New Videos from Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Latvia (plus, new versions for France and Croatia!)

Over the past week, a number of new videos have been released for this year's Eurovision hopefuls.  Let's have a look, shall we?

First up, Armenia has revealed the official clip for Emmy's "Boom Boom", featuring German-Armenian boxer Arthur Abraham:

Well, at least the Armenians are probably realizing just how kitschy their song is...having Emmy and her pals dance around in a ring, wearing bedazzled boxing gloves and randomly turning into comic book characters is a pretty decent sign that they're taking "Boom Boom" with a grain of salt (and I, for one, could use a margarita after watching it.  Oy...)

Next up, we've got Armenia's cross-Caucasus neighbors (and perpetual rivals) Azerbaijan, who released a second clip for Eldar and Nigar's "Running Scared":

Compared to previous years' entries from Baku, "Running Scared" is elegant, subtle, and sweet.  The video is visually beautiful (not only because of the landscapes, but also for the copious shots of Eldar and Nigar!).  I'm not quite sure why Azerbaijan insisted on recording a second video for "Running Scared", as their first version was definitely not unpleasant, but considering the country's penchant for Eurovision excess, they probably just figured that any money spent was money well spent.
We've also seen the premiere of Latvia's "Angel in Disguise", by pop duo Musiqq:

Another simple, straightforward song with an equally straightforward video.  My only concern is that by putting the chorus's lyrics right up on screen, the fact that Musiqq is singing in so-called "Eurovision English" is put front and center.  It's not grammatically perfect, and it becomes more noticeable when lyrics like "stare me with candy eyes" are repeatedly displayed.  Marats and Emīls are definitely easy on the eyes, though, and "Angel in Disguise" is the only ESC entry this year where I actually like the random rap-break.

Croatia's Daria Kinzer has just released translations of "Celebrate" in Russian, French, and German, bringing the number of versions released to this point up to six (including the original Croatian and the first English rendition, "Break a Leg").  I'm personally still waiting on Esperanto, Swahili and Hawaiian, but maybe that's just me...

Finally, French tenor Amaury Vassili has recently re-released his second album "Canterò" with "Sognu" added to the track listing, as well as a new, English-language version of this year's Eurovision entry, entitled "I Would Dream About Her".  I personally prefer the original Corsican version, but as Amaury will not be using this new translation on stage in Düsseldorf, it's a bit of a moot point.