January 23, 20178 yr Author Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 23/01/2017 xi makes it to the final 2017 has started well for Persephonia as xi's 'Happy End Of The World' has made it to the final of BJSC 91 in Aeroche, becoming our 52nd finalist and 7th in a row in our current streak. FSR Rontvia's run of 12 finals in a row has sadly come to an end, so N DNTN have taken over as the country with the longest qualification streak, as they achieved an 11th finalist in a row. Persephonia's streak now ranks as the joint 3rd longest, also behind Unovia who are on 9 in a row, and tied with Medhelnia. xi appears in slot 20 of 41 in the final. From Persephonia's votes in semi-final 2, 8/10 songs qualified, those missing out being a fellow instrumental entry from Dobago, Will Sparks' 'Flamenco' which picked up 6 points from us, and our 4 pointer from Singerpurear, the retro pick 'We Don't Play Guitars' by Chicks On Speed featuring Peaches. 7 of the top 10 of the Persephonian public's ranking of semi-final 1 also qualified, although sadly 2 of the top 4 dropped out: the aforementioned FSR Rontvia with 'Mary Keanes (sic) Introduction' by Daithí which we ranked 2nd but clearly didn't connect with enough people in its own semi-final, and Kylienips with Echos' 'Fiction' which we ranked 4th. 'Cinderella Ja Irarenai' by Babyraids JAPAN was the other song from our semi-final 1 top 10 to DNQ, coming 10th representing (of course) Séyetana.
January 23, 20178 yr Congrats Bray! :cheer: Really pleased that you've managed to start BJSC 2017 on a high with a Q from the word go *.* This really is such a stunning instrumental, the way it builds is so gripping as well. I hope it can do rly well for you in the final! Seems to have quite a few vocal big fans already~ Glad we were together in person during the semi reveal as that trolling was quite something :drama: x
January 28, 20178 yr Author Let's fit one more of these in before tomorrow's results ~~ 2016 EOY 75-51: 75 Land of DW 84 // RMB - Spring {11 points} 74 Dobago 81 // Imany - Don't Be So Shy (Filatov & Karas Remix) {4 points} 73 Yehesi 82 // Era Istrefi - Bonbon {ranked 17th} 72 Ingermanlandia 82 // Bomba Estéreo - Amanecer {7 points} 71 Yehesi 89 // Maan - Give You All I Got {6 points} 70 Cor Lupus 88 // Nhato - WAY OF LIFE (feat. Sasi) {11 points} 69 Desbuanda 82 // Batuk - Daniel (feat. Nandi Ndlovu) {ranked 6th in opposite semi-final} 68 Aeroche 85 // Kali Uchis - Ridin Round (oshi Redo) (feat. Tory Lanez) {10 points} 67 Séyetana 90 // Arion - At The Break Of Dawn (feat. Elize Ryd) {8 points} 66 Cumulonimbia 85 // KAYTRANADA - LITE SPOTS {11 points} 65 Espen 90 // Sacred Spirit - Yeha-Noha (Wishes Of Happiness & Prosperity) {10 points} 64 Ethanola 81 // Dele Sosimi Afrobeat Orchestra - Too Much Information (Laolu Remix Edit) {9 points} 63 Syndare 85 // Kwamie Liv - Higher {ranked 31st} 62 N DNTN 86 // Vendredi Sur Mer - La Femme À La Peau Bleue {8 points} 61 Cumulonimbia 89 // Dan Deacon - Change Your Life (You Can Do It) {8 points} 60 Suedeonia 86 // Where's The Beach - Tripping The Luv Fantastic {10 points} 59 Altyr Muunilinst 90 // Atella and Frøder - Closer To Life {4 points} 58 Jadakissnia 82 // BLVCK CEILING - WVFFLIFE (CHVRN Remix) {10 points} 57 FKA FKA FKA π 82 // Ital Tek - Cobra {13 points} 56 Usfland 86 // Apollo 440 - Blackbeat {12 points} 55 Terra Avium 88 // daydreamer - Travelling Light {12 points} 54 Ethanola 86 // Konstantin Sibold - Mutter {13 points} 53 Ethanola 85 // Billie Black - I Waited For You {9 points} 52 Tartford 85 // Cigarettes After Sex - Keep On Loving You {ranked 20th} 51 Séyetana 83 // FAUN and Santiano - Tanz Mit Mir {11 points} We have seen the last of these nine countries here: INGERMANLANDIA Bomba Estéreo - Amanecer [#72] > Naadia - Omut > Jabberwocky - Photomaton (feat. Elodie Wildstars) It was nice to see Ingermanlandia back with us briefly, even if they had pretty limited success, I hope we shall see another revival in the future. Their comeback entry 'Amanecer' was such a STATEMENT of their return, quite the banger (and Spanishy to boot which always helps ~), fitting in nicely among all the craziness of BJSC 82. Their other two entries were both substantially more subtle and grower-y (so not a surprise they both went out in the semi-finals), in fact on listening back to them they are both much better than I remember them being, 'Omut' in particular has pretty wonderful production, and I am appreciating the ~wobbliness~ of the produx on 'Photomaton' more now as well (I actually ranked that right at the bottom of its semi-final at the time which seems strange now!) Neither of them are really memorable at all but it's nice to hear them again anyway. YEHESI Maan - Give You All I Got [#71] > Era Istrefi - Bonbon [#73] > K3 - 10.000 Luchtballonnen > Nightcall - Dead V (feat. Dreamhour) > Shay - PMW > MariahLynn - Once Upon A Time > Rochelle - All Night Long > LYRA - Emerald > Nakita - Where Are You? > TP4Y - Blush The first country I've posted about so far where I don't have a single clear favourite, Yehesi have 2 pretty much equally great songs falling just inside my top 75 of the year. The edge goes to 'Give You All I Got', kind of like a lesser-known Dutch sibling to the fluffy and joyous sound of songs like Jessie Ware's '110%' and Dua Lipa's 'Be The One', this is how BJSC pop should be done *.* right on its toes is their recent TBO 2016 winner 'Bonbon', a song I actually didn't vote for at all at the time (not that I wasn't a fan, it was just in the strongest final of the year and came 17th) but has continued to grow on me since the contest finished, perhaps in part due to it continuing to be an inescapable presence on BuzzJack. Seriously though, a catchy and swaggy Albanian bop that deserves all of its acclaim. Also, her coat is goals. Can we not at the English version tho. Two more Yehesi entries fell just a little short of a place in my EOY - I don't know what it is about '10.000 Luchtballonnen' because it sounds just like an ABBA song and I despise ABBA, but I can't help but love it and clearly the same was true for lots of people since it won its contest. It being in a foreign language probably helps. Pretty iconic anyway. Then just after that is... probably the entry of Yehesi's that seems most in line with my tastes actually, 'Dead V', which is a suitably epic bit of dubstep in the Crywolf mould, it was nice to see a song of this kind finally doing well in the contest, even if it wasn't my favourite of them. Their sole DNQ 'PMW' completes my top 5 of Yehesi 2016, some more foreign rap which I always approve of, this was not really dissimilar from a French 'Bonbon' so not sure why it did so badly. 'Once Upon A Time' was the Yehesi entry that got the most points from me in 2016, picking up as many as 7, and it's still a bit of a jam (especially that second verse, MariahLynn genuinely got bars, better than Iggy tbh xx) but the novelty wore off just a little bit over the months so I only rank it 6th here. 'All Night Long' was another bit of a bop. 