Topic: LET'S RANK THE SONGS

[ijm123]

I was so frustrated with Harel's performance in the semi final because there were so many missed notes that the true beauty and power of the song just didn't get portrayed properly.  In the final he improved but still missed a few notes towards the end.   What cannot be taken away from this one though is that the song is absolutely stunning, beautifully constructed building throughout the song to a great crescendo, lyrically it's also absolutely wonderful.  Harel looked wonderful....but had he hit all the right notes then he would've finished 3 places higher in my ranking.

[ijm123]

So we are left with a top 3 of Croatia (yes Morgan I know you disapprove of it ), Romania and Turkey.

To split the top 3 I used the following method.

1) Song quality
2) Vocal performance
3) Stage performance

Each of the 3 songs was ranked 1, 2 or 3 in each category.  The scores were added up and the one with the lowest score is going to be my #1.

Here's how they ranked - without telling you which one is which

SONG 1 - 2nd, 1st, 2nd = 5
SONG 2 - 3rd, 2nd, 1st = 6
SONG 3 - 1st, 3rd, 3rd = 7

So we do have a winner - but who is it?

FEMMINEM
PAULA & OVI
or
maNga?

Let's find out shall we

[ijm123]

So in 3rd place



If I were to rank all songs based entirely and solely on the "studio version" then this is still my #1 as I really do love the song.  It was one of only 2 songs that I loved on first listen (the other being Israel).  The vocal performance was competent and improved from Dora but it just wasn't quite exceptional enough....especially considering there was a slight timing error about 30 seconds into it.  The stage performance didn't really do anything to add to the song and in such a strong semi as it was in it was always going to struggle. No matter how blinded I was by the song I think in retrospect it's non-qualification isn't that great a surprise.

[ijm123]

......and my runner up is......




In my initial pre-Contest rankings this was outside the top 10.  So the fact that this one has come so close to winning my rankings is a real testament to just how good the stage show was.  Everything about that stage performance was absolute magnificence personified.  The whole concept of the robot turning into a woman added to the lyrics of the song was absolute genius.  It says a lot about the Turkish entries in the last 5 years that the only 2 I've liked have been the 2 rock entries they've entered.

[ijm123]

So my winner is





There is one reason and one reason only that this song tipped maNga to my #1 spot......Paula Seling.  Boy can that woman sing.  The song is good verging on great but the way Paula and Ovi sell the song is just superb.  They have a great chemistry on stage and you can almost feel it between them.  I loved the double piano too.  As everyone knows I'm not a fan of operatic pop but the small operatic interlude which Paula sang was spot on and fitted with the song very well indeed.  Rightfully deserves to be Romania's most successful entry in ESC finals

[ijm123]

So my full final ranking is as follows

12 - ROMANIA
10 - TURKEY
08 - CROATIA
07 - ISRAEL
06 - IRELAND
05 - FINLAND
04 - BELGIUM
03 - GEORGIA
02 - ICELAND
01 - ARMENIA

11 - Malta
12 - Norway
13 - Germany
14 - Moldova
15 - Albania
16 - Spain
17 - Portugal
18 - Latvia
19 - Switzerland
20 - Ukraine
21 - Cyprus
22 - Netherlands
23 - Slovakia
24 - France
25 - Estonia
26 - Bosnia & Herzegovina
27 - Belarus
28 - Bulgaria
29 - Russia
30 - Sweden
31 - Azerbaijan
32 - Lithuania
33 - United Kingdom
34 - Poland
35 - Greece
36 - Denmark
37 - Macedonia
38 - Serbia
39 - Slovenia

[Martial]

very disappointing top though
you congratulate voices, by both Niamh and Paula were below the expectated level from these two singers
and with one of the worst dresses of the night and a very lame performance, Ireland in top 5 is definitely an insult to common sense

[ijm123]

very disappointing top though
you congratulate voices, by both Niamh and Paula were below the expectated level from these two singers
and with one of the worst dresses of the night and a very lame performance, Ireland in top 5 is definitely an insult to common sense

Niamh wasn't as good as she was in 93 that I'll admit but she was still good.  For me though Paula was bang on the money vocally.  As for the worst dress - did you see Olia Tira's dress

[Martial]

Niamh wasn't as good as she was in 93 that I'll admit but she was still good.  For me though Paula was bang on the money vocally.  As for the worst dress - did you see Olia Tira's dress

Niamh was vocally weak in comparison to the audio version : not in the Irish NF, not in the semi-final, not in the finale : she never reached her notes
Niamh was visually boring.. I dare say one of the top 5 worst dresses of 2010 and I don't have Olia there. Why? Because if you wanna go crazy and over the top, i don't mind if it's ok done and I think that's what Romania did. For instance, this same year, something like Iceland (or Ireland) were NOT trying to be over the top and yet they ended up being extremely cheap and weak, that's why I hate them more (though Olia could have done better). She was boring too too in the sense that after 1mn, the weak song was hugely boring already and Niamh didn't sell it at all. I ended up talking, chatting and waiting for next song. The fact she's short didn't harm her in 93 so why made her look like a giant purple peach on stage?
The song was hideous and Ireland should stick a finger up their ass and figure out that irish pipes are never ever going to do the trick anymore. Finale maybe, i was sure Niamh would qualify Ireland and was sure she'd get 20th or worse like Chiara did. I was right. I'm glad so too.

as for Paula she wasn't great vocally on the night, not because she can't reach the notes like Niamh, but because of the stress. But she was definitely hot on the night, and the live with Ovi was amazing, as it sold a rather nice song that could be lost sung boringly (like slovenians usually do with their pop songs)

wow I think I gave away the answer between Ireland & Romania for which is the 5th song we have in common. Well I decided that tomorrow I'll start my rankings too, so I hope no one starts his in the meantime.

