Zlata Ognevich - Gravity

"Dancing on the edge tonight"

As predicted by most, Denmark won Eurovision 2013 this past weekend. Strangely, they also won last time the contest was hosted in Sweden and I'd put money on the contest being held in Copenhagen next year, which is only 20 minutes away from where it was held this year. Pretty crazy. It wasn't my favorite song, but I'm content with the result and thrilled that the contest is staying in Scandinavia. My favorite, Love Kills from Belgium, did pretty well, while a few I thought would do alright (Finland, Ireland) absolutely tanked. But it's Zlata Ognevich's powerful Gravity that I just can't get out of my head. It did well for Ukraine, finishing in third place, and I wouldn't have been upset if it would have won. The track is a dramatic hybrid of seemingly incongruous genres. It sounds like a poppy, world-influenced outtake from Wicked via the Lion King. Should be utterly campy and ridiculous, but somehow it just works. If you're looking for something WAY over the top, you need this in your life.



(Music posted for evaluation purposes only. If you like what you hear, support the artists. Buy the album here. Follow me on twitter and facebook.

Roberto Bellarosa - Love Kills

"Give me something I can feel"

Belgium has never in the history of the competition presented my favorite Eurovision song on the year, but there's a first for everything. Traditionally, I usually support countries like Sweden, Norway, Finland or Denmark (and I do like all of those songs, too), but Love Kills is just something special. I mean, listen to that chorus!! That is POP music, people. The track doesn't stand a chance in the competition, and I don't think all that much of Roberto Bellarosa's live stage presence or vocals, but you simply can't deny a massive chorus. And this one touches the stratosphere. Second on my list is Romania's utter WTF dance/opera hybrid that manages to be so incredibly bizarre that it actually works. Apparently, Denmark is the one to beat, but amongst the frontrunners I would rather see Norway take it, even though they've won pretty recently. That Margaret Berger song comes across really well live and I like her. Either way, it's a pretty solid line-up in the final this year. I only dislike a couple.

My Top Picks:
1. Belgium
2. Romania
3. Norway
4. Sweden
5. Finland
6. Netherlands
7. Ireland
8. Denmark
9. Germany
Also like: Ukraine, Lithuania (the melody, not the lyrics and certainly not the charisma-free performer)



(Music posted for evaluation purposes only. If you like what you hear, support the artists. Buy the album here. Follow me on twitter and facebook.

Loreen - We Got The Power

"We got the power to love"

One year ago, Loreen rightfully took Eurovision by storm with Euphoria. She'll never release a song that good again, but it's very smart of her to release a new single during the week of this year's contest. And We Got The Power is pretty awesome, to boot! My first thought was that it's very much her style mixed with the style of fellow swedes Icona Pop... shouty and anthemic and huge without being a Euphoria rewrite. It's dance music with an organic, rock edge and it's exactly the type of thing she should be releasing now. Hopefully this reignites some interest in her, as I don't think her career has been managed all that well post-Eurovision. I'm certainly looking forward to her performances this weekend. Tomorrow I'll reveal my favorite song from this year's competition (and it's probably not who you think).



(Music posted for evaluation purposes only. If you like what you hear, support the artists. Buy the album here. Follow me on twitter and facebook.

Mohamed - Unbreakable

"Nothing will divide us"

This Saturday, Denmark's Melodi Grand Prix will present the country's ten entries hoping to compete in this year's Eurovision. Having listened to all the songs (you can too), I really don't think they have a winner in the bunch. Props to them for including so many uptempos, but unfortunately they all have a really generic, samey sound. There's nothing as good as Jesper Nohrstedt's Take Our Hearts from last year over even that Venter song. Personally, I think Mohamed got the best track in Unbreakable. Yes, it's a complete rip-off of Loreen's superior Euphoria, but at least it has a melody that sticks. He should do well, given his time in X-Factor. I don't know much about him myself, but hopefully his performance matches the "bigness" of the song.

Click here to play the song

(Music posted for evaluation purposes only. If you like what you hear, support the artists. Listen to all the songs here. Follow me on twitter and facebook.

Krista Siegfrids - Marry Me

"I'll be your queen bee"

Yesterday, Finland revealed their songs competing to represent the country in this year's Eurovision, and as usual, it's a pretty uninspiring bunch. There are, of course, the stock heavy metal bands and folk singers, but definitely not a lot of straight up pop. If I had to support one of the acts, it would be Krista Siegfrids. Sure, the song is super cheesy and comes across kind of like Katy Perry-lite, but I love her voice and the overall catchy production/melody of Marry Me. Krista competed in Finland's version of The Voice, but she seems far more interesting and popstar-ish than the kinds of people they usually get on that show. I'll be curious how she does in the competition, but very surprised if she ends up winning. Regardless, it's a fun song.



