ESC 2011 - Rehearsals Day 5

Day 5 and the first 13 countries of the 1st semi-final had their second rehearsal. These were Poland, Norway, Albania, Armenia, Turkey, Serbia, Russia, Switzerland, Georgia, Finland, Malta, San Marino and Croatia.

Poland's 2nd rehearsal: Well not so crazy about the clothes but ok. Another nice rehearsal for Poland. And I love the choreo. I just wanted Magda to sing the chorus in the end and not just some phrases and stuff. 

Norway's 2nd rehearsal: So Stella is keeping the same clothes she had in the norwegian NF but in different color. Well I like this! I like watching this performance coz it's a feel-good song. Not better than Spain's but I like it. And I like Stella too. The rehearsal was solid. No problem seeing them in the final!

Albania's 2nd rehearsal: Aurela is vocally great! All the times! No doubt she can sing. I like her dress but I was expecting something different. Oh and I so love the last chorus! When she switches to albanian! Great! Reminds me of Nilsson's (now Perrelli) reprise in 1999!

Armenia's 2nd rehearsal: Why is she skipping a part of the chorus? The first time she did it I thought ok she lost her breath but she did it 2 more times! Strange... I have a bad feeling that she will make it... Aaah "boom boom chaka chaka your kiss is like a like a"!!! Annoying, I'm making fun of it and as I said many times, I end up liking what I'm making fun of! :O And the clothes are fine after removing the boxing robes!

Turkey's 2nd rehearsal: I still don't get what the girl in the cage does on stage... And if these are the clothes they're gonna wear in the semi, well they are too simple I think. Vocally it was a really good performance.

Serbia's 2nd rehearsal: Love it! Love it! Love it!!! Nina is amazing! Her vocals are great! I got a bit dizzy with that backdrop but I hope it will look better with the camera work.

Russia's 2nd rehearsal: Vocally he was fine. I still think he has too many gimmicks. And I hate how he made fun of the serbian entry and Nina!! How professional! Well done Alexej! A homophobe and an ass!

Switzerland's 2nd rehearsal: Solid performance once again. I like it! 

Georgia's 2nd rehearsal: The vocals were much better than the first rehearsal! Something still bugs me in the chorus but I love the music and the verses.

Finland's 2nd rehearsal: I like the idea of his recycled shirt and now I understand why he's using that old guitar but come on. This is so Tom Dice! Everyone will say this! Vocally he is great. Well so was Tom!

Malta's 2nd rehearsal: The song grew on me a lot! But I don't like Glen... However he was good in the second rehearsal and the performance is nice.

San Marino's 2nd rehearsal: OK vocally she wasn't as good as she was in the first rehearsal but she explained why. The backing vocals were too loud I think and I don't like her dress. Are we looking to the Barbara Dex award here? Anyway, I like Senit! She's funny! :P

Croatia's 2nd rehearsal: No, no, no! Why Croatia? That was not good! Average performance as a whole. I still don't like the clothes trick even though the last change has become better. They all throw some glitter in the air and not only that DJ/magician. I really hope they can make it to the final because I adore the song... Fingers crossed!

ESC 2011 - Rehearsals Day 1

May 1st! Eurovision's rehearsals kicked off today. I am not able to follow them all day long so I will be blogging at the end of the day. I will try to blog every day but I can't promise anything.

10 countries rehearsed today and these were Poland, Norway, Albania, Armenia, Turkey, Serbia, Russia, Switzerland, Georgia and Finland.

I'll be using the videos from eurovision.tv youtube channel. 

Poland’s rehearsal: That was a solid performance. Magdalena's vocals are quite powerful and she sounded nice. I had a problem with the backing vocalists. They sounded a bit like they were bored. Especially the guy... Love the choreography too! So Poland's team have all the time they need to make their performance perfect until the big night!

Norway’s rehearsal: Well Stella sounded ok I guess and I like Norway's choreography too. It's a fun song but I don't understand how they put it as a winner... Backing vocals weren't so good... And can someone tell me if Stella will be wearing similar clothes as the ones she had in Norway's NF? Because she was wearing exactly the same in the rehearsal - just the color was different. Anyway...

Albania’s rehearsal: Really powerful vocals for Albania! Aurela sounded great! There's nothing much going on stage. Just a few flames for "wow-factor". I think Albania will make it to the final again. As I said I'm not into so screamy songs but Aurela can sing. I think they deserve a spot in the final.

Armenia’s rehearsal: I'm sorry but I laughed... The choreography is a bit ridiculous! And the choreographer is Emmy Zarian. She was responsible for Greece's choreo last year (I was surprised when I saw our dancers there at first but now I know!). And that boxing ring? Oh God! Hahaha but ok Emmy can sing. I would like the song if the chorus wasn't there. All I can do now is just laugh at the chorus which isn't a good thing since whatever I laugh at I end up liking it! :O :O :P

Turkey’s rehearsal: That was ok. I said I only like the chorus. Now I start liking the music as well. And what was that woman in that cage-ball. Like last year's robot? Nah she was out of place. Really no idea what she's doing there. The vocals were good though.

