Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) – 30 Days of ESC

Preface:

Over the past 30 days, I have been doing this 30 Day of Eurovision challenge. Folks who follow me on Instagram probably have seen this challenge on my IG stories. For this challenge, participants had to make selections based on the daily topic.

Before I get into the nitty-gritty of the challenge:

Now that all of the songs have been selected and the Eurovision preparties, here are my top 10 (the rankings for all 40 songs are a the end of this entry. The preparties were an opportunity for the artists to perform their songs at various concerts. I believe there were five preparty concerts, which were held in Barcelona, London, Amsterdam, Tel Aviv, and Madrid.

Day 1. Best Central Europe: Poland – Ochman’s River (Youtube vid: ***). Originally, this went to the Czech Republic, but the WE ARE DOMI’s lead signer vocals have been pretty off during the preperties.

Day 2. Best Nordic: Sweden  – Cornelia Jakobs‘ Hold Me Closer  (Youtube vid: ***). At first, this song bugged the hell out of me (I think because of her vocal fry style of singing), but it has grown on me and is inching its way into my top 10.

Day 3. Best Pop Song: Spain  – Chanel’s Slo Mo  (Youtube vid: ***). I’m keeping my fingers crossed, but I think Chanel and her booty hypnotic will give Spain its best placement in a very long time. Random trivia: the main writer of the song originally wanted J Lo to record it, but she declined.

Day 4. Best Non-European: I guess this one is between Israel and Australia, but I gave this spot to Israel’s  Michael Ben David’s I.M  (Youtube vid: ***). That said, I’m not a huge fan of either song.

Day 5. Best Western Europe: Spain  – Chanel’s Slo Mo (Youtube vid: ***).

Day 6. Best Ballad: Poland  – Ochman’s River (Youtube vid: ***).

Day 7. Best Male Vocal: Poland  – Ochman’s River (Youtube vid: ***). Since I’ve mentioned Poland a few times, my best male vocal runner-ups are Sam Ryder’s Space Man (the UK; Youtube vid: ***) and Jérémie Makiese’s Miss You (Belgium; Youtube vid: ***).

Day 8. Best Female Vocal: Greece  – Amanda Tenfjord’s Die Together  (Youtube vid: ***). Until recently, it was Montenegro’s  Breathe by Vladana; however, Vladana has had a couple of disappointing performances, and I’m not sure if she can really sing live.

Day 9. Best Caucus: Armenia  – Rosa Linn’s Snap  (Youtube vid: ***). While the music video reminds me of the movie, Up, this song a steadily crept into my top 15. I’m not a huge fan of the other songs from the Caucus countries (Azerbaijan and Georgia).

Day 10. Best National Song: N/A, because I did not watch all of the national finals.

Day 11. Best National Final: See Day 10.

Day 12. Your Last Place: Switzerland – Marius Bear’s Boys Do Cry  (Youtube vid: ***). I’m sorry, but this song does nothing for me. Actually, I take that back a bit. While the song is not horrible, it’s just not as good (IMO) as the other 39 songs. Of course, this all could change depending on how he performs the song during Eurovision week.

Day 13. Worst Vocal (man some of these categories are kind of mean): Georgia  – Circus Mircus’s Lock Me In  (Youtube vid: ***). Thinking about this, I don’t think the band has the worst vocal, but the song is not really my cup of tea.

Day 14. Best Lyrics: Sweden  – Cornelia Jakobs‘ Hold Me Closer  (Youtube vid: ***). As someone who has been in a relationship that he should not have been in, this song really hit home.

Day 15. Potential Shock Non Qualifier: Ukraine  – Kalush Orchestra’s Stefania  (Youtube vid: ***). While the song is not horrible, I think this group will receive a lot of sympathy votes . . . and I’ll leave it at that.

Day 16. Potential Shock Qualifier: Iceland  – Systur’s Með Hækkandi Sól  (Youtube vid: ***) While I love this song, the fact that it is a very slow ballad and will be sung in Icelandic may not resonate with ESC audiences. That said, I hope I’m wrong because I would love to see this group in the final. If they make it to the final, I have a feeling that they will be in the bottom five.

