Congrats for the second win! I voted for 5/6 of the top 6 and liked the Summericia song too so very happy about that. Also pleased at a solid placing after being very mid/low-table until a last minute surge.

5 hours ago, Cody Piastri said:

congrats blacksquare on the win, and I presume the EOY #1 is wrapped up! Definitely need you to host this upcoming contest bc the last time you hosted was fantastic 🤩

I was getting a bit worried that the top 10 wouldn’t be to my liking but I ended up voting for a majority of it so thank goodness 😅 Summericia’s entry reminded me of Sabrina doing “Leave Before You Love Me” so glad that ended up doing so well, and really happy to see New Lexico in the top 10!

Seeing Nuovo get top 5 is a bit of a 🥀 moment bc it means I could have done better under different circumstances so I’m disappointed with that, but glad to get a third top 10 this year and my first to cross 200 since Debbii Dawson (and more importantly GETTING HARRY’S 18), all of which I’m surprised by… guess I should learn to trust you guys more 😅 thanks to everyone who voted, I’ll be sure to pull from the archives more often in the future 🧡

Krewella seems like the biggest robbery here, I thought that would end up in the top 10 💔 and thought Klum Rep would have done better as well 🥀

Thanks Dandy for hosting and thanks to everyone for giving me a substantial playlist for my trip to Sacramento 🥰

A bit gagged at how often you’ve mentioned you wanted to send Nuovo but then only gave it two points in the final, Cody ☠️🤣

Congrats Blacksquare! Storm doesn’t seem like something I’d necessarily usually vote for but it squeezed in, and it DOES seem crazy you haven’t actually won yet this year despite dominating every contest so it’s about tiiime!

That top 10 definitely wound up looking better than it did at the half way point, thank god. Voted for 7 of them, glad Ajanaeda rose to the top 5 it deserved in the end. Get it POPHub and even more GET IT NEW LEXICO. Nobody even mentioned Airplane Mode but such a great song and a richly deserved dark horse.

Also really happy to see Aesthetica and Cheiron getting a top 20, big bops. Kluminican Republic deserved better though, such a highlight for me. What do you mean Inna meets a touch of Ice Spice? Who knew I needed it but I reaaaally did.

I asked for a top 20 for myself and got… 21st! I would’ve loved better because I think it’s such a banger and I think Frost Children are a really exciting act but I do have to echo Travis saying it was quite a competitive contest so that’s sometimes just the way the chips fall. And it was in hardly any top 3s so there’s that.

The Summericia situation of them getting so few votes definitely worries me for my taste going forward so here’s to trying to get to the end of this year with a 100% qualification streak and then we’ll see what happens from there 😂

4 minutes ago, Josh! said:

A bit gagged at how often you’ve mentioned you wanted to send Nuovo but then only gave it two points in the final, Cody ☠️🤣

This is actually wild.

huge congrats to @blacksquare, continuing the smash like no other <3

And omg, not me giving points to the whole Top 11...the taste ...I don't think I ever remember it happened before but then those stats only @Brer would know

And @dandy* thanks for the fantastic job with hosting <3

That’s sus x

Oh wow. Love that 'storm' resonated so much, their soundscape this era (don't forget to pre-save the new album) is just it to me. Thank you to the 35 voters who got Nelly our second win. Insane 🖤

Reading the results this morning, and I knew Night Tapes had won the moment @Brer seemed disappointed by the prospect of it — it's Persephonia tradition

I thought 'Korku' had it in the bag at first — and it would have been amazing to see FSR Rontvia back on top after such an eclectic, standout year. 'Loss Is Not Infinite' fully turned me into a Little Ront 🖤

So thrilled to see Aeroche, Fljótavík, Kathaldazia, Cumulonimbia (still not over that clash), Elëdan, and Jadakissnia all deservedly smashing the top twenty. Utopia nearly sneaking into the top ten is probably my biggest surprise (obsessed), and I love that something so quirky and alternative can smash too. Cor Lupus finally getting another hit — tough year for them. Altyr Muunilinst sounded like a huge hit to me, not sure what happened there, and I hoped Herbilore X Julia Fox could reach a new peak together. Bronzil far too low, amongst some of my other indie faves 🖤

I cannot forget to thank @dandy* for taking those calls and managing those filing cabinets. Also the most iconic points reveal, along with @uhsting

I need to collect my thoughts today and decide if I actually want to host because spreadsheets are not hot, cute, or sexy. I would rather be on the Waitrose podcast x

52 minutes ago, Travis said:

I really had hope I'd get higher than 16th, but being on the top half of the table is good enough for me! I feel like if this contest didn't have so many high quality entries, I'd probably have done better. But regardless, thank you to everyone who gave Jae some points! She's such a young diva, I'm excited for her career. Congrats to Nelionoir, what a sawng! Thanks for hosting @dandy* ! Excited for the next contest, but I also have no clue what I'm sending next!