(Music posted for evaluation purposes only. If you like what you hear, support the artists. Listen to the other entries here. Follow me on twitter and facebook.

My Anti-Eurovision Post

So today was supposed to be the day where I jumped on Alienhits to excitedly announce that I had gotten tickets to Eurovision 2013 in Sweden, making the pilgrimage for the first time. It's been a weird sort of dream for me... so random and rare for an American pop music lover. And it seemed like the perfect year, given my familiarity and love for Sweden.

I had researched when the tickets went on sale, set my alarm for 12:55 AM last night (even though I had to get up early for work today), and waited in the online queue to hold my tickets. And there were some great seats available to me.

Then, try as I might, ticnet (the lame service in charge of ticketing) would not accept any kind of payment that I wanted to give it. See, ticnet apparently doesn't take any credit, debit or bank charges from countries outside of Europe. Of course, they couldn't have made this clear before I'd spent hours researching flights and lodging and everything. So if you're a Eurovision fan living outside of Europe, you're pretty much S.O.L. By the time I realized I could "call" them and get a chance for tickets (like I was going to attempt that long-distance phone call), the event had sold out.

So that's it, unfortunately. Barring some sort of miracle, I will not be attending Eurovision this year. For those that will be there, have fun. I'll be watching on TV, again :(

Loreen - Euphoria

"We're going up, up, up, up, up"

Just as short post today, as it's a holiday today in the US. Now, I've written about Loreen since February when Euphoria was first unleashed, but I think she deserves a celebration post since winning Eurovision last weekend. It was absolutely, 100% SO the right choice, and I think the song's excellent itunes chart placements around Europe prove it. This is a song that has the potential to crossover worldwide, and Eurovision was just the agent to do that. It's exciting, because it's been awhile since the competition has introduced an artist to the world stage that actually has the ability to stand up with what's on the radio. Could Loreen eventually see Abba or Celine Dion success? Probably not. It's a different world we live in, now. But I wish her the best because she's totally capable of it. Now get that long-delayed album out! September is WAY too long to wait. There won't be a better time to release it than now, and we all know it's complete and ready to go. These decisions by her management continue to baffle me. Oh, and for what it's worth... my top five entries in this year's competition (it was slim pickin's): 1. Sweden 2. Ireland 3. France 4. Turkey 5. Albania



(Music posted for evaluation purposes only. If you like what you hear, support the artists. Buy the single here. Follow me on twitter and facebook.

Tommy Fredvang - Make It Better

"I can turn it around"

From Denmark to Norway today, and another Eurovision hopeful. Like Jesper yesterday, Tommy Fredvang was also a participant in his home country's X-Factor. I'm seeing a pattern here! More importantly, Tommy's music sounds like Ola Svensson with more guitars. This is, of course, a very good thing. Make It Better is catchy from the get-go, with big poppy guitar riffs and a driving chorus that propels the song along at breakneck pace. I'm not sure what Tommy's chances are in the competition, but I'm glad he'll at least receive the exposure from participating. After all, I probably wouldn't have ever known about him otherwise. Also recommended is his last single, Come On. Hopefully this is an indication of the direction he's going for album number two.

Tommy Fredvang - Make It Better by nohfap

(Music posted for evaluation purposes only. If you like what you hear, support the artists. Buy the first (more acoustic) album here. Follow me on twitter and facebook.

Jesper Nohrstedt - Take Our Hearts

"We can take our hearts, make them whole again"

It's the beginning of the year, so that means a host of new Eurovision contenders are making their way onto the European scene. As usual, I've got my eyes on a number of races. Both Norway and Denmark's tracks were released to itunes recently (is that normally how it's done?). Out of all of them, I was most excited to hear Jesper Nohrstedt's first official studio recording. I loved Jesper when he was a contestant on Denmark's X-Factor 2010 (he came third... should have won), and I've been waiting for what seems like forever for him to release some music. Take Our Hearts is a hybrid ballad/dance track. The verses are piano driven and sparse and the chorus has a huge, anthemic electro feel to it. I do wish the song would surrender completely to the dance sound about halfway through, but I still love this. I think it's an incredibly strong contender to represent Denmark this year, especially given Jesper's performance skill. It's the kind of track I can imagine finding success outside the contest as well. I hope he wins! But more than that, I hope he releases an entire album in this style.

