So this afternoon 4 more entries took to the stage. Belarus, Portugal, Ukraine and Bulgaria. There has been a lot of discussion around these so once again here we go:
Belarus - Rehearsal Video
I never got a chance to review Belarus's entry to Eurovision (It would have graded as a B-) but I was uncertain about which version of the song that they would sing. They've gone with the disco version which unlike many people online I think that this is a very good interpretation of the song. The yellow and black background really helps this song and this looks set to have some very dramatic staging. I still believe that the song is lacking something and I'm on the fence about this qualifying.
Portugal - Rehearsal Video
Say what you like about the Portuguese entry this year I think that they have hit the nail on the head with this one. This is working as well as it could at the moment on the stage. Vocally this was good. The background is really fantastic and the whole performance makes for a lovely break between Belarus and Ukraine. This may not qualify but I will look forward to this.
Ukraine - Rehearsal Video
Vocally this was a joy to watch and to listen to. The song might not be the best we've had from Ukraine and the performance might have looked better if you never heard of Shady Lady but overall it looks and sounds really good and should qualify with ease.
Bulgaria - Rehearsal Video
This rehearsal was fine bar her often missing her cue. Some people have mentioned that as a result of having nothing else on stage with her the visual on the screens is really dull as a result of a lack of variety on stage. Vocally it was good. I cannot see this as a qualifier though.
More tomorrow.
Showing posts with label Ukraine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ukraine. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
It's Tina Turner - Or Is It?
Every year a couple of Eurovision acts come along that remind us of stars we know from outside of Eurovision. Sometimes these general resemblances start to err on the side of "that's a bit to close for comfort" and this year the award for doing this goes to Gaitana from Ukraine.
#NationalFinalMemes: I cannot go on further without mentioning that Ukraine held their national final at 10:30 in the morning (Irish Time; 13:30 Ukrainian Time). 10:30! - I wasn't even out of bed (actually I wasn't awake that day until 12:00).
So anyway Ukraine decided to send Gaitana with her song "Be My Guest". It's a strong song, it works really well but I'd say that it might be hard for the average Eurovision audience to take in. Without a doubt the song has some similarities with Tina Turner. These I think could actually go against Gaitana. I suspect that the voting public may over look her on the those grounds, but these are really concerns which should remain hidden until the final, really this song is strong enough to come about 6th-8th place in the semi final.
It's success in a very tough semi-final is dependent on the songs ability to attract votes from the pool of non-ballads votes in semi-final 2. The question of how the song will do is the songs ability to get votes from better countries songs running later in the draw. So I'm not convinced.
Verdict: This is a strange song. Anyhow it is what it is but it doesn't do it for me. I can't see this doing well but it is Ukraine after all so we shall never know.
Grade: C
P.S. For some strange reason I cannot get thinking fully linearly tonight.
#NationalFinalMemes: I cannot go on further without mentioning that Ukraine held their national final at 10:30 in the morning (Irish Time; 13:30 Ukrainian Time). 10:30! - I wasn't even out of bed (actually I wasn't awake that day until 12:00).
So anyway Ukraine decided to send Gaitana with her song "Be My Guest". It's a strong song, it works really well but I'd say that it might be hard for the average Eurovision audience to take in. Without a doubt the song has some similarities with Tina Turner. These I think could actually go against Gaitana. I suspect that the voting public may over look her on the those grounds, but these are really concerns which should remain hidden until the final, really this song is strong enough to come about 6th-8th place in the semi final.
It's success in a very tough semi-final is dependent on the songs ability to attract votes from the pool of non-ballads votes in semi-final 2. The question of how the song will do is the songs ability to get votes from better countries songs running later in the draw. So I'm not convinced.
Verdict: This is a strange song. Anyhow it is what it is but it doesn't do it for me. I can't see this doing well but it is Ukraine after all so we shall never know.
Grade: C
P.S. For some strange reason I cannot get thinking fully linearly tonight.
Saturday, February 18, 2012
The Next Four Eurovision Songs
My, that was a busy day. This is my reaction piece to the finals that were held today. The reaction piece to the semi-finals is here. So here we have the four songs that were selected today:
At no earlier than 13:00 GMT Ukraine selected their entry sung by Tina Turner impressionist Gaitana with song "Be My Guest" it is rather good too.
Next up is Croatia Nina Badric, with the song Nebo - I am unsure about this song but suspect this could be one of the weaker songs from the Balkans this year. (I wonder is she still off sex too).
Then Latvia delivered a disappointment of a result by sending Anmary with the song "Beautiful Song".
And finally late in the day, Italy came out with an excellent song by Nina Zilli. She was selected with the song Per Sempre. However it is not known if this is her song for Baku. I would love to see it in ESC.
