Michael Bubré

I should think 'FRANCESCA' will do quite well, clearly had a much more favourable semi draw than the entry last month (and I think it sounds more like a hit anyway although maybe that's partly me saying that because I like it more). Good to see it through anyhoo x Always a shame to see a debuting country not making it aw (though not uncommon ofc), hope you will stick around DaTilt. And oops at Jadakissnia </3 that'll be the second one I've lost from my top 10 of the semi and like with Macromia I think I'll be moving it up in my ranking slightly (was 9th on first listen - reminiscent of moonvampire in that I feel it would benefit a lot from being at least a minute longer but still deserved to qualify aw)

I want to root for Sandénia after coming last in the semi twice in a row but I did think this was one of the few songs that I'd be a little surprised if they did qualify oops (I do quite like it myself, probably in my top 20 of the semi, but could see it blending in a bit - hope it's not a third wooden spoon in a row oop). Freidland being out again also isn't that much of a shock (I'm surprised it did as well as it did in Unknown Pleasures back in the day really + Dayglow's previous BJSC entry was quite a way off qualifying) but hope they can also catch a break soon x

Oops the 3 in a row remaining elusive for Deandria - just outside my top 10 of the semi and another one that did feel potentially borderline but was hoping it would pull through aw

</3 Macromia was quite a fave (I was doing a relisten of semi 1 earlier today and haven't reshuffled my ranking yet but I had it ranked 7th on first listen and I think I'll be moving it up a bit) but another one I wasn't too confident about.

Back home now, oop going quite quickly but caught up now - brilliant to see Dalisska and Lentyll both in with their return entries, both good tunes, Dalisska's in particular I wasn't sure would qualify so we love to see it. Also hooray at Pagasa indeed overcoming the deduction (now... vote in the final this time please xx) and great to see Flynnonda's Q streak continuing as well, their run of loud guitar entries is continuing to appeal to me x

May be missing the start of this but I'll catch up. Feeling less confident than I was at the start of the week - if I DNQ can it please at least not be by like 2 points again x Even moreso than usual it doesn't feel like there are many songs that are likely DNQs so intrigue to see who makes the cut.

Olivia's sales increased last week.

"Pretty ass face make these hoes commit hate crimes" may genuinely be one of the most iconic lyrics to ever appear in a BJSC entry issa banger

Dw I'll still do it tomorrow x (especially as the Sunday 80s SyncTube sessions are still on a break so I can just aim to do a listen at the time I would have been at that).

We could maybe do an R&B/hip-hop BJSC spinoff at some point but yeah I wouldn't expect it to be that popular a prospect.

Thanks for the thread bump as I'd kind of forgotten about this! Will likely do a relisten and send my votes tomorrow.

Here's to rooting for Pagasa to overcome a deduction once again then I guess xx

Confirmed now

Voting now, there are about 6 songs that are closely fighting for my 1 and 2 pointers so definitely quite a tough semi to vote in. Sending big hypes to Bronzil, Elëdan, Skall and Sovarasma but another strong semi x

Doing my relisten of semi 2 now - I've just realised I completely forgot to rank one of my favourites during my first listen so thank god I didn't send my votes then...!

Aw 'No Tomorrow' is one I'd have ranked a lot higher myself, a bit offended at the multiple comparisons to Maroon 5 in the thread, I can't say I see the resemblance to them myself? Just another nostalgic landfill indie anthem for me, I still occasionally hear it on the radio and it's always a great time when I do. Would also put 'Star Girl' higher up, definitely aided by the nostalgia from Chris Moyles' McFlyday feature but I do think it's one of the best McFly songs anyway, and probably would rank 'So Sick' a bit higher too, Ne-Yo's discog is hit or miss but I still hold his first couple of #1s in quite high regard as solid R&B jams. The rest that have been since my last comment are probably ranked about right for me, I do really like 'Put Your Hands Up For Detroit' but the list of remaining songs is looking very strong now and I guess it is a little simplistic/repetitive but again a good nostalgic banger. The Beyoncé song is quite good but not a standout in her discography so midtable is about right. 'Smack That' I haven't heard much recently and I expect it will have aged quite poorly but it's fun enough for what it is. I do wish 'Ridin'' could have managed a week at the top, even if I do prefer Weird Al's version x

Well I know I'm safe! (because I haven't confirmed yet x will do soon x)

