Shite or Alright 2021

 A little bit late in the making but we are here nonetheless!

Going to set out the podcasts a little different this year because the podcasts will be coming thick and fast. So, all 6 podcasts will be on this page with a new episode being added every other day in order to get the 6 episodes out in time :)

We hope you enjoy !

EPISODE ONE: Londonbeat on Speed

Albania, Greece, Portugal, Slovenia, Sweden and United Kingdom

You can download or listen to it here https://archive.org/details/soa-2021-1

EPISODE TWO: The man behind Howard Jones

Belgium, Estonia, Germany, Israel, Latvia, Russia and Switzerland

You can download or listen to it here https://archive.org/details/soa-2021-2

EPISODE THREE: Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Bodyform!

Australia, Georgia, Ireland, Italy, Norway and Serbia

You can download or listen to it here https://archive.org/details/soa-2021-3

EPISODE FOUR: Toxteth riots and Derek Hatton

Austria, Azerbaijan, Czechia, Denmark, France, Malta and Ukraine

You can download or listen to it here https://archive.org/details/soa-2021-4

EPISODE FIVE: Blas Cantó was only the start of it (backed by pictures of Super Gran)

Bulgaria, Finland, Lithuania, Moldova, San Marino and Spain

You can download or listen to it here https://archive.org/details/soa-2021-5

EPISODE SIX: ... but ALL Popes do that...

Croatia, Cyprus, Iceland, Netherlands North Macedonia, Poland and Romania

You can download or listen to it here https://archive.org/details/soa-2021-6

If you have enjoyed the podcasts, please get in touch and/or share my stuff  :)
 
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MALTA 2021

The Maltese song was revealed on March 15th, with the video being uploaded to the Eurovision youtube account. Destiny, who was due to be their entrant in 2020 after winning X Factor Malta, was internally reselected to appear in 2021.Her song is titled "Je me casse" (I break)

The video is a mish mash of various scenes and situations with Destiny in a number of different outfits and hairstyles - all of which look fabulous! At some points she is singing to a topless man (as you do) as well as having a number of different backing dancers around her, also in different states of costuming. There doesn't seem to be a specific storyline to the video apart from near the end when Destiny is looking rather presidential and shouting  through a loudhailer.

The song starts with a very catchy, repetitive and funky bassline. Destiny's vocal style really suits this  style of song as her voice contains so much character you don't need many instruments. The parts of this song thought are short and sharp and soon enough we are in the pre-chorus which is more chanted/spoken before getting into the chorus proper which is rather plain compared to everything before it. The outro of chorus has a terrible brass earworm running through it which makes it sounds a bit silly. We then return tot the start of the cycle after just over a minute. After the second rendition of teh chorus we have a rather long bridge - I say long in comparison to all the other bits in the song - and then a final chorus which ends a little too abruptly.

As a child, Destiny participated in various singing competitions in Malta and the Mediterranean region including SanRemo Junior in Italy. In 2015 she came to worldwide prominence by winning Junior Eurovision with "Not My Soul" In 2017 she entered Britain's Got Talent, qualifying to the live shows but not reaching the final. In 2019, Destiny came to Eurovision as a backing singer for Michela Pace who won the chance to represent Malta by winning X Factor Malta. The next year Destiny took part on the competition herself winning the competition and was therefore was supposed to represent Malta in 2020.

This song has so much promise and potential but a couple of production decisions have killed this song for me. I love the start and the verses, but from there things start to unfurl. The chanting parts before the chorus are totally unnecessary, as well as including some super basic rhyming which makes it sound a little tacky. As for the chorus, it's not bad; I almost wish that the verses were actually the chorus and vice versa (I don't know if that is actually possible) Also, I don't actually understand why the words "Je me casse" are in the song at all. The meaning of the phrase doesn't seem to fit with the rest of the song plus - unless it's just to make the 'excuse my French' gag or curry favour with Francophiles - I don't get why it's in French at all. I end up listening to this song feeling a little crestfallen. Destiny is Premiership standard but this song is barely in the Vanarama National League. That all said and done, she will perform the hell out of this and the those who have been with her throughout her jESC/ESC journey will support her to the end.

