Eurovision 2017 Song Review: MOLDOVA

MOLDOVA HAVE RETURNED AND I COULDN'T BE HAPPIER.

BTW... MOLDOVA IS MY FAVE COUNTRY IN EUROVISION EVER.

Right so Wild Soul... I Want Your Love... Falling Stars... I've had to clutch at straws to try and love Moldova over the last 3 years. When Eduard brought those sexy latex police officers I got all excited, but that's all I've had over the last 3 years from the land of Pasha. Let's quickly remind ourselves of the King and Queen of Moldova before we continue...

Queen Aliona (left) and King Pasha (right) waving the flag of Moldova for ESCKAZ (who own the rights to that photo)

WOW we haven't even covered what is happening this year with Moldova yet. Because aside from my own love, we have the return of the Sunstroke Project. Firstly I love the name. Secondly I love Moldova. Thirdly I love the EPIC SAX GUY. Oh my days, EPIC SAX GUY IS BACK!

I'm so god dam excited for Hey Mamma! People in our fandom hate this, I'm not even joking. Like ACTUAL HATRED. I will never understand why. You can call it boring or trashy or stupid or whatever you like, but this is in no way deserved of any hate... is it?

Hey Mamma was my #1 for ages and then I was like I actually prefer other songs and I shouldn't fall into the trap of putting a country as my #1 just because it's a certain country. So I readjusted my love for the song. And hell, it's a great, fun, and uplifting track. There's not too much going on to get lost with, and while I really need to emphasise I HAVE NOT SEEN THE REHEARSALS, I can't see this not getting pulled off on stage. Like the performance of this will definitely be remembered by voters because of the epic sax guy if for nothing else. Whether that means it wins votes is another thing, but it will definitely be remembered. But I think this definitely will win televote support, especially in the semi final! And that is because ultimately it's so easy to catch the hook on. People love jazzy elements, and Hey Mamma feels a hell of a lot better produced than Runaway did. The SunStroke Project have the worst performance of all the Moldovan finalists since 2005 and whilst you could argue that's under threat from a 26-song-long grand final, I think this is *sailing* through from the semi final.

RATING:

My initial reaction: 100 (out of 12)

My current score: 9 

My semi-final prediction: 9th

(I calculated Moldova to come 5th in the Televote and 17th in the Juries)

My final prediction: 17th

(This will do far, far, far better in the TELEVOTE than the Jury)

Eurovision 2017 Song Review: DENMARK

Poor Old Anja... I met her at the London Eurovision Party and screamed in her face with excitement. But the problem is, I did this several times. On about the 15th time I screamed with delight, her eyes were full of fear. I might love drunk me, but Anja certainly does not...

Despite that, WHERE I AM is awesome and you'd be a fool to write this one off!

When I heard Never Alone last year I was outraged that the Danes had chosen to send something cheesier than a couples retreat to Cheddar Gorge. Soldiers of Love looked like a box-ticking exercise rather than a performance, so then to not have sent Never Alone, one of the great catastrophes of the NF season last year, felt like being punched in the face.

Hence you can imagine my joy in finding out Anja had done it this year, she had won DMGP with a song called Where I Am and it was going to be even better than Never Alone. I have previously admitted I didn't follow a single NF this year apart from MF (of course), so finding out Anja was going was "just desserts".

(Sorry guys I feel like I'm telling a story rather than giving a song review...)

THEN I heard Where I Am and I was like "no no no Anja, this is all wrong, WHERE is my catchy hook and feel goood riddums?". Well Where I Am does actually have it. IT also shows off Anja's voice a hell of a lot better, and is easily one of the biggest songs this year in terms of voice and production. The NF performance was strong, we know Anja can deliver, and the song is so easy to get!

The actual song is pretty alright. It's no Quedate Conmigo or Sound of Silence, but Anja will certainly be delivering a voice which could reach those heights. Every time I've seen this performed new, my instincts start telling me that this is gonna be pulled off at Eurovision big time. I have to remind myself of the fact I'm quite bias - cos I freaking love Anja - and the song lacks a fifth gear to take into the top quality power ballads of recent times. So no, while I don't think this is our next Sound of Silence, I think Denmark have real potential to shine as one of the biggest ballads this year and Anja's voice and charisma are jury point sponges alone. Some people don't see this qualifying, but in all honesty I think you're crazzzzy!

RATING:

My initial reaction: 7 (out of 12)

My current score : 10

My semi-final prediction: WINNER - that's right you crazy fools, Denmark will win bloodbath SF2

My final prediction: 4th

WOW 4th is a HUGE CALL! But 4th is where this is going based on my own predictor model and Denmark will definitely, definitely do better with the JURIES on this one!

Eurovision 2017 Song Review: HUNGARY

So first rehearsals kicked off today and Twitter was just about exploding with the biggest load of drama queens. I have decided not to watch any rehearsals this year, in order to keep giving fair song reviews and to saviour how special it is watching the performances for the first time. I couldn't help but watch a 15-sec snippet of Slavko though, and I just can't wait for his semi-final performance! The song might be a joke and the talent might be somewhat missing, but this only exacerbates my anticipation for what will be slavtacular.

