Song Contest 151 (Results posted!)

[Vi]

I'm ready to come in second to Natirasha.

(I'm also ready to come in third-from last. I'm versatile.)

[Vi]

TK - t00's deadlines are loose. You're possibly fine. I think multiple people have tried to submit the same song at least once in the past 15 contests, and sadly the result isn't as interesting as you'd hope - whoever didn't get to it first gets locked out and told to submit something else. The real question is when we're going to see two versions of the same song at once

viz - I mean I can submit ABBA again in about 12 contests...

[Vi]

Now I feel bad about taking up a spot with my track.

same tbh

OTOH I don't think I can take another 30-person contest for a while

clearly the correct solution is to listen to all of the entries and then, via an ordered ranking system, judge which ones shouldn't be allowed in this contest

[Vi]

I've finished my first pass. This contest happened but I'm not enthusiastic about it.

[Vi]

I've finished my second pass. It took effort.

Spoiler: the contenders - SAFE FOR HEDGEHOGS

ARMENIA -- Lianne La Havas {Lost & Found} -- She has a good voice. I like the mood this has going for it.

BELARUS -- Professor Elemental {Fighting Trousers} -- I can do a hammy dis track.

CANADA -- Cody Fry {Underground} -- I appreciate the whoo.

COSTA RICA -- MilkCan {Got To Move! (Millenium Girl)} -- I recognize this, having had the "experience" of watching a playthrough of this game. RIP Katy Kat, what a heckin' voice.

CUBA -- ALESTORM {Tortuga (feat. Captain Yarrface)} -- I really appreciate the commitment to the shtick, to say nothing of the harmonies and that nasty hook.

DENMARK -- Plini {Electric Sunrise} -- The first 100 seconds were pretty good. Submitting an instrumental is a bold move and I think this did well for it.

FINLAND -- The Weeknd {Belong to the World} -- This is reasonable enough; it's the right feel.

HUNGARY -- Shea Diamond {Don't Shoot} -- Good song, good lyrics, reasonably good vibe. I do like the vocal register of the vocals.

NEW ZEALAND -- Judah & the Lion {Going to Mars} -- I feel like this is an entire aesthetic that other people like and I could take or leave.

POLAND -- Grieves {On the Rocks} -- This is a style I'm not predisposed to, it's kind of all-or-nothing.

PRINCIPALITY OF PRANADEVIL'S FLAT, THE -- 椎名林檎 {公然の秘密} -- J-pop feat. live jazz? Sure, I'll take it. It does very well within its ambitions.

SOUTH KOREA -- 엘라스트 {기사의 맹세} -- Despite being fully aware of my biases, this will still not be the contest where I don't give points to K-pop. The rap verses are too good not to give it points.

USA -- Audiostrobelight {A Fifth of Feelgood} -- I actually don't hate this indie rock. The fiddle solos are a very nice touch.

ZAMBIA -- Roselia {Ringing Bloom} -- Purely from the arp synth I knew that this was from a rhythm game.

[Vi]

and then

Spoiler: NOT SAFE FOR HEDGEHOGS

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===TIER: POINTS~

(12) HUNGARY -- Shea Diamond {Don't Shoot}

-- Good song, good lyrics, reasonably good vibe. I do like the vocal register of the vocals. I'm not sure I would put this on a playlist before the song below it but it's much more compelling - this is the one that, once I've started listening to it, I want to

keep

listening to.

(10) SOUTH KOREA -- 엘라스트 {기사의 맹세}

-- Despite being fully aware of my biases, this will still not be the contest where I don't give points to K-pop. The rap verses are too good not to give it points.

(8) CUBA -- ALESTORM {Tortuga (feat. Captain Yarrface)}

-- I mean, it's pirate metal. You get what you expect. I really appreciate the commitment to the shtick, to say nothing of the harmonies and that nasty hook. If it were less... kinda dumb, tbh, and tried harder, this would have been a very easy 12.

(7) THE PRINCIPALITY OF PRANADEVIL'S FLAT -- 椎名林檎 {公然の秘密}

-- J-pop feat. live jazz? Sure, I'll take it. I feel like this is a little too pop-by-numbers to really rock my world but it does very well within its ambitions. Someone submitted a video with cops playing air guitar. I am a huge fan of how likely it is that this is not PraDe's submission.

(6) BELARUS -- Professor Elemental {Fighting Trousers}

-- I thought you were submitting something awful. This is genuinely one of the better things in the contest; I can do a hammy dis track.


===TIER: POINTS

(5) FINLAND -- The Weeknd {Belong to the World}

-- This is reasonable enough. It's the right feel but not the right kind of song for me.

(4) ARMENIA -- Lianne La Havas {Lost & Found}

-- She has a good voice. This isn't really my style but I like the mood this has going for it.

(3) DENMARK -- Plini {Electric Sunrise}

-- The first 100 seconds were pretty good. I'm not really sure what to do with what follows, where it sounds like they would rather break into something harder but are actively restraining themselves. Submitting an instrumental is a bold move and I think this did well for it.

(2) USA -- Audiostrobelight {A Fifth of Feelgood}

-- I actually don't hate this indie rock. The fiddle solos are a very nice touch but they need to be closer to a microphone. I wonder how this could be improved with a harmonica.


===TIER: POINTS?

(1) NEW ZEALAND -- Judah & the Lion {Going to Mars}

-- I feel like this is an entire aesthetic that other people like and I could take or leave.

CANADA -- Cody Fry {Underground}

-- White guy with guitar, attempting to emote. I appreciate the whoo. It picked up after 2:00 and it needed to. Honestly this isn't bad, but it's very normcore.

