After Sanna Nielsen narrowly won a nailbiting Melodifestivalen with ‘Undo’, she was duly installed as second favourite in bookmakers’ lists. Seeing Sweden towards the head of the market the day after their massively-hyped national final is no surprise: it happens virtually every year.
Sometimes those short odds are justified, as Loreen showed in 2012, whilst Eric Saade also managed a podium finish in 2011. But often they’re not: The Ark in 2007 and Charlotte Perrelli in 2008 were both ante-post favourites that finished well down the field.
This reflects a few things: the Swedish contest is highly competitive; winning it is a sign of being or becoming a big name both domestically and among eurofans; but that popularity doesn’t always translate to the rest of Europe on the big night. It’s worth bearing this in mind when considering what will happen to Sanna.
She has long been a household domestic name, a child star who first appeared in MF as a teenager and had come close on several of six attempts before finally graduating from bridesmaid to bride. She’s a highly competent if conventional singer.
In ‘Undo’ she has a highly competent if conventional song – a piano-driven ballad with a percussive build and key change. In truth, there’s not an awful lot to it, but simplicity is not necessarily a bad thing, and the trill on the title is a hook that gets you on first listening.
It hasn’t impressed some of our commenters. Guildo said of it: “She’s an engaging enough performer, powerful singer, but I felt she was overcooking it all a bit to compensate for what is a yawn of a tune.” Eurovicious was in general agreement, if finding a little more to be positive about: “Musically she’s hugely dated for her age…I think ‘Undo’ will do pretty well because it has broad televote and jury appeal and the staging will be good.”
In general, I sympathise with these assessments. In normal circumstances, the competence of ‘Undo’ might see it get a little lost among a general European audience as opposed to one of Swedes and eurofans who know Sanna’s backstory. In that sense, it could have something of the fanwank about it.
However, there are a couple of things in Sanna’s favour this year. For one thing, competent box-ticking is in short supply so far. Secondly, the new system which requires a full jury ranking tends to help this kind of song. You would expect most juries to put ‘Undo’ in the top half of their lists.
What hasn’t been discussed much yet, but became more apparent to me in a resprise of this year’s selections during last night’s Greek final, is the following: we’re remarkably short on conventional ballads in English. Apart from Sweden, so far we only really have Spain, which rather falls apart halfway through (“THE RAIN! THE RAIN!”).
Of course, if Norway selects Carl Espen this coming weekend, a ballad from Sweden’s own backyard will come into play. Will it step on Sanna’s toes? Ben Cook makes the point that ‘Silent Storm’ isn’t a “cookie-cutter Eurovision ballad”, so maybe there’s enough of a difference between them, especially if Espen continues to undersell the song.
However, Justin implicitly makes the point that alongside Denmark’s infectious entry, one of these three Nordic entries may get squeezed out (we usually see just two in the top ten). The question is, which one? It’s probably too early for me to answer that question, but it could conceivably be Sanna.
In conclusion, I remain benignly sceptical of Sweden’s chances in Copenhagen. ‘Undo’ has enough going for it to possibly gain a respectable placing. But even in a weak year, it’s hard for me to justify its current position near the top of bookmakers’ lists.
What do you think of Sanna’s chances? Do let us know below and keep the Eurovision conversation going. The next few days will reveal the remaining entries, giving us all the pieces of the puzzle.
Personally, in quite a weak year with no standouts this could be the safe choice for Europe…
I’m confused by this one. I was underwhelmed at first, but it has grown on me a lot. I think the staging is rather dull. They need to throw more lights at it or something. It’s a very safe entry. Competent is the word really. Could end up anywhere from 3rd to 23rd. I agree it’s definitely too short right now.
Actually, I think that compared to the competition, it’s not too low. Maybe Hungary should be closer to it in the odds, but it’s not as if there’s many countries (with songs out) that should have been shorter than Sweden.
Hi Daniel thanks for another interesting article. I’m broadly in line with your comments. I agree its a highly competent package in a field where this sort of quality is thin on the ground. I’ve become a bit wary of these slow-builders in the last couple of years though I think this slow-builds with a bit more sparkle and holds interest more than some others of recent years.
