EUROMOMENTS

Stuck for eyewear inspiration?  Looking for something versatile for both work and an evening out? Something that simultaneously looks professional and also shows off your fun side! Well Maruv has the answer. A bond villain with the catchiest instrumental chorus hook of any national final song this year, she delivers with a kind of distracted disengagement that suggests she may not have time to stick around for the whole three minutes.  There appears to be little relation between the proximity of the microphone and the lead vocal which suggest the backing singers may be adding more than a little here, but it adds the overall effect.  Ukraine are a euro powerhouse and have never failed to qualify from a semi-final yet (joined now by only Australia who have had many fewer chances to fail) and if they send Maruv 2019 will be no exception.  This is pop perfection. Bang.

After almost 6 years in the Euro-wilderness, I want to briefly take this opportunity to thank MARUV for the inspiration to return. I'm gonna get that rhythm BOK. Stay tuned.

Well, after multiple rumour flurries - the latest burst of which involved somebody listening to the last month of Graham Norton Radio 2 shows and noting down all the UK female soloists on the playlist, plus a valiant attempt by Dr Eurovision to bribe a BBC staff member with a glass of prosecco - WE HAVE A REPRESENTATIVE. All-time power ballad heroine and queen of gravel-voiced belting, Bonnie Tyler , will sing 'Believe in Me' for the UK in Malmö. Whatcha gonna do when your ship is sinking,  And you're crying out for help, and just the seagull's listenin'? Not the Lesbian Seagull ? I think she would be a very good listener. You know, I don't mind this song. Yes it's certainly no 'Total Eclipse of the Heart' - but what could even come close? It's a nice, contemporary country ballad, well produced and hopefully will be well sung. I like Bonnie a lot, and if I can allow myself to imagine this as a Venn diagram, I think the overlap be...

But could we possibly have LOREEN singing FRAMLING and CAROLA singing EUPHORIA in this Saturday's Melodifestivalen final??? Thanks to Mr Thompson for driving me mad with the prospect of the latter. And to  this   news item from esctoday  for adding to the hysteria. I now have to contend with the reality that I will not get to watch this live as I will be in a restaurant, somewhere North-West of here, focussing my attentions lasagne + garlics + red wine come Saturday evening. Probably for the best as I'm not sure my nerves could take this moment of MF herstory.

It seems that Camp Euromoments (how very dare you!) is divided on the outcome of the Irish selection. I for one am quite delighted with the song choice and I think that Ryan Dolan will put on a good performance in Malmo. Actually, in stark contrast to Mr Thompson's reservations about qualifying, I think this is a potential winner. Honestly. And the fact that he managed to sing it well in the Late Late studio's anywhere-but-here acoustic was a victory in itself. I also love Strabane. If I can be so bold, dear Momentee (I'm sure there's at least one of you), I will share with you that it's not been an easy day for me as I am struggling with one of 'life's big decisions'. Be assured that there are no Mrs or Mini Carlytimes on the horizon. However, as I returned to my Happy Place - glued to the glow of my computer monitor - this evening, I felt the weight of the world on my shoulders. It seemed that nothing would lift it. And then, the hand of fate l...

Watching the RTE Late Late Eurosong special on RTE player with a cup of tea in bed this morning I thought to myself, can life get much better than this? Last year’s Eurosong achieved something that has never been done before or since by a live Eurovision related programme that I have watched. It induced sleep. I awoke with a jolt at the end of the proceedings covered in my own drool to see Jedward victorious, unsure of what year it was or what I was doing. “Where’s me dinner Avaline???!”. Not being able to watch live last night and saving the show til the morning helped avoid a narcoleptic repetition this year. I was also determined not to see the result before watching the programme on RTE’s catch up service. Surprisingly this was not difficult in Denmark where I am currently living – no news coverage from Donnybrook on DR 1. I didn’t look at Facebook and was careful to bypass the homepage of rte.ie in case the 2013 representative of Ireland would be smiling back at me. Delighte...

"Welome back Noogie!!!" Thank you. Thank you very much. Sit there. So bowled over was I by a certain German missy's winning performance that I have been unable to bring myself to do anything for the last three years other than spin around and work on the timing of the victory speech in my karaoke satellite, making it difficult to read, type and so on. But what a great result 2010 was for the contest, for music, for Germany and for the euromoments team. Looking forward rather than back, the 2013 selection season is already in full swing complete with the inevitable the girls aloud rumour-mill , threats of yet another Ralph Siegel-instigated humanitarian atrocity , incomprehensible belarussian lyrics and more incomprehensible swedish decisions at melodifestivalen semifinals . Yet through all the angst and missed gems, the bêtes noires and even with the sadness of being without Turkey, Bosnia and Portugal this year, I don't doubt that SVT will bring us a great...

