ESC 2013 - Semi-final 2 results

Now this is a "I don't know where to start" moment! Just wow! Loved the opening act! And I wanted to comment that on the first semi's post but I forgot to do it. Love the graphics this year. And the "post cards". And for some reason I really like that sound right before the playback of each song begins. Also, the way they announce the results. No stupid buttons (2009), no stupid "are you excited? who's gonna be next?" and such stuff. Quick announcement without any unnecessary comments. Well done on that!

Now the results.

Hungary
Azerbaijan
Georgia
Romania
Norway
Iceland
Armenia
Finland
Malta
Greece

I predicted right 6/10 which is bad. Shocker of the night in a positive way, Hungary. Shockers of the night in a negative way, Armenia and Romania! What are these two doing in the final? Huge shock on non-qualification, Israel! I can't believe Israel is out! I got 7/10 from my wantlist and Israel and Switzerland were the 2 out of 4 that I really wanted in the final. Norway and Finland made it. But I have to admit I almost got a heart attack until Finlands announcement! 8th! But Krista made it! I'm also happy for Malta!

I was glad to see Lys Assia back and healthy! Petra was awesome as always! Lynda Woodruff too! What a character! Hahahaha That thing with Bonnie Tyler cracked me up! The interval act with Darin and Agnes was like watching Melodifestivalen. I only loved Agnes' "Release Me".

Finally, I wanna make a comment on the history that Krista wrote tonight! The kiss! She did it and not only we saw it, but it was also a close-up! I just couldn't believe it!

iltasanomat.fi

10 years ago EBU warned t.A.T.u. that they'll play the dress rehearsal video if they try to kiss during the live performance and today, Krista kissed her backing vocalist! Kudos to her for daring to do it. I've said before I'm not a big fan of the "use" of the kiss but I really don't mind seeing it. ;)


And I just saw that the running order for the final is revealed! Norway performs 24th! Between Italy and Georgia and Finland performs 4th between Moldova and Spain. So yay to both! Denmark's at 18 between Hungary and Iceland so it's good for them too. France will open the contest. huhu I won't comment the rest. I really need to go to bed!

ESC 2013 - Semi-final 2

Quick post with my predictions and wishes.

Second Semi-Final

1. Latvia
2. San Marino
3. FYROM
4. Azerbaijan
5. Finland
6. Malta
7. Bulgaria
8. Iceland
9. Greece
10. Israel
11. Armenia
12. Hungary
13. Norway
14. Albania
15. Georgia
16. Switzerland
17. Romania

The 10 countries I think that will make it to the final are (random order):

Israel
Greece
Azerbaijan
Georgia
Norway
Finland
Switzerland
FYROM
San Marino
Malta

The 10 countries I want to see in the final are (random order):

Norway
Finland
Israel
Switzerland
Hungary
Malta
San Marino
Azerbaijan
Iceland
Greece

Yeah I only care about 4. These are Norway, Finland, Israel and Switzerland. I hope I have better luck with my favourites this time.

ESC 2013 - Rehearsals Day 6

Back from Malmö and Saturday's and yesterday's rehearsals are probably old news for you but I haven't watched anything yet. As I said I'm gonna comment on everything. So, Day 6, Day 7 and an extra blog post about my amazing weekend in Malmö!

DAY 6

Latvia - PeR - "Here We Go" (2nd rehearsal) 
Mmm ok... It's kind of a "mess". The same performance as in their NF but they walk down the catwalk, Ralfs does a fake stage dive and that's it. I see no final here.

San Marino - Valentina Monetta - "Crisalide (Vola)" (2nd rehearsal) 
Really good rehearsal! I like the staging and the outfit change isn't "too much". I think it's time for San Marino to make it to the final! But yeah, people will definitely go "no way she's the facebook song girl"! (social network song or whatever)

FYROM - Esma & Lozano - "Pred Da Se Razdeni" (2nd rehearsal)
Thank God they dropped the english version!!! But I will never like Esma. She ruins the song! The performance is simple just like their NF. Final? I don't know.

Azerbaijan - Farid Mammadov - "Hold Me" (2nd rehearsal)
Wow. Fokas Evangelinos! You want a top 5 spot? Hire him! I'm not a big fan of the song but that performance is amazing! The shadow man (kudos to him!!) is amazing. The way they made the entire performance is amazing! Azerbaijan is so in the final!

Finland - Krista Siegfrids - "Marry Me" (2nd rehearsal)
What a show! I think the Vegas backdrop fits perfectly but in EUROvision? Oh well, soft spot coz I adore the song. However, I don't like the new version. I wish she sang the first one. Now about the kiss. Well Krista you dare to do it, at least keep it for a few more seconds. :P Question. How far will the camera be when they'll kiss? ;) Or even better (worse?), will we see it on tv?

