OK, let us continue writing about the Norwegian tv show Beat for Beat, because it seems to be the place where Eurovision people hang out while waiting for the real action to start. Last night we encountered an a-team and a b-team in its purest form with our not so beloved Didrik representing the latter.
Finally prime time tv gave in to Astrid's continous wish for Jostein Hasselgård on a friday night.
Didrik Solli-Tangen of course made sure he got to sing the first song as the not so entitled primadonna he is. And we can't really decide whether he reminds us of a spoiled little brat who flipped through his father's LP collection and wanted to sound exactly like one of those 80s' macho men or if he just reminds us of Don Johnson. Nonetheless not good. Definitely not good. We're pretty goddamn embarrassed when Didrik starts up the opera, but would even say there's blasphemy going on as he delivers our beloved Frøken Frantzen in the end. And let's skip the screaming cougar with the jacket of horror and shoes of the porn star next door, who btw suits him pretty well.
The contrast is huge to our all time favorite hunk Jostein Hasselgård paired up with Eurovision choir chick pro Åshild Stensrud. Now this man is just too good to be true, and can do just about any song better than the original. Also just love how he cuts off Didrik when he tries to be something that could sound like a beatbox. Guess he just shares our idea of Beat for Beat, which is having fun with music and singing well, not just clinging to your somewhat vanishing celebrity status.
So in the end nothing changed during this hour of Beat for Beat, except maybe for the fact that Jostein stole A1's Beat for Beat throne. We still have a major crush on mr Hasselgård and still have no respect of Didrik whatsoever. But hey, there's always a reason to spend some time with Jostein. And there's even a Eurovision medley in there for you to decode. Click here to watch the whole show or watch one horrible part of it below.
So did you think we'd shut up about the second chance contenders? Oh no, not us. Here's our ruthless reviews:
The entry from Russia is the breathless Antonello Carozza. We think the song Senza Respiro suits the current situation in Moscow pretty darn well, but apart from that, what does it suit exactly? Safe to say all things Italian make GEE girls pop, but this is a bit too much of the language in one blow. We keep wondering when the fellow is gonna catch his breath and actually sing. That part is kinda nice, but we only really enjoy Carozza's flirty glance and how he makes us miss Italy (not Russia) in Eurovision. Hop back on your carriage, man.
Since Eurovision, the record Giorgos Alkaios gave us has been spinning at every party. Guess no one could have beaten the Opa! in the Greek final, but couldn't they at least have maxed the envelope? The boring piano, stiff moves and whiny look of Giorgos Karadimos just makes us bored out of our senses. Would have been much cooler to see the cuties of Melisses getting a second chance than this robocop.
We did love Milan this year, but we have to say Emina Jahović helps him keep Serbia on the Eurovision throne. She perhaps should have picked up a few clothing hints from her male challenge, but she sure can swing her hips. And swinging your hips is hard not to do to at this Easter European festa. We applaud the sentence "love is moussaka", feel like smashing a few plates and go all sh sh sh and ding dong ding dong from now on. Please give us more of this, Serbia. Plenty more. And can someone please tell us if maca really means pussy? In that case there's extra points for vulgarism.
Despite our despise of bagpipes, Coral from Spain also deserves some attention. She is a pretty lady singing a pretty song that follows all the Eurovision rules. Kinda Rocky Jr 2 and a bit to much screaming towards the end, but still good. It sure is a weird thing Daniel was the one to catch the Jimmy Jump award, but maybe just as well?
Two fine ladies and two not so fine men here, then. We'll give you more later, but our favorite this far is without doubt the reds:
Sometimes, listening to a song many times can make it better, while other times it just burns an irreplaceable hole in your head. So, after giving you our honest opinion about the entries, and then listening to them for like a million times more, has anything changed? A little for some of the entries. Here's the latest news from our changing minds, after the rehearsals have kicked off in Oslo.
Russia
We hated Russia. Kinda still do. But then we've hated it so much it has reached the level of something similar of a cult status with us. "What are you doing, man?" will certainly be a party one liner for the next couple of weeks and we will almost remember it when looking at a photo. At least this song has something quirky and funny about it, and that's more than we can say about the other boring stuff.
Cyprus
There is something about Jon Lillygreen. He is really sweet and his voice sticks with us. We think this can be a popular song in the finals. Because after all, now it's spring and everything looks a little better.
