Are only 2 out of the final 11 acts not British? (Fontaines and Darin)

Who would've thought the two international acts left standing would be MALE?

3 minutes ago, RobBot said:

I will say, on a slightly less fun note, that I am a little bit relieved to be out. And I was relieved when I was out the first time. There has been a strange negativity surrounding Zara from the beginning which felt unexpected to me - I wasn't aware she was an artist that people had particular disdain for me and it took me by surprise. I don't mean not liking Love Me Land - like what you like. But there were some quite heavy criticisms, people openly willing her to get voted out early and being disappointed when she wasn't, and constant - what I can only describe as - pop snobbery in people's comments. I'm kinda used to that happening in BJSC - a lot of the time when I go into Plug.DJ, my entries are sneered at a fair bit when I send pure pop (Felicia, Babe America etc) but I find the humour in it. However, this being a Pop Factor contest held in the Pop Forum, it's kinda irked me that there's been a sneering towards pop, as I wouldn't go into the Indie Forum and look down my nose at Unknown Pleasures, or Dance with Club Bizarre. I can acknowledge maybe I don't get the most out of it and let people enjoy it, but the "soulless", "vapid" kind of criticisms kinda shit on pop music, where a lot of the joy in it is its whimsy. That's that me espresso, here's my number call me maybe, I really really really wanna zig-a-zig ahh. This is the type of place I should not have to feel like that's a guilty pleasure or beneath people. I think I always tried to keep my comments, even with artists I regular voted low like Gary Numan, New Order, so that there was a positive at the end, or that I liked the production, or that I was looking forward to Cars because I know there's something I'm gonna like.

Oh, and by the way, @Lee_J - I genuinely was NOT lying that I'd never heard DJ Made Me Do until that round. 🤣

I took a listen to all of Zara Larsson's bottom 10 and was like... well, these are all absolute no hopers, how can I turn this on its head?! And then started listening to Midnight Sun demo's THAT NIGHT. I just assumed that Zara would go straight back out the door anyway, so I wanted to go out on something I really liked - colour me genuinely VERY surprised when I made it through.

But I got a new Zara bop out of it and may I say, she should not have bothered doing a remix album and just done a deluxe because there's like 3 or 4 bangers on the cutting room floor.

1 minute ago, RobBot said:

I will say, on a slightly less fun note, that I am a little bit relieved to be out. And I was relieved when I was out the first time. There has been a strange negativity surrounding Zara from the beginning which felt unexpected to me - I wasn't aware she was an artist that people had particular disdain for me and it took me by surprise. I don't mean not liking Love Me Land - like what you like. But there were some quite heavy criticisms, people openly willing her to get voted out early and being disappointed when she wasn't, and constant - what I can only describe as - pop snobbery in people's comments. I'm kinda used to that happening in BJSC - a lot of the time when I go into Plug.DJ, my entries are sneered at a fair bit when I send pure pop (Felicia, Babe America etc) but I find the humour in it. However, this being a Pop Factor contest held in the Pop Forum, it's kinda irked me that there's been a sneering towards pop, as I wouldn't go into the Indie Forum and look down my nose at Unknown Pleasures, or Dance with Club Bizarre. I can acknowledge maybe I don't get the most out of it and let people enjoy it, but the "soulless", "vapid" kind of criticisms kinda shit on pop music, where a lot of the joy in it is its whimsy. That's that me espresso, here's my number call me maybe, I really really really wanna zig-a-zig ahh. This is the type of place I should not have to feel like that's a guilty pleasure or beneath people. I think I always tried to keep my comments, even with artists I regular voted low like Gary Numan, New Order, so that there was a positive at the end, or that I liked the production, or that I was looking forward to Cars because I know there's something I'm gonna like.

I kinda touched on this when I got eliminated last round, but I heavily edited what I said, as I didn't really want to come across too negative - as I do enjoy the Pop Factor and as you said, a lot of hard work goes into it - but yeah I struggled with this series and was relieved in the end to go, as 2 months of constant negativity is hard going.

