Lopez Blogs

It's May 2011, it's Saturday night, and it's time once again for the annual extravaganza that is the Eurovision Song Contest. As with the first semi-final, it's a fly-on-the-wall report from the living room at EuropeCrazy HQ, with the thoughts of me and my mum. Here goes:

Firstly, the commentator: thank goodness it's Graham Norton and not those BBC3 clowns.

The venue: it's a converted football stadium in Dusseldorf, with the world's biggest LED screen behind the performers. These days Eurovision is big in every way, but that's not always a good thing. During the semi-finals I found the big-screen backdrop to be hugely distracting at times, and some acts used it much better than others.

The presenters: as in the semi-final, there were three of them. Anke Engelke, Judith Rakers, and Stefan Raab. Probably one presenter too many, as I didn't really see the point of Judith. Graham Norton called him 'Dusseldorf's Simon Cowell' although I see him more as Germany's Jonathan Ross. Or how about this description: Germany's one-man personality cult who seems to think he is at least as big, if not bigger, than the contest. As if you needed an example, look no further than the opening act. The previous year's winner would usually reprise their winning song, but not this time ....nope, the Stefan Raab show is underway, and he's 'performing' a rockabilly version of "Satellite" - maybe it's my Freeview where the mouths don't go at the same time as the music, or is he just miming badly? Yes he's milking the moment for all it's worth and thinking of all the iTunes downloads he's gonna get. Oh look! There's 43 Lena lookalikes....and finally the real one to finish it all off.

Mum: If they'd done that version last year it wouldn't have won anything!
Laura: These presenters are annoying me already. Again.
M: when's the show going to start?
It eventually does....

Finland: "Da Da Dam" - Paradise Oskar.
M: This has got a good chance. I quite like this now on second listen. It's actually better when you listen to it without having to look at his smug face.
L: Very effective staging.

Bosnia-Herzegovina: "Love In Rewind" - Dino Merlin.
L: That trumpet player's very annoying.
M: If that doesn't win I'll put a brick through the telly. This is great! (Mum had never heard "Love In Rewind" before the final).
L: I like this and it was one of the main faves, but the draw has probably killed its chances dead. Which is a shame.


Denmark: "New Tomorrow" - A Friend In London.
L: I'll need to check out their other songs after the contest.
M: Oh yes I remember this. It's not bad.
L: I like the way he's using the catwalk. This is not bad at all. This is the one that sounds like "Sing For Me".

Lithuania: "C'est Ma Vie" - Evelina Sasenko.
L: This is my first toilet break of the evening.
M: The sign language is commendable but the song's rubbish. This will probably come last. Absolute rubbish.

Hungary: "What About My Dreams?" - Kati Wolf.
We are both agreed that the styling is terrible. Basically she's wrapped in blue satin, and it's not a good look.
M: She's wearing a cupcake on her finger.
L: What about that ring? I think the problem with this song is that the verses are very poor and only the chorus is selling it.
M: Don't know about 'what about my life'...she should get a life! They should plug the dancers into an electric chair :)
Ireland: "Lipstick" - Jedward.
Trust me on this one: whether or not this wins, it will probably emerge from this year's ESC as the major hit song of the competition. Here I come, here I come, dum-da-dum-da-dum-da-dum.
L: They are going to do very well.
M: Yes they will. That's fine.
L: The backing singers are still doing most of the work.

Sweden: "Popular" - Eric Saade.
M: Oh he's a nice looking young man. Best looking guy tonight.
L: reminds mum about 'Manboy'.
M: Oh was that him? I remember him now, I like him.
The glass breaks, and Eric emerges triumphant. The backing vocals work.
L: goes into a commentary about Eric's debut last year, and even throw in a gratuitous mention of Danny Saucedo for no reason at all.

Estonia: "Rockefeller Street" - Getter Jaani.
M: Is she singing live? Because you can't sing live and dance like that too.
L: Believe me, she's singing live - and not that well either.
M: It (styling) is a bit like Alice In Wonderland. I've heard worse.
L: This was one of the pre-contest faves till she opened her mouth.

Greece: "Watch My Dance" - Loukas Giorkas featuring Stereo Mike.
Gratuitously Greek backdrop, dramatic singing and a rap.
L: It's very different and dramatic but I'm bored with it now.
M: Oh that's that guy! (Loukas).
L: Yes he's hot.

Russia: "Get You" - Alexey Vorobyov.
M: There's nothing wrong with his singing, I just don't like the song.
L: I like it. Don't like the lighted jackets though. It seems to have lost something, can't put my finger on it, but I'm not so confident about its chances anymore.

France: "Sognu" - Amaury Vassili.
Pre-contest massive favourite. A great big opera song sung by a young tenor with a big voice. This really threatened to overwhelm everything else....until he started singing.
L: Staging is good but he is totally off key. This isn't working.
M: I don't like it. Really not my cup of tea and I like some opera songs but this isn't a good one.
L: Can't see it making a connection with the voters.
(we then spend the remainder of the song talking about Corsica).

Italy: "Madness of Love" - Raphael Gualazzi.
The overhead camera shots of the piano keys only reminded me of the same camera angle on Salem Al Fakir's "Keep On Walking" in Melodifestivalen 2010. Just thought I'd mention that.
M: So Italy's back then! They've been away a while.
L: It's still a big ??????????????????? for me. I don't know what to make of it.
M: That screaming - usually Italy's Eurovision songs are very melodic.
L: Very odd. But I'm swaying and waving my hands in the air.

Switzerland: "In Love For A While" - Anna Rossinelli.
L: Time for my second toilet break (I'm drinking Cava tonight and it's beginning to kick in. My mum is not drinking: she is teetotal)
M: This song is boring. A big 'nah' (..na na na na na na)

United Kingdom: "I Can" - Blue.
Poor staging - whose idea was it to mix blue and green? And who designed those awful suits? Blue are not going to win this and could end up doing much worse than predicted. The song is far too reliant on Lee hitting the high notes, and it's not working.
M: I can't, I won't. I'm not impressed.
L: Neither am I. Those outfits are terrible. Probably their best performance, better than the rehearsals but that's not saying much.
M: They "can't".

Moldova: "So Lucky" - Zdob si Zdub.
L: I'm really liking this now, and it's not just the Cava to blame.
M: This is mental. It's like the way Eurovision used to be. Those flashing lights are going to give me a migraine though. Very amusing though. Crazy hats.

Germany: "Taken By A Stranger" - Lena.
Great staging but that's not too surprising, they're the host country after all! Lena gives an intense and very un-Eurovisiony performance.
M: She looks totally different.
L: Yes she's really grown up now.
M: Don't know if this will do so well. Don't know about this.
L: I think it will do quite well, but not a winner. That's all the half decent songs out the way - it gets a bit pants from now on.

Romania: "Change" - Hotel FM.
M: What's a British guy doing singing for Romania then?
L: He went over to build orphanages and stayed.
M: It's the trousers...the problem's the trousers.
L: He can't change. But I wish he'd change the trousers, they're so wrong. But this is a better performance than in the semi-final.
M: He looks like a comedy act.

Austria: "The Secret Is Love" - Nadine Beiler.
Or 'Nadine Belter' as she should be renamed, with that big voice. I guess if those showstopping ballads are your thing, then this was probably the best one of the night.

Lots of cheering from the audience. We both spend the duration of the song discussing her shoes and debating about whether her hair is a wig or not...we decide it must be a wig. It's just too perfect.

