Wanna be seen by everyone? An analysis of the Eurovision promo tour

In recent years, Eurovision in Concert has become the pinnacle of the Euro Promo Tour, and for many it signifies the day when the Eurovision season truly begins.

But for some acts, it's just part of what can be an extended tour promoting their song around Europe. This year saw Nicky Byrne and Barei both show up at the Ukrainian final, Dalal and Deen sang 'Ljubav je' during the Montenegrin presentation show, and Nina Kraljić gave the first live performance of her entry 'Lighthouse' on Serbian breakfast TV.

In this article, we'll take a look at the history of the Promo Tour, and examine just how useful it can be.

Up until 2000, promo tours were effectively forbidden, as the rules stated the song was not allowed be promoted outside of the home country until after the contest. Once this outdated rule was removed, several countries immediately took advantage, sending their acts flying around the continent, appearing on TV shows and showing off their entries to the people of Europe - with mixed success.


Fabrizio Faniello gained great benefit from his promo tour in 2001
Early on, there did seem to be some benefits to jetting off. One example I distinctly remember was Fabrizio Faniello in 2001, who appeared on Danish TV shortly before the final in Copenhagen. And lo and behold, on the night he scored 12 points from the Danish televote - his only maximum score of the evening.

The next year, several countries followed Malta's example. Cypriot boyband One visited a number of TV stations and held a swathe of live performances, including a well-targeted gig in a North London shopping centre filled with local Greeks (and me) and an appearance on an ITV daytime show. They came sixth on the night, including three points from the UK. Slightly more pointedly, a number of acts visited Malta, including Macedonia's Karolina. She eventually scored five points from the Mediterranean island, who just happened to have a 50/50 voting system that year. I wouldn't want to insinuate anything, but sometimes these trips can just as much about who you meet before you perform as who you impress on screen.


Treble, who toured all 42 competing countries
Let's fast forward now to 2006 and the infamous Amambanda promo tour. Dutch girl group Treble pledged to visit and perform in every one of the 42 competing countries, and this they did, though hampered slightly by the fact that they weren't always able to find a TV show that would have them. They busked on the streets of London. And come the big night, the result of all of that effort? 38 points, 21^st place and an early trip home (though they did get a point off Iceland after being ridiculed by Silvia Night). They were probably ready for their own beds after that travelling anyway.

In 2012, the two biggest examples of the promo tour came from France and Switzerland. It seemed like you could barely switch on a national final without Sinplus or Anggun (or both) turning up to mime along to their entries, and they were far from the only ones. But come the contest itself, Sinplus bowed out in the semi-final, whereas Anggun gained a grand total of nul points from the televote.

And maybe delegations have learned from this. Since 2012, there's been far fewer acts trailing their entry around myriad national finals. Is the reward not worth the effort? Or is it simply that with many entries being chosen close to the deadline, there's no time to fit in a promo tour?


Jade Ewen performs "It's My Time" at the Russian national final
On the other hand, some would argue that it's not all about impressing the local television audience. For a novice artist in particular, there's some real benefit to be gained by sending them to perform their song again and again on any TV show that will have them. Jade Ewen certainly benefited from this in 2009, growing in confidence as the season went on, culminating in a strong, charismatic performance in Moscow that netted her a 5^th place. But it doesn't always work that way. Performing in a TV studio is very different to facing a 20,000 strong cheering crowd, as we saw when Sinplus just appeared tiny and lost on the huge stage in Baku, and it's far harder to find cameras and take control in an arena.

If appearing on national finals and TV shows are no great help in scoring votes in the contest, events like the London Preview Party, Riga Pre-Party and Eurovision in Concert in Amsterdam are even less useful. The acts are performing to a limited audience of people, nearly all of whom have already heard the songs and formed their opinions on them. The stage is nothing like performing at Eurovision, so there's not even any useful experience to be gained, and the mainstream media don't care, unless you count CNN showing up to grill Sabina Babayeva on the misdeeds of her country. But as we've already seen this year with Hovi and Sanja, they are a whole lot of fun, and give the artists a chance to perform without the pressure of competition and let them revel in the adoration of fans, if only for a few brief hours. And of course, there are those contacts to be made...


The performances at the Eurovision Pre-Party in Riga 2015
So, does a promo tour really work? We don't think so. It had some success initially, but recent years have shown that the impact on the final voting is pretty much minimal. There are some benefits to a carefully targeted campaign, aimed at diaspora or other friendly countries, and it can give an artist vital experience in singing their song live on TV, but it's by no means the magic formula to scoring points on the big night.

But who cares, really. Hovi's having fun, and so are we. Hop over to the wonderful ESCKaz to watch videos of the show from Amsterdam.

Preview Party Results

We had a preview party last night, with six of us each giving points to all the songs out of ten. Here's our results.

Semi 1
1. Netherlands - 48
2. Estonia - 46
3=. Azerbaijan - 45
3=. Montenegro - 45
5. Hungary - 43
6=. Armenia - 38
6=. Albania - 38
8. Ukraine - 36
9. Russia - 35
10. Sweden - 32

11. Iceland - 29
12. Moldova - 27
13. San Marino - 19
14. Portugal - 18
15. Latvia - 10
16. Belgium - 8


Semi 2
1. Israel - 45
2=. Finland - 41
2=. Slovenia - 41
4. Austria - 39
5. Macedonia - 37
6. Ireland - 35
7. Norway - 33
8. Lithuania - 26
9. Greece - 25
10. Poland - 24

11. Malta - 20
12. Switzerland - 20
13. Georgia - 10
14=. Belarus - 9
14=. Romania - 9

As you can see, because of the two-semi split, Greece and Poland qualify over Iceland and Moldova, which actually scored higher. Which brings us to the final result:


Final
1. Italy - 51
2. Netherlands - 48
3. Estonia - 46
4=. Azerbaijan - 45
4=. Montenegro - 45
4=. Israel - 45
7. UK - 44
8. Hungary - 43
9=. Finland - 41
9=. Slovenia - 41
11. Austria - 39
12=. Armenia - 38
12=. Albania - 38
14. Macedonia - 37
15. Ukraine - 36
16=. Russia - 35
16=. Ireland - 35
16=. Spain - 35
19. Norway - 33
20. Sweden - 32
21. Denmark - 27
22. Lithuania - 26
23. Greece - 25
24. Poland - 24
25=. Germany - 23
25=. France - 23


Our winner! It was actually the very last song we watched.



