Balearica Island is a psycho (NSC 234)

[Morty]

Re: Balearica Island gets down to business (NSC 165)

Pretty good result for The Cigarillos and Vassendgutane in last edition. 60 points was more than I expected.

So we continue the ongoing remix theme, and it's another remix that's been on my list for years. As you know from earlier, I'm a fan of Eminem, but an even bigger fan of electronic dance music, because I generally dislike hiphop beats. So when I found a great sounding EDM remix of Eminem's "Business" that doesn't remove most of the lyrics, I knew this was a song I'd have to send to the NSC at some point. And that is now. Matoma did a great job with this one.

NSC 165 entry: Eminem - Business (Matoma Remix)

 

[Morty]

Re: Balearica Island toca la guitarra (NSC 166)

New year, new opportunities.

Our first entry in 2019 is actually a bit of an old one, as it's been on my list since the late 50s or something. Back in NSC 60, I sent Ørjan Nilsen's "So Long Radio", mainly because I couldn't find a decent version of "La Guitarra" on YouTube, but La Guitarra never left my list of future entries. And now, in NSC 166, it finally gets a chance to shine. Still wish they'd made a video for it tho.

La Guitarra was written in memory of Ørjan Nilsen's big brother, and it's beautiful. A few weeks ago, Ørjan was interviewed by Muzikxpress, and in that interview he talks about the story behind La Guitarra, among other things. Check it out here:

And here's the track itself, Ørjan Nilsen - La Guitarra:

So Long Radio got a 12th in NSC 60, can La Guitarra beat that?

 

[Morty]

Re: Balearica Island is a beautiful alien (NSC 167)

La Guitarra did not beat the result of So Long Radio, which I find a little bit surprising tbh, because I think La Guitarra is a better track. 18th isn't too bad tho, especially not in an edition like that, where I liked 30 of the songs (plus my own, obviously).

For my next entry, Eurovision made my choice easy. When Darude was announced for Finland, I decided to dig up a song that has been (im)patiently waiting in my list since 2015; Darude feat. AI AM (which I recently realized is Maia spelled backwards) - Beautiful Alien. It's a great song, and considering it's a lot more recent than the old tracks like Sandstorm, Feel The Beat and Out Of Control, Beautiful Alien will be the song I will eventually compare Finland's Eurovision entry to. You can tell that Darude has been inspired by his old tracks tho, there's a distinct "Darude sound" in it. And it's working.

 

[Morty]

Re: Balearica Island brings the slam (NSC 170)

Time for an update.

Gonna start by going back in time a bit, to Darude. Beautiful Alien got a great result, 3rd in the semi final, and 9th in the final. Much better than Darude's result in Eurovision, but in my opinion, Beautiful Alien is much better than Look Away, so I'm not really surprised, but I didn't expect a top 10 result.

For NSC 168, my entry was decided rather suddenly. I had Hotel Saint George's "Welcome To My Life" stuck in my head at work one day, even tho it had been years since I last heard it, and I took that as a sign that this song needed to be sent to NSC. So I did. And even tho it didn't qualify to the final, I'd say it got a rather good result, finishing 15th with 54 points in the semi. Better than I expected.

In NSC 169, I went with the song I had originally planned for 168, a song that I had heard on MTV Dance a few times, and it gave me big summer vibes (which made it perfect for the theme in Solentoya). Fabrizio Parisi & WahTony feat. Belonoga - Aurora also got a good result, finishing 12th with 51 points. Better result but less points than the previous entry, but that's probably because of the number of non-voters in the semi, so overall, the two songs probably got fairly similar results. Aurora was very close to qualifying tho.

And now that we're up to date, I bring our next entry. Little Big came to Norway a month ago, and after the concert, I came across a song they made with Ruki VVerh! just before Xmas. I had for some reason missed this, so to make up for that, I'm sending it to the NSC, so the next entry for is Little Big & Ruki Vverh! - Slemyatsya Patsany.

 

[Morty]

Re: Balearica Island with a twist (NSC 171)

So another decent result with Little Big and Ruki Vverh!, second semi 12th place in a row.

