Song Contest 202 (Results posted!)

[Song Contest]

Entries are now posted!

Apologies again for the delay.

[toolenduso]

Entries are now posted!

Apologies again for the delay.

Hey, it worked out great for me

[Song Contest]

Reminder on this, pals - deadline is coming up! I am going to be unavailable to process results for a week from Monday 24 so being able to publish results on time would be hugely appreciated to avoid potential delays (points penalties if extensions are required would be considered in this context but any delay would be a week-long one).

[Pink Ball]

Just voted, and I'm announcing that I just voted to bump this thread since things are getting wild in here.

I'll post tomorrow my scores with an addendum: I was playing Zelda while listening to the songs. Every song that got more than 5 out 10 are the songs that made me stop playing to listen with more detail.

[Aristophanes]

Spoiler: toootally not doing this last minute guys, that's ridiculous!

Sweden: Lola Blanc - Real Boy

Oh cool, this is like a dramatic retelling of Pinocchio. Kinda.
It was a bit heavy for my liking, but I know that's on purpose.
I like talking breaks in songs, this one definitely felt weird with its contents but I think it did add to the song.

Mali: Bartees Strange - Heavy Heart

I really like this! The intro is great. His voice comes in so nicely and has a great timbre to it.
I wasn't huge on the guitars and the punch up in energy they brought but I think it worked out rather well.
I think without that this could have been a great lamenting ballad taylor swift style and I'm kind of disappointed it didn't go in that direction.
That said, the direction it took worked.

Wales: Odette - Mandible

I will forever be a fan of audio panning.
This is like a really polished "spilling my heart in a song on youtube" vibe and I am a huge fan of that. That's why dodie always gets to me.
I'll definitely be looking more into this artist.

Kazakhstan: Lil Uzi Vert ft. Bring Me the Horizon - Werewolf

Is this always what LUV sounds like?
The intro like someone is talking in the distance was cool. I wasn't fond of the rest.
The floating synth sounds were cool and kind of reminiscent of In the End by linkin park.
It's not great when a song reminds me of another song I'd far rather be listening to though. Sorry.

fSwatini: Beverly Glenn-Copeland - Colour of Anyhow

First off, great country name XD

Secondly, I see this is on a jazz channel and I feel that, especially when the flute comes in. But I like the strong singer-songwriter feel of this.
Great voice! It floats so perfectly over the instruments and just has such a nice feel to it. It reminds me of Anne Murray actually.
I don't think the chord at the end was necessary and it kind of felt out of place, but that is the only negative thing I'd say about this song.
I would definitely put this on and enjoy it. Her voice is just so warm!

Hoverboards: Måns Zelmerlöw - Fire in the Rain/Heroes

Not available in my country!? This is discrimination!!!

Kidding. I did have to use this alt link though. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSCkXZMrSE8
It's not live, so I may miss something that was added by the performance which was intended here.

Nice voice again! It reminded me of Peter Hollands in this case. I find he makes things just a bit too crisp, which I did find here as well, but I guess making a voice sound too nice is a silly thing to say.
It had the right amount of power to the delivery, a good mix, and a good voice. Nothing overwhelmed where it shouldn't. Nice piece!

Ireland: Lauv - Drugs & The Internet

Lauv has such a cool voice!
I think a couple things in this song don't work unless you are watching the video, like the phone's dial tone. It wasn't added musically, it was just added. I'd hope a radio edit does not include that and I'd probably have a few more points for this if it were said edit.

That said, I really liked this and I can relate to it, as I'm sure many on the site can, as I too have had times where I traded my friends for [in my case drinks] and the internet.
Very enjoyable!

Earthsea: Yesterday's World - Circulatory System

I don't know what I expected from a band names earthsea, but I don't think it was sergeant pepper era experimental hippie rock.
It had it's time, but it's a little hard to listen to nowadays and actually follow.

eSwatini: Chloe Adams - Dead to Me

Oh, this is mine! I guess I contributed to the overall heavier feel of the contest this time. Oh well.

