Michael Bubré

Feeling reasonably hopeful that I can get another pretty good result here this time

Zack Polanski new BJSC icon Have got a darkwave song ready for this which feels fitting for a Jadakissnia contest *.* (feat. a surprise genre switcheroo at the end) ((it's by an Israeli artist but I scoured their social media and they are definitely anti government / war so I am not getting myself cancelled x))

Why is 'WILDFLOWER' still here (the exodus of other fossil songs actually helping it to climb back into the top 50 lmao)

Something something death of monoculture something something.

Much as I do like both of them I will be rooting for some of the more obscure artists to at least be in contention as well (don't even have to look as far as a different language to find another song that deserves just as much success x). Lots of good stuff here.

Aside, I do also have a second all-time list based on adjusting all votes to the Eurovision voting system (as most contests before BJSC 74 used that so the all-time table is a little biased to results after that with the inflated voting system - feels crazy that is now nearly 60% of the contest's history). FSR Rontvia are still yet to give up the lead here despite Aeroche pulling well ahead in the unadjusted leaderboard! Won't post the whole list again but here's the top 50 + countries who have been active this year (Phil will like this one more) x 1 15257 FSR Rontvia 2 14741 Aeroche 3 14386 Hendinia 4 12493 Altyr Muunilinst 5 10812 Fljótavík 6 10565 République d'Áskorza 7 10399 Persephonia 8 10095 Bøtanikkä 9 9609 Danæviia 10 9296 FARC 11 9040 Kluminican Republic 12 8335 Cor Lupus 13 8222 Jadakissnia 14 8072 Trifoski 15 7826 Terra Avium 16 7636 Greenfroze 17 7490 New Lexico 18 7290 Séyetana 19 7203 Skall 20 6958 Elëdan 21 6807 Ojnoj 22 6440 Ramrynia 23 6379 D'yermak'er 24 6253 Unovia 25 6179 Espen 26 6077 N DNTN 27 5920 Kathaldazia 28 5859 Utopia 29 5482 Hushkanukia 30 5473 Summericia 31 5467 Daehun 32 5434 Cumulonimbia 33 5399 Dobago 34 5323 Taahino 35 5314 Kylienips 36 5312 Cadelicia 37 5304 St. Burbia 38 5210 Quintessa 39 5146 #00274E 40 4843 Land of DW 41 4767 Mdiče 42 4717 (The Actual Republic of) Bellamia 43 4602 Qärenfanghoney 44 4600 Oslol 45 4416 Jupiterdonia 46 4387 Yehesi 47 4314 Numayania 48 4288 Tinnmark 49 4243 Thelonia 50 4176 Ultraviolenceland 51 3997 Singerpurear 52 3835 Lotunia 53 3787 Harmonica 60 3403 Lookylion 61 3131 POPHub 63 3117 Republic of Adonia 65 3036 Aelandor 66 3020 Aesthetica 68 2971 Beaverdonia 69 2952 East Rukahavian 72 2774 Why So Sirius 74 2717 Zanmatony 76 2619 Baleghde 78 2525 Niceland 80 2349 Flynnonda 83 2212 Suedeonia 92 1929 Neliönoir 94 1892 Deandria 96 1845 Pestolia 98 1789 Bronzil 99 1778 Wholune 100 1757 Ajanaeda 102 1729 Ben's Sanctuary 103 1556 Sandénia 111 1384 Yuxhaaq 116 1133 Scotland 2 119 1095 The Spodic Empire 125 989 A-Konohagakure 128 835 Mothertopia 134 721 Palmyra 137 666 Cheiron 138 664 Pagasa 141 569 Buzzjack Mountain 147 483 Macromia 160 329 Hinterlandia 161 318 Herbilore 165 276 Conoria

Oh I've never been a 'force', I'm just persistent The top 4 are really the big dogs who have been around for years and have pretty much always consistently been big hitters (Cor Lupus well on their way to joining them just without the grace of a few years' headstart), I'm just up there because the points from forgettable midtable positions do add up over time. I have by far the lowest number of top 10 hits out of that top 10 (I have 25, all the others have at least 31). I do have a handy playlist of all my entries if you want to peruse (it took me a while to get into the groove of actually sending obscure artists/songs x) 2015 was my peak year with 5 top 10 hits and an EOY top 3 finish (even though I also had 2 DNQs that year). That's San Holo through Yung Lean on that playlist x

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They certainly must win the critical acclaim game by a mile x (apols I am being very last minute oops but am finally sorting out my votes now!)

