Dandylion in concert

I mentioned a certain concert I went to the other day ... ? Now you can see part of it on my Youtube channel. The rest of it is coming up over the next week or so. Enjoy. :-) Isn't she great - you can't even tell she had a pretty bad cold. :-)



Widescreen here.

Stop forwarding that crap to me

I'm sure everyone who reads this has at some point or another - overwhelmingly likely more than once - received forwarded emails that are nothing but worthless crap. 'Warnings' about viruses supposedly going around or scams being worked, that anyone would know was bogus after three minutes on Snopes. Really badly done 'illustrated poetry'. Chain mail. Just BS that takes up space in your inbox and wastes your time. We've all been there. So of course, Weird Al has made a song about it.

Please note that I am not particularly bothered by such emails myself ... I have mostly sensible friends, the few people that forward crap to me don't read this blog AFAIK. So don't be upset, this is probably not directed at you. ;-) But the song is soo cool and the video so well made that I just have to post it. You'll like it. And if you like Jim Steinman, you'll love it. :-)



Widescreen here.

I like Jim Steinman.

This is a test.

And this photo is taken by me. :-)

Børge the happy balalaika. Unmissable at any Katzenjammer concert. :-)

One In A Million

Aren't we all. Some maybe more than others? For some reason I really like this song. Not because of the topic of this video ;-) but just in general. Can't say why, I just really like it. :-)



Widescreen here.

Congratulations to Azerbaijan

Widescreen here.

Fantastic stage, but the rest of the show basically sucked. More on that later. ;-)

SWEDEN 2011 - Popular

The perfect way to end this year's reviews - both slamming and praising the Swedes ... !!? :-D

I am SO torn about this entry. I both love it and hate it. I don't know which side to come down on. In one way, this song sucks so hard ... but at the same time it's fantastic. My brain, it hurts ... !! o_O

OK, some details: I LOVE the music. The beat is so fantastic and I just love it, I've listened to it umpteen times already, it totally kicks ass. The intro especially, but just basically the whole thing is fantastic! I love it. It rocks. Because of the music and the incredible catchiness of it, I think this song is going to do extremely well. Maybe a little too well for my countrymen's tastes ... ! :-o

And in some ways it absolutely doesn't deserve to do well AT ALL. In some ways it deserves to totally bomb. This is one of those songs where I wish so much that the lyrics were in some foreign language that I couldn't understand. Because the lyrics are what kill this song for me. I loathe and despise the lyrics. They are horrendous, ridiculous, embarrassing. Complete & utter crap. Fredrik Kempe is getting to be a real ESC vet, but ... I mean, he's written some clunkers, but come on. This is what comes of being as crazy prolific as he is. It reminds me of the opening scene in Once In A Lifetime, with the guy accosting Mona on her way to the subway. Fredrik Kempe is that guy. For those of you who haven't seen the movie, that is not a compliment. I have a hard time getting my head around the fact that these lyrics were written by a man who's almost 40 years old. o_O

Basically the lyrics make the singer sound like a totally immature jerk and the biggest douche you've ever met. I'm not sure I even get the story. That's because it's so dumb that I can hardly take it in. The guy likes a girl, but she's such a shallow stuck up bitch that she only goes for popular guys? So ... he's going to ... be on So You Think You Can Dance ... and be a celebrity ... so he'll be popular too ... and then she'll let him fuck her? Is that it? I really think that's it. Even though I can hardly believe that that can be it.

Sure, there are a lot of superficial lyrics in this contest. It's not where you go for profundity and depth. But this song really takes the fucking cake. How shallow can you get?? You might not think it to read this, but I was speechless the first time I heard this song.

But as I said, the music is fantastic, and since large sections of the audience either know no English or know so little of it that they won't catch the lyrics anyway, this song may end up doing very well indeed. Which may be sad, because my dreams for our entry is 1) that we'll get to the final and 2) (which maybe should be 1) that we'll beat the Swedes. I'm not at all sure about that this year.

But hey, you don't want to miss this, so check it out for yourselves. This is Eric Saade performing Popular by Fredrik Kempe. He'll be competing for Sweden on Thursday, May 12th.

Widescreen here.

Incredibly awful lyrics here.