I like the whole Billie Eilish Bad Guy feel of this and the direction she went with it. The muffled distortion applied in the base, the pauses in music for accentuation, the feeling behind the words that make it feel real, I just like the whole thing and I think it was put together very well to capture this feeling of betrayal and the slap back from it.

Denmark: Asian Kung-Fu Generation - Rock'n Roll, Morning Light Falls on You

This has that unpolished punk voice over generally polished rock guitar, neither of which are things I gravitate towards.
It also felt like he was bored singing it which did not make me very interested in it. Sorry.

Peru: Sorry - Perfect

I generally like the call and response duet type song, like Little Talks does.
But this one wasn't my thing musically, and it felt like they were trying to sing over each other while this wall of sound tried to drown them out.
I mean, from the video, that's probably what they were going for, but meh from me. Sorry.

Chile: Sam Cooke - Bring It On Home to Me

Ah, what a classic!
It really reminded me of Oh! Darling! by The Beatles (that's twice I've referenced them in the same contest, wow!)
I checked the release dates and it looks like this well predated their song, I'm guessing they ripped it off at least partially, not that this would be their first time doing so.

It's nothing groundbreaking as a song, but it was nice to listen to. I like the style and the sound.

North Korea: Sky Eats Airplane - Numbers

I just don't understand and I don't think I ever will.
It's not bad in the, uhmm, emo break. But yeah, no. Sorry.

Ecuador: Nita Strauss ft. Alissa White-Gluz - The Wolf You Feed

I like their hair, and it's cool to see representation in the genre.
I like the parts where she sings kinda Evanescancey. I don't like the rest of it. Sorry.

Scythia: Asja Kadric - Fear Not This Night

This is great! Epic, sweeping song. Great buildups. Clear, beautiful voice. Good layering.
I'm guessing she has broadway training from for annunciation.
I like that the song never gets carried away. Sometimes songs of this ilk get too big as they build and are almost afraid of taking it back down it seems. This never got to that point. It felt like there was more, like the journey would continue even as you crested a mountain top. It was very well done!

Tough contest for me this time. I had to give points to some I really wasn't fond of. The top 5 I quite liked though!
I'm glad there is diverse music and a lot of different tastes represented here. Sometimes it's heavier on ones that don't fit my taste and that's fine. I hope I wasn't too harsh or anything! If so... Sorry.

[toolenduso]

Spoiler: I'm going, going / Back, back / To Colorado

Sweden - Lola Blanc - Real Boy: Sounds like a poppier version of that one song from The Hush Sound I liked a ways back. Which is blah. DECENT.

Mali - Bartees Strange - Heavy Heart: Mostly uninteresting to me except that awesome guitar at the end. DECENT.

Wales - Odette - Mandible: FKA Twigs-esque cover art gets me hype. Link didn't work so I had to find another video on YT. It was aight. Good singer. Prolly my favorite so far, but that's not saying much. DECENT.

Kazakhstan - Lil Uzi Vert ft. Bring Me the Horizon - Werewolf: Man, BMTH has gone an unexpected route. Not a great song though imo. DECENT.

fSwatini - Beverly Glenn-Copeland - Colour of Anyhow: Lol @ typo. Oh haha then I saw eSwatini entered further down. That guitar.....sounds just like a Postal Service song. We Will Become Silhouettes, that's the one. Doesn't seem like they sampled it, but hey, it could just be a similar-sounding riff. Anyway, this is pretty and I kinda like it. Fave so far. DECENT.

Hoverboards - Måns Zelmerlöw - Fire in the Rain/Heroes: Video unavailable. Music video doesn't say the "/Heroes" part, so I might have to go to a live version for that part? We'll see. Kind of a boring song to me, albeit with a catchy chorus. OK yep it didn't include the Heroes bit, so here we go to another video. Yeah this is just...whatever. DECENT.

Ireland - Lauv - Drugs & The Internet: I kinda like the track, and the singer's good, but in a lot of ways this is also a type of song I'm not hype about. DECENT.

Earthsea - Yesterday's World - Circulatory System: I should probably read Earthsea. This echoes Magical Mystery Tour-era Beatles to me. I like it. Yeah this is weird and fun and cool. GOOD.

eSwatini - Chloe Adams - Dead to Me: I like the dynamism. Fun song. DECENT.