Azerbaijan: "Running Scared" - Ell & Nikki. Or Ell/Nikki as they are billed on screen.
M: It's a load of tripe.
L: It's nice enough, pleasant enough but doesn't strike me as a winner, and it's still not doing it for me. And they still look so mismatched.
M: Boring. Don't like this at all.

Slovenia: "No One" - Maja Keuc.
M: Shouty woman. A full song of shouting.
L: It's the Christina Aguilera fan club, Slovenian branch. My Cava is running low already...some of these later songs would drive you to drink.

Iceland: "Coming Home" - Sjonni's Friends.
Still a major thumbs up at EuropeCrazy HQ and as near to our united tolva poäng as we're going to get. Mum is singing along with the chorus.
L: I still like this very much.
M: Very nice, simple song. A merry little ditty.

L: Any thoughts on winners?
M: It's probably someone we won't agree with.
L: Strangely enough I've enjoyed this final much more than I thought I would....it's a bad year, but results-wise it's wide open.

Spain: "Que Me Quiten Lo Bailao" - Lucia Perez.
M: discusses when Cliff Richard was beaten by Massiel in 1968.
L: I used to like when the Spanish singer came from Operacion Triunfo.
M: I don't like this much, it's mediocre.
L: I wish David Bisbal would represent Spain at Eurovision one day.

Ukraine: "Angel" - Mika Newton.
L: Ukraine always does very well.
M: You shouldn't vote for the country, you should vote for the song.
L: And extreme gimmicks should be banned.
M: All that stuff going on in the background is to make you forget how bad the song is.
L: Zzzzzzzz....this is rubbish. I want Verka back.
M: She should have used those feathers to fly away.

Serbia: "Caroban" - Nina.
L: breaks into spontaneous outburst of cheesy 60s dancing.
M: (look of disapproval).
L: Where can I get those green tights?
M: No one had tights that colour in the 60s. People wore stockings, and empire line frocks.

Georgia: "One More Day" - Eldrine.
M: It's just all shouting and screaming.
L: I preferred their semi-final performance of this.
M: Hate those flashing lights.

And then that was the end of the songs, followed by what felt like about half an hour of reprises. And was that Gary Go being played over one of the reprises? Totally random!

Onwards to the interval act, Jan Delay and his band Disko No.1. Who in retrospect I can't really remember much about, apart from him rapping/singing "Klar" which I remember and liked a lot, during a previous holiday in Germany. Graham Norton called it 'underwhelming' and I can see where he was coming from. It wasn't Riverdance, it wasn't Glow...it just wasn't iconic enough I guess. But credit to them for a lively enough performance anyway.

Aww it's the old ESC logo :) And Raab's playing guitar again.
Let's get to the voting, chappies!!

Russia - 12 to Azerbaijan
Bulgaria - 12 to UK!
Netherlands - 12 to Denmark
Italy - 12 to Romania and 10 to UK - believe it or not, the UK is top of the scoreboard at this point!
Cyprus - 12 to Greece (!) No, surely not?????
Ukraine - 12 to Georgia. And hasn't Ruslana aged?
Finland - 12 to Hungary
Norway - 12 to Finland. And totally ignored Denmark!
Armenia - 12 to Ukraine
FYR Macedonia - 12 to Bosnia-Herzegovina
Iceland - 12 to Denmark
Slovakia - 12 to Ukraine (why all the love for Ukraine's song? I can't remember it).
UK - 12 to Ireland (quelle surprise :))
Denmark - 12 to Ireland
Austria - 12 to Bosnia-Herzegovina.

At this point, Sweden lead, Azerbaijan 2nd, Ukraine 3rd, and Ireland 4th.

Poland - 12 to Lithuania
Sweden - 12 to Ireland. And 12 points from the EuropeCrazy jury to Danny, Danny, Danny Saucedo! Who is wearing an Eric Saade T-shirt. Jed are now 3rd - be very afraid :)
San Marino - 12 to Italy. Quelle surprise (again)
Germany - 12 to Austria. Got some real neighbourly love going on tonight.

Azerbaijan leading at this point. Don't know why, but not too surprised that they are. The votes are so spread out that it's not going to be a unanimous, runaway winner this year.

Azerbaijan - 12 to Ukraine (?)

Sweden now leading! Extreme yay! I may never have been the biggest fan of "Popular" but the idea of the contest going back to Sweden....yes please.

Slovenia - 12 to Bosnia-Herzegovina.
It's 10.55, there's no sign of the show ending and Eric needs the loo.

SVERIGE!!!!! Still leading.

Turkey - 12 to Azerbaijan. Another quelle surprise moment.
Switzerland - 12 to Bosnia-Herzegovina. Glad to see it getting a few 12s tonight.
Greece - 12 to France. Had a major chuckle here: wondered what they'd do in the absence of Cyprus.
Georgia - 12 to Bosnia-Herzegovina

Azerbaijan take the lead now, with Ukraine in 2nd place.
France - 12 to Spain
Serbia - 12 to Bosnia-Herzegovina. I'm shouting out the 12s before they're announced.
Croatia - 12 to Slovenia
Belgium - 12 to Georgia
Romania - 12 to Moldova (ha!)
Albania - 12 to Italy
Malta - 12 to Azerbaijan
Portugal - 12 to Spain (!)
Hungary - 12 to Iceland (at last!)
Lithuania - 12 to Georgia
Bosnia-Herzegovina - 12 to Slovenia

I think Azerbaijan have won it (shrug of resignation).

Ireland - 12 to Denmark
Spain - 12 to Italy
Israel - 12 to Sweden
Estonia - 12 to Sweden
Moldova - 12 to Romania (! Is it ever any other way??)

Azerbaijan have won.

Belgium - 12 to France
Latvia - 12 to Italy .Italy have been climbing steady and end in 2nd, with Sweden ending in 3rd place.



Above: Ell and Nikki reprise their winning song, which (IMHO) is possibly one of the worst winning reprises ever!

No, I'm not bitter about Azerbaijan winning: the Swedish-music-loving side of me should be happy that a song with such a high level of Swedish input (writers/backing singers etc) has won, and that one of the singers (Nikki) lives in Britain, but on the other hand it's just so...insubstantial, and not memorable enough to be up there with the great and the good of Eurovision. On the whole, it was a poor year but there were other songs in there which would have made better winners than this one. As recent winners go, it will probably fade fast in most people's memories, if it hasn't done so already. But on the plus side, another 'new' country has won Eurovision, and it'll be interesting to see what Baku comes up with 12 months from now.

My final thoughts: Eurovision remains the great leveller. It doesn't matter if you're one of the world's top producers (RedOne, writing for Russia) or a reasonably well-known reformed boyband (Blue) or for that matter, X Factor attention-seekers extraordinaire (that's you, John & Edward) - when it comes to Eurovision, reputations go out of the window at voting time and it is still the most predictably unpredictable TV show on earth. So it's all over and 'normal service' is resumed - but time flies by so fast and it won't be long till it's starting all over again!

