Thanks for the glowing review of "Laplander" Brayden! Glad you've thought of it as the best PC Music entry this year. :wub:

I didn't send King Deco in the end, was just a potential for a few months ~

Friday Night :heart:

Best songs of the year - 70-61

 

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070 Botanikka 75 // Noémi - In My Dreams

069 #00274E 78 // Bagarre - Claque-Le

068 Aquafina 76 // Sigala - Easy Love

067 Fljótavík 78 // Grace Mitchell - Jitter

066 Cumulonimbia 80 // Special Request - Amnesia

 

A second appearance from Botanikka at #70, this time one of their retro trance entries, Noémi's 'In My Dreams' straight out of 2002 (the same year as their one remaining entry). It sounds like the exact sort of song which SHOULD be an all-time classic but it appears its greatest accolade was just reaching #34 in their native Germany. Good to see it plucked out of obscurity (for the 71 people who were in that contest, anyway). Next up at #69 (lol etc.) is the insane 'Claque-Le' by Bagarre, the second highest appearance for #00274E. This was a little bit too much to take in on first listen and initially just sounded like a chaotic mess but with a couple more listens I was hooked. Certainly a very unique entry and one I don't think I'd tire of with any amount of overplay. (Aside: I'm quite shocked at how many French-language songs I've liked this year, there are 4 of them in this top 100! I usually find it to be a pretty ugly-sounding language, or at least I used to). Aquafina's other winner, Sigala's 'Easy Love', is out 3 places ahead of 'Safe With You', leaving only the ever controversial Mz. 007 in contention. 'Easy Love' itself was not without controversy as an entry (though I still maintain that there was no reason to veto it at the time it was entered, all of its radio support came after that and the artist was entirely unknown at that time, the only thing going against it is the Jackson 5 sample and there's no rule against samples even if they are now heavily frowned upon). Regardless, it went on to become by far the biggest hit of the year and the 2nd biggest BJSC hit of all time, which can only be applauded. And it fully deserved it, a great reinvention of 'ABC' into a feel-good summer dance smasher. Fljótavík make their second of 3 appearances at #67 with the Best Pop Song of All Time™ 'Jitter' by Grace Mitchell, a song I knew would show up in BJSC for someone as soon as I heard it although I was mildly surprised to see it being Dandy who went for it in the end. Then again, I was also considering sending it, so I guess it's not that much of a stretch. But anyway yes, a great pop song, certainly a hell of a lot more interesting than the sort of shite Capital FM has been peddling this year, if only it would go mainstream. I did like her other entry as well, although a very different vibe from that, and I personally much prefer the more fun and upbeat sound of 'Jitter'. At #66 it's Cumulonimbia whose last 2 songs both drop out in this post. 2nd place for them is their most recent entry and also their biggest hit to date, Special Request's 'Amnesia', which is another case of instant love from the first couple of seconds with its clear 90s jungle/rave influences which is something we need a LOT more of in BJSC. Need to track down a song of this style to enter myself at some point! My only slight grievance with 'Amnesia' which stops it from being right up there with my absolute favourites of the year is there doesn't seem to be a right length for the song - the radio edit feels like it's over before it begins, but the full version is not a great improvement as it seems a bit too slow-moving especially before the vocals kick in. It still sounds great at any length though.

 

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065 Séyetana 73 // PinkiePieSwear - Flutterwonder

064 Singerpurear 77 // Sandra - (I'll Never Be) Maria Magdalena

063 Unovia 74 // Courtney Barnett - Pedestrian At Best

062 Cumulonimbia 79 // Young Fathers - Get Up

061 Harmonica 73 // HOLYCHILD - Running Behind

 

