Noahspike

I liked what Alan Jones said in the UK Sales article about the debut of 'Blonde' denying one of music's most iconic blondes a #1 album, and it's a similar case here with Dolly pushed just outside the top 10! Still highly impressive for someone in their sixth decade in the industry of course. Really have to listen to new Frank one of these days :arrr:. Great to see how big his chart impact's been after so long away.

I'm reluctant to call this her best ever as it sounds absolutely nothing like a Meghan Trainor song, though I guess fits nicely with her relentless campaign of self-love. Besides, the preceding singles were both tunes and are infinitely more representative. Also I agree that 'Better' feels too short, and the rap feature's properly horrendous. I just adore that airy chorus though. <3

He's yet to have a good album title - they all seem like conceptually void afterthoughts. 'In Case You Didn't Know' is probably his best.

'Let Me Love You' was more instant and is catchier overall, but 'Cold Water' is more interesting and better equipped to stand the test of time. In general they do exactly the same thing, satisfying my appetite for a nicely produced, laid-back summer jam. I'd pick 'Cold Water' at a push.

AUGUST Songs 01 | ** | Tove Lo | Cool Girl 02 | 04 | Suns | Catalyse [04-02] 03 | ** | A R I Z O N A | Cross My Mind 04 | 01 | Usher | Crash [01-04] 05 | ** | Midnight To Monaco | One In A Million 06 | 03 | The 1975 | Somebody Else [01-01-03-06] 07 | 34 | Major Lazer ft. Justin Bieber & MØ | Cold Water [34-07] 08 | 07 | JoJo ft. Wiz Khalifa | Fuck Apologies [07-08] 09 | 47 | Hailee Steinfeld & Grey ft. Zedd | Starving [47-09] 10 | 12 | BANKS | Fuck With Myself [12-10] 11 | ** | DJ Snake ft. Justin Bieber | Let Me Love You 12 | 05 | Alicia Keys | In Common [02-03-05-12] 13 | 02 | Olly Murs | You Don't Know Love [02-13] 14 | ** | Meghan Trainor ft. Yo Gotti | Better 15 | ** | Jarryd James | Give Me Something 16 | ** | Meg Mac | Never Be 17 | ** | OneRepublic | Kids 18 | ** | Dua Lipa | Blow Your Mind (Mwah!) 19 | 25 | M.O | Who Do You Think Of? [28-25-19] 20 | 15 | Cheat Codes x Kris Kross Amsterdam | SEX [22-15-20] 21 | ** | BANKS | Gemini Feed 22 | ** | NEIKED | Sexual 23 | 13 | Fifth Harmony ft. Fetty Wap | All In My Head (Flex) [15-04-13-23] 24 | 16 | Dua Lipa | Hotter Than Hell [44-18-16-24] 25 | 11 | Shawn Mendes | Treat You Better [11-25] 26 | ** | Kitty Pryde | 285 27 | 10 | MØ | Final Song [34-06-10-27] 28 | 09 | NGAIIRE | I Can't Hear God Anymore [05-09-28] 29 | ** | Tom Odell | Concrete 30 | ** | Alessia Cara | Scars To Your Beautiful 31 | ** | Mai Lan | Technique 32 | ** | The Chainsmokers ft. Halsey | Closer 33 | 08 | Bearson | Want You [09-08-33] 34 | 28 | Christine and the Queens | Tilted [28-34] 35 | ** | Florence + The Machine | Wish That You Were Here 36 | ** | BANKS | Mind Games 37 | 31 | Clean Bandit ft. Louisa Johnson | Tears [32-31-37] 38 | 39 | Twenty One Pilots | Heathens [39-38] 39 | ** | Ariana Grande ft. Nicki Minaj | Side To Side 40 | 23 | Drake ft. Rihanna | Too Good [35-23-23-40] 41 | ** | Christine and the Queens | iT 42 | ** | Cher Lloyd | Activated 43 | ** | Greyson Chance | Back On The Wall 44 | 24 | Britney Spears ft. G-Eazy | Make Me [24-44] 45 | ** | Ellie Goulding | Still Falling For You 46 | 18 | Demi Lovato | Body Say [18-46] 47 | 40 | Bastille | Good Grief [40-41-47] 48 | ** | FM-84 | Arcade Summer 49 | 06 | Alessia Cara | I'm Yours [12-02-06-49] 50 | ** | Christine and the Queens | Science Fiction ~~~~~ Monthly #1s 10/14 | Taylor Swift | Out Of The Woods 11/14 | Josef Salvat | Open Season 12/14 | Ariana Grande ft. The Weeknd | Love Me Harder 01/15 | Years & Years | King 02/15 | Years & Years | King 03/15 | Brandon Flowers | Can't Deny My Love 04/15 | Erik Hassle | No Words 05/15 | Ciara | I Bet 06/15 | Miguel ft. Wale | Coffee (F***ing) 07/15 | Years & Years | Eyes Shut 08/15 | Jess Glynne | Don't Be So Hard On Yourself 09/15 | Naughty Boy ft. Beyoncé & Arrow Benjamin | Runnin' (Lose It All) 10/15 | Ellie Goulding | Something In The Way You Move 11/15 | Adele | When We Were Young 12/15 | Zara Larsson | Lush Life 01/16 | Selena Gomez | Hands To Myself 02/16 | SOFI TUKKER | Matadora 03/16 | MUNA | Winterbreak 04/16 | All Saints | One Strike 05/16 | The 1975 | Somebody Else 06/16 | The 1975 | Somebody Else 07/16 | Usher | Crash 08/16 | Tove Lo | Cool Girl

