ᑎᔕᑕ 180 - ᒪIᐯE Iᑎ TᗩᑎOIᖇO // ᔕEᗰI ᖇEᔕᑌᒪTᔕ (21ᕼ ᑕEᔕT)

[Rmetr0]

Great rational advice, Vasilije!
I guess it's what I tried to do as well to achieve some better results after the "flopping" period of mine.
Was just hard for me to express all of it in English

And congrats on your qualification as well!

 

[dogmeat]

Are you guys seriously condoning scorewhoring here, or am I missing a joke?

 

[Rmetr0]

Well, speaking of myself, I just tried to support esc87fan. And I don't see anything bad in trying to qualify at least with songs of your taste - I thought Vasilije's advice was all about that

 

[dogmeat]

I just don't think it's in line with the game spirit. I think NSC is most of all about sharing your favorite music and results are just a spicing on top. Despite having "contest" in the name, it's not a competition to me. Sure, it's fun to see your entry fight for the top spots, but does feel the same when you're aiming for a high position end expecting to do well? What brings the biggest smile to my face are always the surprise qualifications of songs I thought stood no chance. Even when I don't qualify that doesn't the entry wasn't worth it. Last edition, for example, I literally finished last, but also received three twelves. That alone is more than enough for me - it means the song I sent probably made someone's day. If you always restrain yourself from sending songs that will fail, you're robbing people from listening to some of the more unique entries they might otherwise never hear.

 

[theditz83]

I don't condone for one second the idea of sending songs that you have no passion for yourself just because you think they will garner strong finishing positions - they would really be hollow victories if you looked back and couldn't be proud to have those songs as part of your nation's history.

But I also think it's somewhat naïve to think that people wouldn't try to pick songs out of their vast libraries of artists and albums that they think might appeal to the majority of the community, whether it's in terms of genre or perhaps even artists. This is a contest after all, and I'm sure there are a great number of us who enjoy the competitive elements of the game just as much as the social aspects.

It's a risky strategy for sure to try and tailor all entries to what you anticipate to be the community's tastes, but so long as the songs being sent by each nation are a true reflection of what you might find on their own streaming/MP3/stereo playlists, I don't see any issue with it.

 

[Rmetr0]

I just don't think it's in line with the game spirit. I think NSC is most of all about sharing your favorite music and results are just a spicing on top. Despite having "contest" in the name, it's not a competition to me. Sure, it's fun to see your entry fight for the top spots, but does feel the same when you're aiming for a high position end expecting to do well? What brings the biggest smile to my face are always the surprise qualifications of songs I thought stood no chance. Even when I don't qualify that doesn't the entry wasn't worth it. Last edition, for example, I literally finished last, but also received three twelves. That alone is more than enough for me - it means the song I sent probably made someone's day. If you always restrain yourself from sending songs that will fail, you're robbing people from listening to some of the more unique entries they might otherwise never hear.

I've got your point and I respect it. And I also agree with everything Ditz said.
I think everyone can choose their own style of play - whether it's sending songs you love the most without thinking of the result or thinking of the result but still picking from ones you like.
I personally never sent the songs I didn't like to achieve the result. I always choose from the playlist of my favourites. I think it's okay to think about which ones of those may appeal to the community and consequently bring some result
If not, then to "make someone's day" with it, as you said.
I was all about that. Not like to achieve the result at any cost

 

[dogmeat]

I don't condone for one second the idea of sending songs that you have no passion for yourself just because you think they will garner strong finishing positions - they would really be hollow victories if you looked back and couldn't be proud to have those songs as part of your nation's history.

But I also think it's somewhat naïve to think that people wouldn't try to pick songs out of their vast libraries of artists and albums that they think might appeal to the majority of the community, whether it's in terms of genre or perhaps even artists. This is a contest after all, and I'm sure there are a great number of us who enjoy the competitive elements of the game just as much as the social aspects.

It's a risky strategy for sure to try and tailor all entries to what you anticipate to be the community's tastes, but so long as the songs being sent by each nation are a true reflection of what you might find on their own streaming/MP3/stereo playlists, I don't see any issue with it.

