I met Will today at the Vue cinema in Leicester Square.

 

It was a bizarre encounter, as he helped me work out how to use the paper towel device. :embarrassed:

 

:lol: You may feature in his next book.

:lol:

 

When did he find the time to fit in a cinema visit?!

He may have popped in to use the toilet?

 

He has an air about him that I can't defy. I wanted to ask for a picture, but I was highly embarrassed. so... haha.

He may have popped in to use the toilet?

 

He has an air about him that I can't defy. I wanted to ask for a picture, but I was highly embarrassed. so... haha.

 

I've only met him once but know what you mean. He has such a quiet aura/presence about him, even when he's dressed like a tramp. :lol:

There again, would you have wanted a pic of you and Will in the loos?!

Hello. :cool:

Hello. :cool:

 

Hello chrysalis, bit nippy this morning isn't it? :D

Hello chrysalis, bit nippy this morning isn't it? :D

 

Hello suggy. :D Yes just a bit - winter's almost upon us. :o Where did that summer go? :???:

Hello suggy. :D Yes just a bit - winter's almost upon us. :o Where did that summer go? :???:

 

Which year? I can't recall more than 3 days of warnth this year. -_-

Which year? I can't recall more than 3 days of warnth this year. -_-

 

 

:heehee:

Congratulations to Will on winning the Popjustice £20 quid music prize (an alternative to the Mercury £20,000 music prize :lol: )and here's Richard X collecting it for Will last night. :cheer:

 

 

Reasons for winning.

One of the judges posted this on UK mix

 

The dates of eligibility were July 11-Sep 12, still can't get my head around quite why.

 

I was lucky enough to have been invited to be part of the panel this year, it was such a good laugh! Very random ways of deciding who went head to head, but ultimately the song that wins is going to have a large amount of support.

 

I was given a bell that I had to ring anytime anyone said the word 'amazing' - my hand hurt by the end.

 

From what I remember it went something like this:

 

Round 1: Deciding to kick someone out straight away.

Names in the frame were Saint Ettienne, Lawson, Nero but almost nobody cared enough to argue against Siobhan leaving first.

 

Round 2: Rudimental vs Nero drawn out, healthy debate but most people agreed Rudimental was more uplifting. As one of the pannelists is a lifeguard, he is asked to decide which song he would save if they were drowning. He admits he might turn a blind eye to Nero's wet flailing... Nero out.

 

Round 3: Little Mix vs The Saturdays. General outrage that this was happening so early on (all drawn out randomly though). Debate appeared very split, lots of argument about it being the Saturdays at their peak, whether the Saturdays have ever HAD a peak (they have) and whether it's embarrassing Little Mix have reached a similar high point with only their debut. Highlights included someone asking the writer of the song (who was present) 'So you wrote All Fired Up? When are you going to finish it?' and producer MNEK killing the thunder of people trying to suggest that the 'keep me on your radar' line was a deep message from the Sats asking them not to forget them ('it's really not that deep'). More job talk too, aimed at a doctor. 'If the Saturdays had cerebral palsy and Little Mix had spina bifida, who would walk again?'. When it came to voting though, Sats won pretty easily. Took about half an hour though!

 

Round 4: Lawson vs The Saturdays. This didn't take as long. 'It's nice. Sometimes you want a chocolate hobnob but all you have is a pink wafer' (Lawson). Lawson out.

 

Round 5: Despite most people in the room (not me) thinking Olly Murs is an 'unmentionable', there is quite a debate for Olly Murs vs Rudimental. Closest vote of the night, 22 vs 21 to Olly. Massive gasp when someone who hasn't voted re-enters the room with a pint, but they vote for Olly too. General concensus 'hate Olly, amazing pop song'

 

Round 6: Olly vs Saint Ettienne. Decided by five lucky 'balloon finders' who vote out Olly 3-2.

 

Round 7: One Direction vs Rizzle Kicks is decided via the facebook masses who vote two thirds in favour of 1D staying, and the room aren't arguing. Most see it as one of the best pop songs of the last ten years.

 

Round 8: The Saturdays vs Saint Ettienne. Two people in the room are sticking up for Saint Ettienne, so this should be easy. But it's down to the smokers, who go off to have a debate outside. Meanwhile, we vote whether to go with their decision or against it. Given the two Saint Ettienne fans are indoors, we vote to go with them. Of course, they vote out the Saturdays. Travesty. Room not happy.

 

Round 9: Justice prevails as One Direction knock out Saint Ettienne almost immediately.

 

Round 10: Will Young vs One Direction who just keep popping up. 'If Will Young's song doesn't give you a pang every time you hear it, what is the date on your death certificate?'. Richard X has turned up to defend the song too, pushing the fact Will wrote it himself and deserves to win. Thoroughly nice bloke by the way, and I thought he was foreign, who knew? Will Young takes this round, which leaves...

