Eurovision 2003

Eurovision 2003.

This is where my Eurovision journey all began. I'll never forget that day in early November of 2003, when (Lord knows how), i stumbled across something about Eurovision. Curious, I visited a few sites. I thought it sounded interesting, so I downloaded the Eurovision 2003 songs....and fell head over heels in love. I listened to the 26 obsessively and scoured the Internet about it. I found out that there was something called the National Finals Song Contest, which was contest between songs that had competed to take part in Eurovision 2003 for various nations and failed to make it. I remember downloading the 24 songs that reached the Final of NFSC, thinking "What can this hurt?"...little did i know it would introduce me to a whole new world of amazing music. Over the course of the Month, i downloaded each and every song that took part in any National Final of that year. I was introduced to Melodifestivalen, Dora,  Operación Triunfo, Melodi Grand Prix, A Song For Europe, Eurolaual and just oh so many other Eurovision National Selections that i've come to obsesses over and follow year after year. I mean, it's hard to believe that 9 years ago, i had absolutely no clue what Melodifestivalen was! I joined esctoday.com's forum and found other Eurovision fanatics, who just couldn't wait to discuss every minute detail of ESC 2003.


And what a great year to start of with! Honestly, i've listened to the 26 Songs from Eurovision 2003 the most by leaps and bounds. I mean, i've been listening to them for 9 Years! And i can honestly say, there simply isn't a bad song in the bunch. I mean, i have a special place in my heart for each and every one. I remember when Croatia and Israel were in my top 5! I mean i bought Lior Narkis' album! I remember when I hated Sweden, thought that Portugal was completely boring and couldn't give two shits about the United Kingdom....Man how things have changed. I specifically remember a moment when I thought that every song got exactly the spot it deserved...but it was just a moment.  I love going back and re - listening to the songs from ESC 2003 just to see how much my taste in music has grown and changed and matured. Portugal was the first ballad I learned to appreciate and Austria was the first completely ridiculous song i bopped along to (This took time of course). It's also interesting that over the years, even though my tastes have grown and matured and changed, my top Two and my bottom Three have always remained the same.

Eurovision 2003 was a pretty interesting and important year. For the First Time, Turkey won (Becoming the very First Song to ever secure a Victory performing 4th), and Sertab is credited with ushering the "Ethnic Revolution". Prior to Turkey's Victory, "Ethnic" songs tended to do poorly at Eurovision, with Pop songs and Ballads faring much better. Turkey got the top spot in the closest top 3 Points wise to this day (Turkey got 1st with 167 Points, Belgium got 2nd With 165 Points and Russia  got 3rd With 164 Points). "Everyway That I Can" went on to sweep the European Music charts by storm, cracking the top 10 in 5 Nations (Belgium, The Netherlands, Greece, Spain and Sweden). This was pretty awesome because it was the biggest Eurovision Winning hit since the United Kingdom in 1997, and proved that a Eurovision song could be a popular hit....and thus many nations began to actually put an effort into their Eurovision entries.

The biggest surprise of the Contest was Belgium's 2nd place. "Sanomi" was sung in a completely imaginary Langauge and before the contest, was barely even thought about (In the Pre - Contest Fan voting, it only got 19th).

Russia was a big favorite to win, mainly because of it's entrants. To represent Russia, t.A.T.u., fresh off their international hit of "All The Things She Said", was selected. The duo quickly became the bookie's favorite and was almost universally booed by the Eurovision community. They were also the subject of a great deal of controversy before the contest. They threatened to perform naked and kiss on stage. Then, during rehearsals, Yulia refused to sing, claiming she had a sore throat. However, the evening of the show, they both performed without any drama.

Other notable facts were that the home team, Latvia, despite being a pre contest favorite to do well, maybe even win, only placed 24th. The United Kingdom placed dead last with the dreaded "Nul Points". The Brits were quick to call foul, claiming that all the other nations specifically did not vote for them due to the United Kingdom sending Military troops into Afganistan with the U.S.A.

The big pre - contest favorite was Spain, who was almost universally declared to have the best Song and would absolutley win in a perfect and just world (It won the Pre Contest Voting with 1 352 Points, a full 302 points above the 2nd place song, Turkey). However, because it's Eurovision, of course it disappointed. It managed to get a respectable tied 8th place (With iceland). Eurovision Fans blamed it on a vocally "Lackluster" performance, but that's just them trying to find an explanation. In truth, her performance was absolutely flawless and one of the absolute best of the evening.

For me, my top Two songs have always been Turkey ("Everyway That I Can") and Spain ("Dime").  At first, it was a struggle to chose between them...but after a couple months, I decided Spain was clearly better and haven't looked back since. 

And so, over the next few weeks, i'll be posting about Eurovision 2003. I'll post my National Finals, comments, thoughts and such, culminating in my Final Ranking of Eurovision 2003.


I hope you enjoy reading/listening/commenting as much as I enjoy taking a walk back to my First Eurovision...which is also one of the Best Eurovisions ever.


Enjoy :)