Hi! It's indeed been a while, which is why I thought I'd be speedy getting back to you merely seconds minutes hours days weeks A FULL MONTH later. B-) Yay, I know you've gone off 'Crash' since but its appeal isn't letting up much for me despite hideous overplay. What's more, I've you to thank for putting me onto it - much like that nifty trick to rebel against swear filters. :teresa: JoJo's sang is great - I think you'd be a fan. Vocals, lyrics, build, guest rapper all on point and the whole thing has undeniable hit potential if it wasn't, you know, a JoJo sang. :cry: Haha, well I knew as soon as it started that 'Float' was the one you knew I'd like, so...I guess you're predictable in your concept of my predictability :thinking: :magic:. Beautiful song, but I still can't hear the Years & Years comparison! To me it's Troye Sivan all over, to the point of near-imitation. Will have to remember to share with Joseph and Bal in any case. ^_^ Not only two 'Rise' songs, but section #33-#36 reads like some sort of aquatic safety warning. :o I don't remember you recommending 'In My Blood', but I did see you joining in with the thread's looning so that might've done it! Solid song, if a bit dated. 'Starving' http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/korn0818/ed2305b7.png. Hailee Steinfeld in general. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/korn0818/ed2305b7.png. You finally having a phone capable of supporting Shazam and the like. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/korn0818/ed2305b7.png :snif: Thanks, and sorry for the ridiculous delay! :D

Thanks for your response, Ryan, and to the other mods too for considering my case. I appreciate all the thought and effort that goes into these rules to enforce timely participation in a system that's made to be as fair as possible. I think the mods here do a fantastic (and often thankless) job to keep things running so smoothly, and you're right that I should've read up properly on the new rules. Sorry that I didn't. I do understand the distinction made between an extension announcement before and after the original deadline, but I still think that that's not as important a point to focus on as the obvious effort, interest and willingness to participate of a person voting late (prior to the host's new deadline of course). Yes, as it was reaching midnight I did realise I wouldn't be able to vote on time and would thus face a ban if Lotti didn't extend, but because she did I had the valuable time needed to submit votes as intended and, as I'd mistakenly understood, avoid being banned. I just personally don't think it matters much whether the person had briefly accepted their fate or not with regard to getting a second chance after midnight, rather than being saved by the host before. If they go to the trouble of listening, organising and sending their votes in the grace period specified by the host, they're clearly keen participants who take the contest seriously. Taking their late votes as entirely valid yet deducting their entry significantly AND banning them from taking part next month strikes me as excessively harsh! I trust what you say about this rule being present for years but I'm really surprised that there haven't been issues towards it, though I can't even recall any specific late voters who were then banned myself. I always understood that it was up to the host and his/her schedule to accept late votes, and that if they were accepted the country would face a deduction as penalty, and could enter the following month. I'd definitely have spoken up sooner about the ban in these cases had I known, because I really do think that's overboard. I realise that if the ban for late votes was removed like I'm suggesting, people should be discouraged from banking on a host accepting late votes and 'using' the extended deadline, and that's why I think a slightly larger deduction being applied would be appropriate. It'd mean the person is punished once instead of twice for simply not organising themselves on time. As I said before, in the case of DNQ countries voting late, I think their effort to participate should be emphasised over their escape from penalty. I also feel the risk of "will they won't they" is considerable discouragement from deciding to leave voting until after midnight anyway. Basically, I don't foresee a change in behaviour with what I've proposed, unless I'm missing something! All I see is a fairer response to a case like mine. Thanks again for your consideration!

