BELGIUM 2011 - With Love Baby

And now something rather out of the ordinary - an ESC song without music. o_O It rather sounds like it has music, but it doesn't. It's completely a cappella. This isn't the first time someone's sent an a cappella entry to the ESC - if my memory serves me it is the second. Latvia did it first, in 2006. They didn't do very well. But that was probably because that song was so annoying.

I don't mean to indicate that a cappella is bad in and of itself. This entry is much better than I Hear Your Heart. I actually kind of like it. It's not strong enough to seriously compete in the top, and it does get somewhat repetitive when you've listened to it a few times ... but it does have a pretty good melody. I don't think the a cappella gimmick is enough to sell it, though. But it's not too shabby. :-) The one thing I really can't stand about it is the performance, which is beyond boring. They're going to have to do something with that. If they don't, I don't think they'll be making it through to the final. It depends partly on the competition too, of course. This song may be too low key to stand up against the more typical ESC song. :-)

But good luck to Belgium, anyway. This is Witloof Bay performing With Love Baby by RoxorLoops/Senjka Danhieux and Benoît Giaux. They are both band members, so this is a case of performers actually competing, which I always like. They will be competing for Belgium on Thursday, May 12th.



Widescreen here.

Lyrics here.

BELGIUM 2010 - Me and My Guitar

Ah, Belgium ... poor Belgium. They have three official languages, but because of their endless internal bickering they can hardly decide which one to use these days. So is it better to use English or to just make up some new language? :-D

This year they've gone with English, anyway. The singer may sound English too, but he's not ... he is Flemish, and his unlikely-sounding last name is only a stage name. Rather obviously, I'd say. The song is ... kind of cute. The lyrics are unfortunate, but the melody is sweet and may stand out. His voice is good, unusual, I'd say. Again something that may stand out. It's hard to do well with a ballad, though, so I don't know. The lyrics get stupider every time I hear them, too. If this song had been in Flemish or French I might have liked it a lot. The tune is by far the strongest point this song has.

Belgium goes on as #10 in the first semifinal. I don't know that that slot will be a good thing for this song. I think it depends on the other entries, how good they are (ie, not very good so far ;-) ... but this song may end up not doing very well, I suspect. It is possibly too low key to stick in people's minds very much, I think.

This is Tom Dice performing Me and My Guitar which he cowrote with Ashley Hicklin and Jeroen Swinnen. They will be competing for Belgium on May 25th.



Lyrics here.

And now, an old joke!!

Last month a world-wide survey was conducted by the UN.
The only question asked was: "Would you please give your honest opinion about solutions to the food shortage in the rest of the world?"
The survey was a huge failure because of the following:
1. In Eastern Europe they didn't know what "honest" meant.
2. In Western Europe they didn't know what "shortage" meant.
3. In Africa they didn't know what "food" meant.
4. In China they didn't know what "opinion" meant.
5. In the Middle East they didn't know what "solution" meant.
6. In South America they didn't know what "please" meant.
7. In the USA they didn't know what "the rest of the world" meant.
8. In Australia they hung up as soon as they heard the Indian accent.

Montenegro, Czech Republic, Belgium

Montenegro:
The song is very catchy live. But the presentation is kind of tacky and not that orginal, IMO.
Did I say 'kind of tacky'? She just straddled him, so scratch the 'kind of'. o_O
I seriously don't like this performance.
The chorus is catchy, but I don't think that'll be enough to save this song. Especially considering their extremely bad starting number.

Czech Republic:
Such a fantastically cool presentation ... !!!
I love their performance. :-D
And I really like the song too. It's fun, they're fun. What they're doing with the stage is just fantastic. (The stage rocks. :-) I dig this entry ... but ...
I suspect it may totally bomb because it's too weird. Alas. :-(

Belgium:
Not a lot of cheering for Belgium. No surprise. I think they'll do badly.
I like the song (kind of despite myself ;-) but I think this is totally the wrong place for it.
I don't think the audience will get this.
The presentation is good ... but again, I don't think the audience will get it. Or at least not a big enough of part of the audience.
The song gets kind of annoying after a while, it's a bit repetitive.
Nah, we won't be seeing this on Saturday, I don't think.

BELGIUM 2009: Patrick Ouchène – Copycat

This one I am so not sure about. o_O Could totally bomb or could do pretty well. I'm leaning towards the former. I kind of like it personally ... despite myself, because I'm an Elvis fan and I'm not entirely sure that this isn't offending the King in some way. But the song, on its own merit, kind of rocks. So I'm torn. I like it. But I seriously don't know that the ESC audience will. The older members may well think it's all that. But they are way outnumbered by young 'uns, down East especially. And I think that segment may just glance at this, think WTF? and move on to some dance entry like the Turkish entry or whatever.

The Belgians are quite confident about this song. But they have a history of misplaced confidence in their ESC entries, so I really don't know. My hopes are not high. Fortunately they're not in our semi, so I can't be tempted to vote for this. They have a shitty starting slot, #3, which will not be to their advantage. Maybe it's just as well. I really don't think E. would have liked this.

But I personally do like seeing a rockabilly entry in the contest ... whatever I may think of the song itself and its inspiration. :-)

This is Patrick Ochène performing Copycat, written by Jacques Duvall and composed by 'Miam Monster Miam' ... whatever ... they will be competing for Belgium on May 12th. Good luck, heretics.



Lyrics here.

Moldova, San Marino, Belgium, Azerbaijan

Moldova:
Great to see another new style of music. Good singer, I like her voice. The song is nice, a good melody. Definitely has charm. They may do well, and may not. The song itself is good, but maybe too untraditionally ESC.
And the presentation was ... not good.

San Marino:
Angry rock my shiny metal ass. Whiny emo pop, more like.
I do realize that San Marino is a very small country, but surely they could have found at least one person with a better singing voice than this?
Bo-ring!! I stand by my assertion that this doesn't stand a chance.

Belgium:
I like this song. And I love her dress!! :-D
What this song has going for it is that people will definitely remember it. Instant earworm, a chorus that anyone can get, immediately. And great presentation.
I really don't know how this will go down with the voting audiences BUT I definitely think they have a fighting chance.
A lot of ESC nostalgia vibes in this entry. A lot. :-)

Azerbaijan:
This is one of the entries I'm most interested in seeing the presentation of. (Argh, lousy sentence.)
OK ...
I'm not sure if it's money they have less of than the Belarusians, or creativity ... But they're certainly doing their best with what they have.
I like this song. But as to how it will do ... I think that depends on whether young people or middle-aged ones are voting. ;-)
My opinion: They should not have tried to recreate the video, they should have done something totally different. But the song is good. They definitely have a chance for a spot in the final.

BELGIUM: Ishtar - O julissi

Those Belgians!! :-D

They have three official languages of their own, more than any other contestant (except maybe Switzerland??), and yet they are the ones who come to the finals twice in five years with some made up fantasy language! LOL! This year's is supposed to be some kind of Elvish, I think ... :-D

Now this I like!! This is definitely my favorite so far. An immediate hook and a catchy melodious tune, a singer with an unusual and charming voice. Professionals on stage. An relatively unusual song with ... just about everything. A light and airy tune that's comfortable to listen to. I'm digging it. :-D When Europe hears this on Tuesday, we'll be sure to remember it - instant earworm.

And lest we forget: last time Belgium sent something like this, they ended up in 2nd place. So I wouldn't be surprised if this song did really well.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3hPIcXyd8k