzJack 10th Anniversary non-contest-non-spinoff enigma. The silver medal went to Hushkanukia with Autumn Hill's 'Can't Keep Waiting' on 114 points - making the overall top 2 the same as the top two in Persephonia's votes but flipped around - and Ultraviolenceland clinched third place with 111 points for Ward Thomas' 'Guilty Flowers'. The top 5 was completed by Ramrynia in fourth with '80s Mercedes' by Maren Morris (with 90 points) and Taahino who managed to find a song by Paramore that fit the country theme and were rewarded with a second spinoff top 5 in a row, 'In The Mourning' coming 5th with 88* points.
Whoever inevitably sent Carrie Underwood to the contest was bound to get a hit and it was Federal Republic of Ashton who got in there with 'Cupid's Got A Shotgun' and sure enough came in sixth place. Filling out the rest of the top 10: the monstrosity 'Shut Up And Fish' by Maddie & Tae (at least the whole contest wasn't like this lmao) came 7th for Cor Lupus, Lomaja achieved their first top 10 in a BJSC event coming 8th with 'Bullet' by Jessie James Decker, and Séyetana and Aelandor finished back to back in 9th and 10th with Theory Of A Deadman's 'Livin' My Life Like A Country Song' (feat. Joe Don Rooney) and Mt. Desolation's 'Platform 7' respectively, the latter giving Aelandor their second straight top 10 scrape in the spinoffs.
Full Persephonian rankings for BJSC Country
Points awarded:
12 Hushkanukia // Autumn Hill - Can't Keep Waiting
10 Unovia // Miranda Lambert - Oklahoma Sky
8 Jadakissnia // Björn Thoroddsen - Leave It All To You (feat. Anna)
7 Suedeonia // Poco - Rose Of Cimarron
6 Aelandor // Mt. Desolation - Platform 7
5 Terra Avium // Keston Cobblers' Club - The Heights Of Lola
4 Séyetana // Theory Of A Deadman - Livin' My Life Like A Country Song (feat. Joe Don Rooney)
3 Medhelnia // Vigiland - Pong Dance (Acoustic)
2 FSR Rontvia // BlackByrd - From The Bottom Of My Heart (feat. Craig Hinds)
1 The Actual Republic of Bellamia // Hunter Hayes - Light Me Up
11th-26th:
Aeroche // Norah Jones - Creepin' In (feat. Dolly Parton)
Cadelicia // Juice Newton - Queen Of Hearts
Lomaja // Jessie James Decker - Bullet
Taahino // Paramore - In The Mourning
Deandria // Mindy McCready - Ten Thousand Angels
Ramrynia // Maren Morris - 80s Mercedes
Ultraviolenceland // Ward Thomas - Guilty Flowers
Niceland // Douwe Bob - How Lucky We Are
Avalonia // Faith Hill - Sunshine And Summertime
Ojnoj // Mickey Guyton - Better Than You Left Me
Harmonica // The Wreckers - My, Oh My
Federal Republic of Ashton // Carrie Underwood - Cupid's Got A Shotgun
Quintessa // Sugarland - Stay
Flynnonda // Jana Kramer - I Got The Boy
Cor Lupus // Maddie & Tae - Shut Up And Fish
Beaverdonia // Gretchen Wilson - Redneck Woman
*a couple of the final numbers in the thread were slightly off including our own entry missing one all-important point ~ http://i.imgur.com/Ub4NiSf.png for the corrected scoreboard if that's something you particularly care to see
Baby Blood rounds off Persephonia's 2016
Unfortunately the plans for #00274E and N DNTN to host BJSC 90 fell through due to *ahem* technical difficulties, meaning the hosting duties were taken over by the capable hands of the moderator team of Bignia-Zaragovina, Daehun, République d'Ashton, Ramrynia and Aeroche, thankfully not in quite as controversial circumstances as the last mod team hosting coup (BJSC 64, never again).
Anyways, Persephonia's entry to the final contest of the year, our 69th entry to date (lol), was provided by Zambian-born (*.*) Danish singer/rapper Lucy Siame, previously known as Lucy Love but now performing under the new androgynous and enigmatic supervillain alter-ego Baby Blood with 'Figurine', her first single under that name which originally surfaced in November 2015 and was later featured on an EP named 'Await The Coven', released in June of this year. Apart from being our first entry by an artist of African origin (possibly look out for a couple more of those in 2017 ;o) it's also our second Danish entry after 'Simple Guy' by Kadie Elder.
Baby Blood's Facebook describes her sound as 'alternative bass / future RnB', which seems a fitting enough description for the dark and bassy track featuring some wonderful synths and distorted vocal sections making it perfect for Halloween Blogs have compared it to the likes of Purity Ring, FKA twigs and SZA (and Mattias' post in here saying it sounded like Sevdaliza vibes seems fairly apt too). Here's the very purple music video for the track, starring Baby Blood in her slightly creepy wrestling mask:
'Figurine' was drawn as track 6 of 31 in semi-final 2, hosted by Daehun (with Bignia-Zaragovina handling the other semi-final, and the final being hosted by Ramrynia, with République d'Ashton and Aeroche presenting the semi-final and final results respectively). This is where we might normally be begging people to vote for us but of course the contest is already over so...
Baby Blood continues our qualification streak
Indeed, 'Figurine' made it to the final, increasing our qualification streak to 6 in a row and finishing the year with 9 out of a possible 10 qualifiers, only missing out with Bachar Mar-Khalifé's 'Mirror Moon' in BJSC 84. With lengthy qualification streaks by Yehesi and Cadelicia coming to an end, Persephonia move back up to joint 4th in the list of longest active streaks. FSR Rontvia sailed through again for a 12th time in a row to stay #1 there, while N DNTN made it 10 in a row making those 2 countries the only ones to be in every 2016 BJSC final. Unovia may have done so as well if they hadn't sat out BJSC 82 - they are third in the list with 8 in a row, and they also qualified in BJSC 81.
Unfortunately the rest of the semi-final 2 results were a bit of a bloodbath for our votes - like in the last contest we lost 2 of our top 3 but unfortunately this time our 12 pointer was one of them, with Ethanola falling agonisingly short of qualifying with V.O.'s 'Mashisa' (Dub Mix) our first semi-final 12 to DNQ since Arthur Beatrice's 'Who Returned' in BJSC 81. Rejects justice pls. x Our 8 pointer, Thelonia with LeBrock's 'One Night', also failed to qualify as did three more of the songs we voted for: 6 pointers Tartford with Luce Drayton's 'To Be Loved' (Disco Citizens Remix), 5 pointer 'Hologram' by Vogel representing Deandria and most surprisingly of all Singerpurear who recycled their own former top 5 artist Kishi Bashi with 'Ode To My Next Life' but this time didn't make the final, getting 2 points from us. More of Persephonian voters' top 10 tracks in semi-final 1 made it through, only losing fleeting returnees Pagasa (Marineros' 'Torbellino', 8th in our ranking) and, in another surprise result, Yehesi (Shay's 'PMW', 9th).
This post is long enough already so shall split the rest of the contest summary into a separate post ~
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 25/11/2016
big catchup edition ~ [2/2]
BJSC 90 summary
- In the final results announced in Aeroche just under two weeks ago (almost caught up!! x), there was some more good news for Persephonia as Baby Blood's 'Figurine' proved to be one of our most successful entries of the year. It finished 13th out of 42 with a total of 202 points, our third highest finish and 2nd highest points total of the year (the third time we broke the 200 point mark, just two of those being by the skin of our teeth). That completed a set of 7 top 20 hits for Persephonia this year, actually one more than we managed in 2015 even though we only had the one top 10 hit this year compared to 5 top 5 hits last year! It was also another entry of ours to get 2 18s, matching our best of the year again for the 3rd time in a row, with the maximum marks this time coming from N-Lazone (with whom we had a rare high points swap) and Usfland. It received points from 24 countries in total, including two other medal positions (a 15 from Aeroche and a 13 from Skall). 'Figurine' also came 13th in semi-final 2 with 70 points, which nominally put it in projected 19th place (although bearing in mind the projections were distorted by semi-final 1 having far more non-voters than semi-final 2).
- The title of the winning song of BJSC 90 was all too appropriate for its circumstances: 2016 had been curiously lacking in BJSC wins by Aeroche thus far, and they had been taking a backseat in the year to date rankings to the likes of Yehesi, Pupok and N DNTN. It would have been Aeroche's first year where they failed to win a contest if that had continued - with previous wins in BJSCs 46-48, 51, 66 and 79 following their debut in BJSC 44 - as well as the first year since their 2012 debut that they didn't top the end of year list. But it was just 'Fate' !!1 that they'd pull out the miracle they needed to keep up their streaks at the last possible opportunity. Like we ever really thought we'd go a year without an Aeroche win!! Indeed, they got to announce their own win with cheeky Kelly Clarkson sampling witch house track 'Fate' by Fraunhofer Diffraction topping the scoreboard with a total of 304 points (and what a delightful winner *.* certainly the correct song to do it for them, being the second time this year our 18 pointer has won after 'Free Tibet' in BJSC 82). That points haul coupled with Yehesi's surprise DNQ and bottom half finishes for N DNTN and Pupok also saw Aeroche leap to claim the end of year #1 for a fourth time in a row despite not leading in any of the previous updates. (Incidentally our own performance was just good enough for us to cling onto 10th place in the EOY despite only having one song go top 10 individually, giving us a second year in a row in the top 10 doing well in the BJSC). Aeroche thus moved a step closer to matching FSR Rontvia's long-standing record for most wins (getting a 7th win, behind FSR's 8). It's no surprise that 'Fate' also won semi-final 1, giving Aeroche their 9th semi-final winner, putting them a win clear of Altyr Muunilinst as the country with the most. It's amazing they've fit them all in when half of their songs are auto-qualifiers really (and yet another of those to come in BJSC 91) Semi-final 2 was won by Bøtanikkä with Ratty's 'Sunrise (Here I Am)', their 6th semi-final win in total and second in a row (the new diacritics in the name are clearly helping), however they fell just short of the top 10 in the final, coming 11th.
- That's not to say that Aeroche had an easy victory though - they were the favourite to win but did so with the lowest total for a winner in 2016 and also the smallest margin of victory. Just 8 points behind them, the silver medal went to Jadakissnia, getting a new main contest peak for the second time in three contests with the splendid 'Earth Not Above' by HÆLOS, improving on their bronze medal with MssingNo's 'Scope' two contests back. This gave them their 6th top 10 finish of the year, joint most of all countries alongside Pupok and (who else) Aeroche, and also means they eclipsed our achievement of 5 top 10s last year (IT'S ON in 2017 xx). And then only one more point back in a nailbitingly tight top 3 were South Danaelanda with Basto's 'Gregory's Theme', matching their best finish to date of 3rd (previously achieved by the united Danaelanda in BJSC 81 with TheFatRat's 'Monody' (feat. Laura Brehm)), marking the second month in a row that a few-years-old song previously overlooked by BJSC participants was picked back up and came top 3 after last month's Ou Est Le Swimming Pool. (It's also incidentally a song that was previously almost an Aeroche entry). It was also very close between the last two tracks in the top 5: Cor Lupus finished 4th with CONTACT's 'Never Stop', their third top 10 of the year, on 279 points, while 5th place went to Altyr Muunilinst with 'Closer To Life' by Atella and Frøder on 277 points, 'only' their second top 10 of the year.
- They had little fanfare in odds and predictions but Trifoski pulled it out of the bag to come 6th with 'Electrify' by Oliver feat. Scott Mellis, their first top 10 for 19 contests (last getting there with all-time classic 'O.N.E.' by Yeasayer in BJSC 71). In unrelated news, purveyors of the anti-Trifoski agenda have recently been reported struck by lightning and tragically killed. Unovia capped off a highly successful year with a 7th place finish with Jackie Tech's 'You Can Have It All', while former Unovian artist FRENSHIP returned to BJSC this time representing recent comeback nation Florina, finishing 8th with '1000 Nights', marking improvements in both song quality~ and performance in the contest over Unovia entry 'Capsize' by FRENSHIP and Emily Warren, which came 20th in BJSC 84 (and has since gone on to become a minor worldwide hit thanks to Spotify payola). '1000 Nights' became Florina's 5th top 10 and second biggest hit to date, only behind machineheart's 'Circles' (feat. Vanic), the runner-up in BJSC 67.
- At the start of the results reveal Harmonica jumped out to a gigantic lead with Lauren Alaina's 'Road Less Traveled', as the countries most inclined to vote for country songs tend to vote early on, and this contest was no exception, with the spectacular outcome that Harmonica got 5 of the first 9 18s, and another 15 on top of that. They ended up not getting any more 18s after that - although still finished with more of the top scores than any other country even so - and gradually faded but still finished 9th, a very respectable position for a country track and Harmonica's 2nd top 10 just 3 contests after they first broke that duck. Speaking of breaking top 10 ducks, BJSC 90 was finally the time for Ultraviolenceland to break into the top tier, finishing 10th with ARIA's 'Maze' after previously topping out at 11th with NIMMO's 'Dilute This' in BJSC 81 and again two contests later with Lucy Hale's 'Lie A Little Better'. There was less luck for two other countries with long-running inability to make the top 10: N-Lazone continue to be the country with the most appearances (41) and no top 10s, but got one of their best results to date, coming 16th with John Rous and Alfie Rhodes' 'Oasis', while Taahino's torture was prolonged again too, with Courage My Love's 'Stereo' coming 18th. That's their 8th top 20 hit, 7 of which were this year, but still none of them getting higher than 14th thus far. Maybe next time??
- Aside from Jadakissnia and Ultraviolenceland, the only other country reaching a new peak was Summericia, who came 24th with IGNEA's 'Alga', one place higher than the last time they broke their national record two contests back (also mirroring Jadakissnia). There weren't any debuting countries in BJSC 90, but four countries made returns to the contest. Pagasa came back at last after an opening run of only two entries earlier in the year, although sadly this comeback will be even shorter as they didn't vote in the final and are thus banned from BJSC 91 (as are Kluminican Republic and Triangledonia). Thelonia returned after their one-month non-voting ban. Both of those sadly DNQed as mentioned in the last post. There were better results for other comeback nations Ajanaeda and Ojnoj. Both of them have been dormant for most of 2016 (only entering in BJSC 87 where both DNQed) but have sneaked in 2016 qualifiers at the last minute. Ajanaeda came 22nd with Skylife's 'Why' (feat. Summer Rayne), their best result for 2 years, and Ojnoj came 30th with Lao Ra's 'Bang Boom'.
- Daehun came 17th with I.O.I's 'Very Very Very', their first top 20 hit for 14 contests (which was preceded by a string of 7 of them in a row, how the mighty have fallen) - a remarkable turnaround from the semi-final where the song scraped through with just 35 points, one more than the record low for a qualifier, which came from just 4 voters (which may be the first time a song has qualified with that few voters). Flynnonda also scraped through the same semi-final with the same number of points, but didn't have the same turnaround, coming 41st (second last) with just 83 points with Alice Jemima's 'Electric'. It was still a victory of sorts for Flynnonda though as they'd DNQed 7 times in a row before this. Ashton rebranded again, reviving their old name of République d'Ashton. Their entry, 'Happy Days' by Brooke Candy, came 33rd.
- The 'auto-qualifier curse' was back in full force: #00274E followed their win with a 36th place with Ben Delay's 'I Never Felt So Right', and the other auto-qualifier from Medhelnia did even worse, giving them another wooden spoon to add to their collection, as their entry 'Surfboard Fire' by Blitz//Berlin came 42nd and last, two contests after their last wooden spoon entry. 'Surfboard Fire' was disadvantaged from the start as Medhelnia did not submit votes in the semi-finals, which meant they faced a 30% deduction even though they voted on time in the final. However, it was already last place by some distance even before the deduction, and ultimately finished on just 45 points, the lowest of any song since the current voting system was implemented in BJSC 74. Oop ~
Full Persephonian rankings for BJSC 90
Final
Points awarded:
18 Aeroche // Fraunhofer Diffraction - Fate
15 Terra Avium // Kitchen - Time (Inception)
13 N-Lazone // John Rous and Alfie Rhodes - Oasis
12 Skall // David Lyme - Bye, Bye Mi Amor
11 Jadakissnia // HÆLOS - Earth Not Above
10 Espen // Sacred Spirit - Yeha-Noha (Wishes Of Happiness & Prosperity)
9 Quintessa // Ghost - Square Hammer
8 Séyetana // Arion - At The Break Of Dawn (feat. Elize Ryd)
7 Bøtanikkä // Ratty - Sunrise (Here I Am)
6 #00274E // Ben Delay - I Never Felt So Right
5 South Danaelanda // Basto - Gregory's Theme
4 Altyr Muunilinst // Atella and Frøder - Closer To Life
3 Summericia // IGNEA - Alga
2 Lomaja // Chrystina Sayers - From Here
1 Florina // FRENSHIP - 1000 Nights
16th-41st:
Trifoski // Oliver - Electrify (feat. Scott Mellis)
Usfland // The Brevet - Moving Mountains
Cor Lupus // CONTACT - Never Stop
N DNTN // Kiddy Smile - Let A B!tch Know
République d'Ashton // Brooke Candy - Happy Days
Mulgracia // Off Bloom - Love To Hate It
Pupok // Ängie - Smoke Weed Eat Pussy
Daehun // I.O.I - Very Very Very
Medhelnia // Blitz//Berlin - Surfboard Fire
Republic of Adonia // Jane Zhang - Dust My Shoulders Off (feat. Timbaland)
Kylienips // Cruel Youth - Hatefuck
Unovia // Jackie Tech - You Can Have It All
D'yermak'er // Julia Knight - Ghost Of You
Dobago // Salvatore Ganacci - Dive (feat. Enya and Alex Aris)
Hushkanukia // Hanne Mjøen - Perfect Noise
Avalonia // Deborah Iurato - Sono Ancora Io
Ojnoj // Lao Ra - Bang Boom
Fljótavík // Red Rosamond - Damn
Syndare // Smith & Thell - ROW
Taahino // Courage My Love - Stereo
New Lexico // KAYE - UUU
Flynnonda // Alice Jemima - Electric
FSR Rontvia // Natalia Nykiel - Error
Harmonica // Lauren Alaina - Road Less Traveled
Ultraviolenceland // ARIA - Maze
Ajanaeda // Skylife - Why (feat. Summer Rayne)
~
Semi-Final 2
Points awarded:
12 Ethanola // V.O. - Mashisa (Dub Mix)†
10 Bøtanikkä // Ratty - Sunrise (Here I Am)
8 Thelonia // LeBrock - One Night†
7 South Danaelanda // Basto - Gregory's Theme
6 Tartford // Luce Drayton - To Be Loved (Disco Citizens Remix)†
5 Deandria // Vogel - Hologram†
4 N-Lazone // John Rous and Alfie Rhodes - Oasis
3 N DNTN // Kiddy Smile - Let A B!tch Know
2 Singerpurear // Kishi Bashi - Ode To My Next Life†
1 Florina // FRENSHIP - 1000 Nights
11th-30th:
Lomaja // Chrystina Sayers - From Here
D'yermak'er // Julia Knight - Ghost Of You
Unovia // Jackie Tech - You Can Have It All
Altyr Muunilinst // Atella and Frøder - Closer To Life
Mulgracia // Off Bloom - Love To Hate It
Oslol // Merry Clayton - When The World Turns Blue (Melodies Of Love)†
Bignia-Zaragovina // Jeremy Messersmith - Ghost†
Hushkanukia // Hanne Mjøen - Perfect Noise
Syndare // Smith & Thell - ROW
Kylienips // Cruel Youth - Hatefuck
Dobago // Salvatore Ganacci - Dive (feat. Enya and Alex Aris)
St. Burbia // Alisha Pillay - Mayday†
Ojnoj // Lao Ra - Bang Boom
New Lexico // KAYE - UUU
Avalonia // Deborah Iurato - Sono Ancora Io
Harmonica // Lauren Alaina - Road Less Traveled
Greenfroze // Alle Farben - Bad Ideas†
Ultraviolenceland // ARIA - Maze
Land of DW // Nosfe - Condimente (feat. Ruby)†
Niceland // AJR - I'm Not Famous†
† DNQed
~
Semi-Final 1 DNQs
8th Pagasa // Marineros - Torbellino
9th Yehesi // Shay - PMW
12th Tinnmark // Snö - Krig
15th Zanmatony // Metrik - Chasing Sunrise (feat. Elisabeth Troy)
20th Aelandor // Fireflight - Unbreakable
22nd Desbuanda // T.O.L.D. - 2 Young
23rd Ramrynia // The Japanese House - Face Like Thunder
26th Triangledonia // MaRLo - You And Me (feat. Chloe)
27th The Actual Republic of Bellamia // Trevor Dahl - When You Come Home
29th Cadelicia // Paris & Simo - Reunite (Galloway Remix) (feat. Patrick Moreno and Aloma Steele)
30th Kluminican Republic // Mason Jennings - How Deep Is That River
yay paragraphs
In other news, TBO IX is now underway - any nominations for our 9 eligible songs greatly appreciated! ;o (Although 'The Wandering Songstress' is the only one with even a slightly realistic chance of making it to the semi-finals).
And once Rejects nominations finally surface, #votemirrormoon
Paragraphs galore *.* T'was worth the wait~
Well done on the top 15 placing for 'Figurine'! It was pretty crazy that I actually knew of Baby Blood through 'Gender Science' haha! This was another solid one from her with a pretty cool video alongside. You've been a rather consistent mid-tabler this year ;o Kool that all of those top 20s have amounted to a top 10 YTD placing, congrats on another one of those *.*
Lmao it is onnn for 2017 where top 10 hits are concerned, bring it on xx You'll probably beat me tho, after all - you do well in the BJSC xo
'The Wandering Songstress' 2 slay TBO x (in an ideal world 'Thelema' would be killin' it)
I had no idea Baby Blood was Lucy Love I've had her on my radar for absolutely ages (although as is probably apparent haven't followed her up since like 2013)
OH MY GOD
A-WA are really going up in the world. It's beautiful
after this song right here, Imma need 4 passports
(I saw Pitbull also has a new song that samples Desbuanda entry 'Can't Have' by Steven A. Clark, clearly BJSC is giving him all his ideas lately )
don't kill me but I think Pitbull elevated both songs to a higher level (particularly "Can't Have")
Mr. Actual Worldwide remixing A-WA :cheeseblock: amazing.
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 04/12/2016
The Shanghai Restoration Project books us a place in The Best of BJSC IX!
Persephonia have a representative in at least the semi-finals of the annual retrospective The Best of BJSC contest for a fourth year running, as our one entry with a non-outside chance of making it through the nominations round did so, The Shanghai Restoration Project's 'The Wandering Songstress' (feat. Zhang Le) getting at least 23 nomination points and taking one of the 7 qualifier slots from BJSC 81 as announced last night in Ramrynia. The result also continues our pleasing stat of making it to at least the semi-finals of TBO with all 11 of our top 10 hits. Maybe not as impressive as it sounds considering they were all at least 6th to begin with, but then again last night proved that a high position is neither necessary nor sufficient when it comes to TBO. Pray for Plaitum, pray for MssingNo, pray for Ou Est Le Swimming Pool, and praise/curses be to whatever transpired that allowed SOFI TUKKER, Sleigh Bells and Hayley Kiyoko among many other non-hits through.
In any case, 'The Wandering Songstress' has been drawn in slot 27 of 40 in semi-final 1 in Bignia-Zaragovina and while it'll be a tall order to make it to the final we are very grateful for its beauty continuing to be recognised to allow it to get this far and any semi-final votes for it will be greatly appreciated
As for our other eligible entries in TBO, unsurprisingly they all fell short in this opening nominations round, but a couple of them were much closer to a qualifier slot than we thought they'd be - primarily BOOTS' 'C.U.R.E.' which was just one point (give or take a tiebreak) off qualifying from BJSC 83, with 20 nomination points in all. Our next highest number of points was for most recent entry 'Figurine' by Baby Blood which got 16 points (9 points less than needed to go through), but the next closest to qualifying was Fallgrapp's 'Vlasy' which got 14 points, only 3 away from possibly qualifying. Tailing off from there, TWRR's 'Water Frozen' also got 14 points, Aron Can's 'Með Mér' got 13 (both were 7 points off the lowest qualifier), Digitalism's 'Blitz' got 12 (8 off), Color Guard's 'In Your Bones' got 9 (13 off) and unsurprisingly our biggest flop was Øfdream's 'Thelema' which got just 5 points, all from Jadakissnia (it would have needed 18 more to qualify). Valiant efforts. x 9 of the 50 songs Persephonia nominated got through, which is not wonderful but certainly could have been a lot worse, especially as there were also some great auto-qualifiers.
Meanwhile the other retrospective contest, The Best of BJSC - The Rejects IX, has also belatedly begun, so here's another plug for our one eligible entry there, Bachar Mar-Khalifé's 'Mirror Moon' which missed the final of BJSC 84. We still think it's pretty underrated. Hopefully some of you guys will agree. x
Move over M+A feat. DENA ~ A-WA and Pitbull is the true team-up of dreams *.*
Congrats on 'The Wandering Songstress' making it! I had so many highlights of BJSC 81 and that was up there as one of 'em. A complete lack of Persephonia would have felt odd following your dominance last year, so thank gawd BJSC voters. Lmao at me being the only person to point 'Thelema', everyone is sleeping on that tbh. You repaying me with being my sole VHS Glitch pointer Also, 'C.U.R.E.' being so close to qualifying was a welcome surprise
The all of your top 10s reaching the semi-finals of TBO stat is beautiful *.* may it never end.
Rejects to give justice to our weird out-there foreign language songs plz
EOY coming v soon ~ I have put together my top 103 of the year (I'll explain why 103 in a bit xx), the following countries make multiple appearances:
8x Jadakissnia
5x Ethanola, N DNTN, Skall
4x Desbuanda, Fljótavík, Séyetana, Syndare, Terra Avium
3x Bøtanikkä, Dobago, Land of DW, FKA FKA FKA π, Quintessa, Tartford, Trifoski
2x Aelandor, Aeroche, Cor Lupus, Cumulonimbia, Espen, FSR Rontvia, Pupok, Singerpurear, Suedeonia, Yehesi
and 19 other mystery countries have a single appearance. It pained me to cut it off there as I picked out 260 songs worthy of being in my EOY but it has to stop somewhere lest the honour be devalued ;o
Breakdown of number of entries per contest:
15 from BJSC 82
14 from BJSC 89
13 from BJSC 90
11 from BJSC 88
10 from BJSC 81
10 from BJSC 85
10 from BJSC 86
8 from BJSC 84
6 from BJSC 83
6 from BJSC 87
Actually forgot how many huge highlights 89 had as well as 82 & 90 ;o expected those to be the top 2.
I will be doing a rank of every country's entries like I did last year and then shall post my top 103 probably with very minimal commentary a la Chez Wombat because I'd like to actually finish this this year. Hype. x
YESSSSS! 8 appearances *.* Rly looking forward to finding out where they have landed~
Another nod for Nhato is always nice to see I wonder what that mystery second entry is...
(Might be Rain Man but I also vaguely remember you liking Pixel Fix as well)
yas pupok impakt *.* predicting wimbledon and tequila?
ooh 4! surely my best hit rate from the eoy charts so far
Actually decided to expand my EOY so it's now a top 150 (well, 153) like last year. An update on the countries with multiple appearances:
9x Jadakissnia
7x N DNTN
6x Ethanola, Terra Avium
5x Desbuanda, Fljótavík, FKA FKA FKA π, Séyetana, Skall, Tartford, Trifoski
4x Aeroche, Beaverdonia, Bøtanikkä, Cumulonimbia, Deandria, Espen, Quintessa, Syndare
3x Cor Lupus, Dobago, Land of DW, Pupok, Singerpurear, St. Burbia, Suedeonia
2x Aelandor, Cadelicia, FSR Rontvia, Tinnmark, Yehesi
1x 27 other countries
The reason for the 3 extra songs is that there were 3 entries that I wasn't sure whether to include in my EOY at all, as I primarily like them for reasons not related to BJSC (2 songs that I'd known and loved for years before their contests and one that only grew on me after it became a UK hit after I didn't like it that much in the actual contest). I ultimately decided to include them, so I tagged 3 more songs onto the end to show what would have made it in if I didn't include them.
So here is 153-151 (including how many points / where I ranked the songs in their contest for context ~):
153 Florina 90 // FRENSHIP - 1000 Nights {1 point}
152 Lomaja 90 // Chrystina Sayers - From Here {2 points}
151 Beaverdonia 87 // Shreya Ghoshal and Osman Mir - Nagada Sang Dhol {6 points}
And here are my rankings of the 2016 entries for all the countries who have no songs in my top 150:
AJANAEDA
AJÁ ROSE - Paradise Blue > Skylife - Why (feat. Summer Rayne)
ALTERIA
Shiggy Jr. - Beautiful Life
RÉPUBLIQUE D'ASHTON
Brooke Candy - Happy Days > KITTY - Reach No Higher > Coco Morier - Dreamer > Walking On Cars - Speeding Cars > Evelina - Honey (feat. Mikael Gabriel) > Madison Beer - All For Love (feat. Jack & Jack) > Us The Duo - Slow Down Time > Lisa Ajax - Give Me That > Ella Sanoo - Leave This Town > Jana Kramer - I Hope It Rains
THE ACTUAL REPUBLIC OF BELLAMIA
Jesper Jenset - High > Ryan Lawrie - If Only > Shawn Hook - Sound Of Your Heart > Isac Elliot - Worth Something > The Ready Set - Good Enough > Catey Shaw - The Ransom (Tommy Walker Remix) > Maty Noyes - in my miNd > Joel Adams - Please Don't Go > Trevor Dahl - When You Come Home > Benjamin - Body
BHANGRA
Henri Pfr - Home > Karizma ONE - When Life Is Grey > Timeflies - Once In A While
BRECHTORIA
GLADES - Her (Loving You) > Stadiumx - Mombasa > The Boxer Rebellion - Big Ideas > Tigertown - Lonely Cities > Kelsea Ballerini - XO
BUBBLELANDS
Ta-Ra - ORION (feat. ISSUE)
BUZZJACK MOUNTAIN
Water Juice - In Love (feat. Audrey Graham) > The Snake - Wasting My Life (feat. Doctor Blind)
DAEHUN
IU - Twenty-Three > I.O.I - Very Very Very > Red Velvet - Russian Roulette > LUNA - Free Somebody > 9MUSES - Hurt Locker > GFRIEND - Rough > TAEYEON - Why > Girls' Generation - Gee > Namie Amuro - Hero > Jain - Come
DALISSKA
KNOWER - Hanging On
D'YERMAK'ER
Kiiara - Feels > Smerz - Because > Julia Knight - Ghost Of You > CAPPA - I'm Good > Terror Jr - Sugar > Sada Vidoo - The Actress > Frances Rose - Dangerous > Scavenger Hunt - River Runs Dry > RIVRS - Falling > Ryos - Where We Are (feat. KARRA)
F.D. ANĒNÉ
Martin Jensen - All I Wanna Do
FARAHTYN
Nigar Jamal - Herhalde (feat. Berksan)
FARC
Mahan Moin - Azizami > Salt Ashes - Save It > Patrick Hagenaar - Turn Back Time (Back To The Time) > MUNA - Winterbreak > Noella Nix - Someone > JONES - Hoops > morgxn - love you with the lights on (Monsieur Adi Remix)
FLORINA
FRENSHIP - 1000 Nights [#153] > Foreign Air - Echo > Echos - Gold
FLYNNONDA
Wolfie - Obi Wan > LKA - TURBULENCE > GRACE - I'M FINE > Mount Tyrant - One Night > Ruth Koleva - Oceans > Fickle Friends - Cry Baby > Magic Man - Paris > Panama Wedding - A Brand New Life > Alice Jemima - Electric > Them Swoops - Work Around It
FRANDOOT
Miya Folick - I Got Drunk
GREENFROZE
Perttu - Waves (feat. Alexandra) > The Girl And The Dreamcatcher - Make You Stay > Philter - Revolver (feat. Miriam Vaga) > PMMP - Lautturi > Alle Farben - Bad Ideas > Matilda - Ghost > That Poppy - Lowlife > A.KOR - Always > Vicetone - Anywhere I Go > Sody - Sorry
HENDINIA
Highasakite - Samurai Swords > SASHA ₴ѺѺ - Nightmare (feat. Tuesday Knight) > That Poppy - Money > Against The Current - Outsiders > CLMD - Dust (feat. Astrid S) > Mike Perry - The Ocean (feat. SHY Martin) > Love Thy Brother - Love Me Better (feat. Ariel Beesley)
ISCONIA
Alice Boman - Waiting
JAYRUSALEM
Keke Palmer - I Don't Belong To You
JOEDONIA
LANY - ILYSB
LOMAJA
Chrystina Sayers - From Here [#152] > HYOYEON, Min and Jo Kwon - Born To Be Wild (feat. JYP) > Kero Kero Bonito - Trampoline
NICELAND
Royce Lovett - I Wanna Love You > MÖWE and Daniel Nitt - Lovers Friends > AJR - I'm Not Famous
OJNOJ
Lao Ra - Bang Boom > Chelsea Lankes - Bullet
PROJ
Mystery Jets - Telomere
RAMRYNIA
Sabrina Carpenter - On Purpose > BB Diamond - Feeling > MY - White Water > Venior - Sugar Rush > The Japanese House - Face Like Thunder > Michaela May - 1954 > NEIKED - Sexual (feat. Dyo) > Cilia - Hardcore Heartbreak > Julian Perretta - Miracle > Just Kiddin - Fall For You
SANDEBÖRG
Peg Parnevik - We Are (Ziggy & Carola) > Helly Luv - Revolution > Ohlayindigo - Lullaby > Espen - Werk Like Beyoncé > Brooke - Golden > Ulrika - Oh Sally! > SMILO - Young Again > Lola Coca - Bad Girlfriend
SUMMERICIA
IGNEA - Alga > Dennis Sheperd and Sarah Lynn - Dive > Invader Girl - Stuck On Me > Keys&Cages - Invisible > Boston Bun - Paris Groove (feat. Mayer Hawthorne) > Generik - Late At Night > Genevieve - Colors (PLS&TY Remix) > Billie Ray Martin - The Glittering Gutter (Dave Audé Club Mix) > Hartebees - Justified (Sunrise Funk) (feat. Kaleena Zanders) > VYAN - Hard To Break
TAAHINO
Ghost Town - Spark > Beautiful Bodies - Capture & Release > Icon For Hire - Now You Know > Jule Vera - Die Trying > Fingertips - Kiss Me > Jeremy Shada, Shauna Case and Annie Sertich - Running Errands With My Mom > Tonight Alive - How Does It Feel? > Courage My Love - Stereo > Seven Lions - Lose Myself (feat. Lynn Gunn) > Crystalyne - Punks Don't Dance
TRIANGLEDONIA
TAI and Son Of 8 - In & Out > Tom Sawyer - Marihuana (Into This House) (Million Faces Remix) > The Him - Don't Leave Without Me (feat. Gia Koka) > Different Heaven - OMG > The Aces - Stuck > MaRLo - You And Me (feat. Chloe) > Manse - Freeze Time (feat. Alice Berg) > Alexa Lusader - Fantasy (Sokko Remix) > Emma Carn - Bad Boy Genes
UNOVIA
Atiye - Abrakadabra > Ali Barter - Far Away > Annalisa - Se Avessi Un Cuore > Jackie Tech - You Can Have It All > Baby K - Anna Wintour > Ricki-Lee - Mirage > Rachel Bloom - You Can Touch My Boobies (feat. Nicole Shabtai and Tess Paras) > FRENSHIP and Emily Warren - Capsize > Tal - Are We Awake
UTOPIA
Bleached - Sour Candy > Average White Band - When Will You Be Mine
ZAMINTON
Rykka - Movies
ZANMATONY
Metrik - Chasing Sunrise (feat. Elisabeth Troy) > Amber - Sexual (Li Da Di)
I shall reveal the other rankings as we get to each country's highest appearance in my countdown and will write a short bit of commentary for each of those countries, a bit like Iz's countdown but not in alphabetical order and maybe with not as many words ;o
I also made a ranking of my own entries:
PERSEPHONIA
The Shanghai Restoration Project - The Wandering Songstress (feat. Zhang Le) > Aron Can - Með Mér > Fallgrapp - Vlasy > Øfdream - Thelema > TWRR - Water Frozen > BOOTS - C.U.R.E. > Bachar Mar-Khalifé - Mirror Moon > Baby Blood - Figurine > Color Guard - In Your Bones > Digitalism - Blitz
My two most successful entries of the year are also by some distance my two favourites so hooray for people getting this right! Both songs that I was completely obsessed with for months and still spam regularly. I'm so glad 'The Wandering Songstress' was a big hit because I genuinely had no clue how it would go down but I just had to send it as it was one of the most gorgeous pieces of music I'd ever come across while searching for BJSC entries. 'Með Mér' is rather different sounding but such a huge earworm (I've learnt all the words!!1 phonetically at least lmao), and again one that surprised me a lot in actually doing pretty well. The pattern doesn't continue after that though as 'Figurine' was my 3rd biggest hit but I actually think that was a relatively weak end to the year for me, ranking only 8th (I still love it and all, can never go wrong with some spooky synths, I just feel like I won't go back to it as much as most of these). 'Vlasy' completes my top 3 of standout foreign language entries, this one actually wasn't even one I instantly loved when I came across it, but it was interesting enough to keep drawing me back to it and it wormed its way into my affections after a couple of listens. 'Thelema', in 4th, was much more of an instant love track and I think it's rather underrated considering witchy tracks have otherwise mostly done really well this year, but then I suppose 'Thelema' doesn't have as much to it as most of them, it just relies on a mostly unchanging spooky rhythm. I don't have an issue with unchanging rhythms though. I mean, I loved 'Mutter'. x 'Water Frozen' completes my top 5, a bit of a cold and moody track which I still think I maybe should have saved for the winter but it did well enough for itself anyway, it's all about the build to the delicious instrumental near the end 'C.U.R.E.' comes in 6th, felt good to send in an out and out male-vocalled hip hop track without a pop hook and somehow not completely flop. 'Mirror Moon' was always pretty doomed in retrospect but I'm not gonna be predictable and rank it last out of my entries because I still have a lot of love for it, the vocals are a bit marmite I guess but I still absolutely adore the pianos and the way it builds. The last 2 are quite far behind the rest, I don't disown them completely but I do regret sending them a bit as I usually like to try and send ~distinctive~ songs and while 'In Your Bones' is a pretty good and catchy little indie synthpop number and 'Blitz' is still a banger, ultimately they're both pretty standard songs which have been done many times before and a lot better. It's especially a shame I chose to send something as generic as 'Blitz' to BJSC 82, a contest that was otherwise defined by nearly everyone sending bonkers and unique tracks, which made it my favourite contest of the year, spoiled only by myself. Oops. xx But yes, on the whole... what a great country!!
(my commentary is not gonna be that verbose for everyone... or if it is, this is not gonna get finished lol)
150-101 coming tomorrow probably.
The mystery continues
Will you be also doing a "worst of the year" countdown? If memory serves me right, the countries that have entered at least 9 times this year and don't have a song in your best end up having a song in your worst
I applaud the amount of effort you're going to and now 9/10 of my songs in the mix *.*
Actually lemme get this started tonight with 150-126.
2016 EOY 150-126:
150 St. Burbia 81 // Bishop Briggs - Wild Horses {1 point}
149 Beaverdonia 81 // Alfons - Ganjaman {8 points}
148 Jukianië 87 // GNUČČI - Work! {10 points}
147 Espen 81 // Dahlia Sleeps - Hessian {didn't save my rankings for this semi-final oops ~}
146 Tartford 86 // Marsheaux - Safe Tonight {6 points}
145 Terra Avium 81 // U.S. Girls - Woman's Work {didn't save my rankings for this semi-final oops ~}
144 Cumulonimbia 82 // Sasha - Xpander {ranked 16th}
143 Terra Avium 82 // tiasu - Plummet {1 point}
142 Tinnmark 83 // Rockettothesky - Grizzly Man {4 points in semi-final}
141 Pupok 88 // Claudia Kane - Einstein {3 points}
140 Desbuanda 89 // Lilyer - I Was On Your Side {4 points}
139 Fljótavík 83 // Olga Bell - Randomness {7 points}
138 Mulgracia 88 // Monarchy - Dance Like Hell {5 points}
137 Avalonia 82 // Thomas Bergersen - Children Of The Sun (feat. Merethe Soltvedt) {3 points}
136 FKA FKA FKA π 89 // Francis And The Lights - I Want You To Shake {ranked 8th in opposite semi-final}
135 Ethanola 87 // Green Velvet - Bigger Than Prince (Hot Since 82 Remix) {2 points in semi-final}
134 Tartford 83 // Jody Wisternoff - The Bridge (Chicane Rework) (feat. Sian Evans) {ranked 14th in opposite semi-final}
133 Kingdom of Horanius 88 // The Opposites - Licht Uit {4 points in semi-final}
132 Suedeonia 83 // Weather Report - Birdland {7 points in semi-final}
131 Deandria 88 // Maya's Moving Castle - When You Wish Upon The Stars {ranked 5th in opposite semi-final}
130 Pagasa 90 // Marineros - Torbellino {ranked 8th in opposite semi-final}
129 Deandria 90 // Vogel - Hologram {5 points in semi-final}
128 Singerpurear 88 // Kadie Elder - First Time He Kissed A Boy {4 points}
127 St. Burbia 82 // Jorja Smith - Blue Lights {ranked 18th}
126 Trifoski 86 // Pillow Person - Go Ahead {9 points}
So who have we seen the last of here...
JUKIANIË
GNUČČI - Work! [#148] > LL - Lie > Dirtcaps - Bad Habit (feat. Tjindjara) > Teyana Taylor - Undercover
I guess Jukianië eventually got tired of the constant flopping and don't enter too much any more. Aww. The clear highlight from them this year was 'Work!', one of a trio of bonkers and brilliant in-your-face bangers in its contest alongside Die Antwoord and Little Big although it didn't catch on near as much as them for whatever reason. Poor hens. At least it qualified though... of their trio of DNQs, 'Lie' was a very ~nice~ song albeit doomed, 'Bad Habit' was ok but was basically an inferior clone of 'Fools Paradise' and 'Undercover' I didn't really get at all despite the urbanswag.
MULGRACIA
Monarchy - Dance Like Hell [#138] > Chairlift - Moth To The Flame > Cobi - Don't You Cry For Me > Ariana And The Rose - Survival Of The Fittest > Off Bloom - Love To Hate It > Angels & Airwaves - Chasing Shadows > Kaskade and CID - Us > Project 46 - Beautiful (It Hurts) > Phoebe Ryan - Chronic
Mulgracia have really come a long way since they stopped sending dreadful generic dance every month, I generally quite enjoy their new brand of serviceable alt-pop, hoping for some more next year that maybe goes a bit further and actually gets my votes. 'Moth To The Flame', 'Survival Of The Fittest' and 'Love To Hate It' are all cut of that cloth and are about the same level of quite good, as is 'Don't You Cry For Me' which is a pretty decent Hozier pastiche. 'Dance Like Hell' stands head and shoulders above the rest as the only one I voted for, very infectious Inbetweeners-soundtrack-y tune there. 'Chasing Shadows' just sounded like one of blink-182's less essential songs, not that memorable but not bad. The less said about those last 3 songs the better really... 'Us' was ALRIGHT for what it was I guess, 'Beautiful (It Hurts)' was your standard crappy Mulgracia dance entry of old and 'Chronic' was pretty painful (Phoebe Ryan needs to stop the whole singing thing). But on the whole, an improvement this year James.
AVALONIA
Thomas Bergersen - Children Of The Sun (feat. Merethe Soltvedt) [#137] > Janina Gavankar - Waiting For Godot > Symphobia - I Do > of Verona - Better With You > Joy Williams - Before I Sleep > Deborah Iurato - Sono Ancora Io > Nicole Skye - Terminate > Philippa Hanna - Arrow > Carina Dahl - Burning (BRND Remix) > Silver Cities - Lights
I guess we've seen the last of Avalonia now... at least this was longer than their original 2 contest run and they did churn out a few pretty good tracks this year. The big highlight is obviously the epic 'Children Of The Sun' (and also their other Thomas Bergersen entry in the Instrumentals spinoff which was even better - Bergersen/Two Steps From Hell is best appreciated with no vocals to distract, as nice as Merethe's voice is), rightfully their biggest hit, and their other top 10 with 'I Do' is also among their best, a pretty neat classical sample there. 'Waiting For Godot' from the start of the year was a shame of a DNQ, wasn't too far off being a second top 150 entry for them here, a surprisingly interesting song, nice semi-obscure literary reference. 'Better With You' and 'Before I Sleep' are both pretty cool moody alty poppy songs, of Verona have better songs ('Castles' and 'Dark In My Imagination') but this one was another pretty good one from them. 'Sono Ancora Io' was a grower and I like the foreign language but it was a bit of a damp song to end their BJSC run with. 'Terminate' was ok as a 'Dark Horse' ripoff, 'Arrow' is surprisingly decent for something bordering on standard country pop, 'Burning' and 'Lights' were both listenable but not anything standout (Silver Cities pretty much screamed Taahino reject) so not shocking DNQs. Avalonia are (were) probably better than the 3 points I've given them ever makes them out to be.
KINGDOM OF HORANIUS
The Opposites - Licht Uit [#133]
Just the one main contest entry from them as they remain very sporadic in the forum, a new Alteria I guess. Hoping for more from them as Dutch rap was not what I expected from Maurice in BJSC but I LIKED IT. Good production and catchy hook. Thumbs up.
PAGASA
Marineros - Torbellino [#130] > KING - The Greatest > The Range - Florida
Another one that I hope will be less sporadic in 2017 (come back in 92 and don't get banned again please!!), Pagasa really have the potential to be an incredible nation. Three very solid entries from them here, my bias towards ~Iberian~ vocals means 'Torbellino' is my favourite by far, kind of reminded me of a song I was going to send once (I'll send a Spanish entry one day), really gorgeous. 'The Greatest' and 'Florida' are also both really good although missing just something to make them properly stand out as GREAT entries, 'Florida' in particular had a slight unfinished demo sound to it. If Pagasa come back and keep going down this road though I foresee many great entries from them in the future. x
I am writing too much. x
~~~
In other news Persephonia's TBO run is over for the year as Bachar Mar-Khalifé's 'Mirror Moon' unsurprisingly failed to get a spot in the Rejects final, while The Shanghai Restoration Project's 'The Wandering Songstress' (feat. Zhang Le) did way better than we expected in TBO semi-final 1, coming 18th with 102 points (only 3 short of a qualification slot). Whose idea was it for only 15 songs to qualify from a 40 song semi-final :'( Thanks for anyone who voted for any of our tracks anyway, we hope to return to a final of one of them next year. x
Ooh a brilliant start to proceedings. But I would expect nothing less with how similar our taste is!
My ultimate highlights from this section are: 'Woman's Work', 'Xpander', 'Einstein', 'Randomness', 'Dance Like Hell', 'Children Of The Sun', 'The Bridge', 'Hologram' and 'Go Ahead' So I'm glad that you expanded to a top 150 as there were a hell of a lot more good songs that could be packed in!
Really pleased in particular that 'The Bridge' has crept up on you I underestimated it at the time as well but it really shines now.
'Torbellino' would actually be last in my Pagasa rank as opposed to your first, but it's a testament to the high quality of their entries so far as I still voted for it and enjoy it very much!
Loving the paragraphs! there is no such thing as too much writing *.*
Moving on with another EOY post because what else is there to do on Xmas Day
2016 EOY 125-101:
125 Espen 83 // L.E.J - La Dalle {ranked 16th}
124 Hushkanukia 85 // Kristina Si - Kosmos {3 points}
123 Vülkyria 84 // The Flavor - Shosholoza {7 points}
122 What 81 // KONTRUST - Sock 'N' Doll {6 points}
121 Quintessa 82 // Gina Kushka - Bring It Down {ranked 23rd}
120 Jadakissnia 85 // OVERWERK - Toccata {8 points}
119 Séyetana 84 // Eluveitie - The Call Of The Mountains {8 points}
118 Trifoski 88 // La Femme - Sphynx {6 points}
117 Thelonia 90 // LeBrock - One Night {8 points in semi-final}
116 Cumulonimbia 81 // NZCA LINES - Two Hearts {10 points}
115 N DNTN 87 // Kitty - 285 {7 points}
114 FKA FKA FKA π 83 // Dinamo Azari - Cyan (feat. S.Y.F and Fritz Helder) {10 points}
113 Beaverdonia 85 // Bang La Decks - Aide {7 points}
112 Cor Lupus 83 // Rain Man - Bring Back The Summer (feat. Oly) {6 points}
111 Bøtanikkä 85 // LP - Lost On You (Live) {6 points}
110 N DNTN 89 // Nadia Tehran - Cash Flow {9 points}
109 Kluminican Republic 83 // Pogo - Mellow Brick Road {9 points}
108 Aeroche 82 // Holy Esque - Tear {4 points}
107 Deandria 86 // Blackbriar - Until Eternity {7 points}
106 Aeroche 87 // Little Big - Hateful Love {9 points}
105 Cadelicia 87 // Die Antwoord - Banana Brain {8 points}
104 St. Burbia 87 // Zack Knight and Jasmin Walia - Dum Dee Dum {12 points}
103 Fljótavík 88 // Agnes Obel - Familiar {2 points}
102 Aelandor 89 // Sœur - Pass Out {2 points}
101 Bignia-Zaragovina 82 // White Night Ghosts - Hope {5 points}
The following countries have their highest ranked entries in this section:
HUSHKANUKIA
Kristina Si - Kosmos [#124] > K.Flay - Can't Sleep > FRANKIE - Gold > Emji - Lost > Hanne Mjøen - Perfect Noise > Cardiknox - Wild Child > COSBY - YEAH! > Starling Glow - Caution Tape > April Ivy - Be Ok > Jillea - Shattered
Nothing particularly bad from Hushky this year. The top 2 both sneaked into my votes, 'Kosmos' is a clear highlight, a lovely foreign language ballad with a hard-hitting chorus, should have done much better in its contest. 'Can't Sleep' is also a pretty fab poppy rappy song although just misses out on the top 150. I have a soft spot for FRANKIE for whatever reason despite her making the sort of pop I usually don't like, 'Gold' wasn't as good as 'New Obsession' but was still a thoroughly enjoyable little song, and 'Lost' is a bit similar to 'Kosmos' in having a great chorus (and that middle 8 *.*) although it's a bit let down by its verses. The quality trails off a bit from there as the other 6 songs are all pretty much in the same basket of fairly decent but ultimately inessential and throwaway pop songs. But yes, at least there was no Ashley Allen moment.
VÜLKYRIA
The Flavor - Shosholoza [#123] > Lushington - You Got Me Baby > Cruels - Give It Up (feat. Salt Ashes) > LU2VYK - 90's > Debris - Game Over
Where oh where is Vülker I wonder. Actually I stalked his Facebook the other day and found he's still alive so maybe he'll be back again around Eurovision time - we miss you, come back to us!!1 Vülkyria are certainly capable of some good entries, their two big hits of the year were both well deserved - 'Shosholoza' was a lovely Dario G / Lion King vibes track and an inspired choice by them, I do tend to love African-flavoured dance tracks as we'll see with a few more of them still to come in the countdown, and 'You Got Me Baby' was a bit of a bop even if not a patch on the much more interesting 'Settle Down' for me. The rest of their entries this year... not as good. 'Give It Up' is pretty much a nothing of a song, but that beats out the other two which are examples of Vülkyria's tendency to occasionally send in some obnoxious rackets.
WHAT
KONTRUST - Sock 'N' Doll [#122]
It's kind of amazing in retrospect that we were even able to convince What to provide us with a second entry, I assume we're not going to be seeing them around these parts again. I loved 'Sock 'N' Doll' a lot more than 'Justice For Saint Mary', a wonderfully bonkers bit of metal with a great video and it was a joy to see it doing so well (and actually not getting the deduction in the final!!), of course I knew it already via plug.dj but it was too good to be confined to there. I hope to hear some more ~crazy~ musical discoveries of Blake's in the future even if not in BJSC.
THELONIA
LeBrock - One Night [#117] > Dub Fx - So Are You > Fether - Tides > KLP - Recover (feat. Remi) > Wild Belle - Throw Down Your Guns > Jauz and Netsky - Higher > Flux Pavilion - Never See The Light (feat. Andrea Martin)
Poor Thelonia didn't have much luck with only two qualifiers this year. My favourite from them was 'One Night', a glorious bit of retro synth that really deserved so much more than it got in the last contest, the best entry from them since their debut with Marian Hill (originally thought it might have overtaken that in my affections but I don't think it quite has), I guess the vocals may have been a bit divisive but I think they worked well on the track. 'So Are You' was a fun and different qualifier, a bit Showtek-y and a bit surprised it never turned up on the Radio 1 playlist as I've always thought it sounded like something they'd spam but would ultimately do nothing in the charts. 'Tides' was lovely, not the most memorable song ever but just had a relisten to it and it was nice to hear again, also relistened to 'Recover' as I didn't really remember it at all and it's far better than I remember it being, slightly dodgy rap section aside, it's a shame the whole token drum n bass hit phase seems to be over. 'Throw Down Your Guns' is ok but I don't like it as much as my Wild Belle entry and even that is one of my least favourites of my own entries now, the chorus falls a bit flat for me. 'Higher' is pretty much another one of those obnoxious rackets that I complain about Vülkyria sending (maybe a little bit better than those) although it's still a bit surprising that it didn't qualify, and 'Never See The Light' was deeply disappointing as I usually really like Flux Pavilion but there was nothing to this one.
KLUMINICAN REPUBLIC
Pogo - Mellow Brick Road [#109] > ODESZA - It's Only (feat. Zyra) > Jetta - I'd Love To Change The World (Matstubs Remix) > DENM - Green > Møme - Aloha (feat. Merryn Jeann) > BLEITCH - Speaking Of Moments > Billie Eilish - ocean eyes (Young Bombs Remix) > Mason Jennings - How Deep Is That River > wens - Bones
Too many of Klum Rep's best entries this year DNQed! The pretty gorgeous 'It's Only' (better than the other more successful ODESZA/Zyra song IMO) and 'I'd Love To Change The World' were both surprising and disappointing DNQs that weren't far off this top 150, at least the latter has some redemption in making the Rejects final. 'Green' DNQing was less of a shock but I still really like it, very underrated entry, fab production. Their one DNQ that was a little bit questionable was 'How Deep Is That River', a curious choice if it actually wasn't an intentional attempt to flop as hard as possible, it's vaguely pleasant I suppose and might make a nice bit of album filler~ Their best of the year thankfully did make it in though, 'Mellow Brick Road' was a big standout and bringing back memories of the iconic Lemon Jelly with that retro vocal sample and hold music vibes (in a good way). 'Aloha' is quite good too with its chilled out tropical sound, deserved better than bottom 2. I don't care much for their other qualifiers, 'Speaking Of Moments' seems like a bit of a random one to be their biggest hit of the year as it's pretty standard forgettable blog pop (though not near to the extent that 'Bones' is, and I thought Klumzee didn't like vague songs!!), and 'ocean eyes' is nice and ok and grew on me a bit but I'm yet to be that impressed by Young Bombs' various remixes.
ST. BURBIA
Zack Knight and Jasmin Walia - Dum Dee Dum [#104] > Jorja Smith - Blue Lights [#127] > Bishop Briggs - Wild Horses [#150] > Sarah Mark - Tun Up > The Free - Freedom Island > Bearson - Want You (feat. Cal) > iSHi - There For Me (feat. Shenie Fogo) > Alisha Pillay - Mayday > MAALA - Kind Of Love > Basenji - Can't Get Enough
The first country to drop out with more than one entry in my EOY, St. Burbia actually sneak three songs in the top 150 but none of them quite make my top 100 (so they're lucky I extended it!!1) The iconic piece of trash that is 'Dum Dee Dum' is on top, it is the lowest ranked song to have got as high as 12 points from me as the appeal of it is just a little bit novelty but it is a genuine bop, I can't not love anything Punjabi-flavoured. A couple of more serious entries from the start of the year also make the cut, the Dizzee Rascal sampling chilled urban offering 'Blue Lights' which has grown on me even more after its little bit of TBO success even though it missed out on my points in the strongest contest of the year, and 'Wild Horses' which scrapes into the top 150 as one of the better blogpop offerings of the year, a bit of chart success for both Jorja Smith and Bishop Briggs wouldn't go amiss as both are promising new artists~ Completing my top 5 Burbia songs of 2016 are two island vibes tracks which I disliked on first listen but both of which grew on me substantially, 'Tun Up' is undeniably catchy and would have made a decent Cover Drive single or something, and 'Freedom Island' does have some kind of charm to it despite being pretty basic tropical house, maybe I just like it more since discovering The Free is from Sudan, gotta love exotic nationalities in BJSC *.* 'Want You' was also a bit of a grower, initially blending in with about 500 other similar bland dancey songs in its contest but it started to stand out more with extra listens, it's pretty decent really. 'There For Me' and 'Mayday' are both alright and I thought they'd do much better than they did. 'Kind Of Love' is pretty eh. I really really really don't like 'Can't Get Enough', like it actually offends my ears a little bit, it's just too sickly and egh idk. Can very much get enough. x
BIGNIA-ZARAGOVINA
White Night Ghosts - Hope [#101] > Ryan Beatty - Passion > Hayden Calnin - For My Help > Jeremy Messersmith - Ghost > Jessarae - No Warning > StrangeFaces - Swimming > Marcus & Martinus - Elektrisk (feat. Katastrofe) > Greyson Chance - Back On The Wall > Sing Street - Drive It Like You Stole It > Chord Overstreet - Homeland
Poor Bignia-Zaragovina have had a terrible run this year which really wasn't deserved, why do we treat our mods other than Ryan this way? x Their biggest hit of the year is also their best, 'Hope' only JUST misses out on a spot in my top 100, to be honest I'm not sure I buy that Jáhq even likes this song because it's so far removed from everything else he's ever sent and actually sounds like one of the more experimental entries by someone like Fljótavík, but it was a wonderful discovery anyway, another example of why BJSC 82 was so great 'Passion' was a good Troye Sivan-ish track which I thought would have qualified. The next few songs are all of their doomed indie entries which unsurprisingly floundered near the bottom of their semi-finals but they were all pretty good, I guess there just isn't really a market for that kind of sound in BJSC. 'Elektrisk' I actually thought was alright, it's a bit naff but it's good fun. 'Back On The Wall' just sounded like one of Joseph's less good entries (Joseph triggered), a bit neither here nor there ~ the last two songs are the only ones that truly deserved to flop, 'Drive It Like You Stole It' was pure cheese that did not need to be freed from the context of the film, and 'Homeland' is just the absolute opposite of my thing.
The effort you're going to *.* I should have checked all of this before now, very pleased to see Eluveitie in here as well, and a great entry for the best of your own in The Wandering Songstress, a true beauty of a song. And plenty of amazing entries from everyone else too.
Ooh lookie there's the first of my appearances *.* Glad that you extended your top 100 now so that 'Toccata' could get a look in as I just love it so much <3 It was fun going down the spooky route a few times this year.
Other major highlights here are 'Sock 'N' Doll', 'Sphynx', 'Two Hearts', 'Cyan', 'Banana Brain' and 'Hope'
think that's enough tension for the next section
2016 EOY 100-76:
100 South Danaelanda 90 // Basto - Gregory's Theme {5 points}
99 Jadakissnia 89 // FEYNMAN - 1-800MYLOVE {5 points}
98 N DNTN 88 // RAYE - Shhh {7 points}
97 Desbuanda 88 // A R I Z O N A - Cross My Mind {3 points in semi-final}
96 Cor Lupus 82 // Pixel Fix - You Settle Me {ranked 8th in opposite semi-final}
95 Syndare 86 // Calypso - Numbered {2 points in semi-final}
94 Fljótavík 81 // Arthur Beatrice - Who Returned {12 points in semi-final}
93 Ultraviolenceland 88 // Liv Dawson - Still {8 points}
92 Dobago 88 // T2Kazuya - Youth {9 points}
91 Espen 89 // Mashrou' Leila - Kalam (H4Z3 Private Mix) {4 points in semi-final}
90 Aelandor 85 // Said The Sky - Nostalgia (feat. Missio) {2 points in semi-final}
89 Suedeonia 89 // Superwalkers - Lost (As I Am) {10 points}
88 Varakë 86 // De̊ǰa - Luststruck {4 points in semi-final}
87 Kylienips 82 // Sevdaliza - That Other Girl {6 points}
86 Beaverdonia 89 // The Eden Project - Chasing Ghosts {8 points in semi-final}
85 Land of DW 81 // Lucian and REMMI - Bobby K {11 points}
84 Bøtanikkä 83 // Kungs vs. Cookin' On 3 Burners - This Girl {ranked 23rd}
83 Tartford 82 // Metronomy - The Look {9 points}
82 Republic of Adonia 89 // Lorn - Acid Rain {7 points}
81 Pupok 84 // Rich White Ladies - Wimbledon {9 points}
80 Tartford 90 // Luce Drayton - To Be Loved (Disco Citizens Remix) {6 points in semi-final}
79 N DNTN 82 // The Swiss - Kiss To Kiss (Amtrac Remix) {8 points}
78 Trifoski 81 // Great Good Fine Ok - Take It Or Leave It {5 points}
77 Jadakissnia 86 // Tuna - Seret Aravi {ranked 6th in opposite semi-final}
76 Bøtanikkä 90 // Ratty - Sunrise (Here I Am) {7 points}
Making their highest appearances here we have:
SOUTH DANAELANDA
Basto - Gregory's Theme [#100] > Tobtok - Aber > Maceo Plex - Mirror Me (feat. C.A.R) > Mr FijiWiji, Direct and Aruna - Time To Say Goodbye > Paperwhite - Get Away > Croatia Squad and Lika Morgan - Make Your Move > TheFatRat - Monody (feat. Laura Brehm) > Mickey - It's My Man > Avicii - Dear Boy > Steve James - In My Head (feat. RKCB)
(South) Dan continued to generally provide higher quality entries in the spinoffs than the main contests, although there were still a good few tunes to be found among their main entries. 'Gregory's Theme' is the easy highlight of them, a brilliant euphoric instrumental that would slot in nicely with Swedish House Mafia's singles, was great to see someone eventually sending it to BJSC and it doing so well. Their other instrumental 'Aber' comes second for me, another very infectious rhythm sadly a DNQ although it picked up a point from me in the Rejects just now. Their other DNQ of the year 'Time To Say Goodbye' is also among my faves from them of 2016 (also getting a bit of Rejects justice thankfully), a really nice chill dance track, not quite as good as 'Yours Truly' though. Between the two DNQs here is the deliciously retro and #longsongbloc offering 'Mirror Me'. Beyond the top four there are a few more decent tracks: Dan's dabbling into non-dance with 'Get Away', a solidly decent blogpop track although not one that stood out much in the bonkers BJSC 82, 'Make Your Move' which was a pretty good if inessential new version of that one Junior Jack song, 'Monody' which was their biggest hit but has never fully clicked with me, it's good but just sounds like a slightly inferior version of 'Windfall' with some pointless vocals (shoot me), and 'It's My Man' was pretty ok too. I've just listened to the full version of 'Dear Boy' for the first time in the hopes it might make it sound better but it's still not doing much for me, Avicii is very hit or miss for me and this was very much a miss despite MØ's involvement. And finally 'In My Head' was pretty much entirely forgettable. But overall a good year for them, I hope I'll be able to get behind more of their entries in a bigger way in 2017.
ULTRAVIOLENCELAND
Liv Dawson - Still [#93] > SKIES - Drone > Ana Mena - No Soy Como Tú Crees > Casi - Lion > Paulina Rubio - Mi Nuevo Vicio (feat. Morat) > NIMMO - Dilute This > FLETCHER - Over My Head > ARIA - Maze > Lauren Aquilina - How Would You Like It? > Lucy Hale - Lie A Little Better
It was lovely that Ultraviolenceland finally did the seemingly impossible and bagged themselves a top 10 at the end of the year as it would be pretty crummy to be stuck with a 2x #11 peak. Their three biggest hits, though, are all in the less good half of their 2016 entries for me - 'Dilute This' is a pretty good and catchy Years & Years clone (better than some of Y&Y's actual singles xx) and comes in 6th for me, 'Maze' is ok but just another unspectacular blogpop song and comes in 8th, and 'Lie A Little Better'... yeah I was never gonna be a fan obviously, easily their worst of the year. Also down there in 9th is 'How Would You Like It?', I actually thought her previous BJSC entries were very good for what they were but this one was a bit more just 'pleasant', and 'Over My Head' is 7th, an improvement on 'War Paint' and a pretty nice little song but still inessential. The top 5 here are all pretty good though. My soft spot for Spanish language songs kicked in for 'Mi Nuevo Vicio' and even moreso for 'No Soy Como Tú Crees' by the iconic Spanish Meghan Trainor, that one just missed out on points from me in its contest. In between those two is 'Lion', a solid pop song with a fab chorus, although a slightly creepy video. The top two are the major highlights though (and not coincidentally they're the two that sound the least like songs I'd expect Sam to like, no offence ), 'Drone' is a wonderful soaring indie pop moment which also just missed out on my points, but of course my fave from UVland this year - and ever - has to be 'Still', the only one I pointed, gotta love the silky smooth Shanks & Bigfoot / Jamala esque production and the cute lyrics. As if it got 0 points in TBO, you wot?
AELANDOR
Said The Sky - Nostalgia (feat. Missio) [#90] > Sœur - Pass Out [#102] > Bear's Den - Above The Clouds Of Pompeii > Five Iron Frenzy - Into Your Veins > Imperial Leisure - Man On The Street > Fireflight - Unbreakable > Relient K - Cat
I thought 'Pass Out' had become my favourite of Aelandor's entries to date as well as their most successful, and it does take a slot just outside the top 100, but after revisiting it again a couple of times recently I've reverted back to my favourite being their second entry 'Nostalgia', I can't help but fall for these huge building melodic dubstep entries in BJSC, but I seem to be alone in that because they ALWAYS bloody DNQ, see also Crywolf twice, 'Spirals', and another song I'll mention a little further down this post... just how could people not be taken by the glorious last minute of 'Nostalgia'? Even if it's a liiittle slow before that. Anyway, 'Pass Out' of course did qualify (at last! let's let Aelandor qualify more than once in 2017 maybe ~) as it galvanised the support of the rockbloc and got a couple of points from us too, lovely to hear some grunge in the contest, although for some reason I always get the song muddled up with Zhala's 'Holy Bubbles' in my head despite them sounding almost nothing alike (both good songs though). As for their other DNQs: 'Above The Cloud Of Pompeii' is a nice Mumfordy singalong track, I think Radio 1 kinda stanned it? sounds like something they would if not. 'Into Your Veins' was a good Offspring pastiche~, an intriguing if doomed debut entry. Then the next two songs I actually didn't rate much in their contests but after listening back they're a lot better than I remembered, especially 'Man On The Street' with its hint of Madness. 'Unbreakable' is nothing super special but it's hard to go too far wrong with that sound, it's about the same level of decent as... most Taahino entries. Which leaves me unexpectedly ranking 'Cat' as my least favourite Aelandor entry so far, it's a kinda fun song and CATS but it hasn't held up that well in my affections, was a bit of an odd choice to be their one Rejects qualifier. Solid first year anyway, if not yet surpassing Séyetana for me. x
VARAKË
De̊ǰa - Luststruck [#88]
FFS Varakë racists! All you had to do was just let them qualify ONE time and they might have stuck with us again. I pray we've not yet seen the very last of them in the contest because I have really liked almost all of their entries, and their sole offering for 2016 was no exception, returning to De̊ǰa who were also the first act they ever sent to the contest. 'Luststruck' is another wonderful song from them with a haunting and ethereal~ vibe to it, maybe not as good as 'Heart' but I think I actually prefer it to 'Still Falling'. Was a nice surprise Rejects qualifier anyway.
KYLIENIPS
Sevdaliza - That Other Girl [#87] > Juventa - Superhuman (Culture Code Remix) (feat. Kelly Sweet) > Cruel Youth - Hatefuck > Antony & Cleopatra - Love Is A Lonely Dancer > Veorra - Silk > Skott - Porcelain > Icon For Hire - Supposed To Be > Elohim - Xanax > Danrell - White Noise (feat. Ryder) > Adam Jensen - Drugs
Kylienips had lots of entries last year that seemed to have potential to be really good but just weren't entirely there - 'Silk', 'Porcelain' and 'Xanax' in particular all have some really good parts (especially the instrumental parts of 'Silk' and the chorus of 'Porcelain') but as a full package they didn't totally come together, and 'Supposed To Be' was probably one of the least good of the female voxed rock entries of the year, nothing wrong with it but it just lacked any real grabbing points, certainly much less interesting than 'Now You Know'. They did get it all right on one occasion though with 'That Other Girl' which combines some wonderfully sultry vox with an eargasm of a breakdown *.* and it had some cool visuals to boot. 'Superhuman' was also another pretty great dubstep entry (okay perhaps they don't always DNQ, but the best of them always seem to), 'Hatefuck' was a surprisingly classy offering reminding me a bit of Lana Del Rey (and managing to overcome my visceral hatred of Natalia Kills) and 'Love Is A Lonely Dancer' was a good retro dance jam. On the less good end of the spectrum, 'White Noise' is a bit of a racket, and 'Drugs' takes the biscuit as being one of fairly few songs to be quite literally LAUGHABLY bad, I genuinely laughed out loud at how weak the drop was the first time I heard it, it sounded like a parody. Maybe it shouldn't be ranked last here for its novelty value alone. But yeah, not a good song. x
BEAVERDONIA
The Eden Project - Chasing Ghosts [#86] > Bang La Decks - Aide [#113] > Alfons - Ganjaman [#149] > Shreya Ghoshal and Osman Mir - Nagada Sang Dhol [#151] > Mazoo And The Zoo - I Tígri > Gia Woods - Only A Girl > Daughter - Medicine > Embody - Dreamin' (feat. Camden Cox) > geO Louis - Him
Beaver(skank)donia got really good last year, why oh why is beaverism still a thing? Starting off with that other massive melodic dubstep DNQ I mentioned in my Aelandor write-up, I am so lost as to how 'Chasing Ghosts' managed to DNQ as well, I was adding up the results for this contest and kept hoping its other big fans were just around the corner but alas it fell a bit short. Boo. That's their only appearance in my top 100 but three more of their entries get positions. Their contest winner 'Aide' comes in as my 4th favourite winner of the year, a brilliant bit of genre-bending craziness which slays me in all kind of ways with all of its different drops. A real moment when it won, as it of course signalled the coming of the fabled BeaverJSC (#thealoeveracactusplantgrowslop-sided) *.* Also sneaking into the top 150 just about is the iconic 'Ganjaman' (don't do drugs kids), if only that had made its way into the UK charts. And juuuuust missing out on giving them a 4th top 150 appearance is 'Nagada Sang Dhol', I can never say no to a good Bollywood bop, so glad a few of them have qualified even if they never do well in the final. Moving on, the aforementioned coming of the BeaverJSC meant Mazoo And The Zoo finally achieved some justice for their moral winner 'I Kamíla' as they got their AQ slot with moral winner 'I Tígri', another track from them which I genuinely enjoy on some level (with a bit of irony for good measure), not quite as much of an earworm but with some additional Indian flavours of its own. I simply demand a Mazoo trilogy be completed in 2017!! And another song which got into my votes, 'Only A Girl' is a good Lorde-alike #tenniscourtanthem though I haven't gone back to it much since the contest. 'Medicine' is a very lovely song too. The Beav's only real missteps in 2016 were the last two, 'Dreamin'' is not BAD but just exceedingly basic really which isn't a good look on Beaverdonia, and 'Him' was, er, a thing. Which was very annoying and rightfully bombed out. Beaverism is only justified for that. Other than that... #barnstompers!!
REPUBLIC OF ADONIA
Lorn - Acid Rain [#82] > Dusky - Ingrid Is A Hybrid > Jane Zhang - Dust My Shoulders Off (feat. Timbaland) > Anna Of The North - The Dreamer > dumblonde - dreamsicle > Hayley Kiyoko - Gravel To Tempo > OH MY GIRL - Liar Liar
Cult favourite 'Acid Rain' is the clear highlight of the Republic's output for 2016, with its spooky and enchanting production and again the same kind of haunting and ethereal vibe as 'Luststruck', thankfully picking up a few more fans on this occasion and even becoming a surprise TBO semi-finalist. And... well, Republic of Adonia had another surprise TBO semi-finalist as well didn't they :') let's not go there again lest I trigger my PTSD (poor 'Scope'). 'Gravel To Tempo' actually isn't even a bad song but there is just nothing to it, far inferior to her previous entries IMO, and it's beaten to the punch for Adonia's worst entry of 2016 by the rather irritating 'Liar Liar'. Back to the good end, 'Ingrid Is A Hybrid' was another great slice of sample-filled electronica from Dusky (though not quite as great as 'Yoohoo'), I like to pretend it didn't get that deduction and was actually a top 10 hit as it'd be faaaar more deserved than the song that got in instead. 'Dust My Shoulders Off' was a much better Asian offering, can't really argue with Timbaland produx and a simple but catchy chorus, and of course that video *.* Their other two entries this year tend to slip my memory entirely, I was recently reminded of 'The Dreamer' by Rejects and it was better than I remembered it being although I've gone and totally forgotten how it goes again :') but yeah, a decent enough blogpop song I guess but no tears shed over its DNQ. 'dreamsicle' is okay too although also a bit nothingy, as far as post-Danity Kane projects go I think I'll stick with Dawn Richard. Hope to see a full slate of 10 entries from Adonia in 2017, they seem to be getting the hang of voting on time recently ;o
75-51 next time I get around to posting a section (might be on hold until after exams). We'll get there eventually.
FEYNMAN and Tuna showing up here *.* So glad that FEYNMAN grew on you in the end, came worryingly close to the first finalist of mine that you hadn't voted for! I totally get why it was such a grower though when it has quite a few different components to it ~ takes a lil while for the whole package to gel into one.
I still cannae at Tuna flopping so hard but I'm glad that at least you appreciate how swag and bonkers it is. One day BJSC will like my weird foreign rap songs x
That Republic of Adonia ranking is almost spot on, would only swap Anna Of The North and dumblonde around maybe. Lorn, Dusky & Jane were so easily their highlights this year Correct Varakë fave () with strong South Danaelanda, Ultraviolenceland and Beaverdonia rankings on the whole also ~ #nsync
I'm guessing "This Girl" was one of the songs that you were debating to exclude because of its chart impact?
So it WAS Pixel Fix that ended up in the top 100! Probably my favorite out of my DNQ's although that might change if something I REALLY love just tanks. As for the others, yeah I think "Nostalgia" might be my fave Aelandor entry now, probably because I've gotten into another Said The Sky song Also really loving "Gregory's Theme" and "Youth"
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 08/01/2017
The Best of BJSC IX & The Best of BJSC - The Rejects IX summaries
To round off BJSC for 2016 as the first contest of the new year approaches, we shall dump all of our nominations and votes for The Best of BJSC IX and the accompanying Rejects contest in this post. The final results for the two contests were announced back to back a few nights ago, no representation for Persephonia in either unfortunately, but to quickly recap the big successes:
- In the Rejects final hosted by Aeroche, Daehun won with 'Hero' by Namie Amuro on 145 points, narrowly beating St. Burbia offering 'Can't Get Enough' by Basenji with 144 points. A cursory glance at our final rankings for this contest will sum up how we feel about this result. Beyond that, Ramrynia had a very good night - all 3 of their 2016 DNQs made it to the Rejects final, and two of them finished in the top 5: Just Kiddin's 'Fall For You' 3rd with 125 points and Michaela May's '1954' just behind with 120 points. Their DNQ that was actually quite good didn't do as well, The Japanese House's 'Face Like Thunder' floundering in 31st out of 43. The top 5 was completed by Hushkanukia's sole DNQ 'Caution Tape' by Starling Glow with 118 points. Let's never speak of this contest again.
- Then we went to République d'Ashton for the final of the main event (which actually attracted fewer voters than Rejects, hm), where we can happily report there were infinitely better results. As widely expected, Yehesi entry 'Bonbon' by Era Istrefi finished on top with 101 points, despite 'only' coming 3rd in its original contest. Ethanola seem to have gone MIA for the time being and did not submit votes, but luckily this didn't affect their TBO result as Hilight Tribe's 'Free Tibet' (Vini Vici Remix) still finished second despite a 15 point deduction, to finish on 74 points, being the highest placed of 2016's winners (of which only Crystal Waters' 'Relax' did not make it to the TBO final). 'Free Tibet' also came 2nd in Persephonia's votes - the song that beat it there is the song that completed the TBO top 3, FSR Rontvia entry 'Ilumbarada' by Ortiga (71 points), only 5th in its original contest but outperforming that here thanks to many of its key supporters actually showing up to support it again. Completing the top 5 were South Danaelanda with TheFatRat's 'Monody' (feat. Laura Brehm), 4th with 61 points, and Altyr Muunilinst with WILLA's 'Hey', 5th with 60 points. Notably both of those also didn't win their original contests. The next highest placed winner was Allie X's 'Sanctuary' which finished 7th for Deandria.