Results:
1. Azerbaijan - 221 points
2. Italy - 189 points
3. Sweden - 185 points
4. Ukraine - 159 points
5. Denmark - 135 points
6. Bosnia & Herzegovina - 125 points
7. Greece - 120 points
8. Ireland - 119 points
9. Georgia - 110 points
10. Germany - 107 points
11. United Kingdom - 100 points
12. Moldova - 97 points
13. Slovenia - 96 points
14. Serbia - 85 points
15. France - 82 points
16. Russia - 77 points
17. Romania - 77 points
18. Austria - 64 points
19. Lithuania - 63 points
20. Iceland - 61 points
21. Finland - 57 points
22. Hungary - 53 points
23. Spain - 50 points
24. Estonia - 44 points
25. Switzerland - 19 points

(pictures are all courtesy of the official Eurovision site, www.eurovision.tv)

Swedish Stereo is officially delighted with yesterday's winner of Eurovision-2011 - Ell & Nikki who participated with the song "Running Scared" written by Swedish songwriting team - Stefan Örn, Sandra Bjurman and Iain Farguhanson, backing singers - Lisa Stadell, Åsa Engman, Jessica Marberger and Vera Prada and man behind Azeri performance - Rennie Mirro (main person responsible for MF performances). It was fantastic and beautiful victory and we really hope to get to Eurovision in Baku next year as it's gonna be gorgeous by show, fun and low costs for everything.
Sweden came at respectable #3 with Eric Saade who performed "Popular" written by Fredrik Kempe, RedOne's written "Get You" performed by Alexey Vorobjov came #16 and Swedish-Finnish Paradise Oscar with self-written song "Da Da Dam" was #21.
I'm gonna tell you one interesting fact! Before Eric was chosen as the winner of MF-2011 and before Eldar was selected in Azerbaijan I was contacted by OGAE Azerbaijan who communicated with artists and helped them to choose songs and asked if instrumental version of Eric's "Manboy" was ever released - Eldar wanted to sing it in Azerbaijani final as he realy liked the song, it didn't happen as instrumental version of "Manboy" wasn't released but later Eldar could meet with Eric on the stage of Eurovision. Below you can watch Swedish Eurovision road of Azerbaijan to victory supported by Anders Bagge's label and sure Eric's performance of "Popular".

Courtesy of www.eurovision.tv , here are the results of both semi-finals which of course were not revealed until after the final, in order not to influence the voting.

First Semi-Final:
Greece
Azerbaijan
Finland
Iceland
Lithuania
Georgia
Hungary
Serbia
Russia
Switzerland
Malta
Armenia
Turkey
Albania
Croatia
San Marino
Norway
Portugal
Poland

Second Semi-Final
Sweden
Denmark
Slovenia
Romania
Bosnia & Herzegovina
Ukraine
Austria
Ireland
Estonia
Moldova
Belgium
Bulgaria
Slovakia
Belarus
Israel
F.Y.R. Macedonia
Latvia
Cyprus
The Netherlands

I had them in my top 5 possible winners, but I didn't think it would be their year this time....oh what the heck, get it over with, go to Baku next year and then normal service will be resumed.

Check out this blog tomorrow evening for the full EuropeCrazy Eurovision Song Contest Final 14.05.11 review. The following ingredients guaranteed: Laura, mum, a bottle of Cava, a packet of dry roasted peanuts and some witty comments. You know you want to :)

EDIT 15.05.11: The review will be posted on Monday night so check back then.

I watched the second semi-final on Thursday night, not in the best of moods. I'm not sure why that was, but much of it was probably to do with my anger and frustration at the ineptitude of the BBC3 commentary team, particularly the appalling Sara Cox who in her opening seconds managed to alienate three quarters of the United Kingdom with her "Hello England..." remark. And all that talk about 'crazy European bands' and that pathetic interview technique, well I've got news for you Ms Cox, it's not Glastonbury or T in the Park. Eurovision is something unique and special, and deserves a commentator who manages to mix the humorous quips and the knowledgeable facts. Like....oh let me think....Paddy O'Connell perhaps? Whoever made the decision to replace the BBC3 semi-final commentator needs their head examined.

Bosnia's Ken Bruce lookalike was a little bit shaky at times, but there was never any doubt about qualification.
Austria kicked off reminiscent of Whitney Houston on "I Will Always Love You" and the result was an impressively delivered movie-ballad, although not to my taste.
Netherlands: OK so they looked like a cabaret band but I still like the song. What do they have to do to qualify?
Belgium: if it's not the worst 3 minutes in ESC history, then it's right up there with whatever is.
Slovakia: the twins that aren't Jedward, song wasn't too bad, and even though they didn't qualify, faithful travelling companion will always have YouTube.
Ukraine: a pretty girl with a forgettable ballad, ridiculous shoulder-wings and uber-distracting Mystic Meg sand-artist. Yep that's Eurovision for ya!
Moldova: Douze points from me for the cone hats alone. So what if everyone hates this song? It was entertaining and totally cracked me up. And then there was a girl with a cone on her head riding a unicycle and blowing a trumpet....has someone spiked my Quavers?
Sweden: a nation can relax and go to bed happy in the knowledge that Eric's glass broke. Vocally ok but totally lost the vocals at times and relied too much on the backing singers.
Cyprus: dramatic if forgettable song, sung by some bendy boyband types. Visually quite appealing but the song did nothing for me.
Bulgaria: this was one of my favourites of the night, Bulgaria's answer to Pink and the first sighting of a Jedward-style hairdo.
Macedonia: this had David Beckham as a backing dancer and the not entirely unattractive Vlatko shouting into a megaphone...more fodder for future ESC clip shows perhaps?
Israel: Dana Int looked great - I loved her dress - but the song was never going to match her ESC legendary status and I expected better from her.
Slovenia: this kind of Christina Aguilera style big ballad is not my type of thing at all, but I had a hunch that it would qualify.
Romania: first time I heard this I thought it wasn't too bad, however on the night I really wasn't so impressed. Amateurish nonsense from a long gone era of ESC.
Estonia: she's been to Katy Perry school. Not bad, but could do much, much better.
Belarus: still reassuringly bonkers, but not the best idea in the world to sing at ESC about how much you love your own country!
Latvia: I still like this song, but hate the outfits and their presentation of it.
Denmark: over the last couple of weeks this song has really grown on me and I was well impressed.
Ireland: the two headed Jed-monster strikes again. I have an eerie feeling that this is going to do very very very well indeed!

And so onwards to the final we go....

Venue: the living room, EuropeCrazy HQ.
Present:
Laura and her mum. One of these is an all-round Eurovision addict, and one isn't.

Opening:
M: So explain this semi-final thing to me then.
L: You watch it every year.
M: Do I? I don't like it. I prefer the final. These semi-finals are too long.
L: Stefan Raab: he's the Jonathan Ross of German telly.
M: Means nothing to me. Oh what a horrible dress that one on the left is wearing. I hope she's not going to wear that all night.
L: They are all annoying me already. He's looking too smug.
M: Is this ever starting?
L: It's like Melodifestivalen - 15 minute intro.

Poland:
M: I think she's saying 'Never mind the song, have a look at my legs'
L: They're like Poundland Beyonce. Now get off. And she's so out of tune.

Norway:
L: I like this, it's good fun. But she still can't sing for toffee.
M: It's not the worst.
L: I hope it qualifies but....she's still so flat. And I don't like the psychedelic background.

Albania:
L: Total waste of time. Too shouty.
M: Let me share my song with you? No thanks. Her nails were more interesting than the song.

Armenia:
M: I could really go a cone.
L: So could I. (Laura heads to the kitchen and prepares two vanilla cones, thus avoiding having to listen to the rubbishy Armenian entry).
M: You never missed much.

