gooddelta

Eminem again.

A number of horrors here but going for Leon, easily the worst X Factor single for me, the song didn’t suit him at all.

I was thinking the same about Malou, it’s being trumpeted in some places online as the second coming but I’m not sure I completely get the hype. It feels a bit style over substance to me and I do prefer Dolly Style. Also not quite sure she has that commanding stage presence and charisma that Klara has, in terms of uptempo female pop? I think it could be Greczula or Annika direkt, with the other getting the second spot and Malou and Dolly Style fighting for second chance but I can’t completely rule out Angelino, as it’s very typically Sweden.

I expected the radio edit but then that is very rare. It was on a Hits album back in '98 but isn't on Spotify.

Afraid so! I believe they had been sent before by Chez - Anna Sun didn't qualify for the final. But Shut Up & Dance felt like a surprising poppy swerve for them so I thought I'd give it a go as it sounded quite catchy with a big chorus - I just didn't realise 2 billion streams catchy. ---------- As an aside, I remain blameless for Pink Pony Club's failure - I was in its semi and gave it nearly maximum points! And was gutted the person that sent it didn't vote. I can only recommend always checking out the DNQs from the other semi, usually it's only another 10 songs of your time and you never know what you might miss if you don't.

The beauty of Prioritise Pleasure is that its genius wasn't (outwardly) knowing or hitting you over the head with a sledgehammer to make a point, there were multiple layers to it that the listener had to uncover. For me this is a bit like what a Self Esteem parody act might come up with for a comedy sketch skit and I doubt I'll ever play this song again. I do prefer Focus Is Power myself, I have listened to that a few times, as corny as it is. I'm starting to wonder if this album is supposed to be subversive like Jewel's 0304. As both singles now feel very ironic to me, despite being different styles. If they are being played down the line without any irony then I don't get it.

On name alone this looks like a massive bloodbath, looking forward to listening. Oklou is the only name I was certain we'd see but nice to see some older pioneers in here too, like Sonique.

It's quite a subtle mix, but just sprinkles a bit of single worthy magic stardust over the top; slightly beefier percussion, better vocal mixing, just generally a cleaner master. I always notice when one or the other version has been used.

It does have I Wrote A Song vibes to it... The dated/weird drop spoils it a bit for me, think I'd prefer it without that.

Teardrops has a real Tusse vibe to it, so I wasn't surprised to look at the credits and see him listed. Don't Sweden typically love this sort of anthemic 'fist in the air' pop, or was it more Tusse that they loved rather than Voices? I didn't think much of Rädda Mig, quite an annoying whistle hook, last place on lock for that I'd imagine. Life Again is more my cup of tea than Annika's entry last year, it's kind of Little Mix 2015-esque which I didn't expect. Not sure it will make the final though this time. Dolly Style is great, it's like Wiktoria on speed but also a perfect sequel to previous entries from them, it's surely got the kids vote sewn up. Malou Prytz is getting all the online hype - it's a decent pop song and I'm sure will do well, very well produced and quite unexpected as her previous entries were more low key (I still really like I Do Me). Greczula is an interesting style for Melodifestivalen, some Queen/Adam Lambert/The Greatest Showman vibes to it. Hard to tell how this will do, I expected it to be a bigger sounding song as he was second in the odds at one point. Could see the older voters enjoying it though so it could go further. No idea what to predict this week, Björn sounds a complete no-hoper but I could make a case for all five of the others progressing. Keeping my fingers crossed for Dolly Style though.

Kudos for Now getting the hit versions of Finally Found and To You I Belong on Yearbook '98, quite commonly you get the inferior album versions. It's been many years since I've seen the UK hit version of Big Big World however, and this is no different, using the album version. The mix that was a hit here brought in the percussion and strings a verse earlier than the album version does.

Going for Eminem, I think Richard Ashcroft's song is better.

U2 again, but DJ is a bit naff for me and was close. I do like the Stop cover, which saves it.

Dirty Harry to win from these two for me.

Very slick track, great production and definitely one I'd like to play again.

Lungs and 21 are easily my favourites here.

Spent a lot of the last day going through all of these and there's some solid stuff that based on early voting has no chance (The Kolors, Serena Brancale, Joan Thiele, Clara, Rose Villain, Elodie, Francesca Michielin) but it definitely looks like Simone Christicchi or Giorgia's to lose, with Fedez, Olly and Achille Lauro in with a shot. Personally, I thought Brunori Sas had a stronger 'older guy ballad' than Simone - one of my favourites personally too, but what do I know.

Pop Music Activism posted online that Sony’s licence from Roc Nation has expired. Hopefully something can be sorted out, all of her music is gone apart from Good Girl which for now is still on as part of another random old compilation (but could grey out at any time as Happiness was available as recently as last week as part of loads of different compilations).

43. Alexis Jordan - Happiness (it's been removed from Spotify and is now only available on iTunes through a compilation called Pop Party Presents... School Of Pop - presumably people are downloading in case this disappears too). 98. Miriana Conte - Kant (serving kant all over the top 100 *.*)

If Love Was A Crime is one of my all-time top 40 favourite songs, and my clear favourite of the 2016 contest. An absolutely great pop entry from Bulgaria, it really surprised me at the time how good it was. I won quite a lot of money on it coming 4th as I had an each-way bet on it, even though it was way down the odds (clearly only because it was from Bulgaria who hadn't done well for years - Sweden would have been top three in the odds with it). It felt too strong/well produced a song/artist/whole package not to appeal to the public and get solid jury support too. Monsters is decent, surprised it finished so low in the contest. I really never enjoyed Toy much and still don't, but I appreciate Netta as a very unique and talented artist and the live performance was brilliant.

Bug is brilliant, hearing it on the radio led me to finally listen to the album, which is strong but that is definitely my favourite song on it.

I meant to thank Wardy for sharing this tip with me the other day btw. Before that I was locked out completely and couldn't get anything to work anymore. Hopefully this loophole remains open.

The only way I can get on on my mobile (iPhone) now is to type 'Buzzjack' in my Safari browser search bar and then before pressing go/return (just type the word Buzzjack) immediately scroll down the page to 'Bookmarks, History and Tabs' and for me there are several saved visits from the last few days, any of which I can press to get back onto the site.

A lot of rock bands had their biggest hit with a ballad or slower song - Aerosmith, Scorpions, Extreme as mentioned... Not saying these bands didn't have other slower numbers but Bon Jovi's Always was kind of different to the majority of their other hits, Stereophonics' longest runner by some stretch in the top five was Handbags and Gladrags, and then you've got songs like It's Been A While by Staind, To Be With You by Mr Big, The Sound of Silence by Disturbed... Cher wasn't exactly known for dance music before Believe and it became by far her biggest hit. She's done similar stuff since, but not really before. Sometimes a genre pivot works really well for artists.

That's definitely true about Not Ready To Make Nice, it was considered quite an inspired entry/winner at the time as it wasn't much of a hit here or very well known outside the US at that point.