Hello, this is Minsk calling….

By Jaz, November 19, 2010

It’s time, ladies and gents.

Time for precocious under-16’s from all over Europe to descend on the Belarusian capital for the mini-me of ESC, Junior Eurovision. The show is on Saturday night in Minsk, and so, having done my last university exam for the year yesterday (I’m freeeeeeeee!) I thought I’d spend some time whipping out a short review on each of the fourteen entries for 2010. And I did. So here they are.

(FYI: My computer won’t let me type accents with letters, hence why ‘Sarlote’ for example, will read as ‘Sar-lott’ when in fact in is supposed to be ‘Shar-lott’. My apologies.)

ARMENIA – Mama – Vladimir Arzumanyan

Can Armenia provide a bad Eurovision song? I really don’t think so. I always love what they bring to Esky and Jesky. In my opinion this is better than Go Barcelona from last year. It’s ultra catchy and makes you want to move (or is that just me), plus it has that great ethnic sound.

9.5/10

BELARUS – Muzyki Svet – Daniil Kozlov

I really like this, but I feel it would be exponentially better sung by a) someone older than 15 and b) someone with a less whiny tone to their voice (no offence!). Apart from that it’s actually a decent ballad.

7/10

BELGIUM – Get Up! – Jill & Lauren

Besides another song that I want to win a bit more, this is what I’d want to be on top! Fun all around, very catchy and you know what else? It DOES make me want to get up. So job well done, Jill and Lauren. Or whoever wrote it.

10/10

GEORGIA – Mari Dari  – Mariam Kakhelishveli

This was a grower on me, as I really detested it at first. It’s pretty complex for a JESC song, though no more than their entry from 2008, which as we all know managed to win. I don’t think this will do the same but I’m thinking top five.

7.5/10

LATVIA – Viva La Dance (Dejo Ta)  – Sarlote & Sea Stones

I love it! Not the most out of all of them, I’ll get to my favourite soon, but this is easily in my top 5. Dancey, poppy, catchy, well sing – it ticks all my boxes.

9/10

LITHUANIA – Oki Doki – Bartas

This seems to be popular but I can’t warm to it. The ‘oki doki’ chorus just makes me cringe. But Bartas has a good voice that suits the rock-pop genre of this entry, and no doubt it’ll be a great opener for the show.

4/10

MACEDONIA – Eooo, Eooo  – Anja Veterova

This is a tad boring and screechy for my liking. I don’t see it going anywhere.

4/10

MALTA – Knock Knock!….Boom! Boom! – Nicole

Knock. Knock knock. Knock me out before this comes on, someone. JK, it’s not that bad. I like the little bits of accordion or whatever that is in the chorus, but those k-words drive me up the wall, and the title is just plain ridiculous. Besides, Click Clack won last year. It’s about time we had a winner that wasn’t onomatopoeic.

5/10

MOLDOVA – Ali Baba – Stefan Roscovan

This one’s a bit cheesy and a bit dated….but I still really like it! Stefan’s got one of the stronger voices this year which helps, but I don’t know if it will be enough for a good finish for a song that sounds like the theme to an 80s Moldovan cop show.

7/10  

NETHERLANDS – My Family – Anna & Senna

Now, I don’t want to insult anyone, but this song makes me vomit in my mouth a little bit. It is so sickly sweet! On the other hand, I want the Dutch to do well in anything Eurovision (as you know they haven’t done very often).

3/10

RUSSIA – Boy and Girl –  Sasha Lazin & Liza Drozd

This seems to be trying to recapture the sound of their winning song Vesinniy Jazz from ’06. Without success, might I add. Listening to their voices is like listening to someone else filing their nails; it’s grating, uncomfortable and I have to leave the room. Sorry kids.

1/10

SERBIA – Carobna Noc ­– Sonja Skoric

Like Belarus, this is a great ballad. Unlike Belarus, I think this girl actually has the vocal chops to make it work. It certainly blows their ’09 entry out of the water.

8/10

SWEDEN – Allt Jag Vill Ha – Josefine Ridell

MYABSOLUTEFAVOURITEICAN’TGETENOUGHOFTHISAMAZINGSONGGOJOSIE! Did you get that? Well in case you didn’t, I love this song. In my ideal world this would be the winner, however I think its headed the same way as Du, as they are both catchy, contemporary, well written pop songs sung by teenage girls with big voices…which would, at Eurovision, probably do really well. But I think Du was too adult for JESC, and this is the same. But I still adore it!

10/10

UKRAINE – Miy Litak – Yulia Gurska

I like the R & B feel to this song – it’s a bit groovy. I didn’t want to use that word because I’m 19 and not 90 but when I hear it that’s the only adjective that comes to mind. Her voice is great, it doesn’t sound as young as some of the others.

7/10

So there you have it – 14 rapid reviews. How much easier is JESC to review than ESC? I do hope I didn’t offend anyone as I was a bit harsh! Just remember that this is my opinion, and that in two weeks my opinion will most likely have changed drastically. I don’t think my love for Sweden will decrease though, so as a salute to Josefine and co I present the inaugural Eurovision by Jaz Youtube Embedment for your viewing pleasure:

I’ll finish off today with some desires and predictions:

WHO SHOULD WIN: Sweden, Belgium, Armenia or Latvia.

WHO WILL WIN: Armenia, Belgium or Serbia.

This is going to be one of the best Jeskies ever, with Alexander Rybak and Ksenia’s duet, and all the past winners reuniting for an interval performance (I’ll be on Dino Jelusic watch…I’ve got a bit of a thing for him, which sounds creepy but its ok, we are almost the same age). Even though I can’t watch it live =( and it’s not on telly here until next year =( =( , I still can’t wait! Good luck to all of the countries.

xx

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