TIME-WARP TUESDAY | Sha-la-lie, sha-la-la(aaagh!!)
Where + when Oslo 2010
What Ik Ben Verliefd (Sha-la-lie), written by Pierre Kartner and performed by Sieneke
Sometimes, the song I select for Time-Warp Tuesday is one that I love so much, I’d marry it if I could (and I just can’t help getting my PDA on right in front of your faces). On other occasions, I decide on one I despise so I can figure out which of you share my opinion and which of you I will no longer be on speaking terms with. THEN there are the times I unveil an entry half of us have forgotten even existed, because it’s always nice to rediscover how much love, hate, or indifference you have towards a particular track.
Today, though, I’ve gone for none of the above (making that intro pretty pointless).
In 2010, the Netherlands sent a song to Eurovision that I neither love nor hate – and I definitely hadn’t forgotten about it. I do have strong feelings about this little ditty (no, I haven’t evolved into someone’s grandmother since my last post…’ditty’ is just an appropriate way to describe it) but the main reason I picked it is because, lyrics aside, it could pass as a Christmas song. And Turkey ‘n’ Pudding Day is right around the corner (I am yet to wrap a single thing, so expect me to sign off quite quickly today).
As someone who’s not the biggest fan of Christmas music – i.e. you’d have to pay me a large amount of cash and/or bribe me with copious quantities of Nutella-filled donuts to get me to sit and listen to any without complaining – that’s a downside, rather than an upside, to Sieneke’s Ik Ben Verliefd. But there are positives to be acknowledged here: a) the song is cute and endearing, so hating it with a passion would be like hating an adorable puppy with a slightly irritating bark; b) the staging and prop choices were bang-on, so what we saw matched perfectly with what we heard; and c) Sieneke sang like a champ. Parceled up as a package, this Dutch entry checked box after box, and could have been successful on the scoreboard…
…had it competed at Eurovision circa 1967.
That, right there, is the trouble with Ik Ben Verliefd, and it prevents me from feeling much liefde at all for this track. I swear it could have challenged Puppet On A String’s victory back in the day, but it had zero chance of advancing anywhere in 2010. I guess that’s what happens when you recruit the guy who penned The Smurfs theme to write your ESC entry, in a decade that doesn’t remotely resemble the Swinging Sixties.
Not that we can blame Mr. Kartner for every flaw in this plan. Whose fault was the horrendously vintage styling of Sieneke? She was seventeen at the time, but looked like she could have been the mother of a seventeen-year-old in that lacy jumpsuit-type arrangement. Girl was Nadav Guedj-ing before we knew that was a thing.
(Yet she still looked better than Trijnte Oosterhuis, our reigning Barbara Dex Award winner. The BDA went to Serbia in 2010, which I think was thoroughly undeserved. Why should you be punished for bringing back the bowl haircut and manufacturing ball gowns out of bubble wrap?).
Anyway…how badly would you say Sieneke was dressed in Oslo? Or, if you’d prefer to discuss something less fashion-oriented, what’s your verdict on Ik Ben Verliefd as a competition song? Is it retro and fun, or does it remain just as dated and kitschy as you (probably) thought it was at the time? Let me know below.
I’m heading off now to do that wrapping I mentioned earlier. While I’m doing it, I’ll be sending many festive vibes your way to make up for this TWT pick completely draining you of Christmas cheer.
In case I don’t post again pre-Friday (highly likely), God Jul, ladies and gents. May the best gift of all, for us all, be a great song from Albania on the 27th. Because national final season is about to kick off, and that’s the real season in which to be jolly. So go and be jolly already!
eurovisionbyjaz.com 
2 Responses to “TIME-WARP TUESDAY | Sha-la-lie, sha-la-la(aaagh!!)”
File under: Guilty pleasure.
Despite my being a fan of the contest, only a small percentage of the songs actually score themselves a permanent place in the ol’ iTunes library. This one’s still in, and I don’t reach for the button when it comes on either.
I do disagree with one thing: I thought the staging was atrocious. The Electro-Velvet band organ was simultaneously too gaudy and too underwhelming, and the mechanical people were creepy and always seemed to have their backs to the camera when it cut to them. It was a billion times more awesome at the Dutch NF with the non-distracting normal band organ (although admittedly they had the advantage of surround-LED-screens). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrkxEtjNARo
PS – I never could stand Puppet on a String, with its sexist drivel and cuckoo clock tune …
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Well, I’m glad you put that ‘guilty’ before the ‘pleasure’!
I take on board your comments about the staging (and yes, there was a creepiness about the back-up “dancers”). I really didn’t mind it, although it didn’t make the best use of the stage size. I think I was/am always so distracted by how dated the song is, that every other aspect of the performance seems great in comparison (Sieneke’s styling aside). It also seems perfectly executed in comparison to the presentation of ‘Walk Along’ which I’m certain is still causing nightmares across the globe.
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