Swiiish!!
That was the sound of the deadline passing. As the Heads of Delegation meeting gets under way in Malmö, each broadcaster will hand over their song. Actually they’ll hand over four versions – the studio audio track for inclusion on the official CD, the official video for promotional purposes, the karaoke version, and the playback version for inside the Malmö Arena. There’ll be a bit of paperwork as well.
For the die-hard fans, that means we have our thirty-nine gemstones, each three minutes spanning the hopes, dreams, and perhaps despair of a nation. Gemstones to be examined for flaws, to be cut and polished as needed, before going on show across the continent, if not the world. This is the time when beauty is in the ear of the beholder.
And already online you can find the complaints. Countries choosing the ‘wrong’ song, unworthy winners, people who never won public votes, mutterings of dark forces at work, and even the phrase ‘Worst. Eurovision. Ever.’ can be found if you look hard enough.
Just stop it.
His name is Jeff Albertson
Don’t Fear Change
I know that many fans have been round the block so much that the thought of standing for three hours is enough to send them back to their bed with a Horlicks and a Celine Dion CD. By the very nature of being a fan, it’s incredibly hard for a single Eurovision Contest to meet expectations. Previous Contests will have a rose-coloured tint through the passage of time, and every little grit in the perceived smooth running of the upcoming 2013 Contest will be magnified by the online world.
But was it really any better in the old days?
Actually, scratch that, even if it was, that’s no reason to kick the Contest. Eurovision constantly goes through changes. Some years have only a few changes, others take much more radical turns. While the 2013 Edition doesn’t have a total hand-brake moment of introducing public voting, or allowing people to ditch dinner jackets and evening wear to sit in the audience, it does come with a significantly lower budget, changes to the presentation elements of the show, and a reworking of the audience arrangements that marks out 2013 as a ‘radical’ year.
We’ve moved on from this, for the good of the Contest.
Let Me Tell You About The First Time
But there’s a far more important factor that I want people to think about before hurling knee-jerk reactions about the Contest around. Because this is important.
For many people out there, this will be their very first Eurovision Song Contest.
Sure they might have watched it before, or heard of it in passing. But for some, this will be year one. They will look at Malmö and it will be their idolised Contest, the one that starts their relationship with the Contest for the rest of their life. Every moment, key change, and costume will be special. Every song will become the ‘first’ for them, and perhaps they’ll walk away with a ‘what amazingly wonderful goodness is this from San Marino, and who is this Ralph Siegel guy, anyway?’ feeling.
And when they go online to share this passion, what are they going to find? A wretched hive of in-fighting, bitching, and negativity.
This will be their first Eurovision – do you want to be ‘that fan’ in the room that stands out like an Engelbert Humperdinck?
Engelbert Humperdinck, you are released.
Who Would You Want To Meet?
We’re not saying the Eurovision Song Contest is not perfect, and neither are we saying that everything should be accepted as gospel. By all means, challenge the conventions and talk about the changes, but always be constructive, reasonable, and listen to both sides of the argument. For some people the running order rule change (to choose one issue) is a good thing that will improve the Contest, but for others it challenges one of the major concepts of fairness that underpins the Contest (even with the tweak announced this morning). There will be people out there that genuinely believe Albania will not qualify. That doesn’t mean they are wrong, it means they have an opinion that can be shared and discussed, and not shot down in derision.
Think back to the first moments when you knew Eurovision would be part of your life. Who did you meet? How did you feel when you discovered a community of like-minded fans, who perhaps helped you out to find your way in this glorious and crazy world?
Be that fan.
Oh, where to begin? (Other than I REALLY need to get my own blog if I keep writing article-length comments like this.)
I’m gonna out myself here. I’m also …. a Disney fan. I live 15 minutes from Disneyland in Anaheim. Had an annual pass for the longest time. Used to go (by myself if necessary) on a regular basis.
Us Disney fans bitch up a blue streak about lots of stuff. We HATED Cars 2. We HATED California Adventure when it first opened. We famously HATED the notorious Light Magic parade so much that Disneyland stopped giving passholders parade previews. And you know what? WE WERE RIGHT. All underperformed with the general public as well.
But we LOVED Cars Land when it opened in California Adventure recently. LOVED Wreck-It Ralph. LOVE the new elaborate princess meet-and-greet area they just installed, in place of a historic but underused bandstand area that’s been there since Disneyland opened in 1956. (So much for being opposed to change.) Most of us seem to love that new Oz movie (even though the critics don’t) and it’s doing gangbusters at the box office. WE WERE RIGHT about those too.
It’s a chicken-and-egg situation. Is the fan complaining hurting the ESC? Or is it a symptom that the ESC is maybe headed in a wrong direction?
