Jadaver

I feel like 'Counting Stars' isn't really my thing on paper but I do actually quite enjoy it! I can see the Adele comparison so maybe that's why. However, I've never really cared for 'I Could Be The One' either. In an alternate universe this fellow Noonie Bao dance feature (and BuzzJack Song Contest winner) went to #1 instead:

+05 Olivia Rodrigo - the cure +04 Dolly Parton - Jolene +03 Ariana Grande - hate that i made you love me +02 Olivia Dean - Man I Need +01 Sam Fender & Olivia Dean - Rein Me In -01 Sienna Spiro - Great Expectation -02 Ella Langley - Choosin’ Texas -03 Silva Bumpa - On 2nite -04 Stella Lefty - Boston -05 HUGEL, Imael Angel & Ultra Naté - Movin’ To The Sun

Oh my at that reminder of 'Bet U Wish', BuzzJack ahead of the curve with discovering RAYE before she broke through into the mainstream. I remember loving 'Calm Down' at the time and it's held up well now, robbed. Still shook that the lead singer is Zoë Kravitz as I'd completely forgotten that fact from the time, probably as I didn't know who she was back then. 'Unfinished Sympathy' is of course a classic from the years before I entered

Oops let's quickly catch up on 187 results before 188 entries are revealed soon...! BJSC 187 Resultstlen - patnik 12th place | 188 points It was never going to be easy to follow up back-to-back top 10s, with a back-up entry at that, but we're pleased to report our Bulgarian post-punk song managed a respectable 12th place, with 188 points! Our representatives, tlen, actually spent a good chunk of the results in the top 10, so it was a bit of a shame to fall out towards the end, but we certainly cannot grumble at this finish - still our third best of the year so far. That 12th place is our 62nd top 20 result to date in 11 years of competing. We've also finally broken the tie for our most common position! Jadakissnia have now achieved twelfth place five times, as we previously got there with: Tearist - 'Headless' (BJSC 91), Vendredi sur Mer - 'Larme à Gauche' (BJSC 107), Oscillian - 'Ulysses 31' (BJSC 150) and Madeline Goldstein -' 1996 Expectations' (BJSC 170), prior to the current contest. Earlier in the competition, 'patnik' became our 98th qualifier to date (giving us a Q rate of 85.96%) so we edge ever closer to that landmark 100th qualifier! 'patnik' finished 8th in the semi final with 83 points. We were delighted to witness Séyetana winning for the first time after 15 (!) years of competing. Their victorious entry, 'Caught In A Jam' by Portraits Of Tracy, received a lot of hype in the lead up to the results - so we were glad this song lived up to those expectations. It felt reminiscent to the increased buzz surrounding Kylienips' entry 'Sorry' by Meg Myers as that contest progressed, ahead of its win back in 2015. Jadakissnia gave 'Caught In A Jam' 3 points so we're glad to have supported the Séyetana victory in some way. Congrats again to them and we can't wait for their contest to properly get going with the semi finals soon! Our own favourite entry was 'bravado' by waist, which meant we awarded The Spodic Empire top marks for the first time. That post-punk/darkwave sound was instant ear candy for the Jadakissnian public. They finished 29th, which shocked us, as we thought it could be a potential top 10 for them! Robbed. Taking silver in our votes was Deandria's 'Freak Like Me' by Collide, a wonderful Kate Bush-esque beauty. We were familiar with Collide, as the leader of Jadakissnia previously sent them to the retro song contest! 'Freak Like Me' finished in 41st which is an appalling lack of taste, sort yourself out BuzzJack. At least it qualified though! Rounding off our podium was Elëdan with the captivating 'An Open Door' by Roly Porter. Thankfully, at least one of our top 3 finished in the top 20, as this placed in a respectable 18th. Thank you to the people of Skall for a fantastic job hosting this edition. These were our BJSC 187 final votes in full: 18 The Spodic Empire // waist - bravado 15 Deandria // Collide - Freak Like Me 13 Elëdan // Roly Porter - An Open Door 12 New Helvetica // Serafina Steer - Night Before Mutiny 11 Skall // Domenique Dumont - Visages Visages 10 Terra Avium // The Haunted Youth - falling to pieces 09 Pagasa // Great Grandpa - Split Up The Kids 08 Kathaldazia // Dev Lemons - eat the pavement 07 Neliönoir // Sophia Stel - Molly In The Club 06 Zanmatony // Black Mighty Orchestra - Ocean Beach (Cybophonia Cinematic Remix) 05 Lentyll // RAY - MOD 04 Sovarasma // Shye - Smoke 03 Séyetana // Portraits Of Tracy - Caught In A Jam 02 Danæviia // Liminal - The Crop 01 Fljótavík // Cain Culto - a plague, a pestilence Thank you to these nations for the following points in this edition: 18 - Deandria 15 - FSR Rontvia 13 - Dobago, Persephonia + Zephyra Continuum 11 - East Rukahavian, Elëdan + Scotland 2 10 - Neliönoir 9 - Danæviia + Kathaldazia 8 - Zanmatony 6 - Bronzil 5 - New Helvetica 4 - Ennea 3 - Aeroche, Aesthetica, Lotunia + Pestolia 2 - Lentyll + Flynnonda 1 - Séyetana See you next time! Thankfully we can confirm we weren't beaten to our first choice by milliseconds again. That would've seriously been rotten luck as they only have around 300 monthly listeners on Spotify. Prepare for 7 minutes of genre blending, with a largely ethereal trancey sound...

