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 "G", "H"

Georgia sends Nodi Tatishvili & Sophie Gelovani with the song "Waterfall" written by Thomas G:son and Erik Bernholm.
Very indifferent even if it is written by G:son. There's not much to tell here. I find it really boring and I'm gonna take a guess and say that this will stay in the semi.
Georgia competes in the 2nd semi-final with running order #15.

1pt from me and good luck to Georgia!

Germany sends Cascada with the song "Glorious" written by Yann Peifer, Manuel Reuter, Andres Ballinas and Tony Cornelissen.
My #2 this year! Do I need to say more? LOVE the full version but I'm totally fine with this version even though it sounds like something is missing after the chorus. It's too abrupt. But I can accept anything as long as I have my favourite part there! That is, "crash and burn and lose my mind". In the version they performed at Echo the second part of the first verse is missing! At least it's back in the ESC version!
Germany competes in the final. Running order TBA.

12pts from me and good luck to Germany!

Greece sends Koza Mostra ft Agathonas Iakovidis with the song "Alcohol Is Free" written by Stathis Pachidis and Ilias Kozas.

I totally hated this when we picked it. I gave us zero points just like I did back in 2010. I ended up supporting and loving our entry in 2010. I will definitely not love "Alcohol Is Free" but I don't mind listening to it now. If only Agathonas wasn't there... The song would have been so much better without him! I'm still against the title even though we'll get many points from the nordic (and not only) countries... xD

Greece competes in the 2nd semi-final with running order #9.

4pts from me and good luck to Greece!

Hungary sends ByeAlex with the song "Kedvesem" written by  Alex Márta and Zoltán Palásti Kovács.

First of all, I give them some extra points for sending this in hungarian! Such a lovely melody. I don't know if they'll make it in the final but I like this! Very relaxing and I love listening to such music at night!

Hungary competes in the 2nd semi-final with running order #12.

7pts from me and good luck to Hungary! 

Germany 2013 - With Cascada to Malmö!

Photo: Marieke Duijts (EBU)

It's done! Cascada to Malmö!!!!!! YES YES YES!!!!!! Welcome to my top 3 Germany! :D Amazing performance of "Glorious"! However they really need to work on the staging! Get some dancers and stuff! But they can fix this! Natalie's vocals were better than I expected. She is amazing when she sings unplugged but when she has to dance she's kinda off. They really need to do something about it. I don't want another Hungary 2011! But yeah, overall I liked the performance!

And of course now that they won, the "this is so Euphoria" comments are popping up everywhere! I see no "Euphoria" in "Glorious"! Cascada have been doing this kind of music for a long time. Long before "Euphoria" came along! And alright, Cascada's music isn't original. Almost all of their songs sound the same. It's just a beat and no melody. And I don't listen to that kind of music. But damn it, I like Cascada!

Please note I'm a Gemini. I can have two different opinions about one thing! lol

My prediction (so far) about their placing is that they will end up somewhere in the top 15. They're in my top 3 though! ;)

ESC 2013 - German NF's line-up

I was never that interested in Germany's selection but this year is totally different. There's one name in that line-up that I'm rooting like hell for! Cascada! Yeah ok, their songs sound pretty much the same but I like them. I think they're perfect for the ESC. A dance song and a good show on that stage is gonna look awesome! I'm just hoping for a really good song though. It's all it takes!

• Ben Ivory - The Righteous Ones
• Betty Dittrich - Lalala
• Blitzkids mvt. - Heart On The Line
• Cascada - Glorious
• Finn Martin - Change
• LaBrassBanda - Nackert
• Mobilée - Little Sister
• Nica & Joe - Elevated
• Die Priester feat. Mojca Erdmann - Ave Maris Stella
• Saint Lu - Craving
• Söhne Mannheims - One Love
• Mia Diekow - Lieblingslied

No other name rings a bell so yeah. Cascada to win!

