Counting down to JESC: Rotterdam 2007
Give me a ‘J’!
Give me an ‘E’!
Give me an…uhh, I can’t be bothered. Basically, it’s back to the topic of JESC today, which may send some of you running away screaming just in time for Halloween. For those of you who would never do such a thing or are just too comfy to move, here’s the next installment of the Junior recaps – Part V: Rotterdam.
The stats
Edition: 5th
When: 8th December, 2007
Where: Ahoy Arena, Rotterdam, Netherlands
Motto: ‘Make a big splash!’
Hosts: Kim-Lian van der Meij & Sipke Jan Bousema
Broadcaster: AVRO
Entries: 17
Debutants: 4 – Armenia, Bulgaria, Georgia, Lithuania
Returnees: 0
Withdrawals: 2 – Croatia, Spain
Interval acts: Katie Melua, Ch!pz, and all of the contestants performing One World
First place: Belarus
Last place: Greece
Most douze points: 7 – Armenia
The entries
Georgia/ Odelia Ranuni by Mariam Romelashvili
Belgium/ Anders by Trust
Armenia/ Erazanq by Arevik
Cyprus/ I Mousiki Dinei Ftera by Yiorgos Ioannides
Portugal/ Só Quero É Cantar by Jorge Leiria
Russia/ Otlichnitsa by Alexandra Golovchenko
Romania/ Sha-La-La by 4Kids
Bulgaria/ Bonbolandiya by Bon-Bon
Serbia/ Piši Mi by Nevena Božović
Netherlands/ Adem In, Adem Uit by Lisa, Amy & Shelley
Macedonia/ Ding Ding Dong by Rosica & Dimitar
Ukraine/ Urok Hlamuru by Ilona Galytska
Sweden/ Nu Eller Aldrig by Frida Sandén
Malta/ Music by Cute
Greece/ Kapou Mperdeftika by Made In Greece
Lithuania/ Kai Miestas Snaudžia by Lina Joy
Belarus/ S Druz’yami by Alexey Zhigalkovich
The scoreboard
- Belarus – 137
- Armenia – 136
- Serbia – 120
- Georgia – 116
- Macedonia – 111
- Russia – 105
- Bulgaria – 86
- Sweden – 83
- Ukraine – 56
- Romania – 54
- Netherlands – 39
- Malta – 37
- Lithuania – 33
- Cyprus – 29
- Belgium – 19
- Portugal – 15
- Greece – 14
My top 5…
…songs
Armenia – I would have been a very happy woman if this song had won (or at least not come second by one measly point). It’s a catchy, polished entry, and makes great use of that traditional Armenian instrument that seems to appear in all Armenia’s entries but that I do not know the name of.
Belgium – I tend to recoil at the sound of most of their ESC entries, but I majorly heart Belgium in Junior Eurovision. The love well and truly extends to Trust and their meaningful ballad. It deserved a much better place on the scoreboard, IMO.
Georgia – like Serbia’s did the year before, this song reminds me of Sesame Street for an unknown reason. That could be the reason I like it so much. It’s bouncy, it’s catchy, it’s fun, and it’s ethnic. Oh, and it doesn’t include buzzing, which is a definite plus.
Sweden – say hello to my least favourite song by a Sandén sister. Yes, I said least favourite, but the fact that it still makes my top 5 is proof of the power of the Sandén sisterhood, a.k.a. the Swedish Atomic Kitten.
Belarus – This song is super retro and quite cheesy, but I can’t help head-banging to it. Seeing as it won and all, I guess/hope I’m not alone.
…voices
Serbia – Nevena may need a smiling class or two, but she certainly doesn’t need singing lessons.
Ukraine – diva in the making much?
Georgia – I swear there is some magical chemical in the Georgian water that makes everyone between the ages of 10 and 15 a supremely talented vocalist.
Portugal – some things about this entry (the song, the excessive use of hair gel…) were too grown-up for Jorge. But you’re never too young to be able to hold a tune. In fact, the younger you are, the more likely you’re going to end up on TV.
Belgium – lead singer Eva has a talent for the high notes.
…costumes
Armenia – nautical-themed outfits for the win! Or for second place, as it turned out. Whatever. They’re totally cute, and it’s 64.3% likely that Soluna Samay took inspiration from them for her Eurovision look.
Georgia – once again, the combo of red and white spells success. I remember desperately wanting one of those fur hats, but opting out of sourcing one because a) I live in a place where the weather rarely permits such a thing and b) I’m not sure when it would be appropriate to wear it.
