#rip schlager

[pinkflyingtiger]

"a song yet to be heard", yeah rub it in, Bojan.

[arctixout]

~

[whats-another-song-contest]

Wait okay so I've been freaking out over Ted Lasso this entire past week cause tomorrow's episode is gonna end me and only NOW do I realise Hannah Waddingham is hosting eurovision as well??

[anywaydontbeastrangerrr]

RIP SCHLAGER YOU WILL BE MISSED

[scarefox]

what in the fresh hell

...... that was free till now...... Also not all songs have lyrics for whatever reason so lol nope. THAT is not a feature I would go premium for. I know how to google lyrics, bitch.

The only thing of their premium-warfare that almost works on me is their ads... when they play schlager or mallorca party ads. But joke is on them I can just turn off the sound or put my headphones down when ads play 😎 (or pro-tipp: last seconds before a song ends, start playing a new song without the skip button. that way it doesn't count as fully played song. ads can only play after a song got skipped or ended)

Yea yea I know yall are anti-Spotify. But I have my reasons why I am still on there and like it most of the times, let's say the pros still overweight the cons so far.

And no, iIIegaly ripping songs for free from yt or wherever is not a better alternative for me because (been there done that for years):

I can listen to free legally uploaded music by the artists themselves, can chose by myself what to listen to (compared to radio or other official sources without video attached)

with Spotify artists get at least SOME money out of it compared to downloading iIIegal uploads somewhere, they get none at all (i don't have the money to buy all the albums. but i still want to support my favs especially when they are indie artists. it's not much but better that nothing?)

i am mainly there for the podcasts

and playlists. I love making playlists (i was on 8tracks before and that was based on youtube which sucked at the end due to copyright issues on yt). Spotify has 99% officially uploaded songs by all artists who are on Spotify and I don't have to worry that half my playlists are deleted after a week because the song upload got copyright strikes (happens on Spotify too but very rare, mainly with the tiktok remixes)

one of the rare algorithms that actually works for me and gives me good new songs every week. i found so many new artists that way.

I still love when music is uploaded on yt too cause that can be better embedded here on tumblr (also music videos 👌). And i know a lot of music on yt is official nowadays too but not all (but even copyrightowner get strikes by youtube sometimes because their filters suck hard)

[eurovision-revisited]

Eurovision 2002 - Number 17 - Sandrine François - "Il Faut Du Temps"

France and France Télévisions are right back in their happy meta. Picking a relatively unknown ingenue, giving them a big song and sticking them in front of Europe. Just ignore the televote and go with what works best - especially in 2003, the year of the mad voting method mix.

This year's singer is Sandrine François. She isn't completely unknown to the French public as prior to 2003 she had been involved in a televised talent spotting show on French TV in 1999. This brought her to attention of the A&R men and she got a recording contract. However to this point, there was no record output despite her big, big voice.

Perfect for Eurovision.

The song Il faut du temps (It Takes Time) is by a group of song-writers who are also new to Eurovision, but have produced a peace song that sounds like it could have been ripped from an abandoned sequel to Les Misérables. It contains what I think must be the only reference to Gandhi that I've heard in a Eurovision song. For two verses, it potters along in a fairly soporific ballardic pattern.

Then it hits the bridge.

The bridge is where this song takes off. It's an extended bridge. A bridge that takes over the song and only briefly allows the chorus to return. The bridge even has another bridge in the middle of it. There are three modulations. Three. Sandrine's voice ramps up the power staying completely in control as the electric guitars kick in and we head into stratospheric territory. She's altogether showing off until the song peters out, as we head off that bridge and into safety of the coda.

It's as if someone was given a checklist of what a Eurovision song should contain and not only ticked all the boxes with fine calligraphic italics but also completed it with a flourished, illustrated signature.

It netted France fifth place in a competition otherwise dominated by Europop, schlager, disco and beats. There were other ballads and it's noticeable just how well they did - possibly because by now the big ballads were standing out. Also it's clear that Sandrine has a voice that can command a stage and an arena. That was a rarity this year. It was enough to win her and the song-writers the inaugural Marcel Bezençon press award for best song.

Well done France.

This performance finally got Sandrine the opportunity to make good on that contract, get some studio time and record an album. It was but a one-off however and after 2002 she all but disappeared from the music industry into anonymity.

[prideandperdition]

In the Hollands we have one terrible (and way too popular) genre of music that's basically a mix between cheap cringy fuckboy disco and german schlagers with way too much bass (did I mention it's terrible?) and guess which fucking music my neighbours love to play loud everyday I wanna rip my ears off :)

[nuerburgring]

6, 10 and 27 for the ask game (i bet your answer for the last one is philipp plein, right? right?)

6. most hated song in your native language?