Day 17. Potential Dead Last: Bulgaria  – Intelligent Music Project’s Intention  (Youtube vid: ***). I gave the group this position because it seems as if 90% of the ESC fandom hates this song. To be perfectly honest, I do not think the song is THAT bad because it has made it onto a couple of my running playlists. However, I will agree with folks saying that the song is a bit generic and dated. Being that this song was the first released for the new ESC2022 season, I feel that a lot of folks wanted an amazing song to kick off Eurovision’s national section season.

Day 18. Potential Last in Final: Skipped because how can I pick who is going to be last in the final unless I know who is going to be in the final.

Day 19. Best Big Five: the UK  – Sam Ryder’s Space Man  (Youtube vid: ***). I will say that the Big Five really brought their A-game to Eurovision this year. Actually, I take that back. The Big Five with the exception of Germany brought their A-game; Germany brought their C minus-game. Remember the Big Five (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UK) are the countries that contribute the most financially to the contest.

Day 20. Potential Winner: Poland  – Ochman’s River  (Youtube vid: ***). Krystian’s vocals have been on point in the various pre Eurovision parties. While I think he is the best singer technically, I feel that he might have some issues connecting with the audience during his live performance.

Day 21. Biggest Disappointment: Georgia (again)  – Circus Mircus’ Lock Me In (Youtube vid: ***). While the song is not a huge disappointment, I think they were doing too much without really bringing anything to the table. A few reasons: A) This seems to be a group that tried to be secretive in order to gain more interest, but I think it’s backfiring; B) Releasing a “video” with a black screen as a sign of protest against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine (kind of weird because the group that’s representing Ukraine released a video for its song); and C) The video that they released was pretty lame.

Day 22. Biggest Surprise: Ukraine  – Alina Pash’s Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors  (Youtube vid: ***). The surprise was her withdrawal from the contest because she illegally traveled to Crimea a few years back, which is a no-no for Ukrainian citizens. To be perfectly honest, I think this song would have performed very well in the contest even without sympathy votes due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Since Alina had to withdraw, Kalush Orchestra took her spot because the group came in second place in Ukraine’s national final. Random thought: I wonder if the folks from Kalush Orchestra told some Ukrainian official about Alina’s travels to Crimea. 

Day 23. Opinion about the Logo: Um, I do not really have an opinion. Actually, I do have a couple of opinions. 1. Why is the sponsor’s branding just as large as the contest’s logo? 2. Did they get the inspiration for the contest’s logo from Efendi’s (Azerbaijan) staging for Mata Hari from last year’s contest?

Day 24. Best Eurovision Country: Based on historical data, I will have to go with Ireland because they have the most wins with seven victories. In fact, Ireland won the contest three years in a row back in the 90s. Not to be a complete hater, I think most of those wins can be attributed to the old rule that countries had to sing in one of their official languages, and Ireland always submitted songs in English. Not saying that a song sung in English will give a country a win, but I think songs in English and French definitely have a bit of an advantage (at least in the old days).

Day 25. Most Staging Potential: The UK  – Sam Ryder’s Space Man (Youtube vid: ***). Word on the ESC streets says that there is a massive staging plan for Ryder’s performance. In fact, his staging will have to travel by ship from the UK to continental Europe and by cargo truck to Turin, Italy.

Day 26. Best Native Language: Serbia  – Konstrakta’s In Corpore Sano  (Youtube vid: ***). You have Serbian and Latin in Eurovision. What more can you ask for? Well, maybe Azerbaijan sending a song in Azerbaijani ;). Word on the street is this will be the first time an ESC song will contain a verse in Latin.

Day 27: Best Band: Moldova  – Zdob şi Zdub & Advahov Brothers’ Trenuleţul  (Youtube vid: ***). Just because Moldova always brings something zany and fun. Also, I like the folk/polka/rock fusion aspect of the musical arrangement even if the lead singer sings the song like he’s calling BINGO numbers. There’s even a viral dance for the song (Youtube vid: ***).