Your first time ESC viewer this year is going to be hit with a long parade of mediocre ballads. This is far worse for the contest than any online griping. I don’t think it’s in the running for Worst. Eurovision. Ever. anymore – we have some of the later song announcements to thank for that – but things were looking dire for awhile there. About halfway in, I literally couldn’t find a song I considered worth sharing with my non-Eurovision-fan American friends and family. That wasn’t my fault. It was the songs. (They LOVE “Birds”, BTW, and expect Croatia to get some surprise points from America as well. In theory, anyway.)
In the Disney fan community, some of us “comic-book-guy” types save our special derision for people who unconditionally love Disney no matter what kind of garbage they foist on us … The ones who will be thrilled with a plain cardboard box as long as it says “Disney” on the outside. That sort of fan doesn’t help anybody but the accountaineers, because they give Disney no incentive to deliver better stuff.
And me feigning enthusiasm about San Marino’s song is not going to convince any of my friends that it’s any better than it actually is. Nor is it going to get San Marino into the final, or to maybe convince them to get someone more qualified to write their song next year.
We the fans are part of the package. Much of what we do and say online is for ourselves, not for “normals”, and I don’t think the casual observer is likely to stumble across us in a casual Google search. (I just Googled Ralph Siegel for instance, and the first hit is his Wikipedia article. Which has not a bad word to say about him.)
But if they do, so what? I suspect they’re likely to agree with us about most things, humanity being what it is.
I’m DEFINITELY all for constructive, respectful dialog, and if that’s your message, then sign me up. But I’m also all for snark, under which “Worst. Eurovision. Ever.” surely falls. We’re fans. It’s what we do. Our fellowship of snarking is one of the main reasons we follow the contest. And it’s the fans who best know where the snark should be directed, and who are un-snarkily shining the light onto the really worthy acts that our first-time-viewer ought to be concentrating on. So they’ll, y’know, watch it again next year.
PS – What’s with that zing at Engelbert? Jeez, man, my dad LOVED that song! 😉
(Fact check: Disneyland opened in 1955. Mixing your Disney and your Eurovision can be hazardous.)
Firstly, Eric makes a great point.
Also on the point of changes in the contest – it would be wrong to think of Eurovision as a static, unchanging, institution. Even die-hard fans must understand that there are contest changes each year. I have watched the contest each year since 2001, though 2008 was my “first” contest.
The contest in 2008 is very different to today’s, each year has brought subtle or pronounced changes which have led to the modern contest. We can say that this year will be totally different contest to last year but this really is because of different songs.
Though we argue about change to the bitter end, really this years contest is not radically unique. Think about THE REAL changes that came in 2008, when we had two semi-finals for the first time. Or 2009, when jury voting was introduced. Or all the way back in 1997 when, for the first time, public voting was introduced.
I will have to say the fans are sometimes the best and worst parts of the contest. You either have the fans who moan at everything that changes in the contest and becomes angry when the EBU does something that actually makes sense. Then you have the other fans that are open to change and are willing to give it a go.
I don’t think anyone if the EBU had gone to them and said “Do you want us as producers to decide the running order?” would have said yes. Now I will say that my initial knee jerk reaction to this was that the EBU are mad, however I now see this as an opportunity to see how the EBU can work a very ballad heavy contest.
I’ve gone from a fan who can say that their first real Eurovision was 2009, I loved everything about the contest, I was hearing songs from places that as a 13 year old had never heard of apart from in the news. It was sheer excitement that I shared with my dad, I made that contest for me into something that will always stay with me.
Now I’m a fan that has crossed over into running a website, now I never thought I would ever make a website, but it’s now been up 2 years. I did feel last year when it came to May that covering the contest had somehow ruined my experience that I loved about 2009. But I was completely wrong, this years season has shown me a side of the contest that I had ignored last year, The national final season has shown me that your always going to be dissapointed when some songs don’t make it to the contest, you may also have a laugh along the way but it’s the people that I have talked to and the excitement that have kept me going.
To anyone outside of the Eurovision world, you wouldn’t get excited about being tweeted back by Malena Ernman, you wouldn’t get excited at a Baltic television station retweeting you and you wouldn’t be excited at being sourced by Aftonbladet.
I know I may just be some 17 year old that gets taken the mick out of by his friends at college, but online people listen to what I have to say. You are part of a community that shares something every year and that is what should matter. That’s what this is all about, we have all been brought together by one common interest Eurovision and that shouldn’t be the thing that rips a community apart.
