Eurovision Song Contest 2021

[alphanguy74]

The Tusse song is the one I like the least. Charlotte Perrelli is my favorite of these 4. 

There is so much goodness to be had in the Eurovision vaults, no matter what style or era of music you like. I will say this, if you look at ALL at 1973, just look up the studio recordings of the songs, as the sound mix at the contest that year was so dire, it's almost unlistenable. The strings in the orchestra are not heard at all, and the brass just blares out at you, and literally knocks you out of your chair. Especially disappointing for me, since my favorite ESC entry of all time is from that year (Ey Sham) And if the foreign language aspect of many of the songs bothers you (It doens't me), the vast majority of artists recorded an English version of their song. Although the tranlsations are quite wonky at times. 

Edited March 13, 2021 by alphanguy74

[OzFrog]

So Sweden decided tonight in the Melodifestivalen final, through a unanimous jury and televote decision, that Tusse would represent them in Rotterdam!

 

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Also, Iceland is out!

 

 

Edited March 13, 2021 by OzFrog

[alphanguy74]

What a unique song!  I like it. It's like some bizarre mixture of Electronica and Boz Scaggs. 

Edited March 13, 2021 by alphanguy74

[I Am A Swede]

 

So true!

And for me, the multitude of languages was one of the best things of Eurovision back in the good old days. Personally I think that dropping the rule that you had to sing in the official (or one of the official) language(s) of your country was a mistake, alongside the decision to drop the live orchestra.

[Huntress]

Azerbaijan:

 

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[OzFrog]

And rounding it all off for this year...

 

Georgia...

 

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and finally Malta...

 

 

[Huntress]

North Macedonia could withdraw as well ... there's been some controversy because an artpiece resembling the Bulgarian flag appeared in their music video, and some nationalists called for a boycott. These people are also attacking singer Vasil on social media with homophobic slurs.
There's also been an incident surrounding the singer from Georgia because he allegedly called Eurovision a "sh*tshow" on Twitter.

 

What would Eurovision be without some annual drama from Eastern European countries

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[OzFrog]

Oh boy... this is gonna be an interesting quiet time in the lead-up to Eurovision week! And we still haven’t heard if Belarus have been officially disqualified or whether they got a new song submitted in time.

 

I’ve actually taken some time away from Twitter as the fandom on there are completely toxic, and it gets in the way of purely enjoying the contest. It’s also a breather for my own mental health.

 

Meanwhile, latest betting odds are here: https://eurovisionworld.com/odds/eurovision

[OzFrog]

So it’s been a bit quiet on this thread since all (well almost all) songs were revealed. I’ve updated the first post with more of the official Eurovision videos, so feel free to check them out if you haven’t already.

 

Betting odds on average have Switzerland and Malta almost tied for joint favourite, with the former having the slight edge. North Macedonia are currently “reviewing” their participation due to the backlash following the unfortunate depiction of a Bulgarian flag in the music video for their entry.

 

And allegedly there is a new song in the works for Belarus, but we won’t know the outcome of that for a little while yet...

 

Meanwhile, 60 days until Semi Final 1!

[alphanguy74]

It's been backlash from a bunch neanderthals, it thinly veiled homophobia and we all know this. I've been telling these people they need to turn back into Yugoslavia. 

Edited March 22, 2021 by alphanguy74

[OzFrog]

 

Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia might have something to say about that

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In any case, Vasil has been cleared, and will continue to represent North Macedonia with the same song in Rotterdam.

[alphanguy74]

Wonderful news. The complainers can just sit down and eat their poop sandwich.

[Huntress]

Belarus is out: https://eurovision.tv/story/ebu-statement-on-belarusian-entry-2021?fbclid=IwAR05RRUrYTWS0yJxPVZiU3L8iLrHHS7TRDtgFVAR4tPbJe33cvwMQPMPUfE

 

That leaves us with 39 participating countries.

[I Am A Swede]

I've listened to roughly half the songs now, and so far my clear favourite is Albania. I like the retro feeling of Denmark's entry but the singing was a little too wobbly. Norway's song is quite okay as well, but I'm not a fan of the stage production. Australia is sending it's weakest entry ever, while Estonia is probably my second favourite after Albania.

Some entries (Spain, Netherlands, Moldova, Ireland, Belgium for instance) are bland, but okay.

But some entries are simply bad, like Ukraine, Czech Republic, Lithuania, France, Germany and Cyprus.

During the 1990s I usually loved the songs from Cyprus, but this year...

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[I Am A Swede]

Listened to the rest of the songs now, and... not impressed. Albania is, in my opinion, by far the best entry this year.

Poland has one of the better songs as well, and there's something about the Icelandic entry that appeals to me.

Malta has clearly been inspired by Netta's win for Israel a few years ago. The song isn't bad, but it's nothing special either. A fate they share with Sweden, the UK and Greece.

And there were some really bad entries in this second half as well, like Russia, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Georgia and the worst of them all, Latvia. 

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