Wouldn't that strategy mean the overall variety of your entries suffers? After all, this way you're only sending the more "mainstream" side of your overall taste. I wouldn't call it a "true reflection" of one's playlist either - it's more like a heavily censored version of it.

Another thing to consider is that when you only send "safe" entries, you deprive someone else of their spot in the final - someone who would be more happy to qualify, because they didn't expect to (while your qualification would be more likely met with "yeah, right, ofc I qualified, duh")

 

[Leydan]

Well it wouldn't be someone elses spot because they didn't earn it by collecting enough points. It belong to the person who got enough points. What is even considered safe though? People would kneejerk straight onto mainstream radio pop usually but i could easily call many indie, folk, alternative, metal or whatever else songs safe or even scorewhores in themselves because you can just tell who the song is aimed at. There are plenty of people in NSC alone who would be all sorts of excited at listening to them genres. Point is there is a whole variety of stuff that could be considered safe and no one is immune to it.

I dont believe for a moment that there isn't a single person in NSC or any forum contest who hasn't at some point considered entries based on their qualification chances. People should send what they truly love, are listening to at that time and appreciate. Whether it may be a "safe" entry or not, and in turn not get judged for it. If someone wants to send a garage lo fi alt rock song with 374 views and in potato quality then good for them, but also good for the person who decided they wanted to send the hit song with 100,000,000 views and a slick production.

 

[Ana Raquel]

i wonder what's called safe here. i take part in dozens of contests and there are a few artists and songs that aren't mainstream but are overused in those because they always do well (eg faouzia, dotan, luke black or songs by beloved ex-esc acts such as luca hanni, iveta mukuchyan, lena, etc). in one of these contests in particular, you have to pick a country every edition and every single time someone picked morocco they sent faouzia. it's not like it's prohibited or something but, you know, you keep wondering if they know anyone else from there. while at that someone in one of these editions sent a mainstream artist such as lorde and didn't qualify.

either way, as long as people send something they actually like, i probably won't complain.

 

[Kimrt]

Semi 1

	Arva // Dua Lipa - Break My Heart https://youtu.be/Nj2U6rhnucI
	Moisantia // Vargas & Lagola - As Long As I Have To https://youtu.be/MkT3aGOkkUQ
	Aclaira // The Corrs - I Do What I Like https://youtu.be/7fwhth7QYv8
	Noizeland // Black Lips - Get It On Time https://youtu.be/2i6OaKVw0IY
	Orangualia // Mac DeMarco - Salad Days https://youtu.be/RheJW2nhkb8
	Redwood Republic // Thomas Rhett - Be A Light https://youtu.be/8YuWAZmD0aU

Semi 2

	Hypjø // The Weeknd - In Your Eyes https://youtu.be/dqRZDebPIGs
	Arirang // MIREI - Lonely In Tokyo https://youtu.be/DIZcqNTCKnQ
	QuiénDQ // Gjon's Tears - Babi https://youtu.be/riBXh7XOKDM
	Sakuralia // Wagakki Band - Ignite https://youtu.be/_uxpHq3inUA
	Kalos Metropolis // Anouk - Might As Well https://youtu.be/OSDo-MH58Qk

 

[theditz83]

Wouldn't that strategy mean the overall variety of your entries suffers? After all, this way you're only sending the more "mainstream" side of your overall taste. I wouldn't call it a "true reflection" of one's playlist either - it's more like a heavily censored version of it.

Another thing to consider is that when you only send "safe" entries, you deprive someone else of their spot in the final - someone who would be more happy to qualify, because they didn't expect to (while your qualification would be more likely met with "yeah, right, ofc I qualified, duh")

I don't believe the variety does suffer, as regardless of what I think people might want to hear, I like to try and mix things up every few editions to avoid my Moisantia history playlist becoming too heavy on one style. And it's never an exact science anyway - there is such a variety of tastes and genre preferences throughout the community that your entry still needs to have that special crossover appeal to truly cut through and that's something that is almost impossible to predict.

