02 | 0.62 Tove Lo

 

Best performer: hey you got drugs? (Round 2)

Worst performer: Not On Drugs (Round 10)

 

I'm sure Haus will have more to say about our runner-up when he's available (sadly he's been away for the duration of results prep!) but let's reflect on our runner-up, Tove Lo. The Swedish pop sensation blasted onto the scene with the Hippie Sabotage remix of Habits, and has continued to prove her worth with well-crafted, sophisticated and absolutely raunchy pop music, with looks and videos to match. Tove was in the lead at points throughout, but a runner-up position is still incredible - what a strong selection of songs, some were rediscoveries for me! :heart:

 

Round 1: 2nd, 29 votes out of 40 - Talking Body

Round 2: 2nd, 27 votes out of 32 - hey you got drugs?

Round 3: 8th (tied), 21 votes out of 39 - Really don't like u (feat. Kylie Minogue)

Round 4: 11th, 14 votes out of 30 - Sweettalk My Heart

Round 5: 1st, 21 votes out of 25 - stranger

Round 6: 5th, 17 votes out of 28 - Glad He's Gone

Round 7: 3rd (tied), 15 votes out of 25 - Imaginary Friend

Round 8: 5th, 16 votes out of 28 - True Disaster

Round 9: 2nd (tied), 17 votes out of 25 - Moments

Round 10: 9th, 13 votes out of 28 - Not on Drugs

Round 11: 8th (tied), 11 votes out of 23 - Anywhere u go

Round 12: 6th, 23 votes out of 38 - Stay High (feat. Hippie Sabotage)

I voted for Royksopp approximately FOUR times more than I thought I would. They came last once, and was so close to making my votes a fair few times! I'm very pleased with their participation in this as I definitely overlooked them in general despite hearing and liking 'Me & The Robot'. So, thank you Dandy <3

 

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OMG THIS @JAY IN REGARDS TO KELLY'S DANCE WITH ME!!!

 

Also, after that disastrous start for someone like Kelly, I am really happy with 3rd! :wub:

 

01 | 0.65 Carly Rae Jepsen

 

Best performer: Call Me Maybe (Round 10)

Worst performer: Want You in My Room (Round 8)

 

Congratulations to Carly Rae Jepsen, the winner of AF Idol Spin-Off! :cheer:

 

When the Spin-Off idea was first discussed, Carly was absolutely my top choice of artist to send. Over the past 5 years she's really solidified herself as one of my favourite artists of all-time, thanks to the exhilarating pop music moment that is E•MO•TION album, as well as its strong follow up Dedicated & their Side B counterparts. Therefore the 12 rounds focused almost entirely on songs from these releases (apologies once again to our resident Kiss stan, Joseph x).

 

It seems like most of us who took part in the AF Idol Spin-Off already had appreciation for Carly before this activity began; I know a few are really big fans of hers. I was enthused to introduce more of her music to BuzzJack members who perhaps only knew a handful of her singles. Let's Get Lost and When I Needed You in particular performed well, coming 2nd and 3rd respectively in their rounds! I was particularly pleased to give Comeback some exposure, a rare downtempo moment in her catalogue that has fast become one of my most-loved songs by her.

 

Call Me Maybe was a phenomenally successful hit, and is ubiquitous to the extent that, outside of her core fan base, Carly is probably better known as being the "Call Me Maybe girl". It was an essential song to send in this contest, and it proved itself to be an enduring classic by being her best performing song in this contest!

 

Although Call Me Maybe has vastly overshadowed her subsequent output commercially, I'm so grateful that she managed to carve out her own niche in the world of music. A cult pop icon! An AF Idol Spin-Off winner!! :cool:

 

P.S. Every song of hers finishing within the top half of every round... :o G'won Carly!

 

Round 1: 1st, 31 votes out of 40 - Cut to the Feeling

Round 2: 3rd (tied), 22 votes out of 32 - When I Needed You

Round 3: 4th (tied), 24 votes out of 39 - Super Natural (with Danny L Harle)

Round 4: 5th (tied), 18 votes out of 30 - Your Type

Round 5: 5th (tied), 16 votes out of 25 - Gimmie Love

Round 6: 2nd, 19 votes out of 28 - I Really Like You

Round 7: 6th, 13 votes out of 25 - Solo

Round 8: 6th (tied), 14 votes out of 28 - Want You in My Room

Round 9: 4th, 16 votes out of 25 - Comeback (feat. Bleachers)

Round 10: 1st (tied), 22 votes out of 28 - Call Me Maybe

Round 11: 2nd, 16 votes out of 23 - Let's Get Lost

Round 12: 1st (tied), 27 votes out of 38 - Run Away with Me

FULL SPREADSHEET

 

01 0.65 Carly Rae Jepsen

02 0.62 Tove Lo

03 0.59 Kelly Clarkson

04 0.58 The Weeknd

05 0.56 Röyksopp

06 0.55 Tinashe

07 0.53 Janet Jackson

08 0.53 Mariah Carey

09 0.52 Coldplay

10 0.49 Gorillaz

11 0.49 S Club 7 and Solo

12 0.45 Kim Petras

13 0.44 Pixie Lott

14 0.40 Hailee Steinfeld

15 0.36 Maren Morris

16 0.25 Greyson Chance

 

(there are no ties! any identical numbers are only that way because of rounding)

 

Thanks to EVERYONE who took part! I hope you all made some fabulous discoveries throughout, I know I did! We're keen to hear your feedback before we roll this out again at a later date with you guys taking part, so be sure to post here to let us know, or get in touch via PM!