SAN MARINO 2011 - Stand By

Yay, San Marino! I'm so thrilled to see San Marino back. And what's so great is that things can only possibly go up for them. They cannot possibly do worse than they did in 2008, which is the only other time they've been in the contest. :-D They came last in their semi. :-D I shouldn't laugh ... !! I feel bad for them. But come on, you've gotta laugh. :-)

Anyway ... I think their song this year is much better than their first effort. Not good enough - it's nowhere near a winner and I'm not convinced it will even get to the final. But I think it deserves more than five points. :-D It's a rather beautiful ballad, quite well performed. The singer has a good voice, and of course a pretty young woman never goes wrong in the ESC. ;-) So ... nothing wrong with the entry, as such.

That's really the recurring theme in this year's lineup, IMO. The vast majority of songs are just fine, nothing wrong with them, but nothing very special about them either. They may be quite lovely to listen to, but once they're over they're quickly forgotten. I'm sorry to say that this entry is yet another song on that list. There's absolutely nothing wrong with it, I actually like it a lot. But it just doesn't have anything that makes it stand out. There's nothing really special about it. But as I said, it definitely deserves more than five points. :-)

This is Senit performing Stand By, with music and really weird lyrics by Radiosa Romani. She will be competing for San Marino on Tuesday, May 10th.

Widescreen here.

Lyrics here.

RUSSIA 2011 - Get You

Russia's song this year is one of those that I like sort of despite myself. Or rather, I can't understand why I like it, but I like it anyway. :-)

What's not to like? The lyrics are atrocious. In places even a little creepy. The tune, although catchy, isn't all that original. The singer's not very good. That thing that they're doing with his voice is annoying. (Gimmicks like that tend to tell me that the song is too weak to stand on its own, and that the production team know it.) The performance is mostly standard. All these things are true, and yet I really like this song. In fact I liked it immediately, the first time I ever heard it. It quite caught me up, but I don't know why.

The one word I'd use to describe this entry is probably 'addictive'. You know it's not really good for you but you can't stop. :-) I'm even sometimes annoying by it while I'm listening to it ... but I don't change to another song. This one has a beat, or something, that just pulls me in. Russia is one of the entries people are really talking about this year, and although I see a lot of flaws in it I totally understand where they're coming from. It's like with Greece in Kyiv. And we all know how that went. :-o

No, I don't think this is the winner - at least not with the kind of unoriginal performance you can see below. But I'll be very surprised if it doesn't get to the final.

This is Aleksej Vorobyov performing Get You which he cowrote with a bunch of other guys calling themselves silly things. They'll be competing for Russia on Tuesday, May 10th.

Widescreen here.

Lyrics here.

HUNGARY 2011 - What About My Dreams?

Whee, Hungary!! Hungary is one of my favorite countries in the contest. I LOVE their song from 2005. I'm always looking forward to seeing what they'll come up with. Last year they didn't participate - they couldn't afford to because of the financial crisis. I'm not entirely sure what they were thinking with this year's entry ... because the crisis is nowhere near over yet, and if it was too expensive to compete, it'll definitely be too expensive to host ... ! :-D

IMO this is one of the best entries this year. In fact the only thing I don't like about it is that it's partly in English. (You can hear it in Hungarian here.) This song is catchy, it has a great beat, it's much more original than so many of the other entries this year ... or any year. :-) It's professionally performed by someone who really knows what she's doing. Great voice and great personality. (I mean, as a performer, obviously. :-) Lyrics that actually mean something more than just the regular boy meets girl kind of thing. What's not to like?

Only problem is that I've felt that way about other entries in the past - the first example that springs to mind is Iceland six years ago, I love that song and I could hardly believe it when it didn't even get through from the semi. At the time I primarily blamed her outfit. But obviously there were other reasons too ... to my mind first and foremost that the entry was too professional, too ... I want to say over-produced. Too slick and too commercial. It didn't have enough personality and character left to appeal to the ESC audience. Another song that happened to was Belgium's in 2006. That was a real surprise to a lot of people. Not least the Belgians. :-)

Anyway ... I think this song is wonderful, I love it, it's one of my top three favorites this year. I hope, and I believe, that Hungary will do extremely well this year. I'm worried that their song will suffer the same fate as If Had Your Love and Je t'adore. But I very much hope not. Hungary deserves nothing but praise this year. Go Hungary!! :-)

This is Kati Wolf performing What About My Dreams? by Gergő Rácz, Viktor Rakoncza, Péter Geszti and Johnny K. Palmer. This talented quartet will be competing for Hungary on Tuesday, May 10th. Good luck!!!

