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Eurovision Insight Podcast: Juke Box Jury #7 Written by on May 14, 2015 | 8 Comments

We’re all wrapped up in the Press Centre, but with two Juke Box Jury shows still to go, there’s a bundle of hit, miss, and maybes to give out with the song that are left to be judged.

While we might have the rehearsal performances to to discuss, we can also bring in  more people from the Insight family to bring their views to bear… as well as some audio-bombing from friends of the parish.

Eurovision Insight Podcast: Juke Box Jury #7
with Samantha Ross and Benny Royston.

Armenia: Face The Shadow, by Genealogy.
Montenegro:
Adio, by Knez.
Sweden:
Heroes, by Mäns Zelmerlöw.
Lithuana
: This Time, by Monika Linkyte and Vaidas Baumila.

ESC Insight will be continuing our coverage of Eurovision 2015  until we find our winner for the year. Keep up to date with the Insight Podcasts through the podcast’s dedicated RSS feed or  subscribe to ESC Insight in the iTunes Store and get the show automatically downloaded.

About The Author: Ewan Spence

British Academy (BAFTA) nominated broadcaster and writer Ewan Spence is the voice behind The Unofficial Eurovision Song Contest Podcast and one of the driving forces behind ESC Insight. Having had an online presence since 1994, he is a noted commentator around the intersection of the media, internet, technology, mobility and how it affects us all. Based in Edinburgh, Scotland, his work has appeared on the BBC, The Stage, STV, and The Times. You can follow Ewan on Twitter (@ewan) and Facebook (facebook.com/ewanspence).

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Have Your Say

8 responses to “Eurovision Insight Podcast: Juke Box Jury #7”

  1. Shai says:

    I ‘ll judge the sons as I haven’t seen the rehearsals:

    Armenia – Not working for me -MISS

    Montenegro – An inferior Zeljko’s effort. It’s Balkan ballad by numbers and unfortunately not as good as it good be. MISS

    Sweden – I acknowledge I am in the minority here. I just think it’s a rubbish of a song being well hidden behind a very clever staging. His voice doesn’t make me engage in the song.HIT(for the contest) and a MISS(for me)

    Lithuania – Very cheerful song. I like it and just hope they wouldn’t over staged it – HIT

  2. MySpace? Anyone still use that?

    I’ll judge this mainly on pre-Vienna thoughts, rather than incorporate what I have seen from first rehearsals…

    ARMENIA – MAYBE. The concept is superb and six accomplished singers should gel together to give an amazing performance – shouldn’t they? Tamar sings this amazingly well (there is an acoustic version of her on the steps of somewhere in NYC online) but we hadn’t seen a live version (remember these are my thoughts PRE-VIENNA) and that made me unsure. If the 3 minutes live version works, I think this will make it into the Final as the vocals will be superb but I don’t think this will do this well on Saturday night.

    MONTENEGRO – MISS. I think this will be one of the last entries in a native language outside the Always countries of France, Spain, Italy and Portugal. Serbia and Israel have given up and I can see all the Balkan countries going the same way. It is a good song but I don’t think it will stand out, apart from it being sung in something other than English.

    SWEDEN – HIT. The song itself is not amazing but the whole is, assuming that the animation show seen here is as good as at Melodifestivalen. That is what made it one of the favourites to win this year – if it’s there, Mans sells it brilliantly. If the staging isn’t good, this will only be top 10 as there are far better vocals with lesser staging out there.

    LITHUANIA – HIT. I loved this in the NF with the coy relationship, as though it was a first date between the two of them and the kiss just worked there. If they can keep it not looking too polished, it will work and I could see this top 10 in the Final. If it loses that, it might be lower mid-table on the Final scoreboard.

    Back to watching rehearsals… 🙂

  3. Fatima says:

    I was really pleased to hear the review of Montenegro. I thought the same as Benny, London proved to me that Knez was a great performer.
    I LOVE the way he always throws his arms back on the last note. So much so that I always have to do that myself when I hear the song. Which makes driving momentarily hazardous.

  4. Ian from the Philippines says:

    Where’s the UK ?

  5. Ben Cook says:

    Why was Benny talking about Swedish production when talking about the David Guetta track, when he’s French?

  6. HarrietKrohn says:

    I have not seen the rehearsals (so pleeeease, keep comments about them at a minimum for those of us who want to be surprised at the actual shows!), so of course I’ll judge on what we’ve know before.

    Armenia – I found this to be very messy when I first heard it, but it has grown on me. It’s quite interesting at least, although it’s not something I’d normally choose to listen to. Personally I’m so not concerned about genealogy and common roots and all that, so that part of the story doesn’t reach me. Maybe.

    Montenegro – ugh. It feels like I’ve heard this a million times before, and I’m just no big fan of balkan ballads. I’m still mad at the juries for voting down Igranka the way they did, because now we’re stuck with Montenegro picking boring ballad after boring ballad. And I haven’t seen any live performances of Knez (could never be bothered), so he hasn’t won me over so far. There’s something spooky about the man, sorry to say it. This is so not for me … miss.

    Sweden – not a bad song, but not one I myself would have pegged as a winner. I doubt it would be such a big favourite if it didn’t come from Sweden. I don’t hate it, but there are so many other songs I’d much rather have as the winner – some of them even work without the stage performance, you know, just by themselves. For me personally this is only a maybe, if a strong one.

    Lithuana – you’ve kind of already ruined my impression of the song with what you said about the rehearsals, but I still like it. First time viewers who have nothing to compare the performace with, might just feel the same way, that it’s a nice song. Problem is they’re opening their semi, so they lose the “fresh breeze between all the ballads” thing they might have had going. Lithuania have qualified with worse entires though. Maybe.

  7. Eurojock says:

    Montenegro a possible winner! Benny, what are you talking about? A bog standard (heard it last year and three years ago) Balkan ballad without the skater, sung by a creepy looking geezer (sorry Knez), in a language other than English in a Western leaning semi. It doesn’t stand a chance.

    With so many commentators coming up with reasons why Sweden won’t win, its refreshing that the ESC Insight Jury stated the bleedin obvious. This song and performance has Eurovision winner written all over it!

    I had Lithuania down as a (somewhat unworthy) top ten – its so cheesy, but it has lost its ‘innocence’ I can see how that might damage its chances. Still an almost certain qualifier though.

  8. Chad Brown says:

    I love Lithuania and I would be delighted for them to do well and even win!

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