Hi kmansaray Glad you're also a fan of 'Marianne'! Fontaines have previously had two #1s for me ('Starburster' and 'Favourite' in 2024) so shall see how high this goes. thank you for commenting <3

Hi kmansaray3 Loving the new entry for 'Marianne' this week! It's constantly stuck in my head at the moment

01 Phoebe Bridgers - Lost Weekend 02 Charli xcx - Music, Fashion, Film 03 Slayyyter - WOR$T GIRL IN AMERICA 04 Overmono - Pure Devotion 05 Ariana Grande - petal. 06 Cannelle - CINNA 07 Olivia Rodrigo - you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love 08 Westside Cowboy - It Goes On 09 Man/Woman/Chainsaw - Cannonball 10 Eartheater - Heavenly Body: If I’m the Bottle You’re the Message

1960s TOP 10 RECAP #01 The Ronettes - 'Be My Baby' (1963) #02 The Beatles - 'Tomorrow Never Knows' (1966) #03 The Mamas & The Papas - 'California Dreamin’ (1965) #04 The Animals - 'The House of the Rising Sun' (1964) #05 Ben E. King - 'Stand By Me' (1961) #06 Procol Harum - 'A Whiter Shade of Pale' (1967) #07 The Rolling Stones - 'Paint It, Black' (1966) #08 The Beach Boys - 'God Only Knows' (1966) #09 The Doors - 'Light My Fire' (1967) #10 The Velvet Underground & Nico - 'Venus In Furs' (1967) Honourable mentions: many other Beatles songs, no room for The Kinks, The Shadows for brightening up the very early '60s charts - especially 'Wonderful Land' and 'Apache', the brilliant trio of Joe Meek produced #1s: 'Telstar' by The Tornados, 'Johnny Remember Me' by John Leyton and 'Have I The Right' by The Honeycombs, some more exquisite chart toppers in: 'Je t'aime moi non plus', 'The Carnival Is Over', 'Those Were The Days' amongst others, two of my fave Eurovision winners in 'Non ho l'eta (Per amarti)' by Gigliola Cinquetti and 'Poupée de cire, poupée de son' by France Gall, other classics from artists like The Walker Brothers, Marvin Gaye, Nina Simone, Jefferson Airplane, Bobbie Gentry, The Tremeloes oh I could go on and on... Please let me know if you have any thoughts on the 1960s countdown ❤️ I think I'll take a day or two off essaying to give myself a break and mourn the '60s for a bit and then will get cracking with the '70s top 10 later in the week. x

