SEMI-FINALISTS

CONFIRM YOUR SONG CHOICE HERE!

You have until 17:59 TOMORROW to confirm your song.

The Fable of the Floppy Fishes was the final themed round of Season 2, so from here on out you need to consider what's going to get you to the Grand Final, and what's going to get you the WIN!

For now, back to celebrating Chez and elgornio!

2 minutes ago, Scene said:

Intrigued to see these results. Expecting Atomic Kitten to be top with a tight race for survival at the bottom.

(Though I would absolutely love it if they were! 😂)

I can't remember my exact order as many were much of a muchness, but sure it was Atomic Kitten, Delta and ABBA in my top three with Conan as highest discovery (great 80s vibe to that one, it was a nice throwback double in the running order next to Delta).

I don't think Florence or Bowie were in my bottom two, but think Kelly might have been, I found it a little bit of an underwhelming track unfortunately - I have that Greatest Hits album it's on and couldn't recall the song at all. She is one of my top three artists left so I felt very bad about that ranking but trying to stay true to voting only on song and not artist, and know she'll be racing back to the top of my vote in short order.

These were my votes this time:

01 David Bowie - ★ (Blackstar)

02 Scissor Sisters - Invisible Light

03 ABBA - Eagle (Long Version)

04 Conan Gray - Lonely Dancers

05 Florence + the Machine - Hunger

06 Lily Allen - Lost My Mind

07 Delta Goodrem - Back to Your Heart

08 Atomic Kitten - You Are

09 Kelly Clarkson - People Like Us

...so I did wonder if I was going to lose my favourite and least favourite from that round tonight, but not quite in the end!

'Blackstar' found a bit of a following in Record of the Decade in recent years, but I suppose it was going to be a tall order to attract enough fans in the Pop forum, no matter how standout. I admire you for sending it anyway Chez, plus 'Warszawa' in an earlier round - both bold picks. 'Life On Mars?' and 'Ashes to Ashes' also particularly stood out to me, as two of his very best. 'Space Oddity' is my favourite single of his that wasn't used yet. Bowie is my #1 male artist, so I was intrigued for his choices and you did a great job.

Well done to elgornio as well, my favourite Florence song is probably 'Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)' so what a start that was 🤩 and I'll take away 'Queen of Peace' as an excellent re-discovery for sure. As for those not used, 'What The Water Gave Me' has always been a bit of an underrated favourite for me but not particularly competitive

'People Like Us' is not my thing whatsoever but my top Kelly song 'Breakaway' hasn't been used yet, so can support a comeback if that is on the cards.

SO happy that 'Invisible Light' went down well enough for Scissor Sisters to progress btw 🤩

Semi final song sent ! 👏🏽

Semi song sent!

Just now, Scene said:

Semi song sent!

It's OK?

Just now, ElectroBoy said:

It's OK?

I hope it’s more than OK.

The things we judges have to do:

11 hours ago, jimwatts said:

