I regret not pointing both 'Shosholoza' and 'You Got Me Baby' from Vülkyria! I was retrospectively gobsmacked in particular that I didn't point the latter as it's pretty up my street. Just took its time I guess. A shame you weren't a fan of it! I don't know where Vülkyria have gone but they need to come back to us.

 

YESSS at the Midnight To Monaco love :wub: I remember us stanning it on plug.dj and the respective YouTube channel it was on. Pleased it has another big fan in you because it really is great! 'Blackbeat' was a total tune as well, so pleased for Usfland that they've started doing much better this year.

 

Ana Mena is a good favourite Ultraviolenceland entry pick! It's certainly up there for me as well. It is very hard to resist the charms of Español *.*

If Vulkyria have more Shosholoza in them then a return would be very welcome. It's just that voice for You Got Me Baby, I have a strong aversion to (most) soul icons.

 

T

 

Trifoski　たりふすき

Trifoski are a country that I often tend to expect good things from, normally with some quality electropop, although I think they had a better year overall last year. That doesn't mean this year wasn't good, far from it, they had some very excellent tunes, but I'm not sure any stood out as HUGE favourites although they were always reliable favourites, I gave points to the majority of these. There was one I didn't feel a pressing need to point, and that was Pillow Person, a bit normal for them. The rest though, very enjoyable stuff I'm keeping on rotation, from the returns of Dive In and Great Good Fine OK with sunny band tunes to the grindyness of Fix My Life (a bit of a criminal DNQ), it's hard to pick a favourite. Electrify was a wonderful shock hit, The Go! Team was quirky brilliance, but I think it has to come down to Otra Era, which I knew for quite a while as a PJSC winner (not that I enter but I sometimes pay attention to the better stuff that comes out of there) but still sounded fresh and epic when it finally got entered here, La Femme was an excellent French left-field building beauty, but their best of these ten is the least normal (as it so often is), the shock of Lemon Demon making a legitimate tune + trademark great lyrics with Touch-Tone Telephone.

Ranking: Lemon Demon - Touch Tone Telephone > Javiera Mena - Otra Era > La Femme - Sphynx > Melt Yourself Down - Fix My Life > Oliver - Electrify > Great Good Fine OK - Take It Or Leave It > The Go! Team - Buy Nothing Day > Anna Meredith - Nautlius > Dive In - Eighteen > Pillow Person - Go Ahead

 

Triangledonia　たりあんぐれどにあ

One sentence to sum up Triangledonia this year: Different Heaven was robbed of all the accolades it deserved. Maybe Nekozilla would have done better but I rank both of them pretty highly and OMG I have been quite obsessed with, it's the sort of [NoCopyrightSounds] instrumental that never gets old what with all the right slam-dunk beats. Fantasy was also pretty great and In & Out was fairly enjoyable. And the final entry of the year, You And Me has grown on me slightly. With Stuck, I initially liked it but got bored of it quickly, knew it would be BJSC fodder and so I didn't bother entering it - and I was right to. Triangledonia seems to get punished way too often in this contest, sometimes they do send featureless pop or featureless dance but when they send songs with a bit of a kick to them, they need more than just one good result in a year. And by which I mean OMG should have won.

Ranking: Different Heaven - OMG > Alexa Lusader - Fantasy > Tai & Son Of 8 - In & Out > Marlo - You And Me > The Him - Don't Leave Without Me > Manse - Freeze Time > The Aces - Stuck > Tom Sawyer - Marihuana > Emma Cairn - Bad Boy Genes

 

Tinnmark　ちんんまるく

Tinnmark had a bit of a rough year this time around, with quite a lot of DNQs ever since Brightest Light and Telescope shocked me by actually qualifying (the latter of which is really sweet), with ONLY (with what was easily their best) their folk metal epic Odal by Wardruna qualifying after that. For some, like Lars Vaular's less good second entry and Bendik, that seemed expected, for some, like the rather lovely Sno's Krig and Grizzly Man, it's more a case of it being unfortunately ignored. And there was Wait For Love which I was sure was going to get through because it was quite BJSC fodder only to end up just missing out. Still, I like for the most part that we have a bit of national identity showing through in Jerick's entries, but let's not have another year for Tinnmark where they are sitting on the sidelines for months at a time, I'm seriously impressed with their persistence at this point. Also Katastrofe was a tune.

Ranking: Wardruna - Odal > Katastrofe - Sangen Du Hatar > Sno - Krig > Carl Louis - Telescope> kid joki & CLMD - Wait For Love > Rockettothesky - Grizzly Man > FDVM - Brightest Light > Bendik - Kriger > Lars Vaular - Det Ordnar Seg For Pappa > Diskopunk - Antonio America

 

Thelonia　ふろにあ

Another often unfortunate nation, the main thing I remember thinking with regards to a Thelonian entry this year was that Flux Pavillion was clearly going to mop up some competition at the least before it slumped to second-last in the semi. Don't get that at all, it was a good drop-heavy song from them and they're a slight name so surely BJSC participants should be falling over themselves with a bit of that familiarity. The return of Wild Belle and the catchiness of Dub FX were also some nice highlights from this nation although I didn't end up pointing either of them as their only finalists, but I still liked them. KLP and LeBrock were also quite good entries, not so much for the others, but still, only 2 qualifiers this year feels a little unfair (and in my diplomatic stance, I'd say that about any nation that enters regularly but still, Thelonia sent a few more good songs than that).