I can’t decide between the entirety of Schlager or the entirety of Gangsta-Rap

10. most enjoyable swear word in your native language?

and in this moment I have never heard German in my entire life and can’t come up with anything rip (but my most-used one is probably something super random like ‘du (Voll-)Pfosten’)

27. favourite national celebrity?

of course, who else could it possibly be

[fayn3ko]

My interpretations on the new Rammstein album

Alrighty, I think such ‘here’s my opinion how much I liked this and not’ are boring so I’m just gonna write what I think of and read out of the songs. I let out Deutschland and Radio cuz y’all know about them, I guess. Idk even if anybody is interested in this but here we go

Weit weg (far away) - one of my faves

On the first sight it seems to be kind of a love song because till sings about two people - a man watching a women undress and seeing her naked. Actually, it’s about Voyeurism. He is standing at her window, presses his face against the glass, there’s no interactions between them and she is the 'queen of his fantasies’. 'Ganz nah - weit, weit weg von mir’ (really close - far, far away from me) - he is incredible close to her and sees intimate moments, but he isn’t supposed to, they probably don’t even know each other. So, actually, emotionally they are far away from each other.

Diamant (diamond) - only sad song, big fave

Kind of a love song, Till is mostly singing about how beautiful the other person is, how bright her eyes shine, “how clear and pure” she is. It already sounds like as if he were in mad love with her, but he also wants her to finally 'let him go’, he wants to leave tho she is so marvelous 'like a diamond, but also just a stone’. He tried to reach her heart but wants to 'love someone who is able to hate’ - is she too perfect? Are they even together, or is it just him who struggles to let his love for her go? Maybe she doesn’t feel anything, doesn’t have anything except her beauty and is cold-hearted, diamonds “are just stones”.

Zeig dich (show yourself) - a fave, its really nice

Obviously a song about the church, unlike Hallelujah (which is about the child abuse of priests) this one is about the church in general. Most of the text are enumerations,“[they] do crime … forgiveness of all crimes, burn, … tracking, … accidentally abuse children” (Irony, damn that’s fore sure provocating) always ending with 'in the name of god’ which describes the long history, mostly the negative aspects and how the church allowed themself to do anything if they say they do it in gods will - a lot of people believed that. The dramatic choir underlines how much power the church had and how often it abused its power. 'Show yourself … we lose the light’ - religion gives humans hope and something to believe in, exploited by the church, but all these things are hidden behind a mask.

Puppe (doll (sometimes also puppet, toy)) - probs most interesting one

The protagonist is a child, who got a doll as a gif from his sister (he calls her 'Schwesterlein’ so he is probably way younger?). Her workplace is in the room next to his, he sees men coming there, 'sometimes it’s even two [men]’ - she is a prostitute. While she works, he is looking at the sky, taking his medicaments [like a good boy] - so he must be sick in some way. Since he 'rips off the head of the doll, bites off the neck of the doll’ and sings 'I really don’t feel good’ it’s probably something mental. Later, he watches through the keyhole how his sister gets beaten to death, he continues ripping of the head and biting off the neck but now 'he feels finally good’. No parents are mentioned, so the sister seems to be the only relative, probably being responsible for him and buying him the medicaments (one of the only details we get so they have to me important in some way). Maybe he didn’t like her and he imagined the doll is her? Being unhappy because she is still alive and after she got killed, finally being happy? Maybe, he is happy that he won’t need to take medicaments anymore, he looked the whole day outta the window and seemed to do nothing, bc the meds blocked him)

Was ich liebe (literally 'what I love’, in this context, “the things I love”) great song

Fans who heard through some demos should know this one because it’s the demo of Pussy. They used the very different lyrics and refreshed them (changed the 'will die’ to 'will verderben’) , making them into a song about a person which doesn’t want to be happy, doesn’t want to enjoy and doesn’t want to love. A lover of him will 'verderben’ - it’s a prediction, he doesn’t even think it just 'could’ happen, it will happen. He will be unlucky at some point and suffer, 'in luck is also ubglück’, he fears to be hurt so much that his lover 'must’ verderben. Though, he still talks about a lover, so next to this fear, he still does and wants to be happy, enjoy and to love.

Tattoo (tattoo) - I like the music and singing but the topic is boring to me

Pretty simply, it’s about tattoos. He compares paper with his skin and describes noticeably often the pain “when the pain hugs the flesh…” you feel while getting one and how much he likes them on his skin. ‘Show me yours [and[ I’ll show you mine’ it sounds more like a demand as if it were something intimate. Also, after gettin the name of the lover tattooed - in case that the partner would end the relationship - he would prefer to find another partner with the same name instead of erasing the tattoo. He’s just crazy for tattoos.

Hallomann (is norwegian and a word for moderator or similiar) - pretty good?

