Eurovision 2024 - 2nd 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): Norway 🇳🇴, Malta 🇲🇹, Spain 🇪🇸, Ukraine 🇺🇦, Italy 🇮🇹, and Finland 🇫🇮.

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:

Norway 🇳🇴: Gåte -- Ulveham (Wolf skin)

National Selection Performance - Melodi Grand Prix (link: ***)

Songwriters: Gunnhild Sundli, Jon Even Schärer, Magnus Børmark, Marit Jensen Lillebuen, Ronny Graff Janssen & Sveinung Eklo Sundli

Key: B; BPM: 130

 
 

Ohh. The lighting and the general aesthetic of the staging are kind of cool. Ohhh (again) a song that is in Norwegian YAY! So far, I'm really enjoying the staging. Wow! The lead singer is an AMAZING vocalist, and I could listen to her all day. Although I'm getting a little vertigo with the rotating camera work, I'm living for this. Overall, I like the song, but I wish there was another verse because it seems like she is pretty much doing vocal runs for 1-1.5 minutes. Then again, I do like a nice vocal run. ;)

Ok on to the next.

Malta 🇲🇹: Sarah Bonnici -- Loop

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

Songwriters: Kevin Lee, Leire Gotxi Angel, Michael Joe Cini, Sarah Bonnici, and Sebastian Pritchard-James

 
 

Ok, I don't like it, but I don't hate it. Actually, let me clarify. I think this song and performance has GREAT potential, but Sarah has to work on her vocals and dancing because I heard a few vocal cracks during this performance. To be perfectly honest, I'm drawn more to her backup dancers than to her, because they are on point. Also, I think Malta needs to switch up the choreography a bit because there are quite a few similarities to Chanel's (Spain 2022) and Noa Kirel's (Israel 2023) performances and costumes. While there are similarities, Sarah is not as good in terms of singing AND dancing as Chanel and Noa. Originally, this started out with 3, but I think I'm gonna have to drop it down to a 2. Unless, DRASTIC changes are made, I don't see this qualifying to the grand final especially since Malta already has a rough time qualifying with limited voting partnering countries in this contest.

Speaking of Spain...

Spain 🇪🇸: Nebulossa -- Zorra (Slut or Fox)

National Selection Performance - Benidorm Fest 2024 (***)

Songwriters: María Bas and Mark Dasousa

Key: A minor; BPM: 130

 
 

Um, I'm very conflicted about this one. Ok, for one, I'm digging the 80s sound because I'm always down for a synthesizer. Also, I love how she starts the song off by telling us she's a bitch: ya sé que soy solo una zorra (I know that I'm only a bitch). These something empowering about an older woman singing/calling herself a bitch/slut. That said, the song ends with the following: Y esa zorra que tanto temías se fue empoderando. Y ahora es una zorra de poѕtаl (And that bitch/slut that you greatly feared was powerful and is now a perfect bitch/slut). I have a feeling that this song will grow on my over the next couple of months. Mainly because the Spanish husband has been singing it multiple times a day. Performance wise, I think there is some potential; however, the lead singer's vocals are VERY weak, and she really doesn't do much in the performance. However (again), judging by the crowd singing loudly along with the song, I guess the vocals do not not matter very much. I have a feeling that this song going to be divisive because folks will either LOVE it or HATE it. Since the song has landed in Spotify's Top 50 Global Viral Tracks list, clearly there is something there that I'm missing. Maybe I'll find out what it is over the next few months.

Ukraine 🇺🇦: alyona alyona & Jerry Heil -- Teresa & Maria

National Selection Performance - Vidbir 2024 (link ***)

Songwriters: alyona alyona, Anton Chilibi, Ivan Klymenko, and Jerry Heil

Key: G minor; BPM: 114

 
 

Ok, I'm bopping my head. The beat is nice, and Jerry's vocals are so soothie. Ugh, I already know that i'm not a fan of Aloyna's rap. Isn't this the 3rd year in a row that Ukraine has sent a song with rap/spoken word? Eh, I guess if it ain't broke then you don't need to fix it. While the spoken word/rap part is not my cup of tea, I think it does elevate the song by giving it a bit of contrast with Jerry Heil's amazing vocals. Although the song doesn't 100% work for me, it definitely will qualify and probably land in the top 10. At his point in ESC history, Ukraine is definitely is a top dog in this contest.

On to another strong contender in ESC.

