We go a little 1980's crazy in this episode with lots of weird references and I hope you like our musical interludes... And I am sorry I sound so croaky in this episode! Eurovision officially makes you ill!!!!
So the teaser clues to the reiews in this podcast are -
1) Hispster-geddon
2) If this song was a stick of rock...
3) Synchronised swimming
4) Too much interference
5) He really loves himself
6) On stage with a megaphone
Remember to keep listening to the very, very end for another one of Andy's Easter egg extras - and this one is possibly the funniest one yet (just don't remind him hoe long it took to make!)
The songs left over to be reviewed are, in alphabetical order:
Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Israel, Macedonia and Sweden!
Other references include lesser known Babylon Zoo songs (yes, there IS more than just the one!), 90’s rave culture, Mrs Brown’s Boys, one man went to mow, and tongue twisters
The reviewed songs, in alphabetical order are:
Czechia, Hungary, Iceland, Norway, Serbia and Spain.
Considering we recorded this episode on the day a general election this was pretty topical news satire!
Very long intro to begin with
(these intros are becoming less intros to the show more like an AOB about stuff
that winds us up and needs getting off our chests. Soz.) Other obscure references include
Teletubbies, german bands and BBC Alba (you you even know/care what that is?!?!?!)
Clues to today’s opinions include:
1)Contemporary
yet eighties
2)James
Bond the musical
3)Pick
a key…
4)Jarring
5)Pudding
6)Not
even nice
Today’s reviewed entries, in alphabetical
order are:
Croatia, Georgia, Germany,
Lithuania, Moldova and San Marino
Not one to blow my own trumpet but this is the best intro yet!
We had a lot of fun reviewing the songs in ths episode and probably could have gone on for ages but we reigned ourselves in - but still not under the hour barrier yet- gah !!!!
The revews today include to following clues,,,
1) Look and Read’s The Boy from Space
2) Kenny Everett
3) Joyous
4) Susan Calman and Liz McColgan
5) Sounds too much like a show tune
6) A bit of a heavy concept
The songs reviewed today are, in alphabetical order:
Azerbaijan, Estonia, Italy,
Malta, Netherlands and Slovenia
On the plus side NO EDITS – we were very well behaved today (although it has been replaced in this episode by extreme grumpiness. Also fewer weird references today more because we were very tired and wanted to get under the hour banner… oh dear epic fail… As ever listen out for the hidden ending....
Today’s songs, in alphabetical order are:
Armenia, Cyprus, Denmark, France, Latvia and Portugal
You came back for more did you....? You glutton for punishment !!!!
A brief summary of our feeings behind today's reviewed acts are -
1) Rats tails
2) looking like one of All Saints
3) a 3 minute selfie
4) best background yet/ever…?
5) Chris Morris' ”Paedageddon”
6) were there any words?
....aaaaaaaaaaaand there are lots of edits (we were far
too edgy for our own good this episode!!!!)
Today’s random references include Kristian Leontiou. The Hardy
Boyz, Zlatko from German Big Brother, and
Rubberbandits (please do Eurovision one day guys xxxx)
Now for the science bit...Today's reviewed acts are, in alphabetical order:
Australia, Belarus, Ireland, Montenegro, Romania and the United Kingdom
It's the Eurovision review show that has the one thing Eurovision doesn't - LOTS OF SWEARING !!!!
Andy and Ann are back with the fan and non-fan's view of this year's Eurovision entries... I would say how many entries there are but this number could change at any time... In this show we review 6 from the list...
Don't worry we try and recap the rules, the bizarre scoring system and we also talk about the slight change to the format but it doesn't really change how we feel about anything to be honest!
Things to watch out for -
1) Many references to Mr Tumble
2) WWE themes/walk on music
3) Po-land (quite literally)
4)Andy remembers something Ann didn't think he would remember...
5) Alternate re-writes of the Greek chorus
6) Is this Austria or is it actually Australia
The songs revewed today come from, in alphabetical order:
Austria, Finland, Greece, Poland, Switzerland and the hosts, Ukraine.
Now that all the songs have been released, fans have been
making predictions as to how the semi-final layouts might lay out. Not only
have the songs been designated to 1 of the 2 semi finals but have also been
slotted into the top or bottom half of their allocation.
However, this is NOT a prediction – although it might as
well be!
I am imagining I am in charge of running order. What factors
would I be taking into consideration?
I would have to be careful to space out
songs in such a way so that it feels like something different and unique is
coming on stage next. I’ve also tried hard NOT to favour songs I like and put
them in too much of an advantageous position. All I have tried to do and
individualise each song by putting each song before or after something different
whether it be the kind of act, style of song or language.The only difference from this is in the openers and closers of each half as this song has to make a statement about what's to come or close off in a memorable fashion.
So here is my half arsed attempt is making an ‘interesting’
couple of shows…
Semi Final 1
Australia
Montenegro
Albania
Sweden
Finland
Azerbaijan
Portugal
Georgia
Belgium
Czech Republic
Iceland
Slovenia
Latvia
Cyprus
Armenia
Greece
Poland
Moldova
Semi Final 2
FYR Macedonia
Malta
Austria
Romania
Russia
Netherlands
Serbia
Ireland
Denmark
Hungary
San Marino
Norway
Bulgaria
Lithuania
Israel
Switzerland
Belarus
Croatia
Estonia
Also bear in mind there are likely to be ad breaks around the song 5 and song 13 mark (although these slots have not been cemented in fact) and so this knowledge may well affect the order.