And here's the overall results with all 37 songs.
1. Italy - 51
2. Netherlands - 48
3. Estonia - 46
4=. Azerbaijan - 45
4=. Montenegro - 45
4=. Israel - 45
7. UK - 44
8. Hungary - 43
9=. Finland - 41
9=. Slovenia - 41
11. Austria - 39
12=. Armenia - 38
12=. Albania - 38
14. Macedonia - 37
15. Ukraine - 36
16=. Russia - 35
16=. Ireland - 35
16=. Spain - 35
19. Norway - 33
20. Sweden - 32
21. Iceland - 29
22=. Moldova - 27
22=. Denmark - 27
24. Lithuania - 26
25. Greece - 25
26. Poland - 24
27=. Germany - 23
27=. France - 23
29=. Malta - 20
29=. Switzerland - 20
31. San Marino - 19
32. Portugal - 18
33=. Latvia - 10
33=. Georgia - 10
35=. Belarus - 9
35=. Romania - 9
37. Belgium - 8

How do you solve a problem like Imperija?

The Macedonian Eurovision song selection is normally a much more sedate affair. Either they have a long drawn out national final and everyone cries fix but doesn't really care too much, or else they pick Kaliopi and everyone worships at her feet.

This year, Vlatko Lozanoski and Esma Redžepova were a popular choice, but no sooner had 'Imperija' been presented in a live show on Macedonian TV than complaints began to fly in the national media, and a few days later we learned that the song might be changed. Earlier this week, it was confirmed by MKRTV that this would be the case, and on Friday we will hear the new song for Macedonia.

So what happened? It's not at all clear, but let's try and explain.

Firstly it was said that the song would undergo 'changes in the arrangement and lyrics'. The reasons for this weren't particularly clear - the lyrics themselves aren't particularly political or controversial and the arrangement is fitting for the song, however the decision was made after "clearly stated views and contructive suggestions of experts and Macedonian audience".

MKRTV were apparently unhappy with the standards set in the video in particular; they'd let the artists and video producers have a completely free rein this year, and the resulting product was not 'dignified' enough to be presented to a European audience. It appears they were generally unhappy with the whole thing from the moment it was completed, but with a show to broadcast, had no choice but to run with the original song and video for the presentation.

The major bone of contention was the prominent appearance of buildings and monuments from the 'Skopje 2014' project, a government building program. Skopje 2014's aim is the construction of museums and other buildings, as well as monuments, in a neo-classic style, which has been strongly criticised for "constructing nationalistic historicist kitsch" as well as just generally being very expensive and a waste of money in what's not exactly a cash-rich economy. In effect, the whole video plays as a propaganda piece for the achievements of the current government, made up of a nationalist, right-wing party (VMRO-DPMNE).

It's perhaps somewhat unusual and unexpected that MKRTV would speak out so publicly against the government in this way, which leads me to suspect there's somewhat more to this than is being said. Certainly, even if the video were the root cause, there'd be no need to change the song itself.

However, that is what's happening. One of the reports wrote that Lozano had threatened to leave the project if the song wasn't changed, and indeed it seems he's got his way. The new song will be written by Darko Dimitrov and Lazar Cvetkovski (the latter is Lozano's own producer) with Simeon Atanasov, the composer of 'Imperija'. Esma herself will reportedly sing in the Romani language this time, rather than in Macedonian, and the song will have much stronger influences from the world of gypsy music after criticism of the 'ethno-motifs' in 'Imperija'.

So, who knows what really happened? One of the articles mentioned 'Eurovision representatives' being involved in the discussions, so perhaps there was an element of the EBU that disapproved of the blatant political posturing - though for once it seems it wasn't due to annoying the Greeks! There's certainly more to it than meets the eye, but to summarise what we know for sure, the main objection within Macedonia seems to be that there was an element of 'ethno-kitsch' to both the song and the video, which it seems will be eliminated in favour of something more genuine.

And what potential does the new song hold? I have to admit that, while I liked 'Imperija', I was a little disappointed in the overall product, but this new song doesn't sound like it will have the same accessibility as the previous. With strong gypsy influences and opportunities for both singers to show off their vocals, it could potentially wind up having little chance in a European context.

You can hear 'Imperija' below (the video has disappeared from the internet), before the new song is released on Friday.

Does the draw make a difference? Why we'll never know

The EBU's decision to allow SVT to decide the running order of the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö has caused the shit to hit the fan and rain down over the Eurovision message boards in a fashion barely seen since the days of Marlain.

But is it going to be a game-killer for the contest? Does a song's starting position make a big difference for its chances? Maybe. In the past few weeks and months, fans have come up with plenty of theories to prove that the draw does make a difference, and that SVT are out to screw the chances of the songs they don't like.

I intend to show you that those theories are generally a whole load of hookum.

"But in 2009, 14 of the 20 qualifiers came from the second half of the semis."

Two points. Firstly, 14/20 is hardly an overwhelming correlation. Secondly, using statistics like that out of context ignores one of the greatest variables in the contest - the quality of the songs. One of the main reasons it's impossible to compare statistics like this on a year-by-year basis is that the songs and performances are, by their very nature, completely different each year.

Without even looking at what songs were drawn where in 2009, that argument contains obvious fallacies, as it assumes that all songs are born equal. They aren't, and by just looking at the bald statistics you're completely failing to take this into account.

Taking 2009 as an example, the first halves of those semis include 'Aven Romale', 'Copycat', 'La teva decisió (Get a Life)', 'Let' tmou' and 'Firefly', songs that most fans would agree never had any hope of qualifying. This just shows that judging the numbers and the statistics without taking into account the songs themselves is pretty much a futile exercise

"But Haba Haba is a great song, and was drawn second and failed to qualify."

Sure, you think it's a great song. Maybe everybody at your party loved it too. The problem is, of course, that there is no hard and fast way to judge a song's quality, and on the night, not enough people liked it and voted for it. And in music, unlike science, there is no right/wrong, no measure of good or bad.

We simply cannot argue that if a song had been drawn in another position, it would have got another result. Ultimately, we cannot know. Perhaps Haba Haba did only fail to qualify because it was drawn second. Or perhaps it did badly because most people didn't think it was very good or very well performed.

Ultimately, it's impossible to directly compare songs - all songs are different and we only ever see them in one starting position - it's not like we ever get the opportunity to place the same song in different positions with all the other influencing criteria intact, just to see what would happen. In summary, it's the songs themselves that are the biggest variable, and have the biggest influence over their own final result.

(Incidentally, as a side note: in researching this article and looking for an example for this section, it struck me just how many songs drawn second have actually qualified since 2008 - either six or seven out of ten, depending how you view Sweden 2008.)

"But we do see them in two different positions - in the semi and the final!"

This is a fair point, and there are examples of songs which qualify and then get a very different draw in the final, and get a very different result. Two examples would be Latvia in 2005, which scrapes through the semi then performs last in the final where it finishes 5th, and Finland in 2011, which qualifies comfortably, then has to go on first in the final where it bombs.

