Song Contest 150 (Results posted!)

[Vi]

You know Lewis Black bit where he explains how aneurysms work? That's the best way I can explain this track.

For my own sake, one way or another, this is gonna be posted in this thread. If for some reason you want this to be an actual entry, please say so.

This either sounds like my newest "worst thing entered" or a lock for at least eight points.

---

I'm entering something with a proven record of losing Song Contests, because that's kind of what I do.

[Vi]

do you guys want the one that will lead you on for half its runtime and then betray your expectations, or the one that'll get half the people in the contest to peace out within 15 seconds

i am going full hog on exceptionally bad ideas now. pick your poison.

People will think you're unoriginal if you choose the latter; we had two entries last contest where I would have appreciated a warning before glass suddenly shattered by it or something.

[Vi]

At last the pressure to not compete for Vi's 12. But fuck it, I'm calling my shot again.

(though really I should pander to Xtoxm instead)

Considering the Xtoxm entries I've given gratuitous points to, pandering to Xtoxm might be roughly the same as pandering to me.

[Vi]

I submitted something nasty.

I didn't realize you were into Paula Abdul.

(ftr: while I acknowledge that song was explicitly intended to be a countercultural reclaiming of the word as a slur against women - and the current President apparently didn't get the memo - the song is also pretty tedious)

[Vi]

(If I enter evolved paper, I may be at an advantage...)

[Vi]

rabble

deadlines work better when they fall late on weekends and also do we really need 8.5 days to submit entries

[Vi]

So the winner didn't take it all?

More like the loser had to fall.

(it was me; dw I owe Cyril an apology in the same way for Dead of Night)

[Vi]

deadlines work better when they fall late on weekends and also do we really need 8.5 days to submit entries

i wouldnt object to shorter submission deadline
that said i have missed entering in the past in busier times

The deadlines kind of just fall when they need to based on the (roughly) week-long periods we've whittled it down to. I agree that it would be nice to have them on weekends, but they kinda move naturally because I want to give people all day on the last day of deadline to submit. Also circumstances sometimes delay me from posting entries/results in the morning the day after deadline, and if I don't post entries/results in the morning then I feel like I've robbed a day from people who don't live in the western hemisphere, so then I add a day.

I mean
*Registration closes/Entries posted 20:00 Saturday night (or the next time the mod is around after that)
*Contest ends 20:00 next Sunday night or, if the mod isn't around, when results are posted
*Next registration begins whenever results are posted (having one fewer day to dream up a song and grab an image matters way less than having one fewer day to listen to hours of music)

It seems like a really easy and predictable schedule to keep that ensures at least one weekend day for entries and three for votes. Besides, people who wait until the last minute are going to do that no matter when the last minute is.

Would people hate this?

Is this one of those questions where saying I hate it means you're more likely to do it?

(Do you have something against the person who continuously enters as Greenland?)

[Vi]

@tool tbh the country gimmick has always been more effort than it's worth anyways

making people wonder is worth it though

[Vi]

The problem with Greenland is that if we allow Greenland there's no reason not to allow somebody to enter, say, California. Or, like, Paris.

"the moderator is a capricious bastard"

I don't think the slope is that slippery (Paris??) but etc. I don't think that it needs to be more restrictive than it is now though.

[Vi]

each week i know whose entry most of the songs are and im sure theres bias we cant correct for

otoh people seem to like having "their country"

I had this argument before (taking your position) but ultimately my guidance is "whatever's fun for the most people without introducing stupidity".

[Vi]

I submitted something nasty.

I didn't realize you were into Paula Abdul.

(ftr: while I acknowledge that song was explicitly intended to be a countercultural reclaiming of the word as a slur against women - and the current President apparently didn't get the memo - the song is also pretty tedious)

Janet Jackson. And you should definitely read her wiki, cause she got crushed by misogyny

gdi I thought I double-checked that before posting

(no fault of yours but I'm taking this trip-up way harder than I usually do)

---

like vi said, its not a critical issue that im going to argue for; the main takeaway for you is that i dont object to your initial proposal
(unlike the non voter penalty i lobbied for a while back)

tbc I also said "there's really no need to restrict freedom more than you already have"

also since you brought it up I did notice this when reading the rules this time

However, if those that entered and are accepted do not vote, they will get a 20 point penalty and be banned from entering in the next contest, so please consider that before entering.

