I'm still conflicted on whether to reveal the full results for this round because I don't want anyone feeling like shit about how their artist performed vs the rest. Might wait until the end of the season

4 minutes ago, Calum said:

I'm still conflicted on whether to reveal the full results for this round because I don't want anyone feeling like shit about how their artist performed vs the rest. Might wait until the end of the season

Fair enough, that sounds like a sensible and considerate decision.

oh so someone absolutely bombed 🤭

It goes without saying that Eric Saade would not have been my first option but I was 39th out of 39 to pick and I didn’t want to miss out for a second year 😂

All that being said, I had fun! I’m naturally competitive so it was a different angle knowing I absolutely had 0% chance of winning but trying to strategise how I could keep sneaking by. And I was very close to the knock out phase so not a bad job!

Could always just reveal the top 10 from the last round or something?

Thanks for the amazingly hard work on these write ups by the way Calum! 🙏

Still amazed at the Lisa artist deflection from Iz - incredible work there!

1 minute ago, Lindsey. said:

oh so someone absolutely bombed 🤭

With a deduction on top

Yeah, just Top 10 sounds reasonable, unless Ace Of Base finished outside and then keep those results to yourself

I think that as we could only pick five songs, a few artists might not have scored any points in that round.

Yeah I wouldn't mind seeing the top 10.

17 minutes ago, Calum said:

No theme for Live Show One, so just free choice until I hit you with a theme in a future round

You did say before that it's double eliminations every round from here on then?

2 minutes ago, awardinary said:

You did say before that it's double eliminations every round from here on then?

Indeed

the Pav & Jade reveals were shocks! And I’m honestly so gagged that Conan Grey beat out Call Me and Careless Whisper, I could never have called that.

Conan going through over Blondie, Kesha and George Michael it’s indeed a shocker, but kudos to them

14 minutes ago, awardinary said:

You did say before that it's double eliminations every round from here on then?

11 minutes ago, Calum said:

Indeed

Why do I feel like the pressure has been turned up all of a sudden.

Shock horror Erasure was me!

I just wanted to send an act I loved from my childhood and decided from the off that I wanted to send tracks that represented each of their key albums from their breakthrough to when they started to wain in popularity... and I achieved that so I'm happy enough with how it went. I also decided from the off that I wasn't going to solely rely on their biggest singles, so went with...

Drama! (from Wild!) - this was the song that really got me in to them so it seemed like the perfect one to open with. I had it on a best of 1989 compilation that I had for christmas with my first walkman. This emerged as my favourite track on it and so began my obsession over the next few years...

So The Story Goes (from I Say I Say I Say) - when I bought the album I wasn't expecting anything to top Always but there were a few album tracks that I really loved from it, namely Take Me Back, All Through The Years and this one) so I decided to represent the album with one of them to show they were more than just a singles band - I think they are overlooked in terms of albums and their first 3 from the 90s are particularly strong imo)

Sometimes (from The Circus) - I wouldn't have chosen this if it weren't for the theme as it isn't a huge favourite of mine, but I decided to play by the rules and send one of their main signature hits.

Sono Luminus (from Erasure) - I really like their self titled album, even though moving away from 4 minute songs to sprawling tracks pretty much killed their career. I could easily have chosen Rescue Me, Angel or A Long Goodbye as more commercial sounding tracks from that album too but Sono Luminus is really lovely and thought I'd make use of the lobster whilst I still had it.

Chorus (from Chorus) - Chorus was my first CD album and I was absolutely obsessed with it, it's the album that turned me from a fan to a bit of a stan. The album is quite Moroder-esque in production and this was the first single lifted from it, I love the siren to announce its arrival and the choir of Andys in the breakdown - could have easily gone with many others from the album too but I was a bit nervous so went with one of the singles as I thought it was basically either them or the Chicks to go!

A Little Respect (from The Innocents) - not going to lie, I was gutted when I saw what they'd been drawn against... and ultimately was quite chuffed when I saw they'd only lost out by one vote (I think?). Classic single and easily my favourite from this album, and this completed my aim to send one song from each of their peak eras. The one thing I did think about the draw against Heroes was I could imagine that all the people who probably voted Erasure reasonably highly in the other rounds would probably go for Bowie, where as I could imagine many of the people who had consistently rated Erasure lowly would prefer this to Bowie. No grumbles about losing to Heroes though.

