Bror

If we do beat Norway then it'll get another huge spike in streams on the day of the semi-final regardless of FIFA rigging it for the Argies to win the outcome of that - much like when 'Three Lions' hit #1 in 2018, somewhat unceremoniously being announced as the #1 after we'd been knocked out.

I mean I was right x

I'd say being adopted as a World Cup anthem counts as a cultural phenomenon moment tbf. Especially if we do actually win somehow.

It's a banger comeback, I can't lie x

Lol sorry I was napping (shocker) x Will make the YouTube playlists this evening, thank you for stepping in anyhoo

We do occasionally do the semi 2 listenthrough first, the numbering of the semis is entirely arbitrary after all x

Jim asked for semi 2 tonight in the first place so that was my plan! (Will probably do semi 1 tomorrow) Doctor B normally doesn't set his Vimeo links to public until the semi-finals start so maybe he just hasn't seen that we've started yet.

Oh not that Fenix Flexin song charting here now *_ (He's usually a trap rapper but this is an 80s synthpop style song with Morrissey-esque vocals which may or may not be AI, very odd x)

We love to see AKRIILA being entered again, very intrigued for a Jane Remover collab from her! Sending some hype to Skall as well ~ This semi draw is not ideal for my song to put it lightly but let me not overanalyse x

Can do

'Rein Me In' has dropped in streams from yesterday, I think it's safe to say it isn't being helped by the World Cup.

Scenes when 'Wonderwall' actually finally hits #1. (Considering its streams are much more stable outside of match days than 'Three Lions'...)

Does anyone make it out to be bad though?

I think Jafet just made some flags for countries who didn't have one to fill in the Wiki - iirc Freidland do not have an officially endorsed flag x (Scotland 2 don't either)

I am xo

All our reconfirmations are in now so we should be all good to go for tomorrow, apologies again for the holdup (although tbh I didn't expect this contest to even be getting started until ~nowish so it's still quite an early start for July semi-finals in the grand scheme of things - in fact the semis for the equivalent contest last year actually didn't start until August lol). (I have no issue with allowing Ben's entry in, up to Rob if he really wants to deny himself an AQ ddd) Oh it's not that, the streaming title misses out a word (in English). There are minor variations on the title all over various platforms but I've edited it to match how it's styled on the physical album release x

Oof, the two songs that are out so far that I thought are quite underrated seem to be the ones getting the most negative comments in here I don't think I had heard the Dannii song before but it was sounding pretty good to me, and the Mis-Teeq one I also didn't recognise from the title but it came back to me when I relistened to it, that is a bit of a banger I thought, my first song out so far that I gave a score of 8 to. The other three in the bottom 5 were all songs I didn't know and thought were fine but will swiftly forget about them again. 'The Tide Is High (Get The Feeling)' was my least favourite from this compilation, a very middle of the road version of a song that was never particularly amazing in the first place (it's by far Blondie's worst #1 for me as well). Was a little worried from Atomic Kitten's inexplicably good performance in Pop Factor that it'd finish higher up here but 14th is acceptable x

I did have to research what the song title is supposed to be though xx (appears that the title on streaming services is slightly wrong)

Welcome back Tom! (IIRC the last time you made a fleeting comeback was also sneaking in with a late entry while we were being slow with vetoes hehe) I've completed the veto research now, think there are going to be 2 or 3 vetoes so the flights may still be grounded for a bit longer but progress x

'Potential' was a misstep for me but this one is better - maybe about on a similar level to 'undressed' (which is my least fave of his top 10 hits but still good x). Does anyone else hear a bit of Robbie in it or am I mad x

Ultra "Nate" getting a new top 40 hit couldn't have been on many 2026 bingo cards x Sounded entirely unremarkable

Fixed

Did I hallucinate the two new entries then? x

I feel like someone needs to give Gracie a wellness check, the lyrics of this new song are a bit concerning x (Song is decent though - each passing Gracie song that I don't hate convinces me more that I've always just hated Audrey Hobert, not Gracie herself x)

Last minute entry search this month has led me down the path of noise rock (sorry Kath you might be about to lose the other half of your hearing ) - realised as I was confirming that this song was literally only released on Wednesday so waiting this long to look for a song was calculated. x Also my first entry from a UK act since Speedial at the start of last year! Probably anticipating somewhat of a flight delay with the vetoes oops but what's new ~ In the mean time we're currently missing entries from the following who entered the last contest if they'd still like to sneak in a late entry x East Rukahavian @Mack. New Lexico @LexC Niceland @PeteFromLeeds Summericia @Roba. Welcome back to Aesthetica and I see we do have a main contest debut from New Helvetica after all nice to have a contest with multiple debutants, quite a rarity in recent years.