It’s time for another of TheCleverGuy’s overly-ambitious bracket tournaments! The goal is to find a song to represent each of the 50 US states then pit them against each other in a single-elimination knock-out tournament bracket and see which state has the Avocado’s favorite song.
In the comments below this post, I will make a top-level comment for each of the 50 states. Under each subthread, nominate songs that you feel represent that state. That could mean a song that’s specifically written about a state, or a song that mentions the state name in the title and/or lyrics. It could also be a song that refers to a major city or landmark in the state. Or it could be totally based on vibes, though I would like to avoid nominating the most iconic song by the most iconic artist from a state–for instance, Prince being from Minnesota doesn’t feel like enough to qualify “Purple Rain” as that state’s representative song.1This isn’t a hard-and-fast rule or anything, just a preference. Nominations should include song title and artist at a minimum. Video links are encouraged as well, and feel free to include any justification you feel is necessary for including a song under a particular state. Don’t forget to upvote your favorites–the highest upvote total under each state will be placed in the bracket, seeded randomly.
“But CleverGuy,” you say, “that only accounts for 50 slots. How will you fill out the rest of the standard 64-team bracket?” I’m glad you asked. Once each state is represented, I’ll compare the second highest totals for each state, and take the 14 highest from among those to fill in the spots. Yes, this means that 14 states will have two shots to win. In order to mitigate this potential bias, I will ensure that intra-state match-ups occur in the first round.
A song can be nominated to represent multiple states. In the event that a given song is the top nominee for two states, I’ll count is as the entry for whichever state it gets more upvotes under and take the second-place winner for the other state.
In order to provide adequate time for nominations and voting, the nomination round will be open until Thursday 9/4, and the first voting round will be posted on Friday 9/5. Subsequent rounds will post every Friday. So, without further ado, let’s get started!