Eurovision Song Contest - General Discussion

[Rosenrot]

On ‎5‎/‎20‎/‎2019 at 12:10 AM, vavera4ka said:

We "survived" El & Nicki win, we "survived" Heroes win, we'll survive this.

Personally not sure if I've survived the Heroes win to this day.

22 hours ago, aradia22 said:

Another reason the Netherlands was a baffling win was because it was a depressing break up song. I don't expect every song to be pop-y and inspiring but it could be political or thoughtful or something. I do not understand what would attract someone to this song.

Well… as you said, it's a 'depressing break-up song'… I just had a super depressing break-up…. go figure.  😉  

27 minutes ago, vavera4ka said:

Poland would have gotten 10 from Czechia in the semi and advanced into the finale instead of Belarus.

!!!! Okay, that pisses me off big time. Poland should've been in the finals. 

Edited May 20, 2019 by Rosenrot

[vavera4ka]

3 minutes ago, Rosenrot said:

!!!! Okay, that pisses me off big time. Poland should've been in the finals. 

well, at least THIS f up wasn't Belarus' fault lol

Being Belarusian I'm on the fence. We have a poor record (6 Q's out of 16 appearances), so any qualification is a win. (Russia and Ukraine aim for top 5, anything else is a flop, we are just happy to sing twice). Poland is at over 50% (14 out of 22). I'd be more at peace with it had it been at the expense of a more successful country. Petty? sure. lol but being a redheaded stepchild of ex-USSR is not easy lol

[Rosenrot]

5 minutes ago, vavera4ka said:

We have a poor record (6 Q's out of 16 appearances), so any qualification is a win. (Russia and Ukraine aim for top 5, anything else is a flop, we are just happy to sing twice). Poland is at over 50% (14 out of 22). I'd be more at peace with it had it been at the expense of a more successful country.

Heh, I know what you mean. Finland's track record isn't exactly impressive either. It's totally a victory for us if we get to sing twice!

This year was just sad. But we had a poor entry, so it's not like it was undeserved. 

[vavera4ka]

2 minutes ago, Rosenrot said:

Heh, I know what you mean. Finland's track record isn't exactly impressive either. It's totally a victory for us if we get to sing twice!

This year was just sad. But we had a poor entry, so it's not like it was undeserved. 

Darude's beat and mixing was wasted on mediocre artist and song tbh. I liked what he brought into the entry. Sebastian.... well he's cute... I guess...

(Blackbird was robbed)

[Rosenrot]

Yeah, I believe we would've fared better if Darude had done, y'know, his thing, more visibly than now. Sandstorm is a great song. Had it been something like that, with stronger vocals than what Sebastian could offer… catchy tune... who knows what might've happened.

Blackbird was SO robbed, I'm glad someone else thinks that way too! ❤️ For once Finland sent something good and just got pooped on. I was so irked.  

[vavera4ka]

7 minutes ago, Rosenrot said:

Blackbird was SO robbed, I'm glad someone else thinks that way too! ❤️ For once Finland sent something good and just got pooped on. I was so irked.  

Actually I've found that a lot of Eurovision regulars think that. It's not the level of disbelief of Crisalide not qualifying because it was San-Marino, but close.

Honestly, I can kinda understand Finland and San-Marino not putting much effort into selections at times. It's like if Blackbird or Crisalide isn't enough for the finale, why bother... I can name a handful of countries who could have won with either song... 

[aradia22]

Quote

Personally not sure if I've survived the Heroes win to this day.

Honestly? Same.

[Rosenrot]

2 hours ago, vavera4ka said:

Honestly, I can kinda understand Finland and San-Marino not putting much effort into selections at times. It's like if Blackbird or Crisalide isn't enough for the finale, why bother... I can name a handful of countries who could have won with either song... 

IKR?! Couldn't have said it better myself! 😄 

[SnideAsides]

I stand corrected. The UK's only had six of their Eurovision entries peak inside the Top 5 on the UK charts since *1973*: their three winners since then (Brotherhood of Man and Bucks Fizz at #1, Katrina and the Waves at #3), Bardo (#2 in 1982), Gina G (#1 in 1996), and... uh... Scooch (#5 in 2007).

