Well done to Tom last night getting Flanders' best result ever at Eurovision.Must admit I didn't get the fuss during the semis,and I still think Me and My Guitar is quite forgettable,but by Christ he's adorable isn't he?! The way he waved and said bye at the end was like something off of the Father Ted Eurovision special.The song might grow on me yet.I really don't like the lyrics (some of them anyway),but the first half is rather Teitur-like.Anyway,I've just familiarised myself with his album,Teardrops.A few songs have stood out immediately as ones I don't think I'll ever like,but this one is the complete opposite.It's quite atmospheric and it's called Forbidden Love.
Monday 31 May 2010
Saturday 29 May 2010
Happy Eurovision Day!
Happy Eurovision Day to all readers of Work Your Magic and Parlez-Vous Europop.Earlier on Twitter,@FannyPeculiar said the night before Eurovision is like Gay Christmas Eve.Although I'm a straight girl,I have to agree.This year is my 18th ESC,that I can remember anyway.I'm sure I watched it before I was 6,I just probably fell asleep halfway through or something.It was my dad who got me interested in the contest,and funnily enough it's now him who falls asleep halfway through.
Silly as it sounds,Eurovision is more of an event to me than Christmas,and probably my birthday too.It's probably quite similar actually,every year you get something you don't particularly want (*cough* Greece *cough*),and it's always a bit sad at the end when you have to wait another whole year for the next one.
I remember having a thing for this song from 1993,and having the chorus in my head for ages afterwards...
I remember going to school the weekend after Secret Garden won with Nocturne in 1995 and excitedly telling my teacher that I was really happy Norway won because that was mine and my dad's favourite.Of course,she didn't care in the slightest.And I remember Tanel winning in 2001 (that night was also the one and only time in my life I've ever been stung by a wasp),and getting a major 14-year-olds crush on him leading to lots of pictures of him on my walls,the recording of Estonia Dreams of Eurovision (I still have the video tape!) and texting an Estonian website to get Unistus as my ringtone.
They might not be your average childhood memories (then again,my first memory of life in general was seeing the Berlin Wall come down on the news...),but Eurovision has been a constant that's always there and has been a part of me for a long time.And long may it continue!
Friday 28 May 2010
Who cares about Sweden?
I don't understand this media frenzy about Sweden not qualifiying.Sure this might be the first time in 30 odd years that they're not in the final,but that's what happens when you send crap.I'm no fan of schlager whatsoever so it's refreshing of the Swedes to try something different,but this something different was duller than ditchwater in the dullest ditch in Dullsland and so it was rightfully knocked out last night.The music and the lyrics didn't match (the words suggested it was an uplifting song,but non-English speakers would never have guessed this in a million years),Anna was annoying and the song just never went anywhere from the moment it started to the second it ended.
Sweden would do well to remember that though they may spend millions on the most pointless,drawn-out national final in Europe,nobody is guaranteed a place in the final*.If the European media should be commiserating anyone,it should be Femminem and Michael von der Heide,who put in two of the best performances of the night,vocally and visually,and both of whom deserve to be in the final so much more than certain other qualifiers whose names I won't mention.
While we're on the subject of last night,congratulations to Jon Lillygreen,whose qualification was one of yesterday's pleasant surprises and whose song is (to me at least) the best of the guitar-based pop this year.
* Unless you're Greece or Turkey of course.Then you can send whatever tat you want.
Sweden would do well to remember that though they may spend millions on the most pointless,drawn-out national final in Europe,nobody is guaranteed a place in the final*.If the European media should be commiserating anyone,it should be Femminem and Michael von der Heide,who put in two of the best performances of the night,vocally and visually,and both of whom deserve to be in the final so much more than certain other qualifiers whose names I won't mention.
While we're on the subject of last night,congratulations to Jon Lillygreen,whose qualification was one of yesterday's pleasant surprises and whose song is (to me at least) the best of the guitar-based pop this year.
* Unless you're Greece or Turkey of course.Then you can send whatever tat you want.
Sunday 23 May 2010
Delayed thoughts on Eurovision
(All video links in this post are to rehearsal videos,so if you want to remain in suspense until the big day,don't look!)
I'm still undecided on who I want to win,there are actually tons of songs that I like this year,with no one in particular standing out.Harel's song has really grown on me now I've seen the rehearsals- his voice is faultless,and it's such a simple performance that it deserves to do well.Also,you can't ignore the fact that,visually,he is perfection itself,and his backing singers aren't too far off either :) Still loving Denmark's song too,though the recorded version is much better than the live version.Feminnem are amazing for Croatia,watching the rehearsal gave me goosebumps the other day.Though they have got a bit of a stage performance going on,it doesn't detract from their brilliant voices and a song which is powerful and has great lyrics.Estonia are also wonderful (love Robin's Renars-esque dancing) and I can't wait to hear what Malcolm Lincoln's new album sounds like.And then there's these guys...