Serbia
Disappointment from here to eternity after watching Milan Stankovic's first rehearsal in Norway. The man is still glorious, but what happened to his glorious dancers? Looks like he switched two of the women for boring men. And the fantastic ethnic show gone as well? Shame, shame, shame, Serbia. You are in vain. We hope you're fooling us, and will reveal the most ethnotastic show ever in the later rehearsals to come.
Sweden
Sweden's entry is working a little bit like their H&M clothing - nice, but wears out really quickly. Anna is still lovely, the song isn't.
Estonia
We're loving the Siren of Estonia even more each day. Robin Juhkental is just so fine and dandy standing there bending his knees, moving in interesting ways and pointing his microphone everywhere. The song is a pearl that grows on you. Too bad the majority of the televoters don't have time for that.
Poland
We're so easily charmed it's embarrassing some times. Poland's happy joy joy singer running around loving his family and making video blogs is just so super charming we're actually reconsidering the song and liking it a little bit more. So much for being tough critics.
France
Oh, God. We wish we didn't like this tiring song. But there's something about it that makes us want to play it every once in a while. We need music like this from time to time. And Jessy is still lovely. Really looking forward to seeing how this works live at least.
Israel
When we reviewed this song, we thought it was a little bit too forgettable and nice. But as we are approaching the finals and taking closer and closer looks at Harel, we realize this is some fine song we will never forget. We've tested it on 2 year olds and mother-in-laws and rock stars and they all like it, so we figure it suits many and is one tough challenge for the rest of the countries this year.
Denmark
We just have to tell you: This song will always remain as horrible as the first time we heard it. For every breath you take, we will despise you even more. It's pretentious, calculating and soulless. Sorry, neighbors. You're a bore.
If there's one thing we can envy Turkey in this competition it has to be their undivided patriotism. Regardless of the music genre, quality or winning potential of their entry, there's an almost touching consensus from Istanbul to Hamburg that this year Turkey has the best song ever and most definitely deserves to win. After the introduction of the televoting system this voice has been heard and materialized into a landslide of points on the scoreboard.
Good for them, we'd say, cause Turkey has had a lot of great entries in the past that would have deserved a better outcome than the so called expert juries gave them. Those who don't understand the ESC greatness of "Bana Bana" from 89 and "Didai didai dai" from 85, just to mention a few, should not be allowed to vote, in our opinion.
Very well, Turkey has decided to be represented by the rock band maNga this year, and we suppose there's bound to be a few of those every year. Thing is, rock bands rarely win, unless they're dressed as orcs, and the best they can hope for is usually a decent result.
At first we mistook the band's name for being Magma, and thought that was a red hot name for a rock band. However it turned out our perception was just heavily influenced by a certain volcano in Iceland. But by all means, maNga is not such a shabby band name either. The guys in the band look rock chic, however perhaps a bit too groomed to our taste. And "We could be the same" isn't half bad, but to us it just sounds pretty average, main stream and radio friendly. And we have kinda heard it all before. Perhaps not in Eurovision, but lets say around 2001 with the likes of Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park.
We appreciate the fact that Turkey adds to the variety of music genres in this year's competition. MaNga will probably perform well, being a professional and experienced band, and we hope for a spectacular show in Telenor Arena. But this is not a winning act in our eyes.
Now, there’s a substantial difference between the Eurovision Schlager and the good ol’ Deutche Schlager. The single most important difference to us is that we love the first one and detest the latter. In our opinion any German Schlager could be used as torture during interrogations (we’ll give this piece of advice away for free to the CIA), and we cannot for the Love of God understand why we should be bothered with this crap while we sip our glüwein in some glamorous ski resort in the Alps.
This makes us wary of what the German decides to bring to the table in ESC and in all honesty, let’s admit that there has been a lot of weird stuff going on over the years. They just seem so out of sync with the rest of us, and often there’s this “so last year” feeling about it, like last year (lol, pun unintended) when they showed up with Alex Swings Oscar Sings all the while Lou Bega did his thing with Mambo No 5 a decade earlier. We’re sorry to break it to you guys, but Dita did not tease us into unintentionally casting our televotes. And then there’s the language issue. We’re like “Wadde hadde dudde da?” Excuse me? "Man gewöhnt sich so schnell an das Schöne". Hello? It’s just a fact of life that these things sound better in Italian or French or even English for that sake.
