#Vanessa Chinitor

[eurovision-revisited]

1999 Jerusalem - Number 10 - Vanessa Chinitor - "Like The Wind"

Remarkably, staying in Jerusalem. It feels like for the past two years, there have been many more songs outside the actual contest than inside.

Like the Wind is a waltz about the erosive forces of nature. It's a geography lesson. By the time the key change hits, the metaphor is apparent. Vanessa is telling us to be like the wind. Eternal, unstoppable. Be the force of nature you truly are. It's almost as unsubtle as Germany's entry.

What sets it apart from that, is the gentle fairground waltziness. The winds here are gentle gusts swirling around your feet and whipping up the leaves at best. No hurricanes or tropical storms. Perhaps an autumnal gust at most. Be an unstoppable force of nature, but be gentle and kind of cute. You may grind down mountains, but make sure you do so in an endearing and elegant manner.

Vanessa won the Belgian national final Eurosong '99 easily. She got maximum points from the juries (two of them), from the public televote and was in equal first with the results of the two Radio polls that were also run. There were some more modern dance tracks in the final, so clearly the whole of Belgium still want traditional and safe music. The country wasn't ready to experiment as a whole yet.

In Jerusalem, Vanessa drew the death slot and went on second. Nevertheless, she still managed to get 38 points which this year were good enough for 12th place. The point distribution was skewed with lots of songs clustered at the bottom with fewer than 40 points. Belgium turned out to be the best of this group.

Vanessa had one more go at qualifying for Eurovision in 2006. Unfortunately this ended in a last place finish in the preliminary heats.

However, Like the Wind managed to do exceptionally well in the Flemish Ultratop top 50 and she continued to release Dutch language music for the next six years. By 2006 her music career was slowing down. She had one more album out in 2010.

[residentraccoon]

spotify wrapped asks: 1, 4, 5, 13, 25 and 26!! <3

1. Catchiest song

Swing it - Prohibition

Listen early 2023 me was OBSESSED with this. Catchy, old timey, electroswing and just super fun! I'd be head over heels if any country would get the chance to send something similar (maybe even this band returning to Norway's selection who knows)

4. Artist/band you didn't thought would be in your top artists (if any)

My spotify listed Kristen og Søren, which I love all three of their songs that they participated with in Eurovision

5. Oldest song (by release date)

Teddy Scholten- Een beetje (Netherlands 1959)

It's a bit different than the other songs from that time period, a bit more upbeat and even if it's sung in Dutch, a language which is considered uGLy it just flows so nicely and it's very pleasant to the ears. A cute lil bop and a deserved winner of that year.

13. The song with the most peculiar sound (to you)

Novi Fossili - Ja sam za ples

It sounds so weird but so catchy at the same time (no wonder why I liked it so much) love how quirky the girl's voice sounds and that dude saying "this is okay" is absolutely iconic. On top of that, the instrumental does make me dance (the song's name is literally I wanna dance if you translate it so yeah)

25. Favourite lyrics of your #100 song

Vanessa Chinitor - Like the wind

"The mountains, full of serenity

Uncaring 'bout the wind, never giving in – never"

The whole song is a vibe ngl it transports me to a world where everything is peaceful and quiet. Love how the lyrics portray images of mountains and seas, they're very pretty

26. Favourite bassline

Jean Claude Pascal- Nous les amoureux

Love the sultry deep voice and the instrumental is chefs kiss 👌 a daring song for its time, in this house we stan Jean Claude Pascal

[eurovisionopinions]

[maschasrankings]

1999: Top 23

Germany: Sürpriz - Reise Nach Jerusalem (Kudüs'e Seyahat)

Croatia: Doris Dragović - Marija Magdalena

Austria: Bobbie Singer - Reflection

Iceland: Selma - All Out Of Luck

United Kingdom: Precious - Say It Again

Spain: Lydia - No Quiero Escuchar

Lithuania: Aistė - Strazdas

Belgium: Vanessa Chinitor - Like The Wind

Bosnia & Herzegovina: Dino & Béatrice - Putnici

Netherlands: Marlayne - One Good Reason

Malta: Times Three - Believe 'N Peace

Ireland: The Mullans - When You Need Me

Sweden: Charlotte Nilsson - Take Me To Your Heaven

France: Nayah - Je Veux Donner Ma Voix

Turkey: Tuğba Önal & Grup Mistik - Dön Artık

Norway: Stig Van Eijk - Living My Life Without You

Estonia: Evelin Samuel & Camille - Diamond Of Night

Portugal: Rui Bandeira - Como Tudo Começou

Israel: Eden - Yom Huledet

Poland: Mietek Szcześniak - Przytul Mnie Mocno

Cyprus: Marlain - Tha'nai - Erotas

Denmark: Trine Jepsen & Michael Teschl - This Time I Mean It

Slovenia: Daria Švajger - For A Thousand Years

[mexicaneurolover]

