gooddelta

Sounds a lot like the Wonderland album stuff. I really would love them to do another classic ballad at some point.

Agreed, although I also see pop fans going for Scotland 2, it's kind of Kelis/Britney 2004 vibes as well as Basement Jaxx as has been mentioned. I think Florence Road are pretty pop anyway, Break The Girl moreso, that was like an Amy Studt song! Faouzia is Faouzia so is going to do well as she always does. Whether it will catch on as much as Hero did for her to become a double winner, I don't know. I would say it will just miss doing that.

You were pretty much next in line. The scoreboard is always so bunched up these days that 20 points can be a 10 place difference. I always find the pop hardest to predict, but sure you'll do well enough, although I wouldn't expect it to win, which is why I left Elëdan out too (but can see them hoovering up lots of high scores and maybe finishing 10th-15th).

Let's not forget that poor brave Jerry was flopping horrendously in 9th before receiving our gold medal in the closing moments last month.

The optimum prediction for a Cor Lupus entry is 6th-7th only. Anything higher is overhype and anything lower is a flop, I don't make the rules. Don't make me get the clown makeup out again.

Feels like pretty much every song aside from mine has been hyped here, so I shall look forward to my customary bottom of the scoreboard finish here. I would have said Saint Etienne vs. Tori Amos vs. Portishead for what it's worth but I did like Space Art and would be happy if that won.

RontBet has reopened and offers odds for the final: Winner contenders 3/1 Scotland 2 :: underscores – Do It 4/1 Fljótavík :: Faouzia – DON'T EVER LEAVE ME 6/1 Ajanaeda :: Florence Road – Storm Warnings 6/1 Baleghde :: BANKS – Contaminated 7/1 Cheiron :: First Aid Kit – Out Of My Head Top 10 contenders 9/1 Sovarasma :: DAVID BORING – Jenny Rotten 9/1 Dalisska :: Storefront Church – The High Room 10/1 Danæviia :: Maruja – Look Down On Us 12/1 Hushkanukia :: Valencia Grace – Lucky You're A Star 12/1 Mothertopia :: Kelly Lee Owens – Higher 14/1 Aeroche :: KING BOOO! – Tunes Since '89 14/1 Bøtanikkä :: LA NIÑA – FIGLIA D' 'A TEMPESTA 15/1 Hendinia :: Klavdia & ARCADE – Anemos 15/1 Land of DW :: Csaknekedkislány – Minden Mozog 18/1 Jadakissnia :: TRAITRS – The Lovely Wounded 18/1 Kluminican Republic :: KAS:ST – Sound Of The Soul 18/1 Greenfroze :: ZETAK – ARALARKO DAMA 20/1 Neliönoir :: FAUST – Dies Irae 20/1 Deandria :: Merina Gris – Mejor* 20/1 Skall :: Octo Octa – Spin Girl, Let's Activate! 22/1 Cumulonimbia :: umiña – spiral 22/1 Trifoski :: LustSickPuppy – RIDE IT 22/1 Herbilore :: Mia Wray – Only Love 22/1 Cor Lupus :: Kyra Machida – Blonde

Asereje! Breathe is good too though, I like it a lot more than I used to.

Agnes Obel's Riverside was another ballad winner, but that was a very long time ago too. Freya Ridings - Lost Without You was a joint winner on points (but ultimately second) and is a 'recent' example of a ballad hit, recent being eight years ago. That was also a good few months before it was given a push and unexpectedly became a hit. I sent a live version of that too, maybe there's something about the rawness and emotion of a live vocal that appeals to people with ballads? I always loved that Adele live version that won here, I don't really like the higher note she goes for in the chorus of the studio version, and it threw me off when I first heard it, although I'm used to it now of course.

I’d have gone for it too if I thought I’d get away with it (with Fleeting I did not get away with it) so it would be on at least three confirmations, and probably way more by the time next month rolls around. We really all get our pop from the same place here don’t we 😂

I really enjoyed my play of the album yesterday, for the first time in full in many years. So many potential singles that could have had amazing videos and we didn't really get any of them, the era was curtailed so early. I forgot how much I loved Brave. It could be on a film soundtrack. It was also nice to hear Fly Here Now again after so long, and I don't know that I'd ever heard Heartbeart before?

Great performance. This is definitely her best since Tattoo, great single. Her mumbling of lyrics has definitely got more pronounced over the years though.