We're so back (my song was entirely overshadowed on SyncTube by the timing of the Bøtanikkä bombshell lmao so I am gaining no useful information from that about my chances of qualifying, I just have to assume that Dan predicting me out means I'm gonna be ok x)

Yes this is basically my thinking here - it's not ideal to have uneven semis but at the end of the day 20/29 vs. 20/28 isn't exactly that bad of an imbalance to accept for one contest in what we very much hope will be a one off occurrence, obviously it's the first time it's happened in 18 years! We'll just have one person who's maybe getting lucky in semi 2 (and who's to say AY YOLA would have been a guaranteed qualifier anyway... I know Rich named it as a winner contender but shh). Any further intervention would just be causing more disruption that I don't think would really be worth it for such a minor discrepancy. The closest thing we have to a precedent here is from all the way back in BJSC 16 when Fortunia and Mykanovia were disqualified due to the original aliasgate and that also just went ahead with the usual number of qualifiers so 14/25 qualified from semi 1 and 14/23 from semi 2 (arguably effectively 14/22 because that semi also contained a song that I believe had been sent as an intentional attempt to get 0 points, and ended up with 1 point - Martina's 'Idi Leđa Mi Okreni', perhaps Pavi will remember the lore around that better being the one person who blocked it from being our first nul pointer which we'd then have to wait a further 127 contests to see xx). I will just say that between this and copperplate-gate last month, and with the general state of the world and music industry right now, it may be a good idea for anyone who may be sensitive about this kind of thing to take a little time to do some ~background checks~ themselves, I probably should have seen the AY YOLA thing during research myself as it's not exactly well hidden information (it's mentioned quite prominently on Wikipedia!) but alas I didn't quite find the time to do research as thoroughly as I usually do this month. Using myself as an example, I sent an Israeli act last month and my first thought, as unfortunate as it is to have to consider this kind of thing these days, was to make sure I wasn't accidentally platforming someone advocating a genocide :') (which thankfully turned out to be very much the opposite of the case from a scouring of the artist's social media). Obviously Addy's withdrawal here has been 100% voluntary and we're not going to start being the moral police denying entries from artists who may hold some dodgy views (trusting no one is ever going to intentionally send an openly hateful song ofc) but just something to think about. Hopefully that's the end of any dramz~ this month and we'll look forward to Addy being back with a clean slate again in January x

My listening age was 63 because I was 'into music from the late 70s'. I guess it's pulling that solely from me sometimes shuffling the 80s playlist that I've been building during the weekly 80s top 40 sessions on SyncTube (many of which were released in the late 70s but didn't chart until 1980). But that's certainly not a majority of what I've listened to lol Here's my full top 100 which is as meaningless as ever because I pretty much only use Spotify to shuffle long playlists and listen to the occasional album once through (Lana and Billie being my top 2 artists is because I listened to playlists containing their respective full discographies ahead of seeing them live this year) I did like that my 'club' correctly identified that I never skip tracks x

Artists like Drake, Kanye, The Weeknd and Rihanna just have such a deep catalogue of older songs that continue to stream well that they're going to be on the most streamed of the year lists pretty much every year whether or not they've got current big hits (although who knows, maybe Rihanna was pushed over the top to make an appearance this year because of the dominant success of 'Friend Of Mine' ) I wonder how close the likes of Fleetwood Mac would be if we had a longer list... Still feels jarring every time how badly EOY lists are skewed to songs available all year, no 'Man I Need' on that list feels very wrong but it's no doubt an early frontrunner to be very high up the 2026 list.

