American Song Contest 2022: First Qualifying Round Reviews

Welp, it's officially here - as of Monday, March 21, we will have eleven songs competing for four spots in the semifinal rounds of the United States' attempt at "Eurovision". The American Song Contest is officially here! And while I haven't been writing as much content for this contest as I originally hoped to, one thing I can do for you all is give reviews of the first listen of the songs, and make predictions for how the American public will react to and vote. It's going to be interesting how this all goes, knowing how American Idol worked back in the day. Will the ASC be similar, or will we get more of a Eurovision-style voting response? Let's hope for the latter.

The songs are officially out on Spotify - but if you want to listen to them as soon as they're out, check out r/americansongcontest on Reddit, or join the ASC Discord!

CONNECTICUT - Michael Bolton: "A Beautiful World" Advertised as one of the four 'major names' competing, my hopes were probably the lowest for Michael because - let's be honest - his prime passed three decades ago. This song is an inspiring ballad that comes right from ESC 2016, or a Christian radio-friendly single about holding hands and making the World a better place. It's not edgy at all, it's paint-by-the-numbers. And while you can slide through the ranks of Eurovision with songs like this (depending on the year), it's out of trend these days. 5/10.

WISCONSIN - Jake'O: "Feel Your Love"

Many people were mistakenly sharing around a rap singer, but the actual Jake'O representing Wisconsin qualifies himself as a retro-futuristic pop-rock singer. I definitely get this from his single - more the retro side than anything. It's doing my home state proud! Digging the guitar solo, and think this will have its fans out there. 6.5/10

MISSISSIPPI - "Fire"

Initially this one was lukewarm, but it's got soul, rock, pop, and funk all mixed into one. Her voice soars in the same ways a Eurovision song would, though towards the end it does start to feel like a culmination of overlapping sounds. Some viewers may find it a tedious listen? 6.5/10

RHODE ISLAND - Hueston: "Held On Too Long"

This piano-laden ballad could surprise us, as the focus relies completely on the voice. Hueston has this raspy tone a-la Lewis Capaldi, but isn't as shouty. The melody serves as a template for him to just spill out emotion with each note. Some of the production choices are strange (like the weird siren-like noise at the end of the chorus). But this definitely has chances to qualify. 7.5/10

PUERTO RICO - Christian Pagan: "Loko"

If you could combine a mid-tier Spanish national selection entry with Top 40 radio, this is what you would get. Bilingual, vocally solid, almost reminiscent of Luca Hanni's Swiss entry. We definitely need music like this in the contest, and it stands a good chance of qualifying if it "serves" in the right ways. The beat is infectious, but it's not exactly the most original piece of music. It could do without the key change. 6.5/10

INDIANA - ug skywalkin ft. Maxie: "Love In My City"

This is hard for me to judge, because it's just not really my kind of music. It's very late 2000's era hip-hop. UG drives around his city with his babe in his Mercedes Benz, and this obviously means he loves his city. Which city? I still don't know. While this music works outside the context of musical competition, I wonder how it will do in this context. This would never appear in Eurovision, but we are talking the American public and its judges here. 4/10

ARKANSAS - Kelsey Lamb: "Never Like This" This is a sweet country ballad with some pop and rock elements, though it does share some of the same issues that Bolton's song did. It's not terribly original, and her vocal range doesn't soar like Mississippi or Rhode Island does. However, it stands a chance for qualification for the same reasons Indiana isn't out: a lot of people watching these types of shows are country music fans. I've heard better, but I've heard far worse. 6/10

WYOMING - Ryan Charles: "New Boot Goofin"

One major question in the lead-up to this contest was whether or not we'd have any "joke" entries in ASC. Well, here yo go - and unfortunately, I think this is actually totally serious on Ryan's part. It's rap, it's country, it's... something, alright. The main problem is that it may read as offensive on some levels, very tongue-in-cheek to Black vernacular. Most of all, it's annoying. But, if you're looking to 'goof' on the contest itself, or you want to make fun of America, here you go. 2.5/10

MINNESOTA - Yam Haus: "Ready To Go"

I knew about this indie rock group from Minneapolis before the contest. And I'll be honest, I'm underwhelmed. They have some funky indie-pop singles in their library, and instead they went for something of a Portugal.The Man vibe? It has the flattest single-note chorus, and an over-reverbed guitar solo. Even if you are a fan of alternative music, I'm thinking you'll trend more to Wisconsin or Rhode Island instead. Sorry, dudes. 4.5/10

IOWA - Alisabeth Von Presley: "Wonder"

Are you a 50 States of Song 2018 fan? This is Iowa's song from that contest, slightly remixed, reproduced, and shortened for the contest. I have to laugh - that makes this song 4 years old! Would never happen in ESC... but here we are. Anyway, it's a solid song, it did well in the 2018 contest, and while I think it lost a bit of its charm with the remix, it's still one of the better songs of this first round. She seems to have picked up the keytar, too? It's a bit over-the-top... 7/10

OKLAHOMA - aleXa: "Wonderland"

A lot of people I know in the ESC community are super-excited for this one. The Korean-American soloist will bring her K-Pop to the ASC stage, for a state that has NO clue about K-Pop, and... it's good! There's a lot of attitude served here. I could see this song in ESC, as well. I'm curious to see how the American public reacts to this kind of music. I wish I got more vocally, but it'll be made up by her dancing performance. 8/10

And those are our first eleven songs in this year's American Song Contest! To keep track of ratings and rankings, I will put all the scores of the songs below, and we will re-rate the ones that qualify after their performance on Monday night. The next week's allotment of songs will be added to the lists below, so you can see how I've ranked every song after its first listen and performance.