As kids would say jumingly in high pitched voice "My turn now!"

[ijm123]

Nobody else want to comment on my rankings

[rapsodia]

Nobody else want to comment on my rankings

After seeing that winner, no. 

Seriously though, we still have exactly 9 songs in common in our top tens except for our winners. Spain is still my number one as it has been since the day one.

[Martial]

i can't believe you guys kept the "ok" songs in after their awful lives.. it's like you agree that performances don't matter, but they do, they're not the most important but for average songs it makes a hell of a difference

[Martial]

Here it is, finally ! my rankings and most of all my comments and some little analysis i could make from this edition.. Well I won't make a big huge post as i usually do and will mostly comment and draw conclusions as i rank the songs. How are they ranked? I rank subjectively of course but I try to get an honnest and objective view and not get too emotional with songs. I rank what I think of melody out of 10, I rank what I think of lyrics out of 10, I rank what I think of the vocals out of 10, I rank what I think of the performance out of 10 and I rank what I think of the overall looks and styles of the song and performance out of 10. I multiply melody and lyrics by 3, voice by 2, the rest stays out of 10 and then I add it all up to get a score out of 100.



First I'll start by commenting on the overall show, Oslo 2010 and its week of competition. Helsinki 2007 and Moscow 2009 were the best shows of the last decade, so one could honnestly hope for the best. Moreover, as amazing Moscow was it felt a tiny bit too much (like some Olympics a country wants to show as a symbol of power). Olso had promised a smaller show, but as great. Let's add to that the amazing shows that Melodi Grand Prix have been since 2005 and we get.. A disappointing year. Not that Oslo 2010 was bad, but everything was meant to build up into a great show and it never came.

The staging was meant to be smaller and it was. We don't mind that they don't have the money for screens to create a specific atmosphere for each song. But why did they give up all idea of any settings? When there's no money for a show, the one and only solution is lots of lights to give the impression of a good show. Belgrade used that in 2008 and it fooled no one. It won't fool us again in Oslo, even if overall the staging was well done. It just felt done rapidly and without any care for creativity, imagination. The lack of money should have been an excuse for great ideas to come up with amazingness. It ended up being a small Eurovision after all.

The postcards were an insult to postcards, half the time there were no signs that they were shot by eurofans from the countries and even there in the countries. The yellow "shapes" supposed to represent a country were almost always big yellow poops.

The interval acts were fun in the semis, well done, simple, fun, effective (sounds of europe and the modern german kid going to norway all done by vocal sounds).. but the finale one looked like a huge cheap "we have no idea" crap that was 3/4 of the time not even live. It was a cheap dance move, boring, no one cared for it. What was the idea of us sharing all the moments when nothing was shot live and actually showing people sharing it? Sure that costs more, but then don't do it.

Only good ideas were the very interactive greenroom creating more connections between viewers and contestants and the hosts. I still think three is a bit too much. It wants to be like a huge event when esc isnt even that big. It's big in itself (longest running show ever, first musical show in the world, third overall show in the world behind sport events) why try to make it a huge blah that it isnt? The head host spoke great french and was calm, serene and handled it well. She should have done it by herself (even if the other two were both very handsome).



As for the songs, they weren't that bad, nor that good. People screamed that it was a very bad Eurovision and I did so too at first. Mostly because all good songs were selected much later and that 2009 was quite a great year, with many interesting songs (including three songs that I could have called masterpieces on a hot day). Overall no, it wasn't that bad but it's true that many songs get killed still by poor English, poor performances, high hopes. Eurofans are the reasons it often goes wrong : they go insane for a song, act irrationally towards some reasults. One masterpiece saves a year. "Lejla" did 2006 and even if 2010 has, for me, a huge Eurovision masterpiece of all time, 2010 did NOT need it to remain a decent year. After the chaotic 03-08 years, Eurovision is definitely getting more songs that really want to just be good and see where it goes.

As for results, they're getting better year after year. The 50/50 system works quite well. It didn't stop many many many political, geopolitical, communities or friendly votes. But it did save us from some horrible results. It promoted Belgium or Israel for instance. Interstingly enough, France would have been 8th and with 153pts its highest score ever (147 in 1976 is France's best ever so far). But juries did not enjoy a bad song saved by one of the night's best performance. They made some shocking choices (Azerbaijan should not have been near the top 10) but overall, we will always have a rather big winner it is now a fact : Lena got more pts overall than she would have with just televotes or just juries. Together, the songs they both like go really far (Turkey, Denmark) while the winners of just one end up high enough (Greece as usual saved by televotes, Belgium by juries). In France esc 2010 was poorly appreciated. People were reassured that France got 12th with a decent entry overall (saved by a live). Most people commented on a great victory, since it was simple, no belly dancers involved, but would have wanted Lena to sing in German (yes, most people forgot some previous esc winners, like "Molitva", a ballad with a simple live in Serbian..) But what most people got to see were the ridiculous butterflies with commentary on french TV "as usual a kitsch and stupid show".. Sad that Belarus got the final. So we can't predict esc winners all the time (Lena was a favorite, but not huge before the contest itself), but apart from very little exceptions, they're always people with an overall entry that is definitely strongly convincing because of a definite style, highly recognizable, and must come from a certain dynamic for the country or the esc region.