The all-round competence should help it hold it’s ground with juries though it doesn’t really strike me as being the ‘contemporary’ type of song juries seem to be favouring of late. The staging, at present at least, is static and though vocally competent there is nothing extraordinary about Sanna’s vocals.
My concern would be its televote appeal. Sanna is perfectly televisual but the song does take a while to warm up, Sanna is static and the song and her voice lack the emotion of its key ballad rival – the (potential) Norwegian entry. There are also a growing number of more contemporary/up-tempo numbers out there to grab televotes from the less memorable plodders.
Though I still see Sweden finishing higher on the scoreboard than last year I think its over rated in the win market at the moment.
Sanna Nielsen, oh how I wished they’d send Ace Wilder we’d have a young gun sitting second in the betting right now. Instead we have a “Yummy Mummy” with a top ten (if lucky) and nothing more, shame really for as much as I like Sanna and her staging, her styling is not great and I feel “undo” is a little cold visually, I remember Daniel reviewed Margaret Berger “I feed you my love” last year and mentioned that it felt a little cold, this gives me the same feeling. I’m a firm believer that Sanna and Carl will split the vote and cancel each other out for the win. I’m Hungary all the way this year. i’ve no doubt Andras will lift the eurovision crown. I will bang in more money on him as soon as I know the draw. However Carl espen and Sanna Nielsen should both shorten in price, which sofabet punters could look to back to lay, I expect come the week of the final Norway be around 5/4 and Sweden to be around 9/2 with bookmakers. I kinda Hope that there maybe a late run of great songs this year but somehow doubt it. Greece was a was a real let down this year, I know Daniel how you always look to them as your top ten banker their song a bit of a mess this year I feel. However Denmark has produced a great little up beat number, and can see that easily rolling into the top ten, which is bad news for Carl or Sanna, my reckoning is Mr Espen with say an early draw, must just get forgotten about.
You have no doubt Hungary will win? Don’t you think it’s a little too edgy and too American? That’s before we even get to the depressing subject matter and in the case of some ex-Russian countries, his race.
“ex-Russian”?
As I’ve said before (https://sofabet.com/2013/04/14/eurovision-in-concert-2013-review/comment-page-1/#comment-27816), I think the race issue is over-fretted about. Take Oceana, the mixed race girl in the German NF tonight – in Germany she isn’t hugely well-known, more of a B-/C-list name, but in Poland and Hungary she’s a big star with number-one singles, appearances on Polish Strictly Come Dancing etc, Andras also won the televote in Hungary, don’t forget.
But then you’ve got Gaitana who failed to finish in the top 10 for Ukraine despite massive jury support, Jade Ewen only managing 10th in the televote after all that publicity, and Stella Mwangi failing to qualify with what was at least a very entertaining performance.
exactly!
yeah I remember Gaitana well, she had great late draw at 25 If I can recall, I laid her for topten place at 2.04 betfair. amazed she got to 15th on the scoreboard, in all honesty her song was poor and how could juries score her so high, but then look at last year with juries Ireland didn’t really deserve their low jury score and Moldova that high IMO. All I’m saying really is that race is something to factor in, but if you go back to the review of Hungary I did say that Andras doesn’t fit into passed winners, but I believe he will break the mould this year at eurovision.
Hi Ben,
My instinct is that you’re probably right about the race factor being a drawback for the Hungarian singer. It’s certainly not a help to Running’s chances.
I remember when news broke of MJ’s death. I knew a big MJ fan…who was distraught at the news. Perversely,he would also casually drop racist jokes into his conversation.
It mirrors that phenomenon of legions of casually homophobic middle-aged blokes who love and know off by heart most of the back catalogue of Queen and who think that Freddie Mercury was terrific.
I think that if someone is a genius than people are able to overcome their prejudices in relation to that one particular person.
Racist blokes can buy the music of MJ or 2Pac or Usher, for example, but not consider themselves active supporters of those artists’s success – somehow.
