See you in Tel Aviv (Not Minsk)
November means one thing in Eurovision world. By this point, we already know where we're headed to next year, we haven't quite started listening to songs for national finals and for many Eurovision fans, there is only one thing to get excited about... Junior Eurovision. Now I must admit, I have never dabbled in Junior Eurovision for many reasons. I believed that it was a weird project to run Eurovision with a group of children, I couldn't see how it had any benefits and whilst the songs I had listened to were alright, there was nothing that I got desperately hooked on. However as Minsk prepares to host the biggest Junior Eurovision to date, I decided that if I wanted to write a blog post about it - I had to have first seen one in full flow! So, after sampling the songs on offer this year to get a taste of what I was in for, I went to YouTube and watched the entirety of last year's Junior Eurovision Song Contest in Tblisi and this is what I have to say.
Pressure on Young People
It is perhaps no surprise that my initial point about Junior Eurovision still stands having watched the thing in full. Young singers being asked to represent their country in front of a continent-wide audience. And by young singers, I don't mean 16 year old singers, I mean 9 year old singers. I work with a lot of kids around the 9-14 age bracket and many of them can't spell properly let alone be put under this kind of pressure to deliver on the night. This is also the reason for the Danes and Lithuanians not competing at the contest, Jan Lagermand Lundme, the head of Entertainment at national broadcaster DR said
"Now, never say never, but as long as the show is, as it is now, I’m definitely not going to compete again. The values that we put in Denmark in a program for children do not match the values of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest… It seems that the children are on stage and play adults instead of acting as children, and we think that is fundamentally wrong. Children must be children, they should not try to strive to be something they are not. It’s super bad for us, because we really wanted to be part of the show. Participating in a concept like Junior Eurovision would be a natural step for us after MGP, but it does not work when we do not feel the show fits the Danish values."
Whilst LRT executive producer Audrius Giržadas stated that "this contest has become a clone of the main Eurovision Song Contest and has nothing to do with childhood, little girls go on stage with clipped hairs, glued eyelashes and bare belly, copying Beyonce and Christina Aguilera - this is not an event that we would like to participate in."
Now I can't speak about the glory days of Junior Eurovision that both these men seem to be referring to, however I do know that what I saw was simply trying to run Eurovision with a group of kids and it is beggars' belief that nobody has stood up and realised how ridiculous a concept this is.
Decent Production Values
Throughout this little review, I am also going to try to give positives and the production values of many of the songs were definitely a positive. These songs are well-constructed as if they are competing at the adult contest which explains why so many people claim that the songs are good enough for it. It is nice to see that kids are having the opportunity to perform music with proper professional production. That said, they are well-constructed, but not amazing. I can't remember any of the songs that competed at the 2017 Junior Eurovision Song Contest having only just finished watching the show upon writing this article.
Tech, Hosts Poor
Maybe this is only a note for the Georgians but my, my, my the hosts and the tech around the show was terrible. The hosts were desperately trying to get excited about things that weren't at all exciting with their humour non-existant to minimal (again Mans and Petra, how dare you set the bar so high). There were regular occasions when the camera angle would simply be stuck on the main host whilst the sidekick was finding somebody to talk to in the Green Room or just generally focused on one particular wide shot for what felt like minutes. I am terrified by the idea that these two were the best that Georgia could find and that the producers of the show were also the best that Georgia could find because the production around the show was poor from top to bottom. I put this point in the article because no matter how ridiculous some of the adult contests have gone, they have never quite sunk to this level of poor and that is representative of the standard at the junior contest.
Opportunity for New Countries to Host
And then to offer the flip side of the coin, it was really nice to see a country like Georgia who has never hosted an EBU event before actually have the opportunity to do so. Whilst the postcards were not to my taste and could have been better (I am very picky about postcards) it was ultimately nice to have a window into different parts of the Georgian country. This explains why they pre-selected Minsk as the 2018 Junior Eurovision Song Contest hosts however it doesn't explain why they haven't picked a host for 2019. Russia is said to be interested in hosting following their victory in Tblisi and will certainly have reason to feel aggrieved if the 2018 winners get to host the following year's contest. I for one would like to see Russia host it however I also have a gut feeling that they are going to win the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest and force the EBU to do a lot of work in the world's biggest country (but more on that on another post). Of the other countries competing this year, Albania, Kazakhstan, FYR Macedonia and Wales have never hosted an EBU event before and could possibly be contenders to host in 2019.