Needless to say, our expectations are always at an absolute minimum when it comes to Germany and damn, it sure feels good to be taken so completely off guard. Lena Meyer-Landrut rocks! Who would have thought that Germany had such a cool, natural, quirky, charming, witty and adorable ace up their sleeve? Here’s the Nellie McKay of Hannover, the German Lilly Allen, so fresh and real. And yet, she’s not a copycat, she adds her unique style to the whole thing as she stumbles around the stage and introduces her very own British sounding accent. It just feels like the complete opposite of the fabricated, artificial and calculated Safura machinery that will roll all over us in not too long.
Yes, now we’re talking, Germany, you’re really on to something this year. But will Europe vote for you? We dunno, but you better do so, or else we’re afraid that an obsessive, 18 year old German school girl will hunt you down!
Folk music or Slovenian rock, which do you prefer? None, thank you.
15 times Slovenia has participated since that rainy day in 1993. 15 times of everything from pretty cool ethnochic tunes to not so cool bikerdudes, from screaming divas to way too energetic, ecstatic technofreaks. They have also given us some cool things, though. Of course, being royalists and all, we couldn't stop loving the queens of all stewardesses in 2002 with their fantastic outfits and choir of elegant captains. And a pretty nice ballad came our way back in 1998, when long hair was the solution for every man thinning on top. Unfortunately the total impression was totally ruined by some horrible pink disco stuff from that not so warm summer night of 2003 and a duet so bad it actually could have been quite funny if it wasn't for the badbad lyrics in 2004. So much variation in 15 participations without nailing it once. It is actually impressive for such a small country.
This year it seems like the Slovenians have given up ESC and just decided to take their own competition to stage - the war between rock and Slovenian folk. Guess that is some hard battle in Slovenia, but we others really don't understand it. Just like we don't understand why young, beautiful and classy women always end up with trashy old rock stars. The moment you think you have figured out this song, it changes. And it keeps going like that. Thank God only six people are allowed on stage.
We don't know if this is fun or funny or cool or uncool. There is just too much going on on stage for us to make up our minds. Guess it'll get us moving, though, and we do appreciate pretty much everything that is not super slow this year, so welcome you shall be.
First couple of tones, we think yay. Then some lines from the vocalist, we think nay. 30 seconds in, and we think Poland will give us a headache.
Poland is a country we in Good Evening Europe have learned to like very much. There are just so many great people from there. In Norway, Polish people really take care of everything we lazy people cannot do - from building our houses to doing our regular wax on wax off. Polish people are creators of everything good in this world, including bison grass vodka We love them, and we don't know what we'd do without them. That's why it hurts us so much to say the Polish Eurovision story is kinda horrendous. Couple of highlights from the last decade: Some not so funky astronaut with red hair and an indescribable voice paired up with a furry lady singing in German, some other guys in green hair and masks tried to follow their heart and some rather sad people tried to convince us it's time to party. Well, we believe our Polish friends when they tell us Eurovision is not such a high priority in their country.
This year Poland has sent a pretty swell looking bloke with a not so swell sounding song. We were just so impressed by the beautiful ethnic beginning. Great, way to go, we managed to think before Marcin Mrozinsk started promising us to stay forever. Now, that was a bit long for us. Even 2.53 minutes were. It's not the worst of songs. Really isn't. It's just so frustrating when someone promise you the world and you only get a small piece of it. Some small, or large, adjustments here and we would have had the prince and all of the kingdom. It's like Poland thinks we wouldn't like them if they were themselves. But we would have! We want the most Polish of Poland.
Now it seems a little bit like Marcin is stuck on a train somewhere. Would of course have loved to be on that train, though. This lovely prince does look like a million dollars, and we can't wait to see him up close.
Oh dear, oh dear, what on earth happened to you, United Kingdom? This is like the perfect opportunity for us to retaliate against these cocky, presumptuous Brits who have been mocking us for years and years with our nil points and total humiliation in the bottom of the scoreboard. Well, in your face and right back at'ya Union Jack!
But let’s take a step back and rethink the situation. It's not very polite to kick the poor bugger lying down with a broken back, is it? And especially not when being the host. We rise above such petty behavior, and praise UK for all the wonderful, magnificent, classic and unforgettable Eurovision moments they have shared with us throughout history. More than once they have been robbed, being defeated by much weaker winners, like in 89 with "Why Do I Always Get It Wrong?" and in 93 with "Better the Devil You Know", and we have no idea what went on in 68 when the Spanish LaLa Queen defeated Sir Cliff singing our all time fav birthday song. Ok, come to think of it we also love the LaLa song, but that's a different story.
