Eurovision 2015 Thread

[misspoptart]

I'm actually really into Australia's song! I think it's the perfect Eurovision thing. I guess the UK will host if Australia wins, so that's good news for them probably! Hahaha.

[Trollheart]

How the **** are Australia even in it? Last time I checked, they weren't part of Europe. What's next? America? Africa???

[Lilja]

Australia was invited to participate as Eurovisoin is big there I guess. So pretty much anyone could even participate I guess.

[Trollheart]

Which makes the competition even less relevant and a further laughing stock. Jesus! You might as well invite New Zealand or Singapore to the European Championships! I never had much respect for Eurovision but any I had is gone now. All about making money of course.

[Dylstew]

I remember when I watched this once, I hated it.
What's the point of this post? Nothing.

[Pet_Sounds]

Just wanted to drop in and say that I'm following this thread and enjoying it very much, Miss P. The UK's entry is probably my favourite. Is it still in the running? (Being Canadian, I have no idea how Eurovision works....)

[misspoptart]

Originally Posted by Trollheart

Which makes the competition even less relevant and a further laughing stock. Jesus! You might as well invite New Zealand or Singapore to the European Championships! I never had much respect for Eurovision but any I had is gone now. All about making money of course.

Actually, the reality is Eurovision doesn't make that much money at all, and a lot of the smaller European countries are in financial trouble *cough Greece cough Portugal* and can't contribute $$ to make the show happen. That is why the "big 5" system is in place (Italy, UK, France, Germany, Spain) so that these countries are financial sponsors of the competition and also huge donors for the funding to put it on every year. All the countries are responsible for their own finances so if they don't have the cash (Slovakia, Luxembourg, Bulgaria, etc), they don't come.

I'm just speculating here but I think since 5-6 countries dropped out of the contest this year and Australia has ALWAYS wanted to participate (they are really huge fans over there, most probably the biggest following outside of Europe...they even watch it at like 5am Aussie time and get drunk doing it), the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) cut them a deal and was like, you contribute some money and we'll let you in.

It's also Eurovision's 60th anniversary so I'm sure they wanted to do something special. Usually they have an Australian artist play during the intermission but this year they took it a step further. I'm excited about it!

And it's a one-off thing I think. In case they win... (they won't) they're invited again next year.

You can read more about it here.

[misspoptart]

Sorry, these songs don't really have anything in common, but they are all from countries that start with A, so there's that.

Now the song from Armenia is very interesting indeed. It's far and away the most interesting piece in my opinion, with six vocalists and a meandering melody that isn't really catchy but has a nice quality to it. The story behind this is that the six singers are from six continents, all part of the Armenian diaspora. I love the overly dramatic thing and the tone of the song and how much it changes throughout.



The song was originally called "Don't Deny" but I think they got rid of it because it was too overly political. The video is clearly making a statement about how the families are getting smaller and the diaspora is getting further and further from its roots. It's a nice concept and this song will definitely be a crowd favorite judging by its early popularity.

Meanwhile, Azerbaijan is really starting to grow on me. After a few listens I started to get a bit addicted to his voice. This is by no means a winning song, but with Azerbaijan famous for cheating and bribery in Eurovision, I would not be surprised to see it in the final. Plus, the guy's a looker. Kind of. A little bit if a pointy chin, but who's judging.



I just really like the production on this. Not a huge fan of the chorus and I despise the key change, but the verses are nice.

Albania... oh Albania! I don't really understand it or why it is happening but I think Albania is kind of favored to win. It has a staggering 1.5 million views on youtube already (that's a feat for a Eurovision song before Eurovision has even happened) and people are really raving about it. I think the song is boring and uninspired myself, but I can't deny that she has a nice voice. However, with no live version to be seen, who knows what to expect the day of the show. Still, she'll undoubtedly make it to the finals on May 23rd.



It has its sweetness, but I really dislike the hype around it. Elhaida is really talented...it seems. Time will tell!

[Lilja]

I still think Eurovision is a one of the few competitions where countries compete not to win because no one can afford it. Countries vote for friend countries even if those friend countries have horrible entries (for example Norway will always get Sweden's 12 pts) and once in a while there are entries that may be horrible but everyone votes for because it is "politically correct". If your country has a great song but you are not politically correct to vote for at that time, you will never win. The songs rarely have anything to do with their country's culture and rarely sung in that country's language (except for England..you get it right every time . For a laugh England should send a song sung in another language besides English : ). You hardly ever hear any of the songs again after the competition and it all starts again the year after. You cannot take it seriously these days but it is fun to watch and fun to root for your country and it is even better after a beer or two. That is Eurovision.

An update on Sweden, Måns z has to redo the entire staging of the show since the little stick figure was copied (or rather inspired heavily) by another stick figure. Oh the horror! Of course the song is also heavily Dave Guetta inspired but shhh....

The Father Ted episode where Ireland sends the entry "My lovely horse" so that they would not win still sums up Eurovision I think.

[Cuthbert]

Originally Posted by Trollheart

How the **** are Australia even in it? Last time I checked, they weren't part of Europe. What's next? America? Africa???

Israel are in it as well. Turkey been in it before too.

Doesn't bother me that much. It's daft calling it Eurovision when non European nations can enter, but I can think of other competitions that do similar.