But I have to agree with every word here, I was even going to use the same term of Snobbery in people's comments as well - and just how dismissive some voters are about Pop acts - who even seem to be voting in tandem together. When as you say, this is the Pop Factor, in the Pop Forum and should really be a celebration of Pop Music. You have to ask why people are taking part when they clearly don't like Pop music at all and hold it with some form is distain and to a lower regard.

You also put it far better than my post would've done too!

Edited Monday at 22:071 day by ElectroBoy

Love the Darin Last.fm decoy, inspired! I made a similar Bananarama playlist for myself in case anyone was snooping my recently played activity on Spotify, and had it playing a lot while checking Texas songs on iTunes haha.

9 minutes ago, Scene said:

Are only 2 out of the final 11 acts not British? (Fontaines and Darin)

Who would've thought the two international acts left standing would be MALE?

Darin coming for the Win!

4 minutes ago, gooddelta said:

Love the Darin Last.fm decoy, inspired! I made a similar Bananarama playlist for myself in case anyone was snooping my recently played activity on Spotify, and had it playing a lot while checking Texas songs on iTunes haha.

This is exactly how I got you as Bananarama, so you successfully duped me in the same way I was trying to fool everyone else 😂

10 minutes ago, RobBot said:

WELL WELL WELL... it was me, who'd have guessed?! Surprisingly, not everyone!

I really f***ed this round up for myself and I knew it from the minute I opened the thread, to be honest. I just took the theme too literally - in my brain, the only two "club bangers" that Zara Larsson had were Lush Life & Midnight Sun which I wasn't using yet incase she got further. Obviously, given that we ended up with stuff like Seventeen Going Under and even something like Radioactive, to be honest, means that I could've just got away with sending anything upbeat like Eurosummer. I just overthought it... which I guess is part of the danger of sending someone that you love so much, I'm perhaps too familiar with her music. Puss Puss is my favourite remix on the Girls' Trip album but, in hindsight, silly of me to think that would translate.

I can't feel bitterness at leaving though, considering I didn't deserve to be in the final in the first place, and was only there because of Robyn departing. I like to think of myself as something of a clever game player and I'm VERY competitive but my game was thrown LITERALLY at Round 1, as Viper said, by how badly Love Me Land did. That song, for reference, was voted as her 5th best song in a Zara Larsson fan poll on Reddit with about 200+ people voting in it, in the same week as Pop Factor started. There is no way I could conceivably have known it would've gone down so badly, but it meant that I started swinging way earlier than I had any intention of doing so. Ain't My Fault would PROBABLY have been my pick for this club banger round, if I hadn't used it, and I had every intention of keeping it until the live shows. The girls were just TOO good this time and those with a bigger legacy just factually do a lot better - it's a fact that the majority of voters are probably closer to 40 (this is absolutely no shade) and have a huge nostalgic lean towards 90s and 00s, which isn't as strong for me, outside of the biggest acts like Britney Spears. So, I think where artists like Kate or Sophie could maybe get away with a hidden gem that people were aware of - I had to go with a hit every single time to not fall behind, which is just how the cards fell in Round 3! But, yeah, consider my tactical game play blown apart and then, as soon as I tried to start a game plan, I played Puss Puss to save myself and here we are!

My FAVOURITE part of this game hasn't been the songs or being Zara Larsson, it's 100% been the pretending to be other acts. I actually can't believe, 9 rounds in, people still thought that I wasn't Zara Larsson, as her biggest fan of this site landslidedly, but I was THROUGHLY entertained by it. It had me GIDDY to see Rich thinking I was Darin even today.

I had a gameplan from the first moment to pretend I'd missed out on an act and Darin being entered was like putty in my hands. To be clear about the lengths I went to, on the day that the artists were revealed, I began streaming Darin on my Last.fm. I changed my signature. I pretended to "discover new music". On the day that we found out ALBUM TRACKS was the theme, I watched Big Brother while this played in the background just incase anyone was snooping my socials for clues:

