(Almost) Time for thread necromancy. Here are a couple of songs that qualified for the Eurovision but weren't performed at the contest for one reason or another.
1) Georgia 2009 -- Stephane & 3G: We don't wanna Put In
Russia had won the Eurovision Song Contest in 2008 and would host the 2009 contest. But in August 2008, Russia and Georgia had fought the war of South Ossetia and the Georgian song title "We don't wanna Put In" was a not very subtle stab at (Vladimir) Putin. The Eurovision Broadcasting Union ordered Georgia to either change the text, or withdraw from the contest. Georgia chose to withdraw.
One of only two years when France has been absent from the contest. The president of France, George Pompidou, passed away less than a week before the Eurovision Song Contest and was interred on the evening of the contest. French TV deemed it unsuitable to show a light entertainment program at the same time as the country's (hugely popular) president was buried and withdrew.
3) Romania 2016 -- Ovidou Anton: Moment of Silence
Romania had repeatedly failed to pay their membership dues to the European Broadcasting Union and on April 22, 2016 - less than three weeks before the contest - the EBU decided to suspend Romania's membership and thus force them to withdraw from the contest.
Eurovision 1974. Sang in Britain (because Luxembourg declined to host... So Britain decided to save the Euro...vision... See we are not all bad!) Plus Britian never wins eurovision because everyone hates us for being goody goody two shoes. Did us a favour really giving us a chance to host! France bailed because their president died and they particular hate the connard anglo... Then Sweden rubs their noses in it by singing about a terrible defeat that ended their status as a world power and the dispossession of their oversea territories to Britain... Awesome.
But I don't think France was bitter... How could they ever refuse... I feel like I win when I lose...
Let it first be said, I am more fearful than excited about Abba + 2 new songs, and a tour.
I fear it will be about cashing in, not about music or joy of music. It often times does happen, sure (ref: Rolling Stones retirement fund) - but somehow with Abba it would be worse. Lest this be about Agneta feeling free about performing again, then heck, yeah!
Please, please do not do this wrong, Abba!!
As to Eurovision 2018, I think Saara Aalto for us Finland is hopefully successful because she really has wanted this, and worked so hard for it.
Only, I wish there was a proper refrain. Pink Floyd's "Another brick In the Wall" had the child chorus, too, in a very bold and meaningful way. "I ain't afraid no more" should in my mind ideally been like this.
Netta of Israel meanwhile has my like for candidates seeming superb on video. I only hope she will perform as well live in Portugal.
And @TStael I hope Finland won't be robbed again this year - NormaJohn should have been in the top 5 last year!
Oh, NormaJohn bummed me too severely to be honest!! I literally could not watch the ESC final with sincere engagement, because I was so disappointed. I nonetheless have to admit that their performance did not translate well to large arena.
It is always the worst when I love our entry. Pernilla Karlsson's "När jag blundar" was another case where I quite flipped when it got so little love.
I am quite confident that Saara will be awesome live, at least.
I will be super devastated if Netta fails to deliver live, especially when her looping and chicken rap are both ambitious and playful, and her expressive power is so wonderful! I am totally biased for danceable originality with ESC. And there is bit of message, too.
My greatest disappointment of this year was Ingrosso for Sweden. His normal radio hits are great EDM-pop tracks, but for Eurovision there is minimum effort: the hook of the chorus. Opposite of Monsters there!
@lolien - hoping HU will blow me out of my comfort zone by an amazing live performance, because they seem very authentic. You were meanwhile quite impartial to ballads if I recall correctly, so not your style maybe?
Oh, and PS: Finnish U-18 did got hockey junior WC gold too, yesterday. Yupii!
Sweden could have been the first double here (must check)- and I am actually shocked to report that Sweden has never won Hockey U-18 WC in view of their greatness as hockey nation!!
So, let us root for Finland as the first double junior hockey / ESC champion 2018!
(PS. the original speculation I saw was about footie/ESC double, only that Scandis will probably never score that one, even at only Euro/UEFA level! Here's hoping with this modest intermediate goal...)
Oh, didn't know this place had a thread like this. I just can't help to love the Eurovision and our national version "Melodifestivalen". I'm just a sucker for this show and watch it every year (to my GF's great dismay).
Haven't seen any pre-show shows though, so I'm going in blind. I think Sweden's song could be dangerous this year. The song is weak as hell (including the singer's voice) if you listen to closely, but the show on stage looks super-cool and very edgy and contemporary (read: stolen straight from the eighties).
@skatan: check Israel, and tell me what you think!
Ingrosso gets quite some radio play in Finland, with some musical partner or other - and these are nice songs to get you pumped when driving. This is why I expected more of him, and think it is a missed opportunity in terms of music.
As to live show - hope it is bit more of sexy-pants, as opposed to the pre-ESC show! ;-)
(though would pick a great song over pants any time, lol)
Sweden's song reminds me of some 80s music so an 80s-based scene show might fit it.
Two years ago I didn't like "If I Were Sorry" before the show but it grew on me. Who knows, maybe "Dance You Off" can do the same? But I doubt it.
In other news, I have to add Estonia to my list of pre-show favorites. If she can sing as well at the show as she does in rehearsals, she should have a good chance.
@TStael Just watched Israel's song and it's a weird one, haha! I gotta admit I kinda like it! I think if it was played in a nightclub and I was a bit drunk I would dance my ass of to it (and make a total fool out of myself in the process, but who cares)
Ok, Estonia next! Which more songs should I listen to you think?
@TStael is right about our current delegate is not my favourite. It's got great support by us however, so i wonder how would it perform on the international play.
My favourite from the hungarian pre-selection entries this year is this song:
Italy's was pretty good. I did listen to most of "recap of all 46 songs" on YT yesterday, and that one stood out a bit. Not knowing any italian I think I get the message anyways.
Oh my, I think what I just saw is really one of the best semi-final phases I've seen in years - I liked almost everything I saw, and great variety of styles!
Netta was better than I was fearing, but I don't think the song translates live as well as some of the others.
Belgium was strong live, could be a Bond-theme, and that's not a bad thing.
Bulgaria has really grown on me, and I really hope it makes the final - but I found the rendition bit too forceful today, somehow, and think it could be even better with bit more soulfulness.
Estonia's superb voice deserves to be in final, even if as opera-style composition goes, not maybe the best.
Greece - the best ethno-ballad of the night I think. Albania and Macedonia were also nicely authentic.
I'm on the fence with CZ I have to admit: I am not sure if the boy is charming, or bit too much. But hey, if he makes it to the final, hopefully I can make up my mind!
The strength of this semi-final leaves me nervous for Saara Aalto. Biased as I may be, I think her performance and rendition would deserve a spot in the final. I liked that she was not repeating a song, but interpreting it. Fingers crossed! I'll be so crushed for her if she does not make it.
The suspense almost killed me, but yea, Saara is in the final!!
I'm a little surprised about Lithuania and Ireland making it, but I think this is my slight bias for up-tempo numbers. It's actually kind of nice the voting cannot be predicted.
I wasn't that surprised when Lithuania qualified. The song is a bit too slow for my taste but it has a lot of fans. I'm more surprised to see Azerbaijan miss the final for the first time since their debut in 2008.
I was devastated when Greece didn't make it to the final. I will also miss Belgium and Belarus. And I'm very happy to see Estonia and Bulgaria through.
The Danish TV commenter called it the strongest semifinal since the introduction of semifinals in 2004. I think he has a point. In my opinion this semifinal is much stronger than semifinal 2 on Thursday.
I saw it the day after and my GF already know who won when we watched it (I'm much more of a fan of this than she is) and I said I liked Italy best myself, but I thought Israel would be in the top. I had read some pre-commentary and voted also Cyprus (sounded a bit like a weeaker version of the Ukraine song that won around 10 years ago or so). I did not expect Germany to be so high, though I think it's a good song but perhaps a bit to much Ed Sheeran. Sweden's low scores from viewers didn't surprise me so much. I don't know what happened this time compared to the local competetion, but his voice completely vanished in most parts of the song in Lissabon. As I mentioned above, he's not a strong singer and his voice easily get's overshadowed by the background singers. Its easy being clever in retrospect, but I felt he got what he deserved, a decent score but not a top placement.
Denmark's result corresponded more or less to my expectations before the show. We were underrated by the juries but overrated by the televote.
Sweden, on the other hand, got too much from the juries and too little from the televote.
On the overall, I think the system with 50% jury and 50% televote works well and balance each other nicely. The professional juries maintain a certain level of seriousness; compared to the years with only televote when countries sent pirates, singing turkeys, and Silvia Night (warning: I'm not sure the last one is 100% safe for work ). The televote represents ordinary people so the show doesn't become too elitist.
Israel wasn't my winner by a long shot but Netta can laugh at me all the way to the bank, and all the way to Jerusalem 2019.
My favorite before the show was Greece but the song didn't translate well to live on stage. I still think it should have qualified for the final but it is "only" in my top 5 now.
Favorites after the show: Bulgaria, Estonia and the Netherlands.
My favorites for the Barbara Dex Award: Belgium and Croatia.
A special thank you goes out to Hungary for 2x12 points to Denmark!
There were lot's of good song, so i expected an exciting final, and i was not disappointed. We watched the show with my wife together and Cyprus was not the favourite for us, so we both were happy about Israel's victory. I became ok with our song in the end, they put up a nice performance. Placement is not a surprise, this kind of music is not the salt for the average Eurovision viewer. As my 7 yers old daughter said with said face: "Dad, we have the worst song from all!" (On the other side, Israel was her favourite of course )
On the overall, I think the system with 50% jury and 50% televote works well and balance each other nicely.
IMO the the jury percentage should be minimal, just for the symbolic 'douze points'.. the jury votes is just too politicized and biased (e.g. Scandinavian countries vote for each other, Ukraine doesn't vote Russia and vice versa). It isn't honest judging, it is just politics.
It was very evident in the gap between the jury votes and the crowed votes, it sometimes looked like the public crowd has voted exactly the contrary from judges, by a big margin.. (12:0 vs 0:12)
Sweden's song reminds me of some 80s music so an 80s-based scene show might fit it.
In other news, I have to add Estonia to my list of pre-show favorites. If she can sing as well at the show as she does in rehearsals, she should have a good chance.
Oh my, @Montresor_SP - I feel my age 38+ because I actually found "Dance You Off" nicely modern and sleek EDM track, which hugely grew on me live, minus the arrogant stance and the vinyl jacket.
Urgh. Redeem me please!
Estonia... I am happy it made it to the final, but to me, it was just not good enough an opera aria to stand as a song/composition. I loved the "La Forza del Destino" lyrical wink (=the force of destiny) because Italian is such an astoundingly expressive language that it fits opera to perfection, and would also love to hear it more with int'l pop songs.
Che giuramento, o Dei! = What an oath, o God! Che barbaro momento! = What a barbaric (savage) moment!
This is from Mozart's Don Giovanni, any 3 minutes of which I would have voted max 20 times, and then some more from a pre-paid SIM card, lol. Donna Anna and Don Ottavio make a blood oath.
Regarding grand final: I could just about handle Finland being second to the last, but really I could not handle well the inevitable bashing in the press after.
As if Saara Aalto had not done her job well, and actually been an overachiever with making to the grand final!!
I had to send her a message of thanks for representing Finland because I was so disgusted with the no-win-bashing.
Please!
This is why it is very hard to field all artists to ESC in Finland. Winning is hard, and when you most likely will not, the press attacks you. Even if the vinyl jacket and blaming attitude was off (methinks) with Ingrosso - Sweden gets an ambitious up-n-coming EDM number to participate.
Whom I will easily hear on radio soon enough here in Finland.
My fantasy for Finland is either ALMA or Antti Tuisku. But they would really have to be ESC lovers to do it, and a bit foolish.
Feel the same problem anywhere else? No win = bash, bash!
Comments
I was also superbly happy for Iceland, and now hope the two of you could set fort the most delightful upset in the tournament for group F...
Not to mention that HU beating PT in the last round would be ideal for my equally cheered Iceland to do the same!
The last round of group F will be the most involved for me! (Sweden out and Belgium in already, it seems in E)
(Politics in the Eurovision is not a new phenomenon. The song was a protest against the building of a hydroelectric power plant in Northern Norway.)
The Wings: Mint a hurrikán
Mujahid Zoltán: On my Own
Sapszon Orsi: Hunyd le szemed
Tóth Andi: I've Got A Fire
1) Georgia 2009 -- Stephane & 3G: We don't wanna Put In
Russia had won the Eurovision Song Contest in 2008 and would host the 2009 contest. But in August 2008, Russia and Georgia had fought the war of South Ossetia and the Georgian song title "We don't wanna Put In" was a not very subtle stab at (Vladimir) Putin. The Eurovision Broadcasting Union ordered Georgia to either change the text, or withdraw from the contest. Georgia chose to withdraw.
2) France 1974 -- Dani: La vie à 25 ans
One of only two years when France has been absent from the contest. The president of France, George Pompidou, passed away less than a week before the Eurovision Song Contest and was interred on the evening of the contest. French TV deemed it unsuitable to show a light entertainment program at the same time as the country's (hugely popular) president was buried and withdrew.
3) Romania 2016 -- Ovidou Anton: Moment of Silence
Romania had repeatedly failed to pay their membership dues to the European Broadcasting Union and on April 22, 2016 - less than three weeks before the contest - the EBU decided to suspend Romania's membership and thus force them to withdraw from the contest.
Eurovision 1974. Sang in Britain (because Luxembourg declined to host... So Britain decided to save the Euro...vision... See we are not all bad!) Plus Britian never wins eurovision because everyone hates us for being goody goody two shoes. Did us a favour really giving us a chance to host! France bailed because their president died and they particular hate the connard anglo... Then Sweden rubs their noses in it by singing about a terrible defeat that ended their status as a world power and the dispossession of their oversea territories to Britain... Awesome.
But I don't think France was bitter... How could they ever refuse... I feel like I win when I lose...
Let it first be said, I am more fearful than excited about Abba + 2 new songs, and a tour.
I fear it will be about cashing in, not about music or joy of music. It often times does happen, sure (ref: Rolling Stones retirement fund) - but somehow with Abba it would be worse. Lest this be about Agneta feeling free about performing again, then heck, yeah!
Please, please do not do this wrong, Abba!!
As to Eurovision 2018, I think Saara Aalto for us Finland is hopefully successful because she really has wanted this, and worked so hard for it.
Only, I wish there was a proper refrain. Pink Floyd's "Another brick In the Wall" had the child chorus, too, in a very bold and meaningful way. "I ain't afraid no more" should in my mind ideally been like this.
Netta of Israel meanwhile has my like for candidates seeming superb on video. I only hope she will perform as well live in Portugal.
Personal favorites: Greece, followed by France and Bulgaria.
Favorite to win: Israel
Worst songs of the year: Hungary, Slovenia (sorry, they are just NOT to my taste!)
And of course I'm rooting for the Danish vikings.
And @TStael I hope Finland won't be robbed again this year - Norma
JeanJohn should have been in the top 5 last year!It is always the worst when I love our entry. Pernilla Karlsson's "När jag blundar" was another case where I quite flipped when it got so little love.
I am quite confident that Saara will be awesome live, at least.
I will be super devastated if Netta fails to deliver live, especially when her looping and chicken rap are both ambitious and playful, and her expressive power is so wonderful! I am totally biased for danceable originality with ESC. And there is bit of message, too.
My greatest disappointment of this year was Ingrosso for Sweden. His normal radio hits are great EDM-pop tracks, but for Eurovision there is minimum effort: the hook of the chorus. Opposite of Monsters there!
@lolien - hoping HU will blow me out of my comfort zone by an amazing live performance, because they seem very authentic. You were meanwhile quite impartial to ballads if I recall correctly, so not your style maybe?
Sweden could have been the first double here (must check)- and I am actually shocked to report that Sweden has never won Hockey U-18 WC in view of their greatness as hockey nation!!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IIHF_World_U18_Championship
So, let us root for Finland as the first double junior hockey / ESC champion 2018!
(PS. the original speculation I saw was about footie/ESC double, only that Scandis will probably never score that one, even at only Euro/UEFA level! Here's hoping with this modest intermediate goal...)
Haven't seen any pre-show shows though, so I'm going in blind. I think Sweden's song could be dangerous this year. The song is weak as hell (including the singer's voice) if you listen to closely, but the show on stage looks super-cool and very edgy and contemporary (read: stolen straight from the eighties).
I think the show is May 12 IIRC.
Ingrosso gets quite some radio play in Finland, with some musical partner or other - and these are nice songs to get you pumped when driving. This is why I expected more of him, and think it is a missed opportunity in terms of music.
As to live show - hope it is bit more of sexy-pants, as opposed to the pre-ESC show! ;-)
(though would pick a great song over pants any time, lol)
Two years ago I didn't like "If I Were Sorry" before the show but it grew on me. Who knows, maybe "Dance You Off" can do the same? But I doubt it.
In other news, I have to add Estonia to my list of pre-show favorites. If she can sing as well at the show as she does in rehearsals, she should have a good chance.
Ok, Estonia next! Which more songs should I listen to you think?
My favourite from the hungarian pre-selection entries this year is this song:
BIGA - Good Vibez
From the entries of other countries i like the italian song beside the ones the others mentioned above:
Netta was better than I was fearing, but I don't think the song translates live as well as some of the others.
Belgium was strong live, could be a Bond-theme, and that's not a bad thing.
Bulgaria has really grown on me, and I really hope it makes the final - but I found the rendition bit too forceful today, somehow, and think it could be even better with bit more soulfulness.
Estonia's superb voice deserves to be in final, even if as opera-style composition goes, not maybe the best.
Greece - the best ethno-ballad of the night I think. Albania and Macedonia were also nicely authentic.
I'm on the fence with CZ I have to admit: I am not sure if the boy is charming, or bit too much. But hey, if he makes it to the final, hopefully I can make up my mind!
The strength of this semi-final leaves me nervous for Saara Aalto. Biased as I may be, I think her performance and rendition would deserve a spot in the final. I liked that she was not repeating a song, but interpreting it. Fingers crossed! I'll be so crushed for her if she does not make it.
I'm a little surprised about Lithuania and Ireland making it, but I think this is my slight bias for up-tempo numbers. It's actually kind of nice the voting cannot be predicted.
I wasn't that surprised when Lithuania qualified. The song is a bit too slow for my taste but it has a lot of fans. I'm more surprised to see Azerbaijan miss the final for the first time since their debut in 2008.
I was devastated when Greece didn't make it to the final.
The Danish TV commenter called it the strongest semifinal since the introduction of semifinals in 2004. I think he has a point. In my opinion this semifinal is much stronger than semifinal 2 on Thursday.
More history was made: Russia and Romania both failed to qualify from a semifinal for the first time.
But Denmark, Sweden, and Norway qualified! Yay, we're all set for a ScandiVision Song Contest!
I saw it the day after and my GF already know who won when we watched it (I'm much more of a fan of this than she is) and I said I liked Italy best myself, but I thought Israel would be in the top. I had read some pre-commentary and voted also Cyprus (sounded a bit like a weeaker version of the Ukraine song that won around 10 years ago or so). I did not expect Germany to be so high, though I think it's a good song but perhaps a bit to much Ed Sheeran. Sweden's low scores from viewers didn't surprise me so much. I don't know what happened this time compared to the local competetion, but his voice completely vanished in most parts of the song in Lissabon. As I mentioned above, he's not a strong singer and his voice easily get's overshadowed by the background singers. Its easy being clever in retrospect, but I felt he got what he deserved, a decent score but not a top placement.
So what do you guys think?
Sweden, on the other hand, got too much from the juries and too little from the televote.
On the overall, I think the system with 50% jury and 50% televote works well and balance each other nicely. The professional juries maintain a certain level of seriousness; compared to the years with only televote when countries sent pirates, singing turkeys, and Silvia Night (warning: I'm not sure the last one is 100% safe for work
Israel wasn't my winner by a long shot but Netta can laugh at me all the way to the bank, and all the way to Jerusalem 2019.
My favorite before the show was Greece but the song didn't translate well to live on stage. I still think it should have qualified for the final but it is "only" in my top 5 now.
Favorites after the show: Bulgaria, Estonia and the Netherlands.
My favorites for the Barbara Dex Award: Belgium and Croatia.
A special thank you goes out to Hungary for 2x12 points to Denmark!
I became ok with our song in the end, they put up a nice performance. Placement is not a surprise, this kind of music is not the salt for the average Eurovision viewer. As my 7 yers old daughter said with said face: "Dad, we have the worst song from all!" (On the other side, Israel was her favourite of course
Favourites are Italy, Germany and Denmark. I think we had quite a lot metal and rock fun amongst the viewers this year, and voting represented this too
It was very evident in the gap between the jury votes and the crowed votes, it sometimes looked like the public crowd has voted exactly the contrary from judges, by a big margin.. (12:0 vs 0:12)
Urgh. Redeem me please!
Estonia... I am happy it made it to the final, but to me, it was just not good enough an opera aria to stand as a song/composition. I loved the "La Forza del Destino" lyrical wink (=the force of destiny) because Italian is such an astoundingly expressive language that it fits opera to perfection, and would also love to hear it more with int'l pop songs.
Che giuramento, o Dei! = What an oath, o God!
Che barbaro momento! = What a barbaric (savage) moment!
This is from Mozart's Don Giovanni, any 3 minutes of which I would have voted max 20 times, and then some more from a pre-paid SIM card, lol. Donna Anna and Don Ottavio make a blood oath.
As if Saara Aalto had not done her job well, and actually been an overachiever with making to the grand final!!
I had to send her a message of thanks for representing Finland because I was so disgusted with the no-win-bashing.
Please!
This is why it is very hard to field all artists to ESC in Finland. Winning is hard, and when you most likely will not, the press attacks you. Even if the vinyl jacket and blaming attitude was off (methinks) with Ingrosso - Sweden gets an ambitious up-n-coming EDM number to participate.
Whom I will easily hear on radio soon enough here in Finland.
My fantasy for Finland is either ALMA or Antti Tuisku. But they would really have to be ESC lovers to do it, and a bit foolish.
Feel the same problem anywhere else? No win = bash, bash!