Another interesting elements is the fact that 7 out of the top 12 of 2009 get in the top 12 of 2010. Apart from a surprising France (in recent years the Big 4 country did poorly except for some waves of averagely good results in 01-04 and now 08-10 in its own way), the others are Greece, Turkey, Russia, Ukraine, Armenia and Azerbaijan. Let's note that a Big 4 country replaced another one (Uk in 2009, Germany in 2010), that Georgia, the other caucasian country did not take part in 2009 and that two scandinavian countries were replaced by another one (Norway and Iceland in 2009, Denmark in 2010). Belgium and Romania instead of Estonia and Bosnia. West and East instead of Baltic and Balkan. It's definitely exactly what we see in the shifts of power in the Eurovision geopolitics. Baltic and Balkan, once the leaders in Eurovision modernity (winners in 2001, 2002 and 2007) have left their powers to the Caucasus (Armenia and Azerbaijan never left the top 10 since they entered Eurovision five years ago) and to a Western old Europe still with pride (ending with a victory in 2010). Scandinavia, Mediterranean and Eastern europeans have kept strong power over eurovision (after the Swedish victory in 1999, Denmark, Finland and Norway all won in the decade while Turkey, Greece, Ukraine, Russia also won). Of course it's mostly countries who never won before (Estonia, Latvia, Turkey, Ukraine, Greece, Finland, Serbia and Russia were all first time winners in the decade, 80%) since they are mostly rather recent newcomers (Turkey and Greece joined in the 70s, Finland in the 60s). What will the 2010's will be made of?

[ijm123]

 

Anyone else want to review the year?

[Martial]

 
i will continue, do not mock me, niko supported me in my lazyness

[Martial]

and here we go !

39 Latvia | "What for?" Aisha (005 pts)
When I first heard the Latvian songs, I thought the national final was of a high standard, with many interesting songs that did not fit the europop criteria.. However, i also knew right away that Aisha would finally get to the Eurovision stage with what seemed like a simple pop and r'n'b material that wasn't that bad. But that was all down to the audio format, for the live performance was horrible in all aspect. First of all, the long dress, the fake folklore scenery was totally disgraceful and of course, she was vocally weak, if not false most of the times. Her runner-up Don was one of the best voices in all NF this year, and he did make a very daring performance. Usually Latvian runner-ups end up in esc stage anyway (it happened to most of them to first be runner-ups and then win the Latvian NF) so I hope Don will return. Coming to esc stage, and knowing it is Latvia who has sent many horrors who did make the esc finale, i did think it could happen (the fake italian opera, the pirates...) but thank god, she looked like a whore singing about God, and no real Christian would appreciate such a cheap entry that makes every Gospel or Classical chants shiver in fear of what religious singing has become. The disgrace of the year was served by what it deserved : the last place in televoting (12pts) the last place in the juries (15pts) making it last of the first semi-finale (11pts total). It is my last as well.

38 Slovenia | "Narodnozabavni rock " Ansambel Roka Žlindre & Kalamari (006 pts)
I have always disaproved of the song. It's a fake cliché of what modern rock (meaning rock and folk) has turned into. It really isn't about singing "like" a rocker to be rock, and it's not the clothes that make the folklore. Put the visual aside, you have musical mess, and "mess" is being nice here. There is no melody to foloow, it's very hard to get to know what's going on in the song since that visually they chose to make it look like a peasant girl was being raped downtown. Apart from a cute blonde in the backing singers, it's irrelevant to even rewatch it ever. One-before lat in the second semi-finale, it was saved by neighbour votes (11pts and one before lats) while juries knew better (5pts and last). I have it one before last as well.

37 Bulgaria | "Angel si ti" - Miro (007 pts)
It's always tough to ask for a famous singer to represent the country, having it being the sole singer in the NF (Uk 92, 93, 94 or Netherlands 94 have had different results). Bulgaria has never been a strong esc country and apart from the 2007 little jewel (that both I and Eurovision have in their top 10) it's been terrible. Last in my ranking last year, it remains in the bottom 3 again. Twice in a row now, Bulgaria has kept an old fashion look of what Eurovision is. It's not anymore a circus freak show that makes a victory or a top spot. It never really was (after all some big show horrors like Poland 2007 or Slovenia 2008 never made it either) but Bulgaria pushes it over the top. What the hell was that show all about. Sure, naked men is always somthing welcome, but the song was very weak and became a very long three minutes to survive in the second semi-finale. Two from last for both juries and televote, it also is two from last in my list.

36 United-Kingdom | "That sounds good to me" - Josh Dubovie (008 pts)
I continue agreeing with everyone as I have the Uk down there as well, and I'm quite sure that it would be last in semi-finales if Uk had to take part in it. After chosing the song writers internally, Uk thought it would continue giving them good results. It is without thinking that not every singer is Jade, who could technically "sing" (though not in a type I aprove of) and was definitely nice to look at. Josh sure was physically fine but he felt fake all over. The smile was fake, and the show was entirely fake as well. It is very important to know that creating a show is of course using props, but there is a fine line between making people believe in its fakeness and people hating it because it just shows out loud what fakeness it is. There will be another country who will suffer quite greatly from such fakeness (a guitar disappearing..) What about the podium if nothing happens to it. The girls looked as bad as Germany 2008 did and when Josh climbed up there he... climbed down right away. Not to mention the very camp 80s crap (even in the 80s it would be crap) and you get the rightful last of the year.

35 Belarus | "Butterfly" - Three Plus Two (010 pts)
In the finale, it's the song i hated the most. But put the fake props that was the ONLY image that French news showed of Eurovision the sunday afterwards only to comment "Eurovision is as bad as ever" ignoring all the modern masterpieces in it. Belarus sure put Eurovision to shame using props that even Buck Fizz would never have thought of (and they're the best of hilarious randomness of the 80s). The song in itself is listenable, if only the cute guy was the only singing it. The girls can't sing, the other guy either. But he had a vocie enough for five. The song, very simple, doesn't pretend to be big and sure was not running for the top 10 but such cheap show should never have reached the final either. And it did. 8th of televote (63pts) and 12th by the juries it barely made it (9th) but it's definitely an insult to see how high the juries had it. They killed Finland to prefer Belarus in a way, so we have to assume that juries are the ones who prefer fakeness over simplicity and who prefer americanized songs than european folklore. that's important to remember when analizing esc results.

[Martial]

34 Netherlands | "Ik ben verliefd (sha-la-lie)" - Sieneke (012 pts)
Another country decided to chose nothing but the singer of an internally chosen song. Well I should say internally chosen crap. However, the twist in this contest was that the singers were supposed to perform different styles of the song. And actually they didn't. It was five times the same lullaby crap that had more sweet in it than pure belgian chocolate. Dutch horror, the song was a disaster of "la la la" that put Eurovision to shame. Moreoever, the entire show was stupid, with a Johnny Logan who can't do anything anymore but being paid as a supposed esc expert he isn't (i bet he wouldn't do as good as Niamh did) and with a fake finish where no one knew who was going to win. It was Sieneke who really did her best in the esc stage. She knew her chances to be weak and therefore tried to push her luck. Even though it was horrible to my point of view I do recognize that what she did was definitely something that people would enjoy. 11th of the televote proves that the simple europop still may please people. But unlike Iceland, this one was on the weak styles of all the europop and juries had it 14th. Not enough to qualify, but better than the former dutch tries. I have it higher than Belarus on the language basis only. But sadly, many songs in my bottom arei n original languages this year.

33 Poland | "Legenda" - Marcin Mroziński (015 pts)
Poland had also a pretty decent national final, for once. They usually have boring finales with no real good song, but many blend and not hateful ones. This once, they actually had a few songs that were modern and promising for the esc stage. Moreover, a masterpiece, one of the best of the entire year, "Pin Lady" by Pin was supposed to take part but the group withdrew. The song to replace it wasn't really chosen by the channel. They decided to take the song the Polish OGAE members had been pushing for so many months that it ended up smashing the national final. But folklore in itself is not enough to win. People should really listen to the Bosnian masterpieces to figure out what goes on there. Once more, fakeness of a song and a very messy performance totally killed the chances of Poland, who was sure their hero would go through. He was cuter than he could sing, and the girls with again folklore dresses and apples (another christian symbol over used) could barely serve the entry musically. A slightly better song this is and therefore it's not in my bottom 5 but it can't get much higher than this.

32 Malta | "My dream" - Thea Garrett (016 pts)
And yes, Eurovision does not only have podiums, fake folklore costumes and props and butterflies, it also has big birds. Thea can sing and it's only based on her vocal abilities (which are very blend, but still exist) that this song is saved. The very sweet bubbly maltese songs used to do well. It is good news to know that they can't anymore. Since the song was weak, Thea felt like a big show was needed. But the bird scared me off, it scared almost every one off, and it ended up being messy all over, and most importantly pointless. Juries had it 7th (but only 2pts from the 9th) but televote didn't quite follow and in the end Malta missed, again, the finale. It seems that only Chiara can still sell those bubbly ballads to Europe, but that even can't do much better than what she did last year. What is important, first, in Eurovision, remains a strong song. Sometimes performances help a bad song (Albania), sometimes they kill it a great song (Serbia) but most of the times, in the end, performances don't have much impact, right Thea ?

