Part IV - Armenia

Ah I cannot believe my last blog post was 11 days ago! Time has been going by mega quickly, and we are now only 22 days away from the first semi final. Eurovision Season goes much too quickly for my liking! I've been listening to loads of classics recently, as well as my new favourite song 'Rainmaker'. If you haven't heard, it's Emmelie de Forest's new song and it's amazing. I have planned a blog post dedicated to out hosts for closer to the first semi final, but tonight the attention is on Armenia!


The Good Part IV: Armenia

Armenia have a very good record at Eurovision! Up until 2010 the Armenians could be compared to how we see the Azeri now - not just a certainty for the final, but a top 10 finish as well. And they surely deserved that reputation! Many fans argue that Qele Qele should have taken home the crown in 2008, Apricot Stone deserved higher than 7th in 2010, and one of my favourite ever songs in the contest, Nor Par (Jan Jan) scraped 10th in the 2009 contest. Inga & Anush are two of my favourite Eurovision artists and I absolutely love them - and their performance was brilliant. Truly Eurovision. Since then things have gone a little downhill. Emmy and 'Boom Boom' embarrassingly didn't even make the final in 2011 (even though we're all still going 'chaka chaka'), and following a boycott of Baku 2012, they sent a fan dividing song in 2013, 'Lonely Planet', which still somehow managed to accumulate 41 points when many thought it wouldn't even make the final. BUT many, many fans argue that Armenia are back to their best this year! And rightfully so, the artist is Aram MP3 and the song is 'Not Alone' - scoring top 5 in many pre-charts and for a long time, being the red hot favourite by the bookmakers (check out ESC Webs 'here' for a bookies update). So what makes Aram MP3 and 'Not Alone' so great?

To begin with, 'Not Alone' is one of those defining era songs - by this, I don't mean it's a classic, but I mean that from the first listen, you know it's around a 2013/14 song without hearing the other songs entered. I think it's very good because the composition is simple, the lyrics are direct and it breaks away in the middle to become more upbeat. Usually this results in disaster; fans don't like two songs in one, but it works in 'Not Alone' because the upbeat section still fits in with the lyrics and the early melody. I almost feel the first half of the song has a Zelijko Joksimovic feel about it, and we all know how well Serbia (& Montenegro) have done under him. How the song does at Eurovision will be extremely interesting - fans like this song across Europe - it's not necessarily their favourite song, but it's in many people's top 10's. I argue that the result of this will be interesting because it could easily divide your less dedicated audience: people who have never heard of this before may be put off by the sudden change in direction, and an older audience may be put off when the beat drops. Additionally, many first-time listeners often decide whether they like a song within the first minute or two; if they enjoy the ballad section then good, but if not, then very bad because what would rescue those voters is a fantastic staging, and in my opinion, Aram MP3 won't provide the best choreographed performance. How this is staged will pose problems; it could be quite boring if it's just Aram MP3 on stage, but tacky dancers, I feel, would ruin any magic created in the lyrics when the beat drops.

And then there's what happened at 'Eurovision In Concert' - if you missed that, where have you been!? If you missed that, then here's a quick summary: some potentially homophobic puns were made by Aram MP3 to Conchita Wurst, the infamous bearded lady representing Austria this year. Wiwi blogs covered the basics in this article. In my opinion everything got taken out of context, but then again, Aram should not have made a possibly homophobic remark to a contest with an extremely large LGBT fanbase, especially in the year we go back to Denmark, the first country in the world to legalise gay marriage. Will any of this matter come May? It's hard to say because a lot of voters will not be aware of what happened, but to get booed at Eurovision In Concert (incidentally the same day as Aram's birthday!) speaks volumes in his current fan status - and this is only an estimate, but aren't a lot of semi-final voters mostly the mega fans? In the UK they are anyway, and so alongside being drawn 1st in the hotly contested first semi final could prove to be problematic. However, friends Ukraine and Russia also compete in semi 1, being drawn 1st in the semi final hasn't stopped popular songs from reaching the final before, and at the end of the day, it's still a very good song! People questioning whether this will qualify is crazy - of course it will! But where this finishes in the final is impossible to tell...

My prediction is top 10. As a UK fan that may be optimistic - for Armenia are definitely big rivals for the top crown, and so it will probably challenge 1st. BUT... will I get in trouble for saying that if the Azeri's do bribe voters and jurors like some argue, then will Armenia even do top 10? Azerbaijan and Armenia aren't friends. Or is that a ludicrous thing to say? Please do share your opinions on the matter!