Malta - Gianluca - "Tomorrow" (2nd rehearsal)
I love so much the ending. All going and sitting on the bench. That's what I like the most in the music video and now they're doing it on stage. Apart from that, Gianluca walks down the catwalk before he goes back and sit with the others. During the entire song he just sways on stage. Simple performance but good. It's a cute song sung by a cute guy.

Bulgaria - Elitsa Todorova & Stoyan Yankulov - "Samo Shampioni" (2nd rehearsal)
I don't like it. The song is similar to "Voda" and at the same time nowhere near it. This is bad. The performance is nothing new. Elitsa is barefoot, they're walkind down the catwalk and they finish there. Aah I don't like the song so I can't really comment on the performance. Nothing interesting about it.

Iceland - Eythor Ingi - "Ég Á Líf" (2nd rehearsal)
Too simple but I like it near the end when the backing vocalists are coming on stage. And thank God he changed his outfit. Much better now.

Greece - Koza Mostra feat Agathon Iakovidis - "Alcohol Is Free" (2nd rehearsal)
I don't know what's their problem with the rehearsals. I saw them live at the Eurovillage and they were so much better. I hope it will be fixed by Thursday. I totally hated it when we picked it and today I caught myself singing it. Seeing them live made me like the song. We're definitely in final's top 10. It's too uplifting and there aren't any other songs like it. If only Agathonas wasn't there...

Israel - Moran Mazor - "Rak Bishvilo" (2nd rehearsal)
That outfit... :( Why? WHY? And the hairdo... She looks so much better in the music video. Why couldn't they make her look like that in the ESC? That's my only problem coz the rest are perfect. Love the song and she's great live!

Armenia - Dorians - "Lonely Planet" (2nd rehearsal)
I got so bored watching this. I really dislike the song. The performance is nothing much. The entire group on stage and some flames. No final dear Armenia.

Hungary - ByeAlex - "Kedvesem (Zoohacker Remix)" (2nd rehearsal)
I will be positively surprised if Hungary makes it to the final. I don't see it happening though... :/ ByeAlex, a guitarist and a female backing vocalist on stage. Nothing wow, no gimmicks but I like it. I think having a female backing vocalist was a great idea. She adds so much to the chorus. It sounds great!

Norway - Margaret Berger - "I Feed You My Love" (2nd rehearsal) 
Great great great! The camera work seems to be identical to the MGP performance! Hopefully they won't show the backing vocalists. This is perfect! Oslo 2014! Or Bergen or whatever! Norway 2014!

Albania - Adrian Lulgjuraj & Bledar Sejko - "Identitet" (2nd rehearsal)
I only like the intro. But I think they'll make it to the final. It's a good performance. Quite powerful for such a song...

Georgia - Nodi Tatishvili & Sophie Gelovani - "Waterfall" (2nd rehearsal)
Ok now I think that this has chances for the final. I'm almost sure actually that they'll make it. I still find nothing special about the song but the performance is good!

Switzerland - Takasa - "You And Me" (2nd rehearsal)
I like that Sarah takes the lead in the second verse. In the studio version it's only Christoph who sings. Love their outfits but the performance is too static. I hope it won't cost them the final.

Romania - Cezar - "It's My Life" (2nd rehearsal) 
So many candidates for the Barbara Dex award this year! I like the fireworks at 2:24 but generally I can't stand the song and Cezars voice. His voice actually. Anyway, no final (I hope!).

ESC 2013 - Rehearsals Day 3

DAY 3

Latvia - PeR - "Here We Go" (1st rehearsal) 
Same NF outfits. Don't really like them. Actually I don't think there is anything I like about this act. "It's cool to open the semi" ehm yeah, wait and see. Nothing to say about Latvia's rehearsal.

San Marino - Valentina Monetta - "Crisalide (Vola)" (1st rehearsal)
The performance looks static... During those 50 seconds we only see Valentina and two dancers on stage. All barefoot. I don't know, it's too static but with the right camera work this can be fixed.

FYROM - Esma & Lozano - "Pred Da Se Razdeni" (1st rehearsal)
Kick.Esma.Out. Please! She ruins everything. And I don't like the english version! The performance looks like the on from their NF. Esma needs to GO!

Azerbaijan - Farid Mammadov - "Hold Me" (1st rehearsal)
A lot of Greeks behind this entry. I like Farid's outfit. The performance looks interesting...