Day 28. Worst National Final: N/A because I did not watch any of the finals.

Day 29. Best Solo Artist: Albania  – Ronela’s Sekret (Youtube vid: ***). This is a tough one because I did not want to make this selection purely on singing ability. That said, I gave this spot to Ronela because she seems to have it all as a performer – a decent vocal, a catchy/pop-friendly song, a great stage presence, a nice personality, and that “je ne sais quoi”. If Eurovision had a Miss/Mr. Congeniality award, I would be shocked if she did not win it.

Day 30. Your Winner: At this point, I guess that it is pretty clear that I hope this will go Poland – Ochman’s River.

My ranking for all 40 songs:

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Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) – My Growers

Preface:

Now, that we are ramping up to ESC2022 (I believe that we are less than 30 days away), I figure that I could quickly mention a few songs that have grown on me over the past few months (actually over the past few days/weeks). This is the first time that I’ve experienced growers before ESC because it is my first year following ESC during national selection season. In the past, I pretty much only listened to the songs during the semifinals and final rounds so my growers would happen after ESC. It’s kind of funny that I’m beginning to love the songs that I originally hated (or rather, that I did not care for) and vice versa. So here are my top growers.

Andromache – Ela – Cyprus 🇨🇾

I do not know; this song is just a vibe for me.

Cornelia Jakobs – Hold Me Closer – Sweden 🇸🇪

I will be honest that I did not like this song because it seems like everyone automatically falls in love with anything (good or bad) that Sweden sends to Eurovision. After forcing myself to listen to this one, it definitely reminds me of a time when I was in a relationship that my a** had no business being in. It’s a sappy song without being too sappy.

Krystian Ochman – River - Poland 🇵🇱

This song always has been in my top 10. After hearing his live vocals at a few of the pre-Eurovision parties/concerts, this song is firmly cemented in my #1 spot. At these parties/concerts, he did an amazing job with very limited staging and sound, so I’m sure he will kill it on the big stage in Turin.

S10 – De Diepte – the Netherlands 🇳🇱

This is a very recent grower for me. By very recent, I mean that I really started getting into De Diepte this past Tuesday. This song had me texting family in the Netherlands for some help in translating. Yes, I could have looked up the Dutch to English translation on my own, but it gave me an excuse to say hello on my Ghanaian family’s Whatsapp group chat . . . even if I sent the message at 9 pm (NYC time), which is 3 am in Amsterdam.

Sam Ryder – Space Man – United Kingdom 🇬🇧

No words about how much I really enjoy this song. Word on the street is that he is going to some amazing staging for ESC2022.

Amanda Tenfjord – Die Together – Greece 🇬🇷

There’s just something about her voice that keeps this song in my head. Also, the song is kind of different because there is no music for the first part of the song. I do worry that my opinion might change once I hear a live version of this song. Also, I wonder how she is going to do the audio modulation with her voice at ESC2022 since performers cannot use special vocal effects in the contest.

American Song Contest (ASC) 🇺🇸 – General Thoughts

Now we are getting deep into the 1st season of ASC, and I will say that the show/contest has grown on me. While the show has grown on me, I am still annoyed with certain aspects of the show.

MAJOR IMPROVEMENTS IMO:

-I am enjoying that the singers are not relying (so much) on backing vocals and/or lipsyncing as they were in the first episode.

-Over the past few episodes, the show has reduced the length of the artists’ backstory sound bites and commercials.

KWAME’S CONCERNS:

Since ASC is fairly new, I know that the show has to go through some growing pains, but I feel like major changes must happen if the show is going to be successful or even make it to another season.

Voting:

I really am not a fan of the voting setup. For each qualifying round, the jury selects one act that will automatically advance to the semifinal rounds. Then, the public votes from Monday (the night of the episode) to Wednesday for the remaining three performers that will advance. My issue with the voting is that the jury votes are still factored in with the public votes. For me, it seems like the jury has too much power in selecting who will advance. Ok, Eurovision has a similar voting concept, but jury and televotes from the participating countries hold equal weight. Personally, I think ASC should adopt a similar format. In ASC, if the jury selects one act from the qualifying round to advance, then it should not have any bearing on the remaining three acts that would qualify.

