So I guess when I feel compelled to, I'll continue with this. And what the hey, why not now. So in my last venture into this topic, I picked a song that did quite well in 2004. This time, not so much. Poor, poor Rita Guerra. Now to be fair, I really didn't take notice of this song until I heard Luís Sousa (backing singer for the amazing Vânia Fernandes this year) do a rendition of Deixa-me sonhar (só mais uma vez) at the Portuguese party in Belgrade this year. Going back to the performance though, I'm really shocked to see why it did so poorly, even though I really think 2003 was one of the strongest years of the current decade. (with 2008 in contention!) This was definitely one of the best of the night, I think:
Have I mentioned how much I wanted to see Portugal to win this year lately? Yeah, I did. Oh Portugal :(
Moscow is set to be the most expensive host city yet and I'm not questioning this statement due to this, for example:
The average cup of joe in Moscow is US$10.19, including service, according to a new survey by the London office of U.S. consulting firm Mercer. - CTV
Goodness me. This is going to be fun, maybe this wasn't the best time to quit my job!
I've run the 2008 DVDs a few times now, and I'm sadly not tired of it. I really loved the final this year, it was definitely the best we've seen for a few years (well, at least since 2003).
I came across the cutest video of Maria Haukaas Storeng at the Scala in London at the massive Eurovision party they had at the end of April:
Her reaction to everyone singing along is just adorable. I'm still sad I couldn't go to that! Curse you, university.
Almost 9 months now until I'm getting myself ready to head off to Moscow, oi!
First confirmed participant for ESC 2009, Sakis Rouvas! Another return performance, seeing as we dealt with enjoyed him in 2004. The number of performers who have already competed returning is starting to get out of control, if you ask me, but it's a smart move on Greece's part, he'll do well for them.
I'm still in a bit of a "Belgrade hangover" and dragging myself through EURO 2008 now (which has gone horribly wrong as of the result tonight for my Deutschland loving self) so for now I'm going to just officially rank my favourite 10 entries since the end of the competition, it's interesting to note that it was quite different before I left for Belgrade!
10.
09.
The only one of the big four in my top ten! This song was absolutely fantastic, completely eccentric in a way that was different from the weird aspects of the other entries. And everyone loves golf carts on stage! Oh this was just fabulous.
08.
I'm still extremely pleased with how this placed (9th!) when I wasn't even sure it would make through the first semi. I can't even explain the impact this has live. Boaz's voice is just so so so beautiful, and this entire performance was mesmerizing live. Boaz and his backing singers were also ridiculously sweet and I'm not sure they knew how truly amazing they were.
07.
Sadly, this was one of the songs that lost its charm for me as my time in Belgrade progressed. I had it rated much higher before leaving, but it started to slip as I saw the rehearsals and really had the chance to enjoy other songs. I still think this is the song that had the most "commercial" edge this year in the entire competition and it seems to be catching on after the contest. Don't get me wrong, I still love this song and Kalomira, but I think it ended up in a higher position than deserved.
06.
This was probably the biggest upset of this year for me - I was extremely upset that it didn't qualify from the first semi and then found out it received the least amount of votes for the night. Um, what? I understand this woman dancing around on stage is weird and really doesn't fit at all, but this song was absolutely beautiful, and a fantastic debut for San Marino on the international stage. I honestly don't understand how this did so poorly. Such a shame, but at least I've discovered a new band, right?
05.
Right, I've absolutely loved this song since I first heard it and I love Ani and I really thought this was going to win. The performance was fabulous and I'm still confused as to why I'm not sick of this song just yet. I mean, yeah, it's classic Eurovision and completely over the top and crazy, but I love it. People would just freak out whenever this came on at the Euroclub (and trust me, it came on quite a bit) and the ESC faithful in Belgrade just ate it up. Ani succeeded where Charlotte Perrelli failed - whereas Charlotte took the simple route with her schlager song, Ani ran with it and just gave the Eurovision audience what they inevitably wanted - 3 minutes of flashy kitsch.
04.
Funny, I'm currently listening to this song. Which really isn't a coincidence, as I listen to it quite a bit still. I still get chills thinking about the reaction this song got in the Arena, which was overwhelming. It was just so beautiful to see how proud the Serbian people were of this song and of Jelena. It was all very emotional watching this performance, and standing on the chairs on the floor of the Arena with the rest of the crowd and waving the assorted flags we had all collected throughout the night in harmony with this song. It was an absolutely beautiful experience. The song though! Yes, I've loved this song from the start. Željko Joksimović has to be one of my favourite composers ever, he is an absolute genius (in addition to this, he wrote my favourite Eurovision song of all time, Lejla). Absolutely gorgeous, and I would have been more than happy with a double victory from Serbia.
03.
Well, what is there to say about this really. Dima was a hotly contested issue in Belgrade. Either people loved him or hated him, and it actually seemed like the latter most of the time. The fans and press did not seem to take favourably to him, and in many ways I understand why. There was a lot of flair and pomp around this performance, and the performance aspect most definitely took priority over the musical. A lot of people though, see this as the long awaited victory after his 2006 runner up performance. Russia has definitely made the effort in the past few years and I think it was really their time to win. I was one of the people heralding Dima, and I completely understand why he won. While some may bitch about the Western countries having no chance against the mighty east, I think it's more of the fact that Russia sent one of their most popular artists who is recognized internationally and put a ton of effort into this, and guess what? It paid off. That being said, I think the song is quite good (could be better) and the performance is obviously outstanding. Dima is such a star, I really hope he is able to make it worldwide. He deserves it.
02.
This was my favourite going into Belgrade. I am SO unbelievably proud of Maria and the final placing for the song. (#5, and it still gives me chills to be able to write that!) It was just so beautiful and so classy in the mess of Pirates and crazy Azeri heaven and hell scenarios. The first time I had the privilege to see this perform live I couldn't help but get a little choked up -- it was just one of those moments where being highly disappointed in something you love could have happened, and it was the complete opposite. It was so simplistic and so lovely, and I'm so happy this didn't go flying over viewers heads.
01.
Portugal - Vânia Fernandes Senhora do mar
This song was nowhere near the top of my list before Belgrade, and I can't get enough of it now. It wasn't even a blip on my radar really until I had the chance to see it performed live, and from then on, whenever I had the chance to see it, I was pretty much holding back tears every single time. I can't even describe how much this song touches me. I think I also have memories of the Portuguese delegation and how kind and gracious Vânia, composer Andrej and everyone else was to us. There was no pretension here, these people were simply here to share their song and perform the best they could, and everything about it was perfect. The oiko team was truly on-board championing this song, and the press in Belgrade rated this song #1. I'm absolutely enamored with this song, and I will honestly never forget watching this performance in Beogradska Arena during the final, stomping my feet on the seat I was standing on, and waving my flags and singing along to this song with tears in my eyes. This song for me exemplified what the Eurovision is truly about - allowing yourself to be exposed to a song in a language you may not understand and letting yourself completely fall in love with it. This song was it for me, I still get emotional thinking about it and the experiences I had in Belgrade with it.
the draw for the semi final 1 finalists was during the press conference and...
NORWAY DREW THE LAST SPOT!
my excitement is OFF THE CHARTS right now, amazing!!!
San Marino was easily the best tonight, such a shame they didn't go through and AZERBAIJAN did.
But VERY HAPPY that Israel and Norway made it through.
Probably not going to the after party tonight, so I might update this with pictures and the like. We'll see. It's been a busy couple of days!
Greetings from Belgrade! I have been here a grand total of 6 hours and so far I have been to a few of the rehearsals (Cyprus, Macedonia, Portugal, UK, Germany & France to be exact) and that was great. Videos and Photos I've taken throughout the day can be found here:
http://www.oikotimes.com/v2/index.php?file=articles&id=3403
Belgrade is an interesting city, the one thing that truly surprised me was the wild dogs running freely around the city, except they looked awfully like regular house pets, so I don't know what to think about that. Otherwise, we're going to the Welcome Party tonight and we'll leave the press centre in an hour to get ready.
I'm so worn out I can't even tell you! this is most possibly the craziest thing I've ever done, but I'm not regretting it. the oiko people are really lovely and we're getting on really well,well - at least TODAY we are.
:)
Oh goodness, it's almost here! I am not close to being ready to leave, yet I am doing so on Friday morning. I'll get myself reacquainted with Brighton, and then head on to Belgrade on Sunday for a week. I'm nervous as hell, but excited at the same time. I'm actually amazed all my plans have pulled through, and that I've actually managed to become part of one of the biggest ESC fansites, somewhere I bookmarked over the years and went to every day.
It's amazing how the ESC has evolved for me. I've only been following the show for three years at this point, I downloaded a torrent of the semi-final in 2005 and there was no turning back. I watched the shows live online in 2006 from my house in New York, and then last year in Helsinki, watching the semi-final in Senate Square and the final at the Euroclub. This year, I'll be in Belgrade Arena, surrounded by thousands of people that love this display of camp, tradition, originality and competition as much as I do. This excites me to no end.
My personal hopes are for Oslo 2009 (although I know this is not going to happen), but I have several favourites this year, and I guess, personally, just the build up to the 24th will make Eurovision this year amazing.
Yeah, I'm American and I'm still on a bit of a high from the Iowa caucus earlier (Obama!!), but I don't know, I've been out of the ESC loop over the holidays with friends around and going to see shows on Broadway (it's my...third love, behind football and ESC, obviously) but hmm. I just remembered how much I want this to go to Belgrade for Bulgaria:
Svetozar Hristov - Pandemonium
AMAZING. I don't know how it would fare in Belgrade, but I absolutely love it.
Nikolai Manolov - Po dobre
this was probably what persuaded me to follow the Bulgarian semis. It's nothing special, but come on. I'm just a girl, for Gods sake.
Deep Zone & Balthazar - DJ, take me away
I think this has the most polished sound of any of the other songs, truthfully. I don't know how this would fare in Belgrade either but I wouldn't mind seeing this represent Bulgaria at all. I also can't help but think the singer looks like an Aly Michalka/Ashley Tisdale hybrid, but that could mean I've just been watching too much of the Disney Channel.
I don't know but after Voda, I think I'll be happy with whatever they choose this year, because I still can't see the appeal in that song.
It's 2008!
