he/him
When they called my name, I had this feeling I could hear half of America going “Oh no. Oh, come on... Why? Her, again?” You know? But, whatever. (Meryl Streep, 2012)
Hello, after my inexplicable third PJ RETRO victory this year, I return to compère another round of this delightful online contest of song. Yet I couldn’t help but wonder if maybe some voters felt the same way about my win as half of America supposedly felt when Meryl won.
This was a seed that sprouted into a concept, and you may end up feeling a slight case of déjà vu, as the theme for Round 94 will be: RETURNING ACTS. Your entry this round must be by a performer/group that has previously competed in PJ RETRO or PJ OPS. (It does not have to be by someone YOU previously sent, although of course it can be if you so desire.)
The other day, I dropped an older list of past contest entries into an Excel sheet and deleted all but one occurrence of any act sent more than once, and I found there were more than 2,000 different options you could choose. Visit the spreadsheet of previous entries to confirm your act previously competed.
And let’s sweeten the deal by announcing a few extra considerations:
First, given the new rule that a round with a theme may also have a relaxed veto restriction, for this round, acts that appeared in Round 93 are eligible to compete.
Second, we would also permit a song by a solo act/side project/spinoff group from an act which previously competed (e.g. in that hypothetical situation where No Doubt could pass PJ RETRO veto, you could send a Gwen Stefani song this round).
You submit a song, the veto panel reviews your submission, and you’ll hear back if you’ve successfully passed. Once the song list is revealed, you listen to all of the other entries and put together a Eurovision-style ballot ranking the 10 songs you think most deserve recognition with point values as follows:
12 points (your favourite song goes here)
10 points
8 points
7 points
6 points
5 points
4 points
3 points
2 points
1 point (your least favourite song of your top 10 goes here)
You cannot vote for your own entry, you don’t know who submitted the other songs, and only those who have entered a song may submit a ballot. Contestants who enter a song but don’t vote will have their points total halved as a consequence.
Criteria that will absolutely result in a veto:
• Song was originally released after December 31, 1999
• Song was already entered in a previous round of any of the PJ song contests
• Click here for the list of previous PJOPS/PJ Retro entries
• Click here for the list of previous PJSC entries
• Song peaked within the top 10 on the UK or US singles chart
• Song is a cover of or contains a prominent sample of a UK or US top 10 hit OR was covered/prominently sampled in a song that was a UK or US top 10 hit
• Song (or cover of a song) has competed in the Eurovision Song Contest
• Act has 25 pages or more of discussion on the forum
•Act was entered in the previous round
• This includes any related solo or group acts to an act that was entered in the previous round (ex. Gwen Stefani and No Doubt, in an alternate universe where either of them could actually pass the veto criteria) restriction lifted for Round 94
Criteria that will also be taken in consideration for veto purposes:
• Song is from an album that peaked in the top 10 on the UK or US albums chart
• Song is from a Platinum- or Gold-certified album in the UK or US
• Song peaked between #11 and #20 on the UK or US singles chart
• Song was a major hit in other big music markets (France, Germany, Japan, etc) and/or in multiple countries
• Act has 15 - 24 pages of discussion on the forum
• Song is by an act who had major success in the UK or US
• Act has been entered multiple times in this contest
12 points (your favourite song goes here)
10 points
8 points
7 points
6 points
5 points
4 points
3 points
2 points
1 point (your least favourite song of your top 10 goes here)
You cannot vote for your own entry, you don’t know who submitted the other songs, and only those who have entered a song may submit a ballot. Contestants who enter a song but don’t vote will have their points total halved as a consequence.
Criteria that will absolutely result in a veto:
• Song was originally released after December 31, 1999
• Song was already entered in a previous round of any of the PJ song contests
• Click here for the list of previous PJOPS/PJ Retro entries
• Click here for the list of previous PJSC entries
• Song peaked within the top 10 on the UK or US singles chart
• Song is a cover of or contains a prominent sample of a UK or US top 10 hit OR was covered/prominently sampled in a song that was a UK or US top 10 hit
• Song (or cover of a song) has competed in the Eurovision Song Contest
• Act has 25 pages or more of discussion on the forum
•
• This includes any related solo or group acts to an act that was entered in the previous round (ex. Gwen Stefani and No Doubt, in an alternate universe where either of them could actually pass the veto criteria)
Criteria that will also be taken in consideration for veto purposes:
• Song is from an album that peaked in the top 10 on the UK or US albums chart
• Song is from a Platinum- or Gold-certified album in the UK or US
• Song peaked between #11 and #20 on the UK or US singles chart
• Song was a major hit in other big music markets (France, Germany, Japan, etc) and/or in multiple countries
• Act has 15 - 24 pages of discussion on the forum
• Song is by an act who had major success in the UK or US
• Act has been entered multiple times in this contest
Please submit your entries to me via private message and please include a YouTube and/or Spotify link if appropriate.
Dates:
Submission and veto panel: Now – Thursday, November 16 (or whenever they’re done)
Voting: Thursday, November 16 (or whenever they’re done) – Sunday, December 3 11:59pm in the final time zone
Reveals: Monday, December 4
Submission and veto panel: Now – Thursday, November 16 (or whenever they’re done)
Voting: Thursday, November 16 (or whenever they’re done) – Sunday, December 3 11:59pm in the final time zone
Reveals: Monday, December 4
Also, part of the déjà vu concept was that I wanted to post scans from Billboard magazine in 1994 as a direct copy of the tireless work of @Doodvid but I haven’t found anything worth sharing yet. We’ll see what happens.
The time has come to pick your PJ RETRO all star, get your game on, and go play!
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