Denmark - Asian Kung-Fu Generation - Rock'n Roll, Morning Light Falls on You: Decent post-emo (is that a thing?) rock song. DECENT.

Peru - Sorry - Perfect: Similar in vibe to eSwatini, but of a different genre niche. Not sure which one I like more atm. DECENT.

Chile - Sam Cooke - Bring It On Home to Me: Oh this song! I know this one. I did not know this was Sam Cooke. This one's gonna get a lil ding because it's a very famous song, but I do like it. GOOD.

Ecuador - Nita Strauss ft. Alissa White-Gluz - The Wolf You Feed: I like the groove/guitar during the chorus. Overall I'm always gonna be more forgiving to songs that sound like this. So this probably gets some points to me, even though I'm not that into it. DECENT.

Scythia - Asja Kadric - Fear Not This Night: It's aight. DECENT.

[schadd_]

Category:Non-binary nu metal musicians

[Searl]

Sad to hear that the Hoverboards song isn't available in the US, sorry for not checking that prior to submission it is mostly the same Fire in the Rain song from Mans except he's singing it with a bunch of other guys while all rolling around on hoverboards

[Aureal]

Spoiler: Aureal's status for this listen-through: sleepy

Fear Not This Night: Interestingly, though an instrumental of the main chorus can be found at viewpoints in a certain part of Guild Wars 2, the full version of this with lyrics only plays after beating the main questline. It's a reward much better than any in-game loot you get.

The Wolf You Feed: Okay, wow, this one really stands out. There was a little raspy screaming but it was used as accent, and it works. The energy, the singing, the instrumentation, it was all hitting. It's probably a good thing this was the last one for me to listen to, or I might have literally fallen asleep on some others after the energy high wore off. I was ready to go sleep now until this song, it's exactly the kind of thing I sometimes end up listening to when I should go to bed but don't and end up giving myself a second wind instead and stay up much later listening to music. Maybe this one will join that roster.

Mandible: The linked video wasn't available, but I found what presumably should be the same thing by searching youtube. The growing energy throughout the song really started drawing me in, had me starting to move my lips fake-singing along. It was like going on an little adventure through a fantasy on a nice summer day.

Colour Of Anyhow: I could tell this was an older song from the style and (sadly) the audio quality. But it was a quite pleasant, warm experience.

Rock'n Roll, Morning Light Falls on You: Cool.

Dead To Me: Consistent energy kept this one solid.

Circulatory System: Well, this one was a little different than it seemed at first, without changing entirely. I probably would've gotten more out of it if I understood the lyrics, but most lyrics are mud to me. Felt like the Beatles went to a kindergarten classroom to teach them to sing then they started getting sucked into a cartoon dystopia.

Bring It On Home to Me: I'm starting to think that oldies just generally tend to be more focused on lyrics, and making sure people can understand them, than incredible orchestration. I can respect that.
Numbers: The screaming... actually wasn't that bad here? The music was interesting enough that it sort of worked (although I think actual singing might have worked better).

Fire in the Rain/Heroes: Again, linked video was unavailable and I had to do a youtube search. The Fire in the Rain part wasn't anything of note, but the energy picked up nicely in the second part to be a bit of a toe-tapper (the crowd clearly thought so too).

Real Boy: This is a song about Pinocchio, right? Being able to easily understand the well-enunciated lyrics is a nice change from 99% of songs. Nicely done instrumentation as well, though I would really prefer not having the voice-over clips.

Perfect: There was some music and I think they were singing the same phrase over and over and over for most of the time? Got kinda tuned out.

Werewolf: Okay metal, really didn't need the raspy screaming at the beginning- I still don't get that. The energy got me to bump the volume up a bit early on, after the raspy screamer went away, but I was tuning out by the end.

Drugs & The Internet: The dramatic shift in style a little ways in had me for a while, but the novelty wore off well before the end of the song.

Heavy Heart: Audio quality seemed a little muddy, decent tune for some vaguely upbeat background music but nothing really stood out. I couldn't make out most of the lyrics, and one word I think I did make out made me stop trying.

