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Eurovision Preseason 2017... anyone? (gifs)

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S

SecretMoblin

Member
LordOfLore said:
Anyone going to watch Sweden's first episode tomorrow? I'm working right then so I can't.
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I work too but SVT is very good about streaming Melfest live and keeping it viewable (for international audiences even) for a month. Should be at SVT Play as always.

Snippets didn't do much for me unfortunately, but every Melfest has at least a handful of good songs.
 
R

Rahvar

Member
Swedenis underwhelming judging by the first 4 songs. We had some youtube group I've never heard of sit in a vw beetle and singrap about a roadtrip....
 
H

hazukash

Member
Rahvar said:
Swedenis underwhelming judging by the first 4 songs. We had some youtube group I've never heard of sit in a vw beetle and singrap about a roadtrip....
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I was confused by that too. It seems they're decently popular, but I can't see them making it to the finals. Joke acts don't do that well in Melfest.

Right?
 
L

Lego Boss

Member
oti xero said:
This year's theme has been revealed.
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Does that mean if there is an entry from Crimea in can be Russian, in the name of 'diversity'.

Fuck this shit. OPutin is weaponising Eurovision, you know that? It's a conspiracy and Ivanka Trump is going to win. She even has a Slavic name FFS.
 
R

Rahvar

Member
AnnaChibo said:
I was confused by that too. It seems they're decently popular, but I can't see them making it to the finals. Joke acts don't do that well in Melfest.

Right?
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I hope so. Not that any of the acts were stellar...

Funny note. Charlotte Perelli is 42 and looks closer to 60. Ace Wilder is 34 and looks like 20..
 
N

Nivash

Member
Rahvar said:
Swedenis underwhelming judging by the first 4 songs. We had some youtube group I've never heard of sit in a vw beetle and singrap about a roadtrip....
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Eh, there are only like a handful decent songs and at best a few good ones any given years. It's also my experience that they save most them for the later qualifiers for whatever reason, maybe to keep some level of hype going.

I thought the youtubers were pretty funny though :( Made me think of them as some kind of weird Top Gear parody for some reason, sexy Stig included. Maybe I'm just weird, though.
 
H

hazukash

Member
I was disappointed by Ace Wilder's song this year. She's always entertaining, but her song wasn't that mindblowing. She was one of the best acts of Melfest 2016. If she wins this year, Sverige is doomed in Kyiv.
 
N

nan0

Member
I have the feeling that Eurovision is more popular outside Europe than inside. No one gives a hoot here in Germany.
 
N

Nivash

Member
nan0 said:
I have the feeling that Eurovision is more popular outside Europe than inside. No one gives a hoot here in Germany.
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That's just the curse of being auto-qualified, the rest of the big 5 give even less of a shit. It's not a matter of national pride for you like it's for the rest of us.
 
R

Rahvar

Member
I have to say. Svt's skit game is good as usual. Some of the jokes are ehh but Mustach and Hasse Andersson? Gold!

Also. I can listen to Ralf Gyllenhammar sing anytime!
 
O

oti

Banned
Just started watching. Isn't this Ace Wilder the same singer who had this kickass song about not wanting to work or something? This Wild blabla song is nothing.
 
R

Red Arremer

Member
Just as I went to ask Kabouter if I should make a preseason thread, here it is. I won't give up the OT though. :p

Do you guys want me to make a NeoGAF Eurovision voting? This time it would be from the start, rather than at the tail end of the finale.
 
M

mere_immortal

Member
I dunno, it seems like last year at least they went from ridiculous over the top insanity to just crap songs. Half of them are even more boring because they're ballads too.
 
P

Peru

Member
Norwegian selection is possibly the worst EVER. Judging by the teasers. I'm so ashamed I'm not going to link to it. Don't expect to see any of these in the final.

I'll say the same thing I said last year. Norwegian pop (pop stars, producers, indie pop stars) is doing better than ever. I've never been more excited about a variety of genres and faces in the scene than now. And yet the last couple of years the Norwegian ESC team has shown a total unwillingness to cash in on that in any way. Hell I know ten bedroom producers who'd probably dig the exposure if the producers called them up and asked for a song, and there's no lack of singers. You don't even need the big stars like in the Swedish finals. Margaret Berger was our best and biggest hit in this competition in years so why not copy the recipe? Modern, relevant pop with a real performer.