ARTIST - Destiny
SONG - Je me casse (I break)
WRITING CREDITS - Pete Barringer, Malin Christin, Amanuel Dermont, Nicklas Eklund 

AZERBAIJAN 2021

The Azeri song was revealed on March 15th, with the song's premiere on youtube. After the cancellation of the 2020 contest, Efendi was invited back for 2021 with another internally selected song. She will be singing "Mata Hari"”.

The video is rather simplistic, focusing on Efendi,who is dressed in a little black dress and a very high ponytail. The feeling is very soft focus and there is a warm glow to the visuals. She is joined in the shots by some female dancers who are dressed in a similar way. There are motifs of backlit spotlights and differing sizes of glowing lights which give it a Bond-like spy quality. There is a bit of armography that goes along with this but does look quite pedestrian at times.

The song starts with a mass shout of "Mata Hari before the atmospheric Eastern sounds in backing creeps in. Efendi chants over it with the repetitive first verse. Half way through a beat come in to help the song build. Then comes in the pre-chorus with its shameless plug of last year's song "Cleopatra", the repetition on the mystic chanting before hitting the chorus. This art is possibly the most basic with the repetition - in different guises - of the title. The beat peters aout again to repeat the cycle once again. Just before the two minute mark we have a bridge which is basically a descotrucedt chorus with more 'Mata Hari's and drumming rhythms which then leads into a short instrumental that sounds suspiciously like the one from "My Number One" We then have a shortened pre-chorus before a final chorus but the backing track seems to be at double speed and has  rather random electric guitars on it. The song finishes with another chant of "Mata Hari".

Efendi, first name Samira,  is a popular Azeri singer. Like many Eurovision contestants, she is from a reality show/singing competition background having taken part in the Azeri version of Pop Idol in 2009 and The Voice of Azerbaijan in 2016 coming in third place. She also participated in the show Böyük Səhnə which selected their Eurovision competition in 2014, however she did not make it to the final.

This is pretty disappointing. It's like they have tried to stretch the themes and tropes from their 2020 song and tried to fit them into an identikit song without it seeming like a total ripoff. I am not sure if the delegation had this written especially to sound as much like "Cleopatra" as possible OR if this similarity was due to pure laziness or lack of inspiration. I find this massively misses the mark and the last minute is a mess of sound and structure. As much as the song is badly constructed, there is no doubt in anybody's mind as to what the title of the song is ! On a visual point of view the lighting and quick cuts of the camera create almost all the movement and tension on screen.  I am starting to suspect they are trying to cover up Efendi's lack of talent, or  lack of confidence, in dancing. If this is true it will be interesting to see what happens on stage. Most people coming back from last year have changed things up or changed tack completely but this has just stuck fast and it already feels old.

ARTIST - Efendi
SONG - Mata Hari
WRITING CREDITS - Luuk van Beers, Tony Cornelissen, Josh Earl, Amy van der Wel

GEORGIA 2021

The Georgian song was revealed on March 15th, with the song's premiere will taking place on the 1TV channel. Back in January it was confirmed that last year's act, Tornike Kipiani, had been reselected to represent Georgia. His internally selected song is titled "You".

The self-directed music video is shot in different places around Georgia. The video is very elemental with Tornike walking along a shoreline, climbing over man made boulders, looking out from a boat and walking through a lush green forest. There is a lot of focus on details with some sharp detailed views against others that are more dream-like with a lot of slow motion views. He is also seated on stage in an empty auditorium singing the song with views of a very wafty ballerina.

In essence, this is in a Viennese Waltz tempo (to put it in Strictly terms) but there is a lot of gliding over the bars which makes it a little unusual to the ear. The format of the song is more akin to three verses with repeated some lines within. The song starts with a short atmospheric intro which doesn't really give anything away as to how the song would progress. Tornike's voice is very low, slightly hushed over the top of the guitar. For the next verse he moves up an octave and uses a much stronger voice but not shouty. For the final stanza he moves back down to the hushed tone before belting out the 'my love' part. There is then a brief instrumental with some rhythmic 'oooooohing' on top before another repetition of the 'my love' part but this time much stronger but not quite a cry or shout. The end slightly peters out and is a little underwhelming.