ESC 2012 - Rehearsals Day 8

Back from Stockholm!! I'm late today! xD Ok!

Day 8!

Estonia - Ott Lepland - Kuula (2nd rehearsal) 
Same comments as the first rehearsal. I find it extremely boring!

Slovakia - Max Jason Mai - Don't Close Your Eyes (2nd rehearsal) 
Backdrop fits the song and I like Jason's clothes. But I don't like anything else. 

Norway - Tooji - Stay (2nd rehearsal) 
Nice second rehearsal for Tooji! And I have to say that I listened to the song a couple of times today. It grows extremely slowly on me...

Bosnia & Herzegovina - Maya Sar - Korake Ti Znam (2nd rehearsal)
Oh God I don't like the dress at all!!! Really bad choice! Love the performance in general though! Tough one for B&H. There are many ballads!

Lithuania - Donny Montell - Love Is Blind (2nd rehearsal) 
Damn this grows on me! But I find the presentation a bit silly... I like the backdrop. Great vocals by Donny! We might see this in the final!

United Kingdom - Engelbert Humperdinck - Love Will Set You Free (2nd rehearsal)
What was that in the end? :S Pff I am sooo bored! Bottom 5 for UK this year. He's first on stage, it's boring and after UK there will be 25 more songs. 80% of them will be amazing songs so everyone will forget about UK...

France - Anggun - Echo (You And I) (2nd rehearsal)
Vocally she was better than yesterday. But what's with the backdrop?! o.O Gymnastics? It looks really out of place! What does this have to do with the song?!

Italy - Nina Zilli - L'Amore È Femmina (2nd rehearsal)
Aah Nina! Big disappointment!! Really bad vocals! Shame... At least they fixed the backing vocalists.... lol

Azerbaijan - Sabina Babayeva - The Music Never Dies (2nd rehearsal)
Nice backdrop but the song is indifferent... And I don't like that male backing vocalist on the left... Sabina's vocals are good. Let's see if the hosting country will be in the top 10. Personally I don't see it happening.

Spain - Pastora Soler - Quédate Conmigo (2nd rehearsal)
Flawless!! Just flawless!! Love the backdrop! Love the "Carola-effect"! ;) And since yesterday, I've seen so many positive comments by people who didn't care about Spain! Vamos Pastora!

Germany - Roman Lob - Standing Still (2nd rehearsal)
Solid rehearsal for Germany. I don't have much to say here. I like the backdrop. Quite simple but ok...

ESC 2012 - Rehearsals Day 7

Day 7!!! Today's Spain's rehearsal!!! I watched it! It was the first rehearsal I watched! And I have so much to say!!! But let's take them one by one!

Slovenia - Eva Boto - Verjamem (2nd rehearsal)
Solid second rehearsal for Slovenia! But I said it last time as well, I don't like Eva's dress. At all! I find it too "heavy"... There's no need for those flowers to be there...

Croatia - Nina Badrić - Nebo (2nd rehearsal) 
Vocally Nina was great once again. I like her dress but I don't like the dancers' outfits. Especially the male dancers'. Backdrop looks nice... And I don't get that white sheet...

Sweden - Loreen - Euphoria (2nd rehearsal)
First comment! There's the snow! When I commented the first rehearsal I said that there wouldn't be any snow. I was wrong and it makes sense. Why deny some harmless plastic foam? ;) Loreen's vocals! Perfect once again! Last night we saw Loreen's outfit. Seeing her performing with it feels kinda weird. Well not weird. It seems "heavy" but it works. What seems weird are the backing vocalists' outfits. Those hats? Hm I hope the camera work will focus on Loreen! Stockholm 2013.

Georgia - Anri Jokhadze - I'm A Joker (2nd rehearsal)
That was once again painful! And it comes right after Loreen! Zero chances! Hahaha! And what are those backing vocalists' outfits! :S Sorry Georgia!