Eurovision 1999 my top 23

Hello, or shalom, and welcome to another episode of this ESC tops, when I go back to May 29, 1999, which was also 2 months before I was born, and this was the date when the 44th edition of the contest was held in Jerusalem, Israel, after Dana International’s win in Birmingham last year. 23 countries took part, while Finland, Greece, Hungary, FYR Macedonia, Romania, Slovakia and Switzerland were relegated, Austria, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Denmark, Iceland and Lithuania returned for the contest. The contest was won by Sweden and Charlotte Nilsson with the song Take me to your heaven, making this their 4th win overall, and the second of the decade. Also, this year was the first one without an orchestra and the language rule was dropped, so almost everybody sang in English. And now, let’s review the songs.

1st Place: SWEDEN/Charlotte Nilsson-Take me to your heaven (Real Placing: 1st-163 points)

This song is so special for me, I like the music so much and her voice is so good, this is so magical to me and I think this was the absolute right winner for 1999, it’s nostalgic but modern and current for the time, and well I feel a connection here because I was born this year. HEJA CHARLOTTE. 

2nd Place: ICELAND/Selma-All out of luck (Real Placing: 2nd-146 points)

Another nice pop song and I love this so much, I dance to this no matter where I am, and this is such a catchy song, her voice is lovely and the performance is everything. I’m so crazy about this one and Selma, I love you <3 

3rd Place: CROATIA/Doris Dragović-Marija Magdalena (Real Placing: 4th-118 points)

Again a fantastic song from Doris, this is as good as her 1986 song, catchy, the music is so powerful, her voice is perfect and I would’ve been happy if this song actually won that year. This song deserved top 3, one of the best Croatian songs ever and what a way to close the 90′s for them. 

4th Place: BELGIUM/Vanessa Chinitor-Like the wind (Real Placing: =12th-38 points) 

This has an Enya vibe to it, and I love it, this is so mesmerizing and hypnotic, her voice is something I enjoy so much and this entry makes me feel so calm. I don’t know how this didn’t finish higher. 

5th Place: LITHUANIA/Aistė-Strazdas (Real Placing: 20th-13 points)

WHAT AN UNDERRATED SONG, this is so wonderful, magical and makes me travel to another place when I hear this, also this is very relaxing and I love the language, the music is so stunning and yeah, I love this song since the first time I heard it. 

6th Place: ESTONIA/Evelin Samuel & Camille-Diamond of night (Real Placing: 6th-90 points)

Again a woman with a charming song, this relaxes me so much and I’m in love with her voice, so angelical and stunning, this entry is the perfect one to close the 20th century. What a performance. 

7th Place: SLOVENIA/Darja Švajger-For a thousand years (Real Placing: 11th-50 points)

Oh this woman again, and with a song that is as good as her 1995 song, her voice is stunning and the music is so charming and beautiful. I’m so in love with this song and wow, I’m amazed with this performance. 

8th Place: UNITED KINGDOM/Precious-Say it again (Real Placing: =12th-38 points)

Awww another late 90′s pop song, I like this one so much, they sing on point and the music is so catchy, I always listen to this one when I’m feeling down and it cheers me up. Such a pleasant song and it deserved more than it did. 

9th Place: FRANCE/Nayah-Je veux donner ma voix (Real Placing: 19th-14 points) 

This ballad is so relaxing and I like it so much, her voice is on point and the chorus is so memorable, the music is so good and it works for me. That last note is something amazing and yeah, this was so underrated. 

10th Place: CYPRUS/Marlain-Tha’nai erotas (Real Placing: 22nd-2 points)

Why this placed so low? I love this song because it’s so Europop and it works so much for me, the music is so enjoyable and modern for the time, her voice was quite bad at some point but I’m amazed by this song. 

11th Place: AUSTRIA/Bobbie Singer-Reflection (Real Placing: 10th-65 points)

Another nice pop song from the late 90′s, and it works so well for me, she’s so cute on stage, her voice is charming and the music is so warm and I like it so much. This performance screams 1999 so much and it’s so lovely. 

12th Place: SPAIN/Lydia-No quiero escuchar (Real Placing: 23rd-1 point/last)

Also this song has nice music, the lyrics are okay and her voice is so good, maybe the dress was so much because it was so weird, but this song is memorable because of the chorus, I don’t understand how this song came last, I enjoy it so much. 

