Eurovision 2023: Liverpool (May 9, 11, Grand Final 13)

[Ran]

 I have been remiss in not posting about Eurovision this year, but in large part it's because... so far it doesn't seem like anyone is really standing out very much as either especially good, especially bonkers, and so on? This year, the finals will take place in Liverpool, as for obvious reasons last year's winner Ukraine can't host.

 

You can find the list of songs here

[Ran]

 I have been remiss in not posting about Eurovision this year, but in large part it's because... so far it doesn't seem like anyone is really standing out very much as either especially good, especially bonkers, and so on? This year, the finals will take place in Liverpool, as for obvious reasons last year's winner Ukraine can't host. You can find the list of songs here

So far the bookmakers are thoroughly stuck on past winner, Sweden's Loreen (whose 2012 winning song, "Euphoria", has often polled as one of the best winners of this century), who is very firmly in the lead with 43% odds of winning with her song "Tattoo":

Eurovision World, the fan website, also has Loreen on top, and they note that in the last 7 years they've picked the #1 6 times. So.... Heja Sverige? Heh.

The #2 pick according to the touts is from our Nordic cousins in Finland, and this one is just a bit of a fever dream of different styles being smashed together in succession. The first half sounds like a dark techno K-pop song Psy could have sung, and the second half is pure Eurovision schlager cheese:

#3 according to the touts is Ukraine's duo TVORCHI, with "Hearts of Steel":

#4 according to the bookies is Spain's Blanca Paloma with EAEA. Very Flamenco, very dramatic. I think whoever has  been banking on this being in the top 5 is kind of crazy, because this is not a Eurovision song, but I like it well enough (Remedios Amaya was better, though ):

And, wonder of wonders, #5 are our also our Nordic cousins of Norway, Alessandra with "Queen of Kings". She's half Italian and lived there until she graduated high school, so if you're interested, here's the Italian version that she released yesterday:

I was going to jump into a selection of some of the funnier/weirder songs, but first my favorite song of the competition happens to be touted at #6: France's La Zarra (a Montreal-born French Canadian of Moroccan descent) singing "Évidemment". Dramatic opening, followed by a slick, funky dance beat. And La Zarra is, shall we say, va-va-voom! 

It's no "Voila" from Barbara Pravi, but I think it could make the top five.

Jumping down the rankings, I think this one is pretty fun: Austria's Teya & Salena with "Who the Hell is Edgar?" where Edgar is none other than Edgar Allen Poe. Not since "Fuck Me, Ray Bradbury" have we seen a song so focused on a genre writer:

The UK's Mae Muller has a nice video, curious how "I Wrote a Song" will play live:

We're big fans of Italy's entries in general, but we think Marco Mengoni's falsetto doesn't work too well. It's a typically strong Italian ballad, though:

Serbia's Luke Black has a weird post-apocalyptic video game aesthetic to it, including a health bar on a robotic character on the LED screen:

 

Croatia has sent shock rock band Let 3 with "Mama SC!", which is quite transparently an anti-war song rather directly aimed at Putin and Lukashenko. For whatever reason I've not heard much about its lyrics needing to be changed for politicization. A lot of people don't appreciate seeing missiles, even comically large ones, being shown on stage, though. But, well, shock rock gotta shock:

Germany has sent industrial metal in the form of the band Lord of the Lost, with their song "Blood & Glitter". It's no "Hard Rock Hallelujah", I fear:

Kind of enjoy Slovenia's Joker Out with "Carpe Diem":

Ireland's Wild Youth and their song "We Are One" has gotten a lot of stick for its One Direction/Coldplay copy feel, but the bit that got me was the very The Edge-like distorted guitar melody at 1:22:

Azerbaijan has sent a twin act, TuralTuranX (one's Tural, the other is Turan, don't ask me which is which!):

Romania has sent the song that the bookies think is the penultimate bad song of the competition. I share it purely because of the dancers who hold most of an audience's attention:

And this year's worst song, according to the bookies? Albania's Albina & Famila Kelmendi with "Duje":

Not a great "WTF" year for Eurovision. I think Loreen is going to take it in a walk, and if not her, then the wackadoodle Finnish song will take it. 

