Thank you for so many discoveries @gooddelta

OMG no not Texas!!! I'm gutted! 😭

Disappointed Texas are out, I know I had liked in the past what little I knew of them (including many songs that I knew but didn't know the name of), but they've been a highlight of this competition for me, well done with them Rich, some very considered choices throughout.

Nice Zara song I thought too, from someone who isn't always the biggest fan of her.

Great write-up Rich - sorry for my harshness on the least streamed pick hehe but yes, you definitely redeemed yourself in my eyes at least going out on a relative high for me with another more recent pick which was more to my tastes. I've enjoyed the education about their discog along the way even if I've not been crazy about all of the actual songs ('Black Eyed Boy' aside, that is still brill). And that coursework write-up is iconic

I've now got to the same stage as I did with ROSALÍA last time around, which has been my aim since securing a spot in the live shows, so pleased to have not been undone by a themed round. Will see if history repeats itself now... (last time I flamed out in 10th place sending my personal favourite song from her, I may or may not be about to do the same in the third live show now).

Hats off to @RobBot for fooling me and for fantastic play for Zara, with discoveries and songs I didn't know well alongside the hits, a real mixed bag played. I'm glad you managed to get to her first!!

I am truly confused as to who out there is choosing to send Darin to this if it's not Rob being forced into sending another solo man due to being late to confirm again ddd. Him actually getting further than Zara (twice!) is camp x

Here were my votes this time round:

1 New Order - Confusion (Pump Panel Reconstruction Mix)

2 Sam Fender - Seventeen Going Under

3 Depeche Mode - Just Can't Get Enough (Schizo Mix)

4 Fontaines D.C. - In ár gCroíthe go deo (Orbital Remix)

5 Adele - Hometown Glory (High Contrast Remix)

6 Bananarama - Now or Never

7 Disclosure feat. Sam Smith - Omen

8 Darin - Give Me Tonight

9 Kate Bush - The Big Sky (Meteorological Mix)

10 Texas - Mr Haze (GBX & Paul Keenan Remix)

11 MARINA - Radioactive

12 Sophie Ellis-Bextor & Wuh Oh - Hypnotized

13 Zara Larsson & Robyn - Puss Puss (Girls Trip)

So 'happy' with the eliminations as much as I can be! The Zara song was very much not my thing, and whilst I'm generally quite inclined towards Texas that entry didn't grab me and I was always going to err on the side of Fontaines when it came to choosing between them.

RE Texas

I love Put Your Arms Around Me!!

A shame Once In Our Lifetime and Say What You Want didnt get time to be used !!

I am going to play them now!

19 minutes ago, gooddelta said:

Essay alert:

Although people may not know me for loving Texas, when I was growing up they were second only to The Corrs in my affections before Delta Goodrem came along, and both of those acts were played last year, Delta by me. In college we even had to pick a band to make a fictional album cover for on Microsoft Paint and I chose Texas***.

I’m not saying George Ezra copied my concept with his Wanted on Voyage album cover but…

Texas are one of the great singles bands, as shown by the 2 million selling Greatest Hits album which both preceded (by a few weeks) and then replaced Beatles’ 1 at No.1 in the UK in 2000/2001. Backed up by two very strong ‘new’ songs in In Demand and Inner Smile. I finally saw them live in 2022 and thoroughly enjoyed it, Sharleen Spiteri is one of the best frontwomen of a band this country has produced and is still in fine voice.

I also knew I had a deep knowledge of their catalogue as I own all of their albums and many of their singles and have recently finished importing them to my laptop, so could easily check b-sides and stuff not on Spotify when required. They are also one of those bands where a lot of people know their songs but maybe don’t know they are by Texas, backed up by comments made by posters over the last few weeks.

I loved all the different guesses people had for me, ranging from Marina to Sophie, Bananarama to Darin, New Order and more. As I played Delta Goodrem last season though, I was never going to pick the same category again and had a female artist as only my third choice (Texas was first and a male I might use in future was second - neither my second or third picks showed up). 

When I got Texas though I thought ‘ok, how do I actually do well with them’, because they are not always pop or alt, but more soul or indie sometimes depending on their mood, so I thought they might fall through the cracks with voters, not getting either top pop or alt support and just making up the numbers. 

I tried to pretend I was Darin by posting detailed info I already knew about him for my comments each week and could also very conceivably have been Bananarama. Sophie’s mentor also played her songs roughly how I would have done so that was a good guess too. I’d not have sent Marina but she’s a great choice by whoever did.

Anyway, I didn’t start with a game plan, so thought I would send a respected, well liked song of theirs that isn’t absolutely huge as didn’t want to use a huge hit so early. And When We Are Together came to mind, the very jolly and poppy third single from 1999 album The Hush which was a top 15 hit and is still played on tour. I was very pleased it did so well in the opening round, coming second albeit way behind Vengaboys.

