SHAKES

6 beautiful challengers stand before me, but we can only crown two winners.

Alex S... Jack... Jared... Kemi... Turcia... Xakim...

The time has come. After eleven daily missions and one grueling final, you have all completed the checkpoints and raced up the mountain to cross the finish line in our first ever final mission.

It has been a long road to get here, and you should all leave this game proud of yourselves as finalists in our most competitive season of JUSCC to date.

Let's look at the flashbacks to see how everyone did.

Theme 1: A Song About Winning

Heat 1:

Xakim:
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A Song About Winning: Main Character by Rosse

Jaxon- Oh this was FUN! I think I'm familiarish with her through.... Josh? Almost used it in XMC 9 in the song that describes your journey theme :). I like it more now than I did then. Very fun, the beats good, lyrics are iconic.

Josh- Honestly? Good choice, I neared used her in AS2. I totally understand the choice here but I can’t help but wonder if this wouldn’t have worked better or just as well as your winners single. I feel like the story of the song can be seen as reflecting your journey in the game being in all of the arguments and leading in wins. That being said it doesn’t take away how I am putting it. Solid choice.

Krystal- Honestly this is a really, really nice singing voice. It has a good deal of interesting static and builds up well to this sort of like a bit more bouncy, discordant fun sound. It’s a fun song overall. I also like the photo capture sound n such. Take my #1 for the A Song About Winning checkpoint!

Deme- Oh, this is fun! I like her vocals. The chorus is especially fun, and the instrumental works well with it. Go off.

Ali- yeah I walked into this ranking thinking it will be hard to top this song, like it's a bop and it fits you perfectly for being the main character of the season. The song truly embraces main girl energy syndrome and captures the essence of what being the center of attention is about.

Jared:
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A Song About Winning: Greedy by YONAKA

Jaxon- Oh YONAKA mom. Im kinda mixed on these vocals, like they ARE giving, but they also kinda sound off to me a bit. I think I'm more positive than negative, but it is giving grower energy. I actually quite enjoy the screaming here. She was fun, I liked this. It got better as the song went on, I'm kinda gagged

Josh- Uhh this wasn’t it for me at all. It was just a lot of talking and then just getting louder in the chorus. Biggest miss of heat 1 overall for me and this was the last song i had to listen to for heat 1. Shuffle saved the worst for last.

Krystal- I liked the weird ass laughing thing. I don’t know if I’m all that obsessed with her vocals here though. The instrumental kind of outsells it, and the vocals if anything feel like a detriment to the song for me.

Deme- ...If you could see my face when I heard this intro? I mean, she's fine. I don't hate her at all. I like how she sounds kinda aggressive.

Ali- yeah this goes off, Yonaka hardly has any bad songs and always serves unapologetic bad bitch energy, and it does entail "not getting fucked over" energy you are going for, but at the same time, it does hit the mark in other parts lyrically speaking, and more explanation would have been good!

Kemi:
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A Song About Winning: Yes Yes I Can by Rayelle

Jaxon- Oh? I really like her voice. It has that umph to it. This song was super fun too. A very strong finish to this lineup of three strong songs. The clapping was very fun. I enjoyed this song! It just has a grooooovy vibe to her.

Josh- Oh this 30 seconds in this sounds very girlboss. I love some positivity and like i’ve talked in other ranks about how songs couldve performed well in other weeks and I feel like this wouldve ranked well in Self-Love week. Very self uplifting which is nice. It also just sounds exciting, like you can help to bop along and tap your foot along.

Krystal- This singing voice is pretty nice. Like I do think she has strong vocals. The clapping for once kind of annoys me. Like this feels very much radio hit ish. And I don’t like the instrumental.

Deme- She's fun. Not the type of song I'd listen to again, but she's fun?

Ali- okay so the thing about this song is that it hits everything about a winner song. But like comparing it to the other two submissions, I happened to enjoy them more. The other two happened to be edgier. I still love it, but sadly it did go up with two songs that fit better my taste.

Heat 2:

Jack:
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A Song About Winning: Losing Is The New Winning from The Official Vegas Soundtrack

Jaxon- On one hand, I liked some of the elements of this song. The backing beat was very nice and well done. At others, I really hated the extraness she (edit- they, were there multiple people?? josh informed me this was a drag song post ranking) was doing with her voice. Like, I feel I’ve said it every time it’s been done this season- I don’t like the broadway/musical vibes of the song and I feel this song had elements of it. It was very distracting to me. It’s not my style. Sorry bestie.

