MONTENEGRO

The Montenegrin Final was held on February 9th at the RTCG TV Studios in Podgorica. In the first round the top 2 was chosen by a mixture of public, radio station jury, international and Montenegrin juries. In the second round the winner was solely chosen by SMS voting. The winner was the group D-Moll singing “Heaven”

The six-piece vocal group are all dressed in black trouser suits and are standing and sitting in various places in front of a musical stave. During the song there is very little movement apart from the odd bit of shuffling about and some rather over-theatrical interactions with each other and the camera. Although the concept is a bit naff, I feel they could have really gone over the top and tried more with the levels and movement but all in all it’s very sedentary. At the end the all join hands to (possibly) make a musical note but again this just looks odd.

The first verse and chorus of the song are quite gentle and ballady, however their performance style comes across as a bit over the top and exaggerated for the style but during the second verse the beat kicks in properly. I say ‘beat’ is is quite a simplistic and steady beat but very safe and middle of the road sounding. In fact it sounds like a lot of middling Eurovision entries from the early 2000s. The chorus is actually quite earwormy – in a cheesy kind of way – but its simplistic and predictable lyrics makes it feel very old fashioned indeed. The chorus is repeated several times during the song and by the end it feels like its gone on for hours rather than minutes. The group don't sing the song badly and most of the time is sounds quite nice however I feel that they are just 'singing' and that opportunities to harmonise and emphasis their vocal qualities are wasted on this song - or maybe they can't...

Although Montevizija was a small affair, the songs were quite diverse and so in many ways it is a shame that this, the only song in English and the safest song of the lot, won. The song is what it is and I don’t think much will or can be done to to the song but a lot could be done to make it look more modern in the presentation. If they are going to keep the ‘musical’ interpretation then they need scope to move up, down or about the stage as I feel the static nature of the performance is stifling their projection down the camera and into the audience. Ideally I could see them ditching the background and doing something totally different. As there are already 6 of them, there is no scope for adding extra backing singers or dancers so the extra dynamics needed will need to come from the band themselves.

This is possibly the most stereotypical Eurovision song chosen this year and as is looks and feels really dated. I cannot see how this will move to the Saturday night show. If this qualifies it won't becaue this is good, but that its semi final must have been really awful.

ARTIST – D-Moll

SONG – Heaven

MUSIC -  Aleksandar Miličić, Dejan Božović

LYRICS - Aleksandar Miličić, Dejan Božović

AUSTRALIA

The Australian Final was held on February 9th at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre, hosted by Myf Warhurst & Joel Creasey. The winner, chosen by a 50-50 mixture of televoting and jury scoring was “Zero Gravity” by Kate Miller-Heidke.

Kate’s song and staging, on the face of it, is reminiscent of Elina’s Estonian entry last year but there are some very distinct differences. Kate’s dress is much more textured and intricate with a radiating crystal crown on hear head. Behind her and above her no less is an acrobat on a bendy pole. She mirrors some of the armography of Kate as well as mirrors the growth of the song by moving more and more as it goes along. They even interact with each other, which looks amazing. The background starts off quite blue but as the song progresses blobs of different colours start to expand so that by the end build up the whole place is vibrant pinks, greens and blues.

The song is quite hard to pigeonhole because the song and the singer seems to change genres and styles very quickly. It starts off as a almost whispery trance song with Kate explaining how she is being dragged down by the people around her. This then goes into operatic mode where she shows off her trilling a expert breath control in the chorus. The backing track goes from being low-key and electronic to being orchestral and atmospheric. This pattern is repeated again but with a much stronger beat pulse in the verse. After the second chorus the song begins it’s long build up to the ending. The backing singers sing the “nothing holding me down” line over and over again almost like an affirmation mantra whilst Kate keeps singing her ‘zero gravity’ trilling. The whole effect with the music, the acrobat and the lights really builds up to a momentous finale.

Australia’s very first national final was absolutely epic. The songs were diverse, well produced, showed great creativity but also felt very current and modern (take heed BBC!) The two pre-show favourites ended up being the top two on the night and in fact the jury and televote for Kate and Electric Fields (who came second) really was close and I honestly think ether of them would have been worthy winners. This is going to stand out a country mile. It’s like Bohemian Rhapsody on speed – especially if you need to get all facets of  the song under 3 minutes! Her voice is really listenable, the lyrics are actually quite meaningful and the tune is a low-key bop AND a hand-up lighters anthem all in one. The staging as it is, is exceptional and the song is very memorable.