^ oh yes the keyboards are of course a highlight too <3 + the photos are a pretty cool thing to have indeed *.* writing some letters helped me feel a bit closer to the era :) thanks for commenting, Jaz! 1960s #02 The Beatles - 'Tomorrow Never Knows' (1966) #01 The Ronettes - 'Be My Baby' (1963) Surprise! I'm sure those well versed in my Beatles opinions were expecting 'Here Comes the Sun' to appear here when I mentioned I was sticking to one song per artist in the OP. 'Tomorrow Never Knows' was actually the first of their songs I ever claimed as my favourite, even using some lyrics as a caption on an old profile picture as a teenager. This was the case for many years but I then gravitated more towards 'Here Comes the Sun' as my #1, as it became a comfort song. I still adore it but in recent months I have found myself really drawn back to 'Tomorrow Never Knows' and have come to the conclusion that they've flipped in my affections again! So my updated Beatles top 10 is now: 01 Tomorrow Never Knows, 02 Here Comes the Sun, 03 Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown), 04 Eleanor Rigby, 05 I Want You (She's So Heavy), 06 Strawberry Fields Forever, 07 Something, 08 A Day In The Life, 09 Hey Jude + 10 Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds - what a discography <3 As aforementioned in the initial 1960s blurb, The Beatles are my favourite band, much to the delight of my grandparents. I asked them both how they first came across the fab four and my grandad was there from day one of their top 40 career, as he recalls the release of 'Love Me Do'. This is because he would follow the NME charts, write them out and put them on his wall - so I was clearly destined to be a chart fan myself! He actually saw The Beatles live as well but claims he could barely hear anything because the screaming was so loud. My nan said she received a record player and copy of their debut album Please Please Me for Christmas 1963 as a 13-year-old and that started off her own love of the group. Unsurprisingly, they had Beatles duplicates in their combined record collection, so very kindly donated some of them to me - as well as old newspaper articles and Beatles monthly book magazines! What really drew me to the group was the ahead of their time experimentation and 'Tomorrow Never Knows', the closer on my favourite Beatles album Revolver, demonstrates their ambition as musicians perfectly. It's incredible to watch them grow as artists over time when listening to their discography in chronological order. The fab four went from 'Love Me Do' to something like 'Tomorrow Never Knows' in just four years?! They'd already reshaped the face of pop music and now were completely throwing out the rulebook. 'Tomorrow Never Knows' may have been the album closer but it was actually the first song recorded for Revolver. The Beatles were done with touring so could break new ground in the studio, now they didn't have to worry about replicating it live. The techniques used for 'Tomorrow Never Knows' were highly innovative, including the reversed guitar parts and effects, which had never been done in pop music before. The group experimented with tape loops which included sounds like Paul laughing to resemble a seagull, plus sped up sitar noises. They expanded on the influence of Indian music, found on previous album Rubber Soul, with both that sitar and the use of tambura drone here. The idiosyncrasies involved with the production of this record extend to John's lead vocal, as parts of it were fed through a Leslie speaker cabinet, usually reserved for a Hammond organ...! The song also includes highly compressed drums. They flipped the script here and opened up a world of possibilities for pop and many genres to come, especially electronic music. U.K. #1 hit 'Setting Sun' by The Chemical Brothers is the most famous example of a track directly inspired by the sound of this. The title of 'Tomorrow Never Knows' was born out of a malapropism uttered by Ringo at a press conference, much like the inspiration for 'A Hard Day's Night'. The lyrics were largely composed by John after finding