It sounds kinda as if he would like to spend his time with a little girl. He’s telling a her to “just get in” and to “dance for him” but he doesn’t want her to speak. They go together to the sea, he buys stuff for her. ‘You are alone’ - the girl is alone, maybe she was walking around alone? - and he is ‘all alone’, this sounds more like on an emotional base, being lonely. Not sure of in a romantic or a platonic way. After the dancing  would come the Hallomann to her - I really don’t see the connection. Later they sunbath, do something with skin and sand. She has to ‘give her word’, take his hand and afterwards it won’t be the same. ‘Perl on the ring’ - a wedding ring? I’m not even sure if the person himself is an adult or maybe just a boy. In the end he says ‘don’t ask for the meaning’, maybe he just wanted to spent a nice day with her. It got some pedophile vibes at the first sight but nothing really indicates it. Maybe I just don’t see the methaphors lol okay everybody says it's about a pedophile and I guess;; he used phrases pedophiles often use

Ausländer (foreigner) - sounds like Schlager Urgh [german trigger] but good

Simply just a Gigolo jumping from one bed to another and fucking his way through the whole world. He doesn’t even “stay over night, just for 1 or 2 hours.” Anyways, it’s practical to speak many languages so he can talk with the foreign women. In that way he tells us that he’s good in these and speaks a lot, but the last sentence means something like ‘you coming with [me], I’m you doing goodd’ which is pretty bad in grammar but it’s enough to let her know what he wants.

Sex (sex) - love the melody and riffs, really good one

Uhm also pretty much just about sex? Sex without feelings tho. He ‘gets sick when he looks at you’ - it’s really just about the act - ‘mine is yours and that in you’. This is underlined by ‘better slovenly than again not’, he probably put the ‘again’ before the ‘not’ to let it stand out, again, so they already did it at least a couple of times, or better said, didn’t do it. Maybe they are in a relationship? But he can’t look at her anymore, he just wants her body for sex - and only the important parts. The contrast to that is the refrain, ‘We live only once, we love the life, we love the love, we love sex.’ The last sentence is ‘We live because … sex.’ So, he sings often they love the life and in the end it’s they only live for sex =  they love just the sex.

[borisbubbles]

Eurovision 2010s: 140 - 136

140. Greta Salóme & Jónsi - Never forget” Iceland 2012

Oh man, this is just tragic. Like, “l’amore è femmina”, “Never forget” could’ve been near the top of the ranking, but the stakes were even higher. A good performance of “Never forget” WINS this ranking easily. "Never forget” is not only one of my favourite ESC songs ever, it’s also the song that ignited my interest in becoming an freelance Eurovsion analyst, following the backstage, rehearsals and preselections, teaching myself how to gif, etc. It was a key entry in establishing my fandom.

My feelings on “Never forget” are as such, all over the goddamn’ place, so I will attempt to remain succinct: I was a HUGE fanboy in the day and to some degree I still am. Jónsi is probably still my single favourite Eurovision human. Effortlessly funny, disarmingly self-deprecating, overwhelmingly charismatic, constantly spewing off dorky dad humour everywhere. The only other person who can hold a candle to that is (the sadly LESS dorky) Måns Zelmerlöw. He is, simply put, perfect. Here’s a gif of him getting lost backstage.

(caption: “How unprofessional of me🤭🤔😬” 😻)

Greta is pretty amazing in her own right, as well. In addition to being a very talented songwriter who makes consistently magical music, I relate a lot to her permanently anxious, overambitious, perfectionistic self, her crippling fear of “not being good enough” permeating throughout every line she says. I mean, same girl, same. WLU *GREAT*A.

As for the song,man, how much praise can I cram into this? “Never forget” is a brilliant composition: It transcends the boundaries of music by unfolding like an animated chapter from the Edda. The Icelandic version may very well be the single best song in all of Eurovision, and is on my non-ESC playlist.

Sadly, Greta & Jónsi were ALSO struck by the Crystal Acoustics Curse. Not as badly as Compact Disco and Nina were but still, the end result was pretty disappointing. Jónsi was especially terrible which hurts my iceberg of a heart. However, I prefer to not dwell on what could’ve been. The final positioning at #140 is fair based on what “Never forget” eventually became: a solidly good entry, just not a great one. 

________________________________________________________________

139. Emmelie de Forest - “Only teardrops” Denmark 2013

On the other end of the spectrum, we now encounter another song in the “OUTSOLD!!!” category. Emmelie’s rank is limited by the quality of her song: "Only teardrops” is a boatload of nonsense, pre-packaged as pseudo-ethnic schlager <3 To put it plainly: It is a simple song for simple souls. 🤗  Fortunately, I too am a simple soul and was instantly drawn by this charming blend of floral melodies and underlying moody percussion. “Only teardrops” is, by the strict definition of the term, a basic bitch song, but it actually manages to convincingly disguise itself as quality. The presentation is elegant and even lowkey epic and Emmelie absolutely makes the most out of it. It’s not my 2013 winner, not even by a longshot, but I am nevertheless satisfied.

________________________________________________________________

138. Buryanoskiye Babushki - “Party for everybody” Russia 2012

PARTIY VAR EVRIBADIY DENZ. 

ANOTHER VICTIM OF CRYSTAL ARENA ACOU- lmfao just kidding.🤭 We knew well ahead in time the Babushki couldn’t hold a tune and if you care about *that* aspect, you’re just not watching Eurovision right. The only complaints I could’ve had would be if they won and well, look at the year. 