[...]

-If you fail to vote and fewer than three extensions are needed: You lose 12 points
-If you vote after the first extension: You lose 5 points
-If you vote after the second extension: You lose 10 points
-If you vote after the third extension: You lose 15 points
-If you fail to vote, even after three extensions: You lose 20 points

I'm not sure if any of these are in effect.

[Vi]

i dont believe we've ever needed an extension since their introduction, so they've never come into play, other than the first one

There has been at least one in the past 14 contests. Ultimately the mod went forward with like three ballots that had "errors".

[Vi]

well anyways rabble

scrapple - the most appetizing-sounding Yankee dish

[Vi]

Asgardia's entries seem like they found a relatively narrow genre and are going down the list of artists

(I can't argue with success though.)

[Vi]

I think X was postin' at me.

I'm disappointed to miss your entry though

[Vi]

I've finished my first pass. I don't really have an adjective for this contest. I didn't hate anything, but 80% of the entries fit into "eh" or "neh".

I certainly didn't feel pandered to. Gabon why aren't you walking up and taking my 12 >:[

[Vi]

I've finished my first pass. I don't really have an adjective for this contest. I didn't hate anything, but 80% of the entries fit into "eh" or "neh".

I certainly didn't feel pandered to. Gabon why aren't you walking up and taking my 12 >:[

I'm just going to assume this is because I didn't enter to either WOW you or to disappoint so hard that everyone else's sounds decent

Recently, closer to the former.

[Vi]

I've finished my second pass. The fact that there are 25 people who entered AND two people sat out means... that's a lot of people participating

Spoiler: Selected comments for the entries that were in contention - SAFE FOR HEDGEHOGS

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ARGENTINA -- Ajay Gogavale & Atul Gogavale {Yaad Lagla} -- Music to eat biryani to. The orchestra and Indian instruments working together distinguish it.

BELARUS -- Astronautalis {The Wondersmith and His Sons} -- I appreciate its pulse and commitment to going at its own cadence. I would probably like this better if the lyrics were someplace easily accessible.

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC -- The Hoosiers {A Sadness Runs Through Him} -- I was expecting it to move from acoustic at some point, which speaks to some conditioning from Song Contests :V It's kind of nice to listen to; it flows well.

COTE D'IVOIRE -- Lyre Le Temps {Rob the Banker} -- I was hoping for a song about cheating at Monopoly and was disappointed. I appreciate the artistic vision, as someone who isn't familiar with the genre.

DJIBOUTI -- Slaughter To Prevail {DEMOLISHER} -- This is the musical equivalent of 5-Hour Energy and it does its job how you'd expect it to. Hard to rate because it's so dissimilar to everything else in the contest.

GERMANY -- VNV Nation {When is the Future?} -- Germany is on a commendable streak of putting some quality synthpop into contests. Being the guy in the video is :goals:, and I'm extremely fortunate to have done it once already.

GUYANA -- 아이유 {너랑 나} -- This is my kind of silky orchestral. I suspect that this experience is improved by not understanding the vocals, but I'm more optimistic than usual that this read is incorrect. Cool dance moves.

NEW ZEALAND -- AURORA {Winter Bird} -- I like how this sounds. It has the chords I'm into, it plays with its textures while still staying within euphony, and it generally keeps my attention.

RUSSIA -- Любэ {Не валяй дурака, Америка!} -- This and Asgardia are probably the entries that were closest to pandering to my interests.

SEYCHELLES -- KASHIWA Daisuke {meteor} -- The relatively-inoffensive-pretty-sounding lane is usually enough to get points from me.

SINGAPORE -- 水瀬いのり {ココロソマリ} -- The song is very good and is well-designed to accommodate the vocals.

