MALTA

The Maltese Final was held on January 23rd at the Mediterranean Conference Centre in Valletta, hosted by Ben Camille. Before the final, there was a semi-final where the long list of 20 was reduced to 14. The winner, chosen by televoting (1/6) and an "expert" jury (5/6), was past participant Ira Losco singing Chameleon (Invincible)

The song is a fairly typical dance number and has a very Swedish feel to the production. It starts off very mysterious but quick enough the beat kicks in and the song continues on in that fashion until the end. I keep waiting for it to go up another gear but never does. It starts to feel flat and plodding very quickly. The most interesting part is the 7/8 instrument half way through which is ruined by Ira singing over it, There is not much to speak of in terms of performance or visual production as most of the camera work seemed to be concentrated on Ira wafting around the stage in front of the ever changing backdrop. She is not dressed in a flattering way at all. I feel that the look she’s trying to go for the angelic/floaty look but end up looking more like a used plastic back being tossed by the wind. She sings the song quite well although at times it’s hard to work out what she’s saying or feels a little bit strained vocally.

Ira Losco was runner up in Eurovision 2002 which kicked off her career in Malta. This fact alone as already made the Maltese participation an early fan favourite. After a 5 year hiatus, she came back to the music scene in 2013 with a new album and featured as a guest during the interval in the Maltese Eurovision selection process. Although not a stranger to ESC, the contest has changed a lot since then and one would hope that somebody of her experience would not be too fazed however the performances in the semi final and final were not the best.

I was not a fan at all of her 2002 entry and at least this is better, but that's not hard in my opinion. If this, as is, turned up in Stockholm this would be a total fail. But I suspect one of two things will happen between now and then.
The whole thing will undergo a total transformation in terms of audio production and make a better conceived stage show, OR (as the Maltese Eurovision rules allow) Ira will ditch the song completely and change it to something different. If the latter happens I obviously cannot predict the result but if the former happens she will do better but possibly not by much. This will be loved by the majority of fans but may well be forgotten by the voting public on the night.

ARTIST – Ira Losco
SONG – Chameleon (Invincible)
MUSIC - Ira Losco, Talkback
LYRICS - Ira Losco, Talkback

BELARUS

The Belarussian Final was held on January 22nd at BTRC Studio 600 Metrov in Minsk, hosted by Olga Ryzhikova & Teo. The winner, chosen by 100% televoting, was Ivan with the song “Help you fly”.

The song is what I would deem to be quite typical Belarussian fayre -  a mid tempo rock number with dance influences. It starts of moody and dark aad starts with an excerpt of the chorus which gets the song title in your head within seconds. The verses are a little bit non-descript and low but the chorus is very simple and repetitive and shows the upper range of Ivan’s voice. The staging of the song was really well done with choice angles and a great backdrop, however I feel this is very much a distraction away from Ivan’s stagecraft (or lack of).

Ivan, whose real name is Alexander Ivanov, is from Belarus but won the “Five Stars” competition in Russia back in 2014. He looks much older than his 21 years and this is mainly due to his long blonde hair. He reminds me of a hipster version of Marilyn who was a bit of a celebrity in the ‘80s. His personality comes across as ‘rocker’ yet his dress sense is more ‘rocking chair’. This area of the show will need serious revamping. What’s more, although a few backing sngers might be able to beef up the vocals more one thing the show doesn’t need is dancers.

The song itself isn’t bad. The transitions between verse and chorus are interesting and show different sides of his voice. However there is a big issue when it comes to the stage performance. Basically in the song’s performance in the Belarus final the song had a very domineering backdrop which needed lots of long wide shots or shots that would swoop in and out. There were very few lingering shots of Ivan himself. This is not because he looks odd or has something he doesn’t want the camera to see, I fear this is because his charisma and stagecraft is lacking. He just doesn’t know what to do with his body, he doesn’t know what to do with his face, he doesn't know what to do with his hands and doesn’t know how to connect with the camera.

All in all, I really like the flow of the song and like the odd chord changes in the chorus. It creeps into your head quickly and easily but Eurovision is much more a visual beast these days and this performance will not cut it. Yes, the backdrops are quite cool and had some clever camera angles but there will have to be a lot done to make Ivan a more interesting eyeful. The song *should* be good enough to qualify but the show, as is, is a definite no.

ARTIST - Ivan
SONG – Help you fly
MUSIC - Viktor Drobysh, Mary Susan Applegate
LYRICS - Viktor Drobysh, Mary Susan Applegate

2016 recap 007

Wowee - this must be my shortest podcast EVER!!!

Short for two reasons
a) because there really isn't that much news and
b) I had an ill baby in the room

I did promise myself I would do one this week so thought it best to just get it over and done with. He's really well behaved until he decides he wants to sing the last song before I play it  - you can decide who is the better singer XD

If you want to hear my  personal podcasts go to www.twitter.com/bibberlycheese



Follow us on twitter at https://www.twitter.com/DVVHolland
or like our facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/DVVHolland to find get the latest information about blogposts and podcasts or even have a look back at our old ones :o)

You can download or listen to it here https://archive.org/details/2016Recap007

Click here to listen to this podcast in your usual music player (M3U Playlist)

BELGIUM

The Belgian Final was held on January 17th at the AED Studios in Lint, hosted by Peter Van de Veire. The winner was chosen in two rounds of voting - in the first round the top 2 were selected through 50-50 televoting and international juries. IIn teh second round the winner would be selected by televoting alone. The winning entry was "What's the pressure" sung by Laura Tesoro.

