Locksley
Promising
Famous Hero
Wielding a six-string
posted April 01, 2014 01:58 PM
Lexxan said:I am hoping you are being sarcastic, Locksley. Undo is the more tired generic ass trite ever, with mediocre singing and boring staging (a light cage? That's your act? really, Sweden? REALLY???) that will not even qualify for the finals and you WILL learn to deal with it. Nothing barring that horrific oedipus creature from belgium is worse than it.
I'm balancing on the very edge of balance between sarcasm and seriousness!
IMHO, Sanna with Undo isn't as bad as you say and she was a good winner in Melodifestivalen compared to the other entries there. This is not my style, the lyrics aren't exactly brilliant, the mystierious light show isn't as mysterious as Loreen's, the production and the melodic hooks are too professional (Kempe knows his craft too well) but it has a strong melody people remember.
I don't think Sanna is incompetent either, after all she has been performing since she was eleven (warning: the song and the show is a typical example of traditional Swedish dance band music).
Maybe it's the production of Undo that doesn't fit her voice or something like that?
For example, in her Christmas Concert her voice is nice a capella or accompanied by simple guitar picking, until Sanna decides it's time to pick up the voice synthesizer (Listen from 19.25)
Silent night... would've been better.
The Common Linnets - "Calm After The Storm"
This is among the best songs I've heard in any Eurovision Song Contest! Top 10 ever definately, maybe even top 5. The genre is called real music, which means that Netherlands will fail in ESC.
14. Austria Conchita Wurst - "Rise Like A Phoenix"
Semi 2 - Slot #6
Here she is, people: the most talked about contestant this year. And what a contestant Conchita Wurst is.
What is Conchita Wurst? A Freak of nature? A bearded lady? A transitioning transexual? The answer is none of those. Conchita Wurst is the alter ego of a man called Tom Neuwirth, a drag artist. She's an act.
The way I have understood it (my knowledge on the subject is fairly limited), but Drag Queens come in all different flavours: Cabaret, Comedy, Fishy, Catty, Camp, etc. Conchita entire dada is being sophisticated and femme while throwing a huge curvebal by keeping her beard.
It is this little display of mind£µç|<ery that caused quite a stir in Europe. THIS GOES AGAINST THE MORAL VALUES OF FAMILY LIFE111 -- all idiot bigots in Eastern Europe. Like, I can understand the controversy, but come on. It is not like Eurovision hasn't featured drag artist before. I doubt the names Sestreor DQ would ring a bell, but you've all heard of (and enjoyed) one before: VERKA SERDUSHKA. It's not because Conchita Wurst's gimmick is a beard rather than dressing up like a mithrill-coated xmas tree or because she sings about heavy social issues such as "self-acceptance" and "identity" over bellowing "I VANT U SING: RUSSIA GOODBYE ^__^" that she needs to be relegated to the garbage heap stante pede. On the contrary.
Now that I have this out of the way, Rise Like A Phoenix is a great song! It sounds like a BOND THEME. Personally, I would have preferred something more camp and fun, but again, sophistication and preaching Universal Acceptance For All That Are Different are the two main Conchita Wurst things. It would have been out of character for her to suddenly start singing about dance moves.
Conchita has proven herself to be an AMAZING live singer btw. For those that still delude themselves that Conchita is JUST a gimmick act: play this LIVE rendition of RLaP
She's great. For those of you that think it's too weird for you or otherwise unacceptable: I can't stop you, but I would ask for you to drop your prejudices, open your hearts and let the magic of Conchita Wurst melt your frozen hearts. The world would be a much better place if you did.
Chances - Favourable
I mean... Conchita is the undisputed MEDIA DARLING of this year and while there's always someone that comes up short (Kati Wolf, Greta & Jonsi, Valentina Monetta, .... Paula & Ovi?), Conchita won't be the one. Semi 2 is extremely competitive in that it's almost impossible to predict who is going to qualify and who isn't, but nearly everyone agrees that Conchita is a near-lock for the finals. I do too. All the countries that would deliberately ignore Conchita out of bigotry are in the other semi with the exception of Belarus and who cares about them, really.
Unfortunately for Conchita, bigotry and prejudice are still very real in the Southern and Eastern parts of Europe :-/ So once Russia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Armenia are added to the voting pool, there's a distinct possibility she bombs. (there's no way she gets a singple point from ANY of the ex-soviet states and their generally VERY negative attitude to anything LGBT). However, at this stage, with NOBODY liking Russia or their satellite states, this could actually backfire and have Conchita sweep the western-eurean countries' votes . I hope it happens. The ultimate middle finger to that evil alliance and I could actually attend a contest that was hosted in Vienna so...