I have watched ESC in 1977 for the first time and have seen so many changes over the years that I stay pretty relaxed now whatever the EBU decides to try out. Many fans have cried out ‘This is the end of ESC’ when televoting was introduced, when the orchestra was abolished, when we got the semi-finals and when the juries were reintroduced but ESC is a very resilient little thing that has changed, adapted, went astray and readapted over the years and is approaching retirement age now. Of course I hope that the contest won’t retire … in fact, I forbid it. LOL
I personally still miss the orchestra and particularly live instruments onstage because I firmly believe that music performed live is a much more intense experience than listening to playback music but at the same time I understand that a live orchestra would be far too expensive these days.
Finally, I do not think that this is a bad year, at least not if I compare 2013 to the 80s or the darkest period of ESC ever 1999-2003. I love eight songs (FR, GR, HU, IL, IT, MT, NL, NO) and have a soft spot for the elegant ballad from Cyprus too.
I couldn’t agree more with the superb and necessary comment by Eric Graf above. This piece is saying what, exactly? Fans shouldn’t be critical of the contest? Fuck that. It’s called investment, caring about the event. If people didn’t discuss the contest with each other, celebrating the things they love and criticising the things they don’t, what would be the point of watching? That’s what the fan community is here for. The vast majority of established fansites are too cowardly to say anything bad about Eurovision or the EBU for fear of losing their precious accreditations, so given this dearth of critical comment from the supposed fan “journalists” (barely worthy of the term) who cover and attend the contest, ordinary fans who are prepared to speak their mind is something that’s absolutely necessary.
I watch Eurovision and national finals because I care about good music and lesser-known artists. I’m invested in what I watch and I care about the fortunes of the participants – if I was blase about what won, there’d be no point in watching. So, if in a national final, a really good song/artist loses to a poorer one – Mikael Saari vs Krista being perhaps the archetypal example from 2013, one that many have complained about – I have every right to express my opinions regarding the outcome.
You also claim that for contest fans, “Previous Contests will have a rose-coloured tint through the passage of time”. This is a) not true, and ) a highly subjective statement to turn into a generalisation. 2006 is still balls. 1994 is still balls. And plenty of other years long before that are too. Of course, no contest is all-good or all-bad, but discussing the relative merits of different years is a perfectly normal and harmless part of fan discourse. If I’m free to say that a particular Eurovision year is much better than usual (for instance, 2012), I’m also free to say that one is much worse than usual (for instance, 2013). Inhibiting negative opinions gets the fan community and the contest nowhere. The core of the matter is what Eric says: “Your first time ESC viewer this year is going to be hit with a long parade of mediocre ballads. This is far worse for the contest than any online griping.”
Here’s a good example of what the fan community shouldn’t be like: a decade ago, I used to be active on a message board for fans of the singer/composer Lisa Gerrard. After releasing pretty much non-stop incredible music from the mid-80s to the early 2000s, starting around 2004, Lisa released a string of albums which were generally poorly received (by myself and by the broader fan community, especially long-time fans). However, the clique of fervent fans that dominated the message board rudely shot down in flames anyone who dared to criticise the new music, even going as far as to tell them that instead of being critical they should try to say find good things to say about the new album, etc etc. The “don’t rock the boat”, “sit on the fence”, “say only good things” behavior of this clique of unconditional fans (as Eric describes the uncritical Disney lovers above) drove away a large number of message board users, myself included.
To come to your core point, as a first-time contest viewer going online to see what fans are saying, I’d be disappointed if there wasn’t a healthy level of opinion and debate. In fact, after sitting through a very weak show as a first-time viewer and thus not knowing whether it was representative of Eurovision in general, I’d be hugely reassured to see contest fans also saying it was a poor year, and this would encourage me to investigate the contest further. If I only saw fans praising it despite themselves, I’d be put off.
EV, let me address two things really quickly (and excuse brevity, I’m fighting jet lag).
I’m all for constructive criticism, and anyone who brings debate to the table is more than welcome and encouraged. So thanks for the comment. What I don’t want (and I see all to often) is the unfocused ‘it’s rubbish’ attacks, trolling, flame wars, and discussion that seriously crosses the line. The Kristal/Mikaal is a great area, I personally think that if it was a San Remo contest it should have been the latter, but as a song going to Eurovision to fight for victory Kristal has a better chance. I’m sure this will come up in the Juke Box Jury shows leading up to Malmo.
“he vast majority of established fansites are too cowardly to say anything bad about Eurovision or the EBU for fear of losing their precious accreditations, so given this dearth of critical comment from the supposed fan “journalists” (barely worthy of the term) who cover and attend the contest, ordinary fans who are prepared to speak their mind is something that’s absolutely necessary.”
