Similarly to last year, my top 40 will be posted on the wordpress blog website with longer song reviews. The 60 other entries that I found good, but not great enough? You will see them here!
Some notes:
- All songs sent in TSC between 301 to 338 are eligible (except for the decades, throwback and cover themes, some Halloween TSC songs are allowed, though)
- Unlike Fritzyyyyy, I allowed to put my own songs in the rankings.
- Contrary to some weird belief, I don't believe that my music taste is better or anything like that.
- There won't be a honorable entries list, because I feel like having 100 songs is already WAY too much for my time.
- YET AGAIN, this is based on my personal opinion. Please do not take any offense from what I think of as they are strictly my thoughts BLAH BLAH BLAH NOBODY EVER READS THAT PART ANYWAY.
100. Dean Lewis – Lose My Mind - TSC307, #IceBeast, 2nd, 84 pts
IceBeast only appeared in one contest this year, but the song he entered almost got him a win in TSC307. No wonder, this is a very TSC-friendly song with some really nice restraint throughout. It lacks anything distinct to make it stand out, but I would rather have a well-executed safe song than a messy innovative entry.
This sort of a pop rock sound was on fire in TSC this year, and VERIDIA shows how some great rock backings in the chorus can really lift up the quality of this tune.
People bitched about "Wolves" sampling Demi Lovato's "Confident" - the difference is that Sam Tinnesz doesn't go into vocal show-off territory too much to detoriate the quality awesome drum beat that pretty much drives the whole song.
97. Ieva Zasimauskaite – When We’re Old - TSC309, #Alexito, 10th, 73 pts
This song largely benefitted from being played over and over during the ESC season - I initially found this to be too overly-sugary and boring, but "When We're Old" has hugely grown on me since the first listen. Additionally, she also caused all Alfred & Amaia stans to experience their favourite act reach the bottom of the table, so what's there not to like?
96. Elle King - Shame - TSC324, #Patrick319, 9th, 73 pts
Patrick entered this just a bit before I clicked "send" on my mail to the host, and I ended up getting a better result with my back-up. Nevertheless, this is quite good, nice old-school feel combined with a restraint that might have been used too excessively in this case.
Another solid work from Foxes, nowhere near as good as "Youth" or "Feet Don't Fail Me Now" or even "Cruel," but this'll suffice in the context of 2018 TSC songs.
For some reason, I'd think that this type of a raspy vocal style wouldn't suit a tune like that, but the execution of this is honestly quality. I slight lose interest past the "na na" bridge which explains its relatively low position on this list.
93. Renaida – All The Feels - TSC302, #TolisKalkas, 11th, 61 pts
The quality of this year's MF was quite dire, and Renaida had one of the very few songs that I found myself listening to after the ESC National Finals season. It is not the most remarkable pop song, but it's good enough to appear on the list.
Very soulful and pleasant, lacks the punch in the chorus to really push it over the edge. Nonetheless, very solid song.
90. Imany – Don’t Be So Shy (Filatov & Karas Remix) - TSC306, #Catch_a_falling_star, 8th, 77 pts
The beat here completely drives the song, as Imany's vocals are more of a finishing touch to the product rather than the main element. Gets a bit too repetitive by the end which slightly bumps the song down in the rank.
89. MELOVIN – Under The Ladder - TSC309, #Temeky, 11th, 66 pts
Temeky's only song on my list happens to be a "foreign" song from Ukraine, where Melovin enunciates even worse than Ariana Grande while hitting higher notes. The pronounciation is quite bothersome, but the overall songwriting here really saves this completely botched vocal execution.
After all those years, "Don't do love, don't do friends" is still one of the most iconic opening lines in pop music. How this was not sent until this year, I have no clue, but issa bop.
Luka finally sent an Italian song that stood out for being actually good. It kind of fizzles out by the end, but there's no denying how effective the production is.
The whole structure of the verses delibrately sounds as if half of the lines were completely chopped out of the mix, and the vocals are quite sparse until the chorus hits (which happens to be the worst part of the song).
One of the very few non-ESC songs that made an impact on me in TSC309, "Kundel Bury" has this independent pop artist sound executed so well that it almost makes me forgive the slightly screechy vocal acrobatics she sometimes does throughout the tune.
