I might go Korean, Sistar proved the stigma doesn't always win! I also have a Japanese song in mind or I may find something else. At the moment I'm leaning towards the K-Pop track I've showed a few people.

Winning is the icing on the cake to sending a great, well received entry that you're passionate about and want to see do well. I don't see how anybody could get any satisfaction from winning with something that they don't like personally, but for me this contest has always been far more about discovering and sharing new music than anything else. Obviously if other people are more into the competition element than anything else then that's good for them but I think that trying too hard with entries, trying desperately to find a smash, often results in not getting the results that you may have been expecting. My BJSC motto is 'if I don't love it, why should I expect anybody else to' :lol:

 

BJSC winners usually have some sort of distinctive merit or individual sound/feel to them, certainly in the last year or so, and it's only in the more average contests with no real standouts where pure pop songs will usually find their way to the top of the pile. But it's a far better situation than two years ago when cheapness ruled and the great individual songs would almost always finish 2nd behind the latest 'about to smash in the UK' hyped up single. Admittedly my last couple of entries, as much as I love them - particularly Sunrise, haven't had a particularly individual sound to them, but I haven't really heard anything 'different' that I've liked enough to send recently.

I kind of agree with you in one respect but it does help that your taste is very similar to that of most of the people who participate in the contest so if you stick to sending songs you love then they're more than likely going to be well received by a lot of other contestants anyway. I don't care about winning but, after this contest, I definitely think it's nowhere near as much fun if you DNQ and if I stuck to sending tracks that I love then I'd DNQ every month - which would be rubbish!

I kind of agree with you in one respect but it does help that your taste is very similar to that of most of the people who participate in the contest so if you stick to sending songs you love then they're more than likely going to be well received by a lot of other contestants anyway. I don't care about winning but, after this contest, I definitely think it's nowhere near as much fun if you DNQ and if I stuck to sending tracks that I love then I'd DNQ every month - which would be rubbish!

Rich and I have an identical philosophy when it comes to BJSC (I call it Risks FTW) and we have a near identical music taste yet I had a massive spell of underperforming. You never know what will do well one month to the next and if the song is strong enough then it'll do well.

 

DNQing sucks, but at least someone discovered your track and you in return got to discover some new music and that's the overall aim of the contest.

I just found this contest to be extremely underwhelming full stop really. I didn't vote for any of the top 5 and the songs that made it were the ones I thought to be the most generic and awful out of the lot - with the genuine exception of the Ashton entry (which I'm not saying just because you're conversing with me, it really was my 11th favourite). I think there was only one track that I discovered and loved this time around - which was a shame but better than none I suppose!

 

Anyway, I don't want to moan about the contest - it's fine as it is... but I do think that some of the things that people call risks aren't really risks as such, they're just not female led synth tracks. I do however agree with you that DNQing doth suck.

I kinda agree with Dandy*, lots of people say 'I'm taking a risk' and it's a female led electro-pop which is a shoo in for top 10. I'm guilty of that though tbh (Oh My!), but I have also taken a geniune risk once (Jolin Tsai, well it was female led electro-pop, she's basically the Chinese Lady Gaga musically) because of the 'Asian pop stigma' and it does geniunely 'feel' better than playing it safe, if that makes sense?

I just found this contest to be extremely underwhelming full stop really. I didn't vote for any of the top 5 and the songs that made it were the ones I thought to be the most generic and awful out of the lot - with the genuine exception of the Ashton entry (which I'm not saying just because you're conversing with me, it really was my 11th favourite). I think there was only one track that I discovered and loved this time around - which was a shame but better than none I suppose!

 

Anyway, I don't want to moan about the contest - it's fine as it is... but I do think that some of the things that people call risks aren't really risks as such, they're just not female led synth tracks. I do however agree with you that DNQing doth suck.

We do get contests occasionally where there just seems to be nothing of note at all (BJSC X and XIV come to mind, the later being full of uber cheap rubbish and nowt else). We have had a couple of very strong months, and a drought from Sweden in terms of new music, so I'm not holding my breath for this next contest either. Hopefully it should pick up as we head towards MF season and into the busy spell of new releases for the UK/US.

 

I count something as a risk if it deviates from Ashton's safety zone which is Sugababes/Gab Cilmi and similar acts also known as Ashton BJSC I-XI (Except VII) :lol: I take it as more of a personal risk rather than the songs being overly risky.

