EPTJust from the Eurovision songs I had heard here and there before and my general low opinion of modern pop, I had pretty modest expectations for this. I was entirely surprised: I ended up really liking nearly all of the songs I heard, if not on first listening, then on second or third. There was a vast stylistic range, from Euro-pop to house to opera-pop to Elvis-homage to Gypsy-rap. The tunes were catchy and/or just plain good. The words were...not overly brilliant on the whole, but hey--that's pop.
Right now, I've just been listening to semi-final 1 (available free and legal on YouTube!). In the interest of scientific inquiry, I have been listening to it in random order several times in a row, because one's first impression of a song is often not the same as the one he gets after listening to it a few times. Here are my impressions of the songs I've heard:
(note: my labels for "style" are probably wrong a lot of the time. Maybe I should have just left that out.)
+ Show Spoiler [in order of appearance] +
Country. Singer. Title. Language. Style.
1. Montenegro. Andrea Demirović. Just get out of my life. Typical pop song.
+ Show Spoiler [trivia] +
This song was written by Ralph Siegel, a German composer who has probably sent more songs to Eurovision than anybody else, mostly for Germany, but occasionally for other countries. He composed Germany's only winner, "Ein bißchen Frieden", as well as the kitsch classic "Dschinghis Khan".
The tune was insanely catchy. The lyrics...let's just say they didn't blow me away. + Show Spoiler [part of the chorus] +
Just get out of my, out of my, out of my head
Just get out of my, out of my, out of my bed
It's beyond belief but true
I became a slave to you
Just get out of my, out of my, out of my bed
It's beyond belief but true
I became a slave to you
Besides, despite their insipidity, the lyrics weren't quite as bad as those of the average pop song: at least the story they were telling had a bit of a twist. I liked the last line.
+ Show Spoiler [video] +
click for stereo version (but video is not of the live performance)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viyQEi5xKpM
2. The Czech Republic. Gipsy.cz. Aven Romale. English/Romani. Gypsy/rap?
+ Show Spoiler [can't call this trivia] +
Although their cause is not as publicized, the Gypsies have been persecuted over the years nearly as much as the Jews. More in some ways. They were on Hitler's hit list as well.
You have to listen to this song more than once to appreciate it. Even then...
The music sounded Gypsy (yeah, what do I know, but still), which I appreciate, and it was pretty decent, too. The song was about being a Gypsy, not about love or dancing, which is also a plus. But...I wasn't too enthralled by the rap bits of it, and the costumes were just ridiculous, making it that much harder to take the song seriously.
+ Show Spoiler [video] +
3. Belgium. Patrick Ouchène. Copycat. English. Rock and roll (à la the King).
+ Show Spoiler [trivia] +
A Belgian Elvis fan club tried to get this song officially disqualified because of lyrics that are "hurtful to Elvis fans".
This was hilarious. A Belgian Elvis impersonator singing what I guess you might call an homage of sorts to the King. The lyrics, which are filled with references to Elvis and various songs of his, are basically about how this guy (the singer) has a copycat down in Memphis, Tennessee. Yes, Elvis is the copycat, "trying to steal my soul". Obviously, this is not a song to take seriously, but it's fun to watch anyway, if only to see Elvis taken off with a Belgian accent (albeit a fairly slight one).
Besides, the tune is actually quite a good one, in a classic, 50's rock 'n' roll vein. Recommended.
I'm afraid it wasn't the best choice for Eurovision, though, especially for a final conducted by tele-voting. Does the average European appreciate Elvis homages? At any rate, this didn't make the final.
+ Show Spoiler [video] +
click here for hi-def, stereo version (but you don't see as much of the live performance)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZxbuS2LTS8
4. Belarus. Petr Elfimov. Eyes that Never Lie. English. Rock.
Decent song. Words nothing special. (He should have sung the Russian version, probably. At least then I could imagine that the words were deep and meaningful. Also his accent is probably better in Russian.)