Thanks Lotti - I don't blame you at all by the way!

I tried to enter last night but Cody's told me I'm actually banned this month, which I hadn't realised! ://// I'd misinterpreted the rules unfortunately, having thought that late votes which arrive within the host's extended deadline would be only subject to deduction, with the country in question able to compete the following month, regardless of whether the host made the decision to extend prior to or after the original midnight deadline. I have no one to blame but myself on this so I'm not necessarily looking for special treatment here, but I do think that the rule is overly harsh when a person takes the time and effort to listen to an entire final, organise their votes, and has them included in results without undue inconvenience caused to the host (as hosts can extend deadlines at their own discretion). Inclusion of as many countries as possible ultimately gives everyone a better, more representative final, and if someone submits votes a matter of hours after the initial deadline so as to support this, I feel a significant deduction to hamper their song's chances is a sufficient penalty and discouragement from doing it again. I do realise that if a country had DNQ'd in the semis and votes late in this way they'd go unpunished, but ultimately they made the effort to meet the host's timings and I think that's the most pertinent thing. More often than not, people failing to vote on time is simply due to life getting in the way rather than laziness or disrespect for the rules of a contest as uniquely enjoyable as BJSC. Voting in good time and having your say included by the host as normal but your participation excluded the following month, after already suffering a deduction, is a bit of a kick in the teeth and acts against the spirit of the contest IMO. I completely understand the importance of rules and incentives/disincentives in BJSC, but this is a bit much for something that's ultimately supposed to be a fun way to share music! That's how I see it anyway, and genuinely not because it's me who's been banned! As I said, I was wrong to be disorganised and miss the original deadline, and I apologised to Lotti at the time as I really don't like messing anyone around. To give a bit of personal context to this though, I was on holiday with my parents and brothers who I hadn't seen in months, and when I realised the deadline was hours away and not the following day as I'd thought, it was a choice between continuing in their company or rushing away for the rest of the evening with my headphones (and battling with very patchy hotel wifi)! I was extremely grateful that she extended submissions to midday because it gave me a chance to finish listening properly and participate as intended. I did sacrifice time with my family that morning though in listening through and voting, primarily because I love BJSC and wanted to ensure I could enter the next one. Ironically the reason I was never inclined to tell mods I might have trouble voting on time was that I would've seen it as bending rules, but I realise I should've done that in good time, and now I find myself in this situation! I'd really love to be able to participate this month, however I'm not expecting an exception to be made for me. I do think it's worth considering relaxing the rule on penalties for (reasonably) late votes though. We're talking about generally no more than a 12-hour time frame after all - does falling in that period really warrant double punishment/ a one-month ban? Perhaps the deduction on late votes could be increased from 15% to further disincentivise using the host's chosen grace period and offset a removal of the ban in these cases.

Poor Britney http://abload.de/img/britneytoilet-copyuqf0v.gif

First time hearing 'Side To Side' and immediately want to replay that performance. Ariana once again excelling with the post-album jams. :music: The finance department.

