#Työlki Ellää

[returquoise]

Kuunkuiskaajat, who represented Finland in Eurovision Song Contest 2010 with the song Työlki ellää, have made a boomer version of Cha Cha Cha. This country has gone crazy 😂

[bestsnubbedeurovisionsong]

Propaganda under the cut

Fulenn:

It’s such a good and cool and fun song ?? Like, the genre is Celtic electronica which already just sounds super cool as a name, but it’s also just cool. The vibes were immaculate, they were serving that satanic ritual vibe that I know I’m not the only one to like. Also, the song is in Breton which is cool, like, yes, that’s also a part of the country !! The lyrics are about a legend from Brittany !

For the first time in years France brings a song that isn't a ballad and that isn't in French, but in the regional language Breton which is wildly underrated. The song, the act, the vibes, all of it was top five worthy! I will forever be bitter

Forest witch ritual music. Nothing more needed

Työlki Ellää:

Tell you what, if Finland had sent this kind of song this decade they'd probably do well now with the audience's heavy respect of both songs not in English and folk music. I mean, this is extremely Finnish, and I'm probably missing just how Finnish this is just like all the Finnish in jokes of Cha Cha Cha that probably passed me by. Not that stops me from enjoying the shit out of this song, which sounds like it could be a classic entry from the 80s, all the performers look like they're having a great time and I love how Finnish sounds in this song there's some very pleasing rhyming going on in there even if I can't understand what they're saying without the aid of translation (Take that anyone who says Finnish is not a lovely language). Besides, this is a great song to dance to, can't go wrong with a good folk track that wants to get you up and moving.

[kivikunnas]

Finland Eurovision 2010 Työlki ellää by Kuunkuiskaajat official video

[six-paths-of-jeanmarco]

Eurovision 2009 vs 2010

Albania: Carry Me in Your Dreams vs It's All About You Andorra: La teva decisió (Get a Life) Armenia: Jan Jan vs Apricot Stone Azerbaijan: Always vs Drip Drop Belarus: Eyes That Never Lie vs Butterflies Belgium: Copycat vs Me and My Guitar Bosnia and Herzegovina: Bistra voda vs Thunder and Lightning Bulgaria: Illusion vs Angel si ti Croatia: Lijepa Tena vs Lako je sve Cyprus: Firefly vs Life Looks Better in Spring Czechia: Aven Romale Denmark: Believe Again vs In a Moment like This Estonia: Rändajad vs Siren Finland: Lose Control vs Työlki ellää France: Et s'il fallait le faire vs Allez Ola Olé Georgia: We Don't Wanna Put In vs Shine (I'm still mad EBU forced them to withdraw in 2009) Germany: Miss Kiss Kiss Bang vs Satellite Greece: This Is Our Night vs Opa Hungary: Dance with Me Iceland: Is It True? vs Je ne sais quoi Ireland: Et Cetera vs It's for You Israel: There Must Be Another Way vs Milim Latvia: Probka vs What For? Lithuania: Love vs Eastern European Funk Malta: What If We vs My Dream Moldova: Hora din Moldova vs Run Away Montenegro: Just Get Out of My Life Netherlands: Shine vs Ik ben verliefd (Sha-la-lie) North Macedonia: Nešto što kje ostane vs Jas ja imam silata Norway: Fairytale vs My Heart Is Yours Poland: I Don't Wanna Leave vs Legenda Portugal: Todas as ruas do amor vs Há dias assim Romania: The Balkan Girls vs Playing with Fire Russia: Mamo vs Lost and Forgotten Serbia: Cipela vs Ovo je Balkan Slovakia: Let tmou vs Horehronie Slovenia: Love Symphony vs Narodnozabavni rock Spain: La noche es para mi vs Algo pequeñito Sweden: La Voix vs This Is My Life Switzerland: The Highest Heights vs Il pleut de l'or Türkiye: Düm Tek Tek vs We Could Be the Same Ukraine: Be My Valentine! (Anti-Crisis Girl) vs Sweet People United Kingdom: It's My Time vs That Sounds Good to Me

