First up is the Eurovision powerhouse nation of Sweden
Sweden is the master of modern Eurovision, and this year's entry is another example of why the country has that reputation. "I Can't Go On" is a piece of pop that sounds like it should be on a Top 40 station with a performance has been polished to a sheen. Take a look at the video below to see what I mean.
Robin Bengtsson "I Can't Go On
Everything about the song is meant to have immediate impact, which is going to pull in casual voters when they see it in the final. There's no doubt that Sweden will make the final.
However, I think this song is one of the worst entries this year. If you take away the bells and whistles of the staging, the song is really terrible--it comes across as a knockoff of a Maroon 5 or Justin Timberlake song.
In other words I've heard this song before.
This could be forgiven if Bengtsson had personal charisma. However, watching this performance, Bengtsson comes off as stiff and mechanical. To make this work, Bengtsson needs to charm my pants off. Instead, he's coming across as all swagger and no sex appeal. It's more funny than sexy.
I'm sure this is a top five song. I just don't have to like it.
I'm showing my contrarian side with this post. While many Eurovision fans go crazy for the goings-on with the Swedish selection process--Melodifestivalen--I honestly think it's overrated.
Melodifestivalen is a mainstay of the Swedish television broadcaster SVT's programming, and it shows. The production levels SVT brings to the show is something that other national broadcasters have begun to imitate--if you look at finals in Austria, Denmark, Estonia, and Norway, they've stolen bits of the Melodifestivalen formula.
The problem with formula is that there can be a sameness to the songs.
Swedish Eurovision songs are processed schlager numbers that are catchy but ultimately soulless because they have been worked over and processed to death.
Eric Saade "Sting"
Dinah Nah "Make Me (La La La)"
Isa "Don't Stop"
They all are catchy. That's undeniable. But there's a sameness here that makes them indistinguishable. So you have to do something special to stand out. Or as they say in the the musical "Gypsy"--"You gotta get a gimmick/if you want to get ahead"
And that's why this song was the winner.
Måns Zelmerlöw "Heroes"
The boy had a gimmick that took the song to the next level. The song isn't the best in the final, nor is he the best singer, but the animation and choreography lifts it above everything else.
Likely going to lift it into a top five finish too.
In my mind, it doesn't deserve that high of a placement, but when you have a good gimmick, a turd of a song can become a diamond...
For watchers of national finals, Sweden's national Eurovision selection process is the be all and end all. The final, held on March 8th, was a show that pretty much delivered on all levels--strong songs, quality production values, and a nail-biting voting process.
For Eurovision lovers, there was something for everybody.
The Swedish take on Henry Rollins:
Linus Svenning "Broeder"
A former Eurovision winner:
Helena Paparizou "Survivor"
And sparkly man pants:
Alcazar "Blame It On The Disco"
And had they been performed in another country, those three songs would have been sure winners. But it's Melodifestivalen, so they were some of the also-rans.
A strong ballad with a little vocal ornamentation trumped all the bells and whistles in the other songs. Seventh time's the charm for Nielsen, who has been attempting to represent Sweden at Eurovision since 2001.
Sanna Nielsen "Undo"
Annia W., my favorite Swede, agrees with the result. She texted me after the contest telling me "the best song won".
Usually Annia and I are simpatico when it comes to Melodifestivalen, but this year I have to disagree. The song I would have voted for was this number.
Panetoz "Efter solsken"
I must confess a personal preference for Afropop, and this song was very well performed. I would have voted for it, knowing it would have not likely not gone anywhere.
And it didn't. It came in ninth out of ten songs in the final.
But even so, I still don't think "Undo" would have been the most successful of the Swedish choices come Eurovision time.
Ace Wilder "Busy Doin' Nothin'"
Wilder came in second at the end of the final, losing to Nielsen by only two points and is by far the more memorable song. It's immediately infectious and unforgettable, while Nielsen's song is very nice. In fact, the Swedish pop charts agree with me. "Busy Doin" Nothing" is number one while "Undo" is number two.
