Nicolas' Neighbour in the Internatia Song Contest

Nicolas' Neighbour
Member station	BNN
National selection events	Festival di Neighbouria; Aobour Fest
Participation summary
Appearances	43
First appearance	ISC 1st
Best result	1st: ISC 40
Worst result	25th SF: ISC 27

Nicolas' Neighbour (formally Nicolas' Neigbour), often shortened to NN, is one of the eight countries that participated in the very first edition of the Internatia Song Contest. Due to internal struggles the country withdrew from the 2nd edition, and fell into a Civil War soon after. After the War and due to San Monique's persistence to make NN rejoin, the country decided to return for the 7th edition. It has taken part ever since, missing only 2 editons. After a very successful return in ISC 7 , were it achieved a third place, Nicolas' Neighbour has seen mixed results. It qualified for the final 20 out of 32 times, but only reached the top 10 7 times. It came close to winning a couple of times, and won the first Semi Final of the 28th edition. After 32 attempts however, it finally managed to win the contest, with the band Delta Rae. Interest in the contest, from both broadcaster and public, remains unexpectedly high, with very stable viewing figures. Most of the acts have been internally chosen, which BNN found the best way to select artists. They were proven when the winner of the first ever National final, Young Wonder, failed to qualify for the final. For recent editions however, NN has cooperated with RTRVA from Aonach on several joint NF's, called Aobour Fest. NN particpated in a second joint-NF, called Tamar Fest, with several other nations. These NF's have led to more successful results for NN as well as more interest from the public.

Contestants

Table key

Winner

Second place

Third place

Last place

Disqualified

Jury qualifier

Did not compete

Edition	Artist	Title	Language	Place	Points	Semi	Points
1st	Keri Hilson	"Pretty Girl Rock"	English	7	29	No Semi-Finals
Did not participate from 2nd to 6th edition
7th	KOKIA	"Follow The Nightingale"	Japanese	3	98
8th	Despina Vandi	"Girismata"	Greek	Failed to qualify		12	47
9th	CHVRCHES	"The Mother We Share"	English	12	80	6	70
10th	Sa Dingding	"快乐节"	Chinese	12	76	12	62
11th	Imelda May	"Mayhem"	English	22	44	8	63
12th	Laura Jansen	"Queen Of Elba"	English	18	96	8	70
13th	The Killers	"Runaways	English	18	85	11	60
14th	Mads Langer	"Overgir Mig Langsomt"	Danish	24	56	9	75
15th	Besa Kokedhima	"Kalorësi i natës"	Albanian	Failed to qualify		16	49
16th	Eva & The Heartmaker	"Signals"	English	21	72	5	84
17th	Kalafina	"Aria"	Japanese	8	123	2	102
18th	Mø	"Pilgrim"	English	Failed to qualify		22	41
19th	Ilse Delange	"Just Kids"	English	Failed to qualify		17	38
20th	Did Not Compete
21st	Young Wonder	"To You"	English	Failed to qualify		22	39
22nd	Janna	"Sä Et Ole Hullu"	Finnish	Failed to qualify		14	52
23rd	Highasakite	"Leaving No Traces"	English	3	142	2	92
24th	Alan	"Ode To The Himalaya"	Chinese	23	78	10	61
25th	HAIM	"The Wire"	English	Failed to qualify		17	48
26th	/ Andru Donalds & Eugenia Vlasova	"Wind Of Hope"	English	Failed to qualify		19	51
27th	Vetusta Morla	"Fuego"	Spanish	Failed to qualify		25	18
28th	Sheppard	"Geronimo"	English	5	161	1	93
29th	Marlene	"Indian Summer"	English	15	120	2	98
30th	Jenifer	"Sur Le Fil"	French	2	153	9	65
31st	Epica	"Tides Of Time"	English	17	95	6	70
32nd	Nabiha	"Animals"	English	Failed to qualify		14	51
33rd	Shiri Maimon	"Kshehalachta"	Hebrew	23	82	12	59
34th	Selah Sue	"Reason"	English	Failed to qualify		20	45
35th	Did Not Compete
36th	Sufjan Stevens	"Death With Dignity"	English	27	69	8	69
37th	Annalisa	"Vincerò"	Italian	Failed to qualify		15	51
38th	Florence + The Machine	"Queen of Peace"	English	10	119	10	66
39th	Deborah Iurato	"Da Sola"	Italian	Failed to qualify		19	42
40th	Delta Rae	"Chasing Twisters"	English	1	165	1	98
41st	CHVRCHES	"Leave A Trace"	English	16	104	12	50
42nd	The Piano Guys	"Beethoven's 5 Secrets"	Instrumental	12	121	Host Country
43rd	Lisa Nilsson & Joakim Berg	"Innan Vi Faller"	Swedish	12	112	10	68
44th	Kate Boy	"Midnight Sun"	English	Failed to qualify		18	49
45th	Alda	"Heim"	Icelandic	Failed to qualify		19	42
46th	St. Lucia	"Rescue me"	English	Failed to qualify		24	31
47th	Kristian Kristensen	"Kan Du Lære Mæ?"	Norwegian	Failed to qualify		17	48
48th	Highasakite	"Someone Who'll Get It"	English	17	98	9	71
49th	The Lumineers	"Sleep On The Floor"	English	Failed to qualify		23	30
50th	Joe Hisaishi	"The Legend of Ashitaka Theme"	Instrumental	8	135