'Emerald' had a killer chorus but was a little bit let down by the rest of the song (oops at my original prediction it could have been another winner), 'Where Are You?' was decent but a bit anonymous, and... we couldn't like all of their pop entries, 'Blush' was pretty horrendous. COR LUPUS Nhato - WAY OF LIFE (feat. Sasi) [#70] > Pixel Fix - You Settle Me [#96] > Rain Man - Bring Back The Summer (feat. Oly) [#112] > The Naked And Famous - Higher > CONTACT - Never Stop > The Birthday Massacre - In The Dark > Snow Tha Product - Nuestra Cancion > JR JR - Gone (Robert DeLong Remix) > Atlas Genius - Stockholm > MIIA - Dynasty (Elephante Remix) Frantic Touhou Project production combined with airy foreign language trance vox make 'WAY OF LIFE' an easy pick for my favourite Cor Lupus entry (of 2016 and to date), thank god they managed to get this one as an AQ because I still can't believe how poorly it did in the final... if only the same was true of their other entry in my top 100, 'You Settle Me', which inexplicably DNQed as anyone will know if they pay attention to Cody's posts in this forum :kink: seriously though that was a great indie entry and at least seems to have a little following of fans (although still not enough to make it to the Rejects final, u wot). Their other indie DNQ that did make it to the Rejects final, 'Stockholm', I've never been near as keen on, it was okayyyy but nothing about it to make it really stand out for me, that comes in 2nd last here for me, ahead of the generic mess that was 'Dynasty'. Back to the good songs, Cor Lupus snatch a third top 150 entry with 'Bring Back The Summer' which is also pretty generic in its way but nonetheless still sounds pretty great to my ears, I think Rain Man just has a talent for this since he was also behind 'Alive', another song I inexplicably love. Their contest winner 'Higher' is another song that only just misses my top 150, still think it should have been vetoed tbh but a bit of an anthem. Then we have CHVRCHES pastiche/ripoff 'Never Stop' ranked 5th here, followed by the heavy Halloween-ready rock jam 'In The Dark', both songs that I liked a lot but fell a little short of points from me in their contest (and to this date I think Cor Lupus still hate us for these snubs), they're very competent examples of their respective genres but lacking something to make them properly amazing. One more DNQ, 'Nuestra Cancion' comes in 7th here, more foreign language rap which I as ever broadly approve of, and finally 'Gone' was one of those songs that was just kind of there and never made much impression on me but it did grow a little bit, not a patch on Robert DeLong's other BJSC entries though. ESPEN Sacred Spirit - Yeha-Noha (Wishes Of Happiness & Prosperity) [#65] > Mashrou' Leila - Kalam (H4Z3 Private Mix) [#91] > L.E.J - La Dalle [#125] > Dahlia Sleeps - Hessian [#147] > İrem Derici - Dantel > Sweet Coffee - My Moon > Cosima - Had To Feel Something > Nneka - Soul Is Heavy > CAPPA - Mad About U > Stalking Gia - Second Nature 4 entries in the top 150 for Espen, and the next 4 were all in my original list of ~250 entries to consider for a place in my EOY, pretty consistently great country who certainly didn't deserve to keep DNQing </3 I guess too many of their entries are just not super instant. Anyway, their final entry of 2016, 'Yeha-Noha (Wishes Of Happiness & Prosperity)' was a marvellous archival pick (it being an actual UK top 40 hit *.*), gorgeous Enigma-esque production, the vocals sounded a little bit odd and unexpected at first :lol: but quickly got used to them, I've loved the recent wave of world music entries and this is a good example of that. I wonder what the next culture to be appropriated into BJSC will be? (Klingons I guess lmao). Also making the top 100 is the chillout remix of Mashrou' Leila's Arabic indie track, Arabic can really be quite a beautiful language and it worked pretty well in this context. Another foreign language track comes in 3rd, 'La Dalle' just missed out on points from me in its contest but has grown loads since, great harmonies and instrumentation, benefits from being in French as the lyrics seem a little bit strange translated. x Also scraping the top 150 is 'Hessian' which is just the chillest song ever. Ethnobop 'Dantel' is 5th, a song I'm still convinced would have been a Turkish Eurovision entry had they not pulled out (this is a good thing). Another chilled beaut, 'My Moon' comes in 6th, kind of Massive Attack feat. Amy Winehouse vibes and another big grower. Two more undeserved DNQs follow that, 'Had To Feel Something' was a song I was hoping would grow on me through the final but it didn't even come close to making it there, again a bit too subtle I suppose. Then 'Soul Is Heavy' was a great and powerful protest song. The last two songs I'm not as big on, 'Mad About U' was a bit disappointing and generic after I liked CAPPA's other songs a lot more and 'Second Nature' falls on the wrong side of the subtle/boring boundary. But that top 8. <3 More success for Espen in 2017 hopefully (off to a good start so far ~) CUMULONIMBIA Dan Deacon - Change Your Life (You Can Do It) [#61] > KAYTRANADA - LITE SPOTS [#66] > NZCA LINES - Two Hearts [#116] > Sasha - Xpander [#144] > The Len Goodman Independent Artists For Online Kindness Collective - Theme For BuzzJack (BBC News Remix) > Soulé - Love No More > The Longcut - A Tried And Tested Method Cumulonimbia also get 4 songs in the top 150, and like Yehesi they had 2 pretty equally great entries rather than a single standout best. Motivational anthem and relentless earworm 'Change Your Life (You Can Do It)' finishes on top for me, a few places ahead of the glitchy and addictive jazzy hip-hop beat 'LITE SPOTS' (although that has to be pretty high up the list of best music videos of BJSC 2016 with that cute dancing robot). Elsewhere in the top 150 are their other two 2016 qualifiers, some cool indie synthpop in 'Two Hearts' (which I still mainly remember for the part which sounds suspiciously similar to Disclosure's 'White Noise', not that that's a bad thing xx) and 90s trance classic 'Xpander', another song forced just outside of my votes in the top quality final of BJSC 82. It might have sneaked in if the full 11 and a half minute version was there instead, as I tend to like these kinds of songs more the longer they keep repeating the same sounds over and over (see 'Mutter') :D Not a single bad entry from Cumulonimbia in 2016, 'Theme For Buzzjack (BBC News Remix)' was actually genuinely quite enjoyable, who knew the BBC News theme lent itself so well to slightly spooky underground electronic music? 'Love No More' is a good bit of electronic R&B reminding me a little bit of Roses Gabor, and 'A Tried And Tested Method' is a really nice indie song with another great music video, although admittedly it wasn't surprising to see it floundering in the semi (if only Math had failed to vote it would have been the first ever 0 pointer :drama:) Was a bit of a shame to not see Cumulonimbia back this month even with Aeroche hosting again, I hope we haven't seen the last of them as they're still pretty much always quality! SUEDEONIA Where's The Beach - Tripping The Luv Fantastic [#60] > Superwalkers - Lost (As I Am) [#89] > Weather Report - Birdland [#132] > Brian Eno - Here He Comes > In Hoodies - Healing > The Very Best - Makes A King (feat. Jutty Taylor) > DMA'S - Delete > The Death Of Pop - Gardens > The Tubes - Don't Touch Me There Was a joy to see Suedehead finally joining the contest last year (and another country I hope will return in the near future (of course once you've recovered a bit more IRL Suedey!)), a bit of a new Singerpurear in that you never really know what you're going to get from them, although perhaps with a slightly more indie lean. Like with Cumulonimbia, their (sadly few) qualifiers were the best of their output, 'Tripping The Luv Fantastic' is right up my street from an era which produced many of the best dance songs of all time, this is a song that I would never have unearthed myself so I am in debt to Suedehead's knowledge of obscure old music for dragging this jam out of the archives! The more modern 'Lost (As I Am)' was also brill, reminding me a lot of Duke Dumont's best song 'Ocean Drive'. But then back to oldies for their third and final song in my top 150, 'Birdland' sounded gloriously bonkers and out of place in the contest and I was really hoping for that to be a first Suedeonia qualifier, sadly wasn't to be but nonetheless a really enjoyable jazz instrumental that should definitely have been the theme music to a sitcom. 'Here He Comes' was another great retro pick, a very relaxing song (not quite all of Suedeonia's oldies were good choices though - 'Don't Touch Me There' is definitely not a song that needed to be revived from obscurity, a little bit disturbing :')). 'Healing' was a good and suitably obscure debut entry, wouldn't sound out of place being spammed all day on Radio 1. 