And only three of the others (Love City Groove, Precious, and... uh... Daz Sampson) even reached the Top 10. Even Olivia Newton-John only peaked at #11 when she competed in 1974.

[doesntworkonwood]

8 hours ago, vavera4ka said:

I'm so confused by UK. So. Much. Good. Music.

yet year after year the question is whether it'll be last or second to last place...

I know, Engelbert Humperdinck, Bonnie Tyler, and Blue flopped, but has UK tried to send anyone who has charted in the world in the previous 3-5 years? 

The problem is no big stars want to do Eurovision, because of the reputation we have for losing. But then this means that younger, less experienced, acts get chosen by the BBC. 

The problem with that is that because the BBC is a public broadcaster, and we have really really strict rules on public broadcasters, the BBC aren't allowed to advertise the act or the song. A lot of it is down to the act themselves, but when they're not really famous and just starting their careers, they don't really have the 'clout' to get themselves played on the Radio across Europe without either a) a crazy amazing song (which we haven't sent in recent years) and b) a bit of a grassroots movement (because people expect the UK to be shit so they don't pay as much attention understandably). 

Another issue with the BBC is that they micro manage the performance. Again, if there was a bigger act this wouldn't be as much of an issue because they could just tell the Beeb to fuck off and there's not really anything the BBC could do about it. But for smaller acts, again they don't have the clout to be able to say 'No, I'm going to do it my way'. The BBC tend to over produce whatever songs we do have, case in point our 2017 entry. I thought she was really lovely during our national selection, but for the contest for some ridiculous reason they decided to add some weird bass in the background. 

Basically, the BBC play it too safe. They've always had a bit of a reputation for that, they're in a bit of hot bother over it now to be honest, so we end up with not very famous acts, with boring generic songs. We need someone willing to take a risk. 

Just to put this out there, if anyone from the BBC is reading this, next year we should send a song in Welsh. That's a pretty big risk, but it could end up quite fun.

[vavera4ka]

I'd love something in Welsh, or Gaelic or... anything other than a boring basic vanilla stuff. This only works for Sweden (for some reason lol)

Being one of big 5, and, I guess not caring whether they win, is such  great opportunity to experiment. Neither Iceland nor Portugal were my cuppa this year, but I appreciated the balls both countries had to send something THAT different (in terms of the contest)

[SnideAsides]

I think Welsh is more likely if they do try another language, but Gaelic would probably be smarter. Gaelic would appeal more to Ireland and maybe Norway too (?), but Welsh would honestly not be that much different than when Norway sent a song in Swahili a few years ago. One of the Welsh TV channels used the BBC not doing Junior Eurovision as a loophole to enter themselves, and they finished dead last. (Fun fact: Aside from Malta, which doesn't really fit either category, Wales is the first "western" country to finish last at JESC since it began in 2003, and no "eastern" country has finished last in an adult Eurovision final since 1994.)

I do agree the UK needs to use the Big 5 as an excuse to swing for the fences rather than playing it safe year after year. Sometimes it'll work (like Iceland this year) and sometimes it won't (like Portugal this year), and that's perfectly fine. I know they want to copy Sweden because Sweden's always right at the top of the leaderboard, but (1) all the rule changes in recent years have directly advantaged Sweden by making the contest more like their national final, (2) Sweden gets neighbour votes from multiple countries while the UK's only neighbour votes come from Ireland, which isn't historically predisposed to being friendly with them, and (3) Sweden's approach wouldn't work if the roles were reversed and they were in the Big 5. It's going to sound odd, but what they really need to be doing is copying *Hungary* instead. When you only get one chance to perform, you need a song that's going to make people THINK and remember you, and while I may not like all of their songs, Hungary never fails to send a thoughtful entry of the sort that would work wonders if a Big 5 country sent it. Plus... like, yes it's in the middle of Europe, but who's giving votes to Hungary just because it's Hungary, you know? And yet this year is only the third time they've lost in the semi final. Real quiet achievers.