Will anybody vote for this? Well I guess it depends if it unites opera, dance music, and anthem fans or alienates them. However, I feel that juries will lap this up just for the amazing vocal technique and the very skilful song writing shown inside the time limit. How to do a national final *ticked*

ARTIST – Kate Miller-Heidke

SONG – Zero gravity

MUSIC -  Kate Miller-Heidke, Keir Nuttall

LYRICS - Kate Miller-Heidke, Keir Nuttall

UNITED KINGDOM

The UK Final was held on February 8th at MediaCityUK Studios in Salford, hosted by Mel Giedroyc & Måns Zelmerlöw. In the final, each of the three songs were performed by two different artists and the expert jury decided which version would go to the public vote which would solely choose the winner. Going to Eurovision will be Michael Rice with “Bigger than us”

Michael starts off centre stage with a microphone stand. Behind him, initially in the shadows, are 4 backing singers 2 on either side. The background starts off quite starry but in the chorus the lights become bigger, more like stage lights and also has the effect of making the rectangles video screens look like skyscrapers. As the song goes on Michael moves around the front of the stage. His performance style is quite fidgety, which is not a problem, but he tends to move about the stage a little too much especially for a song of this tempo. Maybe with a bit more training and a larger selection of camera angles to choose from this might be solved.

This is a mid tempo ballad which really shows off Michael’s voice and personality. The song has a very long build up and takes a while to fully get into gear. He starts off very gently but during the chorus he uses a much bigger and louder voice. The verses use the lower part of his register and that allows him to use volume as well as pitch to differentiate the parts of the song. Cleverly the second verse is shorter than the first meaning that the second repetition of he chorus comes round quicker than you expect. The chorus is very repetitive and the fact that the title of the song is the primary lyric means it’s pretty unforgettable. After the second chorus  there is some call and response with the backing singers and his interaction with them seems genuine. After this the last minute is basically a slew of repeated choruses including key changes, hand clapping and gospel choirs. The ending, after all this, does come rather abruptly and might need a little bit of tweaking.

The national final was a bit of a mess to be honest and although the BBC had tried to make out that the format was hopefully going to shove some ‘diversity’ into the national final it actually did not thing of the sort. It was all kinds of bland. That said, Kerrie-Anne and Michael were head and shoulders above the rest of the bunch and it felt right that they won their respective duels. Michael’s performance was more powerful and his vocal prowess was much more on show which got him the win. Unfortunately it is also a very safe song and needs work to make it Eurovision ready. Hopefully they will stay away from the stereotypical makeovers the UK entries have had over the last few years.

Once again this is a very jury-friendly song and I suspect we might see him riding high, if not on the left hand side of the leader board, during the first half of the voting only to sink without a trace in the televote. If we get above 20^th this should be seen as an improvement.
Nowhere near a winner but at least this is a singer we can get behind and a song that hopefully should get some heat from the juries and from the Scandinavian countries - what on earth will happen in John Lundvik wins Melfest?!?!?!!?

ARTIST – Michael Rice

SONG – Bigger than us

MUSIC -  Laurell Barker, Anna-Klara Folin, John Lundvik and Jonas Thander

LYRICS -  Laurell Barker, Anna-Klara Folin, John Lundvik and Jonas Thander

BBC Radio Bristol - upload

Last week, I plucked up the courage to make a piece of audio for the BBC. Here in the west we have a daily show on the radio called 'Upload' and as you can guess people are invited to upload their own stuff.
Having felt a little negatively about the UK Eurovision selections this year, and being slightly buoyed by the fact my feelings seemed to be mirrored by other people, I decided to do a piece about why Eurovision has the reputation it has in the UK and how actually the people in charge of the selection process every year aren't *really* helping change this. Effectively, Eurovision has moved on but the UK selections really haven't..

You can find the "Upload with Adam Crowther" show from 1st February on BBC Sounds or you can click on the link to find my bit which is about 36.45 in https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p06xf946

Feel free to link or share the piece elsewhere, especially if you are in the Eurovision community or know someone who is and might find this interesting. Remember Eurovision: You Decide is less than a week away so maybe this with tantalise your taste buds before the show itself, and with the best will in the world - I hope everything I said is proved wrong !!!!!!!!!!!!