Finland - Krista Siegfrids - "Marry Me" (1st rehearsal)
Ok this is a song that is in my top 5 so I read some more information about this one compared to the others. Apparently Krista kissed her backing singer just as she did in Amsterdam. And she will probably do this again during the live broadcast since EBU hasn't made any comments on the subject yet. It would have been better if Krista was a lesbian but now it just looks like she's using Eurovision to protest about the gay rights. Eurovision is a song contest. But then again how many times have we seen such protests on the ESC stage? Too many. And this is only a kiss between two women. Political protest songs were sung on that stage quite a few times so to hell with it! "Debating" about this can take hours so I'll leave it here. The outfits... I was hoping there'd be a tiny chance that she might change the wedding dress but yeah. I hope the viewers will get that this is a fun song. It might look a bit kitsch but what else could she wear? :/

Malta - Gianluca - "Tomorrow" (1st rehearsal)
Exactly the staging I was expecting and I like it. Their outfits are simple but nice. I kinda start to like Malta!

Bulgaria - Elitsa Todorova & Stoyan Yankulov - "Samo Shampioni" (1st rehearsal)
Ok we didn't get to see a lot from the rehearsal. They're using all those drums again. Just like in 2007. They just added the dancer with the mask and 3 backing vocalists. I need to see a full rehearsal but I don't think I'll be a fan of this. I don't like the song so...

Iceland - Eythor Ingi - "Ég Á Líf" (1st rehearsal)
I don't like Eythor's jacket. I'd prefer a black one. Other than that it's a simple performance. Just him and his backing vocalists. Love the icelandic!

ESC 2013 - Reviewing the countries beginning with "I"

Iceland sends Eythor Ingi with the song "Ég Á Líf" written by Örlygur Smári and Pétur Örn Gudmundsson.
Once again, Iceland has the best preview video. A beautiful song but unfortunately it's not one of my favourites. It's somewhere in my top 20 I guess. Kudos though for keeping it in icelandic. This is a huge bonus! I just wish they were wise enough to send "Mundu Eftir Mér" in icelandic last year...
Iceland competes in the 2nd semi-final with running order #8.

5pts from me and good luck to Iceland!

Ireland sends Ryan Dolan with the song "Only Love Survives" written by Wez Devine and Ryan Dolan.
I don't know when was the last time Ireland sent such a good entry. It's not amazing. I'm just comparing it with their previous entries so yeah. This is great! Too much "love" though...
Ireland competes in the 1st semi-final with running order #13.

5pts from me and good luck to Ireland!

Israel sends Moran Mazor with the song "Rak Bishvilo" written by Han Harari and Gal Sarig.

Love it! Classic israeli ballad. They're the masters on such songs! Yeah Moran wasn't my winner. Kathleen was but she withdrew. However I don't see this going as expected. Moran's styling is horrible! They seriously need to get rid of her stylists! She's only 22 and they make her look like 40+! And not only in KDAM! We all know that the styling and performance have an impact on the song's final placing!

Israel competes in the 2nd semi-final with running order #10.

10pts from me and good luck to Israel! 

Italy sends Marco Mengoni with the song "L'Essenziale" written by Francesco De Benedittis, Roberto Casalino and Marco Mengoni.
My first impression was good. After that it started growing out of me and now I just find it ok. I've listened to better songs by Marco...
Italy competes in the final. Running order TBA.

5pts from me and good luck to Italy! 

Söngvakeppni Sjónvarpsins 2013 - Second semi results

From the happy danish news to the sad icelandic news. Erna didn't make it to the final! What the hell have you done Iceland?

I was watching the DMGP (since it was the final!) and I only saw Erna's performance! It was amazing! But she's out. The wildcard went to Magni. He was my second favourite but since he was already disqualified yesterday, I don't see him winning. What's the point of the wildcard anyway?

The qualifiers:

• Jógvan Hansen and Stefanía Svavarsdóttir - Til þín
• Haraldur Reynisson - Vinátta
• Unnur Eggertsdóttir - Ég Syng!

I guess Birgitta has to win now...

Söngvakeppni Sjónvarpsins 2013 - First semi results

Well I got home just in time to see the results! I didn't see any of the performances but my top 3 were Magni, Birgitta and Yohanna. Since I wrote my comments on all songs, I've narrowed it down to two. Magni and Erna to win Söngvakeppni! Magni is out so the winner is Erna! And please keep it to icelandic this time!!!

• Birgitta Haukdal - Meðal andanna
• Svavar Knútur Kristinsson & Hreindís Ylva Garðarsdóttir Hólm – Lífið snýst
• Eyþór Ingi Gunnlaugsson - Ég á líf

These are the 3 qualifiers! I'm glad for Birgitta but the song sounds quite dated. I don't like "Ég á líf" and "Lífið snýst" sounds like "Coming Home".

Yohanna, Magni and Edda are out... I'm not surprised about Yohanna's result. The song wasn't as good as her two previous entries...


