#Mariya Yaremchuk

[gwydionmisha]

Zlata Dziunka and Mariya Yaremchuk - Shchedryk (Carol of the Bells)

[llittletingoddess]

I'm ukrainian, but who are these people?

[alcestas-sloboda]

When I first listened to the interval act in the second semifinal, I didn't give it enough thought, even as a Ukrainian. Well, even at first glance, you can see a representation of Ukrainian musical talents - Mariya Yaremchuk singing her dad's song about family, a modern rendition of Taras Shevchenko's poem, Shedryk. But today, I've seen it over and over again on TikTok, and I realized the sheer symbolism of this act.

Nazariy Yaremchuk is one of the brightest musical talents Ukraine has ever produced. His songs are almost folklore here, but he is not the only singer you can see during the act. On the screen, there are different portraits of Ukrainian cultural figures - everyone from Lesya Ukrainka to Volodymyr Ivasyuk. The fate of the latter is for you to find on the internet, but like most of the Ukrainian cultural elite, he was killed for being too Ukrainian for the Soviet liking.

After the first song, the melody follows - Skoryk's Melody in A minor. It is frequently described as a spiritual hymn of Ukraine and has been used in commemorations of the Holodomor. That is why you can see so many wheat spikes, symbolizing the tragedy, and the Revolution of Dignity.

Then you have OTOY's rendition of Shevchenko's "Cherry Garden Near the House," and my god, it is amazing not only from an artistic perspective but also from the perspective of historical justice. For me, as well as for most Ukrainians, this is a poem we know by heart since we are in first grade in school. It's not as powerful as Shevchenko's "Testament" or "Caucasus," but it is a simple retelling of a family doing their work and living a peaceful life in their home with the song of a nightingale always present.

But now, in 2023, it is being sung to millions and millions of people worldwide, after Ukrainian language was forbidden countless times, after the Ukrainian elite was killed for even daring to dream about a free Ukraine, after so much being thrown at Ukrainians just to destroy them but no, we are here. I really hope Shevchenko sees us right now and is smiling because we are his kids, we truly are. We are breaking those heavy chains, and we remember you, father, albeit not in a very soft-spoken way, but with beats and drums. I know you would have liked that. You loved partying back in the day.

And of course, Shedryk, another statement of just how much Ukraine has given to the world. Yulia explained it perfectly herself, so I won't repeat it here again. But it was, is, and always will be better in the original Ukrainian language.

After all these years of fighting on every front, Ukraine lives. Its language and its culture live and make people happy. And as for Eurovision being a great representation of this? Just as Ivasyuk sang, "The song will be among us."

Слава Україні! Слава всім її захисникам і всім її героям! Шана моєму незламному народу!

[lexa-el-amin]

Okay couple things.. who is that woman with the dude in the hamster wheel because i gotta listen to that right now?

Why does everyone hate ballads so much? I mean i guess i get it but i'm such a sucker for a good one i can't help itt

Why does nobody like Poland this year? (was it a ballad?)

Do Austria, Norway, Australia, Estonia and the Netherlands have good songs this year?

How's Germany?

it's Mariya Yaremchuk, who represented Ukraine in 2014, here is the song:

the staging was so iconic that the hamster wheel was referenced in the iconic interval song "Love Love Peace Peace" which describes Eurovision perfectly and is the most iconic thing to happen on television in this century:

it's not that everyone hates ballads, it's just that ballads are very jury friendly first and foremost and having 26 ballads in a row just makes a very boring show! (see last year. mostly very wonderful songs but it just drags at some point)

nobody likes Poland this year because the singer won unfairly. the jury in the national final was quite corrupt and favored her because of personal connections. the broadcaster is pro government and favored her as well and the polish people didn't vote for her, it was quite the scandal in the country.