Also, in a year featuring Jónsi (perfect human) and Kaliopi (”I LOVE THE GREECE. I LOVE GREECE MUSIC” + off-screen showmance with Can Bonomo <3), Natalia, a living breathing inner matrjoska manages to capture my heart as one of Eurovision’s best ancillary characters. SO ADORABLE, WHERE CAN I ORDER ONE ONLINE???

All yours, Babooshka, Babooshka, Babooshka, ya ya~

I also really cherish the Babushki because their participation feels like the FINAL time Russia was genuinely without a hidden motive. They were the last Russian entry to win an NF, and they did it with antiquated shit schlager about dogs crawling on cats <3 (Like, seriously. I’m sure there is some obscure uralic legend at the base of these acidtrippy lyrics, which <3). This of course they expanded by baking cookies on the stage while cawing on in offkey Udmurt and broken English. They are genuinely disarming and I question the morality and life choices of anyone who thinks otherwise. ^_^

Oh btw, all of Russia has  now been eliminated, except for Polina. What a Good Eurovision Country. 

________________________________________________________________

137. Sunstroke Project ft. Olia Tira - “Runaway” Moldova 2010

In a bizarre fluke, “Run away” is one of the most famous Eurovision songs of all time.😂  I will not insult your intelligence by pointing out how, and I’ll instead remark that I find it lowkey hilarious. Hilarious, because at the time, the general opinion of “Run away” was a negative one: “a vocal disaster, an undeserving fringe qualifier, the epitome of bad taste & bad music, evocative of eastern-European countries voting only for each other”. Man, do those haters look silly now. 

As for my personal opinion, well, yes, I live for the mess, obviously? Always have, long before it was cool! Pseudo-orchestral trashpop beat laced with incomprehensible coalminer’s English <3 correctly-rated-as-epic sax playback <3 <3 The terrible outfits <3 the world’s least convincing violin <3 Sergei RIPPING OPEN HIS SHIRT AT THE END lmfao <3 Keep on causing rage-induced embolysms with those juror fiends, sweet trash angels. So camp, so lowbudget, so shameless, SO MOLDOVAN <3

and now for the final boot of the ~Like Zone~

________________________________________________________________

136. Uzari & Maimuna - “Time” Belarus 2015

“Time” is like Thunder Oh OH.

‘Time” is such a weird entry and I am barely able to make sense of it all. 

First of all, it’s a physical health awareness anthem aimed at the terminally ill??? Telling them to live their life to the fullest because they have such little time left (which is both endearing and hilariously inappropriate). 

Second of all, both Uzari (pronounced *YOU*zari, no really, he insists) and Maimuna are such intense weirdo’s. I wouldn’t describe their deadlocked gazes as chemistry per se, it’s more like a nonstop spaghetti western staredown.  <3 How did these two people end up working together?

Thirdly this is a pairing between a singer and a musician but it is UZARI who composed the music while MAIMUNA wrote the lyrics <3 "Time” is such a quaint, but entertaining little song, how come everyone overlooks it ::looks at the flag::... oh. 

And that concludes all the songs I ~like~. Now we move on to the second highest tier, to the [chiara] Songs That I ~LOOOOOVE~ 😻 [/chiara]

[sole-cuore-amore-e-droga]

Tel Aviv 2019: Straight outta Denmark to Eurovision with a cute multilingual jingle

Dansk Melodi Grand Prix is... a NF I don’t really have anything to say about. Like, you expect me to rile up 3 big paragraphs about the pre-NF dramas and what-not, but honestly... what’s the point.

Well, aside from the fact people did not really get excited over the lineup this year. Me neither from the names alone, actually. Even last year was more interesting to look at despite with another lineup of songs you can’t give a fuck about and then move on - I noticed they had Sannie who used to be known as Whigfield (”Saturday Night” <3333 the duck quacks <333), Ditte Marie (anyone remembers “Overflow” from 2012?) and Albin Fredy (which seems to be the same Albin that brought me my one of the two DMGP 2013 favourite songs, “Beautiful to Me”???). This year was a big “WHO IS SHE?? WHERE DID YOU FIND HER???”, so I just left DMGP in the corner where it picked cobwebs until not too long ago when someone got chosen.

Well, this NF keeps being a NF where I don’t personally feel too emotionally fucked about any of them entries, so that’s a big plus in my book, which will mean that I won’t throw a “THIS WAS ROBBED!!!1″ post on Denmark NF-wise... at least this year and the last year because I really loved “Venter” in 2012 and the said “Beautiful to Me” and “Invincible” in 2013 (I also liked “Only Teardrops” but I was mad its victory was so obvious xD). As for why I like it when the NFs don’t toy with my feelings, A Dal 2019 is an obvious demonstration, but more on that on my Hungarian writeup, which is significantly longer than this one - that’s how much of a demonstration it is.