[pickemgenius]

nice contest.

[ChannelDelibird]

Spoiler: Reactions

Sweden // Real Boy - Lola Blanc

There's a line for me somewhere between 'show tunes' and 'uses the show-tune aesthetic'. I don't know exactly where the line is, but I do know that I feel strongly about things on either side of it (preferring the latter side), with not a lot of in-between. This feels like it's wobbling a tightrope walk along the line but teetering towards the wrong side more often than not. The stompy stuff has some appeal for me but I can't quite get on board.

Mali // Heavy Heart - Bartees Strange

(my entry!)

Picking out one Bartees Strange song to submit was kind of a nightmare; the man works hard to make a mockery of the word 'genre', cramming a little bit of everything that he can onto his records. Almost no two tracks sound the same - but none of them sound like they could have been produced by anyone else.

There are a handful that I love roughly equally, so I went with this one as it's the first of his that I heard - the opener to his excellent 2022 album Farm to Table that convinced me immediately that I'd made a good purchase. I love its themes of letting go of some of the burdens we place on ourselves and remembering to enjoy the good things that we have despite all of the shit. I love the soaring guitars. I love the triumphant horns.

Wales // Mandible - Odette

The strings and percussion on this are gorgeous. The vocals are a bit over-pronouncy on some of the vowels but I do like the richness of the voice regardless. I could have listened to a lot more of this. Will be returning to it.

Kazakhstan // Werewolf - Lil Uzi Vert ft. Bring Me the Horizon

I have yet to meet a Bring Me the Horizon song that I could tolerate, and I still haven't.

fSwatini // Colour of Anyhow - Beverly Glenn-Copeland

Oh, that's a gorgeous deep voice. Angelic. The strings and gentle, occasionally beach-like guitars are just beautiful as well. I can hear some of the future make-up of my favourite Weather Station songs in here. Easy big points.

Hoverboards // Fire in the Rain/Heroes - Måns Zelmerlöw

I'm surprised that I don't remember this one very clearly, seeing as it's so visually impressive - I normally watch every Eurovision as a matter of course. Maybe I missed this year. Musically, like, eh, s'alright. Neither part is one that I would be seeking out after the show, but he does a fine job here.

Ireland // Drugs & The Internet - Lauv

I enjoyed the lyrics well enough, even if they were a little on the nose. Not as much a fan of yer man's higher-pitched voice - got a bit too airy and wobbly for me - and instrumentally it didn't do an awful lot for me either way.

Earthsea // Circulatory System - Yesterday's World

This was interesting and fun. The woodwind put in a lot of work. It didn't feel like the song was putting a massive amount of emphasis on its own lyrics, but I always like stuff that reflects on time, age and change, so I enjoyed them too. Might revisit this.

eSwatini // Dead to Me - Chloe Adams

Not super keen on the guitars chugging along in time with the vocals during the verses, but I can appreciate the dark, moody, pop-via-Trent Reznor vibes being conjured here. It's in and out before it gets wearing. I don't know if I'll remember much about it in a couple of hours' time but it was fairly fun and driven while it was here, even if the vocals felt a little bit slight.

Denmark // Rock'n Roll, Morning Light Falls on You - Asian Kung-Fu Generation

This has a very pleasant 90s radio rock energy, accented by those occasionally mathy bits of guitar picking. I'm not overly wild about yer man's voice but it gets the job done, I guess.

Peru // Perfect - Sorry

After hearing As the Sun Sets in SC177 and getting curious, I bought the album. It's fine. This is on it. It's fine. The door/adore rhyme is cute. And the little bursts of guitar that get interrupted for the vocals are cute. It's not one to which I've been drawn back repeatedly since finishing my first few listens to the record.

Chile // Bring It On Home to Me - Sam Cooke

I haven't listened to lots of Sam Cooke - only enough to know that he's rightly lauded for being one of the best to ever do the kind of thing that he does - but this song, while beautifully delivered vocally and instrumentally, just doesn't do it for me. The plaintive delivery doesn't stop the lyrics from being so incredibly straightforward that I struggle to take them seriously.

