Harve

Cruel world!

Damn, I lost both my 12 and my 8! Gutted for Kath but did think its chances were a bit borderline, and borderline it was with one point in it!

Deandria - my 8-pointer! I feel like that's the first time I've lost a medallist in a while. Despite it being some hard to pin down combination between ska (maybe?), electronica and rap, I did actually expect that Polish belter to stand out enough to have a shot. I did not manipulate their points or indeed anyone from my top 3 as I said I did for a few lower down, in any case it wouldn't have mattered here. Delighted that I've qualified!

Voted! Not done anything as radical as giving my 10th favourite song a 12 or anything, but I have slightly manipulated my votes in order to boost by a couple of points those who I think may need the boost in order to qualify, at the detriment of a few others who I've deemed safe?? Not something I normally do but felt necessary for a couple of my faves. We'll see if that ends up biting me in the ass.

I'm old enough to remember Little Britain discourse in the 00s and tbh I think even at the time the themes were very much not OK.

...for like 2 years. Volcanic eruptions do nothing to interrupt the warming pattern, it just surpresses the trend for a little while.

The optimal human population is probably close to 0, climatically speaking, but I don't think we should be advocating for our own extinction. Eugenics is not a route we're going down so there is no solution to overpopulation, insofaras it exists, so I don't see the use in really considering it. Lifestyle / mode of transport changes are much more realistic even if they're a huge uphill battle. In any case large parts of the world are already in or are entering into demographic crises.

This is the factor that worries me the most as a huge key in limiting climate change. There needs to be a mass lifestyle shift away from frequent car use and especially flying. That requirement affects almost everybody and I'm just not optimistic in society's abilty to accept that. The left-populist narrative puts a responsibility on governments, businesses and the ultra-rich who all absolutely have an outsized influence over your average Joe but everybody does have an impact.

37 pop entries sent by pop and alt-leaning nations alike vs 1 Fizheuer Zieheuer, who would get the most points x

After giving 18 to Hendinia/Tourist in July and 18 to Aeroche/EV last month, it definitely makes sense for my own entry this month to fit in with those, genre-wise! This one is more slowed down and autumnal feeling. My favourite artist discovery of the summer.

Sorry keep getting delayed getting home: 01 | 341 Séyetana // Portraits Of Tracy \\ Caught In A Jam 02 | 282 Bøtanikkä // Natalie Jane \\ dance til i die 03 | 254 Ojnoj // Tash Blake \\ cologne 04 | 247 FSR Rontvia // HENGE \\ Mushroom One 05 | 237 Aeroche // EV \\ Thierry Henry (Modeā Remix) 06 | 222 Lentyll // RAY \\ MOD 07 | 208 Neliönoir // Sophia Stel \\ Molly In The Club 08 | 207 Bronzil // Isabel LaRosa \\ Her Face 09 | 206 Fljótavík // Cain Culto \\ a plague, a pestilence 10 | 193 Kluminican Republic // Alewya \\ Maktoub 11 | 189 FARC // Lee Jung Hyun \\ Wa 12 | 188 Jadakissnia // tlen \\ patnik (more votes) 13 | 188 Sovarasma // Shye \\ Smoke 14 | 187.85 East Rukahavian // Chayla Hope \\ Love In Lo-Fi (15% deduction) 15 | 183 Skall // Domenique Dumont \\ Visages Visages 16 | 182 Kathaldazia // Dev Lemons \\ eat the pavement 17 | 181 Pagasa // Great Grandpa \\ Split Up The Kids 18 | 178 Elëdan // Roly Porter \\ An Open Door 19 | 170 République d'Áskorza // Ambre Vallet \\ Ambre 20 | 164 Danæviia // Liminal \\ The Crop 21 | 160 Terra Avium // The Haunted Youth \\ falling to pieces 22 | 158 Greenfroze // ANRI \\ I CAN'T STOP THE LONELINESS 23 | 156 Lookylion // Ellee Duke \\ Adrenaline 24 | 153 Altyr Muunilinst // Mae Muller \\ Wheels Come Off 25 | 152 Zanmatony // Black Mighty Orchestra \\ Ocean Beach (Cybophonia Cinematic Remix) 26 | 150 N DNTN // YENA \\ Catch Catch 27 | 144 Freidland // Lena Leon \\ Chemical 28 | 143 The Spodic Empire // waist \\ bravado 29 | 139 POPHub // EVAN GIIA \\ AS WE DANCE 30 | 138 Hendinia // La Beba \\ SANTUARIO CLUB (more votes) 31 | 138 Cor Lupus // Wolf Cutt & Muki \\ STARSEED 32 | 137.7 Aesthetica // Kyra Machida \\ Control (15% deduction) 33 | 133 Trifoski // MEMORIALS \\ Dropped Down The Well 34 | 131 Jupiterdonia // Diana Vickers \\ Pretty Boys (more votes) 35 | 131 Land of DW // RMB \\ Experience (Follow Me) 36 | 125 New Helvetica // Serafina Steer \\ Night Before Mutiny 37 | 123.25 New Lexico // Chloe Qisha \\ Baby Girl (15% deduction) 38 | 117 Yehesi // Mollie Elizabeth \\ Run Rabbit 39 | 110 Taahino // Stand Atlantic \\ LUCID 40 | 102 Herbilore // Boys Go To Jupiter \\ Lovers Always Lose 41 | 97 Deandria // Collide \\ Freak Like Me 42 | 67 Harmonica // Badflower \\ Detroit Position-wise some changes in the bottom half! I'll update the spreadsheet later (either tonight or tomorrow).

