Totallympics Open International Song Contest 2020

[mrv86 3,138]

11 minutes ago, Werloc said:

One thing that I regret not mentioning in my interview, because I only started thinking about it after reading some other users interviews is that, think of it this way

 

The best song to send to TISC could be a song that isn't a favourite genre of anyone, something slightly obscure, or something so generic it would appeal to everyone.

 

For example, my favourite genre is folk and perhaps I want to hear more folk songs.

 

Someone sends a folk song, but I have thousands of other folk songs that I can compare the song with, because I'm heavily invested in that genre. So if you're reading the interviews and aiming to get 12 points from someone, remember that it could also be a trap 

Dear @Wanderer  why would you hack @Werloc's account?

 

Remember:

 

[Werloc 3,171]

13 minutes ago, mrv86 said:

Dear @Wanderer  why would you hack @Werloc's account?

 

Remember:

 

Did you ever stop for a second to think that perhaps we are the same person? 

 

The 'W' is our trademark. We're probably @Wumo as well.

[mrv86 3,138]

9 minutes ago, Werloc said:

Did you ever stop for a second to think that perhaps we are the same person? 

 

The 'W' is our trademark. We're probably @Wumo as well.

[dcro 10,210]

1 hour ago, Werloc said:

So if you're reading the interviews and aiming to get 12 points from someone, remember that it could also be a trap 

Are you telling us to enter more trap music?

[Werloc 3,171]

3 hours ago, dcro said:

Are you telling us to enter more trap music?

Well, if you want to be considered in my top 40, you can go ahead and enter trap.

[Vojthas 949]

Trap music from @dcro? It means... Josip Glasnović will sing?

[dcro 10,210]

  

Werloc: "Lyrics Are Extremely Important, but You Can't Sacrifice Sound for Lyrics"

 

 

Unlike most of us, Werloc took his TISC experience to an entire new level. Werloc entered his own work. While "I'll Be There" was not particularly well-received (39th), with more fine-tuning and mileage, "Acceptance" was able to record a more respectable final result (14th). But that is not where the story ends. Under Werloc's tutelage, Lithuania achieved a record-setting five consecutive Top 10 placings, including the fan-favorite victory aboard "Song About Love".

 

Clinics with Werloc (pictured above) are notoriously hard to get in. We did manage to sneak in an interview, though...

 

Q: How do you go about evaluating TISC entries? Do you use a specific system when picking out your Top 12?

A: I start with an Excel spreadsheet where I have all countries listed and rank every song from 1 to 5. A 4 and 5 will get you to the upper bracket (usually no more than eight songs), and a 3 will get you in the lower bracket. A 1 and a 2 gets you out of the competition, and I usually lose 10 songs like that.
 
The second stage is ranking each individual bracket. If you don't get into the top 12 in the lower bracket, I'm probably saying goodbye to you, unless I feel potential of growth from the song, whilst the upper bracket ranking is where the high points are at.
 
The third stage is the first time the songs are evaluated together, listened in the previous rankings order to see if the order holds up. This is usually the stage in which lower bracket songs have the best chance at moving past the upper bracket songs and really gives a good vibe of what the final ranking could look like. Some of the songs at the bottom get dropped.
 
The fourth stage is randomizing the order of the songs and ranking them again. If there are any irregularities with the previous ranking, listen again and again until doubts disappear.
 
For example, the last annual contest took 7 listens for all the irregularities to disappear since there was a lot of drama between places 10-14.

 

Q: And what about the maximum 12 points? Can you recognize it immediately? Or do you take a certain amount of time before deciding on it?

A: I think that is a question that is best answered with some statistics. During 2020A, 2019O, 2019A, 2018O, 2018A, 2017O and 2017A (the excels that I have on hand with me right now), the maximum 12 points were decided in the very first upper bracket ranking, and it was immovable during every listen. So I guess it's fair to say that I recognize it immediately. I think it would be more fun if it was a closer battle, but one song is always head and shoulders above the rest. I think the last contest was the closest top 3 that I've had, but even after those 7 listens their order didn't shift apart from Ireland stealing the third place in the fourth listen from Brazil, which ended up being passed by Malta and Netherlands as well.

