Brélican

Ahh that does ring a bell now you say it, also a great choice ofc x 00s thoughts ~ Am of course well acquainted with your thoughts on 'Another Chance' and it's a beautifully articulate commentary, it is another song that I have definitely got into a lot more with the context of your connection to it (I have always liked it though) <3 'Feel Good Inc.' is an excellent runner up, I was a bit late to getting into that one as the aesthetics of their music videos used to really creep me out (and I don't think the maniacal laughter helped ), I particularly remember once opening an edition of Guinness World Records on a random page and it having a large print of a still from the music video and literally slamming the book shut from the jumpscare but I am quite over that now and the song is a brilliant blend of genres and vibes, at least I got to fully appreciate it for its more recent extended run in the top 40 (and I guess the Aitch song that sampled it too although that's obviously not quite as good xo) 'Pure Shores' is definitely my favourite All Saints song and another fab William Orbit production, and I do like 'Bad Romance' a lot too (it is one I got a little bit bored of from overplay though not to the extent of the 2 #1s from the original 'The Fame', although all three of those songs had at least somewhat of a rebound in my affections after seeing them live at the Chromatica Ball with you), but then the 5th-9th section is absolutely stacked with major favourites for me! I'm not a massive fan of Britney in general but 'Toxic' is a well deserved pop classic (and indeed with an equally iconic music video). The Bravery may not have had much staying power but they hit it out of the park as much as I could ever ask with their one hit which I've long considered to be the absolute peak of landfill indie, actually I've never really considered it sounding like an update of 80s new wave but I can totally see that now you mention it. 'Welcome To The Black Parade' as I probably already said in your 2006 #1s ranking thread is one of my all time favourite #1 hits and certainly one of the most unique, I can only hope to ever see another #1 hit that's as ambitious (I've liked some of this year's #1s but as has recently been a point of discussion in the chart forum they're pretty much all safe to a fault) - there's been a notable reappraisal of their music in recent years on RateYourMusic which I guess is coming from the userbase being increasingly people who are nostalgic for them from their youth, great to see anyway. 'Loneliness' has always been a big fave for me as a sucker for melancholy bangers, I remember being shocked at it never even being certified so hooray for Saltburn giving it such a strong second life even if not quite enough to actually return it to the chart. And I remember discovering Sigur Rós from nighttime Radio 1 so I was well acquainted with 'Hoppípolla' before the Chicane version (which is also great, could easily have ruined the song but it was a very respectful reimagining of it), my peak of appreciation for their music is the back-to-back glory of the 'Valtari' and 'Kveikur' albums but they both work best as full pieces rather than having any one particular standout song so 'Hoppípolla' would probably still be my favourite individual song from them as well. I'd say it's a shame they didn't have more chart hits but even having one top 40 hit is nothing to sniff at for an Icelandic post-rock band of course xx 'Moi... Lolita' is less of a favourite for me but was still a good one to relisten to, I forget how much I enjoy the production on it and the vocals sound quite nice on it which is often the thing holding me back from enjoying French language songs. Tons of great songs just missing out for you and more mentioned by others once again, 'Move Your Feet' stands out as the most surprising top 10 snub I think, pure joy in audio form and sad to not get to read commentary from you about the squirrel </3 lovely to see 'Archangel' getting a mention as well *.* and a big yes to Jaz placing 'Ready For The Floor' in his 00s top 3. Not quite finished catching up ahead of the conclusion to this tomorrow (/today) oop but getting there x

BlocBoy did have another moment in the sun in the charts by being namedropped in AJ Tracey's 'Ladbroke Grove' at least... and that was in reference to his second most popular song 'Rover' (which got a remix with 21 Savage in an attempt to give him a second hit carried by a big name feature but didn't quite work out, though it has a halfway respectable 88 million streams on Spotify).

Oof at camoufly missing out by only 1 point (or 2 depending on tiebreaks) - guess I was still wrong after all that Aeroche were in more danger than Hendinia oop Only 3/4 points off for Jadakissnia aww, if only they could squeeze in one more fan. Certainly a few moderately surprising countries snubbing them although I guess that's in large part down to the alt bloc saturation as well.