For the next entry, I'm gonna be a bit personal. The entry is a new cover of a song that was originally released in 1988, when I was 4 years old, a song I have nice memories from.

My grandfather Ola was a fisherman, who died when I was 13 (as did two others of my grandparents, so 1997 was a rough year for me), and I remember sitting in his hobby room when I was a kid, where he repaired holes in his fishing nets. He did that a lot, and I helped him every now and then. And when he did that, he used to have the radio on, and one of the songs I remember that stood out to me was Tanita Tikaram's "Twist In My Sobriety". I still think it's a good song, and I'm a bit surprised it hasn't been sent to the NSC already.

But not long ago, Oliver Froning (aka Dune) posted a new version of this song on Facebook, and it's a version that I like even more. The artist is Oliver Kurt, and from what I've found out, that's a name for a new collaboration between Oliver Froning and Koen Groeneveld, a Dutch producer who's been involved with MANY dance hits over the last 30 years.

NSC 171: Oliver Kurt - Twist In My Sobriety

I miss my grandparents.

 

[Morty]

Re: Hard to say what's going on in Balearica Island (NSC 174)

Time for an update then.

Going back to NSC 171, the result was a bit disappointing. Had hoped for better than 20th in the semi, but I can't really say I was surprised.

In NSC 172, I had to go for one of Armin van Buuren's new singles "Don't Give Up On Me", a collaboration with Lucas & Steve, with Josh Cumbee on the vocals. It's not really one of Armin's best songs, but I have a thing for motorsport in music videos (this was my 3rd entry in that category), and when I first saw the video for this song, I was never in doubt. There are two versions of the song tho, a regular and a club mix, both using the same video, and I had a hard time figuring out which version to send. I went with the club mix in the end tho. Not sure if that was the best decision, considering the result was only slightly better than the previous entry, but I don't really think it made much of a difference tbh.

Then, there was NSC 173. The 171 entry was from the label Armada Deep, this time it was a song released on Anjunadeep. I've always preferred the releases on the main label Anjunabeats, but there was something about Moon Boots' song "Tied Up" (with Steven Klavier on the vocals) that really hit me. Those who remember my drama in NSC 64 might get it, when I refused to compete against Rihanna's "S&M", an entry I lost out on when I waited for the official music video to be released during the confirmation period. I've regretted that decision a lot btw, but that's life. Tied Up was mine tho, but I doubt anyone was really competing to get it. Didn't qualify, but I'm happy for the 51 points it got.

So, now it's time for NSC 174. And I'm expecting another DNQ with this. It's hard to say what it really is, it's been labelled as "ambient gabber", which is a bit of a contradiction, as gabber is about as far from ambient as you can get within electronic music. But, there is something dreamy about this track, even tho it has the tempo of gabber. I would probably refer to it as "soft hardtechno" or something, but it's hard to say what the best way to describe this is. I like it tho, and I'm curious to see what Natia thinks about it, but I'm expecting the lower end of the results. Djrum - Hard To Say:

 

[Morty]

Re: Balearica Island and the 7 deadly sins (NSC 175)

Yeah, that went just as I expected. At least I can't be accused of scorewhoring. And, I have a feeling that will also go for my next entry. I've had both good and bad results with my metal entries, but I think my next one will be too dark for most people. But first, the story behind why I'm choosing this. 2 of my coworkers are in the Trondheim based band Nexorum. And they recently released their first song, called "Saligia Moralis Codice". Latin isn't my strongest language, apart from being able to recognize that it is actually latin, and from what I can tell with the help of Google, the title of the song means something along the lines of "The moral code of the 7 deadly sins". Fair enough. And I obviously think it sounds good, otherwise I wouldn't send it to the NSC.

My next entry will be back to the roots of tho, with a beautiful piece of trance.

 

[Morty]

I did hope for a better result than ending last, and had hoped for some more points than that, but at least we got some points, so there was someone who liked it at least a bit.

For NSC 176, there's been a slight change of plans. The roots of will have to wait until 2020, because I need to send a different song first, as it goes back to MY roots. I've lived in (or very near) Trondheim since 2007, so you guys probably don't know where I actually come from. And from what I can see, the name of my hometown has never even been mentioned on this forum. Ever. So, time to fix that.