2009: 22 vs 2010: 17

[demi-eurovision]

Can only recommend my previous fave Eurovision entries!

does anyone have any playlists of other finnish artists like käärijä ? I wanna listen to more

[borisbubbles]

Eurovision 2010s: 50 - 46

50. Poli Genova - “Na inat” Bulgaria 2011

Oh I know, the strength will be within me So that I may reach my destinatiooooooon

So starts one of the most underated empowerment anthems in Eurovision. Honestly, Poli Genova brooks no introduction. The woman is an international treasure and one of Eurovision’s most recognisable dispensers of AGGRO LES ENERGY. 😍 Which is of course the main draw to “Na inat”. It is basically “Proud” but disguised as SCREAMY FEMALE-FRONTED ROCK <3 By a woman who styles herself as this:

And it’s loads of fun. 😍 That one shot of the drummer faking out the camera <3

True, “Na inat” isn’t as good as Poli’s return effort or her jesc hosting stint, but still, it contains all of Poli’s natural kick-ass sass in a smaller packages I could hope for. Merely seeing this motormouthed pixie go for it is a delight. 😍

We’ll see more her, much, much later. 

________________________________________________________________

49. Aarzemnieki - “Cake to bake” Latvia 2014

Ever since they beat Dons in Dziesma, Aarzemnieki have been called “UNBEARABLY ANNOYING”, “A DISGRACE TO MUSIC” and “DISRESPECTFUL FOR NOT TAKING THE CONTEST SERIOUSLY” by people who themselves have been called “severely misguided”, “malicious troglodytes” and “not my friends” ^__^

Surveys have indeed shown that cake makes life better about 107.2% of the time, so don’t feel angry towards the Aarzemnieki hater: they simply aren’t living life at the best. Therefore, Aarzemnieki love equals self love. Can’t argue with science, yo~ It is, as Raitis would interject,

A PIECE OF CAKE 

and I mean, other than just generally curing my depression and being a generous display of Raitisms and serving some really witty pop culture references and doubling as my go-to humming melody whenever I bake a cake (at least once a month since Eurovision 2014 <3), “Cake to bake” is such a dignified end to Old Incompetent Latvia, entering Eurovision being almost universally dismissed for its frivolity and leaving it being mourned by a sizeable chunk of the fanbase. 😍 So,

MIX SOME DOUGH, 

ADD SOME LOVE, 

LET IT BAKE, 

HAVE SOME CAKE 

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48. Kuunkuiskaajat - “Työlki ellää” Finland 2010

Did you know “Työlki Ellää” translates to: “Working is a way of making a living, too”. 😍 I’m not even sure how the linguistics function here, but FINNISH 😍

As a Finnophonic accordeon-heavy happiness anthem, “Työlki ellää” of course immediately blasted my soul with so much positive ki I now have to punctuate all of my sentences with heart emojis 😍 IT IS SO INFECTUOUSLY HAPPY, without actually being legit annoying, which is highly impressive feat, because, let’s be honest, people who are ‘Cheerful All The Time’ are usually either the most irritating humans to be around, or compulsive lying instawhores. 😍 

Of course, like many other robbed angels in this update, “Työlki ellää” was too merry for that part of the votebase who wish to deny your joy and happiness, which promptly punted Kuunkuiskaajat back to The Shire, but not before they stole the hearts of the eurovision fans that have hearts. 💗

________________________________________________________________

47. DoRoDoS - “My lucky day” Moldova 2018

[2018 Review here]

BANALITY ANTHEMS. 😍 DoReDoS are probably the single greatest example of the Moldovan Staging Wonder, taking a painfully antiquated nondescript schlager-folk drone and turning it into a Legitimately Funny farmer’s comedy <3

Take a tumble in a world of:

HILARIOUSLY EXAGGERATED FACIAL EXPRESSIONS

HOT DOPPLEGÄNGERS

SITUATIONAL COMEDY

LIVE GROPING

What a rags-to-riches story. 😍 Made even better by the fact that DoReDoS are in fact commited SovBots, and therefore are forced to mime humour, which they do very awkwardly 😍 enhancing the comedy even more. 😍

Is DoReDoS’s score inflated by the fact that they’re the only good OTT joke act (yes, i know “Toy” exists, but I’m also older than twelve) in a very humourless year of Eurovision? Hell yeah, absolutely. Is this a bad thing? Fuck no. Every year needs a moment of levity, a moment where you can just sit back and enjoy seeing the madness unravel before your eyes, without racking your brain at the underlying meaningitis. “My lucky day” is blissfully simple and efficient. It is one of the funniest Eurovision entries of all time and if you can’t appreciate it, well, your loss. 😊

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46. Sebalter - “Hunter of stars” Switzerland 2014

I’ll open by noting that Sebastiano is a lawyer. THIS MAN DEFENDS PEOPLE IN COURT:

As you might expect, I fell in love with this magnificently neurotic stonergod the instant he drunked his way towards winning the Swiss NF. 😍 Of course what I expected of Sebalter was that disarming neurosis wrapped in an NQ bow, but he gave us so so so much more. 

First of all, “Hunter of stars” is the rare bluegrass bop and like many in the elite tier, unabashedly cheerful, infinitely replayable and utterly impossible to sit through without singing or dancing to it’s whimsical whistling tones.

Second of all do my ears deceive me or is this song about JOB INTERVIEWS??? 😍 Well, it’s about applying for a job and the worries about not being good enough, which is both so Sebastiano AND so fucking relatable. Heavens knows how many time I wanted to storm in an row like a lion, but got rejected because of me and my imperfections.

Thirdly, Sebastiano actually overcame his nerves, so this high ranking is less of an “aw bless”, and more of a “wow you really did this 😭”. He performed with fiery confidence and wonderful esl diction (”row like a lion”, “i’m suet, i’m dirty”) and absolutely deserves to be put amongst the select group of singers who OUTSOLD their song.

(and yes he lost his voice in the funale, but that’s why I rate by best performance only :teehee: 🤭)

Fourthly, after spending months in palpable anxiety, worried for Sebalter and Tinkara, they were the first two names announced amongst the qualifiers and it was the best birthday gift ever. 😍 I promptly jumped from my counch, poured myself two glasses of red, immediately downed them, passed out and woke up cured from depression. What a wonderful time to be alive. 

[eurovisiondoppelganger]

Kuunkuiskaajat, " Työlki ellää", Finland 2010

[emmadeforests]

Kat’s Eurovision Discourse S7 E5: That Sounds Good To Me

31 – Josh Dubovie, That Sounds Good To Me (United Kingdom) I mean, the staging wasn’t BAD. The song isn’t BAD. It just…wasn’t good, either. The song was pretty plain as far as songs go, and of course the backup singers and Josh’s apparent nervousness didn’t really help matters.

30 – Kuunkuiskaajat, Työlki Ellää (Finland) This is such a sweet-looking song. Both women seem like they’re having so much fun. But this kind of music isn’t to my taste, and the staging was all over the place, and their voices grated on me a bit.

[misdre]

mayblade day 14: some bey characters as eurovision songs that i like*

*finding songs whose lyrics are accurate for every character is too bothersome for me so this is more like vibes/aesthetics that i picked arbitrarily. languages also completely irrelevant to canon

