USoS 2020: State Selections and Song Duels!

Thank you to everyone who submitted songs to United States of Song 2020! The song submission period is now closed. We're in the midst of going through each and every song, making sure it fits the rules and regulations. For 46 of the 51 entrants, the song will be chosen behind the scenes. This is the usual method for most states.

But what about the other 5 states? Yes... 5!? And which ones?

Well, we unofficially begin the 2020 season with three state song selections, and two state song duels! Yes, we are trying something new. Dueling songs - think about it. Which one of these two do you like most? Winner, and loser. To "liven up" the period between the end of song submissions and the state song selections, this will provide you with even more control over who's picked for this year's contest.

STATE SONG SELECTIONS

The three states that are having traditional song selections are CALIFORNIA, NEW YORK, and - for the first time - TEXAS. We receive so many songs for these states that it's really only fair to have song selections to decide the entrant. Each of these three selections will have 8 songs. A post will be made in the next week or two announcing that the selections are open for voting, and the voting period will stay open for about two weeks.

SONG DUELS!?!

Meanwhile, the states of FLORIDA and TENNESSEE will have a special kind of state selection, using a "duel" system to determine the entrant. Each state will have 4 songs: 2 sets of 2 songs per state. The two winners of each set will then duel for victory, similar to the Norwegian national selection in Eurovision.

So kinda like this: Florida A vs Florida B, Florida C vs Florida D, Tennessee A vs Tennessee B, Tennessee C vs Tennessee D. If A and C won in each state, then the final would be like: Florida A vs Florida C, and Tennessee A vs Tennessee C.

The song with the most votes in the final duel for each state is the winner, and the loser is the backup entry. The person who submitted the winning song receives global recognition (on this web page, at least!) and maybe Disney World will donate some tickets to accredit your "skillz"? But we'll only announce who sent the song after the voting is over, just to avoid any kind of bias.

So stay tuned! We're excited to give this a go and see what happens. It could be beautiful, or a tragedy. Only time will tell.

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Thank you to everyone, and see you on February 7th!