Tornike Kipiani formed his first band when he was 19 not intending to become its vocalist but ended up filling that gap. In 2014, Tornike won X Factor Georgia, where his mentor was Tamta, who would later appear at Eurovision for Cyprus. In 2017, Tornike (with Giorgi Bolotashvili) tried to represent Georgia at Eurovision with an industrial dance song. In 2019, won Georgian Idol with one of the prizes being the chance to represent the country at Eurovision.

I feel like I have to offer this song a HUGE apology. When I first heard this song I was absolutely *aghast*. This was wholly due to my own perception and hopes as to what this song was going to be. I was hoping/expecting loud guitars, shouty vocals, manic lyrics;what I got was so far away from this that I just could not compute. Having left the song on the back burner of a week and listened to it again - this time with an emptier mind. This is a really beautiful song and has a very heartfelt sentiment and makes it very individual. It kind of reminds me of a hymn akin to "Annie's Song" by John Denver and has that cross-genre appeal which shows very clever songwriting. However as a eurovision entry I fear this is going to get left behind. Unless there is some kind of visual moment that pull on the heartstrings I don't really know who would vote for this or why. That said and done, I am actually really glad that it's here.

ARTIST - Tornike Kipiani
SONG - You
WRITING CREDITS - Tornike Kipiani

ICELAND 2021

The Icelandic song was revealed on March 12th, with a live performance of their song during the RUV show "Straumar" with the official audio released a few days later. Back in November, the Icelandic broadcaster announced that last year's act, Daði Freyr and Gagnamagnið, had been internally selected to represent Iceland  this time with the song also internally chosen. Their song is called "10 years"

During the live show Daði is not only backed by Gagnamagnið but has a string section, live band and a children's choir, the last two obviously won't be on stage at Eurovision. The groups are sporting their customary green outfits with pixelated faces. Daði is centre stage with his two backing singers to his left and his three 'instrumentalists' to the right. As ever there are also some over-stylised dance moves to go with the song.

After a short string lead intro the synth bass and beat come in under the first verse. As it progresses the instrumental becomes more full with a clearer beat and funky style. During the pre chorus there is a brief lull where Daði shows of his amazing low vocal range but also provides the push the chorus needs to get going. The chorus feels rather short and could do with a repetition or two first time round to get it firmly in your head. We then have another verse followed by a brief synth instrumental which gives the gang a good bit of time to goof around a bit! Afterwards there is a shortened chorus sung with a choir and almost no instrumentation at all, providing enough of a low point to push the power of one last chorus to the finish.

Daði learnt to play drums and studied piano and bass guitar in his youth and formed the band RetRoBot with his school friends and released their one and only album in 2013. In 2014 he left Iceland to study music production in Berlin where hi still lives today. Daði's next project was Gagnamagnið, his super cool backing band which contains his sister, wife and three friends. They took part in Söngvakeppnin 2017 coming second. They won the 2020 Söngvakeppnin competition and planned to represent Iceland last year.

To be fair there is really not very much to say about this entry, unless you have never heard of "Think About Things"! This new song is in Daði's signature style and includes all of the aural and visual memes and tropes we've come to expect from hi performances. Unfortunately Daði's main competition is with himself. - comparisons to "Think about things" are bound to be made and personally this doesn't quite have the immediacy that his 2020 effort had. In particular the backing track doesn't quite have the required punchiness or hook that I was hoping for.  Also I feel like the chorus isn't earwormy enough and doesn't get enough repetitions to get firmly into your head. Ultimately though, this style of song really stands out on the Eurovision menu this year. What Daði has on his side is his popularity in Eurovision and away from Eurovision. A lot of people - rightly or wrongly - will vote for him no matter what. I suspect with many of the returning artists that some televoters may be voting for last year's entry as much as this year's effort.

ARTIST - Daði Freyr and Gagnamagnið
SONG - 10 years
WRITING CREDITS - Daði Freyr Pétursson

SWEDEN 2021

The Swedish Final  (Melodifestivalen) was held on March 13th at Annexet in Stockholm, hosted by Christer Björkman, Måns Zelmerlöw & Shima Niavarani. Before the final there were 5 semi-finals to get the long list of 28 down to a final of 12. The winner was chosen by a combination of 8 international juries (50%) & a public vote (50%) where the public vote came from age-related phone app uses and televoters. consisted of a mobile phone app where users were split into one of 7 age groupings (7/8) & televoting (1/8). The winning act was Tusse with the song "Voices".