(i made a spotify playlist. links are to youtube. if i didn't fuck up any copypaste that is)

takao: say yay! (spain 2016)

kai: dark side (finland 2021) i'm sorry this was too funny not to do for emo kai aes

rei: hunter of stars (switzerland 2014)

max: rockefeller street (estonia 2011)

kyouju: new tomorrow (denmark 2011)

hiromi: supergirl (greece 2020)

daichi: woki mit deim popo (austria 2012) don't ask about this one it just works ok

mao: replay (cyprus 2019)

michael: in my dreams (norway 2005)

ralf: the wrong place (belgium 2021)

olivier: työlki ellää (finland 2010) ok i feel a need to say about this that the chorus says "i guess you can live off work but it's business that makes you rich". i almost picked some dramatic ballad for olivier but then was like. you know what

giancarlo: cliche love song (denmark 2014)

johnny: alter ego (cyprus 2016)

yuriy: hatrið mun sigra (iceland 2019)

boris: alcohol is free (greece 2013)

ivan: lost and forgotten (russia 2010) this is just for the name + russia bc i laugh

mariam: black smoke (germany 2015)

salima: skeletons (azerbaijan 2017)

mathilda: horehronie (slovakia 2010)

julia: lipstick (ireland 2011)

raúl: tomorrow (malta 2013)

rick: madness of love (italy 2011) this is just my jazz guy rick hc but. anyway

ming-ming: aphrodisiac (greece 2012)

mystel: jan-jan (azerbaijan 2009)

brooklyn: birds (netherlands 2013)

add your own of characters not included or whatever if you want!!

+ bonus for the two ships because this list would get miles long if i started picking songs for everything (i mean i COULD but i feel like there's a limit to how many eurovisions tumblr can tolerate):

kai/takao: fai rumore (italy 2020) rei/max: yes (denmark 2020)

[ilkitie]

Top 10 Finnish Eurovision entries let’s goooooooooo

 Literally me when I read this: "top 10 Suomi eurHAAaaaH--hhhh*wheeeeeze* ok let's do this.”

The wheezing is only because we always do so badly in Eurovision I mean let’s be real.

Ok so these are completely MY OWN feels and opinions about these songs. Don't come at me with torches if you disagree! Live and let live! <3 

Blind channel - Dark side (<3)

Lordi - Hard rock Hallelujah (I MEAN. Our only win.)

Norma John - Black bird (I for real liked this one, for real for real for reaaaal.) 

Teräsbetoni - Missä miehet ratsastaa (I do love Jarkko Ahola and his shirtless metal men pur <3)

Kuunkuiskaajat - Työlki ellää (none of my friends have ever liked this but I still jam to this like nothing else. <3)

Kirka - Hengaillaan (literally gonna think about this every time the train is late!)"

Katri Helena - Katson sineen taivaan (my darling Katri Helena <3 <3 <3)

Cat cat - Bye bye baby (ALL TIME BANGER <3

Vicky Rosti - Sata salamaa (everyone loves to sing this in karaoke and be a queen of their own life)

Sonja Lumme - Eläköön elämä (this just makes me think of my childhood.)

Thank you so much for this ask purrrr <3

[lahti111]

Reasons you should vote Blind Channel in UMK part I

With about one week to go until the UMK final, I am gonna tell you all why we all should be voting for Dark Side by Blind Channel. Yes, this will be a daily thing :) I am not going to state the obvious like how I want Dark Side to win, because it is my favourite song in the selection. No, I am going to state the simple fact that it is most likely the song that would fair the best in Eurovision. 

As much as I love Ilta’s song, I feel like it is not going to stand out enough, or even if it does juries would most probably prefer Barbara (Voilà is a masterpiece) and very likely also Gjonn’s song (if it is anything like his 2020 song). Then there is I love you which is a fun song, but it goes into the same “fun” category as Discoteque,  Daði Freyr ‘s song and even Little Big’s (in case they get selected again). All the three have an advantage of being well known from previous year when they all were big favourites to finish top 5 in the contest. I could see I love you become a loved song among the televoters, but it seems like a song the juries would despise. Rap rarely does well, repetitive party songs (the chorus) often don’t get high points from the professional juries either.  The other four acts, Oskr and Aksel might have jury success potential, Danny is chanceless in every possible way (I do appreciate him being part of UMK) and Laura could get that 20ish points from Estonia because homerism and neighbour voting. Other that that I don’t think so. 

