Eurovision 2009

I don’t know how it happened. We were about to have dinner and I had to find something on telly to watch while we ate and I just saw that the Eurovision song contest would be starting in 5 minutes, so I decided it would be fun to watch a bit of it.
But, I don’t know how it happened. Somehow I got stuck to the telly and watched the whole thing, despite promising Jon that it would “finish soon” and then we could watch the Eddie Izzard comedy show that he wanted to see so much.

So, firstly I must say that this is the first time I have seen the programme since 2002 when Rosa was representing Spain with her powerful voice singing “Europe’s living a celebration”. And, first impressions? I must say, I thought Russia put on a great show, I loved the visual design and the presentations of each country with that model (was she Miss World or something like that?). AND, most of the songs were quite good! As someone said (I think it was Lloyd Webber), finally Eurovision is about the SONGS again.

My favourite songs as I watched the programme were Iceland, Russia, Portugal, Malta and Norway. I wasn’t surprised that Norway won, the song is just so pretty and catchy! But I was somehow surprised that Malta didn’t get more votes (it came 22nd with 31 points) as I thought the song was very good and the singer had an amazing voice. UK’s Jade also did very well (compared to the lack of points in the last few years) but I must say I wasn’t crazy about the song. She is a very good singer, it’s just that the song didn’t capture me.

And then…. Soraya sang. I hated the song, I hated her dress, I especially hated her backing singers… Hasn’t Spain learnt anything in the past years of what kind of song is likely to do well in Eurovision? A few months back I heard that Melody was going to represent Spain and I thought it was a very good idea, as Melody’s voice and style could fit the contest. Watch the song here, but please ignore the first minute!

I’ve always said that Eurovision song contest shouldn’t be purely a pop contest, but a contest where the songs REPRESENT the countries. For example, Portugal’s song this year had a very traditional portuguese style but without losing the pop factor, the same with Turkey and Moldova. I also think that each country should sing in their mother tongue not always in English. But it seems like more and more countries are opting for the safe option of going for pop in English…

(Bad) Surprises of the night? Sweden (WTF happened with her voice!!) and Albania (dodgy looking guy in a all-body wetsuit? and two clowns?). I can’t believe Sweden got more points than Malta for example… Scary.

So yeah, all in all I enjoyed the night, just because for the excitement of seeing the UK finish 5th and the laughter inside me seeing that Spain didn’t get any points until so late. Too little too late

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