Eurovision: Ukraine

Everyone is going for Turkey, Greece, or Norway....but I prefer Ukraine at this year's Eurovision.

At first, when I saw her live performance on the national final, I hated this song. But when the new, revised version of the song came out as a music video, I changed my mind completely. Svetlana Loboda's Be My Valentine is my top choice of 2009 Eurovision Moscow.

The first song with two titles, "Be My Valentine" and "Anti-Crisis Girl", the song features some erotic upbeat tunes, which Svetlana's unique vocal, the song is one of the song that leaves a deep impression in people.

Over the last few years, we observed that Ukraine always has some luck in the competition. It seems that Europe like to vote for Ukraine... a lot. For example, Ukraine took the throne for 2nd place 2 years in a row, and a few years back, it even won its first Eurovision. Therefore, this song only need a pretty amazing live performance on the big night to win it all.

Speaking of which, according to Loboda, she will be entering the stage from a machine known as "Hell Machine". (photo below) From the photo, we know that the machine will be decending from above ground 6-7 meters....That's preety high. Plus with the huge stage Moscow this year ( supposed to be the biggest one ever), i believe her entrance would be fantastic, which leaves the Europeans jaw-dropped.


Ok, enough of speaking, here is the video for the song. A lil' erotic. I guess. But I still like this song, and I certainly hope it got the champion this year. Ukraine is heading to a good position this year.

Review : Armenia

This year at Eurovision Moscow, Armenia will be represented by the Arshakyans sisters, Inga and Anush.

Their song, "Jan Jan" (translation: My Dear) is a folk pop song performed in Armenian and English language. (previously also known as "Nor Par" which means "New Dance")

Many Europeans are comparing this song to Azerbaijan's entry. Though most people prefer Azerbaijan's entry over the Armenian's entry, I personally like "Jan Jan" more. But I guess it is unfair to compare both song side by side, because both are songs of very different style.

The reason is simply, the song is catchy, the melody is fresh and addictive, the vocals are great, the style is new and the whole song is just very original. Most of all, I enjoy songs because it is derived from cultures or ethics, and gosh, like the photo above, the costumes are amazing! Like many great ESC songs, this song has the winning recipe of more than languages in it.

If paired with a well choreographed stage performance, i believe this song will eventually get to the top of the competition. It is definitely one of the best songs of this year ESC.

I like Armenia, they always presents nice songs. This song is one my top 5 list! ( hopefully, Europe agrees with me)

Below is the song.

Third person.

Matt is gonna speak in third person right now. Mainly due to the side effect of immense pressure of boredom. Really, it is a small price to pay for a super long holiday. Though Matt would love a discount. And right now, Matt have no idea what he is talking about at all too.

Sorry for the late posting, Matt has been a very lazy boy lately, he doesn't feel like updating this blog anymore. However, a rush of blogging suddenly came to him, and here he is.

This will be the last update on the national final of Eurovision, not because Matt is bored of doing this anymore but because all national finals are over. The 42 songs are selected and submitted. The original 43 countries now ran down to 42, because the Georgian withdrawn from the competition after their song are rejected. This is the 2nd largest Eurovision in date, following last year involvement of 43 countries.

Now, today, Matt will go into Sweden National Final. Matt thinks that Sweden has always been sending great songs to Eurovision, but it never really have much luck in the contest. This year at , there were a lot of great songs. Here are some of them. As usual, first off, Matt will post the winnder first, La Voix will represent Sweden in Moscow this year.

La Voix by Malena Ernman


WMT (What Matt Thinks) : A great song, original and simply beautiful. Although her singing here was not as good as in studio record, this performance is still amazing. Noted that she sang in French at those high notes part, so, Matt who don't understand French at all, have no idea why she was screming at high pitch at first impression. Oh, silly Matt....Matt likes this song!

Se pa Mig by Darin


WMT : A slow song. Matt kinda like his vocal. But the song is way too boring, absolutely not for the Eurovision Contest. It does not have much impact on Matt, and Matt will definately forget it after a day or two. And the song sounds too familiar, not original.

Stay the Night by Alcazar.


WMT: Matt considers this song to be a modern twist of ABBA. (ABBA won Eurovision for Sweden before) Though a hot favourite with the exciting tunes, this song did make it to Moscow. Matt thinks this song is cathy and quite nice. The line "Stay The Night, Stay The Night..." stuck in Matt's brain.

Hope & Glory by Måns Zelmerlöw

WMT: This is Matt's favourite. This song shares many similarities to last year's Charlotte Perrelli's Hero. And Matt like both the songs alot. However Sweden do not agree with Matt at all. Anyway, Matt thinks the another version of the same song is better than the original one. Below is the video.



That is all for today, Matt is currently busy writing a complete review of all the Eurovision songs this year. Stay tuned.

Introducing: Tone Damli Aaberge

This week, "Light" is gonna introduce a Norwegian singer, Tone Damli Aaberge.


She rose to fame when she participated the Norway version of Idol show. She was first-runner up of the competition. In 2009, she participated in Melodi Grand Prix and again placed second. Here are some of her soothing, relaxing and nice songs.

Everything I Am


Fever


Butterflies


That is all for today. ^ ^

Gimme gimme Gimmick!