In the second round I decided to go with I Don’t Want A Lover to immediately show a change in sound/style/era, right back to their first hit and folksy, soul and rocky roots. The song did brilliantly, comfortably winning the round, but I immediately noticed quite a few alt voters still placed them near the bottom like the previous week, even though you’d think it would be more up their street, yet pop voters had it quite high on the whole.

So from that point onwards I decided to treat Texas as a ‘pop’ act primarily as I felt I wasn’t going to be able to convince some of the alt voters with anything, and so it proved as the weeks went on and the consistent low scores from some voters continued.

So when it came to ‘Should have been a single’ week I had a flick through their albums for the poppiest and catchiest songs but Texas were always great at picking singles and album tracks were not always their strongest point, apart from Drawing Crazy Patterns from White On Blonde, which could have been a single and I did strongly consider sending this, and The Hush from the album of the same name, which is kind of trip hop and different and could have won over the alt voters perhaps (but I wasn’t certain) but would also have alienated the pop voters, so it felt like too much of a risk. I had a long think and at this point recalled a b-side of theirs I used to adore called Like Lovers (Holding On) from the In Demand single and Greatest Hits era, which was also on a film soundtrack, to Titan A.E., and fondly remembered by fans of the film. It’s also the sort of song that has their poppy trademark sound that you could imagine as a single with a remix and a bit of spit and polish so I felt it fit the theme well. I chanced it and was elated to find it finished joint third because it wasn’t on Spotify, which I thought would be a big disadvantage.

Onto the next free choice round, and I decided it was all becoming very competitive very quickly and my main aim at this point was to get Texas to the live shows, so I started playing the biggies to ensure their safety. Starting with the undeniable classic Black Eyed Boy, my first play from the legendary White On Blonde album, which I knew would go down well, and it did, winning that round. This was one of the high points from White On Blonde and holds great memories for me, so I had to play it.

For the slight best round I continued on this path of sending pop bangers and classics and went with Inner Smile, not realising that it would be part of the Six Chair Challenge. This is another of my personal favourite Texas singles and I’m glad I sent such a strong single to this now that it would have been hard for a judge to justify turfing out, as I felt Texas definitely had no way to get back in through the Gamu round. I was glad it did the job although surprised when a lot of people posted their ‘would be ranks’ and had Inner Smile in last! I guess I can see why it might be divisive though.

Deciding I wanted to send another undeniable classic and one that wouldn’t be very divisive, I went for their jewel in the pop crown for the top 10 most streamed week in the brilliant Summer Son, which again comfortably topped the group, and with them never missing the top three in the voted rounds so far, I can see why people thought they might be a threat, but I was well aware I was chucking out their very biggest hits week after week just to beat the competition and would soon run out of steam and popular options. Still, I only had one aim - to get them to the lives.

And then came the biggest challenge yet in the ’top 10 least streamed’ round. For this I was basically stuck with half of the under-appreciated Careful What You Wish For album, and a few other fillers from early albums. I thought about sending a pretty good song called Place In My World that I used to enjoy but wondered if the presence of rapper Dolomite might put some pop voters off (and knew alt voters wouldn’t touch it), so I kept searching and then thought about going back through the b-sides not on Spotify again (hence me asking that question in the thread) but couldn’t find much that was good. But then, as luck would have it, their first single in three years landed on my lap the morning I needed to confirm and it seemed decent enough and better produced than anything else I’d come across so I took a chance on the loophole of a new release that hadn’t had time to rack up any streams. This ended up nearly going out, coming 4th out of five, although any of the groups could have done, the round was so close.

Ecstatic to make the lives, I started to realise how competitive it now was and that to go forward I would need to start playing their remaining big hitters where possible. It made sense to start with Halo, one of my favourite Texas songs, and another incredible single from White On Blonde. It performed ok although 10th was disappointing for me for a song that is considered by fans to be one of their very best, and again I realised the lives would be an uphill struggle, with Texas likely falling through the gaps for many voters who would favour either pop or alt, especially as I had already played so many of their biggest classics…

…Which lead us into the Club Bangers and Remixes round, and here I knew I was in trouble. Obviously Texas don’t have any club bangers so I had to rely on remixes, and none of the mixes available are particularly good so my hand was forced a bit here. I found some ok mixes of Sleep and I’ll See It Through, some pretty good garage remixes by Sunship and Wookie of In Demand and a surprising Unkle remix of Hi, but I didn’t personally love any of them, and most of them were not on Spotify to add insult to injury.

