ESC 2011 - Reviewing the countries beginning with "T", "U"

The Netherlands send 3JS with the song "Never Alone" written by Jaap Kwakman, Jan Dulles and Jaap de Witte.

Mediocre song. I prefer the dutch version but even that one isn't so good for my taste. However I remember watching the dutch NF and I wanted this one to win. Well I hope they finally make it to the final.

The Netherlands compete in the 2nd semi-final with running order #3.

4pts from me and good luck to the Netherlands!

Turkey sends Yüksek Sadakat with the song "Live It Up" written by Kutlu Özmakinacı and Ergün Arsal.

I didn't like this at the beginning but it grew on me. Still not one of my favourites and it won't be one of my favourites in the future. I just like the chorus quite a lot but unfortunately that's all. 

Turkey competes in the 1st semi-final with running order #5.

5pts from me and good luck to Turkey!

Ukraine sends Mika Newton with the song "Angel" written by Maryna Skomorohova and Ruslan Kvinta.

Hm...ok I like it. But it's not a song that I will listen to over and over again. It's too slow...but I really like it. It's a beautiful song and I like Mika's voice. I have it on repeat now (as I do with every song I comment) and it keeps growing on me. That's a good sign but whatever, I never vote! :P Hahaha Well I only voted in 2006 and 2008 but that's it. Never again (yeah yeah never say never).

Ukraine competes in the 2nd semi-final with running order #6.

6pts from me and good luck to Ukraine!

United Kingdom sends Blue with the song "I Can" written by Liam Keenan, Ian Hope, Ben Collier, Ciaron Bell, Duncan James and Lee Ryan.

OK UK decided to take the contest seriously after Germany's victory last year. Blue for the UK! Honstestly I don't know any of their songs. I just knew that there's a group called Blue. But I like their song. Not a winner for me but it's one of the best in this year's edition. OK so they have Blue, they have the Olympics, they have the Royal wedding. UK is on the spotlight right now. Will they get the prize? Hope not. There are other songs that I like much more than this.

United Kingdom competes in the final with running order #14.

8pts from me and good luck to the United Kingdom!

So that was it! I'm done and I'm done right on time! On Sunday begin the rehearsals! Now we're talking! That's the most important. Screw the odds and bettings and stuff like this. It all comes down to the rehearsals.

Oh and if you have any problem with me putting the Netherlands to the countries beginning with "T" and not with "N", well I did that because when it comes to ESC I always write the Netherlands so I had to put the country in the "T"s.

Kvällen Är Din - Being in the audience

Well that was cool! Really cool! Now I know (...yes it's here I belong... oops! sorry! too much Sanna yesterday! hahaha) it's a lot funnier being in the audience than watching the show at home! And that's because that they have to record every act over and over again if there's even a tiny mistake! And Martin Stenmarck made quite a few of them. He was really nervous but he has a great sense of humor and I laughed a lot every time he couldn't remember his words!

Well the main reason for which I went to the show was Sanna Nielsen. I saw on her facebook page that she would perform on the show and that we could be in the audience. No way I'm gonna miss that! Well I don't know if I'm allowed to give any details since the show hasn't been aired yet so I'll just tell you that Sanna sang two songs and she had to perform them both twice due to some minor mistakes. That's why I loved being there! All of you (well the Swedes and some of you) will watch her performing them once but I got to see her twice! Hahaha 

I'm ready to do it again! Even if there's no one famous artist there (well Martin will always be there since he's the host). This was pure fun!

And here's a photo of Sanna and Martin.

 

PS Of course I took a photo with both of them and I did the en till, en till again! They both laughed! ;) hahahaha

ESC 2011 - Dana International meeting Jean Paul Gaultier

This is so cool! Before I start I would like to thank Jason who provided me with this info and photos! He forwarded me an email from Dana's manager and that's how I got everything.

And since you're reading this, that means you are a eurofan so please take a look at Jason's blogs! Well eurofan or not you'll find some really interesting and rare Eurovision material! 

• Eurovision 2010 downloads

• Eurovision 2011 downloads   

• Eurovision albums

• Eurovision year by year project

Take a look! Trust me it's worth it! ;)


And now let's get back to Dana! I will show you what the manager said to Jason. I will not entirely copy-paste the mail but I will give you the most important info and of course the photos!

13 years ago, Jean Paul Gaultier and Dana International celebrated her victory with her dramatic wings dress... this week Dana flew from Israel to meet Jean Paul Gaultier to check out some dresses for the Eurovision 2011. 

