Rehearsals Day 2: The Good, The Bad and Ireland

Today saw eight more countries taking to the Eurovision stage to begin rehearsing for the semi-final that takes place in just one weeks time.

The Good
Unlike yesterday where three of the top four on PaddyPower were rehearsing, so today did not bring quite so many shocks. In reality there is no real outstanding song within these eight though I have a soft spot for Serbia.

Serbia, Cyprus, Moldova and Montenegro all had very competent rehearsals today, the strength of Montenegro was probably the only real surprise, it looks like it will seriously challenge for qualification. Seriously though - do they really need the space helmets.

Serbia did try out a couple of different dresses but coming in the last slot in the first semi-final it is a certain qualifier. Personally I love their song and think they could do better than expected overall in the contest.

Moldova and Cyprus both have similar style ballads though Moldova's performance on stage is certainly more elaborate than Cyprus's. Either way they may still struggle to qualify as they are both fairly dull ballads.

The Bad
Bad is a rather strong word in the context of today's rehearsals. However Belarus, Lithuania and Belgium were all songs that may not be sure of a place in the final and today did them no favours. Belarus just does not have the stage presence, Belgium still had trouble with the vocals and Lithuania probably would be fine if it were not for the attempt to use sunglasses for the performance - like, seriously?

However none of the performances today screamed that there was a serious underlying issue to do with the song or singer. There's nothing that could not be improved on for the second round of rehearsals and I will be keeping a close eye on these and watching with anticipation.

Ireland
Finally we come to Ireland. Reaction to the Irish rehearsal today has been very mixed and has ranged from "fine but nothing special" to "dire" and having seen some of the videos online for the performance in my opinion it is a walking, singing disaster. Nothing is right about the performance, absolutely nothing. The background is uninspired throwing a pile of Celtic symbols in the background of what is meant to be a club song. Vocally there are many problems and the choice of dress for the occasion is brutal. Whoever advised them on dress for Eurovision clearly was having a laugh.

Suffice to say I don't think we've a hope of qualifying on this performance and Ireland really need to up their game if they want to stand a chance on Tuesday next.

More tomorrow as the Semi-final 2 rehearsals kick off.

That's So Unexpected

At long last, I was wondering when I would hear from Belarus:

According to the Belorussian official Eurovision Alyona may change her song for Eurovision.

Anyone else even remotely shocked?

Tranche One Has Arrived

I think its definitely a strange year to have no less than six Eurovision songs already selected and its not even Christmas. Over the last four days three more songs have been picked. To summarise:

Albania
Albania have chosen to send Adrian Lulgjuraj and Bledar Sejko, with the song Identitet. This is a rather odd choice from Albania in my opinion, I was expecting something that was a bit closer to Rona's song last year. While that would have been a difficult song to spot I really didn't expect Albania to go with such a rockish song. You can listen to the song here.

Lithuania
Lithuania have decided that Andrius Pojavis will represent them in Malmo with the song Something. There was going to be nothing formulaic from Lithuania this year after last year, still this song fails to impress me, thought with a little work it could improve greatly. You can see the national final performance here.

Ukraine
Ukraine have decided the runner up from last years contest will represent them in Malmo. Zlata Ognevich will represent them in Malmo with the song Gravity. It sounds like it was pulled straight from the Lion King, not that I view this as a bad thing. Certainly one of the best songs selected so far. Very much looking forward to seeing this one on the Eurovision stage. You can see the national final performance here.

Overall I am not overly impressed by the first tranche of songs which have arrived, however they are generally from countries who I am rarely a huge fan of. The remaining songs, in case you missed them are:

Belarus - Alyona Lanaskaya - Rhythm of Love
Belgium - Roberto Bellarosa - Love Kills
Switzerland - The Band that won't perform under the name The Salvation Army - You and Me

If anyone has written a post that attempts to explain why so many songs have been picked before Christmas, please let me know, I'd be most interested to reading it.

Loving The Credibility Of It All

So Belarus have decided after the failure to have a proper national final last year to send Alyona Lanskaya this year. That was lucky for her. She really did very well in the national final. Especially the way she won both the televote and juries by a huge margin. Wasn't that wonderful? Surely you couldn't be in the least bit suspicious after all that?

Anyhow this is what they have chosen and possibly will be the Belorussian entry at Eurovision 2012.

First Review of The Year!

So with Junior behind us, we now can begin to look forward to another season of National Finals. This year surely sees the earliest start to the contest in memory (if you can think of an earlier one please let me know) and also this year sees many countries opting to hold their national finals in December whereas up until now we'd be lucky to get two. Though some complain it is nice that we can enjoy national final season rather than the rushed end to it we always seem to have in March. Anyway what are Belarus up to?

Max Lorens - The latino sound in this song reminds me of some of the songs we saw around the earlier half of the noughties. However I would say that generally speaking the song fails to deliver substantially as it cannot seem to figure out if it is a ballad or an uptempo song. Grade: D

Alena Lasnkaya - Well every national final has one of these. A pop song that just has spent to long in the studio and has far to many gimmicks in it. However I like the general raw feeling of the song. The song develops a nice beat but its a little strange. The song also doesn't seem to reach a climax which means it just doesn't seem to hang well together. Grade: D+

Alexy Gross - Seriously is early 00's pop the theme of this national final or something. This song is fine. It starts as a sophisticated Eastern ballad with western influences and then BOOM! Westlife B side. Grade: D-

Daria - Daria brings a song that I'm surprised that we don't see it in a Swiss national final. It is a little amateur but I still have a soft spot and it certainly the best we have heard so far in this tranche of songs. This could be great fun on the night. Grade: C

Satsura - This sounds like it was one of the first songs to be rejected from Loreen's album. However it develops into a club song that does make for very nice listening. The verses are certainly lacking something but the violins in the background are nice but have I just listened to a bit to much Loreen? This is still going to challenge for the ticket to Malmo though. Grade: C 

Nutika Band - Is it a rock song? Is it a pop song? No its pop/rock. Then there's some rap in the background. However I really like the sounds of this one. It is getting me going at a quarter to eleven at night which is quite an achievement. This is probably a possible winner and it would be a credible song from Belarus if they can pull it off live. Grade: B-

Uzari - The whistle in the background of the song makes for a very dramatic opening. However the song develops into a relatively average song in the first verse and chorus. The arrangement is a good mix but there's just something in this song that is not making me love it. Grade: C-

Beaver Band - Here we go, time for things to get a little Finnish. The was a song in the Finnish national final Hullana Humpasta, by a band whose name a cannot remember but it certainly sounds like a carbon copy of the song except it is in English. It still is a bit of fun though. Grade: C

Yankey - Big dramatic and dull open. We've heard this song before, remember that song? You know the one with the good singer bit dull though. No? Well you'll hear it tomorrow night. Grade: D+

Vitaly Voronko - Time for a bit of electro-something with some other musical instrument thrown in. Nice but could do much better, I don't like his voice that much either.Grade: D+

Looks like I'm supporting Nutika Band so.

JESC 2012: Reviews - Part 1

It's hard to believe that another Eurovision year is nearly upon us. And, like every year, it kicks off with the Junior Eurovision Song Contest. This year, as you should know, Netherlands is hosting it. In the run up to the rehearsals here at the Best Eurovision Blog, I'm taking the time to look at the contestants and what they have on offer this year.

Egor Zheshko - A More-More
Belarus
Belarus kicks off this years contest with a rather odd but catchy song for Junior. This is vocally pot on but may be hard to pull off on the night, though some might argue that he survived the national final so should put up a good show at Junior. Backing dancers are distracting and I think that they might be Belarus's acceptance that the song is not really that good. Personally I could see this doing very well with the juries on the night but I don't think it is a winner by any stretch. It bounces along nicely but does feel longer than 10 minutes.
Verdict: A good show and vocal but not a winner.
Grade: C

Lova Sonnerbo - Mit Mod
Sweden
This is what I love to see at JESC. A simple song and good singer who capable of performing a moving performance of the song. However as much as I love it is difficult to see it doing extremely well at JESC and Sweden have entered more interesting songs than this to the contest and yet have not really reaped the rewards of it. So it is difficult to see this one doing extremely well.
Verdict: Strong song but lacks a lot, though I still love it.
Grade: B+

Igzidora Gjeta - Kam Nje Kenge Vetem Per Ju
Albania 
At any level it is difficult to understand what Albania will send to the contest and sadly this year is no different. There song this year has a really promising opening but then descends into the dangerous hell that many we have heard so many times at JESC. Though Albania's light jazz song may have done well at grown-up Eurovision this one clearly is disorganised with the strangest combination of instruments I've heard in recent years. Not a winner, but maybe I've set the bar to high for a debuting country.
Verdict: Poor debuting entry
Grade: E

Compass Band - Sweetie Baby
Armenia 
The last review for today is for the Armenian entry. Once again this does not live up to my expectations but then again it is JESC. However this song does not work on any level. It sounds like a poor school choir and I just don't get what is good about it. However some parts of the song are ok, so I shall not tear it to shreds.
Grade: E

Disappointing first set of reviews, but you are more than welcome to disagree with me. Bring it on (Bitch!)

Reaction to Rehearsals: Day 3: Part 2

So this afternoon 4 more entries took to the stage. Belarus, Portugal, Ukraine and Bulgaria. There has been a lot of discussion around these so once again here we go:

Belarus - Rehearsal Video
I never got a chance to review Belarus's entry to Eurovision (It would have graded as a B-) but I was uncertain about which version of the song that they would sing. They've gone with the disco version which unlike many people online I think that this is a very good interpretation of the song. The yellow and black background really helps this song and this looks set to have some very dramatic staging. I still believe that the song is lacking something and I'm on the fence about this qualifying.

Portugal - Rehearsal Video
Say what you like about the Portuguese entry this year I think that they have hit the nail on the head with this one. This is working as well as it could at the moment on the stage. Vocally this was good. The background is really fantastic and the whole performance makes for a lovely break between Belarus and Ukraine. This may not qualify but I will look forward to this.

Ukraine - Rehearsal Video
Vocally this was a joy to watch and to listen to. The song might not be the best we've had from Ukraine and the performance might have looked better if you never heard of Shady Lady but overall it looks and sounds really good and should qualify with ease.

Bulgaria - Rehearsal Video
This rehearsal was fine bar her often missing her cue. Some people have mentioned that as a result of having nothing else on stage with her the visual on the screens is really dull as a result of a lack of variety on stage. Vocally it was good. I cannot see this as a qualifier though.

More tomorrow.

Eurovision Overload!

It seems that much has happened in Eurovision since I left on Friday and to be honest I'm hardly able to keep up with it all but here are my thoughts:

• May as well start on a positive note. Azerbaijan have presented their Eurovision entry sung by Sabina. I really thing this is good. It might not win (it has an outside chance) but really it is quite nice. You can watch the video here.
• The widely anticipated entry from the UK was released today, you can listen to it here. I will have much more on this in a later post. 
• As many videos arrive in we are seeing a couple of songs being tweaked a little bit. I don't really pay much attention to this as the changes are rarely noticeable. However Belarus have done a pretty big overhaul of their song which does help it a small little bit. You can hear there song here.
• Albania have cut down their song to three minutes and presented it in a video that to be honest looks like is out of a horror film. I still think that it is a strong song. The video is here.
• Belgium have presented their song Would You by Iris. It's a fairly basis ballad and I can't see it going to far but we'll see what juries do in semi-final 1. You can listen to the song here.

Finally I hope you all enjoyed St. Patrick's Day while some people decided to do some odd things (Green Ice Tea and Jedward?, seriously). I had a more traditional one involving buying 20kgs of seed potatoes. 

Breaking News: Litesound To Baku

Eurovision fan's all over the world will be delighted to see that in fact LITESOUND rather than Alyona will go to Baku for Belarus after Alyona declared that the results had been riged in her favour. I must say it appears Ukraine has rubbed a bit of inspiration into their neighbour.

We Haven't Had News For A While.

So a belated Happy Valentine's Day to you all. Another Valentine's Day alone for me and...and...*sobs quietly*... now Belarus seem to have lost the ability to pick a good Eurovision song.

• As I have previously mentioned Belarus today at the most annoying hour of 15:00-17:00CET they have not selected Litesound but instead choose Alyona Lanskaya with her rather uninteresting and unremarkable song All My Life. Best of luck to her - if she makes it through the semi's [that'll be the day]. However there are rumours the song may be changed.
• Russia have moved their national final to March 7 (the more midweek selections the better at this stage).
• Georgia will hold their National Final on February 19 [next Sunday] and have narrowed their selection from 13 songs all the way down to nine. 
• San Remo in Italy is progressing this week and the first show should be over that this stage. I don't follow it because I'M NOT SUPERHUMAN.
• Germany holds a final on Thurday and we will hear the song then too. 
• Saturday is a mega national final day with 7 semi-finals/ song presentations and selections. Will talk about that closer to the date.
• And finally two Canadian twins, Patrick and Chris have made an excellent video for Jedward's Waterline Song. Follow them on Twitter @cpVoros.

Belarus Selects Their Song Tonight

This evening Belarus will select their entrant for the Eurovision Song Contest. Unfortunately it is being held at the annoying hour of 16:00 CET which means I be in a lecture so I sadly will not be watching.

We are republishing our reviews here:

Alena Lanskaya - While this does not seem note perfect this is a good rockish song. LOSE THE DANCERS. Otherwise it would have a lot of potential when it gets to Baku. Grade:

Uzari - Uninteresting. Goes nowhere. Grade: G

Litesound - This is a little more schlager rock for me. The song has actually some depth to it. This could be a favorite due by picking up a few female votes and should appeal to males enough. I can really see this working in Baku. Grade: B+

Victoria Aleshko - A bit more dramatic, but a little too Disney. Needs a complete rework to have a hope in Eurovision but still can't see this being picked. Grade: D-


Gunesh has changed her song which is a good think because I was rather unimpressed with it. However I have not heard the new entry so I cannot comment on it.

Personally I think Litesound will win this comfortablely but I could be wrong - spent most of the weekend being wrong :(.

You can watch the Belarus national final via the eurovision.tv player (and I think you can rewatch it on that too but am unsure).

Review: Belarus

A word of warning: Unfortunately Belarus has decided that a contestant may change a song to another off a list. So I am reviewing these songs on the basis that they will not change.

Alena Lanskaya - While this does not seem note perfect this is a good rockish song. LOSE THE DANCERS. Otherwise it would have a lot of potential when it gets to Baku. Grade:

Uzari - Uninteresting. Goes nowhere. Grade: G

Gunesh - And morning will come seems like a reharsh of Butterflies. Except it does have those deep emotive notes. The song just doesn't build as it should. Very disappointing. Grade: E

Litesound - This is a little more schlager rock for me. The song has actually some depth to it. This could be a favorite due by picking up a few female votes and should appeal to males enough. I can really see this working in Baku. Grade: B+

Victoria Aleshko - A bit more dramatic, but a little too Disney. Needs a complete rework to have a hope in Eurovision but still can't see this being picked. Grade: D-

So on the basis of these results The Best Eurovision Blog is supporting LITESOUND for Eurovision. We wish them the best of luck. The National Final takes place in Belarus on 28^th January 31^st January. We are delighted by this because we may be able to provide commentary depending on the time.