216 Squiggle Line Mouth Face === [00:00:00] Mike: I think that's the nicest way to say what happened on Saturday because that was a weird show Hello, and welcome to the Eurowhat, episode 216, dropping on January 30th, 2024. We are a pair of Americans trying to make sense of the Eurovision Song Contest. I'm Mike McCollum, and I'm here with my co host, Ben Smith. Hey, Ben! [00:00:23] Ben: Hey, Mike. [00:00:24] Mike: In this episode, we'll be talking about Ireland, Luxembourg, and the start of a very busy February. How's it going, Ben? [00:00:31] Ben: It's good, and yes, uh, very busy. I have looked at the weeks to come. this was like a nice warm up level of busy, and like, it's gonna get increasingly busier. [00:00:39] Mike: Yes, especially with, as this episode drops, The Draw is just a few hours away, and We're going to get some more structure to this year's contest, and I think that that's going to, uh, create walls for things to bounce off of? I feel like it's going to be a very bouncy season. [00:00:57] Ben: Yes, yeah, like, it's gonna give some, some helpful structure to things. we've just had the entries we've gotten so far in a bubble, and had to, had to go Well, I don't know how this is gonna do against anything. [00:01:08] Mike: Watch, they all end up in the same semi final plus brands. So, [00:01:14] Ben: Wild [00:01:15] Romania won't be part of The Draw --- [00:01:15] Mike: . yeah. So, uh, the draw this year will have 37 countries. We got news that Romania did not approve a budget for participating in Eurovision this year, so they will be sitting out. The final vote was 5 yes, 4 no, and 4 abstain. I'm guessing you need to have a majority of the People present in order for a budget to pass. we won't be seeing Romania this year in Malmo, but, they are going to instead focus on funding for the Olympics, which is going to be expensive for everybody, and then, uh, some modernization projects. Hopefully they'll be able to come back next year or sometime soon. Perhaps a year off is, what the doctor ordered. [00:01:55] Ben: yeah, like that, that was my main takeaway I saw some disappointment across the internet. I was like, no, I feel like Romania just needs to like, have a year where they sit on the couch and come back refreshed, restored. [00:02:05] Mike: Mm hmm. Yeah, I mean, that could work out for them. I mean, they missed out in 2016. That was for a different budget issue. Like, they had some debts that needed to be repaid, and so they were ejected from the contest. But, uh, yeah, they came back with Yodel It, and everything was super since then, right? Right? I'm [00:02:23] Ben: yeah, as I definitely don't check Wikipedia to see if If there's, a smiley face or a frowny face for the remaining years. Pfft, heheheheh. [00:02:31] Mike: of the squiggle line mouthpiece. [00:02:37] Ben: Line Mouthface, there's the episode title. [00:02:39] Mike: Yes, the country count will be 37. 31 of those countries will be divvied up into bowls and assigned first and second semifinal at The Draw. the other, six countries, that's the Big Five plus Sweden, they will be assigned semifinals to participate in, but, they will, of course be in the grand final, uh, setting up the tent poles waiting for everybody to, uh, Come on over from the semi finals, so yeah, uh, really looking forward to structure. Yay. [00:03:11] Ben: Yes. Heheheheh. this was a nice weekend to warm up for the February to come. [00:03:17] Ireland chooses Bambie Thug's "Doomsday Blue" --- [00:03:17] Ben: We kicked off on Friday, with Ireland and their Eurosong process. [00:03:22] Mike: Yes, our favorite, favorite process. Get [00:03:30] Ben: my, my, uh, exasperation muscles. [00:03:34] Mike: that in early, [00:03:36] Ben: Yeah, get that in early so that, like, I don't, sprain something later in the season. [00:03:39] Mike: I don't want to be, like, completely disingenuous. Like, I feel like we had a lot of suggestions when we talked about Ireland in detail, and I think a couple of them came through. I thought the sound was much better this time around. [00:03:52] Ben: The sound was better, the staging was weird, though, because, like, it was as though, the majority of the studio floor was lava. everybody was in the back third of the stage. [00:04:00] Mike: I liked that the stage was wider this year. It wasn't that feeling of everything had to take place in an elevator shaft, which, was kind of the feel the last couple of years. But yeah, it was very pushed back, back, way back, and yeah, there was a lot of empty space in front of the performing area. [00:04:19] Ben: Was it supposed to be like an American Bandstand situation where you have the teens dancing in front of each act and like everybody got food poisoning or just like I was just very confused, like, why is everybody in, like, the back third of the staging area? To Ireland's credit this year, I thought that they picked a really interesting lineup of songs. [00:04:39] Mike: I would say yes. I mean, more interesting than previous lineups. [00:04:43] Ben: It's sort of grating on a curve, because, like, some of their previous lineups have not been great, As songs were getting released day over day over like the week or so they were dropping them, I was surprised at a couple of them. The two that I was excited to see and kind of wanted to see somewhere near the top were, Elsha's