Eurovision Song Contest Rotterdam 2020

Capt'n Midnight

So far nothing worth talking about from Italy

yerwanthere123

Australia

I actually like this, but there's work to be done on the presentation.


Latvia

I actually quite like this too! Will certainly stand out.


Italy

Think this is quite decent. Not sure about the televote but I reckon it'll mop up a lot of easy jury votes.

LordBasil

It's been an interesting weekend;

Australia; OK Song but the staging needs to be totally changed. If they have that staging in Rotterdam they won't qualify.

Latvia; Interesting and different. Could qualify being in the more unpredictable SF sort of how Slovenia 2018 qualified.

Italy; Decent song, sung well. I feel like this and France will be fishing for similar votes. BTW France's song will be released on Sunday next.

Amik

Melodifestivalen is in full swing.

Dotter's minimalist staging blew me away. Why can't Ireland do it like this: mirror top from Penneys and some bright lights from Woodies. :P

She moved on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g88Aj5NWtxk

Amik

LordBasil wrote: »

It's been an interesting weekend;

Australia; OK Song but the staging needs to be totally changed. If they have that staging in Rotterdam they won't qualify.

Latvia; Interesting and different. Could qualify being in the more unpredictable SF sort of how Slovenia 2018 qualified.

Italy; Decent song, sung well. I feel like this and France will be fishing for similar votes. BTW France's song will be released on Sunday next.

Australia: Not a fan of this at all. The staging gives me the creeps, too. Sounds like a lot of whining.

Latvia: It didn't take me long to realize Aminata Savadogo was involved in writing this song. So love her sound and vibe. I've enjoyed all of this country's entries since 2015.

Italy: Very decent, Italian ballad. Doesn't have the magic of Netherlands 2019 but an easy Top 10 finish. Don't feel Eurovision 2021 in Italy.

otnomart

Amik wrote: »

Italy: Very decent, Italian ballad. Doesn't have the magic of Netherlands 2019 but an easy Top 10 finish. Don't feel Eurovision 2021 in Italy.

Agree.


Italy would have won Eurovision 2020 with this song by Achille Lauro though.

Amik

otnomart wrote: »

Agree.


Italy would have won Eurovision 2020 with this song by Achille Lauro though.

:P :P :P

Not a strong San Remo this year. My personal favourite was Raphael Gualazzi:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJ-3rtO_Zqs

LordBasil

My favourite in San Remo was this belter;

Capt'n Midnight

Amik wrote: »

Melodifestivalen is in full swing.

Dotter's minimalist staging blew me away. Why can't Ireland do it like this: mirror top from Penneys and some bright lights from Woodies. :P

Róisín Murphy back in the day.

yerwanthere123

A few more entry reveals coming in the next few days. Armenia, Norway and Lithuania on Saturday, the French song release on Sunday followed by Belgium on Monday. Hopefully the Irish reveal isn't too far away either.

Amik

Hello you...

I think I found my Valentine...



Romania will be sending Roxen.

Song not released yet but you can get a feel for her Billie Eilish sound here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5FxqUBeyp8

Amik

Meanwhile in Poland...

They've gone the talent show route.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIRNbXY9neY

The jury are Cleo (2014), Michal Szpak (2016), and Gromee (2018).

Not feeling it will be Poland's year at the moment. :P

yerwanthere123

Armenia

Nothing to get remotely excited about here I think, a borderline qualifier at best.

Norway

Decent ballad sang well.

Lithuania

This is... really good! My favourite so far. Obviously the performance is a bit mad though, so depends on whether or not people will take it seriously. I think this could get a lot of Moldova 2017/Norway 2019 type of votes.

yerwanthere123

Also found this post on the Digital Spy forum from an Irish poster:

I got serious tea about the Irish act, courtesy of our OGAE leader who has heard the song and described it as uptempo and modern. He said the singer is female, originally from Dublin but has lived in the US for the past 15 years.......surely it has to be Samantha Mumba?!

Now obviously take this with a generous helping of salt, but Samantha has said in previous years she'd like to do it. I hope it isn't true, I'd much rather someone younger and upcoming.

LordBasil

The name being thrown around for the Irish singer is Lesley Roy, she's LGBT and she lives in America. If she's not the singer she could be the songwriter as she has written songs for Adam Lambert amongst others. We'll have to wait and see....

About this weekend's selected entries;

Armenia; A mess but will have a revamp so it could still be salvaged.

Norway; People are really liking this but it does nothing for me. The juries might like it in Rotterdam but it could be overshadowed by other big ballads.

Lithuania; A memorable entry after last year's dirge. Will qualify, do well in the televote and not just from Lithuanian diaspora but I think the juries will prevent it from being a contender to win.

Amik

LordBasil wrote: »

Armenia; A mess but will have a revamp so it could still be salvaged.

Norway; People are really liking this but it does nothing for me. The juries might like it in Rotterdam but it could be overshadowed by other big ballads.

Lithuania; A memorable entry after last year's dirge. Will qualify, do well in the televote and not just from Lithuanian diaspora but I think the juries will prevent it from being a contender to win.

Lithuania: So much fun and the first really unique entry so far! I like the school teacher teaching "Don't Do Drugs Kids" vibe. I hope it does well.

Norway: Excellent singer and the song sticks. Among my favourites at the moment. Two issues for me: the lyrics aren't very imaginative/deep (but I like the title and chorus) and it's bordering on a very stereotypical Eurovision performance/sound. That pyro was great though!!