History

Internatia Song Contest 1

Kalafina, ISC 17, gave NN its second top 10 after 10 editions

Ilse Delange, got criticized for going with a so-called album filler

Highasakite, ISC 23, Bringing BNN its best result yet

HAIM, ISC 25, Surprisingly did not qualify

Marlene, ISC 29, won the second Aobour Fest

Sufjan Stevens, ISC 36, sadly placed last

Nicolas' Neighbour joined the very first ISC ever held. The song was internally chosen by the broadcaster, who at that time was under strict control of the government. The government decided that the song had to represent a feeling of superiority and unity, in line with a far bigger proppaganda program. The Song "Pretty Girl Rock", by Keri Hilson, was chosen. It was made into NN's national anthem, especially beacuse of the sentence: "Dont hate me because I'm Beautiful", which had a double meaning. It intended to tell the people of NN how pretty they were, and at the same time other countries to not judge the political system in NN. After the Revolution the song was abandoned, and Keri became anonymous. NN takes pride in the fact that they attended the first ISC edition, however.

Internatia Song Contest 7-21

After ISC 1 NN descended into civil war and did not participate for a long time in ISC. It was San Monique that convinced the reborn country to take part in ISC 7. Non other then Kokia, national legend, opted to go for NN and BNN, Broadcaster of NN, did not doubt for a second. Kokia had been at the top of the Music industry for over a decade, but her fame grew even bigger after the revolution. It was announced that she would represent NN with her song "Follow The Nightingale". Kokia achieved a 3rd place for NN, which resulted in mass crowds celebrating on the streets and a welcome ceremony for Kokia.

For ISC 8, BNN selected Despina Vandi internally. Despina comes from the southern province of Azubiwa, known for its folk music, where she is a big star. The song selected is called "Girismata". She did not manage to qualify. After the failure at ISC 8 BNN decided to take a different approach and selected young electro band CHVRCHES to participate in the ISC. The song was internally chosen as well, and turned out to be "The Mother We Share".

For ISC 10 Sa DingDing was chosen with the song "Xi Carnival". This is actually and old folk song, which has been around for ages and comes from the city of Xi. The city of Xi is the oldest city in NN and has a very big and old cultural history. Biggest Event every year is the Xi Carnival, a festival which last 6 days and which is celebrated trhoughout the country. "Xi carnival" represnts traditional NN music at its best. After the huge expectations for Sa DingDing her 12th place was a bit of a letdown, and BNN decided to not send huge stars again to the ISC. A variety of artists where sent, and NN managed to qualify 4 more times in a row for the final. Subsequently the entry ended at the bottom of the scoreboard, to the broadcasters' disapointment. It wasnt until ISC 17, when the the broadcaster picked the classy Kalafina trio to represent the country, that success was finally achieved again. After 10 editions the country was back in the top 10 again.

This succes did not last long though. In the two subsequent contests NN failed to qualify for the final, finishing in 17th and 23rd place, its worst results ever in the contest. BNN, thereafter decided to take a break from the contest, withdrawing from the 20th edition, in order to reinvent themselves and come up with a good scoring formula. After closely observing other country election procedures, BNN decided to hold an National Final for the fist time ever. BNN announced that the official name of NF would be the Festival di Neighbouria. It further announced that 5 artists would take part, each with one song. The winner would be decided by the Neighbourian Jury and any guest juries that would vote. In the end 12 guest juries voted, making a total of 13 jury votes. In the end Young Wonder was declared the winner, with a small margin over 2nd-placer Burhan G. As such, Young Wonder was sent to the ISC, while it was later announced that Burhan G would participate in ISSC 11.