Jesper Nohrstedt - Take Our Hearts by nohfap

(Music posted for evaluation purposes only. If you like what you hear, support the artists. Buy the single here. Follow me on twitter and facebook.

Eurovision 2011 Wrap-Up

So I wasn't able to watch Eurovision until yesterday, and because of this had to self-impose several hours of internet exile so that I wouldn't read the results before watching.

Now that the dust has settled, here are my thoughts:

- The winner: lame. I thought it was a boring song with terrible staging. I honestly don't see how this was so loved by the voters and juries. It's perfectly fine, but hardly memorable.

- I was shocked at how well Sweden did. It was totally deserved (and probably should have won), but for some reason I had anticipated this flopping. I'm glad to see that Europe has good taste! Hopefully this will help Eric find the global success he deserves.

- I was also shocked at how well Italy did. I pegged this as last place (it ended up in second!). Personally, I hated this song and it was probably my least favorite. I can't believe people actually called in and voted.

- Jedward: they did well, but should have won. They balanced novelty and proper pop perfectly and put on one of the most memorable performances (with lots of kicking and star jumps!). Interestingly, according to Australian voters (whose votes obviously don't count in the final) the twins were the clear winners.

- Why had all the bookies predicted a France win? It didn't go over all that well and didn't finish well either. I'm confused as to why this was tipped to do conquer (other than the beautiful LED projections behind him)

- Wanted Finland to do better. So earnest. Estonia should have also done MUCH better than they did, even though the performance itself looked cheap.

- Germany did a TERRIBLE job hosting this year. What was up with that boring (and endless) interval act? And I hated that the video intros to each artist were basically tourism ads for Germany. They should have shown representations of each country, not local Germans from each country.

- Never underestimate the power of sand art.

- Norway's song was missed greatly in the final.

- What was up with all of the good songs being performed in a row early on in the competition, leaving a bunch of crap in their wake?

- I'm glad the pointy hatted Moldova brought some much needed whimsy. Yay for horn-playing unicyclists!

- I also liked Denmark's song and was happy to see it do so well.

- Still don't get UK's song.

- Kudos to my two favorite European countries (UK, Sweden) for giving Jedward 12 points. Yes!

My Top Three:

1. Ireland


2. Sweden


3. Hungary

Jedward - Lipstick

"She's got her lipstick on"

It's Eurovision week! More specifically, today is the first semifinal where roughly half of the acts for the final will be chosen. None of my favorites are in this round, but I'm still interested to see what happens. My favorite in the contest, though, is ex-X-Factor novelty twins Jedward and their ridiculously fun (and kinda stupid) Lipstick. Jedward have always entertained me, from their off-key antics on X-Factor to their train wreck of a reality show, but I never thought they'd actually record a song that I'd like. I don't know how they'll do in the contest (their live "vocals" leave much to be desired), but I think they'll either place really well or really poorly. There's no middle ground for an act like this. (fun fact: Ireland, the country these guys are representing, have won the contest more than any other country, including a three year (!) streak in the mid-90's)



(Music posted for evaluation purposes only. If you like what you hear, support the artists. Buy the single here. Follow me on twitter and facebook.

Sunstroke Project and Olia Tira - Run Away

"Let me breathe, let me leave"

My god, don't they look happy? Scary happy.
Consider this my (very late) Eurovision post. I watched the competition on Sunday and, as usual, thoroughly enjoyed it. I thought the overall quality was better than last year, and there were definitely plenty of wtf acts to laugh at (singing to a giant apricot pit? Really, Armenia??). I thought Denmark deserved to win with their Police-aping 80's power ballad (and might have if the voting rules hadn't changed). I also liked Greece, Iceland, Romania, Turkey, Ukraine and Albania. Another highlight for me, and one that didn't get a lot of love, was Moldova's over-the-top neon-colored entry. The saxophone player was absolutely ridiculous, but the two singers had nice live voices and the song was the first real uptempo dance tune of the evening. Like many other entries of the night, it featured some prominent fiddling (in light of last year's winner, for sure), but the saxophone is really what differentiates this from the anonymous club song it could have been. It got kind of lost in the shuffle, but they were one of the few acts that I found myself investigating after the competition was over. Total over-the-top cheese, for sure. But what else do you expect in a Eurovision post?

Sunstroke Project and Olia Tira - Run Away by alienhits

(Music posted for evaluation purposes only. If you like what you hear, support the artists. Buy the Eurovision album here. Follow me on twitter and facebook.