As fans of the Eurovision Song Contest, you’ve probably heard the entries more than once by now. Every year, some songs get called growers, but what is the reaction of people who don’t watch the songs before the contest? How do they react when they see the songs for the first time? We’re looking for the true showers here.
That is why the escXtra Team has decided to ask five of our friends, who are not into Eurovision at all, to review a part of the songs of this year’s Eurovision. The first in these series is Emma’s friend, Lou. Lou is 35 years old, works as a bartender and mostly listens to jazz and hip hop!
Armenia: Aram MP3 – Not Alone
This has a good build up – sounds like something from a movie soundtrack. There’s an industrial rock feel even with the dubstep buildup. His voice I’d give a 6/10 (not a big fan of the ‘whisper’ elements) and this could possibly be a radio friendly song here in America.
Latvia: Aarzemnieki – Cake To Bake
This is like a Jimmy Fallon parody (Late night host here in the States). Latvian hipsters doing forced folk music. The voice annoys me, and I don’t know if I want to hear it ever again. Mumford’s disowned sons.
Estonia: Tanja – Amazing
There’s a great visual appeal here and I could see crossover American appeal as well. The singer has a good voice, and the song overall is Gaga/Madonna-esque. I could see this doing well on the club scene. The presentation of the video is very polished, and it might be cool to see it a little “rougher”.
Sweden: Sanna Nielsen – Undo
The singer’s voice reminds me a bit of the lead singer of the Cranberries – and I don’t like it that much. Not inspired by it – the message of the song doesn’t really resonate with me. The key change/bridge doesn’t really build up into anything exciting. Overall I’m not impressed.
Iceland: Pollapönk – No Prejudice
This reminds me of the pop-punk bands that were floating around in the mid 1990s. The lyrics sound like something that a middle school sociology class might come up with. It’s a very commercialized sound for this punkish/adult alternative mix. Not my favourite.
Albania: Hersi – One Night’s Anger
Maybe watching the music video with this doesn’t help, because it’s so distracting! The visuals don’t feel like they match with the lyrics. Kind of like Evanescence maybe, but without the appeal. The song is overall okay, but the video is just a visual nightmare!
Russia: Tolmachevy Sisters – Shine
Britney Spears does a James Bond theme! The video, yet again, is weird. It’s a decent song, though and maybe with a dance remix would have club crossover potential.
Azerbaijan: Dilara Kazimova – Start a Fire
Some of these instruments appearing in the video don’t actually seem to be in the song, but other than that, this is nice. It’s not a typical format, but it works. Feels ephemeral to me. I don’t really understand the words she’s singing, but the song itself makes up for that. Could see some crossover potential with this.
Final comment from Lou:
Lou’s favourite was Estonia. His least favourite was Latvia. He liked Azerbaijan and Armenia as well, and would probably be fine not hearing Iceland ever, ever again.
We would just like thank Lou for sharing his opinions and furthermore, to state that these opinions are that of Lou himself, and not of everyone at escXtra. Feel free to give your own opinion in the comments below!
