Well done Julian ❤️

It was always going to take a lot to beat ABBA from the moment the acts were revealed but the way you’ve played it has made it feel more special than only playing their wealth of hits. Which you could’ve done and still the outcome would’ve probably been the same but this way, you’ve introduced people to some lesser known songs whilst providing the hits at crunch time. Very deserved.

And a huge well done and thank you to Calum for hosting this! It’s a mammoth task to take up that would struggle to work without commitment and your commitment to the bit is second to none. Even more successful second time round than the first and I know everyone will be knocking on the door to be a part of Series 3. Not least me where I can be competitive and not Eric Saade x

Congrulations to Abba and to Julian! I had a gut feeling you would!

Well done to both Seph and Scene for doing so well with Kelly and Lily Allen, worthy finalists.

Can't wait to buy the winners single at midnight xx

Congratulations Julian!

Just one of many of their hits which weren't required - but it's one thing to have the hits, and another to know their catalogue well enough to mix them with their lesser known songs, and I think that was absolutely the approach to take in this contest - if we had wanted to listen to all their #1s in a row, ABBA Gold is right there!

Well done Scene and Joseph for getting Kelly and Lily to the final - great use of their catalogues too!

Congrats @Julian_ for winning this. Great playing - you did not use only the obvious choices.

Great presentation @Calum - that was a lot of fun.

Will now all rounds fully revealed? I would like to know how close George was to be promoted.

Yes. Well done once again to @Calum for another nice and fun hosting of The Pop Factor!

Edit: I also would have liked 'Fernando'. It's not an obvious hit from them!

Edited 15 hours ago15 hr by AllStarBySmashMouth

Yea @Calum this was a lot of fun!! It's been so long since I've felt this invested in a buzzjack event so thank you x

On 21/04/2026 at 12:44, ElectroBoy said:

We'll have to agree to disagree - i mean voice is irrelevant really if the song is sh!t

I think this isn’t true tbh. Just look at the charts!!!!!!

2 minutes ago, Tafty said:

I think this isn’t true tbh. Just look at the charts!!!!!!

I was talking about this tournament x

Congrats Julian!! I remember being quite surprised about some of the rogue choices early on, but they did enough to get you through at the end of the day and I can still appreciate that you took one of the biggest acts of all-time and found a way to make inspired moves. Plus, on a taste level you sent all of my holy trinity - 'Lay All Your Love On Me', 'One Of Us' and 'The Winner Takes It All', so what a fantastic and apt note to end on. Commiserations to Scene and Joseph but well done both for making the final! The former king of a '00s pop-rock female album track finalist.

Thank you Calum for running such an enjoyable contest again! I selfishly appreciated season 1 being 100% free choice, when I sent an artist with such a small catalogue, but Blondie were a good one to have this time with all the changes that occurred. It's certainly been an entertaining ride and brought the forum together once again *.*

Cannot wait to find out the figures for the Platinum Paije round!

So I've been an enormous Lily fan from the start, her first three albums in particular hugely captured me and defined moments of my life, and West End Girl has placed her firmly back at the top of my affections, cementing itself as one of her best albums. I always loved her bluntness and honesty in her music, whether it was in a more OTT way like Alfie, or something as personal as I Could Say. My aim was to showcase songs from a variety of albums, building momentum as I went, and I think that was largely the case - it's a marathon, not a sprint, and winning individual rounds means nothing as long as you're not eliminated, so I tried as much as possible to use bigger hitters later in the game!

It was really fun not having people know who I was. I kept my identity secret last year too even though we didn't have to, and I deliberately chose an artist that I love very much, but wouldn't immediately be traced back to me. It was helped significantly by many of you picking my favourite artists - I could feasibly have been any of Delta, Atomic Kitten, Kesha, Shawn, Ruel, Troye or Conan (particularly in some cases where I'm arguably the most vocal/known stan of a couple ). I'd actually considered Atomic Kitten but wasn't sure they'd get that far, so I was very much living vicariously through @Lukuzz's excellent choices (truly wouldn't have played that much differently at all!).

Breaking the choices down a little more (it's long I'm sorry x)...

Round 1: The Earth Auditions - URL Badman (9th, 253 points)

This one has always been a favourite of mine, even if it wasn't much of a hit in the end. Sheezus is a divisive album but I was all over it in 2014 and this song remains a highlight. Some of the references are outdated but the point it's making remains very relevant nowadays! Was happy to take a risk in this so early in the competition, I figured it probably wouldn't be last and be eliminated (and turns out I didn't even need to worry about that).