[doesntworkonwood]

I agree about Hungary, Origo is one of my most favourite Eurovision songs ever. They sent the same guy this year but his song just didn't have the same impact on me. 

[vavera4ka]

Origo was awesome.

I do like Hungary's approach. Just when Balkans stopped doing their thing and started copying the West, Hungary decided to go the route of "we'll be sending what we like, if you like it, awesome, if you don't, ah well... maybe next year you'll like what we like"

I like Georgia for the same reason. They don't give a shit. And, actually, 2nd year in a row their live performance completely changed my mind about the entry. Last year I got goosebumps hearing those harmonies live. I genuinely started pulling for them. This year there were two songs that I turned off after 30 seconds: Iceland and Georgia. But the staging and the energy from Oto made me change my mind. I was really sad when they didn't qualify.

[vavera4ka]

Basically

Italy: great job.

Everyone else: get your shit together.

UK: are you even trying?

[vavera4ka]

https://eurovision.tv/story/ebu-issues-statement-on-eurovision-2019-grand-final-result

They mistakenly used the bottom 10 of the aggregate results.

So now Belarus is not 2nd to last (it's 3rd to last lol)

Sweden is 5th

Norway was knocked down to 6th.

Top 4 is unchanged. 

I think that makes N Macedonia a jury winner...

Edited May 22, 2019 by vavera4ka

[SnideAsides]

Yes it does. Shame they didn't fix it on air and give North Macedonia some great publicity instead of crowning Prince Sweden yet again.

While I agree that Italy's the one Big Five country doing it right, it's worth noting that Germany's last five televote scores are 0, 136, 3, 10, and 0, and France's total is very heavily skewed towards the points Amir received as well.

[vavera4ka]

Last year Germany was my #1 actually. I was hoping they would look at what worked and do well a again... no such luck lol My fav German entry though is Roger Cicero (RIP). Last time they sang in German.

Last time Spain was in my top was 2010 with Algo pequenito (I also liked Pastora and Dancing in the rain)

Didn't really like Amir's song, but loved Alma in 2017. I do like when France does stuff like L'amour à la française or Moustache. Those were fun.

The only UK song I remember  liking (and I'm ashamed of it  bit lol) was Still in love with you

[SnideAsides]

Still in Love With You was one of those songs that was really good before the contest, but flopped on stage because they couldn't possibly live up to the fun of the video clip for the song (see also: panto gorilla). I think sending it was the second best decision the BBC made this entire decade (behind sending Blue to Germany) but it didn't work out. Still: exceptionally brave, more of this please, et cetera.

[aradia22]

So I decided to finally listen to the songs. Is it just me or are the lyrics particularly bad this year?