Anyway, ORIGO! I'm keeping this short because I've got a big essay due tomorrow. When I first listened to it, I fell in love, was already going to put it in my top 3 and couldn't fathom those who didn't see it as a favourite. It's original, ethno, not sung in English... this list could go on! BUT then WHY, OH WHY the rapping!?!???!?!?!? I like rap as a genre, I like rap as a bridge... admittedly, I rarely like rap on the Eurovision stage... but this does not suit the song at all, and the rap isn't actually that good I don't think. It's not got the edge that Jala had last year for example, or even the fluency of Euro Neuro. If you're going to rap, do something like Love City Groove for the UK in 1995 (never understood the distaste for this!). Rap at Eurovision is rarely successful, and I can't see that changing for Origo - but then again Hungary have qualified every year since they had a break, including 2 impressive top-10 finishes. That's why I'm probably an idiot for predicting they wont qualify this year, but I think Origo is potentially the hardest to judge...

RATING:

My initial score; 6 (out of 12)

My current score: 5

My semi-final prediction: 12th
(will score higher in the TELEVOTE - one of the hardest to call though; could lap up easy jury points, but then Hungary always do alright with the televote...)

My prediction for the final if qualifying: 21st-26th
Hungary have a habit for knocking around the 20th position, and I think whether they break out the top 5 would come down to the draw.

Eurovision 2017 Song Review: ALBANIA

World might be my least favourite "song" in this year's contest, but Lindita has a wonderful voice, a great personality, and is entirely carrying the Albanian entry this year in my opinion. If World was being sung by a lesser talented artist I would have no problem ranking World 42 out of 42.

There's an all too familiar opening structure, which we know is going to get bigger and louder and become an epic power ballad. So on the first foot I'm already a little switched off, because to say it, "I've heard this power ballad in Eurovision before". That's no way to make a criticism though, because the same could perhaps be said of many of my favourites this year. No, the reason I'm turned off by the song is because without even being half way through, I haven't heard the "hook" that will stay with me, I haven't heard the chorus which will continue to play in my head later on, and I've had to endure some rather negligible wailing. If Lindita perhaps saved her wailing for a bit later, I might enjoy it a bit more. And as I've previously said, if it wasn't Lindita herself wailing then this would easily slide down to the bottom of my ranking.

I will be completely honest and say that I'm not one for learning the lyrics to songs as they are meant to be. I learn the lyrics as I hear them and if I go several years singing something wrong then I'm not that fussed. I usually find it highly comical to hear how wrong I've been over lyrics. Nonetheless, Lindita does lack a diction but because I don't enjoy the song overly much, I will never bother to learn what is being sung, and therefore, I don't really have a clue what the song is about.

By the time we have the bridge in the song we get a snippet of Lindita's beautiful voice again, and then we are treated to an incredibly long and powerful note ruined by an overwhelming, yet pointless, use of backing vocals and musicality. The note is the best bit in the entire song, and is drowned out. This note could have gone down as memorable as Sanna Nielsen in Undo, or even countryman-like such as Rona Nishliu with Suus. Instead, people hearing this for the first time will be completely unaware of what Lindita has even achieved!

The revamp seems to have so many good elements, but there's just tooo much going on in this song meaning all those good elements are lost. I wish Good Luck to the stunning Lindita and I wish Albania all the best, but it's not a favourite of mine this year.


RATING:

My initial score: 1

My current score: 3

My semi-final prediction: 12th
(will score higher with the JURY)

My final prediction if qualifying: 22nd-26th (bottom 5)

Eurovision 2017 Song Review: AUSTRIA

My #1 for 2017: RUNNING ON AIR

Running on Air was one of my favourite songs on first listen, and since then just keeps going up up up to the top of my rank for this year. And then finding out that Nathan Trent is amazing and easily the best contestant this year just makes Running on Air that even bit better!

Running on Air is not in your face, it's just a sweet, cleverly written song. The melody is cool, the vocal is relaxed, and while not the strongest, compliments the song so well. The song has a simplicity to it, which following an all too familiar structure, potentially means it is forgettable especially performing just 2nd in the running order. Nathan may have an infectiously cute personality, but there are bigger songs with bigger performances to come in bloodbath SF2 and I fear Nathan will be lost amongst the divas.

I can't quite understand why the fandom don't care much for Running on Air. Genuinely after first listen I thought that Austria would be vying for victory and become one of the pre-contest favourites. To then see it so low on everyone's ranks was quite a shock and I just kept trying to find negatives with the song. I failed. Therefore I say you're all wrong and stupid ;)

Hahahahaha

RATING:

My initial score: 10 (out of 12)

My current score: 12

My semi-final prediction: 9th (very optimistic!)

My final prediction: 23rd (should they qualify!)

I think Running on Air will score marginally higher with the JURIES, but its difficult to call for this one!