ESC 2010 Review Part 2

Moldova: Sunstroke Project and Olia Tira- Run Away

Once you get past the horrendous non-matching outfits, the saxophonist (!) and the spinning podium thingies, this is not a bad song at all. The voices are not all that great to say the least, but it’s not the type of song that requires brilliant singers. The backing, beepy...noise is frantic but it works, and actually, I love the saxophonist now I think about it. And the fact that the podiums are still spinning when the song ends.

Lyrics- “Let me breathe, let me leave, just run away from my mind”

Verdict- LIKE

***

Russia: Peter Nalitch Band- Lost and Forgotten

I’m just at a complete loss to describe or explain this one. Russia has one of the best pop scenes around, and even though most of the country’s top singers didn’t take part in the finals this year, they still had the fabulous Maya Showtime by Alexander Panayotov. I just...oh I don’t know. On the whole, songs from the ex-Soviet states this year are pretty poor. I don’t believe in political voting, but if this even qualifies from the semi, then alarm bells will ring. There are all sorts of odd noises in this song, some of which I’m not sure are intentional. As for the title, I was going to say it’s quite appropriate, but I’m pretty sure Peter’s efforts will certainly be remembered. If not for the reasons he’d like them to be.

Lyrics- “I’m looking at her photos, what should I do with them?” (Is it me or are there a lot of questions in ESC lyrics this year?)

Verdict- HATE. But above all, DISAPPOINTED

***

Serbia: Milan Stanković- Ovo je Balkan (This is the Balkans)

Milan appears to be the lovechild of September and either Dima Bikbaev or Sergey Zverev, which is a good start. It goes downhill from there though. Ovo je Balkan isn’t terrible, it’s just boring and forgettable. Saying that though, I do quite like the “hop hop hop, ovo je Balkan , come on” bits. And what’s with all the outfit changes? The national costumes made sense, they were fine. I don’t know anything about Milan, but I do like his voice, so would like to hear more from him, as long as it’s just normal pop songs, not tourist adverts for Belgrade.

Lyrics- “Hop, hop, hop, this is the Balkans, come on!”

Verdict- WHATEVER.

***

Slovakia: Kristina- Horehronie

It’s Ruslana-Lite. A child-friendly Ruslana with a lovely silky voice. I like this, it’s ethnic without being too...ethnic. The drums make it sound a bit more modern and contemporary, if ya know what I mean. It’s just generally very pleasant and I think it could do quite well. At least, I think it would have done in previous years, but there does seem to have been a shift in popular song style this year, it doesn’t quite fit in with the trend anymore. But we’ll see.

Lyrics- “I’m lying on the grass and dreaming, of what, I don’t even know”

Verdict- LIKE