I can’t speak for the editors of other sites, but I would hope that Insight does address issues critically, in a balanced way. Off the top of my head I can think of a number of articles that I would say meet that, e.g.
Can Eurovision be a Fair Contest and a Fabulous TV Show with the new Rules?
The Challenge Facing Junior Eurovision
An open letter to the 2013 Heads of Delegation
Thanks again for the comment (same goes to Eric, Anthony, and all our commenters at Insight).
— Ewan
First of all – A good article! 🙂 I agree with the two points there, at least what seems like the main ideas when I read it. And I will go into details.
SOME ESC FANS ARE TOO NEGATIVE
Hell yes! I have been to many different discussionboards about ESC. I won’t tell which ones, but there are some that leave me almost a bit sad and disillusioned sometimes. Actually! We are supposed to be FANS. ESC certainly get more than it’s (un)fair share of critism anyway. And if not WE are there to suppoert it, who can we expect to do it? Of course, not ALL songs are great, not ALL with ESC is great. But when the same “boring sad people” come up with critism all the time….I seriously think they should do something else than just spread negative energy!
Not that all fans are like that – probably not even the majority. There are some discussion forums on the net (online forums or Facebook) with mostly positive and friendly people. But for some reason, online netforum sometimes seems to collect the “human spam” (rude way of putting it, but those people are usually even more rude). Like “I’m too cool to show I love ESC”. Arrogant and snobbish credseekers.
However, I have many ESC-friends. And most of them ARE very nice, positive people who are happy with the contest.
There are things I would like to change with ESC, but I’m usually happy as things are. And 75 % of the songs ARE good. Even this year, with far too many dated, boring OTT ballads, there are still “only” 5 bad songs or something. But that’s MORE than usual for me these days!
ESC-FANS ARE TOO CONCERVATIVE, AFRAID OF CHANGES
Yes. I dunno, but everytime EBU releases the slightest change of rules, it usually results in an outcry. However, not all are like that. There are many “liberal” ESC-fans. When the orchestra was ditched in 1999, it was really on high time…long overdue really! Those who STILL think we should have an orchestra…seriously, get a grip! 🙂 If it’s something that made ESC MORE old-fashioned and samey musically, it was just that! However, I would have liked some live instruments…a backing band maybe. But NOT orchestra.
Definately an article to read! And maybe – for some – to learn from? Yep!
Ah, all you young whippersnappers. My first memory of Eurovision was the Kessler Twins in, what? 1959? Talk about changes since then. But twenty years in NYC and LA where I missed the contest something fierce, and I’ll stick with whatever changes that come along. There is always something to love, like or hate. It’s Eurovision. So I’m Not That Fan.
To all those that say that Eurovision 2013 is a weak year, psssh, to all those that said Melodifestivalen was weak, i also say psssh. It’s all about taste, and that’s also with changes, one person may like it, the other may think there will be fixing the contest, I’ve seen so many, they’ll just decide the winner next on Eurovision.tv, I will admit, I was torn when the new rule was devised, but now I’ve grown used to it, and even made one a few minutes ago for escextra’s competition to guess the running order, and that makes me see more how, the contest can be made better, making the audience watch on to wait for the favourites, starting with a fast song to hook the audience, etc… it all helps.
I would say that ESC fans are too depressive when you look on the mainstream sites, just looking through all the reaction from Robin winning over YOHIO in Melodifestivalen, gave for interesting reading, and each side just attacking the other, and I will admit i was part of that, I preferred Robin. Change will come whether we like it or not, we gotta learn to keep up or be left in the dust of an advancing contest
I think the question of tone is different from the question of content. Criticism isn’t a problem; snark–relentless snark and whinge are a problem. In every online ESC space there are a handful of members whose misery and misanthropy get transposed onto the Contest.
There’s one particularly crappy loudmouth in the yahoo group who comes to mind. And he’s a “journalist” because of his blog. Crap writing, inconsistent coverage, and he was offended to lose a P1 credential. Thank gawd the national broadcasters are instituting some standards about who gets a press pass these days.
On FB I have, on occasion, challenged those who never ever post anything positive about anything. It’s tiresome–and inaccurate. Rarely are any ESC entries devoid of merit. But being a cow is easy as; digging down a bit and trying to say something that reflects, well, reflection…is harder. So try harder people.
BTW I think this is the weakest year since 1999. A lot of bland, inispiring stuff. But last year was one of the strongest years ever–and produced the biggest ESC hit in 20 years–so it’s unsurprising to be a bit down o what’s on offer.
I reserve the right, however, to be gutted with whomever wins. Last year was the only year my preferred song won since…ever.
Great article. Thanks!