There does seem to be a distinction drawn, however, when it comes to voting in a delineated contest, where black contestants are pitted against white contestants. White people seem more reluctant to vote for the black person (at the expense of the white contestants) in a zero sum game. It seems an established phenomenon.
Its only a slight distinction, but it probably a influential one, an influential factor.
Yes, Gaitana who overwhelmingly won the televote in the Ukrainian NF against 20-odd other acts. Publicity makes zero difference, as Anggun, Sinplus and Treble (Netherlands 2006) proved when they performed in almost every country (in Treble’s case, every country) and still got nowhere. 10th in the televote was really good for It’s My Time – Jade is fabulous but it’s a repetitive, facile ditty. It’s not Come Back.
I’m kinda sick of the “eastern Europe is racist” tag being used as if western Europe isn’t. Who practiced slavery and colonialism in Africa in the first place? Western Europe, not eastern Europe. And now that we think we’re enlightened and “post-racial”, we point the finger at our backward Slavic neighbours – the ones whose freedom we signed away at Yalta – and accuse them of not being PC enough based on scant evidence. If Eastern Europe is so racist, you tell me why Andras won the televote in Hungary, Gaitana won the televote in Ukraine, and Oceana had the biggest-selling single in Poland in 2009 with a song that didn’t even enter the top 40 in her home country.
Gaitana’s song was dire but juries rewarded her amazing voice. Haba Haba was fun but lightweight, and certainly not vocally driven or well-sung, hence the jury sank it.
Re: Ireland last year, I’ve changed my opinion on why it did so badly with juries after seeing Ryan Dolan live in November. I’m sorry to say he was absolutely dire. He delivered on Eurovision night but he’s not reliable and I certainly wouldn’t call him a natural performer. Similarly I think Moldova did deserve its high jury score – classy song, classy presentation, excellent singer.
Hi Ben, yeah I agree “running” is edgy, but I feel it’s hard yet soft, cold but hot. Indeed it’s many things this song, in a year where most songs have very little. I was listing my top ten last night and had only three songs, and one of those was “Cheesecake”!!!! the production of “running” is far the best in eurovision this year. As for the song being too American, I don’t see that at all, it’s not trying to be hip hop. It’s a toned down drum & bass track which came from the UK acid house, which never really broke in the u.s. I do agree that subject of race is one to worry about in eurovision, however Andras is non threatening, and feel he has very strong “alpha male” qualities his look is very appealing to females, and the depressing subject of the song Andras brings compassion and sympathy to it. There’s the theatre to the staging which I really like, the distance he has between him and the girl playing the piano and the embrace with her right at the end is the “money shot” for me jackpot! Andras is really the light at the end of tunnel, the Angel by your side. I really believe we are looking at the winning song here.
(unless of course Azerbaijan get hold of “ravish me in dorset”)
Hi chewy,
Had been waiting for the rest of the song entries to show themselves before backing Hungary, but have noticed the odds shortening across the board, so decided to take the plunge.
I agree with all you say. It sounds like a remix of a quality, unreleased Ne-Yo track. I don’t care what else enters the fray, there will be nothing fresher and more exciting a listen than this.
It’s true that it doesn’t tap into the cult of nice and elevating; but it does tap into the reservoir bank of powerful, serious and worthy.
It does sound American, but heck! American music tends to hold its own globally, yes?!
It is a bit of a problematic listen-watch, it is, but I imagine this track and its storyline garnering heavy-duty media attention over the coming months. It has topical and deeply powerful socio-cultural-political relevance.
With viewers thus primed as to know what to expect, how to interpret the storyline, I see the potentially problematic dissonance fading.
Running makes Undo sound an out-dated, unimaginative yawn; and makes Silent Storm (which has grown on me, tbf) sound even more navel-gazing than it already is.
It’s crucially important for this song to be sung by a very attractive, immaculate, young-looking singer who sings and performs with feeling and seriousness.
And boy! Andras looks like a beautiful film star of a man and gives the best eyebrow-cum-furrowed-brow look of serious concern you could ever hope to see.
It’s all about the song; not about him.
