Chez Wombat

Well, congrats dandy! A spoken word poem based on a sociopolitical allegory is not something I'd ever expect to translate to BJSC success, but I'm so pleased to see that indeed being that unique is all you need, wonderful to see my 18 win and surely going down as an all time classic winner. Thanks for the last few big votes from Pagasa (was worried you wouldn't vote!), Trifoski and Ennea amongst others, 22nd (pending Brer investigation) is excellent to see especially when I got blanket bottom 10 predictions, it was a bit of a random entry when I couldn't find anything, but it's a cult classic so pleased to see a good reception. I may well finally have a 2026 entry next time so let's see how that goes x Great to see Greenfroze stay top 5, always love piano instrumentals and glad they have a solid fanbase here and this Ashton entry was their best in a while. Dalisska and Danaeviia in the top 20 is good to see but otherwise, a lot of my votes are a bit lower than I'd have liked, Aeroche are really getting robbed these last few contests x Thanks John for the great hosting, loved the aesthetic of the final x

An 18 yay *. Thank you DB, I'm pleased to have not been bottom 10 yet, could well still fall there but this seems to have gone better than I thought. Rather surprised to see Greenfroze as high as 2nd (not quite 750/1 to win!), but here for it.

I want it to be known I had a visiting rat present Terra Avium's votes x That's a great run of votes just now along with Jadakissnia's 15 earlier, thank you all x And yeah, maybe Fljo is landsliding this after all!

Wow, I didn't think they'd cancel the whole festival, a real shame for those acts that would've needed the profile boost but no sympathy with the organisers, when corporations are taking the moral high ground, you've definitely messed up.

Well that was timing to start this thread! BBC NewsKanye West travel to UK blocked by governmentWest was due to headline London's Wireless Festival in July but drew criticism over past antisemitic comments.

I do agree that Wireless really mucked up here - they were clearly looking for controversy with that headline spot, and it's really backfired, one night they might have got away with, but all three is ridiculous when they only did that once last year (arguably also fairly controversial with Drake headlining, although not on the same scale as this). I can't see how they'll keep this going with all these sponsors pulling out. He's an artist that has long become too foul a person for me to really separate it from his music, but he is very mentally unwell too, I don't believe he's beyond redemption, but I do think it's too soon for him to headline a festival, especially as his HH comments were only last year. I think he'd need to do a lot more to convince the public that he's really changed.

(Feel free to move this if this is in the wrong place, but it is getting a lot of news coverage atm) Kanye West's has been controversially booked to headline all three nights at Wireless festival in July, when little over a year ago he has been rather openly anti-semetic, praising Hitler and offering merchandise saying the same. It hasn't gone down particularly well, to put it lightly, with the prime minister saying it's a deeply concerning booking, huge sponsors like Pepsi pulling out and even some talk about whether he can re-enter the UK. West has apologised since the statements and has put it down to his bipolar condition and states he's in a better place. The festival organisers have stood by him for now, but the pressure's mounting. What's your takes on this, should art and artist be separated when it comes to booking acts or is this going just a bit too far?

Gosh, there was a lot of number 1s in 2009, I didn't quite register it was that many! 2009 was quite a significant year for me, I sat my GCSEs and finished school and travelled round the US in the summer (It was certainly a lot more appealing to visit then x), I have a lot of memories of the music, and was more able to use some of my pocket money to actually buy albums and singles. Can't disagree with any of these so far - I do prefer The Finalists' You Are Not Alone to Hero, but the bar is on the floor and it's still terrible, I think everyone was a bit more aware of the cynicism there as the sales for that one were much lower. I never watched Gavin & Stacey, so Islands in the Stream was always just a karaoke cover, doesn't have the same charm as the last two Comic Relief unofficial singles so I see why that was the last one to make number 1. There is a certain other charity single still to come which I have a softer spot for. Joe/X Factor didn't exactly make it difficult for themselves to target with that utterly insipid choice of song and cover (much as I hate Hallelujah, it was at least a fairly inspired choice of song), that series really was headline central every single week even before the campaign, though Joe was always a dead cert to win and all the more boring for it.

Flow is probably one of my favourite movies of the last years, I know Oscar hype certainly helped it, but it's amazing to see an animated film with no dialogue do so well. It's a shame Bring Her Back hasn't matched Talk To Me's gross, but I suppose it's still a good outcome for it, their brand of brutal horror is very refreshing. Sally Hawkins definitely deserved some award attention for that performance x Warfare was also quite unfairly forgotten about for Awards season, in all technical aspects, it was absolutely stunning.

