59th Eurovision Song Contest
- Thread starter GF2445
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I actually don't think Waterloo is all that great - Abba had better songs, and there are Eurovision songs that I liked much better.
My favorite Eurovision winner is from 1973: Anne Marie David's Tu Te Reconnaitras, and the second place song that year, Eres Tu, is also fantastic. The most Eurovision song ever is Dschinghis Khan from 1979, which has to be seen to be believed
These days it's just overblown production values with everyone singing generic crap in English. The 1970s were Eurovision's best decade. But this is also fun: Charlotte Nilsson's reprise of her 1999 winner, Take Me To Your Heaven (in English and Swedish), followed by all of that year's entrants singing an English version of 1979 winner Hallelujah. It's all very... colorful
As Eurovision should be!ETA: and of course, the best interval act ever - no, not Riverdance; Madcon's Glow from 2010, with all the flashmobs, a special royal appearance and the North Sea guy!
That was one of the most awesome things ever :yay: Norway put together such a fantastic show, I almost climbed into my tv that night. Everything was pretty much perfect until they announced the winner *shudders* (that girl still makes my skin crawl and not in a good way). Usually I don’t really care who wins but I watch every year with a bunch of friends who also enjoy the surprisingly wide range of music from "that actually sounds nice" to "are you kidding me????"
if it's not fun we usually manage to make it fun.
Here is Johnny Logan winning in 1980: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vccwzuttIQY
and his 1987 win:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qURxESCEENc
and his 1987 win:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qURxESCEENc
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Well, it’s less than 4 hours until the first Semi-final of Eurovision 2014 kicks off. And I can’t wait!!!
Although I am not one of those people that goes over the top about Eurovision, I wouldn’t miss it. I just love it. And, at the same time, I hate it.
I love the whole concept of singers from all over the continent battling it out to come out on top. I love discovering singers from other countries that I would otherwise not come across. I love finding out snippets about the cultures of other countries through their entries.
But, I hate the format. I hate the way that the entries are divided up into 2 semi finals, with only a certain number from each going through to the final. Because, every year, there always seems to be one semi which has an awful lot of good acts, while the other does not have so many. And, as a result, there are not enough spaces available for all the acts you would like to get through from the semi with a whole pile of good acts.
I hate the way that some countries put in joke acts. And that, every year, a lot of the joke acts get voted through to the final at the expense of the good acts.
But, most of all, I hate the accusations of political voting. Despite what the anti-Eurovision detractors may want you to believe, the reasons countries vote for their neighbours is not purely political. Anybody with an ounce of common sense will realise that countries that are neighbours are liable to have similar tastes in music.
Mind you, I am the exception to the rule. Because, through watching Eurovision, I have discovered that my taste in music is purely Eastern European. And that is coming from a guy that is Irish!
There are some countries that I seem to like every year. One of them is Azerbaijan – about as far from Ireland as you can get in Europe!
Because a lot of the good acts don’t get through to the Final, I actually prefer to watch the Semi-Finals. In fact, the only reason I watch the Final is to see the pre-qualified counties – the host nation, and the “Big 5” that put the most money into the EBU.
I am really looking forward to seeing the Spanish entry. Ruth Lorenzo is one of my favourite singers.
Ruth took part in the 2008 series of the X Factor, and she was the best singer in the competition by a country mile. Six years on, and it still angers me that she was voted out 2 weeks before the final. The irony is that she was head and shoulders above the rest of the acts that night (here is her second performance – Bon Jovi’s “Always” ). So, the only explanation I can think of for her being voted out was that the Great British public didn’t want a foreigner to win.
What really galls me is that the two weakest singers that got through to the live shows – Eoghan Quigg (from 30 miles up the road from me) and Diana Vickers – both beat Ruth in the competition.
Here is the performance that everybody remembers from Ruth’s time on the X Factor – her “Save Me” song from Week 2 of the Live Shows. Prince’s “Purple Rain”.
But, getting back to Eurovision, and I really hope Ruth is given a song that properly shows off her amazing vocal range.
As you may have gathered from that comment, I haven’t heard her song yet. That is because I prefer not to hear the entries before the competition. That way, I can properly judge the acts based on what I see on the night.
Before I got hooked on Korean dramas, I would have spent my breakfast time every day watching German music channels. So, I had heard Lena Meyer-Landrut’s “Satellite” dozens of times before I even found out it was the German Eurovision entry that year (2010). And, whilst I liked the song itself, I did not like Lena singing it. Well, I say singing – she was actually just talking her way through it. I often thought “that would be a brilliant song if they had somebody different performing it…”
But VIVA was going overboard playing it. And I started to hate the song because I was not getting to hear the music that I liked. And then, come the night of the Eurovision Final, Lena’s live performance sounded even worse than the studio version. Yet she still won!!! (My favourite, Portugal, come 18th…)
And then Germany brought her back the following year as well!!!