What went wrong as they went from being the Mothership of pure pop pleasure to the laughing stock of Europe? To us it seems like the party was over at some point after the turn of the millennium for the Brits, and since then they have suffered from the biggest hangover ever. In that case we do understand if they have been feeling a bit under the weather lately, but to pollute their surroundings with meaningless crap such as in 2003 and 2007 is just mean! Luckily they have pulled themselves together the last couple of years, and to get Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber and the 80s super producers Stock and Waterman on board is quite impressive. We did however find Jade Ewen's Time last year rather dull, and we can certainly curb our enthusiasm for this year's entry as well.
We're just so sick and tired of all these talent shows. Why make ESC into a quest for new talents, when there are plenty of other reality concepts these up and coming wannabes can enter into? Come on UK, give us some real stars, send Morrissey, or Robbie Williams or perhaps Kylie Minogue (we're sure the Aussies wouldn't mind). We know, this might be a bit too much to ask for, but surely you catch our drift.
This year's bloke, Josh Dubovie, is probably talented enough and otherwise a jolly good chap, but on stage he just looks so awkward and utterly misplaced among a group of tacky dancers with hideous outfits. What's the deal with the mouths? A hommage to Mick Jagger? It looks like they'll have poor Josh for breakfast anytime. Pass the salt, please! We've heard that the number is going to be revamped before the final in Oslo and thank God for that. It might end up being not half bad, but we are far from convinced by now.
Being one of the Big Four seems to be a curse in this competition. It makes you lazy when you don’t need to qualify for the final. But please UK, wake up and smell the coffee, we would love to have you back in shape like the good old days. Imagine "UK – The Comeback Kid". That sounds pretty good to us!
A band name that reminds you of the 90s most misplaced products, the female condom and a white rapper, plus whiny women dressed in leopard? Nope, not much to thank Croatia for.
Starting off with a group of horribly dressed people out of key in 1993, Croatia has participated 17 times in the ESC. There has been misunderstood nostalgia, quite surprising screaming, bagpipes out of order and ethnonoise. No success there. With few exceptions Croatia is really just one long journey of oh so sad and angry people. Seriously, why don't you people cheer up a little instead of drama tripping and heart breaking all the time? What good does that make? No wonder you can't find love. Only once we've almost loved you - when you brought tango to town. Thank God for old, funky men that saves the day.
But you do keep going into land of hurt and sorrow. This year's entry is yet another whiny couple of gals with yet another song of misery. According to the lyrics, these are women that are no longer themselves, that surrenders and that have torn up souls. Oh, really? That's so charming. We don't like the leopard theme they are fronting or the fact that they wear Uggs in the introduction, we don't like the weak women they are praising and we don't really like their hurt voices. Don't like them, you could say our conclusion is. They are just as unnecessary as that female condom and white rapper their name reminds us of.
Guess Croatia is at its best when you spend your vacation there. But hey, you are very welcome so we can return your hospitality. Just remember to smile, and we might just like you a little more.
In case you haven't noticed, blonde, beautiful and happy Finns that you don't understand, works in most cases. Also in Eurovision.
Finland is the country you never quite get the hold of. Even as Nordics we can't really grasp what the Finns are up to or what they are saying about it. A lot of weird stuff originates from Finland. But we don't care. No, we actually love and cherish their mysteriousness and quirkiness so perfectly portrayed by people like Aki Kauismäki. That is if the Finns don't pollute Eurovision with not so ok reaggae, hard rock or some weirdo rap stuff. We have been much greater fans of Tipi-tiis, Yayayayays, Yamma, Yammas and something we don't catch anything of, but still also love.They all make us realize how Finnish is the funniest language to sing in ever.
Oh yeah, those Finns can make us laugh. And the amusing princesses of 2010 are the most fun of them all. We love, love, love people who party on stage while staying true to their ethnic heritage and singing in their own language. And men that are only hired to switch places and clap their hands ever so often. They build us up into bundles of joy and helps us digest all the boring ballads and self conscious Danes served to us in a never ending first course. This is the best thing on the menu. We will dance with them, laugh with them and party with them. We will tilt our head from side to side, clap our hands and check out if they can ever stop smiling. We certainly can't as long as they are present.
