Eurovision 2015

We got a wild card entry -- Australia!

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/feb/10/eurovision-song-contest-invites-australia-to-join-worlds-biggest-party

the only way the Australian entry could return would be if it won.

OK, so to win, Australia needs a flamboyant singer, maybe someone wearing outrageous clothes, perhaps, I dunno, a cape?

Silly (xp). I suppose they're expecting Aus to vote for the UK.

woah

Can't remember if I like any of the songs selected so far - maybe Belarus? The worst song I've heard is (as always) the Danish entry.

I think they're banking on many of the voters not knowing the difference between Australia and the host country.

Australia get a bye to the final and get to vote in both semis!

I live in Vienna and I'm dreading May already. Planning to sleep through the whole hateful spectacle. That or leave town for the week.

Cheer up, Australian voters will probably vote Austria

^ yeah I already made that joke lol

This is basically the plot of Pitch Perfect 2.

yesssss Serbia

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrwtoCMkIMw

Looks like Eric Saade breezed through the first round of Melodifestivalen - haven't heard the tune yet but if it's anywhere near as good as 'Popular' this could be very exciting

The favourite in the local semifinals in here seems to be Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät, a punk band whose members all have learning disabilities and/or Down syndrome:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEiM6l5meQI

I'm kinda of two minds whether they should make it to the final competition... On the one hand, having these folks display their creativity on an international arena like the Eurovision would be a huge thing for the visibility of disabled people, a group that usually haves very little representation in popular culture. But on the other hand, a lot of folks I know seem to think people should vote them just because they're disabled, which feels a bit suspect to me, like treating them as some kind of mascots instead of regular human beings. Me, I don't give a shit about punk music, so the tune itself doesn't do anything for me.

The other popular favourite in the semifinals is Shava, a band who does bhangra music in Finnish:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vX-Nwl4U8t4

I think the tune's okay, but the whole concept mostly works because of the novelty factor of hearing this kind of music in Finnish, and that doesn't really do much for people who don't understand the language. Plus the tune doesn't have a catchy chorus like their first single from a few years ago had.

My personal favourite in the semifinals is this one though, a perfect pastiche of the sort of Finnish schlager-disco that was popular in here in the 1970s, with accordions and all!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5iv6t2whds

Tuomas you don't rate Opera Skaala???

Was a bit disappointed that post-Margaret Berger shambhala didn't succeed in Iceland:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sp0sim1RVfI

Tuomas you don't rate Opera Skaala???

I'm kinda of two minds on that tune. I like the arrangement and vocals, the singer is really charismatic, and their performance was by far the best in the first semifinals... But OTOH the song itself is kinda formless and doesn't have a hummable chorus or anything. That's not a huge problem for me, but it might be a problem in the actual contest. Also, I think this kind of combination of hypermelodramatic classical/opera vocals + techno beat has been done quite a lot in recent Eurovisions, like that Eastern European countertenor from a couple of years ago, for example.

Current overall entries in, 16 so far.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmUAE7aZ1rQ

Still mad at Latvia for not picking MNTHA, though I guess "Love Injected" is passable Alt/R+B.

Anyone excited about the Irish selection on Friday? Thought not.

oh Finland :(

yay PKN :)

Happy for PKN but the song is dire and will go nowhere in Vienna. I'm just bitter about Opera Skaala not winning...

UK entry
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6r1tUhl1cQ

I predict that will go about as well as when Germany tried big band nostalgia back in '09.

(jesus, the scatting)

Very bad.

It's mildly diverting and fairly inoffensive. The male singer phones it in a bit though. Reminds me of the YouTube ads for that Mr. Gr33n gambling website. Or maybe some Leonardo DiCaprio Great Gatsby nonsense. I'm sure if, I don't know, Olly Murs and Jessie J, or, you know, any actually famous-in-Europe British pop star were singing this, then it'd do a lot better. But no-one like that's going to get involved, because there's too much to lose and almost nothing to gain.

lol UK at least it's not a ballad I guess

everything's a ballad :(

go Israel!

not the banger I was hoping for from Russia but I'm impressed at how consistently they're sticking to the script they've established over the past few years:

We are the world’s people
Different yet we’re the same
We believe
We believe in a dream

Praying for peace and healing
I hope we can start again
We believe
We believe in a dream

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0OeBrQBPNc

OK, so to win, Australia needs a flamboyant singer, maybe someone wearing outrageous clothes, perhaps, I dunno, a cape?

they chose another guy who is originally from Adelaide, gonna perform a cape-less ballad

record points for the winner of melodifestivalen i hear, beating "euphoria"
surely gonna be a favourite in vienna
nice big chorus too

the australian entry - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7MwzRBEY_M

That deserves to win actually.

Just found out someone i know (Armenian-Ethiopian) is going to Eurovision representing Armenia in this crazy supergroup they put together with Armenians from around thw world (Ethiopia, Australia, Japan, America & Europe)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuW3-PpvxTE

Okay, brilliant.

Cool! Though they had to change the title to "Face the Shadow" because Azerbaijan (and presumably Turkey, though I don't know if they count anymore) don't like songs where Armenians tell them not to deny <things>.

Was just reading this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenia%E2%80%93Azerbaijan_relations_in_the_Eurovision_Song_Contest

The only songs I'm really into this year are Israel, Latvia, Serbia and (despite my disappointed mutterings upthread) Finland. Hope that some of them make it to the final.

This feels like a week year at the moment, but other years have felt like that at this point and been surprisingly great on the nights so I'm hopeful. Not least because I'm going to all 3 "jury" shows this year unless I can find someone scalping a finals ticket on the streets. Estonia and Georgia are my favourites so far. A bunch of countries passed on better songs - Denmark, Finland and Norway I'm looking at you in particular.

Oh and Ireland. Ireland fucked up big time.

swiss entry isn't bad, in a goth kelly clarkson coaxed out into the world of tedder way

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_n_pXW3p74Q

this song is much better than the entry that won denmark's bid, which is a 'beatlesesque' track by a band called ANTI-SOCIAL MEDIA

anyway i like this track a lot, it's v kylie-in-training
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L92AmzWVinQ

the netherlands are sticking with anouk-penned songs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSZwKW3RqT0

georgia's entry is making me long for the return of hi-nrg as epitomized by evelyn thomas

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jo83OjRw-w

Denmark is always the worst

Julie Bjerre is exactly who I was thinking of when I was saying Denmark passed on a better song. Anti Social Media = "The Way You Do The Things You Do" if it had been written as a collab between one out of McFly, and Mika.

Other than the actual voice, the Dutch entry just sounds like Natalie Imbruglia, but worse. (NB I love Natalie Imbruglia).

My favourites now are Georgia, Iceland, Estonia, Sweden, Spain and (!!!!) Czech Republic. WTF?

Other song I have positive feelings about: Albania, Belarus, Belgium, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, Poland, Slovenia.

no love for Israel?

Can Eurovision introduce a music video award so Spain can win it?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-g92hNNbPQ

he run like he in a atari game

yeah I d/l'ed the app and it just triggers sending a 65 eurocent sms so funk dat

Serbia
Estonia
France

can't remember the rest, Han's gone to bed with our voting doc

this chap would have made a fine castrato

nobody's voting for serbia! dear me

And now an hour of voting representatives in various states of inebriation.

why does evertybody want to hump italy's leg?

because it was a fantastic leg

Italy was shite, wtf? Also I'm really confused about the voting, did they skip the small numbers last time too? I don't remember this.

http://clickamericana.com/wp-content/uploads/wargames-us-map-of-attack.jpg

xp they've skipped the small numbers in the voting for a number of years, they'd be here for another three hours otherwise.
I don't get the votes for Italy, their song was your basic Il Divo act.

Italy is just straight pablum.

Jesus can someone buy Graham Norton a map?

italy was great! they nailed it

quite a few others were more interesting sure

DON'T FORGET SUSI

All these technical faults remind me of when the video conferencing gear screws up at work.

"didn't see that coming" - THERE ARE TONS OF LATVIANS IN IRELAND

find it illuminating how azerbaijan and armenia like georgia but fucking detest each other

Songs I like:

Georgia
Israel
Serbia
Norway
Romenia

I like to think of the 'bridges' as gravity's rainbow style super-rockets

Sweden have this, I think.

Lithuanian - Russian beef is on

Russian results wonk totally misjudging the mood of the room.

love the idea that 200 sammarinese students in a single bar decided to give latvia 12 points

Taking the electro-country thing to its logical conclusion by thanking people for votin' 'n' supportin'.

Latvia and Israel were the best. Didn't care for the winner but I rarely do.

Some absurd political voting from the juries on Russia. Lithuania's televote had Gagarina 3rd, the jury members voted it 20th, with two making it 26th. San Marino had it in 18th.

Apparently Italy won the televote by some distance and it was only the juries that led to Sweden winning, which is the first time that has ever happened.

01. Italy – 366
02. Russia – 286
03. Sweden – 279
04. Belgium – 195
05. Estonia – 144
06. Australia – 132
07. Israel -104
08. Latvia – 100
09. Albania – 93
10. Serbia – 86
11. Armenia – 77
12. Romania – 69
13. Georgia – 51
14. Azerbaijan – 48
15. Poland – 47
16. Lithuania – 44
17. Norway – 43
18. Montenegro – 34
19. Slovenia – 27
20. Spain – 26
21. Greece – 24
22. Hungary – 21
23. Cyprus – 8
24. United Kingdom – 7
25. Germany – 5
26. France – 4
27. Austria – 0

Latvia came third with juries, Italy sixth.

01. Sweden – 353
02. Latvia – 249
03. Russia – 234
04. Australia – 224
05. Belgium – 186
06. Italy – 171
07. Norway – 163
08. Israel – 77
09. Cyprus – 63
10. Georgia – 62
11. Estonia – 53
12. Montenegro – 44
13. Austria – 40
14. Azerbaijan -40
15. Slovenia – 36
16. Lithuania – 31
17. Hungary – 29
18. Greece – 29
19. France – 24
20. Germany – 24
21. Romania – 21
22. Armenia – 15
23. United Kingdom – 12
24. Serbia – 12
25. Spain – 6
26. Albania – 4
27. Poland – 2

*second*

the French announcers were hilariously anti-Russian. when Germany gave Russia 12 points one announcer groaned "oh no". as Sweden started to rise the French announcers got progressively more gleeful, cheering each time Sweden came up higher than Russia.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenia–Azerbaijan_relations_in_the_Eurovision_Song_Contest

he was told by his interrogators that they had the names and addresses of all 43 Azerbaijanis who voted for Armenia

This was excellent trolling from Armenia:

http://i.imgur.com/l31Y4Ng.jpg

So, the UK got 7 with one set, 12 with the other, and in Total we end up with 5?

any jury that voted the UK above Serbia ought to be forced to join Electro Velvet

I'm trying to remember what the UK entry sounded like and all I'm getting is this...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvLDm8821jQ

did no-one else like Electro Velvet? I thought they were good, though maybe not as good as this provisional Austrian entry for 2012 that ended up being disqualified because it was publicly performed before the official start date for that year

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qplHN8o4rTk

it was replaced by the imperishable Trackshittaz and 'Woki Mit Deim Popo' though, so can't be too cut up about it

I thought the Electro Velvet tune was decent enough Charleston pastiche until, you know, the electro bits. I don't think "let's please every possible viewer demographic" has ever been the recipe for a Eurovision victory, so I'm not sure why they thought it would work this time?

The reason why I felt Belgium was the best (though Serbia was almost as good) was because their tune was so unashamedly stripped-down and modern. Usually the attempts to bring contemporary dance music into the contest have still included some traditionally "Eurovisiony" power strings and vocals melismas into them, which tends to water them down. But Belgium's song refused to do any of that, there were no embellishments or modulations or shit, and it may have cost them the old fogey vote, but it was clearly the best pop tune of this year.

wikipedia says that Electro swing is popular in Europe

i hate 20s pastiche but i think Electro Velvet's main problem was not so much the song as the fact that they were a bit shit

me and Han were debating whether Ms Electro Swing was wooden and grooveless naturally or whether it was the high tech costume she was wearing but either way tbh

Electro swing not just popular in Europe, festivals in London (Swingfest) and Birmingham (Swingamajig) this year. Maybe the most 'current' a British entry has been in decades.

A guy I used to work with is a near-the-bottom-of-the-bill Electro Swing DJ.

maybe Electro Velvet are just too current for the fuddy-duddies of ilx, will try and console myself with that thought

Read somewhere that every juror who voted for Electro Velvet was over 60.

Electroswing got big at least 5 years ago, it's really not "current", you guys. Also it's only popular amongst reprehensible posh twats.

I'd wager it's more "current" than Eurobosh or power ballads.

Electro Velvet were shit yeah, in an in-your-face kind of way, but the song was also the world's first objectively bad tune.

The UK selectors may exhibit rank cluelessness, but the German ones have got themselves into a row already:

Germany withdraws 'homophobic' Eurovision act

The arguments against Xavier Naidoo paint him as a caricature right-winger, based on a few statements/lyrics from a long career. The truth seems a lot less clearcut. The charges against him are (in German) here. Herbert Grönemeyer defended him, calling Naidoo a "Christian free-spirit", not sure if that's a paradox. The ARD coordinator supported him in an interview. But now they've decided it's better not to bother persisting with it.

Anyway, back to the UK selectors. I'm betting that our 2016 song will contain at least one shout of the word "Selector!".

BUT this dream might be scuppered, if the 'new' selection system can pick something a bit more up-to-date.

There's going to be a public vote at some point, presumably after the experts get rid of anything too interesting. The process isn't well explained, but song entries closed last week.

http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2015-09-30/public-given-back-power-to-choose-uk-eurovision-entry
http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2015/sep/30/bbc-to-hold-open-talent-search-for-uks-next-eurovision-entry

Eurovision 2016