Let me start out by saying that ESC 2010 was quite possibly the best JESC ever and for sure the best JESC since at least 2005. Tons of strong entries and a lot of great performances. Anywho, here we go....
The Songs -
Number - Nation - Title (Translation) - Artist(s)
01 - Lithuania - Oki Doki - Bartas
02 - Moldova - Ali Baba - Stefan Roscovan
03 - The Netherlands - My Family - Anna And Senna
04 - Serbia - Carobna Noc (Magical Night) - Sonja Skoric
05 - Ukraine - Miy Litak (My Plane) - Yulia Gurska
06 - Sweden - Allt Jag Vill Ha (All I Want) - Josefine Ridell
07 - Russia - Boy And Girl - Sasha Lazin And Liza Drozd
08 - Latvia - Viva La Dance (Dejo Ta) [Long Live Dance (Dance Like That)] - Sarlote Lenmane And Sea Stones
09 - Belgium - Get Up - Jill And Lauren
10 - Armenia - Mama - Vladimir Arzumanyan
11 - Malta - Knock Knock! Boom! Boom! - Nicole Azzoparti
12 - Belarus - Muzyki Svet (Light Of Music) - Daniil Kozlov
13 - Georgia - Mari Dari - Mariam Kakhelishvili
14 - FYR Macedonia - Eooo, Eooo - Anja Veterova
Songs -
01 - Lithuania - Oki Doki - Bartas
02 - Moldova - Ali Baba - Stefan Roscovan
03 - The Netherlands - My Family - Anna And Senna
04 - Serbia - Carobna Noc (Magical Night - Sonja Skoric
05 - Ukraine - Miy Litak (My Plane) - Yulia Gurska
06 - Sweden - Allt Jag Vill Ha (Everything I Want) - Josefine Ridell
07 - Russia - Boy And Girl - Sasha Lazin And Liza Drozd
08 - Latvia - Viva La Dance (Dejo Ta) (Long Live Dance (Dance Like That)) - Sarlote Lenmane And Sea Stones
09 - Belgium - Get Up - Jill And Lauren
10 - Armenia - Mama - Vladimir Arzumanyan
11 - Malta - Knock, Knock! Boom! Boom! - Nicole Azzopardi
12 - Belarus - Muzyki Svet (Light Of Music) - Daniil Kozlov
13 - Georgia - Mari Dari - Mariam Kakhelishvili
14 - FYR Macedonia - Eooo, Eooo - Anja Veterova
Comments -
From the get go, there was a three way race to become my favorite song between Lithuania, Sweden and Georgia. They are each so special and perfect in their own way. Lithuania is an awesome Eastern European Dancey song with a great build and a great melody. Sweden is a perfectly charming and charismatic ballad. Georgia is just well...Georgia. It's totally high energy and crazy and awesome and a little bit of Lady Gaga (In JESC circles, she's known as "Mini Gaga").
In the End, i just had to give Sweden my top spot. I just love it too much. It's so deep and moving and powerful and pretty, i just have no choice but to love it. I gave Georgia my Second place and Lithuania gets my third. FYR Macedonia at 4th and Belgium at 5th complete my top 5.
Anywho, here are my current rankings -
1st - Sweden - Allt Jag Vill Ha - Josefine Ridell
2nd - Georgia - Mari Dari - Mariam Kakhelishvili
3rd - Lithuania - Oki Doki - Bartas
4th - Belgium - Get Up - Jill And Lauren
5th - FYR Macedonia - Eooo, Eooo - Anja Veterova
6th - Malta - Knock Knock! Boom! Boom! - Nicole Azzopardi
7th - Latvia - Viva La Dance (Dejo Ta) - Sarlote Lenmane And Sea Stones
8th - The Netherlands - My Family - Anna And Senna
9th - Armenia - Mama - Vladimir Arzumanyan
10th - Moldova - Ali Baba - Stefan Roscovan
11th - Ukraine - Miy Litak - Yulia Gurska
12th - Serbia - Carobna Noc - Sonja Skoric
13th - Belarus - Muzyki Svet - Daniil Kozlov
14th - Russia - Boy And Girl - Sasha Lazin And Liza Drozd
Comments -
01 - Lithuania -
UGH! So much love! When I first heard all 14 songs, this was my inital favorite. I simply adored it. It has such a cool beat and feel and i can remember this being the first song i created a dance to. So much perfection. It has interesting start, which suggests the awesomeness that is to come. I love the difference between the steady beat of the verses and the hugely musical and melodic chorus. I just love the chorus! Ugh and he just looks so fucking smooth and cool during the whole thing you just can't help but adore him. By leaps and bounds the most professional and polished performance of the whole year. He just has this whole thing down pat...cool, casual costume, awesome dancing, perfect hair, great voice, fantastic song and all the right moves. His background dancers are flawless and the whole thing just screams "Cool". UGH! I just can't get over what a fucking amazing performance he gives. You don't expect this sort of thing from Lithuania...I mean this song is by leaps and bounds my absolute favorite Lithuanian entry in JESC or real ESC ever! I have high hopes that he might represent Lithuania in the actual ESC this year (a.k.a. the first year he's old enough to) and show them how it's done! Awesome, brilliant entry.
