SUPER SATURDAY #3 | The end of Eesti Laul + Hungarian and Swedish semis!
Welcome to another Super Saturday, and an altogether action-packed weekend on the Eurovision NF calendar!
You’ll be relieved to discover that since there’s so much going on, I haven’t got time for a long-winded intro on this occasion. I can hear the globe-spanning cheers already. So let’s leap straight in by looking at this weekend’s program of events, then reviewing and predicting a few of the most important ones (according to moi).
TONIGHT: Estonia’s Eesti Laul final; Finland’s UMK semi 3; Hungary’s A Dal semi 2; Lithuania’s Eurovizijos final (the song’s chosen, now it’s artist-picking time); Sweden’s Melodifestivalen semi 3
TOMORROW NIGHT: Latvia’s Supernova final
A little housekeeping to start…
Thoughts on the Europe-wide news of the week
- Armenia: Six members sourced from six different countries. That’ll be Genealogy, singing Don’t Deny for Armenia in Vienna and so far made up of Essaï and Tamar Kaprelian. Let’s hope that the Six4One resemblance stops with the number of vocalists and the number of places they come from. Or at least that Ralph Siegel has NOTHING to do with the song (which is always a relief).
- Finland: I’m not following UMK very closely this year (any whiff of Satin Circus and I’m all over it, but apart from that…) but I know enough to have been shocked by the elimination of Siru, Otto Ivar AND Eeverest in last weekend’s semi. Still, with the so cray-cray-it’s-incredible Heart of Light in the mix, one of those three had to go. It just turned out that it wasn’t the right time for any of them.
- Iceland: Waking up on Sunday, I wanted to discover that aptly, SUNDAY would be representing Iceland. That wasn’t to be, but Iceland did choose one of my favourites from the final – Lítil Skref by María Olafsdóttir. Only now it’s Unbroken, and it’s not quite the same. This is a lovely but über-repetitive song, and I think the English lyrics reinforce that repetitiveness. Plus, Icelandic is so magical! I miss it already.
- Israel: Nadav Gedj triumphed in The Next Star comp on Tuesday. All I know about him is that he’s not The Girl With The Hair Who I Thought Would Win (Avia) and that he’s touted as a Justin Timberlake-type artist. I approve, based on that latter description.
- Italy: Three attractive Italian men, collectively known as Il Volo, took home the top prize (i.e. a questionable-looking trophy) of the 2015 Sanremo Music Festival, and with it the golden ticket to Eurovision. They appear to have accepted that ticket rather than tossed it in the trash, and on Thursday RAI confirmed that they’ll be packing winning song Grande Amore in their carryon. I professed my love (or should I say ‘amore’?) for this song in my previous post, so I won’t re-hash it here (besides, this ESC Tips article articulates everything I could say and more). Wouldn’t it be funny if Italy won two Eurovision events in a row with a song title featuring the words ‘grande amore’? I know I’d laugh. WITH TOTAL JUBILANCE!
How could you not want to vote for these faces (or the voices behind them)?
- Montenegro: Apparently my main man Željko Joksimović is composing Knez’s entry. ZJ can NOT seem to stay away from the ESC, and I am very happy about that. There’s no excuse for Montenegro to not pick up where they left off, qualifying for the first time in 2014.
- Serbia: We have our first Serbian rep since Malmö, and her name is Bojana Stamenov. Her song is Ceo Svet Je Moj, and it’s…well, I’m going to call it a grower at this point.
- Sweden: Once again, I royally f%#$ed up my Melfest predictions, not foreseeing at all that Magnus “Schlager Fiend” Carlsson would go direkt til final. Oops. I guess schlager isn’t as stone-cold dead as I had
hopedthought.
Now, let’s move on to the key (in my opinion) national final installments of tonight.
ESTONIA: It’s Eesti Laul’s last dance…or song…or whatever
Yep, it’s time for what is always an interesting national final to come to a close for another year. After their semi finals, Estonia has been left with a pretty strong group of ten songs to choose from, but to be honest, I’m not sure I trust them to make the right decision (to find out what I think is the “right” decision, keep reading). Last year, with the likes of Traffic and Sandra Nurmsalu in the final, the country came dangerously close to sending something dreadful to Copenhagen by putting the Super Hot Cosmos Blues Band in their superfinal instead, alongside eventual winner Tanja. Yikes.
Granted, there’s nothing among the 2015 ten that would horrify me as much as that did, but I do have my preferences, and it’s those I want to see in that ultimate stage of competition.
