Having Some Fun With EuroSundays

Welcome to another EuroSunday. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to post last week. This week, three countries chose their songs for Belgrade.

Belarus - After looking at reactions online, I think I must be the only person who likes “Hasta La Vista”. It’s Koldun-lite, which itself was Bilan-lite, and it’s not as good as either’s song, but it’s amusing. Hopefully this will have an entertaining performance in Belgrade even if it isn’t winning material.

Czech Republic - As in Belarus, my favorite song won in the Czech Republic, “Have Some Fun”. It’s a cute pop ballad with cute lyrics. However, the live vocal performance seemed a little unpolished, so I hope Tereza can improve that before May, because I’d hate to see this song do poorly because of shaky vocals.

Malta - My favorite in the national final was “Caravaggio”, but “Vodka” was my second favorite and the favorite of seemingly everyone else on the internet (as well as in Malta, obviously). It’s fun, but I’m not sure I like the introduction.

Montenegro also chose a singer, but I won’t comment on that until the song is presented. In addition, five countries took one step further to selecting their songs.

Belgium - “Magical Sensation” was my favorite out of this group so I’m glad it made it through.

Bulgaria cut its long list of possible songs to a manageable nine plus three wildcards, while Iceland still has a ways to go. I’ll talk more about these when they actually make a final decision.

Lithuania - I wasn’t particularly taken with any of the songs that made it through to the final, but if I had to pick, I guess I’d pick “Stone”.

Norway - “Far away” is so over the top, both in itself and in its performance, that I’d like to see it more. However, my favorite from this selection is “Always always”, so I’m hoping that makes it through the second chance round in two weeks.

Next week brings 4 national finals, in Azerbaijan, Estonia, Lithuania, Slovenia, and 3 semifinals in Belgium, Iceland, and Latvia. I havent listened to the songs from Azerbaijan, but I’d like to see “Ice-cold story“ in Estonia, “Birdie tweet“ in Lithuania, and“ Vrag naj vzame” in Slovenia.

Euromonday

Welcome to the first Eurosunday post of 2008! Unfortunately it's a week and a day late because of computer troubles. I'll keep it short and just reflect on some of the semi/finals that happened this past weekend (I wasn't able to watch the Icelandic semifinal so I won't comment on it).

Cyprus - None of the songs really excited me (this was unfortunately a common theme in the finals this weekend) and I wasn't too excited about "Femme Fatale". I think with work it could have a nice, fun stage presentation, but it does seem to drag on a bit. I will give them bonus points for singing in Greek.

Denmark - I like "Den jeg er", but the rest of the songs that made it through didn't do anything for me.

Lithuania - I like "Vakaras", but the rest of the songs that made it through didn't do anything for me.

Norway - I didn't have any favorites out of this semifinal, but I have heard some clips of songs in the next semifinals so I am more excited about those.

Switzerland - For some reason I was expecting "Era stupendo" to be terrible and boring, so I was pleasantly surprised when it was not bad at all, but actually kind of good. It appears that the song must be cut down 20 seconds, so I don't know how that will affect it, but I think it's a nice ballad with a pleasant melody.

Next week we see semifinals from the same countries (with the obvious exception of Cyprus and Switzerland), so I'll try to report on them next week on the appropriate day, as well as give my early opinions on the songs that were released earlier (Albania and Andorra, though neither are in their final form). Here's hoping for more excitement next week.

Konichiwa Bitches!

I had the iLike application on Facebook for a while but never really realized its worth until today, when I checked it and it said that Robyn was performing in New York in February. Naturally, my first instinct was to scream in delight like a 13 year old and buy tickets. So now, between her and the Spice Girls, February 2008 may be the best music month ever for me.