So, since then, I have avoided all Eurovision songs so that I do not have any pre-developed biases.
Well, that’s enough waffling for now. Good luck to all the entries that I will like in both tonight’s Semi, and in Thursday’s. And let’s hope that as many as possible of the good acts get through, and that the joke acts don’t.
And, of course, good luck to Ruth on Saturday night! 
CaroLiza_fan
Although I am not one of those people that goes over the top about Eurovision, I wouldn’t miss it. I just love it. And, at the same time, I hate it.
I love the whole concept of singers from all over the continent battling it out to come out on top. I love discovering singers from other countries that I would otherwise not come across. I love finding out snippets about the cultures of other countries through their entries.
But, I hate the format. I hate the way that the entries are divided up into 2 semi finals, with only a certain number from each going through to the final. Because, every year, there always seems to be one semi which has an awful lot of good acts, while the other does not have so many. And, as a result, there are not enough spaces available for all the acts you would like to get through from the semi with a whole pile of good acts.
I hate the way that some countries put in joke acts. And that, every year, a lot of the joke acts get voted through to the final at the expense of the good acts.
But, most of all, I hate the accusations of political voting. Despite what the anti-Eurovision detractors may want you to believe, the reasons countries vote for their neighbours is not purely political. Anybody with an ounce of common sense will realise that countries that are neighbours are liable to have similar tastes in music.
Mind you, I am the exception to the rule. Because, through watching Eurovision, I have discovered that my taste in music is purely Eastern European. And that is coming from a guy that is Irish!
There are some countries that I seem to like every year. One of them is Azerbaijan – about as far from Ireland as you can get in Europe!
Because a lot of the good acts don’t get through to the Final, I actually prefer to watch the Semi-Finals. In fact, the only reason I watch the Final is to see the pre-qualified counties – the host nation, and the “Big 5” that put the most money into the EBU.
I am really looking forward to seeing the Spanish entry. Ruth Lorenzo is one of my favourite singers.
Ruth took part in the 2008 series of the X Factor, and she was the best singer in the competition by a country mile. Six years on, and it still angers me that she was voted out 2 weeks before the final. The irony is that she was head and shoulders above the rest of the acts that night (here is her second performance – Bon Jovi’s “Always” ). So, the only explanation I can think of for her being voted out was that the Great British public didn’t want a foreigner to win.
What really galls me is that the two weakest singers that got through to the live shows – Eoghan Quigg (from 30 miles up the road from me) and Diana Vickers – both beat Ruth in the competition.
Here is the performance that everybody remembers from Ruth’s time on the X Factor – her “Save Me” song from Week 2 of the Live Shows. Prince’s “Purple Rain”.
But, getting back to Eurovision, and I really hope Ruth is given a song that properly shows off her amazing vocal range.
As you may have gathered from that comment, I haven’t heard her song yet. That is because I prefer not to hear the entries before the competition. That way, I can properly judge the acts based on what I see on the night.
Before I got hooked on Korean dramas, I would have spent my breakfast time every day watching German music channels. So, I had heard Lena Meyer-Landrut’s “Satellite” dozens of times before I even found out it was the German Eurovision entry that year (2010). And, whilst I liked the song itself, I did not like Lena singing it. Well, I say singing – she was actually just talking her way through it. I often thought “that would be a brilliant song if they had somebody different performing it…”
But VIVA was going overboard playing it. And I started to hate the song because I was not getting to hear the music that I liked. And then, come the night of the Eurovision Final, Lena’s live performance sounded even worse than the studio version. Yet she still won!!! (My favourite, Portugal, come 18th…)
And then Germany brought her back the following year as well!!!
So, since then, I have avoided all Eurovision songs so that I do not have any pre-developed biases.
Well, that’s enough waffling for now. Good luck to all the entries that I will like in both tonight’s Semi, and in Thursday’s. And let’s hope that as many as possible of the good acts get through, and that the joke acts don’t.
And, of course, good luck to Ruth on Saturday night!
CaroLiza_fan
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2014
There are some countries that I seem to like every year. One of them is Azerbaijan – about as far from Ireland as you can get in Europe!
I'm with you there! For some reason, Azerbaijan always has brilliant songs and performers, and they do really well. Azerbaijan is one of only two countries to place within the top 10 every year that they have competed.
