I think it makes sense to have a general discussion thread to build this community and for you to be able to interact more with each other and talk about stuff.
You can write about all kinds of Eurovision related things here: What are your current favorite songs? Which one grew on or off you recently? What are your staging suggestions? What are your rankings? What are your predictions?
Have fun talking about the songs :D
Thanks! I actually discovered that the music videos everyone posted a couple months ago aren’t geo-blocked like the competition seems to be. I know it’s not quite the same as the live shows, but I was mainly curious about the music.
My take: a lot of the music is just so… bland. Like, no offense intended, it’s just so bland. Most of what I listened to is stuff that sounds like top-10 American “”“Corpo-Pop”“”. I only got about 4-5 songs in before I started skipping to anything I’d heard about or looked interesting. That said…
Armenia/Ladaniva - I loved the blend of folk and pop that Armenia’s entry had. I don’t know if they qualified for the finals, but imo they should have. That said, I’d love to see Armenia dig System of a Down out of hiatus and send them to Eurovision. I know SoaD is technically American, but all the band members are Armenian. The big issue I can see, however, is that despite Serj’s insistance to the contrary, SoaD is a very political band and might refuse to participate simply because Armenia would have to muzzle them.
Austria/Kaleen - sorry Austrians, it’s extremely bland.
Australia/Electric Fields - probably should go back and give this a second try. I felt like it was going somewhere, but kind a lost interest halfway through. I’d love to see Australia field King Gizzard, but they’d probably have the same issue as Armenia would have with SoaD. I can’t really see King Gizzard being willingly muzzled. They might be able to talk them into something like 12 Bar Bruise though.
Croatia/Baby Lasagne - heh, Baby Lasagne is fun, plus he’s got a silly name.
Estonia/5MIINUST x Puuluup - Wasn’t a huge fan of this entry, but I still enjoyed it for the same reason I liked Armenia’s entry.
Finland/Windows95man - deserves to be in the top 3. While I didn’t feel like the music was that amazing, the stage show in the music video was 10/10.
Ireland/Bambie Thug - yeah. I like this. Not the music itself, but how “risky” it is compared to the other entries I listened to. I like that Ireland took a risk.
Netherlands/Joost Klein - I can’t decide if I like Joost’s Europapa or not, but I can tell why people liked it and the music video was great. The story behind it makes me really sad he was banned for such a minor thing. This might have been his only chance to really participate in Eurovision and he got banned for obvious bullshit.
There were others I listened to, but I just… they were just kinda meh. All-in-all, I was honestly hoping for stuff that was more unique and risky. Maybe I just got unlucky when I was skipping through stuff though. Also, Eurovision should loosen the “no politics” rule. Telling countries not to take shots at each other is reasonable. However, there’s a lot of “political” music that doesn’t specifically call any one country or culture out (like environmentally-focused stuff) which would probably be disqualified if it was written for Eurovision.
Are there any others that I should listen to?
Np. The fun part is watching the show with friends and family and simply having a good time. The promotional videos don’t really capture the spirit and the songs will be tweaked for the live show to make them more interesting.
But you’re absolutely correct about the songs. A lot of songs use the same formula and similar styles will come up again and again. It was more fun when artists had to sing in their home countries’ languages. But every year there will be something unique. And often it is political. They just veil it better and sometimes the audience is in favour of the message. That said: I don’t know what you define as ‘risky’.
Armenia/Ladaniva - Made it to the finals and were one of the better Acts. And I love your idea of sending SoaD for Armenia (Switzerland send Celine Dion before she became really famous. Nationality isn’t such a problem). Unfortunately I don’t see the band coming together again. Serj and John seem to be polar opposites when it comes to their personal views.
You seem to have covered the interesting stuff from 2024. If you’re not familiar with the older ESC songs - there’s Finland / Lordi - Hard Rock Halleluja, who won.
Winners or other artists
Last year: Croatia / Let 3 - Mama ŠČ!, Finland / Käärijä - Cha Cha Cha
Earlier: Moldova / Zdob şi Zdub & Frații Advahov – Trenulețul Italy / Måneskin - Zitti e buoni Israel / Netta - Toy Ukraine / Verka Serduchka - Dancing Lasha Tumbai
listen to san Marino.