inspiration from the book The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead by Timothy Leary, Richard Alpert and Ralph Metzne. He followed along with the words while on an LSD trip and the first line of 'Tomorrow Never Knows' was soon born from that book's own: "when in doubt, relax, turn off your mind, float downstream" instructions. I love the combined psychedelia of the zany production techniques, vocal processing and those philosophical, existential lyrics. The transcendental words were yet another unusual element in the landscape of pop music at the time. What a thrilling record - I was nothing short of blown away when I first heard 'Tomorrow Never Knows' so can't imagine what this must have sounded like in 1966. ••• Revolver may be my favourite album of the 1960s (and ever) but it's three ladies who stole my heart enough to pip 'Tomorrow Never Knows' as my favourite song of the decade. Unfortunately none of Estelle Bennett, Ronnie Spector or Nedra Tally are still with us as of this year, but their legacy lives on through the behemoth that is 'Be My Baby'. Plus 'Sleigh Ride' of course, at a certain time of year. 'Be My Baby' has remained popular enough to surpass 1 billion streams on Spotify! It only just achieved this status at the weekend and I managed to capture the day it happened: 🖤 'Be My Baby' was written by (now disgraced) Phil Spector, Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich. The lyrics are a flip on gender conventions, as here a woman is pining for a man and infantilising him, when usually it had been the other way around. It's speculated that this song was a way for Phil to confess his love for Ronnie Spector, who he'd later go on to marry. Phil Spector also produced the record, of course. Ever the perfectionist, he spent days trying to get the sound right before any vocals were even laid down. He worked alongside a group of session musicians, known under the name the Wrecking Crew, who were also used in the recording of 'California Dreamin' from earlier in the countdown. The hard work paid off as the final result was his signature grand, innovative 'wall of sound' technique. The opening drum beat, played by Hal Blaine, already feels special. The percussion particularly elicits an emotional reaction from me during the final chorus, when it runs wild. That sound is an overwhelming rush. I also particularly adore the cello strings during the bridge. Overall it's so textured and impressive - with piano, castanets, shakers, bass, brass and handclaps also filling out the instrumental to provide the ultimate 'wall of sound' ear candy experience. Ronnie Spector is actually the only Ronette whose vocals can be heard on 'Be My Baby'. She practiced for days before her big moment arrived and found a way to deliver those pleading lyrics in the most charming, powerful fashion. Another interesting fact regarding the vocals of 'Be My Baby' is that Sonny and Cher were backing vocalists on the recording. Brian Wilson said 'Be My Baby' is his all-time favourite record and suspected he must've heard it at least 1000 times. His daughter verified this obsession and claimed that "every day" of her childhood started with a play of this song. Wilson was so profoundly moved when he heard this for the first time that he actually had to stop his car and began studying the song. The result of this was a Beach Boys answer track called 'Don't Worry Baby', which I rather like too. Not much holds a candle to the pop perfection otherwise known as 'Be My Baby' though! My love for this song is a similar tale to my commentary for 'Stand By Me'. I always had an appreciation for 'Be My Baby' to some degree but one day it hit me properly out of nowhere and that was it, an all-time favourite was born. I was suddenly fixated on this record and looped it for most of that day. Turns out that wasn't just a phase. It's a complete joy to listen to. <3 'Be My Baby' reached #4 here in the U.K. and made #2 on the Billboard Hot 100, blocked by Jimmy Gilmer and the Fireballs' 'Sugar Shack'. Long term, that song has approximately 1% of 'Be My Baby's streams!