Josh- This is so camp that you sent this. Like this is NOT gonna go over well with the panel. You would’ve had a better chance sending Rupauls “Im a winner baby” than this. I’m just giggling that this song has to go down on the list of used songs. Also the S12 cast version is superior besides Sh*rry P*e. Its gonna get to listing all the people who didnt win and the other judges are gonna be like??? Who?? None of the judges besides me are into drag race so like its gonna be crickets on this one.

Krystal- I was a little scared after the last time Drag Race stuff was sent, but this is not that bad. I like this funky little instrumental. I just feel like this was… a pick of sorts. Not for me particularly.

Deme- Genuinely thought you sent some Rupaul's Drag Race song at first and that was... a journey to be on. Oh. Wait. I think it is from drag race. Um. I mean, it's much better than everything else I've heard from the show? I'll... give it that...? That's. That's all I can really give it.

Ali- not this song about losing the competition and still feel like you are on top of the world, like it would have made more sense had you submitted this for your next season, but not during this seasons finale. Like the song literally lists some dray queens that didn't win the competition, so why is your winner song about you... losing the competition? But I do suppose you saw into the future and decided to submit it for the gag of it all. Even if the song did lyrically fit, I still wouldnt like it more than the other two.

Turcia:
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A Song About Winning: Bite Me by Naomi Jon

Jaxon- Okay, this song has me intrigued. It’s very catchy, and while it has a lot going on, I don’t think it’s overwhelming. It has more of a fun vibe. It doesn’t take itself too seriously, and I’m having a good time vibing along with it. I don’t think it’s a PERFECT song, but it’s a really good one.

Josh- Uhm this song is kind not great lol. The chorus is fine but its very harsh and heavy tonally and im really not all about it. Idk like not the strongest submission imo and this is the make or break time. Not the time to choke.

Krystal- Oh I don’t really like her voice much. Like she’s kind of overwhelming to listen to in some ways. I want to like it, but I just… do not enjoy whatever she is giving me. I can’t believe I’m a hater because I normally like noisy, fast-paced stuff. But she is up to something certainly.

Deme- I mean... it's iconic? I, like, equally hate and love whatever's going on with the vocals. I'm. Shrugs? A lot? I have no idea what I think about this?

Ali- Lmao not miss Naomi like I watch her yt videos... yeah this fits your aesthetics of being a savage bad bitch. Come through a bit... ìdk what else to say like the song is honesty the bomb.com! You did slay the competition, and this song embraces your personality of being a savage.

Alex S.
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A Song About Winning: The Winner Takes It All by Cher

Jaxon- Cher is quite a boring pick to go with here in my opinion. Like autotuney queen? Yes. Exciting to listen to and see here? No. I liked the cover at least. I just feel a bit uninspired listening and ranking it right now- kinda feels like a loop hole around not wanting big names + big songs.

Josh- Thats so funny I was just talking to Krystal and Deme how we don’t get all that much Abba. I honestly haven’t heard the Abba version in a long time but Cher kind of outsold them in this cover? Her abba album is so good and this song doesn’t ever have any dips in quality.

Krystal- I know I love Cher. I also love Mamma Mia. I’m a lil nervous because I don’t 100% remember this song sung by her though. I do think Cher has a beautiful voice as always. Honestly… yeah I can dig it. THE WINNER TAKES IT ALLLLLL. Oh Jaxon um he does not like Mamma Mia. 😶 And I don’t think Ali likes musicals either… ahhhh… WELL I LIKE MUSICALS AND MAMMA MIA. Thanks for this!!! Take my #1 for the A Song About Winning checkpoint!  

Deme- Can't believe you sent The Winner Takes It All and didn't send the Meryl Streep version... Cher is an icon, though, so this is acceptable. She's soooo good. I love her vocals. The song itself is a bop, too, so like...?

Ali- Oh I never heard of a Cher song before, but damn this one is good. Like call me a bad baguette, but she never peaked my interest. But yeah this song slays. I wish the song centered more about your journey or your character during the game, but yeah whatever the song is still good and has that winner aspect.

Checkpoint 2: Checkpoint Jaxon - F/F Duets

Heat 2:

Alex S.
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Checkpoint Jaxon: Don’t Be A Stranger by Ward Thomas, Cam

Jaxon- I liked this one. I didn’t love it. Their voices were fine alone, they complimented each other quite well together. However, I just feel like the song bored me a bit. It didn’t blow me away or really do anything SPECIAL for me. It’s just kinda a song that I would consider background music. The beat was a bit boppy, just a bit.