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 - 3rd 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 (

For this recap, I’m going to chat about (in no particular order): Finland 🇫🇮, Poland 🇵🇱, France 🇫🇷, Australia 🇦🇺, and Lithuania 🇱🇹.

Current ranking:

 

FINLAND 🇫🇮: KÄÄRIJÄ — CHA CHA CHA

National Selection Performance – Uuden Musiikin Kipailu (***)

 
 

Nine times out of ten, we can say that Finland will bring something interesting and unique to the contest. Whether you like it is a completely different question. To be frank, I had to listen to this song a couple of times to get it . . . and I still don’t think that I get it. That said, it definitely sounds like a party anthem. Since I ‘cheated’ by reading the Finish to English translation and saw the national final performance, my original assessment was correct. Hey, I managed to figure out that he was talking about pina coladas in the song without looking at the lyrics. Random thought: this song seems it should be driven by a tequila- and/or whiskey-inspired beverage rather than a pina colada. While I gave this one 3 hearts, I have a feeling that it will grow on me, and I will enjoy the updated staging come ESC2023 week.

AUSTRALIA 🇦🇺: VOYAGER — PROMISE

Music video (***)

 
 

Let’s take a voyage to the 80s. While I don’t like to give one-heart ratings for the first listen. At this point, the song really doesn’t do anything for me. I’m not saying that it’s a bad song, but there was nothing in it that made me want to hit the ‘play again’ button. Austrailia’s selection for this year is a bit interesting because I normally like its ESC songs . . . even the ones that are disliked by the fandom. Perhaps, Voyager will have some AMAZING staging, but as of now. I don’t see this bad boy qualifying.

FRANCE 🇫🇷: LA ZARRA — EVIDEMMENT

Music Video (***)

 
 

Lol, I’m going to be E-vi-de-mment’ing for the next three hours. I’m really feeling this song, and think it will be a great hit in this contest. I just really hope that her vocals are in line with the studio version. For instance, I really loved Andromache’s Ela from last year’s contest, but we all know how it sounded in real life. There’s something with the low-key vibe, with the 70s/80s bassline sound that really hits me in a fun place. The only small thing: I wish she had a more powerful note at the song’s climax about three-fourths into the song. Perhaps, La Zarra is saving that for the actual contest. You know, you don’t want to give the people too much before the contest.

POLAND 🇵🇱: BLANKA — SOLO

National Selection Performance – Tu bije serce Europy! Wybieramy hit na Eurowizję (*** – unfortunately, this isn’t available to view in the States)

 
 

Hmmmm. I wonder why Eurovision World does not have Blanka’s picture with the Eurovision heart design. Perhaps, there is some drama around Poland’s selection process in which Blanka won (of course, that depends on whom you ask). I’m sorry, but this song doesn’t do a whole lot for me. The song does not have any great lyrics, which is not a huge deal breaker for me. However, if the lyrical content is a bit weak, I expect strong vocals or a certain uniqueness that will make me wanna hit play again. Actually, on the 1st listen, I gave it two hearts, now I’m going to move down a notch. Hopefully, the staging will be amazing so the song will grow on me. After Poland took a decent song and ruined it with the staging in last year’s contest, I’m not 100% optimistic about this year’s staging or placement.

LITHUANIA 🇱🇹: MONIKA LINKYTE — STAY

National Selection Performance – Pabandom Is Naujo (***)

 
 

LOL didn’t Lithuania send a Monika to the contest last year? 😉 First, I love the mix of English and Lithuanian in the song, so that already scored a few extra points for me. I wish more countries that send songs in English would incorporate some of their official language(s) into the songs. Overall, I love Monika’s powerful yet fragile voice because you really get a sense that she is going through something. Ok, so the lyrics pretty much say that. However, it’s one thing to sing words and another to EMOTE. I think she does a great job in emoting the meaning of the song. Also, the song’s lyrics really resonate with me, especially this part: I took it all on myself. I asked for nobody’s help. I had to taste it and embrace it. All the bitterness of failure to find myself within me. Just stay with me. My heart is bleeding. I need your healing, and wait for me. Well, it ain’t easy to love someone like me.

After this quick review, I decided to cheat and check out her performance - I love the song even more. I’m quite surprised (in a good way) that three out of her four backup singers are Black. I wasn’t expecting this from a country such as Lithuania since the African/African-decent population is around 0.01% (according to Wikipedia). If she keeps the same backup singers (which I hope she does), I really want the delegation to change the lighting a bit. Since the song is a bit melancholic, I can understand why there is minimal lighting. However, you cannot really see the Black backup singers, but one can see the sole White backup singer quite clearly. Other than that, I love every aspect of the song and hope it does well in the contest. I have a feeling this one will stay (pun intended) in my top 10.