This is of course the VMAs so I'm not even gonna try make sense of 'Sorry' and 'Formation' being up for Video of the Year when they've both been excluded from the gender categories. And I didn't know the choreographed video to 'Sorry' was ever its official music video but there you go. Oh and it's not even up for Best Choreography (!)...so what exactly made the 'Sorry' video so special, VMAs? :thinking: Bank Holiday Monday means I'll be able to stay up and watch this like in my student days, yay. Not really hyped for anything but the performances should be worth watching, Beyoncé and the Rihanna medley especially.

Good to see your chart returning in some form, Froot! Plenty of overlap with my own is always guaranteed. Not a bad track on the Christine album so the invasion there is definitely justified. Actually annoyed with myself that I was so slow to check out more of her stuff. Shows the impact of one great live performance (on Graham Norton), considering I'd been obsessed with 'Christine' for so long, and had loved 'Saint Claude' too. New Two Door Cinema Club hasn't really grabbed me. Both 'Are We Ready? (Wreck)' and 'Bad Decisions' are only alright for me, which is a shame as I loved their last album when it came out. Still great to have them back though after so long away. Been really impressed with Tom Odell's new stuff. 'Concrete' is a clear album standout (and probably his best chance at a hit) and continues a pretty great single run. Mollie's song is decent but I find her vocals way too weak generally, and this is no exception unfortunately. Fair play to her for charting though as I thought it hadn't much hope!

+20 Azealia Banks - 212 +19 Years & Years - Shine +18 Lana Del Rey vs Cedric Gervais - Summertime Sadness +17 Hurts - Wonderful Life +16 Ellie Goulding - Lights +15 Bastille - Pompeii +14 Nelly Furtado - Say It Right +13 Amy Winehouse - Tears Dry On Their Own +12 Calvin Harris - How Deep Is Your Love +11 HAIM - Falling +10 Alicia Keys - Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart +09 Sam Sparro - Black And Gold +08 Nelly Furtado - All Good Things (Come To An End) +07 Florence & The Machine - Shake It Out +06 Girls Aloud - Sexy! No No No +05 Agnes - Release Me +04 Rihanna (feat. Mikky Ekko) - Stay +03 Taylor Swift - Blank Space +02 Mark Ronson (feat. Bruno Mars) - Uptown Funk +01 Swedish House Mafia - Don't You Worry Child

+20 Ellie Goulding - Anything Could Happen +19 Solange - Losing You +18 Lana Del Rey - Born To Die +17 Rihanna (feat. Calvin Harris) - We Found Love +16 Drake (feat. Rihanna) - Take Care +15 HAIM - The Wire +14 Lady Gaga - Alejandro +13 CHVRCHES - The Mother We Share +12 Adele - Set Fire To The Rain +11 Kate Nash - Foundations +10 Paramore - Still Into You +09 Girls Aloud - Untouchable +08 Estelle (feat. Kanye West) - American Boy +07 Killers - Human +06 Madonna - Sorry +05 Lady Gaga - Paparazzi +04 MGMT - Kids +03 G.R.L - Ugly Heart +02 Paramore - Misery Business +01 Beyoncé (feat. Jay-Z) - Drunk In Love Woah that was brutal! Got loads more that should've been easy inclusions.

Part of me is really struggling to believe this story. I know there are extremely deluded people out there who always rise to the forefront of Catfish and shows of its kind, and unfortunately this is how we do reality TV these days, but the whole thing seems like peacock...or 'poppycock', or whatever the phrase is. I mean, it's like if I'd had a teenage dream that I kissed a girl who's famous like Katy, and then somehow convinced myself I'd actually been wide awake at the time and am now in a six-year relationship with her?! Surely a firework would go off in my head and I'd know that I'd have to be a serious dark horse (feat. Juicy J) to actually pull that off, not least cos I'd be utterly starstrukk by her every time we interacted! People should stop walking on air and realise that their lives are not like the movies, not even a totally realistic documentary like E.T. If you're chatting to someone online who says they're a celebrity, you definitely shouldn't bother dressin' up when you meet them because, by all probability, you and the person who you love are not legendary lovers. It's definitely not who you think it is and, by the grace of god, I say that unconditionally. It's more likely one of the boys from your high school just messing around and surely thinking of you as a complete fool. Circle the drain.

