Another day, another step closer to the next contest and, you guessed it, another EBJ JESC recap! We’re on the home stretch now with three more editions to cover, so let’s get straight into the 7^th. It was hosted by the Ukraine and took place under the same roof as big Eurovision had four years earlier, but in the end it was all about a country unaccustomed to topping the scoreboard…

 

The stats

Edition: 7^th

When: 21^st November, 2009

Where: Palace of Sports, Kyiv, Ukraine

Motto: ‘For the joy of people’

Hosts: Ani Lorak, Timur Miroshnichenko & Dmytro Borodin 

Broadcaster: NTU

Entries: 13

Debutants: 0

Returnees: 1 – Sweden

Withdrawals: 3 – Bulgaria, Greece, Lithuania

Interval acts: Ani Lorak performing Shady Lady and I’m Alive,  Art Studio Rizoma performing ‘Tree of Life’

First place: Netherlands

Last place: Romania

Most douze points: 4 – Belgium

 

The entries

Sweden/ Du by Mimmi Sandén

Russia/ Malenkiy Prints by Ekaterina Ryabova

Armenia/ Barcelona by Luara Hayrapetyan

Romania/ Ai Puterea în Mâna Ta by Ioana Anuţa

Serbia/ Onaj Pravi by Ništa Lično

Georgia/ Lurji Prinveli by Group Princesses

Netherlands/ Click Clack by Ralf

Cyprus/ Thalassa, Ilios, Aeras, Fotia by Rafaella Kosta

Malta/ Double Trouble by Francesca & Mikaela

Ukraine/ Tri Topoli, Tri Surmy by Andranik Alexanyan

Belgium/ Zo Verliefd (Yodelo) by Laura

Belarus/ Volshebniy Krolik by Yuriy Demidovich

Macedonia/ Za Ljubovta by Sara Markovska

 

The scoreboard

1. Netherlands – 121

  

2. Armenia – 116
3. Russia – 116
4. Belgium – 113
5. Ukraine – 89
6. Georgia – 68
7. (= 6) Sweden – 68
8. Malta – 55
9. Belarus – 48
10. Serbia – 34
11. Cyprus – 32
12. Macedonia – 31
13. Romania – 19

 

My top 5…

…songs

Belgium – as you may have noted in my last post, this is only my FAVOURITE JUNIOR SONG OF ALL TIME! Ahem. I’m rarely averse to a song that starts out as a ballad and then transforms into something else, a la Donny Montell’s Love Is Blind, and this is a wonderful example. Catchy, fun pop music with infectious yodeling.

Sweden – I’m beginning to think ’09 was epic, since this is another of my absolute favourites. I missed Sweden so much when they withdrew from JESC 2008, but I couldn’t have asked for a better comeback. Those Sandén sisters know how it’s done, and Mimmi opened the show in style with her sophisticated but not too grown-up electro-pop-r-and-b number (or whatever you’d call it).

Netherlands – after the great ‘WTF?’ winner debacle of the previous year, it was good to have someone come out on top who, in my mind, deserved to be there. Click Clack has that retro vibe the Netherlands seem to favour, but with a little something extra – namely a singing, tap-dancing, awesome jacket-wearing dude called Ralf.

Armenia – I love a sports anthem at Eurovision, and this is no exception. It may be shouty, but that doesn’t matter when you’re right there shouting along with Luara. Go Barcelona indeed!

Belarus – I’m not even joking. You can abuse me all you want, but I’ll still like this song. It’s pure musical madness and I’m pretty sure Yuriy was possessed by Krassimir Avramov, but that makes it stand out.

…voices

Romania – I can understand Ioana’s song coming last (it’s nice, but gets boring) but her voice was too good to be in that position. Then again, it’s not called the Junior Eurovision Voice Contest…

Sweden – what is with this family? How is it possible to have so many talented children? It’s so unfair. They could at leastbe ugly so the rest of us don’t feel so inadequate.

Belarus – his prowess is not so evident when he’s yelling ‘volshebniy KROLIK!’ (a.k.a. for most of the song) but once he goes all opera, it’s on. I bet you couldn’t shatter glasses with your high notes. No matter how tight your underpants are.

Georgia – the song is not up my alley, but I think the group sound really good together, as all the Georgian groups tend to.

Ukraine – Andranik has a really strong voice which comes unexpected from someone of his stature.

…costumes

Armenia – now here are some sport-inspired outfits I can get behind! Luara was in danger of being upstaged by her backup dancers in their super-cute soccer uniforms, complete with the Eurovision logo emblazoned on their shirts.

Netherlands – I want every single one of those jackets. Ralf, if you’re reading this while wondering what to get me for Christmas, there’s your answer.

Sweden – simple but eye-catching. Sequins aren’t a Eurovision calling card for no reason.

Belgium – yellow and flowers, two of my favourite things. This look was young, fun, and totally song-appropriate.

Ukraine – traditional costume never looked so good. Again, they’re bright and floral, but I’m not complaining. 

 

My bottom 5…

…songs

Cyprus – I like the opening/closing riff, but apart from that I’d class this as one of my least favourite JESC entries. I find it quite whiny and monotonous. I also feel really mean right now, but I have to be honest.

Serbia – not dreadful, just ‘meh’.

Macedonia – let’s face it, anything was bound to be a letdown after the few minutes of perfection that was Macedonia’s 2008 entry.

Georgia – this takes a while to get going, and once it does, it doesn’t go very far.

Malta – I know this is Junior Eurovision (as if I haven’t mentioned it enough already) but this is just too kiddish for me, as catchy as it is. The lyrics are ridiculous.

…voices

Serbia – I’m sure Anica is a lovely girl, and excels in other areas of life in general…but my god, her voice is terrible.

Cyprus – it may be the song that makes Rafaella’s vocal sound worse than it is.

…costumes

Cyprus – this look just doesn’t appeal to me.

Romania – it’s not so much the costumes that are bad (but I had to bring this up) than the creepy cardboard cut-outs which are apparently there to give the illusion of more people on stage. Just like the Swiss mannequins of ESC 2007, this trick wasn’t fooling anyone.

Georgia – they’re sweet, but they make the girls look like they should be going to bed, not performing in front of a crowd of thousands and a TV audience of many more.

 

 

Did you get a kick out of Kyiv, or was Ukraine’s show a fizzler?