Turkey:
L: spends most of the song reminiscing about Turkish rock bands in ESC and going all misty-eyed about how Mor ve Ötesi didn't have to rely on any stupid gimmicks like a contortionist in a hamster ball. There were too many distractions in this one.

Serbia:
L: They've raided the fancy dress shop for a 60s theme party. This is missing Austin Powers.
M: Don't like this.
L: She's quite charismatic and seems to be enjoying it though.

Russia:
At this point a major disagreement erupts about the merits of "Get You".
L: This is my favourite song of the evening.
M: It's not up to much.
L: It was co-written by the most famous producer in the world today!
M: I don't care, he's a good singer but with this song he doesn't have much to work with.
L: Well I like it!

Switzerland:
L: This is the one with the Jason Mraz vibe. It started well but there's something I don't like about her voice, the song would have been better if someone like Colbie Caillat sang it. In fact it's a bit of a Colbie Caillat ripoff.
M: Too many na-na-na-nas.

Georgia:
L: They're sailing through with this one.
M: Why?
L: That whole Within Temptation/Nightwish/Evanescence female-fronted rock band thing was always big in Europe.
M: Don't like it. Too much shouting.
L: Song's not particularly great but they've done it well.

Finland:
L: spends first minute of the song explaining how Father McKenzie's "Good Enough" should have won the Finnish national final. I jumped on that Jeff Brazier comparison before Scott Mills did, by the way.
M: Someone should drop that big ball of the world on his head. Those lyrics are awful.
L: Really want to punch his face now. And Scott Mills was right, he seems to have got more smug as the song went on.

Malta:
L: This is the gayest thing you'll see all night.
M: Is it gay in a happy way?
L: This is ok. Some gay old boy-pop. Won't qualify.
M: Poor old Malta. They never do well.

San Marino:
M: Where's San Marino?
L: spends first minute of the song explaining San Marino's geographical and linguistic position.
M: This is boring.
L: I'm disappointed, she doesn't have much of a voice at all for this type of song.

Croatia:
L: spends first minute of the song explaining how the Croatian final chose the song and singer.
M: there are too many women singers on this show tonight. She's all hair and legs.
L: I don't like her at all. Her voice is rubbish. Oh look - costume change!
M: Is this live?
L: Yes.
M: I'd rather watch the magician guy.

Iceland:
L: gives very brief explanation of back story.
Probably for the first time tonight we both shut up and listen to the song.
M: That was a nice pleasant melodic little ditty.
L: Yes I still like it a lot. And it stands up well on its own even without the back story. Really hope it qualifies.

Hungary:
M: She looks like a 58 year old man in a frock.
L: I don't like this one bit, but it will qualify.
M: What about the song?
L: What about my ears??

Portugal:
M: They're like the Village People.
L: This song has been on for about half an hour.
M: People will struggle to find joy during this one.
L: Well I'm not struggling (spends remainder of songs in hysterical giggling fit).
M: This reminds me of when Eurovision was more fun.

Lithuania:
L: This is soooo musical theatre.
M: What language is this in?
L: English and a bit of French to grab some votes from the French speakers. Oh look, sign language now.
M: This song is rubbish. Most boring song all night.
L: It is.

Greece:
M: Well this is a bit different.
L: Ooh he's nice.
M: I like the breakdancing. And the guy.
L: Ooh yes, I like him. Hope this qualifies so we can see him (Loukas) again.

L: That's it then.
M: Thank goodness.

Reprise time: Mum is only favourable about Norway, Iceland and Greece; I'm also sharing the love for these, the latter for exclusively shallow reasons, especially that moment when Loukas throws his jacket open and goes into full-on Greek balladry.

L: I want to go to Greece!!

Oh look, there's Blue! Looking very fed up and edgy for some reason.

M: "I can't, I won't, I know, I can't". Wish they'd have done something in their old style.
L: Like "All Rise" or "Fly By".
M: Yes.

More interviews then it's results time! Before the show started I put an asterisk on my scoresheet against the 10 songs which I thought would qualify. As it turned out, I got 7 out of 10 right: it would appear that it's no longer enough for Armenia and Turkey to turn up, and I'm pretty gutted for Norway missing out on the final. Despite opening the voting from the beginning of the show - something which for years was denied due to the possibility of it favouring the opening songs - the first five songs tonight were completely killed by the draw. Expect the same thing to happen on Thursday, Bosnia-Herzegovina excepted of course.

Delighted for Iceland and Russia though. Well done!

So now it's on to semi final 2. I'll be watching it on my own - mum's chosen not to watch it, but we'll be back together again for the final!

The more I see Denmark's A Friend In London perform 'New Tomorrow', the more I think that it could be one of the biggest surprises of the contest and emulate last year's high placing. I guess most people's objection to this is that it sounds too similar to "Shine" and "Sing For Me" but that could work in their favour. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lJQHX6W7SU

It's all attention-seeking dramarama for Sweden at the moment: the mock-feud with Russia, and the defective glass box. Maybe Eric Saade should change the name of his song to "I Love The Sound Of Breaking Glass". In fact maybe he should just call Autoglass. One thing hasn't changed for me: "Popular" remains a total gimmicky mess, and Eric will have to deliver the most charismatic performance of his life to live up to the song's title. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lqNvN0WmvU

What's with Turkey's recent obsession with stupid, unnecessary gimmicks? There were no distractions when Mor ve Ötesi took to the stage in 2008, but as if the stupid drilling going on behind maNga last year wasn't enough, Yüksek Sadakat have now been lumbered with a contortionist trapped inside a ball. As you do. Pity, as otherwise this was a pretty confident performance and should be enough to qualify.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfbwxorQELI

And what of Sverigebaijan - sorry I mean Azerbaijan? You could be forgiven for changing the country name as yet again for the 3rd year running there's Swedish input in the writing of the song, and two of Shirley's Angels (the ones who aren't Shirley) are in the all-Swedish backing chorus. "Running Scared" is a pleasant and modern song, and it's much more appealing than the hideous "Drip Drop" and all the diva-antics of that performance. Eldar and Nigar (or Ell/Nikki as they're billed) still look a bit mismatched and he looks just a wee bit too young for her :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32vkwyaKIBQ

The big question I suppose is: can they? Well on the evidence of the two rehearsals I watched, I'm not feeling so confident about Blue's chances. At least they'd ditched those ridiculous suits by the second rehearsal, but I still don't like the screens behind them, and the song is still relying too much on Lee hitting those top notes. Fingers crossed that 'he can' on Saturday. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnpRknei7lw

One act which totally needs to rely on their vocals is the Belgian acapella combo Witloof Bay. Firstly I hate acapella. Secondly, "With Love Baby" will be right up there in the list of the 'worst ever' Eurovision songs. Most people will probably miss it though, as they'll have chosen it for their toilet break. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GE-z0jO9-tI

When I first saw the clip of Bosnia-Herzegovina's Dino Merlin perform "Love In Rewind" I made the observation that such a combination of tartan and foot-stomping hadn't been seen since the days of the Bay City Rollers. :) Anyway if you put aside the silly dad-dancing, the fact remains that this is going to do very, very, very well. Top 5 at least. It's got the same charm and feelgood factor as "Fairytale" although is maybe a little bit too old-fashioned for a modern day Eurovision. Watch this one go massive. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ora5dCT5HX4

Tomorrow night is of course semi-final 1 so I'll be back later tomorrow with my thoughts on that, with more rehearsal ramblings on Wednesday.