Days After Dana won the Israeli pre-eurovision contest she recieved a call from Jean Paul Gaultier, he invited her to France to meet with him and look for the perfect dress for the contest. She took a plane to France this week and the two have met and the dress was chosen.

After hours of fittings and checking out his studio with all the amazing dresses, Dana has chosen 2 dresses... you will be able to see them for the first time in the evening of the Eurovision!

So there you go! Shit! Dana chose 2 (!!) dresses! That either means she will change dress if she makes it to the final or if she wins! Just as she did in 1998!! I am so excited! :D 

And now the photos!!

Click on the photos to enlarge them but remember: you will have to leave the blog. So I suggest you right click on them and then open in new tab.

ESC 2011 - Reviewing the countries beginning with "S"

San Marino sends Senit with the song "Stand By" written by Radiosa Romani.

San Marino returns with an average song. It's definitely not a bad song but not a winner either. I kinda like it but I will get bored of it by the end of Eurovision. At least this time San Marino will get some points from Italy. ;)

San Marino competes in the 1st semi-final with running order #12.

4pts from me and good luck to San Marino!

Serbia sends Nina with the song "Čaroban" written by Kristina Kovač.

Ooh I love this!! Words that came to mind with the first listening: oldies, retro, '60s! It's fantastic and in serbian! Wiie! I listened to the song and I immediately brought a picture of how I would like to see this in ESC. Nina with a band on stage and 3 girls on the backing vocals. Unfortunately this is not possible since they will need more than 6 people to do something like this. But from what I read they're planning to do something like this. I really hope for a top 10, if not top 5!

Serbia competes in the 1st semi-final with running order #6.

12pts from me and good luck to Serbia!

Slovakia sends TWiiNS wit the song "I’m Still Alive" written by Bryan Todd, Sandra Nordstrom, Brano Jancich.

Sorry Slovakia but this sounds like a typical average/bad american song. Not the worst in the contest but really I don't see anything here. But I definitely prefer this one over Irealnd's twins! At least it has nice lyrics but not my taste. Really.

Slovakia competes in the 2nd semi-final with running order #5.

3pts from me and good luck to Slovakia!

Slovenia sends Maja Keuc with the song "No One" written by Matjaž Vlašič and Urša Vlašič.

Ah one of my top 10 countries in Eurovision's history! And finally after a so-so song in 2009 and a real disaster in 2010 they're back with a great great song! No Maja wasn't my favourite in Slovenia's NF. She was actually my third favourite behind April and Nina Pušlar but I'm totaly fine with Maja. I was (well I always am) against the song's translation from slovenian to english but this is one of the rare cases that it actually worked. So this has to make it to the final.

Slovenia competes in the 2nd semi-final with running order #13.

12pts from me and good luck to Slovenia!

Spain sends Lucía Pérez with the song "Que Me Quiten Lo Bailao" written by Rafael Artesero Herrero.

The ultimate feel-good song of this year's edition! And I have to say that when Spain chose this I couldn't give it more than 5 points. It has grow on me a lot since then! And they removed the "para churu churu" part from the original version. I really disliked that part but sometimes I actually miss it! Hahahahaha I was made fun of it and whenever I do something like that I start liking it! Just as I did to "Algo Pequeñito" last year. I was making fun of the "ooohooh" (or however you spell these phonetics :P) and I ended up liking the song! Anyway...

Spain competes in the final with running order #22.

12pts from me and good luck to Spain!

Sweden sends Eric Saade with the song "Popular" written by Fredrik Kempe.

I can say a lot about Sweden and Melodifestivalen since it's the NF I watch every year and I know all the details about (compared to the other NFs of course). Sweden had much better songs and for once again, a winner among them. Story of my life! Sweden chose the wrong song again. OK "Popular" is a really catchy song and Eric is a good looking guy. He will get votes from the teen girls but let's face it. They lyrics are really bad! And Eric has trouble singing live while dancing like this. And now that he won't have pre-recorded vocals in ESC the song will sound a lot different than in MF.

Sweden competes in the 2nd semi-final with running order #8.

8pts from me and good luck to Sweden!

Switzerland sends Anna Rossinelli with the song "In Love For A While" written by David Klein.

Nice song with a nice melody. Not a song that it will be on my repeat list but I will enjoy it and I don't mind seeing this to the final. I also like Anna's voice and of course the "na na na" part. Hehe

Switzerland competes in the 1st semi-final with running order #8.

5pts from me and good luck to Switzerland!