YAY Izzles, up with BJSC EOY countdowns (especially with a bit of detail as you do so well) as they're feeling a bit sparse right now. #Jiz (:mellow:) flying that flag presently (as Seven's has concluded, then Liam and Phil had countdowns but they weren't 2017 specific). This format is great also and is reminding me of some songs that I forgot about.

 

The nations that we have snap favourites for thus far are Alteria and Cadelicia! 'Sick Kids' was a bit of a twenty one pilots pastiche but I adore them so this was never going to be a bad thing. I agree that Alteria seem to only enter when they have something genius up their sleeve. I hope they pay us fleeting visits next year too. I am then a sucker for Español so 'Fandango' was naturally up my street! I think the drop could have been a bit stronger but otherwise it is very enjoyable. I feel like Cadelicia keep DNQing with their best entries this year but this one was an exception!

 

Indeed! Let's keep the tradition alive! I must admit I'm not up for doing 'I don't remember this but it was alright' ad nauseam for every song that that fits into this time and am skipping over those but that's why I'm not writing for the song titles for the songs that are below a certain level of 'good'.

 

21Pilots eh? I hadn't seen that, mainly because of the decidedly non-American accents on Fjokra, it feels a lot fresher for that.

 

Of course your fave from me would be the song that’s the most weeb :P

 

I didn’t quite get Cash Cash from HALEM (maybe their newer stuff) but that’s an interesting comparison.

 

Always x

 

It's those synths, it sort of sounds like that area of dance.

 

Cumulonimbia

Rather a good return in the latter half of the year for us, largely because Run With Us was a really beautiful song that instantly netted my 18 in the strong BJSC 100 semi, a shame it couldn't then make it out of that. A lot of good songs didn't make it out of that. It was just so bold and brash, more gloriously retro pop than actual Kate Bush in that semi, although it is probably closer to ABBA but apparently I suck at comparisons so let's stop. Kevin Abstract was a really good more... credible song a couple of contests earlier, a really interesting wall of sound, and while I wasn't too much into Roosevelt or Indian Wells, I don't remember them being bad by any means.

 

Lisa Lougheed - Run With Us > Kevin Abstract - Miserable America > Roosevelt - Eliot > Indian Wells

 

Daehun

I'm so sorry old friend, I wish I was more into K-Pop than I was this year because it hurts me to see a fellow Asian enthusiast struggling... and then you get your third win and it yet again isn't an Asian song, it's the wrong message BJSC needs to send to such a unique country. It was great to see you enter MAMAMOO and I'd have picked Decalcomanie to be a K-Pop contender, really really strange it didn't even qualify (literal Asian racism happening in that semi), that's some quality pop. Reol showing her face wasn't as great as her previous entry but it was still very fun, and the Sunmi and K.A.R.D were good tracks, it was really just a below-par IU song where things began to fall off the tracks a bit. Haide was just a really weird winner, quite apart from me not liking that it was a non-Asian Daehun winner it was Helena of all people and it wasn't even that great a song, at least Survivor had a bit of punch to it. At least you got a proper Asian hit the contest after and Red Velvet finally had their breakthrough (though I'm still salty that no one ever entered Happiness, still by far the best thing I've heard from them), but then you went to Serebro for some reason and that was kind of bad. Another Sunmi hit was better than the one before and I've never been hugely into Number Nine but fair play. More decent than I thought after having a look at your entries but the wrong songs did well.

 

MAMAMOO - Decalcomanie > REOL - Give Me A Break Stop Now > Red Velvet - You Better Know > Sunmi - Gashima > K.A.R.D - Oh NaNa > Sunmi - 24 Hours > T-Ara > Helena Paparizou > IU > Serebro

 

(South) Danaelanda

I don't understand Leon Else. At all. See Ojnoj later on. Oliver Moldan was a bit generic and I never got what made Aly & Fila a supposed contender, nor DJ Licious for that matter. But a rather good year from the dance kings even if two entries are by far and away ahead of everything else. The glory of Saving Light is my favourite winner this year for unloading the emotion in a perfect storm of trance and long held vocals, I can't imagine many better winners, and Eurodancer's nostalgic beats mean that it's not that far behind. Then even if The Calling is a weak FatRat song, that's still way better than many a dance song so it comes a strong third. The other three that I haven't mentioned are decent bops, enough to have their names shown but not ones I imagine I'll go back to all that much. Pretty good year, I think an improvement from last, I must be getting more into dance, well, I am very into dance if it's trance or happy hardcore found on a Youtube channel with an anime background...

 

Gareth Emery - Saving Light > DJ Mangoo - Eurodancer > TheFatRat - The Calling > Dutch Force - Deadline > Vitalic - Tu Conmigo > Lucas & Steve - Up Till Dawn > DJ Licious > Aly & Fila > Oliver Moldan > Leon Else

 

Deandria

Always a country that's hard to pin down, to their credit, I quite liked the epic of World's End Girlfriend, not my favourite BJSC epic but certainly one worthy of note as it goes through all the fun motions of switching up from epic to grindy to really really really weird, while Solarstone and Alvia Islandia were pretty decent and memorable tracks from the more recent contests where it's easy for me to forget songs that didn't stick in the mind. Speaking of things not sticking in the mind, can barely remember the bottom 4. I think only A_GIM was really bad but who knows. I know I didn't like Fakear as much as other people who share my taste did. Apologies.

 

World's End Girlfriend - Les Enfants Du Paradis > Solarstone - Falcons > Alvia Islandia - Sugar Complex > Fakear > Holy Two > Aaron > A_GIM

 

Desbuanda

The Heart Dies reminded me well of the spoken word rap I used to love from female rappers on occasion, Speech Debelle and that sort of thing, so that had a few really nice nostalgic notes and is easily my favourite Desbuandan entry this year. As a contrast, Trees On Fire was a really big anthem and I'm still shocked it didn't do a lot better than it did. Exhumed and Radio were rather strong qualifiers to see through and Moscow was that one that I didn't agree with, it's a lot more instant and compelling than Agoraphobia and would have been a nice qualifier. On the other end of the scale I don't know why Charlotte OC hasn't exhumed the universe around her into nothingness from boredom yet and that Rudie Edwards track was quite irritating, but a pretty good, pretty good year for Desbuanda, with a few highlights that hit me as always.

 

Lucy Camp - The Heart Dies > DJDS - Trees On Fire > Zola Jesus - Exhumed > Sylvan Esso - Radio > Autoheart - Moscow > Paper Route > Mina > Rone > Charlotte OC > Rudie Edwards

 

Dobago

Well, here's a country that really knows how to use their entries to make an impact, I have been really quietly impressed with Dobago most of the year, although that quiet impression turned into absolute love one particular time when they entered Sagi Abitbul and completely BLEW Stanga out of the water with the incredible Mariko, which is at least five times better. It had a bit of a special significance for me as the Japanese-learning program I was using at the time had a character called Mariko at front and centre, which has little relevance to this but I was drawn to the name as well! Incredible tune that I've played a lot since. Then you only had to go and enter the best of the Grace Mitchell entries too (how it didn't qualify is a mystery, I'd be calling this as a Rejects frontrunner if it seemed that was actually happening this year), BUT and Push Push Bang Bang were just a bit of fun I understand but I came back to the former a lot especially for whatever reason, it's more catchy than it has any right to be. It says it all that the Lindsey Stirling song is so low in my ranking, even if it is basically one of her worst songs.

