Eurovision Song Contest 2005 - Kiev

m-a-z-e · #1 22nd May 2005, 02:21 PM

Anyone from Europe watch the show? I have to admit, this had to be the best show that has ever been put on for the Song Contest I manage donly to pick out three bad acts being, Moldova, Greece (The Winner. -.-) and Turkey. Okay so...alot of the songs sounded -similar- it seemed like Javine (UK's entry) had tried to go for the foreign, latin sound which would probably be the reason we didn't score zero this year round and actually gained 18 points okay so our points were giving to us by Ireland, Malta (Ally to Britain) and we got 1 point from Greece...and Brits love Greece!

It was the same as every year, Baltic country's gave 12 points to the Baltic country's etc. etc. Although this is a yearly occurance (and I strongly believe Eurovision should be banned.) the points seemed to be shared out like...one country didn't seem to score 12 points after 12 points after 12 points like most years. Okay so I was dissapointed with the result after sitting waiting for something like an hour and a half for all of the dull and sometimes frightening presenters to give in the votes.

The best acts in my honest opinion were Israel (Shiri Mayoman) her voice stood out amongst the rest she hit no flat notes and the song was beautiful (I'll upload the 2Disc CD soon for those who didn't see the show and those outside of Europe too hear) but my favourite act had to be Switzerland, the band 'Vanilla Ninja' the song 'Cool Vibes' had a Symphonic Rock feel to it and sent my body wild with goosebumps at the start of the voting top positions kept switching between both countries Israel and Switzerland and then the 'tactical voting' began and Grece suddenly climbed it's way from about 10th place to the top where it stayed and won the show. The song 'You're my number one' performed by, Elena Paparizou was simply awful! Not only were the lyrics cheesy but if it wasn't for the male backing vocalists in the chorus the song would have died after the first verse. Okay so...Eurovision is always the same acts never win because of their talent and the sound of the song so it seems! So...if anyone did watch it what are your opinions on the songs and the show as a whole (Past shows, and beliefs on political reasons behind winnings.)

Raleigh · #2 22nd May 2005, 11:41 PM

Ooooh I've watched it too! And yeah it was one of the best shows I've ever seen. Most of the songs were just awesome and rather spectacular and Kiev was absolutely beautiful.

I must disagree with some of your points though. Greece did an explosive performance. She really did deserve it especially since she worked so hard and toured around all of Europe or almost. She since her voice is powerful and she can actually dance unlike most singers who had to rely on the backup dancers and danced really horribly in my opinion. But she managed to dance and sing with style. And her song is rather catchy! I loved this song from the first time I heard it.

Also you should hear the song without backing vocals and see how her vocals are powerful even without them. I think she really deserved it. Greece has been working really hard in these last four years and they deserved to win even if my country ended up second to them.

And Moldova..LOL I found their debut quite original even if they were a crazy lot. The song was sooo catchy. I thought the band were acting like idiots but the song had this unique taste which made this song a favourite around a lot of people. And they didn't have any women flashing around unlike many songs.

Israel was okay.. though I did not understand a single word out of her Engrish she tried to put in and I don't think she was anything that special even if yeah she had a good voice. I prefered Malta's ballad and Latvia's slow song. Both were so simple without any glam or any low cut dresses like Israel did to try and impress people. I might be biased since I am Maltese but I think Chiara's ballad was the best. Her voice is so smooth and she did all the work.. the lyrics, the composition. And everyone was clapping through the whole show. AND I could understand what she was saying. Latvia's song was quite a good song too. Their lyrics are absolutely beautiful and totally not cliche and it's so sweet when they sing and use sign language.

Another good performance was of Romania. It was really really awesome how they mixed traditional music with modern music making it flow smoothly. Luminita performed an awesome performance too. She has this powerful voice and the band rocked. She deserved her position. And Croatia also performed really well. It's quite powerful with drums and backpipes and this guy has a rather gorgeous voice which fits with the song even if he sings in his language but it's too passionate to pass. It's one of those songs which you can feel emotion in the person.

Some bad performances were Spain - for obvious reasons, Turkey, Germany, Russia, Serbia & Montenegro and Macedonia. Mediocre won't describe these songs but anyhow.

I think Javine's song wasn't so bad but I think she panicked in the performance since her voice wasn't that good. And the dancing wasn't that special. If she did better she might have scored more. Same goes to France.

Some interesting songs were from Ukraine (very brave to introduce a rap song) and Norway with rock. Vanilla Ninjas were quite good too. Maybe it wouldn't be so annoying if she didn't repeat "Cool Vibes" all over and over but this song was awesome. It was a very very good rock song. The girls looked good with style without looking trashy and could really sing and play instruments. Quite a good performance indeed.

I think this year in fact was one of the fairest voting I've seen in the years I've followed the Eurovision. It was expected Scandinavia to vote each other so yeah... no use to complain about it since they've always done it. Neighbours always vote their neighbours even if it is something unfair. Our country has suffered from it too since we almost always bring up high quality music as we take it very very seriously.