'Makes A King' was another nice track from The Very Best, not quite as good as their previous entries (I blame the fact it has English lyrics) but can always appreciate some African sounds, then 'Delete' and 'Gardens' are both pretty serviceable indie tracks if not major standouts. A commentary on DMA'S would not be complete without mentioning that they sound exactly like Oasis. This would not be one of the better Oasis tracks. ALTYR MUUNILINST Atella and Frøder - Closer To Life [#59] > WILLA - Hey > Youngr - Out Of My System > Nick Talos - Crush On You > SAARA - I Do > Redlight - Threshold (feat. Melisa Whiskey) > SHAED - Running Through The Fields > High Contrast and Clare Maguire - Who's Loving You Part One > Jess Mills - For My Sins > TRXD - Wherever You Go (feat. Hilde) Altyr continued to mostly send songs I didn't really GET throughout most of 2016, but they finished the year on a massive high with 'Closer To Life', a song which took a couple of listens to click but grew on me rapidly after that, including after the contest (I only gave it 4 points but in retrospect it probably deserved closer to 10 points), a song with excellent infectious production and pretty gorgeous wispy and moody vocals, much love. Their next two best of the year were two songs pinched (unintentionally I assume) from the PopJustice Song Contest, both of which I believe I voted for there but they didn't quite cut it in the rather higher quality of BuzzJack's contest, they're both pretty good pop songs though. I decided to sneakily do the reverse and pinch one of Altyr's entries to send to PopJustice in the hopes of bagging a cheap hit, picking out 'I Do' (another solid-but-not-incredible pop song), which became my joint best performing entry there by coming 10th so thanks for that one John! As for the rest of the Altyr entries, 'Crush On You' was a bit underrated, it was quite good for what it was I thought, one of the better tropical entries in BJSC of late (the entire subgenre seems to have mostly gone to crap very soon after it broke through though). 'Threshold' and 'Running Through The Fields' were perfectly decent examples of their respective genres too. Really nothing on this list is actually that bad, they're just mostly a bit STANDARD, with 'Wherever You Go' in particular just blending into a mesh of about 3 or 4 other identical songs in that contest. I've started really enjoying Altyr in the last couple of contests anyway so I hope they can keep that up. USFLAND Apollo 440 - Blackbeat [#56] > The Brevet - Moving Mountains > AUTOBAHN - Society > Sonny J - Can't Stop Moving > Andrew Luce and graves - Up To You (feat. Chelsea Cutler) > Chromatics - White Light > LÉON - Treasure > Midnight To Monaco - One In A Million > Sondr - Surviving (feat. Joe Cleere) Was nice to see Usfland actually getting a few qualifiers in 2016 after their rough time in the previous year. The overall quality of their entries was a bit up as well I think, the easy highlight being 'Blackbeat', another old electronic track unearthed in the same contest as Where's The Beach, this is so 'PS2 racing game soundtrack' in the best way possible, also sounds a bit like The Chemical Brothers. Quite the jam *.* 'Moving Mountains' qualifying was unexpected but pleasing, a really nice and kool Mumford-y/Kings Of Leon-y track which only just missed out on points from us in the final. While two of their qualifiers were their best of the year, their other two were my least favourites - it was nice to see 'Surviving' qualifying just to end their horrendous DNQ streak, but the actual song was a pretty bad Avicii clone, and 'One In A Million' has just always sounded a little bit jarring to me, the continuous noise in the background doesn't work well in the chorus I think. Onto their (still fairly plentiful) DNQs, 'Society' was the best of those, a very bold entry choice that got a seemingly good semi-final draw but I guess it was still a little bit too industrial/shouty for the contest. 'Can't Stop Moving' showing up in the contest and somehow not being vetoed was a bit *_*, it's a catchy song though. The other three songs all suffer from being rather forgettable but 'Up To You' and 'White Light' at least have some pretty nice vibes to them, so they're pleasant to listen to even if I can't remember anything about them afterwards. TARTFORD Cigarettes After Sex - Keep On Loving You [#52] > Luce Drayton - To Be Loved (Disco Citizens Remix) [#80] > Metronomy - The Look [#83] > Jody Wisternoff - The Bridge (Chicane Rework) (feat. Sian Evans) [#134] > Marsheaux - Safe Tonight [#146] > Alex Gaudino and Jerma - Reaction > Skinny - Failure > Sons Of Sonix - Numb (feat. Melanie C) > BLKMGK - You Don't Deserve Me (feat. Amina Mine and Jayy Starr) > Dominique - I Think I'm Fallin (Manotett Remix) I didn't realise how much I was stanning Tartford throughout 2016 - they don't get any songs into my top 50, but a full 5 make the top 150 (the most of any country I've posted about so far) and the next 2 songs were also in contention for a spot! Coming a long way from appearing 3 times in my worst songs of 2015 list :') The top song from Tartford here is actually one I didn't vote for, I did quite like both of the Cigarettes After Sex songs in their original contests but something about them has just started to click with me so much more since then, they're just so chill and lush, I keep meaning to check out the rest of their EP/album. A completion of a trilogy of CAS entries woudn't go amiss, and I might actually support it this time if it happens. x 'To Be Loved' comes in as my second fave from Tartford 2016, a wonderful slice of moody retro trance, still cannot believe it DNQed :'( just behind that is a song I kind of struggled to rank, I've loved 'The Look' for absolutely ages so it wasn't at all a discovery from BJSC, probably deserves to be a lot higher than #83 but I tried to weigh up how much BJSC got me back into it if that makes sense (i.e. not as much as I got back into 'Dance The Way I Feel' which is a lot higher up). Anyway, an incredibly infectious little track that always lodges itself in my head for ages when I listen to it. Duuuu dududu du du dududu. Next is another song that has grown on me a lot since the contest, the other Nicholas Bracegirdle (Chicane / Disco Citizens) remix, 'The Bridge' didn't really do that much for me in the contest but it suddenly clicked with me after hearing it again a little bit after the contest, another very catchy melody and lovely minimal use of vocals. Was nice to see both this and 'To Be Loved' at least getting nods in the Rejects. The final appearance from Tartford in my top 150 is 'Safe Tonight', gahh at this being so close and yet so far from giving them a first top 10 hit, although at least it wasn't just me being crazy when I thought people were being silly predicting it to DNQ, a great 80s-y synthpop track. 'Reaction' just sounded like a big mid-00s dance hit (actually a bit surprising it wasn't one), obviously nothing groundbreaking but it was a bit of fun and enough to grab a point from me, really didn't deserve to flounder so far behind in last place :lol: and 'Failure' was also a good archival indie track. 'Numb' and 'You Don't Deserve Me' both had potential to be pretty good songs too but it's a little hard to get past the slightly... discordant production and chorus vocals respectively, the former proved to be a bit of a grower at least anyway and I did enjoy the verses of the latter. 'I Think I'm Fallin' is also not terrible, just very nothingy. Overall a great year for Tartford anyway. We're 2/3 through the songs. Getting there. Next post will be 50-41. Glad we were together in person during the semi reveal as that trolling was quite something :drama: x You getting to witness me getting legit stressed about that though :mellow: #lewwtrollingsupportgroup
January 28, 20178 yr You getting to witness me getting legit stressed about that though :mellow: #lewwtrollingsupportgroup *virtual hug* #lewwtrollingsupportgroup ~ Brilliant to see 'WVFFLIFE (CHVRN Remix)' appearing in this EOY section *.* Easily my favourite of my own 2016 entries so I am glad you appreciated it enough for 10 points. The entry that started this witchy sound that I'm now most known for in the contest haha (well I guess 'Blood Blood Blood !!' was pretty spoopy too but not exactly witch house). Snap Ingermanlandia (from that plethora of choices xx :kink:), Suedeonia, Usfland and Altyr Muunilinst faves, woo. One of these days you'll appreciate the greatness of 'Stockholm' and 'One In A Million' ;) x (though as for Cor Lupus, I'm so glad that you stan 'Way Of Life' as well <3 underrated entry!)