 

 

 

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Currently hunting for my next entry and I've found a version of Underwear from KaraMel 1.0 (The version I sent was from KaraMel 2.0, I swear I have a thing for bands with line changes)

 

 

Certain that 2.0 was the right choice. This version lacks it's trashyness and its punch.

TBH, I think there's a lot of intelectualising the format of the contest in my view. I don't think about entries in terms of risks/playing safe I just send what I think is great and hope it does well. And I agree, DNQing does suck!

I don't take risks - but I don't do it out of fear of DNQ'ing. I just adore electro-pop tracks, so I send a song I really like/love at that time. I don't do it to be intentionally safe.

I think it's being incredibly subjective to say there was 'nothing of note' in X Phil! XIV I can agree with but even though most of it wasn't to your taste I don't see how you can dismiss X completely given there were a lot of interesting tracks people were introduced to in that contest.

I think it's being incredibly subjective to say there was 'nothing of note' in X Phil! XIV I can agree with but even though most of it wasn't to your taste I don't see how you can dismiss X completely given there were a lot of interesting tracks people were introduced to in that contest.

The winner was quite possibly the blandest thing ever entered into BJSC.

 

Money Note aside, the top10 of X was hideously vile. (Up has since grown, but I discovered the remix and the original is now dull as arse.)

 

 

X was a contest where the more interesting songs DNQ'd

Definitely, what works one month does not work the next. The top fives from this month and last are utterly incomparable in terms of genre. I'm sure there will now be a flood of female electro pop in the next contest but it will almost certainly be something else that wins!

 

I tend to find that after a contest that has many entries of one particular genre (e.g. Dance - XXXVI, Female Pop - XXXVII), that no-one goes for thatt genre in the next contest as they think that the contest will be packed with them. But instead there is usually a different genre that is prominent in the next contest.

 

I've literally got potential entries spouting out my ears for XXXVIII in Farahtyn. :lol: They're in my national thread if anyone wants to see them.

I think it's being incredibly subjective to say there was 'nothing of note' in X Phil! XIV I can agree with but even though most of it wasn't to your taste I don't see how you can dismiss X completely given there were a lot of interesting tracks people were introduced to in that contest.

 

Um, hello? There was ME :P

*cue Mikey entering HandS*

 

I did think about it, but the track would get banned again :lol:

 

I did think about it, but the track would get banned again :lol:

 

The main downside is that it's technically NOT your discovery. You'd be seen as going cheap seeing a song that someone else (namely Tirren) has openly expressed his absolute love for. Then all you do is try and beat Tirren (and anyone else who loves Scandipop) to entering the track first.

 

There'd be another Kylienips boycott otherwise. Try and be more original and more "yourself" with your song choices and you might finally get that BJSC win. ;)

 

Medina (Pavel), Strange Talk (Dandy*) and M83 (Dandy*) were not the way forward. Reasons why are given in brackets. :D

my next entry is different to my other ones :) hope you all like it

I have no idea what to enter at all. Which isn't a great start haha

That's such an awkward time for confirmation to start! :lol: I want to make sure that my entry isn't taken :( Looking forward to a great contest in Farahtyn Martyn! :D

Why is confirmation at 00:01? It is a bit odd.

Why is confirmation at 00:01? It is a bit odd.

 

It is trying to give people extra few hours on the day to confirm, otherwise I feel like everything is running a bit short... I really don't know though lol

I kind of agree with you in one respect but it does help that your taste is very similar to that of most of the people who participate in the contest so if you stick to sending songs you love then they're more than likely going to be well received by a lot of other contestants anyway. I don't care about winning but, after this contest, I definitely think it's nowhere near as much fun if you DNQ and if I stuck to sending tracks that I love then I'd DNQ every month - which would be rubbish!

 

Yeah fair enough, I'm lucky that my tastes are basically in line with the general trend of what does well here, but I do genuinely only send songs that I adore.

 

As for the whole 'risks' thing, I don't really think I take many but then I don't ever claim to, 'risks FTW' is Phil's strategy :P I do tend to almost always send artists that nobody has ever heard of before, but that's as far as it goes. I try to vary my genres each month but they're usually some sort of pop hybrid - electro-pop, country-pop, R&B-pop, Scandipop etc...even arguably my biggest risk this year - Om Sanningen Ska Fram by Eric Amarillo was dance but with Scandipop influence. The real risk there was that he was a middle aged male singing in a foreign language :lol: