RobBot

My thought processes so far have been: iamamiwhoami - Pavel Zara Larsson - LeeJ Milica Pavlovic - Uhsting Damien Rice - Herbs Fontaines DC - Jade Addy - Vengaboys Jessie Ware - Elgornio/Josh Agnes - Elgornio/Josh Leona Lewis - Jay Bananarama - Gooddelta I’m sure there’s more but I’m only particularly sure of the first 6 tbf, think I’m clutching for the rest where I think they could be multiple people.

It must be quite the comfort to know you can crash out at any time but you’ve got two of the most loved songs of all time on Buzzjack in your back pocket 😂

Wait, are we allowed to speculate? I’m constantly pointing the finger at people but I literally don’t have a clue to be completely transparent and I’m just doing it for fun 😂

My theory all along has been that Lee wasn’t late at all and that he’s the one that beat me to Zara 😂

Don’t worry Herbs, now you’ve sent that Little Mix cover, you’ll be just fine!

This is very much a round of songs that by popular artists that I find to be underrated and not killed by overplay. 24 Hours, Bittersweet, Collide, Can’t Tame Her all fit that brief for me but love them all. That’s a brave Robyn choice but I expect she’s got enough fans to survive it? Probably?

Obsessed with this Calvin on Sam war. Can’t say as I blame Damien using, arguably, his strongest card now he’s been so close to the chop. Don’t think he’ll go with this and then you’ve made it to the next stage so fair play x

It’s only taken four rounds but it is TIME to stan Bananarama *.*

I’ve exceeded my own expectations so far so now I’m actually starting to feel a bit of pressure not to trip up.

Okay, with that semi split, it’s been real, thank you for a lovely streak 😂

GAH another theme! Gag it x

30 Eleni Foureira - Fuego 29 Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper - I'll Never Love Again 28 Ariana Grande - No Tears Left To Cry 27 Kim Petras - Heart To Break 26 Kacey Musgraves - High Horse 25 SOPHIE - Immaterial 24 Charli XCX & Troye Sivan - 1999 23 Kacey Musgraves - Golden Hour 22 Dua Lipa & BLACKPINK - Kiss and Make Up 21 Troye Sivan - My My My! 20 Ariana Grande - Breathin 19 Ciara - Level Up 18 Silk City & Dua Lipa - Electricity 17 Little Mix - Wasabi 16 Rita Ora - Let You Love Me 15 Ariana Grande - God Is A Woman 14 Lady Gaga - Always Remember Us This Way 13 Janelle Monáe - Make Me Feel 12 Calvin Harris & Dua Lipa - One Kiss 11 Ariana Grande - Thank U, Next 10 Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper - Shallow 09 Clean Bandit (feat. Demi Lovato) - Solo 08 M.O, Lotto Boyzz & Mr Eazi - Bad Vibe 07 5 Seconds Of Summer – Youngblood 06 Ellie Goulding (feat. Diplo & Swae Lee) - Close To Me 05 Calvin Harris & Sam Smith - Promises 04 Dua Lipa - IDGAF 03 DJ Snake (feat. Selena Gomez, Ozuna & Cardi B) - Taki Taki 02 Bruno Mars (feat. Cardi B) - Finesse 01 Years & Years - All For You

Ooh, thrilled to see my Instruction nomination getting an AQ spot! And Zara now having two entries in the final CONFIRMED ❤️

Sorry for the delay to the start of the contest, guys, absolutely not Nelly’s fault in any way. Quite honestly - if I didn’t have a streak/wasn’t a moderator, I’d probably follow Dandy’s lead in taking a break from this month. I’ve had a gig, a wedding, over time and now a holiday for my anniversary at the end of the week. The song I’ve ended up sending is over a year old but I’d rather send something that I’ve loved for a duration of time and think is a genuinely gorgeous song than just the flavour of the moment that I’m not super passionate about for a hit/to keep my Q streak alive.

It’s all very… hard to categorise and I’m glad Calum doesn’t really police it, as much as some categories might not be the most to my taste, I think pretty much every act straddles pop in some sense. I think you could call Damien folk-pop, Calvin dance-pop, Gary Numan synth-pop etc. I do feel Fontaines DC are possibly the act that have the least crossover to pop, pretty much any descriptor of them would be rock or alternative, but I agree that it’s unlikely that replicating this contest in another forum would gain much traction, so I don’t really argue with them being here and I don’t think any poster should feel shoved out of such a popular contest/face negativity because their taste doesn’t quite fit inside a narrow box. Ultimately, it’s just a fun competition and I’d agree with Rich that there’s a good enough balance of people voting and when push comes to shove - our finalists to date have been Avril Lavigne, Pet Shop Boys, Christina Aguilera, ABBA, Lily Allen and Kelly Clarkson who are all undeniably pop so it’s not like the inclusion of these acts often threatens the pop fans in any way.

