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2011 National Selections: The ones that got away Written by on March 13, 2011 | 5 Comments

Now that the National Finals season has come to a close for another year (although not every song has been heard), its time to reflect on what has come to pass. 

As will always be the case where there are multiple choices, many peoples opinions will differ; and naturally some will be disappointed by the selections, their favourite songs missing out on representing this year in Dusseldorf.   The fact that people still remember and hold them, even months later, in high regard shows the quality that has missed out as well as the strong competition that lies ahead at the Eurovision Song Contest 2011.

For now, we shall remember and pay tribute to some great songs that just missed the cut but will remain as winners in our hearts for a long time to come.

Smile – Jamala (Ukraine)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfDAOZ7S0Ao

Banjo Laura – Lauris Reiniks (Latvia)

In the Club – Danny Saucedo (Sweden) 

I Don’t Want to Dance Alone – Nikki Ponte (Greece) 

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

Oida Taunz – Trackshittaz (Austria)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmJeco1ewAg

Nott – Yohanna (Iceland) 

I Wanna Meet Bob Dylan – Outloudz (Estonia)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Y2cSWfaq3I

Fire Below – The Lucky Bullets (Norway)


This is really just the start – the tip of the iceberg… we could have gone on forever, but we’ll let you do that for us instead.  Have a favourite you want mentioned, post it below and we’ll add it to the 2011 memorial/links!

About The Author: Sharleen Wright

Sharleen Wright is the co-founder of ESC Insight and a freelance journalist and researcher. She has previously worked for numerous community radio stations in Sydney Australia, and contributed to the wider world of comedy holding production and promotions roles at both the Edinburgh Fringe and Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Her written words have appeared online, as well as The List magazine, and numerous fanzines on the topics of television and specifically, Eurovision . She is currently based in Australia and undertaking research on food and event tourism. You can follow Sharleen on Twitter (@sharly77) and Facebook (facebook.com/sharleenwright).

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Have Your Say

5 responses to “2011 National Selections: The ones that got away”

  1. Jade says:

    April’s Ladadidej. Slovenia should have picked that instead of Maja

  2. Ewan Spence says:

    I liked it at the time, and I’ve loved it more as it sat on my playlists. I still think Babel Fish’s Depend on Me was the better ‘song’ to come out of MGP. stella had the floor show. Which is better for Dusseldorf? who knows…

  3. I think overall Norway had a fabulously strong national final (as well as highly entertaining) and I think I’d have been happy with pretty much any song being selected.

    Estonia is another country that I thought had real diversity and strength to it in the national finals and was entertaining from start to finish – except maybe how they dragged the results out…

  4. Other songs I personally think could have been worthy winners were Hop by Blitze in Latvia and The Kukushka by Zlata in Ukraine. They are still on my ipod playlist and getting steady listens.

    Oh, bring on 2nd chance time for yet another hard fought competition!
    2011, when people look back on it, I think will stand as one of the strongest fields ever.

  5. John says:

    `Dorule` by Pasha Parfeny – Moldova should have picked that and we’d be talking about it in the same way we talk about Kati, Blue and AFIL

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