Sunday, May 31, 2015
Biggest Surpise of 2015
The biggest surprise for me this year was Montenegro's entry "Adio", with Knez. First of all I hugely respect the countries that sing in their own language and bring something that truly represent their country. The downside though is that I'm not a big fan of this kind of music, it's just not something I listen to. That automatically puts them on a low place on my list. And I thought this song was going to be pretty forgetful or not very good, but it honestly surprised me. It's a very nice song, very representative of Balkan, and I like how they start slow and builds the intro before Knez even starts to sing. Knez is a very experienced artist and it shows, he looks very calm on stage and sings well. His voice is very nice to listen to and it fits the song perfectly.
There is also some really good staging going on. The background dancers/singers start on their knees, then sit down when the verse starts and then stand up when it's building up to the chorus. They are dressed similarly and in dark colors and do a good job of complementing Knez, and not upstaging him. The colors changes to red when the second verse starts and the tempo goes up a bit. It's a good change of tone, red being a very dramatic color and making the whole song feel bigger. Then leading up to the last chorus is a great, simple dance which starts with them spinning around in place stomping with one foot and having their arms stretched out, and as the camera switches to an above view they start walking around Knez, still with their arms stretched out. This dance fits the song incredibly well, it feels like a folk dance with some very serious tones to it (the stomping and straight shapes mostly) which makes it very powerful and pleasing to watch.
The last chorus is also great. Knez stands close together with the background dancers/singers, presenting the idea of unity, which is a good way to close of a number with many people on stage. It really is a great number over all, it ended on place 13 in the final which I think was maybe a bit low, but on the other hand it was a very strong final so it's still a pretty good place to end on.
Which was the biggest surprise for you in this years Eurovision?
Thursday, May 28, 2015
Top Five Songs of 2015
NUMBER FIVE
Number five was probably the most difficult to choose because I was deciding between two countries, Norway and Germany. I like them about equally but Germany won in the end, mostly because it was so different to anything else there. I love Ann Sophie's voice and presence, and the song is very nice and has a lot of attitude. I didn't love the performance though, I think she went just a little too overboard with the sex appeal angle (I mean the first verse is basically her butt singing), if she had just toned it down a bit it would have been great. I'm very surprised that she didn't get any points, because it's one of the songs I will continue to listen to in the future.
NUMBER FOUR
Australia was invited to join the competition after being fans for a long time and boy did they deliver. They took it very seriously and sent a very good artist with a really good song and brought some party to a ballad-heavy final. Guy's voice is great and the song is very catchy and fun to dance along to. I was hoping it would win the final so they could come back next year, but unfortunately it didn't reach all the way. I hope they will get another chance and maybe even a permanent invite, because I think they definitely proved that they deserve it.
NUMBER THREE
Oh Russia, why do you have to be so confusing? Politics isn't supposed to be a part of Eurovison, but with Russia it's just hard to ignore, especially when they're sending a song about peace for the third year in a row. On one hand, I don't want Russia to win because next year's competition will be so boring for its' big gay fanbase. On the other hand, wow this woman. Polina has one of the best voices in the competition and really carries the song unbelievably well. I want to believe her when she sings about peace, because she sings so beautifully. My heart and my head was really fighting each other over this song in the final, but in the end all you can say is that it's a really good song sung by a great singer. A well earned silver medal.
NUMBER TWO
How did this not make it to the final? Honestly, I can think of a few reasons but this has become one of my favorite songs of the competition. A lot of it probably has to do with Václav's voice, along with Russia's Polina it's one of the best voices in the competition. But I also like the song itself which is a very dramatic song about if hope is lost or if you should rise up and fight. I like how they work off each other and their voices goes well together. This performance only get one minus from me, and that has to do with the lighting and background. The whole thing goes in blue/purple and the background is some darker clouds. I think it could have been cool to start of with maybe red, darker tones and then end on some brighter purple (or the other way around), and have some more dramatic backgrounds. That might've saved them from ending in the semi final. But it's still a very good song with some kick ass vocals.
NUMBER ONE
I've liked this song ever since I first heard it. I'm not sure if catchy is the right word to describe it but it really hooks you. Both vocals are very good and they have such good chemistry together, this is definitely the best duet this year. At this point we haven't even gotten to the stage performance yet. It was so well directed. Heavy lighting, heavy shadows (even if they were fake), how they revealed her to the camera, how they almost never broke eye contact until the end, it was amazing. They just sang to each other, not to the camera or the audience. And it was so brilliantly done, I had goosebumps in the first semi final. Taking away all that clever directing, it's still a damn good song and I can listen to it over and over. Thank you Estonia for sending such a great song, you were my winner this year.
But wait you say, what about Sweden? What about Heroes? Well, I'm not including Heroes because of two reasons. First, I'm from Sweden so I couldn't look at it from an outside point of view. Second, while the performance was awesome and I love it, I don't listen to the song on a daily basis (I might start to grow a bit tired of it, having heard it since February) and how much I listen to the song on my iPod has a lot to do with how high on the list the songs will go.
So there's my top five songs of the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest. Which are your top five? Share them below!
Number five was probably the most difficult to choose because I was deciding between two countries, Norway and Germany. I like them about equally but Germany won in the end, mostly because it was so different to anything else there. I love Ann Sophie's voice and presence, and the song is very nice and has a lot of attitude. I didn't love the performance though, I think she went just a little too overboard with the sex appeal angle (I mean the first verse is basically her butt singing), if she had just toned it down a bit it would have been great. I'm very surprised that she didn't get any points, because it's one of the songs I will continue to listen to in the future.
NUMBER FOUR
Australia was invited to join the competition after being fans for a long time and boy did they deliver. They took it very seriously and sent a very good artist with a really good song and brought some party to a ballad-heavy final. Guy's voice is great and the song is very catchy and fun to dance along to. I was hoping it would win the final so they could come back next year, but unfortunately it didn't reach all the way. I hope they will get another chance and maybe even a permanent invite, because I think they definitely proved that they deserve it.
NUMBER THREE
Oh Russia, why do you have to be so confusing? Politics isn't supposed to be a part of Eurovison, but with Russia it's just hard to ignore, especially when they're sending a song about peace for the third year in a row. On one hand, I don't want Russia to win because next year's competition will be so boring for its' big gay fanbase. On the other hand, wow this woman. Polina has one of the best voices in the competition and really carries the song unbelievably well. I want to believe her when she sings about peace, because she sings so beautifully. My heart and my head was really fighting each other over this song in the final, but in the end all you can say is that it's a really good song sung by a great singer. A well earned silver medal.
NUMBER TWO
How did this not make it to the final? Honestly, I can think of a few reasons but this has become one of my favorite songs of the competition. A lot of it probably has to do with Václav's voice, along with Russia's Polina it's one of the best voices in the competition. But I also like the song itself which is a very dramatic song about if hope is lost or if you should rise up and fight. I like how they work off each other and their voices goes well together. This performance only get one minus from me, and that has to do with the lighting and background. The whole thing goes in blue/purple and the background is some darker clouds. I think it could have been cool to start of with maybe red, darker tones and then end on some brighter purple (or the other way around), and have some more dramatic backgrounds. That might've saved them from ending in the semi final. But it's still a very good song with some kick ass vocals.
NUMBER ONE
I've liked this song ever since I first heard it. I'm not sure if catchy is the right word to describe it but it really hooks you. Both vocals are very good and they have such good chemistry together, this is definitely the best duet this year. At this point we haven't even gotten to the stage performance yet. It was so well directed. Heavy lighting, heavy shadows (even if they were fake), how they revealed her to the camera, how they almost never broke eye contact until the end, it was amazing. They just sang to each other, not to the camera or the audience. And it was so brilliantly done, I had goosebumps in the first semi final. Taking away all that clever directing, it's still a damn good song and I can listen to it over and over. Thank you Estonia for sending such a great song, you were my winner this year.
But wait you say, what about Sweden? What about Heroes? Well, I'm not including Heroes because of two reasons. First, I'm from Sweden so I couldn't look at it from an outside point of view. Second, while the performance was awesome and I love it, I don't listen to the song on a daily basis (I might start to grow a bit tired of it, having heard it since February) and how much I listen to the song on my iPod has a lot to do with how high on the list the songs will go.
So there's my top five songs of the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest. Which are your top five? Share them below!
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