January 28, 20178 yr LMFAO were u together that real life impakt YES Leww. The first time we have experienced a results show together (minus TBO) and u do that to us :'( :kink:
January 28, 20178 yr YES Leww. The first time we have experienced a results show together (minus TBO) and u do that to us :'( :kink: keeping up my reputation as buzzjack's premier mean girl xxx
January 28, 20178 yr at least you two got a room, i was standing in the rain reading the entire thread
January 29, 20178 yr Author 2016 EOY 50-41: 50 FKA FKA FKA π 88 // Ariel Pink - Not Enough Violence {10 points} 49 Skall 90 // David Lyme - Bye, Bye Mi Amor {12 points} 48 Terra Avium 87 // Essaie Pas - Le Port Du Masque Est De Rigueur {8 points in semi-final} 47 Jadakissnia 88 // MssingNo - Scope {13 points} 46 Skall 88 // Stupeflip - Stupeflip Vite !!! {15 points} 45 Deandria 89 // Clément Bazin - With You {10 points in semi-final} 44 Quintessa 81 // Crywolf - Akureyri {10 points in semi-final} 43 Trifoski 87 // Anna Meredith - Nautilus {ranked 3rd in opposite semi-final} 42 Fljótavík 86 // Hanna Järver - Anekdoter {11 points} 41 Trifoski 84 // Javiera Mena - Otra Era {10 points} Only two more countries with their highest appearances here: DEANDRIA Clément Bazin - With You [#45] > Blackbriar - Until Eternity [#107] > Vogel - Hologram [#129] > Maya's Moving Castle - When You Wish Upon The Stars [#131] > Anna And The Barbies - Álmatlan > Ecca Vandal - Father Hu$$la > Poison Ivory - Alchemy > Allie X - Sanctuary > Tzlil - Oh My Love > NOËP - Move Most of Deandria's best moments of 2016 were DNQs, primarily 'With You' which I really thought sounded like a safe hit so could hardly have been more shocked at it coming near last in its semi-final, what the hell BuzzJack. :'( Still a major jam anyway, not sure how anyone could deny those lovely steel drums and the infectious vocals. That's Deandria's only entry in my top 100 and still feels too low, I feel like I should really be supporting Deandria more - but still plenty of other great entries from them in 2016 including 3 more that make my top 150. The highest of those, not far off being a second top 100 entry, is their most recent qualifier 'Until Eternity', combining trademark Deandria-type vocals with awesome heavy Séyetana-like rock riffs, an absolutely massive chorus *.* should have been a top 10 x Two more DNQs come in nearly next to each other a little further down, third place goes to synthwave instrumental and Jadakissnia fave 'Hologram', always love a bit of synthwave in BJSC, I still can't at how many great songs were voted out in BJSC 90, especially in that semi-final. Just behind that is 'When You Wish Upon The Stars', another song with an absolutely killer chorus that sounds a little Florence + The Machine, still confused as to why Mattias near disowned this song during the contest :kink: Another couple of great DNQs next, 'Álmatlan' wasn't quite as good as the Hungarian track Deandria actually sent to Worldvision and was always pretty doomed in the contest but I'm still pleased it had the chance to be sent to the contest as well as it's still a really cool song, another one I've appreciated more since the contest than during it. Then 'Father Hu$$la' has more of Deandria's trademark madness, I hope to see a hip-hop Deandria entry qualify one of these days (if they ever send another one!), this one wasn't as good as 'Calm Down' but still pretty awesome. Their other two qualifiers were both pretty good too, 'Alchemy' also standing out a bit with some quirky vocals. Despite being their biggest hit of the year by a country mile 'Sanctuary' ranks lowly among my Deandria favourites as it's a pretty standard blog-pop song and felt rather uninspired by their high standards, also if we had to have an Allie X winner I'd have far preferred 'Tumor'. Then those last two DNQs are the only ones that I thought 'deserved' to DNQ, it was cool that Deandria managed to send an Estonian artist eventually but 'Move' has nothing to it at all, one of the year's most forgettable entries, and 'Oh My Love' is a little better but also pretty throwaway. TRIFOSKI Javiera Mena - Otra Era [#41] > Anna Meredith - Nautilus [#43] > Great Good Fine Ok - Take It Or Leave It [#78] > La Femme - Sphynx [#118] > Pillow Person - Go Ahead [#126] > Lemon Demon - Touch-Tone Telephone > Melt Yourself Down - Fix My Life > Dive In - Eighteen > The Go! Team - Buy Nothing Day > Oliver - Electrify (feat. Scott Mellis) Definitely feels wrong to see Trifoski out of the running this early as well, I really liked every single one of these entries! Two songs come within touching distance of the top 40 but juuuust missing out, their highest being their old PJSC winner 'Otra Era' that they finally brought to this site as well, such an enchanting little song, Spanish vocals are always the way to my heart of course and combined with some fab synths this was always going to be a fave of mine <3 Only just behind that is a song with pretty much the exact opposite vibes to it, 'Nautilus' is a bit of a challenging listen and was obviously going to be a bit divisive, I had hopes that it would qualify when it had unexpected love from people like imaduck but sadly it wasn't to be. Still, a pretty awesome onslaught of random noises which picked up my top marks in the Rejects final (although it was very close between my top 3, as my EOY #43-45 were all in it!) One more appearance in the top 100 from Trifoski, the chart-ready catchiness of 'Take It Or Leave It', I will always picture that dance routine from the video whenever I hear this *.* Some more enchanting foreign language vox (this time French) on 'Sphynx' accompanied by a cool video and having that slightly ~mysterious~ vibe to it much like Trifoski themselves, was very pleased to see this showing up in the contest after it was one of two brilliant French potentials from N DNTN, I still think Vendredi Sur Mer was the superior of the two but both deserved to have a spot in the contest at some point. Their final appearance in the top 150 is the poor underrated 'Go Ahead', I mean I guess not all Hot Chip-adjacent tracks can be as brilliant as 'Bear Hug', but this one still deserved a lot better than it got, a pretty awesome bit of electropop. Missing out on my EOY but still great tracks are 'Touch-Tone Telephone' (I have long been a fan of Neil Cicierega's Internet comedy but I didn't know he had it in him to make serious (albeit pretty eccentric) music that sounded this great *.*) and their other DNQ 'Fix My Life', responsible for many a seizure with its video but another awesome cacophony of sounds. The last three songs are the only ones that didn't make my votes (or would-be votes), I've come to appreciate 'Eighteen' and 'Buy Nothing Day' more since their original contests though, both pretty great indie songs ~ and then as much of a moment as it was when Trifoski had their grand return to the top 10 with 'Electrify' that's actually ended up being pretty solidly my least favourite of their 2016 entries, if anything I've gone off it a bit since the contest although it is still v good, reminiscent of 'Dangerous' by David Guetta. Trifoski remain among my favourite countries and I always look forward to what they have to offer, long may the quality continue ~ (as it very much has done with the first contest of 2017 which has already booked them a much higher EOY position than #41 for this year #spoilers)
January 29, 20178 yr Yay for 'Scope' appearing in this section :wub: That song shall be forever special to me as my first ever top 3 result. Bronze medal in the contest matching up with a bronze medal from you points-wise *.* Deandria and Trifoski are two of my favourite countries so it was wonderful to read your write-ups of them :heart:
February 1, 20178 yr Author Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 01/02/2017 BJSC 91 summary - The final results of the year's first contest took place in Quota, Aeroche on Sunday night. Persephonia have not got off to as good a start as last year, finishing in a slightly disappointing 31st out of the 41 songs in the final with xi's 'Happy End Of The World' after we initially had hopes of another top 20 finish. The position matches that of our last instrumental entry 'Thelema' by Øfdream three contests earlier, although it did get a few more points than that did, a total of 146 points from 18 countries including one apiece of the medal positions (the full 18 from Terra Avium for a third time in 5 contests, a best-to-date 15 points from Cor Lupus and 13 points from ever faithful Jadakissnia). Putting the result in a bit of perspective though, the reveal of the semi-final results showed us on the brink of a much more disastrous start to 2017, as it turned out we scraped through semi-final 2 in 20th place with just 47 points, 3 clear of DNQing. This is only the second time we've ever scraped through a semi-final in its last qualification slot (after Frankie & The Heartstrings' 'Hunger' was the lowest of 14 qualifiers in BJSC 25 semi-final 2) and the second lowest number of points we've qualified with, one more than Deaf Club's 'Moving Still' in BJSC 49. With that in mind, the final result was a fair bit better than the projected 39th place. Silver linings! Thank you to those who voted for this entry which has become one of our favourites :heart: - After the last two contests had very small winning margins, we returned to a landslide victory in BJSC 91. Having topped pretty much all of the odds and predictions save for a few late contrarians like that dastardly PersepBet, Ultraviolenceland lived up to the hype and notched up their first main contest win with EASYFUN's 'Monopoly' (feat. Noonie Bao) storming to the win with 373 points (they'd previously won the UK Chart Near Misses spinoff with Ellie Goulding's 'Lights'). The crowning moment comes very soon after their long wait for a first top 10 hit was ended in the previous contest as they came 10th with ARIA's 'Maze'. Its lead over its closest rival was 113 points, the third largest margin ever (Sigala's 'Easy Love' won by 118 and Salt Ashes' 'Save It' by 133), and also ranking within the top 3 biggest win margins ever in percentage terms. All in all doing just a bit better than PC Music alumnus EASYFUN's previous BJSC entry 'Laplander' which unceremoniously dropped out in 28th place in the semi-finals of BJSC 73 for Cadelicia. 'Monopoly' was the winner of semi-final 1 as well, also marking Ultraviolenceland's first semi-final win. Ultraviolenceland have since announced they will be hosting BJSC 92 with some assistance from Taahino, both hosting for the first time. - The winner was never in doubt, but there was a very close race for 2nd, with only 15 points separating the silver medal from 8th place. Ultimately 2nd place went to Ramrynia with Sirusho's 'PreGomesh' on 260 points, marking the 4th time Ramrynia have finished as runners-up (after Elen Levon's 'Dancing To The Same Song' in BJSC 48, Alida's 'Some Of Us' in BJSC 58 and Listenbee's 'Save Me' (feat. Naz Tokio) in BJSC 71) while they still await their own first win. With another 2 3rd placers on top of that, they now individually have the records for most 2nd places and most top 3 finishes without ever winning, after previously jointly holding those records with United States of Jack. One day. 3rd place with 255 points went to Mulgracia with Grouplove's 'Good Morning', adding to their 2 wins and 1 second place, and also greatly and somewhat unexpectedly surpassing the success of the artist's previous BJSC entry ('Tongue Tied', which came 23rd for Bøtanikkä in BJSC 47). The winner of semi-final 2, and the projected winner (123 points in its semi-final to Ultraviolenceland's 122), was Bishop Briggs' 'River', representing Pupok (giving them a second semi-final win). That song came 4th in the final with 254 points, meaning Pupok have come top 10 with 7 of their last 10 entries. This was also a much bigger hit than the previous entry by the same artist (St. Burbia came 32nd with Briggs' 'Wild Horses' in the first contest of last year). The final slot in the top 5 was determined on a tiebreak with two songs both scoring 253 points. The winner of that battle was New Lexico with 'Taped Up Heart' by KREAM featuring Clara Mae. It's the country's 6th top 5 hit, the last 4 of which have all come 5th - the last time they went higher was in BJSC 39 (when they were still known as Allecian) with Ask Embla's 'Einn' which came 4th, while their only medal position remains from the horrendously cheap early BJSCs with a suitably horrendously cheap entry, The Saturdays' 'Up' which came 3rd in BJSC 10. - The rest of the top 10 had a very fresh feel to it with 3 countries in the 6-10 region getting their first top 10 hits and another getting their second. St. Burbia lost the tiebreak and came 6th with Alice Merton's 'No Roots', eclipsing their previous peak of 13th which they'd achieved twice, first with Dirtcaps' 'Fools Paradise' (feat. Rochelle) in their second ever contest BJSC 80, then again with Bearson's 'Want You' (feat. Cal) in BJSC 84. 7th place went to Beaverdonia, returning from a one-month ban with Digitalism's 'Open Waters', becoming their second biggest hit after their only previous top 10, BJSC 85 winner 'Aide' by Bang La Decks. It would be their third top 10 if they had voted in the final of BJSC 77, where FLETCHER's 'War Paint' ended up 25th due to a deduction. 'Open Waters' easily outperformed our Digitalism entry, 'Blitz' which came 19th in BJSC 82 - we're not too bitter though, as we actually prefer 'Open Waters', and are always delighted to see former Persephonia artists getting belated hits x The country formerly known as Lomaja have decided to rebrand already in only their 4th contest and are now known as Aesthetica. The name change has brought them a first top 10 hit, coming 8th with Wonder Girls' 'I Feel You' which also tied the record for biggest improvement from projected finish based on the semi-final results (it had been projected 36th, and that 28 place improvement matched that of Aquafina's BJSC 74 entry 'Insomnia' by Audien featuring Parson James which improved 33-5). One can only speculate the midweek improvement may have been subtly influenced by the coincidental timing of Wonder Girls announcing their split after a 10 year career. Aesthetica FKA Lomaja's first 3 entries all qualified and came top 30, their previous peak being 23rd with second entry 'Trampoline' by Kero Kero Bonito. Summericia were the last country to get a first top 10, coming 9th with CRIM3S' 'still goin', the latest witch house track to smash the top 10, earning the country a new peak for the second time in a row (beating the 24th place of last entry 'Alga' by IGNEA) and a third time in 4 contests. The only country other than Ultraviolenceland to have back-to-back top 10s was Cor Lupus who followed their 4th place finish last time by coming 10th with LIONE's 'Leave This Place'. Aeroche followed their win with a 13th place with auto-qualifier 'Ambience' by Melé. - As well as the 5 countries setting new peaks or matching their previous peaks within the top 10, there were 2 more countries setting new national bests, both of which were making the final for the first time. After an opening run of 3 DNQs including a somewhat infamous last place in the semi-final with just 4 points two contests ago with Royce Lovett's 'I Wanna Love You', Niceland came within touching distance of getting a top 10 with their first qualifier. They settled for 11th with Captain Cuts' 'Love Like We Used To' (feat. Nateur), though its score included top scores of 18 from 4 other countries, more than every other track in the final bar 'Monopoly' which got 6 18s. Zanmatony opened with 2 DNQs but similarly smashed the top 20 with their first qualifier, finishing 16th with 'Love & War' by Yellow Claw featuring Yade Lauren. There was also one country making its debut in this contest: Azure, who made it to the final with their first entry, although were very lucky to do so. Their entry, 'Celebrity Status' by Marianas Trench, came 20th in semi-final 1 after winning a tiebreak, and even then was only a qualifier because Ajanaeda entry 'Fighter' by TYNI had a 33% deduction for non-voting. 