If you want to give me,  the upload show OR Adam Crowther feedback, tag us all in a post on twitter using our handles @escarmchair @bbcupload and @adam_crowther . As the saying goes every little helps get publicity to the contest!


EXTRA!!!!

If you are having trouble with the link because it has expired or are listening from outside the UK or having other issues, here is a cutting of my excerpt put on soundcloud by my lovely husband ! Now you can share the post or just share the soundcloud page

CZECHIA

The Czech result was announced on January 28^th.  The 6 chosen entries were revealed on the Ceská Televize website. The winner was chosen by an international jury (50%) & via the Eurovision mobile phone app (50%). Going to Eurovision will be the band Lake Malawi with the song “Friend of a friend”

As the competition was via the website and based on video clips of all the entries there is yet a live version of the song, although there are a few live performance videos around on youtube if you search for them. The video for this song is very basic, with most of the shots taken by hand held phone cameras. It chronicles the lead singer, who is singing towards the camera in different places in his apartment. Although it is not a narrative I could see being replicated on the Eurovision stage it does prove that the lead singer, Albert, has pretty good chemistry down the camera lens.

The song is a mid tempo electro pop song with a slight soul feel. The first verse is slightly more low key than the rest of the song which allows the song to build, albeit too slowly for my liking. The second verse has a much clearer beat which fits in better with the mood of the song. The chorus is the star of the show in this song. The tune is repeated over and over again as well as the phrase ‘friend of a friend of a friend of a friend’ at the start of each cycle and sometimes at the end too. The sequence is then repeated but as an instrumental. By the first time you hear it, it is totally stuck in your head although the actual words take longer to become embedded. In my opinion they could do with cutting down one, or both of the verses to possibly have an extra repetition on the sung chorus either after the first or second verses. The ending is a little curt but because of the electro style of the backing it doesn’t come across as too sudden.

Because of the way the Czech selection did, we see that this did equally well with the jury and online vote. With in international jury, mainly made up of past contestants, this came equal first and was second in the public vote. This might be seen as a slight negative but because we know that anybody around the world could vote in the selection this shows that overall this was liked, no matter where the votes came from. Although this was my favourite of the selection I am a little cautious of singing its praises. I think I will and a better gauge of how good they are when performed live and what show they decide to bring

The fact of the matter is Mikolas broke the glass ceiling for Czechia and to follow that is going to be a big job. This has a different vibe but a modern enough one to be a radio hit even if it doesn’t hit the higher placings at Eurovision. I’d love to see this qualify but if Europe is one again looking for something different and quirky, it could miss out.

ARTIST – Lake Malawi

SONG – Friend of a friend

MUSIC - Jan Steinsdoerfer, Maciej Mikolaj Trybulec, Albert Čern

LYRICS - Jan Steinsdoerfer, Maciej Mikolaj Trybulec, Albert Čern

FRANCE

The French Final was held on January 26th at the Studios de France in Saint-Denis, Paris, hosted by Garou. Before the final there were 2 semi-finals where 4 songs qualified from each. The winner was chosen through a mix of international jury and televoting. Representing France this year is Bilal Hassani with “Roi” (King)

It has to be noted that the performance in the final was different to that of the semi. Re-imagining the show must have been tough in such a small space of time, so although it showed promise, there were many rough edges.

He is dressed in a black suit with heavily fringed silver epaulettes. He is also sporting his trademark glasses and beautiful blond shoulder length hair. He stands in front of a projection box which shows various video reels of Bilal as a child which are particularly cute! Most of the song he walks around the stage but also does a few dance moves after the chorus which works ok but does affect his voice. Halfway through he is joined by two female dancers which he occasionally joins in with. Their dancing is too jerky and seems to emphasise a beat which is not there. To my eyes and ears this makes the whole thing very disjointed and I think it needs something a bit more flowing but still as modern. Also the crown motif is very clever and simple.

The song is a mid tempo ballad which Bilal sings well but on the higher notes in the chorus his voice is a little bit thin. I start to wonder if the song could be taken down a tone/semitone to make the high notes more reachable? That said his voice and tone is easy to recognise. His pronunciation is lovely and it is easy to hear the switches in language from French to English and back again. The chorus has a very catchy repetitive structure and actually sounds great in both English and French. The last 30 seconds though is weak. The long high note isn’t Bilal’s strong point and could easily sound off on a bad day. I also think he needs to stick rigidly to the tune of the song and not go for harmonies, alternate melodies or too many runs and riffs. The song takes a few too many listens to get the gist of the story and meaning which is a shame.

