#or like. perform it anywhere else other than eurovision

[gaylotusthatexists]

they really make us listen to slow boring ass ballad after getting us hyped up with jazabel ffs

#eurovision #time for a nap ig #like yeah nice message ig but pls make it even a little bit fun #or like. perform it anywhere else other than eurovision

[maneskinrollercoaster]

~ You Don’t Even Have Fucking Balls To Choose The One You Love ~

Pairing: Damiano David x Victoria De Angelis

Word count: 1754

Warnings: a bit of swearing and a slight angst but apart from that none

Summary: One little kiss leads to something unexpected.

It all started with an innocent kiss. They’ve just won Eurovision and all the excitement and adrenaline was too much. His soft lips met hers harshly and she wrapped her hands around his neck. Both surprised pulled away from each other and started laughing, not thinking much of what just happened between them and quickly ran to others, jumping from happiness.

Their lips met again a month later after they all went off the stage in Poland, both sweaty and exited from their performance, blood rushing in their veins. No one was surprised really, it was well known that between these two there was always a spark of chemistry that none of them could deny. Little did they know that this spark will evolve in something much more than just innocent kisses.

One night he entered her room silently, in a rush of anxiety and woke her up gently, trying not to scare her.

What’s going on, Damiano? She said and sat on the bed looking a him with a worried expression.

He looked pale, without any colors on his face, eyes watery and his hands shaking.

I’m scared, Vic. What if all this is too good to be true? What if everything we’re doing is gonna end in a blink of an eye? He said and Vic not saying anything pulled him closer in a warm hug, wrapping her arms around his neck.

That night he stayed in her bed and both of them, not really knowing why, got lost in each other, trying hard for everyone not to hear their moans and fell asleep with their naked bodies tied together in a warm hug.

It kept on happening more often during the tour. In a rush of adrenaline they would lock themselves in a fitting room behind the stage and have sex to make all the stress vanish.

Fans saw something was happening and the two of them knew that their unusual relationship is being slowly revealed to the world. All the stage glances, naked pool pictures and all the interactions they had with each other suddenly became visible for the internet. They didn’t care though, still enjoying each other’s company and support.

The truth was, they’ve always been the closest with each other. They just clicked from the beginning and enjoyed spending time together, even after recording. They often stayed up all night talking about their favorite bands, singing their favorite songs or just chatting about everything and nothing. And because their chemistry was so good and their friendship so strong, they didn’t see anything bad in their small sexual secret.

Not until Damiano’s girlfriend started having doubts about his loyalty. Don’t get her wrong though, Giorgia loved Damiano and she would never even think of thinking of the idea of Damiano having an affair. But all the instagram edits, all the YouTube videos and all the ambiguous pictures of him and Victoria, made her have second thoughts, whether Damiano is truly dedicated to her and only her.

So when she brought it up, Damiano only then realized, what he was doing. He never was the one to cheat but suddenly he found himself cheating on Giorgia with Vic, which was never meant to happen. After all, they’ve been together for four years and he never wanted to hurt her, let alone cheat on her.

So he lied.

Nothing is between us, amore. Are you crazy? You know that this whole chemistry thing is just for show. Also it’s hard not to suspect anything when we’re trying to keep our relationship private. Damiano said and quickly wrapped his arms around Giorgia to assure her of his lie.

She loved him so she believed him. But she wasn’t stupid though and noticed something was different about Damiano. Since winning Eurovision they haven’t been intimate with each other as they used to be before. All they really did was kissing and cuddling but sex almost vanished.

So he lied again.

I’m so sorry, babe. I’m so stressed with all the tour and recording the new album is taking a lot of time. I didn’t realize that I’ve grown distant with you. Let me fix that. He said and kissed her gently.

That night, Damiano tried to cover up his lies and cheating, with sex, which by the way wasn’t all that great for him. The truth was, all he thought about was Victoria and their little secret.

Time passed by and both of them grew closer and closer with each other, slowly catching feelings and making it obvious that something is in the air. It was harder for them to cover it up so around boys they’ve acted as if they were together. Ethan and Thomas didn’t mind, as much as they felt bad for Giorgia, they loved seeing Damiano and Victoria so happy.

The whole band with some of their friends went on a vacation to Bali. Beautiful views, crystal clear water, amazing weather, and everything would be perfect if not the fact that Damiano brought Giorgia with him. He couldn’t do anything about it though, he didn’t want her to suspect anything and it would look stupid if everyone took their closest people and he wouldn’t take his girlfriend.

Victoria couldn’t stand it. All the kisses, all the hugs and their constant laughter. Damiano looked completely lost in Giorgia and Vic’s heart ached at the sight of them having so much fun together. She wanted to be on her place after all and that’s when she realized that she’s head over heels in love with Damiano.

They couldn’t avoid it - you would say. But Victoria really thought at first that their relationship was strictly sexual and everything else between them was just a friendly love. Turns out she was wrong and her feelings for him were strong and sincere.

She told him then.

I can’t hide it anymore Dami. I can’t hide that I’m in love with you. She said and he looked at her with surprised expression.

Damiano knew his feelings and he knew he felt the same, but admitting it to Victoria and more importantly, to himself, hit him harder than he thought it would. He just then realized that he has to choose between staying with Giorgia and hurting Vic, which would possibly cause making things worse for the band, or staying with Victoria and hurting Giorgia, who after all, always been there for him for the past four years. Pretending wasn’t an option anymore.

I love you, Vic. And I don’t know how, but we will get through this together. He said and hugged her the tightest he could, afraid that she will slip through his fingers sooner than he thought.

Days went by and their new album Teatro D’Ira vol 2 was ready to be released. Many songs were about Victoria and her being more and more involved in their relationship, couldn’t stand a fact that Damiano would spend every night at Giorgia’s place. She couldn’t even begin to imagine him telling her that the songs are about her, lying in her face.

So one day she asked him.

Did you tell her, Dami? Victoria asked, entering the studio where Damiano was preparing instruments.

He promised Victoria that he will talk to Giorgia and end things with her as soon as it’s possible. He tried to avoid it, buying Victoria little gifts and filling her ears with sweet words and I love you’s but he knew that she isn’t dumb and that sooner or later she will demand explanations.

Tell who about what? He played dumb and he couldn’t believe that now he’s lying to Vic too.

Her cheeks turned red from anger and her eyes wide opened, gave him a death stare, not wanting to believe his confusion.

Are you kidding? Still nothing, he looked at her with a fake surprise on his face. Giorgia? About us? Don’t play stupid Damiano, you know exactly what I’m talking about! She raised her voice and Damiano gave up.

I didn’t. I’m sorry. You need to give me some more time. She just got out of the hospital, I can’t just go and slap her in the face with the fact that i cheated on her.

Her going out of the hospital is not an excuse! You were supposed to tell her a long time ago and yet you didn’t. Why? Victoria didn’t care if they will argue at this point, she wanted to get the answers and she wasn’t leaving anywhere without them.

Damiano didn’t know what to say. He was a coward, and after a long time he finally admitted it. He was too scared to tell Giorgia, he didn’t want to hurt her and for the first time in his life, he didn’t have the courage to tell someone how he really feels.

You know what, forget it. You don’t even have fucking balls to choose the one you love! Victoria shouted and stormed out of the studio, shutting the door the loudest she could.

She wasn’t the one to get hurt ever but she’s really fallen for Damiano and over the time their bond got stronger. She really felt like he was her soulmate, someone she was always looking for. But now she was crying over a guy for the first time in her life which she promised herself that’s never going to happen.

The tension between them was obvious. Thomas and Ethan could see that something is wrong, but not wanting to make things worse, they let them be. The concerts were less charismatic and their energy wasn’t showing that much, which made fans suspect too.

But the thing that happened next blew everyone away.

I wanna be your slave I wanna be your master. Damiano whispered to the microphone and quickly walked up to Victoria, pulling her in for a passionate kiss.

The crowd went crazy, they were screaming, crying and taking pictures, throwing things on the stage like flowers and clothes but Victoria and Damiano forgot about everyone around. It was only them, kissing on the stage and millions of butterflies flying in their stomachs. The feeling was indescribable, finally being able to do it in front of the fans, but Vic felt even more special because in that moment she knew that Damiano stated his feelings towards her.

It took me a while but the truth is that I would always choose you. He said, leaning his forehead against hers and they both smiled, enjoying each other’s presence.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hello everyone!

Just a little disclaimer, this one shot is not by any means meant to send hate towards Giorgia or anything like that. It’s also not meant to harass Victoria and Damiano, it’s a pure imagination for all those who like to see some Damoria content.

I hope you enjoyed reading! ❤️

Tag list: [ @teenyweenynightghost , @superchrystaldrug , @unitersmoonshine ]

#damiano david #ethan torchio #i wanna be your slave #maneskin #måneskin #thomas raggi #victoria de angelis #zitti e buoni #torna a casa #italy #vent'anni #bassist #vocalist #drummer #guitarist #damiano david fanfiction #damiano david one shot #victoria de angelis fanfic #victoria de angelis one shot #vic fanfic #fanfiction #one shot #maneskin one shot #maneskin fanfiction

[eurovision-del]

I’m back home after watching Eurovision with a friend, and I want to get my thoughts down!! (This is going to be a long post)

Top 5

Italy: Wow! I thought they could do it, but seeing them actually pull it off and win the whole thing is incredible! I can barely describe how happy I was when they won, I definitely found the voting a lot more stressful when my fave had a real chance at winning, but the payoff when they were announced as winners was worth it all! I’ve been a fan of Måneskin for a few years now, so seeing a band I like go from there to competing in Sanremo, to making it to Eurovision, to winning the whole damn thing is undescribable! Zitte E Buoni is such a fantastic song, and it’s going to continue to be one of my all time favourite Eurovision songs for many years to come!

Italy’s third victory was a long time coming, they’ve been consistently great over the past decade, but I’m very glad it was this song that did it for them! I also like it when a winner shakes up the perception of what a winning song should be, like Portugal 2017. This is the first time since 2006 that both a group and a rock act have won Eurovision, and personally I’ll be very glad if this causes a resurgence in both over the next few years. It’s also notable for being a song not sung in English, but I’ve got more to say on that later.

I always think it’s best when the televote winner is the overall Eurovision winner, so I’m very glad to see Italy topping the televote, and they did it by a decent margin, just over 50 points!

France: A very deserved second place. Barbara performed wonderfully and brought the magic to the Eurovision stage, she should be so proud of what she achieved. She was just unlucky that there was a better song this year, in another year Voila could have easily won. I wouldn’t mind seeing her, or especially her co-writer, Igit, who I’ve liked since he did Destination Eurovision in 2018, make a return to Eurovision, either as singers or songwriters.

Switzerland: I liked Tout l’Univers well enough based on the song, then it grew on me even more in the second semi final, so I was very happy to see it do well! Like Barbara, Gjon gave a brilliant performance tonight, and should be very proud of his third place! It’s great to see Swizterland, a country that struggled so much throughout the 2010s, pull off two top 5 finishes in a row at the turn of the decade. I’m hoping for more good things from them in the future!

Iceland: It’s such a shame that Daði and Gagnamagnið missed out on the chance to perform live in Eurovision, but thank goodness they were able to get that second rehearsal performance done as well as they did! The song and performance are so heartwarming, they utterly deserved this result. I’m really excited to see where Daði goes from here, I’ve actually already got tickets to see him live next year!

Ukraine: Like Italy, Ukraine managed to achieve the same result in the actual contest as they did in my personal ranking! I was worried the song would be too divisive, but the performance was perfect and elevated the whole thing, and Kateryna’s vocal perforamnce was flawless. Very pleased to see them achieve second place in the televote!

