The Eurovision with Greta Thunberg’s momma and Dita von Teese.
Preface:
Since we are more or less in the quiet season, I can soothe my Eurovision itch by watching some of the previous contests. Since I’m at my computer all day and my workstation has three monitors, I figure that I could devote one monitor to ESCs while working on the other two. Yes, I know there is a Junior Eurovision, but I’m not a huge fan of children-based competitions.
Eurovision 2009 – ???
Unfortunately, there was no slogan for this year’s content, which is kind of weird. No one could not come up with a meaningless phase? With Dima Bilan’s win with his song Believe, Moscow had the pleasure of hosting ESC2009.
Although there were a few flubs with the show’s production, I think the Russians did a great job with the contest.
What Europe Thought
What Kwame Thought
In terms of countries that were on the left side of our scoreboards, it looks like Europe and I agreed on only five songs/countries (Turkey, the UK, Estonia, Norway, Azerbaijan, and Armenia). Although Turkey was my personal winner, Denmark (the actual winner) was my second place.
MY PERSONAL WINNER: HADISE – “DÜM TEK TEK” (TURKEY)
I don’t know, but there is something about this bop that makes me want to get up and shake my ass and attempt to belly dance. Ok, so there was not much with this song in terms of lyrics, but it was good ol fun. Perhaps, Turkey will return to the contest one of these days.
THE ACTUAL WINNER: ALEXANDER RYBAK – “FAIRYTALE” (NORWAY)
Random Thoughts:
SORAYA – “LA NOCHE ES PARA MÍ” (SPAIN)
Normally, I do not say this about performers in this contest, but Soraya definitely was robbed.
This performance definitely did not deserve to come second to last place. I mean the performance had it all – above-average vocals, decent dancing, energy, and even magic. Also, girlfriend worked pretty much the entire stage. When I saw the results for ESC2009, I was shocked by Spain’s place in the contest. I thought that I was looking at the wrong results or mixed up the flags. I wonder who Spain pissed off during that year.
MALENA ERNMAN – “LA VOIX” (SWEDEN)
Who knew that Greta Thunberg’s momma was an opera singer? I didn’t..
I’ve always said that I would love to see more opera (or rather a hybrid of opera and pop) songs in the contest. While this was something a bit different, I can kind of understand why this performance did not do so well in the contest (21st out of 26). She sounded beautiful while hitting the higher notes during singing the “opera parts”, but she sounded a bit breathy and off during the “pop parts” of the song. That said, I still listen to the studio version quite frequently. Now that I think about it, I might have placed her a bit higher in my rankings due to the studio version of the song.
NELLY CIOBANU – “HORA DIN” (MOLDOVA)
Man oh man, this performance was jammed packed with energy. It’s such as shame that the song is not available on Spotify.
JADE EWEN – “IT’S MY TIME” (UNITED KINGDOM)
I absolutely love this song and can listen to it 24-7
It’s no secret that the UK normally does not do well in this contest, so I was quite shocked in a good way that the performance came in 5th. Actually, I’m still surprised. The first time I saw the performance, I thought it was going to be over when she was accidentally hit by one of the violinists (T=1:22), but girlfriend powered through.
ALEX SWINGS OSCAR SINGS! – “MISS KISS KISS BANG” (GERMANY)
QUICK THOUGHTS ABOUT THE REST OF THE PERFORMANCES
Lithuania – I don’t even remember this performance, but I liked his outfit . . . so simple and elegant.
Israel – I kind of liked it and duo’s voices complement each other, but I felt the performance lacked something.
France – Um no, but I’m the odd man out because it seemed that a LOT of people loved this performance, and she landed in the top 10.
Sweden – Already mentioned above.
Croatia – Dude has very strong vocals. Not sure that he even needed Andrea. ;’)
Portugal – Not a sad depressing song from them for once. Yay! It’s kind of funny that the folks playing the instruments seemed to be more into the song than the singer.
Iceland – Super general, but pretty decent vocals.
Greece – I think he might be a little too old for this type of song. That said, he is nice on the eyes.
Armenia – I do like a nice ethnic boop
Russia – Took some time for me to warm up to the song, but the screaming seemed a little random (perhaps, it’s a cultural thing). I did love her voice when she sang in her low register.
Azerbaijan – Decent and fun ethnic bop, which I love from certain countries.
Bosnia & Herzegovina – This one really did not connect to me. Wait, I wonder why I put this one in 16th place. Oh never mind. I see it was sandwiched between two songs that I really liked.
Moldova – Already mentioned above.
Malta – I like the song, but the performance needed a bit more ummmphhh. Especially coming right after Moldova’s energetic performance
Estonia – I was kind of bored with the first listen, but the song really has grown on me.
Denmark – Pretty generic.
Germany – Already mentioned above.
Turkey – Already mentioned.
Albania – Eh. Actually, I don’t get it.
Norway – Already mentioned above.
Ukraine – Nothing too great for me. Kinda a bunch of scream-singing and randomness for me. However, her dancers were pretty hot.
Romania – A nice fun poppy song.
The UK – Already mentioned.
Finland – Too much going on and a hot mess.
Spain – Robbed; mentioned above.
Next up: Eurovision 2006
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