There are songs that sound good like Armenia that are so messy as a native English speaker. I liked Croatia but it legitimately felt like he sat down with a rhyming journal. At least that one made sense and didn't have terrible syntax. The Czech Republic song had the slick production of a song from Sweden but Jesus Christ what was he going on about? I really liked Denmark but it was like an Ingrid Michaelson or Kate Nash song with zero irony... which made her sound like a moron. I feel like this is the wrong style for a put aside your differences song. I'll take a big inspirational ballad over a plinky plonky song about how you shouldn't be political or judge anyone. Have you seen what's going on in the world lately? I respect Finland for being mildly politically conscious but it sounded like a lesser U2 song with a dance beat and I hate U2. I liked France conceptually but the song was kind of meh. Even in French (which I understand) the lyrics were very simplistic and I don't think the singer's voice is that good or else he probably sounds better singing R&B than wailing a big ballad. He sounded like a lesser singing contest contestant. The song erased anything special about his voice. Germany didn't have a terrible song but they're not very good singers. Also, Eurovision songs tend to be general and unspecific. This one lacked universality. And if that was supposed to be universal... nope. Also, it created an itch in the back of my brain. It sounds a little like this. https://youtu.be/ZIWBMeYlrOQ?t=65 I don't think it's copying another song. I just think it's generic. Someone who knows music theory would probably see it shares chords and structure with a lot of songs. Greece had just a decent song but amazing production values. Very Florence + the Machine but more high fashion. She reminds me a lot of someone else but I can't put my finger on it. Iceland was a great addition to the live show but yeah... I don't this kind of metal/rock vocal so the song is tough for me. The beat helps and I like the 80's vibe when he's not screaming. But... yeah, no. Not for me. Ireland had the Croatia rhyming problem except they are native English speakers so I'm a lot less lenient. It wasn't terrible but it's like a lesser One Direction song or something. It's pleasant enough but it is not the single you use to sell the album. Israel was fine as dramatic piano ballads go. Good voice. But the lyrics were a mess of meaningless cliches. Is Italy cultural appropriation? Yes. But it sounds good. First time in years I've liked an entry from Italy. In another context, I might like the Latvia entry but the lyrics are nonsense. Combined with weak vocals and a genre I barely like, nope. I don't really like tenors, but if Europe was going to go for a cute boy with a boring pop song, why not Lithuania? He was a little pitchy but he's more attractive than the guy from the Netherlands. Malta skirted the line between Eurovision English as a second language gibberish and regular pop song gibberish. There was a lot of cliched nonsense but it mostly made sense. Again, high production values in the video and the music production is fire. I'd believe you if you told me this was a Dua Lipa song written by Jason Derulo. Moldova sent this year's Celine Dion wannabe. She didn't sound bad for a Celine impersonator but the song was worse than what ends up on Lea Michele's pop albums. I liked Montenegro's song. Not sure about all those babies singing about their intense heartbreak. But it felt like the song that plays over the credits of an animated movie. Also, I respect that Montenegro likes showing off their traditional instruments and doing sweeping shots of their landscape. So now that I can hear the lyrics, I can see why North Macedonia ranked so high with their inspiring girl power song. Melodically it was boring and dreary. It could have been a breakup song. But lyrically it makes sense for 2019. I liked Norway. It was a pop song but also theatrical. Like one of the songs from the musical Chess. It was very much a... this is what I come to Eurovision for. I wish their live performance was more like their video. Poland was interesting. The chanting fell somewhere between brat pop and children's song. I think I would have liked it more if it escalated instead of sounding more childish. It reminded me of this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DebmhCx8EA but without the slick pop edge. A song like this has to go somewhere or it feels like the drone of real childhood chants. Portugal was way too extra. I liked the Romania song but the video game me the impression it was going to feature vampires and it didn't and I was disappointed. Also, a better love song than the Netherlands song. Russia's entry was no "You Are the Only One." I would put it squarely on the same level as every other boring male pop ballad breakup song this year. San Marino was self-consciously cheesy. I'm into it. I also like the slick disco vibe. Serbia wasn't bad but I had no patience for an overwrought power ballad like this after getting so far down the list. Slovenia is totally the kind of music I listen to but I 100% get why no one wanted it. Same for Austria. Spain was one of the few songs I could hear properly during the live show. Still a bop. Sweden was a totally pedestrian X Factor winner song. The only thing elevating it was having the gospel singers as backup. I needed less of the lead singer and a million times more of the backup singers. Switzerland was like knockoff Nick Jonas. So Justin Timberlake with a harder beat. It had a bit of a Jason Derulo vibe too. Like the sampled bits of Talk Dirty. It sounds so good, but I hate that I kind of like this song. I don't feel good about it. Netherlands is still incredibly boring. It sounds like Coldplay. If this song came up on the radio you wouldn't change the station but I don't know how it's anyone's favorite song. UK sent another inspirational ballad. A solid one. It's never going to be my favorite entry but I liked it.

tl;dr

Songs I liked and will continue to listen to: Austria, Denmark, Georgia, Germany, Italy, Slovenia, Romania, Montenegro, Malta, UK, Croatia, France, Norway, San Marino, Cyprus, Greece, Spain

Most Eurovision-y entries of the songs I liked: Norway, San Marino, Croatia, France, UK, Cyprus, Greece, Spain

Legitimate bops: Cyprus and Spain. Cyprus came in hot with a song that could be a real pop song. Very Rihanna sung by Ariana Grande... so Fifth Harmony. I feel like the club tracks never do that well but I can see this getting play after the competition.