But are they a direct comparison? I would argue that the semi-final and the final are completely different beasts, with greatly differing audiences. Firstly and most obviously, since 2008 the final has all competing countries voting, while the semis only have a selected half. This will naturally affect voting patterns, especially if you got stuck with (or separated from) your neighbours in the semi-final.

The final itself also tends to have vastly higher viewing figures than the two semis. We therefore have a different demographic voting in the final - the semi viewers are perhaps more dedicated fans of the contest or members of a diaspora, whereas the Saturday night show attracts a wider range of people. And on a Saturday, viewers are perhaps looking for something different. The whole family may be watching together, while others may be at a party with significant amounts of alcohol consumed. All of this leads to different voting patterns in the final than in the semi.

And aside from the voting patterns of people watching at home, the final itself is a totally different contest to the semis. The hopeless songs that made you look competent are gone, and perhaps have been replaced by two acts from the other semi-final, doing the same thing you're doing, only better. With completely different competition, and different people voting, the results between a semi and a final are always likely to vary.

All in all, we can never prove that the draw is the decisive factor in a song's result. There is evidence that points that way, and indeed the Latvia and Finland examples mentioned above present a pretty strong argument, but ultimately, with the strongest variable being the song, and a lack of any opportunity to do any kind of representative testing, we can never prove anything for sure.

So, in summary, most fans making up theories and 'proofs' on the internet are talking complete rubbish.

Melodi Grand Prix Semi 3 - the songs

While most attention is focused on the Melodifestivalen rehearsals, let's take a look at this week's Norwegian Melodi Grand Prix songs.

The first two semi-finals in Norway have met with far from universal approval, with the second week in particular featuring some rather less than stellar performances, so let's hope things will get better this Saturday, in the third and final semi-final.

Gothminister – Utopia
Far more of a name in their genre than Gromth were in the first semi-final, Gothminister play industrial metal, though 'Utopia' is far more accessible than may be expected. The metal songs nearly always surprise in the voting in Scandinavian national finals, often due to the genre's large, but quiet, fanbase, so expect Gothminister to put in a strong showing.
In summary: probable qualifier

Adelén – Bombo
The kind of pseudo-Latino pop that always used to crop up in Belgian finals throughout the last decade, and then be performed terribly. I expect nothing else here from 16 year old Adelén, even if she does have some hefty hitmakers behind the song in Ina Wroldsen and Quiz & Larossi. And this year's MGP hasn't exactly been kind to pop.
In summary: lots of fun, but not a qualifier

Lucky Lips – Sweet and Heavy
Country bluegrass from Lucky Lips. I personally think this is absolutely beautiful, and with Melodi Grand Prix traditionally being a lot kinder on country music than its Swedish counterpart, may do better than expected. Will need a strong performance to stand out though.
In summary: Lovely, needs a good performance, borderline qualifier

Gaute Ormåsen – Awake
Unfortunately, Gaute's song isn't available on Spotify or on YouTube internationally, so I haven't been able to listen to this in full, so will have to base this on the 30-second snippet broadcast last night. Which, in summary, a man who's slightly older than he wants to be singing a song that's far too young for him. With potential for some terrible falsetto notes.
In summary: your dad doing Bjorn Johan Muri (not like that!) at karaoke.

Anina – The Young
Now this is a surprise. While the televoters haven't been kind to the girly pop this year, The Young stands out as far more substantial, with its Katy Perry-vibe and stand-up-and-sing-along chorus. We'll see on Saturday whether Anina can carry it off live, but if she does, this could be the big surprise of the competition.
In summary: with the right performance, a potential superfinalist

Winda – Not Afraid
A big dance number designed the get the audience on their feet but ultimately, if it didn't work for Mimi Blix with a much better song, there's no reason it should work here. Not Afraid comes from the team behind 'Haba Haba', but really has none of the catchy elements behind that huge hit – Norway's dance music can do much better.
In summary: not a chance

Sirkus Eliassen – I Love You Te Quiero
Sirkus Eliassen had one of the biggest hits of 2012 with the frankly quite brilliant 'Æ vil bare dans'. Their MGP entry isn't a patch on that, but follows much the same pattern, and is bound to have a strong performance, so should have a good chance.
In summary: qualifying, another likely superfinalist

To sum up, a much stronger semi-final than the past two weeks, though again a lot is going to depend on performances on the night. Last week it was the three best vocal performances that qualified, almost by default, and if the same is true again on Saturday we could see some surprises.

In theory, it's pretty open, though I suspect Sirkus Eliassen are nailed on to qualify. Gothminister should follow them if the metal fans are voting (and they usually do), with the third place between Lucky Lips and Anina.

This piece originally published at Schlagerfiasko.

Eurocovers: Kurt Nilsen's Adieu and Hver gang vi møtes

I love the concept of the Norwegian show Hver gang vi møtes. Based on a Swedish format, a diverse group of popular musicians come together for a TV series broadcast across a number of weeks. Each episode is dedicated to one of the artists, and each week the other singers perform their own versions of that artist’s hits, often in their own, very different style.

Three weeks ago in Norway it was Anita Skorgan week. Considering the 54 year old singer has a somewhat limited back catalogue of actual hits, it was perhaps unsurprising that four out of the six other singers opted to take on one of her previous Eurovision entries.

Marion Ravn performed a somewhat underwhelming version of 'Casanova', which mainly built on the original’s disco influences and didn’t really add a huge amount to the song. Morten Abel took on 'Oliver' in his own dark style, the result being almost unrecognisable from the original. And Ole Paus sang a beautiful, stripped back version of Karoline Krüger's 'For vår jord' (co-written by Skorgan), which really gave me a new appreciation for the song.

The revelation of the week, however, was Kurt Nilsen, who took on the 1982 Norwegian entry 'Adieu'. It's not a song I'd ever really paid much attention to before, but Nilsen takes it in a completely different direction. He allows the sadness of the lyrics to truly shine through, and personally the raw emotion in the song cuts me like a knife.


Let me know which of the covers is your favourite.

Eurocovers: Carmen Rasmusen sings Crazy in Love

Fred Bronson is a curious man. He's an eminent American music journalist, having published a number of books and contributed regular columns to Billboard magazine. He has an encyclopaedic knowledge of popular music, and a wide range of tastes. Which can be the only explanation for the fact that he is the only person in the known universe to profess a liking for 'Loca', the 2006 Moldovan Eurovision entry sung by one of O-Zone and a girl in a bikini hiding behind a sail.