The entry for NSC 176 will be Monoir feat. Ameline - Midnight In Norway, with a video entirely shot in the municipality of Aure. Aure is located in the county of Møre & Romsdal, and to the border of Trøndelag. If things go the way I hope, Aure will be part of Trøndelag within a few years, but this is probably not the time or place for politics. And, Aure is where I grew up, and I lived there until I moved to Kristiansund for school when I was 16. It's a small community, only about 3600 people live there, and that's after Aure was merged with the neighbor municipality of Tustna in 2006. But the scenery is beautiful, something I didn't really appreciate enough until after I moved away. And altho there is a bit of tourism in Aure, I had never expected to ever see Aure in a music video. But here we are, a music video on the Romanian label Thrace Music shot entirely in Aure. And parts of it very close to where I grew up as well, several of the scenes are just 500 meters away from my dad's house.

So, this is a song that needs to represent . And I hope it does well.

 

[Morty]

That went very well! Qualified to the final, and got a top half finish, that was better than I dared to hope for. Thanks again to everyone who voted for it.

The journey doesn't stop here tho, altho after being unable to log in for almost a month, I did fear that the streak of 91 consecutive editions for Balearica Island would be ended, and I would be forced out of the next one. But I'm back, and we are going back to the roots of Balearica Island, as promised.

In 2002, Conjure One released a song featuring Sinéad O'Connor on vocals, called Tears From The Moon, and it's a very nice song, altho maybe a bit too slow for me. Trance legend Tiësto took care of that tho, and made a beautiful "In Search Of Sunrise" remix of it. Tiësto switched from trance to making different styles of house in 2009, and I have always preferred his pre-2009 stuff, altho I can't deny that he's still good at what he does. My 12 points for "Ritual" in NSC 176 probably proves that. At 8 minutes long, I worry that this remix might be too long for NSC, and I would probably get a better result with the original, but as I think the remix is so much better, it's an easy choice.

The NSC 177 entry for Balearica Island is Conjure One feat. Sinéad O'Connor - Tears From The Moon (Tiësto In Search Of Sunrise Remix):

 

[Morty]

Ok, I did not expect that. A second qualification in a row, with an 8 minute trance remix. Didn't go too well in the final, but just qualifying felt like a win, so I'm very happy about the end result. Thanks to everyone who voted for it.

For NSC 178, I had a specific plan, and again, I've suddenly decided to change it. So you might see that entry in NSC 179 instead, but I can't make any promises.

Recently, an old hit has gotten a bit of a comeback, thanks to some challenge on TikTok. In 1983, Matthew Wilder released "Break My Stride", and this song was the #1 in Norway the week I was born, back in February 1984. So in a way, Break My Stride is "my" song. And now that it has been brought back to life, and is getting popular again, the first change of plan was to send this instead. Then I made a "mistake". I started looking for cover versions of it, just to see what was out there. And that led to another changed plan. Because, even tho I really like the original, one of the cover versions I found is way more my style of music.

The NSC 178 entry for will be Bodybangers feat. Tony T - Break My Stride

But wait, there's more.

Another spinoff is coming, the 19th edition of AATW. This time we're heading to The Netherlands, one of my favorite countries, and especially when it comes to music. I've been listening to music made in The Netherlands since the mid 90s, and my favorite genre (hardstyle) originated in The Netherlands. And there are also a few trance legends from this country, like Armin van Buuren, Tiësto and Ferry Corsten, and some of the biggest eurodance acts are also from The Netherlands. So I was obviously going to take part in this spinoff. Deciding on the entry went surprisingly fast tho. There are of course many songs I would want to send to this spinoff, but there is one that just seems perfect for it.

In 2005, the Dutch rap duo Lange Frans & Baas B made a song called "Het Land Van", which is entirely about The Netherlands. Then, the Queen of Raw, Deetox (who survived a lightning strike in 2017), made a new version of this for the Q-Dance event X-Qlusive Holland 2015, with Lange Frans on the vocals. It's pretty much a rawstyle tribute to The Netherlands, and I think it's the perfect entry to this AATW.

