I’m getting in first before the AW server is overwhelmed by this year’s Eurovision chat. This clip whistles through all the entries – a few seconds each – which is all you need really for most of them.
Based on watching that, I want Iceland or Australia to win but Norway look like a strong contender. Laughs can be had from TV’s San Marino and apparently Madonna is performing her latest single during the interval. She’ll be hoping it’s a big hit like “Holiday!” or “Into the Groove”.
The UK entry is another weak effort. The tune is OK in a Backstreet Boys ballad-type way, but this was an opportunity to have a unifying lyric aboutt climate change. The Eurovison panels would bloody love that. The song is good enough to win but the lyrics and the stage performance are not. .
Anyway – I enjoy watching the show each year and I hope you do too.
I haven’t watched Eurovision sober since 1991. It’s going to be a rough ride, I think.
Nope, can’t do it. Unless you’re doing it “socially” (ie with other people who are similarly pissed) I don’t see the point, unless you like being reminded how despised the UK is internationally. It might make you feel better about Brexit I suppose.
The UK entry somehow has five writers. One of those five also co-wrote the Swiss and German entries as well. And another co-writer is performing the Swedish entry on the night.
Bit of a swizz, isn’t it?
I have never watched it and don’t intend to this year as the Australian elections are on. But I will say that Australia’s entrant Kate Miller-Heidke is an extraordinary talent. Also she was a guest on PlaySchool last year and I can report that she’s a good sheila and not stuck up at all.
Except stuck up on a stick.
I watched them all last night. Apart from the bulk of bland X factor singers – there were a lot of what seemed like minor key dirges going nowhere. Lady Gaga seems to have been the inspiration for many of them – Azerbaijan, Cyprus, Greece, Portugal, Romania. Albania, Croatia, Hungary, Poland and Italy seemed to be of the few that didn’t sing in English, the last two being better then the others. I was disappointed the Norway song wasn’t the Dr and the Medics version. Australia and Israel – operatic and a bit silly. Georgia and Iceland went for the fascist vote, it seemed. Armenia and North Macedonia went for the #metoo vote. Malta appeared to have the most expensive video, (possibly spending by expat Brexit millionaires) – didn’t make the song anything better, though.
France seemed to be the trans song for the year, and good it was, too. I liked Czech Republic but it should have been the UK song, which was really unremarkable. Spain, Switzerland and San Marino had the spirit of Euro fun in them. Denmark was my choice – a bit cheesy, a simple tune, a message of universal love and multilingual!
Yes Denmark’s song is quite Feist-y. Good tune .
Yes. I liked Denmark’s song too.
Which of course was the kiss of death.
#MeToo
Interesting that you mention Poland @Salwarpe, as it exited in the semis. Still the best thing on view this year, with its exotic scale setting it apart from the usual fare. Radio Times called it shouty. Reminded me of that Vox Bulgare stuff from the early 90s.Try it:
Eurovision has become a good forum for small countries to present themselves in 3 minutes. Other developments are less welcome: too much lousy English, too many fart machines* just like at football finals.
*those horrible flame thrower thingies in banks of 6.
Hi @Declan. As I alluded in my post, it was the night before the finals that I watched (a bit of) all of the available entries on YouTube. I’m not interested in the show, more in the music. As you say, it’s good to see the small countries present themselves. They’ve got nothing to lose, and sometimes they throw up quite interesting national variants on Europop. I like world music and I like throwaway pop, so it can be a fertile field. Usually they go for the safe choice, bit not always.
Incidentally, because I didn’t watch the final, but knew who all the performers were, when someone posted a picture of a woman dressed in leather, with Viking plaits, wearing an eye patch over the slogan “OH FUCK OFF! Just Fuck right off!!”, I wondered at first why they had such a downer on a member of the Icelandic team…
Storm in a teacup. Iceland were a bit rad and very deadpan. Suddenly there was a Palestine flag on screen. Big deal!
It was Madonna, apparently.
Thanks Sal, quite an overview there!
In Sweden, the average ESC viewer is about five years old. They and their mums and dads are going to love the entry from Iceland.
Made me think of Front 242 for some reason.
I’d love to see them on the ESC.
Kate Miller Heidke , former opera singer, always seems to feel the need to sing operatically. Aussie will never win as Europeans can’t come at an Aussie winning EUROvision. See their point really.
@Mousey Eurovision would have been better than the horror of the election telecast. BTW, how is that packing for NZ going ?
@Junior-Wells ha! Just about to board my flight (this is true). Coming back in a week. Relieved to be away from the hand-wringing. Also pretty devastated by the result
Can’t abide the ludicrous farrago. Never could. I’ll be bingeing on the final series of Veep.
I missed both semifinals and I haven’t heard many entries yet, but I really like Italy’s “Soldi”:
I don’t think it will have any chance of winning, however.
Nooooooooooooooooooo! Save me from the banality and mediocrity please!
*runs screaming from the front room as the television melts*
I once made a comment on a Mojo Working thread which started ify – ‘we’ve all got an opinion about Jeff Beck’ (or something similar). I said I had no opinion on him at all, to which Mojo, probably quite fairly, replied ‘thanks for that’. Eurovision, on the other hand, seems to be an accepted target for a kicking.
As I lived in France, watched the eurovision song contest with my family had some years hiatus, watched it together with some friends, then in Sweden discovered it was mandatory as the beaujolais nouveau, and as this wine, people HAS to have an opinion about it, I understand that this show could be the Erich Von Stroheim of the tv-shows, the man that you love to hâte, the show that you love to hate.
Some years ago, while people still called it Schlager Festival, the group National Theater changed its name for Sillstryparen and sang a protest song called “doing the omoralisk Schlager festivalen”, they ended up playing at the side shows of the eurovision song contest…
It’s not a lot to do with songs though, I don’t think. From what I’ve heard they’re the usual nothingness.
it’s the performance and the singer. The most visually striking/quirky tend to do well or actually win.
They could be singing the contents of the service review I did last week to an arrangement by Bobby Crush and they’d win if they had a daft hat on and did the splits.
Well that was a right hammering for the UK. Worse songs have won the thing, but the performance was unremarkable and the lyric a generic meandering of nothing much.
Does Europe hate us? I genuinely do not believe that. But it’s fair to say that the neighbouring countries vote that boosts the tally of mainland Europe doesn’t apply to the UK. Still – Madonna, eh? She’s got a bit of a shoeing online but the new song she did was actually really good, I thought.
Well I thought Madonna was terrible. But then I always have.
Who won?
A blander, cut-price Coldplay.
I didn’t know Keane were in it.
Keano were though….
My wife explained to me that the winning song is ‘a modern ballad’ and ‘a song for our times’.
I explained to her it is ‘shite’.
Brilliant Afterwordsplaining! Well done.
By the by, the sign language interpretation of Iceland’s entry is worth a few minutes of your Sunday evening.
Magnificent! It’s even better with the sound turned off, just as it should be.
This guy, who perhaps should get out more, has some interesting theories about Eurovision winners, and some of the (musical) reasons the UK does so badly. Most winners are in a minor key, and we keep entering with major key songs. We keep getting the beats per minute ration wrong as well…
https://twitter.com/kitlovelace