I came across this earlier in the week and knew someone would send it - it's not usually my sort of thing but it's definitely distinctive (in a good way!) and I quite like it.

 

Yes I did wonder if somebody else might try for it, hence my quick confirmation.

 

It's certainly an interesting song, which whether people enjoy it or not (and I hope they do!) is bound to stand out at least. The juxtaposition of the sarcastic spoken verses in that heavy Yorkshire twang with the uplifting and melodic chorus was unexpected on first listen but as a package for me it really works.

Scottish singer serves up Rontvian summer pop fun

 

Natasha Marie Stewart, also known as thisisNAMASTE, has been chosen to represent FSR Rontvia at the 136th BJSC, held in Seyetana this month. Raised in Lanark, a small town between Glasgow and Edinburgh, the singer-songwriter's new single I Like Your Face was released last month and wasted little time in hitting No.1 in both the Rontvian Spotify and airplay charts.

 

Natasha said of the track: “I wrote this song about the awkward stage at the very start of dating someone, where you overthink every text message, every phone call. What should I say, what shouldn’t I say, do they like me? etc. If we were all more, blunt and just said, I like your face, do you like mine? Then we’d cut out a lot of that awkward phase and get just to the point of knowing where we stand.”

 

Ricardo Delta of the RTVN said the selection committee was captivated by the charming simplicity of the song: "We've been down the indie and electronic route for the majority of our entries in 2021 so far but summer is always a great time for fun, catchy pop, and I Like Your Face ticks those boxes, with crisp production, a big melodic chorus and a great post-chorus; it could easily have been a single for the likes of Kylie Minogue or Rita Ora, or appeared in Melodifestivalen. We just really liked the track - it doesn't pretend to be anything it's not, it's just a solid and infectious summer pop song that deserves more attention, as does Natasha herself, she's a really promising talent."

 

German 80s airplay classic becomes 137th Rontvian entry

 

German married female duo Cora, consisting of Cornelia von dem Bottlenberg and Swetlana von dem Bottlenberg (née Minkow), have been chosen to represent FSR Rontvia in the 137th contest in Cumulonimbia, with Amsterdam.

 

The Neue Deutsche Welle (German new wave) meets schlager track dates back to 1984, making it the oldest entry the nation has ever sent. While an English language translated version also exists, the RTVN felt that the original German language version, a legendary airplay classic in the country that was produced by the legendary Frank Farian (Boney M, Milli Vanilli, No Mercy, La Bouche), sounded better and felt more authentic.

 

Amsterdam becomes the sixth German language entry sent by FSR Rontvia, following Atemlos Durch Die Nacht, Auf Uns, Es Rappelt Im Karton, Warum and Feuerregen.

 

The RTVN's Ricardo Delta said: "Amsterdam is a glorious old German smash that has been re-recorded multiple times since its original release, including a schlager rework by Cora in 2008 alongside Axel Fischer. But it is the original that still resonates and dominates the airwaves in both Germany and FSR Rontvia. The song has peaked at No.1 here, the oldest song to ever reach the top.

 

"It's quintessentially 1984, from the Every Breath You Take meets Titanium style intro to the rousing melody and production that echoes Moonlight Shadow in parts and - of course - the schlager air guitar breakdown. The big 80s chorus and Cora's lovely harmonies all combine to make this a perfect German love letter to the Dutch capital."

 

Icelandic duo's techno Roxette cover revs up for BJSC 138

 

After two months in the bottom ten FSR Rontvia has sent something a little more uptempo to BJSC 138 in St Burbia, a techno cover of Roxette's 1991 single Spending My Time by Icelandic television personality, radio show host, fitness coach, motivational speaker, DJ and singer DJ Muscleboy and 2009 Eurovision 'Is It True' runner-up Jóhanna Guðrún Jónsdóttir, AKA Yohanna, who last appeared in BJSC for Bhangra way back in the 18th contest with I Miss You.

 

Ricardo Delta explained the entry choice: "The original Spending My Time is a classic track with a huge chorus, albeit one of Roxette's lesser known singles in FSR Rontvia, where they had a number of major hits in the 80s and 90s. When we heard that Eurovision darling Yohanna had lent her voice to a thumping techno cover of this song we had to hear it, and we weren't disappointed. Her legendary warm vocals elevate the verses and gorgeous middle eight while DJ Muscleboy's 'Put A Cascada Style Donk And The Kitchen Sink On It' production lifts it to another dimension still. We're hoping our first Icelandic entry since Hafdis Huld in 2009 and first techno entry ever will be well received."

 

Spending My Time has so far spent seven weeks in the official Rontvian Spotify top five, peaking at No.2 last month behind Cora's Amsterdam - our BJSC 137 entry - and currently at No.3 behind ABBA's Don't Shut Me Down and I Still Have Faith In You.