'Celebrity Status' went on to get the wooden spoon for Azure, coming 41st out of 41 in the final with 78 points. The track hit a very small niche market, having qualified off the back of just 5 voters in the semi-final and only attracting points from 7 countries in the final, the lowest number for a song in the final that was not an auto-qualifier since BJSC 61 where Ingermanlandia got only 5 votes with Flight Facilities' 'Stand Still' (feat. Micky Green). Still, a debut qualifier is better than a lot of countries manage and we're sure greater success is in Azure's future. x - Aside from Beaverdonia, 5 other countries made returns in this contest. The most long-awaited returnee was Palmyra who made a surprise and silent return after missing the last 25 contests. Their entry 'A Short Love Story' by Somewhere Anywhere featuring Claude Eman received some... negative feedback and wasn't expected to qualify, but similarly silent fans came through for it as it did make the final, and it actually picked up quite a few points from early final voters leading to it initially being top 10 during the final results reveal. The points flow dried up for it however and it ended up in a more lowly 37th. Hendinia came back after missing 2 contests and also made it to the final with ODESZA's 'All We Need' (feat. Shy Girls) which came 22nd. The other returnees had less luck: Bhangra made another return and lost out on the tiebreak with Azure in semi-final 1 (we hope this won't result in them taking another contest out as they did after 2 other recent DNQs!) Occasional competitors Frandoot were back for a 4th attempt and floundered in last place in the semi-final again as they did in their last appearance in BJSC 87 (poor hens). They're yet to ever enter 2 consecutive contests and this won't be an exception as they didn't vote in the final and are thus banned from BJSC 92, as are Ajanaeda and Ojnoj. Finally, Buzzjack Mountain remembered to enter this time and delivered the 'treat' they had promised for the last contest, a second originally-produced entry in collaboration with a handful of other BuzzJack members. This one was only marginally more successful than their last attempt at this. Persephonian News Bulletin does not condone these entries and hopes we shall never have to speak of them again. - Other somewhat noteworthy results: perennial participants and contest dictators moderators République d'Ashton's hunt for another (24th) top 10 hit continues as they still haven't seen the top tier since BJSC 57, but their latest entry 'Not Too Young' by Sabina Ddumba came 14th to give them their best result in 19 contests. Thelonia scored their first top 20 hit since their debut entry (14th placed 'Got It' by Marian Hill in BJSC 73), coming 19th with IV Rox's 'I Heard Love'. Altyr Muunilinst provided the latest extremely long song to make it to the final, with their entry 'Light Of The Seven' by Ramin Djawadi clocking in at 9:49, but securing enough big fans (including us) to come 27th, winning the battle of lengthy piano-based instrumentals against our own entry. A worthy opponent at least. Finally, the only country other than Azure to not pass 100 points was Aelandor who came 40th with Copeland's 'No One Really Wins' on 95 points, at least giving them a second qualifier out of their 8 entries to date but still not providing them their major breakthrough. Full Persephonian rankings for BJSC 91 Final Points awarded: 18 Trifoski // Amnesia Scanner - AS Crust 15 Summericia // CRIM3S - still goin 13 Altyr Muunilinst // Ramin Djawadi - Light Of The Seven 12 Aeroche // Melé - Ambience 11 Beaverdonia // Digitalism - Open Waters 10 Jadakissnia // TEARIST - Headless 9 Ramrynia // Sirusho - PreGomesh 8 Yehesi // IAMX - I Come With Knives 7 Desbuanda // Sylvan Esso - Radio 6 Bøtanikkä // Noga Erez - Dance While You Shoot 5 Fljótavík // Agoria - Up All Night 4 Aelandor // Copeland - No One Really Wins 3 South Danaelanda // Aly & Fila, Roger Shah and Susana - Unbreakable 2 Aesthetica // Wonder Girls - I Feel You 1 Harmonica // Tall Heights - Spirit Cold 16th-40th: Pupok // Bishop Briggs - River Land of DW // Austra - Future Politics #00274E // Pogo - Data & Picard Espen // TAMER - Beautiful Crime Taahino // Greywind - Circle N DNTN // Kyary Pamyu Pamyu - Harajuku Iyahoi Mulgracia // Grouplove - Good Morning Cadelicia // The Clarstone - Fandango (feat. Lola Torres) Cor Lupus // LIONE - Leave This Place Hendinia // ODESZA - All We Need (feat. Shy Girls) Medhelnia // Elsa & Emilie - Run Thelonia // IV Rox - I Heard Love Ultraviolenceland // EASYFUN - Monopoly (feat. Noonie Bao) Azure // Marianas Trench - Celebrity Status Republic of Adonia // Anna Straker - Serious Palmyra // Somewhere Anywhere - A Short Love Story (feat. Claude Eman) Tinnmark // Mikhael Paskalev - Witness République d'Ashton // Sabina Ddumba - Not Too Young D'yermak'er // Nightly - XO The Actual Republic of Bellamia // Nemo Schiffman - I Don't Mind St. Burbia // Alice Merton - No Roots Niceland // Captain Cuts - Love Like We Used To (feat. Nateur) New Lexico // KREAM - Taped Up Heart (feat. Clara Mae) Zanmatony // Yellow Claw - Love & War (feat. Yade Lauren) Unovia // SLUMBERJACK - Fracture (feat. Vera Blue) ~ Semi-Final 2 Points awarded: 12 Trifoski // Amnesia Scanner - AS Crust 10 Summericia // CRIM3S - still goin 8 Desbuanda // Sylvan Esso - Radio 7 Fljótavík // Agoria - Up All Night 6 Dobago // Will Sparks - Flamenco† 5 South Danaelanda // Aly & Fila, Roger Shah and Susana - Unbreakable 4 Singerpurear // Chicks On Speed - We Don't Play Guitars (feat. Peaches)† 3 Yehesi // IAMX - I Come With Knives 2 Aesthetica // Wonder Girls - I Feel You 1 Pupok // Bishop Briggs - River 11th-30th: Mulgracia // Grouplove - Good Morning Terra Avium // Alev Lenz - Fall Into Me† Cadelicia // The Clarstone - Fandango (feat. Lola Torres) Hendinia // ODESZA - All We Need (feat. Shy Girls) Palmyra // Somewhere Anywhere - A Short Love Story (feat. Claude Eman) Deandria // Holy Two - Undercover Girls† Tartford // Le Youth - If You're Leaving (feat. Sydnie)† Espen // TAMER - Beautiful Crime St. Burbia // Alice Merton - No Roots Hushkanukia // Gayle Nerva - Echoes† #00274E // Pogo - Data & Picard Skall // Japandroids - Near To The Wild Heart Of Life† Flynnonda // King No-One - Alcatraz† Quintessa // White Lung - Below† Greenfroze // Kidswaste - More Colors (feat. Chelsea Cutler)† République d'Ashton // Sabina Ddumba - Not Too Young Florina // Ten Fé - Twist Your Arm† Tinnmark // Mikhael Paskalev - Witness Republic of Adonia // Anna Straker - Serious Unovia // SLUMBERJACK - Fracture (feat. Vera Blue) † DNQed ~ Semi-Final 1 DNQs 2nd FSR Rontvia // Daithí - Mary Keanes Introduction 4th Kylienips // Echos - Fiction 10th Séyetana // Babyraids JAPAN - Cinderella Ja Irarenai 13th Bhangra // Fred V & Grafix and Metrik - Tension (feat. Kate Westall) 14th Ojnoj // TINY-G - MINIMANIMO 20th Frandoot // Otilia - Wine My Body 22nd Bignia-Zaragovina // Handsome Poets - Sky On Fire 26th Syndare // Skott - Lack Of Emotion 29th Daehun // MAMAMOO - Décalcomanie 30th Ajanaeda // TYNI - Fighter 31st Buzzjack Mountain // Future Bass Fishermen In A Tropical House - EDM Progressive Spin Cycle (With You Tonight) (feat. Princess Lotita and Bento Leão)
February 1, 20178 yr Really interesting write-up about Deandria there, Bré B-) Fascinating to see other points of view from the outside. I'm not sure I ever really realised that Deandria had a "trademark vocal style" but I guess it's true, with 'Until Eternity', 'Alchemy', 'Undercover Girls', 'Father Hu$$la' and a few others having pretty quirky vocals. Unintentional, but there you go. I had a weird "relationship" with 'When You Wish Upon the Stars' during the contest - it was probably the quickest I have confirmed an entry after discovering it, and I went off it a bit for a short time, partly because I didn't like the video :lol: In the end I was happy with the entry though, it grew on me again so yay! and yea, would've been lovely to win with a more 'inspired' entry when those are the ones I usually long for - but a win is a win :D ty
February 1, 20178 yr Author Haha yes, I didn't know if it was intentional or not but I guess you just happen to get drawn to songs with those kind of vocals. I thought the vocals on 'Headless' sounded a bit like that as well so it didn't surprise me at all that it was a past potential of yours in that context :lol: Glad to hear that Maya's Moving Castle grew back on you again anyway, deserved so much better as did most of your other DNQs.
