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: 5th 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): Iceland, Moldova, Cyprus, Austria, Israel, and the UK.

Current ranking:

 

ICELAND 🇮🇸: DILJÁ — POWER

National Selection Performance: Songvakeppnin (***)

 
 

“Pa-Pa-POOOWER over me” I have to admit that I wasn’t expecting something like this from Iceland. I think that I prefer the chorus over the verses. I’ll say one thing: Dilja can really sing. Looking forward to seeing this on ESC2023’s stage.

MOLDOVA 🇲🇩: PASHA PARFENY — SOARELE ȘI LUNA

National Selection Performance: Etapa Nationala (***)

 
 

Ok, on to the song. While I’m not enthusiastic about the song, I do like it; however, I’m not really sure why. In his case, I feel like his backing vocalists do most of the heavy lifting in the song. Well . . . maybe that’s the point.

CYPRUS 🇨🇾: ANDREW LAMBROU — BREAK A BROKEN HEART

Internal Selection: Music Video (***)

 
 

Normally, I like these types of pop-R&B songs, but this one really doesn’t it for me. However, I cannot put my finger on why it doesn’t work for me. I don’t hate it, but I think that I will need some time for this one to grow on me. Andrew tried to compete for Australia in last year’s contest but didn’t make it. So this year, he will represent his motherland of Cyprus. At least, we know if he makes it to the final that he will receive 12 points from Greece AND Australia. Smart move.

AUSTRIA 🇦🇹: TEYA & SALENA — WHO THE HELL IS EDGAR?

Internal Selection: Music Video (***)

 
 

It’s a bop for me. However, I think it’s one of those songs that I’ll probably never listen to after Eurovision.

ISRAEL 🇮🇱: NOA KIREL — UNICORN

Internal Selection – Music Video (***)

 
 

I think Noa was one of the most anticipated artists from the very beginning of the ESC2023 season because 1) she’s an established artist (kind of the likes of Rosalia) and 2) Israel was planning to put up $900K – $1M for her package. While this is a typical pop-dance song, I can see the potential for the staging and performance. You just know that there is going to be a dance break in the performance. How do I know this? Because she says “Do you wanna see me dance” 80 thousand times in the song. Actually, she says it only three times. My conversation with Noa:

  • Noa: Do you wanna see me dance?

  • Me: Eh.

  • Noa: Do you wanna see me dance?

  • Me: I guess

  • Noa: Do you wanna see me dance?

  • Me: Well hurry up and do that damn dance.

  • Noa: *Does the dance*

  • Me: Final-damn-ly.

THE UK 🇬🇧: MAE MULLER — I WROTE A SONG

Internal Selection – Music Video (***)

 
 

Hmmm, it’s giving me Dua Lipa vibes, which isn’t a bad thing. It’s very earwormy for me because I’ll be singing “Instead I wrote a song da da da da dai-iii” probably for the remainder of the night. I really hope she has amazing staging, great dancing, and powerful vocals because I can see this one getting lost in the mix. Since the UK has not had a great history in this contest, I hope a lot is done to convince folks that Sam Ryder’s 2nd place finish was not a fluke . . . this advice also goes for Spain this year.

 

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