Ranking: Flux Pavillion - Never See The Light > LeBrock - One Night > Wild Belle - Throw Down Your Guns > Dub FX - So Are You > KLP - Recover > Jauz & Netsky - Higher > Fether - Tides

 

Terra Avium　てっら　あびうむ

Definitely one of the best nations this year as they were last year, like with Trifoski I find myself wanting to point Terra more often than not, to the point where I was wondering whether it was too much but Chez keeps providing those excellent instrumental tunes that I can't turn down so that's where the points go. Although I think their standout this year was a vocal track, the return of Kids Of The Apocalypse to their control as Better Life showed up as the representation of a haunting march (with accompanying rap) through a wasteland. Though almost as good was Hiatus (and while I'm here I should say I completely passed over Hiatus' 1st BJSC entry, there's an artist I had no clue was recycled until I iTunes searched the name), proving that minimal piano plinking can be a thing that does well and I shouldn't be scared of entering one of my own (at some unspecified point in the future when one surfaces again). Ulay Oh was very lovely and emotional, as was Fortress in a MrSuicideSheepy way, on that note, Tiasu I loved in the same way I loved OMG, U.S. Girls was a strong first entry that deserved better than it got, those voices are awesome, Time was epic and Apples was a fun little diversion, and Essaie... I didn't listen to it much in the contest but it's rather great and therefore UNDERRATED, isn't it? Then we get to Travelling Light, technically Terra's biggest success this year and while I like the first half of that, I'm not so keen on the grindy second half, so that's actually last on this rank, purely because of that. Which is a testament to how incredible they were this year, one of, if not the strongest country (although that's a matter to be disputed with the country just two below this one), that a song that clearly got adored by a lot of people gets put to the bottom on merely having half the song not be as good as the great first part.

Ranking: Kids Of The Apocalypse - Better Life > Hiatus - Precious Little > Illenium - Fortress > How I Became The Bomb - Ulay Oh > tiasu - Plummet > iamspamspamami- Time > U.S Girls - Woman's Work > Delhi 2 Dublin - Apples > Essaie Pas - Le Port Du Masque Est De Riguer > daydreamer - Travelling Light

 

Tartford　たらてふるづ

Tartford. Often the #1 country when it comes to be being left in the semi each contest, as I'm sure they'll tell you themselves. But they've done really well for that reputation this year so maybe they're finally throwing that off. And that's not undeserved, I think they had a pretty amazing year myself. Luce Drayton and Dominique weren't that good for me but every other entry at least had merit. On the rest of their non-qualifiers, Skinny was a rather cool song that seemed to be self-deprecating Tartford's reputation but I enjoyed it, The Bridge was a pretty decent dance track, but then BLKMGK was my semi 12 and while I sort of expected it out, it was a crying shame regardless because just listen to it again, that's some incredibly catchy music/spoken rap there. Safe Tonight was great to see, it was a good song for me anyway but to see BJSC get behind Tartford to that extent was heartwarming. Metronomy, a lovely ad-tastic classic, that was nice to revisit, Keep On Loving You was sweet and Reaction I found rather catchy and fun after the fact, even though it is standard Gaudino. And Numb wasn't that bad, although Mel C made that one work.

Ranking: BLKMGK - You Don't Deserve Me > Metronomy - The Look > Marsheaux - Safe Tonight > Alex Gaudino - Reaction > Cigarettes After Sex - Keep On Loving You > Sons Of Sonix - Numb > Skinny - Failure > Jody Wisternoff - The Bridge > Luce Drayton - To Be Loved > Dominique - I Think I'm Fallin'

 

Taahino　たあひの

I am flooding points Taahino's way at the moment (he says as if he ever wasn't) and it's for good reason (and I don't even do it blindly, I left Crystalyne as that was a bit too Disney pop for me and I don't think I'd have pointed Incredible Crew if it'd qualified). Because everything else was incredible. How Does It Feel, awesome guitar work from Tonight Alive (even if not their best, that's still damn good), and then, ignoring Punks Don't Dance, for three contests it only got better. The vocals of Lynn Gunn on Lose Myself as they hold into the chorus with that production is everything I ever want from a dance song, it's why I love the likes of Clarity and this has the same sort of feeling, Now You Know I'd marked myself, or at least Icon For Hire with that and Bam Bam Pop as a vague possibility but it worked much better with Lindsey leading the charge, a fresh twist on the Taahino song and some excellent lyrics. And then the biggest beast, Capture And Release. I'm serious when I say this is the perfect rock song in so many ways for me, slightly imperfect vocals, a bold and forthright instrumental and an awesome drop into the chorus. Why that wasn't a top 10 I don't know... we don't talk about that, I'm sure. The rest of the year, couldn't quite match Capture & Release but that would be hard, and it formed a pretty great plateau (ignoring Incredible Crew) with Die Trying, Spark, Kiss Me and Stereo all being excellent examples of the Taahino sound. I think for nearly any sound except this one, I'd want more variety from a nation but honestly, for this, I don't need that (although of course, if you want to, I'm sure it would be good, Now You Know proved that something a little different will work). The pop-rock and pop-punk sound I don't think I'll ever get bored of, and each month Taahino brings another great song, so that works for me. Excellent stuff once again.