Austria, Norway, Australia and Estonia (great ballad by the way!) all have very wonderful songs this year in my opinion! I linked the songs for you. I didn't really like the netherlands but they made a remix that clicked way more with me, you can find it here. also norway's song is about the singer's struggle with her own bisexuality, so that's a big bonus for me and the girlies from austria and the band from Australia are huge Eurovision nerds, which makes them even cooler too.

and Germany, well. i find the song quite repetitive and a bit boring for a metal/ rock song, but the response has been quite good, so I think we'll make at least 1 point this year :)

[dilfmingjue]

@eurovisionhatesme and i agreed that we would lay down our lives for Mariya Yaremchuk

[aijamisespava]

First Released Songs

While we wait for the highly anticipated first song release for the new Eurovision season, I want to do a look at the first released songs of Eurovision Seasons! I will be looking at the years 2010-2024 (despite having ranked down to 2008, I have not been able to find which of the songs for those years were released first without extensive research that would be hard to do timewise. I used ESCSamuel's video as a source for this post and you can watch the video here. How each song did is from the Wikipedia pages for their respective years).

2010: Albania was the first to release their song for the 2010 season with "Nuk Mundem Pa Ty" by Juliana Pasha on December 27, 2009. However, this song would later be revamped and translated; a common trend for Albanian entries. This new version of the song, now titled "It's All About You" would finish 16th in the Grand Final that year in Oslo after qualifying in Semi Final 1 by finishing 6th.

2011: Switzerland was the first to release their entry for 2011 with "In Love For A While" by Anna Rossinelli on December 11, 2010. The song would finish 25th in the Grand Final after advancing out of Semi Final 1 by finishing 10th.

2012: Almost a year to the day later, Switzerland would again release the first entry for the 2012 season with "Unbreakable" by Sinplus on December 11, 2011. However, the song would finish 11th in Semi Final 1, missing out on qualifying by 7 points.

2013: 2013 is a strange case. Technically, Belarus would have released the first song with "Rhythm Of My Love" by Alyona Lanskaya on December 7th, 2012. However, unlike the famed revamp we got to know and love, Lanskaya chose to completely change the song, giving us "Solayoh" (16th in Grand Final, 7th in Semi) instead on March 6, 2012. So, the first "official" song goes to Switzerland. Takasa released "You And Me" on December 15, 2012 and the song would go on to finish 13th in Semi Final 2, failing to qualify for the grand final.

2014: Ukraine would break Switzerland's early streak with "Tick-Tock" by Mariya Yaremchuk by releasing it first on December 21, 2013. The song would then undergo a revamp with new lyrics, but the song staying mostly the same otherwise. The song would finish 6th in the Grand Final after finishing 5th in Semi-Final 1.

2015: North Macedonia would become the first to release their song for the 2015 contest on November 12, 2014 with the song "Esenki Lika" by Daniel Kajmakoski. The song would undergo a translation from Macedonian to English for the contest. The English version, titled "Autumn Leaves" would finish 15th in the first Semi-Final, failing to qualify for the Grand Final.

2016: Albania would return to being the first entry released when on December 27, 2015, Eneda Tarifa won the national final with "Përrallë." The song would then go through a translation to English, becoming "Fairytale." The song would end up finishing 16th in the second Semi Final, failing to qualify for the Grand Final.

2017: Albania would continue being the first song released for the second year in a row on December 23, 2016 with "Botë" by Lindita. The song was translated to become "World" and that version (in English) was performed at the contest. The song would finish 14th in the First Semi Final, failing to qualify for the Grand Final.

2018: Exactly one year later, Albania would release the first song for the 2018 contest with Eugent Bushpepa's song "Mall." The song would NOT undergo a translation. The song would finish 11th in the Grand Final after finishing 8th in Semi Final 1.

2019: For the fourth year in a row, Albania would keep up their streak on December 22, 2018 with Jonida Maliqi's "Ktheju Tokës." The song would then go on to finish 17th in the Grand Final after finishing 9th in the second Semi Final.

2020: Despite the 2020 contest being canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the songs were still released, so I will continue to honro them. Arilena Ara and "Fall From The Sky" would be released exactly one year after their 2019 entry was released. There is a strange case with this song, though. The song was originally written in English, then translated to Albanian for the national final, and then translated back to English for the contest.

2021: Albania would send their 2021 entry on December 23, 2020 with "Karma" by Anxhela Peristeri. The song would go on to finish 21st in the Grand Final after finishing 10th in the second Semi Final.

2022: Bulgaria would break Albania's 6 year streak of being the first song released on December 5, 2021 with the song "Intention" by Intelligent Music Project. The song would go on to finish 16th in the first Semi Final, failing to qualify for the Grand Final.