That's my new desktop picture,it never fails to make me smile.Inculto,bless them,have done so much work to promote themselves all over Europe (see their youtube channel for details) and their song is great in so many ways that it will be a shame if they don't qualify.Same for Switzerland,whose stage setup and backing singers are possibly the best in the competition.Michael's voice is very sexy indeed,which I think should always count for something in Eurovision :)
I hope an Azeri win isn't a foregone conclusion.Though I'm glad Safura has done away with the horrible nasal voice thing,the song is still dull,with an annoying,predictable chorus.And the whole steps thing is reminiscent of Dima's ladder from 08.It's pointless and just makes everything look awkward.Drip Drop probably is in the best 15 songs this year,and I normally support Azerbaijan,which I still do really- I'd love to see the contest taken to Central Asia in the near future.But just not this year.There are too many other,better songs in the competition.
As for the Big Four,I think this is the strongest set of songs they've had as a collective for a few years.Spain's performance is surely the cutest this year (I especially love the rag doll),and Daniel has a belter of a voice.Germany are of course still second favourites to win (wonder when the last time was that that happened?!)I still can't see it happening myself,but I love the song,and Lena is adorable.I wasn't sure how well the backing singers would work,but I've concluded they're very good.Poor old Jessy Matador seems to have had a bit of a hard time so far,what with all the negative criticism back in France where the consensus seemed to be that he wasn't right for Eurovision.Au contraire,I think he's just what Eurovision needs."Typically French" the song might not be,but after stuffy old Patricia Kaas last year,I think they made the right decision to lighten up a bit,but not be as quirky as previous years.I hope it does well,and I hope it follows say,Didrik or Harel in the running order,just for maximum effect.
Then of course there's us. We were supposed to do an interview with Josh for Sounds of Europe a few weeks ago,but due to his schedule changing blah blah blah,it didn't quite come about,and he just did a telephone interview with another show that his friend presents.This is probably just as well as we'd slagged off the song several times on the show before.I love Josh to bits,he seems like a really nice guy from all the interviews I've seen/heard,but the song is a bit pants.Especially the new version.But I was very impressed with the rehearsals,the Ani Lorak style white box things were a bit unexpected,but a million times better than what I was imagining.It won't set Europe on fire (that's Romania's job,hahahahahahahaha... :/) but I hope it won't do as badly as the bookies predict.Josh has got the granny vote safe already,surely?
I'm still undecided on who I want to win,there are actually tons of songs that I like this year,with no one in particular standing out.Harel's song has really grown on me now I've seen the rehearsals- his voice is faultless,and it's such a simple performance that it deserves to do well.Also,you can't ignore the fact that,visually,he is perfection itself,and his backing singers aren't too far off either :) Still loving Denmark's song too,though the recorded version is much better than the live version.Feminnem are amazing for Croatia,watching the rehearsal gave me goosebumps the other day.Though they have got a bit of a stage performance going on,it doesn't detract from their brilliant voices and a song which is powerful and has great lyrics.Estonia are also wonderful (love Robin's Renars-esque dancing) and I can't wait to hear what Malcolm Lincoln's new album sounds like.And then there's these guys...
That's my new desktop picture,it never fails to make me smile.Inculto,bless them,have done so much work to promote themselves all over Europe (see their youtube channel for details) and their song is great in so many ways that it will be a shame if they don't qualify.Same for Switzerland,whose stage setup and backing singers are possibly the best in the competition.Michael's voice is very sexy indeed,which I think should always count for something in Eurovision :)
I hope an Azeri win isn't a foregone conclusion.Though I'm glad Safura has done away with the horrible nasal voice thing,the song is still dull,with an annoying,predictable chorus.And the whole steps thing is reminiscent of Dima's ladder from 08.It's pointless and just makes everything look awkward.Drip Drop probably is in the best 15 songs this year,and I normally support Azerbaijan,which I still do really- I'd love to see the contest taken to Central Asia in the near future.But just not this year.There are too many other,better songs in the competition.
As for the Big Four,I think this is the strongest set of songs they've had as a collective for a few years.Spain's performance is surely the cutest this year (I especially love the rag doll),and Daniel has a belter of a voice.Germany are of course still second favourites to win (wonder when the last time was that that happened?!)I still can't see it happening myself,but I love the song,and Lena is adorable.I wasn't sure how well the backing singers would work,but I've concluded they're very good.Poor old Jessy Matador seems to have had a bit of a hard time so far,what with all the negative criticism back in France where the consensus seemed to be that he wasn't right for Eurovision.Au contraire,I think he's just what Eurovision needs."Typically French" the song might not be,but after stuffy old Patricia Kaas last year,I think they made the right decision to lighten up a bit,but not be as quirky as previous years.I hope it does well,and I hope it follows say,Didrik or Harel in the running order,just for maximum effect.
Then of course there's us. We were supposed to do an interview with Josh for Sounds of Europe a few weeks ago,but due to his schedule changing blah blah blah,it didn't quite come about,and he just did a telephone interview with another show that his friend presents.This is probably just as well as we'd slagged off the song several times on the show before.I love Josh to bits,he seems like a really nice guy from all the interviews I've seen/heard,but the song is a bit pants.Especially the new version.But I was very impressed with the rehearsals,the Ani Lorak style white box things were a bit unexpected,but a million times better than what I was imagining.It won't set Europe on fire (that's Romania's job,hahahahahahahaha... :/) but I hope it won't do as badly as the bookies predict.Josh has got the granny vote safe already,surely?
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