This makes sense to me and I think it is fair considering the parameters I gave myself...
The Armenian entry was finally revealed on March 18th via the official video. Back in December, the
final of Depi Evratesil was held at ARMTV TV Studios in Yerevan, hosted by
Gohar Gasparyan. The winner during the final was chosen by SMS voting (50%)
& an "expert" jury of Armenian diaspora musicians (50%). The winner
of the show would be selected as the Eurovision entrant with a song to
selected at a later date. Going to Kyiv is Artsvik singing the song ‘Fly with
me”
The main part of the video is
set on a brightly coloured stage with different levels to it. She performs the
song in a black dress with coloured bands on it that changes colour at
different points in the song, however I don’t think it is particularly
flattering for her. She has a plethora of dancers backing her which adds a lot
of strength and power to the performance. The dancers work well together and at
times it feels like she is control of what they are doing, almost like a puppet
master. Although she doesn’t go into a full on dance routine, it is mostly
armography, it is obvious she can maintain a good level of choreography and
could do something similar on stage.
The song is very ethnic and
the backing music is very beautiful and intricate. The lyrics and tune that
lies on top of it is very non-descript and changeable. The beginning is quite a
jazzy, almost spoken word introduction which then gets interrupted by a deep
beat which leads into a verse. This leads into a refrain of oooooohs which has
a very mystical and eastern feel. It then goes back to another verse but she
sings this much more strongly and with her full voice. This then leads into
what I guess is the chorus as it contains the title of the song, however there
is no backing music change between here and the verse so feels a little bit
flat. After this is then a sizable instrumental which is very elaborate with
lots of nanobeats and percussion. This is then followed by a final chorus but
with a totally different tune to the first one.
So this has elements of a
ballad but is far too abstract, ethnic and innovate to be but unto that box. This
is possibly the most ‘arty’ song of this year and the video styling really
emphasises this. However, looking through all of this creative veneer there is
actually very little to get your teeth into. The lyrical hooks don’t stand out
enough and there are too many ‘bits’ that don’t get repeated and you find
yourself struggling to find one bit you can plant in your brain and remember
it.
It must be said that in the
last few years, Armenia have been one of the countries taking an ‘out of the
box’ approach tot heir entries and have come up with something very different
and highly memorable to the stage. Unfortunately this year, they have brought
the ‘art’ but not the ‘pop’. I cannot see how any first listener to this could
enjoy this and vote for it. As we know, however, the diaspora of this country
will vote and might be enough to get it through although I personally think
there are 10 other songs I would prefer to see in the final than this.
The Bulgarian entry was released on March 13th via a lyric video. The broadcaster had released regular news
snippets of their internal selection journey although very little was known
about the final song and act choice. Going to Kyiv is Kristian Kostov with the
song “Beautiful Mess”.
The release as in the form of
a lyric video which leaves no clue about staging and singing ability. However, having
watched a number of videos from his appearances on various talent shows, I can
see that even though very young he has a very confident and self-assured voice.
Although he has the boyish looks and fashion sense of a Justin Bieber, most of
the songs I’ve seen are ballads and he doesn’t appear to move a lot. I say boyish
looks, he could easily look at home representing Bulgaria at jESC instead.
The song in a slow ballad
with a fair bit of falsetto and has an ethnic instrumentation. It sounds very
modern and radio friendly and somehow also feels very familiar. It must also be
said that the start of the song is very whispery and feels like he is using a
very sensitive microphone so I would be very interested to see if he performs
with such delicateness. The structure is pretty simple with a verse, chorus,
verse, chorus structure. The ending is a bit odd as the last 30 seconds could
be used to repeat the chorus fully rather than have an instrumental and an
extra line. What is also confusing is the fact that the title ‘Beautiful mess’
is a line from the verse, not the chorus. In fact, it might even have been
better to end on a repeat of that line.
So here is another ballad to
put into the mix but Kristan will
appeal to a younger age group compared to many of the other balladeers. When I listened to this for
the first time I thought it was dull and quite average. I kept on waiting for a big guild up that never came. After several
listens my opinion of this has got better but not by much. It also has shades
of “Believe” by Dima Bilan about it, which dates it slightly. I think the biggest comparison many have made is that after last year’s
banger of a tune this is a bit of a let-down.
Throughout all the craziness
of semi-final 2 this could come across as quite boring and forgettable OR come across as 3
minutes of class during a very bizarre night. The draw might be a real factor
in how well this does - if it is near the end, it will stand out. Personally, I
think that this is too quiet, spiritless and lethargic to do anything in
the final if it did progress -unless hehas a memorable stageing trick up his sleeve
ARTIST - Kristian Kostov
SONG – Beautiful mess
MUSIC - Borislav Milanov,
Sebastian Arman, Joachim Bo Persson
LYRICS - Borislav Milanov,
Sebastian Arman, Joachim Bo Persson