Round 2: The Orbit Auditions - Who'd Have Known (2nd, 254 points)

The problem I found with some of Lily's older music is that I couldn't really gage how popular it was on the site. I think I could've been a little more confident in this down the line maybe as it really seemed to find some fans, and I was thrilled with that! This one was an immediate favourite at the time and again, while it's not one of her biggest hits, it remains a Lily favourite. When I saw her live for the Sheezus Tour, this was the final song of the encore, and it made so much sense despite seeming unusual on paper!

Round 3: Boot Camp: Part One - Everyone's At It (5th, 169 points)

One I may have saved for later had I known about the album track round, but glad this one still made it through as it's the single that got away in my view. I was torn between this and Knock 'Em Out for an older album track choice, I may have gone for the latter if I'd realised just how It's Not Me, It's You-heavy the first half of my choices ended up being! Lily at her best with the social commentary.

Round 4: Boot Camp: Part Two - Tennis (3rd, 238 points)

I could've gone for any West End Girl song here really (Madeline exempt given it was a single and this was the album track round, and I had Pussy Palace saved... more on that later x). Tennis is one of the most popular picks on Spotify which is what swung me to this over Ruminating, which was my second option, though I do personally prefer this one too. Was always going to delve into West End Girl but didn't want to rely toooo heavily on it.

Round 5: Judges' Houses - 22 (3rd, 205 points)

At the time I remember feeling disappointed this was a single instead of Everyone's At It, but it's aged really well for me, particularly given the lyrics are more relevant to me now I'm a lot older than when this came out

Round 6: The Black Hole Battles - Fuck You (LOSE)

This one had me SHOCKED I'll be honest!! Fuck You is a Lily essential to me, and though it wasn't a single here, it still feels like one of her most well known tracks. Obviously HAIM sent a fan favourite too and it just wasn't a match unfortunately, but I was so confident in this! A humbling moment x

Round 7: The Scoop - The Fear (RETURN)

I had The Fear pencilled in for the second half of the final unsurprisingly, but by this point, I just had to secure re-entry into the competition so there was no doubt in my mind that it had to be used here. A pop classic in my eyes, so witty and well-written, laced with great social commentary, and once again it's aged so well. I remember hearing it for the first time on MySpace so clearly! I was relieved it won Lily re-entry and was ready to delete the Pop forum if it didn't x

Round 8: Live Show One - Madeline (6th, 236 points)

The centrepiece of West End Girl, which is a masterpiece of an album. I really wanted to send this but wasn't sure I'd have enough slots - I'm so glad I did though! The entire album is perhaps greater than the sum of its parts, but this still works fantastically well as its own entity.

Round 9: Live Show Two - Pussy Palace (7th, 236 points)

Y'all really had your pitchforks out for five minutes!!! Pussy Palace was the song I had pencilled in for the ballad round from the second Calum teased such a thing, and it didn't cross my mind that it wasn't really a ballad for a second, so I was a little put out by some of the remarks, especially the suggestion of it being "cheeky" when, in my view, there were a couple of songs that were way less ballad-y than Pussy Palace that didn't get as much attention. It's probably the only part of the competition I didn't really enjoy. Either way, it made it through and I'm glad, because it's a masterpiece of a track - heartbreaking despite (and perhaps because of) the explicit, unwaveringly honest lyrics. Littlest Things would have been the second choice but I wasn't so confident in it, and I wasn't ever planning to use Somewhere Only We Know (too risky for a cover, especially one so associated with winter).

Round 10: Live Show Three - LDN (1st, 293 points)

Back with a bang, and rightfully so! Finally got to one of my Alright, Still choices, and this one has always been a major favourite of mine. Again, I wasn't really sure what Buzzjack thought of this song these days, so seeing it finish first was a real delight, and reinvigorated my hopes for a final placement.

Round 11: Live Show Four - Lost My Mind (4th, 207 points)

No Shame is a very overlooked era in Lily's discography, and it's the album I revisit the least. It's deep and heavy, without the pop sensibility or immediate narrative hook of West End Girl. Nonetheless, it's far from being without merit, and it's only right that it got one moment of its own. It was between Trigger Bang and Lost My Mind for this round (and tbf there wasn't much else as it was the flop round) but I figured a Giggs rap in the first minute wasn't the best hook for a pop contest on here and I think I chose correctly, I love the vibe of Lost My Mind and it's a surefire highlight from the album.

Round 12: The Semi Final - Not Fair (SAFE)

I worried about this one being potentially divisive but I'm glad the love came through for it. I dithered over how early I should play this given I was uncertain but I made the right decision. One of her most fun tracks undoubtedly.

Round 13: The Grand Final: Part One - Smile (SAFE)

Another pop classic and I always had this pencilled in for round 1 of the final. I was really hoping it would make it into the top 3 so I could outdo my placement from last year! Loved this from the moment I heard it, and it kickstarted not just my love of Lily, but opened the door to Kate Nash who followed a year later (and Kate's debut album is my favourite of all time).