 

Sagi Abitbul - Mariko > Grace Mitchell - Now > Q-Benjamin - BUT > Lydia Singer - Push Push Bang Bang > Yakir - Jamila > Tash Sultana - Jungle > Lia Fox - Hound > Lindsey Stirling - Love's Just A Feeling > Dave Ramone > Will Sparks

 

D'yermak'er

You know, even though my top picks for Jamaica are boring and basic, I really hope this isn't the last year for D'yermak'er altogether (looking forward to your return Bal :D) because of all of the pop countries, they know how to reach me just right more reliably than many other nations. Ultralife and Golden Ticket were of course brilliant pop tracks and either one would have been a better winner than what beat it (only marginally in the case of Ultralife but it still counts) but Lioness was a huge vocal triumph that got quite underrated and then Butter was nice and lifting. And of course, having been to INDIA (and sort of liking the occasional bhangra song before) De De Gehra is quite high in this rank as well, I hope to see more of that in the new year, and maybe even enter one myself provided D'yermak'er are around to appreciate it. Nightly was the only really bad song, everything else was really quite nice pop. COTY CONTENDER

 

Oh Wonder - Ultralife > Highasakite - Golden Ticket > Strae - Lioness > Butter - Lifted > Balvir Boparai - De De Gehra > Slow Magic - Mind > George Maple - Kryptonite > Arrhult - Just Fiction > HEXE > Nightly

Thanks for that write-up Iz! Quite agree that Mariko was easily the best entry I sent this year but I noticed you pointing us more regularly in general so hoping I can continue to impress next year. Can't say I agree on Lindsey Stirling however :P definitely one of my faves from her even if I admit it is a bit more formulaic.

Great to hear you like Saving Light that much, was great to win with that song.

 

Though my personal favourite, Oliver Moldan does not deserve to be second last here!

 

My ranking would go

 

Oliver Moldan > TheFatRat > DJ Licious > Gareth Emery > Lucas & Steve > DJ Mangoo > Aly & Fila > Vitalic > Dutch Force > Leon Else

Deandria

Always a country that's hard to pin down

I feel as though this somehow goes for my whole Buzzjack presence :') #notreallyabuzzjacker

 

Thanks for the write-up! Please listen to Holy Two again though when you have time, I'm curious what you'd think of it once you have it fresh in your mind :P

i've been WAITING for this seyetana approval :o!!! i was so surprised at how much u took to aeroche this year until i saw TBO noms!!!!!

Great to hear you like Saving Light that much, was great to win with that song.

 

Though my personal favourite, Oliver Moldan does not deserve to be second last here!

 

My ranking would go

 

Oliver Moldan > TheFatRat > DJ Licious > Gareth Emery > Lucas & Steve > DJ Mangoo > Aly & Fila > Vitalic > Dutch Force > Leon Else

 

I think it's a well established trait of mine by now that me and dance DJs named Oliver do not get on. I'm convinced they're all thinly disguised aliases of Heldens sent to plague me.

 

I feel as though this somehow goes for my whole Buzzjack presence :') #notreallyabuzzjacker

 

Thanks for the write-up! Please listen to Holy Two again though when you have time, I'm curious what you'd think of it once you have it fresh in your mind :P

 

Holy Two, it's decent, I did have a brief listen to everything despite what I wrote, this wouldn't be entirely accurate otherwise (and it definitely is), I sort of like the vocals but it doesn't quite come together in the way I'd want it to.

 

East Rukahavian

A problem I get with East Rukahavian is that tough talk here, they're not really that good at making their entries unique. Ben DJ could have been literally thousands of other dance songs and the same is true for Ancalima and Wild Culture to a slightly lesser extent. Yonaka and Tristen Beer really weren't my thing either, annoying pop and dull pop respectively. There is one sound that I know they can specialise in well in the past, it was similar with Midnight In Monaco, and it surfaces again with So Cold, that melancholy vibe comes through really rather well. It also comes through with The Orielles, a song that was really quite something, not entirely up my street but nevertheless has a lot of interesting things going on there. Stick to those sorts of sounds or channel the uniqueness of those songs to get more success would be my advice. Of course I'm going to be a bit unhelpful as well and pick my favourite as a song that was less unique but far more my thing, Beach Slang sounds really good, in a ranking contest, it'd probably come below a few other more standout songs but on its own it was a really pleasant and banging discovery, so thank you for that!

 

Beach Slang - Spin The Dial > Lido - So Cold > The Orielles - Sugar Tastes Like Salt > Ancalima > Wild Culture > YONAKA > Tristen Beer > Ben DJ

 

Enty

It almost escaped my notice that these guys had returned and that song they came back with wasn't particularly good if still carrying their standout flavour

 

Espen

Really good year for Espen, and you get the accolade of most undeserved loss in terms of runner-up positions, I was crushed when Miracle didn't make it over what did, a good song and a country that has long-deserved a win failing to an awful song from a country that had only just won (and UV gets ever more nervous waiting for what I'll say when I actually get to her :D). But Miracle (Part A) was a real standout dance track and felt like such a RIGHT track that I was able to throw [a fair bit of] my weight behind it and get really invested in the result and for that I really am grateful, it's a fabulous song. And that wasn't at all where it stopped, Espen gave us two incredible German tracks in Instance Of Time and SXTN's track, which I'm actually counting as my favourite overall Espen track this year, narrowly ahead of miracle for that relentless rap. And there was two decent French tracks (Vitaa deserved way better) and an ATB track in BJSC that actually worked for me. Mounika was quite beautiful, and then the year ended perfectly with a strong Part XIV, a track with a bit of epic feeling to bring a wonderful year for Espen to conclusion. I've had years where I've not paid much attention to Espen and years where I've absolutely loved them and this is by far one of the latter. COTY CONTENDER

 

SXTN - DIE FTZN SIND WIEDER DA > Offer Nissim - Miracle (Part A) > Vitaa - A Fleur De Toi > Prequell - Part XIV > Mark Dekoda - Instance Of Time > Mounika - Long Silent > ATB - Ecstasy > Léa Castel - Abimee > TAMER > Josh Pan

 

Farahtyn

Waiting 4 puts me in mind of that remix of By The Way by Peter someone. It's a decent track, nothing too special or offensive, which by my standards in terms of Farahtyn is actually rather good, I don't believe we've ever crossed tastes enough to exchange points.

 

FARC

Returning with a bang and the wonderful pop track that is Last Dance (a grower that has been doing so ever since the contest, I could listen to that beauty over and over again, thanks Jake), I unfortunately didn't really get why people were throwing their weight behind FARC for much of the rest of the year. I associate them with bringing quality pop and some, like Ida Da Silva, was just rather unlistenable. Blessed and Stockholm Noir were okay but the latter coming second was way out of place as well, if any, it should have been Last Dance getting Farc another silver medal. Jake did bring it back for the final contest though, Dopamine was indeed the quality pop track I want to find from Farc, bringing a singer who's been... okay in past appearances in BJSC and delivering an unexpected package of something rather incredible.