Turkey - Can Bonomo - Love Me Back (2nd rehearsal)
First thing I don't like: the backdrop. And of course I don't like the song, Can, the staging. Sorry I just don't like this! But for some reason I think Turkey will make it.

Germany - Roman Lob - Standing Still (1st rehearsal)
Solid first rehearsal for Germany. Really simple staging though. Roman just stands there. Well he's standing still. :P Vocally he was good.

France - Anggun - Echo (You And I) (1st rehearsal)
Not pleased at all by Anggun's vocals!!! That wasn't good girl! I like the staging however and the choreo. I wanna see her outfit too. But no1 priority for her is to improve her vocals.

Italy - Nina Zilli - L'Amore È Femmina (1st rehearsal)
Disappointment! Vocally she was bad. But I kinda knew that. I watched quite a few of her live performances of "L'Amore È Femmina" and in all of them she wasn't that good. The song is still one of my favourite (though the italian version) but what I saw was not good. And those backing vocalists! They put the shorter in the middle and it looks really bad! The two female vocalists need to swap spots!

Azerbaijan - Sabina Babayeva - The Music Never Dies (1st rehearsal)
Did I just watch Mika Newton? Oh that was Sabina! Sorry the dress confused me. Ok good rehearsal. I don't really like the dress though. When I commented the songs I gave it a 5. Now it's lower...

Spain - Pastora Soler - Quédate Conmigo (1st rehearsal)
A flawless performance!!! But I was sure of that! One of my two fears is gone. I was worried about two things. The staging and the dress. The staging is simple and that's what we needed! Now I'm worried about the dress! I just wish she wore the one from the spanish NF! It's amazing! Pastora said it won't be yellow and it won't be black. I just hope it's elegant and classy. Backing vocals were also really good! Oh Spain! Top 3!! Vamos Pastora!!!! Oh and I love that face in the end of the video! hahahaha xD

United Kingdom - Engelbert Humperdinck - Love Will Set You Free (1st rehearsal)
Ok Engelbert! Keep that mic close to your mouth please! That was a bit boring. And vocally he wasn't so good. Or was it the mic? Ah I'm sorry but after Pastora's performance that was totally indifferent. And he will be first on stage. I seriously doubt if anyone will remember this. I say bottom 5 for UK!

ESC 2012 - Reviewing the countries beginning with "G", "H"

Georgia sends Anri Jokhadze with the song "I'm A Joker" written by Rusudan Chkhaidze and Bibi Kvachadze.
Somebody please call Batman! Now I know why people made so many negative comments about this! It's horrible! I don't like it at all! There's no way Georgia will make it to the final. The only thing I like though are just a few parts of the music.
Georgia competes in the 2nd semi-final with running order #12.

0pts from me and good luck to Georgia!

Germany sends Roman Lob with the song "Standing Still" written by Steve Robson, Wayne Hector and Jamie Cullum.
A grower. Cute song but again, I don't know how to rank it... Definitely not a toilet break (oh wait! I never take a toilet break during a country's performance!). Really I don't know what to say. I like it, it's pleasant but I'm not crazy about it. Roman's handsome though. ;)
Germany competes in the final with running order #20.

6pts from me and good luck to Germany!

Greece sends Eleftheria Eleftheriou with the song "Aphrodisiac" written by Dimitri Stassos, Mikaela Stenström and Dajana Lööf.

I love it! Many call it a cheap pop song. My reply to them, Sweden 2011! Well I think we'll be once again in the top 10! Somewhere around 8-10 maybe. I'm glad we send an entry like this. I didn't like our 2010 and 2011 entries so that's a great comeback for me!

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

10pts from me and good luck to Greece!

Hungary sends Compact Disco with the song "Sound Of Our Hearts" written by Behnam Lotfi, Attila Sándor, Csaba Walkó and Gábor Pál.

I love the video! Just watched it for the first time. Really nice. I also like the song a lot! Even though it wasn't my winner in the hungarian NF. 

Hungary competes in the 1st semi-final with running order #15.