ABBA vs. Atomic Kitten

ABBA vs. Conan Gray

ABBA vs. David Bowie

ABBA vs. Delta Goodrem

ABBA vs. Florence + the Machine

ABBA vs. Kelly Clarkson

ABBA vs. Lily Allen

ABBA vs. Scissor Sisters

Atomic Kitten vs. Conan Gray

Atomic Kitten vs. David Bowie

Atomic Kitten vs. Delta Goodrem

Atomic Kitten vs. Florence + the Machine

Atomic Kitten vs. Kelly Clarkson

Atomic Kitten vs. Lily Allen

Atomic Kitten vs. Scissor Sisters

Conan Gray vs. David Bowie

Conan Gray vs. Delta Goodrem

Conan Gray vs. Florence + the Machine

Conan Gray vs. Kelly Clarkson

Conan Gray vs. Lily Allen

Conan Gray vs. Scissor Sisters

David Bowie vs. Delta Goodrem

David Bowie vs. Florence + the Machine

David Bowie vs. Kelly Clarkson

David Bowie vs. Lily Allen

David Bowie vs. Scissor Sisters

Delta Goodrem vs. Florence + the Machine

Delta Goodrem vs. Kelly Clarkson

Delta Goodrem vs. Lily Allen

Delta Goodrem vs. Scissor Sisters

Florence + the Machine vs. Kelly Clarkson

Florence + the Machine vs. Lily Allen

Florence + the Machine vs. Scissor Sisters

Kelly Clarkson vs. Lily Allen

Kelly Clarkson vs. Scissor Sisters

Lily Allen vs. Scissor Sisters

There really wasn't much between most of these to begin with, but I was dreading that pairing in particular being the final two. 'Hunger' made perfect sense for Florence + The Machine, it couldn't have been more of a close Top 40 miss (peaking at #41 not once but twice!) and was reasonably popular at the time - there are a few of their non-hit singles I'd have had no hesitation putting higher in my vote but it was a solid choice. I'd never heard the Kelly song before, but the same goes for a few of them, and I had to give every song 4 or 5 listens - had I just done 1 or 2, she'd have been out, but it grew on me after that.

I'm relieved actually that the same artist I chose in this pairing was the one who finished 7th - and as Rob pointed out, it's harder for acts who charted everything they released for a long stretch (barring Atomic Kitten whose choice was practically set up for them), so elimination after finishing 7th out of 9 in such a category would have been a bitter blow. Still I'm sad for elgornio as I'd hoped to see Florence go further too. I strongly suspected Chez sent Bowie and he's had a fabulous run here. Well played to both of you 👏

2 minutes ago, jimwatts said:

The things we judges have to do:

There really wasn't much between most of these to begin with, but I was dreading that pairing in particular being the final two. 'Hunger' made perfect sense for Florence + The Machine, it couldn't have been more of a close Top 40 miss (peaking at #41 not once but twice!) and was reasonably popular at the time - there are a few of their non-hit singles I'd have had no hesitation putting higher in my vote but it was a solid choice. I'd never heard the Kelly song before, but the same goes for a few of them, and I had to give every song 4 or 5 listens - had I just done 1 or 2, she'd have been out, but it grew on me after that.

I'm relieved actually that the same artist I chose in this pairing was the one who finished 7th - and as Rob pointed out, it's harder for acts who charted everything they released for a long stretch (barring Atomic Kitten whose choice was practically set up for them), so elimination after finishing 7th out of 9 in such a category would have been a bitter blow. Still I'm sad for elgornio as I'd hoped to see Florence go further too. I strongly suspected Chez sent Bowie and he's had a fabulous run here. Well played to both of you 👏

Atomic Kitten fan then 🤣

My votes:

Lily's song really the only one I did not like.

Round 11: Live Show Four: The Fable of the Floppy Fishes

Results

Was not expecting that top 3 😳

Bookended by the twinks

Conan topped

Edited 16 hours ago16 hr by ElectroBoy

Deserved for Conan.

I thought Atomic Kitten could be top! Great for Scissor Sisters too.

Delta really got lucky

Another very close one at the bottom.

So yes, Bowie was I, the old man, Katie Waissel, Twink master and the one that most of you were dreading to hear every round ;D This does feel the right time for me to go - Quite frankly, I'm not sure there's any way I could've survived this round, I was sure that one of his all time classics, Starman would mean I was OK last round but when even that landed bottom 3, it was pointless trying to pick a song that would appeal best (honestly could only think of Changes that was the most well known of his flops and I doubt that would've done any better) I just threw caution to the wind and send what I'd really wanted to send all the way through but was too scared to do so, and it feels very in time with the man himself of course given it was his own swan song.

