Eurovision 2019 | Page 2 | Golden Skate

Eurovision 2019

CaroLiza_fan

EZETTIE LATUASV IVAKMHA
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Joined
Oct 25, 2012
Country
Northern-Ireland
'Don't get too political' is what Danish representative is saying to them in her song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgA2BqvwEcI (she is skating in a song's official video btw)


Although her Wikipedia page says she's retired from skating, according to her Rink Results Bio she has actually competed in at least three Senior Ladies competitions in Denmark this season. Oh, and she won all three of them!

Ladies Singles: ISU Bio; Rink Results Bio; Stats On Ice Bio 1, 2, 3; Tracings Bio

Ice Dance (with brother Linus): Stats On Ice Bio

As usual, I am avoiding hearing any songs until the competition comes along. But, I'll definitely be rooting for her!

CaroLiza_fan
 

NoNameFace

GS given name - Beatrice
Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2012
I was able to catch up with this year's entries last week, not in full, but from these first glimpses...

- I think that from 'top 5 plus host' countries France and Italy have really good entries, I like both songs quite much and I an excited to see the staging/first rehearsal clips

- 1st semifinal looks weaker than 2nd one imo...I am not crazy about Polish entry to be honest and I don't have high hopes for them to advance (being drawn relatively early in 1st semi as 4th could not help either...)

- really love The Netherlands' entry - after Common Linnets' 'Calm after the storm' entry this is yet another songs that grabbed me!

- I still don't know how to treat San Marino's song...Australia's entry is also OUT THERE this year

- really like Cyprus (though Eleni last year stole my heart probably forever!), Armenia, Serbia, Iceland...
 

MissBeeFarm

On the Ice
Joined
Feb 22, 2018
Madonna is gonna be the Interval-Act this year... :shocked: Not sure what to think about that, I always liked discovering new stuff during the interval. I mean, it gave us Riverdance after all!
 

CaroLiza_fan

EZETTIE LATUASV IVAKMHA
Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 25, 2012
Country
Northern-Ireland
If anybody is interested, I have created a Fan Fest for Leonora Colmor Jepsen, the Ladies Singles skater who will be representing Denmark at Eurovision:

https://www.goldenskate.com/forum/showthread.php?80248

There is a link to a studio recording of her Eurovision song, as well as live performances of her singing other songs, in the "Other Videos" section.

CaroLiza_fan
 

Baron Vladimir

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 18, 2014
OK, I watched jury reherseal of semi-final one and i must say that songs i didn't like that much, like the ones from Australia, Serbia and France looked (and sounded) so good from a stage in Tel Aviv. My personal favorite was Iceland, they made a hell of a show :biggrin: All and all, you can expect a very good performances tommorow night, i really enjoyed it myself :agree:
 

NoNameFace

GS given name - Beatrice
Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2012
Australia's staging looks A-WE-SO-ME. I am not caring that much for a song itself, but boy, this is one cleverly done staging with such magnitude and impact!

Cyprus looked much better at jury's rehearsal, good for Tamta! I was worried a bit after that first one with sound problems...

France and Italy look solid.

Greece and Armenia are probably my faves:)
 

CaroLiza_fan

EZETTIE LATUASV IVAKMHA
Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 25, 2012
Country
Northern-Ireland
OK, so since there is a thread again this year, I am going to do the same as last year and give a few comments.

Firstly, I had forgotten how awful last year’s winning song was. So, thanks a bunch to the organisers for reminding me at the very start of this year’s contest! :sarcasm:

Quick Reminder: what I do every year is print out the running order for each Semi, and put a mark beside the songs I like as we go along. And then when all the singing is finished, I go back and pick a Top 4. (For the Final, I pick a Top 6). Then when the results are announced, I put a “q” beside those that have qualified, and see how they compare with my choices.

So, here are my Top 4 from Semi Final 1:

  1. Serbia (q)
  2. Slovenia (q)
  3. Hungary
  4. Finland

For the 4[SUP]th[/SUP] position, I was actually dithering between Finland and Estonia. To be honest, neither of them are the type of music I normally go for. But, on a night where the quality of singing was quite hit and miss, these two guys were actually pretty good singers. But, Sebastian was the better singer, so I went for him.