We've determined that every single Cor Lupus point was fraud.

I knew the reason why last night it felt like I only made minor f***ups was because Bré wasn't watching.

Unfortunately Bronzil (and Rontvia on the more alternative side) had to be given a false sense of hope early on in order to disguise the Seyetana landslide!

You wouldn't guess simply from listening to them in isolation that Bronzil and East Ruk have "strong but relatively narrow appeal" as high average points implies!

Final scoreboard v2 01 | 341 Séyetana // Portraits Of Tracy \\ Caught In A Jam 02 | 282 Bøtanikkä // Natalie Jane \\ dance til i die 03 | 254 Ojnoj // Tash Blake \\ cologne 04 | 247 FSR Rontvia // HENGE \\ Mushroom One 05 | 227 Aeroche // EV \\ Thierry Henry (Modeā Remix) 06 | 222 Lentyll // RAY \\ MOD 07 | 208 Neliönoir // Sophia Stel \\ Molly In The Club 08 | 207 Bronzil // Isabel LaRosa \\ Her Face 09 | 206 Fljótavík // Cain Culto \\ a plague, a pestilence 10 | 193 Kluminican Republic // Alewya \\ Maktoub 11 | 189 FARC // Lee Jung Hyun \\ Wa 12 | 188 Jadakissnia // tlen \\ patnik (more votes) 13 | 188 Sovarasma // Shye \\ Smoke 14 | 187.85 East Rukahavian // Chayla Hope \\ Love In Lo-Fi (15% deduction) 15 | 183 Skall // Domenique Dumont \\ Visages Visages 16 | 182 Kathaldazia // Dev Lemons \\ eat the pavement 17 | 181 Pagasa // Great Grandpa \\ Split Up The Kids 18 | 178 Elëdan // Roly Porter \\ An Open Door 19 | 170 République d'Áskorza // Ambre Vallet \\ Ambre 20 | 164 Danæviia // Liminal \\ The Crop 21 | 161 Terra Avium // The Haunted Youth \\ falling to pieces 22 | 156 Lookylion // Ellee Duke \\ Adrenaline 23 | 153 Altyr Muunilinst // Mae Muller \\ Wheels Come Off 24 | 151 Zanmatony // Black Mighty Orchestra \\ Ocean Beach (Cybophonia Cinematic Remix) 25 | 150 N DNTN // YENA \\ Catch Catch 26 | 149 POPHub // EVAN GIIA \\ AS WE DANCE 27 | 148 Cor Lupus // Wolf Cutt & Muki \\ STARSEED (more votes) 28 | 148 Greenfroze // ANRI \\ I CAN'T STOP THE LONELINESS 29 | 143 The Spodic Empire // waist \\ bravado 30 | 138 Hendinia // La Beba \\ SANTUARIO CLUB 31 | 137.7 Aesthetica // Kyra Machida \\ Control (15% deduction) 32 | 133 Trifoski // MEMORIALS \\ Dropped Down The Well 33 | 131 Jupiterdonia // Diana Vickers \\ Pretty Boys (more votes) 34 | 131 Land of DW // RMB \\ Experience (Follow Me) 35 | 129 Freidland // Lena Leon \\ Chemical 36 | 125 New Helvetica // Serafina Steer \\ Night Before Mutiny 37 | 123.25 New Lexico // Chloe Qisha \\ Baby Girl (15% deduction) 38 | 117 Yehesi // Mollie Elizabeth \\ Run Rabbit 39 | 110 Taahino // Stand Atlantic \\ LUCID 40 | 101 Herbilore // Boys Go To Jupiter \\ Lovers Always Lose 41 | 97 Deandria // Collide \\ Freak Like Me 42 | 83 Harmonica // Badflower \\ Detroit

Oooops. Let me correct that then. (I'm sure there is/was a justification for why final and semi scoreboards are split differently but that reason is not obvious to me right now).

I must admit that I never actually checked this and just went off my memory. And you would think that my memory would be reliable since I fairly recently lost out on a victory on a tiebreak but perhaps not.

Wait is it not split by who gets more 18s 😭

Also of note: @blacksquare BARELY qualifying but getting a very respectable 7th in the end. Sophia Stel really is the queen of growers!

