'Only Love' ranked too low. :( It sounded like a potential Top 10 hit!

I take pride in voting for it in the poll and in the final!

7 minutes ago, AllStarBySmashMouth said:

'Only Love' ranked too low. :( It sounded like a potential Top 10 hit!

I take pride in voting for it in the poll and in the final!

Thank you - tbh I finished about where I expected. I was hopeful for top 30, especially with all the predictions but alas it wasn’t to be!

BJSC 184 - Loren Kramar

 

We're back! But how long for?! That will all depend on how we feel at the end of it all....

For this contest we're sending singer/songwriter Loren Kramar, with the beautifully haunting track 'Gay Angels'. Loren recently featured on the soundtrack to 'On Swift Horses', which his music enhancing the more emotive elements of the film.

We hope you enjoy :)

 

Final Position: 27th in SF1

Points scored: 26 in SF1

Thanks to the following nations for points:

• Lentyll - 8pts

• Trifoski - 5pts

• Skall - 5pts

• Flynnonda - 4pts

• Persephonia - 3pts

• New Lexico - 1pt

Edited May 3May 3 by Herbs

Welcome back, this is a really impressive song and production, hopefully a top half finish for you.

On 23/04/2026 at 11:46, gooddelta said:

Welcome back, this is a really impressive song and production, hopefully a top half finish for you.

Thank you for the comment

I really hope your song qualifies - such an underrated gem

We’re on hiatus again

Thought we’d return with a gorgeous song that really struck a chord with us. Comments in the listen through were fantastic and I had renewed hope that I could get a good result - thanks to all who showed some love for Gay Angels

Sadly as is common with Herbilore we barely got any votes.

Honestly I do think that our style of music is not suited to BJSC

I won’t mince my words though - I think there are a small section of people who vote for their friends and/or who avoid voting for certain nations.

I really hope that nations like Ennea don’t fall into the same place we have fallen into. It breaks my heart to see them struggle to qualify on multiple occasions.

Someone made a comment before that new nations struggle - I would be interested to hear why people think that is - as I personally don’t think it’s always about the song choice.

Maybe we’ll return for a one off again in the future, maybe not.

Again, thanks to all who showed us support.

I do not understand this not qualifying, it was the absolute clearest standout for me in not a very strong semi!

I think part of it unfortunately though is that slower songs and ballads struggle in BJSC these days unfortunately, which for me is a shame as they make up a large part of my music listening, hence me sending one too, ill-advisedly.

But thank you for sending and for the discovery, a stunning track.

Edited April 28Apr 28 by gooddelta

1 hour ago, Herbs said:

I won’t mince my words though - I think there are a small section of people who vote for their friends and/or who avoid voting for certain nations.

I really hope this isn't the case, it certainly isn't for me: although I've spent well over 10 years barely posting and not entering the contest at all, so this definitely isn't the case for me!

I think (as gooddelta points out), ballads seem to struggle. Unlike him, most of my listening definitely could not be described as a ballad, so maybe I'm part of the problem there. This one didn't hit me, but I really enjoyed your entry by Mia Wray a few months back! Will be good to hopefully have you back at some point, but I know all too well that there's no point in entering if you're not finding enjoyment in the contest.

I'm not sure I fully agree with ballads struggling. A lot of pop ballads have done well and Father John Misty won with a ballad!

I for myself cannot complain - I have 2 out of 5 qualified from my first contests. From the 3 not qualified one was very experimental (Darkrad) and I was happy it reached #22 in it's semi nd was not that far away from qualifying. The second one was a afro house song I really adore, but it seems that this kind of stuff does not work at all here. The only one I was a bit disappointed not qualifying was my very first contest to which I had sent an alt-pop banger by Hannah Bahng.

49 minutes ago, Herbs said:

I'm not sure I fully agree with ballads struggling. A lot of pop ballads have done well and Father John Misty won with a ballad!

Would say this was an alt ballad with crossover to that set of voters. Can’t remember many pop ballads doing too well recently but my memory is patchy.

Before Bror posted the YouTube playlist for the final, I was looking for a separate playlist for the first semi because it was easier for me to listen semi 1 than clicking on each song in final individually, and your song Herbs absolutely amazed me! I honestly don’t understand how this didn’t qualify, especially compared to some other entries .. no offense to anyone, but this just can’t be compared to some of those songs. It’s an absolute shame, honestly! Even though I’m happy that I qualified, I still think this is simply unfair. Of course, everyone has different tastes, but there should be at least some basic level of recognizing quality at least enough for this song to qualified.... Shame, shame, shame

So beautiful!!!!