Gutubbin and what ended up winning Bambi Thug's Doomsday Blue. [00:05:02] Mike: Yeah, I think those ones had, going into the show, the most potential for staging. but also the ones that could easily get derailed as a live performance. Like it was high, high risk, high reward, I think would be a better way of describing that. [00:05:35] Ben: Well, and I would argue that one of them did get derailed performance wise. I really liked the concept behind what Gutubbin was doing. it's very high concept. it is An entry partially in Irish about how when you learn Irish in school, the only stuff that you retain is things like the numbers and I think it's probably the only song of this Eurovision season where the bridge is about asking to go to the bathroom. [00:05:55] Mike: So far. [00:05:56] Ben: So far, like, I haven't seen Latvia's entries, anything is possible. [00:05:59] Mike: we should talk about the winner, Bambi Thug, and Doomsday Blue. what do you think of this one? [00:06:05] Ben: The Eurovision entry that it most closely comes to in my mind is Montaigne's eventual entry from 2021, cause like, it's doing a hyperpop thing. I like that they're going out on a limb and picking a thing that is both screamy and then very sweet during the choruses. I think that both, Gutaben and this one had some staging issues, but this one feels like it really has potential to think about what does this look like in an arena. [00:06:28] Mike: Yes. The song itself, it's not, like, I don't hate it, but it's not my favorite. Like, it feels very Marmite, which I think is something that Ireland needs to do. Like, people will be talking about this one. But yeah, the staging for it, at least in that particular venue, was really reading like high school talent show, and I'm hoping with a budget, with a team to really work and develop this performance that it's going to elevate, like if they put on the same show as they did on Friday, I think it's just gonna fall flat in an arena, it needs something bigger. It has a starting point, [00:07:07] Ben: It has a starting point, and from the interview with them, and the pre roll, they seemed like they, really want to develop this and make this as big as it can be. Whereas, like, I got really worried when Elsha was like, We're gonna show you, a taste of what we want to do on the big stage, and what they want to do on the big stage is Daz Samson's teenage life. [00:07:24] Mike: Yeah, I really disliked the staging of that performance, like, I just thought it was really annoying. [00:07:30] Ben: Oh, yeah, no, like, it highlighted all of the parts of the perfor like, the the flute solo bit over it, where I'm just like, No, this isn't what you should be highlighting from this. [00:07:39] Mike: That one felt the most Ireland at Eurovision, and yeah, mmm. [00:07:44] Ben: Ireland at Eurovision, parentheses, derogatory. [00:07:48] Mike: uh, which, should we talk about the judging panels? [00:07:53] Ben: Uh, yes, let's let's talk about the judging panels, cause, like, Ireland loves to have 17 different juries, only three of which are voting. [00:08:01] Mike: There have been rumors going around that Eurosong might spin out into its own national final next year, and I really hope that's the case, because having the in studio panel giving feedback that nobody can take action on except the winner, and then the audience booing anything that is Potentially negative, but 100 percent correct. It's just like, this is not American Idol 2004. [00:08:24] Ben: So I had to leave four entries in to go see a talk led by a friend of the show, Maura Johnston, with Chris Malanfie about his new book, which is great. And then like, I came back and watched a recap of everything else, and was just like, oh, no, this boy band is terrible. the good stuff in the lineup was good, and the bad stuff was very generic. [00:08:43] Mike: And very what Ireland has been doing, but the fact that the boy bland, as I've been calling them, were it not for the national jury, they probably would have would, [00:08:56] Ben: Yeah! Yeah, it's like, I was looking at the international juries results going What are y'all doing? Your job here is to, is to pick something that will get Ireland out of its morass. [00:09:06] Mike: or just keep kneecapping them until like. [00:09:09] Ben: Yeah, it's like, the stuff that they put towards the top of theirs would absolutely have kneecapped Ireland. It's the stuff they've been sending. It's the stuff that doesn't work. I just wish that there was some delineation of what each jury's purpose is. Because looking at the, the background of the, the International Jury, you have a lot of people where it is very TV focused. And very Eurovision TV focused, like you had Wiley, you had, one of the main people at WeWeBlog, so like, those are people who think about Eurovision as Eurovision. [00:09:35] Mike: I guess, like, for the international jury, well, let me say it this way, would your opinion of what the jury was doing change had you known that it was, like, the international jury is very TV focused, like, clearly spelled out, or is it just the fact that this is how it was composed that's causing the problem for you? [00:09:55] Ben: Hmm. Like, I would love to know, like, if each jury's purpose is to be looking at a specific aspect of the performance, or if they're thinking of everything. [00:10:03] Mike: I think, ultimately, a correct choice was made. I don't know if it's THE correct choice. I really liked Erika Cody's performance and song. So, like that. [00:10:12] Ben: uh, sure, Erika Co yeah, like, Erika Cody! that was the first song they gave us, and I'm like, okay, if Ireland wants to go in the Brooke direction again, this is a really solid entry. This would be fun. It did the standard Euro song thing of sticking, four dancers just going real hard in the paint singer, but, like, it was a good performance. I think it could have been better, but, like, I'm just so excited that Ireland is doing something. different and really interesting here. [00:10:41] Mike: Yeah, they're not playing it safe, and I think that's where they need to go. [00:10:45] Ben: They had been playing it safe for a lot of years and it has not been getting them anything, so do something weird. [00:10:52] Mike: Scream for attention. [00:10:56] Tali will be Luxembourg's "Fighter" in Malmo --- [00:10:56] Mike: Alright, so along with Ireland, we got our first selection in 30 some odd years from Luxembourg. They had their Luxembourg Song Contest on Saturday. Overall, I think it was a good showcase of what Luxembourg wants to do at Eurovision. I think that's the nicest way to say what happened on Saturday because that was a weird show! [00:11:22] Ben: Yeah, like the more I watched the more I'm like, why are you guys doing the American Song Contest? A lot of staging is happening. The opening, essentially, Parade of Nations from like, last year's contest, but just with, like, and like, rightly so, because like, Luxembourg has won five times, so yes, please trot out Anne Marie David, I love that song. You guys have eight entries, and you guys are doing like, the full, we want Eurovision! [00:11:45] Mike: Yeah, like, eight entries, four hosts? Which, why were there four hosts? Only two of them were really doing any work. [00:11:53] Ben: Okay, yes, yeah, like, I, had forgotten that there were four separate hosts. I was just, like, I, because, like, I was just like, yeah, there's, like, two of them. It's like, no, there were four of them. [00:12:01] Mike: It felt like it was trying to be a primer for Eurovision in a way of just like, okay, this is how the contest sort of works where it just, I don't know, like putting on a Eurovision costume. I'm not really describing this very well, but it's like there was a lot of Eurovision 101 happening [00:12:21] Ben: Yeah, yeah, they're, like, yeah, like, admittedly, hello, Luxembourg. We used to do this. This is the first time we've done it in 30 years. Here's how this works. I feel like they're, I feel like people know what Eurovision is. [00:12:30] Mike: Yeah, because I mean, I get the sense that they're still able to watch it. because they are just so centrally located between like such a big broadcasters, [00:12:40] Ben: I was, I was looking at, on the, on the Luxembourg webpage today because I had asked myself the question, How do you get to Luxembourg? It turns out it's very centrally located by train. . I need to stop thinking of Luxembourg and the various other microstates as the Europe equivalent of a one stoplight town. A lot of budget was being thrown at this Because I'm just like, they have an arena? Of course they have an arena. Admittedly, like, this is the first time we've done this in 30 years, we might not get a chance to do this again. Sure, but like, save like a couple of the winners for next year. [00:13:06] Mike: I'm curious if this is also just kind of tying in with it being like a big national production. Like, I have no idea what their TV schedule is like. Like, I really know nothing about Luxembourg because I've not had to actually think about them until this year for the [00:13:21] Ben: Until this, yes. It's just, yeah, it's just something that we've not really needed to dive into. all of the pageantry beforehand, like, it was very slow and it was very fast in terms of, like, the, the intro, like, I had this on one screen, I had, Lithuania on the other, and I was just like, okay, come on, guys, Lithuania's through two songs already, and then all of a sudden all of the songs happened in Luxembourg. [00:13:41] Mike: It was, I think 20 after when the first intro package began, and it was like, alright, Austria's getting impatient, but Hahahahaha! Mm [00:13:51] Ben: like that amongst the pageantry they did pick Poupée de Sir Poupée de Sans as the Everybody gets to sing this one because that is, like, when you have, eight entries, seven of which are, like, various voice alumni, that's just like a song where everybody gets to put some mustard on their line. [00:14:06] Mike: Yes. Yes. And, like, the whole group performance really did, again, remind me of American Idol 2004, so [00:14:13] Ben: it was very, it was very American Idol group number at the start of the show. [00:14:18] Mike: Maybe that is also feeding into the production, like, since this did feature so many voice alumni, like, these felt like performances that you would see on The Voice, and yeah, I think that's fair to expect that? It is a high level of production, like, I really think Luxembourg was trying to prove, okay, when we win Eurovision, We will be able to host it, all of the video treatments, the, like, voting number and the name down in the corner, like, they were doing everything