Song Contest 136 (Results posted!)

[Song Contest]

Uruguay

schadd_

12 - Burkina Faso
10 - Canada
8 - Syria
7 - Costa Rica
6 - Netherlands
5 - Vatican City
4 - Portugal
3 - Saudi Arabia
2 - Egypt
1 - Poland

South Korea

notachipmunk

12 - Syria
10 - Finland
8 - Greenland
7 - Bhutan
6 - Portugal
5 - Ecuador
4 - Burkina Faso
3 - Palestine
2 - Vatican City
1 - Poland

Poland

VashtaNeurotic

12 - Portugal
10 - Palestine
8 - Greenland
7 - Finland
6 - Syria
5 - Costa Rica
4 - Netherlands
3 - Bhutan
2 - South Korea
1 - USA

Hungary

Plotinus

12 - Netherlands
10 - Canada
8 - Palestine
7 - Burkina Faso
6 - Finland
5 - Greenland
4 - Uruguay
3 - Bhutan
2 - South Korea
1 - Vatican City

Burkina Faso

SnowStorm

12 - Canada
10 - Costa Rica
8 - Bhutan
7 - Syria
6 - Saudi Arabia
5 - Uruguay
4 - South Korea
3 - Poland
2 - Portugal
1 - Egypt

Current Scores:

83 Palestine
78 Burkina Faso
64 Syria
63 Canada
59 Netherlands
57 Portugal
52 South Korea
51 Finland
50 Ecuador
46 Poland
43 Saudi Arabia
42 Costa Rica
42 Bhutan
40 Greenland
36 Uruguay
22 Vatican City
19 USA
15 Egypt
8 Hungary

[Song Contest]

*drumroll*

[Song Contest]

Ecuador

Save the Dragons

12 - Palestine
10 - Finland
8 - Portugal
7 - USA
6 - Netherlands
5 - Poland
4 - Greenland
3 - Vatican City
2 - Syria
1 - Canada

Syria

toolenduso

12 - Saudi Arabia
10 - Poland
8 - Portugal
7 - Burkina Faso
6 - Egypt
5 - Vatican City
4 - Bhutan
3 - Canada
2 - Netherlands
1 - Uruguay

Final Scores:

95 Palestine

85 Burkina Faso

73 Portugal

67 Canada
67 Netherlands

66 Syria
61 Finland
61 Poland
55 Saudi Arabia
52 South Korea

50 Ecuador
44 Greenland
42 Costa Rica
37 Uruguay
34 Bhutan
30 Vatican City
26 USA
9 Egypt
8 Hungary

Congratulations to MiniDeathStar!

Panzerjager (Bhutan) and Errantparabola (Egypt) failed to vote. They take a 12-point penalty, and must move back three spaces.

[Song Contest]

SC137 is open!

[MiniDeathStar]

Yay thanks ♥

[InflatablePie]

grats MDS (b' ')b

wish I coulda gone 3-for-3 but after the public reviews I was expecting like 7th so I'll take 3rd sure

[Vi]

My thoughts for those who are interested.

=====TIER: I voluntarily listened to these entries more than once

Spoiler: (12) ECUADOR -- Beast in Black {Beast in Black}

This song is a treasure. It's such a condensed tour de force of metal tropes. I can never tell if these songs are supposed to make me laugh, but they do and I don't feel a little bad about it - quite the opposite, I feel like this is the healthy and responsible reaction. I can't help but feel like the guy from AC/DC should have done this with his life instead. 7.95/9

Spoiler: (10) USA -- Dollar Signs {TEARS / BEERS / FEARS}

OMG this song starts great... and peters out Would have gotten another half a point if it had a scream of anguish at the end with the sounds of things being smashed. I have this sense that liking this song means I have bad taste. 7.5/9

Spoiler: (8) EGYPT -- David Dockery & Steve Badach {Pepe Silvia w/drums + bass}

So I'm not sure if this belongs in a song contest per se... but this is actually awesome. Listened to more than once to make sure I fully appreciated it. Bravo. Cannot give top marks because it's not on the same playing field as others' submissions. 7.49/9

=====TIER: Entries that were good but not gripping

Spoiler: (7) SOUTH KOREA -- X1 {Flash}

I have actually never witnessed K-pop before, and this is... actually quite good. I enjoyed noticing the influences from other styles that have made it into this. There's not really much wrong with this song but it didn't "grab" me, so it's just sticking around "solid". That said I seriously hate this strobing music video. 7/9

Spoiler: (6) BURKINA FASO -- Weyes Blood {Andromeda}

I thought I'd find this tedious, and I was waiting for the part where I would finally clap my hands against my knees and say "there, I hate it"... but it never ocurred. I have no complaints about this song except that it's not particularly interesting to me. Much applause for the production team. 6.5/9

=====TIER: Entries that were basically okay

Spoiler: (5) PALESTINE -- Myrath {Endure the Silence}

The vocalist's charm doesn't work on me, but the song doesn't fall into a lot of the bad-kind-of-dramatic tropes I expected. It lost out to Andromeda due to that outro; most freestyling is pretty bad and this is no exception. After submitting I found out the hard way that this is the catchiest song in the contest, and I found myself liking it less the more I thought about it (I was wrong about it falling into a lot of the bad-kind-of-dramatic tropes). It still would have had this ranking though.

