Every broadcaster that entered this year’s Contest (and those that plan to enter next year, I’m looking at you, Portugal) will be analyzing their performance from last week’s semi-finals and grand final in Malmo. Some countries have a lot of work to do, others have got the formula for their selection process sorted and can rely on it to deliver.
But for this year’s Contest, which selections were right, and which were wrong?
Let’s start off with the broadcasters that we here at ESC Insight think made the right call and chose the song that gave them the best result possible on the night.
Denmark were right to send Emmelie
Heck they sent the same staging from MGP to Malmo, and when the Danish Delegation came back over the Bridge, they brought the trophy home with them… and landed DR with a huge challenge and less than a year to put together the 2014 Contest. I doubt Mohammed would have managed that…
Norway were right to send Margaret Berger
A comfortable qualification and a well-earned fourth place for ‘I Feed You My Love’ not only brought a striking costume to the Song Contest, but also provided a gateway to the electronica genre for many Schlager fans. Everything about the package just worked (even if it wasn’t my personal cup of tea). Norway’s second place song, Bombo, might have been a dance floor filler, but Adelen needs a few more years of performing to be comfortable in front of a stadium crowd while maintaining the sound of a studio mix of the song.
The Hungarian public were right to send ByeAlex
MTV’s A Dal selection show took an interesting route. The judges selected the contestants they wanted to qualify for the final, and then the public would vote on the remaining contestants to join them. ByeAlex never picked up a jury place, relying on the televote to put him through to the semi finals and the final. Once in the final, the jury selected the top four, and then the public would vote for a winning song. While he never topped the jury votes, ByeAlex wasthe public’s champion, and they made the right call.
He qualified from the semi-finals, and made the Top Ten for Hungary, the first since the 9th place of ‘Unsubstatnial Blues‘ in 2007.
Not only that, but ByeAlex himself made a critical call to keep the song in Hungarian. I’m not sure ‘she was raised by wolves‘ would have been hipster enough on the international stage.
Malta were right to send the lovely Dr Gianluca
The plucky island celebrated last year when Kurt Callejah reached the Saturday night final, and hopes were high that Gianluca – who had charmed the Maltese audience during the marathon national final – would be able to repeat the trick. Which he did, and then trumped last year’s 21st place finish with an 8th place return to the Top Ten and into the history books alongside Chiara and Ira Losco.
Now all he has to deal with is a jealous sister who still hasn’t won the Maltese national final, and countless Eurovision fans on holiday spraining an ankle and going to the General Hospital in the hopes they’ll get some special treatment from the good Doctor.
Iceland were right to send Thor, God of Ballads
I wasn’t particularly impressed with the songs from Söngvakeppnin 2013. Sure the expected names were in the field, but there wasn’t a standout entry in the field. Watching the superfinal head to head with Eythor Ingi and Unnur Eggertsdóttir, the Icelandic public were given a straight choice… power ballad or 80s pop. They went with the former, and while it might not have been the best result on the Saturday night, it qualified from the semi-finals. Mission accomplished.
Belgium were right to choose ‘Love Kills’
Perhaps the biggest case of bad planning was scheduling the Belgian National Final to run at 10am. On a Sunday Morning. On the radio. And right up until Belgium were announced as a qualifier on Tuesday night, I was convinced that Reste Toi should have been the song chosen, rather than ‘Love Kills’. But who am I to argue with only the second Saturday night appearance in ten years?
The Estonian jury were right to send Birgit Oigemeel
Because they could have sent Winny Puhh…
Any other countries that you think made the right call? Let us know in the comments. And if you think some of the countries had a complete disaster, rest easy… head over to ‘The National Finals That Got It Wrong‘.
As insane as it was, Cezar was the right choice for Romania. I would have loved Electric Fence to go, but there is no way they would have generated the buzz that Cezar did. It’s not a great song, it didn’t finish well, but it’s one of those performances people will talk about and feature in clip shows for years to come, and that’s as good as winning in my mind.
1. The Netherlands were right to allow Anouk to represent them. Btw, considering only the votes of the 17 countries of North Western, Northern and Central Europe (Belgium, the Netherlands, Ireland, UK, Iceland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Slovenia, Austria, Switzerland, Germany), she was 2nd with 101 points (6.3 on average; Denmark 135, Norway 97), whereas she got only 13 points from the 22 Southern and Eastern countries altogether.
2. France: I still think it’s one of the 3 best entries of this year (next to the Netherlands and Norway).
3. Germany: My choice would have been different in February (LaBrassBanda or Saint Lu), but I still think Cascada were a reasonable choice, they did a good job, and, well, they couldn’t collect many points. But sometimes things do happen that you don’t expect, and it’s only entertainment, isn’t it?
