Eurovision selection season now steps up a gear, though who knows when we’ll get clarity on the leading contenders. At the time of going to press, five countries vie for favouritism in the Betfair outright market – no clear-cut frontrunner has emerged.
Finland is one of those five, and tomorrow we’ll hear the last of Saara Aalto’s three options, ‘Queens’. Sweden is another one, and earlier in the day we’ll get snippets of the remaining songs entered in Melodifestivalen. Thursday’s programme also includes the second Armenian semi-final, and the German final – which can be an entertaining affair.
After two last places in a row, followed by second-last, the German broadcaster has gone through an exhaustive process to give us six adequate songs. The front-runner appears to be Michael Schulte who is getting some Roman Lob comparisons for a song about his dead father, ‘You Let Me Walk Alone‘.
If that can be criticised for its trite predictability, the problem with Ryk’s ‘You and I‘ is the lack of an obvious melody, and the fact it takes too long to get going. The Voice winner Natia Todua’s ‘My Own Way‘ feels like ‘Perfect Life’ MkII, but still manages to be less beige than Ivy Quianoo’s ‘House on Fire‘. Xavier Darcy’s ‘Jonah‘ is pleasant enough, but the most character comes from voxxClub’s lederhosen-slapping ‘I mog Di so‘. Let it be so and send this, Germany.
This coming Saturday gives us national finals in Slovenia, Hungary, Moldova, Latvia and Ukraine, while Armenia and Romania decide on Sunday. That means at least eight new entries to digest by the end of the week. In the meantime, here are some thoughts on the most recent selections.
Starting chronologically, SuRie was a surprise winner of an open UK final, with ‘Storm‘ coming alive on stage. She won round the Brighton Dome crowd, who soon found themselves clapping along to the mid-tempo, MOR number, and that clearly impacted the audience at home. However, it’ll be much more difficult to stand out among 26 with something this bland. While we’ll see what a revamp of ‘Storm’ may bring, I’m not hopeful.
The nature of ‘Storm’ and manner of its victory felt like something you’d see at a Danish final. The Danes themselves went for something with a bit more character in Rasmussen’s ‘Higher Ground‘. Unfortunately, while the aim is epic, old-school Viking schlager, the DMGP product was overly dark, plodding and joyless. The Danes need to break with tradition and change their staging entirely; I’d camp it up to 11 like a Wolf of the Sea. The song is already jury poison, but this way you might at least get enough televotes to qualify.
On the same night, Ermal Meta and Fabrizio Moro won Sanremo with ‘Non mi avete fatto niente‘, and accepted Italy’s Eurovision gauntlet. Winning Sanremo usually reflects a certain quality of song and performance – and it’s always a lift to hear the live orchestra. But this feels overly talkative and too manic to put its message effectively across national borders. Then there’s the necessary cut to bring it under three minutes, which can also prove a liability.
The Greek final proved a myth in the end, but rising from the ashes came ‘Oneiro Mou‘ from Yianna Terzi. It’s hard to predict what impact it will have before rehearsals: it has the potential to do reasonably well based on some haunting orchestration; but because it lacks a strong enough melody, the potential pitfall is it passes people by.
It won’t be the only Balkan ballad knocking around Lisbon – Montenegro’s Vanja Radovanovic brings us the sub-Zeljko ‘Inje‘. They marginally qualified in 2014 and 2015 with better versions of this. Last night Serbia went with the ethno-folk ‘Nova deca‘, which tries to do too many things at once, and doesn’t really succeed at anything as a result.
Otherwise, who knows if Alekseev will stay with ‘Forever‘ after Belarus’s national final last Friday? Immediately afterwards he claimed so, but I’ll believe that only when the mid-March deadline has passed. It was an unconvincing winning performance given a change in key that didn’t suit; I’ll wait and see what happens next.
Let us know your latest thoughts as we enter an intriguing period of selection season.