13th Place: THE NETHERLANDS/Marlayne-One good reason (Real Placing: =8th-71 points)

AWWW THIS ONE IS CUTE, this is so good, the music is nice and her voice is so awesome, the overall performance is effective, yeah, I like this song so much, so 1999. 

14th Place: ISRAEL/Eden-Yom Huledet (Happy Birthday) (Real Placing: 5th-93 points)

This is so catchy and I like it so much, they sing so well, and the music is so nice, this is the perfect song to celebrate birthdays and I want to play that song on my birthday, I like this song! 

15th Place: GERMANY/Sürpriz-Reise nach Jerusalem – Kudüs'e seyahat (Real Placing: 3rd-140 points)

I can’t understand this song at all and also I can’t understand it’s high placing. The music is quite bad and their voices aren’t special at all, and I must say this is one of the weakest songs from Germany. 

16th Place: BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA/Dino & Béatrice-Putnici (Real Placing: 7th-86 points)

This also is interesting, the music is nice but maybe isn’t very impressive, they sing so well but the song turns repetitive and annoying at some point. An average song IMO. 

17th Place: TURKEY/Tuğba Önal & Grup Mistik-Dön Artik (Real Placing: 16th-21 points)

This entry isn’t bad at all, but after many good ethic songs from Turkey, this kinda falls flat and doesn’t shine at all, I love her voice so much and the music is hypnotic, but I can’t place it higher though. 

18th Place: PORTUGAL/Rui Bandeira-Como tudo começou (Real Placing: 21st-12 points)

This also is quite mediocre, but somehow I like this song, the music is so pleasant and his voice is nice, but i’m missing something in this song, also this got all the points from France, unexpected 12 points. 

19th Place: IRELAND/The Mullans-When you need me (Real Placing: 17th-18 points) 

This song is boring at some point, the music at the start is nice but turns out to be a mediocre song. Their voices are on point, but this song doesn’t make any favors to this wonderful singers. 

20th Place: MALTA/Times Three-Believe ‘n Peace (Real Placing: 15th-32 points)

Another pop song that fails to impress me, but certainly is better than the lower songs on my list, I like the chorus because it’s catchy, also the music isn’t that bad at all, an average song. 

21st Place: DENMARK/Trine Jepsen & Michael Teschl-This time I mean it (Real Placing: =8th-71 points) 

Oh no, not this song, this song is boring for me and this doesn’t say anything to me, the music isn’t very special and it falls flat compared to another pop songs of the year. 

22nd Place: NORWAY/Stig Van Eijk-Living my life without you (Real Placing: 14th-35 points)

Ah this song is mediocre, the music is boring and repetitive, and his voice isn’t very pleasant for me, also the lyrics aren’t nice either. Overall this entry annoys me so much. 

23rd Place: POLAND/Mietek Szcześniak-Przytul mnie mocno (Real Placing: 18th-17 points)

A ballad that doesn’t say anything to me, his voice isn’t that nice and I always forget about this song, not one of Poland’s best song. 

[spacelessbian]

Eurovision Nines (1999)

Belgium - Vanessa Chinitor - Like The Wind

The mountains full of serenity uncaring 'bout the wind, never giving in never But waves that roll on the stormy sea turn mountains into dust the wind it wins at last always

In celebration of upcoming Eurovision, I give you my favourite songs from all the Nine Years (1959, 1969, 1979, 1989, 1999, 2009).

[eurovision-revisited]

Eurovision 2006 - The Best National Final

It's a big national final with very few misses. There are more than ten songs from it in my top sixty-four, and I haven't even mentioned yet that is also has two former winners involved in Barbara Dex and Vanessa Chinitor. It generated lots of hits and further advanced careers. VRT's Eurosong '06 is my best national final of the year and consolidates my impression of VRT's ability to organise a high quality, professional, and well-thought through national final.

Having said that they did go very heavy for the girlbops and it's not as if there wasn't competition from elsewhere.

Euroviisut in Finland had a novel approach, giving twelve acts two songs each, ensuring that they all got to the semi-final and had at least two appearances on national television. Being Finland there was more than the average amount of metal and rock, and of course they gave us the legendary Eurovision winners Lordi.

Melodifestivalen is having a strong, almost iconic year too. STV introduced wildcards and got some big names to take part, with huge results. There are some Melfest classics in the running order this year, and Swedish songs also score some high slots in my top sixty-four.

