#eurovision 2001

[vintageurovision]

[betweenthetimeandsound]

I can vouch that this is a fan-favorite from the class of 2001. It's cool and sophisticated, would've made a worthy winner.

(Still kind of shocked it appeared relatively low on your top 26! And what will be of the other major fan favorite?)

2001 Copenhagen - Number 23 - Antique - "Die For You"

It's 2001. Greece have never won Eurovision. They had a number of well-received and now loved entries in the 1990s placing consistently in the lower half of the top 10, but no winners. Where better to turn to try and break that duck than Sweden - if not the spiritual home of Eurovision, then certainly its engine room.

Antique comprised Helena Paparizou and Nikos Panagiotidis, both first-generation Swedes born to Greek parents, part of the Greek diaspora and infused with both ethnic Greek and Swedish pop/schlager sensibilities. Brought up with Melfest and Abba, and put together by Swedish producers looking to market Greek songs to the diaspora in Sweden.

As part of that push, they were entered into Ellinikós Telikós as part of Greece's re-entry into Eurovision after two years out with financial troubles at ERT. The voting in the final was 50/50 jury televote with only four acts. Believe it or not for this eternal Eurovision fan favourite, they nearly didn't make it - tying for the win and only going through because Antique won the televote.

Heading into Eurovision, they weren't quite the betting odds favourites, but they were hotly tipped to do well with their song appealing to two different ideas of what a Eurovision song should sound like. Die For You starts with a bouzouki riff before transforming rapidly into disco-schlager. And despite having an English chorus and title, the verses are in Greek. Helena is looks like a pop queen wearing Greek white and given the title, sells that dramatic commitment with authenticity.

Of course, this did very well - third place and is firmly cemented as perhaps the fan favourite from 2001. Helena, went on to do even better later and I'm sure she will reappear in this blog in four years time. In between these two years, Antique moved to Greece and became very popular there, bringing summer Scandi-pop to the Eastern Mediterranean. The group split up in 2003 with Helena continuing to have a spectacular singing career.

[eurovision-facts]

Eurovision Fact #569:

Dave Benton was the first Black person to win the Eurovision Song Contest. He and Tanel Padar won in 2001 for Estonia with the song "Everybody."

[Sources]

Copenhagen 2001, Eurovision.tv.

"Editorial: Black lives matter — and so do black artists at Eurovision," Wiwibloggs.com.

[diggilooo]

On that note, was anybody going to tell me Tanel Padar and Dave Benton reunited earlier this year for the first time since their win to perform Everybody, or was I supposed to find out while watching Ollie's cover of Tattoo and Cha Cha Cha?

[weaversweek]

"Falling" and "Not my soul"

Two more entries into the #FearOfMu21c project, crowdsourcing the greatest singles of the 21st century. Here’s an index post.

Fallin' - Alicia Keys

"Fallin'" landed in the early days of autumn 2001, when we were all dazed and punchdrunk from the news. It's a straightforward relationship song, the love and the distance, the closeness and the moments when you just can't stand them.

There's gospel, there's a slow-building crescendo, there's a subtle sample from James Brown somewhere in the mix. And it's a great showcase for Alicia's skills - as pianist, singer, songwriter, producer. "The gospel fervour of lovesick righteousness", according to Entertainment Weakly. "Deep moments that come up and grab you", wrote the NME.

The album "Songs in A Minor" is almost flawless, follow-up "The Diary of Alicia Keys" might be even better. Alicia's continued to record and make great music; "Girl on fire" and "Underdog" exemplify her work in the subsequent decades.

Not my soul - Destiny Chukenyere

"Being in English, this song could fit straight onto a UK radio playlist. Being utterly brilliant, it won't."

Inspired by Beyoncé and Aretha Franklin, Destiny came up through Malta's many stage schools and young theatrical scene. With Matt Mercieca and Elton Zarb, she wrote a Motown throwback of extreme quality.

That voice! That quality! That presence! The song is simple enough to cut across language barriers - "they can take away good stuff, but they won't change me". Destiny owns the song every time she sings it. Inevitably, the winner of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in 2015.