Finland has always done so abysmally that people used to say "when hell freezes over or Finland wins the Eurovision" when referring to something that was extremely unlikely
In 2006 we finally won and with a record score at that. People went mental, going to the streets and partying all night. It was also awesome because there had been so much bad press before the competition to the tune of "our entry is so embarrassing, another zero points coming our way, the song is disrespectful to religion" etc. (the last one is especially stupid - when you look at the lyrics of the song, it could very well be a gospel song!). I still think Bosnia and Herzegovina should have won that year, though...
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Finland has always done so abysmally that people used to say "when hell freezes over or Finland wins the Eurovision" when referring to something that was extremely unlikely
Oh, don't start me on who should have won each year! I hardly ever agree with who wins! And usually my favourites finish in the late teens...
I LOVED Lordi!!!! Personally, I couldn't understand what all the controversy was about.
Plus, it helped that the costumes made them look like characters out of Power Rangers!
Are they still going? I heaven't heard tell of them in a long time.
I was just looking through the running order for this year's Semis, and saw that Paula Seling & OVI are back for Romania. I absolutely loved their 2010 entry, "Playing With Fire". Usually, I forget most of the songs from one year to the next, but that is one song that has stuck in my head ever since. And I loved the way they performed it with duelling pianos on the night.
I hope their 2014 song is as good!
I'm not sure whether returning performers is a good thing. Like, take Valentina Monetta of San Marino. I hated her 2012 song (joke song)... but I loved her 2013 song (ballad). So, who knows what I'm going to think of her 2014 song!
Hey, I just saw the time. Gotta go!
CaroLiza_fan
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2014
I have no idea about Lordi...probably a one-hit-wonder? I can't be sure though as I rarely listen to any music (ironic since my husband is a DJ )
Still, every time I read about the singer Lorde I get this mental image of Lordi on the stage in their costumes
Oh and Playing with Fire - brilliant! Our tastes seem to be quite similar!
)Still, every time I read about the singer Lorde I get this mental image of Lordi on the stage in their costumes
Oh and Playing with Fire - brilliant! Our tastes seem to be quite similar!
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Still, every time I read about the singer Lorde I get this mental image of Lordi on the stage in their costumes
I am embarassed to admit this, but when people were talking about the Grammys the other week, I really did think that it was Lordi that had won it! It was only when I saw a pretty young girl on the TV that I realised that I was maybe wrong...
Well, I have a good excuse: I had never heard tell of Lorde before, and still haven't heard any of her songs!
Mmmm. Let's put that to the test.
What I normally do every year is print out the entry lists. For each Semi, I put a dash next to the ones I like. Then, during the video clips at the start of the voting, I pick a top 4 for that night. For the final, I do the marking thing for the pre-qualified countries, and then pick a Top 6 from all the finalists.
So far, my choices for this year are very different to what they normally are. Normally, my Top 4 would consist almost exclusively of beautiful young Eastern European women. This year, I have 3 blokes and then a set of (beautiful young) Russian twins.
Here are my choices for 2014 Semi Final 1:
EDIT: The videos in the table are the promo videos for each song. For the actual performances, see this official YouTube playlist (which, unfortunately, is not done in performance order. Grrrr!!!!): LIVE 2014 Eurovision Song Contest First Semi-Final
Yippee!!! Valentina finally got through to the final!!!
Third time lucky!!! Although, to be honest, I preferred her song from last year. But, at least it was another proper song rather than that joke song she had in 2012.Unfortunately, for the second year in a row, my favourite from one of the Semi-Finals has not qualified for the Final. Boo. Hiss.
On the other hand, only one of the acts I didn’t like qualified (Iceland). Well, “didn’t like” is maybe a bit strong. I did actually like the song. It’s just that the group singing it weren’t the best singers in the world…
But, I think it is one of those entries where, the more I hear it, the more it will grow on me. So maybe I will like it more by the end of Saturday night.
A thing I was disappointed in was that there were so many songs being sung in English. Personally, I prefer it when the singers are performing songs in their own language. But, only Portugal and Montenegro did that last night. And, going by the song titles for tomorrow’s Semi, it looks like there will be only one that is not in English (Poland)
Montenegro was one of my favourites, and I was so relieved when they qualified. But, Portugal didn’t get through. Although they had a good song, I was very disappointed in Suzy’s singing. Nice dress, though…
So, all in all, I really enjoyed last night’s Semi. I just hope that the quality of Thursday’s is as good. Because if it is not, I will be even more annoyed that Belgium and the others I liked from last night didn’t get through.
I just hope Paula and Ovi have as good a song as they did the last time…
Looking forward to Thursday
CaroLiza_fan
or maybe not
who knows what hides under those masks and all that make upI've long since given up on making 'serious' predictions. The things I like never get anywhere near the top. Except for Lordi. Me and some friends were on holiday in Helsinki at the time and the day after the finale pretty much everybody we met was like "oh my God, this is so embarrassing" and we couldn't stop laughing and say "why?? this is the most awesome thing that has ever happened!"