Tonight: It's Another Super Saturday
Today sees a huge marathon of shows across Europe. 4 Acts will be selected today/tonight we know one of those already that is Ukraine who had their final at the ungodly hour of 11:30 CET - here in Ireland that's 10:30 and I wanted a lie on more than I wanted to watch Ukraine. So I didn't see it but I have seen the winner. [full post later].
Otherwise two songs will be presented tonight - that's Italy [who I am very much looking forward to hearing] and Croatia. Croatia will have a special show at 20:00 CET which lasts one hour so we such hear the song around 21:00 CET. Italy will present their song as well tonight and I suspect that it could be very late tonight [after 23:00 CET] before we hear the song I am not sure what I will be watching tonight so I recommend watching the usual channels for information about Italy.
Latvia also will select their entry tonight in a dual final format. The first will be at 18:00 CET [about one hour from now] and the second super final will be at 20:00 CET. I will throw up the review shortly.
Sweden holds the third semi-final of Me.lodifestivalen tonight at 20:00 CET. You can read our reviews of it here.
Lithuania holds a semi-final too at 20:00 CET. Estonia holds one which starts at 20:30 CET. You can read our reviews of the Estonian semi-final here.
This may all be bit confusing so I recommend the page that escXtra have developed.
Otherwise two songs will be presented tonight - that's Italy [who I am very much looking forward to hearing] and Croatia. Croatia will have a special show at 20:00 CET which lasts one hour so we such hear the song around 21:00 CET. Italy will present their song as well tonight and I suspect that it could be very late tonight [after 23:00 CET] before we hear the song I am not sure what I will be watching tonight so I recommend watching the usual channels for information about Italy.
Latvia also will select their entry tonight in a dual final format. The first will be at 18:00 CET [about one hour from now] and the second super final will be at 20:00 CET. I will throw up the review shortly.
Sweden holds the third semi-final of Me.lodifestivalen tonight at 20:00 CET. You can read our reviews of it here.
Lithuania holds a semi-final too at 20:00 CET. Estonia holds one which starts at 20:30 CET. You can read our reviews of the Estonian semi-final here.
This may all be bit confusing so I recommend the page that escXtra have developed.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
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.
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Continuing on with our series these parts are dedicated to Turkey and Ukraine:
Turkey
After coming second in 2010 not qualifying this year was the shock of the night for Turkey and very much helped Azerbaijan to win. However I think Turkey may split votes with Azerbaijan and thus cancel each other out if each makes it to the final. Should one fail then the other ought to do very well. Turkey’s internal selection has done well for them until this year and it still could produce a good song. They have a strong diaspora vote and are in the Outer Balkan Block, which does give them a lot of points but may not be there for them in the Semi Final when the votes are split up.
Istanbul 2013? Interestingly many fans seem to think that Turkey could win next year but I still think they have a slightly lower chance than Russia.
Ukraine
In 2009 they sent one of the most male geared songs ever seen and only coming 11th and then this year they come 4th with an average ballad [one of the great injustices of ESC]. For me even Ukraine qualifying this year was a long shot, and then when they were in the lead I near fainted. Since 2010 they have had the “Rigged” national final format, and got two top 10 places for their troubles. They are very capable of winning but when they leave potential winners at home (Jamala), they could hardly expect to win. Each year Ukraine throws something to Eurovision and each time it is something new.
Kiev 2013? Depends on what they choose from their National Final and the EBU may step in if they continue to rig their National Final. They may do well in the coming years but a win is out of the question.
There will be some news tomorrow.
There will be some news tomorrow.
Sunday, August 21, 2011
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.
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.
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Some more titbits of news
To continue with the news from my last post:
I am delighted to hear that A Friend In London is to bring out their new album on Monday. They were my favorite act in this years contest so I am really looking forward to it. Verka Seduchka also has release a new album. In other album news t.a.T.u. have split and one of them have released a solo album. I am far from their biggest fan and don't really.
In Switzerland the Italian broadcaster has lauched a plan to find two acts to put into the national final and have asked the Swiss public for songs.
Finally, Gün.Az reports that 42 countries are ready to confirm for Azerbaijan 2012. This is largly speculation but we shall see if they are proved right. The list claims Czech Republic is to return, which is no surprise.
I am delighted to hear that A Friend In London is to bring out their new album on Monday. They were my favorite act in this years contest so I am really looking forward to it. Verka Seduchka also has release a new album. In other album news t.a.T.u. have split and one of them have released a solo album. I am far from their biggest fan and don't really.
In Switzerland the Italian broadcaster has lauched a plan to find two acts to put into the national final and have asked the Swiss public for songs.
Finally, Gün.Az reports that 42 countries are ready to confirm for Azerbaijan 2012. This is largly speculation but we shall see if they are proved right. The list claims Czech Republic is to return, which is no surprise.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
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.
