On 10/02/2026 at 21:12, dandy* said:

I think I can remember that, wasn't it won by Gorillaz with Feel Good Inc?

Oh I actually just found the thread and it was Euphoria which beat Feel Good Inc in the final.

Cool to see 'Gauč N Bass' getting a shoutout here! That was something a bit different for my nation, but I was immediately hooked on a clip of it in some kind of European music compilation video, then thought I'd give it a go after listening in full. Glad it made the final as hip-hop isn't exactly BJSC catnip, even if it was quite instant and in-your-face.

I think I gave 'Ellipsis' about 12 points in that edition but it would be a nailed on 18 for me now, has turned into such a post-contest favourite. But 'Othan' is a strong 18, same with 'Chime/Crime (Live)' the previous contest, lengthy songs on point.

30 minutes ago, Jade said:

Cool to see 'Gauč N Bass' getting a shoutout here! That was something a bit different for my nation, but I was immediately hooked on a clip of it in some kind of European music compilation video, then thought I'd give it a go after listening in full. Glad it made the final as hip-hop isn't exactly BJSC catnip, even if it was quite instant and in-your-face.

I think I gave 'Ellipsis' about 12 points in that edition but it would be a nailed on 18 for me now, has turned into such a post-contest favourite. But 'Othan' is a strong 18, same with 'Chime/Crime (Live)' the previous contest, lengthy songs on point.

Yeah I actually had to double check it was you that had sent it as it definitely sounds like quite the departure from your "usual" sound, although that of course is very wide-scoping anyway! It's very akin to Roli Glitzer Glitzer which of course was sent earlier in the year.

BJSC 117

Host Country: Aeroche

Overview

Following their win last time out Aeroche took full reins of hosting duties. This was another contest which overlapped with a personal holiday (namely to Split) so I have good memories listening back to some of the entries. By now it was exciting to see just how long we could keep extending our qualifying streak which currently stood at 8 and whether we could manage to achieve a full year of zero DNQs (spoiler alert: we didn't). I never realised at the time just how many relatively low scoring winners there were in 2019 but 117 kept that trend up with Jadakissnia claiming their first ever victory by a slender 4 point margin over what would have been another debut winner in TARO Bellamia. The top 8 all finished within 34 points of each other and just like the previous contest, the semi finals were both incredibly close affairs as well. This really was an exciting time for the contest!

Dobago's Entry

Result: 29th

This is unquestionably top 5 in my personal list of entries, a truly stunning song which packs in every feeling and emotion. I absolutely love the unusual structure which transitions from section to section and takes the listener on a introspective journey with extremely poignant and hard-hitting lyrics. EDEN is no Frank Sinatra on the vocals but he conveys such passion and rawness that it barely matters and in fact it totally complements the gritty sound and nature of the track. But the highlight most certainly is the incredible production, with sweeping strings and foreboding instrumentation culminating in a magnificent drop that segues into elements of trap and breakbeat. It's one of those ultra-rare songs that almost always gives me goosebumps in the best way possible and I was delighted that it qualified (fittingly it was drawn at the "start" of its semi in terms of running order) and finished at least in the top 30, coincidently tied on points with a song that sampled another which I had come seriously close to entering earlier that year. I cannot speak highly enough of this song and it really is one of those oh so rare diamonds that you cherish forever.

Winning Entry

Country: Jadakissnia

First point to note is hooray, we finally gave points to a winner again! Albeit a modest 4 but in such a year that's a win in itself. It had felt a while since deep house was having a purple patch in the contest but this track captures a lot of the great elements of that subgenre and sprinkles in dark, moody vocals and very striking, wobbly instrumental sections. I remember being quite surprised at this winning but as mentioned, BJSC really was in a phase where it felt like almost any genre had a chance of competing for the win. I wouldn't call it a massive fave, I'm not mad about the vocals but the production is absolutely on point and it brings about a spooky vibe that adds to the overall listening experience.