I’d probably argue Switzerland might have been better off sending this one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s59TV-6SaaU
The staging was a bit messy but I think viewers might have responded well to the musicality of it as a breath air among the showiness of so much else.
I agree with Z that in hindsight, LBB or Saint Lu should have gone instead, but at the time, Cascada were the logical choice.
The same is also true with Finland, who with hindsight should have sent Mikael Saari instead of Krista, but I can’t identify one single thing that Krista did wrong over the entire process.
Lithuania sent the right song, but they didn’t have the best selection to choose from.
Pre-empting tomorrow’s article, but I disagree with Chris and think that Romania definitely should have sent Electric Fence! Yes they wouldn’t have had the same buzz that Cezar did, but Greece proved that style of song could still work and score very highly.
One more thing, which article would Serbia go in? They sent the right song, they just got the staging and costumes hideously wrong.
I agree with Chris, the stand-out star of this year’s Eurovision was Cezar. His presentation of ‘It’s My Life’ was a talking point in this year’s contest. I think a fair few people now know what a counter-tenor is now! I wasn’t a fan to start with, but it has definitely grown on me!
Peter, I don’t think in hindsight that LaBrassBanda or Saint Lu should have gone. It just was my personal preference, and I don’t know whether they would have got a better result. Cascada did an almost perfect job. In particular, LaBrassBanda could have turned out to be a difficult choice. They could not have played their instruments in Malmö and the band members didn’t really agree on the whole Eurovision enterprise. And as with Cascada, their song was not the best they ever had. Glorious isn’t Evacuate the Dancefloor, but Nackert isn’t Autobahn either. So, I think we should learn from the experience of this contest, but I don’t think there’s much we could have done better before the contest and I feel perfectly fine with our entry.
Has anybody mentioned Greece yet?
They, surprisingly to me, selected the right song for the night, by not going to “eurovision”.
And Italy should always send the winner of Sanremo when they want to get in the Top 10!
@Z, Sorry, i misunderstood your comment a little. You are right that Cascada didn’t do much wrong all week, and were the right choice back in USfM. Natalie got her timing a little bit wrong in the final, but most people wouldn’t have noticed unless they heard the song multiple times before.
I didn’t realise LaBrassBanda were conflicted about Eurovision. Personally, I think they could have done very well. Of course they couldn’t play live, but Greece proved that something similar can still have a lot of energy on stage and get rewarded with a good handful of points.
Wow, imagine the final we could have had, with Greece, Winny Puuh, Electric Fence and LaBrassBanda! It’s what the standing area was invented for!
Peter, the conflict is my interpretation of an interview with Andreas Hofmeir, the tubist, by the Donaukurier:
https://www.donaukurier.de/nachrichten/kultur/Ingolstadt-mobilartikel-wochennl082013-LaBrassBanda-Tubist-ueber-den-Auftritt-beim-ESC-Vorentscheid-Ein-einmaliger-Ausflug;art598,2718616
“For us, the second place is a wonderful result. Because we know that we don’t fit into this TV world. Now we haven’t to stay there any longer.”
“I can’t identify one single thing that Krista did wrong over the entire process.”
Kissing a girl. Not that kissing a girl is wrong, but I’m sure that it made her terribly unpopular with the more conservative voters.
“Cascada did an almost perfect job.” “Natalie got her timing a little bit wrong in the final, but most people wouldn’t have noticed”
What the … Which broadcast were you watching? 😉
@Eric:
Yes, you are right of course about Krista and the kiss, but I’m very surprised that there are so many conservative voters across Europe that they only deserved 13 points and 24th place in the final. Everything else about the performance was spot on: she sang in tune in every rehearsal, the staging matched the song, she played the PR and interview game perfectly all through out the build up.
As for Cascada, I’m not sure if you’re questioning Z’s comment about them being “almost perfect” or mine about her timing being off? Just in case:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HYTd7WDCPg
Ignoring the minor tuning issues in the intro, she starts the first chorus (at 39 seconds) fractionally early, but is a second out by the time she’s finished the line, and nearly two seconds early for “feel the music in me”. The strange thing is, she sounded great in all the other rehearsals I heard, so maybe it was just nerves, some last minute tweaks to the song, or just “green room excitement” that got the better of her? And I do think a lot of people wouldn’t have noticed, as I’ve seen public voters miss (or forgive) worse moments of dodgy singing in the past.
Many of you will be pleased to discover that Electric Fence are almost certain to be giving it one more go next year. They’ve just got to find a way to write a song that will appeal to the public as well as the juries.
I’ll keep you posted if they manage it!