I've had your song on repeat for weeks, it's definitely one of my favourite discoveries from BJSC so thank you for that!

9 hours ago, gooddelta said:

I am shocked! A rock song that I found on New Music Friday Türkiye which has under 100 YouTube views and under 4,000 Spotify streams is not what I would exactly call a recipe for a hit, so I'm astonished it came 2nd, even despite odds as high as 4th, I thought they were a bit generous. Thank you SO much for all the votes (including Scotland 2 at the end there) and especially all the 18s, that's amazing. I don't mind the way it was revealed @dandy*, I expected to fall further and delighted that I hung on for an 11th silver medal; our sixth since we last won and our fifth in just over three years. I'm not sure niche foreign lanugage songs like this are ever going to be the key to a win but that really wasn't the aim with a song like this, so it makes the result even more amazing. Quite a progression up from 6th in the semi too, thank you to the voters from the other semi for the bump!

Neliönoir is a great winner, brilliant song and high up my vote and just continuing a spectacular year they are having.

Great to see my two favourites in fourth and third, I'd heard Space Cadet before but didn't really think about it for BJSC, great ravey entry though and a deserved top three return for Aeroche! And Roba pulling another inspired pop discovery out for Summericia, I'd never heard that track or artist before. Ajanaeda and Fljótavík 5th and 6th means that my predicted clear top five in the odds all came in the top six, although not the right order, and the only song I vastly underpredicted was my own.

Glad Skall did well in the end as that was a clear third favourite of mine but I wasn't sure how it would do.

Thanks so much dandy* for very slick hosting and a really enjoyable contest with lots of great entries!

Genuine questions here - do you foray New Music Friday Türkiye often? What drew you to an unknown artist from this particular playlist?

Obviously I’m not the most inspired when it comes to the entries I send, so I’m actually intrigued on your methods of discovery for music.

5 hours ago, Cody Piastri said:

congrats blacksquare on the win, and I presume the EOY #1 is wrapped up!

You keep saying this, but anything could happen — it's close, and so many countries bring it every month 🖤

27 minutes ago, Josh! said:

A bit gagged at how often you’ve mentioned you wanted to send Nuovo but then only gave it two points in the final, Cody ☠️🤣

tbf the discoveries were just THAT good

OMG Brer at the thing I got wrong on the spreadsheet. The way my mind clearly saw the 11 for Suedeonia from Skall and I must have just default entered in the bottom row without checking who was last at that point 🫣😂

I’m still not getting how people are hearing Katy Perry in the Summericia entry, I can only hear Sabrina 😅

7 hours ago, Brer said:

Have double checked the scoreboard and just the one correction... which shakes up the top 3

...in opposite world that is, it's the bottom 3 that it affects. Skall's 11 should be to Suedeonia rather than Thelonia, still not enough for Ducks Ltd. to escape last place sadly but it does bring them a good bit closer to the pack. Thelonia drop 2 places to 40th, Mothertopia and Herbilore up a place each to 38th and 39th respectively.

All other points and positions match with the image version of the final scoreboard although noting that the Taahino/Cheiron tiebreak should be the other way round in the table version! All the tiebreaks for posterity:

Fljótavík beat Cor Lupus (25 votes each, 2 18s to 1)

Kathaldazia beat New Lexico (25 votes to 22)

Cumulonimbia beat Utopia (25 votes to 19)

Taahino beat Cheiron (17 votes each, 1 18 to 0)

Trifoski beat Zanmatony (20 votes to 18)

Lotunia beat Land of DW (20 votes to 16)

Bad news for Thelonia, but I get a unique finish position! (instead of 3 final positions from 5 finals)

42 minutes ago, Cody Piastri said:

tbf the discoveries were just THAT good

Well at least you didn’t miss out on an entry you felt particularly passionate about then ❤️

1 hour ago, RobBot said:

Congrats Blacksquare! Storm doesn’t seem like something I’d necessarily usually vote for but it squeezed in, and it DOES seem crazy you haven’t actually won yet this year despite dominating every contest so it’s about tiiime!