Widescreen here.

Lyrics here.

ISRAEL 2011 - Ding Dong

I love Israel's song from last year ... and I love their song from last time they won. So I was intrigued to hear that their entry this year would be performed by the same singer as in 1998, the hotly debated Dana International. I was hoping for the best. But alas, I was disappointed.

This song has nothing of the fire of Diva, and none of its catchy rhythm. This is sort of a ballad speeded up. But it has no hook and no personality. I can hum along to it while I'm listening it, but as soon as it's done I forget it. It is soo harmless and bland ... a very disappointing effort. I don't know what they're thinking we're supposed to like about this ... ?

As for Dana herself, it's been 13 years, so of course her voice will have deteriorated ... and it has, audibly so. Her voice is much weaker now. That too showing much less personality. She doesn't look that much older, but a pretty face just can't make up for the weaknesses of this song. The performance is also very dull. I'm not sure what they think they're going for. It's all totally standard and totally bland. Vanilla. :-) This will fade into the background as soon as the music fades out.

Basically I don't know what the Israelis were thinking when they picked this song. That it would be good enough because it's Dana? I like it that she's written the song herself - there aren't that many female contestants in the ESC (remembering, of course, that it's the composers and lyricists that are competing, not the singers :-) - but that's pretty much all I like about it. I predict a sad fate for Israel on stage in Germany. Ouch. :-)

This is Dana International performing her own composition Ding Dong (I know ...). She will be competing for Israel on Thursday, May 12th.

Widescreen here.

Lyrics here.

PORTUGAL 2011 - A luta é alegria

If you only hear this song, and never ever watch any kind of performance of it, you may think it's not half bad. But alas. This is the kind of song that makes you wish that the ESC was a radio show. Scroll down ...

It's important to understand the context of this entry - that Portugal is in a lot of difficulties right now because of the financial crisis and their government is struggling to deal with it. This song is a protest, basically. So ... there's a reason, there really is. This makes sense to them. But that doesn't change the fact that this is by far and away the most messed up entry this year.

I quite like Portugal ... they always sing in their own language, and I like that a lot. They've sent some good songs. Some clunkers too, but there are some gems in the pile. But regardless of the quality, they never get anywhere ... !! :-) I really feel for them, because they just soldier on and they never win, or even come close to winning. So I want to like them, I really do. But they're making it awfully hard this year.

There really isn't much I can say about this entry that's positive. It's just all crappy. Really. It's all bad. There will be applause when they're done, though ... because people will want to stave off the awkward silence that will be hovering in the arena. Ouch, I'm dreading it already.

If you watch this entry performed a few times and you really genuinely like it, then get help. There is help for you out there, you don't have to live like this.

This is Homens da Luta performing A luta é alegria by Vasco Duarte and Nuno Duarte. They will be competing for Portugal on Tuesday, May 10th. Brr.

Widescreen here.

Lyrics with translation here.

CROATIA 2011 - Celebrate

This song was supposed to be called Break A Leg, but HRT apparently decided that it needed a better title. And if you check out those lyrics, you may agree. :-)

That's not to say that the current lyrics are necessarily much better. I have to question the wisdom of opening a song in May 2011 with the phrase Friday, my night. (Damn you, Rebecca Black! :-D) And it doesn't get much better from there. But generally speaking we are of course not watching this for intelligent lyrics and correct English. And to be honest I kind of like it.

