Eurovision was founded after WWII to bring people of different European countries together. It's about having fun and enjoying time together. From this point of view , professionalism would be killing the spirit of Eurovision. We are Europeans, we are divers, we are chaotic, we try to overcome differences and appreciate each other. The best way to do it, is embracing all our imperfections and accept all different kind of people and countries. Some countries are poor, some have other problems or other traditions. Some just want to troll, some have popular singers and the other do not understand why. But that's a possibility to be open about it. To see another culture. The glory does not come from perfection, it comes from a desire of connection. There are other competitions with professionalism perfectionism and competitiveness. In my opinion, we can be proud of what we achieved in Europe after 1000 years of war. I do not care, if others think it's ridiculous. It's imperfect, like we all are.
I have a couple of things to say. First, I find this year I have more skips - but I think it’s a good thing as it showcases a diversity of genres, including ones I don’t like. 2. I believe that the introduction of televote only semis has made this year in particular switch to sending more televote friendly songs, going a little towards the 2000s era again (in my view the worst decade for Eurovision song quality). I hope this year some of the more hardcore televote only songs miss out to encourage countries to send quality songs that are also televote friendly. 3. Most people I talk to feel this year is much higher quality than last year. I honestly am on the fence on that, but I have far fewer skips this year - but probably because there was less diversity last year and most songs were accessible to me. And I don’t have the typical eurofan taste at all. My favs are never near the top and sometimes don’t qualify (Latvia last year, Serbia last year, Australia, Belgium). This year I find my top 4 - 3 are high in the odds with probably 2 of them realistically standing a chance to win. That’s never happened with my taste before. The highest of my top 5 last year was 5th 😄
I would say that by average we have a good quality but on top tiers we lost it and also we have more "jokish" acts which leans towards those crappy 2000s. This year also will tell us where we go next. Since juries were taken off, this went faster than I thought. But maybe after public vote, producers decide this is also not good and cancel also this voting as an easiest solution and countries will ve throwing dice. 6 countries will be saved by producer's choice 😂
I understand him completely. In a nutshell: you can identify most songs as Eurovision tracks. If you don't, its a good one! THATS WHAT WE SHOULD GO FOR! finally jump off the esc wagon of screaming disco queens and circus numbers and send more quality songs that actually could top the charts and still sound great 20years later. 2020 gave me hope cause it was a quality year with many exceptional artists that brought a fresh wind into to contest like bulgaria/switzerland/russia/iceland/italy/romania... i thought it would finally change. This year i have the feeling we fell back 20years. I hardly have a favorite. Tired of eurotrash and discoqueens and thats the reason great artists stay away from the contest, cause its reputation is bad and for musicians and newcomers a no go who wanna be taken seriously and not be reduced to an esc one hit wonder.
I have zero favorites this year, I simply dont rly care. I kinda wish for Croatia just for the fact it would be nice to see them host it and also have a new winner country. But thsts it. Whoever will win is like a one eyed king among the blind.
@@JanBors Yeah feel the same. Im swiss so i root for nemo. but the only song that made it into my playlist is Azerbaijan cause I like the oriental vibe and it has actual quality. Wouldn't be surprised if they don't make it to the finals, like the real good songs never do.
Thanks for stating what many of us think. I also think that the overall quality of the songs has decreased in comparison to the last decade (and the reputation of the contest will be affected if this trend continues)... As a result, along with other factors, I don't feel the same enthusiasm for the contest that I used to experience
No it hasnt. We got more out of the box "fun" entries of which most have more meaning than the so called serious entries where the lyrics are a tad meaningless.
we are not getting anything out of the box, imo we are receiving back more Eurovision stuff... what is out of the box anyway? If so, I would like out of the box ultimate quality. Than I dont care. But we are not there.
@@esc1074 1. The message has no value if the other elements of the song don't make it justice. 2. If by "out of the box" you mean entries like "Ulveham" and by "fun entries" you mean like "Who the hell is Edgar", fine, they're well produced entries performed by good artists. If, on the contrary, you're referring to amateur entries, sung by people who can't properly sing, like "Mama ŠČ" or "Trenuleţul", the only thing those entries do is harm to the contest's quality. 3. Last decade, the aim was to showcase Eurovision as a contest made for talented artists so that general viewers could stop seeing it as a freak contest. And this decade it seems like the aim is getting the contest back to the 2000's so it's okay to send joke entries but this time disguised as "fun entries with good messages". And in many cases these "quirky" and "fun" entries don't even have a good message, as people make it out to be. One example is Estonia this year, which is sending a song that says "we avoid pleasure substances because we ain't rich". I don't see anything positive about the banalitazion of drugs
Uk and Italy are very good opposite examples; on one side the UK is supposedly a worldwide powerhouse of pop culture rivalled only by the USA - but ESC doesn't see the best from the UK...why? and I believe a reason for so many nil points for the UK over the years is because the ESC audience is resentful of the UK's snobbish attitude (mind you with Olly we see some improvements - at last). While Italy thanks to Sanremo is guarantee of sending the very best they can offer year after year (since Sanremo's becoming better and better in the last decade).
