After an exciting final, we finally know which song Lena Meyer-Landrut will be presenting on the home stage in Düsseldorf...
...drumroll please?
And the winner is "Taken By a Stranger", written by the American songwriting team of Gus Seyffert, Nicole Morier, and Monica Birkenes. (Incidentally, last year's winning song for Germany, "Satellite", was written by an American/Danish team.) This surprisingly understated electropop number was a huge favorite among the German audience and foreign Eurofans alike, although it's not without its detractors. I think it plays into Lena's quirky style quite nicely! It's interesting to envision the stalker-ish images that come up in "Taken By a Stranger" next to the puppy-love sweetness of "Satellite"...
As I've mentioned earlier, the German broadcasters are pretty stringent on what gets to stay up on YouTube, so you might have to check out the official network webpage for the National Final performances of "Taken By a Stranger" and runner-up "Push Forward".
(Update: Found one!)
Lena - Taken by a Stranger, 18.2.2011
Uploaded by verac388. - See the latest featured music videos.
Friday, February 18, 2011
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I was actually pretty resistant to this choice of song, even if it is a good song.
ReplyDeleteBefore I even heard the song, I was trying to imagine how it must sound based on others' reviews of it. What I came up with mentally was remarkably similar to what I heard once I listened to the song.
Although Lena manages to pull off minimalist/ambient quite well here, I do not think that it quite represents who she is as an artist. I would have veered toward entries like "Good News", "A Million And One", or "Push Forward", since they channel that innate charm of hers better.
I guess the choice is OK if she is not looking to win again, since I doubt she can win with this song, since "Satellite" was much better all around (no pun intended!). "Taken By A Stranger" just has its understatedness going for it, which I do not think will be enough.
"Taken By A Stranger" makes for great runway music, though.
I just saw the official music video. People are saying that it fits the mood of the song. I would not disagree with that, since it does fit the mood... in all the obvious ways. Those tricks with the mirrors are rather cliché, aren't they? It could have been much more interesting, I think.
ReplyDeleteI am still not so thrilled by this choice of song.
This song is simply a catastrophe! How could Germany make such a choice? No harmony, no peak, it´s just tropping along. Really a pitty, they had better songs in their competition.
ReplyDeleteI think Lena and Germany pushing their lucks to the limit.They are certainly riding back on Satelite's success and overdoing it.
ReplyDeleteI agree that this songs is a total disaster. No no desent melody, harmony no completion.
I really like Turkish entry with combination of rich melody and instrumental harmony.