 

FINAL: Will Young vs Marina and the Diamonds. At this point it is obvious. Marina has coasted through by not getting picked out, and she has fans here, but not many. Many think Primadonna would have stood a better chance. There are some vague attempts at arguments 'She's got massive breasts' and some very interesting discussion about whether the song is great because of or in spite of the Marina 'concept' but many are arguing that Will is thinking about it 'enough' and Marina 'too much'. My vote goes to Marina but as only one of six, she is absolutely trounced by the champion, Mr Young.

 

Sadly it was only my 10th favourite but given that I liked every track bar Saint Ettienne, I'm not mad.

 

Such a funny and amazing (ding) night...!

Thanks Sunday, that's a good review of the night and some funny observations on certain acts :lol: and I love this bit.

 

Round 10: Will Young vs One Direction who just keep popping up. 'If Will Young's song doesn't give you a pang every time you hear it, what is the date on your death certificate?'. Richard X has turned up to defend the song too, pushing the fact Will wrote it himself and deserves to win. Thoroughly nice bloke by the way, and I thought he was foreign, who knew? Will Young takes this round

Thanks to producer Richard X who argued Will's corner splendidly. B-) :cheer:

 

Meanwhile, Will Young's Jealousy won the @Popjustice prize. Here is its triumphant producer Richard X pic.twitter.com/zvu0dyuK

 

Edited November 2, 201212 yr by suggy

Popjustice

 

And it FEEEEEEEELS like victory

 

 

 

Last night in London, Will Young’s ‘Jealousy’ became the tenth recipient of the Popjustice Twenty Quid Music Prize.

 

Judging was a long, booze-strewn and sometimes ‘high-spirited’ process. Here’s what happened.

 

Round One: Instant elimination

As is ‘customary’, the first round involved selecting one song from the shortlist to be unceremoniously booted out of the contest. The judges identified Siobhan Dillon’s ‘Powerless’ as an early target, although the Lawson single was also mentioned. In the end ‘Powerless’ got the boot.

 

Round Two: Rudimental’s ‘Feel The Love’ vs Nero’s ‘Promises’

For this and all subsequent rounds, songs were randomly selected from a pint glass. By coincidence, ‘Feel The Love’ and ‘Promises’ are comparable songs in a ‘semi-faceless Radio 1-friendly mainstream/underground dance’ sort of way. Our suggestion that Nero’s ‘Promises’ is the amazing Leona Lewis comeback single Leona Lewis never made fell on deaf ears, chiefly because it literally was never made, and Nero went out. ‘Feel The Love’ went back into the pint glass and we continued.

 

Round Three: The Saturdays’ ‘All Fired Up’ vs Little Mix’s ‘Wings’

Again, purely by coincidence, the two big girlband singles were selected next. Two of the writers behind ‘All Fired Up’ were in attendance, although one of them also co-wrote ‘Wings’ which evened things up a bit. At one point it was observed that ‘Wings’ was better because Little Mix have a ‘co-writing’ credit on it, which didn’t go down well in the room. Lyrically the songs dwelled on two fairly played-out topics (“this disco dancing business is quite fun” and “boo hoo they called me ugly” respectively) but it was noted that both songs had strong sonic identities. Things got a bit heated at one point but nobody was injured. We reckon ‘Wings’ would have gone further in the contest if it had been up against a different song, but it went out in this round, and ‘All Fired Up’ went back in the pint glass.

 

Round Four: The Saturdays’ ‘All Fired Up’ vs Lawson’s ‘Taking Over Me’

There wasn’t a huge amount of debate here. It was noted that in terms of each song’s first ten seconds ‘Taking Over Me’ made a bigger impact than ‘All Fired Up’, but a show of hands ensured that Lawson went out in this round.

 

Round Five: Rudimental’s ‘Feel The Love’ vs Olly Murs’ ‘Heart Skips A Beat’

It was broadly agreed that ‘Heart Skips A Beat’ was such a belting tune that it didn’t matter that the hat-wearing loon on warbling duties was Olly Murs, and Rudimental’s song went out.

 

Round Six: Saint Etienne’s ‘Tonight’ vs Olly Murs’ ‘Heart Skips A Beat’

For this round, the five (random) members of the judging panel who had balloons in their welcome packs were called to the front of the room. While holding inflated balloons they were asked to tell the room which song should go through. Two votes for Saint Etienne were followed by two votes for Olly Murs, leaving the Louis Walsh of the evening to decide that Saint Etienne should go through.