But I'm sure that Sweden's going to sail through the semifinal and have another successful finish. "Undo" is likely to make a top 10 finish, and not let Swedes down.
Romania is a country that has had a very successful track record at Eurovision in the past few years, so the results of their national final--Selecția Națională--usually produces a song that could potentially contend in the Eurovision final.
I have to say that the Romanian public chose the most interesting song to be sent to Eurovision this year.
Cezar "It's My Life"
Interesting, right? Cezar is a classically trained countertenor and this song an audition piece, featuring his vocal range. It brings to mind a song from a couple of years ago:
Malena Ernman "La Voix" Sweden 2009
I have to admit that "It's My Life" is definitely stands out this year--as many other commentators have noted, this is a serious ballad laden contest. Cezar's performance is the antithesis to that, and it's one of the few songs that have a whiff of camp to it--something that has been missing from the contest in the past few years.
As for Cezar's chances to make it to the final, I have to say it's questionable at best. Although Ernman did rather well--coming in fourth in her semi-final--a man singing at the level of a mezzo-soprano is much less acceptable than a comely blonde.
But Romania is the last song in the semifinal it's placed in and Romania has qualified every year that a semi-final has been in place--so it's likely to qualify and sink to the bottom on Saturday night, much like "La Voix" did.
I can respect the choice of the Romanian public. I don't understand the choice. I would have gone with the song that won the jury vote:
Electric Fence "Emilia"
It its own way, "Emilia" is as odd as "It's My Life", but it's weirdness is very much of many of the Moldovan entries of previous years. Those Moldovan entries have become personal favorites, and I would have loved seeing Electric Fence bouncing around the stage in Malmö.
Would it have been a better choice? I honestly don't know. But it would have been fun to watch.
Although I've been spending most of my time watching songs from the current year's crop of Eurovision hopefuls, my group of Alaskan jurors has been looking back at the songs from the contest in 1965.
The tenth Eurovision Song Contest took place in Naples on March 20th, 1965, put on by the Italian broadcaster, RAI. All the countries who participated in 1964 returned and a new country debuted:
Butch Moore "Walking the Streets in the Rain" Ireland
And for a debuting country in the Eurovision Song Contest, Butch did a pretty good job. He placed sixth overall in Naples--garnering votes from Yugoslavia, Portugal, and Italy. He even did one better in our voting, with one of the Alaska judges declaring him "dreamy".
There was also a bit of scandal this year from the Swedes.
Ingvar Wixell "Absent Friends" Sweden
Wixell performed his song in English, breaking an unwritten rule that songs at Eurovision would be performed in a national language. That unwritten rule was quickly written into the rules for the following year's contest.
But when all of the dust settled, the winner of the Eurovision Contest was a young French girl singing an entendre laced song for Luxembourg, bringing the contest out of the 1950s and bringing it closer to the musical tastes of the time.
France Gall "Poupée de cire, poupée de son" Luxembourg
France Gall's performance won on the night in Naples, but it was performance that divided our jury on gender lines. The men in the contest ranked it highly--considering it the best song in the contest. The women, on the other hand,found Gall's overly childish performance grating, rating it at the bottom of their list, putting "Poupée" into ninth place in the the eyes of the Alaskan judges.
Our winner, however, is a little less surprising.
Kathy Kirby "I Belong" United Kingdom
Kirby's performance did well on the night in Naples, coming in second. It scored well with all the jurors as well, making it "Alaska's Choice".
What is surprising are the two songs that were close runners up.
Conchita Bautista "¡Qué bueno, qué bueno!" Spain
Simone de Olivera "Sol de inverno" Portugal
These two songs from the Iberian Peninsula didn't do well during the voting in Naples--de Olivera received only one point from Monegasque juror while Bautista received the dreaded "nul points". But forty-eight years later, their dramatic performances and powerful vocals put them second and third respectively.
It proves why I love doing this blog... It highlights performances and songs buried in the depths of Eurovision history.
Dansk Melodi Grand Prix, the Danish national final, took place back on January 26th, with ten songs competing for a chance to perform just across the Øresund Strait in Malmö, Sweden.