31 Macedonia | "Jas ja imam silata" - Gjoko Taneski (017 pts)
Speaking of messy performances, here's one for you. And another pointless idea : naked women. Like Bulgaria, this is another irrelevant show that goes not at all with the chosen entry. Macedonia had another good national finale that ended up with a tie between two boring songs. The one chosen by the jury went through, like in Portugal. And just like Portugal, it was the better song of the two that went through and more importantly, they were liked by the esc juries. After all, the song in itself is not horrible, but what has become of it in the esc stage was. I do understand why the juries would have had it 10th in the weak first semi finale even if I don't aprove of all of the choices they made, but this one sort of makes sense. After having unfairly missed the finale twice, they actually didn't deserve it and didn't get it. Let's hope it will shake things up in Macedonia, for they had many unfair finales in the past and we all hope they finally get it once fairly and enter the top 10 with a good song they're capable of.

30 Greece | "Opa" - Giorgios Alkaios & Friends (018 pts)
Greece is rather high when you think how much i hate their cheap shaky pop craps and the fact that it too is in original language barely helps it. The camera movements, already weak in Oslo, were maybe the weakest for Greece. We never really got to see the backing men that well, we got big close up on the backing fake player, it was all gross. Plus add to that a bear gay guy in leather who had all of his sex lover on stage with him, screaming opa, with a very weak political (supposedly political) lyrics and you get the latest top 10 position of Greece, a country who figured out the formula to do top 10 without winning, by compromising its musical integrity with a hell of a disaster once more. Its cheekyness makes me not kill it. The formula is too good for me to ignore its capacity. Worse I got to learn to live with overall bad taste so I'm nicer to it than I should.

[Niko]

Once again we see how much our opinions differ on the new songs.  UK and The Netherlands were both in my personal top 10 and Malta was very close to it. Just like Darran (Westendpad) said once to me in msn: I seem to be the only person in the whole universe who likes UK 2010. 

[Martial]

well maybe because we agree on old songs but you keep liking the old fashion songs in modern esc (uk so 80s, malta so 90s and netherlands so 70s) and i prefer modern music in a modern show of a modern world.. and actually, there are many references to older music in the modern great songs

[Niko]

Nostalgic, that is what I really am. 

[ijm123]

An interesting start to your rankings Morgan.  Some we definitely agree on....some we don't (Malta mainly but Netherlands and Latvia too - with Latvia I was aware of it's failings but it was a "guilty pleasure" )

[Martial]

29 Lithuania | "East European funk" - InCulto (019 pts)
Speaking of modern songs, Lithuania wanted to be the one to follow on LT United, who made the top 10 and created the surprise with a joke entry. This time, behind the joke entry, there was some depth politically, as Lithuania was addressing the rest of Europe what it was like to be Lithuanians. Let's remember that last year, in the amazing Dainu Daina national final, the huge winner was a song called... "Lietuva" (Lithuania) but the song was disqualified because it was released before October 1st sadly.. and Montvydas and Sasha were up fighting for the prize (all songs were great though so it doesn't matter).. This time again one great song was disqualified, Montvydas' "Running fast" which would have made top 5 in esc for sure.. So Lithuania ended up finally sending to esc a song about itself, Lithuania.. And it's a crap. The mix of seriousness in lyricsnd the sillyness of performance was terrible, even though musically it wasn't that bad.. Shiny underpants? Just no. It would have gone through with just televoting, of course..

28 Azerbaijan | "Drip drop" - Safura (022 pts)
I never thought it would win. I remember before esc saying that i've never hated strongly an esc winner, apart maybe from Greece 05 even though it is by far the best shaky Greek song.. But more importantly, esc has never been won by an amateur.. it has never been won by someone who can't sing.. have you noticed that all past winners were rather established singer (with the one exception of Rybak, but he was immensely popular with Melodi Grand Prix both in Norway and Europe) and more importantly, fine vocally? Safura could never have won, she's too amateur in her peformance and too weak vocally. More importantly, the juries now would have prevented her from doing as good as she could have. Sadly, they still had her 9th which is way too high (I blame eastern european juries) and having Belgium 2nd didn't help.. For 2 little points she made top 5 instead of Belgium. It's a terribly americanized song and show but with all the very amateurish things.. Look at her running in high heels, it's stupid, it's silly, it's laughable.. i can't beleive it got them as high as they did. It's decent enough but it's insanely bad if you think it was a bookmaker favorite!

27 Croatia | "Lako je sve" - Feminnem (027 pts)
Now many people on this site love this and I always said that they overrate it. Why ? First of all let's never forget I have something against Feminnem : it's the only time i have Bosnia out of the top 10 and i have it really low there. However, I do think it has improved a lot. First of all their dynamic together is better, more thought out. We were talking about amateurish, and actually that's what Croatia didn't have for the singers : they could sing really well actually, and the song itself is musically quite strong. But Croatia! Croatia! Croati! is so mad that it has lost its yugoslav glory to Serbia that it's ready to try anything to go through. A very simplistic performance would have done the trick, but no, the bench and that amateurish, fake, UGLY heart was so bad and silly that it cooled everyone down and prevented people from voting for it. 12th in televote, 14th in jury, it was too blend in the end to actually appeal. It's that typical nice song totally forgotten because of its cheapness.