Armenia: Two big disappointments from this country in a row. I won't be dreaming about her like I do Iveta to this day. Maybe they're still paying off her performance. :P

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nL066Rp7J7k

yerwanthere123

France

There's been a hugely negative reaction to this so I was expecting something terrible. Nowhere near as bad as is being made out, but it's still very safe and solid with a bad key-change. Could see decent staging elevating it slightly but a 15-20 finish in the final would probably be the very best this could hope for.

Amik

Meanwhile in Poland...

Albert Černý won the 3rd Semi Final of Szansa na Sukces.

If he looks familiar you're right: He's only a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend (Czech Republic 2019)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTLoybZgcZg

donkeykong5

Any truth in the rumour about julian benson.

Amik

The Flemish released their song this morning: Release Me by Hooverphonic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ay6KTNtMCwo

Sweet voice and good lyrics (supposedly about a dying father but can be interrpreted in a few ways). A pleasant listen with a Bond-ish theme vibe. A dark horse with the right staging.

Amik

This fantastic cover of Shallow by Norway's entry came up on my YouTube playlist. I think Lady Gaga would be sincerely impressed. So many others have failed at covering this.

This is what I love about Eurovision: getting introduced to new talents!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvgG_PsTNq0

yerwanthere123

Don't really rate the Belgium song at all tbh, think that'll get lost easily in its semi-final. Would need spectacular staging and strong jury support, for me at this early stage it's a NQ.

yerwanthere123

Another day, another rumour; seeing Irish band ELM being linked to representing Ireland now. Although they seem to be retweeting all the rumours connecting them to Eurovision, which seems like some kind of attempt at generating some cheap and easy publicity for themselves. They've got a new single coming out this Friday too, but I don't think it'll be them representing us in Rotterdam. Had never heard of them before tonight but they wouldn't be a terrible choice I guess.

Amik

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

Another day, another rumour; seeing Irish band ELM being linked to representing Ireland now. Although they seem to be retweeting all the rumours connecting them to Eurovision, which seems like some kind of attempt at generating some cheap and easy publicity for themselves. They've got a new single coming out this Friday too, but I don't think it'll be them representing us in Rotterdam. Had never heard of them before tonight but they wouldn't be a terrible choice I guess.

Good catch! They do tick all the rumour boxes.

This is how that song getting released on Friday sounds. Weak compared to the others on their YouTube so I hope it's not them.

https://twitter.com/thelongestone/status/1225157771265527809

Looks like they are signed to Sony. Do our entries come from a particular record label? I've noticed a lot of Italian entries are tied to Warner Music.

LordBasil

Amik wrote: »

Good catch! They do tick all the rumour boxes.

This is how that song getting released on Friday sounds. Weak compared to the others on their YouTube so I hope it's not them.

https://twitter.com/thelongestone/status/1225157771265527809

Looks like they are signed to Sony. Do our entries come from a particular record label? I've noticed a lot of Italian entries are tied to Warner Music.

Yeah, they'd fit lots of the rumours;

LGBT

Linked with 2FM Rise

The photo of rehearsals Philly McMahon posted was of the legs of 4 people in socks, looked like 3 Boys and a Girl - ELM has 3 Males, 1 Female Members- if they are just backing dancers rehearsing why not show their faces?

The Song is a 'Bop' and different to anything we've sent before - Hard to judge by that clip as sound wasn't the best and we are missing the last 40 seconds of it as clip is only 2.20 Minutes Long.

RTE said they want to mark 50 years since our 1st ESC Win, our 'Golden' Anniversary - Song is called 'Golden'

I'm feeling quite optimistic

gmisk

They actually sound promising bit of a years and years vibe....don't think we will find out til March?..there website says that song golden is out on 21/02...

Amik

LordBasil wrote: »

Yeah, they'd fit lots of the rumours;

LGBT

Linked with 2FM Rise

The photo of rehearsals Philly McMahon posted was of the legs of 4 people in socks, looked like 3 Boys and a Girl - ELM has 3 Males, 1 Female Members- if they are just backing dancers rehearsing why not show their faces?

The Song is a 'Bop' and different to anything we've sent before - Hard to judge by that clip as sound wasn't the best and we are missing the last 40 seconds of it as clip is only 2.20 Minutes Long.

RTE said they want to mark 50 years since our 1st ESC Win, our 'Golden' Anniversary - Song is called 'Golden'

I'm feeling quite optimistic

Do you work for the Gardaí Special Investigations Unit? Well done!

My extra contribution is that Brendan Murray was also signed with Sony.

Even if that missing 40 seconds has an incredible key change and dazzling pyro it doesn't seem like a strong "We're Here To Win" entry. Hoping it's not THE song but they seem like good, talented performers.

Amik

LordBasil wrote: »

The photo of rehearsals Philly McMahon posted was of the legs of 4 people in socks, looked like 3 Boys and a Girl - ELM has 3 Males, 1 Female Members- if they are just backing dancers rehearsing why not show their faces?

https://twitter.com/McMahonPhilly/status/1229107715580071936

Amik

Does he not spell "E-U-R-O" with his finger?

https://twitter.com/ELMbandx/status/1225433547751731200

Amik

Really liking the ELM sound! Check out this live performance, especially the interview at the end.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrDmpC4Jk_M