As much as I enjoyed 'Love Is In Bloom' and, er, tolerated 'Babs Seed', it really had to fall down on Séyetana to provide the best pony entry this year. Speaking of which whatever happened to the traditional monthly pony entry? I need more of them, because I want to learn more about this strange subgenre without having to be a weirdo and go looking for it myself. Er... anyway, it's really kind of a shame that PinkiePieSwear's 'Flutterwonder' is so clearly linked with My Little Pony because it's just a great dance song in its own right and the pony vocal sample is so chopped up and unrecognisable that it could pass for a SERIOUS song and I feel like no one would even question it. Thus, it places 65th here with absolutely no shame at all. 64th and the third highest appearance for Singerpurear is my favourite top 10 hit of the year, obviously not my favourite top 10 SONG of the year because then it'd be much higher (indeed it's not even my favourite Singerpurear top 10 hit of the year, and who'd have thought this would be a statement I could make this year??), but just the concept of a track literally from 1985 making the top 10 made me so happy for some reason. And it could only be Singerpurear who it could happen to. They've really become one of the most essential countries this year with the practically unmatchable variety of music they have sent, and it is a thing of beauty that they are finally being rewarded for it. Anyway, Sandra's '(I'll Never Be) Maria Magdalena' was a big hit in continental Europe back in '85 but made no impact here in the UK, and the mind boggles as to why as it's such a timeless sounding bit of synthpop! So once again, hooray for BJSC plucking these old songs out of obscurity for a few people on here. Another one of the more conceptually interesting top 10 hits of the year, Unovia are at #63 with Courtney Barnett's excellent spoken word / rock jam 'Pedestrian At Best'. A good example of when clever lyricism can really make a song stand out, I'm not sure I'd have been very interested in a song with the exact same instrumental but more generic rock lyrics but Barnett's lyrics really drag me into the song. As does the video. Yay for good videos. Cumulonimbia again at #62 with their top appearance, Young Fathers' 'Get Up'. One of the beneficiaries of the recent insistence on giving the Mercury Prize to acts barely anyone has ever heard of, I checked out a few of their songs when they won the prize last year and this was easily the best of them, combining some cool jangly production and a big hook with some interesting raps which - I've checked on Rap Genius - don't seem to actually make a lick of sense, but they sound good so who cares really? Certainly not an obvious BJSC hit so it was great to see it qualifying and being introduced to a few more people who weren't paying attention to the Mercury last year. Then at #61 is Harmonica's higher of 2 appearances, and thankfully this one did qualify! HOLYCHILD's 'Running Behind' was very much love on first listen, it's perhaps the sort of song that isn't usually entirely my thing but I just can't deny its infectious summeriness. One that I always want to hear again whenever I hear it once. Shout out here to HOLYCHILD's other entry 'Money All Around', it wasn't as great a song for me but did have one of my favourite videos of the year.

I guess seeing Easy Love as low as that makes Diviners not appearing here not too shabby...

I feel like I'm the only person who doesn't see what's in "Claque-le" that everyone finds fascinating. :(

I could send more pony entries, I do have a couple on my longlist but I'm not entirely confident in them and very few new ones seem to be being produced now all the brony hype has died down a bit. I think all three of them this year were a couple of years old. But fantastic to hear I'm #1 for pony and Finnish entries, at least I have a niche.

 

Loving the commentaries so far, fantastic to read all the ones that aren't me even. Which of course I would. And mostly some very good entry choices.

I'm loving these chunky paragraphs of commentary! Agreeing with rather a lot of opinions you're expressing, though that was to be expected. Nsync-ness ftw.

 

-catches up-

 

90-81:

 

'Daze' is really lovely, though I underrated it a little at the time. Rectified this with Rejects but it's a shame it didn't progress </3 This also goes for The Flavr Blue! I'm useless at knowing what sounds like a hit most of the time but I'd definitely have expected that to do way better as well! So good, my favourite Harmonica entry to date.

 

'Savages' has turned into a major grower! Pretty impressive that it made the cut here also despite not even pointing it yourself! Cor Lupus just do not know how to flop it seems :kink: 'U-Huh' is also another highlight and of course ZACK BINSPIN *.* I love that kind of sound, no regrets. Simply iconic. Like you it also puts a smile on my face. <3

 

80-71:

 

'Blaff' is a strong start to this section! I'm loving these long dancey instrumentals from Skall in the past two contests. Shame both missed out in Rejects of course! :( Though in the same section it was thankfully quite the opposite for 'Magnetic Nights' and 'Spirals' too, hooray! Two really great dance entries that were both a bit baffling in missing out the first time! "Hang on a second... there are 3 artists on 'Spirals'. It's at #78. 7+8=15, 1+5=6. 'Elaine' has 6 letters, as does 'Spadam'. 6+6=12, 1+2=3. Loomynarty confirmed " made me giggle :lol: <3

 

'Friday Night' and the entirety of 75-71 are all fantastic! Particularly 'Safe With You' which has grown in affections ever so much since that contest despite pointing it quite well even then.