To be fair, I understand why ASC voting is set up like this. The producers probably did not want a bunch of joke entries or “bad songs” advancing. That said, the producers of the show handpicked the 56 acts, so they should trust that they picked decent songs/performers and let the public do the rest. Honestly, I would say about 95% of the performances have been pretty good (Macy Grey was a hot ass mess).

LOL. The hubby told me that the first time Spain gave the public complete control over who would be sent to Eurovision, this happened:

To be fair II: Voting (jury vs the public) especially at the national selection level for Eurovision has been full of conflict.

Automatic Qualifiers:

As I mentioned above, the jury selects one act to move on to the next round, and the public picks the remaining three to move on. Based on the last four episodes, it seems as if the jury prefers a certain type of performer: This is pretty much the jury’s process (IMO):

• Male – check

• White – check

• Emotional ballad – check

• Guitarist – check and extra credit

A tweet describing the jury vote for this week’s qualifying round:

Qualifiers #1 & 2:

Image courtesy of Wikipedia

Qualifiers #3 & #4

Image courtesy of Wikipedia

It’s kind of annoying that this show claims to promote the diversity of music in the States, but the jury sends the same type of performers to the next round. Do not get me wrong, I like an emotional ballad, but (IMO) I believe some of the other acts were more exciting and stronger. Also, the jury has not shown any love to the more regional acts (ie less mainstream) from our territories with the exception of Puerto Rico (Qualifying round 1). Jury rankings for performers from our territories – US Virgin Islands (10th out of 11 acts), Northern Mariana Islands (10th out of 12 acts), Hawai’i (9th out of 11 acts). Even Las Marias (from Arizona), a twin sister duo who sings norteña and mariachi music, placed 10th out of 11 acts.

One other thing about the jury automatic qualifiers. From my understanding, the jury votes on the acts during the untelevised dress rehearsals, which do not have a live audience. In this case, I think the emotional ballads have a bit of an advantage compared to more uptempo pop/R&B/dance songs because one does not need an audience to get the point across. Whereas for the more uptempo songs, performances can be driven by how the audience reacts or how the performer engages with the audience.

Another thing that has bugged me about the contest is the fact that we do not have any information about the public vote results. Perhaps, production is keeping this a secret until the final rounds, but I still do not get why they don’t tell us how the public has voted. One of the best parts of ESC is learning how many points/votes contestants have received via the public vote. I guess if one really is invested in the contest, they can infer some information from the results:

Image courtesy of Wikipedia

In the case of the third qualifying round, the jury placed Colorado in 6th place, but after the televote, he finished in 2nd place. I guess one could assume that the performer from Colorado probably came in 1st or 2nd place in the televote.

Is America really feeling ASC?

Word on the street is that NBC is somewhat upset with the low ratings especially since the ratings are lower with each week. Because of the high-level production and staging of the acts, I guess that I would be upset with the low ratings too. Then again, these numbers might not be accurate in determining the popularity of ASC since folks can view the performances on NBC’s Peacock app, IG, and Tik Tok. That said, I think the marketing team did a horrible job in promoting ASC. They marketed as a contest based on Eurovision; however, there is a very limited pool of folks in the States that 1) know what Eurovision is or 2) follow Eurovision. Personally, I only learned about ESC because I came home early from a run and the hubby was watching an old ESC while decorating Christmas cookies. In defense of ASC, Christer Björkman, a producer of ESC that facilitated the development of ASC, said that the 1st few seasons of ESC would have flopped if ESC began in the last few years. Even though ESC has had some struggling years with bad songs and/or bad performers, it still has a 50+ year history to fall back on.

While the ratings are a hot mess, relative to what NBC is paying to put on the show, I think that we will have another season of ASC. However, time will tell how much money NBC will put into it going forwards. Hell, NBC might say screw it and just air the contest on the Peacock app or air it on a Friday or Saturday night.