ESC 2013 - Rehearsals Day 8

Day 8... It doesn't sound right. It's more like a Day 10 but on Monday and yesterday we had only dress rehearsals, the jury rehearsal and of course the semi. So I can't count them... Whatever. It doesn't really matter!

DAY 8

Spain - ESDM - "Contigo Hasta El Final" (2nd rehearsal) 
Raquel changed the dress and she's also barefoot. She walks down the catwalk near the end of the song, they play with those "flying lanterns" and then she goes back to finish the song. I like the song but the whole performance (along with the song) doesn't stand out. It's a bottom 5. Unfortunately.

France - Amandine Bourgeois - "L'Enfer Et Moi" (2nd rehearsal) 
I like the outfit but that's it. Ok and the music of the song. But the performance? No. Not at all! Amandine is overacting! I really don't like it!

Germany - Cascada - "Glorious" (2nd rehearsal)
What the hell are they doing?????? Where is the second half of the first verse????? Are you kidding me? You cut the best part of the song just to keep the instrumental part after the first chorus and istead of -AT LEAST- taking advantage of it, Natalie just stands there and claps her hands? PLEASE! For 2,5 minutes Natalie just stands there and they're only using the stairs for the "we are glo-glo-glo-glo-glo-glo" part! Wow right? Yeah I know it's the same as the NF performance but this is bad! Really bad! And with the first half draw, it's the right side of the scoreboard for Germany! :(

Sweden - Robin Stjernberg - "You" (2nd rehearsal)
That outfit... So bad... But I like the performance. They've done some changes but I think it looks really nice. Love the fireworks! Wish he could change that outfit though...

United Kingdom - Bonnie Tyler - "Believe In Me" (2nd rehearsal)
Amazing Bonnie Tyler! Love that performance. Not a big fan of the song coz it's not my cup of tea but I really like what I see! And I totally love the outfit! Hope it goes well for the UK.

Italy - Marco Mengoni - "L'Essenziale" (2nd rehearsal)
That's not his stage outfit right? He looks like he's dressed to go for a walk. The performance is too static. And he's also using the catwalk in the end. I would like to see him sitting at the piano. I think it'd have been much better...

ESC 2013 - Rehearsals Day 7

DAY 7

Spain - ESDM - "Contigo Hasta El Final" (1st rehearsal) 
Yellow dress... I'm sure after the results they'll put the blame on the dress. Last year Pastora said her outfit wouldn't be black or yellow. I don't know why she didn't wear a black one but the yellow is considered bad lack for the Spiniards. Don't remember the actual story behind this though. ESDM's performance looks similar to the NF one. Raquel is another artist who uses the catwalk. Really like the song but it's a bottom 5 for my Spain...

France - Amandine Bourgeois - "L'Enfer Et Moi" (1st rehearsal) 
Don't like it. At all. And I seriously don't like that she acts like lunatic when she sings... What was that in the soundcheck? :S

Germany - Cascada - "Glorious" (1st rehearsal)
Natalie!! So crazy! Love her! I'm so glad about the outfit she's wearing! That was my biggest concern! The performance is the same as the NF one but she's also using the catwalk and that's where she ends it. I need to hear the backing vocals though... I'm worried about them.

Sweden - Robin Stjernberg - "You" (1st rehearsal)
I must've been the only one who loved his mello outfit. Now everyone says that this outfit is worse. It is but you guys went crazy about him changing it. Sorry Robin but it's really bad. The performance has some minor changes. We already knew that. I really want to see the entire rehearsal though.

United Kingdom - Bonnie Tyler - "Believe In Me" (1st rehearsal)
Another use of the catwalk but this time it's one step forward. It lifts Bonnie in the last seconds of the song. I couldn't clearly hear her vocals though... Some musicians on stage so I guess it's an ordinary performance...

Italy - Marco Mengoni - "L'Essenziale" (1st rehearsal)
Much hotter with the beard. But that's not the point. :P Looks like he's just standing there. I wonder if there's anything else during his performance... Not a fan of the song though...