The majority of my list (62/100) is BJSC entries - as ever my Spotify Wrapped is a bit of a meaningless hodgepodge but I've been shuffling playlists of all of my own entries and all of the songs I've given medal positions to in the past quite regularly throughout the year, so this list is largely just reflecting which ones from those lists happened to come up on shuffle the most times by random chance (some of them are also on other playlists that I sometimes shuffle so get a bit more of a leg up there), all great songs but don't read anything into the placements xx Have to go down to 18 for one of my own entries and it's one that's not even from this year lol - only one of my 2025 entries is on the list down at #43. Clearly have been playing my medallists playlist more than my own entries one! 1 glass beach - commatose (Scotland 2 162) 2 Blanck Mass - You (Skall 171) 3 Frost - The Woods (Umiiruka 50) 4 Odd Nosdam - Kill Tone (Jadakissnia 155) 5 Fat Dog - King Of The Slugs (Sovarasma 161) 6 Army Of Lovers - Crucified (Singerpurear 120) 7 Widek - The Space Between Us (Zechonia 69) 10 KMRU and Aho Ssan - Resurgence (Elëdan 147) 11 Lo Moon - Loveless (Rolloland 129) 13 Power Glove - Crypt (Terra Avium 72) 14 Steven Wilson - Pariah (feat. Ninet Tayeb) (Terra Avium 97) 16 Chordashian - Cold Nights (Aeroche 55) 17 Susanne Sundfør - White Foxes (Caerfyrddia 43) 18 Maruja - One Hand Behind The Devil (Persephonia 160) 19 KOTO - Tiger Fire Cyber Fighter (Republic of Adonia 112) 20 Boys Noize and ABRA - Affection (Aeroche 147) 21 Edwin Rosen - mitleerenhänden (Cumulonimbia 164) 22 LSDXOXO - Double Tap (Neliönoir 156) 23 Department S - Is Vic There? (Singerpurear 158) 30 Baron Von Trax - All The Things You Do (Cumulonimbia 163) 34 Re-TROS - Hailing Drums (Persephonia 161) 35 Dzivia - Voryva (FSR Rontvia 152) 36 Tim Hecker - Lotus Light (Persephonia 152) 37 We Are All Astronauts - Ether (Terra Avium 108) 38 Daniel Avery - Drone Logic (Trifoski 70) 41 Ben Frost - Venter (Jadakissnia 109) 42 Amelie Lens - Never The Same (Cowtermont 112) 43 Messa - At Races (Persephonia 174) 44 Laibach - Vor Sonnen-Aufgang (Lotunia 109) 46 Machinedrum - Gunshotta (The Spodic Empire 164) 47 Azari & III - Reckless (With Your Love) (Persephonia 42) 48 Geordie Greep - Blues (Scotland 2 169) 49 Penguin Prison - Golden Train (Persephonia 29) 50 Altın Gün - Süpürgesi Yoncadan (Terra Avium 114) 51 Black Belt Eagle Scout - My Blood Runs Through This Land (Persephonia 151) 52 God Is An Astronaut - Echoes (Arcodesia 118) 53 Dry Cleaning - Anna Calls From The Arctic (Pestolia 164) 55 Effy - Not Yours (Thelonia 148) 56 Fallgrapp - Vlasy (Persephonia 89) 57 K Á R Y Y N - BINARY (Jadakissnia 101) 58 Orbital - New France (feat. Zola Jesus) (Ingermanlandia 43) 59 Télépopmusik - Breathe (Deandria 50) 60 Fanera - Euforija (Quintessa 159) 63 Secret Garden - Prayer (Lotunia 143) 65 Die Nerven - ACHTZEHN (Persephonia 168) 67 Baseck - TIME TO PARTY (Persephonia 154) 70 She Past Away - İnziva (FSR Rontvia 175) 73 Bon Iver - Calgary (Lievant 34) 74 Dog Race - It's The Squeeze (Abeltesfayeton 163) 77 Billx and Otyken - My Wing (Rave Music Edit) (FSR Rontvia 153) 78 Fatal Youth - Fragments Of Me, Pt. 2 (Persephonia 155) 79 Pyramid - Wolf (Varakë 60) 84 Yumi Zouma - Astral Projection (Persephonia 144) 86 Tina Guo - Super Mario Bros. (FSR Rontvia 93) 88 TOMM¥ €A$H - X-RAY (Republic of Adonia 122) 90 MS MR - Hurricane (Umiiruka 47) 92 Danger - 11h30 (Fljótavík 107) 94 Aṣa - Be My Man (Xanaga 33) 95 Da Vosk Docta - Aura (Persephonia 149) 97 Imane El Halouat - Ally (Persephonia 170) 99 Eivør - Í Tokuni (Land of DW 93) 100 Levellers - Down By The River 'O' (Suedeonia 151) (also The Body - A Lament is at 45, a discovery from a BJSC spinoff (Elëdan in Halloween III))

Is there a deadline for this x (I'm off work for the next couple of days at least so I will try and find some time to devote to this, I need to relisten to at least a few songs)

Still ironing out exact details but I think I can safely say we'll definitely be fine to allow Bøtanikkä in BJSC 181 no matter what.

Hmm. Respect your decision Addy but we'll need to devise a plan on the spot to deal with this as it's literally never happened before. (please no votes in semi 2 for the moment while we decide what to do x)