Need Miley to push the Model/Actriz collab on her album as them achieving a top 40 single would be unreal

This is such a grower ❤️ can't get "Marianne, oh Marianne" out of my head at the moment!

Voted for Christina

Starting with Jessica and caused a tie in the process

Round 1: 33 (didn't get: Gary Moore) Round 2: 33 (didn't get: Ocean Colour Scene) 3-in-10: 3 (Saturday Night At the Movies, Save the Last Dance for Me, Under the Boardwalk)

August '26 Beatles and solo marathon dominating

Looking forward to this! I can think of a few big favourites from the year off the top of my head, so am intrigued to see where they end up. No qualms about that last placer! I'm pretty sure I discovered 'I Wanna Sex You Up' via Glee which was... not the most appropriate song for an acapella group containing both teachers and students to sing, lol. I like plenty of new jack swing music but agree this isn't a highlight of the genre and is fairly whiny / irritating indeed. 'Baby, Baby' would've been the preferable chart topper. I cannot unhear it in Ariana's 'Santa Tell Me' ever since the similarity was first pointed out!

Well remembered - yeah I was happy with the sound quality of mine! I don’t have many Bad World pressings, so not sure how reliable they are in general, but I think people mostly seem to moan about the Zoetropes haha.

Ariana's Spotify top 10 popular songs | September 2026 update 01 hate that i made you love me [total streams: 439,046,631] 02 we can't be friends (wait for your love) [total streams: 2,108,550,194] 03 Into You [total streams: 2,116,194,610] 04 Love Me Harder [total streams: 1,528,538,516] 05 Save Your Tears (Remix) [total streams: 2,325,947,941] 06 One Last Time [total streams: 2,196,791,692] 07 7 rings [total streams: 2,912,055,241] 08 Side To Side [total streams: 1,977,206,040] 09 Dangerous Woman [total streams: 1,691,637,386] 10 thank u, next [total streams: 2,317,815,609] monthly listeners: 99,152,218 Oh it remained pretty static in the end oops - poor brave 'petal'! 'Side To Side' should get to 2 billion streams at some point in the Autumn *.*

September update (01/09/26): Subscribers: 58.1 million 01. 2.4 billion views - Side To Side (feat. Nicki Minaj) 02. 1.6 billion views - 7 rings 03. 1.4 billion views - Problem (feat. Iggy Azalea) 04. 1.3 billion views - no tears left to cry 05. 1.2 billion views - Break Free (feat. Zedd) 06. 1.1 billion views - Into You 07. 1 billion views - Focus 08. 892 million views - thank u, next 09. 888 million views - Love Me Harder (feat. The Weeknd) 10. 780 million views - Dangerous Woman 11. 710 million views - positions 12. 639 million views - break up with your girlfriend, i'm bored 13. 492 million views - The Way (feat. Mac Miller) 14. 432 million views - God is a woman 15. 393 million views - One Last Time 16. 388 million views - we can't be friends (wait for your love) 17. 352 million views - 34+35 18. 335 million views - Let Me Love You (feat. Lil Wayne) 19. 333 million views - Santa Tell Me 20. 284 million views - boyfriend (feat. Social House) 21. 277 million views - Stuck With U (with Justin Bieber) 22. 268 million views - breathin 23. 246 million views - Don't Call Me Angel (with Miley Cyrus & Lana Del Rey) 24. 205 million views - Everyday (feat. Future) 25. 201 million views - Baby I 26. 194 million views - Right There (feat. Big Sean) 27. 136 million views - Almost Is Never Enough (feat. Nathan Sykes) 28. 126 million views - 34+35 Remix (feat. Doja Cat & Megan Thee Stallion) 29. 122 million views - yes, and? 30. 80 million views - hate that i made you love me 31. 71 million views - the light is coming (feat. Nicki Minaj) 32. 58 million views - MONOPOLY (feat. Victoria Monét) 33. 58 million views - the boy is mine 34. 28 million views - petal 35. 23 million views - supernatural 36. 4 million views - twilight zone - 'hate that i made you love me' has surpassed 'the light is coming' to become Ariana's 30th most viewed video! - 'petal' overtakes 'supernatural' and 'twilight zone' as Ari's 34th most viewed video

