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eurosong · 4 years

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Undo my ESC 2020 (SF1)

Good evening, folks! “Undo my ESC”, my look at how I would have changed this year’s contest, is back! Even though the EBU, well, indeed sadly and very literally did undo the ESC this year, there is still room for changing about my personal ideal Eurovision 2020. Let’s have a look at the first semi-final! 🇦🇺 Australia: I continue to be mightily impressed with the quality of Australia Decides, an NF putting forward a number of credible options to represent Oz. I felt the juries helped dodge a bullet this year, because the televote winning song was a rather cliché and dated choice, out of step with the relatively vibrant and contemporary feel of the field. The actual winner was pretty decent albeit with dubious live vocals and an even odder stage concept. It could be improved by working on those two factors, though even better would be to send instead the dramatic Rabbit Hole, truly a title for our season, or even better, the searingly emotional Raw stuff which knocked me off my feet upon first listen and still packs that punch 🇦🇿 Azerbaijan: Once again, Azerbaijan went down the “buy in a song from elsewhere and attempt to put on a thin gloss of local instrumentation onto a generic pop song in lieu of some actual authenticity. I can’t say I even hate the song this time, though I do dislike how they reportedly nabbed it off non-oil-rich San Marino in a bidding war. I would have brought back Dihaj or... anyone who could produce something halfway Azeri? Also, something that doesn’t make me do a full-body cringe as much as the country ranked the worst in the ESC-sphere for LGBT rights sending a song about “gay or straight or in between.”

🇧🇾 Belarus: Belarus made the right choice - I can really rarely say those words. For only the second time ever, we got a song in Belarusian, and whilst it isn’t up there with the gorgeous Historyja majho žyccia for me, Da widna is still a pleasant listen that soars above many of the hyped pre-contest fan favourites and was a nice surprise from a bad NF. The only thing that I would change? That the unhinged comic brilliance of Pavloni be in the final. Watch from about halfway through to the end for an absolute mood whiplash odyssey.

🇧🇪 Belgium: A lot of people had plenty of hope when they heard that the veteran Hooverphonic were set to represent Belgium in 2020, and I was amongst them. My reäction to what they ended up bringing though was tepid. It’s got the quality rich instrumentation that I expected from this band, pleasant vox, but as a song, it goes nowhere for me, in part because of how repetitive it is and lacking in a hook I find it. I would have picked a more immediate song for Eurovision, because this felt like another DNQ for Belgium, following the same mistakes as 2018 and 2019. They will be back in 2021, and I will be interested to see if they take a slightly different tack.

🇭🇷 Croatia: Following up on Belarus, Croatia was another example of a selection in which I had no hope providing something excellent to recompense for usually reliable countries going off the rails. I finally have from Croatia something to fit in with the likes of Adio from Montenegro and Nije ljubav stvar from Serbia as an epic Balkan ballad. Few people were expecting Divlji vjetre would win; I was over the moon that it did and would change nothing. I hope Croatia re-send the gentleman Damir next year with an equally strong song.

🇨🇾 Cyprus: After giving us a literal replay of Fuego last year, this year they’ve gone a slightly different route, but no less generic (even coming with one of the several duplicately named titles of this year), no less uninspiring, no less completely detached from Cypriot music. I’m longing for Cyprus to send something like Eimai anthropos kai ego again.

🇮🇪 Ireland: So RTÉ came into Eurovision all guns blazing this year, promising “an almighty bop” that will be “remembered in 10 years’ time like Euphoria.” I had feared that their frame of reference for their song would be 10 years’ stale, but instead they cast their net even further back to the mid-2000s. It properly sent me into hysterics when I heard this being compared to EVERY major female singer of that period, depending on whom you asked, before this came into general release. You know what, though? I hold my hands up and admit that I adore the anthemic Story of my life. It’s just so drenched in colour that I feel uplifted every time I listen to it, which is often! Lesley has such a likeable, authentic charisma that adds to the song too. I am so gutted we’ll never see the staging because I feel this would have been a memorable party moment. This is just 3 minutes of happy nostalgia and I live for it.

