BELARUS - buhhhh. I feel like there's something I want to say that's bad about it, but my mind is blank. I guess that means a lot, doesn't stick with me. It has the same criticism I gave to Iceland, the elements that should punch through are too deep in the background for my attention to be caught. Aside from that, it's just mediocre dance-rock-pop that I hear on the radio too often. I kinda estimate it'll make it past the semi-finals, but I'm bound to forget about it in a few minutes anyway.
BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA - When was the last time a ballad like this came anywhere close to winning? I really don't have much to say, there isn't much of anything going on. The vocal is pretty, the instrumentation is pretty, but it all adds up to nothing more than that. It's at least easy to listen to, although I don't expect that to give it any more points.
BULGARIA - The title has me expecting more Eurocheese, but instead they one-up me with Dance House. The overall groove is easy to get into, gotta dig that swung synth rhythm. She's not a bad singer either, doesn't seem too consistently on though (unless she's trying to trick us with quarter-tones). I expect it to get to the finals, but probably not a win. It still has a good place on da club flo', so I wouldn't mind listening to it again.
CROATIA - I find that I have to be patient with these slow ballads, and that's not really an element I want to hear in Eurovision. Like I said before, it has to catch my attention in some form or another (positively) right off the bat. This song has the same problems I have with Bosnia/Herzegovina, kinda pretty but overall unengaging.
ESTONIA - SLOW BALLAD PARADE. I'm glad this one picks up in the middle though, the dramaticism works very well. Kinda reminds me of France last year with that build. I've always been a sucker for songs in keys with lots of sharps and flats, and given the build of tension throughout the song I'm eventually drawn in very tight. I'd like to see how this goes; could be a dark horse in the competition.
FYR MACEDONIA - The cheap production value has me turning my brain off pretty quick; maybe that's just a function of it being played live. Once again, the instruments that should be driving the track forward (drums and guitar) are in the background. It's kind of a shame too, because the biggest problem here is the mixing job, and only a small part of the blame lies on the composer. Maybe the produced version sounds better, I dunno, but I don't want to bother finding it.
GEORGIA - Oh man. This is something else. I have issues with this mix job too, particularly with the percussive elements, but it's so FUNKAY. Everything works so well in terms of groove. I have no particularly strong complaints aside from everything sounding so dry production-wise. Maybe if they have the balls to perform it live they could pull it off. Looking forward to seeing how this does.
LITHUANIA - Stop teasing me with gated synths and gimme the drop D: It's got a good funkiness to it like Georgia, but it's somehow more accessible in some way. This is probably due to it simply being a generic four-on-the-floor house beat without much rhythmic variation. He's at least a better singer than the Georgian, but I'd still put I'm A Joker ahead of whatever this is called.
MALTA - Despite the production value being higher, I'm not totally digging it. Like many Eurovision songs, it sounds like it was written to be "the winning Eurovision song" and not "the best song of the bunch." Uninspired harmonic progressions and subject matter, not even glitch stutters and bitcrushed wobbles can polish this turd.
NETHERLANDS - Well this certainly is a nice reprieve from the hoardes Generidance. A sneak peek at the video makes me WHY INDIANS THIS MAKES NO nevermind. Cool song, I could put this on a loop for a long while. It has a great organic sense to it that's missing from nearly every other song I've heard on here. I don't really like when it breaks into the final four-on-the-floor pseudo-danceable beat, it detracts from the live performance aspect the song already had going for it. Even so, it's the only song so far that I've listened to more than once. Definitely one of my favorites.
NORWAY - Coming out of Netherlands' track, this is kind of abrasive right now. Benny Benassi
Electro-Dance with a much stronger pop progression. A lot of submissions have started to take up the bitcrushed wobbles, and it's starting to get a bit cliche to my ears. At least it sounds full and properly mastered/produced. Finals for sure, although I didn't listen to the whole thing.
PORTUGAL - At least they made up for last year (seriously, the fuck is wrong with you people?). The tango elements certainly have it stand apart from others, all for the better. It still suffers from balladism though, it doesn't really do much to grab my ears immediately. I'm sure that if whoever is behind the wheels at the mixing console is capable of filling in the harmonic content for radio play.
SERBIA - Serbian is such a pretty language, one of the most aurally pleasing in the world to my ears. Despite it being more ballad-fodder, the intro isn't totally boring to me. It keeps enough of the ethnic-sounding elements to keep it sounding fresh throughout. Like Estonia, it progresses into the higher tension parts very well. Still doesn't blow me away though. Also Serbia got robbed last year. Just throwing that out there.
SLOVAKIA - FINALLY something slams it heavy and hard. If this doesn't catch your attention in the first second you're weird. Totally engaging, clean production, and it's fucking SLAMMING. Not a lot I can say about this, has to be in the top 5 at least. If it's not, I will hate Europe forever.
SLOVENIA - She sounds like she's in such feigned emotional pain. Unengaging from the start, ballad ballad ballad ballad ballad ballad all the way through. Two minute mark, not interested.
SWEDEN - Cool production elements at the start. One of the better Generidance tracks so far this year. I feel so oversaturated in the genre right now, there's just so much of it in this damn competition that it all sort of blends together. Perhaps the Finals, perhaps perhaps top 10, but I'll have to listen to it again to remember what it actually sounds like.
TURKEY - Every time I search for Eurovision 2012 on Youtube, Turkey is the first one to pop up. Not totally sure why. Sure the klezmer-like instrumentation is an interesting production choice, but aside from that it's not that much. The guy isn't a stellar singer either. Yeah, this has no reason to be as popular as it seems to be.
UKRAINE - It's getting hard to come up with distinctive criticisms for each Generidance song. This chick has giant lips. This song isn't interesting, worst wub-wub usage of any song so far.
Finalists:
AZERBAIJAN - I have no idea how they won last year, but I'm sure they won't again this year. Generiballad out the ass, although she isn't as boring a singer as some.
FRANCE - Generidance #55. I seriously don't know what else to say anymore at this point. Fuck it.
GERMANY - Boring American pop music in Germany? I'll pass.
ITALY - ew foreign language. Cool vibe, I feel like there aren't a lot of triplet-based songs in this competition. The brass and faux-retro feel makes me think Amy Winehouse, who I never really cared for in the first place but at least at least it's distinctive. It has a good progression of energy, keeps my interest going. Should do well, although it's already in the finals so it's not like it has to try.
SPAIN - Generiballad #624, Spanish version. araeaeraehgraghadgiaiagicbipovkpn
UNITED KINGDOM - For being the song that beat out Adele, it certainly isn't, uh ... Adele. How could her worldwide fanbase not let her get through? Humperdinck is a boring singer who sings about boring things in a boring way. At least I'm done with this list, now let me listen to Caroban on an infinite loop.
Eurovision 2012: ugh
Originally Posted by Aquagraph
These guys might have been the best thing that ever happened to Eurovision. Then Lordi turned into a thing in Finland. But it's funny that they still probably hold the point record.
it's supposed to be a song contest...i.e. voting for the lyrics of the song and nothing more essentially, it's amazing what a load of bullshit the whole thing is. There's only three songs out of 26 registers as not being in English: the Montenegrin one, the Italian one, and the French one (the French nearly always sing in French)...and even for that one, according to a wiki footnote, it has a sentence each in English and Spanish. The Swiss have four national languages and English is not one of them!
oh ok...
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