Tomorrow is the second semi (GO ERNA!!!) and the final of DMGP. DMGP starts at 20:30 CET and Söngvakeppni at 21:00 CET. It will be difficult to watch both but I will mostly stick to DMGP since it's the final!

Oh and I know that Finland's qualification rounds are on and that Hungary revealed some songs and that Greece revealed the four acts but I will comment on all these when we get closer to the finals. There's no time for all of them unfortunately.

ESC 2013 - The logo and the semi-final allocation draw

eurovision.tv

Let's start with the logo and slogan... (click on the photo to enlarge it). I have to say that the first impression wasn't so good... It's beautiful but it looks random. It has nothing to do with Sweden and SVT said there won't be any slogan this year. On the other hand, after all those press releases about this year's concept, the randomness kinda makes sense. Add to that the story behind it and ok! I like it!

The slogan... Well as a member on escforums.com said, do we actually need it? I don't know. The logo does look better without the slogan right there. "We are one"... yeah I don't really like the slogan...

Let's go to the semi-final allocation draw...

I'm glad for Greece and Israel for now... Sad for Slovenia and Iceland (if they pick Erna's song). Right now I can't say much! I need to listen to the songs and then I will see which countries will be benefitted and which not...

Söngvakeppni Sjónvarpsins 2013 - The songs

Ok holidays are over! Söngvakeppni's songs are out so let's get to work!

Semi-final 1 January 25th:

Magni Ásgeirsson - Ekki Líta Undan (Sveinn Rúnar Sigurðsson, Ingibjörg Gunnarsdóttir)
So icelandic! Nice song but nothing special. The thing is however that I don't mind hearing this over and over but will it work in ESC? Well it depends on what the other countries will send.

Eyþór Ingi Gunnlaugsson - Ég á Líf (Örlygur Smári, Pétur Örn Guðmundsson)
No no. That's a sleeping pill! Don't like it at all!

Svavar Knútur Kristinsson & Hreindís Ylva Garðarsdóttir Hólm - Lífið Snýst (Hallgrímur Óskarsson, Svavar Knútur Kristinsson)
Another no. The music in this one is also really icelandic but I don't like the song. I find it boring.

Birgitta Haukdal - Meðal Andanna (Birgitta Haukdal, Sylvía Haukdal Brynjarsdóttir, Jonas Gladnikoff, Michael James Down, Primoz Poglajen)
Hm... I was excited to see Birgitta's name here coz I really love her 2003 attempt but this one... ah I don't know. It's not much...

Edda Viðarsdóttir - Sá sem Lætur Hjartað Ráða För (Þórir Úlfarsson, Kristján Hreinsson)
Not this one either... I can't say I don't like it. It's just a bit meh... :/

Jóhanna Guðrún Jónsdóttir (Yohanna) - Þú (Davíð Sigurgeirsson)
Ok I've read quite a few comments about Yohanna's song. Negative comments that is. But I actually like it! Yeah it's nowhere near "Is It True?" and "Nótt" but I like it!

Semi-final 2 January 26th:

Erna Hrönn Ólafsdóttir - Augnablik (Sveinn Rúnar Sigurðsson, Ingibjörg Gunnarsdóttir)
I like this one. I get a feeling of the Middle Ages... You know knights, kings, queens, castles, horses etc. It's totally a grower!

Unnur Eggertsdóttir - Ég Syng! (Elíza Newman, Gísli Kristjánsson, Ken Rose, Hulda G. Geirsdóttir)
I like this one too! It's a happy song!

Klara Ósk Elíasdóttir - Skuggamynd (Hallgrímur Óskarsson, Ashley Hicklin, Bragi Valdimar Skúlason)
Nothing here... Most of these songs sound so similar so there's nothing I can say...

Sylvía Erla Scheving - Stund Með þér (María Björk Sverrisdóttir)
Ok song. Just another icelandic song I can say.

Jógvan Hansen & Stefanía Svavarsdóttir - Til þín (Sveinn Rúnar Sigurðsson, Ágúst Ibsen)
Not my cup of tea...

Haraldur Reynisson - Vinátta (Haraldur Reynisson)
This is way too boring!

Ok I really don't know which is my winner! Most of them sound the same... I'm between Magni, Yohanna, Erna and maybe Birgitta...

ESC 2012 - Semi-final 1 - Running order for the 10 finalists

Ok here is the list of the 10 finalists and their running order on Saturday!

Romania 14
Moldova 26
Iceland 7
Hungary 2
Denmark 15
Albania 3
Cyprus 8
Greece 16
Russia 6
Ireland 23

Lucky Moldova!!! So lucky! Ok draw for Romania. Good for Greece. That #6 for Russia I hope it's enough to stop them from placing high. I loved their performance tonight but they can't win! Hungary and Albania, bad draws. Iceland and Cyprus, not good. And damn Ireland! But you know what? Loreen will pick #24 muahahaha!

