50SS 2019 Entries - Oregon, Texas, South Dakota, Virginia
The poll is (unofficially) over for Semifinal 1! From us here at 50 States of Song, thanks to everyone who voted. We have more jury votes than last year (woo!), but not a *ton* more. Because we have yet to announce some Semifinal 2 acts, we are in a bit of hyperactive mode for this weekend. After these four states, we have a few bunches of entries left. That will be followed by a singular announcement of the Alaskan entry toward the end of May. Until then, here’s four of the remaining songs!
Oregon
Chanti Darling ft. The Last Artful, Dodgr – “Casual”
Oregon was, admittedly, a bit more difficult than past years. Remember last year when we had enough to do a state selection? Portland is the main hub of Oregonian culture, and so you can find all genres of music there. Chanti Darling (the name of the band, not the lead singer) is described as an “electro-soul” band with a ton of charisma and … well, there isn’t much of anything ‘casual’ about this song!
Texas
Conan Gray – “Generation Why”
Texas is a *hard* state to capture, and we got a lot of music sent for it – it all sounded like music you’ve already heard Sorry! It’s likely to be a choice for a selection round next year. The song I really wanted to send was just a tad too long, so our backup choice won the right to represent his home city of Austin. Put Conan Gray into the category of ‘Youtube Star’ – he’s got a strong backing but has yet to climb into any singles charts. His EP reached #116 on Billboard last year.
South Dakota
Carolina Story – “Lay Your Head Down”
I went back and forth with this one because their ‘music video’ is an acoustic version of the actual song release, but it’s by far the most quality entry from the state this year (in my opinion ofc). Ben and Emily Shields are from Arkansas and South Dakota respectively, so treat this as this year’s The Sweeplings if you will.
Virginia
Rayvon Owen – “Gold”
And because you’ve been so patient and nice to me, here’s some good ol’ fun pop music. I could see this fitting right into Eurovision music, actually. Rayvon is from Richmond, an American Idol alum (4th in Season 14), openly out and proud!