There's one rhyme in this song - well, not really a rhyme, they're trying to pretend that it is one, but it's not - that I just can't get out of my head. Stop the world for a moment/Shine like a comet. LOL! I love that! I agree with what a number of other commenters have said, that this isn't exactly top of the line. But I think it's fun. I like it despite myself ... like with the Andorran entry from 2008. :-)

This song sounds better live, at least in the recording that I've seen. It's fun live but more just a standard ditty in the studio version. Hope that works on stage in Düsseldorf too. :-)

The singer I'm not sure about - she seems rather unsure of herself and not like she's enjoying herself all that much. Which I think will definitely be a minus, if she gives off that vibe on stage. She should check out our Stella and take a page out of her book. ;-) I think this entry's success, or lack of success, will depend to a large extent on the performance.

But whatever success it has will be limited, in any event. May possibly get to the final, but probably not.

This is Daria Kinzer performing Celebrate by Boris Đurđević and Andrea Čubrić. They will be competing for Croatia on Tuesday, May 10th.

Widescreen here.

Lyrics here.

LITHUANIA 2011 - C'est ma vie

Finally someone with the confidence to just stand alone on stage! It's so annoying that so many insist on having the full complement of six on stage, even when it's clearly not necessary and in fact the entry might have done better presented more simply. Slovenia, a case in point.

This is a ballad, sort of on the operatic side, slightly. That is first and foremost thanks to the singer, who has a voice that's quite simply ... wow. Beautiful. There are so many performers in the ESC who can't really sing that well, so when someone pops up who actually really has a beautiful expressive voice and knows how to use it, it's kind of surprising. It makes you kind of sit up and take notice. Like France, you really notice France. ;-) And this song's title is in French ... !! OMG it's a sign!!1!

Anyway, where was I ... oh yeah, beautiful voice. Charming lady also, but hideous dress. Please change either a) dress or b) backlight. Great presentation for this song. Beautifully performed. A pretty song, lovely melody, but at the same time kind of anonymous. I mean, we've all heard more or less this same thing before. Her voice is the main thing about this entry, and I'm not at all sure that it will be enough. Alas. Good luck to them, but my hopes aren't all that high.

This is Evelina Sašenko performing C'est ma vie by Paulius Zdanavičius and Andrius Kairys. They will be competing for Lithuania on Tuesday, May 10th.

Widescreen here.

Lyrics here.

SPAIN 2011 - Que me quiten lo bailao

'Nobody can take away the good times I've had' - and indeed, Spain have had some fine moments in the ESC. Not so much recently. But still. Hope springs eternal.

Unlike some countries, Spain seem to mostly be doing the same thing over and over again. At least in recent years that's been the rule. A dancey pop tune with a high tempo beat. Last year and in 2008 they veered a little off the set course, and did a little bit better than with the dance numbers ... but not a lot better. If it wasn't for the Big Four rule - OK, Big Five :-) - I don't think Spain would have set foot in the final, metaphorically speaking, for ... going on a decade now, quite possibly. o_O

I'm not sure why that is ... I mean, why they keep sending such samey songs. Is this really what Spanish audiences prefer? If it is, then I guess they're getting what they want. But I'm always hoping to see something new from Spain. Something really different. Sure, that approach can easily fail too. But at least it keeps the contest interesting. This is absolutely anything but.

This is IMO the most boring entry this year. The singer's young and pretty, that's really the only positive thing I can say about it. She doesn't have a very good voice, the song is devoid of any kind of personality and the performance is totally standard. Of course they won't end up with nothing - they can always rely on Portugal for a few pity points - but I'm picturing a really shitty result for Spain this year. I wish I could be sympathetic, but they deserve it.

This is Lucia Perez performing Que me quiten lo bailao by Rafael Artesero Herrero. I like his name, but that's about it. He'll be competing for Spain on Saturday, May 14th.

Widescreen here.

Lyrics here.

AZERBAIJAN 2011 - Running Scared

In Azerbaijan, they don't seem to trust their own talents ... they're always asking Swedes to help. :-) That turned out very lucky for them in 2009, they came 3rd ... and almost as lucky last year, when they came 5th. Their worst results were in 2008, when the song was 100% Azerbaijani, and that time they came 8th. And that's all their participations so far. But we certainly haven't seen the last of them, not by a long shot. Azerbaijan is in this to win. One day the ESC will wend its way to Baku. :-)

But will it be in 2012? Um ... I'm not entirely sure about that. In fact, I think not. Not necessarily because there's anything much wrong with this song in itself, but because there are other entries that are significantly stronger. *cough* Hungary *cough* This is a good song, I like it ... I like the performers and I like their voices. The melody is good - not catchy as such, but still with that little something that makes you pay attention. Depending a bit on the presentation, I'm pretty sure of another top ten score for Azerbaijan.

