Esmerelda

Got to the front of the queue twice and was then promptly kicked off both times. Somehow still managed to get a decent ticket on third attempt. Looks like there are still a few available

Much as I can't stand Trump, I feel the left could learn a lesson or two from how he managed to revive the Republican party- who were basically a dying and dwindling political force until he showed up. He did so by consistently ignoring the Republican establishment who wanted to "keep the centre round" and were only interested in the views of the donors. Perhaps next time the Dems should spend less time trying to appeal to Liz Cheney and her 20 fans and more time trying to appeal to actual left of centre people so they come out and vote.

I don't think Katy cares anymore and it shows in this collection of B-sides and leftovers.

Dance Monkey perhaps. Song by a relatively obscure unknown busker from Australia with no big record label or push becoming the most streamed song by a woman ever- a record it still holds. SNAP by Rosa Linn. Armenia's somewhat forgettable Eurovision entry that finished 20th becoming a worldwide hit months after the contest.

Oh dear. Just had to switch off Shania she sounded so bad. What a shame.

I thought it was really good- forgot how much I like Electricity and Be the One. I was surprised Dance the Night wasn't performed, but according to Setlist.FM she has never performed it live so maybe she doesn't like it.

Regardless of all the drama, I thought the quality of songs at Eurovision this year was extremely poor. Probably my least favourite edition.

Reset Mr Brightside and Unwritten too for a proper early 00s comeback please. :cheeseblock:

The robot song has been stuck in my head since I first heard it- feels like someone asked an AI to write an Aqua song. :lol:

Can't believe it has been 6 years since Sigrid won this. :o

Emmelie de Forest went top 15 with her winning Eurovision entry and had one further top 75 hit with Rainmaker. Of Monsters and Men also had a further top 75 hit after Little Talks. Maren Morris went top 10 with The Middle and her Taylor Swift colab reached number 52.

Dua Floppa's career has gone Houdini :cry:

Last Christmas was originally written about April Fools Day which makes sense because if you gave someone your heart you would be in no position to give it to someone else after return. :magic:

I'm surprised Spotify don't copy Alexa and have Christmas exclusives. Stick it on the top of their playlists and would be a global number 1.

Up there with Santa Baby and Santa's C*ming For Us as one of the more explicit Christmas bops

Alexa will be seething if Sam misses top 10- expect her wrath to propel it to number 1 the week after Christmas. :kink:

Someone needs to release a song about that awkward period between Boxing Day and New Years Eve.

Tracklist isn't bad but personally would have preferred a 2nd song from Wonderful Wonderful instead of Dustland Fairytale if they had to limit it to 20.

:nocheer:

Cher still t̶o̶p̶ 6̶5̶ top 45 :cheeseblock:

Best: The Nordics and the Baltics are always worth checking out. Have also been enjoying Festival da Cancao the last few years. Worst: Ukraine (often good quality songs, but there is always drama) Malta (usually too many songs and the winning song often doesn't end up being the entry anyway) Germany (usually overly complicated and with low quality entries) Italy (some quality entries, but virtually impossible for a woman to win or do well)

Looks like somebody at Radio 1 realised Take Me Home Country Road isn't a Christmas song :kink:

May be time to send songs that are over 3 years old to a catalogue chart, allowing exemptions in cases where they would repeak like what happened with Kate Bush. Might give newer Christmas songs a chance to shine.

Christmas Invasion every year might not be so bad were it not almost entirely determined by order on a Spotify playlist. Still, at least the Sausage Roll drivel isn't about this year.

FusedMarc was a very random winner. They then meant the baffling decision to "revamp" it and remove all what was good about it. Evelina has always been a bit of a guilty pleasure for me though.