 

Edited September 23, 20213 yr by gooddelta

Sally Shapiro's autumnal ballad brings Sweden back for 139

 

After 14 years in the contest FSR Rontvia have finally got around to sending an artist we've long admired to Jadakissnia - Sally Shapiro. An Italo disco/synthpop duo consisting of the Swedish vocalist of the same name and fellow Swede Johan Agebjörn on the production, Sally Shapiro were active for a decade between 2006 and 2016 and have recently reformed, with their fourth album, Sad Cities, due for release next year. The pair have been sent to BJSC twice before, another lifetime ago, for Utopia and Numayania, while there is also an existing Rontvian link to them with our winner in BJSC 35, All My Life by Chart Music. The track

, using the same backing track but Sally's vocals instead of those of the demo (?) singer from Chart Music. Be Without You treads a similar sonic path to All My Life.

 

Ricardo Delta of the RTVN said: "This is an old-skool style Rontvian entry in sound. The moment we heard those opening bars followed by the gorgeous chord progression we immediately knew we had to send this. It's an electropop/Italo disco sad banger - the production is icy Scandi but with a warm heart that would melt the ice. And then well over a minute and a half into the track Sally's ethereal vocals come in and float over the top, with the heartbreaking lyrics making it into a real tear-jerker."

 

Forget About You debuted at No.1 in FSR Rontvia last week, shifting fellow Swedes ABBA off the top with Don't Shut Me Down.

 

Edited October 20, 20213 yr by gooddelta

Vocal trance returns for 140

 

The last time FSR Rontvia won BJSC, back in May 2014, it was Dutch producer RAM who smashed the competition with the heartbreaking vocal trance song RAMelia (Tribute To Amelia), a tribute to his late wife. Our last trance entry was Tom Fall's instrumental Kaamos just over four years ago, which came 6th, but since then trance has become decidedly less of a force in the contest, and was recently discussed as being over after a string of flops for the genre. However, despite this we have decided regardless to field our first trance song in years, An Angel's Love by Alex M.O.R.P.H. feat. Sylvia Tosun, a classic from 2011.

 

Talking to Egg London about the track a few years ago, former Danæviian representative Alex said: "The story behind the tune was that I set up the strings and melody, but there was no beat and percussion. I was at the Miami Winter Music Conference where I was invited to play at a pool party at the house of Tom Lord-Alge. He is a guy that does the mixdowns for all the big pop and rock stars. He has won three Grammys and had platinum records hung up on the wall in his house. When the guests went home some of us were sitting in his living room and I played the unfinished track to him. Vocalist Sylvia Tosun was in the room and she started doing doing ad libs to it. Everyone thought it sounded so good, so then Sylvia came back to me a few weeks later with some insane vocals and that's how 'An Angel's Love' first started. It was released in 2011 but it still works now on the dance floor and people still go mad for it!"

 

Ricardo Delta further explains the choice of the entry for this month's contest in Bøtanikkä, which follows the 24th place finish for Sally Shapiro's Scandi ballad Forget About You last month: "An Angel's Love is sonically cut from the same cloth as RAMelia, although it actually came first, and was one of the big vocal trance classics of the early 2010s. German Alex and American Sylvia really did produce something rather angelic that tugs at the heartstrings with the emotive, soaring vocals juxtaposing the thundering yet simultaneously warm and nostalgic production. We absolutely adore it and really hope it doesn't flop as hard as all the contest's other recent trance."

 

An Angel's Love is currently No.1 in the Rontvian charts, ahead of a number of ABBA songs.

 

Save trance campaign takes off in FSR Rontvia

 

The famous Rontvian artist Delta Paints'em has been commissioned to make a new print billboard and social media campaign in the final hours of voting for the current Buzzjack Song Contest, with the aim to #savetrance, and keep the heavenly Rontvian chart topper An Angel's Love from a bottom ten placing. Her exclusive work can be seen everywhere now.

 

Edited November 29, 20213 yr by gooddelta

The Kelly Family finally get their chance at Christmas

 

FSR Rontvia's fourth most listened to act ever according to Spotify stats, legendary family group The Kelly Family finally get their chance to shine in BJSC in the fourth Christmas spin-off, with new single Christmas In Our Hearts.

 

Ricardo Delta explains the choice: "We absolutely adore the Kellys. A huge family of many siblings, they were born all over the place, with roots in Ireland, Spain, the US, Germany and many more countries. The group were particularly huge in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, as well as The Netherlands, in the 1990s with chart topping singles including

and

. The iconic 1994 album Over The Hump put them on the road to superstardom and crowds went absolutely mad for them. In the UK they only charted one single - An Angel, which made No.69 in 1995, but it hit the top five in Ireland.