North Korea // Numbers - Sky Eats Airplane

Not for me!

Ecuador // The Wolf You Feed - Nita Strauss ft. Alissa White-Gluz

Also not for me.

Scythia // Fear Not This Night - Asja Kadric

I feel like I might have enjoyed this more as an instrumental, just because I know that I like Jeremy Soule's instrumental work on other projects. Her voice is impressive more than it does any actual tugging at my soul, but it

is

impressive.

[Skygazer]

last second thing came up so i cant listen tonight but i'm okay with taking the point penalty!!

[BS2000]

apologies i feel like i was a bit crabby and harsh with my notes...

Spoiler: how i voted

1st:beverly glenn-copeland:

gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous. and at only 15K views this is quite the hidden gem. will be seeking out more from her. the flute and triangle(?) are such lovely touches. some nice jazzy guitar flourishes. she sounds amazing when she goes into that higher register too. very easy 1st place

2nd:circulatory system

hmmm i like how this starts. oooh ok i'm getting a psychedelic beatles-y elephant six-y vibe out of this. very good. ok now the guitar part is sort of doing a loop thing? really cool. everything about this speaks to me. i'll do need to check out more of them too

3rd:sam cooke

i love oldies like this a lot. 10 years ago this would make me go blech and bore me, but now it hits.

4th:chloe adams:

I appreciate the dynamics of the song a lot. i'm probably not the core demographic but I liked this more than I expected. if this were a hit song played over and over I could see this getting old quickly but this is earcandy to me.

5th:bartees strange:

i've tried one of this guys records before and it didn't really stick as well as i hoped. i like the chorus a bit, but this still feels weirdly underwhelming to me. maybe i'm just in a poopy mood.

6th:odette:

nice and gentle to start, not a particularly unique voice or style, but it gets the job done.

7th:asian kung-fu generation:

this being in japanese really saves it. otherwise i'd think it kinda unremarkable

8th:lola blanc:

ok this might be the token theatre kid song? I do really like her voice, i tend to like nasally timbres. Is timbre even the right word? The deep horn stabs and beat during the chorus is kinda interesting. Spoken word parts are kinda silly.

9th:lauv:

hmm i've heard of lauv but wasnt sure what they sounded like. so present day r&b basically? ok now it's like goofy singy pop-rap? huh. another maybe i'm not the core demographic song, but unlike that chloe song this one isn't doing much for me.

10th:lil uzi-vert:

never could get into this guy and his style. pretty interesting collaboration idea that i could see many enjoying. and it's not really too bad, and the vox are not as grating as I expected, but also eh not my bag of tea.

mans zelmerlow:

think I found the right version. anyway this first part sounds like tv commercial music to me. heroes seems more fun, it's got those oh-whoas and the edm style burst that's real played out but I still kinda like it

asja kadric:

so dramatic is this celine dion? the lyrics really don't seem like something worth highlighting here. what kind of game is guild wars 2? FPS? RTS? This does sound like something you would hear during like an opening cutscene in some dark grey gritty violent game, perhaps in space.

nita strauss:

well this is exactly what I thought it would be when I saw the picture. big respect to women in metal, but this isn't my bag. is the same gal who's doing the growlies also doing the singies? cuz that's impressive. The part where they are both singing is pretty good.

sky eats airplane:

nope. i like the centepede clip in the video tho.

[Skygazer]

funnily enough circulatory system is a side project of some olivia tremor control members with jeff mangum so elephant six-y is right on the money

[Song Contest]

eSwatini

Aristophanes

12 - fSwatini
10 - Scythia
8 - Wales
7 - Mali
6 - Hoverboards
5 - Ireland
4 - Chile
3 - Sweden
2 - Earthsea
1 - Kazakhstan

Ecuador

Save the Dragons

12 - North Korea
10 - Mali
8 - Kazakhstan
7 - Scythia
6 - Sweden
5 - Chile
4 - Denmark
3 - Ireland
2 - eSwatini
1 - Peru