02 - Moldova -
Oh Moldova...you just can't ever seem to get it right. This song has it's moments...but in such an awesome year it just can't be anything but average. I like it and can listen to it and dance along a little bit. It has a kinda cool feel. Performance wise, the costumes are just fucking fantastic. And of course, since he's from eastern europe, he brought along a bunch of gymnasts who manage to keep things interesting. The performance is better than the song, but overall, it just can't compete in this year.
03 - The Netherlands -
When i first heard this song, i loved it! It continued the proud Dutch JESC reputation for sending just fantastic songs (2003, 2005,2007!, 2008!) and i spent more than a few hours screaming and dancing along to it. That being said, over time, it's lost some of it's magic on me. Before JESC 2010, It usually ranked between 5th and 6th for me...but that's no longer the case. I mean it's awesome, but it's just a little too...erm...safe i guess? It doesn't have that certain spark that some of the other songs have and i'm realizing that more and more over time. Performance wise, they are spot on! I love the pink fiddle! Their costumes are hip and cool, but not to DTM (Dyed To Match). They do an excellent job of just having fun and making a party atmosphere. The lead girl (i'm not sure if that's Anna or Senna) does an excellent job of interpreting the song with her voice and gestures, but not in a "I'm making over dramatic gestures way". I love the hips and finger snaps and knees. Dancing wise, I think the background dancers do a fantastic job, but i wish the lead girls would like get off the platform...even if it's just a dancey walk. But she has great energy and you can just tell that she's having loads of fun and i like that.
06 - Sweden - (Breathless). Sweden. I love Sweden. I just can't say enough how much i adore Sweden. After consecutive entries by the (amazing and worshipful) Sandén sisters (Molly in 2006, Frida in 2007, 2008 they didn't compete and Mimi in 2009) Sweden selected a (shocker) non - sandén sister! I. fucking. adore. this. ballad. For sure it's one of my favorite ballads ever. I love each and ever second of it. I love it's slow yet steady beat that stays throughout the entire song. I love...love...love the chorus. Everything about this song makes me want to become a better person whenever i listen to it. It by leaps and bounds has the best lyrics, message and meaning in the entire contest. For refernece, here are the lyrics with an english translation -
Jag har en dröm innom mig
I have a dream within me
Och jag vet den kan bli sann
And I know it can become true
Jag kan nå fram här och nu
I can reach forward here and now
Det finns ingenting i världen, ingenting med världen
There exists nothing in the world, nothing to do with the world
Det jag känner här idag, allt jag vill ha, inget annat
What I’m feeling here today, all I want, nothing else
Ingenting kan stanna det vi startar du och jag
Nothing can stop what we’re starting you and I
Allt jag vill ha
All I want
Här är en ny chans, att den fanns
Here is a new chance, that it exists
Jag kan knappt tro det är sant
I can hardly believe it’s true
Jag tar, jag ger, här och nu
I take, I give, here and now
Det finns ingenting i världen, ingenting med världen
There exists nothing in the world, nothing to do with the world
Det jag känner här idag, allt jag vill ha
What I’m feeling here today, all I want
Även om vägen är long, kan inget stoppa mig
Even though the road is long, nothing can stop me
För det står skrivet i stjärnorna
Because it’s written in the stars
Även om vägen är long, så är det allt jag vill ha
Even though the road is long, it is everything I want
Det finns ingenting i världen, ingenting med världen
There exists nothing in the world, nothing to do with the world
Det jag känner här idag, allt jag vill ha, inget annat
What I’m feeling here today, all I want, nothing else
Ingenting kan stanna det vi startar du och jag
Nothing can stop what we’re starting you and I
Allt jag vill ha
All I want
It is impossible for me to ever get enough of this song. It just has such power within it, message and music wise. I've spent literally days of my life listening to this song on repeat while going about my business and sung it in a broom handle at the top of my lungs just way to many times to count.
