Eurovision Season 2018: February Update II *Bumper Week Edition*
Come one, come all for the biggest week of the Eurovision 2018 season yet! By this time next week, we will know the entries from Serbia, Germany, Moldova, Hungary, Latvia, Slovenia, Ukraine, Armenia & Romania. With that in mind, I have a lot of writing to do and University work that I am conveniently distracting myself from in order to write this blog post.
Serbia
So credit where credit is due here, I was very negative about most of the finals I wrote about in the last post. I will therefore start this post by saying that in a country with a very firm recent history of internal selections, Beovizija 2018 could definitely have been just downright painful (they only need to look across the border to Montenegro to see how much of a car crash that one can end up us). I will say that I don't actually think this is a bad batch of songs. There's a little bit of something for everybody, a mix of genres, a return of Rambo Amadeus (what a stage name) and a lot of gorgeous Serbian language. The power of Eurovision fans is circling around Sanja Ilic & Balkania with 'Nova Deca'. In a country such as this one who hasn't hosted a national final in years, it will be tough to predict anything about it including if they keep the song in Serbian for the final contest. From my perspective, I'd like to see these guys keep in Serbian and do something fun and mystical with the staging. I reckon that should be just enough to send Serbia back to the Grand Final this year!
Germany
It's been a difficult few years being a German Eurovision fan. Winning the contest in 2011 and two top-ten finishes the year after have basically been followed by Germany not disturbing anybody in the hunt for Eurovision glory and coming bottom in two consecutive years (a feat that would have been three be it not the blind Portuguese televote support of their Iberian peninsula neighbours). In fairness, despite the weird format, I actually have very fond memories of last year's German national final and the way that it involved Eurovision fans from across the continent. I still maintain that Axel Witsel's version of 'Perfect Life' would have done better in Kyiv than Levina's, but it's all water under the metaphorical bridge now. We can't really tell how exciting or not exciting this final is because at the time of writing, we have still not heard a single one of the songs! With that in mind, all I'll say is the final and the way they have gone about it has generated a lot of buzz. The six acts look like they all have personality and an eagerness to represent Germany at the contest and after three horrendous result, it can't possibly get worse than this, can it?
Moldova
I mean, there's not really much to talk about here because the powers that be have already christened the next Moldovan Eurovision entry and had might as well save everybody the bore of the national final and send them now. DoReDos are the lucky band are are singing 'My Lucky Day', a song written by Russian music legend Philipp Kirkorov. The song is a funky, ethnic type that is clearly perfect for Eurovision but it lacks a personality that made the Sunstroke Project so successful last year. On a personal level, the jury is out for me on how well the song will do in Lisbon, as with a lot of the songs who have already qualified, it comes down to how it is performed live, so I will be intrigued to see how they choose to stage this performance! That said, one can't count their chickens until they've hatched and it took the televote being the tie-breaker to send 'Hey Mamma' to Eurovision last year ahead of Ethno Republic's 'Discover Moldova' so we could be in for a thrilling finale to a drab contest.
Hungary
Oh, Hungary! I should be careful what I say on A Dal because I have a Hungarian ex-girlfriend who gets very annoyed at me any time I say something negative about Hungary. After an epic multi-week storm of an A Dal edition, we are finally gearing up for a showdown final. Tamas Horvath's 'Meggyfa' is one of my favourites this year and is popular amongst other Eurovision fans and Hungarian televoters. Unfortunately for all of us, the scores of the four judges are what determines the four acts who will compete for the Hungarian ticket to Lisbon and they have not been particularly big fans of the act. In my opinion as somebody who has followed A Dal for many years, this is a format that needs to be changed to make the whole process more fair and to give the public more control in their National Final. However, I doubt this will happen given how well Hungary have performed at Eurovision in recent years. They have never failed to qualify for the Grand Final since their return to Eurovision in 2011 and during that process have also racked up three top ten finishes including a fifth place finish in 2014! You know what they say, if it ain't broke, don't fix it!
Latvia
Latvia kicked off this year's Eurovision season when they spontaneously decided to release every entry online anonymously to see what Eurovision fans were taking to. Despite this, none of my personal favourites made it through, and as regularly happens with Supernova, I struggle to get excited about this particular national selection. 'Esamiba' by MADARA has apparently been the hot favourite to win this one for a while. I have personally never seen it but it would add a bit of cello class to the Lisbon shows and make an already bloody Semi Final 2 even harder to call.