🇮🇱 Israel: You know, usually, I am not a fan of single-artist national finals, because if you are not a fan of the artist, your choice is very limited indeed. However - I don’t know how one can nót be a fan of Eden to some degree. Her music is not up my street, but she sells it to me through sheer force of personality, positivity and presence. She had four songs and she put her heart and soul into them all. The winner was the vibrant Feker libi, which I would only change by altering the chorus a bit, as its odd 90s dance vibe doesn’t sit so well with the rest of the song. As for Eden, she cried when she reälised she couldn’t go to ESC 2020 and again when she found out she’d been picked for 2021. I wish all artists had this amount of passion.

🇱🇹 Lithuania: There was a sea change in Lithuania this year. I don’t know what happened, but they went from punchline to packing a punch. Their national final had been one that pretty much no one watched, dragging on for several weeks and almost always to choose a mediocre, anticlimactic choice after all that effort. This year, it was one of the most entertaining and diverse NFs of the bunch. My early favourite to win was the powerhouse Monika Marija’s return with If I leave, very much up my street with its country stylings. However, by the time the final came, I had been won over also by the eventual winner, the offbeat and infectious On fire, whose victory I would not alter because it serves as a more dramatic turn of the page for Lithuania’s Eurovision presence. It was such a relief to see this prevailing, with a huge lead in the televote, over the awful, imported Unbreakable or the respectable but pedestrian Make me human. I hope the broadcasters will respect the support this has in Lithuania and allow the Roop to come back in 2021. 🇲🇰 Macedonia: Just no. No. No. Scrap everything about this, bring back Kaliopi and let her get her revenge for the juries screwing her out of qualification with the beautiful “Dona.” 🇲🇹 Malta: Malta have done the unthinkable and sent two songs in a row that I really like for the first time since 1997-8. As Ian would have put it, I was expecting a mere “vocal exercise” from Malta to show off the impressive range of Destiny. Instead, they came out with something so soulful that I have no choice but to enjoy. I hope they go a similar route in 21.

🇳🇴 Norway: So, finally Norway saw some sense and reverted to making the most of having a talented composer, Kjetil Mørland, who is so enthusiastic about Eurovision that he has come back since his success with A monster like me a few times. He should have won with En livredd mann; I wouldn’t have been unhappy at all had he won with Who we are, and indeed, Attention was another song that I had to consider as being amongst the best of its (bizarrely organised) selection. The one thing I’d change? The lyrics. It sounds like an infatuated 12 year old with low self-esteem singing, not a grown woman.

🇷🇴 Romania: It’s not up there with Goodbye or On a Sunday, but Romania have returned with a third song I really enjoy. Alcohol you was head and shoulders above the others in the single-artist selection, and I am still sent by the way she sabotaged the bop that was predicted to win the final so that she could send this more meditative, confessional effort. What would I change? The unnecessary revamp that abruptly shifts the direction of the song in the last third.🇷🇺 Russia: When this first came out, I thought “well done, Russia. Kept us waiting on you until way past the deadline, and all for this bizarre Aquaësque troll entry.” Despite myself, “Uno” has grown on me to some degree. Maybe it’s because of the death stare of the female backing singer who’s giving me some strong Rosa from Brooklyn 99 vibes, and I live for that. Maybe it’s because it’s serving a flourescent lime green in a year when there is so much beige that even an ugly odd colour seems pleasing. I wouldn’t change this, and I hope they get sent again next year because it’s delightful seeing Russia unpaired from Kirkorov.