6.45

6/9

Spoiler: (4) NETHERLANDS -- Danny Vera {Roller Coaster}

This isn't something I'd listen to without being led to it first, but I have a lot of respect for this style and this voice. Very clean and, while it takes a while for it to build up, it's definitely something I can imagine hearing growing up (if not better). Would have been way better if it built up sooner though. 5.75/9

=====TIER: I still have to give points out

Spoiler: (3) GREENLAND -- Taylor Swift {All Too Well}

I feel like I've heard this song several times before. Except I've never heard this song and the song I've heard several times before is actually a bunch of other songs. Come to think of it they might also have all been T.Swift...? The song's okay and decently put together, which is why it wound up here. 5.25/9

Spoiler: (2) PORTUGAL -- Smallpools {Killer Whales}

Well this sure is a premise for a generic indie love song. It's a decent archetype for the "generic" genre. I want my brain cells back. 5.2/9

Spoiler: (1) VATICAN CITY -- Brad Paisley {You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive}

The song itself is gritty af, and I enjoy that. Brad Paisley on the other hand is this guy. He was okay, but his attempts to emote during the final reprise and coda failed IMO. He should not have attempted this song without eating an entire palette of cigarettes - cardboard, sawdust, paper and tar; all of it. 5/9

=====TIER: and then there was a big drop

Spoiler:

POLAND -- Cake {Rock n' Roll Lifestyle} - 4.1/9

BHUTAN -- Surfer Blood {Hey Ya} - 4.075/9

URUGUAY -- Willie Colon y Hector Lavoe {Che Che Cole} - This exists. It's not mariachi, I suppose. 4.05/9

HUNGARY -- Groovehouse {Hajnal} - 4/9

SAUDI ARABIA -- Gentle Giant {Knots} - 3.7/9

CANADA -- Phoebe Bridgers {Scott Street} - 3/9

SYRIA -- Frank Ocean {Pyramids} - 1.9/9

COSTA RICA -- TV on the Radio {Staring at the Sun} - 1.5/9

=====
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=====

Spoiler: FINLAND -- Sabaton {En Livstid i Krig}

The dynamic buildup to the chorus is pretty bad two out of three times, and the lyric video posted has a couple of transcription errors. Other than that... As soon as I heard the two other metal songs I knew this was going to have a rough go of it, but it was distinguishable, the lyrics were the strongest of the bunch, and I didn't expect a washout overall. I'll accept tied for 7th; at least it's top half. (I suspect being more subtle than BEAST IN BLACK helped it a bit?)

I would have placed this song sixth. I would like to express my gratitude to the people who submitted the top five songs on my list for introducing me to Cool Stuff.

This entry is a nod to a German I know who introduced me to this genre. I haven't spoken to them in a while partly because I'm so bad at being social, and more importantly because I don't feel that I have anything to say to them. I feel like a failure every time I hear a metal song. I think the way to cure that is to listen to

more metal

, validating the social encounters.

Fun fact: I was introduced to this song two years ago. That was the first time I'd heard of Sabaton. The second time was... this weekend, apropos of nothing. Meeting people allows for cool coincidences!

[Vi]

While I'm here, this is how well everyone predicted the winners - or alternatively how well your preferences align with the group's.

==SHEEPLE==

InflatablePie
|
VashtaNeurotic
Save The Dragons
Plotinus = Formerfish
schadd_
ceejayvinoya
Parama
|
Aurathebirb
vizIIsto
pickemgenius
tris
|
SnowStorm = notachipmunk
toolenduso
|
|
MiniDeathStar
Vi

==SNOWFLAKE==

(fixed for revised formulae)

I'm not sure if I'm doing this right.

[Parama]

btw

Canada - Oh hey it's my song first. This song makes me Feel Things™ so I love it.

Costa Rica - What I've heard from these guys before was tight, energetic, and full of momentum. This is muddy, directionless, and meandering. What the hell happened. I'd almost be inclined to call this average except I know how good these guys could be if they wanted to be. (MEDIOCRE)

Palestine - I always struggle so much with this kind of power metal because I've heard it all before. I've heard this band before, I'm pretty sure I listened to this album back in 2016 when it dropped, and it just does not interest me at all. It's not unpleasant but even with their Arabic folk influence they just don't stand out from the very homogeneous crowd. (AVERAGE)

Portugal - Mmm I don't have much to say about this. It's fine enough indie rock in a brighter vein. I think some of the drum work is kinda nice but I've heard many, many songs like this, especially in song contests, and this doesn't really stand out in any significant way. (AVERAGE)

Ecuador - This is somehow even more generic than Palestine, but it's at least got some inherent "epic" feel to it thanks to the faster tempo and triplet feel. I've also heard plenty of songs like this but it's at least "fun". (DECENT)

South Korea - Another K-pop song with decent melodies and performances. I don't think this genre has ever gotten past 2012 in sound. (AVERAGE)

Poland - About a minute of listening to the vocals confirmed that I had no reason to listen to the other three minutes.