He's also evidently a keen follower of Melodifestivalen, even being involved in the international jury that loved 'Alla' so much in 2009. So much so that, as a mentor on American Idol in 2003, he wanted one of the contestants to perform one of that year's MF finalists.

"I had a song that I thought would be perfect for Carmen Rasmusen -- a Swedish hit by Jill Johnson called 'Crazy in Love' (not the Beyoncé song). I knew she shouldn't sing an unknown song on the show, but I also knew I couldn't suggest a song while she was in competition."

And so he kept the idea to himself, but not for long. Once Rasmusen left the competition in sixth place, Bronson was back on the case, with 'Crazy In Love' in his pocket:

"A few months after season two was over, Carmen told me she was recording some demos. That's when I told her about 'Crazy in Love'. She heard the song, loved it and her manager called the publisher in Sweden to make a deal. Carmen recorded the song on an EP that was released on an independent label […] and did a fantastic job."

She did indeed. Rasmusen's performing style was derided by many when she was on American Idol, and indeed the young singer did have trouble taming her sometimes goaty-sounding vibrato and had an unfortunate habit of slapping her own backside while singing, but she did have an interesting tone. That quality comes out in her studio recordings, and 'Crazy In Love' is a surprisingly good fit for her voice, coming across higher and lighter than Jill Johnson’s more mature sound.

Being by a mostly unknown artist on an unknown label, the song didn't achieve any success in the US, but it's great to see how well it could transfer to an American artist.

The Evrop(j)esma contests of 2005 and 2006 and the secession of Montenegro

This article is an adapted extract from my university dissertation, which I wrote in summer 2007 on the political and social effects of contemporary music on society in Serbia and Montenegro. The writing is somewhat different to my usual style as it was written for academia, though I have tried to remove any references to other sections of the essay or to my overall examination. This article is also missing its original footnotes which cite a lot of the facts and opinions mentioned.

In this piece I take a look at the furore surrounding the victories in the Evrop(j)esma contest by Montenegrin boyband No Name. In both 2005 and 2006, in the Serbia-Montenegro selection for Eurovision, the Montenegrin jurors were accused of rigging the contest, giving no points at all to the Serbian favourites and effectively ensuring the win for their own songs, both by boyband No Name. The fact that it happened twice in a row compounded the problem, and in 2006 the Serbian audience became aware of what was happening, booing the Montenegrin jurors even before they gave their points. In the words of the one audience member: "we started cheering for Flamingosi, even though we didn't like it before, because we just didn't want No Name to win". When the group came on the stage to reprise their winning song, they faced chants of "lopovi" (thieves), and bottles were thrown at them, and the Flamingosi, the runners-up, reprised their entry instead, supported by all the Serbian singers from the contest. The result eventually was nullified and the country withdrew from that year's Eurovision.

However, why was the result of this contest so important to both republics? I don't intend to address the question here of whether either the Serb or Montenegrin jurors voted unfairly (though I do have my own opinions on that), but rather their possible reasons for doing so and the consequences.

One benefit that TV stations see in participating in Eurovision is the chance to promote their country, to market it to a worldwide audience. Ognjen Amiđić of the group Flamingosi, the Serb favourites who lost out to No Name in 2006, said that one reason both TV stations want to make it to Eurovision is that it is the only forum for Serbian or Montenegrin music on a global scale and is therefore a very valuable opportunity, both for acts themselves but also for giving an impression of the country to outsiders.

The opportunities for promotion can not only be found in the song itself, but also in the accompanying press materials. At the 2005 contest in Kyiv, No Name removed the flag of Serbia and Montenegro from their press conferences and replaced it with the Montenegrin one. In addition, the promotional materials featured Montenegro exclusively, and the video included many sweeping shots of Montenegrin landscape, as well as Montenegrin symbolism; The Head of the SCG delegation in Kyiv, who was herself Serbian, apparently despaired over this overt use of patriotism and nationalism to promote one half of the Union. We can clearly see therefore why it was important for both Montenegro and Serbia to win the Evrop(j)esma competition, as music in turn yields important opportunities.


The event itself had significant political and social impacts. It is obvious that the show effectively turned into a contest between the two republics and their TV stations, with clear political voting on both sides overshadowing the songs. There are also obvious national consequences to this, shown by the fact that the crowd did not mind which song won, as long as it was Serbian, and the fact that all the Serbian singers joined in the 'victory' reprise. One political commentator observed that "there is no deep-rooted animosity between inhabitants of Serbia and Montenegro", but, in contrast to this, more than one Serb was happy to admit to me that they "hated Montenegrins".

However, the most important consequences are linked to the subsequent referendum, which took place on 21st May 2006, the day after the Eurovision final. There were allegations from Sabrija Vulić, the PR of Montevizija (the Montenegrin heat for Evrop(j)esma), that, because of this, RTS did not want No Name to perform at Eurovision , though there were counter-claims from the Serbian side that No Name were planning to perform wearing pro-independence shirts, with Aleksandar Tijanić, Head of RTS claiming that it would have been a last-ditch effort to get people to vote in the referendum. Opposition politicians in Montenegro, including Nebojša Medojević, leader of Grupa za promenje (Group for Change), maintain that No Name were being used as pawns by the regime. It is perhaps not unlikely that there is some truth in this - the main backer of No Name was Aco Đukanović, brother of the pro-independence Montenegrin prime minister, Milo Đukanović. Either way, a Montenegrin song performing on the European stage a day before the independence referendum would have no doubt had some effect on the vote.

In contrast, there was the view in Montenegro that this incident was yet another example of the Serbs trying to control the Union, and that it was "another Serbian provocation" and proved why the republic needed independence. It can therefore be argued that that, by contesting the victory so ferociously, RTS and the Serbian media further alienated Montenegrins, raising the likelihood of a pro-independence vote; indeed, Milodrag-Milo Ćurić maintains that the actions of the Montenegrin jury were intended to incite such a reaction.

In regard to the political implications of the event itself, Evrop(j)esma was compared by commentators to the events of the football match between Dinamo Zagreb and Crvena Zvezda at the Maksimir stadium in Zagreb in 1990, which is seen by many to symbolise the start of the Balkan wars and what happened thereafter. The subsequent split of Serbia and Montenegro supports this opinion, and although obviously it happened in a far less bloody way, we can see here a link between music and politics, in the same way as one has been seen between sport and politics; indeed, cultural sociologist Ratko Božović says, "sport and recreation reflect the situation in a country".