Edited April 23, 2023 by Ran

[Mindwalker]

A nice little history of Eurovision politics (and how queerness played a part/ was used in them):

 

[Buckwheat]

On 4/23/2023 at 12:00 AM, Ran said:

Kind of enjoy Slovenia's Joker Out with "Carpe Diem":

Some of the teenage girls I teach love this band very much ... they have a crush on one of the band members, I think. So the group is quite mainstream in Slovenia now. At least popular with teenagers, that is.

[Ran]

Eurovision odds have been narrowing ever since rehearsals started, with some real concerns that Loreen's rehearsal has shown that the visual aspect of her production is getting a serious downgrade.  That said, the movement isn't huge: from 43% two weeks ago, to 39%... and then, today, back up to 40%,. Finland has climbed a little closer, to 24%.

So far it feels like it's Sweden's to lose.

[Ran]

And the odds continue to move towards Sweden, with Sweden back up at 43%, Finland down to 22%. Ukraine has moved up to third place, at 7%, with France falling back to 4th with 6%.

The first semi-final is... just about now, in fact, and you can watch it here:

 

[Ran]

BTW, for the first time, people can vote from non-participating countries (e.g. US, Canada,Japan, etc.) with all those votes being aggregated into a "Rest of the World" grouping, equal to any indiviudal country. However, there's no "Rest of the World" jury for the Grand Final.

If you're interested, see here. Apparently you do need to register a valid credit or debit card to verify you're a real person, for what that is worth.

[Kalbear]

The Serbia song slaps. Would fit in perfectly on the Blade soundtrack. The Malta performance was awesomely cheesy though.

[Heartofice]

It’s hardly a wild statement to say a lot of these Eurovision songs are very bad,  but almost all of the songs in that semi final were very very bad.

Sweden made you wake up and remember music is allowed to be good sometimes.

Croatia managed to make an entire audience stop cheering and just stare in confused silence. 

[Ran]

Sweden now up to 45% in the odds. 

[Myrddin]

Ran's next internet project: A Forum of Eurovision and Spectacle.

 

[Farerb]

Who do you want to win?

[Ran]

Semifinal 2 is now:

 

[Buckwheat]

Hmmmm ... the second semifinal doesn't seem as interesting as the first one was up to now. Nothing particularly crazy like Croatia od Finland were on Tuesday.

[Buckwheat]

... okay, I seem to have posted too soon.  Austria, what is going on here?

[Ran]

12 minutes ago, Buckwheat said:

... okay, I seem to have posted too soon.  Austria, what is going on here?

I like their video more than what they did on stage. Still, fun quirky song. Should make it through.

[Buckwheat]

10 minutes ago, Ran said:

I like their video more than what they did on stage. Still, fun quirky song. Should make it through.

I just went back to watch the video. That is ... something.

Definitely a song that stuck out amongst all the usual pop.

[Ran]

And the finale begins now (ish):

 

First song is scheduled to begin at 19 over the hour, with Austria's "Who the Hell is Edgar?". The frontrunners, Sweden and Finland, are in the first half of the competition. Full timetable here.

[Mindwalker]

Damn, I'm late. Haven't been able to watch the semis.

Trying to catch up, but I like the intro act. The chorus at least. Is that Ukraine's song from last year?

I find the introduction very confusing.

Also, UK is bad.* Bright side: Maybe the German entry won't be the worst for once!

*Wait, I confused them. Stupid flag ceremony.

 

Edited May 13, 2023 by Mindwalker

[Mindwalker]

I've alwas loathed those tourist commercial-like interludes introducing the acts.

France is my fav so far.

ooh, I like Spain.

Edited May 13, 2023 by Mindwalker