2023: After winning Eurovision in 2022, Ukraine was the first to have their song chosen with Tvorchi's "Heart Of Steel" on December 17, 2022. The song would undergo a revamp before the contest, which would bring the reigning winners a 6th place finish in the Grand Final.

2024: On November 8, 2023, France would surprise us with the announcement of Slimane being their representative with the song "Mon Amour" being released hours later. It was a moment you certainly had to be there for. The earliest first song released (so far) would go on to finish 4th in the Grand Final back in May.

[georgehandmusic]

George Hand covers Tick Tock by Mariya Yaremchuk

[escinsight]

Your Spotter's Guide To The Second Semi Final Of Eurovision 2023

A journey through Ukraine’s musical heritage  Did you know that the festive standard Carol of the Bells was based on the traditional Ukrainian song Shchedryk? You will after tonight’s interval act, which celebrates Ukraine’s historic contribution to both classical and contemporary music, featuring the country’s 2014 representative Mariya Yaremchuk, Ukraine’s 2022 JESC entrant Zlata Dziunka and…

[leontiucmarius]

Rita Ora și Rebecca Ferguson vor performa în pauzele din semifinalele de la Eurovision 2023

Una dintre gazdele din acest an, Julia Sanina va deschide prima semifinală cântând alături de trupa ei The Hardkiss. Alți artiști ucraineni care vor cânta sunt Mariya Yaremchuk, OTOY și Zlata Dzyunka. Marea Britanie găzduiește concursul de cântece în numele Ucrainei. Rita Ora va interpreta unele dintre cele mai mari hituri ale ei la semifinalele Eurovision de luna viitoare, anunță BBC. Rebecca…

[gaymer-hag-stan]

Why do y'all keep saying this?

Have you paid any attention to the BBC's or Liverpool's handling of the hosting duties on behalf of Ukraine?

I don't want this to come of as aggressive or anything I'm just genuinely curious if any of the people saying this have been keeping up with the preparations in Liverpool or have just tuned in and are being negative "just in case"

Kalush Orchestra, Go_A, Tina Karol, Ruslana, Verka Serduchka, Mariya Yaremchuk will all perform on the show, one of the hosts (I'm so sorry I keep forgetting her name) is actually Ukrainian and is also in a band that will perform. The Ukrainian flag's colours are all over the logo and branding of this year's visuals. The jingle is distinctly Ukrainian. Various exhibits of Ukrainian culture have been set all over Liverpool (this I can't personally confirm because I'm not at Liverpool, but I've seen photos and people who are there atm talking about this) and the BBC have been in contact with the Ukrainian broadcaster a lot in order to do right by them.

Kalush Orchestra's Tymofii was on the official Eurovision podcast today and he said that, although it's regrettable that the Ukrainians weren't able to host themselves, the BBC and Liverpool have done a great job incorporating and showcasing Ukrainian culture.

And I don't want to kiss BBC ass or anything, I couldn't care less about them outside Eurovision, but I feel like they have genuinely done a great job and maybe people shouldn't just jump to conclusions?

And I don't necessarily want to direct any of this at you specifically, I don't know you and I don't have anything against you, I just have seen several posts similar to yours and, like I said, I get the vibe that maybe it's from people who haven't actually paid attention to the hosting preparations until now and are only jumping at conclusions without actually looking up anything or being informed on the subject

if the UK makes this eurovision about themselves instead of Ukraine (you know, the country who actually won) I'll fucking bite someone

[movie--posters]

[borisbubbles]

Eurovision 2010s: 105 - 101

105. Mariya Yaremchuk - “Tick tock” Ukraine 2014

Conform with the “GODDESSES ONLY” clause of their Eurovision contract, Ukraine once again have blessed us with an amazing opener (Seriously. First Melovin, then Eduard, now this? WE WERE ROBBED OF MARUV OPENING THE FINALE). 

"Tick tock” is a bit too elementary to put into my top 100, HOWEVER that is also why it’s such an easy song to get into. High (production-)quality Ukranian trashpop 😍 Which won Vidbir as an unintentional incest anthem 😍 (if you don’t know, the original version opened with “We belonged to each other, like a sister to a brother” Cersei Lannister is quaking.) 