Italy 🇮🇹: Angelina Mango -- La Noia (The Boredom)

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

Songwriters: Angelia Mango, Dario Faini, and Francesca Calearo

Key: D minor; BPM: 114 (hmm, it seemed little faster)

 
 

What?!!! Italy is sending a woman to Eurovision.The last time Italy sent a woman to Eurovision was back in 2016. Ok, the song is kinda meh for me. I'm can groove to the song because of the Latin-esque vibes, but nothing is really making press the repeat button. For me, I think the Italian delegation will have to add more (e.g., a few dancers) to this performance for a little more umph. Song aside, the Sanremo's stage and lighting are beautiful. Vocally, I think Angelia is fine (although she was a bit breathy). Then again, maybe Angelia was going for the breathy effect. Even as is, this song will do pretty well in ESC because Italy is one of those countries that can do not do wrong in the contest.

Finland 🇫🇮 : Windows95man -- No Rules

National Selection Performance - Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu (link: ***)

Songwriters: Henri Piispanen, Jussi Roine, Teemu Keisteri

Key: B; BPM: 160

What the hell? It has a nice groovy beat and an uplifting message. Although my first impression is a bit negative, I can kinda see the song (not the performance) growing on me. For me, the performance is a bit too erratic. Also, I think the song is kind of mid, so they are upping the shock value with their costumes and staging. But hey, if you cannot do this sort of stuff at Eurovision, where can you do it? Question: Since Eurovision does not allow product placement in its performances, will Windows95man be able to wear his Windows 95 T-shirt on stage.

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: Germany 🇩🇪, Moldova 🇲🇩, Estonia 🇪🇪, Denmark 🇩🇰, and Lithuania 🇱🇹.

 

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 2

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 second half of the list in alphabetical order by country.

LATVIA – CITI ZENI – “EAT YOUR SALAD”

 
 

The guys from Citi Zeni pretty much have stayed the same for me throughout this crazy ESC2022 season.

LITHUANIA – MONIKA LIU – “SENTIMENTAI”

 
 

I gotta say that Monika is an entire vibe, and I’m such a huge fan of her song and her personality.

MALTA – EMMA MUSCAT – “OUT OF SIGHT” “I AM WHAT I AM”

 
 

Malta did a little switcheroo on us. They released one song but decided to change its entry later in the national selection season. While that’s not against the rules, it did rub some folks the wrong way. If it is part of the rules, I cannot fault Malta for taking advantage of this loophole. Although this song isn’t a huge improvement compared to the first one originally submitted, I do like this song a bit more than the first one.

MOLDOVA – ZDOB ȘI ZDUB & FRAȚII ADVAHOV – “TRENULEŢUL”

 
 

Looking back, I may have given Moldova too low of a score – that’s why this entry is Then and Now. While I’m not a huge fan of the revamp, this song still puts a smile on my face. Oh, I’m not too huge of a fan of the revamp because I think they made it too “rocky” at the expense of the folk sound.

MONTENEGRO – VLADANA – “BREATHE”

 
 

Throughout this season, Vladana has been delivering the fashions. Seeing what she was going to wear to the preparties was one of the reasons why I followed the preparties. Unfortunately, the vocal did not really match all of the fashions that she was delivering.

NETHERLANDS – S10 – “DE DIEPTE”

 
 

I will be honest that I pretty much skipped this song early in the season, but it really grew on me. For instance, as I type this, I’m singing “OOOOOHHHH oOOOHHHH AAAAH AAAHH something, something, something in Dutch” in my head. The unexpected is one of the things that I like about Eurovision. A song in a language besides English or Spanish that I would normally ignore has become one of my top songs for the year. In addition to a strong song, I have to give S10 so many props (or as the kids say her flowers) for overcoming so many obstacles just to get this to this point.

NORTH MACEDONIA – ANDREA – “CIRCLES”

 
 

Andrea’s song started off really strong for me, but it lost that spark over the season. Compared to other artists this year, I feel that she lacks a certain stage presence when performing this particular song. However, I am a bit conflicted because I LOVE the personality that she has displayed during interviews.

NORWAY – SUBWOOLFER – “GIVE THAT WOLF A BANANA”

 
 

The jump from three stars to five stars is primarily based on the group’s personality. For example, the group has made parodies (in a good, friendly way) of most of the other songs/videos for this year’s contest. Honestly, I look forward to seeing what randomness they are going to post on Instagram. They seem like the type of folks whom you want on your party’s or brunch’s guest list. While the group has not revealed their identities, I (as well as others in the fandom) think they are Ylvis. The duo that had that somewhat popular “Fox” song from a few years ago. A few reasons for this assumption:

  • They are both from Norway and on the same record label

  • The costumes imitating animals

  • Dancers wearing ties

  • Special choreography

  • Since Subwoolfer is from the Moon (for ESC2022 at least), they do not speak and have a “translator” do their interviews. I think this is clearly a decoy to throw off folks who might recognize their speaking voices.