 

Rhys - Last Dance > Froder - Dopamine > Blessed > Stockholm Noir > Noella Nix > Robinson > Ida Da Silva

 

more later but I wanted to keep this continuing at least a bit

Fljótavík

FLJ provided their requisite incredible moment this year in the form of Feria Festival. A bit more of a predictable favourite of mine than last year's Fall On Me, that sort of bright stabby synth with a high-paced tempo and voices singing total nonsense in a manner reminiscent of PC Music tends to have a high hit rate with me, so supporting that in BJSC 98 was a big load of fun even if I did overestimate its appeal to people who weren't me a little. A winner in the Flj song that appealed to me despite not expecting it to is Daisy, whose choral building did wonders for me and provided a strong start to my normal FLJ love as far as the year went as May and Agoria were their weakest two all year. Very strong hits from UNKLE besides that, Alex Cameron was er.. surprisingly good and Kolsch's BJSC 100 epic, well, I listened to it all the way through one journey to my placement fieldwork and it was pretty epic.

 

Wealstarr - Feria Festival > Fang Island - Daisy > UNKLE - Looking For The Rain > Kolsch - þema fyrir fljótavík > Alex Cameron - Running Outta Luck > Azekel > off bloom > Agoria > MAY

 

Florina

Sadly only one Florina this year, at the beginning. Twist Your Arm is a decent song, didn't really fall in love with it but I definitely could have used more of similar sound this year.

 

Flynnonda

Honestly, a lot of this is the same as East Rukahavian, lots of Flynnonda entries leave zero impact on me and probably don't do well for a good part of that reason, they're unimpactful songs that may be nice but don't give me any reason to come back and it's all fairly dull British pop and I'm sorry Harry but that just really doesn't do it for me any more. There's a few that stand out, Donny Montell's, for being noticeably awful, Mulan, for being somewhat interesting, King No-One, for being a decent if unspectacular rock band rather than the standard "indie" singer. And then Vukovi, which was a fairly good rock song, not as amazing as I wanted it to be but a good hit for you to have finally, and of course your final entry, in which you embraced the wonderful ridiculousness of Japaneseness and sadly weren't rewarded enough for it with the wonderful Labyrinth. More entries that make me sit up and take notice like that in the new year please.

 

Mondo Grosso - Labyrinth > Vukovi - La Di Da > Mulan - Night > King No-One > Lucy Mason > Tyne > Charlotte > Erith > HER > Donny Montell

 

Frandoot

Frandoot came back with Kristinia DeBarge, who is an awful perennial side singer who has no real purpose in life. I didn't really like it. Oh and there was also that Wine My Body song which was kind of even more awful. SOZ ANDREW TRY MORE OFTEN NEXT YEAR.

 

Kristinia DeBarge > Otila

 

FSR Rontvia

Seemed like at the start of the year that me and Rontvia were going down together with great entries. I mean, Mary Keane's Introduction isn't the best spoken word dance track to have appeared here but it's certainly enjoyable enough but then Imali was a legitimately great African tune. Super Mario Bros really hit a few great spots for me with Tina threatening to do what Lindsey Stirling did a short while back but with cellos. She even put in some metal for me

I forgot Kosmonova did so well, that was an utter highlight of BJSC 97 and I'm really pleased seeing it so high up the scoreboard in retrospect, those synths are so beautiful and it's my clear highlight of Rontvia this year, that last gasp of retro dance you did this year was SO well timed. I liked Dacia a lot as well, shame that didn't go further. Didn't really see all that much in Kaamos I'm afraid, though it wasn't BAD, just unspectacular and Delta was... pretty good, I like Delta on occasion, a good track and certainly appropriate track for 100. All in all however, another great year for, well, the godfather of BJSC innovation, a few misses but more often some really interesting entries that helped make the year. COTY CONTENDER

 

Kosmonova - Danse Avec Moi > Tina Guo - Super Mario Bros > Huntza - Aldapan Gora > Black Motion - Imali > Dacia - Muistot > Daithi - Mary Keane's Introduction > Delta Goodrem - Take Me Home > Yasar Gaga > Tom Fall > Emma Bale

 

Greenfroze

WHAT was Clitopia Freeze? I demand an answer. Seems like a sparse lot of entries for one of our former stalwarts, I hope you're not on the verge of leaving us. That did however mean there's less non-entities that I barely remember, I think I'd only count Kidswaste as that, Nova Miller was catchy if a bit basic. Alaska Thunderf*** deserves credit because I thought it'd be another godawful entry from her based on her previous attempt here but you know, this one grew on me a little bit. Otherwise, best entries this year are a fun pop-rock outing from Runaway Zoo and far and away above the rest of them, the anthemic OMAM-soundalike of Battlegrounds. I've listened to that so much this year and it's definitely among my favourite discoveries, thank you for that, another one to add to my Greenfroze classics.

 

Coco & The Butterfields - Battlegrounds > Runaway Zoo - Lights R Out > Alaska Thunderf*** > Nova Miller > Kidswaste > Dorian Electra

 

Harmonica

There's little inbetween with Harmonica this year, I've thought your songs have either been really really awful or genius little songs that have stayed with me the entire year. Thankfully your qualifiers mostly fall into the latter category. Kari Kimmel and Jillian Jacqueline have started a new rule, alliterative names produce very bad music and I didn't really like Northeast Party House either. Danielle Mason was okay and Moment was a decent non-qualifer though if you want some justice, while ARY was a less-good qualifier. Positives though, I thought KANEHOLLER was a little piece of genius music that captured my attention hugely in that contest and Spirit Cold has this wonderful nostalgic feeling to it. Blondage was rather interesting and unconventional though, I liked pointing that. And of course, the best piece in this collection is the rocky Hollyn's Alone, that instantly stood out to me as 18-worthy when I heard it and a good thing too as I was listening to that contest fairly speedily. I need to gather the mp3s from 99, I don't have them pretty much all for this song, I need to spam play it more.

 

Hollyn - Alone > Kaneholler - Paper Games > Tall Heights - Spirit Cold > Blondage - Dive > Moment - All This Time > Danielle Mason > ARY > Northeast Party House > Jillian Jacqueline > Kari Kimmel

 

Helgon/Syndare

 

You did well out of this name change (and I still love it, it feels like this was your plan all along), and it's given your entries a fresh new lease of life, I liked if didn't love Marlene, they're all much better than those two at the start, well, Avante Black was okay, but they're all three far better than Skott. Sadly your best entry failed due to non-voting, I really did like The Last Summer, but that's made me feel positive about hearing more Helgon entries in the future, your break gave you some good inspiration, I'd like to see more of it next year.

 

Sophia Somajo - The Last Summer > MARLENE - Next To Me > Eden Prince > Avante Black > Skott

“I Got Drunk” was last year, Andrew came back with Otilla - “Wine My Body” or something like that earlier this year!

“I Got Drunk” was last year, Andrew came back with Otilla - “Wine My Body” or something like that earlier this year!