to make it look like this is Eurovision at the scale of Luxembourg. [00:14:53] Ben: My main concern is that it feels like they're very ready to win Eurovision 2016. [00:14:58] Mike: Hmm. [00:14:59] Ben: The entries were all very competent, very well produced, but it all felt not quite in step with what has been happening at like, the last couple Eurovisions in terms of what is winning. And like, part of it may have just been that like, the stuff that I was responding to did not end up in the top three. I liked, whoever the 15 year old who will be 16 by the time of Eurovision, where they gave her like, the very Celine Ballad. Uh, I thought that was lovely. And then, like, the one band. Like, I didn't hate their number. I thought it was fun. It was still very 2016, but it was fun. [00:15:29] Mike: Hopefully they will be doing this again. Uh, like, I hope this is not, like, a one and done thing. It's like, we spent all our money, we'll see you in 30 years. [00:15:37] Ben: I really hope they did not blow their wand on this. [00:15:39] Mike: uh, yeah, I hope they kind of rejigger the voting format because it was really Overdone, I think? Like, so the way it was set up is they had eight, international juries that were giving, points out, to, their top six songs, and then it would be a proportional televote, the top three acts would then move on to a super final and go through a similar process. The eight juries would give out twelve, ten, eight, and then there would be a proportional televote. Which, uh, I don't know what the purpose of the second jury is, because I have a very difficult time thinking somebody's going to be like, Oh, well, I ranked this second, third, and seventh. I guess I'll move seventh up to first place now? Like, I, like, it feels like it's just going to be in the same rank order. [00:16:23] Ben: What's gonna happen in between these rounds of voting that is going to like sway a jury member's heart? [00:16:27] Mike: and then, like, the presentation of the points was very confusing, I think by the time they got to the seventh or eighth juror, they kind of figured out what was going on, there was technical difficulties with the first one, so that also, made things tricky, but, [00:16:39] Ben: Yeah, just like domino [00:16:40] Mike: Yeah, but then, uh, they were giving just their 12 points, when there's only three acts that you're considering, it's like, okay, that's kind of weird. But then the graphics, like, they would pop the juror onto the screen, and then show which act got 8 points, and it's like, oh no, the graphics are ahead of the presenter. Oh wait, no, that's on purpose? Like, it was just a lot of stuff moving, but not anything actually happening. [00:17:06] Ben: Yes. Yeah, and like, to your point earlier, it's like, they're showing that, yes, we can host a Eurovision, we have the technology, we can do television production, but we trust you can do that. We don't. And like, it was just weirdly messy, it felt like they hadn't rehearsed this. [00:17:22] Mike: Or that there were just too many ideas and not enough people saying, let's put that on the back burner. Like, [00:17:29] Ben: Yeah, [00:17:29] Mike: again, why are there four hosts? [00:17:31] Ben: Why do we have Five different Eurovision performers performing their song, and then also a montage of cameos from the Alumni Association well wishing Luxembourg on their return. [00:17:42] Mike: and not cameos as in, oh, somebody walking on the stage and waving, like, the product cameo. [00:17:47] Ben: The, the, the, the internet service cameo. [00:17:50] Mike: yeah, Montzemurlov, giving his, uh, [00:17:53] Ben: Doing his from his car. [00:17:55] Mike: god. [00:17:56] Ben: From his car, like, Måns, do it in front of like a wall at your house. [00:18:01] Mike: uh, I think my absolute favorite, though, was, Kalush Orchestra, because their message was so generic that you could pop it into any national final, and it would just be them wishing good luck to whoever wins. Insert national final name here. [00:18:16] Ben: I just really want to see that exact same video clip pop up at a different national final. [00:18:20] Mike: That would be so amazing. Have it be the start of every pre party in April. [00:18:27] Ben: Oh, but yeah, no, just, like, I feel like if nothing else, even if they never return, I feel like Luxembourg has made, a very strong case for, like, why the Eurovision Hall of Fame or Museum or whatever should be located there instead of in, like, Sweden. [00:18:41] Mike: Yeah. I mean, if anything, the convenience of a central location. [00:18:46] Ben: Two hours by train from many of your favorite cities. [00:18:49] Mike: so, um, yeah, uh, I guess we should probably talk about the song that won. Of the eight songs, the winner was the, song Fighter by Tali. I really enjoyed this performance, I have a difficult time seeing it really standing out from a full field when we get there, but [00:19:22] Ben: Yes. To all of this. Like, it was like of, of the eight, was it the correct one? Yes. Is it good? But in like, in a way that doesn't really stick in my head. Yes. Did I? Like I had to watch it like twice this morning. [00:19:32] Mike: Okay. [00:19:33] Ben: song wise, it's, it's there, it's present. It's like it's a competent eurovision song. I don't want to be there when they have to tell one of the six