I'M ROOTING FOR THE PEOPLE'S CHAMPION.
<3 <3
but at the end of the gay, I still like 13 acts more than her lol.
omg that song is so amazing and indeed Bond-like <33333
and and she is an objectively beautiful man aswell (in the biological sense) and im not even into men dressing up as women one bit
I want it so hard to win just to slap Russia and all other nation of homophobia in the face
____________
Over himself, over his own
body and
mind, the individual is
sovereign.
- John Stuart Mill
Conchita Wurst singing Rise Like a Phoenix is very good, mostly because of the huge similarities to Ola Salo singing Getsemane in his Swedish version of Jesus Christ Superstar.
The songs , the voices, the singers' looks... everything's exactly the same!!!! Even the theme of coming back in a resurrection. But Ola Salo is not only the original, he's also better.
He was also the singer in The Ark who represented Sweden in ESC 2007 with The Worrying Kind, a catchy tune but not very typical as they did it as a joke.
JoonasTo
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
What if Elvin was female?
posted April 08, 2014 12:33 AM
Urgh I know, such a pain. I need to upgrade my desktop to win 8.1.
Means I need to upgrade my 2008 processor, mobo and ram. 500 euros, tsk. Don't want to spend that just yet so I'm stuck on my laptop for now.
____________ DON'T BE A NOOB, JOIN A.D.V.E.N.T.U.R.E.
Lexxan
Honorable
Undefeatable Hero
Unimpressed by your logic
posted April 08, 2014 01:23 AM
I just get a new PC. I have an uncle who has a good and functional one that he doesn't need. All I need to do clean-up my hard drives and transplant them after I delete all software I longer need/scandisk/defrag.
____________
Coincidence? I think not!!!!
Lexxan said:I was out all weekend with a nasty cold and now i'm working on sorting my pc out because i'm (finally) making the switch from XP to windows 7.
I WILL UPDATE TOMORROW THOUGH!!!
What, you have been using windows XP?
You know how unsecure and dangerous windows in itself is? XP was a load of garbage with more malware than there are atoms in the universe.
Literally, for the sake of your children, family, dont use old OSses.
JoonasTo
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
What if Elvin was female?
posted April 08, 2014 10:16 AM
It is also five times faster and runs all old games better that the newer OSes. Just like Win98SE.
____________ DON'T BE A NOOB, JOIN A.D.V.E.N.T.U.R.E.
Going with the live version because Autotune doesn't suit her~
Anyway, this song... is an enormous guilty pleasure of mine and I make no apologies for it. I wish I had her a bit higher because Round and Round's official new version will be released on thursday (here's a Sneak Peek).
Even so, "Round and Round" is my second most played song of the bunch. Yes, this simple, traditional pop song has captured my heart. You know how there's something about a particular song that makes you want to loop it infinitely yet you struggle to identify it? This is what I feel about this entry. I CAN'T STOP LISTENING TO THIS.
I feel that the power of "Round and Round" comes from the fact that it's accessible, fun, without pretences AND is a deceptively catchy earworm. The Lyrics, while rather nonsensical, fit the music like a glove and make the song FLOW.
The chorus is the best example of this: YOU DON'T KNOW YOU DON'T KNOW IS IT LOVE IS IT HATE WHAT ARE WE CHAAAANGIIIING (what are we doing) YOU DON'T KNOW YOU DON'T BUT- god this is just infinite. There's a certain serendipity between the flow of this song and its title and I ADORE it.
Other things I like about this include:
- The hilarious backing singers (sassy blonde/overachieving brunette <3)
- Tinkara's ability to transform into any flavour of woman. From looking cute in a semi-orchestra attire with bangs, she has rocked crazy frizzly 80s hair in her cast pics, to becoming Miss Constance Hardbroom's doppelgänger in her Eurovision.tv VT
- the line "And now, I'm gonna show you how to BREATHE, I'm gonna show you how to *LIVE*", which is a direct contender for "best lyric in eurovision 2014".
- The gratuituous and obnoxious flute <3 I always love when people add obnoxious intruments into their songs (pop with folk/ethno influences IS my favourite musical genre) and the prop also makes Tinkara look like a crazed music teacher in every guise she dons <3
- The song was written by Hannah Mancini. The name probably doesn't ring a bell, untill i tell you that she "sang" the song "Straight Into Love" into devastation last year. This year however, it's her chance for revenge. Going from last as a singer to first as a songwrite would be THE ultimate revenge, and honestly, I hope it happens.
Conclusion: I can't wait for the official version and bump it up by like... 7 spots or smth <3
Chances: favourable.