The Swedish tabloid machine is cranking out rumours left right and centre this year, and it's almost too much for one Carltime to bear. 1. There was the suggestion that Girls Aloud member Kimberley Walsh would be singing for the UK in Malmo with a song penned by Fredrik Kempe (of "Hero","La Voix","Popular"). 2. More recently, there's  this . Someone dares to suggest that She, The Great One, Dame of the Order of Wind Machines and Gold Lamé, will be taking to the Melodifestivalen stage to perform a medley of her greatest hits. It cannot be. I can't be taken to the brink like this once again, but naturally my mind is running riot on the possibility that Carola will be some sort of wildcard. In my dream, we go through the motions of MF as usual for the sake of all the nice Swedish families who turned up to wave glowsticks in the audience, but then they send Carola to Malmo anyway. Please. At the very least, I expect pyrotechnics, a choir of tho...

Well, it seemed like I'd never see the day, but here I am announcing that Euromoments is OPEN AND READY FOR EUROVISION 2013 BUSINESS. A lot has come and gone in the last 3(!) years, and we've all done some growing up. But some things never change. Melodifestivalen still keeps the global wind machine industry in business, Lys Assia is still being given standing ovations every three seconds, and Linda Martin is still Linda Martin. In our absence, there have been two of the most significant and (to my mind) welcome winners of ESC: namely, Lena from Germany in 2010, and Loreen from Sweden in 2012. I think these victories for high-quality, contemporary pop music have saved the contest from disappearing down the 'it's all political' hole for ever. Anyway, there's little time for nostalgia as the 2013 season is well underway. I'm off now to update the video bar with this year's offerings to date. Nothing as yet is setting the world on fire, but I do h...

Or shevvvashevishah as they say in Hebrew. Hiya! It's been a while but in the face of mounting hysteria at our absence in the full throws of euromovin' und shakin' I really felt I must rediscover ma voix. Now then, for this time of year my musical sensitivities do undergo a certain metamorphosis, a shift in frame of reference shall we say, but seriously 2010? Am I just getting too old for this? I do not seem to be a lone voice in the wilderness in feeling that the standard of entries so far is way below par. That Keithy, par exemple, never does anything without a truckload of subtext and just I was beginning to despair, a poll appeared on his website to rate the standard of entries so far compared to usual.... 44% say "much worse than other years". Notwithstanding, we're not even halfway yet and it's not all bad news. So I'll have a quick romp through what's been chosen so far and share my thoughts. Albania were first off the mark as usual ...

A Party Political Broadcast on behalf of CWRHAFTWS (The Cher-Watching Rastafarian Hell’s Angels and Fish Tunnel Walkers of Sweden).

Not Julie and Ludwig, Linda Martin's farts or the individual fruit trifles at the back of my fridge. But this: http://euroviisut.yle.fi/osallistujat It's about time someone made a start. Only the best part of eight months left after all. Christmas cards in June, Eurovision songs in October-it's all differerent from when I were a lad. I feel a bit car sick, excited but car sick. Here we go...

and my faith is strong now JADE EWEN what you on? What's going on? Just as Jade is about to release her follow-up single to her Eurovision entry it is rumoured that she is set to become the sixth person to get on the merry-go-round round that is the Sugababes. Some background: It’s January 2009 and the BBC mean business. Eurobusiness. They get off to an uncharacteristically early start with a multi-week selection show to choose an artist for Eurovision. Last minute plant, sorry entrant Jade Ewen is head and shoulders above the competition. Even though the BBC appear to be taking things seriously, the lurking feeling persists that the UK public will push dignity over a cliff as Eurovision is a joke and nothing decent should be sent near it. We need not have worried about Jade coming out on top. The biggest obstacle to her Eurosuccess was not her competitors in the ‘Your Country Needs You’ selection but the song that she would be given to sing at the contest. We were at the height o...

• DJ-less mash-ups • Denim hot-pants • FMBs... F.M.! • Sexual chemistry that knows no boundaries (social, cultural, generational or moral) • Stomping around to music on stage and on walkways • Boobie shakin’ • Motorboating • Back-to-back / peek-a-boo choreography • MILFs • MILFs who like boys • Boys who like MILFs (who like boys to be milfs, who do boys like they’re milfs who do milfs like they’re boys. Always should be someone you really love • Lyrics performed properly for the first time by a professional:"I don't care if I lose my mind..." • Mickey J tributes (they’re back in!) • The nation of Sweden • Eurovision • Allsang på Grensen • Carola Haggkvist • Youtube • The internet Sometimes there's so much beauty in the world I feel like I can't take it, like my heart's going to cave in...Sometimes I feel like I'm seeing it all at once, and it's too much, my heart fills up like a balloon that's about to burst... And then I remember to relax, and sto...