Also worth noting that although FARC (or Kellyana Kingdom at the time) technically debuted in 2008 they only had a handful of entries before disappearing for years, the vast bulk of their points are from their return in February 2014 onwards, they'd still be in the top 10 only counting from then. (The rest of the top 10 have entered continuously since debuting bar a few early absences for myself and Danæviia + the occasional missed contest here and there over the years for Hendinia, FLJ and Bøtanikkä).

Neliönoir EOY #1 is back on the menu boys

For a song that DNQed which I didn't rank particularly highly at the time and I recall thinking might have actually been a contender to be a 0 pointer 'Ichiban No Takaramono' has actually stuck remarkably well in my memory. Think it'd likely get a good handful of points from me if I rerolled my votes for that semi now. ('Jimmy Dean', 'Mutant Brain' and Fla.mingo's 'Die' were and most likely still would be my top 3 though - the former is probably still my favourite Hendinia entry). I don't remember it too well again so maybe another one I need to revisit but I gave 'Flamenco' 6 points so clearly deserved better!

'De Madrugá' finally being released 2 album cycles later

2 James Blake features let's go (Kano should be good as well). The first one is track 1 on the album so yes hopefully a great chance of that securing him a second top 40 hit after nearly 15 years! It's only 10 tracks so I imagine we'll be getting some pretty lengthy songs again - 'Lesley' and all of the long songs on WAAITT are all among his best songs for me so perched

Planning to relisten and hopefully vote this eve x

Adam And The Ants - Stand And Deliver Department S - Is Vic There? Echo & The Bunnymen - Crocodiles Hazel O'Connor - Will You? Siouxsie And The Banshees - Spellbound Very tough to whittle down to 5 this week! 'Crocodiles' and 'Spellbound' were my top discoveries, ahead of Squeeze and Kraftwerk. The Hazel O'Connor song isn't new to me but was one I didn't know the artist or title of so also a discovery of sorts. Next fave songs I already knew are The Jam, Vangelis, Tenpole Tudor (also didn't know the identity of this song) and The Human League.

Going through the list of nominations for 2022... this year is going to be impossible to vote in, so many great songs being nominated. (Most of which won't come close to progressing ofc x) 2022 black midi - Welcome To Hell Everything Everything - Teletype Kendrick Lamar - The Heart Part 5 (I resisted the temptation to just nominate 3 more MOTOMAMI songs, will stick to the list of songs that were nominated last year xx)