Good Luck Armenia! I'm glad to see your back to entering good records and back on track to taking the contest to Yerevan! Good Luck Aram MP3!

Welcome to the Eurovision Song Contest 2014

Can you believe the Eurovision season is here again?

I look outside my window to 17degrees and bright, sunny weather. Time is going much too quick! I'm now in my second year at university, and another new setting in which to blog about the Eurovision season from. This is now my third year as a blogger, and I think I'm starting to get the hang of things.

There couldn't be a better day to start blogging - the day after Melodifestivalen. Once more, the Swedish National Final delivered a grande evening of entertainment. The winner for Sweden was Sanna Nielsen and the ballad "Undo". Good Luck to Sanna! Once more, it looks as if Sweden will be in the mix on the poll sites and feature come voting time on Saturday 10th May in Denmark.

Denmark also held their national final yesterday; Dansk Melodi Grand Prix. The winner was Basim and the song Cliche Love Song. I'm likely to be doing a review of the best and the worst songs, but in my very first post of the season, I'm tipping Denmark for top 3 with this disco gem.

So what of our hosts? Denmark are one of the oldest competing nations, having come 3rd back on their debut in 1957 (the second ever contest). The first win for Denmark came in 1963 with the ever-so popular 'Dansevise' by Grethe and Jorgen Ingmann. They saw off stiff competition from Switzerland to win the contest. They have had varied success since then, and after taking a 10 year hiatus from the competition between 1967 and 1977, they didn't reach the top 3 again until 1988 with Eurovision regulars Hot Eyes. The turn of the millennium has provided varied success for Denmark still, but that has included two wins. Denmark won the Eurovision Song Contest for the second time in the year 2000 with "Fly On The Wings of Love" by the Olsen Brothers. Another very deserved winner, who some in the UK (and mainland Europe) might remember by the XTM dance remix. The last few years have seen personal favourites of mine, including 'Believe Again' in 2009 and 'All Night Long' in 2008, however Europe's personal favourite last year, 'Only Teardrops' by Emmelie de Forest has resulted in Copenhagen once more hosting the competition.

The 2014 contest sees no big changes to the rules. Turkey's boycott of the competition due to dissatisfaction of the big 5 and mixed jury/televoting has continued. They even held their own Turkvizyon Song Contest last year, with countries and regions who speak Turkish or have Turkish ethnicity eligible to participate. Azerbaijan took home the crown, and the contest will potentially return again this December. There have been reports that Turkey will return to the Eurovision Song Contest in 2015, but that's a year away, and a lot can happen in between now and then.

Serbia, Croatia, Cyprus and Bulgaria have all withdrawn from the 2014 contest, citing financial concerns for their non-participation. It has been sad to see them go, especially the likes of long time competitors Cyprus and the ever-so successful Serbia, producing some of the best songs since their participation in 2004. The absence of Bosnia & Herzegovina and the fact that Kosovo is still yet to be recognized as a country means the former Yugoslavs are quite under represented this year, with just FYR Macedonia and Montenegro flying their flags.

And what about the rest? The minnows of Andorra, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, and Monaco don't look like returning any time soon, especially with the effects of the 2008 global financial crisis still lingering. The Czech Republic and Slovakia announced their continued absence from the contest, little to the surprise of most, and one time competitors Morocco still don't look like competing either.

But welcome back Portugal and Poland! Fingers crossed for Portugal - 46 entries and not a winner (best place 6th) so hopefully it can finally happen for them! I very much look forward to hearing their song for the contest. They are 1 of 11 countries yet to release their song, but it appears the next week or so will rap up all the songs for this year's contest, and then the season will well and truly have begun.

Just a mention to the Junior Eurovision Song Contest! Congratulations to Malta for winning the JESC 2013 last November! However, the version of the contest looks like it's soon to reach an end. With only 6 countries confirmed to participate and many nations withdrawing, the contest potentially could well be in it's final year. As a UK fan, the Junior Eurovision Song Contest only ever appealed to me twice, when the UK came 2nd and 3rd (or something like that) about 10 years ago-ish (need to do my homework!). I was 10 years younger, and so as a child the JESC was more exciting than the actual contest. Maybe the UK not competing means I have no interest, or perhaps it was the fact I was child 10 years ago and now I'm an adult (just about). Whatever the case, it seems a lack of interest across Europe has been the reason for the downfall of the competition. A very sad day if it does go, but perhaps something new and better will come out of it! I'm still hoping for a Worldvision Song Contest to occur, even just as a one off. The likes of China, USA and Brazil taking on the Eurovision powerhouses like Azerbaijan would be one exciting battle!

