BJSC 120 Host Country: Unovia Overview Another dramatic and entertaining year of BJSC was brought to a close within the land of Unovia following their victory last time out. For us, a EOY top 10 placing was almost certainly impossible now therefore it was an opportunity to go for something a bit outside the box that we had been sitting on a for a while. Besides the obvious (more on that below), 120 always stands out to me for perhaps featuring the highest quality of pop in any contest in which we've participated, with the bulk of our high points going to songs within the broad genre and of course we ourselves hopped on the bandwagon to rather successful effect. This contest was also the first occasion in which an anniversary entry took home the spoils, with Ultraviolenceland easily clinching victory by 73 points ahead of a certain other country. The EOY chart was won by a different nation than Aeroche for the first time in 7 years, with FARC pipping them to the crown by a mere 57 points (certainly bolstered by their commanding victory way back in the first contest of the year). Dobago's Entry Result: 2nd Amusingly, this was a song I had randomly discovered somewhere which I thought, for a country song, this isn't half bad! (Country music of course being one of my least favourite genres in general with a few minor exceptions). Additionally, I was surprised to find out that this hadn't been sort of moderate hit at least in the States so retained it primarily as a potential for the Pop Forum Song Contest one day. But all the stars aligned for us to haphazardly enter it into BJSC, with this being essentially a dead rubber edition for us (like most these days I suppose!) but with it also being a Unovia-hosted edition, it felt most appropriate. The song's premise is a response to Dolly Parton's 'Jolene', sung from the perspective of Jolene, the accused mistress in Parton's seminal track. It's a very interesting concept for a song which is both extremely well sung and packed with plenty of hooks. I had some expectation that it would be a rare Dobagan entry that would overtly appeal directly to the Pop bloc but it most certainly outdid even that, attracting a very wide range of support to qualify second from its semi and then match that position in the final. No fewer than 3 other participants mentioned that this song had been a potential once upon a time for them so it already possessed a bit of goodwill among the consensus but even by most others' estimations let alone our own, its performance was extremely surprising. On reflection, it was even perhaps unlucky not to challenge for the victory given it ran into a song which had previously been vetoed, was only allowed to be submitted in this specific contest due to the invocation of the anniversary rules and was by someone who would go onto conquer global charts several years later. Nevertheless, this entry still remains to this day the best performing entry of ours, which will always remain amusing given how far apart it is from our typical type of entry. Winning Entry Country: Ultraviolenceland Said 'someone' who would soon go on to become an unprecedented force in the commercial scene in the coming years is none other than Sabrina Carpenter, who by this point had already been entered twice before and was gradually becoming a forum fave. Very much the original Chappell Roan you could say. So it was no surprise that this was an overwhelming favourite to win despite the so-called "anniversary curse" that had besieged many an entry previously. This song however is utterly brilliant and most definitely the best of her 3 sent to the contest, I'd even go so far as to say it's better than most of her actual plethora of hits she has accumulated since her commercial breakthrough. I especially love the intricate and interwoven lyrics in the verses which must have taken quite a few attempts to get the tongue around. But the overall mood of the track really hits the spot, the dramatic strings transitioning into a fantastically catchy chorus with the extremely effective "skiddly-dee-da-dum-dum" ad-libs. Definitely one that captures the attention and doesn't let it get out of your head easily. Given the eventual gap in points between this 'Diane' there was never any danger of knee shooting and in a generally barren year of winners we were pleased to handsomely reward this with a solid 11 points to end off the year on a high in more ways than one. 18-Pointer Country: Summericia (result: 32nd) It's highly probable that we were still mildly guilty of underpointing 'Up And Down' earlier in the year so when we saw Marnik's name appear several contests year there was maybe a subconscious urge to right such wrongs from the past. But that would be doing this song in its own right a disservice, which is still a superb hard dance meets psytrance effort featuring Hebrew lyrics and customary full-on instrumental drops. This hasn't held up as well as 'Up And Down' but it was a still huge highlight from 120 which wasn't all that blessed with high quality dance compared with previous contests. So yes the competition was slightly lower but listening back, I thoroughly enjoy the different sections of the track and the repeated vocal melody. It was another mighty fine effort for a sound which was unfortunately becoming a bit tired in the contest as demonstrated by its underwhelming finishing position. As alluded to previously though, what this contest lacked in dance it made up for in spades with a brilliant selection of pop which comprised all of our 15-11 section (and 9-pointer) in the voting. 'Clean' and 'Satisfaction Guaranteed' made up our podium places at the time but on reflection it's our 12-pointer that rises the highest nowadays, the irresistibly infectious 'Told You So' which is probably the closest song a pop entry is to becoming a retrospective 18-pointer in any contest revisited so far (although there is an entry coming up that may in fact actually tick such box, stay tuned). Another contender however would be the epic 'Flesh & Bones', the song which denied us a first semi-final victory but would finish third in the final (indeed the top 3 of semi 1 were the top 3 in the final but with the order reversed, fun fact that one).
Yes that is indeed rather unfortunate. Odds on her being the first celeb to walk from both iterations.