Evrop(j)esma obviously had important implications politcally, and gives some indication of the political scene and social mood. Many commentators made the point that the event "has nothing to do with music", and Tijanić addressed his decision to withdraw from Eurovision by stating that it was better to have no representative than to "obey the will [...] of political mentors". We can see that the event was very much seen to have been overridden by politics, and indeed a protest was held on Trg republike, for the reasons that "music has to be stronger than politics". As well as showing how music gets involved in politics, this event also shows again the concept of music as a signifier – liking Flamingosi's song showed you to be Serbian. Indeed, when I admitted to a Serbian friend that I enjoyed the song of No Name, a considerable time afterwards, she was aghast.

Through all of this we can clearly see that music can be important on a political and social level. It created friction between the two constituent republics of the State Union, and, given the tight referendum results, could have affected the outcome. Regardless of whether it did or not, we can see serious allegations here of how politics can involve itself in music, and the subsequent consequences.

Reaction: Lozano and Esma for Macedonia

Macedonia has long been my favourite country at Eurovision, ever since entries like 'Samo ti', 'Ne zori zoro' and 'Od nas zavisi'. Even '100% te ljubam' is a great slice of cheesy 90s girl-pop. They've lost their way somewhat in recent years, failing to qualify to the final four times in a row (though I still liked the entries), before changing their approach in 2012, internally selecting one of the biggest stars in the country in Kaliopi, a decision that paid dividends.

Now for 2013 MRT is repeating that formula, announcing last week that Vlatko Lozanoski and Esma Redžepova will represent the country in Malmö. On the surface, this combination of young popstar and folk music legend is pretty unusual, but I have pretty high hopes that they can build on their success in 2012, and potentially go even higher with this choice.

Vlatko Lozanoski, or Lozano as he is known, is perhaps best remembered among Eurovision fans for his song 'Letam kon tebe', which probably should have won the 2010 Macedonian Final. The track, and particularly the album that was released in the same year, have strong echoes of the late Toše Proeski about them, both in Lozano's vocals and in the production. Indeed, I wouldn't be at all surprised if many of the tracks he has recorded had previously been written for Proeski. Lozano has been one of the most popular Macedonian pop singers over the past few years, both in terms of sales and radio play.


In contrast, Esma is known as one of the biggest names in Romani folk music, both in Macedonia and beyond. Much of her repertoire is in very traditional styles, with new songs building on Romani folk motifs, and she has released over 50 albums, in both the domestic market and the world music scene. She even took part in Jugovizija in 1971. Her work frequently appears on those terrible 'Music of Eastern Europe' compilations, which, if you didn't know any better, would give you the impression that all anyone in the former Eastern bloc listens to is gypsy wailing and cow-stomach instruments battling with overly cheery hippity-hoppity dancers.

Fortunately, that's far from the case, and Esma has also lent her distinct vocals to pop tracks over the past ten years, creating some pretty interesting fusions of pop and folk styles that show just how well these combinations can work. She duetted with Magazin on 'Dani su bez broja', and in 2003 joined Kaliopi on 'Bel den', one of the best tracks on the latter's critically acclaimed Ne mi go zemaj vremeto album.


'Ljubov e', a duet with Adrijan Gaxha, placed a close second in the 2006 Macedonian Final. The best of these collaborations, however, is a duet with the aforementioned Toše Proeski on his Ako me pogledneš vo oči. 'Magija' was a huge hit in 2003, and also came out in a Serbian version. With the comparisons I mentioned before, I have my fingers very firmly crossed, and if Macedonia's songwriters can come up with something like this again, I will be very happy.


It probably wouldn't be a winner - it's far too Eastern for that - but I do think they have the potential to pull off a great performance, and hopefully secure another strong result for Macedonia. We'll hear the song in February, and I personally can hardly wait!

Closed rehearsals for 2013 - why I approve

This morning, the EBU announced one of the major changes for the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest. Unlike in previous years, each delegation's first rehearsal will take place behind closed doors, with fan press being able to watch on screens in the Euroclub.

Importantly, this means that there will likely be no video clips of initial rehearsals - except perhaps for those on official Eurovision YouTube channel.

As someone who doesn't like to watch rehearsal videos, I fully approve of this. In recent years, the rush to be the first to have a rehearsal video uploaded has meant that a lot of false impressions are given, with the first run-through often only a dry run with no-one putting in much effort. This means that acts often look and sound a lot worse than they really are - not an impression many are happy with, I imagine!

More importantly though, the advent of the video clips has meant a drop in the quality of actual writing about rehearsals. Five years ago, a Eurovision blogger had the quite difficult job of succintly summing up the appearance of the performance and the vocals, describing backdrops and costumes, as well as how the song was coming across on stage.

Now it's more or less deemed sufficient to embed a video and say 'Lithuania's coming across much better than we expected' and leave it at that.

That latter approach is boring, quite frankly, and does nothing to differentiate the content of various sites, or make them interesting. It means that the experience of reading the rehearsal blogs is far less enjoyable than it could be.

So, I hope that there are no videos at all of the initial rehearsals. I look forward to reading some strong, vivid material produced by some really good writers - and I hope to be doing the same thing myself.

Swiss Final - Preview

Tonight, it's the turn of Switzerland to select their representative for Malmö. Nine entries will battle it out on stage in Kreuzlingen, and the winner will once again be chosen by televoting.

RSI, the Swiss Italian language broadcaster held its own pre-preselection again, though this year on radio rather than with Barbara Berta offering her comments while propping up the bar. The first qualifier was Ally, whose American-sounding, jazzy number 'Catch Me' is unrelentingly repetitive. Her voice isn't much less annoying, and I don't see this troubling the top end of the results sheet.

Chiara Dubey (above) came 3rd last year, with the lovely 'Anima nuova'. Her entry this year, 'Bella sera', is even more quiet and understated, and has the potential to come across beautifully on stage. Fingers firmly crossed for second time lucky.

Carrousel bring a very French sounding entry to the Kreuzlingen stage, which reminds me a little of Les Fatals Picards in 2007. The fact there's a woman involved generally brings the likelihood of it being as punchable as that excruciating three minutes down a little, but I always approach this kind of song with a degree of caution.

Do the Monkey... do I have to? This kind of song is all about the performance and the video (which is of course how acts should be thinking about their Eurovision entry), but listening to just the audio files, it's close to unbearable. Anthony Bighead's live performance will almost certainly redeem the lack of melody if they can make it fun and engaging though - and they'll have the benefit of only having to keep that atmosphere going for two minutes tonight.

The German Finals in the era from 1997-2005 almost always had something like this - melodic rock with a God-bothering edge - and it always did better than you'd expect it to. The edge is more of an entire side this time around, and with a strong chorus, Heilsarmee must have a really decent chance.

After what are, for better or worse, two of the more interesting entries in tonight's contest, comes the most unremarkable. Nill's rock-lite sounding 'On My Way' is perfectly serviceable but has absolutely nothing to recommend it for a second listen. Doomed.