Just what the doctor ordered.
unfortunately i read on some forum , cant remember where anymore, comments saying that the girl and the bear will be droped form the staging, as eurovision doesnt allow it(?) . weird.
Sigh.
Everything I touch recently, betting-wise, seems to develop a fault.
Typically fit as a fiddle Wawrinka develops back trouble in his match out of nowhere; Ozil develops hamstring trouble 2 flipping minutes into the Bayern game; and now this…
Took 40/1 EW yesterday for Anderson in Indian Wells so doubtless he’ll suddenly develop bronchitis and Federer will have him on toast later this morning!
A word of caution for you Chewy, everything you’re saying sounds very passionate and deep. They’re not things people immediately think of when they see and hear this for the very first time. Don’t make the mistake I made last year and let your heart rule your head.
very true Ben, I always play price and value when punting on eurovision and in all fairness I’m not always right, but you have to give your opinions on here, and make a case for them. That’s what makes this site so great.
I think I remember your post last year just prior to the Eurovision final. I read it on a couple of sites, yes? You tipped up Cascada for Germany, yeah?
At the time, I thought your article was bordering on genius, in terms of its comprehensiveness and insight.
I just thought you reached the wrong conclusion with Cascada’s Glorious.
Feed Me My Love was dynamically and stylistically streets and nightclubs ahead of the generic Glorious.
Plus Margeret Berger was f**king smoking hot; whereas I found Cascada’s Natalie a bit sunbed-trashy looking in comparison.
I think that let’s-get-the-party-started staging for Natalie was also a big mistake. She looked like a warm-up act stuck up on a fire escape unit.
That was for Ben, by the way.
Yeah. It’s amazing how much we can justify something with all the logic and insight we can muster when we want something enough with our hearts… that’s why I’m keeping myself on a tight leash this year and making sure to catch myself before I start convincing myself that what I love is going to win. I was always conscious that Glorious was infact my favourite entry last year, and convinced myself that it was a coincidence, for lack of a better word. I loved Margaret Berger too, though.
I was also much less knowledgeable about betting and what odds mean last year, but I had some practice over the summer.
But that’s all I’m really getting at. I believe Hungary are emerging as one of the stronger entries now, but that doesn’t change my initial first reaction, which I have noted down for future reference – that it would finish in the middle of the final scoreboard. Of course, with weak competition, I now believe top 10 is very likely for Hungary, but to call something a winner is bold – and I just don’t see it in the package Andras has to offer. The European public are not going to see the red and black flashes of the lights amidst a drum and bass song of a sombre nature and then proceed to snap their fingers and say “that’s it, that’s the winner.” They’re not. It’s not the winner.
Undo my zip
Jiggle my artificial hip
Undo my corset
Ravish me
In Dorset
There, written a better song. It’s sooooo repetitive. It doesn’t even have a middle-eight, it’s just the chorus over and over. It’s a ditty, as usual for Kempe, who’s a poor writer. (G:son is oft maligned but he has a basic musicality and craftsmanship, a grasp of hook and structure, that Kempe lacks totally.) English ballads-wise, we don’t even have a What If this year, let alone a When The Music Dies, so this may do better than it otherwise would in a less balls year. No way will it win.
ravish me in dorset, could bloody well go #1 you know. Can I sign you up EV?
U-u-u-u-undo my truss
Cop a crafty feel on the 19 bus
E-e-e-e-earn my trust
Take me for a threesome with your best mate Russ
It’s a deal.
If only we’d sent Englebert Humperdinck into bat with “Ravish me in Dorset” What could have been…
I think you’re being harsh on Sweden – with so much weird and tuneless selected so far, a decent pop song that you could easily imagine on the radio could go far. Pleasant on the ear and eye.
I’m also unimpressed with the Danish and Norwegian efforts (Silent Storm reminded me of a bad X Factor audition with Louis and Simon giggling by the middle) so this could easily be the alpha Scandi-song.