I’ve watched Eurovision since 2014, and I can say with confidence that this is the first time since that year that I’ve had no complaints about the top 5. I’ve also gone back and watched every Eurovision ever, and I’m struggling to think of a year that I’ve been this happy with the top 10, every place from 1 to 9 I think is either well deserved or better than I was hoping for! It’s not until you get to Greece in 10th place that I reach a song I think is mildly overrated in the results.

Other Countries

Finland: I won’t do a full run down on Lithuania and Russia, two of my other  favourites, as I’ve said it all by saying I’m so happy with the top 10, but I want to give a special mention to Finland. For a second I was really worried when their televote result was so high, as I thought it might indicate the vote for the two  rock songs had been split. I’m so thankful to be proven wrong, and for these results to show that not only is there a place for all kinds of rock and metal music in Eurovision, but that they can exist alongside each other and do well. I also really want to congratulate Finland on achieving their second best result ever! While I like it when countries switch things up I won’t complain if Finland look at their previous results and decide that they’ve found their niche in rock and metal music.

The Netherlands: My biggest disappointment in terms of result. I wasn’t too surprised, based on the neutral to negative reaction of the fans at large and the odds, but I still don’t really understand it. This song deserved a lot more than 11 points! In my ideal Eurovision I’d say this should be the sort of song juries reward, they should have the time to look at lyrics and composition and cultural influence and reward songs as good as this one. But apparently it wasn’t to be. I really hope no one gets discouraged by this result, and I’d be very happy to see more artists representing their stories and their non-European cultures at Eurovision in the future.

United Kingdom: Look, I have to talk about my own country. I’m honestly more worried about the backlash the media here is going to have than I am disappointed in this result. But I am still a little disappointed. I don’t think this song was the worst in the final, sure, it was definitely in the bottom half, but I can think of serveral songs worse than this. And the nil points was totally undeserved. That marks our second nil points, the only other being Cry Baby in 2003, and this song is leagues better than that ever was, putting them in the same category feels like an insult. That said, I can’t complain too much. This year was very strong, and I’m not actually sure where the points would have come from. Embers is a nice song, but it’s not strong enough or interesting enough to be anyone’s favourite, maybe it should rank in the middle for everyone, but why would it rank in their top 10?

I’ve seen an idea that maybe the BBC should just give the competition to ITV for a few years, and while I don’t think that would solve our problems, we do need a shake up. The BGM deal seemed like a good move, but if it’s only going to continue to produce ‘nice’ songs rather than ‘impactful’ songs, it’s not going to help us on the scoreboard. I fully believe that there’s no reason the UK shouldn’t do well at Eurovision. In an ideal world, we’d organise a national finla filled with unique entries, not the drivel that our last national final contained - I don’t think our strength is actually going to be in our pop industry at Eurovision, I think it’ll be in our less mainstream stuff. I’d love for us to also try sending a song in Welsh, Gaelic, or even Scots, something that’s full of cultural identity and couldn’t come from anywhere else in the world. It might not be a winner, but I think a song like that would have a far better song of catching people’s attention and doing well at the contest than songs our current strategy produces ever would.

Other Thoughts

This year was a victory for the unique and artistic, there’s not a single song in the top 9 that could be classified as a straightforward pop song. I also want to note that the entire top 3 is non-English, Italian and two French entries. This is the only time that’s ever happened since the language rule was abolished, and since the last few years of that produced English podium placing songs, it’s the first year it’s happened since 1995. I really hope that sends the message out loud and clear that songs in native languages can and do succeed at Eurovision!

In 2019 I talked a bit about the Juries vs the Televote, and how I wasn’t too keen on the Jury results that year. This year, aside from overlooking The Netherlands, I’d say they did their job pretty well. The combined results seem very fair, better than both the Televote and the Jury results individually, and I think that shows the system is working at its best. I’m very glad to see Portugal score well, I thought the whole entry was brilliant and it deserved the boost the juries gave it. Likewise I thought Lithuania deserved a top 10 result and was glad the televote responded to it enough to put it there. The best countries, however, scored well in both, I was happy to have a year without a surprise jury favourite. Switzerland was definitely a fair jury winner.

Closing Thoughts 

Eurovision 2021 has been brilliant! We got a really strong set of songs, some fantastic performances, and a set of results I generally really agree with, completed by my ideal winner! Maybe when the buzz has died down I’ll reconsider, but right now I’m very confidently calling this my favourite of the contests that I’ve watched live - maybe my favourite contest ever? Either way, it’s been a good one, and I’m already eagerly anticipating next year!

#eurovision #esc2021 #alright it's 2:30 am BST as I finish this which means it's even later in the rest of Europe #so probably no ones going to see this until tomorrow #I'm going to be riding the high of tonight for a long time though #I'll look at semi final results tomorrow and probably write thoughts about that then #then that will probably conclude esc2021 #however! I have plans to keep posting over the summer #I've got a look at my ideal winners with some very specific constraints I want to share #then I finally want to do my winners ranking which I've been meaning to do ever since I made this blog #That should last me until September roughly when I'll take a little break #then I'll be back with national final rankings when FiK rolls around #unless someone else (maybe Eesti Laul?) gets there first!

[anotherescsite]

The Eurovision Song Contest we had to have

The journey from Tel Aviv to Rotterdam was an unexpectedly long one. Who knew that when Duncan Lawrence raised the trophy in May 2019 that another Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final would not take place for another 736 days? Having to wait such a long time between two Eurovision (excluding 2 x Junior contests) was excruciating, soul destroying and plainly depressing. And just like that, Eurovision 2021 has come and has now gone.

As the title says, it is The Eurovision Song Contest we had to have. It is a bold statement and I considered it for a day before putting it there. In reflection the song contest in Rotterdam was a wonderful event for many reasons which I’d like to discuss a bit. So this may take a while, but bear with me and hopefully, I’ll make it worth your while.

THE HOSTS

Four hosts was two too many, but let’s talk about them. Chantal is beautiful and the most professional of the foursome. Jan was the token male and while his performance was contained to a very small potion, it was nevertheless, fine. Edsilia was much more chilled than I expected and provided a warm presence amongst these people. Nikkie was probably the most down to earth of them all, possibly the most personable, but also somehow cold.

In actually effect, while there were four of them, they worked. No one took a lite load but they each had an equal presence in the show. As many other people have mentioned, everyone would have preferred more Edsilia and Nikkie to Jan and Chantal, but I’m not terribly fussed. They were all well practiced and very on point for the event and as a viewer I was pleased by this.

THE STAGE 

Like most Eurovision stages, they do not look like anything unless you turn on the lights. That was definitely the case for this one. The lights were on, the stage sparkled, and the stage was alive in every way that it was asked. The screens provided everything that were needed for each of the songs and other performances. The transparent screen in the middle of the venue added so much to some of the performances and was the masterstroke that made some of them visually exciting.

There was one thing about the stage that felt like they were reminiscing stages of the Dutch past. I felt a hint of the Amsterdam 1970 stage on the sides. I don’t think it was a co-incidence, but I liked the fact that the paid homage like that. Everything else was state of the art.

POSTCARDS

The postcard films were well put together to present a place in the Netherlands, a tiny house structure with items that belong or relate to the act coming up and then a green screen appearance of the act in the tiny house. 

While the postcard as a whole were well put together and cleverly created, I felt I missed out on seeing more of the Netherlands because they were focused more on what was coming and less with the airport, the canal, the lighthouse, the field, the tulips and whatever else was presented. So it’s only a small thing in a small film, but I wanted more of a Netherlands tourism experience in the films.

THE INTERVAL ACTS

It’s a funny thing about this year’s interval acts, and to be completely honest, I happy about it. If you asked a fan about Eurovision 2014, people will say that they remember ‘Love love peace peace’ and Justin Timberlake. In 1994, people remember ‘Riverdance’. In Tel Aviv, there was Madonna. I like that the intervals this year did not overshadow the entrants to the song contest. They were a time filler, a light refreshment and then it was over. For the most part well performed, entertaining and gone before you know it

I recall there was something about water in the first semi final, there was a dancer and a bike in the second, the former winners sang on Rotterdam buildings and some unifying song and dance. Nikkie did some little films about losing, and behaviour in the green room during voting. All were quality performances that were well constructed, organised and presented. They held the viewers attention while we waited for the votes to commence/announcement of the qualifiers and because they were each engaging, they seemed to go quickly.

THE OUTCOME

In most cases, things went as expected in the semi finals. Fans were disappointed with Croatia not qualifying, but I don’t think the betting had them qualifying. Romania was expected to qualify, but Roxen could not sing the song and move at the same time. Ireland suffered the same fate with an impressive staging. Semi final 2 went as expected as well; maybe Austria was expected to get through in place of Albania; i disagree.

The results/placings in the final were a bit of a surprise to me, but there was one certainty for me and that was that Italy deserved their win. There is a very simple reason for it’s success too. It’s not that it was a loud song or that the song was outlandish, or the way they were dressed. The reason that Italy won was that the performance of the song was a natural performance. I’m sure there was choreography of movement, but they were not outside of what they usually do. There was no gimmick, no dance routine, no green screen to worry about, no spinning diamond or large gimmick hanging from the roof of the stadium. It is also why the French entry was such a success and for a lesser part Iceland and Ukraine. Finland and Portugal also presented an entry that was in essence what was expected for that type of song.

Switzerland was a vast success in my eyes. They rolled the dice and they came up on top with the juries. Switzerland have rolled out a prop in the past to highlight a song, but this year they added lighting and camera work to add to the tension of the entry and it worked. Gjon looked a bit clumsy at times, but it was  excellent captivating three minutes.

There were some countries that were dependent on a large prop. Some were there to attract votes as they went with the song while others to distract from it. Russia and Cyprus had several well placed props that worked well and were relevant to the song. Greece had a large invisible prop that made what was a good song appear like a joke entry. Malta had a prop that didn’t make sense to the entry being performed. Bulgaria’s rock was both inspirational and strange to me. Moldova’s revolving diamond worked for her also, but it was just a surface to perform choreography on. 

I want to spend a moment of praise on Serbia and Belgium that had very different performances, but appropriately performed. Serbia took their sexy manic, hair choreographed selves all over the stage gyrating and moving like they had drunk 15 cups of coffee. Belgium, on the other hand, was very intense and sedate in their presentation mainly because most of them were playing instruments that were unmovable. 

Of the countries that retained their choreography from a national final, other than Iceland, was Lithuania. They had varied it only very little from the national final and in their case, the performance was crazy perfection to match the theme of the song.  I was disappointed with Norway, Azerbaijan and Sweden for retaining almost identical choreography to their songs from the film clip/national final, but I wasn’t a big fan of either song in the final. They seemed tired in appearance and in formatting. Azerbaijan needs a further slap for submitting their 2020 song with a new name.

I feel some disappointment for a few of the entrants. I’m going to start with the United Kingdom. Poor James Newman. He had a thumping good song that fans liked. There was enthusiasm from the fans that the UK would do better this year and they did worse. What I find astounding is he does not appear to be a shy person, yet he allowed someone in the United Kingdom delegation to produce that choreography, that outfit and those props for that song. To my ear, James sounded sad and dejected in the final and I was unbelievably disappointed that they didn’t score something from somewhere.

I’m disappointed for San Marino too. Senhit has showed she is a class act and has spent the last year enthusiastically covering Eurovision songs. But at the song contest, she appeared to be a forgotten entrant. Even with the addition of Flo Rida did not give the song some cred. I have a recurring image of Senhit’s shoulders slump and physically shrink on hearing that her efforts accounted for 50 points.