Dark Side will stand out, because there is going to be very few if any rock songs. Tornike’s song might be rock(ish), but even if it going to be same style as Take me as I am, that would still be very different from Blind Channel’s style.  Finland’s success in Eurovision has always been abysmal and best results especially in the 21st century have been with rock songs. Rock is the one genre Finland has been good at, one genre we know by our hearts. Let’s take a quick look at all the results from 2000 to 2019

2000: Nina Åström - A Little Bit - 18th place 2002: Laura - Addicted to you - 20th place 2004: Jari Sillanpää - Takes 2 to Tango 14th in semi-final 2005: Geir Rönning - Why - 18th in semi-final 2006: Lordi - Hard Rock Hallelujah- 1st place 2007: Hanna Pakarinen - Leave me alone - 17th place 2008: Teräsbetoni - Missä Miehet ratsastaa - 22nd place 2009: Waldo’s people - Lose Control - 25th place  2010: Kuunkuiskaajat - Työlki Ellää - 11th in semi-final 2011: Paradise Oskar - Da Da Dam - 21st place 2012: Pernilla - När Jag Blundar - 12th is semi-final 2013: Krista Siegfrieds - Marry Me - 24th place 2014: Softengine - Something Better - 11th place 2015: Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät - Aina Mun Pitää - 16th in semi-final 2016: Sandhja - Sing It Away - 15th in semi-final 2017: Norma John - Blackbird - 12th in semi-final 2018: Saara Aalto - Monsters - 25th place 2019: Darude feat. Sebastian Rejman - Look Away - 17th in semi-final

So top 3 results have come with rock while only NQ rock song is PKN, who was 10th in televote (so would have qualified pre-jury era). Dark side is way more approachable, so good result in televote is given. Juries are a bit of mystery, but AWS and Hatari made it to the finals even if juries weren’t the kindest to them. Jury hatred in finals doesn’t mean you can’t get good overall results (Poland 2016 anyone). Also, we need Dark Side for “the diversity”. As much as I love Eurovision, it has never - especially not after the return of the juries - been the most diverse contest when it comes to music genres. You can see a couple songs every year that is not classified as “typical Eurovision music”. Nothing annoys me as much as the mentality *this is a good song but it is not for Eurovision*. This “plastic music revolution” is reason why very few countries sing with their own native language or dare to send anything that is not considered “radio friendly”. I miss the weird songs in the mid 00s, that may not have been good in terms of “music”, but they were something different and funny. Something memorable.

But something more important than the possible success in Eurovision is the career after it. Both Ilta and Teflon Brothers are well known in Finland and even after the contest their focus with music would be in the Finnish music market. For Blind Channel it is a whole different thing. Their dream is not only tour in Finland or Europe, but the entire word. Let’s make them famous in Europe now, then they will be one step closer to make it across the pond too. Blind Channel is an amazing band and they deserve way more attention than they get now.   

[kivikunnas]

Kuunkuiskaajat - Työlki ellää musiikkivideo

[six-paths-of-jeanmarco]

