Now we come to the hard truths. The moments when broadcasters need to look in the mirror and accept responsibility. The time when the right thing to say is “that was wrong”. Looking back over the selection shows of Eurovision 2014, there were some songs that simply should have stayed in the nationals and handed the ticket to someone else.
Compared to other years, the song selection in the Semi-Finals and Grand Final was really high, so it’s not as easy as previous years to call out the mistakes but they are there. So, as a counterpoint to our previous article on the National Finals that sent the right songs to Copenhagen, here are ESC Insight’s thoughts on the ones that made a bad call.
Germany Were Wrong To Send Elaiza
Germany’s National Final did everything right…up until the head-to-head Superfinal. NDR brought in some of the biggest names in the German music industry to perform in their Final, they were each allowed to showcase two songs, and they were given huge promotion online.
They opened up the process with one slot in that Final available to a ‘wildcard’ entrant. Over two thousands bands, singers, and performers entered, and NDR managed to find ten bland middle of the road entries – they had the opportunity to really push the boat out but played safe for the televised round. Elaiza had the benefit of the extra airtime, all the press, and the first half of a fairytale story beloved by reality TV viewers.
Is it any wonder that the public voting followed the narrative already laid out by NDR? Come the Superfinal and the choice of finishing the story or dashing the dreams of three young girls, the public did what television have been telling them to do for years.
Unheilig didn’t stand a chance against such an unbalanced playing field.
Estonia were Wrong To Send Tanja
Estonia made the wrong choice in sending ‘Amazing‘ not because some people thought that this was ‘Euphoria‘ lift (after all, are they complaining that ‘Rise Like A Phoenix‘ is just an Austrian throwback to ‘Tu Te Reconnaitras‘?), but because the song did not lend itself to the Eurovision environment.
Tanja already had a connection with the Estonian public, but never managed to do the same with the international audience at the Song Contest. She never managed to fill the huge stage in Copenhagen, she never sold the idea that she was singing and dancing during the semi-final, and the song never managed to offer a reason to vote for it beyond one kooky dance move where she leans to the side.
Back in Estonia, sitting at home, watching on television, was Traffic. Every time I have played ‘Für Elise’ on the radio, to fans, and to the general public, everyone asks after the band. It reeked of hooks, guitars, and has that something that catches an international ear.
Belgium Were Wrong To Send Axel Hirsoux
In a sense, Belgium had the same issue as Germany. A television public who are conditioned to respond to the cues from ‘reality’ television voted for the big story and the surprising voice, with Axel’s story told over six weeks.
At Eurovision, the juries and the voting public only get the thirty second postcard, and whatever the commentator decides to say. The narrative is lost, and it’s up to the song on its own. Belgium had stronger songs in the National Final, they had acts which had a stronger positive impact in a short window, and the unique circumstances demanded a different style of presentation.
Ireland Were Wrong To Send Can-Linn and Kasey Smith
Actually let’s be honest here. Looking at the five options that RTE’s mentors had found for the Eurosong special on The Late Late Show, Ireland would probably have scored more points sending John Cage.
That said, if Eoghan Quigg had been the chosen one his record label might have spent some money on promotion and personal appearances during the run-up to the Song Contest, RTE might have spent some money on updating the staging away from the parochial view of Ireland, and Quigg would know how to work the TV cameras on the stage and connect with the viewers and voters at home.
At the very least it would have offered Ireland a chance at qualifying.
Moldova Were (Probably) Wrong To Send Cristina Scarlat
Seriously, ripping your hair out while you get a CGI camera shake effect at the key-change? Us Eurovision fans know that Moldova’s staging is generally ‘kitchen sink and cross your fingers’ (or, as Sam often succinctly puts it, ‘pulling a Moldova‘) but I think they finally found the line.