[vavera4ka]

So Russia didn't come to play lol. It basically told Europe "go f yourself. Here we'll help you"

Little Big to represent Russia in Rotterdam. Song will be announced in a few days. But in case you are not familiar with troll kings of the world here are some gems.

 

 

[SnideAsides]

I'm getting massive Aqua vibes from them, and I'm not sure if that's good or not. (Indeed, the year the actual Aqua was the interval act they DID tell Europe to go fuck themselves.)

As you may have heard, Iceland has gone viral, probably partly because Netflix is bankrolling their entry as a tie-in for that Eurovision movie they're doing:

But it's still not the most viral song of the contest. Finland's preselection is this weekend, and this is basically a shoe-in to win because it's gone CRAZY there:

 

[vavera4ka]

Russia has moved into the 1st position in the odds, but obv the song needs to be released.

In any way. this is shaping up to be a super fun year. I'm kinda sad that Charkras aren't going... they would have added to wtf type of epicness of the year LOL

 

[SnideAsides]

Out of the twelve betting sites listed here, Russia is currently favourite on ONE of them. Iceland is leading on ALL of the other eleven.

[Rosenrot]

18 hours ago, vavera4ka said:

It basically told Europe "go f yourself. Here we'll help you"

That's what they've been doing for the past 50 years anyway, ESC aside. (But hey kids, remember that ESC is a non-political competition! ....... as if.) 

In any case, interesting choice from Russia. I'll probably hate it. 

I don't like this present-day culture where songs can just... "go viral" for whatever reason (I know I know, shut up grandma). That said, I like Iceland's entry. Distinctive, nicely non-Eurovision, kinda 70's groove, what's not to like? 🎵 Not as good as last year's entry, though. 

Cicciolina is popular over the interwebz, but it hasn't exactly gone crazy here - for example, radio stations don't play it at all. Most people I've talked about it hate it, and most don't want it to represent us in the Eurovision because it's not going to do well. If it is selected, I don't think it's going to do well either, but I think it's a better choice than any of the other songs we have on offer. It's in Finnish and it has personality. It waters down the whole idea of the competition if every country orders their song from Sweden and it's is the same radio pop song sung by the country's Voice winner over and over again.  

 

Edited March 3, 2020 by Rosenrot

[vavera4ka]

I personally prefer when countries instead of trying to win are trying to show off their culture: be it smth folky and old, or current, or both...

That desperation that stinks up a lot of entries every year makes me gag.

Belarus has been guilty of that more often than not. Russia too. There is unhealthy deification of everything foreign. OMG OUR SONG WAS WRITTEN BY SWEDISH AUTHORS!!!! ugh. 🙄 the woman that once stood next to a waitress that served JLo has designed these costumes. 

If it were up to me I'd reinstate language rule. MAKE countries sing in their native languages for at least half the song. I doubt UK would benefit much from that lol they've been awful for years now. 

[SnideAsides]

Televoters was never the issue with the language rule (they didn't even exist at the same time), it was that the juries kept defaulting to the entries in English and French because they understood them, with the only real exceptions towards the end being bouncy novelty pop entries people think are fun jokes (the Say Na Na Na-style songs) and weird experiments (like Nocturne). And getting rid of juries wouldn't work either because then we'd just get a repeat of what happened in those few years that were televote only, where eastern European nations would pass the trophy amongst themselves and even with excellent songs the western Europeans couldn't get out of the semi finals.

[vavera4ka]

if you look at televote winners of the past decade:
2010 Germany

2011 Azerbaijan

2012 Sweden

2013 Denmark

2014 Austria

2015 Italy

2016 Russia

2017 Portugal

2018 Israel

2019 Norway

Yeah... Eastern European countries are passing the trophy around... Italy, Russia and Norway have been hurt by the juries, the rest of the time, the crowd fav won despite the jury.  I'd be totally fine with those winners. The only winner here i'd change would be Azerbaijan lol but that one isn't part of the argument lol

[Rosenrot]

See you at the bottom of the semi finals' score board, everybody! As per usual.

[vavera4ka]

it's cancelled... 😭

[Rosenrot]

Can't say I'm overly surprised, but I am disappointed. 😞 I was hoping until the last minute that EBU would sort something out or postpone the competition.