Ranking: Beautiful Bodies - Capture & Release > Icon For Hire - Now You Know > Seven Lions - Lose Myself > Ghost Town - Spark > Courage My Love - Stereo > Tonight Alive - How Does It Feel? > Fingertips - Kiss Me > Jule Vera - Die Trying > Crystalyne - Punks Don't Dance > Incredible Crew - Running Errands With My Mom

 

T is a good section.

I think I almost died of laughter seeing Running Errands With My Mom on the confirmation sheet, so much I almost PM'd Lindsey to see if she was okay

Both Terra Avium and Trifoski have been two of my absolute favourite nations of the year :wub: So many good tunes from both of them. 'Buy Nothing Day' and 'Touch Tone Telephone' are the only Trifoski songs I didn't LOVE this year lmao. Snap on your favourite Terra Avium entry this year! 'Better Life' was just incredible. <3 Also, Essie Pas and U.S. Girls were criminally underrated! Both of them were very much to my taste. Especially Essie Pas with the Kraftwerk vibes *.*

Despite the shade, I luh the compliments :o

Oh i love these end of year country reviews you do Iz. I'd poach this idea off you but i wouldn't do it much justice, most of my descriptions would probably amount to "yeah you're pretty good"

 

TOUCH-TONE TOUCH-TONE TELEPHONE! being the favourite though :o I have to agree with that, and yes Trifoski are consistently amazing thank you i know :heart:

 

Hopefully South Danaelanda will come under S! :dance:

At this rate you'll get to Aelandor after we all die from a nuclear winter!!! :P

At this rate you'll get to Aelandor after we all die from a nuclear winter!!! :P

 

Only if that's before the middle of December.

 

I know how fast I'm going.

 

And yes, South Danaelanda does come under S, I'm going by the stats thread - although Joseph has informed me I did under T last year so I'll just share what I've got for that one now.

 

T(aa)he Actual Republic Of Bellamia　べっらみあ　の　あけつある　れぷぶぃく

No points have been exchanged between me and the Actual Republic this year. Which is unfortunate but not that surprising, as much as I love Joseph his music taste can be… questionable at times. Although I gave him some good support last year, it seems that this year the influx of twinks people who are really skilled at making real music is overtaking Bellamia. And for some, Shawn not-Mendes, that one from the X Factor and a couple of Finnish boys (proving that not everything from that country is awesome, although Worth Something was okay), that really was quite bad. Please Don’t Go, it kind of grew on me through the virtue of hanging around Spotify. Kind of, it’s okay. The rest, I didn’t point but enjoyed. High and The Ransom were pretty good pop songs so all fine with that, Trevor Dahl, as someone with a second-degree connection to Séyetana, had a decent tropical house song. I loved the last Ready Set song, this wasn’t as good through owing too much to Bieber but still really good, but the best Bellamia has been the quirky grower of Maty Noyes, proving that Joseph’s best entries most often come from co-opting the solo careers of the nobodies that Kygo’s done a song with.

Ranking: Maty Noyes – In My Mind > The Ready Set – Good Enough > Trevor Dahl – When You Come Home > Catey Shaw – The Ransom > Jesper Jenset – High > Joel Adams – Please Don’t Go > Isac Eliot – Worth Something > Shawn Hook – Sound Of My Heart > Benjamin - Body > Ryan Lawrie – If Only

S

 

Syndare　せんだれ

Syndare have had a fairly good year this time around, with 5 of their entries making their way easily onto my lists of great BJSC entries. For the ones that didn’t, Touch was a little anonymous and didn’t resonate with me, Drop was a bit reliant on a hook line that didn’t grab me, Numbered was decent but didn’t grab me. I liked Chiara more than I expected to as I associate that name with Eurovision’s Michelle McManus but this was quite upbeat, while Ji Nilsson gave me the entry of hers that hit me the most instantly, was okay but not my favourite. I expected to see Kwamie Liv in BJSC way before this, I’m glad she came with a good song of hers, Higher is a really nice ballad of hers. Heart Of Mine is really special with that production, it’s strong and attractive as a song but also really calling back to that wonderful time in BJSC when nearly everything sounded like this – or kinda. Row was also that to an extent and for my money, slightly better as it has some really quirky verses – best Smith & Thell song I’ve heard. Yoko Ono and DJDS were both epic as the former had some serious swag with Yoko updating herself for the millennials (but seriously, very boppy), and DJDS’ synths proved to be infectious in growing on me.