dancers that they can't go to, to Malmo. [00:19:43] Mike: I was getting so unreasonably angry when there were more than six people on stage, because that happened a lot. And I was just like, Luxembourg, who do you think you are? You know how this works. You can't use absence as an excuse. [00:19:58] Ben: One of my favorite Eurovision tropes that really is only for me is like when you have a vocalist very nicely singing their song and like two to three dancers just like going at it with an energy that does not match the song. [00:20:11] Mike: I don't have any immediate suggestions for how this could get zhuzhed up, I, I have a feeling when they do have that, tough conversation with the dancer, they are gonna have to, tinker with the choreography a little bit. It also was reading a little too close to, the, choreography from Slow Mo, particularly, with the costuming and stuff, but, not at that level of performance, like, it was just, like, kind of hinting at that, it was like, let's mess with the aesthetic a little [00:20:35] Ben: It was the slow mo that you order from Wish. [00:20:37] Mike: So that was Luxembourg, and, Iceland was, making their announcement like, right after Luxembourg? [00:20:44] Iceland announces its intentions --- [00:20:44] Ben: Iceland has, the last couple years, done a reveal program where they show their full lineup. Everybody is getting coffee in various places around Reykjavik. It makes me all sorts of weirdly nostalgic for the times I've been there. I've been like, oh, I've been at that coffee shop. Yay! I like this year's lineup, it's felt like Iceland has sort of been like restocking its, its, its musical Well, when it comes to Eurovision and like just trying some stuff because like, uh, you know, Sistar made it to Italy and made it to the final. So there is sort of a, okay, do we keep going acoustic? Do we kind of take things in a more uptempo way? this class of 2024, at least from like the little snippets Feels much more up tempo, but also feels more cohesive as a group of songs, weirdly, than the last couple years for me. Hera Bjork is back, uh, who represented them in 2010, she's popped up at various Songvakeppnins, just seems like a fun person in general, I would like to hang out with her. I want to hear her behind the scenes stories. [00:21:39] Mike: fun wine ant energy. [00:21:41] Ben: one that I have absolutely seen live before, both because they were at Airwaves in 2019 and they've been part of Dothy Frere's band during some of his touring, is Seastone. Uh, and then from last year's Songvakeppnin final, we had Siga Oksk, uh, who was the, the super 80s kinda I wanna dance with somebody vibe from last year's [00:22:01] Mike: Right, right, okay. [00:22:03] Ben: The big one that I was waiting to see if it was confirmed or not, Bashar Murad was possibly in the mix. [00:22:08] Mike: Yeah, Iceland's, taking a stand. We'll put it that way. [00:22:12] Ben: There had been some discussion, I think we mentioned it on the show, that the Association of Composers and Lyricists of Iceland and activists of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions were petitioning Roov to potentially pull out of this year's Eurovision. Uh, Roov took the step of saying they're gonna chat with whoever wins Songvakeppnin, and evaluate after discussing with the winning artist, but, Bashar Murad is in the mix. Bashar Murad, collaborated with Hatari in 2019, he is a queer Palestinian artist, and I'm just very intrigued because as soon as he sent me the article, I was like, I really want to see who the co writers on that are. And it turns out they are Einar and Matias from HotDirty. [00:22:48] Mike: Okay, yeah, I, I was wondering if Hattori was going to be part of the festivities this year, given, what happened in Israel in 2019. As soon as this was announced, Iceland has moved to the top of the bookkeepers table, and I know we say do not listen to the bookkeepers, but, uh, yeah, this has gotten very tense very quickly, I would say, so [00:23:18] Ben: mean, I would like even without all of the potential, the the potential controversy, it needs to be said poten. Like there's a chance this could flop. [00:23:28] Mike: Oh, yeah, absolutely. [00:23:29] Ben: I would be intrigued if it was just Bashar Murad in song the Captain, because he's doing, like his song is called Wild West. Uh, he's playing on cowboy imagery, which is fun. Love that. and it's sort of talking about how we view the global West. So like Bashar Rod, doing a song for song like Captain was always going to be. A political song, it's something that is not theoretically a political contest. [00:23:51] Mike: And, given the rules of Songvakeppnin, where your first performance has to be in Icelandic, I assume Icelandic is not his first language, [00:24:00] Ben: From the special, uh, his segment is mostly in English. Uh, and some of the questions asked to him was like, Okay, how difficult is it to sing in Icelandic? And he's like, yeah, no, it's kinda tough. I've had, I've had some excellent coaches. Iceland has entered the chat! This does not surprise me, cause like, Iceland is, is a fairly small nation, so it doesn't take a lot of people for them to decide that, okay, yeah, We're going to pay attention to this, we are going to draw notice to this, they have done it before. [00:24:24] Mike: yeah, I mean, that was what