Eurovision Song Contest 2014

force eleven

Our song's chorus is a direct rip off from last years Teardrops. No chance of winning. Will qualify for the final though. Probably finish around 20th.

yerwanthere123

Azerbaijan

Ok ballad, has the potential to be a grower. I think the juries will like this. Doesn't sound like a top 5 song, but if Azerbaijan are rigging the votes as they have been in recent years then it could be. (Edit: This isn't actually confirmed as the Azerbaijan entry, but it's expected that it will be. Hope they pick something else though, they can do better)


Meanwhile, the UK's entry has pretty much been confirmed as Children of the Universe by Molly Smitten-Downes. Official confirmation to come at 7.30.

yerwanthere123

TGJD wrote: »

I would put my money on either Norway or Poland taking this. If pushed I'd say Poland will shock some people and win it with their catchy comedy song.

If you're backing Norway on the presumption they will pick Silent Storm then you could well be correct. I doubt Poland could win though. There's no way the juries would get behind this. I know the juries can be surprising sometimes, but I can't imagine any circumstances where Poland would be near the top of the jury rankings.

Welsh Megaman

I feel slightly cheated that we here in the UK don't have our own Eurosong special anymore, similar to Friday night's LLS shenanigans!

Where's Sonia squaring up to Bonnie Tyler?

Daz Sampson squaring up to Carrie and David Grant?

Harrumph!

*kicks the cat*

Here's the UK entry. I'm not mad about the song itself (the melody is ok but the lyrics are too cheesy) but I love her voice so I want it to do well. It may not be a winner but I think the UK will have a better year than usual this time around:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wFUPCkmlOo

EDIT: Ok I've listened a couple of more times and it's seriously growing on me. I think it's her voice more than anything else; vocally she reminds me a little of Ellie Goulding but with a bit of a rockier/raspier quality.
Also interesting to note that nearly all of the negative comments about it seem to be from British people! :pac:

yerwanthere123

Yeah not sure about the UK entry myself, I'll have to give it a couple of more listens. Like you say, the lyrics are cheesy but she can really sing, which obviously helps. It'll work a lot better on a big stage. On first impressions though, it's certainly a step in the right direction.

Mr.Nice Guy

I'd prefer Ireland's song over that but it sounds like they have a stronger singer.

yerwanthere123

Deleted User wrote: »

Here's the UK entry. I'm not mad about the song itself (the melody is ok but the lyrics are too cheesy) but I love her voice so I want it to do well. It may not be a winner but I think the UK will have a better year than usual this time around:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wFUPCkmlOo

EDIT: Ok I've listened a couple of more times and it's seriously growing on me. I think it's her voice more than anything else; vocally she reminds me a little of Ellie Goulding but with a bit of a rockier/raspier quality.
Also interesting to note that nearly all of the negative comments about it seem to be from British people! :pac:

Yeah I think it's a grower alright. Apparently it's going to get a revamp before Copenhagen, which should work in its favour. I think the chorus needs to pack more of a punch and make more use of Molly's great voice. She needs to hit a few big notes imo.

JP Liz V1

Former UK X Factor contestant Ruth Lorenzo will be representing Spain

Go Harvey Go

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

Former UK X Factor contestant Ruth Lorenzo will be representing Spain

Here's her song again, since the video of it that yerwanthere123 posted a week and a half ago has been removed by the uploader for whatever reason:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHjMlA8QVrM

yerwanthere123

We can add Israel to the mix now. Not too bad at all

20 songs picked, 17 to go. Overall though, the overall standard so far isn't that high. We haven't even heard it in it's national final yet, but I still think Silent Storm is the winner.

Starscream25

Norway are favourites to win already without having their song picked yet, after going through them I think a song called sole survivor by Elizabeth Carew is very catchy, my favourite so far http://youtu.be/okksJ2kXU3g

Starscream25

Starscream25 wrote: »

Norway are favourites to win already without having their song picked yet,

They should have won last year imo. "I Feed You My Love" is a great song by any standard (not just by Eurovision standards) and was one of my favourite songs from 2013. Too good for Eurovision, I suppose! :cool:

yerwanthere123

It would be weird if they won again this year, Fairytale is still relatively fresh in the memory.

TGJD

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

We can add Israel to the mix now. Not too bad at all

20 songs picked, 17 to go. Overall though, the overall standard so far isn't that high. We haven't even heard it in it's national final yet, but I still think Silent Storm is the winner.