 

70-61:

 

Lovin' your 69 (lolz) - 'Claque-le' is the kind of madness I love being exposed to through this contest. Speaking of madness, Singerpurear also *.* Still so happy that Sandra did so well despite being rather old! Again such a strong section as: 'Jitter', Amnesia', 'Pedestrian At Best', 'Running Behind', 'Get Up' and 'Flutterwonder' are all so good. Incredibly thankful for Rejects in helping to discover 'Flutterwonder' :heart:

 

Love love loving the quality of the songs and comments. Keep it up <3 x

Edited December 4, 20159 yr by Slade

Fab Bre commentary, and muchos appreciation for the Sandra/Singerpurear praise and comments. I'll be honest the enthusiasm from BreJade made me try harder to look for gems, there was one contest where I hadnt had time to look for anything much and opted for a holiday video track Toca just cos I had to get something in quick - I liked it but didn't love it and one should always go for love :lol:

Thanks for the “Get Up” and “Amnesia” appreciation - you seem to have liked the entries that I liked the most given those were the only Cumu-entries that have gone into my Top 3 (the former and “Pick You Up” both being #1s)

 

“Pedestrian At Best” is also really good!

Best songs of the year - 60-51

 

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060 Jadakissnia 79 // jj - All White Everything

059 Daehun 72 // Louane - Avenir

058 Trifoski 77 // Sicko Mobb - Kool-Aid

057 Beaverdonia 73 // Mazoo And The Zoo - I Kamíla

056 Varakë 76 // Pr0files - Luxury

 

At #60 is the first of 5 appearances for our favourite debuting country of the year Jadakissnia, the absolutely stunning wintry track 'All White Everything' by jj, sounding like a perfect fit for a John Lewis Christmas ad (although it is a lot better than the songs featured on those ~), also accompanied by an equally stunning music video which only further secured it in my favourites from that contest. Daehun's only top 100 appearance is at #59 with Louane's 'Avenir', which overcame my usual not-so-positive opinions of both French language music and pop in general to become a highlight of BJSC 72, mainly down to its foot-tapper of an instrumental which strongly reminds me of Milky Chance's 'Stolen Dance'. More like this please Yu, less Asians and less cheap non-Asian stuff x Trifoski decided to go for one of least BJSC-friendly songs they could find for BJSC 77 apparently, but the autotune-soaked hip-hop of Sicko Mobb's 'Kool-Aid' still managed to find enough fans to reach the final, one of the most (pleasantly) unexpected results of the year. Unfortunately the same thing didn't work for us with 'Kyoto' last month, boo. Anyway, on first listen I was very unsure what to think of 'Kool-Aid'. I thought I enjoyed it but I couldn't tell if that was IRONIC and it was actually a dreadful song. On further listens though I fully embraced it as just a harmless and joyful banga. Beaverdonia's debut entry 'I Kamíla' by Mazoo And The Zoo on the other hand certainly was an 'ironic love' affair but ironic love is still love, and the ridiculousness of a Greek-language children's song about a camel is endearing enough to land #57 on here. Not to mention that it was the inspiration for my own entry 'Habib Galbi'. Also, dat accordion doe. I actually kind of wish Beaverdonia would go back towards entries of this style rather than the fairly subpar Ramrynia and Bellamia rejects they've mostly been sending since (with the notable exception of 'Hundred Miles' which also featured in the top 150). I sadly haven't enjoyed Varakë as much as I usually do this year, though they certainly deserved to qualify more than once (#endvarakëracism), with other good entries 'Dazed And Confused' and 'Another World' falling not far short of the top 150. Thankfully they did at least get to the final with the highlight of their 2015 entries, Pr0files' excellent 'Luxury', featuring some very slick synthy production and a goosebump-inducing chorus. That lands them at #56.