In the meantime.....good luck to all the performers for the first semi-final, hope it's a great show!

I'm catching up with the rehearsal clips on YouTube in a completely random fashion at the moment. At this point I'm still none the wiser about who will win this contest: France is current favourite but for some reason I still can't see a song like "Sognu" totally connecting with the 21st century televoting public, even if the juries will fall for it in a major way. Still it's all very grand, and commanding, and builds to anthemic in a "Time To Say Goodbye" kind of way. The cloud backdrop is very effective too. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISlFeHxdhCY

From the sublime to the....twin-headed monster that is Jedward. Laugh if you must, but I've got this eerie feeling that they will give Ireland its best result in years with "Lipstick", at least in the televoting anyway. They may not be the best singers, but when did that ever stop anyone doing well at ESC? I never thought I'd see the day when the words "professional" and "Jedward" appeared in the same sentence, but they have a distinctive image and have honed the act well. Ignore them at your peril??? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEhcpd7cVNo

Whilst on holiday in Italy I took the radio with me as usual but didn't hear "Madness of Love" once. Raphael Gualazzi's song is not the easiest to love on first listen, so I'm not expecting a big result for him, especially as it's such a 'niche' song, and that 'scream' still annoys me. http://www.youtube.com/user/SongfestivalweblogNL#p/u/4/4xKAvTX2Mlo

My view of "Coming Home" hasn't changed a bit: I still think it's a lovely, simple, charming and defiantly old-fashioned song which stands up without the emotional back-story. Very simply staged too, good harmonies. Really hope it qualifies: the final could benefit from Sjonni's Friends being there. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5-Bbml7JLg

Last one tonight is Russia. "Get You" is still my favourite entry this year. There's lots of flashing screens, an energetic dance routine and a scary mid-song backflip from Alexey. Thankfully no violinists or ice-skaters. They've taken out the mid-song "oh oh oh oh" part which I liked, but I like the new 'traditional' opening notes too. Boy, you blow me away! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcOB_lLBPQo

More tomorrow!

It's just a few days left before the first semifinal of Eurovision-2011 and like every year Sweden is massively involved in this music celebration not only with its own representative Eric Saade who will perform "Popular" on the stage of Dusseldorf's Esprit Arena.
Third year in a row Anders Bagge's label works with Azerbaijani artists and the song "Running Scared" that will be performed by duo Eldar and Nigar/Ell & Niki is written by Stefan Örn, Sandra Bjurman and Iain Farguhanson. Backing singers behind Eldar and Nigar are also Swedish - Lisa Stadell, Åsa Engman and the most exciting - Jessica Marberger and Vera Prada from Shirley Angels will be singing behind them. Also right hand of Christer Björkman - Rennie Mirro is working on the show.
Another team with the only native artist and Swedish all the rest represents Russia. This year RedOne who hasn't managed to win Melodifestivalen with Love Generation has turned his head to the East and has provided song "Get You" to Alexey Vorobjov (Alex Sparrow), they've written it together with AJ Junior, Bilal "The Chief" and Eic Sanicola. Talking about the rest of the team it will be schlager-veteran Britta Bergström (you could see her behind many Melodifestivalen artists and on Idol), Henrik Rongedal (yes, one of Rongedal brothers!) and dancers Robert Malmborg, Filmon Michael (danced this year with Jenny Silver) and Daniel Koivunen (danced with Linda Bengtzing in 2008). Show is directed by Saсha Jean-Baptiste (she worked on Love Generation's show and danced with Linda Sundblad). Ex-Idol jury member Peter Swartling is Alexey's manager and Kishti Tomita (also ex-Idol-jury) works as vocal coach.
Song that will represent Slovakia has also got Swedish touch. Swedish singer Sandra Nordstrom has written track "I'm Still Alive" together with Bryan Todd and Branislav Jancich, it will be performed by TWiiNS. Finland will be also presented by Swedish-Finnish Paradise Oscar (Axel Ehnström) with the song "Da Da Dam".
But back to Eric Saade, probably it's the first time Swedish performance can be called technically really complicated because of exploding glass box and organizers have got really big problems with this trick. After the first rehearsal when glass couldn't get exploded it was decided to make another extra-rehearsal when it finally has managed but still during second planned rehearsal in the first run it wasn't once again. There are not so much time to work everything out but still team has 3 general rehearsals starting on Wednesday to provide confident performance in semifinal on Thursday, below you can check how Eric's show has changed since March.

By the way remember I told you about brilliant mashups made by DJ King Rollo for some Melodifestivalen songs? He's back with new mashup of Eric's song and Britney's "Hold It Against Me" and it's lovely!

Well, I lost some weight. http://europecrazysrandomramblings.blogspot.com/2011/04/goooooooooooooaaaaaaaallllllllll.html

"Get You" is still my favourite Eurovision entry this year. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_J4-T22p0y4&feature=relmfu

Although I will also be supporting Blue. Supporting my own country's entry at Eurovision is a very unusual and unfamiliar thing to do, but there you go. Tonight BBC1 screened "Eurovision: Your Country Needs Blue" (you see what they did there?) which, although screening the by now prerequisite ESC clips of Fredi & Friends, Jahn Teigen, Nicole & Hugo (where can I get one of those on-trend purple catsuits?) and inevitably, 'Sámiid Ædnan', for once it went beyond the usual BBC 'let's all laugh at Eurovision' stance and actually acknowledged that WE. HAVE. BEEN. GETTING. IT. SOOOOO. WRONG. And you can forget a key change cause you're not getting one. Apart from the usual suspects (Cliff, Lulu and the mighty Bucks Fizz), Radio 1's Scott Mills talked a lot of sense and I got the feeling that, finally, the post-Wogan era is kicking in and maybe, after all these years in the wilderness, Royaume-Uni may finally be getting the concept of 21st century Eurovision. During the show my mum commented on the 'political' voting but I immediately jumped in with my own theory - that the 'new' (as in 1993 & beyond) countries had no previous experience of what is expected from a Eurovision entry therefore have been able to drive the contest in a whole new direction. Anyway the show was well worth watching and if you missed it, check it out on BBC iPlayer at http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b010n381
/Eurovision_Song_Contest_2011_Your_Country_Needs_Blue/

Finally, I'm going on holiday in just over two weeks and I'm sooooo excited! Location to be confirmed in the next few days - news to follow on here very soon. For a while I wasn't sure if I'd be going on holiday or not, but it's looking good to go. Anyway what this means is that this blog will probably not be back to 'normal service' till Eurovision week i.e week commencing 9th May, however I may sneak in a few blog posts over Easter weekend, you never know ;)

My first-listen journey through this year's Eurovision entries is almost at an end, but still a couple more instalments to go...

ISRAEL: "Ding Dong" - Dana International A very 'Eurovision' song title, sung by the winner of the 1998 contest - this will certainly get a few votes from those fans with fond memories of how Eurovision used to be. However if the national final version is anything to go by, it's needing a bit of polishing before being let loose in Dusseldorf.

SLOVENIA: "No One" - Maja Keuc OK so here we go again, with another pretty girl singing another forgettable (if over-dramatic and very Balkan) ballad: it'll be in English apparently in the final.