their story was in 2019, and it's probably going to be the story again, in the future. [00:24:31] Ben: I do not see this missing the final of Songvakeppnin. [00:24:34] Mike: Yeah, so that all gets started on February 17th. there's two semifinals. I believe Bashar is in the second semifinal? [00:24:42] Ben: Bashar is in the second one on February 24th, and the final is March 2nd. [00:24:47] Norway sets its final field for NRK MGP --- [00:24:47] Mike: Alright, Norway had their third and final heat for NRK and GP, and the acts that got through were Anne Princess, Mia, and Keino. Ben, you pointed out that, acts four, five, and six were the ones that advanced each week of this year's competition. [00:25:07] Ben: Yes, and like, I don't know if that was just like, a random draw for what position they were in, or just like, this gives the show a nice flow, or just Norway does not have object permanence. [00:25:17] Mike: Yeah, this is the, uh, new version of, oh, all of the finalists are from week one, so [00:25:23] Ben: Yes, yes, like, it's a fun twist on an old formula. [00:25:27] Mike: Yeah, yeah. Although, I will say, I think these were the correct three to advance from this particular heat. [00:25:34] Ben: The one I was maybe, like, I found interesting was Mistra, which is like, for lack of better description, pretty lady singer and black metal guitarist. [00:25:45] Mike: Yeah, which seems to be a theme this year, uh, [00:25:47] Ben: Yeah, and like, I like [00:25:49] Mike: episode, [00:25:50] Ben: Yeah, I liked the idea of that performance. I thought the staging was very clever, and like, was really well thought out, but it also kind of felt like somebody had that visual first, and then was like, well, I need to write a song around this, and the song is okay. [00:26:03] Mike: Yeah, yeah, that's kind of how I feel about Anne Princess's song. Well, kind of the reverse of that, where it's just like, okay, just have these sort of, you know, grab bag of phrases that all kind of blend together, and we can come up with a staging concept for that. I thought the staging was interesting for it, but the song was much more word salad y than, uh, I had picked up on in just my listening to the tracks. [00:26:28] Ben: I'm now thinking about the lyrics of the song going, yeah, like, I don't, I remember the chorus, but yeah, like, I could, like, the, the verses could absolutely be just word salad. I had been excited about the Cano song this time around, I like the idea of their performance but they need to have everybody on the stage in view of the audience more quickly for me. [00:26:47] Mike: Yeah, like this track has been interesting to me in that it is a keiino track, even though it like prominently features Alexandra which is fine. Like, I mean, they, they are a trio and like the you have to. Balance that out, but, uh, yeah, it really seems like the two guys are really in the background, and so having them not on screen, it's just like, oh, well, their presence I miss their presence, but at the same time, their presence isn't necessary. The one thing that really isn't necessary, the TVs with the lips on them, no thank you! [00:27:19] Ben: Oh, I'm, like, this podcast has two hosts, I love the Videodrome TV dancers. [00:27:28] Mike: Yeah, like my one note for that performance. Just like, I could have gone my whole life without having to see the TV people. [00:27:35] Ben: Okay, I, yeah, again, like, I, I'm just like, I love the fun body horror aspect of this. Heh [00:27:40] Mike: okay. [00:27:41] Ben: heh [00:27:41] Mike: that is where we differ. Really, I think I might not have had as much of a problem if they didn't cut to it just being the lips on the screen. if it was just them dancing [00:27:53] Ben: Just like, let's stay on the band, yeah. [00:27:55] Mike: Minor things that can be fixed, uh, between now and May, you know? Like, [00:28:00] Ben: The thing I like about that song is that it feels like Kano went to the Barbie movie. And we're like, we could make an Aqua song. And then we're like, driving home from that and heard Padam Padam on the radio, and we're like, that's what we're doing, we're doing a Norwegian version of Padam [00:28:11] Mike: we go. Yeah, yeah. So, uh, yeah, it was no surprise that they got through for [00:28:16] Ben: Yeah. That, that was the easy one. [00:28:19] Mike: The one that I'm really disappointed is not quite the right word, but I was really looking forward to Mia's performance. I think Green Lights is a fantastic song, and like, getting back to the lyrics of things, it's like, okay, this is where you take an idea and build off of that idea throughout the song, and like, really getting into the idioms of it, but that performance was such a Euphoria clone. That is like, oh, this is not what you should be doing. I don't [00:28:48] Ben: the one. [00:28:49] Mike: Yeah. I mean, like, just the part where she is moving around the stage. that choreography needs to be fixed because it looks ridiculous to me. [00:28:57] Ben: Yeah, yes, I'm, I'm, I'm, it's immediately stabbing me, oh right, yeah, no, that part of the choreography where there's, cause it's just her on the stage. [00:29:04] Mike: Although I really do appreciate that they were using lighting as a main feature of the performance. I feel like that is it. an aspect that does not get utilized quite enough at