Full Persephonian rankings and nominations for The Best of BJSC - The Rejects IX
Final
Points awarded:
18 Trifoski // Anna Meredith - Nautilus
15 Quintessa // Crywolf - Akureyri
13 Deandria // Clément Bazin - With You
12 Desbuanda // Batuk - Daniel (feat. Nandi Ndlovu)
11 Tartford // Luce Drayton - To Be Loved (Disco Citizens Remix)
10 Varakë // De̊ǰa - Luststruck
9 Desbuanda // A R I Z O N A - Cross My Mind
8 Deandria // Vogel - Hologram
7 Tartford // Jody Wisternoff - The Bridge (Chicane Rework) (feat. Sian Evans)
6 Ethanola // Green Velvet - Bigger Than Prince (Hot Since 82 Remix)
5 Terra Avium // U.S. Girls - Woman's Work
4 Trifoski // Melt Yourself Down - Fix My Life
3 Harmonica // Megan McCauley - Die For You
2 Singerpurear // Kishi Bashi - Ode To My Next Life
1 South Danaelanda // Tobtok - Aber
16th-43rd:
Flynnonda // LKA - TURBULENCE
Kluminican Republic // Jetta - I'd Love To Change The World (Matstubs Remix)
Triangledonia // TAI and Son Of 8 - In & Out
Pupok // GIRLI - Girl I Met On The Internet
D'yermak'er // Terror Jr - Sugar
Land of DW // Indaqo - Boom Boom Boom
Brechtoria // Stadiumx - Mombasa
Jayrusalem // Keke Palmer - I Don't Belong To You
South Danaelanda // Mr FijiWiji, Direct and Aruna - Time To Say Goodbye
Flynnonda // Ruth Koleva - Oceans
Usfland // Sonny J - Can't Stop Moving
Dobago // Monoir and Osaka - The Violin Song (feat. Brianna)
Aelandor // Relient K - Cat
Aeroche // Bassnectar - Now (feat. Rye Rye)
Cor Lupus // Atlas Genius - Stockholm
Summericia // Hartebees - Justified (Sunrise Funk) (feat. Kaleena Zanders)
Ramrynia // The Japanese House - Face Like Thunder
Republic of Adonia // Anna Of The North - The Dreamer
Ultraviolenceland // FLETCHER - Over My Head
Hushkanukia // Starling Glow - Caution Tape
Florina // Echos - Gold
Ramrynia // Michaela May - 1954
Altyr Muunilinst // Jess Mills - For My Sins
Triangledonia // MaRLo - You And Me (feat. Chloe)
Ramrynia // Just Kiddin - Fall For You
Daehun // Namie Amuro - Hero
Daehun // Jain - Come
St. Burbia // Basenji - Can't Get Enough
~
Nominations
81
+5 Quintessa // Crywolf - Akureyri
+4 Fljótavík // Arthur Beatrice - Who Returned
+3 Terra Avium // U.S. Girls - Woman's Work
+2 Espen // Dahlia Sleeps - Hessian
+1 Tartford // Skinny - Failure
82
+5 Desbuanda // Batuk - Daniel (feat. Nandi Ndlovu)
+4 Cor Lupus // Pixel Fix - You Settle Me
+3 Espen // İrem Derici - Dantel
+2 Jukianië // LL - Lie
+1 Dalisska // KNOWER - Hanging On
83
+5 Suedeonia // Weather Report - Birdland
+4 Tartford // Jody Wisternoff - The Bridge (Chicane Rework) (feat. Sian Evans)
+3 Tinnmark // Rockettothesky - Grizzly Man
+2 Trifoski // Melt Yourself Down - Fix My Life
+1 Flynnonda // Wolfie - Obi Wan
84
+5 Skall // O'Flynn - Desmond's Empire
+4 Summericia // Dennis Sheperd and Sarah Lynn - Dive
+3 Kluminican Republic // Jetta - I'd Love To Change The World (Matstubs Remix)
+2 Deandria // Anna And The Barbies - Álmatlan
+1 Daehun // IU - Twenty-Three
85
+5 Aelandor // Said The Sky - Nostalgia (feat. Missio)
+4 Harmonica // Megan McCauley - Die For You
+3 Espen // Nneka - Soul Is Heavy
+2 Flynnonda // LKA - TURBULENCE
+1 Singerpurear // Ezra Furman - Restless Year
86
+5 Jadakissnia // Tuna - Seret Aravi
+4 Varakë // De̊ǰa - Luststruck
+3 Syndare // Calypso - Numbered
+2 Skall // Dave DK - Woolloomooloo
+1 Séyetana // 3-nen E-gumi Utatan - Jiriki Hongan Revolution
87
+5 Trifoski // Anna Meredith - Nautilus
+4 Terra Avium // Essaie Pas - Le Port Du Masque Est De Rigueur
+3 Ethanola // Green Velvet - Bigger Than Prince (Hot Since 82 Remix)
+2 Bubblelands // Ta-Ra - ORION (feat. ISSUE)
+1 Cumulonimbia // The Len Goodman Independent Artists For Online Kindness Collective - Theme For BuzzJack (BBC News Remix)
88
+5 Desbuanda // A R I Z O N A - Cross My Mind
+4 Deandria // Maya's Moving Castle - When You Wish Upon The Stars
+3 Kingdom of Horanius // The Opposites - Licht Uit
+2 Espen // Cosima - Had To Feel Something
+1 Ethanola // Attom - Afterglow (feat. Ciele)
89
+5 Deandria // Clément Bazin - With You
+4 Beaverdonia // The Eden Project - Chasing Ghosts
+3 Espen // Mashrou' Leila - Kalam (H4Z3 Private Mix)
+2 FKA FKA FKA π // Francis And The Lights - I Want You To Shake
+1 Ethanola // Noir and Olivier Giacomotto - Reste (Raxon Remix)
90
+5 Ethanola // V.O. - Mashisa (Dub Mix)
+4 Tartford // Luce Drayton - To Be Loved (Disco Citizens Remix)
+3 Thelonia // LeBrock - One Night
+2 Deandria // Vogel - Hologram
+1 Pagasa // Marineros - Torbellino
Full Persephonian rankings and nominations for The Best of BJSC IX
Final
Points awarded:
12 FSR Rontvia // Ortiga - Ilumbarada
10 Ethanola // Hilight Tribe - Free Tibet (Vini Vici Remix)
8 Aeroche // Fraunhofer Diffraction - Fate
7 Bøtanikkä // Sagi Abitbul and Guy Haliva - Stanga
6 FKA FKA FKA π // Mai Lan - Technique
5 Pupok // Vesala - Tequila
4 Jadakissnia // BLVCK CEILING - WVFFLIFE (CHVRN Remix)
3 Yehesi // Era Istrefi - Bonbon
2 Dobago // Imany - Don't Be So Shy (Filatov & Karas Remix)
1 Pupok // Rich White Ladies - Wimbledon
11th-30th:
Bøtanikkä // Kungs vs. Cookin' On 3 Burners - This Girl
N DNTN // RAYE - Shhh
N DNTN // Nadia Tehran - Cash Flow
Bøtanikkä // LP - Lost On You (Live)
Beaverdonia // Bang La Decks - Aide
Yehesi // K3 - 10.000 Luchtballonnen
Cor Lupus // The Naked And Famous - Higher
FARC // Salt Ashes - Save It
New Lexico // Celtic Woman - Tír Na nÓg (feat. Oonagh)
Pupok // Aelyn - Give Love A Try
Aeroche // Polyna - Angel (Club Mix)
Yehesi // Rochelle - All Night Long
Vülkyria // Lushington - You Got Me Baby
Altyr Muunilinst // WILLA - Hey
Deandria // Allie X - Sanctuary
South Danaelanda // TheFatRat - Monody (feat. Laura Brehm)
Hendinia // That Poppy - Money
Medhelnia // Parade Of Lights - Feeling Electric
Cadelicia // Feed Me - What It Feels Like (feat. Nina Nesbitt)
Ramrynia // NEIKED - Sexual (feat. Dyo)
~
Semi-Final 1
Points awarded:
18 FSR Rontvia // Ortiga - Ilumbarada
15 Dobago // Albin Myers and Carli - The Legend†
13 FKA FKA FKA π // Mai Lan - Technique
12 Jadakissnia // HÆLOS - Earth Not Above†
11 Pupok // Vesala - Tequila
10 Harmonica // Sleigh Bells - A/B Machines†
9 Séyetana // Arion - At The Break Of Dawn (feat. Elize Ryd)†
8 Cumulonimbia // Dan Deacon - Change Your Life (You Can Do It)†
7 Republic of Adonia // Lorn - Acid Rain†
6 N DNTN // RAYE - Shhh
5 Bøtanikkä // Kungs vs. Cookin' On 3 Burners - This Girl
4 Beaverdonia // Bang La Decks - Aide
3 St. Burbia // Jorja Smith - Blue Lights†
2 Singerpurear // Kadie Elder - First Time He Kissed A Boy†
1 Yehesi // K3 - 10.000 Luchtballonnen
16th-39th:
FARC // Salt Ashes - Save It
Cadelicia // Mendoza - Love Druggie (Addict) (Jade Blue Remix)†
Yehesi // Rochelle - All Night Long
Pupok // Aelyn - Give Love A Try
Aeroche // Polyna - Angel (Club Mix)
Vülkyria // Lushington - You Got Me Baby
Ultraviolenceland // Casi - Lion†
Taahino // Beautiful Bodies - Capture & Release†
FARC // MUNA - Winterbreak†
Altyr Muunilinst // WILLA - Hey
Hendinia // That Poppy - Money
Lomaja // Kero Kero Bonito - Trampoline†
FSR Rontvia // KOLAJ - The Touch†
Bøtanikkä // ALMA - Karma†
Ramrynia // Sabrina Carpenter - On Purpose†
Hendinia // Against The Current - Outsiders†
Unovia // Ricki-Lee - Mirage†
Cadelicia // Feed Me - What It Feels Like (feat. Nina Nesbitt)
#00274E // Yuri and Seohyun - Secret†
Harmonica // Lauren Alaina - Road Less Traveled†
Unovia // Tal - Are We Awake†
#00274E // Crystal Waters - Relax†
Ultraviolenceland // Lucy Hale - Lie A Little Better†
Taahino // Crystalyne - Punks Don't Dance†
† DNQed
~
Semi-Final 2
Points awarded:
18 Ethanola // Hilight Tribe - Free Tibet (Vini Vici Remix)
15 Aeroche // Fraunhofer Diffraction - Fate
13 Desbuanda // SOFI TUKKER - Matadora†
12 Bøtanikkä // Sagi Abitbul and Guy Haliva - Stanga
11 New Lexico // Sofi De La Torre - Colorblind Cruisin†
10 Jadakissnia // BLVCK CEILING - WVFFLIFE (CHVRN Remix)
9 Altyr Muunilinst // Atella and Frøder - Closer To Life†
8 Yehesi // Era Istrefi - Bonbon
7 Dobago // Imany - Don't Be So Shy (Filatov & Karas Remix)
6 Bøtanikkä // Ratty - Sunrise (Here I Am)†
5 Pupok // Rich White Ladies - Wimbledon
4 Cadelicia // Die Antwoord - Banana Brain†
3 Aeroche // Little Big - Hateful Love†
2 N DNTN // Nadia Tehran - Cash Flow
1 Bøtanikkä // LP - Lost On You (Live)
16th-40th:
Jadakissnia // OVERWERK - Toccata†
What // KONTRUST - Sock 'N' Doll†
Pupok // GIRLI - So You Think You Can Fuck With Me Do Ya†
Cor Lupus // The Naked And Famous - Higher
Cor Lupus // CONTACT - Never Stop†
New Lexico // Celtic Woman - Tír Na nÓg (feat. Oonagh)
Aeroche // Sophie Beem - Skyline†
Deandria // Allie X - Sanctuary
South Danaelanda // TheFatRat - Monody (feat. Laura Brehm)
Hushkanukia // FRANKIE - Gold†
FSR Rontvia // Olivia - I'm Not Your Lady†
Unovia // Jackie Tech - You Can Have It All†
Aeroche // Zonderling - Crazy For You (feat. BISHØP)†
Medhelnia // Parade Of Lights - Feeling Electric
Unovia // FRENSHIP and Emily Warren - Capsize†
Dobago // Mahmut Orhan - Feel (feat. Sena Şener)†
République d'Ashton // Madison Beer - All For Love (feat. Jack & Jack)†
Land of DW // Ward Thomas - Carry You Home†
Ramrynia // NEIKED - Sexual (feat. Dyo)
Ramrynia // Cilia - Hardcore Heartbreak†
Pupok // Haschak Sisters - Daddy Says No†
Yehesi // TP4Y - Blush†
Republic of Adonia // Hayley Kiyoko - Gravel To Tempo†
Bhangra // Timeflies - Once In A While†
Cadelicia // 4Minute - Hate†
† DNQed
~
Nominations
81
+5 Séyetana // Nao Hiiragi - Requiem (Stygia Bootleg)
+4 Desbuanda // SOFI TUKKER - Matadora
+3 Jadakissnia // Sonia & Selena - Yo Quiero Bailar
+2 Oslol // Ryuichi Sakamoto - Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence
+1 Ethanola // Dele Sosimi Afrobeat Orchestra - Too Much Information (Laolu Remix Edit)
82
+5 Fljótavík // Kenton Slash Demon - Harpe
+4 Cadelicia // Daler Mehndi - Tunak Tunak Tun...
+3 FKA FKA FKA π // Ital Tek - Cobra
+2 New Lexico // Sofi De La Torre - Colorblind Cruisin
+1 Jadakissnia // BLVCK CEILING - WVFFLIFE (CHVRN Remix)
83
+5 #00274E // Paul Cronin - Now Bad Boy
+4 Skall // Teengirl Fantasy - Azz Klapz
+3 Syndare // DJDS - In The Flames
+2 Jadakissnia // VHS Glitch - Blood In Blood Out
+1 Séyetana // FAUN and Santiano - Tanz Mit Mir
84
+5 N DNTN // John The Baptiste - Socila
+4 Singerpurear // Yothu Yindi - Treaty (Filthy Lucre Remix)
+3 Harmonica // Sleigh Bells - A/B Machines
+2 Desbuanda // LSDXOXO - Angel Dust
+1 Trifoski // Javiera Mena - Otra Era
85
+5 Skall // Bicep - Just
+4 N DNTN // Plaitum - Jagwa
+3 Terra Avium // Delhi 2 Dublin - Apples
+2 FSR Rontvia // Real Lies - North Circular
+1 Tartford // Cigarettes After Sex - Keep On Loving You
86
+5 Dobago // Albin Myers and Carli - The Legend
+4 Quintessa // ANi GLASS - Y Ddawns
+3 Fljótavík // Hanna Järver - Anekdoter
+2 Ethanola // Konstantin Sibold - Mutter
+1 Usfland // Apollo 440 - Blackbeat
87
+5 FSR Rontvia // Ortiga - Ilumbarada
+4 Jadakissnia // FM-84 - Arcade Summer
+3 Syndare // Yoko Ono and Penguin Prison - She Gets Down On Her Knees
+2 FKA FKA FKA π // Mai Lan - Technique
+1 St. Burbia // Zack Knight and Jasmin Walia - Dum Dee Dum
88
+5 Tinnmark // Wardruna - Odal
+4 Skall // Stupeflip - Stupeflip Vite !!!
+3 Jadakissnia // MssingNo - Scope
+2 FKA FKA FKA π // Ariel Pink - Not Enough Violence
+1 Terra Avium // daydreamer - Travelling Light
89
+5 Medhelnia // Ou Est Le Swimming Pool - Dance The Way I Feel
+4 Bøtanikkä // Sagi Abitbul and Guy Haliva - Stanga
+3 Land of DW // Marusha - Deep
+2 Séyetana // Christopher Tin - Temen Oblak (feat. Le Mystère Des Voix Bulgares)
+1 Singerpurear // Princess Chelsea - The Cigarette Duet
90
+5 Terra Avium // Kitchen - Time (Inception)
+4 N-Lazone // John Rous and Alfie Rhodes - Oasis
+3 Skall // David Lyme - Bye, Bye Mi Amor
+2 Jadakissnia // HÆLOS - Earth Not Above
+1 Quintessa // Ghost - Square Hammer
Fab to see Kosmos here *.*
NEVER FORGET.
EOYs with paragraphs and rankings on each country need to become more of a thing, especially when I agree with most of them *.* I'll remember to check this thread in August to read mine x ( jk, you can do it!11)
Lots of big highlights so far (expected given we have like half of the same songs in our EOY lists~), especially good to see T2Kazuya in someone else's list Gah @ you still not coming round to Monody though
coldplay teas
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 16/01/2017
xi for XCI
Persephonia's first BJSC entry of 2017 can now be revealed as the semi-finals of BJSC 91 have begun, held in the city of Quota, Aeroche. Representing us in our 70th main contest to date is Japanese producer Yusuke Ishiwata, better known as xi, with 'Happy End Of The World', the closing track from his 2013 second studio album 'Agartha' (on which it appears under its Japanese title 'ハッピーエンドオブザワールド' which made Googling for the album info a bit of a pain. x) Outside of that it's also apparently a popular soundtrack to the rhythm video game osu! (some very impressive gameplay videos for the song out there).
'Happy End Of The World' is our 9th instrumental main contest entry and also the second longest track we've ever sent to BJSC (also excluding spinoffs), clocking in at 6:27, just one second shorter than The Rapture's 'How Deep Is Your Love?' It's the second track we have sent by a Japanese artist, following WEDNESDAY CAMPANELLA's 'Shakushain'. The track is of a genre known as artcore, which is apparently mostly exclusive to a select few Japanese video game music producers, and is essentially heavily piano-based drum n bass / hardcore techno. This track is a little bit more laidback and less dancefloor-ready than a lot of xi's output, but contains a few twists and turns, flipping from from a simple lullaby-esque piano melody to dramatic and chaotic drum n bass sections and even parts that have a bit of a post-rock vibe to them, all making for a little ~journey~ of a song that we feel fits the title very well - it feels like a soundtrack to the apocalypse, but still somehow upbeat and optimistic. Reminding me a little bit of the Restaurant at the End of the Universe, hence the teaser. Or maybe that's all bullshit. It's a cool song anyway and we're hoping it will attract at least a small handful of other big fans. Have a listen to it below:
'Happy End Of The World' has been drawn in slot 24 out of 31 in semi-final 2. In the opposite semi-final, the latest Persephonia alumni to be recycled are Digitalism, who represent Beaverdonia in this contest with 'Open Waters', track 26 there.
(2016 EOY will still be continuing, gonna aim to get most of it done in my 2 weeks off after exams )
this is v good!!! Sounds like a cross between a virtuosic romantic piano concerto and epic pokémon battle music, which is quite amazing in itself.
Yay, a fan already that does sound like a pretty good description of it as well!
Looking forward to hearing your entry too as it sounds pretty fab from the description (and I loved the previous Aly & Fila and Susana entries in BJSC), hopefully a good month for #SDNLphonia for the first time in a while ;o
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 23/01/2017
xi makes it to the final
2017 has started well for Persephonia as xi's 'Happy End Of The World' has made it to the final of BJSC 91 in Aeroche, becoming our 52nd finalist and 7th in a row in our current streak. FSR Rontvia's run of 12 finals in a row has sadly come to an end, so N DNTN have taken over as the country with the longest qualification streak, as they achieved an 11th finalist in a row. Persephonia's streak now ranks as the joint 3rd longest, also behind Unovia who are on 9 in a row, and tied with Medhelnia. xi appears in slot 20 of 41 in the final.
From Persephonia's votes in semi-final 2, 8/10 songs qualified, those missing out being a fellow instrumental entry from Dobago, Will Sparks' 'Flamenco' which picked up 6 points from us, and our 4 pointer from Singerpurear, the retro pick 'We Don't Play Guitars' by Chicks On Speed featuring Peaches. 7 of the top 10 of the Persephonian public's ranking of semi-final 1 also qualified, although sadly 2 of the top 4 dropped out: the aforementioned FSR Rontvia with 'Mary Keanes (sic) Introduction' by Daithí which we ranked 2nd but clearly didn't connect with enough people in its own semi-final, and Kylienips with Echos' 'Fiction' which we ranked 4th. 'Cinderella Ja Irarenai' by Babyraids JAPAN was the other song from our semi-final 1 top 10 to DNQ, coming 10th representing (of course) Séyetana.
Congrats Bray! Really pleased that you've managed to start BJSC 2017 on a high with a Q from the word go *.* This really is such a stunning instrumental, the way it builds is so gripping as well. I hope it can do rly well for you in the final! Seems to have quite a few vocal big fans already~
Glad we were together in person during the semi reveal as that trolling was quite something x
Let's fit one more of these in before tomorrow's results ~~
2016 EOY 75-51:
75 Land of DW 84 // RMB - Spring {11 points}
74 Dobago 81 // Imany - Don't Be So Shy (Filatov & Karas Remix) {4 points}
73 Yehesi 82 // Era Istrefi - Bonbon {ranked 17th}
72 Ingermanlandia 82 // Bomba Estéreo - Amanecer {7 points}
71 Yehesi 89 // Maan - Give You All I Got {6 points}
70 Cor Lupus 88 // Nhato - WAY OF LIFE (feat. Sasi) {11 points}
69 Desbuanda 82 // Batuk - Daniel (feat. Nandi Ndlovu) {ranked 6th in opposite semi-final}
68 Aeroche 85 // Kali Uchis - Ridin Round (oshi Redo) (feat. Tory Lanez) {10 points}
67 Séyetana 90 // Arion - At The Break Of Dawn (feat. Elize Ryd) {8 points}
66 Cumulonimbia 85 // KAYTRANADA - LITE SPOTS {11 points}
65 Espen 90 // Sacred Spirit - Yeha-Noha (Wishes Of Happiness & Prosperity) {10 points}
64 Ethanola 81 // Dele Sosimi Afrobeat Orchestra - Too Much Information (Laolu Remix Edit) {9 points}
63 Syndare 85 // Kwamie Liv - Higher {ranked 31st}
62 N DNTN 86 // Vendredi Sur Mer - La Femme À La Peau Bleue {8 points}
61 Cumulonimbia 89 // Dan Deacon - Change Your Life (You Can Do It) {8 points}
60 Suedeonia 86 // Where's The Beach - Tripping The Luv Fantastic {10 points}
59 Altyr Muunilinst 90 // Atella and Frøder - Closer To Life {4 points}
58 Jadakissnia 82 // BLVCK CEILING - WVFFLIFE (CHVRN Remix) {10 points}
57 FKA FKA FKA π 82 // Ital Tek - Cobra {13 points}
56 Usfland 86 // Apollo 440 - Blackbeat {12 points}
55 Terra Avium 88 // daydreamer - Travelling Light {12 points}
54 Ethanola 86 // Konstantin Sibold - Mutter {13 points}
53 Ethanola 85 // Billie Black - I Waited For You {9 points}
52 Tartford 85 // Cigarettes After Sex - Keep On Loving You {ranked 20th}
51 Séyetana 83 // FAUN and Santiano - Tanz Mit Mir {11 points}
We have seen the last of these nine countries here:
INGERMANLANDIA
Bomba Estéreo - Amanecer [#72] > Naadia - Omut > Jabberwocky - Photomaton (feat. Elodie Wildstars)
It was nice to see Ingermanlandia back with us briefly, even if they had pretty limited success, I hope we shall see another revival in the future. Their comeback entry 'Amanecer' was such a STATEMENT of their return, quite the banger (and Spanishy to boot which always helps ~), fitting in nicely among all the craziness of BJSC 82. Their other two entries were both substantially more subtle and grower-y (so not a surprise they both went out in the semi-finals), in fact on listening back to them they are both much better than I remember them being, 'Omut' in particular has pretty wonderful production, and I am appreciating the ~wobbliness~ of the produx on 'Photomaton' more now as well (I actually ranked that right at the bottom of its semi-final at the time which seems strange now!) Neither of them are really memorable at all but it's nice to hear them again anyway.
YEHESI
Maan - Give You All I Got [#71] > Era Istrefi - Bonbon [#73] > K3 - 10.000 Luchtballonnen > Nightcall - Dead V (feat. Dreamhour) > Shay - PMW > MariahLynn - Once Upon A Time > Rochelle - All Night Long > LYRA - Emerald > Nakita - Where Are You? > TP4Y - Blush
The first country I've posted about so far where I don't have a single clear favourite, Yehesi have 2 pretty much equally great songs falling just inside my top 75 of the year. The edge goes to 'Give You All I Got', kind of like a lesser-known Dutch sibling to the fluffy and joyous sound of songs like Jessie Ware's '110%' and Dua Lipa's 'Be The One', this is how BJSC pop should be done *.* right on its toes is their recent TBO 2016 winner 'Bonbon', a song I actually didn't vote for at all at the time (not that I wasn't a fan, it was just in the strongest final of the year and came 17th) but has continued to grow on me since the contest finished, perhaps in part due to it continuing to be an inescapable presence on BuzzJack. Seriously though, a catchy and swaggy Albanian bop that deserves all of its acclaim. Also, her coat is goals. Can we not at the English version tho. Two more Yehesi entries fell just a little short of a place in my EOY - I don't know what it is about '10.000 Luchtballonnen' because it sounds just like an ABBA song and I despise ABBA, but I can't help but love it and clearly the same was true for lots of people since it won its contest. It being in a foreign language probably helps. Pretty iconic anyway. Then just after that is... probably the entry of Yehesi's that seems most in line with my tastes actually, 'Dead V', which is a suitably epic bit of dubstep in the Crywolf mould, it was nice to see a song of this kind finally doing well in the contest, even if it wasn't my favourite of them. Their sole DNQ 'PMW' completes my top 5 of Yehesi 2016, some more foreign rap which I always approve of, this was not really dissimilar from a French 'Bonbon' so not sure why it did so badly. 'Once Upon A Time' was the Yehesi entry that got the most points from me in 2016, picking up as many as 7, and it's still a bit of a jam (especially that second verse, MariahLynn genuinely got bars, better than Iggy tbh xx) but the novelty wore off just a little bit over the months so I only rank it 6th here. 'All Night Long' was another bit of a bop. 'Emerald' had a killer chorus but was a little bit let down by the rest of the song (oops at my original prediction it could have been another winner), 'Where Are You?' was decent but a bit anonymous, and... we couldn't like all of their pop entries, 'Blush' was pretty horrendous.
COR LUPUS
Nhato - WAY OF LIFE (feat. Sasi) [#70] > Pixel Fix - You Settle Me [#96] > Rain Man - Bring Back The Summer (feat. Oly) [#112] > The Naked And Famous - Higher > CONTACT - Never Stop > The Birthday Massacre - In The Dark > Snow Tha Product - Nuestra Cancion > JR JR - Gone (Robert DeLong Remix) > Atlas Genius - Stockholm > MIIA - Dynasty (Elephante Remix)
Frantic Touhou Project production combined with airy foreign language trance vox make 'WAY OF LIFE' an easy pick for my favourite Cor Lupus entry (of 2016 and to date), thank god they managed to get this one as an AQ because I still can't believe how poorly it did in the final... if only the same was true of their other entry in my top 100, 'You Settle Me', which inexplicably DNQed as anyone will know if they pay attention to Cody's posts in this forum seriously though that was a great indie entry and at least seems to have a little following of fans (although still not enough to make it to the Rejects final, u wot). Their other indie DNQ that did make it to the Rejects final, 'Stockholm', I've never been near as keen on, it was okayyyy but nothing about it to make it really stand out for me, that comes in 2nd last here for me, ahead of the generic mess that was 'Dynasty'. Back to the good songs, Cor Lupus snatch a third top 150 entry with 'Bring Back The Summer' which is also pretty generic in its way but nonetheless still sounds pretty great to my ears, I think Rain Man just has a talent for this since he was also behind 'Alive', another song I inexplicably love. Their contest winner 'Higher' is another song that only just misses my top 150, still think it should have been vetoed tbh but a bit of an anthem. Then we have CHVRCHES pastiche/ripoff 'Never Stop' ranked 5th here, followed by the heavy Halloween-ready rock jam 'In The Dark', both songs that I liked a lot but fell a little short of points from me in their contest (and to this date I think Cor Lupus still hate us for these snubs), they're very competent examples of their respective genres but lacking something to make them properly amazing. One more DNQ, 'Nuestra Cancion' comes in 7th here, more foreign language rap which I as ever broadly approve of, and finally 'Gone' was one of those songs that was just kind of there and never made much impression on me but it did grow a little bit, not a patch on Robert DeLong's other BJSC entries though.
ESPEN
Sacred Spirit - Yeha-Noha (Wishes Of Happiness & Prosperity) [#65] > Mashrou' Leila - Kalam (H4Z3 Private Mix) [#91] > L.E.J - La Dalle [#125] > Dahlia Sleeps - Hessian [#147] > İrem Derici - Dantel > Sweet Coffee - My Moon > Cosima - Had To Feel Something > Nneka - Soul Is Heavy > CAPPA - Mad About U > Stalking Gia - Second Nature
4 entries in the top 150 for Espen, and the next 4 were all in my original list of ~250 entries to consider for a place in my EOY, pretty consistently great country who certainly didn't deserve to keep DNQing </3 I guess too many of their entries are just not super instant. Anyway, their final entry of 2016, 'Yeha-Noha (Wishes Of Happiness & Prosperity)' was a marvellous archival pick (it being an actual UK top 40 hit *.*), gorgeous Enigma-esque production, the vocals sounded a little bit odd and unexpected at first but quickly got used to them, I've loved the recent wave of world music entries and this is a good example of that. I wonder what the next culture to be appropriated into BJSC will be? (Klingons I guess lmao). Also making the top 100 is the chillout remix of Mashrou' Leila's Arabic indie track, Arabic can really be quite a beautiful language and it worked pretty well in this context. Another foreign language track comes in 3rd, 'La Dalle' just missed out on points from me in its contest but has grown loads since, great harmonies and instrumentation, benefits from being in French as the lyrics seem a little bit strange translated. x Also scraping the top 150 is 'Hessian' which is just the chillest song ever. Ethnobop 'Dantel' is 5th, a song I'm still convinced would have been a Turkish Eurovision entry had they not pulled out (this is a good thing). Another chilled beaut, 'My Moon' comes in 6th, kind of Massive Attack feat. Amy Winehouse vibes and another big grower. Two more undeserved DNQs follow that, 'Had To Feel Something' was a song I was hoping would grow on me through the final but it didn't even come close to making it there, again a bit too subtle I suppose. Then 'Soul Is Heavy' was a great and powerful protest song. The last two songs I'm not as big on, 'Mad About U' was a bit disappointing and generic after I liked CAPPA's other songs a lot more and 'Second Nature' falls on the wrong side of the subtle/boring boundary. But that top 8. <3 More success for Espen in 2017 hopefully (off to a good start so far ~)
CUMULONIMBIA
Dan Deacon - Change Your Life (You Can Do It) [#61] > KAYTRANADA - LITE SPOTS [#66] > NZCA LINES - Two Hearts [#116] > Sasha - Xpander [#144] > The Len Goodman Independent Artists For Online Kindness Collective - Theme For BuzzJack (BBC News Remix) > Soulé - Love No More > The Longcut - A Tried And Tested Method
Cumulonimbia also get 4 songs in the top 150, and like Yehesi they had 2 pretty equally great entries rather than a single standout best. Motivational anthem and relentless earworm 'Change Your Life (You Can Do It)' finishes on top for me, a few places ahead of the glitchy and addictive jazzy hip-hop beat 'LITE SPOTS' (although that has to be pretty high up the list of best music videos of BJSC 2016 with that cute dancing robot). Elsewhere in the top 150 are their other two 2016 qualifiers, some cool indie synthpop in 'Two Hearts' (which I still mainly remember for the part which sounds suspiciously similar to Disclosure's 'White Noise', not that that's a bad thing xx) and 90s trance classic 'Xpander', another song forced just outside of my votes in the top quality final of BJSC 82. It might have sneaked in if the full 11 and a half minute version was there instead, as I tend to like these kinds of songs more the longer they keep repeating the same sounds over and over (see 'Mutter') Not a single bad entry from Cumulonimbia in 2016, 'Theme For Buzzjack (BBC News Remix)' was actually genuinely quite enjoyable, who knew the BBC News theme lent itself so well to slightly spooky underground electronic music? 'Love No More' is a good bit of electronic R&B reminding me a little bit of Roses Gabor, and 'A Tried And Tested Method' is a really nice indie song with another great music video, although admittedly it wasn't surprising to see it floundering in the semi (if only Math had failed to vote it would have been the first ever 0 pointer ) Was a bit of a shame to not see Cumulonimbia back this month even with Aeroche hosting again, I hope we haven't seen the last of them as they're still pretty much always quality!
SUEDEONIA
Where's The Beach - Tripping The Luv Fantastic [#60] > Superwalkers - Lost (As I Am) [#89] > Weather Report - Birdland [#132] > Brian Eno - Here He Comes > In Hoodies - Healing > The Very Best - Makes A King (feat. Jutty Taylor) > DMA'S - Delete > The Death Of Pop - Gardens > The Tubes - Don't Touch Me There
Was a joy to see Suedehead finally joining the contest last year (and another country I hope will return in the near future (of course once you've recovered a bit more IRL Suedey!)), a bit of a new Singerpurear in that you never really know what you're going to get from them, although perhaps with a slightly more indie lean. Like with Cumulonimbia, their (sadly few) qualifiers were the best of their output, 'Tripping The Luv Fantastic' is right up my street from an era which produced many of the best dance songs of all time, this is a song that I would never have unearthed myself so I am in debt to Suedehead's knowledge of obscure old music for dragging this jam out of the archives! The more modern 'Lost (As I Am)' was also brill, reminding me a lot of Duke Dumont's best song 'Ocean Drive'. But then back to oldies for their third and final song in my top 150, 'Birdland' sounded gloriously bonkers and out of place in the contest and I was really hoping for that to be a first Suedeonia qualifier, sadly wasn't to be but nonetheless a really enjoyable jazz instrumental that should definitely have been the theme music to a sitcom. 'Here He Comes' was another great retro pick, a very relaxing song (not quite all of Suedeonia's oldies were good choices though - 'Don't Touch Me There' is definitely not a song that needed to be revived from obscurity, a little bit disturbing :')). 'Healing' was a good and suitably obscure debut entry, wouldn't sound out of place being spammed all day on Radio 1. 'Makes A King' was another nice track from The Very Best, not quite as good as their previous entries (I blame the fact it has English lyrics) but can always appreciate some African sounds, then 'Delete' and 'Gardens' are both pretty serviceable indie tracks if not major standouts. A commentary on DMA'S would not be complete without mentioning that they sound exactly like Oasis. This would not be one of the better Oasis tracks.
ALTYR MUUNILINST
Atella and Frøder - Closer To Life [#59] > WILLA - Hey > Youngr - Out Of My System > Nick Talos - Crush On You > SAARA - I Do > Redlight - Threshold (feat. Melisa Whiskey) > SHAED - Running Through The Fields > High Contrast and Clare Maguire - Who's Loving You Part One > Jess Mills - For My Sins > TRXD - Wherever You Go (feat. Hilde)
Altyr continued to mostly send songs I didn't really GET throughout most of 2016, but they finished the year on a massive high with 'Closer To Life', a song which took a couple of listens to click but grew on me rapidly after that, including after the contest (I only gave it 4 points but in retrospect it probably deserved closer to 10 points), a song with excellent infectious production and pretty gorgeous wispy and moody vocals, much love. Their next two best of the year were two songs pinched (unintentionally I assume) from the PopJustice Song Contest, both of which I believe I voted for there but they didn't quite cut it in the rather higher quality of BuzzJack's contest, they're both pretty good pop songs though. I decided to sneakily do the reverse and pinch one of Altyr's entries to send to PopJustice in the hopes of bagging a cheap hit, picking out 'I Do' (another solid-but-not-incredible pop song), which became my joint best performing entry there by coming 10th so thanks for that one John! As for the rest of the Altyr entries, 'Crush On You' was a bit underrated, it was quite good for what it was I thought, one of the better tropical entries in BJSC of late (the entire subgenre seems to have mostly gone to crap very soon after it broke through though). 'Threshold' and 'Running Through The Fields' were perfectly decent examples of their respective genres too. Really nothing on this list is actually that bad, they're just mostly a bit STANDARD, with 'Wherever You Go' in particular just blending into a mesh of about 3 or 4 other identical songs in that contest. I've started really enjoying Altyr in the last couple of contests anyway so I hope they can keep that up.
USFLAND
Apollo 440 - Blackbeat [#56] > The Brevet - Moving Mountains > AUTOBAHN - Society > Sonny J - Can't Stop Moving > Andrew Luce and graves - Up To You (feat. Chelsea Cutler) > Chromatics - White Light > LÉON - Treasure > Midnight To Monaco - One In A Million > Sondr - Surviving (feat. Joe Cleere)
Was nice to see Usfland actually getting a few qualifiers in 2016 after their rough time in the previous year. The overall quality of their entries was a bit up as well I think, the easy highlight being 'Blackbeat', another old electronic track unearthed in the same contest as Where's The Beach, this is so 'PS2 racing game soundtrack' in the best way possible, also sounds a bit like The Chemical Brothers. Quite the jam *.* 'Moving Mountains' qualifying was unexpected but pleasing, a really nice and kool Mumford-y/Kings Of Leon-y track which only just missed out on points from us in the final. While two of their qualifiers were their best of the year, their other two were my least favourites - it was nice to see 'Surviving' qualifying just to end their horrendous DNQ streak, but the actual song was a pretty bad Avicii clone, and 'One In A Million' has just always sounded a little bit jarring to me, the continuous noise in the background doesn't work well in the chorus I think. Onto their (still fairly plentiful) DNQs, 'Society' was the best of those, a very bold entry choice that got a seemingly good semi-final draw but I guess it was still a little bit too industrial/shouty for the contest. 'Can't Stop Moving' showing up in the contest and somehow not being vetoed was a bit *_*, it's a catchy song though. The other three songs all suffer from being rather forgettable but 'Up To You' and 'White Light' at least have some pretty nice vibes to them, so they're pleasant to listen to even if I can't remember anything about them afterwards.
TARTFORD
Cigarettes After Sex - Keep On Loving You [#52] > Luce Drayton - To Be Loved (Disco Citizens Remix) [#80] > Metronomy - The Look [#83] > Jody Wisternoff - The Bridge (Chicane Rework) (feat. Sian Evans) [#134] > Marsheaux - Safe Tonight [#146] > Alex Gaudino and Jerma - Reaction > Skinny - Failure > Sons Of Sonix - Numb (feat. Melanie C) > BLKMGK - You Don't Deserve Me (feat. Amina Mine and Jayy Starr) > Dominique - I Think I'm Fallin (Manotett Remix)
I didn't realise how much I was stanning Tartford throughout 2016 - they don't get any songs into my top 50, but a full 5 make the top 150 (the most of any country I've posted about so far) and the next 2 songs were also in contention for a spot! Coming a long way from appearing 3 times in my worst songs of 2015 list :') The top song from Tartford here is actually one I didn't vote for, I did quite like both of the Cigarettes After Sex songs in their original contests but something about them has just started to click with me so much more since then, they're just so chill and lush, I keep meaning to check out the rest of their EP/album. A completion of a trilogy of CAS entries woudn't go amiss, and I might actually support it this time if it happens. x 'To Be Loved' comes in as my second fave from Tartford 2016, a wonderful slice of moody retro trance, still cannot believe it DNQed :'( just behind that is a song I kind of struggled to rank, I've loved 'The Look' for absolutely ages so it wasn't at all a discovery from BJSC, probably deserves to be a lot higher than #83 but I tried to weigh up how much BJSC got me back into it if that makes sense (i.e. not as much as I got back into 'Dance The Way I Feel' which is a lot higher up). Anyway, an incredibly infectious little track that always lodges itself in my head for ages when I listen to it. Duuuu dududu du du dududu. Next is another song that has grown on me a lot since the contest, the other Nicholas Bracegirdle (Chicane / Disco Citizens) remix, 'The Bridge' didn't really do that much for me in the contest but it suddenly clicked with me after hearing it again a little bit after the contest, another very catchy melody and lovely minimal use of vocals. Was nice to see both this and 'To Be Loved' at least getting nods in the Rejects. The final appearance from Tartford in my top 150 is 'Safe Tonight', gahh at this being so close and yet so far from giving them a first top 10 hit, although at least it wasn't just me being crazy when I thought people were being silly predicting it to DNQ, a great 80s-y synthpop track. 'Reaction' just sounded like a big mid-00s dance hit (actually a bit surprising it wasn't one), obviously nothing groundbreaking but it was a bit of fun and enough to grab a point from me, really didn't deserve to flounder so far behind in last place and 'Failure' was also a good archival indie track. 'Numb' and 'You Don't Deserve Me' both had potential to be pretty good songs too but it's a little hard to get past the slightly... discordant production and chorus vocals respectively, the former proved to be a bit of a grower at least anyway and I did enjoy the verses of the latter. 'I Think I'm Fallin' is also not terrible, just very nothingy. Overall a great year for Tartford anyway.
We're 2/3 through the songs. Getting there. Next post will be 50-41.
LMFAO were u together
that real life impakt
at least you two got a room, i was standing in the rain reading the entire thread
2016 EOY 50-41:
50 FKA FKA FKA π 88 // Ariel Pink - Not Enough Violence {10 points}
49 Skall 90 // David Lyme - Bye, Bye Mi Amor {12 points}
48 Terra Avium 87 // Essaie Pas - Le Port Du Masque Est De Rigueur {8 points in semi-final}
47 Jadakissnia 88 // MssingNo - Scope {13 points}
46 Skall 88 // Stupeflip - Stupeflip Vite !!! {15 points}
45 Deandria 89 // Clément Bazin - With You {10 points in semi-final}
44 Quintessa 81 // Crywolf - Akureyri {10 points in semi-final}
43 Trifoski 87 // Anna Meredith - Nautilus {ranked 3rd in opposite semi-final}
42 Fljótavík 86 // Hanna Järver - Anekdoter {11 points}
41 Trifoski 84 // Javiera Mena - Otra Era {10 points}
Only two more countries with their highest appearances here:
DEANDRIA
Clément Bazin - With You [#45] > Blackbriar - Until Eternity [#107] > Vogel - Hologram [#129] > Maya's Moving Castle - When You Wish Upon The Stars [#131] > Anna And The Barbies - Álmatlan > Ecca Vandal - Father Hu$$la > Poison Ivory - Alchemy > Allie X - Sanctuary > Tzlil - Oh My Love > NOËP - Move
Most of Deandria's best moments of 2016 were DNQs, primarily 'With You' which I really thought sounded like a safe hit so could hardly have been more shocked at it coming near last in its semi-final, what the hell BuzzJack. :'( Still a major jam anyway, not sure how anyone could deny those lovely steel drums and the infectious vocals. That's Deandria's only entry in my top 100 and still feels too low, I feel like I should really be supporting Deandria more - but still plenty of other great entries from them in 2016 including 3 more that make my top 150. The highest of those, not far off being a second top 100 entry, is their most recent qualifier 'Until Eternity', combining trademark Deandria-type vocals with awesome heavy Séyetana-like rock riffs, an absolutely massive chorus *.* should have been a top 10 x Two more DNQs come in nearly next to each other a little further down, third place goes to synthwave instrumental and Jadakissnia fave 'Hologram', always love a bit of synthwave in BJSC, I still can't at how many great songs were voted out in BJSC 90, especially in that semi-final. Just behind that is 'When You Wish Upon The Stars', another song with an absolutely killer chorus that sounds a little Florence + The Machine, still confused as to why Mattias near disowned this song during the contest Another couple of great DNQs next, 'Álmatlan' wasn't quite as good as the Hungarian track Deandria actually sent to Worldvision and was always pretty doomed in the contest but I'm still pleased it had the chance to be sent to the contest as well as it's still a really cool song, another one I've appreciated more since the contest than during it. Then 'Father Hu$$la' has more of Deandria's trademark madness, I hope to see a hip-hop Deandria entry qualify one of these days (if they ever send another one!), this one wasn't as good as 'Calm Down' but still pretty awesome. Their other two qualifiers were both pretty good too, 'Alchemy' also standing out a bit with some quirky vocals. Despite being their biggest hit of the year by a country mile 'Sanctuary' ranks lowly among my Deandria favourites as it's a pretty standard blog-pop song and felt rather uninspired by their high standards, also if we had to have an Allie X winner I'd have far preferred 'Tumor'. Then those last two DNQs are the only ones that I thought 'deserved' to DNQ, it was cool that Deandria managed to send an Estonian artist eventually but 'Move' has nothing to it at all, one of the year's most forgettable entries, and 'Oh My Love' is a little better but also pretty throwaway.
TRIFOSKI
Javiera Mena - Otra Era [#41] > Anna Meredith - Nautilus [#43] > Great Good Fine Ok - Take It Or Leave It [#78] > La Femme - Sphynx [#118] > Pillow Person - Go Ahead [#126] > Lemon Demon - Touch-Tone Telephone > Melt Yourself Down - Fix My Life > Dive In - Eighteen > The Go! Team - Buy Nothing Day > Oliver - Electrify (feat. Scott Mellis)
Definitely feels wrong to see Trifoski out of the running this early as well, I really liked every single one of these entries! Two songs come within touching distance of the top 40 but juuuust missing out, their highest being their old PJSC winner 'Otra Era' that they finally brought to this site as well, such an enchanting little song, Spanish vocals are always the way to my heart of course and combined with some fab synths this was always going to be a fave of mine <3 Only just behind that is a song with pretty much the exact opposite vibes to it, 'Nautilus' is a bit of a challenging listen and was obviously going to be a bit divisive, I had hopes that it would qualify when it had unexpected love from people like imaduck but sadly it wasn't to be. Still, a pretty awesome onslaught of random noises which picked up my top marks in the Rejects final (although it was very close between my top 3, as my EOY #43-45 were all in it!) One more appearance in the top 100 from Trifoski, the chart-ready catchiness of 'Take It Or Leave It', I will always picture that dance routine from the video whenever I hear this *.* Some more enchanting foreign language vox (this time French) on 'Sphynx' accompanied by a cool video and having that slightly ~mysterious~ vibe to it much like Trifoski themselves, was very pleased to see this showing up in the contest after it was one of two brilliant French potentials from N DNTN, I still think Vendredi Sur Mer was the superior of the two but both deserved to have a spot in the contest at some point. Their final appearance in the top 150 is the poor underrated 'Go Ahead', I mean I guess not all Hot Chip-adjacent tracks can be as brilliant as 'Bear Hug', but this one still deserved a lot better than it got, a pretty awesome bit of electropop. Missing out on my EOY but still great tracks are 'Touch-Tone Telephone' (I have long been a fan of Neil Cicierega's Internet comedy but I didn't know he had it in him to make serious (albeit pretty eccentric) music that sounded this great *.*) and their other DNQ 'Fix My Life', responsible for many a seizure with its video but another awesome cacophony of sounds. The last three songs are the only ones that didn't make my votes (or would-be votes), I've come to appreciate 'Eighteen' and 'Buy Nothing Day' more since their original contests though, both pretty great indie songs ~ and then as much of a moment as it was when Trifoski had their grand return to the top 10 with 'Electrify' that's actually ended up being pretty solidly my least favourite of their 2016 entries, if anything I've gone off it a bit since the contest although it is still v good, reminiscent of 'Dangerous' by David Guetta. Trifoski remain among my favourite countries and I always look forward to what they have to offer, long may the quality continue ~ (as it very much has done with the first contest of 2017 which has already booked them a much higher EOY position than #41 for this year #spoilers)
Yay for 'Scope' appearing in this section That song shall be forever special to me as my first ever top 3 result. Bronze medal in the contest matching up with a bronze medal from you points-wise *.*
Deandria and Trifoski are two of my favourite countries so it was wonderful to read your write-ups of them
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 01/02/2017
BJSC 91 summary
- The final results of the year's first contest took place in Quota, Aeroche on Sunday night. Persephonia have not got off to as good a start as last year, finishing in a slightly disappointing 31st out of the 41 songs in the final with xi's 'Happy End Of The World' after we initially had hopes of another top 20 finish. The position matches that of our last instrumental entry 'Thelema' by Øfdream three contests earlier, although it did get a few more points than that did, a total of 146 points from 18 countries including one apiece of the medal positions (the full 18 from Terra Avium for a third time in 5 contests, a best-to-date 15 points from Cor Lupus and 13 points from ever faithful Jadakissnia). Putting the result in a bit of perspective though, the reveal of the semi-final results showed us on the brink of a much more disastrous start to 2017, as it turned out we scraped through semi-final 2 in 20th place with just 47 points, 3 clear of DNQing. This is only the second time we've ever scraped through a semi-final in its last qualification slot (after Frankie & The Heartstrings' 'Hunger' was the lowest of 14 qualifiers in BJSC 25 semi-final 2) and the second lowest number of points we've qualified with, one more than Deaf Club's 'Moving Still' in BJSC 49. With that in mind, the final result was a fair bit better than the projected 39th place. Silver linings! Thank you to those who voted for this entry which has become one of our favourites
- After the last two contests had very small winning margins, we returned to a landslide victory in BJSC 91. Having topped pretty much all of the odds and predictions save for a few late contrarians like that dastardly PersepBet, Ultraviolenceland lived up to the hype and notched up their first main contest win with EASYFUN's 'Monopoly' (feat. Noonie Bao) storming to the win with 373 points (they'd previously won the UK Chart Near Misses spinoff with Ellie Goulding's 'Lights'). The crowning moment comes very soon after their long wait for a first top 10 hit was ended in the previous contest as they came 10th with ARIA's 'Maze'. Its lead over its closest rival was 113 points, the third largest margin ever (Sigala's 'Easy Love' won by 118 and Salt Ashes' 'Save It' by 133), and also ranking within the top 3 biggest win margins ever in percentage terms. All in all doing just a bit better than PC Music alumnus EASYFUN's previous BJSC entry 'Laplander' which unceremoniously dropped out in 28th place in the semi-finals of BJSC 73 for Cadelicia. 'Monopoly' was the winner of semi-final 1 as well, also marking Ultraviolenceland's first semi-final win. Ultraviolenceland have since announced they will be hosting BJSC 92 with some assistance from Taahino, both hosting for the first time.
- The winner was never in doubt, but there was a very close race for 2nd, with only 15 points separating the silver medal from 8th place. Ultimately 2nd place went to Ramrynia with Sirusho's 'PreGomesh' on 260 points, marking the 4th time Ramrynia have finished as runners-up (after Elen Levon's 'Dancing To The Same Song' in BJSC 48, Alida's 'Some Of Us' in BJSC 58 and Listenbee's 'Save Me' (feat. Naz Tokio) in BJSC 71) while they still await their own first win. With another 2 3rd placers on top of that, they now individually have the records for most 2nd places and most top 3 finishes without ever winning, after previously jointly holding those records with United States of Jack. One day. 3rd place with 255 points went to Mulgracia with Grouplove's 'Good Morning', adding to their 2 wins and 1 second place, and also greatly and somewhat unexpectedly surpassing the success of the artist's previous BJSC entry ('Tongue Tied', which came 23rd for Bøtanikkä in BJSC 47). The winner of semi-final 2, and the projected winner (123 points in its semi-final to Ultraviolenceland's 122), was Bishop Briggs' 'River', representing Pupok (giving them a second semi-final win). That song came 4th in the final with 254 points, meaning Pupok have come top 10 with 7 of their last 10 entries. This was also a much bigger hit than the previous entry by the same artist (St. Burbia came 32nd with Briggs' 'Wild Horses' in the first contest of last year). The final slot in the top 5 was determined on a tiebreak with two songs both scoring 253 points. The winner of that battle was New Lexico with 'Taped Up Heart' by KREAM featuring Clara Mae. It's the country's 6th top 5 hit, the last 4 of which have all come 5th - the last time they went higher was in BJSC 39 (when they were still known as Allecian) with Ask Embla's 'Einn' which came 4th, while their only medal position remains from the horrendously cheap early BJSCs with a suitably horrendously cheap entry, The Saturdays' 'Up' which came 3rd in BJSC 10.
- The rest of the top 10 had a very fresh feel to it with 3 countries in the 6-10 region getting their first top 10 hits and another getting their second. St. Burbia lost the tiebreak and came 6th with Alice Merton's 'No Roots', eclipsing their previous peak of 13th which they'd achieved twice, first with Dirtcaps' 'Fools Paradise' (feat. Rochelle) in their second ever contest BJSC 80, then again with Bearson's 'Want You' (feat. Cal) in BJSC 84. 7th place went to Beaverdonia, returning from a one-month ban with Digitalism's 'Open Waters', becoming their second biggest hit after their only previous top 10, BJSC 85 winner 'Aide' by Bang La Decks. It would be their third top 10 if they had voted in the final of BJSC 77, where FLETCHER's 'War Paint' ended up 25th due to a deduction. 'Open Waters' easily outperformed our Digitalism entry, 'Blitz' which came 19th in BJSC 82 - we're not too bitter though, as we actually prefer 'Open Waters', and are always delighted to see former Persephonia artists getting belated hits x The country formerly known as Lomaja have decided to rebrand already in only their 4th contest and are now known as Aesthetica. The name change has brought them a first top 10 hit, coming 8th with Wonder Girls' 'I Feel You' which also tied the record for biggest improvement from projected finish based on the semi-final results (it had been projected 36th, and that 28 place improvement matched that of Aquafina's BJSC 74 entry 'Insomnia' by Audien featuring Parson James which improved 33-5). One can only speculate the midweek improvement may have been subtly influenced by the coincidental timing of Wonder Girls announcing their split after a 10 year career. Aesthetica FKA Lomaja's first 3 entries all qualified and came top 30, their previous peak being 23rd with second entry 'Trampoline' by Kero Kero Bonito. Summericia were the last country to get a first top 10, coming 9th with CRIM3S' 'still goin', the latest witch house track to smash the top 10, earning the country a new peak for the second time in a row (beating the 24th place of last entry 'Alga' by IGNEA) and a third time in 4 contests. The only country other than Ultraviolenceland to have back-to-back top 10s was Cor Lupus who followed their 4th place finish last time by coming 10th with LIONE's 'Leave This Place'. Aeroche followed their win with a 13th place with auto-qualifier 'Ambience' by Melé.
- As well as the 5 countries setting new peaks or matching their previous peaks within the top 10, there were 2 more countries setting new national bests, both of which were making the final for the first time. After an opening run of 3 DNQs including a somewhat infamous last place in the semi-final with just 4 points two contests ago with Royce Lovett's 'I Wanna Love You', Niceland came within touching distance of getting a top 10 with their first qualifier. They settled for 11th with Captain Cuts' 'Love Like We Used To' (feat. Nateur), though its score included top scores of 18 from 4 other countries, more than every other track in the final bar 'Monopoly' which got 6 18s. Zanmatony opened with 2 DNQs but similarly smashed the top 20 with their first qualifier, finishing 16th with 'Love & War' by Yellow Claw featuring Yade Lauren. There was also one country making its debut in this contest: Azure, who made it to the final with their first entry, although were very lucky to do so. Their entry, 'Celebrity Status' by Marianas Trench, came 20th in semi-final 1 after winning a tiebreak, and even then was only a qualifier because Ajanaeda entry 'Fighter' by TYNI had a 33% deduction for non-voting. 'Celebrity Status' went on to get the wooden spoon for Azure, coming 41st out of 41 in the final with 78 points. The track hit a very small niche market, having qualified off the back of just 5 voters in the semi-final and only attracting points from 7 countries in the final, the lowest number for a song in the final that was not an auto-qualifier since BJSC 61 where Ingermanlandia got only 5 votes with Flight Facilities' 'Stand Still' (feat. Micky Green). Still, a debut qualifier is better than a lot of countries manage and we're sure greater success is in Azure's future. x
- Aside from Beaverdonia, 5 other countries made returns in this contest. The most long-awaited returnee was Palmyra who made a surprise and silent return after missing the last 25 contests. Their entry 'A Short Love Story' by Somewhere Anywhere featuring Claude Eman received some... negative feedback and wasn't expected to qualify, but similarly silent fans came through for it as it did make the final, and it actually picked up quite a few points from early final voters leading to it initially being top 10 during the final results reveal. The points flow dried up for it however and it ended up in a more lowly 37th. Hendinia came back after missing 2 contests and also made it to the final with ODESZA's 'All We Need' (feat. Shy Girls) which came 22nd. The other returnees had less luck: Bhangra made another return and lost out on the tiebreak with Azure in semi-final 1 (we hope this won't result in them taking another contest out as they did after 2 other recent DNQs!) Occasional competitors Frandoot were back for a 4th attempt and floundered in last place in the semi-final again as they did in their last appearance in BJSC 87 (poor hens). They're yet to ever enter 2 consecutive contests and this won't be an exception as they didn't vote in the final and are thus banned from BJSC 92, as are Ajanaeda and Ojnoj. Finally, Buzzjack Mountain remembered to enter this time and delivered the 'treat' they had promised for the last contest, a second originally-produced entry in collaboration with a handful of other BuzzJack members. This one was only marginally more successful than their last attempt at this. Persephonian News Bulletin does not condone these entries and hopes we shall never have to speak of them again.
- Other somewhat noteworthy results: perennial participants and contest dictators moderators République d'Ashton's hunt for another (24th) top 10 hit continues as they still haven't seen the top tier since BJSC 57, but their latest entry 'Not Too Young' by Sabina Ddumba came 14th to give them their best result in 19 contests. Thelonia scored their first top 20 hit since their debut entry (14th placed 'Got It' by Marian Hill in BJSC 73), coming 19th with IV Rox's 'I Heard Love'. Altyr Muunilinst provided the latest extremely long song to make it to the final, with their entry 'Light Of The Seven' by Ramin Djawadi clocking in at 9:49, but securing enough big fans (including us) to come 27th, winning the battle of lengthy piano-based instrumentals against our own entry. A worthy opponent at least. Finally, the only country other than Azure to not pass 100 points was Aelandor who came 40th with Copeland's 'No One Really Wins' on 95 points, at least giving them a second qualifier out of their 8 entries to date but still not providing them their major breakthrough.
Full Persephonian rankings for BJSC 91
Final
Points awarded:
18 Trifoski // Amnesia Scanner - AS Crust
15 Summericia // CRIM3S - still goin
13 Altyr Muunilinst // Ramin Djawadi - Light Of The Seven
12 Aeroche // Melé - Ambience
11 Beaverdonia // Digitalism - Open Waters
10 Jadakissnia // TEARIST - Headless
9 Ramrynia // Sirusho - PreGomesh
8 Yehesi // IAMX - I Come With Knives
7 Desbuanda // Sylvan Esso - Radio
6 Bøtanikkä // Noga Erez - Dance While You Shoot
5 Fljótavík // Agoria - Up All Night
4 Aelandor // Copeland - No One Really Wins
3 South Danaelanda // Aly & Fila, Roger Shah and Susana - Unbreakable
2 Aesthetica // Wonder Girls - I Feel You
1 Harmonica // Tall Heights - Spirit Cold
16th-40th:
Pupok // Bishop Briggs - River
Land of DW // Austra - Future Politics
#00274E // Pogo - Data & Picard
Espen // TAMER - Beautiful Crime
Taahino // Greywind - Circle
N DNTN // Kyary Pamyu Pamyu - Harajuku Iyahoi
Mulgracia // Grouplove - Good Morning
Cadelicia // The Clarstone - Fandango (feat. Lola Torres)
Cor Lupus // LIONE - Leave This Place
Hendinia // ODESZA - All We Need (feat. Shy Girls)
Medhelnia // Elsa & Emilie - Run
Thelonia // IV Rox - I Heard Love
Ultraviolenceland // EASYFUN - Monopoly (feat. Noonie Bao)
Azure // Marianas Trench - Celebrity Status
Republic of Adonia // Anna Straker - Serious
Palmyra // Somewhere Anywhere - A Short Love Story (feat. Claude Eman)
Tinnmark // Mikhael Paskalev - Witness
République d'Ashton // Sabina Ddumba - Not Too Young
D'yermak'er // Nightly - XO
The Actual Republic of Bellamia // Nemo Schiffman - I Don't Mind
St. Burbia // Alice Merton - No Roots
Niceland // Captain Cuts - Love Like We Used To (feat. Nateur)
New Lexico // KREAM - Taped Up Heart (feat. Clara Mae)
Zanmatony // Yellow Claw - Love & War (feat. Yade Lauren)
Unovia // SLUMBERJACK - Fracture (feat. Vera Blue)
~
Semi-Final 2
Points awarded:
12 Trifoski // Amnesia Scanner - AS Crust
10 Summericia // CRIM3S - still goin
8 Desbuanda // Sylvan Esso - Radio
7 Fljótavík // Agoria - Up All Night
6 Dobago // Will Sparks - Flamenco†
5 South Danaelanda // Aly & Fila, Roger Shah and Susana - Unbreakable
4 Singerpurear // Chicks On Speed - We Don't Play Guitars (feat. Peaches)†
3 Yehesi // IAMX - I Come With Knives
2 Aesthetica // Wonder Girls - I Feel You
1 Pupok // Bishop Briggs - River
11th-30th:
Mulgracia // Grouplove - Good Morning
Terra Avium // Alev Lenz - Fall Into Me†
Cadelicia // The Clarstone - Fandango (feat. Lola Torres)
Hendinia // ODESZA - All We Need (feat. Shy Girls)
Palmyra // Somewhere Anywhere - A Short Love Story (feat. Claude Eman)
Deandria // Holy Two - Undercover Girls†
Tartford // Le Youth - If You're Leaving (feat. Sydnie)†
Espen // TAMER - Beautiful Crime
St. Burbia // Alice Merton - No Roots
Hushkanukia // Gayle Nerva - Echoes†
#00274E // Pogo - Data & Picard
Skall // Japandroids - Near To The Wild Heart Of Life†
Flynnonda // King No-One - Alcatraz†
Quintessa // White Lung - Below†
Greenfroze // Kidswaste - More Colors (feat. Chelsea Cutler)†
République d'Ashton // Sabina Ddumba - Not Too Young
Florina // Ten Fé - Twist Your Arm†
Tinnmark // Mikhael Paskalev - Witness
Republic of Adonia // Anna Straker - Serious
Unovia // SLUMBERJACK - Fracture (feat. Vera Blue)
† DNQed
~
Semi-Final 1 DNQs
2nd FSR Rontvia // Daithí - Mary Keanes Introduction
4th Kylienips // Echos - Fiction
10th Séyetana // Babyraids JAPAN - Cinderella Ja Irarenai
13th Bhangra // Fred V & Grafix and Metrik - Tension (feat. Kate Westall)
14th Ojnoj // TINY-G - MINIMANIMO
20th Frandoot // Otilia - Wine My Body
22nd Bignia-Zaragovina // Handsome Poets - Sky On Fire
26th Syndare // Skott - Lack Of Emotion
29th Daehun // MAMAMOO - Décalcomanie
30th Ajanaeda // TYNI - Fighter
31st Buzzjack Mountain // Future Bass Fishermen In A Tropical House - EDM Progressive Spin Cycle (With You Tonight) (feat. Princess Lotita and Bento Leão)
Really interesting write-up about Deandria there, Bré Fascinating to see other points of view from the outside. I'm not sure I ever really realised that Deandria had a "trademark vocal style" but I guess it's true, with 'Until Eternity', 'Alchemy', 'Undercover Girls', 'Father Hu$$la' and a few others having pretty quirky vocals. Unintentional, but there you go. I had a weird "relationship" with 'When You Wish Upon the Stars' during the contest - it was probably the quickest I have confirmed an entry after discovering it, and I went off it a bit for a short time, partly because I didn't like the video In the end I was happy with the entry though, it grew on me again so yay!
and yea, would've been lovely to win with a more 'inspired' entry when those are the ones I usually long for - but a win is a win
ty
Haha yes, I didn't know if it was intentional or not but I guess you just happen to get drawn to songs with those kind of vocals. I thought the vocals on 'Headless' sounded a bit like that as well so it didn't surprise me at all that it was a past potential of yours in that context Glad to hear that Maya's Moving Castle grew back on you again anyway, deserved so much better as did most of your other DNQs.
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 13/02/2017
Persephonia joins the rock bloc for BJSC 92 with End Of The Dream
Continuing our mini apocalyptic theme for the start of 2017, the (happy) end of the world is followed up by End Of The Dream, who provide our 71st main contest entry by representing us in BJSC 92 with their song 'Colder'. The band come from 's-Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands and are currently recording their second studio album. 'Colder' is taken from their debut album 'All I Am', which was released in the UK in September 2015. End Of The Dream are the second (technically third) Dutch act we've sent to the contest following San Holo with 'Hiding' in BJSC 71, which featured fellow Dutch act The Nicholas. At the time this song was recorded the band also had one member from Belgium, who has since left.
'Colder' marks a rare foray into the rock bloc for Persephonia, our first entry from the rock/indie spectrum since Deaf Club's 'Moving Still' in BJSC 49 and by far the heaviest of the few we have sent, falling into the subgenre of symphonic metal. The band cite fellow Dutch symphonic metal bands Within Temptation, Epica and After Forever as influences as well as the likes of Dream Theater and Muse. There's also some clear similarities to Evanescence, especially in the vocals of Micky Huijsmans, with the band in fact sharing its name with an Evanescence song (may or may not be intentional). 'Colder' instantly hooks the listener with a short piano intro followed by a powerful onslaught of guitar which continues throughout most of the song accompanied by some suitably apocalyptic lyrics sung beautifully by Huijsmans. Here's the track, we hope you like it:
We can be found in semi-final 1 (hosted by Frozenland, Ultraviolenceland while semi-final 2 is being handled by Polis, Taahino), in slot 15 of 32.
(P.S. to put http://www.buzzjack.com/forums/index.php?s=&showtopic=186016&view=findpost&p=5617832 in context, for this month's ~teaser image~ we originally Googled 'frozen guitar' and the image in that post was one of the first results not the vibe we were going for, although somewhat appropriate for an Ultraviolenceland contest )
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 20/02/2017
The dream hasn't come to an end yet in Ultraviolenceland!
It has been announced tonight that End Of The Dream's 'Colder' has qualified for us, and will thus be appearing in the final in 1989VideoCoast, Ultraviolenceland, our 53rd final appearance and 8th in a row, a total which now puts us in 2nd place for countries with the longest active qualification streak: due in no small part to suffering a 33% deduction with their current entry, N DNTN failed to qualify bringing an end to their run of 11 finals. The new champions are Unovia, who qualified to a 10th straight final, or 11th ignoring a one-month break in BJSC 82. Medhelnia also DNQed meaning we hold 2nd place all by ourselves on the list. 'Colder' has been drawn as song 12 of 41 in the final, thanks to those who voted us through as we were starting to lose confidence! Our aim now is to at least outperform our previous entry.
The aforementioned N DNTN were the only country we voted for in semi-final 1 who failed to make it through, as they got our 2 points with Empress Of's 'Water Water', following Empress Of previously being a potential Persephonia entrant with her song 'How Do You Do It'. The results in semi-final 2 were less friendly to the Persephonian public's favourites, with half of our top 10 failing to progress, most heartbreakingly Skall entry 'Blackbird' by Martyn Bennett (ranked 2nd), but also all of the songs ranked from 5th to 8th, respectively SOLDOUT's 'Do It Again' (feat. GOOSE) (a surprise DNQ for Jadakissnia), Black Motion's 'Imali' (feat. Nokwazi) (FSR Rontvia), Donatachi's Del Mar Mix of HI LIFE's 'When I Get To The Club' (Cadelicia) and Prince Rama's 'Fantasy' (Summericia). </3
Congrats on the qualifier! especially as you were feeling more uncertain about it as the days went by. At least one of us can represent #Jadaphonia in the final *.* I initially didn't quite know what to think of this and its heaviness (until like half way when it started to hit me) but it's already quickly growing as a whole package. Feeling the Evanescence vibes~
It definitely feels wrong that I qualified and you didn't when I was feeling the opposite was gonna happen tbh.
2016 EOY 40-31 (we're still getting there eventually everyone dw xx):
40 Singerpurear 89 // Princess Chelsea - The Cigarette Duet {11 points}
39 FSR Rontvia 85 // Real Lies - North Circular {12 points}
38 Desbuanda 84 // LSDXOXO - Angel Dust {13 points}
37 Harmonica 84 // Sleigh Bells - A/B Machines {12 points}
36 Quintessa 86 // ANi GLASS - Y Ddawns {15 points}
35 Singerpurear 84 // Yothu Yindi - Treaty (Filthy Lucre Remix) {18 points}
34 Pupok 82 // Vesala - Tequila {ranked 26th}
33 Cadelicia 82 // Daler Mehndi - Tunak Tunak Tun... {12 points}
32 Jadakissnia 83 // VHS Glitch - Blood In Blood Out {12 points}
31 Quintessa 90 // Ghost - Square Hammer {9 points}
These countries have their highest appearances in this section:
HARMONICA
Sleigh Bells - A/B Machines [#37] > Megan McCauley - Die For You > PARRI$ - NASTY > Doop - Tequila > Sizzy Rocket - Need Somebody > MEG MAC - Never Be > Joseph - White Flag > Lauren Alaina - Road Less Traveled > Lipstick Gypsy - The Cure
Harmonica are typically a bit of a hit and miss country for me, it has been nice to see them finding a bit of a groove with qualifiers recently though after their rough first couple of years! Some of their DNQs in 2016 were still among their best entries, particularly the moody and powerful Anastacia clone 'Die For You' (one I was sure would qualify), and of course 'Tequila' was quite a bop and it was just amusing to learn that Doop are still making music, it's a bit of a shame Harmonica did miss out that one contest when they potentially had the near-as-iconic Baha Men lined up as an entry Then 'Need Somebody' was a perfectly decent pop song, much better than the earlier Harmonica Sizzy Rocket entry. The only real dud among them was the rather damp 'The Cure'. Harmonica's best of the year by miles though, and the only one that makes my top 150, is 'A/B Machines' from Sleigh Bells' first and best era, I remember hearing quite a few of their songs on nighttime Radio 1 at the time and I think this was one of them but I certainly didn't hold it in as high regard as the likes of 'Infinity Guitars' and 'Rill Rill' so I still count this as a (re-)discovery from the contest. Heavy distortion making for an abrasive yet brilliant listening experience, and of course the repetitive vocal line is one to get stuck in your head for hours. 'NASTY' was pretty great too and was a big grower within its contest only just missing my points, Harmonica's occasional dips into ~urban~ music tend to be quite good. That leaves their trio of top 20 hits, including their two top 10 hits they waited so long for, none of them are really that much my thing, 'Never Be' and 'White Flag' are DECENT songs though and I didn't dislike 'Road Less Traveled' as much as I thought I would. If their first 2 entries of 2017 are anything to go by I think it should be a better year for them in my affections.
SINGERPUREAR
Yothu Yindi - Treaty (Filthy Lucre Remix) [#35] > Princess Chelsea - The Cigarette Duet [#40] > Kadie Elder - First Time He Kissed A Boy [#128] > Kishi Bashi - Ode To My Next Life > Ezra Furman - Restless Year > Fitz And The Tantrums - HandClap > Inga Humpe - Riding Into Blue (Cowboy Song) > Chris Lee - Real Love > Timothy Bloom - 'Til The End Of Time (feat. V. Bozeman) > Firebeatz and DubVision - Invincible (feat. Ruby Prophet)
Singerpurear have continued their reputation as one of the most eclectic and unpredictable countries in the contest which is a great thing, I always look forward to what they have up their sleeves next. They weren't as consistently great as they were in 2015 for me but there are still plentiful fab songs on the list including 3 in my EOY. I adore tracks with world music vocals so it was no surprise that I loved 'Treaty', some classic Singerpurear originality picking a track from the early 90s combining banging dance beats with hypnotic Aboriginal chanting (I appreciate that this remix of the song used more of those vocals and less of the English lyrics), this was the first time I gave Singerpurear my top points, hooray! Though unfortunately it is the lowest ranked of my 18 pointers in 2016 (having been overtaken by another song from its contest), and I'd probably only rank it as their 3rd best entry overall after 'I Am The Antichrist To You' and 'Love Mera Hit Hit' from the previous year. Very close behind and scraping them a second place in my top 40 is the much more chilled affair that is 'The Cigarette Duet', a song that just oozes class, the 2 voices really work well together especially when they start singing over each other (and big appreciation for the way she says the word 'chance' in particular x) then they have a third top 150 entry with 'First Time He Kissed A Boy', recycling one of my previous artists (I don't like the song as much as the one I sent but that was a tough ask as I still absolutely adore 'Simple Guy' despite it bombing so hard in BJSC 54, was pleasing to see Kadie Elder get some much belated success) and with production quite reminiscent of another of my previous entries (Truls' 'Out Of Yourself'), Kadie Elder are pretty good at the mildly indie flavoured Scandipop thing they do. Kishi Bashi's second entry for Singerpurear, 'Ode To My Next Life' was a fab synthy number, it didn't have quite the same 'oomph' as its predecessor although it definitely should have qualified and I'm still shocked it didn't. 'Restless Year' and 'HandClap' were both pretty good catchy mainstream indie type songs and 'Riding Into Blue (Cowboy Song)' was another enjoyable archival pick if not a huge standout, I think my mum would be a big fan though. I really liked 'Real Love' to begin with but it hasn't held up to repeated listens, good production as usual from A. G. Cook but not really much more to it. The last two songs are well behind though, ''Til The End Of Time' was quite the dirge and 'Invincible' is pretty much the epitome of terrible dance music which I could kind of tell by the artist names and song title alone but it somehow sounded even worse than that. The problem with a mixed bag country like Singerpurear is they can be properly awful as well as properly great. But they are the latter more often than not. Yay!
PUPOK
Vesala - Tequila [#34] > Rich White Ladies - Wimbledon [#81] > Claudia Kane - Einstein [#141] > Ängie - Smoke Weed Eat Pussy > GIRLI - So You Think You Can Fuck With Me Do Ya > GIRLI - Girl I Met On The Internet > Aelyn - Give Love A Try > Haschak Sisters - Daddy Says No > Sasha Pieterse - R.P.M. > Emily Vaughn - Better Off
I voted for Pupok 3 times in 2016, but in the end their highest appearance on here by a fair amount is one that I not only didn't vote for, but didn't even come particularly close to voting for at the time - one of the ultimate examples of a song from BJSC just suddenly hitting me really hard right after the contest. I don't know what I was thinking ranking 'Tequila' as low as 26th (!) even in the strongest final of the year, if I were voting in that contest again today it'd easily get double figure points. Sorry for that one Lotti, not that it needed my support really as it was a deserved big hit and kicked off a period of Pupok domination in the contest. To this day I still quite often find myself with that chorus stuck in my head, beautiful song, especially love how the percussion properly kicks in during the final chorus Not so beautiful but still an undeniable (yes Jade, UNDENIABLE xx) jam, #tenniscourtanthem 'Wimbledon' provides a second Pupok entry in my top 100, perhaps one of the greatest concepts for a hip-hop song of all time *.* would definitely be autoplaying it in this post if that feature hadn't apparently been turned off :'( Another of Pupok's classier entries, 'Einstein' sneaks in as a third appearance for them in my EOY, really sounding like a lost Lana Del Rey song. 'So You Think You Can Fuck With Me Do Ya' got 8 points from me but the novelty of it has faded a little bit and it ends up outside my EOY, with the other GIRLI track only just behind it, was nice to hear a slightly more 'serious' song from her (though still maintaining the same sort of aesthetic), she's a bit like a trashy version of Hannah Diamond. Both of them are actually beaten by 'Smoke Weed Eat Pussy' which I've just listened back to and it's better than I remember it being, I loveee the production and the voice pitch shift *.* I guess the one thing that prevents it being a proper favourite is the slightly gratuitous profanity but still, quite a jam in retrospect. I never quite got into 'Give Love A Try' as much as I perhaps should have since I'm normally a big fan of trance entries but it's still a pretty good entry. 'Daddy Says No' was a bit of an ironic bop when I first heard it but the novelty wore off that as well to a much greater extent than with GIRLI. 'R.P.M.' was a bit of a strange choice of an auto-qualifier but it wasn't too bad. My least favourite from Pupok 2016 is the one song they had from the start of the year before they became one of the contest's biggest nations, 'Better Off' is just a really standard and eh~ pop song, I like that Pupok's entries since then have pretty much always at least been DISTINCTIVE.
CADELICIA
Daler Mehndi - Tunak Tunak Tun... [#33] > Die Antwoord - Banana Brain [#105] > WEKEED - Wild Child > Mendoza - Love Druggie (Addict) (Jade Blue Remix) > Kinetic - Living The Illusion > Jess Kent - Get Down > Feed Me - What It Feels Like (feat. Nina Nesbitt) > Paris & Simo - Reunite (Galloway Remix) (feat. Patrick Moreno and Aloma Steele) > Jane XØ and Dannic - Undone > 4Minute - Hate
Cadelicia trended a little more generic than they used to in 2016 - that's not always a bad thing though as I did really like a couple of their more generic dance entries (I still think 'Wild Child' was very underrated and it was a little gutting to see that underperform so badly, and 'Love Druggie (Addict)' is a tune too, I voted for both of those - hooray for the latter bringing belated big success to another of my past BJSC artists as well!) but it does feel like our music tastes have diverged a bit. My 2 favourites from Cadelicia 2016 were their two most out-of-the-ordinary entries, topped by the rather incredible retro bhangra / Internet meme track 'Tunak Tunak Tun...', I was actually really surprised when I found out how old this song was, I thought the video was just very low budget (still a great video tho tbh). It sounds like the sort of thing that could still be put out today by bhangra artists anyway. Shoulda won TBO. Their other appearance in my EOY is 'Banana Brain', had been a fan of Die Antwoord (RIP :'() for a while and this was another great addition to their discography, the kind of crazy rap-rave song that could only be by them really... or perhaps their tribute act Little Big and another brilliant video as ever from them too, shame it wasn't actually out until after the contest. Beyond those 4 songs which I voted for there isn't much I care for here, 'Living The Illusion' was a pretty solid drum n bass track but far from the best to be in the contest, 'Get Down' was also decent, but then 'What It Feels Like' and 'Reunite' do nothing for me at all, 'Undone' is pretty irritating and 'Hate' is just an absolutely atrocious headache much like 4Minute's previous entry. I live in hope of Perselicia becoming strong again (I did really like their most recent entry, shame it DNQed )
QUINTESSA
Ghost - Square Hammer [#31] > ANi GLASS - Y Ddawns [#36] > Crywolf - Akureyri [#44] > Gina Kushka - Bring It Down [#121] > Hannah Peel - All That Matters > Vanessa Elisha - Out Of Time > Satchmode - Further Away > Annabel Jones - Happy > Lali - Soy > Elektra - I Don't Do Boys
A slightly hit and miss year for Quintessa but I liked more than I didn't, and they had a trio of really brilliant entries which all make my EOY top 50. One of the best rock entries of the year came from them in the form of the epic 'Square Hammer', I actually thought Ghost were a proper screamy heavy metal band so this track was a little more subdued than I expected, but still not exactly a standard BJSC sound so it was great to see a few people taking so well to some Satanic-themed classic rock <3 That song 'only' got 9 points from me in the final contest of the year (though I'd now bump it up to 11 if I was voting in it today), but finishes a little bit ahead of the Quintessa entry I gave 15 points, 'Y Ddawns' - this was a track Leonardo PMed to me in the late stages of PMing potentials still being allowed, I urged him to send it and am very glad it did appear in the contest, a wonderful bit of synthpop and of course a very unique language which I can always appreciate in BJSC, may still be the only song I've ever listened to which is sung in Welsh, it's great that there's an artist out there making such brilliant music for such a small niche The third of Quintessa's trio of top 50 entries is 'Akureyri' (named after a location in Iceland *.*) which is another atmospheric melodic dubstep beauty from Crywolf after 'The Home We Made Pt II' came 2nd in my 2015 EOY, and just like that song it scandalously DNQed, FFS BuzzJack :'( though did at least go on to qualify for Rejects as well, meaning Crywolf got high points from me in the Rejects 2 years in a row (although not quite my 18 this time). 'Bring It Down' provides Quintessa a fourth entry in my full EOY, yet another song that makes it in here despite missing out on points in BJSC 82, it's another one that's clicked with me much more since the end of the contest, sounding a little bit like Ellie Goulding going urban (if only her last album sounded like this x). A couple of other good entries, 'All That Matters' was another lovely synthy track and 'Out Of Time' another good R&B track, both definitely deserved to qualify (the R&B racism in the semi-final the latter was in :')). 'Further Away' was pleasant but ultimately forgettable, and similarly with 'Happy'. The last two tracks were both rather disappointing, 'Soy' was one of the few Spanish language BJSC tracks I don't care for at all and as much as it PAINS me to rank an Icelandic artist as my least favourite of a country's entries... I'll just say 'I Don't Do Boys' is really not a highlight of the country's musical output :')
Hooray for 'Blood In Blood Out' appearing in your top 40 that has got to be one of my most underrated entries. Thank goodness that you at least got its synthwavey awesomeness <3 especially as you provided its only points in TBO oop x
I agree with Jade, Wimbledon was pretty bad
We can NOT be more different with the Cadelicia taste most of Oliver's best entries IMO are on the bottom of your list
WIMBLEON HYPE
that write up bre
I'm feelin' they jealous
Like I'm Monica Seles
But there's nothin' to tell us
We stink of coin and they smell us
XXX ANGEL DUST XXX is one im so glad was entered cos its one that i did rly like before it was sent but afterwards it just got so much attention from me absolutely bonkers and gives me entry envy
Wimbledon is pretty trash xx
Square Hammer is still a massive beauty <3
My usual wordy writeups for BJSC 92 and the Masquerade I spinoff/Re:LOADED IX are coming soon (but yay for 2 decent midtable finishes) ~~ in the mean time a new contest has started...
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 08/03/2017
BJSC 92 summary
- Persephonia achieved a decent result in BJSC 92, with 'Colder' by End Of The Dream finishing 22nd in the final, held in 1989VideoCoast, Ultraviolenceland. It raked in a total of 160 points from 20 different countries. Among those were 3 countries - Buzzjack Mountain, Cadelicia and Séyetana - who awarded us their full 18 points, marking the first time we've got more than 2 18s since DANCE WITH THE DEAD's 'Waves' also received 3 18s in BJSC 79! 'Colder' also ranked in the medal positions for Aelandor who awarded it 15 points. The song came 9th in semi-final 1 with 72 points, our first top 10 finish in a semi-final since BJSC 87 (though our wait for another final top 10 goes on, with us last making it that high in BJSC 81). That put it at a projected 21st place, pretty much in line with the actual result. ~
- There was a closer race for the win and far more songs tipped as contenders than in the previous contest. Eventually emerging as the victor was South Danaelanda, following Ultraviolenceland to a long-awaited first BJSC win, though it was even more of a long time coming this time: including their longer history as a united nation simply called Danaelanda, they have been in the contest since BJSC 35 (pulling out for contests 37-40 but participating continuously since then). Their tally of 53 failed attempts before finally managing a victory is the 2nd largest of any country, only behind Kylienips' epic slog of 74 non-wins in a row from the very first contest until they finally won in BJSC 75. They steal 2nd place on that list from yours truly, as we won for the first time after 45 non-wins. (South) Danaelanda's first win comes after they bookended 2016 with their only two previous top 3 finishes; they came 3rd in both BJSC 81 and BJSC 90 with TheFatRat's 'Monody' (feat. Laura Brehm) and Basto's 'Gregory's Theme' respectively. The winner in question is epic trance anthem 'Saving Light' by Gareth Emery and Standerwick featuring HALIENE, which topped the contest with a total of 369 points, including 7 full scores of 18, the most in the contest. 'Saving Light' also won semi-final 1, giving the country their second semi-final win following 'Monody'. And on an unrelated note, in the time it's taken us to write up this post, South Danaelanda have also notched up a first spinoff win (but more on that in our next rambling bulletin). BJSC 93 is now underway, with South Danaelanda hosting as reigning champions for the first time, though they previously hosted BJSC 82 (as the united Danaelanda) due to Deandria passing on their hosting rights.
- 'Saving Light' was among the songs tipped as winners, but the song topping most odds and predictions was MUNA's 'I Know A Place', which ultimately came 2nd for Yehesi with 344 points, 25 away from the leader and thus not quite managing Yehesi's second win but still their 5th medal position (and 6th top 5) in the last 11 contests. It had been the projected winner, as the runaway champion of semi-final 2 - like S DNLD, their second semi-final win, though actually the first time they received the most points in a semi-final (TP4Y's 'Blush' was technically the winner of BJSC 86 semi-final 2 but only because Altyr Muunilinst suffered a 15% deduction for late voting). 3rd place went to Hendinia, scoring 321 points with Troll's 'Jimmy Dean', a spectacular showing for a song from as long ago as 1989. The retro Scandi-cheese-bop managed to appeal well beyond its target audience (any song that gets 18 from both us and Sandebörg must be wide appealing!!) and cemented its status as the latest Hendinia song to do very well but not quite win. 22 top 10s and counting since they last won in BJSC 41 (this is their 5th bronze medal since then, in addition to one silver medal). Pupok finished 4th for a second contest in a row (after an earlier run of 5-5-6-6, that consistency), earning 287 points with the wild and wacky 'Mutant Brain' by Sam Spiegel and Ape Drums featuring Assassin. The top 5 was completed by the more subdued but also brilliant 'Toi Et Moi' by Paradis on 256 points, which gave Trifoski their first top 5 hit since The Magician's 'Sunlight' (feat. Years & Years) came 4th back in BJSC 67, and their second top 10 in 3 contests after a dry spell of 18.
- Host nation Ultraviolenceland continued their newfound success, with auto-qualifier 'Ahora Lloras Tú' by Ana Mena featuring CNCO coming 6th to be their 2nd biggest hit and 3rd consecutive top 10 after never previously getting above 11th. Ana Mena was also behind one of the country's 7 top 20 hits prior to that breakthrough, 'No Soy Como Tú Crees' which came 20th in BJSC 85. Terra Avium celebrated their 50th entry in this contest, not using the opportunity to send something super cheap but rather going for a sound that has come to define them to some extent, the 6 and a half minute classical instrumental 'Africa' by Marcus Warner. Such entries are always at risk of not connecting but it pleasingly paid off for them, as it came 7th, their third highest BJSC finish to date and highest since BJSC 80 when they set their peak of 3rd with Owsey, Jernalism and Resotone's 'I've Been Secretly Falling Apart' (they've come 10th twice in the mean time). Another song strongly tipped for the win was Tone Damli's 'Pinnacle' (subject to... a little bit of cheap-shaming but not quite the shitstorm that happened the last time she was in the contest), which was gunning for being the first winner for an absolute age for République d'Ashton. Alas, it didn't quite live up to the hype, although its 8th place finish still ended the moderating nation's torturous wait for another top 10 hit (as mentioned in our last contest summary, their 23rd and most recent top 10 until now was Little Nikki's 'Little Nikki Says' in BJSC 57). Ashton, under numerous stylisations of their country name, have sent Tone Damli three times in the past and the past three entries all came top 5 ('Butterflies' 4th in BJSC 20, 'Look Back' 2nd in BJSC 41 and 'Smash' 3rd in BJSC 52). Completing the top 10, Cor Lupus got a third top 10 on the trot, coming 9th with HALEM's 'Unstoppable', and Ramrynia also clocked consecutive top 10 hits as they followed their silver medal in BJSC 91 with a 10th place, Finland Eurovision reject 'Circle Of Light' by Emma.
- South Danaelanda were the only country to set a new national best in this contest. There were also no debuting nations. Shortest paragraph in one of these rambles ever.
