Eurovision 2024 - 3rd Batch 🇪🇪🇱🇻🇩🇰🇩🇪🇲🇩🇱🇹

We are back for another season of Eurovision, and this year we are heading to Malmö, Sweden 🇸🇪. As countries begin to select their songs, I'm going to do a brief recap of what I think of the 'current' songs.

For this recap, I'm going to chat about (in no particular order): Estonia 🇪🇪, Latvia 🇱🇻, Denmark 🇩🇰, Germany 🇩🇪, Moldavia 🇲🇩, Lithuania 🇱🇹.

Like last year, I'm gonna do follow this mode of attack:

  1. Review songs in batches of 5 or 6 rather than doing a country-by-country recap.

  2. Watch the national selection final (or internal selection) once or twice.

  3. Not constantly listen to the songs until we get into semifinal week.

Reasons 1-2: For this edition, I don't have time to write 35+ posts (one per country) before getting into the actual contest. Also, what's the point of doing an in-depth or half-assed review (depending on how much free time I have) before the delegations either revamp the song and/or the performance? Reason 3: I don't want to get tired of the songs before the contest. A couple of Eurovisions ago, I noticed that I was pretty much over the songs that were released early in the national final (January/February) season by April.

Kwame's Current Rankings:

Like always, I'll use my cheezy Eurovision meter to rate the songs.

 
 

Alright let's get started:

Estonia 🇪🇪: 5miinust & Puuluup -- (nendest) narkootikumidest ei tea (kull) midagi (We [really] don't know anything about [these] drugs)

National Selection Performance - Eesti Laui 2024 (link: ***)

Songwriters: Estoni Kohver, Kim Wennerström, Lancelot, Marko Veisson, Päevakoer, Põhja Korea, and Ramo Teder

Key: D; BPM: 145

 
 

Something a little different. Word on the street is that this song title is the longest in the history of the contest, so that's something. It's not necessarily my cup of the tea, but it's upbeat as hell, which always works for me. This one kind of reminds me of Moldova's 2022 entry, which I hated at first, but grew to love. Even though, the song (well the performance) is a bit chaotic (IMO), I think this is a song that definitely will amp on the crowd. For me, it seems like it's three songs in one. While I do not hate *insert long title here* (because I'm not retyping all of that 🤣), this one definitely will have to grow on me.

Latvia 🇱🇻: Dons -- Hollow

National Selection Performance - Supernova 2024 (link: ***)

Songwriters: Artūrs Šingirejs, Kate Northrop, and Liam Gedde

Key: C#/Db; BPM: 148- Really a 148 bpm, the song seemed a little low-tempo to me.

 
 

Dons has a very strong voice; however, the song is a bit mid for me. Well, actually, the verses are a bit mid, but the chorus is a slightly electrifying. Overall, I think that I need to listen to this one a couple more times for it to move or inspire me. Unfortunately, I think it might be tough for this one to qualify (in its current state). Since we have a lot of unique, nutty songs this year, I fear this one will get lost in the mix. I think this song could have work in 2022's contest, but there are too many unique, witchy, random songs in this year's contest. While Dons has an excellent voice, I don't think he really has a stage presence that will draw in a lot of folks.

Denmark 🇩🇰: Saba -- Sand

National Selection Performance - Melodi Grand Prix 2024 (***)

Songwriters: Jonas Thander, Melanie Wehbe, and Pil Kalinka Nygaard Jeppesen

Key: E minor; BPM: 114

 
 

The lighting for this one is very pretty and dynamic. Whoa she has a very strong voice. Overall, I'm really loving this one. Hopefully, this will be the song that finally gets Denmark into the grand final. I mean, the lighting is some of the best that I've seen so far in this year's contest. However, the delegation should get a better platform for her to stand on because it's giving one of those small tables from Ikea. I think those small tables are called Lack. Also, I hope for the Eurovision performance of this song, Saba will eventually leave the platform at some point. Since this is an upbeat "ballad", I would like to see a bit more movement because I'm not a huge fan of very static performances where the artist stands in one place for the duration of the song. An issue that I have with this song, it sound a bit like Loreen's Tattoo - last year's winning song. Some folks might pass Saba's Sand because folks may think Denmark is just trying to copy Sweden's win last year.

Germany 🇩🇪: Isaak -- Always on the Run

National Selection Performance - Das Deutsche Final 2024 (link ***)

Songwriters: Greg Taro, Isaak Guderian, Kevin Lehr, and Leo Salminen

Key: A#/Bb BPM: 110

 
 

What a soulful voice. The song has an over nice, feel good message, and Isaak's voice is pretty flawless. However, Germany will have to up the staging and Isaak's stage presence for this performance. To be honest, Isaak is dressed like he is rehearsing for his final performance for Das Deutsche Final. Unfortunately for Isaak, Germany is one of those countries that has to be twice as good to get the same credit in this contest. Although I like the song (and somewhat like the performance), I don't see this moving from the bottom five in the contest.