I liked silent storm as well. I think if it wins it will just be another example of Ireland being a year or two behind the curve. We always send something similar to the tops songs of the year or two previous rather than leading a trend to stand out. Is it just me that thinks silent storm sound exactly like a Damien Rice song. Specifically nine crimes. We could easily have produced something like that rather than the song we went with.

Slovenia: I like the flute. The rest of it is pretty meh.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aR99Ery73fM

Sweden: Very bland and safe, the type of song Azerbaijan usually sends. And her voice is kind of annoying in the chorus when she sings the word "undo".
But because it's Sweden you can't rule it out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLd8yEw171U

yerwanthere123

Yeah, I really liked Sanna when I first heard her a couple of weeks back, but I'm not so sure it was the right song in the end. I think Ace Wilder might have been the better choice. Still, Undo is a strong song and based on what's been picked so far (which has been poor overall!), I'd say it'll be top 5.

I agree with you about Slovenia. Very safe and solid, and with only one Balkan neighbour to vote for them in their semi they're really going to struggle to qualify.

Denmark also chose their entry tonight, and it's been pretty poorly received from what I've seen, although it doesn't seem that bad to me? I think it could possibly manage top ten.

Denmark just sounds like a Bruno Mars B-side to me. Biggest problem is that Hungary has a similar song that's a little better so the Danish entry will probably look weak in comparison. I doubt it'll be two years in a row for Copenhagen.
Seems like Russia is also struggling this year; they cancelled the national final because the songs submitted apparently weren't good enough! http://oikotimes.com/2014/03/04/russia-2014-internal-decision-on-march-8/

I'm finding it really hard to pick a potential winner this year. Of the songs chosen thus far, Romania sounds the most like a Eurovision winner to me, even though I'm pretty indifferent to it myself. Norway might do it if they send "Silent Storm", and Azerbaijan are always gonna be near the top, but I dunno. It feels like a fairly weak year this year in comparison to the past three or four years.

France, UK and Poland are my personal favourites so far but none of them are anywhere near as good as some of the entries I've loved from recent years (like "I Feed you My Love", "Euphoria", "Taken By a Stranger")

yerwanthere123

Good god I hope you're wrong about Romania! Talk about a mess of a song. Playing With Fire was infinitely better.

I know I'm repeating myself, but if Silent Storm is picked for Norway it should, based on what's been picked so far, blow everything else out of the water. We'll see it performed live for the first time tomorrow night, so it'll be interesting to see if the live version packs as much of a punch as the studio version.

Regarding the overall standard, who's left to be picked that could be a challenger? Probably only Armenia, Azerbaijan (if they decide to go with a different song), Germany and Russia. But then again, would people really vote for Russia what with all that's going on in Ukraine?

I reckon the Israeli song is pretty strong. It's not very original, but it's one of the few that's made me want to listen again.

yerwanthere123

yerwanthere123 wrote:

Regarding the overall standard, who's left to be picked that could be a challenger?

Well there's always San Marino! :pac: Valentina Monetta is probably gonna sing every year until she finally qualifies!
Also Albania are reworking their song into English; if that turns out well then it might stand out, given that it's one of the better ballads this year.

yerwanthere123

I feel sorry for San Marino, they really should have qualified last year. Great song, but the execution was terrible.

Looks like Montenegro is breaking with tradition and taking it seriously this year. Boo.
The musical parts are quite nice, I suppose, but the song as a whole is just yawnsome.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xym7CQFFTOU

yerwanthere123

The Montenegrin song is pleasant enough, I'd say it's probably the 4th best song in semi 1 thus far after Sweden, Hungary & Estonia. They'll have a tough time qualifying though, they haven't a single voting ally in their semi. A shame they're not in the 2nd semi, they'd have Slovenia, Switzerland & Austria.

Here is the first live performance of Silent Storm. It sounds pretty good live. I think the overall presentation needs work though. I imagine it'll win the Norwegian final pretty easily

Greece: I don't think I've ever seen such a nightclubby-type song in Eurovision before. It's the type of thing I'd never listen to while sober but would have no problem dancing to after a few drinks. Honestly if I heard this on a night out I'd never have thought it was a Eurovision song. It'll stand out a bit among all the ballads anyway.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgxOGTm6Lns

Mr.Nice Guy

I don't like the Greek one at all. I must say I do like the Romania song. I think it starts off well but it does get quite messy about two minutes in. I think it will be good live though and they should have won a few years ago with Playing With Fire so I hope it does well.

I didn't like the UK one much at first but I'm warming to it. Same goes for the Swedish one.