I’m also disappointed for the Netherlands. They most likely did not want to host again and it is a sad curse that countries that host usually end near the bottom of the scoreboard (excluding Super Sweden). But to score so terribly for what was a gloriously performed entry was unconscionable. I praise the Netherlands for choosing such a wonderful cultural performance for the stage.

At the bottom end, Spain and Germany had very different entries, performed with contrasting enthusiasm and it got them both a very low level of support. Spain had the most tired song that was boring as all hell and the presentation of the entry gave the audience nothing in return but a large grey beach ball in the sky. Back to the drawing board?  Germany was destined to fail in March. The charisma and fun of their film was completely missing from the staging and it was never going to go well.

Albania had the misfortune of being ignored, given a terribly bad draw for the second year straight and not given anywhere near the appropriate amount of votes required. Anxhela gave a good stylish and appropriate performance. She was on-point vocally and in her performance on stage.

Israel, on the other hand, was a spectacle. The song was kind of meh, performed with a lot of choreography to distract from it. She did a whistle note; so? I’m sure she had to get noticed somehow with her t-shirt dress, her nude illusion reveal and the headdress she stole from reigning RuPaul Drag race winner, Symone. (Did she not no know where she was coming and who would be watching? Picked that up immediately)

IN CONCLUSION

There is one other things that I have not mentioned so far and it only occurred to me after re-reading some of the above comments. The Dutch were very time conscious. They said they were keeping the final under four hours and they pulled it in and got it done. In my opinion, it was a Eurovision that was very breezy, and very light experience because while the experience of Eurovision was 8 hours of your week watching the shows, this year did not seem like an ordeal. I felt that the shows progressed quickly without fuss or propaganda. As a package it came together well across the board.  

It was a good Eurovision year and had something to cater for the taste of everyone. Some songs were not suited to everyone, but that happens. Below is how I saw this years song’s after the three shows and believe me I have changed it a few times before settling on this list. Looking at it, I want to move them around again.

So that’s it. Next year it will be somewhere in Italy; maybe Turin, maybe Rome, Milan or Bologna. It won’t matter. Feel free to comment, complain, debate. I’m happy to back myself and for you to convince me otherwise. I haven’t got anything else to do. : )

#esc #eurovision #2021 #Rotterdam #The Netherlands #The Eurovision Song Contest we had to have

[eurotastic]

Eurovision reviews: Semi 2

These reviews are based on my personal opinions about the songs, and not their potential in the actual competition. Qualification predictions are coming up in a separate post.

San Marino: Senhit ft Flo Rida - Adrenalina

After a decade of giving us nothing but memes, San Marino have finally decided to get competitive for real, giving us possibly the biggest Eurovision meme of all time by featuring some rapper called Florida Man in their song. Let's be honest, Flo Rida isn't nearly as big as he was a decade ago, but he's still the most relevant global celebrity to show up to Eurovision for a really long time. I know fans are upset that an American is showing up to Eurovision with a song that he very obviously doesn't care about, but I disagree! San Marino has what, 50 inhabitants? A country that small has every right to recruit some help from abroad. This is a banger and a huge meme, what else could you possibly want?

9/10

Estonia: Uku Suviste - The Lucky One

Between this song and the song from last year, I'm starting to think that this Uku Suviste guy might be the most boring man on the planet.

2/10

Czech Republic: Benny Cristo - Omaga

Listen, I think this song is criminally underrated by the fandom, but from what I've seen so far the live vocals are rough. I'm obsessed with the official music video where Benny recreates Leonardo Dicaprio's iconic car door moment from The Wolf of Wall street, but I don't think the live performance will be anywhere near as great as the video.

7/10

Greece: Stefania - Last Dance

I think this song is trying way too hard. It's too fast and there's too many high notes, I'm getting exhausted just listening to it. The staging is looking stupid as fuck, which is fun. Whoever decided that Stefania should be surrounded by dismembered dancing gym shorts should win the Nobel peace prize.

6/10

Austria: Vincent Bueno - Amen

This is even more boring than the last song called Amen, which is remarkable.

2/10

Poland: RAFAŁ - The Ride

There's definitely a good song hiding in here somewhere, but honestly, it needed another singer. This geriatric boybander unironically wearing sunglasses indoors isn't doing it for me.

4/10

Moldova: Natalia Gordienko - SUGAR

The fact that we're not getting any cake-related murder on stage is a real letdown. I was expecting a fun mess on stage, but it looks like we're just getting a boring mess.

3/10

Iceland: Daði og Gagnamagnið - 10 Years

This band has the worst luck in the world. I think this song is great, but it's obviously weaker than Think about things, which was the kind of perfection that can't ever be recreated. The staging is looking fantastic, but I'm just so sad that they can't perform it live.

If Dadi should return for a third attempt at Eurovision, I fully expect a volcano eruption to prevent him from attending the contest.

8/10

Serbia: Hurricane - Loco Loco

I honestly find this song really forgettable, but at least these girls have a really great stage presence. I feel like I should have something interesting to say here but I can't come up with anything at all. It's probably a fan favorite for a reason but I'm just not having any feelings about this at all, positive or negative.

6/10

Georgia: Tornike Kipiani - You

After watching thousands of Eurovision rankings and recaps on youtube, I still can't remember a single note of this song. I really wish he would bring back the weird screaming about random nationalities from last year, because at least that was fun.

2/10

Albania: Anxhela Peristeri - Karma

I really feel like we have gotten this exact song from Albania 500 times in the last 10 years.

3/10

Portugal: The Black Mamba - Love Is On My Side

I'm conflicted because on one hand I really enjoy this genre of music, but on the other hand this just feels like an album track.

4/10

Bulgaria: VICTORIA - Growing Up Is Getting Old

Victoria is basically just a Billie Eilish impersonator, but like a really expensive impersonator. This song might have the best staging of the year, and the song sounds fantastic, even if it's obviously very derivative.

8/10

Finland: Blind Channel - Dark Side

The year is 2008, I'm in 8th grade, me and my gang of nerds and emos are in recess listening to this song off someone's crappy flip phone. This is retro as fuck and I'm weirdly fascinated by the fact that the guys singing this are the same age as me and making this middle school throwback kind of music. Saatana perkele \m/

10/10

Latvia: Samanta Tīna - The Moon Is Rising

I mean, she's trying really, really hard to make something, but I have no idea what it is that she's trying to make. The whole "blood moon is rising" lyric really makes me think it's some kind of feminist statement about periods.

4/10

Switzerland: Gjon's Tears - Tout l'Univers

Super unpopular opinion but I absolutely love the staging where Gjon dances like a pretentious art school weirdo. I am reminded of Loic Nottet, and that's pretty music the highest compliment I could give any eurovision contestant.

9/10

Denmark: Fyr Og Flamme - Øve Os På Hinanden

I can't decide if this is endearing or repulsive. It's exactly like a Swedish, or I guess Danish dansband song from circa 1983 and I cannot for the life of me understand how this song ended up here. The danish language is the funniest shit in the world so it gets huge bonus points for making Europe endure 3 full minutes of guttural caveman noises.

7?/10

#eurovision #esc 2021 #eurovision 2021

[borisbubbles]

02. MOLDOVA

DoReDoS - “My lucky day” 10th place

I have written far too much and for far too long about Eurovision that it can still be considered a healthy pasttime, yet I’ve completely missed the love triangle vibe of this wonderful Banality Anthem?

Funnily, it was the very SovBottiness which caused “My Lucky Day” to shine, that also obscured its lol-potential in the first place. While both the song AND the country it was performed for both scream “hilarious trainwreck in the making”, most of us (I am not just speaking for myself here... right?) weren’t really expecting anything great.

All I did expect were a few neurotic *offscreen* meltdowns, because I couldn’t (and to this day still can’t?) wrap my head around how DoReDoS function as cohesive group. The best way I can think of to describe this is that DoReDoS, partially due to their hyperprofessionalism and partially because of the language barrier came off as Pod People, which was a lovely sight, I’m sure you’ll agree <3 From Marina swanning in and out of interviews as if she was just a intern  who go lost at a high-end business drink + buffet, to Eugeniu and Sergiu sulking in the background avoiding eyecontact with the press people because they don’t speak a lick of English <3  However the only immediate payoff was a mere “Well the staging will be funny ;D” and I was like “lol sure, Jan” all the same. Then came... the dénouement:

The staging was *actually* funny, who knew! DoReDoS came out of NOWHERE from being an act nobody even considered a serious qualifier to the #1 Favourite of nearly EVERYONE in the Press Centre during rehearsals <3 I can’t think of a single bigger whiplash? (maybe Robertoad, but even then it took me until the 2013 vote tally to appreciate the absurdity of Frenglish + VAGINA DANCERS + his always carrying with himself a wee stuffed elephant = permanently hunkering down on the left hand side of the scoreboard somehow <3 ) 

How did DoReDoS achieve success? Well, they simply acted out their song’s by Moldovan standards ridiculous and oversexualized message of a middle-aged woman ensnaring two witless loverboys in a bout of hormone-driven nymphomania in the most literal way possible <333333 BLESS <3

You can take “BLESS” literally btw because turns out that DoReDoS are like... superreligious nuts as in the “we demand to attend church before every performance and flat out refuse to sing if God doesn’t speak to me” type of religious nuts <3333

I dunno why I find that factoid hysterical, but Lord I do. Just the *idea* of anyone (let alone these three “individuals”) visiting an Orthodox Basilica on a daily basis and like, kissing the gilded Bible and kneeling at the plaster effygies to pray for an exquisite performance of what is a polyandrist ménage à trois style dork dance that openly celebrates bigamy and includes live groping  in front of a millions of people worldwide at the world’s greatest gay reclamation event is...  the stuff Kafka wrote novels about and I mean, guys... I’m only human.

The prayers WERE answered though because the performance is as close to perfection as I like my entries to get. Don’t get me wrong though. DoReDoS were perfect... in their imperfections. The acting during “My Lucky Day” was godawful and cheesier than a raclette fondue on New Year’s Eve and that is precisely what made it RealFantastic. The Dr Seuss-like rhyming, the utter lack of subtlety, the overacting, it all contributed to an act that was just silly enough to maintain its the light-hearted farmer’s farce /fait divers status. Even B-material like Sergiu singing the chorus in an audibly off-key falsetto, forcing Marina and Eugeniu to drown out his yelps so the performance doesn’t fall apart is sustainably funny to me <3

Yet at the same time, “My Lucky Day” is not silly enough to be just shoved aside as a joke act. DoReDoS were *perfectly* cast as the Glam Cougress and her hapless boytoy subjects. Thank God (um, literally?) they went the humourous route. Any difference in performers, approach or staging and “My Lucky Day” falls apart. After years of getting, meticulous, precise, *perfect* ex-Soviet entries, where any form of sentiment is banned, we finally evolve into a world where they have to mime extreme emotion to the point where it circles back into unironic hilarity.

For all the mockery I’ve made for DoReDos though, I also have great respect for them as performers. Moldova as a country doesn’t have much in the way of funding, let alone songwriters they can afford (the only reason F***pp K*****ff bothered with Moldova is because he literally didn’t have anywhere else he could go to) and it’s an uphill battle EVERY year to find an act that fits within their modest budget. In any situation, Moldova are a perpetual underdog.

So while the Senneks of this world burned away their ESC equivalent of White Privilege on an entire Loire Valley worth of wine, DoReDoS rehearsed on a virtually daily basis. I really can’t stress how much respect I have for their work. They HUSTLED hard and got it right.