Kazakhstan

pickemgenius

12 - North Korea
10 - Earthsea
8 - Denmark
7 - Sweden
6 - Mali
5 - Chile
4 - fSwatini
3 - Scythia
2 - eSwatini
1 - Peru

Scythia

Aureal

12 - Ecuador
10 - Wales
8 - fSwatini
7 - eSwatini
6 - Earthsea
5 - Chile
4 - North Korea
3 - Hoverboards
2 - Sweden
1 - Kazakhstan

Sweden

MiniDeathStar

12 - Scythia
10 - Peru
8 - Ecuador
7 - Hoverboards
6 - Wales
5 - Kazakhstan
4 - Ireland
3 - eSwatini
2 - fSwatini
1 - Earthsea

Current Scores:

32 Scythia
28 North Korea
26 fSwatini
24 Wales
23 Mali
20 Ecuador
19 Earthsea
19 Chile
18 Sweden
16 Hoverboards
15 Kazakhstan
14 eSwatini
12 Peru
12 Denmark
12 Ireland

[Song Contest]

fSwatini

schadd_

12 - Chile
10 - Kazakhstan
8 - North Korea
7 - Mali
6 - Ecuador
5 - Denmark
4 - Peru
3 - Wales
2 - eSwatini
1 - Earthsea

Mali

ChannelDelibird

12 - fSwatini
10 - Wales
8 - Earthsea
7 - Peru
6 - Denmark
5 - eSwatini
4 - Scythia
3 - Chile
2 - Hoverboards
1 - Ireland

North Korea

toolenduso

12 - Earthsea
10 - fSwatini
8 - Denmark
7 - Peru
6 - Chile
5 - Ecuador
4 - Mali
3 - Wales
2 - eSwatini
1 - Ireland

Peru

BS2000

12 - fSwatini
10 - Earthsea
8 - Chile
7 - eSwatini
6 - Mali
5 - Wales
4 - Denmark
3 - Sweden
2 - Ireland
1 - Kazakhstan

Current Scores:

60 fSwatini
50 Earthsea
48 Chile
45 Wales
40 Mali
36 North Korea
36 Scythia
35 Denmark
31 Ecuador
30 Peru
30 eSwatini
26 Kazakhstan
21 Sweden
18 Hoverboards
16 Ireland

[Song Contest]

Denmark

ceejayvinoya

12 - Peru
10 - Earthsea
8 - eSwatini
7 - Sweden
6 - Mali
5 - Scythia
4 - Ecuador
3 - Chile
2 - Ireland
1 - fSwatini

Wales

DeasVail

12 - Peru
10 - Sweden
8 - eSwatini
7 - Earthsea
6 - Mali
5 - Hoverboards
4 - Chile
3 - fSwatini
2 - Ecuador
1 - Scythia

Chile

Pink Ball

12 - fSwatini
10 - Earthsea
8 - Scythia
7 - Mali
6 - Ecuador
5 - Ireland
4 - Wales
3 - Denmark
2 - Peru
1 - Sweden

Hoverboards

Searl

12 - Scythia
10 - Denmark
8 - eSwatini
7 - fSwatini
6 - Ireland
5 - Mali
4 - Sweden
3 - Chile
2 - Peru
1 - Wales

Final Scores:

83 fSwatini

65 Earthsea

64 Mali

62 Scythia
58 Peru

58 Chile
54 eSwatini
50 Wales
48 Denmark
43 Ecuador

43 Sweden
36 North Korea
26 Kazakhstan
23 Hoverboards
17 Ireland

Congratulations to schadd_!

Skygazer (Earthsea) and emrysmoonchild (Ireland) failed to vote. They each take a 12-point penalty and must recite The Song Contest Song in full, including the lyrics redacted in the 2018 radio edit.