Eurovision 2010 vs 2011

Albania: It's All About You vs Feel the Passion Armenia: Apricot Stone vs Boom Boom Austria: The Secret Is Love Azerbaijan: Drip Drop vs Running Scared Belarus: Butterflies vs I Love Belarus Belgium: Me and My Guitar vs With Love Baby Bosnia and Herzegovina: Thunder and Lighting vs Love in Rewind Bulgaria: Angel si ti vs Na inat Croatia: Lako je sve vs Celebrate Cyrpus: Life Looks Better in Spring vs San aggelos s'agapisa Denmark: In a Moment like This vs New Tomorrow Estonia: Siren vs Rockefeller Street Finland: Työlki ellää vs Da Da Dam France: Allez Ola Olé vs Sognu Georgia: Shine vs One More Day Germany: Satellite vs Taken by a Stranger Greece: Opa vs Watch My Dance Hungary: What About My Dreams? Iceland: Je ne sais quoi vs Coming Home Ireland: It's for You vs Lipstick Israel: Milim vs Ding Dong Italy: Madness of Love Latvia: What For? vs Angel in Disguise Lithuania: Eastern European Funk vs C'est ma vie Malta: My Dream vs One Life Moldova: Run Away vs So Lucky Netherlands: Ik ben verliefd (Sha-la-lie) vs Never Alone North Macedonia: Jas ja imam silata vs Rusinka Norway: My Heart Is Yours vs Haba Haba Poland: Legenda vs Jestem Portugal: Há dias assim vs A luta é alegria Romania: Playing with Fire vs Change Russia: Lost and Forgotten vs Get You San Marino: Stand By Serbia: Ovo je Balkan vs Čaroban Slovakia: Horehronie vs I'm Still Alive Slovenia: Narodnozabavni rock vs No One Spain: Algo pequeñito vs Que me quiten lo bailao Sweden: This Is My Life vs Popular Switzerland: Il pleut de l'or vs In Love for a While Türkiye: We Could Be the Same vs Live It Up Ukraine: Sweet People vs Angel United Kingdom: That Sounds Good to Me vs I Can

2010: 20 vs 2011: 19

[whereisyourpippinnow]

music tag!

Rules: We’re snooping on your playlist. Put your entire music library on shuffle and list the first 10 songs then choose 10 people.

I put links to all songs, so you can listen them! 😉

I was tagged by @marsilainen thank you, Maria! 😊😊

Ruoska - Lihaa Vasten Lihaa

Scorpions - We Were Born To Fly

Serj Tankian - Left of Center

Rammstein - Waidmanns Heil

Howard Shore - Forth Eorlingas (Featuring Ben Del Maestro)

Imagine Dragons - Friction

Kuunkuiskaajat - Työlki ellää

Muse - Hysteria [Live From Wembley Stadium]

Florence + the Machine - Kiss with a Fist

Sonata Arctica - Wind Beneath My Wings

@citadeloftherisingstar - Katja, you know how much I love music tag things! anything that forces me to put my winamp (SIC!) on shuffle and saves me from listening the same 20 songs on a loop is good.  😉

and I tag: @millenniumfalke @ardentlyenchanted @fourorfivemovements and @panlyra 😏

[borisbubbles]

Eurovision 2010s: 60 - 56

60. Emma - La mia città Italy 2014 

Emma is short for “Emmanuella”. 😍 Clearly the inspiration for this act:

You may not know this, but “La mia citta” is probably my favourite song out of 2014? It’s ROCKIN’ A RIDE (na na na na na na) of high voltage energy that I instantly became addicted to.  😍 Of course we were also immediately forewarned that Emma couldn’t sing her own song (which is hilarious, but yeah  😬)  so I was expecting a ready disappointment.  What I did NOT expect however was that Italy would yank UP the fun factor by trapping Emma into the direct-to-video sequel of Tinto Brass’s Caligula and letting her steal the show even more. 😍 ITALY <3 <3 <3 

The vocals may have been beyond subpar, but Emma flailing herself around the stage, contorting her body in IMPOSSIBLE angles, dismissively pushing the beta manfolk around like the boss she is gives me SO MUCH LIFE. If she had sung in a key that suited both her voice and the song, she would’ve ranked even higher, but a spot right outside of the highest tier will have to do. ALL HAIL THE EMPRESS OF TERRIBLE TASTE. 

________________________________________________________________

59. AWS - “Viszlát nyár” Hungary 2018

[2018 Review here]

GIVE ME FIRE, I’M A FIGHTER!