So thank you to Lee for giving me someone to hide behind xx

I will say, on a slightly less fun note, that I am a little bit relieved to be out. And I was relieved when I was out the first time. There has been a strange negativity surrounding Zara from the beginning which felt unexpected to me - I wasn't aware she was an artist that people had particular disdain for me and it took me by surprise. I don't mean not liking Love Me Land - like what you like. But there were some quite heavy criticisms, people openly willing her to get voted out early and being disappointed when she wasn't, and constant - what I can only describe as - pop snobbery in people's comments. I'm kinda used to that happening in BJSC - a lot of the time when I go into Plug.DJ, my entries are sneered at a fair bit when I send pure pop (Felicia, Babe America etc) but I find the humour in it. However, this being a Pop Factor contest held in the Pop Forum, it's kinda irked me that there's been a sneering towards pop, as I wouldn't go into the Indie Forum and look down my nose at Unknown Pleasures, or Dance with Club Bizarre. I can acknowledge maybe I don't get the most out of it and let people enjoy it, but the "soulless", "vapid" kind of criticisms kinda shit on pop music, where a lot of the joy in it is its whimsy. That's that me espresso, here's my number call me maybe, I really really really wanna zig-a-zig ahh. This is the type of place I should not have to feel like that's a guilty pleasure or beneath people. I think I always tried to keep my comments, even with artists I regular voted low like Gary Numan, New Order, so that there was a positive at the end, or that I liked the production, or that I was looking forward to Cars because I know there's something I'm gonna like.

So, all in all, I think I will definitely participate going forward because I think this is a fantastic competition that Calum has created and, my god, does he work hard at it?! I can't even imagine the work that goes into it. But, I think I'd have to play it with somebody who I'm less devoted to and play it at an arm's length without feeling too involved, because sometimes the energy is a bit off.

I hope most of you at least got something you liked out of Zara Larsson! I managed to send something from every (British released) era and even a DEMO. And I absolutely do not regret not ever sending my favourite pop song of the decade, and realistically already one of my favourite songs of all time, in Midnight Sun - that was only ever going to be played if I made the final because it's the only way I'd have wanted to cap off playing my favourite artist in the world ❤️

ENJOY EVERYONE!

Another fabulous write up, I think reading the write ups is one of my favourite parts of this whole contest.

Again, it's making me think more carefully about what I say about entries (think's back to my bad joke about the hearing aid earlier eek... 🙈) seeing how the comments can affect, if I made any that hit hard then please accept my apology. I found a few Zara songs pleasant but for some reason she has never really hit home with me, not sure why as an avid Pop lover.

I love how EXTREME you were to try and move suspicion away from you being Zara, that is utterly iconic! 😂

Well done again, I really did like the Robyn touch (although there is hilarious irony in her getting you back in then taking you out again!) 🫢 ❤️

The first hand experience listening to all of Rob's decoy methods and the lengths he went to to avoid detection was peak entertainment I can't lie MVP x

1 minute ago, Calum said:

The first hand experience listening to all of Rob's decoy methods and the lengths he went to to avoid detection was peak entertainment I can't lie MVP x

It must be so interesting for you to watch us all knowing who we are. 😂

6 minutes ago, RobBot said:

what I can only describe as - pop snobbery in people's comments. I'm kinda used to that happening in BJSC - a lot of the time when I go into Plug.DJ, my entries are sneered at a fair bit when I send pure pop (Felicia, Babe America etc) but I find the humour in it. However, this being a Pop Factor contest held in the Pop Forum, it's kinda irked me that there's been a sneering towards pop, as I wouldn't go into the Indie Forum and look down my nose at Unknown Pleasures, or Dance with Club Bizarre. I can acknowledge maybe I don't get the most out of it and let people enjoy it, but the "soulless", "vapid" kind of criticisms kinda shit on pop music, where a lot of the joy in it is its whimsy.

A great read thank you @RobBot people saying they are absolutely convinced you can’t be anything other than Darin is quite hilarious looking back.

And I really have to point out this particular part because it’s SO accurate. Some of the comments of “let’s make this the alt factor” and general disdain for pop music in the pop forum is baffling. We have unknown pleasures for example in the indie forum where you’re actively encouraged to find the most away from the mainstream indie/rock music you can possibly, then we come here to an event named after pop in the pop forum and it’s seemingly actively voted against, I’m a little confused. The late addition of another alt/indie leaning judge who pretty much stated in here they will find it very hard to vote against the Fontaines in the future has made it an uphill battle for future rounds too!