Let's not beat around the bush: Slovenia is likely going to qualify based on draw alone (second last), and if the new Round and Round is more polished than the current, basic version, it will only be a formality.
That being said, it's still Slovenia... in a competitive semi final. and they perform between Greece and Romania. Who knows what is going to happen.
I have no idea how well (or poorly) this would do in the finals. It obviously doesn't win, but it could finish in the top half under some circumstances.
Undo my sad
Undo what hurts so bad
Undo my pain
Gonna get out through the rain
I know that I am over you,
At last I know what I should do
Undo my sad
It has been suggested that Sanna suffers from SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) caused by the Swedish winter.
Therefore psychlogists have adviced her to perform in a light therapy room, i.e. a spotlight lamp cage.
Anyway, the mainstream criticism is that you cannot undo your "sad", it's only "sadness" that can be undone.
Alternatively the adjective "sad" has to be followed by a noun. Undo's composer Fredrik Kempe has decided that this noun is going to be "love".
This is a great relief for those posters in this thread who have complained about the unoriginal rhyme SAD+BAD in the chorus of Undo. The rhyme LOVE+BAD is truly inventive!
Before you ask... I have checked that this news was published on the 8th and NOT on the 1st of April.
One thing I have always loved about Ukraine during the preshow is that they always make their selections early and that they always polish up their song before the deadline. Last year, Gravity morphed from an inconsistent mess with overbearing vocals into a graceful butterfly that captured my heart and ran away with it to undiscovered horizons.
This year, Tick-Tock went from a fun, but trashy pop song with semi-incestuous lyrics:
into a song that can actually be taken seriously.
Part of why i'm really excited for this song especially is because it's one of the few classic europop songs in this contest and because it's from Ukraine. Ukraine is one of my favourite countries in Eurovision and mostly because they absolutely NAIL the "short-skirted slavic babe with a catchy pop song" archetype. I don't know how great Tick Tock's staging will be, but i can only imagine something spectacular. I can't wait to see what journey Tick Tock will bring me on.
Chances: Very good
It's Ukraine. Even in times of turmoil, Ukraine will do very well in this contest because they have the perfect combination of amazing music + a great social game that is needed to win this contest.
Speaking of which, the crisis in Ukraine will, more than anything, result in a quite few SYMPATHY votes. Russia will prob give them nothing, but western-europe might be more tempted than usual.
While not quizically not counted among the favourites (again.. why not? It's Ukraine), Tick Tock could be a dark horse top 5'er. There are a few distinct parallells between this and Eurovision 2008 runner-up Shady Lady, and it would surprise me if Ukraine failed to be successful this year as well.
JoonasTo
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
What if Elvin was female?
posted April 10, 2014 04:51 PM
Ugh...
Ukraine is so K-Pop this year. Everything from the gaudy lyrics, the boring melody to the video just screams K-Pop.
And while it is true that K-Pop is mostly just outdated European pop, there's a good reason why it's outdated in Europe... ____________ DON'T BE A NOOB, JOIN A.D.V.E.N.T.U.R.E.
Lexxan
Honorable
Undefeatable Hero
Unimpressed by your logic
posted April 11, 2014 12:36 AM
In other news I also rewatched #Helsinki last week, so here's kind of a throwback ranking all in one post:
1. Georgia - A top 10 entry of all times for me. An amazing blend of fresh pop and folklore, swords dancers and eye-watering backdrops. the hook of the chorus is also epic: "SAI-LING. THROUGH. MY STORY. SHA-RING. MY. HISTORY. eternal love <3
2. Serbia - MOLITVAAAAAAAAAA!!! if only more ballads could be this compelling and staged this well.
3. Russia - Three sexy girls dressed like schoolgirls that fire one innuendo after the other in coalminer's english? I'M SOLD. (and by the look of it, so is joonas)
4. Ukraine - A dancing Christmas tree bellowing about how Russia needs to gtfo? How prescient and hilarious. (btw what an amazing top 3 <3)
5. Bulgaria - I could listen to Elitsa's frantic screams and Stoyan's overdone percussions all day <3
6. F.Y.R. Macedonia - So much Eastern-Europe domination <3 This song about the Balkan soul was so adorable it melted by icy heart.
7. Moldova - Her English is absolutely horrible ("Itch pee pill wheel gnaw our wishees no mawwwwwr" ), but the flagthrowing spiel, the fiery backdrop, the rock music chorus all make this such a captivating entry.
8. Andorra- SO ROBBED!!! I don't care that it's Andorra nor care that it sounds exactly like the Total Drama Island opening theme: This song is vibrant and energetic and should've made the finals.