The song was very big in the hall and with good reason, Bilal was on the Voice Kids a number of years ago and is quite a prominent youtuber in France with quite the following within the youth and LGBTQ community. This was further evidenced by his landslide win in the French televote (he got approx 35% of the public vote, second pace got just 15%) This support in the French speaking world is strong but the international vote did not go his way, coming only 5^th and this is worrying. What did the international jury not get? Was it the language barrier, his lesser vocal control, the odd staging or something else…? Basically, Bilal needs to work hard at nailing the vocal and needs a team around him that will nail the visual show. The semi performance didn’t quite work, neither did the final. Pick one and whittle it down until it makes a fine point OR start again from scratch.

This will be a fan fave but I also suspect that without the right advice this will be the fan flop. France should be lucky that they don’t have to qualify because if they did, I think they would struggle. Not a winner.

ARTIST – Bilal Hassani

SONG – Roi (King)

MUSIC - Bilal Hassani, Madame Monsieur, Medeline

LYRICS - Bilal Hassani, Madame Monsieur, Medeline

SPAIN

The Spanish Final was held on January 20th at Parc Audiovisual de Catalunya in Terrassa, hosted by Roberto Leal. Before the final there was a jury and online vote to choose the songs to be sung in the gala. The winner, which was chosen solely by televoting, was Miki with “La Venda” (The blindfold).

The performance used almost every inch of the stage, and even started off in the audience. Following him almost every step of the way was a five piece female band with drums, trombones and accordions which not only powers the instrumentation of the song but also the fun party atmosphere. There are no real props and backing screen for this but I would imagine street scenes, streamers and balloons and dancing being a possibility if there is a video wall in Tel Aviv. I think the band works well and also frames the shots down the camera lens. I wonder though if some of the band will need to double up as backing singers or even be replaced by them.

The song starts off with a band and practically doesn’t stop. It is a Latino party song with hints of Mariachi but also tones of Ska and 2tone. The tempo is incredibly fast from beginning to end and is going to look amazing in the hall with everyone jumping and waving flags. The whole piece is a mass of repetition but in a way that does not get tiresome. The verses have quite curt and choppy lines which have the same repeating tune but with different words each time. The chorus is even more repetitive as it is shorter. Every line has the same tune and the 2 lines are repeated as many times as needed. The other upshot of this that the first verse/chorus turnaround takes just over one minute, including intro, which gives the song scope to grow. The ending is a little weak but as the song goes right up to the 3 minute mark there is not much room for manoeuvre, maybe they could beef the volume and brass sound up a bit to make it more of a triumphant ending? Miki’s singing is ok but this is a song all about enthusiasm and passion and energy

This song went down like a house on fire in the hall, possibly helped by the fact that Catalan Miki was performing in front of a supporting barcelonés crowd and that the accents and of the song are inspired by the rhythms of that region. That said, this song does have a certain something. It certainly has heart and passion and will certainly make its mark in the hall which I think will be translated through to the TV viewers. I also think if the Eurovision voting public are looking for a summery party song then this will be it. It will be interesting to see where this gets drawn in the running order as I think its placing could not so much make or break *its* chances but possibly effect the flow of the whole show. Get this drawn in the second half and it could be a brilliant show bookend!

Not sure that this is a winner but it is certainly a quirky memorable number that will make an impression and will certainly be remembered!

ARTIST – Miki

SONG – La Venda (The blindfold)

MUSIC - Adrià Salas

LYRICS - Adrià Salas

ALBANIA

The Albanian Final was held on December 22nd at the Palace of Congress in Tirana, hosted by Viktor Zhusti & Ana Golja. Before the final there were two shows, where the 22 selected entries were performed with a full orchestra, then in ‘Eurovision form’ before being shorted to a final of 14. The winning entry, chosen solely by the jury, was "Ktheju tokës" (Return to the land) sung by Jonida Maliqi.

The song was presented slightly differently on the three different nights but I am going to concentrate on her final performance. Jonida is centre stage in a very striking large 80s style metallic dress which fits snugly down to her calves, The shiny fabric is nice but the colours and patterns make her look much bigger than she is. Her heavy bob hairstyle could be scraped back into a tight bun with statement jewellery to make a better and clearer presentation. She does not move very much from the spot and at times the stage, even with backing singers and orchestra behind her, feels empty. On the video wall behind her is a representation of a street scene, which is sometimes covered by a train passing and changing into a collage of street signs and traffic lights.