Congratulations to Carly!! A worthy winner, with quality every single round. That said, the quality would've been higher with more Kiss songs x

Also loved having Tove in the contest, despite only voting for her 3 times (she came 2nd once though :wub:)

 

Some great discoveries in here for me, too! I'm only familiar with her singles + her latest album tbh, so everything else was more or less a discovery!

 

I'm lowkey upset that Close didn't get used for her! But I understand why!

01 | 0.65 Carly Rae Jepsen

 

CARLY :cheeseblock:

 

I only didn't vote for her twice (Round 6 - I Really Like You (wanted to try and get it in my votes) & Round 8 - Want You In My Room (Meh)) but she finished 1st in my rankings twice, too :wub:

 

I'd have definitely called a Carly win from the off and it definitely went the way I more or less expected. Very well played though, Jay.

 

Well done to Carly <3

Well done Jay and Carly! It was never in doubt though, she stormed every round :o

A HUGE thank you to everyone who took the time to vote and take part in the discussion of helping us decide on which songs to use for our acts! I've loved taking part and I really can't wait until Winter when we open it up to you guys :heart:

:clap: for Carly, I had noticed she was pretty much always top 5 so that wasn't unexpected. Some great songs though so not undeserved! I should really check out EMOTION.

 

Thanks for all your work with this guys + for letting me and other mgmt members gatecrash, I really enjoyed it and it was a great bit of escapism from this long (long, long) summer break. It's certainly made me appreciate the work that goes into the main contest from the AF mods a lot more, and I will certainly keep an eye on when it starts again.

That Röyksopp slayage tho *.*

WD Carly :clap: (surprised there wasn't a bigger gap between the top 2 there actually).

 

I am surprised at Kelly being as high as 3rd, I guess I wasn't paying as much attention to the later results as all I remember is her doing pretty poorly in the early rounds :thinking: (which was incidentally when all of her best songs were sent lel)

 

Röyksopp coming top 5 in this is a very unexpected but brilliant outcome *.*

 

Thanks all involved in running this ~ and I'll go back and listen to the round I missed to complete my voting stats one of these days maybe

QUEEN CARLY REMAINS ON THE THRONE *.* as if it was ever in doubt!

 

12 great tracks from her, and that's only scratching the surface - anyone who hasn't heard Emotion & Dedicated, take this opportunity to do so~

 

this contest was fun to follow, thanks guys <3

QUEEN CARLY REMAINS ON THE THRONE *.* as if it was ever in doubt!

 

12 great tracks from her, and that's only scratching the surface - anyone who hasn't heard Emotion & Dedicated, take this opportunity to do so~

 

this contest was fun to follow, thanks guys <3

Dedicated - Side B* You don't need to bother with the main album x

Great stuff from Carly, I thought she had plenty of very strong tracks and it was a bit obvious. Tove doing well is also pleasing, I liked her stuff a lot, though travesty that Not On Drugs is her worst performing as it's one of her best (wish Out Of Mind got sent, that's my favourite of hers) but I guess that's the perils of a free choice round.

 

This was a lot of fun to participate in (and thanks for letting me indulge in my own fandom for a bit x), I definitely added quite a few tracks from the other artists to familiarity, definitely good to find more Royksopp, Tove Lo, Janet Jackson songs I liked, and even found some Mariah Carey songs I can enjoy. I think (without checking) I managed to vote for and enjoy a song from every artist entered at one point or another.

Interesting at 'Unfriend You' being Greyson's best performer - I remember people liking it but I think I'd have sooner guessed 'Summertrain' (maybe because I voted it, or because it was the first 'fetus Greyson subverts expectations' entry). I didn't realise he got at least 5 votes every time but the final, that's impressive!

 

Ah nice to see commentary from the people who entered the artists, one of Joseph's artists being first didn't give that away :kink: Honestly I think a longer-running country artist like Miranda/Carrie would've worked better, because I feel like Maren had to stretch a small discography pretty thin and kept ending up low in my ranks for that reason, except when she got to send a real highlight like 'My Church'.

 

On the other hand I think Hailee did surprisingly well at finding a good choice for each round despite having no albums! I kinda love that you regret not sending 'Woke Up Late' because it even being in consideration (unless there were no other options) is more than I expected :kink:

 

Most of Pixie's career passed me by at the time because everything before 'Nasty' is before I started following the UK charts, so it was nice to gain some more familiarity with her lesser hits / hear a few album tracks. I would've liked 'Kiss The Stars' (and 'Nasty' but I'm not sure if that has many fans) to be sent though over one of the ballads!