Hype, looking forward to being involved from the start this time!

It's definitely her most commercial sounding song, maybe she'll have an Olivia Dean moment at some point. I feel like her profile is still growing.

January has been insanely great for good new music, the clearest indication to me ever that Q1 is the new Q4. And this song is one of the big pop highlights. Presumably for a lot of major artists, it's beneficial to have an early year hit to get as high as possible in the end of year chart, if many of them care about that. March looks absolutely stacked with huge albums and comebacks that were announced this month.

True, it is very Ava too. In BJSC terms I figured it wouldn't get in anyway due to Misterwives' recent win (or I'd be trying it for myself I can assure you!), but also Chappell sounding stuff pretty much always famously flops in the contest for some reason? Chappell herself never breached the top ten with any of her four entries (Pink Pony Club was a DNQ), and soundalikes like Cassie Henderson and MARIS had entries that underperformed against expectation, albeit the latter's more recent entry did better. There is something about the sound that puts some of the pop bloc off (and alt don't tend to go near it).

It's as good as their BJSC winner from two years ago TikTok is pushing it to me every second video at the moment so it's making a splash, for sure. Or maybe it's just my algorithm.

Posting this thread in the interest of sharing some great pop songs. The quality is way higher than previous years imo, someone woke Denmark up finally. Death Of Me is my favourite song of the whole of January so far, and could lend itself to a very eye-catching performance, with its Gaga meets ABBA meets Rina kind of vibe. @Roba. sent her to BJSC about a decade ago, so it's nice to see her still releasing great pop. The favourite currently though is Sissal, who Denmark sent last year with the great Hallucination, which sadly only got two points on the televote. Her new entry, Infinity is even more Loreen-esque, although a bit rinse and repeat really and it feels very soon to return. I'm also finding the Late Runner song very charming and Denmark-esque and don't dislike any of the others.

Emil Otto – “Copenhagen Noir” Ericka Jane – “Death Of Me” Lasse Skriver – “Roaring Heart” Late Runner – “Can U Feel It?” Myrkur – “Touch My Love And Die” Sander Sanchez – “Two Spirits” Sissal – “Infinity” Søren Torpegaard Lund – “Før vi går hjem” (Before we go home) The final is at 8-10pm CET on Valentine's Day (14 February) and consists of these songs:

The first solo release from Mandy from Misterwives is a bit of a pop monster. In the absence of Chappell releasing a new album yet, this will do very nicely indeed, brilliant chorus. On choosing the name Cherry Bomb, Mandy said: "I had the name for a couple years just sitting in my notes. When I’d make music that didn’t feel like Misterwives, I knew it felt like Cherry Bomb. I knew I wanted a moniker for the project because I came from the band world and I love that separation between the project and yourself. It gets to be larger than life. I loved that Misterwives had that. Cherry Bomb is a tribute to my nicknames growing up, like Firecracker. Plus, Ginger Spice was taken!"

I don't think this is much of a factor in qualification chance tbh, both songs not on Spotify made it in. If anything I'm more likely to pay attention to the songs not on there because they've not blended into a background listen of all the entries on a playlist, I've actively had to click somewhere else to check it.

Before the listenthrough I hadn't really conisdered DJ Suzy to be at risk at all, but the semi was super strong and competitive and it got lost in a quiet section, which is a shame because it's quite a beauty. But I'm at peace with the DNQ because it didn't get any 12s or 10s in the semi so wasn't exactly robbing anyone of their main favourite (in that semi anyway, I think it could have got 70-80 points in Semi 1). Altyr, Kathaldazia and FARC are bigger shocks to me though, as well as the double from Persephonia, and just shows, you can never predict BJSC. And also you can't assume somebody is always definitely safely in due to their past results, if the semis stay this big then even those countries that always manage to qualify will either send a song that doesn't quite connect enough or land in the wrong semi. The benefit of 'big' countries going out is that others get their well deserved spots in the final. It's a song contest and no country should be judged on anything other than the song they have sent that month.

Nu Flow! And nice to see it was so big in Australia - bigger than it was here even. Not fond of Make Luv, to me it has always sounded more like a club compilation filler than a big No.1 hit.

Woah at FARC, I thought that sounded like a big hit! Shame for Niceland too as it did really well to get up that high, as it's quite subtle. Congrats to all the qualifiers, and thank you for a tense and well presented results Dan!

Yay for Land of DW, brilliant entry!