CYPRUS 2011 - San angelos s'agapisa

ESC-wise, 2011 is clearly the year of the dramatic ballad. Which is how it differs from any previous years, obviously. ;-)

This is another of those songs that start out very low-key and then build up to something rather dramatic about halfway. This sometimes works and sometimes seriously doesn't work. In this case I think it works, actually really well too ... because they've managed to insert something that 'feels' really authentic into that section, something that I immediately feel quite drawn to as being - to my ignorant mind - rather genuinely Cypriotic. That may turn out to be a really good move, a lot of people will probably like that. Hopefully with this song Cyprus will be able to break their five year run of bad luck.

The singer is some kind of X-Factor winner or something like that ... not in his favor, IMO, but what can you do. His voice is OK ... nothing special, but passable. A bigger problem is that he seems to have zero charisma on stage. The live presentation that I've seen is also bland and boring. So this song will have to rely on its own strengths in Düsseldorf. That may be enough since the lineup is so even this year, with very few songs that really stand out. But the audience will have to be paying a bit of attention for that to work, though. We'll see. Not the winner by a long shot, certainly.

This is Christos Mylordos - what a fantastic name!! hard to believe it really is his real name :-) - performing San angelos s'agapisa by Andreas Anastasiou and Michalis Antoniou. They will be competing for Cyprus on Thursday, May 12th.

Live performance, but not AFAIK from their national final:

Widescreen here.

This is the official video. I'm posting it because you have to see it to believe how much it sucks. :-D

Widescreen here.

Lyrics with translation here.

CYPRUS 2010 - Life Looks Better in Spring

This is the kind of song that about which I really feel the less said, the better. Cyprus has been sending some good songs the past few years, but, what can I say, not this year. The first time I heard this song, though, I thought I might like it ... but I was soon disenchanted. It opens pretty well ... OK, yet another ballad, but still, kind of understated and sweet. But then the chorus starts. Oy vey.

Seriously ... what were these people thinking?? Tell me, tell me about your feelings? WTF is that about?? This is 2010. I don't understand how someone can write lyrics like these and keep a straight face. It almost makes me think it must be some kind of joke. o_O

Other than that, the song is OK ... nothing special, and won't get to the final, but apart from the horrendous lyrics, nothing much wrong with it. It gets pretty repetitive, and the presentation of it in the national final was yawn-inducingly boring ... and the song really is far too standard and safe to get anywhere in this contest.

Tell me about your feelings ... !! Bah, humbug!!

This is Jon Lilygreen & the Islanders - sheesh - performing Life Looks Better in Spring by Nasos Lambrianides and Melis Konstantinou. They will be competing on Thursday, May 27th.



Crappy lyrics here.

Cyprus, Slovakia, Denmark

Cyprus:
A good song that I for some reason don't quite like.
Anne Ida says that this song reminds her of Silje Vige ... yeah, I can see that. Or hear it, whatever. :-)
Great presentation. I really like the presentation.
The song may do well, her voice is certainly one that sticks in the memory. But for some reason this just doesn't ... speak to me. :-)

Slovakia:
Yay, Slovakia!! :-D
A duet ... and one that I really like.
They're getting a good reception. And well-deservedly so.
The singers are putting a lot of emotion into their performance ... ;-) but why not. It's that kind of song.
Overall pretty darn good, IMO. Maybe I'll send a few votes their way too.
Kudos for singing in Slovakian.

Denmark:
Yawn.
A totally straight pop song performed in a totally straight way. Go 'way, Denmark! Seriously, this song is just dull as dishwater. Can there be one person in the audience who hasn't heard this a hundred times before?
There's nothing in particular wrong with this song, but there's nothing much else about it, either.
Just ... yawn.

CYPRUS 2009: Christina Metaxa – Firefly

Hmm.

This is a song that I appreciate intellectually, but don't actually personally like. Or, it's not that I dislike it, it just leaves me cold. Also the singer is sort of weird-looking ... and no, I don't know what I mean by that. o_O

This is a good enough song, I suppose ... and I think it may do pretty well. It has originality, certainly. It's relatively melodious. The singer ... isn't very good, IMO. But she does have an unusual voice that the audience may remember. I suppose her voice fits the song well ... she said grudgingly. :-) I really don't know what it is about this song. It just doesn't reach me. There's something in the tune that I just feel is sort of off in some way.

Oh, and the video's kind of weird too. :-)

I can't explain it ... and I really don't know how this song will do in Moscow. I think maybe the juries will like it better than the audience. It will be interesting to see how they present this on stage.

This is Christina Metaxa performing Firefly by Nikolas Metaxas who will be competing for Cyprus in slot #7 on May 14th. They're going on stage right after us. That will hopefully be what we Norwegians like to call jumping after Wirkola. Jumping on skis, of course ... and Bjørn Wirkola is a legendary champion of that sport. :-)

From the national selections:

The official video:

Lyrics here.

Malta, Cyprus, FYR Macedonia, Portugal

Malta:
Finally a nice outfit again ... or pretty nice, anyway. Didn't notice the boots at first.
A really good voice and a professional, confident singer ... pretty good presentation ... and a catchy, upbeat song.
But. It gets really annoying really quickly.
I can feel my blood pressure rising as I watch this ...

Cyprus:
And we're back to the hideous gowns ...
Ouch, she changed, and now it's almost even worse! :-o
This song is catchy and sort of has many elements that one ought to like, but I don't like it anyway. It seems very calculated to me. Kind of heartless, like the Swedish song.
I don't think this will get to the final.

FYR Macedonia:
This song is just really boring IMO, there's nothing to it that makes it stand out in any way. And nothing much that's special about the presentation either.
I don't have much to say about this. It's just completely standard issue all the way.
I hope it doesn't get through, it doesn't deserve it.

Portugal:
A better presentation that in their national final. Rather striking.
Maybe overly theatrical for my taste. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
She has a very good voice and this is a beautiful ballad. And the similarities to last year's winner have been toned down a lot. So now I'm starting to think they may not be so off the mark with this. :-)
No chance of winning, I don't think, but may get to the final, I won't be surprised if they do.

CYPRUS: Evdokia Kadi - Femme Fatale

Here's another believer in the school of thought that says, if the audience just grasps the import of the title, then you're halfway there. ;-)

It'll be interesting to see how Cyprus will do now that they're being deprived of their surefire 12-pointer (Greece is in the 1st semi, Cyprus in the 2nd).

This is a song that kind of draws you into its rhythm despite yourself. I don't like it much. It's like the Swedish song in that it doesn't really have heart. And I'm not sure I like the sort of insinuating 'Eastern' beat which apparently has been attempted ... intended to suck up to the Easterners, no doubt.


http://youtube.com/watch?v=95-enkFbnPc


Kebabpizza slivovitsa, anyone. ..? ;-)

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