Last year also Ruslana was a great singer and did an excellent performance. So I do think she deserved it too even if her English is errr...awful. I did not like when Latvia won since it was obviously since her neighbours voted for her and Malta's song - Ira Losco sang in it and had a much much better song than hers. I also really was annoyed at that transsexual in 1998 won since the song was a total rubbish but ah well.. the contest is more like a gamble. You can never know who will win so you just have to try your best - and hope you score well.

m-a-z-e · #3 23rd May 2005, 10:41 AM

I agree with you about last years Eurovision. Ruslana definately deserved to win, last year I was torn between wanting Ukraine to win or Greece to win but they kept swapping and changing from top position to second position through all the voting. I loved her performance at the start of this years show too and I bought her album despite her terrible engrish. XD

**Cyria** · #4 23rd May 2005, 10:53 AM

I didn't watch it this year but now I wish I had. I hear they brought the Moldavian singer's grandmother to the stage to beat the drum, and if so that sums up why Eurovision can be such campy fun. Of course Finland again managed to send a loser to the contest, a hideously boring middle-aged fellow whose 'why can't love be all that matters, why why why' had no chances at all (want bad lyrics to work in Eurovision? include dancing and flashy outfits! aren't we ever going to learn?).

Mizumi · #5 23rd May 2005, 07:36 PM

Well the Finland's middle-aged loser was Norwegian anyway xD And only Norway is a worse loser than Finland (what comes on the number of times it has been left with 0 points). This time Norway was pretty good though.

The Moldova's Grandma rocked! xD

I don't wonder at all that Estonia and Latvia gave both 12 points to Switzerland. Vanilla Ninja is estonian after all. So Estonia kinda voted itself...xD

I only watched some performances, but I watched the results. The funnies thing is that I was hanging around with some German exchage students then and Germany was the last (with only 4 points xD). They only wanted to beat France!
We were already planing with one German girl that we're gonna make a song together and participate next year, but the problem is that which country should we represent? Finland or Germany? xD I'm just kidding...

I think Finland would be able to win if we took the whole competition seriously... I mean, there are many good bands/singers out there.

**Cyria** · #6 23rd May 2005, 08:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mizumi

Well the Finland's middle-aged loser was Norwegian anyway xD And only Norway is a worse loser than Finland (what comes on the number of times it has been left with 0 points).

It was truly the combination of DOOM!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mizumi

I think Finland would be able to win if we took the whole competition seriously... I mean, there are many good bands/singers out there.

I remember Nightwish once tried to get to represent Finland (I forget who was actually sent to the contest that year).

Raleigh · #7 23rd May 2005, 11:34 PM

I don't think a lot of countries take it as seriously as some small countries do.. I mean Eurovision gets in a lot of tourism and tourism is very important for countries like Malta, Cyprus and Greece..etc. But this year many artists tries to impress by flashy stuff... some did succeed but others failed miserably if they had a mediocre song so yeah.. wearing sexy clothes won't help if you can't put up a decent song anyhow.

***bulmasman*** · #8 24th May 2005, 12:15 AM

I still can't take Eurovision seriously, i generally think it's kina crappy to be honest, though Terry Wogan gives great commentary

The voting is so predictable. My mum and I were saying the number of votes before they were even given half of the time, because it's the same every year, but ah well

But I must say i was really taken aback by Israel's entry from Shiri Mayoman. I really really liked the song, and am quite interested in hearing further music from her, her voice was fantastic.

Still though, we should have re-entered Gemini (lol) just for the fun of it.

milfuelle_rox_my_sox · #9 24th May 2005, 08:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bulmasman

I still can't take Eurovision seriously, i generally think it's kina crappy to be honest, though Terry Wogan gives great commentary

The voting is so predictable. My mum and I were saying the number of votes before they were even given half of the time, because it's the same every year, but ah well

But I must say i was really taken aback by Israel's entry from Shiri Mayoman. I really really liked the song, and am quite interested in hearing further music from her, her voice was fantastic.

Still though, we should have re-entered Gemini (lol) just for the fun of it.

We get to hear Terry's commentary in Oz as well. The voting part is better than the singing me thinks. Sure its predictable but its also funny how Monaco gave France nothing.

'Its a Klitschko momment!!!'

Raleigh · #10 24th May 2005, 09:01 AM

Maltese prefer our commentator

She's so fun to listen to and she manages to pass a comment on everyone and everything that you end up cracking up.

Mizumi · #11 25th May 2005, 09:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cyria

I remember Nightwish once tried to get to represent Finland (I forget who was actually sent to the contest that year).

It was this Nina something who sang this really crappy song A little bit of love. Oh yeah Nightwish won the audience voting (like 6-0

) but the professional people decided to send this Nina something there and that was a total FLOP!

Anyway I have decided that I'm gonna make a good song so that Finland would win just for once.

Somehow some of the songs sound better afterwards... I've been listening to some of the songs now and for example Norway's song sounds now pretty good. Maybe it's the stage that made it look so bad. You know, cos they were this kinda rock band and the stage was more pop kinda thing that looked good with some of the artists (or I don't know if it ever looks good... They should change it...make it a little simpler...)...