Eurovision 2023: nothing in the world can stop the cha-cha-cha of her wings

[erinptah]

Norway remained my fave even after hearing the rest of the entries, and they came in 5th! Good showing, My favorites are not usually the voters’ favorites, so I am unreservedly happy for them.

Finland’s runner-up song was not my jam, but considering how perfectly on-brand it was for Eurovision nonsense, and how much the audience overall clearly loved it — yeah, they got robbed.

Also: Sweden’s winner was so forgettable! If you played me the “10 seconds of each song” montage, no intros and no video of the performances, I swear I wouldn’t be able to pick it out. (With video, at least I would recognize it as The Literally All Beige One.)

Aside from Norway, the one that’s going to be stuck in my head the most is Austria’s bop:

Watch on YouTube

 

 

I’m still in the Moon Knight zone, so: considering that the MK guys are played by the same actor as Poe Dameron, please imagine Steven just happily singing this to himself around the house, and Secret Fourth Headmate Poe going “…how the kriff did he figure out about me??”

Alternately, imagine Secret Fourth Previously-Unnamed Spacecraft-Pilot Headmate overhearing the song and thinking “oh hell yes, that’s my name now.”

Finally: New Zealand still hasn’t gotten invited to join Australia in the ESC, so they put together this unofficial entry. Catchy beat, some impressively creative rhymes, more appealing than half of the actual finalists:

Watch on YouTube

Youtube commenters are calling it “the best song about Eurovision since Love, Love, Peace, Peace.” They’re not wrong. If NZ doesn’t still doesn’t get into ESC 2024, at least invite these folks to do an interval act! They’ve earned it.

Comments

[rheanna]

Eurovision is an annual ritual in our house. Sweden's winning entry was very forgettable. I mean, it's... okay. I've listened to it a few times now and as I'm sitting here I can't call it to mind (you are correct: beige staging, beige song). I didn't feel like 2023 was a vintage year - I've still got a bunch of songs from 2022 on rotation on my playlist, but I can't see me listening to anything from this year's selection very much.

The UK commentary said Who The Hell is Edgar was commentary on women's art not being recognised, which I loved. It's another one of those brilliant things about Eurovision - yes, you've got songs about love and heartbreak, but there's a much higher proportion of people doing songs about valuing art or the importance of socialised healthcare.

[rheanna]

Also - apologies for spamming you, here - I feel Steven loves Eurovision and watches it completely unironically. (It occurs to me that Steven is British in the same way that Australia - for Eurovision purposes - is European: with commitment, enthusiasm and very little in the way of hard evidence to back it up).

[erinptah]

A Youtube commenter clued me in to the fact that the lyric "0.003" is a standard royalty that streaming sites pay for one play of an artist's song. It's got layers!

Fully agreed on Steven loving Eurovision...and you know what, I bet he always felt (subconsciously at first, then consciously) oddly comforted at how flexible and welcoming their working definition of "European" is.

[howlingmoonrise]

ye gods, do NOT speak to me of who the hell is edgar - i've had that song stuck in my head for DAYS. someone peering into my head right now would only see poepoepoepoepoeedgarallanedgarallanPOEpoepoepoe 😂😂😂 that sense of rhythm, melody, AND good singing, not to mention a slightly weird theme? *chef's kiss*

but yeah, finland was ROBBED. honestly i thought most of the voting was super unfair - like, how the hell was germany, who for ONCE brought an interesting song/group, last place??? when stuff like switzerland was RIGHT THERE.
that being said, i do think loreen is a good singer, at least from the one other song i know by her (euphoria, ironically enough since it's her previous eurovision win) but this one was......... copy-paste, minus the interesting bits, and zero points for an interesting presentation. i've been feeling horrible about finland all week.

I knew the word "Eurovision"

[jesse_the_k]

...but had never actually watched a song until this post.

My my my.

This is a highly ritualized event. Thanks for the introduction. What's the "O.E. O.E. O.E. O.E." about?

/crawls off to backread your Eurovision tag.

Re: I knew the word "Eurovision"

[erinptah]

Eurovision is so much all the time, it's amazing.

NZ shorthand for Overseas Experience, an extended trip out of the country!

Re: I knew the word "Eurovision"

[jesse_the_k]

<3