Slovenia
When people suggest that the reason the United Kingdom don't do well at Eurovision is because we are an island with no neighbours, I immediately point to Slovenia, a country with many neighbours who have never done well at Eurovision (their best placing was 7th in 1995 and 2001 when there were no semi finals). Since the semi finals were introduced, their fourteen entries have successfully qualified for the final on four occasions. So it was with excitement that a rule was made as part of this year's edition of EMA forcing every act to sing their song in Slovenian. Was this going to be what changed everything? My short answer is no and the reason is because nothing is memorable enough where I get the feeling that it will stand out in either of the semi finals. Let's not forget that they are performing in the second half of a difficult second Semi Final. We'll see who they pick on Saturday but I am very doubtful of their hopes of reaching the final no matter who they send.
Ukraine
As Eurovision fans, we love talking about National Final robberies and last year that was none more so daring a feat as when O. Torvald somehow got the chance to represent Ukraine on home soil ahead of Tayanna last year! What's even more tragic for the Ukranian songstress is that I think that again she will be beaten to the punch, only this time by the rock singer with the funky eye Melovin. Even as a big fan of 'I Love You', after watching the Semi Final performance of her song 'Leyla' it is an unmemorable song that is good but not great with staging that is fantastic but not enough to make up for the fact that nobody will remember the song enough to vote for it. 'Under the Ladder' is not a typical Ukranian Eurovision entry by any stretch of the imagination but it will be a fantastic opportunity for Melovin and it should give Ukraine a good placing in the Grand Final in Lisbon.
Armenia
On Sunday evening, you will find me sitting down after a day playing football to enjoy the full spectacle of the Armenian National Final. This is the best national final outside of Melodifestivalen and there are plenty of reasons why. Returning stars from previous Armenian finals? Check! An artist who went to Eurovision in a group but wants to return solo? Check! Original songs? Check! Across a mix of genres? Check! In the national language? Check (plenty but not all are) And just in case we forgot, a fun drag act performing a song that everybody will find loads of fun? Check! On top of this, I have some skin in the game because 'You & I' by Asmik (although written by two Brits and sounds like a Sigala track) is my favourite song of the Eurovision season so far (and yes, that's including the Melodifestivalen lot). It's a song that is upbeat, fun, current, and if they get the staging right (as Armenia always do), will give her a Europe-wide hit in the summer. That's of course not to rule out a lot of songs who would do very well for Armenia with one thing in common, they are a direct departure from the typical Armenian entry. I find that this is a good thing and that whoever does get the Armenian ticket to Lisbon will bring excitement, class and fun to Eurovision. From all the work that the national broadcaster have done, they have to make the final, they deserve a top ten finish and I would definitely not be against Yerevan 2019 (Yes, that's how much I believe 'You & I' could win Eurovision)
Romania
Everybody loves going on about the slog that is the Lithuanian National Final, but with all due respect, I think Romania are running them close this year. Having listened to all sixty entries, let me first start by saying that I will never get that half hour or so of my life back and it's sad! But then the way in which they prolong every aspect with the five semi finals and the jury deciding who goes through with no public input whatsoever (Sorry France, but it wasn't a popular format for your final either). The fact that this final will be 100% televoting based will make it exciting and will probably make it difficult to predict but I can imagine it being a long and tedious show to get through! Despite my doomsday prediction on the state of their entry this year, I will give a fun little fact to add debate and stimulate some thoughts. Since the introduction of the Semi Final in 2004, Romania have never failed to qualify for the Grand Final!
One thing's for sure, it's going to be a great week for Eurovision fans and I haven't even mentioned the part where this week is the final Melodifestivalen semi which will mean that we soon get to hear the full versions of the song and learn who the Andra Chansen duels will be and specifically who Margaret will have to compete against for a slot in the final. For anybody who wants a good laugh, I made an initial Melodifestivalen 2018 preview post straight after all the artists were announced. Amongst the brilliant predictions made were that a) Margaret would win the whole thing, b) Barbi Escobar would turn out to be good enough to make it through and c) that Dotter would be one to beat. I did however successfully called this being the year that Samir & Viktor went straight through and from what I have heard so far, they actually have a realistic shot at winning this year's ticket to Lisbon. See this bizarre but fun read here: (http://internationalisteurovisionblog.blogspot.co.uk/2017/11/melodifestivalen-2018-initial-preview.html) How much fun would it be to hear the Swedish entry performed in Swedish for the first time since the language rule was abolished?