It’s not stand-out but with a decent draw and continuing oddball selections elsewhere, it could be a safe stock in the way that Nicholas McDonald was.
when was the last time a slow burn ballad won eurovision? too old fashioned imo – sanna nielsen represents a eurovision that has passed. it might even be worth a NQ punt if long enough. it’s tough to see a winner this year (unless the azeris come with another paint by numbers entry and use their oil money to pay off the juries) which i think will make the running order extra important. i wouldn’t discount denmark’s entry. i hate it btw but i can understand the broad brush appeal and it sounds a million times more modern than SN.
Agree with this.
Sometimes the really generic songs make it at Eurovision: Running Scared in 2011, and Believe in 2008; however, I do wanna believe that Undo is too manufactured in order to do better than just Top 5. Tough game, this year, no clear favorite. Although Carl Epsen’s song is lovely, from what we have seen so far, I am not sure his performance will have a big enough impact. After reading your comment on Scandinavia this year, I think in fact the most promising entry this year comes from Denmark. Its not a fan favorite and just top ten with the odds, but I actually think this could be a surprise winner with the European TV audience.
How does everybody think Germany and Spain will do?
Mid-table, with Elaiza getting a fair amount of jury.
For me the Spanish entry doesn’t work. Its an obvious attempt to step out of the non-English-language spot which has been a bit of a trap for both France and Spain in recent years, with the exception of the the fantastic Pastora Soler, which could transcend that predicament. Otherwise, as opposed to the rest of the world, Spanish has not a lot of fans in Europe. Still, leaving the romance languages behind doesn’t really work either. Nina Zilli was so much stronger, when she sang in Italian only. Still, interestingly, Italy manages to deal with that complicated situation much better. Arguably, because they really did send quite good performers in recent years. As for Spain I am not very optimistic that the Spanish & English formula will work out.
My first thought about the German national final: Over the past few years Eurovision really has turned into a venue for newcomers, more so than ever. Not only that, you have to be really young in order to win! Eurovison is now this transnational, European talent show, like the ones that are familiar to the TV audience during the rest of the year. Lena is of course an example for that as much as Emmelie. The UK finally accepted that by sending Molly. Established stars have more of a problem now. You could already see that in the Swedish Melodifestivalen where Ace almost won.
A similar thing in Germany, Unheilig is the commercially most successful band within Germany over the past 15 years, Oceana and the Baseballs had hits Europe-wide. However, the audience decided for newcomers Elaiza who won the wild card for the NF in a club concert before.
Beating a national star is part of the Eurovision narrative at this point. in the German context Its the fairytale Lena story all over again. Moreover, Ela, the 21 year old lead singer of Elaiza, was born in Ukraine and moved to Germany when she was 9. Her mother is Polish. So, this is a very European story too. Moderator Barbara Schoeneberger made Putin-jokes during the final (like singing “Ein bisschen Frieden” for him) No doubt, Elaiza got bonus points for the song because of the present political context. Germany loved to show its support for Ukraine by voting for Elaiza.
As for the song “itself”. Its a simplified version of and eastern European ballad we have heard many times at Eurovision. Ela seems authentic enough to be able to perform it. The song is very catchy, you get it immediately, which also contains the risk of having enough of it very quickly. But, as we know, Eurovision is about those 3 Minutes of the performance, so that might work in their favor.
The girls come across as bit amateurish, that can be charming but only to an extent. I thought their previous performance in the smaller club was much stronger than the one in the arena in Cologne in front of 7000 people. There were moments when they seemed lost on stage. In that respect the Eurovision audience is unforgiving. But, they also have a few weeks for rehearsal.
Ela is not a bad performer, and the girls are charming, but they will not have the same mass appeal as Lena or Emmelie. If they manage to translate their enthusiasm from the smaller stage for a bigger audience, Europe might like them and their story. But at this point I would still say it can go both ways, so I don’t see this as top ten yet.