I think UK is a bit lost. BBC should have a clear strategy and concept what they want to do without a 3rd party, motivate various artists to send their best for the upcoming year and choose the best. There are plenty of Sam Ryders out there to be found. It is almost unneceptable that UK send an artist who cannot sing its own song like last year on in 2021... this all drag them down. No one care less about UK snobism, let them be snobish with a proper quality. People dont vote as they dont send good enough music or artists. Its that simple. And with their market (but counts for all big 5) and their ESC privillages, we should demand just the best.
Jan did you see Mustii 's new acoustic version (acoustic live VRT) that is his best performance, great camera job too, I think that will be the way he will sing and deliver it in Malmö, he seems really ready now ❤💯💥👍
I did not yet. Maybe later I will give it a shot but I need a pause from reactions as I want to focus also on a different content and this distracts me a lot 😂
There are jazz festivals, there are fusion festivals, there are world music festivals and symphonic festivals for guaranteed quality. If you search for quality in a competition that addresses to the casual masses with 3 minutes pop, catchy songs it's like searching for quality meat in a random street food store downtown. The song which will have the most catchy hook and the most hype in the media will win. If it's a quality song by objective musical standards or not is left to pure luck
I mean even if pop genres we have quality layers. I would like "Tattoo" quality music and Maneskin artists quality to join in. I am not asking for a jazz icon, thats a niche. But as mainstream has its brilliant quality Champions League, music can have Eurovision on such levels. Thats it :)
and to support this - at eurovision this year again are still few (and maybe not that few) artists who can barely sing one song which they should focus at... this should be a little bit unacceptable for such standards... and I can add more arguments. Those are those little things which make differences after all.
The song that holds the record for the highest amount of points at Eurovision, to this day, is a jazz song, and neither was it catchy nor it was the most hyped entry by the media. So you don't need any of that in order to win Eurovision
@@xander2609 yeah pure luck. 1 in 30 competitions. It just vibed well with people. And I remember this it was overhyped during the days of the competition
it is but you for a live competition of such scale you should have at least two constants - briliant songs and briliant artists. So singing is part of this craft. Than how to use this instrument is a matter of subjectivity, but not singing itself.
I don't think local ethnic flavours are actually doing down the quality. I'm not in favour of the globalisation of the music - I don't equate that with rising quality but homogenisation. The mainstream pop scene exists for that. You've just for me put your finger on why juries kinda suck in some ways and why actually semis might be better off without juries. Also why 'quality' is extremely subjective. I disagree about Germany and the UK 'pleasing' fans - the real problem is we play it too safe and don't send interesting people. Our interesting acts are too cool for school when it comes to Eurovision.
Yes, you are kinda right that just by ethnic flavours are not the thing. Actually those are the flavours that can give the music this "anti-generic" feeling. Thats why I am using word local more likely. Globalisation actually brings in new flavours together, at Eurovision we morelikely see some formulas which are exactly opposite, that we are not really global, we homogenisize - trying to find Eurovision formula. You use the term - safe - but world of music is not safe. Now to not play it that safe we must rise a quality and get from thise Eurovision formulas clichees. So more variaty of artists (singers, composers etc. will come), for this they must feel the project has some overlaps. Juries are one of those needed essences. Balancing the public view. Quality is kinda subjective but levels of quality are not really.
But to say that music must be "quality" is a bit idiotic imo, I mean, music is not a piece of meat! For some people, "quality" is perhaps that type of slow grandma ballads Portugal & Albania always send. Imo that type of music would kill the festival! For me, "quality" is commercial songs, which most people like and which can be played in the clubs and on the radio, that's it. 👍👍.
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts and observations. I admire your clarity. Most interesting! ❤
thank you!
Eurovision was founded after WWII to bring people of different European countries together. It's about having fun and enjoying time together.
From this point of view , professionalism would be killing the spirit of Eurovision. We are Europeans, we are divers, we are chaotic, we try to overcome differences and appreciate each other.