Anyway, let’s talk about the chosen song, shall we? Performed by a smol skater girlie Leonora (Jepsen), here comes “Love Is Forever”, which was co-penned by the ever-so-notorious Lise Cabble - the champ-mastress of writing Eurovision songs for the Danes (by that I mean she wrote their 1995 entry... and then none of her entries got chosen for ESC until 2011 lol). And this is a significally softer turn of hers compared to “Only Teardrops” - ever since Anna Ritsmar in 2018′s DMGP, she tends to write cute, acoustic tunes sung by young ladies with their lil cute and lil crispy voices. “Love Is Forever” is just that, tbh.

Well THAT and also it sounds like a lovely acoustic background song for those funny photos/student quotes/test answers/etc. compilation videos on Youtube (I actually am talking about the channel Scoop, because other kinds of compilation videos use Youtube Audio Library-like pop songs or something straight off NoCopyrightSounds). Or the theme song for a TV programme for animals. Or the theme song for a children's programme they show at hospitals. There's so many places you can insert it into, I guess. At the same time it feels like a cupcake with pink frosting that tastes nice. And a cup of warm cocoa with whipped cream and sprinkles. It's a delightful bite. Yum.

Realistically though, the song itself has an easy noddable-along-to rhythm, cute violin string plucks, the capability to melodically progress to sound even more joyful (I mean, the chorus just adds more and more layers of brass as it keeps repreating, just giving it a bit more of a typical Scoop channel background music material), the D flat major key of this song’s uplifts the spirits of this whole shebang and it also somehow includes lines in some more languages than expected in a Danish song ever, how odd it seems like??? And it’s especially given that we haven’t really heard Danish in a song since like what, 1997?? We only got “shout insh’allah” and “taka stökk til hærri jörð, taka” ever since then, and these aren’t remotely Danish lines. But this year we’re getting some Danish, and French, and even German. Feeling the love in multilingual. L’amour est pour toujours, y’all! Liebe IST für alle da!

There are also people that aren’t buying into the song all that much because Leonora looks way too creepy to sell a song about love love peace peace, like someone emerging out of a demented cabaret. I suppose that other people think that this song was forced onto Leonora when she didn’t really want it, and now has to pretend that we have to spread love to the world, make friendships with others, don’t get too political, and then act all supercool about it. The saddest bit that she does sound like that person that would sing a song like that... young, with a passion for skating, looks like a person that could probably hug you when you least expect it, the one that posts light purple sweater pictures with a glitter effect applied to them on Tumblr, the one who would wear white mittens with a giant red snowflake painted on/knitted into them... I don’t know if that’s all Leonora wanted to compete with in DMGP to make a breakthrough with her singing career after skating so darn much, and if she even believes in what is she singing (this is my rare reminder of the war situation in Israel that’s going on, and I’ll probably never have to speak of this again in any writeup, hopefully. Yeah sure, love is for ever...), but I somehow buy it, sue me. Those acoustics and that touch of brass instruments won me over.

So my final thoughts on this song is that it’s a joyball with that kind of song message so overused I cannot be angry on it because it’s not slapped on a dreary Russian peace ballad - it’s a singer-songwriter-esque small showtune, which makes it all seem a lot different because love is cute and this song is cute. So I guess I have no issues with it, whereas I can’t stand the aforementioned Russian peace ballads all that much because if you remove the good singers singing it, they’re cliché af; “Wars for Nothing” (Hungary 2015) sounded too innocent while having a full gun tree serving as a backdrop for them and if you looked too much into Boggie’s eyes, you could very well feel her penetrating your soul with war imagery; and Iceland last year was a knock-off Russian peace ballad that sounded too good to be unbearably dreary and the vocalist wasn’t even a belting girl. So yeah, I like it. More adorable songs about spreading love, less overdone ballads about world peace.

Thing is though, why did she really dress like a barista from a late-night-open cocktail club? I get that looking like a princess à la Maria Olafs won't cut it anymore as it would look way more saccharine, but Leonora is up like she's there to serve you your damn drink as soon as possible so she could go outside for a small smoke break, not to advertise love. Watch me make "when you have Eurovision at 9 and job at a cocktail bar at 11" memes on the night of the 16th. Seriously, her image barely even fucking suits the song!

Approval factor: Well, one of my faves won DMGP again, for the 2nd time in a row, so why wouldn’t I approve? ^_^ Love from me is forever!

Follow-up factor: For Denmark it kind of seems like a decent follow-up? For all those out here that remember Denmark as the nation that plagiarises every other entry, it would just seem logical for them to finally send a generic royalty free ukulele song for Youtube videos. Which is spectacular! No one knows which song did this one exactly plagiarize - the entire concept was ripped off! Jokes aside, it’s an interesting one after Rasmussen. After a song that urges you to lay your weapons down in a war and go find higher ground more peacefully, we’re now getting a morale on the fact that love is for ever and everyone. Isn’t it sweet. I’d rather these than a bland love song about laying down armours and guns. ^_^