+ Show Spoiler [video] +
5. Sweden. Malena Ernman. La Voix. English/French. Opera-pop.
+ Show Spoiler [trivia] +
The singer is a real live opera star. Like she's a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music and everything. Apparently she's not afraid to go lowbrow and sing pop. I respect that.
I really, really liked this one. The singer (who is a classic Swede, by the way: white-blonde hair and everything) has a ton of stage presence. Your eyes are always on her. She also has an excellent, and classically-trained voice.
Which was a good thing, because she needed that to sing this song. It was a weird hybrid of pop and opera, which featured a heavy synthesized beat along with a solo that was basically an aria. I have since found on Wikipedia that this genre is recognized and there's plenty of it out there, but this was the first time that I had run across it. I have to say: I like. Straight opera is vocally impressive, but leaves me cold, but this was pretty awesome. Recommended.
There were some weird parts in the choreography, especially the end where the dancers dressed up as... snowflakes?... or something--I don't know what. But you hardly even look at the dancers anyway: Malena Ernman takes center stage.
+ Show Spoiler [video] +
click for hi-def versionhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vJ8QbWmv2A&p=0BCB4275E1973490&index=4&fmt=22
6. Armenia. Inga & Anush. Jan Jan. English/Armenian. Middle Eastern/pop.
Meh. I didn't like this one too much overall. I liked the chorus OK, but that was it.
+ Show Spoiler [ugh] +
From an interview with one of the singers:
Anush said:
"We love to sing folklore music. Every nation has its own unique musical style and Armenia is quite famous for its folklore music. Once you’ve heard an Armenian folklore tune, you fall in love with it immediately. We chose something different for the Eurovision Song Contest though, because we want to appeal to as many European televoters as possible."
Ugh, that's exactly the attitude I hate. To me, Europe represents diversity, not a melting pot. What's the point of representing your country with a song that is calculated to be as generic as possible? Anyway, it didn't work for them. Well, OK, they made it to the final (somehow), but they did not make it in the Book of Qrs, which I think everyone agrees is the more important thing.
Anush said:
"We love to sing folklore music. Every nation has its own unique musical style and Armenia is quite famous for its folklore music. Once you’ve heard an Armenian folklore tune, you fall in love with it immediately. We chose something different for the Eurovision Song Contest though, because we want to appeal to as many European televoters as possible."
Ugh, that's exactly the attitude I hate. To me, Europe represents diversity, not a melting pot. What's the point of representing your country with a song that is calculated to be as generic as possible? Anyway, it didn't work for them. Well, OK, they made it to the final (somehow), but they did not make it in the Book of Qrs, which I think everyone agrees is the more important thing.
click for hi-def versionhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WjmbkxBz9c&p=0BCB4275E1973490&index=5&fmt=18
7. Andorra. Susanne Georgi. La teva decisió (Get a life). Catalan/English. Pop-ballad. Kind of countryish?
+ Show Spoiler [trivia] +
Andorra's biggest industry is smuggling. Well, OK, that may not be true anymore. It was when I did a report on Andorra in my 8th-grade social studies class 11 years ago, though.
I've had a soft spot for Andorra ever since I first heard about this tiny little country hiding between France and Spain, so small that it doesn't appear on many maps, and so obscure that many people have no idea it exists (although this is changing, obviously. *sniff*). So I was maybe a little predisposed to like this song.
Fortunately, I didn't need any bias to like it. It's a pretty song sung by a cute singer: what's not to like?
+ Show Spoiler [video] +
HQhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67kMJBXi2MU&fmt=18
8. Switzerland. Lovebugs. The Highest Heights. English. Rock.
Pretty good, pretty typical rock song. In English.