Eurovision, and it sounds like particularly with the staging this year, lighting can be a very powerful tool in the tool set, and I like that green lights could be taking advantage of that were it to make it to Malmo. what is your pick to win? [00:29:32] Ben: I feel like I am never on the pulse of what Norway wants to do. Because, like, last year I was like, yeah, they're gonna finally send, Ulrike, and no, Alexandra was the clear winner. I'm still kind of rooting for Kano. [00:29:45] Mike: I mean, I think this is a strong performance for them. I feel like, no, I'm going to pronounce this wrong. Göte? How do you handle those [00:29:53] Ben: Gata, yeah, Gaute, Gaute, yeah, Ove, yeah, Oveham could be a surprise one, too, although they do Have to change the lyrics of the song and it's very funny because it's not like a copyright issue It's uh, these are the existing lyrics of a medieval ballad. Can you guys do like a little bit of a zhuzh? Which is fun. [00:30:11] Mike: Yeah, like, I love the fact that, Steve Carlson, the, head of the Norwegian delegation, specifically called out the copyright issue aspect of it. It's like, well, I, were people questioning copyright on thousand year old manuscripts? I mean, even Disney, like, has to realize that you can't have a copyright that long. So [00:30:31] Ben: mean the other one that like I really like but I have no clue how it's playing with Norwegian public is Judge Tenderly of me clunky as those lyrics are like the performance just really blew me away I have no clue if that's the mood that Norway's in this year [00:30:43] Mike: Yeah, that's, that's the tricky part. Like, what is the mood? [00:30:47] Ben: I look at Cano and I have nitpicks about the performance and how they stage it, but like, I trust them to re stage that for Malmo in a way that works with that stage and that makes it a little bit more dynamic, if they get the win. [00:30:57] Mike: And I think it's going to make a difference in the final, since that is going to be in an arena and not a TV studio. Like, I think that performance, if the vocal can fill the arena, because that was kind of my nitpick with Kayeno's performance on Saturday, where it's not that the backing track was doing a lot of heavy lifting, but it really felt like there was a lot more background support than I think there was. They can get away with in an arena setting and yeah, so But like I'm confident that they are going to be able to deliver the vocal because they've done it before so [00:31:37] Ben: Yes. Yeah, it's like, I know that they have the ability to deliver a good vocal [00:31:42] Mike: that final will be happening this coming Saturday. [00:31:45] Lithuania's Third Heat for Eurovizija.LT --- [00:31:45] Ben: Yes! Lithuania's process continues. Uh, we had Heat 3 this week, where Pluie du Comet and Be Careful was the jury's choice, and Showers Impossible was the televote choice. [00:31:58] Mike: This week was a tough week in that it seemed like the jury was on one wavelength, the audience was on a different wavelength, and I was on some third wavelength. Like, I don't think there was any agreement anywhere across [00:32:11] Ben: No. No. we talked last week about how, like, not getting the chance to see entries sort of Respond to the performance and evolve over, like, multiple performances. I think that Lithuania could have done slightly more of a cull this year we have 40 entries out of 60 entries received. [00:32:32] Mike: were only 60? [00:32:33] Ben: Yeah! Yeah, I was looking at the details, yeah, they had somewhere in like 60 65 things to choose from, they cut that down to 40. Looking back at previous Pabandomish Naujo's, in 2021 there were like 20 things plus the roop. Uh, otherwise it's been around like 30 to 36. [00:32:50] Mike: I can see maybe wanting to build up the pool a little bit because there were, there are a lot of people who aren't competing this year that have been like pretty consistent appearances like I'm thinking of like Debrasi [00:33:01] Ben: Yeah, We're getting a lot of interesting new talent, but like some of it definitely feels like not quite ready for primetime. [00:33:07] Mike: Yeah, which really like week three, I think, is the time to put in that set, uh, and, uh, just kinda see like what rises to the top. But yeah, this was a very confusing scoreboard to look at, uh, at, at the end of the day. 'cause like, I, I'm a little bit baffled at why the jury picked, be careful. I thought that was really kind of a flat performance and song all around. [00:33:33] Ben: I thought that the vocal on Impossible was nice, but the song itself was kinda Whiny. [00:33:38] Mike: Yeah, I actually bailed on that one before it finished. There were a couple that I was just like, you know, I think I got the idea here and like moved on because life is short. [00:33:47] Ben: I have been waiting for a week where it's not just the juries 1 and 2 and the 2 as the things going through, and we got that this week. Uh, Be Careful was third with the televote, Impossible was fourth with the jury. [00:34:00] Mike: Yeah, and it was very possible for a couple of the contestants to jamala their way into the final. Like, there was a 10 6 split with two of the contestants, and if either one of them got 10 10, they would have been in. perhaps the scoring system isn't as questionable as we've been saying the last few