Edited April 30Apr 30 by nine¾

43 minutes ago, nine¾ said:

Before Bror posted the YouTube playlist for the final, I was looking for a separate playlist for the first semi because it was easier for me to listen semi 1 than clicking on each song in final individually, and your song Herbs absolutely amazed me! I honestly don’t understand how this didn’t qualify, especially compared to some other entries .. no offense to anyone, but this just can’t be compared to some of those songs. It’s an absolute shame, honestly! Even though I’m happy that I qualified, I still think this is simply unfair. Of course, everyone has different tastes, but there should be at least some basic level of recognizing quality at least enough for this song to qualified.... Shame, shame, shame

So beautiful!!!!

Thank you for the lovely comment - really appreciated. I've been told off before for querying why other songs would qualify over some of the ones that didn't (New Lexico was really robbed for me), but I do share the same sentiment. And I've said before that I do not want to compromise my choices and send something I don't like (I allowed myself to send an artist I love in Keaton Henson, despite not caring much about the song, but it got me good result.....)

This result has left me at a bit of a loss. Loads of great comments in the listen through, mostly predictions to qualify (including a couple of comments predicting a top half finish) and then I end up nowhere near qualifying at all. I don't fully subscribe to the notion that it's down to the song being a ballad. So my over-arching response to the competition atm is meh!

Edited April 30Apr 30 by Herbs

Maybe you could try with ballad instrumentals or with instrumentals from ballads I have that in mind too! 😂🤣 Hack the system!

Edited April 30Apr 30 by nine¾

5 minutes ago, nine¾ said:

Maybe you could try with ballad instrumentals or with instrumentals from ballads I have that in mind too! 😂🤣 Hack the system!

Haha that is what I did with my Keaton Henson entry - which has barely any words!

BJSC 184 - How Herbilore Voted

 

Here's who we gave our points to in our 21st competition

Semi Final:

12pts Bronzil \\ LUNA - Heavenly

10pts Cor Lupus \\ Sarah Nimmo - I Still Miss You

8pts New Lexico \\ Cate - Leave Your Man At Home

7pts Altyr Muunilinst \\ Parade Of Planets - C'est Toi

6pts Séyetana \\ miki - ça pik un peu quand même

5pts East Rukahavian \\ Bluhm - Low Light

4pts Zephyra Continuum \\ Charlotte MacInnes - Struck

3pts Neliönoir \\ Tiffany Day - SAME LA

2pts Ajanaeda \\ Remy Bond - Skin Tight Jeans

1pt PopHub \\ Goldie Boutilier - Goldie Montana

Grand Final:

18pts Bronzil \\ LUNA - Heavenly

15pts Cor Lupus \\ Sarah Nimmo - I Still Miss You

13pts Altyr Muunilinst \\ Parade Of Planets - C'est Toi

12pts Séyetana \\ miki - ça pik un peu quand même

11pts East Rukahavian \\ Bluhm - Low Light

10pts Zephyra Continuum \\ Charlotte MacInnes - Struck

9pts Yehesi \\ Emei - Night At The Opera

8pts Utopia \\ Brigitte Calls Me Baby - Slumber Party

7pts Flynnonda \\ loveshy - Spineless

6pts Hendinia \\ Babe America - Kiss Rn

5pts Neliönoir \\ Tiffany Day - SAME LA

4pts Aelandor \\ Lights - SURFACE TENSION

3pts République d'Áskorza \\ Hanna Ferm & Junie - Välkommen Åter

2pts Fljótavík \\ Wasia Project - 2515

1pt Juranabaijan \\ My First Time - The Kids Are

BJSC 185 - Meg Smith

 

Well, after Loren Kramar was done dirty, we'd considered dropping out of BJSC again. But through listening to some random tracks, a certain pop infused bop by Meg Smith (an artist Herbilore have previously voted for) took our fancy.

And so we present to you, 'Carlos, Get In The Car'. The song is epic, the video is epic. Those vocals in the chorus are everything. We love it anyway.

We hope you enjoy :)

 

Final Position: TBC in SF1

Points scored: TBC in SF1

the Carlos in question:

2 minutes ago, Cody Rozanov said:

the Carlos in question:

100%. I'd never leave. the vehicle.....

not heard this from her, but have enjoyed what she’s done to date so hopefully on board!! seems like a well-informed pick