+ Show Spoiler [video] +
click here for stereo version (not live)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZ-nQxtqpdY#t=0m40s
9. Turkey. Hadise. Dum Tek Tek. English. Turkish/pop.
The singer was the kind of pretty that one hates to see dressed like a skank. Which she was. Also, her butt-wiggles were not sexy. + Show Spoiler [pictorial evidence] +
![[image loading]](http://img39.imageshack.us/img39/6787/hadise1.png)
![[image loading]](http://img39.imageshack.us/img39/6527/hadise2.png)
As for the song: I usually like Turkey's songs and I like this one, too--an energetic pop-Turkish sort of tune--but the lyrics are so awful that they drive the song down for me. Believe me, my bar is not set very high for the lyrics of Turkish English pop love songs, not high at all, but when you get this: + Show Spoiler [lyrics] +
Baby, you're perfect for me
You are my gift from heaven
This is the greatest story
Of all times
Greatest story of all times?? Are you serious? More like "most vapid and overtold story of all times". Also, the English idiom is "of all time". I'm just saying.
You are my gift from heaven
This is the greatest story
Of all times
Greatest story of all times?? Are you serious? More like "most vapid and overtold story of all times". Also, the English idiom is "of all time". I'm just saying.
+ Show Spoiler [video] +
click for stereo versionhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IW_6-TqxzyQ&fmt=18
10. Israel. Noa & Mira Awad. There must be another way (Einaich). English/Hebrew/Arabic. Israeli.
+ Show Spoiler [trivia] +
Mira Awad (the Arab singer)'s mother was Bulgarian. That's why she looks so white.
I'm not a fan of pop songs that take themselves too seriously. You are not going to revolutionize the 'peace process' by singing a song called "There must be another way". The earnestly sappy lyrics of this song turned me off big-time. + Show Spoiler [sample lyrics] +
Your eyes, sister
Say all that my heart desires
...
And when I cry, I cry for both of us
My pain has no name
And when I cry, I cry
To the merciless sky and say
There must be another way
Say all that my heart desires
...
And when I cry, I cry for both of us
My pain has no name
And when I cry, I cry
To the merciless sky and say
There must be another way
Otherwise: the tune was pleasant enough, except for the chorus, which didn't really seem to fit in. Nothing outstanding, though.
The tune sounded like the country it came from, and most of the words were in that country's national languages, both of which things I am a fan of, generally. Overall, though, didn't like this much.
+ Show Spoiler [video] +
click for stereo versionhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKBI28Caw5w&fmt=18
11. Bulgaria. Krassimir Avramov. Illusion. English. Uncategorized.
+ Show Spoiler [trivia] +
The comments on YouTube are filled with despairing Bulgarians blasting the performance of this song.
I liked this song, I really did. I hadn't heard anything quite like it before. The choreography was interesting too. I liked the colored smoke and the stilt-dancers. And it's not every day that you see a man in chain mail singing in falsetto.
That said, this performance was horrendous. When the woman begins her part of the duet---aggrhg I don't even want to think about it anymore.
+ Show Spoiler [video] +
click for a better version of the songhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJiE8NHWlv8&fmt=18
12. Iceland. Yohana. Is it true? English. Ballad
+ Show Spoiler [trivia] +
The name Iceland comes from a Norwegian term meaning "land of ice". No joke.
+ Show Spoiler [video] +
13. Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Nešto što kje ostane. Next Time. Macedonian. Rock.
+ Show Spoiler [a poem by Robert Frost] +
Provide, provide
The witch that came (the withered hag)
To wash the steps with pail and rag,
Was once the beauty Abishag,
The picture pride of Hollywood.
Too many fall from great and good
For you to doubt the likelihood.
Die early and avoid the fate.
Or if predestined to die late,
Make up your mind to die in state.
Make the whole stock exchange your own!
If need be occupy a throne,
Where nobody can call you crone.
Some have relied on what they knew;
Others on simply being true.
What worked for them might work for you.
No memory of having starred
Atones for later disregard,
Or keeps the end from being hard.
Better to go down dignified
With boughten friendship at your side
Than none at all. Provide, provide!
To wash the steps with pail and rag,
Was once the beauty Abishag,
The picture pride of Hollywood.
Too many fall from great and good
For you to doubt the likelihood.
Die early and avoid the fate.
Or if predestined to die late,
Make up your mind to die in state.