- 8 countries made returns to the contest, with 5 of those returning nations making it to the final. The most successful returnee was the country with the continuing saga of name changes, the one that used to be called Elëdan. They decided to sit out for 2 consecutive contests for the first time ever in BJSCs 90-91, but luckily have made another return (and apparently might actually be sticking around for good now!!), with of course another country name change to accompany their return. Now competing as -π, they fell just short of a top 10, coming 11th with the short but sweet 'Die' by Fla.mingo. Also returning to a top 20 hit after a month out were Oslol, coming 17th with K.I.D's 'Taker'. Sandebörg were out for the previous 2 contests as well, and came 29th with comeback 'New Dawns' by Gaia. A more long-awaited return, Joedonia took 8 contests out, and returned with FOURS' 'Fade To Love' which finished 35th (one place higher than their last appearance). Finally, Avalonia made a comeback sooner than expected - we feared they were gone for good but after just a month out they returned to come 37th with Anna Känzig's 'Lion's Heart'. Comebacks after a month out for Kluminican Republic and Usfland were less successful, falling well short of qualifying, while Jayrusalem were persuaded to come back after an absence of 10 contests for likely their final ever contest (:'() as part of the celebrations of The Actual Republic of Bellamia's 50th entry. This comeback... didn't go well, as they came last in the semi-final with only 9 points. Poor hens. TARO Bellamia's celebratory entry - also not a cheap anniversary choice, impressed tbh x - was Chase Atlantic's 'Right Here', which came 36th in the final after scraping through the semi-final courtesy of a 33% deduction given to N DNTN for not voting. N DNTN sadly also weren't able to vote in the final and are thus going to be missing out on BJSC 93, the first time they've missed a contest since their debut (#justice4ndntn). Syndare and Thelonia were also given one month bans for not voting in the final (meaning Syndare's continuous participation since debut is also ending, although this was apparently going to happen anyway as they have sadly pulled out for at least the next few months ), as were the eternal silly people Republic of Adonia. Their latest failure to vote cost them 33% in the final, so their entry 'Travva' by JUTRØ feat. Linda which would have been top 15 settled for 31st. Also such a waste of a run of 7 qualifiers in a row. Oops. x
- The wooden spoon this month went to Kylienips, finishing 41st and last with Ali Barter's 'Girlie Bits' which received 84 points. 2 other songs fell short of 100 points: Flynnonda achieved another qualifier with Lucy Mason's 'Hunger', but like their last one it only scraped through in 20th in the semi-final (in fact they've not come higher than 20th in a semi-final since BJSC 82), but at least wasn't another last placer for them as it came 39th with 91 points. CLC's 'Hobgoblin' came 40th with 89 points, managing to continue Aesthetica's 100% qualification run into a 5th contest but being by far their worst performing entry. In more positive news for the Asian bloc though, Daehun finished as high as 14th with REOL's 'Give Me A Break Stop Now', outdoing their last two top 20 hits and thus becoming their highest finish since they came 4th in BJSC 75 with Karin Park's 'Stick To The Lie'. In other semi-notable news, Niceland got a second top 20 hit in a row, coming 16th with NINA's 'Beyond Memory' (putting them in the YTD top 10, in stark contrast to their terrible start in 2016) and Bhangra qualified for the second time since they emerged from their near-6-year hiatus, coming 25th with Fenech-Soler's 'Kaleidoscope'.
Full Persephonian rankings for BJSC 92
Final
Points awarded:
18 Hendinia // Troll - Jimmy Dean
15 -π // Fla.mingo - Die
13 Pupok // Sam Spiegel and Ape Drums - Mutant Brain (feat. Assassin)
12 Republic of Adonia // JUTRØ - Travva (feat. Linda)
11 Taahino // Sevdaliza - Human
10 Beaverdonia // Dominique Young Unique - Throw It Down
9 Bøtanikkä // Age Of Love - The Age Of Love (Jam & Spoon Watch Out For Stella Mix)
8 Trifoski // Paradis - Toi Et Moi
7 Terra Avium // Marcus Warner - Africa
6 Harmonica // KANEHOLLER - Paper Games
5 South Danaelanda // Gareth Emery and Standerwick - Saving Light (feat. HALIENE)
4 République d'Ashton // Tone Damli - Pinnacle
3 Mulgracia // Borussia - Kinda Love
2 D'yermak'er // Strae - Lioness
1 The Actual Republic of Bellamia // Chase Atlantic - Right Here
16th-40th:
Ultraviolenceland // Ana Mena - Ahora Lloras Tú (feat. CNCO)
Bhangra // Fenech-Soler - Kaleidoscope
Greenfroze // CoCo And The Butterfields - Battlegrounds
Oslol // K.I.D - Taker
Daehun // REOL - Give Me A Break Stop Now
Hushkanukia // Hands Like Houses - Degrees Of Separation
#00274E // Nussy - Hard As Diamonds
Altyr Muunilinst // Hannah Diamond - Make Believe
Kylienips // Ali Barter - Girlie Bits
Yehesi // MUNA - I Know A Place
Unovia // Molly Kate Kestner - Prom Queen
Ramrynia // Emma - Circle Of Light
Niceland // NINA - Beyond Memory
Aeroche // Dana - Head (Kane Vale Remix)
Avalonia // Anna Känzig - Lion's Heart
Sandebörg // Gaia - New Dawns
Flynnonda // Lucy Mason - Hunger
Cor Lupus // HALEM - Unstoppable
Zanmatony // Louis The Child - Fire (feat. Evalyn)
Dobago // Dave Ramone - Love On Repeat (Filatov & Karas Radio Edit) (feat. Minelli)
Joedonia // FOURS - Fade To Love
Quintessa // Diana Wang - HOME
Espen // Léa Castel and Slimane - Abîmée
St. Burbia // Eugénie - Puis Danse
Aesthetica // CLC - Hobgoblin
~
Semi-Final 1
Points awarded:
12 Hendinia // Troll - Jimmy Dean
10 Pupok // Sam Spiegel and Ape Drums - Mutant Brain (feat. Assassin)
8 -π // Fla.mingo - Die
7 Taahino // Sevdaliza - Human
6 Bøtanikkä // Age Of Love - The Age Of Love (Jam & Spoon Watch Out For Stella Mix)
5 Terra Avium // Marcus Warner - Africa
4 South Danaelanda // Gareth Emery and Standerwick - Saving Light (feat. HALIENE)
3 République d'Ashton // Tone Damli - Pinnacle
2 N DNTN // Empress Of - Water Water†
1 The Actual Republic of Bellamia // Chase Atlantic - Right Here
11th-31st:
Usfland // Tristen Beer - Promises†
Azure // Kids In Glass Houses - Give Me What I Want†
Hushkanukia // Hands Like Houses - Degrees Of Separation
Buzzjack Mountain // Slam Dunk'd - No Price (feat. Chromeo and Al-P)†
Séyetana // Girls Dead Monster - Ichiban No Takaramono (Yui Final Version)†
New Lexico // ERIA - Ochi†
Kylienips // Ali Barter - Girlie Bits
Fljótavík // MAY - BALLERINO†
Niceland // NINA - Beyond Memory
Altyr Muunilinst // Hannah Diamond - Make Believe
Aeroche // Dana - Head (Kane Vale Remix)
Ramrynia // Emma - Circle Of Light
Kluminican Republic // What So Not - High You Are (Branchez Remix)†
Aelandor // HONNE - Loves The Jobs You Hate†
Medhelnia // Grandtheft and Delaney Jane - Easy Go†
Sandebörg // Gaia - New Dawns
Syndare // Avante Black - Drug Money†
Dobago // Dave Ramone - Love On Repeat (Filatov & Karas Radio Edit) (feat. Minelli)
Jayrusalem // Coracle - Running On Empty (Chris Howland Remix) (feat. Michael Bird)†
Quintessa // Diana Wang - HOME
St. Burbia // Eugénie - Puis Danse
† DNQed
~
Semi-Final 2 DNQs
2nd Skall // Martyn Bennett - Blackbird
5th Jadakissnia // SOLDOUT - Do It Again (feat. GOOSE)
6th FSR Rontvia // Black Motion - Imali (feat. Nokwazi)
7th Cadelicia // HI LIFE - When I Get To The Club (Donatachi's Del Mar Mix)
8th Summericia // Prince Rama - Fantasy
12th Land of DW // Toktok vs. Soffy O - Missy Queen's Gonna Die
19th Singerpurear // The Dead South - In Hell I'll Be In Good Company
24th Thelonia // Sälen - Diseasey
27th Tinnmark // Emilie Nicolas - Sky
29th Tartford // Razz - Overthinking (feat. Aviella)
30th Desbuanda // Charlotte OC - Medicine Man
31st Bignia-Zaragovina // My First Band - Paradise
Margaret Berger wins again in Re:LOADED IX
A few days before the final results covered above, a smaller BJSC event also took place in Ultraviolenceland, the final of the 9th edition of BJSC Re:LOADED. For the first time in the occasional series, the original contest winner won again, as Margaret Berger's 'Will You Remember Me Tomorrow?', representing Kingdom of Shadow was re-voted as the best song of the 9th BJSC. It picked up 70 points in this rerun. The song that originally came 2nd also repeated that performance, the controversially-cheap-even-at-the-time 'So What' by P!nk representing Simondly, coming 2nd in Re:LOADED with 51 points. Also receiving 51 points and coming 3rd on a tiebreak was Elëdan/-π's entry 'Angels (Love Is The Answer)' by Morandi, a well-deserved improvement over its original finish of 17th. The top 5 was completed by Jester's Kingdom/PRoJ with Alizée's 'Moi... Lolita', 4th with 50 points (originally coming 10th) and M.K.L. with The Veronicas' 'This Love', 5th with 49 points (originally coming 6th).
6 songs qualified for the final of Re:LOADED IX after DNQing in the original run of the contest. In order of their Re:LOADED finish, these were: LeAnn Rimes' 'Nothin' Better To Do' (Allecian/New Lexico, 10th), Sandra's 'Hiroshima' (Kylienips, 14th), The Killers' 'On Top' (Tapatilandia, 15th), Monrose's 'Hot Summer' (Tasha Island, 24th), Namie Amuro's 'CAN'T SLEEP, CAN'T EAT, I'M SICK' (Bokia, 25th) and Marit Larsen's 'Under The Surface' (Tinnmark, 26th) - the latter track, Tinnmark's debut entry, receiving 0 points in the Re:LOADED final despite being voted through a semi-final round. Whoops. At least it adds to a very short list of songs that have got 0 in a BJSC contest (all of them in Re:LOADED, unless you count nomination rounds in TBO/TBO Rejects).
Full Persephonian rankings for BJSC Re:LOADED IX
Final
Points awarded:
12 -π // Morandi - Angels (Love Is The Answer)
10 Utopia // John Legend - Green Light (feat. André 3000)
8 Kylienips // Sandra - Hiroshima
7 Tapatilandia // The Killers - On Top
6 B.a.N.G // Björk - Jóga
5 Land of Jack // Star Pilots - In The Heat Of The Night
4 Fervorosia // Bertine Zetlitz - Fake Your Beauty
3 PRoJ // Alizée - Moi... Lolita
2 Simondly // P!nk - So What
1 Quotosibb // Santigold - You'll Find A Way
11th-26th:
Hitanya // Jem - 24
Kingdom of Shadow // Margaret Berger - Will You Remember Me Tomorrow?
Nonsuch // Cyndi Lauper - Into The Nightlife
Torchwood // Sneaky Sound System - Pictures
Herzebania // Helena Paparizou - Teardrops
Bokia // Namie Amuro - CAN'T SLEEP, CAN'T EAT, I'M SICK
Bhangra // Velvet - Fix Me
United States of Jack // Danity Kane - Bad Girl (feat. Missy Elliott)
République d'Ashton // Amy Macdonald - Barrowland Ballroom
M.K.L. // The Veronicas - This Love
Tasha Island // Monrose - Hot Summer
Faztickle // Lucie Silvas - The Game Is Won
FSR Rontvia // Sanna Nielsen - Nobody Without You
Tinnmark // Marit Larsen - Under The Surface
Ojnoj // TWiiNS - I Don't Know
New Lexico // LeAnn Rimes - Nothin' Better To Do
~
Semi-Final 1
Points awarded:
12 Tapatilandia // The Killers - On Top
10 Land of Jack // Star Pilots - In The Heat Of The Night
8 B.a.N.G // Björk - Jóga
7 Quotosibb // Santigold - You'll Find A Way
6 Kingdom of Shadow // Margaret Berger - Will You Remember Me Tomorrow?
5 Cascadia // Jupiter Rising - Electropop†
4 Camtoro // Thomas Godoj - Love Is You†
3 Hitanya // Jem - 24
2 Farahtyn // Holly Valance - State Of Mind†
1 Bokia // Namie Amuro - CAN'T SLEEP, CAN'T EAT, I'M SICK
11th-21st:
République d'Ashton // Amy Macdonald - Barrowland Ballroom
Dalisska // Marié Digby - Say It Again†
FNT Nickodonia // Billy Ray Cyrus - Ready, Set, Don't Go (feat. Miley Cyrus)†
M.K.L. // The Veronicas - This Love
Faztickle // Lucie Silvas - The Game Is Won
Triodopolis // Nicole Dash Jones - How Does It Feel Now†
FSR Rontvia // Sanna Nielsen - Nobody Without You
Priceville // Mariah Carey - Migrate (feat. T-Pain)†
Sangria // Marie Picasso - Winning Streak†
Qärenfanghoney // Ashlee Simpson - Little Miss Obsessive†
New Lexico // LeAnn Rimes - Nothin' Better To Do
† DNQed
~
Semi-Final 2
Points awarded:
12 -π // Morandi - Angels (Love Is The Answer)
10 Utopia // John Legend - Green Light (feat. André 3000)
8 Simondly // P!nk - So What
7 Kylienips // Sandra - Hiroshima
6 Fervorosia // Bertine Zetlitz - Fake Your Beauty
5 PRoJ // Alizée - Moi... Lolita
4 Torchwood // Sneaky Sound System - Pictures
3 Norwegia // Canned Heat - Going Up The Country†
2 Juranabaijan // The Script - Fall For Anything†
1 Herzebania // Helena Paparizou - Teardrops
11th-21st:
Angelicland // Jennifer Lopez - Forever†
Bhangra // Velvet - Fix Me
Tasha Island // Monrose - Hot Summer
Rossland // fe-m@il - Flee Fly Flo†
Lorikeet // Chris Brown - Superhuman (feat. Keri Hilson)†
Mdiče // Shakira - Pure Intuition†
Leonville // Guy Sebastian - Angels Brought Me Here†
Xanaga // Tarkan - Start The Fire†
Tinnmark // Marit Larsen - Under The Surface
Ojnoj // TWiiNS - I Don't Know
Järkangel // Michelle Williams - Unexpected†
† DNQed
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 13/03/2017
Achillea represent Persephonia in BJSC 93
Persephonia's 72nd main contest entry, as revealed last night in the BJSC 93 showcase in South Danaelanda, is 'Ragnarok - Twilight Of The Gods' by Achillea, continuing (and probaby concluding) our run of apocalypse-themed entries with a title referring to the end time event from Norse mythology. Achillea is a project by German producer Jens Gad, best known for being a former member of Enigma (he contributed to their 1994 UK #3 hit 'Return To Innocence', but was not involved with their earlier #1 'Sadeness Part I'), making this our second entry by a (predominantly) German act after Digitalism's 'Blitz' which incidentally was our entry to the last contest hosted by Danaelanda, BJSC 82. 'Ragnarok - Twilight Of The Gods' is taken from Achillea's 2005 debut album 'The Nine Worlds', on which Gad is joined by Indian-born Danish operatic vocalist Helene Hørlyck, who has more recently and slightly inexplicably worked as a vocal coach for One Direction. A follow-up album 'Amadas Estrellas' released in 2007 replaced Hørlyck with Spanish singer Luisa Fernandez. The song is the oldest one we've ever sent to a main contest as we're yet to have a proper digging in the archives entry (BJSC bucket list tbh).
Clocking in at 5:58, 'Ragnarok - Twilight Of The Gods' is the longest song in the current contest, although just short of being our second 6+ minute entry of the year (expect a couple more of those in the near future based on our current potential list #longsongbloc). It is not a big departure from the sound of Enigma's hit singles, retaining the chilled and meditative new-age / downtempo electronic vibes and ~mystic~ vocals, ranging from quiet whispers to proper operatic high notes and delivered in... some ancient language, the album notes say it's in a mixture of 'ancient Swedish' and Latin (presumably this track is Swedish based on its title), the lyrics don't seem to be available online. In any case it's our 9th entry fully in a foreign language, the first of 2017, and again expect several more in the coming months (#waronenglish). The song doesn't have an official video but we have submitted to the contest some rather nice visuals put together to accompany the song by the YouTube channel ADA D which hosts loads of great and obscure ambient / chillout tracks, we particularly like the visuals accompanying the Enigma-tastic 'drop' starting around 2:17 *.* here it is:
The song is in slot 12 of 30 in semi-final 2, any and all support is appreciated x Elsewhere in semi-final 2, Persephonian protégé Truls has shown up in the contest again in slot 2, this time representing Yehesi with 'The Next' (Masquerade resulting in Yehesi recycling us twice, flattered x) - Truls provided our first top 3 hit ('Out Of Yourself', 3rd in BJSC 53) and has already been recycled and gone one place better for Kluminican Republic with 'Circles' in BJSC 79, will we see the trend continuing with Truls earning a much belated win? Time will tell. This is clearly much more entertaining than the speculation about Tone Damli.
(Late) BJSC Masquerade I summary: Persephonia pose unconvincingly as Terra Avium
The first BJSC spinoff of 2017 was held in Zaratigone, Séyetana and went by the name BJSC Masquerade (I), in which the participating countries were tasked with sending a track by an artist from the back catalogue of entries by a random other participating country. Persephonia normally abstains from artist recycling but in this case our hand was forced, and we settled for just recycling an artist whose original entry failed to qualify for the final.
As the contest was anonymous PNB were unable to reveal our assigned country or our entry earlier (although it was pretty much the worst-kept secret in the whole contest oops), but now the contest has concluded we can say that we were given Terra Avium, a bit of a handout for us given they are in our top 3 most voted for countries of all time (not even including numerous DNQs that would have received high points from us in a final). The Persephonian BJSC Committee was thus saved too much effort in finding a suitable entry, as it gave us an excuse to finally send a former main contest potential entry that was only retired from our potential list when the band was entered by Terra Avium.
The band in question is Icelandic/Faroese electronic music quartet Bloodgroup, who previously appeared in BJSC 63 for Terra Avium (actually Terra Dinosaur at the time lol) with the Girl Unit remix of 'Cut Out Your Tongue', which got 6 points from us in its semi-final but sadly fell a couple of points short of qualifying for the final. Our choice for BJSC Masquerade I was 'Fall', the lead single from their third and most recent studio album 'Tracing Echoes' which was released in March 2013 (and also included the original version of 'Cut Out Your Tongue'). One of the members of Bloodgroup, Janus Rasmussen, has in fact already represented Persephonia before as a member of Fura, our BJSC 70 entrant with the song 'Demons'. Here's the video for 'Fall', featuring a kid getting way too excited about finding a bottle of ketchup:
The first half of 'Fall' is fairly low-key and ~pleasant~ but the song (relatively) explodes into life a minute and a half in with 2 blasts of its infectious chorus, separated by a quirky synthy instrumental section. Overall it's a bit of an acquired taste of a song (no wonder their other entry DNQed really, as much of a banger as it was) so we didn't have high expectations for the spinoff. 'Fall' was drawn in slot 26 of 43 in the running order.
Ultimately the song did pretty okay considering how leftfield a choice it was, finishing 19th with a total of 94 points from 11 different countries (and a bit of help from being boosted ahead of 4 songs that received late/non-voting deductions). For a 4th spinoff in a row we didn't get any top scores, but we ranked in the top 3 for two countries, receiving 15 points from Land of DW and 13 points from Espen. Other double figure points came from Aeroche (12 points) and Jadakissnia (10 points), while we managed not to let down our assigned country with our choice of masquerade as Terra Avium awarded us 9 points. Thanks to all those and the others who voted for us (who we'll name as well as there weren't many of them and we weren't around to obnoxiously thank everyone live in the thread like we normally do: 9 points from Fljótavík, 8 points each from Flynnonda and Skall, 5 points from Deandria, 4 points from Niceland and 1 point from Cadelicia).
The country that was given Persephonia for the spinoff turned out to be Yehesi, who sent 'Kids On The Moon' by Kadie Elder, who represented Persephonia back in BJSC 54 with 'Simple Guy' which came second last in its semi-final (though more recently Kadie Elder had a #7 hit in BJSC 88 with 'First Time He Kissed A Boy', representing Singerpurear). Here's the song, and not the instrumental version which was accidentally the one linked in the thread for most of the voting period
Yehesi were among the countries that didn't vote in the spinoff, so 'Kids On The Moon' suffered a 33% points deduction from 70 points to 47, finishing a lowly 40th (it would have been around the high 30s otherwise). It was a pretty decent pop song but didn't quite make our own votes, finishing 22nd in our ranking, so we missed out on giving points to "Persephonia", aww.
As mentioned in the previous bulletin, South Danaelanda were the winners of BJSC Masquerade I, meaning they picked up their first wins in both main contests and spinoffs within days of each other after years of never winning anything. They were posing as Jadakissnia, and made the wise choice of recycling the artist behind Jadakissnia's best entry, FM-84. The original FM-84 entry 'Arcade Summer' came 9th in BJSC 87, but South Danaelanda's choice 'Running In The Night' (feat. Ollie Wride) achieved even wider appeal (maybe helped out by having vocals) and topped the table with 239 points. Hot on its heels was a very similar retro 80s-style synthy track, 'Jason' by The Midnight featuring Nikki Flores. That song was sent by Harmonica, posing as -π, and finished just 2 points behind on 237, becoming by far Harmonica's best performance in a spinoff (their first time making a top 10), and matched the 2nd place achieved in the original contest by The Midnight's 'The Years (Prologue)' in BJSC 69. Mulgracia (as Fljótavík) came 3rd with Dagny's 'Fool's Gold' (feat. BØRNS) on 214 points, followed by Ramrynia (as République d'Ashton) with Nina Nesbitt's 'Chewing Gum' 4th on 210 points and Aeroche (as Deandria) who chose the 'obvious' artist Allie X, but plumped for a little known remix of 'Hello' by PVLM BEACH, and came 5th with 203 points.
Completing the top 10, Skall posed as Kluminican Republic and took quirky three-time BJSC entrant Pogo into the top 10 for the first time, coming 6th with Harry Potter plunderphonics remix 'Alohomora' (following previous Pogo entries remixing Mary Poppins, The Wizard of Oz and Star Trek), Terra Avium themselves were given Altyr Muunilinst and duly chose the artist most unlike Altyr's usual sound (this is a good thing for us oops), Ramin Djawadi with his orchestral instrumental cover of 'Paint It Black' by The Rolling Stones and came 7th to match their most recent main contest finish, Jadakissnia did pretty well themselves as well as their impostor winning as they came 8th posing as Flynnonda with Tame Impala's 'Let It Happen' (which ensured Persephonia and Jadakissnia traded high points despite the anonymity #noblocvoting), Kluminican Republic were given St. Burbia and came 9th with Cadenza's 'People' (feat. Jorja Smith and Dre Island) - Jorja being the recycled artist here - and Quintessa posed as Medhelnia with FMLYBND's 'Letting Go' which finished 10th.
Full Persephonian rankings for BJSC Masquerade I
(note: the countries in curly brackets are the ones who actually sent the entries, those in quotation marks are the countries they were masquerading as)
Points awarded:
18 "FSR Rontvia" {Desbuanda} // Tensnake - Desire
15 "Skall" {Fljótavík} // Gang Gang Dance - MindKilla
13 "Altyr Muunilinst" {Terra Avium} // Ramin Djawadi - Paint It Black
12 "Flynnonda" {Jadakissnia} // Tame Impala - Let It Happen
11 "Kluminican Republic" {Skall} // Pogo - Alohomora
10 "Jadakissnia" {South Danaelanda} // FM-84 - Running In The Night (feat. Ollie Wride)
9 "-π" {Harmonica} // The Midnight - Jason (feat. Nikki Flores)
8 "Syndare" {Land of DW} // Alice And The Glass Lake - Paracosm
7 "Cadelicia" {Taahino} // twenty one pilots - Doubt
6 "Medhelnia" {Quintessa} // FMLYBND - Letting Go
5 "St. Burbia" {Kluminican Republic} // Cadenza - People (feat. Jorja Smith and Dre Island)
4 "Harmonica" {Deandria} // Sizzy Rocket - Spell On Me
3 "Espen" {Sandebörg} // Antique - Moro Mou
2 "Ojnoj" {Florina} // Kristinia DeBarge - Fadeout (feat. Iamsu!)
1 "Aelandor" {Pupok} // Missio - Middle Fingers
16th-42nd:
"République d'Ashton" {Ramrynia} // Nina Nesbitt - Chewing Gum
"Bøtanikkä" {Espen} // Wynter Gordon - Bad Thing
"Aeroche" {Medhelnia} // Toyboy & Robin - Can't Love Me (feat. Finnli)
"Unovia" {Niceland} // Haloo Helsinki! - Hulluuden Highway
"Quintessa" {Cor Lupus} // Panic! At The Disco - Emperor's New Clothes
"Hushkanukia" {Flynnonda} // Sumera - Animal
"Persephonia" {Yehesi} // Kadie Elder - Kids On The Moon
"Ultraviolenceland" {-π} // Noonie Bao - Reminds Me
"Deandria" {Aeroche} // Allie X - Hello (PVLM BEACH Remix)
"Pupok" {Altyr Muunilinst} // Aelyn - Not Me
"Cor Lupus" {Aelandor} // Atlas Genius - Molecules
"Beaverdonia" {Hushkanukia} // Gia Woods - Straight Up
"Séyetana" {Ajanaeda} // Tei Shi - Nevermind The End
"Yehesi" {Syndare} // Fox Stevenson and Mesto - Chatterbox
"Trifoski" {Ultraviolenceland} // Moxiie - Better Than Money
"Taahino" {République d'Ashton} // Crystalyne - Let's Do Something Crazy
"Desbuanda" {FSR Rontvia} // Heathers - Call Home
"Bignia-Zaragovina" {Ojnoj} // BoA and Beenzino - No Matter What
"Land of DW" {Beaverdonia} // BIGBANG - WE LIKE 2 PARTY
"Fljótavík" {Mulgracia} // Dagny - Fool's Gold (feat. BØRNS)
"Florina" {Cadelicia} // Vanic - Samurai (feat. Katy Tiz)
"Sandebörg" {Unovia} // Glasperlenspiel - Für Immer
"Mulgracia" {Bøtanikkä} // Chairlift - Ch-Ching
"South Danaelanda" {Bignia-Zaragovina} // Elena - Body Song
"Ramrynia" {Trifoski} // Smith & Thell - Statue (The Pills Song)
"Ajanaeda" {St. Burbia} // Marlon Roudette - Everybody Feeling Something (feat. KStewart)
"Niceland" {Séyetana} // AJR - Let The Games Begin
The next spinoff is already underway and appropriately following the very 80s feel to the top 2 of Masquerade I (plus an actual song from the 80s coming top 3 in BJSC 92), it's an 80s spinoff, held in first-time host nation Quintessa. Here's a nice and refreshing teaser for our upcoming entry.
Yay lots of words *.*
I am pleased that 'Colder' grew on me enough by the final for it to receive 2 points! I can breathe a sigh of relief that I wasn't the evil one to quash our BJSC final point-swapping. Yay for us trading high points under the cloak of anonymity also in Masquerade! 'Fall' was such a lush discovery also feels good to be back in your write-up of the top 10 finishers in the spinoff.
The instrumentation of your 93 entry sounded pretty lovely from the plug snippet! Enigma are great so a project from one of their members is something I definitely look forward to hearing in full! Yassssss at us both flying the #longsongbloc flag *.*
Enigma is fantastic and so is this! Impressed with how it brings something quite different and magical to the contest.
chilled and meditative new-age / downtempo electronic vibes and ~mystic~ vocals bloc tbh Yay for someone bringing (at least) one of those in each semi aha. That's if my entry can be described as such, close enough eh
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 16/03/2017
Tangerine Dream represent Persephonia in BJSC 80s
The 80s spinoff of BJSC has kicked off tonight in Copperelli, Quintessa (after a slight entry clash hiccup which was thankfully quickly resolved ) so we can now announce our latest spinoff entry comes courtesy of German krautrock / electronic music collective Tangerine Dream, a highly prolific group whose only constant member was Edgar Froese who sadly passed away in 2015. The Persephonian BJSC Committee sought an artist similar to Kraftwerk for the contest and quickly discovered Tangerine Dream, with their vast back catalogue of mostly instrumental tunes, with more than 100 albums released by the project between its 1967 formation and the present day including plenty in the 80s leaving us spoilt for choice.
We ultimately settled on '21st Century Common Man (Part I)', a track from their 1987 album 'Tyger' - this album included some of their few dabblings into songs with vocals (which has made it controversial among their fanbase) but the song we have selected is an instrumental. 'Tyger' was the last of 16 albums by Tangerine Dream to make the UK top 100, peaking at #88; 8 of those charted albums made the top 40 with their one top 10 being 'Rubycon' which sneaked #10 in 1975, while they have also had two (barely) top 100 singles, peaking at #96 and #95. Here's our entry:
Tangerine Dream are mentioned on the Wikipedia article for synthwave as an act that inspired the genre, and you can tell this by this song, which sounds very 80s but also very much like something that could have been released in the past couple of years by a synthwave artist such as Persephonian alumni DANCE WITH THE DEAD. We hope people enjoy. '21st Century Common Man (Part I)' is the penultimate track in the running order, in slot 37 of 38.
tangerine dream are one of my mum's favourite artists!!! i don't know if i'm familiar with this but u should deffo deffo deffo check out their hyperborea / force majeure albums
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 19/03/2017
Twilight of the Q streak :'(
Persephonia's hopes to get back to the top of the qualification streak list are gone again for now as we have sadly failed to make it to the final of BJSC 93, with Achillea's 'Ragnarok - Twilight Of The Gods' finishing only 28th out of 30 in semi-final 2 with 30 points to end our run of 8 qualifiers in a row. 30 points is not disastrous for a bottom 3 position but it's still the lowest points we've got in a semi-final since Kadie Elder's 'Simple Guy' got only 21 points to come second-last in its semi-final in BJSC 54, and it's the lowest position we've ever finished in, 'beating' 27th in the semi-final which we got with Yung Lean's 'Kyoto' in BJSC 80. At least we crashed out in some style Unovia qualified again to remain atop the list of longest qualification streaks, now at 11 in a row, with 2nd place now a four-way tie with Aeroche, Bøtanikkä, Cor Lupus and Harmonica all on 7 in a row.
The Persephonian BJSC Committee has vowed not to disown this entry (which it will continue to hold in high regard and simply sideeye tasteless heathens chalk its failure down to a risk not paying off) or seek to follow it up with a 'safe' choice out of the fear of consecutive DNQs, a fate which has not befallen our nation since the run of three non-qualifiers that started with 'Simple Guy' in BJSCs 54-56. Thanks go to the six countries that did send some points our way this month: we still managed to finish in the medal positions for two countries, with Espen and Terra Avium providing 2/3 of our points as both awarded us their 10, while we also received 6 points from Suedeonia, 2 from Quintessa and 1 each from Desbuanda and Séyetana.
8 of the songs Persephonia voted for in semi-final 2 qualified, though the two that dropped out alongside us were both in our top 4: we awarded 8 points to Séyetana's screamy electronicore jam 'Let Me Hear' by Fear, And Loathing In Las Vegas and 7 points to Tartford's 90s dance track 'High' by Hyper Go-Go, neither of which were surprising DNQs but nonetheless disappointing. From Persephonian voters' top 10 picks in semi-final 1, a further 3 failed to qualify: Musta Barbaari's 'Salil Eka Salil Vika' (Skall's entry) actually topped the Persephonian rankings for the semi-final (and the contest overall) but was never a likely qualifier and sadly came dead last with only 14 points from 2 voters. Also well short of progressing were -π with CVL† SH‡†'s 'ßƟD¥ ßΔGƵ' and D'yermak'er with Balvir Boparai's 'De De Gerra', ranked 5th and 7th respectively by Persephonia.
What kind of tomfoolery from the semi 2 voters I would've predicted this through so to see it do as badly as 28th is really disappointing thank you for the discovery anyway! It was definitely far more instant and up my street than your entry last month. Aw at having to fly the Jadaphonia flag alone x
Hyped for your spinoff entry from: "Tangerine Dream are mentioned on the Wikipedia article for synthwave as an act that inspired the genre" *.*
Kinda weird that both world music and witch house both failed to make it when they've had stellar records before, looks like it's the new PC music
We go down together x
(really should have done way better than that, could tell it was a grower though, that may have worked against it)
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 28/03/2017
BJSC 93 summary
- Ultraviolenceland's wait for a second BJSC win was not quite as long as their wait for the first - just two contests after their first victory with EASYFUN's 'Monopoly' (feat. Noonie Bao), they were announced on Sunday night to have been the winners again in BJSC 93 in South Danaelanda. 'In The Morning' by Jaded secured the win for them with a total of 362 points, also becoming their fourth consecutive top 10 hit after previously being unable to ever reach the top tier, and pushing them to a gigantic lead in the year to date list three contests into the year. The song also effortlessly won semi-final 1, becoming Ultraviolenceland's second semi-final winner following 'Monopoly'. It now looks like the contest may be heading back to 1989VideoCoast again sooner than we expected (though this is not yet confirmed).
- 'In The Morning' had tougher competition to win the contest than 'Monopoly' did - while that song won with a three-figure gap to 2nd place, this one had one close competitor throughout the reveal. The race for the win was between the two songs given the best odds but it seemed like it could go either way. The unlucky runner up in the end was Espen with Offer Nissim's 'Miracle Part A' (feat. Maya Simantov) which finished 20 points adrift. This marked the veteran nation's 3rd finish in a medal position, all of them being silver medals, meaning their wait for a first win continues (they are the country with the second most appearances without ever winning, with 79, second to Tinnmark's 85). They previously finished as runner up in BJSC 36 with Frida Gold's 'Wovon Sollen Wir Träumen' and more recently in BJSC 75 with Etienne De Crécy and Madeline Follin's 'You'. 'Miracle Part A' was, however, the other semi-final winner this month, providing Espen with their third semi-final win (after 'Wovon Sollen Wir Träumen' and BJSC 59 entry 'Tsunami' by DVBBS and Borgeous). It also received more 18s (6) than any other song this month and scored a bittersweet win in the http://www.buzzjack.com/forums/index.php?s=&showtopic=197485&view=findpost&p=5658606 using the Eurovision-style 12 point voting system rather than the current 18 point system. One day Espen. One day.
- As well as the top 2 matching their previous peaks, the top 5 also featured two countries reaching brand new peaks. The bronze medal went to Oslol with Miss Li's 'Aqualung', a way behind the leaders on 283 points. This marked Oslol's first ever medal position, beating their long-held #4 peak achieved in BJSC 66 with Dami Im's 'Super Love'. 'Aqualung' is Oslol's 5th top 10 hit, but the first for quite some time; the previous 4 were achieved in a 7-contest span between BJSCs 63 and 69 with the last being Jennifer Davies' 'Lapse Of Time' (James Njie Remix). In that same BJSC 69, Land of DW made their debut appearance (coming last in the semi-final, which they have done a further three times since). They've entered every contest since then and hit a previous high of 11th in BJSC 77 with Sam Bruno's 'Search Party', but now on their 25th attempt they've smashed that and got not only their first top 10 but their first top 5, coming 5th with Eivør's Faroese-language epic 'Í Tokuni' on 251 points (Tartford and N-Lazone were, and remain, the only countries with more entries to have never made the top 10, having 36 and 41 appearances to date respectively). Between Oslol and Land of DW, 4th place went to FARC who have made another comeback to the contest after sitting out the last 4 contests. Their return entry was 'Last Dance' by Rhys which received 271 points. This is their first top 10 hit since their massive win in BJSC 84 with Salt Ashes' 'Save It' and their 10th top 10 hit in all.
- One more country earned their first ever top 10 hit in this contest, though with a much shorter wait than Land of DW: Azure finished 7th with French Horn Rebellion's 'Dancing Out' (feat. Jody Watley and Young Empires), a massive improvement on their peak of 41st set with their debut entry (Marianas Trench's 'Celebrity Status') two months ago, seeing them start their BJSC run with a similar trajectory to Medhelnia, finding major success with their third entry after two flops. Kluminican Republic have had a rough run in the contest since they last saw the top 10 (BLEITCH's 'Speaking Of Moments', 10th in BJSC 81), with their last 4 entries failing to qualify, plus one other DNQ and three bottom 4 finishes in finals in the mean time. However they have found success again in BJSC 93, coming 6th with Studio Killers' 'Jenny' (outperforming Studio Killers' previous entry 'Ode To The Bouncer' which was a hit in several European countries, and came 7th for Batidas in BJSC 41). Host nation South Danaelanda came 8th with their auto-qualifying entry, retro trance instrumental 'Eurodancer' by DJ Mangoo; following their win in BJSC 92, this marked the country's first ever pair of back-to-back top 10 hits and gave them their 7th top 10 hit to date. Completing the top 10, Cadelicia came 9th with Julie Bergan's 'Arigato', a return to big success after a string of entries which underperformed compared to hype (why couldn't this be the one that underperformed tbh), and St. Burbia achieved their second top 10 finish two contests after the first, coming 10th with the Diztortion remix of Gyptian's 'All On Me' (feat. Lady Leshurr).
- Two further countries set new national bests in addition to the 3 in the top 10: Buzzjack Mountain, like Azure, had only one previous qualifier which came last in the final (Water Juice's 'In Love' (feat. Audrey Graham), 41st in BJSC 89). They qualified again this month with JX's 'Restless' (a 2004 UK #22 hit) and did a bit better in the final this time, setting a new peak of 29th. Meanwhile, Aelandor made it through to the final for a 3rd time (out of 10 entries to date) with Breanne Düren's 'Dear Adelaide'. Their previous peak was also in BJSC 89, 37th place with Sœur's 'Pass Out', and this time they managed to just barely beat that, coming 36th. Still, 2 out of 3 qualifiers in 2017 so far is better going than 1 out of 7 in 2016. Flynnonda didn't quite manage to get a new peak but did revisit their best finish of 15th with VUKOVI's 'La Di Da' (they previously came 15th in BJSC 78 with XYconstant's 'Silverlined'). 'La Di Da' also marked the first time Flynnonda have ever qualified for 2 finals in a row, having been constant participants since debuting in BJSC 74.
- As well as FARC, 2 other countries made returns in this contest and both of them also qualified. Deandria sat out BJSC 92 but were back with a vengeance this month and achieved one of their best results to date, coming 11th with Fakear's 'Ankara'. Their only top ten hits remain their 4th-place debut way back in BJSC 11 with Ladytron's 'Destroy Everything You Touch' and their winner 'Sanctuary' by Allie X (BJSC 81), but this is a big success for Deandria who were on a run of 5 DNQs in a row before their disappearance last month. The other returnees were Suedeonia who missed the last 3 contests largely due to ~real world~ health issues which thankfully seem to be resolved for now. Their comeback entry 'Alone Again Or' by Love dates all the way back to 1968 and has featured in Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest songs of all time, but was never a hit in the UK. Until now of course, as it came 34th in the all-important BJSC (a marked improvement on scraping through in 20th place in the incredibly tight semi-final 2). BJSC 93 was a rare contest with 100% voting turnout, so no one is banned for next month, hooray. #00274E however did submit votes slightly late and were thus subject to a 15% deduction with the iconic CupcakKe's 'LGBT' - that had to settle for 18th place. It would have finished 11th (losing a tiebreak for the top 10) without the deduction.
- This month's wooden spoon was awarded to Avalonia, coming 41st and last with SVRCINA's 'Burning Heart' which received 78 points. The last three entries from Avalonia have all qualified but finished bottom 5 in the final. Incidentally, we were very nearly in a situation where there would only be 38 songs in the final (the final size falls to 37/38 instead of 41/42 if there are fewer than 61 entries in total) - at the close of confirmations there were only 60 entries, however an exception was made to allow a late entry from Usfland to scrape the 61 entry threshold again. That Usfland entry, Lido's 'So Cold' (Minnesota Remix) qualified for the final but nearly got the wooden spoon itself, coming 40th. Without that Usfland entry, we may not have seen the aforementioned Suedeonia entry in the final, or the entries by Taahino and Desbuanda who also scraped through in the last couple of qualification slots in their semi-finals. Despite this, both of those songs actually did moderately well in the final: Desbuanda were as high as 23rd with Paper Route's 'Chariots' and Taahino came 27th with K.Flay's 'High Enough'. On the flipside, Yehesi entry 'The Next' by Truls would have been an auto-qualifier had the Usfland entry not been allowed, but in the end actually didn't qualify at all. Oops.
- Other noteworthy results: Aeroche celebrated their 50th entry anniversary, sending 'Snow Globe' by Dux Content (a duo on the PC Music label consisting of label founder/Aeroche BJSC winner A. G. Cook and two-time BJSC top 5 artist Danny L Harle), but the celebrations were a little dampened by a 17th place finish, fairly low by Aeroche standards. Sad! (That said, we'd happily take a 17th place finish ourselves the way this year is going for us so far. x) République d'Ashton were a late voter in the semi-final but qualified despite the resulting 15% deduction; they came 31st in the final with Bec Sandridge's 'You're A Fucking Joke', a not-so-subtle reference to certain events in the previous contest (although actually quite a good song - who said we were anti-Ashton?) Finally, fellow moderator nation Bignia-Zaragovina came 35th with Shane Harper's 'Like I Did' to match the highest position they achieved in 2016. Since their last top 20 hit (Astrid S' '2AM', 12th in BJSC 74), Bignia-Zaragovina have suffered 12 DNQs, two last-place finishes in the final and a 37th place as well as their previous 35th place (White Night Ghosts' 'Hope' in BJSC 82). Why oh why do we do this to our moderators... (or if we must could we at least make it Ramrynia?)
Full Persephonian rankings for BJSC 93
Final
Points awarded:
18 FSR Rontvia // Tina Guo - Super Mario Bros.
15 Land of DW // Eivør - Í Tokuni
13 Jadakissnia // aYia - Ruins
12 Deandria // Fakear - Ankara
11 South Danaelanda // DJ Mangoo - Eurodancer
10 Summericia // Carpenter Brut - Turbo Killer
9 Fljótavík // Fang Island - Daisy
8 St. Burbia // Gyptian - All On Me (Diztortion Remix) (feat. Lady Leshurr)
7 Flynnonda // VUKOVI - La Di Da
6 Bøtanikkä // Tsar B - Escalate
5 Beaverdonia // The Drapers - Yakety Yak
4 Desbuanda // Paper Route - Chariots
3 Kluminican Republic // Studio Killers - Jenny
2 Buzzjack Mountain // JX - Restless
1 #00274E // CupcakKe - LGBT
16th-41st:
Avalonia // SVRCINA - Burning Heart
Usfland // Lido - So Cold (Minnesota Remix)
Trifoski // Pepe Deluxé - A Night And A Day
The Actual Republic of Bellamia // The Beach - Bite My Tongue
Suedeonia // Love - Alone Again Or
Azure // French Horn Rebellion - Dancing Out (feat. Jody Watley and Young Empires)
Ultraviolenceland // Jaded - In The Morning
Aelandor // Breanne Düren - Dear Adelaide
Altyr Muunilinst // Man Without Country - Laws Of Motion (feat. White Sea)
République d'Ashton // Bec Sandridge - You're A Fucking Joke
Dobago // Tash Sultana - Jungle
Aeroche // Dux Content - Snow Globe
Cor Lupus // Gromee - Spirit (feat. Mahan Moin)
Unovia // Isabell Otrebus - Voiceless
Taahino // K.Flay - High Enough
Hushkanukia // Ryder - Nirvana
Harmonica // ARY - Higher
Bignia-Zaragovina // Shane Harper - Like I Did
Sandebörg // Liis Lemsalu - Keep Running
Espen // Offer Nissim - Miracle Part A (feat. Maya Simantov)
FARC // Rhys - Last Dance
New Lexico // Call Me Loop - As If
Tinnmark // Rytmeklubben - Like That
Oslol // Miss Li - Aqualung
Ramrynia // Greta Zazza - Like I Love You
Cadelicia // Julie Bergan - Arigato
~
Semi-Final 2
Points awarded:
12 Land of DW // Eivør - Í Tokuni
10 Fljótavík // Fang Island - Daisy
8 Séyetana // Fear, And Loathing In Las Vegas - Let Me Hear†
7 Tartford // Hyper Go-Go - High†
6 St. Burbia // Gyptian - All On Me (Diztortion Remix) (feat. Lady Leshurr)
5 Beaverdonia // The Drapers - Yakety Yak
4 Buzzjack Mountain // JX - Restless
3 #00274E // CupcakKe - LGBT
2 Kluminican Republic // Studio Killers - Jenny
1 Desbuanda // Paper Route - Chariots
11th-29th:
Avalonia // SVRCINA - Burning Heart
Yehesi // Truls - The Next†
Altyr Muunilinst // Man Without Country - Laws Of Motion (feat. White Sea)
Suedeonia // Love - Alone Again Or
Azure // French Horn Rebellion - Dancing Out (feat. Jody Watley and Young Empires)
The Actual Republic of Bellamia // The Beach - Bite My Tongue
Quintessa // Woolf And The Wondershow - Cages†
Terra Avium // Conner Youngblood - The Warpath†
Pupok // Bip Ling - Curry†
Unovia // Isabell Otrebus - Voiceless
Niceland // OHEY - Remember (feat. Emily Jean)†
Harmonica // ARY - Higher
Hushkanukia // Ryder - Nirvana
Espen // Offer Nissim - Miracle Part A (feat. Maya Simantov)
FARC // Rhys - Last Dance
Hendinia // XYLØ - I Still Wait For You†
Medhelnia // Ella Vos - White Noise (R3hab Remix)†
Ramrynia // Greta Zazza - Like I Love You
Cadelicia // Julie Bergan - Arigato
† DNQed
~
Semi-Final 1 DNQs
1st Skall // Musta Barbaari - Salil Eka Salil Vika
5th -π // CVL† SH‡† - ßƟD¥ ßΔGƵ
7th D'yermak'er // Balvir Boparai - De De Gerra
12th Kylienips // Methyl Ethel - Ubu
13th Aesthetica // Poppy - I'm Poppy
14th Singerpurear // Peter Schilling - Major Tom (Völlig Losgelöst)
21st Zanmatony // Schwarz - Home
22nd Bhangra // Hedia - Your Mind (feat. Kristen Marie)
24th Mulgracia // Benjamin Zane and Chris Cage - Winter Night (Chris Cage Hardstyle Mix)
25th Daehun // SUNMI - 24 Hours
Tangerine Dream I would say with the progressiveness of that 21st Century Common Man song and the fast synths on top of the longer emotive synths were a major influence on later trance too as well as synthwave.
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 14/04/2017
BJSC 80s summary
Persephonia finished 24th out of 38 in the BJSC 80s spinoff in Quintessa with Tangerine Dream's '21st Century Common Man (Part I)', receiving 75 points from 13 countries. We're still yet to receive anyone's top points in a spinoff since Worldvision II but Tangerine Dream did nab 15 points from Terra Avium, the only country to rank it in their top 3. We also attracted points from several countries that haven't entered many other recent spinoffs (a couple of which have also been absent from BJSC entirely for a while) but were attracted in by this one's theme, with the countries that voted for Tangerine Dream including Land of Jack, PRoJ, Summericia, Tartford and Usfland, as well as the brand new nation Lotunia who made their debut here while they still await becoming eligible to join the main contest. Yay fresh blood. x 24th place isn't our best spinoff position but we were pleased to find ourselves next to our allies Jadakissnia in the final scoreboard - they joined us in sending an instrumental, one of the only other two in the contest, with Ryo Kawasaki's 'Hawaiian Caravan' which finished just ahead of us in 23rd. #jadaphonia
The winner of the spinoff (by a comfortable 40 point margin) was Aeroche with the extended version of Sandra's 'In The Heat Of The Night', scoring 247 points. This followed up Sandra having a surprise smash in the main contest with '(I'll Never Be) Maria Magdalena' back in BJSC 77, coming 6th to provide Singerpurear their first top 10 hit, so possibly an early inspiration for this spinoff happening in the first place, making her a fitting winner. Somewhat surprisingly this is the first time that 7-time main contest winners Aeroche have won a spinoff - they came 2nd three times before, in both the 90s and 00s editions of Dance Anthems (with Grace's 'Not Over Yet' and Rui Da Silva's 'Touch Me' (feat. Cass Fox) respectively) and in Foreign Language II with Kraftwerk's 'Tour De France Étape 2'. Back to the 80s, the aforementioned PRoJ made a rare return to the contest having been in hibernation for over a year, and they made a big impact with their return, coming 2nd in the spinoff with The Smiths' classic 'How Soon Is Now?' on 207 points. Aelandor completed the top 3, receiving 200 points with Berlin's 'Like Flames', giving them their best spinoff finish to date after coming 10th twice before (and of course continuing to get much better results in spinoffs in general than the main contest). Hushkanukia came 4th with Shannon's 'Let The Music Play' on 189 points, while Usfland (or should we now say East Rukahavian x) came 5th with Yes' 'Owner Of A Lonely Heart' on 187 points, both songs having been sampled in UK hits in more recent years. Usfland have only entered 3 spinoffs to date, the last being Xmas Special II in 2015 (where they also came top 5, beating their peak of 7th place in main contests).
Completing the top 10, Mulgracia were 6th with Pat Benatar's 'Love Is A Battlefield', the stars of BJSC 2017 so far Ultraviolenceland managed 7th place with A Flock Of Seagulls' 'I Ran', Bøtanikkä came 8th with 'La Luna' by Belinda Carlisle, Avalonia came 9th with Bon Jovi's 'You Give Love A Bad Name' Ankie Bagger's 'Where Were You Last Night' and South Danaelanda sneaked in 10th again with another all-time classic, Frankie Knuckles' 'Your Love' (RIP Frankie Knuckles) following their win in the previous spinoff. 6 of their 8 spinoff top 10 finishes to date have been either 9th or 10th.
Full Persephonian rankings for BJSC 80s
Points awarded:
18 PRoJ // The Smiths - How Soon Is Now?
15 Trifoski // Clan Of Xymox - A Day
13 South Danaelanda // Frankie Knuckles - Your Love
12 Aeroche // Sandra - In The Heat Of The Night (Extended Version)
11 Jadakissnia // Ryo Kawasaki - Hawaiian Caravan
10 Suedeonia // Youssou N'Dour - The Lion / Gaïende
9 Terra Avium // Pixies - Where Is My Mind?
8 Ultraviolenceland // A Flock Of Seagulls - I Ran
7 Cor Lupus // Mark Safan - Win In The End
6 Espen // Eddy Huntington - USSR
5 Flynnonda // Fancy - Lady Of Ice
4 Unovia // Kate Bush - Suspended In Gaffa
3 Aelandor // Berlin - Like Flames
2 Land of Jack // Mysterious Art - Das Omen - Teil 1
1 Taahino // Siouxsie And The Banshees - The Passenger
16th-37th:
Summericia // Barbi And The Kens - Just A Gigolo
Pupok // Mel Brooks - To Be Or Not To Be (The Hitler Rap)
Séyetana // Yellow Magic Orchestra - You've Got To Help Yourself
Aesthetica // Hitomi Tohyama - Tuxedo Connection
Avalonia // Ankie Bagger - Where Were You Last Night
Usfland // Yes - Owner Of A Lonely Heart
Fljótavík // Stu Phillips - Knight Rider Main Title
Lotunia // Radka Toneff and Steve Dobrogosz - The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress
Altyr Muunilinst // Olivia Newton-John - Twist Of Fate
Ramrynia // ABBA - The Visitors
Tartford // Scarlet Fantastic - No Memory
Hushkanukkia // Shannon - Let The Music Play
République d'Ashton // Joan Jett And The Blackhearts - I Hate Myself For Loving You
Harmonica // Scandal - The Warrior
Beaverdonia // Pimpinela - Olvidame Y Pega La Vuelta
Niceland // The Kane Gang - Don't Look Any Further
Cadelicia // Cyndi Lauper - The Goonies 'R' Good Enough
Mulgracia // Pat Benatar - Love Is A Battlefield
Bøtanikkä // Belinda Carlisle - La Luna
Quintessa // Patti LaBelle - New Attitude
FSR Rontvia // Style - Dover-Calais
St. Burbia // Letitia Dean and Paul Medford - Something Outa Nothing
Once again it has taken us a while to post this summary oop~ and as such we have already confirmed for the next spinoff. The theme this time is Japan vs. South Korea, with Cadelicia serving as the hosts. Persephonia have confirmed a track we've had in our potential list for some time and now have a good excuse to send...
Persephonia hoping for a trip to success in BJSC 94 with KNARS
editor's note: KNARS were known by the name Knarsetand during the original contest, I've edited the posts in this thread and other stats-related threads to refer to the new name instead x
BJSC 94 has kicked off, with last month's winners Ultraviolenceland due to host the final again, while leaving semi-final hosting duties in the capable hands of their co-hosts Hushkanukia (semi-final 1) and Unovia (semi-final 2). Persephonia are hoping to return to the BJSC final after our misfire last month, with our 73rd main contest entry 'Bad Trip' by KNARS, a 7-strong group from the Netherlands. In contrast to our archival choice last month, 'Bad Trip' is a brand new release, coming out just days before confirmations opened for this contest (and thus forcing the Persephonian BJSC Committee into a late change of entry). It is presumably the lead single from an upcoming 2nd album from KNARS, following up their 2014 debut 'My Escape' and a 2015 EP 'Fantasy'. This entry is our second of the year by a Dutch act, two months after End Of The Dream's 'Colder', and our third in all.
KNARS' music is a mish-mash of many genres from breakbeat/drum n bass to reggae/ska to garage punk to hip-hop. 'Bad Trip' is a ska and rap-influenced big beat track very much in the vein of The Prodigy (listed as an influence on their Facebook page alongside the likes of Pendulum, Chase And Status and Rage Against The Machine), a sound that Persephonia has wanted to send for a while but failed to come across inspired examples of until now. As if sounding like The Prodigy wasn't selling it to the Persephonian BJSC Committee enough already, it's also equipped with a brutal and brilliant music video which is clearly heavily inspired by that of The Prodigy's 'Smack My Bitch Up', featuring a first-person view of a man making his way through an 'insane setting' to try and find his lost daughter, along the way getting involved in a fist fight and taking part in a round of Russian roulette (viewer discretion is advised: someone loses x). Watch the video below, and remember, don't do drugs kids x
Sadly the music video is only for a slightly shorter version of the song, click http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGy-KPRH6jU for the official audio of the full version, it's worth the extra minute and a bit. 'Bad Trip' has been drawn in slot 10 of 33 in semi-final 2, any and all support is appreciated!
'Bad Trip' is SO good. My favourite entry of yours in 2017! 'Happy End Of The World' is of course amazing too but I think that had less strong competition. I just cannot resist those The Prodigy vibes, slay me with your high octane banger The plug reception for it was brilliant, I know you should take it with a pinch of salt but lots of strong favourable opinions were shown so I hope this can translate into success. I am sure you'll breeze through to the final and I hope to see you back in the top 10 for the first time in a while!!
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 15/04/2017
KNARS return us to the final!
Persephonia have avoided starting a DNQ streak again as KNARS' 'Bad Trip' has qualified for the final of BJSC 94 in 1989VideoCoast, Ultraviolenceland, our 54th finalist! This puts us back on the list of active qualification streaks (right at the bottom again of course but huzzah for getting back on it promptly after last month's failure). Unovia, an early favourite to win this contest, of course had no issues making it through, continuing to lead the list with their 12th qualifier in a row. Bøtanikkä and Harmonica both lost their streaks, leaving two runners-up to Unovia, with both Aeroche and Cor Lupus qualifying for the 8th time in a row. 'Bad Trip' is up early in the final running order, appearing as song 2 of 41!
Unfortunately for the second month in a row we lost both our 8 pointer and our 7 pointer in our semi-final: sporadic entrants Pagasa made another return this month but sadly fell short again with 80s gem 'The Downtown Lights' by The Blue Nile, our bronze medallist. Our 7 points went to Terra Avium who fell heartbreakingly short of the final (losing out on a tiebreak) with their latest spooky instrumental, Varien's 'Lilith'. Aside from these two we also lost our 2 pointer, Apocalyptica's 'Faraway Vol. 2' (feat. Linda Sundblad and Dave Lombardo) representing Land of DW. Over in semi-final 1, Persephonian voters also have to sadly wave goodbye to 3 of their top 10: another returning nation Ajanaeda were ranked 5th for us with Hundred Waters' 'Xtalk', while Skall had another Nordic hip-hop DNQ with Kjartan Lauritzen's 'Fredag', ranked 7th by us (the song had a 33% deduction for Skall not voting on time but would have DNQed regardless) and Avalonia's soundtrack instrumental entry 'The Winter Soldier' by Henry Jackman finished in last place in the semi-final with just 9 points, after being ranked 8th by the Persephonian public.
Persephonia go orchestral for Japan vs. South Korea
Tonight has also seen the unveiling of the entries in the BJSC Japan vs. South Korea spinoff in Cadelicia. We have chosen to go with a Japanese act (as did most people, as only 8 of the 26 entries are Korean!) but perhaps a slightly ~unorthodox~ one. Taking some inspiration from FSR Rontvia's recent BJSC entry 'Super Mario Bros.', the Persephonian BJSC Committee chose to revive a piece of music they'd considered sending to BJSC before, the theme music to the Gusty Garden Galaxy from the 2007 Nintendo Wii title Super Mario Galaxy. The music is taken from the game's official soundtrack, released as a Japanese Club Nintendo (RIP) exclusive in 2008 and credited to Mario Galaxy Orchestra (composed by Mahito Yokota).
Like the rest of the game's soundtrack, it is a full orchestral production, and it's a second consecutive instrumental spinoff entry from Persephonia. Galaxy has plenty of great music in it but this theme in particular has always stood out to us as a proper beauty, we hope that some people will enjoy it even without the context of the game it comes from. Have a listen below:
'Gusty Garden Galaxy' appears as song 24 in the spinoff.
edit: video link replaced as the old one got taken down x
~
Bad Trip is actually a fairly good trip. x
It's weird but fantastic.
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 10/05/2017
coursework-delayed catchup edition [1/2]
BJSC 94 summary
- In the final of BJSC 94 in 1989VideoCoast, Ultraviolenceland, KNARS' 'Bad Trip' earned us our biggest hit of the year so far, finishing 19th out of 41, our first top 20 hit of 2017 and with year to date highs of 197 points and 23 voters. 'Bad Trip' was our first finalist for a while (since Digitalism's 'Blitz' in BJSC 82) to not earn any country's top points, but it did rank in the medal positions for 5 countries, receiving 15 points each from Bøtanikkä, East Rukahavian and Thelonia and 13 each from Buzzjack Mountain and Jadakissnia. Our last entry to get more than 4 votes in the medal positions was Color Guard's 'In Your Bones' in BJSC 85 with 7 such votes. 'Bad Trip' was revealed to have come 11th out of 33 in semi-final 2 with 74 points (two more than End Of The Dream's 'Colder' but finishing in a lower position), which gave it a projected final position of 23rd.
- Back in BJSC 59, The Kite String Tangle's 'Given The Chance' became Trifoski's 2nd winner, narrowly beating D'yermak'er's entry 'Embrace' by Goldroom. Neither country had been seen in the top 3 since then but now, over three years later, BJSC 94 turned out to be a rematch. In the end history repeated and Trifoski prevailed again, earning their third win with Drones Club's 'Hurricane' on a total of 327 points, ending a much longer win drought than their last one (they only had to wait three months after they first won with Ghost Loft's 'So High' in BJSC 56), meaning BJSC 95 is currently taking place in Trifoskian capital Mrkyvka. This marked Trifoski's 3rd top 10 hit out of their last 5 entries and their 12th top 10 hit in total to date. D'yermak'er settled for the silver medal again with Oh Wonder's 'Ultralife' which received 315 points; they are yet to win a main contest, this being their 13th top 10 hit and their third medallist following 'Embrace' and SZA's 'Julia' which came third one contest before that.
- Like both of the top 2, the country that came 3rd also earnt its 3rd medal position, but have done it considerably quicker, having debuted in BJSC 74 and first coming top 3 only as recently as BJSC 88. It is of course Jadakissnia, who received 290 points to finish in the bronze medal slot with BÖ's 'Waqqaberry', lifting their tally of top 10 hits to nine and following none other than us in landing an Arabic-language track in the BJSC top 3 *.* though not quite going all the way to #1 like we did with A-WA's 'Habib Galbi'. Ojnoj - a returning country this month after two months out - have been absent from the BJSC top 10 almost as long as Trifoski and D'yermak'er from the top 3, last finishing in the top tier in BJSC 60 with Christian Burns, Paul Oakenfold and JES' 'As We Collide' (9th). It's been even longer since their last top 5, fourth-placed 'Like Home' by Nicky Romero and NERVO in BJSC 52. They matched that position this time around with SAARA's 'Superpowers' on a total of 284 points, their 11th top 10 hit. Completing the top 5 was a third country matching their highest finish to date, Singerpurear with Vitalic's 'Waiting For The Stars' (feat. David Shaw And The Beat) on 270 points, an emphatic return to the final after they had started building up a DNQ streak again (failing to make the final with their previous 4 entries), giving them their fourth top 10 hit and matching Kishi Bashi's 'I Am The Antichrist To You' which also came 5th in BJSC 78. It's worth noting though that that only came top 5 following Aquafina's disqualification that month, so 'Waiting For The Stars' is arguably their first real top 5 finish. It received 18 points from 5 countries, more than any other song in this contest.
- The last 4 BJSC winners had all also been semi-final winners, and the first six semi-final winners of 2017 all came at least 4th in the final. Not so this time around: semi-final 1 winner 'Kings & Queens' by Brooke Fraser, representing Unovia, was heavily tipped to win the contest but ultimately came 'only' 6th (Unovia's 13th top 10 hit) while the winner of semi-final 2, and projected winner of the contest based on points scored in the semi-finals, was FARC's entry 'Bad Things' by Noella Nix which settled for 7th place (nonetheless making FARC the only country from BJSC 93's top 10 to come top 10 again in BJSC 94, and becoming FARC's 11th top 10 hit in total). The actual winner had the opposite trajectory: 'Hurricane' finished only 6th in its semi-final. BJSC 74 was the last contest whose top 5 contained neither semi-final winner (in fact that time both semi-final winners somehow ended up outside the final top 15). In recent years, Hendinia DNQing has usually been accompanied by them not voting in the final and subsequently sitting out the following contest, but this wasn't the case following their BJSC 93 DNQ and they've instead followed it with a top 10 hit, coming 8th with Dolly Style's 'Bye Bye Bby Boo', their second top 10 of the year and 36th in total. Dobago earnt their 6th top 10 hit to date with Sagi Abitbul's 'Mariko' coming 9th (only five contests after Abitbul came 4th for Bøtanikkä with Guy Haliva collaboration 'Stanga', and clearly he spied a winning formula with that track as 'Mariko' has near identical structure even down to the Bulgarian folk vocal sample!) and the top 10 was completed by kings of top 10 scraping Hushkanukia with another foreign language track, Oonagh's 'Aulë Und Yavanna', also their 6th top 10 hit with the last five all coming either 9th or 10th. 'Aulë Und Yavanna' was the most successful of 4 German language entries in this contest, just about beating Espen entry 'Instance Of Time' by Mark Dekoda (11th place), while Pupok came 21st with Jennifer Rostock's 'Schlaflos', a decent performance for a near six minute foreign language rock song but underwhelming compared to some early predictions, and New Lexico were a slightly surprising DNQ with Glasperlenspiel's 'Geiles Leben'.
- Two countries set new national bests in BJSC 94. Alteria were one of four countries who made their debut in BJSC 51, alongside D'yermak'er, Singerpurear and Trifoski. So in the month that all three of those revisited their own national bests, it was only appropriate that sporadic participants Alteria were back again and also at their peak, as they managed to make it to the final for the first time ever (it was fourth time lucky for them after previous attempts in BJSCs 51, 67 and 87 fell short of the final). Confidence Man's 'Bubblegum' finished 28th in Alteria's maiden final. Unfortunately getting a qualifier still hasn't been enough to convince them to stick around for more than a month at a time but there is hope for the near future (and they did show up in last month's spinoff as well, although ended up coming last there - maybe this is why they've been scared off again??) The other country officially registering a new peak was Aelandor, coming 34th with Port Blue's 'Up Ship!', two places higher than their last new peak set one month earlier with Breanne Düren's 'Dear Adelaide'. However, it later became clear that even though 'Up Ship!' outperformed all of Aelandor's previous legitimate qualifiers, it actually shouldn't have been in the final at all, making it through by way of a ~clerical error~ (over rightful qualifier 'Lilith' by Varien, Terra Avium's entry). Oops. Let's just appreciate that even though it shouldn't have been there, 'Up Ship!' was a wonderful finalist and a much deserved new peak, much as we weep for 'Lilith'. And let's also not mention the other Aelandor-related clerical error that also occurred in BJSC 94. There was also one country making its debut appearance in BJSC 94 - Rolloland took the bold choice of starting their BJSC career with a 9 minute progressive rock track, 'Routine' by Steven Wilson. Perhaps aided by a beautiful and hard-hitting music video, the gamble paid off as they finished a very solid 12th place in their first contest (and also immediately earned the coveted honour of receiving 18s from both Persephonia and Jadakissnia <3).
- With no countries banned for this contest and only two (Beaverdonia and Deandria) bowing out of their own accord, participation numbers grew to their highest of the year with 67 entries. As well as Rolloland's debut and the previously mentioned returns of Ojnoj and Alteria, there were 5 other returning nations, though the only one to qualify for the final was Republic of Adonia who were back from serving another one-month non-voting ban and came 39th with Sabrina Carpenter's 'Smoke And Fire'. Thelonia came back from a ban as well but fell miles short of the final this time. We were treated to another (brilliant) entry from Pagasa although like with their last attempted comeback in BJSC 90 they DNQed and subsequently didn't vote in the final, so now face another one month ban. Also returning only to DNQ and then get themselves banned again for not voting in the final was Ajanaeda. A third country, Mulgracia, also didn't vote in the final and were thus banned from BJSC 95 but it seems for the time being that we may have seen the last of them (bearing in mind this happened once before and they ended up returning fairly swiftly). Finally, we also had another comeback after a long absence from Mezidinia - they sat out the last 21 contests, and their last entry was itself a return after sitting out 13 contests. Their latest comeback, like the last, failed to qualify, and indeed they have still only qualified once ever (with M.O's 'Ain't Got Time', 14th in BJSC 53), while DNQing now 11 times. They are sticking around for at least one more contest this time though so there is hope for a second Mezidinia qualifier in the near future. The country previously known as Usfland rebranded to East Rukahavian in this contest; their first entry under the new moniker also fell well short of the final, as the country is no stranger to doing.
- The wooden spoon in BJSC 94, finishing 41st out of 41, was Yehesi's entry 'Walk Away' by Ella On The Run. 'Walk Away' actually qualified in 18th place in its semi-final with 50 points but only barely improved on that total in the final despite having twice the number of potential voters and the 18 point system instead of the 12 point system, its final points total being 58. That's a new low for a non-deducted song since the current contest format (using the 12 point system in the semi-finals and the 18 point system in the final) was introduced in BJSC 74, the previous low water mark being the 59 points received by Tartford entry 'Reaction' by Alex Gaudino and Jerma in BJSC 84. (Medhelnia came last in BJSC 90 with Blitz//Berlin's 'Surfboard Fire' on just 45 points, but notably this was an auto-qualifier, and was also subject to a 30% deduction, having originally scored 64 points). The only other country to fall short of 100 points was Kylienips, 40th place on 94 points with Phil Good's 'Growing Up'.
- Other noteworthy results: Taahino notched up their first top 20 hit of the year, coming 20th with SAINTE's 'With Or Without Me', bringing their tally of top 20 hits up to 9 while they are still yet to finish higher than 14th; FSR Rontvia came 26th with Huntza's 'Aldapan Gora' which is not statistically interesting but worth a mention just because it is a BJSC entry in the Basque language *.*; Bignia-Zaragovina improved further on their previous finish and came 29th with Sabina Ddumba's 'Did It For The Fame', their first top 30 hit since BJSC 74; Ultraviolenceland's run of four top 10s in a row came to a halt with their auto-qualifying entry 'Shotgun' by Rebecca & Fiona finishing a mediocre 31st, after three previous BJSC entries by Rebecca & Fiona finished between 21st and 27th.
Full Persephonian rankings for BJSC 94
Final
Points awarded:
18 Rolloland // Steven Wilson - Routine
15 Aelandor // Port Blue - Up Ship!
13 Singerpurear // Vitalic - Waiting For The Stars (feat. David Shaw And The Beat)
12 Jadakissnia // BÖ - Waqqaberry
11 Quintessa // Driftmoon - Genesis (feat. DSharp)
10 Espen // Mark Dekoda - Instance Of Time
9 Séyetana // Epica - Beyond The Matrix
8 Hushkanukia // Oonagh - Aulë Und Yavanna
7 #00274E // X0809 - HO
6 Alteria // Confidence Man - Bubblegum
5 Aeroche // Merely - Backdraft
4 Trifoski // Drones Club - Hurricane
3 Oslol // Moment - Indigo
2 Azure // GNUČČI - Finders Keepers
1 FSR Rontvia // Huntza - Aldapan Gora
16th-40th:
Pupok // Jennifer Rostock - Schlaflos
Aesthetica // Lil Debbie - Push (feat. Moksi)
Dobago // Sagi Abitbul - Mariko
Kluminican Republic // SOFI TUKKER - Awoo (feat. Betta Lemme)
Ultraviolenceland // Rebecca & Fiona - Shotgun
Taahino // SAINTE - With Or Without Me
Unovia // Brooke Fraser - Kings & Queens
Fljótavík // Off Bloom - Falcon Eye
Kylienips // Phil Good - Growing Up
Yehesi // Ella On The Run - Walk Away
FARC // Noella Nix - Bad Things
Cor Lupus // Mirror Talk - Some Boys
D'yermak'er // Oh Wonder - Ultralife
Summericia // Ericka Jane - Bad Like You
Ramrynia // Thomas Rhett - Craving You (feat. Maren Morris)
Hendinia // Dolly Style - Bye Bye Bby Boo
Ojnoj // SAARA - Superpowers
Altyr Muunilinst // John De Sohn - Standing When It All Falls Down (feat. Roshi)
Bignia-Zaragovina // Sabina Ddumba - Did It For The Fame
Republic of Adonia // Sabrina Carpenter - Smoke And Fire
The Actual Republic of Bellamia // Tom Jay Williams - Closure
Daehun // K.A.R.D - Oh NaNa (feat. Hur Young Ji)
South Danaelanda // Oliver Moldan - High & Low (feat. Jasmine Ash)
Cadelicia // BLACKPINK - PLAYING WITH FIRE
Tinnmark // Christopher - Naked
~
Semi-Final 2
Points awarded:
12 Aelandor // Port Blue - Up Ship!
10 Singerpurear // Vitalic - Waiting For The Stars (feat. David Shaw And The Beat)
8 Pagasa // The Blue Nile - The Downtown Lights†
7 Terra Avium // Varien - Lilith†
6 Séyetana // Epica - Beyond The Matrix
5 Hushkanukia // Oonagh - Aulë Und Yavanna
4 #00274E // X0809 - HO
3 Aeroche // Merely - Backdraft
2 Land of DW // Apocalyptica - Faraway Vol. 2 (feat. Linda Sundblad and Dave Lombardo)†
1 Azure // GNUČČI - Finders Keepers
11th-32nd:
Aesthetica // Lil Debbie - Push (feat. Moksi)
Pupok // Jennifer Rostock - Schlaflos
Harmonica // Northeast Party House - For You†
New Lexico // Glasperlenspiel - Geiles Leben†
Kluminican Republic // SOFI TUKKER - Awoo (feat. Betta Lemme)
Mezidinia // Ramsey - Black And Blue†
Desbuanda // Rudie Edwards - Lover Like You†
Mulgracia // VanLadyLove - Mars†
Cor Lupus // Mirror Talk - Some Boys
Yehesi // Ella On The Run - Walk Away
-π // Jacques Greene - True (feat. How To Dress Well)†
FARC // Noella Nix - Bad Things
Fljótavík // Off Bloom - Falcon Eye
Kylienips // Phil Good - Growing Up
République d'Ashton // Tessa Violet - Sorry I'm Not Sorry†
Tartford // Cruel Youth - I Don't Love You†
Hendinia // Dolly Style - Bye Bye Bby Boo
The Actual Republic of Bellamia // Tom Jay Williams - Closure
Tinnmark // Christopher - Naked
South Danaelanda // Oliver Moldan - High & Low (feat. Jasmine Ash)
East Rukahavian // Ben DJ - Thinkin' Bout You (Vijay & Sofia Remix)†
Sandebörg // Quest Pistols Show and Open Kids - Kruche Vsekh†
† DNQed
~
Semi-Final 1 DNQs
5th Ajanaeda // Hundred Waters - Xtalk
7th Skall // Kjartan Lauritzen - Fredag
8th Avalonia // Henry Jackman - The Winter Soldier
12th St. Burbia // Serayah - Look But Don't Touch
14th Buzzjack Mountain // Luca Debonaire - I Need Ya Now
15th Thelonia // Georgia - Feel It
17th Bøtanikkä // I Am Aisha - Yeke (feat. Jayh)
18th Niceland // Project Jenny, Project Jan - Train Track
21st Flynnonda // Mulàn - Night
22nd Suedeonia // Sparks - Edith Piaf (Said It Better Than Me)
23rd Bhangra // Mileo - Worry (feat. Adelén)
32nd Medhelnia // Showtek and Brooks - On Our Own (feat. Natalie Major)
33rd Zanmatony // The Kenneth Bager Experience - Fragment One (...And I Kept Hearing) (feat. Gisli)
BJSC Japan vs. South Korea summary
The Japan vs. South Korea spinoff in Cadelicia was a success for Persephonia, as we came 6th with Mario Galaxy Orchestra's 'Gusty Garden Galaxy', our first top 10 in any BJSC event since we came 5th in our own Instrumentals spinoff last year, and our 7th top 10 in BJSC spinoffs (excluding BJFestivalen). The field was smaller than usual, with only 26 entries this time (one less than even the Country spinoff), it notably being the first ever BJSC event to not feature an entry from FSR Rontvia. But we'll take that success nonetheless. 'Gusty Garden Galaxy' picked up 77 points (with the 12 point voting system in place due to the low turnout) from 14 voters. It received a full 12 points from Lotunia, ending a long dry spell for us in spinoffs, having previously not got top points from anyone since Worldvision II. We also received 10 points from Quintessa and 8 points each from Aelandor and Ojnoj (the latter being a nice surprise from a country that very rarely votes for us). Much appreciated all of y'all <3 x
For the third time in spinoffs (following Halloween I and Movies), Persephonian voters' favourite track ended up being the winner. Land of DW only occasionally enter the spinoffs and have only come top 20 in them once (and only barely, coming 20th in Your Best of BJSC - The Rejects with Dimitri Vangelis & Wyman's 'ID2'), but their instrumental trance delight 'sui-ren' by kagura did the job in Japan vs. South Korea and won with a total of 95 points, shortly following Land of DW's breakthrough top 5 hit in the main contest. It fended off a strong challenge by the host nation Cadelicia, who came 2nd on 91 points with 'CIDER CIDER' by TEMPURA KIDZ, and a similarly could-only-be-Japan slice of kawaii electronic weirdness from Jadakissnia who took the bronze medal, as in the main contest, with BPM15Q's 'Hakutyumu' (or 'Daydream' as it was billed in the contest). That scored 87 points, taking third place on a tiebreak with Deandria's entry 'lost sanctuary' by Ferri, giving them another strong spinoff result (their fifth top 10 and third top 5). Ojnoj came 5th with TWICE's 'Knock Knock' on 81 points, the only Korean track to make the top 5 (in fact only 8 of the 26 entries in the contest represented the South Korean side) and the highest ranked typical K/J-pop track.
Terra Avium came 7th with films' 'sympathizer', repeating a top 10 they achieved with the same artist in an edition of Unknown Pleasures, like they did with Lights & Motion in the Instrumentals spinoff. The top 10 was completed by a trio of more standard pop entries: Avalonia finished 8th with BoA's 'Hurricane Venus', Asian entry extraordinaires Daehun didn't embarrass themselves too much, coming 9th with Afterschool's 'Shampoo' (in their first appearance in a spinoff since the 10th anniversary contest, or the Halloween I spinoff if you don't count that), and Unovia came 10th with Namie Amuro's 'Hands On Me' (Amuro is permanently barred from appearing again in the main contest having been entered 7 times, but the rule does not extend to spinoffs). Another non-pop entry, 'Katachi' by Shugo Tokumaru, would have been top 10 in the latter's place but Altyr Muunilinst did not submit votes on time and suffered a 15% deduction, ending up 11th.
Full Persephonian rankings for BJSC Japan vs. South Korea
Points awarded:
12 Land of DW // kagura - sui-ren
10 Deandria // Ferri - lost sanctuary
8 Cadelicia // TEMPURA KIDZ - CIDER CIDER
7 Terra Avium // films - sympathizer
6 Aelandor // ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION - Re:Re:
5 Altyr Muunilinst // Shugo Tokumaru - Katachi
4 Jadakissnia // BPM15Q - Hakutyumu
3 Quintessa // Goose house - Hikaru Nara
2 Ramrynia // WORLD ORDER - WORLD ORDER (Welcome To TOKYO Remix)
1 Republic of Adonia // Dreamcatcher - Good Night
11th-25th:
Lotunia // Yasuharu Takanashi - Shitsui
Aeroche // Perfume - GLITTER
Ojnoj // TWICE - Knock Knock
Avalonia // BoA - Hurricane Venus
Alteria // nano.RIPE - Kotae Awase
Daehun // Afterschool - Shampoo
Flynnonda // ONE OK ROCK - American Girls
Cor Lupus // Dalshabet - Someone Like U
Trifoski // Fei - Fantasy
Aesthetica // Jyongri - Possession
Séyetana // Eir Aoi - MEMORIA
République d'Ashton // f(x) - Rum Pum Pum Pum
Niceland // NU'EST - FACE
Unovia // Namie Amuro - Hands On Me
Hushkanukia // lol - boyfriend
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 10/05/2017
coursework-delayed catchup edition [2/2]
David Starfire lights up BJSC 95 for Persephonia
BJSC 95 is now underway in Mrkyvka, Trifoski. Persephonia's 74th main contest entry is 'Big Chillum' by Los Angeles producer and multi-instrumentalist David Starfire, taken from his 2013 second studio album 'Ascend'. Starfire is the first American act to represent us in the contest since Color Guard in BJSC 85.
'Big Chillum' - the title refers to a traditional pipe smoked by Hindu monks, I promise Persephonia is not endorsing drug usage with our last two entries xx - is a typical example of Starfire's fusion of world music elements with hip-hop/electronic beats, being essentially a trap song with bhangra-esque instrumentation. It marks our milestone tenth instrumental entry to the BuzzJack Song Contest (and our second instrumental of the year after xi's 'Happy End Of The World' four contests ago), and the Persephonian BJSC Committee has hopes for it to at least do similarly to our last two instrumental entries which both came 31st. Check out the official video below, featuring a pretty awesome graphic design timelapse (the outro of the video features a clip of another track from 'Ascend', 'Shiva Lives', which we'd also recommend to anyone who likes this track):
Persephonia are the opening act in semi-final 2, drawn in slot 1 of 33.
Update: we didn't realise at the time but there was a Persephonian alumnus of sorts in this contest as well: Toddla T is a member of Machines Don't Care, who represented us back in BJSC 48 with 'Beat Dun Drop' (feat. Meleka). He showed up in BJSC 95 representing Thelonia with 'Beast' (feat. Andrea Martin and Stefflon Don), drawn in slot 8 of semi-final 2.
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 15/05/2017
David Starfire qualifies
David Starfire's 'Big Chillum' has made it through to the final of BJSC 95, bringing Persephonia's qualification streak back up to 2, and providing our 55th final appearance to date and 4th out of 5 this year so far. Reigning qualification streak champions Unovia still haven't faltered, marching onto their 13th consecutive final, with all their closest challengers also protecting their runs, Aeroche and Cor Lupus remaining in second place on the list with 9 qualifications in a row. David Starfire appears in slot 14 of 41 in the grand final.
It was a more successful month for Persephonian voters' favourites in our semi-final compared to the last two, with eight of our ten votes making it through, though we still sadly lost our 4 pointer Niceland with Torul's 'Monday' (which had been the first points we've given to Niceland to date) and our 1 pointer Cadelicia with Emrah Karaduman's 'Cevapsız Çınlama' (feat. Aleyna Tilki). Over in semi-final 1 it was a more bleak story. Persephonian voters' top 3 all made it through but the rest of the top 8 were not so lucky: 4th favourites -π (The Blaze's 'Territory'), 5th Bignia-Zaragovina (Hkeem and Temur's 'Fy Faen'), 6th Dobago (Grace Mitchell's 'Now' - which had in fact been expected to climb even further up Persephonia's rankings had it qualified but sadly it was not to be!), 7th Rolloland (Guillemots' 'We're Here') and 8th Beaverdonia (Skit Box's 'ACTIVEWEAR') were given the snub from the final. 9th and 10th on our ranking did qualify.