Qualification factor: depends. For now I feel like writing it off because to the 1% of the people who’ve already heard this song beforehand and hate this song, the whole thing feels like “love :) is :) forever :) please love everyone you little shit :) :) :)”. To some others however, like Luke Malam from ESCXtra, it’s a song that definitely makes them feel the love being forever, just like “yaaaay we love each other and the world yaaaay!!! ^o^”, so it’s perhaps a bit of a mixed bag. I wanna see it through though, just as much as I want to see Lithuania, about which I will be talking next in these write-ups. But I see it very much so as a borderline because... idk, just a gut feeling. Sometimes songs that ooze loveliness just don’t quite get themselves across the other hand side of the viewer thus they don’t really qualify, for example, Finland 2012, another song sung by a lady better known as a sportswoman rather than a singer (but maybe that’s just because there was too much intimacy of hers with her and her celloist’s mom, and she looked too awkward to pass the intimacy to the viewers so they too could feel the loving bond and the life metaphors coming from a Finnish entrant singing in Swedish). For now from me it’s a positive borderline. Yes, I think that it probably will make it and we’ll see that large Ikea chair prop with many people swaying to the rhythm on it next to Leonora on Saturday as well.

NATIONAL FINAL BONUS

Even with me not having much to say about DMGP, I will go ahead and cherrypick the favourite songs from the event:

• The big favourite of mine this year was brought by Julie & Nina, who served a bilingual schlager-like midtempo track, “League of Light”. Hats off to sounding properly Eurovision-y but without using a “rent-a-NF-songwriter” songwriter for to write this! It’s soaring, majestic, somewhat memorable and inclused Greenlandic. Yeah. Do you believe that this would have been a year where we could’ve gotten more exotic Language spins? Now we have lost both Aboriginal and Greenlandic out of Eurovision, hopefully just for this year so the languages can return again sometime. I’m proud of these women being so courageous and delighting some that really wanted schlager pop that still can click with some that are bored of Eurovision NF schlager cliches. Oh and this song is in A flat minor, probably one of my favourite keys in music. Not too bad, everything this was, although the aggression they transmitted through the song during their live DMGP performance kiiiiinda made them looked like pissed-off housewives imo?

• Them both and this guy below, Sigmund, were picked to the superfinal to compete against Leonora. What was Sigmund’s contribution and why did he deserve to be there so much? Well, I really love his colourful flamboyant electropop track that has piano influences, “Say My Name”, which lyrically reflects on the song’s protagonists big power that he will probably have if only the invisible force Sigmund’s singing to would just “say [his] name”. And I definitely think he deserved his spot over some really nice pop entries that the fandom definitely overrated. Oh and the song is in A flat minor too. Maybe I’m biased, maybe I’m not. You judge. >:)

• See, I don't feel like talking about the DMGP songs this year. It's a cool bunch of songs that some of them I like but nothing quite outstanding to talk about beyond those I already have paragraphs for. Well maybe you'd like to look up the entries by Humorekspressen (for to get a pub singalong song) and Jasmine Gabay (for to get yet another Latino-influenced Havana club track). But that's it. Here from me the last one you'll be getting is Simone Emilie with her teen-flavoured light radiofriendly dance-ish song "Anywhere". Why didn't it do better despite having the power to click with the Eurofans quite much? Well, maybe it's because her backdrop and the fairytale-esque dress went for another kind of atmosphere than it was required to have on the song.

• I don't know, I just find this particular winning reaction shot funny. Not sure if she's yawning or being like "yaaaazs bitchesss ;) 😄 ✨" in here. I gotta say - her lipstick was definitely on fleek that night.

That guy below her takes the cake at making this shot memorable too. Do you want the invisible meal Leonora is about to take a bite of too?

And besides that moment I don’t really have any on-show moments besides songs that were somewhat memorable. Why do Danes always have to be this vanilla in the Nordic country barrage, I will never get. That’s it. That’s their crime. Of being average. And being sued for plagiarism a lot in the past.

For now I’d just wish Leonora good luck in Tel Aviv and show ‘em that love can and will prevail before hatred does, if only people remember to love... ah wait, wrong kind of philosophy.

[formerlyknownas-delight]

Tagging Game

Tagged by: @rowan-berry  Thanks! <3

Rules: Answer 21 questions and then tag 21 however many people you’d like who you want to know better.

Nickname: Sanni

Sign: Pisces

Height: 157 cm (about 5′ 2′’)

Last movie I saw: Harold and Maude, I think

Last thing I googled: a map of my hometown

Favorite musician: Reinhard Mey, a German singer songwriter from the late 60s. Also Wir sind Helden, a German band

Song stuck in my head: various bits of German Schlager since I had to attend a Schlagerparty on Saturday (and to be fair I do like classical Schlager, but the Ballerman-Helene-Fischer-kind is killing all of my braincells -.-)

Other blogs: None

Do I get asks: Nah

Blogs following: 52 I follow and 516 who follow me

Amount of sleep: 7-9 hours

Lucky number: 7 is good

What I’m wearing: A top saying “I’m a mermaid” with Ariel on it and  jeans shortshorts. Also lots of leg hair

Dream job: Bookbinder hell yes!