Melissa has been a favourite of the fans since even before the finalists were announced. This may be because she was once in a national final before or may even be because she's nice to them on Twitter. She does however have the most obviously fan-friendly song, but, unfortunately, 'The Point of No Return's chorus is a let-down after a promising verse. You'll be hearing this in Malmö, but it's more likely to be in Euroclub than on the international stage.

'Lève-toi' is far more my kind of thing than most of the songs in this line-up, but it's another victim of the 'strong verse, weak chorus' syndrome that affects so many unsuccessful national final songs and is especially prevalent tonight. A shame, because a bigger chorus would lift this, and could help Nicolas Fraissinet (above) go very far indeed.

Jesse Ritch's 'Forever and a Day' is radio-friendly pop. It's pretty contemporary, and could even have some success at Eurovision if it's well-performed, but I'm concerned that, like so many of tonight's songs, it's just a little too mediocre and, well, Swiss. It's another one that will all depend on the performance.

So, who's going to win? I genuinely have no idea. Swiss finals in the past couple of years have been notoriously hard to predict, with the winner (and often the second and third placed songs too) often coming out of nowhere. I suspect it's probably between the Monkey and the Godbotherers, but I wouldn't be surprised to see Chiara Dubey or Jesse Ritch off to Malmö either.

And I still miss Lys.

Repeat offenders: Inger Lise Rypdal

In the 1960s and '70s, it seemed like there were only a handful of singers in Norway, so it's no surprise that many of them turned up in numerous editions of Melodi Grand Prix. One of these was Inger Lise Rypdal, a successful artist who had several hits in her own right, but never made it to Eurovision.

Rypdal came to fame in 1968, with Norwegian-language versions of hits by artists as disparate as Peggy March and Jeannie C. Riley, scoring two #1s on the country's singles chart. The following year she took part in Melodi Grand Prix for the first time.



Wikipedia describes Rypdal as the 'dominant female artist on the Norwegian popular music scene' in the 1970s, so it's perhaps a surprise that she never won Melodi Grand Prix. She took part almost every year, including in duets with Stein Ingebrigtsen (Christian's dad) and Jahn Teigen, even 'winning' in 1973 singing 'Å for et spill'. Unfortunately, it was as part of the group accompanied by the small band and, as was traditional, the singers of the orchestral arrangement from the national final - the Bendik Singers - represented the country in Luxembourg.



In total, Rypdal participated 13 times in Melodi Grand Prix:

• 1969: "Eventyr" – 9th place
• 1972: "Lillebror" – 2nd place
• 1973: "Å for et spill" (with Stein Ingebrigtsen, Gro Anita Schønn and Ola Neegaard) – 1st place
• 1973: "Alternativ" – 4th place
• 1974: "Yo-Yo" (duet with Stein Ingebrigtsen) – 4th place
• 1976: "Voodoo" (duet with Jahn Teigen) – 2nd place
• 1979: "Så lenge du er hos meg" – 3rd place
• 1980: "Svart fortid" – 5th place
• 1981: "Tanker" – 3rd place
• 1981: "Født på ny" (as part of The Darlings) – 8th place
• 1982: "Lady Di" – 2nd place
• 1983: "Elegi" (duet with Freddy Dahl) – 9th place
• 1984: "Vindar" – 3rd place

Perhaps the best remembered of these is 'Voodoo', the bonkers duet with Jahn Teigen in 1976, which features Jahn exchanging his braces for a skeleton outfit. It could have been the infamous 'nul points' two years earlier for Norway, but either way, this would have been somewhat amazing at Eurovision.



Her later entries are a closer reflection of the electro sound that her career took on in later years, including this personal favourite.



And, as a little bonus, here's Rypdal receiving the Spellemann prize in 1974 and performing one of her biggest hits.

Missed opportunities: Sarah Dawn Finer - I Remember Love

In the middle of the last decade, it felt like a ballad stood no chance in Melodifestivalen. In both 2005 and 2006, nearly all the slower songs fell out of the competition in the semi-final stages, leaving a final full of upbeat pop songs, schlager-by-numbers and the occasional Caroline Wennergren.

2007 promised a much greater variety of song, and not of the type that brought us Kwanzaa and The Elephantz. And it was a relief when, in the second semi-final, Marie Lindberg made it through direkt till Globen, and then when Sarah Dawn Finer managed the same in the fourth.



In a field featuring acts like Andreas Johnson, Måns Zelmerlöw and The Ark, fourth place in the final was about as much as the unknown Sarah Dawn Finer could reasonably expect, especially with a ballad. It's one of Melodifestivalen's best though – heartfelt without being melodramatic, honest and emotional lyrics and a strong, big performance that doesn't overshadow the song.

How would it have performed at Eurovision? Probably better than The Ark, but in a year with Molitva at the top, it almost certainly wouldn’t have challenged for the win. And if 'I Remember Love' had won Melodifestivalen, we wouldn't have got the drama-fest of 'Moving On' two years later, and Lynda Woodruff have probably never been more than a spark in Sarah Dawn’s eye. And *that* would have been the real missed opportunity.

We were never told about that: Bizek Emi falls down

Some performances in national finals are infamous. We all remember Tara from Karma fighting a losing battle against bronchitis live on stage in 2003, and that bit in the 1990 Austrian Final where the woman passes out. But there's some things in Eurovision history that, for some reason, nobody ever thought to tell us about.

Take Bizek Emi in the Hungarian Final in 2005. She sits at the piano and sings a perfectly inoffensive, if slightly dull ditty about being past the halfway-point or something. And for years we all assumed that was it.

Because somehow, nobody ever bothered to tell us that when she comes to the front of the stage to take her bow following the performance, she slips and falls flat on her face, the poor love.

It's the kind of thing you can't help but watch twenty times in a row. Go on, I challenge you not to.



This is what we watch Eurovision for. More please.

Missed opportunities: Paula Seling - Step Back

Picture the scene. It's early evening on 31st December 1999 in a dusty radio studio somewhere in downtown Bucharest. An eager-to-please disc-jockey is preparing to play in the new year with some of the usual classics and hits, but before that, he wants to present a track he's been sent by a new, up-and-coming young artist. Her people claim she's the Romanian Britney Spears, and apparently she's going to be huge. And our hero has got the exclusive first play of this new record.

He slides the CD into the player, links into the track and Bucharest hears 'Step Back' for the very first time.

And that's that, perhaps one of the most famous missed opportunities in recent Eurovision history. Paula Seling is instantly disqualified from the Romanian Final, the producers being incredibly strict about the rules, particularly the 1st January cut-off as it was back then. For one man's error and the want of waiting just a few hours, Romanian TV loses one of its first real contenders.