Serbia’s rehearsal: Loved it even more! That was great great great!!! Go Serbia!! I still wish they could have a live band and the 3 girls in the backing vocals but that would be above the limit (maximum 6 people on stage). But it's a playful choreo! And I think it fits the song. I also liked Nina's vocals so, so far so good!

Russia’s rehearsal: Jesus Christ! And then people keep nagging about Eric Saade's gimmick! This guy couldn't have more gimmicks than all these! Led walls, neon shoes, flashing jackets and the backflip a la Sakis Rouvas (Greece 2004). Oh please! Average song for me and he obviously had a problem with the sound. It was awful. Is this going to be a Russia-Sweden battle? ;)

Switzerland’s rehearsal: Pleasant performance. Time for Switzerland to make it to the final? There's nothing much going on stage. Anna and two musicians but I liked it. Her vocals were great. Nice... I don't think I have anything else to say. 

Georgia’s rehearsal: I love the music and the first verse but when we reach to the chorus it sounds so wrong. I wish they had a different chorus. Quite weak vocals and strange clothes... I don't know. Overall I'm in the middle... I don't like but I don't dislike it either...

Finland’s rehearsal: This is so Tom Dice... Bad sound for this one too... This is not one of my favourites but it's ok. For some reason I think he will qualify. Let's keep this just between us ok? I think it will be too unfair if a song like this qualifies! I really can't compare this to last year's "Työlki Ellää"!

So that was it for today! We're on people! :D

ESC 2011 - My top 10

Alright! Today is the first day of the rehearsals but I will blog about them when they're over. Right now I will give you my top 10 - a very difficult task this year! My top 3 if not top 5 will be changing all the time. I know that. 1st country will go 2nd, 3rd will go 4th etc etc. But here it is!

Oh wait! Before I rank them I need to show you my 12pts, 10pts, and 8pts because we have some changes there. So originally we had this:

Hungary - 12pts
Israel - 12pts
Poland - 12pts
Serbia - 12pts
Slovenia - 12pts
Spain - 12pts

Bulgaria - 10pts

Croatia - 8pts
Sweden - 8pts
United Kingdom - 8pts

The changes:

Hungary - 12pts
Israel - 12pts
Poland - 12pts
Serbia - 12pts
Slovenia - 10pts because I'm not really into ballads... :/
Spain - 12pts

Bulgaria - 10pts

Croatia - 12pts because despite the weak chorus I can't resist to that "clapping" and that disco feeling!
Sweden - 8pts
United Kingdom - 8pts
  

So here is my top 10!

1. Hungary - Kati Wolf - What About My Dreams?
2. Israel - Dana International - Ding Dong
3. Spain - Lucía Pérez - Que Me Quiten Lo Bailao
4. Poland - Magdalena Tul - Jestem
5. Serbia - Nina - Čaroban
6. Croatia - Daria - Celebrate
7. Slovenia - Maja Keuc - No One
8. Bulgaria - Poli Genova - Na Inat
9. Sweden - Eric Saade - Popular
10. United Kingdom - Blue - I Can

OK that's it! I still feel that some countries should be higher than others but I really LOVE my top 6 so I can't decide! If any of these countries win then I'm totally satisfied! Also fine if Slovenia or Bulgaria wins.

Ready to hit the "publish post" button! No going back now! :P 

EDIT: And I just noticed that my top 5 hasn't a single song entirely in english! ;) Another proof that I prefer the songs in the native language of the country...

ESC 2011 - Reviewing the countries beginning with "P", "R"

Poland sends Magdalena Tul with the song "Jestem" written by Magdalena Tul.

Finally Poland! Finally!! A fantastic song! I love it and it's in polish! Love it when people sing in their language. To many of you this will probably sound like typical-eurovision song but that's why I love it! Hehe

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

12pts from me and good luck to Poland!

Portugal sends Homens da Luta with the song "Luta É Alegria" written by Jel and Vasco Duarte.

During the first ten seconds I said "oh this is gonna be amazing" but then they started singing and I was like "what the fuck is this?". Generally I like the traditional music Portugal sends almost every year but not this one! Sorry!

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

1pt from me and good luck to Portugal!

Romania sends Hotel FM with the song "Change" written by Gabriel Băruţă and Alexandra Ivan.

The third song with the message "save the world". OK song, nothing much. Another 3 pleasant minutes but that's all. I'd like to listen to this twice so I hope they make it to the final. I like it.

Romania competes in the 2nd semi-final with running order #14.

6pts from me and good luck to Romania!

Russia sends Alexej Vorobjov with the song "Get You" written by RedOne and Jack Lucien.

So Russia competes with RedOne. Sorry but RedOne’s song that competed in Sweden's Melodifestivalen was miles better! This is so mediocre! Not a bad song but not a great one either... But I'm afraid Russia will do well because well, it's Russia! If you know what I mean. ;)

Russia competes in the 1st semi-final with running order #7.

5pts from me and good luck to Russia!