Ranking: Smith & Thell - Row > Yoko Ono & Penguin Prison – She Gets Down On Her Knees > DJDS – In The Flames > Firefox AK – Heart Of Mine > Kwamie Liv – Higher > Ji Nilsson – Perfume > Chiara Hunter – Hammer > Calypso – Numbered > Chloe x Halle – Drop > MOTHXR – Touch

 

Summericia すっめりしあ

Much better than they’re normally given credit for looking at this lineup, that should have gotten results far outstripping most of that. Summericia actually had a bit of a funky period at the start of this year, something I never associate with any nation normally, shame neither Paris Groove or Justified produced a qualifier as both were pretty wonderful. As was their venture into trance that I somehow didn’t point in the semi, Dive sounds amazing right now. I really liked Vyan actually, didn’t come near pointing it but it’s a tune that readily sticks in your head and still does a bit now. The four at the bottom I can’t say I really thought were that special but if all of Justified, Dive and Paris Groove had qualified like they were supposed to, Summericia would have had a much better year overall. But of course it does come down a little bit to the rock, Invisible should have been a huge smash and it pains me still that it wasn’t. But at least that was made up for a bit when Rob made a PERFECT choice for the last contest of the year and picked something I thought no one would ever pick, the symphonic metal Ukrainian epic patriotic anthem that is Alga. Let’s get Summericia less underrated for next year, they’re so often so quality.

Ranking: Ignea – Alga > Keys&Cages – Invisible > Hartebees - Justified (Sunrise Funk) > Dennis Sheperd and Sarah Lynn – Dive > Boston Bun - Paris Groove > VYAN - Hard To Break > Billie Ray Martin - The Glittering Gutter > Genevieve – Show Your Colours > Generik - Late At Night > Invader Girl - Stuck On Me

 

Suedeonia　すえでおにあ

Another underrated nation, and certainly one that I’ve come to appreciate a bit of variety from, even if not everything is to my taste in particular. I mean, lots of it is indie-rock and Britpop and I can really love that, but less so the subtler parts. I’m not a subtle guy when it comes to music. Where’s The Beach was a pretty good qualifier for them with its looping sounds, it’s always nice to see The Very Best in BJSC even if their other two entries were better, Birdland was very cool, I really liked their debut as a song even though it didn’t make it through, a wonderful voice on that. Delete was a good Oasis pastiche and their other qualifier Superwalkers saw my first final points to them with a completely unsubtle indie-pop stormer. That’s how you get me. Best of luck to Suedeonia for next year.

Ranking: Superwalkers – Lost (As I Am) > In Hoodies – Healing > DMA’s – Delete > Weather Report – Birdland > The Very Best – Makes A King > Where’s The Beach – Tripping The Luv Fantastic > Brian Eno – Here He Comes > The Death Of Pop – Gardens > The Tubes – Don’t Touch Me There

 

St. Burbia　さいんつ　ぶるびあ

I confess, I was beginning to see St. Burbia as a nation easily given to entering some fairly bogstandard pop or dance, Wild Horses and Blue Lights were examples of this and I wasn’t taken with the latter much at all. Similarly for Want You and Mayday. But to their credit, St. Burbia have really started entering several entries that I’ve started to take notice of, unfortunately most of those have done much worse than those I’ve already mentioned. Freedom Island, I wish that had qualified as it would have grown on me by the final after I missed its charms in the semi. Basenji was a brilliant qt song, I definitely would have found room for that if it had gotten through. Kind Of Love was a very good RnB song, Tun Up brought me back to the days when I loved that kind of music and I so very nearly gave a point to Dum Dee Dum – it’s like burbe’s very good at finding the sort of RnB/ethnic music that appeals to me. It only JUST hasn’t translated into final points but I’m sure if you continue down this road (or any similarly weird road) you’ll get points from me soon.

Ranking: Basenji – Can’t Get Enough > The Free – Freedom Island > Zack Knight & Jasmin Walia – Dum Dee Dum > Sarah Mark – Tun Up > MAALA – Kind Of Love > iSHi – There For Me > Bishop – Wild Horses > Alisha Pillay – Mayday > Bearson – Want You > Jorja Smith – Blue Lights

South Danaelanda　そうふ　だなえらんだ

I should warn you, I think It’s My Man is probably one of the worst songs I’ve ever had to face in BJSC. Maybe not quite as bad as Mariahlynne but like with You Got Me Baby, that sort of voice is unbearable for me and it felt especially obnoxious here. But otherwise, we’re mostly cool. Make Your Move was a little average deep house but it was fineee, Aber was nice but a little anonymous, Paperwhite wasn’t particularly amazing and suffered in a strong contest, Time To Say Goodbye always had me thinking of a far better song by that name, but it did had a good drop, and I think I was good with everything else. So in the last two contests they’ve had good entries that I couldn’t find room to point and then there was Avicii which is a good song but I felt I had to boycott down to a commiseration if I remember rightly. Then there were the two pretty amazing songs Danaelanda had this year – both while they were still united #endthesuffering. Mirror Me, in stark contrast to It’s My Man, has some deliciously beautiful half-spoken vocals that go very well with the dark synthy backing, giving off quite the dystopian impression, and it’s one of those brilliant long songs that feels half its length, I was so very happy with that discovery, particularly as it got better each time I listened to it. It’d easily be your best overall if not for the true power of Monody, something that I think is going to easily be in my favourite songs of the year. It wasn’t a discovery so I didn’t give it the full 18 at the time but it’s just so lush and wonderful, I’d have loved it to go the full way and win, the fantastical bright happy backing leading into a swoop of an instrumental and Laura Brehm’s breathtaking vocals, it’s just a perfect BJSC hit. (will need to borrow this for my actual EOY commentary)