That top 10 definitely wound up looking better than it did at the half way point, thank god. Voted for 7 of them, glad Ajanaeda rose to the top 5 it deserved in the end. Get it POPHub and even more GET IT NEW LEXICO. Nobody even mentioned Airplane Mode but such a great song and a richly deserved dark horse.

Also really happy to see Aesthetica and Cheiron getting a top 20, big bops. Kluminican Republic deserved better though, such a highlight for me. What do you mean Inna meets a touch of Ice Spice? Who knew I needed it but I reaaaally did.

I asked for a top 20 for myself and got… 21st! I would’ve loved better because I think it’s such a banger and I think Frost Children are a really exciting act but I do have to echo Travis saying it was quite a competitive contest so that’s sometimes just the way the chips fall. And it was in hardly any top 3s so there’s that.

The Summericia situation of them getting so few votes definitely worries me for my taste going forward so here’s to trying to get to the end of this year with a 100% qualification streak and then we’ll see what happens from there 😂

Someone finally got the Inna comparison! It’s such a clash of sounds so I was intrigued to see how it would do in BJSC. We are Inna fans in this household so was hoping that might translate into some success, it halfway did I suppose! Glad you’ve made a good discovery out of it. I really liked FROST CHILDREN this month too and not my usual sound I’d discover myself so thank you for that, will definitely check out the EP x

1 hour ago, RobBot said:

Genuine questions here - do you foray New Music Friday Türkiye often? What drew you to an unknown artist from this particular playlist?

Obviously I’m not the most inspired when it comes to the entries I send, so I’m actually intrigued on your methods of discovery for music.

Yes, I have a folder saved of just over 20 countries' NMF playlists that I check each week and skim through them (it ends up being about 1,000 tracks weekly so I can't listen to even half of them in full even if I wanted to). Occasionally as I'm skimming through something really catches my ear (like Korku) and I'll save it to another playlist to properly listen, and this particular song ended up staying with me and getting repeat plays.

I don't find all my BJSC entries this way, but since I don't really keep an eye on blogs anymore I would say that maybe 50% come from this method. Other times I have found my entries through YouTube recommendations - I think Voryva was for example. NADA and f*** IT were from Popjustice NMF, Loss Is Not Infinite was on NMF UK, Indian Spirits was from an old 90s German compilation CD, so a bit of a mix.

2 hours ago, blacksquare said:

Oh wow. Love that 'storm' resonated so much, their soundscape this era (don't forget to pre-save the new album) is just it to me. Thank you to the 35 voters who got Nelly our second win. Insane 🖤

Reading the results this morning, and I knew Night Tapes had won the moment @Brer seemed disappointed by the prospect of it — it's Persephonia tradition

I thought 'Korku' had it in the bag at first — and it would have been amazing to see FSR Rontvia back on top after such an eclectic, standout year. 'Loss Is Not Infinite' fully turned me into a Little Ront 🖤

So thrilled to see Aeroche, Fljótavík, Kathaldazia, Cumulonimbia (still not over that clash), Elëdan, and Jadakissnia all deservedly smashing the top twenty. Utopia nearly sneaking into the top ten is probably my biggest surprise (obsessed), and I love that something so quirky and alternative can smash too. Cor Lupus finally getting another hit — tough year for them. Altyr Muunilinst sounded like a huge hit to me, not sure what happened there, and I hoped Herbilore X Julia Fox could reach a new peak together. Bronzil far too low, amongst some of my other indie faves 🖤

I cannot forget to thank @dandy* for taking those calls and managing those filing cabinets. Also the most iconic points reveal, along with @uhsting

I need to collect my thoughts today and decide if I actually want to host because spreadsheets are not hot, cute, or sexy. I would rather be on the Waitrose podcast x

Excuse me, spreadsheets are sexy.

35 minutes ago, pavi said:

Excuse me, spreadsheets are sexy.

I concur but only because I’m contractually obligated to as an Accountant

The correct and perfect winner for me, congrats Neliönoir!

Great top 10 on the whole and happy with 4th. My fave entry in a while I'd say and so had a good feeling about it. Thanks for all those 18's and votes albeit in just the 17 of them.

Loved the hosting dandy*!