Another notable final is Eirodziesma 2006, with LTV in Latvia getting several good acts and songs together. Poland's Piosenka dla Europy is still very well produced even if the quality of the songs seems to be declining and in Belarus it's the opposite way around. Able to attract some interesting artists and songs, but with the lack of money for production being noticeable.

The national final that never was for Serbia & Montenegro, the one that resulted in the winning act being almost bottled off the stage, did have some very strong entries both in the final and through the two qualify competitions of Beovizija and Montevizija.

There were two song selection finals this year - Greece and Ireland, as well as France having an artist selection final, plus a few other cut back finals as in Ukraine.

Finally, not a national final, but having a weird one was the venerable Festival di Sanremo. There was a new artistic director and presenter in Giorgio Panariello and another new format, splitting the competition into four separate competitions that only came together on the final night. It didn't really work, there weren't huge numbers of quality songs and the winner was almost a novelty song.

[eurovision-revisited]

Eurovision 2006 - Number 64 - Fantoom - "Hier sta ik"

Kicking off 2006 with a flag video.

I'm not sure why the performance of this isn't available, as many other from the Belgian national final and semi-finals are, however this is what we're going to have to live with for a while.

Fantoom are new(ish) Belgian band looking to make a mark in a VRT year. That means a big national final with four heats, two semi-finals and a strange jury set up. Their sound is straight guitar rock with the Bingé brothers front and centre. Servaas is the singer with Hillert behind him on bass and Wouter on keyboards. They're also the song-writers. Ward De Clercq is on guitar with a few other hired hands brought in.

Hier sta ik (Here I Stand) is their first release as a group. It's a fast-paced run through the thoughts of a boy waiting for a girl and being desperate for her to like him. Nothing too out of the ordinary. A safe and seemingly well executed rock track that's relatively chaste amidst a sea of girl bops sung by girls who would appear distinctly less restrained and more urgent in their desires. In this context it feels like a song from a different time and place. The sort of song you might have heard at any point since the 1960s.

The one little element of musical flourish is the addition of a Hammond organ sound stabbing in throughout to take the edge off the conventionality of everything. It does have a sing-along chorus and I can imagine that if the band ever got enough fans to play big gigs, this might have been a sing-along favourite.

For Eurosong '06, they were in heat one and didn't do very well. They finished sixth of the seven songs, beating former Belgian Eurovision representative Vanessa Chinitor into last place. They also managed to finish fourth in the televote, but as the various juries didn't enjoy them, Fantoom were condemned to be forgotten contenders.

They did manage to stick together for a few years, get signed to a label and to release an album and two singles in 2008, but there's no indication they did very well. After this the bad broke up, with their drummers going on to perform in other bands. Of the Bingés there is little further news.

[betweenthetimeandsound]

I love how majestic Like the Wind is. It's so elegant and beautiful, a definite highlight for 1999.

1999 Jerusalem - Number 10 - Vanessa Chinitor - "Like The Wind"

Remarkably, staying in Jerusalem. It feels like for the past two years, there have been many more songs outside the actual contest than inside.

Like the Wind is a waltz about the erosive forces of nature. It's a geography lesson. By the time the key change hits, the metaphor is apparent. Vanessa is telling us to be like the wind. Eternal, unstoppable. Be the force of nature you truly are. It's almost as unsubtle as Germany's entry.

What sets it apart from that, is the gentle fairground waltziness. The winds here are gentle gusts swirling around your feet and whipping up the leaves at best. No hurricanes or tropical storms. Perhaps an autumnal gust at most. Be an unstoppable force of nature, but be gentle and kind of cute. You may grind down mountains, but make sure you do so in an endearing and elegant manner.

Vanessa won the Belgian national final Eurosong '99 easily. She got maximum points from the juries (two of them), from the public televote and was in equal first with the results of the two Radio polls that were also run. There were some more modern dance tracks in the final, so clearly the whole of Belgium still want traditional and safe music. The country wasn't ready to experiment as a whole yet.

In Jerusalem, Vanessa drew the death slot and went on second. Nevertheless, she still managed to get 38 points which this year were good enough for 12th place. The point distribution was skewed with lots of songs clustered at the bottom with fewer than 40 points. Belgium turned out to be the best of this group.

Vanessa had one more go at qualifying for Eurovision in 2006. Unfortunately this ended in a last place finish in the preliminary heats.

However, Like the Wind managed to do exceptionally well in the Flemish Ultratop top 50 and she continued to release Dutch language music for the next six years. By 2006 her music career was slowing down. She had one more album out in 2010.