Eurovision 2014 (P)review – Part 4 – Finland, France &FYR Macedonia

All of this year’s songs have been selected, which means it’s time to start the countdown (cue Final Countdown) for the 2014 edition of our beloved Contest. I’ve only heard a couple of songs before writing this (p)review as I wanted to simulate the sensation of the regular viewer. Curious to see how thàt will turn out? Me too…Continue reading “Eurovision 2014 (P)review – Part 4 – Finland, France &FYR Macedonia”

Eurovision 2014 (P)review – Part 3 – Belgium, Denmark & Estonia

All of this year’s songs have been selected, which means it’s time to start the countdown (cue Final Countdown) for the 2014 edition of our beloved Contest. I’ve only heard a couple of songs before writing this (p)review as I wanted to simulate the sensation of the regular viewer. Curious to see how thàt will turn out? Me too…

Continue reading “Eurovision 2014 (P)review – Part 3 – Belgium, Denmark & Estonia”

Eurovision 2014 (P)review – Part 2 – Austria, Azerbaijan & Belarus

All of this year’s songs have been selected, which means it’s time to start the countdown (cue Final Countdown) for the 2014 edition of our beloved Contest. I’ve only heard a couple of songs before writing this (p)review as I wanted to simulate the sensation of the regular viewer. Curious to see how thàt will turn out? Me too…

Continue reading “Eurovision 2014 (P)review – Part 2 – Austria, Azerbaijan & Belarus”

Eurovision 2014 (P)Review – Part 1 – Albania & Armenia

All of this year’s songs have been selected, which means it’s time to start the countdown (cue Final Countdown) for the 2014 edition of our beloved Contest. I’ve only heard a couple of songs before writing this (p)review as I wanted to simulate the sensation of the regular viewer. Curious to see how thàt will turn out? Me too…Continue reading “Eurovision 2014 (P)Review – Part 1 – Albania & Armenia”

Who will win Melodifestivalen 2014? And who shóuld?

I’ve been a bad, bad fanboy all MF season: due to social engagements I’ve only watched semi 1 live, the others I’ve had to catch up with afterwards. So I haven’t had time to review every single entry in every single show. Hm, does that sound like I didn’t really feel like it? I wonder why…Continue reading “Who will win Melodifestivalen 2014? And who shóuld?”

Eurovision 2014 (P)Review – First impressions of Ukraine, Albania & Belarus

hersi-matmujah-2

Happy New Year to all, glitter and sparkle and such! Are you ready already for another run of on-season madness extravaganza? Until this evening I wasn’t exactly in the right mood yet, but in a moment of ‘should I already or shouldn’t I yet’ I decided I should and so I did… watch the first selected entries for #ESC2014 .
What did you expect?
Continue reading “Eurovision 2014 (P)Review – First impressions of Ukraine, Albania & Belarus”

Eurovision Review – 2013: From Caterpillar To Butterfly

I must admit: I wasn’t all too keen on this year’s edition beforehand. It seemed very difficult to compose a top ten, with only a couple of (semi) interesting songs in a sea of grey ballads. But as always it’s the live version that needs to convince, and thanks to a truckload of decent/good/great singers this rather beige edition luckily got a bit of colour variation. Not in the least thanks to the experts @ SVT. Då kör vi!

Continue reading “Eurovision Review – 2013: From Caterpillar To Butterfly”

Eurovision 2013 – Semi 1 – Some afterthoughts

All of a sudden semi 1 of this year’s Eurovision Song Contest was upon us yesterday – how exciting! Having followed a couple of bloggers who are friendly enough to share their impressions from the press centre up there in Malmö I was really curious to find out how things would turn out to be live. Here’s what I thought.

Continue reading “Eurovision 2013 – Semi 1 – Some afterthoughts”

Eurovision 2013 – interview with Hannah from Slovenia

I met up with Hannah from Slovenia in Amsterdam and asked her a couple of questions, the result can be found below!Continue reading “Eurovision 2013 – interview with Hannah from Slovenia”

Eurovision 2013 (P)Review – Part 20 – UK & Sweden + Total Wrap-up

And now the end is near, here’s part 20 of the run through of this year’s contestants! Will they be beautiful butterflies, or rather moths that have to hide away in the dark?

First of all, a bit of framework for the judging – I’ll be looking at the song, the vocal performance and the stage presentation (or concept of the video if we haven’t seen a stage performance) and I’ll round up by putting them to the DIMI test (do I think it’s Dramatic, Intriguing and/or Modern enough to Include in my iTunes library?). I’ll score the entries from 1 to 5 on each of those points, resulting in a score out of a possible maximum of 20.

 5. UK – Bonnie Tyler – Believe in me

The Song: Oh dear, where to start? First off: this is as generic as the next Shania Twain country ballad. The floating insert of the title is perhaps the most catchy part, but even then this is hardly memorable. Secondly: If you’re famous for rockballads, why not go for a rockballad? The tackier, the better I’d say – nobody would mind Total Eclipse Of The Heart 2.0… And finally: really UK? With all that young talent in your music scene with fresh ideas you give us this snoozefest? You really don’t want to win ESC again, do you?
Verdict:
The Voice: Smoke another pack of cigarettes dear. This will be even more hoarse than Anna Vissi. Imagine.
Verdict:
The Performance: If it’s as boring as the video we’re in for 3 beige minutes. I’m rolling my eyes with anticipation #sarcmark
Verdict:
The DIMI test: I am very cross with the powers that be @ BBC. Another has-been that wouldn’t have touched Eurovision with a stick back in the days, but now uses it to try and squeeze out whatever remains of that once beautiful carreer? Downright shameful. This is mocking the Contest and I’d rather have they stay away than spit on it.
Verdict:

PERSONAL TOTAL: 8/20
PREDICTION: Bottom 5.

  6. Sweden – Robin Stjernberg – You

The Song: This has to be one of the most modern sounding songs in the year’s edition, slipstreaming the current sounds in Britpop – I’m always reminded of Temper Trap when I hear this. The build-up takes its time to get there but when it gets there it delivers big time: the soaring chorus is spot on and the way it explodes in a different way  every single time is very effective. Very cleverly written, this.
Verdict:
The Voice: When he hits the notes, he hits them well – especially The Big One at the end. We’ve heard several versions of this though, the question remains how he’ll pull it off on the night…
Verdict:
The Performance: I am in no way a fan of what we saw at Melodifestivalen: the interpretative dancing feels too forced for me and a less faux-artistic approach would work miracles. Robin is endearing in the way he throws himself onto the song but can come across a bit…intense might be the best expression for it I think. In other words: this needs to get more of a professional feel, rather than looking like it belongs at a talent show at a local school.
Verdict:
The DIMI test: I like it. I’m not crazy about it, but I like it.
Verdict: 

PERSONAL TOTAL: 12/20
PREDICTION: If they manage to get this across then this might well surprise everyone. Can Sweden pull an Ireland? Perhaps. But if it fails it fails big time.

So that’s it!! Without further ado, let’s see what my top 26 would look like right now, almost one month before the Big Event:

1. France
2. Norway
3. Slovenia
4. Netherlands
5. Finland
6. Estonia
7. Italy
8. Malta
9. Serbia
10. Moldova
11. Montenegro
12. Hungary
13. Azerbaijan
14. Spain
15. Germany
16. Sweden
17. Bulgaria
18. Albania
19. Greece
20. Denmark
21. Ireland
22. Iceland
23. Austria
24. FYR Macedonia
25. Ukraine
26. UK

Hmz, that doesn’t seem realistic at all does it?
The polls will be launched tomorrow, curious to see what you all think!