Eurovision is famous for gimmick performances and acts on stage. Here are a few gimmicks from recent years. Trust me, these videos are not for those with faint heart.

This is what you call a "Human Disco Ball" (Unkraine 2007)

1) Spain 2008

Song name: "Baila el Chiki-chiki" ("Dance the Chiki-chiki")
Singer: Rodolfo Chikilikuatre ("Chiquilicuatre" means "good-for-nothing" in Spanish)
Placing: 16th position with 55 points.
Controversy: The song hinted some Spanish political figures.
My view: Spain was not trying to win at all



2) Ireland 2008

Song name: "Irelande Douze Pointe" (Ireland 12 points) (12 points is the highest possible point awarded from one country)
Singer: Dustin The Turkey
Placing: Failed to enter Final.
Controversy: The song mocked many Eurovision figures and countries, for example, Terry Wogan, United Kindom and etc.
My view: OMG. A bird is singing. I am still trying to log in that fact into my brain.



3) Estonia 2008

Song name: "Leto Svet" (Summer Light)
Singer: Kreisiraadio (Crazy Radio)
Placing: Failed to enter Final.
Controversy: The song mocked many aspects of Eurovision songs. For example, the song has literally no meaning at all, it is made out of random words from dictionary - mocking at most of the pop song of Eurovisions which has no meaning.
My view: Did they just humped the piano???!!!



4) Ukraine 2007 (photo above)

Song name: "Dancing Lasha Tumbai" (Whiped Cream)
Singer: Verka Serduchka (real name: Andriy Danylko)
Placing: 2nd in the Final.
Controversy: Some people perceive that the title of the song, "Lasha Tumbai", actually meant "Russia Goodbye" a reference of the 2004-2005 "Orange Revolution" in Ukraine
My view: I actually like this song, he is weird but entertaining! The cathy yet simple tune of the song won this song a second place in the final. He falls behind by only 13 points.



5) Finland 2006

Song name: "Hard Rock Hallelujah"
Singer: Lordi
Placing: Winner of 2006 Eurovision
Controversy: None. The song was generally accepted well although it is the first time a Hard Rock song enter the competition.
Interesting note: It is considered as the most successful Eurovision entry. The song obtained the highest point ever from Eurovision history with 292 points. No one broke the record yet. Having winning the competition after so many years, the Finnish people consider it as a fantasy, and thus themed the 2007 Eurovision "Fantasy".
My view: I like this song, like a lot!

Eurovision update.

Finally, Russia has voted for their representative for Moscow 2009. Unfortunately, it sucks!

Seriously, I have no idea why they choose this song for the competition. It actually won 25% of the votes. A brief background of the Russian entry, sung by Anastasia Prikhodko, the song "Mamo" is partly Russian and partly Ukraine. (seriously, do you think that will win you some Ukrainian votes? They will most probably be pissed and accused you of stealing their cultures....)

This is the final performance on the National Final of Russia.



I really dislike this song. Boring...Still can't believe Russia choose this song, fyi, I have been supporting Russia for a couple of years, too bad, not anymore. I am not the only one who dislike the song btw, you can find dozens of negative comments on YouTube regarding the song.

On the other hand, Estonia who didn't do so well in last year Eurovision, presented a rather interesting song this year. Urban Symphony have won Eesti Laul 2009 with the Sven Lõhmus song Rändajad, and will now represent Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow. The performance reminds me a lot about Norway's entry this year. The song is rich with symphony. Besides, i like the song because some parts of it sounds very mysterious, and the background music really nailed it.



And now, the top 5 songs of my choice, they are not in any order. (so far; we still have 5 countries who have not decide their respective entry yet)

1. This is Our Night (Greece)
2. Fairytale (Norway)
3. What If We (Malta)
4. Dum Tek Tek (Turkey)
5. The night is for me (Spain)

Of the five countries who have not submit their songs, Serbia, and Ukraine are the top player of the competition. Sweden is well known for good entries but lack of luck in the competition.

Eurovision update.

Spain has already decided yesterday night to send Soraya to Moscow this year!

Last night in the Spain national final, it finally came down to the two finalist, Soraya and Melodi. They came to a tie between the two artists, and finally based on the majority televoting result, Soraya is selected to represent Spain in the competition. For me, Soraya with her song, "La Noche es Para Mi" which means "The Night Is For Me", is the best entry from the country in the recent years.

Below is the video of the final performance,


Anyway, as i said before, Turkey's Hadise is still improving her song, "Dum Tek Tek", yesterday, a studio version of the improved song is released. I heard it, but it actually doesn't changed much, only small alteration on the background music. If i am not mistaken, a new musical instrument is included into the song to make it more turkish. The singing is still the same, so i am not gonna put up the link for the new song.

Finally, Norway has also came out with a amazing song this year. A traditional folk song that is quite interesting. Alexander Rybak's "Fairytale" has gotta be on my top 5 this year (s0 far). His singing/voice is very unique, not like any type of voice I have listened before, but i like it very much. I espcially like it when he play the violin. It is noted that this song also broke some kinda record in Norway.



There are currently 8 countries who have not selected their song yet, including the host country, Russia. Remember when i said this year the songs are quite good? I regret saying that. It must be some kinda taboo or something, the week after i said that, weird/horrible songs are being selected into the competition...lol