I'm gutted for myself because I've been watching ESC for over 20 years and it's always the highlight of the spring (if not the whole year), but most of all I'm gutted for the artists and songwriters. I hope they can return next year. 

[SnideAsides]

Quite a few of the broadcasters have already confirmed their acts will represent the country next year. The only two who have already confirmed they won't are Estonia (whose act has been given a free pass to the semis of their national final but will still have to win if again; this may be a way to protect themselves given it turned out the dude was A Racist) and Sweden (who have decided to void this year's results entirely, basically because Melodifestivalen is such a big event in Sweden).

It does sound like Rotterdam will be hosting again next year though, with Germany as the designated backup if they have to pull out. I really hope the Netherlands does host if that's the alternative; I feel like if I was to rank the contests based on how they were handled the previous Dutch contests would be pretty high on the list, while Germany's been responsible for two of the very worst contests ever.

[Rosenrot]

7 hours ago, SnideAsides said:

this may be a way to protect themselves given it turned out the dude was A Racist)

Whaaat? What's the story behind that? I haven't heard.

[Prairie Fire]

OK, so if there's no contest this year, all we have is the videos of the 41 songs. Putting aside Eurovision politics and baggage, which are your favorites?

I must be hitting the pipe, because my pick would be Blas Canto's "Universo", AKA Spain's entry. But it's been widely panned online and was #33 in the betting odds!

That said, I also think Ireland, Lithuania, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Israel, Austria, Czech Republic, Iceland, Poland, Armenia, and Germany all improved this year. (So did Bulgaria and Ukraine, but that's easy to do when they sat out 2019.)

[Rosenrot]

This year I especially like Lithuania, Germany(!), Iceland, Serbia, Armenia (that damn chorus sticks to my head like a... sticky thing), Australia, Belgium, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Bulgaria. 

On Fire might just be the most perfect pop song ever competed in ESC. I love it and it breaks my heart that we'll never know how it would've ranked. 😭 Australia's video is something else, but I like the song. Cleopatra is pure genius, video included. I surprise myself because knowing myself, I should be hating that entry, and instead Efendi might be my new Eurovision Queen. 🤩 And Georgia; like somebody said on a YT video, why sing when you can shout menacingly? Love it. Tornike is way hot. 

[Prairie Fire]

6 hours ago, Rosenrot said:

On Fire might just be the most perfect pop song ever competed in ESC. I love it and it breaks my heart that we'll never know how it would've ranked. 😭

Yes! I like how both the video and the live performance each bring different things to the table. That dance is a flash mob waiting to happen. I think I saw the band's explanation of each move somewhere online.

I'm glad we at least got all 41 songs chosen before everything shut down, though it's a bit weird having only vids for some, live performances for others, and both for some. The vids for "Chains on You" (Armenia) and "Cleopatra" are fabulous - seriously, they both slay - but the live version of "Chains" loses some steam. Not sure if "Cleopatra" would have done likewise.

I forgot to mention there are three songs this year that really hit me in the feels: Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Italy (the last one especially, because of....well, you know).

Edited March 31, 2020 by Prairie Fire

[SnideAsides]

I feel you on the videos. There's some songs (France) that were okay at best (France) but were really improved (France) by the production values (France) of their videos (Did I mention France rented the fucking Eiffel Tower for their song reveal? YOUR MOVE, SAN MARINO).

I really liked Iceland, but that was absolutely going to do the thing that happens every year where a song's clip goes viral two months before the contest and everyone is sick of it by the time voting rolls around (see also: Italy's panto gorilla a couple of years back).

My gut feeling is Iceland, Russia, and Lithuania would have split the votes and something else like Austria's one-man boyband or Poland's Bond theme would have actually won. And I wouldn't be sad about either of them to be honest.

[doesntworkonwood]

The BBC is going to do a sort of Eurovision replacement on the 16th, which I'm looking forward to. It's not Eurovision, but it will be fun!