🇸🇮 Slovenia: Again, I am going to find myself in a small minority, but Slovenia was, like Belarus and Croatia, an unappetising selection that nonetheless yielded a gem for me. They really said screw you to underlying trends and went for a song that moves at a glacial pace fitting of the title, Voda. This was constantly in last place on the Eurovision scoreboard app, which just speaks to the limited taste tolerance of many of its users. There is so much here to enjoy: Slovenia sticking with its language yet again; the ethereal vibes; the deep, rich voice of the singer; the melancholic and poëtic lyrics; and the fact that it was perhaps the only good “revamp” of the season, going in the opposite direction of Albania and inserting an orchestra to make it that much richer in sound. Wonderful stuff and hope she returns in 2021.

🇸🇪 Sweden: So, for the first time since 2014, Sweden has sent a female artist - 3 in fact - and with them, left the cookie cutter niche they’d occupied since then behind. They sent my favourite of their songs since 2013, Move, a joyous gospel-infused effort where the love and positivity of the Mamas gave me tingles to watch. And yet, it wasn’t my ideal choice. My personal winner would have been my favourite entry from Sweden since... possibly as far back as I morgon är en annan dag in 1992. I’m talking ‘bout Dotter of course. The artist whose beautiful Melodifestivalen début with Cry got bizarrely ignored had a superb redemptive arc this year, becoming the huge favourite with Bulletproof. I watched her performance of this over 200 times so far and still watch often. I find the song so poignant, the performance and her presence so bewitching. It’s a rarity for songwriters who also perform their songs to get this far in MF these days, and Dotter lost out by the narrowest of margins, but would have been a great encouragement to others like her had she won. It was widely said that Sweden had the potential for a record-equalling seventh win if they had sent Bulletproof. As much as I cherish Ireland’s record, had it been Dotter to equal it, I wouldn’t have been mad at all. 🇺🇦 Ukraine: Widbir got over their Maruw drama in great style, once again being one of the coolest and most alternative national finals out there. Well done, Ukraine! There were a number of propositions that I would have been happy to see represent the country. My initial favourite was Vegan, one of my most streamed songs of the season and one which always puts a smile on my face with Jerry’s facial expressions and puns like “‘cause I’m vegan, I can’t even call you honey.” And honestly, I would have loved to have seen it in Rotterdam. I also loved, amongst others, Tam kudy ja jdu and Picz, which were both the victims of being in a semi-final with all the good songs whilst the second semi-final was nowhere near as competitive. Having said all that, I am not sure that I would change the eventual winner, Solowej, because it’s its own brand of delightfully authentic. I would undo their unnecessary revamp and keep it as the live version linked to above, though. And the automatic qualifiers: 🇩🇪 Germany: As you would expect from one of the musical monoliths of Europe, Germany once had some of the best and most diverse national finals of the continent, but something went wrong - they kept inviting wild cards, whose scrappiness endeared them to the public even when their songs were mediocre, and so we saw complete no-marks getting the Teutonic nod despite star-studded competition. Nonetheless, “Unser Lied für” was always worth tuning in for, an annual dose of getting mesmer-eyes’d by Barbara Schöneberger too. This year, they threw it all away for one of the most repetitive songs of the year, with a young, confused looking Slovenian being the god knows how many’th contestant to channel his inner Justin Timberlake with another knockoff that sounds as German as fajitas. I would have kept the national final - or, if they’re really going to start doing internal selections, go daring with Lily among clouds, whose Surprise was one of the crown jewels of the previous NF season. 🇮🇹 Italy: Sanremo, which actually predates Eurovision, is so much more than an NF, but its own cultural institution, and the quality is such that a song can be your fifth or sixth in Sanremo but still rank really highly in your ESC rankings. Performing with, and composing for, the orchestra, seems to give its entries a timeless quality that few others compare with. My initial favourites were Tosca’s Ho amato tutto, which from its first strains to the final, saudadic “eh” that serves as an unofficial coda, breaks my heart still sublimely; Viceversa, a heartwarming effort by the unbelievably charming Gabbani and Tikibombom, a slice of Sicilian excellence with trenchant lyrics. My most streamed has been Sincero, remembered more for the hugely memetic moment of one of its representatives changing the lyrics and the other walking out disgusted, but which I adore for its synthy vibes and its brilliant lyrics. The eventual winner was Fai rumore, which I also love too much to propose that it be changed. The lines about “an unnatural silence between us” are all the more poignant now. Lowkey think this could have won Italy its long-awaited third victory. 🇳🇱 Netherlands: Now, this is what I call a host nation song. The way I see it, if you’re hosting, you have a direct ticket to the final that you may not enjoy again for a long time, so why not go for a risk? And a risk NL indeed took. Grow is a very atypical song. It builds in a way we do not expect it to. It is mostly minimalist, focusing most of our attention to Jeangu’s voice, making this an intimate, almost confessional track. The crescendo is cathartic. After Albania destroyed itself with an unnecessary revamp, this became my #1 and I would change nothing about it. It really sucks that a song so personal to its writer and performer won’t be allowed on the stage in 2021 - that’s what I would change. A ridiculous decision on the EBU’s part.

#eurovision #opinion #esc 2020 #eurovision song contest #eurovision 2020

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babyi · 6 years

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Sweetener: In Review

Sweetener (Album): 8/10

I like it a lot. I have a lot of reasons why I like most of the songs. You’re never gonna like them all, and that’s okay too. But I like so many of them and I’m really relieved. It doesn’t change whether Ariana’s personality is any better but it matters that I actually like her music. It’s so funny to me that some people like DW better because for me, this album is far more up my street. I wish a lot of the songs had their beats like 20% more subtle as a review of the songs as a whole, and some of the more pharrell-y tracks are worse. But overall this isn’t a bad album attempt. I can see myself stanning this album and still listening to it in the future. And I’ve had several songs stuck in my head or on repeat, and that’s nice because I’ve actually wanted to listen to the album more and more the longer it;s been out. It may be as much of a grower as the singles but I do think it’s a good album and I’m proud of it.

The track by track listing is below, the opinions inside are all my own, just a personal opinion. You are entitled to your own opinion whether you agree with me or not.

1. Raindrops (An Angel Cried) 8/10

A gorgeous way to start the album, I really enjoy hearing just a pure acapella representation of Ariana’s voice to kick off the album. It’s clean and gorgeous, and it really gives you everything you need to know about Ariana’s talent - look no further than track. 1. However, this is Ariana’s 4th album and there are two covers on it which I think is a little stretched; at this point in her career Ariana should be defining sounds, not recycling them. I think that this acapella genius could have been better if it was an original. The cover is beautiful but, as with most of her career so far, Ariana is still relying on others to provide her with material to sing to, it’s time she stepped up artistically.

2. Blazed 5/10

I don’t hate it, I know a lot of people hate Pharrell’s production and his parts of this song, but personally I don’t hate it at all. I think it’s a far more relaxed sound than a lot of this album’s other disasters like the sampling in TLIC or the yuh’s/sheeh’s in Sweetener etc. Blazed has a basic backing track which isn’t anything special but the melody of the singing is one of the most upbeat on the album and makes it special and stand out a bit from the overall ambiance of the rest of the album. The lyrics are a bit confused but it attempts to create an image of a new relationship, it also has some of the most underrated lyrics on the album with Pharrell’s line “your magnetic demeanor”. If this song was on a different album it could have been more of a filler track but it’s one of few tracks you could potentially dance to. However It is a wasted feature, the song isn’t so good as to forgive it for it’s basic sounds and taking up a slot on the album when this song could have happily been a soundtrack song for tv/film instead.

3. The Light Is Coming 0/10

Trash. There is too much going on, the lyrics are a mess which should never have been aloud to make it to the studio floor. Nicki isn’t bad but it’s another of many wasted features: Ariana and Nicki have done better things together and this ain’t it. It was supposed to be some commentary on people with loud opinions and simultaneously about finding the light.... when in reality neither of these concepts came across and it was just a big messy trash pile of hot garbage. The beat is too heavy, nicki doesn’t say anything about the light, ariana isn’t giving any vocals, the lyrics are all over the place, and the sample in the background is distracting and ugly.

4. R.E.M Wake Up 7/10

The first song we come to which is actually representative of the album vibe. It’s the definition of a slow jam and I fuck with it heavy. It really only has one soul concept ‘’you’re such a dream to me’’ and everything else is frills around it but it is really pretty. We get some harmonies and some cute verses courtesy of Beyonce of all people. It’s very inoffensive and cute, if I were to critique I would say, as usual for Pharrell’s whole vibe, the beat is a bit too heavy for the sweet, light, dreamy song. It’s worth noting that people find this song a bit boring, too. And it’s hard to completely forgive it for ‘’when I was sleep’’. But Ariana’s vocals and the overall almost r&b cloudlike vibe work well for Ariana. I can see why this one is her fave right now, and why she feels it sounds the most like her.

5. God Is A Woman 9/10

This song could have it’s own review just by itself, so I’ll only focus on it as far of the album. This song is a bop, it’s controversial and it’s just about sex, but the sound is iconic. It has big sounds and big notes and big ideas. It fits well within the album and it is a very good single choice. it could do with less ‘yuh’s and better lyrical concepts - because for all the will in the world this song is not what empowerment is, no matter how much she wants it to be. However, with that known, as a sex song with an eye catching concept, it nails it and gives us some much needed vocals.

6. Sweetener Bop It 2/10

The biggest disappointment on the album. As the title song, it was always going to be much anticipated and have a lot of it’s shoulders. And when the first verse hits, I almost cried because it’s so good, beautiful, with such an amazing first verse lyrically and it was exactly what she said it was about - sweetening the situation. That verse is some of my favourite lyrics on the album. And then the chorus hits. And it’s trash from there. The bop it aesthetic is ugly to me and although you can warm to it and tolerate it, it could always have been so much better. It has all the ugly Pharrell ‘sheesh’ parts in the back which we could have done without, and I don’t think I need to talk more about the lyrics in the chorus. To me, this song is like trailmix: it has lovely, amazing parts but overall its ruined by the abundance of nasty other shit mixed in.

7. Successful 6/10

I can both take this one and leave it. This song was part of the reason I took so long to review because I couldn’t decide if I liked it or not. I quite like the melody/sound, but the lyrics are a ruiner. For others, they’re put off by the basic wii music beat in the back of it, and I don’t mind that so much, personally. However, the lyrics make me cringe a bit- I think the song was supposed to be an attempt at celebrating her journey and how far she’s come, and be an empowering song for herself and other women. However, it missed the mark just slightly and ends up sounding like she’s bragging about how successful she is, which is a shame because I like the concept a lot she just needed a better lyricist to smooth it. When I listen close enough to hear her pat herself on the back I can’t help but enjoy the song less, I don’t find a millionaire born into money and opportunity celebrating her fun cute life, relatable. I can’t ignore the existence of songs like IDC/YDKM and then Successful, but the lack of songs celebrating friends/family/fans or any type of humble thank you? This song, to me, feels like another addition in the line of songs which make her sound like a dick. And then there’s the sex aspect which is as unnecessary as me mentioning it in this review. But the beat is poppin and I can’t fault the vocals or choices made on the sound front.

8. Everytime Back To You 10/10

Amazing, stunning, phenomenal, genuis, iconic. I can’t get enough of this song I love it so much. It’s my favourite on the album and I ADORE the story it tells. The lyrics sing to me, the vocals and the pop feel of the whole song just really vibes with me. This pop-y slow jam reminds me of space and lavender, and a sincere pop song for Ariana. This song is everything that I enjoy in her music and I am so happy she put this on the album and let us hear it. I can’t even describe how much I like it honestly it’s just something that I need to listen to repeatedly for the rest of my life.

9. Breathin’ 10/10

My baby. This is a powerful song and I appreciate everything about it, I think the lyrics are necessary and the way the song is formulated with the long pauses and beat drops are genuis for the subject matter. It’s truly one of her better songs on her discography, one without the mention of sex and on a subject which can be so personal yet so easily relatable to so many people. This song deserves to be a single, it’s fan favourite and if Ariana and everyone on her team had any sense they would see the success of this song already and run with it, give it the day in the sun it deserves. It’s the pop equivalent of Get Well Soon, better articulated and with such clarity it just blows me away.

10. No Tears Left To Cry 9/10

I still like it. When this one dropped I was nervous that I only liked it because it was new, but here we are with the whole album and I still think it’s one of the better songs on it. It bridges the gap well, between albums. It’s just an all-round good song. My least favourite parts are the ‘pickin it up’ parts but at this point it’s normal for me to hear that in the song. I also wish it hadn’t mentioned a boy at all, and I wish she hadn’t tried to say that the ‘boy’ was her gays at her shows because it reminds me of how lesbian-exclusionary she is with her lgbt advocacy. However, I do think it’s the perfect nod to Manchester. I would have hated a song dedicated to it, and the subtle hints about moving on are very classy. It’s a good, strong song, and it has longevity.

11. Borderline 1/10

Nahhhhhh. I can barely pay attention during this song. It’s the last of the wasted features, and it is the most forgettable song on the album. I’m not even gonna spend a lot of time thinking about it. It’s very one dimensional sounding. The wifey type and ice cream parts are an odd mix and a lot of people find them cringy. Missy’s part is forgettable. Ariana will forget about it just as quickly as we will. It just doesn’t do it for me at all.

12. Better Off 9/10

Sweet. I have no problems with this song at all, it doesn’t call to me like some of the other songs but I like it a lot when it’s on. It’s very ethereal and very deep. it feels personal and the lyrics tell a story very well. It sounds like the rundown of a real relationship. My favourite line is ‘’i’d rather have your body than half of your heart’’ which sticks out to me in such a plesant way. The whole song is pleasant to listen to, which is a clever contrast to the painful subject matter: it’s like you’re being sung to sleep with a lullaby by a widow. And those surprise strings at the end are everything, they’re a huge throwback to her earlier music and sound gorgeous in this song. Just overall a lovely listen.

13. Goodnight N’ Go 9/10

A cover, but I would never want this song not to exist. It’s an amazing take on the original and I like the twist of the beats in the first verse then diving into the well known chorus which sounds just so goddamn pretty. The song sounds like a beautiful swirl of classical vs modern versions of the song and Ariana does it so much justice. It’s stunning, I can’t really comment too much further on it because it’s not actually her song lol. I wish she had an original as gorgeous as this.

14. Pete Davidson Happy 7.5/10

I gotta say that I like it. I’m not keen on the ‘look at my mind’ section. But when the song gets good, it gets so good. It’s so cute and I’m so happy that she’s this happy. I wish the song was longer instead of an odd interlude near the end of the album. It would have been better as a full song, and it would have been better focusing on happiness. But it’s cute as hell, and I’m not objecting to it being on the album at all, it’s a nice little song.

15. Get Well Soon 6/10

Powerful. This song might be the most important song she’s ever made, it’s definitely the most personal and I love it for that. Personally, I don’t have anxiety so I find it quite loud and confusing- which I know is the point of it and that’s amazing and clever and artistic which I’ve been waiting to see from her for such a long time. However, that doesn’t make it an easy listen for me, and it’s important but not one of my favourites. I appreciate everything that it is, but I don’t like all the song rapping, and I don’t like the different clashing styles. I like about half of it a lot and the other half just doesn’t appeal to me much. I like it more because I know how much it means to other people, and how accurate it is in describing what anxiety is for them - it’s a healing thing for them. And it has the extra silence in remembrance at the end which is also a powerful and important move to end the album with. Basically, I respect this song a lot. But I don’t put it on for nice listening. I love it for everything it stands for.

#ariana grande #sweetener #my review #i did it

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