Ukraine – I LOVE costume reveals, unless they involve one hideous costume being ripped off to reveal another (but I’ll get to Greece in a minute). Bonus points for including the hair.
Russia – fancy! That is all.
Serbia – pretty, floaty, and everything you would expect to see with a song like Piši Mi.
Clockwise from left: Arevik, Mariam, Ilona’s before and after, Alexandra and Nevena
My bottom 5…
…songs
Greece – I don’t like to be mean to children, but I’m gonna be anyway: pretty much everything about this entry sucks, song well and truly included. If you think you can convince me otherwise, go ahead.
Malta – I know the group is called Cute. But this is just way too cute. As in, I’m-going-to-bring-up-my-lunch cute.
Russia – anybody else find this very aggressive and shouty?
…voices
Greece – no explanation necessary.
…costumes
Greece – like I said before, if you’re going to wear something gross and then rip it off, you could at least make an effort with what’s underneath.
Cyprus – here we go again with the sportswear! Why?
Bulgaria – there’s nothing that wrong here. I just think the Bon-Bon girls could have used the confectionary theme to their advantage, like Georgia (eventually) did last year.
Anticlockwise, from left: Made in Greece x2, Bon-Bon and Yiorgos
What was ‘wow!’ and what was oh-so-wrong in Rotterdam? Let me know below!
PS – random side note alert…if you’re a fan of JESC and you haven’t already, you’ve got to check out Sounds Like Teen Spirit, a 
documentary that follows four of the 2007 contestants (Trust from Belgium, Marina from Bulgaria, Yiorgos from Cyprus and Mariam from Georgia) from their national finals all the way to the contest. It’s a seriously good watch, and you can believe me when I say that because I am getting absolutely no money for doing so (damn it). The DVD is available online.
eurovisionbyjaz.com 
2 Responses to “Counting down to JESC: Rotterdam 2007”
I love 2007! It was, and still is, my favorite jesc ever. It was also the first time I had to watch it online because of Spain withdrawing, and I was really sad they didn’t make a dvd after the show because I’d have bougt it for sure. The most memorable part for me was when all the kids performed one world together. That is probably my favorite jesc moment ever :’) I hope they do it again this year.
My top 5:
1- Serbia: as you said, Nevena is an amazing singer, and I just love this song too much.
2- Georgia: Fun, ethnic and Georgian-y and for me the best entry Georgia has sent to an eurovision related event.
3- Belgium: amazing lyrics and music and the song is awesome and it was soooo underrated 😥
4- Ukraine: Nothing beats the part when she says “I don’t want to go to school today, Eurovision here I come”. If only I could say that sigh
5- Bulgaria
Agree with everything you said on Made in Greece, or as I’d like to call them ” shame on Greece” because seriously, what was that
This used to be my worst jesc entry ever until Belarus 2009 and more recently Armenia 2012 😛
Oh the Armenian entry, I think that instrument is called duduk. I remember I loved the Armenian entry before the show, but then got a bit tired of it after overplaying it. And Russia is meant to be shouty because she’s complaining about all the presure she gets, it actually suits the theme of thee song. It is my favorite out of all the jazzy jesc Russian entries 😛
Ps: I love sounds like teen spirit!!!!They should make documentaries like this one every year..with all the participants (I wish!)
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I don’t know if we’ll have another group song, especially now Kim-Lian’s theme song has been released (unless they all get out there and perform it with her). It’s pretty catchy, but the chorus sounds exactly like Kesha’s new song…unoriginal.
Re: Georgia, I would have to agree. It’s their best ESC-related song ever! I always like them more in Junior than big Eurovision. I hate to say it but I think they’ve done it again this year. Picked something that will win or come 2nd or 3rd easily.
Belgium was SO SO SO underrated. I wonder if it would have done any better in the ESC?? It seemed quite grown up for Junior, but maybe it would’ve been too boring (for some people) otherwise??
Shame on Greece. So good!! They should be ashamed. I can’t believe you hate ‘Sweetie Baby’ more than this *shakes head in utter bemusement*
I get that Alexandra was complaining, but I wish she could have complained more quietly!
Yay, someone who’s seen SLTS!! It’s such a good doco. Everytime I watch it I just wanna hug Yiorgos, even though he’s probably old enough now to not need a hug. But he and his sister are too adorable.
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