Ranking: TheFatRat – Monody > Maceo Plex – Mirror Me > Avicii – Dear Boy > Basto - Gregory’s Theme > Steve James – In My Head > Mr FijiWiji – Time To Say Goodbye > Paperwhite – Get Away > Tobtok – Aber > Croatia Squad – Make Your Move > Mickey – It’s My Man

 

Skall　すかっる

Been really good lately, now they’ve moved a bit away from the long repetitive dance instrumentals that go on for 9 minutes while doing very little. That’s not for me although the ones you’ve had, Bicep, O’Flynn (nice historical state reference), Art Of Tones, not Dave DK, they are improved from Skall entries of that sort of past years. And Azz Klapz was a rare one of those that I really liked, because the repetitive bit was really quite appealing to listen to. But easily, their best entries are those that aren’t that sort because they’re either some lovely indie-rock like Deerhunter or something really, awesomely, off the wall (always the best). Norwegian comedy on the next level above Ylvis is always good with me, and then there’s the two awesome ones. Bye Bye Mi Amor… brilliant 80s synthpop from an avenue I’d have never thought of looking for a BJSC entry, so addictive to listen to. I did get very enraptured by angry French rap in Stupeflip though and while I think it’s just barely ahead of Bye Bye Mi Amor, that rap (especially when you imagine the video playing out in your mind) is quite the essential experience and I’m glad I was able to get that to the final – really livened up that contest I feel.

Ranking: Stupeflip – Stupeflip Vite !!! > David Lyme – Bye Bye Mi Amor > Kollektivet – ÆØÅ Size Matters > Deerhunter – Nothing Ever Happened > Teengirl Fantasy – Azz Klapz > Bicep – Just > O’Flynn – Desmond’s Empire > Art Of Tones – The World As We Live It > Dave DK - Woolloomooloo

 

Singerpurear　しんげらぷれある

There’s been a thing with Singerpurear this year, every time I see them have an awesome entry that I’m sure they’ll qualify with, they’re in the other semi and I can’t help them and it somehow fails. And then nearly everything else from them gets through. This has resulted in far less points going their way from me than there should have been, I really wanted to reward the brilliance of Restless Year and PARTICULARLY Ode To My Next Life, that has to be challenging for the best song left outside the final this year, I have no clue how it did that badly, it’s wondrous and sounded very smashy (has some instrumental bits that remind me of Mirror Mirror too, in fact great instrumental bits all over the song). That meant I only gave points to them for HandClap and The Cigarette Duet, both really great songs, the former for indie-pop storming and the latter for being a beautiful duet but it did take way too long for me to resume my Singerpurear loving. As always, really good country for sending different and interesting stuff so I don’t begrudge anything. Real Love was unfortunate to miss out, PC Music means it’s at least good to me but just lacked something. Invincible was rather good for the type of song it was, Yothu Yindi wasn’t as good as I’d hoped it’d be, I wasn’t really taken with Kadie Elder, I liked Simple Guy much better, Inga Humpe washed over me a little and Timothy Bloom was a little bit of a misfire. But it was something different, keep doing that popchartfreak, I value that.

Ranking: Kishi Bashi – Ode To My Next Life > Princess Chelsea – The Cigarette Duet > Ezra Furman – Restless Year > Fitz And The Tantrums – HandClap > Chris Lee – Real Love > Firebeatz & DubVision – Invincible > Yothu Yindi – Treaty > Kadie Elder – First Time He Kissed A Boy > Inga Humpe – Riding Into Blue > Timothy Bloom – Til The End Of Time

 

Sandeborg　さんでぼろぐ

Easy. Young Again, again proving that SMILO are somehow a huge exception to the Avicii/Kygo-influenced boyband wave in that they channel so much more of the producer side of things and keep their songs interesting, following up Weight Of The World earlier this year, Young Again was even better on that front with its raising synths and pretty much overall epic feeling. I love being able to give Sandeborg points as I still have a huge deficit to make up (although having said that, where were you last contest Adam). It does look like they’ve had a pretty bad year with only three qualifiers (better kill those bribe jokes, because those have gone right down the drain) and I must say I wasn’t particularly keen on their other entries. Peg Parnevik, Ohlayindigo and Ulrika were good songs but not in my points range as was Golden I suppose, bribe jokes aside. And then I didn’t really like the others, particularly not Werk Like Beyonce, that was a bit… horrific.

