Eurovision Song Contest - Belgrade 2008

Songs that have done well over the past few years have :

Got votes from nearly every country entering - the song has to appeal to the whole of Europe - not just the UK and Western Europe, it has to appeal to the East and South as well.

Not been Euro-pop. The cliche of Eurovision is that cheesy pop does well - it hasn't for years. Good quality dance stuff has scored pretty well - but not one - but cheese doesn't work.

Been sung very well. Serbia won last year because they had a soulful ballad belted out by a very good - and very unusual - singer. Greece's (or should that be Sweden's?) Helena Paparizou may have been singing a pop number - but she sang it very well.

Been spectacular performances that work both in the arena and on TV. Lordi and Ruslana were both spectacular to watch - but they were also good songs, performed confidently. Helena Paparizou had a very strong stage presence and was very well choreographed for TV, AND could sing.

Not been from a single genre (we've had rock, pop, ballad, and spectacular stage numbers win) - but they have been true to the music of their country of origin - and sounded authentic.

I think what I'm trying to say is that songs that come in the top 5 are usually well sung, well written, confident, and have a feeling of coming from somewhere rather than anywhere. I think we may be at a disadvantage with this - as our music has become the lingua franca of popular music - so really does sound like it could come from anywhere.

The last time we won the contest was a MUCH smaller competition with a much greater bias towards Western Europe than today - even Italy was still taking part...

Big Ballads!

That's what the UK needs this year, a big power anthem sung by a decent female lead singer. I think we would have went much further last year if Cyndi had won.

I wonder if Malta will automatically give us 12 points again, bless 'em!

and still it had everything you have stated!

Yep - the great thing about the contest is that almost always a good song wins - and often most people agree that the best song won. What HAS happened in recent years is that the reduced variety in the songs making it through the semis has reduced the variety of the final. In recent years some well crafted pretty well performed pop stuff has not got through - and some pretty average other stuff has...

But Scooch and Flaying The Flag? I think it's happening already. I think we should get Radio 2 or even Radio 3 listeners to vote for our entry. In my view, the people who listen to Radio 1 are chavs and rappers.

Strong argument for Radio 2 listeners to select the entry - I think in its current form it has pretty much the right demographic compared to the other stations.

You need a modern mainstream song, high quality, well performed and distinctive. What we can't do is try and copy other countries - we shouldn't try and send a British Ruslana or a British Lordi - that route won't work.

I think part of the issue is that a large core of the audience watch Eurovision, and enjoy it, for the not-so-good (so awful you can't believe it is happening type of stuff) songs, and they select one of them to send...

I endorse what you say there noggin. In 2004 Ukraine won with the eastern style drums and dance performance "Wild Dances" sung by Ruslana. I didn't think much of it, in fact quite frankly I think it won for the dance routine rather than the song.

So what did the UK do after that? In 2005 the UK sent "Touch My Fire" Javine to Kiev, thinking the eastern style drums and dance formula would work for us. So did several other countries that year. The result, the UK's entry did badly, 22nd out of 24 with 18 points. Part of the problem was how well it was sung. Compared to some of the other songs, I didn't think the words were sung all that clearly.

Last year I was dreading the possibility of the UK sending a thrash metal entry similar to Lordi's "Hard Rock Hallelujah" which won for Finland in 2006. Thank God we didn't. I bet such an entry would have done just as badly as Scooch, or perhaps even come last.

I wonder how many will send ballads this year, similar to the one sung by Marija Serifovic for Serbia last year? If a British Ruslana or British Lordi won't work, will a British Marija Serifovic work?

According to the official Eurovision site, this coming Saturday, 23 February, is Super Saturday. The following eight countries will choose their entries for this year's Eurovision Song Contest:

Bulgaria
Croatia
FYR Macedonia
Iceland
Ireland
Poland
Romania
Ukraine

I notice from the thread here on TV Forum "UK Eurovision Preselection Date: 1 March 2008" that the UK is waiting until March again to pick its entry. Why do we always have to be one of the last to choose ours? Last year we chose ours after the official deadline, but for some reason an allowance was made for us to pick our entry a little late. If other countries pick theirs in February, why can't we?

Its called 'Eurovision: Your Decision' this year.

It's only a month!
And we are not last, there is still many countries after us who still need to pick.
It's also an advantage, to hear there songs, and for us pick a far more decent song

The BBC was well aware of events such as Comic Relief and Fame Academy that could cause it a scheduling headache in 2007. Thats why as early as 2006 they addressed their concerns to the EBU well in advance and were given special permission (as one of the 'Big 4', I'm hardly surprised that they were allowed) to delay Making Your Mind Up, for all the good it did!

This year, plenty are selecting after us - Germany is a high-profile example. And the BBC have never postponed selection dates late on, a la RTS in Serbia and TVE in Spain this year.

It would make sense to pick our act early, in terms of publicing them around europe before the event. But picking it closer to the event is to insure the buzz leading up to the event does'nt fizzle out to soon.