At the same time I look back at their National Final, and the close battle between Cristina Scarlat and local favorite Boris Covali. In a heartbreaking echo, Boris landed in the runner-up spot for the second year running, with the exact same final score and margin of defeat that got him beaten by Aliona Moon’s “O Mie” in 2013. Not that Covali had a song or performance that would have stood out on Tuesday night in the way that Scarlat managed…
…or did he? Boris Covali and his team submitted two songs to O Melodie Pentru Europa this year, with “Perfect Day” originally being skipped over by TRM’s internal jury in favor of the Dima Bilan-esque “Flying”. Just before the deadline, however, Boris’s management decided to swap songs, so it was “Perfect Day” that we heard in the National Final. Oh, what we could have had…
Romania Were (Probably) Wrong To Send Paula And Ovi
For most of 2014 the suspicion was that Romanian broadcaster TVR wanted to skip over the selection process altogether and go for an internal selection that consisted of welcoming back the 2010 bronze medal winning act of Paula Seling and Ovi.
As it turned out, they ran a National Final, handed some huge stage elements to the couple, and the general feeling was that it was their competition to lose. They didn’t top the public vote, but the jury rated the public’s other podium songs well down the list (and ‘Miracle‘ at the top).
For all the hype, 12th place on the Saturday night feels like a very poor return. All I could think in the press room as they were gifted the pimp slot in the semi-final by DR’s production team was “it should have been Anca Florescu…”
We’ve already discussed who we think got it right, but now it’s over to you. Who was left behind at home and should really have been in the B&W Hallerne? Let us know in the comments.
If nothing else, I think the narrative gained from Ruth Lorenzo and Eoghan Quinn having both come from the same series of the X Factor could probably have bumped Ireland into the final, had he been chosen.
One act that hasn’t made either list is France. Curiously enough, I think that while Twin Twin winning the French national selection was bad for France (deux points and bruised national egos, etc), it has been extremely good for Twin Twin. Their music video has over 3 million views, their grand final video is the third most popular (after Austria and Poland), they’ve charted in the UK and – this is the big one – they have gained a European fanbase with Jedward-like levels of excitement.
If one of other two French contenders, Joanna and Destan, had gone to Copenhagen, they probably would have scored somewhere in the middle of the right-hand side, but there wouldn’t be anywhere near as much fan excitement around them.
Robyn, so essentially France chose the best song (they were right) but the process brought three songs that were tricky combinations to get ESC success (so wrong), but Twin Twin maximised what they had (win!). Personally I like my music risky and with passion, so Twin Twin are personal favourites.
I didn’t watch all of the national finals, but I feel that Sweden dropped the ball this year the song “undo”. It’s a ok song, but it’s not a “eurovision worthy song”. Well that is from all reports that I heard of..
What about Latvia? I know you liked Cake To Bake, but you have to admit that sending a song like that over a guy who’s just won 4 Latvian Grammies, with the biggest Latvian radio hit of the last year, is just bonkers. It’d be like us choosing to send The Fast Food Rockers over Adele.
Ewan, I don’t know how you can argue that France sending “Moustache” was the right call. It came last with 2 points. It was a disaster. They should have sent “Ma Liberte”. France are a really good argument for automatic finalists being ditched.
You completely forgot “Eftir Eitt Lag – Greta Mjoll Samuelsdottir”,best icelandic song ever!
@Stephen – I seriously doubt Ma Liberte would have done any better. It wasn’t the most inspired ballad around and would have also floundered at the bottom of the table. At least TwinTwin gave us an uptempo comedy song in the final.
The main problem they had was the French delegation have no clue how to stage anything that isn’t a solo singer stood still behind a mic stand, the same problem that damaged lots of songs this year.
Ireland problem was they went to Irish for the past two cycles. you can go all Irish if it’s appropriate (e.g. eimear quinn with the voice)
moldova should have keep the cyberman dress and the aluminum but change the dancers costume. it was good crazy not bad crazy with the let pull my weave out stick.