Coming last in a 42 song final for the second time this year - at least it furthers my goal of doubling up every position x 40th still the only position in the top 42 I've not achieved and 4th, 9th, 18th, 21st, 30th and 41st now the only ones that I've only got once. I got a 6th 31st place but my first for 8 and a half years. Finalists: 01 - 2 (67 Jay Dabhi + 74 A-WA) 02 - 4 (57 Jaymes Young + 61 Kids Of The Apocalypse + 113 Baiuca + 129 Minuit Machine) 03 - 5 (53 Truls + 78 tiny deaths + 79 DANCE WITH THE DEAD + 123 070 Shake + 150 Nur Jaber) 04 - 1 (72 Dawn Richard) 05 - 3 (76 Audrey Napoleon + 99 LUNA + 172 Chikoi The Maid) 06 - 3 (30 Spark + 81 The Shanghai Restoration Project + 148 Hazel English) 07 - 2 (124 Neggy Gemmy + 128 Ela Minus) 08 - 2 (139 Godford + 164 Agent blå) 09 - 1 (142 7CIRCLE) 10 - 2 (100 Life Sim + 105 The Halluci Nation) 11 - 2 (116 Heilung + 155 Fatal Youth) 12 - 2 (86 Aron Can + 145 ill peach) 13 - 3 (31 Beth Ditto + 90 Baby Blood + 98 Dead Husband) 14 - 3 (45 Kidnap + 51 Roses Gabor + 60 Rustie) 15 - 4 (26 Jónsi + 64 TĀLĀ + 75 Audialist + 132 House Of Harm) 16 - 8 (85 Color Guard + 103 Mikael Seifu + 121 BROCKHAMPTON + 135 gupi + 157 Paris Texas + 165 Cowgirl Clue + 171 Speedial + 174 Messa) 17 - 8 (23 Vampire Weekend + 42 Azari & III + 48 Machines Don't Care + 69 Elijah Blake + 101 IC3PEAK + 110 raaginder + 125 Vacant + 149 Da Vosk Docta) 18 - 1 (111 In The Loop) 19 - 5 (49 Deaf Club + 50 SOHN + 82 Digitalism + 94 KNARS + 107 µ-Ziq) 20 - 4 (87 TWRR + 89 Fallgrapp + 160 Maruja + 161 Re-TROS) 21 - 1 (97 Saor) 22 - 7 (33 Savage Skulls + 44 Karin Park + 92 End Of The Dream + 118 Kælan Mikla + 130 Jorge Elbrecht + 144 Yumi Zouma + 154 Baseck) 23 - 2 (63 Surkin + 65 Quirke) 24 - 5 (24 Kid Sister + 40 The Rapture + 52 Spor + 62 Paris XY + 66 Jade Blue) 25 - 4 (58 Gent Mason + 83 BOOTS + 134 Quadeca + 137 Hildegard) 26 - 3 (104 Set And Setting + 127 Fatoumata Diawara + 147 Momma) 27 - 2 (146 SadSvit + 153 Model/Actriz) 28 - 3 (71 San Holo + 138 Deafheaven + 141 Lah Malara) 29 - 6 (25 Frankie & The Heartstrings + 70 Fura + 106 J.I.D + 120 Vegyn + 158 Deadlands + 162 Kim Gordon) 30 - 1 (175 Kikagaku Moyo) 31 - 6 (29 Penguin Prison + 32 The Bullitts + 68 Eagles For Hands + 88 Øfdream + 91 xi + 176 Brent De La Cruz) 32 - 2 (119 Amon Tobin + 122 Max Cooper) 33 - 3 (133 Mim Suleiman + 140 ATARASHII GAKKO! + 143 Daughters Of Reykjavík) 34 - 2 (114 Molchat Doma + 166 The Frozen Autumn) 35 - 2 (117 Sampa The Great + 152 Tim Hecker) 36 - 2 (77 WEDNESDAY CAMPANELLA + 169 Bohren & Der Club Of Gore) 37 - 2 (108 Skee Mask + 136 Japanese Television) 38 - 2 (27 Dennis Ferrer + 95 David Starfire) 39 - 2 (28 Young Money + 151 Black Belt Eagle Scout) 40 - 0 41 - 1 (167 Smiling) 42 - 2 (173 Ghais Guevara + 178 AKRIILA) 43+ - 0 DNQs: (15-) - 0 (16) - 1 (46 Wild Belle) (17) - 1 (47 Angel Haze) (18) - 3 (38 Joe Goddard + 55 MAASAI + 59 The Hics) (19) - 1 (34 Beat Connection) (20) - 4 (43 POLIÇA + 56 Orphic Oxtra + 73 Sogand + 109 Ash Koosha) (21) - 5 (35 SBTRKT + 41 Wonder Villains + 102 ROSALÍA + 163 Crushes Bones + 168 Die Nerven) (22) - 3 (96 BROCKHAMPTON + 156 Paper Lady + 177 Maustetytöt) (23) - 4 (19 deadmau5 + 21 The Temper Trap + 115 MIRÈLE + 170 Imane El Halouat) (24) - 3 (36 The 2 Bears + 54 Kadie Elder + 126 Ecco2k) (25) - 2 (84 Bachar Mar-Khalifé + 131 Ichiko Aoba) (26) - 1 (20 Envy) (27) - 2 (80 Yung Lean + 112 Rico Nasty) (28) - 1 (93 Achillea) (29) - 1 (159 Slauson Malone 1) (30+) - 0

*ZITTI *Longue am sure these typos have been here for years (the first one definitely has been at least as I remember pointing it out before xx) +30 Hall Of Mirrors +29 The Last Man On Earth +28 Lipstick On The Glass +27 In The Fire +26 SHUM +25 How Can I Make It OK? +24 Good Days +23 The Only Heartbreaker +22 Save Your Tears +21 Coloratura +20 Arcadia +19 family ties +18 How Not To Drown +17 Saku +16 Introvert +15 Concorde +14 deja vu +13 INDUSTRY BABY +12 Need To Know +11 Bunny Is A Rider +10 Leave The Door Open +9 ZITTI E BUONI +8 Try Not To Be Afraid +7 Happier Than Ever +6 MYSTERY +5 Overpass Graffiti +4 50/50 +3 Take My Breath +2 Errors In The History Of God +1 Chaise Longue