Performances Poor
I'm sorry to say this because yes, I know they're kids, yes, I know they're developing and yes, I know they don't have the resources of the adult contests but I didn't enjoy any of the performances. And before you accuse me of being a child-hater let me a) remind you that I work with kids as part of my job and b) give a reality check that if Junior Eurovision was as popular as the adult contest, social media would crucify the entire show far worse than I ever could (and so in many ways, thank goodness that it's not more well known). Yes, there were some songs better than others and some performers who were more charismatic but nobody made proper use of the staging except (arguably) for winners Russia. On the subject of the Russian winner, yes the song is alright, yes the staging was good compared to everything else, yes her technique was fantastic, but shouting through a song at the end should not guarentee you a victory at any Eurovision Song Contest and that should also be an indicator of the accepted standard at Junior Eurovision. On the other side of the spectrum, the Armenian performance was also a boring song sang off-key and the part where the juries scored it so well (especially when the public didn't) is a mystery to me.
National Languages Alive at Eurovision
I am not one of those purists who believe that we should switch back to the national language rule however I will admit that it was nice to see such a variety of languages and cultures present and alive on the stage. Even if I didn't enjoy the performances, I was still entranced by the language used by the competitors in exactly the way that I should feel when this happens at Eurovision. I have maintained on this blog many times that certain countries would do well to go back to singing in their national language - Belarus being one, Germany being another and I'm also eagerly awaiting the first Azerbaijani entry at the contest. Singing in the national languages allows culture and feelings to be shared exactly as it was intended by the writer in their mother tongue and gives a window into a country and a way of life in the way that Eurovision should always do.
Who Cares?
But the ultimate thing that followers of Junior Eurovision truly need to consider is - who actually cares? There is so much at stake for winning the adult competition - the opportunity to host the biggest annual TV show in the world, the increased tourism, the worldwide attention on your country, the chance for your singer to have a continent-wide (and possibly global) career, the bragging rights, the chance to say that you won a competition that has absolutely 0 set way of winning and requires creativity, imagination and a really catchy song to pull it off. The winners of Junior Eurovision gets none of these things. Maybe, the winner will go on to have a big career later but scrolling through the list of Junior Eurovision winners, the only ones I know are the Tolmachevy sisters who I only know for being one of the only recent Russian acts to not perform well at Eurovision. The legacy from any given adult Eurovision Song Contest can last decades (look at ABBA in 1974 or Celine Dion in 1988) but it seems to me that the legacy from Junior will at best last until the following year's contest and honestly, it makes it difficult for me to care about what happens on the night. Given the number of people who left the Olympic Palace in Tblisi before Polina Bogusevich performed the winning song again (again, terrible camera angle to show at that moment - representative of GPB's terrible production of the show) I am not the only one.
Now, if anybody from the EBU or in a position of power around Eurovision is reading this blog post, firstly - please subscribe using the button at the top and secondly, I have a few suggestions for what you could do to increase the excitement of Junior Eurovision.
1) Raise the age of participation to 14-18
By doing this, singers would be right on the cusp of their careers taking off and so would create a good opportunity for record companies and the public to scout out emerging talent who they might be able to develop and sign. It would also make the current arguments made by many broadcasters about "think of the children" not entirely but mostly irrelevant.
2) Offer the winner the chance to perform at the adult contest as one of the interval acts
With all the mind-numbingly dull interval acts that the adult contest throws up, it seems bizarre to me that nobody has actually considered giving the Junior Eurovision winner the chance to perform on the continent's biggest stage. As an audience member, I would note that it was something different from the usual and would be curious as to what Europe had chosen. As a broadcaster, it means one less act to worry about coming up with. From the EBU's perspective, they get a free opportunity to promote their other flagship show. From the artist's perspective, they get to have a global multi-hundred million-strong audience as a platform for kick-starting their career success.
3) Immediately sign the winner up for three years of EBU-sponsored career mentoring
As soon as Junior Eurovision is done, the EBU turns its back on these talented kids and that seems weird to me. So why not actually pay for these talented kids who have given you so much to receive proper mentoring and actually give them a chance of growing up to have brilliant careers. Let's face it, their success is your success so why not give them a bit of support towards that mutual success. Think of how many times Eurovision fans bang on about ABBA and Celine Dion (including myself in this very article), they were winners who went on to have successful global careers. If Junior Eurovision produced the next Justin Bieber, nobody would have any doubts that it was a show that should be taken seriously and respected, so why not give a little money to getting them a mentor from their respective country to work with them, show them the ropes of the industry, put them in touch with producers and help them go on and actually (to quote the 2017 Junior Eurovision motto) Shine Bright!
But in its current format, I have to pass on Junior Eurovision for all the reasons stated in this article. You may still find me in Tel Aviv, I have not given up hope of coming either as a press member or just as a member of the public but you will definitely not see me in Minsk nor you will find me in front of my computer watching the EBU live-stream of the contest on November 25th. I hope everybody who does watch it has fun, I give my best of luck to all the participants and for anybody who does make the journey to Minsk, I am curious to hear what Belorussian event organisation looks like!