SOUTH KOREA -- 블락비 {닐리리 맘보} -- Aw yiss the dirrty south is represented. It jumps, it pops, it's catchy, it's fun, it's deeply embarrassing to witness.

SPAIN -- Grails {Take Refuge} -- This honestly sounds pretty reasonable. It definitely helps that you caught me at a time when my brain is minimally functional.

USA -- The Ghost Inside {Aftermath} -- This would be pretty cool if it were instrumental. 3:45 was a great moment. Ultimately I respect its genuine commitment to its subject matter; it's pretty common for songs of tragedy and such to get submitted to the Contest but this one actually seems to be hitting me.

[Vi]

but what I actually want to post is

Spoiler: NOT SAFE FOR HEDGEHOGS - This was a difficult contest to rate because most of the songs felt similar in quality.

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===TIER: POINTS!

(12) GUYANA -- 아이유 {너랑 나}

-- This is my kind of silky orchestral. I suspect that this experience is improved by not understanding the vocals, but I'm more optimistic than usual that this read is incorrect. The transition to the bridge is odd, but other than that this mostly hits all the right (metaphorical) notes. Cool dance moves.

(10) NEW ZEALAND -- AURORA {Winter Bird}

-- I like how this sounds. It has the chords I'm into, it plays with its textures while still staying within euphony, and it generally keeps my attention. Not a huge fan of the vocals - more "eeh" and less "aah" - but they'll do.

(8) GERMANY -- VNV Nation {When is the Future?}

-- I'm not huge into synthpop but Germany is on a commendable streak of putting some quality examples of the genre into contests. It's kind of monotone but it does it right. Being the guy in the video is :goals:, and I'm extremely fortunate to have done it once already; tbh the video on its own may have pushed this into this tier.


===TIER: POINTS~

(7) SOUTH KOREA -- 블락비 {닐리리 맘보}

-- Aw yiss the dirrty south is represented. It jumps, it pops, it's catchy, it's fun, it's deeply embarrassing to witness.

(6) USA -- The Ghost Inside {Aftermath}

-- This would be pretty cool if it were instrumental. The transition around 2:20 or so seems half-baked. 3:37 was a great moment. Ultimately I respect its genuine commitment to its subject matter more than the songs below it; it's pretty common for songs of tragedy and such to get submitted to the Contest but this one actually seems to be hitting me. That's the primary reason why this is so high tbh; I still don't like how almost the whole song is in this vocal style.


===TIER: POINTS

(5) CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC -- The Hoosiers {A Sadness Runs Through Him}

-- I was expecting it to move from acoustic at some point, which speaks to some conditioning from Song Contests :V It's pretty pretentious - especially that chorus - but kind of nice to listen to; it flows well.

(4) SINGAPORE -- 水瀬いのり {ココロソマリ}

-- I respect that human beings can bring their voice into the moé register but it's one of the things I like least about Japan. The song itself is actually very good and is well-designed to accommodate the vocals, but I just... don't want to have my ears challenged like this.

(3) RUSSIA -- Любэ {Не валяй дурака, Америка!}

-- Entries submitted under Russia have a tendency to be at least mildly cursed. This and Asgardia are probably the entries that were closest to pandering to my interests. I'm not sure how I feel about the accordion-meets-guitar style but I don't hate it. There are probably better Russian-language novelty songs out there - or stereotypically Russian songs for that matter - but this one will do.


===TIER: POINTS?

(2) SPAIN -- Grails {Take Refuge}

-- This honestly sounds pretty reasonable. It's directionless background music, which is very not me, but I'm actually okay with this. It definitely helps that you caught me at a time when my brain is minimally functional. Eight minutes is a bit much though.

(1) BELARUS -- Astronautalis {The Wondersmith and His Sons}

-- There's a reason you're told in music composition not to write in octaves - they're hard to keep in tune, and I can tell. I appreciate its pulse and commitment to going at its own cadence. I would probably like this better if the lyrics were someplace easily accessible. The vocalist needs to eat another box of cigarettes to improve the experience.

