I'm kinda sad I didn't get a chance to listen to this contest and alas I am far too tired to do so right now.
I did, however, want to say that Thailand's submission is awesome! I absolutely love PMJ! I've spent full evenings streaming them and I actually contemplated entering them before, but figured it wouldn't be the kind of thing people wanted here.
While this wouldn't have been the song I'd have chosen, it is very well done, as most of their pieces are, and I really like it when they include their tap dancer!
This would have for sure been a top scorer for me, regardless of what other pieces were entered here.
Here are my thoughts that I write along the way. I'm not good at words and these are rated using enjoyment and nothing else.
Spoiler: List
Germany - Pretty catchy electronic(?) music and the vocal goes really smooth with the music. I like it!
Thailand - Bad Romance! I mean I was really tired of listening to Lady Gaga's Bad Romance every day when I was at work and I can't change the song. Still a good song though. The vocalist has a good sound but I'm not digging that too much. The instruments and the tap dancing really freshes up this cover though. I like it.
Singapore - This song moved me when I first listened to it, especially towards the end.
Canada - This is kind of what to expect from a good musical, to be honest. Gotta admit that the two vocalists' duet is really pleasant to listen. I like it!
Iceland - Not sure how I feel about this. Like it's really good rock music. I especially like the vocal. I like it.
Asgardia - Straight out of Dungeon and Dragons I'd say. Definitely has some power in it.
Argentina - Okay some Bollywood music. For the first time though, I think this sounds less like a Bollywood music and more like some kind of western muscial. Also god I hate the guy in the MV LOL
Liechtenstein - Never watched Spiderverse. Got some strong hiphop here.
Egypt - Very light and catchy! The vocalist delivers the song in a way that I find really enjoyable. I like it!
Cote d'Ivoire - I think I heard this kind of music before. Sounds like an ending music for a comedy movie. The song is fun though.
Denmark - The music falls similar to Iceland's for some reason. I prefer Iceland's though.
Djibouti - Oh my god it's Heavy Metal. It's good but not my cup of tea.
Russia - I almost thought this is Ra Ra Rasputin at first LOL. Russian music has some specific pattern, kinda like Bollywood has a pattern too. This beats Rasputin for sure and the addition of guitar also make this really fun to listen. I like it.
Spain - Wait is this Bollywood? This sounds really like it. Going to around late first half it becomes interesting otherwise I am feeling a bit uncomfortable listening to this.
New Zealand - I like the vocal. She has a cool voice. No seriously, this song is really charming. I like it!
Central African Republic - The song sounds beautiful, yet it has some kind of sadness in it. Overall a good song. I like it.
South Korea - A song I expect would be fun to play in a rhythm game. But sorry, the old days of Super Junior and 2PM still wins over this.
Belarus - This sounds familiar to some point but the lower voice compliments this song and in the end I find this pretty good. I like it.
Sudan - Wow, this is cool. The song sounds incredibly nice especially the chorus parts and oh there's some synth too. Wow. I like it!
Guyana - Now this is a good K-pop song. The vocalist sounds cute and cool. And this song feels nostalgic to me for some reason. I like it.
Seychelles - I'm surprised this is not made for an anime movie or something, because this sounds really beautiful. The strings really shines through. I like it!
Yemen - This sounds a bit all over the place to me. I still think this is pretty fine.
Armenia - Short. Sweet. Peaceful. And the vocals is something I really fall for. I like it!
USA - Another Heavy Metal. I slightly liked this one more though. And the main vocal's not-screaming voice is cool.
(Edit) I just learned the origin of the song. Full respect for them.
Greece - Nice song. It's got some nice rhythm. I hurt my ears listening to this though.
I think I know my Top 10 but it's gonna be a debate about the actual positions but overall this has been a pretty fun thing to do.
The top 10 are in order, the rest are mostly in order, but I got lazy in ordering the not-top-10:
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Germany - this is a group I used to listen to this group before I sold my soul to kpop! I still like this music, I don't remember this song, but the name at least sounds familiar.
Cote D'Ivoire - this is cacthy from the start and then remains catchy
Singapore - pretty!