Moldavia 🇲🇩: Natalia Barbu -- In the Middle

National Selection Performance -Etapa Națională 2024 (link: ***)

Songwriters: Natalia Barbu, Khris Richards, and Natalia Barbu

Key: G#/Ab; BPM: 114 (hmm, it seemed little faster)

 
 

No surprise that Moldova is bringing something a bit different to this contest, but it's a good kind of different. For some reason, I find this song and performance very soothing. I think this might be due to its uniqueness in a field of many "loud" and "out there" performances. Actually, this performance might be out there a little bit. For instance, I'm not sure if the backup vocalists are supposed to move months while not actually singing. I hope it's not the case of the backup vocalists lipping the words, so they know when they are actually supposed to sing. The violin pieces gives this performance a cool low-vibe feel. OK, so I've never played violin, but it seems as if they (or some of them) need to rehearse a bit more. All of that said, Natalia and her crew have time to learn the words and rehearse playing the violin before going to Malmö in May.

Lithuania 🇱🇹: Silvester Belt -- Luktelk (Wait)

National Selection Performance - Eurovizija.LT (link: ***)

Songwriters: Džesika Šyvokaitė, Elena Jurgaitytė, and Silvestras Beltė

Key: B; BPM: 140

Nice little boop. With the first listen, I didn't really move me vocally, but I was bobbing my head to the song. Also, I can see it growing over the next couple of months. Silvester has a pretty relaxing vocal, but it comes off a little monotone for me. Ok, I know that prerecorded backing vocals are allowed in the contest, but I feel like he is relying on the backing vocals way too much. There were points in the song where the prerecorded backing vocals were louder than Silvester's vocals. Perhaps, that supposed to be the artistic effect.

Up Next:

That's it for now, let's see what the next batch of songs will bring. Looking at the national selection final calendar, it looks like the next batch of songs will include: Croatia 🇭🇷, Iceland 🇮🇸, San Marino 🇸🇲, and Belgium 🇧🇪.

 

Eurovision 2024 playlist:

 

Social Media Plug:

 
 
 

Eurovision 2023 Song Review: 4th Batch 🇨🇭🇲🇹🇷🇸🇳🇱🇩🇪🇸🇲

As I mentioned in a previous post, we are back for another season of Eurovision. As countries begin to select their songs, I’m going to do a brief recap of what I think about the ‘current’ songs. You can see my reason for this mode of attack in an earlier post (Link, ***)

For this recap, I’m going to chat about (in no particular order): Switzerland, Malta, Serbia, the Netherlands, Germany, and San Marino.

Current ranking:

 

SWITZERLAND🇨🇭: REMO FORRER — WATERGUN

Internal selection – Music Video (***)

 
 

I love how his deep vocal starts off the song. I thought it was going to be a super slow/depressing song, but it really picked up a bit as it progressed. Well, the lyrics are a bit depressing, but it’s not super slow and doesn’t make me want to fling myself out of my 2nd story window (phew). While he does a great job with singing Waterguns, the song itself leaves me wanting more. Perhaps, his staging will give me a bit more.

MALTA 🇲🇹: THE BUSKER — DANCE (OUR OWN PARTY)

National Selection Performance: Malta Eurovision Song Contest (***)

 
 

Ok, it already gets a couple of points because I do like the saxophone integration in the song. Because I’m cheesy, I think any song with a sax automatically will receive at least two hearts. ;) While I like the musical arrangement the most, I can see the lyrics and the vocals growing on me. I have to say that I wasn’t blown away by the song, which the exception of the saxophone (of course). Not sure if it’s me, but I would hope a song that mentions the word ‘dance’ so many times would be a bit more uptempo. Eh, oh well. Since the song is kind of mid-tempo, I probably would like it more if it had a bit more lyrical content. Buuuuut, who needs in-depth lyrics if you have great staging? Actually, instead of three hearts, I think this will be closer to 2.5 hearts for me. While it’s a decent package, I prefer the sax over the vocal.

SERBIA 🇷🇸: LUKE BLACK — SAMO MI SPAVA

National Selection Performance: Pesma Za Evrovizju (***)

 
 

Quick and random thought: Luke Black looks a bit like Ryan (BJ Novak) from the early seasons of The Office (when he didn’t have the beard).

 
 

Eh, maybe not, now that I’ve uploaded the side-by-side photos.

Ok, right off the bat, I know this song really isn’t my cup of tea. Right now, I do not think that I can really judge or rank the song because I think the staging will make or break it for me. However, it seems the folks on Twitter really liked this song and performance. Perhaps for this one, I need to rely on the ‘vision’ aspect of Eurovision to really appreciate the song.