I've been looking at some of the comments on the Irish entry on Youtube. General feedback seems to be positive, with the negative feedback being that it's too similar to last year's winner and that it's bland.

I expect it to qualify and perhaps push for a top ten. I don't see an outstanding candidate yet but I think a few more countries will reveal their songs this week.

Mr.Nice Guy

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

I don't like the Greek one at all. I must say I do like the Romania song. I think it starts off well but it does get quite messy about two minutes in. I think it will be good live though and they should have won a few years ago with Playing With Fire so I hope it does well.

I didn't like the UK one much at first but I'm warming to it. Same goes for the Swedish one.

I've been looking at some of the comments on the Irish entry on Youtube. General feedback seems to be positive, with the negative feedback being that it's too similar to last year's winner and that it's bland.

I expect it to qualify and perhaps push for a top ten. I don't see an outstanding candidate yet but I think a few more countries will reveal their songs this week.

I think Romania's biggest asset is the performers rather than the song; they're very good live singers, particularly the woman. I'd expect them to do very well.

As for Ireland, I'd be very surprised if we don't qualify. We're lucky in that we're in the smaller semi-final, where only 5 songs won't qualify, and we have the UK voting in that semi, which is always a plus.

So we only need to beat five other songs in the semi-final to qualify. The ones that are most likely to qualify imo are:

Israel (decent song, good singer)
Norway (song hasn't even been picked yet and they're still among the bookies favourites)
Poland (you don't get 40 million Youtube hits without doing something right.....unless you're Rebecca Black!)
Finland (pop-rock tends to do rather well)
Greece (it's Greece, of course it'll qualify)
Macedonia (solid, catchy song)
Romania (catchy song, very good singers)

Which leaves three spots open. Georgia (who are sending a jazz band by the sounds of it; who knows how that will go down?) has yet to be released but for arguments sake let's say they'll qualify. That leaves two spots open. Now look at the rest:

Austria is sending a bearded drag queen; juries might see her as just a gimmick and televoters from the more conservative countries won't go for it.
Lithuania is an ok song but the singer is very shouty.
Belarus, as awesome as it is, won't get through sadly.
Slovenia never do well in televotes and their song is nothing special.
Malta has a song that juries may lap up but televoters won't be excited by.
Switzerland has a guy with crazy eyes who can whistle but can't sing!

Surely Ireland will take one of the last two spots when you consider the other options!

I really have no idea why I take this so seriously.

yerwanthere123

Deleted User wrote: »

I think Romania's biggest asset is the performers rather than the song; they're very good live singers, particularly the woman. I'd expect them to do very well.

As for Ireland, I'd be very surprised if we don't qualify. We're lucky in that we're in the smaller semi-final, where only 5 songs won't qualify, and we have the UK voting in that semi, which is always a plus.

So we only need to beat five other songs in the semi-final to qualify. The ones that are most likely to qualify imo are:

Israel (decent song, good singer)
Norway (song hasn't even been picked yet and they're still among the bookies favourites)
Poland (you don't get 40 million Youtube hits without doing something right.....unless you're Rebecca Black!)
Finland (pop-rock tends to do rather well)
Greece (it's Greece, of course it'll qualify)
Macedonia (solid, catchy song)
Romania (catchy song, very good singers)

Which leaves three spots open. Georgia (who are sending a jazz band by the sounds of it; who knows how that will go down?) has yet to be released but for arguments sake let's say they'll qualify. That leaves two spots open. Now look at the rest:

Austria is sending a bearded drag queen; juries might see her as just a gimmick and televoters from the more conservative countries won't go for it.
Lithuania is an ok song but the singer is very shouty.
Belarus, as awesome as it is, won't get through sadly.
Slovenia never do well in televotes and their song is nothing special.
Malta has a song that juries may lap up but televoters won't be excited by.
Switzerland has a guy with crazy eyes who can whistle but can't sing!

Surely Ireland will take one of the last two spots when you consider the other options!

I really have no idea why I take this so seriously.

Cause it's Eurovision that's why! Serious business!!

Like you say, I don't think Ireland should have too much trouble qualifying. How we'll do in the final is an entirely different matter, difficult to say at this stage.

Meanwhile, here's the Dutch entry. Nice pleasant song, but I just think it needs a little bit more life in places?

yerwanthere123

A lot of fans were upset when Sanna Nielsen was picked over Ace Wilder for Sweden. Where do ye stand on that? Personally I think they may have missed a trick not sending Ace.

yerwanthere123

Germany

Not a Eurovision winner.