 

[Morty]

Ok, time to update this thread, and I have so much to post, I've decided to split this up into several posts.

This first update will concern statistics. I've finally done a full update on the Balearica Island wiki/fandom page. Including updated pictures of result history, and points history. I statistics! It contains more than 10000 points going to or from in the finals since NSC 42.

This how I've done over the years. I decided to make this a little bit simpler than it was. Since we've had some finals with 29 or 30 finalists, I decided to make a cut at 30. That means 31st position in this chart means that finished 11th in the semi.

For the points, check out the wiki, as the images are too big for this forum, with around 160 nations, and 134 editions.

 

[theditz83]

Thanks again for those 5 pointers to Moisantia in NSC finals I've participated in. I need to work to get into your Top 10 though

 

[Morty]

Thanks again for those 5 pointers to Moisantia in NSC finals I've participated in. I need to work to get into your Top 10 though

Not really. 2 points short on the "received" chart, and 11 on the "given" chart. All you need to do is qualify with a song that makes me give you the 12, and you're there. And a couple of points to GG6 would have seen you in the top 10 in the other chart too.

Also, you have the 4th highest average score per final when it comes to getting points from me (Tanoiro is the only active nation with a higher score), and you're in the top 10 average the other way around as well. Moisantia is definitely up there in the charts.

 

[Morty]

Time for another update, this is part two (of three), and this will be an update on recent entries and results.

In NSC 178, Bodybangers failed to qualify with their version of "Break My Stride", but it was still an ok result, and not that far off from the semi top 10. Not too disappointed, even tho I had hoped for a final, after the great result Solentoya got with Manian's "Loco". And there is actually sort of a connection between the two. Tony T was the rapper in R.I.O., a project by Manian (and Yanou).

Then, in NSC 179, I decided to send Amaranthe's "GG6" (GG6 is the harsh vocalist/growler/screamer/whatever it's called Henrik Englund Wilhelmsson's artistname). Loving the humor in the video, and I think it's one of Amaranthe's best songs as well. And GG6 did qualify, which came as a bit of a surprise to me, and that means Amaranthe still have a 100% qualifying rate in NSC. Ended last in the final tho, with the lowest score I've ever had in a final with a song that wasn't a PQ. Actually my first entry to get less points in the final than in the semi. Didn't make my qualification any less surprising tbh. Still, just being in the final was great, so I'm not really complaining.

And finally, there was also a spinoff result. The rawstyle tribute from Deetox and Lange Frans to The Netherlands in AATW didn't do that well, but I saw that coming. It was a great spinoff, which wasn't a surprise either, as there is a LOT of great music coming from The Netherlands.

Next update, upcoming entries.

 

[Morty]

Decided to hold this third update until the new spinoff and NSC 180 had started. You know, trying to avoid spoilers. Altho, if you've checked the first post of this thread or the YouTube playlist lately, you already know.

So, as we all know, the world is severely affected by the coronavirus. For this reason, and even tho I've so far managed to stay healthy (insert superstitious activities here), is going to have a Corona theme for a few editions. Starting off with the ultimate Corona, the Italian 90's eurodance act Corona. Corona released music as late as 2015, but all the biggest hits came in the 90's, so I don't feel too bad about labeling them as a 90's act, even if it might be a bit unfair.

The initial plan was to send the biggest of their hits, "The Rhythm Of The Night", so I could show off a funny video of a misheard title. But Fervorosia sent a cover version of that song made by Alex C. and Yasmin K. in NSC 44 (Alex represented as well in NSC 158 btw), so I'm going with a different Corona hit, despite the recent rule change. I was actually struggling to pick which one to send before I discovered the cover version had been sent, so this made my choice a bit easier. I don't think I could have sent Corona's original anyway tho, but that's a different story.

So, the Corona entry for NSC 180 is "Try Me Out" from 1995. And as with all the other Corona videos on YouTube, this one is also packed with references to the coronavirus in the comments. This is a cover version of a song released 2 years earlier, made by Lee Marrow (one of the producers of Corona in the 90's) and Charme. Corona's version of it is a lot better tho, at least imo, and it was a LOT more popular as well.