My Moisantia playlist is still a fair reflection of my taste as it contains mostly pop/dance with the occasional indie-pop and ballad tracks and only a few rockier tracks since that's what my overall taste is like. But it doesn't meant that's the only types of songs that I'd gift points to - if a song connects with me melodically and lyrically, regardless of the artist or genre, it's in with a massive shot of taking my top points

That's why the competition element in NSC keeps me coming back for more since there have been those times when I was sure I'd qualify and I finished bottom 5 in the semi, but there were also those times when I managed to triumph (winning with "Makudonurado" by Namewee was still an amazing surprise )

 

[dogmeat]

People should send what they truly love, are listening to at that time and appreciate.

That's... exactly what I'm saying...?

 

[Schlagerman1]

The songs I send to the contest is a mix of what I personally like and what I think at least some people will enjoy. I try to imagine that "this might be a song that could be liked by at least person A and B", and sometimes I am right and sometimes completly wrong. The great with that is you can be so surprised with some songs you send, that can be loved with people you would never think of.

I also like to send pretty wide range of songs which means that if I go rock one time, I may go for a ballad next and the one after that go for a pop song. But all songs are what I personally like, and I would like people to see and find, cause after all, the thing I like the best with this contest is to find songs I would never personally have listened at and just fell in love with them. And I know how bad it feels when you never qualify, back in NSC 20s and early 30s, I qualified only twice in 12 editions....and never got better than 23rd. So yeah, there are times it is rough being in the contest, but eventually, when you least expect it, you sit there infront of the computer and are fighting for the victory with a song that you in your wildest dreams never thought would do that well. That is a part of the beauty of the contest.

 

[Morty]

Joining NSC actually changed a bit how I listen to music. Whenever I hear a new song, or a song I haven't heard in decades, I wonder "is this NSC material?", but it's not necessarily related to whether or not I think people will like it. Every single song I send is sent because there's something I really, REALLY like about it. It could be the music video, it could be the lyrics, it could be the melody, it could be anything. For my next entry, it's the timing (stay tuned for that). And occasionally, I stumble across something that surprisingly many in NSC like. I still can't believe Genre Police won tbh, but it also just barely qualified for the final (10th in semi, low reju support), so the story could have been a lot different. I figure luck might be part of it all too. I thought maybe Try Me Out would qualify, I've had ok results with eurodance before, but no. Do I regret sending Try Me Out? Absolutely not.

 

[Stargazer]

A bit late to the party, but thank you SO much for this qualification!! So stoked!!

A bit sad some of my top favorites failed to make it, though. But happy for the ones that did!



Semi 1






Semi 2 REJU

 

[EurovisionSmile]

I can see and understand different sides of the issue. As you all know, I share a nation with Nicholas. We try as much as possible to send what we both love with the other's approval. There are only a few exceptions, but the truth is those exceptions were because the other really felt something for those songs, and if it weren't for that, nothing would make sense in an online contest. We wouldn't send something only to win, God, no! I only suggest to my fellow juror what I really love. But I admit that I send what I love considering the nature of the contest. It is a competition after all and every contest has its own nature. So, I respect who sends songs that they love and also expect to reach their best results. On the other hand, no one could convince me that songs I love aren't good only because I failed badly with them. I will always love the first entry we sent in this contest ("why did you leave now") I listen to it very often and I would have sent it again. And it was one of our worst results. Winning is and having good results is fum. Not qualifying for 10 or more editions in a row isn't, let's be honest. But if we were in this contest or another one to reach good results only, many of us would have left a long time ago, I suppose.

 

[Le Bruit]

I always send the song I'm most addicted to at the moment. It doesn't matter if it's a world hit or an obscure French-Canadian song from 1983. And if I'm not addicted to any particular song at the moment, I'm sending an obscure French-Canadian one from 1983. Because I think NSC is the perfect place to share your musical culture.
And I prefer not qualifying with a song I love, and make someone happy of this new discovery, than winning (which I never did anyway. LOLZ.) with something I didn't really like.

Because what's the point in playing the game if you don't do it for the fun. Seriously. As I'm saying with my frown brows.
Bwwwrrrr.