The best way to do it, is embracing all our imperfections and accept all different kind of people and countries. Some countries are poor, some have other problems or other traditions. Some just want to troll, some have popular singers and the other do not understand why. But that's a possibility to be open about it. To see another culture.
The glory does not come from perfection, it comes from a desire of connection.
There are other competitions with professionalism perfectionism and competitiveness. In my opinion, we can be proud of what we achieved in Europe after 1000 years of war. I do not care, if others think it's ridiculous. It's imperfect, like we all are.
and I think this is our superpower! We can just show the best of us. Step by step :)
I completely agree with your analysis.
I have a couple of things to say.
First, I find this year I have more skips - but I think it’s a good thing as it showcases a diversity of genres, including ones I don’t like.
2. I believe that the introduction of televote only semis has made this year in particular switch to sending more televote friendly songs, going a little towards the 2000s era again (in my view the worst decade for Eurovision song quality). I hope this year some of the more hardcore televote only songs miss out to encourage countries to send quality songs that are also televote friendly.
3. Most people I talk to feel this year is much higher quality than last year. I honestly am on the fence on that, but I have far fewer skips this year - but probably because there was less diversity last year and most songs were accessible to me. And I don’t have the typical eurofan taste at all. My favs are never near the top and sometimes don’t qualify (Latvia last year, Serbia last year, Australia, Belgium). This year I find my top 4 - 3 are high in the odds with probably 2 of them realistically standing a chance to win. That’s never happened with my taste before. The highest of my top 5 last year was 5th 😄
I would say that by average we have a good quality but on top tiers we lost it and also we have more "jokish"
acts which leans towards those crappy 2000s. This year also will tell us where we go next. Since juries were taken off, this went faster than I thought. But maybe after public vote, producers decide this is also not good and cancel also this voting as an easiest solution and countries will ve throwing dice. 6 countries will be saved by producer's choice 😂
I understand him completely. In a nutshell: you can identify most songs as Eurovision tracks. If you don't, its a good one! THATS WHAT WE SHOULD GO FOR! finally jump off the esc wagon of screaming disco queens and circus numbers and send more quality songs that actually could top the charts and still sound great 20years later. 2020 gave me hope cause it was a quality year with many exceptional artists that brought a fresh wind into to contest like bulgaria/switzerland/russia/iceland/italy/romania... i thought it would finally change. This year i have the feeling we fell back 20years. I hardly have a favorite. Tired of eurotrash and discoqueens and thats the reason great artists stay away from the contest, cause its reputation is bad and for musicians and newcomers a no go who wanna be taken seriously and not be reduced to an esc one hit wonder.
I have zero favorites this year, I simply dont rly care. I kinda wish for Croatia just for the fact it would be nice to see them host it and also have a new winner country. But thsts it. Whoever will win is like a one eyed king among the blind.
@@JanBors Yeah feel the same. Im swiss so i root for nemo. but the only song that made it into my playlist is Azerbaijan cause I like the oriental vibe and it has actual quality. Wouldn't be surprised if they don't make it to the finals, like the real good songs never do.
Thanks for stating what many of us think. I also think that the overall quality of the songs has decreased in comparison to the last decade (and the reputation of the contest will be affected if this trend continues)... As a result, along with other factors, I don't feel the same enthusiasm for the contest that I used to experience
No it hasnt. We got more out of the box "fun" entries of which most have more meaning than the so called serious entries where the lyrics are a tad meaningless.
we are not getting anything out of the box, imo we are receiving back more Eurovision stuff... what is out of the box anyway? If so, I would like out of the box ultimate quality. Than I dont care. But we are not there.
@@esc1074 1. The message has no value if the other elements of the song don't make it justice.
2. If by "out of the box" you mean entries like "Ulveham" and by "fun entries" you mean like "Who the hell is Edgar", fine, they're well produced entries performed by good artists. If, on the contrary, you're referring to amateur entries, sung by people who can't properly sing, like "Mama ŠČ" or "Trenuleţul", the only thing those entries do is harm to the contest's quality.
3. Last decade, the aim was to showcase Eurovision as a contest made for talented artists so that general viewers could stop seeing it as a freak contest. And this decade it seems like the aim is getting the contest back to the 2000's so it's okay to send joke entries but this time disguised as "fun entries with good messages". And in many cases these "quirky" and "fun" entries don't even have a good message, as people make it out to be. One example is Estonia this year, which is sending a song that says "we avoid pleasure substances because we ain't rich". I don't see anything positive about the banalitazion of drugs
Uk and Italy are very good opposite examples; on one side the UK is supposedly a worldwide powerhouse of pop culture rivalled only by the USA - but ESC doesn't see the best from the UK...why? and I believe a reason for so many nil points for the UK over the years is because the ESC audience is resentful of the UK's snobbish attitude (mind you with Olly we see some improvements - at last). While Italy thanks to Sanremo is guarantee of sending the very best they can offer year after year (since Sanremo's becoming better and better in the last decade).