Georgia

*shrug*

yerwanthere123

Armenia

It's alright. A grower I'd say. I can see it doing well enough.

San Marino

Not going to qualify.

Yeah I expected more from San Marino tbh. They had pretty much a whole year to compose a song, I think they could have done better than that. Maybe it'll have a better chance if it's sung in Italian.

I don't have any particular opinion on Germany. It's there.

I admire the Georgian entry more than I enjoy it. If Eurovision was about how musically "sophisticated" the songs were then they'd probably win but I reckon an entry like that is gonna go completely over most peoples' heads.

Armenia definitely sounds like it could be a contender. I'm a sucker for big dramatic strings!

Tonight we'll know Azerbaijan, Moldova, Norway and Portugal. Then Belgium tomorrow night and Austria on Tuesday. That only leaves Russia (who seem to have no idea what they're doing this year; I say they should bring back the Babushki grannies from 2012! )

yerwanthere123

It'll be very interesting to see what kind of reception Russia get at Eurovision this year

Go Harvey Go

Worth pointing out Armenia's record up to now.

From its debut in 2006 until 2010, it never failed to finish outside the top ten, with a high of fourth in 2008:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ga_ItCE6tY

Sirusho actually finished ahead of Dima Bilan in the semi, and in the final picked up more 12s than anyone else.

However, no less than 15 countries failed to award her any points - including the UK, Ireland, Azerbaijan (naturally), and many of the countries that had taken part in the other semi. Fair to say, that destroyed her chances of victory.

And since 2010, her country hasn't come close to even making the top ten: failed to progress from the semis in '11, didn't take part in '12 because it was in Baku, and finished 18th in '13.

yerwanthere123

I remember Qele Qele quite well. Good song, but it's ranking was boosted massively by the huge Armenian diaspora all over Europe, specifically the Netherlands and Beligium, both of whom gave 12 points.

They gave Armenia 0 points last year, which clearly emphasises the benefits on the new voting system.

Starscream25

Carl Espen to represent norway, such a slow sad song tho.

yerwanthere123

No surprises with Carl being picked. Best song by a mile thus far.

There's quite a fan backlash starting already though.

Starscream25

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

No surprises with Carl being picked. Best song by a mile thus far.

There's quite a fan backlash starting already though.

It's starting to grow on me, the chorus is very powerful but I find the verse a bit so so, i can see both sides of the coin but I think the emotion attached to the song may give it a good end result.top 3 maybe, but it is the favourite, and favourites have won something like 12 of the last 13 eurovision I heard somewhere

Go Harvey Go

Starscream25 wrote: »

It's starting to grow on me, the chorus is very powerful but I find the verse a bit so so, i can see both sides of the coin but I think the emotion attached to the song may give it a good end result.top 3 maybe, but it is the favourite, and favourites have won something like 12 of the last 13 eurovision I heard somewhere

Well, Estonia's win in 2001 came as a complete surprise to almost everyone...

And I don't think many people expected Ell and Nikki to win for Azerbaijan in 2011, either.

yerwanthere123

I remember being completely baffled by both Estonia and Latvia winning in 2001 and 2002. They're really bad winners imo. I don't think Ell and Niki were the favourites but they were certainly up there, so their win didn't come as too much of a surprise to me. I thought their's was a really good song, although not many seem to agree.

Dima Bilan is the worst winner of recent times imo.

Mr.Nice Guy

Really don't see how that Norwegian song is so highly rated? I think it's very bland.

Iceland had a better ballad than that last year imo (the guy with the long hair and beard) and I don't think it threatened the leaders. I loved Norway last year but I don't see this year's entry as anything special.

Where are Sweden in the betting odds? I see a lot of positive comments on that on Youtube and it features highly in people's lists. I would be tempted to stick a few quid on it.

PS I think if Sweden win Eurovision they are just one win behind Ireland in the all-time winners list?

yerwanthere123

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

Really don't see how that Norwegian song is so highly rated? I think it's very bland.

Iceland had a better ballad than that last year imo (the guy with the long hair and beard) and I don't think it threatened the leaders. I loved Norway last year but I don't see this year's entry as anything special.

Where are Sweden in the betting odds? I see a lot of positive comments on that on Youtube and it features highly in people's lists. I would be tempted to stick a few quid on it.

PS I think if Sweden win Eurovision they are just one win behind Ireland in the all-time winners list?

Sweden are 3rd favourites with Paddy Power at 5/1. One to remember though is Sweden are one of the favourites pretty much every year. I'm unsure how Sanna will do tbh.