In other news, it is claimed that Cyprus will send Ivi Adamou to ESC 2012.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
And The Winner Of Eurovision 2012 Is.....?: Part 10
In my opinion, August is by far and away the quietest month for ESC. Largely caused by everyone being on holidays. The biggest news is that Ukraine has picked their song for JESC 2011 but unfortunately I can't make up my mind about it. So I will have a review for you tomorrow. Until then Germany is up on the And the winner is series.
Germany
You cannot deny that Germany is one of the most successful countries in ESC in the last two years. However, after two years of Lena Meyer-Landrut, the big question is who or what will represent them next year? Assuming they use the same X-Factor-ish format as 2010, there is little question of its ability to find a winner. [Even without Stefan Raab I expect the format to remain largely the same]. However in a country as big as Germany there is the talent, it’s more about whether they can find it.
Dusseldorf 2013? Most unlikely, while Germany may win the contest again in the next 5/6 years the trend is the previous host does not usually do as well as expected.
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Ukraine
.
Angel (Karaoke version)
Angel (Live English version)
Angely (Remix by L. Horchata)
Angely (Live video at NF)
Angely (Videoclip Russian version)
Angel (Live English version)
Angely (Remix by L. Horchata)
Angely (Live video at NF)
Angely (Videoclip Russian version)
Finalists:
Alexey Matias - Myself
Alyona Korneeva - Why didn't I say goodbye
Anastasia Prikhodko - Action / Indigo Blue Bootleg mix
Bahroma - Eyo imya (Alternate version)
Daria Medova - Infinity / Final version
Dennis Povaliy - Aces high
Eduard Romanyuta - Berega
El Kravchuk - Moya Nadezhda
Ivan Berezovsky - Ave Maria
Jamala - Smile / DJ Lutique Extended remix / T.A.N.Y.A. remix / The Maneken remix
Mika Newton - Angely
Mila Nitich - Goodbye
Shanis - Tsvetok
Tanya Vorzheva - Vse resheno
Vitaliy Galai - My expression
Vladislav Levitsky - Love
Zaklopky - Superhero (U la la)
Zhemchug - Hero
Zlata Ognevich - The kukushka / Final version / Ukrainian version / Instrumental version / Karaoke version / OlegNik remix / Monia & StreamFlow remix
Alexey Matias - Myself
Alyona Korneeva - Why didn't I say goodbye
Anastasia Prikhodko - Action / Indigo Blue Bootleg mix
Bahroma - Eyo imya (Alternate version)
Daria Medova - Infinity / Final version
Dennis Povaliy - Aces high
Eduard Romanyuta - Berega
El Kravchuk - Moya Nadezhda
Ivan Berezovsky - Ave Maria
Jamala - Smile / DJ Lutique Extended remix / T.A.N.Y.A. remix / The Maneken remix
Mika Newton - Angely
Mila Nitich - Goodbye
Shanis - Tsvetok
Tanya Vorzheva - Vse resheno
Vitaliy Galai - My expression
Vladislav Levitsky - Love
Zaklopky - Superhero (U la la)
Zhemchug - Hero
Zlata Ognevich - The kukushka / Final version / Ukrainian version / Instrumental version / Karaoke version / OlegNik remix / Monia & StreamFlow remix
.
Other semi finalists:
Alexander Kvarta - Ne somnevausya
Arina Domski - Prosto lybit'
Dash - Love isInna Voronova - Mr. Fever
Kristina Kim - Victim of my love / Victim of my love (Instrumental version)
Maxim Novitskiy - True love can free you
MetroPoly10 - Think it over
Nataliya Pugachova - Hey boy
Para Normalnyh - Gliadi
Pavel Tabakov - Shake your body
Vroda - Žovtee žyto
Yakov Smirnov - You'll be with me
Other semi finalists:
Alexander Kvarta - Ne somnevausya
Arina Domski - Prosto lybit'
Dash - Love isInna Voronova - Mr. Fever
Kristina Kim - Victim of my love / Victim of my love (Instrumental version)
Maxim Novitskiy - True love can free you
MetroPoly10 - Think it over
Nataliya Pugachova - Hey boy
Para Normalnyh - Gliadi
Pavel Tabakov - Shake your body
Vroda - Žovtee žyto
Yakov Smirnov - You'll be with me
.
Withdrawn:
A.R.M.I.Y.A - Allo, allo
Нек$і - Sever-jug
Masha Sobko - TBA
Shanti - Hey you
.
Official videoclips:
Anastasia Prikhodko - Action (videoclip)
Jamala - Smile (videoclip)
Zlata Ognevich - The kukushka (videoclip)
.
Withdrawn:
A.R.M.I.Y.A - Allo, allo
Нек$і - Sever-jug
Masha Sobko - TBA
Shanti - Hey you
.
Official videoclips:
Anastasia Prikhodko - Action (videoclip)
Jamala - Smile (videoclip)
Zlata Ognevich - The kukushka (videoclip)
.
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