Round 14: The Grand Final: Part Two - Hard Out Here

Originally The Fear's moment to shine had things gone a little more smoothly, it was up to Hard Out Here to carry the torch for the final leg. I did have this pencilled in earlier but wasn't sure, so ultimately swapped it for The Fear after I had to use that one sooner. It's actually very fitting though, because this is my personal favourite Lily track, and getting into the final, whilst it guaranteed that I'd outplace last season, it more importantly gave me the chance to send my own favourite Lily song. Though Somewhere Only We Know was her comeback single in 2013, this was the real comeback moment and I'll never forget how immediately it hooked me. Deliberately explicit to make its point, Hard Out Here unfortunately remains very relevant now, and it's all packed into one of Lily's biggest bops. Its placement in the final would never have bothered me and I had no expectations to win by this point, but as far as I'm concerned, I couldn't have gone out on a bigger high.

It's been a real hoot once again, thanks so much to Calum for hosting (your effort has been second-to-none for a second year) and for everyone else making it a really fun journey. I've made some great discoveries and rediscoveries (I totally forgot about Summer Sunshine by The Corrs but what a fantastic track!), and I'm so happy I got to deliver my full vision for Lily!

tl;dr - thank you baby x

Congrats @Julian_ …I mean that is so deserved with how you played the game ❤️

The amount of unused hits left from ABBA could very well give them another win in next season as well lol!!!

And the biggest Thank You goes to @Calum for really being such an amazing host and for giving us such a joy the last 3 months in this forum once again!!! Please don’t leave us waiting till next year for Season 3 <3

And last but not least, thank you to all Ace Of Base fans for taking them so far in this game

Congrats @Julian_ on the win! Congrats finalists!

Thank you for this @Calum it’s unique and a lot of fun, really enjoy it. Thank you for letting me be involved in a very small way!

Congratulations Julian, I am very naturally an ABBA fan as probably the artist in among all the lineup I've played the most, but as I've said I really liked how you played it, a great range of some of the best choices for underrated and lesser-played gems that got a chance in this competition, and good use of their big hits when it was required, right down to the very audacious move of indeed saving The Winner Takes It All for the last track, absolutely deserved as almost every round ABBA have been at the top end of my votes (which isn't what would have happened had it been a parade of ABBA hits x).

Very well played from Scene and Joseph too, I love how many songs got used from My December for Kelly and it really must be tough to figure out how to survive all this way but a great strategy to get them both this far. I always felt I was underrating Lily in my votes, I do like her a lot, I definitely discovered the most from her out of the finalists in that I already knew most of ABBA and Kelly's songs and most rounds were so strong.

And of course thank you for hosting this so well Calum, it's been really fun to take part as a voter after blanking that season 1 was happening at all, and thank you for inviting me to be a judge so I could continue inflicting my opinions on people with ever so slightly more power (the one (1) time we came to a 3-1 decision). Maybe next time I'll have a go at piloting an artist (will fail after series 3 absolutely gets rushed down lmao).

Also congrats to @JosephStyles and @Scene especially the latter for smashing another year <3!!!

Calum you did fab at hosting thank you for all the hard work you put into this, I have been invested the whole time and didn't miss a single week for voting which I would usually worry about in longer led games and contests like this one and that's a testament to how well it was hosted.

Congratulations @Julian_ worth winner, props to @JosephStyles though that is a flawless run of choices for lily , fair play @Scene getting Kelly to the final always have a soft spot for her too

Congratulations Julian on winning with Abba, I'm glad my favourite two songs by them, The Day Before You Came and One Of Us, were part of your selections.

I placed Lily Allen above Kelly Clarkson in most of the rounds but put 'Sober' second in my vote in the final as it was a better song than Lily's, I didn't know either song that well.

Thanks Calum for all the work you put into this again, getting every round started promptly and presenting all the results.

Aside: Lily getting to send more songs than any other artist this season! She wasn't one of the automatic qualifiers from the female category after Michelle Branch's withdrawal so she played that round, and also played The Scoop, so Lily's been involved with every single round that's been played

Also, 'The Winner Takes It All' was absolutely the best choice for the final, it's frequently rated ABBA's best song - and anyone with the slightest knowledge of the lyrics would know there's nothing remotely arrogant or triumphant about it, it's an intensely sad song, not least because the emotions are real!

omggggg condrgaulationssss julian!!

honestly a good winner after y’all eliminated the best contestants in the competition too early like rosalia, chappell roan and fka twigs. what’s wrong with y’all!!!!

flop factor i fear next season y’all need to get the good artists far enough

that being said thanks calum for hosting it’s entertaining xx