7pts from me and good luck to Hungary! 

ESC 2012 - The german NF goes Melodifestivalen! (?)

Unconfirmed reports from our Message Board state that talks came to an end yesterday between German national broadcaster NDR and Brainpool, the production company run by Stefan Raab, which will see the German selection process for Eurovision 2012 go a bit Swedish.

It appears that Brainpool's music division had asked artists if they would consider appearing in a selection process with semi-finals, and enough positive reactions were received to make the idea feasible. If the news turns out to be true, the result is likely to be four semi-finals of 6-8 songs each broadcast on Pro7, with some of these proceeding direkt nach Hamburg (or perhaps Berlin, or Bremen, or Osnabrück) for a final broadcast on Das Erste.

Labels are now asked to submit suitable songs and artists to Brainpool, where a committee will pick the competing songs. There may also be wildcards or specially invited acts along with those from the submission process, with further details to be confirmed.

This decision comes several years after it was reported that NDR had purchased the Melodifestivalen show format from Sweden broadcaster SVT.

Source: escnation.com

That's great! If it's true!! Two Melodifestivalens!! :D Of course the german one won't be like the original but I love that format! Give me as much music as you can!! Many semi-finals until the big final! Oh please let it be true!!!

ESC 2011 - Rehearsals Day 8

The 2nd rehearsal of Slovenia, Romania, Estonia, Belarus, Latvia, Denmark and Ireland.
Also the 2nd rehearsal for the Big 5: France, Italy, United Kingdom, Germany and Spain.

Slovenia’s 2nd rehearsal: Serisously what can I say about Maja? She's fantastic! One of the best voices this year and she knows how to sing live. And she said she would wear the dress from the 1st rehearsal in the semi... I don't really like it. I would prefer something like the one she wore in the NF. It would fit the song better.

Romania’s 2nd rehearsal: Really nice rehearsal for Romania. I still don't like the girls with the trumpets but I like the song. And I like their clothes.

Estonia’s 2nd rehearsal: Nah that wasn't a good rehearsal. Getter and the backing vocalists sounded bad... The choreo is kinda messy and the song is nothing special. I love the rhythm of the chorus but that's all.

Belarus’ 2nd rehearsal: Good rehearsal but I don't really like the song. I liked their clothes though.

Latvia’s 2nd rehearsal: OK one more listening and it enters my top 10 kicking out Sweden or UK! This grew on me a lot! And I really like their performance. It's not something special but I like it!

Denmark’s 2nd rehearsal: I like the song, I like the performance I hate the shirt! Come on! This is really bad! Vocally was great.

Ireland’s 2nd rehearsal: They are annoying! So annoying! But damn I like watching their performance! Guilty pleasure! Hahaha And the song stucks on your mind... I am almost sure we will see them in the final. Well ok I can (almost) live with that but they ain't gonna win!

France’s 2nd rehearsal: He's got a great voice but as I said I don't like the song. Why such a hype? Why? And please someone cut his hair! And I noticed that he's sweating a lot... That won't look good on tv...

Italy’s 2nd rehearsal: I dislike Raphael. This will sound so crazy but I dislike him because he reminds me of a classmate I had in school and he was a jerk! Anyway, his rehearsal was fine but I don't like the song. And the music hurts my ears... Sorry Italy!

United Kingdom’s 2nd rehearsal: Much better rehearsal for Blue! And couldn't they wear these clothes in the final? At least this style? It's better. The 4 screens behind them are really distracting and I still don't like this version of the song. There aren't many differences but I prefer the first one.

Germany’s 2nd rehearsal: Better than yesterday but I still thing she can't sing live. She's not bad but she doesn't sound good to my ears. And I like that outfit too.

 

Spain’s 2nd rehearsal: Oh I so love this!!! Go Lucía! Great rehearsal! And I like her dress. But I'd like the dancers wearing only the shirts... Anyway Spain has to finish in top 10 this year!