That's your lot for this week! Next week is less action packed but there will still be finals in Estonia, Iceland, Finland, San Marino, Poland & Portugal before the final week of Eurovision selections where there will be action in Norway, Sweden & Lithuania! We're getting to the business end now!
Serbia
So credit where credit is due here, I was very negative about most of the finals I wrote about in the last post. I will therefore start this post by saying that in a country with a very firm recent history of internal selections, Beovizija 2018 could definitely have been just downright painful (they only need to look across the border to Montenegro to see how much of a car crash that one can end up us). I will say that I don't actually think this is a bad batch of songs. There's a little bit of something for everybody, a mix of genres, a return of Rambo Amadeus (what a stage name) and a lot of gorgeous Serbian language. The power of Eurovision fans is circling around Sanja Ilic & Balkania with 'Nova Deca'. In a country such as this one who hasn't hosted a national final in years, it will be tough to predict anything about it including if they keep the song in Serbian for the final contest. From my perspective, I'd like to see these guys keep in Serbian and do something fun and mystical with the staging. I reckon that should be just enough to send Serbia back to the Grand Final this year!
Germany
It's been a difficult few years being a German Eurovision fan. Winning the contest in 2011 and two top-ten finishes the year after have basically been followed by Germany not disturbing anybody in the hunt for Eurovision glory and coming bottom in two consecutive years (a feat that would have been three be it not the blind Portuguese televote support of their Iberian peninsula neighbours). In fairness, despite the weird format, I actually have very fond memories of last year's German national final and the way that it involved Eurovision fans from across the continent. I still maintain that Axel Witsel's version of 'Perfect Life' would have done better in Kyiv than Levina's, but it's all water under the metaphorical bridge now. We can't really tell how exciting or not exciting this final is because at the time of writing, we have still not heard a single one of the songs! With that in mind, all I'll say is the final and the way they have gone about it has generated a lot of buzz. The six acts look like they all have personality and an eagerness to represent Germany at the contest and after three horrendous result, it can't possibly get worse than this, can it?
Moldova
I mean, there's not really much to talk about here because the powers that be have already christened the next Moldovan Eurovision entry and had might as well save everybody the bore of the national final and send them now. DoReDos are the lucky band are are singing 'My Lucky Day', a song written by Russian music legend Philipp Kirkorov. The song is a funky, ethnic type that is clearly perfect for Eurovision but it lacks a personality that made the Sunstroke Project so successful last year. On a personal level, the jury is out for me on how well the song will do in Lisbon, as with a lot of the songs who have already qualified, it comes down to how it is performed live, so I will be intrigued to see how they choose to stage this performance! That said, one can't count their chickens until they've hatched and it took the televote being the tie-breaker to send 'Hey Mamma' to Eurovision last year ahead of Ethno Republic's 'Discover Moldova' so we could be in for a thrilling finale to a drab contest.
Hungary
Oh, Hungary! I should be careful what I say on A Dal because I have a Hungarian ex-girlfriend who gets very annoyed at me any time I say something negative about Hungary. After an epic multi-week storm of an A Dal edition, we are finally gearing up for a showdown final. Tamas Horvath's 'Meggyfa' is one of my favourites this year and is popular amongst other Eurovision fans and Hungarian televoters. Unfortunately for all of us, the scores of the four judges are what determines the four acts who will compete for the Hungarian ticket to Lisbon and they have not been particularly big fans of the act. In my opinion as somebody who has followed A Dal for many years, this is a format that needs to be changed to make the whole process more fair and to give the public more control in their National Final. However, I doubt this will happen given how well Hungary have performed at Eurovision in recent years. They have never failed to qualify for the Grand Final since their return to Eurovision in 2011 and during that process have also racked up three top ten finishes including a fifth place finish in 2014! You know what they say, if it ain't broke, don't fix it!
Latvia
Latvia kicked off this year's Eurovision season when they spontaneously decided to release every entry online anonymously to see what Eurovision fans were taking to. Despite this, none of my personal favourites made it through, and as regularly happens with Supernova, I struggle to get excited about this particular national selection. 'Esamiba' by MADARA has apparently been the hot favourite to win this one for a while. I have personally never seen it but it would add a bit of cello class to the Lisbon shows and make an already bloody Semi Final 2 even harder to call.