But I'm really pleased with how this went, especially given I very nearly didn't take part, it was only when Calum opened up the extra slots and that Female and Group were filled and I would've denied others the chance to take part. I was limited to Male so my options were Bowie, Michael Jackson and Justin Timberlake, I felt like the former was one I was probably the biggest fan of and dare I say, the least problematic! The only issue was I had only listened to one album (Ziggy Stardust...) and I feel I should probably know a bit more than that! So I have been listening to albums alongside this competition, Hunky Dory, Aladdin Sane, the Berlin trilogy as well as his two early 80s studios and Blackstar (I'm open to more suggestions if I've missed any!) and it's really helped me get so engaged with this process and appreciate the wonderful, diverse musician he was an, I'm not sure we'll ever get another one like him </3

I think my goal was just to showcase his diversity and give a well rounded view of him as well as highlight my own favourites, I knew I'd be at a disadvantage in the Pop Forum with so many big Buzzjack favourites, but I hoped to at least introduce a few sides to him and that may not have worked for everyone, but I at least wasn't ranked last consistently by the same people (for the most part!). If you wouldn't mind indulging me...

Life on Mars (One of my ultimate favourites so had to send it, but was a real mistake sending that so early, I somehow thought more would go that round, at least I wasn't the only one that made that error!)

Young Americans (I haven't actually got that invested in his soul era, but was pleased this got some fans)

Modern Love (Had to send his poppy 80s era to fit the theme here, admittedly I didn't make much use of this era of his mainly as it's just not to my tastes as much, I could've also sent Let's Dance here, but that's never been a big favourite of mine)

Warszawa (This was probably my proudest moment here, it was a rollercoaster seeing so many last placers but also it appealed to a lot of people I didn't expect, I genuinely didn't know of Bowie's instrumental periods in the Berlin era and I loved this one the most, it's a desolate harrowing track based on his mood he felt when visiting Warsaw, I'd highly recommend this trilogy if you don't know it as it was my favourites easily <3)

Lazarus (Bowie turning his own death into a project is so incredible and I really wanted to showcase that even if it was rather niche in this form, it was a shame it didn't connect with a lot but glad I got to send both of his swan songs)

Heroes (My favourite song from his and my trump card given the Stranger Things use/top 40 resurgence, I felt bad for dandy* as one of my contant supporters, that was a classic song too and a coin toss that just happened to go my way)

Ashes to Ashes (I was sort of just making use of his big hits to go through the live shows whenever I got the opportunity, and I'd really been quite neglectful of his 80s work so far)

Five Years (whew, this was tense, I had fully resigned myself to going out here, but I didn't want to use Space Oddity already (in retrospect, I probably should have), I'd already used Life on Mars and my only other choice I really liked was his 2013 comeback, Where Are We Now, I just thought this would connect better, it's a real epic opening track and I hadn't sent anything from Ziggy Stardust... yet, it was a perhaps foolish move but I was thankfully granted a lifeline!)

Starman (Given that lifeline, I just wanted to get all the songs I really wanted to send out there, and Starman was in my top 3 favourites with Life on Mars and Heroes, so very pleased I got to send all three. I was kinda sad that both Ziggy picks got me in the bottom three, but it did make my next choice clear to me)

Blackstar (While the reactions were indeed very funny, I do genuinely love this one. It's a real awe-inspiring, epic exploration on mortality and his own life both visually and audially. As above, it felt the perfect time to go)

My semi choice would've been Space Oddity, it would've been a nice Major Tom full circle moment from the first live show, had I made it past then, I did still have Let's Dance, Under Pressure, Rebel Rebel and Ziggy Stardust, but I almost would've just wanted to go with some more under the radar moments as I would've achieved my goal and more at that point.

Some others that I would've liked to send had I been able/some other good discoveries I made from his discography: Sound & Vision, The Man Who Sold The World, Station to Station (another ten minute moment x), Absolute Beginners, Suffragette City, I'm Afraid of Americans (I didn't admittedly check out his deeper cuts in the 90s, but this one was fabulous with it's Trent Rezor production)

Sorry for the ramble, keeping all that to myself for the last few weeks has been hard! Thank you all for allowing me to infiltrate this game, some of you definitely need taste transplants (looking at you, Lee x), but I have had a real blast and wish the rest of you, including my twink protege, the best of luck x (I'm not 100% I'll take part in the next one as the ~drama~ was a bit real sometimes, but I have a few artists in mind so you never know!)

Oh wow, Conan a serious dark horse! 'Found Heaven' listening session and rate, when?

This voting public thought Conan Gray was a better choice... than everything else