Thank you Finland for feeding this to us. We do hope Europe gets you this time.
Albania tends to do best when they send cute, young girls to defend their flag's colors and we like them best when they include ethnic sounds and sing in their native language, like sweet sixteen Olta Boka did with "Zemrën e lamë peng" in 2008.
From this point of view is this year's entry miles away their usual recipe. Juliana Pasha is an old lady, turning the whopping age of 30 during Eurovision week, she sings in English and there's not one peculiar ethnic string instrument in sight! Still, after listening to it a few times, we have decided to like it. We don't love it, but it's not that bad. Juliana has a cool attitude, a good voice and a groovy song. But is it just us, or doesn't she look a bit ... old for her age? Don't get us wrong, she looks like a million dollars, but we can't help but think in a sort of cougarish way. After all that's a bit early when you have barely turned 30. Oh well, we suppose there's nothing wrong with acting all grown-up and mature when that's in fact what you are, there's enough teenage girls in this year's competition already.
Albania is always one of the first countries to select their ESC entry and in hindsight it was a really smart move for them to select an up beat party song which will stand out in Balladomania. Should be fairly easy to proceed from Semi Final 1, we predict.
Greece has really stepped up their game since the turn of the millennium. After the introduction of the semi finals they have consistently been right up there in top 10 and it seems like the sharpening of knifes has done the Greeks the world of good. We dig Greek girl power with lovely ladies such as Anna Vissi (oh, hang on, she's Cypriot), Kalomira (ups, she's American) and of course Helena Paparizou (damn it, she's Swedish!). Nevertheless, "My Number One" from 2005 is one of our all time favorite winners.
And this years entry? Omg, we don't even know where to begin! For a couple of joke cracking funny bunnies like us, this is like leaving your kids alone in a candy store. We're like Opa? Wtf is this? Priceless! There's obviously some major overcompensating going on here, being all masculine, potent and full of testosterone. How ironic, when we all know poor Greece is completely penniless and beg Germany and their other EU big brothers to pick up their bills. Opa, ooooh, we're so scared! Not really.
And moreover, we're far from done yet, someone came up with the bright idea to base the song on the ringtone from our Nokia 3210 from 2001! Yay! If you run out of ideas for next year Greece, we can totally recommend the exquisite sound from the timer on our kitchen stove, and the start-up sequence sound on our MacBook is also cutting edge.
We're amazed by how many elements they've manage to squeeze into this number. They even found room for this super hot guy, playing on something that seems to be a baseball bat. And apparently, Liverpool defender Kyrgiakos has launched a second career as a dancer. Good for him!
Thank you Greece for being so deadly serious in giving us something as hilarious as this. We are confident that Europe will award you with a place in the final and another Top 10 finish. Opa!
Is it a Eurovision song or is it a football song? Oh, wait, it's both. Welcome to France.
The Eurovision story of France is just one long ballad. Or is it really? People tend to praise France's participation in ESC based on all the nice French ballads they know. But looking closer, what do they see? While Celine Dion sold her soul to Switzerland, most of the other ones decided to be a part of moneymoneyland Monacco or the country we miss most in the whole Eurovision world, Luxembourg. France got stuck with the honor and all kinds of funny stuff, like Jesus looking for the milky way and some funny blokes in Gaultier. Not really a success any of those, that must be admitted. What was a greater success was the bird song in 1977, and the ethno cultural beginning of the 90s. Mind you, we are somewhat divided in our opinion on the woman trying to convince us she's black while being Obama brown. Well, at least Serge Gainsbourg helped her get the message through.
This year France is discovering their ethnic connection again. Guess they were all a bit lazy over there, as the French just decided to send their football song to Oslo. Good for the parties, since Jessy Matador is one hot piece of ass bringing along some fine ladies, but not so good for our heads. Because although we will be happy to shake our hips a little after all those lazy ballads, we are just so tired of the music half way through we can't even listen to the lovely voices that comes along with it. And that's well done for a song that lasts less than three minutes. It also makes us wonder whether there actually is such a thing as a particular Eurovision genre. In that case, France is far from it this year.
Love the man, hate the beatbox, could be the conclusion. We can't imagine this being very popular outside the very west of Europe. And you've got to admit it, that's where the voting powers are.
