✷ Western USA ✷ 184 ✷ Rihanna - Only Girls (In The World) ✷
For years now the popular West Coast music show 'Western USA Song Contest' has been the selection format adopted by the Western USA delegation in order to choose their entry to that upcoming Worldvision edition. While mostly preferring to use internal selections, the show has been used on 7 occasions and seen some various formats. For the most part 'WUSC' has sees a singer internally selected, with the public and juries voting on which song will go with them to the upcoming WV edition. As a format it has proven highly successful, providing 4 top 5s (1 of which was a victory), and 2 11th places. The results of the 7th are still pending. Lets take a look over the 7 editions as they happened.
The first edition ever of WUSC to be used was for WV 76 where Texan singer Kelly Clarkson was internally selected and then presented 5 songs of her choosing to the public and juries. The edition saw the best turn out for voters compared to any other with 20 countries taking part in the vote. Despite the great turn out, the result proved incredibly tight and would be the start of a recurring theme in WUSC. The end of the voting had 'Since U Been Gone' tied with 'Behind These Hazel Eyes', and with no real rule regarding tiebreakers implemented the job was handed to the HoD to break the tie. He of course, selected 'Since U Been Gone' which was crowned the winner. The song would go on to come 4th with 152 points in that WV edition.
The next time WUSC would be used, would follow after the delegations first NQ with Western USA where the group Thirty Seconds to Mars would fail to impress. Popular singer Demi Lovato was internally chosen to fly the Phoenix flag for the next edition with WUSC being used to select the song. Following an almost identical format to before, 5 songs were presented with the public and juries with their voting selecting the winner. Given the tie in the edition before, an extra rule was added to the voting sequence that would remove all points below a 7. As it happened, the tie breaker wasn't needed as the 'Echame Le Culpa' would landslide a victory beating its nearest competitor 'Neon Lights'. At Worldvision 'Echame Le Culpa' would fall just outside the top 10 in 11th place with 131 points.
After a very long hiatus, Western USA Song Contest would return in a slimmed down rebranded format to select the entry to WV128. Natalia Kills was invited to submit songs for consideration with numerous options being put forward. The songs 'Lights Out (Go Crazy)' and 'Mirrors' were selected to go into an online vote with interested parties being invited to take part in the vote. 'Mirrors' would score ahead and go on to represent Western USA. There it would come 11th with 127 points.
After a return of the main HoD, WUSC was brough back once more to pick the entry for Western USA in that upcoming WV edition. As well as this, it went through a graphical rebrand which saw it modernised for the time, the heart flag was removed with the Phoenix becoming the central emblem of the design. Bucking the trend of the selections for Kelly Clarkson & Demi Lovato, singer Mimoza presented only 3 songs instead of the normal 5. The voting initially was quite close, with 'Big Girls Cry' looking like the early favourite, however 'Young Queen' would pull ahead and win comfortably, while also having the highest 'average' score on record. At Worldvision Mimoza would come 4th with a strong 167 points.
The budget was well and truly blown in the 5th edition of WUSC. Instead of the internally selected artists presenting a handful of songs for people to pick from the delegation decided to expand bigger and more competitive with the battle of the states. With a huge catalogue of potential entries, the delegation were spoiled for choice as to what to add to the line up. 2 semi finals took place with 3 from each qualifying, with a wildcard rounding out the grand final to 7 songs. International promotion and online hype saw 14 different countries and regions interested in taking part in the vote. To spice things up, juries were given the opportunity to award a bonus 2 points to any song they love particularly. Early betting had Selena Gomez & The Scene on as hot favourites to win, however voting in the semi finals and final would be favourable to Scottish DJ Calvin Harris who was collaborating with the group HAIM. Their song 'Pray to God' would win WUSC in a nail biter of a voting sequence by just 1 point - a victory attributed to the bonus 2 points given by Ile-De-France. At Worldvision that edition, they would go on to score another 4th place with 137 points.
The budget was well and truly blown in the 5th edition of WUSC. Instead of the internally selected artists presenting a handful of songs for people to pick from the delegation decided to expand bigger and more competitive with the battle of the states. With a huge catalogue of potential entries, the delegation were spoiled for choice as to what to add to the line up. 2 semi finals took place with 3 from each qualifying, with a wildcard rounding out the grand final to 7 songs. International promotion and online hype saw 14 different countries and regions interested in taking part in the vote. To spice things up, juries were given the opportunity to award a bonus 2 points to any song they love particularly. Early betting had Selena Gomez & The Scene on as hot favourites to win, however voting in the semi finals and final would be favourable to Scottish DJ Calvin Harris who was collaborating with the group HAIM. Their song 'Pray to God' would win WUSC in a nail biter of a voting sequence by just 1 point - a victory attributed to the bonus 2 points given by Ile-De-France. At Worldvision that edition, they would go on to score another 4th place with 137 points.
WUSC 06 was the most lowkey of all of the editions, however it proved to be the most dramatic of the lot. To celebrate 100 editions of Worldvision for it's HoD, global superstar Lady Gaga was internally picked with some of the yet-to-be sent hits lined up as potential entries. Some of her biggest hits such as 'Poker Face' & 'Born This Way' were penned against eachother in a battle - and the result had to be right. A special jury was constructed with interested parties only being able to vote privately; as such, no official breakdown was released. The drama started when 'Poker Face' & 'Judas' would end the voting in a tie break, which almost happened the edition before and in the first edition with Kelly Clarkson. In the tiebreaker system, 'Poker Face' would win however a late intervention by the HoD saw that procedure thrown out and 'Judas' declared the winner (rumour has it he has a history of NF rigging). His actions would be vindicated though, when Judas would score a victory with 187 points in the 150th edition - and on the 100th of the HoD.
The most recent edition of Western USA Song Contest you all know very well. Again, after a hiatus the NF was brough back following a double NQ in Worldvision. WUSC was yet again rebranded, dropping the phoenix and returning to the pink/purple aesthetic instead of orange. Rihanna was approached with the idea of returning to Worldvision, and while she was unsure decided it would be the right time to do so. Like in the early editions, 5 songs were chosen for the line up of the show - 'S&M' would end up being disqualified after it come out that it had actually already been to Worldvision lowering the number of competiting song to 4. The result and odds were completely open with all being potential winners however it was 'Only Girl (In The World)' that pulled ahead to clinch a narrow victory ahead of 'Unfaithful'. Data however, from the Average and 7+ scoring would show a much more convincing lead for 'Only Girl (In The World)'. It's result at Worldvision? well lets wait and see.