ESC 2012 - Rehearsals Day 5

Montenegro - Rambo Amadeus - Euro Neuro (2nd rehearsal)
No changes here! It's still horrible!

Iceland - Greta Salóme & Jónsi - Never Forget (2nd rehearsal)
Nice second rehearsal for Iceland but Jónsi didn't sound so good. Love the backdrop!

Greece - Eleftheria Eleftheriou - Aphrodisiac (2nd rehearsal)
Much better rehearsal than the first one. Check out the female dancers at 2:55! Now come on! xD I really wanna see Eleftheria's outfit now! Hahaha! Backdrop looks ok. Looking forward to the dress rehearsal!

Latvia - Anmary - Beautiful Song (2nd rehearsal)
Ok nice vocals by Anmary. I don't like their outfits and it seems like one of the backing vocalists didn't get her clothes in time! :P I know that's what she's supposed to wear (I guess at least) but it stands out! And I find those backing vocalists' "dance moves" ridiculous!

Albania - Rona Nishliu - Suus (2nd rehearsal)
Same comments as in her first rehearsal.

Romania - Mandinga - Zaleilah (2nd rehearsal)
Fantastic!! They are so freakin' entertaining! But I have a couple of comments... I don't like Elena's dress, I still miss the jumping and waving their hands and El Niño needs to put his RayBan on! Love him with these! Other than that, their rehearsal was great! Oh yes that small problem with El Niño's drum hehe. Finally let's wish happy happy birthday to Elena! She turns 24 today!

Switzerland - Sinplus - Unbreakable (2nd rehearsal)
To the final! To the finaaaaal!! It's time Switzerland made it to the final! Sinplus are great and "Unbreakable" is amazing! Both their rehearsals were great! Come on Europe! Vote for Switzerland!

Belgium - Iris - Would You? (2nd rehearsal)
Still boring... Her vocals are good but is it enough? Nah.

Finland - Pernilla Karlsson - När Jag Blundar (2nd rehearsal)
Ah Pernilla!! Same dress so I'm guessing this is the one! I really don't like it! And that black top? Not a match! I hope at least she gets rid of that top! Other than that, another great rehearsal and I love love love the song! Such a beautiful melody and lyrics! To the final please!

Israel - Izabo - Time (2nd rehearsal)
Nice second rehearsal for Israel! I like their outfits. They fit the song and I like the backdrop! Go Israel! Love it or hate it song! Let's see what Europe thinks!

San Marino - Valentina Monetta - The Social Network Song (2nd rehearsal)
And when I thought it can't get any worse here comes the second rehearsal with the stage outfits! Oh my God San Marino! You really wanna be last this year don't you?! Gee!

Cyprus - Ivi Adamou - La La Love (2nd rehearsal)
Great rehearsal for Cyprus! But I still think that the choreo in some parts is for the JESC! I like the outfits but I wanted something more colorful. Not a big fan of the backdrop and I guess the books are just books... Are they trying to conect this with the music video? I don't know. Cyprus should make it to the final!

Denmark - Soluna Samay - Should've Known Better (2nd rehearsal)
Was that couch there during the first rehearsal? Out of place. Like the backdrop, don't like Soluna's outfit! Vocally she was good again. She missed a note in the beginning but it's ok. Go Denmark!

ESC 2012 - Rehearsals Day 1

Well I spent the entire weekend in Stockholm but now I'm back. I wasn't planning to blog about today's rehearsals today but here I am! I couldn't resist! :P Let's do this! 

Montenegro - Rambo Amadeus - Euro Neuro (1st rehearsal)

It's quite obvious that there were a few problems but that's what the rehearsals are for. And that wooden donkey? More like the Torjan Horse really. Meh. I still hate the song. Montenegro is so not in the final!

Iceland - Greta Salóme & Jónsi - Never Forget (1st rehearsal)

Ok I have to say I got some serious goosebumps in the first chorus but that was all. I still prefer and believe that the icelandic version is miles better! About the staging, it's almost the same with the NF and I think that would be all. No surprises and stuff... Vocally they were good. Some sound problems maybe... From that first rehearsal I say Iceland is in the final.

Greece - Eleftheria Eleftheriou - Aphrodisiac (1st rehearsal)

I like what I saw. However the choreography doesn't seem complete. It feels like they're "hiding" something. Eleftheria was good vocally. To my ears at least... I'm kinda biased here but I say we are in the final.

Latvia - Anmary - Beautiful Song (1st rehearsal)

First of all I love the last 30 seconds. But until that moment everything is quite bland. The choreo is boring. They just walk around on stage. Anmary was ok vocally and she must have worked on her face expressions but there is a moment or two where she made those faces... Anyway, I don't see Latvia in the final...

