Chez Wombat

I briefly considered them live, but would be a shame when I never saw them with Chester and indeed the price is big x Sorry for the pause, picking up now x -x- xVbwcob9Bxs 4. TV Girl & George Clacton – Summer 2000 Baby Unquestionably, this year's summer anthem for me. I liked the little I knew of George Clacton, but this really was something else. Despite it's namesake, I would liken this very much to something from the 1990s, specifically that Madchester/Acid sound that Primal Scream's Screamadelica managed so brilliantly. It came at a good time for me when I had quite a lot of concerns on my mind, so it was brilliant to have this wave of sounds that takes you on an endless fun ride. The chanted verses serving as an effective precursor to the bounding chorus which throws trumpets and piano hooks right at you with the lyrics tempting you further to 'jump right in'. My partying days are most often a thing of the past, but this is that rare song that would make me crave for them. The accompanying song, Take a Trip serves as a moodier, more sombre alternative that makes it what it says on the tin really - a trip back to that carefree past summer x

Of last year's winners, I would class 5/10 as 'pure pop', 2 as slightly alternative leaning pop and 3 as more indie/experimental in nature. I really don't think that's a bad balance and shows that we have a diverse memberbase in terms of genres. It's amusing to me that N DNTN and #00274E are listed as pop nations up there when I've taken part long enough to remember them arriving initially sparked the 'indie is taking over' discourse :lol:

One point :'( there is a good chance I shot myself in the foot there. Yet another one of my more downbeat January entries that fails, I get why it did, but it was still such a dreamy entry that hit me really hard on first listen that I did hope would enchant at least some others, I guess I just wasn't brat enough </3 37 points isn't too bad for a DNQ anyway so thanks for the votes. On the bright side, none of my votes DNQed, I'll be rooting for Reckless as well as my SF2 favourites in the final and seeing how much I regret not sending it!

I'm thinking I may be out sadly, perhaps a bit too subtle and a lot of people I was hoping would be into it were in the other semi. Some good qualifiers so far though with Seyetana, Bronzil and Danaeviia, Singerpurear's was...strange but I kind of dug it x

A poll ran by the Mail Online? No sense of bias there at all

Was gonna suggest The Weight by The Band unless we've had it before, though I think that's the only one I know well from them. En Vogue - Hold On Lenny Kravitz - It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over Snap! - The Power

A disappointing ending indeed. I'm quite sad for Frankie as she was one of the most genuine and trustworthy there and won it for them for one and yet was still voted off even after swearing as a mother, it would've been way more interesting had she actually went along with Charlotte. I can't help but feel there's just an element of cliqueyness to those final banishments, particularly for Alexander, I could tell where it was going as soon as Charlotte was banished, while I'm pleased for her family, I can't say I'm hugely enthusiastic about Leanne winning who was way too defensive and straight out nasty to Alexander at points which made me annoyed. An entertaining series, and I don't think the Seer was a bad concept, it just came way too late and robbed us of what would've been a blinder of a game plan.

This final 2 *.* I approve x Love Generation to win, lovely, uplifting song.

As delightful as it was seeing Charlotte's plan play out beautifully, I did sense she might have been flying too close to the sun as Freddie's vote for her could've doomed her even before the seer. Still, will certainly be interesting to see if she can somehow pull a blinder here x

Was the Beatles just one of the best selling hence the nomination then or was there some cut off point that made them ineligible last year? I didn't know it sold all that much in 2024, nice to see them there and all, just a year late x Solid/Expected set of nominations overall, though while Charli certainly deserves some recognition, I don't think one artist should take up two different Genre categories given there's only five there.

Crazy seeing The Substance being a five time Oscar nominated movie, something I never could've imagined that for a body horror film when I first saw it, and definitely didn't see a Best Director nod for it coming *.* Yet to see Emilia Perez so my thoughts on that dominating are TBC , but wonderful to see Nosferatu get some recognition, Sing Sing deserved much more but pleased it at least got recognised in some way as I feared it may be snubbed. Challengers looks a notable snub on first glance, think that definitely should've got one for Score.

Best Alannah Myles - Black Velvet Billy Joel - We Didn't Start The Fire Madonna - Like A Prayer Mike + The Mechanics - The Living Years Sinéad O'Connor - Nothing Compares 2 U Worst Michael Bolton - How Am I Supposed To Live Without You New Kids On The Block - I'll Be Loving You (Forever) Tommy Page - I'll Be Your Everything

Truly shocking I tell you x Congrats to Scene nonetheless for a very worthy winner quality wise, even I couldn't penalise it too much, and I enjoyed the rest of the top 3 too. Thanks for all who gave points to Scene Ballerina, I wanted to enter one of my overlooked pop picks from this year, and I was sure amongst this very well known crowd, I'd flounder so I'm actually pleasantly surprised I got even as high as 20th (Scene forgiven for the cheapness for giving me my highest points *.). My second choice was Fabiana Palladino's I Can't Dream Anymore (both in my EOY not that anyone's reading that xx) and my third was...I'm a Star which was entered :o I was really curious who was on the same algorithm as me as it was a BJSC potential too as a curveball pick, pleased it got out there one way or another! There were some other great choices here I already knew, some of which I didn't think were 'pop' enough for me to try. Summer 2000 Baby is one of my favourites of the year, pleased my 12 boosted it a bit. Cry For Me is my favourite of the Magdalena Bay tracks I've heard this year, I saw Babygirl recently and Leash still stands out as a powerful soundtrack song. Thanks for hosting, Jonjo! I didn't honestly pay much attention to modern pop music over 2020 and 2021 but I'm willing to have a look so here for those x

I'm failing to see what's not 'extreme' about a Trump presidency, this rhetoric about Canada and Greenland is on the same lines as Putin said about Ukraine and the Chinese government have said about Taiwan. This is how he means to go on, he's not interested in democracy. I mean I'll take going back to before 2010 given Obama was president so I guess I agree there...?