9. Slovenia - Opera on eurovision is always OTT and hilarious (see: Ernmann, Malena and Ouatu, Cezar), and this was no exception. Bosnia actually attempted a similar thing to Cvet z Juga and failed, which only reinforces Slovenia's domination that night <3
10. Hungary - Living proof that Hungary are unfairly bullied in this contest. She almost sings her lungs out, wears a "i love jesus" wifebeater, has a bus stop sign among he props, gets second in the semis and then only finishes 9th in the finals? Wtf, so robbed.
11. Iceland - Eh, it's the sort of Dated Rock only Albania would like but i felt the subject of a long lost love suited it perfectly. Like Andorra, unfairly robbed by the STUPID "last year's top 10 automatically move on to the finals" regulation.
12. Cyprus - It disappoints me that the hilarity of a Cypriot haggress screeching an electropop number in French was lost to europe
13. Spain - I'm not that fond of boysbands, but they were fun!
14. Sweden - Fun Fact: The Worrying Kind is one of the few eurovision songs that falls within my (admittedly narrow) vocal range and therefore can sing. Also, those elephant-leg trousers are hilarious.
15. Greece - This is classic Greece, except sung by a (gay) man. I like it.
16. Germany - I liked the song, but it felt somewhat out of place in eurovision. 1930's crooners aren't the best idea Germany has had (thought i suppose it beats Gracia Baur and Miss Kiss Bang Bang)
17. Norway- Norway going latin <3 I dislike that genre of music actually, but the fact that it's Norway and that Guri was in her late 40s and still went through 3 dress changes is kind of funny to me.
18. Belgium - lol the singing was atrocious, but again, i think it's funny that Belgium once sent a gay indian nerd profession his love for all things disco <3
19. Portgual - Really nice, but it doesn't set my world on fire.
20. Montenegro - It's their debut entry. It's aight.
21. Bosnia & Herzegovina - A nice song, but completely unmemorable. And her mustard dress.
22. Malta - Olivia Lewis trying to win the maltese national finals 9 times and winning on her 10th try <3 and then failing miserably . Also the beat was mediterranean/middle eastern yet the styling was non-descript far east-asian? wtf, woman.
23. Denmark - OH MY GOD WHAT A LAME SONG. "Drama Queen" my ass. There was no drama in this run-the-mill song. DQ actually tried her best to liven up the performance but sadly, it's just not enough for me to care.
24. Belarus - Definitely the poorest excuse of English that night, and quite possibily in the history of everdom. Unlike Natalia Barbu's engrish, which was comically bad, Koldun's "english"
was just sad and tainted the act for me. "Yes, i'm wheeling" O__O
24. France - ::The "Oh, France *condescending pat on head*" jingle plays::
26. The Netherlands - It's disappointing that Edsilia returned to the contest with a song this boring and dated, especially if you consider how great she was in 1998.
27. Lithuania - They called themselves "4Fun". Spoiler: they weren't.
28. Estonia - Most median entry ever in eurovision? Quite possibly.
29. Armenia - The most boring. Nice toilet paper tree though.
30. Finland - Generic pop that i don't care for. What puts this into dislike are the lyrics: "Leave me alone because i feel like DYING" o__O Okay, Finland, you may now stop cutting yourselves.
31. Croatia - lame
32. Austria - lamer
33. Poland - the lamest
34. Romania - NO ONE CARES FOR YOUR CHEAP TELEVOTE BAITING TACTICS, *HO*MANIA.
35. Israel - Cringe-inducingly unfunny, which is exactly how satire shouldn't be.
36. United Kingdom - Go home, UK. You're drunk.
37. Switzerland - This being the favourite to win O__O Staging is lame, song is lame, concept is LAME. There's nothing to like from this. Also, the two backing singers were part of The Music Stars. Major points off.
38. Latvia - A of all, you are not Il Divo. B of all, stop trying to be Italy, Latvia. Italy sucks. C of all... you're bringing this in jeans and papier-maché roses. STOP. KIDDING. YOURSELVES. THAT YOU'RE ARTSY. YOU'RE NOT. D of all, this qualified because it performed last out of 28 entries in the semi final -__-. E of all, the one with the extra-punchable face was in Pirates of the Sea the year after this. F of all: DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE.
39. Albania - Whichever Albanian dinosaur thought it would be a good idea to *literally* send a dirge to Eurovision should be dragged into the streets and shot. Also Frederik tried to get Identitët disqualified last year. TRAITOR!!!!!