ROMANIA: "Change" - Hotel FM. One of the first songs selected this year, and one of the few which I'd actually heard in advance of this listening exercise. It starts off like Arvingarna's "Eloise" before going into Take That's "Hello" and then into a very familiar-sounding chorus although someone needs to remind me what it reminds me of (!). It's maybe a bit more old-fashioned than some of the entries on show this year, but I quite like it.

ESTONIA: "Rockefeller Street" - Getter Jaani Extremely hotly tipped in some places: and if an Estonian version of Katy Perry's your thing then this will make you very happy indeed. Upbeat catchy girl-pop, but I'd rather have something less derivative and American-sounding from one of the countries which I've always had a soft spot for since they joined the Eurovision family.

BELARUS: "I Love Belarus" - Anastasia Vinnikova So on we go to the Belarussian Katy Perry...but there's something appealingly bonkers about this shamelessly nationalistic three minutes...which replaced the equally shamelessly nationalistic and equally bonkers "Born in Belorussia" which was disqualified for being "political"!!

On we go to some of the songs featuring in semi-final no.2...

BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA: "Love In Rewind" - Dino Merlin.
Yes that Dino Merlin, the "nous sommes vous etes" guy. He's apparently massive in the Balkans and I've got a sneaking feeling that this will do very well this year. I wouldn't go as far as to say that it will win, but for some reason I get a similar vibe to "Fairytale" (only slowed down) and a similar 'feelgood factor' to this year's Icelandic entry too. Final place absolutely guaranteed. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPyVQCmGsYo

AUSTRIA: "The Secret Is Love" - Nadine Beiler.
Ooh, I'm getting an 'X Factor winners' song' coming through here. All they need is for the massed choirs to appear towards the end of the song - oh wait, they have. You all know that these big shouty ballads are not my preferred genre so you won't be surprised to hear that I'll probably be putting the potato wedges in the oven at this point. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afCsy69vWIA

NETHERLANDS: "Never Alone" - 3JS.
I watched the Dutch final and felt they made the right decision sending this anthemic rock-ballad to ESC this year. My view hasn't changed and I'm not ashamed to say I quite like this one, it's certainly one of my favourites in this second semi-final. This is one of the best Dutch entries in recent years and deserves a place in the final. Is that too much to ask? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PP3ViOSOXg

BELGIUM: "With Love Baby" - Witloof Bay.
Oh no, this is so wrong on so many levels. It's acapella, which I have an aversion to, and ....oh, it's just so wrong. The most positive thing I can say about it is that it's different, but that's all. I've always had this view that the entries chosen by RTBF are so much more inferior to Flemish-speaking Belgium's representatives, and that theory continues into 2011. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=507fn9o0QvE

SLOVAKIA: "I'm Still Alive" - TWiiNS.
This is a bit girl-band-album-track-ballad-by-numbers, which could have its fans although it's pretty unremarkable. We're seeing double here, and not for the first time in this semi-final either! Could be a surprise qualifier. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uT_8il_fkAs

UKRAINE: "Angels" - Mika Newton.
Another pretty girl singing a forgettable ballad. We have come to expect great things from Ukraine but for me they haven't given us anything good since the magnificent "Shady Lady" and this year the disappointing trend continues. Coupled with a voting controversy too. Nevertheless we can expect qualification to the final. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IR16x6zN_14

MOLDOVA: "So Lucky" - Zdob zi Zdub.
Maybe not as distinctive as their drumming-granny entry from a few years back but I really want this one to live up to its title, as it stands out in what (so far) has been a 'meh' semi-final. Energetic and different, and a long way from what you'd expect from a 'Eurovision' song. Studio version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02r-oOJrNqE&feature=watch_response

SWEDEN: "Popular" - Eric Saade.
People of Sweden: I love you, I love your country, I love the music which comes out of your country.....but please stop choosing the wrong songs to send to Eurovision! I like Eric and wouldn't wish him any harm, but this is a stupid song which has plummeted in my popularity-chart since it won Melodifestivalen. And don't even start me on the stupid glass-breaking routine...health and safety, chappies, health and safety!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nfx0OMM2u0A

CYPRUS: "San Aggelos S'Agapisa" - Christos Mylordos.
I suppose on the plus side, Sweden's entry was energetic....this is just pretty dull and forgettable and boring. Lots of dramatic drums can't save it. I know that last year's Cyprus entry had its critics, but I liked young Jon and his Islanders - they were better than this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqPEsx1Disk

BULGARIA: "Na Inat" - Poli Genova.
Oh look, it's the Bulgarian version of Pink :) Rock chick with lots of attitude, although I don't really know how this one will do as the rock-vote may go to Moldova: anyway I like bits of this and other bits of it are less impressive - more melody would have been nice, rather than pressing all the formulaic buttons. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShmY4TrFLwQ&feature=related

FYROM: "Rusinka" - Vlatko Ilievski.
Should this not have been their entry when the contest was held in Moscow? Or is that just too cheesy a thought? This could actually qualify as it has that distinctive 'Balkan' sound which is notably lacking in some of the other entries from the former Yugoslavia. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJB-s-cMSgg

GEORGIA: "One More Day" - Eldrine.
Ooh, bit of controversy here....this song won its national selection and then it was no time till the band's lead singer was unceremoniously dumped. I suppose they had their reasons, anyway whoever's singing it, it's a contemporary mix of emo-rock and rap and could grow on me. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFV0Tcy9OXc

At this point I'm going off on a tangent, but I just wanted to air my thoughts here - following every semi-final and/or final there's always that tedious old debate about the "Eastern Bloc/diaspora vote" after countries from the eastern half of our continent effortlessly sail through to the final/do pretty well in the final. And do you know why I think they're doing so well now? Because they don't have any preconceived ideas about what the Eurovision Song Contest should be, or what a Eurovision song should sound like. Unlike some more established countries who inevitably will never learn. Rant over.

FINLAND: "Da Da Dam" - Paradise Oskar.
I wasn't really too happy when this won the Finnish final, at the expense of Father McKenzie's "Good Enough" but it is quite charming even if those 'save the planet' lyrics are soooo 1990 and maybe just a bit beyond cheesy, even if after recent events they're more relevant than ever. The 'da da dam' parts just sound as if he's forgotten the words. It's like Tom Dice with a spring in his step. But I can't decide if this could be a grower or will it potentially annoy the life out of me? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Bj7K_052wE

MALTA: "One Life" - Glen Vella.
There seems to be a lot of hate for this on YouTube but I've definitely heard worse. It's a gay old uptempo dance pop number with an 80s/90s vibe. Though it will probably suffer from the 'curse of Xandee'(!) and I can't really see it doing too well. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIa_QV-LM8g

SAN MARINO: "Stand By" - Senit.
San Marino, bless 'em, seem to have passed me by in Eurovision - I didn't notice them arriving, I didn't notice them leaving, but now they're back with a rather nice mid-tempo ballad. She has a nice voice and the song has a very scenic official video. Could sneak a qualifying place in the final, but I've just got one complaint - this should have been sung in Italian! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2zL2Vs4xvs

CROATIA: "Celebrate" - Daria Kinzer.
It was once known as "Break A Leg" and now appears to be called "Sallibrate". What's wrong with Croatian? I sort-of like this, although my problem with this is that I don't really like her that much, or at least I didn't like her that much during the DORA and preferred big Jacques' version as it sounds as if it was maybe written for a male voice. And I prefer male singers anyway. Anyway here is the Daria version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghWCySADZ_4

