Entry #1: Nothing Remains, written & performed by Susperia. Metal! Right? I'm really not into this genre, so I don't know exactly what kind of metal these guys play - black, death, what else? I've been thinking that we ought to send this song to Düsseldorf, just because we dropped the ball last year - it would have been SO AWESOME to have put Keep of Kalessin on stage in Telenor Arena. But alas, it wasn't to be. And now I'm not at all sure that I want us to send this anyway. It's so ... tame. It's much more melodious that I expect from this type of music, so it sounds kind of wrong, it doesn't really sound like 'real' metal. Not at all sure about this entry now. I'm starting to think that we'd look like wusses if we sent it. And we're supposed to be the serious metal people. Help! o_O I do agree, though, that it's great with more variation in the contest. In principle. o_O
Entry #2: Simone Larsen, Moh Denebi, Jennifer Brown and Björn Djupström - Gone with the Wind, performed by Noora Noor. Our queen of soul. :-) Well, we already know that it'll be performed very well and professionally with great stage presence. And a very good voice. As for the song itself, it's ... my favorite so far tonight. Catchy and kind of unusual ... it might get some attention, the chorus is a bit different. I like it. Fingers crossed. It's not an international winner, but we could hold our heads up with this one. :-)
Entry #3: Tor Einar Krogtoft-Jensen and Christoffer Bergesen - SOS, performed by Girl Happy. Inspired by Romeo and Juliet, this is an impossible love story between a girl and a robot. I know, whut? Fugly costume, weird choreography, weak vocals and just a dumb concept. The song isn't half bad - at least the verses - but it's totally ruined by all the shit surrounding it. Alexander Stenerud, where are you when we need you?? This could have gone somewhere if he'd taken over ... but as it is it just goes straight down the toilet. Hope to not see this again.
Entry #4: Simon Walker, Grethe Svensen and Tommy Berre - Like Dreamers Do, performed by Grethe Svensen. She's a very experienced singer but is making her ESC debut now. A ballad ... not a lot of those this year, so that's nice. Good voice, very expressive. Classy lady. Anne Ida says that this is giving her West End vibes ... I get that, but that can work. :-) It's a pretty good entry, not very memorable, but nothing wrong with it. And she has great stage presence, which may be more important than we think - AFAIK the audience will be able to vote throughout the entire show this year too. Svensen will appeal to older viewers, that may be a plus. But I can't see this winning, I'm afraid. Well, we'll see ...
Entry #5: Agnete Johnsen and Emelie Nilsen - Dance Tonight, performed by The BlackSheeps. Yes, that's how they spell their name. They started the band before they'd learned to conjugate English properly. See, this is why teenagers shouldn't be pop stars. >:-( This band has actually won the ESC once before - they won the Junior version in 2008 with their runaway hit Oro jaska beana. So of course the media are full of graduation jokes. It'll be interesting to see how they'll do in the grownup ESC. The song is ... pretty catchy, actually. I like it. But why is the song in Norwegian when the title is English? o_O Oh, wait, the chorus is in English. But why? Oro jaska beana was a mix between Norwegian and Sami - maybe that's their thing, mixing languages. I've really only heard these two songs by them. Odd. Well, I like the song, it's good, and they're fun to watch. We'll be seeing this entry again.
Entry #6: Stella Mwangi with Beyond51/Big City - Haba haba, performed by Stella Mwangi. Another linguistic melange - the verses are in English and the chorus in Swahili. Mwangi is originally from Kenya ... and is supposedly a big star there. Too bad they're not EBU members. >:-) This entry is being touted as a real feelgood song ... and I guess that's true, although I'm not too impressed initially. But hey, the chorus is great. I love the chorus ... and so does the audience, they're really digging it. Which is a very good thing, that's very important in the international final, cause that really does come through the screen. But this song is so weird ... it's like the verses aren't by the same writer/composer, they're so not the same quality as the chorus. So I really don't know what to think about this entry. I really like parts of it. o_O It's like the Swedish entry the year before last ... a very noticeable disconnect between verse and chorus. Weird. Good luck to Stella ... I don't really know how this will turn out. Although it must be said that my hopes aren't very high.
Entry #7: Knud Kleppe - Fire Below, performed by The Lucky Bullets. Kleppe is the band's singer, so it's their own entry, which is a plus. But that's really the only positive thing I can say about this entry. It's the first time for rockabilly in our national contest, which is good, cause we like variation, but ... it's still not good. I can't even tell the difference between the verse and the chorus, it's all just one annying buzz. Highly irritating. Will sink without a trace. Good riddance.
There were some technical difficulties during the first entry, so Susperia is performing again ... and they're sounding SO much better this time. This is actually metal. I'm very pleasantly surprised. I may vote for them now. :-)
Almost time for the results ... my guess, let's see. Susperia and The BlackSheeps are in, and Noora Noor, I can't imagine she'll be beaten out this soon. Then finally Mwangi or Svensen. I don't know who I'm rooting for. I voted for Susperia. :-)
Interval ... Sigrid finds Mr Skien, who's a lot more ... sparkly ... than Mrs Ørland and Florø. The musical entertainment is Didrik Solli-Tangen - of course, we're in Skien! :-D - and Bjørn Johan Muri singing the latter's entry from last year. I am so sick of that song ... we have the radio on all day at work and it felt like that song was on every twenty minutes for months and months. Sheesh. Fun performance, though.
Semifinalists:
Susperia - Nothing Remains
The Lucky Bullets - Fire Below
WTF?? That enervating noise pollution?? Sheesh. Norwegians really are idiots. >:-(
Finalists:
The BlackSheeps - Dance Tonight
Stella Mwangi - Haba haba
OK, yay for that, at least. But they really need to do something with Mwangi's song. Up the oomph on the verse. :-) I like the sheep song even more this time around. So ... mostly OK this round. But sheesh ... !! I'm so surprised that Noor didn't get through. I was so certain she'd make it ... in fact I was so sure that I didn't vote for her. Ho hum ...
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The blog about the ongoing influence of Andy Warhol's philosophy in the 21 st century.
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