 

NOTHING WENT WRONG IGNORE THIS POST

 

(I thought he'd sent that song, I really didn't like that one at all :( )

Hendinia

What to start with? I have an opinion on many Hendinia entries this year. That lot in the middle are a bit nondescript which points to a really well-balanced country, running the spectrum of quality the whole way. And yes, I'm one of the few who really doesn't like Bettie, never did. Drag queen songs are fall into two categories for me, pretty decent because of a good instrumental riff, or excessively offputting, and Bettie unfortunately falls into the latter. Batman & Robin put me off too with a lot of lyrics that felt like they're namedropping the title characters to try and get some cred for nerd culture (I don't even like Batman at all but this sort of thing unreasonably annoys me I don't know why, it's like a realm that sex shouldn't touch because it's weird to imagine). And Elohim was a weird third placer, took a lot of listening for me to remember it and I'm still not sure why that captivated so many. Bad stuff done, good stuff. Dolly Style's entry, well, it was nice to see them in BJSC and Bye Bye Bby Boo, while not as amazing as their two Melfest entries gave me a really nostalgic feel for back when I liked Little Mix. Like the sort of pop that you can't help liking because it's so cheery. And that was certainly apparent with Jimmy Dean, which of course slayed us all with an ABBA-esque take on the Riddle that was completely unexpected and followed one of the most joyful trajectories in BJSC this year, what an inspired choice Rob! I though loved your choice for BJSC 100 (we did well crossing over that contest, your support for You Say Run didn't go unnoticed

 

Vanbot - Hold This Moment > Troll - Jimmy Dean > Dolly Style - Bye Bye Bby Boo > Burak Yeter & Ryan Riback > Sigrid Bernson > ODESZA > XYLO > Elohim > Cazzi Opeia & Jin x Jin > Violet Chachki

 

Herzebania

The two Herzebanian entries were rather good. Veronica Malka a bit more so, both brought back lovely memories of 2011 BJSC and it's a shame that neither took to encourage Herzebania to stay around a bit more. Those chords on Flawless were so nice.

 

Veronica Malka - Flawless > Carina Dahl

 

Hushkanukia

Ah, I don't know what to say here. Hushy just feels like such a STANDARD nation a lot of the time and so many of these I found pretty awful pop that just didn't hit me because I've heard things like it before and it's just not new and certainly not the sort of things I go seeking out, but then I'm not the audience for Laura Tesoro and Nirvana & Mermaid are that sort of basic indie-pop I'm really railing against here. Even the Haschak Sisters wasn't nearly as standout as their previous entry. Sushy came close but is demoted from getting its title read out because I just don't like its title or what it's implying. Same thing as with Batman & Robin, I have a slight instinctual aversion to words like 'nerd' being sexualised and that song certainly isn't shy about what it wants the title character to do. BUT BUT BUT, there were a few hits. Stand By You was that rare pop song that breaks through to me, I don't have a consistent formula to these, only thing I can think of is that they need to have lyrics that don't make me want to cringe and instead make me think of more epic and non-sexual things. Aule & Yavanna I knew would be good just because of Oonagh and the fact it was namedropping some obscure Tolkien characters from the Silmarillion as Aule creates the earth/dwarves while his wife Yavanna creates the forest/ents. And most importantly, it's not talking about their lovemaking. I feel it could have been slightly better, it wasn't as standout as Gaa but it was a really good go and refreshing to be able to support Hushky. Best goes to that rare beast from riserecords that crosses over to Buzzjack, sounding very much like a male PVRIS, or an As It Is if you must. Degrees Of Separation was quite an anthem and I should go back to that area of rock at some point myself in the future - I was really surprised it didn't get just the rockbloc lot into it! See you in BJSC 102!

 

Hands Like Houses - Degree Of Separation > Oonagh - Aule & Yavanna > Marlisa - Stand By You > Sushy > Haschak Sisters > Gayle Nerva > Vera Blue > Ryder > Skott > Laura Tesoro

 

(no I countries at all in BJSC this year, that needs to change! debuting Izéyetana soon - that's a joke I would never make a country name that awful)

 

Jadakissnia

Not as many Jadakissnia growers this year and I didn't feel like I was supporting them as much as I used to, the bottom four on my rank never really grew on me. Not that they were awful they were just a bit less good. AYia had a little bit of charm to it but what I really want to talk about are the top four. It's hard to beat Kesh You and I did give Zhanar more points in its contest but I think the ultimate Jade entry came from a classic grower example, Francis & The Lights has those gorgeous synths and vocals which is really strange as I've never thought anything by them was that special prior to this. Of course Izin Korem was a bit of a bop and below that Arnor Dan is always a good shout and I loved Waves. Ave Plague... good witchy stuff and Waqqaberry, it's a bit lower than the others because I know I like it but strangely for a big hit that I liked I haven't gone back to it all that much. But four rather good entries, that's perfectly respectable even if I think Jadakissnia have had better years.

 

Francis & The Lights - See Her Out (That's Just Life) > Zhanar Dugalova - Izin korem > Hugar - Waves > King Plague - Ave Plague > BO - Waqqaberry > AYia > Moth Equals > Tearist > MONOMOTION > SOLDOUT

 

Jasmine Masters Kingdom/Pi/Pavel's Country

for god's sake pick a name and stick to it you ridiculous Russian 99 Luftballons is not a song that needed slowing down and made dull. Though I appreciate the 99 reference. Otherwise, a load of pretty good dark electro that got rather underrated for the mid-year Pavel renaissance (I think four contests in a row is the most you've done for YEARS). And Die was really quite something, I accidentally downloaded the album when I was making the mp3s and it's a nice collection of... sounds. No, I really like Die and I wouldn't really throw any of the next four out of bed.

 

flamingo - Die > CVL SHIT - BODY BAGZ > Jacques Greene - True > The Blaze - Territory > Kaleida

 

Jayrusalem

Looking forward to your return even if I don't really like any of the songs you sent. But seriously, come back (you haven't left yet but come back). Runnin' On Empty felt a little bit depressing for how true that title rang, I want more Jayrusalem inspiration!

 

Loop > Coracle

 

Joedonia

Much the same as Jayrusalem really, you even randomly entered in the same contests! I liked Hills a little bit though, didn't like FOURS, that was the worst of Spotify but I'm always interested as to what you might bring up so do continue to enter if you ever have something else up your sleeve!

 

Eva Petras - Hills > FOURS

 

Jukianie

You know, I think this might be the first time I haven't hated a Jukianie entry. I mean, as a straight white man I always have time for Toto - not quite their best but again, appreciate the reference. And Good Life was surprisingly notawful for an autotuned rapper. Pretty decent attempts, you've changed, Totto!

 

Toto - 99 > Keiynan Lonsdale - Good Life

 

Jupiterdonia

Really interesting new country, showing a great diversity of entries and I've liked them all so far. Only LOVED one, that being of course Million Bucks, I've been waiting for someone else to enter Smallpools and Million Bucks was an anthemic return that I've kept coming back to and a great song for you to beat the doubters with and get your first qualification. Yalla is a bit standard Inna but I've loved her for years so that's not much of an issue and a top 10 is nothing to be sniffed at, I've been missing my regular top 10s. Brooke Candy is rather reliable as a good rapper and you sent a rather catchy song by her that I considered pointing - and many songs of that ilk I put at the bottom of my rank easily which is a testament to how good she is at her craft. Sway and I'll Be Around were a bit less impressive but still worthwhile entries. I think the consensus is that Empire Of The Sun was a bit of a weak debut (they are a bit cursed in BJSC, their other two entries being the debuts of an alias country and a one-shot nobody) but I found it rather pleasant and you've certainly justified your place here pretty quickly, I look forward to seeing what more you can bring in the new year (and given you sent After Forever in Nuggets, quite excited if you ever go that route in BJSC).