Nevena from Serbia was just amazing! Definitely the stand-out performance of the night for me. And I thought Zala from Slovenia was really good too. Not really sure what the point of Gašper being there was. It was almost like she was treating it as a “bring your boyfriend into work” day. So, I was delighted that both these acts made it through.

The clip that was selected for Hungary when the telephone numbers were being given out for those countries that could vote last night really did not do the song justice. So, I wasn’t really surprised that they didn’t get through. But, I was surprised that Finland didn’t, given Darude’s fame.

To be totally honest, these 5 were the only ones that really liked. So, the following list is a rather luke-warm “liked”:

  • Poland
  • Czech Republic (q)
  • Belarus (q)
  • Georgia
  • Estonia (q)
  • Greece (q)

For quite a few songs, I thought the song was pretty good, but they just didn’t have the right people singing it. For example, Montenegro’s song – the singers just weren’t the standard I would expect (but, I don’t want to complain too much, because they had an Anna Cappellini look-a-like in there). Another example was Belgium. Lovely song, but the wee lad singing it was way out of his depth.

Iceland was at the other extreme. The song itself was great, but the guy doing lead vocals was just shouting his way through it. And it spoiled the whole thing. In fact, after watching it, in my head I could hear Simon Cowell saying one of his catchphrases:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSB-p3Ei7fU

Australia's staging looks A-WE-SO-ME. I am not caring that much for a song itself, but boy, this is one cleverly done staging with such magnitude and impact!

I would love to know what the staging looked like from within the arena. Because it was so impressive on the TV screen. The song had a bit of every type of music you can think of in it. And that was the problem for me – there was too much in there. But, she has an amazing voice, so I am glad she got through.

Cyprus looked much better at jury's rehearsal, good for Tamta! I was worried a bit after that first one with sound problems...

Given that I go to the country so often and am always talking about their skaters on here, you may be surprised that I didn’t like the Cypriot song. But, if you remember back to last year, I didn’t like “Fuego”. And Scott Mills’ comment during the “postcard” segment for “Replay” pretty much explains why I don’t like it either:

“One of the writers of this song also wrote ‘Fuego’ last year for Eleni from Cyprus, which could be why they sound exactly the same.”

Every year, there tends to be one Semi Final where there are lots of songs I like, and one where I like hardly any of the songs. So, I am hoping that this is a sign that the second Semi is going to be epic.

On the other hand, I hope that doesn’t mean that there is too much competition for Leonora, and that she doesn’t get through to the Final. Because I have got very invested in her. She is a lovely singer, and I just love the idea of a figure skater competing in the Eurovision Song Contest.

Hey, I have even temporarily changed my cover photo on Facebook to one that I made showing my support for her!

And those that know me know that I still use the very first cover photo I used back in 2013, and I only change it once in a blue moon for special events (this is only the 4[SUP]th[/SUP] time I have changed it). And then once the event is over I immediately go back to old faithful.

CaroLiza_fan
 

NoNameFace

GS given name - Beatrice
Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2012
As for the 1st semifinal - Ladies prevailed in my heart (and Hatari too :laugh:)! I loved Australia's and Serbia's staging, few elements, but major ones and these voices as centrepieces :love:. I get that 'Replay' is kind of rip-off of 'Fuego' regarding Cyprus, but if the formula works AND a singer/performer can carry it well, why not? I liked in particular Tamta's confidence in the performance, having that eye contact, staying in control of everything. My heart however belongs to Greece - I love everything, every little artful nuance of that staging, performance, Katerine's voice, flowers...at the same time I don't think it will fare that well in televote tbh.

A bit sad Poland did not qualify, but I called it after seeing first glimpse of rehearsal - too much of static & generic presentation I feel, especially taking into consideration this one particular singing technique used for the whole song...
 