My days in the top 5 are numbered

And #triplepost... another quick snapshot of the rolling YTD top 30 (BJSCs 169-178) as, for the second time in the last 3 contests, we have another first time #1! 1 2002 Neliönoir 2 1974 Danæviia 3 1882 Aeroche 4 1820 Kluminican Republic 5 1794 Hendinia 6 1764 Cor Lupus 7 1710 Altyr Muunilinst 8 1705 Jadakissnia 9 1700 Fljótavík 10 1694 Kathaldazia 11 1601 Bøtanikkä 12 1580 Skall 13 1570 Greenfroze 14 1557 Ajanaeda 15 1463 Land of DW 16 1463 FSR Rontvia 17 1444 République d'Áskorza 18 1424 POPHub 19 1381 Terra Avium 20 1330 Why So Sirius 21 1322 FARC 22 1314 Cumulonimbia 23 1305 Trifoski 24 1222 Bronzil 25 1218 New Lexico 26 1130 Mothertopia 27 1104 Lotunia 28 1092 Séyetana 29 1085 Taahino 30 1075 Persephonia Neliönoir rose to a new peak of #2 last month and now rise to #1, two months after Bøtanikkä hit #1 for the first time (though they've now fallen 1-5-11 since then whoops). Danæviia have also yet to be #1 on this (returning to their peak of #2 this month) so we could very well have a third new leader in quick succession very soon. Kluminican Republic, Cor Lupus and Jadakissnia perhaps also all in contention to hit the top spot for the first time in the near future. Neliönoir are the 21st different country to hit #1, 18th excluding a few that were only leading in updates prior to BJSC 10 (i.e. without a full 10 contests of data). (also I've re-entered the top 30 after being outside in the last 3 updates, yay xo)

And here's a late night YTD update for you all to wake up to x Neliönoir stay in the lead by a reduced margin of 90 points for now, but if they do indeed take a break now the door is wide open for Danæviia to overtake. Jadakissnia's win moves them up to the podium 85 points behind, swapping places with Kluminican Republic. Cor Lupus tumble down 0 places to 5th. Hendinia and Fljótavík both move up within the top 10 while Kathaldazia and Greenfroze jump into it, as Bøtanikkä and Ajanaeda's DNQs both prove costly (though the former are still in touching distance of the top 10 despite this being a second DNQ in a row). I continue my march downwards another 5 places and the dream of a return to the EOY top 20 slips further out of reach, sadge x 1 1 1686 Neliönoir 2 2 1596 Danæviia 3 4 1511 Jadakissnia 4 3 1437 Kluminican Republic 5 5 1421 Cor Lupus 6 8 1372 Hendinia 7 7 1356 Aeroche 8 9 1336 Fljótavík 9 14 1253 Kathaldazia 10 12 1239 Greenfroze 11 13 1238 Skall 12 11 1231 FSR Rontvia 13 15 1221 Altyr Muunilinst 14 6 1211 Bøtanikkä 15 18 1170 FARC 16 10 1168 Ajanaeda 17 19 1135 République d'Áskorza 18 21 1127 Land of DW 19 25 1097 POPHub 20 22 1087 Bronzil 21 16 1030 Cumulonimbia 22 17 1026 Aesthetica 23 26 1006 Lotunia 24 33 1002 New Lexico 25 27 985 Terra Avium 26 20 982 Why So Sirius 27 28 976 Pestolia 28 23 968 Persephonia 29 32 945 Zanmatony 30 29 920 Séyetana 31 24 881 Trifoski 32 34 841 Mothertopia 33 37 810 Taahino 34 36 769 Elëdan 35 30 763 Baleghde 36 31 759 Macromia 37 35 732 Lookylion 38 41 649 Cheiron 39 39 623 Aelandor 40 40 601 Scotland 2 41 42 558 Herbilore 42 44 556 Dobago 43 38 536 Thelonia 44 46 512 Jupiterdonia 45 47 508 The Spodic Empire 46 50 473 Summericia 47 43 436 A-Konohagakure 48 45 418 Hinterlandia 49 48 387 Ben's Sanctuary 50 52 357 Flynnonda 51 49 351 Yehesi 52 63 299 East Rukahavian 53 51 288 Hushkanukia 54 53 229 Singerpurear 55 54 190 Utopia 56 55 164 Beaverdonia 57 56 157 Kylienips 58 ** 152 N DNTN 59 ** 148 Harmonica 60 57 141 Oslol 61 58 121 Ojnoj 62 59 120 Sandénia 63 ** 117 Deandria 64 60 114 Niceland 65 61 106 Ultraviolenceland 66 62 97 Palmyra 67 ** 94 Pagasa 68 64 83 Conoria 69 65 63 Suedeonia

