Tag Archive for Eurovision 2012

ESC 2012 Review – Part 11: Bulgaria, Slovenia & Croatia

April 18, 2012 Eurovision No comments

Since 2008 the annual Eurovision Song Contest consists of two semi finalists which are responsible to deliver 10 qualifiers each to take part in the grand final where they join Italy, France, Germany, Spain and the host country, this year Azerbaijan. Over the past few weeks we’ve been going through the semi finalists. Today we have a closer look at the entries from Bulgaria, Slovenia and Croatia.

Bulgaria: Sofi Marinova – Love Unlimited

Bulgaria made its debut in the 2005 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest and has made its appearance in the grand final only once in 2007 with the Safri Duo inspired ‘Water’. This year the country selected singer Sofi Marinova, in a national final, to represent her country with a 90ies dance track, which shows quite a lot of similarities with Romanian Inna’s European breakthrough single (we let you decide if you can hear it too). ”Love Unlimited” is a dance track which is almost entirely sung in Bulgarian. The chorus however is a mixture of ‘I Love You’ in different languages including French, Greek, Turkish and Italian. Shame Bulgaria is right behind Ukraine, but let’s cross our fingers both tracks make it to the final with ease.

Slovenia: Eva Boto – Verjamen

16 year old Eva Boto, is this years youngest participant in the Eurovisiong Song Contest, carrying the flag for Slovenia. The singer won the ticket during EMA 2012, in which she challenged a Twins duo. Her entry, ‘Verjamen’ (English: I Believe) may sound very similar to ‘Molitva’, the winning song of Serbia in 2007. The similarities are definately there, the song sounds very much like a fairytale and builds up towards the end. We’re not sure why Snowwhite (awww) has brought her Fairy Godmothers along.(we didn’t know Snowwhite had Fairy godmothers… wrong fairytale?)… because again the set up is very similar to the Serbian entry we referred to, although the Slovenian backing vocals are a let down really. The backing’s solo in the middle of the song is also a pit off-putting to us. Will be interesting to see how this beauty will fare. It’s Slovenia’s 18th attempt to win the Eurovision Song Contest for the very first time.

Croatia: Nina Badrić – Nabo

Nina Badrić was internally selected to represent Croatia at this years Eurovision Song Contest and decided to revamp one of her ballads, which also appears on her latest album. ”Nebo” (Engl. ‘Heaven’) might on a first listen sounds a tough nut to crack and a bit dull, but in fact it’s a rather beautiful song, which grows on you the more you listen to it. Nina is really going for Eurovision success as her ‘No sex until Eurovision is over’ campaign was even mentioned in the English newspapers. (Beat that Russian grannies!) Since the singer’s undergone a surgery on her vocal chords (we don’t think it’s related to the no sex campaign) and has already announced that she will soon hit the studio to record her entry in more languages. Croatia has never won the Eurovision Song Contest before, but came 4th on two occassions; 1996 and 1998.

Our verdict

1 Ukraine

2 Netherlands

3 FYR Macedonia

4 Bulgaria

5 Serbia

6 Croatia

7 Slovenia

8 Malta

9 Belarus

10 Portugal

Coming up next are: Sweden & Georgia

ESC 2012 Review – Part 10: Portugal & Ukraine

April 16, 2012 Eurovision No comments

Since 2008 the annual Eurovision Song Contest consists of two semi finalists which are responsible to deliver 10 qualifiers each to take part in the grand final where they join Italy, France, Germany, Spain and the host country, this year Azerbaijan. Over the past few weeks we’ve been going through the semi finalists. Today we have a closer look at the entries from Portugal & Ukraine.

Portugal: Filipa Sousa – Vida Minha

Portugal was one of the last countries to selects its representative for Baku this year. The country is one of the few left in the competition who’s scoreboard consists of lower rankings, than high flyers. This year Portugal decided to choose the singer Filipa Sousa to represent the country with a typical Portuguese ballad ‘Vida Minha’. From the participating field, it’s definately not the worst. The appeal in its song is definately the Mediterranean influences, and the backing vocals who give the song that little extra. Filipa herself is a great singer as well, and her voice suits the song very well. The trouble with Portugal year in year out is that they either take the contest too light hearted or too dead serious, so despite their good efforts, this is such a serious ballad which we assume, is going to be left aside and will yet again fail to qualify.

Ukraine: Gaitana – Be My Guest

Be prepared to be wowed. Think 90ies, in a mix with EuroFifa Football…. and that’s the Ukrainian Eurovision entry, and what a very clever choice. Gaitana won back in February the Ukrainian preselection with her song ‘Be My Guest’. The song reminds me very much of the modern club music, where dj’s ask black female singers, with outstanding voices to do the vocals. It’s also very nineties, think Robyn S ‘’Show Me Love’’ e.g. and Yes, football anthems and Eurovision have been done before, but with the track record Ukraine has achieved in Eurovision, this is truly one of the few entries which is sailing through without any doubt to the final and is most likely going to dominate the scoreboard on May 26th. Kiev 2013? It is a possibility. Ukraine has won the contest once before in 2004 and came close to victory in 2007 and 2008 finishing in second place.