COTE D'IVOIRE -- Lyre Le Temps {Rob the Banker}

-- I was hoping for a song about cheating at Monopoly and was disappointed. Is it supposed to sound vaguely reggae? I appreciate the artistic vision but I'm not into this enough to get into how repetitive it is.

DJIBOUTI -- Slaughter To Prevail {DEMOLISHER}

-- I get that they're Russian, but there's something about the extreme pastiness of this that makes it hard to watch :V Not the best band to wear demonic masks. This is the musical equivalent of 5-Hour Energy and it does its job how you'd expect it to. Hard to rate because it's so dissimilar to everything else in the contest.

ARGENTINA -- Ajay Gogavale & Atul Gogavale {Yaad Lagla}

-- Music to eat biryani to. The orchestra and Indian instruments working together distinguish it, but I'm not completely sure it works - the timbre of the vocals causes a muddying effect against the strings. This kind of happened and I'm not enthusiastic about it, but it's hardly worst-in-genre. I would probably say the same about any movie half-incidental track, especially with how some of its big moments feel inorganic.

SEYCHELLES -- KASHIWA Daisuke {meteor}

-- I'm not sure what this song is aiming for because the drum set and everyone else seem to have different ideas. The relatively-inoffensive-pretty-sounding lane is usually enough to get points from me but this one didn't break through. Someone should probably look at all of those traffic signals.


===TIER: NO POINTS

ASGARDIA -- GLORYHAMMER {The Siege of Dunkeld (In Hoots We Trust)}

-- This was a whiff, tbh. As entertaining as it is to imagine dark/fecal/robotic/space zombies eating England, this is deeply cliched and on some level it feels like they're not trying. The lead vocalist's weak grasp of English does not serve him well, and the song is not ostentatious enough to make up for it. Well, he found his true calling as a gentlegod later.

DENMARK -- Picturesque {Unannounced}

-- White guy with a guitar doing a LOT of emoting. Not sure if incel song. It wins some placement for sheer energy - that's a LOT of high pitches getting taken on - but there's so much self-pity here that it's kind of grating.

ICELAND -- The Hirsch Effekt {Agitation}

-- When I first saw the length I placed a bet that this wouldn't justify it. It was better than I expected but still didn't need its whole running length, and listening to it for any length of time caused me to feel exhausted. The vocals would have been better if they could blend in and make more use of those chords, but... this language only offers so much in that regard :V

GREECE -- Rotersand {Exterminate Annihilate Destroy}

-- It's a good hook but what's supporting it isn't working for me. Not sure if fascist song.


===TIER: NO POINTS.

LIECHTENSTEIN -- Blackway & Black Caviar {What's Up Danger}

-- That's a really strange fantasy-creature-dying sound. I appreciate the commitment to a lesser-seen genre in contests; I don't feel like this is a good exemplar of the genre though.

EGYPT -- Samm Henshaw {Broke}

-- Nice, both Pokemon Stadium 2 and Donkey Kong 64. Don't plug the cartridge in that way >:[ This is actually heavier than I was expecting. This isn't my style at all.

SUDAN -- 12RODS {RED}

-- The picture for this song has overwhelming '10s shitpost energy and I love it. The song is soupy monotexture. It's too clangy and squealy to leave in the background and it's too obnoxious to listen to intently, so overall it's... too noisy for me to go for.

CANADA -- Cast of Alice by Heart {Another Room in Your Head}

-- White people, guitar, emoting. I spent my whole youth listening to old people music and I got away from that. Whoever is playing those mezzopiano upper-register notes out in the 1:20 area is being asked to do a tough job and not succeeding.

YEMEN -- Colour Revolt {Ageless Everytime}

-- Very little of this went the direction I expected. I can see how this is someone's jam, but to me it's pretty nondescript if not tediously pretentious. A close cousin of white-guy-with-guitar-attempting-to-emote. There's no reason for some of this dissonance.

ARMENIA -- Cat Power {I Found a Reason}

-- This is another vocal style I don't have a lot of patience for. At least it's mostly in tune.

