50 States of Song 2017 - Semifinal 1 and 2

[Gregory (inactive)]

~Welcome to  Phoenix! Let #50SS 2017 begin!~



The 2nd annual 50 States Of Song contest entries have been selected, and the semifinals voting is NOW OPEN!

We could really use your votes - no need to select a country or state. Just listen to the songs and vote!

This is a contest in which 50 songs from each of the 50 US states (and Puerto Rico) compete for the grand prize.

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Official Website: www.fiftystatesofsong.com

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Semifinal 1:



Semifinal 2:



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What's the plan here? The two semifinal recaps are above. In addition to those videos, I'll be posting one of the songs each day, so you can just tune in and listen to some good music Feel free to use any of the songs I post for other contests, because I love nearly all of them, and I think you will too!

How do I vote? Go to any of the pages on my website and click the Vote! button. It works on mobile, too. Open the survey and choose your Top Ten.

www.fiftystatesofsong.com/2017-semifinal-1
www.fiftystatesofsong.com/2017-semifinal-2
www.fiftystatesofsong.com/vote

Unlike most music contests, any person can vote. We need at least 25 voters for each semifinal.

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Exciting News in the 50SS contest world - last year's winner (Josh West) was basically unknown when he won our 2016 contest. But now, he just passed auditions on The Voice USA! Watch his audition video. I wonder how unknown he will be now... but this is inspiring for me because it means we found an American artist who are now finding the limelight. He even mentions his 50SS 2016 win on his Reverbnation profile. For all I know, winning the contest gave him some confidence to try out for The Voice, and that... is some awesome stuff right there.

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Anyways, please vote! You have plenty of time - until April 30. Otherwise, enjoy the music!

SPOILER: Click to show

Just tagging based on previous/current USAVision interest: MaRtIn @ori2002  MG  Gilberto  Tufkai  Aleks  Jens  ✨💃  jstårsz Queen of Mean (Inactive)  Black Butterfly  ✨ Forrest ✨  Niklas  Liza Mrs Styles  James  Llemian

[MaRtIn]

I'm impressed.

Rooting for my home state of course.

I'll vote soon.

[italix]

We're recruiting right now for the 10th edition of USAVision Song Contest.

[MG]

Oh I could vote as well but remind me next time

[Deleted]

Voted (in SF1)
Very strong edition, and this contest has very high-quality Eurovision-like realism.
Some specific states I root for more, and some less.
I'll vote in SF2 in a while, but it's way way harder to decide there.
The winner will originate in SF1, however, that's what I'm 80% sure of.

[Gregory (inactive)]

#01 - Louisiana

Justin Garner - "Love Strikes Twice"

And so we begin our state-by-state voyage for the 2017 contest with "The Bayou" state, or Louisiana, which is famous for its Mardi Gras parties, New Orleans jazz, and - well, basically if you've watched the Disney movie "The Princess and the Frog" it has a very strong Louisianian theme to it.

Justin Garner is an R&B artist, born in Plaquemine, Louisiana, but now lives in Los Angeles. He sounds kind of like Usher tbh... It's a soothing, simple ballad with plenty of emotion, piano, and guitars to satisfy any listener.

And he's happy we chose his song! So there's that

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Just as a reminder, I'll be trying to post one song each day, so stay tuned for the listening party!

[Gregory (inactive)]

#02 - Connecticut

Delaney Morgan ft. Kayleigh Grustas - "Heartbeats"

Admittedly I haven't done a very good job at posting a daily song, so... maybe you'll get twice the music posts this week to catch up? Anyways, song #2 is from Connecticut, which is your Yankee Doodle state, just east of New York city. Lots of proper, well-to-do people live there. And they like to play tennis. That's about it.

Delaney Morgan is our only "repeat" artist from last year's competition, and unlike his song 'What We Got,' there is a much-welcomed electric pop sound to this song. The 'heartbeat' thumping beat is pervasive. I also really like Kayleigh's vocals on this.

What do you think?

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I'll be posting one song each day, so stay tuned for the listening party!

[Deleted]

" E V E R Y D A Y "

[Deleted]

Louisiana > Connecticut tbh

[Gregory (inactive)]

#03 -  Oklahoma

Parker Millsap - "Pining"

Alright everyone. We're gonna do this ... ONE POST PER DAY NO MATTER WHAT GARRRRGHHHH

The third song (the unluckiest placing in ESC standards) in Semifinal 1 belongs to 2016 qualifier Oklahoma, which is located just north of Texas. So everything you know about Texas... Oklahoma is like a "light" version of Texas. 

Parker Millsap is from Purcell, just south of the capital city of Oklahoma. What he brings to the contest is a modern but very raw, alt-country (or Americana) song called "Pining," in which he sings about his unfulfilled desire to see his significant other. It's an expansion of the country song that was sent last year, and since this US state is the birthplace of Carrie Underwood, who I hope most of you are familiar with, this is very typical for the state. He's got a Wikipedia page, and has performed on Conan O'Brien's late-night show, so he's somewhat of a big deal! But since Mr. Millsap has never had a Top 40 hit on the Billboard charts, he's able to enter this contest.

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I'll be posting one song each day, so stay tuned for the listening party!