The stage has a dark feeling and some of the backdrop and floor resembles rain, waterfalls and puddles. You can see as Tusse walks along the catwalk that the water is moving as if he was actually wading through it which is a clever touch. Tusse is joined on stage by 4 dancers dressed in various black outfits. Tusse is wearing a red suit accessorised with some statement rings and an amazing jewelled necklace.

The song starts off rather mellow with an atmospheric intro. This continues under the first verse and ore-chorus although there is also a very minimalistic beat which gathers pace as the chorus comes. Here the beat is more pronounced and not just on the beat. This works well with the rather monotone delivery and longer held notes of the chorus. This then contrasts brilliantly with the chanting of the post chorus which is a really good earworm. This pattern repeats again which gets us to 2.15, here there is a short bridge at the song  shrinks back down to a more ethereal sound made more unusual by Tusse using his lower register. This is contrasted even more by the chorus coming in with a key change finishing with the post chorus on the live ' a million voices'

Tousin Michael Chiza, a.k.a Tusse, was born in Democratic Republic of Congo. Due to war in his homeland his family fled the settling in a Ugandan camp but Tusse was eventually brought to  Sweden, alone, at just 8 years old. In 2018 he participated in a Swedish talent show called "Talang" making it the semi finals. The next year he entered Swedish Idol 2019 this time becoming the overall winner. After this he released a number of songs sung in English and Swedish.

This song has a great anthemic quality and it's clever use of rhyme and rhythm means it stays in your brain for the longest time. This song really reminds me of "Only Teardrops" in its make up and tone. For me, the parts that shine are when Tusse is doing the chanting or where he has that little jump in his voice which makes the song sound so unique. Part of me just wishes they had pushed the song a little further toward being a bit more African sounding. I fear that the clinical clean production of the song and its predictable nature puts me off. As much as this is a good steady dependable Eurovision song, there is nothing about it that I particularly want to vote for. As we have seen of late, the jury vote has been much more pro-Sweden than the televote but the song is less 'pop-polished' than some of their previous efforts and the wholesome message may also curry come favour in the current climate.

ARTIST - Tusse
SONG - Voices
WRITING CREDITS - Joy Deb, Linnea Deb, Jimmy "Joker" Thörnfeldt, Anderz Wrethov

LATVIA 2021

The Latvian song was revealed on March 12th, with the premier of its video showed during a documentary called "Kā uzvarēt Eirovīzijā?" (How to win Eurovision?) with the video available via online platforms soon after.  After the cancellation of the 2020 concert, Samanta Tina was once again selected to represent Latvia, this time with an internally selected song. She will be singing "The moon is rising"

Most of the video takes place in what looks like a disused and derelict hall. She is flanked by numerous dancers all wearing different clothes. At the start Samanta is wearing a rather unusual combination of knee high white boots with a long white shirt over which is a brown jacket although she is seen wearing a couple of other outfits. There are also some darker shadowy edits where you can see Samanta surrounded by lasers and can just see her outline. Throughout the song there is a lot of synchronised dancing - in particular the crown handography - all performed with a lot of attitude.

The song starts with the main line from the chorus and also goes to a very jarring high note. The verses have a very staccato, syncopated rapping feel to them and the tune for each part is very repetitive. When we finally get back to the refrain at the start of the song this is then followed up by an over-long 'pa-ra-ra parade' section. We then have a second verse and ere the Spanish style guitar is more prevalent which gives is a slightly softer feel to it. There is then a bridge which again is repetitive and chanted. We then have a part instrumental-part altered chorus followed by the 'pa-ra-ra' chant to the end"

Samanta is a serial national final competitor - having attempted to sing for Latvia five times, Lithuania once and eventually winning the Latvian national final in 2020. At the start of her career she took part in other singing competitions including Golden Voices and Slavianski Bazaar. She also participated in the Voice Lithuania, finishing in the final 8.