Slovenia
When people suggest that the reason the United Kingdom don't do well at Eurovision is because we are an island with no neighbours, I immediately point to Slovenia, a country with many neighbours who have never done well at Eurovision (their best placing was 7th in 1995 and 2001 when there were no semi finals). Since the semi finals were introduced, their fourteen entries have successfully qualified for the final on four occasions. So it was with excitement that a rule was made as part of this year's edition of EMA forcing every act to sing their song in Slovenian. Was this going to be what changed everything? My short answer is no and the reason is because nothing is memorable enough where I get the feeling that it will stand out in either of the semi finals. Let's not forget that they are performing in the second half of a difficult second Semi Final. We'll see who they pick on Saturday but I am very doubtful of their hopes of reaching the final no matter who they send.
Ukraine
As Eurovision fans, we love talking about National Final robberies and last year that was none more so daring a feat as when O. Torvald somehow got the chance to represent Ukraine on home soil ahead of Tayanna last year! What's even more tragic for the Ukranian songstress is that I think that again she will be beaten to the punch, only this time by the rock singer with the funky eye Melovin. Even as a big fan of 'I Love You', after watching the Semi Final performance of her song 'Leyla' it is an unmemorable song that is good but not great with staging that is fantastic but not enough to make up for the fact that nobody will remember the song enough to vote for it. 'Under the Ladder' is not a typical Ukranian Eurovision entry by any stretch of the imagination but it will be a fantastic opportunity for Melovin and it should give Ukraine a good placing in the Grand Final in Lisbon.
Armenia
On Sunday evening, you will find me sitting down after a day playing football to enjoy the full spectacle of the Armenian National Final. This is the best national final outside of Melodifestivalen and there are plenty of reasons why. Returning stars from previous Armenian finals? Check! An artist who went to Eurovision in a group but wants to return solo? Check! Original songs? Check! Across a mix of genres? Check! In the national language? Check (plenty but not all are) And just in case we forgot, a fun drag act performing a song that everybody will find loads of fun? Check! On top of this, I have some skin in the game because 'You & I' by Asmik (although written by two Brits and sounds like a Sigala track) is my favourite song of the Eurovision season so far (and yes, that's including the Melodifestivalen lot). It's a song that is upbeat, fun, current, and if they get the staging right (as Armenia always do), will give her a Europe-wide hit in the summer. That's of course not to rule out a lot of songs who would do very well for Armenia with one thing in common, they are a direct departure from the typical Armenian entry. I find that this is a good thing and that whoever does get the Armenian ticket to Lisbon will bring excitement, class and fun to Eurovision. From all the work that the national broadcaster have done, they have to make the final, they deserve a top ten finish and I would definitely not be against Yerevan 2019 (Yes, that's how much I believe 'You & I' could win Eurovision)
Romania
Everybody loves going on about the slog that is the Lithuanian National Final, but with all due respect, I think Romania are running them close this year. Having listened to all sixty entries, let me first start by saying that I will never get that half hour or so of my life back and it's sad! But then the way in which they prolong every aspect with the five semi finals and the jury deciding who goes through with no public input whatsoever (Sorry France, but it wasn't a popular format for your final either). The fact that this final will be 100% televoting based will make it exciting and will probably make it difficult to predict but I can imagine it being a long and tedious show to get through! Despite my doomsday prediction on the state of their entry this year, I will give a fun little fact to add debate and stimulate some thoughts. Since the introduction of the Semi Final in 2004, Romania have never failed to qualify for the Grand Final!
One thing's for sure, it's going to be a great week for Eurovision fans and I haven't even mentioned the part where this week is the final Melodifestivalen semi which will mean that we soon get to hear the full versions of the song and learn who the Andra Chansen duels will be and specifically who Margaret will have to compete against for a slot in the final. For anybody who wants a good laugh, I made an initial Melodifestivalen 2018 preview post straight after all the artists were announced. Amongst the brilliant predictions made were that a) Margaret would win the whole thing, b) Barbi Escobar would turn out to be good enough to make it through and c) that Dotter would be one to beat. I did however successfully called this being the year that Samir & Viktor went straight through and from what I have heard so far, they actually have a realistic shot at winning this year's ticket to Lisbon. See this bizarre but fun read here: (http://internationalisteurovisionblog.blogspot.co.uk/2017/11/melodifestivalen-2018-initial-preview.html) How much fun would it be to hear the Swedish entry performed in Swedish for the first time since the language rule was abolished?
That's your lot for this week! Next week is less action packed but there will still be finals in Estonia, Iceland, Finland, San Marino, Poland & Portugal before the final week of Eurovision selections where there will be action in Norway, Sweden & Lithuania! We're getting to the business end now!
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