 

Round Seven: Rizzle Kicks’ ‘Down With The Trumpets’ vs One Direction’s ‘What Makes You Beautiful’

There was some chat about whether or not One Direction’s message of hope to despondent teens was escapist genius or disingenuous rubbish, followed by the assertion that Rizzle Kicks probably would shag you, followed by the point that One Direction actually didn’t seem too picky either. When one person said she couldn’t remember how ‘What Makes You Beautiful’ went, another judge jumped on a piano and banged out a version of the song, prompting a mass singalong. Getting the debate back on track, the main argument here seemed to be that the Rizzle Kicks single was quite relaxed and the One Direction single was quite keen to please, which we suppose fits in pretty well with the respective artistes’ broader ‘narratives’. In the end, One Direction went through to the next round.

 

Round Eight: Saint Etienne’s ‘Tonight’ vs The Saturdays’ ‘All Fired Up’

Smokers in the room were invited to choose between these songs in the time it took to smoke a fag. The result – that Saint Etienne’s ‘Tonight’ should go through – was not hugely popular with the rest of the room, but you can’t argue with democracy.

 

Round Nine: One Direction’s ‘What Makes You Beautiful’ vs Saint Etienne’s ‘Tonight’

After an impressive run – and a spirited speech from one Saint Etienne fan – it was time for ‘Tonight’ to go.

 

Round Ten: Will Young’s ‘Jealousy’ vs One Direction’s ‘What Makes You Beautiful’

After staying in the pint glass for most of the night, it was finally time for Will Young’s ‘Jealousy’ to face the judges. As soon as people started talking about the song it was clear that – even with another round to go – we’d found our winner. One person noted that if we were looking for a male version of ‘Call The Shots’, this was it. Another made the point that this was the moment when Will Young picked up the Pet Shop Boys’ legacy and ran with it. By this point the song’s producer, Richard X, had joined the judges, and he made a warm, persuasive and poignant argument for ‘Jealousy’ to stay in. One Direction went out.

 

Round Eleven: Will Young’s ‘Jealousy’ vs Marina & The Diamonds’ ‘Power & Control’

One of the stranger aspects of the songs-in-a-pint-glass nature of the Twenty Quid Music Prize judging is that some songs escape scrutiny until the very final stages. And so it was the Marina’s ‘Power & Control’ made it through to the ‘final’ simply by keeping its head down for the entire night. It felt like ‘Jealousy’ had already won, really, but the judges went through each song’s pros and cons and listed them on the wall. We forgot to take a picture of these but @gemtriesharder got a snap of the Will Young pros and cons:

 

 

 

It was suggested that Marina’s ‘Primadonna’ might have fared better than ‘Power & Control’, but even ‘Primadonna’ would have had trouble competing with the overwhelming, quite touching positivity the judges were showing for ‘Jealousy’.

 

Anyway, ‘Jealousy’ won by a landslide.

 

 

 

Let’s be fair, it’s a pretty good song, right? Right. Richard X kindly accepted the twenty quid (cash) prize on Will’s behalf.

 

 

 

Here (right) is a shoddy picture (via @harrietnoble) of Richard collecting the award.

 

Thanks to everyone who came along and helped judge the prize last night, and we hope your hangovers aren’t too bad this morning.

 

Obviously the whole Twenty Quid thing only started off as a bit of a stupid pisstake of the Mercury prize but each year, when judging night comes around, it’s hard not to be moved and invigorated by the passion, humour and energy with which people approach the pop single: the greatest art form in the history of everything.

 

http://www.popjustice.com/briefing/and-it-...victory/103862/

Thanks Sunday and munchkin.

 

Love that it was a landslide victory. :yahoo:

Thanks Sunday, I love this bit:

 

 

]After staying in the pint glass for most of the night, it was finally time for Will Young’s ‘Jealousy’ to face the judges. As soon as people started talking about the song it was clear that – even with another round to go – we’d found our winner. One person noted that if we were looking for a male version of ‘Call The Shots’, this was it. Another made the point that this was the moment when Will Young picked up the Pet Shop Boys’ legacy and ran with it. By this point the song’s producer, Richard X, had joined the judges, and he made a warm, persuasive and poignant argument for ‘Jealousy’ to stay in. One Direction went out.

 

:cheer:

Newcastle 0 Sunderland 3. :yahoo: :cheer:

Newcastle 0 Sunderland 3. :yahoo: :cheer:

 

Knew you'd be a bit pleased! :D They did well.

Knew you'd be a bit pleased! :D They did well.

 

First positive football we've played all season Ros. Thank goodness we got rid of O'Neil.

First positive football we've played all season Ros. Thank goodness we got rid of O'Neil.

 

Yes, I saw a bit of it and they were looking much better.