The song starts off with some echoing drumming, almost like a heartbeat. Jonida joins in although her words mirror the speed and rhythm of the drums. Her vocal production is also quite bassy and echoing. After the first part it starts to become a bit free form and lamenting and you start to wonder where this is going. The beat kicks in a little more during the chorus and there s also a little more in terms of tune here too. The changes in chords here are quite nice and offer a little more optimism although still in a minor key. After another short verse and another rendition of the chorus, the song ends in a kind of whimper which is a shame. I honestly think there is too much filler and groaning in the song which could be replaced by a reprise of the chorus or at least part of it. The song builds very slowly and I could find many casual watchers getting bored after the first 45 seconds.

Unlike many Albanian entries chosen via Festivali i Këngës, this song a feels a stage ahead of those gone before it. The rule change meaning songs were performed two different ways meant all involved have had to have an preparatory eye towards Eurovision before the national final rather than afterwards. This song still needs some improvements and some possible re-framing to make it more accessible and memorable to a wider audience. It is still a few seconds too long and the instrumental parts could be shortened, nay cut out, and more chorus put in to keep the tune firmly in your head.

This is very much a song for Albanians, in particular those ethnic Albanians who have left of their own volition or those who have fled due to conflict. In this context I can see that this song will very much appeal to the wide spread Albanian diaspora or to those sympathetic towards them. To everyone else this song, as it stands, is lacking a clear thread. If I had not read the lyrics before hand I would have no idea what the song was trying to interpret. Yes, the backdrop gives a sense of moving but not much else. During the second night of performances, 4 female dancers were also on stage which I think helped to interpret the song more visually and made the stage a little less bare.

A song for Albanians – but is it for the rest of Eurovision-land? It’s not a winner…

ARTIST – Jonida Maliqi

SONG – Ktheju tokës (Return to the land)

MUSIC - Eriona Rushiti

LYRICS - Eriona Rushiti

#strictlyeurovision part 2

In the lull between Strictly Come Dancing ending and Eurovision getting into gear I merge the two!

Over the past few weeks I have been carefully pairing up Strictly dance styles and Eurovision songs. I suggest a number of potential choices for all of the dances but select my favourite - the one I would probably like to dance the most - to play on the show. There are some quite obvious choices, some less so!

If you are a newbie to Eurovision there will be some songs you know but quite a few you won't, so see this as an entry level gateway to the world of Eurovision. If you *are* in the Eurovision fandom you may find some of my idea a little bit leftfield -which I am kind of known for - but I also try my very best to dis-spell my moniker as 'the one who hates Denmark' !!!

In this podcast we look at the following dance styles: Charleston, Samba, Salsa, Tango, Jive, Waltz and, last but not least, the Showdance !

If you have enjoyed the podcasts, please get in touch and/or share my stuff  :)
 
Follow us on twitter at https://www.twitter.com/ESCarmchair
or like our facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/ESCarmchair 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/StrictlyEurovision2

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

#strictlyeurovision part 1

In the lull between Strictly Come Dancing ending and Eurovision getting into gear I merge the two!

Over the past few weeks I have been carefully pairing up Strictly dance styles and Eurovision songs. I suggest a number of potential choices for all of the dances but select my favourite - the one I would probably like to dance the most - to play on the show. There are some quite obvious choices, some less so!

If you are a newbie to Eurovision there will be some songs you know but quite a few you won't, so see this as an entry level gateway to the world of Eurovision. If you *are* in the Eurovision fandom you may find some of my idea a little bit leftfield -which I am kind of known for - but I also try my very best to dis-spell my moniker as 'the one who hates Denmark' !!!

In this podcast we look at the following dance styles: Viennese Waltz, American Smooth, Cha Cha Cha, Foxtrot, Rumba, Argentine Tango, Quick Step and Paso Doble.

I shall be recording part 2 in the next couple of days so if you have any mini reviews or opinions of the pod then get them in soon so I can read some out ! The second podcast should be up around New Year's Eve :)

Follow us on twitter at https://www.twitter.com/ESCarmchair
or like our facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/ESCarmchair 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/StrictlyEurovision1

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