You can see the links between this song and her 2020 song and I suppose this shows how she is comfortable with this style of music. However there is a good chance that if you *didn't* like her first one, you won't be liking this either! For me this is just noise. The parts kind of work together but at times it feels that they are fighting against each other rather than complimenting. Also the balance of the lengths of the parts doesn't work either. The big notes in the 'chorus' makes me feel really uneasy and I sense that when I see her on stage I will be so on tenterhooks about her reaching the notes, enjoying her actual show might not be an option. I am also extrapolating that her stage show will be something like the video - which will be interesting with just 5 other dancers - so unless they use parts of the video to beef up the numbers this might feel a bit empty in spirit. 

ARTIST - Samanta Tina
SONG - The moon is rising
WRITING CREDITS - Aminata Savadogo, Samanta Tīna, Oskars Uhaņs

POLAND 2021

The Polish song was revealed on March 12th, via the TVP youtube channel. A few days earlier it has been revealed that TVP were internally selecting a new artist - not rolling over their 2020 selection - and internally selecting the song. Going to Eurovision is Rafał Brzozowski with "The ride"

The video is very stylised, something which would be something easily replicable with video screens. Rafał starts in a car pulling up outside a dimly lit nightclub he is then joined by some smartly dressed male dancers who follow him inside. The interior is dark and full of brightly coloured neon signs, mostly with names of cities and places on them. Part way through he is then joined by female dancers with long ponytails and wearing pink trouser suits. There is a lot of gestural choreography from Rafał and lots of very sharp cuts in the video which creates the movement rather than if coming from him himself.

The song is an 80s style up-tempo song with a steady beat and synthesised backing track. This is a very straightforward song which goes verse/chorus/verse/chorus which takes us  to just over the 2 minute mark. Here there is a short bridge with basically works as a mini verse before ending with a final chorus. The bridge is rather non-descript and could do with more aural clues to make it stand out, ideally letting the backing track fizzle out to make the pow back to the end chorus more noticeable.

Rafał did not start out to be a singer as he initially studied as a PE teacher. He was also an active wrestler until a spinal injury put a stop on this. His musical break came with participation in the long running talent show "Szansa na sukces" which led to him to perform with the groups Emigranci and Mono. In 2011 he entered "The Voice Poland" being eliminated just before the final but this led him to release a slew of singles and albums all in Polish. Away from singing, he has participated in Dance with the Stars Poland, presented the Polish versions of Wheel of Fortune, Name that Tune and The Voice Seniors.  In terms of Eurovision, he came second in the preselection show of 2017 and presented Junior Eurovision in 2020 in its altered format.

I actually don't think this is a bad song but did need plenty of listens before bedding in. The tempo of the song works well afor the radio and the tune is rather easy to remember. My main reservations centre around Rafał's performance. First the vocals are quite embedded in the mix and I fear it is going to be hard to replicate this live even with pre-recorded vocals. Also the fact that Rafał does so little dancing and moving to a song that is rather danceable suggests he can't. Unless he styles himself as some sort of mannequin or robot I am not sure how this is going to work. Also the glasses look might not go down well with the televoters as we generally like to see all of peoples faces. Like many Polish entries, this might squeak through with a bit of diaspora support.

ARTIST - Rafał Brzozowski 
SONG - The ride
WRITING CREDITS - Thomas Karlsson, Johan Mauritzson, Joakim Övrenius, Clara Rubensson

NORTH MACEDONIA 2021

The North Macedonian song was released on March 11th, with the video being premiered on youtube. Vasil was reselected by the Macedonian broadcaster, MRT to represent the Balkan nation with another internally selected song. His song is called "Here I stand"

The music video is filmed in the National Gallery of Macedonia in Skopje, surrounded by artwork by past and present Macedonian artists. This is intercut with footage of Vasil and the orchestra recording the song. The setting is absolutely glorious and dramatic however this has got him into a little bit of hot water as one exhibit in the museum (now edited out) looked like the flag of Bulgaria - even though the artist herself said the artwork is a triptych inspired by Jesus and is actually cream, green and orange - many people didn't like it :/

After a couple of piano notes the first verse starts and as we will discover this is the one and only verse in the song and takes us to just over half a minute As the song progresses the backing track becomes more and more full with instruments added throughout. We then have 2 renditions of the chorus; the first being straight forward, the second with Vasil doing some extended runs while the choir continues on. This then leaves about 40 seconds to the end. The song regroups and becomes small again before Vasil hits the big note and the choir chants the chorus underneath to the finish.

