Buranovskiye Babushki - “Party for Everybody” (Russia)
vs.
Loreen - “Euphoria” (Sweden)
There is only one question to answer for the voters of today’s Eurovision: Will it be the cute Russian ladies or the Swedish dance-floor hit that takes the prize? I’m yet to see any other songs, but I’ll be very surprised if anything else wins it.
These two tracks contain the essence of Eurovision.
Loreen might win it because it’s a track that’ll sell kabillions of copies and it’s very memorable. Also, at one point during the track it snows. It snows!
Add to the mix a bomb-diggity dancer near the track’s climax and you have yourself a born winner.
On the other hand, how can you not vote for this?:
There is nothing more to say.
Eurovision. Nothing like it.
Of course, Eurovision isn’t only about the winners. There are a whole heap of awesome tracks that deserve praise, and I look forward to some unexpected treats tomorrow (!) night.
Zdob si Zdub - “So Lucky” (Moldova, 2011)
This one has it all:
- A thumping beat that makes you want to bop around your living-room
- An awesome refrain
- A cute girl riding a unicycle
Instead, an anonymous song from Azerbaijan won. Of course, asking why that happened is missing the most important point of Eurovision completely: one should never question what goes on, only enjoy it.
That is not to say, however, that my favourite track didn’t stand a chance in last year’s competition. Eurovision has a history of picking some ‘different’ winners, keeping audiences on their toes. The winning song in 2006, “Hard Rock Hallelujah”, is proof of this—fantastic stuff.
Will 2012 have any big surprises? Come back tomorrow for my final blog in the run-up to this year’s competition as I look closely at my two favourites for the title.
Abba - “Waterloo” (1974, Sweden)
Eurovision always introduces the performers with a brief postcard from their country of origin. This one is worth watching for the introductory voice-over alone (reaching its climax when Napoleon is first seen). The accompanying piano refrain is great, too.
This song itself doesn’t actually mean that much to me, but it is funny that all of my aunts dance EXACTLY like the two women in Abba.
Although the tune must be familiar with all of the people reading this, how many actually know the words to the song? Not many, I’d wager. (My Swedish girlfriend got stuck after the second line.)
Bonus: Benny’s look of complete discomfort at 0:24.
With four days left, it’s time to revisit a song that will always be close to my heart:
Alexander Rybak - “Fairytale” (2009, Norway)
I was working in Norway at the time, and every Saturday night I had the privilege of seeing the Norway heats for their Eurovision entrant. It was quite a social thing, with all the workers sitting down in front of our CRT TV (omg!) in our “cave” (so called because it was underneath the hotel and had no windows).
As you can imagine, the heats were pretty painful to go through; not only because of the ridiculousness of some of them, but also because from very early on when Rybak first appeared we all knew he was going to win it. The whole competition.
The song has it all, including (but in no way limited to):
- A great singer with a cupcake face.
- Cheesy lyrics that somehow win you over.
- Aladdin-on-ecstacy dancers.
For an added bonus, take the advice of the second “top comment” and watch the video at 2:59 for proof of how amazing this song is.
The final of Eurovision is only five (5!) days away.
To celebrate this momentous occasion, I’m going to post one video each day until this years final to whet your appetites.
First up:
France Gall - “Poupee de Cire, Poupee de Son” (1965, Luxembourg)
It’s difficult to resist the charms of this track. About 90% of the video is different versions of the standard ‘headshot’ (it was 1965), making it nearly impossible to miss the way she sucks on her bottom lip at every opportunity. (as an aside, the stereotype of the sexual nature of the French language has been put to good use recently.)
The beauty of Eurovision is that we get to momentarily forget the likes of Thierry Henry Dominique Strauss-Kahn, and baguettes.
Instead, tracks like this one give us all the perfect opportunity to pretend we know French for a couple of minutes. Joyful.
This is awesome.
Fresh.
Timeless.
“It’s a chance I have to take”
“All I ever wanted was for you to be happy.
I never thought you would treat me so callously.
How do you feel now?
As I lie down, bleeding,
I can think only of that shine in your eyes when we first met.”
“Every step you take contains love”
Sweden in a nutshell.