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 21/05/2017
BJSC 95 summary
- Persephonia had an underwhelming night for the final results of BJSC 95 in Mrkyvka, Trifoski as our entrant David Starfire finished a lowly 38th out of 41 with 'Big Chillum', receiving 125 points from 19 votes. This is our lowest position and points in a final under the current format (BJSC 74 onwards), with our only equal and lower positions being during the One Big Final era (Dennis Ferrer's 'Hey Hey' also came 38th in BJSC 27, and Young Money's 'Steady Mobbin'' (feat. Gucci Mane) came 39th one contest later). Nonetheless, it's a better result than a DNQ so we can't moan too much. For a second month in a row we didn't receive any 18s, with our only medal position this time coming from Land of DW who gave us 15 points (for the 5th time to date, while we're still yet to quite top the Land of DW vote), and our next biggest fans being Bøtanikkä and Jadakissnia (12 points each) and Pupok (11 points). 'Big Chillum' was however a fairly safe qualifier, having come 13th out of 33 in semi-final 2 with 64 points, giving it a projected final position of 29th which it of course undershot a bit, oop ~
- The winners of the night were Suedeonia who took home their first victory with Bleachers' 'Don't Take The Money' with a total of 339 points, including a full 18 from 6 countries (the joint most of the month). Since they joined at the start of last year, Suedeonia have DNQed more often than not with only 3 qualifications out of 11 previous attempts, the highest finishing of which was Where's The Beach's 'Tripping The Luv Fantastic' which came 27th in BJSC 86. However, they've hit a home run with their first big hit, coming off the back of their previous entry which floundered in the bottom 5 of its semi-final. 'Don't Take The Money' is somewhat unusual for a Suedeonia entry in how... not unusual it is, but it of course gives Suedeonia the chance to have a free pass to the final with whatever wacky turn they choose to take in the next contest, which will be the first time the country has ever been in two consecutive finals (and may or may not be held in Suedeonia itself). Its win comes after a previous Bleachers entry, 'Like A River Runs', DNQed back in BJSC 72, since which the one man (Jack Antonoff from fun.) 'band' has had his profile raised, including working with the queen and saviour of music Lorde on her upcoming second album 'Melodrama' (pre-order on iTunes now). Lorde even has uncredited vocals on 'Don't Take The Money', making it sorta kinda a BJSC winner at last for her, after her smash hit 'Royals' was rudely rejected by the BJSC masses, coming 29th (second to last) back in BJSC 53, many months before it became a hit single. Persephonia forever has to answer for why we only gave 'Royals' 1 point in its contest. Oops. x
- For much of the results, and right down to the final scoreboard, the top 3 were separated by a very small (sometimes single-digits) amount. FARC and Aeroche both had long periods of leading the results table. In the end, FARC settled for the silver medal with Stockholm Noir's 'Hopeless Dreams' on 331 points, while Aeroche came 3rd with Me & My's lost 90s dance classic 'Dub-I-Dub' on 326 points. 'Hopeless Dreams' is FARC's third consecutive top 10 hit since they came back to the contest in BJSC 93 after a few months out, and also provided them with a second consecutive semi-final winner (topping SF1) which was, like Noella Nix's 'Bad Things' last month, the projected winner of the contest. FARC now have 4 semi-final wins, with earlier ones coming from Mahan Moin's 'Azizami' in BJSC 82 and the all-conquering 'Save It' by Salt Ashes in BJSC 84. 'Dub-I-Dub' marks Aeroche's first top 10 hit of the year, and it's a bit of a shock it took this long, in fact BJSCs 91-94 marked the first time in Aeroche's history that they missed the top 10 4 times in a row, since their debut in BJSC 44. Normality resumed. They also climb to 5th place in the year to date rankings, still out for blood and a 5th straight year as year end #1 (Ultraviolenceland currently still lead the rankings for 2017). Aeroche now stand at 29 top 10 hits in total to date, with 18 of those coming top 3 (7 wins, 5 second places and 6 third places - only FSR Rontvia have more medals, with 19 including 8 wins, 5 2nds and 6 3rds). Rounding out the top 5 of BJSC 95, Medhelnia bounced back from 3 straight DNQs to come 4th with 302 points with MisterWives' 'Machine', their fourth top 10 hit, all of which have come top 4, and #00274E scored a surprise smash with Pale Waves' 'There's A Honey' which had been predicted for little more than low top 20 but ultimately came 5th with 280 points, #00274E's 12th top 5 and 15th top 10 hit. Pale Waves also won semi-final 2, becoming #00274E's 5th semi-final winner (previously doing so wth their top 3 hits 'Bomb' by Isa (BJSC 46), 'Look Up' by Carli (BJSC 53), 'Special' (Danny L Harle Remix) by Billon feat. Maxine Ashley (BJSC 70) and 'Secret' by Yuri and Seohyun (BJSC 88)). 'Don't Take The Money' finished only 5th in semi-final 1.
- Hendinia scored a second top 10 in a row, third of the year and 37th to date with the god-awful 'Batman & Robin' by Cazzi Opeia and Jin X Jin which finished 6th. 7th place went to Altyr Muunilinst, who like Aeroche have taken surprisingly long to get their first top 10 of the year but managed it this time with 'Classic' by The Knocks feat. POWERS, a song they originally confirmed to a contest that we hosted a while back but then reconfirmed but apparently kept 'Classic' dormant all this time. It's their 21st top 10 hit to date. St. Burbia came 8th with Billie Eilish's 'bellyache', their third top 10 hit to date, all of which have been this year (in each of the odd numbered contests). 'Gatekeeper' by Jessie Reyez was tipped as a possible winner but ultimately finished 9th for Ojnoj, nonetheless providing them a second top 10 in a row, the first time they have ever managed this since their debut way back in BJSC 7 (and we thought it took ages for us to do this when we did it for the first and to date only time in BJSCs 78-79). It's their 12th top 10 hit to date in total. Completing the top 10, also with a second consecutive top 10 hit, was Unovia with the new Ray Of Hope mix of Utada Hikaru's 'Simple And Clean', a song that seems to exist in about 500 completely different versions, one of which was Quintessa's entry to the BJSC Instrumentals spinoff. Unovia's journey to the top 10 was a hard fought one as they languished at the bottom of the table for some time before rallying all the way to the top 5 then dropping back down to its final position of 10th, giving Unovia their 14th top 10 to date. Incidentally the only thing stopping Unovia from also winning a second straight semi-final was that they were in the same semi as FARC, with 'Simple And Clean' coming 2nd in semi-final 1.
- Suedeonia were the only country this month to beat or equal their national best, apart from the one debuting nation Lotunia, who had a bit of a surprise qualification with Ágy's 'Arvedávgi' but ultimately came a solid 17th, meaning a debuting country came top 20 two months in a row. 'Arvedávgi' was quite rightly a surprise qualifier though as it only scraped through the semi-final in 20th, ahead of Fljótavík's entry which was given a 33% deduction for non-voting and would otherwise have qualified (though FLJ's votes may / probably would have saved Lotunia anyway to be fair). The country scraping through the other semi-final did even better: Cor Lupus were 20th in semi-final 1 with BGRZ' 'Agolo' (Remix) (feat. Angélique Kidjo) but came as high as 13th in the final.
- 4 countries made returns after breaks from the contest. Of those, the only one to qualify was N DNTN, who returned after two months out (the only contests they've missed since their debut) to come 23rd with Fishbach's 'Un Autre Que Moi'. Two of the other returnees sent novelty tracks which DNQed: Beaverdonia, back after a month out to recalibrate their sound, have of course publicised their discontent at their DNQ, but spare a thought also for Greenfroze who made a silent return after missing the last 2 contests and came second last in their semi-final. All they wanted to do was educate us about the clitoris! The final returnee was Herzebania who made a surprise comeback after sitting out for many years, last being seen in BJSC 46 (the only longer absence that a country has returned from was the 57-contest Bhangra drought), only to also be unceremoniously dumped in the semi-finals.
- The wooden spoon this month went to Thelonia, who finished 41st of 41 with Toddla T's 'Beast' (feat. Andrea Martin and Stefflon Don). It wasn't the lowest scoring song of the month, but Thelonia failed to submit votes and were thus subject to a 33% deduction and a ban from the next contest (Buzzjack Mountain will also suffer this ban), finishing on 76 points. The only song that received less than 100 points, and barely beating Thelonia after their deduction, was the P3 Remix of Karpe Diem's 'Attitudeproblem' which replaced the original Karpe Diem vox with ostensibly more BJSC-friendly verses by a laundry list of Norwegian female rappers / singers who had a go at rapping: Izabell, Bendik, Stella Mwangi, Silvana Imam, Julie Bergan and Christine. This remix was République d'Ashton's entry and finished 40th with 77 points. PNB wonders why this did so badly when Julie Bergan previously did better with two massively inferior other songs.
- Other noteworthy results: Espen came 11th for the second time in a row with ATB's 'Ecstasy' (MYSTXRIVL x SOKOS FLIP); Yehesi managed to make it to the final despite a 15% deduction for late votes, and finished 15th with 'Into The Fire' by VINAI feat. Anjulie; another surprise qualifier, Vigiland's 'Friday Night', turned out not to be a shoo-in for the bottom 5 as most predicted and instead actually came as high as 16th, becoming one of Tinnmark's bigger hits of recent years; hosts Trifoski selected PWR BTTM's 'Answer My Text' to be their auto-qualifier in more innocent times before the band was effectively exiled from the music industry as a result of certain unpleasant allegations against their lead singer, however this, along with the fact it's just a really bad song, clearly didn't put off too many people from voting for it as it came a respectable 27th; Aelandor suffered yet another undeserved underperformance with Nu:Tone's 'Tides' (feat. Lea Lea) which finished just 37th, but earnt its own questionable place in BJSC history as that marked a 29 place underperformance from its projected finish of 8th, a new record for a song that did not have a deduction in the final.
Full Persephonian rankings for BJSC 95
Final
Points awarded:
18 Espen // ATB - Ecstasy (MYSTXRIVL x SOKOS FLIP)
15 Terra Avium // felicita - a new family
13 Aeroche // Me & My - Dub-I-Dub
12 Jadakissnia // Hugar - Waves (feat. Arnór Dan)
11 Aelandor // Nu:Tone - Tides (feat. Lea Lea)
10 Pupok // Spinee - Hell Hound
9 Séyetana // nanobii - Chipland
8 Azure // Yeasayer - Ambling Alp
7 Kluminican Republic // Two Steps From Hell - Archangel
6 South Danaelanda // Leon Else - The City Don't Care (feat. Oliver)
5 #00274E // Pale Waves - There's A Honey
4 FARC // Stockholm Noir - Hopeless Dreams
3 Skall // Jens Lekman - What's That Perfume That You Wear?
2 Suedeonia // Bleachers - Don't Take The Money
1 Cor Lupus // BGRZ - Agolo (Remix) (feat. Angélique Kidjo)
16th-40th:
Lotunia // Ágy - Arvedávgi
Bhangra // Audrey Gallagher and Kaimo K - Lullaby
Ojnoj // Jessie Reyez - Gatekeeper
St. Burbia // Billie Eilish - bellyache
République d'Ashton // Izabell, Bendik, Stella Mwangi, Silvana Imam, Julie Bergan and Christine - Attitudeproblem (P3 Remix)
Thelonia // Toddla T - Beast (feat. Andrea Martin and Stefflon Don)
Oslol // Terror Jr - Come First
Unovia // Utada Hikaru - Simple And Clean (Ray Of Hope Mix)
New Lexico // K.I.D - Boy (feat. CupcakKe)
FSR Rontvia // Emma Bale - Worth It
D'yermak'er // George Maple - Kryptonite
Medhelnia // MisterWives - Machine
N DNTN // Fishbach - Un Autre Que Moi
Bøtanikkä // Vök - Before (Neelix Well Done Remix)
Tinnmark // Vigiland - Friday Night
Ramrynia // Ulrikke - Places
Desbuanda // Lucy Camp - The Heart Dies
Taahino // GJan - Wasn't Easy
Quintessa // Leah - Met Jou Klere Aan
Altyr Muunilinst // The Knocks - Classic (feat. POWERS)
Ultraviolenceland // Fanny Andersen - Kids
The Actual Republic of Bellamia // We The Kings - Sad Song (RJ Remix) (feat. Olivia Holt)
Yehesi // VINAI - Into The Fire (feat. Anjulie)
Hendinia // Cazzi Opeia and Jin X Jin - Batman & Robin
Trifoski // PWR BTTM - Answer My Text
~
Semi-Final 2
Points awarded:
12 Jadakissnia // Hugar - Waves (feat. Arnór Dan)
10 Aelandor // Nu:Tone - Tides (feat. Lea Lea)
8 Séyetana // nanobii - Chipland
7 Pupok // Spinee - Hell Hound
6 Azure // Yeasayer - Ambling Alp
5 Kluminican Republic // Two Steps From Hell - Archangel
4 Niceland // Torul - Monday†
3 South Danaelanda // Leon Else - The City Don't Care (feat. Oliver)
2 Skall // Jens Lekman - What's That Perfume That You Wear?
1 Cadelicia // Emrah Karaduman - Cevapsız Çınlama (feat. Aleyna Tilki)†
11th-32nd:
Summericia // VNV Nation - Illusion†
#00274E // Pale Waves - There's A Honey
Fljótavík // Azekel - New Romance†
Zanmatony // M4SONIC and YDG - About It†
D'yermak'er // George Maple - Kryptonite
Avalonia // Jenni Vartiainen - Suru On Kunniavieras†
New Lexico // K.I.D - Boy (feat. CupcakKe)
Aesthetica // Alice Vicious - Coupdburst†
Lotunia // Ágy - Arvedávgi
Bøtanikkä // Vök - Before (Neelix Well Done Remix)
N DNTN // Fishbach - Un Autre Que Moi
Thelonia // Toddla T - Beast (feat. Andrea Martin and Stefflon Don)
Medhelnia // MisterWives - Machine
Herzebania // Veronica Malka - Flawless†
Harmonica // Jillian Jacqueline - Reasons†
Flynnonda // H.E.R. - Losing†
Quintessa // Leah - Met Jou Klere Aan
Altyr Muunilinst // The Knocks - Classic (feat. POWERS)
Singerpurear // Bird - Crazy†
Desbuanda // Lucy Camp - The Heart Dies
East Rukahavian // Wild Culture - Know Love (feat. Chu)†
Kylienips // Digital Daggers - Heaven Or Hell†
† DNQed
~
Semi-Final 1 DNQs
4th -π // The Blaze - Territory
5th Bignia-Zaragovina // Hkeem and Temur - Fy Faen
6th Dobago // Grace Mitchell - Now
7th Rolloland // Guillemots - We're Here
8th Beaverdonia // Skit Box - ACTIVEWEAR
13th Land of DW // Digital Nottich - Gaidastep
15th Republic of Adonia // Club cheval - Young Rich And Radical
20th Greenfroze // Dorian Electra - Clitopia
21st Mezidinia // Leah McFall - Bottle It
25th Daehun // IU - Jam Jam
27th Tartford // Sweet California - Tears On My Pillow
29th Buzzjack Mountain // GEROX and LOBO - Dance With Me (feat. Nala)
32nd Hushkanukia // Laura Tesoro - Higher
In other news, the next BJSC spinoff is taking place in République d'Ashton, and it's dubbed 'Schlagerfest'. Our entry isn't schlager. But it is a pop song of Scandinavian origin which is what the contest is about. Here's hoping we don't get vetoed. x
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 01/06/2017
Young Karin represent Persephonia and Iceland in BJSC Schlagerfest
Persephonia's entry for the Schlagerfest spinoff in République d'Ashton, celebrating pop music from across Scandinavia, is Icelandic duo Young Karin with their 2014 track 'Hearts'. Young Karin consists of the titular Karin Sveinsdóttir on vocals and producer Logi Pedro Stefánsson, who is also a member of Retro Stefson (a band who previously appeared in BJSC 50 representing Caerfyrddia). 'Hearts' - originally released when the duo went by the name Highlands, as can still be seen in the video - served as their debut single and the lead track from their first EP 'n°1', and was like many of our recent spinoff entries a potential Persephonia entry for the main contest a few years back which we now have a good excuse to revive. We have turned out to be the only one of the 24 participants to choose a song by an Icelandic act. All five eligible nationalities turned up but the overwhelming majority of entries were Swedish, as should probably have been expected.
'Hearts' doesn't quite fit the bill of 'schlager' but is at its heart a pop song, albeit with some electronic/trap influences in the production. It's very good anyway. x Check out the video below:
We've been drawn in slot 11 in the contest. Elsewhere, a Persephonian alumnus (sort of) has shown up here too, on track 6 - Séyetana's entry 'Stories From A Purple Soul' by Pearl Fiction feat. Malin and Stefan Storm. Stefan Storm is best known as a member of The Sound Of Arrows but is also a member of Kids Of The Apocalypse, our silver medallists from BJSC 61 with 'EMPIRE'.
The main contest is on its annual mid-year month out, and after we had something different last year with BuzzJack's 10th anniversary celebrations, we're back to normality this year with a fifth edition of the more lo-fi BJFestivalen ongoing. Persephonia are set to emphatically fail their quest to capture hearts and minds with some light novelty a second time in a row.
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 06/07/2017
BROCKHAMPTON go for 'GOLD' in Medhelnia
PNB is still behind on our coverage of the last couple of spinoffs oops (soon!!) but let us not get too out of date with news from the main contest ~ We're celebrating our 75th main contest entry this month for BJSC 96. The final of this contest will be taking place in Suedeonia after their win in the last contest but the semi-finals are being handled by Medhelnia in the cities of Offset and Takeoff. Appropriately for cities named after members of Migos, Persephonia are going ~urban~ this time around with the track 'GOLD' by BROCKHAMPTON, which was the third of four singles that previewed the release last month of their second full length project 'SATURATION' (every track of which is stylised in all caps, totally setting apart this entry from the 6 previous BJSC entries named 'Gold' lol). This track was one of two by the group that we'd considered for this contest, if you're a fan we'd also recommend the followup single https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMZZUyos1kI (although a warning that there's a long beeping sound followed by a snippet of an entirely different song at the end of that video - this is most of the reason we chose 'GOLD' in the end xx)
BROCKHAMPTON are a hip-hop collective consisting of approximately 12 people, mostly originally from Texas but now all living together in Los Angeles (making this a second American act in a row from us), though they market themselves as a 'boyband'. 'GOLD' showcases most of the members of the group, with its most prominent member Kevin Abstract - who was previously a potential Persephonian BJSC artist in his own right with his https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-FC9l8dJaM - delivering the simple and infectious chorus line in between varied and all excellent (if I do say so myself x) verses by Matt Champion, Ameer Vann, Merlyn Wood and Dom McLennon, before an outro sung by JOBA (with additional vocals by Jabari Manwa, who co-produced the track alongside another group member Kiko Merley). Incidentally one of the few members who was not involved in this track is Bear//Face who previously appeared in BJSC back in BJSC 70 with Mothica collaboration 'Molt', representing Espen. Check out the music video for 'GOLD' below. Matt Champion clearly setting fashion trends with that cardboard box look. x
'GOLD' appears as track 13 of 33 in semi-final 1, hosted in Offset. It's a long road to Suedeonia and we don't really expect to make it but PROVE US WRONG and throw some points our way if you like the track. x
Elsewhere in semi-final 1 there are two other Persephonian alumni making returns to the contest, both of which already had top 5 hits in the past when they were already recycled from us, but god dammit they were ours originally. First up in slot 4, Aeroche have sent deadmau5' classic 2009 instrumental 'Strobe' (originally over ten minutes long but sent in a bitesized radio edit version), recycling from our very first BJSC entry 'Ghosts 'N' Stuff' (feat. Rob Swire) which criminally DNQed in BJSC 19 and more recently deadmau5' featured appearance on 'Stay' by Colleen D'Agostino which came 4th in BJSC 74 for (South) Danaelanda. Then in slot 17, hosts Medhelnia have pinched from both us and our close allies Jadakissnia with TĀLĀ and MssingNo's 'Tell Me' (feat. WA$$UP). TĀLĀ previously came 15th for us in BJSC 64 with 'Serbia' and later 3rd in BJSC 69 with 'Alchemy' representing Bøtanikkä, while MssingNo's 'Scope' was a #3 hit for Jadakissnia in BJSC 88. Best of luck to both of these fresh recycles as they both do our alumni proud. x
Stanning the fact that there is a Jadaphonia recycle this contest *.* the next one of those to be a 2 Bears/Chip Skylark collab xo
'Gold' is way more interesting than its title would suggest (at least it's not 'Home' or 'Ghost' tbf ) ~ v swag, v Persephonia x That chorus is very catchy and I can see it growing on me further with more listens perhaps like fellow swag entry 'Kyoto' which I now love. Mystic Harry to be have better predicting powers than spelling powers this time so all Jadaphonia related tracks are in the final plz x
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 01/08/2017
ultra-late catchup edition [1/3]
BJSC Schlagerfest summary
In the most recent spinoff, the Schlagerfest held in République d'Ashton, Persephonia managed a 15th place finish out of 24 with Young Karin's 'Hearts', with a total of 43 points from 9 voters. Our only medal position was from Jadakissnia, but this was still cause for great celebration as we received their full 12 points, while also giving our own 12 points to their entry, marking only the second time our nations have traded top points following our iconic 18 swap in Jadakissnia's BJSC 74 debut. Jadakissnia aside, our next biggest supporters were Flynnonda (7 points) and Terra Avium (6 points). Among our other handful of voters was an unexpected 2 points from Bignia-Zaragovina whose points have proven very elusive for us in the last few years (this is the first spinoff points we've received from them (excluding BJFestivalen IV, which was the last time they voted for us in any BJSC event, the last before that being BJSC 67)).
This was another very closely contested spinoff at the top end, with the top two songs ultimately finishing just one point apart. The eventual winner with 112 points was Death Team's 'Messed Up', representing St. Burbia, who claimed their first win in a BJSC event with their only previous spinoff top 10 being 8th place in Instrumentals with Sleeping At Last's 'Hearing'. The runner-up with 111 points was Quintessa's entry 'Kamikaze' by Susanne Sundfør, the second time Quintessa have been silver medallists in spinoffs (after Xmas Special II entry 'Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)' by Darlene Love) and third time they've come top 3 without a win to their name yet. In a contest with few major standouts Persephonia were happy enough that the top 2 were both songs in the top 3 of our votes. Both Death Team and Susanne Sundfør have since already appeared in other contests with mixed results as detailed later in this edition of PNB Third place in Schlagerfest went to Sandebörg with Timoteij's 'Het' on 94 points, host nation République d'Ashton managed a 4th place finish with Måns Zelmerlöw's 'Glorious' on 85 points and Aeroche came 5th with 80 points for Tove Styrke's 'Ego'.
Completing the top 10: Pupok finished 6th with Nelli Matula's 'Lemmikki', Aesthetica 7th with Ängie's 'Housewife Spliffin'', FSR Rontvia 8th with Elin Lanto's 'Funeral', the aforementioned Jadakissnia entry 'Gå Der Vinden Blåser' by VIAN achieved a solid 9th place finish, and perhaps truly embodying the spirit of the name of the contest moreso than anyone else with a PROPER not very good schlager entry, Altyr Muunilinst rounded out the top 10 with the legendary Charlotte Perrelli's 'Where Were You?', credited in the contest to Charlotte "Harlot" Perrelli. Persephonian alumnus Stefan Storm (of Kids Of The Apocalypse), featuring alongside Malin on Pearl Fiction's 'Stories From A Purple Soul', sadly floundered in the contest, finishing second to last for Séyetana.
Full Persephonian rankings for BJSC Schlagerfest
Points awarded:
12 Jadakissnia // VIAN - Gå Der Vinden Blåser
10 Quintessa // Susanne Sundfør - Kamikaze
8 St. Burbia // Death Team - Messed Up
7 Aesthetica // Ängie - Housewife Spliffin'
6 Medhelnia // Amanda Fondell - Count On You
5 Lotunia // Ina Wroldsen and Broiler - Lay It On Me
4 FSR Rontvia // Elin Lanto - Funeral
3 République d'Ashton // Måns Zelmerlöw - Glorious
2 Oslol // ALMA - Dye My Hair
1 Séyetana // Pearl Fiction - Stories From A Purple Soul (feat. Malin and Stefan Storm)
11th-23rd:
Ojnoj // Darin - Nobody Knows
Terra Avium // I Am Karate - Bitter
Flynnonda // Amanda Winberg - Clouds
Beaverdonia // Dinah Nah - Taste Your Love
Pupok // Nelli Matula - Lemmikki
Aeroche // Tove Styrke - Ego
Unovia // Beldina - Here We Go
Cadelicia // Diandra - Nadaa
Sandebörg // Timoteij - Het
Altyr Muunilinst // Charlotte Perrelli - Where Were You?
Hushkanukia // Hanna & Andrea - Always On My Mind
Bignia-Zaragovina // Anton Hagman - Somebody To Love
Ramrynia // Alphabeat - Heat WaveEl Chombo Cracker Jack and Jr. Crack have a crack at BJFestivalen V
For the month of June (oops this thread has got rather behind xx), the regular BJSC took its annual month out, with the five moderator nations instead hosting BJFestivalen V, the fifth edition of the alternative contest based on the format of Melodifestivalen with all entries capped at just 3 minutes long.
In the last edition of BJFestivalen Persephonia went down the novelty route and got a silver medal out of it with Ziggy Marley And The Melody Makers' 'Believe In Yourself' (aka the Arthur theme). We repeated the novelty schtick this time by entering the iconic 'El Gato Volador', a song that features on 'Cuentos De La Cripta 3', a 1999 album credited to the iconic Panamanian-American reggaeton artist Rodney Clark aka El Chombo, who is best known for the equally iconic nonsense track 'Chacarron' which reached #20 in the UK Singles Chart in 2006 following a campaign by BBC Radio 1 DJ Scott Mills. Some wires got crossed and Persephonia originally submitted 'El Gato Volador' as being itself an El Chombo song, but on closer inspection we discovered he was merely the producer and the artists on the song are his fellow Panamanian rappers Cracker Jack and Jr. Crack. Unsurprisingly they are the first Panamanian artists to represent Persephonia, but more importantly it was our first ever Spanish language entry, and what a song to be the first *.*
'El Gato Volador' is a very silly song about a flying cat. The story goes, according to an old Billboard article we found on Google, that Cracker and Jr. were desperate to be featured on the album but failed to impress the mighty Chombo with their attempts at making a serious song. So, El Chombo gave them one last chance to put a song together in just two hours, and the only inspiration they could find at the time was Cartoon Network. And so, a stupid song (which even pokes fun at its own stupidity in its lyrics) about a flying cat was born, and it was just ridiculous enough that it made it onto the album and even became a hit single across Latin America. Inspirational. Here's the official video for the song:
'El Gato Volador' appeared as song 8 of 11 in Heat 1, hosted in Ramrynia (while the other three heats were handled by Daehun, Aeroche and République d'Ashton, with Bignia-Zaragovina hosting the Andra Chansen round and République d'Ashton hosting the final).
BJFestivalen V summary
Sadly it wasn't to be for Persephonia to make it to another BJFestivalen final through the power of novelty, however 'El Gato Volador' did fail less miserably than we expected, coming 9th out of 11 in Heat 1 with 32 points. That's an improvement on us coming last in our heat in BJFestivalen III with James Blake's 'Lindisfarne II' at least (I mean, er... we didn't enter that one!!!), and arguably a less painful exit than our first participation in BJFestivalen II where another Blake song, 'Unluck', was strung along to Andra Chansen only to be nearly unanimously rejected for a place in the final. Still bitter. Thanks to those few countries who humoured us with some points this time around (editor's note: we'd name them but unfortunately the image of the spreadsheet has already been lost to time with the death of Photobucket third party hosting, will edit this if Ryan can give me the information still xx)
EDIT: That'd be 10 points each from Oslol and Quintessa, 8 from Land of DW and 4 from Yehesi. Much love. x
In the last BJFestivalen, the entire top 3 all came from our heat, and it was déjà vu this time as the exact same thing happened, with 3 tracks from Heat 1 taking up all the medals. Having Persephonia in your heat is clearly a good omen. Oslol claimed the victory, and it was with Susanne Sundfør again, who thus claimed top 2 finishes in two BJSC events within a single month. Her song here was 'Delirious', which was rather bending the rules of the contest as it's a nearly 5 minute long song, just entered in a homemade edited version to meet the 3 minute maximum. Cheeky. Nonetheless, it took the win with a solid total of 142 points, becoming the first Oslol entry to win any BJSC event. The silver medal on 134 points went to Taahino with Zella Day's 'Hypnotic', finally making its way into a BJSC after being vetoed numerous times both in its normal version and a remix by Vanic. ('Delirious' was also a former veto in the main contest, make of that what you will). Hushkanukia rounded out the top 3 with 130 points for LIZ's 'When I Rule The World', a song that had to qualify through Andra Chansen due to each heat having only 2 direct qualification slots (in fact the top 3 in the final were also the top 3 in Heat 1, all receiving the same number of points, LIZ simply being unlucky enough to lose the tiebreak). Two other songs broke the 100 point barrier: Trifoski were 4th with 118 points with Fickle Friends' 'Hello Hello', and Fljótavík 5th on 102 points with Tim Legend's 'soda city funk', another Andra Chansen qualifier.
The rest of the redux 11 song final: Ramrynia came 6th with the Jonas Blue remix (cheeeeeeap!) of Jasmine Thompson's 'Old Friends', Cor Lupus 7th with Felon's 'Bittersweet' (feat. Hayley May), the final Andra Chansen qualifier and our top pointer 'Fireman Sam (It's Pontypandemonium)' by Pound Shop Boys came 8th for FSR Rontvia (who were in a BJFestivalen final for the first time after four previous failed attempts), New Lexico came 9th with Trixie Mattel's 'I Know You All Over Again' and the final top 10 slot was decided by a tiebreak, ultimately going to Beaverdonia's novelty entry 'The Wheels On The Bus' by Mad Donna (an actual UK top 20 hit, and yes it's a Madonna impersonator singing the children's song), forcing Séyetana into last place with 'Safe' by Nightcore Reality (aka Danika).
Only two novelty songs made it to the final but the 3 minute cap and the general lesser degree of ~seriousness~ in BJFestivalen compared to the main contest made it ripe for a whole host of other doomed novelty entries, including our own. Honourable mentions go to two other novelty tracks which fell in the Andra Chansen stage: Jadakissnia's Fairly OddParents classic 'My Shiny Teeth And Me' by Chip Skylark and Pupok's zany choice of J. Geco's 'Chicken Song' (Geco Remix), a dance remix of a chicken clucking, because yes. And a dishonourable mention to Flynnonda's choice of Rachel Bloom, Vella Lovell and Gabrielle Ruiz's 'Friendtopia', which has become the first BJSC entry ever to never get a single point from anyone, bottoming out with a much deserved nul points in Heat 4. Nul points has previously only occurred in the end of year TBO / Rejects contests and a couple of times in BJSC Re:LOADED, all of which were of course songs appearing again after previously appearing in standard contests where they did receive points. Well done Flynnonda on finally doing what no one could do for a decade. *.*
Full Persephonian rankings for BJFestivalen V
Final
Points awarded:
12 FSR Rontvia // Pound Shop Boys - Fireman Sam (It's Pontypandemonium)
10 Fljótavík // Tim Legend - soda city funk
8 Hushkanukia // LIZ - When I Rule The World
6 Oslol // Susanne Sundfør - Delirious
4 Beaverdonia // Mad Donna - The Wheels On The Bus
2 Taahino // Zella Day - Hypnotic
7th-11th:
New Lexico // Trixie Mattel - I Know You All Over Again
Trifoski // Fickle Friends - Hello Hello
Ramrynia // Jasmine Thompson - Old Friends (Jonas Blue Remix)
Cor Lupus // Felon - Bittersweet (feat. Hayley May)
Séyetana // Nightcore Reality - Safe
~
Andra Chansen
1st Jadakissnia // Chip Skylark - My Shiny Teeth And Me†
2nd Niceland // Albanian Popular Music Ensemble Of Tirana - Myrtle Flower†
3rd FSR Rontvia // Pound Shop Boys - Fireman Sam (It's Pontypandemonium)
4th Pupok // J. Geco - Chicken Song (Geco Remix)†
5th Hushkanukia // LIZ - When I Rule The World
6th Fljótavík // Tim Legend - soda city funk
7th Daehun // CL - Hello Bitches†
8th Lotunia // Lizzo - Good As Hell†
9th Land of DW // Portugal. The Man - Feel It Still†
10th Sandebörg // Aura Dione - Love Somebody†
11th Aesthetica // Sky Ferreira - C'est La Mort†
12th Bignia-Zaragovina // Marcus & Martinus - Like It Like It (feat. Silentó)†
† DNQed
~
Heat 1
Points awarded:
12 Pupok // J. Geco - Chicken Song (Geco Remix)
10 Kluminican Republic // Charlie And Lola - The Bestest In The Barn†
8 Hushkanukia // LIZ - When I Rule The World
6 Aeroche // Charli XCX - ILY2 (Danny L Harle Euphoria Edit)†
4 Oslol // Susanne Sundfør - Delirious
2 Quintessa // Patti LaBelle - Gospel Alphabet†
7th-10th:
Taahino // Zella Day - Hypnotic
Land of DW // Portugal. The Man - Feel It Still
Altyr Muunilinst // Sirena - Love Is Not†
Yehesi // Nina Sky - Champion Lover (Lady Bee Remix)†
† DNQed
~
Heat 2 DNQs
1st Harmonica // Baha Men - Accident
4th St. Burbia // Sälen - Copper Kiss
5th Zanmatony // Junior Senior - Shake Your Coconuts
6th Aelandor // Relient K - Sadie Hawkins Dance
10th Tinnmark // LILA and Rat City - Tell You
11th Dobago // Mike Candys and Evelyn - One Night In Ibiza (feat. Patrick Miller)
Heat 3 DNQs
1st South Danaelanda // Meowski666 - Meow Machine
2nd Terra Avium // Edvard Grieg - In The Hall Of The Mountain King
5th The Actual Republic of Bellamia // Keisha White - Someday
6th Ultraviolenceland // Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone - City Of Stars
8th Medhelnia // The Griswolds - If You Wanna Stay
10th République d'Ashton // KIOL - Broken Up Again
Heat 4 DNQs
1st Rolloland // Electric Light Orchestra - Endless Lies
2nd Ojnoj // Maria Ale - Dunga
3rd Bøtanikkä // GURBAX - Boom Shankar
4th Republic of Adonia // Brooke Candy - Opulence
10th Flynnonda // Rachel Bloom, Vella Lovell and Gabrielle Ruiz - Friendtopia
11th Cadelicia // ILY - REMEDY
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 01/08/2017
ultra-late catchup edition [2/3]
BROCKHAMPTON valiantly fail in the semi-finals
Unfortunately as expected we failed to make it to the final of BJSC 96, with BROCKHAMPTON's 'GOLD' bringing an end to our qualification streak of 2 again, giving us our second DNQ of the year. They weren't too far off however, coming 22nd of 33 in semi-final 1 with a total of 36 points, 7 points behind 20th place, a satisfying enough result. The Persephonian BJSC Committee was especially pleased that the song ranked in the top 3 of 3 countries, receiving 10 points from D'yermak'er and 8 points each from Land of DW and St. Burbia. It had 4 other voters, giving it 1, 2, 3 and 4 points (Jadakissnia, Espen, Harmonica and Kluminican Republic respectively). Love and appreciation to these countries and anyone else who got a good discovery from our failed risk. x The crown of longest qualification streak remained with Unovia once more as they progressed to a 14th straight final, with their closest rivals remaining Aeroche and Cor Lupus both on 10 in a row.
As in the previous contest, 2 songs in our semi-final and 5 in the opposite semi-final from Persephonia's top 10s of each also DNQed. In semi-final 1, our 4 pointer 'Words' by HËXĖ missed out for D'yermak'er as did our 1 pointer, N DNTN entry 'KICKDRUM KICKDRUM!' by Frankie Animal. Neither were very near qualifying, with the latter finishing in last place even before receiving a 33% deduction for N DNTN failing to submit votes. Sadly 2 of our top 3 in semi-final 2 fell short, including our absolute favourite, Envio's 11 minute beauty 'Touched By The Sun' (Rusch & Elusive's Chill-Out Mix) which was just a couple of points short for Zanmatony. Other songs from Persephonia's top 10 of semi-final 2 to miss the final were 3rd placed East Rukahavian (The Orielles' 'Sugar Tastes Like Salt', another very long song at around 8 minutes), 6th Desbuanda (Rone's 'Bye Bye Macadam'), 7th Quintessa (Alisha Chinai's 'Zooby Zooby') and 9th Séyetana (Konomi Suzuki's 'Redo', continuing to face racism against Japanese Séyetan entries).
BJSC 96 summary
- The winner of BJSC 96, whose final took place in Brettstown, Suedeonia, wasn't clear until very near the end of the results reveal. Daehun's entry, the English version of 'Haide' by Helena Paparizou, had been briefly in the lead early on in the results but had seemed to take a backseat to favourites to win Cor Lupus and Altyr Muunilinst as the night went on. However, in the last handful of votes, 'Haide' made a big comeback and ended up seizing the win with a total of 318 points, becoming Daehun's third winner following Indila's 'Dernière Danse' in BJSC 61 and SNBRN's 'Raindrops' (feat. Kerli) in BJSC 73, and their 18th top 10 hit. Its win was actually pretty solid by recent standards, 32 points ahead of its closest competition, the largest margin since EASYFUN's landslide in BJSC 91. This marked a big comeback for Daehun, who were last seen in the top 10 in BJSC 75 when they came 4th with Karin Park's 'Stick To The Lie', which had been the last of a run of six straight top 10s. It may not be a coincidence that only one of that run of 6 was within Daehun's usual Asian pop sound while nearly all of their less successful entries since then have been, until now. Hmmm. xx 'Haide' was also the winner by some distance of semi-final 2 and the projected winner of the contest, giving Daehun a third semi-final winner after the aforementioned Indila and Karin Park songs. Helena Paparizou, as well as winning the Eurovision Song Contest in 2005, had two top 10 hits in the early editions of BJSC ('Gigolo' 10th for then-named Kopečka in BJSC 5 and 'Teardrops' 8th for Herzebania 4 contests later). Daehun will now host the final of BJSC 97, which is now underway with semi-finals hosted by cohost du choix The Actual Republic of Bellamia. It was better when we cohosted with Daehun tbh. x
- Cor Lupus had been with some a very heavy favourite to claim a second winner, and they did lead for a good portion of the results, but they ultimately settled for 2nd place with LINES' 'Weekends' on 286 points, their second top 3 finish after BJSC 87 winner 'Higher' by The Naked And Famous and their 8th top 10 hit (3rd of 2017). 'Weekends' is claimed as the first single by LINES but is in fact just the first single from a complete reboot of the band's career after they decided for some nebulous reason to remove their entire previous back catalogue from most of the internet, which included a previous BJSC winner 'People' (feat. Adele Kosman), a landslide victory for Altyr Muunilinst in BJSC 71. History didn't quite repeat. Speaking of Altyr Muunilinst, they were also floated as a winner contender this month and ended up in 3rd with Kamferdrops' Scandi hit 'Jag Trodde Änglarna Fanns' on 281 points, a second top 10 in a row and 22nd to date, evening out their medal record at 2 wins, 2 runner ups and 2 third places. Ojnoj continued their spectacular recent run of form coming 4th again with Leon Else's 'What I Won't Do', a third top 10 in a row and 13th to date just two months after their last 4th placer 'Superpowers' by SAARA. 'What I Won't Do' also got 281 points, so only a tiebreak stopped it being Ojnoj's third top 3 hit. It was still a big improvement on the finish of Leon Else's last entry 'The City Don't Care' (feat. Oliver), sent just one contest earlier and finishing 20th for South Danaelanda, and it did top semi-final 1 to provide Ojnoj's 2nd semi-final winner after the ill-fated 'Overload' by Life Of Dillon in BJSC 74. Completing the top 5, Aelandor finally managed to break out of their run of DNQs and bottom 10 finishes in style to claim a first major hit on their 13th attempt, coming 5th with 274 points with 'Giants' by Lights. This smashed their previous peak of 34th achieved by ill-gotten qualifier 'Up Ship!' by Port Blue 2 contests previously, and also outdid all of Lights' 3 previous BJSC appearances, the most successful prior being 'Ice' (6th for Kingdom of Shadow in BJSC 13).
- 6th place went to Ramrynia with Paramore Birdflipper's 'Come On!', and we are confirmed to now live in a bizarro universe as this was the only song in the entire top 8 to receive points (well, 1 point) from Persephonia. We aren't supposed to support Ramrynia!! It's their 22nd top 10 hit and third of the year. They have come top 20 with all 6 of their 2017 entries so far, putting them in a strong position to challenge Ultraviolenceland's YTD throne (especially as Ultraviolenceland had another big underperformance this contest, coming 39th with Naïka's 'Ride', a song which only qualified at all due to #00274E receiving a 33% deduction for not voting in the semi-final, eep). République d'Ashton had a very long wait between their 23rd and 24th top 10 hits, but a much shorter wait to the 25th, Dagny's 'Wearing Nothing' which finished 7th, a place higher than the hyped winner contender 'Pinnacle' by Tone Damli 4 contests back. Dobago continued their enviably quick racking up of top 10 hits, coming 8th with Lindsey Stirling's 'Love's Just A Feeling' (feat. Rooty, aka RuthAnne from Professor Green's 'Remedy'), their 7th top 10 hit in 18 entries. Lindsey Stirling is clearly a safe name in BJSC, with two previous entries from her also finishing in the top 10, most successfully the 2nd placing Jamvale (aka Mulgracia) entry 'Shatter Me' (feat. Lzzy Hale) from BJSC 66. Rounding out the top 10, FSR Rontvia extended their record for most top 10 hits claiming a 47th (although their first of the year) with Turkish jam 'Şahane Bir Şey Yaşamak' by Yaşar Gaga feat. Sezen Aksu (try saying that 5 times fast) coming 9th, and Kluminican Republic scored a pleasing 10th place with Burial's 2007 dubstep/UK garage classic 'Archangel', their second top 10 of the year and 11th to date, and also outperforming their BJSC 95 entry which was not coincidentally also named 'Archangel' (by Two Steps From Hell).
- Aside from Aelandor, one other country set a new national best. Alteria made another return after their shortest break between entries yet of just one contest. Their first three attempts all DNQed but latest entry 'Sick Kids' by Fjokra emulated Confidence Man's 'Bubblegum' from BJSC 94 in making the final, and finished 23rd, 5 places higher than 'Bubblegum' managed. Alteria have once again elected to not enter the current contest however. It seems they will forever only be a rare delight in the contest. There was also one debuting nation, Jupiterdonia, who failed to reach the final with Empire Of The Sun album track 'I'll Be Around'. Incidentally this is now the third time that Empire Of The Sun have been entered and both previous appearances were also DNQs for debuting nations ('Walking On A Dream' for the controversial Mykanovia in BJSC 15 and 'Swordfish Hotkiss Night' for the footnote in BJSC history Johnopia in BJSC 20) making them even more of a cursed artist than twenty one pilots, who similarly have been entered twice, both times being DNQs for debuting nations ('Trees' for Cadelicia in BJSC 52 and 'Fake You Out' for another BJSC footnote and permabanned nation Jacksland in BJSC 71).
- Alteria aside, three other returning nations made the final, with two finishing very close to the top 10. Varakë haven't been a regular presence in the contest for a few years, having been the victim of too much racism with lots of great entries not making the final (17 DNQs among their 24 previous entries). They only entered one of the last 15 contests, that being a DNQ in BJSC 86. They have found greater success with their latest comeback, Irina Rimes' 'Visele' (Dj Dark & MD.Dj Remix), finishing 12th to become their third biggest hit to date, and their biggest since their sole top 10 hit, Pyramid's 'Wolf' which came 7th in BJSC 60. Their last entry to qualify was Pr0files' 'Luxury', 34th in BJSC 76, with four further DNQs between then and now. Sandebörg came back after a month out with ZOË's 'Dangerous Affair', coming 14th, their biggest hit since their third and most recent top 10 hit 'Nightclub Nirvana' by Lo-Fi-Fnk, 10th in BJSC 75. Deandria also made another return after 2 months out and like Alteria have had 2 qualifiers with their last 2 comebacks, this time coming 26th with 'Les Enfants Du Paradis' by world's end girlfriend, an instrumental and the longest entry in the final at over 7 minutes. There were also comebacks for Ajanaeda and Kingdom of Horanius, the former returning from a one-month ban and the latter making only their second ever appearance following their debut in BJSC 88. However, both DNQed and subsequently didn't vote in the final, meaning Ajanaeda were straight back onto the banlist as well as Kingdom of Horanius. Without going into too many specifics due to the touchy matter of #bangate, six other countries also received bans, namely Aesthetica, FARC, Medhelnia, Mezidinia, N DNTN and Skall. We hope to see many if not all of these back for BJSC 98.
- The wooden spoon for BJSC 96 went to a very unexpected track, Medhelnia's entry 'Tell Me' by TĀLĀ and MssingNo featuring WA$$UP, coming 42nd out of 42 with 56 points. In fairness, that was after a 33% deduction due to Medhelnia not voting on time (hence their ban), but it was still 2nd from last before any deductions which was far far below most predictions (and also what it deserved, poor brave Jadaphonia alumni - at least we no longer have the least successful TĀLĀ entry). This is Medhelnia's 3rd wooden spoon in the final in addition to one in a semi-final. A couple of other songs were also subject to varying levels of deductions - Yehesi voted late and suffered a 15% deduction to come 30th with MY's 'W.I.L.D', while, again avoiding specifics, FARC were hit with a 53.1% deduction with their auto-qualifier 'Don't You Forget About Me' by Robinson, turning what was a safe top 20 hit before deductions into a 40th placer. The song spared last place due to Medhelnia's deduction was the other auto-qualifier, hosts Suedeonia's retro pick 'Geneve' by John Otway, a song clearly not geared towards major BJSC success but nonetheless earning 63 points to come 41st. As Medhelnia were the co-hosts of the contest, both hosts finished in the bottom 2 of the final, and both are not competing in the current contest, with Medhelnia banned and Suedeonia taking an intentional month out. Whoops.
- Other noteworthy results: Bhangra finished 16th with Margaret's 'What You Do', one place higher than their grand BJSC 86 comeback entry 'Once In A While' by Timeflies and thus a new peak in the new era of Bhangra (they last came higher than this in BJSC 19 with 4th placed 'My Man' by Jade Ewen); Death Team's main contest debut a month after their win in the Schlagerfest spinoff was less successful, as they came 21st with 'Jump' representing Cadelicia; the other Persephonian alumnus in the contest, deadmau5, came 28th with 'Strobe' representing Aeroche.
Full Persephonian rankings for BJSC 96
Final
Points awarded:
18 Kluminican Republic // Burial - Archangel
15 Deandria // world's end girlfriend - Les Enfants Du Paradis
13 St. Burbia // Tasha Tah - Malang (feat. RaOol)
12 Land of DW // Paddy And The Rats - Join The Riot
11 Fljótavík // UNKLE - Looking For The Rain (feat. Mark Lanegan and ESKA)
10 Varakë // Irina Rimes - Visele (Dj Dark & MD.Dj Remix)
9 Jadakissnia // King Plague - Ave Plague
8 FSR Rontvia // Yaşar Gaga - Şahane Bir Şey Yaşamak (feat. Sezen Aksu)
7 Aeroche // deadmau5 - Strobe
6 Alteria // Fjokra - Sick Kids
5 Medhelnia // TĀLĀ and MssingNo - Tell Me (feat. WA$$UP)
4 Espen // SXTN - Die Fotzen Sind Wieder Da
3 Bignia-Zaragovina // Cezinando - Håper Du Har Plass
2 Trifoski // Battles - Atlas
1 Ramrynia // Birdflipper - Come On!
16th-42nd:
Terra Avium // Stellar Dreams - Infinity
Cadelicia // Death Team - Jump
Altyr Muunilinst // Kamferdrops - Jag Trodde Änglarna Fanns
Cor Lupus // LINES - Weekends
Suedeonia // John Otway - Geneve
Sandebörg // ZOË - Dangerous Affair
FARC // Robinson - Don't You Forget About Me
Ojnoj // Leon Else - What I Won't Do
Unovia // PON CHO - Frozen (feat. Paige IV)
Lotunia // Lola Marsh - Wishing Girl
Daehun // Helena Paparizou - Haide (English Version)
Azure // Patent Pending - Hey Mario
Beaverdonia // Ina Wroldsen - Aliens (Her Er Jeg)
Oslol // Blonde Electra - Let's Touch (feat. THE HIGHESTER)
Yehesi // MY - W.I.L.D
Bøtanikkä // BEATZ - Ain't Your Girl
Aelandor // Lights - Giants
République d'Ashton // Dagny - Wearing Nothing
Hushkanukia // Sushy - Nerdy Boy (feat. Roachie)
South Danaelanda // Lucas & Steve - Up Till Dawn (On The Move)
Ultraviolenceland // Naïka - Ride
Tinnmark // The Uniøn - No Good For You (feat. Lovespeake)
Dobago // Lindsey Stirling - Love's Just A Feeling (feat. Rooty)
Bhangra // Margaret - What You Do
Flynnonda // Donny Montell - Move Your Body
Niceland // ARIA - Astrolove
Hendinia // Violet Chachki - Bettie
~
Semi-Final 1
Points awarded:
12 Kluminican Republic // Burial - Archangel
10 Land of DW // Paddy And The Rats - Join The Riot
8 St. Burbia // Tasha Tah - Malang (feat. RaOol)
7 Jadakissnia // King Plague - Ave Plague
6 Medhelnia // TĀLĀ and MssingNo - Tell Me (feat. WA$$UP)
5 Aeroche // deadmau5 - Strobe
4 D'yermak'er // HËXĖ - Words†
3 Espen // SXTN - Die Fotzen Sind Wieder Da
2 Alteria // Fjokra - Sick Kids
1 N DNTN // Frankie Animal - KICKDRUM KICKDRUM!†
11th-32nd:
Rolloland // White Soxx - Versailles†
Terra Avium // Stellar Dreams - Infinity
#00274E // ONUKA - Other (Live) (feat. NAONI Orchestra)†
Sandebörg // ZOË - Dangerous Affair
Taahino // VUKOVI - Weirdo†
Unovia // PON CHO - Frozen (feat. Paige IV)
Ojnoj // Leon Else - What I Won't Do
Harmonica // Moment - All This Time†
Tartford // Lisa - Rocket To Your Heart†
Oslol // Blonde Electra - Let's Touch (feat. THE HIGHESTER)
Yehesi // MY - W.I.L.D
Jupiterdonia // Empire Of The Sun - I'll Be Around†
République d'Ashton // Dagny - Wearing Nothing
Ajanaeda // ABIR - Playground†
Herzebania // Carina Dahl - You On Me†
Pupok // Parisa - Pop Pop Kudu (feat. Sabrina, T-Nola and El Rey)†
Hushkanukia // Sushy - Nerdy Boy (feat. Roachie)
The Actual Republic of Bellamia // Marija - Dance Like Nobody's Watching†
Ultraviolenceland // Naïka - Ride
Dobago // Lindsey Stirling - Love's Just A Feeling (feat. Rooty)
Niceland // ARIA - Astrolove
Hendinia // Violet Chachki - Bettie
† DNQed
~
Semi-Final 2 DNQs
1st Zanmatony // Envio - Touched By The Sun (Rusch & Elusive's Chill-Out Mix)
3rd East Rukahavian // The Orielles - Sugar Tastes Like Salt
6th Desbuanda // Rone - Bye Bye Macadam
7th Quintessa // Alisha Chinai - Zooby Zooby
9th Séyetana // Konomi Suzuki - Redo
18th Singerpurear // Grace Slick - Dreams
23rd Mezidinia // ABRA - U KNO
24th Skall // Ana Moura - Desfado
25th Avalonia // Natasha Blume - Black Sea
26th Kingdom of Horanius // isis - I Am
27th New Lexico // Release The Woolves - Shotgun (feat. Maribelle)
32nd Kylienips // Aldous Harding - Imagining My Man
33rd Aesthetica // Nadia Oh - Shade
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 01/08/2017
ultra-late catchup edition [3/3]
We didn't get around to posting a teaser for our BJSC 97 entry so let's do one now, pretend y'all don't already know what it is
That's a lot of updatin'
Also, I'm kinda digging your marathon entry this month, I think it'll do well in your semi anyway
Never letting myself get 4 contests out of date in this thread again x
(I hope you're right *.* it is a very lucky draw, would have been beyond dead in the other semi but maybe it has a shadow of a hope in this one x)
This is an absolutely epic listen. Would have to say my fave entry of yours since I joined, fingers crossed it qualifies!
Oh wow! You definitely weren't one of the people I had on my radar as a likely fan so this is encouraging news Glad you like it so much
So LINES and IIIII are/were the same artist? I never would've guessed that but it makes sense now Oddly enough I love 'Weekends' but couldn't stand 'People' at the time, might have to re-listen now. This doesn't belong in your thread really but it's a bit late to bump a thread from the last contest
Oh, might as well add that 'Gold' was very very good and I was disappointed (albeit not surprised) that it didn't qualify!
Yup, they are one and the same! (I did do some Google-fu to make 100% sure of that ) I wasn't a big fan of 'People' either, 'Weekends' is definitely the better of the two. (and by all means feel free to post anything in my thread, I like when I'm not talking to myself )
I'm glad you did like 'GOLD' anyway, it feels all too rare for my songs to make it into your votes! I'm curious to know if Noahspike is / would be a fan of it as well. x
also super late but I missed replying to this while I was doing the big update
'Hearth' is absolutely breathtaking I was a bit worried when you mentioned that it had a growling portion because I'm not the biggest fan of growling in songs but it's really not that bad at all here, the weakest part but I'm definitely able to overlook such a short element of it. It really is quite reminiscent of 'Time (Inception)' towards the end which I absolutely adored so yeah, a huge thumbs up from me!
The plug reaction was an amazing payoff for such a risky choice, I really hope all this support can translate into a qualifier. It's amazing how we both weren't feeling our chances that much at the start of the week but things are slowly looking up with the Q predictions and this plug reaction... c'mon BJSC peeps let's get both of Jadaphonia in the final!!
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 06/08/2017
This is my home, my heart, my soul, my hearth... in the BJSC 97 final!
Against all of the Persephonian BJSC Committee's original expectations, Saor's 'Hearth' was announced (nice and early) tonight as qualifying through to the final of BJSC 97, which is taking place in Golee, Daehun. It's thus our 5th qualification out of 7 entries this year and our 56th finalist to date in all, while keeping up our statistic of avoiding failing to qualify in consecutive contests since our run of three DNQs in a row from BJSCs 54 to 56. We are very grateful to everyone who helped us to make the final, and a citation may be needed on this factoid but this may be the longest entry to ever qualify through a semi-final We're thus back on the qualification streak list at the bottom, while there is a changeover at the top of the list as Unovia proved themselves not to be bulletproof and DNQed this time, meaning Aeroche are once again the country with the longest streak sitting at 11 in a row, joint leaders alongside Cor Lupus. Their closest competitors are now South Danaelanda and Trifoski, both on national record runs of 10 finals in a row. Saor have been drawn in slot 28 of 41 in the grand final.
Persephonia came very close to having all of our votes in semi-final 1 qualify alongside ourselves, but sadly the one other missing out was a big favourite, Cumulonimbia's entry 'Cascades' by Indian Wells which had been our 12 in midweek voting stats but ultimately ended up getting our 10... and subsequently missing out on the final by just 1 point. Cry. Over in semi-final 2, Persephonian voters also lost their second favourite song, sadly we wave goodbye to Cadelicia's best entry in some time, 'Distante' by Meg. Three other songs from our would-be votes also fell short in semi-final 2: Buzzjack Mountain only just missed out with Lee Mills' 'From My Lerv' (5th in our ranking), while we also lose Thelonia (7th for us with Bonzai's 'I Feel Alright') and Deandria (9th for us with A_GIM's 'Rajka' (feat. Klark)).
The curse of you DNQing while we watch results together in person officially over! floored at both of us making it, well done *.*
Love for Brade from the people of Zanmatony.
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 15/08/2017
BJSC 97 summary
- The final results of BJSC 97 took place last night, with the reveal taking place in Flynt, Aeroche due to last minute extenuating circumstances requiring a change of host. Persephonia had a fairly good night, finishing bang on midtable, 21st out of 41 with Saor's 'Hearth'. It received a total of 179 points from 19 voters - the latter number meaning that it ended up losing a three-way tiebreak for 19th, so it was rather unlucky to miss out on a place in the top 20. However, it is still our second biggest hit of the year in both position and points (behind KNARS' 'Bad Trip', 19th with 197 points in BJSC 94), a satisfying result for a very risky entry which has nonetheless gone down as the best received Persephonian entry of the year so far domestically. It also marks the first time Persephonia have come 21st in the final, leaving only 7th-11th and 18th as positions we haven't yet claimed within the top 25. Pleasingly 'Hearth' also received 18 points from Terra Avium, the first time we've got top points from anyone in either the final or the semi-final for 5 contests (and the 9th time we have received Terra Avium's top score). Furthermore 'Hearth' ranked in the top 3 for another 6 countries, receiving 15 points each from Cumulonimbia, Jadakissnia, Land of DW and Rolloland and 13 points each from Deandria and Tinnmark; 7 medal positions is our most for over a year, since Color Guard's 'In Your Bones' also had 7 in BJSC 85. Thanks to all of those, plus the other 12 countries who threw us some points (including further double digit points from Aelandor, Espen and Séyetana) It was also revealed that 'Hearth' finished 6th out of 31 in semi-final 1 with 84 points, our second semi-final top 10 of 2017 to date, our highest position in a semi-final since DANCE WITH THE DEAD's 'Waves' won its semi in BJSC 79 and our highest semi-final points since TWRR's 'Water Frozen' which got 85 points to come 8th in its BJSC 87 semi-final. That result put it in a projected 13th place (a result it would have achieved in the non-canonical http://www.buzzjack.com/forums/index.php?s=&showtopic=197485&view=findpost&p=5789629, boo x)
- The major contenders for the win this month were all gunning for their first victory, with the entire top 3 in the end being countries without a win to their name prior to this contest. At points during the reveal it seemed like it was a very close race between the three. However, in the end it was Quintessa who pulled ahead and secured a pretty landslide win, with 379 points for 'Gypsy (Catch Me If You Can)' by Norda and Mike De Ville feat. Joanna Jones, the highest scoring winner of 2017 so far and 56 points ahead of its closest competition. This song followed in the footsteps of a previous electroswing BJSC smash, Caravan Palace's 'Lone Digger', which fell a little short of the win, coming 2nd in BJSC 80 for Kluminican Republic. 'Gypsy (Catch Me If You Can)' also dominated in top scores, picking up 7 18s while only one other song had more than 3, and had been a comfortable projected winner as it easily won semi-final 2, becoming the country's second semi-final winner after Mirror Talk's '1/M/T' which was also in BJSC 80. Quintessa's road to their debut BJSC win has been a long and rocky one, finally achieving it on their 41st attempt. They somewhat infamously held the record for 'most entries without ever qualifying' for some time, first entering in BJSC 33 and submitting 6 consecutive entries that failed to qualify before taking a long hiatus from the contest, returning in BJSC 63 to be immediately faced with a 7th DNQ (a run of opening bad luck only beaten by Singerpurear). They've had some better results since then but still, of their first 40 entries, just 15 of them made the final, and their only previous top 10 hits were a sudden spurt of success in BJSCs 79 and 80 where they scored back to back top 5 hits with Avec Sans' 4th-placed 'Resonate' and the aforementioned '1/M/T' which came 5th. They've also had a handful of strong results in spinoffs, including two runner-up positions. Anyways, it's a well deserved first win for them, and they can now look forward to a guaranteed slot in the final next month (it's not yet clear if they will be hosting or not).
- Finishing a pretty distant 2nd in the end were Terra Avium, who nonetheless scored their biggest hit to date (and their 7th top 10 hit in all) with Steven Wilson's gorgeous 'Pariah' (feat. Ninet Tayeb) earning 323 points. That betters their only previous podium finish, 'I've Been Secretly Falling Apart' by Owsey, Jernalism and Resotone which came 3rd in, once again, BJSC 80 (these parallels). It's also a better result for Steven Wilson after he came 12th with 'Routine' (which also had uncredited vocals by Ninet Tayeb) representing Rolloland on their debut entry 3 contests back, perhaps helped this time by having a much shorter song. Third place on 305 points went to Ramrynia with Tigertown's 'Warriors', giving Ramrynia a third bronze medal to go with their 4 silver medals, among a total of 23 top 10 hits, while they still await a first win (they extend their lead as the country with the most medals without a win, while also taking a strong lead in the year to date rankings having scored 7 out of 7 top 20 hits this year including an earlier 2nd place in BJSC 91 with Sirusho's 'PreGomesh'). Like Steven Wilson, Tigertown had previously provided a country's debut entry, in this case Brechtoria's 29th-placed BJSC 85 debut 'Lonely Cities'.
- That is Ramrynia's 2nd straight top 10 hit, also achieved by FSR Rontvia who came 4th with Kosmonova's 'Danse Avec Moi!' on 273 points, the most successful of a crop of over-a-decade-old entries this month (most of which are also eurodance). This is FSR Rontvia's 29th top 5 hit and 48th top 10. Their last top 5 hit before this was in BJSC 87 with 5th-placed 'Ilumbarada' by Ortiga (which was also a retro choice, in fact both that and 'Danse Avec Moi!' were German hit singles in 2000), and the first time the BJSC god nation has come this high since BJSC 71 where they came 3rd with Ulf Nilsson's 'Little By Little' (George Whyman & Lulleaux Remix). One must go back another 7 contests to BJSC 64 for their most recent and still record 8th winner 'RAMelia (Tribute To Amelia)' by RAM and Susana. 'Danse Avec Moi!' did however secure FSR Rontvia a win in semi-final 1, the first time they've won a semi-final in nearly 4 years and the 7th time to date (previously: Sanna Nielsen's 'Nobody Without You' (BJSC 9), Pixie Lott's 'Boys And Girls' (BJSC 11), Beautiful Small Machines' 'Robots In Love' (BJSC 17, their only entry to win both the semi-final and the final), Delta Goodrem's 'Hunters And The Wolves' (BJSC 50), Rivaz' 'Colors' (BJSC 54) and RL Grime's 'Because Of U' (BJSC 60)). Speaking of RL Grime, we go back to the present where he completed the BJSC 97 top 5, coming 5th for Aeroche with 'Reims' on 245 points, providing Aeroche's 24th top 5 and 30th top 10. All 23 of Aeroche's previous top 5 hits were 4th or higher, so this finally completes their collection of top 5 peaks. Unusually for them however, this one actually didn't do too well in the semi-final, where it came just 13th.
- Losing a tiebreak for 5th place, Trifoski settled for 6th with Lido's 'Not Enough' (feat. THEY.) which had been an early favourite to win the contest, falling a bit short of that but still another good result for the country, their 13th top 10 hit and the fourth of their last 8 entries to come 6th or higher. Also continuing a recent revival in their fortunes in the contest, République d'Ashton came 7th for a second month in a row with Dragonette's 'Darth Vader', the last time we'll ever see former contest winners Dragonette in the contest as they are now permabanned for appearing in the contest 7 times. It's Ashton's 26th top 10 hit and their third in the space of 6 contests following an epic dry spell. South Danaelanda, another brief early favourite for the win, came 8th with DJ Licious' 'I Hear You Calling' for their 8th top 10 hit and third of the year. Daehun's auto-qualifier 'You Better Know' by Red Velvet netted them a second top 10 in a row and 19th in total, coming 9th (once again after a long period with no top 10 hits) and proving they can still have hits with Asian pop entries if they find the right one; this was their third attempt with Red Velvet songs alone, following a DNQ and a 26th place with their earlier singles 'Dumb Dumb' (BJSC 79) and 'Russian Roulette' (BJSC 89) respectively. Completing the top 10, Summericia sat out the contest last month for the first time since their debut, but made a swift and well-received comeback this time to net their second top 10 hit with Caramell's 'Caramelldancing', an English-language version of retro meme 'Caramelldansen' dating from 2002. It didn't quite match the 9th place success of their BJSC 91 entry 'still goin' by CRIM3S.
- Besides the top 2, two other countries also set national bests this month. Zanmatony bounced back from four DNQs on the trot to just narrowly miss out on their first top 10 hit with another of this contest's retro eurodance entries, Paradisio's 'Bailando' (from 1996), finishing 11th to beat their previous 16th place peak (with Yellow Claw's 'Love & War' (feat. Yade Lauren) in BJSC 91). Meanwhile, last month's debutants Jupiterdonia found their feet this time around, getting their first qualifier on second attempt and finishing a solid 27th with Smallpools' 'Million Bucks'. Smallpools have also previously provided the first qualifier for another nation - Varakë came 11th with their previous track 'Dreaming' in BJSC 55 following two DNQs. There were no countries making debut appearances in BJSC 97.
- There were 8 countries making comebacks this month, nicely replacing the 8 countries facing one-month bans, though 5 further withdrawing countries still meant this was a smaller contest than the last. Unfortunately, only two of those made the final. One was Summericia as previously mentioned. The other was the latest country to re-emerge in the contest after a long hiatus: Scherzland sat out the previous 43 contests, having last been seen in BJSC 53 with DNQ 'One Night' by Matthew Koma. Their grand comeback entry 'Never Did This Before' by Black Saint finished 30th this time around. Two of the DNQing comeback nations were also making their first appearances in 2017. Cumulonimbia had been absent for 7 contests and just narrowly missed out on the final this time with a great entry. Triangledonia were gone for 6 contests and were nowhere near qualifying this time, with a not so great entry. Buzzjack Mountain and Thelonia both returned after serving one-month bans, and also both narrowly missed out on the final, while Greenfroze returned again after another month in the wilderness and DNQed again, and finally Republic of Adonia made a rather pointless comeback in which they DNQed, didn't vote in either the semi-final or the final and will now be banned again next month. Never change. Beaverdonia will be joining them in the banned corner, giving them an opportunity to recalibrate their sound in time for BJSC 99 after coming last in the semi-final with 5 points for their real blues music summer Cornetto and Pimm's anthem.
- Varakë managed to surprise most punters by qualifying through a second semi-final in a row for the first time ever, but it seemed hard to imagine their entry being much higher than the bottom few positions in the final, as decent a song as it was. Indeed, 'Dialeto' by Diogo Piçarra ended up giving the country their first wooden spoon, coming 41st of 41 with 69 (teehee) points. Only two other songs fell short of the 100 point mark, and both were pretty close. 40th place went to one of the other big surprise qualifiers, Rolloland's entry 'Standing Outside A Broken Phone Booth With Money In My Hand' by Primitive Radio Gods (another 1996 track), which at least gets the consolation prize of being the longest song title to ever appear in BJSC, and was Rolloland's 2nd qualifier out of 4 entries to date. That scored 94 points, losing a tiebreak for 39th place to St. Burbia's entry 'On My Mind' by Moxie Raia feat. Pusha T.
- Other noteworthy results: Bhangra improved on their performance from last month to come 14th with Tarkan's 'Yolla', supplanting their previous entry as their biggest hit since their comeback; Taahino came 19th with Lao Ra's 'Body Bounce' (feat. Konshens), their tenth top 20 hit to date while still going no higher than #14; Aelandor made it two top 20 hits in a row after never reaching the tier before, scraping 20th place with Billy Lockett's 'Old Man'; Tartford finally qualified again with Crystal Castles' 'Concrete' after a run of 8 DNQs in a row (the third longest run ever, after runs of 13 in a row by Singerpurear and 10 in a row by East Rukahavian FKA Usfland, and just ahead of a previous run of 7 in a row also by Tartford), finishing 23rd; Jadakissnia's entry 'Mango Bay' by MONOMOTION came 24th which isn't particularly noteworthy in itself but we'll mention it anyway because BIAS and the fact it was our first time giving them 18 points since their debut; and to complete the list of retro entries this month, Bøtanikkä finished 31st with Rednex's 'The Spirit Of The Hawk', another old eurodance track dating from 2000.
Full Persephonian rankings for BJSC 97
Final
Points awarded:
18 Jadakissnia // MONOMOTION - Mango Bay
15 Terra Avium // Steven Wilson - Pariah (feat. Ninet Tayeb)
13 Zanmatony // Paradisio - Bailando
12 Bøtanikkä // Rednex - The Spirit Of The Hawk
11 Tartford // Crystal Castles - Concrete
10 FSR Rontvia // Kosmonova - Danse Avec Moi!
9 Séyetana // Hiroyuki Sawano and Cyua - Vogel Im Käfig
8 Quintessa // Norda and Mike De Ville - Gypsy (Catch Me If You Can) (feat. Joanna Jones)
7 Summericia // Caramell - Caramelldancing
6 Trifoski // Lido - Not Enough (feat. THEY.)
5 Bhangra // Tarkan - Yolla
4 New Lexico // Le Grind - Bricks
3 Scherzland // Black Saint - Never Did This Before
2 Pupok // Julia Wieniawa and Zeppy Zep - Na Zawsze
1 Rolloland // Primitive Radio Gods - Standing Outside A Broken Phone Booth With Money In My Hand
16th-40th:
Aelandor // Billy Lockett - Old Man
Lotunia // Gery-Nikol - I'm The Queen
Aeroche // RL Grime - Reims
Dobago // Q-Benjamin - BUT (You Got Something) (Jay Montero Radio Edit)
Varakë // Diogo Piçarra - Dialeto
Flynnonda // Charlotte - Pars
South Danaelanda // DJ Licious - I Hear You Calling
Daehun // Red Velvet - You Better Know
Taahino // Lao Ra - Body Bounce (feat. Konshens)
Avalonia // Britt Nicole - Through Your Eyes
Ojnoj // TOPIA - Statement Song
D'yermak'er // Arrhult - Just Fiction
République d'Ashton // Dragonette - Darth Vader
Hushkanukia // Vera Blue - Private
Jupiterdonia // Smallpools - Million Bucks
Ramrynia // Tigertown - Warriors
Yehesi // Jaira Burns - Ugly
Kluminican Republic // Montaigne - Because I Love You
St. Burbia // Moxie Raia - On My Mind (feat. Pusha T)
Hendinia // Sigrid Bernson - This Summer
The Actual Republic of Bellamia // RIVRS - Playing With Fire
Cor Lupus // Taryn Manning - GLTCHLFE
Kylienips // Betty Who - Human Touch
Sandebörg // We The Kids - Billion
Altyr Muunilinst // KATÉA - Louder
~
Semi-Final 1
Points awarded:
12 Terra Avium // Steven Wilson - Pariah (feat. Ninet Tayeb)
10 Cumulonimbia // Indian Wells - Cascades†
8 Bøtanikkä // Rednex - The Spirit Of The Hawk
7 Tartford // Crystal Castles - Concrete
6 FSR Rontvia // Kosmonova - Danse Avec Moi!
5 Séyetana // Hiroyuki Sawano and Cyua - Vogel Im Käfig
4 Summericia // Caramell - Caramelldancing
3 Trifoski // Lido - Not Enough (feat. THEY.)
2 Pupok // Julia Wieniawa and Zeppy Zep - Na Zawsze
1 Scherzland // Black Saint - Never Did This Before
11th-30th:
Espen // josh pan - give it to ya (feat. ABRA)†
Rolloland // Primitive Radio Gods - Standing Outside A Broken Phone Booth With Money In My Hand
Aelandor // Billy Lockett - Old Man
Singerpurear // Spoon - Can I Sit Next To You†
East Rukahavian // Beach Slang - Spin The Dial†
Dobago // Q-Benjamin - BUT (You Got Something) (Jay Montero Radio Edit)
Taahino // Lao Ra - Body Bounce (feat. Konshens)
Desbuanda // Autoheart - Moscow†
Ojnoj // TOPIA - Statement Song
République d'Ashton // Dragonette - Darth Vader
Jupiterdonia // Smallpools - Million Bucks
Unovia // Manelyk - Odiosa†
Ultraviolenceland // Georgia Denton - Prisoner In Motion†
Greenfroze // Runaway Zoo - Lights R Out†
Republic of Adonia // BoA - CAMO†
St. Burbia // Moxie Raia - On My Mind (feat. Pusha T)
Harmonica // Kari Kimmel - Can You Feel It†
Kylienips // Betty Who - Human Touch
Altyr Muunilinst // KATÉA - Louder
Oslol // Chris Salvatore - Breathe Me (feat. ALIUS)†
† DNQed
~
Semi-Final 2 DNQs
2nd Cadelicia // Meg - Distante
5th Buzzjack Mountain // Lee Mills - From My Lerv
7th Thelonia // Bonzai - I Feel Alright
9th Deandria // A_GIM - Rajka (feat. Klark)
15th Land of DW // Ann My Guard - Callisto
21st Beaverdonia // Nikola Rachelle - Sirens
24th Niceland // The Isles - Eve Of The Battle
25th Azure // The Band CAMINO - Who Says We're Through
27th Tinnmark // EIRIK - Sacrifice
28th Triangledonia // Lynz Munich - We Are Balloons
31st Bignia-Zaragovina // Frankie Grande - Queen
My 24th place getting a mention in your write-up *.* true alliance goals x I would have been thrilled if I'd been told pre-contest that I ended up 24th, but when I peaked in the top 5 at one point it was quite gutting to be knocked back down so low. I felt like a pop hoe sending a country song or something.
WD on beating me and netting a very respectable finish for a song that was pretty risky. Shall treasure that 18 for moi after the 2 year wait for another
Oh yeah, 'Hearth' also peaked early which seems a little unusual for such an anti-pop song oops x
I apparently can only finish higher than you with metal entries this year
http://mamadavonne.tumblr.com/post/164241053557/also-this-new-brockhampton-got-me-like
Impakt
(I'm just waiting for them to actually become big, they're growing hype on the Internet all the time but yet to cross over to the mainstream in any way)
Just happened upon this https://radioinsight.com/headlines/119309/jay-dabhi-rises-92-3-amp-radio-music-director/ which highlights Jay Dabhi's recent career accomplishments ;o
"He is credited with breaking Clean Bandit’s Rockabye in the U.S." *.* you're welcome USA x
~
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 29/08/2017
Will our chances be Dead or Healthy this month?? Only time will tell...
With a record-matching 72 confirmed nations, BJSC 98 has got off to an explosive start tonight in first time (main contest) host nation Quintessa, in the city of Vanna Rosa, so we can now reveal our tightly kept secret entry for the month. Persephonia's 77th main contest entry - will that bring us good luck? - comes from Dead Husband, a duo from Boston, Massachusetts, who thus put the USA back in the lead as the nationality we've sent most often (24 times). Dead Husband released their debut four-track EP 'Renaissance' earlier this month. Our chosen track, 'Healthy Boy', is the closing track on the EP and is also the song they have used to promote their EP by releasing a rather trippy music video for it exclusively to Vimeo (the Persephonian BJSC Committee will be sneakily commissioning a private upload to YouTube courtesy of Jadakissnia () to allow the video - and the song for that matter, only otherwise available on Bandcamp - to be played in the plug.dj session this week and included in our entries playlist). This is Persephonia's most obscure entry to the contest to date, clocking up fewer than 1,000 views to date and with the band only having 500 likes on Facebook and 750 followers on SoundCloud.
'Healthy Boy' marks a return to the more familiar territory of electronic music for us after our dabbles into hip-hop and metal in the last two contests. However, the song and artist seem to be tagged under about 10 different genres so we can cherrypick and claim it is a brand new genre for us, namely darkwave (it's also tagged, among others, as industrial dance, synthwave, 'coldwave', techno and synthpop). Whatever you label it as, it's a gloriously dark and deliciously synthy track, with some faint and largely unintelligible female vocals throughout but mostly relying on its constant barrage of synths which hit the listener hard from the very first second in a manner not dissimilar to our previous death-themed late-year synthwave entry 'Waves' by DANCE WITH THE DEAD. Aiming high, to be disappointed when we inevitably finish around the mid 30s at best. We're very excited for this entry anyway, check it out below and be mesmerised by the colours and patterns and synths ~
'Healthy Boy' has been drawn as track 14 of a bumper 35 in semi-final 1.
Over in semi-final 2, a Persephonian alumnus makes a swift return to the contest - Kevin Abstract, who provided the hook on our DNQ 'GOLD' two months back as a member of his boyband BROCKHAMPTON, is making a solo foray into the contest representing Cumulonimbia with 'Miserable America', appearing in slot 28. We wish him better luck on his own. Also, track 34 in semi-final 1 is Marmozets' 'Play', a song which had been under consideration to be a Persephonia entry, but has turned up instead under the unexpected flag of Ultraviolenceland, while semi-final 2 features three songs by artists who had been Persephonian potentials in the past, namely Kacy Hill, Made In Heights and Slow Magic (all of which have been in the contest before but not ultimately for us).
Ooh, excited to hear this after that description, I haven't listened to any of the entries somfar, as to keep impartial, also it's Vanna Rosa.
I take it that my entry wasn't the old potential of yours then?
Oh, will look up that one, I have another Korean potential but it wasn't Neon Bunny either, it's somewhat more R&B with a rap break, maybe next contest....
Stop making it so easy for me to stan you! honestly another crazy good offering from u Really up my street with the seedy club at 3am vibes/synths/'Waves' vibes. <3
Looking forward to pointing this wonderful nation at long last! *.*
The best Persephonia entry of 2017
This is sooo good, a huge highlight from my listenthrough, I think this one is the one of yours to grab me in a huge way this year so hopefully that can translate into a top 10 ;O (I said this last month about the 'long track' I know but think this sounds it has a really good shot more confident in it's chances than 'Hearth')
Could this be a winner?
I definitely think it will have a wide appeal.
Thank you for the hype guys and Roba giving me another top 10 prediction to attempt to live up to, has happened with basically all of my entries this year other than the DNQs one day ~
@ Dandy I wish! Like I said when I confirmed it I do think it sounds like something that might have been a winner back in 2012/13 but I don't know if the ~market~ is still there for it as much in 2017. Feeling good about my chances of having my biggest hit of the year though.
Getting a lil behind in here again oops, double results summary ramble coming shortly after the BJSC 99 results but before they kick off lemme quickly get up to date with the current contest ~
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 08/10/2017
I cannot believe I passed over this when potential hunting it is another Delta Heavy situation where I felt like I didn't love the song enough but it has hit me loads more in the contest. It captivates me more with each further listen *.* really happy that you smashed with it, congrats!!
Well done on receiving your first top 10 in ages
THRILLED!
cannot WAIT for ur 100. literally going to win if it's what i think it is
I hope you are still planning on finishing last year's EOY at some point I'm still eagerly awaiting Dobago's paragraph!
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 09/10/2017
BJSC 98 summary
- Persephonian citizens are currently celebrating our top 5 finish in the contest after this one but let us cast our minds back a month to BJSC 98 in Quintessa, where Persephonia also had a pretty good result. Dead Husband's 'Healthy Boy' landed in 13th out of 42 in the final with a tally of 233 points from 24 voters, beating our year to date records for position, points and voters (all previously held by KNARS' 'Bad Trip', our only previous top 20 hit in 2017), notably becoming our first 2017 entry to top 200 points, and matching the final position of BJSC 90 entry 'Figurine' by Baby Blood leaving Aron Can's 'Með Mér' (12th in BJSC 86) as our last entry to finish higher. The only major stat in which it wasn't our biggest hit of the year so far was in its number of top scores - it picked up just the one 18, from Buzzjack Mountain, leaving BJSC 92 entry End Of The Dream's 'Colder' still standing as our only 2017 entry to get more than one 18 (with 3 of them, one of which was also Buzzjack Mountain). On top of that, it also received medal positions from Bøtanikkä, Tartford (both 15 points), Quintessa and Summericia (both 13 points). The Persephonian BJSC Committee was thrilled to see such success for such an obscure entry, though were a little bummed out watching the song be in the top 10 for a large part of the results reveal before dropping sharply in the final few votes. Thankfully our lengthy wait for another top 10 hit did not last much longer! 'Healthy Boy' was at least another semi-final top 10 (our 3rd of the year), coming 8th out of 35 in semi-final 1 with 78 points, putting it on course for a projected 16th place in the final, which it ended up outperforming by three places.
- There were only a couple of songs pegged as winner contenders for BJSC 98 and it came to pass that one of them swept to an enormous landslide victory to assert its status as the biggest BJSC hit of the year and one of the biggest of all time. That song was the Mulholland Edition of 'Elizabeth Taylor' by Clare Maguire, which provided a first win for Medhelnia (following two previous runner up finishes, with Parade Of Lights' 'Feeling Electric' in BJSC 85 and Ou Est Le Swimming Pool's 'Dance The Way I Feel' in BJSC 89) on their return to the contest following a one month ban. The song came close to several BJSC records - it received 454 points (the 3rd most ever after Sigala's 'Easy Love' (477) and Salt Ashes' 'Save It' (465)), 40 votes (the joint 7th most ever) and 9 top scores of 18 (the joint 4th most ever, behind three songs that got 10 top scores; the aforementioned 'Easy Love' plus Courtney Barnett's 'Pedestrian At Best' and Indila's 'Dernière Danse'). Its lead over 2nd place of 123 points was also the second largest ever ('Save It' won by 133 points), a win margin of 37.16% which is the 6th largest ever. In summary, it did quite well, and it's not too hard to see why - it didn't quite pick up any points from Persephonia but was appealing well across the board elsewhere. Unsurprisingly it was also crowned as the landslide winner of semi-final 1 with a total of 162 points (the 6th largest total ever in a semi-final), Medhelnia's third semi-final winner following 'Feeling Electric' and 'Dance The Way I Feel'. Incidentally, these are also the only Medhelnia entries to even be in the top 5 of their semi-final, even though they have two further top 5 hits in finals.
- Winning the scrap for second place was Pupok, who landed in the silver medal slot with a total of 331 points with Mason's 'Fashion Killa (Papapapa)' (feat. Stefflon Don), the shortest song in the final at under 2 and a half minutes. This returned the country to the top 10 again - and indeed the top 20 - after missing out 5 contests in a row, giving them their 9th top 10 hit to date and second podium finish following their BJSC 86 win with Aelyn's 'Give Love A Try'. It also topped semi-final 2 giving Pupok a third semi-final win after 'Give Love A Try' and BJSC 91 entry 'River' by Bishop Briggs. In third place was a country that is no stranger to the bronze medal slot - Hendinia finished there for the 2nd time this year alone and the 8th time in their history, taking home 319 points with Elohim's 'Eclipse'. FSR Rontvia's 8 wins is the only other '8-peat' of a position in BJSC finals. Despite their massive haul of 3rd places, 2nd place is much more elusive for Hendinia - they've only finished runner up once (with Max Elto FKA Taped Rai's 'Shadow Of The Sun' in BJSC 54), while of course they continue to find that fourth win elusive as well, but the top 10s keep rolling in, this was their fourth of the year and 38th in total.
- Aeroche finished 4th with the Halogen Remix of Disco Fries' 'Born Ready' (feat. Hope Murphy) with a total of 306 points, a second top 10 (and top 5) in a row and their 31st top 10 (25th top 5) to date. We're running out of ways to describe how successful Aeroche are. Good thing we have to do it again in the next results summary post!! They climbed to 2nd place in the year to date rankings with this result, it remains to be seen if they will get their annual win and end of year #1 position though Completing the top 5, in stark contrast to Pupok, was the longest song in the final - at 9 minutes and 39 seconds, RÜFÜS DU SOL's gorgeous 'Innerbloom' was more than four times the length of 'Fashion Killa (Papapapa)'. It finished 5th with 301 points representing Kluminican Republic, who are having a good run of consistent success of late, this being a sixth top 20 hit in a row, and their third top 10 hit of the year and 12th in total. It's their first time in the top 5 since Caravan Palace's 'Lone Digger' came 2nd in BJSC 80. It's finally a good result for RÜFÜS DU SOL after two previous entries by the group DNQed (including 'Sundream' which was the final entry from Batidas (RIP)).