Awful. Heads must roll.

mere_immortal said:
I dunno, it seems like last year at least they went from ridiculous over the top insanity to just crap songs. Half of them are even more boring because they're ballads too.
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Last year probably had fewer ballads than ever before.
 
R

Red Arremer

Member
By the by, Austria has done an internal selection again this year, and this artist is what ORF picked.
It's not the song though just for the record. That is supposed to be published this month.
 
RoadHazard

RoadHazard

Gold Member
nan0 said:
I have the feeling that Eurovision is more popular outside Europe than inside. No one gives a hoot here in Germany.
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Definitely not true here in Sweden. It's literally the biggest TV event of the year here. For whatever reason.

EDIT: The Swedish final, that is. Eurovision is slightly less popular, but still in the top 10 most viewed things on TV.

But I guess for many/most countries what you say might be true.
 
O

oti

Banned
RoadHazard said:
Definitely not true here in Sweden. It's literally the biggest TV event of the year here. For whatever reason.

But I guess for many/most countries what you say might be true.
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Countries that are bad at Eurovision don't care about Eurovision. More news at 11.
 
R

Red Arremer

Member
Dehnus said:
Australia? I never knew they were in.... when did that happen.. and How? I mean.... Since Russia is in.. Japan would be closer.
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Australia was invited as a special guest entry to the 60th anniversary show back in 2015 because Australia has the biggest amount of viewers/fans of Eurovision outside of Europe. This was a logical step after Australia provided the intermission show in the grand final of 2014, as well.

Their debut proved so popular with both European and Australian fans alike that the EBU has decided to invite Australia again last year, and this year as well. That standing invitation has had the caveat of being special, and that it could cease any year. There's also a special rule that in the case that Australia wins the contest, it would be hosted in a European country still, rather than in Australia.
That said, with how much money EBU are likely making from Australia's participation, I doubt it will happen any time soon.

EBU also has been suggesting inviting other countries that are EBU associates rather than members to Eurovision before (I believe China was the one that came up first after Australia), however, so far, no definite invitation has been made.
 
C

Cepheus

Member
nan0 said:
I have the feeling that Eurovision is more popular outside Europe than inside. No one gives a hoot here in Germany.
Click to expand...

Most people who watch Eurovision in the UK only watch it for the brilliant sarcastic commentary. We don't take it seriously at all and the commentator always takes pot shots at the performers, even our own. If we did take it seriously, we'd be sending Adele and Ed Sheeran, not random people from the X Factor.
 
R

Red Arremer

Member
nan0 said:
I have the feeling that Eurovision is more popular outside Europe than inside. No one gives a hoot here in Germany.
Click to expand...

Most of the Big 5 don't give a shit, yes. That's why Germany tends to perform poorly in Eurovision. Same with the UK and France. In fact, most of the Western European countries don't give a shit, which is why the Netherlands and Switzerland also often perform quite poorly.
However it's massively popular in other countries, especially in the Scandinavian and Eastern European ones where, surprise surprise, most of the recent winners are from.
 
P

Peru

Member
Cepheus said:
Most people who watch Eurovision in the UK only watch it for the brilliant sarcastic commentary. We don't take it seriously at all and the commentator always takes pot shots at the performers, even our own. If we did take it seriously, we'd be sending Adele and Ed Sheeran, not random people from the X Factor.
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Ed Sheeran and Adele wouldn't participate, though, even if the BBC wanted. It's not like the countries that do take it seriously send their absolute top artists. Zara Larsson wouldn't participate for Sweden. Such an obvious excuse to say 'well we don't take it seriously'. The BBC has tried many formats in the past decade to pick songs that don't end up last - they don't want to end up last - they've just generally done a poor job of it.

Most people regardless of country watch it half to chuckle at the more ridiculous contestants and half because of the usual crowd-pleasing qualities of talent shows - the potential for a catchy song here and there, the tension of voting on winners and losers.

Typical UKers to pretend they're 'watching it differently'. Spoiler: You don't.
 