Our Verdict:

1 Ukraine

2 Netherlands

3 FYR Macedonia

4 Serbia

5 Malta

6 Belarus

7 Portugal

Coming up next are: Bulgaria, Slovenia and Croatia

Jedward: Waterline Official Video

April 16, 2012 Daily News, Eurovision No comments

if you’ve been following our Eurovision review you already know that the two Jedward brothers are taking the huge responsibility to represent Ireland for the second year in a row at this years Eurovision Song Contest. All preparations are in full swing and the guys have now also officially premiered the video for their bidding Eurovision entry ‘Waterline’.

A drastic style change, minimal exposure off the quiffs or slightly over the top outfits and we have to say, yep it works totally. We almost start thinking the boys have listened to our comments, in which we doubted whether their style fits the song well. (wishful thinking).

‘Waterline’ is slowly growing towards us and in all honesty we wouldn’t mind to see the two brothers making it again in the top ten on May 26th in Baku, Azerbaijan. In order to take part in the final, Jedward first need to qualify from the first semi final on Tuesday May 22nd. All the best of luck!

Enjoy the video!

”Waterline” Jedwards Eurovision Entry is out now on Itunes.

 

ESC 2012 Review – Part 9: Netherlands, Malta & Belarus

April 13, 2012 Eurovision No comments

Since 2008 the annual Eurovision Song Contest consists of two semi finalists which are responsible to deliver 10 qualifiers each to take part in the grand final where they join Italy, France, Germany, Spain and the host country, this year Azerbaijan. Over the past few weeks we’ve been going through the semi finalists. Today we have a closer look at the entries from the Netherlands, Malta and Belarus.

Netherlands: Joan Franka – You and Me

the Netherlands have not had the most brilliant years behind them when it comes down to Eurovision results. In fact the country hasn’t made it to the final since 2004. With a slightly more serious approach this year, and the producer of the Voice as the brain for the preselection, things might change. Joan Franka, who won the selection is representing her country with the song ‘You and Me’. And Awww this is a very sweet, country-pop song splendid for a camping trip. Her vocals are unusual but very likeable and her colour of voice is very pleasant to listen to. The video also shows a more stripped down Joan, as the act performed during the final was slightly over the top, with her Indian headgear and outfit.  The natural Joan is so much better. And if a Belgian, Cypriot and Finnish boy can do it just with a guitar, plus a Swiss girl and her two instrument players then so can the Dutch. The Netherlands have won Eurovision on 4 occassions: 1957, 1959, 1969 & 1975.

Malta: Kurt Calleja – This Is The Night

Right behind the Netherlands is another country which has come close to victory several times but never won the contest. Judging on what was in the Maltese preselection this year, the country have definately gone for the best what was on offer. Kurt Calleja really knows how to play the camera, and brings a radiopop friendly number to Baku. In all honesty, we don’t think Kurt’s voice really suits this song, his voice seems to be too on the heavy side for this type of radio song. Having said that there is something instantly likeable about the Maltese entry and the moves in the video are a nice hint to the ‘Every Day I’m Shufflin’ move. In a semi which has got quite a lot of ballads, they might scrape through, and in all honesty we wouldn’t really mind for that to happen.

Belarus: Litesound – We are the Heroes

Time for one of the most entertaining countries in Eurovision. Belarus likes to do what we call ‘A Sugababe’ meaning either changing a song/artist or in most cases both. This year the initial winner of the contest was stripped from her victory after it emerged her boyfriend who was in charge of the televoting had been naughty. So we got Litesound, in Power Rangers costumes for Belarus this year. Their song is very similar to the Maltese entry, so they’re a bit unfortunate in their draw. As with Malta it’s a radiofriendly pop song which doesn’t really bring anything refreshing. The tacky power rangers costumes and a decent act could get them into the final, (remember the butterflies in 2010?). We will have to see what happens.

Our verdict:

1 Netherlands

2 FYR Macedonia

3 Serbia

4 Malta

5 Belarus

Next up are Portugal and Ukraine

 

ESC 2012 – Those Who Didn’t Make It: Plumbo

February 14, 2012 Eurovision No comments

Glory days in Eurovision land, as we’re in the middle of a few hectic weeks as many countries are choosing their representatives. Let’s head to Norway, which had it’s final this weekend.

Fairly from the beginning of the heats, the following band, Plumbo were the big favourites to win the ticket to Baku, probably provoced by one of the ”racist” comments the band made during the annual music awards. ”Ola Nordmann” is sung in Norwegian, and it’s got this ethnic little flute playing through the song. It’s not what you would expect from an adult rockband but it is infectious.

Despite being the favourite, and making it through to the superfinal which consisted out of 3 candidates, Plumbo finished behind Nora Foss-Al Jabri who performed a Disney ballad, and eventual winner Tooij.

We do prefer it over the Disney ballad of Nora, no offence, so we thought we give this one the wildcard for the ‘Those Who Didn’t Make it’. Enjoy the video.

Next up… are Iceland!

 
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