Make the whole stock exchange your own!
If need be occupy a throne,
Where nobody can call you crone.
Some have relied on what they knew;
Others on simply being true.
What worked for them might work for you.
No memory of having starred
Atones for later disregard,
Or keeps the end from being hard.
Better to go down dignified
With boughten friendship at your side
Than none at all. Provide, provide!
What's the connection? I'm just saying that if Macedonia's most famous son had not died young then he would have had a lot of pesky bureaucratic details to deal with at the least. Probably wouldn't have held his empire together at all. And his legacy would have been tarnished.
It's a lesson we all can learn, boys: cash in your chips when you're ahead.
The song was a decent enough rock tune. I didn't find it particularly memorable, so I don't find it that surprising that this one didn't make it. Sorry, guys, better luck next time. (I'm sorry, I couldn't resist the pun.)
+ Show Spoiler [video] +
14. Romania. Elena Gheorghe. The Balkan Girls. Disco.
+ Show Spoiler [trivia] +
I don't know about partying, but Balkan girls are very good-looking. Also Czech girls. Especially Czech girls.
Nothing Romanian about this song: just another europop tune. It was a catchy tune, though, and I liked it, overall. Unsurprisingly, the words fail to impress, but then again, who listens to disco for the words? + Show Spoiler [some lyrics] +
My heeps are ready to glow
Thees record is so hot and I have so much to show
I'll find a boy for a kees
Who knows, maybe he'll be my preence.
Thees record is so hot and I have so much to show
I'll find a boy for a kees
Who knows, maybe he'll be my preence.
The choreography featured some nifty quick-change action.
+ Show Spoiler [nifty quick-change action] +
![[image loading]](http://www.gifninja.com/Workspace/62f38a0b-7ef8-4bc7-b513-b3234f897980/output.gif)
+ Show Spoiler [video] +
click here for stereo versionhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6V3CO1bp0M8&fmt=18
15. Finland. Waldo's People. Lose Control. English. House.
+ Show Spoiler [trivia] +
Waldo is not his real name. Oh, was that obvious?
A very nice sample of dance-club music. It's the kind of generic-style but still very good piece that I could see shooting to the top of the charts, in any country; then fading a few weeks later. In fact, that's more or less what it did in its native country.
This is not some composed-special-for-Eurovision piece highlighting a country's musical heritage: this is what the Finns are listening to. Waldo's People is apparently a popular group in Finland. The song is not the most memorable, but it's very good for what it is. My only slight criticism of it is that it doesn't really have an ending.
+ Show Spoiler [video] +
click here to watch in hi-defhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrXrsquts7c
16. Portugal. Flor-de-Lis. Todas as ruas do amor. Portuguese. Ballad.
It's entirely in Portuguese. That's a plus.
It sounds kind of ethnic. +
It uses an accordion. + (I'm a huge fan of accordions. Such an underused instrument...)
I don't have anything bad to say about this song. It's very pleasant and relaxing. Makes for good background music. There's a place for that.
A comment I just read on YouTube sums it up pretty well:
On May 24 at 7:07 natikuna commented:
Sweet song. But casual one
+ Show Spoiler [video] +
click for stereo versionhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNYBYH3bZFI&fmt=18
17. Malta. Chiara. What if we. English. Ballad.
+ Show Spoiler [trivia] +
Did you know that the Arabs once conquered Sicily? I didn't, but it's true. So the next time you hear the term Siculo-Arabic, you'll know where it comes from. The Arabs were expelled by the 11th century, however, and by the 13th century, Islam in Sicily was eradicated (we're talking circa-Crusades time-period: lots of Christian-Muslim tension). Shortly thereafter, Siculo-Arabic died out. Its only living successor is Maltese, a hard-to-classify language whose heritage includes Arabic, Italian, French, and English. According to Wikipedia, it's the only Semitic language that is officially written in Roman characters.
Malta's song was in English however, which is their other official language.
Malta's song was in English however, which is their other official language.