Ranking: SMILO – Young Again > Ohlayindigo – Lullaby > Peg Parnevik – We Are > Ulrika – Oh Sally > Brooke – Golden > Helly Luv – Revolution > Lola Coca – Bad Girlfriend > Espen – Werk Like Beyonce

Tartford

Tartford. Often the #1 country when it comes to be being left in the semi each contest, as I'm sure they'll tell you themselves. But they've done really well for that reputation this year so maybe they're finally throwing that off. And that's not undeserved, I think they had a pretty amazing year myself. Luce Drayton and Dominique weren't that good for me but every other entry at least had merit. On the rest of their non-qualifiers, Skinny was a rather cool song that seemed to be self-deprecating Tartford's reputation but I enjoyed it, The Bridge was a pretty decent dance track, but then BLKMGK was my semi 12 and while I sort of expected it out, it was a crying shame regardless because just listen to it again, that's some incredibly catchy music/spoken rap there. Safe Tonight was great to see, it was a good song for me anyway but to see BJSC get behind Tartford to that extent was heartwarming. Metronomy, a lovely ad-tastic classic, that was nice to revisit, Keep On Loving You was sweet and Reaction I found rather catchy and fun after the fact, even though it is standard Gaudino. And Numb wasn't that bad, although Mel C made that one work.

Ranking: BLKMGK - You Don't Deserve Me > Metronomy - The Look > Marsheaux - Safe Tonight > Alex Gaudino - Reaction > Cigarettes After Sex - Keep On Loving You > Sons Of Sonix - Numb > Skinny - Failure > Jody Wisternoff - The Bridge > Luce Drayton - To Be Loved > Dominique - I Think I'm Fallin'

 

Brilliant write up! Thanks so much for the review. Loved reading this! :D

lmao I thought you were gonna leave Joseph under "A" for a second

I also did not know Hiatus had been entered before :o Apparently was in a contest I was in as well, that brings me up to three recycles this year (the inspiration is fading!!1)

 

Thanks soooo much for that wonderful paragraph Iz, I am so pleased you've been so on board with us this year, rest assured, it's never too much! :heart: I didn't think you'd like Essaie Pas, but I'm glad that makes it a perfect 10! (well almost, I can see how the grindy half Travelling Light isn't for everyone :kink:). This hasn't been almost entirely one way for once this year which is good, Mirror Mirror, Tanz Mit Mir, Temen Oblak, Break of Dawn & ESPECIALLY Requiem (good choice for personal favourite <3) have all been wonderful discoveries pour moi.

 

You know I can't get enough of these paragraphs, this will make good use of my reading breaks ;o

 

Reading these paragraphs was an excellent way to kill some time during my break at uni today :D keep it up etc.

ahh that was a lovely read, it's been a very good year for me too actually, fingers crossed I can rally some support in the rejects for Keys&Cages tho :cry: I do agree with you on the first few entries of mine not being too special, maybe that's what led them to dnq (well not Vyan lmao) as I'm finding them 'just good but not great' looking back, thanks for the positive and nice words about the majority of my tracks tho :D You've had several tunes as well, Tanz Mit Mir & the latest one for example!

Edited December 1, 20168 yr by Xmas Rob(in) S~

- That's a very good top 3 of Syndare entries this year *.* I had never given them points until DJDS, and then bam, an 18! Plus 9 points to 'She Gets Down On Her Knees' soon after. A shame that 'Touch' was your least favourite of theirs of the year, but I guess it's not really the most standout track.

 

- That Summericia top 2 is great! But would be the other way round for me as KEYS&CAGES was definitely the best of the bunch, the chorus packed such a punch *.* 'Alga' of course right up your street though and mine too, brilliantly bonkers.

 

- Suedeonia have definitely brought something new to the table this year! Superwalkers is a strong fave pick for them, but with my penchant for loopy retro-sounding dance it's gotta be Where's The Beach for me.

 

- Skall have been such an immensely interesting and standout country this year *.* Two very outlandish songs there in your top 3 of theirs with Stupeflip and Kollektivet :lol: but both fab. A shame that you don't really rate their long dance instrumentals, but at least their best of the year 'Bye Bye Mi Amor' is in your top 2, yassss.

 

- Singerpurear weren't *quite* as amazing for me as they were last year, but still providing a handful of great songs with Kishi Bashi, Princess Chelsea, Fitz And The Tantrums, Kadie Elder and Inga Humpe!

 

- Completely with you on 'Monody' being Danaelanda's best of the year! Looking back I should've given that more. Also, yasssss for embracing 'Dum Dee Dum' *.* but I spy 'Werk Like Beyoncé' hate :nono: wharra jam. x

I'll have you know 'It's My Man' is a proper jam :angry:

 

yay for the 'Monody' and 'Mirror Me' appreciation though. Expect those two (and 'It's My Man' :kink:) to be high up in my own EOY chart, ongoing now :D

So apparently I make good procrastination reading. :D Lemme do a bit more of that.

 

R - P

 

Republique d’Ashton あしとん　の　れぷぶりけ

Changing the way the ‘Republic’ name is attached to them gets Ashton an advantage here, as they now come under R. But I think the strongest entries they had this year was the earliest few, when they were still under the guise of their government form being Federal. Chief among those was the really sweet and epic Slow Down Time, that sort of folky electropop that feels really natural, shades of He Is We in there – that’s something I always have time for. Honey was one of the Finnish hits that I always like to see, it grew on me really well from being entered and I was definitely glad to support it – Ashton have been doing the Finnish thing better than me this year with the angel-voiced Ella Sanoo as well, what a beautiful track (I’m exaggerating a little but her voice seriously sounds great to me, and the track itself builds brilliantly, I don’t know what was up with that not qualifying). I nearly pointed I Hope It Rains, one of the better country songs BJSC’s had lately. Speeding On Cars and Dreamer were decent, I think the other entries were far too pop for my tastes but I don’t expect to always support Ashton, just some of the time they can easily be excellent as evidenced by these first three entries in my rank.