And her voice! UGH! What a voice. Goregous and rich and powerful! She's a star! An absolute star! She makes singing perfectly seem effortless and nature. Something about her voice is just so charismatic and expressive. Although I've always had this song in my top 4 songs since the moment I heard it, after about 2 weeks, it became my undisputed and unchallengeable winner...(Here's a testament to how many times i've listened to it, i try very hard to have my play count for songs on Itunes reflect my general favorites and so i have a policy of reseting this songs play counts whenever it reaches over 1500 because it doesn't get the right to go above that for at least another year....i've reset it at least 3 times). Performance wise, she (along with Lithuania, Latvia and Malta) gave one of my favorite performances of the evening. At times, it seems like she struggled a bit with her vocals, but then she would prove it was no such thing by hitting high notes beautifully and expertly holding notes...that's just how her voice is. It's honest and sincere and just so charismatic. It just screams "I'm just a girl with a song and a dream" perfectly. She's also one of the few performers who didn't utilise on stage backing singers or dancers. She just showed up, in a goregous dress and perfect hair and make up and sang her heart and soul out and i simply adore her for doing so. She gave a professional, honest, sincere and mature performance in a contest that is dominated by children much younger than her with songs much sillier than hers dancing around the stage...but she doesn't need that. I could literally go on and on and on for like 7 pages about her performance...so i'll try to be brief. Brilliant arm gestures. Honest and sincere performance. She gave my absolute favorite performance of the evening (which is saying a lot given that she was up against Lithuania, Malta, Latvia and Georgia). I. fucking. love. her.
08 - Latvia - How much Latvia has grown on me. When I first heard it, i thought it was a bit boring and repetitive and well...I just felt that it was trying too hard. However, after a year of listening, i'm just completly in love with it. It's so fun and dancy and awesome! I adore the rhymic start with the "tick - tock - tick - tock" in the background. I love the costumes and the dancing is just above and beyond what should be expected from a 12 year old girl. She manages to do everything perfectly: Vocals, Expressive Arms, Dancing...just everything! I simply adore this song. I love the steady beat that carries throughout the whole song. I love the explosion of noise when she gets to the chorus. I love her side - step dance move and well just everything she does. I also fucking adore that beret!
09 - Belgium -
YAY BELGIUM! Despite being completly and totally robbed in 2009 ("Zo Verliefd" is quite simply one of the best songs ever created), Belgium decided to nix the folksy song idea and just straight out throw a party. "Get Up!" is just an amazing dance song. It screams "Party" and frankly, anyone who doesn't give into it has no soul. I adore....adore...adore this song! I mean the first lines are "Get up! Get up! It's a party!". Frankly, i have to say that Jill and Lauren perform just fantastically well as a duet. They are both talented singers but this is one of those cases where a total is greater than the sum of it's parts. I love how they share the song and throw the verses back and forth between each other and then come together just perfectly for the chorus. Usually in Duets, one singer tends to dominate the other but that's not the case here. I love the speaky verses and i just go wild whenver they do the "A-oh-a-oh-a-oh". I 100% thought this song stood a solid chance of winning, because it's just so much fun. I mean, i figured the whole hall would be clapping and swaying like crazy and the audience at home would be too. Performance - wise, they are great but disappointing. They start with loads of energy and just super cute costumes...not to mention they are by leaps and bounds the oldest and therefore mose universally attractive of all the contsestants. Most people could find them somewhat cute and not end up being a creeper. I love their costumes and their vocal performance is just flawless. What's disappointing is that they fail to interact with each other. One of my favorite things about this song is how they "throw" the verses between each other and frankly they don't do that on stage. They barely look at each other until the end and don't even acknowledge their dancers. I really wanted them to perform as a team...but they performed more like 2 soloists sharing the stage.
