Posted March 18, 20232 yr Here we are then, finally at 100 entries for The Actual Republic of Bellamia (or just Bellamia at the start, feels a little bare now x), a little over 11 years after I started. With an on/off hiatus in the middle and a break at the start of 2022 delaying things, I've decided to take the opportunity to send an anniversary entry to mark the occasion. More on that in our national thread, but this is a special occasion. The 100 entries of TARO Bellamia includes two runner-ups, seven further top 10s, 59 total qualifiers, and a complete set of 100 top 10 hits in my chart. I'll recap each song's BJSC result as we count each one down. Don't worry if you don't remember many - those who know me well know I have a dreadful BJSC memory so it would be remiss of me to expect more of anyone else, but if you have any favourite TARO Bellamia entries in your mind, please let me know and hype your faves! The criteria is based simply on my personal opinion currently, with each song's BJSC outcome not taken into account. Some are benefited from being by my favourite artists, naturally, while others were sought out for the specific purpose of the contest and feel much more standalone in my taste. Some have aged less well than others, and I'll be taking that into account, but I want to make it very clear that I still really enjoy all 100 of my entries and I've got no regrets. I'm putting the finishing touches to the order currently but I will be starting before long, so get your hype in quickly and I hope you'll make even one or two great rediscoveries along the way!! Let's kick things off with the TARO Bellamia entry that never was. A song I confirmed after being recommended it by a friend, mere days before it got playlisted by Radio 1, later going on to be a UK top 10 hit. To spare myself a veto, I swapped it out (which month it was, I'm not sure, but I know it was 2014!). Justice for Melissa "TARO Bellamia" Steel x NmqlYjFlmgk
March 18, 20232 yr In honour of your landmark, I feel it would be fitting for Bré to change his long-standing signature avatar to one of respect and honour shown to TARO Bellamia! So let’s replace this for starters… We have endured this cat fight for tooooo long! :lol:
March 18, 20232 yr Hoping to see Boy In Space ranking nice and highly here x (with 'Caroline' moreso but I did actually vote for both of your entries by him! and... they remain the only songs I've particularly really liked from him so you chose them well :kink:)
March 18, 20232 yr Author 100 | BJSC 144 Wild Youth Seventeen (The REMIX) Semi Final: 11th (56 points) Final: 33rd (121 points) Personal Chart Peak: #7 Coming in last place isn't an indicator of me not liking a song, but Seventeen is definitely the least essential of the tracks I've sent to BJSC. Irish group Wild Youth are now best known for representing Ireland at this year's Eurovision this coming May, but I sent them to the contest last year. I found them on the Official Charts website as one of the new artists they were promoting (just over a year after I'd charted a previously released song of theirs), but it was the remix of Seventeen that really captured me. I'm not much of a fan of the original at all, it's quite dull. The remix is much more engaging, but definitely generic. The result was a bottom half finish in the final, which was nothing to turn my nose up at (I've said it before but a qualifier is all I really hope for), so nothing embarrassing, just not a track that will go down as a TARO Bellamia classic either. TARO Bellamia Chart History 03/04/2021 | 26 | 02 weeks | Can't Say No | 4 | 27-26-x 30/04/2022 | 07 | 04 weeks | Seventeen (The REMIX) | 1 | 7-14-17-34-x FG9tnFvRwz8
March 18, 20232 yr Author 99 | BJSC 61 Mischa Daniels featuring Sharon Doorson Can't Live Without You http://i.imgur.com/Pmz6EFZ.png Semi Final: 5th (76 points) Final: 21st (80 points) Personal Chart Peak: #10 Dutch popstar Sharon Doorson had a couple of successful BJSC entries in 2012-2013, both of which scored well from me. I later found this song, a collaboration with fellow Dutch artist Mischa Daniels, a DJ, which was included on Sharon's album Killer. It felt like a safe bet for a qualifier in the first contest of 2014, and it did just that, sailing through the semi-final in 5th place and just missing the top 20 in the final. It's a tune, but I actually prefer Hendinian entry Fail In Love in particular to my own Sharon entry. It's generic and definitely dated, but still a fun track. TARO Bellamia Chart History Mischa Daniels 04/01/2014 | 10 | 06 weeks | Can't Live Without You (feat. Sharon Doorson) | 1 | 13-10-13-16-20-29-x Sharon Doorson 15/06/2013 | 34 | 02 weeks | Killer | 3 | 36-x-34-x 10/08/2013 | 12 | 03 weeks | Fail In Love | 1 | 12-20-29-x 04/01/2014 | 10 | 06 weeks | Can't Live Without You (Mischa Daniels feat. Sharon Doorson) | 4 | 13-10-13-16-20-29-x 22/03/2014 | 09 | 03 weeks | Louder | NAS | 9-14-27-x u2jFujHdEew
March 18, 20232 yr I really liked the Seventeen remix, far more than their Eurovision entry anyway! Be interesting to follow this along, congrats on 100 contests!
March 18, 20232 yr Author I really liked the Seventeen remix, far more than their Eurovision entry anyway! Be interesting to follow this along, congrats on 100 contests! Thanks for the reply Rich (and everyone else above!!) :wub: I don't mind the Eurovision track, but I do agree that Seventeen's remix is better!
