Hmm well, I'm just watching all the songs on SVT Play and Spain's song is utter bilge. Norway's song is excellent however and if the singer can perform like that on the night he may well do very well indeed.
Didrik has a good song and he performs it well. However I have a feeling the vocal used for the preview video is NOT the live performance from the heats or the final (which is up somewhere on the NRK MGP site). He was slightly wobblier on the earlier, quieter bits than in the preview video, though he's incredibly powerful when he goes full throttle.
Didrik's song is written by Fredrik Kempe - who wrote Sweden's last two Eurovision entries - "La Voix" last year, and "Hero" the year before. He had two songs in the MF final this year - Peter Jöback's "Hollow" and Eric Saade's "Manboy".
Fredrik also competed as a performer in MF in previous years - as a soloist with "Finally" and as a duet with Sanne Nielsen (Du och jag mot världen). He specialised in kind of Tenor pop-opera stuff - including the only disco arrangement of The Onedin Line theme I've ever heard (Listen for "Disco Volante")
Similar vocal replacement on the Iceland preview video - Hera sounds great on the preview video, but Youtube clips of her on their selection show aren't close to being as polished vocally... Nothing really wrong with this - some countries enter studio recordings and location-shot promo videos - but it does seem a bit odd to use the selection show with replacement vocals (particularly if they are quite out of sync...)
All that said - I love Iceland for entering another uptempo pop song (loved Selma's two entries in 1998 and 2005) - and Hera was in Johanna's backing group last year, and Euroband's the year before - so she's got experience of the contest under her belt, which can't be underestimated. Helena Paparizou got experience as lead singer of Antique in 2001 before winning as a soloist in 2005 ISTR. Shirley Clamp - who diehard MF fans will be familiar with - was a backing singer for Antique in Copenhagen ISTR. It's interesting to see how the Nordic influence over Eurovision is quite strong at the moment. (Helena Paparizou who represented Greece twice, and won once for them, was born and grew up in - surprise surprise - Sweden...)
Slightly disappointed with Slovenia this year. They usually enter a bonkersly catchy poppy track - though it never does them much good. (I've loved their entries for the last good few years, but they've taken a new direction this year)
Also interesting is the number of Brit dancers, singers and musicians who appear for other countries - and Brit performers with ex-pat connections sometimes get picked. Lisa Andreas who represented Cyprus a few years ago was from Ashford in Kent I think, and this year's Cyprus entry is a Brit as well AIUI.
Last edited by noggin on 1 April 2010 1:19am