Here’s this evening’s running order:
- Minu Päike by Luisa Värk
- Üle Vesihalli Taeva by Maia Vahtramäe
- Goodbye To Yesterday by Elina Born & Stig Rästa
- Idiot by Kali Briis Band
- Troubles by Robin Juhkental & The Big Bangers
- Burning Lights by Daniel Levi
- Superlove by Elisa Kolk
- Exceptional by The Blurry Lane
- Unriddle Me by Elephants From Neptune
- This Is Our Choice by Triin Niitoja & John4
Third song out Goodbye To Yesterday is the one to beat, and it will be the shock of the season if it doesn’t at least advance to the superfinal. Before I consider calling it as a foregone-conclusion winner, though, it’s time to reveal whether it’s one of my personal top three.
- Goodbye To Yesterday – UH, YEAH IT IS! The first time I heard this (and I’ve noticed a trend here) I was thinking ‘meh’. But soon enough I was hooked on the 60s mod, somewhat melancholy sound, and now I’m thinking ‘This is genius!’. It tells a tale, it’s retro but very now at the same time, and the duet dynamic – Stig’s role and Elina’s – is perfect. Kind of anti-Common Linnets.
‘If you’re going to insist on looking at the back of my head, Stig, can you at least be useful and check for dandruff?’
- Superlove – This is a really pretty song performed to the max, with dry ice. Dry ice always helps, unless you’re asthmatic. I don’t expect Elisa to win, but I would be happy for her if she did.
- Burning Lights – This veers into vanilla territory genre-wise, but I really like the lyrics, and the chorus has good sing-along potential.
This year, there’ll be a three-strong superfinal in Eesti Laul, and it’s hard to predict which trio of entries will end up there. Last year’s Super Hot Cosmos fiasco is one heck of an indication that Estonia and I have differing ideas of what constitutes decent music. But, as always, I’ll give it a go so you guys can laugh at my haplessness later.
TO THE SUPERFINAL: Goodbye To Yesterday, Burning Lights, Unriddle Me
FTW: Goodbye To Yesterday
If I’m wrong (which never happens…I mean, which constantly happens) then it’s not going to be Goodbye To Yesterday so much as Goodbye To Jaz Predicting Anything EVER AGAIN. But seriously, Estonia…you have the chance to compensate, and then some, for Tanja’s DNQ in Copenhagen here. Don’t stuff it up.
HUNGARY: A Dal’s second (and stronger) semi
This penultimate episode of A Dal is verging on being a hum-dinger. Translation: the hits are definitely outnumbering the misses.
- Úgysem Felejtesz El by Gabi Szűcs
- Untold Story by Other Planet
- World of Violence by Bogi
- A Tükör Előtt by Gergő Oláh
- Fire by Ív
- Run To You by Gyula Éliás Jnr. feat. Fourtissimo
- Ne Engedj El by Kati Wolf
- Mesmerize by Passed
- That’s How It Goes by Bálint Gájer
With just four places in the final up for grabs, and five songs I’m rather attached to, this is gonna hurt. Best case scenario, I lose one. Most likely scenario? I lose multiple. Do you care? Probably not.
No doubt you have your own favourites that you’re attempting to ESP into the final. But as I can’t hear you screaming them at me, here are mine!
- World of Violence – This is nothing on Bogi’s We All from last year. But there’s something endearing about it, and about her stage persona. Also, I am now pronouncing ‘violence’ as ‘vi-oh-lence’ because it’s a surprisingly fun thing to do. Bogi knows what I’m talking about.
- Fire – This is the kind of thing I’ve enjoyed hearing in A Dal recently. Interesting, authentic alt-pop that doesn’t try too hard to resemble a “typical” ESC entry. If it won, it wouldn’t make a huge impact on the scoreboard, but it would represent Hungary with integrity.
- Ne Engedj El – (Possibly) controversial opinion: I like this better than What About My Dreams. It may just be the power Hungarian as a musical language has over me, but this is a pop ballad that gives me the elusive feels…the feels that lead to hairs all over my body standing to attention. That’s it, I’m joining Team Kati! *speeds over to Facebook and likes her page*
Kati tries her best not to sabotage her A Dal performance by sneezing.
- Mesmerize – Weird, trippy, and something I’d like to see given a shot on the Eurovision stage. It won’t happen, but a girl can dream, right?
After squeezing into my infamous prediction pants (I had a pizza night this week, so they’re running a little tight), I have come up with my version of A Dal’s results for the night.
