gooddelta

ABBA on paper is a good option for some of the remaining alt voters who have nothing obvious left to put at the top of their ranks (Scissor Sisters will take some of that vote though). There are plenty of bigger hits left that could have been played but I really respect that they weren't because the final two songs from them will be huge if they get that far. So although it's a swerve, I'd assume ABBA have done enough for top four. I think Kelly, Lily and Scissor Sisters are a given to go through to the final though, even ahead of ABBA, unless I've overestimated the site popularity of these songs. I really appreciate though that not everyone went for a well known song even at this late stage. The discoveries have been a key part of this for me, so maybe there's space for one last upset. It remains to be seen who will get the final spot in the top five.

I don’t know how I’m supposed to vote in this. Six all-time favourites and a Conan song I don’t know but is bound to be great. Atomic Kitten is not what I expected - always had a soft spot for it though. Kelly is surely unbeatable with that, ABBA’s is one of their best and a brave move to send at this point instead of a No.1 classic. So glad Delta is exiting with a bang if she goes here - Mistaken Identity really missed out by not having that (and Electric Storm) as singles. Not Fair, Laura - both untouchable pop.

Kim-Lian fresh from Bop Idol! I wonder what the logic was of including a Kylie song that was a decade older than the second oldest song. Verbalicious Natalia Kills could never.

Deserved for Conan. I thought Atomic Kitten could be top! Great for Scissor Sisters too. Delta really got lucky

I can't remember my exact order as many were much of a muchness, but sure it was Atomic Kitten, Delta and ABBA in my top three with Conan as highest discovery (great 80s vibe to that one, it was a nice throwback double in the running order next to Delta). I don't think Florence or Bowie were in my bottom two, but think Kelly might have been, I found it a little bit of an underwhelming track unfortunately - I have that Greatest Hits album it's on and couldn't recall the song at all. She is one of my top three artists left so I felt very bad about that ranking but trying to stay true to voting only on song and not artist, and know she'll be racing back to the top of my vote in short order.

Well done Chez and Elgornio for making the quarters! Both showcased some great songs.

Maybe part of the final can be ‘Christmas songs’. Not tactical at all.

I suspect non pop acts always faced an uphill struggle in the Pop Factor. Florence is a fave of mine though and I’ve loved a lot of Bowie songs sent during this.

Lucky Kelly, but the road to victory now reopens. So many amazing songs left. Ouch at Florence, and for the alt voters.

Crikey. Song choice, song choice, song choice. Good luck judges, two amazing artists left. It’s our Ella vs James.

Come on Conan!

Not Delta dark horsing to the semis

You Are is absolutely one of their very best. They still have one song left that could see them through another round I think. The final could be a struggle though.

Also no idea who will go tonight. Intriguing battle! Feels like all nine acts sent a convincing enough song to move forward, yet with nobody feeling like an overwhelming favourite for winning the round.

Yes, and obviously if someone submits an entry and then isn't able to join at the last minute, there could maybe a small deduction from their score rather than it being withdrawn altogether. With any 'live' format I don't think it could ever fully please everyone unfortunately. And yes, a 'rest of' vote could work too (those countries could go into a pot I suppose and then presented as one normal additional vote, so the song with most from the 'rest of' vote would get 18 and so on), really depends on how popular it would end up being though and accordingly, what points system is used. You might not get more than 30 anyway due to needing to have the chosen evening free to participate, so it might end up being a small-scale novelty. And also maybe on a first run trial basis it would be easier on the host to keep it to the entering countries to keep it simple. But all ideas/suggestions/tweaks are welcome!

Yes, for sure it's not perfect as some people won't be free on the evening. Maybe a Sunday evening would be the preferred option, but it could be discussed more at the time, maybe with some other options given. I just love the idea of doing a 'live' event, as we manage to get 20 on for listenthroughs sometimes, and 30 or more following a live final results thread live so it feels doable. It's just the point of having to sit and listen for two hours straight to the songs, but hopefully a short break after every 10 entries would help. Sure it could be ironed out anyway.

Good idea to do it as a replacement for that for one year (could even keep the three minute rule from there to keep things snappy, as even with a cap of 40 the songs would still only take up two hours). I'd be happy to host it in the summer if somebody else could create such a spreadsheet that would allow for the live vote tracking!

Agreed, loved loads of the stuff I came across, but competitive it is not.

I had a spinoff idea - BJSC Live 'One Night Only / One Listen Only'. A bit like Eurovision for a casual viewer: one three hour show on a predetermined evening so as many people can join as possible. The songs are revealed and then you would immediately listen together on Synctube, vote live within a 15-minute window (while interval songs are played ofc) via some sort of Google spreadsheet so it's live updating. And then the host announces the total results in reverse order like the way the Eurovision televote is revealed. There wouldn't be any time consuming totting up needed if it was all there on a spreadsheet working out the forumlas as the votes come in live presumably. Then at the end all of the indivdual scores could be revealed on the forum. Many people would have to play this differently to BJSC and other spinoffs I think as you'd need something high impact that would grab people on a listenthrough on their one and only listen, and try and avoid people speaking over it and going off on tangents etc! I have no idea whether it would work logistically as would require people to sit there for all three hours to listen to the songs. Perhaps you could cap the competition at 30 entries first come, first served for people who know they would be around on the chosen evening, and limit entries to 4 minutes long, maybe also add a 5-minute break after every 10 songs so people can leave their screen for refreshments etc...

*PFSC Best of 2026

Amazing she hasn't broken through yet, as it seemed like she might a few years ago. Another great track. Worth a try for BJSC 🤣

Both of these actually went to No.1 in my personal chart, but Evanescence was my end of year No.20 of 2006, and Vanessa was my end of year No.1 in 2000, so going for the iconic one-hit wonder (in the UK, Australia and Germany knew better) Vanessa! One of my go to 'cheer up' songs, and one of the best party pop anthems.

I've confirmed now. Realised that one of my all-time favourite songs in a specific version I love is now on Spotify.

My Doorbell

Depends how well their proposed replacement forum takes off and how many participants of PJSC join it. In theory they could pick up where they left off if nearly everyone joins it. If not then sure, this contest could become more pop dominated quite quickly if a few join. They are all very welcome of course, to the forum generally and/or BJSC. Hopefully PJSC posters will archive results from all of their past contests before it shuts so that history isn’t lost and so it’s easy for them to pick back up with stats etc once they move.