Chiara looks like an opera singer, of the sort that Yogi Berra famously referenced, even though she isn't one according to Wikipedia. She has the voice of one, though.
I love this song. It's a beautiful little ballad that I suspect will stand the test of time (for me, at least). Meaning that in two years from now, I can still see myself listening to this. Highly recommended.
+ Show Spoiler [video] +
click here for hi-def, stereo versionhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-PuKpjG0-g&fmt=18
18. Bosnia & Herzegovina. Regina. Bistra Voda. Bosnian. Anthem.
A passionate, nationalistic, spirited, and very authentic song. In contrast to nearly all the others, these lyrics are markedly poetic. The tune is pleasing but uncompromising. This is what Eurovision is about.
+ Show Spoiler [video] +
Here are the songs that I would have kicked along to the final. Towards the end, it got hard to choose: lots of songs were decent, but not memorable.
Criteria: Obviously, I have to like it. Also, bonuses for representing its country rather than "pan-Western culture" or something. Also, bonus for being fresh: this is very subjective, since I am not a huge expert on music. For instance, opera-pop was new to me, but apparently the genre is well-established.
+ Show Spoiler [Qrs's top 10] +
1. Montenegro. Andrea Demirović. Just get out of my life. I can't say I'd want this to win the whole contest--it's too lightweight and generic to be awarded such a prestigious cultural award
--but its catchiness is like sugar: it may not last too long, but while it does, it gives you a boost quicker than anything else. Thus I am happy to award Montenegro first place in semi-final 1.2. Sweden. Malena Ernman. La Voix. Never heard this particular sort of fusion before, but it was really good.
3. Malta. Chiara. What if we. Yes, it's just another English ballad, but this one has real power to it IMHO. The musical buttons it pushes are genuine.
4. Bosnia & Herzegovina. Regina. Bistra Voda. What Eurovision is about.
5. Portugal. Flor-de-Lis. Todas as ruas do amor. Relaxing. And authentic (or a good enough fake of authentic to fool my inexpert ears, which is all that matters).
6. Andorra. Susanne Georgi. La teva decisió (Get a life). A nice song. Maybe not the most original of tunes, though. It gets a boost over #7 because it's not in English.
7. Iceland. Yohana. Is it true? Fine, it was a pretty song.
8. Belgium. Patrick Ouchène. Copycat. English. Very funny, good tune, and doesn't take itself too seriously. A refreshing change from the usual sort of song (read "love song", for the most part).
Now I have to choose between a bunch of good but generic English songs in various styles for the last two spots. I guess I'll go with.
9. Romania. Elena Gheorghe. The Balkan Girls. I liked the tune. Plus, the quick-changes were a neat touch.
10. Finland. Waldo's People. Lose Control.
HM. Switzerland. Lovebugs. The Highest Heights. Choice between those last two was pretty close to arbitrary. Some other songs were like these as well: nice but bland.
Here are the songs that actually made it. Nine were chosen by televotes (organized by country) and 1 by the country juries that decided the final.
+ Show Spoiler [actual top 10] +
1. Iceland. Yohana. Is it true? Score: 174.
2. Turkey. Hadise. Dum Tek Tek. 172.
3. Bosnia & Herzegovina. Regina. Bistra Voda.
4. Sweden. Malena Ernman. La Voix. 105
5. Armenia. Inga & Anush. Jan Jan. 99 (this one really surprises me)
6. Malta. Chiara. What if we. 86
7. Israel. Noa & Mira Awad. There must be another way (Einaich). 75
8. Portugal. Flor-de-Lis. Todas as ruas do amor. 70
9. Romania. Elena Gheorghe. The Balkan Girls. 67
10. Finland. Waldo's People. Lose Control. (42) Picked by jury over Macedonia and Montenegro, who had more points.
Related Links
TL thread from the time the contest was aired
Wikipedia (of course)
The Digiloo Thrush (really good Eurovision resource)
Please feel free to leave comments, criticize my opinion, etc. If you weigh in on the best song, also mention the best song not from your country, would you? Thanks.