18-Pointer

Country: Bøtanikkä (result: 10th)

It had felt a good while since we gave top marks to our good friends Bøtanikkä but that run duly came to an end with this entry. After a few contests of awarding gold to more experimental-leaning, ultra-long songs, this was a return to the rather more radio friendly numbers. This certainly feels like a throwback sound to when Bøtanikkä were at the height of their powers in 2016 (from a Dobagan perspective), with fantastic soaring vocals backed up by outstanding house production. Not a second is wasted here, with hook after hook and a non-stop, pulsating beat that demands attention and a burning desire to hit the repeat button immediately. I was not aware of nor familiar with the original version from 2000 at all (giving it a spin now it's complete chalk and cheese to this remix) but it likely would have mattered little anyway given how totally different they sound. Remarkably, this was the third contest in a row where our gold medal was fighting on the cusp of the top 10 but thankfully this time around it fell on the right side of the line. It would have actually still just about made it had it received our 15 points instead, which on reflection would be more likely as our original silver medallist 'All About U' undoubtedly now takes the mantle of best discovery, a quite excellent slice of airy and whimsical-sounding electronica. The bronze went to another breezy dance bop in 'Famous' which perfectly encapsulated the scorching summer weather enjoyed at times that year.

Now one thing I miss from more modern BJSC is the appearance of a good novelty track and 117 truly delivered on that front with 'Cruel Summer', sounding just as iconic now as it did back then and can we flatteringly call it forward-thinking with the AI-esque vocals? Maybe preaching to wrong crowd there with that take...

This remix of Stranger In My House is literally the next best thing after Whitney's INRBIOK, which iconically it's remixed by same producer!!!

I still listen to it to these days!!!

I spy another of my entries popping up so let me get back to commenting on these after just lurking and reading again for a while! (I might have had stuff I wanted to say about the few sections before but didn't get around to but I'm too lazy to read back x) 'Othan' as far as its appearance in BJSC is concerned technically isn't a 10+ minute entry as I thought the last few minutes of demonic vocals might be a bit offputting to some and sloppily chopped them off to submit a shorter version for the contest hehe - I don't dislike them myself (it's not my favourite part of the song but it does its job of contributing to the atmosphere) but I didn't want to alienate people with what I thought otherwise could be a very strong entry and that may probably have been worth it considering it did nearly go top 10? I take it from your commentary that you have heard the full version anyway but curious whether you did hear it at the time (as it was still on the Spotify version ofc) or if you were just hearing it now x

'The Garden Of Earthly Delights' got 11 points back from me so definitely would have liked it to finish higher as well, some very belated apologies if I was crowding out your niche (I do feel that happens to my entries sometimes as well). 'Ellipsis' wasn't a discovery from the contest for me but still one of my all time favourite winners nonetheless, was a very easy 18 for me ❤️ I gave high points to Gleb and Nadia Rose too so a good amount of taste crossover that month in general.

EDEN also got 8 points from me, and to break my own statement of being too lazy to scroll back, I gave 15 to Prospa so that was 3 solid to highly pointed entries from you in a row for me!

9 hours ago, Bror said:

I spy another of my entries popping up so let me get back to commenting on these after just lurking and reading again for a while! (I might have had stuff I wanted to say about the few sections before but didn't get around to but I'm too lazy to read back x) 'Othan' as far as its appearance in BJSC is concerned technically isn't a 10+ minute entry as I thought the last few minutes of demonic vocals might be a bit offputting to some and sloppily chopped them off to submit a shorter version for the contest hehe - I don't dislike them myself (it's not my favourite part of the song but it does its job of contributing to the atmosphere) but I didn't want to alienate people with what I thought otherwise could be a very strong entry and that may probably have been worth it considering it did nearly go top 10? I take it from your commentary that you have heard the full version anyway but curious whether you did hear it at the time (as it was still on the Spotify version ofc) or if you were just hearing it now x

'The Garden Of Earthly Delights' got 11 points back from me so definitely would have liked it to finish higher as well, some very belated apologies if I was crowding out your niche (I do feel that happens to my entries sometimes as well). 'Ellipsis' wasn't a discovery from the contest for me but still one of my all time favourite winners nonetheless, was a very easy 18 for me ❤️ I gave high points to Gleb and Nadia Rose too so a good amount of taste crossover that month in general.

EDEN also got 8 points from me, and to break my own statement of being too lazy to scroll back, I gave 15 to Prospa so that was 3 solid to highly pointed entries from you in a row for me!