Agreed. I don't find it dissimilar to 'Hotter Than Hell' but this one's got a face to it, particularly in its varied vocal delivery and accented post-chorus. Smart single choice for sure.

That Carpool Karaoke has made me realise the utterly timeless brilliance of '...Baby One More Time' and 'Oops...' (though I'm sure the surprise schoolgirl outfits and spoken-word bit reenactment helped a bit with that)! Basically, James took the words out of my mouth when he was like "oh it's huge, OH IT'S HUGE" at the closing moments of the former. :lol: I'm sure anyone who's aware of her troubles in the past knew to expect this to be a bit awkward and forced, but actually I thought she engaged with James really well and seemed remarkably comfortable casually chatting and opening up to him, which he should really get credit for too. Haven't seen many recent promo appearances of hers but that was definitely the most natural I've seen her in ages. She's lovely. Very glad she ended up being audible on the songs too after that 'Toxic' preview!

*Six-day late reaction* Congrats Cody/Cor Lupus! 'Higher' just missed out on Desbuandese points, so I can certainly support that winner, much as I'd have preferred 'Technique' to prevail. The top 10's looking good with FSR Rontvia, Cadelicia, Harmonica (whut :mellow:), Jadakissnia and Dobago too, and I'm glad N DNTN proved a hit in the end after a very slow start. I still adore 'Catalyse' and thought it was my best chance at success in ages when I entered it, so it's cool to see I'd have been right if I managed to vote on time. Fourth in the semi and three 18s (four if mdh hadn't skipped it in his listen-through lol) is surprising though! Thanks for the votes, particularly Harve, Jake and Adam. Great that it found some big fans. :D And thanks Lotti and Tim for all the creativity and work. ^_^

Only just listened to the album so another Graham Norton performance-fuelled mainstream hoe here :cheer:, though one who will always hold the original French masterpiece above 'Tilted' by a country mile. Can't think of many better middle-8s than the whispered one in 'Christine', so I'm very glad sense prevailed and that was left untouched. So overall I'm a bit of a mainstream hoe/indie snob hybrid really. B-) Completely agree that she, her captivating choreography and UK success are among the best things about the music scene this year. Finally checked out (the English) 'Chaleur Humaine' last week while on holiday and wasn't disappointed (though maybe not AS impressed as I thought I'd be, but I'd really built my expectations)! Thoroughly beautiful album that I'll definitely revisit. Would say 'iT', 'Science Fiction', 'Jonathan' and of course 'Saint Claude' are the standouts on first run-through. Need to get on her other stuff so the tips are welcome, Dandy!

The song's decent, and surely a hit. Her pronunciation of 'aw-aw-AWWWLLLL' makes me cringe for some reason though and I'm not sure I'll ever get used to it. :arrr: She's kind of losing me overall. Her career's been so confused in general and always been characterised by selling out to keep it chugging on (sometimes to awesome effect), but I feel like she hasn't been exciting or interesting or properly expressive in ages, aside from about a third of 'Delirium' maybe. I like her presence as a popstar and instinctively will her to do well, but her output makes it hard to consistently support her as a fan would. I might just have to adjust my standards for her I guess, but that's where an album like 'Halcyon' (and the majority of 'Lights') gets you. <3

Well I guess I should be thankful my hotel wifi held out and allowed me avoid the ban by mere seconds, but that's just about the worst thing I could read here today. <_< *jumps back in pool*

4th. 0.05s from bronze. :'''''''''''''''(

There's an Irishman in the 400m hurdles final today at 4pm!!! Thomas Barr ran the race of his life yesterday and won his semi-final. So excited - really hope I can watch the final live at work. :arrr:

Bah, that sucks :/. I moved to London in May for a job in a bit of a rush, after being quite settled in Edinburgh, so it's been tough to start again and find new people here (though Tinder's doing its job~ :ph34r:). But yes, Buzzjack and its members have been a big help for me (as I'm sure they have for you) in similar times so I'd be all for that! ^_^ Anyway, I voted a little while ago and was pretty impressed overall - about 20 songs I'd have liked to support. Really hoping people aren't too intimidated by the Norwegian alphabet and get Skall over the line. :wub: