Monday, September 26, 2011

Eurovision 2011: The Best of the Rest (Part 6)

The Netherlands: When the 3Js revealed the quintet of songs that would be vying for the ticket to Düsseldorf, in my mind there was no question that "Je Vecht Nooit Alleen/Never Alone" would take the title.  (The Dutch audience seemed to feel the same way; the song won with over 63% of the public televote!)  If there had to be a substitution, however, my vote would have gone to the upbeat "De Stroom (The Stream)", which was a more than worthy runner-up:

"De Stroom" is no slouch in itself; while "Je Vecht Nooit Alleen" topped the Dutch charts, "De Stroom" charted at a respectable #12 when it was released as a single in June, six months after the National Song Selection.

Monday, September 19, 2011

Eurovision 2011: The Best of the Rest (Part 5)

(Pardon the brief hiatus...I just started a new job, and I took a quick trip out to New York to see some family and friends. But now I'm back in full force!)

Lithuania: Evelina Sašenko shocked quite a few people when her dramatic ballad "C'est Ma Vie" qualified for the Finals.  (You could have heard a pin drop in the arena when the Lithuanian flag emerged from its little digital envelope the night of its Semifinal!)  Without a doubt, this was one of the true surprises of the 2011 Contest. 

There were a few other songs from Lithuania that I was hoping to see in Düsseldorf, with some being more guilty pleasures than others.  Donny Montell (real name: Donatas Montvydas) has tried many times over the past few years to represent his home nation, and he even had two entries in the National Final this year (including a duet with 2009 representative Sasha Song).  Donny's solo entry this year, "Let Me", came in 5th place this year, despite his attempted channeling of Justin Timberlake:


For fans of sweet throwback entries (like Serbia's "Čaroban"), Liepa Mondeikaitė's breezy "Laukiu (I'm Looking Forward)" might have done the trick.  This sixth-place finisher was the only song in the finals sung in Lithuanian (and I might be the only one who see this, but I think Kim Cattrall might have a doppelganger in Vilnius...)

Friday, September 2, 2011

Eurovision 2011: The Best of the Rest (Part 4)

Ireland: Like them or not, you simply can not deny that Jedward were an unstoppable force at Eurovision.  Even if they didn't take top honors this year with "Lipstick", they were really the talk of the Press Center.  From their knee-high Converses to their now-iconic hair, you couldn't resist this year's Irish entry.  Even I fell victim to their charms:
But despite the Grimes Brothers' popularity and infectious energy, they only made it to Düsseldorf by the slimmest of margins; only two points separated them from runner-up Nikki Kavanagh's R&B ballad "Falling":

Nikki sang backup for last year's Irish entry, and "Falling" was written by a team that included Jonas Gladnikoff, who was the composer of "Et Cetera" and "It's For You", Ireland's 2009 and 2010 Eurovision submissions.  Sadly, Jonas and Co. were unable to pull off the three-peat, but who knows what 2012 will bring?

Eurovision 2011: The Best of the Rest (Part 3)

Skipping France and their internal selection, next on our list is:

Georgia: Eldrine's "One More Day" was definitely one of the most divisive songs in this year's Eurovision roster.  People either adored this nu-metal track or despised it with the passion of a thousand suns.  (Lucky for me, I was in the former camp, and relished the moment when Sopho and company held an impromptu acoustic jam session in the Press Center.)  Eldrine was my favorite act from the Georgian preselection, even with their previous lead singer Tako Vadachkoria, but my second favorite had to be Temo Sajaia, who performed "Jarisk'atsis Simghera (Soldier's Song)": 

Temo's stage presence might have been a bit dry, but considering that there was a span of about three months to give his presentation a bit more "oomph", it could have been a pleasant surprise.  Plus, none of the nation's entries have ever been sung in Georgian, nor have any entries been performed exclusively by a male vocalist.  It took me until moderately recently to find an English translation for "Jarisk'atsis Simghera", but it actually has a pretty strong nationalistic bent, with lyrics like "We believe in Georgian immortals/ In the hopes in your eyes and/ We believe in happiness, in beauty/ In no surrender and in victory".  It's maybe a bit more subtle than "I Love Belarus", but not quite as easy to sing along with...

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