Uruguay - This sure does sound pleasant and never goes anywhere or catches my interest in any significant way. (AVERAGE)

Finland - Why did y'all all decide to send the least interest power metal possible in the same contest? God. This is better than Myrath but worst than Ecuador. That's all. (AVERAGE)

Greenland - I've never actually listened to this album even though everyone says it's pretty great. And yeah this is pretty good stuff, really. More country than pop still but it's got the feels to it. I mean if you'd sent Cruel Summer or Soon You'll Get Better or The Archer off the new one they'd all be easy 12's for me but this is probably gonna score well anyways. (GOOD)

Saudi Arabia - The kind of progressive rock that doesn't really appeal to a modern listener. The 70's were wild. I've never been into this style and this isn't convincing me, it's on a technical level impressive but it sounds like comedy music to me. (AVERAGE)

Bhutan - I'm not listening to a cover of Hey Ya. There's not anything you can improve on in the original. Literally just seems like they're doing a straight surf rock cover of it anyways.

USA - Eehh I really don't like punk much period, and this sounds like a straight ripoff of Joan Jett's Bad Reputation anyways, at least that main riff & the way it's used sounds near identical. But most of all I just do not like the vocals. (MEDIOCRE)

Egypt - Subjectively counts as a song, but also subjectively counts as something I'm not subjecting myself to.

Netherlands - Ehh, it's possible to write this off as a bland singer-songwriter folksy type of ordeal but I dunno, especially compared to the stuff before it, I'm at least getting a decent amount out of this one, it's nice. (DECENT)

Vatican City - Cover rules are in effect, does this cover have any reason to exist? No, not really. Comparing the two versions, Paisley is the weaker singer and the instrumentation is basically just a four-years-country-sound update of the original with no real notable change. Basically a cover for the sake of having a cover. Bye.

Syria - I tried finishing this despite knowing going into it I wouldn't like it. I didn't succeed.

Hungary - Well, this sure is... pleasant. Dated, but it sounds nice enough. Can't imagine ever being huge on it but I don't mind listening to it. It's got some nice melodies but it's really repetitive even for its relatively short length. (AVERAGE)

Burkina Faso - I actually listened to this album a few times but baroque pop apparently just isn't my thing as I couldn't get too into it. Julia Holter's Have You In My Wilderness is the exception, I suppose. This one's at least... nice, but I feel like if it was released 30 years ago we'd call it "easy listening schlock" and move on. I dunno, it's just not grabbing me much. S'alright. (AVERAGE)

bad contest overall

[Formerfish]

Vatican City - Cover rules are in effect, does this cover have any reason to exist? No, not really. Comparing the two versions, Paisley is the weaker singer and the instrumentation is basically just a four-years-country-sound update of the original with no real notable change. Basically a cover for the sake of having a cover. Bye.

Imma be honest, i didnt realize it was a direct cover, I thought the song was like a folk song that had been done by different people.

Is the Darrell Scott version the original?

[vizIIsto]

Just wanted to say that my submission, Roller Coaster, is in fourth place in this year's national top 2000 list, which we have here in the Netherlands at the end of each year, and contains all songs ever made. Only Bohemian Rhapsody, Hotel California and Piano Man were above this song.
How you guys managed to rank it lower than that shows your absolute distaste for music.

[Vi]

Just wanted to say that my submission, Roller Coaster, is in fourth place in this year's national top 2000 list, which we have here in the Netherlands at the end of each year, and contains all songs ever made. Only Bohemian Rhapsody, Hotel California and Piano Man were above this song.
How you guys managed to rank it lower than that shows your absolute distaste for music.

I rated it (4) though

[PJ.]

Oh..I thought we all made a pact like 0 years ago to never vote a song like that well. Basically after Ozzy won the first one.

[vizIIsto]

The Netherlands have over 17 million inhabitants.
Roller Coaster is fourth in the yearly top 2000 all-time songs.
Only Bohemian Rhapsody, Hotel California and Piano Man got more votes.
Songs like Stairway to Heaven, Fix You, Imagine, Somebody to Love, and the list goes on and on, received less votes than this.
You guys combined ranked it fifth.
How could you.
Let this sink in for a moment, please.

[Aurathebirb]

Probably your country just has bad taste considering they think piano man is a good song

[vizIIsto]

Or you have bad taste.

[PJ.]

having bas taste =/= deliberately low-balling popular songs.

[popsofctown]

Just wanted to say that my submission, Roller Coaster, is in fourth place in this year's national top 2000 list, which we have here in the Netherlands at the end of each year, and contains all songs ever made. Only Bohemian Rhapsody, Hotel California and Piano Man were above this song.
How you guys managed to rank it lower than that shows your absolute distaste for music.

What a terrible, terrible post.