Eurovision 2017: Georgia

There's something really hard about being the first country to declare your song in Eurovision--it will be compared to every other Eurovision song.

Tamara Gachechiladze   "Keep The Faith"

Comparisons are very easy for this song.   You take the Bond theme theatrics of Conchita Wurst's winning song from 2014 and combine it with the political message of Jamala's winning entry of last year and you get "Keep The Faith". 

The song has courted controversy due to the staging of the national final performance--especially at 1:27, when a graphic of a newspaper stating "Russia Invades Geo..." is prominently features on the screen behind her.

It's not the first time Gachechiladze has been a part of this sort of musical brinksmanship before.   She was a part of the Georgian entry in 2009 that was disqualified because it had lyrics that were considered to be political speech.

3G and Stephane   "I Don't Wanna Put In"

I suspect that the political staging of the national final will be swapped out for something more Eurovision friendly, but I think this is a song on the bubble for qualification.   There are a lot of power ballads sung by attractive women and this is very early in the semifinal and is likely to be forgotten.  

It's a shame.  I kind of like it.

Top 10 Before The Show: Eurovision 2015

As the rehearsals are going on in Vienna, I now get to the fun part of my blog--choosing my favorite songs.

Read on and enjoy

10th place:

Lisa Angell  "N'oubliez pas"   France

France is always a great country when it comes to Eurovision, and I'm a sucker for chanson.   Naturally Angell's song was going to be high on my list.

9th Place:

Electro Velvet   "Still In Love with You"   United Kingdom

I love the out of left field choice of the UK.   It's weird and most of all fun.   Fun is something missing in this year's contest and I hope Electro Velvet are going to bring a little bit of joy.

8th Place: 

Guy Sebastian   "Tonight Again"   Australia

Australia is sending a commercially successful song that is a catchy as hell.

7th Place:

Nina Sublatti   "Warrior"   Georgia

There are a lot of moody young women singing dark dramatic songs at Eurovision this year.  This is the only one that hasn't been overworked to death.  

6th Place:

Elina Born & Stig Rästa   "Goodbye to Yesterday"   Estonia

I cannot deny that this is one of the best songs in the contest.   I can understand why it's one of the favorites.

5th Place:

Aminata   "Love Injected"   Latvia

Latvia has finally come to win, not place last in the semifinal.  It's delightful to see.

4th Place:

Daniel Kajmakoski   "Autumn Leaves"   Macedonia

I must confess that Kajmakoski's work on reaching out to the Eurovision fan base has worked on me.  If you haven't checked out his cover of Yugoslavia's 1983 entry, Džuli, you really should.    It's made me go back and take a listen to his entry that I wrote off back at the beginning of my tour through the 2015 songs.   It's popped up to the top of my replay list.

3rd Place:   

Monika Kuszyńska   "In The Name of Love"  Poland

I'm surprised by the fact I keep playing the Polish entry over and over again.   Simple songs sung well always hook me.    I don't know if it will qualify, but for me it works.

2nd Place:

Ann Sophie   "Black Smoke"   Germany

If Eurovision songs won on sheer memorability, "Black Smoke" would be my winner hands down.  This song has been stuck in my head since I first heard the darn thing, and it's a great one to have on the car stereo with the volume cranked up.   It also doesn't hurt that it's in my vocal range.  Hello new karaoke song.

1st Place:

Maraaya   "Here For You"   Slovenia

Hands down my favorite song in the contest, and they're going to be the group I'll definaletly follow in the future, joining a small list like Anouk and Patricia Kaas.   Have you heard their other versions--the remix with the students of their music school?  Or the remix with the a capella choir?   This song has legs and Maraaya has the musical chops.

Eurovision 2015: Georgia

The former Soviet republic of Georgia has had a mixed track record of sending songs to the Eurovision Song Contest.  

This isn't the US state, people.

Unlike some of its neighbors, Georgia isn't a powerhouse nation when it comes to Eurovision.  The highest placing the country has made is ninth place and they've not qualified twice in the seven times they have entered.

This year, the Georgian national broadcaster decided to have a national final, with five artists competing.

And they selected the only song that was even worth mentioning:

Nina Sublatti   "Warrior"

Unlike last year's song, this song is much more accessible and retains a uniqueness that makes it a song to watch.  In a year where the entries are starting to feel very generic, the goth feel to Sublatti makes her stand out and if staged properly, the song could do extremely well.

Nice choice, Georgia.

Eurovision 2013: Georgia

I cannot believe that I'm going to say this.  I really like the Georgian entry.

Nodi Tatishvili & Sophie Gelovani   "Waterfall"

I'll be the first to admit that this is a very calculated choice by the Georgian broadcaster, GPB.   They got the composer of the winning entry from last year, Thomas G:son, and looked at the staging of the winner from two years ago and came up with this song.

Usually I would deride this sort of thing, but the choice of Tatishvili & Gelovani have something that Eurovision duets in previous years tend not to have--chemistry.

If you take a look back a prior years' duets, the singers feel like they're singing in different worlds. 

 

Chanée and N'evergreen   "In A Moment Like This"   Denmark   2010

 

 

Ell and Nikki   "Running Scared"   Azerbaijan   2011

 

 

Greta Salóme & Jónsi   "Never Forget"   Iceland   2012

You may feel differently, but I feel that there was no connection between the singers in the three songs I've posted above, while the Georgian entry has that connection.  It looks like the two actually like each other.  For me, that goes a long way to sell the song, since my idea of a good duet is set up by this song.

 

 

Dolly Parton & Kenny Rogers   "Islands in the Stream"

 

Tatishvili and Gelovani are the singers who come closest to that level of chemistry that Parton and Rogers have.  That means I'm flying the flag for the Georgian entry, even though I tend to hate duets in Eurovision.

Eurovision 2012 Entrants: Georgia

I just took a look at the list of countries that I haven't reviewed the songs for, and they can be divided into two main groups--former Soviet republics and Balkan nations.

These are two regions that I traditionally don't understand and try to avoid.  So, let's take a listen to the Georgian entrant:

Anri Jokhadze  "I'm A Joker"

I'm depressed.  This is a song that is a pun on his last name, and as you can imagine about a song based on a pun, the lyrics are horrible.  They've attempted to make the song hookier by throwing as many musical styles as they can at it to hide the bad lyrics.  The problem is you can wrap up crap in a Tiffany and Co box, but it's still crap.

What makes it more depressing is that Georgia may be sending crap to the main competition, but for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, where kids from 8 to 15 compete, they are really successful--having won in 2008 and this year with the song posted below

CANDY  "Candy Music"

Come on Georgia, if you can come up with winning songs for kids, can't you do the same thing for the main event?