That's it from me, let me know your thoughts and feelings in the comments section and don't forget to subscribe if you like what you read! We'll be back soon with more content as we begin the countdown to National Finals season ahead of Tel Aviv 2019!
Pressure on Young People
It is perhaps no surprise that my initial point about Junior Eurovision still stands having watched the thing in full. Young singers being asked to represent their country in front of a continent-wide audience. And by young singers, I don't mean 16 year old singers, I mean 9 year old singers. I work with a lot of kids around the 9-14 age bracket and many of them can't spell properly let alone be put under this kind of pressure to deliver on the night. This is also the reason for the Danes and Lithuanians not competing at the contest, Jan Lagermand Lundme, the head of Entertainment at national broadcaster DR said
"Now, never say never, but as long as the show is, as it is now, I’m definitely not going to compete again. The values that we put in Denmark in a program for children do not match the values of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest… It seems that the children are on stage and play adults instead of acting as children, and we think that is fundamentally wrong. Children must be children, they should not try to strive to be something they are not. It’s super bad for us, because we really wanted to be part of the show. Participating in a concept like Junior Eurovision would be a natural step for us after MGP, but it does not work when we do not feel the show fits the Danish values."
Whilst LRT executive producer Audrius Giržadas stated that "this contest has become a clone of the main Eurovision Song Contest and has nothing to do with childhood, little girls go on stage with clipped hairs, glued eyelashes and bare belly, copying Beyonce and Christina Aguilera - this is not an event that we would like to participate in."
Now I can't speak about the glory days of Junior Eurovision that both these men seem to be referring to, however I do know that what I saw was simply trying to run Eurovision with a group of kids and it is beggars' belief that nobody has stood up and realised how ridiculous a concept this is.
Decent Production Values
Throughout this little review, I am also going to try to give positives and the production values of many of the songs were definitely a positive. These songs are well-constructed as if they are competing at the adult contest which explains why so many people claim that the songs are good enough for it. It is nice to see that kids are having the opportunity to perform music with proper professional production. That said, they are well-constructed, but not amazing. I can't remember any of the songs that competed at the 2017 Junior Eurovision Song Contest having only just finished watching the show upon writing this article.
Tech, Hosts Poor
Maybe this is only a note for the Georgians but my, my, my the hosts and the tech around the show was terrible. The hosts were desperately trying to get excited about things that weren't at all exciting with their humour non-existant to minimal (again Mans and Petra, how dare you set the bar so high). There were regular occasions when the camera angle would simply be stuck on the main host whilst the sidekick was finding somebody to talk to in the Green Room or just generally focused on one particular wide shot for what felt like minutes. I am terrified by the idea that these two were the best that Georgia could find and that the producers of the show were also the best that Georgia could find because the production around the show was poor from top to bottom. I put this point in the article because no matter how ridiculous some of the adult contests have gone, they have never quite sunk to this level of poor and that is representative of the standard at the junior contest.
Opportunity for New Countries to Host
And then to offer the flip side of the coin, it was really nice to see a country like Georgia who has never hosted an EBU event before actually have the opportunity to do so. Whilst the postcards were not to my taste and could have been better (I am very picky about postcards) it was ultimately nice to have a window into different parts of the Georgian country. This explains why they pre-selected Minsk as the 2018 Junior Eurovision Song Contest hosts however it doesn't explain why they haven't picked a host for 2019. Russia is said to be interested in hosting following their victory in Tblisi and will certainly have reason to feel aggrieved if the 2018 winners get to host the following year's contest. I for one would like to see Russia host it however I also have a gut feeling that they are going to win the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest and force the EBU to do a lot of work in the world's biggest country (but more on that on another post). Of the other countries competing this year, Albania, Kazakhstan, FYR Macedonia and Wales have never hosted an EBU event before and could possibly be contenders to host in 2019.
Performances Poor
I'm sorry to say this because yes, I know they're kids, yes, I know they're developing and yes, I know they don't have the resources of the adult contests but I didn't enjoy any of the performances. And before you accuse me of being a child-hater let me a) remind you that I work with kids as part of my job and b) give a reality check that if Junior Eurovision was as popular as the adult contest, social media would crucify the entire show far worse than I ever could (and so in many ways, thank goodness that it's not more well known). Yes, there were some songs better than others and some performers who were more charismatic but nobody made proper use of the staging except (arguably) for winners Russia. On the subject of the Russian winner, yes the song is alright, yes the staging was good compared to everything else, yes her technique was fantastic, but shouting through a song at the end should not guarentee you a victory at any Eurovision Song Contest and that should also be an indicator of the accepted standard at Junior Eurovision. On the other side of the spectrum, the Armenian performance was also a boring song sang off-key and the part where the juries scored it so well (especially when the public didn't) is a mystery to me.