 

I suppose #12 is good for Kim as an artist with no hits but I feel like she had more potential! There are numerous more songs of hers that I think could've been well-received - eg 'Sweet Spot' (check it out if you like 'Love At First Sight'-era Kylie), 'Hillside Boys' (the song that got me hooked on her and still one of my 2 ultimate favourites; check it out if you like 'Teenage Dream'-era Katy Perry), 'Blow It All', 'Slow It Down' for a ballad moment, etc.

 

Yes for 'Sweet Dreams My L.A. Ex' being S Club 7's highest *.* It's funny how wildly their results vary from #16 for the album tracks to #2-#3 for the singles. Except 'S Club Party' - kind of wish that had ended up in an easier round as it's my favourite of theirs but ended up #9 for me. Honestly I would've been more interested in hearing more of Rachel's music though (apart from the fact that, since her music isn't on Spotify here but S Club 7's certainly is, the latter is a lot more convenient :lol:), and again I'm surprised you didn't utilise more of her (it feels like it was just 'Sweet Dreams My L.A. Ex' and a couple album tracks when there were no better options) but I guess it makes sense if the group was the priority.

 

I think I might've learnt at some point where 'Inc' came from but had long forgotten, thank you :lol: Gorillaz were a nice presence and I also wasn't really familiar with them beyond the big 3 (and even then I barely knew 'Clint Eastwood' until a few years ago), a few 2010 tracks and various 2017-present stuff, and I enjoyed most of their entries. Currently listening to 'Sweepstakes' and liking it but I expected something more abrasive :kink:

 

Coldplay may have been one of my less-preferred artists in here (though there are various other hits of theirs I'd have been much more likely to vote, eg 'Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall', 'Clocks', 'A Sky Full Of Stars', 'Something Just Like This' lol) but 'Lovers In Japan' and 'Violet Hill' in 2 consecutive rounds (both #2 in my ranks) was a moment *.* Well done on ticking off almost every album.

 

(not helped by that being the one round I forgot to vote, though of course my one vote wouldn't have made much difference)

It would've made a difference to the stats thread not being only me for like half the rounds! :kink:

 

Kind of surprised Mariah isn't higher but I suppose it makes sense with her varying results. Impressive at 'Prisoner' being the most voted song but I do feel like that was the weakest round - it was my #1 there but I'd definitely pick 'You Need Me' as my favourite discovery from her! I'm glad you chose Mariah but if you had chosen Troye, maybe the final could've had 3 Zedd songs :magic:

 

Ok wow at 'If' being Janet's worst performer, that's a real shame though probably down to being a free choice round. She was a good pick for this! She had some strong album tracks I hadn't heard before, particularly 'What About'. The one thing I'd change is replacing 'Scream' with 'Black Cat' (video mix), which is probably my favourite song of hers nowadays, and being a rock song would probably subvert expectations. It makes a nice complement to Mariah's 'You Need Me' in fact.

 

Tinashe did impressively well with her album tracks. I'm glad my top 2 non-features of hers ('Company' and 'Ghetto Boy') both got to be sent :heart:

 

Oh wow at Röyksopp top 5! I didn't realise they did quite that well overall. A great choice as I indeed didn't know a lot from them - ftr the songs I knew were 'Running To The Sea', 'Do It Again', 'Monument', 'Sordid Affair' and 'Never Ever' (and slightly 'The Girl And The Robot'), all of which I'd enjoyed at the time, but most of their career was probably ~before my time~ to have heard first-hand. I think 'Only This Moment' is my favourite discovery from all the artists in the contest! Interesting then that it's their worst result apart from the final. (I also hadn't really listened to 'Running To The Sea' in years and it sounds a lot more special now.) My tables getting mentioned in the write-up :cheeseblock: Thanks for your interest in following them!

 

Funny that, as I kept noting in the stats thread, The Weeknd got half his songs top 5 and the other half all bottom 2 for me, but his results are so consistent here :lol: I think I'm just not really into his 'pure pop' songs (not counting 'Starboy' as one). I really liked 'The Birds Pt. 1' and 'High For This' though so thanks for those!

 

Me when the spin-off was announced:

My first thought for who'd do well was big '00s pop artists like Kelly Clarkson, Xtina and Sugababes who have a lot of popular hits but aren't active enough to still have forums

So Kelly was always a very logical choice to me! I agree that 'Sober' would've been better in the downtempo round, I feel bad for ranking it only #14 but it had tough competition. I know you picked 'My Life...' over 'Never Again' (or others) because her performance had been shaky prior but considering how well she did after, I wish 'Never Again' had gotten a chance!

 

ha at Tove's best and worst performers both having 'drugs' in the title :lol: Poor 'Not On Drugs' though. Would've liked to see 'Disco Tits' at some point but she had a good run, and really ended on a high with 'Stay High' (remix)! Wasn't even sure which version of 'Habits' you'd send.

 

I've seen Carly's face from that photo photoshopped in things so many times (I think? I can't remember where/what) that the photo just looks wrong to me :lol: (or maybe it's just a weird angle). Not 'Want You In My Room' being her worst performer though :cry:

 

Thanks mods for running this!

Does this mean Carly is getting her own forum as the winner? xo

She's replacing Zara :cheer: