Eurovision Song Contest

[Willie Oleson]

I was subjected to a myriad of those from stations devoted to "maudlin ditties for today's emo," aka college radio. They are always wide-spread among the ages that believe they are experiencing situations nobody on the planet has ever experienced before: having their first illusion of a monogamous relationship shattered, encountering the necessity of working for a living, finding out the universe does not revolve around them

Yes, songs like "It's My Party"
But I wasn't referring to style or theme of the songs.
There are many talented singers but somehow they forgot how to sing, the popular TV contest shows have something to do with it, I think.
I remember the time when artists entertained their audience with their songs and of course a beautiful voice will help to enhance it.
But now the song itself has become an afterthought - what really matters is how perfect it sounds. It's not longer a performance, it's an achievement of Olympic proportions.
Instead of having the song "speak" for itself, every note must now be emotionally manipulated, to emphasize how terribly, terribly poignant the song is.
The only thing that's missing is sad frown smileys, just in case we still don't get.
That kind of music is not fun, it's exhausting.

Since so many of the age group watch, vote, and breathe the contest during Eurovision week, I am not surprised to find it in the selections.

And just like Dynasty, it should never have become a teenybopper show, although I'm sure it still has a huge gay fanbase. And they will vote for the hunks and the faghag divas.

I just want some pretty songs!

 

[Payton Cross]

And here is already my favorite top 10 of the Eurovision Song Contest of 2019, I can't wait for tomorrow, I have been looking forward to this for almost the entire week to see this big event of the year, and of course Madonna, she is going to sing a new song and her old hit "Like a Prayer".


And here is my favorite top 10 for the Eurovision Songcontest of 2019

01. Duncan Laurence - Arcade - (Netherlands)
02. John Lundvik - To Late For Love - (Sweden)
03. Kate Miller-Heidke - Zero Gravity - (Australia)
04. Chingiz - Truth - (Azerbaijan)
05. Luca Hanni - She Got Me - (Switzerland)
06. KeiiNo - Spirit In The Sky - (Norway)
07. Tamara Todevska - Proud - (North Macedionia)
08. Bilal Hassani - Roi - (Frans)
09. Tamta - Replay - (Cyprus)
10. Miki La Venda - (Spain)​

 

[Karin Schill]

I wonder which new song Madonna will sing. Also love Like a prayer, it's one of my most favorite Madonna songs.

I bet she's gonna make all the contestants look like amateurs!

I don't really have any favorites this year. I haven't heard the songs enough. But if the weirdest entry will win it's gonna go to Iceland. I also think Norway might have a pretty good chance. So that's my predictions.

 

[Payton Cross]

. I also think Norway might have a pretty good chance. So that's my predictions.

Norway has a great song this year, i like the beat and the sound of these three different voices together, i bet they will end up in the final top 10, at least i hope so

 

[Michael Torrance]

And we have a winner. Congratulations to the Netherlands (which I must say I always knew as Holland growing up in Greece).

 

[Payton Cross]

Yes finally the Netherlands won after 44 years, i still can't believe this.
So proud that my country won.​

Congratulations Duncan Laurence ​

 

[Angela Channing]

The best song won so the Netherlands were worthy winners.

The UK came last and inevitably there's a load of guff about it all being down to political voting. The truth is we had a very average song, sung by a very average singer who wasn't dressed particularly well and the staging of the performance was kind of dull.

The song performed badly in the UK singles chart so even the UK public weren't particularly keen on it. However, in the UK we will still blame those nasty Europeans for hating us rather that accepting our song just wasn't good enough and until we get real about our annual failure being down to us being sub-standard rather than blaming political voting, we will never win again.

 

[Willie Oleson]

The truth is we had a very average song, sung by a very average singer who wasn't dressed particularly well and the staging of the performance was kind of dull.

And maybe that's it. A dull or average performance on ESC is considered worse than being downright awful. It's OK as long as you're doing over-the-top awful, because some idiots actually might like it.
I've only seen the performance by the singer from Serbia, it was not one of my favourite songs but all those Disney "Frozen" effects looked pretty awesome.

 

[Karin Schill]

Actually I do think it's partly political as far as the UK is concerned. I mean the Swedish singer who competed for us this year was also the song writer of the British entry and his two songs came first and last according to the jury votes. I find that rather strange even if I consider the Swedish song to be better than the UK one I don't think there should have been that big of a difference.

Anyway congratulations to our members from the Netherlands on your win. I think it's fun that your country got to win after so many years!

 

[Ome]

It's OK as long as you're doing over-the-top awful, because some idiots actually might like it.

By gosh, I think you have it all sussed out.


I'm going to nominate this song from the British band Fast Food Rockers. The band claimed to have met at a fast-food convention in Folkestone in summer 2003

 

[Michael Torrance]

The UK came last and inevitably there's a load of guff about it all being down to political voting. The truth is we had a very average song, sung by a very average singer who wasn't dressed particularly well and the staging of the performance was kind of dull.

The BBC does not take overall the competition seriously, so it makes sense that their entries are met with indifference. Let's not forget that the BBC audience's attitude was formed by Terry Wogan, who did not even respect the competition enough to actually not talk over the songs, especially back at a time when there wasn't even YouTube for people to have listened to them prior. If the BBC finds the whole thing silly, they can always refuse to participate. In 2009, when the BBC sent a serious contender sung by Jade Ewen and written by Andrew Lloyd Webber, it placed in the top five. But the lackluster entries of previous years are not alone to blame.

First, political voting does exist--as evidenced by the Scandinavian countries, the Baltic countries, Slovakia toward the Czech republic, Greece and Cyprus, former Yugoslavian entities, and on and on. It is also quite evident in the way the juries some years push a song for political reasons (North Macedonia this year) when it is gets the got shoulder by televoting, or juries punish a song some other year (recently, Russia) while the public embraces it.

Second, televoting itself is influenced by the public's exposure to a song during Eurovision week. The very thing once considered an unfair benefit, the big financial contributor countries (big five) qualifying without appearing in the semi-finals, has often become a hindrance. Other songs are already familiar to the people through the semi-final rounds, while the big 5 songs are first heard that night by many of those who will vote. I mean Germany received 0 points from the public and the UK 3. The only bright exception is Italy, who does always take the contest seriously--that is, in the decades it does not stay out. After all, that group was known as the big four until 2011, sans Italy.

And then there is the anxiety of influence issue I talked about in an earlier post about the English language and British pop.

Unless some freaky entry blows my theory, I don't expect the UK to ever win this contest again. All of the other countries are producing replicas of British pop, usually sang in (often accented) English. Every UK entry is too much an indictment of what impostors other entries are for their countries to vote for it. It is psychology 101. The last time the UK won was in 1997, when there was still the rule that countries must sing in a national language. That rule was lifted in 1999.

 

[Willie Oleson]

Second, televoting itself is influenced by the public's exposure to a song during Eurovision week

And how people are influenced by popularity. They are being tricked into thinking that it actually is the best song, the power of the hype, and all that.
And the most popular yt video will get the most televotes, so it's never going to be a surprise anymore.
Totally sucks, that whole stupid songfestival.

 

[Angela Channing]

The BBC does not take overall the competition seriously, so it makes sense that their entries are met with indifference. Let's not forget that the BBC audience's attitude was formed by Terry Wogan, who did not even respect the competition enough to actually not talk over the songs, especially back at a time when there wasn't even YouTube for people to have listened to them prior. If the BBC finds the whole thing silly, they can always refuse to participate. In 2009, when the BBC sent a serious contender sung by Jade Ewen and written by Andrew Lloyd Webber, it placed in the top five. But the lackluster entries of previous years are not alone to blame.

First, political voting does exist--as evidenced by the Scandinavian countries, the Baltic countries, Slovakia toward the Czech republic, Greece and Cyprus, former Yugoslavian entities, and on and on. It is also quite evident in the way the juries some years push a song for political reasons (North Macedonia this year) when it is gets the got shoulder by televoting, or juries punish a song some other year (recently, Russia) while the public embraces it.

Second, televoting itself is influenced by the public's exposure to a song during Eurovision week. The very thing once considered an unfair benefit, the big financial contributor countries (big five) qualifying without appearing in the semi-finals, has often become a hindrance. Other songs are already familiar to the people through the semi-final rounds, while the big 5 songs are first heard that night by many of those who will vote. I mean Germany received 0 points from the public and the UK 3. The only bright exception is Italy, who does always take the contest seriously--that is, in the decades it does not stay out. After all, that group was known as the big four until 2011, sans Italy.

And then there is the anxiety of influence issue I talked about in an earlier post about the English language and British pop.

Some political voting does go on but it's not main the reason why the UK does badly. There are so many countries voting these days that the votes of a few nations consistently going to their neighbours will only have an impact when the voting is close and will not be sufficient to make the difference between a country finishing in the bottom 5 and finishing in the top 5. Also, the UK sometimes benefits from political voting. for example, in the past Ireland and Malta used to regularly score the UK highly but now our songs are so dire that even those countries no longer seem to support us.

Your point about the songs of the big 5 countries not getting the exposure of the others because they don't compete in the semi-finals is a good one. However, if their songs were good, record sales, radio play and YouTube play of the songs would still get those songs out to a wide audience. In reality though, even before the semi-finals, several million people had listened to the Netherlands entry on YouTube and it sold well across Europe whereas the UK entry by contrast only racked up a few hundred thousand YouTube hits and records sales were dismal even in the UK itself. That doesn't suggest to me something political, it suggests that the Netherlands had a good song and the UK's wasn't very good.

 

[Angela Channing]

And maybe that's it. A dull or average performance on ESC is considered worse than being downright awful. It's OK as long as you're doing over-the-top awful, because some idiots actually might like it.
I've only seen the performance by the singer from Serbia, it was not one of my favourite songs but all those Disney "Frozen" effects looked pretty awesome.

Absolutely! If the song is dull, e.g. the UK's, people forget about it when they come to vote. If it's not very good but memorable, there is a better chance it will pick up some votes. Take the Australian song, I didn't rate it that highly but the production they gave they song made it stand out.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

I enjoy The Honest Vocal Coach's videos very much, and I knew this was going to be a good one.

She's reviewed a couple of other Madonna performances before and Madge came out of it looking really good. Not so here though...

"I can't fluff up something when it's just not fluffable" ​

 

[Karin Schill]

I think her facial reactions says it all.

Then as for Madonna, to me it sounds like she was having a cold when she was singing and that's why she was struggling with the high notes. She was definitely not in her best shape vocally and yes walking down those steps in high heels was a bad idea since it made her take it one step at the time like old people does when they walk down the stairs.

 

[Angela Channing]

I love Madonna and Like A Prayer is one of my all time favourite singles. I thought the production they gave the song was visually stunning but her vocals let her down on the night. She sounded rough like she gargled with rusty nails before she went on to sing.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

I think her facial reactions says it all.

Yup.

Then as for Madonna, to me it sounds like she was having a cold when she was singing and that's why she was struggling with the high notes. She was definitely not in her best shape vocally

I've always accepted that Madonna has used a fair degree of "sweetening" to her vocals when singing live and I wonder if it partly has to do her having less control over the environment for this performance. Different technicians, different acoustics, etc.

If she was performing this at one of her own concerts - even if she was having an off day - she'd sound really good because it would have the right effects, backtracking, etc. I imagine she didn't have the luxury of time to get the overall package right here.

Incidentally, the version that is now on Madonna's channel has been sweetened and sounds very good indeed compared with the original performance.

I love Madonna and Like A Prayer is one of my all time favourite singles. I thought the production they have the song was visually stunning but her vocals let her down the night. She sounded rough like she gargled with rusty nails before she went on to sing.

Agreed on all counts.

 

[Sarah]

I didn't think The Netherlands were anywhere near deserving of the win - Israel were much better as were Sweden. I think a lot of it has to do with 'oh what country CAN'T we have it in next year?'. Australia were very good but let's face it, were never going to win.

Madonna was dreadful. And I say that as a fan! Vocals were terrible - she really does seem to have 'lost' something sadly

 

[Willie Oleson]

I didn't think The Netherlands were anywhere near deserving of the win