10 - Armenia -
UGH! Armenia. Year after year, they pretty much just send a high energy, meaningless, crazy song (baring their 2007 entry, which was flawless and awesome) and year after year i go from loving it to liking it to being indifferent to it to hating it to kinda liking it again to being indifferent to it. This year was no exception. When i first heard "Mama", i thought it was pretty good...but after a few listens, it just faded into noise for me. That being said, They are excellent at presenting songs you adore if you only hear once...which is pretty much why this song (unfairly) won JESC 2010. The performance was adequate...but honestly i never thought it was anything special...just kinda a bunch of noise and chaos. His dancers were often out of step and well just seemed amateurish. Ok vocals, ok performance...just OK all around...i really have no idea how this song managed to win!
11 - Malta -
Fucking Malta. For the longest time, all that was available was a poor quality live mp3 of her song, which i thought was nothing but chaotic. When she finally released the studio version, everything started to change for me. I just LOOOVE the studio version. This song starts slow and could be easily dismissed as a boring ballad until about 20 seconds in. Then it transforms into a powerful, awesome and fantastic song. It manages to be up - tempo but still meaningful. And that chorus...."Knock!...Knock! Knock!" well that's just a stroke of pure genius. Most of all, there's something about her voice that i just love. I don't know why, but i just love it. It's unique and it just kinda soothes me...I also just flip out when the song gets kinda quite and they all sing togehter and then she just powerhouses it out with her "Knooooooooooock! We're here at the door!" while her backing singers sing softly behind her. Performance - wise, she gave one of my favorite performances of the night (along with Latvia, Lithuania and Sweden). Everything about her performance was perfect. Her costume (and the matching costumes on her dancers) were flirty and fun and added an element of whimsy to a powerful song. I love her start, with her in line with her dancers and all of them throwing their hands around in a dramatic fashion. She wastes no time getting into awesome arm gestures, including my patented "One arm at head length moving down only to come up again in a sweeping and welcoming gesture". I adore how her whole body language changes with the "And suddenly". She's stepping and kicking and shimming with all the power in her "13 going on 14" self can muster. p.s. I aboslutely worship her hair. She does an awesome job of fading in and out of moving with her background dancers. Once again, AWESOME arm gestures. Ugh she's such a professional it puts like 80% of the other contestants to shame. She knows what camera to look in and when. She's clearly having tons of fun and dancing fantastically but it in no way affects her vocals. Along with Josefine from Sweden, She gives one of the best two vocal performances of the evening. Ugh...i just can't help but adore her. She makes perfection seems efforetless. Although i prefer the songs from Belgium and FYRM, taking into account their performances, She surpasses them both.
13 - Georgia -
Ah Georgia...by leaps and bounds i expected this to be the most memorable song of the evening. I love this song...always have and always will. It's just so crazy and dancy and fun and well....it's something special. Unlike most songs, which start off with a small verse and then build, This song has an interesting and alluring start and throws a bunch of music and beats and fabulousnes right in your face and then softens for the verses. And even when it does that, it never loses that hard beat and is always 5 second away from rushing into a "Ram Ram Duri". I love that. I also think the breathy, robotic vocals on the "aaaa - oooo - aaa - oo - oo - a - oo" are just fantastic. I don't understand how you can hear this song and not throw your hands up and dance along. I mean, this song is just like an explosion of awesomeness. It explodes and then softens only to explode again and again. And she doesn't just leave it up to the music to make that happen, she does it with her voice too....how awesome is it when she breaks into screeching "yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah" and then sings above her backing singers? Too awesome is the correct answer. Performance - wise, she does pretty well for this song. I mean, yes she takes an ok amount of talent and wraps it in say - sing verses and throws in a fair amount of high notes, but she knows what she can do and she uses it to her full advantage. She picked perfect backing singers/dancers and dressed them in outlandishly glittery costumes and threw pink wings on them just in case anyone didn't think they looked enough like drag queens. UGH! And the GLOVES! I love the white gloves! She's quite possibly the most gay male 11 year old girl in existence. She also directed her backers perfectly...i imagine she said "just dance the hell out of yourself and sing like robots", which they did perfectly. I love that she starts the performance with her and all her friends basically pretending to have seizures and then moving seemlessly into shoulder/hip shaking....awesome. She does a fantastic job of fading in and out of dancing along with her backers...which is a lot harder than it might look (trust me...i've been ESC for almost a decade and have seen it gone wrong literally hundreds of times). She looks supremly cute and put together as well. She also makes it very clear that she is the star of this show. My favorite part about her performance is how she acts like she has this energy just building up inside her that she just has no choice but to release at about 02:09...and then she just explodes physically and vocally. She does an excellent job of scream singing the long notes. I think the best thing about her is that she is able to appear "high energy" throughout this entire song...which just has to be exhausting...honestly although Sweden is my winner...i have no fucking idea how Georgia didn't win....i mean....who could have watched that and not voted for it?!?!?