This is Eldar & Nigar - or Ell & Nikki, whichever you prefer - performing Running Scared by Iain Farquharson, Sandra Bjurman and Stefan Örn. They will be competing for Azerbaijan on Tuesday, May 1oth.

Widescreen here.

Lyrics here.

ARMENIA 2011 - Boom Boom

Another of my favorite countries! I wonder if it's noticeable that almost all of the countries I have a particular interest in have one important thing in common ... ? ;-)

The Armenian entry has been one of my top favorites for the past three years, so I was really excited to see what they would come up with this time around. I'm sort of always hoping that I will like their song. And ... I do! In fact I almost kind of dig it. Armenia is a rather exotic country to me - I don't think I'm alone in that - so it's fascinating to see what their culture produces by the way of lightweight pop fare. It tends to be a little on the unusual side.

I really love the beat of this song. It's just an instant earworm. OK, I can see that for some it may be annoying. And I do agree that the lyrics are beyond atrocious from a grammatical point of view. Which I normally care about, a lot. But I don't care in this case, the rhythm has got hold of me! :-D This song just has such a fantastically fun beat, the singer is so sweet and the whole thing is just so much fun. I love this entry, I can't help it. I hope the audience does too and doesn't just think it's annoying. Go Armenia! again! :-D

I can't vote for them in the semi, because they're in the same one as us (boo-hoo!) but if they get to the final, which I'm pretty sure they will, I will definitely be sending a few votes their way. As commenter Ilona reminds me, I can in fact vote for them, and I will! :-D One day the contest will find its way to Yerevan ... !! :-D

This is Emmy (a stage name, yes, but a pretty normal one :-) performing Boom Boom by Hayk Hovhannisyan, Hayk Harutyunyan and Sosi Khanikyan. They will be competing for Armenia on Tuesday, May 10th.



Widescreen here.

Lyrics here.

GREECE 2011 - Watch My Dance

I'm sure a lot of people will agree that Greece really rocked last year. I wasn't too fond of that entry to begin with, but after seeing them live a few times and listening to the song, ahem, a lot of times ;-) I ended up really liking it. They really put in a great effort last year. So the question was how they would follow up on that this year. Would it be something equally catchy?

No.

I'm not actively trying to repeat myself, but what is the deal with all this rap? Seriously, this is the Greek entry. Where the hell does rap come into it? And also again with the dumbass stage name. And the incredibly stupid lyrics. STFU!!

The song is far from all bad. That is actually the worst of it, they've ruined what could have been a perfectly good song. I like the mix of two languages, which has become quite a trend over the past few years. I also like the parts of this song that aren't rap; those parts are actually quite melodious, and the ethnic sound that they've managed to give it sounds really good. In those parts. The rest of it is just annoying trash. So they've basically managed to destroy their own song. Almost kind of impressive. o_O

This is Loukas Giorkas featuring - I kid you not - Stereo Mike. They are schizophrenically performing Watch My Dance by Giannis Christodoulopoulos and Eleana Vrahali. They will be competing for Greece on Tuesday, May 10th. They are going on stage last, so the first semi will be ending on a low note. >:-)

Widescreen here.

Lyrics with translation here.

GEORGIA 2011 - One More Day

Georgia's kind of a country to watch in the contest, because they've sent some really original and quirky entries in their very short ESC career, some really good stuff. I'm always prepared to like the Georgian song. But WHAT is the deal with all the rap people are trying to do all over the place this year?? What is up with that? Seriously, people need to stop doing this.

If you've heard the studio version of this song, you may quite like it. I do too; the studio version, I mean. It sounds pretty good. This is another one of those songs that are just sort of middling, not at all bad, but also rather too lacking in personality to stand out from the crowd much. We've all heard this umpteen times before. The rap parts are also not that obtrusive in the studio version. However.