 

Smallpools - Million Bucks > Inna - Yalla > Brooke Candy - Rubber Band Stacks > Syn Cole - Sway > Empire Of The Sun - I'll Be Around

Empire Of The Sun taking over twenty one pilots' mantle as the cursed artist to debut with in BJSC :magic:

 

(also I endorse this opinion on Hendinia's bottom 2 x)

I'm pleased that I managed to get you on board in a big way at the end of the year, literally in 99 and 100 *.* Francis is my second favourite entry of my own this year so very close to a match. I totally agree that the synths are gorgeous, such a standout feature that commands you from the very first second <3 really glad that this song was a turning point for you and Francis after you not being so sure about his stuff before, yay! I have really got into his music since seeing him live, hopefully you'd like a few more songs on 'Farewell, Starlite!' after a rocky start if that was your thing. Best of all... a Jadakissnia grower *.* glad one of those happened in the end after them being commonplace for you in 2016 haha.

 

Perfect Hendinia / Pi / Joedonia faves btw x

Kingdom of Horanius

Nice to see you Maurice but you're mostly another Jayrusalem so far... which fits. Yet to hit me with anything particularly special but you never know what may happen in the future if you follow the advice of people on Skype.

 

Only The Young > Isis

 

Kluminican Republic

A good year for songs called Archangel Klum. Obviously Two Steps From Hell was going to a hit from me, even if it is a bit more like their usual fare than Miracles is, it's good, just not quite as outstanding as everything on the Miracles album. Burial I've known for a long time so that was also really good. And Jenny, bringing back Studio Killers, a great band, in a lovely way with quite an emotional song. I enjoyed Lose Control and the Marina-esque Because I Love You, and even Butterfly and Awoo were rather good. Only Rufus (weirdly as everyone who I normally agree with seemed to like that) and What So Not weren't so good but for that top 3 I'm going to knock in a COTY CONTENDER

 

Two Steps From Hell - Archangel > Burial - Archangel > Studio Killers - Jenny > Glass Animals & Joey Bada$$ - Lose Control > Montaigne - Because I Love You > Smile.dk - Butterfly > Sofi Tukker - Awoo > RUFUS > What So Not

 

Kylienips

Not really liked any of your entries this year, which has made this a sad final year for Kylienips. I only really liked The Other Boys a little because of Jake Shears, it still wasn't anything amazing. Echos stuck with me a bit but it wasn't that standout and there's been so many forgettable entries I can hardly separate them out.

 

NERVO/Jake Shears/Kylie - The Other Boys > Betty Who > Echos > Ali Barter > Digital Daggers > Aldous Harding > BETSY > Methyl Ethel > Zolita > Phil Good

 

Land of DW

What an entry list! I am still going to be applying COTY CONTENDER tags to the others who deserve it but I think there's no point in hiding that Land Of DW was by far and away my favourite country of the year, all of that top 5 were in my personal top 5 of their respective contests and the top 2 were my ultimate favourites. The rest aren't bad either, but I've also taken the liberty to include a rare spinoff entry. I don't often add in spinoffs because it gets confusing but I couldn't let this go without a nod to my personal favourite spinoff discovery of the year, from the rather wonderful Japan vs Korea spinoff where the winner was this beautiful ~timeless~ instrumental Sui-Ren, sent by Land Of DW and it's kind of brilliant, outstripping even my favourite Land Of DW entries to the main contest. Faraway Vol 2 was easily one of the most gutting non-qualifiers of the year, it's a haunting classical ballad with Linda Sundblad sounding the best she's ever sounded, while on the other end of the spectrum it was brilliant seeing the stunning I Tokuni get Land Of DW a long overdue first top 5. And then the pirate metal song isn't even in my top 2 (main contest) entries. What a country. Join The Riot was a bop, Di Nero was so so so catchy and Let Me Out was easily among the best from 99 in the short time I had to listen to it all. Callisto was in the other semi but it grew on me later and... yeah that's also incredible. Gaidastep and Future Politics were rather good if not standout and I wasn't so keen on the other two but WHAT AN ENTRY LIST. So many of my favourites in one

 

Kagura - Sui-Ren > Apocalyptica - Faraway Vol 2 > Eivor - I Tokuni > Paddy And The Rats - Join The Riot > NOHA - Di Nero > Dover - Let Me Out > Ann My Guard - Callisto > Digital Nottich - Gaidastep > Austra - Future Politics > Toktok > Robortom

 

Lotunia

A very interesting debutant, instantly providing one of my favourite discoveries of the year in Arvedavgi, that has such gorgeous little instrumental lines and a breathy vocal that stands out among the chaos, I never expected such a unique song to come from BJSC, it really knocked me for six that one and you've been very interesting so far especially with your spinoff entries thrown into the mix, we need to see more of you NocheLuna - although at least you're entering regularly now. I can't say that the rest of your entries really grabbed me in quite the same way although I'll give a passing grade to Eva, Crywolf and LOBODA. I'm definitely looking forward to discovering more faves from Lotunia in the new year.

 

Agy - Arvedavgi > Eva Weel Skraam > Crywolf > LOBODA > Lola Marsh > Gery-Nikol

 

 

Medhelnia

Continuing their fairly bipolar brushes with success in the real BJSC this year, either with something unexpectedly huge or a total flop, I didn't get on board with Medhelnia as much. I don't know how, but a Tala & MssingNo song was completely screwed up to be rather unlistenable and then was there a song more pointedly derided as Spotify this year than White Noise? Your winner of course as well Mdh, though I don't like it, I don't like disliking a contestant's one winner, but it's such a bland song. Sure, Claire Maguire was fairly talented back when she first surfaced in 2011 and probably gained some fans from that, but it's completely unremarkable an example of dull Glynne-esque British pop to me. Easy Go on the other hand, wasn't even that bad, although that was using a former winner who I really liked, so I guess that makes sense. Best two though are easily a surprising entry from the gentle Run, a really nice slice of emotional pop, while MisterWives have always been high quality and Machine is no different from Our Own House and Reflections in that regard, although I do have to point out that their results are in the wrong order as far as their quality goes. But Machine is still a huge tune, so thank you for that.

 

MisterWives - Machine > Elsa & Emilie - Run > Grandtheft & Delany Jane - Easy Go > Showtek & Brooks > YONAKA > Claire Maguire > TALA & MssingNo > Ella Vos

 

Mezidinia

Eternally BJSC's most screwed over country, you really suffered from the lack of the RnB block, right? Not that I'm going to pretend that I would have pointed most of these, most are the antithesis of what I'm into BJSC for, especially Leah and ABRA. But Made In Heights was alright, and then Gaby Henshaw was actually rather nice against expectations.

