New Year, Old Hat
Drivers are warned to take caution as Albanian and Norwegian artistes stand firmly in the middle of the road for yet another Eurovision season
It seems like just yesterday when I shared the same smoke-machine-infused air as Cypriot songstress Evridiki and hailed her as the Euromoments tip for semifinal success in Helsinki. Yes, Euro2007 brought pain (I'll spare you the account of my hours of anguish over my last-minute decision not to attend my own Eurovision Final Party in a Marija costume - oh, the bitter tears I shed...) and mortification ("Sprang!", sunflower, medieval costume). But there was also plenty in which to delight - Sopho Khalvashi's performances for Georgia still bring a tear to my eye and I will never (ever) get over how Portugal managed to turn a turd sandwich (why let a great analogy go just because it's getting old?) into a turd sandwich without the turd.
Anyway, in the words of Marion Fossett, here we are together again after all this time. And it feels great.*
From the top, I'd better say that, for the sake of my sanity, I'll mainly be restricting comments to the winners and confirmed finalists in this year's national selections, otherwise I might explode. So, whilst there is plenty of stuff floating round at the moment, the first posting of 2008 will feature only ALBANIA and NORWAY. This will be quick and painless. In fact you'll feel nothing. Nothing at all.
ALBANIA
Well, I think that says it all. Nice girl, nice song, nice to see Albania reserve its place in the 2009 semifinal. No bite, same old musical themes as previous entries, and considerable references to the 2007 B&H song, which was better and still didn't cut the mustard with the voters. It's been downhill since Anjeza.
NORWAY
Now, sometimes you listen to the finalists for a national selection and wonder whether it had ever been considered that there's a competition happening in May? Every one of the six songs on offer from Norway is pedestrian, unoriginal, middle of the road. None of them has any punch, and all drift along from 0 to 3 minutes to ultimately leave you feeling cold. Thankfully, nothing inspires the venom in me that last year's eventual representative produced (although that picture of the winking Tinkerbells does kind of creep me out). However, I really do believe that a little thought into how to sell a song in 3 minutes wouldn't do any harm.
Till next time.
*Marion didn't say the bit about it being great. In her case, she was right to omit such an observation.
It seems like just yesterday when I shared the same smoke-machine-infused air as Cypriot songstress Evridiki and hailed her as the Euromoments tip for semifinal success in Helsinki. Yes, Euro2007 brought pain (I'll spare you the account of my hours of anguish over my last-minute decision not to attend my own Eurovision Final Party in a Marija costume - oh, the bitter tears I shed...) and mortification ("Sprang!", sunflower, medieval costume). But there was also plenty in which to delight - Sopho Khalvashi's performances for Georgia still bring a tear to my eye and I will never (ever) get over how Portugal managed to turn a turd sandwich (why let a great analogy go just because it's getting old?) into a turd sandwich without the turd.
Anyway, in the words of Marion Fossett, here we are together again after all this time. And it feels great.*
From the top, I'd better say that, for the sake of my sanity, I'll mainly be restricting comments to the winners and confirmed finalists in this year's national selections, otherwise I might explode. So, whilst there is plenty of stuff floating round at the moment, the first posting of 2008 will feature only ALBANIA and NORWAY. This will be quick and painless. In fact you'll feel nothing. Nothing at all.
ALBANIA
Well, I think that says it all. Nice girl, nice song, nice to see Albania reserve its place in the 2009 semifinal. No bite, same old musical themes as previous entries, and considerable references to the 2007 B&H song, which was better and still didn't cut the mustard with the voters. It's been downhill since Anjeza.
NORWAY
Now, sometimes you listen to the finalists for a national selection and wonder whether it had ever been considered that there's a competition happening in May? Every one of the six songs on offer from Norway is pedestrian, unoriginal, middle of the road. None of them has any punch, and all drift along from 0 to 3 minutes to ultimately leave you feeling cold. Thankfully, nothing inspires the venom in me that last year's eventual representative produced (although that picture of the winking Tinkerbells does kind of creep me out). However, I really do believe that a little thought into how to sell a song in 3 minutes wouldn't do any harm.
Till next time.
*Marion didn't say the bit about it being great. In her case, she was right to omit such an observation.
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