Guest review by Marcello

Here is the first guest review of Eurovision 2009 in my blog. Marcello is a dear friend of mine from Italy, devoted Eurovision and European music fan, active member of OGAE Italy and he is Parisian in his heart.

MONTENEGRO - Finally they have a decent song with good rhythm... even if it is in English >8
CZECH REPUBLIC - Too ethnic and too gipsy for my tastes! >4
BELGIUM - Very 60's rock in true Elvis style. Nothing new. >6
BELARUS - A song that highlights the vocal capacities of Petr. I like it and hope he will be able to nail it live in Moscow. >7
SWEDEN - From schlager to pop opera. Hope this will reach the final as I can't imagine an Eurovision final without Sweden! >9
ARMENIA - The song is nice and danceable but I'm bored with it already after 2 hearings. >6
ANDORRA - I would have sung it all in Catalan. Chorus in English has no sense. >6
SWITZERLAND - I adore this kind of rock! I hope this gets into final. >8
TURKEY - The usual song from Turkey that flies into the final and ends up well but I don't like it that much. >6
ISRAEL - They are very good and the song shows it. >8
BULGARIA - The song is very difficult to sing with that falsetto and he reminds me of Scialpi (Italian singer big in the 80's) >6
ICELAND - I'm not a fan of ballads but this one is very good and Johanna sings it really well. >8
MACEDONIA - I don't like this rock song and singing in Macedonian doesn't help either. >4
ROMANIA - Forgettable unfortunately. >5
FINLAND - This kind of dance music I like a lot and it shows Finland is not only rock. >8
PORTUGAL - ... and they wonder why Portugal never wins! If they keep sending songs this bad it's easy to understand why? >4
MALTA - She tries it for the third time after being 3rd and 2nd. Will she win? I don't think so but she sings always well and is a great professional. >8
BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA - I didn't like it at first but further hearings made me like it. >7
CROATIA - This year the level of the songs from the Balcans is rather low and this falls into that category. Looks like the Eurovision returns to west this year. >4
IRELAND - After turkeys, sisters and brothers and Irish ballads girlpower. I like it! >8
LATVIA - I don't like it as a song or as a music style. >4
SERBIA - Read the comment for Latvia. >4
POLAND - Another pretty ballad I would like to hear in the final. >7
NORWAY - Am I the only one who doesn't like this? Alexander is cute and sings well but I don't see anything extraordinary in that to make him such a superfavourite. >6
CYPRUS - Not an easy song to perform. I would like to see what Elisa would do with it! >6
SLOVAKIA - A very classic duet that gets higher marks only because sung in Slovakian. >6
DENMARK - Very Ronan Keating indeed but I like it a lot. Very catchy. >9
SLOVENIA - If they played live it would be so different. Sounds like a backing track and the few vocals by the girl don't make it any better. >5
HUNGARY - Very Vogue by Madonna in the intro but then nothing memorable follows. >6
AZERBAIJAN - Very danceable duet. If Elena Paparizou sung this I wouldn't notice any diffference. >7
GREECE - Sakis is always Sakis. This one's much better than Shake it. >9
LITHUANIA - Cloned song from Alicia Keys. >6
MOLDOVA - See the comment for Latvia and Serbia. >4
ALBANIA - I like it even in English. Makes me wanna sing and dance. >9
UKRAINE - Too much noise, strange sounds and shouted vocals. With irritating chorus. >5
ESTONIA - Also this one I didn't like first but it's well sung and played. Maybe Estonia will finally reach the final? >7
NETHERLANDS - A song straight from the 80's and I cannot not like this. I adore the 80's! >8
FRANCE - A very elegant song and fantastic singer. I hope she will make the top-3 but it will be difficult. >9
RUSSIA - The gap between Dima Bilan and Anastasia Prihodko is wide. And very evident here. >4
GERMANY - Very Ricky Martin but of instant impact. >8
UK - Couple Lloyd-Webber and Warren didn't let me down. Not so sure about the choise of an unknown singer. Couldn't they have had someone known? >8
SPAIN - Finally Soraya in Eurovision! But I think she has had better songs than this one. Let's see how it will be staged. >8

Comments

SONGS OF THE YEAR 2015: #5 KRISTA SIEGFRIDS - ON & OFF

Krista Siegfrids is delivering nice pop tunes one after another and this one is particularly catchy and soon you will be singing along..... Hopefully her Melodifestivalen entry will be equally good!

ESC 2016 WISH LIST: MARGARET FOR POLAND

Małgorzata Jamroży aka Margaret has also been tipped for Eurovision and apparently she did turn it down but she'd be perfect. She's got a look and persona you can't unnotice nor forget, she's got hit songs, she has been voted or nominated for everything from Trendy artist to the Hope of the Year, Fashion Icon and Glamour Woman of the year besides the usual best video, song, album, debut..... Oh she's also a fashion designer! She's very clever with social medias and would surely use it to her advantage if selected for Stockholm 2016. Her debut album is titled Add the blonde , do we need to say more? Except it includes mostly Swedish written pop tunes like Tell me how are ya , Wasted , Start a fire and Heartbeat . And of course her debut single and internationally noticed Thank you very much that you can enjoy below with all its anti-textil feel. I think she's Eurovision perfection, she's cheeky and fun, can we have her?