Good Luck to all the participants in this year's Eurovision Song Contest. Let the season commence!

AAAAH! There are too many contenders...

I've been trying to predict the winner all day! Talking about it with people and hearing their thoughts, putting the songs in order of the final. It is soo difficult this year!

In 2011, the winner was so hard to predict, and in the hours leading up to the final, the odds were changing left right and centre. I think an hour before the final, Azerbaijan shot straight into a comfortable pole position in the odds...

Keep an eye out... http://www.oddschecker.com/tv/eurovision/winner

Just heard them in order and Georgia really stood out. Was I wrong about placing them so far low earlier? It is becoming very hard. Denmark probably still have it in the bag though... how boring!

Put your money where your mouth is!

I just put a bet on Azerbaijan to win the contest. Farid has the odds of 20-1 and I found that very tempting. Whose your money on? Even if you do think Denmark could win, the odds for Only Teardops are hurrendous. I don't usually do this, but ESCNation has a very interesting report on the best values for Eurovision. Follow this link to see their advice for tonight's semi final. Greece are 10-1 to win their semi final tonight, and that seems very tempting indeed...

POST SEMI FINAL 1 EXCITEMENT

SO wasn't last night just BRILLIANT!?

So glad to have Eurovision back on the screen! And wasn't it amazing? I don't know who commentates for your country, but you should really listen to Scott Mills and the girl from the Scissor Sisters who did the commentary for BBC (United Kingdom). They were hilarious. And of course we have Graham Norton for the final which is just excellent!!

First of all, wasn't Lynda Woodruff absolutely hilarious? Shame I can't say the same for Petra Mede - personally I found parts of her hosting just cringe-worthy nonsense. I thought Loreen was fantastic though. Those children were adorable and apart from when Loreen seemed to descend into a pit of over-excited Euro fanboys (although if I was in Malmo, I'm pretty sure I would have done exactly the same), I really enjoyed the opener to the show. The performances went without hiccough as far as I noticed, but I have to admit there were 2 absolute stand outs for me. They were (without bias) Moldova and Ireland! They worked perfectly going one after the other, but the best bit was that I wasn't expecting them to be so good. Wasn't Aliona Moon's dress just sheer brilliance!? Oh and of course, Pasha was on the piano. Splendid!

Let downs? Denmark. I knew that I would get extremely bored of the song by now, but still her performance wasn't just disappointing, it was embarrassing. No emotion at all, and her voice just came across generic without anything special. If it wasn't for the strength in the song and the tin whistle then I would even go as far as ruling Denmark out of contention. Don't get me wrong, I still reckon Emmelie will be top 5 at least, but will she win? Definitely needs to up her game.

Surprises? Belgium. Undoubtedly, Roberto Bellarosa has come a long way since being chosen to represent the Belgians this year. The re-mastering of the song never really changed much for me, but some how it really came across on the stage and the sounds and everything were just fantastic. AND HE CAN SING! After hearing that he won "The Voice" I was very sceptical of the amount of talent, but it turns out that Roberto can sing, so Congrats to him!

But let's be honest - the biggest shock was LITHUANIA QUALIFYING FOR THE FINAL. HOW!? I think Andrius Pojavis has tons of charisma, and naturally, his eyebrows can make for an interesting performance. But please, the song!? He sings about shoes for goodness sake! In all fairness, I was very critical of Donny Montell last year and he ended up doing very well for himself. There is always one shock, but I was maybe thinking Slovenia or Montenegro would provide the shock...not Lithuania and some dodgy lyrcis.

Interestingly, all the ex-Soviets made it through, but none of the ex-Yugoslavs made it through. If you've been reading all the blogs around they probably have reported how much of a shock it is blah blah blah. But is it that much of a shock!? Let's take a look at the facts. Slovenia was first up and Straight Into Love has never been popular, let's face it. Hannah and the dancers may have been great, but the song just wasn't good enough. It was the first real up beat song, but there were plenty of better upbeat songs coming later. Slovenia would have been forgotten...