I just watched the first Semi online (got stuck in a traffic jam last night and didn't make it home in time
)The choir compilation in the beginning was nice. I always like it when they include the fans.
The Eurovision Book of Records was hilarious.
Latvia and Iceland - loved them! I live and breathe for this kind of craziness
Ukraine - maybe turn down the wind machine a little bit before she gets blown off the stage?
I think Belgium might have had more luck with different lyrics. The guy obviously knows how to sing and give a passionate performance, but I really think the lyrics and the dancing mommy didn't help.
Moldova was... what was that? Half a Valkyrie?
San Marino - why, oh why doesn't anybody have the decency to finally lock away Ralph Siegel? I can't take it anymore...
I agree about Suzy's singing. Quite underwhelming. But that gave me more time to figure out if she was actually wearing some kind of clothing or if those flower thingies were glued onto her body... I'm still not sure.
The Netherlands - I was surprised but I really liked that performance best. No idea why
I can't watch the final live tomorrow (I have to watch stupid opera at the cinema when I'd rather watch stupid song contest on tv) but maybe it's better this way the live stream was a complete disaster. Sometimes it kept repeating parts and then skipped to a later point in the song. Very annoying!
I don't have a fancy chart but I made a list today
Malta - boring version of Mumford&Sons
Israel - didn't really care for that one either
Norway - that was great. love the guy and the song.
Georgia - that was horrible but at least it was really funny to watch
Poland - not really my thing but at least it wasn't boring (and the sideshow girls were hilarious. I was honestly expecting them to turn this into a wet-t-shirt-contest)
Austria - did I mention that I live for this kind of crazy? I love that this is not some kind of funny freak show but a seriously awesome performance (plus, this would have made a great James Bond song)
Lithuania - ouch. the song, the singing, the outfit. everything hurts.
Finland - decent but ultimately nothing special.
Ireland - meh. kinda boring. at least I got to see dancing men in skirts (and an honorable mention for "The Irish Licker")
Belarus - thanks, no cheesecake for me
Macedonia - looked kinda scary and sounded rather uninspired
Switzerland - that was fun. I liked it.
Greece - (I wasn't nearly drunk enough to enjoy this)
Slovenia - that wasn't bad but her dress was clearly stolen from an Evil Queen who will come after her
Romania - I want that piano badly
oh well. Austria and Norway made it and only one of the songs I found terrible got into the final. I can live with that ^_^
the live stream was a complete disaster. Sometimes it kept repeating parts and then skipped to a later point in the song. Very annoying!I don't have a fancy chart
but I made a list todayMalta - boring version of Mumford&Sons
Israel - didn't really care for that one either
Norway - that was great. love the guy and the song.
Georgia - that was horrible
but at least it was really funny to watchPoland - not really my thing but at least it wasn't boring (and the sideshow girls were hilarious. I was honestly expecting them to turn this into a wet-t-shirt-contest)
Austria - did I mention that I live for this kind of crazy?
I love that this is not some kind of funny freak show but a seriously awesome performance (plus, this would have made a great James Bond song)Lithuania - ouch. the song, the singing, the outfit. everything hurts.
Finland - decent but ultimately nothing special.
Ireland - meh. kinda boring. at least I got to see dancing men in skirts (and an honorable mention for "The Irish Licker"
)Belarus - thanks, no cheesecake for me
Macedonia - looked kinda scary and sounded rather uninspired
Switzerland - that was fun. I liked it.
Greece - (I wasn't nearly drunk enough to enjoy this)
Slovenia - that wasn't bad but her dress was clearly stolen from an Evil Queen who will come after her
Romania - I want that piano badly
oh well. Austria and Norway made it and only one of the songs I found terrible got into the final. I can live with that ^_^
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The second semi final was much better than the first one.
My top for the final:
Norway - in my opinion, by far the best song this year
Austria - i love the voice
Finland - it probably won't get much votes, but I like it a lot
Slovenia - great voice, great song and lovely dress. She looks like Tarja Turunen.
Romania - not a big fan of the song, but it's my country
My top for the final:
Norway - in my opinion, by far the best song this year
Austria - i love the voice
Finland - it probably won't get much votes, but I like it a lot
Slovenia - great voice, great song and lovely dress. She looks like Tarja Turunen.
Romania - not a big fan of the song, but it's my country
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- Jan 27, 2014
The Australians are so CUTE!
Here is the 2013 video about how popular ESC is in Australia:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYPmT5mUQSI
Here is the 2013 video about how popular ESC is in Australia:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYPmT5mUQSI