Bonus: This is the video I was talking about. Arturo from Salcedo (which I believe is in the Dominican Republic) wanted to hear the popular song "Eso son Reebok o son Nike" on the radio, but didn't quite know the words. But the radio DJ Brea Frank figured out what he actually meant.

But, even tho we're still waiting for the CEC V (where I've also sent an entry, which I will keep to myself for now), there's also another spinoff coming up. The Alphabest. got the letter R, and on my list of potential candidates, R was one of the letters with few choices. Quality over quantity maybe, because one of the songs is a masterpiece, and it was a very easy choice. It's a song I would want to shine in the main contest, so everyone could hear it, but I have too many songs like that, and there's no way to say when it would have been sent to the main contest. So, The Alphabest is the right place for it.

The song is Roman Messer & Cari - Serenity. That voice.

Ok, that's it for now, stay tuned for more corona madness in NSC 181.

 

[theditz83]

I remember that Spanish request show clip! Reminds me a lot of the marvellous Valentina who showed up to audition for Pop Idol and chose to sing the famous Mariah Carey song "Ken Lee"...

 

[Morty]

Classic!

 

[Morty]

Re: Balearica Island brings Uno Corona Virus to the NSC

I don't like how the thread titles don't show in the posts anymore...

Anyway.

Doesn't seem like people wanted to try out Corona. No final for the eurodance queen this time. Got a nice amount of points anyway tho, so it wasn't all bad. Thanks for the points to those who did vote for it.

However, there was one more result recently. The Alphabest spinoff. Awesome spinoff, I'd personally say the best! A lot of great songs, but also the first spinoff victory for ever. I've had a couple of 3rd places, in the second Melodic Picture spinoff, and in the second Celebrate NSC spinoff with a former Fervorosia entry, so to finally get a win was awesome. Thank you again to everyone who voted for Roman Messer & Cari's "Serenity".

Fun fact: has won three times (twice in the main contest, and now one spinoff). Every single win has been with a featured female singer (Lexi, Britney Spears and Cari). I might be on to something here... And yet I will keep sending all sorts of songs.

Ok then, upcoming entries. Yes, entries, again.

You'd think there was little to say about the next entry for the main contest, as the title kinda says it all. Bratkilla & C-Netik giving the Corona Virus the industrial crossbreed hardcore treatment. There are LOADS of coronavirus songs out there now, but one interesting thing about this one, is that it was released in January 2014.

Now, I am aware that "coronavirus" is a family of viruses, and not just Covid-19. The Swedish half of the producers behind this song (Bratkilla) stated on his Facebook page that the Portuguese half (C-Netik) added the vocal sample to the song, and that's how it got the title. And being released in 2014, I figure the sample references the 2012 outbreak of MERS-CoV in the Middle East. But this song got a massive boost thanks to YouTube recommendations algorithms after Covid-19 struck us all, so I feel it's suddenly become relevant again. Probably more relevant than it was back in 2014. Judging by a YT comment by C-Netik, the views on this was around 250K before Covid-19 hit, and it's closing in on 600K now, so I guess you could say the viral campaign has worked.

Here it is:

I'm expecting a poor result with this tbh, will be lucky to avoid the bottom 3 in the semi, but I've been surprised before, so we'll see how it goes.

The second entry for today is for the new spinoff. Spinoffs seem to become more popular again, so has entered a new one, the annual NSC ESC. Altho this spinoff would probably have happened anyway, since it's a tradition. I was pretty desperate to have Little Big - Uno for Balearica Island, because this is probably my all time favorite ESC entry. It's pretty rare that one of my favorite artists enter Eurovision with a song that I feel is up to their standard. Darude failed last year, altho I blame the singer for most of that, as he was pretty weak live, but I expected something more from the instrumental part as well. But Little Big has made what I think is a proper Little Big song, and I never thought I would get to hear a track like this in Eurovision. Спасибо тебе, Россия! Too bad "Uno" never gets to shine in front of the massive Eurovision audience, but I hope they get a second chance in 2021.