I think UK is a bit lost. BBC should have a clear strategy and concept what they want to do without a 3rd party, motivate various artists to send their best for the upcoming year and choose the best. There are plenty of Sam Ryders out there to be found. It is almost unneceptable that UK send an artist who cannot sing its own song like last year on in 2021... this all drag them down. No one care less about UK snobism, let them be snobish with a proper quality. People dont vote as they dont send good enough music or artists. Its that simple. And with their market (but counts for all big 5) and their ESC privillages, we should demand just the best.
Jan did you see Mustii 's new acoustic version (acoustic live VRT) that is his best performance, great camera job too, I think that will be the way he will sing and deliver it in Malmö, he seems really ready now ❤💯💥👍
I did not yet. Maybe later I will give it a shot but I need a pause from reactions as I want to focus also on a different content and this distracts me a lot 😂
@@JanBors Yes and this will distract for use hahaha😅😅
There are jazz festivals, there are fusion festivals, there are world music festivals and symphonic festivals for guaranteed quality. If you search for quality in a competition that addresses to the casual masses with 3 minutes pop, catchy songs it's like searching for quality meat in a random street food store downtown. The song which will have the most catchy hook and the most hype in the media will win. If it's a quality song by objective musical standards or not is left to pure luck
I mean even if pop genres we have quality layers. I would like "Tattoo" quality music and Maneskin artists quality to join in. I am not asking for a jazz icon, thats a niche. But as mainstream has its brilliant quality Champions League, music can have Eurovision on such levels. Thats it :)
and to support this - at eurovision this year again are still few (and maybe not that few) artists who can barely sing one song which they should focus at... this should be a little bit unacceptable for such standards... and I can add more arguments. Those are those little things which make differences after all.
The song that holds the record for the highest amount of points at Eurovision, to this day, is a jazz song, and neither was it catchy nor it was the most hyped entry by the media. So you don't need any of that in order to win Eurovision
you need just quality which this song really had and also worked for this very special moment
@@xander2609 yeah pure luck. 1 in 30 competitions. It just vibed well with people. And I remember this it was overhyped during the days of the competition
Than I don't know what small and poor country are in this competition….is it the best to go out from this
its a huge opportunity for such countries actually as the competition is still not so huge.
Music is not just singing. It’s much more . And I believe this is a song contest, de best song wins and not de best singer🤔 that’s my opinion🤗
it is but you for a live competition of such scale you should have at least two constants - briliant songs and briliant artists. So singing is part of this craft. Than how to use this instrument is a matter of subjectivity, but not singing itself.
I don't think local ethnic flavours are actually doing down the quality. I'm not in favour of the globalisation of the music - I don't equate that with rising quality but homogenisation. The mainstream pop scene exists for that. You've just for me put your finger on why juries kinda suck in some ways and why actually semis might be better off without juries. Also why 'quality' is extremely subjective.
I disagree about Germany and the UK 'pleasing' fans - the real problem is we play it too safe and don't send interesting people. Our interesting acts are too cool for school when it comes to Eurovision.
Yes, you are kinda right that just by ethnic flavours are not the thing. Actually those are the flavours that can give the music this "anti-generic" feeling. Thats why I am using word local more likely. Globalisation actually brings in new flavours together, at Eurovision we morelikely see some formulas which are exactly opposite, that we are not really global, we homogenisize - trying to find Eurovision formula. You use the term - safe - but world of music is not safe.
Now to not play it that safe we must rise a quality and get from thise Eurovision formulas clichees. So more variaty of artists (singers, composers etc. will come), for this they must feel the project has some overlaps. Juries are one of those needed essences. Balancing the public view. Quality is kinda subjective but levels of quality are not really.
Jury don't look
On some country there are always down….i think that Croatia delegation maybe should not any more competition
I have always one answer for this - send better next time.
But to say that music must be "quality" is a bit idiotic imo, I mean, music is not a piece of meat! For some people, "quality" is perhaps that type of slow grandma ballads Portugal & Albania always send. Imo that type of music would kill the festival! For me, "quality" is commercial songs, which most people like and which can be played in the clubs and on the radio, that's it. 👍👍.
I think if we have levels of song quality like tattoo from last year in any genre, you will not talk about anything idiotic.