 

"After years in the wilderness, including a Eurovision attempt for Germany in 2002 with

, they returned in 2017 and went straight back to No.1 in Germany with their comeback album We Got Love. The band and their individual members have racked up countless hits in FSR Rontvia over the years -

,

and

being the biggest, and Patricia Kelly the most successful solo artist in FSR Rontvia with hits including One More Year and Medicine. Their legacy remains strong with now departed members among Germany's biggest stars - Maite Kelly a huge schlager star and former lead singer heartthrob Michael Patrick Kelly an acclaimed singer-songwriter who co-wrote the current Lost Frequencies hit Where Are You Now.

 

"It was long overdue, but finally, FSR Rontvia are represented by one of our favourite ever acts - cheesy yes, but they are oh so wonderful."

 

Christmas In Our Hearts is currently top five in the Rontvian Christmas week chart.

 

Edited December 20, 20213 yr by gooddelta

Norwegian rockers Jadudah for 141

 

FSR Rontvia has kicked off 2022 in uncharacteristically heavy style with Norweigan rock band Jadudah's single Love You (When You're A Mess). The anthemic song hit No.1 in the Rontvian charts in December and has now been on top for five weeks in total.

 

According to the band's website, Jadudah's musical style can be described as "a mix of dirty rock with mood-filled pop elements, accompanied by a dark and mysterious atmosphere. Featuring touches of rough guitar-riffs and electronic elements, topped with a powerful female voice".

 

Ricardo Delta explains the entry choice for the contest in Lookylion and Mosquetania: "Rock entries from FSR Rontvia are few and far between but the runaway chart success so far for Love You (When You're A Mess) speaks for itself and proves that it has hit the Rontvian public in a huge way, and now we want to share it with everyone.

 

"The brooding verses bubble away with a moody determination but the song lifts into an epic chorus and great riff that we cannot get out of our heads. The middle eight slows things back down but builds right back up into an incredible full throttle final minute, where everything goes hard - certainly the hardest FSR Rontvia has gone sonically for some time. We hope people enjoy it!"

 

This is sounding so good :music: especially that chorus. Shame I'm not in your semi but I think you should be fine with this as there's a lot of rock nations there who might be fans. A rare sight also to see you go full on rock too I must say.

Edited January 19, 20223 yr by Roba.

This is sounding so good :music: especially that chorus. Shame I'm not in your semi but I think you should be fine with this as there's a lot of rock nations there who might be fans. A rare sight also to see you go full on rock too I must say.

 

Glad you're liking it Rob, yeah I'd agree that the chorus in particular does pack quite a punch. Nice to see lots of other rock entries in the semi too, fingers crossed it will find some support!

French hardcore for 142

 

After coming 17th last month with Jadudah's rocker Love You (When You're A Mess), FSR Rontvia are maintaining a hard edge in the hopes of bagging a third consecutive top 20 finish. Based in the French capital, Paris, DJ and producer Paul Seul - co-founder of the Casual Gabberz collective - will represent the nation with BDF (Summer 21 Happy Mix), whose listed genres include Happy Hardcore and techno. A mostly instrumental track, it includes a brief French spoken word interlude in between the otherwise thumping energy of the track. BDF (Summer 21 Happy Mix) hit No.1 in FSR Rontvia earlier this month.

 

Ricardo Delta explains the entry choice: "On our long-awaited return to Aeroche, we couldn't help but be inspired by their wonderful winner last month, our overplay of Parmi Les Mortels led us down a rabbit hole of similar artists, songs and genres. While many were very good, this is the one that really caught our ear and that we've had on repeat since. We're not sure if there is a Winter 22 Sad Mix, or any other version of the song in fact - we haven't been able to find one if so - but we're happy to stick with this absolutely banging version which has an entrancing melody and furious production but slows down in all the right places. Bring back Clubland Xtreme Hardcore so this choon can take its rightful place as Disc 1, Track 1 and fulfil its Nokia back of the (Parisian) bus destiny."

 

Appears we were both down that same rabbit hole this month then as I've just found out that Paul Seul is one half of my entered act this month Ascendant Vierge!

Appears we were both down that same rabbit hole this month then as I've just found out that Paul Seul is one half of my entered act this month Ascendant Vierge!

 

Omg! Paul getting that double entry into the same contest by stealth.

 

I did think when listening to yours - which is very good btw - that it sounded somewhat sonically cut from the same cloth, it's no wonder!

Topping the 10 minute mark for the first time...

 

FSR Rontvia has decided to follow a DNQ last month with a 10 minute chillstep track that has been drawn into Semi 1 over in Altyr Muunilinst, and is this month's longest entry! We're very excited to introduce Swedish producer Krisu to the contest with The Ocean Sings to Me in Turquoise Waves. Formerly known as Killigrew, Krisu first started composing piano music in 2009 when he was 17. In 2012 he tried his hands at electronic music and fell in love with chillstep and melodic bass music.

