BOOT CAMP

After a tense round of auditions for all three categories we sadly said goodbye to Louise, Lemon Demon and YVA. The 21 remaining contestants now progress to Boot Camp where they'll perform again in front of you, the voting BuzzJack public!

How it works:

AI RitaBot 3000 is back on the scene to confirm how Boot Camp will work. She has once again had a hand in deciding how voting will work, and the artists will be put through their paces as one collective in this round. Once you've listened to all of the contestants perform you should post - in this thread - a ranking of each of the performances. You can rank them from best to worst (making clear which is your favourite down to least favourite), or use the template below:

01 (favourite)

02

03

... (04 - 18)

19

20

21 (least favourite)

For those voting who have entered one of the contestants into the competition, you must rank all of the performances. You can either rank them inclusive of your own entry, if you have not yet revealed your identity, or not. Since we're at Boot Camp, failure to vote by a competing contestant will result in a 21 point deduction from your final score.

And, of course, if you aren't participating as a contestant in The Pop Factor you are very welcome to cast your vote!

When voting closes, the 19 contestants with the highest scores will proceed while TWO contestants - regardless of category - will be eliminated from the competition and will not be going through to the next round.

But, as revealed during the results of the auditions, there's still a chance for one eliminated artist to return later in the competition with the power of The Golden Wagner!

Voting will close on Tuesday 3 June 2025, 18:59 BST

So let's bring the contestants back and see how they've decided to show themselves off for their Boot Camp performances!

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Standard list of entries:

WALK THE MOON - Shut Up and Dance

Ellie Goulding - Lights

Elton John - Bennie and the Jets

Pet Shop Boys - Heart

James Blake feat. ROSALÍA - Barefoot in the Park

Damiano David - Voices

ENHYPEN - Drunk-Dazed

Bob Dylan - The Times They Are A-Changin’

Avril Lavigne - Sk8er Boi

Fifth Harmony - Sledgehammer

CHVRCHES - The Mother We Share

Charlie Puth feat. Selena Gomez - We Don’t Talk Anymore

Tom Aspaul - Cabin Fever

SASAMI - Slugger

Addison Rae - Headphones On

Christina Aguilera - Hurt

The Saturdays - Issues

Disclosure feat. Mary J. Blige - F For You

Rina Sawayama - Hold the Girl

Enrique Iglesias feat. Nicole Scherzinger - Heartbeat

A-ha - Manhattan Skyline

Looking forward to ranking this, will have to have a relisten of all the songs

Feels like I made a decent song choice fitting for Boot Camp.

A Spotify playlist for the songs chosen;

just error awardinary beat me to playlist lol

Edited May 28May 28 by Dj Cheeky magpie

Sorry to be a pest Wardy, appreciate the playlists 🙏 but can we edit Sledgehammer to the correct version?

All done. Let me know if any other versions are incorrect.

Hope this helps this for Apple Music users here the

Playlist

https://music.apple.com/gb/playlist/the-pop-factor-season-1-boot-camp/pl.u-d2EKXuMX2DD2

Might not be discovering any new SASAMI songs from this after all then (although she could still get through this round too x)

I probably would have gone with ROSALÍA for this instead if I wasn't opting to help fill out the male quota so... best of both worlds x

I was not expecting to all merge into one comp so early 🤞

While I had time tonight:

1. Pet Shop Boys - Heart (favourite)

2. CHVRCHES - The Mother We Share

3. James Blake - Barefoot in the Park (feat. ROSALÍA)

4. Ellie Goulding - Lights

5. Avril Lavigne - Sk8er Boi

6. Disclosure - F For You (feat. Mary J. Blige)

7. Elton John - Bennie and the Jets

8. Rina Sawayama - Hold the Girl

9. A-ha - Manhattan Skyline

10. Enrique Iglesias - Heartbeat (feat. Nicole Scherzinger)

11. Charlie Puth - We Don’t Talk Anymore (feat. Selena Gomez)

12. Bob Dylan - The Times They Are A-Changin’

13. WALK THE MOON - Shut Up and Dance

14. Fifth Harmony - Sledgehammer

15. Christina Aguilera - Hurt

16. Damiano David - Voices

17. ENHYPHEN - Drunk-Dazed

18. SASAMI - Slugger

19. The Saturdays - Issues

20. Tom Aspaul - Cabin Fever

xx Addison Rae - Headphones On (cannot vote for my own song)

I'll get in second then:

