I'll give you all that I can offer, the rest is all up to you

What does this make this, my sixth post today? Oh well--I couldn't help it when I noticed an ESC Today article about Iceland's national finals for Eurovision--apparently they're starting September 29 (which is really early). At the very least, those are something worth getting excited about; Iceland has sent a lot of great entries lately and Jónsi's "Segðu mér," which made it to the overall national final but didn't win, was great (though admittedly I wasn't paying close attention to most countries beyond Sweden--I'll get there eventually). The real reason I had to post, though? Selma news! Though, in the vein of the Jessica Andersson "news" below, it's probably not anything really worth getting excited about, but I so wish she'd make a commercial music comeback (especially if it was in the vein of "If I Had Your Love"): she's going to a jury member for the national finals.

Though I wasn't a huge fan of Iceland's 2007 entry (I haven't listened to it much, but I remember thinking it was pleasant when it was performed), they're overdue for some success, so I hope everything goes well for them this year.

Speaking of Iceland and Eurovision, Birgitta has a solo song on the Astrópía soundtrack which I remember thinking wasn't bad, but it's since been taken off MySpace; it was in Icelandic, though.

So hard for me to understand what went wrong

Random news and thoughts that I either forgot to mention in the previous post or didn't find out about until afterwords:

Everyone should go download "La Vita E" by Italian singer Nek from You Call That Life--Pinkie posted it, and it's danceable, and I LOVE it.

Måns Zelmerlöw returned to the show he won, Let's Dance, to perform "Cara Mia." Though I didn't really like the arrangement of the song, it's worth watching the first eleven seconds just for that opening profile shot; I love the lighting when they move to the close-up (and I love that he still does the little hand-pop think at the beginning). Also, if I'm correctly understanding an interview he gave, his dream role would be Ewan McGregor's part in Moulin Rouge. Can you imagine how much I would freak out (sorry, I know that sounds young) if that happened? Further on the Måns front, you can watch a rather sweet interview with him (in English!) from before the Melodifestivalen final below.



I wrote about Jónsi's song "Segðu mér" earlier, saying how much I liked it and would've liked it to be Iceland's Eurovision entry. However, as time passes, it's steadily climbing further and further up my imaginary list of favorite songs of the year; I've gone from (when I first heard it) being mostly ambivalent with a slightly favorable opinion to being absolutely floored every time it comes on. It's powerful, stunning, and dramatic in all the right ways, adding up to an incredibly...solid song, both in quality and feel. It may just be that I've overplayed them, but seeing it knock the Swedish songs currently dominating my "Eurovision National Finals" chart down a peg is not inconceivable. The performance is still just as great as it ever was, too, complete with the perfect strength and the perfect gestures--it's cliche, yes, but the best way to describe it is that Jonsi completely and totally sells the song; I don't mean that in the sense of someone making a bad song choice and then making it work, but rather that this is a great song to which one must totally commit if its quality is going to shine through. The costuming is pretty interesting, too--a little dark.



I know I may be the only person enjoying this song so much ("enjoying" just somehow doesn't seem like the appropriate word--too flippant), but the version of it I had sounded somewhat subpar in audio quality to me, so I had to get the better version.

Jónsi - Segðu mér

To buy the album of Finland's national finals songs, Söngvakeppni Sjónvarpsins 2007, go here (digital), but, as usual, there's a lot of DRM.

You don't wanna let me down

I really do want to review Nash's album at some point, but right now talking about a few more Eurovision entries just seems like a better idea. Two songs that will be at Eurovision today, as well as one more that I don't expect too many other people to like but that I would've liked to see in Helsinki.

Russia's entry was revealed a few days ago, and I like it. It's sung by a trio of girls going by the name of Serebro and is creatively titled "Song No. 1." I wish we could cut a couple of the lines lyrics-wise, but I love those first few seconds--the "Five, four, three, two" comes out of nowhere, dramatic and definitely attention-catching (though I've heard a version that doesn't have it, so I'm not sure if it's actually part of the song). I have no idea what the girls will sound like live, but hopefully they'll be some good strutting to go along with the song--it feels like it demands it. Plus, though I want to change some of the lyrics, there are other parts I think are great, "don't call me funny bunny" and "I'll take your money-oney" (or is it "I'll take your money yummy"?) being particular highlights. Is it wrong that it reminds me a little bit of an "edgier" version of Cosmo4's song?

Song No. 1

Also sung by a woman (though just one this time) is Cyprus's entry, which is in French. Evridiki has been in Eurovision twice before. This time she'll be singing "Comme Ci Comme Ça", which was composed by her fiance Dimitris Korgialas (who I've also seen listed as a performer of the song, though I'm not actually sure if he's going to be on stage--maybe he's the guy with the guitar in this video?). It's got a little bit of a slow start, but keep with it, because it turns into a great dance-ish song with a catchy chorus.

Comme Ci Comme Ça

Finally, onto a song that you won't hear at Eurovision this year. Icelandic singer Jonsi, or Jón Jósep Snæbjörnsson, was in Eurovision in 2004 with a song DigiTech introduced me to that has, as DigiTech pointed out, a surprising similarity to Moulin Rouge's "Come What May." He made it to the finals of Iceland's national selection with "Segðu mér," but didn't win, which is a real shame--I would've really liked to hear an English translation of this song, provided Jonsi could somehow manage to keep the same inflections, drama, and strength in his voice when he sang. By rights, I probably shouldn't enjoy this song--think big dramatic ballad which I'm sure a lot of people will find boring--but it manages to be catchy; possibly more important, though, something about it just works for me, and I find myself wanting to sing along every time we get to Jonsi's "ohh-ohHH-OHHH-OHhh"'s, and maybe even attempt to sing along with the chorus, even though I have no idea what he's saying--there's one part that really gets me, but I'm not even going to attempt to transcribe it. He really sold the song in the semifinal performance, too--he even had those strong-but-desperate reaching towards the camera hand movements!



Fact: Jonsi once played Danny Zuko in the musical Grease. Do you know what other "failed to get out of the national finals" singer has done (and is doing) the same? Måns Zelmerlöw!

Segðu mér

(Credit for the first picture goes here.)

You should be able to get the first two songs on the Eurovision 2007 album when it finally comes out--keep your eyes peeled around here--but I have no idea where to buy Icelandic music (any suggestions?).

Edit: The Goggles Do Nothing has started up its annual review of the Eurovision songs--that's what drew me to the blog last year, and it's worth reading even if you think you have no clue what's going on in regards to Eurovision--it'll catch you up.

Next up: maybe that album review.