The song is a dancey, uptempo song with obvious influences of "Uptown Funk" and Fleur East's "Sax". The song builds quite well after a very bass-y beginning and a very repetitive chorus. In some ways the tune of the whole piece is very predictable which makes is a great piece to listen to for the first few times but gets a little tiresome after that. That all said this no bad thing in Eurovision terms. If anything it is possibly a bit too commercial and radio friendly to be a Eurovision smash and many may see it as being a bit too close to other songs to ahve its own identity.

Laura, like many Eurovision contestants of late, was in a the local version of "The Voice", coming runner up. One would then hope that she can perform under he strain and keep her voice and performance level up. She has also known for her role in a Belgian soap opera so should be used to working with directors and camera angles (although not always to look into!) . She has a very young fresh look which also suits the song although I feel that her look, her dress sense and styling of the whole performance needs some reviewing before going to Sweden.

As I said the song is cashing in on the success of the songs it is influenced by and I see very little change happening in the production of the track. Laura's voice come through really well at the start of the song and she can sing the chorus really well. The issue with her voice comes during the middle bridge where she starts betting a bit tired and the strain starts to show. She needs to focus on the title of the song and make sure she doesn't burn out too quickly

Although I have some issues with her voice, I feel that this would be ironed out with some basic tweaks to the concept of the performance this could be irradiated. The week before the final, all 6 finalists unveiled their songs but not their 'full out' performance packages. For me, Laura's staging with the mic stand and chair looked so much better that the full out routine during the final. The backing dancer/singers were really in your face and just a bit too much - see Basim 2013. If they could intertwine the two performances, they could having something a little bit special. If they keep it as it was in the final I would doubt their chances of getting to the final.

ARTIST - Laura Tesoro
SONG - What's the pressure
MUSIC - Sanne Putseys, Louis Favre, Birsen Uçar
LYRICS - Sanne Putseys, Louis Favre, Birsen Uçar

This is the initial performance - 

2016 recap 6

2 blogposts in 24 hours - I am REALLY spoiling you !!!!

Not a very long podcast, but that's mainly because not very much is going on, or at least nothing of worthiness. There is news regrading acts and songs in national finals, news about songs released online ahead of national finals and some news on internal selections.

There is also news from UK, Norway and Greece.

If you'd like to hear my 'personal' podcast you can find the links via www.twitter.com/bibberlycheese



Follow us on twitter at https://www.twitter.com/DVVHolland
or like our facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/DVVHolland to find get the latest information about blogposts and podcasts or even have a look back at our old ones :o)

You can download or listen to it here https://archive.org/details/2016Recap006

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IRELAND

The Irish entry was revealed on January 13th via the host broadcaster RTE. After many a year of choosing their song using the show 'Eurosong' in its various guises, the 2016 entry and act was selected internally. The song "Sunlight" is to be sung Nicky Byrne.

The song is a fairly uptempo song (by Irish standards) with more than a passing resemblance in places to last year's winning song. It starts off quite sparse in terms of backing music but when the chorus kicks in the bass and drums become much more prominent in the chorus. The chorus is the main selling point of the song. The title is very prominent and punctuated really well in the song, and as an earworm gets in your head very quickly. The second part of the chorus is also really clever with the quick rhymes keeping your attention. The bridge between 2.00 - 2.30 is not the strongest but I figure that they need to bring the song down again in order to drum the end home.

Nicky is a well-known name and face in Ireland, the UK and further afield. Nicky was a member of the pop group Westlife for  well over a decade, however he was mainly seen as one of the ensemble members and not one of those who sang solo. In fact, he no stranger to Eurovision he has given the scores of the Irish vote. In the video he is dressed quite plainly, in black sporting a leather jacket and a slightly rugged James Dean kind of look. The video works well with the silhouettes but not sure if this is the show they will be going for. The style certainly suits the song and again mirrors the more dressed down look Mans showed last year.

I also guess that due to the internal selection this song has gone through that very little will change to either the structure of the song or its production. As I've already hinted the main issue with this production is the strength of Byrne's vocal. This said the verses seem quite straightforward but the punctuation and pitch of the word 'sunlight' needs to be spot on. It would not surprise me if he has a number of backing singers to help create more oooomph specifically for this part. In addition I don't see this being a song that requires dancers but I would expect to see a very visual background.

Of course this was unveiled through a video rather than a live performance so one has to be a little bit more cautious. The fact that Byrne was not an up-front singer for Westlife concerns me a bit. It is probably fair to say he can sing, but can he pull off a solo performance and hold a tune by himself? Part of me fears that he will not and will end up having 5 male backing singers giving him lots of 'help' That said, Nicky has a great personality and I think he will look good and be able to have a great show, no matter the quality of his vocal. He also will have his fame and fan base through Westlife that may well garner more votes than normal. It's not bad - it's not great but it is certainly a song that suggests they are taking the entry and their participation seriously.

ARTIST - Nicky Byrne

SONG - Sunlight

MUSIC - Nicky Byrne, Wayne Hector, Ronan Hardiman

LYRICS - Nicky Byrne, Wayne Hector, Ronan Hardiman