Seychelles - this is relaxing background music
Greece - been a while since I last listened to Rotersand
New Zealand - pretty! I need to stop just saying "pretty!" for song descriptions
Guyana - not my fave IU song (that would be Twenty-Three) but still nice
Sudan - this sounds like a song I would hear in a semi edgy record store in another decade
Denmark - It's ok, like I enjoyed listening to it just this once
Egypt - for a type of song I normally wouldn't listen to, this was pleasant
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Russia - i would not be upset if i heard this song again, and in retrospect maybe I should have given it points, or maybe it was a bit scary
Yemen - I think I would have liked this more if I heard it 10 years ago
Spain - song is long is not my taste but not bad
Asgardia - the country somehow suits the song choice
Belarus - has one cool part, I forget what part it was
Iceland - I forgot this song was playing
Argentina - I don't particularly like it, it has some ok moments mixed in
Liechtenstein - don't love it or hate it
Canada - I got a little bored by it
CAR - somewhat forgettable
USA - don't like
Armenia - had the kind of voice / singing style that I really dislike
Guyana: 5.0 iu is a foundational part of my music taste, for example this is probably like my 5th favorite song by her but its still literally a 5/5
Spain: 4.4 i really like that moment at 1:25. this is good. yeah. i like this a lot. saved
Sudan: 4.0 do not sleep on this very good album cover edit
Seychelles: 3.9 there is a joe hisaishi-ness to that melody i think? anyway saved
Denmark: 3.8 i admit it. i like it when they sing really high
Russia: 3.7 i don't know if i'm typing this right but when he says "зх!" i really like it. lol
Yemen: 3.6
Cote d'Ivoire: 3.6 not really my aesthetics but i ought to say there is like some good rhythmic material here near the start
Belarus: 3.6
Thailand: 3.6
New Zealand: 3.6 my prediction is that this wins. there is kind of a strong vibe equivalency with Liechtenstein kind of
Liechtenstein: 3.5 trying to describe the feeling here... like i can just imagine a very lively music video with a lot of smoke and close-ups of sneakers.
Iceland: 3.5
Argentina: 3.5
Armenia: 3.5
Central African Republic: 3.5
Singapore: 3.5
Greece: 3.4
Germany: 3.4
Canada: 3.3 i really enjoy the woman social distancing from the pop filter and the man practically kissing it
South Korea: 3.3
USA: 3.2 should say that you know... respect the context of it...
Djibouti: 2.5 listening to this gave me kind of like an asmr feeling
Asgardia: 2.0 sorry again. keep doing you
central african republic: rather like how the lead singer falls back into the rest of the vocal cloud for the choruses. 3.7
south korea: wonder when it was that heterochromia became fashionable. like the outfits but the vibe here isnt so great. 3.2
belarus: 3.3
guyana: a friend of mine likes this artist. liking the dance routine (incl. the dudes that just show up and walk in the back). theres a few fakeouts of a key change here which i like - every time she says 너랑 나랑은 조금 i expect it to epically go up a fourth or something. fun. wow i like this. 3.9 wd
seychelles: drums good. has a consant buildup feeling that i dont particularly care for. 3.5
yemen: 3.0
armenia: the chord at :48 is the same as the first chord in redford by sufjan stevens. sorry i dont really have anything else for you. lol. 3.4 wd
usa: uh. kind of errs towards feeling exploitative for me. lol. lotta flashing in the vibeo. 2.4
greece: the drum machine and synth grind thingy is kind of good. i uh do not like much of the other aspects. 3.1
Uh...depends. I would say moderate? There are obviously very popular acts that do/have done anime music, but especially right now the oricon is like half k-pop.
Peaking at the top 5 in the Japanese billboard(small sample size but im in a hurry) says of the 4 bands in the top 5 right now, 2 have ever made anime theme songs, and only 1 of the 5 is an actual anime theme (the kimetsu nobyaiba thene which is a banger).
Oricon top 5 is 3 bands that have ever done an anime song, and gurenge the only song. (2 of the 3 have only done 1 theme, LiSA does a billion)
Like..I'm open to having a good faith discussion in a different thread about popular Japanese songs in comparison to songs from anime, but let's not obfuscate the point of why I said something; which is that this dude's train of thought was basically "oooo, this bitch got slanty eyes, must be some weeb shit"
so like imo all music from a genre (or even just a style more broad than a genre) you're unfamiliar with can sound very same-y. Every time I've heard a metal song in this song contest (especially the growly sort of stuff) I could hardly tell them apart while some people exclusively listen to lots of different metal. In the same way that I consider my 70s rock etc stuff that I enter to be quite varied stylistically and texturally in all sorts of ways but a lot of people in these contests consider them same-y, and it's just because we're more familiar with the broad strokes of music we know and can see the reams of differences below the potentially similar surfaces
and I could see that nailing down a samey-ness of J/K/Asian-pop as if it's an issue with that specifically (i.e. it all being the same vs just sounding the same to you personally) comes across as a little racist
Well...I suppose if a contest deserved to have more submissions/a longer voting period, it would be BotB, right? We could try allowing first-time entrants for it. Overall the number of people entering song contests has dropped from when those rules were written.
