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shewhomustWe watch the Eurovision Song Contest most years, but this has been the first time we have watched the semi-finals. I've been taken aback by how polished, how elaborate, they are: I wasn't expecting the full Eurovision experience in not-very-miniature. Well, silly me! The proportion of music to voting is higher in the semis, but there's still time for the irritating presenters, the random interviews, the big production number while the votes are being counted...
But it's all about the songs. Actually, since this is not my kind of music (no, that doesn't seem to detract from my enjoyment of the whole crazy rigmarole), I think it's all about the staging, about the lights and the fireworks and the costumes and the dancers. I don't think I'm alone in this: surely Azerbaijan's charming wannabe Everly Brothers lost out by being melodic and low-key? (I can't illustrate this, because the Eurovision website shows official videos released in advance, rather than actual performances). And to judge from the commentary, Israel was rewarded for the athleticism of her dance - though there are doubtless people ready to vote for any singer who declares she has "the power of a unicorn"...
This year's winner of the WTF prize must surely be Croatia, and they also get brownie points from me for singing in Croatian - too many entries are in English, which I deplore. It's an anti-war song (I've been looking at the lyrics, that's how I can tell) but aggressively so; whereas Switzerland wistful "I don't want to be a soldier" strikes an odd note in this UK-Ukraine collaboration. I don't know why Austria have chosen to invoke Edgar Allen Poe, either, to demonstrate (it says here) how difficult it is for women songwriters...
But it's all about the songs. Actually, since this is not my kind of music (no, that doesn't seem to detract from my enjoyment of the whole crazy rigmarole), I think it's all about the staging, about the lights and the fireworks and the costumes and the dancers. I don't think I'm alone in this: surely Azerbaijan's charming wannabe Everly Brothers lost out by being melodic and low-key? (I can't illustrate this, because the Eurovision website shows official videos released in advance, rather than actual performances). And to judge from the commentary, Israel was rewarded for the athleticism of her dance - though there are doubtless people ready to vote for any singer who declares she has "the power of a unicorn"...
This year's winner of the WTF prize must surely be Croatia, and they also get brownie points from me for singing in Croatian - too many entries are in English, which I deplore. It's an anti-war song (I've been looking at the lyrics, that's how I can tell) but aggressively so; whereas Switzerland wistful "I don't want to be a soldier" strikes an odd note in this UK-Ukraine collaboration. I don't know why Austria have chosen to invoke Edgar Allen Poe, either, to demonstrate (it says here) how difficult it is for women songwriters...
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Date: 2023-05-13 06:46 pm (UTC)I have no insights, but think that's kind of great, in its suitably bonkers way.
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Date: 2023-05-14 03:01 pm (UTC)And that's Eurovision tright there, in a nutshell.