26 Portugal | "Há dias assim" - Filipa Azevedo (030 pts)
She nailed her performance, as everyone doubted that, that's the reason she made it to the finale. Third time in a row now for little Portugal, definitely not the worst esc country currently. But the song itself always bored me. It's too americanized a ballad, and she's screamy to my ears, even if vocally she didn't make that many mistakes. She had a terrible running order and tried her best. The Portuguese national finale was terrible and when it won i was disappointed but it at least beat some very shaky cheap horror that would have died terribly in esc. She won thanks to Portuguese juries, and she got 2nd with the juries in the first semifinale ! It's definitely not a song i would have put in the finale but it makes sense than in the ballad semi one of them would go through and the one with the best performance would go through. I think she would have done better without the candles and piano, that was too much but in the end it worked fine enough. That song would never have done better.

25 Armenia | "Apricot stone" - Eva Rivas (031 pts)
Another big favorite, and I laugh at the fact that Armenia complained the new system prevented it from winning. This song was very overrated in esc stage ; it actually was 10th of juries and nothing but 4th of televote. But we all know that Armenia get the 12 from many western countries because of the diaspora. So i really can't think that Armenia would have ever won esc so far. This one song, another cheap political lyrics is definitely annoying when it comes to lyrics. And that stage performance ! How cheap ! The big apricot on stage, and then singing folk songs with a big close up on her boobs and the trashy jeans, wow that was smart. She's not even that good looking in my opinion. It's just that Armenia produces high standard songs but so far, apart from Sirusho, every thing turned bad on stage and Armenia can't reach higher without the right formula of both a strong song and a strong performance. So far they only had one without the other (Sirusho deserved better than "Qele Qele" as a performer, but vocally she's weak, Armenia 07 is great but the performance is too much, etc...) Let's see what they'll get next year. But what strikes me first is that they have extremely weak NF without any excitement as there's only one good song in, or at least decent, and that it obviously wins. With a better NF, Armenia will only do better !

[Martial]

24 Iceland | "Je ne sais quoi" - Hera Björk (035 pts)
Je ne sais pas pourquoi this song is so popular, but the reason definitely lies in its europop. Even though, I actually think the main reason is Hera's physical appearance. Sorry, but we all know that she has not a great looking face and that she has some overweight appearance. But as it is with Chiara, the fact that a woman can be happy and proud about her look even if it's not the standard look, always pleases people. Add to that that she has still a very shaky europop song does make people happy. Not me. It's definitely the boring typical europop, but it's not hateful. Hera has a good voice, but i think her performance was wrong. Not that it was bad, but she should have gone in a totally other way. The way she did it was the way Charlotte did hers, and we all know that this style does not work anymore. You can't just shake it around with nice looking backing singers all doing the same routine. That doesn't go anywhere. Even Rybak had a standing mic (yeah each time I say that people are shocked but it's true !) The dress was also very old fashioned, every thing screamed OLD ESC and while Hera, going last, finished a high 3rd in semi, she was down there for everyone in the finale. I agree with that.

23 Norway | "My heart is yours" - Didrik Solli-Tangen (038 pts)
Amazing Melodi Grand Prix! Amazing really, for two or three years in a row, it's an outstanding national finale, definitely up the level if not higher than some Melodifestivalen (not in 2010 when MF was superb, but 2009 definitely) and of all the amazingness they had to pick the most mainstream one. The hot guy with the big voice. Seriously, it's a nice song, a bit americanized but not extremely, and he's a rather fine singer, except he got a few notes off in the finale.. The thing is, the jumper in the Spanish song did not ruin the Spanish song (everyone felt like being nice to it, and it was reperformed) but everyone had that in mind during the Norwegian song and no one cared for it. It was a rather blend performance too, the outlook was great, as often with a song performed at home, but it felt cold, without any charisma.. The bad running order ends the explanation on why it did so bad. Let's hope Melodi Grand Prix will be as good next year and this time they'll choose something like "Dragontower" or "Yes Man", songs that finish 3rd and 4th in the finale, or Gaute's amazing song in Norwegian.

22 Switzerland | "Il pleut de l'or" - Michael von der Heide (039 pts)
Well it was definitely poorly performed, but it's retro vibes were some of the best done of the year. Michael is not a great vocalist and he knows that, so he plays a lot with it and i thought that was fun and enjoyable. No surprises though that most of Europe didn't like it (terribly last of the televote) and juries didn't quite follow his poor vocal tricks (one before last).. The show was a bit messy but this time the over the top idea was actually thought out, the problem is, you could tell. Once again, it's not that it's necessarly bad, it's just that, once you see through it, you keep analizing it and you're not really enjoying it. It's really not a bad song to listen to, I really wanted Switzerland to pass after many years of deserving it, but in the end it's just lost and forgotten.

21 Russia | "Lost and forgotten" - Peter Nalitch & Friends (040 pts)
Speaking of which, Russia is next on my list. This time it's one song i didn't like live but enjoyed in audio. Musically this feels real, like what Russia really enjoys to listen to. It's modern it's indie, it's stylish and it's really well written. Problem? Well Peter should just write the song, not sing it. He's a disaster vocally, and he has no charisma at all on stage. The worst thing was him looking at a photo when he said "i'm looking at your photo" and it was just a cheap drawing of a girl that even a 14 years old would be ashame of showing. It's gone completely wrong and bad, when I had strongly and very strongly defended the song. Musically among the better half, but terrible live, it got 11th thanks to many unfair votes. It's a sign that Russia will never leave the top 12 no matter what, just like Ukraine, Greece, Turkey or three Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. It's definitely sad, for "Mamo" was much stronger and ended up in the same boring spot.