I also always said I would only send a song I love to this competition, as I’m showing a part of my own taste as much as trying to get as far as possible. So I decided to go for 2021 release Mr Haze (GBX & Paul Keenan Remix) because I was waiting for an opportunity to play the original version of this, as I absolutely love it and think it’s their best single since 2006. An opportune time didn’t come but I didn’t want to exit the competition without playing it, especially after Bror’s comment two rounds earlier ‘brand new Texas in 2026 is not what the doctor ordered’, which felt like a challenge to me because their last album, Hi, for me was a gem, with at least four songs I could have happily sent to this. So I felt like I owed it to them to show off one more recent song by them and was delighted Bror marked it quite well this week, as it is so recent! This remix is fairly faithful to the original, and keeps the Donna Summer sample in tact, and it also went viral in a small way back in 2021, particularly on the Scottish dance scene, so it felt like as good a remix as any to use, plus I was happy to use Mr Haze, whatever its fate was likely to be. And I’m happy to have managed a spread from their first album right the way through to their most recent single, with lots of different eras dotted throughout, although nothing from many albums, as they have so many.

They put up a good fight and weren’t far behind the pack this week and I’m very pleased how far I took them, and that they were unexpectedly the highest ranked Scottish act, even above Calvin Harris! I didn’t expect to get to the lives and do nearly as well as I did with Delta last year, so 12th, and to finish in the top third of acts, is fantastic.

To sign off, I would have liked to have found time and a way to play all five of the following, which are personal favourites but for one reason or another I didn’t get round to: Sleep (I think this could excel in a ballad round, but there wasn’t one and I felt it could get lost in another round), Say What You Want (their signature and most played song and obviously I was saving it for the possibility of getting further), Carnival Girl (derided by fans and consumers alike but I absolutely adore this, however it felt like it would send me out if I played it), In Our Lifetime (one of my absolute favourites and I wish I’d played it earlier on like in the first round instead of When We Are Together, I just didn’t find another moment for it), and Can’t Resist (apologies to Mango for not playing anything from Red Book, this Xenomania production is what I had actually planned to play this week, but it’s a pop banger rather than a club banger so I didn’t want to take the mick with something not fitting the theme).

Over and out, good luck to everyone still in, I’m excited to see the rest of the competition unfold!

---

***Here is the original coursework I attached with that album cover (23 years ago this week!), funny that I mentioned Dido and Sophie in it. Apparently I also liked the word polysemic, which I have never used since!

When researching a band for this project, I considered many factors. Firstly, the conventions that the cover should have, and secondly, how I could incorporate a range of different connotations-‘Meaning added by the audience to what is actually seen in an image’-Teach yourself Media Studies, Downes and Miller-into the cover, to make a polysemic image which could be interpreted in different ways. From these guidelines I chose to do the band Texas for my album cover after I did Internet research of the genre and then the band on www.amazon.co.uk. From this I discovered how I could make a cover, which continued the process of thought that the band would have had when designing a cover.

I chose Texas because they have a very identifiable theme on their last four covers, which I thought that I could elaborate on, on this cover. The first three album covers featured some or all members of the band. On the last four covers it has just been the female singer, Sharleen, on all of the covers alone. I think that this emphasises her role as the ‘face of the band’.

I chose to do an album called ‘Face in the crowd’ with Sharleen standing out from the crowd. I thought that this idea was polysemic, because to some people it will mean that she is the main face, the role model and the icon of the band. Other people may think that the title refers to the music of Texas, and how it stands out from the crowd. Most of the Texas album covers feature the band name and the title in lower case writing, so I have continued the trend here.

I carried out some further research of music from this genre to justify my decision. I found it hard to pinpoint the exact genre but decided on ‘sophisticated British pop’ and looked at similar artists Dido (www.dido.co.uk) and Sophie Ellis-Bextor (www.sophieellisbextor.com) who both feature prominently on their covers, and bands theaudience and St Etienne, whose lead singer features alone on the cover, like Texas.

The audience of Texas is of a more mature age, 20 to 40 years old, male and female. Sharleen tends to appear on stylish magazine covers such as Q, I-D and GQ (www.hiponline.com/artist/music/t/texas/), as a fashion icon, so this is one reason why she is the ‘face of the band’. The audience sees Sharleen on the cover, and identifies her as the icon of the band. The reason that the image would appeal to its target audience is because they will recognise that it is usually only Sharleen from the band that we see on covers and in interviews.

The album cover ‘Face in the crowd’ not only fits in with past Texas conventions, but also elaborates on them. I feel that the cover is a reflection of Sharleen’s role in the band, and that by putting the crowd out of focus, and bringing her further into focus, as if she’s the only one that matters. It is an eye catching cover, but also quite polysemic in its meaning. There is a denotation, which is her face standing out from the crowd, but the connotations are vast, ranging from the style of music, to the status that she has acclaimed as an icon and role model.