ICELAND: "Coming Home" - Sjonni's Friends
There is something which keeps bringing me back to this song. Even without the emotional back-story of its composer's untimely death, there is something quite compelling about this charming little tune. Amid all the 'modern' songs and the dance routines etc, the simplicity of this countryfied jazzy song could really stand out. Yes it's old fashioned but in this instance there's nothing wrong with that. It has a strong melody, and it is (allegedly) a song contest after all. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJ0sbVwD3GY

HUNGARY: "What About My Dreams" - Kati Wolf.
Over their intermittent years of participation in ESC, I've always viewed Hungary as one of the most overrated countries therefore wasn't too surprised to see one of their entries becoming a fan favourite yet again. It's quite understandable though, as it's an uptempo and anthemic dance-pop number with a strong chorus although the verses don't really impress so much. An obvious qualifier...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbKNKfePCrs

PORTUGAL: "A Luta e Alegria" - Homens da Luta.
The one thing you can say about Portugal at Eurovision is that they don't care what anyone thinks. This year's entrants look like rejects from a Village People tribute band and would probably make it into a lazy TV producer's "let's all laugh at Eurovision" clip show. And as for the song...well, I really don't know what to say. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bDN53Rqh54

LITHUANIA: "C'est Ma Vie" - Evelina Sasenko.
Every year at some point during ESC you'll get a big ballad which goes nowhere, sung by a big-voiced woman in an equally big dress. Old-fashioned, and not in a good way either. They won't be singing 'we are the winners' this year, that's for sure. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHaUQmCJs8I

AZERBAIJAN: "Running Scared" - Ell and Nikki.
In its very short Eurovision existence, Azerbaijan has become the 'winner in waiting' - for reasons which I still can't understand why, as its 2010 entry was one of the most over-hyped ever - so I was prepared to hate this before I even heard it. A pleasant surprise then, to find that it was actually a pleasant, if lightweight, song. It sounds like a radio hit but doesn't have the feel of a winner - though it will still do very, very well. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgE3bDH647M

GREECE: "Watch My Dance" - Loukas Giorkas featuring Stereo Mike.
Rapping? On a Greek entry? It's not yer typical Greek entry - none of your Sakis-style elaborate dance routines (despite the very misleading title) but despite the modern touches it's more old-fashioned than they'd like to think. Those of a certain age may remember the 70s/80s preview videos of Greek entries where there would inevitably be a woman in a big floaty dress belting out her entry on top of some mountain or Greek ruin. This song is a bit like that. Only with a hot young man singing the chorus. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v27gtuLhiac

It was a very 'empty' Saturday night tonight without any Eurovision finals and I think I had a little Melodifestivalen-separation-anxiety :))

So to fill the gap, between now and the end of March, I'll be randomly posting my thoughts on all of this year's Eurovision entries. There's a lot of them too, so here goes...

POLAND: "Jestem" - Magdalena Tul.
A lively and modern opening to this year's contest, although a little anonymous and bland. I get the feeling that there will be lots of visual trickery, not to mention copious amounts of PVC (!) to take the viewers' minds off the fact that this doesn't really go anywhere. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUyieVZEQTE

NORWAY: "Haba Haba" - Stella Mwangi.
No-one wants the dreaded second spot in the draw, so it's an even bigger shock when it's taken by one of this year's stronger entries. Of course the first semi-final is much weaker than the second, so Stella should qualify to the final where no doubt she'll be rewarded by a much better draw position. It's a catchy song and big-haired Stella is loaded with crowd-pleasing charisma, however could potentially be loaded down by her vocal shortcomings. If she's able to address her flat vocals by mid-May this has 'serious contender' written all over it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vskHRbkHbw

ALBANIA: "Feel The Passion" - Aurelia Gaçe.
With apologies to any Albanian readers out there, but ('Zharr e Ftohte' excepted) I've never felt that Albania has ever really brought anything remotely great to the ESC party. This doesn't convince me otherwise as it's not much of a song, however it could be one of those entries which could be propelled to the final by a big vocal performance. I wish it had remained in Albanian though - why does everyone feel the need to sing in English these days?
English version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9LE4cQcud4
Albanian version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVd0rMyUTU8

ARMENIA: "Boom Boom" - Emmy.
Aah, a good old fashioned Eurovision song title eh! Unfortunately Armenia has never been one of my favourite ESC countries of recent years either, as they are one of the most obvious recipients of 'diaspora-voting'. This is probably on the irritating side of catchy, but it is very catchy nonetheless and could pick up a few votes apart from the usual ones guaranteed to take it to the final. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSbCuhGPXa4&feature=related

TURKEY: "Live It Up" - Yüksek Sadakat
I know I'm biased as I've become a total Turkey-phile over the last couple of years which has included embracing its music scene, but apart from that I've been really impressed by some of Turkey's Eurovision entries in recent years, particularly the rock songs. So what if Turkey only need to turn up to be guaranteed a final place? At least they always try to break from the Eurovision norm. This is yet another rock-themed entry, it's maybe a little old-fashioned but does have some commercial appeal and I think it'll do very well. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7D29knWErw

SERBIA: "Magical" - Nina
Well I suppose you can't accuse Serbia of sticking to 'type'. They've finally moved on from the dreary Zeljko-ballads via the bonkers "Ovo Je Balkan" to something completely retro. Yes, tonight we're gonna party like it's 1969. Or thereabouts. This retro-pop trend was quite popular a few of years ago thanks to Duffy and Amy Winehouse, however hearing something in this style now just sounds at odds with what Eurovision is trying to become in this new decade. Don't get me wrong, the song isn't that bad, it's just a bit too dated. Also what's with all these songs in English this year, even by countries who usually sing in their own languages??? English version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOKzBlamDrM

RUSSIA: "Get You" - Alexey Vorobyov
I choose my words like wise bloggers do ...and tonight I'm going to say that this is my favourite this year. Co-written by RedOne - and you don't get any more 'contemporary' than that, I guess - this has got hit song written all over it, and it's a very serious and catchy contender to go all the way and take the contest back to Russia in 2012. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4z6t1Ch0g78

SWITZERLAND: "In Love For A While" - Anna Rossinelli
Every year you always get entries/artists clearly influenced by the previous year's winner, and this is arguably (although not obviously) influenced by Lena. It has some charm, with that Jason Mraz-feel to it, however it does grate in the last minute or so. But it's not the worst Swiss entry there's ever been....however here I go again with my gripe about English-language entries. Switzerland has four perfectly good national languages to play with - so why do they ignore them in favour of sending an English entry? I'm all for modernising Eurovision, but not when it's at the expense of language diversity. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unFGsb2uRhk

(Pictures courtesy of ESC Today)

So now all the songs are known, and preview/promo videos are being rolled out at a rate which I frankly can't begin to keep up with (!) At the moment the Russian song's my favourite - a catchy contemporary pop number written by RedOne no less, and sung by a certain favourite singer of one of my favourite bloggers...!

Bit of a disappointing draw for the UK, although it's probably better than some of the earlier draw positions of recent years I guess. Anyway it'll probably be at least this weekend before I start listening to all of the songs and their new English-language versions, so thoughts and reviews will follow from then onwards.