**Festival di Neighbouria**
Order	Participant	Song	Language	Placing	Points
1	Burhan G	"Kalder Mig Hjem"	Danish	2nd	84
2	Young Wonder	"To You"	English	1st	88
3	Claudia Debreij	"Mag Ik Dan Bij Jou"	Dutch	5th	66
4	Rasmus Seebach	"Olivia"	Danish	4th	74
5	Damien Rice	"9 Crimes"	English	3rd	78

At the ISC, Young Wonder did not manage to reach the final, prompting BNN to get rid of the National Final immediately.

Internatia Song Contest 22-30

For ISC 22, singer Janna was selected. Although she did not manage to qualify, her song received lots of support and the final results showed that Janna was very close to qualifying to the final. This gave BNN hope, yet it had not qualified for the final 4 consecutive times. Relieve finally came with the young indie band Highasakite. Not only did they bring NN to the final, they achieved a 3rd place, with 128 points, the best result of the country in the contest so far, being only 13 points away from actually winning. For ISC 24, BNN relied on the traditional music of NN once again, sending Alan with a classic ethnic ballad. Alan surprised friend and foe be qualifying to the ISC final. For ISC 25 the Indie girl trio HAIM was selected, after impressing a representative of BNN at a live concert, yet they were not able to qualify.

After an announcement for more cooperation on the national level between Aonach and NN, BNN accepted an invitation by RTVRA to participate in a joint NF. Although hesitant at first due to the bad result achieved by the previous NF winner, BNN saw an oppurtunity to profile itself more on the global field, as well as being able to host a bigger production. 4 artists were sent to Laírge, Aonach, to fight for a ticket to Yottoban in the very first Aobour Fest. In the end Andru Donalds & Evgenia Vlasova were picked for NN, while Aonach won the overall NF.

**Aobour Fest 1**
Order	Participant	Song	Language	Placing	Points
1	Linnea Henriksson	"Min Stad"	Swedish	7th	68
2	Elena Gheorghe	"De Neinlocuit"	Romanian	5th	72
3	The Common Linnets	"Lovers And Liars"	English	3rd	85
4	Molly Sandén	"Spread A Little Light"	English	6th	69
5	Árstíðir	" Ljóð Í Sand"	Icelandic	4th	75
6	Anna Tsuchiya	"Rose"	English	8th	62
7	Andru Donalds & Evgenia Vlasova	"Wind Of Hope"	English	2nd	93
8	Laura Jansen & Tom Chaplin	"Same Heart"	English	1st	100

At the ISC, the duo did not manage to reach the final, much to the country's disappointment. The cooperation between RTVRA was deemed a success though and plans for more Joint NF's were made already.

Over the summer, Vetusta Morla, coming from the ethnically different Azubiwa, scored a monster hit with their album "Deriva". BNN, impressed with their succes and hungry for some succes again contracted Vetusta Morla to go to ISC. They were given free pick to choose the song and choose "Fuego". Although the single became platinum within no-time in NN, Vetusta Morla failed to make any impression at the Semi-final, getting NN's worst placing yet. BNN however, used the same method to select the artist for ISC 28, the band Sheppard, who, accorinding to BNN, had more accesable songs. Though the Neighbourian public were sceptic about their participation, Sheppard finally brought NN back into the ISC final, even achieving the highest amount of points yet and within 3 points of the victory.

For ISC 29, BNN hosted the second Aobour Fest. This time held in Nan'ji, NN, 8 songs again battled for a ticket to ISC and the victory. This time NN was more succesful. grabbing 1st and 2nd place in the NF. Marlene was selected to go for Kosma, just in front of Hannah Pakarinen.

**Aobour Fest 2**
Order	Participant	Song	Language	Placing	Points
1	2ne1	"Come Back"	Korean	5th	69
2	MØ	""Walk This Way"	English	7th	63
3	Hannah Pakarinen	"Go Go"	English	2nd	80
4	Marlene	"Indian Summer"	English	1st	82
5	The Coronas	"All The Others"	English	8th	58
6	Kim-Lian	"Garden Of Love"	English	3rd	79
7	Inna Voronova	"Ty Ne Moj""	Ukranian	6th	64
8	Natalie	"Nello Spechhio"	Italian	4th	74

Marlene achieved as second place in the Semi Final, but could not follow up that great result in the Final were it only ended 15th. Due to the success of the joint NF's of Aonach and NN, BNN came up with the idea to use this format on a bigger scale. 4 befriended broadcasters were invited for a so-called super-NF (RTK, RTVA, HBC & ITVR). Response from all broadcasters was very positive and it was decided to hold a joint NF for ISC 30 with 5 countries. BNN, a small broadcaster itself, happily passed the hosting over to RTK from Kaledonii, who hosted the NF in the city of Tamar.