 

Gaby Henshaw - High Grade > Made In Heights > Ramsey > Leah McFall > ABRA

 

Mulgracia

Grouplove is another of those eternally mystifying BJSC hits where the only solution I can come up with is that they're somewhat of a name. It's not that I don't like it as a song... this time, it's just a pretty unremarkable indie-pop song. Borussia was bad, so the two I liked in the last of Mulgracia were the two DNQs. Winter Night is a late one, I didn't know it well at the time but it's quite a lovely trance song, while Mars is one of those doomed rock songs that I get a bit of a shine to every now and again. You know, the sort that I wish that put in even a token appearance in Melodifestivalen these days.

 

Benjamin Zane & Chris Cage - Winter Night > VanLadyLove - Mars > Grouplove > Borussia

 

N DNTN

As one of the only Far East entries where Asian racism didn't sink an incredible entry, there's only one choice for N DNTN's best entry of the year, and I just realised that we didn't have nearly enough of them this year, because I like every one of these! But more talk about Harajuku Iyahoi, gave me serious entry envy as it seems like the way to make an Asian entry work is to put modern Avicii/Alan Walker-like sounds behind it. I'm gonna hop on this trend, don't let me down now. Charlotte Gainsbourg really surprised me though, I'd thought she was decent if not amazing but Deadly Valentine was really quite something as a more traditional N DNTN entry (not that I didn't love you entering Kyary but it is the least typical of you here). Kickdrum was pretty incredible for a semi last placer, I do not get that, and then those final three are also... really very good, particularly Fishbach's traditional... Frenchiness, . A year where we had too little N DNTN. COTY CONTENDER

 

Kyary Pamyu Pamyu - Harajuku Iyahoi > Charlotte Gainsbourg - Deadly Valentine > Frankie Animal - KICKDRUM KICKDRUM! > Fishbach - Un Autre Que Moi > Yaeji - Last Breath > Empress Of - Water Water

 

New Lexico

I can run very hot and cold with New Lex and with one theme that I noticed this year with them recycling a successful artist from earlier in the year with a slightly inferior song, and when those ranked among the better Lex entries this year, it's felt like a bit of shade. But then you're also responsible for two of the biggest 'I can't believe that actually didn't qualify' moments from Geiles Leben (always seems like a qualifier in my mind) and Ochi, which is rather mournful and basically the sound I want from an ex-Soviet ESC entry if they're doing a ballad. Better Sit Down Boy may not have been QUITE as good as Bubblegum but it was nearly there so fair's fair enough and it would have been my preferred choice for the win in 99, such was its infectiousness. Bricks was a surprise a couple of contests before, with a bit of mid-00s sound, it really hit me in a good way and that sort of song I'm not always that positive about. Almost the same for KREAM, which I could have easily slammed for being Spotify but made up for it by being damn good. And Boy was no Taker but it was still pretty fun. There's not much to say about the others, they were bad in the way that is inoffensively bad, which is my least favourite way to be bad but also doesn't lend itself to good commentary.

 

Confidence Man - Better Sit Down Boy > Le Grind - Bricks > KREAM - Taped Up Heart > K.I.D - Boy (feat. cupcakKe) > Glasperlenspiel - Geiles Leben > ERIA - Ochi > YOMBE > Release The Woolves > Loop > Ralph

 

Niceland

I detect the trajectory of a country finding their feet with this lot. There's a few that aren't my thing for being a bit... unable to evoke feelings, NINA, OHEY, ARIA, culpriit, Torul after a while, but there's some pretty good stuff here too and it seems like you're very comfortable with experimenting (I like this trait in a country), the pretty quirky Train Track and going for a Caucasus jam in Sofi Mkheyan show that off very well. The Isles was an interesting but obviously doomed entry but I'd like a future BJSC where something like that does well. Captain Cuts was a bit more commercial but I don't think I could have blamed you at that point in your BJSC career, and it was decent. That just leaves the best, BANNERS, an alt-rock anthem that formed one of my essentials from its contest, loved discovering that!

 

BANNERS - Someone To You > Sofi Mkheyan - Hamadzayn Em > Project Jenny, Project Jan - Train Track > The Isles - Eve Of The Battle > Captain Cuts - Like We Used To > culpriit > ARIA > Torul > NINA > OHEY

 

Numayania

Another of the countries returning for BJSC 100, this was another unfortunate casualty of BJSC 100, there were a few more pressing concerns when those semis came in but I thought it was rather groovy.

 

Carino Cat - Undercover

Andra Chansen

 

 

Just wanted to note my entry in Andra Chansen as people do, for which I picked a beautiful song that never got the appreciation it deserved, Cumulonimbia's debut entry, 'DyE - Fantasy'. Obviously it has THAT video too but basically my mission whenever talking about the song has been to try and draw attention AWAY from the video, interesting and deep though it is, the song is brilliant enough to stand on its own, so hopefully it gains a few new fans from this contest!

 

And on to my EOY thing, I'll try and finish it at the weekend so it isn't one of those things that hangs over this thread:

 

Ojnoj

Ojnoj was a bit of a surprise country this year, even if two of their biggest hits passed me by (someone PLEASE explain to me how Leon Else has any redeeming qualities whatsoever). Jonjo did have a bit of a K-Pop lean and that was cute if unfortunately a bit doomed but the two best came from the... statements. Gatekeeper really felt like one that is, as a big harsh rap track with moments of tenderness inbetween I actually got quite into that and then Statement Song was what I want Little Mix to be doing. I have slightly strange tastes in pop that make me want Rachel Platten to rule the airwaves, live with them.

 

TOPIA - Statement Song > Jessie Reyez - Gatekeeper > Tiny G - MINIMANIMO > JNS > SAARA > Jessica Jarrell > Leon Else

 

Oslol

As implied above in New Lexico, Taker was quite the upbeat moment that I didn't expect much from, a huge pop-rock tune that gave me a lot of pleasure in the first months of Oslol, who did do fairly well this year in the contests they entered, almost like it's Popjustice in here. Moment was also really good, between this and the Harmonica entry, it's only their generic name that's stopped me from paying more attention to them. Miss Li was okay if a bit noted as screechy, wasn't keen on the others. Particularly not that Chris Salvatore entry.

 

K.I.D - Taker > Moment - Indigo > Miss Li > Terror Jr > Blonde Electra > Chris Salvatore

 

Pagasa

I did quite like The Downtown Lights for its old-timey sound and distortions, quite interesting although not quite a favourite, a pleasant listen shall we say.

 

The Blue Nile - The Downtown Lights

 

Palmyra

Everyone's favourite nation named after an ancient desert city in Syria made two of their sporadic appearances, and it's two of their better ones, Somewhere Anywhere being a particularly nice surprise to go with 91.