 

We first came across the track a couple of months ago and it has been in the Rontvian Spotify top ten for eight weeks straight, no mean feat in the busy Eurovision national final season!

 

Ricardo Delta explains the choice: "The easy option to get back into the final might have been to send a big pop song but instead we've opted for the longest track we've ever submitted to the contest, at two minutes longer than DJ Sabrina The Teenage DJ's All The Beautiful Things U Do.

 

"We don't always find that songs this long capture our attention for the full length but we don't have that issue with The Ocean Sings to Me in Turquoise Waves, which lives up to its name by progressing in aural waves - it starts off calmly with lovely strings before the bass and piano kicks in. Along the way there's ATB-esque pitch bending, new age vocals and RL Grime style drops, which really start to hit hard at the 4:48 mark. So there are definitely hallmarks of past Rontvian artists and entries here while being something new for us. The track is a beauty and we hope it can find some fans in the poptastic Semi 1."

 

On first listen I thought this dragged a bit too much but on revisiting it's got a very nice flow to it with the different sections. Certainly it stands out in the semi and I'd like to see it qualify.

On first listen I thought this dragged a bit too much but on revisiting it's got a very nice flow to it with the different sections. Certainly it stands out in the semi and I'd like to see it qualify.

 

Thanks for the support (once again!) Dobbo, I did consider editing it down funnily enough but then figured the song has been produced to be heard like this, with the different sections reflecting the 'waves' so I didn't want to tamper with it. Que sera sera.

Have just given this a second listen and it's all coming together for me a lot better after knowing what to expect from it! I liked all of the individual parts of it but the first listen was a slightly confusing one because of the rather unorthodox song structure (it sounds more like a 'minimix' of a few tracks from wildly varying genres than it does a singular song). Of course I wasn't in your semi anyway so I couldn't have done anything to affect it, pleased that it's qualified despite the predictions!

 

I guess I hadn't really considered that the genre variation fits the 'wave' aesthetic.

Have just given this a second listen and it's all coming together for me a lot better after knowing what to expect from it! I liked all of the individual parts of it but the first listen was a slightly confusing one because of the rather unorthodox song structure (it sounds more like a 'minimix' of a few tracks from wildly varying genres than it does a singular song). Of course I wasn't in your semi anyway so I couldn't have done anything to affect it, pleased that it's qualified despite the predictions!

 

I guess I hadn't really considered that the genre variation fits the 'wave' aesthetic.

 

It's certainly a grower, so I'm glad it's made its way into the final! Even on my first listen I was simply only intrigued enough to listen again but the more I've got to know it, the more I love it and all of its build up and slowdown.

 

Many of his songs are a lot shorter (3-5 minutes), in fact he's just released a lovely little 3 minute song this week called The Forest Piano. So I can only figure there was a specific reason for him making this one so long, which I'm assuming is quite literally the waves of the ocean singing in different parts as they go in and out. I could have jumped to the wrong conclusion though :lol:

...From the longest to the shortest...

 

After our longest ever entry, the 10+ minute Krisu track, finished 27th last month, we have immediately followed it up with our shortest ever entry, and our annual toe dip into pure pop, with Romanian singer Holy Molly's 2:10 track Shot A Friend. The song is three seconds shorter than Emiliana Torrini's Jungle Drum, which we sent way back in 2009 to the 15th contest.

 

Back in 2015, Holy Molly represented Yehesi with the track Molly, her only previous BJSC appearance. Seven years later her career has gone from strength to strength and Shot A Friend has ended up being a huge airplay and viral TikTok hit across Eastern Europe, seeing particular success in Poland, where it charted at No.2. Molly has also recently collaborated with French-Italian duo Shanguy, who are fresh from representing Cor Lupus last month.

 

Ricardo Delta explains the entry choice: "Shot A Friend is an incredibly catchy, current pop song, and one that you could easily imagine hearing on a Spotify Hot Hits playlist or the chart show. Wearing its Ava Max and Bebe Rexha influences on its sleeve, the track about a relationship risking a friendship is simple but a real earworm that won us over immediately and has huge replay value, particularly as it only clocks in at just over two minutes. That's more than enough time to fit in two verses, plenty of chances to hear the melodic chorus and a nice little middle eight that temporarily slows things down before the climax."

 

Shot A Friend has spent six weeks in the Rontvian top five, scoring two weeks at No.1 in between runs for Cornelia Jakobs' Hold Me Closer and Sam Ryder's SPACE MAN.

 

 

Edit: This is indeed NOT the same Holy Molly as Yehesi sent, but is an artist being sent to the contest for the first time - thank you Bré!

Edited April 28, 20223 yr by gooddelta