Hype to Nelionoir from the other semi, that was a potential for me last year, some great drums on that x (In fact, Semi 1 seems the more friendly semi for me but hopefully some fans of dreamy drone-style post punk)

Cheeky Girls an obvious first choice x Some real underrated gems here <3 Waiting for the inevitable loss to that subpar Britney song.

I'm not crying as I never use it and it was very toxic and heavy with misinformation for the younger audience, but I do feel for the normal content creators that make their living off of this whose future is very uncertain. I guess Trump will try and get it back, but may be quite hard for even the president to go against the Supreme Court.

That dolls task with the backwards lyrics was one of the most freaky things I've seen on here, I can't decide whether to laugh or be scared x I wasn't sure with Charlotte being picked initially, but she's really taken to this well, suddenly someone I'm rooting for and possibly could even outsmart Minah herself soon! Still very much hoping they can both make it as the faithfuls continue to be unlikeable and clique-y for the most part, got incredibly lucky the two traitors evicted have been utterly obvious (but gosh I miss Linda x), Joe especially is very obnoxious and I would be happy if he were out.

I forgot to point Govinda as I missed it on the list </3 Would've not been enough to qualify it though, love the Eastern vibes. Marlon Roudette the only one of my actual votes to go, admittedly was lucky it came up on my music shuffle the day before, but love the steel drums.

Such sad news, I've just started going through Twin Peaks and getting immersed in the universe and am almost at the revival part, despite the obvious flaws that started to show in the second season, it's still overall a great series and it's surreal moments must've really been startling at the time. I'm really eager to see the revival and him not being confined by the 1990s cable rules. There are still a lot of his films I need to check out, but the ones I know I'm very into, Mulholland Drive in particular had me thinking for days after seeing it. He certainly never gave viewers easy answers which I always love in a filmmaker. RIP, a great loss to the film world </3

Aww, was hoping it'd be a Coldplay/U2 final as two of my favourite songs of the 2000s x Ready for the predictable Kelly win, but all my weight behind U2 x

Other - Picturehouse! I was so sad that my local one closed down in August (very sad this seems to be a trend </3), it's one of the only places that shows some of the best indie flicks and has respectable cinema-goers. My local's now a Vue, but despite the convenience and the comfortable reclining seats, it's always packed and attracts people that are clearly not there for the movies and more the social experience...who can sod off x I don't mind honestly just travelling to a nearby Picturehouse as it's always a great experience. Odeon is a bit here and there again depending on how busy the screening is and actually there's no Cineworld's near me so haven't been able to take advantage of them yet. I have a membership with Picturehouse but deciding whether to renew as I did get a year's subscription to BFI so it might not be worth having both just for the costs as both would require travel. I don't tend to eat while watching a film, and particularly as it's ludicrously overpriced and huge, but all about sweet popcorn x

Going for Pink, though all of these are fantastic (as was Love at First Sight).

SRXH9AbT280 5. Linkin Park – The Emptiness Machine/Heavy is the Crown I'm going to cop out a little bit with this selection, as I'm not sure which one I prefer ultimately, yet I do feel I have the same sentiments towatds them both - that being how Linkin Park pulled off a comeback so great! Linkin Park were one of my favourite bands growing up and Chester's sudden death was one of the celebrity deaths I've been saddest about in recent memory. That could well have been the end, and I'm sure to many fans it was and they would be outraged by getting a new lead singer, yet I'm of the view that sometimes you have to carry on in the face of tragedy and in the case of a band that I was ready to consign to my childhood, their two songs really give them a new lease of life. Emily Armstrong may be...controversial in some ways, but she really fits in brilliantly in The Emptiness Machine, as it is a song that is instantly so like them yet she doesn't try purposefully to be like Chester, something I'd sense another male singer would've struggled with. Where Emptiness... was more Minutes to Midnight and onwards, Heavy is the Crown is very much classic Meteora era and has a likeness to Faint, with Shinoda's rapping and an intense chorus, and it did hype me up for Arcane Season 2 stream it x. Overall, probably one of the most impressive comebacks I've seen in recent years and seeing them rewarded with charts hits was a nice cherry on top.

tHxEQ1oaYig 6. Nia Archives – Silence is Loud 90s Breakbeat style sounds will always be my catnip so Nia Archives choosing that as her brand meant she was always going to be someone I was going to be interested to explore further. Crowded Roomz was a great introduction, I always find lyrics with drum'n'bass can add a real sense of urgency and repeated lonely refrains really complement the frantic production well. Silence is Loud though takes things up a notch, the vocals are limited to a single line and are heavily overshadowed and distorted this time but the production is ramped up with blaring synths and drums coming from all angles, creating something truly intensive which is not dissimilar with 90s Chemical Brothers and The Prodigy, it really works beautifully and great to see some action in a dance genre that is less active these days.