 

Somewhere Anywhere - A Short Love Story > Phlake - Ikea Episodes

 

Persephonia

As Bré pointed out when I failed to vote for IDL, we almost made it an entire year when I voted for every single Persephonian entry (that I could have) and the biggest thing I took away from that is that I DIDN'T EVEN REALISE I WAS DOING IT. Maybe it was because that there weren't any huge big contest-defining songs from Persephonia past the first two contests and Hearth, and so they just kept racking up places in my low points for sending rather good entries. I don't even particularly think IDL isn't good but it's a bit disappointing compared to what it could have been, it's slightly better than GOLD too. But yes, Big Chillum, Ragnarok, Butylochka, Healthy Boy, to an extent Bad Trip as well, they're all good songs that definitely deserved my votes but they didn't stick around for the rest of the year, just good things to remind me when I get back to them. But obviously three did stand out, Hearth is a masterpiece of an entry, I'm going to have to up my daring to enter a rival 11 minute long metal track at some point because I got outclassed majorly in the inspiration stakes there, and I'm so glad you left the growls in, they really work. It's still not quite as amazing as the first two of your apocalyptic trio though, Happy End Of The World is a stunning instrumental track that could fit as the standout track on a visual novel and I really mean that as a compliment, I love the little synth piano things that those tend to do and it does it here but with all that emotion. And then you found an Evanescence/Nightwish-esque band that I didn't even know about in End Of The Dream so that was an instant win, enough to easily get an 18 in one of the best contests of the year. I love Colder so much now

End Of The Dream - Colder > xi - Happy End Of The World > Saor - Hearth > Knarsetand - Bad Trip > Dead Husband - Healthy Boy > LUNA - Butylochka > Achillea - Ragnarok - Twilight Of The Gods > David Starfire - Big Chillum > Life Sim - IDL > BROCKHAMPTON

 

PRoJ

A fairly decent Royksopp track to mark the anniversary - a nation it was nice to see returning to the contest. I don't know that it was an AMAZING Royksopp track but it was nice enough to remind me what I'd been missing from a PRoJ presence.

 

Pupok

A bit of an unusual choice for my favourite Pupok entry but Pink Cadillac was just brimming with personality, the type I want to see in my pop songs. And of course Mutant Brain was a bit of a phenomenon so it gets a strong runner-up position. Schaflos I didn't love QUITE as much as I wanted to but I still found it very listenable and mildly epic, I do want it to get to the build every single time though. And I do appreciate the political commentary from Cherryade and Bip Ling and Spinee. aww, Hell Hound was a bit of noise but I can't bring myself to hate it, it was fun. Curry was a bit more trashy and my honest opinion is that it's a terrible song but I have good enough memories of you talking about it to not want to rank it last, enough to rank below Pop Pop Kudu but not quite as forgettable as that... Polish (I think) track which I don't really remember anything about even while listening to it. Bishop Briggs I suffer from similar amnesia related to it, it was k but I wasn't into it. Fashion Killa I was though. Some fantastic moments from Pupok and a lot of memeable moments, please provide more of both next year.

 

Mags Duval - Pink Cadillac > Sam Spiegel and Ape Drums - Mutant Brain > Jennifer Rostock - Schlaflos > Mason - Fashion Killa > Cherryade - Theresa May (Bullshit) > Spinee - Hell Hound > Bishop Briggs > Parisa > Bip Ling > Julia Wieniawa

So close!!! (I suppose if you don't like 'GOLD' enough to even type its name in that ranking then that basically broke the streak anyway but still :D) Kind of a similar performance for us as in 2016 I suppose, although a bit better as there were 3 bigger standouts instead of just 2. Hooray. Glad to have been a COTY contender even if the tension for the true COTY was already spoiled a couple of sections back :D Also I welcome more 11 minute metal songs probably. x

 

Incidentally while I was preparing my mini TBO summary thing for my national thread just now I found this which might be of interest to you maybe:

 

 

because of course

 

+ 'Fantasy' is a wonderful choice for Andra Chansen ofc. I don't think I'll ever be able to divorce the song from the video entirely in my mind but it is a brilliant song nonetheless. x

Quintessa

One of my favourite nations of the year and probably second to Land Of DW, I was BLOWN AWAY by Genesis, such that it became one of my favourite tracks to listen to in India, the crashing hard trance the best of that sort of BJSC track since Requiem. Should have given it more. Of course there was also only my second top score to ever win (that I made a big deal about because it seems like that should happen more often on average) in Gypsy that was the perfect sort of electro-swing. Even if it was just those two I'd consider this a great year for any country, but it wasn't. The pop of Quintessa was fabulous too with Leah and Diana Wang both providing great culturally tinged emotional pop tracks, and then White Lung and Woolf & The Wondershow were pretty decent rock tracks if not as good as previous songs I'd head by them, while Laura and AFOS had some rather nice songs from artists I also respect.

 

Driftmoon - Genesis > Norda & Mike De Ville - Gypsy (Catch Me If You Can) > Leah - Met Jou Klere Aan > Diana Wang - Home > White Lung - Below > Woolf & The Wondershow - Cages > Laura Narhi - Joo Joo Alti > A Flock Of Seagulls - Space Age Love > Ashmute > Alisha Chinai

 

Ramrynia

I'm glad Ramrynia doesn't seem to be one of the mountains of people doing an ~dramatique~ about turn as soon as the oh so important 100th contest left town, even despite your withdrawn presence on the site. Because this was a phenomenally acceptable year for Ramrynia in that, while none of the pop tracks were especially captivating, they were also just a rather nice presence to have around rather than songs I resent being in the contest and viewed as music at all, although you did let yourself down once with that HORRIFIC country track in 99. As ever the best are the ones that stand out a bit, so the obvious hugeness of PreGomesh is the best, followed closely by (slightly unfortunately) modern Paramore soundalike Birdflipper. But I wouldn't really balk at listening to most of these although I still don't know why Tigertown was so loved.

 

Sirusho - PreGomesh > Birdflipper - Come On! > Alida - Feathers > Greta Zazza - Like I Love You > Emma - Circle Of Light > Ulrikke > Tigertown > Thomas Rhett > Catherine McGrath

 

Republic Of Adonia

I'm going to be annoying and say that your three non-qualifiers, probably through non-voting were the best of them - especially as you finally gave me a track I liked from the most overrated K-Pop group in all of Korea, even as I fall out of love with the genre in general. Airplane was good, as was BoA. JUTRO was the most interesting of the qualifiers for having a bit of a dreamy quality to it, the others were just generic forgettable pop.

 

f(x) - airplane > BoA - Camo > Club Cheval - Young Rich and Radical > JUTRO > Anna Straker > Sabrina Carpenter

 

 

Rolloland

A very welcome and noticeable new presence in the contest, we all noticed Rolloland from the start with the beautiful Routine, which to me, places you as a cross between Suedeonia and Zechonia, and those are two very interesting countries so that's a compliment. I'm always up for anyone who dares to enter progressive rock, it's such an interesting genre we could do with hearing more of. While some of your entries didn't hit, I appreciated them for what they were but didn't quite find them to my own personal liking, Primitive Radio Gods was rather nice and I almost voted for that, but it turns out you had something left in you with Anathema - who were a name I first saw in the middle of last year somehow even though they are a band that have been around for ages. Untouchable was a moment and a very worthy 18 for BJSC 100, I would definitely welcome more of things that are that epic, and you have a hand for that.

Anathema - Untouchable > Steven Wilson - Routine > Primitive Radio Gods - Standing Outside A Broken Phone Booth With Money In My Hand > Archive > > Felix Da Housecat > Guillemots > White Soxx

 

Sandebörg

I'm sure Adam is expecting me to outpour love on Benjamin Ingrosso. I'm creeped out by his Melfest title but we'll get to that in February. I don't always find as much as I'd like from Sandebörg but they did give an unexpected moment as Army Of Lovers gave a really catchy tune that I couldn't stop listening to in India. And Keep Running has a really memorable and fun melody so there's that too. Even Quest Pistols Show wasn't as bad as everyone said but besides that... sorry. Better luck next year.