20 Slovakia | "Horehronie" - Kristina Pelakova (041 pts)
Well this was a big fan favorite and I'll tell you what, i don't get it. Really. I know why they'd go for Poland but not for this one. It's definitely too simple for them to like but still they go for it. If it's that high in my list, it's actually for a reason most people neglect in this song : it's well written. It's got fine lyrics. And in Slovakian, making Slovakia one of the very rare countries to have never used English ! After two years of one of the most impressive national selections, Slovakia ended up as well with a tie, chosing this time the televote favorites. I have Slovakia very high always, but i can't really have Slovakia higher this time. It's good because it's simple musically, because Kristina's nice and convincing, but the clothes are horrible, so cheap, so old and the performance messy, pointless. The backing old woman was just there, pointlessly singing better than Kristina. I hope that Slovakia won't follow Czech Republic, at least fans have favored this song. It really didn't have any wow factor to go further than it did, but it does prove that Slovakia is trying hard.

[Martial]

19 Georgia | "Shine" - Sofia Nizharadze (042 pts)
So far, apart from a funny but bad political song that did not do esc, Georgia had a perfect record (1st and 8th) in two editions.. This time again, in a way, it is a success considering how hard it is to climb in my top 20. Chosing Sofia was right away a good choice, since she's a talented singer. For everything she did, she put Safura to shame since she kept her charisma and more importantly her voice throughout the big performance. As everyone does, I think the performance was too much, messy in a way. But still, if you compare it to Macedonia's you'll think, oh my, now this is not amateurish. It's definitely thought out, and more importantly well done. It was still done slowly, simply, after all. Even if it's too crowded and we don't get enough on the song itself. After being 12th and 11th, it was time Georgia got in the top 10. It was definitely the only one worthy of it whereas Armenia was cheap and Azerbaijan silly. Still, the songs in the national finale were all the same and it was definitely going to be a mainstream ballad for Georgia. Let's hope they can be more daring musically again in a few years, but their production is so far up the current standard.

18 France | "Allez Ola Olé" - Jessy Matador (043 pts)
Now this is technically speaking, at 43 the second worst esc song ever for France, and yet it's all the way up to 18th on my list. It actually was supposed lower but the performance in Oslo was a smash, the best performance for an upbeat shaky song in the year. Jessy definitely brought his african vibe to the stage and there was a shot from the back where you could see the entire stadium jumping to the song, making it feel like it was actually working from the stage to the audience. Very well done. The camera shots were smart, cutting in pieces the body parts to create a feeling of speed when the singers weren't moving much, so that there was no stop connecting different parts of the routine. It's one of the silliest songs of the year but all of France, sure we were going to get our first last place ever, was really happy to see we were 7th at some point, but only did 12th in the end because of diaspora votes in favor of the countries i have already listed before. Still, a proof that France can send very upbeat shaky songs and not be bad at it and that France is really trying after three songs of real high standard performance wise.

17 Moldova | "Run away" - Sun Stroke Project & Olia Tira (044 pts)
This might be the only shocking placing in my list for the ones who know me, as everyone else is right where people expect it to be. Well, unlike most people I enjoyed their performance and looks. It was totally crazy, but also very controled. Everything felt in the right place at the right time, without the shocking turn of events, without it looking messy overally. As for looks, it wasn't too much. It just was trying to be funky without shiny under pants like Lithuania, and I did enjoy it. More importantly (no i won't say how gorgeous that singer is, because he IS gorgeous) the song is nice. I loved Sun Stroke last year and much less this year, but joining with Olia did get them the right to go to Eurovision so we'll never know how well they would have done with a different formula. This was very fun to watch, and in the first semi, after so many ballads, it was one of the rare songs i still remembered. I wasn't surprised they went through and died in the finale. But it really was a decent effort from a country that reached top 10 for the first time ever in my list last year.

16 Ireland | "It's for you" - Niamh Kavanagh (046 pts)
As predicted, this got to the finale and totally died there. One before last in the finale in televote too ! It was purely horrible performance wise. Niamh is small and the podium (what the hell is with british islanders and podiums?) made her look stupidly tall but without any normal proportions. So in the end, awkwardness, whereas just small would have been fine. The purple dress is ugly ugly ugly, and oh my god, no charisma at all. No smile nothing. Vocally much weaker than in 93, the song, immensely disappointing for the singer's standard. It was a huge disappointment all throughout the year from Ireland. So why is it so high? Because Niamh being bad is miles and miles better than some other singers at their best. That puts most countries to shame, thank god Ireland can still pull out the big guns to reach the finale. But what do they want? To be last in the finale? I'd rather take daring risks and try to go somewhere even if it means dying but compromising to typical folklore. When the pipe starts you go "not again, ireland..."

