October is finally upon us, which means we only have a month until we begin the 2015 national final season, what better time to cast an eye back to the national finals of 2014?
Last week Liam Clark told us his favourites from the Estonian, French, Finish and Belarussian selections and now for Part 2 we have Aoife Geraghty looking back at Ireland, Norway, Denmark and Belgium!
Ireland
Eoghan Quigg – The Movie Song
Starting off with my home country; it had always been a goal of mine to attend Ireland’s EuroSong selection and this year I got to do just that! Being such a big fan of Melodifestivalen, I would love for RTE to put on a bigger show but the 5 Song selection was still enjoyable especially when viewing from inside the studio.
When the line-up was announced for EuroSong it generated quite a buzz, mostly due to Eoghan Quigg’s previous fame from participating in the UK’s X-Factor. Living up to the hype, The Movie Song held it’s own! This simple, foot-tapping, mellow and retro tune just lost out on representing Ireland to Cann-Linn. Though certainly for this year’s EuroSong competition, another feisty Irish representative stole the show.. thanks Linda 😉
Norway
Sole Survivor – Elisabeth Carew
This year’s Norge Melodi Grand Prix produced quite a variety of contestants with various genres from still movement to highly energetic performances – looking back the the overall selection however, I felt it was a bit of a dull national selection and definitely think that Carl Espen was the deserved winner, no question.
I have to say though that throughout the summer Elisabeth’s song Sole Survivor did tend to get stuck in my head when I hear it on ESCradio during the summer! I liked the staging, the dancing wasn’t too distracting and Elisabeth’s vocals were quite effortless – similar to Paparizou, this survival theme has a certain strength about it.
Denmark
Danni Elmo – She’s The One
Now for the host country, and my second home 🙂 Dansk Melodi Grand Prix was even a bigger show than before, more Dannebrog than you could imagine! Some big names in the Danish music scene took part, and other contestants not so well known which added to the excitement.
Out of the 10 songs, I chose She’s The One because it instantly put a smile on my face the first time I heard it. His husky voice combined with the soft introduction and drumming build-up to the strong dance chorus totally works! Also, during my time living in Denmark last year, I got to see Danni perform at a small, low key, acoustic and hyggeligt session in Copenhagen and got to meet him after. Hearing that he would be taking part in DMPG was exciting, and doesn’t make me too bias in choosing his song for this… I hope!
Belgium
2 Fabiola ft. Loredana – She’s After My Piano
This year Nick and I covered the Belgian selections and it was really fun to get to interview the artists; I had a phone interview with the brains behind 2 Fabiola, Pat Claesen. He spoke of the long history of 2 Fabiola (which he started 18 years ago!) and now the future – turns out that even though they didn’t even make it to the Top 8 of Eurosong, She’s After My Piano gained a lot of attention outside of Belgium, and inside too with the song achieving certified Gold!
This fun, carefree and upbeat song displayed all that is fun and cheeky about the Belgians. The circus/magican theme was quite intriguing too and if they had made it to Copenhagen no doubt would they have put on a great show! Maybe Axel’s Mother could have been a back-up dancer too 😛
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-F_t8cV_P64
Do you agree with Aoife’s selection or were there songs that you do you think were overlooked? Tell us in the comments below! Stay tuned next week for another set of reviews reminding us of the songs that made up 2014’s National Final season!