ESC 2013 - Reviewing the countries beginning with "S"

San Marino sends Valentina Monetta with the song "Crisalide" written by Ralph Siegel and Mauro Balestri.
Once again, Valentina. Once again, Ralph Siegel. But this time with a great song! Such a huge change! I bet most of the viewers won't be able to tell that Valentina is the same artist as last year! Big chance that San Marino makes it to the final this time!
San Marino competes in the 2nd semi-final with running order #2.

7pts from me and good luck to San Marino!

Serbia sends Moje 3 with the song "Ljubav Je Svuda" written by  Saša Milošević Mare and Marina Tucaković.

Love it! :D They really need to work on a new choreo (I think they do). I don't really like the way it ends. It's too abrupt. Ah, tiny detail! They're so in the final!!!

Serbia competes in the 1st semi-final with running order #16.

10pts from me and good luck to Serbia!

Slovenia sends Hannah with the song "Straight Into Love" written by  Hannah Mancini, Gregor Zemljic, Erik Margan, Matija Rodic and Marko Primuzak.

When I listened to the song for the first time I wanted the first 15 seconds out! Now I don't mind them. So we had the first version then we got the final one and originally I liked the final more. But now I changed my mind. I prefer the first version! There are some new lyrics added in the final version but I miss some parts of the original. But ok, I love it no matter what! That's my sLOVEnia!

Slovenia competes in the 1st semi-final with running order #3.

10pts from me and good luck to Slovenia!

Spain sends El Sueño de Morfeo with the song "Contigo Hasta El Final" written by  Raquel del Rosario, David Feito and Juan Suárez.

One thing was for sure this year. No matter what Spain sent, it would never top last year's entry. Unless it was Pastora with a better song (kinda difficult to do this though). I said from the beginning that I wasn't a fan of ESDM. I also said that despite this they might make it to my top 10. They did. For a while at least coz Finland kicked them out. Now I want to put this back to my top 10 but there's no place... And yes, I like the song but I predict a bottom 5 placing. It just screams last place... :/

Spain competes in the final. Running order TBA.

8pts from me and good luck to Spain!

Sweden sends Robin Stjernberg with the song "You" written by Robin Stjernberg, Joy Deb, Linnea Deb and Joakim Harestad Haukaas.

I think this is the grower of the year for me. It started by being really annoying, not so annoying, bearable, ok, great! It turned out to be the best choice for Sweden! A great entry for the hosts. Decent and really nice! A top 10 isn't impossible.

Sweden competes in the final. Running order TBA.

10pts from me and good luck to Sweden!

Switzerland sends Takasa with the song "You And Me" written by Georg Schlunegger, Roman Camenzind and Fred Herrmann.

Another one that I really really like!! Especially the chorus! That "aaaaah aaah ah"! I really hope they make it to the final! They deserved it last year and they stayed out. I don't want the history to be repeated!

Switzerland competes in the 2nd semi-final with running order #16.

10pts from me and good luck to Switzerland!

Spain 2013 - With "Contigo Hasta El Final" to Malmö!

Photo: TVE

Yeah I know it's old news by now but I was too busy with the uni. I watched the final though. How could I miss it? Pastora Soler performed! Twice! Spain picked my favourite song. "Contigo Hasta El Final". However I don't think they will do well in Malmö! I even predict a bottom 7! :/ I wasn't so optimistic from the beginning about ESDM... I liked CHEF from the snippet and I was expecting it to be really good but no. It has no climax. It's quite forgettable and finally, it's Spain!

Lo siento mis amigos... Best of luck in May!

Spain 2013 - The 4 songs of El Sueño de Morfeo

Photo: rtve.es

So after a two-hour delay, RTVE released the 4 songs. Unfortunately only the two of them are in full length. The ones that are in the voting to take the ticket for the final. I didn't blog about this year's process coz as I said before, I don't use the blog to inform you. Just to comment. It's impossible to keep up with everything. I'm alone here. I don't have a team like the big websites.

Anyway, they're using the same format as last year. Two songs are already in the final and the 3rd one will be chosen via online voting.

Contigo Hasta El Final
I think this is my favourite. For now at least. I might change my mind. Who knows? But as I said when I first blogged about ESDM, they're not my cup of tea. This song starts slowly which is something I need from them in order to like the song. Here, if you click on the video you'll listen some other parts of the song in the background and in the end you can hear a small part of the chorus.