^ thank you for taking the time to comment, Jim! Somewhere in my brain I remembered you being a fan of 'Sunday Morning' so thought if anyone would appreciate the presence of The Velvet Underground & Nico here, it'd be you *.* Glad the 'Stand By Me' love was a pleasant surprise for you, what a song 1960s #04 The Animals - 'The House of the Rising Sun' (1964) #03 The Mamas & The Papas - 'California Dreamin’ (1965) Next up are two songs that have held up impressively well in the streaming era as both can boast over 1 billion Spotify streams! The origins of 'The House of the Rising Sun' are unknown but it's theorised that the song resembles ballads from the 16th century, so could have derived from one of them. The earliest known recording of the song dates back to 1933, when Appalachian artists Clarence "Tom" Ashley and Gwen Foster took it on, under the title 'Rising Sun Blues'. Other 20th century iterations that pre-date The Animals include Woody Guthrie's version in 1941 and Bob Dylan's recording in 1961. But the definitive version was released in 1964. Animals front man Eric Burdon claimed he first heard the song in a club in Newcastle, when folk singer Johnny Handle performed it. Burdon's group were touring with Chuck Berry at the time and selected 'The House of the Rising Sun' for their set, as they felt it would be distinctive. Their cover elicited a very excitable response, which convinced producer Mickie Most that it had hit potential, after he was initially reluctant to work on it. The Animals then recorded their highly successful single in just one take. I once again admire a record with a prominent organ as Alan Price's solo in this song is tremendous. Hilton Valentine's instantly recognisable opening guitar arpeggio is commanding too. Eric Burdon looks so young in the embedded performance yet has the voice of an old soul. He delivers these pained lyrics, about a young man who followed his father's path into gambling and alcoholism, with such compelling conviction. 'The House of the Rising Sun' reached #1 in both the U.K. and U.S. and is thought of as the first 'British invasion' #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 unconnected to The Beatles, as Peter and Gordon's 'A World Without Love' was also a Lennon-McCartney composition. It may be surprising that my favourite U.K. #1 single of the 1960s is a cover version but that is how you do it! ••• 'California Dreamin' was written by at that time husband and wife duo Michelle and John Phillips. The two were inspired by Michelle missing sunny California while they were living in New York City, during a cold winter. They were members of a folk group named the New Journeyman at the time, which evolved into The Mamas & The Papas, whose line-up also included Mama Cass and Denny Doherty. They got a record contract after being introduced to Lou Adler, who would produce 'California Dreamin'. He'd later go on to become one of the executive producers of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. 'California Dreamin' opens with a guitar solo, performed by P.F. Sloan, who also contributed to other '60s hits like 'Eve of Destruction' by Barry McGuire. McGuire was actually the one who introduced the group to the aforementioned Lou Adler. The first version of 'California Dreamin' was for a Barry McGuire album and merely featured the Mamas & The Papas as backing vocalists. However, Adler was so impressed by their contributions that they cut a new version with Denny Doherty taking on the lead vocal instead, but kept the backing vocals and the majority of the instrumental. McGuire's original vocal can briefly be heard on the left channel at the start of the song as it wasn't completely erased. The flute solo by Bud Shank was later added to the new version too instead of the original harmonica part. This song captures a feeling of wistfulness perfectly. I love the scene-setting lyrics and haunting mood to both the production and vocals. The Mamas & The Papas certainly gave The Beach Boys a run for their money in terms of stunning harmonies! I like their contrast between the male and female voices. The introductory guitar is instantly evocative and the flute solo also stands out as a beautiful touch from the production side. Michelle Phillips is the only surviving founding member of the group. I once wrote her a letter, to tell her how much I loved 'California Dreamin' and 'Dedicated To The One I Love' in particular and kindly got these photos signed in response: 🩶 'California Dreamin' initially charted at just #23 here in the U.K. but thankfully achieved a more respectable peak of #9 in 1997 upon re-release, after it was used in an advert for Carling Premier.

My zine CD just turned up @Jordanlee1402

Shaken to my core by the Model/Actriz feature omg. Bring it on 🤩

Just heard this on an advert: 164 Pet Shop Boys - It’s A Sin ❤️

Oh this quiz looks right up my street! I'll be sure to get some answers in before the deadline

'Talking Body' is up 11 places to a new peak of #86!