Ranking: Us The Duo – Slow Down Time > Evelina – Honey > Ella Sanoo – Leave This Town > Jana Kramer – I Hope It Rains > Walking On Cars – Speeding On Cars > Coco Morier – Dreamer > Brooke Candy – Happy Days > KITTY – Reach No Higher > Madison Beer – All For Love > Lisa Ajax – Give Me That

 

Republic of Adonia　あどにあ　の　れぷぶりく

Thing is with Adonia, with no points from me this year, I’d say most of this was pretty average sadly, with things that I expected to really like Gravel To Tempo having a good title but a comparatively not as good song. Dusky I liked at first but I’ve gone off it majorly now as it’s just so repetitive and unfulfilling. Jane Zhang had a good video but song was quite boring. The Dreamer was where it starts to become good, even if it’s the sort of indie-pop that the sound walls of Buzzjack’s definition of indie are made of. I’ve entered songs like that before. Acid Rain was a rather interesting entry but the instrumental isn’t quite what I look for and that’s the major part of that song. It’s between the K-Pop entry, Liar Liar is rather good, (as I nearly entered Oh My Girl with their better song Closer and Adonia have been good with Lim Kim in the past), and dreamsicle as quality Popjustice-esque pop is normally something I can at least get on board with. Not what I’m normally known for liking and I didn’t come near pointing it but it’s still enjoyable.

Ranking: Dumblonde – dreamsicle > Oh My Girl – Liar Liar > Lorn – Acid Rain > Anna Of The North – The Dreamer> Hayley Kiyoko – Gravel To Tempo > Dusky – Ingrid Is A Hybrid > Jane Zhang – Dust My Shoulders Off

 

Ramrynia　らむりゃにあ

Oh good grief. Not these guys. Well, Ramrynia are better than last year. They got points from me. Not once, but twice! And it would have been 3 if people hadn’t gotten 82 semi 2 wrong. That’s not to say they didn’t have awful entries, they definitely did. Fall For You was some genericness I’m glad people had the sense to see out, Venior was some of the most painful pop I’ve heard in BJSC and Feeling reignited all my nightmares about the boring British dance wave that Glynne initiated. Face Like Thunder was really boring as well and it’s only because of those four that Neiked is as high as 6th best. That’s grown on me through being a hit but it’s still not that good, the breakdown is annoying. Anyway, the rest, even if they ARE pop, Ramrynia have that genre down to an art form and sometimes it can hit. I mean, White Water was just a bit of a low-rent version of Wasting Water, but as that’s one of Ramrynia’s best entries ever, it meant White Water wasn’t too bad. The rest, I genuinely liked. Yep. Really.

On Purpose is a bit embarrassing to like, as Disney as it is, but it is far too catchy to ignore and it builds really well. I didn’t point it but I can’t ignore its quality. Hardcore Heartbreak I gave 9 points too but 86 was the weakest contest overall this year – it’s still a great bit of Scandipop, powerful and fun. And then, I’m still upset that 1954 didn’t qualify as at that point I hadn’t liked a Ramrynia entry enough to point for over 2 years and I really wanted to point this one because it had some excellent chorus dives. Still not sure what relevance 1954 had as a year but at least it TRIED with the lyrics. But the best Ramrynian entry was something really different for them, recycling an artist whose first entry I’d thought nothing of, Julian Peretta’s Miracle. Having huge tropical house influences but also adding a choral backing makes for a beautiful combination that I can listen to over and over again. Definitely one of my favourite Ramrynian entries overall, you did excellently with that one Ryan.

Ranking: Julian Peretta – Miracle > Michaela May – 1954 > Cilia – Hardcore Heartbreak > Sabrina Carpenter – On Purpose > My – White Water > NEIKED – Sexual > The Japanese House – Face Like Thunder > BB Diamond – Feeling > Venior – Sugar Rush > Just Kiddin – Fall For You

 

Quintessa 　くいんてっさ

Mostly a good country, with a couple of really excellent entries that I noted over the year. There’s a couple of ones that are pretty anonymous down the bottom, Out Of Time was fairly good for what it was, same with Bring It Down but I didn’t have them in consideration. Soy, Spanish, that’s pretty good, certainly nothing I mind listening to. Happy really stuck itself in my head over the course of the year, and it has a few good beats. And Elektra, that sort of pop-rock, it kind of appeals to me. But it’s the top 3. Akureyri, it took a long time to grow on me and it’s not better than the first Crywolf entry, but singing about a remote place in Iceland, it adds a lot of atmosphere to the track and it’s definitely a shame it didn’t qualify. However, for the best Quintessa, we have to go to Y Ddawns and Square Hammer. The former is a wonderful indie-pop track, made even more glorious and rising above similar tracks by the unusual language it’s using, one of the few tracks from 86 that’s really stuck with me throughout. And then of course, Ghost being entered to BJSC (I’d never heard of them before to be fair, that’s probably surprising), but that is an excellent guitar and drum thudding anthem, quite probably Quintessa’s best ever entry.