Vasil Garvanliev has been in the singing business since he was a child - he released his first album aged just eight!  In his early teens his family to the United States and he joined the Chicago Children's Choir becoming their main soloist and has performed with numerous musical theatre and pop acts. After some time in Italy and the UK he gained a scholarship at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto in 2004. From here on he performed extensively in Canada as a baritone. Vasil settled back to Macedonia where he juggled a opera and pop/jazz career including being credited as a backing vocalist for Chance the Rapper and releasing his own songs in Macedonian. Vasil is no stranger to Eurovision having taken part in Skopje Fest and singing backing vocals for Tamara in 2019.

The song is VERY musical theatre and overly dramatic but I think the build up, flow and level of emotions has blocked the flow of the song writing. There are too many places where I think the song is going to go in one direction and doesn't. In particular the chorus has too many odd phrasings and frankly goes on for too long. The long note at the end would be a perfect quiet ending for such a bombastic song but the addition of the choir is too much. All in all, the song ends up being an intro, two long choruses and an outro which just isn't the right formula for a Eurovision song. I feel like any people in the jury, especially of a musical theatre persuasion, will enjoy this but that doesn't make it memorable or give it impetuous to vote for it. Ultimately I think a lot of people are going to see this as rather old-fashioned - even cheesy - and not something that the modern televoter will vote for. It's a nice song, just not quite right for this.

ARTIST - Vasil
SONG - Here I stand
WRITING CREDITS - Vasil Garvanliev

UNITED KINGDOM 2021

The UK song was released on March 11th, with its UK first play on BBC Radio 2 and the video reveal soon after. James Newman, who had been internally selected to represent the UK last year, was reselected after the cancellation of Eurovision 2020. The song, like last year, was also internally selected and is called "Embers"

The music video follows James driving a retro red car through the twisty countryside. Then it cuts to an night-time scenario which is where more of the action takes place. James is dressed in a dark top and trousers and a rather large coat, however he still moves about a fair bit and seems to be enjoying himself. He is singing the song (along with brass section and dancers) in an industrial setting almost like a lockdown drive-in disco situation. The end minute is filed with lots of smoke, fireworks, reddish lights and lots of overhead drone shots.

The song starts with a very, very brief trumpet intro - which I think they could get rid of and start straight in with the first verse. The end of the pre chorus ends with another trumpet flourish which provides a high point so the chorus can grow again. The main part of the chorus is great, especially with the choir repeating the lines afterwards. However the middle section of the chorus feels a it too subdued and needs beefing up or totally dropping out in the backing track to make it a feature rather than an odd bit. The brass bits between the verses and choruses are really uplifting and provide a great earworm! After another verse and chorus round we have a short bridge which is actually just an abridged chorus in James' lower tone with little music in the background which is then followed by a final burst of the trumpet earworm to finish.

James, and younger brother John, have well celebrated music careers as singers, producers and songwriters. James co-wrote Rudimental and Ella Eyre's UK number 1 "Waiting All Night" and won a Brit Award for co-writing "Waiting All Night". He has also written tracks for Calvin Harris and Toni Braxton and provided vocals for tracks by Armin van Buuren and DJ Matoma .After the cancellation of Eurovision 2020, he released his debut EP which included "My Last Breath".

This is a really good contrast to his 2020 song and you can see that he has learn from his experience and tried something a little different this time round. It certainly stands out as a modern contemporary song rather than the more retro bangers we already have in place. The song also has a happy dance feel to it which is also great on balance. The song itself is not that complicated so I would hope James could belt this out. I would also hope he has some sort of dancing brass section as I think this would give it another visual quality to it. If anything, I would say my main concern about this song is if it is actually going to get votes. This is the type of song that is not going to be right at the top of people's rankings but low enough down that they just don't quite vote for it and I fear that it' lack of a 'call to arms' might let it down. Whatever the result this has a good chance of being a radio hit in the summer.

ARTIST - James Newman
SONG - Embers
WRITING CREDITS - Conor Blake, Samuel Brennan, Tom Hollings, James Newman, Danny Shah