 

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055 Thelonia 73 // Marian Hill - Got It

054 New Lexico 77 // Kesh You - Rıyzamın

053 FSR Rontvia 74 // Andy Duguid - 7even (feat. Jaren)

052 N DNTN 76 // Christine And The Queens - Saint Claude

051 Terra Avium 75 // Coyote Kisses - Ferrari

 

Another country to make its debut in 2015, Thelonia's output has been a bit more patchy than Jadakissnia's but when they've been good they've been great, as already seen with 'Chicago' in the top 150 but their finest moment is still easily their introductory entry 'Got It' by Marian Hill. I'm not always a big fan of this whole saxophone riff thing but it works very well on this song and I also love the ~sultry~ vocals in the verses. Next at #54, it's what I can only assume was a song commissioned by Kazakhstan to try and get them into Eurovision, New Lexico's ethno-electropop offering 'Rıyzamın' (or 'Ризамын' if you must) by Kesh You. 'Sounds like a Eurovision entry' is usually not a good thing coming from me but this is the kind of Eurovision entry I can get behind - I mean, 'Düm Tek Tek' was one of my favourites in 2009. Poor Harry though, this is clearly the only good song ever made by a Kazakh artist as shown by him trying to enter it into Worldvision. At #53 is FSR Rontvia who I've loved to shade this year as you may have noticed, but for all of that they do still occasionally come out with an absolute killer of an entry (shoutout to Mr Little Jeans' 'Runaway' which remains in at least my top 5 BJSC discoveries ever) and this year the pinnacle of that was Andy Duguid's '7even' by Jaren which mirrored the formula of half ballad, half massive trance that won them the contest exactly a year earlier. But rather than sounding like a rehash, '7even' was just an equally stunning track in its own right and it was a bit of a shame to see it not quite capturing the same audience as 'RAMelia (Tribute To Amelia)' did last year. Then again, if it did I wouldn't have my winner, so swings and roundabouts. Christine And The Queens' higher entry at #52 is 'Saint Claude' which represented N DNTN. It's not massively different from 'Christine' - both very subtle, low-key but charming tracks - but had the benefit of me knowing it for a lot longer (having actually been a potential entry of my own in the past) and as much as I've grown to love 'Christine' this is still the song I think of when I think of Christine. This wins the award for highest French language entry, hooray! There are either 5 or 6 foreign language songs in the top 50 though (depending on whether one is counted as basically instrumental or not). Just missing out on that top 50 though is poor brave Terra Avium who therefore only match Aeroche's feat from last year of landing 6 entries in my top 50 rather than beating it. How will they cope? The #51 goes to Coyote Kisses' 'Ferrari', the only other instrumental to join my auto-qualifier in the BJSC 75 final. A future house track with a ~sick~ :music: drop that just gets better every time. One which always sticks in my head for a while after every listen.

 

Only posting one section tonight but FEAR NOT, still on track to get this finished. Into the top 50 tomorrow ~

Sicko Mobb, JJ and Christine and the Queen <3

Ooh that's a stellar lil' write-up for jj there, pretty much sums up my own thoughts on the song too. John Lewis ad material is a good shout too, jj to 'do an Aurora' pls ;o Glad to see that we were officially your favourite debuting nation of the year also, it's always such a great thing to feel like you connect with someone a lot musically! :heart: Excited to see where my other 4 songs have landed here *.*

 

Some other really strong stuff here as well! From the utter iconicness of Mazoo And The Zoo (and dat Beaverdonia flag) to the beauty of '7even' and 'Saint Claude'. :wub:

Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 06/12/2015

 

Sogand through to Rejects semi-finals

 

Persephonia will compete in the semi-finals of 'The Best of the Rejects VIII' after all as our BJSC LXXIII DNQ 'The Lom' by Sogand managed to finish in the top 7 for nomination points out of the 32 eligible songs from that contest. It has been drawn into semi-final 1. Our other song in contention, Yung Lean's 'Kyoto', failed in the nominations stage as expected but not by a massive margin, with 24 nomination points to come 8th out of the BJSC LXXX rejects. (The lowest qualifier in 6th place got 26 points).

 

Persephonia had no songs in contention for the contest in 2014 (suffering from success), so our last song to make it this far was Orphic Oxtra's 'Skeletons Having Sex On A Tin Roof' which was the only one of our 4 2013 rejects to make it past the nominations stage. The campaign now is for 'The Lom' to become our first Rejects finalist since the 3 we managed in 2012, including Angel Haze's 'New York' which ultimately won the contest.