Then we have Croatia. Now I found this interesting - it's not been a big favourite with fans but the vocals are very strong and the composition of the song works really well. The message comes across and I thought the juries would support that. Plus, its sung in national language. I think perhaps Croatia may have just missed out because they didn't receive enough televotes. And they were 4th after all...and they did proceed big favourite Denmark.

Coming up next is Montenegro. Igranka did provided a huge contrast to Birds before it and Something after it. But to vote for this, you have to appreciate it's absolute bonkers-ness and the song does require an acquired taste. I believe the juries didn't like this and it was the televoting that may have made this just miss out. Montenegro have never qualified independently though so they are always punching above their weight.

Finally we had Serbia. Not only do they have a strong qualifying record in Eurovision, they also performed last which usually makes you fresh for both juries and televoters. Yes there was some dodgy acting of the song, and the dresses looked like an explosion in the sweet factory but they had something going on. There was something to watch on screen, but perhaps everyone just saw this as a bit of mess following the slickness of Love Kills (let's be honest, that performance was rehearsed to the core - it was slick!). It'll be interesting to see if Serbia did finish 11th.

Every year there is diaspora voting (and it has been going for year's people!) so you'd of thought that one of the ex-Yugoslav countries would have benefitted from this. Evidently not (even if I did happen to vote for Ireland several times myself last night - but I did vote for Moldova just as many times, and I might have snuck one or two votes in for the Netherlands as well). If there was strong diaspora voting from the ex-Soviets that would explain why Lithuania made it but still, it just goes to show that we don't just vote for our neighbours anymore! And plus, there were 4 of the top favourites in last night's semi - Denmark, Russia, Ukraine and the Netherlands.

That brings me to my favourite part of last night - the Netherlands qualified for the final! Birds was such a contrast to Gravity and Igranka that Anouk really stood out. The song was very deep and emotional, and so unique that I think it may have put televoters off. But rest assure, I believe the juries rate this. I don't care how the Dutch do in the final, I'm just thrilled they shook off that horrible curse of not making it through!

And the draw for the final? WELL, this year we don't have one. You draw whether you perform in the first or the second half of the final. Maybe not as exciting in the press conference, but there were many countries who drew the first half. Denmark managed to sneak a second half performance though, so it'll be interesting to see where SVT places them. Ireland got second half - yes! Moldova sadly drew first half though :(
NO! I won't speculate...Russia and Albania proved top 5 can still happen from poor positions (although what would have happened if you had swapped Sweden and Azerbaijan in 2011? I'm still convinced Eric Saade would have snatched that victory and Sweden would have done the double).

Now I promise I won't speculate until I've seen the full draw, but I've just found out that Bonnie Tyler will perform for the UK in the second half of the final. Yes Yes Yes! This news does delight me. If Bonnie performs in the last 3 or 4, I reckon we stand a good chance of contending for the grand prize. She has that lift after all! (it's not a giant - but Bonnie Tyler brought on stage by a Giant? Only Ukraine could pull that off - which incidentally they very much did!).

SO then I look forward to tomorrow's semi final! Will FYR Macedonia be the only ex-Yugoslav country? Will Latvia join their friends in the final? Will we have ALL Scandinavian countries in the final? Will San Marino finally qualify?

My bets on the BIG shock (cos you know there will be one)...Malta (hopefully).

Only Teardrops...ONLY A MASSIVE FAVOURITE

Last year, I did an in-depth look at all songs. This year is a much more laid back approach.
This series is all about the songs to watch!

There's no better way to start than with this year's big favourite: Denmark!

Denmark are represented this year by Emmelie de Forest. After winning the Danish National Selection, she became an immediate favourite with 'Only Teardrops'. And it's easy to see why. The song is very, very catchy! I believe it is some sort of whistle or a thife which is the repeated instrument through the song - but it doesn't matter what it is. The inclusion of the instrument adds a certain unique appeal to the song. The lyrics also are appealing - they are metaphorical lyrics which make you think. For example, the opening line is, "the sky is red tonight". On Saturday night, it would be wrong to say that this won't feature. However, maybe this is the wrong year for Only Teardrops. There are a fair few songs with similar lyrics and melodies, and so I believe that it won't be a tear away winner - and that's if this even does go on to win. Nevertheless, a cracking song by a young artist with a bright future. It's no 'Euphoria', but it's definitely something worth remembering.
Denmark lead many online fan polls - check out 'escnation' and 'escstats' for example.
They also are the bookies favourites. For this, it's probably worth just going on oddschecker or a similar odds comparison website.