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.

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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.

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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