Time-Warp Tuesday | Malta FTW, but IDK why…
Where: Helsinki, Finland
When: 2007
Who: Olivia Lewis
What: Vertigo
There are some things about Eurovision I will never be able to comprehend – for example, how Azerbaijan managed to win with what was their least impressive entry ever. Another comes in the form of Malta’s 2007 entry, which was one of the favourites to take out the trophy. What I want to know is, why?
Olivia’s Vertigo didn’t end up making the final and so was in no danger of nabbing the top spot* (I can hear Marija Šerifović laughing maniacally as I write this). But the mere fact that a heap of fans were outraged by her failure to qualify is confusing enough. The Helsinki semi-final was bottom-numbingly long, and I just can’t see how, amongst all those songs, it was supposedly a given that Malta would stand out.
Don’t get me wrong – Olivia’s a very good vocalist and has great taste in kimonos and shirtless men. It’s just that…well, I think her song was overrated, and overrated = shock from all corners of Europe when it stayed put in the semi.
Am I alone? Will you hurl abuse at me via the comments section for even daring to dislike this? Or are there others out there who knew there was no way Olivia could compete with the walking tinfoil factory that is Verka Seduchka?
* Probably for the best – if she’d been high on the scoreboard her vertigo might have kicked in on live TV, and no one would have wanted to see that.
eurovisionbyjaz.com 
8 Responses to “Time-Warp Tuesday | Malta FTW, but IDK why…”
I’ve never seen why this was expected to do well. It’s an OK, song, but there’s nothing special about it and it doesn’t stand out at all.
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Agreement, agreement, agreement!! It’s not terrible, although the lyrics annoy me at times, which happens a lot with Malta. I feel a bit silly complaining about it being a favourite when it didn’t even get to the final, but who doesn’t love a good old complain every now and then?? X]
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First, I hope that this becomes a regular thing, as in knocking down awful, overrated entries, mainly because I’ll get to whine about all of my personal ones here in the comments!
Anyways, no, you’re totally right in putting this sham of a song in its place. It wasn’t good and the silly performance really didn’t help it. In fact, it’s a lot like “Echo” from this year in the sense that it was a decent (in Anggun’s case, wonderful) song ruined by the staging. Also, it’s important to remember that the Swiss mannequins were also fan front-runners in 2007, so there aren’t really any surprises there.
It’s a little like Slovakia in 2010 or Slovenia this year, decent songs that were totally screwed by the performance, either by quality (Slovakia) or choreography/staging (Slovenia).
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Haha, I might have to keep this up if you enjoy it so much. You should have seen my first draft. It was SO much meaner!!
Yeah, I just don’t know what kind of staging would have benefited this entry. OTT was well, OTT. Pared-back would have been weird because it’s more dramatic than Days of Our Lives…gaah. Not that I care if it could have been benefited (i.e. into the final) or not.
It’s a shame when really good songs are ruined by a crappy performance. The worst of recent times for me would be Blue. The song itself was a winner, 100% in my eyes. But it all went bleuurggh on the night.
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Yes! Let’s tear these songs to bits!
I can’t believe that I forgot about Blue! The song was great but almost EVERYTHING about the performance stunk! They should’ve just looked at typical boy band set-ups and duplicated that, just like they did for Jade Ewen’s theatrical ballad from 2009. Look what it got them: top 5! Ugh… I’ll never understand the UK.
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I don’t think many people will! Yeah, everything was off with Blue. Tweaking the lighting (green?? Whyyyy?), costumes and those tacky graphics of their heads on the screens would have helped a heap, I reckon, although Lee’s vocals really damaged their chances. Right before they came on when I was watching last year I was peeing my pants with excitement (not literally) because I thought ‘this is it, the UK is going to win Eurovision. It’s happening.’ And then that first high note ruined everything.
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BTW, it’s nice to see your face!!
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Thank you!
And you’re exactly right. Although the staging couldn’t save Blue’s vocal performance, it would’ve gone a long way to pushing them into the top ten. Actually, on the day of the contest, I had to wait eight hours to get the results (nothing like the three days you have to go through, though) and my mind was just racing the whole time. I thought that it would either be Sweden, Italy or the UK. Then I saw the performance…
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