THAILAND -- Postmodern Jukebox {Bad Romance (ft. Ariana Savalas & Sarah Reich)}

-- So after the first round of the prior contest, I felt a need to detox, and I chose David Guetta feat. Sia - Titanium. Me and Equinox agreed that the song was good except for how it murders its climax in broad daylight, and E suggested a cover. That was how I found PMJ. I didn't really think their cover was what I wanted, but then this came up in my recommendations.

All of the good stuff PMJ did was definite 8 points maybe not 12 points for me, and it was agonizing to pick one performance to enter because there was something to have misgivings about in all of them. You barely missed out on seeing one of these others--
*"Hey Ya!"
*"Take Me to Church"
*"Pony"
Humorously, all three of those have been entered in some form during the past 15 Song Contests.

My country was Thailand because I screwed up. Laos is the one that criminalizes one-night-stands with foreigners (i.e. bad romances).

I may have heard the original Bad Romance at most once prior to hearing this cover. After (re)visiting the original, A) I understood why people reacted Like That to Lady Gaga, and B) I was impressed with how the Lady got famous, what with being saddled with both a Yankee accent and a southern drawl.

Thailand - Bad but interesting! I feel more cultured for having seen this bad song

I see you have taste in bad music.

give me a point for it you cowherd

[Vi]

Spoiler: for Scigatt

1) No, my issue is primarily that "freestyling" or going-off-rhythm vocalists tend to make me cringe. Also I'm not completely convinced that no dubbing occurred with the tap.
2) Not-so-serious entries I'd hate? They must be really heinous to pull that combination off :V

[Vi]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeqdYqsrsA0
You might enjoy this song by the same artist that has been my favorite song of all time ever since it like came out

I rate this song parrot/10

I'm not sure if I would rate this higher than what was submitted in this contest, but I can vouch that

that

part still turns heads in 2020.

[Vi]

I have cheap headphones but MSI lets me change the EQ to "Powerful" so things don't sound like they're from the next room over. It does cause problems sometimes with entries that have simultaneous loud noises but usually I notice.

[Vi]

Spoiler: for Xtoxm

[Thailand]

i tried some of their other tracks but they fell flat.

yes
many of them seem targeted for people who are really into the style and won't grab you if you're not already into vintage lounge singing or w/e

I listed the three strongest others IMO in my NSFH review post.

[Russia]

i cant tell if this is meant to be a meme song.

sort of yes
the translated lyrics are elsewhere and it sort of resembles a friendship song that's slightly bitter about the whole Alaska thing
it's apparently somewhat well-known in Russia

[Vi]

I've finished my first pass. I don't really have an adjective for this contest. I didn't hate anything, but 80% of the entries fit into "eh" or "neh".

I certainly didn't feel pandered to. Gabon why aren't you walking up and taking my 12 >:[

I apparently never hit submit on the form

(or more likely the Song Contest Mod is CONSPIRING to deprive you (and Xtoxm) of your automatic 12)

It's not too late to vote even if you're not in the contest~

(This contest has skewed positive IMO, so it wouldn't be a terrible use of your time. 25 entries though)

[Vi]

Why haven't I discovered this since I started mafiascum LOL.

Maybe I'll join next time but I'll try listening to the entries.

Your timing is a little less than exquisite...
The next contest is not open to first-time entrants.

These "best of the best" contests occur maybe once a year; you happened to drop in a few days before one enters registration.

With that said, even if you haven't entered a contest, you can still vote on the entries - even for the contest going on right now! (Although this contest will end in about 30-36 hours.)

[Vi]

Just out of interest... the BOTB ones. Could it not be set so current entrants get priority, and new entrants get randomly allowed in until we hit the maximum amount?

Only thinking it doesn't seem worth preventing new entrants if they still follow the BOTB rules. Obviously previous entrants get priority, including priority over artist selection, but it seems a shame to potentially exclude someone who may help fill out the numbers.