CaroLiza_fan

EZETTIE LATUASV IVAKMHA
Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 25, 2012
Country
Northern-Ireland
After already going into Fanboy mode to post this in Leonora's Fan Fest thread and the TV Schedule thread in The Edge, I just realised that I should probably post it here too! :drama:

Just a wee reminder that Leonora will be performing in Semi Final 2 of the Eurovision Song Contest tonight.

Semi Final 2 starts on Thursday 16[SUP]th[/SUP] May 2019 at 22:00 EEST (19:00 GMT; 20:00 BST; 21:00 CEST). So, 8 hours from now.

Here is the link to the livestream on the Eurovision YouTube channel (I have no idea if it will be geo-blocked):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMnZWPe-UaM

Leonora will be the seventh act to perform. So, if tonight's Semi goes at the same pace as Tuesday's, she will be starting her performance at around 35 minutes into the show. On Tuesday there was an advert break after country number 6, so if they do the same tonight, she will be on straight after the break ends. But, if you don't plan to watch the earlier acts, I would advise making sure to be watching from 30 minutes into the show, just to be on the safe side.

I always make a point of not listening to any of the Eurovision Song Contest entries before they are performed in the competition. This is so that I do not have any preconceptions of the songs and can form an opinion based on the performance I see on the night.

Although I haven’t heard her Eurovision song, I have heard Leonora singing other songs, most of them originals. And I have liked them. She is a really good singer.

I don't know about how the Semi Final voting is allocated in other countries, but tonight's Semi is the one that the UK gets to vote in. So, I would encourage all figure skating fans in the UK to show Leonora a bit of love!

And if you want to visibly show your support for her, I have made a Facebook cover photo using a lovely photo taken by Bernhard Schwall during her SP at the 2015 NRW Trophy:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10161304621405538&set=a.10152343958405538&type=3&theater

Unfortunately, I won't be able to watch LIVE tonight, because I will be at a motorbike race. But, you can rest assured that I will be taping the BBC coverage, and will watch it first thing tomorrow morning.

:cheer: ALL THE BEST, LEONORA!!! :cheer:

CaroLiza_fan
 

Manitou

Medalist
Joined
Jan 17, 2014
Watched it for half hour and couldn't any longer. I think the formula is wrong. I don't want to hear yet another mix of kitschy English pop. English should not be allowed unless sung by a native English language singer, which in Europe is just UK and Ireland. It should promote local national cultures. I don't want to hear an Ukrainian or Greek singing English pop. The festival should showcase native cultures, styles and languages rather that yet another Idol or Europe Has Talent.
 

TallyT

Record Breaker
Joined
Apr 23, 2018
Country
Australia
How's the eyewatering kitsch factor going this year? (I haven't had a lot of chances to watch many yet, hoping there's a few shriek-worthy entries besides ours) It's always so disappointing if it doesn't have at least a decent helping that are utterly OTT and whatthehellaretheydoing/wearing/singing??????

(In case anyone hasn't seen the definitive 'guide' to the contest, the 2019 presenters' singing the ultimate sendup Love Love Peace Peace is awesome (with a blinkandmissit shout out to Plushy!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cv6tgnx6jTQ
 

Nirti

Medalist
Joined
Nov 24, 2008
How's the eyewatering kitsch factor going this year? (I haven't had a lot of chances to watch many yet, hoping there's a few shriek-worthy entries besides ours) It's always so disappointing if it doesn't have at least a decent helping that are utterly OTT and whatthehellaretheydoing/wearing/singing??????

The croatian entry deserved the kitsch award... But in fact, the contest is becoming more and more serious, with a higher quality during the 2nd semi-final!

So now it's time to begin the predictions for the grand final ^^

Bookmakers say The Netherlands will win... Ok, Duncan has great chances to do so, he sings extremely well, has a beautiful song, the staging fits perfectly... But like in 2017 when Salvador Sobral and Kristian Kostov where the 2 big favourites, I'm staying cold while watching their song/personality on scene.

