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?
Over the past few weeks, we've seen a whole bunch of new and recent releases from all over the Eurovision world. Let's see what we've got...
One of the more highly-anticipated songs from the post-Düsseldorf boom comes, of course, from the irrepressible Jedward. The Irish twins, who are planning on releasing their new album, "Victory", in August, have already gone to the top of the Irish Charts with their new single, "Bad Behaviour". Featuring Hollywood blogger Perez Hilton (who, incidentally, happens to be the namesake of the Grimes Brothers' parrot...), both the song and accompanying video keeps the high-energy, frenetic pop vibe of "Lipstick" going strong. The pair are currently touring the UK, Ireland, and Germany.
San Marino's Senit has also released her next track, entitled "Through the Rain". At this point, however, it is only available through the Italian version of iTunes. This upbeat, danceable track seems to be more in line with Senit's previous releases than the sweet, subtle "Stand By", and it even clocks in at less than the Eurovision-standard three minute mark. Could this have been the mysterious other track that SMRTV had considered sending to Eurovision?
Following "Rusinka", (FYR) Macedonia's Vlatko Ilievski has just released his next video, for "Moja Tamna Rijeko". Call me crazy, but I prefer this softer side of Vlatko over the man we saw in Germany. It might not be as catchy as "Rusinka", but at least we can hear him singing this time around! What are your thoughts?
Last, but certainly not least, Finland's Paradise Oskar (Axel Ehnström) has released his second single, "Sunday Everyday".
Axel took home the Marcel Bezençon Press Award from the accredited journalists in Düsseldorf after his performance of "Da Da Dam", and if you were a fan of his sweet, introspective, acoustic-driven style, his album "Sunday Songs" might be just your speed. It's hit the Top Five in the Finnish charts, and he's touring actively throughout the summer.
Not sure what's in the water in Europe today, but today we're not only officially hearing the songs from the UK and San Marino (although the British song "I Can" was leaked yesterday, I'll wait until after their official performance on "The Graham Norton Show" to post the clip), but revamped songs from Croatia and Georgia, a translated Dutch song, and the videos from Ireland, Spain, and Italy have all been released!
From Croatia, we have Daria Kinzer's "Celebrate", the former "Lahor" and "Break a Leg":
As prayed for by many, feared by just as large an amount, and expected by most, RTÉ's 2011 Eurovision hunt has resulted in a win by Jedward and their song "Lipstick". For those of you who haven't seen it yet, or for those who are inexperienced in the world of the Grimes brothers, brace yourself.
I hate admitting this, but after a few listens to "Lipstick" (and particularly the studio version), it's actually beginning to grow on me. John and Edward's voices might not be the second coming of Johnny Logan, but they're incredibly energetic and high-spirited, and they have cannonballed completely into Eurovision's campy deep end. Love them or hate them, you know that they'll put on a massive show in Germany, and the cameras will be following them around religiously at the Euroclub. Whether this means that they'll turn into the next Silvia Night or the next Verka Serduchka, who knows? But, then again, Silvia and Verka were both considered joke entries, while Jedward (and their fans) aren't. Granted, I don't want to go so far as to call them "serious musicians"..."serious entertainers" might be the better choice of phrase, don't you think? Will they win Eurovision? I doubt it (although they'll probably get maximum points from the UK if they reach the Finals). At the very least, their enthusiasm is infectious.
The biggest drawback that I see here is that a hole in the ozone layer might open up right over Düsseldorf due to all of the hair products the boys use to construct their trademark coifs...please be careful, boys!
We've got another busy weekend ahead of us, so let's dive right into what we can expect from all over the Eurovision world over the next few days!