Persephonia embracing the Kool-Aid *.* that Trifoski flavour is undeniable~

 

Mazoo song is one of the most iconic songs of the year but as a quality song it isn't very good at all :no: War Paint >>>>>>>>>>

Edited December 6, 20159 yr by Adam's Satsuma🙁

Best songs of the year - 50-46

 

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050 #00274E 72 // TOKiMONSTA - Steal My Attention

049 Aquafina 78 // Mz. 007 - Important

048 Sandebörg 75 // Lo-Fi-Fnk - Nightclub Nirvana

047 D'yermak'er 77 // Jessica 6 - Down Low (feat. Thodoris Triantafillou and CJ Jeff)

046 Jayrusalem 73 // LION BABE - Treat Me Like Fire

 

Opening the top 50 is the highest appearance for #00274E, the mesmerising electronic wonder of 'Steal My Attention' by TOKiMONSTA (appropriate song title), based around a warped sample from a Brandy song. Another one that was aided somewhat by its visuals, a hypnotising explosion of colours, quite possibly including the nation's titular navy blue shade itself ~ Mz. 007's 'Important' is now a rather INFAMOUS entry following that one controversy, but I've decided to include the disqualified Aquafina entry in the list anyway, and it slots in at #49. First bestowed upon the BuzzJack populus as a great gift from the holy Senrei on plug.dj, I still associate the song more with those great memories than the not-so-great ones from BJSC 78, and it's just a massive jam in general, and who better to send such a song than Lee Wallace. My new favourite female rapper. It's the first song to drop out here that received top points from us but in fairness it wasn't REALLY my favourite song in that contest, I inflated it to an 18 (rather than around an 11 or 12 which it would still have got on its own merit) as a sort of tribute to the passing of plug.dj. Or something. Sandebörg very rarely send anything better than inoffensive but they get it RIGHT on the rare occasion, and at #48 it's their one right moment of the year and either their best or second best entry ever (not sure whether it surpasses 'Dance Our Tears Away', I mean that had a guy in a chicken suit...), Lo-Fi-Fnk's uplifting electropop bop 'Nightclub Nirvana'. Their results show that they do best when they send good songs - 3 for 3 out of their top 10 hits - so it's a wonder they don't do it more often. Their only appearance that wasn't a DNQ or a song that was originally mine (:')), D'yermak'er continue to do well :) on this countdown at #47 with 'Down Low' by Jessica 6 feat. Thodoris Triantafillou and CJ Jeff (not to be confused with the Alex Winston song of the same name which didn't quite make the top 150 ~), featuring - how do I say this without coming across incredibly offensive - the most convincing transgender woman I've ever come across? Lol. Anyway, I really thought this had the sound of a massive hit, with its v ~steamy~ production and vox, turned out to be a bit underrated in the end but nonetheless, a good dance song :music: Finally (because I'm too tired to do a full set of 10 tonight but do want to keep this moving Lol) at #46 is the silky smooth minimalist R&B (and hair goals x) of LION BABE's 'Treat Me Like Fire', the one appearance for Jayrusalem (who said I don't support you?) - shocking to think this came so very close to not making the final at all, thankfully other semi-final people had more sense and made it a biggish hit in the end ;o Would like to see Ms. BABE having a proper commercial breakthrough at some point.

'Down Low' and its steaminess are incredible. Uh--the song I'm talking about, not the vid x ( ;) )

 

A strong 46-9! May need to check out TOKiMONSTA as numbers are largely on point <3

 

('Important' robbing me of 15 points then :eyes: The powers of Mz. 007 and her iconicness I guess ;o)

[Their only appearance that wasn't a DNQ or a song that was originally mine (:')), D'yermak'er continue to do well :) on this countdown at #47 with 'Down Low' by Jessica 6 feat. Thodoris Triantafillou and CJ Jeff (not to be confused with the Alex Winston song of the same name which didn't quite make the top 150 ~), featuring - how do I say this without coming across incredibly offensive - the most convincing transgender woman I've ever come across? Lol. Anyway, I really thought this had the sound of a massive hit, with its v ~steamy~ production and vox, turned out to be a bit underrated in the end but nonetheless, a good dance song :music:

You're still turned on by ha, transgender or not. -_- and it does sound like a "massive hit", but I sent it so it didn't do *too* well ;o if you sent the same song, it would have been a mega big hit :)

 

Oops at that opening statistic for me :kink:

 

'Nightclub Nirvana' amd 'Treat Me Like Fire' are good <3 you seem to have missed out #49 though :unsure:

Just seen your country entry ranks and lol at you ranking Squirrel above Diviners and Nungwi

 

Great to see Shivers get at least a little ranking appreciation here also ^_^