It took me until now to review the contest, because some of the songs and performances were not readily available on YouTube, my source for all of the national finals.
But after some digging, I was able to find the full contest, and I feel like I can comment the contest as a whole, even though I may not be able to post links to the actual performances--like Brinck's performance of "Human"--which I would love to vivisect because it was bad in so many ways.
But instead I'll write about:
The Winner
Emmilie de Forest "Only Teardrops"
Denmark wants to win the contest again, and their choice of song pretty much proves it. "Only Teardrops" takes a things from prior successful songs--staging notes from "Euphoria" last year and the Celtic flair from the Irish winners back in the 1990s. Then they stole the lighting and costuming from this song:
Aloysha "Sweet People" Ukraine 2010
Altogether, the song is very eye catching and likely to do well in the contest, fitting in with the goals SVT has for the contest.
Do I personally like it? Not really. I find the song and performance overly melodramatic. But then again Loreen and "Euphoria" didn't speak to me either.
Should Have Won
It's either a good thing or a bad thing that there were really no stand outs for me on what song should have won, and I can't even criticize the songs that made it into the top three and the superfinal. However of the three songs in the finals, I would have voted for this song:
Simone "Stay Awake"
I will admit this this song feels dated--it looks and sounds like something that might have been sent to the contest in the late 90s or early 00s. But Simone controls the stage in a way that de Forest didn't, and I must confess I'm all for a Latin beat and girls swirling around in fringe-covered dresses. So I have to go with my own personal preference here, even though I think "Only Teardrops" will be stronger in May in Malmö.
My Favorite
I'm going to go a little outside the box for my favorite, because I really enjoyed the interval act--a medley of Eurovision winning performances:
Brotherhood of Man "Save Your Kisses For Me" United Kingdom 1976
Herreys "Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley" Sweden 1984
Johnny Logan "Hold Me Now" Ireland 1987
I have to say I enjoy having old winners brought out and have them perform their winning songs, and this medley is more watchable than most of the songs that were presented in the actual contest.
Is that bad?
All in all, I think Denmark put on a good show and chose a strong song. That's what a successful National final should be.
Anchorage has been hit by some pretty bad weather over the past few months, and it was capped off by a freak windstorm that knocked out power tom most of the city--my neighborhood went without power for a day., while other people I knew didn't have power for up to a week.
Luckily, other than the power outage, my house didn't get that much damage, just loads of little branches and lots of birch leaves to clean up.
But while I was doing the cleanup songs from Sweden's queen of Eurovision were running through my head.
Carola Häggkvist, more commonly known as Carola, has represented Sweden three times in Eurovision, coming no lower than fifth place. Her straightforward schlager stylings, combined with her outspokenness on her personal beliefs, have made her both extremely popular and controversial, and have led her to be a successful singer thirty years after her
Carola first showed up at Eurovision in 1983, as a sixteen year old singing this song.
"Främling" Sweden 1983
She had a great deal of success with this song, and the album with the same name sold over a million copies, country, setting her up as a national pop star at the tender age of sixteen.
She attempted to parlay her success with "Främling" into becoming an international star--going to Japan and recording with the Bee Gees--but success outside of Scandinavia eluded her, and in the late 80s she took time off from recording.
However, by 1990, here career was on a downtick by 1990, when she attempted to represent Sweden at Eurovision for a second time.
"Mitt i ett äventyr" 1990
She didn't win the contest, but came in a credible second, which spurred her on to compete again next year, where she won both the Swedish national final and the contest entirely with this song.
"Fångard av en stormvind" Sweden 1991
And yes, while cleaning up from the storm I was singing this song. It is rather obvious, an English translation for this could be "Caught in as Windstorm", but it is a catchy piece of pop music, and it's Carola's crowning achievements.
The funny thing is that her win was controversial, at the end of the 1991 contest, Carola's song tied on points with the song from France, but was declared the winner after they counted the total number of 12 point and 10 point votes. It is a catchy song.