I don’t have a complete understanding of where Elaiza’s momentum has come from, nor why people were booing the incredibly well-liked and successful Unheilig, whose place at the crossroads of popular music and national identity in Germany I’d equate with Gary Barlow’s in the UK. Germany also isn’t a culture to build people up then knock them down, so I can’t explain the apparent dislike for Unheilig in those terms either. I think it might come down to issues of age, class and ESC-appropriateness – Elaiza’s song was clearly much better suited to the contest and far more mainstream and safe (here we go again with the cult of nice) than Unheilig’s, which would have stayed in German in Copenhagen. Note how much Elaiza grinned and twinkled every time they appeared, how they were endlessly humble, thankful and overwhelmed every time they were spoken to or advanced to the next stage. I think Unheilig’s fanbase is to a large part middle-aged and working-class, whereas the aspirational middle classes and the young – the strata that voted for Lena precisely because of how “un-German” she was – have internalised the fact that listening to music in German is “voll uncool” and see their values reflected by perky, clean-cut Elaiza.
We’ve seen the wildcard phenomenon before – people support the underdog act that they’ve voted into the final and thus have a stake in – but the German wildcard selection (which Elaiza didn’t win by a particularly large margin) was on a little-watched channel, so the overwhelming majority of viewers last night would have been seeing them for the first time. I also don’t think any sympathy vote on account of the lead singer being German-Ukrainian is in play. (For the record, I think Barbara Schöneberger did a good job, but I found the BOO PUTIN moment ineffectual, facile and populist, they should have left it out altogether.)
I don’t think there’s anything “eastern European” (itself a very broad term) about the song – accordions of different kinds feature in European traditional music continent-wide, and there are no other elements that to me sound “eastern European” either harmonically, compositionally or lyrically/thematically. If anything it sounds French.
For me, the German broadcaster will bitterly regret what happened during the NF, because they apparently have been working since last year for establishing big selections with very popular household names, thus raising the image of Eurovision. After Elaiza’s undeserved victory, I wish them good luck in finding even a Top 100 charting performer next year.
Onto Armenia – let’s compare it to Norway, shall we? It’s not a coincidence they constitute Top 2 in the bookie market. Is it even possible to adore one and dislike the other when they’re appealing to the same taste.
ahhh Armenia, the cat amongst the pigeons….personally I think “not alone” blows “silent storm” out the water. and worthy of top spot, in the betting market. I await review.
Armenia’s song is decent but I can already confidently say I don’t think it will win. The build up is far too slow, nothing really happens during the first minute which of course is one third of the song. Also the climax, when it finally arrives, is disappointing. I don’t believe it’s particularly right to win the ESC and so the market has hugely overreacted. There is potential for some powerful staging to accompany the song, but that could be said about all sorts of entries. I’m sure juries will be approving on the whole. But the song totally fails the one minute test, and I think the average televoter will be bored. It’s too complex and sophisticated to be voted as the winner. To borrow a term from Rob Furber, the ESC voters are indeed “Simple creatures”, and you can see this evidenced from looking at the most recent winners; Fairytale, Satellite, Running Scared, Euphoria, Only Teardrops. Not Alone doesn’t fit into this kind of winning mould. Saturday night audiences want something which is simple, pleasant, inoffensive, safe which they can sing and clap along to. So it would come as a surprise if a song such as Not Alone won. The juries will like it, but I’m not convinced it will take top spot with them either – they preferred Only Teardrops to I Feed You My Love and Birds. I’m hoping we’ll see some short high street prices for this today which will hopefully bring the Betfair price down – I want to lay. My first reaction to hearing this song though was to back Azerbaijan (more) – I reckon they’ll come out with something more suitable with their excellent Swedish songwriters (unless they’ve been dumped with an Only The Dead Fish Follow The Stream). Having said all of the above, I can see it in the Top 10 because it’s contemporary and Armenia always has potential for a good televote. But if I could sum up this entry in three words it would be: “Saturday night unfriendly”.
Viewers don’t need something safe but they need something immediate. The drudgery of Armenia’s first half motivates viewers to start talking or get something to eat.
Indeed. I went for a whizz during Hungary in semi final 2 last year, so imagine my horror when it was first out of the envelope to qualify!
🙂 Hungary was so abysmal. They qualified by just a few points.
….more than a few points after checking but they were near the bottom of qualifiers.