So I probably have 3 favs this year, and I couldn't decide which one I want to win!
- Norway : one of the best Eurodance songs of the last years. And Eurodance is my favourite musical style, after 3 seconds it makes me always happy :biggrin: I like the "ethnical touch" too, which is made in a modern way.
- Australia : a wonderful voice, and she does well not only during the classical parts of the song. That's usually the problem with some opera singers at Eurovision, they sing out of tune during the "pop parts". The staging is impressive. The song is a bit strange and I needed time to like it, and now I like the risk-taking of sending a complicated song at Eurovision.
- Iceland : Transgressive as I like... Just the song is a bit weak IMO. BUT they sing in icelandic and it's too rare to hear germanic languages at ESC.

To complete my top10, I would name Denmark, Sweden, Serbia, Greece, Azerbaijan... and maybe Albania and Switzerland.

For what I've seen, a bit disappointed by the big5+. And I'm curious to see which one between Serhat and Bilal Hassani will sing the most wrong notes :rolleye:
 

NoNameFace

GS given name - Beatrice
Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2012
A bit of thought after seeing the order of Grand Final on Saturday...

- Russia & Sweden quite early...which could make things more difficult despite good songs and presumably solid performances to come. BUT Austria went early last year and was in top 5 at the end (winning jury's vote), so it's not decided; Germany is early too - this could end not so good as I think that the song is pretty forgettable and bland comparing to many other entries...

- Cyprus/Netherlands/Greece 'sandwich':love::laugh: - 3 out of my personal top 5 one after another, it will be TOUGH. I think that Duncan's song would defend itself whenever he landed on starting order tbh (and the position he has makes him kind of a perfect 'centrepiece' to showcase the song, the strong emotion in minimalist approach), not really sure how his placing will affect viewing/impressions on Cyprus and Greece. I am honestly prepared that Greece could come quite high in jury's vote, but get lost in televoting, Tamta could do the reverse as I think that Luca Hanni from Switzerland stole the 'Fuego' crown and position from last year...

- pity that Lake Malawi are going that early, BUT AGAIN - last year Czech entry went also early in the final finishing 6th at the end. From what I gauge, they are one of fans' faves this year:)

- Michael Rice between catchy Norway and striking beyond words Iceland - it could get very forgettable...I think that Hatari truly have 'pole position' to shake up the results and get at least top 5 placement, they are unapologetic, original, striking in appearance and have strong presence on stage; them going after UK will even enhance the impression I feel;

- Slovenia & Estonia are a bit of wildcards in my opinion...Estonia has to improve vocals after very mediocre semi-final to have more of power to carry the song, Slovenia is almost too minimalistic for me - I personally like it due to that intimacy and ambience, but it could get lost especially sandwiched between catchy Sweden and energetic/sassy Cyprus;

- Israel's order is a bit of head-scratcher for me...The fact that Greece had one more performance in semis could make it more of a stand-out and get more memorable due to staging/concept than Kobi following the act, but I don't know. Not being also that hyped for his song either;

- quite good position to 'attack' for Zena and Belarus I think. Not a fan of the song (too cheesy for me somehow), but going after Estonia with not-so-striking/energetic entry and before Azerbaijan could make a good impression:)

- the order from 20. to 26. is INSANE - I am happy that Serbia got a 'spotlight' place in order AND I hope that it will play on her advantage (I mean to be noticed as a strong, powerful voice and staging amog these 'big' faves/countries, because she deserves!). Then, I think Switzerland couldn't be positioned better for top 5 finish to say at least, judging from yesterday's reaction it will come really high in public vote I think, it goes after Serbia which is totally different type of song/act and will leave a strong mark at the end of a show. I am also happy that Katy from Australia got a 'spotlight' spot, because to be honest - that act and staging deserves it, one of a kind and carries the song powerfully (despite me being meh about it), saying that I do think it could be let down in public vote to reach winner prize (but I think top 10 is a lock). Spain closing the show is a great news (the only better spot Switzerland could get is last lol, but Luca will do his job nonetheless I think) - Miki's song is catchy, colourful, but I have my doubts honestly about it being that powerful/impressive after all these acts going before it to come high. Mahmood going after Bilal is another tough guess - I do like 'Soldi' better and staging of it appeals more to me, just more organic and natural way to present the song, BUT it could be perceived as too 'severe' going after French act. Bilal has to improve some vocals I think to match the memorable staging concept.