After her success in Eurovision, her career has never really stopped. Carola continues to record and release a new album ever few years, and she even came back to Eurovision a third time in 2005 with this song.
"Invincible" Sweden 2006
And unlike most returning winners to Eurovision, Carola didn't have a terrible fall from grace. "Invincible" came in a very respectable fifth place.
Even though her last attempt to represent Sweden fell flat, not making it into the Melodifestivalen finals,
"One Love" Johnson and Häggkvist 2008
Carola has continues to have a successful career, with her most recent album, "Elvis, Barbra & Jag" hitting the top of the Swedish album charts, and she's likely to have continued success in the future.
Unlike most Eurovision fans, the 2012 Contest ended back on May 26th, when Sweden won for the fifth time with the following song:
Loreen "Euphoria"
It is a worthy winner and although it's not my favorite, it is a worthy winner. I still consider it a catchy (albeit somewhat generic) song, and the staging was masterfully done. Instead of the traditional arena camerawork that typified the other songs, "Euphoria" was shot in closeup.
With the focus on the closeups, the song felt like a throwback to earlier contests and at the same time seemed extremely fresh. In other words it was distinct an memorable in a way that the other songs were not.
But like I've been doing with all the other years of the song contest, I decided to ask a group of Alaskans what they think. It's an excuse for me to throw a party, get together with the people that are important in my life, and share one of my favorite things. As the lovely Janet S. has said to me, Eurovision is my Super Bowl.
So while chowing down on homemade pizza and a Sacher torte, we decided our winner of this year's Eurovision Song Contest.
Instead of the lovely Loreen, the Alaskan group voted for this song:
Pasha Parfeny "Lăutar" Moldova
Moldovan entries always do well with my friends, and this year the combination of attractive singer, quirky song, and dancers in adorable outfits hit the sweet spot with most of the viewers at my party. I don't blame them; I'm a fan of Moldovan songs as well. But as you know, it didn't hit my sweet spot.
I was more surprised by the song that came in second with the voting:
Kurt Calleja "This Is The Night" Malta
I think the this rated so well with the jury because of the group's dance moves, which I fully expect to see done by a couple of my friends in a burlesque show in the next couple of months.
Italy, Sweden and Norway finished off our top five,--five choices that were very different than the rest of Europe.
Sadly, my favorite, Macedonia didn't fare well. After the rest of the voting came through, Kaliopi came in seventh. (I'm sad about that, but at least she would have gotten four points from our jury, which isn't something to sneeze at.)
The bottom included some surprises: Spain, Albania, Denmark, Greece, and last and certainly least, Ireland. (And I'm happy that the jury can recognize dreck when they see it.)
The Eurovision Song Contest went back to the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès in Cannes, France for the 1961 Contest, and pretty much it was a redux of the 1959 contest with the same host on the same stage. Three countries--Finland, Spain, and Yugoslavia--made their debut and the juries from the 16 participating countries decided that the best song was this song.
Jean-Claude Pascal "Nous les amoureux" Luxembourg
"Nous les amoreux" is a prime example of the chanson style that dominated in the early years of the contest and to my ears was nothing special, so I sent this year's contest out to the Alaskan jurors, and they agreed with me. Pascal came in ninth in the voting.
So, I sent the songs out to the Alaska Eurovision jury, and or choice was the song that came in a distant second in the voting in 1961.
The Allisons "Are You Sure?" the United Kingdom
I can understand why this song topped the vote, because it's recognizably pop and the style of song, doo-wop, was distinctly different than every other song in the contest.
But there are two suprising things that have come out of our voting on 1961. The first is that this is the first time an English language song topped our voting. As a bunch of English speakers, I would have figured the the United Kingdom's song would have one sometime before the sixth contest,
The second is that our rankings were wildly different that the voting of the European juries on the night of the contest. It's best explained by this song:
Lili-Babs "April, April" Sweden
On the night of the contest, Lili-Babs got only two points, coming in fourteenth place, while our jury had it coming in second. I suppose we prefer peppy upbeat numbers.