40. Ireland - "And the archipelagic icicles
have melted like the cage" WHAT KIND OF PSEUDO-INTELLECTUAL BS IS THIS??? omg, the lyrics are embarrassing in how stupid they are (made worse by the fact that this is Ireland, a native anglophone nation), but worse of all, THIS EFFING WOMAN CANNOT SING. Oh god, Her voice. It's nails on a chalkboard.
41. Czech Republic - Anyone who can sit through more than 5 seconds of this deserves a snowing medal!
42. Turkey - Can't sing. Can't dance. Inaudible, yet made the top 4 based because it's Turkey. It did NOT deserved to the the third best scoring Turkish entry of all times (at the time, anyway). So yeah, foadiaf forever, Kenan Dogulu. You suck.
Overall, #Helsinki2007 is not a bad year. Production is really good. The stage and hosting are great. I wouldn't mind if Finland hosted again in the future. Too bad this selection of songs is fairly weak. My top 7 are among my favourite songs, but everything else is either irredeemably terrible, or mildly (un)likable padding.
and there's also this:
The bane of terry wogan's existence <3
#11 for 2013 will be up tomorrow ____________
Coincidence? I think not!!!!
Quote:there's no way she gets a singple point from ANY of the ex-soviet states and their generally VERY negative attitude to anything LGBT
Marija Serifovic (Molitva) is very openly a lesbian and she won the Euro. And is among the most sung acts in X-factor and other singing contests here. A song is a song and a voice is a voice, as long as you're not deliberately shifting your audience's attention to something else.
I actually like Wurst's song, I can picture Shirley Basey singing it and it being awesome, but the guy - no matter how sympathethic and reminiscent of him - did choose to focus on being an attentionwhoring act, and a tool of contemporary politicking. I don't think it's gonna be the evil eastern war machine's fault if he flops.
Which would be a pity cause the song is alright.
____________
"Let me tell you what the blues
is. When you ain't got no
money,
you got the blues."
Howlin Wolf
Lexxan
Honorable
Undefeatable Hero
Unimpressed by your logic
posted April 14, 2014 12:19 AM
Hope for the best, expect the Wurst
also, i've been slacking. Sorry for that! I brought my PC in order, so i'm going to finish this ranking THIS week
11. Moldova Christina Scarlat - "Wild Soul"
Semi 1 - Slot #11
Say about bombastic ballads what you want, but I like them ridiculous and OTT and not downright unsettling (Mother ). And boy, does this deliver on riducule and over the topness
So where do I even start?
The Lyrics? Of course, masterpieces like "What am I, Am I Human?", "WILD SOUL IS RUSHING THROUGH MY BODY AND MIND" and pretty much the entire chorus speak for themselves. I'm IN LOVE with them. It's years since we last had lyrics this pompous and overbearing and i love it(Samantha Janus from #Rome1991 is perhaps the nearest example, with her "Half the world is hungry just through being born and every day is a compromise for a grain of corn." , but I digress)
The melody? This song is anything but pleasant. It's MENACING. And I LOVE it. Not everything needs to be sweet, cute and friendly. I love that we got a song that could easily be the themesong for a Disney Villain or Anti-Hero. Christina's singing voice is also uncharacteristically low for a woman and that just add to the threatening feel of this song.
The staging. Lol. For a country as poor as Moldova (they still broadcast in 3:4 O_O), they always managed to whip up amazing staging.
Examples from the Moldovan National Final:
THAT DRESS
THOSE DANCERS
THOSE... HOVERCRAFTS???
I demand more of this.
On the flip side to all of this, Christina's live singing abilities are questionable (she did well in Eurovision In Concert but her vocals during the NF are best left undisclosed). The dubstep is pointless.
Chances: Average
Moldova's in Semi 1 without Romania. While Moldova can count on the Soviet alliance for some votes (it was part of the Soviet Union, after all) and nearly always qualifies they are far from a certainty and actually may not make it this time around. If Christina doesn't sing off key, they have a good shot at making it, but otherwise i think it's kthxbai for them.
I don't expect too much from Moldova if they do make the finals. They will be midcarders, probably.
____________
Coincidence? I think not!!!!
I think I have LOVED every single Moldovan ESC song for the last years.
____________
Over himself, over his own
body and
mind, the individual is
sovereign.
- John Stuart Mill
This thread is pages long: 
posted April 01, 2014 01:58 PM
(Listen from 19.25)
posted April 01, 2014 10:33 PM
. I hope it happens. The ultimate middle finger to that evil alliance and I could actually attend a contest that was hosted in Vienna so...
<3
The rhyme LOVE+BAD is truly inventive!
), but the flagthrowing spiel, the fiery backdrop, the rock music chorus all make this such a captivating entry. 
). And boy, does this deliver on riducule and over the topness