THE NETHERLANDS 🇳🇱: MIA NICOLAI & DION COOPER — BURNING DAYLIGHT

Internal Selection: Music Video (***)

 
 

This is gonna bug me because this song sounds so familiar. Note: I’m not saying that they plagiarized the song, it just sounds like something that I’ve heard before, which tends to happen a bit in pop music. I’m really enjoying the slight vocal acrobats of Dion’s “I’m losing myself while chasing HIIIIIIIIIGHS”. He sings well, but I think Mia’s vocals really bring the song to light. Perhaps, it’s due to Mia singing the higher parts, which I guess would happen in a male-female duet. Since the Netherlands did well in last year’s contest with a song performed in Dutch, I’m surprised that they did not want to go with this option for this year’s contest.

GERMANY 🇩🇪: LORD OF THE LOST — BLOOD & GLITTER

Internal Selection – Music Video (***)

 
 

While I’m not a huge fan of heavy metal, I really like this one. Well . . . I hope it’s not because I just finished listening to the slow song from the Netherlands. Right off the bat, I really appreciated the lead singer’s voice. I dunno, there is something about the guttural tone that makes me want to pay attention to a song . . . or even a person speaking. I guess this is a good problem for me to have because I keep going back and forth between three and four hearts. After listening to the song a good four times, I’ll stick with the four hearts rating. Although I haven’t seen the stage performance . . . yet, I really hope that it’s going to be weird (in a good way) AF.

SAN MARINO 🇸🇲: PIQUED JACKS — LIKE AN ANIMAL

National Selection Performance – Una Voce Per San Marino (***)

 
 

I might have to listen to this one again. Since the song is not on Spotify (Grrrrr), I listened to the version from San Marino’s national selection. For whatever reason, the sound quality from Una Voce Per San Marino is terrible, which is not the group’s fault. I was somewhat vibing to the song until the lead singer tried for those high notes near the end of the song – she knows the WAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYY. I’m glad that someone knows the way because I sure as hell don’t know the way. Like I said, I’ll give this one another listen once the studio version is released on Spotify. That said, once they clean up the sound quality for the studio version, I don’t think this song (like many of San Marino’s entries) will do very well in the contest even if the group is in the second semifinal. Pretty much the fandom (including myself) has considered the second semifinal the weaker of the two.

 

Social Media Plug:

 
 
 

kosjrphd

(deactivated until Easter)

 

Eurovision (ESC) Thursday - ESC22 Then & Now - Part 1

I figured that I would do a comparison of what I thought about the songs when they were first released and what I think about the songs now since we are about 1.5 weeks away from the big day. Keep in mind for my “now”, I’m factoring in several things – preparty performances, general personality, and of course the song.

Since there are 40 countries competing in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, I’m breaking this topic down into two parts. Here’s the first half of the list in alphabetical order by country.

ALBANIA – RONELA – “SEKRET”

 
 

OMG, she pretty much embodies everything that makes Eurovision great. I would even say that is the most well-rounded artist in the contest. If there was some sort of Miss Congeniality award for Eurovision, she would be my top choice.

ARMENIA – ROSA LINN – “SNAP”

 
 

AUSTRALIA – SHELDON RILEY – “NOT THE SAME”

 
 

I’m not really sure why, but Sheldon lost power with me over the past couple of months.

AUSTRIA – LUM!X & PIA MARIA – “HALO”

 
 

Kind of like the song, but I was kind of surprised that Pia Maria’s live vocals were not as strong as they were on the studio version (I guess this happens frequently). My three stars are pretty much based on the song along because it’s one of those songs that will get you dancing or bopping your head at least.

AZERBAIJAN – NADIR RUSTAMLI – “FADE TO BLACK”

 
 

I will admit that I originally thought this song was a snoozefest. Like I said earlier, I think I was all Eurovisioned out by the time Azerbaijan released this song. That said, the song has grown on me and Nadir seems like a fun individual to hang with. In some ways, he reminds me a little bit of someone I used to date . . . even down to his “gingerness”

BELGIUM – JÉRÉMIE MAKIESE – “MISS YOU”

 
 

I think he is one of the strongest male vocalists in the contest, and I am a fan of the strong R&B vibe of the song. That said, I do not know much about him. He hasn’t been as active as other performers so it’s tough to get a sense of who he is. I wonder if it’s an English language thing for him. For instance, I’m not sure if he feels comfortable enough with the English language to put himself out there in these ESC streets. I fear that this might hurt him in the contest. But then again, most ESC viewers do not really pay attention to the contest until semi and final week.

