The Results: First Semifinal

I'm giving up any impartiality I have this year!

I would love to be able to stay impartial, but I can't help it.  My favorite song made it to the final this year!

Anouk   "Birds"   The Netherlands

Absolute perfection as far as I'm concerned--the shots of her with the crowd waving along to the song with the stage behind her completely sold it.

Mind you I about had a heart attack watching the results.  The results are random.  Yeah, right.  They were specifically calibrated to give me a freaking heart attack.

But the real shock of the first semifinal was the absolute lock out of any countries from the former Yugoslavia.   None of the four countries from the former Yugoslavia made it through to Saturday night.  

It could be because of the new ranking of songs, where all are ranked instead of the top ten.  But when you look back at the songs from Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia, none of them were true contenders this year, because they were either poorly performed or inaccessible to Europe as a whole.

For example:

Who See   "Ingranka"  Montenegro

This is a pretty amazing performance, and perhaps the most "in your face" performance in the semifinal.  It feels fresh and modern, but outside the Balkans nobody would vote for it.

But the shock qualifier for me was another Benelux country:

Roberto Bellarosa   "Loff Keels"  Belgium

Bellarosa looked like a scared chicken when he was performing and his English pronunciation of phrases like "Love Kills" and "bitter pill" (excuse me "beater peel") make me wonder what was in the water to put Belgium's number over something like this.

Klapa s Moro   "Mižerja"   Croatia

When something like this happens, I have to remind myself it's not always about the quality of the performance, it's what sounds more popular.  So the amazing Klapa s Moro are going home while the Belgian chicken clucks another day.  (I'm not bitter.  Not one bit.)

But all in all, I'm pretty pleased with the results.  Out of the ten songs I though I would go through, seven made it.   So goodbye to Slovenia, Serbia, and Cyprus and hello to Belgium, Lithuania, and Moldova.

I am looking forward to Thursday and the second semifinal.  If the production is half as good as the production for this semifinal, it's going to be the best Eurovision Song Contest in years.

Any country who can put a fresh spin on last year's winning song

Loreen and Children of Malmö   "Euphoria"

and provide comedic relief that is actually funny gets my vote.

Lynda Woodruff  (Sarah Dawn Finer)

(Sadly they don't have her first part of her tour of Sweden isn't available online yet.  Enjoy this clip from this year's Melodifestivalen.)

If you have the time, you really should watch the entire contest--it's easily streamed from the official Eurovision website.

Now back to listening to the songs.  Maybe after another six or seven listens I can actually figure out what's going on with the Serbian entry...

Moje 3   "Ljubav Je Svuda"   Serbia

Oh.  It's about loving a douche bag.  It still doesn't explain those outfits.  And it proves that you really should have sent Marija Mihajlović.

Eurovision 2013: Serbia

I've been heaping a lot of praise on winning songs lately, and I was looking forward to praising the winner of the Serbian national final, Beosong.

I had to call in help to review the winner, because I needed help coming to terms with the winning song, because all I could think is the women look slutty when I think they were going for sexy.

Moje 3   "Ljubav je svuda"

So I called in the help of my go to person on when I need a ruling on sexy--Kamala S.  Kamala is the founder of VivaVoom Brr-lesque, Alaska's premier burlesque troupe, and my go-to gal for all things fabulously feminine.

So take it away, Kamala:

"The devil suit is borderline, but since she doesn't do any serious stripper moves and because it looks like they are doing some sort of angel vs. devil concept, I would say that this is mostly sexy and only about 5% slutty.   Good thing they can sing.  And walk in those heels!"

Now that the question of sexiness has been settled, let's get to the song.  I think it was the most Eurovision friendly of the numbers presented in Beosong, and it was the vote winner in the semi-final.  Seeing it win here is unsurprising.   I just find it doesn't hold up when you compare it to prior years' entrants.  "Ljubav je svuda" is no "Nije Ljubav Stvar" or "Čaroban".

All in all Moje 3 is good enough to make the final, but I can't see this song getting in the top half of the table as is.  It feels amateurish, not professional or fun, and because of that I can't see the song getting high marks outside of the Balkans.

Maybe next year.

----

On the other end, there is a performance that was totally not Eurovision but completely blew me away.



Marija Mihajlović   "Halo"

This is pretty much the antithesis of a Eurovision Song Contest song--a blues tinged ballad only accompanied by a piano and a couple of backing singers. 

It is beyond fabulous.  And came in fourth.

Mihajlović has worked in Serbia as a backing singer, jingle singer, musical theater actress, and voice coach.  "Halo" is one of the songs from her new album, which, if I can find it for sale in the United States, I will be purchasing.

It's the best part of Eurovision, the discovery of new musicians.  (And if any Serbians read this and can recommend a place for me listen to more of her music, please let me know.)