- Jupiterdonia followed their first qualification in BJSC 97 with a first top 10 hit (on their third entry in total) in BJSC 98, coming in 6th with INNA's 'Yalla'. Despite that, it actually turned out the song was very close to DNQing - it came just 19th in semi-final 2 and was projected to come just 39th, that 33 place improvement smashed the previous record (jointly held by Audien's 'Insomnia' (feat. Parson James) (Aquafina 74) and Wonder Girls' 'I Feel You' (Aesthetica 91) which both made 28 place improvements). Hushkanukia's 7th place finish with Skott's 'Mermaid' wasn't a national record, but it is their second highest finish to date - their first ever qualifier (after an opening run of 5 DNQs), PVRIS' 'St. Patrick', went all the way to the top in BJSC 72, but since then they had previously gone no higher than 9th. 'Mermaid' is their 7th top 10 hit to date (including 3 9th places and 2 10th places). The other song that got major hype as a winner contender alongside Medhelnia was fellow returning nation Fljótavík's entry 'Feria Festival' by Wealstarr, which ended up slightly underperforming in coming 8th, but that still marked their first top 10 hit of the year (22nd to date) and their highest finish since Kenton Slash Demon's 'Harpe' also came 8th in BJSC 82. St. Burbia finished in 9th place with Eva Simons' 'Guaya', giving them a 4th top 10 to date (all this year), and marking the first time Eva Simons has been successfully recycled in the contest (she has one of the contest's biggest ever winners with BJSC 19 winner 'Silly Boy', but 2 further entries by or featuring her both DNQed since then). Completing the top 10 in 10th was a surprisingly big hit from Cumulonimbia with Kevin Abstract's 'Miserable America', a rare BJSC hit for a male hip-hop act, and doing us proud after Abstract DNQed for us 2 contests earlier as part of BROCKHAMPTON. This was recent returnees Cumulonimbia's third top 10 hit and first since BJSC 80 when they had their biggest hit to date with Special Request's 'Amnesia' (4th).
- As well as Medhelnia and Jupiterdonia, Buzzjack Mountain set a new national best, coming in 16th with CENTVRIES' 'Tension' to claim their first top 20 hit (beating the 29th place achieved by JX's 'Restless' 5 contests earlier). Zanmatony fell frustratingly short of also beating their national best, as they came 11th for a second month in a row with Gryffin's 'Love In Ruins' (feat. Sinead Harnett), leaving them still in search of a first top 10 hit. They were only one point off it in this case. There was one debuting nation in BJSC 98, namely Cowtermont, who fell just a little bit short of qualifying on their first attempt with debut entry 'Space' by Prince Fox feat. Quinn XCII.
- Only two countries were facing bans in this contest and only one other dropped out, so a large crop of 11 returning nations helped BJSC 98 to match the record for the most entries in a contest ever (72, the same as in BJSC 77). Medhelnia and Fljótavík were already mentioned, but only two of the other nine returnees made it to the final this time. FARC were back after serving a one month ban and came 29th with 'My Yute' by Blessed. The most mysterious and intriguing returning nation was Helgon - the country confirmed under this name without making the identity of it public, leading to great speculation as to who it might be. It was eventually revealed during the final results that it was a rebrand of Syndare, who were returning after sitting out the previous 5 contests. Comeback entry 'Next To Me' by MARLENE came 28th. Aesthetica, Mezidinia and Skall were returning after serving a one month ban and all DNQed. Aesthetica and Mezidinia unfortunately forgot to vote in the final this time again, so had to serve another one month ban in BJSC 99. #00274E and Suedeonia were not banned in the previous contest but both sat it out anyway and returned again to DNQ in BJSC 98 (with #00274E joining the naughty chair countries in not voting in the final and thus also serving a ban for BJSC 99). That leaves 2 other countries who returned from considerably longer breaks - Sandénia made a comeback after 19 contests in the wilderness, and the country formerly known as Sãó Ricó rebranded to the easier to type Enty and returned after 24 contests out. Both were welcomed back with DNQs. Enty have entered 3 times to date and are yet to qualify for a final - and were ineligible to break that in BJSC 99 as they too failed to vote in the final. Completing the list of naughty countries banned for BJSC 99, Scherzland also failed to submit votes, one month after their own return from a long break.
- BJSC 98's wooden spoon went for the first time to Harmonica with Blondage's 'Dive' in 42nd of 42, which proved to be an absolutely archetypal winner of trickle points. Its final total of 60 points is among the lowest recorded under the current points system, but it actually had a pretty healthy 18 voters - the secret was that just two of those voters ranked the song in their top 10, so if the 12 point system were still in use 'Dive' would have received just 10 points, a joint record low for a song that qualified through a semi-final (matching the infamous 'Roo' by Shadeux - Terra Avium will never be forgiven). Amazingly, this result for 'Dive' came despite the fact it did as well as 14th place in its semi-final. The only other song that failed to crack 100 points was hosts Quintessa's auto-qualifier 'Heaven' by Ashmute, finishing a very undeservedly low 41st with 95 points. As there were an even number of entries, Terra Avium also auto-qualified and they took the opportunity to send something absolutely batshit insane that would SURELY come last in the final. Gjallarhorn's 'Konungen Och Trollkvinnan' actually finished as the higher AQ, as high as 37th. Not bad.
- Other noteworthy results: Ramrynia came 14th with Alida's 'Feathers' to maintain a 100% top 20 record in 2017, 8 for 8; Desbuanda came 20th with DJDS' 'Trees On Fire' (feat. Amber Mark and Marco McKinnis), their best result since SOFI TUKKER's 'Matadora' also came 20th in BJSC 81, and in fact since they had their crowning moment of coming 2nd with Eves The Behavior's 'TV' in BJSC 72, they've recorded only 3 more top 20 hits which were all exactly 20th (though they have gone on to do better than this in BJSC 99 as we'll mention in our next ramble); East Rukahavian finally qualified for the first time under their current name after 4 straight DNQs since their last qualifier when they were called Usfland, this time coming 38th with YONAKA's 'Wouldn't Wanna Be Ya'.
Full Persephonian rankings for BJSC 98
Final
Points awarded:
18 Espen // Mounika. - Long Silent
15 Cumulonimbia // Kevin Abstract - Miserable America
13 Fljótavík // Wealstarr - Feria Festival
12 Kluminican Republic // RÜFÜS DU SOL - Innerbloom
11 Land of DW // N.O.H.A. - Di Nero
10 Quintessa // Ashmute - Heaven
9 Aelandor // C2C - Down The Road
8 Jadakissnia // Moth Equals - Jiv
7 Trifoski // Guerilla Toss - Skull Pop
6 Avalonia // Johannes Ringen - Neverafter (feat. Merethe Soltvedt)
5 Taahino // Tigress - Alive
4 Cadelicia // Tourist - Run
3 Buzzjack Mountain // CENTVRIES - Tension
2 FARC // Blessed - My Yute
1 Hendinia // Elohim - Eclipse
16th-41st:
Séyetana // SIAMÉS - The Wolf
Unovia // Jenn Morel - Pónteme
Terra Avium // Gjallarhorn - Konungen Och Trollkvinnan
Bøtanikkä // Wrabel - The Village
St. Burbia // Eva Simons - Guaya
Jupiterdonia // INNA - Yalla
Pupok // Mason - Fashion Killa (Papapapa) (feat. Stefflon Don)
Desbuanda // DJDS - Trees On Fire (feat. Amber Mark and Marco McKinnis)
Niceland // BANNERS - Someone To You
Deandria // AaRON - Blouson Noir
East Rukahavian // YONAKA - Wouldn't Wanna Be Ya
Azure // Ghost Beach - Miracle
Medhelnia // Clare Maguire - Elizabeth Taylor (Mulholland Edition)
Zanmatony // Gryffin - Love In Ruins (feat. Sinead Harnett)
Helgon // MARLENE - Next To Me
Cor Lupus // Kacy Hill - Hard To Love
New Lexico // YOMBE - SDIMS
Yehesi // Sophia Ayana - If I Had Your Love
D'yermak'er // Slow Magic - Mind (feat. Kate Boy)
Aeroche // Disco Fries - Born Ready (Halogen Remix) (feat. Hope Murphy)
Hushkanukia // Skott - Mermaid
Ramrynia // Alida - Feathers
Harmonica // Blondage - Dive
Greenfroze // Nova Miller - Anything For U
Daehun // SEREBRO - Mi Mi Mi
Tinnmark // Sophie Elise - All Your Friends
~
Semi-Final 1
Points awarded:
12 Espen // Mounika. - Long Silent
10 Fljótavík // Wealstarr - Feria Festival
8 Ultraviolenceland // Marmozets - Play†
7 Land of DW // N.O.H.A. - Di Nero
6 Jadakissnia // Moth Equals - Jiv
5 South Danaelanda // Vitalic - Tu Conmigo (feat. La Bien Querida)†
4 Taahino // Tigress - Alive
3 Buzzjack Mountain // CENTVRIES - Tension
2 Aesthetica // Yezi - Anck Su Namum†
1 Séyetana // SIAMÉS - The Wolf
11th-34th:
Bøtanikkä // Wrabel - The Village
Niceland // BANNERS - Someone To You
Azure // Ghost Beach - Miracle
St. Burbia // Eva Simons - Guaya
FSR Rontvia // Dacia - Muistot†
Kylienips // Zolita - Fight Like A Girl†
The Actual Republic of Bellamia // KStewart - Hands (feat. Yungen)†
Zanmatony // Gryffin - Love In Ruins (feat. Sinead Harnett)
Pupok // Mason - Fashion Killa (Papapapa) (feat. Stefflon Don)
New Lexico // YOMBE - SDIMS
Triangledonia // LEVV - Collateral Damage (Tritonal Remix)†
Suedeonia // Alec Benjamin - I Built A Friend†
Lotunia // Crywolf - The Hunger In Your Haunt†
Flynnonda // Erith - Weak†
Deandria // AaRON - Blouson Noir
Helgon // MARLENE - Next To Me
Scherzland // Madison Beer - Dead†
Varakë // Evangeline - My Kingdom (William Black Remix)†
Bhangra // Amelia Lily - The Hills†
République d'Ashton // Molly Sandén - Rygg Mot Rygg†
Ramrynia // Alida - Feathers
Greenfroze // Nova Miller - Anything For U
Sandebörg // Benjamin Ingrosso - One More Time†
Tinnmark // Sophie Elise - All Your Friends
† DNQed
~
Semi-Final 2 DNQs
5th Rolloland // Felix Da Housecat - Silver Screen Shower Scene (Thin White Duke Mix) (feat. Miss Kittin)
6th Tartford // Marsheaux - Get The Balance Right
10th Thelonia // Antony & Cleopatra - Dust
13th Dobago // Yakir Ganon and Mor Ben Yair - J'amila
16th Summericia // Dorothy - Dark Nights
19th Mezidinia // Made In Heights - Slow Burn
21st Enty // Max Barskih - Teryayu Tebya
22nd Skall // Small Black - Despicable Dogs (Washed Out Remix)
23rd Ojnoj // JNS - Aun Sin Ti
24th Singerpurear // Sheena Easton - 101
26th Altyr Muunilinst // MOODY - Karma
29th #00274E // Alexiane - A Million On My Soul
32nd Cowtermont // Prince Fox - Space (feat. Quinn XCII)
33rd Bignia-Zaragovina // Skylar Stecker - How Did We
34th Sandénia // SIIGHTS - Nobody Like U
bump lol
So I know you're not particularly the biggest fan of my AaRON entry ( x) but I thought it works fairly well with your Dance with the Dead one, despite the slight synth overload lmao. https://rave.dj/wxViNRG_aK99VA
(yes it seems rave.dj is making its way into the BJSC forum now)
have ALL of my hype this month
Hype hype hype from me too!
Seriously thinking that 'IDL' is going to place in the top 5 if not contend for the win.
Persephonian News Bulletin apologises for building up another little backlog of publications in here (coming soon x) but the gist of it is that we finished off the year with back to back top 10 hits for only the second time in our history (LUNA's 'Butylochka' coming 5th in BJSC 99 and Life Sim's 'IDL' 10th in BJSC 100) x Now is the time for us to plan which song we'll spectacularly lose our top 10 streak with in BJSC 101. x
We will also dump the top 30 of our 2016 EOY list in here soon with the remaining rankings of countries' entries (probably not gonna get around to writing the rest of the paragraphs I'm afraid) before embarking on a much less ambitious 2017 EOY that we can actually finish in a timely manner. Hype.
[/late]
Well done on top 10 with this! Now I ask... what does IDL actually stand for?
I don't think it stands for anything (or if it does it's known only to Life Sim) I found one article theorising that it stands for 'I Don't Like' but that's just a guess as far as I can tell. x
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 16/01/2018
"yes this still exists" super mega catchup edition [1/4]
BJSC 99 summary
- BJSC 99 in Medhelnia blew away the year to date bests in position, points and voters we achieved in the previous contest, as Persephonia finished 5th out of 41 with LUNA's 'Butylochka', taking home 273 points from 31 voters (winning a tiebreak between 5th and 6th). That gave us our first top 10 of the year, our first top 5 since DANCE WITH THE DEAD's 'Waves' came 3rd 20 contests earlier and our 10th top 5 and 12th top 10 hit to date in total. It also matched our 2017 record for most top scores as it received 3 18s, from Aeroche, Desbuanda and Lotunia, matching the number we got with End Of The Dream's 'Colder' in BJSC 92, while also getting medal positions from Deandria, D'yermak'er, Skall and St. Burbia (13 points from each of them). Key to LUNA's success was partially that she received points from several countries that very rarely vote for Persephonia, most notably ending our longest standing points drought from an active nation, as we got 2 points from Sandebörg marking our first points from them since BJSC 65. Thanks to all those who voted for us, and feel free to do it more often xx Additionally 'Butylochka' was our first semi-final top 5 finisher of the year, coming 5th of 34 in semi-final 1, and our first song of the year to crack 100 points in a semi-final (105). It was projected for 8th in the final.
- Pegged by many as a big hit but not necessarily a winner, it was Unovia who ended up on top of the pile in BJSC 99 to win the right to host the landmark 100th contest (the first time they would host a contest solo after previously being a co-host in BJSCs 76, 85 and 94). Francesca Michielin's 'Vulcano' was the song to finally give them a win making them the latest country to get a first win after years of entering with no luck - (South) Danaelanda and Quintessa had previously joined this list in 2017, getting their first wins after 53 and 40 failures respectively, but Unovia bested both of those as their win came after 64 previous appearances with a peak of 3rd place (achieved in BJSC 40 with The Charlies' 'Monster (Eat Me)' and again in BJSC 74 with Courtney Barnett's 'Pedestrian At Best'). Only Kylienips' famous first win after 74 failures beats Unovia's stats here. 'Vulcano' won BJSC 99 with 321 points, a comfortable 27 ahead of its closest challenger, becoming Unovia's 15th top 10 hit in all. It also became the first Italian language song to win BJSC, and the sixth entirely foreign language song to win.
- One of the songs more tipped as a winner was Ultraviolenceland's entry 'Raincheck' by Hannah Jane Lewis, going for the country's third winner of 2017. It ultimately fell short, but still finished 2nd with 294 points, giving them their third medalist and 5th top 10 hit all in the space of 10 contests. The bronze medal went to Aeroche who continued their late year invincible form, with retro dance entry 'Rockin' For Myself' by Motiv 8 featuring Angie Brown coming 3rd with 285 points to give them their third straight top 5 hit (their 26th to date and their 32nd top 10 hit in all, out of 56 entries). But it still wasn't quite the winner for them, and didn't quite get them to the year-to-date #1 spot yet... flop! (We all know what happens next). 'Rockin' For Myself' was the winner of semi-final 2, meaning Aeroche extended their record as the nation with the most semi-final wins with a stunning 10 (count em: Kate Boy's 'Northern Lights' in BJSC 51, Toyboy & Robin's 'Jaded' in BJSC 62, Orbital's 'Wonky' (feat. Lady Leshurr) in BJSC 63, A. G. Cook's 'Beautiful' in BJSC 66, Sidewalks And Skeletons' 'EXHUME' in BJSC 73, Kove's 'Hurts' (feat. Moko) in BJSC 76, Ponibbi's 'HEARTSKIP' in BJSC 77, Polyna's 'Angel' (Club Mix) in BJSC 84 and Fraunhofer Diffraction's 'Fate' in BJSC 90 were the previous nine). Probably the only thing holding them back more is that they keep getting pesky auto-qualifiers. Just beating us into fourth place in BJSC 99, New Lexico got 274 points with Confidence Man's earworm 'Better Sit Down Boy', the highest they've finished since they were still known as Allecian (their last 4th place finish was with Ask Embla's 'Einn' in BJSC 39, and the only other time they've come this high - and still their only medal position finish - was in the ultra cheap early days of BJSC, when they came 3rd with The Saturdays' 'Up' in BJSC 10). It was New Lexico's 11th top 10 to date and their 7th top 5 (with them coming 5th four times between 'Einn' and 'Better Sit Down Boy').
- The country we edged into 6th by receiving 2 more votes was FSR Rontvia, who settled for just a record-extending 49th top 10 hit and not quite that 30th top 5 with Tom Fall's instrumental 'Kaamos'. Cadelicia got their second top 10 of the year and 9th to date with RABBII's ~provocative~ 'All Men Must Die' finishing in 7th place. FARC finished in 8th with Ida Da Silva's 'Throw Your Love', their 13th top 10 hit, but did manage to win the race for most 18s in the final picking up 5 maximums. Hendinia managed to qualify to the final despite facing a 15% points deduction in the semi-final for late votes, a good omen for success for them, and indeed they finished a solid 9th with Burak Yeter and Ryan Riback's 'GO 2.0' giving them a 39th top 10 hit to date (and a second in a row). Finally, Altyr Muunilinst completed the top 10 in the anchor position with NONONO's 'Masterpiece', their 23rd top 10 hit.
- Aside from Unovia, the only country setting a new national best was Cowtermont who made the final for the first time on their second attempt, finishing a solid 18th place with the Icarus Edit of ARLE's 'Close To You'. No countries made their debut appearance in BJSC 99.
- There were 5 countries making returns to the contest, of which two made the final: Beaverdonia were back after a one month ban and came 32nd with Touch Sensitive's 'Pizza Guy' (actually not a novelty song despite what you'd expect from the title) and N DNTN returned from a two-contest absence to a (criminally low) 34th place finish with Yaeji's 'Last Breath'. Another comeback for Ajanaeda was as unsuccessful as the last few with them falling short of the final for the fourth time in 2017 and once again failing to submit votes in the final. Jukianië made a return after 10 contests' absence, and promptly finished last in the semi-final yet again (for the fourth time in their history). And then there was the country that is increasingly difficult to list the name change history of, best known as Elëdan but once again rebranding for their return in BJSC 99 which they entered as The Jasmine Masters Kingdom and also fell short of the final, where they too did not submit votes. As it happens, there was no ban for non-voting enforced in BJSC 100 due to it being a milestone contest, so Ajanaeda and The Jasmine Masters Kingdom (as well as other non-voters Avalonia and Helgon) had the chance to enter again the next month anyway. That's not to say no one was banned for BJSC 100. But that's a rabbit hole we won't discuss here in PNB. R.I.P. Zanmatony.
- Triangledonia took the wooden spoon for BJSC 99 (their first), finishing 41st of 41 with Rob & Chris' 'Zeitmaschine' (90s Mix). They received 92 points to earn the honour. The only other entry to fail to crack the 100 point barrier was Niceland's entry 'Hamadzayn Em' by Sofi Mkheyan which fell just one point short.
- Other noteworthy results: Deandria finished 11th with Solarstone and Giuseppe Ottaviani's 'Falcons', the second time in 2017 that they came 11th as they continue to only have two top 10 hits to their name; Kluminican Republic and Ramrynia continued enviable top 20 streaks of 7 and 9 in a row, coming 12th with Glass Animals and Joey Bada$$' 'Lose Control' and 14th with Catherine McGrath's horrendous 'Talk Of This Town' respectively; Desbuanda finally managed another entry to come higher than 20th, finishing 16th with Zola Jesus' 'Exhumed', now on its own their biggest hit since silver medalist 'TV' by Eves The Behavior in BJSC 72; hosts Medhelnia came 17th with their auto-qualifier 'delirium' by CHVRN; Taahino's 26th place finish with VERIDIA's 'Still Breathing' was not anything special for them but notable for managing to finish that low somehow after actually WINNING semi-final 1, becoming Taahino's first semi-final winner and less glamorously the lowest finishing semi-final winner in BJSC history (beating the 21st place finish of Life Of Dillon's 'Overload' for Ojnoj in BJSC 74); Sandénia had their first appearance in a final for 22 contests a month after their comeback, finishing 27th with Jaira Burns' 'Burn Slow'.
Full Persephonian rankings for BJSC 99
Final
Points awarded:
18 N DNTN // Yaeji - Last Breath
15 Kluminican Republic // Glass Animals and Joey Bada$$ - Lose Control
13 Cor Lupus // Aesthetic Perfection - LAX (Mr.Kitty Remix)
12 Skall // Mike Mareen - Love Spy
11 Beaverdonia // Touch Sensitive - Pizza Guy
10 Rolloland // Archive - Bullets
9 Desbuanda // Zola Jesus - Exhumed
8 Medhelnia // CHVRN - delirium
7 Summericia // ERA - Ameno (Remix)
6 Deandria // Solarstone and Giuseppe Ottaviani - Falcons
5 New Lexico // Confidence Man - Better Sit Down Boy
4 Dobago // Lydia Singer - Push Bang Bang (K. Warren's Ukg Mix)
3 Cumulonimbia // Roosevelt - Elliot
2 Terra Avium // Ravel Nightstar - The Drums And Bass Of Flower Bless
1 Jadakissnia // Zhanar Dugalova - Izin Korem
16th-40th:
Cowtermont // ARLE - Close To You (Icarus Edit)
Pupok // Mags Duval - Pink Cadillac
Triangledonia // Rob & Chris - Zeitmaschine (90s Mix)
Yehesi // Veronika Vesper - Suffocate
Unovia // Francesca Michielin - Vulcano
Aeroche // Motiv 8 - Rockin' For Myself (feat. Angie Brown)
South Danaelanda // Dutch Force - Deadline (Full Vocal Mix)
Azure // Thomas Stenström - Så Så Så Säg
Zanmatony // Les Rythmes Digitales - (Hey You) What's That Sound?
Niceland // Sofi Mkheyan - Hamadzayn Em
FSR Rontvia // Tom Fall - Kaamos
Taahino // VERIDIA - Still Breathing
Trifoski // Superorganism - Something For Your M.I.N.D.
Cadelicia // RABBII - All Men Must Die
Ojnoj // Jessica Jarrell - 100 Percentin
Hendinia // Burak Yeter and Ryan Riback - GO 2.0
D'yermak'er // Butter - Lifted
Fljótavík // Alex Cameron - Runnin' Outta Luck
Sandénia // Jaira Burns - Burn Slow
Harmonica // Hollyn - Alone
Altyr Muunilinst // NONONO - Masterpiece
Ultraviolenceland // Hannah Jane Lewis - Raincheck
Hushkanukia // Marlisa - Stand By You
FARC // Ida Da Silva - Throw Your Love
Ramrynia // Catherine McGrath - Talk Of This Town
~
Semi-Final 1
Points awarded:
12 Thelonia // MC BOING - Dance Floor†
10 N DNTN // Yaeji - Last Breath
8 Summericia // ERA - Ameno (Remix)
7 Beaverdonia // Touch Sensitive - Pizza Guy
6 Bøtanikkä // Red 5 - I Love You...Stop!†
5 Desbuanda // Zola Jesus - Exhumed
4 Rolloland // Archive - Bullets
3 New Lexico // Confidence Man - Better Sit Down Boy
2 Terra Avium // Ravel Nightstar - The Drums And Bass Of Flower Bless
1 Pupok // Mags Duval - Pink Cadillac
11th-33rd:
Cowtermont // ARLE - Close To You (Icarus Edit)
Singerpurear // Jean-Michel Jarre and Cyndi Lauper - Swipe To The Right†
Unovia // Francesca Michielin - Vulcano
République d'Ashton // Gabrielle - Nattergal†
Yehesi // Veronika Vesper - Suffocate
Trifoski // Superorganism - Something For Your M.I.N.D.
Daehun // SUNMI - Gashina†
St. Burbia // V. Bozeman - Race Jones†
Taahino // VERIDIA - Still Breathing
Flynnonda // Tyne - Crawl†
Cadelicia // RABBII - All Men Must Die
Land of DW // Dover - Let Me Out†
Jukianië // Toto - 99†
Suedeonia // The RPMs - I Think It's Stupid, But I Think It's Love†
Avalonia // Andrew Belle - Down†
Sandebörg // Kalomira - Shoot 'Em Down†
Sandénia // Jaira Burns - Burn Slow
D'yermak'er // Butter - Lifted
Fljótavík // Alex Cameron - Runnin' Outta Luck
Jupiterdonia // Syn Cole - Sway (feat. Nevve)†
Hushkanukia // Marlisa - Stand By You
FARC // Ida Da Silva - Throw Your Love
Quintessa // Laura Närhi - Joo Joo Äiti†
† DNQed
~
Semi-Final 2 DNQs
2nd Tinnmark // Unge Ferrari - Hologram
9th Lotunia // LOBODA - Tvoi Glaza
11th Buzzjack Mountain // Rose Windross and Kele Le Roc - Givin U (What You Want)
12th Bignia-Zaragovina // In Real Life - Eyes Closed
14th Tartford // Girly - Working Girl (One Way Love Affair)
17th The Jasmine Masters Kingdom // Kaleida - 99 Luftballons
19th Bhangra // Darin - Tvillingen
22nd Séyetana // EGOIST - Eiyū Unmei No Uta
24th Ajanaeda // Healyum - Fools Eyes
25th Aelandor // Sœur - Slow Days
26th The Actual Republic of Bellamia // Frans Walfridsson - Tonight
28th Espen // Vitaa - A Fleur De Toi
30th Helgon // Eden Prince - Obvious (feat. Cassie)
33rd Kylienips // BETSY - You Won't Love Me
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 16/01/2018
"yes this still exists" super mega catchup edition [2/4]
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 16/01/2018
"yes this still exists" super mega catchup edition [3/4]
The Best of BJSC X & The Best of BJSC - The Rejects X summaries
The tenth editions of the annual retrospective contests The Best of BJSC and The Best of BJSC - The Rejects took place over December and January, giving another chance for success for every entry from BJSCs 91 to 100. TBO happened first, and it was pretty good news for Persephonia with the results of the nominations stage as not only did we continue our streak of reaching the TBO semi-finals with every one of our BJSC top 10 hits with both LUNA's 'Butylochka' (BJSC 99) and Life Sim's 'IDL' (BJSC 100) progressing, we even got a surprise third semi-finalist as the right niche of people voted in the opening stage to send through Saor's 'Hearth' (BJSC 97) as well. The full results of the nominations have not materialised as of yet so we don't know how close our other five eligible songs (xi's 'Happy End Of The World' from BJSC 91, End Of The Dream's 'Colder' from BJSC 92, KNARS' 'Bad Trip' from BJSC 94, David Starfire's 'Big Chillum' from BJSC 95 and Dead Husband's 'Healthy Boy' from BJSC 98) were to qualifying.
Unfortunately it wasn't so great news in the semi-final results as all three songs failed to progress, meaning Persephonia were without representation in the TBO final for a second year in a row. Sad. They all did roughly similarly, with 'IDL' coming 26th out of 40 in semi-final 1 with 89 points, 'Hearth' coming 29th out of 40 in semi-final 1 with 84 points and 'Butylochka' coming 27th out of 40 in semi-final 2 with 83 points. Thanks to all who voted for us anyway, that's a good haul of TBO points even if nothing made the final. We'll get back to the TBO final in 2018. x
South Danaelanda were crowned the champions of the contest, as their BJSC 92 winner 'Saving Light' by Gareth Emery and Standerwick feat. HALIENE repeated its win with a total of 151 points. The demographics of TBO voters clearly don't match the original contests that well beyond that as no other winners made the final top 5 (and the biggest winner of the year, Clare Maguire's 'Elizabeth Taylor' (Mulholland Edition) didn't even make the final, although in fairness it wasn't helped by Medhelnia failing to vote in the semi-finals), while plenty of other minor hits as well as our own 'Hearth' made it to the semi-finals and a good few of them even to the final. Pupok were the runners-up on 132 points with Sam Spiegel and Ape Drums' 'Mutant Brain' (feat. Assassin), originally 4th also in BJSC 92. Terra Avium took the bronze medal with 123 points with Steven Wilson's 'Pariah' (feat. Ninet Tayeb), which was the runner-up in BJSC 97. Altyr Muunilinst failed to submit votes and were subject to a 15 point deduction, which took them down to 120 points and 4th place with Kamferdrops' 'Jag Trodde Änglarna Fanns' which would have come 2nd otherwise; it originally came 3rd in BJSC 96. The top 5 was completed by St. Burbia who have never come top 5 in a main contest to date, but managed 5th here with Alice Merton's 'No Roots', which gave them their national peak of 6th in BJSC 91.
~
As for the Rejects competition, Persephonia had 2 songs in contention in the nominations stage, and we did manage to get one of them through so we returned to having representation in the semi-finals after our only eligible entry in 2016 missed out. Achillea's 'Ragnarok - Twilight Of The Gods' (BJSC 93) was the one that made it in, while BROCKHAMPTON's 'GOLD' (BJSC 96) missed out. The latter song picked up 9 points (including a full 7 from Harmonica, merci merci) which was actually very nearly enough to qualify as well in a nominations stage with relatively low turnout and vast swathes of deductions.
But it was a repeat of the main TBO as we again went out in the semi-finals, although to be fair we definitely saw that coming and were actually pleasantly surprised at how high 'Ragnarok - Twilight Of The Gods' finished (again with a big helping hand from deductions). It came 18th out of 32 in semi-final 2 with 19 points.
Speaking of deductions, a simple 15 point deduction barely put a dent in the ultimate winner of the contest, Ultraviolenceland's entry 'Play' by Marmozets which narrowly missed out on the final of BJSC 98 and cruised to an easy victory in the Rejects with 106 points. It could even have survived double that deduction. 2nd place went to Dobago with Grace Mitchell's 'Now' from BJSC 95 with 87 points. FSR Rontvia had a pair of great results as Daithí's 'Mary Keanes Introduction' from BJSC 91 came 3rd for them with 74 points while they also came 6th with their BJSC 92 entry 'Imali' by Black Motion feat. Nokwazi (both songs getting points from us). Beaverdonia's novelty entry extraordinaire 'ACTIVEWEAR' by Skit Box came 4th with 73 points, and Jadakissnia completed the top 5 with their only DNQ of 2017, SOLDOUT's 'Do It Again' (feat. GOOSE) from BJSC 92, coming 5th with 65 points. Shoutouts as well to the TRUE BEST DNQ OF THE YEAR, 'Dance Floor' by MC BOING which would have come 3rd for Thelonia but alas a 15 point deduction did more to harm them, pushing them down to 9th.
Full Persephonian rankings and nominations for The Best of BJSC X
Final
Points awarded:
18 Kluminican Republic // Burial - Archangel
15 Rolloland // Anathema - Untouchable (Parts 1 & 2)
13 Terra Avium // Steven Wilson - Pariah (feat. Ninet Tayeb)
12 Summericia // CRIM3S - still goin
11 Hendinia // Troll - Jimmy Dean
10 Pupok // Sam Spiegel and Ape Drums - Mutant Brain (feat. Assassin)
9 Kluminican Republic // RÜFÜS DU SOL - Innerbloom
8 Aeroche // Me & My - Dub-I-Dub
7 Aeroche // TR/ST - Capitol
6 Taahino // Tonight Alive - Temple
5 Trifoski // Paradis - Toi Et Moi
4 Quintessa // Norda and Mike De Ville - Gypsy (Catch Me If You Can) (feat. Joanna Jones)
3 Kluminican Republic // Studio Killers - Jenny
2 #00274E // CupcakKe - LGBT
1 Trifoski // Lido - Not Enough (feat. THEY.)
16th-40th:
Trifoski // Drones Club - Hurricane
South Danaelanda // Gareth Emery and Standerwick - Saving Light (feat. HALIENE)
Ramrynia // Birdflipper - Come On!
FARC // Stockholm Noir - Hopeless Dreams
République d'Ashton // Tone Damli - Pinnacle
Altyr Muunilinst // Kamferdrops - Jag Trodde Änglarna Fanns
St. Burbia // Eva Simons - Guaya
Ultraviolenceland // Ana Mena - Ahora Lloras Tú (feat. CNCO)
Pupok // Mason - Fashion Killa (Papapapa) (feat. Stefflon Don)
Dobago // Sagi Abitbul - Mariko
Daehun // Helena Paparizou - Haide (English Version)
Cor Lupus // LINES - Weekends
FSR Rontvia // Tom Fall - Kaamos
Yehesi // MUNA - I Know A Place
Ultraviolenceland // Jaded - In The Morning
Ojnoj // Leon Else - What I Won't Do
Ultraviolenceland // EASYFUN - Monopoly (feat. Noonie Bao)
Espen // Offer Nissim - Miracle Part A (feat. Maya Simantov)
St. Burbia // Alice Merton - No Roots
République d'Ashton // Sabina Ddumba - Not Too Young
Ultraviolenceland // Hannah Jane Lewis - Raincheck
FARC // Rhys - Last Dance
Hushkanukia // Ryder - Nirvana
Hendinia // Violet Chachki - Bettie
Cadelicia // Julie Bergan - Arigato
~
Semi-Final 1
Points awarded:
18 Kluminican Republic // Burial - Archangel
15 Rolloland // Anathema - Untouchable (Parts 1 & 2)
13 Jadakissnia // MONOMOTION - Mango Bay†
12 Summericia // CRIM3S - still goin
11 Hendinia // Troll - Jimmy Dean
10 Kluminican Republic // Glass Animals and Joey Bada$$ - Lose Control†
9 Singerpurear // Vitalic - Waiting For The Stars (feat. David Shaw And The Beat)†
8 #00274E // Pale Waves - There's A Honey†
7 Quintessa // Driftmoon - Genesis (feat. DSharp)†
6 Taahino // Tonight Alive - Temple
5 Trifoski // Paradis - Toi Et Moi
4 Quintessa // Norda and Mike De Ville - Gypsy (Catch Me If You Can) (feat. Joanna Jones)
3 New Lexico // Confidence Man - Better Sit Down Boy†
2 Summericia // Caramell - Caramelldancing†
1 Trifoski // Lido - Not Enough (feat. THEY.)
16th-38th:
Trifoski // Drones Club - Hurricane
South Danaelanda // Gareth Emery and Standerwick - Saving Light (feat. HALIENE)
FARC // Stockholm Noir - Hopeless Dreams
République d'Ashton // Tone Damli - Pinnacle
Suedeonia // Bleachers - Don't Take The Money†
Séyetana // SIAMÉS - The Wolf†
Jupiterdonia // INNA - Yalla†
St. Burbia // Billie Eilish - bellyache†
Pupok // Jennifer Rostock - Schlaflos†
Altyr Muunilinst // Kamferdrops - Jag Trodde Änglarna Fanns
Kluminican Republic // SMiLE.dk - Butterfly†
Pupok // Mason - Fashion Killa (Papapapa) (feat. Stefflon Don)
Cor Lupus // LINES - Weekends
Oslol // K.I.D - Taker†
Altyr Muunilinst // Hannah Diamond - Make Believe†
Medhelnia // MisterWives - Machine†
Ultraviolenceland // Jaded - In The Morning
Tinnmark // Vigiland - Friday Night†
Espen // Offer Nissim - Miracle Part A (feat. Maya Simantov)
St. Burbia // Alice Merton - No Roots
République d'Ashton // Sabina Ddumba - Not Too Young
Harmonica // Hollyn - Alone†
Hushkanukia // Ryder - Nirvana
† DNQed
~
Semi-Final 2
Points awarded:
18 Rolloland // Steven Wilson - Routine†
15 Terra Avium // Steven Wilson - Pariah (feat. Ninet Tayeb)
13 Land of DW // Eivør - Í Tokuni†
12 Pupok // Sam Spiegel and Ape Drums - Mutant Brain (feat. Assassin)
11 Fljótavík // Wealstarr - Feria Festival†
10 Kluminican Republic // RÜFÜS DU SOL - Innerbloom
9 Aeroche // Me & My - Dub-I-Dub
8 Aeroche // TR/ST - Capitol
7 FSR Rontvia // Kosmonova - Danse Avec Moi!†
6 Ramrynia // Sirusho - PreGomesh†
5 Kluminican Republic // Studio Killers - Jenny
4 #00274E // CupcakKe - LGBT
3 Aesthetica // Wonder Girls - I Feel You†
2 Lotunia // Ágy - Arvedávgi†
1 Ramrynia // Birdflipper - Come On!
16th-39th:
St. Burbia // Eva Simons - Guaya
Ultraviolenceland // Ana Mena - Ahora Lloras Tú (feat. CNCO)
Dobago // Sagi Abitbul - Mariko
Unovia // Francesca Michielin - Vulcano†
Greenfroze // CoCo And The Butterfields - Battlegrounds†
D'yermak'er // Highasakite - Golden Ticket†
Mulgracia // Grouplove - Good Morning†
United States of Jack // Bree Runway - What Do I Tell My Friends?†
FSR Rontvia // Emma Bale - Worth It†
FSR Rontvia // Tom Fall - Kaamos
Medhelnia // Clare Maguire - Elizabeth Taylor (Mulholland Edition)†
Daehun // Helena Paparizou - Haide (English Version)
Yehesi // MUNA - I Know A Place
Ojnoj // Leon Else - What I Won't Do
Ultraviolenceland // EASYFUN - Monopoly (feat. Noonie Bao)
Ojnoj // SAARA - Superpowers†
Quintessa // Leah - Met Jou Klere Aan†
Cadelicia // RABBII - All Men Must Die†
D'yermak'er // Oh Wonder - Ultralife†
Ultraviolenceland // Hannah Jane Lewis - Raincheck
FARC // Rhys - Last Dance
Oslol // Miss Li - Aqualung†
Hendinia // Violet Chachki - Bettie
Cadelicia // Julie Bergan - Arigato
† DNQed
~
Nominations
91
+7 Trifoski // Amnesia Scanner - AS Crust
+5 Summericia // CRIM3S - still goin
+3 Altyr Muunilinst // Ramin Djawadi - Light Of The Seven
+2 Jadakissnia // TEARIST - Headless
+1 Aeroche // Melé - Ambience
92
+7 The Jasmine Masters Kingdom // Fla.mingo - Die
+5 Hendinia // Troll - Jimmy Dean
+3 Pupok // Sam Spiegel and Ape Drums - Mutant Brain (feat. Assassin)
+2 Taahino // Sevdaliza - Human
+1 Bøtanikkä // Age Of Love - The Age Of Love (Jam & Spoon Watch Out For Stella Mix)
93
+7 Land of DW // Eivør - Í Tokuni
+5 Jadakissnia // aYia - Ruins
+3 Deandria // Fakear - Ankara
+2 FSR Rontvia // Tina Guo - Super Mario Bros.
+1 South Danaelanda // DJ Mangoo - Eurodancer
94
+7 Rolloland // Steven Wilson - Routine
+5 Aelandor // Port Blue - Up Ship!
+3 Singerpurear // Vitalic - Waiting For The Stars (feat. David Shaw And The Beat)
+2 Jadakissnia // BÖ - Waqqaberry
+1 Quintessa // Driftmoon - Genesis (feat. DSharp)
95
+7 Espen // ATB - Ecstasy (MYSTXRIVL x SOKOS FLIP)
+5 Terra Avium // felicita - a new family
+3 Aeroche // Me & My - Dub-I-Dub
+2 Jadakissnia // Hugar - Waves (feat. Arnór Dan)
+1 Pupok // Spinee - Hell Hound
96
+7 Kluminican Republic // Burial - Archangel
+5 St. Burbia // Tasha Tah - Malang (feat. RaOol)
+3 Deandria // world's end girlfriend - Les Enfants Du Paradis
+2 Land of DW // Paddy And The Rats - Join The Riot
+1 Varakë // Irina Rimes - Visele (Dj Dark & MD.Dj Remix)
97
+7 Jadakissnia // MONOMOTION - Mango Bay
+5 Terra Avium // Steven Wilson - Pariah (feat. Ninet Tayeb)
+3 Bøtanikkä // Rednex - The Spirit Of The Hawk
+2 Zanmatony // Paradisio - Bailando
+1 FSR Rontvia // Kosmonova - Danse Avec Moi!
98
+7 Espen // Mounika. - Long Silent
+5 Cumulonimbia // Kevin Abstract - Miserable America
+3 Fljótavík // Wealstarr - Feria Festival
+2 Kluminican Republic // RÜFÜS DU SOL - Innerbloom
+1 Land of DW // N.O.H.A. - Di Nero
99
+7 N DNTN // Yaeji - Last Breath
+5 Kluminican Republic // Glass Animals and Joey Bada$$ - Lose Control
+3 Cor Lupus // Aesthetic Perfection - LAX (Mr.Kitty Remix)
+2 Skall // Mike Mareen - Love Spy
+1 Rolloland // Archive - Bullets
100
+7 Rolloland // Anathema - Untouchable (Parts 1 & 2)
+5 Jadakissnia // Francis And The Lights - See Her Out (That's Just Life)
+3 #00274E // Orelsan - Basique
+2 Espen // Prequell - Part XIV (feat. Rae Morris)
+1 Skall // Kate Bush - Jig Of Life
Full Persephonian rankings and nominations for The Best of BJSC - The Rejects X
Final
Points awarded:
12 Thelonia // MC BOING - Dance Floor
10 Zanmatony // Envio - Touched By The Sun (Rusch & Elusive's Chill-Out Mix)
8 Flynnonda // Mondo Grosso - Labyrinth
7 Dobago // Grace Mitchell - Now
6 FSR Rontvia // Black Motion - Imali (feat. Nokwazi)
5 Cadelicia // Meg - Distante
4 Ultraviolenceland // Marmozets - Play
3 FSR Rontvia // Daithí - Mary Keanes Introduction
2 Ambienta // Aphex Twin - Ptolemy
1 Rolloland // Felix Da Housecat - Silver Screen Shower Scene (Thin White Duke Mix) (feat. Miss Kittin)
11th-30th:
Terra Avium // Varien - Lilith
Jadakissnia // SOLDOUT - Do It Again (feat. GOOSE)
Singerpurear // Chicks On Speed - We Don't Play Guitars (feat. Peaches)
South Danaelanda // Vitalic - Tu Conmigo (feat. La Bien Querida)
République d'Ashton // Gabrielle - Nattergal
Bøtanikkä // Red 5 - I Love You...Stop!
St. Burbia // Serayah - Look But Don't Touch
Beaverdonia // Skit Box - ACTIVEWEAR
Cadelicia // Emrah Karaduman - Cevapsız Çınlama (feat. Aleyna Tilki)
New Lexico // Glasperlenspiel - Geiles Leben
Quintessa // Woolf And The Wondershow - Cages
Summericia // VNV Nation - Illusion
Unovia // Manelyk - Odiosa
Pupok // Bip Ling - Curry
Aesthetica // Poppy - I'm Poppy
Umiiruka // Pixx - Waterslides
Terra Avium // Alev Lenz - Fall Into Me
Flynnonda // Tyne - Crawl
République d'Ashton // Molly Sandén - Rygg Mot Rygg
Hushkanukia // Laura Tesoro - Higher
~
Semi-Final 1
Points awarded:
12 Skall // Martyn Bennett - Blackbird†
10 The Jasmine Masters Kingdom // The Blaze - Territory†
8 Cadelicia // Meg - Distante
7 Ultraviolenceland // Marmozets - Play
6 Buzzjack Mountain // Lee Mills - From My Lerv†
5 Jadakissnia // SOLDOUT - Do It Again (feat. GOOSE)
4 Singerpurear // Chicks On Speed - We Don't Play Guitars (feat. Peaches)
3 Summericia // Prince Rama - Fantasy†
2 Séyetana // Girls Dead Monster - Ichiban No Takaramono (Yui Final Version)†
1 St. Burbia // Serayah - Look But Don't Touch
11th-32nd:
Beaverdonia // Skit Box - ACTIVEWEAR
République d'Ashton // Gabrielle - Nattergal
New Lexico // Glasperlenspiel - Geiles Leben
Summericia // Dark Sarah - Dance With The Dragon (feat. JP Leppäluoto)†
Niceland // Project Jenny, Project Jan - Train Track†
Quintessa // Woolf And The Wondershow - Cages
Terra Avium // Conner Youngblood - The Warpath†
Harmonica // Daniella Mason - Cover The Earth†
Unovia // Manelyk - Odiosa
Quintessa // White Lung - Below†
Pupok // Bip Ling - Curry
Aesthetica // Poppy - I'm Poppy
Kylienips // Zolita - Fight Like A Girl†
Bignia-Zaragovina // Handsome Poets - Sky On Fire†
Taahino // VUKOVI - Weirdo†
Flynnonda // Tyne - Crawl
Singerpurear // Grace Slick - Dreams†
République d'Ashton // Molly Sandén - Rygg Mot Rygg
Harmonica // Moment - All This Time†
Aelandor // Sœur - Slow Days†
Azure // The Summer Set - Someone Like You†
Hushkanukia // Laura Tesoro - Higher
† DNQed
~
Semi-Final 2
Points awarded:
12 Thelonia // MC BOING - Dance Floor
10 Zanmatony // Envio - Touched By The Sun (Rusch & Elusive's Chill-Out Mix)
8 Flynnonda // Mondo Grosso - Labyrinth
7 Dobago // Grace Mitchell - Now
6 Pagasa // The Blue Nile - The Downtown Lights†
5 FSR Rontvia // Black Motion - Imali (feat. Nokwazi)
4 Ambienta // Aphex Twin - Ptolemy
3 FSR Rontvia // Daithí - Mary Keanes Introduction
2 Rolloland // Felix Da Housecat - Silver Screen Shower Scene (Thin White Duke Mix) (feat. Miss Kittin)
1 Terra Avium // Varien - Lilith
11th-31st:
Dobago // Will Sparks - Flamenco†
South Danaelanda // Vitalic - Tu Conmigo (feat. La Bien Querida)
Bøtanikkä // Red 5 - I Love You...Stop!
D'yermak'er // Balvir Boparai - De De Gerra†
Thelonia // Bonzai - I Feel Alright†
Cadelicia // Emrah Karaduman - Cevapsız Çınlama (feat. Aleyna Tilki)
Thelonia // Antony & Cleopatra - Dust†
Buzzjack Mountain // Slam Dunk'd - No Price (feat. Chromeo and Al-P)†
Kylienips // Methyl Ethel - Ubu†
Summericia // VNV Nation - Illusion
#00274E // ONUKA - Other (Live) (feat. NAONI Orchestra)†
Espen // josh pan - give it to ya (feat. ABRA)†
Land of DW // Apocalyptica - Faraway Vol. 2 (feat. Linda Sundblad and Dave Lombardo)†
Land of DW // Dover - Let Me Out†
Tartford // Lisa - Rocket To Your Heart†
Terra Avium // Alev Lenz - Fall Into Me
Umiiruka // Pixx - Waterslides
République d'Ashton // Tessa Violet - Sorry I'm Not Sorry†
Desbuanda // Charlotte OC - Medicine Man†
Helgon // Eden Prince - Obvious (feat. Cassie)†
Triangledonia // Lynz Munich - We Are Balloons†
† DNQed
~
Nominations
91
+7 FSR Rontvia // Daithí - Mary Keanes Introduction
+5 Dobago // Will Sparks - Flamenco
+3 Kylienips // Echos - Fiction
+2 Singerpurear // Chicks On Speed - We Don't Play Guitars (feat. Peaches)
+1 Ojnoj // TINY-G - MINIMANIMO
92
+7 Skall // Martyn Bennett - Blackbird
+5 FSR Rontvia // Black Motion - Imali (feat. Nokwazi)
+3 Jadakissnia // SOLDOUT - Do It Again (feat. GOOSE)
+2 Cadelicia // HI LIFE - When I Get To The Club (Donatachi's Del Mar Mix)
+1 Summericia // Prince Rama - Fantasy
93
+7 Skall // Musta Barbaari - Salil Eka Salil Vika
+5 Séyetana // Fear, And Loathing In Las Vegas - Let Me Hear
+3 The Jasmine Masters Kingdom // CVL† SH‡† - ßƟD¥ ßΔGƵ
+2 D'yermak'er // Balvir Boparai - De De Gerra
+1 Tartford // Hyper Go-Go - High
94
+7 Pagasa // The Blue Nile - The Downtown Lights
+5 Terra Avium // Varien - Lilith
+3 Ajanaeda // Hundred Waters - Xtalk
+2 Skall // Kjartan Lauritzen - Fredag
+1 St. Burbia // Serayah - Look But Don't Touch
95
+7 Dobago // Grace Mitchell - Now
+5 The Jasmine Masters Kingdom // The Blaze - Territory
+3 Bignia-Zaragovina // Hkeem and Temur - Fy Faen
+2 Niceland // Torul - Monday
+1 Beaverdonia // Skit Box - ACTIVEWEAR
96
+7 Zanmatony // Envio - Touched By The Sun (Rusch & Elusive's Chill-Out Mix)
+5 Desbuanda // Rone - Bye Bye Macadam
+3 East Rukahavian // The Orielles - Sugar Tastes Like Salt
+2 D'yermak'er // HËXĖ - Words
+1 Quintessa // Alisha Chinai - Zooby Zooby
97
+7 Cumulonimbia // Indian Wells - Cascades
+5 Cadelicia // Meg - Distante
+3 Thelonia // Bonzai - I Feel Alright
+2 Buzzjack Mountain // Lee Mills - From My Lerv
+1 Deandria // A_GIM - Rajka (feat. Klark)
98
+7 Ultraviolenceland // Marmozets - Play
+5 Rolloland // Felix Da Housecat - Silver Screen Shower Scene (Thin White Duke Mix) (feat. Miss Kittin)
+3 South Danaelanda // Vitalic - Tu Conmigo (feat. La Bien Querida)
+2 Tartford // Marsheaux - Get The Balance Right
+1 Aesthetica // Yezi - Anck Su Namum
99
+7 Thelonia // MC BOING - Dance Floor
+5 Tinnmark // Unge Ferrari - Hologram
+3 Bøtanikkä // Red 5 - I Love You...Stop!
+2 Lotunia // LOBODA - Tvoi Glaza
+1 Buzzjack Mountain // Rose Windross and Kele Le Roc - Givin U (What You Want)
100
+7 Flynnonda // Mondo Grosso - Labyrinth
+5 Terra Avium // Cusco - Orpheus And Eurydice
+3 Deandria // Alvia Islandia - Sugar Complex
+2 Cadelicia // TEMPURA KIDZ - I Like It
+1 Ambienta // Aphex Twin - Ptolemy
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 16/01/2018
"yes this still exists" super mega catchup edition [4/4]
Bré!
I still really like White Chalk, would be great if it found a few fans because of this. Thank you for choosing it
Thank you very much for introducing 'White Chalk' into my life! I can see why it wasn't a smash first time round as it's ever so left-field but I hope it will fare decently this time round. Or at least have a bunch of big fans anyway! That build-up is seriously beautiful
Don't knock yourself out making the updates (though ignore me if you're fine with them) ! I do enjoy reading them but if you get too far behind you might struggle catching up. Besides they weren't particularly important contests anyway x
White Chalk passed me by a bit at the time, I'm not the biggest fan of it still but this time round I am seeing its appeal - that's what five years of exposure to indie music does you.
If songs could kill, I'd be dead tbh. x Currently listening through the semi and I'm on yours atm, I have no idea what to think right now. I may need a few more listens cos I've no idea if I like it or not. I've stumbled upon a different IC3PEAK song at some point, can't remember what it was called though... I did quite like that one haha.
I mean I don't scare easily when it comes to songs, or at least I usually enjoy the scare, but this is just doing straaange things to me omg.
oops xx It is scary in a good way I promise!!1
Miss Lillian T. Chombo!!
This is Lady Beaverdam Faff, here arrived in NPC (although why your capital is named after also-ran non-playable characters, I do not know) with full plenipotentiary powers! Here to discuss Persephonia being commissioned to draft a new national anthem, Nappy Weaves, for Beaverdonia? The last Nappy Weaves was lost in lots of shoutbox data!
The lyrics were something like,
Screech!
Nappy Weaves!
We snatch you back!
Or something like that.
Omg I will tbh x (although nothing will live up to the original, if only I saved it :'()
Oh my, thanks!!!
Yah, that one is lost to thousands of Shoutbox pages, so a new one it is!
When I first heard your entry this month I was thinking my word pray for my ears but I've really warmed to it on repeat listens! And like you mentioned it most certainly stands out in the Semi so fingers crossed this progresses!
God I listen to that chorus and the only thing I can think of is
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 28/01/2018
BJSC Andra Chansen summary
The Andra Chansen contest / spinoff thingy in République d'Ashton was a successful start to the year for Persephonia, as our entry 'White Chalk' by Halls finished 12th out of 32 with a total of 62 points from 9 voters (losing on a tiebreak for 11th place). That was an improvement on the 18th place finish the track initially got for Fljótavík in BJSC 47. It didn't quite get top marks from anyone but did get a second-placed 10 points from three different countries - Jadakissnia, Lotunia and Quintessa - and a further two sets of 8 points each from Aeroche and Flynnonda. Notably most of the countries who voted for us, including all 3 of those who gave it 10 points, were not present for the original contest so we feel satisfied that we provided a good discovery to a handful of those participants who missed out the first time. Hooray!
The first spinoff of the year also ended up with Persephonian voters' favourite song taking home the win - Terra Avium finished atop the list with 99 points for classical/bhangra hybrid 'Spring 1' (Ade Laugee Remix) by Max Richter, a version of the timeless piece by Vivaldi. The song originally appeared in BJSC 65 when it finished 19th for Cumulonimbia. This time around, it picked up 12 points from 5 different countries (ourselves as well as Deandria (or should that be Moonland now x), Dobago, Jadakissnia and Summericia) on its way to finally giving Terra Avium their first win in a BJSC event, after previously peaking in 2nd place in both the main contest and spinoffs. A shame this contest presumably doesn't actually count to any official spinoff stats, being a 'celebratory contest' xx Skall did not submit votes but deductions were waived due to the celebratory nature of the contest, so they finished in 2nd place with Róisín Murphy's 'You Know Me Better' (one of three songs in the contest originally sent by Dalisska and also the oldest entry in the contest, originating from BJSC 8) with 91 points. The highest placed entry which DNQed in its original contest was RÜFÜS DU SOL's 'Sundream', which was the legendary Batidas' final BJSC entry and revived in this contest by Vülkyria, finishing 3rd with 86 points. This follows shortly after 2 other songs by RÜFÜS DU SOL came 5th and 4th in recent main contests - will we soon see another RÜFÜS DU SOL track come 2nd somewhere to continue the pattern?? Completing the top 5 were Aeroche (4th on 85 points with THE HARDKISS' 'Organ', originally sent by the recently departed Kylienips) and Jadakissnia (5th on 81 points with ANi GLASS' 'Y Ddawns', taken from Quintessa). All of the top 5 were in our top 11 with 4 of them getting points from us.
Altyr Muunilinst also benefited from the lack of deductions for non-voters, allowing them to remain 6th with Youngblood Hawke's 'We Come Running', originally sent by Terra Avium. (Incidentally New Lexico also recycled Terra Avium and they were the third and final participating country to not vote in this contest ) We're definitely not bitter that we'd have scraped the top 10 had deductions been in place Aesthetica came 7th with Anna Straker's 'Serious' (a Republic of Adonia recycle and the most recent entry in the contest, first sent in BJSC 91), Hendinia finished 8th with MariahLynn's 'Once Upon A Time' (a truly iconic ~classique~ from the Yehesi back catalogue), Unovia raided the archives with Vanessa Amorosi's 'This Is Who I Am' (sent by Torchwood in BJSC 22) to come 9th and Trifoski completed the top 10 with Night Drive's 'Drones', originally sent by Vülkyria who missed out on the final with the song at the time due to a deduction.
Full Persephonian rankings for BJSC Andra Chansen
Points awarded:
12 Terra Avium // Max Richter - Spring 1 (Ade Laugee Remix)
10 Jadakissnia // ANi GLASS - Y Ddawns
8 Flynnonda // Pixel Fix - You Settle Me
7 Séyetana // DyE - Fantasy
6 Vülkyria // RÜFÜS DU SOL - Sundream
5 Skall // Róisín Murphy - You Know Me Better
4 Taahino // Tonight Alive - The Ocean
3 Dobago // XTC - Functions On The Low
2 Harmonica // Wallis Bird - Hardly Hardly
1 Hendinia // MariahLynn - Once Upon A Time
11th-31st:
Aeroche // THE HARDKISS - Organ
Trifoski // Night Drive - Drones
Quintessa // Ariana And The Rose - Survival Of The Fittest
Cor Lupus // Grouplove - Tongue Tied
Aelandor // Swimming With Dolphins - Silhouettes
Cadelicia // Jabberwocky - Photomaton (feat. Elodie Wildstars)
Altyr Muunilinst // Youngblood Hawke - We Come Running
New Lexico // Woman E - You Stole That Summer (Bright Light Bright Light Remix)
République d'Ashton // Kate Miller-Heidke - Words
Aesthetica // Anna Straker - Serious
Niceland // Unklejam - What Am I Fighting For?
Summericia // DíSA - Cure
Hushkanukia // Britt Nicole - Gold
South Danaelanda // Møme - Aloha (feat. Merryn Jeann)
Lotunia // Linnea Dale - A Room In A City
Unovia // Vanessa Amorosi - This Is Who I Am
Pupok // Alisha Pillay - Mayday
St. Burbia // Kenzie May - Honey
Jupiterdonia // Elena - Midnight Sun
FSR Rontvia // Jamali - Secrets (feat. Nick G)
Deandria // Noréll - Howl
Okay I honestly had NO idea what to think of your entry and its creepy video for like the first half of it when I listened to it the first time but then I was blown away when it was kicked up a notch and got ultra noisy with the distortion *.* and now it has fully clicked into place on second listen. It is a huge standout in semi 2 so I really hope it will make it. Your Worldvision entry is fab too, hope you can maintain an 100% top 10 Worldvision streak 'cause that spinoff seems wide open.
Congrats on the result for 'White Chalk', it was such a gorgeous discovery and I look forward to hearing it again sometime on our BJSC playlist. A bit frustrating that you missed out on the top 10 without deductions but redemption happened nevertheless so yay!
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 30/01/2018
No sadness for this bitch as IC3PEAK progress to the final
IC3PEAK's 'Grustnaya Suka' was announced early last night as a qualifier for the final of BJSC 101 in Aeroche, so we begin the year with a finalist once more (not since BJSC 41 have we DNQed in the first contest of a year). It increases our current qualification streak to 5 in a row, and provides our landmark 60th appearance in a BJSC final to date. We've taken a big jump up the longest qualification streak leaderboard to joint 5th now, as Ramrynia and Hendinia DNQed to lose their runs of 10 and 7 in a row (although the latter only doing so due to a deduction) while Kluminican Republic and Hushkanukia lost streaks of 8 and 5 by not entering this contest. Our run of 5 is now tied with New Lexico, Pupok and Taahino, and only behind four countries continuing national record streaks: Jadakissnia on 9, Trifoski on 14 and Aeroche and Cor Lupus who continue to be joint leaders, neck and neck on 15 finals in a row each. Thanks to all who voted for us in semi-final 2, we have very little idea as ever what to expect from the final but all votes are appreciated! 'Grustnaya Suka' appears as song 30 in a slightly reduced 37 song final.
Only ten songs went out from each semi-final, and thankfully that was for the most part not our favourites - Persephonian voters' entire top 8 went through in semi-final 2, losing only our 2 pointer (Holland-Oats' debut entry 'YOU' by Morgan Saint) and our 1 pointer (Tom Budin and Luciana's 'X With U' which fared surprisingly poorly for Dobago). Over in semi-final 1, we also lost only two of our top ten, the entries from Rolloland (5th place with Marillion's 'The Great Escape') and Skall (6th with Bandolero's 'Paris Latino').
~
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 02/02/2018
BJSC Worldvision III summary
The Worldvision series of spinoffs continues to be a fruitful one for Persephonia as we came top 10 in both of the first two editions and have now made it three in a row in the most recent edition, held in Taahino. Representing Austria, Flux Capacitor's 'Argo' finished 5th out of 40 for us with 154 points. That also marks our second top 5 in a row in Worldvision and only missed out on matching the 4th place of Mudlam's 'Muck' in Worldvision II because of a tiebreak. In all it's our 5th top 5 hit in spinoffs (although we're still yet to come top 3 in a spinoff) and our eighth top 10, a brilliant start to the 'official' spinoffs of 2018. Additionally, it makes us the only country to come top 10 in all 3 Worldvisions, as Hushkanukia and Unovia had matched us in going 2 for 2 but fell short this time. So yes, that's a thing *.* 'Argo' got points from 15 countries, including a maximum 18 points from Terra Avium (which we returned to their entry), 15 points each from Aelandor and Land of DW and 13 points each from Séyetana and Skall.
South Danaelanda, who were our successors in being drawn Malta for Worldvision, ended up getting a very convincing win with Crux's instrumental 'Epiphany' topping the spinoff on a total of 216 points. This marked the country's second spinoff win after previously being victorious in the Masquerade I spinoff with FM-84's 'Running In The Night' (feat. Ollie Wride). Who'd have thought Malta was so fruitful for BJSC dance hits x A full 38 points behind, there was a tiebreak for 2nd place between Cadelicia and Pupok. The former won out in the end, taking the silver medal representing Iceland with GusGus' 'Airwaves', while the latter settled for 3rd place with Little Big's 'Lolly Bomb' representing Russia. A good omen for our fellow Russian Die Antwoord-alike in this month's main contest? x Beating us in the 4th place tiebreak were Skall who thus got their second spinoff top 5 in the space of a few days, representing Australia with Cut Copy's 'Hearts On Fire'.
Completing the top 10: hosts Taahino repeated their 6th place finish in the original Worldvision, this time representing Sweden with Anis Don Demina's 'On My Mind' (actually - shock horror - NOT a rock song); there was yet another tiebreak for 7th place, won out by Aeroche who had the tough draw of Bosnia & Herzegovina but still found a great experimental electronic gem in the form of Aethek's '2501', while Land of DW lost out and came 8th with something rather different but just as brilliant, the novelty track 'KEKS' by Papi Hans representing Bulgaria; Trifoski came 9th representing Spain with Las Bistecs' 'HDA (Historia Del Arte)'; Aesthetica were given Italy who won the last Worldvision, and this time they came 10th with Annalisa's 'Used To You', co-written by Dua Lipa. That last slot in the top 10 would have been filled by Dobago's Greek entry 'Dle Yaman' by DJ Pantelis feat. Zara but alas they were among 7 countries who failed to submit votes and thus suffered a 33% deduction, ending up 20th.
Full Persephonian rankings for BJSC Worldvision III
Points awarded:
18 Terra Avium // Tleskač - Z Hofmanek Na Belveder
15 South Danaelanda // Crux - Epiphany
13 Land of DW // Papi Hans - KEKS
12 Trifoski // Las Bistecs - HDA (Historia Del Arte)
11 Quintessa // Damir Ludvig - Things (Jozef Kugler Remix) (feat. Ivana Masic)
10 Aeroche // Aethek - 2501
9 Dobago // DJ Pantelis - Dle Yaman (feat. Zara)
8 Espen // Len Sander - Mendrake
7 Jadakissnia // Samira Said - Mazal
6 Azure // Ayben - Başkan
5 Cor Lupus // Ekala - Endless Dreams
4 Pupok // Little Big - Lolly Bomb
3 Aelandor // Alternosfera - Ne Unește, Ne Desparte
2 Séyetana // Inga & Anush - Aprelu April
1 Cadelicia // GusGus - Airwaves
16th-39th:
Ultraviolenceland // Cvija - Novčanice
Cowtermont // Angèle - La Loi De Murphy
Rolloland // 4 Strings and Fridolijn - What Matters Most
Flynnonda // Revolverheld - Das Herz Schlägt Bis Zum Hals
Sandebörg // Markus Feehily - Love Is A Drug
Aesthetica // Annalisa - Used To You
Vülkyria // AGAVOID - After
Deandria // Nils Bech - Trip Abroad
St. Burbia // Marlain - Agape Me
Fljótavík // Hindu - Brighton
Skall // Cut Copy - Hearts On Fire
Taahino // Anis Don Demina - On My Mind
Hushkanukia // KATTIE and Lovisa - Through The Wild
Unovia // Gad Elbaz - Hava Nagila
New Lexico // Gezza - Fall In Love
Alteria // Gromee - Without You (feat. Lukas Meijer)
Lotunia // Kerli - Feral Hearts
Elëdan // Magnetic - Još Boliš Me
FSR Rontvia // SHELLS - Gold
Bøtanikkä // Akcent - Push (feat. Amira)
Niceland // HMB - Paixão
République d'Ashton // Evelina - Kylmii Väreitä
Altyr Muunilinst // Kristína - Mať Srdce
Avalonia // M. Pokora - Belinda
Hooray for you indeed maintaining that Worldvision top 10 streak, yas! *.* this was a great entry from you (good enough for me to deem it worthy of 10 points... for the seventh time in a spinoff ) - slay my genre-bending instrumental hole x Now... time for you to slay the main contest! I hope we somehow end up finishing next to each other since we can't decide who we think is going to finish higher
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 06/02/2018
BJSC 101 summary
editor's note: hey you there, if you like reading these things, I have now filled in the much belated summaries for BJSC 99 & 100 http://www.buzzjack.com/forums/index.php?s=&showtopic=193469&view=findpost&p=5914797 as well (plus some blurb about 'IDL' and TBO / Rejects) x the BJSC 100 summary is easily our most rambly ever but hey there was a lot to cover
- The first main contest of 2018, held in Aeroche, has concluded and it's a better start to the year for Persephonia than we managed last year: IC3PEAK's 'Grustnaya Suka' finished 17th out of 37 for us with 180 points from 20 voters (for the third contest in a row we were in a tiebreak and we lost it again this time, missing out on 16th, dammit xx), a highly satisfactory result for a song the Persephonian BJSC Committee originally wasn't sure anyone would like at all. This is our 4th straight top 20 hit which actually matches our best such run ever, and our current 13-5-10-17 run is a good bit better than the 17-19-19-14 run we had in BJSCs 48-51. It's our 35th top 20 hit to date in total. IC3PEAK got a full 18 points from Buzzjack Mountain (the third time in 10 contests that we have got top marks from them) and also ranked in the top 3 for four other countries, getting 15 points each from Lotunia and Séyetana and 13 each from Pupok and Terra Avium (the most points we've ever got from Pupok). In semi-final 2, 'Grustnaya Suka' got relatively few votes compared to most of the other qualifiers but managed to come as high as 5th out of 28 with 84 points, as nearly all of its points were medal positions, including 4 maximum scores of 12 (from Aeroche, Cadelicia, Séyetana and Pupok), a level of support that we veeery rarely see *.* That put it on track for a projected 8th place in the final, if only.
- The top of the scoreboard for BJSC 101 provided some long overdue successes. We'll start with République d'Ashton. They're now, following the departure of Kylienips in this contest, one of only two remaining countries (along with FSR Rontvia) who have entered every single main contest. They've had their share of success over the years but actually winning the contest has always been elusive for them. They did manage it once before, with Molly Sandén's 'Mitt Liv Är Mitt' squeaking by a victory in BJSC 28 after winning a tiebreak between the top 2, but that was so long ago by this stage that practically a whole new generation of BJSC participants has never witnessed an Ashtonise winner (only ten other countries from BJSC 28 entered BJSC 101). The wait is finally over as after a nearly Kylienipsian dry spell of 72 contests with no win, the République found themselves in the winners' corner again this time with Alvaro Soler's 'Sofia', which provided their first untied victory with a total of 302 points. That smashes the record for gaps between wins, previously the comparatively brief gap of 34 contests between Trifoski's 2nd and 3rd wins in BJSCs 59 and 94 (it appears we missed at the time that this broke that record as well so a late congrats xx). 'Mitt Liv Är Mitt' was the contest's first ever foreign language winner, the only one of the first 60 winners to not be in English. 'Sofia', performed in Spanish, is now the 7th fully foreign language winner as they have become slightly more en vogue in the last four years. Ashton also won semi-final 2, giving them a 7th semi-final win. Three of those were by Tone Damli ('Butterflies' in BJSC 20, 'Look Back' in BJSC 41 and 'Smash' in BJSC 52) and the other previous ones were Kristine Elezaj's 'Warpath' in BJSC 35, Elen Levon's 'Like A Girl In Love' in BJSC 42 and Little Nikki's 'Little Nikki Says' in BJSC 57.
- Last year Land of DW had a breakthrough with a 5th place finish with Eivør's 'Í Tokuni' in BJSC 93, their first top 10 hit and up until now still their only one. This time they got their second one, and their first podium finish, as they finished 2nd with Betta Lemme's 'Bambola' on 285 points. 'Bambola' is sung in French which made for a top 2 with not a word of English in it, for the second time in BJSC history (after BJSC 74 which was won by ~yours truly~ with A-WA's 'Habib Galbi' sung in Arabic while Daehun took 2nd place with the Finnish language '2080-luvulla' by SANNI). The English language returned for the song in third place which was another majorly overdue success story, this time for Taahino, who had previously racked up an insane 11 top 20 hits (out of 28 entries) without ever making the top 10, topping out at 14th in BJSCs 84 and 85 with Icon For Hire's 'Now You Know' and Beautiful Bodies' 'Capture & Release'. That meme is finally dead as perhaps 2018 can truly be the year of Taahino. They took the bronze medal with 278 points with Hayley Kiyoko's 'Curious', completing a rare top 3 of pure pop songs despite a multitude of pop-leaning countries not entering the contest this month. Curious indeed. Trifoski finished in 4th place on 276 points with Virtual Self's 'Ghost Voices', continuing their steady trickle of top 10 hits, this was their 5th in the last 12 contests and their 14th to date. It's also sneakily the second BJSC top 10 hit for Porter Robinson, the artist behind the all time classique 'Language', under a new alias. He apparently has a fixation with voices as his other BJSC hit was 'Sea Of Voices', 7th place in BJSC 70 for Altyr Muunilinst. The BJSC 101 top 5 was completed by another fresh face, as Niceland also collected their first top 10 hit on their 14th attempt. They previously came very close with Captain Cuts' 'Love Like We Used To' (feat. Natuer) providing their old national best of 11th in BJSC 91. This time they smashed that to come 5th on 268 points with Shanguy's 'La Louze', another French language song making a 60% non-English top 5. 'La Louze' was the winner of semi-final 1, providing Niceland's first semi-final win.
- The fresh faces and non-English tracks continued further with 6th place which went to Lotunia with Hoàng Thùy Linh's 'Bánh Trôi Nước' (feat. Triple D), a version of a poem by 18th century Vietnamese poet Hồ Xuân Hương, which sounds on paper like something that has no business being in the BJSC top 10 but yet it feels so right. Dare we say it reminds us of our own reinvention of an old East Asian language track which also came 6th in a January contest against all expectations two years ago... Lotunia's previous peak had remained the 17th place finish of their first entry, Ágy's 'Arvedávgi' in BJSC 95. The final results were presented in an experimental new format with the votes from the countries that qualified for the final revealed one by one followed by a combined Eurovision style 'jury vote' by the DNQed countries all added in one at the end. Going into the jury vote, Lotunia were actually amazingly in the lead - and the song in 2nd place was another quirky dark horse entry from St. Burbia, who sent the mostly forgotten 'soul queen of New Orleans' Irma Thomas with her 1964 song 'Anyone Who Knows What Love Is (Will Understand)'. It wasn't an entirely random choice, having recently been used in an episode of Black Mirror, but it was still certainly unorthodox, becoming probably the oldest recording to ever finish in the BJSC top 10, ultimately finishing 7th to become St. Burbia's 5th top 10 hit (all in the space of the last 11 contests and neatly being 1 each of 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th *.*) and getting the most 18s of any song in the contest (5). New Lexico had been heavily tipped by many including us to get their own massively overdue win with George Maple's 'Hero' but alas it ended up 'only' 8th, meaning they continue to only have The Saturdays' 'Up' to their name as a medalist. For shame. Still, it was another pretty good result for New Lexico, their 12th top 10 hit from across the years. Hosts Aeroche finally sent CANVAS' 'Another Time' (Boeoes Kaelstigen's S. Jähn Remix) (feat. Andrew Montgomery) to take advantage of their latest auto-qualifier, after holding the song as a potential much to our ~frustration~ for literally years. At last it got its chance to shine and pleasingly it came a respectable 9th place, giving Aeroche their 5th top 10 hit in a row and 34th to date. Justice achieved for Boeoes Kaelstigen after *that* incident with their previous BJSC entry. Completing the top 10 was Jadakissnia who snatched a surprise 10th place finish with the wondrous FKA twigs-alike 'BINARY' by K Á R Y Y N, giving them their 10th top 10 hit.
- Beyond the 4 countries setting new peaks within the top 10, there weren't any other countries with new national bests (still better than there being literally zero new peaks in all of BJSC 100). We did have our first debuting nation of 2018 though, with Holland-Oats sadly falling short of the final with their debut entry 'YOU' by Morgan Saint.
- There were a ton of countries exiting the contest this month, the majority of whom were just countries who had made one-off returns just for BJSC 100 but also including several well-established nations who have just decided 100 was a good number to quit on at least for now (Kylienips of course being the biggest departure). As a result, the contest dipped from its all-time high of 87 entries last contest to 'only' 57 this time, still above average in the full history of the contest but its lowest participation numbers since BJSC 65. The number was at least slightly kept afloat by the fact there were 2 returning nations. Avalonia were last seen in BJSC 99 where they did not submit votes for the final. They were allowed to enter BJSC 100 if they wished but were unable to anyway, but they were back this time and finished 16th (beating us on a tiebreak) with My Indigo's 'My Indigo' (from the album 'My Indigo'). That was their best result since their 12th place finish in BJSC 89 with of Verona's 'Better With You', and their first top 20 hit since then. Alteria's latest comeback after a 4 contest disappearance was not so successful, as they fell well short of the final (shoutout to their entry anyway and Doki Doki hype). The good news is they did submit final votes and have signalled that it's possible they might actually enter BJSC 102 as well, which would be the first time ever the elusive nation enters two contests in a row. PNB fully endorses this.
- The wooden spoon for BJSC 101 went to Republic of Adonia. No, they didn't get the lowest score in the final, don't be silly - it was just another case of the serial non-voting nation doing what they do best, failing to send final votes and thus being slapped with a 33% deduction to come 37th out of 37 on 95 points with Chuu's 'Heart Attack'. Adonia will thus face another one month ban for BJSC 102, as will Hendinia who also failed to vote in the final (they also didn't vote in the semi-final which cost them a place in the final). Other deductions in the semi-final also saw Greenfroze stripped of what would have been a qualifier, but they did nothing to stop two other nations: Vülkyria survived the deduction and ended up coming 14th in the final with SSION's 'Comeback', a much better result than their last place finish with their actual comeback in the previous contest, while N DNTN also managed to get through despite a deduction with Yves' 'new' which came 27th in the final. Both 'Heart Attack' and 'new' are 'officially' billed as singles by the new K-Pop group LOOΠΔ but are in reality solo singles by members of the group. There are 10 other members who have also released solo singles ahead of the release of actual group material. One wonders if any more of those will show up in BJSC in the near future.
- Other noteworthy results: Cadelicia were the latest country to send an official anniversary entry, celebrating their 50th appearance in the contest. They selected twenty one pilots' 'Guns For Hands', after previously sending their other song 'Trees' as their very first entry in BJSC 52 which DNQed, but justice is now served as 'Guns For Hands' finished in a solid 12th place; Bøtanikkä survived a scare over their song briefly disappearing from the Internet as their artist was forced to change their name as the contest was ongoing, ultimately finishing 18th with 'Back' by the artist originally entered as Whoami but now known by the bizarre moniker NOT A FLATSCREEN; Thelonia racism finally ended as their run of 4 undeserved DNQs came to an end, with them finishing 26th this time with Eats Everything's 'The Tribute' (feat. Dajae); Singerpurear ended an even longer run of bad luck, qualifying again after 6 straight DNQs (and 9 in their last 10 entries before this one) with TroyBoi's 'Till The AM', although it wasn't a slam dunk of a final return as it was the only song in the contest to receive fewer than 100 points, only spared last place due to Republic of Adonia's deduction, finishing 36th with 98 points; Deandria decided to rebrand themselves as Moonland to enter the song of the same name by Ine Hoem, although it fell short of the final prompting a swift change back to their usual country name.
Full Persephonian rankings for BJSC 101
Final
Points awarded:
18 Aeroche // CANVAS - Another Time (Boeoes Kaelstigen's S. Jähn Remix) (feat. Andrew Montgomery)
15 Desbuanda // Est-Her - Sympathy
13 Jadakissnia // K Á R Y Y N - BINARY
12 Aelandor // How To Destroy Angels - Welcome Oblivion
11 Azure // Superfruit - Imaginary Parties
10 Quintessa // nervous_testpilot - Deeper
9 Lotunia // Hoàng Thùy Linh - Bánh Trôi Nước (feat. Triple D)
8 Thelonia // Eats Everything - The Tribute (feat. Dajae)
7 Terra Avium // Aly & Fila - Quiet Storm (Aly & Fila Club Mix) (feat. Sue McLaren)
6 New Lexico // George Maple - Hero
5 République d'Ashton // Alvaro Soler - Sofia
4 Cadelicia // twenty one pilots - Guns For Hands
3 Séyetana // Team Rockit - Jungfru
2 Jupiterdonia // Femme En Fourrure - Ride (feat. Pykäri)
1 Trifoski // Virtual Self - Ghost Voices
16th-36th:
Singerpurear // TroyBoi - Till The AM
St. Burbia // Irma Thomas - Anyone Who Knows What Love Is (Will Understand)
Taahino // Hayley Kiyoko - Curious
Avalonia // My Indigo - My Indigo
Suedeonia // :PM - Grown Ups
Beaverdonia // GRACE - Trick Or Treat
Bøtanikkä // NOT A FLATSCREEN - Back
South Danaelanda // Darren Styles and Stonebank - Sky Is Falling (feat. EMEL)
N DNTN // Yves - new
Bhangra // Full Of Keys - Don't Look Back
Vülkyria // SSION - Comeback
East Rukahavian // Maja Amcoff - Dopamin
Niceland // Shanguy - La Louze
Land of DW // Betta Lemme - Bambola
Cowtermont // RAC - I Still Wanna Know (Goldroom Remix) (feat. Rivers Cuomo)
Pupok // GIRLI - Mr 10pm Bedtime
Republic of Adonia // Chuu - Heart Attack
FSR Rontvia // E^ST - Life Goes On
Cor Lupus // River - Midnight X
Harmonica // Joshua Micah - Who Says?
Fljótavík // Charlotte Cardin - Main Girl
~
Semi-Final 2
Points awarded:
12 Desbuanda // Est-Her - Sympathy
10 Quintessa // nervous_testpilot - Deeper
8 Terra Avium // Aly & Fila - Quiet Storm (Aly & Fila Club Mix) (feat. Sue McLaren)
7 Aelandor // How To Destroy Angels - Welcome Oblivion
6 New Lexico // George Maple - Hero
5 Trifoski // Virtual Self - Ghost Voices
4 République d'Ashton // Alvaro Soler - Sofia
3 Cadelicia // twenty one pilots - Guns For Hands
2 Holland-Oats // Morgan Saint - YOU†
1 Dobago // Tom Budin and Luciana - X With U†
11th-27th:
Séyetana // Team Rockit - Jungfru
Beaverdonia // GRACE - Trick Or Treat
Espen // Soulé - What Do You Know†
Avalonia // My Indigo - My Indigo
Moonland // Ine Hoem - Moonland†
Daehun // Mylène Farmer - Rolling Stone†
N DNTN // Yves - new
Bhangra // Full Of Keys - Don't Look Back
East Rukahavian // Maja Amcoff - Dopamin
Pupok // GIRLI - Mr 10pm Bedtime
Altyr Muunilinst // Amanda Delara - We Don't Run From Anyone†
FSR Rontvia // E^ST - Life Goes On
Cor Lupus // River - Midnight X
Flynnonda // King Henry and Sasha Sloan - I'll Be There†
Buzzjack Mountain // Christine Saadé - Get Together (Knappy Remix)†
FARC // Call Me Loop - Give 'N' Take†
Hendinia // SUNMI - Heroine†
† DNQed
~
Semi-Final 1 DNQs
5th Rolloland // Marillion - The Great Escape
6th Skall // Bandolero - Paris Latino
11th Ramrynia // Lisandro Cuxi - Danser
12th Unovia // Vitaa - Comme Dab
15th Alteria // Dan Salvato - Your Reality
16th Aesthetica // Belinda - En El Amor Hay Que Perdonar
20th #00274E // Dominica - Gotta Let You Go (Pearse Dunne & Calvin Buckley Remix)
21st Summericia // Graaf - Give It Up
25th Greenfroze // GRANT - Waterline
28th Tinnmark // Ruben - Walls
Loved that 100 write-up *.* So many records being noticed there, I didn't realise no one set a new best in 100, and seeing so many people set new bests in 101 makes that a really interesting contrast.