Excellent if expected winner, Dancing On My Own is melancholy pop perfection and I think really influential in helping modern pop become more of a 'credible' choice on par with the usually critically adhered alt and rock acts that happened throughout the 2010s. And trying my hardest to put a positive spin on Calum Scott's abominable cover becoming a hit (one of my least favourite pieces of music ever so not easy), but it does speak to the legacy of the song and I like to think the original will stay in the public consciousness more in the long run x Back to Black is a classic and forever a showcase of what a wonderful yet tragic talent Amy was, and Smooth Criminal is MJ at his real best, I'd put this up there with Billie Jean, everything visually and musically is so slick. Thank you as always for the great hosting Rollo, now let me speculate on what #9s I want to support next year x

A real shame that Gasoline was ended it for Haim, that's always been a good one from the Women in Music era, maybe Summer Girl or Hallelujah could've done better. Great presentation of them though, The Wire and Falling were my favourites to not be sent but I guess they were being saved. I didn't dislike this Troye song despite the lower ranking and have quite liked some of the songs sent here as well. Been nice to get to know him a bit more as an artist.

Oh wow!!!! The Old man lives on

Haim </3 And I think the old man may indeed be out this time D:

01; Scissor Sisters - Mary 02; David Bowie - Five Years 03; ABBA - Chiquitita 04; ROSALÍA - Mio Cristo Piange Diamanti 05; Lily Allen - Pussy Palace 06; HAIM – Gasoline 07; Florence + the Machine - Cosmic Love 08; Chappell Roan - Casual 09; Delta Goodrem - Not Me, Not I 10; Troye Sivan feat. Betty Who – HEAVEN 11; Conan Gray - Forever With Me 12; Atomic Kitten - The Last Goodbye 13; Kelly Clarkson - Piece By Piece (Idol Version) Poor Bowie and Haim, don't deserve all these low scores x

Three of my absolute favourites in a row there, In The End is the best example of how well Linkin Park's sound worked, one of their biggest classics. Wake Me Up When September Ends is one of my favourites from their peak era and great emotional songwriting, I still find myself coming back to it every September! Enola Gay has always been one of my all time favourites, the dramatic, melancholy synths and sad, impassioned vocals fit really well with the historical context to make a really powerful song.

Having heard Fljotavik, I can see how it's getting so much discussion as it's so unique and a fantastic concept (I must have missed when this originally went viral), but it doesn't strike me as an absolute dead cert winner, though I certainly can see it doing so, just might be more of a 'big points or nothing' winner (I absolutely loved it mind, so I'm here for it!)

Pretty much totally the correct top 5 there! I wasn't sure Scandalous would make it that high, but it's one of the best girl group songs of the 2000s and is often overlooked in discussions like that so I'm glad to see it. Thanks for the sparkly hosting, Jade 😎 Not certain how many songs I'll know on the other compilations but let's see!

Well done AllStar on another anonymous contest win! That was my ten pointer so very happy with that winner, I pointed all of that top 3 and my 12 and 8 pointers are in the top 10 as well. Lunatic Calm was used on so many adverts when I was growing up, it was great to be able to finally put a name to it! Oops at being almost entirely snubbed by that last set of voters and falling to 7th, but I'd have felt a bit guilty winning with a fairly cheap name by song contest standards so I'll just enjoy this being my first top 10 in a while here! I must've not remembered Lost Cool from the Substance, but I knew there was a reason I liked it! Great to see that do quite well too x Thanks for hosting, lewis, a fantastic theme that definitely delivered!

Ooh thank you all so far, that's a great start. I was fortunate to hear this on 6Music just around the time the contest started so it fit very well (even if it is a remix of a slower indie song rather than a danceable indie song in it's own right), been a while since I've last done this well here x I liked the vast majority of what's here hence the long commiseration list, pleased to see a few of my votes in the top 10 with me as well! The Femcells is...not who I'd predicted blacksquare to send!

Worth mentioning that BJSC Masquerade is anonymous as the participants are posing as another country, I'm not sure if anyone wants to scour through the points there, but from what I remember of my own, I don't believe my points given or received from certain countries changed much even when not knowing their identity, but hey maybe another one of these will be a good gauge of if things will change x (I would like to see one anyway as it's been a while)

Aww, I'd hoped Fade to Gray may be able to win, but great to see it in the top 10. It's one of the songs I most associate with the early 80s dark synthwave movement and it still sounds fantastic. Live Forever is probably my favourite to miss the top 10, I'm glad to see the tour get it a new peak, Definitely Maybe-era Oasis has aged really well.

Lost three of my votes there: 07 // Pagasa // This Is Lorelei // Dancing In The Club 05 // Zanmatony // Onlynumbers & KLOFAMA // ONLYFAMA 03 // Ben's Sanctuary // SCHILLER // Euphoria: Der Traum (Extended Version) None of them I'm that surprised at sadly, didn't think Pagasa would make it with a deduction but thought it may have done slightly better than that, Zanmatony's was an admirable self-produced video too! Also sad we won't see Aelandor's wholesome video again x

Where's @Bror to help us all keep up when you need him? x

I forgot to shout out Anna Von Hauswolff in the thread, I've just listened to the album from this and was actually considering sending something from there, this wasn't an immediate highlight but I loved the whole album so glad to be able to revisit that one! I can't keep up with who's still to come, but a fair few of my votes yet to be announced with not a lot of spaces left :x

Oh hooray, I got nervous that those two non voters might cost me but pleased to be back in the final! Excellent to see Scotland 2 and Pestolia through, I wasn't sure about them.