Order	Participant	Song	Language	Placing	Points
1	M83	"Midnight City"	English	5	92
2	Gabrielle Aplin	"Salvation"	English	4	100
3	Shawn Mendes	"Life Of The Party"	English	6	54
4	Brigitte Boisjoli	"Mes Jambes à Ton Cou"	French	9	36
5	Stina Girs	"Mä tahdon tietää mitä rakkaus on"	Finnish	3	102
6	Poe	"Haunted"	English	8	40
7	Zhana Bergendorff	"Samuray"	Bulgarian	1	112
8	Sunidhi Chauhan	"Aaja Nachle"	Hindi	7	42
9	Jenifer	"Sur Le Fil"	French	2	102
10	Kensington	"War"	English	10	34

A total of 17 countries voted. Jenifer ended in a very respectable 2nd place, on 10 points from the winner from Kaledonii. Kensington fared much worse and ended last in the NF. Obviously, Jenifer won the right to go to ISC 30. After some concerns about their potential flop at ISCC, BNN still granted Kensington the right to go to ISSC, as "ISSC isn't as much about success as about just participating", according to sources in BNN. At ISC, Jenifer surprised friend and foe by grabbing the second place, just a couple of points short of the victory.

Internatia Song Contest 31-40

For the next two ISC's, BNN selected their candidate internally. For ISC 31, symphonic rock band Epica were chosen, who easily qualified and reached a respectable 17th place. This was in line with BNN's expectations, which wanted to show the musical diversity of NN in the ISC. For ISC 32, the choice fell on Nabiha, a strong vocalist with the song " Anmials", which is a non-conventional pop-song. Sadly, Nabiha ended up 14th in the Semi, 2 places short of qualification to the final.

ISC 33 marked the return of Aobour Fest, the 3rd edition of this Joint National Final. Rules remained the same so 4 artists went to Lairge, Aonach, to battle against 4 Aonachian acts for the title of winner of Aobour Fest. 11 nations from all over Intertnatia voted and gave us the following the results.

**Aobour Fest 3**
Order	Participant	Song	Language	Placing	Points
1	Shiri Maimon	"Kshehalachta"	Hebrew	1st	100
2	Kent	"La Belle Epoque"	Swedish	4th	90
3	Gorgon City	"Unmissable"	English	8th	65
4	Ani Lorak	"Medlenno"	Ukrainian	1st	100
5	Laura Dogett	"Old Faces"	English	7th	66
6	Mando Diao	"Dance With Somebody"	English	6th	78
7	Edurne	"Painkiller"	English	5th	84
8	Jessie Ware	"Champagne Kisses"	English	3rd	96

With Both Ani Lorak & Shiri Maimon receiving exactly 100 points, both singers were crowned as winners of Aobour Fest, and both entries went on to represent their country in the ISC. At ISC, Shiri managed to scrape through the semi-final, and ended in the bottom 5 in the final.

Due to a reorganization, BNN's was unclear for a couple of editions. For ISC 34 a last-minute decision was made. Selah Sue was chosen, based on her newly released album, but was not properly backed by BNN. As as result, Sue failed to make a dent at ISC and stayed in a Semi. Due to the backlash received on their messy selection procedure, BNN decided to withdraw for ISC 35 to get their act together. Although under severe pressure, BNN decided to take part in ISC 36. Protests arose when the public learned that the same selection commission that chose Selah Sue would select this artist as well, but BNN would not budge. Indie artists Sufjan Stevens was chosen, who had the same indie style as Selah Sue. Against all odds, and with barely any home support, Sufjan managed to make it to the final. However, in the final Sufjan ended dead last, NN's first last place, leading again to protests.

Both the selection commission and the head of organization were fired, and a new team was assembled. They agreed to focus more on pop music, as that was what did well with both the public and at ISC. Although their first attempt was a failure, in ISC 38, NN made the top 10 again with Florence + The Machine. Her good placement brought back interest from both the public and BNN, which had been sliding over the last editions. In order to keep the interest, another edition of Aobour Fest was proposed, and Aonach gladly accepted.