On Friday, Azerbaijan will finally make their decision on who they'll send to Germany this year. Their preselection process started back in mid-November with 77 candidates, and they've finally been narrowed down to five final performers: Aynishan Qulieva, Ilgara Ibrahimova, Eldar Gasimov, Ilhama Gasimova, and Nigar Camal. It's still a bit unclear how the song will be selected; last year, the top three candidates sang three different songs, and while the winning performer was selected the night of the finals, the winning song wasn't confirmed until over two weeks later. Considering Azerbaijan's penchant for flexibility on their preselection processes (their dates have been moved around many times, for example), who knows what answers we may find tomorrow night, or what questions will remain!
Also on Friday, Ireland will pick the artist and song that they hope will bring the nation to the top of the Eurovision heap for an eight year. Brief snippets of the songs were released last week, but they were heard in their entirety for the first time just today.
Ironically, "Lipstick" is the only song that has been removed from YouTube for copyright reasons. Why ironically? Well, first, as its considered the frontrunner in tomorrow's competition, and second, as a portion of the song was "accidentally" released on Amazon.com too early, prompting RTÉ to make the decision only one third in the hands of the audience's vote, rather than fifty percent. The remaining part of the decision will be in the hands of regional juries throughout Ireland.
Hmm...remember what I said about France being the Queen of Eurovision? Scratch that. With seven victories, including 4 wins and 2 second places in the 1990s alone, Ireland is truly the one that other nations look up to (or used to, anyway). It's getting late here in Minnesota, so I'll just be quick about this; here are Ireland's most glorious moments:
1970: Dana, "All Kinds of Everything". Sweet and syrupy as treacle, Dana was only about 18 years old and in training to be an English teacher when she took home Ireland's first victory, .
1980: Johnny Logan, "What's Another Year?" and 1987: Johnny Logan, "Hold Me Now". Although many previous winners have come back to the contest (Anne Marie David from France/Luxembourg, Charlotte Perelli from Sweden, Gigliola Cinquetti from Italy, etc...), only Logan was ever able to grab two victories. As wonderful as that performance was, however, I personally prefer this version.
1992: Linda Martin, "Why Me?". This could technically be considered Johnny Logan's third ESC win, as he actually composed this entry, too!
1993: Niamh Kavanagh, "In Your Eyes". Niamh (pronounced Neeve) was a relative unknown in Ireland before her win, but she appeared in the soundtrack for the film adaptation of the Roddy Doyle book "The Committments". Great flick; I recommend it!
1994: Paul Harrington & Charlie McGettigan, "Rock 'n' Roll Kids". There are rumors that RTE, the Irish broadcaster, picked this song to intentionally lose. It wasn't upbeat or flashy, there was no fancy
instrumentation (just a guitar and piano, nothing else), and no male duo had ever won the contest before. Despite all of this, Paul and Charlie won handily, with a 60-point margin over 2nd-placed Poland. The 1994 Contest is also notable for being the world premiere of Riverdance, performed during the interval when the juries completed their voting.
1996: Eimar Quinn, "The Voice". A former member of the choral group Anúna, "The Voice" was a definite departure from the ballads that had won the contest before for Ireland. This one was much more traditionally Celtic-inspired.
Ok, just to be fair, Ireland's had a few crushing defeats in the past few years, and one in particular was a real turkey. No, seriously. Dustin the Turkey is a well-known figure in the Irish media, and has even run a campaign for President on the platform of promising every young man in Ireland a date with one of the Pussycat Dolls. His (its?) entry, "Irelande Douze Pointe " was a twisted skewering of the contest as a whole, asking "Europe, where oh where did it all go wrong?" Sadly, it didn't make it out of the semifinals. Actually, Ireland hasn't made it out of the semis since 2007, when they eventually came in dead last in the final, a first for the Emerald Isle.
Carrying the Irish torch this year is 1993 ESC winner Niamh Kavanagh.
Her song, "It's For You", won the Irish preselection with the highest possible number of points from both the jury and televoters, and Eurovision almost always loves a returning champion, especially from the nation that's won the ESC more often than any other. She looks and sounds great, even considering that it's been 17 years since her victory. Niamh will be competing in the second semifinal, but she should definitely make it through to the final round.