Spreadsheets to pore over here! Don't get me wrong, it was a joy to host and I'm delighted to see Iz win so either way it was always going to be good news, but the semis really didn't indicate that this would happen! As you can see, @leww got the highest point total in the semis by some distance, and I was equally looking forward to crowning Aeroche as a shock winner after barely getting any hype (and then I really would have been able to do some crazy manipulations with the vote reveal order as his points were coming from all over the place taste-wise). But last night it was looking extremely bizarre with the results looking much more in line with predictions than the semis indicated, and both Aeroche and Fljótavík (the other semi winner), hanging just outside the top 10. The final voters did enable them to pull back so I'm sure they won't be unhappy with 5th and 9th respectively!

Wasn't close at all in the end! I really tried my best to manipulate the vote reveal order (as Points Received order would have Iz winning from start till finish) while still balancing the tastes of different countries to leave it in suspense until as late as possible! Congrats @Iz様 🌟 , delighted for you!

A huge congratulations to our overdue first-time winner: 01 | 341 Séyetana // Portraits Of Tracy \\ Caught In A Jam 02 | 282 Bøtanikkä // Natalie Jane \\ dance til i die 03 | 254 Ojnoj // Tash Blake \\ cologne 04 | 247 FSR Rontvia // HENGE \\ Mushroom One 05 | 227 Aeroche // EV \\ Thierry Henry (Modeā Remix) 06 | 222 Lentyll // RAY \\ MOD 07 | 208 Neliönoir // Sophia Stel \\ Molly In The Club 08 | 207 Bronzil // Isabel LaRosa \\ Her Face 09 | 206 Fljótavík // Cain Culto \\ a plague, a pestilence 10 | 193 Kluminican Republic // Alewya \\ Maktoub 11 | 189 FARC // Lee Jung Hyun \\ Wa 12 | 188 Jadakissnia // tlen \\ patnik (more votes) 13 | 188 Sovarasma // Shye \\ Smoke 14 | 187.85 East Rukahavian // Chayla Hope \\ Love In Lo-Fi (15% deduction) 15 | 183 Skall // Domenique Dumont \\ Visages Visages 16 | 182 Kathaldazia // Dev Lemons \\ eat the pavement 17 | 181 Pagasa // Great Grandpa \\ Split Up The Kids 18 | 178 Elëdan // Roly Porter \\ An Open Door 19 | 170 République d'Áskorza // Ambre Vallet \\ Ambre 20 | 164 Danæviia // Liminal \\ The Crop 21 | 161 Terra Avium // The Haunted Youth \\ falling to pieces 22 | 156 Lookylion // Ellee Duke \\ Adrenaline 23 | 153 Altyr Muunilinst // Mae Muller \\ Wheels Come Off 24 | 151 Zanmatony // Black Mighty Orchestra \\ Ocean Beach (Cybophonia Cinematic Remix) 25 | 150 N DNTN // YENA \\ Catch Catch 26 | 149 POPHub // EVAN GIIA \\ AS WE DANCE 27 | 148 Cor Lupus // Wolf Cutt & Muki \\ STARSEED (more votes) 28 | 148 Greenfroze // ANRI \\ I CAN'T STOP THE LONELINESS 29 | 143 The Spodic Empire // waist \\ bravado 30 | 138 Hendinia // La Beba \\ SANTUARIO CLUB 31 | 137.7 Aesthetica // Kyra Machida \\ Control (15% deduction) 32 | 133 Trifoski // MEMORIALS \\ Dropped Down The Well 33 | 131 Jupiterdonia // Diana Vickers \\ Pretty Boys (more votes) 34 | 131 Land of DW // RMB \\ Experience (Follow Me) 35 | 129 Freidland // Lena Leon \\ Chemical 36 | 125 New Helvetica // Serafina Steer \\ Night Before Mutiny 37 | 123.25 New Lexico // Chloe Qisha \\ Baby Girl (15% deduction) 38 | 117 Yehesi // Mollie Elizabeth \\ Run Rabbit 39 | 110 Taahino // Stand Atlantic \\ LUCID 40 | 101 Herbilore // Boys Go To Jupiter \\ Lovers Always Lose 41 | 97 Deandria // Collide \\ Freak Like Me 42 | 83 Harmonica // Badflower \\ Detroit !!!

LAST VOTE 58/58 Kathaldazia 18 Séyetana // Portraits Of Tracy - Caught In A Jam 15 Skall // Domenique Dumont - Visages Visages 13 Trifoski // MEMORIALS - Dropped Down The Well 12 Cor Lupus // Wolf Cutt & Muki - STARSEED 11 Sovarasma // Shye - Smoke 10 Kluminican Republic // Alewya - Maktoub 09 Jadakissnia // tlen - patnik 08 Lentyll // RAY - MOD 07 POPHub // EVAN GIIA - AS WE DANCE 06 Elëdan // Roly Porter - An Open Door 05 Pagasa // Great Grandpa - Split Up The Kids 04 The Spodic Empire // waist - bravado 03 N DNTN // YENA - Catch Catch 02 New Helvetica // Serafina Steer - Night Before Mutiny 01 Neliönoir // Sophia Stel - Molly In The Club

The way that I'm improvising this last bit and can't find the last voter's PM lmfao