But, it’s all a game and not that serious, just as a little personal preference I do hope pop gets to prevail in the end and this convo will just become redundant.

I think @gooddelta has made the comment above that hopefully feels right, the eliminations of Zara and Texas will move their votes to stronger pop leaning artists and a comeback can happen!

Thank you again (both of you) for impressive turnouts!

4 minutes ago, Calum said:

The first hand experience listening to all of Rob's decoy methods and the lengths he went to to avoid detection was peak entertainment I can't lie MVP x

You knowing all these truths must be how the traitors feel when everyone is accusing each other and they are just sat there laughing away to themselves knowing they are all wrong

I’ve been useless at guessing people, the only one I got right so far was Herbie as Damien because he all but said “hi I am mentoring Damien Rice”, it couldn’t have been more obvious, otherwise, I haven’t got a clue lol!

Yeah I don’t get why a Fifth judge was added, particularly after the lives had already begun. I’m not a massive fan of deadlock, but it is there for a reason and to put the power back to the voters if the judges can’t decide.

And now I’m going back to the shadows as was going to post less/ be less involved 🫠

Edited Monday at 22:281 day by ElectroBoy

12 minutes ago, Calum said:

The first hand experience listening to all of Rob's decoy methods and the lengths he went to to avoid detection was peak entertainment I can't lie MVP x

Why do I feel like I've left myself wide open for people to figure out who I am. 🤣

Well the idea is that it draws inspiration from The X Factor, not that it actually is The X Factor every season I try to make sure everybody can actively participate (beyond only voting) in some way or another so the whole community feel involved if they want to be. maggotsforbrains declined the offer to be a judge when I reached out to them and Pete, so Pete was added in as a fifth judge instead of alternating which judges appeared on which Live Show. I wouldn't have felt right just telling Pete to gtf, so adding another judge, meaning we have an overall majority instead of deadlocks that were very prevalent last season, felt like the best thing to do. It's got nothing to do with whether anybody has pop or alt leaning tastes x

7 minutes ago, Paddington James said:

Why do I feel like I've left myself wide open for people to figure out who I am. 🤣

Stop playing that game Pads... We can all see through it now! 😎

It must be hard to try and feel like you need to please every one of us @Calum. I know I and others have said it before but you really are doing a great job.

It's really brought the forums together and everyone (I hope) is having fun.

As people have said as well it's at the end of the day it's just a game. Which is something I might need to remind myself of sometimes as well.

❤️❤️❤️

2 minutes ago, Spiceboy said:

Stop playing that game Pads... We can all see through it now! 😎

I may have just slipped up on a Bananarama peel.

Yeah I echo what Pads says @Calum , I don't think anyone is particularly criticising you rather just airing their thoughts. You are doing an amazing job, I've mentioned it a few times now but, this game over the last month has helped me so much, given me something to focus on when I've needed the distraction and even without that you are just running such a fantastic game!

Thank you. ❤️

 

26 minutes ago, ElectroBoy said:

And now I’m going back to the shadows as was going to post less/ be less involved 🫠

Please don't, we miss you. ❤️

Yes - thank you so much for all you do with this, Calum! I have competed in every series and am always in awe at your effort.

It's really interesting to hear everyone's thoughts. I don't think my commentary is ever particularly offensive, as I usually just write about highlights/pleasant surprises and nerdy observations about samples and the like lol, but I hope people don't take my rankings to heart. I always vote on a song-by-song basis (just on quality so have never actually penalised, 'We Found Love' and 'Stan' were both 2nd for me, 'Seventeen Going Under' was in my top 5 etc.) and while I do obviously have more alt-leaning tastes, I can still appreciate plenty of pop and enjoy when I have the opportunity to shake up my votes a little, like Bananarama beating out everything else for me a couple of rounds ago. I can understand why observing many low rankings from the same person might be a bit disheartening but I guess some artists may just not be a person's cup of tea, which I have also taken on board when people have ranked the songs I sent from Addison Rae, Blondie and ???

Anyway, I look forward to seeing how people play the next round!