Bosnia & Herzegovina has given us lots of unforgettable Eurovision moments. It´s surreal to think back on their debut 17 years ago, when the Bosnian delegation barely made it out of Sarajevo on their way to Millstreet in Ireland. Since then BH has always been a strong contender to watch out for and we love Hari Mata Hari´s Lejla from 2006. Last year´s Bistro Voda with Regina made us love BH even more, and we were super excited about what they would bring to Oslo.
Ok, what´s the deal with all these guys from Balkan trying to sound like Eros Ramazotti? It´s just ridiculous, please stop! We´re disappointed to say the least, how is it possible to select such a boring, plain, bleak and unappealing song? Did we forget to mention boring? Half way trough we´re all like, please, just be done with it and put us out of our misery.
We are trying really hard to come up with something positive to mention here, but this number is not even funny. Perhaps apart from the fact that the song´s title is "Thunder and Lightning". It should have been called "Overcast With Light, Slightly Annoying, Rain Showers", or something.
If this travesty makes it trough to the final we will blame it solely on patriotic block voting.
Spain decided to bring us something tiny this year.
Participating since 1961, Spain has had different approaches to the Eurovision Song Contest. They won with both La, la, la in 68 and Vivo cantando in 69, both lovely songs by lovely women in terrific clothing. But since then, they haven't really been close. Julio Inglesias wore way too blue clothing being way too melodramatic while some weird gang only came second with Eres tu. Spain struggled, and sent both crazy banjo players, sassy señoritas in Tango mood, and even Las Ketchup ordering Bloody Marys. Can't say that worked. What did work for us, however, was being totally wacko in 83, doing super 80s disco in 86 and celebrating Europe in 2002. Still, nothing has reached the very top of the podium.
This year hot musical star Daniel Diges is bringing us something tiny. Being surrounded by oversized toy figures on stage, we can't help but wondering if he represents the tiny part, but we do love the song's traditional Spanish feel. It is sensitive and intense with a promise of something good. Still, when the whoaoaoo starts to completely dominate, it is everything but good. Guess the best parts in the end is the tight pants, wild curls and strong voice of the singer - in that order. A nice touch is also this music video made as an homage to Danish writer H C Andersen's story of the tin soldier. Now that can only melt our hearts as much as Daniel's bright smile.
You've got to realize that it's small things that makes this burn, Spain. Nothing but another nice try from you. Again.
In ESC, Portugal is pretty much known for one thing only, for participating like a million times without winning the competition. In fact, they have not even come close! In 1996 Lúcia Moniz reached sixth place, with one of our all time favorite Portuguese entries. Ukulele can never be wrong in our opinion, especially when the instrument seems to be glued on to Lúcia´s frock! Kudos to the Portuguese for always singing in their own language, and of course for their stamina and for never giving up on us.
So will Europe finally understand Portugal and award them with a top 5 or podium finish? It didn´t start out very well this year when the jury overruled the public votes in the Festival da Canção and chose Filipa Azevedo and her buffed up power ballad over Catarina Pereira´s up beat latino number. Yeah, probably a mistake in terms of achieving a decent result in Oslo, but lets face it, Catarina can´t sing. At least she struggles with the singing while trying to cope with a rather intricate dance routine. Filipa on the other hand, can definitely sing, but we´re starting to overdose on little Miss Perfect 18 year old girls by now, and we miss some... substance. It´s amazing what a lived life and being born before 1990 can add to an otherwise plain number. Hey, from this perspective, we´re even starting to reconsider our views on Ireland´s entry this year!
We find it rather amusing that the piano guy vanishes into thin air half way trough Filipa´s performance, where he´s off to is something we need to investigate in Oslo. Is he too bored to finish the song, or is he simply underpaid and has agreed to take some time off? The misplaced wind machine is also a bit funny. Besides this we rate the entertainment value as quite low.
Portugal was really on to something with great entries both in 2008 and 2009. This is two steps forward, one step back.
Get ready for Eurovision's sweetest disappearance act! Here comes Sweden.
Forgetting about the annoying opera chick that couldn't keep her secret last year, Sweden has a long and shiny history in Eurovision. Considering all the noisy, self conscious, trashy Swedes that tend to overpopulate Oslo's restaurants, shops and bars, it is actually amazing how much we love Sweden when it comes to this contest. Guess all the great folks stay at home. There is Ola Salo and the rest of the glam rockers in The Ark, the ABBA people, Lill Lindfors, Lill-Babs, Kikki Danielson, Charlotte Nilsson/Charlotte Perelli and their likings. No one knows how to party like them and no one knows how to make a better Eurovision performance. And then of course there is the queen of wind machines Carola - she has after all delivered some of the best performances ever with Främling and Fångad av en stormvind. Too bad she went all wacko, but we choose to leave that story out of Eurovision and just never invite her back again.
