36. ROSALÍA - "MALAMENTE" // Sent by TheGoodMan // TSC 339, 13th place, 61 points (10 points given).
Queen of flamenco doing queen tings. The production seems so simple, but it's so effective. I'm a bit of a sucker for the snappy-clappy style and the vocal is delivered so cool and effortlessly.
35. Grace Carter - "Don't Hurt Like It Used To" // Sent by Talian // TSC 353, 6th place, 87 points (12 points given).
Hey, queen! Girl, you have done it again. Constantly raising the bar for us all and doing it FLAWLESSLY. I'd say I'm surprised... but I know who you are... Girl, you make me SO proud, and I love you.
34. Josh Dean - "DropDead" // Sent by Talian // TSC 377, 13th place, 49 points (7 points given).
I'm not saying it's an entirely warranted comparison because FUCKING DUH HE'S NOT MICHAEL JACKSON, but he's got some Michael in him (perhaps that's poorly worded). This is funky as hell, and to me, not in offputting try-hard kinda way that a lot of people going for a similar sound end up coming across. Like the added bit of grit to his voice, it's super appealing to me. Not something I initially thought would be ranked this highly, but I feel very comfortable putting it here.
33. Labrinth & Zendaya - "All For Us" // Sent by ianfitz0012 // TSC 370, 10th place, 55 points (12 points given).
I still need to watch Euphoria!!!!! A collab I didn't know that I needed, but now that I have it, I need more. Duets are usually NOT my thing, but they sound absolutely amazing together and never get into cringe territory. Great production, outside of the box, awesome.
32. Olivier Heldens - "Fire In My Soul (feat. Shungudzo)" // Sent by Alexeh23 // TSC 340, 6th place, 88 points (10 points given).
I love the tribal feel of this. In a genre where things have tons of overlap in sound, this feels super fresh to me. Could listen to this on repeat for hours. Have* listened* to this on repeat for hours.
A sound that's been done before plenty of times, but this is done better than a large majority of its contemporaries. It's so polished, but still somehow has a soul to it that a big portion of dance music truly lacks. Another one that I could listen to foreva and eva.
30. Tiffany Young - "Run For Your Life" // Sent by Patrick319 // TSC 378, 2nd place, 97 points (8 points).
I can admit when one of my winning entries feels a little undeserving next to something that came close to beating me. That was absolutely the case in 378 with this versus Mel C. I rate both songs highly, but there's an edge to that this that puts it over the top. Okay Gaga, work bitch. It still can't be argued that it lacks a real chorus, but everything else about it is top notch to the point where I don't care it all. I believe in my original comment about it I said I'd rather no chorus than a shitty pop drop and I stand by that. ^_^
29. Little Simz - "Selfish (feat. Cleo Sol)" // Sent by Tepr // TSC 358, 22nd place, 31 points (10 points given).
Rarely do I ever feel this catered to in TSC. <3 I'm sorry to break it to you all, but Tepr is the only person cool enough to send this. It's extremely pleasant and chill no matter the time, BUT it sounds like heaven if you're ~*blunted*~
28. Betta Lemme - "Play" // Sent by Talian // TSC 350, 7th place, 85 points (did not participate).
And we transition from one of the most chill and pleasant things you'll hear in TSC to one of the most obnoxious. It has plenty of elements to it that should make me hate it, but I truly cannot help myself. I wish I could put into words what I actually like about it, but I'm struggling. That being said, after I discovered it scrolling through one of the contests I missed, I played this so much. Earworm.
thank you to the following people for allowing Little Simz a spot in the final:
Luca (3 points), Steve (10 points), Lorna (5 points), Johnny (3 points), Scott (2 points), Alexeh (10 points), me (6 points), Steven (1 point), Virginia (6 points), Hellocat (6 points)
27. Noa Kirel - "SLT" // Sent by Alexeh23 // TSC 377, 2nd place, 129 points (12 points given).
I struggled with where to put this, honestly. In my initial set of rankings it was even higher (we're talking borderline top 10), but then recency bias slowly but surely slipped away. Ultimately, this is a ranking I feel more comfortable with. It's right up my alley. The drop is giving me sexy snake charmer realness and it's just an all around serve.
26. gugudan - "Not That Type" // Sent by Insanity // TSC 362, 6th place, 89 points (12 points given).
THERE U R, STEVEN. If you haven't noticed, I haven't been using [redacted] for k-pop anymore. I'm one of the girls now. Sejeong is my BIAS here. Teach me how to k-pop better, please.
This was entered during the boom period for k-pop in TSC and it hangs right in there with the other heavy hitters. This is super infectious, fun and catchy. The pre-chorus makes me a little hwet and the chorus doesn't disappoint either. Maybe they were born with it... maybe they SNAPPED.
24. BANKS - "Stroke" // Sent by Insanity // TSC 361, 8th place, 73 points (10 points given).
It's very easily my favorite BANKS entry of the year (assuming we don't count Begging For Thread). It's so sexy and full of bass and I just love the entire vibe of it.
23. Leikeli47 - "Tic Boom" // Sent by onemanarmy // TSC 357 (SF1), did not qualify (12 points given in SF1).
I said a few write-ups ago that I rarely feel that catered to -- this is the one entry this year that felt most catered to me and me alone. The drum production here is sooooo fucking satisfying to me. The entire thing just smacks me upside the head. Tragic non-qualifier getting its due here!