Not sure of the final placing but think Aram offers more than Carl and Sanna and will finish above those two which are the market leaders. Oh sorry, were the market leaders.
I’m not backing any of them at current prices until rehearsals. Nothing stand out so need to see final arrangement and staging.
You are completely right Henry about the current prices. My point is only that Scandi entries usually don’t change much staging wise from the national final, while Armenia can hire someone to make something beautiful given the positive reaction that the song received at this point.
Hi Daniel. Do we know anything about how the running order in the final will be determined this year? I know the producers will control it again but will there be a first/second half random draw, a wild card and a random draw for the hosts?
Hi Justin, as far as I know, it will be done exactly the same way as last year: first half/second half draw, then running order decided by host broadcaster, apart from random draw for the hosts.
Armenia being 2nd fave right now is ridiculous. I broadly agree with Tim. It’s too low-key (there’s good low-key but this is bad low-key), too repetitive (harmonically, structurally and lyrically), underwritten, and doesn’t build anywhere near as much as it thinks it does. The climax is totally underwhelming after the long slow build. It’s also totally wrong for Eurovision. Like Silent Storm, it’s a song of buttoned-down emotion, whereas what always does well in Eurovision is open emotion (whether Fairytale, Only Teardrops or Euphoria, Moltiva, Suus or Kuula). I wouldn’t be surprised were it to bomb in the televote.
I think this and Spain will hold their own in another eastern European tide. I can see it coming. Hungary, Armenia right up there, possibly Russia & Azer too. Some western countries will attempt to hold back the tide, and I see Sweden being one of them. Despite all the doubts over the song, it remains a ‘safe’ bet and what people expect at Eurovision. On this basis it will hold it’s own, but probably 9-10th.
I don’t get the hype about the Armenia song, doesn’t work for me, doesn’t come together as a song, not memorable at all. I do think the market is desperately looking for a favorite that we don’t really have yet, so it will be a surprise winner. I still believe it could be Denmark again, especially given all those ballads now (Armenia, Norway & Belgium), the Danish entry will stick out and Basim’s Bruno-Mars-kind-of-show is a lot of fun to watch. Or it could also be, given a confusing selection of songs, the entries that play it really safe will have a certain advantage, i.e. Sweden, but that would be another ballad, so, no, its gonna be Denmark!
Sanna is going to be standing on a podium in Copenhagen and ‘showing her beautiful legs’ – the hanging crystals will be gone but the cages of light remain.
http://esckaz.com/2014/swe.htm#en_20140328_1
I need to refer this to the X-Factor staging specialists here at sofabet – but I’m not sure that this is a great staging positive (?).
Anyone have any views on this?
So she’s styled as a 45-year-old but they want to show her legs? This isn’t a good recipe. It also contrasts with Conchita who’ll be wearing a long dress (no leg).
Sweden charting in several countries:
http://esctracker.com/
Hard to say whether this is organic or a record-label push, and maybe it doesn’t matter.
What do you think this says about Sweden’s chances?
That’s an interesting find Squall. It’s not really that surprising considering it’s winning the old gays (ogae) poll by a mile.
I reckon it tells us what we already know – that it’s a fan favourite especially in Northern Europe and it’s having some very limited chart success.
Daniel, is this sort of low-charting usual for a fan favourite ?
Hi guys, my position (perhaps influenced by being an ‘Undo’ sceptic), is to not be impressed by lowly positions in neighbouring countries which have Swedish-speaking minority populations. (I know ‘Undo’ isn’t in Swedish, but you get my drift.)
I don’t think low charting of any song really is anything to take much notice of. The large majority of the televoters that will vote on the night(s) will be watching/listening to the songs for the first time.
In my opinion, the best time to check this will be after each semi final.
Sweden now being matched at extremely low prices (e.g. @1.46 for Top4, @1.60 for Top3). Historically, prices at this level have been reserved for either “smash hits”, or superpowers combined with very good songs. I don’t see Sweden as falling into either of these categories.
Is this a product of weak competition, or are punters simply pushing the odds way too low here?