February 13, 20178 yr Author Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 13/02/2017 Persephonia joins the rock bloc for BJSC 92 with End Of The Dream Continuing our mini apocalyptic theme for the start of 2017, the (happy) end of the world is followed up by End Of The Dream, who provide our 71st main contest entry by representing us in BJSC 92 with their song 'Colder'. The band come from 's-Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands and are currently recording their second studio album. 'Colder' is taken from their debut album 'All I Am', which was released in the UK in September 2015. End Of The Dream are the second (technically third) Dutch act we've sent to the contest following San Holo with 'Hiding' in BJSC 71, which featured fellow Dutch act The Nicholas. At the time this song was recorded the band also had one member from Belgium, who has since left. 'Colder' marks a rare foray into the rock bloc for Persephonia, our first entry from the rock/indie spectrum since Deaf Club's 'Moving Still' in BJSC 49 and by far the heaviest of the few we have sent, falling into the subgenre of symphonic metal. The band cite fellow Dutch symphonic metal bands Within Temptation, Epica and After Forever as influences as well as the likes of Dream Theater and Muse. There's also some clear similarities to Evanescence, especially in the vocals of Micky Huijsmans, with the band in fact sharing its name with an Evanescence song (may or may not be intentional). 'Colder' instantly hooks the listener with a short piano intro followed by a powerful onslaught of guitar which continues throughout most of the song accompanied by some suitably apocalyptic lyrics sung beautifully by Huijsmans. Here's the track, we hope you like it: 1Aj6Y60zoJs We can be found in semi-final 1 (hosted by Frozenland, Ultraviolenceland while semi-final 2 is being handled by Polis, Taahino), in slot 15 of 32. (P.S. to put this post in context, for this month's ~teaser image~ we originally Googled 'frozen guitar' and the image in that post was one of the first results :mellow: not the vibe we were going for, although somewhat appropriate for an Ultraviolenceland contest :D)
February 20, 20178 yr Author Persephonian News Bulletin ~ 20/02/2017 The dream hasn't come to an end yet in Ultraviolenceland! It has been announced tonight that End Of The Dream's 'Colder' has qualified for us, and will thus be appearing in the final in 1989VideoCoast, Ultraviolenceland, our 53rd final appearance and 8th in a row, a total which now puts us in 2nd place for countries with the longest active qualification streak: due in no small part to suffering a 33% deduction with their current entry, N DNTN failed to qualify bringing an end to their run of 11 finals. The new champions are Unovia, who qualified to a 10th straight final, or 11th ignoring a one-month break in BJSC 82. Medhelnia also DNQed meaning we hold 2nd place all by ourselves on the list. 'Colder' has been drawn as song 12 of 41 in the final, thanks to those who voted us through as we were starting to lose confidence! Our aim now is to at least outperform our previous entry. The aforementioned N DNTN were the only country we voted for in semi-final 1 who failed to make it through, as they got our 2 points with Empress Of's 'Water Water', following Empress Of previously being a potential Persephonia entrant with her song 'How Do You Do It'. The results in semi-final 2 were less friendly to the Persephonian public's favourites, with half of our top 10 failing to progress, most heartbreakingly Skall entry 'Blackbird' by Martyn Bennett (ranked 2nd), but also all of the songs ranked from 5th to 8th, respectively SOLDOUT's 'Do It Again' (feat. GOOSE) (a surprise DNQ for Jadakissnia), Black Motion's 'Imali' (feat. Nokwazi) (FSR Rontvia), Donatachi's Del Mar Mix of HI LIFE's 'When I Get To The Club' (Cadelicia) and Prince Rama's 'Fantasy' (Summericia). </3
February 20, 20178 yr Congrats on the qualifier! :cheer: especially as you were feeling more uncertain about it as the days went by. At least one of us can represent #Jadaphonia in the final *.* I initially didn't quite know what to think of this and its heaviness (until like half way when it started to hit me) but it's already quickly growing as a whole package. Feeling the Evanescence vibes~
February 20, 20178 yr Author It definitely feels wrong that I qualified and you didn't when I was feeling the opposite was gonna happen tbh. :ph34r:
February 26, 20178 yr Author 2016 EOY 40-31 (we're still getting there eventually everyone dw xx): 40 Singerpurear 89 // Princess Chelsea - The Cigarette Duet {11 points} 39 FSR Rontvia 85 // Real Lies - North Circular {12 points} 38 Desbuanda 84 // LSDXOXO - Angel Dust {13 points} 37 Harmonica 84 // Sleigh Bells - A/B Machines {12 points} 36 Quintessa 86 // ANi GLASS - Y Ddawns {15 points} 35 Singerpurear 84 // Yothu Yindi - Treaty (Filthy Lucre Remix) {18 points} 34 Pupok 82 // Vesala - Tequila {ranked 26th} 33 Cadelicia 82 // Daler Mehndi - Tunak Tunak Tun... {12 points} 32 Jadakissnia 83 // VHS Glitch - Blood In Blood Out {12 points} 31 Quintessa 90 // Ghost - Square Hammer {9 points} These countries have their highest appearances in this section: HARMONICA Sleigh Bells - A/B Machines [#37] > Megan McCauley - Die For You > PARRI$ - NASTY > Doop - Tequila > Sizzy Rocket - Need Somebody > MEG MAC - Never Be > Joseph - White Flag > Lauren Alaina - Road Less Traveled > Lipstick Gypsy - The Cure Harmonica are typically a bit of a hit and miss country for me, it has been nice to see them finding a bit of a groove with qualifiers recently though after their rough first couple of years! Some of their DNQs in 2016 were still among their best entries, particularly the moody and powerful Anastacia clone 'Die For You' (one I was sure would qualify), and of course 'Tequila' was quite a bop and it was just amusing to learn that Doop are still making music, it's a bit of a shame Harmonica did miss out that one contest when they potentially had the near-as-iconic Baha Men lined up as an entry :lol: Then 'Need Somebody' was a perfectly decent pop song, much better than the earlier Harmonica Sizzy Rocket entry. The only real dud among them was the rather damp 'The Cure'. Harmonica's best of the year by miles though, and the only one that makes my top 150, is 'A/B Machines' from Sleigh Bells' first and best era, I remember hearing quite a few of their songs on nighttime Radio 1 at the time and I think this was one of them but I certainly didn't hold it in as high regard as the likes of 'Infinity Guitars' and 'Rill Rill' so I still count this as a (re-)discovery from the contest. Heavy distortion making for an abrasive yet brilliant listening experience, and of course the repetitive vocal line is one to get stuck in your head for hours. 'NASTY' was pretty great too and was a big grower within its contest only just missing my points, Harmonica's occasional dips into ~urban~ music tend to be quite good. That leaves their trio of top 20 hits, including their two top 10 hits they waited so long for, none of them are really that much my thing, 'Never Be' and 'White Flag' are DECENT songs though and I didn't dislike 'Road Less Traveled' as much as I thought I would. If their first 2 entries of 2017 are anything to go by I think it should be a better year for them in my affections. SINGERPUREAR Yothu Yindi - Treaty (Filthy Lucre Remix) [#35] > Princess Chelsea - The Cigarette Duet [#40] > Kadie Elder - First Time He Kissed A Boy [#128] > Kishi Bashi - Ode To My Next Life > Ezra Furman - Restless Year > Fitz And The Tantrums - HandClap > Inga Humpe - Riding Into Blue (Cowboy Song) > Chris Lee - Real Love > Timothy Bloom - 'Til The End Of Time (feat. V. Bozeman) > Firebeatz and DubVision - Invincible (feat. Ruby Prophet) Singerpurear have continued their reputation as one of the most eclectic and unpredictable countries in the contest which is a great thing, I always look forward to what they have up their sleeves next. They weren't as consistently great as they were in 2015 for me but there are still plentiful fab songs on the list including 3 in my EOY. I adore tracks with world music vocals so it was no surprise that I loved 'Treaty', some classic Singerpurear originality picking a track from the early 90s combining banging dance beats with hypnotic Aboriginal chanting (I appreciate that this remix of the song used more of those vocals and less of the English lyrics), this was the first time I gave Singerpurear my top points, hooray! Though unfortunately it is the lowest ranked of my 18 pointers in 2016 (having been overtaken by another song from its contest), and I'd probably only rank it as their 3rd best entry overall after 'I Am The Antichrist To You' and 'Love Mera Hit Hit' from the previous year. Very close behind and scraping them a second place in my top 40 is the much more chilled affair that is 'The Cigarette Duet', a song that just oozes class, the 2 voices really work well together especially when they start singing over each other (and big appreciation for the way she says the word 'chance' in particular x) then they have a third top 150 entry with 'First Time He Kissed A Boy', recycling one of my previous artists (I don't like the song as much as the one I sent but that was a tough ask as I still absolutely adore 'Simple Guy' despite it bombing so hard in BJSC 54, was pleasing to see Kadie Elder get some much belated success) and with production quite reminiscent of another of my previous entries (Truls' 'Out Of Yourself'), Kadie Elder are pretty good at the mildly indie flavoured Scandipop thing they do. Kishi Bashi's second entry for Singerpurear, 'Ode To My Next Life' was a fab synthy number, it didn't have quite the same 'oomph' as its predecessor although it definitely should have qualified and I'm still shocked it didn't. 