Reaction To Rehearsals: Day 2: Part 1 Israel-Denmark

A very good morning to everyone! (Or Afternoon if your in Baku). It is time to start viewing the tapes again and go back to the rehearsals in Baku and see what is coming out of the Crystal Hall. This post will be updated as the day goes on.

Israel - Rehearsal Video
There has been a definite lift in support over the last month for Izabo, who have gone from being a marginal qualifier to a likely qualifier on some peoples lists. While the song might be good I think that the performance might just be lacking the killer blow to push this into the final. It remains a very strong song but there is something more that the performance needs. That said the staging is still good with lots of strange clocks in the background and the backing singers are very strangely positioned which might aid the entry.


San Marino - Rehearsal Video
No one is expecting San Marino to really improve their odds of qualifying drastically. The song is still pretty poor, but the general reaction to her first rehearsal is that it was rather strong, it still was not quite to the standard that we've seen from Iceland and Romania yesterday but overall I think that this vocally good. This song is 7/1 to qualify to the final - surely those odds will shorten just a little today. The problem I felt that was there today was I wondered would people really "get" the song if they are not told explicitly that it's about Facebook?

Cyprus - Rehearsal Video
Vocally I think that this has certainly proved us wrong. Vocals are still a bit lat but it is certainly not the car crash that was expected. The backdrop does have echos of their 2007 entry. I don't fully understand why people are so into this entry and I think that it is one of the weaker entries in this semi-final however there does seem to be a broad expectation that this will qualify. I'm unconvinced though. I haven't seen the camera angles and when there is so much choreography involved you really need to see how it looks on camera. I'm going to sit on the fence for a bit on this entry.

Denmark - Rehearsal Video
There is a very interesting choice of background here and it is a good improvement on the national final. Vocally I think that this is great. The whole package has come together really, really well and I suspect Denmark are most likely going to win this semi-final at this point in the rehearsals. Some have complained that there is too much going on onstage but I think that this is a spectacular performance. Anna Bergendahl comparisons might be on the rise but I think that they are totally out of place here. 

Review: Cyprus

After quite a lot of procrastination I finally sat down to write my review of the Cypriot song La La Love sung by Ivi Adamou. They will perform in the second half of the first semi-final.

Cyprus this year provided great excitement when they released the three songs in their National Final. When they did this we really had not heard any real high quality songs. Now that we have I really am bored by the Cypriot entry. The song feels very false and generic even when it is performed live. I think that it is the standard Fanwank, it lacks any notes that could be hard to sing or anything that would give this song a competitive advantage in Eurovision. I can't see anything in the song that would make a large enough proportion of Europe for it to make it through to the final. Ivi doesn't have a vast amount of charisma to add to the song and I felt that she was to focused on the audience than she was on the cameras.

The next problem is a production one: Why did Ivi not sing live? Whoever decided that it was best that Ivi should not sing live in the National Final was sadly unaware of how that would impact on how she would be perceived by fans. This decision does not fill me with confidence in her ability to sing well on the stage in Baku. Aside for these factors she ought to practice singing this song live. The only thing I would recommend is that she should keep the silver dress, it is far more interesting than the black one.

Verdict: A cheap and cheerful pop song that really has little hope of qualifying even in comparison to the other ESC entries already picked this is just not at the standard that is required to do well. I am not saying that I steer well clear of it. It is nice but just is too simple for Eurovision.

Grade: D

The Race To Eurovision Continues

As we look across the Atlantic and see the GOP race slowly getting into the swing of things I think in a similar way Europe has started to select its songs for Eurovision.

Tonight saw Cyprus pick A Song For Ivi. To no ones surprise they picked La La Love.

I think that the decision to not perform the songs live will impact on how Ivi is perceived by fans. When her songs first appeared online they were a breath of fresh air in a slow starting National Final season. Now they seemed just a little average.

In other news the EBU have unveiled their updated website for 2012, we quite like it, you can visit it here.
We are aware that the draw also was today and I will publish my reaction to that later this evening.

So where are we now?

Selections Completed: 4/43
Selections in progress: 5/38 (remaining)
Next Song due to be selected/revealed: France -29th January.

We really now are in the thick of national finals season. We expect that every week we will now see another song picked.

Quick News Reaction

A lot of news has reached our desk over the last two days so I am going to quickly run through it.

• France will present their song on Sunday January 29th i.e. this Sunday. The song is understood to be called Echo. It will be presented on a show at 16:00 CET (15:00 GMT). I hope to be around for it and look forward to it. 
• Portugal have announced their composers and singers for Festival Da Cancao (sorry for English keyboard settings). You can see these here.
• Croatia will present their song on 18th February. Due to the busy nature of that day (Italy is expected to present their Eurovision and Latvia hold the Eirodziesma final). We sincerely hope she gets it done early in the day.
• Ukraine have changed their national final date to 18th February. If that's all they change this year it will be a shock. 
• On behalf of The Best Eurovision Blog, I would like to say I am sorry for the mistakes in our reviews of the Hungarian national final the post has been removed and I will post a new one containing all of the songs tonight/tomorrow morning.
• The Semi-Final Allocation Draw will be held tomorrow (afternoon) I will keep you posted about it. Make sure you are following on Twitter @besteuroblog and on the blog. 
• Cyprus will hold their national final tomorrow (Wednesday) at 20:00 CET [I think]. Read our review of the Cypriot national final here.

