RobBot

June, sorry! And video can be 3 minutes plus, but song must be no more than 3.

Hello and welcome back to Buzzfestivalen! It's been four whole years since we took a camp mid-year turn towards this illustrious contest but it is now to time to say hello to Hendinia, Republique d'Askorza, Persephonia and New Lexico as we guide you through four heats in the seventh edition of Buzzfestivalen. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Buzzfestivalen, let me talk you through how this all works before you rush to the confirmation form. This is Buzzjack's very own mockery of Sweden's national final process for Eurovision, known as Melodifestivalen. • Across four heats, hosted by each of your BJSC moderators, you will compete with songs NO LONGER than three minutes to make it out of your heat, whether this be direkt to the finale or through Andra Chansen (second chance round). More of this will be explained in greater detail when we reach the semi final stage, particularly with regards to the numbers that will be advancing through to these stages, as this is dependant on participation numbers. • After confirmations, all the tracks are divided into one of 4 heats. You only vote in the heat you have been assigned. Voting windows typically only last for 5 days, due to the shorter length of songs and due to the semi finals containing, likely, no more than 10-12 countries in each. Each semi final is divided equally, so although a confirmation deadline is stated, we will officially proceed once we have 32/36/40/44 etc participants. • The usual ban on Eurovision and Junior Eurovision songs is extended in BJFest to include any songs that have competed in national finals for either of these competitions. The artists remain fair game, of course, but the songs are strictly off limits. • The standard veto framework DOES NOT apply for this competition and we are a little kinder to you. However, moderator discretion does still apply and we do reserve the right to veto any entries we deem against the spirit of the competition. Essentially, this means if you would receive an auto-veto for your entry in BJSC, you probably still won't get through the gates here. You have until 23:59pm on Sunday 29th June to confirm. Let the Buzzfestivalen games BEGIN! Confirm here: https://forms.gle/7nUkEgGDpuojGWZw7

I'm liking pretty much everything in this weeks list though. Blusher, Jessica and Tyla's songs are all really good. Mae's will probably grow too, though not up to Breakaway's quality for me.

Jade will probably be like #4 on NMF behind a Benson push track from his new album, a Haim push track from their new album and Cardi B.

Rooting for a never ending Midnight Wi-i-i-i-i-i-i-in.

The 'Your Love Is My Drug' TikTok trend is so weird but anything that gets her back into the charts, I agree. Still not over seeing her at Hoopla a few weeks ago, and probably going to get tickets to see her in Manchester next March too (if I haven't already left it too late, oop x)

Troye might have stood a chance, perhaps? If I'd have had time to enter, I'd probably have chosen him. Either way, Charlie Puth as the last man standing is certainly INTERESTING!

Nice increase in gap for Sabrina there. From 12.5k yesterday to 48k today. Probably won't be enough but gives her a fighting chance.

This is the highest Sabrina has been since Day 1, isn’t it?

It’ll probably amount to nothing but happy to see Zara’s newie high up on New Music Friday. Pretty Ugly was BURIED so this one might have a slighter greater chance of having some impact.

Not as instant as Pretty Ugly, but simultaneously, I think I’m less likely to tire of it than that, because there’s a lot of layers to indulge in on further listens. The “u-u-u-un” is slightly annoying admittedly and I think I’d rather it was a vocal chop than one long Heidi Range siren note, but I think I’m already over that too.

Excited for songs 2, 3, 5, 7 and 10 to be my favourites 😭

It’s also such backwards thinking and very heavy on the “kink shaming” to think someone can’t be a feminist because they’re submissive for their man in the bedroom. So, even if you don’t interpret it as tongue in cheek, to see so many people say it’s anti-feminist tells me that people are still in this headspace that feminism means… not being sexy and not wearing little clothing because that could attract the male gaze? How archaic.

I mean, if her marketing team wanted people to get talking about this album QUICKLY, then they’ve done a great job. My Twitter feed is just flooded with discourse about the album cover. The thing is with Sabrina, everything comes with a wink wink nudge nudge. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that she does songs about killing men/insulting men and now she’s like “look at me, under a man’s leash”. It’s not about playing into the male gaze or being hypocritical at all, I think that’s such a base level, overthought way of interpreting it.

Still need to hear this album in full but been LOVING 'I <3 You', her operatic vocal style works really well on that glitzy ABBA sort of vibe.

Released a day before Grammys 2026 eligibility passes. Oh Smashbrina, your mind-

Everything of hers feels like it should be a minor hit. I can’t actually think of anyone more underrated than her in pop, in relation to how good the material is.

I do love a quick turnaround though! Used to be so exciting when Rihanna did this every winter back in the early 2010s.

Oh wow, I really thought Manchild was going to be a standalone single, not actually a fully fledged first single. I am hoping, that while Manchild has grown on me, there is a slight shift in sound for this rather than it feeling like Short N Sweet part two. I definitely think she has it in her, she’s a great talent, writer and performer.

This is true… I hadn’t considered that Sabrina was the Queen of Coffee. But promising to hear that she’s still got that niche on lockdown!

I've just heard two girls in Starbucks in Grimsby singing the "is it... stupid or is it... slow?" part of Manchild, so it's official. Manchild is TAKING OVER the coffee community, so I think it's only a matter of time before that trickles down to the pub community. A 14 week #1 LOOMS.

I'm kinda torn on this, because all teaaaaa... I don't think Mistress should've been in the top 2 for any challenge. I think both Lydia and Nicole were better than her in the rap battle. But she is amazing TV and that means I can't begrudge her a spot. And other than Tina in the first challenge, I don't think any of the 3 who missed out were consistently good either - Lydia and Jorgeous have just been a bit of a runaway 2 imo. So, all in all, I think it's probably the right top two. It would've been INCREDIBLE TV (and it was already good) if Kerri got that last spot at the end, through Mistress's shenanigans backfiring on her.

GET IT SABBY CARPZ. She really just is the moment. As you’ve said, if she can do this with a single that’s getting middling reviews… she’s in her BAG when the next big banger comes. Manchild has massively grown throughout the week anyway, she’s great at an earworm that hits more with further listens. I felt the same with FFF to be fair.

This is her best in a while, but if she is going to keep releasing music, it would be nice to see her carve something of an identity. But she’s probably past the point of ever getting a hit again on her own so I guess… who cares? Let’s just bop to a bop. This is definitely a reject from Troye’s last album too, I assume?