Ranking: Ghost – Square Hammer > Ani Glass – Y Ddawns > Crywolf – Akureyri > Elektra – I Don’t Do Boys > Annabel Jones – Happy > Lali – Soy > Gina Kushka – Bring It Down > Vanessa Elisha – Out Of Time > Satchmode – Further Away > Hannah Peel – All That Matters

 

Pupok　ぷぽか

It’s one of the countries that won! And probably unusually for me, I think that was their best entry and despite 86 being the weakest contest, the best winner (just edging out Free Tibet, I gave two 15s to winners this year and yet still haven’t given one an 18), Aelyn is a completely awesome dive into trance bliss for me, and a well deserved and classy winner to round off a string of Pupok hits that were starting to gain notoriety for their novelty status. Not that that means they were bad, well, it does in the case of Wimbledon, another one for that awful ratchet rap bin, and GIRLI’s first entry tired on me pretty quickly. But Haschak Sisters was a real personable stroke of genius for Pupok – I found it very funny. And right at the start of that string of hits we had something similarly classy, the biggest Finnish hit this year (I think, yet again not by me though), Tequila being the first Pupok entry I really loved, what a tune with classic Finnish trilling to make it extra special. And their one DNQ this year was with a song that felt much more together and natural as a song than the first GIRLI entry, it’s unfortunate it ended up that way around because Girl I Met On The Internet feels so much more powerful and with a better statement than So You Think…

Similarly great lyrics, but with a pop song that is actually pandering to my geek loving, Einstein was an excellent ode to that man of science and I enjoyed it hugely. RPM was also pretty good as… country-rock. Angie wasn’t too bad but very middle of the road for me and I wasn’t very keen on Better Off. Pupok can be absolutely brilliant when they go classy though, I support more of that.

Ranking: Aelyn – Give Love A Try > Vesala – Tequila > Claudia Kane – Einstein > GIRLI – Girl I Met On The Internet > Haschak Sisters – Daddy Says No > Sasha Pieterse – RPM > Angie – Smoke Weed Eat Pussy > GIRLI – So You Think You Can f*** With Me Do Ya? > Emily Vaughn – Better Off > Rich White Ladies – Wimbledon

 

PRoJ　ぷろじゅ

One entry from Jester this year, Telomere was a fairly decent indie-rock song but it was in the other semi to me so I couldn’t help it at all.

Ranking: Mystery Jets - Telomere

 

Persephonia　ぺれせふにあ

I feel I should have supported Persephonia more than I did this year with all the love they’ve been throwing my way. I did give them huge points for two of their entries but otherwise it’s mostly them just missing out or getting tiny points. They did provide one of the absolute best entries this year though, the jam-filled and Gorillaz-esque C.U.R.E, I got very addicted to the swaggy staccato beats in the verses on that, it’s just brilliant. And The Wandering Songstress was very wistful and beautiful, deserved hit. The rest were mostly very good indie atmospheric glassy dreamy trappy things, set with music videos against a cold clear blue sky, which I like but it normally ends up with lower points for me. Like Vlasy has a very interesting language and I love it but other things ended up ahead of it. Water Frozen the same really except with English. Color Guard was slightly different, some good indie-pop, comes about the middle for me. Mirror Moon I think should have qualified, something that crazy deserved a bit more love, probably would have ended up with a similar point situation though. Thelema demanded to grow on me after me giving it the cold shoulder at first and I think I ended up giving it a point. Figurine just missed out for me but I think it’s growing on me after finding out it’s Lucy Love there – that it’s third-last should indicate that I actually really like most of these, I’m just underestimating how much I do because of so many of them ending up 13th-17th best of the contest for me. The only two I wasn’t so keen on were Blitz, which was about midtable for me, and Aron Can, which is one of those rare times where me and Bre don’t cross over at all. So good quality but only a couple of times where I really adored them. But that’s pretty good, at least I’m not saying any of the entries didn’t hit me.

Ranking: BOOTS – C.U.R.E > The Shanghai Restoration Project – The Wandering Songstress > Fallgrapp – Vlasy > TWRR – Water Frozen > Color Guard – In Your Bones > Bachar Mar-Khalife – Mirror Moon > Øfdream - Thelema > Baby Blood – Figurine > Digitalism – Blitz > Aron Can - Með Mér

 

Pagasa　ぱがさ

Three entries this year, right? Haven’t yet been convinced totally by a Pagasan entry except for The Range, that has some pretty nice sounds going on in it. Torbellino is decent but not quite as good as I wanted it to be, KING, I wasn’t sold on that like Seven was, I suppose it wasn’t too bad. Should come back sooner rather than later because I sense they have potential.

Ranking: The Range – Florida > Marineros – Torbellino > KING – The Greatest

I'm with you 100000000000% on Leave This Town. It's stunning. Glad you liked a few of our tracks this year!!!

 

 

And we're still a Federation!

yaaaaas thanks Iz :wub:

 

tbh my aim for 2017 is to find a serious German entry, expecting you to get behind that when I finally find it! :P