Ah I do sometimes take the YT links from the relevant final threads to make sure I'm reviewing the exact version entered into the contest but must have forgotten to this time. I almost certainly would have listened to the Spotify version anyway back at the time so was only really ever familiar with the full version.

No need to apologise :D I always find it quite fun when you get 2+ entries of a similar and specific vein entered into the same contest (per your comments in my country thread at the time Aelandor's entry also fit that mould although I haven't listened back to that and without double-checking think it finished last in its semi too oops) much like the UK garage battle with Buzzjack Mountain in 99, to see which song ends up prevailing.

Yay my first winner appears glad you contributed to its total at the time. That was a slim victory indeed, in fact, now three wins in and all of them got there with a single figure margin over 2nd place albeit slowly increasing each time. So a landslide winner evades me in BJSC but it was still incredibly exciting to win for the first time! Deep house is again not a genre particularly associated with my nation although I do agree the song has a dark edge, which is more typical for Jadakissnia. The wonky production elements really drew me in as well. I felt bad for blocking Joseph although we did end up sharing hosting duties with a loose 'BasilJSC' 118 theme, Basil Brush's eternal impact.

'Cruel Summer' what a throwback

45 minutes ago, Jade said:

Yay my first winner appears glad you contributed to its total at the time. That was a slim victory indeed, in fact, now three wins in and all of them got there with a single figure margin over 2nd place albeit slowly increasing each time. So a landslide winner evades me in BJSC but it was still incredibly exciting to win for the first time! Deep house is again not a genre particularly associated with my nation although I do agree the song has a dark edge, which is more typical for Jadakissnia. The wonky production elements really drew me in as well. I felt bad for blocking Joseph although we did end up sharing hosting duties with a loose 'BasilJSC' 118 theme, Basil Brush's eternal impact.

'Cruel Summer' what a throwback

Oh yes the iconic Basil theme! Speaking of which...

BJSC 118

Host Countries: The Actual Republic of Bellamia & Jadakissnia

Overview

The next contest was neatly joint-hosted by the previous one's top 2 with Bellamia handling the semis and Jadakissnia the final. For us, the pressure was cranked back up again as we targeted an unprecedented landmark tenth qualifier in a row for our 40th contest and most unfortunately, this was where things dramatically unravelled. Initially, we opted to send what we considered would be a complete banker however, after squeezing through on a few previous occasions with probable borderline veto-worthy entries, this time we flew a bit too close to sun and ended up with our first and, still to this day, only ever veto. The song in question was Virtual Self's 'Particle Arts' which is a full on EDM banger and a half and would likely had performed rather well based on how well their previous entry 'Ghost Voices' did - of course that being a large reason behind the veto and indeed the act's name being an alias to a rather popular producer in Porter Robinson. Alas, this was a new experience for us which led to us scrambling for a suitable replacement that perhaps wasn't well thought through (more on than below). A tiny consolation to what transpired was that this was the first ever contest where our entire top 10 from the semi qualified. 118 also gave us another new winner in Lotunia with a song that did manage to eclipse the 300 point barrier.

Dobago's Entry

Result: DNQ (29th in Semi)

The veto of our original entry did catch us somewhat off-guard despite the undeniable risk that sending it posed so we were then stuck in contemplation mode regarding where to go next. This track had been a backseat potential for a decent while (likely for good reason) but such was our uncertainty of which direction to lean towards that we eventually settled for something that was very much rooted in our "sound" - the only problem being was the contest had moved on since then and this was never going to stand out in the right way. It's a very pleasant deep house track with tenderly sung Bulgarian lyrics so very much a fusion of a number of previous Dobagan entries in that sense but with the key word being "pleasant" this was never likely going to attract big scores (nor indeed many scores at all as it turned out) and it limply crashed out of its semi in second bottom, becoming our worst ever performing entry in terms of both position and points. I still rather this song and it's top notch a for chill, summer playlist but it does go down as the one blot on an otherwise very successful year for the nation.