TO THE FINAL: Bogi, Ív, Other Planet and Passed
I hate to leave out Miss Wolf, but a) I have this gut feeling she may miss out, and b) if I omit her I won’t be jinxing any chance she does have of qualifying. If you’re tuning into A Dal, let me know who you think has the goods to get through this all-important round on the road to next weekend’s final!
SWEDEN: Melodifestivalen heats up with returnees and debutants
It sure is a mixed bag for tonight’s third semi final. Among others, there’s last year’s surprise success Ellen Benediktson, with a whole new look and sound; brand new face Kalle Johansson; the male Sanna Nielsen (i.e. someone who just keeps on trying) Andreas Johnson; and my big hope of the week, Sami singer and Sweden’s Got Talent champ Jon Henrik Fjällgren. Here’s the full lineup:
- Insomnia by Ellen Benediktson
- För Din Skull by Kalle Johansson
- Bring Out The Fire by Andreas Weise
- Living To Die by Andreas Johnson
- Don’t Stop by Isa
- I See You by Kristin Amparo
- Jag Är Fri (Manne Liem Frije) by Jon Henrik Fjällgren
Is Kalle super-tall, or is everyone else just super-short? #importantquestions
Aaaaand here’s my top four (based, as usual, on snippets alone):
- Insomnia – I wasn’t a Songbird lover, so it was always likely I’d be more into Ellen’s reinvented self.
- För Din Skull – Kalle was this year’s Svensktoppen Nästa winner. These winners have a history of going nowhere in Melfest, which makes me sad because I always like them (even when they end up at Melfest with a weaker song). This is no exception.
- Living To Die – I can’t believe I’ve got Andreas down as a favourite, as he’s never impressed me much in his previous attempts. He’s got me intrigued this time. I’ll get back to you on the ‘impressed’ front once I’ve heard the entire song.
- Jag Är Fri – I watched Jon Henrik’s audition for Got Talent as soon as I heard he was competing in Melfest, and fell in love. There’s something spellbinding about what he does when he’s got a microphone shoved in his face, and it sounds like he’s going to keep that magic going tonight.
Now, yet another chance for me to make a fool of myself, woohoo! Three will fall, but four will advance, and damn it, it’s hard to figure out which four that is. This week, I’m cheating a little and using betting odds to guide me. Both ESC Tips and NicerOdds.com have Jon Henrik, Kristin Amparo, Isa and Andreas Johnson as their top four, in that order. I can’t ignore that, but nor am I going to copy it name-for-name. So my tip is as follows:
DIREKT TIL FINAL: Jon Henrik, Kristin
TIL ANDRA CHANSEN: Ellen, Isa
*instantly feels regret at deviating from other people’s predictions*
Oh well. It wouldn’t be right if I got it 100% correct. Or 75%. Or 50%…
Well, I have to be off – lots of mundane stuff to do before falling into bed, only to drag myself back out at 3am for Melfest. I hope I will see you there, if only on Twitter. In the meantime, let me know what you think will go down where tonight, or if you’re reading this on Sunday, your verdict on THAT UNBELIEVABLE DEVELOPMENT!
Whichever final you’re watching – especially if you’re attempting to watch five at once – I hope you have fun times, and that your favourite songs succeed. Unless they’re not my favourites. In that case, I hope they fail miserably.
JUST KIDDING.
eurovisionbyjaz.com 
One Response to “SUPER SATURDAY #3 | The end of Eesti Laul + Hungarian and Swedish semis!”
“Europe-wide news of the week”? That’s fine, but it means you’ve left out the exciting news from one of those obscure, not-quite-in-Europe, participant countries, somewhere to the south east. Not Austria, but it’s something like that. Australvania?Australistan? My geography sucks. Anyway, apparently the production company from that Austrawhatevs country had a VERY NARROW window (5 days, ending at 5 pm on the Friday just past) for people to put forward songs and/or artists for their 2015 entry. One suspects the window was deliberately narrow so that the production company would have fewer entries to have to sift through: they nevertheless reported that there were ‘hundreds’ received. (And, through a miracle of seat-of-the-pants flying/composing, one of them — and a pretty good one, at that — was mine! Well, my lyrics at least. It’s such a buzz just to be part of it, even if the words ‘snowflake’ and ‘hell’ feature in my assessment of my sweet little ditty’s prospects.) No-one seems to know what process will apply from here, although the song/artist are due to be announced in “early March”, which is not far off. Also, there was the announcement from Dami Im that she “doesn’t know” who will represent the Australands in Vienna (in other words, she hasn’t been told she’s got the gig). The thot plickens … !
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