Sunday, May 25, 2008

A brand new star

Once again, like last year, I'm left feeling there's little left for me to say about the results of the Eurovision final; my thoughts have already been expressed elsewhere in ways much more eloquent and concise way than I would have used. I'm not thrilled about the winner for several reasons and second place finisher Ukraine would have been a much more exciting winner for me (as well as my favorite winner of the '00's, I think), but life goes on. Well, how life is going to go on for the next few months without Eurovision to distract me, I've got no idea, but apparently it does.

Let's look at Ani Lorak performing "Shady Lady" one more time, though. Love those light-up boxes.



Those disco strings in the middle 8 get me every time. And the little head bobs that accompany the beeps. When will I learn, though? I should never rewatch performances from Eurovision or national finals--they never seem to come off as great as I remember them being.

I'm sad about Sweden's result, of course, but the song is still fantastic (in my eyes); I'm not sure whether it was a matter of staging, competing with similar songs for the same votes, the song being in a style most of Europe isn't interested in, or what, but it just failed to connect with Europe. A shame, since "Hero" deserves to be remembered fondly and Charlotte thought of well--I hope that can still happen anyway, at least in Sweden. It'll be interesting to see what Sweden votes for next year--there's been kind of a "vote for something beyond what people associate Sweden with"/that fails/"vote for 'typical Swedish music'" pattern going on for the past few years--what happens next?



I would've liked to see the lovely Eurobandið higher up on the scoreboard at the end of the night, too, but I'm still happy for Iceland that they made it to the finals.



Still, ALL of these artists--three of my four favorites, the three that made it to the final--did better than my favorite last year...so I think I'm just used to my taste not lining up with Europe's in Eurovision. Plus, only four of my preferred ten may have qualified from the second semifinal and an entry I adored may not have won out in the end, but really, the final itself was really enjoyable for me.

On a slightly different but still Eurovision-related note, the UK jury's vote for the final looked roughly (though not necessarily exactly; Latvia and Norway could be reversed and Finland and Portugal, though in the right order, could possibly have one more point each) like this (thank you again!):

12 - Sweden
10 - Latvia
8 - Norway
7 - Iceland
6 - Ukraine
5 - Denmark
4 - Finland
3 - Portugal
2 - Israel
1 - Armenia

10 comments:

Unknown said...

I didn't like Russia's performance and song at all.
This was a politic vote, as always on eurovision.
I loved Israel's song (even though i was expecting something more uptempo from Dana International :p) . So here's my top :
1. Israel
2. Armenia
3. Greece
4. Ukraine

Anonymous said...

I wasn't too surprised at the result. When Dima came in second in 2006, everyone was saying that he was so popular in the former Soviet satellites world that if he entered the contest a second time, he'd stand an excellent chance of winning. Two years later, and here we are. I think the message for Sweden lies in the fact that all the acts that ended up on top of the votes featured young attractive singers. There is a case to be made for Maria Haukaas' talent, but I think the main argument for Norway and Denmark (and even Iceland) getting more votes than Sweden's vastly superior song is down to youth, photogenics, and a more modern image. I certainly hope that someone is pleading that case to Måns Zelmerlow right now, since he would appear to be Swweden's best hope for next year. If it had been Måns singing "Hero" with some of his hot dance moves on tap, I think we'd have seen a better result.

Resa said...

"Never Let You Go" was miles better than "Believe". I was sad for Sweden as well (I had bought a Swedish flag in Stockholm to wave during the final!) but I felt as though she had been a bit off during the performance? Israel really wowed me, and the fact that Dana International (My First Eurovision Winner!) wrote and composed it made me love it even more.

Now we can go through the endless possibilities of the What If-So-And-So went for Sweden. Sigh.

I'll agree with Len and hope that Måns will come to Melodifestivalen next year!

Anonymous said...

sad for sweden and iceland but always next year!a whole 12 months away:(
Aidan

Anonymous said...

I am very disappointed with the win from Russia, especially considering he sang completely off-key in the semi-final.

Sigh. Poor Charlotte. Poor Paolo. Poor Czech Rep... actually, not poor Czechs.

Adem With An E said...

*sigh*

Very disgruntled with the final result. Very disgruntled Bosnia only came tenth, and Serbia managed more points with what as a complete non-event of a song. Very angry that 'Hero' did not do better, and somewhat stumped that Turkey and Greece did as well as they did.

This should have been -- like last year -- a Ukrainian win, no doubt.

RV said...

Not that strange as I'm addicted to your posts, but we shared the same eurovision songs in our hearts this year.
read my full comments on this year's entries on my blog :
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=154447635&blogID=398832970&Mytoken=7797C7CA-34D8-4F81-BB921DA0AA402E8440902989
and comment if you like ;)

D'luv said...

So the Turkey won? Drinks on me!

Jamie said...

I agree, Charlotte's song is still amazing and is one of five songs that will live on after the contest on my mp3 player.

I still wonder how Sanna would have faired on the night but am sure her amazing performance would have been lost on that slightly cold Eurovision stage too.

Ani Lorak's light up boxes was the best staging this year in my eyes although Charlotte's black and white effect which had one of my fellow euro-party goers asking 'Is she that old she's in black and white' will always be a memorable too.

Poster Girl said...

Oh, wow, Jonathan--except for your #1/the actual contest's #1, that means you got a pretty good result, then!

Len, if you ever do Eurovision or Melodifestivalen commentary anywhere, I would read it in a heartbeat. I think you're right about the modern image thing, and I think that kind of fits with the whole "shaking" thing Rick discussed over on his blog, in a way--Charlotte's performance was more "grown up" in that sense; even if she is only a few years older than, say, Ani, Ani came across as being younger or from a whole different school of how to perform.

Ditto on "Never Let You Go" and "Believe"--I actually really love all three of Dima's Eurovision national final related songs up until this one ("It's Not That Simple," "Never Let You Go," and "Lady Flame," originally planned to be in "Never Let You Go"'s place). And let's hope!

How will we ever make it? ;)

Rick, don't walk away when I'm your summer sun!

I just didn't connect this year with Turkey either, Adem--I mean, I wasn't surprised to see it do well given how it came across as a package, but--and I usually like guitars!--the song just didn't connect for me; there was no entry point into it for me. Bosnia just missed out on being in this rehash--I really did love their entry this year.

RV, can non-MySpace users comment on MySpace blogs? I definitely would--talk about a fantastic rundown! We both love our Euro-disco and international dance ;)

D'luv, I'm going to hold you to that.

Jamie, ha ha ha! And I really need to buy my own set of those boxes. Preferably one that comes with the men inside.