If Germany does the right thing and selects Herr Schulte, they will be in serious business IMO……
Well, I listened Saara Alato’s Monsters is an amazing song. Not impressed with Domino though. I like listen Queens before making a judgement but Monsters is my favourite so far. Strongest song in Eurovision so far in my opinion. I must admit Greece’s song is great too. That song has a very powerful atmosphere, Ambiance and atmosphere reminds me Jamaala’s 1944. I’m very surprised it’s priced between 85-90 in betfair. It can finish the contest in TOP 10 with ease. Are you impressed with Monsters too?
You a Saara Aalto fan?
I’m Eurovision fan from Turkey. This year, I’m thinking about placing bet on Finland. Odds good now at 11-12. Expecting odds to drop thru semi-finals. It can be early time to place bets but remember Heroes was priced above 10 before Melodifestivalen too.
I’m ruling out Estonia. Too much opera for my ears. No, Salvador was not like this.
Welcome, Mr.Sawyer and good luck with your bets. Since you are from Turkey I must ask. Do you think Turkey will return to Eurovision any time soon? It’s been 6 years. What is the matter? You guys ruled Eurovision with your amazing hits and beautiful girls, etc. I miss you very much. I need more “Düm Tek Tek” and “For Real” in my life 🙂
I wish we return soon! Everybody in Turkey complaining about why we still did not return to contest. For reason,TRT (turkish television channel) says voting system is not fair. Italy had quitted contest too for similiar reasons in 1997. They also say it’s not fair that Big5 automatically qualifies. They say Big5 must perform in semifinals too but actually, thats not the real reason in my opinion. Real reason is, Some political problems between TRT and EBU also. If government party changes soon, we may back to eurovision again:)
Ahhh, good old Voxxclub, with their token straight member. (Nah I’m joking – there’s two.) I’m torn between wanting Germany to send something that actually reflects German culture and my mixed feelings towards Voxxclub as a manufactured boyband made up of musical theatre gays whose connection to folk music is tenuous at best. It would be better if they were more open about being manufactured, but even now when they’ve been around for years, they still peddle this ridiculous fake origin story about how they met by chance at a flat party in Munich and decided to form a band together, when in reality they auditioned for the project. (There used to be 6 of them but one member, Julian David, quit in 2015 to release a solo album of schlager dancefloor bangers which used to be on my gym playlist back when I briefly gave a fuck about going to the gym.) The song is a lot better than any of their previous ones that I’ve heard, I like it.
That would be my dilemma, at least, if I wasn’t head over heels with Xavier Darcy’s entry. The song cuts me up, I think it’s the best thing I’ve heard all season – it’s about regret and death/break-up, but energetic, vibrant and lyrically brilliant, with biblical references and very open to a queer reading. (It’s his first song that he didn’t write solo; the co-writers are Paradise Oskar, one of the co-writers of Only Teardrops, and a Dutch singer-songwriter.) I was extremely impressed by Darcy himself in his press conference yesterday, especially his answer when asked “What do you think a song needs to be internationally successful?”, which I’ve translated below and which could have come from this site:
“There’s no recipe for success, and I think every Eurovision fan can say that. The moment you start calculating and listing different criteria to succeed in Europe – ‘I need a peace message’, ‘I need lots of different languages in my song’, ‘It has to have such-and-such a rhythm’ – no, it just has to be a good song and you as an artist have to be able to stand behind it. On such a big stage, you notice very quickly when the artist doesn’t connect with their song; you notice very quickly how authentic something is, and whether the song doesn’t fit the artist. For me, that’s the key to success, and you can’t manufacture something like that, you can’t create it by ticking boxes, you just have to do it.”
I can’t stand the Michael Schulte thing but it has to be the most likely winner. Bearing in mind how unexpectedly well La Brassbanda did in 2013, we should perhaps consider Voxxclub second-favourites, though their performance is likely to be a lot cheesier and less authentic than La Brassbanda’s was. As the winner of the first Voice of Germany (beating Schulte, who came 3rd), Ivy Quainoo has to be up there too. But I’m #TeamXavier 🙂 I think it can win Eurovision.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVcHyUKXDlc
Monsters feels like bland, generic, Ibiza fodder of 10 years ago. Only the video raises it up and I think could come across like Greece last year when performed live. But it it miles better than the snorefest that is Domino. Truly dull.
Last Melodifestivalen snippets out. Mariette’s entry starts well and becomes very generic very quickly, pretty sure she won’t win. Between Ingrosso and Felix Sandman in my opinion, leaning towards the later. Either way, a low top ten the best Sweden can hope for in Lisbon.
Edit- just heard Saara’s last song, won’t be heading to Finland either.
Queens has dropped:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HmPFIfLTFA&feature=youtu.be
Ugh. I was all on board with Monsters – it’s a banger, has a strong theme and seems to come from a place of conviction (though I remain dubious of its potential to do well at ESC) – but this is terrible, using gays as window dressing to distract from the crappiness of the song. It feels as cynical and half-assed as Krista Siegfrids’s lesbo kiss. Of the three, it has to be Monsters.
It’s worth bearing in mind that essentially no-one outside of the UK/Ireland and Finland will know who she is come Eurovision night, that she doesn’t always come over sympathetically as a performer (I think there was discussion of this here during her time on TXF), and that none of the songs are mainstream-audience-friendly or jury-friendly. (At least Monsters has energy and spirit, but the other two have nothing to say.) Finland NQ value given the hype?
Furthermore, plenty of the people who might have voted for her from the UK (and Ireland) will be in Lisbon for the contest. Anyone who thinks Saara Aalto is beating Ruth Lorenzo’s tenth place on the UK televote with those songs needs to start managing their expectations.
Not impressed with Queens. Monsters is much better. The stage show will be a very very deciding factor. My lean is towards Finland so far specially when it’s priced around 19-20 but I’m curious about 10 and 12 March to listen Bulgaria and Netherlands’ songs. These 2 can be a serious threat.
Michael Schulte’s is the most truly German entry as it’s a knock-off of Anglo-American culture. 8 years after winning with a second-rate Kate Nash knock-off, will they be able to repeat the feat with an second-rate Ed Sheeran knockoff?
2006: Knock-off US country
2007: Knock-off US swing (albeit in German)
2008: Scandi-written song
2009: Knock-off US swing with US singer + US burlesque artist
2010: Knock-off Mockney irritant
2011: See above
2012: Entry written by Jamie Cullum
2013: Knock-off of Euphoria by notorious knock-off act
2014: Elaiza! Something real!
2015: British-written song
2016: Manga girl
2017: Direct knock-off of David Guetta and Sia’s Titanium
2018: Ed Sheeran knock-off
I could spit invective about Schulte’s breathtakingly cynical yet completely soulless entry. But it’s just symptomatic of a broader problem of contemporary (west) German culture, or what passes for. And the staging. THE STAGING. Ryk’s beautiful, introspective ballad isn’t visual enough, so let’s have a dancer throwing herself around all over the place? It’s like giving Salvador or Jamala a backing dancer. Ivy’s song is called House On Fire so the staging is a house on fire? As the only group competing, Voxxclub are going to have a harder time establishing a personal connection with the audience, so let’s start the song with them behind shadows and projections on top of a plinth? Michael’s song is about his family, so let’s print the entire lyrics behind him? How is ARD consistently so bad at staging? They really haven’t learnt anything from how badly Ann-Sophie and Jamie-Lee were staged, have they? Natia and Xavier really got off lucky by just being able to perform their songs on stage by themselves. Xavier was tremendous and I really think Germany massively missed a trick by not picking him. Ryk was really good too. Ivy was her usual capable and somewhat shy self, I hope they paid her well seeing as she flew in from New York.
Voxxclub were close to my bottom (fner fner), but Germany really needs something like them for Eurovision or at least in its next national final – except something good, not a manufactured boyband but an actual authentic decent act rooted in some kind of German culture, whether Alpine folk or the Berlin rap scene or German-language rock or even just a quality schlager act – whatever, as long as it actually reflects the country’s music in some way beyond its venal copy-culture.
This particular issue boils my piss because I’ve encountered plagiarism so many times in documents I’ve worked on for German clients, and half the time when I politely but firmly flag it up (to save their own bacon – it’s in their interest they don’t get done for plagiarism) the author acts as if they don’t even understand the concept, even when they’ve copy-pasted whole paragraphs or pages from the internet without attribution or quote marks. And my Balkanist articles on Serbian music were, ahem, borrowed from by a German girl for a book she toured the German media circuit with last year, even using “Queer As Turbofolk” for a section title without mentioning me once in the references – when in the original articles themselves I was careful to cite every person, paper and article I’d quoted or referred to. The channel that co-produced the 2010-2012 NFs, Pro7, was previously responsible for a German copy of The Office that was so blatant they eventually had to agree to an out-of-court settlement with Ricky Gervais after the BBC took legal action. Do I need to mention the plagiarism scandal that forced the resignation of several German politicians a few years back? http://www.ithenticate.com/plagiarism-detection-blog/bid/97166/Another-Month-Another-German-Plagiarism-Scandal#.Wo86la5l_IU The notorious shot-for-shot remake of The IT Crowd that ran on Sat1? The fact another German TV channel broadcasts a shameless knock-off of, of all things, Charlie Brooker’s Screenwipe, fronted by a guy who’s copied Brooker’s entire TV persona? There’s just this copy-paste mentality of aping everything that’s really really specific to Germany and their lack of confidence in their own culture, their slavish worship of Anglo-American culture. It has to stop. I suppose the fact the NF is now at least called “Unser Lied” as opposed to “Unser Song”, as it was for years, is a step in the right direction I shouldn’t overlook. And the hosts were really good, a lot better than I expected in fact, continuing in the fine tradition of Barbara Schöneberger.
Ugh.
Great rant, EV. You’ve touched on something in the German psyche. It’s epitomized in the VAG cheat software scandal. Shall we make our diesel engines clean by adding particulate filters, catalytic converters, adblue additive exhaust injectors, exhaust gas recirculators, etc? No, that costs too much. Let’s instead alter the software so the electronic control unit “knows” when it’s being tested, and all the parameters are changed so it looks as though the engine is really clean. Only in real life the engines are the dirtiest on the planet. But also convince the world engine buying public that you are next door to God in terms of environmental friendliness. It’s not just sunloungers that they pinch.
Thanks. I think I was slightly overcaffeinated last night, haha. I’m really happy that Xavier and Ryk came 2nd and 3rd respectively – and the fact Voxxclub came 2nd in the televote shows that as much as schlager, volkstümlicher schlager and volksmusik are sneered at by the metropolitan middle-classes, people’s love of them remains strong. A better schlager/volksmusik act could go all the way in a future German NF.
I forgot two more examples – the German Facebook clone https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook,_Inc._v._StudiVZ_Ltd. and Dark, “Netflix’s first German-language original series”, which is a cackhanded knock-off of Stranger Things so badly acted, written and soundtracked that I still haven’t made it past the first episode.
EV- I love all world/ethnic music, and good schlager, derided though it is, is no exception. Good on you for flagging it up. Plus all your examples of German plagiarism.
Xavier Darcy’s delivery, and appearance, reminded me of Robert Carlyle in Ravenous. An interesting staging concept.
Scutle’s dead dad song, which is basically what it is, may walk a national final, but like Italy’s political number there is a certain cynicism in using sincerity as a gimmick for its own sake. Grabbing a fistful of people’s heart strings and tugging fails to work as often as it does. Although God love em some people cry at everything nowadays. I blame youtube cat videos.
I am being a bit harsh but as a song on its own merits Schutle’s effort builds nicely but will probably get lost in the mix for its lack of character. Also, diction.
Aalto has frontloaded her entries and likely wanted Monsters to have 3 weeks to build momentum. Its the pick of the bunch but has no surprises after about 2 minutes, despite being catchy and feisty. A top 10 isnt out of the question, but this is at best IMO.
Can I include Florian Wieder’s copy-and-paste stage designs in this German lack of originality thing too? Every design he has done is basically a circular performance area and until this year a big-arse LED videowall.
I wish host broadcasters would stop using him as he’s completely void of anything new or innovative.
The interval act during the German final was better and current than any of the songs on offer. Germany should have sent him.
VoXXclub were flat, for a 5 persons group that’s not good. They didn’t manage to live it up as they do on their video’s
On Finland- of the 3 songs,”Monsters” is the best.”Domino”just plod around and don’t go anywhere and “Queens” is just a dance number without a soul.
Judging by the videos, I think Saara Aalto want “Monsters” though as Eurovicious said before they are going to watered it down and make it accessible for everyone
This video from Ukraine’s 3rd annual M1 Music Awards show in December is a lesson not to underestimate Alekseev’s staging team – they mean business…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USdSirpxZlo
You’re right, that was slick. But those effects are not allowed anymore at ESC are they. And the clown suit with the flashing LED lights they came up with for the Belerus NF shows they can’t be trusted to get it right.
Delegations can bring their own LED screens – Mans in 2015 and Sergey in 2016 did this.
THE JOY OF UNCERTAINITY
I very like this time of the year: The Uncertainity. Some songs are revealed while some songs (and even some artist) are still a mystery. Some people feel shy to place bets in this period since we didn’t see any stage shows yet and not all songs are revelaed. However, I believe there can be great betting opportunities since you can grab value odds early.
My strategy is to keep an eye on market these days and eliminate songs without chance and spot potential winner songs. Netherlands and Bulgaria songs are not revealed yet so I like to follow these countries closely. I want to remind you, Eurovision is not a song contest. It’s about the artist. The charisma, personality of the artist. It’s actually an Artist contest. You may have the best song in the contest but if you’re not a good performer, you don’t have any chance. You need to have an interesting story, or an interesting background..or an attractive presentation.
Netherlands’ Waylon is a very charismatic singer. However, Country style is not everyone’s cup of tea. We need to listen the song first. If he come up with a good song, he can have a chance. He will release 5 songs and one of these songs will be his Eurovision song. Just listened Back Together, I must admit I’m not very impressed about this one. We need to see other songs too. Outlaw in Em”, “The World Can Wait”, “That’s How She Goes” and “Thanks But No Thanks” will be released in upcoming days.
I’m curious about Bulgaria entry which will be revelaed on 12 March.
Unsurprisingly Mariette has the pimp slot tonight by the way.
This is the best of a otherwise bad lot in Poland:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xkx0Jn7ao5w
Yeah it’s the only one I bothered to listen to in full. I’m disappointed Poland still can’t seem to build up any momentum at eurovision, they’re capable of much better.
X Factor style tactics in use at Mello. Mariette put on after a big build up from David and that shit fake advert thing.
hey guys!
Its been a while.
WHAT just happened in Hungary?
I like Viszlat nyar, it’s a great entry to stand out with in the contest – very different and so much energy. (While I preferred Meggyfa, this was probably my second favourite.) I’m totally with it until the key change, which seems too Eurovisiony in a song that’s otherwise the antithesis of Eurovisiony! I expect him to dial back on the screaming during rehearsals or he’ll ruin his voice…
Other picks:
Latvia, Ukraine, Slovenia: No.
Moldova: YES. Obviously it was a total fix (a shame, as I think it’d have won on merit), but this is loads of fun and is staged and choreographed extremely tightly, taking significant inspiration from Hey Mamma without feeling derivative, and incorporating folk elements. And the Filip Kirkorov machine is behind it. I think it and Hungary are top 10s.
Just listened to some of the songs from Hungary and I’m impressed how good they are.
“Meggyfa” is my favorite too – a masterpiece. “Budapest Girl” also would’ve done really good at Eurovision.
And one of their jury members seems to be Danny DeVito 😀
Well I think we can rule out Sweden winning.
I can only see Benjamin being Top 5 material in Lisbon. Mariette is massively over-hyped. Weak song and she looked like one of the cleaning staff. Furthermore, both the international juries and the Swedish public are going to see right through the endless rip-offs of Despacito in two weeks’ time.
Nope. If Benjamin doesn’t go to Lisbon, Sweden could genuinely be in danger of non-qualification.
Personally I can’t see Sweden NQ, even if MF is weaker than a box of tissues this year because I suspect if Benjamin pulls a Robin B like I suspect, the juries will drool over it for some inexplicable reason, and, let’s not forget, Sweden can potentially get the Semi 2 pimp slot.
I think MF’s big problem is not Björkman not caring, but I think whoever is selecting the songs is too concerned about finding a pack of songs that can be played on the radio, which normally isn’t a bad thing but if you’re familiar with Top 40 radio in the last couple of years, the vast majority of songs that get big radio play is total dross with zero personality and for the most part isn’t best suited to a live performance.
For me personally the only song selected so far to get any kind of emotional response from me is France, such a lovely song.
I’m with you on France, but every year they manage to f**k up the staging. I still think it’s worth a small bet. However my partner hates it, and she’s usually right. She likes Switzerland so far. All my persuasive logic will not dissuade her.
I wouldn’t rule out Benjamin winning ESC. The song is a decent enough contemporary song with very impressive visuals. Hopefully there are some better songs to come though.
I wouldn’t rule out Benjamin winning ESC either. His song will stand out in a sea of ballads, and we know there’s previous for this sort of staging being popular.
Whether anyone wants a third SVT Eurovision this decade, given how weak Melodifestivalen has been this year as a production (their last two goes, 2013 especially, were ultimately upscaled Melfests) is probably up for debate.
I would rule out anything from Sweden coming near winning ESC this year. MF always has this aura, but often undeserved, and this year is extremely poor.
I agree. That Ingrosso song is nowhere near good enough, neither is its visual presentation.
From the point I first started watching Melodifestivalen in 2008, I never understood why fans put it on a pedestal (as they did even then), when neighboring countries’ NFs were far better, then and now. It’s been hype without substance for years, and I’m bemused that it’s only this year that the fandom has started to see through it and turn away from it, when the last great Melodifestivalen was 2012 and before it 2009. Has everyone forgotten how bad MF was in 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017? The whole affair seems to coast on a nostalgia factor from fans who watched it in the 2000s (and earlier) when it really was a schlager festival and had a lot more charm and great Swedish pop songs. Now it’s this sort of incredibly safe focused-grouped product where the songs are all anodyne conveyor-belt mush, everything is staged and choreographed to within an inch of its life, almost nothing truly left-field ever makes it past the selection committee, anything half-decent that does somehow make it into the televised heats is put in slot 2 or 3 and visually presented in a way that kills its chances, and non-singers/Swedish celebrities/reality and social media stars are given stunt entries in a lame attempt to boost the audience instead of giving actual musicians a platform. It’s the most incredibly sterile, passionless NF, an empty spectacle of flashy visuals and smiling faces devoid of any actual musicality, in which every moment of screen time is designed to create the impression that Something Is Happening when in fact nothing is.
I think that Sweden is a recycled plastic, and not a very good one.
I’m in the option that if other countries would have sent some of what Sweden have sent in the last 4-5 years, they will not receive the favourable treatment Sweden get.
It seems that Sweden is becoming the victim of its own success. Swedish songwriters are popular and on demand, however people get also very tired from that typical sound.
I believe that the Portuguese victory in 2017, brought them more damage than they would like to admit
Armenia: The best choice of what was available, over Asmik’s badly sung scouse house and that fucking terrifying drag queen. It’s decent, enjoyably if unspectacularly so, and deserves to do well.
Romania: I haven’t heard any of the Romanian selection. Again, this is reasonable… the crucial first minute is really dull which risks viewers tuning out, but after that it comes together and soars. I like it but don’t think it’ll be enough for top 10 by any means.
Do any of you think Felix can still win Melfest ?
It was the second most-streamed MF song yesterday on Spotify, after Sam & Viktor.
It is still possible, but will depend on whether or not the international juries go for him. I think he could be up there near the top of their rankings, but Benjamin has to be by far the most likely winner for me.
So now the awful televote and jury winner from Portugal’s second semi pulled out due to plagiarism claims, can this beauty that came 2nd in both win, and go top 3 again for them? I adore it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAe6k6NznlU
I don’t think it’d do well at ESC. Poor vocal, and it sounds exactly like When Love Takes Over.
I would be banking on Janiero to win FDC with Diogo out (sadly, I thought his song was wonderful and I hope he tries again another year.) Janeiro has, I believe, received Salvador’s endorsement and represents his legacy quite well I think, to steer the contest back to a focus on music and away from televisual eye candy, which gives me a bit of schadenfreude towards Christer Bjorkman if I’m honest.
But really, nothing is a more suitable follow up to Salvador’s win and his words upon accepting the trophy, than a hipster entering the first Eurovision song ever with no name.
Just watched it. That’s a nailed-on top 10 at the very least. Much more so than La forza.
Looks like they’re old friends:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9E0axPFMjW4
I’m not feeling the love that you all and Salvador have for Janeiro – (sem título). I find it anemic. It didn’t win its semi.
I don’t think Portugal have anything this year to repeat its success. For me the most interesting entry would be Cláudia Pascoal – “O Jardim” (but another one that couldn’t even win her Festival da Canção semi, it needs repeated listening imo).
Can anyone assist with a feed of YLE television for UMK this weekend?
Shouldn’t it just be available on the website?
Since Jess Mauboy has revealed her title as We Got Love (or rather I should say Isaiah and Dami have done it for her) I must say I’ve not been tempted to back Australia at all yet this year. I think Jess is quite an uninspired choice and begs the question if they’re struggling to attract interest already?
On pure feeling alone, I expect her entry to be quite similar in style to Asmik’s song “You and I” from Armenia’s NF and not much better either. More polished perhaps. It’ll probably be a fan favourite, but we’ll see if her nerves don’t screw up her live vocal this year.
I don’t know where you’ve got this idea that Jess is an uninspired choice or an indication that Oz are struggling to attract interest, it’s more of a Saara Aalto situation where the broadcaster is capitalising on an artist’s current popularity: Jess is currently starring in one of the biggest TV shows in Oz right now.
I will give you props that the song title doesn’t sound promising, first thing that came into mind was “We Found Love ripoff”.
Fair enough if she’s doing well for herself at the moment. To me it just seems like a lazy first resort because she was the 2014 interval act and her music isn’t really the sort of thing I’d expect them to go for if they’re truly serious about winning, unless they’re complacent enough to expect an invitation to participate every year for the forseeable.
Today’s Internals-
Netherlands – I’m pleased this was the one he picked, I’m a fan, really catchy and different to anything else so far. Obviously coming nowhere near his 2014 result but this should qualify and a left hand side is achievable.
Cyprus- Not a great effort, she’s had better songs and her voice sounds particularly synthetic in parts. Still, it’s good enough to qualify given the draw but will probably end up not far out of the bottom 5.