2018 may not have been as great of an experience for me as it has been for many others, but good god did it NEED AWS. A 2018 without AWS has no high voltage, uptempo, loud, aggro ENERGY. “But Boris there’s also Toy” yeah no. Na na banana I do what I wanna :-) 

and honestly, why shouldn’t we love “Viszlát nyar”? Loss songs that instead of mourning solemnly burst into a primordial tempest of ire and flame. IT’S INTENSE, all thanks to Orz’s excellent performance. 

and this comes WITHOUT the consideration that AWS were the backstage deities for the 2018 contest as well, providing many hilarious interviews and other moments of levity. 

AWS were great, because they weren’t a typical Eurovision entry. They are an indie metal band from Hungary that won A Dal by accident and in doing so were thrusted into an adventure beyond their wildest expectations. They never took Eurovision seriously, but regardless they had loads of fun with it and so did I. We will continue this line of thought when we get to a certain deadpan Slovene duo, much, much later in this ranking. 🤭

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58. Loïc Nottet - “Rhythm inside” Belgium 2015

Cutting Loïc means I have my change my t-shirt into the one my friend gave me for my 25th birthday (😍)

and I mean what is there to say about Loïc? He’s widely regarded as one of the most artistic and memorable entrants in recent years, sparking a hot streak of entries which ended when Sennek refused to rehearse her song/come up with an act. 

I may as well use this moment for a little confession: Avant Garde is one of my favourite Eurovision genres. AG entries are always interesting, always delivering, always different from what we’re used to. They are brave and inspired. When well-executed they can easily becomes some of the all-time best Eurovision entries.

“Rhythm inside” also falls into the category, taking a fairly simple subject (the beating of the human heart) and turning it into a metaphilosophical journey of discovery, star matter and mindblowiness. Loïc launched “Rhythm” into greatness, providing excellent vocals, dancing and miming. 

and also like all amazing things in life, it contains a small dose of SuRie: 

However, avant garde often comes with one massive problem: poorly-executed AG tends to frame every twirl, fart and headturn as a testament of some highly ~artistic vision~ when it adds nothing of value. In other words, fuckin’ meaningitis. “Rhythm inside” is actually one of the worst offenders, imo. For every epic moment of Loïc gazing into the camera or twirling around like an ebon cygnet, we get a tryhard one in which somebody lays themselves down and starts kicking their feet into the air for no reason and *sigh*. 

It saddens me that  “Rhythm inside”, despite being a very innovative composition that explores the boundaries of music, tries too hard to sell its own artistry and well... it is that moment of self-doubt which prevents me from ranking it inside the elite tier. BELIEVE IN AND LOVE THYSELF!!!

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57.  Madame Monsieur - “Mercy” France 2018

[2018 Review Here]

Every year is defined by its political zeitgeist, and in 2018 there were two defining themes: #MeToo, covered by “Toy”, and “Transmigration” covered by Madame Monsieur. I soon was convinced one of them would win 2018, which happened, but sadly it was the weaker of the two entrants 😭

Regardless, Madame Monsieur deserve all the praise they can get. It is SO easy to take a topic such as “migration” and turn it into an Americanized story of Wrong And Right. It’s SO easy to turn it into a sob story. It’s SO easy to cheapen the plight over others for self-gain. It is important to remain authentic, austere and respectful. 

Which is exactly that Madame Monsieur did. 

Using a peppy synthpop beat as a platform to carry their haunting lyrics (”je suis ces enfant que la mer a pris” ::shivers::), Emilie and Jean-Karl turn “Mercy”, a tribute to a baby born at sea to refugee parents, into a true humanitarian hymn, focusing on their message and letting this speak for itself. The end result is pretty potent. THE SEA OF FISTBUMPS <3

So naturally I really fucking love “Mercy”. However, I also think it was lacking in the little area of staging. While I do think the intent of keeping it sober and free of gimmicks was a clever coice, the gut-punching message didn’t exactly come across.

The act was too subtle. It’s the Hassani story of France getting outclassed by Italy at the last second, but much stronger than with Bilal. I don’t think the lack of LEDs was the issue though, like, just bring stage props? Work the camera more? It sucks that I have to nitpick so close to the highest tier, but the fact that I do proves to me that “Mercy” can’t make it that far. RIP sweet synth angels. 