weeks, but [00:34:19] Ben: Yeah, it's not as impenetrable as we thought, we have two more weeks of this before we get to the final. Next week we have Vilja. who represented Lithuania before, with attention. And then, uh, Monika Maria, who I believe has been in a few of the last Pabandoms. could Lithuania do the three peat with Monika's? [00:34:38] Mike: That's exactly why I'm rooting for her. I mean, it's kind of the same thing with Norway. Like, they, they are really into people whose names are Alex. So like Alexander, Alexandra, like it's, if Keanu goes. They'll have another Alexandra this time. [00:34:54] Ben: There we [00:34:55] Mike: yeah. [00:34:57] This week: Malta, Spain's Benidorm Fest, Ukraine's VidBir --- [00:34:57] Mike: Yeah, it's gonna be a pretty busy week of process y stuff. Malta is in the middle of their birthday month celebration thing. if you go to our website, eurowhat. com, and check out our Melmo page, we have a Google Calendar set up there, uh, it has all of the national finals, information about each of the shows, where you can watch them, and you can add that calendar to your own calendar, so it'll, should update automatically, so be sure to check that out. [00:35:23] Ben: Yes, yeah, and then also happening this week is Spain's process. Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, uh, things are happening. They are selecting an entry, uh, and we, we have a demoscopic jury in the mix, Mike. a thing that at some point I will look up how it works. Spain's selection will be 50 percent international jury, 25 percent demoscopic jury, and 25 percent televote. [00:35:45] Mike: I know that's been the split the previous years. I still find that to be a weird split, like, [00:35:50] Ben: Yeah! Yeah. Make it Jury 25%, Jury 25%, Televote 50%. Trust your people, Spain. [00:35:57] Mike: Although, hmm. Uh, [00:35:59] Ben: Mmm. Mm [00:36:00] Mike: I'm not saying that systems can be gamed, but, uh, yeah, that could really, yeah, I don't know, maybe, maybe just a third piece? I don't know. [00:36:08] Ben: hmm. I don't, like, I feel like even, like, even though, uh, Blanca Paloma kind of face planted in terms of the vote last year at Eurovision itself, I thought that that was a really bold performance, and it was very cool to see Spain get behind that as much as Chanel. Heh [00:36:25] Mike: like, the Spanish fandom will be enthusiastic about everything, regardless. Like, one of my favorite memories from 2018 was heading to the arena and the subway car, having a rousing chorus of Toucancyon. Uh, the only time I heard anybody excited about that track, so Also happening on Saturday will be Ukraine's Vidbeer. over the last couple weeks, the public selected, the jury for Vidbeer. it is going to consist of Andrei Danilko, otherwise known as Vergas Odujka, uh, we've got Jamala, and we've got, uh, Serhei Tankunets, who is the frontman, the of the band Bez Obmanzen. They apparently played Chicago last fall, so that's cool. But, uh, yeah, that is one of the things that I really like about Vidbeer, I the fact that the public chooses the jury. I think that is a really neat factor that I don't see in any of the other national vinyls. [00:37:27] Ben: Yeah, like, there's just a really nice level of transparency with that, of like, these are the people that we trust as the jury. [00:37:32] Mike: The show will be hosted by, uh, Yulia Sinina and, Timur, and, they will also be working with, Vasil Baidak, and it's actually going to turn out to be a Ukrainian Dancing with the Stars Season 7 Reunion, uh, when I was doing background on Serhii, uh, yeah, uh, his Wikipedia page mentioned that he did it. Dancing with the Stars. It was like, oh, well, who else was on that season? Yulia Sinina was the runner up that season and Aliona Aliona, who's one of the contestants at Vidver this year, also competed, in the 2020 edition. So, um, yeah, I just think that's funny. Uh, [00:38:08] Ben: I just think that's neat. [00:38:11] Mike: it's like how Melfest is sometimes like, oh, it's Swedish Idol 2007 reunion time. Great. Uh, but yeah, that is going to be kicking off, uh, this upcoming Super Saturday. that show will be on YouTube, and, our calendar has a link to the YouTube version that will have English commentary. So, yeah, definitely one to check out. It may be a long show, there are 11 acts, and, uh, depending on how thorough the jury is going to be, and they tend to be [00:38:39] Ben: They are thorough. [00:38:40] Mike: yeah, uh, yeah. It could be a three hour show, but it's going to be a good three hour show. [00:38:46] Ben: Yes. Yeah. And that is one of four finals happening this weekend. [00:38:51] Mike: yeah, we're going to have a lot of new stuff to talk about this time next week. Until then, that's going to do it for this episode of the Eurowhat. Thanks for listening. The Eurowhat podcast is hosted by Mike McComb, that's me, and Ben Smith. [00:39:06] Ben: That's me. If you'd like to help support the show and access a ton of bonus content, head over to Patreon. com slash Eurowhat. [00:39:12] Mike: Our full coverage of the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest can be found on our website at Eurowhat. com. You can also follow us on social media at Eurowhat. [00:39:21] Ben: Next time on the Eurowhat, we'll recap the first Super Saturday of 2024 and get ready for San Remo and UMK.