Destiny didn't rest on her laurels; between finishing her school exams, Destiny made the semi-finals of ITV's Got Talent, and appeared in the Senior Eurovision Song Contest in 2021; "Je me casse" was slightly stitched up by the producers.

After Eurovision '21, Destiny stepped back from showbiz to concentrate on her studies, which is perfectly understandable. We hope there is more to come from this talented young lady.

[eurovision-del]

We've got another busy weekend coming up, with four countries choosing their Eurovision entries on Saturday - but just before that, Germany are holding their selection, Das Deutsche Finale, on Friday! Here's what I make of the songs:

Galant – Katze

Ryk – Oh Boy

Marie Reim – Naiv

Leona – Undream You

Bodine Monet – Tears like Rain

Floryan – Scars

NinetyNine – Love on a Budget

Max Mutzke – Forever Strong

Isaak – Always on the Run

Overall, this isn’t the most exciting selection. I understand wanting to play it safe after they took a big swing last year and it didn’t pay off in terms of results, but personally I loved Lord of the Lost and I’d much rather countries bring something interesting over songs that fade into the background.

That said, there are three songs here that I feel have promise. Firstly, my clear favourite is Katze. The minimalistic opening with its casual vocals leads into a really snappy song. I love the way the beat changes and develops through the song, and I especially like the sound of the tight, metallic plucked strings in the chorus. There’s so much potential for exciting visuals to go with it, they could keep it dark and minimalist or go full psychedelic, both would work.

I also quite like Oh Boy. It’s got a bit of of grandness to it with the inclusion of violins and the cinematic sound in the chorus, but it's not overwhelming, and I like the calmer place it sits in in the verses. I did admittedly overlook this one at first, it took me a couple of listens to get into it. However, I definitely thing it’s a strong song. Finally, the third song I like is Naiv. It really works for me, an upbeat bop with a slight rock edge that gets me into it!

I definitely think Germany should pick one of these three songs on Friday, everything else feels like a non-starter to me. Katze would be another bold choice, but because of that it could be a risk. I think Oh Boy has the most potential for Eurovision, if Ryk can deliver vocally it could be really powerful. And Naiv could also lend itself to a great performance with the energy it has. I’m a bit biased towards the German language songs, it’s been over twenty five years since Germany sent a song fully in German, and while I don’t think it should ever be an expectation I do like it when countries send songs in their own languages, at least once in a while. Whatever they select, I really hope that it’s enough to get them off the bottom of the scoreboard this year!

[grunge-mermaid]

Every time Terry Wogan says something borderline, I’m prepared to be angry, but it always turns out he’s being generous

[lock-my-feelings-in-a-jar]

Written by Russ Ballard and Chris Winter

[anotherescsite]

[vintageurovision]

[eurovision-revisited]

2001 Copenhagen - Number 19 - Arnis Mednis - "Too Much"

I've been dying to write about this one...

The song is almost objectively awful. Lyrically, the English is poor and although not ambiguous, there's enough there to make you wonder exactly what's going on. The character that Arnis Mednis is portraying is not a nice man. Someone has described him as a 'drunk uncle at a wedding', and yes, although he's drunk, and he may be an uncle, it's the events around his own wedding he's describing. There's the strong possibility that he cheated on his wife the night before the wedding. He drags his new wife to a bar when she'd prefer a cup of tea. At least she dumps him in the end.

This version is a glow-up from the version that scraped the win in Eirodziesma 2001 by two points. That was slower-tempo affair with much more restrained vocals and a jolly accordion and a rapped section with Arnis begging to be taken back. Allegedly it's an anti-drugs song, and although he sounds coked up to the eyeballs, it's far too happy a song to be anti-anything. Apart from Arnis and his lyrics, there isn't a dark thing about Too Much at all

Arnis is great at portraying a truly obnoxious man, a terrible human being with barely a sliver of self-awareness. Troublingly I'm not sure how much of this is genuine and how much is an act - however confrontational.

He was in a band called Odis from the end of the 1980s and the early 1990s. Their first album was called Sātana Radītā (Created by Satan) and contains tracks called Black Girls and Portrait No. 2. Woman In Bathing-costume. That this album consists of lounge jazz or possibly lethargic library music might be part of an elaborate joke that I'm not getting, or it might be that there's a huge degree of delusion and misogyny going on.