Dream trip: Cottage by the sea, windy and sunny, wife and/or friends, books, games, maybe no wifi for once

Favorite food: Potato pancakes with applesauce

Play any instruments: Nope, and I don’t regret it either

Languages: German, English, remnants of French, very little biblical Hebrew (Hamelech katav “sus”), Latin and enough of Tolkien’s languages to get the etymology of his geographical names

Random fact: I can ride a unicycle

Describe yourself as aesthetic things: Uhh. A chaotic old workshop. An overgrown grave full of different bright flowers. April weather that’s all over the place. Catscratches on a shiny leather couch. Accidentally ripped lace tights. Drilling dust on a cocktail dress.

That was fun! I tag @floralprintshark and @improfem

[hapalopus]

53+54 days of productivity

Yesterday I:

- Took a shower

- Vacuumed

- Did laundry

- Changed my sheets

- Listened to the Spektrum 3: Ursiderne audiobook

- Had my girlfriend visit

- Played 1x1 D&D with my girlfriend

Today I:

- Woke up next to my girlfriend❤️❤️

- Cleaned up after my girlfriend’s mess (messy bed? plates and glasses in random places??)

- Bought tomatoes for my snails because they love tomatoes

- Gave my snails tomatoes

- Cleaned one of the roach enclosures and split the adults up into two colonies as a breeding experiment - the ones with faint markings and the ones with strong markings. Don’t even know if the markings are genetic. We’ll see

- Listened to Ursiderne while drawing on my tablet for the first time since moving in RIP

- Made dinner when one of my dormmates joined me in the kitchen and turned the tv to a random channel. We ended up watching a random German drama series about a cruise ships for about an hours. The worst part is I got invested in the drama?? Like, how fucking dare Hardy treat Jeannie like some second class citizen just because she chose to sing schlager with Thomas???? And honestly Stefan can fuck off after what he did to Katharina.

[deutschestars-blog]

Florian Silbereisen: Bewegender Abschied! Karel Gott und Silbereisen hatten noch Pläne

Die Schlagerwelt trauert um Karel Gott. In einem emotionalen Facebook-Post hat sich der Schlagersänger Florian Silbereisen von dem verstorbenen Künstler verabschiedet. Auch andere Promis nahmen im Netz Abschied von der "goldenen Stimme aus Prag". Der Tod von Schlagersänger Karel Gott hat Fans und Promis schwer getroffen. Die "goldene Stimme aus Prag" starb am Dienstagabend kurz vor Mitternacht im Alter von 80 Jahren. Zahlreiche Promis, darunter auch Schlager-Liebling und Entertainer Florian Silbereisen, machten ihre Trauer über den Tod der Schlager-Legende in rührenden Social-Media-Beiträgen öffentlich.

Florian Silbereisen nimmt Abschied von Karel Gott! Sie planten noch einen großen Auftritt

Nur wenige Minuten nach Bekanntwerden der traurigen Todesnachricht, veröffentlichte Florian Silbereisen einen emotionalen Post, den er ganz allein dem verstorbenen Schlagersänger Karel Gott widmete. Zu einem Foto, das Silbereisen gemeinsam mit Gott zeigt, schreibt der 38-Jährige: "Wir waren mitten in den Vorbereitungen für einen großen Auftritt ... Ich bin so traurig. Karel war ein ganz besonderer Mensch. #karelgott #rip". Um welchen Auftritt es sich dabei genau handelt, lässt der künftige ZDF-"Traumschiff"-Kapitän an dieser Stelle offen. Es kann nur darüber spekuliert werden, ob Karel Gott möglicherweise zu den Gästen von Silbereisens ARD-Show "Schlagerboom 2019", die am 02. November in der Dortmunder Westfalenhalle stattfinden wird, zählte. https://www.facebook.com/floriansilbereisen.official/photos/a.165839336909962/1376861132474437/?type=3

Roberto Blanco veröffentlicht rührenden Abschieds-Post

Auch Schlagersänger Robert Blanco machte seine Trauer über den Tod von Karel Gott in einem rührenden Facebook-Post öffentlich. Zu einer Schwarz-Weiß-Aufnahme schreibt der "Ein bisschen Spaß muss sein"-Interpret: "Dein Tod macht mich sehr traurig. Es war eine große Ehre und Freude dich kennengelernt zu haben. Im Privatleben, wie auf der Bühne. Ob grosse Gala oder Fernsehshow. Du warst ein großartiger Künstler. Deine begnadete Stimme ist einfach unvergesslich." Weiter schreibt Blanco, der Karel Gott seit vielen Jahren kannte: "Du wirst uns fehlen. Deinen vielen Fans und uns Kollegen. Ruhe in Frieden! Dein Freund Roberto".