O

oti

Banned
Peru said:
Ed Sheeran and Adele wouldn't participate, though, even if the BBC wanted. It's not like the countries that do take it seriously send their absolute top artists. Zara Larsson wouldn't participate for Sweden. Such an obvious excuse to say 'well we don't take it seriously'. The BBC has tried many formats in the past decade to pick songs that don't end up last - they don't want to end up last - they've just generally done a poor job of it.

Most people regardless of country watch it half to chuckle at the more ridiculous contestants and half because of the usual crowd-pleasing qualities of talent shows - the potential for a catchy song here and there, the tension of voting on winners and losers.

Typical UKers to pretend they're 'watching it differently'. Spoiler: You don't.
Click to expand...

Greece generally does. At least they did before the crisis. Anna Vissy sang for Greece in Athens. She's the biggest star the Greek music industry has ever produced.
 
S

SecretMoblin

Member
oti xero said:
Greece generally does. At least they did before the crisis. Anna Vissy sang for Greece in Athens. She's the biggest star the Greek music industry has ever produced.
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Her songs have all been fire, too

I'd say of the countries who take it seriously that send top- or near top-tier local artists, definitely some of the Balkans qualify (Dino Merlin, Kaliopi, Esma Redžepova, etc.). Russia has sent some relatively known pop stars in that country (t.A.T.u., Dima Bilan, Sergei Lazarev). Turkey sent some big stars, too.


I agree with Peru though about sending relevant songs. It really honestly doesn't take much to send a song and performer that will place on the left side of the results, and it's not like Norway/the U.K./Germany are hurting for quality pop songwriting talent. The reason the UK is consistently a failure is because the BBC wants it to be.
 
O

oti

Banned
SecretMoblin said:
Her songs have all been fire, too

I'd say of the countries who take it seriously that send top- or near top-tier local artists, definitely some of the Balkans qualify (Dino Merlin, Kaliopi, Esma Redžepova, etc.). Russia has sent some relatively known pop stars in that country (t.A.T.u., Dima Bilan, Sergei Lazarev). Turkey sent some big stars, too.


I agree with Peru though about sending relevant songs. It really honestly doesn't take much to send a song and performer that will place on the left side of the results, and it's not like Norway/the U.K./Germany are hurting for quality pop songwriting talent. The reason the UK is consistently a failure is because the BBC wants it to be.
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The UK just wants to play the "we don't care it's just a joke to us we're above this European stuff" card. I'm sure their tune would change immediately if they'd send a competitive entry for once. But they'd rather have yet another thing to complain about instead.

Let them. Just keep paying the bills. Thanks.
 
O

oti

Banned
I read up on the German procedure this year and it's wild. In a bad way. In a tragic way, really. Apparently, there are three rounds in the national final. In the first round the contestants will sing a cover song of their choosing. After that some will be eliminated. So some singers will be eliminated without singing their potential Eurovision entry. Why.

But here's the fun part. Germany paid songwriters to write two new songs for Eurovision, and all the contestants will have to sing those two songs. They're arranged a bit differently for each singer but they still are the same songs. Why.

They have uploaded some videos and after clicking through them I feel like the race will be between the only dude and #newLena.

http://www.eurovision.de/videos/2017/Unser-Song-Axel-Feige-Perfect-Life,feige106.html

http://www.eurovision.de/videos/2017/Felicia-Lu-mit-Perfect-Life,felicia124.html

Who makes those bad decisions?
 
Kanhir

Kanhir

Member
oti xero said:
Countries that are bad at Eurovision don't care about Eurovision. More news at 11.
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Ireland is the best at Eurovision, but we don't care in a purely selfish manner, because hosting it three times in four years killed us. So we send turkeys in shopping baskets and twins with gravity-defying hair.

Rahvar said:
Funny note. Charlotte Perelli is 42 and looks closer to 60. Ace Wilder is 34 and looks like 20..
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At least Charlotte did something about that massive forehead she was sporting in 2008. You could have landed helicopters on that.
 
D

DrM

Redmond's Baby
Slovenian entry will be selected next weekend on a three day event - two semifinals and a grand finale
 
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