Dame Tu Voz
Uhm... no. I don't like this one. And I don't think I'll change my mind when I hear the full version.

Revolución
A good beginning, something bugs me when we hit the chorus, then it gets good in the second verse and I totally love the guitar part at 1:58. Overall I like it. Actually what bugs me is Raquel's voice in combination with the celtic music. Maybe if they used someone else's backing vocals I'd like it more... hm...

Atrévete
I kinda like the chorus of this one but it sounds like a never-ending song. It reached at 2:07 and I thought "ok it's ending" (I didn't know it was at 2:00+) but we had another 50 seconds and for me it was too much. So I guess it's a no for this one.

Well I can't say I'm impressed but I wasn't expecting to be impressed since I don't like this music. It's between "Contigo Hasta El Final" and "Revolución" for me. But unfortunately I don't see them doing well in ESC. Of course I need to listen to all the ESC entries before I draw such a conclusion at this point. Maybe I'm wrong...

The good thing is that they stuck to their sound. Even if I don't like it. :)

Pablo Alborán to ESC!

Yeah I know that Spain sends El Sueño de Morfeo to Malmö but the title worked for Pastora Soler so let's hope it will work for Pablo as well! In 2014... Let's say he's my new Pastora! I'm having a Pastora déjà vu with Pablo! The same obsession I had (well still have!) with Pastora I have now with Pablo! Yeah you got it (I hope!)! 

Pablo Alborán (the album) is on repeat since last Sunday! Ever since we got the news that Spain will choose their artist internally Pablo's name kept popping up in almost every eurosite! So I got interested in him. All I needed was one song. "Solamente Tú". To help you get the picture, I was listening to the song and it was around 12:20am (I remember that coz I also posted it on facebook) and I went to bed at 2:30am because I kept saying "ok one more time and then I'm going to bed". And then I listened to his first album "Pablo Alborán" (released in 2011). That was it! 

Listen to the album and see for yourselves! I don't think I ever suggested and album before. I usually don't do that coz taste differs but seriously, give this a shot! After all this album reached 6x platinum in Spain! In 2011! During the economic crisis! 'Nuff said! 

And to go back to Eurovision, yes, he can bring another great result for Spain! And he has more chances for a better result than Pastora simply because he's a guy. A really handsome guy which means more votes form the televoting. So to sum it up, Pablo is an excellent live performer (just like Pastora), he's an amazing musician, he has the looks and he can definitely get the right song for the ESC (judging by his music). Yeah his music is too spanish but that's what I, personally, like! It's not traditional music but it's spanish music! That's the point of Eurovision. Showing to the rest of Europe your music, your language, your culture! 

I'm all for Pablo Alborán to represent Spain in 2014! I believe in him the same way I believed in Pastora and I was right about the latter one. ;) Yes, I know Pastora scored extremely low on televoting but Pablo can get both the juries' and televoters' points! Spain sent a female artist in 2011, 2012 and now a group with a female vocalist so in 2014 a male artist would be the perfect choice!

ESC 2013 - El Sueño de Morfeo for Spain

Yeah I know Lithuania picked their song last night. I'll get to it. I just take the "old" news first.

So we knew about the internal selection but I was hoping for Malú or Pablo Alborán (Pablo will get his own blog post, btw) but we got El Sueño de Morfeo instead. Never heard of them before but I did my homework. "Wikied" them, "youtubed" them and now I have a better view.

Unfortunately they're not my cup of tea. :/ Raquel's voice... I don't know how to put this. After listening to a few songs her voice starts to annoy me. No, "annoy" isn't the right word. "Irritate" maybe? Well it's her high pitched voice that bugs me. It's fine for a song or two but then I can't stand it. It's the combination of their music style and Raquel's voice. Maybe if she sang a ballad, things would be different.

Anyway, the thing is that they're not my style. But then again, it's all about the song. Who knows? Maybe in a few months I'll be here, giving them 12 points! Well, I doubt that but you never know. It's Spain. I always have a soft spot for Spain!