National Languages Alive at Eurovision
I am not one of those purists who believe that we should switch back to the national language rule however I will admit that it was nice to see such a variety of languages and cultures present and alive on the stage. Even if I didn't enjoy the performances, I was still entranced by the language used by the competitors in exactly the way that I should feel when this happens at Eurovision. I have maintained on this blog many times that certain countries would do well to go back to singing in their national language - Belarus being one, Germany being another and I'm also eagerly awaiting the first Azerbaijani entry at the contest. Singing in the national languages allows culture and feelings to be shared exactly as it was intended by the writer in their mother tongue and gives a window into a country and a way of life in the way that Eurovision should always do.
Who Cares?
But the ultimate thing that followers of Junior Eurovision truly need to consider is - who actually cares? There is so much at stake for winning the adult competition - the opportunity to host the biggest annual TV show in the world, the increased tourism, the worldwide attention on your country, the chance for your singer to have a continent-wide (and possibly global) career, the bragging rights, the chance to say that you won a competition that has absolutely 0 set way of winning and requires creativity, imagination and a really catchy song to pull it off. The winners of Junior Eurovision gets none of these things. Maybe, the winner will go on to have a big career later but scrolling through the list of Junior Eurovision winners, the only ones I know are the Tolmachevy sisters who I only know for being one of the only recent Russian acts to not perform well at Eurovision. The legacy from any given adult Eurovision Song Contest can last decades (look at ABBA in 1974 or Celine Dion in 1988) but it seems to me that the legacy from Junior will at best last until the following year's contest and honestly, it makes it difficult for me to care about what happens on the night. Given the number of people who left the Olympic Palace in Tblisi before Polina Bogusevich performed the winning song again (again, terrible camera angle to show at that moment - representative of GPB's terrible production of the show) I am not the only one.
Now, if anybody from the EBU or in a position of power around Eurovision is reading this blog post, firstly - please subscribe using the button at the top and secondly, I have a few suggestions for what you could do to increase the excitement of Junior Eurovision.
1) Raise the age of participation to 14-18
By doing this, singers would be right on the cusp of their careers taking off and so would create a good opportunity for record companies and the public to scout out emerging talent who they might be able to develop and sign. It would also make the current arguments made by many broadcasters about "think of the children" not entirely but mostly irrelevant.
2) Offer the winner the chance to perform at the adult contest as one of the interval acts
With all the mind-numbingly dull interval acts that the adult contest throws up, it seems bizarre to me that nobody has actually considered giving the Junior Eurovision winner the chance to perform on the continent's biggest stage. As an audience member, I would note that it was something different from the usual and would be curious as to what Europe had chosen. As a broadcaster, it means one less act to worry about coming up with. From the EBU's perspective, they get a free opportunity to promote their other flagship show. From the artist's perspective, they get to have a global multi-hundred million-strong audience as a platform for kick-starting their career success.
3) Immediately sign the winner up for three years of EBU-sponsored career mentoring
As soon as Junior Eurovision is done, the EBU turns its back on these talented kids and that seems weird to me. So why not actually pay for these talented kids who have given you so much to receive proper mentoring and actually give them a chance of growing up to have brilliant careers. Let's face it, their success is your success so why not give them a bit of support towards that mutual success. Think of how many times Eurovision fans bang on about ABBA and Celine Dion (including myself in this very article), they were winners who went on to have successful global careers. If Junior Eurovision produced the next Justin Bieber, nobody would have any doubts that it was a show that should be taken seriously and respected, so why not give a little money to getting them a mentor from their respective country to work with them, show them the ropes of the industry, put them in touch with producers and help them go on and actually (to quote the 2017 Junior Eurovision motto) Shine Bright!
But in its current format, I have to pass on Junior Eurovision for all the reasons stated in this article. You may still find me in Tel Aviv, I have not given up hope of coming either as a press member or just as a member of the public but you will definitely not see me in Minsk nor you will find me in front of my computer watching the EBU live-stream of the contest on November 25th. I hope everybody who does watch it has fun, I give my best of luck to all the participants and for anybody who does make the journey to Minsk, I am curious to hear what Belorussian event organisation looks like!
That's it from me, let me know your thoughts and feelings in the comments section and don't forget to subscribe if you like what you read! We'll be back soon with more content as we begin the countdown to National Finals season ahead of Tel Aviv 2019!
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