This whole thing is pure tropical house with the drum beat being amped up all the way to 11. And instead of a synth harmony in the chorus, we get some breezy "ooh-ooh" vocals which is some new level of overlayering of vocals, but it still works well in the context of the song.
83. Matt Simons – We Can Do Better - TSC323, #PrincessTeePee, 8th, 68 pts
This is some generic bullshit that sounds like a mash-up of Ed Sheeran's "Shape Of You" and MAGIC's "Rude," but it's such well-executed generic bullshit that it easily gets over the line.
Alvaro always sticks with this typical latin pop sound, and I mean I cannot really blame him since he does this type of music the best. This is probably even more generic than Matt Simons' song, but it's slightly better executed in its own context.
It's a mostly solid song until it goes into the part after the 2nd chorus which sounds as if the producers suddenly had a major brain fart. Nevertheless, a good song.
As I predicted last year, this sort of a dance-pop song lost its universal appeal over the TSC community. It's not the best song from this type of genre either, but it's done well enough to keep me listening throughout the whole thing, and also shows how great production can mask all the vocal flaws - further proving how being a technically good vocalist is irrelevant in pop music.
Lacks the proper structure of their other song "Burn" (which ended up in my top 40 last year), otherwise it's such a good pop rock song that I was kind of surprised how much I was into it at first.
Subtle and sexy, some really smooth guitars in verses really make this song. It then explodes with a brilliant chorus that you don't really expect from this tune. Could have been ranked higher if the outro had some more effort put in it, as it ends a bit too abruptly.
Delta has not had a song as good as this since "Wings," and what's funny is that "Welcome To Earth" is a pop ballad that suddenly turns into a banger past the 1:25 min mark. Less vocal show-off and this could have made it to my top 40!
Speaking of Asia, South Korean group Momoland went all in with a swing-inspired "Bboom Bboom" which largely resembles Serebro's "Mi Mi Mi," but with better overall catchiness. Remove that crap trap breakdown, and this song would have been higher on the list.
There's this one guy who has been trying to get into my pants for around a year now, and honestly I should send him this song, because I am not exactly sure if he knows what he wants himself - maybe I can get more answers by doing that? Anyway, this song is just so catchy despite its obvious flaws.
72. Elina Nechayeva – La Forza - TSC309, #PrincessTeePee, 2nd, 129 pts
It's not the best song to come out of this genre by any margin, but the dreamy production feel to is done so well that it makes me almost forgive all the vocal acrobatics typical for this style.
71. Ralph – Tease - TSC333, #Insanity17, 9th, 64 pts
This is just a solid pop song, no more or less. Obviously quite a derivative piece of music, but you do not need some unique thrills in this sort of a tune to get it over the line.
70. The Driver Era – Preacher Man - TSC320, #Patrick319, 1st, 139 pts
These guys were in R5 and that band had released nothing but constant duds. The Driver Era sounds as if they had more creative freedom over what content they were going with, and the result is it's easily the best song any R5 members have ever been involved in.
69. Diane Birch – Love And War - TSC333, #Eoin, 3rd, 101 pts
My interest in "Love and War" gets lost a bit after the 2nd chorus, but this is just very solid if not a bit unspectacular.
68. Aitana & Ana Guerra – Lo Malo - TSC311, #ricktworick1, 2nd, 104 pts
Icons Aitana & Ana Guerra score a big hit on the Spanish charts and in TSC while Alfred & Amaia only got recognised for reaching rock bottom in Eurovision and breaking up.
67. Kesha – Learn To Let Go - TSC307, #Eoin, 1st, 90 pts
It is not the best song on the brilliant "Rainbow" album, but it's a competent pop tune with slightly too screechy-ish production suffering from rampant studio overcooking.
66. Noah Cyrus – Make Me (Cry) [feat. Labrinth] - TSC305, #Eoin, 6th, 73 pts
Tempo changes in this are done quite effectively, but there are weird add-on elements to the production (such as the water drops or this weird random noise in the first verse) that ruin an otherwise solid song. It's still quite good, though.
Bibbles finally got her well-overdue win, and it's with a decent pop-rock song that "Magic" undoubtedly is. It's nowhere near the best executions of this genre that I have heard, but this'll do nicely until she wins again.
