A Comme Ci Comme Ca Week

Hello and welcome to another Eurovision Sunday roundup. I hope you're not sick of them, because I'm going to keep going until May. This week has had a few songs that I really like and a few that I really don't.

The task of writing this column started early this week. Usually nothing happens until about noon on Saturday, but this Wednesday we had the first internally selected song released. That honor goes to DJ BoBo from Switzerland and his song "Vampires are alive". It's a love-it-or-hate-it song and I'm not in the "love it" camp. It is definitely not art, and it isn't even all that pleasurable to the ear, but it gets stuck in your head fast and won't go away (even when you're trying to sleep, as I found out), so once it comes time to vote I think that viewers will remember it no matter its position in the draw. And isn't that what it's all about?

The second internally selected song revealed this week was "Comme Ci, Comme Ca" by Evridiki for Cyprus. This is one of my two favorite songs selected this week. This song also gets stuck in my head easily, but I like it there. I just hope that the title doesn't indicate the song's outcome in the voting.

The third internally selected song revealed this week is "Love power" by The Krazy Mess Groovers for Belgium. It's a fun funk/disco song that would make great background music for a party, but I don't know how interesting the performance will be. Still, I'm hoping for the best.

There were also six national finals this weekend: four on Saturday and two on Sunday. First, Bulgaria chose Eliza Todorova with "Voda". It's probably this week's most eccentric song, if not this year's. It's a sort of ethnic rave, and while it may not be everyone's cup of tea it has grown on me. I just worry that it won't have an exciting enough performance - banging on drums didn't help the Netherlands much last year - so I hope that they add some dancers to make it a good show.

The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia chose "Mojot Svet" by Karolina. It's an exciting dramatic rock-influenced song, and I like it, but I have the feeling that, like recent Macedonian entries, it'll be translated into English, so I'll reserve my final judgement for later.

Remember three weeks ago when Slovenia chose "Cvet Z Juga" and I thought that opera might be a trend? Well guess what? One of my predictions actually came true! Latvia chose Bonaparti.lv and their popera song "Questa Notte". I like Slovenia's song a lot better, but I'm sure that Latvia's song will appeal to people my mother's age (in fact, I'm sure my mother would like them, because she's crazy about Il Divo). It's similar in concept to last year's, except with instruments and without an awkward intro.

Finally, late on Saturday (so late, it was dark outside where I live!) Spain chose Nash to sing "I Love You Mi Vida". Of course I'm happy because it was one of my favorites. I don't like the arrangement that they're using now, so I hope they change it before they get to Helsinki, because with a little adjustment it could be amazing. Also, they are not bad looking so that is a plus.

On Sunday, Armenia chose Hayko with "Anytime You Need". The song was co-written by Karen Kavaleryan, who co-wrote some of my favorite songs ("Northern Girl", "Never let you go", and of course, "Work your magic"), so that is a good sign.
Unlike all of those songs, it is a ballad that tries to be in the style of "Lane moje" or "Lejla". It's not as good as either of those, but that is a high standard to reach.

Finally, earlier today Montenegro picked Stevan Faddy who sang "Hadje Kroci". It's a nice rock song sung by a young guy that there isn't anything too similar to yet (although Andorra's seems like it could be).

Next week has finals in Croatia, Georgia, Greece, Israel, and Lithuania, as well as a second chance round in Sweden. Maybe I'll try making some predictions on the following week's final selections too.