Naturally, the main reason why Mariya ranks this high is, of course, the staging. THE HAMSTER WHEEL IS LEGENDARY:

Mariya casually flinging herself on top of that giant spinning contraption and torturing her poor hot dancer. 😍 I’d say the staging makes no sense, but then I realized Ukraine probably went with this act because it’s DIRT CHEAP <3 (which is funny as long as you don’t think about why they went with a lowbudget act 😭). It’s just so... honorarily Moldovan? 😍 Ukraine and Moldova using each other as horcruxes <3 Name a more epic ESC alliance, I will wait. Until then,

________________________________________________________________

104. Sanja Vucic - “Goodbye (Shelter)” Serbia 2016

... let us celebrate this glorious cross-over between “Molitva”, “Running” and “l’Amore è femmina”. 😍 “Shelter” takes the best aspects from these three entries and combines them into a increasedly shouty mess. As you can imagine, I LOVE this witches’ cabal of hackneyed hand choreos, shredded leather and facial gymnastics. Most ESC performers would keep their miming to the precise amount of what they need, but Sanja is (and has always been) so UNPLUGGED with her irate facial expressions. A reel:

Which, in a song with such a HEAVY topic as spousal abuse is actually quite appropriate. You show those awful shit husbands, girl!!! 

And you’d think that would be *IT*, but nope you’re wrong because :TEEHEE: I also think “Shelter” is a great song even without the messy misandry. The song is catchy, moody and highly relistenable. It’s one of the better mid-tier bops of this ranking. No wonder it got televotes from all over Euro-

oh. (🤣)

CONGRATZ BOJANA ON BEING THE HIGHEST RANKED SERBIAN ENTRY.

________________________________________________________________

103. Alyona Lanskaya - “Solayoh” Belarus 2013

HI 🙂 MY NAME IS ALYONA LANSKAYA 🙂 I AM FROM BELARUS 🙂 MY SONG SOLAYOH.  🙂

2013 is mostly remembered as the year of ‘splicing unnecessary dubstep into your song’, but there is another recurring trend which was even better. The ‘female performer enters the stage with STYLE’ and as far as stylistic entrances go, Alyona’s is one of the best. This emissary  from the planet Solayoh emerged immediately from her discoball-shaped Escape pod upon landing to tell us all the love and joys of her homeworld 😍

What follows is a lametastic banality anthem, riddled with ESL sentences (”We can make it into hot night” 😍.) and of course, a few iconic hand choreographies:

Topping off the hilarity is the idea of a well-off socialite such as Alyona Lanskaya singing about how “she had work hard all day :lip pout:” while wiggling her dress’s cerulean bossom fringes. 😍😂 Bribing juror being such hard work. <3 We stan lazy queens. 😍

________________________________________________________________

102. Sofi Marinova - “Love unlimited” Bulgaria 2012

DO REN DEM DEM DEI 

Speaking of lazy queens, remember when Bulgaria send an act that consisted entirely of a haggard ponytailed garuda wiggling her diddeys around like-a-so: 

I’m only a recent convert to the Church of Marinova, only seeing the light during my last rewatch and I mean, how could I not fall in love eventually? “Love unlimited” is such a lowbudget afair, a basic dance track whose sole gimmick is saying “I love you” in like 46 different languages. 😍 

As such, "Love unlimited” totally shouldn’t work... and yet it absolutely does? It’s a similar deal to Jurij, except the person taking the stage here is a lovably dimwitted middle-aged hagress who is completely oblivious to the fact that she has no chance to qualify and is giving still giving it her damn’ all, in doing so ALMOST reaching the final from a lost position. WHAT A TROOPER. I LOVE *YOU* SO MUCH, Sofi-Trophy. 😍

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101. Conan Osiris - “Telemóveis” Portugal 2019

A lot of people blame several artistic decisions behinds Conan’s NQ, but I’ve had my doubts even before the rehearsals began: this is what I wrote a full month before the semi: 

Conan’s main problems rise from the fact that he tries to be artistic and humorous at the same time, and the two cancel each other out somewhat.

(...) There’s a very high chance “Telemóveis” highbrow message will  fly over the heads of the audience and there’s an equally high chance it will backfire on Conan when it does. 

Portugal faces severe competition from the other acts. They compete with Slovenia for the “This Is High Quality” value-seeking vote, with Iceland and Australia for the novely vote and with Czech Republic and Greece for the “yeah this is actually really fucking clever” highbrow vote. He even competes with Serhat somehwat, both being OTT acts that are on later in the semi. 