March 18, 20232 yr Author 98 | BJSC 48 Sarah De Bono No Shame http://i.imgur.com/o2htPyM.png Semi Final: 18th (40 points) Final: DNQ Personal Chart Peak: #5 I discovered Sarah De Bono through this very forum, where I believe it was Liam who praised her performances on the first season of The Voice Australia. I found some great discoveries through those performances too, notably her version of Listen, and Sarah ultimately finished 4th. Quickly after, a debut album was released (containing many Voice performances in studio form), with No Shame being its title track. At the time, I loved it, but I'd say I now prefer Sarah's later single Oasis. No Shame hasn't aged super well, it's a little cringe lyrically, but the chorus is still anthemic. It was one of my earliest entries in BJSC, before I'd really developed an ear for a successful entry (by this point I'd only qualified once), but I definitely thought this stood a chance at the time. TARO Bellamia Chart History 30/06/2012 | 20 | 02 weeks | Listen | THE VOICE AUSTRALIA PERFORMANCE | 20-26-x 21/07/2012 | 05 | 09 weeks | No Shame | 1 | 19-22-26-x-17-7-5-7-13-21-x 26/10/2013 | 07 | 06 weeks | Oasis | NAS | 7-14-19-30-27-34-x pyNjsl-cTxs
March 18, 20232 yr Author 97 | BJSC 44 Laura Jansen Wicked World http://i.imgur.com/LNqzlVY.png Semi Final: 23rd (25 points) Final: DNQ Personal Chart Peak: #9 My second crack of the BJSC whip was a noticeable shift from my first entry. A twink ballad to a quirky female pop tune, and I really hoped I'd found something more successful in Laura Jansen's Wicked World. At the time, I was really into Bells, her debut album, and Wicked World was instantly one of my favourite songs from it. Unfortunately, it fared even worse than my first entry, finishing two places lower in the semi and achieving one less point; I was a long way off getting to grips with the taste of the contest then. Now, this song is still good but it's not aged as well as many others here. I'd probably choose a couple of other songs from Bells to go back to nowadays, notably the gorgeous Single Girls, or even her later single Queen of Elba, which was a much more successful BJSC entry for Laura. TARO Bellamia Chart History 28/04/2012 | 09 | 05 weeks | Wicked World | 2 | 19-14-12-9-17-x 23/03/2013 | 20 | 04 weeks | Queen of Elba | 1 | 26-20-26-40-x y3vybPClCCk
March 18, 20232 yr Not the only thing Wild Youth will be bombing in this year if Eurovision odds are to be believed :basil:
March 18, 20232 yr Author Not the only thing Wild Youth will be bombing in this year if Eurovision odds are to be believed :basil: :kink: oops, though this thread has reminded me that I heard another song of theirs before Seventeen (The REMIX), called Can't Say No - it was basically a 5SOS Youngblood remake but everything I've heard from them has been wildly different, including the original Seventeen too :lol:
March 18, 20232 yr Author 96 | BJSC 75 Olivia Somerlyn Parachute http://i.imgur.com/gg7gdzq.png Semi Final: 29th (35 points) Final: DNQ Personal Chart Peak: #3 Olivia Somerlyn is one of the artists in this countdown that I know the least about. I discovered Parachute, I'm fairly sure, through the old josepvinaixa blog, which was a fantastic source for my entries around this time! It was a pretty solid pop song I thought, and funnily enough I saw her live just days after I discovered Parachute as she supported Meghan Trainor on her 2015 UK tour. Parachute was my second entry of that name, and it fared just the same - a DNQ. Not the biggest upset I've had though (the other Parachute, by Caroline Brooks, upset me more but I'll get into that later x). Olivia has since changed her stage name to LIVVIA but there hasn't been much content from her in a couple of years, and I only heard one further song from her. a feature on fellow TARO Bellamia artist tyDi's track Only in 2016. TARO Bellamia Chart History 11/04/2015 | 03 | 07 weeks | Parachute | NAS | 8-7-3-10-16-20-35-x 13/02/2016 | 39 | 02 weeks | Only (tyDi & Olivia Somerlyn) | FEAT | 39-40-x X15c4eUvCS0 The music video won't embed so find it here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owvOiNuJW5c x
March 19, 20232 yr I knew someone had entered Wild Youth, I forgot it was you. That was a nice track if only their non-remixed tracks were good. Kisses For Breakfast did slay I suppose.
March 19, 20232 yr Author I knew someone had entered Wild Youth, I forgot it was you. That was a nice track if only their non-remixed tracks were good. Kisses For Breakfast did slay I suppose. Thanks for the reply Iz *.* LIVVIA queen of nearly getting a random top 30 in US radio *.* I had no idea this happened...!!!
March 19, 20232 yr Author 95 | BJSC 80 Eaves Alone in My Mind http://i.imgur.com/ASEfGk5.png Semi Final: 30th (25 points) Final: DNQ Personal Chart Peak: #9 Aside from his real name being Joseph and his hair being long, there's nothing that typical about Eaves among my BJSC entries or my wider taste. I'm not actually sure how I discovered Eaves, but I'm fairly sure Alone in My Mind was the first song I heard. It struck me as something really beautiful, much more subdued than most songs I would usually send, and it still stands out among my entry list now. I didn't have big ambitions for it in the contest, so its comfortable DNQ didn't shock me, but I know it found at least a couple of fans which is all I'd hoped for. Eaves never followed up his debut album What Green Feels Like and he has no social media presence, so hard to know what he's been up to since. TARO Bellamia Chart History 31/10/2015 | 09 | 05 weeks | Alone in My Mind | AT | 20-9-12-24-38-x KxMcLBFBbyA
March 19, 20232 yr I was actually wondering where Eaves would finish here - considering it's (I'd have thought) pretty far outside your usual taste and also bombed and not really heard from the artist since, I'll take not bottom 5 for that, I think I was like its biggest fan in the contest and still remember it quite well, lovely song.
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