Let's all hope that Lene Alexandra does well with "Sillycone Valley" at the Melodi Grand Prix semifinal taking place later tonight in Norway--song-wise, I think it might be the one I'd be happiest to see win, but we'll have to see how it translates live, both vocal and performance-wise (I think I still love Anne Hvidsten's "A Little More" the most--it's just so sweet and cute--but I'm under no illusions that it would be good for Eurovision, especially after seeing it performed last week). In the meantime, the Schlagerboys have an interview with her.In other national final news, the songs for Belgium's Eurosong's first semifinal have been debuted. I think my favorite is Femme Fatale's electro-pop "Décadence." I don't know why no one has uploaded the full version onto YouTube yet, since it is out there (albeit in not quite top quality), but for now, here's a one minute clip. If you like that kind of pop-goth stuff--say, lighter Evanescence (I'm sure there are closer comparisons, but I'm not overly familiar with the subgenre)--and even if you usually don't, Eva Darche's "We Breathe" is good too. I didn't like Hannah's "Leave Me Alone" as much as some people did, but this kind of reminds me of that, only--for me--better. It's a little...floatier, lighter, maybe, which might be why I prefer it. I really hope she's a great vocalist, because I'd love a big dramatic performance of the track on the night! You can listen to it on YouTube here. I could see myself possibly getting tired of "Décadence"--I'm just not sure what my end feelings on that will be--and preferring "We Breathe" in the end; in fact, I could see myself absolutely loving it. Katy Satyn's "Magical Sensation" isn't bad either--it's poppy with some nice Irish instrumental parts; I kind of just wish the chorus was a little stronger.
I've not properly listened to all the Romanian national final songs yet (available in full but low quality versions), but my favorite so far is the disco song "Dr Frankenstein," sung by Swedish (American-born, now Swedish-based) singer LaGaylia Frazier. Ever wanted an "It's Raining Men" for the '00's? Well, now we've got one--not necessarily as good, but with lyrics asking Dr. Frankenstein to "build me a man so divine," it's definitely following in its footsteps. It's written by Swedes...as is "Shine," which has drawn mention in the online ESC world because it's co-written by Måns Zelmerlöw. It'll be sung by "Oscar, Lars, Alexander, and Fredrik" from Sweden and you can listen to the song here; it kind of sounds like it's got a little bit of opera influence in it--it's pop, at least partially, but you could see it getting sung by one of those popera groups, I think. Lest it come off sounding like I'm only interested in Romania in terms of their ties to Sweden, that's not the case at all--Mihai Trăistariu's "Tornerò" was possibly my favorite song in all Eurovision 2006, and that's got no Sweden connections, as far as I know.
4 comments:
Thank fook for that. It's only made it to the second chance round. Crap performance, crap song. She didn't even play up to the novelty element, she just stood there and sung it. Badly.
It's a two horse race now between Eastern Wind and my personal fave Hold On Be Strong. Either way it looks like Norway have a good chance of qualifying this year. Just don't send those Troll things.
Hah, Ben, we have exactly the opposite favorites! Well, not exactly, but--as songs (well, "Far Away" was the performance I expected and it was good for the song)--"Sillycone Valley" (who would've guessed? I didn't think anything of her first two singles) and "Far Away" are my two favorites from this round! The live vocals on "Eastern Wind" were very impressive, and I do like the song--am I getting it mixed up with something else or wasn't it originally not predicted to do that well in this semifinal, and then it goes and directly qualifies to the final? Anyway, I can't really justify liking the King of the Trolls song at all, just say that I know some pop fans, in arguing with other pop fans upset with Lordi's win in 2006, used the argument that the song reallly was just a pop song with a lot more guitars, that it had a real pop sensibility to it, but I never really "felt" it; for me, though, "Far Away" does that (very subjective, though; I mean, "pop sensibility" is a pretty vague and easily co-opted phrase), though I think it's a lot more like that Roger Pontare song than that Lordi song.
"A Little More" is still my favorite as a song, but I've never wanted it to win (not the right song for that and the performance definitely confirmed my beliefs)--I just hope making it to the second/final chance round is enough to get us a full album from her!
On a slight sidenote, though I wouldn't mind at all if King of the Trolls won MGP--in fact, I think I might like them to--I did find myself not feeling very compelled at all to watch their performance the second time around...that's only a comparatively slight criticism, but that's not exactly ideal.
'Sillycone Valley' is a hideous song IMHO. It's not even very catchy. It's just silly. :P
I was just embarrassed by the Trolls because it just looked like such a blatant copycat performance. Don't think much of the song either.
You're right that Eastern Wind had the lowest odds of qualifying which was ludicrous. I always thought it had a huge chance! It's probably their best chance of qualifying, but I'm still rooting for Maria.
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My name is Iver and I am a Norwegian Photographer... the pictures you have posted of Lene Alexandra Øyen is my work... Please remove it from your blog within the next 48 hours and I will not proceed any further with this copyright violation.
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