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As April dawns, Juke Box Jury is a ‘no fool’ zone – what we do have are this week’s judges (David Elder and Ben Morris), four songs, and three possible options… hit… miss… or maybe…
Let the discussions commence on the podcast, and carry on in the comments.
Eurovision Insight Podcast: Juke Box Jury #3
with David Elder and Ben MorrisSan Marino: Maybe, by Valentina Monetta.
Greece: Rise Up, by Freaky Fortune ft. Riskykidd
Armenia: Not Alone, by Aram MP3
Austria: Rise Like A Phoenix, by Conchita Wurst
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San Marino – it’s a shame as Valentina deserves to get to the Final and if she had Crisalide, she would be a shoe-in. Maybe is my least favourite of her three songs (yes, even lower than the ‘Facebook’ song) – MISS
Greece – this will get to the Final, it’s Greece! I think it won’t get high marks this year due to the rap and it sounds much like other songs before and it doesn’t have its country’s main advantage of sounding especially Greek – MAYBE
Armenia – it is a good song but it is repetitive and it ends abruptly. It will be up in the top 10 but I don’t think it will be anywhere as successful as Armenians think it will be – HIT
Austria – I love this! Amazing vocals, great lyrics that are totally meaningful for the singer, Conchita is PR-gold. This is likely to be Austria’s best ESC since 1966 – a winner? Top 5 definitely – HIT
San Marino – dare I say I like “Maybe” better than “Crisalide”? That’s mainly due to the fact that I loated last year’s entry, and this one is only ‘meh …’. It’s incredibly dull and dated, but I don’t hate it. I can’t for the life of me see it coming out of the semi though. And SIEgel is still pronounced on the first syllable (after all he’s not French, he’s German). Miss.
Greece – I like it. You have to get over the first rap bit, but after that it’s fun and engaging (until he starts to rap again, but oh well). Considering that hopefully it won’t be the rap part in the recap, there’s a chance people will have forgotten about it when they try to make up their mind. A short clip will be very good, and people might think “Oh right, that was was fun” and pick up the phone. That, and it’s Greece, so of course it’ll be in the final. I wouldn’t be surprised not to see it end up in the top then though. Hit/Maybe.
Armenia – I love it. I find it weird that this is so high up with the bookmakers, because I don’t think it’s winning material at all. It starts too slow and it ends too abruptly for a Eurovision song – but I love it. It’s something I’d listen to outside of Eurovision, and that’s not something I can say about a lot of entries. Yeah, sure, the lyrics are repetitive, but since when have lyrics ever mattered in the contest? Personal hit, otherwise maybe.
Austria – hmm. Too pompous, too dramatic for my taste. I actually think that she’d do worse without her looks, because what in the world is original about this song? Yes, it’s done quite well, but there’s nothing new here that gets my attention. Only her appearance makes it interesting in my book. I’m not voting for it although it’s the only of these songs that I could vote for. She is the kind of artist that can work the PR machinery, so maybe she can make it through to the final – and I believe she has drawn the rather more liberal semi. Maybe, at best.
Ewan, just one little point. Why are you comparing Dana to Verka, Conchita and DQ? We have 3 drag queens and a trans women. I don’t really see the similarities. I get what you were going for, but I’m not sure comparing them is the best thing.
Stephen, when the viewer at home makes their mind up rather quickly, the ‘shock’ of Verka is at similar levels to the ‘shock’ of Conchita and others. That’s my only area of focus here, how will the viewer at home react to the performance, and will they vote?
I am a great fan of the ESCInsight podcasts but I am terribly tired of the UK vs. the Continent argument which distorts Europe’s complexity imo.
Out of this bunch of songs, I love Greece and like Armenia. Austria is great from a political point of view but irrelevant from an aesthetic point of view imo. San Marino is … well … a musical void.
@togravus I completely agree with you, although I would even go so far as to say that it’s Scotland vs everyone else. For once again it’s another all Scottish panel. I know Ewan is from somewhere north of Hadrian’s wall but surely with today’s technology he shouldn’t have to be relying on his neighbours the whole time.
P.S. So far there have been 3 juries, all 100% male. When can we expect to hear some female input?
Carola, Togravus, thansk for the feedback, let me address those issues…
Yes, with technology it’s possible to bring in Jurors remotely, and we’ve actually done that in the past. But it reduces the impact and flow of the guests with each other, and the audio quality is variable. Given the choice, I will always do one with ‘everyone’ in the room as I believe it leads to a more entertaining show and an easier show to listen to. That means the bulk of JBJ will be recorded in Edinburgh.
Trust me, I am conscious of the gender balance as well, unfortunately the dates for the early shows have not been kind to bringing in female voices. Watch how the mix goes when he get to CPH and we’ll do our best as a team to address that where we can (2013 guest split was 14 female / 16 male fyi) – but we have to work within the limitations we have.
As for the continent divide, guilty as charged, but then so is the music. Note the difference in song structure in the charts, the reliance on Major chords in the west and minor chords in the east, the different attitudes to folk music and other genre appreciation. I can also see the geographic split of the podcast audience.
All that said, thank you for well argued critique, which will be taken on board (with the caveat that the next two weeks of JBJ are already ‘in the bag’). Feel free to email me direct if you wish – ewan@escinsight.com
i gave up on juke box jury after last weeks disaster.
Thanks for the clarification Ewan 🙂
@matt/cathal it would seem you haven’t done a great job at giving up if you’re back so soon :\
TBH I rarely agree with the jbj (e.g. this week they’ve been completely over the top in their praise of Conchita) but despite that it occasionally makes for an interesting listen. Although, I do find they’re a bit out of touch with modern music – e.g. their views on dubstep – it in fact originated from London, and is extemly prevalent in the Briitsh charts – Katy B, James Blake, Chase & Status etc . But still different views and opinions are what makes ESC so fun.
Thanks for the clarification, Ewan, you are doing a great job!
I agree that there are different traditions and tastes in music around Europe. I was only referring to the UK vs. the Continent argumentation because this is a huge misunderstanding and simplification on the side of many British people imo. I lived in London for several years and never stopped to be surprised at how different from the people on the continent many British thought they were. When we consider cultural traditions, Scandinavia, Germany and the BeNeLux countries f. e. are much closer to the UK than to the Balkans or even Spain and Portugal. All of Europe is an ever shifting zone of cultural contact and transition imo.
the last 2 years the song that came last won its juke box jury, (ireland 2013) (norway 2012 *and that got 3 hits*) this is why i don’t believe in JBJ, its fun to listen to that why I’m here but in terms of actually considering what they say about a song, thats gone. conchita although she deserves to be a hit its by no means a certainty so i don’t see how you can give it a hit, even the panel said they didn’t have a clue about what it can do, so tbh i don’t see how you can give it a hit. armenia deserves 3 hits imo, if they could get top 10s with the 2009,2007,2006 entrys then this entry ( and when you consider the competition) shouldn’t have to much difficulty, defiantly top 10, more than likely top 5 possible winner, greece getting 3 hits is bait overrated but idc because i love the greek entry, if it gets a good draw in the final (which they without a doubt will get to) then potential top 5. and … well san marino’s position on the final table of this JBJ sums up how far off the mark this entry is, not a hope of making it to the final. and for the record, even though i said i gave up on these jbjs, like i said before i find them interesting to watch to hear peoples opinions on the other entrys.
tbh i think it isn’t right to have different jurys each week, let me explain. e.g one week we could have a panel that completely despises an entry *e.g ireland last week* and then the next week get a panel that loves a song *austria this week* that just what i think, I’m convinced if ireland had the panel that was in place during week 1 that ireland would have done much better.