 

Social Media Plug:

 
 
 

kosjrphd

(deactivated until Easter)

 

Eurovision 2023 - 2nd 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.

For this recap, I’m going to chat about (in no particular order): Italy🇮🇹, Estonia🇪🇪, Romania🇷🇴, Croatia🇭🇷, Denmark🇩🇰, and Latvia🇱🇻.

This year, I’m going to do things a bit differently as we move through the national selection season:

  1. Review songs in batches of 7 or 8 rather than doing a country-by-country recap.

  2. These reviews primarily are going to be about the song rather than the complete package.

  3. I’m only going to watch the national selection final (or internal selection) once or twice.

  4. I’m not going to 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 (I guess this would fall under the Reason 3 category)? Reason 4: I don’t want to get tired of the songs before the contest. Last year, I noticed that I was pretty much over the songs that were released early in the national final (January/February) season by April.

Like always, I’ll use my cheezy Eurovision meter to describe the songs.

In last week’s post, I did mention my rankings with the ‘current’ songs. I have to say that I’m getting a little worried because I don’t think there are many songs that will move from my Eurovision playlist to my general and running playlists. I’m keeping hope alive because we still have quite a few songs that are going to be released in March.

 
 

ITALY 🇮🇹: MARCO MENGONI — DUE VITE

National Selection Performance – Sanremo (***)

 
 

LOL. It’s the 10-Year Challenge: Eurovision edition because Marco competed in Eurovision 2013 and came in 7th place. What do you think, with or without the beard?

 
 

Overall, I really enjoy this song and think that it will do very well in the contest . . . even though we are still waiting for the release of 17 or so more songs. 😉 While Italy tends to send songs that are well-received by the public, his voice really kept me engaged with the song from start to finish. In most cases, I think Italy does well in the contest because Italian sounds so melodic (if that’s the correct term).

ESTONIA 🇪🇪: ALIKA — BRIDGES

National Selection Performance – EESTI LAUL (***)

 
 

OMG, I’m really feeling this song. Right off the bat, I love when women sing in a lower register, which she nails, and her vocal range is impressive. I think this will be a grower for me because I do like the message of the song and her vocal prowess is the icing on the cake. I could see myself liking it more with additional listens especially once the song picks up the pace at 1:40.

Romania 🇷🇴: Theodor andrei -- D.G.T. (off and on)

National Selection Performance – Selectiva Nationala (***)

 
 

I think I can rock with this based purely on the song and his vocal even if it’s a little different than my typical type of song.

CROATIA 🇭🇷: LET 3 MAMA ŠČ!

National Selection Performance – Dora (***)

 
 

My graphic doesn’t accurately reflect my feeling about the song, because you definitely will not fall asleep while listening to the song. In general, I kind of like the song, BUT there is WAAAAYYYY too much going on in the song – it’s like five or six songs in one. Even though there is a lot going on in the song musically, the song is very repetitive structurally (not necessarily a bad thing). Hey, I guess the group really wants to drive home the song’s message. However, I’m sure there are a lot of Croatian cultural references embedded in the song that I’m unaware of. While I have seen the national selection performance, I’m quite sure that it’s gonna be a unique experience on the ESC stage that will either make me want to watch it again and again or will make me want to give myself a lobotomy with a corkscrew.

DENMARK🇩🇰: REILEY -- BREAKING MY HEART

National Selection Performance – Melodi Grand Prix (***)

 
 

Soapbox moment: I really think the contest should go back to one where all vocals must be 100% live. Since 2021, Eurovision has allowed performers to use pre-recorded tracks, which was understandable because of the pandemic. Now, we are getting to a point where some artists might use these pre-recorded vocals to artificially enhance their vocals. *Maybe artificially and enhance are the wrong words.* While I’m sure Reily is singing in his natural voice during the verses, I don’t know what the hell is going on with the chorus – is it a vocoder, autotune, or something else? Eh, it is what it is. Yes, I get that it’s a song, not a vocal contest. In my opinion, the use of 100% live vocals was one of the things that it unique. Oh, back to this song. I’ll have to wait to see how this is performed on the Eurovision stage, before really commenting.

LATVIA 🇱🇻: AIJĀ -- SUDDEN LIGHTS

National Selection Performance – Supernova (***)

 
 

Only basing this brief review on the song, I’m sorry but this one does absolutely nothing for me. I guess I kinda like it when the song ramps/speeds up and ends on a slow note.

 

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kosjrphd (deactivated until Easter)