Winning Entry

Country: Lotunia

First thing that struck me about this entry was that I knew a girl called Charlotte Lawrence at university but can 100% say that it is not the same person as behind this song. Second point of note is, we're straight back to snubbing winners again. This is a quite playful pop song with a marching-style beat and understated vocals. Listening back, I do recall this song reasonably well but it didn't strike much of a chord overall. The stuttering lyrics in the chorus to match the beat is quite cool in a quirky way but otherwise it's a pretty run of the mill song that is too ten a penny for me. It won by an impressive margin of 33 points so certainly deserved its status in the winner's lounge but I personally wouldn't wilfully be spending any time in its corner. Although we clearly were singing from a completely different hymn sheet to the masses in this contest with us snubbing the entire top 6 which is probably still a national record for that niche statistic.

18-Pointer

Country: Danæviia (result: 27th)

A song that expertly catches the late summer vibes with the Spanish guitar and cut-straight-from-the-dancefloor sounds. The act who, despite the name is actually a single producer from Switzerland, was one I was vaguely familiar with but had yet to hear anything of his that truly caught my attention. However that promptly changed with this track which blends its fluffy verse sections with hard-hitting future house refrains for a very enjoyable package. I remember replaying this quite intensely at the time and in the following weeks however it is an entry I've barely ever revisited since then. It does sound rather more dated than many of my other gold medallists from the time and for that reason there'd be a fair bit of reshuffling in a retrospective vote. In fact I'd go so far as push it all the way down to at least 5th with all of 'Feel Love', 'Yuve Yuve Yu', 'The City Sleeps Tonight' and 'Rank & File' holding up better in my estimation. The first 2 of those especially still both sound excellent for entirely different reasons, one being a fantastic house song with glorious vocals and the other an electrifying folk metal number with ACTUAL Mongolian throat singing. We do stan.

BJSC 119

Host Country: Lotunia

Overview

A first voyage to Lotunia beckoned for 119 where the pressure was very much now off following our DNQ last time out. That said, there was still a tiny chance of finishing in the EOY top 10 for the first time ever but this would require 2 massive results in the remaining contests that year. Outside of BJSC, it was around this time that I'd started getting into unsolved mysteries and other miscellaneous crime stories of the past and this relatively new interest no doubt churned out the inspiration for our entry choice, which was most appropriate given this contest took place in and around Hallowe'en. Unovia would win their second contest, exactly 2 years after their first with one of the largest winning margins of the year.

Dobago's Entry

Result: 35th

Having consumed a wide range of true crime YouTube content it probably should have come as no surprise that the algorithm would eventually spit out something from SKYND, an Australian duo whose singles discography reads like a Netflix docuseries of creepy and infamous real world cases of years gone by. The Elisa Lam story is one of the most disturbing yet fascinating unsolved mysteries of all time with a large virtual footprint and indeed its own series on the Flix. The title of this song alone certainly piqued my interest given it was a name I was familiar with but I wasn't expecting something quite so compelling as what I heard. Featuring haunting spoken word sections and a lyrical reference to "4-2-6-2-10-5-1" (a combination of lift numbers which spawned a resultant elevator game online trend), the song fuses industrial rock elements with dark, demonic EDM production to capture a real sense of foreboding dread. As mentioned, this certainly made sense as a "throwaway" entry given the proximity to Hallowe'en and with very few expectations it ended up qualifying before an unsurprising bottom 5 finish. Amusingly, prior to the results thread I had predicted a 35th place finish and that is indeed exactly how things played out. It's a fun and creative entry based upon a dark, real-life event but not one that would ordinarily get wheeled out outside of a specifically-themed listening session.

Winning Entry

Country: Unovia

In a year of very little Dobagan support to winners, we were at least able to offer some mealworm points to this catchy house track which as mentioned romped to victory by a massive 59 points. Despite not having been entered to the competition before, Franky Wah was a name I recognised although had never sought to delve into any of his content. This track is a very accomplished-sounding slice of house with a suitably effective, eerie vocal overlay. Certainly my personal highlight is the thumping, techno production in the refrains but overall, it's nothing particularly standout which on reflection joins the list of winners whose success surprises me somewhat. Clearly it received strong support across both the pop and dance blocs, which is generally something which has been almost mandatorily required to challenge for victory for many a year now.