To sum up, I think that top 5 could be Netherlands, Iceland, Switzerland, Italy and maybe Australia (I wish though Serbia and Greece would make top 5!).
 

CaroLiza_fan

EZETTIE LATUASV IVAKMHA
Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 25, 2012
Country
Northern-Ireland
Watched it for half hour and couldn't any longer. I think the formula is wrong. I don't want to hear yet another mix of kitschy English pop. English should not be allowed unless sung by a native English language singer, which in Europe is just UK and Ireland. It should promote local national cultures. I don't want to hear an Ukrainian or Greek singing English pop. The festival should showcase native cultures, styles and languages rather that yet another Idol or Europe Has Talent.

Whilst I agree with the points you are making (I always prefer when the songs are sung in native language rather in than English), there are some fundamental errors in your comment.

Firstly, The UK and Ireland are not the only places where English is spoken by the natives. It is also an official language in the former British territories of Malta and Cyprus.

Secondly, the Greek entry performed on Tuesday’s Semi Final, not last night’s. And she is actually from Montréal. And she definitely has a Canadian accent.

Thirdly, Ukraine pulled out of this year’s Eurovision a few months ago because, after the national selection competition, the Ukrainian broadcaster wanted their representative to sign a contract that was very restrictive on what they could do, and the winner refused to sign it. And each of the other finalists did the same when the slot was subsequently passed onto them.



Now onto what I was going to say.

During one of the advert breaks, Scott Mills interviewed the 2015 winner, Måns Zelmerlöw. And he said exactly what I was thinking – that Semi Final 1 wasn’t great, but Semi Final 2 was stacked full of great entries!

Eurovision 2019 is starting to give me a serious feeling of déjà vu from 2016. Back then, there were only a few entries in Semi Final 1 that I liked, and then in Semi Final 2 there was only one entry that I didn’t like. And it was exactly the same this year. :shocked:

The thing that is worrying me is that that one act that I didn’t like from Semi Final 2 in 2016 went on to win the Grand Final… :eek:

The standard of last night’s Semi was so high. I know I have been championing the Danish entry, because the singer is a figure skater that I like. But, all of my Top 4 acts from her Semi Final actually performed before Leonora:

  1. Armenia
  2. Romania
  3. Moldova
  4. Latvia

As you can see from all the wee “q’s” beside them, none of them qualified for the Grand Final. :jaw:

This is the tenth year that I have been doing this system, and in that time this has never happened before. The fact that none of my favourites from this Semi Final got through is testament to just how high the quality was last night.

Here are the other countries which I liked, in the order they performed:

  • Ireland
  • Switzerland (q)
  • Denmark (q)
  • Sweden (q)
  • Austria
  • Croatia
  • Lithuania
  • Russia (q)
  • Albania (q)
  • Norway (q)
  • Netherlands (q)
  • North Macedonia (q)
  • Azerbaijan (q)

As you can see, our figure skater from Denmark, Leonora Colmor Jepsen, got through to the Final!!! :cheer: :clap: :rock: :party2: :points:

However, I have to be honest. For me, this is like when Polina Gagarina competed in the Eurovision Song Contest a few years back. For the vast majority of Eurovision acts, I am not familiar with them before I see them in the contest. But I had been a fan of Polina for a few years before she was selected to represent Russia in 2015. I loved her previous songs, and so when I found out she was competing, she automatically became my pre-competition favourite. However, when I heard her in her Semi Final, I thought that the song didn’t do her voice justice. And I feel the same about Leonora’s song.

That said, I think you could have heard me from Denmark when I shouted “YES!!!!!!” after it was announced that she had got through! :p

As for the act that I didn’t like, well, Malta’s song wasn’t actually too bad for the most part. In fact, the bridge after the verses was absolutely brilliant. But the chorus that followed it was absolutely awful! And it totally spoiled the whole song for me.

With all but 2 of my favourite songs already knocked out, and with so many good songs coming through from Semi Final 2, it means that the Grand Final is so open for me.

Oh, how I hope that Leonora can score highly!

CaroLiza_fan
 
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