COSTA RICA -- MilkCan {Got To Move! (Millenium Girl)}

-- I recognize this, having had the "experience" of watching a playthrough of this game. The song's just okay - the call-and-response format of PaRappa songs hurts it a lot IMO - but RIP Katy Kat, what a heckin' voice. PaRappa needs to STFU, because he's why this is missing out on points.

ZAMBIA -- Roselia {Ringing Bloom}

-- Purely from the arp synth I knew that this was from a rhythm game. This is only so-so on my rhythm game style appreciation list.

POLAND -- Grieves {On the Rocks}

-- It's okay. It's got an okay groove, but with a style I'm not predisposed to it's kind of all-or-nothing.


===TIER: NO POINTS

GERMANY -- Spray {We Are Gothic}

-- This probably wasn't the right direction to take your entries. What is it with this genre and giving people seizures.

VIETNAM -- Ladysmith Black Mambazo and Kermit the Frog {African Alphabet}

-- Having seen LBM in concert, I fully believe this is something they would do. I'm definitely someone who didn't really understand the magic appeal of the Muppet Movie, so I'm not on board with Kermit's singing voice as is. Still, it's inoffensive.

IRELAND -- Vampire Weekend {Sympathy}

-- Hipster music is quite hipster. This doesn't really grip me but it's better than white/guitar/emote. That's not a very clean vocal sample in the beginning. The chorus reminded me of how I'd rather be listening to Long Train Runnin'.

DJIBOUTI -- THE MACHINIST {EMPIRE STATE OF EMERGENCY}

-- It got its point across first thing! Is there really a point in having interesting lyrics in this style?

CHINA -- Sydney Sprague {A-Bomb}

-- It has a beat, but it's not really anything in either direction. Generic pop song is generic.

VENEZUELA -- Circa Survive {Mandala}

-- I feel like I just heard this in a Song Contest. It sounds nice but I'm not really grabbed, even by the drummer going crazy. High-pitched hipster vocals are going to be low-priority for me.

AUSTRALIA -- Kousuke Atari {Natsuyuusora}

-- Now here's a virtuosic vocal performance. It reminds me of Indian music, even though it's not. I'm not much for slice-of-life, so this isn't going to score well from me, but it's good for a certain audience. I am criminally underrating this on some objective level but I don't really want to listen to this.


===TIER: NO POINTS.

MACAU -- D4NNY {Goodbye}

-- I think I'm missing some key context.

MUSHROOM KINGDOM -- SMG4 feat. Waluigi {We are number one but it's a Waluigi parody}

-- I made it through the whole thing. There were glimmers of potential given that I understood most of the references, but this still wouldn't have been worth it 12 years ago.

COTE D'IVOIRE -- Death {Politicians In My Eyes}

-- I kind of hate the guitar vamp, and the guitar more generally. I'll keep the bass though. I feel like this would be way better if it wasn't this.


===TIER: NO

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC -- The Sugarcubes {Birthday}

-- It's not a basilisk hack like the acid rap song or the Bon Iver or Talking Heads entries. It really needs more electronic noises for maximum pain.

BRAZIL -- TobyMac {Feel It (ft. Mr. Talkbox)}

-- Equinox and I took an uQuiz for identifying real vs. made-up Christian pop lyrics. For fun we looked up the songs referenced, and while some of them were indeed as bad as one would expect, some of them were actually pretty good. I submitted this because it was better than what I was going to enter otherwise.

This isn't even the best artist from the list, so expect more religious propaganda in a future Song Contest~

[Vi]

This exchange between Natirasha and TK was everything I was hoping it would be.

Also @Cuba - why not Treasure Chest Party Quest

[Vi]

Treasure Chest Party Quest was on the asgardia list

I was worried when I saw you were cut so I'm glad someone else (coincidentally?) ran with a similar theme this time.

[Vi]

On the bright side, it's a positive surprise. I keep whinging about how the bands I look into after learning about them from the Contest aren't as good as I'd hoped because I've already been exposed to their best work and it's all downhill from there.

[Vi]

*nod* I understand. Although I think

someone else

may submit it for me...

[Vi]

I've been a bit bogged down, but. This is how well your own votes predicted the outcome.

SHEEPLE

Drench = D3f3nd3r
SleepyKrew
Natirasha
Davsto
vizIIsto = VashtaNeurotic
Tatsuya Kaname
Equinox
Hiraki -

[3/4 sheep]

Scigatt
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caledfwitch
toolenduso
PranaDevil = AGar -

[midpoint AKA Keke]

Vi
Plotinus
Dr Easy Bake
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schdad -

[3/4 snow]

pickemgenius
Nahdia
shiki
Panzerjager
notachipmunk
ceejayvinoya
MiniDeathStar

SNOWFLAKE

well that split up tidily

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The reciprocated likes also clustered nicely.

TEAM AIR GUITAR COPS FLYING HOT AIR BALLOONS IN MY MIND - toolenduso <-> Panzerjager <-> Natirasha
TEAM KIM JONG-UN'S WISH LIST, OR: A FIFTH A-BOMB UNDERGROUND - pickemgenius <-> AGar <-> Hiraki
TEAM AS OFFLINE, SO ONLINE, OR: WILDLY POPULAR PROTESTS IN THIS SONG CONTEST AS IN REALITY - Plotinus <-> VashtaNeurotic AND shiki AND SleepyKrew

[Vi]

I'm trying to make sense of what that means but dead center is a weird spot for me to be.

Your votes aligned as well with the final result as the average person. Equivalently, your votes had the median effect on the final result. A lot of your votes were only sorta close to the final top 10, and your 7 to Venezuela wasn't something the crowd went along with, but you weren't giving someone 12 out of their 15 points or something.