One thing to consider is that there are 25 entrants in this round and I can think of four more common contestants offhand who are sitting this one out, compared to a cap of 26 entries. I suspect for something as ~special~ as BotB, there's a solid chance there will be cuts even without allowing new entrants.

[Vi]

I'm really tired of being demonstrably, provably wrong ._.

[Vi]

lol half of Guyana's points came in the last update; I was getting really worried about how bad my sheeple score was going to be

20+ points for everyone seems healthy?

[Vi]

still, top half, so screw u calling it a whiff vi ;p

...well my preferred reaction image is currently on holiday but etc.

20+ points for everyone seems healthy?

I never know what to think about contests where a lot of the songs' point totals cluster together like this. You could either look at that and say "this was a mediocre contest, so there weren't enough good songs to form a consensus" or you could say "this was a really good contest, so it was hard for people to decide which songs they liked most."

"with 24 people voting on 25 entries, none of the entries were so universally disliked that they were in fewer than two top ten lists"

I think I'd be less satisfied with a blowout tbh.

[Vi]

i can only speak for myself but just because i give an entry points doesn't mean i liked it. for example, i only liked 5 songs this contest but had to give points to 5 other entries due to the rules.

Assuming this is a response to me - I get that because I've lived the experience, but the bar is "gave points to", not "gave points to because I affirmatively liked it". It would be different if your other five points were given at random.

[Vi]

That was certainly better for me than the last one xD
I did not expect my song to polarize opinions.
Thank you for the points guys,
@

Spoiler:

I Have Bad Taste In Music, Scigatt, Xtoxm, Dr Easy Bake, Hiraki, Davsto, toolenduso, schadd_

I'm glad you guys liked the song <3

It was fun so, i hope you enter again.

This. When you said you would enter a song that wasn't in English, I wasn't expecting this flavor of not-English, and I count it a pleasant surprise.

(You did better than when I entered Atif Aslam <_< )

[Vi]

Also I need to get like actual scoring spreadsheet or something going on next time because using the brain alone is sometimes confusing.

I keep a Notepad file on hand and move things around in that.

---

I don't have Scigatt's pair-wise analysis power, but I can still give everyone an idea of how satisfied they are with this result.

SHEEPLE

Tatsuya Kaname
schadd_
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shiki
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notachipmunk
Cyril
Vi
Scigatt ---

[3/4 sheep]

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Dr Easy Bake
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toolenduso
Tammy = I Have Bad Taste In Music
Natirasha = Xtoxm
davsto
Empire
Panzerjager ---

[midpoint AKA Keke]

Knightmare491 = Errantparabola
Equinox
PranaDevil
Hiraki
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ceejayvinoya ---

[3/4 snow]

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pickemgenius
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MiniDeathStar

SNOWFLAKE

Aristophanes wasn't here to be overpowered, so TK took over.

---

Top three vote reciprocation: Speed dating edition!

TEAM A*G COUNTRIES: Xtoxm <-> Knightmare491
TEAM DEMOLISHING ALASKA: Dr Easy Bake <-> MiniDeathStar
TEAM WALKING THROUGH JAPAN: PranaDevil <-> Tatsuya Kaname
TEAM SONG CONTEST STANDBYS: Cyril <-> toolenduso
TEAM BAD ROMANCES = COLD TEARS: Vi <-> Equinox
TEAM SONGS WITH SIMILAR HIGH-NOTE ENERGY: ceejayvinoya <-> davsto
TEAM I FOUND A REFUGE FROM BROKENESS: shiki <-> Empire <-> Errantparabola

[Vi]

Also I need to get like actual scoring spreadsheet or something going on next time because using the brain alone is sometimes confusing.

I keep a Notepad file on hand and move things around in that.

What I do is move the music tabs around in a Chrome window. IIRC this worked with 8 GB, at least back before Summer 2014, if you didn't any other applications running. One disadvantage of this today is that sometimes Chrome just decides to play all open Youtube videos from the start at once, so I have to deal with that.

Oh, yeah. That's something else I do in my second pass, when I bubble-sort the entries.

use firefox