Skandal-Rapper Bushido trauert um Schlager-Legende Karel Gott

Auch Skandal-Rapper Bushido, der im Jahr 2008 gemeinsam mit Karel Gott den Song"Für immer jung" aufnahm, widmete der "goldenen Stimme aus Prag" einen traurigen Beitrag. In seiner Instagram-Story veröffentlichte Bushido einen Schnappschuss, der ihn gemeinsam mit Karel Gott zeigt. "Heute ist ein ganz besonderer Mensch von uns gegangen. Mein Beileid an die Hinterbliebenen. Lieber Karel, richtige bitte meiner Mama liebe Grüße von uns aus. Wir vermissen sie.", lauten die traurigen Worte, die Bushido an Karel Gott richtet. Read the full article

[aliciamelina]

R.i.P. Chris Roberts🎗🎚#rip #chrisroberts #sänger #schlager #dukannstnichtimmer17sein #abschied #traurig #aliciamelina #boxweltmeisterin #weltmeisterin (hier: Friedrich-Ebert-Halle)

[borisbubbles]

Eurovision 2010s: 155 - 150

155. Milan Stankovic - “Ovo je Balkan” Serbia 2010

Fun fact: one of my (straight female) friends has a MASSIVE crush on Milan Stankovic. Yes, THIS thing:

We stan questionable straight women’s taste <3 

As for “Ovo je Balkan” The Song, it is one of those entries that are deliberately made as annoying as possible but I am mostly amused? Christmas elf-looking creature who prances around in a hideous, half-bedazzled dinner jacket. <3 The score is a banquet of honking noises, schlager beats and obnoxious autotune fillers <3 "Ovo je Balkan” just feels so quintessentially Eurotrash and for that I’ll always cherish it.

________________________________________________________________

154. Ivi Adamou - “La La love” Cyprus 2012

“NAFINK TUFERR ... WILE U ARNERRRR.”

I know that “La La love” has a lot of fans, and it isn’t hard to see why: The song is pretty good: Three minutes of unbridled fun descended from Eurotrash heaven. <3 The choreography is darling, as is Ivi Adamou’s lovable diction <3 Standing on top a giant table made from books <3 Another tragic victim of Crystal Arena acoustics.  😭

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153. Eleftheria Eleftheriou - “Aphrodisiac” Greece 2013

In a reserve of “La la love”, the selling point here is actually Eleftheria’s live and not the song. “Aphrodisiac” is servicable, but inferior to “La la love”. However, I think Eleftheria has a more engaging live performance charm than Ivi does, so I like her slightly more.🤗  Like Venus birthed from the clam, so did Eleftheria emerge as a wonderful throwback to the mini-skirted, hairflipping Eastern European slutpop DIVA.

Mind, like most contestants in 2012, Eleftheria was REALLY bad on the night, but in such a legendary fashion that I now refer to the common Greek practice of “burying bad lead vocals under backings” as “Eleftheria’ing”. The voiceover work is so meticulously done it sounds like a doppler-shifted fire alarm <3 RIP my sweet discount Foureira.

________________________________________________________________

152. Balkanika - “Nova deca” Serbia 2018

 [2018 review here]

GO GO BALKAN RANGERS

Bless Serbia for that one time they shirked their Joksimovic traditions for a megamix of millenium-old music <3

Bear with me for a sec. “Nova deca” is NOT a song that I hold very dear in my heart. It features several Balkan musical tropes and coalesces them into a giant bloated mess. I like the historical aspect of it all, but I never connected with the song. Still haven’t, in fact.

However, I love what Balkanika have done with it. What an endearing bunch of weirdo’s <3

Gallavanting around the stage in black shawls and cloaks, making yoga poses, performing their hackneyed choreography with so much gusto <3 

THE BEST ONE, and this cannot be stressed enough, IS THE RASFLUTIN-LOOKING FLUTE PLAYER. He isn’t show at a gif-worthy angle but pay attention to him and be rewarded with endless laffos <3 We love you Ljubomir <3

Balkanika have so much earnest commitment to the Fertility Cult concept of their staging that it also rubs off on me. I may not love the entry itself, but I do appreciate the collective effort delivered here. They 1) believed in it and 2) just rolled with it, and that’s how you Eurovision a song. 🤗

_______________________________________________________________

151. Filipa Azevedo - “Há dias assim” Portugal 2010

Remember when Portugal had a three-year qualification streak? It is SO painful that Portugal, one of my favourite Eurovision countries, has only TWO qualifiers in this decade and one of them is S******r. 😣

Which is why we must all cherish the other Portuguese qualifier because I think "Há dias assim” is kind of really underrated. It’s the same deal as Tamara Todevska for me: Filipa just generally outsold her lowtempo song by injecting her heart into it. It transforms “Há dias assim” into a lovely song with an undercurrent of fierceness and saudade. 

I personally find Filipa even better than Tamara though, because there is an evolution here: Filipa is visibly nervous at the start and overcomes them midway the performance, proving to the world that she’s both human and confident. If I don’t care about the song, the least I can be given is a personal connection with the performer so I can root for their success and that’s precisely what has happened here ^_^

Whoa we’re already at 150? Lol. Only 30-60 days worth of updates left to go. 😬