18-Pointer

Country: Kluminican Republic: (result: 20th)

The revisiting of 'Cruel Summer' a couple of contests back got me thinking of other novelty entries we had enjoyed and subsequently rewarded handsomely and in no time at all up springs this absolute nugget. With the heart-breaking DNQ of 'Trip To Ireland' still fresh in the memory, I had everything crossed again from the other semi-final that this similar-sounding and delightfully bonkers ditty would be rewarded with a qualification and thankfully, this time around that was what occurred. Hardstyle was certainly en vogue within Dobagan shores at this time and this entry perfectly captures that prevailing balls to the wall sound and sprinkles in schlager elements with the warbling yodels and numerous lyrical references to the popular liqueur. Which results in the exact kind of bonkers novelty that is right up our proverbial. But aside from that, it simply is a great song on its own merits, balancing the fun and quirky elements just about right. It very pleasingly finished inside the top 20 by a solitary point. This is the sort of song I would LOVE to see at Eurovision with a full-scale accompanying dance routine, make it happen one day someone! This was an easy 18 for us with 15 going to the electrifying techno banger that was '9 Times' and 13 to our favourite song from our semi, the admirably strong Kamferdrops follow-up of 'f*** You, Jag Älskar Dig'.

BJSC 120

Host Country: Unovia

Overview

Another dramatic and entertaining year of BJSC was brought to a close within the land of Unovia following their victory last time out. For us, a EOY top 10 placing was almost certainly impossible now therefore it was an opportunity to go for something a bit outside the box that we had been sitting on a for a while. Besides the obvious (more on that below), 120 always stands out to me for perhaps featuring the highest quality of pop in any contest in which we've participated, with the bulk of our high points going to songs within the broad genre and of course we ourselves hopped on the bandwagon to rather successful effect. This contest was also the first occasion in which an anniversary entry took home the spoils, with Ultraviolenceland easily clinching victory by 73 points ahead of a certain other country. The EOY chart was won by a different nation than Aeroche for the first time in 7 years, with FARC pipping them to the crown by a mere 57 points (certainly bolstered by their commanding victory way back in the first contest of the year).

Dobago's Entry

Result: 2nd

Amusingly, this was a song I had randomly discovered somewhere which I thought, for a country song, this isn't half bad! (Country music of course being one of my least favourite genres in general with a few minor exceptions). Additionally, I was surprised to find out that this hadn't been sort of moderate hit at least in the States so retained it primarily as a potential for the Pop Forum Song Contest one day. But all the stars aligned for us to haphazardly enter it into BJSC, with this being essentially a dead rubber edition for us (like most these days I suppose!) but with it also being a Unovia-hosted edition, it felt most appropriate. The song's premise is a response to Dolly Parton's 'Jolene', sung from the perspective of Jolene, the accused mistress in Parton's seminal track. It's a very interesting concept for a song which is both extremely well sung and packed with plenty of hooks. I had some expectation that it would be a rare Dobagan entry that would overtly appeal directly to the Pop bloc but it most certainly outdid even that, attracting a very wide range of support to qualify second from its semi and then match that position in the final. No fewer than 3 other participants mentioned that this song had been a potential once upon a time for them so it already possessed a bit of goodwill among the consensus but even by most others' estimations let alone our own, its performance was extremely surprising. On reflection, it was even perhaps unlucky not to challenge for the victory given it ran into a song which had previously been vetoed, was only allowed to be submitted in this specific contest due to the invocation of the anniversary rules and was by someone who would go onto conquer global charts several years later. Nevertheless, this entry still remains to this day the best performing entry of ours, which will always remain amusing given how far apart it is from our typical type of entry.

Winning Entry

Country: Ultraviolenceland

Said 'someone' who would soon go on to become an unprecedented force in the commercial scene in the coming years is none other than Sabrina Carpenter, who by this point had already been entered twice before and was gradually becoming a forum fave. Very much the original Chappell Roan you could say. So it was no surprise that this was an overwhelming favourite to win despite the so-called "anniversary curse" that had besieged many an entry previously. This song however is utterly brilliant and most definitely the best of her 3 sent to the contest, I'd even go so far as to say it's better than most of her actual plethora of hits she has accumulated since her commercial breakthrough. I especially love the intricate and interwoven lyrics in the verses which must have taken quite a few attempts to get the tongue around. But the overall mood of the track really hits the spot, the dramatic strings transitioning into a fantastically catchy chorus with the extremely effective "skiddly-dee-da-dum-dum" ad-libs. Definitely one that captures the attention and doesn't let it get out of your head easily. Given the eventual gap in points between this 'Diane' there was never any danger of knee shooting and in a generally barren year of winners we were pleased to handsomely reward this with a solid 11 points to end off the year on a high in more ways than one.