14 - FYR Macedonia -
I simply adore each and every moment of this song. I mean, even taking into account the fact that i have a huge soft spot in my heart for the Macedonians (Especially when it comes to JESC...they've presented some of my favorite entries), i just can't help but think that this is an absolutely amazing song. It starts brilliantly with a soft accapello and just builds from there. I love the soft growing of the beat and music and I can't help but flip out when it culminates with the chorus. There's just something special about this song that makes me heart it. And then we get to her performance....wow. Just wow. I am well aware that it's not as flashy or dramatic as some of the other performances, but it just fits the song perfectly. Everything from her pig tails to her running in place to her goregous "pink" themed costumes just fills me with joy. It doesn't hurt that she's one of the only singers this year to perform my favorite move (i.e. having all your backing dancers form a line behind you and dramatically throw their arms out). Great arm gestures and a more than fair vocal performance. As much as i love this song, i knew...just knew that it would be forgetten when it came to the voting. It takes more than a couple listens to "get" this song and sadly...she only had three minutes to impress. Love the song....just LOVE! This song and Belgium keep changing places for my 4th and 5th song...but more often than not Belgium comes out just a tiny bit ahead....
Before the Contest, my predictions (not my rankings, but how i thought it might go based on history, song, and such)
I totally thought Georgia had it in the bag, but the other songs i thought might pull off a victory were Lithuania and possibly Armenia and maybe Belgium (It has a certain kinda dark horse feel). I also thought that Sweden and Latvia might due quite well, Sweden having the strongest ballad in a year with very few ballads and Latvia having a high energy song which might appeal to tween voters.
As for the middle of the pack, I thought Russia would be there, despite having a "boring" song...just because they're Russia and they get votes from all the nations they used to Occupy. I thought Serbia would also end middle of the pack. I had high hopes that FYR Macedonia and Malta would triumph with strong songs and performances and despite always seeming to come in the bottom, they might place in the top 10. I also thought the Netherlands would be there.
I expected Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova to be in the bottom. Belarus because it's boring and well just kinda sad and Ukraine and Moldova not because they were necessarily "bad" songs, but just because they would be somewhat forgettable.
Actual Result -
1st - Armenia - 120 Points
2nd - Russia - 119 Points
3rd - Serbia - 113 Points
4th - Georgia - 109 Points
5th - Belarus - 85 Points
6th - Lithuania - 67 Points
7th - Belgium - 61 Points
8th - Moldova - 54 Points
9th - The Netherlands - 52 Points
10th - Latvia - 51 Points
11th - Sweden - 48 Points
12th - FYR Macedonia - 38 Points
13th - Malta - 35 Points
14th - Ukraine - 28 Points
UGH! Well this just goes to show that Europeans are ridiculous and tasteless, especially their children (traditionally, Children make up the bulk of the votes even though they watch it with adults).
It's not even like a bad song won, that happens all the time and i'm used to it...but i was completly shocked at the results mainly because of the top 5 Songs, i thought 4 of them were completly bland and forgettable. Georgia only got 4th? Lithuania 6th? SWEDEN 11TH?!?! WTF EUROPE? I was shocked that Georgia didn't sweep the contest and i was heartbroken that Malta, Sweden and Latvia ended up in the bottom 5 despite delivering the best performances of the evening.
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