This year's Anna Bergendahl is probably one of the cutest contestants with her blond curls, intense eyes, blushy cheeks and sweet dress quirkily paired with a pair of red converse. We like the bluegrassy feel of this song and her deep voice. We did like the fact that she played an acoustic guitar too, but hey, where does it go after the first verse? We haven't got a clue, but can't wait to see this happening live. Disappearing guitars are after all more rare than disappearing skirts at these parties. Anyways, we think Anna has a great voice, but the song is probably a little bit too boring and repetitive to reach the highest scores. Being a Swedish diva has been proven to work before, though.
One of the most famous graffiti tags in Oslo is a message telling all Party Swedes to go home. We, however, wish you welcome - because we know you have some good people for us, and we can't wait to meet them.
Romania was on to something in ESC a few years back, making top 5 two years in a row with "Let Me Try" and "Tornerò" in 2005 and 2006. And we thank them for bringing the Italian language back into Eurovision, we so wish that Italy would return to the competition, but that´s a completely different story. Since then Romania seem to have lost their way a bit, but this year they´re back with a vengeance!
For us Norwegians there´s so many countries to cheer for this year, and Romania is one of them because of Ovi, the Rumanian/Norwegian guy from the paradise beaches of Jæren, on the southwestern tip of Norway. Surfs up! Ovi has joined forces with the fab Paula Seling and what a team they make. This pair will set Telenor Arena on fire with their sassy bloke vs chick duel, and we love the double black ´n white grand pianos. Whatever you do Ovi and Paula, please keep these grand pianos for your performance in Oslo!
Estonia is considered to be the sixth Nordic country and in ESC it´s an honor to be in the same company as this Baltic state. With the exception of a couple of wrong turns the last few years they have consistently delivered strong performances, beating the Swedes in giving us the best schlagers (mind you with Swedish girl power in the lead role, like Sahlene and Sandra Oxenryd) and being the best exponent for the sleek, clean and cool nordic sound. While Norway has rambled away with wannabe latino pop and noisy glam rock, Estonia has given us music like clear water from the glacier, sounding like the rugged, hostile landscapes up north and the legends of the Ultima Thule. Big clichés, but we like it!
This year´s entry is another brave choice from the Estonians. Perhaps the most non-ESC like contribution this year and this probably means a make or brake. We honestly think that Europe won´t get this, which is sad, cause it´s dreamy, poetic, quirky, different and modern. The vocalist´s voice is crystal clear and it´s reassuring to know that this will work live. But the performance is kinda lame, hopefully they will work on that part. And something should be done with the scenography, warm colours are all wrong for this song we think.
Thumbs up for daring to give us something different Estonia!
Let’s just be clear: Power ballads were a thing in the 90s. Even back then they were just our excuse to make out with silly boys down at the youth club. We are somewhat happy that Ukraine decided to cut the Phil Collins they first decided to go for, but to bring in Alannah Myles instead?? Not sure we get the idea.
Ukraine should be able to come up with something better. They’ve had Shady Ladies and Wild Dances and the most fantastic of them all, Verka Serduchka - everything so much more fun than the grumpy lady that will enter the stage this year. She sings like a girl in high school performing with the local band, trying to look very moved while the wind literally tries to blow dry her hair. Oh, so the end is near? Have to say we do believe you in this specific context. No further comment.
Only one plus here - we do love her dress. Reminding us of something Norwegian Fairytale designer Leila Hafzi could have made, it's actually one of the nicest frocks we have seen in this year's Eurovision pre selection round so far. Guess any blondehead could have worn it, though.
Please figure out who killed the Ukrainian show, quit yelling and bring the brain back.
Astrid and Guri have shared their passion for Eurovision for years. They both grew up in the beautiful middle of nowhere, and as kids, the annual Eurovision final was their only share of glamour. Life has later become somewhat more glamorous, but still nothing can beat the extravaganza of the Eurovision grand final.
Eurovision moments are, as this years slogan is telling us, meant to be shared. With this blog we give you our thoughts on the songs, the artists, the show, the costumes, the drama and everything else which makes this contest so absolutely wonderful!
Posts