Albania - Rona Nishliu - Suus (1st rehearsal)

I don't know what the camera work will be but they need to be careful a bit. Rona seems scary in those close-ups. Vocals! Those vocals! Personally I don't like the song and I find her really screamy but vocally she was great. She pulled it off in the best possible way! Now this is tricky. I don't know if we will see it in the final. If it was up to me I'd leave Albania in the semi...

Romania - Mandinga - Zaleilah (1st rehearsal)

Ok... I guess we will never hear Elena singing Zaleilah like in the studio version. It's quite obvious they "did something" in the studio. Anyway, vocally she was good. Not in the same tone as in the studio version but she was good. I like the choreography even though it's not so crazy... I miss that jumping while waving their hands at the same time! It needs more energy! I see them in the final. Or at least I want them in the final!

Switzerland - Sinplus - Unbreakable (1st rehearsal) 

I still have a thing with his english. It sounds ok and kinda unique in the studio version but kinda bad live. It doesn't matter though. I love the song! And I want them so much in the final!! From what I saw I think they can make it!

Belgium - Iris - Would You? (1st rehearsal) 

Come on this is boring. Everything is boring! Just everything. Belgium is not in the final!

Finland - Pernilla Karlsson - När Jag Blundar (1st rehearsal)

Solid performance. What's with the dress though? I hope they're just testing (I'm almost sure about it since it's the first rehearsal) it!! Unfortunately I don't see Finland in the final either but I do want them in the final!!

ESC 2012 - My top 10

eurovision.tv

This is harder than I expected! I ranked all 42 songs from 12 to 0. It turns out that I like some songs that I gave for example 7 to, more than some songs that I gave 10 or 8 to! I am not gonna go back and edit the posts but my top 10 won't be based on the points I gave to each song individually. It might sound kinda silly and unfair but as I said to the previous post, my top 10 will be constantly changing so it doesn't really matter. I mean don't tell me that you don't change your top 10 all the time! It's just impossible!

And the other thing is that I don't know if I should rank the songs based on the original versions or the ESC versions. For example I adore the original version of Belarus. It's in my top 10. The second version is not! Yes, I said the second version coz apparently this is the latest version! They're going back to a more rock-ish one which I love!

Three countries are out of my top 10 just because they either changed the instrumentation of the song or they translated it to english. These are Iceland, Italy and Belarus. I still listen to the original versions of these three and they all were very close to the top 5! So I really don't know what to do...

*after about 15 minutes of just looking at the excel ranking*

Ok let's have it!

12pts - Spain
10pts - Sweden
8pts - Romania
7pts - Bulgaria
6pts - Israel
5pts - Italy
4pts - Belarus
3pts - Cyprus
2pts - Greece
1pt - Iceland

This is it! And I say it once again, it will be changing all the time!

ESC 2012 - Reviewing the countries beginning with "I"

Iceland sends Greta Salóme and Jónsi with the song "Never Forget" written by Greta Salóme Stefánsdóttir.
What can I say here? If you're a regular reader you know the story... :/ I so miss the icelandic version! I have to admit it though, the english chorus is addictive and easy to remember and sing along. But the song lost its magic the moment they translated it. Nothing more to say here. Just that Iceland has the best preview video of 2012. Oh yes! I gave 10pts to the original version.
Iceland competes in the 1st semi-final with running order #3.

7pts from me and good luck to Iceland!

Ireland sends Jedward with the song "Waterline" written by Nick Jarl and Sharon Vaughn.
"Lipstick" was my guilty pleasure last year. This year, I don't even see them in the final (yeah I wish!). Ok they'll make it to the final but they'll do worse than last year. Anyway to comment the song, I don't like it. I find it below the average and their choreography is almost identical to last year's. Can't they do anything else apart from jumping around?
Ireland competes in the 1st semi-final with running order #18.

1pt from me and good luck to Ireland!

Israel sends Izabo with the song "Time" written by Ran Shem Tov and Shiri Hadar.

I would give anything to send Maya Buskila's "Ahava Acheret"! Anything! Don't get me wrong. I like "Time" a lot! But this year Maya had a top 3 song! But we can't do anything now. As I said I like "Time". It's something totally different this year and I like that Israel sends Izabo. I love the music of the song! It's so great! Israel is my dark horse this year.

Israel competes in the 1st semi-final with running order #10.

8pts from me and good luck to Israel! 