[Prairie Fire]

12 hours ago, SnideAsides said:

I feel you on the videos. There's some songs (France) that were okay at best (France) but were really improved (France) by the production values (France) of their videos (Did I mention France rented the fucking Eiffel Tower for their song reveal? YOUR MOVE, SAN MARINO).

I'm sure their plan was to put the tower on a truck and set it up on stage, which would have gone amazingly well!

Poland's Bond theme got my attention, especially when that girl went for it all at the end. It also would have set up a Bond theme face-off between that one and Hooverphonic's "Release Me", the Belgian entry, which I also really liked.

Interesting that the favorite in the final odds table was none of the above songs, but instead Victoria's "Tears Getting Sober" from Bulgaria. I would have been curious to see if that sweet little poem of a song actually could have won.

[aradia22]

Is anyone paying attention this year? I skipped last year as I couldn't work up the enthusiasm to listen to all the songs with everything going on and without my yearly viewing party.

[Bill1978]

I'm trying not paying attention until the week it starts. I find the competition more enjoyable going in blind with the songs and found I enjoyed the results more if I experience them as part of a TV show rather than obsessing over the songs in the months leading up to it, No opportunity to fal in a love with a song and then watch it get booted at the semi finals.

Of course there is a good chance I will break down and listen to some of the songs before hand as this competition is a major guilty pleasure.

[akiss]

I have allready listened some of the songs but not all. My favorite so far is Italy's.

[vavera4ka]

in the past few years i've been quite active: watching a lot of national selections. but this year... this year i have no mood to get that involved... partially because of what's going on in my country (Belarus), partially because i feel like last year's song were better for the most countries...

I've listened to selected songs few times, but nothing really gets me excited... i like a few, but not crazy about anything specific.... well maybe Russia, but mostly because how much hate Manizha has been getting from Russians. i just want her to stick it to them. I like the song too... but she is a live performer, so the studio doesn't do much for me. hard to get excited... her performance during the recent party had A LOT of energy and charisma... but i haven't seen anyone lese to compare her to. 

Idk if i'll be following rehearsals... might just go into the semis mostly blind. I already took PM off for both Tue and Thu (i'm tired of yelling at everyone not to spoil it for me till i get home and watch the shows lol since it starts around 2-3pm here)

[aradia22]

I'm mainly going to focus on the songs I liked enough to have thoughts about

Iceland - This is my favorite. The first song I heard that I genuinely liked. It's not super complicated but it hits the low bar of both sounding good (musically and vocally) and having lyrics that make sense. I admit that I was very charmed by their whole nerdy vibe. 

The Netherlands- This puts the other inspirational songs to shame. It's not quite Jamala but it feels like it's actually saying something. And the video is beautiful.

Israel- Super slick production values on the video. It sounds good as a song (like melodically, good production, it's catchy) and the singer has a great voice. BUT it still gives me the feeling of ESL. It's not quite a nonsense jumble of cliches but it doesn't quite work as a song. If it was released in America by an American artist, it would seem like a lyrically half-assed effort that sounded good. 

Australia- It was a little rough as a live performance but I liked the song and I think it would grow on me the more I heard it. This is just not the kind of song you perform in a stadium without autotune/lip synching.

Malta- They were really trying. But for me, it just ended up feeling hollow the longer it went on. It's like if you combined with a very knockoff version of Beyonce + Lizzo and then threw in that classic Eurovision saxophone. I also didn't love that while the main singer was plus size, her backup dancers were not. 

Croatia- Relatively well-written pop song, mediocre singing.

Italy- I usually hate their songs. This one was fine. No idea what it's about but sonically it's a standard classic rock song.

Azerbaijan- This one has the weird distinction of being a pop song where the verses are better than the chorus/hook. It's the Mata Hari one. Very strange.

Cyprus- It sounds like a Lady Gaga song but performed by Taylor Swift in her Reputation phase. Yeah, I liked it. Meh, but in a very tolerable way.

San Marino- Standard fun club song. And I loved her makeup in the video.

Songs I did not like but still have thoughts about...

Sweden - What happened to them? Why are they doing the lame inspirational song this year? Come on, it's like a slighter cooler version of Russia's A Million Voices. You're better than this, Sweden. North Macedonia's song was even worse... I was paying more attention to the beautiful venue where they filmed the video.