Rumors, rumors, rumors....

While the national selections for Junior Eurovision are going on around Europe and Ani Lorak's been confirmed as host all sort of rumors about the real thing are beginning to be the order of the day. Austria returns - or then not. Andorra stays home - or then not. San Marino returns - well, most likely but not surely. Luxembourg should make a come back - or then maybe not. Liechtenstein is still in the running - or has it ever been for real? Has the local TV ever confirmed anything? Is it just wishful thinking by the fans? Poland on the other hand has confirmed they will be in Oslo. And Italy will be still out. And apparently there will be no ban or such for Azerbaijan nor Spain for the irregularities in and after the 2009 edition. EBU had to change the text in the rules to make it sure nothing like that what happened in Azerbaijan could happen again. Or if it will they have means and rules to back up a ban or sanction.... Katerina Avgoustakis has been rumored to be in Oslo...

ESC 2016 BELARUS: NAKED WITH WOLVES?

Today's funniest Eurovision related story comes from Belarus. Some sources claim Ivan wants to perform on stage naked and with live wolf or wolves. It surely would be a first on Eurovision stage! We have seen some forgotten underwear over the years, and some cardbox animals though..... Is it time to take things a bit further? No, according the rules live animals are not allowed, and Eurovision being a family show nudity won't do either. (It seems to be ok to be half naked if you are a dancer though..... )

JEDWARD GETS NAKED FOR THE FANS

Well, almost. The boys celebrated their 650.000th follower on Twitter by being photographed fresh from shower as promised. It's not the first time they drop their clothes as you see here . Meanwhile their second album is nearly here and the title track Young love is hitting the charts....

EUROVISION 2026 - SAN MARINO: SENHIT WINS SAN MARINO SONG CONTEST

San Marino. The tiny little thing that makes things big and never ever stops surprising us. This year after the usual very long selecting process that included several previous Eurovision entrants and wannabes from various countries, even with songs they competed in another country's selection, as the last twist of turns announced the qualified semi-finalists before they aired the shows..... Ok. Because why Not? Read more about all the zillion entrants here After all the submissions, castings through Dreaming San Marino song contest 20 semi-finalists were selected, among them previous Eurovision entrants Magdalena from Poland, Marayya from Slovenia and Star Guy (Norway), and from this years national final selections Elysa (Estonia), Sheila (Albania) and Xannova Xan (Greece) and even Edward Maya also running in Romania at the same time, with other singers from Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Czechia, Netherlands and United States. Ten out of those 20 semi-finalist qualified ...

Regina Lund - naked and censored

Regina Lund's new video Jag är osynlig was censored by Youtube only minutes after it had been uploaded. In the video she was playing a female Jesus who gets crusified in the end. "I was shocked!" she says. "There's nothing more naked in it as in every church! It's ok to have naked man hanging on the wall but my nakedness is too much on internet? ". Oh well, no comment. She's prepairing a new album Dare Regina Lund and we of course remember her from her Melodifestivalen 2007 adventure with Rainbow star .

UK: Naked Blue

The boys of Blue have posed nude again. This time for the Attitude magazine's annual Naked issue and they are also in the cover. Watch the video of the shooting here . Band member Duncan, who is bi-sexual, recently told The Daily Star : “We are getting our kit off for Attitude magazine like the McFly boys did. I’m up for showing everything off. I’m happy enough about the size of my manhood. ” Extra media attention won't hurt their changes in Germany to win it for the UK for the first time since 1997... They will and they can!

FRANCE: LINH - J'AVOUE

As I'm off to France for some well deserved holidays and will get back to this blog afterwards I will feature a song a day. From France as my travelling tradition goes. By my favorite French singers bien sur. Enjoy!

EUROVISION 2026 - PORTUGAL: BANDIDOS DO CANTE WINS FESTIVAL DA CANCAO

Portugal's 60th Festival da Canção came to an end tonight and the winner is Bandidos do Cante. Portugal's national selection for Eurovision song contest 2026 has been quite critical to the participation with most artists and/or songwriters declaring they won't go to Vienna should they win. In the end there are apparently only two artists who have declared they will go to Vienna, and one uncertain if they win. Let's see who eventually will go to Eurovision in the end.... Apparently Bandidos do Cante is one of those who have said yes. Read more here . Bandidos de Cante was formed almost by accident by childhood friends singing Alentejo folk songs at dinner parties and such. The quintet is composed of Miguel Costa, Duarte Farias, Francisco Raposo, Luís Aleixo and Francisco Pestana, all natives of the municipality of Beja, except for Francisco Pestana, who is from Monte Trigo. After tone of those dinner gatherings they were invited to record vocals to D.A.M.A.'s Casa ...

Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

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