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...)

Evelina Sašenko - "C'est Ma Vie" for Lithuania

Another day, another hole filled on the Eurovision 2011 list of players!

After last year's near-miss with InCulto's lighthearted, fun-spirited, trouser-ripping ditty "Eastern European Funk", the Lithuanians decided to go in another direction for 2011...


Evelina Sašenko will be singing "C'est Ma Vie (It's My Life)" in Düsseldorf for the Eurovision Song Contest 2011, but this could have just as easily been inserted into 1994, 1962, or almost any other ESC year.  I want to like it, and I'm happy to see the first official ballad of the year, but this is just...syrupy.  I feel like I need to take a shower just to rinse the treacle out of my hair.  Evelina has an undeniably lovely voice, and I wish her all the luck in the world, but she'll be going up against high-energy tunes from Poland, Norway, Georgia, not to mention perennial powerhouse Turkey, among others, in her semifinal.  "C'est Ma Vie" is pretty, but so far it looks like it's getting my "Cotton Candy Award" for the year: incredibly sweet, and enjoyable for the three minutes you have it, but as soon as you consume it, it dematerializes and is gone.

A funny point of fact, though...as France's song will be performed in Corsican, and both Belgium and Switzerland will be singing in English, the only bits of French that we're likely to hear in Eurovision 2011 will be from...Lithuania?!?

The Weekend Preview, 2/10

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.

Don Mescall - Talking with Jennifer (written by Ronan Hardiman, Don Mescall)
Nikki Kavanaugh - Falling (written by Christina Schilling, Camilla Gottschalck, Jonas Gladnikoff, and Hanif Sabzevari)
Bling - Shine On (written by Patrick Mahoney)
The Vard Sisters - Send Me an Angel (written by Liam Lawton)
Jedward - Lipstick (written by Dan Priddy, Lars Jensen, and Martin Larson)

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.

The Weekend Update, 2/6

Another weekend has come and gone, with tons of Eurovision news to report!

Norway:
The Second Chance round, or "Siste Sjansen", has wrapped up, with eight songs battling against each other in a series of tournament-style knockout rounds.  After all of the carnage subsided, we were left with two songs standing, and going to the finals next week.  And they are...
Sie Gubba - "Alt Du Vil Ha" and
The Lucky Bullets - "Fire Below"
Next week is the Norwegian Final...who are your favorites?

Croatia:
Yesterday, the top twelve contestants (including Daria Kinzer, selected as last week's Wild Card) returned to the stage, fighting for six places in the next round.  Five of those placements were decided last night, while the sixth will be announced on next week's show. Daria Kinzer, Mirko Švenda, Jacques Houdek, Katica Marinović, and Ana Eškinja.  Next week, those Top 6 performers will try to make it to the Top 4.

Lithuania:
The first round of Eurovizija 2011 kicked off this weekend in Lithuania.  A total of fourteen songs vied for only three spots in the final, and here are the victors:
Monika - Days go By
The Independent - 7th Bus
Sasha Song - The Slogan of Our Nation  (Eurofans might recognize Sasha from his beautiful, yet undervalued 2009 ESC entry, "Love")

ESC 2010 Reviews: Lithuania

From Latvia, we fly over to neighboring Lithuania, a country that always seems to fly underneath the ESC radar (although, considering how bad some of their songs have been in the past, maybe that's a good thing...)

They made their debut in 1994, and set an incredibly inauspicious precedent: Lithuania is the only country to debut in the Eurovision Song Contest and not win a single point.  (Other countries, such as Austria, Monaco, Turkey, Malta, and San Marino have all debuted in last place, but none of them hit "nul points" on their first shot out of the gate.)  The poor score of "Lopšinė mylimai (Sweetheart's Lullabye)" left such a sour taste in broadcaster LRT's mouth that they didn't enter the contest again for another 5 years.  In 1999, however, Lithuania sent Aistė Smilgevičiūtė to sing "Strazdas (The Song Thrush)", a neo-folk song performed in the Samogitian dialect of Lithuanian.  Although it only performed slightly better than the nation's failed debut only 5 years earlier, "Strazdas" is one of my personal favorites.

Lithuania has made it to the Top 10 of an ESC only once.  In 2006, after years of basically abysmal results, LRT sent LT United to sing "We Are The Winners".  This is another one of those cases where a random link to Youtube just won't do...


I really hate to admit this, but I loved this performance.  It was sort of like when you're at a wedding, and your uncles get completely drunk and start dancing on tables, singing soccer chants.  (That happens in your family, too...right?)  Anyway, "We Are The Winners" came in 6th place in Athens, much higher than any other Lithuanian song before or since.

Last year, we got to meet Sasha Son, a former local child star who had come into his own as an adult.  His song for Moscow "Pasiklydęs žmogus (Lonely Man)" was translated into English and Russian as "Love/Adjinakij geroj", and was one of my favorites from 2009.  It made it out of the Semifinal, but only scored 23rd place in the final, despite a great vocal performance.  (Although, just as a criticism, the English version of the song said the word "love" a total of fifty-four times in less than three minutes.  You're cute, Sasha, but it made you sound just a little bit desperate...)

This year, however, Lithuania has decided to return to the formula that gave them their only single-digit placement: a lighthearted, fun performance that will get people on their feet.  That's where InCulto comes in:


InCulto - Eastern European Funk (Lithuania - Litvanya)
Uploaded by eurovision_tv. - Explore more music videos.

(If you look closely, you can find the crazy dancing bald man from LT United making an appearance in InCulto's video...)

These guys have been touring throughout their home country and the rest of Eastern Europe since 2003, and even came in 2nd place to LT United during the 2006 ESC Preselection with their song "Welcome to Lithuania".  They'll be competing as the first song in the second semifinal, so that alone might be a strike against them, but they've got a high-energy song with a vibe unlike any other song in the competition this year.  Also, if they copy their National Final performance, they drop their pants halfway through!  For that reason alone, I'm hoping that InCulto does well.

Nothing quite like a bunch of pantsless Lithuanian men to brighten your day! :-D

A Quick Holiday Message from InCulto...

Lithuania's 2010 Entrant has a special message for all of us:



Happy Easter, Passover, Springtime, or whatever other holiday you might be celebrating today!

(And check out InCulto's official entry, "Eastern European Funk" here!  Their full article will be up just as soon as I get to the "L"s...)

All the best,
Sam