dandy*

@Doctor Blind I’m not going to get anything in I’m afraid, just wanted to say you don’t wait for me. Sorry!

I didn’t get into Aimee until she soundtracked Magnolia but I’ve loved pretty much everything she’s done since. I do have her earlier albums like Whatever and I’m With Stupid but for me Aimee matured as a songwriter and her lyrics got better and better during the 00s

I definitely want to enter this but have had a ridiculously hectic week and just haven’t had chance. I’ll try later this evening but if not it may be tomorrow if that’s okay

I think this is probably my favourite one. I love Aimee anyway and find her voice really unique and comforting. It won't be for everyone as it's not the cheeriest of christmas albums but it is quite a lovely listen. Her original song, Calling On Mary, is one of my favourite christmas songs <3

To be honest I'm sure I know what the difference between the two versions actually is. I've tried to find a version that is just the 'radio edit' and there's one on youtube that does sound different but it's not from an official source or anything so difficult to know if it's genuine. All the radio versions on Apple Music seem to be the same

I haven’t heard that Orson track since it was out… just listened and it’s alright, the best one so far. It’s very much like if Maroon 5 went slightly more rock

That’s interesting, I hadn’t imagined it was a hit outside the uk

Capitol is one of my favourite winners, it's such a tune - it was far from a discovery but Lewwww did introduce us all to TR/ST back when Sulk won so I think he deserved being able to send them again - probably my favourite act I've discovered via the contest actually, definitely the one I've listened to the most. edit - actually I'm forgetting Lana Del Rey who'd be up there too, but I think they'd definitely be my top 2

That's a good track from All Saints, although I never liked it enough to buy it. Although I think it may have been on Now 39 (number may be incorrect?) which I think charted whilst it was still popular and I had that. I definitely preferred the singles from their second album, and indeed I prefer most of their singles since they reformed in the past decade with One Strike being particularly wonderful <3 Still I do appreciate the unusual song structure with the extended intro and it's definitely the highlight from their debut album.

Not really a fan of any of these - they are very much in keeping with the era but just not as good as the versions that were chosen for the album. As for Love Won't Wait, she was wise to give it someone else.

Oh I've missed quite a lot since I last commented... there hasn't been anything I particularly like though! The Sandi Thom one is surely one of the most unexpected #1 singles ever? I've had to listen just now to remember how it went and I'm still unsure how it ever managed to get to #1. I don't hate it as much as a lot of others seem to in the thread but it is really basic and lyrically very clumsy - including the rhythmic elements where it feels like she's forcing stuff in rather than letting the song have a natural flow. Very odd chart topper indeed.

Nice mod: I approved your post Not so nice mod: no restoring of name allowance

40 Grimes - Kill V. Maim 39 Metric - Doomscroller 38 Christine And The Queens - Tilted / Christine 37 Charli xcx (feat. Lorde) - Girl, so confusing 36 Weeknd - Blinding Lights 35 Taylor Swift & Bon Iver – Exile 34 Lorde - Green Light 33 Wolf Alice - The Last Man On Earth 32 Hozier - Take Me To Church 31 Fontaines D.C. - Starburster 30 Miley Cyrus - Midnight Sky 29 Post Malone - Circles 28 Dua Lipa - Training Season 27 Chemical Brothers (feat. Q-Tip) - Go 26 Adele - Easy On Me 25 Charli xcx - Von dutch 24 Dua Lipa - Be The One 23 Clean Bandit (feat. Zara Larsson) - Symphony 22 Tame Impala - Let It Happen 21 Chappell Roan - Good Luck, Babe! 20 Weeknd - Save Your Tears (Original / Ariana Grande Remix) 19 Years & Years - King 18 Mark Ronson (feat. Bruno Mars) - Uptown Funk 17 Harry Styles - Sign of the Times 16 Fat Dog - King of the Slugs 15 Wolf Alice - Don't Delete The Kisses 14 Loreen - Tattoo 13 Mark Ronson (feat. Miley Cyrus) - Nothing Breaks Like A Heart 12 Dua Lipa - Don't Start Now 11 Käärijä - Cha Cha Cha 10 Lana Del Rey - A&W 09 Peggy Gou - (It Goes Like) Nanana 08 Sam Fender - Seventeen Going Under 07 Dua Lipa - Houdini 06 Weeknd (feat. Daft Punk) - I Feel It Coming 05 Dua Lipa - Physical 04 Billie Eilish - Happier Than Ever 03 Kungs vs. Cookin On 3 Burners – This Girl 02 Ariana Grande - No Tears Left To Cry 01 Sabrina Carpenter - Espresso