Italy sends Nina Zilli with the song "L'Amore È Femmina (Out Of Love)" written by Kristoffer Sjokvist, Charlie Mason, Frida Molander, Nina Zilli and Christian Rabb.
Another song ruined by the english language! Imo anyway. English is my favourite language but when it comes to eurosongs I prefere the original versions. The plus here is that they keep some parts in italian and that's good. I love the song! (the original version) I'm probably one of the very few that prefer this over "Per Sempre". I find "Per Sempre" really forgettable and indifferent. 10pts to the original version of "L'Amore È Femmina"!
Italy competes in the final with running order #10.

7pts from me and good luck to Italy! 

EDIT: I feel quite embarrassed coz I forgot to review Italy's song! I'm sorry guys! I missed the flag!

ESC 2012 - Iceland: Let's bitch!

Some title right? Great way to come back to blogging after two weeks! Well sorry guys, got caught up with uni stuff and Helena Paparizou in the swedish Let's Dance and since I'm the only one in her official fan club that speaks swedish (and lives in Sweden), I have a lot of work to do! Anyway enough with the off topic introduction.

Back to the title and the actual blog post! As you can see the post is about Iceland 2012. Well not the country itself. More about their entry. Well more about the singers and not the song. Well more about one of the singers. Well more about Greta! (that "well more about" got really annoying right? *oops*)

Well the regular readers (hope there are some out there!) of this blog know how much I wanted "Mundu Eftir Mér" to be performed in icelandic! If not check this out. As you can see from these blog posts me and Greta exchanged some comments on facebook regarding the language. You know what happened. They're gonna send it in english. Even after the final decision was made me and Katy (check her blog out!) kept supporting the icelandic version and arguing about it. A couple of days ago I wondered why I don't see any activity from Greta's profile so I checked it out and surprise surprise! She deleted me! And Katy! Now I guess this is the definition of accepting other people's opinions right? Because we never fought with anyone. We were expressing our opinion in the best possible way without insulting anyone! And all we got was a "delete friend" from Greta! What a great and mature attitude don't you think? I guess she doesn't want us around to say "we told you so" when this will all be over... ;) xD

Honestly, I wasn't planning to blog about this but hey! I have the right to talk about whatever I want! Especially since I'm not insulting anyone. I'm just telling you what happened. Hard feelings for Greta? Well not really. Honest. I actually don't care. She did get some "minus points" for that attitude but other than that I don't care. I wasn't gonna vote for Iceland the moment they decided to send their entry in english so me not voting for them isn't because of Greta. (well to a greater extend it is since she decided to go for the english version but still...)

The fun part? I still love "Mundu Eftir Mér"! Even though it's no longer in my top 3 and perhaps not even in my top 5. Aah I really need to make my top 10! I keep saying "tomorrow", "tomorrow", "definitely tomorrow"...

ESC 2012 - Iceland: with "Never Forget" to Baku

You know I'm so tired of defending the icelandic version because nobody listens! Today they released the music video with the revamped version of "Mundu Eftir Mér" but with the new title "Never Forget". Yup, they're going for the english version in Baku! :( I watched the video, I listened to the english version. I love the video (again it doesn't matter if the video is good or not) but I can't say I like the english version more. I can't even say I like it as much as the icelandic! Wrong move Iceland. Wrong move Greta! I just wish you gave us the chance to vote between these two because if you "take a walk" in youtube you'll see that the majority wants the icelandic version! Even in the poll on this blog the icelandic version has more votes. And ok, I posted the poll before we heard the english version but still...

You should really follow the footsteps of Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia. They were ready to enter Eurovision with english versions of the songs but they won't! Because of the fans. 

All the arguments we posted all these weeks regarding the icelandic version were stronger than the ones posted about the english version. And I won't argue any more. Apparently you guys made up your minds a long time ago! It's a shame...

And here's a question from a friend on esctodayforum.com: Why did you only revamp the english version? Why don't we have the icelandic version with the new arrangement? 

His guess (and I agree with him)? You wanted us to think "hey the english version sounds better!". Well it won't work on us at least.

And by the way, I've been waiting to see if the final version would be in icelandic or in english before I vote in the forum. I was going to give 12pts to the icelandic one but now you guys got a 7. I was also going to actually vote during the ESC but now I won't. And not as a punishment. I just don't feel like the english version deserves votes... That's all. Good luck Iceland!

ESC 2012 - Greece: songs to be presented on February 28th

Finally! After all these rumors we got some official info! The songs of the greek NF will be presented on February 28th at 10:00 CET. The artists and composers are not known yet. And for some reason I don't care about Greece this year. It's all about Spain, Iceland (if they keep it in icelandic!) and Sweden (if they send Loreen!) for me!

ESC 2012 - Iceland: "Mundu Eftir Mér" to be performed in icelandic or english?