 

Army Of Lovers - Carry My Urn To Ukraine > Liis Lemsalu - Keep Running > Quest Pistols Show > ZOE > Gaia > We The Kids > Kalomira > Benjamin Ingrosso

 

Sandénia

The quiet return of Sandenia, being as it was at the end of the year when I got less involved, nearly completely passed me by so there's no real insights to be had here, they were pleasant pop tracks that I don't have much of an opinion on. SOZ.

 

Jaira Burns - Burn Slow > Emily Middlemas > SIIGHTS

 

Scherzland

Would be a similar story for Scherzland but I do remember disliking Black Saint for being very basic. And entering eternal enemy of the Séyetan state Madison Beer doesn't do much to help, even if it is a song called 'Dead' (this is a joke, I play up that I hate her more than I do, but she's still not good). Taya was decent enough to not immediately throw out so that was nice. SOZ [2]

 

Taya - When Ur Sober > Madison Beer > Black Saint

 

I count 21 nations left which should be 2 or 3 posts... can I finish this before BJSC 101 semis go up is the million dollar question.

 

So close!!! (I suppose if you don't like 'GOLD' enough to even type its name in that ranking then that basically broke the streak anyway but still :D) Kind of a similar performance for us as in 2016 I suppose, although a bit better as there were 3 bigger standouts instead of just 2. Hooray. Glad to have been a COTY contender even if the tension for the true COTY was already spoiled a couple of sections back :D Also I welcome more 11 minute metal songs probably. x

 

Incidentally while I was preparing my mini TBO summary thing for my national thread just now I found this which might be of interest to you maybe:

 

 

because of course

 

+ 'Fantasy' is a wonderful choice for Andra Chansen ofc. I don't think I'll ever be able to divorce the song from the video entirely in my mind but it is a brilliant song nonetheless. x

 

I guess GOLD is decent but I'm not sure I would have voted for it either. And that nightcore of Colder is lovely, even before the awesome picture of Saber

Thanks for the favourable appraisal. I am entering another prog song into 101 which hopefully you will like.

Singerpurear

Now we're onto two S countries who, like myself, have had a bit of a rough year. And I've actually had an incredibly successful year compared to them, as Singerpurear only qualified once. Vitalic was very well received but it wasn't my favourite Singer entry - with honourable mentions to Peter Schilling and Pet Shop Boys, the most brazenly rock Singerpurear entries were the best. Chicks On Speed was a bit of a 'basic' song of that kind, it's not basic by any means but you can tell what it sounds like from the title. Yet it's the sort of stuff that I love so it's still very high here.

 

Grace Slick - Dreams > The Dead South - In Hell I'll Be In Good Company > Chicks On Speed - We Don't Play Guitars > Vitalic - Waiting For The Stars (feat. David Shaw And The Beat) > Peter Schilling - Major Tom (Völlig Losgelöst) > Pet Shop Boys - The Truck Driver And His Mate > Spoon > Bird > Jean Michel-Jarre > Sheena Easton

 

Skall

I detect a kindred presence, if not in exact taste, a detachment from the main BJSC zeitgeist and therefore entering whatever feels like the right one, despite how well it's likely to do - I'm interested to see where this 80s affinity takes Skall in the future. Desfado was the most catchy and Japandroids the most rock-esque and very me, so I enjoyed both of those a lot, Love Spy and Fredag were rather good and then Kate Bush is generally high quality. Nothing all that bad, I didn't quite get what makes Blackbird so special but a year where Skall was underrated... yet didn't have any huge standouts for me. That's not to say I don't care, but I'm always kind of wishing these entries luck.

 

Ana Moura - Desfado > Japandroids - Near To The Wild Heart Of Life > Mike Mareen - Love Spy > Kjartan Lauritzen - Fredag > Kate Bush - Jig Of Life > Musta Barbaari - Salil Eka Salil Vika > Small Black > Jens Lekman > Martyn Bennett

 

St. Burbia

St. Burbia is one of my new enemies I think. Well, it's more that Ben, you have quite the opposite taste to me so there are tracks, like particularly V. Bozeman, that I just find absolutely horrific. And yet there's a connection, if only in #bjscsowhite. And the fact that some of your hits get past the 'omg it's a black person singing RnB run away' bias that I have in my mind (am not really AlexRange but RnB is one of my least favourite genres) to actually be really good, maybe it is the respect for someone doing something different and still getting success with it, although Billie Eilish and Eva Simons weren't anything special. Malang was kind of quite good so there's that, No Roots REALLY grew on me after the fact and is probably the catchiest bop in your lineup, but (and Jacob will kill me for this) the epic melody behind All On Me's remix takes me back to when I first getting into music and brings it up to date with what I like now, so that was quite the tune.

 

Gyptian - All On Me > Alice Merton - No Roots > Tasha Tah - Malang > Eugenie > Moxie Raia > Eva Simons > Billie Eilish > Serayah > Jarina De Marco > V. Bozeman

 

Suedeonia

I like me my narrative, and as I want everyone to get a chance to win the contest at some point, I'll almost always cheer on debut winners over someone who's won before, unless the quality of the songs in question is wildly against what I like - and so when that's reversed, when Don't Take The Money triumphed as a debut win against two songs that I didn't really care for by people who'd won before, that was an ecstatically great win for the contest for me, so that's made it quite easily my third-favourite winner of the year, behind the giants of Saving Light and Gypsy. And Suedeonia definitely deserved a win, their normal fare is an inspired set of retro-sounding tracks that are never geared for success. Not all of them hit me, like with their similar country Rolloland but Geneve and Alone Again Or were both pretty fab and Miami was such a cool cucumber of a retro-sounding track that gets an easy second to Don't Take The Money.

 

Bleachers - Don't Take The Money > Baxter Dury - Miami > Love - Alone Again Or > John Otway - Geneve > Sparks > The RPMs > Alec Benjamin

 

Summericia

What a turn around for Summericia, I think you've been excellent this year, and not only because you entered a track that I got entry envy from to BJSC 100. Dark Sarah was Nightwish-esque at its best, reminiscent of their cover of Phantom Of The Opera and I adore that so yeah, Dance With The Dragon was a robbed winner in my book. CRIM3S and Carpenter Brut were excellent inspired dark electro grindy entries and Still Goin in particular is always so great that every time I listen I'm reminded of how great it is. As I knew Ameno and Caramelldansen for a long time before you entered them they aren't ranking as high as I might have put them, excellent taste for thinking of them, both great tracks but to me they felt rather uninspired. However, keep following the Dark Sarah or CRIM3S line of thinking and I'll definitely give some support, those were both genius entries to bookend the year with.

 

Dark Sarah ft. JP Leppäluoto - Dance With The Dragon > CRIM3S - Still Goin > Era - Ameno > Caramell - Caramelldansen > Carpenter Brut - Turbo Killer > VNV Nation - Illusion > Prince Rama - Fantasy > Dorothy > Ericka Jane