The incident is notorious in fan circles. Whether the story really went down as described is debateable and probably unverifiable. Whether it would have won what was likely a deeply rigged national final is equally uncertain. And as for its chances at Eurovision, it would have had to compete against Alsou and Ines for the Britney-votes – a tough fight in 2000.

Of course, we will never know. It's still a damn good little pop song though.

Eurovision 2012 Semi 1 - predicting and wishing

Less than two hours to go until the first semi-final, and I've been predicting. But first, here's the 10 countries I want to make the final on Saturday:

Iceland
Greece
Latvia
Albania
Romania
Belgium
Cyprus
Denmark
Hungary
Moldova

It was a close-run thing, and Jedward just missed out because of their annoying and frankly rude fans, who've made me wish for the Irish song to crash out humiliatingly tonight.

Of course, these are just my wishes, though some of them are tied to my predictions, as there's some I really need to come true if I'm to make any money in my bets! This year, as well as general bets - the most money is on Belgium in various forms - I've also put £1 on each of the ten songs I predict as my qualifiers. Afterwards, I'll come back here and let you know how much money I ended up, and we'll see if I made a profit on my £10!

Iceland
Greece
Romania
Belgium
Cyprus
Denmark
Russia
Austria
Moldova
Ireland

That's it! Agree? Disagree? Either way, have a lot of fun tonight!

Why I feel sorry for Valentina Monetta

You know, there's a lot of reasons to feel bad for this perky 37-year-old (I know!) from San Marino. First and foremost, she has to stand and sing 'Facebook The Social Network Song (Uh Oh Uh Oh Oh)' on a stage in front of millions of people. The poor girl also has to spend a lot of time with Ralph Siegel. It doesn't seem like a fun experience for anyone.


It's bad enough that a talented jazz singer has been shoe-horned into a song completely unsuitabed to her. It's a song for a 17-year old girl, though Monetta pulls off a pretty convincing impression of one in the video and in her performance. But it's the way that the campaign has seemingly overtaken her entire existence that makes me feel sorry for her.

Of course, all promotional campaigns involve creating an image for an artist, dictating where they go and who they talk to. But Monetta's has been taken to the next level. Even before the song was unveiled, a personal Facebook account had been set up in her name and started friending Eurovision fans and over the past few months has posted as if it were Valentina herself behind it. And throughout her promotional campaign, she's worn variations on the same clothes (always white and light blue, to reflect her country's flag) and always has to be pictured at a moment's notice on flights and in foreign cities allegedly 'on Facebook' or making friends.

We know nothing about her personally outside of 'The Social Network Song'. All of her interviews are about how much she loves to use Facebook and how cool social networking and the internet are, and nothing about her as a person (oh, except she loves kitesurfing, of all things!). Valentina Monetta just does not seem to exist outside of this song.

It's almost like this Valentina Monetta who we've got to know over the last few months and been friended by on Facebook is nothing but a character created by Siegel and the Sammarinese delegation to sell this song. It's as if 'Valentina Monetta' is just a creation in the way that Silvia Night was just a creation. But in this case, while she's just playing a role, there is a real person with a real career behind it, who is going to lose out.

But the reason I feel most sorry for her is that all of this effort is likely to be for about 8 points next Tuesday, and an early flight back to San Marino, and back down to earth to a bump, with nothing to show for it except for lots of blue clothes and a Facebook profile full of friends she doesn't even like.

She's Lolly for the 21st century.

Eurovision 2012 interviews

Almost two weeks ago now, I visited the London Eurovision Party as accredited press and took the opportunity to interview several of this year's performers.

As press, you always want to keep your cool and appear professional, but the one artist I was absolutely desperate to meet was Kaliopi from Macedonia. I'm a big fan of hers and have been for many years. After hanging around while she was in massive demand early in the day, I eventually managed to grab her right after her soundcheck. It's always a concern when you meet your idols, in case they don't live up to your impression of them, but I had nothing to worry about. Kaliopi was absolutely lovely and hugged and kissed me after the interview when I confessed what a big fan I am.

And she was a delight to interview too, and was shocked at how knowledgeable I was about her career (as well as a little humourously put out that I reminded her how old she was!). It was such a pleasure to meet her, and you can read my interview with her for ESC Nation here.

After having achieved my main goal for the day, I set about grabbing as many more interviews as I could. I'd made contact with Andrej Hofer, the Slovenian press representative, earlier, and he'd promised me an interview with Eva Boto, but she'd been snapped up by Channel 4 and the BBC. He came to find me immediately after my hugs and kisses from Kaliopi, and hustled me into the toilets where I finally got my interview with Eva. You can read that, as well as my chat with 2005 representative Omar Naber, here.

Filipa Sousa from Portugal wasn't very in demand compared to many other performers, as spent much of the afternoon sitting chatting to her parents, who'd she'd flown across to have a brief holiday with in London. I perched on a couch next to them, and her interview is here.

Finally, I ventured into the press scrum upstairs, where at least four acts were sitting with fan and professional journalists queueing up and trying to hold their ground to get their five minutes in. Compact Disco from Hungary headed off very suddenly, but I did manage to sidle my way on to Anggun's table, and did a very quick interview with her too, which you can read here.

The final performer who was hanging around was Sabina Babayeva, who was very sought after by the TV stations present, and I was warned that they were eager for a story on Azerbaijan's human rights record. With a large crowd waiting to get to talk to her, and finding myself at the back of the queue, I bade a hasty retreat. I wasn't able to stay for the party in the evening, where all the acts sang their songs and other hits, before fans and performers danced the night away to Eurovision music until the early hours.

Eurovision 2012 - a draw analysis

It's been a week, which is plenty of time for the draw for the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest to sink in a little, so here's my take on what those random little balls have done to the chances of some of our favourite songs.

Semi 1

Semi 1 starts with, who else, Montenegro! A song like this was always going to struggle to qualify, and I think going first more or less wipes out any chances it may have had. It'll certainly be an entertaining start for the viewers! Iceland and Greece follow, two strong songs which should have decent chances of making the final from any starting position.

I personally feel that Latvia and Albania were always facing an uphill battle to qualify. Latvia risks coming across amateur and silly, if they aren't very careful with it, and Albania is probably just too weird for mainstream ears. In this draw, they're going to struggle. Romania probably isn't the kind of song that's really affected by the draw, but it certainly benefits coming after Albania - two songs could barely be more different!

Romania is followed by Switzerland, which I've automatically assumed is pretty doomed, especially in the first half of the draw. Following Switzerland we have Belgium and Finland. As good a draw as either were going to get really, once we knew they were in the first half, though both could have seriously benefited by getting to be the 'sensible', competent pop song in position 17 after a lot of silly stuff.