Not expecting a win tho, but it will be interesting to see how the results in the spinoff compare to the results from the LL, so I guess the question is whether it'll do better or worse than the 5th place it got there. For me tho, it's a clear number one, and I'm pretty sure it'll remain my favorite for a long time. Unless Little Big returns next year, that is...

I have also decided to enter Congrats 18, which will be my first Congrats spinoff since Congrats 8, so it's been a while. I'll let you know which song I've decided to send later, but I can reveal that it was a rather easy choice.

 

[Morty]

Re: Balearica Island brings back the plague (+ Congrats)

I actually thought I would get my first 27th place in the semi with Corona Virus, and if Biflovatia had voted, I would have. Feeling robbed of my 8th semi final last place. My 3rd 26th place tho. Happy to see that it got some points tho, even a couple of rather high points.

And to be honest, I'm not expecting much better in NSC 182. There is nothing in my NSC history that says my next entry will be top 20 in the semi. We keep going with the corona theme, even tho I realize it's getting old, and most of the world is slowly going back towards "normal". So unless something crazy pops up, we'll go back to our regular schedule next edition. Altho, the planned entry for NSC 183 is probably not something anyone would call a typical entry. But more on that later.

So the story behind our NSC 182 entry is that a former coworker posted this on Facebook a couple of months ago, and since I learned nothing from the result that Nexorum got in NSC 175, I'm trying death metal again. Semi bottom 5, here I come again. These guys should have been well prepared for this situation, as they had a "Europandemic Tour" set up, but as with everything else, it was cancelled, and the guys had to stay home. So they made a video filmed with mobile phones for this song, which is something I've seen other artists do as well. But despite being all death metal, there is some humor in this video, and I like that. The entry for NSC 182 is Cattle Decapitation - Bring Back The Plague. Altho, given the current state of this world, with some countries STILL fighting Covid-19, and USA (where these guys are from) going thru a bunch of other problems at the same time, maybe the plague isn't what we need now. Or is it? Hmmz...

Spinoffs:

In the NSC ESC, Little Big got almost the same result as in the NSC LL, which is what I was curious about. 5th in the LL, 6th in the NSC ESC. Can't complain about that, it was a good result. They'll always remain the 2020 Numero Uno to me tho, even tho it was a pretty strong year when it comes to ESC songs. Or would have been...

Another traditional spinoff is coming up, and for the first time since Congrats 8, has entered the Congrats spinoff, Congrats 18. Because in the 170s, I sent a song that's become VERY special to me, Monoir feat. Ameline - Midnight In Norway. Filmed entirely in the area I grew up in rural middle Norway. Just had to take the opportunity to let this shine one more time, despite actually being my best result in the 170s.

 

[Morty]

Re: Black and white dancing together on Balearica Island (NSC 183)

Starting off with the result from Congrats 18, Monoir got a fairly good result. 21st is by far my best Congrats result.
Cattle Decapitation actually did better than the hardcore corona virus song, but not by much. Just like the Congrats result, it ended 21st, but 21st in a Congrats is better than a 21st in a regular NSC semi. Still, didn't finish last, and it got 3 times as many points as "Corona Virus", so I can't be too unhappy.

Time to leave the coronavirus behind now, and the plan was to go back to "normal". But after the murder on George Floyd, and the following protests on racism and police brutality, I've decided to make follow the world news for one more edition, and send one more song that's relevant to what's going on around the world these days. Well actually, it has been going on for centuries, but I'm hoping now is the time for some much needed changes.

2 Brothers On The 4th Floor was one of the best eurodance acts in the 90's, and they recently made a new 2020 Equality version of one of their hits, "Never Alone". I still prefer the original tho (never been a big fan of acoustic versions of electronic dance songs), and that is why I'm going oldschool. Again. Not much more to say really, the lyrics say it all, but make no mistake, there's no room for racism on . #blacklivesmatter

Black and white, dancing together on

Also, this song could make history, but I'll fill you in on that after this edition if it does. Kinda hope it doesn't tho, at least not in the way I'm thinking of.