And you're correct, one more win will have Sweden at 6, just one behind us. Hopefully if that were to happen, it might inspire RTÉ to put more effort in. Can't have us losing our Eurovision crown! :eek:

Mr.Nice Guy

Portugal

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jz1eJjZ6uug

Trying to go down the Shakira route I think? Doesn't do anything for me. Might have had more of a chance if it was in English. Chorus is okay. Can't see it having much of an influence though.

yerwanthere123

Oh no, that's all a bit of a mess from Portugal. Like you say, they'd have more of a chance if it was in English. Kinda surprising when countries insist on singing in their own language when it's so rare for a non-English song to win. Particularly in the case of Portugal, you'd think given how unsuccessful they are after so long in the competition they might as well give English a try?

yerwanthere123

Moldova: I actually kind of like this one. And, because it's Moldova, you can be sure that the choreography will be ten times more gimmicky and nonsensical by the time the contest rolls around! :P

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbL5Mz75APc

And here's Portugal again, since the last video was taken down. Some people claiming that there was cheating going on and the writer of the song "bought" the televote.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbCe1916IJw

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

Oh no, that's all a bit of a mess from Portugal. Like you say, they'd have more of a chance if it was in English. Kinda surprising when countries insist on singing in their own language when it's so rare for a non-English song to win. Particularly in the case of Portugal, you'd think given how unsuccessful they are after so long in the competition they might as well give English a try?

I dunno, I like it when countries sing in their own language. Makes their entries feel more authentic or something. I don't think Portugal have ever cared about winning, they just like showcasing their artists.

EDIT: This is the Albanian entry in English. I think it sounded much better in Albanian.
Also Holy low budget video Batman! :eek:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4ABpIspdic

Go Harvey Go

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

I don't think Ell and Niki were the favourites but they were certainly up there, so their win didn't come as too much of a surprise to me. I thought their's was a really good song, although not many seem to agree.

Many expected Amaury Vassili and "Sognu" to win for France in 2011.

The song was certainly novel - a piece of operatic pop in the Corsican language.

Yet, despite 12s from Belgium and Greece, it only finished 15th. The breakdown of the voting suggested that the televoters were far less impressed by it than the juries were...

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

Iceland had a better ballad than that last year imo (the guy with the long hair and beard) and I don't think it threatened the leaders.

It finished 17th.

And it might have done better had it been sung in English rather than Icelandic...

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

Oh no, that's all a bit of a mess from Portugal. Like you say, they'd have more of a chance if it was in English. Kinda surprising when countries insist on singing in their own language when it's so rare for a non-English song to win. Particularly in the case of Portugal, you'd think given how unsuccessful they are after so long in the competition they might as well give English a try?

Deleted User wrote: »

I dunno, I like it when countries sing in their own language. Makes their entries feel more authentic or something. I don't think Portugal have ever cared about winning, they just like showcasing their artists.

Since its debut in 1964, Portugal has never even finished in the top five - its best result being 6th in 1996. :eek: :eek:

Go Harvey Go

Go Harvey Go wrote: »

Since its debut in 1964, Portugal has never even finished in the top five - its best result being 6th in 1996. :eek: :eek:

And the woman who sang that sixth place entry went on to be Colin Firth's love interest in Love Actually. She has a rather impressive CV! :P

Meanwhile, in Azerbaijan:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipQswujA5gw

In a word: zzzzzzz.

yerwanthere123

Go Harvey Go wrote: »

Many expected Amaury Vassili and "Sognu" to win for France in 2011.

The song was certainly novel - a piece of operatic pop in the Corsican language.

Yet, despite 12s from Belgium and Greece, it only finished 15th. The breakdown of the voting suggested that the televoters were far less impressed by it than the juries were...

The juries weren't all that impressed either, they ranked it 12th!

I remember France being the favourites that year, but I never got it. I wasn't surprised at all when they bombed in the final.

I scarcely remember a year when the bookmakers got it so badly wrong.

Iceland has also taken the step of translating their song into English. I still have a fondness for this song, even if it's seen by many as one of the worst in the competition.

And here's Belgium's entry. Very much a case of the singer being a lot better than the song. I suspect it will qualify though:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQ8jaHtmn38

EDIT: Just had another look at oddschecker and Belgium has jumped up to fifth, overtaking Romania and Hungary! :eek: I might be underestimating this one.

yerwanthere123

Armenia has overtaken Norway as favourite to win.

yerwanthere123

Austria