James Martin
Unregistered
In all fairness this is the first time we've actually submitted a current-sounding song.
The real problem with the Eurovision You Decide era was that the songs were all Eurovision By Numbers, and I imagine at least half of them were from SVT's reject bin. The songs mostly, if not all, came from Scandinavian writing camps and were all very beige. So we ended up with an issue that's also plagued Melodifestivalen; the Scandi-Pop sound worked in the first half of the 2010s but it's now largely gone out of fashion.
I know Björkman was a Marmite taste but I do think he was good at compiling a running order. Many of his principles - which are basically recieved wisdom anyway - are still there; start and end with a banger, put the emotional stuff in the middle of a section - and if a particular setup is hard to set or strike, it needs to really go after, or before, an ad break respectively. I think I'm in a minority but I much prefer producer-chosen running orders, if they're done by someone who knows their stuff.
The old political and perceived bloc voting is partly down to local promotion in neighbouring territories and overspill of transmission of neighbouring countries television stations. It has always happened and will continue to do so. Whether the professional jury votes are any sort of antidote to this is up for debate though!!
The U.K., Ireland and Malta used to exchange votes fairly freely because they were originally the only countries allowed to sing in English (when the language rule was in place). You could argue that the Scandinavian countries would be neighbourly because some language overlap and mutual comprehension exists between, for example, Swedish and Norwegian. But also many of the records achieved major airplay across these territories and so were familiar to voters. The Slavic nations often seem to vote disproportionately for each other as do members of the former ussr bloc.
But also it’s worth remembering that the killer song will always win. The U.K. hasn’t fared so well recently because we haven’t entered much that’s stood out.
James Martin
Unregistered
deejay post_id=1094 time=1617130388 user_id=880 Wrote:The old political and perceived bloc voting is partly down to local promotion in neighbouring territories and overspill of transmission of neighbouring countries television stations. It has always happened and will continue to do so. Whether the professional jury votes are any sort of antidote to this is up for debate though!!
The U.K., Ireland and Malta used to exchange votes fairly freely because they were originally the only countries allowed to sing in English (when the language rule was in place). You could argue that the Scandinavian countries would be neighbourly because some language overlap and mutual comprehension exists between, for example, Swedish and Norwegian. But also many of the records achieved major airplay across these territories and so were familiar to voters. The Slavic nations often seem to vote disproportionately for each other as do members of the former ussr bloc.
But also it’s worth remembering that the killer song will always win. The U.K. hasn’t fared so well recently because we haven’t entered much that’s stood out.
Yep. Expat votes count for a lot too - if I'm watching in Spain I can call RTVÉ's number for the UK (if I have a landline to hand or a local SIM.) Poland always does well in the UK televote as Polish nationals watching on the BBC can vote for their own country on BBC numbers. Remember in Ireland a lot of the audience actually shun the RTÉ broadcast and seek out a BBC feed as they prefer Graham's commentary!
This will pose an interesting scenario if Scottish inpdendence ever happens. If the Scottish phone system remains coupled to the UK's (see also: San Marino) it will make any future Scottish televote impossible.
James Martin
Unregistered
Mateus Honrado post_id=1191 time=1617167001 user_id=992 Wrote:BcastCornwall post_id=1007 time=1617114076 user_id=950 Wrote:An excellent selection on this compilation album out at the end of April.
https://twitter.com/NOWMusic/status/1376825960297795585
I had a feeling that this would happen one day.
Looking forward to this, quite a few versions not avaiable on Spotify currently. Looks like they've gone for English versions where they exist; in the language-rule era the winning artist would often sing their reprise at least partly in English, presumably with one eye on international record sales. Certainly I think the Herreys, Bobbysocks and Carola all did.
Lots of moaning on the fan circuit about the song choices (Eurovision fans are very hard to please) but for the "average" UK fan looking for a party soundtrack on May 22nd, I'd say it's a pretty good selection.
James Martin
Unregistered
Lester post_id=1340 time=1617212788 user_id=1090 Wrote:gottago post_id=1003 time=1617113637 user_id=900 Wrote:IMO Sweden will easily be top 10, possibly top 5, in the final.
The Swedish entry this year is terrible!
If ever there was an accusation that the Swedish entry sounds like an X Factor knock-off it would be 2021! Bland bland bland....
Semi 1 is a tough pool. I think there's a very real risk of NQ, which in Bjorkman's final year on Melfest could be quite embarrasing.
I stopped watching Eurovision from about 2010 when is was more political, maybe I'll give it another go this time around and see if and how it's changed.
James Martin
Unregistered
mediaone post_id=1526 time=1617227671 user_id=1240 Wrote:I stopped watching Eurovision from about 2010 when is was more political, maybe I'll give it another go this time around and see if and how it's changed.
I actually thought 2010 produced one of the more credible winners of that era. "Wonky pop" was still quite in at that point.
I think you'll find it a very different show from the days Wogan commentated.
![[Image: giphy.gif]](https://media3.giphy.com/media/j1sBmnV2TfYNwOCajp/giphy.gif)