In the live version you can see below, the song starts out OK but ends up sounding like shit. Partly because the rap guy is so in your face, you can't overlook him. But mainly because of the lead singer. I said that Stella Mwangi can't sing for shit, and that's true, but she's the next Maria Callas compared to this girl. I have no idea how anyone can have a voice this weak and still think they're a singer. I just want to punch her in the face. With this performance they wouldn't stand a chance ... and it's hard to see how anyone could think that they would.

But! Since then, the singer has been replaced. About bloody time too. The new girl is hardly world class but she is a great deal better than her predecessor. Which admittedly doesn't say much. But this is sure to sound a lot better on stage in Düsseldorf.

Even considering that I'm not all that optimistic about this song's chances. It's a pretty good rocked up pop song, but I'm not sure it's original enough to stand out much. What it does have going for it is that Georgia got slot #9 in the draw, which places them between Switzerland and Finland, both of which have entries that are very very different from this one. So that's a plus. But, meh. We'll see. :-)

This is Eldrine performing One More Day by a couple of the band members and - I assume - a friend of theirs, all with dumbass stage names. They will be competing for Georgia on Tuesday, May 10th.

Widescreen here.

Lyrics here.

BELARUS 2011 - I Love Belarus

Hearing the title of this song is kind of a window into the past for a Scandinavian. Into the rather distant past. I think most of my fellow Scandinavians will know what I mean ... a song like this could never ever be sent by any of us now. Years and years and years ago, sure, something like this might seem like a good bet. Voi voi, langt opp på fjellet ... !! But even then we probably wouldn't have been this glaringly obvious. We tend to downplay our nationalism now. But not everyone feels the same and that is SO COOL ... !! :-D

I'm not sure I can explain exactly why, but I really really like this song. It's freakishly catchy, that's obviously part of it. The singer is super enthusiastic and actually manages to sing this chorus with what seems like genuine joy ... I like that, obviously. But most of all it's probably just the total in-your-face attitude that this entry has. A little bit of folk music, dancers in national costumes in a totally inappropriate setting, a friendly, poppy, upbeat melody, and then that chorus which is just so totally unashamed and in our collective faces. It's like they've been thinking if we're gonna do this then let's really do it all the way. And it works! They've pulled out all the stops and just totally let themselves have free reign with this song, and it just really works. I dig this song. It's kind of a guilty pleasure, sure, but I dig it.

I obviously can't vote for them, that'd be so wrong in so many ways ... but I'm secretly hoping that they will do really really well. OK, not so secretly. It'd be really cool to see this song in the top ten. :-) The audience may hate it and throw it to the wolves but I think quite a few people will probably feel the way I do about it. :-)

I actually tend to quite often really like the Belarusian entry. Is that a bad sign?

This is Anastasiya Vinnikova performing I Love Belarus by Evgeny Oleynik and Svetlana Geraskova. They will be competing for Belarus, which they love!! :-D on Thursday, May 12th.

Widescreen here.

Lyrics here.

MACEDONIA 2011 - Rusinka

I know, I know ... 'FYR Macedonia'. But these post titles are long enough and that whole FYR thing is silly anyway from where I'm sitting. Will there be an angry Greek denouncing me and an angry Macedonian defending me in the comments to this year's Macedonia review too, like last year? :-D Save your energy, I already know the arguments and I'm not convinced. Obviously. We can just reread last year's comments, come to think of it. ;-)

This is the kind of song that makes you happy you don't understand what the singer's going on about ... although the lyrics in Düsseldorf may be partly in English and only partly in Macedonian, I'm not sure. (There's a full translation on the Diggiloo Thrush, of course - the link's at the bottom of this post, as usual. :-) Then you watch the video and it's like, WTF?? LOL! :-D

This song is first and foremost just really seriously annoying. Then when you find yourself kind of bopping along to it you start to get pissed off. I suppose it's catchy, in a way, but mostly it's just totally annoying. His voice is almost more annoying than the song. The 'ethnic' groove that they seem to have tried for seems tacked on and - dare I say it - annoying. I hope this sinks without a trace.

This is Vlatko Ilievski performing Rusinka by Gilgor Koprov, Vladimir Dojcinovski and Jovan Jovanov. They will be competing for Macedonia on Thursday, May 12th. Boo hiss!

Widescreen here.

Lyrics with translation here.