I've never done this before. I never cared so much about an ESC entry to be performed in its original language. Since Iceland chose "Mundu Eftir Mér" I wanted it to be sung in icelandic in May. I added Gréta on my facebook friends list and I was thinking of asking her to keep the song in icelandic. Today I saw a post on her wall from one of my fb friends asking her the same thing. I commented on that agreeing with what she wrote and we started a conversation about keeping the songs in the original languages and how english almost always destroy the songs. Gréta replied. I will quote her reply (hope that's fine... :S)

We have to think of it this way; in Eurovision 90% of the people who watch and vote have not heard the songs before. So they don´t have a language preference for each and every song. English appeals to so many more people than any other native language. It ensures that the majority of the people who watch understand what we´re singing about. Mundu eftir mér tells a story and if English is a better tool to deliver that story than of course we will use English.....but only if it´s a BETTER tool. That is if it "sings" better. We are working on English lyrics but no decisions have been made on whether we use them or not. We do however have to give it a shot in order to deliver our story. The "nordic" elements are in the music arrangement and I´m trying my very best to enhance those elements. I´m so grateful that you guys have strong opinions about my song and that you like it. It makes this all worth while. I just hope that you will give the English lyrics the same chance I will. Thanks again!

 My reply

But you know, if you have a winning song (which I believe you do) then lyrics doesn't matter. I mean look at Serbia 2007! Of course if we look at the winners of the '00s only one winning song was performed in a native language but that's because everyone sends their songs in english.

I really hope you think about it a LOT! Mundu eftir mér is a song that will ONLY work in icelandic!! You don't have to understand the lyrics in order to get CHILLS from a song. I only understand a couple of words and I still get the chills every time I hear it. It's the music, it's the atmosphere you got on stage guys!

Just for a change Iceland! Send the song in your language! After all, that's what Eurovision is about! Showing to the rest of Europe YOUR country, YOUR culture, YOUR language!

Best of luck! ♥

Now I totally believe what I say! And I'm not the only one. There are eurofans out there who have great arguments on that. Try for instance esctodayforum.com! I'm listening to "Mundu Eftir Mér" while I'm blogging. It's amazing! It's a feeling that there's absolutely no way you can get if you hear it in english. Of course you can say "how do you know that? you haven't even listened to the english version!". Well no! But it's not a pop song. It's an ethnic song! It's an ICELANDIC song! The music, the atmosphere on stage, the language! All these make this song what it is. If you change the language you cut off an important part of the song! If not the most important! This song is meant to be sung in icelandic!!

What about the 90% of people who won't understand the lyrics? SO WHAT? Just go back to the first ESC decades! All the winning songs were performed in the original languages! What about then? Wasn't back then a 90% of people who didn't understand the lyrics? Yeah we had juries back then! Again, SO WHAT? Juries consist of people, right? Those people didn't speak every single european language or did they?

People don't need to understand the lyrics in order to feel the song! This is the magic of music! You need to give them something original! And "Mundu Eftir Mér" is original! I truly believe that it will fail if it's performed in english! I really do! And I am very sad that they want to send this beautiful song in english! :( They have a song that will definitely put them in the top 5 and they're thinking of ruining that chance...

I don't know what else to say! Seriously! Gréta, Jónsi and the entire icelandic delegation need to "take a walk" around the ESC forums and see what fans think! Because it's us that vote! I'm one person here but there are A LOT more out there thinking the same.

Just vote on the poll below and let me know what you think about the language. I still have readers right? I check my stats and I see I have views. Now I hope it's not random people who accidentally came here. :P

Anyway, vote please! :)

In which language should Mundu Eftir Mér be performed?

Thank you!

ESC 2012 - Iceland's, Norway's and Hungary's entries

Iceland
So the expected happened. Gréta & Jónsi won with "Mundu Eftir Mér". Ok this grows on me but I still wanted Regina Ósk! :( However I think they made a good choice. I just hope they keep it in icelandic!


Norway
Tooji with "Stay" will represent Norway. This sounds soooo familiar! Nothing much for me. Maybe it will grow on me? I don't think so...


Hungary  
Compact Disco for Hungary with "Sound Of Our Hearts". A bit indiferent... They have a good draw in the semi but I don't know if this will help them.

ESC 2012 - Iceland's 2nd semi results

Ok I didn't blog about the 1st semi. I didn't even watch the first semi. But tonight Regína Ósk was competing! She made it to the final!! I missed 1/3 of her performance coz I couldn't find a working link. -.- But I will watch it on youtube. It was a piece of cake for her! ;) "Hjartað Brennur" is fantastic!! I totally love it! My winner!

And the second finalist is Simbi og Hrútspungarnir with "Hey". Well I don't really like this but anyway. All I cared about was Regina. Next stop Baku please! :D


EDIT: Regina's live performance