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56. DiHaj - “Skeletons” Azerbaijan 2017

[2017 Review here] Another lovable avant garde angel, morph! DiHaj improved quite a bit for me on the rewatch, but I can’t let her move onto the elite tier for reasons that I think are obvious. (If they are not, please unmute your computer.)

HOWEVER, I do think “Skeletons” a great, dark moody song that is highly entertaining. It is, for the most part a great example of how to do novelty at Eurovision: It displays the greatest strength of modern Azerbaijan: the visually stunning SPECTACLE. Music is supposed to a form of expression and DiHaj goes ALL OUT.

Of course, I understand that the act isn’t to everyone’s taste and it does suffer a *little* bit from Fuckin’Meaningitis™ , which is fair enough. At the same time... the story told here is pretty obvious? There is no dispute that this song is about a broken relationship and the moral dilemma that often comes with it. Azerbaijan stuck with the source material provided by the song and that makes Skellingtons’ act much better than that of “Rhythm inside”. It’s a captivating story, because it makes sense. 

Too bad those Professional Swedish Backings sounded like crap tho...x

And that was the last of Azerbaijan,

After a pretty terrible start of the decade, Azerbaijan reinvented themselves as trash angels and the rest is herstory. I hope they continue to dazzle us with ridiculousness in the years to come. 😍

_______________________________________________________________ 

And now we move on to the higher tier. CONGRATULATIONS TO THESE (nearly) FLAWLESS ANGELS:

2010 

Juliana Pasha - “It’s all about you” Tom Dice - “Me and my guitar” Kuunkuiskaajat - “Työlki ellää” Jessy Matador - “Allez ola olé” Giorgos Alkaios & Friends - “OPA” Paula Seling & Ovi - “Play with fire” maNga - “We could be the same”

2011

Dino Merlin - “Love in rewind” Poli Genova - “Na inat” Lena - “Taken by a stranger” Maja Keuc - “No one”

2012

Ott Lepland - “Kuula” Pasha Parfeny - “Lăutar” Loreen - “Euphoria”

2013

Elitsa Todorova & Stoyan Yankulov - “Samo shampioni” Koza Mostra ft. Agathonas Iakovidis - “Alcohol is free” Gianluca - “Tomorrow” Who see ft. Nina Zizic - “Igranka” Anouk - “Birds” Zlata Ognevich - “Gravity”

2014

Aram MP3 - “Not alone” Conchita Wurst - “Rise like a phoenix” Cleo - “My słowianie- We are slavic” Tinkara Kovač - “Round and round” Ruth Lorenzo - “Dancing in the rain” Sebalter- “Hunter of Stars”

2015

Elina Born & Stig Rästa - “Goodbye to yesterday” Nadav Guedj - “Golden Boy” Aminata - “Love Injected” Polina Gagarina - “A million voices” Bojana Stamenov - “Beauty never lies” Måns Zelmerlöw - “Heroes”

2016

Iveta Mukuchyan - “LoveWave” Laura Tesoro - “What’s the pressure?” Poli Genova - “If love was a crime” Nika Kocharov & Young Georgian Lolitaz - “Midnight gold” Hovi Star - “Made of Stars” Francesca Michielin - “No degree of separation”

2017

NAVIBAND - “Story of my life” Blanche - “City lights” Joci Pápai - “Origo” fusedmarc - “Rain of revolution” JOWST ft. Aleksander Wallmann - “Grab the moment”

2018

Rasmussen - “Higher ground” Elina Nechayeva - “La Forza” Ieva Zasimauskaite - “When we’re old” DoReDoS - “My lucky day” Lea Sirk - “Hvala, ne!” ZiBBZ - “Stones”

2019

Kate Miller-Heidke - “Zero gravity” Mahmood - “Soldi” KEiiNO - “Spirit in the sky” Zala Kralj & Gašper Šantl - “Sebi”