Romania is such an unworthy choice. it’s like cast tom baker back as the doctor. it good on paper but not in actual practice. the circular piano and the “OMG! the dalek have exterminated paula. ah no, we was just teleported like the scene from journey’s end”
@Peter
So Joanna wouldn’t have done better than 2 points? If nothing else it would have appealed to the juries. Moustache was so bad it didn’t appeal to anyone.
@Stephen
Yes I think that was a realistic possibility.
If Ma Liberte would appeal to the juries (and I agree that it would have done better with them than the televote), there were too many better songs for them to pick and would have placed it in the danger zone for getting cancelled out by a low televote score.
I guess what I’m saying is that yes Moustache was so bad it didn’t appeal, but Ma Liberte was so bland that it wouldn’t appeal. And with better staging, Moustache at least had the potential to give us a Jessy Matador / Jedward type performance.
About Germany – I would change it slightly. Germany were right to send Elaiza, but Elaiza were wrong to send “Is It Right”. There are loads of superior songs on their album which I reckon would have worked well as Eurovision entries in their own right – especially “Goodbye” and “Lemonade” (though the latter may have been met with a Quero-Ser-Tua-esque ambivalence, who knows) Such a shame.
Unheilig would have been brilliant too, but I wouldn’t envisage him getting a much better result – especially taking into account his less than impressive “vocal capacity” for the juries!! 😛
It really should have been Anca Florescu… And her many staging elements as suggested by her video.
I knew Estonia would make this list, and I knew you’d say Traffic should have been chosen instead. I disagree, despite being a fan of ‘Für Elise’.
I’m just not convinced Traffic would have stood out alongside the likes of Malta, the Netherlands and Switzerland. They would have had a better chance of qualifying, sure, but I think one or more of those songs (and it wouldn’t have been the Netherlands) would have had to suffer in the final.
If Estonia had wanted a surefire success, if not a challenger for Conchita, they should have picked Sandra. I have been OBSESSED with ‘Kui Tuuled…’ since the moment I heard it, having been a longtime fan of Sandra herself, so this may be biased…but I am convinced she would have sailed into the final and easily made the top 5. The song has the same uplifting, Lion King-esque vibe of Zlata’s ‘Gravity’, only in a more up-tempo, catchier and effortlessly ethno-pop package. It would have stood out, I’m sure of it.
Estonia aside, I agree with your thoughts on Romania. There were several far better songs in the NF that didn’t even get a look in, because OMG IT’S PAULA AND OVI!!!!!!!!!! ‘Miracle’ and the performance they gave = one of the most try-hard entries I have ever seen.
i disagree about ireland, i think heartbeat was the right song to send, it was everything else that rte did that meant it didn’t qualify, they expected kasey to win the NF in a tiny stage and then expect her to be able to perform on a massive stage in Copenhagen without any promotion, and lets not even get started on staging of the song, if we sent eoghan quiqq we would have come last in the semi final.
Ewan, basically what you said on Xtra Time for escxtra was the problem with the irish song, the song its self imo is the best song ireland have sent to eurovision since the 90s, (i’d argue 2006 may have been better) but song wise i think ireland did make the right choice… but the staging was beyond awful and the way RTE got kasey prepared for eurovision is up there with the staging.
i don’t really get the hype with hearts collide, i mean it is a good song but if romania had picked it i don’t think it would have done much better than paula and obi did tbh.
as for germany, i don’t know what to think, i absolutely hate “is it right?” its in my bottom 3 but in terms of getting a good result i don’t think it would have made a difference as i feel Unheilig would have been killed in the tele vote and killed a lot more than elieza were because of them singing in german and in the jury i wouldn’t see it doing a whole lot better than elieza did.. either way i think germany would have been bottom half i just feel is it right was a lot more suitable for eurovision so in a way despite hating the song i do think germany made the right decision imo.
as for moldova… i personally really don’t get how anyone could have voted wild soul over anything else… not at all surprised moldova came last in the semi final and as for the selection, i may not have heard the other songs but i can’t see how wild soul would even be in the top 5 of any song competition, it would have come last in the irish eurosong 2014 and that really is saying something.