Congrats on the top 20 placing although it deserved a lot better of course, really captured my attention this one.
behold the next persephonia entry
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 19/02/2018
A change of pace for Persephonia in BJSC 102
Following the showcase event for BJSC 102 held last night in République d'Ashton we can now announce our entry for the contest. Our 81st main contest entry is 'Catalina', the first single from Spanish singer Rosalía Vila, known mononymously as ROSALÍA, taken from her February 2017 debut album 'Los Ángeles'. This continues our sporadic war on the English language, being our second consecutive foreign language entry and 12th in total in 10 different languages, with this entry adding Spanish to that list. Despite Spanish language songs often being hits with the Persephonian voting public we hadn't yet sent a song in it ourselves to the main contest, though we did of course send Cracker Jack and Jr. Crack's 'El Gato Volador' to BJFestivalen V. It's also our first main contest entry by a fully Spanish artist - following Ernest Desumbila, one half of Kids Of The Apocalypse (although he was involved only in their visuals and not their actual music anyway) - increasing our number of nationalities in main contests to 19. #diversity
'Catalina' is a fairly big departure from most of our other entries to date, abandoning any electronics and featuring only ROSALÍA's stunning vocals and an acoustic guitar played by Raül Refree, who performs alongside her on every song on 'Los Ángeles' (he's actually credited as a featured artist on iTunes but nowhere else so we're rolling with the solo credit here). The whole album is made up of old songs, mainly from the traditional Spanish folk genre of flamenco, performed in a slightly more modernised style. 'Catalina' is a take on two early 20th century recordings, the first part being a version of flamenco standard 'La Catalina' originally by Manuel Vallejo and the end of the track being a poetic recitation of Miguel De Molina's copla track 'El Testamento Gitano'. Both pieces feature some pretty bleak and depressing lyrical content, which you can tell from ROSALÍA's emotive vocal performance even without looking up the translation. Check out the minimalistic and dark music video for the song below:
The Persephonian BJSC Committee were strongly considering what would have been another first for our nation, by instead sending a live version of the song (linked below) performed with Refree for Spain's Radio 3 as part of an audiovisual project celebrating the 80th anniversary of Picasso's Guernica painting. It features a vocal performance just as flawless as that on the recording and a powerful extended outro that we wish was actually on the studio version of the track. Alas in the end we decided to go with the version that's actually available outside of YouTube (and which features some slightly more aggressive guitar plucking). Also in the few months since we were first considering 'Catalina' as a potential, ROSALÍA put out a brand new single, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6s-MQzPZ6IE (a version of an even older work, by the 16th century poet San Juan De La Cruz), which is also fantastic and we'd recommend to anyone who enjoys this entry. x
'Catalina' is almost the show closer for BJSC 102, drawn in slot 28 out of 29 in semi-final 2. Hope some people enjoy the slightly different sound from us this month. We'll probably be back with another weird instrumental next month.
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 25/02/2018
RIP qualification streak again </3
Sad but not unexpected news from République d'Ashton tonight as ROSALÍA's 'Catalina' fell short of the final for us in BJSC 102, putting an end to our streak of 5 qualifiers in a row and giving us our first DNQ of the year and 21st in total to date out of 81 entries. It also breaks our previously flawless run of making the final in contests ending in a 2. Dammit. 'Catalina' came 21st out of 29 in semi-final 2 with a total of 40 points, which is at least a slightly higher position and points total than either of our 2017 DNQs. It would have needed at least 9 more points to match the total of the lowest qualifying song (in 18th place). There were also a couple of nice silver linings to be found in the results table for us, as 'Catalina' did get the maximum 12 points from Lotunia and one more medal position from a highly unexpected source - host nation République d'Ashton, who are nearly never found in our points received column, gave us 10 points. Thanks as well to the other 4 countries who threw us a few points this month (7 from Quintessa, 5 from Buzzjack Mountain, 4 from Singerpurear and 2 from Séyetana). We're now in the position once again of hoping to avoid getting consecutive DNQs for the first time since BJSC 56. Our next entry is already decided and we have a sliiiightly better feeling about this one x We're wiped off the qualification streak list, but there's no change among the nations who were above us as Aeroche and Cor Lupus continue to lead as they make their 16th finals in a row while Trifoski remain just behind on 15 in a row.
Sadly but again expectedly our 12 pointer in semi-final 2 was dragged down with us, that being Skall's entry 'Transportin'' by Kodak Black. We also lost our 4 pointer, 'Istanbul Is Sleepy' by The Limiñanas feat. Anton Newcombe representing Singerpurear, and a pair of Persephonian voters' top 10 favourites in semi-final 1 also failed to qualify: Land of DW with MC Fioti's 'Bum Bum Tam Tam' and Jupiterdonia with AMBER and LUNA's 'Lower', ranked 8th and 9th respectively by us.
~
To avoid this post being totally doom and gloom now's as good a time as any to finally reveal the rest of our 2016 EOY apologies to the countries who had songs in our top 30 never getting their entry rank and paragraph from us, that was clearly too ambitious a concept everything from 31 downwards was already revealed in this thread but we'll post them again here so y'all don't have to dig to remind yourselves x Congrats to FSR Rontvia for having our favourite BJSC song of 2016
1 FSR Rontvia 87 // Ortiga - Ilumbarada {18 points}
2 Ethanola 82 // Hilight Tribe - Free Tibet (Vini Vici Remix) {18 points}
3 Jadakissnia 87 // FM-84 - Arcade Summer {13 points}
4 Tinnmark 88 // Wardruna - Odal {18 points}
5 Medhelnia 89 // Ou Est Le Swimming Pool - Dance The Way I Feel {18 points}
6 Aeroche 90 // Fraunhofer Diffraction - Fate {18 points}
7 Séyetana 81 // Nao Hiiragi - Requiem (Stygia Bootleg) {18 points}
8 Desbuanda 81 // SOFI TUKKER - Matadora {13 points}
9 #00274E 83 // Paul Cronin - Now Bad Boy {18 points}
10 Dobago 86 // Albin Myers and Carli - The Legend {18 points}
11 Terra Avium 90 // Kitchen - Time (Inception) {15 points}
12 Skall 83 // Teengirl Fantasy - Azz Klapz {15 points}
13 Bøtanikkä 89 // Sagi Abitbul and Guy Haliva - Stanga {13 points}
14 Fljótavík 82 // Kenton Slash Demon - Harpe {15 points}
15 Skall 85 // Bicep - Just {15 points}
16 New Lexico 82 // Sofi De La Torre - Colorblind Cruisin {11 points}
17 N DNTN 85 // Plaitum - Jagwa {13 points}
18 Syndare 83 // DJDS - In The Flames {13 points}
19 Jadakissnia 81 // Sonia & Selena - Yo Quiero Bailar {15 points}
20 Syndare 87 // Yoko Ono and Penguin Prison - She Gets Down On Her Knees {15 points}
21 FKA FKA FKA π 87 // Mai Lan - Technique {11 points}
22 Skall 84 // O'Flynn - Desmond's Empire {ranked 7th in opposite semi-final}
23 Ethanola 90 // V.O. - Mashisa (Dub Mix) {12 points in semi-final}
24 Land of DW 89 // Marusha - Deep {15 points}
25 N DNTN 84 // John The Baptiste - Socila {15 points}
26 Séyetana 89 // Christopher Tin - Temen Oblak (feat. Le Mystère Des Voix Bulgares) {12 points}
27 N-Lazone 90 // John Rous and Alfie Rhodes - Oasis {13 points}
28 Jadakissnia 90 // HÆLOS - Earth Not Above {11 points}
29 Terra Avium 85 // Delhi 2 Dublin - Apples {18 points}
30 Oslol 81 // Ryuichi Sakamoto - Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence {12 points}
31 Quintessa 90 // Ghost - Square Hammer {9 points}
32 Jadakissnia 83 // VHS Glitch - Blood In Blood Out {12 points}
33 Cadelicia 82 // Daler Mehndi - Tunak Tunak Tun... {12 points}
34 Pupok 82 // Vesala - Tequila {ranked 26th}
35 Singerpurear 84 // Yothu Yindi - Treaty (Filthy Lucre Remix) {18 points}
36 Quintessa 86 // ANi GLASS - Y Ddawns {15 points}
37 Harmonica 84 // Sleigh Bells - A/B Machines {12 points}
38 Desbuanda 84 // LSDXOXO - Angel Dust {13 points}
39 FSR Rontvia 85 // Real Lies - North Circular {12 points}
40 Singerpurear 89 // Princess Chelsea - The Cigarette Duet {11 points}
41 Trifoski 84 // Javiera Mena - Otra Era {10 points}
42 Fljótavík 86 // Hanna Järver - Anekdoter {11 points}
43 Trifoski 87 // Anna Meredith - Nautilus {ranked 3rd in opposite semi-final}
44 Quintessa 81 // Crywolf - Akureyri {10 points in semi-final}
45 Deandria 89 // Clément Bazin - With You {10 points in semi-final}
46 Skall 88 // Stupeflip - Stupeflip Vite !!! {15 points}
47 Jadakissnia 88 // MssingNo - Scope {13 points}
48 Terra Avium 87 // Essaie Pas - Le Port Du Masque Est De Rigueur {8 points in semi-final}
49 Skall 90 // David Lyme - Bye, Bye Mi Amor {12 points}
50 FKA FKA FKA π 88 // Ariel Pink - Not Enough Violence {10 points}
51 Séyetana 83 // FAUN and Santiano - Tanz Mit Mir {11 points}
52 Tartford 85 // Cigarettes After Sex - Keep On Loving You {ranked 20th}
53 Ethanola 85 // Billie Black - I Waited For You {9 points}
54 Ethanola 86 // Konstantin Sibold - Mutter {13 points}
55 Terra Avium 88 // daydreamer - Travelling Light {12 points}
56 Usfland 86 // Apollo 440 - Blackbeat {12 points}
57 FKA FKA FKA π 82 // Ital Tek - Cobra {13 points}
58 Jadakissnia 82 // BLVCK CEILING - WVFFLIFE (CHVRN Remix) {10 points}
59 Altyr Muunilinst 90 // Atella and Frøder - Closer To Life {4 points}
60 Suedeonia 86 // Where's The Beach - Tripping The Luv Fantastic {10 points}
61 Cumulonimbia 89 // Dan Deacon - Change Your Life (You Can Do It) {8 points}
62 N DNTN 86 // Vendredi Sur Mer - La Femme À La Peau Bleue {8 points}
63 Syndare 85 // Kwamie Liv - Higher {ranked 31st}
64 Ethanola 81 // Dele Sosimi Afrobeat Orchestra - Too Much Information (Laolu Remix Edit) {9 points}
65 Espen 90 // Sacred Spirit - Yeha-Noha (Wishes Of Happiness & Prosperity) {10 points}
66 Cumulonimbia 85 // KAYTRANADA - LITE SPOTS {11 points}
67 Séyetana 90 // Arion - At The Break Of Dawn (feat. Elize Ryd) {8 points}
68 Aeroche 85 // Kali Uchis - Ridin Round (oshi Redo) (feat. Tory Lanez) {10 points}
69 Desbuanda 82 // Batuk - Daniel (feat. Nandi Ndlovu) {ranked 6th in opposite semi-final}
70 Cor Lupus 88 // Nhato - WAY OF LIFE (feat. Sasi) {11 points}
71 Yehesi 89 // Maan - Give You All I Got {6 points}
72 Ingermanlandia 82 // Bomba Estéreo - Amanecer {7 points}
73 Yehesi 82 // Era Istrefi - Bonbon {ranked 17th}
74 Dobago 81 // Imany - Don't Be So Shy (Filatov & Karas Remix) {4 points}
75 Land of DW 84 // RMB - Spring {11 points}
76 Bøtanikkä 90 // Ratty - Sunrise (Here I Am) {7 points}
77 Jadakissnia 86 // Tuna - Seret Aravi {ranked 6th in opposite semi-final}
78 Trifoski 81 // Great Good Fine Ok - Take It Or Leave It {5 points}
79 N DNTN 82 // The Swiss - Kiss To Kiss (Amtrac Remix) {8 points}
80 Tartford 90 // Luce Drayton - To Be Loved (Disco Citizens Remix) {6 points in semi-final}
81 Pupok 84 // Rich White Ladies - Wimbledon {9 points}
82 Republic of Adonia 89 // Lorn - Acid Rain {7 points}
83 Tartford 82 // Metronomy - The Look {9 points}
84 Bøtanikkä 83 // Kungs vs. Cookin' On 3 Burners - This Girl {ranked 23rd}
85 Land of DW 81 // Lucian and REMMI - Bobby K {11 points}
86 Beaverdonia 89 // The Eden Project - Chasing Ghosts {8 points in semi-final}
87 Kylienips 82 // Sevdaliza - That Other Girl {6 points}
88 Varakë 86 // De̊ǰa - Luststruck {4 points in semi-final}
89 Suedeonia 89 // Superwalkers - Lost (As I Am) {10 points}
90 Aelandor 85 // Said The Sky - Nostalgia (feat. Missio) {2 points in semi-final}
91 Espen 89 // Mashrou' Leila - Kalam (H4Z3 Private Mix) {4 points in semi-final}
92 Dobago 88 // T2Kazuya - Youth {9 points}
93 Ultraviolenceland 88 // Liv Dawson - Still {8 points}
94 Fljótavík 81 // Arthur Beatrice - Who Returned {12 points in semi-final}
95 Syndare 86 // Calypso - Numbered {2 points in semi-final}
96 Cor Lupus 82 // Pixel Fix - You Settle Me {ranked 8th in opposite semi-final}
97 Desbuanda 88 // A R I Z O N A - Cross My Mind {3 points in semi-final}
98 N DNTN 88 // RAYE - Shhh {7 points}
99 Jadakissnia 89 // FEYNMAN - 1-800MYLOVE {5 points}
100 South Danaelanda 90 // Basto - Gregory's Theme {5 points}
101 Bignia-Zaragovina 82 // White Night Ghosts - Hope {5 points}
102 Aelandor 89 // Sœur - Pass Out {2 points}
103 Fljótavík 88 // Agnes Obel - Familiar {2 points}
104 St. Burbia 87 // Zack Knight and Jasmin Walia - Dum Dee Dum {12 points}
105 Cadelicia 87 // Die Antwoord - Banana Brain {8 points}
106 Aeroche 87 // Little Big - Hateful Love {9 points}
107 Deandria 86 // Blackbriar - Until Eternity {7 points}
108 Aeroche 82 // Holy Esque - Tear {4 points}
109 Kluminican Republic 83 // Pogo - Mellow Brick Road {9 points}
110 N DNTN 89 // Nadia Tehran - Cash Flow {9 points}
111 Bøtanikkä 85 // LP - Lost On You (Live) {6 points}
112 Cor Lupus 83 // Rain Man - Bring Back The Summer (feat. Oly) {6 points}
113 Beaverdonia 85 // Bang La Decks - Aide {7 points}
114 FKA FKA FKA π 83 // Dinamo Azari - Cyan (feat. S.Y.F and Fritz Helder) {10 points}
115 N DNTN 87 // Kitty - 285 {7 points}
116 Cumulonimbia 81 // NZCA LINES - Two Hearts {10 points}
117 Thelonia 90 // LeBrock - One Night {8 points in semi-final}
118 Trifoski 88 // La Femme - Sphynx {6 points}
119 Séyetana 84 // Eluveitie - The Call Of The Mountains {8 points}
120 Jadakissnia 85 // OVERWERK - Toccata {8 points}
121 Quintessa 82 // Gina Kushka - Bring It Down {ranked 23rd}
122 What 81 // KONTRUST - Sock 'N' Doll {6 points}
123 Vülkyria 84 // The Flavor - Shosholoza {7 points}
124 Hushkanukia 85 // Kristina Si - Kosmos {3 points}
125 Espen 83 // L.E.J - La Dalle {ranked 16th}
126 Trifoski 86 // Pillow Person - Go Ahead {9 points}
127 St. Burbia 82 // Jorja Smith - Blue Lights {ranked 18th}
128 Singerpurear 88 // Kadie Elder - First Time He Kissed A Boy {4 points}
129 Deandria 90 // Vogel - Hologram {5 points in semi-final}
130 Pagasa 90 // Marineros - Torbellino {ranked 8th in opposite semi-final}
131 Deandria 88 // Maya's Moving Castle - When You Wish Upon The Stars {ranked 5th in opposite semi-final}
132 Suedeonia 83 // Weather Report - Birdland {7 points in semi-final}
133 Kingdom of Horanius 88 // The Opposites - Licht Uit {4 points in semi-final}
134 Tartford 83 // Jody Wisternoff - The Bridge (Chicane Rework) (feat. Sian Evans) {ranked 14th in opposite semi-final}
135 Ethanola 87 // Green Velvet - Bigger Than Prince (Hot Since 82 Remix) {2 points in semi-final}
136 FKA FKA FKA π 89 // Francis And The Lights - I Want You To Shake {ranked 8th in opposite semi-final}
137 Avalonia 82 // Thomas Bergersen - Children Of The Sun (feat. Merethe Soltvedt) {3 points}
138 Mulgracia 88 // Monarchy - Dance Like Hell {5 points}
139 Fljótavík 83 // Olga Bell - Randomness {7 points}
140 Desbuanda 89 // Lilyer - I Was On Your Side {4 points}
141 Pupok 88 // Claudia Kane - Einstein {3 points}
142 Tinnmark 83 // Rockettothesky - Grizzly Man {4 points in semi-final}
143 Terra Avium 82 // tiasu - Plummet {1 point}
144 Cumulonimbia 82 // Sasha - Xpander {ranked 16th}
145 Terra Avium 81 // U.S. Girls - Woman's Work {didn't save my rankings for this semi-final oops ~}
146 Tartford 86 // Marsheaux - Safe Tonight {6 points}
147 Espen 81 // Dahlia Sleeps - Hessian {didn't save my rankings for this semi-final oops ~}
148 Jukianië 87 // GNUČČI - Work! {10 points}
149 Beaverdonia 81 // Alfons - Ganjaman {8 points}
150 St. Burbia 81 // Bishop Briggs - Wild Horses {1 point}
151 Beaverdonia 87 // Shreya Ghoshal and Osman Mir - Nagada Sang Dhol {6 points}
152 Lomaja 90 // Chrystina Sayers - From Here {2 points}
153 Florina 90 // FRENSHIP - 1000 Nights {1 point}
We post this now because we should be revealing our (also a bit belated x) 2017 EOY in the near future, we'll be hiring our good friends in Jadakissnia to create a swanky top 50 recap video like the one they posted in their own thread so if y'all enjoyed that one then we hope you'll enjoy this too especially as it'll probably be half the same songs.
As a bit of a precursor to that, Jadakissnia have also made this little recap of all of our 2017 main contest and spinoff entries, which is also linked in the second post of this thread alongside the similar video they made for our 2016 entries. Muchas gracias Jade, you did a fab job of this Listen below to relive some old entries of ours which were mostly more successful than our current one
Hooray for the remainder of your 2016 EOY countdown seeing the light of day in the end *.* even if it means that I don't get a glowing write-up seriously though, it is amazing to see 'Arcade Summer' getting a bronze medal overall after 'only' receiving 13 points in its contest! That ultimate growing power for it to become an absolute fave Damn, of course it had to be in the same contest as your #1 of the year It's okay though when your #1 is so stellar I forget the exact position I ranked Ortiga back in 2016 but it was at least in my top 5, FSR Rontvia really delivered with that. I am kinda floored by how much you stanned Jadakissnia in 2016, like obviously I know you did but it slays to see so many entries of mine in a big list - 5 entries top 50, 8 top 100 and 9 top 150 *.* I love that you appreciate my entries so much! Really looking forward to you passing on the list for your EOY 2017 to me to make the vid, so I can see exactly what the 2017 stanning was like no problem whatsoever @ the video btw - I was on a roll and wanted to make more after my EOY video was complete, so it was fun. Glad that you're pleased with my creation, loads of tunes in there tbh x
(D: at you DNQing this time! It wasn't entirely unexpected as this was quite a bit of a risk but my fingers were crossed for you. Ta for the discovery anyway, up with Spanish entries <3)
On the rare occasion a Persephonidonia track challenged for me top points ... it flopped and didn't get past the semi I wasn't even in
I loved all the stanning you did for me in 2016. Not that it's stopped but getting an 18 and subsequent top 10 of the year with Requiem is amazing <3
Snap 2016 #1 as well.
Do my eyes deceive me? Very glad to have two songs in your top 30 though, I look forward to see if I can do better in your 2017 one in 2019 (for my money, 2017 was one of your strongest years listening to that recap <3) I think most of my 2016 big faves are present there as well.
This entry didn't quite hit me I'm afraid, but wd on the risk nonetheless x
Just wanted to drop by and say thank you for introducing me to Rosalía. "Catalina" is a really stunning song , which would definitely have been a contender for my top score in the final.
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 05/03/2018
BJSC 102 summary
- Last night's final results for BJSC 102 in République d'Ashton concluded with another long-running nation finally achieving their first win. Ojnoj made their first appearance in the contest as early as BJSC 7 and have continued to be regular participants since then - they have not entered every single contest in that timeframe, having several periods of sitting out for a few months (in fact the current contest was a comeback entry for them after they missed BJSC 101), but prior to this contest they had entered a total of 71 times with their best finish being 2nd place in BJSC 40 with Young London's 'Let Me Go'. Their drought has ended on the 72nd attempt as they were crowned the champions this month with a total of 340 points (including 8 top scores of 18, the most in the contest by far and among the most of any song in the contest's history) with 'Heart To Break' by Kim Petras. They thus supplant Unovia as the nation with the second longest wait to win the contest, only 3 contests after Unovia's drought ended, coming very close to matching Kylienips' opening run of 74 entries without a win and surpassing Kylienips as the country with the longest wait between debuting and winning for the first time including skipped contests, nearly a full decade in real time. 'Heart To Break' was Ojnoj's 7th top 5 and 14th top 10 hit to date, and was also the winner of semi-final 2 becoming their third semi-final winner following Life Of Dillon's 'Overload' in BJSC 74 (which infamously slumped to 21st place in the final) and Leon Else's 'What I Won't Do' in BJSC 96. It also marked a significant improvement for Kim Petras only 2 contests after she first appeared, coming 26th in BJSC 100 with 'Hills' (feat. Baby E) representing Joedonia. Unfortunately Ojnoj have passed on the opportunity to host BJSC 103...
- ...which means that, unless they also pass on hosting, the first-time host nation in BJSC 103 will instead be Alteria. Until this month they had never made the top 20 in a main contest since their debut in BJSC 51, peaking at #23 in BJSC 96 with Fjokra's 'Sick Kids'. It's not as bad as it sounds though because of course Alteria have entered only very occasionally in that timeframe. BJSC 102 was only their seventh contest and the first time they have ever entered two contests in a row, and they were richly rewarded for this as they marked their top 20 debut in style with a 2nd place finish for The Presets' '14U+14ME' on 314 points. This also gave them their first semi-final winner, topping the list in semi-final 1. The bronze medal for BJSC 102 went to Trifoski, who have won three times but never previously finished in either 2nd or 3rd. LPX's 'Slide' was the song to break that run, coming 3rd with 277 points. This marked a second top 5 in a row for Trifoski, a first in their history and their first back-to-back top 10 hits since their marathon run of 6 top tier finishes in a row in BJSCs 66-71, taking their overall tally to 7 top 5s and 15 top 10s (including 6 of their last 13 entries). Also scoring back-to-back top 5 hits were the host nation République d'Ashton who followed their historic BJSC 101 win by coming 4th with auto-qualifier 'Freiheit = Gold (Hey Boy!)' by Wunderwelt on 263 points, as well as being the most voted for nation a second month in a row. Prior to these two top 5 hits, their last one was their 3rd place finish in BJSC 57 with Little Nikki's 'Little Nikki Says', and they last chained together two top 5 hits in BJSCs 41 & 42 with a pair of silver medals in those contests. They now have a total of 16 top 5 hits and 28 top 10 hits. The top 5 was rounded out by Unovia, bouncing back from their DNQ in the previous contest to grab 5th place on 258 points with Amy Shark's 'Adore', their 8th top 5 and 16th top 10.
- The third and final nation to be 2 for 2 in top 10 hits in 2018 thus far is Jadakissnia, who followed last month's 10th place with a better 6th place with goreshit's provocatively titled breakcore/classical fusion track 'the nature of dying', the highest placed (and best x) of 5 instrumental entries in this contest which all made the top 20. This takes Jadakissnia's tally of top 10 hits to 11. We expect them to surpass our total of 13 some time pretty soon at this rate. x Daehun were on a run of 3 DNQs in a row but came back strong this time with Haiku Hands' 'Not About You', probably their most inspired entry... ever, which finished in 7th place to give them a round 20th top 10 hit. Dobago still haven't finished any higher than 8th since their bronze medal winning 'Feel' by Mahmut Orhan feat. Sena Şener in BJSC 83, but they matched that 8th place finish for a fourth time since then with 'Choir 1.0' by Purple Haze (aka Sander Van Doorn), the second most successful instrumental of the month and Dobago's 8th top 10 hit to date - they have also finished 9th and 10th once each since 'Feel'. Persephonian bookmakers were heavily tipping Tinnmark to be this month's long awaited debut winner instead of Ojnoj, and we were a little off, but they did finish a solid 9th place with EMIR's 'Faller', still their first top 10 appearance since BJSC 80 and just their 10th top 10 hit in total. They continue to be the country with the most entries without ever winning, having entered all of the last 94 contests. Completing the top 10, and meaning all of Persephonia's top 3 were among the top tier, was another nation returning after missing BJSC 101: Kluminican Republic had been on a run of 8 consecutive top 20 hits before that missed contest, and they resumed this month where they left off, coming 10th with Gang Of Youths' epic 'The Deepest Sighs, The Frankest Shadows' to give them a 13th top 10 hit.
- The supply of countries who didn't already have a top 10 hit to mention getting new peaks in this paragraph continues to be very limited, especially with Alteria now removed from that list. Ojnoj and Alteria aside, the only other country to set a national best this month was Holland-Oats, who qualified for the first time after their false start in BJSC 101. Their first finalist, 'Regular Touch' by Vera Blue, finished in 28th place. Vera Blue has been sent 3 times in the last 12 contests and finished in the bottom 10 each time. This was at least a new best for her as well.
- There were another four countries making returns to the contest, with two more of them making it to the final. Tartford, also known as 'poor brave Tartford', sadly had to miss out on the BJSC 100 festivities and were absent for BJSC 101 as well but were back this time and welcomed with an uncharacteristically successful entry, coming 14th with Maria Nayler's 'Naked And Sacred', a forgotten minor UK top 40 hit from the late 90s. This marked their second best finish ever behind the 11th place finish for Marsheaux's 'Safe Tonight' in BJSC 86, and their third top 20 hit in all. They have thus already matched their total of one qualifier in all of 2017. Will 2018 be the year of the Tart? Cumulonimbia were also back after missing out one contest, coming 31st in the final with comeback 'Our Time Will Come' by Priest. Another country making a surprise quick return after supposedly retiring for good after BJSC 100 was Yehesi, though their comeback failed to qualify and they did not vote in the final so we'll have to wait at least another two months for another taste of Yehesi (which will be their anniversary 50th entry if they do go ahead with it). Oslol also came back after 4 contests in the wilderness but did not vote in either the semi-final or the final so join Yehesi, and also Thelonia, in the naughty pile of nations banned from BJSC 103.
- St. Burbia only qualified for the final this time due to a deduction for New Lexico in the semi-final, so it was not a surprise to see them claiming the wooden spoon this month (their first) with Banx & Ranx's 'Time Bomb' (feat. Lady Leshurr), coming 37th out of 37 with 80 points. The only other song to fail to reach the 100 point mark was Altyr Muunilinst's 'Neon' by Simone, coming 36th with 91 points.
- Other noteworthy results: completing the list of instrumentals in a strong month for the bloc, Beaverdonia and Séyetana lined up just outside the top 10 coming 11th with Kalki's 'Varanasi' and 12th with Audio Paradyne and Stahl!'s 'Paradise' respectively while South Danaelanda were not far behind in 18th with 'Trailblazer' by Nora En Pure; Lotunia followed their most successful entry to date with their second most successful entry to date, scoring a respectable 16th place finish with Petra Marklund's 'Händerna Mot Himlen'; Pupok managed to make it to the final despite a 33% deduction for no votes in the semi-final, they did vote in the final but still finished a fairly underwhelming 30th with Transviolet's 'Pretty Head'.
Full Persephonian rankings for BJSC 102
Final
Points awarded:
18 Jadakissnia // goreshit - the nature of dying
15 Kluminican Republic // Gang Of Youths - The Deepest Sighs, The Frankest Shadows
13 Tinnmark // EMIR - Faller
12 Taahino // PVRIS - No Mercy
11 Summericia // † CΛIN † - SVICIƉΣ GIRLS ƉɅNCΣ
10 South Danaelanda // Nora En Pure - Trailblazer
9 Cowtermont // Xan Griffin - Capricorn (feat. WOLFE)
8 Alteria // The Presets - 14U+14ME
7 Azure // RebMoe and Pasha - I Don't Speak French
6 Terra Avium // Think Up Anger - Mutiny
5 Lotunia // Petra Marklund - Händerna Mot Himlen
4 Dobago // Purple Haze - Choir 1.0
3 Beaverdonia // Kalki - Varanasi
2 République d'Ashton // Wunderwelt - Freiheit = Gold (Hey Boy!)
1 Aelandor // Timecop1983 - Girl (feat. SEAWAVES)
16th-37th:
Daehun // Haiku Hands - Not About You
Séyetana // Audio Paradyne and Stahl! - Paradise
Unovia // Amy Shark - Adore
Espen // Fischerspooner - TopBrazil
Aeroche // Siege - Crunk
Pupok // Transviolet - Pretty Head
FARC // Paul Rey - What Good Is Love
Cumulonimbia // Priest - Our Time Will Come
Niceland // Derrival - Found Out
Cor Lupus // Samantha Urbani - Hints & Implications
Bhangra // Alcazar - In The Name Of Love
Trifoski // LPX - Slide
Quintessa // ALi and Cheetah - Don't Speak
Tartford // Maria Nayler - Naked And Sacred
FSR Rontvia // Fever High - Good Advice (feat. Jeff Goldblum)
Ramrynia // Brunelle - Ladykiller (feat. Laura White)
Fljótavík // Be The Bear - Erupt
St. Burbia // Banx & Ranx - Time Bomb (feat. Lady Leshurr)
Holland-Oats // Vera Blue - Regular Touch
Greenfroze // Strobe! - Feeling Good (feat. KIDDO)
Ojnoj // Kim Petras - Heart To Break
Altyr Muunilinst // Simone - Neon
~
Semi-Final 2
Points awarded:
12 Skall // Kodak Black - Transportin'†
10 Kluminican Republic // Gang Of Youths - The Deepest Sighs, The Frankest Shadows
8 Summericia // † CΛIN † - SVICIƉΣ GIRLS ƉɅNCΣ
7 Taahino // PVRIS - No Mercy
6 Terra Avium // Think Up Anger - Mutiny
5 Dobago // Purple Haze - Choir 1.0
4 Singerpurear // The Limiñanas - Istanbul Is Sleepy (feat. Anton Newcombe)†
3 Séyetana // Audio Paradyne and Stahl! - Paradise
2 Daehun // Haiku Hands - Not About You
1 Lotunia // Petra Marklund - Händerna Mot Himlen
11th-28th:
Aelandor // Timecop1983 - Girl (feat. SEAWAVES)
Suedeonia // High Tyde - Do What You Want†
Buzzjack Mountain // Duck & Cover - Big Bad Bells†
Cadelicia // What So Not - Stuck In Orbit (feat. BUOY)†
#00274E // Diamond White - Cleopatron (Drunk On Me)†
Niceland // Derrival - Found Out
Cumulonimbia // Priest - Our Time Will Come
Bøtanikkä // SLANDER and SAYMYNAME - I Can't Escape (feat. Feli Ferraro)†
FARC // Paul Rey - What Good Is Love
Flynnonda // Lilly Ahlberg - Bad Boys†
Desbuanda // Elley Duhé - Fly†
Quintessa // ALi and Cheetah - Don't Speak
Cor Lupus // Samantha Urbani - Hints & Implications
Ramrynia // Brunelle - Ladykiller (feat. Laura White)
Aesthetica // gugudan - The Boots†
Holland-Oats // Vera Blue - Regular Touch
Greenfroze // Strobe! - Feeling Good (feat. KIDDO)
Ojnoj // Kim Petras - Heart To Break
† DNQed
~
Semi-Final 1 DNQs
8th Land of DW // MC Fioti - Bum Bum Tam Tam
9th Jupiterdonia // AMBER and LUNA - Lower
14th Thelonia // Madeaux - The Wave (feat. BRUX)
15th Oslol // Sofya Wang - Boys Aside
16th Avalonia // Trivecta - Evaporate (feat. Aloma Steele)
17th Vülkyria // Aitana and Ana Guerra - Lo Malo
22nd Yehesi // Salvatore Ganacci - Talk
24th New Lexico // Slimane - Viens On S'Aime
25th Harmonica // Malory - Rapture
26th Rolloland // Inga & Anete Humpe - Careless Love
28th East Rukahavian // Alyson Stoner - Someone To Call My Lover
so I have actually made my 2017 EOY, I wasn't lying this time
The top 50 (and a little rank of every entry by each country if I feel like putting them together) will be coming some time in the not too distant future once Jade has the time to put together the fancy recap video ~ but in the mean time, as I have made a top 150 each of the last few years, I shall post the 51-150 section here. It gets less accurate the further it goes down and I probably left out some songs (I just relistened to all the songs I ranked in my top 10 of their final or semi-final plus a handful of other songs that also felt like they should have been on here) but that is the way with such a long list. The top 50 should be pretty accurate. x
Some quick stats for the top 50 ahead of it being posted ~
Contest breakdown
91: 3 songs
92: 5 songs
93: 4 songs
94: 3 songs
95: 7 songs
96: 5 songs
97: 5 songs
98: 6 songs
99: 3 songs
100: 9 songs
Q/DNQ breakdown
Q: 43 songs
DNQ: 7 songs
Country breakdown
5x Jadakissnia (#bloc)
3x Deandria, Espen, Land of DW, Terra Avium
2x #00274E, Aeroche, Cumulonimbia, Kluminican Republic, Pupok, Rolloland, Skall, Taahino
1x Aelandor, Altyr Muunilinst, Bøtanikkä, Cor Lupus, Fljótavík, Flynnonda, Hendinia, The Jasmine Masters Kingdom, N DNTN, Quintessa, Singerpurear, St. Burbia, Summericia, Thelonia, Trifoski, Varakë, Zanmatony
Apologies to FSR Rontvia, Desbuanda and Séyetana who each ended up with at least 5 entries in this longlist but none making the top 50 so none of their songs will feature in the video </3 (especially Séyetana who have 5 songs here and it was very very nearly 6, but actually none even in the top 100 lmao #consistency, plus yes, 'Super Mario Bros.' ended up as low as #68 and only FSR's fourth highest entry even though I gave it an 18, that was a bit of a novelty in retrospect but still a tune x) And of course apols to the countries who have no entries at all in the list. I think Unovia was the biggest one that really felt like they deserved something but it just didn't turn out that way oops.
Anyways without further ado, here are 100 songs I loved last year:
51 Bøtanikkä 92 // Age Of Love - The Age Of Love (Jam & Spoon Watch Out For Stella Mix)
52 Zanmatony 96 // Envio - Touched By The Sun (Rusch & Elusive's Chill-Out Mix)
53 Dobago 95 // Grace Mitchell - Now
54 FSR Rontvia 92 // Black Motion - Imali (feat. Nokwazi)
55 Tinnmark 99 // Unge Ferrari - Hologram
56 Tartford 97 // Crystal Castles - Concrete
57 Jadakissnia 91 // TEARIST - Headless
58 The Jasmine Masters Kingdom 95 // The Blaze - Territory
59 Aeroche 91 // Melé - Ambience
60 Fljótavík 96 // UNKLE - Looking For The Rain (feat. Mark Lanegan and ESKA)
61 Pagasa 94 // The Blue Nile - The Downtown Lights
62 Jadakissnia 96 // King Plague - Ave Plague
63 FSR Rontvia 97 // Kosmonova - Danse Avec Moi!
64 Cadelicia 97 // Meg - Distante
65 Kluminican Republic 99 // Glass Animals and Joey Bada$$ - Lose Control
66 Ultraviolenceland 98 // Marmozets - Play
67 FSR Rontvia 91 // Daithí - Mary Keanes Introduction
68 FSR Rontvia 93 // Tina Guo - Super Mario Bros.
69 Skall 100 // Kate Bush - Jig Of Life
70 Rolloland 99 // Archive - Bullets
71 Aelandor 94 // Port Blue - Up Ship!
72 Skall 99 // Mike Mareen - Love Spy
73 South Danaelanda 93 // DJ Mangoo - Eurodancer
74 N DNTN 100 // Charlotte Gainsbourg - Deadly Valentine
75 Desbuanda 99 // Zola Jesus - Exhumed
76 Cadelicia 92 // HI LIFE - When I Get To The Club (Donatachi's Del Mar Mix)
77 Aeroche 96 // deadmau5 - Strobe
78 Ambienta 100 // Aphex Twin - Ptolemy
79 Rolloland 98 // Felix Da Housecat - Silver Screen Shower Scene (Thin White Duke Mix) (feat. Miss Kittin)
80 Suedeonia 100 // Baxter Dury - Miami (Parrot And Cocker Too Remix)
81 Desbuanda 96 // Rone - Bye Bye Macadam
82 Summericia 99 // ERA - Ameno (Remix)
83 Jadakissnia 98 // Moth Equals - Jiv
84 Republic of Adonia 92 // JUTRØ - Travva (feat. Linda)
85 Terra Avium 94 // Varien - Lilith
86 Beaverdonia 91 // Digitalism - Open Waters
87 Trifoski 98 // Guerilla Toss - Skull Pop
88 Fljótavík 93 // Fang Island - Daisy
89 Flynnonda 93 // VUKOVI - La Di Da
90 Ramrynia 91 // Sirusho - PreGomesh
91 FARC 98 // Blessed - My Yute
92 Buzzjack Mountain 97 // Lee Mills - From My Lerv
93 Desbuanda 100 // Mina - Make Money (feat. Bryte)
94 St. Burbia 93 // Gyptian - All On Me (Diztortion Remix) (feat. Lady Leshurr)
95 Cadelicia 100 // TEMPURA KIDZ - I Like It
96 Quintessa 94 // Driftmoon - Genesis (feat. DSharp)
97 Desbuanda 93 // Paper Route - Chariots
98 PRoJ 100 // Röyksopp - Electric Counterpoint III. Fast (RYXP's Milde Salve)
99 Jadakissnia 92 // SOLDOUT - Do It Again (feat. GOOSE)
100 Trifoski 92 // Paradis - Toi Et Moi
101 Terra Avium 92 // Marcus Warner - Africa
102 Dobago 99 // Lydia Singer - Push Bang Bang (K. Warren's Ukg Mix)
103 Quintessa 97 // Norda and Mike De Ville - Gypsy (Catch Me If You Can) (feat. Joanna Jones)
104 Trifoski 97 // Lido - Not Enough (feat. THEY.)
105 Bignia-Zaragovina 95 // Hkeem and Temur - Fy Faen
106 Yehesi 91 // IAMX - I Come With Knives
107 Kluminican Republic 93 // Studio Killers - Jenny
108 Séyetana 93 // Fear, And Loathing In Las Vegas - Let Me Hear
109 Singerpurear 91 // Chicks On Speed - We Don't Play Guitars (feat. Peaches)
110 Beaverdonia 99 // Touch Sensitive - Pizza Guy
111 South Danaelanda 98 // Vitalic - Tu Conmigo (feat. La Bien Querida)
112 Séyetana 94 // Epica - Beyond The Matrix
113 République d'Ashton 99 // Gabrielle - Nattergal
114 Hushkanukia 94 // Oonagh - Aulë Und Yavanna
115 Bøtanikkä 91 // Noga Erez - Dance While You Shoot
116 New Lexico 99 // Confidence Man - Better Sit Down Boy
117 Niceland 95 // Torul - Monday
118 Desbuanda 91 // Sylvan Esso - Radio
119 FSR Rontvia 96 // Yaşar Gaga - Şahane Bir Şey Yaşamak (feat. Sezen Aksu)
120 Dobago 91 // Will Sparks - Flamenco
121 Bøtanikkä 99 // Red 5 - I Love You...Stop!
122 East Rukahavian 96 // The Orielles - Sugar Tastes Like Salt
123 Summericia 93 // Carpenter Brut - Turbo Killer
124 Harmonica 92 // KANEHOLLER - Paper Games
125 Alteria 96 // Fjokra - Sick Kids
126 Espen 94 // Mark Dekoda - Instance Of Time
127 Aesthetica 91 // Wonder Girls - I Feel You
128 Lotunia 95 // Ágy - Arvedávgi
129 Summericia 92 // Prince Rama - Fantasy
130 Ramrynia 96 // Birdflipper - Come On!
131 Aelandor 91 // Copeland - No One Really Wins
132 Séyetana 92 // Girls Dead Monster - Ichiban No Takaramono (Yui Final Version)
133 Skall 94 // Kjartan Lauritzen - Fredag
134 Beaverdonia 93 // The Drapers - Yakety Yak
135 St. Burbia 94 // Serayah - Look But Don't Touch
136 Beaverdonia 95 // Skit Box - ACTIVEWEAR
137 Séyetana 95 // nanobii - Chipland
138 Medhelnia 99 // CHVRN - delirium
139 #00274E 94 // X0809 - HO
140 FSR Rontvia 94 // Huntza - Aldapan Gora
141 Deandria 99 // Solarstone and Giuseppe Ottaviani - Falcons
142 Kylienips 91 // Echos - Fiction
143 Aelandor 98 // C2C - Down The Road
144 Alteria 94 // Confidence Man - Bubblegum
145 Avalonia 98 // Johannes Ringen - Neverafter (feat. Merethe Soltvedt)
146 Kluminican Republic 95 // Two Steps From Hell - Archangel
147 Deandria 97 // A_GIM - Rajka (feat. Klark)
148 Bøtanikkä 93 // Tsar B - Escalate
149 Caerfyrddia 100 // Jennie Abrahamson - Into Deep
150 Séyetana 97 // Hiroyuki Sawano and Cyua - Vogel Im Käfig
Well it's not a secret what my 1 entry will be
surprised you preferred Ameno over both Fantasy and Turbo Killer tbh but I guess that might be because you already knew it from UP before I entered it to the main contest.
9 songs in your top 100 and 5 songs in your top 50
Absolute stanning goals *.*
Will try and find some time to make this top 50 video as soon as I can, hopefully next week after my role as news day editor at Uni on Tuesday is out of the way!
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 19/03/2018
Persephonia go African for the first time with Mikael Seifu
BJSC 103 kicked off tonight, hosted for the first time by veteran nation Tinnmark who inherited hosting rights after Ojnoj, Alteria and Dobago all declined to host for various reasons. We can now announce that our 82nd main contest entry comes from Ethiopian producer Mikael Seifu, marking our first ever entry by an act born and based in an African country (following Zambian-born Danish artist Baby Blood in BJSC 90). This increases our count of nationalities in main contests to a round 20, the third contest in a row we have increased that number. South America is now the only continent that hasn't yet been represented by a Persephonian main contest entry, though we did send Brazilian band Bonde Do Rolê's 'Solta O Frango' to the Foreign Language II spinoff. There were a few different songs we were considering sending by Seifu but we ultimately settled on 'Yarada Lij', the closing track from the EP of the same name which served as his first release back in July 2014.
'Yarada Lij' (a phrase in Seifu's native language of Amharic which apparently roughly translates to 'charlatan') draws influences from both traditional Ethiopian folk music and, more unusually, modern underground UK garage, especially the likes of Burial who Seifu is often compared to in online reviews. Seifu's music blends these two sounds into a unique mix which he calls 'Ethiopiyawi electronic'. This track also has a mystic new age-esque tinge to it. It's completely instrumental (our 12th instrumental entry to date and first of the year), including a memorable saxophone riff alongside more traditional folk instrumentation and crunchy electronic elements. We guarantee y'all will have heard nothing quite like this before (probably x), and we hope as ever some people find it a good discovery. Have a listen below, alongside some pretty visuals (edit: well not any more because the official audio with the pretty visuals got taken off YouTube, boo):
If this takes your fancy we'd also recommend these other songs by Mikael, although they all have fairly different sounds to them: http://soundcloud.com/1432-r/mikael-seifu-tuff-ruff (which features vocals in Amharic), http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVo-ppA0oVY (we very nearly sent this one instead, it has less of an African influence and is more of an in-your-face UK garage track) and its B-side, the beautiful http://soundcloud.com/1432-r/mikael-seifu-brass (which would also have been in strong consideration if not for being 13 and a half minutes long).
'Yarada Lij' has been drawn in slot 29 out of 30 in semi-final 1 (the second month in a row that we have the penultimate song in our semi-final). With participation numbers improving back to 61 after their recent dip, we'll have a slightly better chance of qualifying again as the number of qualifiers per semi-final increases back from 18 to 20. Much appreciated as we really don't want back-to-back DNQs. x
Elsewhere in semi-final 1, just two songs before ours, is Brendan Maclean's 'House Of Air' which was a former Persephonian potential and being kept in the Persephonian BJSC Committee's back pocket for a potential LGBT spinoff, but alas those plans must now be changed as it has shown up here representing Vülkyria. The dry streak of contests featuring no recycled Persephonian alumni appears to have continued otherwise.
Look what I found,
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 26/03/2018
Mikael Seifu makes it to the final!
There was relief after a long night in Tinnmark as Persephonia were left unannounced until right near the end of the semi-final results, but ultimately it turned out we did qualify for the BJSC 103 final with Mikael Seifu's 'Yarada Lij'. This came after early odds and predictions left us feeling a little hopeless, though those picked up over the course of the contest. As such our qualification streak is back to 1 and we continue our run of never DNQing more than once in a row since the dark days of BJSCs 54-56. 'Yarada Lij' becomes our 61st finalist in total. The three longest active qualification streaks all continued with Aeroche and Cor Lupus remaining in deadlock on 17 finals in a row each, Trifoski still just behind on 16. The gap to fourth on the list got a lot bigger as sadly our close allies Jadakissnia lost their streak of 10 in a row. Any votes for us in the final are greatly appreciated. 'Yarada Lij' has been drawn as song 7 out of 41 in the grand final.
Persephonian voters kept their top 2 songs in semi-final 1 but the rest of the top 6 sadly fell short: 8-pointers Beaverdonia with Juanes' 'La Luz' (subject to a 15% deduction but would not have qualified either way), 7-pointers Vülkyria with Brendan Maclean's 'House Of Air' (which sadly actually would have qualified if not for its own deduction of 33%), 6-pointers Elëdan with Garden City Movement's 'Slightly All The Time' and the aforementioned Jadakissnia who took our 5 points with Elena Temnikova's 'Kazalsya Strannym'. The rest of our top 10 qualified. Our top 6 of the opposite semi-final all made it as well but alas we lost 3 of the other songs that made the top 10 there: Aelandor, who ranked 7th for us with Moriaty's 'Esperanza', tragically came last, while we also had to wave goodbye to Cowtermont (8th for us with REZZ's 'Relax') and Avalonia (our 10th placer with Umaro XP's 'Liberi Fatali').
~
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 06/04/2018
BJSC 103 summary
- Following a dud entry last time around, Persephonia were back with a vengeance in BJSC 103 in Tinnmark, managing to far surpass our expectations (and the odds and predictions) to just about get our biggest hit of the year so far. Mikael Seifu's 'Yarada Lij' finished 16th out of 41 for us in the final results revealed on Sunday night, one place ahead of IC3PEAK's 'Grustnaya Suka' two contests prior, receiving a total of 185 points from 23 different countries (5 and 3 more than IC3PEAK respectively) to give us our 36th top 20 hit to date, including all of our last 5 qualifiers. Additionally, 'Yarada Lij' received a full 18 points from three countries (Skall, Summericia and Terra Avium) to match our best number of 18s from last year and our third best ever - it's the 11th time we've got three top scores in a final, but we've only gone further with Kids Of The Apocalypse's 'EMPIRE' (5 12s in BJSC 61) and Dawn Richard's 'Tide: The Paradox Effect' (4 12s in BJSC 72). Notably this was the tenth time we've received top marks from Terra Avium who are by far our biggest all-time supporters, a thing all countries should obviously aspire to. It also ranked in the top 3 for three more countries, receiving 15 points from Espen and 13 points each from Cumulonimbia and Singerpurear. This marked a big improvement from our result in semi-final 1, where Seifu finished 15th out of 30 with 57 points, putting him only a projected 29th. Thanks all voters for returning us to ~success~ after that blip in BJSC 102.
- 2018 continues to be the year of long overdue successes, as BJSC 103 ended up with another long-running country finally added to the list of contest winners. This time it was New Lexico getting their first victory (securing the hosting rights for BJSC 104), and in doing so they broke the record set just last month by Ojnoj for the longest time between debuting and getting a first win. New Lexico's run in the contest stretches all the way back to BJSC 5 when they joined under their original name of Allecian (they have also briefly gone under the names of Scruvovnia and Lexico in the mean time before adopting their current name in BJSC 72). Like Ojnoj, however, they have sporadically taken breaks from the contest (most notably a long absence in BJSCs 14-34) so they also stop short of beating Kylienips' record of 74 entries prior to their first win, with their winning entry coming after 68 previous entries falling short, putting them in third place on that list behind the 'nips and Ojnoj. Lucky entry number 69 for New Lexico, then, was 'Word Of Mouth' by Metroplane featuring Bree Runway, which took the gold medal with a total of 273 points meaning that their biggest hit is no longer the embarrassingly cheap in retrospect 'Up' by The Saturdays which had still been until now their only top 3 hit, coming 3rd in BJSC 10. Metroplane, incidentally, is a duo consisting of Alex Metric and Aeroplane, making 'Word Of Mouth' a stealth recycle of a former BJSC winning artist (Alex Metric previously topping BJSC 77 with his Jacques Lu Cont and Malin collaboration 'Safe With You' for Aquafina). 'Word Of Mouth' gave New Lexico an 8th top 5 and 13th top 10 hit to date in all, and it was also the most voted for song of BJSC 103 with 32 voters, which proved to be an important stat...
- ...because the other big event of this contest was that for the first time in over five years, the winner was decided via a tiebreak. There have been quite a few top 2s separated by only a handful of points in the mean time, but the last time the top two scored the exact same number of points was BJSC 50, where Numayania's 'Indigo' by Frida Sundemo triumphed over FSR Rontvia's 'Hunters And The Wolves' by Delta Goodrem. And nothing ever really changes in BJSC because it's FSR Rontvia again who have found themselves on the losing end of the tiebreak this time, claiming the silver medal with a live recording of 'Lost Without You' by Freya Ridings, also receiving 273 points but from only 29 voters. It's the 4th time in total (also including BJSCs 28 and 43) that zero points have separated the top 2. As a consolation for Rontvia, this does mean that they find themselves back at the top of the all-time BJSC medal table; they remain tied with Aeroche on 8 wins but now once again have one more second place finish (this is their 6th runner up in total, so their medal count now reads 8-6-6 to Aeroche's 8-5-7). It is FSR Rontvia's first addition to their medal tally since their third place finish with Ulf Nilsson's 'Little By Little' (Lulleaux & George Whyman Remix) in BJSC 71 and their biggest hit since their last win in BJSC 64 with RAM and Susana's 'RAMelia (Tribute To Amelia)', while providing a pleasingly round 30th top 5 hit and 50th top 10 hit for the ever-present nation (extending their records in both categories). 'Lost Without You' also triumphed in semi-final 1 (where Metroplane came only 4th) to give FSR Rontvia their 8th semi-final win, the list of which we last recapped in the http://www.buzzjack.com/forums/index.php?s=&showtopic=193469&view=findpost&p=5790838 to save this paragraph getting any longer. FSR still got it. 9th win soon? ;o
- Quintessa completed the podium positions, finishing 3rd on 258 points with 'Fly To Paradise' by Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir 4 (possibly the largest 'group' to ever finish in the BJSC top 3, consisting of singers from 101 different countries) which becomes their second biggest hit following their win in BJSC 97 with Norda and Mike De Ville's 'Gypsy (Catch Me If You Can)' (feat. Joanna Jones). All four of Quintessa's top 10 hits to date have finished in unique positions in the top 5, only a second place to go now for them to complete the set. 4th place went to FARC, picking up 252 points with Miriam Bryant's 'Black Car', their 8th top 5 and 14th top 10 hit to date. 'Black Car' was also the winner of semi-final 2, FARC's 5th semi-final winner. History indicates they'll get a 6th one soon as their previous semi-final winners came in BJSCs 72 & 74 (Mahan Moin's 'Azizami' and Salt Ashes' 'Save It') then in BJSCs 94 & 95 (Noella Nix's 'Bad Things' and Stockholm Noir's 'Hopeless Dreams'). Miriam Bryant herself is also a former semi-final winner, one of the few that went on to miss the top 10 in the final ('Push Play' topped BJSC 51 semi-final 2 for Altyr Muunilinst and went on to finish 12th). Completing the top 5, Deandria came 5th with a well-deserved dark horse hit in the form of Linea Aspera's 'Malarone' which received 225 points. This is only Deandria's 3rd top 10 hit (all of which have gone top 5, like Quintessa) in their long history, following two frustrating 11th place finishes in 2017, and their biggest hit since their sole win in BJSC 81 with Allie X's 'Sanctuary'. 'Malarone' received more 18s than any other song in BJSC 103, a total of five of them, including ours. Yay.
- Ramrynia seemed to be yet again in the running to be this month's country to finally get a first win, with late odds and predictions favouring them, but alas ended up with merely their 24th top 10 hit as they came 6th with Asmik Shiroyan's Eurovision Armenia reject 'You & I' (losing another tiebreak for 5th place) meaning they remain by nearly every metric the most successful country to have never won. Lotunia continued a run of good form in 2018 so far getting a third top 20 hit in a row and their second top 10 hit, coming 7th with FAUN's 'Federkleid'. All three of their entries to date this year - as well as the two less successful ones immediately before them - have been in different non-English languages, this one of course being in German following entries in Russian, Norwegian, Vietnamese and Swedish. 'Federkleid' doesn't quite match the peak of 6th they scaled two contests back but is still solidly their second biggest hit to date. In even better form in 2018 to date, République d'Ashton made it 3 consecutive top 10 hits as they came 8th with Luca Hänni's 'Powder', solidifying their position at the top of the year to date rankings. It's their 29th top 10 hit to date in all. Incidentally, the first time they won the contest they followed that up with 3 more top 10 hits in a row, will we see history repeat here? Espen, Ramrynia's closest contender for most successful country to have never won, also had a pretty big hit on their hands this time as they came 9th with Flight Facilities' 'Need You' (feat. NÏKA), their 20th top 10 hit to date. The top 10 was rounded off by another country with plenty of success but no win as of yet, Cadelicia picking up their 10th top 10 hit with 'SHIVA' by KSHMR and Marnik featuring The Golden Army. That also made it 3 for 3 for KSHMR with BJSC top 10 hits, following him also scraping the top 10 with his first entry ((South) Danaelanda's BJSC 77 entry 'Jammu') and of course winning BJSC 79 for Aeroche with 'Heaven' (in collaboration with Shaun Frank and Delaney Jane).
- New peaks are thin on the ground again as New Lexico were the only country getting their biggest hit to date, but there was one debuting nation this time around, Mosquetania unfortunately falling short of qualifying with their first entry 'Suburbia' by Kilian & Jo featuring Erik Rapp.
- Four countries made returns to the contest this month. One of them we've already covered (Deandria's entry was a comeback not just for the country, who sat out BJSC 102, but also for the name 'Deandria' as they last participated under the pseudonym Moonland). The other 3 all missed out on the final. One of those was also bringing back their classic country name, although in this case it's been a lot longer since we last saw them enter under that name - the country formerly and now once again known as Elëdan have eschewed that name in favour of a series of increasingly silly alternative names ever since BJSC 70, from Aeondia to π to FKA π to FKA FKA π to FKA FKA FKA π to People's Independent State of Slutland, then back to FKA FKA FKA π, then -π and finally The Jasmine Masters Kingdom on their last appearance in BJSC 99. Hopefully now (if they ever enter again) they might finally stick with Elëdan again. Alas, they just barely missed out on the BJSC 103 final. Otherwise, we had another surprise comeback from United States of Jack, last seen with a top 10 hit in BJSC 100 but having less luck this time as they also just barely missed out. The last returning country was Zaminton who were previously just a fleeting blip in the contest, entering once in BJSC 81, failing to vote in the final then and vanishing entirely until now, where they came back to promptly come last in their semi-final. They did at least vote in the final this time though so maybe they'll be sticking around now. The same isn't true of Elëdan and United States of Jack who were both among this contest's 6 non-voters who are thus banned from BJSC 104. More on that in the next paragraph.
- BJSC 103's wooden spoon went quite comfortably to Holland-Oats, who followed their first qualifier last month with a second one in a row but finished a distant 41st out of 41 this time with CXLOE's 'Monster' receiving only 68 points. Three other songs received fewer than 100 points, with Skall coming 40th on 83 points from just 8 voters with GoldLink's 'Meditation' (feat. Jazmine Sullivan and KAYTRANADA), Pupok coming 38th with Lena Fayre's 'Cry' on 95 points and Bøtanikkä just missing the mark, getting 99 points to come 37th with Tokyo Ghetto Pussy's (yes) 'Everybody On The Floor (Pump It)'. As for the song in 39th place, that was #00274E's entry 'Blaze Up' by Mai Lan which was unfortunately subject to a 33% deduction (ending on 86 points) as they failed to vote in the final despite this being their first qualifier out of their last 3 entries. They thus join Elëdan and United States of Jack in the naughty corner banned from the next contest, as do Alteria, Avalonia and Beaverdonia who also didn't vote in the final this time. That sadly means Alteria's unprecedented run of entering 3 contests in a row is now grinding to a halt.
- Other noteworthy results: East Rukahavian didn't quite live up to some predictions but their 14th place finish with Bishop Briggs' 'White Flag' was still their first top 20 hit since they changed their name from Usfland, and their biggest hit since they hit their national best of 7th with Henry Krinkle's 'Stay' in BJSC 59 (their last top 20 hit was Tom Day's 'Going Home' which came 18th one month after that); Vera Blue cropped up in the contest for the fourth time in the space of 13 contests but this time didn't come bottom 10 in the final, instead coming as high as 21st with 'Lady Powers' also providing Tartford with a second decent sized hit in a row; Kluminican Republic just fell short of continuing their run of 9 straight entries coming top 20, coming 22nd this time with Anna Lunoe's 'Radioactive'; Land of DW finished a respectable 27th with CloZee's 'Koto' despite the fact it only qualified due to Vülkyria suffering a 33% deduction after not voting in semi-final 1; host nation Tinnmark didn't get to auto-qualify but luckily avoided the shame of DNQing in their own contest, coming 30th with Emilie Adams' 'Aliens'; the actual auto-qualifier from last month's winners Ojnoj, the slightly leftfield choice of Andrew W.K.'s 'The Party Never Dies', ended up in 34th place.
Full Persephonian rankings for BJSC 103
Final
Points awarded:
18 Deandria // Linea Aspera - Malarone
15 Dobago // Mark Eliyahu - Journey
13 FSR Rontvia // Freya Ridings - Lost Without You (Live)
12 Trifoski // Algiers - The Underside Of Power
11 Quintessa // Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir 4 - Fly To Paradise
10 Fljótavík // Rex The Dog - Maximize
9 St. Burbia // Leikeli47 - Attitude
8 Land of DW // CloZee - Koto
7 Cor Lupus // Nocturnal Tapes - Is It Too Late
6 Jupiterdonia // Tunde Olaniran - Namesake
5 Lotunia // FAUN - Federkleid
4 Ojnoj // Andrew W.K. - The Party Never Dies
3 Cadelicia // KSHMR and Marnik - SHIVA (feat. The Golden Army)
2 Rolloland // Ninet Tayeb - Superstar
1 Flynnonda // Cloud Control - Treetops
16th-40th:
Daehun // Riton and Kah-Lo - Fake ID
Espen // Flight Facilities - Need You (feat. NÏKA)
Summericia // Jonathan Bree - You're So Cool
Skall // GoldLink - Meditation (feat. Jazmine Sullivan and KAYTRANADA)
New Lexico // Metroplane - Word Of Mouth (feat. Bree Runway)
Buzzjack Mountain // ACE - Heavensent
Bøtanikkä // Tokyo Ghetto Pussy - Everybody On The Floor (Pump It)
Azure // Kate Nash - Drink About You
South Danaelanda // Elektronomia and JJD - Free
République d'Ashton // Luca Hänni - Powder
East Rukahavian // Bishop Briggs - White Flag
Bhangra // Offer Nissim - ROKEDET (feat. Ania Bukstein)
Desbuanda // Blaue Blume - Ebony
FARC // Miriam Bryant - Black Car
Pupok // Lena Fayre - Cry
Séyetana // Annella - Perfume
Aeroche // Dave Silcox - Tell Me (feat. Little Nikki)
Holland-Oats // CXLOE - Monster
Kluminican Republic // Anna Lunoe - Radioactive
Ramrynia // Asmik Shiroyan - You & I
Tartford // Vera Blue - Lady Powers
Unovia // Robinson - Nothing To Regret
Cumulonimbia // Ravyn Lenae - Sticky
#00274E // Mai Lan - Blaze Up
Tinnmark // Emilie Adams - Aliens
~
Semi-Final 1
Points awarded:
12 FSR Rontvia // Freya Ridings - Lost Without You (Live)
10 Land of DW // CloZee - Koto
8 Beaverdonia // Juanes - La Luz†
7 Vülkyria // Brendan Maclean - House Of Air†
6 Elëdan // Garden City Movement - Slightly All The Time†
5 Jadakissnia // Elena Temnikova - Kazalsya Strannym†
4 Cor Lupus // Nocturnal Tapes - Is It Too Late
3 Jupiterdonia // Tunde Olaniran - Namesake
2 Cadelicia // KSHMR and Marnik - SHIVA (feat. The Golden Army)
1 South Danaelanda // Elektronomia and JJD - Free
11th-29th:
Espen // Flight Facilities - Need You (feat. NÏKA)
Summericia // Jonathan Bree - You're So Cool
Daehun // Riton and Kah-Lo - Fake ID
Buzzjack Mountain // ACE - Heavensent
Azure // Kate Nash - Drink About You
Singerpurear // Beca - In Deep Love†
République d'Ashton // Luca Hänni - Powder
New Lexico // Metroplane - Word Of Mouth (feat. Bree Runway)
Niceland // Keida and Tian Winter - We Are The West Indies†
Harmonica // Marc E. Bassy - Plot Twist (feat. KYLE)†
Suedeonia // Renaissance - A Song For All Seasons†
Holland-Oats // CXLOE - Monster
Kluminican Republic // Anna Lunoe - Radioactive
Ramrynia // Asmik Shiroyan - You & I
#00274E // Mai Lan - Blaze Up
Taahino // Now, Now - SGL†
Pupok // Lena Fayre - Cry
Tinnmark // Emilie Adams - Aliens
Zaminton // Russell Elliot - I'll Be Damned†
† DNQed
~
Semi-Final 2 DNQs
7th Aelandor // Moriaty - Esperanza
8th Cowtermont // REZZ - Relax
10th Avalonia // Umaro XP - Liberi Fatali
12th Terra Avium // Strawhatz - Koto (feat. ASUKA and DJ UPPERCUT)
15th Alteria // Brand New Friend - Girl
18th Mosquetania // Kilian & Jo - Suburbia (feat. Erik Rapp)
23rd United States of Jack // Liv Dawson - Talk
27th Aesthetica // MOMOLAND - BBoom BBoom
29th Greenfroze // Stenz - I Might
30th Altyr Muunilinst // Dog Collective - Next To Me (feat. MPH)
In some other news, Mikael Seifu had gone a bit quiet on the interwebs for the last couple of years but he's actually just recently resurfaced with some new material in the last couple of weeks with a first full length album coming soon, I choose to believe his career has been revived by us entering him into BJSC and that that's not just a coincidence Here's a really cool brand new song from him which I might have considered entering instead of 'Yarada Lij' had it come out a bit earlier.
Also, the video for my 2017 EOY top 50 is now ready so I shall be finally posting that in the very near future, yay.
So just a little over a month after posting http://www.buzzjack.com/forums/index.php?s=&showtopic=193469&view=findpost&p=5949883, here is the remainder of my 2017 EOY! I'll try and post my EOY at a more relevant time next year xo
Thanks to Jade for putting together this lovely video recap for my top 50 songs! If you just want to see a text version it's there as a comment under the YouTube video but you should defo watch the video anyway and relive some awesome choonage from last year ~
EDIT: Unfortunately the video got taken down due to copyright </3 ah well, it had a good run. Here's the top 50 anyway:
1 Rolloland 94 // Steven Wilson - Routine
2 Kluminican Republic 96 // Burial - Archangel
3 Espen 98 // Mounika. - Long Silent
4 Trifoski 91 // Amnesia Scanner - AS Crust
5 Espen 95 // ATB - Ecstasy (MYSTXRIVL x SOKOS FLIP)
6 Rolloland 100 // Anathema - Untouchable (Parts 1 & 2)
7 Jadakissnia 97 // MONOMOTION - Mango Bay
8 Terra Avium 97 // Steven Wilson - Pariah (feat. Ninet Tayeb)
9 Summericia 91 // CRIM3S - still goin
10 Thelonia 99 // MC BOING - Dance Floor
11 Jadakissnia 100 // Francis And The Lights - See Her Out (That's Just Life)
12 The Jasmine Masters Kingdom 92 // Fla.mingo - Die
13 St. Burbia 96 // Tasha Tah - Malang (feat. RaOol)
14 Altyr Muunilinst 91 // Ramin Djawadi - Light Of The Seven
15 Skall 93 // Musta Barbaari - Salil Eka Salil Vika
16 Jadakissnia 93 // aYia - Ruins
17 N DNTN 99 // Yaeji - Last Breath
18 Land of DW 93 // Eivør - Í Tokuni
19 Cor Lupus 99 // Aesthetic Perfection - LAX (Mr.Kitty Remix)
20 Terra Avium 95 // felicita - a new family
21 Skall 92 // Martyn Bennett - Blackbird
22 Hendinia 92 // Troll - Jimmy Dean
23 Cumulonimbia 98 // Kevin Abstract - Miserable America
24 Pupok 92 // Sam Spiegel and Ape Drums - Mutant Brain (feat. Assassin)
25 Flynnonda 100 // Mondo Grosso - Labyrinth
26 Fljótavík 98 // Wealstarr - Feria Festival
27 Kluminican Republic 98 // RÜFÜS DU SOL - Innerbloom
28 #00274E 100 // Orelsan - Basique
29 Aeroche 95 // Me & My - Dub-I-Dub
30 Land of DW 98 // N.O.H.A. - Di Nero
31 Singerpurear 94 // Vitalic - Waiting For The Stars (feat. David Shaw And The Beat)
32 Jadakissnia 95 // Hugar - Waves (feat. Arnór Dan)
33 Quintessa 98 // Ashmute - Heaven
34 #00274E 95 // Pale Waves - There's A Honey
35 Terra Avium 100 // Cusco - Orpheus And Eurydice
36 Cumulonimbia 97 // Indian Wells - Cascades
37 Deandria 100 // Alvia Islandia - Sugar Complex
38 Bøtanikkä 97 // Rednex - The Spirit Of The Hawk
39 Zanmatony 97 // Paradisio - Bailando
40 Jadakissnia 94 // BÖ - Waqqaberry
41 Espen 100 // Prequell - Part XIV (feat. Rae Morris)
42 Deandria 96 // world's end girlfriend - Les Enfants Du Paradis
43 Land of DW 96 // Paddy And The Rats - Join The Riot
44 Aeroche 100 // TR/ST - Capitol
45 Deandria 93 // Fakear - Ankara
46 Taahino 100 // Tonight Alive - Temple
47 Pupok 95 // Spinee - Hell Hound
48 Taahino 92 // Sevdaliza - Human
49 Aelandor 95 // Nu:Tone - Tides (feat. Lea Lea)
50 Varakë 96 // Irina Rimes - Visele (Dj Dark & MD.Dj Remix)
And the other part of my EOY... I have actually completed my ranks for each country this time. As well as that, I thought it'd be interesting to see who my favourite countries of the year were just looking at whereabouts I rank them in each final and semi-final throughout the year. So next to each country name is a number which measures this - a score of 100 would mean I always rank your songs 1st and a score of 0 means I always rank them last, with everything in between scaled appropriately using Excel magic. A score of 60 or above roughly equates to a country being in my votes more often than not. The 74 countries (excluding us) who entered at least 4 times in 2017 also have their ranking using this measure listed below, and I included a little grading system as well because why not (it turned out to be very hard for anyone to get an A here but a few countries managed it, probably not hard to guess most of them xx). I probably won't do this again because it took forever and turned out to largely not be very interesting but hey list below contains spoilers for the above video xx
#00274E // 62.0 (B- / 18th)
Orelsan (#28) > Pale Waves (#34) > X0809 (#139) > CupcakKe > Pogo > ONUKA > Nussy > Alexiane
AELANDOR // 54.7 (C / 26th)
Nu:Tone/Lea Lea (#49) > Port Blue (#71) > Copeland (#131) > C2C (#143) > Billy Lockett > Breanne Düren > HONNE > Lights > Sœur > Meadowlark
AEROCHE // 61.4 (B- / 19th)
Me & My (#29) > TR/ST (#44) > Melé (#59) > deadmau5 (#77) > Merely > Motiv 8/Angie Brown > RL Grime > Dux Content > Dana/Kane Vale > Disco Fries/Halogen/Hope Murphy
AESTHETICA // 46.7 (D+ / 38th)
Wonder Girls (#127) > Yezi > Lil Debbie/Moksi > FEMM > Alice Vicious > Poppy > CLC > Nadia Oh
AJANAEDA // 31.3 (65th)
Hundred Waters > Healyum > ABIR > TYNI > Jane XØ/LöKii
ALTERIA // 77.5
Fjokra (#125) > Confidence Man (#144)
ALTYR MUUNILINST // 32.0 (62nd)
Ramin Djawadi (#14) > Kamferdrops > Hannah Diamond > MOODY > Man Without Country/White Sea > Rhys > The Knocks/POWERS > NONONO > John De Sohn/Roshi > KATÉA
AMBIENTA // 92.7
Aphex Twin (#78)
(RÉPUBLIQUE D')ASHTON // 36.1 (56th)
Gabrielle (#113) > Tone Damli > Izabell/Bendik/Stella Mwangi/Silvana Imam/Julie Bergan/Christine > Dragonette > Mutya Keisha Siobhan > Bec Sandridge > Molly Sandén > Dagny > Sabina Ddumba > Tessa Violet
AVALONIA // 48.0 (D+ / 37th)
Johannes Ringen/Merethe Soltvedt (#145) > Henry Jackman > Britt Nicole > SVRCINA > Anna Känzig > Jenni Vartiainen > Andrew Belle > Natasha Blume
AZURE // 44.4 (D / 41st)
Yeasayer > GNUČČI > Thomas Stenström > Kids In Glass Houses > Patent Pending > French Horn Rebellion/Jody Watley/Young Empires > Marianas Trench > Ghost Beach > The Band CAMINO > The Summer Set
BEAVERDONIA // 67.3 (B+ / 13th)
Digitalism (#86) > Touch Sensitive (#110) > The Drapers (#134) > Skit Box (#136) > Dominique Young Unique > BETSY > Ina Wroldsen > Nikola Rachelle
(THE ACTUAL REPUBLIC OF) BELLAMIA // 26.3 (70th)
Chase Atlantic > The Beach > KStewart/Yungen > Nemo Schiffman > Frans Walfridsson > Marija > Citizen Four > Tom Jay Williams > RIVRS > We The Kings/RJ/Olivia Holt
BHANGRA // 45.2 (D / 40th)
Tarkan > RÜFÜS DU SOL > Audrey Gallagher/Kaimo K > Fenech-Soler > Fred V & Grafix/Kate Westall > Darin > Amelia Lily > Hedia/Kristen Marie > Mileo/Adelén > Margaret
BIGNIA-ZARAGOVINA // 30.9 (66th)
Hkeem/Temur (#105) > Cezinando > In Real Life > Handsome Poets > Sabina Ddumba > Marcus & Martinus > Shane Harper > Skylar Stecker > My First Band > Frankie Grande
BØTANIKKÄ // 65.2 (B / 16th)
Rednex (#38) > Age Of Love/Jam & Spoon (#51) > Noga Erez (#115) > Red 5 (#121) > Tsar B (#148) > Wrabel > LP > I Am Aisha/Jayh > Vök/Neelix > BEATZ
BUZZJACK MOUNTAIN // 53.4 (C / 28th)
Lee Mills (#92) > CENTVRIES > JX > Rose Windross/Kele Le Roc > Slam Dunk'd/Chromeo/Al-P > The Alan Parsons Project > Luca Debonaire > Future Bass Fishermen In A Tropical House/Princess Lotita/Bento Leão > GEROX/LOBO/Nala
CADELICIA // 54.9 (C / 25th)
Meg (#64) > HI LIFE/Donatachi (#76) > TEMPURA KIDZ (#95) > Tourist > Emrah Karaduman/Aleyna Tilki > The Clarstone/Lola Torres > Death Team > RABBII > BLACKPINK > Julie Bergan
CAERFYRDDIA // 80.0
Jennie Abrahamson (#149)
COR LUPUS // 43.7 (D / 42nd)
Aesthetic Perfection/Mr.Kitty (#19) > BGRZ/Angélique Kidjo > Written By Wolves > LINES > Mirror Talk > Kacy Hill > LIONE > Gromee/Mahan Moin > HALEM > Taryn Manning
COWTERMONT // 23.5
ARLE/Icarus > Prince Fox/Quinn XCII > R3hab
CUMULONIMBIA // 81.9 (A+ / 3rd)
Kevin Abstract (#23) > Indian Wells (#36) > Roosevelt > Lisa Lougheed
DAEHUN // 24.3 (72nd)
REOL > Red Velvet > Helena Paparizou > SUNMI {Gashina} > K.A.R.D/Hur Young Ji > IU > SUNMI {24 Hours} > MAMAMOO > T-ARA > SEREBRO
(SOUTH) DANAELANDA // 53.0 (C- / 29th)
DJ Mangoo (#73) > Vitalic/La Bien Querida (#111) > Gareth Emery/Standerwick/HALIENE > Leon Else/Oliver > Aly & Fila/Roger Shah/Susana > Dutch Force > DJ Licious > TheFatRat/Laura Brehm > Lucas & Steve > Oliver Moldan/Jasmine Ash
DEANDRIA // 74.8 (A / 5th)
Alvia Islandia (#37) > world's end girlfriend (#42) > Fakear (#45) > Solarstone/Giuseppe Ottaviani (#141) > A_GIM/Klark (#147) > Holy Two > AaRON
DESBUANDA // 56.3 (C / 24th)
Zola Jesus (#75) > Rone (#81) > Mina/Bryte (#93) > Paper Route (#97) > Sylvan Esso (#118) > DJDS/Amber Mark/Marco McKinnis > Autoheart > Rudie Edwards > Lucy Camp > Charlotte OC
DOBAGO // 48.9 (D+ / 35th)
Grace Mitchell (#53) > Lydia Singer/K-Warren (#102) > Will Sparks (#120) > Q-Benjamin/Jay Montero > Sagi Abitbul > Yakir Ganon/Mor Ben Yair > Tash Sultana > Dave Ramone/Filatov & Karas/Minelli > LIA ROX/Bimbo Jones > Lindsey Stirling/Rooty
D'YERMAK'ER // 43.6 (D / 43rd)
Balvir Boparai > Strae > HËXĖ > Highasakite > Arrhult > Slow Magic/Kate Boy > Butter > George Maple > Oh Wonder > Nightly
EAST RUKAHAVIAN // 42.5 (D- / 44th)
The Orielles (#122) > Lido/Minnesota > Beach Slang > Tristen Beer > YONAKA > Ancalima > Wild Culture/Chu > Ben DJ/Vijay & Sofia
ENTY // 41.2
Max Barskih
ESPEN // 61.1 (B- / 20th)
Mounika. (#3) > ATB/MYSTXRIVL/SOKOS (#5) > Prequell/Rae Morris (#41) > Mark Dekoda (#126) > TAMER > SXTN > josh pan/ABRA > Offer Nissim/Maya Simantov > Vitaa > Léa Castel/Slimane
FARAHTYN // 21.4
Philip Mikal/Vigilancer/Ola
FARC // 40.2 (D- / 47th)
Blessed (#91) > Stockholm Noir > Frøder > Robinson > Noella Nix > Rhys > Ida Da Silva
FLJÓTAVÍK // 65.4 (B / 15th)
Wealstarr (#26) > UNKLE/Mark Lanegan/ESKA (#60) > Fang Island (#88) > Agoria > Kölsch > Azekel > Off Bloom > MAY > Alex Cameron
FLORINA // 10.3
Ten Fé
FLYNNONDA // 40.4 (D- / 46th)
Mondo Grosso (#25) > VUKOVI (#89) > Charlotte > Tyne > King No-One > Erith > Mulàn > Lucy Mason > H.E.R. > Donny Montell
FRANDOOT // 25.5
Otilia > Kristinia DeBarge
FSR RONTVIA // 68.7 (B+ / 10th)
Black Motion/Nokwazi (#54) > Kosmonova (#63) > Daithí (#67) > Tina Guo (#68) > Yaşar Gaga/Sezen Aksu (#119) > Huntza (#140) > Emma Bale > Tom Fall > Delta Goodrem > Dacia
GREENFROZE // 24.4 (71st)
CoCo And The Butterfields > Runaway Zoo > Alaska Thunderfuck > Dorian Electra > Kidswaste/Chelsea Cutler > Nova Miller
HARMONICA // 38.0 (50th)
KANEHOLLER (#124) > Tall Heights > Daniella Mason > Northeast Party House > Moment > Hollyn > ARY > Blondage > Jillian Jacqueline > Kari Kimmel
HELGON // 31.5 (64th)
Sophia Somajo/Seinabo Sey > MARLENE > Skott > Eden Prince/Cassie > Avante Black
HENDINIA // 34.2 (60th)
Troll (#22) > Elohim > Vanbot > ODESZA/Shy Girls > Dolly Style > Burak Yeter/Ryan Riback > Sigrid Bernson > XYLØ > Cazzi Opeia/Jin X Jin > Violet Chachki
HERZEBANIA // 24.2
Carina Dahl > Veronica Malka
HUSHKANUKIA // 30.3 (68th)
Oonagh (#114) > Hands Like Houses > Haschak Sisters > Gayle Nerva > Sushy/Roachie > Vera Blue > Skott > Ryder > Laura Tesoro > Marlisa
JADAKISSNIA // 88.4 (A+ / 1st)
MONOMOTION (#7) > Francis And The Lights (#11) > aYia (#16) > Hugar/Arnór Dan (#32) > BÖ (#40) > TEARIST (#57) > King Plague (#62) > Moth Equals (#83) > SOLDOUT/GOOSE (#99) > Zhanar Dugalova
THE JASMINE MASTERS KINGDOM // 72.3 (A- / 7th)
Fla.mingo (#12) > The Blaze (#58) > CVL† SH‡† > Kaleida > Jacques Greene/How To Dress Well
JAYRUSALEM // 15.5
Call Me Loop > Coracle/Chris Howland/Michael Bird
JOEDONIA // 36.2
Kim Petras/Baby E > FOURS
JUKIANIË // 17.8
Toto > Keiynan Lonsdale
JUPITERDONIA // 37.7 (52nd)
Brooke Candy > INNA > Smallpools > Empire Of The Sun > Syn Cole/Nevve
KINGDOM OF HORANIUS // 19.5
isis > Only The Young
KLUMINICAN REPUBLIC // 66.2 (B / 14th)
Burial (#2) > RÜFÜS DU SOL (#27) > Glass Animals/Joey Bada$$ (#65) > Studio Killers (#107) > Two Steps From Hell (#146) > SOFI TUKKER/Betta Lemme > SMiLE.dk > Montaigne > What So Not/Branchez
KYLIENIPS // 31.6 (63rd)
Echos (#142) > Methyl Ethel > Zolita > NERVO/Kylie Minogue/Jake Shears/Nile Rodgers > Phil Good > Ali Barter > Digital Daggers > BETSY > Betty Who > Aldous Harding
LAND OF DW // 67.6 (B+ / 12th)
Eivør (#18) > N.O.H.A. (#30) > Paddy And The Rats (#43) > Toktok/Soffy O > Digital Nottich > Austra > Apocalyptica/Linda Sundblad/Dave Lombardo > Dover > Ann My Guard > Robortom/Au Revoir Simone
LOTUNIA // 53.9 (C / 27th)
Ágy (#128) > LOBODA > Gery-Nikol > Lola Marsh > Eva Weel Skram > Crywolf
MEDHELNIA // 37.4 (53rd)
CHVRN (#138) > TĀLĀ/MssingNo/WA$$UP > YONAKA > Clare Maguire > MisterWives > Elsa & Emilie > Grandtheft/Delaney Jane > Ella Vos/R3hab > Showtek/Brooks/Natalie Major
MEZIDINIA // 39.7 (48th)
Made In Heights > Ramsey > ABRA > Leah McFall > Gaby Henshaw
MULGRACIA // 45.3 (D / 39th)
Borussia > VanLadyLove > Grouplove > Benjamin Zane/Chris Cage
N DNTN // 68.4 (B+ / 11th)
Yaeji (#17) > Charlotte Gainsbourg (#74) > Empress Of > Frankie Animal > Kyary Pamyu Pamyu > Fishbach
NEW LEXICO // 37.8 (51st)
Confidence Man (#116) > Le Grind > Glasperlenspiel > K.I.D/CupcakKe > YOMBE > ERIA > RALPH > Release The Woolves/Maribelle > Call Me Loop > KREAM/Clara Mae
NICELAND // 32.4 (61st)
Torul (#117) > Project Jenny, Project Jan > BANNERS > NINA > Sofi Mkheyan > culpriit > The Isles > Captain Cuts/Nateur > OHEY/Emily Jean > ARIA
NUMAYANIA // 65.9
Carino Cat
OJNOJ // 39.0 (49th)
TINY-G > Jessie Reyez > TOPIA > Leon Else > Jessica Jarrell > Blessed > JNS > SAARA
OSLOL // 34.3 (59th)
Moment > K.I.D > Terror Jr > Blonde Electra/THE HIGHESTER > Miss Li > Chris Salvatore/ALIUS
PAGASA // 93.5
The Blue Nile (#61)
PALMYRA // 26.2
Phlake > Somewhere Anywhere/Claude Eman
PERSEPHONIA // 100.0 (A* / 0th)
Saor > xi > KNARS > BROCKHAMPTON > Dead Husband > Life Sim > LUNA > End Of The Dream > Achillea > David Starfire
PROJ // 81.0
Röyksopp (#98)
PUPOK // 58.2 (C+ / 23rd)
Sam Spiegel/Ape Drums/Assassin (#24) > Spinee (#47) > Bishop Briggs > Julia Wieniawa/Zeppy Zep > Jennifer Rostock > Mason/Stefflon Don > Bip Ling > Mags Duval > Cherryade > Parisa/Sabrina/T-Nola/El Rey
QUINTESSA // 48.8 (D+ / 36th)
Ashmute (#33) > Driftmoon/DSharp (#96) > Norda/Mike De Ville/Joanna Jones (#103) > Woolf And The Wondershow > Alisha Chinai > A Flock Of Seagulls > White Lung > Leah > Diana Wang > Laura Närhi
RAMRYNIA // 29.3 (69th)
Sirusho (#90) > Birdflipper (#130) > Emma > Mirela > Thomas Rhett/Maren Morris > Tigertown > Ulrikke > Alida > Greta Zazza > Catherine McGrath
REPUBLIC OF ADONIA // 35.2 (57th)
JUTRØ/Linda (#84) > Club cheval > Anna Straker > Sabrina Carpenter > BoA > f(x)
ROLLOLAND // 84.1 (A+ / 2nd)
Steven Wilson (#1) > Anathema (#6) > Archive (#70) > Felix Da Housecat/Thin White Duke/Miss Kittin (#79) > Guillemots > Primitive Radio Gods > White Soxx
SANDEBÖRG // 22.4 (73rd)
Army Of Lovers > ZOË > Gaia > Liis Lemsalu > Kalomira > We The Kids > Benjamin Ingrosso > Quest Pistols Show/Open Kids
SANDÉNIA // 6.9
Jaira Burns > SIIGHTS > Emily Middlemas
SCHERZLAND // 47.9
Black Saint > Tayá/Yxng Bane > Madison Beer
SÉYETANA // 71.3 (A- / 8th)
Fear, And Loathing In Las Vegas (#108) > Epica (#112) > Girls Dead Monster (#132) > nanobii (#137) > Hiroyuki Sawano/Cyua (#150) > Babyraids JAPAN > SIAMÉS > Konomi Suzuki > Yuki Hayashi > EGOIST
SINGERPUREAR // 51.3 (C- / 31st)
Vitalic/David Shaw And The Beat (#31) > Chicks On Speed/Peaches (#109) > Spoon > The Dead South > Jean-Michel Jarre/Cyndi Lauper > Peter Schilling > Pet Shop Boys > Grace Slick > Sheena Easton > Bird
SKALL // 69.4 (B+ / 9th)
Musta Barbaari (#15) > Martyn Bennett (#21) > Kate Bush (#69) > Mike Mareen (#72) > Kjartan Lauritzen (#133) > Jens Lekman > Japandroids > Small Black/Washed Out > Ana Moura
ST. BURBIA // 49.4 (D+ / 34th)
Tasha Tah/RaOol (#13) > Gyptian/Diztortion/Lady Leshurr (#94) > Serayah (#135) > Eva Simons > Jarina De Marco > Billie Eilish > V. Bozeman > Alice Merton > Moxie Raia/Pusha T > Eugénie
SUEDEONIA // 50.6 (C- / 33rd)
Baxter Dury/Parrot/Jarvis Cocker (#80) > Bleachers > John Otway > Love > Alec Benjamin > The RPMs > Sparks
SUMMERICIA // 73.2 (A- / 6th)
CRIM3S (#9) > ERA (#82) > Carpenter Brut (#123) > Prince Rama (#129) > Caramell > VNV Nation > Dark Sarah/JP Leppäluoto > Dorothy > Ericka Jane
TAAHINO // 52.4 (C- / 30th)
Tonight Alive (#46) > Sevdaliza (#48) > Tigress > Greywind > SAINTE > Lao Ra/Konshens > VERIDIA > VUKOVI > K.Flay > GJan
TARTFORD // 51.1 (C- / 32nd)
Crystal Castles (#56) > Marsheaux > Hyper Go-Go > Girly > Lisa > Le Youth/Sydnie > Cruel Youth > Sweet California > Razz/Aviella
TERRA AVIUM // 75.1 (A / 4th)
Steven Wilson/Ninet Tayeb (#8) > felicita (#20) > Cusco (#35) > Varien (#85) > Marcus Warner (#101) > Gjallarhorn > Ravel Nightstar > Conner Youngblood > Stellar Dreams > Alev Lenz
THELONIA // 60.5 (B- / 21st)
MC BOING (#10) > Bonzai > Antony & Cleopatra > Toddla T/Andrea Martin/Stefflon Don > Georgia > IV Rox > Lupa > Sälen
TINNMARK // 19.5 (74th)
Unge Ferrari (#55) > Vigiland > Mikhael Paskalev > Rytmeklubben > Emilie Nicolas > EIRIK > The Uniøn/Lovespeake > Tungevaag & Raaban/Victor Crone > Christopher > Sophie Elise
TRIANGLEDONIA // 30.9 (67th)
Rob & Chris > LarsM > Lynz Munich > LEVV/Tritonal
TRIFOSKI // 64.3 (B / 17th)
Amnesia Scanner (#4) > Guerilla Toss (#87) > Paradis (#100) > Lido/THEY. (#104) > Drones Club > Battles > Chromeo > Pepe Deluxé > Superorganism > PWR BTTM
ULTRAVIOLENCELAND // 35.1 (58th)
Marmozets (#66) > Ana Mena/CNCO > Rebecca & Fiona > Jaded > EASYFUN/Noonie Bao > Georgia Denton > Hannah Jane Lewis > Olivia Holt > Fanny Andersen > Naïka
UMIIRUKA // 51.2
Pixx
UNITED STATES OF JACK // 37.8
Bree Runway
UNOVIA // 37.0 (54th)
Jenn Morel > Francesca Michielin > Brooke Fraser > Utada Hikaru > PON CHO/Paige IV > Manelyk > Molly Kate Kestner > Ricki-Lee > Isabell Otrebus > SLUMBERJACK/Vera Blue
VARAKË // 60.2 (B- / 22nd)
Irina Rimes/Dj Dark/MD Dj (#50) > Fhin > Diogo Piçarra > Evangeline/William Black
VÜLKYRIA // 28.9
Sylvia Erla
WHAT // 34.1
Haken
YEHESI // 36.8 (55th)
IAMX (#106) > Veronika Vesper > Truls > MUNA > Ella On The Run > MY > Sophia Ayana > Jaira Burns > OG3NE > VINAI/Anjulie
ZANMATONY // 41.4 (D- / 45th)
Paradisio (#39) > Envio/Christian Rusch/Elusive (#52) > M4SONIC/YDG > Gryffin/Sinead Harnett > Les Rythmes Digitales > Schwarz > Louis The Child/Evalyn > Yellow Claw/Yade Lauren > The Kenneth Bager Experience/Gisli
That stats magic where I'm 8th overall with an A- yet don't have any entries in the top 100! Must have been very very consistently fine for you. Must try to break the barrier a bit more this year.