15 Sweden | "This is my life" - Anna Bergendahl (047 pts)
Well well well there is too much to say and I really don't know where to begin with. I've commented a lot on this. I'll start by saying the fake guitar killed her. Yes juries too had her a bit lower, but if she were higher in the televote than 9th she would have gotten those extra 5pts that prevented her from Ireland and Cyprus pts. Once you see the fake guitar disappearing you think "ok so this is all fake?" and her fake crying or trying to look i dunno touched, made everyone mad at her. It was not a very convincing performance for something trying to be simple, gentle, rebirth-like. She kept the same look throughout all of her performances of this song, and people were just tired of the princess like figure she tried to create. White is NOT necessarly the color of innocent girls. After all, the time of old esc has been gone now, so Sweden can't think it will always pass just because it's Sweden. The Ark were rather doing well with 18th, because since then Charlotte was saved by juries, Malena died in the finale and now this. It's not that big of a surprise based on recent Swedish esc history. As for the song it's blend but not bad, just Anna is irritating as hell and the Swedish MF, master work in 2010 had many many many amazing songs, starting with Salem Al Fakir's "Keep on walking" which is my runner up of all songs in 2010 but there's also Pauline, Neo, Eric, Darin, Ola, Erik, Pain of Salvation, Peter even Andreas was better... The international juries in MF gave their victory to Salem (France gave Salem 12 and 0 to Anna !) so no surprises that in esc they wouldn't like it still.

14 Cyprus | "Life looks better in spring" - Jon Lilygreen & The Islanders (048 pts)
Another simple song.. I actually like it less than Sweden's but the performance was definitely cooler. It was what the song pretended to be, simple, effective, very accoustic like so that's nice and very welcomed in esc stage.. it also felt very modern to my ears, it only had to compete against a song very similar to it and very much stronger, this time daring to go alone on stage, so it obviously died in the finale, but it was a great surprise to see Cyprus making it to the finale instead of Sweden or Croatia.. Now let's see if Cyprus can continue with modern and nice simple songs without the need of a guy from great britain but with their own cypriot styles. They've chosen a singer who is very x-factor like and not promising, but a good song can save it all still. Let's hope they can chose something very modern, or at least something simple and nice again. Europop has killed Cypriot entries too many times already.

13 Albania | "It's all about you" - Juliana Pasha (049 pts)
I love Festival i Kenges, well usually, but last year's was a disaster. The "young singers" show was 3 hours of craps and the famous singers did what we expected them to do, a big show of blend songs. Only Rovena Dilo offers us great songs but she can't perform at all so it's all a big poop. Juliana, 3rd then 2nd was obviously expected to win and she did. As I said, at least it was arranged so that a good singer won, when some countries (like Belarus) fix their NF but for some bad craps. Juliana is amazing. Vocally fine, if it wasn't for that dumb accent (the song should remain in Albanian, always, they keep making mistakes in English), Juliana saved the best europop song of the year thanks to an amazing performance. I always said that a big pop song can turned into wonders with a static performance when you give the energy through simple facial expressions and camera shots. That's what Juliana did. Give her three genius backing singers and some modern cool clothes, and you get Albania 2010. I seriously can't concieve it in the good half (above 50 pts) but it's as good as europop can get.

(Now Songs Above 50/100)

12 Bosnia & Herzegovina | "Thunder and lightning" - Vukašin Brajić (050 pts)
I said earlier Feminnem were the only ones out of my top 10 for Bosnia, it's not true anymore. As soon as I heard the song I knew i was disappointed. I didn't know by then how well Bosnia would save itself with an impressive performance, but this time the magic wasn't quite there. Bosnia, my fave modern esc country and currently holding my fave esc country spot ever (though very close to France and Finland who have taken part for much longer). The song was modern yes, but it felt like they wanted to keep it "bosnian" and that was a big mistake in it. So they changed it to English and indeed for once that version worked much better. Vukasin is a great singer and he nailed the performance, the spots shown to the side gave an effective illusion of grandeur to the small Oslo stage and he was not afraid to put down the guitar himself ! Huge difference, it felt like some indie rock trying to be nice and not some big hot shot eurosong entry, and many people did enjoy that. Juries went particularly crazy with it, probably because of Vukasin's qualities but televote did not follow. Too bad. Let's hope that next year Bosnia will be back on the top.

11 Spain | "Algo pequeñito" - Daniel Diges (052 pts)
When talking to many people here before doing the ranking, they all gave three songs they expected to be in my top 10 and Spain was always coming up. I'm sorry to disappoint as it barely barely barely misses the top 10 (by 2pts). First of all I'd like to say that the Spanish system is terrible. The internet voting gives room for so many craps that it's disgusting. Coral the big favorite was terrible live, while Daniel was so fine he finally nailed the finale and I was really happy. Musically among the stronger songs of the year, I think Daniel is definitely too naive in his performances. Look how good the idea was of the toy box on stage and look what it ended up looking : 4 dancers totally unconnected feeling lost on the big stage. And then a guy jumps in. No not the mean guy who tried to ruin his song, his backing singer comes in the middle of the song to join vocally Daniel, dressed like Daniel. That makes no point and you go, couldn't he be a toy too? Daniel has charisma but you keep seeing in his face "am i doing this right? i hope you like it" and you can tell he's not in the song itself. I kept being annoyed at that. To me, there are ten more modern or at least better performed songs in this year's edition. Sure, Spain was for once good as it rarely is lately, but it feels like they're just being lucky with such a bad NF and we have to wait to see how Spain can react to its 15th place with something stronger than usual.

[Martial]

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