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.
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.
It's been a month since the final of the Eurovision Song Contest, and only now have I felt the need to sit down and write about it, because unlike many previous years.
1. Logo kind of ruined Eurovision for me.
I have to say that at first blush, Logo and the Eurovision Song Contest seemed to go together quite well. The Eurovision Song Contest has a huge gay following and Logo is the "gay" network.
But when my husband and I tuned in, I was kind of appalled by the slapdash commentary provided by Carson Kressley and Michelle Collins. Neither of them knew much about Eurovision and Kressley's ignorance combined with vapidly pointless comments made me very angry. It's something that I hope that they don't repeat in the future.
2. There is no way for people in the US to watch Eurovision.
Because of the agreements between the EBU and Logo, the site at Eurovision.TV that allows you to stream the contest at will is not longer available here in the United States. All the clips of the contestants are blocked, and this means I can't link to any of them here in this blog.
Croatia's entry was supercool, but I can't post it in my blog because I'm in the US. (source eurovisionary.com)
I suspect that Viacom, the company that owns Logo and all the other NBC networks is attempting to cash in on Eurovision. I don't see this happening any time soon and hope they will allow us to view them soon.
I doubt that--it just means that I'll likely get a DVD of this year's contest and watch it on my European DVD player.
3. The winning song was the best song in this year's contest.
There was a lot of sour grapes when the voting ended and Ukraine wound up winning the contest, especially among Russians, who felt that the rightful winner was the Russian entry.
But my little Eurovision party disagreed with that, as my friend Lori said, Jamala's performance "gave (her) goosebumps".
Even in this clip, the winner's reprise, there is still power in the song
Jamala "1944"
Needless to say, it was the winning song in my little Eurovision viewing party as well. It's the first time my friends and the European public have agreed on the winning song.
4. The new voting system worked.
I wasn't a fan of the new voting system, where the countries' jury votes were announced separately and the public votes were combined together when it was announced. But when it was put into practice, the suspense was nail biting.
When the points for the winner of the televote were announced, Russia Sergey Lazarev, I fell on the floor when the points he received were not enough to win.
The voting can stay.
And that's pretty much it for me. I wish I could say more, but the inability to share the clips here takes away most of the fun.
And here are the ten songs who made it through to the final on Saturday
Armenia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Croatia
Czech Republic
Cyprus
Hungary
Malta
the Netherlands
Russia
Seven out of ten isn't particularly bad, and after watching the final,
I can't really say that I disagree. After watching the show, nine out of ten of these are ones that were obvious finalists.
The Biggest Surprise
Nina Kraljić "Lighthouse" Croatia
I had thought an early place in the running order combined with an over-the-top costume would prevent Croatia from qualifying. The Croatian broadcaster hasn't always been the best at staging songs, so I'm glad to see this overcame the visual deficiency.
The Biggest Disappointment
Samra "Miracle" Azerbaijan
In my opinion, "Miracle" was the song that didn't deserve to qualify in the top ten. The staging was tacky and the vocals were weak. And the gold plated American football uniform? Don't get me started.
The Song I Would Have Voted For
Highway "The Real Thing" Montenegro
Although the Czech Republic would have gotten my first vote, Montenegro came in a close second. While the somewhat experimental hard rock was something that would have never qualified, I really responded to the music and staging. In a semifinal of things that were polished to an inch of their life, "The Real Thing" was interesting because it was deliberately unpolished.
The Can't Miss Song
Serhat "I Didn't Know" San Marino
I could have gone with the Armenian or Russian entries here, but really you'll see them elsewhere. San Marino's utter weirdness deserves to be highlighted here. It's trying so hard to be kitschy camp and it fails. It's worth a watch.
Tomorrow is the first semifinal of Eurovision, and it's time for me to make my predictions on the countries that will qualify.
The Sure Qualifiers
Hungary
Armenia
Russia
Malta
The Songs Without A Chance
Finland
Moldova
San Marino
Montenegro
The Undefined Middle
Greece
Croatia
Netherlands
Czech Republic
Cyprus
Austria
Estonia
Azerbaijan
Iceland
Bosnia/Herzegovina
As opposed to previous years, I haven't been following the ins and outs of the contest as prior years, so these are more personal guesses that anything else.
Armenia
Azerbaijan
Bosnia/Herzegovina
Czech Republic
Cyprus
Greece
Hungary
Iceland
Malta
Russia
And as I do every year, I'm putting in a request. If you are reading this and are in a country that votes in this semifinal, please consider voting for this song.
Gabriela Gunčíková "I Stand" Czech Republic
This is a bog standard ballad, but Gunčíková performs it perfectly. Besides, the Czech Republic have never qualified for the final and this is a good song.
Austria has chosen the musical version of a kitten calendar picture
I have to hand it to Austria, when watching their national final, Wer singt für Österreich?, I was not bored. The program, presented back on February 12th, didn't fall back on the usual Eurovision tropes.
I still don't know the musical genre this song belongs to
AzRaH "The One"
The music just calls out to be played over and over again. Is it jazz? Is it rock? I don't know. I just wish the singer's nerves hadn't gotten the best of her, because boy is it hard to listen to. Go search out the recorded version of the song.
I'm also amazed by the provocative nature of this song:
Bella Wagner "Weapons Down"
I really never expected a song like this to be presented in a national final, much less come in third. The song is about a standard Eurovision topic--peace--but the song style and presentation were meant to unsettle. That is something that is rarely seen at Eurovision and I have great respect for Wagner as an artist and the Austrian jury for ranking this so highly.
But when all the votes were tallied, this is the song that won
Zoe "Loin d'ici"
Yep. It's in French. And she is dressed up like a Disney princess. Zoë is nineteen years old, but the styling of the song makes her look much younger, and like Iceland's entry last year, it's something I I actively dislike The combination of the pretentiousness of the use of French and preciousness in the presentation of this song make me cringe. As is, I cannot see anybody wanting to vote for this unless they were young girls unlikely to be allowed to vote in the semifinals because it's past their bedtime.
I wish I could be kinder to Austria's choice, but when it cam from a contest that had such interesting music and this was the song chosen, I can't help but be a bit disappointed.