Sadly, it was a different case for the song we ranked last
Ljiljana Petrović "Neke davne zvezde" Yugoslavia
On the night, she came in joint tenth, but her tendency to be off key sadly put her at the bottom of our ranking.
And that's 1961 in a nutshell. Stay tuned for 1962...
After a little break, I'm back,and now I'm taking a listen to Lithuania's entry.
Donny Montell "Love Is Blind"
I have a feeling that I'm going to be going out on a limb, but I like how the song is structured--it builds and builds and builds, which will always suck me in, just like my favorite dance song ever.
Kylie Minogue "Love At First Sight"
I agree, it's like comparing filet mignon to pink slime, but there is building in both songs. (And I do love an excuse to put up my favorite dance song ever. If they played this at Mad Myrna's, I'd be there most Friday nights.)
But Donny really should be compared to another Eurovision entrant, the 2005 entrant from Sweden.
Martin Stenmarck "Las Vegas" Sweden 2005
What started out as interesting and kind of unique to me turned into a sound-alike to a former Eurovision song that didn't do so well. (Stenmarck came in 19th out of 25 in the final that year.)
And I expect Montell to fall in the same place. He'll make it to the final, but the song will get lost win the shuffle.
Probably the biggest qualifying show throughout Europe is Sweden's Melodifestivalen, a multi-week, multi-city competition that started in October and ended just a few minutes ago.
Out of this month-long competition, the following song won:
Loreen "Euphoria"
To me, this song feels like a cross between a Lady Gaga and a Katy Perry song, which,. depending on your opinion, could be a good thing or a bad thing.
I really don't have much of an opinion on this one other than I think it's both interesting and a bit derivative, so I turned to my friend Annia, a vivacious Swede (and a damn fine actor) living in the Last Frontier for her analysis of the song.
And here's her thoughts:
"This one was the best in the bunch and I'm VERY happy it isn't a boy band, nor any other kind of coordinated dance groups in the background. Also, she's barefooted as opposed to every other stiletto-wearing, sex-kitten, women-degrading entry. So... not all bad. But, my guess is Sweden will have to qualify next year - no clear top placement with this one..".
So what do you think of this song? Do you agree with me or Annia? Or do you have a different opinion?
Without fail, when talking to a new person about the Eurovision Song Contest, the first question is inevitably "Have I ever heard of anybody from the contest?"
And the Australian love of the Swedish quartet is well known and doesn't need to be repeated.
But they first came to the attention of the wider world when they won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1974 with their song "Waterloo".
ABBA "Waterloo"
And as of today, it's the only winner of the Eurovision Song Contest to chart on Billboard's Top 40 in the US, hitting #6 on the charts.
But what's fun is that "Waterloo" was ABBA's second attempt to represent Sweden at the ESC, the year before the entered Melodifestivalen this number:
ABBA "Ring Ring"
They came in third. To this:
Nova and the Dolls "You're Summer"
Now, I'm not a big fan of ABBA, but I have to say "Waterloo" is one of the most important to come out of the contest, and an easy way to introduce people to the contest, which is why they're Eurovisionaries.
Sometimes you have to wonder what's going through the minds of countries when they select their entrants to the Eurovision Song Contest. The voters in Melodifestavalen, Sweden's contest to determine their entrant to the ESC, decided that Malena Ernman, a Swedish opera singer with Harlow blonde hair warbling over a disco beat straight out of the 1990s.
Malena Ernman "La Voix"
The song came in 21st out of 25 entries in the final and rightly so.
What's even more frustrating it that the first runner up in the contest that year has become one of my favorite Eurovision songs, even though it didn't make it to the finals.
Caroline af Ugglas "Snälla, snälla"
Yes instead of techno-opera, Sweden could have sent a bluesy song about a woman begging her lover not to leave her for another woman. And a song sung with more emotion than Ms. Ernman, an opera singer, could muster.
It probably wouldn't have won, but my god, it could have been the classiest song in the contest. And considering France sent chanteuse Patricia Kaas, that's saying something.