What a sensational write up! I thoroughly enjoyed reading through all that from the college artwork and write up to the ideas and thoughts behind each round! 😍

I'm gutted Texas are out I utterly adore the group, and they scored pretty highly throughout the whole contest for me, don't think they ever went below midtable and were often top of my votes alongside Bananarama (another band I adore) in all the group rounds I think. Sharleen is definitely one of the best frontwomen of a band of all time and deserves all the accolades.

Can't resist is one of my favourite Texas songs as is Sleep so it's a shame they were not played. I also adore Get Away, the whole Red Book album is easily my favourite of theirs. Deffo think you had lots more to give, sorry you didn't get to. ❤️ All in all though, what an excellent ride you had, I genuinely don't think you put a foot wrong the whole time. ❤️ Well done Rich.

Also have to add now... who the heck is @Mangø???

Edited Monday at 20:211 day by Spiceboy

Congratulations and commiserations to @RobBot and @gooddelta.

@RobBot, I felt genuinely horrible putting Zara towards the bottom most weeks, but I did enjoy discovering more of her music. I kind of stopped following her closely after Ruin My Life in 2018, so almost everything was new for me. You played it so very well. I kind of want to check out some of her more recent albums now.

@gooddelta, you played it exceptionally well with Texas. I knew nothing from them apart from Say What You Want, so pretty much everything was a discovery for me. Well actually there was one or two which I’d heard once or twice but didn’t realise it was them. I really enjoyed what I heard from them throughout the Pop Factor and I’m gutted they’re out. You’ve hit me wanting to check out their Greatest Hits to see if there’s anything else I might like or recognise.

@RobBot I hope we get to hear from you, would love to read your write up. Sorry I was convinced you were Zara all along, you certainly did make me second guess a lot! 🤣 Zara isn't really my thing but you certainly introduced me to a couple of nice songs here, and including Robyn in this round was such a lovely touch. Well done on getting this far. ❤️

Well done @gooddelta and @RobBot on great runs, the late addition of a Fontaines fan judge was an unfortunate nail in the coffin for you, shame because there was so many fun entries to come from Texas with a great catalogue to pick from.

Also, Rob I’ve gotta ask… how nervous were you in round 1 when you almost were eliminated with the absolutely dreadful “love me land”? Very fortunate there, but glad you got to have the run you did!

Ugh this really is turning into the alt factor

Gutted for both, was absolutely certain Rob was Darin though!!!

Not that anyone’s asking

But here’s how I voted.

1 Sam Fender - Seventeen Going Under

2 Adele - Hometown Glory (High Contrast Remix)

3 Darin - Give Me Tonight

4 MARINA - Radioactive

5 Sophie Ellis-Bextor & Wuh Oh - Hypnotized

6 Depeche Mode - Just Can't Get Enough (Schizo Mix)

7 Bananarama - Now or Never

8 Disclosure feat. Sam Smith - Omen

9 Texas - Mr Haze (GBX & Paul Keenan Remix)

10 Kate Bush - The Big Sky (Meteorological Mix)

11 Zara Larsson & Robyn - Puss Puss (Girls Trip)

12 New Order - Confusion (Pump Panel Reconstruction Mix)

13 Fontaines D.C. - In ár gCroíthe go deo (Orbital Remix)

I’m trying really hard, but Fontaines just are not doing anything for me. I’ve mildly enjoyed one of the songs so far but I’m just not seeing what people see in them, I will keep an open mind!

I really enjoy Texas and I would have moved to hear more as I mentioned but I have to admit, this song just wasn’t doing it for me… they are one of the acts that suffered with this theme unfortunately and I struggled to back it as strongly… I will feel terrible if their safety was down to a point or two though.

Whilst not my absolute favourite acts in this competition, I have to put Sophie and Marina as the front runners because they absolutely have highlighted their artists perfectly.

Looking forward to getting down to the crunch now!

Good luck everyone remaining.

1 hour ago, Jade said:

Oh I was actually on the money with my Texas guess! Well done Rich

However... I believed the Darin theories. Not Rob faking a whole backstory about not getting his first choice!

PLOT TWIST: @RobBot didn’t lie and Darin was his first choice before being beaten to him so “settled” for Zara…

But yeah, can’t say I am a fan of seeing both Zara and Texas leave in this round! It’s a shame!

I am intrigued to hear what people heard in New Order’s song choice that they didn’t hear in Texas (especially as some of the non-alt crowd voted NO higher than Texas)

Definitely expect a rebranding of this competition for the next series. Pop just isn't pop anymore.

Round 10: Live Show Two in Ibiza

Results

I have to apologise to the judges for giving them a pointless exercise this afternoon when I started panicking