It could very well mean death by a thousand cuts for Portugal.

SURPRISE, I actually got it right for once!! 

Of course, “Telemóveis” was less good in Tel Aviv than it was during FdC (people incorrecly blame the dress. I personally thought it was a combination of nerves, João spraining his knee and technical difficulties, much more than the dress). 

Anyway, even if he wasn’t as good in Tel Aviv, a lesser “Telemóveis” is still pretty damn great so idk why everyone was is tripping? The song was still a disarmingly weird acid trip of fado funk, snappy vocals and a bonkers choreography that left the average viewer utterly GOBSMACKED. 😍 It’s one of those entries where, when looking back in a few years, everyone will say was way AHEAD of the curve and that’s never a bad demograph to be a part of. 

CONGRATZ SUZY ON WINNING PORTUGAL!!! But moreover,

CONGRATULATIONS TOP 100!!!! K time for a little recap of who is still in this ranking:

Albania: 2 (Juliana, Eugent) Armenia: 2 (Aram, Iveta) Australia: 1 (KMH) Austria: 2 (Conchita, Zoë) Azerbaijan: 2 (Farid, DiHaj) Belarus: 3 (Litesound, IVAN, NAVIBAND) Belgium: 4 (Tom Dice, Loic, Laura Tesoro, Blanche) Bosnia & Herzegovina: 1 (Dino Merlin) Bulgaria: 3 (Elitsa & Stoyan, both Poli’s) Croatia: 0 Cyprus: 2 (Minus One, Eleni) Czech Republic: 1 (Lake Malawi) Denmark: 1 (Rasmussen) Estonia: 5 (Malcolm Lincoln, Ott, Birgit, Stigelina, Elina Netchayeva) Finland: 4 (Kuukuiskaajat, Krista, Softengine, Norma John) France: 3 (Jessy, Madame Monsieur, Amir) Georgia: 4 (Sopho N., Shin&Mariko, Nina S., Nika) Germany: 2 (Lena 2.0, Michael) Greece: 2 (Giorgos, Koza Mostra) Hungary: 4 (Kati, Andras, Joci 1.0, AWS) Iceland: 3 (Hera, Greta 2.0, Hatari) Ireland: 1 (Molly) Israel: 3 (Nadav, Hovi, Imri) Italy: 4 (Emma, Francesca, Francesco, Mahmood) Latvia: 3 (Aarzemnieki, Aminata, Justs) Lithuania: 2 (Fusedmarc, Ieva) Macedonia: 1 (Jana) Malta 2: (Gianluca, Michela) Moldova: 4 (Pasha, Aliona, Sunstroke 2.0, DoReDoS) Montenegro: 1 (Who See & Nina Z.) the Netherlands: 4 (Joan, Anouk, Common Linnets, Duncan) Norway: 2 (JOWST, KEiiNO) Poland: 1 (Cleo) Portugal: 1 (Suzy) Romania: 1 (Paula & Ovi 1.0) Russia: 1 (Polina) San Marino: 1 (Crisalide) Serbia: 1 (Bojana) Slovakia: 0 Slovenia: 5 (Maja, Tinkara, Maraaya, Lea, ZalaGasper) Spain: 2 (Ruth, Miki) Sweden: 2 (Loreen, Måns) Switzerland: 3 (Sebalter, ZiBBZ, Luca) Turkey: 1 (maNga) Ukraine: 2 (Zlata, Jamala) United Kingdom: 1 (Lucie)

LINK TO THE FULL LIST SO FAR (IMGUR)

[artemismatchalatte]

My Eurovision Top 5 for Ukraine 2010-2019

5. Jamala- 1944 (2016)

4. O. Torvald- Time (2017) 

3. MELOVIN- Under the Ladder (2018)

2. Mariya Yaremchuk- Tick Tock (2014) 

1. Zlata Ognevich- Gravity (2013) 

[eurovisiondoppelganger]

Mariya Yaremchuk, "Tick Tock", Ukraine 2014

[escfidgetspinnerconfessions]

[midnight-chillin]

Favorite artists of Eurovision 2014

Mariya Yaremchuk - Tick-Tock

Sanna Nielsen - Undo

Tinkara Kovac - Round & Round

Ruth Lorenzo - Dancing in the Rain

Elaiza - Is It Right

Molly - Children of the Universe