And yet, here it is at number 19 in my top 26 for 2001. Why on earth would I do this to you?

Well, I like that happy little tune. I admire the backing singer in the final who truly throws herself into her new vocal line with abandon and whe there's nowhere to hide doing that live in front of 38,000 people. There's the guitar that kicks in on the choruses, the call and response, it's rough, it's dirty and it absolutely suits the song. And they got rid of the rap. Without the context of the lyrics, the song itself is an absolute blast.

Arnis the singer clearly does have some self-awareness that Arnis the character in the song is an awful person. There is parody here, even if I can't tell what level that parody is operating at. His usual output is jazz, and as this is about as far from jazz as you could possibly get. As he wrote this, it could be pastiche. I don't think it's trolling Eurovision, but I can't be 100%. That's an enticing, teasing ambiguity.

Mostly though this song is the utter antithesis of the love song. Eurovision is awash with love songs, positively bathing in attachment, passions, desire and happy hormones. It does need contrast. And here is that friction; the sand in the lubricant. It is an excellent representation of someone who is so self-obsessed and far too gone on whatever substances he's taking that his memory is destroyed and his lies fail to last even two days into a marriage. Someone you'd never want to go near once you'd get to know him.

This is a song somewhere on the spectrum between Silvia Knight's Congratulations and Hatari's Hatrið mun sigra. Plus it has an accordion, and I love accordions in Eurovision. Too Much is a song you cannot ignore.

[eurovision-facts]

Eurovision Fact #686:.

Before Baby Lasagna's second place finish in 2024, the last time Croatia placed top 10 was in 2001 with "Strings Of My Heart" by Vanna which earned 10th place.

[Source]

Croatia's Top 10 results at the Eurovision Song Contest, Eurovision.tv.

[doyoulikethissong-poll]

Antique - Opa Opa 1999

"Opa Opa" is a song originally by Greek singer Notis Sfakianakis, released as a single from his second album Ise Ena Pistoli in 1992. It is a laïko dance song and was written and produced by singer Giorgos Alkaios.

The song has been covered by a number of artists, taking it to further success abroad. In 1999, Swedish-Greek duo Antique covered it as their debut single with Eurodance elements, reaching the top ten across Scandinavia. Despina Vandi recorded an English-language cover, which reached the top 20 of several markets in Europe and North America.

Antique is a Greek singing duo consisting of Helena Paparizou and Nikos Panagiotidis, originating from Sweden and combining Greek popular music and lyrics with a Nordic dance-pop beat. Both Paparizou and Panagiotidis were born and raised in Sweden by Greek parents. In 2001, Antique represented Greece at the Eurovision Song Contest with the song "(I Would) Die For You", ending with a third place, and in 2005 Paparizou went solo and won the contest for Greece with "My Number One". After 19 years of hiatus the group reunited in March 2022 and released a cover hit song from 90's meant to be their comeback in music industry.

"Opa Opa" received a total of 66,6% yes votes!

[soizoukoi]

Tommy Cash has just opened his discussion channel on Instagram “Eurovision 2025 (but we do it like ite 2001) ;)”. At this point, I don't know if it's serious or it's trolling but either way, I'm here for it

[corrodedbisexual]

Ok but has anyone written an incredibly self-projecting fic about Steve being obsessed with Eurovision and poor Eddie suffering through that every goddamn year or do I have to do everything myself?

(According to google ESC was broadcast in the US since 2016 but you could watch it online ever since 2001. And who knows how the fuck Steve got into that, maybe he was an ABBA fan and went down a rabbit hole of their history when Internet became a common thing and discovered the contest.)

Eddie honestly doesn't give a fuck but he humors Steve and watches with him, but then it's 2006 and Lordi are heading for #1 with Hard Rock Hallelujah and he's fucking INVESTED and jumps up and down every time they get points and actually screams when they win and headbangs to their victory performance because FINALLY some decent music is being recognized.

PS: Eddie cheers for Germany this year. Full on glittery flag drawn on his cheeks style. Fight me. It's metal AND gay. He's completely obsessed.