I'd forgotten you liked Untouchable that much, that's the best one in your top 10 xx (with the Steven Wilson entries not far behind)
oh wow, I managed an A, what a good BJSC student I am, haha, thanks muchly I also like how you ranked your own entries as well, probably something I woulda done. Cheers for the support and tunage and lovely BJSC paragraphs (although I have to admit, I'm behiiiind!!)
Glad you liked the recap video! it was very fun to put together (minus the part when iMovie updated and screwed things up a bit but that was fixed eventually anyway so no worries ) and of course featured a lot of songs I loved too, so lots of quality in there *.* hooray for 5 Jadakissnian songs in your top 50 and then a further 4 making the cut for your top 100!! A Persephonian A+ is even better than the one I got for my cat magazine tbh xx The pressure is on to be your favourite country again but a 13 and an 18 is a pretty good start so far this year (damn that DNQ #vigil4elena)
Congrats on your top 20 as well *.* I loved the crunchy Burial vibes of 'Yarada Lij' in particular
Bitch
that is a failing grade
welcome to your tape
Although, good for poor underappreciated Ashmute making the top 50 in both Brade YTD Top 50s!
The pass mark is 40 in this country, you're alright Cody
Séyetana really were the most consistent country of the year for me, I voted for 3 of your 4 qualifiers and all of them had exactly 9 points. Consistently very good but no individual entry being quite among my faves of the year. (Sadly Séyetana 2018 so far is a bit below that standard for me oops but maybe you can get some big hits for us to balance that out this time x)
Oops at the iMovie troubles xx at least it worked properly on the 7th attempt rite
(a slight quirk of this grading system, Trifoski really should be up with my faves of the year as well but their score is dragged down quite significantly by PWR BTTM, which I mean is kind of deserved tbh xx but still)
Oh MY you get it with Nikola Rochlle's calm chilled summer in the garden with a Pimm's and this refreshing track on vibe!!
Also listen skank!! De plata is one of her BEST so there!
Very pleased to get an A+ from you along with best song and second best country! Thanks.
Ooft a D+, well still in the top half of the ranking at least and this year has certainly started off on a better foot
oh also
Ooh 4th of the year and an A grade, that's rather good *. Great to have three in your top 20, hell I'm really glad Cusco wasn't lost on everyone. That's a fantastic top 10 all in all, though you have the two Steven Wilson tracks the wrong way round x
(and hype for whatever this is, I'm always up for post rock as you know)
Hyped for 3AM radio 1
B Score and in Top 20 countries looks indeed very consistent. Thanks.
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 16/04/2018
Set And Setting hoping to cope with their semi-final draw for BJSC 104
BJSC 104 has begun over in New Lexico, and we are proud to unveil Persephonia's 83rd main contest entry, 'Coping' by Florida band Set And Setting (thus returning us to boring nationalities after three straight entries of introducing new nationalities to our back catalogue). 'Coping' dates back to July 2014 when it was released as a single / preview track from their second studio album 'A Vivid Memory' which dropped in September of that year, and it received a music video the following year.
'Coping', like all of the band's output, is entirely instrumental making for our second consecutive instrumental entry and 13th to date in main contests (working overtime to catch up to Terra Avium's tally x). It's also our third dabbling into the various flavours of metal - we already tried symphonic metal and atmospheric black metal last year and now it is the turn of post-metal, as we're delivering a loud and glorious soundtrack to the apocalypse to BJSC's eardrums once again. Make sure you crank up the volume for this one. At a chunky 6 minutes and 44 seconds, it's our second longest main contest entry to date and our third longest including spinoffs (trailing the 11:28 epic of Saor's 'Hearth' from BJSC 97 and the 7:55 'Kassidat El Hakka' by SEXWITCH from the Halloween I spinoff). The official music video is a little longer at just over 7 minutes thanks to label Prosthetic Records and the video directors sneaking in a cheeky self-plug in the intro and outro, but it's some well deserved promo as it's a pretty epic video with some beautiful CGI, perfectly matching the apocalyptic feel of the song. Have a look below, there's also an http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXi72Ag9LFE without the additional 30 seconds of label promo.
Unfortunately for our hopes of gaining a qualification streak again, we've ended up in the opposite semi to the majority of the countries who would usually vote for this sort of thing, so if you're in semi-final 2 with us and you like this song, please do give it as many points as you can xxx 'Coping' appears as track 21 out of 28 there.
Over in slot 25 in semi-final 1, Medhelnia's return to the contest has also brought back Kevin Abstract (with the song 'Empty') who thus makes his second solo appearance in BJSC following singing the hook to our BJSC 96 DNQ 'GOLD' as a member of BROCKHAMPTON and his 10th place finish for Cumulonimbia in BJSC 98 with 'Miserable America'. We wish him the best of luck in hopefully performing more like the latter than the former. Another Persephonian alumnus of sorts, Janus Rasmussen who is a member of both Fura (our BJSC 70 entry with 'Demons') and Bloodgroup (our BJSC Masquerade I entry with 'Fall') has also had another outing in this contest with another group, this time Kiasmos, a duo with Ólafur Arnalds, who are representing Aelandor this month with 'Looped', track 2 in semi-final 1. A shoutout also to Espen who have sent The Pirouettes with 'Tu Peux Compter Sur Moi', not quite a Persephonia alumnus but they did appear as a Persephonia surrogate entry in the second edition of the Pop Forum Song Contest with 'L'Escalier' (speaking of which, hype for PFSC V which should be starting reasonably soon maybe hopefully). Their new song can be found as track 9 in semi-final 2.
Persephonia rep the 00s in 90s vs. 00s with a dubstep classic
For a change, during the entry reveal tonight for the newest BJSC spinoff, BJSC 90s vs. 00s (held in second-time spinoff host nation Aeroche), we were as much in the dark about what our entry was going to be as everyone else was. For the gimmick was that every country submitted two songs and it was entirely random which one made it into the contest. Persephonia fell on the 00s side of the coin. (Our prospective entry for if we'd instead been allocated the 90s was also revealed in the thread but y'all just forget about that because it may or may not end up being a main contest entry for us in the coming months anyway).
We are thus going to be represented in the contest by a true CLASSIC (a rare Persephonia entry that actually made it onto the UK Singles Chart, albeit at a lowly #98) from the early dubstep scene, namely 'Night' by Benga and Coki, two producers from London. Despite its low peak this is probably one of the most influential and recognisable songs from the genre (although there are numerous far more famous songs in the spinoff so we're not too cheap xx). Even if you don't know this, you'll probably know at least a couple of other songs that Benga had a hand in, as he also makes up one third of Magnetic Man of top 10 hit 'I Need Air' (feat. Angela Hunte) and top 20 hit 'Perfect Stranger' (feat. Katy B) fame, alongside Skream and Artwork. He also produced Katy B's 'Katy On A Mission' and BJSC entry 'Throw It Down' by Dominique Young Unique. 'Night' was released in February 2008 ahead of the March release of Benga's second studio album 'Diary Of An Afro Warrior'. It's yet another instrumental, and another fairly long one at just under 6 minutes in its full album version, however the music video is for a more bite-sized sub-3 minute version (and features a rather iconic squid swimming along to the beat, as alluded to in our ~hype~ post). Take a listen below (and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dvZAD2uraA a link to the full version of the song if that interests you).The voting thread hasn't gone live yet but we'll fill in here where we are in the running order when it's up x
EDIT: 'Night' has been drawn in slot 21 of 38.
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 22/04/2018
Set And Setting defy the odds to make the final!!
There are renewed questions over the viability of a diplomatic solution to the dispute with New Lexico over Persephonian East Allecian, as the BJSC 104 host nation decided to oh so conveniently leave the fate of our entry to practically the very last second. But all politics aside, it did end up being good news as Set And Setting's 'Coping' was announced as a qualifier after all, meaning we officially DEFIED THE ODDS a second month in a row (nu Trifoski), scooping up our 62nd finalist to date, 2nd in a row and third out of a possible four so far in 2018. Aeroche and Cor Lupus both made it to their 18th straight final and Trifoski to their 17th, all now having qualification streaks around three times as long as the next best by South Danaelanda and FSR Rontvia (both on 6 in a row). Thank you very much to our few semi-final 2 voters. 'Coping' has been drawn in slot 5 of 37 in the grand final.
In what we believe to be a first in our nation's history, all ten of the songs we voted for in semi-final 2 actually qualified to the final alongside us. There were, however, a trio of losses from our unofficial straw poll top 10 of semi-final 1: Persephonian alumnus-of-sorts Kevin Abstract sadly missed the final this time, with his 'Empty' (representing Medhelnia) placing 3rd for us, Zaminton missed out after coming 7th in our ranking with Shystie's Azealia Banks diss track 'Doppelgänger' (iconic) and Deandria also found themselves shut out again after coming 10th for us with Božo Vrećo's 'Pustinja' (feat. Indigo).
Congrats Bray! you seemed genuinely convinced that this had absolutely no chance in semi 2 (understandable with its target audience in the other semi) but there you go, well and truly defied the odds *.* this was a real treat in semi 2 in amongst so much stuff that wasn't doing it for me at all, looking forward to giving it a second listen in the near future. Yay for Jadaphonia both in the final together this time!
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 27/05/2018
post-exams catchup edition [1/2]
BJSC 90s vs. 00s summary
A little over a month ago now the final results of the 90s vs. 00s spinoff in Aeroche took place, with our entry 'Night' by Benga and Coki just about finishing in the top half of the scoreboard, coming 19th out of 38 with 117 points from 14 voters (and 9th out of the 19 00s songs). Two countries gave it a medal position - it picked up 15 points from Cowtermont and 13 from Quintessa (with the latter paid back in kind as they got our 18, although sadly didn't do too well overall).
The winner of the spinoff was never in much doubt as Espen led from the first vote with the 90s classic 'Saltwater' by Chicane featuring Máire Brennan which quickly jumped to a huge lead, ultimately winning with a massive 308 points, receiving points from all but five of the voting countries. This makes Espen the latest country to get a much-delayed victory in 2018, as it's the first time they've won any BJSC contest, although the main contest victory continues to elude them. Another classic from the 90s, The KLF's 'Justified And Ancient (Stand By The Jams)' finished in second place for Fljótavík, well behind on 218 points. The highest ranked song representing the 00s half of the contest was the host nation Aeroche's entry, 'Feel The Beat' by Darude, which came 3rd with 208 points. It was otherwise an all-90s affair in the top 5, with Dobago coming 4th on 198 points with BT's 'Flaming June' and newbie nation Mosquetania tasting a first success as they came 5th with their first spinoff entry 'Summer Son' by Texas on 186 points.
Three of the other five songs in the top ten were also 90s songs: 6th placed Terra Avium with Röyksopp's debut single 'So Easy', 7th placed Cowtermont with Robin S' 'Luv 4 Luv' (the follow-up to and near exact clone of 'Show Me Love', which won the Dance Anthems 90s spinoff for Mdiče back in the day) and 9th placed Lotunia with 'Windancer', an album track from 1995 Eurovision winners Secret Garden. Repping the 00s in the top tier, Niceland came 8th with The Knife's 'Like A Pen' (not their only success in today's write-up x) and Ojnoj clutched tenth place with Bluelagoon's 'Break My Stride', winning a tiebreak with Hushkanukia's entry 'Upside Down' by A*Teens thanks to its impressive 5 18s.
Full Persephonian rankings for BJSC 90s vs. 00s
Points awarded:
18 Quintessa // Happoradio - Che Guevara
15 Lotunia // Secret Garden - Windancer
13 Espen // Chicane - Saltwater (feat. Máire Brennan)
12 Holland-Oats // Pulp - Common People
11 Niceland // The Knife - Like A Pen
10 Unovia // Tata Young - Dhoom Dhoom
9 Terra Avium // Röyksopp - So Easy
8 Deandria // Air - Run
7 Aelandor // Death Cab For Cutie - Tiny Vessels
6 Fljótavík // The KLF - Justified And Ancient (Stand By The Jams)
5 Aeroche // Darude - Feel The Beat
4 PRoJ // Wookie - Battle (feat. Lain)
3 Jadakissnia // Arash - Temptation (feat. Rebecca)
2 Taahino // We The Kings - Check Yes Juliet
1 Jupiterdonia // Elsiane - Across The Stream
16th-37th:
Flynnonda // The Faders - Jump
South Danaelanda // Masters At Work - Work (Riffs & Rays Remix) (feat. Puppah Nas-T and Denise Belfon)
Dobago // BT - Flaming June
Hushkanukia // A*Teens - Upside Down
Trifoski // They Might Be Giants - Istanbul (Not Constantinople)
Ojnoj // Bluelagoon - Break My Stride
Cowtermont // Robin S - Luv 4 Luv
St. Burbia // Keri Hilson - Turn My Swag On
Suedeonia // The Dylans - Godlike
Bøtanikkä // Ace Of Base - Beautiful Life
Land of DW // Kim'Kay - Lilali
Beaverdonia // Artful Dodger - Twentyfourseven (feat. Melanie Blatt)
Séyetana // Aya Hirano - God Knows...
Altyr Muunilinst // Vanessa Williams - 2 Of A Kind
République d'Áskorza // Ricky Martin - La Copa De La Vida
Rolloland // Chris Rea - Tell Me There's A Heaven
Mosquetania // Texas - Summer Son
Vülkyria // Uncanny Alliance - I'm Beautiful Dammitt!
FSR Rontvia // Thunderbugs - Friends Forever
New Lexico // Stars On 54 - If You Could Read My Mind
Aesthetica // Deee-Lite - Bring Me Your Love
Cadelicia // Ultrabeat - I Wanna Touch You
BJSC 104 summary
- The high to mid 20s glass ceiling for post-rock entries held strong in the final of BJSC 104 in New Lexico, as our entry 'Coping' by Set And Setting came in the 'mid 20s' range of that, finishing 26th out of 37 (not bottom 10 yay, also finally a new unique position yay) with a score of 142 points. As expected that came from a relatively small spread of voters (15 of them), with a good number of medal positions among its few votes - no 18s this time, but we did get 15 points each from East Rukahavian, Rolloland and Suedeonia, and a further 13 points each from Aelandor and Terra Avium. The interesting story of our entry this contest was actually its semi-final result, as it turns out 'Coping' really had a truly nightmarish semi-final draw as we thought - it scraped through in 18th out of 28, the lowest qualifying position, in semi-final 2 with only 34 points (meaning it was, of course, projected to come 36th). That matches the all-time record for the lowest points total ever to be enough to qualify (jointly held by Baker's 'All I'm Gonna Say' and Keri Hilson's 'Break The Ice' which both got 34 points to qualify in BJSC 34 for N-Lazone and Quotosibb respectively, as well as AlunaGeorge's 'You Know You Like It' (Skall, BJSC 40), which nonetheless went on to come 9th in the final). We would have still qualified (on the strength of exactly 4 voters) even without the 1 point Holland-Oats gave us in the semi-final, to have had that record all to ourselves. As it were, that points total would have only been enough for fourth to last in the other semi-final of this same contest, and it's a lower total than that of 10 of our 21 DNQs. Welp. x
- Like in the spinoff, the winner of BJSC 104 was barely challenged during the reveal: Niceland held a healthy lead for most of the night, and it held to the final scoreboard, as they became the contest's third consecutive first-time winner with Built By Titan's 'Broken Love' (feat. Starxs) which cruised to the top with 366 points, a full 94 points ahead of its closest rival. In terms of percentage of available points that's one of the highest we've seen in recent years, only bested by Sigala's 'Easy Love' and Salt Ashes' 'Save It' unless you go all the way back to BJSC 41 and earlier. Niceland's wait for a winner wasn't as long as that of Ojnoj and New Lexico (this was 'only' their 17th entry) but it's nonetheless lovely to keep adding new countries to the winner list, and to the host list, as they are currently nearing the end of their hosting of BJSC 105. Their previous peak and only previous top 10 hit was Shanguy's 'La Louze' which came 5th in the first contest of this year. 'Broken Love' was also the winner of semi-final 1, Niceland's second semi-final winner (also following 'La Louze'). And it was a huge improvement from the last time Built By Titan was in the contest: he was second to last in BJSC 85 semi-final 2 with 'Dangerous' (feat. Jesse McCartney) representing Oslol. How the non-mighty rise.
- They weren't very close to the leader at all but it's tempting to run with the narrative nonetheless that Séyetana were robbed of the chance to immediately follow Ojnoj and New Lexico as super overdue first time winners (this being their 68th entry, a similar total to those two despite joining the contest years later, as unlike Ojnoj and New Lexico they have never missed a contest since they joined in BJSC 37). As it were, they did come in 2nd place with Beyond The Black's 'Night Will Fade' on a total of 272 points which still represents a new peak for the nation, whose one previous medal position was a 3rd place with Dream Beats' 'Love Stuck' (feat. The Face) in BJSC 48. That song is much less representative of their usual sound than their new standard-bearer, which is a rare rock song (symphonic metal to be precise, naturally) to cross over in a big way to the BJSC voting masses. 'Night Will Fade' is Séyetana's 14th top 10 in total but only their 3rd top 5, as they also count among their list three 9th placers and five 10th placers (plus two 8ths, a 6th and a 5th). Kings of the top 10 scrape.
- Two more countries in the top 5 also set new peaks (in fact it's the first top 10 hit for both). The bronze medal went to Cowtermont, earning 253 points with NWYR's 'Ends Of Time' to smash their best of 18th set in BJSC 98 with the Icarus Edit of ARLE's 'Close To You'. Meanwhile in 5th place was Rolloland, who had previously peaked with their BJSC 94 debut entry 'Routine' by Steven Wilson which came 12th despite being 9 minutes long. Length isn't an issue though it seems, as their new biggest hit is even longer, clocking in at 10 minutes and 15 seconds, making it probably the longest song to ever go top 5 in BJSC. The song in question is 'Das Testaments Des Mabuse: The Third Side' by Propaganda, the extended 12" version of their 1984 UK #27 hit 'Dr. Mabuse' (which probably also makes it one of the oldest BJSC top 5 hits, though it's not as old as Irma Thomas' 'Anyone Who Knows What Love Is (Will Understand)' which narrowly missed the top 5 earlier this year for St. Burbia). Among its 231 points were 8 sets of 18 points, the most in this contest by far and matching Kim Petras' 'Heart To Break' for the most top scores for a BJSC entry in 2018 and joint 7th on the list of songs with the most top scores in all of the contest's history. In between the two in fourth place was FARC with Thandi Phoenix's 'My Way' on 248 points, not such new territory for them as it's their second 4th place finish in a row, and their 9th top 5 and 15th top 10 hit in total. The http://www.buzzjack.com/forums/index.php?s=&showtopic=193469&view=findpost&p=5969804 predicted FARC would win another semi-final soon, and whaddayaknow, they did so the very next contest, topping semi-final 2 in an absolute landslide with 150 points, making it a bit of a surprise that they were so far adrift of the win in the final. Nonetheless, that's their 6th semi-final winner, click that link to see the other 5.
- Cor Lupus came 6th with Jorn Van Deynhoven's instrumental 'Rising High', their 9th top 10 hit to date but their first in 8 contests (despite all of those entries qualifying). 13 of the last 15 entries from Singerpurear before this contest failed to make the final, and one of the two that did came second to last in the final. Their latest qualifier, however, did a lot better - they came 7th this time around with Ria Mae's 'Bend', their 5th top 10 hit to date. Hushkanukia were one of the most high profile countries to decide to suddenly quit the contest immediately after BJSC 100, but they found themselves tempted to return after only three contests away and were rewarded handsomely with an 8th place finish on their comeback with Serena's 'Safari', their 8th top 10 hit (and only the third to come higher than 9th, as they are just as good at scraping the top 10 as Séyetana are, with the key difference that they have actually won a contest as well). South Danaelanda came in 9th with Andrew Rayel's 'Horizon' (feat. Lola Blanc), completing a 3-6-9 set of finishes for the three big trance entries in the contest, and giving them their 9th top 10 hit to date. Finally in the top 10, Vülkyria came 10th with AMY MIYÚ and Rochelle's 'All Good', their 10th top 10 hit and the first in their current spell of activity in the contest (i.e. since their comeback in BJSC 100). It should be noted however that they would have missed the top 10 if not for a 33% non-voting deduction given to Oslol's entry 'You Only Say You Love Me In The Dark' by Janice, which was in 5th place before the deduction but ultimately came in 20th. It had qualified for the final despite having a 33% deduction for non-voting in the semi-finals too. Bad bad Oslol. They've been slapped with another one-month ban, as have, somewhat surprisingly, moderator nation Daehun who debuted the same month as Séyetana and had also never missed a contest up until now. Pupok and Taahino also didn't vote in the final (the latter suffering a 33% deduction to come 34th in the final with AmaLee and dj-Jo's 'ECHO', while the former didn't make the final anyway) but did not receive the ban due to some extenuating circumstances.
- No debuting nations to speak of this month, but there was one further nation setting a new peak alongside the 4 in the top 5: the previous contest's debutant nation, Mosquetania, found a decent hit on their second attempt, coming in 14th place with The Brocks' 'My Love'.
- There were 5 returning nations in this contest, two of which were covered already (Hushkanukia's grand comeback, and Oslol, who were back from serving their last one-month ban for failing to vote back in BJSC 102). Where there is Hushkanukia there is Ultraviolenceland, who were another of the countries to drop out after BJSC 100 despite being one of the most successful countries of 2017, but also came back in this contest, albeit with an entry that was... not particularly serious, and fell short of the final. Also back after being a post-100 dropout, Medhelnia sadly DNQed with Kevin Abstract's 'Empty', our sort-of alumnus. Finally Thelonia came back again after a one-month ban, and did what Thelonia do best, missing out on the final by being one place off the qualifying threshold (this is the fourth time they've been one place off qualifying, with several other near misses on top of that - and unfortunately it was those twats Persephonia who kept them out this month).
- Despite it actually being a good entry, host nation New Lexico's auto-qualifier 'Ginga' by IZA featuring Rincon Sapiência found itself holding up the rear of the pack, taking the wooden spoon in 37th out of 37 with 98 points, making it the only song not to reach 100 points (though Ramrynia only barely made it, with 100 points in 36th with Ann Marr's 'Bullet'). New Lexico are the sixth country to follow a win with a last-place finish, a list which also includes Persephonia (as we finished a distant last in BJSC 68 with Eagles For Hands' 'Glass Heart' (feat. Holly Partridge) immediately following our win with Jay Dabhi and Moises Modesto's 'Cry For Freedom'). We feel ya Lexi. Lorikeet in BJSCs 21 & 22, Greenfroze in BJSCs 40 & 41, Daehun in BJSCs 61 & 62 and Beaverdonia in BJSCs 85 & 86 are the other four to manage the 'feat'.
- Other noteworthy results: Aelandor came 11th with Kiasmos' 'Looped', the other sort-of Persephonian alumnus in this contest (and heartbreakingly close to being a second top 10 hit for the nation, who received our full 18 points); Aesthetica qualified for the first time since BJSC 94 (with 7 DNQs and two contests missed to one-month bans in the meantime), finishing 26th with Shea Couleé's 'Cocky' (feat. Lila Star and The Vixen); Espen came 30th with The Pirouettes' 'Tu Peux Compter Sur Moi', a respectable finish for the act who were an associate Persephonia entry in the Pop Forum Song Contest and didn't set the scoreboard on fire there either.
Full Persephonian rankings for BJSC 104
Final
Points awarded:
18 Aelandor // Kiasmos - Looped
15 Jadakissnia // Adam F - Circles
13 Cowtermont // NWYR - Ends Of Time
12 Mosquetania // The Brocks - My Love
11 Terra Avium // Mytischi - Cassiopeia
10 Bhangra // Molly Sterling - Plain Static
9 Aeroche // LLLL - For F (feat. Meishi Smile and Calendula)
8 Rolloland // Propaganda - Das Testaments Des Mabuse: The Third Side
7 Espen // The Pirouettes - Tu Peux Compter Sur Moi
6 Aesthetica // Shea Couleé - Cocky (feat. Lila Star and The Vixen)
5 Bøtanikkä // KAAZE - Opera (feat. Elle Vee)
4 FSR Rontvia // Bart&Baker - We Are What We Are (Wolfgang Lohr Remix) (feat. The Billy Bros. Swing Orchestra)
3 New Lexico // IZA - Ginga (feat. Rincon Sapiência)
2 Trifoski // Hatchie - Sugar & Spice
1 Séyetana // Beyond The Black - Night Will Fade
16th-36th:
Niceland // Built By Titan - Broken Love (feat. Starxs)
Buzzjack Mountain // Amélie - Marbella
Suedeonia // Jane Weaver - The Architect
Vülkyria // AMY MIYÚ and Rochelle - All Good
Tartford // Post Precious - Lose Myself
Tinnmark // HUMAN - HIGHER
Cor Lupus // Jorn Van Deynhoven - Rising High
Taahino // AmaLee and dj-Jo - ECHO
St. Burbia // L Devine - Like You Like That
Unovia // SANNI - Pornoo
Ramrynia // Ann Marr - Bullet
Desbuanda // Middle Kids - Mistake
Hushkanukia // Serena - Safari
FARC // Thandi Phoenix - My Way
Singerpurear // Ria Mae - Bend
Oslol // Janice - You Only Say You Love Me In The Dark
Quintessa // ARCHIS - Let Me Love
South Danaelanda // Andrew Rayel - Horizon (feat. Lola Blanc)
Ojnoj // Alison Wonderland - Easy
Cadelicia // Sabella - Fortress (Blinkie Remix)
Jupiterdonia // Antonia - Tango
~
Semi-Final 2
Points awarded:
12 Cowtermont // NWYR - Ends Of Time
10 Mosquetania // The Brocks - My Love
8 Espen // The Pirouettes - Tu Peux Compter Sur Moi
7 Aesthetica // Shea Couleé - Cocky (feat. Lila Star and The Vixen)
6 Suedeonia // Jane Weaver - The Architect
5 Unovia // SANNI - Pornoo
4 Vülkyria // AMY MIYÚ and Rochelle - All Good
3 Cor Lupus // Jorn Van Deynhoven - Rising High
2 FARC // Thandi Phoenix - My Way
1 St. Burbia // L Devine - Like You Like That
11th-27th:
South Danaelanda // Andrew Rayel - Horizon (feat. Lola Blanc)
République d'Ashton // Alex Mayr - Wenn Alles Schläft†
Dobago // Amber Mark - Monsoon (feat. Mia Mark)†
Oslol // Janice - You Only Say You Love Me In The Dark
Flynnonda // Jake Alder - Chasin' Time (feat. LKA)†
Cumulonimbia // Imani Coppola - Raindrops From The Sun (Hey Hey Hey)†
Ojnoj // Alison Wonderland - Easy
Quintessa // ARCHIS - Let Me Love
Ramrynia // Ann Marr - Bullet
Holland-Oats // Luke Million - Hypnotised (feat. Last Dinosaurs)†
Ultraviolenceland // Zanger Rinus - Met Romana Op De Scooter†
Cadelicia // Sabella - Fortress (Blinkie Remix)
Jupiterdonia // Antonia - Tango
Greenfroze // Maja Francis - Saved By The Summer†
East Rukahavian // Vanessa Mai - Regenbogen (Piano Version)†
Thelonia // Sophie Lloyd - Calling Out (feat. Dames Brown)†
Land of DW // Kim Wilde and Ricky Wilde - Pop Don't Stop†
† DNQed
~
Semi-Final 1 DNQs
3rd Medhelnia // Kevin Abstract - Empty
7th Zaminton // Shystie - Doppelgänger
10th Deandria // Božo Vrećo - Pustinja (feat. Indigo)
15th Skall // Los Campesinos! - This Is How You Spell "HAHAHA, We Destroyed The Hopes And Dreams Of A Generation Of Faux-Romantics"
21st Daehun // Ewa Farna - Bumerang (Polish Version)
22nd Fljótavík // G Flip - About You
23rd Harmonica // ARY - Already There
24th Pupok // BananaLemon - GIRLS GONE WILD
25th Lotunia // TAEMIN - MOVE
27th Altyr Muunilinst // HEDDA - Reverse
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 27/05/2018
post-exams catchup edition [2/2]
Ah that was worth waiting for. Perfect narrative to top off the good things that happened last contest.
x (I mean I'm sure that Séyetana win is coming soon... not this month tho x)
#persephonia2win
everyone simply must check out this banger as well *.*
This is surprisingly brilliant
Omg I forgot to even link that so thanks for giving that promo Jade xx
(that song was the one I was originally going to send from ATCR before I found 'Sisters' - it's a little more niche but also amaze x)
I am just as shocked. 2018 clearly the year of Ashphonia
not forgetting this synthy anthem banger (which I've known for a while). sorry, no 'kitty' tho
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 01/06/2018
BJSC 105 summary
- Unfortunately the Persephonian BJSC Committee's heavily funded self-hype campaign for our entry to win this month didn't quite pan out, but the final results of BJSC 105 in Niceland on Monday night were still pretty good for us as we claimed our first top 10 hit of 2018 so far with A Tribe Called Red's 'Sisters' (feat. Northern Voice) coming 10th out of 38 with a total of 236 points. It became our 14th top 10 hit in total and matched the position of the previous one, Life Sim's 'IDL' in BJSC 100. 32 countries voted for the song, a total surpassed in our back catalogue only by DANCE WITH THE DEAD's 'Waves' (34 voters) and Jay Dabhi and Moises Modesto's 'Cry For Freedom' (33). Though it did give us our highest position, points and voters of 2018 so far it didn't beat the 3 top scores achieved by Mikael Seifu in BJSC 103 - 'Sisters' went nearly the entire reveal without any scores higher than 13, but finally got a single 18 in the very last vote to be revealed, that of Land of DW (who had previously given us 15 points on six occasions without ever going one better). Four countries gave it 13 points: Aeroche, South Danaelanda, Deandria and Terra Avium. Aeroche were the second-to-last voters to be revealed, meaning we had a very strong finish to the night, which was much needed as we hadn't been inside the top 10 at any point prior during the reveal. The final 10th place was just ahead of our projected 11th place finish as it came 6th out of 29 in semi-final 2 with 83 points (both one place and one point lower than our year to date best with IC3PEAK in BJSC 101). Thanks to all those who voted and helped us continue our run of getting at least one top ten hit per calendar year since 2012! now the pressure's on for this to keep up our 100% record of top 10 hits making the TBO semi-finals
- For the fourth contest in a row, we welcomed a new country into the list of BJSC winners. This month's first-time victors were Land of DW, who made their debut in BJSC 69 and have not missed a contest since. They've had a pretty rough history in the contest, DNQing with 21 of their previous 36 entries (including all of their first five efforts) but had seen more success in the past year and a bit as they picked up their first top 10 with 5th placed 'Í Tokuni' by Eivør in BJSC 93, and improved on that with a 2nd place finish in BJSC 101 with Betta Lemme's 'Bambola'. Between those two they also won the Japan vs. South Korea spinoff with kagura's 'sui-ren'. The song to give them their first win (as well as both their third top 10 and third top 5) in the main contest was the similarly all-lower-case styled 'thoughts & prayers' by grandson, an excellent politically charged and highly topical rock song relating to the epidemic of gun violence in the USA, crowned the winner of the contest with a total of 361 points. Land of DW now have the opportunity to be the latest first-time host of BJSC when the contest returns in July from a one-month break. 'thoughts & prayers' became the third entry of the year (after Kim Petras' 'Heart To Break' and Propaganda's 'Das Testaments Des Mabuse: The Third Side') to get 8 top scores of 18, a total surpassed by only 6 other entries in BJSC history, and was additionally (narrowly) the winner of semi-final 2, Land of DW's first semi-final win.
- The success of grandson thus thwarted, for now, Aeroche's latest bid to continue their run of getting at least one win per calendar year - but we still have five more contests this year so this is not over yet!! The BJSC titans actually scored their most successful entry to date in terms of percentage of possible points scored, but alas fell 17 points short of the win this time, finishing in 2nd place with 344 points with Camden Cox's 'Gold'. With that, Aeroche are once again on top of the all-time BJSC medals table, returning to being tied with FSR Rontvia on wins and second places (8 and 6 respectively) but with one more third placer (7 to Rontvia's 6). Your move Rontvia. 'Gold' was Aeroche's 28th top 5 hit (two behind the record held by FSR Rontvia) and their 35th top 10 hit to date. BJSC 105's bronze medal went to Arrhult's '1999' representing Hushkanukia with a total of 310 points. This continued a very successful Hushkanukia comeback into a second contest in a row, giving them their first ever pair of back-to-back top 10 hits and their second biggest hit to date (their only previous top 5 hit was PVRIS' 'St. Patrick', the winner of BJSC 72, the first time they ever even qualified for the final). It's their 9th top 10 hit in total. Quintessa dark horsed their way to 4th place with 307 points for The Wandering Hearts' 'Devil', a very impressive result for a country song (maybe because this one is actually good x), and their 5th top 10 hit to date, all of which have gone top 5. It also put them in the #1 spot in the year-to-date rankings, just 6 points ahead of closest rivals Aeroche, as well as winning semi-final 1 to give Quintessa a third semi-final victory following Mirror Talk's '1/M/T' in BJSC 80 and their BJSC 97 final winner 'Gypsy (Catch Me If You Can)' by Norda and Mike De Ville featuring Joanna Jones. South Danaelanda completed the top 5, winning a tiebreak for 5th on 276 points with Dimension's 'Black Church', giving them a 5th top 5 and 10th top 10 hit (also their second top 10 in a row).
- Losing the tiebreak (as they apparently do best) and ending in 6th was FSR Rontvia with Millie Turner's 'The Shadow', nonetheless extending their lead for most top 10 hits once again, this now being their 51st. Aeroche haven't yet reached second place on that list, currently still lagging behind the currently inactive Hendinia who have 39 top 10 hits. Cor Lupus, like South Danaelanda, got a second top 10 hit in a row and a 10th to date, coming 7th with Andromedik's 'Your Eyes'. The similarities don't end there as the two nations both sent trance songs last month and both sent drum n bass songs this month. St. Burbia came in 8th with the bite-sized song 'Bubble Gum' by VAX and Sorana, giving them a 6th top 10 hit while they're still yet to crack the top 5 (this matches the record of Järkangel and Land of Jack who also had six top 10s without going higher than 6th - which means we can now start teasing St. Burbia for this like we did for ages to Taahino about their run of top 20s without a top 10 ). Finally in the top 10, as we already covered ourselves in 10th, 9th place went to Unovia with Aja's 'Brujería' (feat. DJ Mitch Ferrino), their 17th top 10 hit to date, and a very rare Unovian entry to feature male vocals (albeit a drag queen in this case).
- There were no debuting nations again in this contest. One more country besides Land of DW set a new peak, and it was a long time coming for a fairly small improvement: Thelonia got off to a pretty strong start in the contest, coming 14th in BJSC 73 with their debut entry 'Got It' by Marian Hill, but they have been a notoriously underrated country ever since, to this day never having qualified to two consecutive finals and only previously cracking the top 20 one more time (with 19th placed 'I Heard Love' by IV Rox in BJSC 91). This time around, they set a new national best of 13th place with trance anthem 'Will We Remain?' by ilan Bluestone and Maor Levi featuring EL Waves. One step closer to ending Thelonia racism for good. Additionally, Holland-Oats came 28th with Client Liaison's 'World Of Our Love' to match the national best they set three contests earlier with Vera Blue's 'Regular Touch'.
- There were 6 returning nations in BJSC 105, with 4 of them making the final. The most successful was also the longest awaited comeback - Utopia have been competing on and off since the very twilight of the contest (debuting in BJSC 3) but had been on their longest absence ever, vanishing for 16 contests after BJSC 88, prior to their return this month with the addictive house track 'Pick Up' by DJ Koze which finished in a solid 15th place. Yehesi made another comeback after another two months out and this time made the final, coming in 26th with Zaho's 'Laissez-Les Kouma'. Palmyra became the latest country to come back again after being last seen in BJSC 100, with their latest fleeting re-appearance landing them a 33rd place finish with Folly Rae's 'Sniper'; it remains to be seen if they'll hang around for more than a month this time (they disappeared again as suddenly as they returned in their previous comebacks in BJSCs 91 and 100). Beaverdonia returned from a one-month ban with another Latin smash, and this time qualified for the final, coming 34th with Gente De Zona's 'La Gozadera' (feat. Marc Anthony). Republic of Adonia would also have qualified for the final with their comeback after 3 months out but, naturally, they didn't vote in the semi-final and were hit with a 33% deduction - however, they actually DID vote in the final, which can't be said for #00274E who missed out on the final with their comeback after a one-month ban, and thus now have another one-month ban for BJSC 106 (as do fellow non-voters Buzzjack Mountain and Medhelnia). Republic of Adonia weren't the only country to miss out to a deduction: Greenfroze would have qualified if not for voting after the deadline and thus being subject to a 15% deduction.
- As predicted by pretty much everyone, the wooden spoon this month went to Séyetana who managed to luck out and get an auto-qualifier slot following their 2nd place finish in the last contest (theoretically a 50/50 chance but as it happens, 12 of the last 14 contests before this one ended on an odd number of entries and thus only had the one auto-qualifier). Thus they achieved the dream of getting a cutesy anime theme to the final but it had a naturally limited audience, receiving votes from only 9 countries. That song was 'Platinum Disco' by Iguchi Yuka (or Yuka Iguchi as she was billed in the threads, but we're going off what both her albums were credited to xx), which came in 38th out of 38 with 66 points. The other auto-qualifier from hosts Niceland only did a little better - they came in 37th with a version of the song 'Givin' Up' by One eskimO which also gave us trouble in deciding exactly how to credit it (it was billed with the made-up tag 'Violin Version' in the thread but it seems to just be some slightly more heavily produced variant of the Single Version so we're going with that), which picked up 84 points. At least they didn't make it two times in a row the follow-up to a winner came dead last. Two other songs failed to crack the 100 point mark: FARC came 36th with 90 points with Margrete's 'Joy', and Altyr Muunilinst came 35th with 98 points for 'Behave' by You In Mind (which is still their biggest hit of the year so far, as it's been a rough first half of 2018 for the country who have usually been one of the contest's big hitters, here's hoping they find their rhythm more in the latter half).
- Other noteworthy results: Jadakissnia and Rolloland dutifully represented #longsongbloc having the two longest songs in the final for a second straight contest (amusingly enough they had only one song separating them in the final running order, that being St. Burbia's entry which was the shortest in the contest), and both coming top 20 - Jadakissnia were 16th with the Ott remix of Shpongle's 'Around The World In A Tea Daze', just over 8 and a half minutes long, while Rolloland came 19th with the 9-minute 'The Storm Before The Calm' by Anathema, which topped up the 11 and a bit minutes of 'Untouchable (Parts 1 & 2)' from the same Anathema album which Rolloland came 23rd with in BJSC 100; Cowtermont came 17th with Berg's 'Bayaka' to get their second best finish to date one month after their biggest hit, despite the fact this was the song that only qualified due to the aforementioned 15% deduction to Greenfroze in the semi-final; Cumulonimbia came in 32nd with Alan Braxe and Fred Falke's 'Intro' which caused a very minor kerfuffle when someone noticed the song had already represented the country in the Dance Anthems 00s spinoff several years back (apparently forgotten even by Cumulonimbia themselves) - it finished a lowly 29th out of 35 there, so the fact it even qualified for the final here was a decent bit of redemption.
Full Persephonian rankings for BJSC 105
Final
Points awarded:
18 Utopia // DJ Koze - Pick Up
15 Rolloland // Anathema - The Storm Before The Calm
13 Cowtermont // Berg - Bayaka
12 Land of DW // grandson - thoughts & prayers
11 FSR Rontvia // Millie Turner - The Shadow
10 Unovia // Aja - Brujería (feat. DJ Mitch Ferrino)
9 Thelonia // ilan Bluestone and Maor Levi - Will We Remain? (feat. EL Waves)
8 Deandria // Lusine - Just A Cloud (feat. Vilja Larjosto)
7 Quintessa // The Wandering Hearts - Devil
6 Cumulonimbia // Alan Braxe and Fred Falke - Intro
5 Jadakissnia // Shpongle - Around The World In A Tea Daze (Ott Remix)
4 South Danaelanda // Dimension - Black Church
3 Cor Lupus // Andromedik - Your Eyes
2 Pupok // CuckooLander - Mercury
1 République d'Ashton // Natalia Nykiel - Kokosanki
16th-37th:
Cadelicia // Timmy Trumpet and JETFIRE - Flamenco (feat. RAGE)
Niceland // One eskimO - Givin' Up (Single Version)
Yehesi // Zaho - Laissez-Les Kouma
Dobago // MC Solaar - Sonotone
Aeroche // Camden Cox - Gold
Suedeonia // Sunflower Bean - Twentytwo
Vülkyria // Vremya I Steklo - Troll'
Ojnoj // Wallows - Pictures Of Girls
FARC // Margrete - Joy
Séyetana // Iguchi Yuka - Platinum Disco
Beaverdonia // Gente De Zona - La Gozadera (feat. Marc Anthony)
Palmyra // Folly Rae - Sniper
Desbuanda // FAUX - Take Back Time
Taahino // Litany - Bedroom
East Rukahavian // Vanotek - Back To Me (feat. Eneli)
St. Burbia // VAX and Sorana - Bubble Gum
Hushkanukia // Arrhult - 1999
Holland-Oats // Client Liaison - World Of Our Love
Jupiterdonia // EZI - DaNcing In A RoOm
Altyr Muunilinst // You In Mind - Behave
Bøtanikkä // Verona - Complicated
Tinnmark // Jesper Jenset - FOR LOVE.
~
Semi-Final 2
Points awarded:
12 Thelonia // ilan Bluestone and Maor Levi - Will We Remain? (feat. EL Waves)
10 Rolloland // Anathema - The Storm Before The Calm
8 FSR Rontvia // Millie Turner - The Shadow
7 Lotunia // Sofia Jannok - Snölejoninna (feat. Addeboy Vs. Cliff)†
6 Land of DW // grandson - thoughts & prayers
5 Ultraviolenceland // Vennu Mallesh - It's My Life What Ever I Wanna Do†
4 Unovia // Aja - Brujería (feat. DJ Mitch Ferrino)
3 Terra Avium // Apparat and Soap&Skin - Goodbye†
2 Jadakissnia // Shpongle - Around The World In A Tea Daze (Ott Remix)
1 Trifoski // KNOWER - Overtime (Live)†
11th-28th:
Cadelicia // Timmy Trumpet and JETFIRE - Flamenco (feat. RAGE)
Cor Lupus // Andromedik - Your Eyes
République d'Ashton // Natalia Nykiel - Kokosanki
Yehesi // Zaho - Laissez-Les Kouma
Suedeonia // Sunflower Bean - Twentytwo
Espen // Rui Da Silva and Sugar Jesus - You Don't Wanna Be Loved (feat. Leda)†
Dobago // MC Solaar - Sonotone
Tartford // U.S. Girls - Rosebud†
Medhelnia // Clairo - 4EVER†
Aeroche // Camden Cox - Gold
Mosquetania // Digital Farm Animals - Say My Name (feat. IMAN)†
Aesthetica // HA:TFELT - Pluhmm†
Bøtanikkä // Verona - Complicated
Holland-Oats // Client Liaison - World Of Our Love
Singerpurear // Billie Davis - I Want You To Be My Baby†
Hushkanukia // Arrhult - 1999
Zaminton // Ilias Vrettos - Anevaino†
Taahino // Litany - Bedroom
† DNQed
~
Semi-Final 1 DNQs
1st Aelandor // Hockeysmith - But Blood
4th Skall // of Montreal - Paranoiac Intervals/Body Dysmorphia
5th Buzzjack Mountain // Jason Reign - Rubii No Sora
7th Republic of Adonia // Superorganism - Night Time
13th Bhangra // Nina Zilli - Per Sempre
17th Flynnonda // ANNALIA - Wavelength
18th Fljótavík // MorMor - Heaven's Only Wishful
19th Harmonica // Dinovski - Island Of Sin (feat. Caitlyn Scarlett)
25th New Lexico // Sharon Doorson - Drown In Love
26th Greenfroze // Davai - Loco
29th #00274E // L D R U - Next To You (feat. Savoi)
I was only being consistent with the past times that I've entered Japanese people btw. Which is to always switch their name round to our word order of given then family name, which is the common practice when taking names outside of the context of Japan.
Congrats on the 10th place with a good song (that's my spot, you're v. lucky and fluky and stuff) and for not shading me too much this time.
Oh yeah I know that's usually how these artists are credited in English, but Yuka seems to be an exception (aside from a couple of early singles). Technically 'Platinum Disco' doesn't have an 'official' English title at all as far as I can tell (and I've seen its Japanese title romanised as any of 'Hakkin Disco', 'Shirogane Disco' and 'Purachina Disco') which also didn't help my tagging pedantry. Lol.
(no more Séyetana shade in future PNB editions I promise x 'twas merely some cross-border banter)
((and hey this is only my second time scraping the top 10!!))
Not even gonna run with Land Of DW’s “started from the bottom now we’re here” narrative?
I did mention that their first 5 entries DNQed!
(actually I forgot though that their very first entry came last in the semi-final - just looked it up and they're the fourth country to debut with a last place DNQ and go on to win a contest, following Jamvale/Mulgracia, Hushkanukia and Quintessa #bonusstats).
Actually forgot this was my fifth top 5! Great write up Bré, as per x
Congrats on the top 10 result for 'Sisters'! Perhaps a little disappointing compared to your hopes / the predictions but a top 10 is never to be sniffed at of course. Yay for Jadakissnia getting a mention in the write-up for the #longsongbloc top 20 impact *.* shall have to let down that bloc next contest though I think
You actual SKANK!!!!
#SHOPPINGINLIDLREMEMBERS
#RIOT
#LIDLRIOT
#SUMMERPIMMSTURNEDUPSIDEDOWNYOURHEADTOATTRACTSUMMERMOTH!!!
#SUMMERPIMMSTURNEDUPSIDEDOWNYOURHEADTOATTRACTSUMMERMOTH!!!
omg i was just about 2 say !!!!!
!!!! LMAOOO ffs
#SUMMERPIMMSTURNEDUPSIDEDOWNYOURHEADTOATTRACTSUMMERMOTH!!!
Breaking news: moth populations reported skyrocketing across Persephonia
#MOTHWARFARE
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 14/09/2018
mega catchup edition [1/5]
Persephonia proudly presents Big Freedia for BJSC Pride I
Back in June, to celebrate Pride month there was a Pride spinoff held in Taahino, full of songs by LGBT artists. Persephonia quickly decided to send a track by New Orleans native Freddie Ross aka Big Freedia aka the Queen Diva (a self-identified gay male who uses female pronouns) to represent what was, until very recently, a fairly underground LGBT-friendly subgenre of hip-hop, bounce music. The genre has recently had mainstream success as the latest style to be co-opted by Drake on his transatlantic #1 singles 'Nice For What' and 'In My Feelings', the former of which actually features a vocal sample from Big Freedia herself. As luck would have it Freedia actually released a brand new EP, '3rd Ward Bounce', on the day the spinoff opened (the 1st of June - unsure if it was released to celebrate Pride month or if that's just a lucky coincidence), and we opted to send the third song from the tracklist, 'Bomb'. It is a banger. Listen below.
We'd also recommend the single from the EP, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtU1zjRuTdU, which would probably have done a bit better x
'Bomb' was drawn as track 35 of a bumper 46 in the spinoff.
BJSC Pride I summary
'Bomb' came in 23rd out of 46 (the second spinoff in a row where we finished exactly at the bottom of the top half) with 107 points from 15 voters. That included two medal positions, a full 18 from St. Burbia (as we had hoped for <3) and a 15 from Aesthetica.
Lesbian singer Shura was the winner of the spinoff, with her 'What's It Gonna Be?' topping the list on a total of 243 points to give Hushkanukia their first ever BJSC spinoff win after several previous near misses (they came 2nd in the Worldvision II and Country spinoffs before, both times within 6 points of the winner, as well as picking up bronze medals in Your Best of - The Rejects and Halloween I). Close behind in a runaway top 2, Mosquetania got 234 points to claim the silver medal with MNEK's 'Tongue', continuing their 100% record of top 5 finishes in the two spinoffs they've entered - unfortunately as of the time we're belatedly writing this summary, the country seem to have disappeared immediately from both main contests and spinoffs following this best-to-date result. Cowtermont completed the medal positions, coming 3rd with 193 points* with Unicorn Kid's 'Drift' (feat. Veronica So) to match what was then their best result in any BJSC contest. Hosts Taahino came in 4th on 191 points with Hayley Kiyoko's 'What I Need' (feat. Kehlani), recycling the artist who gave them their first top 10 hit in the main contest earlier in the year, while FARC capitalised on a rare appearance in spinoffs - the Pride theme attracted several countries who don't typically enter the spinoffs - to come 5th on 188 points with 'Nothing 2 Lose' by Asbjørn.
South Danaelanda finished 6th with 'NOTHING MORE TO SAY / EEEHHH', a mashup of two songs by SOPHIE (the highest placed transgender artist in the contest). 7th place went to St. Burbia with Halsey's 'Strangers' (feat. Lauren Jauregui), Skall came 8th with The Blaze's 'Virile' (a third spinoff top 10 for them out of three attempts in 2018 to date, while they still await a return to the main contest top 10 after over four years), Jadakissnia landed 9th place with Arca's 'Desafío' and the top 10 was completed by PRoJ with the classic 'Mary' by Scissor Sisters.
*not calling too much attention to this months later but the final scoreboard as posted was missing a few points for Cowtermont, the only error in there but a fairly substantial one as it did change one of the medallists xx
Full Persephonian rankings for BJSC Pride I
Points awarded:
18 Espen // FAKA - Uyang'khumbula
15 Utopia // Marshmello and Lil Peep - Spotlight
13 Vülkyria // Hi Fashion - Amazing
12 Jupiterdonia // Peaches - Light In Places
11 Cowtermont // Unicorn Kid - Drift (feat. Veronica So)
10 Jadakissnia // Arca - Desafío
9 Mosquetania // MNEK - Tongue
8 Buzzjack Mountain // The Communards - Disenchanted
7 Deandria // serpentwithfeet - four ethers
6 Bøtanikkä // Tooji - Father
5 Skall // The Blaze - Virile
4 Medhelnia // Frank Ocean - Solo
3 Lotunia // Adore Delano - I Adore U
2 Séyetana // QUEEN BEE - Half
1 Flynnonda // BeBe Zahara Benet - Jungle Kitty
16th-45th:
PRoJ // Scissor Sisters - Mary
Unovia // Aja, Alexis Michelle, Peppermint and Sasha Velour - C.L.A.T. (feat. DJ Mitch Ferrino)
Dobago // sin with sebastian - Shut Up (And Sleep With Me)
FARC // Asbjørn - Nothing 2 Lose
South Danaelanda // SOPHIE - NOTHING MORE TO SAY / EEEHHH
Hushkanukia // Shura - What's It Gonna Be?
Ultraviolenceland // GIRLI - Day Month Second
Suedeonia // Pansy Division - Bill & Ted's Homosexual Adventure
Cadelicia // RuPaul - Fly Tonight (feat. Frankmusik)
Aesthetica // Tatianna - Try (feat. Salvadora Dali)
Terra Avium // Bloc Party - I Still Remember
St. Burbia // Halsey - Strangers (feat. Lauren Jauregui)
Pupok // Tove Lo - bitches (feat. Charli XCX, Icona Pop, Elliphant and ALMA)
Aeroche // Freemasons - Rain Down Love (feat. Siedah Garrett)
Thelonia // Steve Grand - We Are The Night (Dave Audé Remix)
Ojnoj // King Princess - Talia
Cor Lupus // Openside - No Going Back
Sandebörg // Dana International - Love Boy
République d'Áskorza // Alcazar - Blame It On The Disco
Holland-Oats // Mary Lambert - Secrets
Desbuanda // Ama Lou - Not Always
Tartford // Jay Brannan - Housewife
Rolloland // Sophie B. Hawkins - The Ballad Of Sleeping Beauty
New Lexico // Kacey Musgraves - Rainbow
FSR Rontvia // Missy Higgins - Scar
Zaminton // Fly Young Red - Throw That Boy Pussy (Dance Mix) (feat. DJ Fatha Julz)
Altyr Muunilinst // Tamara Gee - How About That
Taahino // Hayley Kiyoko - What I Need (feat. Kehlani)
Singerpurear // Wayne G - I Just Wanna Dance (Wayne G & Andy Allder REDUX) (feat. Alison Jiear)
Quintessa // Dusty Springfield - In Private
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 14/09/2018
mega catchup edition [2/5]
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 14/09/2018
mega catchup edition [3/5]
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 14/09/2018
mega catchup edition [4/5]
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 14/09/2018
mega catchup edition [5/5]
-deep breaths- we're back up to speed, almost xx will fill in the missing summaries in the previous four posts in the near future but we've reported all the important stuff (i.e. the stuff about our own entries and results and our full rankings)
EDIT: all previous posts now filled in, woo
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 19/09/2018
Skee Mask continues our increasingly unlikely Q streak
It was announced on Monday evening that we did in fact manage to continue our streak once again, as Skee Mask's 'Via Sub Mids' is through to the grand final of BJSC 108 in Summericia! We're not sure how we keep managing to make it in with such niche entries in the last few contests but we're certainly not complaining x this brings our current streak up to 6 finals in a row, and it's our 66th finalist to date in total (illuminati confirmed) and our 7th of a possible 8 in 2018, putting us in a good position to hopefully match the 9 qualifiers out of 10 we managed in 2017. Aeroche and Cor Lupus were safe qualifiers this month once again to remain the joint longest qualification streaks, both in their 22nd consecutive finals, with South Danaelanda making it to their 10th in a row to stay their closest rivals. 'Via Sub Mids' has been drawn in slot 24 of 38 in the final, we have low expectations for the final again so any points thrown our way will be greatly appreciated x
As well as making it ourselves, all 10 of the songs we gave points to in semi-final 1 made it through with us, the second time this has happened this year (after BJSC 104) after not happening for years if ever before that. Unfortunately though, the song we ranked 1st in semi-final 2 (and which would have got our 18 in the final) failed to make it in, a sad exit for Taahino's entry 'Julia (Or, 'Holy To The LORD' On The Bells Of Horses)' by mewithoutYou :'( we also lost two more of our top 10 of semi-final 2: Ambienta's comeback entry 'X22RME' by Actress, which we ranked 5th, and poor poor Flynnonda experiencing racism as ever with half•alive's 'still feel.' which was 9th for us.
^ all the gaps in those previous posts are now filled in and here's a bunch more of them to catch up again, phew. I'm sure no one will read all of this (it'd take forever xx) but I just wanted to have a complete archive and I still have fun writing these things so xx Will hopefully be able to keep up better in the new year
~
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 13/12/2018
end of year catchup edition [1/5]
BJSC Masquerade II summary: Persephonia does FARC except not really sounding anything like FARC
September's spinoff was another sequel to one first run in 2017, this time Masquerade (an anonymous spinoff in which all participating countries were given another country from the list and had to send a song by an artist who had previously represented that country). Like with Reinvention II it was hosted by the winner of the previous edition, this time South Danaelanda who were victorious the first time around, posing as Jadakissnia, with FM-84's 'Running In The Night' (feat. Ollie Wride). Last time Persephonia got to masquerade as Terra Avium which was easy for us as they're one of our most voted for countries. This time we were given FARC, a much more pop-oriented nation who we barely ever vote for, so it was a little more challenging...
As in the first Masquerade we self-enforced sending an artist that only had one BJSC entry to their name to minimise the recycling, which didn't leave us many good options, but we found one very good one and that was all we needed ~ so we were proud to welcome back to BJSC the anonymous and enigmatic Swedish electronic act Stockholm Noir (after there had been several previous attempts at recycling them in the main contest that were vetoed but shhh, we'd have picked a more inspired artist if there were any with a song this good x) who came 2nd for FARC back in BJSC 95 with 'Hopeless Dreams'. We did like that song, giving it 4 points in its contest, as well as a few of their other more mainstream pop sounding singles, but we were intrigued to discover while scouring their discography that they'd also dropped a couple of much less commercially friendly techno songs. It's one of those, their July 2017 offering 'Parvaz Kon', that we sent to the contest. The song, whose title translates to 'Fly', is a mesmerising 7 minutes of thumping beats, mysterious mood vocals and whispered phrases (it's largely instrumental but the few words are in Persian, making it our second entry in that language after BJSC 73 entry 'The Lom' by Sogand). In other words, not really very FARC-like. If we were to try and send something that sounds more like an authentic FARC entry, we'd have gone with the next best song we found (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRE5qlvlFVs) but there was no rule that we needed to do that in fairness
'Parvaz Kon' was drawn in slot 9 out of 39 in the contest. Among the rest of the spinoff there were 2 (kinda) Persephonian alumni competing - in slot 15, Deandria were masquerading as Dobago and chose Albin Myers and Carli's 'Conflict' - Carli is of course better known for representing other nations but we count him as one of our own anyway because he was a member of Savage Skulls who we sent back in BJSC 33 with 'Bad Gal' (with Douster featuring Robyn). More importantly, song number 23 in the list was the country masquerading as us, and they chose DANCE WITH THE DEAD's 'Dressed To Kill', another track from the American synthwave duo's 2014 'Near Dark' album from which we took 'Waves', which came 3rd for us in BJSC 79 to be one of our biggest BJSC hits. It's also one of our personal favourites so we were very happy with this artist pick and the song did not disappoint, ultimately getting our full 18 points. The country behind the mask turned out to be Quintessa. Nice job! This also marked the second time DANCE WITH THE DEAD were recycled from us for spinoffs following Cor Lupus sending their track 'Poison' to the Instrumentals spinoff (which we didn't vote for, oops x)
The night of the results proved to be a very good one for us, as both fake Persephonia and real Persephonia ended up in the top 10! We were bested by our impostor this time as Quintessa's DANCE WITH THE DEAD entry did nearly as well as ours, finishing in 4th place with 170 points. We still did very well for ourselves though to come 9th with Stockholm Noir, receiving a total of 146 points from 14 voters and thus grabbing our second spinoff top 10 hit of 2018 and our 9th in all (10th including BJFestivalen). Four countries ranked 'Parvaz Kon' in their medal positions, with it receiving a full 18 from PRoJ and Terra Avium, plus 15 points from Cowtermont and 13 from Aeroche. That made it our first spinoff entry since Mudlam's 'Muck' in BJSC Worldvision II (a whole 13 spinoffs back!) to get top marks from more than one country, it's been a while. Thanks all <3 x
Séyetana were the hosts of the first Masquerade, and it was the country masquerading as Séyetana who won this time around - it was a big result for Flynnonda, who had never previously come higher than 15th in the main contest and had only one previous top 10 hit in a spinoff (8th place with Shakedown's 'At Night' in BJSC Dance Anthems 00s) after years of participation, but ended up winning by a comfortable margin here with BABYMETAL's 'Gimme Chocolate!!' on 218 points. That was also an impressive improvement for BABYMETAL whose original Séyetan entry, 'Megitsune', fell well short of even qualifying for the final back in BJSC 63. I wonder if Flynnonda would go on to get another good result for themselves without the cloak of anonymity In 2nd place, 38 points behind with a total of 180, Lotunia also got their best ever result in a BJSC contest (a previous peak of 6th in main contests and 9th in spinoffs), masquerading as the hosts South Danaelanda and picking 'Dharma' by Headhunterz and KSHMR, the latter being the recycled artist. This maintained KSHMR's 100% record of top 10 finishes in BJSC contests as a solo artist, with a win and two 10th places out of his three appearances in the main contest. Trifoski finished 3rd on 175 points with Lauren Aquilina's 'Psycho', their take on Ultraviolenceland, and the top 5 was completed by Cowtermont's inspired pick for a Fljótavík masquerade, Rainmode's 'The Taunting' on 163 points.
Also on 163 points and therefore losing a tiebreak for 5th with their own impostor, Fljótavík came in 6th with The Knife's 'Marble House' masquerading as Niceland (one of several artist choices that were originally sent to spinoffs rather than main contests). Hosts South Danaelanda came in 7th with their FSR Rontvia choice, the Jorn Van Deynhoven remix of RAM's 'RAMsterdam'. 8th place went to Cadelicia posing as République d'Ashton with 'Trouble' by Luciana and Nytrix, and in 10th place behind us was Ojnoj's surprisingly great choice to masquerade as Cor Lupus, CONTACT's 'Sunset'. Thus there were 2 other countries (South Danaelanda and Fljótavík) who joined us in having both their own entry and their impostor's entry in the top 10. The other sorta-kinda Persephonian alumnus didn't fare quite as well as DANCE WITH THE DEAD, as Deandria came in 31st.
Full Persephonian rankings for BJSC Masquerade II
(note: the countries in curly brackets are the ones who actually sent the entries, those in quotation marks are the countries they were masquerading as)
Points awarded:
18 "Persephonia" {Quintessa} // DANCE WITH THE DEAD - Dressed To Kill
15 "Cor Lupus" {Ojnoj} // CONTACT - Sunset
13 "Aelandor" {Jadakissnia} // C2C - Delta
12 "Fljótavík" {Cowtermont} // Rainmode - The Taunting
11 "Florina" {Harmonica} // Seven Lions and Echos - Cold Skin
10 "Land of DW" {Aeroche} // Eivør - Trøllabundin
9 "Terra Avium" {Cor Lupus} // Varien and SWARM - Never Ending
8 "Séyetana" {Flynnonda} // BABYMETAL - Gimme Chocolate!!
7 "FSR Rontvia" {South Danaelanda} // RAM - RAMsterdam (Jorn Van Deynhoven Remix)
6 "Trifoski" {Terra Avium} // Anna Meredith and Antonio Vivaldi - Spring (feat. Scottish Ensemble)
5 "PRoJ" {Hushkanukia} // Lianne La Havas - Unstoppable
4 "Holland-Oats" {Niceland} // Art Vs Science - Create / Destroy
3 "Taahino" {Unovia} // Set It Off - Killer In The Mirror
2 "Niceland" {Fljótavík} // The Knife - Marble House
1 "Jadakissnia" {Beaverdonia} // Sonia & Selena - Deja Que Mueva, Mueva, Mueva
16th-38th:
"St. Burbia" {Séyetana} // Basenji - Don't Let Go (feat. Mereki)
"Rolloland" {Holland-Oats} // Guillemots - Annie, Let's Not Wait
"Dobago" {Deandria} // Albin Myers and Carli - Conflict
"Cowtermont" {FARC} // MNDR - Feed Me Diamonds (RAC Mix)
"République d'Ashton" {Cadelicia} // Luciana and Nytrix - Trouble
"Hushkanukia" {Aelandor} // Anavae - All Or Nothing
"Flynnonda" {Rolloland} // Lucy Mason - Out Of The Blue
"Ultraviolenceland" {Trifoski} // Lauren Aquilina - Psycho
"Quintessa" {Pupok} // Lali - Caliente (feat. Pabllo Vittar)
"Deandria" {Land of DW} // Holy Two - Festin
"Jupiterdonia" {Florina} // Smallpools and The Aces - Stumblin' Home
"Pupok" {Bøtanikkä} // No Frills Twins - God Bless The Internet
"Ojnoj" {Aesthetica} // Kim Petras - I Don't Want It At All
"Bøtanikkä" {Dobago} // Red 5 - Lift Me Up
"Aeroche" {Ultraviolenceland} // ROZES - Under The Grave
"Beaverdonia" {PRoJ} // The Eden Project - Crazy In Love (feat. Leah Kelly)
"Unovia" {Taahino} // Lola Blanc - Don't Say You Do
"Kluminican Republic" {Jupiterdonia} // Giorgio Moroder - Déjà Vu (feat. Sia)
"Lotunia" {Kluminican Republic} // Lizzo - Water Me
"Harmonica" {FSR Rontvia} // Lauren Alaina - Three
"Aesthetica" {République d'Ashton} // Ängie - Spun
"Cadelicia" {St. Burbia} // Julie Bergan - Guilt Trip
"South Danaelanda" {Lotunia} // Headhunterz and KSHMR - Dharma
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 13/12/2018
end of year catchup edition [2/5]
BJSC 108 summary
- The Persephonian BJSC Committee were happy enough to just reach the final of BJSC 108 in Summericia against our expectations regardless of the final result, so it was no surprise to see our entry, 'Via Sub Mids' by Skee Mask, performing similarly to a lead balloon. We narrowly avoided adding a third wooden spoon in BJSC finals to our collection (after previously coming last in the final with Young Money's 'Steady Mobbin'' (feat. Gucci Mane) as a novelty entry in BJSC 28 and our BJSC 68 auto-qualifier 'Glass Heart' by Eagles For Hands featuring Holly Partridge), finishing 37th out of 38 with 94 points from 12 voters. Those points and votes totals were a new low for us under the current contest format adopted in BJSC 74, with our last sub-100 point finalist being San Holo's 'Hiding' (feat. The Nicholas) with 63 points in BJSC 71 and our last vote count that low being Deaf Club's 'Moving Still' also getting 12 votes in the final of BJSC 49. Technically David Starfire's 'Big Chillum' finished 1 position lower in BJSC 95 but that was in a larger final; our last bottom 2 finish was with 'Glass Heart'. The most disappointing result for us was failing to finish in any country's top 2 (our first entry to do this since Fura's 'Demons' in BJSC 70, after a couple of other recent entries narrowly avoided doing the same) but we did get a couple of medal positions, picking up 13 points each from Aeroche and Espen, as well as double figure points from next biggest supporters Fljótavík (12), Cowtermont and Suedeonia (both 10). Thanks to those for humouring us, and at least it wasn't a DNQ eh! Despite that final bombing, it turned out to have qualified in a not too shabby 12th out of 29 in semi-final 1 with 65 points, giving it a clearly unrealistic projected final position of 23rd.
- On the other end of the scoreboard, Cor Lupus ended up as the victorious nation with 'Cruel Summer' by Daniella Mason, earning their second win after previously topping the table in BJSC 87 with The Naked And Famous' 'Higher'. That entry was a bounce back from a DNQ in BJSC 86, and would impressively prove to be the start of a qualification streak that remained unbroken up to this second win 21 contests later (and to the current day #latereporting). While 'Higher' was a landslide winner with 432 points, the joint fourth highest score in BJSC history, 'Cruel Summer' was a second unusually low scoring winner in a row, 'only' earning 270 points. That's slightly better than Cathedrals in BJSC 107 but still the second lowest since the return of the 18 point voting system in BJSC 74, and while Cathedrals stayed as the 2nd lowest scoring winner by percentage of available points, Daniella Mason didn't fare that much better, landing in as the 6th lowest on that list ('Higher' is the 22nd highest). It did mark a big improvement for Daniella Mason who was entered twice before, coming 12th in BJSC 75 with 'Shade Of You' for Hushkanukia and more recently falling a fair bit short of qualifying for the final of BJSC 100 for Harmonica with 'Cover The Earth'. It provided Cor Lupus' 5th top 5 hit and 11th top 10 to date, and of course secured them the hosting rights for BJSC 109.
- Although the winning score was similarly low to the previous contest, this time there was only one other song that was potentially within one vote of winning. The runner up with 264 points was Somnium's 'Sinking', providing Jadakissnia with their second silver medal (after they previously missed out by a similarly small margin with HÆLOS' 'Earth Not Above' which was 8 points off the win in BJSC 90). Since the two nations both debuted in BJSC 74 they've had a bit of a rivalry going on, and while Cor Lupus picked up their second win here as Jadakissnia still await their first, they did end this contest with the same number of top 5 hits while Jadakissnia actually have more top 10s ('Sinking' was their 5th and 13th respectively). A shame that Jadakissnia missed out as that would have been twice in the space of 3 contests that our 18 won after not being widely tipped to do so but ah well, that first win still must be coming soon ~~ 'Sinking' did win semi-final 2 and was the projected winner of the final, giving Jadakissnia a third semi-final victory following MssingNo's 'Scope' in BJSC 88 and Claptone's 'Birdsong' (feat. Zola Blood) only two contests before this one.
- Below the top 2 however, the final tallies were extremely close for the next highest spots, with just 22 points separating 3rd from 15th. The winner of the scrap for the bronze medal was Quintessa with the epic 2008 Spanish #1 single 'Europa' by Mónica Naranjo (we wish the UK had such unorthodox tracks topping the singles charts), finishing 3rd with a total of 245 points. This was Quintessa's second bronze medal of the year, their fourth top 10 in the space of 6 contests and their 6th top 5 and 7th top 10 hit in total to date. 4th place went to a dark horse hit from Harmonica, 'joy.' by for KING & COUNTRY (who are apparently big fans of nonstandard capitals and stylisation), picking up 244 points on its way to becoming Harmonica's first ever top 5 hit on their 44th entry to date. It was their 3rd top 10, their previous biggest hit being MEG MAC's 'Never Be' which came 8th in BJSC 87, while their only other top 10, Lauren Alaina's 'Road Less Traveled', came 9th three contests later. The top 5 was completed by Cowtermont with 'Long Way Down' by W&W and Darren Styles feat. Giin in 5th on 243 points, their 3rd top 10 hit both of 2018 and to date, all of which were top 5. That count includes their BJSC 104 3rd placer 'Ends Of Time' by NWYR, which is actually just an alias of W&W. Sneaky. 'Long Way Down' was the winner of semi-final 1, Cowtermont's first semi-final winner.
- Another dark horse hit, ska punk band The Interrupters' 'She's Kerosene' smashed out of nowhere to come 6th for Land of DW, becoming their third top 10 of 2018 and fourth in total, another big achievement in a breakout year for the nation. FARC's auto-qualifier 'Want Me More' by NAATIONS came in 7th giving them a second top 10 in a row, fourth of the year and 17th in total, just ahead of another two rock songs in a big month for the genre. Utopia finished 8th with 'Dressed To Suppress' by Metric, their second top 10 in a row and 9th to date (their top 10 hits have tended to come in pairs, as their last four top 10s before this pair were in BJSCs 43, 44, 72 and 73 - expect another two circa 2021?), also claiming the honour of most 18s in the contest, picking up top marks from 6 countries. Its success was forecast by it managing to qualify despite a 33% deduction for Utopia failing to vote in the semi-final. 9th place went to Niceland with Creye's classic rock tinged 'Christina', becoming Niceland's 4th top 10 hit, all of them in 2018. Completing a top 10 abnormally packed with dark horses/underdogs, Desbuanda grabbed a 10th place finish with 'Time Can Heal A Man' by SAVEUS, appropriately getting a hit at the same time as their allied nation and fellow perennial underdog Harmonica (with the two actually being the top 2 for a fairly lengthy period during the results reveal before falling back). Desbuanda's only previous top 10 hit was Eves The Behavior's 'TV' which finished as high as 2nd back in BJSC 72.
- After four straight contests with no debuting nations, BJSC 108 finally saw some new blood again, with Wholune making their first appearance in the contest. Unfortunately for them, their debut entry 'Chances' by Deco did not manage to qualify for the final. New peaks remained thin on the ground with Harmonica being the only country registering a new national best finish.
- Six countries made returns to the contest, with four of those making it to the final. The most successful comeback was Hendinia who returned from a six contest absence (by far the longest they'd ever been missing from the contest since their BJSC 13 debut, having never previously missed more than 2 in a row) to finish 15th - only 22 points behind 3rd as previously mentioned - with LVNDSCAPE's 'Riot (Lo Lo Loco)' (feat. Alida). D'yermak'er made a surprise return after they seemed to have quit for good following their silver medal winning 50th entry in BJSC 100, managing 18th place with comeback entry 'Sip Sip' by Jasmine Sandlas featuring Intense (finally a qualifier for an entry of South Asian origin for the nation who had sent several such entries before without success). Kluminican Republic came back from their one-contest ban to finish 21st with the delightfully weird 'Wriggle' by Cosmo Sheldrake. Also making their first appearance since BJSC 100, Varakë finished 22nd with comeback 'Drunk Groove' by MARUV and Boosin, their first qualifier since BJSC 97. Another country that made its first appearance since BJSC 100 was Ambienta (in fact BJSC 100 was their only previous appearance) but sadly that comeback wouldn't last as they didn't vote in either the semi-final or the final (and we reckon they'd have liked our entry dammit), though it wouldn't have been a first qualifier for them regardless of the 33% deduction. A return from Enty after a one month break also DNQed. Ambienta were the only nation banned from BJSC 109; Skall also didn't vote in the final but avoided the ban due to extenuating circumstances (and again we reckon they'd have helped our numbers especially as they gave us 12 points in the semi-final, curses xx).
- The country that shielded us from the wooden spoon, finishing 38th out of 38, was Suedeonia who claimed their first last placer with 'Sweet Harmony' by She Drew The Gun. That got 89 points (5 fewer than our entry, clearly making the race for last more exciting than the one for first), being the only other entry besides ours to not reach triple figures.
- Other noteworthy results: Tinnmark's 100th entry, 'Liberation' by Harold Van Lennep, finished in a solid 11th place (although no one noticed it was their 100th entry until after the final voting was over so it wasn't an entry taking advantage of the anniversary entry veto framework); Daehun came 13th with SUNMI's 'Siren', finally breaking her curse as a solo artist as she'd DNQed with three previous entries including two others for Daehun (although one of those DNQs was only due to a deduction in the semi-final); Aeroche actually suffered a rare underperformance to come a mere 16th with the KC Lights remix of Motez' 'The Future' (feat. Antony & Cleopatra) which had been tipped as a contender to win (would they still get their annual win? ); hosts Summericia came 20th with their auto-qualifier 'Connection Through Sound' by Katty Heath.
Full Persephonian rankings for BJSC 108
Final
Points awarded:
18 Jadakissnia // Somnium - Sinking
15 Terra Avium // We Are All Astronauts - Ether
13 Kluminican Republic // Cosmo Sheldrake - Wriggle
12 D'yermak'er // Jasmine Sandlas - Sip Sip (feat. Intense)
11 Land of DW // The Interrupters - She's Kerosene
10 Quintessa // Mónica Naranjo - Europa
9 Jupiterdonia // VAVA - My New Swag (feat. Ty. and Nina Wang)
8 Utopia // Metric - Dressed To Suppress
7 Tartford // Mylo - Need You Tonite
6 Desbuanda // SAVEUS - Time Can Heal A Man
5 Fljótavík // Kilo Kish - Elegance
4 Niceland // Creye - Christina
3 Thelonia // Raito - One Step Beyond
2 Trifoski // Gypsy & The Cat - Time To Wander
1 Tinnmark // Harold Van Lennep - Liberation
16th-37th:
Aeroche // Motez - The Future (KC Lights Remix) (feat. Antony & Cleopatra)
Séyetana // HISASHIz - Feign Madness
Lotunia // Widy - Yahabibi
Pupok // Sophie Hunger - She Makes President
Cadelicia // Perfume - Party Maker
Harmonica // for KING & COUNTRY - joy.
Unovia // Ani Lorak - Sumasshedshaya
Varakë // MARUV and Boosin - Drunk Groove
Hendinia // LVNDSCAPE - Riot (Lo Lo Loco) (feat. Alida)
Summericia // Katty Heath - Connection Through Sound
Cowtermont // W&W and Darren Styles - Long Way Down (feat. Giin)
Bhangra // Leony - Boots
FARC // NAATIONS - Want Me More
Holland-Oats // Young Franco - Talkin' Bout It (feat. KLP)
St. Burbia // Alice Chater - Heartbreak Hotel
Cor Lupus // Daniella Mason - Cruel Summer
Suedeonia // She Drew The Gun - Sweet Harmony
Daehun // SUNMI - Siren
Ojnoj // Chelcee Grimes - I Need A Night Out
South Danaelanda // BUNT. - On My Way (feat. Leah Haywood)
Florina // Ivy Adara - Rebels
New Lexico // LE DEVA - L'Estate Tutto L'Anno
~
Semi-Final 1
Points awarded:
12 Terra Avium // We Are All Astronauts - Ether
10 Land of DW // The Interrupters - She's Kerosene
8 Quintessa // Mónica Naranjo - Europa
7 Jupiterdonia // VAVA - My New Swag (feat. Ty. and Nina Wang)
6 Desbuanda // SAVEUS - Time Can Heal A Man
5 Tinnmark // Harold Van Lennep - Liberation
4 Fljótavík // Kilo Kish - Elegance
3 Cadelicia // Perfume - Party Maker
2 Séyetana // HISASHIz - Feign Madness
1 Trifoski // Gypsy & The Cat - Time To Wander
11th-28th:
Skall // Amber Mark - All The Work†
Wholune // Deco - Chances†
Varakë // MARUV and Boosin - Drunk Groove
Cowtermont // W&W and Darren Styles - Long Way Down (feat. Giin)
Aesthetica // Monari Wakita - Gozigen Lover-Joi†
Holland-Oats // Young Franco - Talkin' Bout It (feat. KLP)
Deandria // XXANAXX - Give U The World†
FSR Rontvia // Yusuf Can Kurt and Emircan Hattat - Dream (feat. La Dee Eda)†
Unovia // Ani Lorak - Sumasshedshaya
Bøtanikkä // The O.T. Quartet - Hold That Sucker Down†
Beaverdonia // Chaos Chaos - Do You Feel It?†
Ojnoj // Chelcee Grimes - I Need A Night Out
Ultraviolenceland // Fred De Palma - D'Estate Non Vale (feat. Ana Mena)†
New Lexico // LE DEVA - L'Estate Tutto L'Anno
République d'Ashton // Luca Hänni - Signs†
Altyr Muunilinst // Samantha Harvey - Please†
Daehun // SUNMI - Siren
Dobago // ManyFew - Where To Go (feat. Twiggy)†
† DNQed
~
Semi-Final 2 DNQs
1st Taahino // mewithoutYou - Julia (Or, 'Holy To The LORD' On The Bells Of Horses)
5th Ambienta // Actress - X22RME
9th Flynnonda // half•alive - still feel.