Latvia- That's a lot of white women appropriating black and gay culture while being... super extra.

UK - Good job, UK! It was bland but not terrible. It seems like they really have broken the streak of sending the most embarrassing acts. 

Denmark- Kind of old school disco + 80s. I'm curious what this song is about too.

Ukraine- Cool Mad Max vibe but I don't think I could listen to this without it getting annoying.

Edited May 22, 2021 by aradia22

[Rosenrot]

Of course this one time when I actually like Sweden, everybody hates it. 😂 Tusse is awesome and I want all the good things to happen to him. And there's the conflict, because I want the artist to win, but I don't want Sweden to win. Same with Russia. I usually hate everything they send, but this year I quite like their entry - still, I do not want ESC to take place in Russia.

I love Italy, France, Ukraine, Lithuania and Finland (for once). I also like Malta, Azerbaijan, Cyprus, Iceland, Bulgaria & San Marino. The rest are pretty much whatever. I really like Malta's song and artist, but that was not a winner's performance. Latvia not getting though the semis bugs me a bit, I liked the song.

So many good entries this year and I'm super excited to have the competition back after the hiatus. ❤️

7 hours ago, aradia22 said:

Australia- It was a little rough as a live performance but I liked the song and I think it would grow on me the more I heard it. This is just not the kind of song you perform in a stadium without autotune/lip synching.

Lovely to hear somebody else liked this as well. I'm obsessed with that song and Montaigne herself, rough as it was as a live performance.

Edited May 22, 2021 by Rosenrot

[aradia22]

I listened to the remaining songs this morning. I also liked Slovenia and Ireland. 

Norway confuses me because it's a very standard radio song. Fine, not inoffensive. But the costumes and everything make me like it more. 

I liked Czech Republic but I can't deny I kept watching the video for that repetitive song because of the crazy number of movie/pop culture references. 

France was very... French. It reminded of Edith Piaf's Padam Padam.

Lithuania was very much a pandemic dance song. Kitschy but cute.

Slovenia and Lithuania are the only ones from this group that were competitive with the other songs. 

My favorites are 1. Iceland 2. Netherlands 3. Lithuania 4. Slovenia

I will not be mad about a win from Cyprus, Norway, or San Marino though. Doubtful it's going to happen but just putting it out there. 

Edited May 22, 2021 by aradia22

[die Frau]

The Roop are performing. They are good at what they do, but it's not my taste. It will probably do well though. 

What ... likely won't: I live in Germany and I hadn't heard that until just now. Um.... I did like that it didn't sound at all like the other songs. It's easy to tell Jendrik has a lot of experience in musical theater. For it's message it was almost too cute, but I prefer it to entries like Cyprus, Serbia, and Israel. They sounded far too similar. Still, they will likely do better than Germany.

Otherwise, I don't know. There's been worse years. I liked Albania for it's dramatic staging and music. Portugal was okay, but I've already mostly forgotten it. I liked Iceland well enough to maybe listen to it again and look into the band to see how their other music is. 

Curious about Italy and France, since they are favorites. Russia occasionally is treated as though it will do well and I didn't care for it at all. We'll see.

[aradia22]

After watching the performances, I just like Iceland, Lithuania, and Netherlands more.

[aradia22]

Netherlands getting NO POINTS from the public vote is a huge insult. So racist.

[AngieBee1]

Quote

Netherlands getting NO POINTS from the public vote is a huge insult. So racist.

So disappointing. I truly loved the song and the performance.  It was inspirational which I assumed the public would lean into. 

Quote

Italy- I usually hate their songs. This one was fine. No idea what it's about but sonically it's a standard classic rock song.

I had been hearing that Italy was the frontrunner and I didn't believe it only because to me Maneskin and Finland's Blind Channel sounded so much alike that I figured if people aren't vibing Blind Channel, they wouldn't go for Maneskin.  Now I like Maneskin but I really loved Blind Channel. 

The UK not getting any votes: Brexit or James Newman's song being too pedestrian. I say it's a bit of both. 

Edited May 23, 2021 by AngieBee1