Oh Tori won’t be in contention - I’ve entered a song of hers before and it finished in the 20s if I recall correctly. It’s just that a few of us like to talk about her a lot whenever we have an excuse to!

Is it too late to move Colm and Matto to semi 2 please? 🙏

Oh I didn’t realise I’d copied that link - happy for it to be the video version instead ☺️

I was definitely expecting to hear Outside at number one, George Michael just seemed to have so much publicity and also the song felt quite the moment directly addressing what had happened to him in the USA. Like T Boy, I'm not sure I'd heard Believe before I heard it on the chart show but I went out and bought it the following week as it was a really strong return from Cher - plus I always loved it when something unexpected smashed its way to #1 like this did. When I read it had increased sales in week 2, I was definitely hoping it would hold on for a few weeks as I didn't care for any of the songs that were likely to challenge it in the coming weeks. The U2 track was really good, far too good to only be a b-side so I'm glad they resurrected it for their best of. I wasn't a huge fan of the Culture Club song and was a bit disappointed that it outsold the Alanis comeback, Thank U is a fantastic song that was a different and worthy follow up to a huge selling previous era. It's still a song I consider to be among her very best and one I listen to regularly <3

…and there goes my second fave, Frozen is such a standout #1. I didn’t realise it at the time but it really is so different for a trip hop inspired production to do that well. It’s an instance of an entire package being perfection as the video was wonderful too. This and Brimful of Asha get regular plays almost 30 years later in our house. I don’t have a strong view on what I’d like to win from the 3 that remain. All are good but none are things that I choose to play very often.

We watched the first episode this evening. It's probably actually still as good as it ever was but I found my attention drifting during it, I feel like I may have just lost a bit of interest in the whole story - but we'll see, hopefully I'll get more into again as it progresses

I had absolutely no idea what to send this month so in the absence of anything else I'm trying something that has a special meaning for me from the 90s, it feels better than sending something that I only quite like from 2025.

I'm just sat here this month hoping that something amazing is going to stumble my way as I don't have anything I particularly want to send

Argh my favourite has gone! 😭 Brimful of Asha is such a unique #1 and I think it's absolutely brilliant, the remix adding so much to the original that it really should have a proper credit for Norman Cook imo. It's only marginally ahead of my second favourite though so glad to see that's still in the running. Turn Back Time is okay enough, it was a pleasant surprise from them after the opening 1-2 of Barbie Girl/Doctor Jones.

I can't really abide My Heart Will Go On even though I can see why it was popular... the 90s really fell for movie ballads with things like this, Love Is All Around, Everything I Do, I Will Always Love You etc being huge. It's gotten worse for me over the years because of the fact it spawned loads of people who can't really sing but very much believe they can sing trying to sing it. B*Witched was fun but not something I particularly liked. The lyrics are really pretty cringe tbh. I also felt that the Irish thing was just too much, it's borderline parody in the way it ODs on it!!

Unsurprisingly there’s more love for Erasure from me. Love to Hate You was an obsession for me, my parents must have been so sick of hearing it - I bought it on cassingle, import cd and also import 12”. I remember thinking it sounded so different to everything else out at the time. Like the Utah Saints track too, their singles were always good fun and quite imaginatively constructed.

The PSB's mix of Sorry is definitely the best here, I love that they typically try to enhance what's already there in a song and the way they will often introduce some of Neil's vocals in a complementary way