13th Rolloland // Art Of Noise - Close-Up
14th The Actual Republic of Bellamia // Ruel - Younger
15th Espen // Anastasija - Savrsen Par
16th Enty // Kendji Girac - Ma Bien Aimée
23rd Aelandor // Relient K - PTL
24th East Rukahavian // Ozuna - Aura (feat. Arthur Hanlon)
28th Mulgracia // Plumb - Beautifully Broken
29th Hushkanukia // Hanna Ferm - Never Mine
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 13/12/2018
end of year catchup edition [3/5]
Spor revived for Your Best of BJSC II
October saw another spinoff, Your Best of BJSC, revived for a second edition (third if you count Your Best of BJSC - The Rejects which was held shortly after the original YBO), hosted by Taahino. After choosing a song that originally DNQed (Beat Connection's 'In The Water') to represent us in the first of these we decided again to go down the route of picking what we felt was an underrated entry of ours for this one, going with our BJSC 52 entry 'Pacifica' from British DJ Jon Gooch under his alias Spor, remixed by Australian duo Kito & Reija Lee. This remix, a slower and more mellow and emotional version of the original bass-heavy dubstep track (which entirely replaces the original vocals with those of Reija Lee) finished in a lowly 24th place out of 30 in its contest (with the majority of its 58 points coming from just three countries who gave it top marks), but we hoped that it might turn out to be a 'before its time' entry that might appeal more to some nations that have joined more recently as well as hopefully growing on some that were around for it the first time. We kind of forgot about our usual self-enforced attempts to minimise recycling in these sorts of spinoffs as both artists have been sent by other countries as well (Spor was sent under his more common alias of Feed Me with 'What It Feels Like' (feat. Nina Nesbitt), Cadelicia's BJSC 88 entry, while Kito & Reija Lee were also recycled by Cadelicia for BJSC 65 entry 'Starting Line' and before that represented Varakë with 'Night By Night' in BJSC 62) but ah well, they were ours first and this song deserved a second chance xx
'Pacifica' was drawn as song 25 of 39 in the spinoff. At the moment due to some technical difficulties with the host nation we're still awaiting the results of this contest, we'll drop a hopefully slightly more timely news bulletin update once they're eventually posted but for now we'll squeeze the next contest into this post as well...
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 13/12/2018
end of year catchup edition [4/5]
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 13/12/2018
end of year catchup edition [5/5]
With that out of the way
Go vote for all our entries in The Best of BJSC XI xx We have 8 eligible entries there - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zf99kdFw9b8 from BJSC 101, http://soundcloud.com/1432-r/mikael-seifu-yarada-lij from BJSC 103, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yciIxxjFr8 from BJSC 104, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbrvwaVXJ48 from BJSC 105, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eFcSesrP6A from BJSC 106, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3c_E09gib-Y from BJSC 107, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkK0sMqO6vQ from BJSC 108 and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rf8MgwZ42Q from BJSC 110. Of course most of those have pretty much zero chance of making it through but it'd be nice to squeeze in one ('Sisters' to somehow keep up our run of qualifying to the semi-finals of TBO with all of our top 10 hits pls xx)
Will also try and put together a 2018 EOY list at some point (I see no one else seems to be doing one of those this year yet ~)
Yay, glad you updated these! Always an interesting read, can always count on you for some great stats
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 18/01/2019
The Best of BJSC XI summary
For the eleventh instalment of the annual TBO retrospective, Persephonia managed to make it through to the semi-finals with one of our 8 eligible entries - and it wasn't the one we expected to have a chance, as we unfortunately lost our run of always making it to at least the semi-finals of TBO with all of our top 10 hits </3 RIP 'Sisters'. It was instead our BJSC 107 19th place finisher 'Hasty Boom Alert' by µ-Ziq which advanced to carry the Persephonian flag (2 years in a row that our song from the 7th contest of the year qualified despite falling well short of the top 10 in its original contest).
'Hasty Boom Alert' was drawn as song 29 of 40 in semi-final 1. One other song with a Persephonian alumnus artist on it also made the semi-finals - over in semi-final 2, song 8 was Terra Avium's BJSC 106 entry 'Langage' by Moodoïd and former Persephonian representatives WEDNESDAY CAMPANELLA, which finished 17th in its original contest. Understandably given the low original finishes, both of these songs failed to make the final (meaning Persephonia went without a song in the TBO final for a third year in a row, this racism!!1) - we were waiting to find out the semi-final results before posting this bulletin update but Daehun still seem to have not yet returned from their dog walk and we don't want to get behind in this thread again so we'll just edit that in when it's eventually posted (edit: doesn't look like it's ever being announced, boo xx)
The winner of the contest was BJSC 106's runner-up for Cowtermont, the CYA remix of 'This Wild Darkness' by Moby, which breezed to victory with 156 points. Cowtermont remain yet to win one of the main contests but this was a good bit of revenge for them as they beat the song that pipped Moby to the win to begin with - but that song, Jean Michel-Blais and CFCF's 'Hypocrite' representing Fljótavík, didn't do badly for itself in the end-of-year contest either as it was the highest ranked winner in 5th place with 98 points. BJSC 106 accounted for 60% of the whole top 5 as Niceland's entry from that contest, Hooverphonic's 'Romantic', proved to be a dark horse and come 4th with 114 points despite only coming 6th in the original contest. The top 3 of TBO was completed by Trifoski's BJSC 101 4th placer 'Ghost Voices' by Virtual Self, which claimed the silver medal with 127 points, while 3rd place on 123 points went to FSR Rontvia's BJSC 103 entry, a live version of Freya Ridings' 'Lost Without You' which lost out on a win in its original contest on a tiebreak (and of course the song in its studio version would go on to be a big hit in the UK singles chart).
Full Persephonian rankings and nominations for The Best of BJSC XI
Final
Points awarded:
18 Jadakissnia // Somnium - Sinking
15 Aelandor // The Midnight - Gloria
13 Fljótavík // Jean-Michel Blais and CFCF - Hypocrite
12 Quintessa // Wings Of The ISANG - Dark Sea
11 Aeroche // Paula Temple - Colonized
10 Jadakissnia // goreshit - the nature of dying
9 Unovia // Badflower - Ghost
8 Land of DW // The Interrupters - She's Kerosene
7 Quintessa // Mónica Naranjo - Europa
6 FSR Rontvia // Freya Ridings - Lost Without You (Live)
5 Land of DW // grandson - thoughts & prayers
4 Cor Lupus // Andromedik - Your Eyes
3 Tartford // Mylo - Need You Tonite
2 Summericia // † CΛIN † - SVICIƉΣ GIRLS ƉɅNCΣ
1 Tinnmark // Eric Prydz - Opus
16th-40th:
Fljótavík // Rex The Dog - Maximize
Tartford // Ofra Haza - Im Nin'Alu (Played In Full Mix)
Cowtermont // Moby - This Wild Darkness (CYA Remix)
Alteria // The Presets - 14U+14ME
Quintessa // The Wandering Hearts - Devil
Rolloland // Propaganda - Das Testaments Des Mabuse: The Third Side
FARC // GUNSHIP - Dark All Day (feat. Tim Cappello and Indiana)
Oslol // Gryffin and ZOHARA - Remember
South Danaelanda // Dimension - Black Church
Harmonica // for KING & COUNTRY - joy.
Taahino // Hayley Kiyoko - Curious
Trifoski // Virtual Self - Ghost Voices
Niceland // Hooverphonic - Romantic
Niceland // Built By Titan - Broken Love (feat. Starxs)
New Lexico // Metroplane - Word Of Mouth (feat. Bree Runway)
Flynnonda // LP - Girls Go Wild
Trifoski // LPX - Slide
Aeroche // Colleen D'Agostino - Disaster
Singerpurear // Ria Mae - Bend
Cowtermont // W&W and Darren Styles - Long Way Down (feat. Giin)
Cor Lupus // Daniella Mason - Cruel Summer
St. Burbia // Alice Chater - Heartbreak Hotel
Hushkanukia // Arrhult - 1999
Land of DW // Betta Lemme - Bambola
Ojnoj // Kim Petras - Heart To Break
~
Semi-Final 1
Points awarded:
18 Jadakissnia // Somnium - Sinking
15 Quintessa // Wings Of The ISANG - Dark Sea
13 Aeroche // Paula Temple - Colonized
12 Land of DW // Keys N Krates - U Already Know†
11 Jadakissnia // K Á R Y Y N - BINARY†
10 Quintessa // Mónica Naranjo - Europa
9 Land of DW // grandson - thoughts & prayers
8 Cor Lupus // Andromedik - Your Eyes
7 Tinnmark // Eric Prydz - Opus
6 Tartford // Ofra Haza - Im Nin'Alu (Played In Full Mix)
5 République d'Ashton // Alvaro Soler - Sofia†
4 Fljótavík // Rex The Dog - Maximize
3 FSR Rontvia // Millie Turner - The Shadow†
2 Rolloland // Propaganda - Das Testaments Des Mabuse: The Third Side
1 Unovia // Salmo - 90MIN†
16th-39th:
Unovia // Big Fish - Vain (feat. Elisa)†
Terra Avium // Aly & Fila - Quiet Storm (Aly & Fila Club Mix) (feat. Sue McLaren)†
Niceland // Hooverphonic - Romantic
Unovia // Amy Shark - Adore†
Taahino // Stand Atlantic - Lavender Bones†
Cadelicia // KSHMR and Marnik - SHIVA (feat. The Golden Army)†
Thelonia // Fourward - Hope†
Cor Lupus // Jorn Van Deynhoven - Rising High†
New Lexico // Metroplane - Word Of Mouth (feat. Bree Runway)
Flynnonda // LP - Girls Go Wild
Harmonica // American Authors - Deep Water†
Trifoski // LPX - Slide
FARC // GUNSHIP - Dark All Day (feat. Tim Cappello and Indiana)
Aeroche // Colleen D'Agostino - Disaster
Cowtermont // W&W and Darren Styles - Long Way Down (feat. Giin)
St. Burbia // Alice Chater - Heartbreak Hotel
Oslol // Kelli-Leigh - Do You Wanna Be Loved Like This?†
Summericia // Cathedrals - Try To Fight†
FARC // Miriam Bryant - Black Car†
Hushkanukia // Arrhult - 1999
Singerpurear // Ria Mae - Bend
Oslol // Janice - You Only Say You Love Me In The Dark†
South Danaelanda // Andrew Rayel - Horizon (feat. Lola Blanc)†
Daehun // SUNMI - Siren†
† DNQed
~
Semi-Final 2
Points awarded:
18 Deandria // Linea Aspera - Malarone†
15 Aelandor // The Midnight - Gloria
13 Fljótavík // Jean-Michel Blais and CFCF - Hypocrite
12 Jadakissnia // goreshit - the nature of dying
11 Tinnmark // EMIR - Faller†
10 Terra Avium // Moodoïd and WEDNESDAY CAMPANELLA - Langage†
9 FSR Rontvia // Freya Ridings - Lost Without You (Live)
8 Unovia // Badflower - Ghost
7 Land of DW // The Interrupters - She's Kerosene
6 Quintessa // Sin Fang, Sóley and Örvar Smárason - Random Haiku Generator†
5 Tartford // Mylo - Need You Tonite
4 Quintessa // nervous_testpilot - Deeper†
3 Aesthetica // The Pom-Poms - I GOT THAT BOOM†
2 Summericia // † CΛIN † - SVICIƉΣ GIRLS ƉɅNCΣ
1 Quintessa // The Wandering Hearts - Devil
16th-40th:
Cowtermont // Moby - This Wild Darkness (CYA Remix)
Cowtermont // NWYR - Ends Of Time†
Alteria // The Presets - 14U+14ME
Thelonia // ilan Bluestone and Maor Levi - Will We Remain? (feat. EL Waves)†
Jadakissnia // Vendredi Sur Mer - Larme À Gauche†
Harmonica // for KING & COUNTRY - joy.
Oslol // Gryffin and ZOHARA - Remember
South Danaelanda // Dimension - Black Church
Trifoski // Virtual Self - Ghost Voices
Taahino // Hayley Kiyoko - Curious
FARC // Alex Mills - Stayed Too Long†
Desbuanda // FAUX - Take Back Time†
New Lexico // Alice Merton - Lash Out†
Niceland // Built By Titan - Broken Love (feat. Starxs)
St. Burbia // L Devine - Like You Like That†
Séyetana // Beyond The Black - Night Will Fade†
Aeroche // Camden Cox - Gold†
Cor Lupus // Samantha Urbani - Hints & Implications†
Hendinia // Slayyyter - I'm High†
Unovia // Lennon Stella - Bad†
Cor Lupus // Daniella Mason - Cruel Summer
Daehun // HYO and 3LAU - Punk Right Now (English Version)†
Land of DW // Betta Lemme - Bambola
Ramrynia // Asmik Shiroyan - You & I†
Ojnoj // Kim Petras - Heart To Break
† DNQed
~
Nominations
101
+7 Aeroche // CANVAS - Another Time (Boeoes Kaelstigen's S. Jähn Remix) (feat. Andrew Montgomery)
+5 Jadakissnia // K Á R Y Y N - BINARY
+3 Aelandor // How To Destroy Angels - Welcome Oblivion
+2 Desbuanda // Est-Her - Sympathy
+1 Lotunia // Hoàng Thùy Linh - Bánh Trôi Nước (feat. Triple D)
102
+7 Jadakissnia // goreshit - the nature of dying
+5 Tinnmark // EMIR - Faller
+3 Kluminican Republic // Gang Of Youths - The Deepest Sighs, The Frankest Shadows
+2 Taahino // PVRIS - No Mercy
+1 Summericia // † CΛIN † - SVICIƉΣ GIRLS ƉɅNCΣ
103
+7 Deandria // Linea Aspera - Malarone
+5 FSR Rontvia // Freya Ridings - Lost Without You (Live)
+3 Trifoski // Algiers - The Underside Of Power
+2 Dobago // Mark Eliyahu - Journey
+1 Quintessa // Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir 4 - Fly To Paradise
104
+7 Bhangra // Molly Sterling - Plain Static
+5 Aelandor // Kiasmos - Looped
+3 Jadakissnia // Adam F - Circles
+2 Mosquetania // The Brocks - My Love
+1 Cowtermont // NWYR - Ends Of Time
105
+7 Utopia // DJ Koze - Pick Up
+5 Rolloland // Anathema - The Storm Before The Calm
+3 Unovia // Aja - Brujería (feat. DJ Mitch Ferrino)
+2 Cor Lupus // Andromedik - Your Eyes
+1 Quintessa // The Wandering Hearts - Devil
106
+7 Aelandor // SONOIO - Enough
+5 Terra Avium // Moodoïd and WEDNESDAY CAMPANELLA - Langage
+3 Land of DW // Keys N Krates - U Already Know
+2 Jadakissnia // Claptone - Birdsong (feat. Zola Blood)
+1 Cowtermont // Moby - This Wild Darkness (CYA Remix)
107
+7 Fljótavík // Danger - 11h30
+5 Unovia // Badflower - Ghost
+3 #00274E // Rival Consoles - Hidden
+2 Trifoski // Iglooghost - Clear Tamei
+1 Espen // Nouvelle Phénomène - Cruel Game (Vanzetti & Sacco Remix)
108
+7 Jadakissnia // Somnium - Sinking
+5 Terra Avium // We Are All Astronauts - Ether
+3 Kluminican Republic // Cosmo Sheldrake - Wriggle
+2 D'yermak'er // Jasmine Sandlas - Sip Sip (feat. Intense)
+1 Land of DW // The Interrupters - She's Kerosene
109
+7 Quintessa // Wings Of The ISANG - Dark Sea
+5 Jadakissnia // Ben Frost - Venter
+3 Lotunia // Laibach - Vor Sonnen-Aufgang
+2 Espen // NIMMO - Orange Skies
+1 Séyetana // Temperance - The Last Hope In A World Of Hopes
110
+7 Aelandor // The Midnight - Gloria
+5 Aeroche // Paula Temple - Colonized
+3 Skall // Animal Collective - Banshee Beat
+2 Arcodesia // pg.lost - Terrain
+1 Tartford // Craig Armstrong - This Love (feat. Elizabeth Fraser)
In other news nominations for The Best of BJSC - The Rejects XI are still open at the moment (just about x) so y'all should all go quickly nominate our two eligible entries for that (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OMwDZUWl5g from BJSC 102 and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BK2h-WbjMDo from BJSC 109) x
And also a new main contest is underway (the first for which Persephonia has officially joined the team of moderating nations alongside République d'Ashton, Daehun, Aeroche, Taahino and New Lexico we see all of your entries x) ~
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 20/01/2019
In The Loop hoping to bring great things to Persephonia in BJSC 111
BJSC 111 has begun in Oslol and for the first time in a while PNB is here to announce our entry on time ~ our 90th main contest entry to date (one year to go until the big anniversary ) comes from Italian duo In The Loop, consisting of singer Valentina Schiavo and singer/instrumentalist Alessandri Galdieri. The first Italian act we've sent to the contest to date (bringing our number of unique main contest nationalities up to 21), they're best known for an appearance on the 2018 12th series of the Italian version of The X Factor, where they were eliminated in the bootcamp stage (an Italian talent show reject with female vocals, who are we, Unovia?) The song they auditioned with, which has since been released as their first official single and now represents us in the BJSC, is 'Tu Sì 'Na Cosa Grande', a cover of the 1964 song by legendary Neapolitan folk singer Domenico Modugno who represented Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest three times (with his 1958 third place finisher 'Nel Blu, Dipinto Di Blu', perhaps better known as 'Volare', going on to become a major worldwide hit single including reaching #1 in the USA and #10 in the UK).
In The Loop do not have any original material to their names as of yet as far as we can tell but although this is their only song released commercially, their YouTube channel is full of (heavily reworked) covers, mostly of English language songs. But because we're Persephonia our clear highlights are the couple that are not in English - this song is actually technically not in Italian but rather the Neapolitan language which is similar but not completely mutually intelligible (fun fact: it's the same language as 'Tu Vuò Fà L'Americano', of 'We No Speak Americano' fame). Another of their covers, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbBVfuDLF8w (which is in actual Italian) is our other fave of theirs and is simultaneous representing us in the PopJustice Song Contest right now. 'Tu Sì 'Na Cosa Grande' becomes our 15th foreign language entry to date in 13 different languages (including the gibberish language of Ash Koosha's 'Aroha' cos why not), kicking 2019 off strong on our continuing crusade against the English language; it's our 5th straight entry with no English language words in it.
The song, which was originally a fairly dry folk ballad (whose title translates to 'You Are A Great Thing For Me'), has been transformed by In The Loop into something much better, with Valentina delivering a beautiful vocal performance (including some great harmonies when Alessandri joins in) over an instrumental that ranges throughout from simple bleeps and bloops to a much fuller and more ~grandiose~ sound, with a bit of quirky glitchiness halfway through for good measure (sounds like an accordion synth?) because this is still Persephonia and we're not just going to send a completely normal poppy ballad. We're dubbing this the Italian answer to ROSALÍA's 'Catalina' from our entries last year, as it's similarly updating a very old song to a much more palatable and modern sound. Let's hope this one does a bit better than that. See the official video below (and you can see their X Factor audition version http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCp28PzFpkA).
'Tu Sì 'Na Cosa Grande' has been drawn in slot 20 of 29 in semi-final 1.
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 06/04/2019
2019 catchup edition [1/3]
In The Loop keep us in the final
We started off 2019 the same way we started every year since 2013, safely making it to the final of BJSC 111 with In The Loop's 'Tu Sì 'Na Cosa Grande' to reach our 68th BJSC final and 2nd in a row (thankfully being announced through before the hosts in Oslol lost their mind and started announcing a bunch of songs through which actually didn't make it x). The longest qualifier streaks remained in the hands of Aeroche and Cor Lupus who both sailed into their 25th finals in a row each, while St. Burbia held in third place on the list going into their 12th consecutive final. 'Tu Sì 'Na Cosa Grande' was drawn in the 18th slot out of 37 in the final. (Foreshadowing )
Unfortunately, while we had no issues qualifying ourselves, it was a different story for our biggest favourites as the songs ranked 1st in both semi-finals by the Persephonian voting public both fell well short of the final. Our 12 pointer in semi-final 1, Aelandor's entry 'Burn' by The Soft Moon, somehow finished in the bottom 3 as we turned out to be its only big fan in the semi-final, providing nearly half of its points (y'all severely sleeping on it). We also lost another of our medal positions in our semi-final, our 8 pointer from Jadakissnia, the afro-bop 'Midnight Starring' by a cast of thousands (DJ Maphorisa, RudeBoyz and Distruction Boyz feat. DJ Tira, Busiswa and Moonchild Sanelly), and one further song that made our votes, Wholune's I DONT KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND ME with 'Do It All The Time' which we gave 2 points. The winner of the semi-final 2 unofficial straw poll of Persephonians was Land of DW's entry 'Crimen Sollicitationis' by Ska-P which similarly came 4th from last over there, while three other songs we ranked in the top 10 of semi-final 2 also DNQed in the end (5th placed Séyetana with Japanese Breakfast's 'Boyish', 8th placed Terra Avium with Epic Soul Factory's 'Everdream' and 10th placed Flynnonda with kwassa's 'Moonwalking' which heartbreakingly lost out on a tiebreak). That was despite Séyetana and Flynnonda both being briefly announced as qualifiers before having their heart ripped out. Oslol hosting, what did we expect?? x
BJSC 111 summary
- Performing 18th in the final was a good omen as our eventual final position in BJSC 111 was... 18th out of 37! This allowed us to finally cross off a much desired unique position after previously missing it by one place eleven times (coming 17th 6 times, most recently in just the previous contest, and 19th 5 times). It also took us to a nice round 40 top 20 hits to date, with the only top 20 positions we're now yet to achieve being 7th, 8th, 9th and 11th (and only 27th and 30th also missing from the top 30). In The Loop picked up a total of 169 points from 25 voters, largely a case of picking up plenty of low points as the song ranked in the medal positions for only one country, though that one country made it count as it was a full 18 points from Quintessa, with our next biggest fans being St. Burbia who awarded the song 12 points. All in all it was a very similar start to the year as we managed in 2018, with our BJSC 101 entry 'Grustnaya Suka' by IC3PEAK landing in 17th place with 180 points. Due to some ~mod meddling~ to ensure the results were accurate we found out our semi-final result before the final started this time but it was later revealed publicly that we came 7th out of 29 in semi-final 1 with 81 points, setting us up for a projected 11th place finish.
- rest of summary to be added later once I'm done with the Songs of BJSC thread x
Full Persephonian rankings for BJSC 111
Final
Points awarded:
18 Espen // Sho Madjozi - Huku
15 Alteria // De Staat - KITTY KITTY
13 Oslol // Vulfpeck - Darwin Derby (feat. Antwaun Stanley)
12 Cowtermont // Ferdinand Dreyssig and Marvin Hey - Coeur De La Nuit (Worakls Remix)
11 Elëdan // Shortparis - Strashno
10 Medhelnia // Shygirl - O
9 Pupok // Capital Bra - Roli Glitzer Glitzer (feat. Luciano and Eno)
8 Fljótavík // Icarus - Man Of The Land (feat. Real Lies)
7 FARC // White Lies - Tokyo
6 Buzzjack Mountain // Talk Talk - Talk Talk
5 Thelonia // Le Boom - Coma
4 Rolloland // Jem - You Will Make It (feat. Vusi Mahlasela)
3 Kluminican Republic // Bomba Estéreo - Química (Dance With Me) (feat. Balkan Beat Box)
2 Lotunia // Anna Von Hausswolff - The Mysterious Vanishing Of Electra
1 Skall // Requin Chagrin - Sémaphore
16th-36th:
Aeroche // Tommy Trash - Me & U (feat. Anna Lunoe)
Harmonica // Holy Ghost! - Dance A Little Closer
Bøtanikkä // Sam Perry - Looking For Light (Live)
Unovia // Kota Banks - Child
Danæviia // Headhunterz and Sound Rush - Rescue Me (feat. Eurielle)
Florina // Emily Burns - Damn Good Liar
#00274E // EVA - Touch Me
Dobago // TEPR - Taste Of Love (feat. D. Woods)
Cor Lupus // REYNA - Heartbeat
Quintessa // Doğukan Manço - Yüzleşme (feat. Funda)
Jupiterdonia // Nadia Ali - Fantasy (Tritonal Air Up There Remix)
Holland-Oats // Elk Road and JES - Ghost
Taahino // King No-One - Lemonade
St. Burbia // ASHS - More Than Friends
Cadelicia // Paperwhite - Count On You
Ultraviolenceland // SHAED - Trampoline
Niceland // DHARIA - Sugar & Brownies
Altyr Muunilinst // Vök - Erase You
FSR Rontvia // Lichtblick - Feuerregen
Tinnmark // Emma Steinbakken - Not Gonna Cry
New Lexico // Genesis Lynea - Get Down
~
Semi-Final 1
Points awarded:
12 Aelandor // The Soft Moon - Burn†
10 Espen // Sho Madjozi - Huku
8 Jadakissnia // DJ Maphorisa, RudeBoyz and Distruction Boyz - Midnight Starring (feat. DJ Tira, Busiswa and Moonchild Sanelly)†
7 Elëdan // Shortparis - Strashno
6 Pupok // Capital Bra - Roli Glitzer Glitzer (feat. Luciano and Eno)
5 FARC // White Lies - Tokyo
4 Kluminican Republic // Bomba Estéreo - Química (Dance With Me) (feat. Balkan Beat Box)
3 Rolloland // Jem - You Will Make It (feat. Vusi Mahlasela)
2 Wholune // I DONT KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND ME - Do It All The Time†
1 Harmonica // Holy Ghost! - Dance A Little Closer
11th-28th:
Bøtanikkä // Sam Perry - Looking For Light (Live)
Suedeonia // Sparks - (Baby, Baby) Can I Invade Your Country†
Unovia // Kota Banks - Child
Florina // Emily Burns - Damn Good Liar
Singerpurear // The O'My's - Idea (feat. Chance The Rapper)†
Dobago // TEPR - Taste Of Love (feat. D. Woods)
The Actual Republic of Bellamia // Oscar Enestad - Sign Of My Love†
East Rukahavian // Kasmir - Valoo†
Quintessa // Doğukan Manço - Yüzleşme (feat. Funda)
Arcodesia // Drowners - Cruel Ways†
République d'Ashton // Zazoo - Spinnin' Round (Wap Bap)†
Vülkyria // Missy Modell - Galaxy†
Cadelicia // Paperwhite - Count On You
St. Burbia // ASHS - More Than Friends
Altyr Muunilinst // Vök - Erase You
Ultraviolenceland // SHAED - Trampoline
FSR Rontvia // Lichtblick - Feuerregen
Tartford // Grace Jones - Nipple To The Bottle†
† DNQed
~
Semi-Final 2 DNQs
1st Land of DW // Ska-P - Crimen Sollicitationis
5th Séyetana // Japanese Breakfast - Boyish
8th Terra Avium // Epic Soul Factory - Everdream
10th Flynnonda // kwassa - Moonwalking
15th Ojnoj // Jillian Jacqueline - Priorities
16th Daehun // INFINITE - Be Mine
20th Trifoski // The Magnetic Fields - 100,000 Fireflies
21st Ramrynia // Now United - Who Would Think That Love?
23rd Aesthetica // NeonPunch - MOONLIGHT
25th Yehesi // Kris Kross Amsterdam, Maan and Tabitha - Hij Is Van Mij (feat. Bizzey)
27th Hendinia // ILIRA - GET OFF MY D!CK
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 06/04/2019
2019 catchup edition [2/3]
^ been slacking with this thread again while I've been focusing on getting the Songs of BJSC thread revamp done, once that is done I might finally be back to reliably updating here again will do my usual write-ups for the last two contests in the near future ~~
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 06/04/2019
2019 Q1 catchup edition [3/3]
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 02/05/2019
[1/2]
Baiuca bounces us back to the final once again
Qualifying was never much of a worry for BJSC 113 but indeed we made it to the final with Baiuca's 'Olvídame' (feat. Aliboria) to bounce back from our previous DNQ and keep up our run of avoiding DNQ streaks (our last nine 'DNQ streaks' have been confined to just the one contest missing out). This gave us our 69th (lel) appearance in a final and put us at 2 out of 3 for the year to date. 'Olvídame' was drawn as the 35th song in the 42-strong final. Business as usual continued with the longest qualification streaks, Aeroche and Cor Lupus going to their 27th finals in a row and St. Burbia to their 14th.
The top five of our votes in semi-final 1 made it through with us but we lost three songs that made it into the lower half of our votes - our 5 pointer for returning nation Mosquetania with BRÍET's 'Feimin(n)', featuring Persephonian alumnus Aron Can and Arro (very disappointing to not see Aron make the final again with another great song after coming 12th for us but ho hum!), Arcodesia's The New Regime with 'Say What You Will' which somehow came last in the semi but got 3 points from us, and our 1 pointer 'Awake' by Fifi Rong representing Deandria. From the Persephonian public's top 10 picks in semi-final 2, two fell sort of the final, fifth-placed Jadakissnia with Josin's 'Once Apart' and 10th ranked Land of DW with 'Trip To Ireland' by Dr. Peacock.
BJSC 113 summary
- There was reason to believe the early hype - in the final of BJSC 113 in Aeroche, Baiuca and Aliboria went over and above all odds and predictions to finish in 2nd place out of 42, with 279 points from 33 voters (the most votes of any song in this contest)! It's our eighth podium position to date, which has been a long time coming - the previous seven were all in the space of 27 contests (from Truls' 'Out Of Yourself' in BJSC 53 to DANCE WITH THE DEAD's 'Waves' in BJSC 79) but the result for 'Olvídame' ends a 33 contest dry spell since then. It's our highest finish since A-WA's 'Habib Galbi', the more recent of our two winners in BJSC 74, and just about our second best ever result in both points and votes (well behind the 344 points 'Habib Galbi' got, but only one behind our record number of votes set by 'Waves', which was our previous second highest scoring song with 278 points). This also brings our tally of top 5 hits to 11 and top 10s to 15 as well as securing 2019 as the 7th year in a row we've had at least one top 10 hit. Of our 7 previous medallists, two others finished as runners-up (Jaymes Young's 'Dark Star' (Kiely Rich Remix) in BJSC 57 and Kids Of The Apocalypse's 'EMPIRE' in BJSC 61), although the 2nd place stings a little less this time as unlike the previous two occasions, we've already had a couple of wins now and we weren't really that close to adding a third this time, finishing 41 points behind the winner. We were happy enough to take the 50/50 shot at an AQ xx In terms of percentage of possible points, this ranks as our 6th biggest hit to date, earning 26.27% of all possible points. 'Dark Star' still leads that list with 33.68% followed by 'EMPIRE', 'Cry For Freedom' by Jay Dabhi and Moises Modesto (our first winner, BJSC 67), Spark's 'Revolving' (6th place in BJSC 30) and 'Habib Galbi'.
- 6 countries gave medal positions to 'Olvídame', including 2 full scores of 18 received from the hosts Aeroche and Vülkyria who were giving us top marks for the first time. We also got 15 points from Séyetana and 13 points each from Beaverdonia, Espen and Harmonica. The wider appeal of this entry compared to most that we send attracted votes from a handful of countries that very rarely vote for us, including the aforementioned Harmonica, and most excitingly Niceland who gave us 4 points to finally appear on our points received list after not voting for any of our previous 20 finalists since they joined The reveal of the semi-final results brought new juicy stats for us as 'Olvídame' turned out to be our fourth semi-final winner, coming 1st out of 28 in semi-final 1 with 128 points, following in the footsteps of 'Dark Star', 'EMPIRE' and 'Waves' (so curiously our three runners-up all won their semi-final but neither of our final winners did). That's nominally our 4th highest points total in a semi-final to date, although the likely immovable leader of that list, BJSC 100 entry 'IDL' by Life Sim which got 166 points to come 7th in its semi-final, is only there because of the one-off inflated points system for the BJSC 100 semis. 'EMPIRE' (147 points) and 'Dark Star' (137) scored legitimately higher totals. Thanks very much to all who made this our biggest success for quite a while - I've even been forced to split this rambling summary of stats for my own entry into two paragraphs for it to be somewhat readable
- rest of summary to be added later once I'm done with the Songs of BJSC thread x (#soon #mks)
Full Persephonian rankings for BJSC 113
Final
Points awarded:
18 Thelonia // k?d - Creator's Flower
15 Lotunia // Hawa Boussim - Koregore
13 FSR Rontvia // DJ Sabrina The Teenage DJ - All The Beautiful Things U Do
12 Beaverdonia // atlantida project - Sarva Mangalam
11 Trifoski // The Comet Is Coming - Summon The Fire
10 Elëdan // Conan Osíris - 100 Paciência
9 Séyetana // UVERworld - Touch Off
8 Bhangra // Vargas & Lagola - Selfish
7 Singerpurear // Mory Kanté - Yé Ké Yé Ké
6 Danæviia // Two Steps From Hell - Emerald Princess (feat. Chris Bleth and Merethe Soltvedt)
5 Tartford // Hybrid - Finished Symphony
4 Terra Avium // Ex:Re - Romance
3 St. Burbia // The New Respects - Trouble
2 East Rukahavian // Malla - Sabrina
1 Suedeonia // Paris Angels - Perfume (All On You)
16th-41st:
Kluminican Republic // Boys Noize and Pilo - Cerebral
Fljótavík // Hatchie - Without A Blush
Skall // Leikeli47 - Mulita
Aeroche // Sharon Van Etten - Jupiter 4
Hendinia // COBRAH - WET
Aesthetica // MOLLY - Ne Plachu
Quintessa // Tal - ADN
Vülkyria // Basic Element - Touch You Right Now (feat. D-Flex)
#00274E // Allday - In Motion (feat. Japanese Wallpaper)
Oslol // Broods - Hospitalized
Dobago // Sunlounger - White Sand
Florina // Moyka - Colder
Kylienips // Meg Myers - Little Black Death
Taahino // tiLLie - Save Yourself
Cowtermont // Andrew Bayer - In My Last Life (In My Next Life Mix) (feat. Alison May)
Pupok // Shirin David - Gib Ihm
Greenfroze // Stereoact - Wunschkonzert (feat. SARAH)
Harmonica // Avalanche City - Prayed For Love
Unovia // Aly Ryan - Wear Your Love
Espen // Noa Kirel - Drum
Jupiterdonia // LÉON - You And I
FARC // Clara Mae - Lost
Ultraviolenceland // Baker Grace - Numb
Cor Lupus // Sleepy Tom - Amateurs (feat. Lights)
Daehun // Charlotte Perrelli and Kate Ryan - Little Braveheart
Cadelicia // AJR - 100 Bad Days
~
Semi-Final 1
Points awarded:
12 Thelonia // k?d - Creator's Flower
10 Beaverdonia // atlantida project - Sarva Mangalam
8 FSR Rontvia // DJ Sabrina The Teenage DJ - All The Beautiful Things U Do
7 Danæviia // Two Steps From Hell - Emerald Princess (feat. Chris Bleth and Merethe Soltvedt)
6 Séyetana // UVERworld - Touch Off
5 Mosquetania // BRÍET - Feimin(n) (feat. Aron Can and Arro)†
4 St. Burbia // The New Respects - Trouble
3 Arcodesia // The New Regime - Say What You Will†
2 Fljótavík // Hatchie - Without A Blush
1 Deandria // Fifi Rong - Awake†
11th-29th:
République d'Ashton // Laing - Du Bist Dir Nicht Mehr Sicher†
Alteria // Sun Gods - Zanzara†
Aesthetica // MOLLY - Ne Plachu
Scherzland // The Japanese House - Maybe You're The Reason†
Oslol // Broods - Hospitalized
Dobago // Sunlounger - White Sand
Vülkyria // Basic Element - Touch You Right Now (feat. D-Flex)
Taahino // tiLLie - Save Yourself
Cumulonimbia // Charlotte Adigéry - High Lights†
Aelandor // Savoir Adore - Savages†
Rolloland // Peter Mylett - The Greenway Song†
Pupok // Shirin David - Gib Ihm
Greenfroze // Stereoact - Wunschkonzert (feat. SARAH)
Espen // Noa Kirel - Drum
Ultraviolenceland // Baker Grace - Numb
Harmonica // Avalanche City - Prayed For Love
New Lexico // ALMA - Perfect†
Daehun // Charlotte Perrelli and Kate Ryan - Little Braveheart
Cadelicia // AJR - 100 Bad Days
† DNQed
Semi-Final 2 DNQs
5th Jadakissnia // Josin - Once Apart
10th Land of DW // Dr. Peacock - Trip To Ireland
15th Wholune // The Marías - Cariño
19th Utopia // As December Falls - Ride
20th Holland-Oats // Ok Moon - Loved You Right
22nd Bøtanikkä // 20 Fingers - Lick It (feat. Roula)
23rd Flynnonda // GRACEY - Different Things
28th Niceland // Kokab and Beatchild - Bottom Of You
29th Altyr Muunilinst // Pia Mia - Bitter Love
30th Tinnmark // Eddy De Pretto - Fête De Trop
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 02/05/2019
[2/2]
erm I'm obsessed with this and idk why cus it doesn't seem like my thing at ALL
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 10/06/2019
[1/2]
Who joined us in the final?
With Molchat Doma's 'Tancevat' auto-qualifying for us there was no tension for if we'd be in the final or not so we were just rooting for our favourites in the semi-final results of BJSC 114 in North Danaelanda. In total 15 of the 20 songs we voted for made it into the final with us - that included 9 of the 10 we voted for in semi-final 1, although the one casualty there was the most disappointing, our 10 pointer 'We Are The World' by Thelma Aoyama representing Aesthetica. 6 of our 10 votes in semi-final 2 qualifying, with Land of DW (Conchita Wurst's 'Trash All The Glam'), Deandria (Mina Harker's 'Schwarze Witwe'), Wholune (WOOZE's 'I'll Have What She's Having') and New Lexico (Spice's 'Romantic Mood') falling short after getting 7, 5, 2 and 1 points from us respectively (the latter being 1/3 of New Lexico's total points, it was a bop ok x). Aeroche and Cor Lupus both qualified as ever to reach their 28th finals in a row each with St. Burbia still remaining their closest competitor in the qualification streak list on 15 in a row.
BJSC 114 summary
- 'Tancevat' was, as expected, not a particularly big hit for us but still managed to reach triple figure points and beat a few of the other songs in the final although sadly not enough to avoid a bottom 5 finish, coming 34th out of 38 with 109 points from 16 voters. That's also a new unique final position for us which doesn't happen that often any more so we'll take it xx Two countries ranked the song in their top 3, it didn't get any 18s but did get 15 points from Trifoski and 13 from Suedeonia, with its next biggest fans being Cowtermont (12 points) and Fljótavík (11 points).
- rest of summary to be added later once I'm done with the Songs of BJSC thread x (#soon #mks #yesiamstillworkingonit)
Full Persephonian rankings for BJSC 114
Final
Points awarded:
18 Elëdan // Erika Lundmoen - Yad
15 Fljótavík // DJ Mehdi - Signatune (Thomas Bangalter Edit)
13 Terra Avium // Altın Gün - Süpürgesi Yoncadan
12 Skall // Against All Logic - I Never Dream
11 North Danaelanda // Y Traxx - Mystery Land
10 Cowtermont // Uun - One Occult Vision
9 Jadakissnia // LUNA - Dumala
8 Altyr Muunilinst // SOAK - Maybe
7 Taahino // Anavae - High
6 Espen // Imminence - Saturated Soul
5 Séyetana // Marnik - Up & Down
4 Utopia // Hayden Thorpe - Love Crimes
3 Aeroche // Say Lou Lou and Lindstrøm - Games For Girls
2 Dobago // Shogun - Skyfire
1 Cadelicia // World's End Press - Tall Stories
16th-37th:
Quintessa // French 79 - Between The Buttons
Tartford // José Padilla - Who Do You Love (Chicane Remix) (feat. Angela John)
Bøtanikkä // Dance 2 Trance - P.ower Of A.merican N.atives (feat. Linda Rocco)
St. Burbia // Nasty Cherry - Win
Cor Lupus // Luke Bond - Right Now (feat. Sara Skinner)
Unovia // Tazer and Tink - Wet Dollars
#00274E // Crush - Jellyhead (Motiv 8's Pumphouse Remix)
Trifoski // Kite - Dance Again
Kylienips // Caravan Palace - Miracle
Greenfroze // Mimoza - Love For Days
Mosquetania // Sam Bluer - Body High
Oslol // Eden xo - Have It All (F9 Club Mix)
Kluminican Republic // Alison Wonderland - Church
The Actual Republic of Bellamia // Bea Miller and 6LACK - it's not u it's me
Ojnoj // ILIRA - DO IT YOURSELF
République d'Áskorza // Mutya Keisha Siobhan - Only You
Thelonia // Openside - Character Flaws
Tinnmark // Offer Nissim pts. Jimmy Fontana - El Mundo
Lotunia // Merk & Kremont and Ady Suleiman - Sad Story (Out Of Luck)
Bhangra // MARUV - Focus On Me
FARC // Kokiri - Other Side Of Love
Hushkanukia // Dami Im - Fighting For Love
~
Semi-Final 1
12 Elëdan // Erika Lundmoen - Yad
10 Aesthetica // Thelma Aoyama - We Are The World†
8 Altyr Muunilinst // SOAK - Maybe
7 Jadakissnia // LUNA - Dumala
6 Espen // Imminence - Saturated Soul
5 Taahino // Anavae - High
4 Dobago // Shogun - Skyfire
3 Utopia // Hayden Thorpe - Love Crimes
2 Quintessa // French 79 - Between The Buttons
1 Bøtanikkä // Dance 2 Trance - P.ower Of A.merican N.atives (feat. Linda Rocco)
11th-28th:
Arcodesia // Morat - Cómo Te Atreves†
St. Burbia // Nasty Cherry - Win
Aeroche // Say Lou Lou and Lindstrøm - Games For Girls
Unovia // Tazer and Tink - Wet Dollars
Trifoski // Kite - Dance Again
East Rukahavian // Jannika B - Kaksi Jotka Pelkää†
Kylienips // Caravan Palace - Miracle
Mosquetania // Sam Bluer - Body High
Suedeonia // Neon Waltz - Dreamers†
Tinnmark // Offer Nissim pts. Jimmy Fontana - El Mundo
Florina // Lastlings - I've Got You†
Harmonica // Sally - Calculated†
République d'Áskorza // Mutya Keisha Siobhan - Only You
Hendinia // Hannah Jane Lewis - Not Yours Never Was†
Jupiterdonia // Whinnie Williams - What About Me†
FARC // Kokiri - Other Side Of Love
Rolloland // Nik Kershaw - The Sky's The Limit (Robbie Bronnimann Mix)†
Singerpurear // Raleigh Ritchie - Time In A Tree†
† DNQed
~
Semi-Final 2
12 Fljótavík // DJ Mehdi - Signatune (Thomas Bangalter Edit)
10 Skall // Against All Logic - I Never Dream
8 Terra Avium // Altın Gün - Süpürgesi Yoncadan
7 Land of DW // Conchita Wurst - Trash All The Glam†
6 Cowtermont // Uun - One Occult Vision
5 Deandria // Mina Harker - Schwarze Witwe†
4 Cadelicia // World's End Press - Tall Stories
3 Séyetana // Marnik - Up & Down
2 Wholune // WOOZE - I'll Have What She's Having†
1 New Lexico // Spice - Romantic Mood†
11th-28th:
Tartford // José Padilla - Who Do You Love (Chicane Remix) (feat. Angela John)
Niceland // Sander Kleinenberg - This Is Ibiza†
Cor Lupus // Luke Bond - Right Now (feat. Sara Skinner)
UltraME!land // unperfect - Looking For A Hug†
#00274E // Crush - Jellyhead (Motiv 8's Pumphouse Remix)
Greenfroze // Mimoza - Love For Days
The Actual Republic of Bellamia // Bea Miller and 6LACK - it's not u it's me
Kluminican Republic // Alison Wonderland - Church
Ojnoj // ILIRA - DO IT YOURSELF
FSR Rontvia // Friends - Pacmahara (feat. Jean-Pierre Barda)†
Thelonia // Openside - Character Flaws
Daehun // Namie Amuro - Contrail†
Bhangra // MARUV - Focus On Me
Oslol // Eden xo - Have It All (F9 Club Mix)
Lotunia // Merk & Kremont and Ady Suleiman - Sad Story (Out Of Luck)
Hushkanukia // Dami Im - Fighting For Love
Vülkyria // Electric Lady Lab - Open Doors†
Buzzjack Mountain // Birizdo I Am - Dollar†
† DNQed
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 10/06/2019
[2/2]
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 11/06/2019
Your Best of BJSC II summary
The results of last year's sequel to the Your Best of BJSC spinoff, held in Taahino, finally took place last night and it was worth the wait for Persephonian audiences as our entry, Kito & Reija Lee's remix of Spor's 'Pacifica', greatly exceeded expectations to finish in 4th place out of 39 with 180 points. That meant it outdid its finish in BJSC 52 by a cool 20 places, not bad xxx The Persephonian BJSC Committee has long thought this entry was a little before its time and it seems we were right as it got 102 of those points from countries that didn't exist yet at the time of BJSC 52 (or were in the middle of a long hiatus in Quintessa's case), including all three of the medal positions it picked up (a full 18 from our baes in Jadakissnia and 13 points each from Beaverdonia and Cowtermont), as well as receiving a combined 28 points from Cadelicia, Fljótavík and Séyetana who all snubbed it in the original contest. 18 countries voted for us in all. This marks our third 4th place finish in BJSC spinoffs, in addition to three 5th place finishes, while still yet to ever crack the top 3 (excluding BJFestivalen) - one day!!1 - and is an improvement on our 14th and 12th place finishes in the original YBO spinoff and YBO - The Rejects respectively.
We were in great company in the top 5, all of which received at least 9 points from us. The winner was Jadakissnia who achieved their 4th spinoff victory (arguably the first entirely legit one, as they won Dance Anthems 00s and Worldvision I due to the songs that received the most points in those spinoffs getting deductions while their third win in the BuzzJack 10th Anniversary contest is not 'officially' regarded as a spinoff) with ONUKA's 'Time' on a nice round 200 points, improving on its 9th place finish in Persephonia-hosted BJSC 75. The others in the top 3 also did much better than on their original appearances - it was yet another 2nd place finish for Terra Avium with 186 points for Two Steps From Hell's 'Miracles' which originally came 12th in BJSC 76, while Aeroche came 3rd on 183 points with Data Romance's 'She's Been High', originally 11th also in BJSC 52 (a high value contest in this spinoff it seems). The only one of the top 5 that came top 5 the first time around as well was 'Resonate' by Avec Sans which came in 5th here with 170 points, one place short of where it finished in BJSC 79.
Ricki-Lee's 'Mirage' came 6th for Unovia, 2 places higher than it originally managed in BJSC 83, while FARC came 7th with the 7th Heaven Club Mix of 'Air It All Out' by Paulini which originally came 2nd in BJSC 73. The rest of the top 10 was filled out by 3 more songs achieving top 10 justice after missing out the first time. Flynnonda came 8th with Tame Impala's ''Cause I'm A Man' (23rd in BJSC 76), St. Burbia 9th with Jorja Smith's 'Blue Lights' (also 23rd in BJSC 82) and hosts Taahino nabbed 10th place with Beautiful Bodies' 'Capture & Release' (14th in BJSC 85, one of their many top 20 hits prior to finally making the top 10 in the main contest).
Full Persephonian rankings for Your Best of BJSC II
Points awarded:
18 Séyetana // Nao Hiiragi - Requiem (Stygia Bootleg)
15 Quintessa // Avec Sans - Resonate
13 Terra Avium // Two Steps From Hell - Miracles
12 South Danaelanda // KSHMR - Jammu
11 Aeroche // Data Romance - She's Been High
10 Hendinia // Max Elto - Shadow Of The Sun
9 Jadakissnia // ONUKA - Time
8 Trifoski // Gazelle Twin - Belly Of The Beast
7 Flynnonda // Tame Impala - 'Cause I'm A Man
6 Aelandor // Sœur - Pass Out
5 Fljótavík // Ludovico Einaudi - Experience (Starkey Remix)
4 Cor Lupus // Five Knives - Savages
3 PRoJ // East India Youth - DRIPPING DOWN
2 Aesthetica // Wonder Girls - I Feel You
1 Cowtermont // REZZ - Relax
16th-38th:
Dobago // T2Kazuya - Youth
Niceland // Torul - Monday
Ojnoj // Solange - Cosmic Journey (feat. Bilal)
Lotunia // Ágy - Arvedávgi
Jupiterdonia // Tunde Olaniran - Namesake
Utopia // PNAU - Embrace (feat. Ladyhawke)
FSR Rontvia // Blänk - I'm Going For Your Brother (feat. Young Ivy)
St. Burbia // Jorja Smith - Blue Lights
Hushkanukia // Sumera - Wolf
Summericia // Keys&Cages - Invisible
Beaverdonia // Skit Box - ACTIVEWEAR
Cadelicia // About The Girl - We Have To Talk
FARC // Paulini - Air It All Out (7th Heaven Club Mix)
Holland-Oats // Morgan Saint - YOU
Harmonica // Coasts - A Rush Of Blood
Wholune // Deco - Chances
Taahino // Beautiful Bodies - Capture & Release
Unovia // Ricki-Lee - Mirage
République d'Ashton // ZZ Ward - Put The Gun Down
New Lexico // Lilit Hovhannisyan - Armenian Girl
Daehun // IU - Good Day
Altyr Muunilinst // Gareth Emery and Alastor - Hands (feat. London Thor)
Kluminican Republic // Kiesza - Oops
And with the eventual conclusion of that spinoff, and the arrival of Pride Month 2019, we can finally move onto another new spinoff (the first of the year), also being held in Taahino...
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 08/08/2019
[1/4]
Not to be for MIRÈLE
Persephonia's qualification streak was halted at 2 again as our entry for BJSC 115 in Oslol, MIRÈLE's 'Yesli By Lyubov'', unfortunately fell short of the final, becoming our 24th DNQ to date and second of the year, as it didn't manage to appeal quite as widely as we hoped it would. The song finished 23rd out of 30 in semi-final 1 with 36 points (losing a tiebreak for 22nd, but a sizeable 13 points behind the lowest qualifier from the semi-final). 7 countries voted for 'Yesli By Lyubov'' including two medal positions - 10 points from biggest supporters Espen and 8 from Aeroche - plus 7 each from Deandria and Fljótavík, 2 from East Rukahavian and a single point apiece from Arcodesia and Hushkanukia (the latter being the only point we got from the poppier countries we were hoping to reach out to, oops xx). At least it wasn't as bad a DNQ as 'Roof'. The longest qualification streaks continued once again, Aeroche and Cor Lupus making it to 29 and St. Burbia to 16.
Sadly as well as our own entry missing out, we also lost our 12 pointer from semi-final 1, as Unge Ferrari still couldn't catch a break DNQing again with 'Balkong', the second time he's missed out while representing Tinnmark (both great songs and all). Our only other loss from our votes was our 1 pointer, Wholune's Dream Wife with 'Fire'. Only one of our top 10 from semi-final 2 missed out but it was a big surprise to us to see Flight Facilities' 'All Your Love' (feat. Dustin Tebbutt), Harmonica's entry, be that one (we ranked it 4th).
BJSC 115 summary
- to be added eventually hopefully xo
Full Persephonian rankings for BJSC 115
Final
Points awarded:
18 Quintessa // Weyes Blood - Movies
15 Dobago // Prospa - Prayer
13 Deandria // mind.in.a.box - Change
12 Greenfroze // SOFI TUKKER and Bomba Estéreo - Playa Grande
11 Rolloland // Menke - Moln
10 FSR Rontvia // Swim Deep - To Feel Good
9 Skall // Orbital - Chime/Crime (Live)
8 Jadakissnia // Yoshitaka Hirota - hazy iii
7 Fljótavík // Cicada - Love Don't Come Easy
6 Terra Avium // Woodkid - On Then And Now (feat. Jennifer Connelly)
5 Unovia // Ingrid Michaelson - Missing You
4 Aeroche // i_o and Tommy Trash - Let Me Go (feat. Daisy Guttridge)
3 Flynnonda // Peggy Gou - Starry Night
2 Scherzland // Midnight Boy - Butterflies
1 Aesthetica // Slayyyter - Alone
16th-42nd:
Hendinia // Initial Talk and ILY - Loving U
Land of DW // Mila - Herzlos
Cadelicia // Phantogram - Into Happiness
Ajanaeda // Ten Tonnes - Better Than Me
Cor Lupus // Swimming Girls - 1 2 Many
Aelandor // BANKS - Warm Water (Snakehips Remix)
Séyetana // Eiko Shimamiya - Naraku No Hana
Taahino // Hot Milk - Awful Ever After
Espen // Everyone You Know - The Drive
Trifoski // Magdalena Bay - Only If You Want It
Florina // Patrick Martin - Stranger Nights
FARC // Barns Courtney - You And I
Vülkyria // Xenomania pts. Paige Cavell - Predators & Monsters
Thelonia // Idolising Nova - Run Away
The Actual Republic of Bellamia // Ashley Tisdale - Symptoms
Hushkanukia // Wiktoria - OMG
Oslol // The Attic - Release Me (feat. Oh Laura)
Jupiterdonia // Armin Van Buuren - Lonely For You (ReOrder Remix) (feat. Bonnie McKee)
Kylienips // Lola Blanc - The Magic
St. Burbia // Glowie - Cruel
Lotunia // Emma Blackery - Third Eye
Ojnoj // CYN - Holy Roller
Budtar // DJ Licious - Naked
Danæviia // Lika Morgan - In Motion
Kluminican Republic // Anna Of The North - Lovers
Altyr Muunilinst // Nathan Dawe - Repeat After Me (feat. Melissa Steel)
UltraME!land // VVAVES - Alive
~
Semi-Final 1
Points awarded:
12 Tinnmark // Unge Ferrari - Balkong†
10 Deandria // mind.in.a.box - Change
8 Rolloland // Menke - Moln
7 FSR Rontvia // Swim Deep - To Feel Good
6 Fljótavík // Cicada - Love Don't Come Easy
5 Aeroche // i_o and Tommy Trash - Let Me Go (feat. Daisy Guttridge)
4 Aesthetica // Slayyyter - Alone
3 Hendinia // Initial Talk and ILY - Loving U
2 Aelandor // BANKS - Warm Water (Snakehips Remix)
1 Wholune // Dream Wife - Fire†
11th-29th:
Cadelicia // Phantogram - Into Happiness
Ajanaeda // Ten Tonnes - Better Than Me
Cor Lupus // Swimming Girls - 1 2 Many
Bøtanikkä // Playahitty - The Summer Is Magic†
Arcodesia // Second - 2502†
Espen // Everyone You Know - The Drive
Singerpurear // Vangelis - Chung Kuo†
Jupiterdonia // Armin Van Buuren - Lonely For You (ReOrder Remix) (feat. Bonnie McKee)
The Actual Republic of Bellamia // Ashley Tisdale - Symptoms
Hushkanukia // Wiktoria - OMG
Florina // Patrick Martin - Stranger Nights
Niceland // Teleman - Between The Rain†
St. Burbia // Glowie - Cruel
East Rukahavian // PSICOLOGI - Autostima†
Lotunia // Emma Blackery - Third Eye
Holland-Oats // Tones And I - Johnny Run Away†
Daehun // Andamiro - Hypnotize (Areia Balkan Version)†
Kluminican Republic // Anna Of The North - Lovers
UltraME!land // VVAVES - Alive
† DNQed
~
Semi-Final 2 DNQs
4th Harmonica // Flight Facilities - All Your Love (feat. Dustin Tebbutt)
12th Bhangra // Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, Sadhana Sargam, Sujata Bhattacharya, Udit Narayan and Sonu Nigam - Maahi Ve
14th Republic of Adonia // Mars Argo - Runaway Runaway
16th Tartford // Uniting Nations - Is This Love
19th Alteria // Allez Allez - Sean Connery
20th République d'Áskorza // Elley Duhé - FEVER
23rd Sandénia // Isaac Dunbar - cologne
24th Suedeonia // DADDY - Daddy-Esque
25th Ramrynia // ELM - Fear
26th Yehesi // SVRCINA - Pages
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 08/08/2019
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gecgecgecgecgec
With Pride month 2019 rolling around, 2019's first BJSC spinoff finally arrived, with Taahino returning to host a sequel to last year's Pride spinoff. Persephonia's entry to BJSC Pride II, much like our entry to the first one, just happened to walk right into us as it dropped just in time for Pride month (right at the end of May of this year) - it came from California's curiously named 100 gecs, a duo consisting of musicians Dylan Brady and Laura Les (aka osno1), the latter of whom is a transgender woman to qualify for the theme of the spinoff. We discovered them through an eye-catching review of their equally weirdly titled debut album '1000 gecs' on Anthony Fantano's theneedledrop YouTube channel and it was well worth the click. Anyone who appreciated the wacky wildness of this entry we'd fully recommend to give the whole album a listen (particularly the lead single 'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z97qLNXeAMQ' which we also considered sending) as it's a pretty short listen and crams in just about every genre you can imagine. The song we sent was the album's closing track 'gec 2 Ü' which we can best describe as 'post-PC Music', being a mixture of PC Music-esque bubblegum electropop, drum n bass, some pop-punk-esque vocals from Brady at the start and an insane RIP headphone users hardstyle instrumental segment in the final minute. True art. *.* Here's the song:
'gec 2 Ü' was drawn as song 13 of 29 in the spinoff.
BJSC Pride II summary
'gec 2 Ü' delivered us a much better result than in last year's Pride spinoff, coming in 6th out of 29 with 73 points (winning a tiebreak between 6th and 7th which went down to the number of 8s), our 11th top 10 hit in spinoffs to date (12th including BJFestivalen). The song picked up a full 12 points from Terra Avium and Thelonia as well as medal positions from Séyetana (10 points), Jadakissnia and Wholune (8 points each), receiving points from 11 countries in all.
The contest delivered a first spinoff win for Bøtanikkä, who hauled 117 points with RuPaul's Drag Race alumnus Blair St. Clair's 'Now Or Never', one of the most popular songs to come out of the show and a very fitting winner. Coming in second place was Danæviia with NIMMO's 'Too Late' on 105 points, while another drag act finished in third, Pabllo Vittar alongside SOFI TUKKER on 'Energia (Parte 2)' which got 101 points for Jupiterdonia (this result coming just after SOFI TUKKER notched up a win in the main contest). Jadakissnia finished 4th with 94 points with AURORA's 'The Seed' and the top 5 was completed by Skall with 77 points for Kim Petras' 'Close Your Eyes', narrowly beating us in the race between transgender artists in the contest.
Losing the tiebreak to us in 7th place was the hosts Taahino with MUNA's 'Number One Fan'. Cor Lupus came 8th with Rina Sawayama's 'Cherry', 9th place went to Hushkanukia (the winners of the first Pride spinoff) with The Veronicas' 'If You Love Someone' and Terra Avium came in 10th with 'Noises' by Pale Waves. Dobago would have finished 6th ahead of us but alas they didn't submit votes, so a 33% deduction pushed their entry, 'At Night (I Think About You)' by MNEK (who came 2nd in the first Pride spinoff) down to 13th.
Full Persephonian rankings for BJSC Pride II
Points awarded:
12 Jupiterdonia // SOFI TUKKER and Pabllo Vittar - Energia (Parte 2)
10 Jadakissnia // AURORA - The Seed
8 Aesthetica // Street Queer - Sweat
7 Thelonia // Boy Sim - Break Ur Heart
6 Taahino // MUNA - Number One Fan
5 Deandria // Lizette Lizette - Non
4 Oslol // CupcakKe - Scraps
3 Dobago // MNEK - At Night (I Think About You)
2 Skall // Kim Petras - Close Your Eyes
1 Bøtanikkä // Blair St. Clair - Now Or Never
11th-28th:
Danæviia // NIMMO - Too Late
Lotunia // Aquilo - Calling Me
Wholune // Queen Zee - Loner
Unovia // Monique Heart - Brown Cow Stunning
Quintessa // Antony And The Johnsons - Hope There's Someone
Terra Avium // Pale Waves - Noises
Mosquetania // Vök - Waiting
Buzzjack Mountain // Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Warriors Of The Wasteland
Aeroche // Kelela - LMK
Cadelicia // Jake Germain - Over U
Séyetana // Javiera Mena - Espada
Greenfroze // Queentastic - Drop Dead Gorgeous
Hushkanukia // The Veronicas - If You Love Someone
Cor Lupus // Rina Sawayama - Cherry
Niceland // Theo X - You Don't Wanna Dance
Flynnonda // King Princess - 1950
Suedeonia // The Communards - For A Friend
Vülkyria // DORYAN - Looking For Magic
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 08/08/2019
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Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 08/08/2019
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Well done on the unique position for 'Othan' *.* I'll try and get around to listening to the whole long version
MIRÈLE deserved more </3
finally - gecgecgecgecgec - omg this!
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 26/08/2019
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 24/09/2019
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BJSC Worldvision IV summary
As expected we sadly lost our 100% record of top 10 hits in the Worldvision spinoffs this time around with the fourth edition (held in Hushkanukia), although we do maintain a 100% top 20 streak which is better than we expected. Our Zambian representative King Illest with 'Bakalala' came 19th out of 34 for us with 103 points from 14 voters. Only one of those ranked us in their top 3 but that was a full 18 points from Skall, setting the example for you all x in also got double figure points from Jupiterdonia (12), Dobago (11) and Bøtanikkä (10) according to the handy results spreadsheet.
The contest had a runaway winner as Unovia won Worldvision for the second time (after clutching the second edition with Italian representative Elisa's 'No Hero'), picking up their fourth spinoff winner in total - this time representing Poland, they raced ahead with Natalia Nykiel's 'Fala' picking up a very impressive 265 points. Miles behind in 2nd with 196 points were Danæviia - the winners of the previous Worldvision - with Alexander Popov's 'Legacy' (feat. Julia Violin) for Russia, while the bronze medal went to Quintessa's Luxembourgish song (and the Persephonian public's fave by far) 'Mapping The Universe' by Mutiny On The Bounty with 181 points. Cor Lupus finally achieved their first top 5 finish in a spinoff coming 4th on 170 points with Paranormal Attack's 'Another Night' (feat. AC Slator) representing Portugal and the top 5 was completed by Fljótavík with Farveblind's 'Wasteful Talk' (feat. Clea) on 169 points representing Belgium.
Taahino and Aeroche came 6th and 7th respectively in Worldvision III and both repeated their positions this time, the former with Latvian song 'Multivitamīnu Multipaka' by Astro'n'out and the latter with 'In The Distance' by Len Sander who returned to Worldvision representing Switzerland for the second time (having also been the Swiss representative for Espen in Worldvision III where they came 14th with the better song 'Mendrake'). Elëdan managed an 8th place finish with Indian representative 'Sage' by Ritviz despite a 33% deduction for not voting (because why would they x), they'd have been 3rd before that. Skall battled through the very unforgiving draw of Liechtenstein to get a 9th place finish with WeltenBrand's 'Bewitched Herds Boys' and Cadelicia went for the much easier choice of the Chase & Status We Just Bought A Guitar Mix of 'Heartbeat' by Nneka, representing Nigeria, to finish 10th. Deandria came in 21st with Cholita Sound and King Doudou's 'La Droga', representing Chile, which we note as we recently discovered this was secretly a Persephonia recycle (King Doudou being an alias of our BJSC 33 entrant Douster).
Full Persephonian rankings for BJSC Worldvision IV
Points awarded:
18 Quintessa // Mutiny On The Bounty - Mapping The Universe
15 Trifoski // Dragan Dautovski Quartet - Balkan
13 Danæviia // Alexander Popov - Legacy (feat. Julia Violin)
12 Elëdan // Ritviz - Sage
11 Thelonia // Harotnica Mix - Viecier
10 Jadakissnia // Camille Saint-Saëns, Christine Walevska, Orchestre National De L'Opéra De Monte-Carlo and Eliahu Inbal - Suite For Cello And Orchestra, Op. 16: 4. Romance (Molto Adagio)
9 Unovia // Natalia Nykiel - Fala
8 Skall // WeltenBrand - Bewitched Herds Boys
7 Rolloland // Anima Sound System - Tedd A Napfényt Be A Számba
6 Land of DW // Birthh - Queen Of Failureland
5 Lotunia // Reniss - La Sauce
4 Flynnonda // NY-ZA - Suyem Seni
3 Cadelicia // Nneka - Heartbeat (Chase & Status We Just Bought A Guitar Mix)
2 Cor Lupus // Paranormal Attack - Another Night (feat. AC Slator)
1 Dobago // Imran Khan - Satisfya
16th-33rd:
Jupiterdonia // Jala Brat and Dado Polumenta - Dominantna
Bøtanikkä // 2 Unlimited - The Magic Friend
Séyetana // dArtagnan - Flucht Nach Vorn
Fljótavík // Farveblind - Wasteful Talk (feat. Clea)
Arcodesia // The Last Internationale - Wanted Man
Yehesi // Margaret Berger - Scream
Deandria // Cholita Sound and King Doudou - La Droga
Taahino // Astro'n'out - Multivitamīnu Multipaka
Cowtermont // Beissoul & Einius - Stripless
Kluminican Republic // DakhaBrakha - Yanki
Aeroche // Len Sander - In The Distance
République d'Áskorza // Sirusho - Huh-Hah
Niceland // Rea Garvey - Kiss Me
Republic of Adonia // Mia Borisavljević - Skandal
Wholune // Aloïse Sauvage - À L'Horizontale
Hushkanukia // GRANT - Catcher In The Rye
Florina // Sophia Patsalides and Kris Shades - Break Up The Silence
Vülkyria // Andreea D - Opa Opa (Bim Bim Bim)
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 24/09/2019
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Sampa The Great breaks our female soloist curse to qualify
We managed to make a second final in a row in BJSC 117 with Sampa The Great's 'Final Form' (also the second contest in a row where the original host, this time Brechtoria, ended up not being able to pull through with hosting duties so we had another bailout Aeroche hosting instead) and so avoided being 3 for 3 on DNQing with entries by female solo artists in 2019. Huzzah. This gave us our 72nd finalist to date and 5th out of 7 in 2019 to date. Aeroche, with another auto-qualifier, strolled onto their 31st final in a row while Cor Lupus... ... also qualified, remaining joint with them as the longest qualification streak. Their lead over the pack became larger as St. Burbia finally faltered and DNQed after 17 qualifiers in a row, leaving FARC as their new closest rivals on 16 consecutive finalists.
From our votes in semi-final 1 only one song failed to make the final with us - our 2 pointer Cowtermont with Dennis Cruz's 'El Sueño' (feat. Martina Camargo) - but there were more disappointing results from semi-final 2 where the song we ranked 1st there (and our favourite song of the entire contest), Florina's entry 'Back Of The Line' by Dirty Laces, sadly DNQed as did Skall with Jai Paul's 'He' which we had ranked 3rd. We also lost 'Guide' by Denis Kenzo and Kate Miles, representing Danæviia, which we had ranked 8th.
BJSC 117 summary
- Sampa The Great did great things for us... in the first third of the results reveal, as we were right near the top of the leaderboard for quite a while even being the third country to pass 100 points. Alas, turned out that was just because nearly everyone who liked 'Final Form' voted early as it ended up crashing all the way down to 35th out of 38 with a final total of 143 points, thus maintaining our entries by female solo artists being our 3 least successful entries of 2019 position-wise (although it did get more points than Molchat Doma's 'Tancevat' which finished one place higher in BJSC 114). 19 countries voted for us this time including a neat one each of the medal positions: a full 18 points from Utopia, 15 from Espen and 13 from Flynnonda. This won't go down as a Persephonian classic for us so we'll just be happy that we qualified and got to be in the lead for a little bit during the results reveal x 'Final Form' was then revealed to have come 13th out of 29 in semi-final 1 with 58 points, giving it a projected final position of 27th (for what that increasingly useless metric is worth).
- more commentary to be added one day maybe
Full Persephonian rankings for BJSC 117
Final
Points awarded:
18 Aeroche // Boy Harsher - Come Closer
15 Séyetana // 8kids - Dein Zuhause
13 East Rukahavian // Chisu - Ikävä
12 Utopia // salute - All About U
11 Lotunia // Yoko Shimomura - The Other Promise
10 Buzzjack Mountain // Brioni Faith - Skyscrapers (Industrial Mix) (feat. Mr X)
9 Thelonia // Sour - Separate Ways
8 Dobago // EDEN - start//end
7 Espen // Hot Since 82 - Street Lights (feat. Jem Cooke)
6 Brechtoria // Veronica Maggio - Tillfälligheter
5 Fljótavík // Van She - Strangers (Van She Tech Rework)
4 Aelandor // DESERT STAR - Carissa
3 Hendinia // Cosmo's Midnight - Have It All (feat. Age.Sex.Location)
2 Cor Lupus // Jealous Friend - In My Mind
1 Flynnonda // Paradis - Instantané
16th-37th:
Jadakissnia // Rompasso - Ignis
Land of DW // Eluveitie - Ambiramus
Singerpurear // Lene Lovich - Bird Song
Altyr Muunilinst // Chlöe Howl - In The Middle (Sad Banger)
Bøtanikkä // Tamia - Stranger In My House (Thunderpuss Club Mix)
Tartford // The Time Frequency - Dreamscape '94
Unovia // Luna - Asia
Arcodesia // Tall Ships - Meditations On Loss
Kluminican Republic // Only Fire - Cruel Summer
Summericia // Ollie Wride - Back To Life
Rolloland // Mass Gothic - Every Night You've Got To Save Me
Aesthetica // Dorian Electra - Flamboyant
FARC // Winona Oak - Break My Broken Heart
Vülkyria // Ridgewalkers - Find (Emitters Remix)
Holland-Oats // Kita Alexander - Between You & I
Oslol // Charming Horses and byMIA - Bad Look
New Lexico // chloe mk - To Be Young
FSR Rontvia // IDER - Swim
Greenfroze // PJ Brennan - 40 Days
The Actual Republic of Bellamia // CXLOE and gnash - SICK
Budtar // Borgeous - Famous (feat. Morgan St. Jean)
Hushkanukia // TRXD - Someone Else
~
Semi-Final 1
Points awarded:
12 Buzzjack Mountain // Brioni Faith - Skyscrapers (Industrial Mix) (feat. Mr X)
10 East Rukahavian // Chisu - Ikävä
8 Lotunia // Yoko Shimomura - The Other Promise
7 Cor Lupus // Jealous Friend - In My Mind
6 Fljótavík // Van She - Strangers (Van She Tech Rework)
5 Hendinia // Cosmo's Midnight - Have It All (feat. Age.Sex.Location)
4 Séyetana // 8kids - Dein Zuhause
3 Land of DW // Eluveitie - Ambiramus
2 Cowtermont // Dennis Cruz - El Sueño (feat. Martina Camargo)†
1 Singerpurear // Lene Lovich - Bird Song
11th-28th:
Cadelicia // GRACEY - If You Loved Me (Georgia Remix)†
Bøtanikkä // Tamia - Stranger In My House (Thunderpuss Club Mix)
FARC // Winona Oak - Break My Broken Heart
Arcodesia // Tall Ships - Meditations On Loss
Suedeonia // The Lovely Eggs - Wiggy Giggy†
Rolloland // Mass Gothic - Every Night You've Got To Save Me
République d'Áskorza // OK KID - Lügenhits†
Trifoski // Dutch Uncles - Oh Yeah†
Harmonica // Black Atlass - If They Only Knew†
Beaverdonia // Manuel Carrasco - Qué Bonito Es Querer†
Taahino // State Champs - Criminal†
Tinnmark // Matilda - Her Too†
Greenfroze // PJ Brennan - 40 Days
Unovia // Luna - Asia
Niceland // The Makemakes - The Beach†
Holland-Oats // Kita Alexander - Between You & I
Scherzland // Molly Hammar - Show Me (feat. Kim Cesarion)†
Hushkanukia // TRXD - Someone Else
† DNQed
~
Semi-Final 2 DNQs
1st Florina // Dirty Laces - Back Of The Line
3rd Skall // Jai Paul - He
8th Danæviia // Denis Kenzo and Kate Miles - Guide
13th Wholune // SWMRS - Lose Lose Lose
14th St. Burbia // Aya Nakamura - Pookie
15th United States of Jack // Bree Runway - Big Racks (feat. Brooke Candy)
19th Quintessa // Sonnfjord - Dust And Shapes
20th Jupiterdonia // Antonia - Touch Me
24th UltraLoverLand // Lisa May - Psycho Girl
25th Daehun // Red Velvet - Umpah Umpah
28th Republic of Adonia // Caroline Polachek - Ocean Of Tears
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 24/09/2019
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Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 07/10/2019
Kælan Mikla have a great cool qualifier
Kælan Mikla's 'Draumadís' got through to the final of BJSC 118 for us (thankfully, as what would even be a Jadakissnia hosted final without a Persephonian entrant in it?) increasing our qualification streak to 3, giving us a 6th qualifier out of a possible 8 in 2019 to date and our 73rd finalist to date in all. The reveal of the semi-final results this month had the bombshell that Aeroche's Q streak apparently would have ended this time if not for a couple of non-voters in their semi-final... but as it were they did make it through to a 32nd final in a row, as did Cor Lupus, maintaining their joint stranglehold on #1 on the qualification streak list ahead of third placed FARC who marched onto a 17th straight final.
It was sad times from our votes in semi-final 2 as our 12 pointer, Deandrian entry 'Sabza Ba Naz (The Triumph Of Love)' by Niyaz was among the songs to fall short of the final. We also lost two other votes, our 6 pointer from Quintessa (PONGO's 'Kassussa') and our 3 pointer from Taahino (The Big Moon's 'Your Light'), the latter in particular being quite a surprising DNQ for us. The results of the other semi weren't much better as 4 of the songs ranked in the Persephonian public's top 10 DNQed: Jupiterdonia with Delain's 'Masters Of Destiny' (3rd for us), Utopia with beabadoobee's 'She Plays Bass' (5th), St. Burbia with Amrit Maan's 'Mithi Mithi' (feat. Jasmine Sandlas) (6th, and not a surprising DNQ although was a shame to see it come dead last) and Harmonica with Joseph's 'Fighter' (10th).
BJSC 118 summary
- We didn't live up to the high expectations we had for 'Draumadís' when we first stumbled across it but also didn't entirely embarrass itself as it came in 22nd out of 42 for us with 157 points from 21 voters, just ranking in the top half of our successes of the year to date. BJSC is clearly not as appreciative of a good dark song as it should be (see also Aeroche's result last month and this month). Sadly it didn't manage to pick up any 18s but did rank in the medal positions for three nations, its biggest supporters being Séyetana and Suedeonia who both gave it 15 points while it also got 13 from Espen, and it fell just short of the medals for five other countries, picking up 12 points each from Arcodesia, Beaverdonia, Jadakissnia, Kylienips and Terra Avium. Thanks to those and the others who backed us this month! 'Draumadís' also turned out to not be the most secure qualifier ever, still a safe-ish 12th out of 30 in semi-final 2 (with 67 points, 16 more than the highest DNQ) but we were certainly hoping it'd have done much better in what seemed like a really fortunate semi-final draw, alas semi-final logic never seems to pan out these days!
- more commentary to be added one day maybe
Full Persephonian rankings for BJSC 118
Final
Points awarded:
18 Arcodesia // God Is An Astronaut - Echoes
15 Jadakissnia // Active Child - All Eyes On You
13 Espen // DEVILNOTCRY - NotEnoughOfYou
12 Wholune // The Band CAMINO - Something To Hold On To
11 Beaverdonia // The HU - Yuve Yuve Yu
10 Bøtanikkä // Ayla - Angelfalls (Elemental Force)
9 Ultraviolenceland // Lucy Daydream - You.
8 Summericia // Covenant - Dead Stars
7 The Actual Republic of Bellamia // Lewis Blissett - Killing Butterflies
6 Trifoski // Moses Sumney - Rank & File
5 Aeroche // MXMS - Gravedigger
4 Terra Avium // The Snake Charmer - Nageena (Siren Of The Sands)
3 Cowtermont // Feed Me - Feel Love (feat. Rosie Doonan)
2 Oslol // Bjørn Olav Edvardsen and Arcteec - Mountains
1 Skall // Korallreven - The Highest State Of Grace
16th-41st:
Séyetana // PinocchioP - I'm Glad You're Evil Too
Rolloland // UNKLE - Lonely Soul (feat. Richard Ashcroft)
Vülkyria // Antony & Cleopatra - Why Don't You Just Call Me
Hendinia // I Am Boleyn - Too Much (F9 Club Edit)
Danæviia // Croatia Squad - Ven Pa Ca
Fljótavík // Jenny Hval - Ashes To Ashes
Lotunia // Charlotte Lawrence - Why Do You Love Me
Altyr Muunilinst // Boston Bun - Don't Wanna Dance
Cor Lupus // Hanne Mjøen - Strangers
Sergeistan // Zivert - Beverly Hills
Singerpurear // Paul Kalkbrenner - No Goodbye
Scherzland // Gemini Rising - Speed Of Sound
Kluminican Republic // KSHMR, B3nte and Badjack - The Spook Returns
Hushkanukia // Marion Raven - We Are W.I.T.C.H.
FSR Rontvia // Lily Moore - Over You
New Lexico // September - Aðeins Nær Þér (feat. Birgitta Haukdal)
FARC // NAATIONS - Air & Water
Kylienips // Au/Ra - Dance In The Dark
Niceland // Lola Marsh - Echoes
Suedeonia // Shakespears Sister and Richard Hawley - When She Finds You
Thelonia // Ben Gold - The City Sleeps Tonight
Greenfroze // EVERGLOW - Adios
Ojnoj // Indiana - My Friends Don't Like You
Tartford // Otto Knows - About You
République d'Áskorza // Lena and Nico Santos - Better
Holland-Oats // Jordie Ireland - Throw Away My Number (feat. Riley Biederer)
~
Semi-Final 2
Points awarded:
12 Deandria // Niyaz - Sabza Ba Naz (The Triumph Of Love)†
10 Summericia // Covenant - Dead Stars
8 Espen // DEVILNOTCRY - NotEnoughOfYou
7 Beaverdonia // The HU - Yuve Yuve Yu
6 Quintessa // PONGO - Kassussa†
5 Trifoski // Moses Sumney - Rank & File
4 Terra Avium // The Snake Charmer - Nageena (Siren Of The Sands)
3 Taahino // The Big Moon - Your Light†
2 Wholune // The Band CAMINO - Something To Hold On To
1 Séyetana // PinocchioP - I'm Glad You're Evil Too
11th-29th:
Oslol // Bjørn Olav Edvardsen and Arcteec - Mountains
Aelandor // Masego - Navajo†
Skall // Korallreven - The Highest State Of Grace
Cowtermont // Feed Me - Feel Love (feat. Rosie Doonan)
Kluminican Republic // KSHMR, B3nte and Badjack - The Spook Returns
Cor Lupus // Hanne Mjøen - Strangers
East Rukahavian // BESS - Pidä Musta Kii†
Cadelicia // AMA - Crystal†
Sergeistan // Zivert - Beverly Hills
Danæviia // Croatia Squad - Ven Pa Ca
Niceland // Lola Marsh - Echoes
Thelonia // Ben Gold - The City Sleeps Tonight
Suedeonia // Shakespears Sister and Richard Hawley - When She Finds You
New Lexico // September - Aðeins Nær Þér (feat. Birgitta Haukdal)
Ojnoj // Indiana - My Friends Don't Like You
Enty // Two Feet - Pink†
Dobago // Fabrizio Parisi and MiYan - Sunbeams (feat. Belonoga)†
Tinnmark // Fasion - FEELINS†
Daehun // Ailee - U & I†
† DNQed
~
Semi-Final 1 DNQs
3rd Jupiterdonia // Delain - Masters Of Destiny
5th Utopia // beabadoobee - She Plays Bass
6th St. Burbia // Amrit Maan - Mithi Mithi (feat. Jasmine Sandlas)
10th Harmonica // Joseph - Fighter
14th Land of DW // Szabó Balázs Bandája - Hétköznapi (feat. Julie Rens)
16th United States of Jack // Becky G - Secrets
17th Unovia // Illy - Then What
19th Flynnonda // Waterparks - Dream Boy
22nd Aesthetica // Niki And Gabi - hair tie
27th Budtar // GATTÜSO and Damon Sharpe - When In Rome
Random observation lawl
As many as 4 of our semi points were exactly the same - 10 Summericia, 6 Quintessa, 2 Wholune, 1 Séyetana. I believe I also noticed having the same 3 or 4 with someone in the final but yeah, #unimportantfacts but just caught my eye. (I approve of that 12 too tho, thank you )
Pepper & Piano response song? xo
Happy that normality was restored in 118 to the point where Kælan Mikla may or may not feature in my personal chart also
Is Queen Ashley Allen finally unbanned from Persephonia?
Ms. Allen's visa status has been reviewed and she has been allowed back into the country
To balance this out, Tones And I is now banned from Persephonia.
*posts about your entry before you've even had a chance to properly introduce it here yourself*
I don't know this particular song (seems like a very new one) but I'm intrigued / surprised bc I used to listen to Amon Tobin, although rather casually. Apparently I have a few scrobbles from as recently as last year but I don't remember listening then ha xx
Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 20/10/2019
This is so captivating I'm in full Persephonia stan mode this month and will riot if this DNQs! #instrumentalbloc
Ela Minus just dropped an album. Just thought you might wanna know x
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