They EASILY could’ve been Number One Together on this ranking, but God had other plans when He decided to gatecrash during Ieva’s semifinal performance (she could feel His metaphysical presence Ieva wouldn’t lie to me!), so  DoReDoS will be forever Number Two Together and Make the People’s Hindu Princess’ Dream Come True as a BorisBubbles #1 fave. LABIRIDADADARAM DADADARAM DADADARAM

And then there was only One.... We ALL know which one it is, but don’t worry, by the time you’ll have read this entry, I will already have written and queued Ieva’s entry as well. The finale of my 2018 ranking is coming... very, VERY soon :)

#Eurovision #Eurovision 2018 #Eurovision Song Contest #Moldova #DoReDoS #My Lucky Day

[duskodair]

so I’ve just spent several hours compiling my eurovision top 41

it will probably change but bc i’ve done that, its going on here bc what else am i meant to do with it?

it also contains more words than i’ve written for the essays ive got due in soon but oh well

1)     10 – Norway – Spirit in the Sky – Norway have written themselves into song. I love this song so much. When the beat drops I’m never ready for it, so it always blows me away. The joik part is exceptional. Alexandra has the most beautiful voice. The northern lights aren’t the only things dancing. I could, and I have, listen to this song on repeat for hours. Every time it has the same effect as the first time.

2)     9.5 – Iceland – Hatrid Mun Sigra – this is funky from the outset. It makes me wish I spoke Icelandic. I love the juxtaposition between the rough growl and the almost angelic singing. I love the lyrics to this, I think they’re a very bold message.

3)     9 – Spain – La Venda – Whenever this starts, I automatically start smiling. This is happiness in a song and I’ve loved it since I first heard it at the national selection. I love the way he performs, you could see and hear how happy he was to be singing it. I’m not too impressed by the revamp but I do like the emphasis they’ve added to the drums.

4)     9 – Switzerland – She Got Me – this has got me dirty dancing. I love the way this sounds. I love practically every element to this song. I like the little echoes and repetitions of lyrics. I also enjoy how it is stripped back before there is a clapping section.

5)     9 – Malta – Chameleon – this is funky, and I love it. I’m not quite sure what she’s saying for most of it, but it doesn’t matter, I’m too busy dancing to it. I like the noise of the muted trumpet. I like the clapping bit.

6)     8.5 – Greece – Better Love – this is great from the start. I love her voice. I love the almost whispered backing vocals juxtaposed with an almost choral sound. This is a really good song.

7)     8.5 – Russia – Scream – another powerful ballad. He has a great voice. It’s a very dramatic song, which I can appreciate. I like how it builds as the song continues.

8)     8.5 – Albania – Ktheju Tokes – this is a very powerful song and I love the use of language in it. I really like the message behind it. It’s very intense to listen to but all the elements mesh together well. Her voice is so strong. I like the backing singers that were added in the revamp.

9)     8.5 – Israel – Home – he has a strong voice and it really fits this song. You can feel the power of the emotions behind the lyrics and I love the background singers harmonising with him. I like it.

10)  8.5 – Belgium – Wake Up – I like the tambourine. This is a nice pop song but its not exceptional. I like the way it builds through the verses. He has a nice voice. The variation between the verse and the chorus is quite nice. You can clap to it so that’s good.

11)  8.5 – Denmark – Love is Forever – I love this song – its so catchy and I love the use of language – she has a very nice voice – I also like to sing along with this one. I like the use of pizzicato in the music. Its nice to see Denmark back on their favourite song topic, love.

12)  8 – Italy – Soldi – clap clap. I like the speed with which he sings and that he varies it throughout the song. Its not as good as the last two years’ Italian entries but its still strong.

13)  8 – Netherlands – Arcade – he has a nice voice. The song sounds nice but its not especially special. His voice sounds right for the song, unlike others. I like the different levels of sound. It’s a very dramatic song. I like the clapping bit.

14)  8 – Azerbaijan – Truth – I like his use of falsetto. I also enjoy the emphasis put on ‘shut up’, that sounds really nice. It has a really good beat. I like the pause before the chorus begins.

15)  7.5 – Poland – Pali Sie – I love this song. It’s funky and I keep getting it stuck in my head. It’s a shame that they made it bilingual for Eurovision. I like the way their voices interact with the music before coming into a sort of unity for the chorus.

16)  7.5 – San Marino – Say Na Na Na – this is funky from the start. It makes you want to dance. I like all the small references to other Eurovision entries ‘love all colours of this life’ and ‘say yay yay yay’. It’s very hopeful and uplifting and I hope this does well.

17)  7.5 – Ireland – 22 – this is funky, and I’ve enjoyed it since it was released. It makes me want to dance, and I really like her voice. I like the background string instrument. The background singers are used well.

18)  7.5 – Cyprus – Replay – this doesn’t do much for me. Its fun to listen to but it reminds me too much of last year’s entry. I don’t feel anything special when I listen to it. Yes, I can, and do, dance to it but its not really for me.

19)  7.5 – Hungary – Az En Apam – He’s back! This has a cool chill feel. I like the use of language here. The whistling fits in well too. I like the unity between Joci and the backing singer for the chorus. Na na na na na…

20)  7.5 – UK – Bigger than Us – a strong power ballad. It needs a bigger start to get it away but once its going, does it go. I like the choral sounding backing vocals. I keep hearing ‘cry no more’ in it but I think that’s also just me.

21)  7.5 – North Macedonia – Proud – powerful ballad, meaningful message, great voice. I can get this stuck in my head

22)  7 – Romania – On A Sunday – it’s a chill song and I like listening to it. It has a good beat that comes in. her voice fits well with it. I like the use of echoing in the song.

23)  7 – Czech Republic – Friend of a Friend – its funky and you can definitely dance to it. I like the woman saying, ‘I’m only a friend’, I think she’s the best part of this song. It’s catchy and I think it will quite well at Eurovision.

24)  7 – France – Roi – its grown on me, but he needs to work on his live singing. It’s a shame its not all in French. This has a great message and I do like to sing along to it. He’s clearly very emotionally invested in it and the crowd love it, so good luck to him.

25)  7 – Serbia – Kruna – I like the use of Serbian in this. She has a very strong voice and I like how she alters it through the song. I like the use of the guitar to build up to the chorus.

26)  7 – Germany – Sister – I like their voices but they sound rough sometimes. I do enjoy this song though and frequently find it stuck in my head. I like the way it builds as well as the twinkly music box instrument noises.

27)  7 – Armenia – Walking Out – She has a strong voice, but I feel like this song doesn’t go anywhere. Its excitement is wasted. Even the strong chorus is futile, the song finishes and then I instantly forget it. The parts don’t feel entirely unified. But I do like the choral feel to the later parts of the song.

28)  6.5 – Austria – Limits – she has a very unique voice. I like the quiet start to the song. I like it when the background music comes in and the song begins to build, before dying back down. It puts a lot of emphasis on her voice. I would prefer if the song built up to something bigger. The small climax is nice, but is it big enough for Eurovision?

29)  6.5 – Australia – Zero Gravity – this is an interesting song and its grown on me. But the high note, for that high note she’s just screaming, and I don’t like that at all. It’s catchy and I can sing along but I’m still not attached to it. Its weird and I’m not sure if it works.

30)  6.5- Sweden – Too Late for Love – fun pop song – format feels overused Sweden – please get a new one, I’m finding it hard to differentiate between your songs – he sings well though – I like the backing singers

31)  6.5 – Slovenia – Sebi – I like the use of language but the song doesn’t really do anything for me. It has an interesting sound. It doesn’t feel like the singer particularly cares about the lyrics. I could get this stuck in my head though.

32)  6 – Finland – Look Away – I’m not sure about the singer’s voice. It just doesn’t sound right for most of the song. It’s a funky and catchy song, though, so I enjoy listening to it. Darude’s bit is very good, so that brings this song up.

33)  6 – Moldova – Stay – she has a powerful voice. I like some of the notes particularly. It builds up quite nicely.

34)  6 – Latvia – That Night – I like the melody of ‘lo-o-o-o-ve’ but some of the vocals are rough. Nevertheless, some of it is catchy – I keep mishearing ‘there is a house in New Orleans’ from the house of the rising sun in it but I think that’s just me. Quite repetitive.

35)  6 – Lithuania – Run with the Lions – weird falsetto singing in parts – catchy in parts – it’s a nice pop song but doesn’t really go anywhere

36)  6 – Croatia - The Dream – I like his voice and the bit in Croatian but he’s always singing flat out – it would sound better with variation – I do like to sing along though, which I don’t do for other songs

37)  6 – Estonia – Storm – this is quite a generic pop song. It reminds a lot of Sebalter’s song ‘Carry the Light’ and it just doesn’t do much for me. It’s more a piece of background music for me rather than a song I’d actively seek out.

38)  6 – Belarus – Like It – lots of ‘oo’. Slightly repetitive. Its an ok party pop song. I’m not enamoured with it. The chorus is quite catchy however. I’m not sure about her voice.

39)  4.5 – Portugal – Telemoveis – discordant and fragmented. I don’t understand it. It doesn’t come together as a whole for me. The pizzicato strings are interesting, but this song is just not for me at all.

40)  4 – Montenegro – Heaven – its much better with the revamp but this song still isn’t great – the new instruments move it always from the realm of total generic-ness but it’s still not ideal

41)  2 – Georgia – Sul Tsin Iare –I like the use of language but I just don’t like this song. It feels very clunky and forced – that one judge seems to love it though

#long post #eurovision #eurovision 2019 #norway #iceland #switzerland #eurovision top #if my grammar's bad in this its on me #i was busy #listening to eurovision songs #also my opinion will change but i felt like trying to sort these boys out

[eurovosion]

 some thoughts on this year’s entries

or i guess just a ranking with comments tacked on

albania - this year’s nf season was a let down for me, partly because a lot of the winning songs weren’t the best on offer, and partly because albania picked first and nothing could live up to it. i love the depth this has, the dark, almost tribal vibes, and most of all i love how they didn’t fuck up the revamp like they usually do. if this is staged correctly, i think this could do really well. 10/10

greece - i feel like this has been overlooked in the wider fandom, which is odd because greek entries are usually pretty polarising, for better or for worse. regardless, i really like this. it’s atmospheric, powerful as hell, and katerine is more than capable of nailing it live. don’t count greece out just yet! 9.5/10

portugal - festival da canção was easily the best nf this year and the portuguese public picked wisely. telemóveis is such an intriguing song with a really curious sound, so traditional yet so modern at the same time. i’m not 100% on the staging, but they have time to figure it out. 9.5/10

spain - la venda wasn’t the song i was rooting for in the selection (rip todo bien, never forgotten) but i’m fully on board with it now. this works so well with a big audience, and you just know that the crowd will be on his side. if this doesn’t go top 10 at the very least i’ll be stunned. 9/10

cyprus - this is just as instant as fuego for me. not sure if tamta will do as well as eleni, but the cypriot delegation has definitely found their winning formula. 9/10

malta - malta is not fucking around this year. this is a verified banger, and their best entry in years, perhaps their best ever. take as many youtube ads as you want, michela, you deserve them. 8.5/10

azerbaijan - without a doubt, azerbaijan is back with a vengeance. you can tell they’re determined to set the record straight and prove that last year was just a blip, because this is great and hopefully the live performance reflects that. 8.5/10

denmark - i really should hate this, but i can’t. it’s so innocent and cheerily optimistic in a way that i can only be jealous of whilst humming along to the chorus. this deserves to do well. 8/10

italy - it took me a little while to warm up to soldi, but once i finally got there i really started to appreciate it. i don’t think it’s a winner, but it’s a very good song, and in the end that’s all that matters. 8/10

san marino - yes, serhat is in my top 10, and what of it? you only wish your fave could write a song in ten minutes and have it go off like this. and yes, if he doesn’t qualify you’ll catch me openly sobbing in the streets for weeks. 8/10

switzerland - an unabashed bop with some actual choreography, but lacking lyrically. then again, so was fuego and that popped off live. he’s also working with the same stage director as eleni, which can only be good news for him. 7.5/10

the netherlands - don’t get me wrong, it’s a very polished song and i’m sure duncan’s great but like... is that it? this is the big fan favourite? i’m very whelmed. 7.5/10

armenia - i was expecting something like yete karogh es from srbuk, so this came completely out of left field in the best way possible. i thought we’d lost our token edgy pop song when ukraine dropped out, but armenia saved us at the last minute. the only thing i’m worried about are her vocals, because, from what i’ve seen, she isn’t the most confident performer. 7/10

serbia - another respectable but ultimately pretty safe pick from serbia this year. nevena has a really strong voice and she sells the song well, so i think she’ll avoid another moje 3 style placement. 7/10

germany - first of all, aly ryan was robbed. secondly, thank god the surprise song didn’t win. thirdly, this is alright. nothing spectacular, but it’s cute and the spinning stage was a great stylistic choice. 7/10

latvia - thank you latvia for letting this win and rejecting markus riva’s basic ass for the sixth year in a row WHEW i really love the whole atmosphere that surrounds this. barring a miracle, however, i don’t think it’ll qualify, but it’s still a good attempt. 6.5/10

sweden - i don’t think it’s john’s most solid composition, but it’s a decent entry nevertheless and it’s nice to see sweden picking an entry that isn’t generic pop again. 6.5/10

united kingdom - my only faint glimmer of national pride so far this year is that we managed to pick the only good song from the flaming garbage pile that was our nf. yeah, the lyrics are redundant and it’s a ballad by numbers, but michael gives it his all and it really pays off. 6.5/10

ireland - this will absolutely not do well but who cares, it’s fun and harmless. super chill and easy to listen, and i think sarah’s a big eurovision fan already which is nice. also i’d just like to take this opportunity to thank her for ditching the ylva and linda song she originally applied with. 6.5/10

iceland - hm. this is one where you need to listen a few times to get a full impression of what the fuck you’re hearing/seeing. i really did not like this when i first heard it alongside all the other söngvakeppnin songs (and most of them sucked lbr), but now i’m kind of ambivalent towards it. i still don’t like the screaming or the key change, but it’s something different and i can admire that. 6/10

slovenia - fine, but forgettable. she has a nice voice, but there’s a distinct lack of stage presence from the two of them and i fear that this might get lost in the semi final. 6/10

israel - i’m conflicted here. i definitely don’t think home is as bad as the fan polls and reviews imply, but it’s not great either. a verse or two in hebrew would have really elevated this and i’m a little baffled as to why the writers didn’t include even a little bit considering the contest is on home turf this year. still, kobi’s a very convincing performer and israel probably didn’t want to win again anyway. 6/10

poland - this is an odd one, which isn’t a bad thing at all in a year full of safe entries. not sure if using the bilingual version was the best shout, but it’s clearly still very polish and i’m glad to hear that they’ll be wearing the traditional clothing on stage in tel aviv. 6/10

czech republic - the chorus absolutely slaps, and if i was judging by music alone this’d probably be in my top ten. unfortunately, though, the rest of the song exists. the lyrics are truly abysmal, with some of the lines ending awkwardly and without proper rhymes where they’re needed, and the spoken-word section is genuinely unbearable. 5.5/10

austria - i honestly don’t know where to place this one. very underwhelming when it was first released, but now i feel like there’s potential here. most of austria’s recent entries have been very under the radar only to end up doing quite well. i’m not as optimistic about this as some of those, but only time will tell. 5.5/10

hungary - not a patch on his previous entry, but pleasant enough. he’s a good performer and unless the staging really sucks, he’ll do fine. 5.5/10

north macedonia - it’s a nice ballad? i guess? and, unlike a lot of their recent entrants, tamara is an established singer who we all know can sing live. there are also rumours that the delegation has been planning the performance for a while, so who knows, perhaps this’ll qualify. 5/10

georgia - this has been growing on me lately. the song itself is a bit of a bust, although the revamp helped, but oto really brings it to life on stage. even if you don’t understand what he’s saying, you can tell by the emotion in his voice that he really means it. 5/10

russia - the nightmare dream team hasn’t produced a good song in over a decade at this point, this included. kirkorov needs to quit fooling himself and let someone else have a go. 4.5/10

belgium - belgium’s had quite the glow up since 2014, but i fear they’ve gone for style over substance this year. wake up is very polished, but it doesn’t go anywhere and eliot’s live performances haven’t been convincing as of yet. 4/10

lithuania - i don’t know what was more shocking, him winning the selection or me finding out that he was lolita zero’s real voice in 2017. this isn’t awful, just very repetitive and strangely put together. 3.5/10

norway - sue me, i don’t like this. the bald guy feels out of place and out of tune, it sounds like it was written by a child, and oh my god it’s so unbearably cheap. 3/10 

estonia - eesti laul was such a let down this year. usually there’s a good mix of mainstream and alternative genres, but the new producer doesn’t seem to give a shit about variety, which is a real shame. anyway, victor’s performance is slick, but he can barely sing and the song itself is nothing to write home about. 3/10

romania - when this was first selected i didn’t mind it, probably because i just really didn’t want laura bretan to win, but as the season drags on i’ve really soured to it. it feels like it lasts for a minute longer than it actually does, and the whole ay-ay-ay part was not a good choice. 2.5/10

australia - as someone who was a big fan of estonia last year, this is honestly the furthest thing from that. it comes across as quite cheap (even without the questionable staging), and the chorus really grates on me. 2.5/10

belarus - i didn’t watch the entirety of the belarusian auditions for them to reject the potato monks in favour of lidl’s own brand zara larsson. 2/10

france - this is why delegations should be wary of selecting social media stars for their national selections. yes, they might get the viewing figures up a little, but they’ll probably win and the song will be Bad. i respect his message, but holy shit is this hamfisted as hell. 1/10

finland - if anyone was wondering how darude only ever had one hit two decades ago, here is your answer. 1/10

moldova - they really don’t want to qualify this year, huh. could’ve had ca adriano celentano, but nope. basic tune, painfully simple lyrics, but i guess her voice is nice enough 1/10

croatia - this... is awful. upsettingly so. at least jacques’ last entry had a novelty factor, but he’s doomed this poor kid to failure. 0.5/10

montenegro - i have absolutely nothing positive to say here. honest to god one of the worst songs i’ve ever heard, and no amount of clumsily shoehorned in folk instrumentation was ever going to save this. i can only pray that they’re spending their preparation time wisely and taking singing lessons, but considering that they probably blew half the budget on the music video, it’s unlikely. 0/10

as for potential winners,  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

a lot of the big fan favourites don’t have a winning vibe about them, so we might be in for a shock this year. please let it be albania or greece

also feel free to drop me an ask if you want to chat about last year’s entries since i kind of ditched tumblr for a year or two lmao

#god that's a straight up wall of text i'm sorry #i tried to format it as best i could i promise #but i am Very rusty #eurovision

[my-imagination-and-other-stuff]

Part 6, ending

You would never think that silent, calm breakfast time could turn into real storm. Artem kept rotating spoon in his cup and you kept looking down like it wasn't annoying. He's spent a lot of time in his room, talking by phone but you wasn't able to hear anything.

- He's leaving. Do you know that?

You gulped, knowing very well what he meant. It would be hypocrisy to act that you didn't understand his question but you only looked up at Artem.

- Melovin. He's moving to Kiev.

- Why do you ask me? You finally spoke.

- He's leaving because something happend between you two, right?

- Why do you think it has anything in common with me?- You asked him, putting out your cutlery with anger.

- Because you're silent like you was hiding something. You don't seem surprised.- Artem said. There was something in his gaze that you couldn't describe. Not really anger or sadness. It was tiring to hide that he wasn't that wrong about it but it was so obvious that he never really trusted you.

- Artem, who do you think I am?! I'm so done with your distrust. You always suspected something, didn't you?- You raised your voice and left kitchen.

- Yes because he seemed to be interested in you from the start. The way he fucking looked at you and your weird reactions when I was joining you! I'm not the only one who noticed it! - He screamed, following you to guest room- How long this was happening?- He suddenly asked you so you turned to him.

- How long- what?!

- When did you stabbed me in a back and started this shit?! - Artem yelled and pushed chair next to him. You've never seen him that angry.

- What the hell are you talking about? I've never cheated on you! He admitted that he has thing for me and left.

- Has a thing? A thing? - He hissed - I'm not a fucking idiot. I know him better than myself. He wouldn't leave his hometown just like that. It must be something serious.

- I didn’t know what he felt about me till he explained why he’s leaving. He was scared to ruin your friendship. I was scared too - You started and moved closer to Artem - Please, don't blame him. He didn't know how to hide how he feels. It wasn't easy for any of us.

- And why do you defend him?

- I don't - You murmured, confused- I just don't want to be a reason of you two fighting.

It was like never before. You felt so far from your boyfriend. The way Artem was looking at you, felt like you were strangers.

- Is he only friend to you?

- Artem..

- It's easy question - He sighed, touching his forehead.

- Whatever I feel know, I don't think we can fix what just failed - You said with tears in your eyes - It's not about Mel anymore. I'm sorry but I'm tired of this. I'm not comfortable in this relationship.

It hurted to say such words out loud. Artem looked at you in silence like he couldn't believe what he heard. You looked down, not being able to stand his face expression.

- What is it? You want to break up? - He asked weakly.

- I just think that I want some time alone. We're mess now - You whispered, tearing you wet cheeks.

- Well, let me make it easier. If you for once thought about Kostya the way he thinks about you, let's stop it right now. Because I won't stand it.

These were the last words that day. You wasn't able to answer because of upcoming tears and Artem left flat very quickly.

***

- Did you manage to come on time? - You heard female voice when you answered phone. You joined queue to big hall. It was so sunny and hot outside.

- Yes. Thank you so much for sharing room, Carmen. It would be so hard to find accommodation in good price. There are so many foreigners who booked rooms before Eurovision.

- You helped me once.. And by the way, are you going to talk to him?

- Hmm.. I don't think it's a good idea.

- Hey, you came to Lisbon to watch him performing. You said you promised him to go when he finally wins preselections - Carmen said with enthusiasm.

- It was year ago and we haven't talked since he moved out. Besides, my ex boyfriend can't see me - You sighed.

- I see. Well, have a good time.

You was so nervous when you entered hudge hall with other Eurovision fans, especially when you waited for Melovin's performance at the end of show. You came closer to group of people with ukrainian flag. You clapped with them when Melovin appeard. It happened so fast. Piano, fire, his voice.

- Oh my God, that's was great! - You shouted and when camera turned to your direction, you realised that you was filmed with the rest of fans.

- Melovin! - some man next to you screamed. After next hour, hosts announced results of second semi final. You kept your fingers crossed, looking on a big screen with your heart beating very fast. That time when they announced Ukraine as another finalist, you run to stairs where all contestants started walking down from. But when you came back to your senses, you stepped out and hid behind group of people. Kostya appeard but he couldn't see you. Neither Artem. You turned to exit but you couldn't stop yourself from watching press conference on screen in main hall.

***

- Hello? - You answered phone in the morning, seeing unknown number on screen.

- Hi - This voice sounded familiar.

- Hi..

- Are you by any chance in Lisbon? I would swear that I've seen you yesterday in a crowd from balcony. I think that I saw you in video after my performance.

- Mel..

- I can't leave rehearsals but please, come today to cafeteria on first floor in hall - He said with soft voice but you wasn't able to speak. It was so unexpected that he was able to notice your in such a big crowd and when he meant to be fully focused on his performance.

- Hello? Are you here? - Kostya asked you.

- Yes.

- Please, come - His voice sounded sad and suddenly you thought it would stupid to reject his invitation.

- Okay.. I'll come. What time?

- I'm free in two hours. Twelve o'clock?

You looked at your watch. It was taking almost an hour by train so you probably had to go out right now. Of course you didn't tell Kostya you wasn't exactly in Lisbon so you said you'd come on time. You checked out hours of departures of trains and prepared your clothes pretty fast. It was almost twelve when you caught a bus from station to another station where stadion was placed.

- Where is he? - You whispered with concern when you didn't see Kostya anywhere in cafeteria. You was twenty minutes late. He didn't answer your call and for some reason you panicked.

- I won't answer phone - You heard behind your back and saw Kostya smiling widely - I left phone in wardrobe so nobody can interrupt us.

- Did you come just now?

- Actually, five minutes ago. But I don't like sitting alone when there's a lot of people around so I walked away - He said, smiling even more - You look great.

Your heart was beating so fast that you wasn't able to feel it in your chest.

- You too.

You both sat at the table and ordered coffe.

- What brings you here? I mean.. what are you even doing here?- He laughed sweetly.

- I visited my friend..- You said uncertainly - Are you good with Artem already?

His face expression changed.

- For few months we didn't talk except work stuff - He answered shortly and leaned to you - Don't worry. It's much better now.

- I was worried that he might give up on being your manager. But he's really professional and.. he's your best friend after all.

- He is.. How long has it been? Over a year?

- Yeah - You sighed- It's good to see you but won't your team be looking for you?

- They actually know I'm here with you. Including Artem.

- He's probably angry now, right? - You said, looking down like you was ashamed.

- He's actually fine with this.

- How can he..- You didn't finish, looking in Kostya's eyes. You missed looking in them You missed the way they were resting on you. You finally noticed what Artem meant by Kostya's gaze being different. You could see how he was looking at you with admiration.

- He knows well that you can't gave up on someone just like that - Kostya said silently. You tried to smile to him but at that moment you was too moved by his words.

- I would like to ask you something and get an honest answer - He added after a while when you was looking at each other- Are you really here because you're visiting friend?

- I actually.. My friend lives in different place in Portugal but I used opportunity to come here when you're performing. I wanted to see you on stage. I promised you. But I didn't expect to talk with you..- You said with heavy voice, feeling that your eyes got teary - I'm really proud of you. You did it. You really did it.

You laughed nervously and you felt Kostya's hand on yours. It seemed so natural that he wanted to comfort you. It always been like that. Both of you felt good in your own company, except some tension when you felt mutual attraction while dating someone else.

- I'm so happy that you came - Kostya said, caressing your hand.

- Me too. Even if.. I shouldn't come here - You said and added quickly, seeing his expression: - But I don't care. I missed you, Kostya.

- Do you mean that..- He didn't finish when he saw that you nodded. You both knew what was the hidden question.

- I know that timing was awful for us but what can I do when I already love you so much?- He suddenly said and made you feel shivers all over your body.

- I'm tired of denying what I feel about you but I'll always be ex of your best friend - You said, reaching for his hand.

- What is now is the most important so don't leave again.

- But how can we show up in front of our friends.. and Artem as a couple?

Kostya looked away with thoughtfulness.

- We will work it out - He said - For now stay with me till final.

- Ok - You whispered.

- What? - He asked you like he wanted to be sure what he heard. You smiled.

- Let's work it out.

#melovin #kostya bocharov #melovin fanficion #eurovision fanficion #if we only knew

[lanaberryrawr]

Hello dearest Lana! It is I, trans! Girl Victor Anon!(°♥️``)you had me crying and laughing at your last prompt, your writing only amazes me More and more every time.♥️ I've another idea for you! How about a viktuuri Eurovision au? Take it anywhere you'd like, but one of them has to sing 'Toy' by netta brazilai (this year's EUROVISION WINNER AND MY PERSONAL ANTHEM) it would make my life,my after life,and whatever's after. Hope life is treating you well! Oh, and send my love to twilight anon♥️♥️

Hello! I hope you’re doing well :D And I’m so glad that you liked it! I must say, you’re very creative with prompts XD And aww thank you! With each prompt and any time I’m able to write, it helps me become a better writer :3 Wow! It’s like you knew about my love for Eurovision XD I watch it every year and have so much fun (did someone say Eurovision drinking games? and being drunk? hehehe). For anyone that hasn’t heard the song, please do. It’s very different and a lot of fun!!!! So here it is for you :3 I’m sorry if there are any mistakes with it, I had to do it a little faster than usual and I’m a little ill at the moment XD But I hope you like it!Also, can I just say I love the whole indirect talking between you and Twilight Anon? Because I’m going to say it. I LOVE IT XD I love all the support and love!!!

To say that Viktor was mesmerised was an understatement. Thelights, the music, the atmosphere, the flags – it was more than he had beenhoping for, more than he had ever been expecting.  

He’d waited months to be able to pay for his flight to Portugaland witness the grandeur that was the Eurovision Song Contest. He hadn’t been toohopeful – he reminded himself that there would be drunks, rude people andgroups that the cameras never caught. Every type of concert had people thatwere trying to ruin the experience.

But instead, he had gotten something more. He’d travelledalone, but other groups in the audience had adopted him as one of their own,welcomed him in despite their different nationalities. The whole experience hadbeen nothing but magical, completely destroying his expectations and makingthem a hundred times better.

He’d made friends with a Swiss man by the name of Chris whohad managed to push them to the very front of the audience, pressed to themetal barrier. Flags waved around him, a mix of different nationalities andlgbtq+ flags flying enthusiastically above the crowd.

As the next performance was getting ready in the dimly litstage, the crowds behind him began to cheer, strobe lights flickering ready forthe main show. The competition was slowly beginning to wind down as it came tothe last few countries. Then came the voting, a sore spot for many of thelovers of Eurovision.

The stage lit up. Strobe lights waved across the stage, lightinga music board in the middle of the platform, a man standing behind. He wasdressed in a pink and black kimono with a glittery black corset across hisstomach. Behind him, two bookcases stood, covered in golden lucky cats wavingto the crowd.

Viktor liked to keep the songs a surprise for the finals,and so he didn’t watch the competitions on the weeks leading up. He liked tosee them once, to watch them for the first time live. It was why it was sosurprising to him when the man on stage began clucking like a chicken as anelectric bass built in the background.

He thought he wouldn’t like it, but something about itstruck him curious. But it wasn’t just that. As the lights finally illuminatedthe stage completely, he saw how beautiful the man was. He filled the kimono brilliantly,the corset bringing froth dangerous thoughts to Viktor’s mind. He looked soft,with fluffy black hair, tanned skin, eyes wide and filled with expression as hesang.

“Look at me, I’m a beautiful creature,” the singer sang, hisdeep voice echoing through the microphone.

Yes, yes you are, Viktor thought, completely taken in by theman. He needed to know his name. He leaned forwards on the barrier, listeningclosely to every single note, every single letter that was coming out of theman’s mouth, even the clucks. His gaze flickered between his lips and his eyes,willing for their gazes to connect.

“My Simon says ‘leave me alone’. I’m taking my pikachu home.You’re stupid just like your smart phone.”

Viktor chuckled at the lyrics, resting his cheek in hishand. The crowds were cheering harder behind him, pressing in on his back buthe didn’t care. His whole attention had been stolen by the man on stage.

“Wonder woman, don’t you ever forget. You’re divine and he’sabout to regret.”

You are divine,Viktor agreed. He decided the word was exactly what described the man on stage.Divine. Something otherworldly, something legendary, mythological, godly even.Viktor had never contemplated sneaking backstage at concerts before, but now hewas entertaining the thought.

“I’m not your toy, you stupid boy. I’ll take you down andmake you watch me.”

Viktor grinned, dangerous thoughts rising once more. Hewouldn’t mind being pushed down by this man. He wondered if he’d keep the corseton. As the sparks were set alight on stage, the crowd cheered. He heard someoneloudly exclaiming about the dangers and their funny expressions, but he didn’t takehis eyes away from the singer. He was only standing there behind his musicboard, and yet it was enough to completely capture Viktor.

Just as he thought that though, the man stepped away fromthe board and took the microphone in hand, standing at the front of the stage.He was closer now, just standing above Viktor, dancing slightly with his hipsas the music blared.

“Wedding bells ringing. Money, men, bling bling.”

Anything, Viktor thought. He’d do it all if he could marrythis man. He was momentarily struck by the absurdity of his thoughts, but asthe chorus came once again, he found himself singing at the top of his lungsback at the singer. A man beside him wore a chicken hat, the floppy cottonanimal hitting Viktor’s shoulder every time he jumped. He concentrated ontrying to sing as loud as he could so he could capture the singer’s attentionand ignore everything else around him.

As the singer sang his strongest note, his voice clear throughthe whole arena, Viktor felt his heart hammer against his chest. He couldalready feel the piercing of love’s arrow.

“Look at me, I’m a beautiful creature. I don’t care aboutyour modern time preacher. I’m not your toy, not your toy, toy. Not your toy,not your toy, toy.”

The final word was sung with all the power of a storm, thevoice behind it striking Viktor with absolute awe. It was as the singer finishedand took a deep breath after his finished song that their eyes connected.Viktor felt as if his soul had been seen, that everything he had ever done hadled to this, to meeting the beautiful man and to see him.

He didn’t miss the singer’s own widened eyes and heavybreathing, lost in Viktor’s eyes. Viktor winked at him, feeling his breath stopas the singer’s cheeks bloomed a stunning pink. He wanted to cover those cheeksin kisses.

Just above the cheering, the announcer named the performer.Yuuri, singing his song Toy. Yuuri. Yes, Viktor liked that name. He liked it alot.

As Yuuri was being taken off by his dancers, he threw Viktora smile and a wink. It almost stopped Viktor’s heart.

#Lana's prompts #Yuri on ice #A eurovision au I never expected to write but loved so much #Was i drunk through this one you ask? #not quotes #but clearly #I was too distracted by the drinking of my friends and filming them for their future humiliation #I'm a good friend

[sole-cuore-amore-e-droga]

Eurovision 2018 Rehearsals Day 6 - Actual first impressions

Armenia: Ooh I love them stacked-up sticks of lighting, it’s like some sort of an unbuilt fence. Sevak sells this song well enough. Nothing else to say, really. Oh yeah and for once I liked the camera shots in a preview clip. Good job Sacha?

Switzerland: Camerawork was decent too but there was this one looooong panning-zoomout shot that I didn’t like. I also didn’t mind Corinne’s clothing this time as opposed to last time. And they gave a camera shot to her brother, too.

Ireland: I still hope they don’t focus the camera WAY too much on the dancers where the main point is supposed to be the performer, not funny background events. There’s at least one shot on him and one spinning shot including him and the lady (I think it’s a lady) on the piano, and that’s good. And yes, whatever was focusing on the dancer boys in the music-video setting worked out well as well but I just don’t want this to be the music video’s replica (well at least it doesn’t seem like it as we have some... even more ‘extra’ dance moves out of this).

Cyprus: We haven’t had a proper slutpop winner since 2005... and a proper rock winner since 2006... so which is better? Also yeah Cyprus is waiting for a victory for longer too, but what else is? Iceland. And they don’t fucking stand a chance. Look, I’m all in for all first time winner countries to happen before I die (which is DEFINITELY not going to happen because we have San Marino and they still haven’t fixed their shit :’) ) but I don’t really want Eurovision to award countries that have waited for that long to do so sorted out by the number of the years of waiting the longest. I mean, with this pattern you get Lisbon 2018, Nicosia 2019, Reykjavik 2020, Valletta 2021, Ljubljana 2022 and so on. With some countries not getting their shit together (looking at you Malta, please stop selecting mediocre/harmless MESC songs as winners), I’d rather if they wait for longer for them than have this pattern followed. (also Budapest 20xx deserves to happen, whether AWS make it happen or not) So I’m sorry about being this bitter, I just... am not a huge fan of this entry as much as I am of the past Cypriot entries. Why the big praise for the ones I’m not that fond of? :( And oh yeah I forgot to talk about performance. Fire, red, choreography, hair. Well at least Romania isn’t in their semi (though if you guys wanted it to fail so badly then you think it should be, that’s sad, I hope that actually no one thinks like this), so we could witness one hair flip a day. Dunno if both will qualify though so there WOULD be 2 in 1 day... :’) (Oh yeah, and Laura Rizzotto’s hair flicks. Flicks, not flips. She might do a flip though)

Norway: And suddenly everyone is not a fan of this. I’m not exactly sure why. Rybak works the stage. I assume it’s because people are already fed up of him even if it’s been so long since he made into Eurovision as a performer. And that he won in the past, too. Well I don’t really want it to win either but since Poland, the guiding torch for all the other competitors for victory, is in their semi, then it might. But Norway 2009 won and Poland didn’t qualify that year. All 3 times Poland didn’t qualify, the winner was either Rybak, a big 5 country or a mediocre dark horse. I hope they qualify so the winner could be a GOOD dark horse. ;) (”You ride a black horse in the rain” - Hovi Star)

Romania: Eh it’s okay for what it is. They got one camera shot wrong though as a guy was escaping his mannequin-challenge pose at the end of it when he was supposed to act like a mannequin. I am not sure how will they get the staging of that moment right enough though but I hope it works decently out, yeah

Serbia: The thumbnail of their rehearsal’s (eurovision.tv courtesy) looks like it’s a typical Balkan song surrounding. Backing vocalist ladies come up to the main singer and stare into the distance like they’ve seen some sh*t. And then they start singing together with the singer in front. Anyway the sound mixing here is terrible but I hope the crowd elevates the feel. (Also they were doing an instagram takeover with The Humans, and unfortunately their journey has ended as soon as Big 5 + host country started rehearsing.)

San Marino: Now with that “Justice for Valentina” sign I can finally compile my “post-nf-pre-ESC-week-season” moments moodboard! Anyway, even with the cameras it’s a big hot mess, the dancers/backings are pointless, they better only keep the robots. Actually, I do want to see some backings. Bring on Basti! Also also, Jenny B’s costume is ugly and I’d rather if she kind of does something like Valentina last year but more youthful and less like ‘your mom tries to be cool again’.

Denmark: Yep, pretty much like the NF staging, except that there’s some pointless pink that shines on Rasmussen’s face. What for..? Trust me, I don’t know either!

Portugal: Oh so they got rid of the chair. As per the banned items request or as per Benjamin’s request? Also I love that Nirvana’s shirt of Isaura’s, reminds me of the lead singer of Musiqq turning in the first rehearsal of Latvia’s with a Spongebob shirt. xD I guess it’s simple enough of a thing there performance-wise? They don’t need to do much, just enough to keep it intimate?

United Kingdom: Oh lights. Something like Levina’s music video last year. I am not sure if this will get UK anywhere that great but I sure hope it’s not too dead of a last if it’s unfortunately last.

Spain: Togetherness. Are they just staring at each other while singing for this whole performance or is there more action to this love? We might not know just yet... but I hope they do something else at some point. Like, dramatically introducing out of nowhere when they begin singing their lines or something.

Germany: All these countries biting their nails about what they’re gonna do without any LEDs in Lisbon and Germany’s just like ‘fuck it, I’mma bring my own one anyway”. Sadly, they come across as ridiculously over-the-top, especially with the silhouettes and the black-white color spinning you see on these hypnosis toys or so. Not to mention, the chorus graphics are just THAT incredibly cartooney that I couldn’t really stand them. I’m thinking this could drop in my overall ranking of 2018 because the song just doesn’t feel too “wow” anymore and it’s just...

Italy: I waited for this so friggin long because I wanted to know about what they decided on about the on-screen shenanigans to make sure this is more than “two men being aggresive for 3 minutes”. And... I think they’re doing something about it, with lines of their song in different languages on different places and accompanying graphics and all. Really playing the sentimental card here. But I’ve yet to see a winner which relied on lots of on-screen effects (for Sweden 2015 it was on-stage effects more than on-screen). We had France 2014 being on-screen effects-heavy, we had Italy 2016 and Bulgaria 2017 relying on simple on-screen white stuff, Israel 2015 had an on-screen snapshot effect at the end of their performance. This... is just ‘extra’ as heck.

France: I thought I was gonna see more people gearing towards French City That Is Mostly The Capital One 2019 idea but it seems that there’s something off about the package so far. Maybe it’s the lack of an audience to do the hand gesture with them? Maybe it’s the unfashionable shoe choice? Oh I don’t know, I’m still holding onto that theory it’s Tallinn 2019 and still would love Sofia 2019 if there’s no one else that I would want to win is topping the charts...

#eurovision 2018 #eurovision rehearsals #eurovision 2018 rehearsals #eurovision rehearsals day 6 #armenia 2018 #switzerland 2018 #ireland 2018 #cyprus 2018 #norway 2018 #romania 2018 #serbia 2018 #san marino 2018 #denmark 2018 #portugal 2018 #united kingdom 2018 #spain 2018 #germany 2018 #italy 2018 #france 2018 #i'm too tired to hashtag anymore tbh #help me people #i'm feeling sad as fuck tbh #i am only waiting for this eurovision year to end so i could focus on my life a little more :'( #i mean i have an exam tomorrow :') #ouch and yeah #lolol #nothing that slays me except for germany? #oh nooooo

[nearmidnightannex]

Eurovision 2018! commentary as it happened

Reposting from something done elsewhere. It is very very long, what with the competition lasting, you know, FOUR HOURS, so there is a keep-reading tag below.

No idea who the performers were, but I really liked that second number leading into the beginning and the parade of nations.

Interesting that Ross and Shangela felt the need to explicitly state that they will not be talking over the performers. I'm guessing that they had comments about that in previous years. (Also, totally forgot that Celine Dion got her start with Eurovision. And also somewhat confused, what with her being, you know, Canadian. Then, there are random Americans here this year, and I think Norway’s performer last year was actually from Australia, so.)

I do not remember the Ukranian boy band hosts from last year doing the instructions in English and French. I'm guessing in part because as they stated they were very new to English, so handling both would have been a bit much.

And here we go!

Melovin, Ukraine, "Under the ladder". Had a few problems wandering off key at the start, but then the number went insane and he was fine. Seriously, that ending was kind of nuts for a song that really wasn't all that intense. Didn't like it that much, meself, but we shall see.

Amaia y Alfred, Spain, "Tu Cancion". Surrounded by a sea of phone screens on one side, and a stage of things that aren't phone screens but might as well be on the other. It's actually the sort of very sweet ballad that wouldn't tolerate Eurovision-standard overproduction, so the lack of LED screen probably doesn't hurt them at all. No sense of whether or not it will do well, but the audience (and Ross and Shangela) seem to love them. (Cat Valente on Twitter: "Oof, Spain's only special stage effect was heterosexuality.")

Lea Sirk, Slovenia, "Hvala, ne!". A song and performance with attiTUDE, at the least. And about ninety million more flashing laser lights and spotlights than any song needs; I'm not epileptic, but I literally could not watch the chorus because it hurt. I can't imagine how difficult it was to be in the room.

Ieva Zasimauskaitė, Lithuania, "When we're old". A very very small and sweet ballad. If we didn't have the example of last year's winner, I wouldn't think a song this small would have any chance of making it through. Given that there's no projection screen on stage with her, I'm guessing that the images of couples we see next to her can't be seen in the auditorium, so they're aimed squarely at the juries and viewers, all of whom are watching on television elsewhere. And that staged ending, however hokey, was really sweet.

Cesar Sampson, Austria, "Nobody but you". I like the sound of the song, although I think it may have a shade too much repetition. His pants are ... weird. (People, if I, the fashion-impaired, am wondering why his spandex pants have a crotch at his knees, something is decided ODD.)

Elina Nechayeva, Estonia, "La Forza". Oh, Opera. Or at least operatic. And she gets around the LED screen restriction by wearing her own. Man, that skirt is MAGNIFICENT. It also provides all the motion, which is good, because she can't possibly be able to move without screwing up the screen. (Um ... were those sperm cells zipping around on her dress for a hot minute there?) I do wonder how much the auditorium can see, though; the main seating/standing level is all below stage level, and the balconies are all very far away.

Alexander Rybak, Norway, "That's how you write a song". A previous winner performing again. And again, effects that the audience can't see because they're composited into the camera. And it was fun, I guess, and I suppose that's how you write a song, but ... eh. Whatever.

There is a LOT more direct outreach to the auditorium audience this year than there has been in the past. The Slovenian grrrl group asking them to sing along, the Austrian guy saying  "How are you, Lisbon" in a song that really didn't tolerate it, Norway throwing his jacket into the audience ... I wonder how much this is a reflection of them compensating for the LED effects they don't have.

Claudia Pascoal, Portugal, defending champeeen, "O Jardim". Apparently, Portugal has decided that "small and quirky" is their niche, and they're going to OWN that. That said, the song built a little, in a way that last year's song never did, if only a very little.

And now a bit of business, both literal and figurative, in which the entire world sprints for the bathroom. Plumbing system managers around the world are thinking, "What the ... must be a break in Eurovision."

SuRie, Great Britain, "Storm". A very energetic performance, in which some rando grabbed the mic from her to get political. It was handled expeditiously, to put it mildly. She was able to get the audience back with her pretty quickly. Intrusions aside, the song was ... OK, I guess.

Sanja Ilić & Balkanika, Serbia, "Nova Deca". Cant understand a word, of course, but I like the sound and staging. Also the studmuffinly lead singer who set sail on a shorter version of the SS Kaftanic.

Michael Schulte, Germany, "You let me walk alone". It's a very nice, low-ish key song. Again, very simple staging accompanying effects ... although, judging from the reflections on the stage floor, unless the floor itself was part of the effects, the audience actually could see those. I wonder if management changed its mind about the LED screen ... or if he somehow brought his own with him. (EDIT: judging from later acts, the latter.)

Eugent Bushpepa, Albania, "Mall". Very dynamic. I mostly liked the sound of it, although I could have done with less of the falsetto blasts. Back of his jacket was ... odd. And ... that's it. That's all I got.

Madame Monsieur, France, "Mercy". So ... being able to kinda sorta just a little understand parts of the song are throwing me. Not least because it took me a couple rounds to catch up with the concept of "My name is Mercy", and not "My name is Thank you." Not helped by the fact that they were actually playing on that confusion deliberately. That aside, the song was ... very very French.

Mikolas Josef, Czech Republic, "Lie to me".  It's a fun song -- why is he wearing a backpack? -- but good lord, there's a lot of just standing more or less in place this Eurovision. (Well, OK, until the end of the song, for him. Bopping about with dancers and the occasional backflip off stairs is not “just standing in place”, no.) Also, it would have been helpful to have established the context that the other dancers were standing in light boxes bseside him; it looked on screen like they were somewhere else entirely at first. It's one hell of a dynamic performance, I'll give it that.

Rasmussen, Denmark, "Higher ground". Selected to perform the song because he looks like a viking. Which cannot be denied, really. Also, putting him in all black makes him look simultaneously undead and slightly terrifying. (Cat Valente on Twitter: "The lead singer for #Denmark looks like undead bearded Jared Leto when he hasn't had lunch yet.") The choice to stage with a bunch of long-haired burly trenchcoat-clad guys sorta kinda marching around is ... interesting. The song is sort of monotone; the performance is making a LOT more of it than it is, which is saying something. (And again, the appeal to the audience: "Come on, walk with us!" Which explains the marching.) Not quite sure what the snow effects have to do with anything. (The stagehands and crew for Eurovision must be both very good and feel very put-upon by the end.)

Jessica Malboy, Eurofied Australia, "We got love". It's dynamic, and it's ... fine. Although this is as close to typically Eurvision staging as we've had in a while. She did go badly off on her big glory note near the end, but she had a fair amount of song left to recover with.

And another break for business, and for business. The bit with the Serbian ... whatever he was, was very cute. The bit with Cesar Sampson was also very cute; hope he didn't hurt anything. And the bit with the Portuguese pod was also very cute. Cuteness abounded.

A very brief "in memoriam" bit to the first Eurovision winner, who passed away earlier this year.

Saara Aalto, Finland, "Monsters". Weirdly, I mostly like this song a lot. I think parts of it needed ... something, but I have no idea what. It just felt a bit off in places. (Not helped by the fact that nerves pulled her off key a bit here and there.) But that aside, it was energetic and interestingly staged. No sense of how well it might do.

Equinox, Bulgaria, "Bones". A motley of a group, with random Americans, according to Ross. Staged -- and presented -- as a really stark music video, sort of. Everyone in black. (My, this is a grim Eurovision this year.) That said, the blond woman singer does look as though she apported in from some completely different futuristic video. The song was ... fine, I guess. Can't quite see it going anywhere, though.

DoReDoS, Moldova, "My Lucky Day". Clever staging -- VERY clever staging, fifties doorway farce translated to music. Not that fifties doorway farce would have involved quite so much groping. It was really a lot of fun. It's so relentlessly out of anything even vaguely popular that I have no sense of how well it will do, but if there's any justice, that should be at least a top five finish.

"It's a very good chicken, sir."

Benjamin Ingrosso, Sweden, "Dance you off". And apparently some performers did indeed find their own projection stage solutions. Song is ... fine. (Saying that a lot this year, but that's all I got. It's not awful, it's not outstanding, it's FINE. If he were on the US version of The Voice, he would probably win.)

AWS, Hungary, "Viszlát Nyár". Um ... well. It's ... dynamic. Yes. It is ... that. Also apparently a fire hazard. And the lead screamer was barefoot. And the electric guitarist/bassist (couldn't tell which) decided to use Eurovision's audience as a mosh pit. (I bet the lead screamer can't talk after concerts, if he tries do to whole sets like that.)

Netta, Israel, "Toy". I really do love this song. Even the first few seconds have graduated from "intensely annoying" to "kind of growing on me". (They also sound MUCH better without autotune.) Not quite sure that the HEY light board thing really translated. Other than that, the staging is kind of lunatic, in initially small-scale Eurovision tradition. Oh, hey, sparkle shooters! And then the lighting went utterly insane! And then fire! And smoke! Ah, Eurovision!

Waylon, Netherlands, "Outlaw in 'em". A country song. Huh. I wouldn't expect that to do well at Eurovision -- an American-style country song being, you know, not even vaguely Euro-anything -- but as CW songs go, that was fun. Although you can tell that this was European, because he would have been Strongly Discouraged From That Staging here. The black guys having angry violent fits around the white singer was ... yeah. THAT. (Probably deliberately, given that the lead singer had lived in the US for a while, but still.)

Ryan O'Shaughnessy, Ireland, "Together". Low-key, lovely mid-tempo ballad. And I think he’s also been to Eurovision before, so he was able to keep his falsetto strong and on-key until near the very end. A nice all-male romance portrayed by the dancers on the stage and bridge. (Weirdly, given that the song itself is very clearly about the breakup and not the romance. Reportedly, the semifinal performance was censored in China, and the Eurovision broadcasting team promptly yanked China’s license to broadcast the grand final and blocked them.)

Eleni Foureira, Cyprus, "Fuego". It's fun, but still not seeing how this song is one of the favorites. To repeat myself: It was FINE. Lots of fire effects at the end, which, given the titlte, were rather required.

Ermal Meta e Fabrizio Moro, Italy, "Non Mi Avete Fatto Niente". Lyrics in many languages pretty clearly composited directly to camera -- they must have been in a complete panic when they discovered that they wouldn't have a big LED stage to work with. The song had sort of a nice build that they played with. Beyond that ... it was (say it with me!) FINE.

Honestly, I'm kind of clueless about what to expect. The staging was very low key. Very few of the numbers stood out. At a guess, my picks, vaguely in order, would be:

Israel Finland Moldova Austria Serbia Estonia Ukraine Ireland Cyprus Czech Republic Lithuania Slovenia Spain Portugal Netherlands Norway Sweden Italy Eurofied Australia (Yes, that's right, outside the top ten for the first time) Albania Denmark Bulgaria Hungary France United Kingdom (may do better with sympathy vote for rando invading the stage) Germany

I think the top three that I listed will actually be the top three, but beyond that ... I have no clue. And, to be scruplously accurate, I don't expect Israel to win, although I think they should. I think the geopolitical moment that we're in, which kept Russia out of the final for the first time ever, will also keep Israel from winning.

And now, the interval acts! The first couple singers are really nice. Can't understand a word, but the songs are still lovely.

The skit about the journey to Portugal's win was ... interesting.

And Salvador Sobral himself returns to the stage (sans last year's manbunnage) to sing another "I won't do Eurovision style" song at Eurovision. Which, to be fair, is a very nice sounding lament ... which his movements on stage do not at all match -- I wonder if he usually performs with a guitar or something and just has no idea what to do with himself. Or maybe I'm missing a lot because I don't speak Portuguese. Either way, he just looks odd up there.  ... oh. And now the song acquires tempo as he plays the piano like a drum. (In all seriousness, this is the most Eurovision-style performance I've seen from him; adding in a certain dynamism along with a certain amount of "What is he DOING?") And then he performed his Eurovision-winning song with a person who I guess is his idol. And the audience sort of sang along. (I wish I liked that song more, and I did like it better than last year’s Eurovision performance. Because that was a Moment.)

Interesting that Ross and Shangela, when they picked their top five, had almost NOTHING in common. They both had Israel and Germany in their top five, but nothing else.

And now: the jury vote! And judging from the early vote, the juries are going to be all over the place; Israel, for example, has been in second on one ballot, third on another, out of the top ten on the third and fourth jury ballots, first on the fifth; Cyrprus has a first and a few random other points; France has one first place (...the hell?), and not a single top ten vote anywhere else, and so on. But apparently the pre-competition love for Cyprus was justified; they're doing very well. But countries are bouncing all over the rankings in ways that they haven't the past two years. (Barring a massive televote result, it does seem clear that Eurofied Australia will indeed finish outside the top ten this year.) Unfortunately, Moldova is getting hammered in the jury vote, so they won't finish in the top five. SO UNFAIR!

Halfway through the jury vote, a pause for whatever reason, in which they cover the Eurovision young musicians orchestra very briefly. Israel very narrowly leads Austria and Cyprus. A pattern is emerging, slowly, that if Austria, Germany, Cyprus, Israel or Sweden isn't shown in a particular national jury's top ten, they will usually be the first place vote. Usually. But not always. (Hungary gave their 12 points to Denmark. And again: the hell?)

The green room for Eurovision is MASSIVE. For some reason, I thought all the pods were somewhere front of house. Also, Cesar should forego mentioning his Twitter password methods on international television.

Russia's jury got booed in the auditorium during the jury vote. (I do not have the slightest idea what Shangela was talking about when she said there was a hush in the auditorium.) This may go some to explaining their first-ever shut out from the Grand Final.

Unlike the past two years, at the end of the jury vote, it was utterly unclear which country would win. Last year, Portugal would have needed an unprecedented collapse in the televote to lose (it won the televote, so it didn’t matter); this year, it could easily go to either Austria or Sweden having a roughly equal shot, and Israel, Germany, and even Cyprus (which dropped back to fifth) having a not-unreasonable chance.

And now, the public televote results! Sweden, shockingly, finishes well down the public vote, so now their chances depend on Austria and Israel getting hammered. (Which does not happen.) And the public televote is ... weird. Seriously, how did Hungary do so well? And Austria does not win the televote, or even do particularly well! Serbia does well in the televote! But does not do well enough to matter! Ditto Norway! Moldova did very well in the televote, indicating that some people out there had decent taste!

Weirdly enough, as soon as they announced the fifth highest score, it became apparent that either Israel or Cyprus was going to win, because Austria getting hammered in the televote meant that they couldn't maintain first place. Italy, somehow, miraculously, managed a top three televote result, but finishing third meant that they couldn't win, because they got hammered in the jury vote.

Second place in the televote goes to ... Cyprus!

ISRAEL WINS! ISRAEL WINS! WOO-HOO! 

I only got one of top three (and two of the top six) right (and Germany kind of epically wrong), and it was (sort of) the winner! Woot! And other nonsense noises! (Cat Valente on Twitter: "YES YES YES WEIRD #EUROVISION RETURNS TRIUMPHANT TAKE THAT BLACK SUITS AND EARNEST BALLADS ALIEN CHICKEN MUSIC FOREVER!")

Next year's Eurovision will be in either Tel Aviv or Jerusalem, belike. That should be ... interesting. (I'm guessing probably Tel Aviv ... although one of the announcers did just say Jerusalem. Well. That may be ... fraught.)

While I am glad that Netta won -- I really did think it was the best song and performance -- part of me was secretly wanting Austria to win so that next year we could have Conchita and Cesar co-hosting. But I am really happy about this result.

One of the things I both love and hate about this type of competition. "Hey, Netta, you have just won the biggest competition of your life! Now, get it all together and perform for us! RIGHT NOW! No, you can't take the trophy with you ... Oh, all right, take the trophy. LOOSE THE CONFETTI!"

#eurovision #eurovison song contest #eurovision 2018

[delightfulpeachcollection-m-blog]

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[eurovision-del]

4. 2006 – Finland – Hard Rock Hallelujah

Hell yeah!! Look, as a self-confessed rock fan, how could I not love this! It’s easily one of the best rock/metal songs to ever grace the Eurovision stage. It’s got everything, awesome lyrics, intense drums, epic guitars, solid verses, a killer chorus, and it goes all in on the theatrics. I really like the full studio cut version with the organ opening, but the three minute Eurovision cut is just as strong, and cutting to the chase with the drums and chanted title makes for a much more immediate start. Then both song and performance manage to pull off feeling like they start at 100% energy while still leaving a little space to push it even further, ensuring that the energy never drops or grows familiar.

I love Lordi’s style and commitment to it – their outfits and particularly masks and makeup are fantastic! And I appreciate how they don’t stay static – I honestly got goosebumps the first time I saw Mr Lordi’s wings unfurling, and they fit so well with how that bridge builds. Honestly the entire song is my favourite part, but if forced to pick a section I might pick the bridge – that growl of ‘hell’ and the way it ramps up gets me so hyped! It helps that Mr Lordi has a fantastic rock vocal, there’s so much grit it in.

Overall, everything about this, both song and performance, is absolutely epic. I found this one harder than many of the other winners to sit down and properly review – all I want to do is headbang along and enjoy it!

In Its Year – Nothing But  

Absolutely nothing else could have won, Hard Rock Hallelujah ending up anywhere further down the scoreboard would have been an injustice. It helps that I don’t have too many favourites in 2006, my only other standouts are Bosnia and Herzegovina and Greece, but nothing could touch Finland this year, or most years honestly, Lordi are just something else.  

#eurovision #winners ranking #I also love Mr Lordi's little Finnish hat #it's a nice touch #adds some humour and shows they don't take themselves too seriously