After the credits rolled on Heat 2 of Melodifestivalen, it was straight over to NRK's website to catch the end of the voting. Believe it or not, I still haven't watched the whole MGP final yet, but my immediate question was - how come Babel Fish didn't make it to the superfinal, yet the Lucky Bullets and Sie Gubba did? Anyway it was all a foregone conclusion, and there was no doubt that Stella Mwangi's infectious performance of the insanely catchy "Haba Haba" was taking her all the way to Dusseldorf. There are still lots of songs to be selected, but I think this is in with a really strong chance.

I'm not even going to waste words or energy on the Belgian selection this year, suffice to say that the success of Tom Dice will definitely not be repeated by Witloof Bay and their acapella nonsense "With Love Baby".


Talking of Tom Dice, this year's Finnish entry "Da Da Dam" by Paradise Oskar (pictured above) is definitely in that same style and is quite nice, although my favourite entry in the Finnish final was "Good Enough" by Father McKenzie, who are a very promising Swedish-Finnish band who recently supported Salem Al Fakir at his gig in Helsinki.

Finally, off to Iceland to catch the last half of their national final.

Despite being a big pre-contest favourite, it wasn't to be second time lucky for Yohanna - even with a better dress than last time :) Being completely shallow, I couldn't remember much about Magni Asgeirsson's song, but I did find him rather attractive.. :) Anyway he came second, to a song which had its own emotional back-story. The song "Aftur Heim" was meant to be sung by its composer Sigurjon Brink, however following his recent untimely death, a group of his friends stepped in to perform the song in his memory. I'd never heard the song before and had expected an emotional ballad, so it was an unusual surprise to hear an uptempo, almost trad-jazz number. Inevitably, Sigurjon's Friends won the competition, and will represent Iceland this year. By the end of the contest there was not a dry eye in the studio (and I'll admit I was getting a little misty-eyed here too). Being realistic though, I don't see the song qualifying out of the semi-final.
Above: the late Sigurjon Brink.

Below: Sigurjon's Friends.

Friday 11th February 2011. So began a weekend packed with Eurovision action. Due to a change in my social arrangements I was able to follow the Irish national final on Friday night, although after about 5 minutes of it I realised that it was probably not such a good move. If the Dutch final a couple of weeks ago seemed low-budget, then that was nothing compared to this one: buried within the Late Late Show on a Friday night, not exactly peak-time Saturday night viewing was it???? Once upon a time, in the mid-90s to be precise, my three-quarters ancestral homeland, the Republic of Ireland, was once the home of Eurovision. In recent years however, Ireland has not exactly covered itself in glory at the Eurovision Song Contest, with only Brian Kennedy achieving a top 10 position since 2003.

Ironically, Mr Kennedy was one of the panel offering their comments on this year's crop of entries - and despite his pledge to be brutally honest, he fell into the trap of his fellow panellists (including Cheryl Baker) by offering praise where it really wasn't necessary....!

Song 1: "Talking With Jennifer" - Don Mescall
Imagine The Script fast-forwarded about 20 years and voila, you have "Talking With Jennifer". In retrospect it wasn't that bad actually, but on the night it just felt, well, old-fashioned and irrelevant.

Song 2: "Lipstick" - Jedward
Yes, those two from X Factor 2009, the irritating identical twins with, um, rather distinctive quiff-hairdos. Never have two people with so little talent gone such a long way and maximised their 15 minutes of fame, stretching it out to at least half an hour. Lyrics about "car crash" and "hit and run" sums it up really.

Song 3: "Shine On" - Bling
Oh dear oh dear. This took me back to possibly every UK Song for Europe competition between the 70s and 90s, such was its dated-ness. An embarrassing evening just got a million times worse.

Song 4: "Send Me An Angel" - The Vard Sisters
And it just got worse, with this year's contender for the 2011 "You Raise Me Up" inspirational award. I felt as if I'd been transported back to 1995, and not in a good way.

Song 5: "Falling" - Nikki Kavanagh
Finally, to a song by the Gladnikoff/Schilling contingent who have been responsible for a number of national final entries over recent years with varying degrees of success. Whilst "Falling" was arguably the most contemporary song on show in the Irish final, and Ms Kavanagh a strong vocalist, the whole thing came over like a Poundland version of "Drip Drop" and in addition, it possibly boasted the worst use of two backing dancers since any Melodifestivalen in the 1990s.

So then we had interminable debates, ad breaks, an interview with two former ESC presenters from the glory days - Cynthia Ní Mhurchú and Mary Kennedy - and an appearance by three-quarters of the original Bucks Fizz singing "Making Your Mind Up" which won Eurovision 30 years ago in Dublin. Suddenly jag känner mig väldigt gammal...anyway on to the voting which was split between the juries and the televote. It was very close for a while and the juries narrowly favoured Nikki, however despite it being long past their target audience's bedtime, Jedward triumphed in the televote which, when added to the jury scores, guaranteed them an absolute win in the competition, with their "Womanizer"-influenced song which, in the tradition of recent years' Irish entries, is co-written by Scandinavians.


On the plus side they do have a strong image, but....that's all really. Three years ago, Ireland sent Dustin The Turkey to Eurovision: now, in these hard times, with inflation soaring, they (appropriately) send two.

Breaking news today were delivered from Denmark where finalists of national Eurovision final were announced. As always we can find there some familiar Swedish songwriters names like Henrik Janson (responsible for Melodifestivalen-hits like "You're Out of My Life", "The Saviour", "The Queen") and Hanif Sabzevari ("Unstoppable") who have written song "You'll Get Me Through" for Sine Vig Kjærgaard. Thomas G:son, Erik Bernholm and Henrik Sethsson who composed "In a Moment Like This" last year this year participate with the song "25 Hours A Day" for disco-project Le Freak and Justin Hopkins with Patric Jonsson and Joakim Övrenius previously involved in Danish MGP and MF (Michael Michailoff "That's Love", Thomas Barsøe, "Just like rain") have also written "Black And Blue" for Kat and Justin Hopkins.
But really crazy news are that Jenny Berggren is wildcard of selection and what a great team of songwriters behind her!!! Thomas G:son who wrote the most successful entries of both Denmark (Chanée and N'evergreen "In A Moment Like This") and Sweden (Carola "Invinsible") for the latest 8 years (if we forget about Fame and Lena with the same results). But Thomas also gets help of Jeppe Federspiel (part of producing tema Providers) who delivered incredible hits for Medina lately ("Kun for mig", "Velkommen til Medina", "Ensom", etc.). Perfect combination to wait for national final on 26th of February! More information here.

Swedish participation wasn't so successful in Norway though. Last year Fredrik Kempe's song "My Heart Is Yours" has won MGP and this Jennifer Brown with Simone Larsen, Moh Denebi and Bjørn Djupström have written song "Gone with the wind" for soul-artist Noora Noor who hasn't reached final but still provided brilliant performance!

Maltese selection is also full of Swedish entries this year:
- Fabrizio Faniello - No Surrender (Johan Stentorp, Johan Bederholm)
- J.Anvil - Topsy Turvy (Jonas Gladnikoff, Niall Mooney, Andrew Zahra, Deo Grech, Natasha Turner)
- Kelly Schembri - Love Me Like Your Money (Erik Rydmark, Sven Lundholm, Gerard James Borg)

Jonas Gladnikoff's song "Tensão" written with loads of his other friends (Daniel Nilsson (m), Henrik Szabo (m), Johnny Sanchez (m), Jonas Gladnikoff (m), Michael Eriksson (m), Filipa Ruas (l), Pedro Sá (l)) this year competes in Portugeese preselection performed by Filipa Ruas. Nice dance song