What a great result on Tuesday night. My prediction list changed somewhat after the live performances and I ended up getting 8/10. Things are looking very good for a well-balanced East-West distribution in the final, and in the Jade camp they must be truly delighted with a draw that places her far away from Malta and Iceland and nestled neatly between two dance numbers. Anyway, just a quick look at tonight's line-up: Croatia Ireland Latvia Serbia Poland Norway Cyprus Slovakia Denmark Slovenia Hungary Azerbaijan Greece Lithuania Moldova Albania Ukraine Estonia The Netherlands And my 10 to qualify: Latvia Norway Cyprus Hungary Azerbaijan Greece Lithuania Moldova Albania Ukraine This was decided very hastily but I think it captures the obvious favourites (Norway, Greece, Ukraine), a mix of styles (dance, r n b, disco, rock ballad), some novelty/memorability factor (Hungary, Latvia) and geographical/diasporic expectations (Azerbaijan, Greece). Let's see what happens! I'm fizzin...

Well, here we are again. It's Semifinal Day (Part 1), Jade Ewen is playing on Radio 2 and there's a tiny tear of excited anticipation creeping out of one of my eyes. I'm amazed that I have, for the first time, managed to post something on this blog during the actual week of the contest as opposed to abandoning ship, all spent by the end of national selections. Surely that's worth crying about? My own greatness and steely nerve in the face of my extreme pre-contest excitement? It's myyyyy ttiiiiiiiimmmme naaaaaaaaooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwww But, you know, I really think we have a vintage year on our hands. I can say that there isn't really a single song that I dislike strongly enough to begrudge it success, and even if the whole world has decided that Norway has already won the damn thing, I'm hopeful of a nice open contest for places 2-5 if not the top spot as well. I think it's a great year for East-West balance in terms of song quality, a particularly good...

That's not dancin'! And Svetlana certainly knows it, but hell, she's got the demented killer instinct of someone that, taking her artistic inspiration from madge's hard candy, takes the view that i'll do it JUST TO SHOW YOU THAT I CAN. In a contest in which schlager, novelty and even ethnobang have taken an unexpected sudden backseat to the balladeering about peace and love, this will stand out by a mile. It combines the pre-requisite ethno driving beat with the catchiest hook of any song so far. And if the outpouring of moral outrage eminating from a certain popular fansite ("This clip seem to be pure SEX" cries one offended reader) is anything to go by, svetlana will leave nothing if not an impression, favourable or otherwise and svetlana knows full well, lying there bathed in green & blacks finest, that there is no negative marking. How many decent, good quality records have limped to last place in eurovision for faling to inspire and annoy in e...

It's finally here. The Melodifestivalen final takes place tonight, when we shall see the last song to be selected for Moscow, and your entire Euromoments team will be gathering in a certain London Swedish venue to watch events unfold in the company of those who care. It's good to be young, eh? There has been criticism of this year's Melodifestivalen line-up from the Swedish press, who claim that standards have slipped. These people have clearly never seen Making Your Mind Up . However, there have been some bloopers along the way... how did Velvet's The Queen (see below - a riotous Stock-Aitken-Waterman style retro dance number with a giant dress, hotpants, women in drag and great dancing.) not only fail to qualify for the Globen but come in the bottom 3 of her semifinal? I am also saddened that BWO don't have a place in the Globen this evening but that is a matter of personal taste and I managed to stop watching the video on loop yesterday. Sometimes you've ju...

Dear Reader(s?), Please excuse my absence of late - Camp Carlytime has relocated and is currently not connected to the Information Super Highway. I know it's a disaster, but thankfully I have other portals at my disposal. Basically, I chose one of the worst weekends in the eurocalendar to relocate my lair. I have finally gotten around to updating the video bar with entries from Spain, Portugal, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Latvia, Azerbaijan. Even this far into the selection season, amazingly we still don't have a truly awful song in the contest. Israel has unfortunately gone all-out on cynicism, with a mid-tempo 'let's all join hands together around the world' pop song that doesn't do justice to the calibre of the two singers. The Croatian song is very traditional in style and although it is generally pleasant I fear they're a little off the money this year with a male soloist whose live singing isn't up to it. Latvia has put forward a lot of old rope i...