The song that effectively gets that opportunity is Denmark, performing after San Marino and Cyprus, one of which is almost certainly going to be ridiculous and hopeless, with the other definitely having the potential to be (I'll let you decide which is which!), as well as Israel's quirkiness. Either way, Denmark, which was already sailing through to the final, really does benefit from this draw.

Denmark is further helped by preceding the Russian Grannies too. Late on in the semi is a decent enough draw for them, but, in contrast, it doesn't work for Hungary. Initially I thought they'd got a great draw, but listening through in order, it really doesn't work coming after Denmark and Russia. Which means that Austria following Hungary comes in like a breath of fresh air; its qualification chances went right up for me after this.

Moldova is Moldova, and has a pretty decent draw, performing close to the end. And the semi concludes with Jedward. Watching these through in order, 'Waterline' came across as very ragged and a little bit hopeless coming on last, but we know how well Ireland polished up 'Lipstick' last year, and Jedward of course have form qualifying from the final starting position. They're almost certainly through.

Semi 2

The second semi-final this year is dominated by the ex-Yugoslav countries, so let's take a look at their draws first. Serbia opens the show, and, while it's probably not the best position for this atmospheric, quiet number with a long introduction (especially if the Azeris choose something along the same lines for the opening act), Željko is obviously qualifying. Less clear is Kaliopi singing for Macedonia in the unfavoured second position. I think these two songs would both benefit from performing the other way around. Slovenia and Croatia have been drawn together in the middle of the running order, probably not a great draw for either, and their chances will wholly depend on their performances. If one of Nina and Eva commands the stage and kills it, then the other is probably screwed. And Bosnia takes position 17. As the last ballad, it surely has strong chances of making the final.

Other fan-favourites in this semi-final include Joan Franka, performing third for the Netherlands, and Tooji taking 16th position for Norway. It's probably the worst draw that Joan could have got - I feel that her song would have benefited the most by coming across as a refreshing break from silly, amateur pop, and while Serbia and Macedonia won't be everyone's cup of tea, there's no arguing about whether they'll be performed professionally. Tooji, in contrast, needed a late draw, and he got it.

Others benefiting from the draw include Estonia, who get to perform their ballad after the potential madness of Georgia and Turkey, and also favourites Sweden, who get to follow two ballads. The draw isn't particularly kind for many of the first half - Malta, Belarus and Portugal all probably had slim chances of qualifying anyway, and would have benefited from being in the second half, and Bulgaria risks coming across as a less-good version of Ukraine, which it follows. Ukraine, with its storming performance, is probably pretty safe anywhere, and couldn't have picked a better song to perform after than Portugal.

Which leaves Slovakia, which I generally think is pretty chanceless wherever it performs, and Lithuania. The Lithuanians selected to go last, clearly believing it to be the best position to perform from, and they may well be right, with only one non-qualification from the last spot in the semi since 2008. But still, I do think there's a risk performing last, and that's that you take the chance of coming across as a silly interval act, or just simply not good enough. Both of those things arguably happened to the Netherlands in 2009, and they were effectively left with just one point, from Denmark (plus 10 from the barmy Albanian jury). If you're on last, you have to give people at least some reason to watch, and to vote, otherwise everyone's off to the loo before the reprise. Needless to say, I'm not sure Lithuania made the best decision here.

Final

Moving on to the final, which is much harder to say anything concrete about, since, as much as a late draw can be important for an act, perhaps more crucial is the combination of songs surrounding them.

Either way, performing first probably isn't great for the UK. It didn't work for 'Da Da Dam', another ballad, in 2011, which lost a bunch of its votes from the semi by the time the final voting came around, and if the Azeris put 'Running Scared' in the opening act, it'll be a downbeat first fifteen minutes to the show. Whichever of the semi-final qualifiers gets drawn as the first uptempo of the night should be hoping to do pretty well come the scoreboard.

Later on we have France and Italy drawn together again (at 9 and 10), though this time I don't think the draw hurts France as much as it did last year, with both clearly going for rather different audiences. 13th before the break is probably decent for Azerbaijan, and Spain and Germany will both be pleased to be on towards the end of the show. Their chances, though, will greatly depend on what gets drawn around them.

So, there you have it! Do you agree, or do you have another opinion on this draw? Comment below and share your thoughts!

This blog also appeared in a slightly modified version at ESC Nation.

Melodifestivalen 2012 - My Top 32

1. På väg - Abalone Dots
A beautiful country ballad with tight harmonies, this was always going to be my favourite. And it even has a really well-executed key change too!

2. Why am I crying - Molly Sandén
Big emotional break-up ballad, with lovely thoughtful lyrics - just my thing!

3. The Girl - Charlotte Perrelli
See, I do like schlager sometimes!

4. Amazing - Danny Saucedo
I wasn't particularly expecting to like this, but I really do! I find it really uplifting and positive to listen to.

5. Euphoria - Loreen
Not as dark as 'My Heart Is Refusing Me', and therefore not as interesting, but a goodie nonetheless.

6. Soldiers - Ulrik Munther

7. I mina drömmar - Maria BenHajji

8. Sanningen - Carolina Wallin Pérez

9. Why start a fire? - Lisa Miskovsky

10. Förlåt mig - Mattias Andréasson

11. The boy can dance - Afro-dite

12. Det går för långsamt - Mimi Oh

13. Jag reser mig igen - Thorsten Flinck & Revolutionsorkestern

14. Mirakel - Björn Ranelid feat Sara Li

15. Baby Doll - Top Cats

16. I din himmel - Sonja Aldén

17. Kyss mig - Axel Algmark

18. Goosebumps - Hanna Lindblad

19. Just a little bit - Love Generation

20. Aldrig Aldrig - Andreas Lundstedt

21. Sean den förste banan - Sean Banan

22. Shout it out - David Lindgren

23. Stormande hav - Timoteij

24. Youngblood - Youngblood

25. Salt and pepper - Marie Serneholt

26. Ge aldrig upp - Thomas di Leva

27. Lovelight - Andreas Johnson

28. Mystery - Dead by April

29. Land of Broken dreams - Dynazty

30. Don't let me down - Christer & Lotta
Well, you did let me down. I was hoping that this might be a charming little old-people number, along the lines of 'C'est la vie' from 2004. It's not, it's just horrible.

31. Allting blir bra igen - OPA!
Pointless. Why bother, really. I'm all for diversity in Melodifestivalen, but not when it comes up with songs as poor as this.

32. I want to be Chris Isaak (This is just the beginning) - The Moniker
HAAAA-HAAAA!

And to get the taste of The Moniker out of my mouth, here's my favourite, 'På väg' by Abalone Dots.