Rock Me Gently (from Erasure) - I actually really wanted to use the lobster to send this during the rounds I could but it never fitted any of the themes so I wasn't able to - I think it's a beautiful song that showcases them being a bit more experimental with ambient breakdowns etc, and it's also really special to me as it was out at the time when my grandma passed away and it reminds me a lot of her and how much I miss her. I gathered from the reactions in the thread that it may have been a bit of a WTF choice but realistically they were never going to make it and I'd rather send something that meant more to me, and hopefully was new to most other people than just send a big single that most people would already know. Was really nice to see a few people mention it in a positive way as the voting thread progressed though.

It's a shame they didn't make it through the battles as I did think I'd left enough of their bigger hits to give them a fighting chance of making it through a few live shows, and I still had a handful of album tracks I think were strong enough to showcase as well. I'd probably have sent Always to the ballad round that seems to be being teased, and I'd have gone for Fingers & Thumbs for the flop round (a relatively upbeat track that seems like it's about a relationship but is actually about Andy finding out he'd contracted HIV and lamenting that he was paying a huge price for one mistake)... I was saving their #1 in case there was a covers round (would have been Lay All Your Love On Me, not the awful Take a Chance On Me cover though!) and Love to Hate You would have been played if we had to send a big OTT song.

Finally - one major plus was that I got to own the Rebecca Ferguson Lobster of Resurrection! What an honour indeed! 😂 - and I imagine everyone was wondering how on earth I worked those clues out?!!!! Well, the answer is that I worked out within about 2 minutes that they were impossible and thought instead that the only way to try and solve it was to turn to the votes to decide which acts seemed to have no major support, plus I stuck to my initial guns for A1 when I first opened the act reveal thread and thought "Who in their right mind would send A1 of all acts?!!!" - it was nice to see that I wouldn't have actually needed it though.

btw the biggest shock of the reveals for me was Jade being behind Blondie and not Rosalia - I had Pav down as Fred Again as I didn't think Dan would choose him if he went with a dance act.

1 minute ago, dandy* said:

btw the biggest shock of the reveals for me was Jade being behind Blondie and not Rosalia - I had Pav down as Fred Again as I didn't think Dan would choose him if he went with a dance act.

Actually, if Dan has an act then I feel slightly stumped as I thought Fred again.. and then maybe The Weeknd.

But both are out! Maybe it will be a shock and he sent Atomic Kitten

1 hour ago, awardinary said:

Oh wow! The one thing I'd been certain of for such a long time now was that Blondie was @Mangø and now I'm flabbergasted! 😮

Funnily enough I did consider sending Blondie at one point!

Ngl I'm gutted to be out at this stage and apparently by a whisker too, but c'est la vie! The Weeknd wasn't actually my first choice - the ironic thing is that my first choice was Abba, who in fact ended up knocking my act out you couldn't make it up, could you! I then tried to confirm George Michael before Calum informed me he had literally just been taken! So The Weeknd was my third choice. I probably got some of the song choices wrong but I don't think there's anything I could have possibly sent to compete with Abba's 'Lay All Your Love On Me'!

Anyway loving the contest so far, sterling job @Calum, and I'm looking forward to seeing how the rest of it plays out!

I'm still waiting for @JosephStyles to chastise me as promised for not sending Destroyer to either the battles or the Platinum Paije (I promised him I would then just sent Wild Guess > Hard Sometimes instead, both two of my absolute favourites of Ruel's )

I think there's one more song I was toying over sending for Ruel in a few rounds but just didn't end up going with thinking it maybe wouldn't land, but I adore it :

Very fun to see who’s behind the competition. I would never in a million years have guessed Nadia Oh was seven. I also thought Jade was 100% Rosalia!

I always tell Liam about how much I hate The Chicks but I must admit that Not Ready to Make Nice and Top of the World were both gorgeous discoveries. Even if I didn’t like the rest, well done on partially winning me over Herbs.

In another world, I’d have loved to have been behind Twigs. She’s one of my favourites and also one of the greatest gigs I’ve ever been to in my life. I can’t wait for her upcoming tour dates in June, I will be there!!!