New Music Friday has been a big fat flop. What do you mean OBSESSED haven’t even added anything new for me to cheaply nab?! All the same, I’ve listened to two new albums this past week which I’ve really enjoyed so I may go that direction. Or I’ll send something I have in my potentials list from previous contests this year - I have a bad habit of just moving on from songs if I don’t send them in the month I consider them because I like my entries to feel fresh to me but there’s still some really good stuff on there that I shouldn’t just dismiss.

We did, when we went potential dates, switch things around from a Saturday deadline with a Sunday opening because there’s a likelihood of plenty of switches/late confirmations so we have accommodated for New Music Friday with an extra day to research! How useful I’ll be remains to be seen as I’m at Pussycat Dolls tonight and a wedding tomorrow but we shall see x

I will not be making my decision until the final day x

This hasn't been open as long as it should've been but would like to creep above 20 votes if possible!! It's not too late my loves x

That Pop Factor impact

And last but certainly never least ❤️ 10 Zara Larsson - Blue Moon (probably recency bias for me but it’s already one of the most special albums of all time for me and this is a shining example of why so I couldn’t not) 09 Robyn - Time Machine (this has aged with perfection, that era of Max Martin production just does not miss - killer and kinda gagged it’s not running away with winning it so far at a glance?) 08 Leona Lewis - Outta My Head (banger banger banger, it hasn’t aged QUITE as flawlessly as Time Machine and I was splitting hairs with this top 3 which are all near on 10/10s for me, but can’t really fault it as a pop fan) 07 Agnes - Loaded (I’ve actually never heard Veritas as I only really got into her properly as an artist with I Trance and everything that followed but wow, that chorus does NOT miss, superb discovery and will probably try and give the album a spin this week after hearing this) 06 Adele - Can I Get It (not the ballad we’d have expected but this is catchy as hell and I love Adele’s vocal on this, kinda cheeky and sultry sounding for her?) 05 MARINA - Teen Idle (I have very fond memories of this album but this song hasn’t aged as amazing as I’d have hoped BUT it’s still like an 8/10, it’s just in a strong list from here upwards. Love hearing Electra Heart stuff though) 04 Jessie Ware - The Kill (it was missing something to smash it over the line for me but really liked it all the same) 03 Sophie Ellis-Bextor - New York City Lights (there’s something a bit inexpensive about the mixing of this which makes the production feel a bit tinny, but with Sophie, I can often overlook that a little bit because the kitsch and cheapness sometimes is what makes her charming. It half and half works here for me) 02 Kate Bush - Reaching Out (I’ve always really liked her voice more than I love the songs and I think this is a prime example - sounds great but didn’t stick with me enough) 01 Dido - Mary’s in India (agreed that it’s lyrically very pretty but lacked just a little something to keep me enjoying it as a whole package sadly)

I really do want each round to get better for the Groups but it doesn’t seem to be happening 😂 01 Texas - Like Lovers (Holding On) (me being a Texas fan is the biggest revelation of this competition so far, I wasn’t expecting it at all but this was exactly the energy I needed) 02 iamamiwhoami - shadowshow (another very pretty entry that stands out amongst the pack) 03 Years & Years - Ties (love this album, this wouldn’t be one of my personal picks from it but still quite away ahead of the rest of these anyway) 04 Bananarama - Bad For Me (Rich wasn’t wrong in describing this as Holiday by Madonna, quite a shameless rip but alas, I didn’t care for much below this and this bopped) 05 Depeche Mode - Photographic (really enjoyed the production of this, quite comfortably the best of the 3 new wavey songs for that part alone - just wish more was happening with the vocal than inaudible mumbling) 06 Sade - Pearls (enjoyed the moodiness and the drama of the instrumental for this, it didn’t really go anywhere but she has a beautiful voice so I understand how one would be captivated by this) 07 New Order - Love Vigilantes (okay but not very memorable) 08 Fontaines D.C. - Sundowner (what I’m learning is that the 3 songs I like by Fontaines, out of the 4 I know, are their more happy sounding songs but a lot of their back catalogue is much darker and grungier so my taste is not in sync with the sender - I think I’ve got an idea who it might be based off that!) 09 M83 - Lower Your Eyelids to Die With the Sun (a ten minute song is like anti-Rob so this was always going to struggle for me personally - I did like the vibe of it but it did just feel like a 10 minute long outro to a film, rather than going through a particular journey of sound so the duration wound up feeling unnecessary to me) 10 Ultravox - Accent on Youth (I played all of Depeche/New Order/this again to make sure I’d remembered which was which correctly but this still hasn’t stuck with me even after a second listen. I’m finding their songs so far to lack a hook and they just kind of plod along from start to finish but I know when we get to Vienna that I like that one at least!)

I think it’s a wise choice from Adele when you bare in mind they’ve already sent two of their biggest songs of all time. All you have to do is not come last in this game and I doubt Can I Get It will AND she gets to save All I Ask for another round.