BULGARIA – INTELLIGENT MUSIC PROJECT

 
 

I have to admit, I think that I let the public opinion influence my original thoughts about the song. While the song is a bit dated, I do not think it’s THAT bad of a song. Actually, the song has made it onto a couple of my running playlists.

CROATIA – MIA DIMŠIĆ – “GUILTY PLEASURE”

 
 

Eh, my opinion has not really changed too much.

CYPRUS – ANDROMACHE – “ELA”

 
 

Another case of loving the song but not knowing much about the artist. It seems like she is not too invested in ESC2022, which is fine. I assume that some artists would rather focus on themselves, their songs, their staging, etc during the weeks leading to Eurovision. She had a couple of interviews that gave me a bit of an “oh that’s weird” vibe. In an interview, she was asked about Greece’s ESC2022 song, and she said that she hadn’t heard it. As most know, Greece and Cyprus are pretty much cousins in this contest because they tend to give each other high points. Also, she (like most folks from Cyprus) is Greek. I dunno, but it seems strange that she (at this point) has not heard the Greek song. In another interview, she was asked if she’d be willing to do a collaboration with Chanel (Spain). This question was asked because a lot of folks from Spain like her song. And she responded that she did not know who Chanel is. I’m not mad that she does not know Chanel. BUT, for ESC2022, if you were to ask someone to name five artists from this batch, most folks would say (in no particular order) – Chanel (Spain), Ronela (Albania), Mahmmod & BLANCO (Italy), Ochman (Poland), and Sam Ryder (the UK). So it’s kind of strange that she responded in that manner. Then again, maybe she meant more of an I do not know her personally as opposed to not knowing who she is.

CZECH REPUBLIC – WE ARE DOMI – “LIGHTS OFF”

 
 

Going into the season this was one of my top songs. After seeing the group’s performances in the preparties, I was surprised by the weak vocals compared to the studio version and the Czech Republic’s national selection. Ok, the five preparties’ venues had a lot of issues with sound and technical difficulties. That said, other performers did fine with the same difficulties.

DENMARK – REDDI – “THE SHOW”

 
 

ESTONIA – STEFAN – “HOPE”

 
 

I still really like the song and the performer. While this song was released early in the national selection season, it pretty much has stayed in my top ten since it was released.

FINLAND – THE RASMUS – “JEZEBEL”

 
 

Right now, the song just really does not do much for me, but maybe that will change once I see the band on stage. I will say that out of all of the national finals, this band had the best LED staging.

FRANCE – ALVAN & AHEZ – “FULENN”

 
 

After viewing France’s national selection, this group was one of my tops. However, the group’s performances during the preparties leading up to ESC2022 week have been less than stellar. In my opinion, Alvan (one artist) and Ahez (a female trio) have not been really cohesive in some of their live performances. For instance, it sounds like they are singing two to three different songs even though they are now one group. While I like the song, I feel that the women in Ahez do not have a commanding stage presence, which is a huge contrast while looking at Alvan jumping all around the stage.

GERMANY – MALIK HARRIS – “ROCKSTARS”

 
 

This one has lost a bit of power for me. The other day, I was thinking about the songs from the Big 5 (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UK) and completely forgot about Germany’s entry. Like, I actually had to think very hard to remember the song and the artist. While the other members of the Big 5 put up strong entries this year, I think Germany is the weakest of the group. Since Germany is part of the Big 5, Malik will automatically qualify for the final; however, I do not see a strong finish for him. At the end of the day, I’m not sure that Rockstars is a good song for Eurovision, but I have a feeling that it will make it into some of my chillin’ at home playlists.

GREECE – AMANDA TENFJORD – “DIE TOGETHER”

 
 

I have no words that reflect how much I enjoy listening to this song.

ICELAND – SYSTUR – “MEÐ HÆKKANDI SÓL”

 
 

This trio definitely has grown one me over the past couple of months. While it might be a long shot, I really hope that they will qualify for the final. I wonder if they plan to include some English in this song as a way to connect to a larger audience.

IRELAND – BROOKE SCULLION – “THAT’S RICH”

 
 

Originally, this song was not my cup of tea (actually, it’s still not my cup of tea). However, I am quite impressed that Brooke’s vocals (and performances) have drastically improved over the past couple of months. Depending on her staging, I think the song might have a shot at qualifying. LOL moment for Brooke (maybe now it’s an LOL moment). When traveling from Ireland to Spain for one of the preparties, she lost her passport and had trouble entering the country. There’s video of officials in Spain’s border control office viewing her videos as a form of identifying her.

ISRAEL – MICHAEL BEN DAVID – “I.M”

 
 

Actually, I think my rating now would be a 2.5, but I guess that I gotta round up. The song just does not work for me as much as it did when was first released. However, word on the ESC streets has been saying that his rehearsal staging is really good and elevates his song and performance.

My Complete Rankings