 

Q: Do you have a favorite music genre? Is there any genre you would like to hear more of on the TISC stage?

A: I think I've experienced a lot of musical growth throughout my youth because the concept of a favourite genre was everchanging. I had a Pop phase, went through a Rock phase, went onto lighter things and listened to a lot of Alternative, then came Indie, afterwards it was a huge Soul, Jazz and R&B stage. Then I started listening to a lot of Folk.
 
Suppose I had to name my favourite genre now. In that case, I think it would easily be Folk and Indie Folk with Pop/R&B being a close second. However, I also really love Jazz, Soul still, and lately, I've been roped back into heavier music as well, with some friendlier rock-inspired acts like Sam Fender, Nothing But Thieves, Royal Blood.
 
A genre that I would like to see more represented on the TISC stage? Perhaps Folk is indeed a bit underrepresented, but stuff like R&B and Jazz is also not something that you get to hear too often. but there's also probably not a huge demand for these last two genres in the TISC community. I feel that light rock and polished pop are the front runners of our contests.

 

Q: How important are lyrics to you?

A: Lyrics are actually extremely important to me, but you can't sacrifice sound for lyrics. Folk singer-songwriters are probably my favourite, because of their attention to lyrics. Although there are times where the song is just that good, that you don't have to care what it's about. I remember Austria getting twelve points from me, and to this day, I have no idea what that song is about. (Well, I'm lying, due to the video, I can at least guess that it's about a machine).
 
One thing is sure that, since lyrics are important to me, it's the English songs that are most in danger for this category. I have pummeled songs down the rankings more times than I could count if the lyrics were awful.

 

Q: And finally... How can we get 12 points from Werloc?

A: I think the secret is to find the combination of everything that I love.
 
At the forefront, there has to be a good vocalist (hitting notes, having a nice timbre).
 
The instrumental has to be good, and it has to compliment the vocals well. I'm a sucker for live instruments, though, so your trap music and hip-hop are probably not going to resonate with me as much.
 
The mixing and mastering of the tracks, basically the production. With a good set of earphones, you can hear a lot of extra details in every song as well as you can hear small mistakes, some of which can be irritating to the ear and might lose a point or two. Sometimes it could be the bad balance of sound, instruments or some vocals too loud or too quiet in the mix. Sometimes it can also be the tone of the reverb used that sounds off-putting and doesn't compliment the vocalist well, or you can hear that there's too much autotune.
 
Harmonies. I really love harmonies. If your song has good harmonies and vocal layering, you have an excellent chance to end up in my top 12
 
Lyrics. If you're writing in English, then it would be cool if you would understand the language and avoid grammatical mistakes. The rhyming scheme is pretty important, too, as well as rhythm. Lastly, I like meaningful songs, so if you're singing about having sex all night long and drinking till blackout, doing drugs and all that good shit, you're probably not going very high up my list.

 

If Werloc's musical preferences still feel like a jigsaw puzzle - maybe this will help. Our resident Lithuanian juror has outlined the following entries as favorites during the most recent editions...

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

Stay tuned for more user interviews to come, as we count down to TOISC 2020...

[Werloc 3,171]

40 minutes ago, dcro said:

 

If Werloc's musical preferences still feel like a jigsaw puzzle - maybe this will help. Our resident Lithuanian juror has outlined the following entries as favorites during the most recent editions...

 

Is it actually absolutely weird that these songs are my twelve pointers from the last three contests, but I don't really feel that they exactly represent my musical preferences?  The Brazilian song is probably the best representation 

[Vektor 3,326]

Wow, we have less than a week until the finale, how time flies!

 

I just hope that whoever wins, it won't be dragged out for days while we will wait for the last few votes to arrive painfully slowly. I don't want to spend days looking at a world map, searching for outstanding votes for the runner-up to catch up to the song leading the race, debating whether there's still a path for them to win TISC. 

[heywoodu 15,174]

I'm hoping to be able to send out templates not later than Wednesday. It's a shitload of work  but so far so good, although a good number of votes still have to be counted. No word yet on which strongholds they are coming from.