Yes, it is she, it is me, and baby, you needed my lovin’ because I’m back as your host extraordinaire for another round of ranked retro obscurity.
Whew, it’s been an eventful few months, hasn’t it? We survived the self-destruction of the Pink Hellhole™ and are now making our home in this new Purple Purgatory™. Turns out we as a forum population love a cunty colorway, so in honor of this transition from pink to purple, this round’s theme will be about color. You might ask, “But Jeffo, didn’t you already do an iconic color-related theme?” Yes, I did, reader! Very astute of you to remember. That round was about color interpretation, and was otherwise not restrictive outside of being required to say what color you associated with the song you entered. This theme will be restrictive.
THE THEME
• The artist name, song title, or lyrics must mention a color.
• The color does not have to be pink or purple. It can be any color.
• Names of shades are allowed, but I might have to exercise some discretion here. For instance, cherry red might be the common name of a shade of red, but if you have a song that only references cherries as something to be eaten, that’s not really in the spirit of the theme.
• Alternatively, artist names, song titles, or lyrics that reference color more generally are also allowed. An example that would absolutely get vetoed due to the artist’s commercial success: Céline’s “The Colour of My Love”.
• As always, if you’re submitting a song that’s not in English, I will definitely need you to spell out the theme connection to me.
For those who are new or need a refresher, the regular contest rules will be in the next post.
TIMELINE
Submission Deadline: June 15 Voting Deadline: July 10 Results: July 11 or 12
You submit a song to me via PM, 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 favorite song goes here)
10 points
8 points
7 points
6 points
5 points
4 points
3 points
2 points
1 point (your least favorite 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. I’ll reveal the ballots one by one at the end, and whoever accrues the most points wins the round, the envy of their peers, and a promotional deal with Tesco. Simple as that.
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 Pop Square song contests
• Click here for the list of songs previously entered to PS Retro and its predecessors, PJOPS and PJ Retro
• Click here for the list of songs previously entered to PSSC and its predecessor, PJSC
• 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
• Act had 25 pages or more of discussion on the former Popjustice 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)
Criteria that will also be taken into 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 had 15-24 pages of discussion on the former Popjustice forum
• Song is by an act who had major success in the UK or US
• Act has been entered multiple times in this contest
It was surprisingly difficult for me to find a song among my potentials that fits this theme, even after a ton of lyrics translating. The remaining few that did work very well all seemed like flops so… let’s see how this one goes. I do like a good challenge though.
Finding a song that fits the theme and that aligns with both my brand and my standards is proving to be a bit trickier than I thought dddd. I will not stop the search though!
I only had one song on my potentials list that looked like it’d fit the theme, but it had “total flop” written all over it nn. Thankfully I found another one that also fit and feels a bit more competitive.
Some of my previous entries that would fit this theme:
(+ at a stretch La Cream - You and Rainbow - Rainbow Eyes)
These are just based on the act names and song titles, I didn’t even look up the lyrics for the rest so there’s almost certainly more. No wonder I almost ran out of these to use here dd
This made me wonder how many of my previous entries would fit the theme and without delving into the lyrics and only looking at artist and titles only Shadow of the Moon by Blackmore’s Night would fit! I guess I’m not a very colorful person!