**Aobour Fest 4**
Order	Participant	Song	Language	Placing	Points
1	Elle Eyre	"Together"	English	6th	76
2	Smallpools	"Killer Whales"	English	8th	67
3	Dotan	"Hungry"	English	3rd	83
4	Amel Bent	"Délit"	French	1st	89
5	Katarina Grujic	"Lutka"	Serbian	7th	71
6	Deborah Iurato	"Da Sola "	Italian	2nd	84
7	Kodaline	"Honest"	English	4th	77
8	The Asteroids Galaxy Tour	"Heart Attack"	English	5th	77

At ISC 39, Both Deborah and Amelie failed to qualify. Nonetheless, BNN considered Aobour Fest a success in terms of viewing ratings. The new selection commission members and HoD had also proven that they were willing to work hard for NN.

For ISC 40, Delta Rae was chosen, with the song Chasing Twisters. BNN considered a good mix between pop & Indie, and there were even some feelings of having discovered a potential winner. Most of the staff at BNN did not believe the band would do so well though, and aimed at another top 10 placement. Delta Rae easily placed for the final, and rumors began to surface that NN was seen as a frontrunner (although these were mainly spread by Tonallan). Tension started to rise in both BNN & NN, although most remained skeptic. After a very close voting, NN came from behind to claim victory, with 1 point more then Alma Livre.

For ISC 41, CHVRCHES, who represented NN in ISC 12, will be the first act to represent NN twice. With their song Leave a Trace they were expected to give NN another good placing. The 16th place was thus a disappointment, as was the 12th place in the Semi-Final. ForISC 42 a second edition of the 5 nation Tamar Fest wass planned, but due to winning the 40th edition the entrant for ISC 42 will be selected internally. The selected entrant turned out to be the Piano Guys. The second multi-nation NF was again held in Tamar, Kaledonii. 4 nations participated, with Haven dropping out of the NF. Lisa Nilsson & Joakim Berg placed second and won the right to represent NN in Noxus.

Order	Participant	Song	Language	Placing	Points
1	Louane	"Nos Secrets"	French	1	112
2	Kygo ft. Conrad	"Firestone"	English	7	60
3	UnSun	"Whispers"	English	8	52
4	Neon Jungle	"Louder"	English	5	84
5	Kátya Tompos	"Magányos Csosák"	Hungarian	3	92
6	Kerli	"Zero Gravity"	English	6	82
7	Lisa Nilsson & Joakim Berg	"Innan Vi Faller"	Swedish	2	104
8	Nargiz	"Ya Ne Tvoya"	Russian	4	86

Voting History

Most points given in the Finals
Rank	Country	Points
1	Sunetti	118
2	Aonach	107
3	Territrius	99
4	Ova Anova	89
5	Kaledonii	84
6	Irdminia	84
7	Tikata	77
8	Spirevo	63
9	Zephyrus	61
10	Porielana	60

Most points received in the Finals
Rank	Country	Points
1	Saint Eva & Lepland	128
2	Tikata	101
3	Kaledonii	91
4	Aonach	89
5	Sunetti	78
6	Grolskira	60
7	Edoriada	59
7	Tonallán	59
9	Keohretcha	58
10	Valdron	56

ISC Spinoffs

ISCC

Due to selecting their candidate via internal selection, NN was not able to participate in ISCC. After holding their first National final for ISC 21, BNN started considering participating in ISCC. It was not until edition 10 though, which was hosted by brother nation Aonach, that BNN sent runner-up Burhan G to participate. BNN stated that their intention is to take part in future editions.

Junior Internatia Song Contest

NN participated in the very first JISC, and has taken part in every most editions so far. NN had a very good start in jISC, ending in the top 10 4 out of 5 times, but results started to disappoint in later editions. Because BNN's involvement in other spinoff contests, the partcipation in jISC has become of lesser priority. According to an official BNN statement, there will be only a song sent when a good enough candidate is found. "NN wont participate for the sake of participating." After the result in JISC 9, BNN announced that it will no longer take part in JISC.

ISC Does Eurovision

BNN took part in both Eurovision spin-offs, both times finishing at the bottom of the ranking.

Country	Artist	Song	Place	Points
Nicolas' Neighbour	Iva Zanicchi	"Due grosse lacrime bianche"	18	49
Nicolas' Neighbour	Frida Boccara	"Un Jour, Un Enfant"	31	74

ISC-1

NN joined this contest for the first at the 3rd edition, and has only skipped two editions so far. It is the best watched ISC spin-off in NN, having considerable higher viewing figures then both JISC and ISCC. BNN, therefore has already committed itself to participating in the next 5 editions.

References

Nicolas' Neighbour in the Internatia Song Contest

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