Our 100th Post

As Italy confirms it will be in Baku we mark our 100th post after about seven months online.

We'd like to use this opportunity to thank everyone for supporting us through these months and look forward to important months ahead.

I include a photo of the editors desk in the head office of The Best Eurovision Blog for your enjoyment.

I'd like to say that everything there is to do with the blog but only the computer in the right hand is. (Oh and there's a copy of The History of the Eurovision Song Contest in locker.)
Anyone else want to share the photo of where they write a blog from?

Anyway to celebrate we include links to our most popular posts:
Why Ireland needs Jedward for Eurovision!?
A book review of ESCInsights Junior Eurovision Book.
Review of the Cypriot National Final

.....and the post I am most proud of
The importance of the running order at Eurovision: A research paper.

Review: Cyprus national final

Today there is not a vast amount of news coming in other than Tine Lyagraard's participation in DMGP 2012 is once again under scrutiny after fresh information appeared. (We'll keep you posted)

So in the meantime we have a review of the Cyprus songs and before I begin I would like to congratulate Cyprus on coming up with three really impressive songs. They were so good that I have to use a different marking scale to the last time. (The Higher Scale). As was already known Ivi Adamou is to sing all songs.

Call The Police - Finally a song that is worthy of Eurovision. There really is so much poor stuff at the moment this is developed and refreshing. However can Ivi pull it off. I think she should, but once we hear all the ESC songs this may not be strong enough. Grade: C+


I Don't Belong Here - This is good but it needs a stronger ending chorus just to lift it and make it a little anthemic. Otherwise a strong song. Grade: C

La La Love - I think that this song is the song we will see at Eurovision. It has the right disco sound to do well at Eurovision. This is just so balanced it is wonderful. The chorus is strong. However if it was not for the juries I would say that we are going to see Cyprus in the top 5. However they will only respect a song if the vocal performance is not just acceptable but goes above and beyond the call of duty. Grade: B+

I think what we are looking for from Ivi is very good vocals to match her strong songs. I expect if she delivers this then we are looking at Cyprus beating it’s previous highest placing. 

La La Love has emerged as the fan favorite (Poll, ESCDaily) After 816 votes: La La Love (71%); You Don't Belong Here (15%); Call The Police (14%). [Figures rounded]

And One More Thing

In continuing to recap on the news around Eurovision I shall endure to continue:


The Cypriot song this year will be sung in English. This is not surprising as the singer will most likely bring a very contempory sound from Cyprus, but still they have entered 2 songs in their own language in the last 4 years.


DMGP has won an award for their excellent programme that attracts many viewers each year, and had a 70% share of viewers this year. The album of the songs in DMGP charted well in Denmark. It is one of the best National Finals on the go, both in terms of quality of the music and general staging. Unfortunately due to the high intensity of the National finals I overlooked DMGP in favour of Melodifestivalen. When I came back to it I realised just how good it was and I am delighted to see it receive an award. I'm also delighted to hear DMGP is to occur in late January when there is a less intense national final season.


The big story that I forgot to report on over the last week was that eurovision.tv is reporting that the Spice Girls are considering to try to go to Baku. Normally I would dismiss this as speculation, however Eurovision.tv is quite a reliable source. While I have nothing against the Spice Girls I would warn the BBC and UK against allowing them directly through to Eurovision without any form of National Final. I believe this was key in Blues somewhat failure to break the Top 5 at Eurovision. At least the national final puts artists under an amount of pressure.


Ukraine has announced their plans for 2012, which involves a talent show style National Final. However you never really know with Ukraine. Ani Lorak and Filipp Kirkorov are thought to be involved.


So that brings the news articles to an end. Tomorrow I will continue with the And The Winner Of Eurovision 2012 is........ series. 


In other news, Saturday night saw the return of X Factor on TV. (Being in Ireland I can see it.) I was very impressed with an Irish girl - Janet Devlin. You can see her performance here.

I'm Back! (For A Day)

So not very much has happened in the last week. Cyprus annonuced it will be sending Ivi Adamou to ESC 2012. She looks like a reasonably good choice.


Netherlands has asked John de Mol to produce the National Final next year. This is a big name to be bringing in and shows the dutch commitment to the contest.


Also we come to a time of mourning for Schlager as Alcazar played there final gig at Stockholm Pride recently.


There is a great article on Azerbaijan over on ESCInsight. Well worth a read. Back properly on Tuesday

Ukraine JESC song review

This year Ukraine has picked a strong song to send to Armenia. They are sending Kristal with the song Evropa. I think this is the strongest song picked so far as it has a good beat to it, compared to the other songs, however it is not my favorite. I also think that she needs a better costume as the one she is wearing just looks poor. They also need to change the gap between chorus and verse.

In other news, it is claimed that Cyprus will send Ivi Adamou to ESC 2012.

Cyprus

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Christos Mylordou

San aggelos s'agapisa

San aggelos s'agapisa (Karaoke version)
San aggelos s'agapisa (Videoclip)

San aggelos s'agapisa (Live video at semi 2)
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