POLAND – KRYSTIAN OCHMAN – “RIVER”

 
 

This song pretty much has stayed in my top 5 through this Eurovision season.

PORTUGAL – MARO – “SAUDADE SAUDADE”

 
 

I really tried, but I just could not get into this song even after multiple listens. My one-star does not mean the song is bad; it just means (for whatever reason) the song just doesn’t resonate with me.

ROMANIA – WRS – “LLÁMAME”

 
 

Boy oh boy. This song is such an earworm. Like I’m actually singing Hola, mi be-bé-bé. {HEY} Hola, mi be-bé-bé. {HEY} Llámame, llámame. I dunno why, but this song always seems to put a smile or a smirk on my face. For me, the huge jump in stars is less about the song and more about the artist, Wrs. While he seems quite eccentric, he also seems to be quite down to earth with a super chill vibe. If Eurovision gave out a Mr. Congeniality award, Wrs would be my top candidate for ESC2022. Although Wrs is going to be in a tough semifinal round, I really hope that he qualifies to the grand final.

SAN MARINO – ACHILLE LAURO – “STRIPPER”

 
 

I might have unfairly judged this one. No, I take that back. I think that I judged it fairly based on Achille’s performance during San Marino’s national selection. However, over time the artist and the song really grew on me. Also, I kind of like the mystery behind Achille. With his too cool-for-school demeanor, I’m like does he even want to be in Eurovision. I guess that’s the mystery behind him. You know, do not give them too much so they will always want more. Oh, I do think he wants to participate in Eurovision because he would not have competed in two separate national selections for the contest. After placing in the bottom half of Italy’s Sanremo festival, he decided to compete in San Marino’s national selection.

SERBIA – KONSTRAKTA – “IN CORPORE SANO”

 
 

This has been one of my favorite songs and performers throughout ESC2022 season. No one had better say anything bad about Konstrakta.

SLOVENIA – LPS – “DISKO”

 
 

Last Pizza Slice (or LPS) gained a little power with me. While I am a fan of disco music, the song never resonated with me. However, there is one part of the song when the lead singer (I think his name is Philip) and the band really slows down the groove. I don’t know why but I absolutely love that part of the song. In fact, I mainly listen to the song because of that transition. Random LOL. Doesn’t the group look like bunch of high schoolers set up a band with their music teacher?

 

Photo courtesy of RTV SLOVENIA

 

SPAIN – CHANEL – “SLOMO”

 
 

What an amazing talent. While Chanel does not have the strongest vocals of the female performers in this year’s contest, her dancing and stage presence are undeniable. If she plays her cards right and has a good team, I’m sure that we will hear a lot from her in the future.

SWEDEN – CORNELIA JAKOBS – “HOLD ME CLOSER”

 
 

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

SWITZERLAND – MARIUS BEAR – “BOYS DO CRY”

 
 

Sorry Switzerland, but I just could not get into the singer or the song.

UKRAINE – KALUSH ORCHESTRA – “STEFANIA”

 
 

This is complicated because Ukraine originally was sending Alina Pash as its representative. However, she had to withdraw after it was discovered that she illegally traveled to Crimea, which is a no no for Ukrainian citizens. Since Kalush Orchestra came in second place for the national selection, they became the Ukrainian candidates for ESC2022. I’m sorry but the song does not really work for me. Actually, I take that back. The rapper does not really work for me. Since anything related to Ukraine is clearly a touchy subject, I’ll just leave my comments there.

THE UK – SAM RYDER – “SPACE MAN”

 
 

While Poland is my favorite to win, I think Sam is going to bring the Eurovision microphone trophy back to the UK after many, Many, MANY years. My only concern with his song during my original review was with hitting those high notes live. At the time of the review, I only commented on the music video. I gotta say that he delivered those high notes at every single preparty. Also, I have seen some clips of his rehearsals for Eurovision and the staging is probably one of the best stagings that I have seen in the few years of watching Eurovision. The BBC really invested quite a bit of pounds in this artist, and I think the UK will be extremely pleased with his results. I’m going to say this right now, but you know there is some geopolitical crap going on if Sam does not finish in the top 10 overall and in the top five for the national juries vote.

My Complete Rankings