18-Pointer

Country: Summericia (result: 32nd)

It's highly probable that we were still mildly guilty of underpointing 'Up And Down' earlier in the year so when we saw Marnik's name appear several contests year there was maybe a subconscious urge to right such wrongs from the past. But that would be doing this song in its own right a disservice, which is still a superb hard dance meets psytrance effort featuring Hebrew lyrics and customary full-on instrumental drops. This hasn't held up as well as 'Up And Down' but it was a still huge highlight from 120 which wasn't all that blessed with high quality dance compared with previous contests. So yes the competition was slightly lower but listening back, I thoroughly enjoy the different sections of the track and the repeated vocal melody. It was another mighty fine effort for a sound which was unfortunately becoming a bit tired in the contest as demonstrated by its underwhelming finishing position. As alluded to previously though, what this contest lacked in dance it made up for in spades with a brilliant selection of pop which comprised all of our 15-11 section (and 9-pointer) in the voting. 'Clean' and 'Satisfaction Guaranteed' made up our podium places at the time but on reflection it's our 12-pointer that rises the highest nowadays, the irresistibly infectious 'Told You So' which is probably the closest song a pop entry is to becoming a retrospective 18-pointer in any contest revisited so far (although there is an entry coming up that may in fact actually tick such box, stay tuned). Another contender however would be the epic 'Flesh & Bones', the song which denied us a first semi-final victory but would finish third in the final (indeed the top 3 of semi 1 were the top 3 in the final but with the order reversed, fun fact that one).

Wow I forgot I sent that. Result is fair though, a decent enough dance track and again unsurprisingly sounds like something you'd enjoy but 18 is very generous.

Pointed and was a fan of 'Diane' and 'Thumbs' too.

Dobago Entries of 2019 Ranking

1 EDEN - start//end

2 Sunlounger - White Sand

3 Apocalypse Orchestra - The Garden Of Earthly Delights

4 Shogun - Skyfire

5 Prospa - Prayer

6 TEPR (feat. D. Woods) - Taste Of Love

7 Cam - Diane

8 SKYND - Elisa Lam

9 KAZKA - ПЛАКАЛА

10 Fabrizio Parisi & MiYan (feat. Belonoga) - Sunbeams

Winning Entries of 2019 Ranking

1 Two Steps From Hell - Emerald Princess (feat. Chris Bleth & Merethe Soltvedt)

2 Skeler x Juche - Proxima

3 Sabrina Carpenter - Thumbs

4 Rompasso - Ignis

5 Franky Wah - Hide (feat. Robinson)

6 White Lies - Tokyo

7 Drab Majesty - Ellipsis

8 Sofi Tukker & Bomba Estéreo - Playa Grande

9 Charlotte Lawrence - Why Don't You Love Me?

10 Eden XO - Have It All [F9 Club Radio Mix]

18-Pointers of 2019 Ranking

1 Headhunterz & Sound Rush (feat. Eurielle) - Rescue Me

2 Offer Nissim presents Jimmy Fontana ~ El Mundo

3 k?d - Creator’s Flower

4 Heilung - Othan

5 Orbital - Chime/Crime (Live)

6 Fever 333 - One of Us

7 Marnik & SMACK - Gam Gam

8 Tamia - Stranger In My House (Thunderpuss Radio Mix)

9 Da Tweekaz - Jägermeister

10 Croatia Squad - Ven Pa Ca

I have warmed a bit to country music in general in recent years but I did think at the time 'Diane' was a rare gem for the genre - here's hoping it won't forever remain your biggest hit of course though!

'Diane' is one of those entries I can't believe I never considered sending, but it was brilliant to see it for Dobago, a country I wouldn't have expected to send country at the time! Kind of like Danaeviia sending Reba McEntire later on (albeit a dance remix).

'Thumbs' felt like a slightly cheap winner even at the time but I'm sure I still pointed it favorably, still one of Sabrina's best singles ever.