So I did go through a phase of deluding myself that I had a big hit on my hands and then quickly tempering that as the contest went on with little fanfare as I quite often do but even after that I am feeling a little bit baffled at AKRIILA coming last oops - like with my last couple of entries the genre switchup did have some limited success in picking up points from some countries that don't often vote for me (getting a medal from République d'Áskorza is a nice thing to tick off the bucket list after 16 years of co-participation, and these were my first points from both them and Hendinia for at least 3 years!) but again clearly losing too much from the people who usually support me to make it worth it, I honestly did not anticipate that being so much of a problem with this entry but I clearly massively overestimated its appeal, it didn't even make it onto many commiseration lists oops. I suppose I am just more grateful now that it didn't give me a DNQ streak as it had an extremely lucky draw - 9 of the 13 people who voted for it in the final were also voting in my semi (and all 9 also voted for it there along with Cumulonimbia), and of the remaining 4, 3 of them were only 2 or 3 points, République d'Áskorza were literally the only country from semi 1 to give more than 3 points to it eek! Ah well, silver linings... 42 is a favourite number for me (Douglas Adams' impakt) so it's fun to have been 42nd in both the running order and the results I suppose and I am zipping up the list of countries with the most final wooden spoons, this is my 3rd in the last 12 contests and my 5th overall which ties me with Greenfroze, East Rukahavian are the only country who have more (7). Coming for your flop weave Mack x Also kind of iconic to be have #jadaphonia bookending the final scoreboard. Thanks again to the few who did throw some points my way anyways, particularly Pestolia who have been continuing to be a heavy donor to our struggling charity cause the last few months, giving a silver medal to all of our last 3 finalists (and double figure points to all of our last 6...!) I had a couple of other songs from AKRIILA's album on repeat for a while when deliberating on my entry for this contest so I do wonder if either of these might have done a bit better. They are both longer which might have helped, I did kind of feel during the listenthroughs that listening to my song just the once doesn't quite deliver the same impact as putting it on loop as I had been doing it after first finding it! (I have sent the first of these two over on PopJustice so will keep my fingers crossed to not have a double wooden spoon on my hands this month :')) Rambling/sulking about my own result aside... this is a third winner in a row that I've ranked in the mid teens (4/8 winners this year in all so far have ranked between 16th and 18th for me), I can definitely see why it won even if I can't see it ever being one I'd consider a Jadakissnia essential by their high standards, certainly hyped for another Jadakissnia hosted contest anyhoo *.* I had been thinking POPHub would pip them to the post and I guess that prediction wasn't far off, very happy to see that grabbing a medal as well as of course East Rukahavian FINALLY getting a well deserved top 5 hit - they did indeed have the record for most entries without a top 5 by a very long way (this is their 125th entry, the next most is N-Lazone with only 45 entries!) They still continue to have the record for most entries without a top 3 finish, ahead of Bignia-Zaragovina and Rolloland on 71 entries each. But baby steps x The only other one in the top 10 I voted for was Cor Lupus who finished pretty much around where I expected them to, was thinking it was a likely top 10 but probably not quite a winner contender. Hendinia and Kathaldazia are both gooduns as well though. Was hoping Bronzil might be able to follow FSR's double top 10 success with the dark Turkish entries but not quite, still happy to see them get a better result than their last few entries at least, and it's a 3rd 18 in the space of 4 contests from me to Turkish entries! Also a nice result for Skall and not too bad for Pestolia (even if they did slip a bit from being top 10 at one point). Unfortunately a lot of my other favourites found themselves quite low down the scoreboard - Terra Avium, Séyetana, Jupiterdonia, Elëdan and Flynnonda all robbed, as well as Pagasa but that of course being mostly self-inflicted (:'( dhwe pulling a dhwe with one of his best entries). At least that low result for Elëdan is telling me I'd probably have been flopping this month regardless of if I switched my entry from my original techno instrumental or not oop. Will still hold it in the reserves for a future contest so I hope y'all will be more in the mood for it by then x Final fun observations - I notice New Lexico were the semi winner and projected final winner even after a 15% deduction... and N DNTN's return entry (152chris for those who haven't memorised the usernames of each country x) getting exactly 152 points Thanks blacksquare for the hosting again, it was fabulous once again. I'm sad to hear that you were still struggling with it, I did remember you having a bit of a mare with it the first time around but I was under the impression you were getting along better this time as it all looked pretty seamless as an observer but I guess you had just been directing your complaints to uhsting instead of me this time oop x Will be sad to be without Neliönoir if you are going to be taking a break now, don't be gone for too long pls :'(

178 Erin LeCount - 37th in BJSC 172 Not a sixth former top 10 artist in a row winning, but still a seventh consecutive recycled artist, one more will match that record x

Sorry to be breaking apart the Aeroche/Klum tie and probably incurring the wrath of Cody x (at least it wasn't dropping Cor Lupus from 10th to 11th ddd) 1 extra point being enough to push Altyr up 3 places though!