1 Avril Lavigne - Sk8er Boi (fave)

2 Pet Shop Boys - Heart (a very close second)

3 Rina Sawayama - Hold the Girl

4 Charlie Puth - We Don’t Talk Anymore (feat. Selena Gomez)

5 The Saturdays - Issues

6 CHVRCHES - The Mother We Share

7 WALK THE MOON - Shut Up and Dance

8 Fifth Harmony - Sledgehammer

9 Addison Rae - Headphones On (loving this atm, but it's too recent to be rated any higher amongst established classix)

10 Damiano David - Voices (that's two for two, will definitely be checking out his album ASAP!)

11 Christina Aguilera - Hurt

12 ENHYPHEN - Drunk-Dazed (a definite improvement on the first song sent)

13 Elton John - Bennie and the Jets (disappointing as once again it's not up there with my fave Elton songs)

14 SASAMI - Slugger (not quite as good as the first song sent)

15 Enrique Iglesias - Heartbeat (feat. Nicole Scherzinger)

16 Ellie Goulding - Lights

17 A-ha - Manhattan Skyline

18 Bob Dylan - The Times They Are A-Changin’

19 Disclosure - F For You (feat. Mary J. Blige)

20 James Blake - Barefoot in the Park (feat. ROSALÍA)

21 Tom Aspaul - Cabin Fever

A thousand apologies to the senders of my bottom three x

1. Ellie Goulding - Lights (Fave)

2. CHVRCHES - The Mother We Share

3. The Saturdays - Issues

4. Charlie Puth feat. Selena Gomez - We Don’t Talk Anymore

5. Addison Rae - Headphones On

6. Rina Sawayama - Hold the Girl

7. Fifth Harmony - Sledgehammer

8. Pet Shop Boys - Heart

9. Tom Aspaul - Cabin Fever

10. SASAMI - Slugger

11. Avril Lavigne - Sk8er Boi

12. Disclosure feat. Mary J. Blige - F For You

13. Christina Aguilera - Hurt

14. Damiano David - Voices

15. Bob Dylan - The Times They Are A-Changin’

16. Enrique Iglesias feat. Nicole Scherzinger - Heartbeat

17. ENHYPEN - Drunk-Dazed

18. James Blake feat. ROSALÍA - Barefoot in the Park

19. A-ha - Manhattan Skyline

20. Elton John - Bennie and the Jets

21. WALK THE MOON - Shut Up and Dance

Sending my early hype to SASAMI -Slugger which I’ve currently entered in this month’s Buzzjack song contest! I’ll be looking at this week’s result as an omen of my chances over there haha!

I have no idea how people can rate so early! I have to give songs a few listens before I decide - particularly with something like this where there’s a mix of known songs and new songs

Enrique Iglesias - heartbeat (favourite)

Ellie Goulding - Lights

Rina Sawayama - Hold the Girl

Addison Rae - Headphones On

Charlie Puth - We Don’t talk anymore

The Saturdays - Issues

Fifth Harmony - Sledgehammer

SASAMI - Slugger

Tom Aspaul - Cabin Fever

Pet Shop Boys - Heart

Mary J Blige - F for You

Avril Lavigne - Sk8er boi

Damiano David - Voices

Christina Aguilera - Hurt

A-ha - manhattan skyline

James Blake - Barefoot in the park

CHVRCHES - The Mother we Share

ENHYPHEN - Drunk-Dazed

Bob Dylan - The Times They are-a-changin’

Elton John - Bennie & the Jets

WALK THE MOON - Shut up & Dance (least favourite)

58 minutes ago, Herbs said:

I have no idea how people can rate so early! I have to give songs a few listens before I decide - particularly with something like this where there’s a mix of known songs and new songs

There were only 5 songs that I wasn't familiar with, so I gave these a listen while I had some time last night!

1. Christina Aguilera - Hurt

2. The Saturdays - Issues

3. Enrique Iglesias feat. Nicole Scherzinger - Heartbeat

4. Rina Sawayama - Hold the Girl

5. Avril Lavigne - Sk8er Boi

6. Damiano David - Voices

7. Fifth Harmony - Sledgehammer

8. Addison Rae - Headphones On

9. Charlie Puth feat. Selena Gomez - We Don’t Talk Anymore

10. Elton John - Bennie and the Jets

11. WALK THE MOON - Shut Up and Dance

12. SASAMI - Slugger

13. Bob Dylan - The Times They Are A-Changin’

14. Ellie Goulding - Lights

15. CHVRCHES - The Mother We Share

16. A-ha - Manhattan Skyline

17. Pet Shop Boys - Heart

18. ENHYPEN - Drunk-Dazed

19. Disclosure feat. Mary J. Blige - F For You

20. James Blake feat. ROSALÍA - Barefoot in the Park

Ok my artist is Tom Aspaul, poor lad is not doing well this round !

Listened through once Damiano David and Addison Lea were nice discoveries! I will for sure rank them high.

Damiano reminded me of Tom Grennan and Addison Lea’s tone similar to Billie Piper. The headphone song was very relatable!

The Saturdays love surprises me when Louise left last round - i find their output similar.

The Avril and Christina choices are very safe.

Of the songs I don't know (not including Sasami as I recently heard that through BJSC), Damiano, James Blake and Addison Rae are the ones I liked on first listen.

There are 3 songs on this list that were massive number 1's on my personal chart. And a few others that were top 5. This is going to be fun putting this ranking together.