I will miss typing out every month that Hendinia have expanded both of their records </3 speaking of... I am a little behind with updating my spreadsheet again so not sure if I'll get the streak update done tonight but hopefully tomorrow at the latest, as Jim said already though Danæviia are the new leaders they'll have to keep going until August 2030 to top Hendinia's consecutive record (February 2031 for the non-consecutive) - they're almost halfway there (shame they're withdrawing now after the Scotland 2 result etc. etc.) From my votes / rankings in semi 2: 12 Q 10 Q 8 Q 7 Q 6 Jadakissnia 5 Q 4 Q 3 Q 2 Q 1 Q 11th Trifoski 12th Dalisska 19th Lentyll 21st Hendinia 22nd Vaskla 24th A-Konohagakure 25th Cheiron 26th Aeroche Almost a full house, BJSC just not quite ready for doomwop sadly </3 intrigued to see how close they were. From my first impressions ranking of semi 1 I've only lost 2 of my top 10 (Zephyra Continuum and New Lexico), Aelandor the next highest ranked of the DNQs currently in 15th. Will edit in finalised rankings later as ever x edit: 7th Zephyra Continuum 9th New Lexico 13th Aelandor 16th Mulgracia 19th République d'Áskorza 24th Zanmatony 25th Kluminican Republic 26th Harmonica 27th Kylienips Thanks for hosting blacksquare and kudos to everyone who contributed art to a very charming results thread <3 hiipe for the final, will be a good one with so few of my faves missing out.

well I never Hendinia's song was not bad at all (kinda digging the Daft Punk-esque parts in the second half) but there you go, no one is bulletproof after all

Cor Lupus were maybe at slightly more of a risk than usual due to the semi draw but I'd still have said that was bumping up from a 5% chance of DNQing to like 20% at a push - was definitely the most confident they'd still be continuing their run between the top 3. Great song anyway and would have been sacrilege for it to DNQ in spoopy month x I wouldn't say it's entirely impossible Dobago still take the last slot over Hendinia either but leaning towards the 7 year reign continuing. New Lexico are also in my initial top 10 of semi 1 (currently 9th) so am a bit gutted to see them out aw - amazed that their threat to send Mongolian throat singing actually materialised

Ooooops sorry Leww if that was my manifesting I'm sure Klumroche will bounce back with a vengeance next month x New Helvetica though their best entry yet for me, absolutely beautiful song.

Oops did I accidentally pass my DNQ era on to Klum? (I think I liked this one slightly more than Mia's two previous entries but she's not really my thing in general)

I think we are going to be losing one of Aeroche and Hendinia as New Helvetica really doesn't feel like a DNQ to me! (Cor Lupus I think will be fine still x) assuming it is 2 from each semi anyway, might be 3 from semi 2 left lol, not been counting

My entry is basically a K-Pop song too if you just imagine South Korea annexed Türkiye

Pleased Sovarasma are through - not my fave shoegaze entry ever but always here for the genre qualifying anyway x

belated reactions to this post reminded me I didn't check this yet x They did actually have one other 3 Q run in the recent-ish past (166-168) but other than that it's been either 1 or 2 of either Qs or DNQs at a time since BJSC 149 - will see if they surpass that and get 4 in a row for the first time since then next month x

I might just have to Freaky Friday into New Lexico's body next then. (it'll be way less cool than being POPHub was)

Yay for both of those x ALTHub's alt card not declining

Oops some more mixed feelings there - glad that my fellow manifester (and PFSC alumnus) is through but Zephyra Continuum's entry was a lot of fun, ranked 6th in semi 1 for me at the moment.

All 3 of the anniversary entries through, nice - I didn't remember 'Animal' from the title but I knew I was a fan of most of the bonus tracks on 'Bright Lights' and indeed this was a good one to revisit x Oh my at back-to-back K-Pop boyband qualifiers for Lotunia, who knew this was the new meta x

Abstaining from leaving a reaction on that post as Scotland 2 qualifying is highkey iconic but oh nooo at Jadakissnia - ngl I was a bit worried they'd fall short this time but still :'( Was my 6 pointer (I bumped it up a couple of points after my relisten) so that's the first song from either of my top 10s to be out so far. (as per of late my semi 1 ranking isn't finalised yet as I've not done a second listenthrough - planning to do one this evening - but still) Still waiting on news either way from quite a few of my (current) semi 1 top 10 actually ~

And every other week? x

Yehesi with a lite bop x

The Spodic Empire <3 Squarepusher not disappointing for his BJSC debut. Lentyll's song was a grower on second listen for me but also not too surprising of a DNQ sadly. We all did x

They are out though - can kinda see why the image may be unclear but it does say 'DNQ' in plain text at the bottom of the spoiler oop

Yayyyy, very glad that the semi 1 pop hoes will hear my song in the final, I hope I can do y'all proud again!! (and I hope I can be less bullied at the final listenthrough :'( (speaking of which... early listenthrough tomorrow? x)) And because I don't want to let the ~2 minutes of MS Paint work go to waste this was the graphic I knocked up for the event of a DNQ x 😮

Herbibores unite! (was a banger, no way that was gonna go out x) With that Herbilore have now fully overcome their 8 DNQ streak and have 50/50 qualifiers and DNQs

Aw I quite liked Aelandor and thought it was one that could grow on me </3 Taahino was pretty good as well x

Oh my goats are washed. Sadge (Trifoski was the last song I cut from my votes after a last minute switcheroo, was very close between that and my 1 pointer)