'Restless Year' and 'HandClap' were both pretty good catchy mainstream indie type songs and 'Riding Into Blue (Cowboy Song)' was another enjoyable archival pick if not a huge standout, I think my mum would be a big fan though. I really liked 'Real Love' to begin with but it hasn't held up to repeated listens, good production as usual from A. G. Cook but not really much more to it. The last two songs are well behind though, ''Til The End Of Time' was quite the dirge and 'Invincible' is pretty much the epitome of terrible dance music which I could kind of tell by the artist names and song title alone but it somehow sounded even worse than that. The problem with a mixed bag country like Singerpurear is they can be properly awful as well as properly great. But they are the latter more often than not. Yay! PUPOK Vesala - Tequila [#34] > Rich White Ladies - Wimbledon [#81] > Claudia Kane - Einstein [#141] > Ängie - Smoke Weed Eat Pussy > GIRLI - So You Think You Can Fuck With Me Do Ya > GIRLI - Girl I Met On The Internet > Aelyn - Give Love A Try > Haschak Sisters - Daddy Says No > Sasha Pieterse - R.P.M. > Emily Vaughn - Better Off I voted for Pupok 3 times in 2016, but in the end their highest appearance on here by a fair amount is one that I not only didn't vote for, but didn't even come particularly close to voting for at the time - one of the ultimate examples of a song from BJSC just suddenly hitting me really hard right after the contest. I don't know what I was thinking ranking 'Tequila' as low as 26th (!) even in the strongest final of the year, if I were voting in that contest again today it'd easily get double figure points. Sorry for that one Lotti, not that it needed my support really as it was a deserved big hit and kicked off a period of Pupok domination in the contest. To this day I still quite often find myself with that chorus stuck in my head, beautiful song, especially love how the percussion properly kicks in during the final chorus :heart: Not so beautiful but still an undeniable (yes Jade, UNDENIABLE xx) jam, #tenniscourtanthem 'Wimbledon' provides a second Pupok entry in my top 100, perhaps one of the greatest concepts for a hip-hop song of all time *.* would definitely be autoplaying it in this post if that feature hadn't apparently been turned off :'( Another of Pupok's classier entries, 'Einstein' sneaks in as a third appearance for them in my EOY, really sounding like a lost Lana Del Rey song. 'So You Think You Can Fuck With Me Do Ya' got 8 points from me but the novelty of it has faded a little bit and it ends up outside my EOY, with the other GIRLI track only just behind it, was nice to hear a slightly more 'serious' song from her (though still maintaining the same sort of aesthetic), she's a bit like a trashy version of Hannah Diamond. Both of them are actually beaten by 'Smoke Weed Eat Pussy' which I've just listened back to and it's better than I remember it being, I loveee the production and the voice pitch shift *.* I guess the one thing that prevents it being a proper favourite is the slightly gratuitous profanity but still, quite a jam in retrospect. I never quite got into 'Give Love A Try' as much as I perhaps should have since I'm normally a big fan of trance entries but it's still a pretty good entry. 'Daddy Says No' was a bit of an ironic bop when I first heard it but the novelty wore off that as well to a much greater extent than with GIRLI. 'R.P.M.' was a bit of a strange choice of an auto-qualifier but it wasn't too bad. My least favourite from Pupok 2016 is the one song they had from the start of the year before they became one of the contest's biggest nations, 'Better Off' is just a really standard and eh~ pop song, I like that Pupok's entries since then have pretty much always at least been DISTINCTIVE. CADELICIA Daler Mehndi - Tunak Tunak Tun... [#33] > Die Antwoord - Banana Brain [#105] > WEKEED - Wild Child > Mendoza - Love Druggie (Addict) (Jade Blue Remix) > Kinetic - Living The Illusion > Jess Kent - Get Down > Feed Me - What It Feels Like (feat. Nina Nesbitt) > Paris & Simo - Reunite (Galloway Remix) (feat. Patrick Moreno and Aloma Steele) > Jane XØ and Dannic - Undone > 4Minute - Hate Cadelicia trended a little more generic than they used to in 2016 - that's not always a bad thing though as I did really like a couple of their more generic dance entries (I still think 'Wild Child' was very underrated and it was a little gutting to see that underperform so badly, and 'Love Druggie (Addict)' is a tune too, I voted for both of those - hooray for the latter bringing belated big success to another of my past BJSC artists as well!) but it does feel like our music tastes have diverged a bit. My 2 favourites from Cadelicia 2016 were their two most out-of-the-ordinary entries, topped by the rather incredible retro bhangra / Internet meme track 'Tunak Tunak Tun...', I was actually really surprised when I found out how old this song was, I thought the video was just very low budget :lol: (still a great video tho tbh). It sounds like the sort of thing that could still be put out today by bhangra artists anyway. Shoulda won TBO. Their other appearance in my EOY is 'Banana Brain', had been a fan of Die Antwoord (RIP :'() for a while and this was another great addition to their discography, the kind of crazy rap-rave song that could only be by them really... or perhaps their tribute act Little Big :kink: and another brilliant video as ever from them too, shame it wasn't actually out until after the contest. Beyond those 4 songs which I voted for there isn't much I care for here, 'Living The Illusion' was a pretty solid drum n bass track but far from the best to be in the contest, 'Get Down' was also decent, but then 'What It Feels Like' and 'Reunite' do nothing for me at all, 'Undone' is pretty irritating and 'Hate' is just an absolutely atrocious headache much like 4Minute's previous entry. I live in hope of Perselicia becoming strong again (I did really like their most recent entry, shame it DNQed <_<) QUINTESSA Ghost - Square Hammer [#31] > ANi GLASS - Y Ddawns [#36] > Crywolf - Akureyri [#44] > Gina Kushka - Bring It Down [#121] > Hannah Peel - All That Matters > Vanessa Elisha - Out Of Time > Satchmode - Further Away > Annabel Jones - Happy > Lali - Soy > Elektra - I Don't Do Boys A slightly hit and miss year for Quintessa but I liked more than I didn't, and they had a trio of really brilliant entries which all make my EOY top 50. One of the best rock entries of the year came from them in the form of the epic 'Square Hammer', I actually thought Ghost were a proper screamy heavy metal band so this track was a little more subdued than I expected, but still not exactly a standard BJSC sound so it was great to see a few people taking so well to some Satanic-themed classic rock <3 That song 'only' got 9 points from me in the final contest of the year (though I'd now bump it up to 11 if I was voting in it today), but finishes a little bit ahead of the Quintessa entry I gave 15 points, 'Y Ddawns' - this was a track Leonardo PMed to me in the late stages of PMing potentials still being allowed, I urged him to send it and am very glad it did appear in the contest, a wonderful bit of synthpop and of course a very unique language which I can always appreciate in BJSC, may still be the only song I've ever listened to which is sung in Welsh, it's great that there's an artist out there making such brilliant music for such a small niche :lol: The third of Quintessa's trio of top 50 entries is 'Akureyri' (named after a location in Iceland *.*) which is another atmospheric melodic dubstep beauty from Crywolf after 'The Home We Made Pt II' came 2nd in my 2015 EOY, and just like that song it scandalously DNQed, FFS BuzzJack :'( though did at least go on to qualify for Rejects as well, meaning Crywolf got high points from me in the Rejects 2 years in a row (although not quite my 18 this time). 'Bring It Down' provides Quintessa a fourth entry in my full EOY, yet another song that makes it in here despite missing out on points in BJSC 82, it's another one that's clicked with me much more since the end of the contest, sounding a little bit like Ellie Goulding going urban (if only her last album sounded like this x). A couple of other good entries, 'All That Matters' was another lovely synthy track and 'Out Of Time' another good R&B track, both definitely deserved to qualify (the R&B racism in the semi-final the latter was in :')). 'Further Away' was pleasant but ultimately forgettable, and similarly with 'Happy'. The last two tracks were both rather disappointing, 'Soy' was one of the few Spanish language BJSC tracks I don't care for at all and as much as it PAINS me to rank an Icelandic artist as my least favourite of a country's entries... I'll just say 'I Don't Do Boys' is really not a highlight of the country's musical output :')
February 26, 20178 yr Hooray for 'Blood In Blood Out' appearing in your top 40 :wub: that has got to be one of my most underrated entries. Thank goodness that you at least got its synthwavey awesomeness <3 especially as you provided its only points in TBO :kink: oop x Not so beautiful but still an undeniable (yes Jade, UNDENIABLE xx) jam No. Sorry but 'Wimbledon' is undeniable TRASH xx Izzles come and back me up here please. Glad that it wasn't quite your fave Pupok entry as they did actually send quite a few good tunes last year. 'Tequila' is a fine favourite, I feel you on it being SUCH a grower after the contest. I can't believe at one point that I thought it was only just 'okay' :o what a beauty. Snap Harmonica fave *.* got my a machines on the table got my b machines in the drawer~ :music: and for Cadelicia, Singerpurear AND Quintessa, your 2nd fave of theirs is my fave :lol: close enough eh x
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