A wheelchair, something that looked like a potato sack, huge dresses, simple suits, punk from mentally challenged Fins, some false notes (well, a few more than some), winged shoes, some severe dancing, headphones, corny presentation and of course the endless voting. Which resulted in the end that next year we travel from Austria to Sweden. Because Sweden won. For the second time in 4 years. It must be in their water!! Of course I am talking Eurovision Song Contest now!
Sweden didn't have my favourite number though, even though the act was the best of all and he was certainly very dishy. I loved the Italian entry that ended up third, the Israeli entry that ended up somewhere in the middle and the French entry that ended up close to the bottom. However, it didn't do as bad as the numbers from Germany and Austria who had to share 0 points between them.
Now for a bit of a rant. Over the last two decades there has been much talk about bloc-voting, political voting, own language versus English and a lot of other nonsense. The bloc-voting is slowly disappearing. Cyprus gave Greece only 8 points, even though the Greek entry was a girl who came from Cyprus! And that is only one of several examples.
The British are always complaining about how they don't get voted for because nobody likes them and that is why they end up quite low down the ladder. Well, Britain: get over yourself! Nobody likes Russia, including the millions of gays, lesbians, bis and transgenders in Europe. It came in second this year, because it had a good song! So, instead of blaming others: take the contest seriously and send something good next year! Although I must admit, I quite liked this year's entrance.
And then the language complaint. Which is mainly brought up by France, Spain and Portugal, who all quite standard sing in their own languages and end up down the list. Last year Spain sang in English and woohey, they ended up quite high! I admire their choice of singing in their own language and I expected the French song to do quite a bit better than it did. But, Italy has been singing in Italian for several years and yes, they did well. This year it ended up being third, only a few points behind Russia! I will give those 'English-haters' the same advice as the British: get a good song and get over yourself!
So, basically: if you want to enter Eurovision, take it seriously. Find a good song and a good artist. Just because you're automatically in the final (UK, Germany, France, Spain and Italy), it doesn't mean you can take it easy. Remember, by the time the final comes around, we've already heard all the other songs and yours are new! And don't blame the rest of Europe if you don't get first place! Rant over!
Hari OM
ReplyDeleteyup that about covers it! I slightly disagree about the use of English language - majority folk want to know what the song is about; Italians got away with it this year due to the operatic presentation and that cuts boundaries anyway.
I could not agree more about the quality of song - as I mentioned on Sunday. Overall this year I think I only cringed three times; and surprsingly, it wasn't at the Brits entry. Though it did deserve what it ended up with. I am afraid the French song was much too bombastic (I use the term advisedly); it was natural, given what occurred earlier, but too much of a political statement and out of place for this event. ...and yes, the voting went against the grain a bit which was very good to see.
....although I am starting to suspect that everyone is voting for Sweden so often because they discovered the lovely liquorice varieties and need to get their fix!!! Sigh.... all done for another year. You planning your trip already??? YAM xx
The majority might want to know what the song is about, but when Serbia or Montenegro or any of those countries sing in their native tongues, they will get my points any time. It just sounds so great. As for Italy, only last year they didn't do so well since coming back, the other four years they ended up in the top 10: singing in Italian, not always operatic.
DeleteI was very surprised that Albania got through and then kept on getting points. As Mr Norton pointed out: three minutes of my life I will never get back!
Did you know that about one third of all the songs was actually (co-)written by one or more Swedes. Like I said: it must be in the water. Or liquorice...
...now that you mention I do recall some vague reference about the song writing thing... seems they have a some secret formula be it water, liquorice or tunes!!! Yxx
DeleteWell, that is an awesome event. Quite a production. Thanks for posting the videos. Just 364 till the next event, assuming it occurs once a year. Hope you have a great week!
ReplyDeleteIt does occur once a year, although there are two semi-finals as well. It is actually the biggest music program in the world and made the Guinness' book of records for being the longest running as well: 60 years!
DeleteYes Sweden is "dishy" for sure. I liked his performance. Italy was excellent too! Israel was good but I like the first two a lot more. When we watch The Voice or American Idol it is always about the song for me.
ReplyDeleteWhat ? that Sweden song won ? It's really nothing special and also the other songs are all the "déjà vue" or rather "déjà heard". For me the vintage generation there is really nothing new ! When Abba won, Waterloo suddenly became famous ! To me it all sounds like remakes from the past adding new techniques !
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