[schadd_]

the siphoning points from aristophanes strategy prevails

[Pink Ball]

Spoiler: A little late to the party

Sweden

Lola Blanc - Real Boy

I got nothing about this one. All I could think the entire time was "sounds like she wants to be perceived as a bad girl but fails doing so". I don't know, I looked her up and she looked exactly like I thought she would look. I know this all seems unrelated about the song, but it actually is. It's a bland song, that's it.
Score: 4 out of 10

Mali

Bartees Strange - Heavy Heart

Better than the previous one, but just because it's a style I dig more. Actually no, that would be unfair: I really liked how the song started and the beat of the drums following the rythm of the voice of the singer was a really nice touch, but overall it didn't have that 'wow' factor that makes me wanna listen the song again or know more about the author/band.
Score: 6 out of 10

Wales

Odette - Mandible

Not bad. Not great either.
Score: 5 out of 10

Kazakhstan

Lil Uzi Vert ft. Bring Me the Horizon - Werewolf

I appreciate the effort of doing a collab that mixes a bunch of music styles that would usually clash with each other. The result is what it is: an emo song remenicing the early 2000s. Is that good or bad? It's not for me, but it's well executed.
Score: 3 out of 10

fSwatini

Beverly Glenn-Copeland - Colour of Anyhow

Well yeah, of course I would love this one. But the flute, oh my. Adding lady Beverly into my list right now. Thank you OP (schadd, if I had to guess?)
Score: 10 out of 10

Hoverboards

Måns Zelmerlöw - Fire in the Rain/Heroes

This was a fun experience but for the wrong reasons, like in an ironic way; I didn't like neither of the songs, but mixed together I liked them even less. The staging was fantastic though!
Score: 3.5 out of 10

Ireland

Lauv - Drugs & The Internet

Not bad! Not great either! (I believe the exclamation points actually make a difference here)
Score: 5.5 out of 10

Earthsea

Yesterday's World - Circulatory System

Solid, beatlesque song. Only problem is that they should've gone for the Beatles route and let the song end before the 3 minute mark instead of over extending it with an instrumental ending. If it wasn't for that, they would've left me wanting more instead of just waiting for it to end.
Score: 8 out of 10

eSwatini

Chloe Adams - Dead to Me

This one made me angry, for real. Stupid ass lyrics, rhyming "to me" with "to me", 3 out of 4 verses in the chorus ending with the same wording, and at the end of the song she actually cut the words out to make it even more evident, was she trying to piss me off on purpose? I don't know, I didn't expect anything and I got even less than that.
Score: 2 out of 10

Denmark

Asian Kung-Fu Generation - Rock'n Roll, Morning Light Falls on You

Fun instruments, but didn't love his voice. The chorus was plain bad with him trying to hit the high notes.
Score: 4.5 out of 10

Peru

Sorry - Perfect

Indie meh
Score: 4 out of 10

Chile

Sam Cooke - Bring It On Home to Me

I'm on a soul phase right now. I picked this one for no particular reason, just felt like y'all need some soul too.
Score: Soul out of 10

North Korea

Sky Eats Airplane - Numbers

You know the saying, "it's not a song contest if there's no shouting".
Score: 2.5 out of 10

Ecuador

Nina Strauss ft. Alisa White-Gluz - The Wolf You Need

Lol. No but actually, loved the guitar solo, for real! And kudos, I didn't know women could sound like that!
Score: 6 out of 10

Scythia

Asja Kadric - Fear Not This Night

Don't know anything about the game, but her voice is astonishing.
Score: 7 out of 10

[Pink Ball]

I assumed correctly that fSwatini was schadd, both for the song and the humour

[Aristophanes]

the siphoning points from aristophanes strategy prevails

[Aureal]

Scythia // Fear Not This Night - Asja Kadric

I feel like I might have enjoyed this more as an instrumental, just because I know that I like Jeremy Soule's instrumental work on other projects. Her voice is impressive more than it does any actual tugging at my soul, but it

is

impressive.

There is an instrumental version! It plays at a key moment in the story shortly before the final battle, priming you for Asja's version as the credits roll afterwards.

asja kadric:

so dramatic is this celine dion? the lyrics really don't seem like something worth highlighting here. what kind of game is guild wars 2? FPS? RTS? This does sound like something you would hear during like an opening cutscene in some dark grey gritty violent game, perhaps in space.

It's a fantasy-ish MMORPG. And it plays during the end credits (for the base game- the night being warned of is yet to come in the first expansion!)